The clenched teeth metaphor is apt. Michael Kohlhaas is a character I found myself personally identifying with - in a mixture of envy, doom and fear. And von Kl

The clenched teeth metaphor is apt. Michael Kohlhaas is a character I found myself personally identifying with - in a mixture of envy, doom and fear. And von Kleist is able to make compelling arguments, at the same time and in the same prose, for him being both painfully right and painfully wrong in his choices. But read the actual story before reading this piece, IMHO. Also note that the full text of a different (older?) translation is available online, e.g. here: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Michael_Kohlhaas https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Michael_Kohlhaas