Why did Schiller initially distrust Goethe?
When Friedrich Schiller moved to Jena in 1789, he and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had little in common. Goethe, already famous and a minister at the court of Weimar, found the younger man's idealism and his passion for philosophical argument tiresome. Schiller, in turn, suspected that Goethe's natural ease made art look simpler than it was. A conversation after a lecture in 1794 changed this. Goethe heard Schiller defend his own method of observing nature with more insight than he had expected, and the two began an exchange of letters that lasted until Schiller's death in 1805. Each criticised the other's drafts, and several of their best works, among them Goethe's Wilhelm Meister and Schiller's Wallenstein, were improved by the exchange. Their friendship has often been taken as the heart of Weimar Classicism. Some historians caution, however, that the two men never agreed on everything and that the idea of a perfect partnership was largely created after their deaths.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. He suspected that Goethe made art look too simple
- Step 1: The passage reports Schiller's suspicion. Step 2. It concerned Goethe's ease. Answer: Goethe's ease made art look simple. Why not the others: these are not stated.
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