Weislingen she has
discovered to be a despicable creature, and she attaches herself to
Sickingen, in whom she finds a man after her own heart, able to
satisfy all the cravings of her nature. She poisons Weislingen, who
dies as he has lived, the victim of weakness rather than of
wickedness. Her crimes are known to the judges of the Vehmgericht, who
in their mysterious tribunal adjudge her to death, which is effected
in a curious scene by one of their agents. The drama closes with the
death of Gottfried in prison, baffled in his dearest schemes, blasted
in reputation, and with gloomy forebodings for the future of his
country.
[Footnote 104: In the characters of Marie and Elizabeth we have traits
of Friederike and of Goethe's mother.]
Such is an outline of the production in which Goethe made his first
appeal to his countrymen at large,[105] and which is in such singular
contrast to the ideals of his maturity. That it was not the inevitable
birth of his whole heart and mind is proved by the fact that he never
repeated the experiment. Neither the incidents nor the hero of the
piece, indeed, were of a nature to elicit the full play of his genius.
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