Political and Cultural Context

"Friede den Hütten! Krieg den Palasten!"

"Peace to the huts! War on the palaces!" -- this is what Büchner wrote on his revolutionary pamphlet, Der Hessische Landbote, published in 1834. His pamphlet was more than just a piece of rhetoric, as it included statistics highlighting the extreme inequality of the region and mismanagement of funds by the court. Although he never took violent action against the ruling class, he was certain of the need for violent revolution, and his writings reflect that. So what inspired his contempt for the "palaces"?

Büchner was born in Upper Hesse, a region characterized by poverty, where recent political changes had worsened the already dire economic conditions of the farming peasants of the region. In 1830, farmers from Hesse led a violent uprising, burning and destroying government buildings, police stations, records, and nobles' properties. This uprising ultimately failed, as the police swiftly responded with brutality. Shortly after this, Büchner began to immerse himself in the writings of French Revolutionaries.

The French Revolution had been over for several decades by the time Büchner was born in 1813, but its aftershocks were still felt across Europe. Although Büchner was inspired by French Revolutionaries' pursuit of "liberty, equality, brotherhood", he recognized that the revolution had ultimately failed to effect real social and economic equality. He hoped to incite a more successful revolution when he wrote and distributed Der Hessische Landbote.

Unfortunately, Büchner's efforts were also met with bitter failure. Although the pamphlet was successfully spread far across the Hesse region, the memory of the failed uprising of 1830 was still fresh in the people's minds, and many people turned the pamphlets into authorities rather than pass them on. Worse, Büchner's comrade was caught with roughly 150 copies of the pamphlet and arrested. Büchner was not immediately arrested, but was closely surveilled, and eventually he fled to Strasbourg in 1835.

In Stasbourg he wrote Dantons Tod, which was inspired by the failed French Revolution and his own failed uprising. "The revolution is like Saturn, it devours its on children," he wrote. By the time he moved on to write Leonce und Lena a few months later, he was jaded and fugitive, but still a revolutionary at heart. The comedy is a biting satire against the German aristocracy he still wished to bring down.

Sturm und Drang

The Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) movement was a German Romantic movement affecting literature and music in the late 18th century (1760s-1780s). The movement focused on a style that encouraged freedom of emotional expression, particularly focusing on emotional extremes and melancholy. Famous contributors to the movement included composers like Mozart, Bach, and Hayden, as well as writers like Schiller, Lenz, and Goethe.

Goethe's Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers (The Sorrow of Young Werther) epitomizes the movement and demonstrates the powerful influence of the movement. The novel was an exploration of Goethe's own suffering at the hands of unrequited love, and concluded with the narrator killing himself. Das Leiden des Jungen Werthers was wildly popular, turning Goethe into a celebrity almost overnight. The resulting "Werther fever" popularized Werther's distinctive blue coat and yellow undershirt, but also spawned a wave of copycat suicides.

Büchner was strongly influenced by the Sturm und Drang movement; he even went so far as to write a novella about the popular Sturm und Drang author Jakob Lenz in 1836. The influence of the movement can be seen in Büchner's work through his focus on emotional themes; in Leonce und Lena in particular he deeply explores the emotion of melancholy.

"Deutschland ist Hamlet!"

Büchner was influenced by Shakespeare throughout his career, as he joined a group of Shakespeare aficionados at the age of 15. It may seem strange for an 19th century German writer to be influenced by a 17th century British playwright, but Shakespeare's works have been widely appreciated by Germans since they were first translated in the 1600s. In fact, the time period when Büchner did most of his writing, the 1830's, represents a time when Germans felt most strongly connected to one of Shakespeare's most famous works.

Before its unification in 1871, Germany was not a single nation but rather a collection of states. Repeated failures to unify in the early 19th century lead to frustration, and many began to compare the politically immobile Germany to Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet: constantly deliberating; unable to make a decision. In 1844, St. Goar immortalized this idea in poetry when he wrote, "Deutschland ist Hamlet!"

Many connections can be drawn between Büchner's Leonce and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Both are melancholic princes fascinated by death, and each are afflicted by idleness. Leonce even quotes Hamlet during Act 2, Scene 2 of Leonce und Lena:

"Sollte nicht dies und ein Wald von Federbüschen, nebst ein Paar gepufften Rosen auf meinen Schuhen?"

This is a nearly direct quote of Hamlet's line in Act 3, Scene 2 of Hamlet:

"Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers—if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me—with two Provincial roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players?"

There is a distinct difference between the two princes, however: while Hamlet is rendered immobile by indecision, Leonce is lazy and immobile by preference. If we view the princes as symbols for government as the Germans did, Büchner's point becomes clear: Germany's rulers and politicians are not bound by a quandary of indecision. Rather, they are willfully lazy, and feel entitled to waste the time and tax money of the German people.