Emilia Galotti: Ein Trauerspiel in fünf Aufzügen

by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Jan D Müller (Editor)

Mit dem 1772 erschienenen und uraufgeführten Drama "Emilia Galotti" schuf Gotthold Ephraim Lessing eines der bedeutendsten Beispiele für die Gattung des bürgerlichen Trauerspiels. Das Stück, das zu den Schlüsselwerken der Aufklärung und Empfindsamkeit gehört sowie als eines der ersten politischen Dramen der deutschen Literatur gilt, übt scharfe Kritik an der Willkürherrschaft des Adels. Dieser Macht kann das Bürgertums nur seine höhere Moral entgegensetzen. Die geplante Hochzeit der bürgerlichen Emilia Galotti mit dem ehrenhaften Grafen Appiani wird von Hettore Gonzaga, dem regierenden Prinzen von Guastalla, hintertrieben; nicht nur für Emilia endet die Intrige schließlich tödlich. In "Emilia Galotti" verzichtete Lessing - anders als noch in "Miss Sara Sampson" - auf allzu viel Emotionen und rührselige Elemente. Nachdenklich, nicht (nur) gerührt, soll das Publikum das Theater verlassen.

Text aus Reclams Universal-Bibliothek mit Seitenzählung der gedruckten Ausgabe.

Genres: Classics, School, German Literature, Plays, Drama, Fiction, Read For School

81 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1772

About the author

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature. He is widely considered by theatre historians to be the first dramaturg.

Lessing was born in Kamenz, a small town in Saxony. His father was a clergyman and the author of theological writings. After visiting Latin School in Kamenz (from 1737 onwards) and the Fürstenschule St. Afra in Meissen (from 1741 onwards) he studied theology and medicine in Leipzig (1746–1748).

From 1748 to 1760 he lived in Leipzig and Berlin and worked as reviewer and editor for, amongst others, the Vossische Zeitung. In 1752 he took his Master's degree in Wittenberg. From 1760 to 1765 he worked in Breslau (now Wrocław) as secretary to General Tauentzien. In 1765 he returned to Berlin, only to leave again in 1767 to work for three years as a dramaturg and adviser at the German National Theatre in Hamburg. There he met Eva König, his future wife.

In 1770 Lessing became a librarian at the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. His tenure there was interrupted by many travels. For example, in 1775 he journeyed to Italy accompanied by Prince Leopold.

In 1771 Lessing was initiated into Freemasonry in the lodge "Zu den drei Rosen" in Hamburg.

In 1776 he married Eva König, who was then a widow, in Jork (near Hamburg). She died in 1778 after giving birth to a short-lived son. On 15 February 1781, Lessing, aged 52, died during a visit to the wine dealer Angott in Brunswick.

Lessing was also famous for his friendship with Jewish-German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. In his celebrated biography of Mendelssohn's famous grandson, Felix, Larry Todd describes their friendship as one of the most "illuminating metaphors [for] the clarion call of the Enlightenment for religious tolerance".

Lessing was a poet, philosopher and critic. His theoretical and critical writings are remarkable for their often witty and ironic style and their unerring polemics. Hereby the stylistic device of dialogue met with his intention of looking at a thought from different angles and searching for elements of truth even in the arguments made by his opponents. For him this truth was never solid or something which could be owned by someone but always a process of approaching.

Early in his life, Lessing showed interest in the theatre. In his theoretical and critical writings on the subject—as in his own plays—he tried to contribute to the development of a new bourgeois theatre in Germany. With this he especially turned against the then predominant literary theory of Gottsched and his followers. He particularly criticized the simple imitation of the French example and pleaded for a recollection of the classic theorems of Aristotle and for a serious reception of Shakespeare's works. He worked with many theatre groups (e.g. the one of the Neuberin).

In Hamburg he tried with others to set up the German National Theatre. Today his own works appear as prototypes of the later developed bourgeois German drama. Scholars generally see Miß Sara Sampson and Emilia Galotti as the first bourgeois tragedies, Minna von Barnhelm (Minna of Barnhelm) as the model for many classic German comedies, Nathan the Wise (Nathan der Weise) as the first German drama of ideas ("Ideendrama"). His theoretical writings Laocoon and Hamburg Dramaturgy (Hamburgische Dramaturgie) set the standards for the discussion of aesthetic and literary theoretical principles. Lessing advocated that dramaturgs should carry their work out working directly with theatre companies rather than in isolation.

In his religious and philosophical writings he defended the faithful Christian's right for freedom of thought. He argued against the belief in revelation and the holding on to a literal

Reviews

[magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

we stan orsina

[Mazzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bunch of crazies, wirklich. Die einzig vernünftige und auch sympathische Figur ist die Gräfin Orsina.

[Alina · Rating 1 out of 5]

*you know it's german literature when you're a native german speaker and only undestand 70% of what they're saying*

*spoilers*
Even though I read Emilia Galotti in german I will write this review in English.
Of course, it's a tragedy and tragedies are traditionally split in 5 parts. The climax of the story is often in "chapter" 3 and the death of the character/s in chapter 5.

My opinion:
Chapter 1 was a total mess and I can't remember much. I don't know what the English translation looks like but just imagine it in german. You don't understand shit. I just can't imagine they EVER talked like that.

BUT I enjoyed chapter 2 and 3. For real, I read chapter 2 with my friends and we had a lot of fun. The climax in chapter 3 was also pretty interesting because I didn't really think that would happen. Now we come to the real tragedy: Chapter 4&5

Part 4 was already going downhill but I was invested in the story and curious how Emilia dies. In chapter 5 the father thinks that Marinelli killed Appiani and wants to take revenge blabla he has a dagger. Emilia wants to take the dagger and of course, the book is written by a man in 1772 and Emilia is a woman who can't even hold a dagger, so she almost kills herself. (*cough* sexism)
Blabla the father takes the dagger back, Emilia talks some shit that there are no fathers anymore who kill their daughters to shelter them from their own shame. Then he kills her and immediatly goes *OH NO* then the prince comes back in the room, is like "what have you done you piece of shit". THE END

It was bad and I was bored in the last two chapters. But I'm still motivated to read other classics. The next one is probably Romeo&Juliet. English literature. I feel like the protagonist of a New Adult book.

[Asli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Prinz 🤝 ich
Being dramatic

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orsina is the ultimate girlboss and i love her

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honour killing posing as progessive Enlightenment drama. Should be taught differently from the way I read it in school! Where on Earth did my teacher find the courage to "admire" the sense of honour of Emilia's father?

A good girl is a dead virgin!

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

While ever since I read Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 1772 Emilia Galotti for an 18th century German literature course at Mount Allison University in 1988, I have considered this classic drama of the German Enlightenment, of the Aufklärung (a bürgerliches Trauerspiel, a so-called bourgeois tragedy) very much a personal favourite, I have recently come to the rather uncomfortable and even shocking realisation and conclusion that Emilia's death at the hands of her father (although I do indeed acknowledge that she is the one who categorically demands that her father stab her to death) is basically and for all intents and purposes an honour killing (a salient and very much problematically uncomfortable piece of truth that definitely needs to be taken into consideration, as well as an essential and necessary vehicle for both discussion and academic, political debate and something that definitely should in no way ever now be ignored with regard to Emilia Galotti).

I mean, come on, we vociferously and yes, with very much righteous and justifiable anger condemn so-called honour killings in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan (killings, slaughterings that I actually do NOT consider and never will consider honourable in ANY way, but always rather the opposite, and thus the very concept, the very designation, appellation I find anathema to the extreme). And with this in mind, and even though I still very much enjoy Emilia Galotti and will always appreciate the social criticisms presented (especially Lessing's relentless critique and condemnation of aristocratic decadence and entitlement), the mere fact that Emilia not only ends up dead, but that she sees her death (her father stabbing her, as she has demanded of him) as somehow the only way to safeguard her chastity and virtue (to keep her permanently removed from the lustful and scheming prince, and by her death, to protect and save both her and her family's "honour"), this all now definitely leaves me rather horrified and yes most definitely aghast and with a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Still highly recommended, but I do hope if (or rather when) Lessing's Emilia Galotti is now being read and discussed in German schoolrooms or is covered, is analysed as college/university level reading material, that the although likely painful, distressing consideration that Emilia's death can be and in my opinion really should be considered an honour killing will be part of any and all debate and/or discussion, and will not (ever) be ignored, be pushed away (or worse, to be deemed as an inappropriate insult to German literature).

[Imke · Rating 2 out of 5]

1,5
Der Prinz ist ein selbstgefälliges dummes Miststück, Marinelli ist ein hinterhältiger Lügner, Claudia Galotti ist nur wichtig, dass alle wissen, dass sie unschuldig ist, Odoardo ist nicht ganz bei Sinnen(wobei sie das alle nicht wirklich sind), Orsina ist schlau und Emilia wirkte auf mich irgendwie traumatisiert und "gehirngewaschen". Zusammengefasst kann man sagen, dass die Charaktere maximal dramatisch sind und auch nicht wirklich sympathisch. Aber hey, es ist zumindest so geschrieben, dass man halbwegs versteht, was die Personen sagen.

[Luka · Rating 2 out of 5]

had to read it for school :/

[jennie♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

2nd read:
i take it back - i fucking hate this book mainly because i have to write a fucking german essay on it while having 5 other essays waiting for me in the back and this one is the most unsatisfying essay ive ever written in my whole entire life so far. fuck you.

1st read:
3 stars - for school (kinda liked it)

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Von den drei bürgerlichen Trauerspielen, die ich bis jetzt gelesen habe, sagte mir dieses am wenigsten zu. Die Figuren waren für mich nicht vielschichtig genug, was vor allem für Emilas Vater und die Mätresse gilt. In Lessings "Miss Sara Sampson" und auch in Schillers "Kabale und Liebe" waren die gemischten Helden und Nebencharaktere, zumindest für mein Empfinden, ambivalenter. Deshalb "nur" drei Sterne.

[ninanin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this household we stan Orsina

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

What. The. Fuck.
I read this for school and I am dissapointed.
Completely useless.
I kinda ship Angelo and Pirro though

[Aleksandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ermmm, was habe ich gerade gelesen??

*confused Pikachu face*



That German in the beginning was confusing the hell out of me - barely understood anything lmao (as German literature usually does to its readers😭)



I do understand that there‘s messages of 'preserving purity' and 'morality' but damn - this was painful to read my friends, I highly recommend staying away from this✨

That ending tho😭


Just 'what the fuck' is the overall impression, to be honest




There‘s literally nothing I‘d like to add, just that I‘m glad I‘m done with this torture🍀

[✨julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

PRO:
- Orsina die Queen
- Schlaue Frauen? Wow und das in 1772
CONTRA:
Super lästig zu lesen
Dialoge hätten in einer Seite abgearbeitet werden können, haben sich aber gezogen wie Kaugummi

*SPOILER*SPOILER*

"Lieber tot als ehrlos zu leben" ist ein dummer Grund für einen Ehrenmord

[Chiara Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eigentlich schon recht schlecht, aber wichtig für die Germanistik oder so 🙄

[anna ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

That escalated quickly…
Gräfin Orsina = einzige Figur mit halbwegs common sense hier, alle anderen haben massiv einen an der Klatsche.

[Finja · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ne Bruder
Was für Eherenmord alter
Sie hätte einfach den Prinzen heiraten können und dann sein Geld abstauben können und ihn dann töten können. Was für alles besser als das

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gottlose Schullektüre, hab nur die Hälfte verstanden💀💀

[caspar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wenn man das, was ich gemacht hab als lesen bezeichnen kann, dann hab ich dieses Buch durchaus gelesen. Wenn man es realistisch betrachtet hab ich ein wenig darin herumgeblättert.

[Efflorescence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh man.
Also ich hatte mir davon wirklich mehr erhofft. Den Anfang fand ich ja sogar noch ganz gut, aber zum Ende hin hat mir jegliche Leidenschaft für irgendwas gefehlt. Die Charaktere haben allesamt kaum auffallende Eigenschaften oder Charakterzüge, Mitgefühl scheint den meisten ein Fremdwort zu sein, denn die Morde an mehreren Personen werden zwar diskutiert, aber im Endeffekt dann doch einfach hingenommen.
Außerdem hatte ich das Gefühl, dass sämtlichen Personen in dem Buch die Konsequenzen ihres Handelns entweder nicht bewusst oder einfach egal waren.
Schade, denn das war einer der wenigen deutschen Klassiker, die ich freiwillig gelesen habe.

[Ikram · Rating 1 out of 5]

I lost my last few brain cells reading this

[Elyia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love when old white men tell me that woman only should be able to sit still and look pretty

And also I love when women get punished simply for existing

[Frau Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erstaunlich modern in der Zeichnung von Geschlechterbeziehungen: Der Prinz als Sklave seiner Gelüste und der Verhältnisse, die ihn privilegieren (me too lässt grüßen), die Jungfrau in Nöten, die die eigene Verführbarkeit fürchtet und den Tod als Akt der Befreiung wählt, die gefallene Mätresse, die als Einzige den Durchblick hat - dagegen die Eltern Galotti: Eine naiv-geltungssüchtige Trutschel und ein ehrpusseliger Choleriker, und Marinelli, der Archetyp der intriganten Hodschranzen. Obendrein ein hanebüchener Plot, aber halt das paradigmatische bürgerliche Trauerspiel. Lessing war laut Hamburgischer Dramturgie selbst nicht so überzeugt von dem Ding, aber das ist alles so drüber, dass es schon irgendwie Spaß macht.

[Cherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein wirklich interessanten Trauerspiel, das mir trotz der sehr dramatischen Handlung gut gefallen hat. Vor allem die feministische Orsina konnte mich zum Lachen bringen!
Obwohl der Prinz ja ganz klar ein Entführer und Mörder ist und Frauen als Gegenstände ansieht, die dem jeweiligen Besitzer dienen müssen, mochte ich ihn und empfand ihn mehr als Opfer seiner eigenen Gefühle. Sehr komisch, weil ich schon vermutete, dass ich ihn nicht ausstehen können würde.

[annina · Rating 2 out of 5]

schullektüre
ich weiß wirklich nicht, was ich sagen soll. es war weird, sehr weird.

[Melissa (Taylor's Version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

1,5
irgendwie das einzig gute an diesem Buch war, dass es Charaktere gibt die Gehirnschmalz und Durchblick haben.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book with an important topic. However, for the society I grew up in, not really relevant.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tragedy of the Lovesick
23 Aug 2022 – Strasbourg

Well I’m sitting on what is sort of a high-speed train heading into Switzerland, though I don’t think it is high-speed in the traditional sense since I didn’t have to pay for it, which is the case for the high-speed routes in France. However, this one does feel like it is going pretty fast. Anyway, I’ve just left Strasbourg, and while I could be sitting on the train reading, I felt that it might be an idea to actually write a review instead, especially considering that I finished reading this play last night.

They refer to this as a domestic tragedy namely because it takes place in a petty kingdom in Italy. From what I read of the introduction, this play was written during a period of German history when there was a distinct rise in the interest of plays, particularly those of Shakespeare, which had started going around Germany. Their tragedies took on the context of involving kings and queens, classic stories, or, like this one, the domestic tragedy. When I think of a domestic tragedy, I usually think of the works of Chekov or Ibsen, where the action is taking place in a middle class household, however at the time this was written, while the middle class existed, it hadn’t become the dominant class that it would in the 19th Century.

This play is based on an Ancient Roman story from Livy where the Roman Virginius killed his daughter rather than let her be ravaged by the decimvur Appius Claudius. Having not read Livy I’m not familiar with the story, however I understand that this play was based more on other dramatisations of the story rather than the story itself. So, we have the Prince who you could say is a hopeless romantic. He meets Emilia at church in the morning (the action of the play takes place over a single day) and immediately falls in love with her. The problem is that he is engaged to be married, as is Emilia, and not to each other. Also, adding insult to injury, Emilia is pretty creeped out by the prince.

So, the prince gets his chamberlain to arrange something to happen to get Emilia into the Princes’ house. So, the chamberlain arranges for her coach to be attacked by some ‘bandits’, and then have some of the princes’ men save her. Of course, everything goes wrong, including Emilia’s fiance being killed, and when Emilia lands up in the princes’ house, it become evident to everybody that she is basically a prisoner. So, based on the Roman story above, we can pretty much guess was happens.

In a way this is a tragedy of a lovestruck individual pursuing unrequited love, and attempting to manipulate the situation to make them look like a hero. Actually, it makes me realise how even today there are people that will outright abuse women, with some deluded attempt to force them into submission, or to make it seem that they are the hero, and if the woman sees her knight in shining armour coming in to save the day, they will fall madly in love with them. The reality is that this never goes well. In fact, it generally goes pretty badly. The reality is that if love is unrequited, then that is never going to change (generally, though it does happen, I would prefer to not get people’s hopes up). The sad thing is that I have heard stories from the pulpit where the pastor is forever chasing the woman that eventually becomes his wife until they give in and acquiesce. Yeah, that happens occasionally, but I don’t think it is all that helpful to tell that story to an audience of love sick romantics.

The problem is that I don’t think there is anything that can help love-sick romantics to get over it. That’s what they are told, but in many cases they simply do not want to hear the words “she’s/he’s just not in to you”. What the bigger problem is the person that is good for them (as in the case with the prince and the contessa) might be right before them, but because they are blinded by love, then they simply don’t see it. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to be able to control human emotions, particularly if that person displays no emotional intelligence. That is what I really struggled in the customer facing roles that I had because I’d take too much of the abuse to heart. Well, from what I have read on the internet, I’m not the only one, and there are a lot of people out there that face situations that are much, much worse, and get paid quite a lot less that what I was getting paid.

Anyway, my take home thoughts on this play is the tragedy of how human emotions can cloud reasonable judgement. Sure, it is clear that the prince is an emotionally immature individual – not strictly evil, but immature – however the fact that he has power means that this can, and does, cause some serious problems in his kingdom. In another sense, this could easily be transplanting into the modern world, even into a highschool, however I would probably end it somewhat different, where both Emilia’s father, and the prince, and of course the chamberlain, also suffer from the consequences of their actions – namely a stage littered with dead bodies.

[Uralte Morla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hach, der Lessing. Auch heute noch liest er sich fluffig, begeistert mit Klugheit und fantastischer Sprache. In "Emilia Galotti" prangert er das egozentrische und rücksichtslose Weltverständnis des Adels an und blickt ziemlich fortschrittlich auf die Rolle der Frau. Opfer-Blaming steckt hier schon drin, das ungleiche Geschlechterverhältnis ebenso. Die Lektüre lohnt sich. In der Schule habe ich das noch nicht wahrgenommen, aber jetzt dafür umso mehr!