Egmont

Egmont is a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which he completed in 1788. Its dramaturgical structure, like that of his earlier Sturm und Drang play Götz von Berlichingen (1773), is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy. In contrast to the earlier work, the portrait in Egmont of the downfall of a man who trusts in the goodness of those around him appears to mark a shift away from Sturm und Drang values.




The first edition was published in Leipzig, by Georg Joachim Göschen in 1788. Further editions were published in Leipzig in 1788, 1789, 1790, 1803 and at regular intervals thereafter. The play was translated into French in 1822, and into English by Anna Swanwick in 1850, published in Bohn's Standard Library.




n Egmont, Goethe relates the fight of Count Egmont (1522-1568) in the Eighty Years' War against the despotic Duke of Alba. Egmont is a famous Dutch warrior and the Duke of Alba represents the Spanish invader. Though under threat of arrest, Egmont refuses to run away and give up his ideal of liberty. Imprisoned and abandoned because of the cowardice of his people, and despite the desperate efforts of his mistress Klärchen, he is sentenced to death.




Thus, faced with her failure and despair, Klärchen puts an end to her life. The play ends on the hero's last call to fight for independence. His death as a martyr appears as a victory against oppression.




Egmont is a political manifesto in which Egmont's craving for justice and national liberty is opposed to the despotic authority of the Duke of Alba. It is also a drama of destiny in which the Flemish nobleman, with fatalism, accepts the dire consequences of his straightforwardness and honesty. (wikipedia.org)
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