Der lebende Leichnam: Drama in sechs Akten (zwölf Bildern)

A domestic tragedy centers on a husband who, tormented by his flaws and the harm he believes he causes, withdraws from his family and allows himself to be thought dead. His disappearance sets relatives, servants, and acquaintances against one another as his wife faces pressure to remarry and social gossip mounts. Public investigations and private confrontations follow, exposing debts of conscience, conflicting loyalties, and legal complications. The action shifts between intimate household scenes and formal proceedings, examining marriage, personal responsibility, self-deception, and the tension between inner conviction and societal expectation.