IN THIS ESSAY I examine how the tender gaze is represented as a threat to masculinity and male dominance in Ludwig Tieck's novella “Liebeszauber” (Love's Charm, 1811). In the story, we are at first confronted with something that might seem to approximate a tender gaze when Emil develops empathetic feelings for a woman he observes from his apartment. Despite an objectifying perspective, Emil shows some empathy for her, putting himself in her position and thinking about her life and the hardships that she must endure as a single woman taking care of a young child. Where one might expect an exclusively objectifying male gaze, due to the influence of a patriarchal society, one finds a gaze tempered by some tenderness. He admires the diligence with which she does the housework. Though she is dressed in a translucent nightgown, rather than sexualizing her by focusing only on her physical appearance, Emil notices and appreciates her conscientious and caring actions, including teaching the child to read. Emil seems to envy the domestic life that the woman enjoys, coveting the aspects of life that he lacks as a single man whose parents have passed away. The security, stability, and predictability of her life seem to be what he longs for. Toward the beginning of the text, Tieck, I argue, is inviting readers to think about how women are seen by others during this time period. The depiction of the woman as mother and caregiver is accompanied by narrative reminders that she is potentially also an object of sexual desire, as observed through mentions of her translucent nightdress and her beauty. Thus Emil's gaze toward the woman is presented as ambiguous. He notices details of her dress and physical appearance while being most impressed by her dutiful caretaking of the child. However, Emil's ambiguous gaze quickly loses any sign of ambiguity. I examine here how the potential for seeing a woman as more than an object of desire is foiled by Emil's conditioning in a deeply patriarchal society. Seeing the young woman empathetically rather than sexually becomes a threat to his masculinity and gives him a valid reason—in his muddled mental state—to jettison his inclination toward a tender gaze and succumb to objectifying her.