"Der Herr aber, dessen Leib du begehrst, vergab seinem Feind": The Problem of Revenge in Kleist's "Michael Kohlhaas"

Abstract

In Michael Kohlhaas, Kohlhaas is shown to operate primarily, but not exclusively, from a desire to see that justice is done. By including the theme of revenge, Kleist offers his reader a psychologically realistic account of human behaviour. None the less, Kohlhaas's moral achievement consists in overcoming his natural desire for vengeance: when he swallows the paper at the end of the story, it is not his intention to take revenge on the Elector of Saxony, but rather to exploit the theatricality of the occasion to demonstrate that honesty and integrity are superior to revenge and self-interest