Maria Stuart

Abstract

M aria tu rt Maria Stuart, described as Schiller’s most perfect play, is a fi nely balanced, inven� ve account of the last day of the cap� ve Queen of Scotland, caught up in a great contest for the throne of England a� er the death of Henry VIII and over the ques� on of England’s religious confession. Hope for and doubt about Mary’s deliverance grow in the fi rst two acts, given to the Sco� sh and the English queen respec� vely, reach crisis at the center of the play, where the two queens meet in a famous scene in a castle park, and die away in acts four and fi ve, as the ac� on advances to its inevitable end. The play is at once classical tragedy of great fi neness, costume drama of the highest order—a spectacle on the stage—and one of the great moments in the long tradi� on of classical rhetoric, as Elizabeth’s ministers argue for and against execu� on of a royal prisoner.