[

], Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller’s socially critical

drama of two brothers’ tragic conflict over the love and inheritance of their father, the love and possession of a woman, the problematic nature of freedom, and disavowal of moral and feudal tradition, is among his best-known works. Though the earliest of Schiller’s plays extant, it is at least his fifth attempt at drama, preceded by

and

(1772) and the plan for

(1775). Schiller destroyed his next attempt,

(1776), somewhat related to

, a drama of the hatred between two brothers and their competition for the same woman. Thus

holds the distinction of being the first of Schiller’s four early dramas (

2716 words

Citation: High, Jeffrey L.. "Die Räuber". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11144, accessed 31 October 2024.]