A summary of "The Devil and God" by Jean-Paul Sartre

This dramatic play unfolds in Germany during the Reformation and the rebellions of the sixteenth century, exploring the path of the military leader Götz, who seeks the limits of pride first in crime, then in holiness. The tragedy reveals the dead end of a solitary willful individual who imagines himself the judge of the universe. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote this drama in 1951 for the Parisian stage of the Théâtre Antoine, reworking the historical material of the Peasants’ War into a philosophical statement on human freedom.

The Siege of Worms and the Throw of the Dice

The city of Worms has rebelled against the archbishop. The lord’s troops have defeated the rebellious knight Conrad, and the mercenary commander Götz has set up camp beneath the fortress walls. Famine reigns in the city. The baker Nastya leads the poor, demanding a last stand. The priest Heinrich, tormented by guilt over the death of his flock, makes his way into the besiegers’ camp. The cleric holds the key to the underground passage, given to him by the dying bishop, in his pocket. The priest falls to his knees before Götz, begging for torture.

Götz laughs in response. The colonel revels in his own villainy. For thirty-five years, the bastard has become accustomed to destroying other people’s orders. The banker Fukre arrives with an offer of a hefty ransom for preserving the city’s buildings. The commander rejects the gold. The commander orders the banker bound with ropes. Katerina, the commander’s concubine, appears in the tent, dreaming of his death. Hermann attempts to stab the sleeping commander with a dagger.

A woman’s scream betrays the conspirator. Götz promises to hand the traitor over to the Landsknechts for their amusement. Nastya enters the tent and delivers a resounding slap to the commander. The baker proposes an alliance with the city’s lower classes. The commander despises the poor. Götz plans to burn twenty-five thousand inhabitants to fulfill his own challenge to heaven.

Heinrich ridicules the general’s monstrous pathos. The priest declares the impossibility of goodness on earth. Any violence in a fallen world has become the customary trade of soldiers. The priest asserts that all people are doomed to commit atrocities. Götz takes this reproach as an insult to his pride. The general offers the priest a wager on his virtue.

The dice are thrown on the table. Two ones come up. Katerina notices the cheating trick. Götz deliberately arranged his own loss. The troops receive the order to lift the siege. The city gates are saved from the fire. The commander announces his decision to become a saint.

City of the Sun on a Foreign Land

Conrad’s lands pass into the hands of Götz. The servant Karl persuades the farmhands to reject the master’s favors. The former punisher dons a coarse cassock and washes the farmhands’ feet. Local nobles Schulheim and Nossak heap abuse on their neighbor for undermining the social order. The lords beat the righteous man with their fists. Götz falls to the ground, thanking God for the blows he received.

Nastya demands a seven-year deferment. The baker needs a reliable base for the upcoming uprising. Götz rejects the leader’s calculations. The former knight announces to the peasants the abolition of quitrents and establishes the Altweiler community under the name of the City of the Sun. The village greets the news with stunned silence.

The monk Tetzel appears in the square. A merchant sells indulgences to the sound of drums. A leper begs for alms. Götz kisses the sick man’s face. A beggar disgustedly wipes his cheek with a handkerchief, preferring a free papal charter to a kiss.

Heinrich reports Catherine’s death throes. The girl sees devils. Götz ascends the church pulpit and demands a sign. The heavens are silent. The military commander stabs himself in the palms of his hands and ribs, declaring the bruises to be the blessed stigmata of Christ. The woman dies with faith in salvation. The crowd falls to their knees before the self-proclaimed martyr.

Empty Skies and the Rebel Camp

A school of mutual protection has been established in Altweiler. The teacher carves the word "love" in dry clay. The villagers recite the memorized rules of non-resistance to evil. The orphan Hilda rejects the villagers’ saccharine piety. The girl sees such peace as a betrayal of a suffering world. Karl arrives blindfolded, feigning blindness. A footman denounces the well-fed villagers. A peasant revolt against the barons rages all around. The rebels perish without weapons or discipline.

Nastya begs the commander to lead the rebel army. Götz refuses to shed blood. The knight goes to the rebel camp preaching peace. Karl exposes his former master’s tricks and rouses the crowd to laughter. The angry peasants chase the peacemaker away.

A neighboring detachment burns Altweiler to the ground. Residents are burned alive in a locked barn for refusing to take up arms. Hilda manages to jump out the window of the burning house.

Götz and Hilda spend six months amidst the ashes. The former leader starves his flesh by throwing a jug of water into nettles. His body is covered in scabs. Heinrich comes to judge his opponent exactly one year and one day after the bet. The priest brings an invisible demon with him.

Heinrich accuses the hermit of the futility of his false asceticism. All his good deeds have resulted in mountains of corpses. Götz suddenly realizes a great secret: the heavens are completely empty. There is no divine spectator above. God is the void between the stars. Man is left alone on earth.

The priest lunges at the apostate with his fists. Götz plunges his blade into Heinrich’s throat. The cleric’s body falls to the grass.

Rebellious peasants surround the fugitive. Karl brings a healer with a wooden spatula for charming wounds. The troops suffer defeat after defeat. Götz discards his tattered cassock, appearing before the leaders in his old uniform. The commanders grumble against their new leader. One of the officers refuses to obey the order. The commander swiftly stabs the troublemaker to death with a dagger. The commander demands that the deserters be hanged immediately and the regiments be prepared for a decisive campaign.