The Marquise of O ....

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The Marquise von O .... is a novella by Heinrich von Kleist that first appeared in February 1808 in the literary magazine Phöbus . The exact date of origin of the story is not known, but the work was completed by the end of 1807 at the latest. The action takes place in Italy . Kleist himself never used the term “novella” in relation to this work, but this generic name was and is often used.

On the title and number of ellipses

In the original editions created under Kleist's supervision (printed in Phöbus from 1808 and in the first volume of the edition of his stories from 1810) the title of the story has four omissions: The Marquise of O .... Nevertheless, the title is often used in reading editions and even in scientific literature with only three ellipses. On the one hand, this is due to the assumption that omissions were always made with the help of a three-point mark, which is historically incorrect. On the other hand, the influential Kleist edition by Helmut Sembdner , which made this text alteration contrary to the original, widespread this version of the title, so that it remains to this day. The vast majority of philological editions before and after Sembdner, however, preserve the four omissions.

The omissions in the narrative text itself - in the original editions as well as in most philological editions - do not consist of three points, but instead have three (Count F ...) and sometimes four (Marquise von O ...) and also a fluctuating one Number of points on (Mrs. von G .... / G ...).

To the work

Although Heinrich von Kleist valued dramatic art as a literary genre the most, he got involved in writing prose poems for financial reasons. As a rule, the story is assigned to the genre of novellas .

The starting point of the "Marquise von O ...." is the scandalous incident of an unwittingly brought about pregnancy . Various linguistic means give the story an impression of authenticity. These means include, for example, the subtitle "Based on a true incident, the scene of which has been moved from north to south" and the abbreviation of the names of places and people mentioned in the novella. The latter suggests the actual existence of figures whose identity must not be revealed. However, the actual truthfulness of the novella is questionable.

Italy was chosen as the setting for the action at the time of the Second Coalition War (1799–1802).

The "Essai on Drunkenness" written by Michel de Montaigne in 1588 is considered a possible source . This anecdote is about a peasant woman raped in her sleep by a drunken farmhand. The peasant woman marries her rapist after he confessed to her. In addition, Kleist probably read the short story “Saved Innocence”, published in 1798 in the “Berlin Archive of Time and Her Taste”, and a passage from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's letter novel “ Julie or The New Heloise ” (1761). From this he has gained further elements of his story, above all the father-daughter relationship described in detail in his work.

main characters

  • The Marquise of O ...., Julietta
  • The Lord of G ..., Lorenzo, her father and commander of the citadel (alternately referred to in the work as "the Colonel " and "the Commander")
  • The wife of G ..., her mother ("the colonel")
  • The forester from G ..., her brother
  • Count F ..., a Russian lieutenant colonel

Table of contents

Kleist's tale tells the story of a widowed marquise.

It begins with a very unusual newspaper advertisement in which "a lady of excellent reputation [...] let it be known that she, without her knowledge, had come into other circumstances, that her father [...] should report;" and that she [...] would be determined to marry him. "

Then it is told in retrospect how this situation came about: The citadel near M ..., of which the marquise's father is in command, is stormed by Russian troops. The marquise, who moved to live with her family after the death of her husband, falls into the hands of Russian soldiers and is mistreated, but "rescued" by a Russian officer. The supposed savior later turns out to be the rapist of the marquise.

Be it because she knows what is going to happen, be it because of the shock - the marquise faints and does not remember the rape afterwards. Later in the text (quote: “I don't want to know anything.”) The reader realizes that the injured party is trying to suppress the truth. In her memories, Count F ... is only the “noble savior”.

After the family-owned citadel was stormed and subsequently seized by a Russian commander, the residents of the fortress had to move to a house in the city. Although the family is doing well considering the current circumstances, the otherwise perfectly healthy Marquise suffers from an inexplicable malaise.

Since the family knows nothing about the rape of the marquise and still feels in the guilt of the count, they are very upset when they learn that he was shot in combat on the day of departure.

But contrary to the reports, the count survives seriously injured. After his healing, he returned to the commandant's family and asked for the marquise's hand with a passionate declaration of love. The members of her family are not averse to the Count, but ask for a period to think so that they and the Marquise can get to know the Count better. However, since the count is being called away by important orders, the request cannot be granted.

The marquise found out about her pregnancy when she was examined by a doctor and a midwife for her chronic malaise. The marquise cannot explain this pregnancy because the rape has disappeared from her mind. Her father attributes the pregnancy to "immoral behavior" and throws her out of the house. He no longer wants his grandchildren to be in the care of the marquise, so he has his son, the forest master of G ..., snatch them away from her. This angered the marquise and deepened the rift between her and her father. With a heavy heart, the marquise leaves the apartment with her children and moves back into her old house. She publishes an advertisement in the newspapers in which she announces that she ignorantly became pregnant and that the child's father should contact her. For “family reasons” she would be determined to marry the child's father.

Meanwhile, Count F ... is returning from Naples. He learns what has happened and that the marquise is no longer in her father's house. The count is determined to propose to her again. The marquise is surprised and is anything but enthusiastic about the proposal. She rejects the count in an extremely harsh manner.

In the meantime, the commandant's wife, who is also called the Colonel in the work, rebukes her husband for his brutal behavior. In the meantime another advertisement has appeared in which the alleged father of the child announces that he will throw himself at the feet of the marquise in her father's house. The Colonel now asks herself whether the marquise might have been raped while she was sleeping and decides on a ruse.

She drives to the marquise and tells her that she knows the father of the unborn child and that it is the hunter Leopardo. When the Colonel realizes from the marquise's reaction that she actually doesn't know anything, she is convinced of her innocence. In tears she apologizes to the marquise and takes her back to town. After the colonel had reported everything to the commandant, he also apologized tearfully to the marquise and took her back.

In the Colonel's house one waits with extreme excitement for the father of the unborn child to appear. But the one who arrives is Count F ... Confused, the marquise wants to retreat to her apartment, but is held back by her mother. Indeed, the earl who shows sincere repentance is the one sought. The pregnant woman withdraws howling and screaming and, unlike her parents, is not ready to forgive the Count for his deed, as she has always viewed him as her savior.

Her parents interpret this reaction as a temporary overstimulation of their nerves and arrange everything for the upcoming marriage. A marriage contract is drawn up in which the count, as a husband, waives all rights, but declares himself ready to fulfill all of such obligations.

After the wedding, the count moves into an apartment nearby, but does not set foot in the colonel's house, where the marquise continues to live. His polite behavior at occasional encounters calms the marquise's family so much that he can attend his son's baptism. Among the gifts that the guests made to his son was a donation of a large sum of money by the count and his will, in which he appointed the marquise as his sole heir.

From this day on he is allowed to go to the Colonel. Soon afterwards the count begins again to woo the marquise. This time she doesn't reject him because she has grown fond of him.

Years later, the count asks his wife why she rejected his first proposal. Her answer is as follows: He would not have seemed like a devil to her then if he had not seemed like an angel to her when he first appeared.

The famous dash

The Marquise von O .... shows a dash at a crucial point, which is generally considered to be the most famous dash in German literature. After the Russian count had brought the completely exhausted marquise to safety in front of a group of soldiers, the sentence was written: “Here - when her frightened wives appeared soon afterwards, he made arrangements to call a doctor; assured, putting on his hat, that she would soon recover; and returned to battle. ”Only at the end of the story, when the marquise has given birth to a son to whom the count confesses as father, does it become apparent that this indent marks the moment the marquise was impregnated by the count. The finesse of the narrative is that the dash only reveals the time, not the circumstances, so that the question of how exactly the impregnation came about and whether it was possibly a rape ultimately remains unanswered. Kleist achieved this indeterminacy by avoiding a concrete narrative description of the events with the mere dash.

interpretation

Heinrich von Kleist describes how war can change a person, as in this case Count F ... who becomes a rapist. Basically, however, he is a moral person, since he sincerely loves the marquise and feels obliged to marry her; but the instincts overcome Count F ... several times in the novella. His real morality takes a back seat in these situations.

The brutality and ruthlessness with which mothers of illegitimate children are treated in society also play a role in Kleist's work. The author pointedly and precisely parodies the brutality of the bourgeois social order and its failure. The family is not a place of retreat where one is loved and accepted, but is subject to strict rules - respect for custom is more important than the needs of the individual. Even the marquise cannot change that. Ultimately, she has to fit into the order and accept it, even if she doesn't seem to be able to cope with it.

In addition to the emancipatory perspective of the novella, a further, anthropological aspect can be seen in the figure of Count F ... Count F ... shows himself to be a moral and conscientious person during and after the conquest of the fortress. The marquise herself says that he appears to her like a saving "angel" - a false image, because the rape of the marquise shows that the count is not immune to instinct in his morality either. This is also evident during his visit to the marquise at her country estate. Here the count takes no account of the marquise's sensitivities and is only anxious to present his request (the application). In doing so, he again physically harasses the marquise, forcing her to tear herself away from him and flee from him. A parallel to the previous rape is unmistakable.

The father, who represents the patriarch and protector, fails in the novella. He cannot save his daughter from being raped. As for the social norm, protection from sexuality, desires, and even unchaste thoughts is an important task that largely rests with the father. However, this is not a role model when it comes to chastity, as he himself maintains a relationship with his daughter that is more reminiscent of a love affair.

Its name aptly parodies its pathetic failure. Lorenzo's career, “crowned with victory”, is doomed when he loses the fortress he was supposed to protect. His private life is also upset when the same thing happens to his daughter. His dismissive reaction to her pregnancy drove his reputation with readers further. Whether out of jealousy or to protect his family, his actions also damage his reputation.

The behavior of the citizens is very close to the stereotype of the nobility they despise. Because of the numerous marriages of reason and the resulting mistresses, sexuality is relatively unrestrained in its circles. The failed resumption of the marquise in society could, however, be interpreted as a call for more independence for women.

Despite the realistic style, Kleist's language refers to the realm of mythical, ancient Christian images. Kleist's preference for phantasmata is reflected in the fact that the marquise, in her need to explain, resorted to the idea of ​​the immaculate conception . His "imagination primarily springs to mind when it comes to materials that offer the opportunity to shape the narrative within the horizon of the phantasy".

Reactions

When the story, announced with proud words in the art journal Phöbus, finally appeared, the reactions were mainly negative and testified to indignation. The novella was a hideous, boring story that no woman could read without blushing. Even otherwise benevolent viewers like Karl August Varnhagen , 23 when the story appeared, did not find it worthy of a poet.

Kleist received practically only recognition from his circle of friends, among others from his co-editor Adam Heinrich Müller . The latter found the novella splendid in art, style, and style.

reception

Dubbing

The opera Julietta by Heimo pea ( opera semiseria in four acts, op. 15) of 1957 is based on this amendment; Antal Doráti directed the world premiere on August 17, 1959 as part of the Salzburg Festival .

Film adaptations

The marquise of O…. was filmed several times:

theatre

Ferdinand Bruckner took Heinrich von Kleist's novella in the early 1930s and rewrote it for the theater.

expenditure

  • Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O .... In: Ders., Adam H. Müller (Ed.): Phöbus. A journal for art. First year, second piece (February 1808), pp. 3–32. Reprint ed. v. Helmut Sembdner . Stuttgart 1961.
  • Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O .... In: Ders .: Stories . Provided with an introduction, an epilogue and a list of the typographical errors and edited by Thomas Nehrlich. Reprint of the Berlin 1810/11 edition. Hildesheim: Olms 2011. 2 Vols. Vol. 1, pp. 216-306.

literature

  • Dieter Heimböckel : The Marquise of O .... In Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Hrsg.): Kindlers Literatur Lexikon 3rd, completely revised edition. 18 vols. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar, 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-04000-8 , vol. 9, pp. 141-142.
  • Dirk Jürgens: Text analysis and interpretation of Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise von O ... Bange Verlag, Hollfeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-8044-1961-2 .
  • Dorrit Cohn: Kleist's "Marquise von O ...": The Problem of Knowledge. In: Monthly Issues. (67) 1975, pp. 129-144.
  • Linda Dietrick: Prisons and Idylls: Studies in Heinrich von Kleist's fictional World. Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Bern / New York 1985, ISBN 3-8204-8583-X .
  • Wilhelm Emrich : Kleist and modern literature. In: Walter Müller-Seidel: Kleist and society. A discussion. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1965, DNB 458771872 .
  • Bernd Fischer: Ironic metaphysics. The stories of Heinrich von Kleist. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7705-2495-0 .
  • Michael Moehring: wit and irony in Heinrich von Kleist's prose. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-7705-0708-8 .
  • Armine Kotin Mortimer: The Devious Second Story in Kleist's "The Marquise of O ...". In: German Quarterly. 67, 1994, pp. 293-303.
  • Walter Müller-Seidel: Heinrich von Kleist. Four speeches in memory of him. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1962.
  • Anthony Stephens: Heinrich von Kleist. The Dramas and Stories. Berg, Oxford / Providence 1994, ISBN 0-85496-708-7 .
  • Stefanie Tieste: Heinrich von Kleist. His works. Kleist Archive Sembdner, Heilbronn 2009. (Heilbronner Kleist materials for school and teaching, Volume 2. Ed. Günther Emig ), ISBN 978-3-940494-15-3
  • Barbara Wilk-Mincu: Kleist's “Marquise von O ...” in the visual arts. In: Heilbronner Kleist sheets . 18, 2006.
  • Peter von Matt : The scene as a monster . In: Peter von Matt: Seven kisses. Happiness and unhappiness in literature. Hanser, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-446-25462-6 , pp. 159–203.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O…. In: Ders .: Stories . Provided with an introduction, an epilogue and a list of the typographical errors and edited by Thomas Nehrlich. Reprint of the Berlin 1810/11 edition. Hildesheim: Olms 2011. 2 vol. Vol. 1, pp. 216–306, here p. 220.
  2. ↑ Cf. Thomas Nehrlich: "It has more meaning and interpretation than you think." On the function and meaning of typographical text features in Kleist's prose. Hildesheim: Olms 2012, pp. 152–162.
  3. ↑ Volker Nölle: Heinrich von Kleist: decline and rise scenarios. Berlin 1997, p. 17.