The Broken Jug: Blowing Things Out of Proportion

As most people have already established, this play is packed full of symbolism. The “Adam and Eve” allusion practically smacks you in the face. But in my attempt to be studious, I found a connection between this play and another one we have already read. The connecting idea is how these two plays blow things out of proportion.

            For starters, let’s reminisce on Lysistrata. This is what I would call a play of epic proportions. Why? Because everything is a little extreme. Would a war really be stopped dead in its tracks just because some women went on a sex strike? Probably not. Would one woman be able to convince an entire mob of women to join this strike? Unlikely.

            Now back to the play at hand. The Broken Jug also makes things more extreme. Think about it. They are going to court over a BROKEN JAR. Literally! Don’t get so caught up in the fact that it is symbolic of her chastity that you forget that they are still arguing over a broken container made of clay. That seems just a smidge ridiculous.

            As to the higher significance of it all, these authors blew things out of proportion to make a point. They didn’t just do it to show off or horrify the audience. These plays were written to point out the shortcomings of mankind, or as Frye says “ a lack of self-knowledge.” Lysistrata points out issues with gender roles in society and The Broken Jug points out the poor structure of the judicial system. 

Female Sexuality in The Broken Jug

Heinrich von Kleist's, "The Broken Jug," offers audiences great insight into the cultural significance of women's sexuality--specifically their virginity in the 18th century in culturally German areas. As someone else mentioned in their post--the actual broken jug can be interpreted as the loss of Eve's virtue. If the virtue of women was not so highly treasured in this culture, I would have interpreted the broken jug as the crumbling judicial system or the vices of humanity.

 I believe that the reason Frau Martha argues so vehemently with Judge Adam is because she represents the conservative percentage of the population, attempting to uphold traditional Germanic values in the face of Judge Adam's corruption and in light of the nocturnal activities her daughter has recently been involved in:

 “Forgive me, no, at night. I’d put out the light, when I hear men’s voices in my daughter’s room. A terrible row! Like the devil himself had broke in! I hurry down the steps, and there’s her door, smashed in by force, and angry voices inside. And when I light the lamp, I find my jug here smashed to bits, and the girl wringing her hands, and him, that lout, blustering there in the room.”

Unmarried women were expected to maintain their chaste status throughout Europe during this time because of reinforced Christian-influenced, patriarchal values, and Frau Martha was prepared fight for her daughter’s virtue. Just like the broken jug, Eve was considered less appealing and practically worthless, especially to her suitor, Ruprecht, once it had been perceived that she had been violated by Adam. Essentially, in the pseudo-Dutch/German society presented in "The Broken Jug," unwed women had to maintain their virginity and chaste attitudes in order to maintain their social standing and self worth. 
           Kleist understood the general ideas and socio-political norms that prevailed in Germanic society at this time, and he wrote to an audience who would appreciate the plot twists and turns, as well as the symbols interwoven into "The Broken Jug." Luckily for the characters, this is a light-hearted comedy so Eve and Ruprecht have their happy ending with neither shame nor conscription to the East Indies.