Language and Gestures in Die Rauber

Schiller's Early Styles: Language and Gesture in Die Ruber
Author(s): John Guthrie

Source: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 94, No. 2 (Apr., 1999), pp. 438-459
Published by: Modern Humanities Research Association
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SCHILLER'S EARLY STYLES: LANGUAGE AND GESTURE

IN DIE RAUBER
If we are to understand the language of drama in the eighteenth century (that is, the
act of communication between characters on stage, between play and audience,
author and society), we must consider both verbal and non-verbal communication
and these in relation to one another. The difficulties involved in interpreting the
non-verbal are manifest. Gesture is more difficult to pin down and more liberally
interpreted than language. We may well resort to contemporary reports of
productions and performancesbut have to allow for individual and ensemble acting
styles, or, in the case of sketches and engravings of productions, which were
becoming increasingly common in the period, for the style of the artist in another
medium. We must also distinguish between the theory and practice of gesture,
gesture practised in oratory and preaching and its use in acting. Considerable
interest has been shown recently in the language of gesture and acting styles in the
eighteenth century,1 and Schiller has not escaped attention.2 Studies of verbal
language on the other hand have been in decline. Henry Garland'spioneering study
of Schiller's style stands in need of some revision,3 Gert Ueding's study looked
mainly at the theory of rhetoric and its influence on Schiller's ideas and writings
overall, its culmination in sententiae as stylisticdevice, virtually ignoring the earlier
plays and like Garland, divorcing language from gesture.4 Ueding also noted in
passing, however, that Schiller's language was not sufficientlywell studied,5 and a
decade later Wolfgang Wittkowskiechoed this, suggesting the desirabilityof a study
of communication.6 An exception to the lack of interest is that shown by the school
of dialogue analysis, discourse analysis, and semiotics, the results of which however,
do not seem likely to transform our knowledge and understanding of the language
of dramatic texts in their literary and cultural context.7
The language ofDie Riuberhas often been seen as something of an embarrassment,
typical of SturmundDrangor not. The blanket term Pathoshas long been applied to
ThePractices
andPrinciples
Dene Barnett, TheArtof Gesture:
Acting(Heidelberg:Winter,
of Eighteenth-Centuy
I987).
2 Gerhard
im i8. Jahrhundert:
Kluge, 'Schauspielkunstin Schillers Jugenddramen', in Schauspielkunst
ed. by WolfgangBender(Stuttgart:Steiner, i992); AlexanderKosenina,Anthropologie
Praxis,Autoren,
Grundlagen,
undSchauspielkunst.
Studien
im i8. Jahrhundert
zur'eloquentia
(Tubingen:Niemeyer, 1995).
corporis'
3 Schiller
A StudyofStylein thePlays(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1969).
theDramaticWriter:
4 Schillers
Rhetorik.
Idealistische
Tradition
undRhetorische
Wirkungsdsthetik
(Tubingen:Niemeyer, 197 ). Ueding
notes in passingthe importanceof gesturein the case of FranzMoor (p. 146).In a separatestudyof Schiller's
stage directions,Garlandis concernedwith gesture ('Some Observationson Schiller'sStage Directions',in
German
Walter
HoraceBruford
Studiesfor
(Oxford:Harrap, I962).
5 'Die Beredsamkeitder dramatischenwie der Prosaschriftenist
langst nicht genugend beachtet worden'
in seinen?Jugenddramen
Beredsamkeit
(Waldshut:
(p. 68). Ueding refersonly to the studyby FriedrichButz, Schillers
Zimmermann, 1906).
6
Friedrich
Schiller.
undPolitikinderspitenAufklirung.EinSymposium,
ed. by WolfgangWittkowski
Kunst,Humanitdt
Niemeyer, I982), p. xiii.

(Tubingen:
7
See the review of researchby Anne Betten, 'AnalyseliterarischerDialoge', in Handbuch

derDialoganalyse,
ed. by Gerd Fritz and Franz Hundsnurscher (Tiibingen: Niemeyer, I994), pp. 519-44; Richard T. Gray,
'EpistemicConflict, HermeneuticalDisjunction,and the Subl(im)ationof Revolt: A SociosemioticInvestiin Fictionsof Culture:

H. Sokel,ed. by StevenTaubeneck
Essaysin Honourof Walter
gation of Schiller'sDieRduber',
(Berne: Lang, 1991), pp. 53-93.
JOHN GUTHRIE
439
Schiller's style.8This tendency is allied to an approach that emphasizes the baroque

roots of Schiller's style and its affinity with opera. Such a view, advanced at length
by Peter Michelsen, suggests that Schiller drew on his knowledge of performances
of opera he probably saw at the Hohe Karlsschule and in Ludwigsburgand Stuttgart
and that he was influenced by Jean-Georges Noverre's ideas of 'ballet d'action',
combining ballet and drama.9Michelsen's thesis has been widely accepted and the
influence of Noverre has been further investigated.10On the other hand, the thesis
regarding the precise and general influence of opera appears overstated and does
not take account of the interrelationship of different elements in Schiller's text,
resulting in a warped picture of his dramatic style. It has been recently questioned
too, by Walter Hinderer,1 and there seems to me an unresolved tension at the heart
of it: why does Schiller emulate a style promoted by an institution about which he
had otherwise strong negative feelings? There are other unanswered questions.
What did he achieve by writing in another medium if he was so heavily influenced
by opera? What signs of distance are there from the world of opera in this work still
acknowledged as radical?And what is the relation between verbal and non-verbal
text as opposed to the role of musical elements? In short, the influence of baroque
opera on Schiller's early style is largely indirect. He was a poet, not a musician.
Moreover, and perhaps most seriously from the point of view of the critical debate
in recent years, the idea of the operatic text seems difficultto align with his interest
in psychological, medical, and anthropological issues, new and forward-looking
interests in themselves, which have been the subject of much investigation.'2 Much
effort has gone into showing how important these interests are in shaping his early
dramatic works. Recently Gerhard Kluge has explored the way these interestsrelate
to the conception of gesture in the early plays."3Taking his cue from the idea of
naturalness that he notes Karl August Bottiger stressed in his account of Iffland's
8 Pathoshere is understood in the sense it is used in in German to evoke an

elevated morally serious tone
affecting deep or tragic emotions (see Paul Bockmann, 'Stilprobleme in Schillers Dramen', Jahrbuchdesfreien
deutschenHochstifts(1929), 3-20 (p. 4). In his Formgeschichte
derdeutschen
Dichtung(Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe,
1949) Bockmann suggests a lack of realism brought about by the prominence of 'pathetische Charaktere'
(p. 687). His suggestion that Schiller's style owes something to his connection with a deep irrationalism of
existence seems questionable in the extreme. David McCutchion also uses the term pathos in 'Shakespeare
and Schiller's Robbers',JadavpurJournal of ComparativeLiterature,3 ( 963), 99-I20 (esp. p. 114). See also Ernst
Miller, Derjunge Schiller (Stuttgart and Tiibingen: Leins, 1947), p. 153. Miiller gives a more detailed account
of Schiller's language in Die Rauberlater in his book (pp. 195-99), which contradicts his earlier assertions.
9 Peter
Michelsen, 'Der Bruch mit der Vater-Welt. Studien zu Schillers Raubern',Beiheftezum Euphorion,16
zu Schillers'Rdubern'(Berne and Munich:
(I979); Michael Mann, Sturmund Drang Drama. Studienund Vorstudien
Francke, I974). Mann finds Schiller's language conventional and overladen with baroque elements (p. 82).
Michelsen finds the language 'kraB und geschmacklos' (p. 9). T. J. Reed feels that 'his [Schiller's] prose
dialogue in earlier plays had worked by overstatement, using a rhetoric of caricatures and climaxes' [sic]
(Schiller(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 48).
10 See Gabriele
Noverres Letterssur la
Brandstetter, '"Die Bilderschrift der Empfindungen" -Jean-Georges
Danse, et sur les Ballets und Friedrich Schillers Abhandlung UberAnmutund Wiirde',in Schillerund die hofischeWelt,
ed. by Achim Aurnhammer and others (Tiibingen: Niemeyer, 1990), pp. 77-93.
'' 'Die Rduber',in SchillersDramen.Interpretationen,
ed. by Walter Hinderer (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1992), pp. i -67
(pp. 31-32). See also Karl S. Guthke, SchillersDramen.IdealismusundSkepsis(Tiibingen: Francke, 1994), p. 36.
12 Kenneth Dewhurst and Nigel Reeves, FriedrichSchiller.Medicine,
PsychologyandLiterature.With theFirst English
Edition of his CompleteMedical and Psychological Writings (Oxford: Sandford, 1978); Wolfgang Riedel, Die
dermedizinischenSchriftenund derPhilosophischen
desjungenSchiller.Zur Ideengeschichte
Anthropologie
Briefe(Wirzburg:
Konigshausen & Neumann, I985).
13 'Schauspielkunst in Schillers Jugenddramen'. See also Kluge's 'Uber die Notwendigkeit der Kommentierung kleinerer Regie- und Spielanweisungen in Schillers friihen Dramen', editio,3 (1989), 90--97.
Schiller'sEarly Styles
440
performance of Karl Moor in Weimar,14 he argues that we should see gesture as

originating in Schiller's conception of the 'whole man', a central tenet of his
eighteenth-century anthropological thinking (pp. 237-39). I extend Kluge's
approach here in relation to Die Rduberand turn my attention to both verbal and
non-verbal aspects of the texts, taking account first of clues found in Schiller's other
writings.
Before looking at language and gesture in Die Rduberit is useful to review Schiller's
theoretical position in relation to the eighteenth-century debate on the function of
the stage, the communicative ability of the theatre, and mimesis. In general his ideas
on language and gesture evolve in the course of his career in conjunction with the
act of writing and alongside production and performance. They must to some
extent be deduced from his comments about other related subjects. Unlike some
other eighteenth-century aestheticians and dramatists, he does not consolidate his
ideas into a theory. There are few statements about dramatic language, but there
are hints of a particular emphasis. From the beginning, Schiller is steeped in the
ancient tradition of rhetoric, and studies of its influence have shown elements of
continuity in his work, particularlywith regard to the concern with 'Wirkung' (see
especially Ueding, SchillersRhetorik).The early essay, Was kann einegute stehende
Schaubiihne
wirken?of I784 (published I785 and in I802 as Die Schaubiihne
als
eigentlich
is firmly in the Enlightenment tradition yet also with a
einemoralische
Anstaltbetrachtet)
radical emphasis.15 The theatre must instruct and improve the condition of
humanity. But Schiller's claims for the theatre are wide. He moves away from any
narrow moralism and emphasis on the correction of vices to argue that the theatre
contributes towards the evolution of the complete human being. His arguments are
social (the theatre has a binding influence), political (it contributes towards the
cohesiveness of the nation), psychological (its effects are therapeutic; we forget
ourselves in the theatre in order to find ourselves again in relation to a group),
metaphysical (drama deals with plan and coincidence), and aesthetic (it gives
pleasure, raises our consciousness). These arguments are supported by a strand of
utopianism, the claim that the power of theatre goes beyond that of other social,
religious, and legal institutions.
How, though, is the theatre to achieve its effect?Here Schiller is less precise. The
theatre is part of the real world, it has a social function and reflects social institutions
as it does human nature with a view to changing them. Thus: 'Die Schaubuhne
fuihrtuns eine mannichfaltige Szene menschlicher Leiden vor' (xx, 96). He uses the
metaphor of the mirror, and illustrationsfrom the visual arts suggesting the affinity
between theatre and painting, several times in the course of the essay. The theatre is
the place where 'Anschauung'and 'lebendige Gegenwart' prevail, truth is revealed
and all masks destroyed (p. 91). From Lessing Schiller inherits the notion of
14 Entwickelungdes
IffldndischenSpiels auf dem WeimarischenHoftheaterim AprilmonathI796
(Leipzig, Goschen,
1796), Chapter 12.

15
Schillers Werke, Nationalausgabe, ed. by Julius Petersen and others, 43 vols (Weimar: Bohlau, 1942),
xx (I962): PhilosophischeSchriften.Erster Teil, ed. by Benno von Wiese, pp. 87-100. In the following, references
to Schiller's works are to this edition, by volume and page number. Unless otherwise stated references to
Die Rduber are to the 'Schauspiel' version, from Volume III of the Nationalausgabe (1953), ed. by
Herbert Stubenrauch.
JOHN GUTHRIE
441
plausibility in character,'6 from which follows a degree of verisimilitude in

language. 7 Schiller is not concerned with the debate regardinghistorical characters
and their approximation to their historical counterparts. When arguments of
authenticity are applied to characters drawn from contemporary society, the result
is a demand for authenticity in language. At the same time, he uses the metaphor of
the 'terrible mirror', implying a heightening, distorting reflection, thus eschewing
the mechanical, shallow, or naturalisticreproduction of language. In his later works
he adopts a different solution to this problem and chooses a symbolic, poetic
language to avoid the naturalistic. Here, there are limits to realism and he clearly
allows for non-mimetic elements in the reproduction of reality. The sentence
following the one quoted above runs: 'Sie zieht uns kunstlich in fremde Bedrangnisse, und belohnt uns das augenblicklicheLeiden mit wollistigen Thranen' (p. 9 ).
This seems to allow for the possibility of artificiality,accentuation, exaggeration, as
indeed is found in the visual arts, which can be placed in the services of a higher
aim. 'Die abscheulichen Gemahlde heidnischer Pfaffenwuth lehrten uns ReligionshaB vermeiden - in diesem schrecklichen Spiegel wusch das Christentum
seine Flecken ab' (p. 98). The theatre (and this surely applies to its language) may
use both mimetic and non-mimetic devices in order to achieve 'groBeWirkungen'.
In the preface to the first edition of Die Rduber(III.5-8) Schiller stresses that he
believes he has been reproducing human nature, whole human beings, but the
comparisons he makes are with writers whose technique is far from realistic
(Klopstock, Milton, Shakespeare). In the 'unterdruckte Vorrede' to his play
(III.243-46), realism of purpose and style are seen to be partners of exaggeration
and the depiction of large emotions.
There are few specific references to language and dramatic language in Schiller's
early theoretical works. But some clues are given in the dialogue between Julius and
Briefeof 1786 and concerns the individual's
Raphael that forms the Philosophische
intellectual development. Here Schiller reveals his belief in language as a means of
arriving at truth. Language represents a system of signs, a popular eighteenthcentury view.'8 Signs are arbitraryand, so Schiller'sJulius argues, it is convention
that gives them meaning. We approach truth by dialogical means, from extreme
16
HamburgischeDramaturgie,?34. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Werke,8 vols, ed. by Herbert G. Gopfert and
others (Munich: 1970-78), IV (1973): Dramaturgische
Nichts
Schriften,ed. by Karl Eibl ('Ubereinstimmung:muB sich in den Charakteren widersprechen' (p. 387)). Compare Schiller on Franz Moor in his 'Selbstbesprechung': 'Sonst ist dieser Charakter, so sehr er mit der menschlichen Natur miBstimmt, ganz
iibereinstimmend mit sich selbst' (xxII, 123).
17
Ueding, SchillersRhetorik(p. 62), quoted from Schiller's 'Selbstbesprechung' of Die Rduber.
18 'Unsre reinsten
Begriffe sind keineswegs Bilder der Dinge, sondern bloB ihre notwendig bestimmte und
coexistierende Zeichen.' (xx, 126-27). Mann surely misunderstands the idea behind 'bloB' here (p. 79),
suggesting that Schiller means mere signs in a negative sense. The point is that signs are arbitrary, yet
inseparable from concepts. Schiller's notion of'conventionelle Tauschungen' in everyday language anticipates
the idea that 'the sign is associatively-unmotivatedly (conventionally) linked not only to the signified but also to
the set of referential phenomena that it organizes' (Eli Rozik, 'Theatre as a Language', Semiotica,45 (1983),
65-87 (p. 70)). Schiller's position does not imply scepticism vis-a-vis language overall, as suggested, for
example, by Eduard Spranger, SchillersGeistesartgespiegeltin seinenphilosophischenSchriften,Abhandlungen der
PreuBischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 194 , Philosophisch-historische Klasse, 13 (p. I I). See also Benno
von Wiese, FriedrichSchiller(Stuttgart: Metzler, 1959), p. 436. Gray, following Foucault, sees language in the
play as typical of its assumed symbolical use in post-medieval society, degraded to counterfeit ('Epistemic
Conflict'). Matthijs Jolles argues against scepticism and suggests that Schiller is concerned to avoid the two
extremes of abstract, unreal language on the one hand and a formless, excessively naturalistic language on the
other, resolving this conflict in his later ideal concept of poetic language ('"Toter Buchstabe und lebendiger
Geist". Schillers Stellung zur Sprache', DeutscheBeitragezurgeistigenUberlieferung,
4 (196 ), 65- o8 (p. 74)).
442
positions, none of which in itself represents ultimate truth.19In so far as there is an

element of scepticism here (for there is no direct access to truth)it is only temporary:
like a paroxysm of fever, it comes and goes and contributes to the overall health of
the individual when remedied. Schiller is concerned, albeit briefly, with the whole
body here: when we see great actions performed, they strike a chord in our own
souls, we perceive the bodily expression of inner emotions and sympathize with
them.20These arguments seem to allow for language as a reflection of reality as well
as for the notion that reality can be approached only from extreme positions, which
would incorporate mimesis and verbal and gestural stylization. They suggest that
language and gesture are natural forms of expression, but that they are also
governed by convention.
Schiller seems to draw together a number of currents of eighteenth-century
aesthetic thinking. He retains a moral aim, radicalizes the demand for naturalness
initiated by Gottsched and Lessing at the same time as increasing the claims of the
imagination that were developing as the century marched on. There is a dichotomy
at the heart of his views. There is a trust in social institutions, including language,
with little evidence of scepticism. At the same time there is a deep scepticism vis-avis the norm and an appeal to imaginative elements that are larger than life. A
dichotomy is hinted at in Schiller's theoretical statements. It is the germ of a lifelong search for a poetic language. He does not allow himself at this stage to be
pinned down to a particular style nor to discuss the virtues and drawbacks of
differentdramatic styles as J. E. Schlegel, for example, does with verse drama in his
Schreiben
an HerrnN. N. iiberdie Comddie
in Versen,in Beytrdge
Historie.In
zur critischen
relation to Die Rduberhe regrets to some extent that it is not more uniform in its
style. His friend Petersen commented: 'Es ist nicht das Werk eines Gusses.'2' This
suggests that Schiller was aware of the hybrid nature of his first play.22It may be
better to approach it from the point of view of different styles, of contrasting and
conflicting tendencies of expression. Certainly its reputation as symptomatic of a
movement, or as an example of unadulteratedPathos,should be left aside.23
What element of realism is present in Schiller'sfirst play? Schiller later distanced
himself from his early work, and one of the reasons for this distancing would seem
to be that it was in one sense too realistic. He was no doubt thinking partly of the
play's subject-matter. One example is the effects of syphilis, known to him as a
19 'Wir
gelangen nur selten anders als durch Extreme zur Wahrheit' (p. 107); 'Meinungen [.. .] konnen also
nur beziehungsweise wahr oder falsch sein' (p. I o8).
20
'Ja unser Korper selbst stimmt sich in diesem Augenblik in die Gebarden des handelnden Menschen, und
zeigt offenbar, daB unsere Seele in disen Zustand ibergangen' (p. I117).
21
Quoted in Julius Hartmann, SchillersJugendfreunde
(Stuttgart and Berlin: Cotta, 1904), pp. 201-02.
22 See
aus
Jean Murat, 'Morale r6volutionnaire ou theodicee? A propos des Brigandsde Schiller', in Germanistik
interkulturellerPerspektive(Strasbourg: Institut d'6tudes allemandes, Universit6 des Sciences Humaines de
Strasbourg, I989), pp. 165-80 (p. 177). Of the few scholars to look closely at Schiller's language in Die Rduber,
John R. Frey comes to the conclusion that it is characterized by a mixture of Pathoswith the satirical ('Das
Satirische beim friihen Schiller', in FestschriftfiirDetlev W. Schuhmann,ed. by Albert R. Schmitt (Munich: Delp,
1970), pp. 173-84. Manfred Wacker notes the mixture of styles, but concludes that the play is dominated by
Pathos (Schillers Rduber und der Sturm und Drang. Stilkritischeund typologischeUberprifung eines Epochenbegriffs
(Goppingen: Kummerle, I973), pp. 0I -02).
23 Garland, paraphrasing Buchwald, says the play is notorious for the 'extravagant dynamism of its language'
(p. 37; R. Buchwald, Schiller.Leben und Werk,4th edn (Leipzig: Insel, 1959), pp. 267-68) and he sees it as
characterized by uniformity of tone. Questionably, he views the play's style as a symptom of Schiller's selfportrayal in his works. Thus Schiller is able to 'pluralize the oneness of himself into opposites and similarities'
(p. 16). McCutchion also takes this view ('Shakespeare and Schiller's Robbers',p. I 12), but credits Schiller with
a certain critical detachment from the posturing of dramatists such as Klinger (p. I Io).
JOHN GUTHRIE
443
medical student, described by Franz in graphic terms to Amalia (p. 35). Here,
against the background of his medical work, he was surely thinking of the physical
effects of disease on human beings of flesh and blood. Yet I would also argue that
there is an element of realism in the very style of the play. It is written in prose, set
in contemporary Germany, using contemporary German, achieving at the same
time shocking effects through its subject-matter a sense of cut and thrust, of
dialectical, interlocking dialogue, of argument and counter-argument appropriate
to the social, philosophical, and psychological themes it raises. There are echoes of
the way in which Schiller thought truth should be approached in the Philosophische
Briefe,from various sides. In parts of the dialogue of Die Rduberthere is a quality
recognizable as that of real speech, in vocabulary, idiom, and speech patterns.
Garland speaks of a realistic framework, but does not define this (p. 8). I would
prefer to speak of realism as a strand or undercurrent that surfaces constantly,
though substantial sections may be dominated by other registers. The realistic
strand depends to some considerable extent on the reproduction of contemporary
speech habits and patterns. The exchange between Karl Moor and the Pater (p. 67)
begins in an entirely natural way as question and answer, changing rapidly to
become a heated exchange of invective; to give another example, the dialogue
between Moor and Kosinsky retains a significant element of natural speech,
becoming more heated at the end of the scene. The narrativesections too (discussed
below) are also constructed to create that impression of spontaneity and casualness
characteristic of the everyday speech of the period. The prominent use of features
such as ellipsis, apocope, asyndeton, aposiopesis, and anacoluthon strengthens this
impression.24Spiegelberg, for example, whose control of the word is acknowledged
by others and witnessed in Act ii, Scene 3, can be heard lapsing into anacolutha and
losing the thread of his thought in a way that recalls Lenz's characters. There are
fewer such devices than in other dramatistsof the period such as Lenz, but enough
of them to reassure us that Schiller's characters still have a foothold in reality.
Consistent with this is the absence of sententiae and preference for the proverbial.25
While it has been argued that asyndeton and similar devices achieve an effect of
heightening,26 part of the effect is also to achieve an impression of spontaneity,
indeed of breathlessness, of intensity of expression through direct and vivid
realization. The use of ellipsis, for example, is particularlyprominent in the speech
of the robbers. Manfred Wacker has suggested that it is characteristicof'die Syntax
24 Ellipsis: 'AMALIA Weg! -ha
des liebevollen barmherzigen Vaters, der seinen Sohn Wolffen und
Ungeheuern Preis gibt!' (p. 33); apocope: 'RAZMANN Pulver die schwere Meng'; asyndeton: 'SCHWEIZER Wir
indeB die Gasse auf, Gasse nieder, wie Furie - Feuerjo Feurjo! durch die ganze Stadt -Geheul
Geschrey
Gepolter
fangen an die Brandglocken zu brummen, knallt der Pulverturm in die Luft', and:
'MOOR Meine Glieder wie abgeschlagen. Meine Zunge trocken wie ein Scherbe' (p. 77); aposiopesis: Storz
- wer mir itzt ein Schwert in die Hand
gives an as example: 'MOORha!
gab [apocope], dieser Otterbrut eine
brennende Wunde zu versezen! wer mir sagte: wo ich das Herz ihres Lebens erzielen, zermalmen, zernichten Er sey mein Freund, mein Engel, mein Gott - ich will ihn anbeten!' ('Zum Verstandnis des Werkes', in
FriedrichSchiller.Die Rduber,ed. by Walter Hess (Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1965), p. 223; anacoluthon: 'AMALIA Izt
hat die betrogene Liebe ihre Freiheit gefunden - das Kloster - das Kreuz des Erlosers ist die Freiheit der
- Solltens - wie wenn diese - sie
betrognen Liebe' (p. 76); anacoluthon and asyndeton: 'KOSINSKY vorsich
sinds, sinds! ich will sie anreden' (p. 8i).
- Wenn der Ochse den
25 For
Kornwagen in die Scheune gezogen hat, so muB er mit Heu
example: FRANZ
vorlieb nahmen' (p. 43). Kosinsky is criticized by Karl Moor for speaking sententiously (pp. 83-84).
26 Storz talks of 'fast
expressionistische Raffung' in relation to the example of asyndeton given above ('Zum
Verstandnis des Werkes', p. 222). The alliteration and onomatopoeia here seem representational rather than
poetic.
444
des volkstiimlichen Tones' (p. 45).27 The apocalyptic and incendiary imagery (for
example, in Schweizer's and Roller's description of the robbers' destruction of a
town in Act ii, Scene 3) is conveyed in a spontaneous and direct manner. The pace,
tone, and volume of language is also varied to reflect such modulations as found in
speech, showing characters adapting to a situation.28It is Schiller's intention to
explore the development and effect of a range of psychological states through
language and he relies to some extent on realistic devices. Dialogue usually has the
dual function of depicting emotions and placing the action in the recognizable
environment, analogous to description, allowing direct communication between
charactersand reaction by gesture or word to a statement.
Illustrative of this is the role of narrative episodes. Disagreement prevails here,
with some commentators taking their cue from Schiller's view of the play as a
'dramatized novel',29while Michelsen, in support of his argument that the play is
essentially operatic, vehemently rejects the notion that they could be seen as protoBrechtian 'epic elements' (Michelsen, p. I I). While the significant role of narrative
betrays an affinity with the adventure story rather than opera,30it is also true that
with the inclusion of a significant number of narrative sections, as also with the
inclusion of lyrical interludes, Schiller is less intent on following the Shakespeareaninspired trend of destabilization of genre than on strengthening the realistic
atmosphere of his play. The narrative episodes are carefully integrated into the
dialogue, so much so that they appear to grow entirely naturallyout of the situation.
One function they have in relation to dramatic form is expository, bringing events
to bear on the action of the present and therefore concentrating the action. Another
is clearly to reveal character. It is no coincidence that the narrative element figures
so strongly in the robber scenes. Spiegelberg appears as a great raconteur. He
channels his excess of energy into narrativeform,just as he does into physical antics
in the form of his St Vitus's dance in Act I, Scene 2, and he takes the lead in dialogue
with his tale of Moor's dog's corpse and that of his close shave. Narrative is also
linked to the predicament of Schiller's hero: Schufterle's account of atrocities and
destruction results in his expulsion from the group, whereupon the ambition to lead
is confronted by the beginnings of failure. All Schiller's characters have the ability
to reflect, to recollect, to recount in direct and sometimes strong language. That
they do so with spontaneity and naturalnessreflects his belief in the communicative
ability of language, thus underpinning an important aspect of realism in the play.
If the language of the play retains a link with linguistic normality, it is also clear
that this is only half the story. The reflection of contemporary reality, so important
27 For
example: 'RAZMANNBistja groB worden' and 'Bringstja Rekruten mit' (p. 53).
28 For
example, 'MOOR langsamvorsich [ . .] Laut' (p. 66); 'PATER im Eifer' (p. 68); 'Paterschreyt'(p. 69); 'MOOR
Izt will ich stolz reden' (p. 7 ); 'aufgebracht'
(p. 76). 'MOOR hastig'(p. 95). A very large number of stage directions
refer to manner of speech.
29 'Vorrede zur ersten
Auflage' (III, 5). Schiller considered the Schauspiel version inappropriate for the
contemporary stage and adapted the play for the Mannheim theatre. This is different from saying that the play
does not have its own dramatic qualities. I count as narrative the following sections: Franz's reading from
letters, Hermann's account of Karl's activities (Act I, Scene i), Amalia's reading from the Bible (Act I, Scene 2),
Schufterle's description of a pillaged town, Spiegelberg's dog-tales, Razmann's story of an ambush, the
description of Roller's capture and release, Moor's recapitulation of events to the Pater (Act II, Scene 3),
Kosinsky's life-story (Act III, Scene 2), Daniel's reflections (Act iv, Scene 3), Amalia's reflections on her earlier
meeting with Karl (Act iv, Scene 4), Old Moor's retelling of his fate (Act iv, Scene 5), Franz's story of the ring,
mirror, and scales (Act v, Scene i), Old Moor's description of his being buried alive (Act v, Scene 5).
30 Stubenrauch discusses the relationship of the play to the adventure
story in his critical apparatus to
Volume III of the Nationalausgabe (pp. 386-459).
JOHN GUTHRIE
445
for domestic drama is far from being Schiller's aim. He had in mind 'groBe
Wirkungen'. Realism in the play's language is present, but it is only a strand, an
undercurrent to reassure us that there is a real world, sometimes a springboard for
another register. I have tried to show that there is continual recourse to this realistic
conception of language. The play's realism is, however, joined by other elements:
by elements in the plot, by certain accentuated traits of character (ambition, greed,
lust, revenge), and by elements of a theatrical style. It is to these I now turn.
Die Rduberis characterized by a strong element of self-conscious theatricality,
which is sometimes mentioned as a stylistic device but the deeper significance of
which is not always appreciated. Though important inspiration for the play came
desmenschlichen
from prose works (Schubart's Geschichte
Herzens,published I775; the
Bible), no less important were dramatic works, mainly by Shakespeare, Lessing,
Klinger, and Leisewitz.31If the play is, as Schiller maintained, a 'dramatizednovel',
then it is ultimately very much a theatrical work written for the stage, even an
and, I would argue, very much aware of its own
imaginary one, not a Lesedrama,
theatricality, of its own existence as drama in so far as character after character is
aware that he or she is not fully in the real world but inhabiting also an imaginary
theatrical world shared with others. Schiller is at pains to establish this in the first
scene. How conscious FranzMoor is of his own ability to manipulate, to dissimulate,
to act a part!32He appears supremely confident of his ability to modulate from the
everyday world to that of illusion. In the opening dialogue he behaves towards his
father as an actor towards his audience. He is a master of the word and his weak
father is no match. Like an actor he simulates asides: 'halbvorsich' (p. I I), and later
in Act I, Scene 3: 'wievorsich,aberlaut'(p. 35), fully intending his father to overhear
him and laying the foundations for the slandering of his brother. Not only in
dialogue does Franz betray the actor's craft: in his monologues he appears as that
consummate simulator of the dialogue with the self that reveals the suppressed
elements of his psyche. He freely admits his ability to act to his audience: 'Ihr seht,
dann der
Ich kann auch witzig seyn, aber mein Witz ist Skorpionstich. -Und
trockne Alltagsmensch, der kalte, holzerne Franz' (p. I4). His audience in this scene
is the gullible Old Moor, apparently with little knowledge of his son's character.
Franz is sometimes seen as the perverted physician who uses the insights of Schiller's
own medical writings to an evil purpose (Dewhurst and Reeves, p. 320). He is also
an artist who has partly mastered his art ('das war eine Kunst, dies verdiente dich
zum Erfinder zu machen' (p. 39)), an actor attempting to create an elaborate
aesthetic construct to achieve his end. This trait of Franz's character is consistently
maintained until the end. In his retelling of his dream in Act v, Scene i (pp. i 8- 9)
he re-enacts an experience that has disturbed the roots of his being. A heightening
of reality is evident here both in the experience and in its reproduction, an
apocalyptic interlude showing the individual affected by fear and guilt. Truth is
revealed symbolically and indirectly through a vision: the symbol he contemplates
represents an approach to it: the signet ring a pretence to truth and virtue, the
mirror a reflection revealing hypocrisy and masks, but also terrible, revealing fearful
animals. Finally the scales, representing the reckoning of justice, bring forgiveness
31 See Stubenrauch, III, 386-459 for specific allusions and the critical apparatus in Gerhard Kluge, Friedrich
Schiller, DramenI (Frankfurt a.M.: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1988).
32 McCutchion
suggests that the opening scene almost exactly parallels Edmund's betraying his brother in
Lear('Shakespeare and Schiller's Robbers',p. Io8).
446
Schiller's
EarlyStyles
even to sinners but damnation to Franz. Here in dramatic form, heightened through
a theatrical episode in the hands of the actor-manipulator, is a reflection of the
aesthetic principles outlined earlier: the urge to seek truth and morality, the
reflection coupled with distortion of reality, the metaphysical questioning. Through
the indirect means of a quasi-Biblicalparable Schiller has incorporated into his play
a statement of the power of the theatre. It is no wonder that it was the role of Franz
that appealed to the greatest actor of the age in Germany, August Wilhelm Iffland.
What is important about the actor is his ability to modulate from one register to
another, from the realistic to the visionary.33
But if he is an actor, we also see the real person behind the actor. In one sense we
see the figure he presents. In another sense, because we are aware of the theatricality
of his manner, we sense another shimmering below the surface. It is thus clear why
commentators have drawn attention to the psychological themes and the notion of
a repressed psyche in the case of Franz.34Here lie Schiller'spsychological as well as
philosophical concerns. Beneath the surface of theatricality are the fears and
ambitions of an individual, an inability to come to terms with them in a rational
manner and the philosophical problem of the relation of body and soul. Franz
wishes to manipulate nature, to control the body and place it in the services of an
immoral aim. To this end he uses the strategies of the actor. Only the theatrical
character can convey the full range of Schiller's themes.35 This, then, is the
explanation for the exaggerated manner, the theatricality of language and gesture
so much in evidence in the case of Franz Moor.
Much of the imagery used by Franz is related to the body (to which I return
below). For the moment I suggest that the difference between Franz Moor and the
cardboard villain of melodrama or the allegorical vice of a morality play or opera is
his consciousness of the body, which he shows through his language. His opening
question to his father concerns the latter's physical appearance and this is followed
by a show of concern for his health and physical condition. He falls upon his father's
neck, hits Amalia's breast, covers his face, roams around the room. Gestures and
descriptions of action typically involve the whole body, but Franz is aware of the
finer points of anatomy such as the hands.36Indeed, in contemporary reviews this
aspect of Iffland'sperformance was highlighted.37His monologue at the end of the
scene creates an image of his physical appearance, linking his handicap to the
creation of man. In the longer narrative sections of the first scene in which he tells
of his brother's exploits, he is concerned to conjure up an image of the dissipated
33 Franz's dissimulation and

theatricality are in line with the anthropology and theory of acting of the period:
the notion that vice expresses itself through the physical comportment of the individual and the idea that in
order to create an impression of naturalness, the actor has to resort to a set of artificial devices (see Kosenina,
undSchauspielkunst,
pp. 77, 84).
Anthropologie
34
Recently, Lesley Sharpe, 'Die Reisen des verlorenen Sohnes. Eine These zu Schillers Rdubern',Zeitschriftfiir
deutschePhilologie, 109 (1990), 3-15 (pp. 12-13); Guthke, SchillersDramen,pp. 3 -63.
35 McCutchion misses this level completely, seeing mere theatricality, and is thus one of the few critics not to
acknowledge that Franz is the vehicle for Schiller's exploration of medical and psychosomatic problems.
36 'Den
Finger meiner rechten Hand wollt ich drum geben, durft ich sagen, er ist ein Lugner' (p. I2). The fact
that this may be afafon deparleris irrelevant; a gesture is called for.
37 See Bottiger's account in Entwickelungdes IffdindlischenSpiels, pp. 290-329, and Rudloff-Hille, Schilleraufder
Biihne seiner Zeit (Berlin: Aufbau Verlag, 1969), pp. 28-32. The importance of the hands can be seen in
contemporary engravings of Iffland in the role of Franz: for example, those by Meno Haass and E. Henne,
reproduced by Rudloff-Hille, facing page 225.
JOHN GUTHRIE
447
Karl with the use of deictic and demonstrative devices. As the actor creates an
image of a character, so Franz creates an image of his brother before our eyes.
Is it any wonder that in this atmosphere of theatricality created by his son, Old
Moor should play a part? Weak and gullible as he is, he also shows some awareness
of the theatricality of the moment. I refer to his words 'Und auch du mein Franz
auch du?', needless to say reminiscent of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar,Act III,
Scene i: indeed, so much so that their function can only be described as selfconscious citation. Old Moor shows awareness of the theatricality of the situation,
momentarily adopting another persona. The function of other quotations from
Shakespeare is similar. The bloody sword that Hermann produces to prove Karl's
death has been seen to have a number of operatic sources,38and the situation in
Lessing's Emilia Galotti(the reporting of Appiani's death) must have been fresh in
the minds of Schiller and his audience. What is distinctive is Franz'suse of theatrical
devices in the attempt to manipulate others. Citations suggesting awareness of the
theatre run through the play, linking a range of characters.Franzrefersto Hermann
as a 'deus ex machina', and in conversation with him advises: 'Die Katastrophe
dieser Tragi-Komodie uberlaBmir!' (p. 42); Karl Moor's dialogue with Spiegelberg
and attack on society in Act I, Scene 2, uses metaphors drawn from theatre, we find
him referring to part of his band as furies, in Act II, Scene 2, talking of life in
general as 'ein Schauspiel, Bruder, das Tranen in die Augen lockt' (p. 78), and
asking Daniel if he is trying out theatrical roles on him (p. 96). After Spiegelberg's
death he refers to the incomprehensible finger of revengeful Nemesis, and theatrical
feelings return in Act iv, Scene 5 ('die Tranen im SchauspielhauB'(p. 107) ),39 hand
in hand with the consciousness of the theatrical tendency in himself and of the
artificialityof emotions. The scepticism owes something to Hamlet's, the inspiration
for his suicidal thoughts in Act iv. Taking to the lute, he enacts a dialogue between
Brutus and Cassius.40Though the situation differs significantlyfrom Shakespeare's
play, the point is precisely that an illusion of self-conscious citation is established.
The tendency towards self-dramatization continues in the soliloquy inspired by
Hamlet and Macbeth in which he contemplates the brevity of life and considers
suicide.41Franz, on the other hand, is given words of Macbeth that evoke guilt.42
While it has been argued that Karl's final gesture of surrenderto justice is theatrical
38
Michelsen,who refersto to Quintilian(pp. i - i3). Stubenrauchsees this as one of the least plausibleand
momentsin the play (pp. 409- o).
satisfactory
39
Possiblyreminiscentof Hamlet,Act [I, Scene 2,1. 554: 'He would drownthe stagewith tears.'
40 Stubenrauchsuggests Plutarch and Shakespeareas sources (III, 429), while F. J. Lamport suggeststhe
sourceis Suetonius'sLifeof Caesar
Schiller.
DieRduber
(Friedrich
(Bristol:BristolClassicalPress, 1993),p. 173).
41 The words 'Auswie ein schaalesMarionetenspiel'(p. o09) seem to combine the image of the 'candle'and
the 'poor player' used by Macbeth (Act v, Scene 5), while the words 'Fremdes,nie umsegeltesLand' and
'
'Phantasey,der muthwilligeAffe der Sinne gaukelt unserer Leichtglaubigkeitseltsame Schatten vor
(pp. 109- o) suggest Hamlet,Act III, Scene I.
42 'Binich doch ohnehin schon bis an die Ohren gewatetdaBes Unsinn ware zuruckzuschwimmen,
wenn das
Ufer schon so weit hinten liegt - Ans Umkehrenist doch nicht mehr zu gedenken- '. CompareMacbeth's
Act III,Scene 4, 1. 136. In the stageversionthis monologueis omitted;the
words to LadyMacbeth in Macbeth,
monologue inserted at Act iv, Scene 7, after the meeting with Hermann in which Franz contemplates
Act v, Scene 5,1. 23). See Schillers
murderingKarl, alludesto the illusionarynatureof reality(evokingMacbeth,
Rauber.Urtextdes Mannheimer
ed. by Herbert Stubenrauch and Giinter Schulz (Mannheim:
Soufflierbuch,
Bibliographisches Institut, 1959), P. Ioo.
448
Schiller's
EarlyStyles
in the sense of being self-admiratory, egocentric, in effect moral posturing,43put

alongside other allusions it is clear that the theatrical tendency he shares with other
characters is by no means intended to be negative. His crisis is representative, he
strikesa chord of sympathy with his audience through his ability and propensity for
self-reflectionand self-presentation.
Though there is a sense of interlocking dialogue in Die Rduberthat is important
for the element of spontaneity it conveys, there is also a sense of the heightening of
speech, both in dialogue and monologue, that owes much to the influence of
rhetoric. This has been often noticed and sometimes analysed in detail,44but its
function needs to be commented on in the present context. I would particularly
highlight the role of hyperbole, exclamation, rhetorical question, repetition
(especially anaphora), the use of allegorical and metaphorical figures of certain
kinds (especially animal, medical, and incendiary imagery), and antithesis.45These
devices are used to emphasize and communicate an inner state; they are the parallel
to expressive gesture. The longer speeches of the play show the influence of rhetoric,
using many of the devices mentioned, but without imitating the structure of the
classical speech, the rigidity of the classical pattern (partesorationis),and they retain
an element of spontaneity. In other words, there is some recourse to rhetoric as well
as a deviation from traditional models. There is the colloquial, the spontaneous, the
vulgar, the antithesis of decorumand aptum,combined with the use of rhetorical
devices. For despite Karl Moor's attack on education, the robbers are also a
reasonably learned group of young men. We see them firstwhen reading; they know
their Latin down to the rules of pronunciation; they are fond of quotation. Moor
tries his rhetoric out on the Pater in Act ii, Scene 3. His speech is like a public
oration, a tourdeforceof rhetoric, though the ancient tradition of speaker convincing
listener has given way here to irreconcilabilityand tension. Spiegelberg is described
by a fellow robber as a master orator. The ambivalence of the play's message (a
valid case against the conventions of society linked through psychological motives
to a questionable search for power) is captured in the play's language. At the same
time as being recognized as a prison from which it is necessary to escape by
emphasizing particular emotions (paralleled in gesture), the validity of rhetorical
rules and the power of the word are recognized again and again. The recognition of
the model is linked to an attempt to deviate from it, to destroy it through new
emphasis. This links directly with the tendency towards theatricality and citation
discussed above.
43 Guthke, SchillersDramen, p. 38. Schiller's scepticism vis-a-vis idealism is grounded in his view of man's
spiritual and physical nature human nature. An idea can take root in us for only a certain time before our
physical side reasserts itself. See Schiller's dissertation, 'Versuch uber den Zusammenhang der thierischen
Natur des Menschen mit seiner geistigen', Section 23, xx, 7 : 'Der Verstand darf kaum ein wenig auf einer
Idee gehaftet haben, so versagt ihm die trage Materie.'
44 On the influence of rhetoric in
general, see Ueding, Schillers Rhetorik; Herman Meyer, 'Schillers
philosophische Rhetorik', Euphorion,53 (I959), 313-50; Klaus Dockhorn, Macht und Wirkungder Rhetorik.Vier
der Vormoderne
(Bad Homburg: Gehlen, 1968); Michelsen, p. 12, and passim; on points
Aufsitze zur Ideengeschichte
of detail in Die Rduber,see Garland, SchillertheDramatic Writer;Manfred Wacker, SchillersRduberundderSturmund
Drang; Gerhard Storz, Der Dichter FriedrichSchiller(Stuttgart: Klett, '959) and the essay by the same author,
'Zum Verstandnis des Werkes'.
45 Countless
examples could be given. See Garland, Schiller the Dramatic Writer, 17-25, 34-37; on animal
imagery, see below. There are Shakespearean echoes in some instances of repetition: for example, 'Nimmer,
nimmer, nimmer aus dem Grabe zuriickholen!' (p. 49; compare KingLear, Act v, Scene 3, 1. 308). Repetition
of single words is often used for heightening; the effect is not really as if written for the deaf (Garland).
JOHN GUTHRIE
449
Two particular types of heightening may be singled out for special attention: the
lyrical and the monologic. Although instances of the former in one sense grow
organically out of the dramatic situation,46they are an example of citation from a
given poetic model. They release a character from interlocking dialogue and give
rein to fantasy, though within fixed parameters, particularly the world of heroism
and absolute love. There is a release from tension of one kind into another realm,
whereafter there is a return to conflict. The function of mimesis and creation of
mood is played by the robbers' song in Act iv, Scene 5, once again contrasting with
the relatively down-to-earth dialogue that follows. In the case of monologue,
contrasting styles can be observed at work. In Franz'smonologue in ActII, Scene 2,
elements of dialogue with the self enhance the impression of psychological realism.
A pattern of thought is imitated, showing conscious control. A range of rhetorical
devices47is used and the monologue is structured to reach a climax.48By contrast,
Karl's monologue in Act iv, Scene 3 (p. 99) shows few signs of dialogic structure
and less mental control through the repetition of words and phrases linked with wild
Liebe sein Vater-Herz -oh
ich
gestures. The language is disjointed ' -voll
Liebe sein Vater-Herz -oh
Schelmerei,
Ungeheuer von einem Toren -voll
Schelmerei!' (p. 99). This reveals another type of relationshipto language; repetition
here implies strainand protest at the limitations of imposed by linguistic conventions.
In relation to rhetorical devices, therefore, there is an eclecticism, conventions
rubbing shoulders with innovations. At this point I turn to a particular strand of
imagery in the play, its animal imagery, in order to show a similar strategy at work.
This strand of imagery is significant and has been noticed often (for example by
Garland (p. I7)). The vignette of the 'Zwote verbesserte Auflage' shows an openmouthed lion. It is obvious that in a play concerned with various types of aggression
Schiller would be unlikely to stick to a particular pre-established pattern. Animal
imagery ranges from cliche and the commonplaces of everyday speech (expressions
such as 'Lowenmut' and 'Hasenherz') and vulgarisms ('Hundsvot' (p. 26)),
reflecting the colloquial, through the proverbial (for example, Franz to Hermann
Act ii, Scene I, 'Wenn der Ochse den Kornwagen in die Scheune gezogen hat, so
mus er mit Heu vorlieb nehmen' (p. 43)), the allegorical (Franz, Act II, Scene i,
who likens human emotions to animals), and Biblical (for example, 'grabende
Schlange' (p. 39); Joseph's story (p. 2)), to a more diffuse and deeper, symbolic
level that raises questions about human nature and is at the heart of the play's
meaning. Just as language represents a prison from which escape is necessary, so
human nature as depicted in Die Rduberdesires to escape from convention and
return to a natural state. An element of Rousseauism is present here: man strives to
achieve a more natural state akin to the life of the beast; the robbers live in the
Bohemian forests; Karl Moor lives the life of a bear. As a group they aspire to the
state of a collective animal, and like a 'Tier' they need a 'Kopf'. But the law of the
jungle results in destruction. Primitive instincts re-emerge and cause
the disintegration of the group. Spiegelberg is the first to exhibit animalistic
tendencies. These come through elsewhere in the tendency to destroy and rape, as
46 See
Storz, 'Zum Verstandnis des Werkes', pp. 217-19.
47 Antithesis:
p. 18,1. 6, rhetorical questions: p. 8, 11.19-3 ; p. 19,11. 3 I-36, refutatio: p. 8,1. 32, repetition:
p. 18,11. 37-38.
48 The words 'Frisch also!
II, 3, 377: 'ay, that's the
mutig ans Werk!' (p. 20) are remininiscent ofIago, Othello,
way, I Dull not device by coldness and delay.'
450
they might be said to do also in Karl Moor's desire to return to the womb. He refers
to society as a 'Krokodilbrut',he wishes to take up the sword against the 'Otterbrut'
(indeed, just after expressing the desire to become a bear), and Franz refers to the
'viehische Schande' of syphilis. In a more humorous vein, animals are also part of
society in Die Rauber.Spiegelberg tells two tales, in one of which Karl Moor's dog
becomes the victim of societal hatred and is given funeral rites and his master seeks
revenge on the town, while in the other Spiegelberg teases a vicious animal and
narrowly escapes its teeth. However, although these examples suggest an affinity
between animal and human nature (Garland, p. 17), distance is also implied. This
is connected with the human ability to play verbally, to create and draw analogies.
No matter how often analogies are drawn by charactersin the play between animals
and humans, the distinction will always be apparent, precisely because of this
intellectual capacity, embodied in language. There emerges an ambivalent picture
of human nature in relation to the animal world. The problem concerned Schiller
in his dissertation. His views are here radicalized in dramatic form. Man's animal
nature is exposed, together with the pain and sufferinghe inflicts. At the same time,
his ability to rise above this is clear on a personal as well as a social and ethical level.
In the debate on man's relation to the animal world that runs through the eighteenth
century Schiller is noticeably more optimistic than Haller, who saw man as halfway
between animal and angel (see xx, 47), but he does not simply assert man's
superiorityover animals. Schiller'sview is more proto-Darwinian, involving conflict
and physical struggle.49Ultimately, human nature rises above the crisis created by
excessive ambition, the desire for power and control, which trigger off animal
drives, but not without physical damage, which animals also inflict on each other.
This damage to the physical side of man's nature is emphasized in the final scene of
the play through the mention of scars inflicted in the Bohemian forests (the body, in
its natural setting) and if we are reminded of the beast at this point, we are also,
perhaps a little too clearly, reminded of the beauty. Amalia, though she wishes her
own death, is seen crawling to the robbers as if she too were in the forest. The
animal imagery suggests very clearly the connections and conflicts between man's
animal and spiritual natures, but it also points forward to the concept of moral
freedom in Schiller's later works.
Although the play's style, its theatricality, use of rhetorical devices, imagery, and
combination of narrative with dialogue have seemed to many commentators
uniform, representing a world unto itself, violent and extreme, closer inspection
reveals ambivalence, contrast, and conflict under the surface. It is important to see
this variation in tone, characteristic of an unsettled world. This variation is also
achieved by differing functions of types of language, which Schiller develops from
the SturmundDrang.In view of this, it is unsatisfactory to speak of a style that is
operatic, baroque, or telegraphic, or consists of sustained Pathos.We must take
account of the role played by different types of speech, by dialogue, monologue,
narrative, lyrical, and chorus, verbal language that can be both realistic and
heightened. Monologue is varied, using dialogic structures and the device of the
simulated interlocutor, revealing psychological processes and in this measure
realistic, at the same time as showing awareness of the theatricalityof situation and
49 The editors of Schiller's dissertation (xxi, 128-29) note the influence of Ferguson and Garve on Schiller's
view of human nature in relation to animals. See also Dewhurst and Reeves, pp. 123-28, 294.
JOHN GUTHRIE
45I
using heightened language. Dialogue, too, sometimes rises to the level of chorus,
though a vastly different effect from that of opera is achieved by the combination of
realism and the stylization of prose. For example, in the dialogue between
Spiegelberg, Schweizer, and Schufterle in Act I, Scene 2, passions are stirred up by
the six-fold repetition of the word 'Mut', though the language otherwise remains
within the realm of the realistic and proverbial. At the end of Act II, the language
modulates from Schweizer's 'Rettet, rettet den Hauptmann!' through to the group's
Thus an essentially
'Rettet, rettet, rettet den Hauptmann!' to 'LdrmundGetiimmel'.
mimetic mode of discourse rises or modulates into wordless euphoria.50In Act Iv,
Scene 5, a more poetic effect of variation is achieved through a genuinely musical
interlude in the form of a ballad-likerobbers' chorus, which however is immediately
followed by plain talk of their captain's whereabouts.
It has already been suggested in passing that there are close connections between
the verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication in the play. In the remainder
of this article I turn to gesture in Die Rduberand consider this in a wider context,
before finally reassessing the interrelationshipbetween these two elements. Recent
approaches to gesture in drama have been characterized by a divergence. Dene
Barnett, using a wide range of sources and many examples from Latin, English,
French, German, and Italian literature, emphasizes continuity in the art of gesture
from antiquity in the theory and practice of drama, oratory, and declamation.51
The art of gesture is seen to run parallel to the influence of rhetoric; there are
systematic rules governing the position of the body, hands, feet, eyes, and so forth.
Beauty of gesture is axiomatic, as is the notion that word and gesture suit each
other, joining together to form a continuous and coherent pattern. Conscious
intention of gesture is assumed and there is recourse to a range of criteria for good
style (correctness, clarity, decoration, appropriateness), as well as gestures for
certain figures of speech and for parts of the oration. While it is clear, according to
Barnett, that many of these principles based on classical models persisted well into
the nineteenth century and beyond, changes were also taking place that resulted in
a new significance being attributed to gesture, replacing the supremacy of the word.
Barnett suggests that a new style developed in the nineteenth century as a
consequence of Romanticism. On the other hand, in a study of the theory and
practice of gesture in Germany, Alexander Kosenina sees the change taking place
much earlier towards a more individualistic style with psychological emphasis (the
first signs dating from around I6oo).52 A significant part is played in this
50This seems very different from the world of opera; see Storz, Der DichterFriedrich
Schiller,p. 58, and
Michelsen,p. 44. Mann likensthe end of Act ii to the effectof opera,and F.J. Lamportfollowshim. Michelsen
makes a great deal of the influenceof chorus and mass scenes from opera on the play. However, it is never
clear that large groupsof charactersappearon stage. Spiegelbergmentionsthe group has swelledto seventyeight and the Patermentions 17,000 troops,but in fact the dialogue and action of the play are restrictedto a
fairlysmall,identifiablegroup of distinguishableindividualsand anonymityof voice is rare.In Act II,Scene 3,
a group of robbers is evidently off-stage, singing (p. 60). Karl Moor's final words, anticipating Schiller's
masteryin this respectof dramaticcodas, are anythingbut an operaticfinale,combiningrhetoricaleffectwith
realism,and there is little hint of a chorus in the stage direction,'Rauberhinundherim Wald'(ii, 127). There
are no signs in the text that Schiller is interestedin choreographicgroupingsof characterson stage. Act v,
Scene 2, has 'Volk auf derGasse'(p. 126), which is surely a Shakespeareantouch. For a differentview, see
Michelsen,pp. 31, 44, 48.
51 TheArt Gesture,
and the article,'Gestik',in Historisches
Wdrterbuch
derRhetorik,
3- vols, ed. by GerdUeding
of
(Tubingen:Niemeyer, 1966),III, 972-89.
52 Anthropologie
and the article 'Gebarde' in Historisches
undSchauspielkunst,
derRhetorik,
ed. Gerd
Wirterbuch
Ueding, III, 564-79.
Schiller'sEarl Styles
452
development by Lessing and the SturmundDrangand a key position attributed to

J. J. Engel's Ideenzu einerMimik (I785-86).53 The art of gesture is linked to
developments in psychology and anthropology. Despite this divergence of approach,
there is common ground: it is acknowledged that gesture reflects an inner state; it is
accepted that it is a kind of universal language and that a large element of
naturalness applies to the expressivity of the body with cultural and gender
differencesremaining unexplored.
Schiller's awareness of rhetoric suggests awareness of the basic classical precepts
relating to gesture discussed by Quintilian and Cicero (Ueding, SchillersRhetorik,
introduction) At the same time, in some respects, Schiller clearly fits into the line of
development outlined by Kosenina in Germany.54His own medical writings have
long been seen as offering keys to the understanding of his early plays, hinging as
they do on the interdependence of body and mind. The intention as declared in the
preface to Die Rduber,'die Seele bei ihren geheimsten Operationen zu ertappen'
(III, 5), shows the psychological interest; drawing attention to the 'natural man' as
audience betrays an affinity with anthropological thinking, suggesting a two-way
process of communication at the same time as an idealistic concept of the stage's
power. While commentators have occasionally devoted detailed attention to the
verbal text of Die Rduber,little more than lip service has been paid to its non-verbal
text. The importance of gesture is clear at first glance. It is also clear from the play's
early performance history, dominated by Iffland, who immortalized the role of
Franz Moor. He evidently moulded the part according to his own personality.55
There appears to have been a strong element of physicality and naturalness in
Iffland'sperformance, which avoided the stylization of dance and rococo ballet.56It
is surprisinghow this impression of naturalnessdominates despite the reputation of
the play's language for extravagance. There is no suggestion of a baroque element.
According to J. G. Rohde, Iffland's strength lay in mime rather than in declamation.57This mime had a strong physical element ('Versinnlichung'),creating a real
presence, of 'Wahrheit' and 'Schonheit' combined, precisely the qualities Engel
demanded of the actor. The reviewer of the 80 I Leipzig production for Journaldes
LuxusundderModenalso drew attention to Iffland's 'stummes Spiel',58and spoke of
'malerische Deklamation'.59Eckhof, who had trained members of the Mannheim
ensemble in Gotha,60had reaped praise for instilling a sense of naturalnessinto the
cast; Lessing had admired his style of acting and drawn attention to his 'malende
Gesten' (Hamburgische
? 17, and passim).
Dramaturgie,
53 2
vols, in Schriften, 2 vols, vii (Berlin: Mylius, 80 I-o6; repr. (Frankfurt a.M.: Athenaum, 197 ).
In my view, Kosenina does not distinguish clearly enough between the theory of acting and the basis for
gesture inherent in dramatic texts, whether or nor they are realized in performance.
55 As Goethe commented in a review of Iffland's account of the role in 1807. GoethesWerke.
im
Herausgegeben
Auftragder Groflherzogin
Sophievon Sachsen, 143 vols, Abt. I-4 (Weimar: Bohlau, I887-I919), Abt. i, Vol. 40,
pp. I69-73.
56 Rudloff-Hille,
p. 20. The source is Max Martersteig, Die ProtokolledesMannheimerNationaltheatersunterDalberg
in denJahren I78I--I789 (Mannheim: Bensheimer, 1890), pp. 90-96, 104- 8.
57 JNeuedeutscheDramaturgie(Altona, 1798), pp. i35, 147; Rudloff-Hille, p. 30. Schiller disapproved of Iffland's
declamation, which he thought too fast and garbled. The conversational tone was cultivated by the Mannheim
ensemble (see the MannheimerSoufflierbuch,
p. I67).
58 August issue, 80o , pp. 433-35, quoted by Rudloff-Hille, p. 40.
59 Eduard Devrient, Geschichteder deutschenSchauspielkunst
(Berlin and Zurich: Eigenbrodler-Verlag, I929),
54
p. 223, quoted
in Rudloff-Hille,
p. 24.
Rudloff-Hille, p. 20, refers to Johann Friedrich Schink, Dramaturgische

Fragmente(Graz, 178 ), cited by Hugo
Fetting, ConradEckhof(Berlin: Henschel, I954), p. I95.
60
JOHN GUTHRIE
453
In order to produce an effect of naturalness, the actor had to go beyond the

merely naturalistic.61As the actor Heinrich Beck said, he had to go two fingers'
measure better than nature.62 Iffland's style was undoubtedly mannered and
appears to have used an element of caricature. It is probably impossible to separate
all elements of his acting style. There appear to have been diverse, ambivalent,
contradictory elements within it. Like the moon for the scene 'Gegend an der
Donau' and the last scene with its tower, it was both 'naturlich' and 'schrocklich'
(Rudloff-Hille, p. 25, and Schiller's own review (xxII, 309- )). What is important
for my purpose is that he retained a sense of the wholeness of character and
personality that moved the audience. As the Mannheim protocols make clear, he
was evidently able to combine 'Laune' (the ability to sink into a role) with 'Anstand'
(bodily expression) (Rudloff-Hille, p. 20). He was able to instil fear, not as an
element of tragedy but as part of a didactic message. In the Enlightenment mould
he saw himself as a 'Volkslehrer' (p. 27; the source is Martersteig, pp. 104-18),
making the character of Franz into a truly repugnant figure. A summary of Iffland
in the role is given by Rudloff-Hille:
an IfflandsSpiel,dasanfangsnurin Andeutungen,spatervielkraftiger
Das Charakteristische
eines
hervortrat,um zuletztin Ubertreibungund Manierauszuarten,ist das Interpretieren
jeden Wortes,jedes Gedankensund des Fortschreitensder Handlung durch Gesten,
Korperbewegungund Mimik.Den Handen fallt dabei ein groBerAnteil zu, ebenso den
vortretendenoderrollendenAugen.Aberauchmit schnellerDrehungdes ganzenK6rpers,
er standigdasGeschehenaufderBiihne.
miteinigenSchrittenvorundzuriick'demonstriert'
(P. 30)
Another report states that 'Sprache, Bild, Blick, Schritt, Hebung des Arms, alles
muB in einemNu! - aus dem GuB einesGefuhls entstehen. Wo das ist, da erschallt
die Stimme der Natur aus ihrem Tempel- und Vestris muB verstummen' (p. 20;
the source is Martersteig).These descriptionspoint to the use of the whole body and
the conjunction of gesture and word, allowing for Iffland'sown style with its element
of caricature and stylization, which is also reported, or for the accentuation of
Gothic elements found in contemporary portraits and engravings (pp. 216-24).
The stylization is typical of Schiller's transitional position: in order to achieve an
effect of naturalness, a degree of unnaturalnessis required.
What then does the text tell us about this? It is useful to consider gesture along
the lines of the distinction made between descriptive ('malend') and expressive
('ausdrtickend'),a distinction well established by the time Schiller was writing, and
receiving theoretical consolidation from a psychologizing angle in relation to acting
in Engel's Ideenzu einerMimik.63He strongly recommends the use of expressive
gesture, coinciding with the SturmundDrang'semphasis on subjectivefeeling, though
he is principally concerned with the actor's control of the body to achieve an overall
effect of harmony. While the role of expressive gesture in Die Riuber is strong,
descriptive elements are also combined with expressive ones. Language and gesture
61 Kosenina
emphasizesthe paradoxthat in generalit was necessaryfor the actor to follow an artificialset of
rulesin orderto achievean effectof naturalness.
62
Rudloff-Hille,p. 20, in response to a question from ChristianDietrich Meyer, recorded in the theatre
protocols.The sourceis Martersteig,pp. 90-96, 104- 8.
63 'Malerei ist mir auch hier wieder jede sinnliche Darstellungder Sache selbst, welche die Seele denkt;
Ausdruck,jede sinnlicheDarstellungder Fassung,der Gesinnung,womit sie sie denkt;des ganzen Zustandes,
worein sie durch ihr Denken versetztwird' (Engel, Ideenzu einerMimik,I, 90). The distinctionis also made by
undSchauspielkunst,
Sulzer(see Kosenina, Anthropologie
p. 158).
Schiller's
EarlyStyles
454
are closely connected here: gesture is implied by language, as in a passage from

Act II, Scene 2:
SCHWARZ
Wie herrlichdie Sonnedortuntergeht!
MOOR
indenAnblick
verschwemmt:
So stirbtein Held!- Anbetungswiirdig!
GRIMM
Du scheinst tiefgeruhrt. (p. 78)
Schwarz points to the sunset, Moor assimilates the image and reiterates the
sentiment with gesture, Grimm describes his behaviour, referring to both his
language and his physical movements. In this way the subjective image is
externalized, given a form beyond the ego. Such moments are common in the play
in both dialogue and monologue. Description can also take the form of stage
directions, as at the beginning of this scene: Gegendan derDonau./ Die Rauber./
(p. 77), evoking
gelagertaufeinerAnhdheunterBdumen,diePferdewaydenamHiigelhinunter
both an image and a basis of feeling for the ensuing dialogue. At its most extended,
description can be seen at work in the narrative passages in the play. These
undoubtedly owe something to the elements of the play Schiller drew attention to
when he called it a dramatized novel, but they are not epic elements in the modern
sense. There is a narrativeelement in Franz'sfirstspeech, where it has an expository,
deictic function (with several references to the anatomy), which is pronounced in
Spiegelberg's account of a dog's funeral (Act I, Scene 2), underlining Moor's
character, and his story of a narrow escape from a dog'sjaws from his youth.
However, these narrative sections also imply expressive gestures. Spiegelberg
wishes to exhibit energy ('daB du sehen sollst, wie die Krafte wachsen in der Noth'
(p.23)).64 The combination
of expressive and descriptive gesture is seen in a
sequence in which words play less of a role. Spiegelberg's mime sequence (Act I,
Scene 2) caricaturing a builder of wild schemes ('Projektmacher',p. 25) is both
imitation and expression: he suddenly erupts into the cry of'La Bourse ou la vie!',
jumping up wildly and seizing Schweizer by the throat.65Spiegelberg'swild gesture
is just one of many in the play that are principally expressive and have helped to
give the play its reputation. They should be seen in their context, however. The vast
majority of gestures and bodily movements in the play are to give emphasis, to
support the verbal text, to reinforce and parallel it. These are movements of the
body, typically involving the whole body or a significant part of it. This is the
dramatic parallel to the 'whole man' of Schiller'santhropology. It contrastswith the
style of gesture typical of eighteenth-century practice, which linked movements of
the hands and feet systematicallyto the words.66These gestures are predominantly
within the character's conscious control. Even movements that seem extreme or
delirious, like running against a tree, banging one's head, running wildly around, or
tearing one's hair out, are presented as conscious gestures intended by a character
to prove a point emphatically. They cross the gender boundary. In order to show
her antipathy to Franz, Amalia cuffs his ear; Franz speaking to Daniel 'greiftihnhart
64
This seems very close to Engel's idea that expressionshould use the 'energischeKraft des Schaupielers'
('Ankiindigung einer Mimik', Der TeutscheMerkur, May 1782, p. i80, quoted in Kosenina, Anthropologieund
Schauspielkunst,
p. 159).
65 Whereas for Engel, pantomime is an example of 'Malerey', concerned with the object depicted, and
expressingthe depictionof feelingsreleasedby it, Spiegelberg'spantomimecombinesboth and introducesa

note of parody (Engel, Ideenzu einerMimik, I, 90).
66 See the discussionand illustrationsin Barnett,TheArtof Gesture,
which show how formaland
these movementswere.
systematized
JOHN GUTHRIE
455
an',while in the next scene Karl Moor embraces him. Within moments of appearing
and without any direct provocation Moor is stamping, foaming, and running
around wildly. The examples could be multiplied. Such actions are in parallel with
verbal statements, driving a point home, making it more emphatic.
Schiller shows most gestures as being willed and conscious, from the more normal
unexceptional type of gesture, such as reading a book or shaking one's head, to the
more extreme type of physical behaviour indulged in for emphasis. This is consistent
with a rebellion of an intellectual, cerebral kind against society, and against nature
and human nature. If the last is true, however, there is also room for the inclusion of
an element of unconscious behaviour. A range of less violent emotions implying
calm is indicated by Schiller.67 There are significant occurrences of characters
sleeping, part of a cycle of normal human behaviour that Schiller had devoted
attention to as a medical student. We find Old Moor half awake, sleeping or
dreaming, Amalia collapsing, Franz jolting, Spiegelberg walking up and down
against his will, Franz or Amalia pale, Daniel weeping, Moor trembling after he has
explicitly stated 'ich werde nicht zittern',68 Franz confused.69 This physical
behaviour corresponds to a spiritual state. It reflects Schiller's attempt to realize
real rather than stereotypical characters. It is not his intention to show that these
characters are threatened by the unconscious, for they immediately revert to
conscious behaviour. We are shown that the body is temporarilysubject to pressures
beyond the power of the will, as Schiller the medical student argued, most clearly in
his successfuldissertationon the animal and spiritualnature of man.
Not all gesture for emphasis is violent. The shaking of hands, the shaking of the
head, the quickening of the pace of speech, the toasting of a fellow brigand, the
tapping on the shoulder, the throwing of hats into the air, all these are gestures of
emphasis reflecting social conventions and the use of the body. Nor is all gesture
for emphasis. There are also examples of the gentler emotions and these are
reflected in gestural language. Moor's companions are seen settling down to sleep,
Moor contemplating or gently stepping backwards.His penultimate gesture before
departing from the stage is an act of contemplation and other charactersare seen in
thought. Lyrical moods are introduced. Moor accompanies himself on the lute, and
this links him with Amalia, who is characterized by softer emotions. Silences also
figure significantly.These are of two kinds: realistic pauses reflecting the rhythms of
natural speech, and moments of deep feeling, climactic in themselves, reflecting
deep cathartic emotions within the individual and a momentary inability to
communicate in verbal form.7 At such points the body can take over, as when Karl
and Amalia remain in silent embrace in the final scene, before being separated by a
67 These are mostly
ignored by critics: for example, Karl Moor, legtsein Haupt auf GrimmsBrust(p. 79).
68 See
Michelsen, p. 35, who notes the discrepancy between word and gestures. Gerhard Kluge, 'Schauspiel-
kunst in Schillers Dramen', and 'Uber die Notwendigkeit der Kommentierung', sees the discrepancy as a
break in illusion, evidence for the intrusion of a narrative perspective and of the importance of the unconscious
for Schiller, a view with which I cannot agree.
69 In this case the mental state is followed
by disjointed language, indicated by dashes, though Franz quickly
regains his lucidity and delivers a set piece (p. I18).
70 Examples of the first type: 'D. A. MOOR Alles, alles - mein Sohn, du ersparst mir die Krucke' (p. 12);
alter
'DANIEL Nach einigemNachdenken.Ich wills thun, morgen wills thun, ab.' (p. 94); 'R. MOOR Dein Sohn -Ja
Mann - stammelnd. Dein Sohn - ist - ewig verloren.' (p. 128), of the second: MOOR auffahrendaus einer
schricklichenPause (p. 99). The second type is closer to that discussed by Michelsen, pp. 50-52, as a means of
heightening emotion. It does not seem to me that a tableau effect is intended or achieved.
456
robber's sword.71This kind of behaviour complements the picture of man ruled by

violent passions and it forms a significantelement in the picture of human behaviour
given in the play. It is a more complete and varied picture of human behaviour than
Schiller is often credited with.
Another axis along which to consider the language of gesture in the play is the
distinction common in the eighteenth century between natural and artificial
gesture.72For Schiller this distinction is relevant, yet there is much to show that it
does not apply rigorously. He is not so interested in the type of dissimulation
typically practised at court, which had already been attacked in the Baroque period
He is
and early Enlightenment and which is also found in biirgerliches
Trauerspiel.
interested in the more universal issue of the distortion of nature by the mind. In
Franz Moor there is willed, conscious evil attempting to rule over appearances. In
his attempts to deceive his father, his brother, Amalia, and Hermann he engineers
an apparently not very sophisticated plan using forged letters and lies, a villain's
standard set of devices. It is he who has donned 'die Larve des Heuchlers'. Franz's
plot is no less than an attempt to deceive the world by perverting the course of
nature. The artificialityof his behaviour is all too obvious. He is acting out a role,
trying to play the part of another and the element of citation in the play's language
creates this effect. It is striking that the play opens with Franz confronted by a
natural gesture, which he himself comments on ('Ihr seht so blaB' ), about which he
can do nothing, a physiological symptom of Old Moor's mental condition. A
'natural gesture' such as the removal from the pocket of a letter becomes in Franz's
hands an unnatural one: the simulation of normal social behaviour. His behaviour
is therefore contrasted with the more natural behaviour of Old Moor (who shows
signs of the natural aging process), Amalia (the natural behaviour typical of a young
woman, stylized though it may be), and Daniel (age), and the behaviour of the
robbers, who in a natural setting behave in some respects in a less artificialway. It is
the natural cycle of life, death, and decay and the flow of life that Franz wishes to
interrupt and to do so he is forced to carry out unnatural acts. The element of
stylization in Iffland's performance, the combination of naturalness and unnaturalness,can be explained with this in mind.
However, Franz is not the only character to indulge in unnatural behaviour. I
have suggested earlier in relation to the play's language that the element of
theatricality and citation is important and indeed this is the case with other
characters: for example, in Karl Moor and in his gestures. His reaction to his
bookish, narrow-minded age, to a 'tintenklecksendesSakulum', is paradoxically to
adopt certain poses: that of the leader, the saviour, the victim, the sacrifice, roles he
must fulfilphysically as well as intellectually, so that the scars of the Bohemian forest
and the corpse of his fiancee become the visible, corporeal signs of those roles. Karl
sees himself in part as an actor playing out a role, hence the invocation of Hamlet,
Macbeth, and the staging of a lyrical interlude with references to Julius Caesar.
These are physical manifestations of the psychological need for role-playing. One
of the most telling episodes in this respect is Karl's tearing-up of his own clothes in
71 The sword may well be anachronistic, as Michelsen argues (pp. 57-58), but does it evoke the realm of
baroque opera? The robbers' references immediately afterwards to the Bohemian forests, to wounds and scars,
suggest a real physical presence and bodily pain unthinkable in that era.
72 Discussed at length by J. B. Dubos, Reflexionscritiquessur la poesieet sur la peinture,17 9, 4th edn (Paris, 1740),
Part inI, section I4.
JOHN GUTHRIE
457
Act iv when he swears revenge. An act of defiance, it is perhaps a typical act of

SturmundDrangrage, but its symbolic significance goes deeper. It is the attempt to
return to the naked, natural self, by unnatural means. It is the determination not
only to seek out his brother and wreak revenge but to return to the natural state, to
the childhood idyll of his home, to the womb, to start afresh. At the same time the
tearing-up of the clothes evokes a range of Old Testament associations,73disgust
and horror before blasphemy, all of which can be seen to have some bearing on
Karl Moor's psychological and moral predicament.
What then of natural gesture in Die Rduber?What of the wildness, rage, and
violence that help to give the play its reputation? Many of the natural gestures of
body movement in Die Rduberare characterized by rapid movement, by wild
running, sometimes without direction. To understand the significance of movement
in Die RduberI return briefly to the ancient world, just as Karl Moor does when he
first appears, reading Plutarch. From Homer we know that ancient heroes did not
hurry around. They moved with 'long strides' (see Bremmer, p. 19). The first
mention of an unhurried gait is the case of Pericles, the leading politician in Athens
from 460 to 430 BC, in Plutarch's biography.74It is well known that the Athenian
upper classes cultivated an unhurried gait, parodied by Aristophanes, and
Demosthenes is thought not to have wanted to praise his opponents by mentioning
that they walked fast. Aristotle states that to walk slowly is a sign of megalopsychos,
or a great-souled man. Hurried behaviour seems more associated with comedy.75
Closer to Schiller's own age, Erasmus in I530 stated that the gait (of children,
incidentally) should be steady but not hasty.76There were also significant gender
differences regarding body movement in ancient Greece.77 All this is thrown
overboard in Die Rduber.Karl Moor is the first to stamp with his feet and later in the
same scene he is 'schaumend auf die Erde stampfend'. This same type of impulsive,
violent behaviour, involving the whole body is shared by a range of characters,
including Franz, Old Moor, and Amalia too, although she is characterized by softer
emotions and lyrical moods, yet is capable of the same kind of behaviour.78Some
(though not all) sexual differences have been eradicated and the Greek ideal of
heroic behaviour rejected.
73 Michelsen mentions the possibility of Old Testament inspiration, but
suggests a baroque source as decisive
instead. Some biblical parallels are: the outsider (the leper required to wear torn clothes (Leviticus 13. 45));
i
mourning (Leviticus . 6, Joshua 7. 6, Esther 4. I,Job I. 20 (which includes Job saying: 'Naked I came from
the womb, naked I shall return whence I came' )); repentance (i Kings 21, 27, Ezra 9, 3); disgust and horror,
particularly prior to blasphemy (Numbers 14. 6).
74 In this section I am indebted to Jan Bremmer,
'Walking, Standing, and Sitting in Ancient Greek culture',
in A CulturalHistoryof Gesture:FromAntiquityto the PresentDay, ed. by Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg
(pp. i6-23).
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), pp. I5-35
75 'Moderation in movement is, in Roman opinion, characteristic of certain classes of men. In general, it is
peculiar to a free man

only a slave runs, a free man has leisure' (Fritz Graf, 'The Gestures of Roman Actors
and Orators', in A CulturalHistory of Gesture,pp. 36-58 (p. 47)); 'The earliest and most explicit testimony is
Plautus' Poenulus 522s. 'liberos homines per urbem modico magis par est gradu ire; servile esse duco
festinantem currere' (p. 56, n. 29); 'Exuberant gesticulation and movement were characteristic of slaves [.. .]
other violent gestures belong either to slaves or to low class free-born: shaking the head with anger or being
swollen with it; grinding one's teeth and slapping the thigh in anger' (p. 49). The sources are listed on page 57,
note 39. Compare the soldier Stratophanes in Plautus, Truculentus
60o, who 'grinds his teeth and slaps his thigh'
with rage.
76 Desiderius Erasmus, De civilitate morumpuerilium (1530),
I. 28: 'incessus sit non fractus nes praeceps'.
Bremmer, p. 28.
77 These go beyond the scope of the present study. See Bremmer, p. 20.
78 For example, Act IV, Scene 5, fidhrtzusammen[ . .]froh aufhiipfend'(pp. 101-02).
458
What is the point of this new and apparently natural behaviour? First, it offers a
kind of contrafactum of an ancient world of heroes and great deeds. It is a comment
on the relation of the ancient to the modern world. The ancient world that inspires
great deeds is not able to do so here, in a society that no longer respects the ideal
and a group whose own motivation is revealed as questionable. It is a comment on
eighteenth-century society, but also on a specific group of characterswho are unable
to achieve an ideal and therefore resort to acts of desperation that parody ancient
customs. At the same time as appearing natural however, violent movements appear
in another sense unnatural. They are extreme. It is likely that they result in some
damage to the body, a point sometimes overlooked. They are self-defeating and
destructive. They are like the abnormal states Schiller describes in his medical
writings, after which there is a return to normality. In judging their overall effect we
must have regard to the fact that there is an element of repetition. The cumulative
impression is not one of spontaneity and naturalness, but the body behaves
mechanistically and cyclically. There is a fixed range of violent and non-violent
body movements. Although there is a relation between gesture and individual
psychological state, that inner state is seen to occur again and again, giving rise to
the impression of a deterministic universe, despite the differentiation between the
psychologies of the two main characters. Thus Schiller's position is ambivalent: on
the one hand, gesture expresses the psyche and natural feelings; on the other hand
these are seen to be unnatural and there is a need for a return to normality.
It will have become evident that it is not possible to speak of one particular
uniform style of gesture in Die Rduber.To see everywhere the language of Sturmund
Drangfrenzy or Pathosis surely wrong. But I end by showing how gesture in the play
is rooted in ideas explored in Schiller's dissertation, and that it parallels the use of
verbal language. Dewhurst and Reeves hint at this when they suggest that in the
case of Karl and Franz Moor an excess of energy leads the relaxation mechanism to
set in (p. 320), but I believe the relevance of these ideas goes furtherstill. In Schiller's
dissertation there is a cyclical pattern to human behaviour, owing to the
interdependence of man's animal and spiritual sides. There is a give and take
between body and soul, between exertion and tension on the one hand and
relaxation and recuperation on the other. Both pain and pleasure are necessary.
Although in Die Rduberthereare many examples of the heightening of physical
responses and spiritualemotions, they are complemented by less strained and tense
emotions expressed in physical form. Even sleep, perhaps the least dramatic of all
physical states, which Schiller discussed at the end of his dissertation as necessary
for well-being, figures significantly (Old Moor; Act ii, Scene i; Amalia, 'wie aus
einem Todeschlummer aufgejagt' (p. 47); the robbers, Act iv, Scene 5 (p. I07));
similarly Karl Moor, Act III, Scene 2, resting on Grimm's breast (p. 79), and
occurrences of pallor (Old Moor; Act I, Scene I; Amalia, Act iv, Scene 5).79 More
dramatic are occurrences of fainting (Amalia, 'hinundhertaumelnd,bis sie umsinkt',
Act
ii,
Scene I (p. 48); Franz, Act v, Scene i), and conscious willing of stasis
(Amalia, Act v, Scene 2, 'stehtstumm,undstarrwie eineBildsdule.Die ganzeBandein

fiirchterlicherPause' (p. 13
) ),
as well as pauses for thought and contemplation. These
bodily states are the complement to the more rapid and energetic movements.
Rarely, in fact, does one occur without the other. A typical combination is shown in
79 Undoubtedly, this physiological state would need to be indicated by gesture and intonation.
JOHN GUTHRIE
459
the stage direction in Act iv, Scene 3: 'MOOR

aus einerschricklichen
Pause'.
auffahrend
Again and again an extreme expression of emotion in physical form is not far away
from an expression of one in a less extreme form (for example, Amalia, Act III,
Scene 2: 'stehtlangversteinert.
Dannfdhrtsie wild auf,eilt ihmnach').This is a picture of
human behaviour that Schiller builds up in the course of the play, though with some
variations determined by character. While Franz for the most part shows more
conscious control (for example, his monologue in Act iv, Scene 2, with only the one
stage direction, 'Ergehtab' (pp. 94-95)), Karl Moor can be seen to move through a
wider range of emotions. At the beginning of Act in he can be seen jumping from
his horse, then contemplating the sunset, feeling pain, covering his face, resting his
head on Grimm's breast, sinking back, then moving back wildly before showing
melancholy again (pp. 77-80). If the extreme gestures in the play may be said to
contain an element of caricature (and they do show similaritieswith other Sturmund
Dranggestures and belong to a relatively fixed catalogue), then it must also be said
that linking them to other types of physical behaviour as I have discussed belongs to
Schiller's distinctive approach and goes beyond the movement. The less tense
manifestation of bodily behaviour, from sleep and silence to reading and thinking,
are realistic touches, in themselves less dramatic and, together with the more
extreme and heightened gestures, an essential ingredient of Schiller'sdramatic style,
as in the case of verbal language.
It can be seen that in Die RduberSchiller is using a combination of different styles,
which range from the realistic, involving the faithful reproduction of speech and
gesturalpatterns, through to the more non-realistic,including a range of heightening
devices drawing on theatrical traditions. Though he is more concerned with the
point where language and gesture meet, not where one is dominated by the other,
he is also interested in the relation between the conscious and unconscious mind, in
this respect pointing forward to Kleist. His attitude to the tradition of rhetoric and
the tradition of gesture stemming from it is ambivalent: on the one hand he uses its
assumptions and techniques, on the other these are seen as restrictiveand in need of
breaking down. In verbal style there is a combination of realism and non-realistic
elements. Naturalness and artificiality go hand in hand. Similar ambivalence
symptomatic of transition is revealed in relation to gesture. Psychological insights
are linked with gestures, and a similar combination of the natural and the artificial
emerges, but there are also gestures of a kind that show a particular pattern of
human behaviour. Schiller does not entirely free himself from the mannerism of a
SturmundDrangstyle, but he uses elements of the movement's style with specific
intentions, drawing on his particular areas of interest. In the attempt to realize the
'whole man' or portray the 'whole body' on stage he has progressed along his own
particular path but by no means reached a final conclusion. It represents an ideal
he continues to seek. The analysis of gestures in relation to verbal text has shown
that while Schiller's play is part of a general development towards a more
psychological approach to gesture, it reflects his wider medical and philosophical
interests, the tension within these, and between them and his attempt through
dramatic language to depict the problems of his age.
NEW HALL, CAMBRIDGE
JOHN GUTHRIE

Language and Gestures in Die Rauber

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Language and Gestures in Die Rauber

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Schiller's Early Styles: Language and Gesture in Die Ruber

Author(s): John Guthrie

SCHILLER'S EARLY STYLES: LANGUAGE AND GESTURE

Niemeyer, I982), p. xiii.

See the review of researchby Anne Betten, 'AnalyseliterarischerDialoge', in Handbuch

'EpistemicConflict, HermeneuticalDisjunction,and the Subl(im)ationof Revolt: A SociosemioticInvestiin Fictionsof Culture:

Schiller's style.8This tendency is allied to an approach that emphasizes the baroque

8 Pathoshere is understood in the sense it is used in in German to evoke an

performance of Karl Moor in Weimar,14 he argues that we should see gesture as

IffldndischenSpiels auf dem WeimarischenHoftheaterim AprilmonathI796

1796), Chapter 12.

plausibility in character,'6 from which follows a degree of verisimilitude in

positions, none of which in itself represents ultimate truth.19In so far as there is an

33 Franz's dissimulation and

(pp. 109- o) suggest Hamlet,Act III, Scene I.

Bibliographisches Institut, 1959), P. Ioo.

in the sense of being self-admiratory, egocentric, in effect moral posturing,43put

development by Lessing and the SturmundDrangand a key position attributed to

Rudloff-Hille, p. 20, refers to Johann Friedrich Schink, Dramaturgische

In order to produce an effect of naturalness, the actor had to go beyond the

are closely connected here: gesture is implied by language, as in a passage from

Du scheinst tiefgeruhrt. (p. 78)

of expressive and descriptive gesture is seen in a

expressingthe depictionof feelingsreleasedby it, Spiegelberg'spantomimecombinesboth and introducesa

robber's sword.71This kind of behaviour complements the picture of man ruled by

Act iv when he swears revenge. An act of defiance, it is perhaps a typical act of

peculiar to a free man

dramatic are occurrences of fainting (Amalia, 'hinundhertaumelnd,bis sie umsinkt',

(Amalia, Act v, Scene 2, 'stehtstumm,undstarrwie eineBildsdule.Die ganzeBandein

as well as pauses for thought and contemplation. These

the stage direction in Act iv, Scene 3: 'MOOR

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