Conspiracy and Love

Author: (German) Schiller (Scheller, J.C.F) wrote, Yang Wuneng translated
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2007-01-01
Features: The story of "The Conspiracy and Love" takes place in 18th-century Germany. At that time, Germany was in a politically fragmented, economically backward feudal society, divided into many feudal small states. The rulers of each state, the dukes, implemented brutal autocratic rule. In one of the large duchies, the son of the prime minister, Walter, fell in love with the daughter of the commoner music teacher Miller, Louise. However, the love of these young people was opposed by Miller as a commoner and obstructed by the prime minister as a nobleman. Miller opposed his daughter falling in love with a nobleman's son because he believed that the social classes were not suitable and that a nobleman could not truly love a commoner girl. The prime minister opposed his son falling in love with a commoner's daughter, except for class prejudice, the main reason was that the prime minister wanted his son to marry the duchess's mistress immediately to win the duchess's favor, at the expense of his son's love to ensure his own political status and rise to prominence. To break up the lovers, after failing to succeed with threats and inducements, the prime minister hatched a conspiracy with his secretary Ulm: the prime minister ordered Miller, the father of Louise, and her mother to be thrown into prison, and then Ulm used Louise's urgent desire to save her parents to persuade her to give up her love for Ferdinand. Under Ulm's pressure, Louise, to save her parents from prison, reluctantly wrote a fake love letter to the court steward Karp under Ulm's dictation and made a vow not to reveal the truth. Ulm obtained this fake love letter personally written by Louise, pretended to lose it during a meeting, and let Ferdinand "accidentally" pick it up. Ferdinand read the fake love letter and indeed fell into the trap. He believed that Louise's previous affection for him was all false, that his true love had been deceived, and that Louise had made a vow not to reveal the truth. In despair, Ferdinand poisoned the juice. Louise drank the poisoned juice and finally told Ferdinand before her death that the love letter was fake and that she had written it under the prime minister's pressure to save her parents. Upon learning the truth, Ferdinand was filled with regret and took his own life beside the body of the one he loved, drinking poison in sorrow. A pair of young people died for their pure love, becoming victims of the conspiracy.