Hannibal (grave)
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| Title: | Hannibal |
| Genus: | tragedy |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Christian Dietrich Grabbe |
| Publishing year: | 1835 |
| Premiere: | December 20, 1918 |
| Place of premiere: | Munich |
| Place and time of the action: | 216 BC After the battle of Cannae until Hannibal's death in 183 BC. Chr. |
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Hannibal is a tragedy by Christian Dietrich Grabbe . The first print was published by Carl Georg Schreiner in Düsseldorf in 1835. The play was premiered on December 20, 1918 at the Munich National Theater.
The play deals with the Second Punic War and the time beyond: The tragedy begins in 216 BC. After the battle of Cannae and ends in 183 BC. With the death of the great Carthaginian general Hannibal .
content
- 1. Hannibal ante Portas!
Carthage: Hanno, Melkir and Gisgon, the unscrupulous rulers of the Punic sea and trading power - the so-called "three men" - are hostile to Hannibal and his family . So they simply kill the messenger who brought the news of victory from Kannä and decide to send Brasidas on their way to Italy with poorly armed troops and inadequate ships. Brasidas wants to ensure Alitta's love before they leave. Alitta loves him, wants to hold him, but hesitates to say yes. The warrior, however, cannot stay any longer, has to go to Hannibal in Italy.
Rome: The Senate meets in the Capitol . The censor Kato says: “Carthage shall perish!” No sooner said than done. Rome strikes a cunning counterstrike. Four legions, led by the two Scipions, are sent to Spain, to Numantia . Hannibal has many friends in this city. The legions are heading in the right direction. It goes - via a detour - to Carthage.
A messenger from Carthage brings Hannibal "Letters from the Synedrion ". The general is to move to Kapua with his 17,000 men . The rest of the written reports from Carthage do not bode well. What will the future bring? Hannibal supplies himself with poison just in case.
- 2. Numantia and Kapua
Terence was mistaken in the Scipions. These "monsters" have reduced Numantia to rubble and ashes and have the whining prisoners scourged with lead buttons. The Scipions, on the way to Carthage, press Celtiberians into their army.
Kapua: Hannibal is hoping for the arrival of his brother Hasdrubal and his army. Hasdrubal had wanted to embark in Numantia, but had taken the much more arduous detour via the Alps because of the fall of the city.
- 3. Farewell to Italy
A Roman army under Fabius Maximus approaches Hannibal near Capua. A Roman disguised as Carthaginian comes to Hannibal with a “package” and throws Hasdrubal's head at the feet of the general.
The despot of Kapua opened the gates to Hannibal. But that is of little use to him. His slaves kill him. The Carthaginian fleet is “getting ready to sail”. Because two relatives of Hanno and Melkir had brought a message from Carthage. Hannibal had been called back. There is a need to hurry. The Scipions threaten the hometown in North Africa. Hannibal is said to be the defender. The fleet goes to sea. Hannibal leaves the two ambassadors behind and sends them to certain death.
- 4. Gisgon
Carthage: Melkir wants sole rule, but Hanno and Gisgon do not touch the poison cups that Melkir has served them. The three men are in a bind. Should they open the gates to Hannibal, who returned home, or let the Scipions attack them? Hannibal takes the decision from those in power. The daredevil forcibly gains entry into the hometown. The three men hide. After years of absence in Carthage, Hannibal explores the situation in a conversation with his grandfather Barkas and with Alitta. In the meantime, Brasidas is fighting against the advancing Scipions at the gates of Carthage. Alitta implores Hannibal to assist Brasidas without any delay. So Hannibal rushes to help Brasidas. But the Romans defeat the Carthaginians at Zama . Melkir exults. The Scipions crushed Hannibal. But the joy only lasts for a short time. The victorious Romans turn against Carthage. In their distress, the Carthaginians sacrifice their own toddlers to Moloch . The deity devours the “innocent blood”, but does not stand by. The Romans send messengers into the city and make unacceptable demands on Gisgon. So the Carthaginian men fight a hopeless battle. One after the other falls on the city wall. Gisgon, desperate, has hidden weapons distributed to the slaves. Hannibal manages to escape.
- 5. King Prusias
Hannibal was granted asylum by Prusias , king of Bithynia. Hannibal submissively asks for an audience with the ruler. This is given generously. During the reception, Prusias confronts Hannibal with some serious malpractice that the great general made during his war against the Romans.
Carthage: In the meantime the women at home armed the group of surviving men. The few Carthaginians also fall. Brasidas is dead. So Alitta doesn't want to live any longer either. Together with the aged Barkas she goes to death by fire.
In the capital of Bithynia: The Romans demand the extradition of Hannibal from Prusias. Otherwise, Bithynia will be covered with war. Prusias gives in. When the Romans approach Hannibal's asylum, he takes the poison and dies.
Quotes
Hannibal says:
- "Fight Satan where merchants reckon!"
- “We will not fall out of the world. We're in it once. "
tragicomedy
The events in the play are initially tragic throughout. All the protagonists involved, whether Hannibal himself or his opponents - above all the "three men" and the two Scipions - are extremely cruel, unscrupulous power people. There messengers are killed or doomed to death, the enemy's head is chopped off, terrible revenge is taken after a lost battle, and so on. In the 5th act, however, the mood changes. Suddenly the "tragedy" takes a hilarious turn. And this is held through to the bravest of bravery throughout the entire 5th act - until the brief, again tragic end. King Prusias teases Hannibal for his stupidity in strategic war decisions, and the great general must actually agree with the king. The fun goes on. King Prusias has the scene sketched by the court painter Pantisaalbaderthilphichidis - for a later glorifying image of his royal person: Hannibal cuddles at Prusias' feet.
The break described above is amusing for the viewer - who is set for tragedy right up to the end - and Grabbe apparently worked the last act with a light hand in a delightfully brilliant hour, but it remains a capital break. No one less than Brecht is said to have studied the play. What may have been the reason for years of preoccupation with the comic "tragedy"? Answer: Probably the Brechtian interest is directly related to that surprisingly original twist in Hannibal's 5th act .
Testimonials
- "Making Hannibal human was an art, he is in history like a cold myth."
- “Hannibal's end is the boldest thing I've written. Tragic and yet funny. "
reception
- Hannibal is a pessimistic piece.
- The more recent literary history - in contrast to the older one - now finds the "style change baths" in the play original.
- After all, the action runs for well over thirty years. Grabbe has accomplished a feat: To the viewer it seems as if the story would come to an end within a few years.
history
- At the end of the tragedy, the “forefather” Barkas, Hannibal's grandfather, appears. The "almost hundred years old" is the father of Hamilkar Barkas († 229 BC).
literature
- source
- Hannibal. A tragedy. In: Grabbe's works in two volumes. Second volume. Pp. 277-353. Comments by Hans-Georg Werner (pp. 425–428). Library of German classics. Published by the National Research and Memorial Centers for Classical German Literature in Weimar. Aufbau-Verlag Berlin and Weimar 1987. 435 pages, ISBN 3-351-00113-4
- Facsimile edition
- www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de: Christian Dietrich Grabbe: Hannibal. A tragedy. Christian Dietrich Grabbe's complete works. Second volume. First complete edition. Edited and introduced by Rudolf Gottschall . Leipzig 1870
- expenditure
- Christian Dietrich Grabbe: Hannibal . Düsseldorf: Schreiner, 1835 (first edition) LLB Detmold
- Christian Dietrich Grabbe: Hannibal . Philipp Reclam 1986, Universal Library 6449, ISBN 978-3-15-006449-8
- Secondary literature
- Ladislaus Löb: Christian Dietrich Grabbe . Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 1996, ISBN 3-476-10294-7 , pp. 97-103.
- Roy C. Cowen: Christian Dietrich Grabbe - playwright of unsolved contradictions . Pp. 189-209. Aisthesis Verlag Bielefeld 1998. 269 pages, ISBN 3-89528-163-8
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . S. 211. Stuttgart 2004. 698 pages, ISBN 3-520-83704-8
Web links
- Hannibal (Grabbe) in the Gutenberg-DE project
- Text in Zeno.org My Library