Seplveda, Villablanca 1

Javiera Seplveda, Mara Elena Villablanca

Professor Francisca Folch
Literary Theory LET 1743
14 May 2013
Prcis on On the Marionette Theatre by Heinrich von Kleist
Abstract: In his treatise called On the Marionette Theatre, Kleist introduces the
art of puppetry, which differentiates his essay from those written before, seeing as his main
subject was not literature but the fine art of dance and interpretation. Furthermore, he
encompasses the concept of consciousness and develops an interesting argument about the
latter when he claims that upon tasting the fruit of consciousness mankind lost the harmony
they once possessed and became a creature different from both God and animals, one that
seeks for the unity but that still looks for more knowledge and intelligence.
Analysis: Kleists essay might be considered philosophical because of its treatment
of mans self-consciousness and the almost eternal conflict between soul and reason. In this
treatise the author introduces his ideas of puppets versus people at the moment of
presenting an act by means of a dialogue, in which a puppeteer explains why marionettes
performances will be superior to that of a dancer or performer. The man explains how the
marionettes act will be unblemished by self-consciousness or a will of their own, there is
no personality in it, something that cannot be said about human performers who will always
put a bit of their own essence into dances and scenes.
The reason why human representation tends to be flawed is because once one
becomes aware of oneself, they will lose their fluidity and would begin to act awkward and
self-consciously, which is a fact that Kleist portrays through the story of a friend who once
he realized how good looking, he was he lost himself to vanity and slowly but surely lost
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his essence which made him handsome in the first place. The same might be applied to
performers. They know how much their representations matter, and that they were chosen
from a crowd of people. There is, then, a weight over their shoulders to act in a certain way
and project themselves into a character, since it was their essence that granted them the role
in the first place. This self-consciousness causes then the loss of unity in which the body
will move in a certain way whereas the soul would move in another direction. Kleist then
talks about controlling the center of gravity rather than the body itself. Marionettes move
more flawlessly and perfectly without attention to the details, because to move the limbs a
puppeteer must first move the body, meaning, the gravity center of the marionette. In here
he introduces the loss of innocence and gaining of reason through an analogy with the third
chapter of the Genesis: God rejects Adam and Eve from the Paradise because they ate the
fruit of the Tree of knowledge, which made them lose their innocence and became aware of
the situation in which they were embedded. They knew they were naked and had the need
for covering themselves to keep from feeling embarrassed. This fracture between innocence
and consciousness marks an interesting point in regards of what other romantic authors
have argued about this issue: Once you are conscious and capable of reflecting on
everything that happens around you, it is an utopia to believe that one can go back to the
previous original state because it is virtually impossible. However, Kleist provides a sort of
reflection about self-consciousness and how men could reverse the negative effect of this
element by saying that one has to, using the previous analogy, eat the fruit of the Tree of
knowledge again, in order to go back to the initial innocence. An idea that might evoke in
us a little bit of skepticism, given that it sounds rather utopian.
Finally, the last point that Kleist makes is the fact that as marionettes do not have
essence nor soul, they make their performance more gripping that human representation,
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seeing as people are more likely to see themselves reflected into something that might take
their essence rather than someone who already possesses an identity, which would
inevitably get in the way of the audiences projections. The puppeteer then claims with
excitement that he could make a marionette for a perfect dance, where the performance
would be so accurate that the message or idea would be transmitted almost flawlessly,
becoming, then, carrier of truth.
Conclusion: Throughout the dialogue Kleist claims through his interlocutor that
puppets have an inherent grace which humans lack, a controversial point of view if what
has been said in the past were to be taken into account. The fact that man possesses the
faculty of reason makes him doubt about himself and act with self-consciousness, a
drawback that neither animals nor puppets suffer from. But then, by saying that the division
of being was originated in the Genesis, Kleist makes this burden that men carry an
affliction which cannot be healed, as long as men are banned from Eden. The author will
then suggest that the only way of returning to the original state is to acquire more
knowledge or eat from them forbidden fruit once more, because there might be another
door in Eden, for the new man; because if we grow to be more intelligent and wiser we
might be able to recreate the confidence and harmony we once possessed and which is so
obvious in marionettes. The act of eating the forbidden fruit and gaining knowledge meant
a breach within our very beings, which sets humans apart from animals and gods, which is
why the ultimate desire of man should be to unite these two conflicting parts in order to
achieve harmony. The essay poses a hopeful ending for mankind, in which it might be able
to return to homeland, back to Eden and back to its origins, but it also leaves the somber
undertone of a question, will humanity ever be able to reconcile these two parts? Or are we
condemned to remain in this alienated state?