The Critical Treatment of the Church in the Works of Friedrich Schiller

THE CRITICAL TREATMENT OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORKS OF FRIEDRICH SCHILLER by Tim Jansa A thesis submitted to the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and The Graduate School of The University of Wyoming in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in GERMAN Laramie, Wyoming May, 1998 To The Graduate School: The members of The Committee approve the thesis of Tim Jansa presented on April 8, 1998. ________________________________ Lowell A. Bangerter, Chairman ________________________________ Hannelore G. Mundt ________________________________ Eric D. Kohler APPROVED: _____________________________________________________________________________ M. Ian Adams, Department of Modern and Classical Languages _____________________________________________________________________________ Donald S. Warder, Dean, The Graduate School Contents I. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................................1 II. SCHILLER AND RELIGION ..........................................................................................................................................3 1. The Historical and Religious Environment in the 18th Century......................................................................................3 2. Schiller’s Religious Background........................................................................................................................................6 3. Early Literary Influences on Schiller ................................................................................................................................8 A. Goethe ...............................................................................................................................................................................8 B. Klopstock.........................................................................................................................................................................11 III. THE CHURCH IN SCHILLER’S WORKS ................................................................................................................13 1. General Overview .............................................................................................................................................................13 2. Early Dramatic Works......................................................................................................................................................15 A. Die Räuber (1781)...........................................................................................................................................................15 B. Don Carlos (1787)...........................................................................................................................................................19 3. Early Poetry.......................................................................................................................................................................26 4. Schiller’s Prose: Der Geisterseher (1786-89) and its Religious Implications ................................................................31 A. Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................31 B. Historical and Sociological Background .........................................................................................................................31 C. The Conspiracy................................................................................................................................................................33 D. Der Geisterseher and Don Carlos as Milestones in Schiller’s View of the Church ........................................................39 5. Pre-classical Poetry: Die Götter Griechenlands (1788/1793)..........................................................................................42 6. Enhancement of Schiller’s View of Religion...................................................................................................................47 A. Schiller’s Philosophical and Aesthetic Writings..............................................................................................................47 B. Goethe .............................................................................................................................................................................51 7. The Classical and Late Classical Dramas .......................................................................................................................57 A. The Wallenstein Trilogy (1796-99) .................................................................................................................................57 B. Maria Stuart (1800).........................................................................................................................................................63 C. Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801)....................................................................................................................................68 D. Wilhelm Tell (1804).........................................................................................................................................................71 8. Classical Poetry .................................................................................................................................................................77 ii IV. CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................................................81 NOTES...................................................................................................................................................................................83 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................................................84 iii I. INTRODUCTION Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was born in a time of great political, philosophical, and religious struggles, and during his relatively short life, he encountered a great number of people representing different views on related issues. One aspect of society in which Schiller soon showed particular interest was the importance of the Church for everyday life in late 18th century Germany. Under the influence of his early teachers, and later other authors and philosophers like Klopstock, Goethe, Herder, and Kant, Schiller soon began to develop and gradually refine a critical concept of religion and the Church that would be of great significance for a large number of his creative writings. The fact that he frequently and unambiguously expressed his criticism, and only in his later works began to restrain himself in the explicitness of his critique soon earned him both contempt from the ecclesiastical authorities and the admiration of a great majority of his audience, including many famous contemporaries. When browsing through the enormous number of publications on Schiller, one is surprised that only a handful of authors and literary scholars have thus far studied the issue of religion and the Church in Schiller’s works in a comprehensive manner. This becomes particularly obvious when one attempts to gather information on a work like Schiller’s Der Geisterseher, a novel based altogether on the topic of the Catholic Church’s struggle to increase its power. Without this in mind, an analyst will miss an extremely important aspect not only of this work, but also of the greater image of the Church that Schiller creates throughout his literary life. In a time of gradual loss of moral guidance, humaneness in everyday contact with other people in an increasingly anonymous society, and true religious faith, today’s reader may find reassurance and even help in examining how an author like Schiller dealt with such moral and religious issues; despite the great temporal gap of 200 years, the problems are astoundingly similar. Yet, one must not accept Schiller’s ideas as the only answer for one’s questions, since that–as will be shown–would contradict this author’s ideal of a free, autonomous mind. This thesis will attempt to demonstrate a) that religious issues and the role of the Church are a central theme in a large number of Schiller’s creative writings and are of great significance for the overall understanding for these works–something that has often been neglected in literary discourse–, b) that Schiller’s treatment of these topics reflects not only the changes in society and philosophy of that time, but also Schiller’s own biography, as well as a broader historical context–for example in Don 1 Carlos and the Wallenstein trilogy–, and c) that Schiller’s writings–in particular the later ones– make a strong distinction between religiousness and its individual expression, and its institutionalization in the form of the Church, something that might well have contributed to the loss of power of the Church in a society in transformation toward modernity and enlightenment. The effects of this loss of power can still be felt in these days. To achieve this goal, I will have to confine myself to a relatively small number of his works due to the enormous amount of material provided by the author himself. Yet, I hope that the reader will be

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