Nathan der Weise. Ein Dramatisches Gedicht in fünf Aufzügen

Jerusalem, just after Saladin has taken the city in 1187, during the Third Crusade. Nathan, a Jewish merchant known for his wisdom, lives in a place where Jews, Muslims and Christians share the streets and distrust one another.

Three men drive the action: Nathan, Saladin the sultan, who is described as enlightened, and a Templar whose name is withheld at first. Each starts on one side of a religious divide. Over the course of the play they work to close the gaps between Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

This is a drama in verse, divided into five acts, and it argues openly for religious tolerance. Friendship carries much of the plot. The characters also weigh the worth of inherited religious traditions and the harm done when believers attack one another instead of caring for people in general.

Talk, self-questioning and a readiness to credit others with good intentions are the means by which the characters move toward each other.

Lessing's last published play appeared in 1779. It reached the stage only in 1783, two years after his death, at the Döbbelinsches Theater in Berlin. It reads as a play of ideas, driven by argument and conversation more than by spectacle.