Die natürliche Tochter

Review contains spoilers!

"Die natürliche Tochter" (The natural daughter, meaning an illegitimate daughter) is not considered to be one of Goethe's grand plays and I started reading it without any previous knowledge. It's a classic verse drama, similar to a bourgeois tragedy, written in 1803.
The bespoke daughter is Eugenie (the only character whose name is known to the audience). Her father plans to take her to court and to present her as his official daughter following her mother's recent death, and the young woman cannot wait. The anticipation is apparent when, against her father's wishes, she opens the chest containing the luxurious dresses and jewelry she is to wear at court. But alas, of course there is a conspiracy, led by her show more half-brother, who is legitimate and not too pleased at the prospect of a sister and a rival. Eugenie is abducted, her father is told that she had a riding accident and was buried immediately because she was disfigured.
Her governess - still standing with Eugenie but herself powerless - takes Eugenie to a harbor, as she is commanded to do. The order is to board a ship to the islands (presumably the South Sea), which is considered close to murder because of the unknown illnesses and the climate there.
They meet an advocate who proposes to marry Eugenie to save her from the journey. At first, Eugenie refuses because she does not want to marry below her station. The simple life of an advocate's wife seems too boring after all the dreams of a life at court. However, Eugenie realizes that her most important wish is to stay in her home country, and she agrees to marry the advocate.

The play is written in a beautiful and artistic style, and Goethe's language is as soothing and precious as ever. The story itself has an interesting start, but then becomes lengthy. Even Schiller said that the play had too many words and not enough action - and who am I to disagree!
It is an enjoyable play, presenting the choice of renunciation as a possibility to lead a happy and free life.
According to Goethe, this was planned as a trilogy (sketchy notes on a second part were found, but none on a third part) on the French Revolution. While the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the court is already present in "Die natürliche Tochter", I wonder if it would have been dealt with more clearly in the other parts. show less

This was a decent play, but I did not feel like it was nothing out of the ordinary and, for expectations of Goethe, that sort of falls by the wayside.

3 stars.