What one reviewer at amazon said about Wilhelm Tell:
In this book, Schiller takes the old legend of Wilhelm Tell and gives it the shape and structure of a novel. It is a wonderful tale about Tell, a mountain man who is very angry at the despotic and cruel ways in which Gessler, the representative of the hated Austrians, treats the peaceful Swiss people. Tell refuses to give in to Gessler's mischievous way, suffers a lot (remember that he has to shoot an arrow to an apple standing over his son's head) and eventually leads his people in a revolt against the Austrians. If this is perhaps not accurate history, it is the stuff national prides are made of. One thing to pay attention to is the marvelous scenery, the very old towns with their downtown parks, the mountainous Swiss Alps surrounding the small cities, and helping Wilhelm Tell escape Gessler's guardsmen. Schiller, as one of the leaders of the Romantic movement, creates a great story out of an old legend, giving shape to one of the most famous stories, justifiedly so.
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