Professor Unrat, oder, Das Ende eines Tyrannen

A domineering, pedantic schoolteacher who is widely derided by his pupils tries to maintain authority but is gradually undone by humiliation and obsessive pride. After a public insult he launches punitive reprisals that reveal his petty cruelty and deep insecurity; beyond the classroom his rigid social pretensions collide with private desire and social isolation. The narrative follows his moral and psychological unraveling as infatuation, scandal, and escalating self-deception lead to public disgrace. Through satiric depiction of provincial education and bourgeois respectability, the work examines the tension between outward authority and inner weakness, and the destructive effects of vanity and repression.