On the Sublime and Schiller’s Theory of Tragedy

Abstract

he essay ‘On the Sublime’ forms an essential part of Schiller’s theory of tragedy, which has recently been called a major philosophical contribution to the subject, ranking alongside those made by Hegel or Nietzsche. Schiller’s mature ideas about tragedy are set out in a number of essays written between his abandonment of the theatre (after Don Carlos, completed in 1787) and his resumption of dramatic writing with Wallenstein (written between 1797 and 1799). Of these essays, those dealing most directly and extensively with tragedy are ‘On the Basis of Pleasure in Tragic Subjects’ (‘Uber den Grund des Vergnugens an tragischen Gegenstanden’, written in 1791) and ‘On the Pathetic’ (‘Uber das Pathetische’, written and published in 1793). ‘On the Sublime’ was written later than these essays, probably some time after the great treatise ‘On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a Series of Letters’ (‘Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen’, published 1795), since in