Dwie młode Greczynki. Wokół recepcji postaci Markosa Botsarisa w dziełach romantyków
Two young Greek women. On the reception of the figure of Markos Botsaris in the works of the Romantics

Author(s): Magdalena Kowalska
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Botsaris; Słowacki; David d’Angers; Philhellenism; Greek woman
Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the motif of the death of Markos Botsaris primarily in two Romantic works: in a fragment of the novel in French by the Polish Romantic, Juliusz Słowacki, 'Le Roi de Ladawa' and in the sculpture by David d’Angers 'La jeune Grecque au tombeau de Marco Botzaris'. Other works devoted to this topic are also evoked, which proves a very lively reception of the Greek warrior in the Romantic imagination. The two works were not influenced by each other, but a few common points may be identified. First of all, both works are the expressions of quite an early reaction to the death of Markos Botsaris in the art of Romanticism. For both artists, in the course of their lives and works, the interest in this particular Philhellenic motif is long-term. In both the juxtaposition of the vision of death of a national Greek hero with the memory of him by a young female representative of the same nation constitutes the crucial point. Słowacki’s protagonist, Ida, mentions the tears that she poured in the place of Botsaris’ death, whereas the girl from Botsaris’ represents the sadness to the same point as hope and intellectual work. The line of Botsaris’ reception in the Polish Romantic literature, as outlined by Maria Kalinowska, leads from the model of heroic death to reflection on the consequences of captivity and the possibilities of the nation’s survival. Słowacki in 'Le Roi de Ladawa' does not present this late reception yet, but this work makes it possible to reveal a different vision of the hero’s death than in his narrative poem 'Voyage to the Holy Land from Naples'. The carrier of this modification is the figure of a Greek woman with lunar energy and Ossianic melancholy.

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