Navigating and Owning Obedience: Reassessing Friedrich Halm's Griseldis

Date
2020-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Abstract
This article critically reappraises the drama Griseldis (1835), the successful first play of the today largely forgotten Viennese playwright Friedrich Halm. I argue that the comparison between this play and its possible main source, Petrarch’s A Fable of Wifely Obedience and Devotion, offers insights into the reconceptualization of obedience in the nineteenth century. Concretely, I suggest that the most significant changes in Halm’s version serve to make obedience visible as an expression of individual agency, and thus to justify obedience’s role within a liberal ideology. This reading departs from the older scholarly opinion that saw in Halm’s play simply a critique—rather than a complex reinterpretation—of obedience.
Description
Keywords
Halm, Friedrich, 1806-1871, Griselda (Legendary character)
Citation
Wagner, M. (2020). Navigating and owning obedience: Reassessing Friedrich Halm's Griseldis. German Studies Review, 43(2), 233-249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2020.0042