It is interesting to me, mind you, that Schiller made Posa a rather ambivalent, somewhat fanatical figure.
Caveat here: that's not how he came across to 18th century and 19th century readers/theatre audiences. Posa was everyone's favourite character from the moment Don Carlos was first published, and held up as the most noble of Schiller's heroes, full stop. Reading him as even slightly morally ambiguous didn't, to my knowledge, occur to anyone until the last few decades. Since you've encountered the Verdi version first, you have a different perspective, Which I value, especially since I do think there's ambiguity in Posa, but I would Postulate that it's also a question of modern sensibilty versus age of the enlightenment just before the French Revolution. (Which, among other things, showed that a passion for reform and freedom could also lead to a new tyranny.)
Here's the thing, though: Schiller certainly gave Posa his own ideals and political Credo (not just in the famous "Sire, geben Sie Gedankenfreiheit!" speech), but he was too good a dramatist to just make Posa a mouthpiece, instead of a character, and also, the play isn't called "Posa". Carlos prioritizing emotion and truth to emotion above all Things (without being as unhinged about it as Opera!Carlo with the sword drawing, though) also is a symptom of the age, just of a different aspect, and I think what he might have been going for was that the two need each other for balance: sense and sensibility, to Quote another writer of the age.:)
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Date: 2019-08-19 06:45 am (UTC)Caveat here: that's not how he came across to 18th century and 19th century readers/theatre audiences. Posa was everyone's favourite character from the moment Don Carlos was first published, and held up as the most noble of Schiller's heroes, full stop. Reading him as even slightly morally ambiguous didn't, to my knowledge, occur to anyone until the last few decades. Since you've encountered the Verdi version first, you have a different perspective, Which I value, especially since I do think there's ambiguity in Posa, but I would Postulate that it's also a question of modern sensibilty versus age of the enlightenment just before the French Revolution. (Which, among other things, showed that a passion for reform and freedom could also lead to a new tyranny.)
Here's the thing, though: Schiller certainly gave Posa his own ideals and political Credo (not just in the famous "Sire, geben Sie Gedankenfreiheit!" speech), but he was too good a dramatist to just make Posa a mouthpiece, instead of a character, and also, the play isn't called "Posa". Carlos prioritizing emotion and truth to emotion above all Things (without being as unhinged about it as Opera!Carlo with the sword drawing, though) also is a symptom of the age, just of a different aspect, and I think what he might have been going for was that the two need each other for balance: sense and sensibility, to Quote another writer of the age.:)