The conciliatory conclusion of the novella, which oscillates in the lowlands of a trivial resolution, seems to have been pasted on. The permanence of the crisis leads to family coziness. Juiletta gives birth to "a whole series of young Russians". It is completed within a conventional framework that draws the previous events, especially the individual turmoil, into a degrading bracket.
*
After the hasty death of her husband, the Marquise of O..., Julietta for short, returns to her parents' house. The parents live in the commander's quarters of a northern Italian citadel. It is occasionally stormed by Russian troops. The Tsar's soldiers are retreating. They are currently losing a war while winning many a skirmish. In any case, the Italian fort doesn't pose any problems for them. The commander, pushed to the outer edge of freedom of choice, soon no longer has any hope. He doesn't even try to keep up appearances. Julietta's father doesn't surrender only because he doesn't believe the conquerors have the generosity of the pardon. With "sinking strength" he retreats to a final line. Now a Russian captain appears on the scene, glowing with fighting spirit. He bluntly calls on the loser to surrender. Julietta's Father throws himself into the arms of the winner.
"I was just waiting for this request," he sighs and gets rid of his sword. The hapless military man returns the father of the family. He just wants to be able to retreat to the castle so that he can devote himself entirely to "his family".
This reminds me of another dud. Lord Warden of the Marches Thomas Ap Llewelyn gave up Fort Terbourg after a two-day storm, although the fortress could have been held for six months.
"Terbourg today Cherbourg - a port city on the English Channel - has been a fortress since ancient times and has had a castle protecting the Cotentin Coast since the 10th century." Wikipedia
The commander let himself be fired upon just long enough to keep up appearances, then handed over. In the fort lay forty cannon, seven thousand two hundred projectiles d'artillerie, twelve thousand bombs, fourteen hundred grenades, seventeen thousand gargousses and seventy thousand pounds of lead.
Larger calibers would have squandered everything before surrendering.
Orderlies jokingly passed hanged men moving in the wind at full gallop. Llewelyn, a native of Ysgubor-y-coed/Cardiganshire, left for Wales, accompanied only by two rascals with scarified oceanic designs.
The striker and pusher, elevated to the pedestal by Heinrich von Kleist, shows a lot of understanding for Julietta's father, as his mild nature suits him. He places a guard at G.'s side and has him step away. Then he rushes back "to the head of a detachment".
Huge fires have now broken out. The Captain orders the fires to be put out, making himself the first firefighter. He performs "miracles of effort" and risks his life. He handles the hose like he used to handle the sword.
This is no small thing. At least consider the arsenals full of gunpowder and bombs. Danger of explosion is in the air. Kleist registers a "shudder among the Asians" and thus implicitly refers to a perceived continuation of the Hun and Mongol storms. The horror and the reflex arc come from the Altaic steppes. The European unconscious obediently presents a form of fear.
True Heart
"I wrote a larger novella. She... brought me thirty guilders. I stopped sewing gloves and started a short novel. It was finished in three months and I received three hundred guilders for it." Wanda von Sacher-Masoch
*
"This lunchtime I was at Goethe's table for the first time. Apart from him, there were only Frau von Goethe, Miss Ulrike and little Walter present, and we were comfortably among ourselves. Goethe showed himself to be a family man, he presented all the dishes, carved roasted poultry, with particular skill, and missed Not even to pour a glass every now and then." Johann Peter Eckermann
As far as Kleist's heroine is concerned, there is talk of an "accident". The Marquise quickly gets back on her feet. We see a strong person who attaches great importance to quickly appearing completely sane again; to act without "assistance - Beihülfe" (German original spelling).
Kleist gives the moment a narrative asterisk by emphasizing the Russian officer's foresight. The usurper anticipated the momentary element of indisposition.
How would he have known that? Do we have to grant the war horse prophetic abilities?
Julietta is eager to show her gratitude to the savior. She already knew that he was Count F..., lieutenant colonel of the t...n hunter corps, and knight of an order of merit and several other orders.
He should show himself to her, this devil of a man with manners. The father, who has become a supplicant, turns himself into a messenger. He finds the Count "on the ramparts, where he is (re)repairing the shot-up ranks". The Magnificent promises to look after Juiletta at the first opportunity. However, events repeatedly drag him back "into the turmoil of war". Now the commander-in-chief rides into the fray. Perhaps it has become too boring for him on his commander's hill. He exchanges phrases with G.. He regrets "that luck did not support (G's) courage better and relieves the sympathetic loser of all restrictions, apart from the right to fight back.
I don't have enough patience at this point. All I want to say is that the Count neglects to reveal the names of those who approached Julietta in forbidden ways. The maneuver appears to be a mystery. The perpetrators are caught anyway and are hardly confronted before they are shot. The formidable count remains busy and ultimately fails to say goodbye to Julietta.
"And in less than an hour," writes Kleist, "the entire fort was empty of Russians again."
The narrative keeps the pace of the retreating troops. Julietta and her family deeply regret the lack of expression in their thanks. According to the terms of the time, the dashing count's intervention almost did more than save lives; a woman's honor at least outweighs her life. The lament of the missed opportunity builds to a crescendo of despair. The knight fell on the "day of his departure from the fort".
There is no doubt about his final departure. The customer messenger "saw with his own eyes (how the count was) fatally shot through the chest". He even knew the last words of the man who had been fired from the saddle:
"Julietta! This bullet avenges you!"
I won't keep you in suspense. The mother presents Julietta with Leopardo, the hunter she has brought with her, as her bridegroom. The next moment she finds reasons to reveal the ruse.
"You shall give birth in my care; and if the circumstances were such that I expected a young prince from you, I could not care for you with greater tenderness and dignity. I will not leave your side for the rest of my life."
The mother wants to defy the whole world and beat back every infamy because she finally recognizes her daughter's true heart. She gets excited to the point of fever; now requires protection, even if only for one night. The next day she triumphantly leads the blameless daughter back to the dynasty's stronghold and shows Julietta the familiar room.
The commander apologizes. He behaves "quite convulsively". The reunited people rise to the point of bliss. In the end, Julietta sits "on the commander's lap". He treats her to "long, hot and longing kisses... just like a lover."
Kleist compares father and daughter to bride and groom. At the dinner table he still plays with her fingers. He even wants to adopt the grandson. Julietta would rather let the child experience affection from the biological father.
At the indicated hour, Leopardo appears: in a scene like a farmer's banter. The Domestic reports Count F... The Marquise orders all entrances to be barricaded. The count is already there, "in exactly the same war coat, with medals and weapons as he wore when he captured the fort".
Julietta's senses are threatening to fade.
"The Count... (grabs) her hand quietly as if it were made of gold."
Julietta vehemently rejects him. She then marries him, albeit at the height of formality. After the wedding, she retreats to her parents' house and no longer appears.
The dashing man of the world takes a local apartment to live like an exile in M... After the countess gives birth to a son, he is invited to the christening. He gives his progenitor a princely gift. Now a relaxation sets in and soon the wife receives the count every evening in her sphere.
"Since his feelings told him that he was forgiven on all sides for the sake of the world's fragile institution, he began his application for the countess, his wife, anew."
The conciliatory conclusion of the novella, which oscillates in the lowlands of a trivial resolution, seems to have been pasted on. The permanence of the crisis leads to family coziness. Juiletta gives birth to "a whole series of young Russians". It is completed within a conventional framework that draws the previous events, especially the individual turmoil, into a degrading bracket. Once again, the couple discuss the fatal starting point. The wife explains herself. Prepared to meet a reprobate and to wither away in his evil shadow - atoning for her innocence - in order to fulfill social obligations, she (initially) fled from G ... like a devil."
He would not have seemed like a devil to her then if he had not, at his first appearance, seemed like an angel."
