Minna von Barnhelm | Page 3

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Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected] Emma Dudding,
[email protected] and John Bickers, [email protected]

MINNA VON BARNHELM OR THE SOLDIER'S FORTUNE
by GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING

Translated By Ernest Bell

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was born at Kamenz, Germany, January 22,
1729, the son of a Lutheran minister. He was educated at Meissen and
Leipzic, and began writing for the stage before he was twenty. In 1748
he went to Berlin, where he met Voltaire and for a time was powerfully
influenced by him. The most important product of this period was his
tragedy of "Miss Sara Samson," a modern version of the story of
Medea, which began the vogue of the sentimental middle-class play in
Germany. After a second sojourn in Leipzic (1755-1758), during which
he wrote criticism, lyrics, and fables, Lessing returned to Berlin and
began to publish his "Literary Letters," making himself by the vigor
and candor of his criticism a real force in contemporary literature. From
Berlin he went to Breslau, where he made the first sketches of two of
his greatest works, "Laocoon" and "Minna von Barnhelm," both of
which were issued after his return to the Prussian capital. Failing in his
effort to be appointed Director of the Royal Library by Frederick the
Great, Lessing went to Hamburg in 1767 as critic of a new national
theatre, and in connection with this enterprise he issued twice a week
the "Hamburgische Dramaturgie," the two volumes of which are a rich
mine of dramatic criticism and theory.

His next residence was at Wolfenbuttel, where he had charge of the
ducal library from 1770 till his death in 1781. Here he wrote his
tragedy of "Emilia Galotti," founded on the story of Virginia, and
engaged for a time in violent religious controversies, one important
outcome of which was his "Education of the Human Race." On being
ordered by the Brunswick authorities to give up controversial writing,
he found expression for his views in his play "Nathan the Wise," his
last great production.
The importance of Lessing's masterpiece in comedy, "Minna von
Barnhelm," is difficult to exaggerate. It was the beginning of German
national drama; and by the patriotic interest of its historical background,
by its sympathetic treatment of the German soldier and the German
woman, and by its happy blending of the amusing and the pathetic, it
won a place in the national heart from which no succeeding comedy
has been able to dislodge it.

MINNA VON BARNHELM OR THE SOLDIER'S FORTUNE

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
MAJOR VON TELLHEIM, a discharged officer. MINNA VON
BARNHELM. COUNT VON BRUCHSAL, her