SOURCE: "William Tell, or Natural Justice," in Harmonious Tensions: The Writings of Friedrich Schiller, University of Delaware Press, 1996, pp. 254-67.

In the following essay, Martinson explores the concept of natural justice in Wilhelm Tell, arguing that the drama resolves the traditional split between art and nature and that Tell himself is the naive and beautiful hero representative of the natural order.

In view of Schiller's interest in music, it is neither coincidental, nor unique that in William Tell the writer should have the fisher-boy, the herdsman, and the alpine hunter sing from the lake, the mountains and the cliffs, respectively. Music is an intimate part of the seemingly idyllic, poetic-dramatic setting.¹ Yet, as the stage directions indicate, music is audible even before the dramatic events begin. "Even before the curtain rises, one hears the cowherd's tune and the harmonious ringing of the herd-bells, which even continues a while...