Götz von Berlichingen with the iron Hand [Illustrated] (With Active Table of Contents)

Goetz von Berlichingen is a successful 1773 drama by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, based on the memoirs of the historical adventurer-poet Götz von Berlichingen (ca. 1480–1562). The plot has various changes to Götz's real biography. Goethe's Goetz dies young, while the historical Götz died an octogenarian.
Goetz is a free spirit, a maverick, intended to be a pillar of national integrity against a deceitful and over-refined society, and the way in which he tragically succumbs to the abstract concepts of law and justice shows the submission of the individual in that society.
Goetz von Berlichingen was one of Goethe's early successes but its large cast size, frequent quick scene changes, and long running time caused the original version to eventually fall out of favour. The play was re-arranged and cut several times, sometimes by Goethe himself, in order to suit various venues and theatre companies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long poem of modern European literature. His other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides with Enlightenment, Sentimentalism (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours, his influential ideas on plant and animal morphology and homology were extended and developed by 19th century naturalists including Charles Darwin. He also served at length as the Privy Councilor of the duchy of Saxe-Weimar.