Emilia Galotti by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

First produced: 1772; first published, 1772 (English translation, 1786)

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Tragedy

Time of plot: Early eighteenth century

Locale: Guastalla and Sabionetta, Italy

Principal characters

• Emilia Galotti, a beautiful, middle-class young woman
• Odoardo Galotti, her father
• Claudia Galotti, her mother
• Hettore Gonzaga, the prince of Sabionetta and Guastalla
• Count Appiani, betrothed to Emilia
• The Marquis Marinelli, chamberlain to the prince
• The Countess Orsina, a mistress spurned by the prince

The Story:

Prince Hettore Gonzaga, once happily in love with and loved in return by Countess Orsina, falls in love with Emilia Galotti. She is the daughter of a soldier who resisted the conquest of Sabionetta by the prince, and she is betrothed to Count Appiani from the neighboring principality of Piedmont. This union of a nobleman and a beautiful, middle-class woman is the result of her mother’s studied plan.

The treacherous Marquis Marinelli proposes that the prince retire to his palace at Dosalo after sending Count Appiani on a mission to the princess of Massa, to whom the prince affianced himself after leaving Countess Orsina. Once her betrothed is away, Emilia will be vulnerable to the prince’s designs. The ruler eagerly agrees to this plan.

Odoardo Galotti readies his villa at Sabionetta in preparation for the wedding of his daughter and returns to his wife in Guastalla to accompany the bridal party. A young assassin gathers these facts from a family servant so that he can plan the abduction of Emilia. Count Appiani, disturbed by presentiments of evil, rejects the prince’s proposal to send him off on his wedding day. He is killed for his temerity when the bridal party is attacked. Closely guarded, Emilia is taken to the palace by the prince’s people, under pretense that they are rescuing her from brigands. There the prince, playing the gallant, allays Emilia’s fears by apologizing for his former behavior and promising to escort her to her mother. Claudia, in the meantime, is frantic at being separated from her daughter. Grieving over the death of Count Appiani, she accuses Marinelli of plotting this deed of treachery and violence.

The prince, beset by a furious mother and a swooning young woman whom he desperately desires, did not reckon with the wrath of a rejected mistress as well. The Countess Orsina, whose spies uncovered the prince’s guilty secrets, arrive at the palace in Dosalo and, failing in an attempt to blackmail him, reveal Prince Hettore’s guilt to Odoardo when he comes in haste and unarmed to the aid of his daughter and wife. The countess, determined to have revenge on her former lover, gives Odoardo the dagger she intended to use herself. Odoardo insists on his rights as a father to take his daughter to her home, but his petition is denied by the crafty Marinelli. Meanwhile, the prince, unaware of Odoardo’s knowledge and purpose, tries to appear as a benefactor who will see justice done in the courts. Until that time, however, he will keep Emilia apart for security’s sake. To this arrangement Odoardo pretends to agree, ironically commenting on each provision of treachery as it is proposed.

When the anxious father is finally allowed to see his daughter, she tells him that she fears her virtue might yield where force can never prevail, for the arts of seduction are brilliantly practiced in Prince Hettore’s court. To protect her virtue, Odoardo stabs Emilia, presents her body to the lustful prince, throws the dagger at his feet, and goes off to give himself up to the authorities.

Bibliography

Allison, Henry E. Lessing and the Enlightenment. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966. Excellent source for information on Lessing’s philosophy of religion.

Brown, F. Andrew. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. New York: Twayne, 1971. A good introduction to Lessing’s life as a critic, dramatist, and theologian. Discusses Lessing’s major works against the backdrop of eighteenth century German literature and culture.

Fischer, Barbara, and Thomas C. Fox, eds. A Companion to the Works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, 2005. Collection of essays, including discussions of Lessing’s life and times, his place within the European Enlightenment, his theory of drama, and Lessing and philosophy, theology, and the Jews.

Graham, Ilse. Goethe and Lessing: The Wellsprings of Creation. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973. Offers a new reading of Emilia Galotti by concentrating on the ideal image of the character and the failure of its realization. Discusses Lessing’s and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s different sources of creativity.

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Emilia Galotti. Translated by Edward Dvoretzky. New York: Felix Ungar, 1962. Introduction provides information about the source of this play and its reception in eighteenth century Germany. Translation has successfully retained the original flavor of the play by taking into account its rhetorical devices.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗.“Nathan the Wise,” “Minna von Barnhelm,” and Other Plays and Writings. Edited by Peter Demetz. New York: Continuum, 1991. Includes a foreword by Hannah Arendt, which discusses Lessing’s idea of friendship and fraternity and its political relevance in eighteenth century Germany. Provides translations of selections from Lessing’s philosophical and theological writings.

Ottewell, Karen. Lessing and the Sturm und Drang: A Reappraisal Revisited. New York: Peter Lang, 2002. Analyzes Lessing’s dramas within the context of the Sturm und Drang movement. Ottewell views Lessing as an important precursor of the movement, and she analyzes his attitudes toward and his impact upon writers associated with the movement, including Johann Gottfried Herder and Friedrich Schiller. Devotes a chapter to Emilia Galotti.