Citizens tear down all the prisons that Gessler had built and frees all the people in them that had been falsely incarcerated. The people also make a song for Tell: “long live Wilhelm Tell, our savior”(122). Songs and singing are a symbol of happiness, and uplifted spirits which arguably is the exact opposite of what the people, especially the working middle class and peasants felt through out Gessler’s …show more content…
On June 20th, this body was locked out of their meeting site so had to relocate and met in the tennis court. This became known as the Tennis Court Oath. Similarly in Wilhelm Tell, was the gathering on the Rutli meadow. There is the same type of unity as experienced in the National Assembly, with people saying: “in heart and blood we’re one”(52). The difference between the National Assembly and this scene is that in the play there are people of several different classes that come to the meadow. The people gather to plot a revolt against the Gessler and discuss their “hatred of the tyrants’ rule”(47). Their goal is to defend their ancient freedom and shed as little blood as possible. The Second comparison between the French Revolution and the play is the Bastille being destroyed and how the people tore down the prisons that Gessler built. In both the Bastille and the prisons in the play, people are unjustly incarcerated. In the French Revolution the storming of the Bastille marked the end of a society of unequal rights and in Wilhelm Tell, it also marks the beginning of a revolution and a time of more equality and freedom. The last example of similarities between the French Revolution and the play is the state of paranoia and chaos. In the French Revolution, people, especially that of lower classes, were upset about the unfairness