SOURCE: "From Edelmann to Eidgenosse: The Nobles in Wilhelm Tell," in The German Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4, Fall, 1985, pp. 554-65.

In the following essay, Jamison discusses the dramatic structure of play in terms of the function of the noble class, which is to portray the "ennobling effect of nature" on the nobles and on Tell in producing compassion for others.

"Der Tell," Schiller wrote to Iffland on August 5, 1803, "ist ein solches Volksstück, wie Sie es wünschen," but, he hastened to add, "an die wirkliche Ausführung hat mich der verzweifelte Kampf mit dem Stoff bis jetzt noch nicht kommen lassen. Bei diesem Stücke aber liegt gerade alles in der Anordnung und die Ausführung ist dann die leichtere Arbeit."¹ Since Iffland had been promised that Wilhelm Tell would premiere on his Berlin stage and was eagerly awaiting the completed work, Schiller's assessment of the task that...