Die Verlobung in St. Domingo

Verlobung in St. Domingo, Die, a Novelle by H. von Kleist, which was first published in instalments in the Berlin journal Der Freimütige in March and April 1811 and included in the collected edition of his stories, Erzählungen (vol. 2, 1811). Based on the Negro revolt in Santo Domingo in 1803, the Novelle, concentrating its action into three days, narrates the tragic love of Gustav von der Ried for a 15-year-old half-caste, Toni, whom he kills when he mistakenly believes himself to have been betrayed by her.

Toni lives with her mother Babekan and her Negro foster-father Congo Hoango, who has trained her to trap white men. Gustav, who belongs to a small party of Swiss refugees, arrives unsuspecting, and seeks shelter in the house during Hoango's absence. Toni and Gustav instantly fall in love and become secretly betrothed. While Babekan schemes Gustav's destruction, Toni plans their flight. Hoango returns sooner than expected, and Toni, in order to save Gustav, who remains unaware of the plot against him, ties him to his bed, thus hoping to convince her father that she has not betrayed his cause. The Swiss, led by Herr Strömli, arrive at the moment of crisis and free Gu-stav, who impulsively shoots Toni. When he dis-covers the true motives of Toni's action, he shoots himself. Since the Swiss hold his two sons as hostages, Hoango refrains from further bloodshed and allows the Swiss free passage. They carry with them the bodies of Gustav and Toni for common burial. In 1807 Herr Strömli erects a monument to the lovers in his native Switzerland.

The tragedy arises out of Gustav's failure to trust his beloved when appearances belie the truth; this is a recurrent theme in works by Kleist, but the penetrating treatment of the problems of racial prejudice singles this Novelle out from his other stories.