Die Räuber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available, as is general documentation. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
Die Räuber (The Robbers) is the first drama from German playwright Friedrich Schiller. It is divided into five acts, each comprising of two to five scenes. It was written towards the end of the Sturm und Drang movement, published in 1781, and premiered on January 13, 1782 in Mannheim, Germany.
The plot revolves around a conflict between two aristocratic brothers, Karl and Franz Moor. The charismatic but rebellious student Karl is deeply loved by his father. The younger brother, Franz, appears to portray himself as a cold, calculating villain who plots to wrestle away the paternal inheritance from Karl. As the play unfolds, however, the motives for Franz's villainy prove to be complex, as does the seeming heroism of his "innocent" older brother. Schiller raises many disturbing issues in his first play — a play that astounded the Mannheim audience and made its author an overnight sensation. He questions the dividing lines between personal liberty and the law, as well as probes into the modern psychology of power, the nature of masculinity, and the essential difference between good and evil. Verdi's opera of the same name, I masnadieri, is based on Schiller's work.
[edit] Synopsis
- This summary is for "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov, NOT for Die Rauber...
[edit] Act I
Act I opens in the early morning hours of a day in May in the nursery of Madame Ranevskaya's ancestral estate somewhere in the provinces of Russia just after the turn of the 20th Century. Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya (Любовь Андреевна Раневская) returns to her country house with her 17-year old daughter Anya (Аня) and her German governess Charlotta Ivanovna (Шарлотта Ивановна), as well as her valet, Yasha (Яша), from Paris where they have been living for the past five years. The trio is met by Varya (Варя), Mme. Ranevskaya's adopted daughter who has overseen the estate in her absence; Yermolai Alexeevich Lopakhin (Ермолай Алексеевич Лопахин), a local merchant and family friend; Leonid Andreevich Gayev (Леонид Андреевич Гаев), Mme. Ranevskaya's brother; as well as members of the household staff including Dunyasha (Дуняша), the chambermaid who behaves like a refined lady; Epikhodov (Епиходов Семен Пантелеевич), a clumsy clerk in the Ranevskaya household who has proposed to Dunyasha; and the aging footman, Firs (Фирс), who was once a serf to the Ranevskaya family and who, after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, remained in their service for lack of a better opportunity for work. Dunyasha becomes smitten with the cultured Yasha, who steals a kiss from her while the two are alone.
Mme. Ranevskaya is reminded that the estate will be auctioned in August to pay the estate's mortgage. Lopakhin offers a plan to save the orchard if only she will allow part of the estate to be developed into summer cottages. However, this will incur the destruction of the famous cherry orchard which Mme. Ranevskaya states is nationally known, and which has become to her a symbol of her youth and childhood. Other solutions to the debt are also proposed but nothing is resolved and the conversation is diverted to other topics. While Ranevskaya enjoys the view of the orchard as day breaks, she is surprised by Petya Trofimov (Петр Сергеевич Трофимов), a young student who acted as tutor to Ranevskaya's son, Grisha. We learn that Grisha drowned five years prior to the beginning of the play, and that this was a contributing factor to Ranevskaya's fleeing Russia and her home. Ranevskaya is grief-stricken at the reminder of this tragedy, despite Trofimov's insistence on seeing her upon her return (much to the consternation of Varya.)
After Ranevskaya retires for the evening, Anya confesses to Varya that their mother is heavily in debt and their uncle Gayev suggests sending Anya to Yaroslav where their great aunt lives in the hopes that she will lend them the money to save the estate. Gayev also reminds Varya that Lophakin is a wealthy man and has always been enamoured of her, and that a marriage with him would ensure the family's survival. They all go to bed with a renewed hope that the estate will be saved and the cherry orchard not cut down.
[edit] Act II
Act II opens on a road bordering the cherry orchard in mid-summer. The estate is still in jeopardy but the family seems more concerned with courtships. Yasha and Epikhodov are each attempting to attract the attentions of Dunyasha. The young Anya has fallen in love with Trofimov, infuriating Varya, who herself has become the subject of rumours that she will be engaged to Lophakin. Lophakin tries to steer the conversation towards the business of the estate but Mme. Ranevskaya reveals the sad truth about her finances and her relationship with a man in Paris who cruelly took advantage of her money and feelings. The old footman Firs speaks of the past on the estate before the emancipation of the serfs. The sound of a Jewish band is heard in the distance and Ranevskaya decides to hold a party and invite them to play. When Trofimov appears, Lophakin teases the boy for his being a perpetual student and Trofimov espouses his philosophy of work and useful purpose to the delight and humor of everyone around. During their conversations, a disheveled vagrant passes by and begs for money; Ranevskaya thoughtlessly gives him all of her money, despite the protestations of Varya. Shaken by the disturbance, the family departs for dinner, with Lophakin futilely insisting that the cherry orchard be sold to pay down the debt. Anya stays behind to talk with Trofimov, who disapproves of Varya's constant hawk-like eyes, reassuring Anya that they are "above love." To impress Trofimov and win his affection, Anya vows to leave the past behind her and start life anew. The two depart for the river as Varya calls scoldingly in the background.
[edit] Act III
Several months have passed, and the evening of Ranevskaya's party has come. Offstage the musicians play as the family and their guests drink, carouse and entertain themselves. It is also the day of the auction for the estate and the cherry orchard; Gayev has received a paltry amount of money from his and Ranevskaya's stingy aunt in Yaroslav, and the family members, despite the general merriment about them, are both anxious and distracted while they wait for word of their fates. Varya worries about paying the musicians and scolds Trofimov and their neighbour Pischik for drinking, Dunyasha for dancing and Epikhodov for playing billiards. Charlotta entertains the group by performing several magic tricks. Ranevskaya scolds Trofimov for his constant teasing of Varya, whom he refers to as "Madame Lophakin." She then urges Varya to marry Lophakin, but Varya demurs, reminding her that it is Lophakin's duty to ask for her hand in marriage, not the other way around. She says that if she had money she would move as far away from him as possible. Left alone with Ranevskaya, Trofimov insists that she finally face the truth that the house and the cherry orchard will be sold at auction. Ranevskaya shows him a telegram she has received from Paris and reveals that her former lover is ill again and has begged for her to return to his aid. She also reveals that she is seriously considering joining him, despite his cruel behavior to her in the past. Trofimov is stunned at this news and the two argue about the nature of love and their respective experiences. Trofimov leaves in a huff but offstage falls down the stairs and is carried in by the others. Ranevskaya laughs and forgives him for his folly and the two quickly reconcile. Anya enters declaring a rumour that the cherry orchard has been sold. Lophakin arrives with Gayev, both of whom are exhausted from the trip and the day's events. Gayev is distant, virtually catatonic and goes to bed without saying a word of the outcome of the auction. When Ranevskaya asks who bought the estate, Lophakin reveals that he himself has purchased it in order to save the family. Varya, enraged, hurls the keys to the estate on the floor, and Lophakin, half-drunk and smug, tells how he outbid everyone and gleefully (and angrily) celebrates his victory. Ranevskaya, distraught, clings to Anya, who tries to calm her and reassure her that the future will be better now that the cherry orchard has been sold.
[edit] Act IV
It is several weeks later, once again in the nursery (as in Act I), only this time the room is being packed and taken apart as the family prepares to leave the estate forever. Lophakin arrives with champagne as a going-away present but Ranevskaya snubs him - despite his best intentions for the family he loves, she views him as a destroyer of her youth and happiness. Trofimov enters in search of his galoshes, and he and Lophakin exchange opposing world views. Anya enters and reprimands Lophakin for ordering his workers to begin cutting down the cherry orchard while the family is still in the house. Lophakin apologizes and rushes out to stop them for the time being in the hopes that he will be somehow reconciled with them. Anya also inquires about Firs' health and Yasha informs her that he has been taken to a hospital that morning. Dunyasha enters and begs Yasha for some sort of affectionate parting; Yasha for his part wants nothing to do with her or his old life, as he hungers to return to Paris and to live in style. Charlotta enters, lost and in a daze, and insists that the family find her a new position. Gayev and Ranevskaya return to say goodbye to the room where they grew up and spent their childhood. Gayev gaily announces that he has a job at the local bank, and Raneskaya reveals that she is indeed returning to Paris to be with her former lover. She also scolds Lophakin for not yet asking Varya to marry him. Lophakin concedes to do so, and the rest withdraw to give the two some privacy. When Varya enters (knowing that he will propose to her), Lophakin and she converse about the weather and various mundane subjects, both trying to find a way to reveal their feelings. One of the workers calls for Lophakin and he exits hastily without asking Varya to marry him. Varya is devastated and Ranevskaya comforts her when she returns. The family and their servants all gather to say their respective goodbyes to the estate and the cherry orchard, one by one departing for their new lives. Ranevskaya tearfully bids her old life goodbye and leaves as the house is shut up forever. In the darkness Firs wanders into the room and discovers that they have left without him and boarded him inside the abandoned house to die. He lies down on the couch and resigns himself to his fate, as offstage we hear the axes as they cut down the cherry orchard.
[edit] Dramatis personae
[edit] Maximilian, Count Von Moor
Maximilian von Moor is the beloved father of Karl and Franz (also "Old Moor" mentioned). He is a good person at heart, but is weak and has failed to educate his two sons; he is thus responsible for the perversion of the Moor family. Because of this failure, family values are purged and invalid. Thus the Moor family is an analogy of the political State, a typical political criticism of Schiller's; the prince as a national father is particularly condemned.
[edit] Karl, his son
Karl Moor is a self-confident idealist. He is good-looking and well-liked by all. His emotions and impulses are rather feminine in nature (his feelings of deep love for Amalia, his general melancholy etc). Together with his gang of robbers, he fights against the unfairness and corruption of the feudal authorities, and in doing so, also becomes a disgraceful criminal and murderous arsonist, while believing his father to have banished him from his home after supposedly disgracing their family name. He loves Amalia and his offended homeland deludes itself. This despair leads to the urge to express and discover new goals and directions, and to realize his ideals and dreams of heroes. He breaks the law, for as he says, the end justifies the means. He develops a close connexion with his robbers, especially to Scooter and Schweizer, but recognizes in the process the unscrupulousness and dishonor of Spiegelberg and his other associates. He is not an honest robber, as his bad deeds illustrate, and recognizes that his father it would not dishonour himself by forgiving him. Amalia, who becomes as a death toy to him, creates a deep internal twist in the plot and in Karl's persona, since he swore alliegance to the robbers that he would never separate from them, and since Schweizer and Scooter had died for his sake alone. In desperation, after the death father, he kills his lover and decides to turn himself in to the law, which shows that he the reasoning in his heart is still good.
[edit] Franz, his son
Franz Moor is an egoistic rationalist and materialist. He is feelingless and cold. He is rather ugly and unpopular, as opposed to his brother Karl, but quite intelligent and cunning. He is not pure evil. However, since his father loved only his brother and not him, he developed a lack of feeling, which made the "sinful world" intolerable for his passions, and he consequently fixed himself to a rationalistic way of thinking. In the character of Franz, Schiller demonstrates what could happen if the moral way of thinking was replaced by the pure rationalization. Franz strives for power in order to be able to implement his interests.
[edit] Amelia von Edelreich, his niece
Amalia is Karl's love and is a faithful and reliable person (to learn more of their relationship see "Hektorlied").
[edit] Spiegelberger
Spiegelberger acts as an opponent of Karl Moor — driven by crime; in addition, he was nominated to be captain in Karl's robber band, and surprisingly not even the captain was envious. He tries to portray Karl badly among the robbers in order to become the captain, but does not succeed.
[edit] Schweitzer
[edit] Grimm
[edit] Razmann
Libertines, later banditti.
[edit] Schufterle
[edit] Roller
[edit] Kosinsky
[edit] Schwartz
[edit] Hermann
The natural son of a Nobleman.
[edit] Daniel
An old servant of Count von Moor.
[edit] Pastor Moser
[edit] Father Dominic
A Monk.
[edit] Band of robbers, servants, etc.
[edit] Film adaptations
The Robbers (1913) directed by J. Searle Dawley and Walter Edwin
