Act one
Morning in the house of musician Miller. He and his wife discuss their daughter’s infatuation with a noble young man and see nothing good that could come out of this feeling. Miller, with the common sense of the burghers, believes that his lovely and beloved daughter will only be disgraced.
This is how the play “Cunning and Love” begins, a brief summary of which we have begun to present. The wife objects and dreams that if they unite, it will be a happy marriage. Louise's father does not see the possibility of such an alliance. A middle-aged gentleman, Voors, comes to them, who has long asked for the hand of a young beauty. His father frankly doesn’t like him, and Herr Miller reports that he does not intend to force his daughter into marriage. It should be her free choice.
Voors is both internally (this will be shown by further developments of events) an “inky soul,” as Miller characterizes him, and externally scary: he has ugly red hair, mouse eyes darting furtively, his jawline bulges out ugly. The loving couple meets when the impatient Ferdinand arrives for a visit in the morning.
From their dialogue it is clear that they love tenderly and purely, but Louise sees an obstacle to their union in the form of Ferdinand’s father, who occupies a very high position, while the young man himself is ready to move mountains and overcome everything that could separate him from Louise. He's leaving for home. Voors, Ferdinand's father's secretary, told his father about his son's tender feelings. The President mocked this and is ready to accept a bastard if his son frolics with a girl, but marriage is a completely different matter.
An unpleasant conversation takes place, during which the father announces that he has found a bride for his son. This has already been announced to the whole city, and the matter is decided. Ferdinand can only make a formal proposal. Who is this? This is the Duke's mistress - Lady Milford. He doesn’t want a mistress, here in front of him is another impeccable beautiful bride - Countess von Ostheim. So choose, obstinate son. There are no other options and there never will be.
Class prejudices stand between lovers in the play “Cunning and Love.” The summary of the first act shows them to us right away. Ferdinand is going to go to my lady and tell her everything he thinks.
Summary of “Cunning and Love” by Schiller F.
Music teacher Miller is very upset that love has broken out between his daughter Louise and Major Ferdinand: “The girl will never get rid of her shame!” Soon gossip spreads throughout the city - and the musician's house is threatened with dishonor. After all, according to Muller, the son of President Walter cannot possibly marry the daughter of a modest teacher.
The President's personal secretary, the treacherous and low Wurm, is vying for Louise's hand in marriage. He comes to her father to advise his daughter who she should pay attention to. But the musician drives away Wurm, whose meanness is known to everyone. On a date, Ferdinand convinces Louise that love is higher than all barriers. Wurm hurries to inform the president about his son’s feelings for a simple bourgeois woman. The President laughs: he is ready to pay a fine for seducing a girl, but his son must marry Lady Milford, the Duke’s dissolute favorite. With this, von Walter will strengthen his influence on the Duke himself. And the moral qualities of his future daughter-in-law and the feelings of his own son do not bother him at all. The Duke reports his son's wedding (to the Duke, the city, the court) as if the matter has been decided. But Ferdinand rejects the “high-ranking libertine.” The son condemns his father for “crawling around the throne” and robbing the people, because for him his own benefit is more valuable than high ideals. From Lady Milford's conversation with the chambermaid, it turns out that the woman is madly in love with Ferdinand. She is ready to sacrifice everything! him. And she donates: the magnificent diamonds given to her by the Duke are sent to be sold, and the money is donated to help the poor people affected by the fire. She wants to be equal in nobility with her loved one. On a date between Ferdinand and Lady Milford, the major accuses the woman in love with him of being corrupt, and she tells him about her sad fate - a fourteen-year-old Englishwoman, in whose veins royal blood flowed, was forced after the execution of a dignitary his English father (he was accused of conspiracy) to flee to Germany. However, the teenage girl still grabbed the box with family jewelry, and so she lived from the sale of “diamond pins.” She was not accustomed to work and humility, so at the age of twenty, my lady became the Duke’s beloved. The favorite takes credit for the fact that she distracted the Duke from many girls and women who, before his relationship with her, were victims of his claims. Ferdinand believes the sincerity of this woman and confesses to her that he loves another, wants to connect his destiny with her. Milady declares that their marriage is a done deal. The whole duchy is talking about it, and Milford cannot and does not want to allow it to be cancelled. Musician Miller scolds his wife, feels sorry for his daughter and expects only misfortune from fate. First Ferdinand, then I and his father come to the music teacher’s house. A terrible scene occurs. Von Walter accuse Louise of debauchery, of selling her love. Insulted on behalf of his daughter, Miller kicks the president out of his house. He's going to complain to the Duke. Naive!
The angry president promises to arrest Louise and her mother in order to put them in the pillory. Ferdinand, in anger, promises his father to reveal his terrible secret: “how they become presidents.” Von Walter holds a council with Wurm - and one scoundrel tells the other: “We need to discredit Louise in the eyes of her lover.”
Dark affairs connect the president with Wurm: forgery of signatures, false certificates, theft. These people are connected for life. Louise's father and mother are taken into custody by order of the President "for insulting the Duke." Ferdinand invites his beloved to escape. But she refuses to leave her father and mother. Jealous suspicions are cast into the young man's heart. Wurm comes to Louise and blackmails her with the fact that her father is in prison - and he could be executed or deprived of the possibility of his usual existence. Under Wurm's dictation, the girl writes a “love letter” to the ridiculous Marshal Kalb - this is supposedly the price for the release of her parents. She is only sixteen years old, what can she understand about human meanness? Ferdinand believes the slander, confirmed by “written evidence,” and is ready to abandon his beloved, whom he so sincerely swore so recently and trusted so unconditionally. Milady calls Louise to her and tries to “first intimidate her, and then ransom” Ferdinand from her for large jewelry. Louise behaves in such a way that the Duke's mistress feels ashamed of herself, anger and the desire to destroy a loving and proud girl. Milady even threatens Louise with suicide, and in the end decides to break with the Duke. She writes a farewell letter to her corrupter, rewards the servants with large sums and instructs the marshal to convey her message to the duke. Blinded by jealousy, Ferdinand decides to poison the “vile snake” - and serves Louise the poison in a glass of lemonade. The girl's dying words prove to him that she is an innocent victim of deceit. Then Ferdinand also takes poison. The girl’s parents (they were released from prison) and Mr. President himself are crying over the dead lovers. Von Walter and Wurm are ready to expose their crimes to the Duke and the people, but their late repentance can no longer bring two tender loving souls back to the feast.
Act two
Lady Milford, young, beautiful, showered with benefits and gifts from the Duke, suffers greatly.
She, a duchess by birth, at the age of 14 fled with her nanny from England, where her father was executed. A rich and noble child was about to commit suicide. At that moment the Duke noticed her and took her to his place. Now Lady Milford has everything except love and self-respect. She has long loved Major Ferdinand, who enters her house and, having learned about her previous life, repents, stops insulting, but reports that he loves and is loved. This is a continuation of the dramatic story “Cunning and Love”. The summary now takes us to the house of the musician Miller.
Ferdinand's father bursts in there along with the police. He threatens to throw Miller himself in prison, and chain the mother and daughter to the pillory: that’s the place for a corrupt girl. This is how Schiller develops the action more and more intensely. “Cunning and Love,” the summary of the play that we present, puts father and son on opposite sides.
While in Miller's house, he threatened his father that he would tell everyone thanks to what shady dealings he got the position of president. Ferdinand leaves, the father, forgetting about the Millers, rushes after his son. But this is not the end, but only the middle of the play that Schiller created, “Cunning and Love.” The summary and action in the work itself is rapidly developing.
Summary: Cunning and love
Friedrich Schiller Cunning and Love
The action takes place in Germany in the 18th century, at the court of one of the German dukes.
The son of President von Walter is in love with the daughter of a simple musician, Louise Miller. Her father views this with distrust, since the marriage of an aristocrat with a bourgeois woman is impossible. The president's secretary, Wurm, is also vying for Louise's hand; he has been visiting the Millers' house for a long time, but the girl does not have any feelings for him. The musician himself understands that Wurm is a more suitable match for Louise, although Miller does not like him, but the last word here belongs to the daughter herself, the father is not going to force her to marry anyone, Wurm informs the president about his son’s passion for the daughter of the tradesman Miller. Von Walter doesn't take it seriously. A fleeting feeling, perhaps even the birth of a healthy bastard grandson, is nothing new in the noble world. Mr. President had a different fate in store for his son. He wants to marry him to Lady Milford, the Duke's favorite, so that through her he can gain the Duke's trust. The secretary's news forces von Walter to speed up the course of events: his son must find out about his upcoming marriage immediately.
Ferdinand returns home. His father tries to talk to him about his future. Now he is twenty years old, and he is already at the rank of major. If he continues to obey his father, then he is destined for a place next to the throne. Now the son must marry Lady Milford, which will finally strengthen his position at court. Major von Walter refuses his father’s offer to marry a “privileged charming lady”; he is disgusted by the president’s affairs and the way he “handles them” at the duke’s court. The place near the throne does not appeal to him. Then the president invites Ferdinand to marry Countess Ostheim, who is from their circle, but at the same time has not discredited herself with a bad reputation. The young man again disagrees; it turns out that he does not love the Countess. Trying to break his son's stubbornness, von Walter orders him to visit Lady Milford, the news of his upcoming marriage with whom has already been spread throughout the city.
Ferdinand breaks into Lady Milford's house. He accuses her that she wants to dishonor him by marrying him. Then Emilia, who is secretly in love with the major, tells him the story of her life. Hereditary Duchess of Norfolk, she was forced to flee England, leaving all her fortune there. She has no relatives left. The Duke took advantage of her youth and inexperience and turned her into his expensive toy. Ferdinand repents of his rudeness, but tells her that he is unable to marry her, since he loves the daughter of a musician, Louise Miller. All Emilia’s plans for personal happiness collapse. “You are ruining yourself, me and a third party,” she tells the major. Lady Milford cannot refuse to marry Ferdinand, since she “cannot wash away the shame” if the Duke’s subject rejects her, so the whole burden of the struggle falls on the Major’s shoulders.
President von Walter comes to the musician's house. He tries to humiliate Louise, calling her a corrupt girl who cleverly lured the son of a nobleman into her network. However, having coped with the first excitement, the musician and his daughter behave with dignity, they are not ashamed of their origin. Miller, in response to von Walter's intimidation, even shows him the door. Then the president wants to arrest Louise and her mother and chain them to the pillory, and throw the musician himself into prison. Ferdinand, who arrived in time with his sword, protects his beloved; he wounds the police, but this does not help. He has no choice but to resort to the “devilish means”; he whispers in his father’s ear that he will tell the entire capital how he removed his predecessor. The President leaves Miller's house in horror.
The treacherous secretary Wurm tells him a way out of this situation. He offers to play on Ferdinand's feelings of jealousy by throwing him a note written by Louise to her imaginary lover. This should persuade his son to marry Lady Milford. The president persuaded Hall Marshal von Kalb to become Louise's fake lover, who together with him composed false letters and reports in order to remove his predecessor from his post.
Wurm goes to Louise. He tells her that her father is in prison and is facing a criminal trial, and her mother is in a workhouse. An obedient daughter can free them if she writes a letter under Wurm’s dictation and also takes an oath to recognize this letter as voluntary. Louise agrees. The letter, “lost” by von Kalb, falls into the hands of Ferdinand, who challenges the marshal to a duel. The cowardly von Kalb tries to explain everything to the major, but passion prevents him from hearing a frank confession.
Meanwhile, Lady Milford arranges a meeting with Louise at her house. She wanted to humiliate the girl by offering her a place as a maid. But the musician’s daughter shows such nobility towards her rival that the humiliated Emilia leaves the city. She flees to England, distributing all her property to her servants.
Louise, who has gone through so much in recent days, wants to end her life, but her old father returns home. With tears, he manages to dissuade his daughter from a terrible act, Ferdinand appears. He shows Louise the letter. Miller's daughter does not deny that it was written by her hand. The major is beside himself, he asks Louise to bring him lemonade, and he sends the musician to President von Walter with a request to deliver a letter from him and say that he will not come to dinner. Left alone with his beloved, Ferdinand quietly adds poison to the lemonade, drinks it himself and gives the terrible potion to Louise. The impending death removes the seal of the oath from Louise's lips, and she confesses that she wrote the note on the orders of the president in order to save her father from prison. Ferdinand is horrified; Louise dies.
Von Walter and old Miller run into the room. Ferdinand blames his father for the death of an innocent girl, who points to Wurm. The police appear, Wurm is arrested, but he does not intend to take all the blame on himself. Ferdinand dies, before his death he forgives his father.
Act three
Ferdinand invites Louise to run away with him. The girl refuses, and the major reproaches her for not loving him enough. At this point they part. Ferdinand's father imprisons Louise's father and sends her mother to a workhouse. Only the girl can save them by writing a love note, from which it is clear that she does not love the major.
She agrees to everything in order to save her parents, and under the dictation of Voors, she writes to her fake lover, Marshal von Kalb. Cunning dominates love, as Friedrich Schiller shows (Cunning and Love). The summary of the play we are considering shows us the nobility of some natures and the vileness of others.
Act four
Ferdinand was given a love note from Louise, and first he wants to kill the cowardly von Kalb in a duel. Meanwhile, Lady Milford invited Louise to her house. She insults the girl, expressing her desire to make her her maid. Louise nobly and restrainedly refuses and with bitter dignity explains to my lady that if the marriage takes place between her and the major, she will take her own life. With these words, Louise leaves the shocked Lady Milford.
Love is one of the main driving forces of the tragedy that Schiller created. “Cunning and Love,” the content of the play with which we continue to read, suggests that by giving away a beloved, true love rises above self-love for the sake of the happiness of a dear person. After a conversation with Louise, the veil falls from Milady’s eyes, and she, having distributed her property, leaves for England to wash away the shame of being associated with the Duke in poverty.
Summary of Schiller's tragedy "Cunning and Love"
German Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller. Kabale und Liebe · 1783 Summary of the tragedy Readable in 6 minutes, original - 3 hours
The action takes place in Germany in the 18th century, at the court of one of the German dukes.
The son of President von Walter is in love with the daughter of a simple musician, Louise Miller. Her father views this with distrust, since the marriage of an aristocrat with a bourgeois woman is impossible. The president's secretary, Wurm, is also vying for Louise's hand; he has been visiting the Millers' house for a long time, but the girl does not have any feelings for him. The musician himself understands that Wurm is a more suitable match for Louise, although Miller does not like him, but the last word here belongs to the daughter herself, the father is not going to force her to marry anyone, Wurm informs the president about his son’s passion for the daughter of the tradesman Miller. Von Walter doesn't take it seriously. A fleeting feeling, perhaps even the birth of a healthy bastard grandson, is nothing new in the noble world. Mr. President had a different fate in store for his son. He wants to marry him to Lady Milford, the Duke's favorite, so that through her he can gain the Duke's trust. The secretary's news forces von Walter to speed up the course of events: his son must find out about his upcoming marriage immediately.
Ferdinand returns home. His father tries to talk to him about his future. Now he is twenty years old, and he is already at the rank of major. If he continues to obey his father, then he is destined for a place next to the throne. Now the son must marry Lady Milford, which will finally strengthen his position at court. Major von Walter refuses his father’s offer to marry a “privileged charming lady”; he is disgusted by the president’s affairs and the way he “handles them” at the duke’s court. The place near the throne does not appeal to him. Then the president invites Ferdinand to marry Countess Ostheim, who is from their circle, but at the same time has not discredited herself with a bad reputation. The young man again disagrees; it turns out that he does not love the Countess. Trying to break his son's stubbornness, von Walter orders him to visit Lady Milford, the news of his upcoming marriage with whom has already been spread throughout the city.
Ferdinand breaks into Lady Milford's house. He accuses her that she wants to dishonor him by marrying him. Then Emilia, who is secretly in love with the major, tells him the story of her life. Hereditary Duchess of Norfolk, she was forced to flee England, leaving all her fortune there. She has no relatives left. The Duke took advantage of her youth and inexperience and turned her into his expensive toy. Ferdinand repents of his rudeness, but tells her that he is unable to marry her, since he loves the daughter of a musician, Louise Miller. All Emilia’s plans for personal happiness collapse. “You are ruining yourself, me and a third party,” she tells the major. Lady Milford cannot refuse to marry Ferdinand, since she “cannot wash away the shame” if the Duke’s subject rejects her, so the whole burden of the struggle falls on the Major’s shoulders.
President von Walter comes to the musician's house. He tries to humiliate Louise, calling her a corrupt girl who cleverly lured the son of a nobleman into her network. However, having coped with the first excitement, the musician and his daughter behave with dignity, they are not ashamed of their origin. Miller, in response to von Walter's intimidation, even shows him the door. Then the president wants to arrest Louise and her mother and chain them to the pillory, and throw the musician himself into prison. Ferdinand, who arrived in time with his sword, protects his beloved; he wounds the police, but this does not help. He has no choice but to resort to the “devilish means”; he whispers in his father’s ear that he will tell the entire capital how he removed his predecessor. The President leaves Miller's house in horror.
The treacherous secretary Wurm tells him a way out of this situation. He offers to play on Ferdinand's feelings of jealousy by throwing him a note written by Louise to her imaginary lover. This should persuade his son to marry Lady Milford. The president persuaded Hall Marshal von Kalb to become Louise's fake lover, who together with him compiled false letters and reports in order to remove his predecessor from his post.
Wurm goes to Louise. He tells her that her father is in prison and is facing a criminal trial, and her mother is in a workhouse. An obedient daughter can free them if she writes a letter under Wurm’s dictation and also takes an oath to recognize this letter as voluntary. Louise agrees. The letter, “lost” by von Kalb, falls into the hands of Ferdinand, who challenges the marshal to a duel. The cowardly von Kalb tries to explain everything to the major, but passion prevents him from hearing a frank confession.
Meanwhile, Lady Milford arranges a meeting with Louise at her house. She wanted to humiliate the girl by offering her a place as a maid. But the musician’s daughter shows such nobility towards her rival that the humiliated Emilia leaves the city. She flees to England, distributing all her property to the servants.
Louise, who has gone through so much in recent days, wants to end her life, but her old father returns home. With tears, he manages to dissuade his daughter from a terrible act, Ferdinand appears. He shows Louise the letter. Miller's daughter does not deny that it was written by her hand. The major is beside himself, he asks Louise to bring him lemonade, and he sends the musician to President von Walter with a request to deliver a letter from him and say that he will not come to dinner. Left alone with his beloved, Ferdinand quietly adds poison to the lemonade, drinks it himself and gives the terrible potion to Louise. The impending death removes the seal of the oath from Louise's lips, and she confesses that she wrote the note on the orders of the president in order to save her father from prison. Ferdinand is horrified; Louise dies.
Von Walter and old Miller run into the room. Ferdinand blames his father for the death of an innocent girl, who points to Wurm. The police appear, Wurm is arrested, but he does not intend to take all the blame on himself. Ferdinand dies, before his death he forgives his father.
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Act five
Louise is driven to despair and wants to commit suicide. Ferdinand appears, tormented by jealousy.
He presents Louise with the ill-fated letter. She does not deny that it was written by her. Ferdinand pours lemonade into glasses, hesitates, adds poison, drinks it and gives it to Louise to drink. Now they are both doomed: Ferdinand does not hide from Louise that they will both die. The girl admits that she wrote the letter under dictation, and everything in it is a lie. Ferdinand's father, his constant adviser Voors, arrives, and both see the work of their hands: the lifeless Louise and the dying Ferdinand, who forgives his father before his death. The play “Cunning and Love” ends with two deaths, a summary of the chapters of which we reviewed.
