The Bard. Genesis.
M. A. Berlioz.
Posting #14.
“…Its dying eyes
showed the last fury.
[The Head] was gnashing its
teeth…
The long suffering was coming
to an end…”
A. S. Pushkin. Ruslan
and Lyudmila.
Having
found Lyudmila in a state of charmed sleep, Ruslan “hears a familiar voice, the voice of the benign magician Finn: Take
heart, Prince! Start on the return journey with the sleeping Lyudmila.
The Heaven’s thunder will
rumble against the evil, and in the radiant Kiev the Princess will rise from
her enchanted sleep before Prince Vladimir.”
For
some reason, A. S. Pushkin finds it necessary to repeat the word “ring” twice
in his poem Ruslan and Lyudmila:
“Ruslan,
revived by [Finn’s] voice,
Takes his wife in his
embrace,
And in silence, with the
dwarf tied to his saddle
Embarks on his [return]
journey;
Lyudmila is lying in his
arms,
Fresh like spring dawn,
Leaning her calm face
Upon the hero’s shoulder.
The desert wind is playing
With [Lyudmila’s] hair weaved
into a ring [sic!]…”
This
is the first mention of a ring
formed by Lyudmila’s hair, followed by the “sacred
ring” given to the hero Ruslan by the good magician Finn, so that, when
the time comes, Ruslan would touch Lyudmila’s brow with it, and the evil charms
would then be lifted. Exactly as it happened. Lyudmila woke up from the cursed
sleep induced by the dwarf.
Ruslan
is naturally well-disposed, which is the reason, coupled with Ruslan’s love for
Lyudmila, his wife, why the good wizard Finn decides to help Ruslan in his
quest.
Ruslan’s
good-naturedness shows itself in the last scene with the Head, when Ruslan and
Lyudmila, with the evil dwarf tied to the saddle, approach the “mound” on their
return journey home:
“A
plain stretches out before them,
With sparingly growing fir
trees;
And the round top of a
frightful mound
Looms black in the distance
Against the bright blueness
[of the sky].
Ruslan looks and figures it
out
That they are approaching the
Head.
The wonder of wonders is now
fully discernible.
The Head gazes with an
unmoving eye;
Its hair is like a black
forest
Growing on top of the high
brow;
The cheeks are lifeless,
covered with leaden paleness,
The huge mouth is open, the
enormous teeth are constricted…
The last day is already
hovering
Over the half-dead Head.”
This
eerie description of the half-dead Head prompted Bulgakov to write the
frightening pages concerning the dead head of Berlioz:
“Mikhail
Alexandrovich! – Woland addressed
the head in soft voice, and then the eyelids of the slain man lifted up
somewhat, and in his dead face Margarita, shuddering, saw living, full of
thought and suffering eyes…”
In
this scene, like in many others inspired by great Russian poets, Bulgakov
proves that he is a master in his own right…
“The
brave warrior approached [the Head]
With Lyudmila and with the
dwarf behind his back.
He shouted: Hello, Head! I’m
here!
Your betrayer has been
punished,
Look, here he is, our villain
is a prisoner!
And the Prince’s proud words
Suddenly brought the Head
back to life,
Awakening its feelings for a
moment.
It came back as though from a
sleep,
It looked and moaned
horribly…”
In
Bulgakov this is expressed in short but piercing words:
“…The eyelids of the slain man lifted up, and in his dead face
Margarita, shuddering, saw eyes very much alive, full of thought and suffering.”
“...It
recognized the hero, and with horror
It recognized its brother,
its nostrils flared,
A crimson flame still came to
life,
And its dying eyes showed the
last fury.
It was gnashing its teeth…
The long suffering was coming
to an end…
The heavy breathing was
weakening…
And soon the Prince and
Chernomor
Were witness to an agony of
death…
[The Head] rested in eternal
sleep.
The knight departed in
silence
[Thus displaying the nobility of his
nature],
The trembling dwarf behind
the saddle
Dared not to breathe, but
stirred,
And diligently prayed to
demons
In the tongue of black magic.”
On
his return journey to Kiev, Ruslan, immersed in a dreadful dream [about which
later] is slain by one of Lyudmila’s suitors, helped by the wicked witch Naina,
the rival of the good wizard Finn:
“Farlaf
looks in frightened apprehension,
The witch disappears in the
fog,
He quietly unsheathes his
sword,
Preparing to cut the knight
in half
Without a fight… the hero’s
horse
Having sensed the foe,
stirred up,
Neighed, and stomped the
ground. All in vain!
Ruslan does not hear, a
dreadful dream
Has burdened him like a heavy
load!..”
A
base murder has been committed.
“...Encouraged
by the witch,
The traitor with his
contemptible hand
Thrice thrusts cold steel
into the hero’s chest…
And fearfully gallops away
with his precious quarry [Lyudmila].”
Here
is where Bulgakov is taking his idea of killing Judas from. Pushkin’s word
“thrice” can be traced to the Trinity-oriented Christian religion, so do
Bulgakov’s triple occurrences and repetitions.
To
be continued…
***
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