A vásári kesztyűs bábjáték halálképe és mitológiai figuráinak esztétikája
The Image of Death and the Aesthetics of Mythological Figures in the Glove Puppet Show

Summary/Abstract: With grotesque smiles on their faces, the puppets mock, ridicule, tease, spank, or even kill their opponents. The typical characters include devils, the crocodile, Death, and the policeman. Our heroes transcend power and mythological figures, confronting us with our repressed fears that emerge from the unconscious. They can make offensive remarks, use obscene language, be loud-mouthed, pompous, sometimes a bit lazy. They can transgress the moral norms of society, defying the threat of punishment. By the simplest means, they defeat mythological figures representing invincible qualities, overcoming the limitations of the puppeteer, the mortal man. The approach explaining the most characteristic moments of the dramaturgy of the glove puppet show is concretized in the analysis of the death ritual and the mythological creatures. Also closely related are the under-representation of women, the topic of the family model, and the organising principle of fighting. The study outlines the main stages in the development of the Western concept of death and examines how the image of death was abstracted in the Korngut-Kemény family’s puppet shows and how it manifested itself on the level of the puppet figures.

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