The Dynasts

Last updated

The Dynasts is an English-language closet drama in verse and prose by Thomas Hardy. Hardy himself described this work as "an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes". Not counting the Forescene and the Afterscene, the exact total number of scenes is 131. The verse is primarily iambic pentameter, occasionally tetrameter, and often with rhymes. [1] The three parts were published in 1904, 1906 and 1908.

Contents

Because of the ambition and scale of the work, Hardy acknowledged that The Dynasts was not a work that could be conventionally staged in the theatre, and described the work as "the longest English drama in existence". Scholars have noted that Hardy remembered war stories of the veterans of the Napoleonic wars in his youth, and used them as partial inspiration for writing The Dynasts many years later in his own old age. In addition, Hardy was a distant relative of Captain Thomas Hardy, who had served with Admiral Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar. [1] [2] Hardy consulted a number of histories and also visited Waterloo, Belgium, as part of his research. [3]

George Orwell wrote that Hardy had "set free his genius" by writing this drama and thought its main appeal was "in the grandiose and rather evil vision of armies marching and counter-marching through the mists, and men dying by hundreds of thousands in the Russian snows, and all for absolutely nothing." [4]

Synopsis

In addition to the various historical figures, The Dynasts also contains an extensive tragic chorus of metaphysical figures ("Spirits" and "Ancient Spirits") who observe and discuss the events.

Part First contains a Forescene and six Acts with 35 Scenes. The time period of the events in Part First covers 10 months, from March 1805, the time when Napoleon repeated his coronation ceremony at Milan and took up the crown of Lombardy, through January 1806, the time of the death of William Pitt the Younger. The principal historical events entail Napoleon's invasion plans for England, which are abandoned when French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve sails for the south, the Battle of Trafalgar, and subsequently the Battle of Ulm and the Battle of Austerlitz. The division of the Acts and its Scenes is as follows:

Part Second contains six Acts with 43 Scenes. The time period of the events of Part Second ranges over 7 years, from 1806 to just before the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The listing of the Acts and Scenes is as follows:

Part Third contains seven Acts with 53 Scenes, and an After Scene. The historical time period of Part Third covers Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 through his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The division of the Acts and Scenes is as follows:

Analysis

The design of The Dynasts is extremely ambitious, and because of its coverage of historical events of the same era, has received comparison to Tolstoy's War and Peace . Emma Clifford has written that Hardy used Tolstoy's novel as one of many sources of inspiration for the work, and in fact owned an early translation. However, it was not necessarily as a primary source, as Hardy also drew on the History of Europe by Archibald Alison, among others. [5]

Hardy juxtaposes scenes of ordinary life with scenes involving the principal historical figures of the age, and concentrating on their desire to found dynasties to preserve their power. There are extensive descriptions of landscape and battle scenes that are characterised by shifts of visual perspective that, in the opinion of John Wain, [6] anticipate cinematic techniques. George Witter Sherman has postulated on Hardy's observations of life in London as influences on elements of The Dynasts. [7] Elna Sherman has discussed Hardy's references to music and songs in the work. [8] Anna Henchman has written about Hardy's use of imagery in the manner of astronomical observation at great distances from the earth in this work. [9] Lawrence Jones has analysed Hardy's idiosyncrasies in his manner of narrative in The Dynasts. [10] J.O. Bailey has postulated an analogy of the Spirits in The Dynasts with other Mephistopheles-like figures in literature, and in relation to the Book of Job. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Animal Farm</i> 1945 novella by George Orwell

Animal Farm is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state far worse than before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Trafalgar</span> 1805 British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars

The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hardy</span> English novelist and poet (1840–1928)

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain such as those from his native South West England.

<i>The Faerie Queene</i> English epic poem by Edmund Spenser

The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books I–III were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IV–VI. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 stanzas, it is one of the longest poems in the English language; it is also the work in which Spenser invented the verse form known as the Spenserian stanza. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights as a means to examine different virtues, and though the text is primarily an allegorical work, it can be read on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In Spenser's "Letter of the Authors", he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in Allegorical devices", and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline".

<i>War and Peace</i> 1869 literary work by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace is a literary work by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work mixes fictional narrative with chapters discussing history and philosophy. An early version was published serially beginning in 1865, after which the entire book was rewritten and published in 1869. It is regarded, with Anna Karenina, as Tolstoy's finest literary achievement and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.

Boxer is a character from George Orwell's 1945 novel Animal Farm. He is shown as the farm's dedicated and loyal laborer. Boxer serves as an allegory for the Russian working-class who helped to oust Tsar Nicholas and establish the Soviet Union, but were eventually betrayed by the government under Joseph Stalin.

<i>The Trumpet-Major</i> 1880 novel by Thomas Hardy

The Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel. Hardy included it with his "romances and fantasies". It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. Unusually for a Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters.

<i>War and Peace</i> (opera) Opera by Sergei Prokofiev

War and Peace is a 1946 230-minute opera in 13 scenes, plus an overture and an epigraph, by Sergei Prokofiev. Based on the 1869 novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, its Russian libretto was prepared by the composer and Mira Mendelson. The first seven scenes are devoted to peace, the latter six, after the epigraph, to war.

<i>The Battle of Trafalgar</i> (painting) Painting by J. M. W. Turner

The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805 is an 1822 painting by British artist J. M. W. Turner. It was commissioned by King George IV as a part of a series of works to decorate three state reception rooms in St James's Palace and link the Hanoverian dynasty with military success. This work was Turner's only royal commission, and was to stand as the pendant piece to Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg's Lord Howe's action, or the Glorious First of June. This massive history painting measures 2,615 millimetres x 3,685 millimetres and is his largest work. It was given to Greenwich Hospital shortly after its original installation. The painting now hangs in the National Maritime Museum, also in Greenwich, London.

<i>War and Peace</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by King Vidor

War and Peace is a 1956 epic historical drama film based on Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel of the same name. It is directed and co-written by King Vidor and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti for Paramount Pictures. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as Natasha, Henry Fonda as Pierre, and Mel Ferrer as Andrei, along with Vittorio Gassman, Herbert Lom, Oskar Homolka, Anita Ekberg in one of her first breakthrough roles, Helmut Dantine, Barry Jones, Anna Maria Ferrero, Milly Vitale and Jeremy Brett. The musical score was composed by Nino Rota and conducted by Franco Ferrara.

Peter Preston Brooks is an American literary theorist who is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Yale University and Andrew W. Mellon Scholar in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He has been Professor in the Department of English and School of Law at the University of Virginia. Among his many accomplishments is the founding of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2003. Brooks is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work cuts across French and English literature, law, and psychoanalysis. He was influenced by fellow Yale scholar, Paul de Man, to whom his book Reading for the Plot is dedicated. His 2022 book Seduced By Story was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle award in criticism.

<i>Animal Farm</i> (1954 film) 1954 animated film

Animal Farm is a 1954 animated drama film directed by documentarians John Halas and Joy Batchelor. It was produced by Halas and Batchelor and funded in part by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who also made changes to the original script. Based on the 1945 novel of the same name by George Orwell, Maurice Denham provides the voice for all the animals in the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hardy's Wessex</span> Fictional setting for Hardys novels

Thomas Hardy's Wessex is the fictional literary landscape created by the English author Thomas Hardy as the setting for his major novels, located in the south and southwest of England. Hardy named the area "Wessex" after the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom that existed in this part of that country prior to the unification of England by Æthelstan. Although the places that appear in his novels actually exist, in many cases he gave the place a fictional name. For example, Hardy's home town of Dorchester is called Casterbridge in his books, notably in The Mayor of Casterbridge. In an 1895 preface to the 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd he described Wessex as "a merely realistic dream country".

Adam Squire or Squier was an English churchman and academic, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, from 1571 to 1580, and Archdeacon of Middlesex from 1577.

Grace Mayer Frank was an American medievalist and lecturer. Frank, along with her spouse, the classicist Tenney Frank, was primarily associated with Bryn Mawr College, first as a graduate student, and later as a Lecturer and Associate Professor of Romance Philosophy and Old French. Beginning in 1919, Frank lived in Baltimore, Maryland, where she would reside for the majority of her life, serving also as a Visiting Professor of Romance Philology at Johns Hopkins University in that city.

<i>The Battle of Trafalgar</i> (1911 film) 1911 film

The Battle of Trafalgar is a lost 1911 American silent docudrama film that portrayed the 1805 victory of Great Britain’s Royal Navy over the combined naval forces of France and Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. The death of British Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson in that decisive sea battle was also depicted in this "one-reeler", which was directed by J. Searle Dawley and produced by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. The film starred Sydney Booth with Herbert Prior, James Gordon, Charles Ogle, and Laura Sawyer in supporting roles.

<i>The Dream of Ossian</i> Painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

The Dream of Ossian is an 1813 painting by the French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The work depicts the legendary poet Ossian sleeping while he dreams of relatives, warriors and deities, which appear above him on the canvas. Ingres was influenced by his contemporaries' Ossianic works, including James Macpherson's purported translations of Ossian's poems, François Gérard's 1801 painting Ossian Evoking Phantoms, and Jean-François Le Sueur's 1803 opera Ossian, ou Les bardes.

Laura Alandis Hibbard Loomis was an American literary scholar and college professor who specialized in medieval English literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reflections on Gandhi</span> Essay by George Orwell

"Reflections on Gandhi" is an essay by George Orwell, first published in 1949, which responds to Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. The essay, which appeared in the American magazine Partisan Review, discusses the autobiography and offers both praise and criticism to Gandhi, focusing in particular on the effectiveness of Gandhian nonviolence and the tension between Gandhi's spiritual worldview and his political activities. One of a number of essays written by Orwell and published between Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), "Reflections on Gandhi" was the last of Orwell's essays to be published in his lifetime and was not republished until after his death.

Daisy Elna Sherman was a composer, musicologist, and teacher with a special interest in Thomas Hardy.

References

  1. 1 2 Hynes, Samuel (Spring 1994). "Mr. Hardy's Monster: Reflections on The Dynasts". The Sewanee Review. 102 (2): 213–232. JSTOR   27546849.
  2. Dickinson, Thomas H (April 1912). "Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts". The North American Review. 195 (677): 526–542. JSTOR   25119738.
  3. Orel, Harold, "Thomas Hardy's Epic-Drama: A Study of The Dynasts". University of Kansas Publications (Humanistic Studies No 36), Lawrence, Kansas, USA, 1963.
  4. Orwell, 'Thomas Hardy Looks at War' in Tribune , 18 September 1942
  5. Clifford, Emma (August 1956). "War and Peace and The Dynasts". Modern Philology. 54 (1): 33–44. doi:10.1086/389123. JSTOR   435156. S2CID   162233148.
  6. Wain, John, Introduction to The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy, St Martin's Press (Papermac), 1965 printing.
  7. Sherman, George Witter (1948). "The Influence of London on the Dynasts". PMLA. 63 (3): 1017–1028. doi:10.2307/459696. JSTOR   435156.
  8. Sherman, Elna (1940). "Thomas Hardy: Lyricist, Symphonist". Music & Letters. 21 (2): 143–171. doi:10.1093/ml/XXI.2.143. JSTOR   727177.
  9. Henchman, Anna (Autumn 2008). "Hardy's Stargazers and the Astronomy of Other Minds". Victorian Studies. 51 (1): 37–64. doi:10.2979/vic.2008.51.1.37. JSTOR   20537365. PMID   19618526. S2CID   6032618.
  10. Jones, Lawrence (Autumn 1975). "Thomas Hardy's "Idiosyncratic Mode of Regard"". ELH. 42 (3): 433–459. doi:10.2307/2872713. JSTOR   2872713.
  11. Bailey, J.O. (December 1946). "Hardy's "Mephistophelian Visitants"". PMLA. 61 (4): 1146–1184. doi:10.2307/459110. JSTOR   459110.