Don Carlos

Don Carlos (Dom Karlos, Infant von Spanien in its original version) is a five-act drama by Friedrich Schiller, written between 1783 and 1787 and associated with the Sturm und Drang movement. It was first performed on 29 August 1787 at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. The title takes its name from the historical figure Carlos of Austria, Prince of Asturias and son of King Philip II of Spain, although the play freely reshapes his story in sixteenth-century Spain, against the backdrop of the Reformation and the Netherlands' struggle for freedom from Catholic Spanish rule.

The drama follows the personal and political conflicts of the prince. Carlos is reunited with his childhood friend, the Marquis of Posa, who returns from long travels as a spokesman for the Netherlands and hopes to win his support. Meanwhile, Carlos is consumed by his love for Elisabeth of Valois, his former fiancée and now the wife of his father, which makes her both his stepmother and an unattainable object of desire. When he confesses his feelings, she rejects him and reminds him of his duties to the Spanish people. The king refuses both reconciliation and his son's request to go to Flanders, choosing instead the Duke of Alba, known for his cruelty. Parallel intrigues, including the unrequited passion of Princess Eboli, stolen letters and the schemes of Alba and the confessor Domingo, feed the king's growing paranoia. Posa wins the king's trust with a speech defending freedom of thought, but is betrayed, dies in Carlos's cell, and the prince is finally handed over to the Inquisition.

According to Schiller himself, the work drew two main criticisms: a lack of unity and the implausibility of Posa's actions, which he defended in his Letters on Don Carlos (1788). Kenneth Tynan's famous remark comparing a Schiller play to Hamlet and Phèdre was in fact aimed at a different work. Lesley Sharpe argued that Schiller moved away from character-based drama here, so that the play's world casts a shadow of ambiguity over its figures. The play has had lasting influence: it inspired several operas, including Verdi's, is regarded as an influence on the Grand Inquisitor episode in The Brothers Karamazov, and has been linked by some scholars to Hollywood screenplays. During World War II, Joseph Goebbels attended a performance in Berlin where the audience applauded Posa's plea for freedom of thought.