SOURCE: "The Apple-Shot and the Politics of Wilhelm Tell," in Friedrich von Schiller and the Drama of Human Existence, edited by Alexej Ugrinsky, Greenwood Press, 1988, pp. 81-8.

In the following essay, Sammons argues that Schiller's representation of Gessler as stupid sets aside the political questions typically associated with the play and points to the counter-revolutionary theme that success in revolution comes about by accident rather than by pursuing an ideology.

Everyone knows that Wilhelm Tell with his crossbow split an apple that had been set upon his son's head. But not everyone recalls the skill with which Schiller managed this difficult scene. It is obvious that some illusionary mechanical device must be employed—as Schiller clearly realized,¹ if there are not to be intolerable casualties among child actors—and the audience's attention must be distracted from it. Gessler has set up the situation as a calculated political move...