Plays, Vol. 20 Book

"Ist dies die Welt, von deren Wankelmut, Unzuverlässigkeit ich viel gehört und nichts empfunden habe? Ist dies die Welt?" (Klärchen)

Egmont's passionate lover Klärchen shouts out her frustration at the mediocrity, cowardice and lack of reliability in the world, consisting of people who are lukewarm in their commitments, and want convenience rather than passionate love and freedom of thought.

"Is this the world?"

Klärchen, a female mirror of the proud, free spirit Egmont, can't understand the political side of society, just like her lover, whose honest joie de vivre costs him his life. Caution, political thought, planning and manipulating are not his qualities, even in the face of disaster. He is free, he enjoys his life, and wants others to enjoy theirs as well. A truly tolerant soul, as long as no one takes his freedom away from him:

"Er will mein Leben und mein Glück, und fühlt nicht, dass der schon tot ist, der um seiner Sicherheit willen lebt!"

If you only live to secure your safety tomorrow, Egmont argues, you are already dead today.

But he can't ignore the fact that political life around him takes a different stand. Set in the era of rebellion against Spanish rule in the Netherlands and Belgium, and of clashes between different Christian faiths, Egmont's call for liberty of the individual is weak compared to the powers whose interests are at stake. His friend and rival Wilhelm von Oranien represents the cautious, long-term approach which will ultimately be more successful.

"Egmont" is a display of strong, yet different personalities in politically troubled societies. It is a play raising the question if you are willing to sacrifice your ideals to fit into the world, how much you are willing to fight for your freedom of choice, and how much honesty is possible in a delicate diplomatic situation. Goethe, always passionate artist and careful scholar in one person, does not offer a definite answer.

He rather shows that these different personalities exist in all layers of society, and in all religious communities.

If Klärchen and Egmont stand for absolute freedom to live your life according to your pleasure and happiness, Wilhelm von Oranien symbolises political intelligence in his actions towards Spanish power.

Alba, on the other hand, takes on the role of executor, of hardliner in the name of society, while his son Ferdinand identifies with the character of Egmont, and breaks in a similar way, in the face of his father's definition of political power, which makes him choke and lose his idealistic, passionate love of life.

"Is this the world?"

Ferdinand's despair echoes Vonnegut's character Proteus in Player Piano, living within a powerful corporate framework, but feeling the emptiness and meaninglessness of a purely ritualistic privilege. Joining the rebellious forces without hope, except for the mark in the historical records, Proteus' fate is similar to Egmont's or Klärchen's or Ferdinand's, it is in fact shared with rebellious people in oppressive communities around the world.

This is the world, and it goes on, as Vonnegut puts it in Player Piano, even beyond Judgment Day. Checking the historical facts around the Egmont drama, the contemporary reader will see that it rings true there as well. The record of his execution had consequences, long-term.

You can kill the spirit of freedom temporarily, but not forever!