„Umysł nastrojony do strasznych wrażeń”. Tragedia romantyczna w działaniu emocjonalnym – na przykładzie "Beatryks Cenci" Słowackiego
‘A mind tuned to terrible sensations’. Romantic tragedy in emotional action (based on the example of Słowacki’s 'Beatrix Cenci')

Author(s): Janusz Skuczyński
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Słowacki; Beatrix Cenci; Poetics; Aristotle; Romantic tragedy
Summary/Abstract: This article is devoted to the drama 'Beatrix Cenci' by Juliusz Słowacki and the procedures of emotional impact on the audience evident in the work. The expressive theatrical means appeal to myth and the subconscious of the audience. In the article, tragedy procedures are directly confronted with Aristotle’s theory (from the 'Poetics'), including additions and modifications of this theory from the Classical period. After a detailed analysis of the drama (the construction of the work is clearly not subordinated to the requirements of probability and necessity, but to their opposite laws: the miraculous and the expressive), the author of the article formulates a definition of Romantic tragedy as interpreted by Słowacki (this definition refers directly to the definition of the genre given by Aristotle): it is not an imitative but an expressive representation of a serious action, expressed in decorative, lyrical language and in a spectacular form. The tragedy creates a monstrous effect on the theatrical audience (which is an alternative to fear, as the author of the 'Poetics' pointed out).

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