The love-death
aspires to perform a miracle. It has, possibly, never been realised in
its full greatness; the evidence of the common death of Heinrich von
Kleist and Henrietta Vogel must be rejected. During the last days of his
life Kleist was wrapped up in the idea of their common death, and in a
letter to his cousin, Marie von Kleist, he says: "If you could only
realise how death and love strive to beautify these last moments of my
life with heavenly and earthly roses, you would be content to let me
die. I swear to you I am supremely happy." In the same letter he speaks
of "the most voluptuous of deaths." And yet it was no real love-death,
that is to say, death following as a necessary corollary in order that
love may be consummated. Kleist as well as Henrietta had separately
resolved to commit suicide, and when they--almost accidentally--heard of
this mutual intention, they conceived the idea of the new voluptuousness
of a common death. Love did not play a very great part in this.
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