Коллектив авторов - The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03

In all of his later dramas excepting William Tell , Schiller endeavored to introduce a factor which is called "the dramatic guilt," a circumstance, usually in the character of the hero but sometimes in his environment, which makes the tragic outcome inevitable and yet leaves room in the breast of the reader or spectator for sympathy with the hero in his fate. In the case of Wallenstein this "guilt" is the dalliance with the love of power and the possibility of rebellion, not a deliberate intention to commit treason. In the close of his treatment of Wallenstein in The Thirty Years' War Schiller says: "No one of his actions justifies us in considering him convicted of treason. * * * Thus Wallenstein fell, not because he was a rebel, but he rebelled because he fell."

The circumstances are urged that Wallenstein was a prince of the Empire, and had as such the right to negotiate with foreign powers; that his delegated authority from the Emperor gave him the right to do so in the Emperor's name; that the Emperor had not kept faith with Wallenstein, and had thus justified him in at least frightening the court; that self preservation seemed to indicate rebellion as the only recourse; that Wallenstein's belief in his destiny and the fatuous devotion of his army led him to reckless action; and finally that he did not originally intend to commit actual treason.

Thus prepared, the reader can easily sympathize with Wallenstein in his downfall; this sympathy is entirely won by the admirable courage with which Wallenstein bears the successive blows of fate, and it is strengthened by consideration of the mean motives of the men who serve as the tools of his execution, and by the remembrance that the fate of Max and Thekla is bound up in his. Schiller was concerned lest the love episode should detract from the interest due the chief persons of the tragedy; his art has effected the exact opposite.

The influence of Shakespeare is more or less obvious in all of Schiller's later dramas. Aside from the splendid rhetoric of the monologues, the character of Countess Terzky, so similar to that of Lady Macheth, suggests this. But such influence is not so controlling as to be in any respect a reproach to Schiller. Goethe in his generous admiration considered Wallenstein "so great that nothing could be compared with it." "In the imaginative power whereby history is made into drama, in the triumph of artistic genius over a vast and refractory mass of material, and in the skill with which the character of the hero is conceived and denoted, Wallenstein is unrivaled. Its chief figure is by far the stateliest and most impressive of German tragic heroes." [22]

WALLENSTEIN, Duke of Friedland,

Generalissimo of the Imperial

Forces in the Thirty Years' War .

DUCHESS OF FRIEDLAND, Wife of

Wallenstein .

THEKLA, her Daughter, Princess of

Friedland .

The COUNTESS TERZKY, Sister of the Duchess .

LADY NEUBRUNN.

OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General .

MAX PICCOLOMINI, his son, Colonel of a regiment of Cuirassiers .

COUNT TERZKY, the Commander of several Regiments, and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein .

ILLO, Field Marshall, Wallenstein's

Confident .

ISOLANI, General of the Croats .

BUTLER, an Irishman, Commander of a regiment of Dragoons .

GORDON, Governor Egra .

MAJOR GERALDIN.

CAPTAIN DEVEREUX.

CAPTAIN MACDONALD.

AN ADJUTANT.

NEUMANN, Captain of Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp to Terzky .

COLONEL WRANGEL, Envoy from the

Swedes .

ROSENBURG, Master of Horse .

SWEDISH CAPTAIN.

SENI.

BURGOMASTER of Egra .

ANSPESSADE of the Cuirassiers .

GROOM OF THE} Belonging to

CHAMBER, } the Duke .

A PAGE, }

Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Servants .

Municipal Theatre, Hamburg, 1906.]

TRANSLATED BY S.T. COLERIDGE

A Room fitted up for astrological labors, and provided with celestial Charts, with Globes, Telescopes, Quadrants, and other mathematical Instruments—Seven Colossal Figures, representing the Planets, each circle in the background, so that Mars and Saturn are nearest the eye.—The remainder of the Scene, and its disposition, is given in the Fourth Scene of the Second Act.—There must be a Curtain over the Figures, which may be dropped, and conceal them on occasion.

[ In the Fifth Scene of this Act it must be dropped; but in the Seventh Scene it must be again drawn up wholly or in part. ]

WALLENSTEIN at a black Table, on which a Speculum Astrologicum is described with Chalk . SENI is taking Observations through a window .

WALLENSTEIN.

All well—and now let it be ended, Seni. Come,

The dawn commences, and Mars rules the hour.

We must give o'er the operation. Come,

We know enough.

SENI.

Just to contemplate Venus. She's now rising;

Like as a sun, so shines she in the east.

WALLENST.

She is at present in her perigee,

And now shoots down her strongest influences.

[ Contemplating the figure on the table. ]

Auspicious aspect! fateful in conjunction,

At length the mighty three corradiate;

And the two stars of blessing, Jupiter

And Venus, take between them the malignant

Slily-malicious Mars, and thus compel

Into my service that old mischief-founder:

For long he viewed me hostilely, and ever

With beam oblique, or perpendicular,

Now in the Quartile, now in the Secundan,

Shot his red lightnings at my stars, disturbing

Their blessed influences and sweet aspects.

Now they have conquer'd the old enemy,

And bring him in the heavens a prisoner to me.

SENI ( who has come down from the window ).

And in a corner house, your Highness—think of that!

That makes each influence of double strength.

WALLENST.

And sun and moon, too, in the Sextile aspect,

The soft light with the vehement—so I love it;

SOL is the heart, LUNA the head of heaven;

Bold be the plan, fiery the execution.

SENI.

And both the mighty Lumina by no

Maleficus affronted . Lo! Saturnus,

Innocuous, powerless, in cadente Domo .

WALLENST.

The empire of Saturnus is gone by;

Lord of the secret birth of things is he

Within the lap of earth, and in the depths

Of the imagination dominates;

And his are all things that eschew the light.

The time is o'er of brooding and contrivance,

For Jupiter, the lustrous, lordeth now,

And the dark work, complete of preparation,

He draws by force into the realm of light.

Now must we hasten on to action, ere

The scheme and most auspicious positure

Parts o'er my head, and takes once more its flight,

For the heavens journey still, and sojourn not.

[ There are knocks at the door. ]

There's some one knocking there. See who it is.

TERZKY ( from without ).

Open, and let me in.