The concept of love presented in Kleist’s Penthesilea
and relation to notions of “Romantic”

by: Ivo Schröder

 

Analyse the concept of love presented in Kleist’s Penthesilea and relate your findings to notions of the “Romantic”. The drama “Penthesilea” written in 1808 by Kleist is one of the most discussed dramas in German literature during the Romantic epoch. To begin with, it is helpful to take a closer look at how this novel can be classed as a ‘Romantic’ drama. “The romanticist originates by a break which divides the whole world into two parts. On the one hand there is the world of reason numbers and figures and on the other hand there is the world of sense and of the wonderful.

Moving power of the German romantic is a desire for the healing of the world and the conflation of differences to a harmonic on the whole. The whole desire directs on something indecisive or unreachable. That’s the reason why the desire can never been fulfilled.”¹

This is one of the most published definitions of the term “Romantic”. Irrespective of the exact definition of “Romantic”, it is the aspect of love that comes to most people’s minds when they hear the word. In “Penthesilea,” the Queen of the Amazons (Penthesilea) falls in love with Achilles from the very beginning. Going against the law she decides to find herself a bride’s groom on her own. This goes against the Amazons’ ritual of engaging in battle to find love:

„Fern aus der Urne alles Heiligen,
O Jüngling: von der Zeiten Gipfeln nieder,
Den unbetretnen, die der Himmel ewig
In Wolkenduft geheimnisvoll verhüllt.“²

The most striking aspect of Penthesilea’s character throughout the story is the way she expresses her feelings and, particularly, her love of Achilles. At the very beginning it is hard to imagine that a Queen like Penthesilea is able to fall in love at all. It takes twenty-six pages of reading before Penthesilea appears on stage. During these pages, she is described as a Queen of war and a redoubtable woman who lives for her belief in herself and her belief in her followers. She seems to follow the “normal” behaviour of her society. This image is confirmed in her first scene, when the Amazons expect her to celebrate the victory of the Rosenfest. However, Penthesilea seems to be much more interested in another battle than in celebrating her victory and looking for real love. Nichts vom Triumph mir! Nichts vom Rosenfeste!

Es ruft die Schlacht noch einmal mich ins Feld.
Den jungen trotz′gen Kriegsgott bänd′g′ ich mir,
Gefährtinnen, zehntausend Sonnen dünken,
Zu einem Glutball eingeschmelzt, so glanzvoll
Nicht, als ein Sieg, ein Sieg mir über ihn.³

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1. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantik (translated into English)

2. Kleist Heinrich von Penthesilea.2001;p.74.ll.1904-1908 Stuttgart, Reclam

3. Kleist Heinrich von Penthesilea.2001;p.26.ll.628-633 Stuttgart, Reclam