History Literature / MichaelKohlhaas

A novella written by Heinrich von Kleist in 1811.

* ''Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas'' (2013), which keeps the 16th century context but moves the action from Germany to south-central France.

** The 2013 movie has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_de_Navarre Marguerite de Navarre]] as an antagonist.

----

* PayEvilUntoEvil Kohlhaas manages to put it out of his mind that though the people who wronged him were nobles and corrupt government officials, by pillaging Saxony he's destroying the property of farmers and yeomen like himself.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Michael Kohlhaas existed and did lay waste to the countryside in the 16th century. The letter that Martin Luther writes to Kohlhaas in this story is similar to one Luther actually wrote.

Michael Kohlhaas is a horse-dealer in [[HolyRomanEmpire mid-sixteenth century Germany]], the time of Martin Luther. His neighbor the Junker[[note]]Squire[[/note]] von Tronka shamelessly "impounds" two of his horses and works them half to death. Kohlhaas files a complaint in court; the Junker has friends in high places and gets the case dismissed. Kohlhaas thinks he'll have to take drastic measures to get a hearing. His wife Lisbeth, hoping to avert this, takes a petition to the Elector of Saxony. She is shoved around by the Elector's servants and dies. She, dying, points to a verse in the Bible: "Forgive thine enemies; do good to them that hate thee." -- Kohlhaas: "May God never forgive me as I forgive the Junker."

* JustifiedCriminal

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Martin Luther has a small role as an unsuccessful mediator.

* ''Michael Kohlhaas'' (2013), which keeps the 16th century context but moves the action from Germany to south-central France.

** ''Man on Horseback'' (1969).
** ''Michael Kohlhaas'' (2013), which keeps the 16th century context but moves the action from Germany to south-central France.
** ''The Jack Bull'' (1999), a made for TV {{Western}} starring Creator/JohnCusack.
** It also provided the inspiration for [[InspirationNod Coalhouse]] Walker's story in ''Literature/{{Ragtime}}''.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Martin Luther has a small role in the plot.

Adaptations include ''The Jack Bull'' (1999), a made for TV {{Western}} starring Creator/JohnCusack. Also provided the inspiration for [[InspirationNod Coalhouse]] Walker's story in ''Literature/{{Ragtime}}''

Michael Kohlhaas is a horse-dealer in [[HolyRomanEmpire mid-sixteenth century Germany]], the time of Martin Luther. His neighbor the Junker[[hottip:*:Squire]] von Tronka shamelessly "impounds" two of his horses and works them half to death. Kohlhaas files a complaint in court; the Junker has friends in high places and gets the case dismissed. Kohlhaas thinks he'll have to take drastic measures to get a hearing. His wife Lisbeth, hoping to avert this, takes a petition to the Elector of Saxony. She is shoved around by the Elector's servants and dies. She, dying, points to a verse in the Bible: "Forgive thine enemies; do good to them that hate thee." -- Kohlhaas: "May God never forgive me as I forgive the Junker."

Adaptations include ''The Jack Bull'' (1999), a made for TV {{Western}} starring JohnCusack. Also provided the inspiration for [[InspirationNod Coalhouse]] Walker's story in ''Literature/{{Ragtime}}''

Adaptations include ''The Jack Bull'' (1999), a made for TV {{Western}} starring JohnCusack. Also provided the inspiration for Coalhouse's story in ''Literature/{{Ragtime}}''

Adaptations include ''The Jack Bull'', a 1999 TV {{western}} starring JohnCusack that transfers the story to the [[TheWildWest American West]], and an upcoming [[TheFilmOfTheBook cinema production]] with Mads Mikkelsen, scheduled for 2012, as well as providing the inspiration for Coalhouse's story in ''{{Ragtime}}''

Adaptations include ''The Jack Bull'', a 1999 TV {{western}} starring JohnCusack that transfers the story to the [[TheWildWest American West]], and an upcoming [[TheFilmOfTheBook cinema production]] with Mads Mikkelsen, scheduled for 2012.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory. Michael Kohlhaas existed and did lay waste to the countryside in the 16th century. The letter that Martin Luther writes to Kohlhaas in this story is similar to one Luther actually wrote.
* JustifiedCriminal.
* PayEvilUntoEvil. Kohlhaas manages to put it out of his mind that though the people who wronged him were nobles and corrupt government officials, by pillaging Saxony he's destroying the property of farmers and yeomen like himself.
* BlackAndGrayMorality. The Junker von Tronka and the Elector of Saxony are despicable, and most other people don't come off too well either; however, no one, least of all the author, fully endorses Kohlhaas' actions against them. The story ends without redemption, with a BrokenAesop.
* [[FortuneTeller Gypsy Fortune Teller]]. She acts as something of a ''deus ex machina'' intervening at several convenient points in the plot.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy. Whatever may be written on that mysterious piece of paper, the Elector of Saxony believes it's important to his future and is desperate to read it. His very anxiety over the prophecy is his undoing.

Michael Kohlhaas is a horse-dealer in mid-sixteenth century UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, the time of Martin Luther. His neighbor the Junker[[hottip:*:Squire]] von Tronka shamelessly "impounds" two of his horses and works them half to death. Kohlhaas files a complaint in court; the Junker has friends in high places and gets the case dismissed. Kohlhaas thinks he'll have to take drastic measures to get a hearing. His wife Lisbeth, hoping to avert this, takes a petition to the Elector of Saxony. She is shoved around by the Elector's servants and dies. She, dying, points to a verse in the Bible: "Forgive thine enemies; do good to them that hate thee." -- Kohlhaas: "May God never forgive me as I forgive the Junker."

!!This story provides examples of:

A novella written by Heinrich von Kleist in 1810.

In the mid-sixteenth century, the time of Martin Luther, Michael Kohlhaas is a horse dealer. His neighbor the Junker von Tronka shamelessly "impounds" two of his horses and works them half to death. Kohlhaas files a complaint in court; the Junker has friends in high places and gets the case dismissed. Kohlhaas thinks he'll have to take drastic measures to get a hearing. His wife Lisbeth, hoping to avert this, takes a petition to the Elector of Saxony. She is shoved around by the Elector's servants and dies. (She, dying, points to a verse in the Bible: "Forgive thine enemies; do good to them that hate thee." Kohlhaas: "May God never forgive me as I forgive the Junker.") Kohlhaas declares war (literally) on the state of Saxony. He explains that since the states won't give him justice in their courts, they've excluded him from citizenship and therefore he can declare war on them. He gathers a band of followers and begins burning villages and towns, saying that he'll stop just as soon as he gets a day in court. What he wants is justice, he doesn't think of it as revenge. His wife's death fuels his rage and removes his last hesitation, but only to carry out the plan he'd already made; he doesn't even increase his demands. What he asks for, in the end as at the beginning, is exactly what's due to him: his horses, in their original health, no more, no less (with the additional poetic justice that the Junker must care for the horses with his own hands until they're recovered). This is just the first half of the story. The political ramifications expand to the rest of Germany, and a mysterious Gypsy woman offers Kohlhaas something that might save his life: a paper on which a prophecy about the Elector of Saxony is written.

* BlackAndGrayMorality. The Junker von Tronka and the Elector of Saxony are despicable, and most other people don?t come off too well either; however, no one, least of all the author, fully endorses Michael Kohlhaas? actions against them. The story ends without redemption, with a BrokenAesop.