Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig Novel Review

Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig Novel Review

Beware of Pity is the only work of Stefan Zweig that is long enough to be called a novel. The story is about a romance between a cavalry soldier named, Hoffmiller and an invalid rich girl name Edith. He met this girl at a party. Like any soldier, it was his duty to show politeness to all. He noticed that he had not danced with the daughter of the host. This was considered to be extremely ill manner. Thus, he went to look for her. Edith was sitting on a chair in a little corner. He went up to her and asked her to dance. When the girl trying to rise went to tears, he realized his blunder. The poor girl had not walked properly for a very long time. Instead of staying like a good soldier, his cowardice made him flee.



Hoffmiller felt pity for the girl and went to see her the next day. He feels himself pushed to a romance with the girl due to pity. This novel is about the things we do for pity's sake. It warns us to be wary about pity. Pity creates expectations that we cannot meet. The poor Edith had confused Hoffmiller's pity for love. He realizes this and he is torn between his desire to flee or stay with the girl. Pity does not only affect him, but Edith's father and her doctor. Edith Doctor had married a blind woman out of pity. His wife realized this and tried to make  things easy for him. She was angry at his patients constantly bothering her husband. She knew that he was working himself raw out of pity for his patients. As for Edith's father, he married her mother out of pity. This book is really quite pitiful.

This is Stefan Zweig's masterpiece. It is one of the best novels I ever read. It made me think twice about the pity I showed others. Sometimes pity is worse, than disdain. If you want to read a book that makes you think, feel, Beware of Pity is the book for you. Truly, a masterpiece about the trails of the human spirit. This book got turned into a movie five years after it was publish. Its considered one of the Turner Classic movies. In any case, Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig deserves 5 star rating.