Miss Sara Sampson

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Data
Title: Miss Sara Sampson
Genus: Civil tragedy
Original language: German
Author: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Publishing year: 1755
Premiere: July 10, 1755
Place of premiere: Parade house in Frankfurt on the Oder
people
  • Sir William Sampson .
  • Miss Sara , his daughter.
  • Mellefont , mistress of Miss Sara.
  • Marwood , Mellefont's old lover.
  • Arabella , a young child, Marwood's daughter.
  • Waitwell , an old servant of Sampson.
  • Norton , servant of the Mellefont.
  • Betty , Sara's girl.
  • Hannah , Marwood girl.
  • The innkeeper and some other people .

Miss Sara Sampson by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing is the first civil tragedy in modern German literature. It appeared and was premiered in 1755 and belongs to the age of sensitivity .

content

1st elevator: exposure

The play is set in an inn in England. First of all, Miss Sara's father arrives with his servant Waitwell. He comes to get Sara back and to be reconciled with her because he has not previously accepted his daughter's lover. He would like to bring her back out of love, but also out of self-love, so as not to be alone in old age. The virtuous Miss Sara Sampson is on the run to France with her lover, Mellefont. They want to get married there. While Sara is pushing for marriage, Mellefont has doubts. He delayed departure on the pretext of waiting for a cousin's inheritance. He is only entitled to the inheritance on the condition that he marries a relative whom he hates. But since this reluctance is mutual, he and the relative have agreed to share the inheritance. Sara also suffers from the separation from her father, whom she also loves. She also regrets wanting to leave him alone. The ex-lover Mellefonts writes a letter in which she informs him that she is in another inn nearby, where Mellefont see her.

Act 2: The Act of Marwood

Both the ( sensitive ) father of the bride (Sir William Sampson) and the former lover Mellefonts (Marwood) are on the trail of the fugitive couple . Marwood wants to win him back, but not out of true love, but out of an injured sense of honor. First she tries confidentiality. She later tries to soften Mellefont through the presence of their daughter Arabella. That seems to be working, at least Mellefont leaves the room to break away from Sara.

But a little later - having found himself - he returns. He has decided to stay with Sara and wants to take his daughter with him. But then Marwood shows her true colors: She tries to stab Mellefont with a dagger, which she fails. She regrets her behavior. As a final ruse, she demands permission from Mellefont to confront his new lover under a false name. Mellefont agrees.

Act 3: letter from father to daughter, meeting between Sara and Marwood

Sir William, who knows the couple's whereabouts from Marwood, brings the first turning point in the plot. He writes a letter to his daughter forgiving the two of them and urging her to return to him. When Sara receives the letter, she hesitates at first, but reads it after long discussions with Sir Williams' servant Waitwell. She begins to write a reply letter, but is interrupted because Sara and Marwood meet for the first time. Sara does not know that it is Marwood, but assumes that this woman is Lady Solmes (a relative of the von Mellefont family). Everything seems as if a positive solution to the situation between Sir Sampson and his daughter is possible and they mutually forgive each other. So “Miss Sara Sampson” could have been a touching comedy , but the play becomes a tragedy due to the scheming Marwood.

Act 4: Mellefont's hesitation and the encounter of the rivals with true identity

The first three scenes of the fourth act show the viewer that Mellefont is actually more hesitant about the wedding than previously thought. In the fourth appearance the beginning of the end begins: Marwood meets her rival Sara again because she wants to say goodbye. Mellefont is not positive about this meeting. During a highly dramatic conversation in which Sara explains her 'moral doctrine', Marwood betrays herself and has to reveal her true identity. Sara flees in shock and faints briefly.

Act 5: tragic end

At first everything seems to dissolve in favor. Sara has doubts when Marwood tells her about Arabella. However, after confronting her lover, she forgives him and even offers to raise Arabella as her own child. But in the course of the first scenes of the fifth act, Sara's health deteriorates. The cause of her physical weakness is initially blamed on the effects of the faint, but it is soon discovered that Sara has been poisoned by Marwood.

Furious, Mellefont rushes for help. Sir William, who has observed this, recognizes Mellefont's reaction to his true love. Forgiveness on deathbed: Sir William forgives the two lovers. Sara forgives Marwood and asks her father to take care of Mellefonts and his daughter. The father himself is plagued by feelings of guilt, so that he immediately agrees and forgives.

In view of Sara's generosity and that of her father, Mellefont fails to get revenge on Marwood. However, he does not find the strength to forgive himself either and stabs himself. Sir William nevertheless follows the last will of his daughter and takes on Arabellas.

literature

  • Gotthold E. Lessing: Miss Sara Sampson. A civil tragedy in 5 elevators . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 2005, ISBN 3-518-18852-6
  • Martin Schenkel: Lessing's Poetics of Compassion in the bourgeois tragedy “Miss Sara Sampson”. Poetic-poetological reflections . Bouvier, Bonn 1984, ISBN 3-416-01807-9
  • Gotthold E. Lessing: Miss Sara Sampson. A civil tragedy in 5 elevators . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-000016-5
  • Veronica Richel: GE Lessing, Miss Sara Sampson. Explanations and documents . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-008169-6

Productions (selection)

proof

  1. Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gorki.de
  2. http://www.pecht.info/texte/2012/20121009.html

Web links