Emilia Galotti

drama by Lessing

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June 26, 2026

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Emilia Galotti is a significant "bourgeois tragedy" written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, first performed in 1772. This drama adapts the ancient Roman legend of Virginia to an 18th-century absolutist setting. The play's plot centers on a father forced to kill his own daughter to save her from seduction by an absolutist prince. This work is considered a powerful indictment of such political systems.1

Lessing, a key figure of the Enlightenment in German literature, aimed to free German drama from strict classical and French models. He championed a more realistic and emotionally resonant theater, drawing inspiration from Shakespeare and advocating for plays that reflected contemporary life and middle-class virtues.12

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Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Final years at Wolfenbüttel. of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
His tragedy Emilia Galotti was performed in 1772. Written in intense and incisive prose, this brilliantly constructed play deals with a conflict of conscience at the court of an Italian prince. Lessing became involved in perhaps the most bitter controversy of his career when he also published…
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His tragedy Emilia Galotti was performed in 1772. Written in intense and incisive prose, this brilliantly constructed play deals with a conflict of conscience at the court of an Italian prince. Lessing became involved in perhaps the most bitter controversy of his career when he also published…
Read More

German literature
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
In Emilia Galotti (1772), his major “bourgeois tragedy,” Lessing adapted the Roman legend of Virginia to the setting of 18th-century absolutism: a father is forced to kill his own daughter in order to protect her from seduction by an absolutist prince. This obvious indictment of a…
Read More
In Emilia Galotti (1772), his major “bourgeois tragedy,” Lessing adapted the Roman legend of Virginia to the setting of 18th-century absolutism: a father is forced to kill his own daughter in order to protect her from seduction by an absolutist prince. This obvious indictment of a…
Read More