Wilhelm Tell

Friedrich Schiller's Wilhelm Tell is a verse drama about the legendary archer who became a hero of Swiss independence. First performed in 1804, it tells how the people of Uri, Schwytz and Unterwald rise against their Austrian governors and swear an oath of freedom on the Rootli meadow. At the centre is Tell, a hunter who prefers to act alone, until the governor Gessler orders him to shoot an apple from his own son's head. Around him Schiller sets the aged Baron of Attinghausen, his nephew Rudenz, torn between Austria and his people, and the patriots Stauffacher, Walter Furst and Melchthal. The play combines intimate family scenes with large public confrontations, and it asks enduring questions about tyranny, resistance, and the meaning of liberty.

This edition presents the complete text in a nineteenth-century English verse translation, with its footnotes, along with a new introduction, a character guide, a summary, themes, a glossary, and discussion questions.