The novella by Von Kleist, titled “Michael Kohlhaas” was first published in 1810. In the book, the man Kohlhaas who was a horse merchant at the time is subjected towards a number of injustices by the government. His horses are taken away from him, and his wife is beaten and succumbs to her injuries. Attempts by Kohlhaas to use the legal system to get him justice are futile since he is dealing with politicians who are powerful in the state. He later resolves to violence in which he terrorizes the Junker together with an army he had managed to gather. The Junker is well catered for, and Kohlhaas and his men are unable to get through to him. In his retaliation, Kohlhaas kills a number of people at the castle. The state later decides to give him the justice that he has been searching for, but it turns out, it was a plot to lure him to them. He is later thrown into a dungeon where he awaits to be beheaded. His horses are released after he has lost everything in life. He is also to face justice and just before he is executed, Kohlhaas chews and swallows some important documents which belonged to the state . In anger, the Junker beheads Kohlhaas. This is a story of a common man who is treated unfairly and denied justice by those in power. Various injustices were committed against Kohlhaas in the novel. The author of the Novella uses some Machiavelli principles found in the book “The Prince,” to defend the acts of injustice committed against Kohlhaas.
Kohlhaas tries to get the legal system to grant him justice on various occasions. Kohlhaas is just a common man who tries to fight the state and demand justice for the crimes that have been committed towards him. The injustice committed against Kohlhaas starts as a simple dispute about taxes. Being a horse merchant, he was expected to pay a certain amount of taxes to the authorities. After he has paid his dues he is requested to produce a permit which he does not have and his horses and his helper are taken away from him . He goes to find help and when he returns he find that his help has been beaten up and his horses overworked in the Junker’s field. Horses were of great value at the time and the better-groomed horses fetched a higher price. By working he horse and failing to feed them, the Junker had devalued his horses. An honorable man is quickly turned into a vengeful man who causes himself, and others harm in his search for justice . The quest for justice in which he searches for justice after the state seizes two of his horses escalates and Kohlhaas loses his wife.
When the old Junker passes on and Junker Wenzel takes over, he begins by putting a gate which passes right on a road that Michael Kohlhaas used when he went to conduct horse trade . He comes leading his two horses and is stopped for the taxes. He is later surprised when a second man at the gate asks for a pass from him. Kohlhaas has no idea what the man is talking about and states so. The new Junker had introduced new laws which required that horse dealers produced a permit, or they go back to where they had come from. He is forced to leave the horse at the Junkers castle so that he could sort out his problems with the new law. He leaves angry at the realization that the horses had been used to work in the field but since he knew his place in the society he decides to say nothing. His groom has been beaten by the knights at the castle .
He is so dismayed by the condition of his overworked horses and decides to leave them and search for other ways in which he can get justice. He returns home to a happy wife and two boys. He informs his wife of the happenings on the journey they had completed and his wife is also of the idea that they should seek justice for Kohlhaas and other traders who passed by the castle. He seeks the help of a lawyer to whom he lists all the injustices which have been committed towards him . He lists a petition in which he requests that the court punishes Junker Wenzel according to the law. After he had sent the petition to the Saxony, the Saxony takes close to a year to acknowledge that they had, in fact, received the letter, and no ruling on the matter. When the Junker writes to him, he makes his Acquaintances who are in high positions in the Saxony known to Kohlhaas. He offers Kohlhaas a chance to have his horses back. At the time when he is receiving the letter, the young groom was in hospital since he had developed breathing problems after his encounter at the Castle where the Knights beat him up .
He is devastated when he receives a letter informing him that he had no case against the Junker and that he should present his case to the sovereign if he felt that justice had not been served. Rage drives him, and he attempts to sell his property and leave the unjust country. He explains to his wife that he could not afford to live in a country which would not protect his rights . Emotionally, he is so affected by the incidence and other injustices which followed the incidence that he becomes a completely different man. He no longer cares for the horses nor the farm, and he has also become detached from his family. He is no longer the happy family man. His wife is sucked into the weariness of his situation and offers to present the petition herself to the sovereign. At the Sovereigns house, his wife his beaten severely and brought back to the groom in a helpless condition. The petition does, however, reach the Sovereign. She succumbs to the injuries and dies but not before she tries to plead with her husband to forgive those who had wronged him .
At his wife's funeral, he receives a letter from the sovereign commanding him to collect his horses at the castle and let go of the matter. He replied that he needed his two healthy black horses which he had left at the stables be returned to him within three days . When he waits three days and nothing had happened he gets vengeful and decides to seek justice on his own. He later sells the house and storms the house of Junker Wenzel. The Junker is, however, able to flee. Kohlhaas is willing to kill and even burn houses in his search for the Junker. He takes upon himself to punish the unjust in the society and in the process he hurts thousands of people. Eventually, he becomes a danger to himself and others in the society. The Saxony decides to take his plea into consideration. They feed his horses and return them to him in good shape. He, however, has to be executed and just before the execution he requests that the horses be given to his two sons .
At the end of his search for justice, more injustice is committed against him than ever before in his life. According to the Machiavelli principles, that sometimes virtues have to be compromised for the sake of the welfare of the state. “Must not mind incurring those vices without which it would be difficult to save the state, for if one considers well, it will be found that some things which seem virtues would, if followed, lead to one’s ruin, and some others which appear vices result in one’s greater security and well-being” . Justice is a good vice in the society, but it had a destructive impact as a result of the range by which Kohlhaas was driven by. Machiavelli justifies the need by the state to employ whichever means necessary both good and bad to ensure that the state and the citizens are safe at all times. He emphasizes the inherent human nature of human beings to commits acts of injustice despite their awareness of the need for justice and morality. According to Machiavelli, the right for justice was often outweighed by the need for justice by the majority
Machiavelli gives justice lesser importance when the security of the state is at stake. “It should be observed here that men should either be caressed or crushed; because they can avenge slight injuries, but not those that are very severe. Hence, any injury done to a man must be such that there is no need to fear his revenge” . This quote by Machiavelli justifies the move by the Saxony to execute Kohlhaas. The quote advises rulers to ensure that their acts are either too gentle to cause enough harm to their victims to demand revenge or if they should be severe they should be so severe that the victim has no ability to retaliate and cause them any harm. By bruising Kohlhaas's ego on a number of occasions, his vengeance built with time. Kohlhaas attempts to get justice for his groom and the misuse of his horses through the legal system, are futile. When his wife tries to assist him to get justice she is badly injured, and she dies.
Vengeance builds up slowly in Kohlhaas and eventually explodes when his wife dies begging him to forgive the Junker. Kohlhaas responds that he had forgiven Junker more than God could ever possibly forgive him. At this point, the Junker is oblivious of the power possessed by a vengeful man who has been denied justice. He hurts Kohlhaas as if taunting him by trivializing his demands and accusations. Eventually, he decides to take action and gathers his groom and decides to seek out the Junker. He is, however, unsuccessful as he learns that the Junker had managed to escape. Just before the attack he inquires from the groom who had been beaten up if he would prefer to thrash the Junker in the comfort of the castle or would he rather take him to the stables. The injustices against Kohlhaas had been left to develop and just like in medicine a problem is difficult to solve if it is left to grow too big. By taunting Kohlhaas had been strengthening him and he had become powerful beyond the possible imagination of Junker.
“Therefore, a prudent ruler cannot keep his word, nor should he, when such fidelity would damage him and when the reasons that made him promise are no longer relevant.” (61-2) Eventually, Kohlhaas is tricked by the Junker to believe that his case is going to be heard, and he should go to the sovereign's house. When he arrives at the house, he is thrown into a dungeon . He had been tricked into believing that finally the system was ready to listen to him and serve justice. In his blind rage, Kohlhaas had forgotten of the consequences that would result from his actions. He had himself committed many injustices in the society during his search for justice. The same justice he was searching for was also required to serve justice for the numerous injustices that he had committed. The state is forced to deceive Kohlhaas into coming forward. Even though the state and the Junker’s actions had only affected him, he is unable to contain his actions, and a lot of innocent people get hurt in the process.
In the novella, Kohlhaas eventually manages to gather his army of over 400 men. His acts are defined as those of terrorist by various critics. He is defined as a man who is mentally unstable and who does not care for the innocent souls who suffers as long as the state and legal system can experience his wrath. The people are terrorized by states and this attitude by the same authority affects the citizens negatively making them resolve to violence to make themselves heard . The state considered horse dealers who were reputable in the society as people who had value, and they were constantly harassed by the legal system. The legal system was owned by the sophisticated individuals most of whom were also part of the Saxony. The situation by the people in the novella is compared to that of the situation in countries such as Afghanistan where the common man is disregarded. These individuals resolve to acts of terror to force the government to pay attention to them.
The terrorist are of the feeling that the US government has failed to offer a just system for all its citizens who depend on the justice system . Terrorism, rebellion, and insurrection are closely related. Rebellion is whereby certain individuals in the society tend to disagree with a system that is in place, and instead, try to go against their wishes. Rebellion is caused when people are subjected to suffering. Insurrection is whereby the individuals finally decide to revolt against the system and these revolts results in acts of violence. When individuals revolt not with the purpose of winning but of troubling those who are in power, this is considered as terrorism. When Kohlhaas swallows the piece of paper, he does not gain anything by it apart from the satisfaction of seeing their frustration. Terrorists are satisfied with the knowledge that they caused others a bit of their suffering even though they may suffer grave consequences.
The suffering by Kohlhaas is felt even by those around him that they decide to join him in what would seem like a case of mob justice (Fischer 142). Kohlhaas is so keen on getting justice for the crimes that have been committed against him that he admits to Luther that he is willing to kill for it. As if denying him justice was not enough the state had gone ahead and declared him an outcast in the community. The injustices are on a primitive level and no sign of humanity. The legal systems are weak and subject to bias by those who are in power (Fischer 246). When Kohlhaas finally understands that he cannot get the justice that he wishes for, he decides to seek revenge. The weak legal system pushes the man into a rage in which he seeks to pursue revenge.
Kohlhaas is forced to turn a blind eye to the rule of law and instead he takes the law into his hands claiming that he has a right to receive justice. That the anger and hatred he felt were justified. His quest for justice is not purely self-centered, but he also wishes the same for the rest of the people (Fischer 142). Sophisticated members of the society take the legal system for granted and pay very little attention to the system. The system is so unjust that the man is ripped from the comfort of his family. The society does this to Kohlhaas and many other members of the society that they are forced to search for alternative means of justice. Injustices are common, and those who are privileged in the society tend to undermine the power possessed by the less privileged in the society (Fischer 246). The Saxon authorities are thrown off when Kohlhaas and his men decide to attack the Junker’s men. The strong relationship between justice and revenge is clearly portrayed in the events that take place in the novella.
In conclusion, Machiavelli principles were used by Von Kleist to defend the injustice that was inflicted upon Kohlhaas. For a man who had been forced to become violent by an unjust system, execution does not seem as a fair punishment to him. One injustice is followed by another up to the point where Kohlhaas decided to become violent. When his wife dies his rebellion turns into insurgence and he does not care as to who gets caught in the crossfire. These are typical characteristics which are exhibited by terrorists. They seem to feel that the state is subjecting them to suffering and that the state cannot help them. As a result, they rebel against the governing bodies which end up in revolutions. Eventually when these e individuals discover that they cannot win against the government, they decide to pose a problem for the governing body. Their intention is never to win the battle but to cause the state havoc. Kohlhaas eventually becomes a danger to the security of the state when he stops caring for the consequences of his actions to himself and others. The author decides to resolve to unorthodox means to get rid of him by executing him, so that the rest of the people can have peace. They return his horse in good shape which he requests they be given to his sons.
Works Cited
Fischer, Bernd. A companion to the works of Heinrich von Kleist. New York : Camden House, 2003. Print.
Harzenski, Sharon S. "Redifining Violence: Some Thoughts About Justice, Power, Peace, Respect, and the Fabric of Social Experience." Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law (2001): 305-393. Web. <https://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/genderlaw/09/9-2harzenski.pdf>.
Kleist, Heinrich Von. Michael, Kohlhaas. New York: Melville House Publishing, 1960. Print.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, Quentin Skinner and Russell Price. Machiavelli : the prince. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1988. Print.
