Schiller's drama “The Robbers” was completed in 1781. Schiller only graduated from the Military Academy course in Studdgart, and wrote the drama while studying there. The young writer had to publish a drama at his own expense, because no publisher in Stududgart wanted to print it. But Baron von Dahlberg, the director of the Mayingham Theater, undertook to put it. The premiere took place in Mayneim in 1882, Schiller immediately became famous.
The genre of the work "The Robbers" is a drama. In the finale, all those close to Charles die, and he himself goes to surrender to the authorities. Contradictions in his life are insoluble. He is broken morally and expects physical retribution. Some researchers specify the genre, calling the work a robbery drama.
Subject of the drama is enmity and hatred between close people, capable of killing; responsibility of man for his choice and his actions, for moral obligations. The main idea is pronounced by the priest: there is no greater sin than parricide and fratricide. Charles echoed him in the finale: "Oh, I'm a fool, I dreamed to correct the light with evil deeds and keep the laws with iniquities!"
In the preface Schiller admits that his goal as a playwright is "to spy on the most intimate movements of the soul." The problems raised in the drama are human passions: revenge and betrayal, the slander of the eldest son, the grief of the deceived father, the choice of Amalia, the loyalty of the robbers and Charles to the word. Social problems are connected with the sovereignty of feudal lords (the story of Kosinsky, whose beloved became the mistress of the prince, who took the lands of Kosinsky and gave them to the minister). One of the epigraphs of the drama is "On the tyrants". Women in drama make a choice between honor and love. Amalia (Kosinsky's bride) chooses love (while losing her lover). And his Amalia Charles saves from this choice, returning home on time.
The plot is borrowed by Schiller from Shubart's story "To the history of the human heart". The story was influenced by stories about noble robbers fighting against feudal lords. Robbery was a common social phenomenon of the times of Schiller. The younger son Franz slandered the elder Charles in the eyes of his father, and then declared him dead. He wanted to inherit his father's wealth and marry his brother's bride. He declared his sick father dead and locked him in a family crypt. Charles, a noble robber, but also a murderer, feeling anxiety for the bride, decides to secretly make his way into the patrimonial castle. He finds a hardly alive father, who spent 3 months in the crypt, still loving his Amalia. Charles wants to take revenge on his brother for the suffering of his father, but he strangles himself with a lace. The father dies when he learns that Charles is a robber, and Amalia asks to be stabbed, just not to part with him again. Charles fulfills the request of Amalia and is given in the hands of justice, simultaneously making a blessing for the father of 11 children.
Old man Moore wants only one thing: that his children love each other. He is too soft, what Franz uses and pulls out of his lips the curse on Charles. It was the father's refusal to accept his son in his castle and prompted Charles to become a robber. The father then curses his son, then calls him a pearl in the crown of the Most High and an angel. The old man is not ready to accept his son Charles as a robber and a murderer, dying from this news. Franz Moore, the youngest son, is cunning and deceitful. His goal is to take possession of his father's estate. In his own words, he is mired in all mortal sins. Franz suspects that all people are like him. The man considers Franz as mud, but he is completely devoid of conscience.
The priest calls Franz a tyrant. Franz is atheist, but deep down he is afraid of meeting with God. He is tormented by the sin of parricide, which is reflected in a dream about the Last Judgment. His death is correlated with sins: he struck like Judas. The elder brother Charles Moore is a noble robber. He himself does not consider himself a criminal, nor a thief, calling his craft retribution, and the craft - revenge.
Charles is pious, but he treats churchmen with contempt, calling them Pharisees, interpreters of truth, monkey deities. Charles, according to the pater, is consumed by pride. Indeed, Charles scorned the robbers, calling them godless scoundrels and an instrument of his great plans. Charles is a natural person, acting according to common sense. Learning about the insidiousness of his brother, Charles is ready to run, so as not to kill him in anger. He is generous and generous, gives Daniel a purse. At the end of the tragedy, Charles decides not only to surrender to the authorities, but also to help the poor man by giving him money for his capture. At the same time, Charles is a robber and a murderer. He would like to forget the cries of his victims, trying to find an excuse for his actions in his pedigree and his upbringing.
Charles has an acute sense of justice. He himself rebels against human laws, considering them unfair, but outraged that Franz violates God's laws when he kills and torments his father: "The laws of the universe are turned into dice! The connection of nature has disintegrated ... The son killed his father. " From the point of view of Charles, revenge justifies his robbery and murder of his brother. And yet he does not consider himself right to be happy and to love, if he killed so many.
Daniel, a seventy-year-old servant, is extremely honest. He does not console Franz, who told a terrible dream about the Last Judgment, but only promises to pray for him. Franz calls this sincerity the wisdom and cowardice of the rabble. Daniel refuses to pin Franz, when the hour of retribution is approaching, not wanting to commit a sin.
The robbers are faithful to their ataman and do not agree to surrender it to the authorities even for the signed pardon. Charles calls robbers punishing angels. Obligations to them force Charles to kill Amalia.
Amalia is true to her lover, idealizes him. Amalia is ready to go to the monastery after learning about the alleged death of Charles and his father, but does not agree to become Franz's wife, wants to kill herself when the younger brother solicits her strength. Amalia does not think her life without a lover. When a girl finds out that her groom is a robber, she calls him both a demon and an angel. She herself becomes a victim of the duty of her lover.
Conflict in the drama is external and internal. The external conflict is social: a rebellion against feudal tyranny. It encourages Charles to become a robber, and Franz - to plot against his father and brother. At the end of the drama, the conflict is resolved by Charles’ admission of the fallacy of his path. The internal conflict of Charles is the contradiction between the right to protest and the criminal ways of its implementation, based on violence. This conflict is unresolved. Internal conflict is inherent in every character. Amalia resolves the conflict between love for Charles and sympathy for the disguised Charles. The internal conflict of Franz consists in the question of the existence of God. The father can not decide, forgive or curse each of the sons.
For the young Schiller the main thing in the drama is to convey his ideas to the reader and viewer. The plot is not based on life facts, but proceeds from ideas. The character of the hero in Schiller is conditional. He builds it rationally, based on his meager knowledge about society and the world, subordinates the idea. Schiller created a drama of a new type. It has a political component, pathetic, emotional and lyrical. Of great importance in the drama are the songs. Charles and Amalia are singing, restoring their strength on the lute and shedding melancholy. The songs reveal the true feelings of the characters, for example, Charles sings about Caesar and the traitor Brutus, having learned about the betrayal of his brother.
