When Schiller completed "Wilhelm Tell "as a "New Year's Gift for
1805" he foretold that it would cause a stir. He was right. In the
midst of Great Power politics a play which drew substance from one
of the fourteenth-century liberation movements proved both
attractive and inflammatory. Since then the work as become
immensely popular. This new English translation by William F.
Mainland brings out the essential tragi-comic nature of "Wilhelm
Tell "but also emphasizes its impressive formal unity.
Schiller based his play on chronicles of the Swiss liberation
movement, in which Wilhelm Tell played a major role. Since Tell's
existence has never been proven, Schiller, a historian by
profession, felt he had to devise a figure who would bring the
uncertainties and contradictions of the various Swiss chronicles
into focus. Respected for his courage and skill with a bow, for his
peaceable nature and his integrity, Schiller's archer--while always
ready to aid his fellows--habitually seeks solitude. In the midst
of political turmoil Wilhelm Tell is the nonpolitical man of
action.
Keenly interested in the problematic interplay of history and
legend, Schiller turned it to be dramatic advantage. He constructed
his play to illustrate the greatest possible development of the
character traits suggested for Tell by the chronicles. The result
of Schiller's supreme achievement in historical drama.
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