The Broken Jug is a comedy, written by Heinrich Von Kleist in the Eighteenth century, which is centered on the theme of injustices in society. The play reveals the scandalous affairs of a corrupt legal system, in which the judge, a traditional symbolic figure of peace and nobility and social equality, is instead exposed as an incarnate form of a morally corrupt and perverse society. Each of the plays major characters are therefore created as figures that serve as implicit representations of Kleist's moral and political views.

In The Broken Jug, Kleist constructs a literary structure in which symbolism plays a crucial role in defining the essential nature of the play. As a result of this structure, we often see discrepancies between the "real and symbolic" themes in the play. Kleist constructs the play and its characters around superficial appearances that later reveal their symbolic or "real" nature...