The student of Friedrich Hebbel cannot proceed very far without being impressed by his robustness. To cite a single illustration of his emphatic, indeed violent, language, in his Genoveva (III, 10), Golo, having reached the climax of his illicit intentions, rushes at the heroine and exclaims: “Nun bist du mein.” A struggle ensues. Golo hurls the crucifix from Genoveva and says:
. . . . Und ob der Heiland selbst
Sich stellen wollte zwischen Dich und mich:
Zu seinen sieben Wunden gäb' ich ihm
Stronger language than that can hardly be used; but in such exemplifications of rhetorical virility Hebbel's works abound.