Götz von Berlichingen (theater)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

1773 drama by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe based on the memoirs of the historical adventurer-poet Gottfried or Götz von Berlichingen.

Tropes used in Götz von Berlichingen (theater) include:
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty: Everybody remembers Götz saying [1], but what he actually says it "he can kiss me in the ass". And the original wording of the self-same incident in Götz' memoirs is different again -- Götz wrote, rather vaguely, "... I shouted back at him, he could kiss my rear."
    • Probably due to the "am Arsch" version being the common form of the idiom nowadays.
    • Either way the sentence "you can Götz from Berliching me" has become a synonym for that phrase in Germany.
  • Cluster Bleep Bomb: Most editions of the drama don't actually print its most famous line, featuring only a cryptic censoring hyphen in its place.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: "Kiss my ass" seems tame by modern standards, but in Goethe's day it was a calculated audience shock.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade: Goethe's Götz is much more noble-minded than anybody could honestly believe of the real Götz.
  • Honor Before Reason: A prominent motif; Götz just cannot part from his ways or swallow his pride to submit to the "new era".
  1. The literal translation of "Leck mich am Arsch" would be "lick me at my ass", but it is the idiomatic equivalent to "kiss my ass".