Fedra Tsvetaeva short. Phaedra as one of the lyrical heroines

The tragedy "Macbeth", like many of Shakespeare's dramatic works, was created on the basis of the legend of the tyrant king, whose image the author so masterfully embodied. However, Shakespeare researchers and historians have come to the conclusion that the pathos and plot of the work contradict historical facts. During the reign of the Scottish king Macbeth, bard poets belonging to opposition circles created a story about a murderous ruler, which served as the source for writing the play.

The work was created in the classical production genre, which is achieved by a pile-up of scenes, an extensive system of images and dynamic development of the plot. This became the reason for the high popularity of the work. From the time of Shakespeare to the present day, the tragedy “Macbeth” has been included in the repertoires of theaters all over the world; numerous film adaptations of the work are also known.

"Macbeth": a summary of Shakespeare's play

The play opens with a conversation between three witches. They schedule the next meeting when one of the commanders defeats the other. According to them, Macbeth will certainly come to the wasteland where the witches’ gathering will take place.

A sergeant arrives from the battlefield and brings news to the Scottish king Duncan about the glorious victory of his relative and one of the best commanders, Macbeth, over the Irish. The Scottish army is attacked by Norwegian troops, teaming up with Duncan's former ally, the Thane of Cawdor. And again the brilliant military leader defeated the enemy. The king orders the execution of the defector, and deservedly bestows the title of Thane of Cawdor on the winner.

In a vacant lot in stormy weather, three witches met again. They are noticed by the commanders Macbeth and Banquo moving towards Duncan's residence. The witches welcome Macbeth as Thane of Gdamis - his rightful title, Thane of Cawdor and future King of Scotland. Flattered, Macbeth asks them to tell about Banquo's future. They see him not as a king, but as the ancestor of future monarchs.

The king's subjects congratulate the generals on their victory, and Macbeth on his new title. It seems to him that the witches' prophecies have begun to come true. In his dreams, Tang already sees himself on the throne, but, respecting the king, he will not be able to decide on a vile act.

The king praises the winners and distributes honors. To show Macbeth his respect, the monarch promises to stay at his castle. And he declares his son Malcolm his heir. Macbeth is furious at this fact. Seeing his rival in the prince, he is ready to do anything just to get the throne.

Lady Macbeth receives a message from her husband, from which she learns about the predictions. She believes that a better candidate for the throne cannot be found, but her husband lacks determination. She decides to take the initiative into her own hands. As soon as Macbeth arrived, his wife firmly stated that it was necessary to destroy the king on the only night that he would spend here. Macbeth is afraid of committing a crime and being punished for it. His wife, accusing him of cowardice, stubbornly prepares a plan: to drug the royal retinue with a potion and kill the sleeping king with their daggers, thereby averting suspicion from herself.

Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle and gives everyone gifts. After dinner he goes to the bedroom, where Macbeth enters and kills his royal relative. Tan is overcome by excitement, he may come to his senses because of what happened, so his wife has to cover up the traces of the crime.

Suddenly there is a knock on the door. Some of the most influential people in Scotland - Macduff and Lenox - came to the king. Dressed at night, under the guise of a hospitable host, Macbeth accompanies the guests to Duncan, where a picture of murder is revealed. In a fit of imaginary outburst of anger, Macbeth kills the servants, stained with blood, after which no one doubts their guilt except the king's sons. They decide to flee: Malcolm to England, and Donalbain to Ireland, which makes Macduff think about their guilt in killing their father for the sake of the throne.

As the witches prophesied, Macbeth becomes the new king. The childless new monarch remembers the words of the witches and about Banquo, who has a son. He decides to resist fate by destroying both. The royal couple gives a feast, before which Banquo must be absent on business, promising to return to the celebration. His son accompanies him on the trip. Upon learning of this, Macbeth sends two assassins after them. They attacked Banquo, and the son escapes to avenge his father's death. At the feast, Macbeth sees the bloody ghost of Banquo sitting in his place. The king is beside himself, and Lady Macbeth explains this as illness.

Macduff, whom Macbeth considers a traitor based on the denunciations of his spies, did not appear at the feast. Scottish nobles gather in the palace and, discussing Macduff's escape to England, consider the king's power to be tyranny.

Macbeth goes to the witches again. They summoned spirits who told them to beware of Macduff. They assured him that no one born of a woman would kill him. And they added that the king is invincible until Birnam Forest moves towards his castle. The pleased king asked whether Banquo would rule, after which, to the music, images of future monarchs appeared, behind whom walked the ghost of Banquo, proud of his great-grandchildren.

Macbeth, learning of Macduff's escape, sends mercenaries to destroy his family. Lady Macbeth goes crazy from remorse and dies. Meanwhile, in England, Macduff persuades Malcolm to return and overthrow Macbeth, and the military leader Sivart, the prince’s uncle, comes to their aid. The rebel Scottish people join their army. Having learned about the murder of his wife and son, Macduff wants personal revenge. Before the assault, while in Birnam Forest, Malcolm orders the soldiers to pull out a branch and carry it in front of them to hide the size of the army.

Believing the prophecies, Macbeth does not even worry. But he finds out: in infancy Macduff was taken from his mother’s womb, that is, he was not born of a woman, and the messenger reported that Birnam Forest was moving towards the castle. The prophecies came true: the enemies fought to the death, and Macduff brought the tyrant’s head. Malcolm's army won, and the rightful heir invited everyone to the coronation ceremony.

Characteristics of heroes

The creation of a character system, like the history of writing, has a biographical basis. In fact, King Macbeth was not a tyrant or a murderer. He defeated Duncan in a fair fight and ruled safely for many years, surrounded by the respect of his people. According to researchers, Shakespeare created his tragedy to please a distant relative of that same Banquo - King James, who especially revered theater and was fond of writing treatises on witches and witchcraft. That is why in the work the image of Macbeth takes on an emphatically negative connotation, and Banquo is shown as a true knight.

Symbolism in the play

A special role in the development of the plot and ideological content of the work is played by the synthetic inclusion in the composition of the play of scenes with the participation of witches, in which the procession of future monarchs from the Banquo family is shown with particular pathos.

The author's skill in creating tragedy characters lies in the development of images during the action of the play. A brave commander and loyal subject, Macbeth becomes a murderer and a tyrant under the influence of poisonous thoughts of glory and the persuasion of his wife. After the first murder he is confused, but later getting his hands dirty with blood is no longer so scary for him. Malcolm's image is also changing. After killing his father, he runs away to save his life, but in the end he is not afraid to die for the well-being of his native country.

One of the best plays by the legendary playwright is undoubtedly Macbeth. Shakespeare created this tragedy in 1623, devoting it to the events that took place in his homeland back in the eleventh century. Until now, its plot is relevant and instructive, since it illuminates in detail. It is not for nothing that the play constantly attracts the attention of contemporaries: it is staged in the best theaters in the world, and films are made based on it. Moreover, more than one writer, inspired by a work of genius, created his own masterpiece.

The summary of “Macbeth” can be boiled down to the following: the all-consuming passion of a man who strives for power. This vice can affect everyone, not excluding an honest and noble warrior. On the path to gaining unlimited power, all means are good for him. Although at first the main character resisted: his wife wanted to become a queen. But at the end of the play, the reader sees a character who has completely changed: instead of the brave and ambitious commander, tempered by battles, which Macbeth was at the beginning, a tyrant, stained with blood, stands before him. His cruelty is so great that the people can no longer tolerate it. Having lost his mind, the king sees enemies in everyone, so he shamelessly kills not only his minions and like-minded people, but also their families. Women and children became victims of the bloody satrap.

If you have not read the play in its entirety, you can get acquainted with the plot through a summary. "Macbeth" begins with a conversation between three witches, who talk about life and also agree on the next Sabbath. In the midst of a conversation, two friends come to them and predict their fate. One is predicted to end with a royal crown. Macbeth, who has won a number of brilliant victories, sincerely believes in the prophecy. The prophets told another that he would become the ancestor of kings, but Banquo does not take them seriously. The king generously presented the commanders with awards, titles and gifts, but was treacherously killed. Lady Macbeth, wanting to speed up a good future, persuades her husband to commit a crime. Moreover, she laughs at her husband, who is ashamed to kill the monarch in his home, and reproaches him for sensitivity and cowardice.

A summary of “Macbeth” will help you find out how the main character degrades as a person, his heart becomes callous, he stops at nothing. Having removed his main rivals from the path, he becomes king. However, fearing betrayal, he brutally deals with everyone who can lay claim to the throne. Duncan, Banquo, Macduff were overtaken by murderers. The king goes to the witches to find out his future fate. But his fate has already been sealed: the rightful heir to the throne raised the people in rebellion, enlisted the support of his neighbors and defeated the cruel tyrant.

No matter how detailed the summary is, Macbeth is best read in its entirety. A retelling will not be able to convey the true atmosphere of the work, its melodious language, mood, and the author’s empathy for the difficult fate of his homeland and his heroes. Therefore, it is better to read the play in its entirety, preferably in the original, and not in translation. Shakespeare considered the drama “Macbeth” (its summary is given above) to be one of the main works of his life. It is no coincidence that it still never ceases to excite the minds of readers and viewers.

Macbeth and his wife show how terrible the evil that takes possession of human souls is. But evil is not omnipotent. If in one respect Macbeth is the darkest of Shakespeare's great tragedies, in another it is more hopeful than Hamlet, Othello or King Lear. In none of them are so many people opposed to evil as in Macbeth, and nowhere are they as active as here.
The whole society rebels against Macbeth and his wife, who trampled humanity. It is not just individuals who are fighting against them, but the whole country. Macbeth's enemies realize that they are fighting not only for dynastic interests against the usurper king, but for humanity in general.
The dramatic conflict in Macbeth especially clearly reveals the difference between Shakespeare and subsequent drama, which posed psychological and moral problems. There the struggle was confined to a circle of spiritual and moral experiences. In Shakespeare, this struggle captures the entire society.

Read the book Macbeth online

William Shakespeare

Characters

Duncan, King of Scotland.

Malcolm, Donalbain are his sons.

Macbeth, Banquo - Duncan's generals.

Macduff, Lenox, Ross, Mentis, Angus, Catnes - Scottish nobles.

Fleance, son of Banquo.

Siward, Earl of Northumberland, English commander.

Young Siward, his son.

Seyton, Macbeth's close associate.

Son of Macduff.

English doctor.

Scottish doctor.

Sergeant.

Gatekeeper.

Lady Macbeth.

Lady Macduff.

A lady of the court from Lady Macbeth's retinue.

Three witches.

The Spirit of Banquo and Other Ghosts.

Lords, nobles, officers, soldiers, assassins, servants and messengers.

Location: Scotland, England.

Wasteland. Storm.

Three witches enter.

First Witch

When there is lightning or thunder

Will the three of us get together again in the rain?

Second witch

As soon as the fight ends

Victory for one side.

The third witch

Before the evening dawn.

First Witch

Where is the meeting?

Second witch

In the heathers.

The third witch

We will see Macbeth there.

First Witch

The cat meowed. - It is time!

All the witches

The toad bit. 2 - Let's fly!

Erase the line between good and evil.

Through the rotten steam we will rush upward.

(Disappear.)

Camp near Forres.3

Behind the scenes there is the sound of battle.

Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox; a bloody sergeant meets them.

Duncan

Who is this covered in blood? By the looks of it,

He can tell you about the progress of the battle

With the rebels.

Malcolm

This is the sergeant

Whose valor saved us from captivity

I am obliged. - Hello, my brave friend!

The king wants to know who was on top,

When you left the field.

Sergeant

Like two swimmers grappling with each other

The enemies pinned down. Mad MacDonald

A true seditious man, because from birth

The most vile vices nest within him,

In the west along the islands

Recruited Irish infantry

And behind the villain, smiling at the discord,

Fortune the whore has gone. But in vain!

In spite of her, pet of abusive glory,

Brave Macbeth (he is worth these nicknames!),

Cutting my way with steel,

Smoking with bloody retribution,

He appeared to the traitor.

He didn’t shake his hands, didn’t say goodbye to him,

But he cut his body in half,

And he stuck his head on a pole above the tower.

Duncan

O valiant cousin! Worthy vassal!

Sergeant

But like sometimes the sun, rising,

The storm carries with it the ships to destruction,

So it is a source of trouble for us

Has become the key of joy. Know, King of Scotland:

Hardly truth and valor in alliance

They drove back the light-footed Irish,

The King of Norway, considering the moment convenient,

Raise a fresh army in untouched armor

He pointed at us.

Duncan

And they trembled before him

Macbeth and Banquo, our generals?

Sergeant

No more than eagles before a sparrow

And lions before hare. Frankly speaking,

They are like cannons whose charge is doubled,4

They responded to the enemy with a double blow.

Did they want the blood of burning wounds?

To wash myself or to build Golgotha ​​again,

I don’t know... But my strength has run out.

I'm weakening. The wound is crying out for help.

Duncan

She, like your speech, suited you:

Both breathe honor. - Get a doctor quickly!

The sergeant is taken away.

Who is coming to us?

Malcolm

Venerable Russian Thane5.

Ross enters.

Lenox

His eyes reveal haste,

He apparently arrived with unusual news.

God save the king!

Duncan

Where are you from,

A worthy thane?

My lord, from Fife,

Where are the captured Norwegian banners

Your fighters are covered with coolness.

King of Norway, leader of countless hordes,

And with him is the Thane of Cawdor, the low traitor,

They hit us. And the battle lasted

So long, Macbeth, beloved of Bellona,

Covering yourself with proven armor,

Chest to chest, sword to sword, in single combat

Didn't knock the arrogance out of the Norwegian. Briefly speaking,

The enemy is defeated.

Duncan

Great luck!

The King of Norway asked for peace,

But before we bury the dead,

He had to on the isle of St. Colm

Give us ten thousand dollars.

Duncan

The Thane of Cawdor will not betray us anymore.

Go, tell them to put an end to the troublemaker.

Congratulate Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor.

I will do everything with zeal.

Duncan

He exalted Macbeth with his fall.

Everyone leaves.

Steppe overgrown with heather. Thunder.

Three witches enter.

First Witch

Sister, where have you been?

Second witch

Poisoned pigs.

The third witch

And you yourself, sister?

Persons

NURSE.

MININGS.

Scene one
Halt

Forest. Ippolit with friends.

YOUTH CHORUS

Oh, thicket! oh, the call!

Oh new hills

Let's praise fishing!

What's better than fighting?

Praise Artemis for the heat, for the sweat,

For the black thicket, - Aida entrance

Lighter! - for a leaf, for a needle,

For hot hands in the game of the stream, -

Praise be to Artemis for everything and everyone

Ambush. Fright:

What - rock or bitches?

Branched

Bush - or spruce?

No, a rushing shadow

Callistas!

Praise be to Artemis for the ford, for the shore,

Before - before out of breath, fast running

Along a leafy gorge.

You are making noise with the spring watercourse!

Praise to Artemis for feelings and muscles

A branch that gave into the eye.

What - a stump or a boar?

Who? Roots with a tourniquet?

With a bestial leap -

To the valley!

Praise be to Artemis for the glance, for the little

Without hitting it, the gun cannot be blown away

From the stamen. Oh, smell: oh, sight

Thicket! – Sultry lips in the play of the stream...

You become Elena, galloping after

The forehead is pouring, the mouth is dry.

With a trained sense of smell -

Moss, fur

Spirit, horns and moss

Spirit! Breasts are like fur.

- Ho! - Echo!

Praise be to Artemis for the shame, for the harm,

For false joy, for a false trail,

The move is false - all the torment is in vain!

A hidden dinner and a night in the ditch!

Kudos to Artemis for the entire game

The fishing is over. The fever subsided.

Cool. Halt.

Chest, side, beaten to blood,

The catcher guts

Praise be to Artemis for the horn, for the fang,

Last daring, last cry

Hunter, - gasped, hooted

Forest. Overturned. Roots down!

Praise be to Artemis for the fur, for...

Ringing. The spirit is out.

We don't need wives!

Both now and in the future

Let's celebrate friendship!

Let's celebrate courage!

We have no sweetness for wives!

We don’t have children to nurture.

Let's celebrate brotherhood!

Let's celebrate virginity!

House with household members?

No, a forest with something unprecedented!

We will be called game,

Artemidin's army.

You spin Ellen,

Don't touch the earth!

Let's praise the speed,

Let's praise the speedy one!

Don't sing that you're straight!

Bend - soft lips!

To fall in love - to bow:

Let's sing lovelessness!

Another delicacy -

Into hot resin.

To marry is to cry,

Let's sing celibacy!

Forest, green forest!

Fast water!

Sagittarius is not a survivor:

To get married is to settle down!

No troubles, no fun -

Silent murder.

A proud man is not a father:

To be fruitful - to be divided!

It has not been given yet - it has already been taken away!

Brief, brief is the age of the hunter.

Moment - flowers bloomed for him.

Shorter than arrows!

Water is pouring, trouble is accumulating.

The hunter is being hunted.

Night, road, stone, dream -

Everything, and hidden in everything

Gods. Not to the wise priest

The deity is attracted to prowess.

The brave man does not live long.

He himself is the intended game.

Not to pompous intentions, -

The deity is drawn to youth.

Marble is susceptible to tanning.

Every youth is a baker

God. The dancers are more zealous

The deity is drawn to mortality.

More than them -

We, the marble ones, need us.

Here it is, the forest! Here it is, the onion!

From cave rudeness

Artemidine's servants

No one will fall in love.

Here it is, the century! Here it is, gold!

From distant sights

Artemidine children

No one gets married!

And ever and now,

In the mountains and in the hollow,

Let's eat the goddess

Only one friend

Our share and our prowess -

Green-haired Artemis!

And loud and a lot,

And in fables and in faces,

Dawn God

Let's eat the twins:

Courageous, majestic

Artemis with long strides.

Eternal watermelon,

Eternal flour miller,

Like a laurel ever green,

Like Pontus is eternally free -

So eternal in our clay heart

Artemis is tall.

I took a hundred, I’ll crash into this one.

At the hour of breaking ribs,

As long as there is even a breath in us -

Let's eat, let's eat

Mistress, secret

Artemis, the arrogant one.

Praise - and louder!

Darkness and earlyness,

Here she is with the hound,

Here she is with a doe,

In the leaves, as in flocks,

Night and day

With a knee that can't keep up

Fabric - wrist! - bandage! - comb! -

In running ahead of the body.

Along the labyrinths

Hazy greenery

Here she is with a nymph

Faithful, Callista,

Without cooling down

In zeal and in joy,

With not keeping up with the movement

A shadow lost at the breaks

Run. Leader without followers.

Complete happiness

Can it ripen?

Here she is in the thicket,

Here it is in the heart

Own. Line up,

The forest is variegated!

So that the trunks, like a palisade,

Surrounded - unite, walls! -

Water running handed members

Driven...

Time, give up, and foam, kan!

The fabric will not catch up with the knees.

Disgraced, sit on a stump.

The shadow will not catch up with the movement,

We will bend against time:

The chest won't catch up with the breath.

We will race against time:

The strand will not catch up with the back of the head,

The ear is an echo, the poet is a century...

But if he catches up with the deer, he runs

Artemidin.

In herbs and leaves - praise her!

Its frequent leaves are its curls.

In the branches and in the twigs - praise her!

Branches? no, her arms, her legs.

Everything that comes out of the circle is hers!

In every strain there are her muscles!

Friend, and honor her in the turf!

Black roots are her will.

Her heart is unshakable -

Bare blocks are her heart!

The beast howls, the forest blows,

And separately, and at once,

Let's eat lily,

Reese white never

I am not darkened by the filth of love:

Stone-hearted Artemis.

At the right time - defeat us,

Arrow without successors!

Let's eat innocence

Let's eat arrogance

Flesh, visible only to the lake!

Artemis tremulosa.

But it’s amazing - through the leaves!

But it’s amazing - like in a haze...

And in songs and in thoughts

We’ll approve ours

The menacing goddess around -

Hippolyta the Deer-Eyed

With an inelastic mouth,

With a mouth - an unbreakable onion!

Goddess friend

Let's eat. Let's eat

Artemidin's friend from above -

Hippolyta the womanist.

Nose - smelled spicy things,

The forehead - the difficult one moved.

Aegean grandson,

Son of Theseus,

Hater of the feminine gender -

Ippolita we will eat Tresensky.

Let's drive away the clouds, move the bowls,

Let's delve into praise

Chaste goddess

An unsociable pet.

Her beloved is unsociable -

Hippolytus the elusive -

Whose hearing is marvelous, whose gaze is wonderful.

Under the bush, where sleep falls,

Who is the most sensitive of all, who is the most observant of all?

Hippolytus! Hippolytus!

No one has yet exacted tribute -

From Hippolytus the elusive.

Boars, grin! doe, cry!

Known as an eye-witnesser -

Who is the sharpest of all, who is the quickest of all?

Hippolytus! Hippolytus!

No one washed it easier -

Hippolytus the unstoppable.

Our bush climber is getting hot!

Look, during prayer hours,

Who is the most persistent, who is the hottest?

Hippolytus! Hippolytus!

Never dishonoring the name

Hippolytus the tireless.

The wives got up, the sun came out,

Surrounded, zhenouvit -

Who is the wildest of all, who is the quietest of all?

Hippolytus! Hippolytus!

No one passed by more recklessly -

Hippolytus the inexorable.

Boar in one sitting.

The grapes are thirsty for sweat.

Ippolit doesn't eat alone

Ippolit is the only one who doesn’t drink.

Why, having crowned the fishing,

Having deposed the miracle boar,

Is Hippolytus the only one who is harsh?

Is Ippolit the only one squeamish?

Did you meet a maiden in the forest?

Did the lion mistake the doe for a maiden?

Or - a boar for a fox -

Does he take us for virgins?

Fat and moisture - pour and cut!

It's time to drink - drink and bet!

Woman fighter, drink and eat!

Everlasting, drink and praise

Rushing with us - rushing -

Irreversible youth!

The grapes are drunk.

The boar is in great demand.

How long have you been young?

The boar is not happy

I'm not happy with the forest

I'm not happy about the century.

I dreamed about it. Squeezing all my wives

Existing - the mother visited the dream

My. Living in me alone

The lady visited the house

Mine. Behold, an urn for her ashes!

The only house on earth.

I didn’t notice, but the night was bright,

How she entered and how she entered.

When I turn grey, I’ll tell you how it is today:

There was no entrance, it was: “here!

I am!” Rook from behind the wave,

Representation from the ground -

Plates – deadlines – prohibitions – through.

There was no face. There was an itch

Sight. Not stars and not rays,

Whole body and whole soul

Look, well, the doe is doeless

The look, well, how mothers look

Along the edges of the mirrors

The look took on a look.

Stones thrown in circles!

Bridge of the nose. In two arcs

Eyebrows are straight. Under the lip

The will of stone is an arc.

With a breath of lips: - Rivers!

There was no speech. There were hands

Sign. Silence is complete thunder.

There were wax hands - rise

Steady. The cover is open.

To the son - the finger that showed the wound!

Melted. It floated.

Dear others, how is it?

To see the chest and the wound at once?!

There was no speech. Blood was flowing

On the ground, in my arms - without strength

To the outstretched man the finger floated,

Higher, higher soared - for now,

Having stood, he did not seal his mouth -

There... In the circle of ten fingers

There was no flesh. There was a cover

Steam! I'm eating steam! Simple. Empty.

Pair of melting at hand

Knowing...

- Dreaming is confused!

- The Duma hurts me!

– Isn’t there enough charm?

- We don’t honor fables!

- Exactly - steam!

- Exactly - smoke

Mental. - In us

The bottom line. That we are not -

Haze. - The evil eye!

– Full moon

Eye. – Moon Arrows

I. - Our dear friend!

Ate too much!

- I poured in too much

In the evening. – Yar

Bacchus at the hour of play.

Not even steam

Lunar – couples

Wine. Chad!

Hops-brain-cool!

- The dead are sleeping!

- Mortals drink.

(In unison.)

In spite of nonsense and in spite of charms -

Drink and laugh until you're bald!

Mother will not rise from the grave in vain:

My lord, beware!

Appearance of Phaedra.

Hello noble shooters.

Shad and shad in the wild thicket,

Inconspicuously - from grass to grass -

Having lost all the maids,

I'm worried about the return journey.

Show me the way and the descent -

Backwards. From this treacherous thicket

Where is the road leading to Troezen?

You won't regret serving

Tall lady!

In a place of dizzying fears,

M. Tsvetaeva is a spontaneous poet, a poet of all-consuming passion. Its most important element is love, which causes “secret heat” and heartbeat. If love is regarded as a talent, Tsvetaeva had super talent for love. She threw herself into love like into a pool: “Into a bag and into water is a valiant feat. To love a little is a great sin.” This maximalism of M. Tsvetaeva was embodied in "Phaedre".

In 1923, M. Tsvetaeva conceived the dramatic trilogy “The Wrath of Aphrodite 1”. The main character of the trilogy is Theseus. Parts of the trilogy were to be named after the women Theseus loved: the first part was “Ariadne”, the second was “Phaedra”, the third was “Helen”. “Ariadne: the early youth of Theseus: eighteen years old; Phaedra: the maturity of Theseus, forty years old; Elena: the old age of Theseus: sixty years old,” wrote Tsvetaeva. Tsvetaeva finished the first part of the trilogy - "Ariadne" - in 1924; "Elena" was not written.

In Greek mythology, Phaedra, the daughter of the Cretan king Minos, wife of Theseus, inflamed with love for her stepson Hippolytus and rejected by the young man, slandered him in a suicide note, accusing him of violence, and then committed suicide.

In ancient mythology and then in the history of world literature, the image of Phaedra is an image of criminal love. However, over the course of thousands of years, this image, of course, did not remain unchanged; from century to century it evolved, deepened, acquired new facets, new colors. Every writer and poet who addressed the tragic fate of Phaedra introduced something new into her interpretation, and over the past millennia, the attitude towards Phaedra’s crime has evolved from unconditional condemnation (Euripides, Seneca, Racine) to the deepest sympathy (M. Tsvetaeva). These fluctuations were determined by the demands of the time, the author’s belonging to one or another literary movement, as well as the creative individuality and psychological temperament of the author of the next interpretation of the famous ancient myth.

In terms of plot, M. Tsvetaeva in her poetic drama “Phaedra” follows Euripides. But the plot itself is not important in her drama, and the twists and turns of the plot here, in fact, do not play any role. Then why was M. Tsvetaeva’s drama written? Tsvetaev's drama was written in a different key, with a different worldview. Her drama is a hymn to love, tragic love. The words of M. Tsvetaeva are known: “And I haven’t written a single thing of mine without falling in love with two people at the same time (with her - a little more), not with two of them, but with their love. With love.” This statement also corresponds to the structure of the drama, consisting of four parts-pictures 2 - the peaks of emotional experiences. Moreover, for each painting Tsvetaeva finds a strikingly original, precise, succinct, metaphorical and poetic title, breaking all the plot canons that have developed over two millennia. Tsvetaev's metaphors are impossible to predict and calculate. That's what makes them interesting.

The first picture - "Halt" - is dedicated to Hippolytus, the daring, free life of him and his friends, glorifying the goddess Artemis 3, the joy of hunting:

Praise be to Artemis for the heat, for the sweat, for the black thicket, - Aida's entrance is brighter! - for the leaf, for the needles, for the hot hands in the play of the stream, - Praise be to Artemis for everything and everyone in Lesnoye.

Meanwhile, young Hippolyte is so beautiful that “only a blind woman could not love him,” that is, Tsvetaeva indirectly frees Phaedra from guilt already in the first picture; Moreover, in Tsvetaeva, it is not the will of the gods that is the cause of Phaedra’s passion, but the human-physical beauty of her stepson.

The second picture - "Inquiry" - depicts Phaedra, unconsciously hiding her love, and then entrusting her innermost secret to her nurse, a woman wise with life experience. The voice of the nurse is the voice of Tsvetaeva herself, the mouthpiece of her love for love, the impossibility for a woman to live without love-passion. Before-knowledge - Tsvetaeva reveals the tragedy of a woman deprived of love. Here, for example, are the words of the nurse addressed to Phaedra: “My blow // On Theseus is old.” How much power and expressiveness there is in these monosyllabic “blow”, “star”!

The third scene - “Confession” - is the culmination of the drama; it tells about the meeting of Phaedra and Hippolytus, Phaedra’s confession.

The fourth picture - "The Tree" (!) - represents a tragic denouement: Hippolytus died; Phaedra committed suicide (the death of the heroine of the tragedy - she hanged herself - is, of course, symbolic both in the context of the drama and in the context of the fate of its author). The title of this chapter conveys the poignancy and defenselessness, loneliness and hopelessness of the love feeling of the heroine of the tragedy.

Tsvetaeva in her poetic drama does not repeat the details of the famous mythological plot. She schematizes the plot to the utmost, leaving only its key episodes. Tsvetaeva gives not the moral tragedy of Phaedra, not the struggle of feeling and duty (like Racine), but the story of tragic love. The formula of Tsvetaeva’s drama, in contrast to Racine’s tragedy, is different: “Love (if it exists) is always right.” In Phaedrus, Tsvetaeva believed, Hippolytus should be 20 years old, Phaedra - 30, Theseus - 40.

Phaedra is Theseus's third wife, and she is unhappy as a woman: she does not love Theseus, and life with him does not bring her joy. Phaedra is afraid to admit this to herself, but her nurse explains it to her. Tsvetaeva and we, the readers, sympathize with the unfortunate Phaedra, who is much younger than Theseus. See the nurse's monologue from the second film "Inquiry":

So I'll say it. My blow to Theseus is old. Phaedra, you and the spider were mated! No matter what you want, no matter what... You take revenge on the Old One. There is nothing wrong with him. She entered her husband's house as a later wife, a third wife. Two wives met a young woman on the threshold... ...Dishes fly from their hands, - Amazon's keen gaze, - and don't look behind the curtain! The whole yard, the whole house looks through their eyes. The fire in the hearth died out - Ariadne sighed...

Tsvetaeva’s Phaedra dies not because she is tormented by remorse, but because passion and duty are fighting in her soul 4 . Tsvetaeva's Phaedra is not guilty of her love for Ippolit. The cause of Phaedra's death in Tsvetaeva's drama is different. Phaedra comes to Hippolytus, carrying her love like a cross, and comes in exhaustion:

"feet are bare, braids are down..."

She prays to Hippolytus, who rejects her love:

"Two words, two syllables!"

Hippolytus responded:

“Not a sweet girl, but an ambush!”

And again Phaedra prays to Hippolytus:

At half a sound, at half a glance, A quarter of a sound, the response of an echo... At just an eye's glance, at just a century A wave! In the name of the White-White Look: is there really nothing known to you, and everything is so new, is there really nothing in Me for you... My eyes... ...Having waited, they became charred! While there are hands! As long as there are lips! It will be silent! It will be - we'll see! Word! Just one word!

Hippolytus - in response: Reptile...

After such a rebuke, there is only one way out for a loving woman - a noose. There is no point in living any further and there is no strength. Tsvetaeva formulated the concept of the image of Phaedra as follows: “NB! Give Phaedra, not Medea, without a crime, give a madly loving young woman, deeply understandable.”

In Tsvetaeva's case, Ippolit was slandered by Phaedra's nurse, struck down by her death. Theseus curses his son, and Hippolytus dies. But then the servant finds on Hippolytus’ body and gives Theseus a secret letter - Phaedra’s declaration of love for Hippolytus. We remember that Hippolytus responded to Phaedra’s declaration of love with a sharp rebuke. Theseus learns that it is not Hippolytus who is guilty, but Phaedra, that Phaedra’s letter is “Hippolytus’ letter of commendation.” However, this does not make his grief any easier, because “the glory of a son is the shame of a wife!”

The nurse admits to Theseus that she is to blame for everything, that she is the pimp. She cannot bear the shame of her mistress and seeks to justify Phaedra, to remove the guilt from her. But Theseus rejects the nurse’s guilt, since she is only an instrument of fate:

There is no one to blame. All innocent. Oh, don’t burn your toes, and don’t tear out your hair, - For Phaedrine’s fatal love - Of a poor woman for a poor child - The name is the hatred of Aphrodite To me, for Naxos, a ruined garden... Where the myrtle rustles, its groan is full, Build them a double hill .

“For Naxos, the ruined garden” - for the ruined garden of love, refusal of love, since at one time on the island of Naxos Theseus left Ariadne (the god of love Apollo, who promised immortality to Ariadne). Unlike the tragedy of Euripides, Tsvetaeva’s tragedy is not the tragedy of King Theseus (“And far, far away sound // The news of the great grief of the kings!” - this is how the tragedy of Euripides ends), but the tragedy of unrequited love. Emotionally, Tsvetaeva leaves consolation to both the deceased Phaedra and the reader: Phaedra and Hippolyta were not united by life, so let at least death unite them:

Let him at least wrap his hair there - peace be upon the poor! - Hippolytus's bone - Fedrin's bone.