Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin

The Marquise of O- by Heinrich von Kleist is a story chock-full of secrets and unsaid ideas, such as the ambiguity of details regarding Giulietta’s possible rape. Furthermore, if every word isn’t read with the utmost attention, something major will slip notice. Specifically, when Giulietta is talking to her midwife, whom she has called in to hopefully deny her illegitimate pregnancy, she briefly states that she “conceived knowingly” (Kleist 91). This can be surprising after a second reading, as Kleist portrays her as a rape survivor with no memory of the ordeal. In fact, it is easy to make the mistake of either skipping over this wording or assuming that she was lying in case the midwife decided to spread this damaging information (as the extent…