Plot:
Prince Friedrich is an officer under the Great Elector. They have been at war quite some time, and Friedrich is exhausted. When he sleepwalks, the Great Elector plays a trick on him and Friedrich declares his love for the Elector’s niece, Princess Natalie. He even obtains her glove. The next morning, Friedrich is too confused to pay attention to his orders in the battle. When he therefore doesn’t follow them, he is arrested by the Great Elector, despite coming out victorious. The charge carries a death sentence, but maybe not everything is lost yet.

Prinz Friedrich von Homburg is a beautifully written play that raises some moral issues that partly resonated with me, but overall, I didn’t get into it as much as I’d hoped. Maybe I would need to see it performed instead of reading it.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2019/11/12/prinz-friedrich-von-homburg-the-prince-of-hombu... ( )

This drama from Kleist is a true classic. ( )

De prins, bevelhebber van de Pruisische cavalerie, dreigt na de gewonnen slag tegen de Zweden geëxecuteerd te worden omdat hij de bevelen van de koning negeerde (hij was tijdens de briefing geestelijk afwezig), maar wordt, als hij zich verzoend heeft met zijn dood en deze zelfs als noodzakelijk beschouwt, uiteindelijk onder algemeen applaus begenadigd. ( )

While technically being a play from the Enlightenment, it is set in the Renaissance, using Renaissance societal roles and expectations to ask the sort of questions often brought forward by the Enlightenment. This one actually has a bit of a timely message, fitting well with many of the obsessions of the past century. Is it all right for a soldier to disobey the order of a superior if the order appears to be destined to lead to failure, where success can be obtained by disobedience? Which is more important, law or morality? Or, for that matter, is love more important than honor? A major difference between this and a Renaissance play is that the author chooses to leave those questions unanswered. He presents the difficult problem, and allows others to chew on it. Decent writing, more exposition than is allowed in modern plays, and more happening off stage. This is not a criticism. ( )

It’s the night before the crucial battle with the invading Swedish army, a night when rest is of utmost importance. But on the high quarter grounds, the prince of Homburg is, embarrassingly, sleepwalking. This unmanly conduct puts him on the receiving end of a practical joke from the Elector, and when he wakes up it’s with a feeling he’s had a significant premonition. After all – isn’t he holding a strange glove in his hand, a glove that’s bound to belong to the woman of his dream? Still not sure if he’s awake or sleeping, he has a hard time concentrating on the briefing before the battle the next morning. And disobeys given orders as a result.

Kleist is one of those writers that are so much before their day it’s hard to grasp. Written in 1811, this play reads like something by Kafka a hundred years later. The dreamlike ambience colliding with military bureaucracy is very effective, and it’s clever how Kleist lets each decision Homburg make end up in its opposite. Even when he decides to do the stout military thing and accept his punishment initiative is snatched away from him. Also very fond of Kleist’s female characters. There are but two of them, but they are active and full of initiative, unusual for the times when this play was written.

Heinrich von Kleist continues to impress me with each play of his I read. I, who often yawn at classics, find his voice fresh, modern and complex. It’s too bad he isn’t staged more often in my country. ( )