Amphitryon (Heinrich von Kleist)
Amphitryon is a comic play by Heinrich von Kleist, published in 1807. It adapts Molière’s 1668 play of the same name and draws on Greek mythology. Its subtitle, Ein Lustspiel nach Molière, identifies it as a comedy after Molière.[1]
Story
The action is set in Thebes. Jupiter takes the appearance of the commander Amphitryon to deceive Amphitryon’s wife, Alkmene. A parallel deception involves the god Mercury, who appears as Amphitryon’s servant Sosias. The cast also includes Charis, Sosias’s wife.[2]
At the beginning, Sosias approaches his master’s house at night. Mercury blocks his way, threatening him and challenging who he is. The encounter brings questions of identity into an apparently comic situation.[2]
Interpretation and reception
Scholar Zhang Shu reads the play as questioning confidence in reason, perception and personal identity. In this interpretation, the gods’ impersonations unsettle the characters’ ability to understand themselves and one another.[3]
The first publication included commentary by Adam Müller, whose Christian interpretation influenced early responses to the play. Jeffrey L. Sammons describes this reading as contributing to Goethe’s dislike of the work. The play’s stage history began much later than its publication: its first performance was in 1899.[4]
References
- ↑ Reclam, Amphitryon: Ein Lustspiel nach Molière, publisher’s description of the edition with notes and afterword by Helmut Bachmaier, ISBN 9783150074169. Accessed 10 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Heinrich von Kleist, Amphitryon, Suhrkamp reading sample, ISBN 9783518189177, cast list and Act I, scenes 1–2, pp. 12–19.
- ↑ Zhang Shu, “Tensions in Anthropological Discourse around 1800: Play, Identity, and Cognitive Crisis in Kleist’s Amphitryon”, International Comparative Literature 4, no. 2 (2021), pp. 339–351, doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214207; public abstract.
- ↑ Jeffrey L. Sammons, “Jupiterists and Alkmenists: Amphitryon as an Example of How Kleist’s Texts Read Interpreters”, in Bernd Fischer, ed., A Companion to the Works of Heinrich von Kleist (Boydell & Brewer, 2003), pp. 21–42; public chapter summary on Cambridge Core.