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Schiller's wilhelm tell6/22/2023 Eden like as the country may be it is also beset by tyranny from the dreaded imperial Hapsburg empire. It seems almost Rousseauian in the opening scenes that are set in a seeming "state of nature". This is a powerful romantic drama about the desire for freedom, but it is also an Arcadian idyll that presents the best of nature. Beyond that the scenes in this play demonstrate the importance of those countrymen and their closeness to the land and traditions of their forefathers. And there is the ultimate act which makes him a patriotic hero when he kills the Governor Gessler, the imperial representative hated by Tell's fellow countrymen and women. Yes, there is the famous scene where Tell refuses to bow to the "hat", the symbol of repressive Habsburg power, and is in turn forced to shoot the apple off his son's head. Seldom does a play include fewer scenes or lines for the title character, yet Wilhelm Tell is in few scenes and has relatively little to say in this great play, the last completed, by Friedrich Schiller.
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