Theoria - DISA

ecognised that excessive ambition and lust for revenge were
keynotes of his character. Yet he admired his forceful personality,
his power over people, his absolute faith in himself
and in his mission, his undoubtedly great abilities as politician
and as a military commander, the friendly human side of his
nature which he showed to those who knew him well, and last,
but not least, his greatness and self-mastery in adversity. This
imposing character Schiller made the hero of his tragedy. With
a talent that had profited from the study of Shakespeare he
depicted him in all his greatness.
In accordance with the views he had developed in his
analysis of ancient tragedy he set himself the task, however, of
letting this great man meet his doom not as a result of actions
that he undertook of his own free will but by an inescapable
destiny. As neither Wallenstein nor Schiller nor the people
for whom the drama was written believed in the Greek gods and
the fate they ordain, Schiller tried to prove that the fall of
Wallenstein was the necessary outcome of events beyond his
own control. Schiller emphasised therefore—with some historical
justification—Wallenstein's belief that man's destiny is
determined by the stars and that the course of a man's life can
be predicted from the astronomical constellations. We know
from remarks which Schiller made to Goethe that the belief in
the stars was to take the place of the oracle in Attic tragedy.
This alone, however, was not sufficient for the poet to explain
the inevitability of Wallenstein's fate. He attempted to convince
us, therefore, that Wallenstein becomes the victim of events
over which he has no control. Wallenstein toys with the idea
of revolting against the emperor in order to become King of
Bohemia and at last to bring peace to the German people. To
achieve this aim he has to combine with the Swedish enemy, at
least temporarily. Quite undecided as to whether he really
wants to put his plan into practice, he takes the first tentative
steps of negotiating with the enemy. This seals his fate. Henceforward
he has no freedom of choice, the logic of events overpowers
him. It is the emperor who takes the initiative. He has
been warned against possible betrayal by his commander,
and he deals with Wallenstein as though he had already committed
treason. Wallenstein must now' accept the responsibility
for his dangerous though tentative move, must form a pact with
the enemy, persuade soldiers and officers to betray the emperor
and thus bring about his own ultimate fall. Schiller's statement
in his historical treatise on the Thirty Years War : " Wallenstein
did not fall because he was a rebel, but he rebelled because he
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