Summary
A storm is rising on Lake Lucerne. The ferryman makes his boat fast to the shore as villager Conrad Baumgarten rushes up, pursued by the soldiers of the tyrannous governor, Hermann Gessler. He implores the ferryman to take him across the lake to safety. The crowd asks why he is being pursued. Baumgarten tells them that the seneschal of the castle had entered his house, demanded a bath, and started taking liberties with Baumgarten’s wife. She escaped and ran to her husband in the forest, whereupon Baumgarten returned home and, while the seneschal was in the bath, split his skull with his ax. Baumgarten must now flee the country.
The sympathies of the common people are with Baumgarten, and they beg the ferryman to take him across the now stormy lake. The ferryman, afraid, refuses to do so. The hunter William Tell hears Baumgarten’s story. Tell, the only person in the crowd with the courage to steer the boat in a tempest, makes preparations to take the fugitive across the lake. As they cast off, soldiers thunder up. When the soldiers see their prey escaping, they take revenge on the peasants, killing their sheep and burning their cottages.
The Swiss are greatly troubled because the emperor of Austria has sent Gessler to rule as viceroy over the three cantons around Lake Lucerne. Gessler, a second-born noble son without land or fortune, is envious of the prosperity and the independent bearing of the people. The Swiss hold their lands in direct fief to the emperor, and the rights and duties of the viceroy are strictly limited. Hoping to break the proud spirit of the people, Gessler places a cap on a pole in a public place and requires that each man bow to the cap.
Gessler’s soldiers come to the farm of an upright farmer and attempt to take from him his best team of oxen. Only when Arnold, the farmer’s son, springs on the men and strikes them with his staff do they release the oxen and leave. Arnold thinks it best to go into hiding. While he is away, the soldiers return to torture his old father and put out his eyes. Arnold joins the outraged Swiss against Gessler. Walter Fürst becomes their leader, and it is agreed that ten men from the three cantons will meet and plan the overthrow of the viceroy.
At the mansion of the nobleman Werner, the baron of Attinghausen, the common people and their lord gather for a morning cup of friendship. Old Werner is happy to drink with his men, but his nephew, Ulrich von Rudenz, refuses, for he is drawn to the Austrian rulers and feels no bond to free Switzerland. Werner upbraids Ulrich for being a turncoat and accuses him of turning to Austria because he is in love with the wealthy heir Bertha von Bruneck.
The representatives of the people of the three cantons meet secretly at night in a forest clearing. Tell is not among them. Some of the more fiery members are in favor of an immediate uprising, but the cooler heads follow Fürst and vote to wait until Christmas, when by tradition all the peasants will be present in the castle.
Ulrich at last declares his love for Bertha. She, a true Swiss at heart, spurns him for his loyalty to Austria.
Tell and his sons happen to pass by the hated cap. When Tell pays no attention to the authority symbol, he is arrested by two guards who try to bind him and lead him to prison. Although Fürst arrives and offers bail for his...
(This entire section contains 1124 words.)
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son-in-law, the law-abiding Tell submits to his captors. He is being led away when Gessler rides by.
Gessler orders an apple placed on the head of Tell’s son, Walter, and commands Tell to shoot the apple from his son’s head. Tell protests in vain. Ulrich courageously defies Gessler and hotly opposes the tyrant’s order, but Gessler is unmoved. In the uproar, Tell takes out two arrows, fits one to his crossbow, and neatly pierces the apple.
While the crowd rejoices, Gessler asks Tell why he has taken out two arrows. Tell refuses to answer until Gessler promises not to punish him no matter what the reply might be. Tell then boldly declares that if he had missed the apple and hurt his son, he would have killed Gessler with the second arrow. Infuriated, Gessler orders Tell led away to life imprisonment in a dungeon.
Tell is chained and put on a boat for Gessler’s castle. Gessler goes along to gloat over his victim. Again a terrifying storm arises. Fearing for his life, Gessler has Tell unbound and made helmsman. Tell watches for his chance and steers the boat close to shore, springing to safety on a rocky ledge.
In the evening, Tell positions himself on an outcropping in a pass he knows Gessler must pass through if he is to escape the fury of the storm. Beneath Tell’s hiding place, a poor woman and her children wait for Gessler. Her husband is in prison for a minor offense, and she intends to appeal to Gessler for clemency. At last, Gessler approaches with his entourage. The woman blocks his way and appeals in vain for mercy. Tell waits long enough to hear her plea denied and to hear that Gessler plans to ride the woman down; he then pierces the breast of the tyrant with an arrow from his crossbow. Tell announces to the gathered people that he is Gessler’s killer, then disappears into the forest.
The people had hoped that Werner would lead them in their revolt, but he is on his deathbed. He dies before he can pass the leadership to Ulrich, but when his nephew arrives, the assembled peasants acknowledge him as their leader, finding him to be a loyal Swiss after all—the more so as the Austrians have abducted Bertha. At last, the three cantons rise up against the harsh Austrian rule, and Ulrich rescues Bertha.
At the height of the revolt, news comes that the emperor has been assassinated. Duke John Parricida of Austria, his nephew, has struck down the emperor for being robbed of his estates. John seeks refuge with Tell, but the forester refuses, considering himself a soldier for freedom, not a murderer. His natural humanity, however, keeps him from exposing John, and the duke leaves for Italy.
Tell puts away his crossbow for good when the announcement comes that the count of Luxembourg had been elected emperor. The cantons look forward to peaceful days. Bertha gives her hand freely to Ulrich, and both pledge to be proud and determined Swiss husband and wife.