Dantons tod

(Danton's death) by Georg Büchner

   Premiered 1902. Büchner completed his play about the French revolutionary icon Georges Danton (1759-1794) in 1835; the delay between its completion as a script and its premiere on the stage was due to many factors, including Büchner's premature death, the play's perceived stance in favor of revolution, and its large cast requiring at least a dozen outstanding actors. In it, the title character is counterpoised against Robespierre and St. Just, much as Danton was in historical accounts of the French Revolution. The play gives predominant focus to the subjective experience of Danton, his conscience-ridden revulsion against the crimes to which he was party, and ultimately his admirable courage. Danton rejects flight from France to spare himself the guillotine, and his thunderous denunciation of his opponents in the climactic third act seals his fate. Büchner adds a gripping final scene to the proceedings, as the wife of Danton's colleague Camille Desmoulins cries out to the bloodthirsty crowd "Long live the King!" assuring her own public decapitation.