Loss of honor has been a favorite motive for German authors. So long as honor was more important than life itself, then the loss of honor was considered life's greatest tragedy.
We have seen this in several stories that we have read this semester, including "The Criminal of Lost Honor," "Michael Kohlhaas," and even "The Jew's Beech." It has also been seen in the ancient tale "Das Nibelungenlied," through cruel demands, as when Hildebrand must fight his own son or when Rüdeger must fight his Burgundian friends.
In Schiller's story "The Criminal of Lost Honor," instead of giving moral instruction, history serves to satisfy our curiosity. In order for the reader to profit from history, they should not only see what the criminal does, but why he does it. When we see their thoughts and causes, and not strictly their actions and consequences, we can begin to sympathize with the criminal instead of scorning or damning them.
In "The Criminal of Lost Honor," we have Christian Wolf, whose ugliness repulses girls. Trying to compensate for this, he turns to poaching to support a lifestyle who otherwise could not. After being caught three times, he is eventually sent to three years of hard labor. During this time he is corrupted by the other inmates, and once he is released, he finds himself ostracised once more. Despair and shame have robbed him of his ambition and he no longer tries to pass as a man of honor.
After fleeing from the scene, where he killed the man who has caused him so much misery, he joins a gang of robbers and outcasts. He is chosen as their leader, and he is in a position of honor, even if it is among thieves. He soon tires of this life, and tries to win a pardon for his actions by enlisting in the Seven Years War. He is eventually detained enroute by a customs official, where he professes his identity and is later executed.
Schiller's advice that a narrator needs to describe the criminal's act, along with his prior thoughts and feelings is best described in "Michael Kohlhaas." This is a story that depicts the psychological factors that can change a righteous person into a terrifying man of his time. Kohlhaas is offended after two of his best horses are wrongfully detained and then are allowed to be maltreated and worked close to death. Kohlhaas seeks justice by all the legal means available to him. When it is refused he sets out to attack the Tronka castle to get justice.
After learning that the guilty party is not there, he declares a feud on anyone or any city that gives him refuge. Kohlhaas is persuaded by Martin Luther to submit his case to the law, but once again justice is seen as corrupt. Kohlhaas's actions can be attributed to his love of justice. Kohlhaas has priveleges that are violated by the Trunker, and as a result, his honor is attacked.
Although justice is oftentimes mentioned, or inferred in this story, Kohlhaas is concerned with restoring his prestige or honor. If it wasn't for this idea, he would have settled for the compensation rather than insisting that his horses be returned to their previous state. Before the execution, Kohlhaas has the privelege of seeing his horses returned to their 'honorable' state once more.
Schiller's advice about portraying a criminal's motives as well as his deed was shown in Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's story "The Jew's Beech." Frederick Mergel has little honor to begin with, and because of this he guards it with a high regard. Growing up with a drunkard as a father, who eventually dies, and a mother who only has bitter memories persecuted him by the other villagers.
He, like Christian Wolf, tries to overcome his status by dressing well. He begins to brag and show off, and avoids being shamed. He is a cow-herder, which is considered a dishonorable position. He soon becomes friends with Johannes Niemand, who it is believed to be the bastard son of his uncle. Frederick's honor is put to shame after Johannes, who is seen as his protege, is caught stealing butter from a wedding. Trying to make amends and restore his honor, he shows off a watch that is the envy of his colleagues. However, at that time the Jew Aaron, humiliates him once more by demanding payment for the watch. Frederick and Aaron leave the wedding, and soon afterwards the Jew Aaron is found murdered under the Beech tree. Both Johannes and Frederick dissappeared after the ordeal. The local jews by the beech tree and carve an inscription in it , cursing the murderer to die upon his return to the beech tree.
The story ends with Johannes returning to the village. He disappears, and eventually his rotting body is found hanging from the beech tree. It is at this time, when the villagers realize it is actually Frederick who returned and not Johannes.
Due to Frederick's background he tries to maintain a certain appearance to the villagers. He has a touchy sense of honor that made him act aggressively whenever he meets the disapproval of people. He was a delinquent youth, and after his ordeal in Turkey, he began to realize his guilt.
These are just three stories that touch on the idea of honor is German literature. It is something that the author's recognized that their reader's could associate themselves with. Some people grow up with horrible backgrounds: low socioeconomic status, bad upbringing, etc. As they grow older, they want the approval of their peers and hope that, if their background is discovered, it will not bring them shame. If their background is discovered, they may feel that their honor is no longer intact. Once that happens, they may be driven to murder to avenge their loss.
Whether it is justifiable or not, the author's main strategy is to allow the reader to associate themselves witht the criminal. Letting the reader know what the criminal did and the consequences of their actions, along with the reasoning behind them that led them to that action, can help the reader profit from the tale.
Sources:
Jones, George Fenwick. "Honor in German Literature." New York: Ams Press, Inc. 1966
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
"Der Verdacht" - Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss playwright and dramatist. He achieved prominence after World War II in both Switzerland and Germany.
"Der Verdacht," or Suspicion is the second installment of the Detective Barlach series. Here we find the detective bedridden with terminal cancer. After looking at a picture on the cover of a magazine, he begins to suspect that a respected doctor, Emmenberger, is really a Nazi war criminal, Dr. Nehle. Dr. Nehle is a sadist who operated on Jews in concentration camps. It sound harmless, however, all of these procedures were done without any anesthesia.
Trying to prove his suspicion correctly, Barlach lets himself become a patient of Emmenberger, and eventually his prisoner. After confirming his suspicion, Emmenberger reveals that he is indeed Dr. Nehle, but he has no fear of being found out, because he plans on killing Barlach by performing a surgery without anesthesia. Barlach is saved by a Jew named Gulliver, who managed to survive a horrible operation performed by Dr. Nehle in a concentration camp. We also learn that he is the one who snapped the picture of Dr. Nehle and submitted it to the magazine.
In this story we get a change of roles. Gulliver, who once found himself as the victim, now is the murderer when he kills Emmenberger.
Dürrenmatt wrote, "Wir können als einzelne die Welt nich retten, das wäre eine ebenso hoffnungslose Arbeit wie die des armen Sisyphus; sie ist nicht in unsere Hand gelegt, auch nicht in die Hand eines Mächtigen oder eines Volkes oder in die des Teufels, der doch am mächtigsten ist, sondern in Gottes Hand, der seine Entscheide allein fällt." (from Der Verdacht)
Sisyphus' punishment was set forth by the greek God Zeus, because of his arrogance that he believed he could outsmart Zeus. Sisyphus reported the indiscretions of Zeus to the river God, Asopus, and as a direct result Zeus punished him to an eternity of frustration. He was punished for eternity to roll a huge boulder up a hill, and just as he was about to reach the top of the hill, it would roll back down, forcing him to begin all over again
This is interesting, because through several of the stories, we talked about revenge. In our first story, "Der Verbrecher aus verlornere Ehre," we had a man who was a victim to his society and sought his revenge by killing the man who caused him this anguish. In "Michael Kohlhaas" we have a man who tried to seek revenge for the wrongs done to him, by seeking help from the legal justice system. When they legal system failed him, he, too, sought his own revenge. In the above example about Sisyphus, we have a God who punishes a person as his revenge.
Dürrenmatt said that it is not in our hands, and that it is in the hand of God alone, in which the decision falls. But now we have a sample of a God who is seeking revenge as well.
In an article entitled “Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Chaos and Calvinism,” by Edward Diller, he poses why Dürrenmatt, as a man of the twentieth century, should not assume that man has the power or capacity to improve on the world, or even aid in his own redemption. The reason behind this is that to believe so, would strip God of His power and His glory, and assume that man has the ability of salvation. Diller proposes that the question pressing on Dürrenmatt is “How God can be glorified in an age that rejects the whole question as ridiculous?”Man robs God of His glory, then, by ignoring his existence or by rebelling.
Diller, Edward. "Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Chaos and Calvinism." Monatshefte. Spring, 1971. Retrieved from JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30156508?&Search=yes&term=%22Der+Verdacht%22&term=Friedrich&term=D%C3%BCrrenmatt%27s&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DFriedrich%2BD%25C3%25BCrrenmatt%2527s%2B%2522Der%2BVerdacht%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3DFriedrich%2BD%25C3%25BCrrenmatt%2527s%2B%2522Der%2BRichter%2Bund%2Bsein%2BHenker%2522%2B%2BGluttony%252C%2BVictory%252C%2BAND%2BJustice%2BFriedrich%2BD%25C3%25BCrrenmatt%2527s%2B%2522Der%2BVerdacht%2522%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=1&ttl=8&returnArticleService=showArticle&cookieSet=1. Pp. 28-40
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