Which social problems did Sturm und Drang plays criticize?

The Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") movement of the late 18th century utilized drama as a primary vehicle for social and political critique. Influenced by the bourgeois tragedies of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, these writers challenged the rigid conventions and moral failings of their time.1

In their plays, Sturm und Drang dramatists explicitly attacked several systemic social issues:

• Exploitation and Class Conflict: They criticized the sexual exploitation of middle-class women by the nobility and the callousness of the aristocracy toward the middle class.1
• Legal and Social Injustice: Plays frequently addressed the harshness of capital punishment for infanticide and the social stigma faced by deserted mothers, who often resorted to the act to escape the shame of illegitimate motherhood.1
• Institutional Practices: The movement critiqued the practice of primogeniture—which often led to themes of fratricide—and the private education of the nobility by tutors.1

These works often featured "titanic," revolutionary protagonists who fought against these societal evils, reflecting the movement's broader opposition to societal convention and its emphasis on individual feeling over rationalist constraints.12