‘wie ich euch ein Beispiel gebe’: Goethe’s Egmont , Theatricality, and Mythic Agency

The protagonist of Goethe’s Egmont has often been categorized as a problematic or failed hero by criticism since Schiller. In this article, I suggest that the drama in fact stages Egmont’s successful growth as a figure of popular myth, which is achieved through description rather than by the way he acts in the play. Egmont’s true presence as a character is largely composed of his absence from the stage: his appearance in legends, hearsay, and popular artefacts is worth more than his actions, hence his often-inactive bearing, which Schiller and others criticized. During the course of the play, Egmont learns to self-mythologize, which allows him agency without direct action; he learns that he can be present as a myth even in his physical absence in death.