Earlier this semester we were discussing the Inquisition in my Western Civilization class, which put me in mind of this play, Friedrich von Schiller's Don Carlos. When I read it alongside four other German plays, I did not regard it as one of my favorites, but it applied to our discussion in that during the last act, the Grand Inquisitor shows up, to quote a review of a recent production (starring Derek Jacobi as the King!), "prepared to wreak havoc and shed blood." I was gratified to find it in my school library, and polished it off in one afternoon.

Both times, I read the performing edition by James Kirkup, found in Eric Bentley's compendium The Classic Theatre: Five German Plays. I remembered thinking the translation a little hokey, and upon rereading I wanted to go through it with a red pen. The vocabulary is simply not consistent with the sixteenth-century setting, including words like "lots" when "many" or "much" would be more appropriate. And I don't know whether to blame Mr. Kirkup or Schiller himself for this, but all attempts at exposition come off as very awkward. The scene with Carlos and Eboli is laughable, for even as he's trying to convince her that he does not love her, he makes asides about how beautiful she is. I really did not care for either of these characters—the King, Queen, the Marquis of Posa, and especially the blind old Grand Inquisitor are much more interesting. It has a good twist at the end too. But overall I dislike the plot, which is a sort of Spanish version of Tristan and Isolde.

I hope that at some point I can reread the author's Mary Stuart with more positive results. ( )