Kleist's Aristocratic Heritage and Das Käthchen Von Heilbronn

William Reeve provides a detailed textual analysis of Heinrich von Kleist's drama "Das Kaethchen von Heilbronn", demonstrating that Kleist drew its poetic images, themes and general atmosphere from the Prussian aristocratic class into which he had been born. Reeve's comprehensive re-reading of Kaethchen throws light on the enigmas and textual incongruities that have puzzled Kleist's commentators in the past. This analysis uses the model of the aristocrat which draws upon Nietzsche's "Was ist vornehm" and the works of Anthony Ludovici, Karl Kautsky and others. The author examines Kleist's use of symbolic and descriptive names, showing how they emphasize his ties to the aristocracy, and compares Kleist's drama to two other plays featuring socially forbidden love, Friedrich Schiller's "Kabale und Liebe" and Christian Friedrich Hebbel's "Agnes Bernauer".