Leonce and Lena
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Leonce and Lena (German: Leonce und Lena) is a play by Georg Büchner (1813 - 1837) which is considered a comedy, but is rather a satire veiled in humor. It was written in the spring of 1836 for a competition sponsored by the book publisher in Cotta. However, Büchner missed the submission deadline and the play was returned to him unread. It was premiered almost 60 years later, on May 31 1895, in an outdoor performance by the Munich Company Intimes Theater, directed by Ernst von Wolzogen and with the involvement of Max Halbe and Oskar Panizza, exemplifying the fact that Büchner only gained prominence as a writer in the 20th century.
Erich Kästner considered Leonce and Lena to be one of the six classic comedies in German (where he noted that William Shakespeare wrote more comedies alone).
[edit] Plot
The melancholic and dreamy Prince Leonce of the Kingdom Popo (in its territorial and intellectual diminutiveness a persiflage of the German city-states) has it brought to his attention that his marriage to Princess Lena of the Kingdom Pipi has been arranged. Not willing to tie the knot, he flees to Italy with his lazy bon vivant Valerio.
Meanwhile, the seemingly enlightened, but simultaneously completely vacuous absolutist King Peter calls for a privy council meeting to announce his decision to marry his son.
On his way to Italy, Leonce and Valerio encounter two women. They are Lena and her governess, but Leonce and Valerio recognize them. Leonce immediately falls in love with the girl, while Valerio and governess lead a heated exchange. Leonce confesses his love to the girl, but she does not reciprocate. Leonce wants to commit suicide, but is stopped by Valerio, who tauntingly asks him to stop the "Lieutenant romantics", and turns the tragedy of death into a farce. Later on Lena falls in love with Leonce after all, and the two decide to grow old together.
Meanwhile the government officials are practicing the festivities of the expected wedding. This scene is full of presumptuous sadism by the schoolmaster and the pitiless image of the suffering of the farmers.
A narrative gap follows, opening up the play to a multitude of interpretations. The scene shifts to the castle Popo again, from which one can see the entir, kingdom. The king and his followers are in mourning, because the prince disappeared and the wedding has to be called of. Suddenly four figures appear in the distance, who turn out to be the governess, Lena, Leonce and Valerio. Leonce and Lena have disguised themselves to the point where they cannot be recognized and are praised by Valerio as two "world famous automatons," which can perform all human functions perfectly. King Peter decides to hold the marriage "in effigie," with the automatons as bride and bridegroom. The ceremony takes hold and both takes their masks off, and they are indeed Leonce and Lena. Lena left her kingdom Pipi for the same reason as Leonce
Only now do Leonce and Lena realize that they did not play a trick on their fathers, but could not escape fate. Leonce is fascinated by this destiny and accepts, with desperately comical irony, his fortune to be a king over a kingdom of dully obedient subjects. Lena is, depending on the Interpretation, either dejected or completely overwhelmed by her fortune. Valerio, on the other hand, promoted to state minister for his arrangement of the marriage, announces, parodying the general social situation, that he will let the existing order disappear in chaos in order to focus in individual indulgence.
