The Archetype of Maiden Warrior in the Dramas of Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich von Kleist

The article examines the archetype of Maiden Warrior in the dramaturgy of Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich von Kleist. Three writers’ views on the role of the female sex in the structure of society reflected a commitment to the “traditional values” of that time. Why, in their dramas, do they come to the archetype of the Amazon, which is exactly the opposite of the female ideal nurtured by the Enlightenment? In their dramas, Schiller, Goethe and Kleist constantly contrast the image of a woman submitting to male authority with the figure of a warrior maiden rebelling against the patriarchal order. In Schillerʼs “Mary Stuart”, the conflict is between Mary, the typical woman, and Elizabeth, the maiden on the throne. The same collision is present in an even more obvious form in “The Maid of Orleans”, since it reflects the dual nature of Joan of Arc. In Goethe’s “Illegitimate Daughter”, the main character Eugenia also acts as a kind of Amazon, transferred to the conventionally modern setting of the impending revolution. In “Penthesilea”, Kleist, making the heroine of his tragedy the mythical queen of the Amazons, rethinks the ideas of the Weimar Classicism regarding female heroism in a more radical way. Taking up arms, Joanna and Penthesilea become a symbol of the feminine principle deviating from its natural destiny. For all three writers, the image of the Amazon embodies the longing for an unattainable ideal, since the androgynous character of the warrior maiden simultaneously symbolizes both harmony and disharmony.