Theme of art vs. common life
Herr Spinell is an author, he has an artistic mind. He is sort of a person who spends most of his time thinking and to the outside person his behavior is strange, uncommon. The reason he falls in love with Frau Kloterjahn is because he sees a reflection of himself in her, sees an artist that is hidden and wants to bring it out. He believes that Frau Kloterjahn's life was ruined with marriage and common way; she wasn't born for that path and it is destroying her. He accuses Herr Kloterjahn in his letter of destroying her beauty, he should have left her alone when he saw her and not want to claim her. Beauty of art is destroyed with commonness or, as Herr Spinell puts it, unconsciousness.
Theme of love
True meaning of love is being explored in this novella. Herr Spinell believes that his love for Frau Kloterjahn is true because, unlike Herr Kloterjahn, he wouldn't have dared to touch the beauty, to take off her invisible crown. He sees her as so much more than just a wife to some brute businessman. He finds it disgusting that she had to take his name and become Frau Kloterjahn. He is entranced by her talent of playing the piano and sees the shame in her not exploring her talent more. Herr Spinell's words make Frau Kloterjahn think about her choices in life, if she truly loves her husband and what she made of herself. But, at the end it is Frau Kloterjahn who made the choices she made and it is not for Herr Spinell to make her see that they were wrong, just like the apparition that presented itself before Herr Spinell which tells him to go away, that Frau Kloterjahn made her choice and that choice is confirmed with her healthy son being comforted in a baby crib by her.
