The thrust of this study differs from that of Friedrich Sengle's Das deutsche Geschichtsdrama (Stuttgart 1952) which is focused on cases in which there is a meeting of “objective” (that is, “real,” factual) history and a “tragende Idee.” This latter will inevitably be the main engine of a dramatic action, inclining us to become wholly engaged with dramatic characters in a dramatic present, rather than “real” figures in an historical past. The experience to which this is conducive may be emotionally and intellectually compelling, but it will not be historical in the sense that it causes us, in our present, to become engaged with our relationship with past figures and events, and their continued relevance for us. Historical “colour,” however profuse, will remain peripheral. Schiller sets his Maria Stuart in a recognisable Elizabethan England, but while this provides the circumstances for the action, the spiritual life of the characters belongs overwhelmingly to the eighteenth century. The Maria and Elizabeth who appear are Schiller's creations: we cannot afford to think too much of the “real” ones.

In the kind of play with which we are concerned, history is to some degree internalized: the experience is both dramatic and historical. Isolating this quality requires close argument. We cannot rival Sengle's inclusiveness, while benefiting from the work he has done, in particular in the area of the “national” idea, which appears in the eighteenth century, and blossoms fully in the nineteenth.