MARIA STUART - Taschenbuch

PUBLISHED IN GERMAN. Like all historical dramas of the mature Schiller, Maria Stuart responds to the topics put on the agenda since the French Revolution: the will to power in relationship to the legitimacy of government, dictatorship and human rights; the question of ends and means, of judicial murder and responsibility, of truth and falsity in political rhetorics. During her last days, the Scottish Queen fights for her freedom and life; but the conspiracy of two rival lovers only leads to her doom, as does Queen Elizabeth's unscrupulous determination to annihilate her political and more attractive female rival. In her cabinet, in court receptions and in Mary's prison cell, passions battle with calculation, slick posture with religion, bigotry with moral principles. Although published in the original German, this edition contains word explanations and cross references at the bottom of each page. A historical introduction leads up to the beginning of the action. The Nachwort discusses the positions and motifs of the characters as well as the artistic means by which Schiller puts forward his intentions with this classical tragedy. Finally, questions and a selective bibliography stimulate specific efforts to investigate this masterpiece and its inherent topics.