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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dieser fucking homoerotisch subtext im ganzen buch i cannot -1 star bc so hard to understand…man hätte diesen shit nicht schwieriger zu verstehen machen können
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5 Stars.
Schiller isn’t my favourite German poet, but I admittedly quite enjoyed Don Karlos. There are some well-turned phrases throughout this play, and though the plot is not really to my liking (too much is happening out of misguided love) and the characters are not among my favourites, it is a readable piece of literature.
Schiller isn’t my favourite German poet, but I admittedly quite enjoyed Don Karlos. There are some well-turned phrases throughout this play, and though the plot is not really to my liking (too much is happening out of misguided love) and the characters are not among my favourites, it is a readable piece of literature.
So here it is, at last: the greatest drama I've ever read. I have never been so powerfully impacted -- both intellectually and emotionally -- by any dramatic work (and quite possibly any other work of literature), either on the page or performed on stage. Indeed, up to this point I had only consumed drama in one of three ways: as an intellectual exercise (Shakespeare, Racine, Goethe, the ancients, the Elizabethans, etc.), as a form of entertainment (Williams, Coward, Hellman, Shepard, Miller, etc.), or as some combination of the two (Beckett, Molière, Ibsen, Chekhov, Hauptmann, etc.) Reading Schiller, and Don Carlos in particular, has changed the way I consume drama. Here is all the passion and fire of life and politics on display, along with the most moving plots and engrossing characters I've ever encountered. Here is theater as dangerous and rebellious political commentary, as force for social change, as resistance to tyranny (in all forms: political, social, romantic, and even personal/inner), and as moral education for any free-thinking person.
Besides complex characters who work out faults that are reflected in our own personal struggles, Schiller gives us historical perspectives that speak to the immediacy of his own time -- and of ours. His plots move with the rapidity of cinema, but never at the expense of contemplative moments. He knows when to pause to give us extended scenes that dig deeply into themes of justice and liberty, resonating with both characters within the drama and with his audience. There are lines that are absolutely devastating, having the ring of timelessness and truth that one only encounters in Shakespeare, and which, unlike the Bard, still have an emotional and stirring impact that doesn't feel antiquated (sorry Shakespeare fans):
"Poor man, what have you done?"
"I have surrendered two short evening hours
To save the glory of a summer's day."
*********
"Be received into your father's arms."
"You smell of murder, I cannot embrace you."
*********
Posa's speech to the king is too long to quote at length, but it is one of the greatest instances of speaking truth to power I've ever read. Here is young Schiller harnessing the passions of his times, distilling the revolutionary spirit of the late-18th century into the purest dramatic art, giving voice to a generation of free-thinkers who rejected the tyranny of absolute monarchy, and who traded the violence and oppression of autocratic rule for the liberating embrace of social equality and justice. He unmasks the divine right of kings as neither divine nor inherent, and reveals the rulers who enforce servitude by decree to be nothing more than feeble old men who command obedience through fear:
"You want your garden to flower eternally
But the seed you sow is death. An institution
Built upon fear will not survive its founder."
There are passages in this play that shook me to the core. At times, I had to stop reading just to take it all in that such ideas were being expressed in a way as to strike me right in the soul: mind, emotion, and spirit. At one point, while in a coffee shop, I had to raise the book up to my eyes because I was on the point of tears. Literature doesn't really affect me like that. I can't remember the last time a work brought me to tears. And a drama? Never! Up to this point, only fiction had the power to move me like this, and then only very rarely.
After reading Don Carlos, I discovered Coleridge's thoughts on [b:Die Räuber|942336|Die Räuber|Friedrich Schiller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1179652399s/942336.jpg|6226708] expressed in a letter to Robert Southey that perfectly mirrored my own experience in reading Schiller: "'Tis past one o' clock in the morning - I sate down at twelve o' clock to read the 'Robbers' of Schiller - I had read chill and trembling until I came to the part where Moor fires a pistol over the Robbers who are asleep - I could read no more - My God! Southey! Who is this Schiller? This convulser of the heart? Did he write his Tragedy amid the yelling of Fiends?...Why have we ever called Milton sublime?"
Chill and trembling. Yes. That's it.
I've never really waxed rhapsodic about a writer like this. I've enjoyed certain works and been a fan of writers and even loved their works, but this is the first time I can say that I've really and truly fallen in love with a writer's work, embracing it with a sense of passion. I find myself wanting to shout the praises of Schiller to everyone I meet. It feels like a type of life-changing discovery. At this point in my life, I can think of no other writer who has made a greater impact on me -- and in such a short amount of time. Schiller stands alone.
Besides complex characters who work out faults that are reflected in our own personal struggles, Schiller gives us historical perspectives that speak to the immediacy of his own time -- and of ours. His plots move with the rapidity of cinema, but never at the expense of contemplative moments. He knows when to pause to give us extended scenes that dig deeply into themes of justice and liberty, resonating with both characters within the drama and with his audience. There are lines that are absolutely devastating, having the ring of timelessness and truth that one only encounters in Shakespeare, and which, unlike the Bard, still have an emotional and stirring impact that doesn't feel antiquated (sorry Shakespeare fans):
"Poor man, what have you done?"
"I have surrendered two short evening hours
To save the glory of a summer's day."
*********
"Be received into your father's arms."
"You smell of murder, I cannot embrace you."
*********
Posa's speech to the king is too long to quote at length, but it is one of the greatest instances of speaking truth to power I've ever read. Here is young Schiller harnessing the passions of his times, distilling the revolutionary spirit of the late-18th century into the purest dramatic art, giving voice to a generation of free-thinkers who rejected the tyranny of absolute monarchy, and who traded the violence and oppression of autocratic rule for the liberating embrace of social equality and justice. He unmasks the divine right of kings as neither divine nor inherent, and reveals the rulers who enforce servitude by decree to be nothing more than feeble old men who command obedience through fear:
"You want your garden to flower eternally
But the seed you sow is death. An institution
Built upon fear will not survive its founder."
There are passages in this play that shook me to the core. At times, I had to stop reading just to take it all in that such ideas were being expressed in a way as to strike me right in the soul: mind, emotion, and spirit. At one point, while in a coffee shop, I had to raise the book up to my eyes because I was on the point of tears. Literature doesn't really affect me like that. I can't remember the last time a work brought me to tears. And a drama? Never! Up to this point, only fiction had the power to move me like this, and then only very rarely.
After reading Don Carlos, I discovered Coleridge's thoughts on [b:Die Räuber|942336|Die Räuber|Friedrich Schiller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1179652399s/942336.jpg|6226708] expressed in a letter to Robert Southey that perfectly mirrored my own experience in reading Schiller: "'Tis past one o' clock in the morning - I sate down at twelve o' clock to read the 'Robbers' of Schiller - I had read chill and trembling until I came to the part where Moor fires a pistol over the Robbers who are asleep - I could read no more - My God! Southey! Who is this Schiller? This convulser of the heart? Did he write his Tragedy amid the yelling of Fiends?...Why have we ever called Milton sublime?"
Chill and trembling. Yes. That's it.
I've never really waxed rhapsodic about a writer like this. I've enjoyed certain works and been a fan of writers and even loved their works, but this is the first time I can say that I've really and truly fallen in love with a writer's work, embracing it with a sense of passion. I find myself wanting to shout the praises of Schiller to everyone I meet. It feels like a type of life-changing discovery. At this point in my life, I can think of no other writer who has made a greater impact on me -- and in such a short amount of time. Schiller stands alone.
Also damals in der Schule habe ich es aus Faulheit nicht gelesen und bei Klausuren nur den entsprechenden Abschnitt gelesen und nahezu blind darüber geschrieben ohne die restliche Geschichte zu kennen.
Nun - nach all den Jahren - wurde ich aber neugierig und wundere mich, was ich alles hätte schreiben können. Denn es gibt so viele Verstrickungen, dass man manchmal kaum hinterher kommt. Vorallem in Anbetracht der ausgeschmückten Sprache.
Leider hat mir das Buch daher auch nicht sonderlich zugesagt. Obwohl ich sehr froh bin, es nun komplett gelesen zu haben.
Nun - nach all den Jahren - wurde ich aber neugierig und wundere mich, was ich alles hätte schreiben können. Denn es gibt so viele Verstrickungen, dass man manchmal kaum hinterher kommt. Vorallem in Anbetracht der ausgeschmückten Sprache.
Leider hat mir das Buch daher auch nicht sonderlich zugesagt. Obwohl ich sehr froh bin, es nun komplett gelesen zu haben.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
It is brilliant. Didn't seem as much at first but the homoerotic subtext carried me through the end. I really really liked it, I even had a passionate discussion with my classmates about it.