Die Soldaten

by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

"Die Soldaten" by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz is a bourgeois tragedy written in 1776. Set in French Flanders, the play follows Marie Wesener, a merchant's daughter who abandons her engagement to pursue a relationship with a young officer. When he discards her after a brief affair, she faces social ruin and is branded an outcast by society. The drama critiques the class divide and the careless behavior of soldiers toward middle-class women in eighteenth-century society.