Der zerbrochne Krug

A broken jug marks the beginning of the story, which tells of judicial fraud, cover-ups, violence and hypocrisy. Frau Marthe appears in court with the broken jug in her hands. She accuses Rupprecht, the fiancé of her daughter Eve, of the crime. Judge Adam wants to carry out the sentence without further examination in order to get the matter out of the way quickly. But the trial is not quite so simple. In Kleist's dark comedy, the truth is the one thing that is of least interest to the participants. What they want is to maintain the status quo and secure their power. Yet a gentle and constant resistance is forming, which ultimately exposes those in power and their methods.