Leonce and Lena
Encyclopedia
Leonce and Lena is a play by Georg Büchner
Georg Büchner
Karl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...

 (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 publishing house of J.G. 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
Ernst von Wolzogen
Ernst von Wolzogen Ernst von Wolzogen Ernst von Wolzogen (April 23, 1855 - August 30, 1934 was a cultural critic, a writer and a founder of Cabaret in Germany.-Biography:Wolzogen came from a noble Austrian family; he studied Literature, Philosophy, and the history of art in Strasbourg and Leipzig. ...

 and with the involvement of Max Halbe
Max Halbe
Max Halbe was a German dramatist and main exponent of Naturalism.Halbe was born at the manor of Güttland near Danzig , where he grew up. In 1883 he started to study law at the University of Heidelberg and obtained his doctorate at the University of Munich in 1888...

 and Oskar Panizza
Oskar Panizza
Leopold Hermann Oskar Panizza was a German psychiatrist and avant-garde author, playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, publisher and literary journal editor...

, exemplifying the fact that Büchner only gained prominence as a writer in the 20th century.

Erich Kästner
Erich Kästner
Emil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...

 considered Leonce and Lena to be one of the six most important classic comedies of the German language.

Act one

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
Bon viveur
A bon viveur is a person who enjoys the good things of life, especially food. The phrase is derived from the French bon vivant, meaning good living, a bon viveur being a "good liver", or one who lives well. The phrase is not derogatory but conveys a sense of overindulgence...

 Valerio.

Meanwhile, the seemingly enlightened, but simultaneously completely vacuous absolutist
Absolutism (European history)
Absolutism or The Age of Absolutism is a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by all other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites...

 King Peter calls for a privy council meeting to announce his decision to marry his son.

Act two

On his way to Italy, Leonce and Valerio encounter two women. They are Lena and her governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...

, but Leonce and Valerio do not 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.

Act Three

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, a vantage point from which the entire breadth of the kingdom can be seen. The king and his followers are in mourning owing to the disappearance of the prince and thus the cancellation of the wedding festivities. Suddenly, four figures appear in the distance, who are later revealed to be the Governess, Lena, Leonce and Valerio. Leonce and Lena have disguised themselves to the point where they cannot be recognised and are referred to by Valerio only as two "world famous automatons" which are able to perfectly perform all human functions. In order to fulfil to his "kingly promise" of providing his guests with a wedding to be celebrated, King Peter decides to hold the marriage "in effigie," with the automatons playing the roles of the bride and groom. Once the ceremony has taken place, both "automatons" take their masks off, and are revealed to be Leonce and Lena themselves. Princess Lena, having fled from the Kingdom of Pipi for the same reason as Leonce (fear and disgust at the idea of being married to a stranger), now recognises the man whom she has just married to be Prince Leonce of Popo.

Leonce and Lena, before they had become aware of each other's true identity, had been prepared to deceive their fathers in order to be married. However, they now realise that their union was the product of a fate which neither of them was capable of circumventing. Leonce is fascinated by this idea of destiny and accepts, with a desperately comical irony, his lot to be that of a King whose kingdom consists only of dully obedient subjects. There is debate regarding Lena's reaction to her fate at the end of this scene: it can be interpreted either as one of dejected submission or blissful speechlessness. Valerio, on the other hand, has been appointed by Leonce as the State Minister, in return for his part in arranging the marriage. He announces that his intention to allow the existing system of order in the State dissolve into chaos, in order to alleviate the widespread poverty and destitution that is rife within the kingdom.

Characters

The characters of the play:

King Peter: King of the Kingdom of "Popo", a word which, in German, is children's language for "bottom". The deliberately ludicrous names attributed to the two imaginary kingdoms of the play is a very obvious satirisation of the numerous and (as Büchner saw it) ridiculously petty subdivisions of the German Empire at the beginning of the Nineteenth century.
King Peter is a small-minded bureaucrat who frequently becomes tangled up in his own muddled philosophy and who must tie a knot in his handkerchief to remind him to spare a thought for his people.

Prince Leonce: Crown Prince of Popo. The character of Leonce can be seen as an amalgamation of characterisations from plays by different authors. Like Fantasio
Fantasio
Fantasio is a fictional character from the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip. He was introduced in 1944 by Jijé, who was then drawing Spirou's adventures. Fantasio is Spirou's best friend and co-adventurer, a graphic reporter with an uncontrolled imagination and a mop of blond hair...

, the eponymous hero of the French play by Alfred de Musset
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...

, Leonce is much older than his years and jaded by melancholy; he cannot abide the insincerity and shallowness of courtly life and political responsibilities. He is averse to the idea of an arranged marriage, and though aware of his duty to his father wishes, flees the realm. There are also a number of strong links between the character of Leonce and, for example, Valeria, in Brentano
Brentano
There are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano:* Antonie Brentano* August Brentano, bookseller* Bernard von Brentano, novelist* Christian Brentano* Clemens Brentano, poet and novelist, brother of Bettina von Arnim There are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano:* Antonie...

's Ponce de Leon
Ponce de León
-People:* Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish explorer of the Americas and first Governor of Puerto Rico* Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the son of Juan Ponce de León II, and early settler of Ponce, Puerto Rico...

 and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

, the protagonist of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's tragedy.

Princess Lena: Crown Princess of the Kingdom of "Pipi". In children's language, "Pipi" translates roughly as "pee". Lena is similarly fearful of the idea of an arranged marriage and is unable to grasp why the State must "drive a nail through two hands which never sought each other out". She too flees with her Governess to avoid the threat of an imposed fate.

Valerio: Companion to Prince Leonce. He might be described as hedonistic in his preoccupation with food, drink and a comfortable living, and this coarsely materialistic aspect of his character is stark in contrast with the dreamy, contemplative melancholy of Leonce.

The Governess: Princess Lena's governess and compaion. She takes pity on the mournful Lena in the first Act of the play and facilitates her fleeing the realm.

Rosetta: Concubine of Prince Leonce. Rosetta loves Leonce but is treated cruelly by him in return. In Leonce's own words, he is "bored through loving her", and makes every effort throughout their encounter (in the first Act) to stifle any remaining sentiment he entertains for her.

Schoolmaster: Seen in the third Act directing the masses of downtrodden peasants as to how they should behave, as they line the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the royal wedding procession. He reminds the peasants of their good fortune that their betters should allow them to smell the meals that they themselves cannot afford to eat.

Court Chaplain, Court Tutor, Court Master of Ceremonies, President of the Privy Council, District Administrator: A series of faceless, toadying officials of the Court of the Popo who bow instantly to the word of the King.
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