Franz Grillparzer: The Ancestress

What's it about?

The curse of the ancestress hangs over the House of Borotin like a sword of Damocles. She was once caught by her husband after a forbidden night of love with her secret lover and stabbed to death. Since that time, she has haunted the castle walls. Where she appears, misfortune is sure to follow. The Borotin lineage is withered and almost extinct: Only his daughter Berta remains to the old count. Her brother drowned in the castle pond at the age of three, unattended.On a dreadful stormy night, a weary young man seeks refuge in the castle: It is Jaromir, who once rescued Berta when she, strolling in the forest, was about to be taken by rough fellows.When shortly thereafter the local guard also storms the castle in search of robbers who are making the area unsafe, and Jaromir falls into a trembling delusion, the aged count rouses himself to fight for order. But with this, he finally brings things to a head and causes the ancestress to...