The Robbers

How mean can man be? Since its premiere in 1782, Schiller's storm and stress era drama has explored this key question. The work is not only a study of radicalisation, but also of the concept of freedom – a term frequently misused at present. Is freedom even conceivable without justice and equality? Schiller's characters also diagnosed an inevitable turning point and were proven right. While the younger generation lives out its life plans in the solidarity of revolutionary circles and actions in the vastness of the forests, the older generation entrenches itself behind the self-constructed walls of inherited wealth. Franz Moor, a rationalist and misanthrope, is exceptionally adept at turning his weak father Maximilian against his brother Karl, who strives for humanist ideals. This goes so far that the father disinherits Karl, the apple of his eye. Karl becomes the head of a band of robbers whose idealism loses all humanistic measure over time. In the end, mutual mistrust prevails instead of the anticipated social change. And those forces that promote division win out. Karl's „craft is retribution“, meaning that he wants to compensate for the injustice that has befallen him in the world. But first he has to start in private: His brother is playing a cruel game with Amalia, the woman Karl left for his mission.