The Robbers ( ) was the first drama by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on January 13, 1782 in Mannheim, Germany. It was written towards the end of the German Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") movement and has been considered by many critics, such as Peter Brooks, to have influenced the development of European melodrama. The play astounded its Mannheim audience and made Schiller an overnight sensation. It later became the basis for Verdi's opera of the same name, I masnadieri.

The plot revolves around the conflict between two aristocratic brothers, Karl and Franz Moor. The charismatic but rebellious student Karl is deeply loved by his father. The younger brother, Franz, who appears as a cold, calculating villain, plots to wrest away Karl's inheritance. As the play unfolds, both Franz's motives and Karl's innocence and heroism are revealed to be complex. It is believed that the The Robbers was loosely based on real-life Johann von Christophe Käsebier (who was trained as a tailor by his father, and whose son became Count of Wittgenstein's personal tailor) and Christian Andreas Käsebier (who was a notorious 18th Century German crime boss who was eventually sent to a Polish prison).

Schiller's highly emotional language and his depiction of physical violence mark the play as a quintessential Sturm und Drang work. At the same time, the play utilizes a traditional five act structure, with each act containing two to five scene. The play uses alternating scenes to pit the brothers against each other, as one quests for money and power, while the other attempts to create a revolutionary anarchy in the Bohemian Forest. Schiller raises many disturbing issues in the play. For instance, he questions the dividing lines between personal liberty and the law and probes the psychology of power, the nature of masculinity and the essential differences between good and evil. He strongly criticizes both the hypocrisies of class and religion and the economic inequities of German society. He also conducts a complicated inquiry into the nature of evil.

Dramatis personae

• Maximilian, Count von Moor (also called "Old Moor") is the beloved father of Karl and Franz. He is a good person at heart, but also weak, and has failed to raise his two sons properly. He bears responsibility for the perversion of the Moor family, which has caused the family's values to become invalidated. The Moor family acts as an analogy of state, a typical political criticism of Schiller's. The prince as a father of the nation is particularly condemned.

• Karl (Charles) Moor, his older son, is a self-confident idealist. He is good-looking and well-liked by all. His emotions and impulses are rather feminine in nature (his feelings of deep love for Amalia, his general melancholy etc). Together with his gang of robbers, he fights against the unfairness and corruption of the feudal authorities. In doing so, he becomes a disgraceful criminal and murderous arsonist, all while believing that his father has banished him from his home after supposedly disgracing their family name. He loves Amalia and his offended homeland deludes itself. This despair leads to the urge to express and discover new goals and directions, and to realize his ideals and dreams of heroes. He breaks the law, for as he says, "the end justifies the means." He develops a close connection with his robbers, especially to Roller and Schweizer, but recognizes the unscrupulousness and dishonor of Spiegelberg and his other associates. Amalia creates a deep internal twist in the plot and in Karl's persona. He swore allegiance to the robbers after Schweizer and Roller died for his sake, and he promised that he would never separate from his men, so cannot return to Amalia. In deep desperation due to the death of his father, he eventually kills his true love and decides to turn himself in to the law.

• Franz Moor, his younger son, is an egoistic rationalist and materialist. He is cold hearted and callous, but not pure evil.. He is rather ugly and unpopular, as opposed to his brother Karl, but quite intelligent and cunning. However, since his father loved only his brother and not him, he developed a lack of feeling, which made the "sinful world" intolerable for his passions, and he consequently fixed himself to a rationalistic way of thinking. In the character of Franz, Schiller demonstrates what could happen if the moral way of thinking was replaced by the pure rationalization. Franz strives for power in order to be able to implement his interests.

• Amalia von Edelreich, his niece is Karl's love and is a faithful and reliable person (to learn more of their relationship see "Hektorlied").

• Spiegelberg acts as an opponent of Karl Moor and is driven by crime. Additionally, he self-nominated himself to be captain in Karl's robber band, yet was passed up in favor of Karl. Spiegelberg tries to portray Karl negatively among the robbers in order to become the captain, but does not succeed.

• Schweizer
• Grimm
• Razmann
• Schufterle
• Roller
• Kosinsky
• Schwarz
• Herrmann, the natural son of a Nobleman.
• Daniel, an old servant of Count von Moor.
• Pastor Moser
• Pater
• A Monk.
• Band of robbers, servants, etc.

Adaptations

• I masnadieri (1847), opera by Giuseppe Verdi
• The Robbers (1913), directed by J. Searle Dawley and Walter Edwin
• Die Räuber (1940), directed by Herbert Maisch
• Die Räuber (1957), Opera by Giselher Klebe

External links

References