About the work
Heinrich von Kleist's final drama was composed in 1809-10 but not performed until 1821, ten years after his suicide, at the Wiener Burgtheater. The play in five acts centres on the conflict between military discipline and individual conscience at the Prussian court and is widely considered one of the greatest German dramas ever written.
Plot
Prince Friedrich of Homburg, a young Prussian cavalry general, dreams on the eve of battle of glory and love. Distracted, he fails to hear the battle order and leads his cavalry into attack too early. Though Prussia wins, the Elector of Brandenburg condemns the Prince to death for disobeying orders. Homburg collapses at first in abject terror before accepting the sentence and submitting to the law—at which point the Elector pardons him and crowns him as hero. The play closes with the restored Prince, now fully integrated into the state, asking whether he is dreaming.
Cultural significance
During Kleist's lifetime, the play was felt to be too critical of Prussian militarism and was rejected for decades. It is now recognised as one of the key works on the tension between dream and duty, individual and state. The fear-of-death scene in Act Three ranks among the great monologues of German literature and demands from the actor a rare willingness to embrace existential weakness. Major stagings have come from Peter Stein, Claus Peymann, and Andrea Breth.