Her crimes are known to the judges of the Vehmgericht, who in their mysterious tribunal adjudge her to death, which is effected in a curious scene by one of their agents.

The drama closes with the death of Gottfried in prison, baffled in his dearest schemes, blasted in reputation, and with gloomy forebodings for the future of his country.
[Footnote 104: In the characters of Marie and Elizabeth we have traits of Friederike and of Goethe's mother.] Such is an outline of the production in which Goethe made his first appeal to his countrymen at large,[105] and which is in such singular contrast to the ideals of his maturity.

That it was not the inevitable birth of his whole heart and mind is proved by the fact that he never repeated the experiment.

Neither the incidents nor the hero of the piece, indeed, were of a nature to elicit the full play of his genius.
Goethe had not, like Scott, an inborn interest in the scenes of the camp and the field, and could not, like Scott, take a special delight in describing them for their own sake.

To the portrayal of a character like Gottfried Scott could give his whole heart, but Goethe required characters of a subtler type to enlist his full sympathies and to give scope to his full powers.