The Prussian Officer

By D.H. Lawrence, 1914

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The Prussian Officer

The Prussian Officer Summary

The Prussian Officer is a compelling short story by D.H. Lawrence, first published in 1914. It delves into the tumultuous relationship between a stern Prussian captain and his young orderly, exploring themes of authority, repression, and the psychological consequences of rigid military hierarchy.

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The Prussian Officer Excerpt

Short Summary: This narrative examines the intense and ultimately destructive dynamic between a Prussian captain and his orderly, highlighting the devastating effects of suppressed emotions and authoritarian oppression.

"They had marched more than thirty kilometres since dawn, along the white, hot road where occasional thickets of trees threw a moment of shade, then out into the glare again. On either hand, the valley, wide and shallow, glittered with heat; dark green patches of rye, pale young corn, fallow and meadow and black pine woods spread in a dull, hot diagram under a glistening sky. But right in front the mountains ranged across, blue and shadowy, and the road threaded out of the plain, and struggled up the steep slopes, over the passes, and into the country beyond. The captain rode his horse in the rear of the company. He was a tall man of about forty, grey at the temples. He had a handsome, finely knit figure, and was one of the best horsemen in the West. His orderly, having to rub him down, admired the amazing riding-muscles of his loins. For the rest, the orderly scarcely noticed the officer any more than he noticed himself. It was rarely he saw his master's face: he did not look at it. The captain had reddish-brown, stiff hair, that he wore short upon his skull. His moustache was also cut short and bristly over a full, brutal mouth. His face was rather rugged, the cheeks thin. Perhaps the man was the more handsome for the deep lines in his face, the irritable tension of his brow, which gave him the look of a man who fights with life. His fair eyebrows stood bushy over light blue eyes that were always flashing with cold fire. He was a Prussian aristocrat, haughty and overbearing. But his mother had been a Polish Countess. Having made too many gambling debts when he was young, he had ruined his prospects in the Army, and remained an infantry captain. He had never married: his position did not allow of it, and no woman had ever moved him to it. His time he spent riding—occasionally he rode one of his own horses at the races—and at the officers' club. Now and then he took himself a mistress. But after such an event, he returned to duty with his brow still more tense, his eyes still more hostile and irritable. With the men, however, he was merely impersonal, though a devil when roused; so that, on the whole, they feared him, but had no great aversion from him. They accepted him as the inevitable."