Masquerade (Lermontow)
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| Title: | Masquerade |
| Original title: | Маскарад (Maskarad) |
| Genus: | drama |
| Original language: | Russian |
| Author: | Mikhail Lermontov |
| Publishing year: | 1842 |
| Premiere: | 1852 |
| Place of premiere: | Alexandrinsky Theater |
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Masquerade ( Russian Маскарад ) is a verse drama in four acts by Mikhail Lermontow . Made around 1835, it was first printed in 1842 and premiered in 1852.
content
first act
The young Prince Swesditsch loses money at a game. However, Arbenin shows up and wins him his money back, and doesn't want a big thank you. Afterwards they both go to a masked ball. Arbenin's confident appearance at the game also impressed the devious saying that he would like to get to know him better.
At the ball, the prince meets a mask wearer and wants to find out who she is. But she is reluctant and only gives him a bracelet that was found at the masquerade ball and does not belong to her, before she disappears into the crowd. Meanwhile, Arbenin is prophesied by another mask: "Несчастье с вами будет в эту ночь." ("A misfortune will hit you tonight.") Moreover, he also makes a point of speaking against himself by doing his best. Speak swears vengeance.
When Arbenin arrives at home shortly before midnight, his wife Nina is not there yet. When she appears, they both talk about their love and marriage, until Arbenin suddenly realizes that she is missing a bracelet. So it turns out that Nina was also at the masked ball. He swears that if she betrayed him, it would be both ends. Nina swears to him that this is not the case, but doubts are sown.
Second act
At the Baroness Strahl's, the prince meets Nina, who he believes was behind the mask he fell in love with. He engages her in unambiguous conversations, but blocks them indignantly. It was the baroness who found Nina's lost bracelet at the ball, as she reveals in a monologue. To distract from the fact that she too was at the frivolous masquerade ball, she spreads the rumor about the rendezvous between the prince and Arbenin's wife. The proverb, who wants to take revenge on Arbenin, helps her spin the intrigue and immediately passes the rumor on to Kasarin.
Arbenin receives a letter from the prince, which is actually addressed to Nina and which says that the prince does not want to do without her. Arbenin makes his way to the prince, whom he had recently helped out of trouble with the game. He finds him sleeping in his house and thinks about murdering him right away, but hesitates and realizes: “убийство уж не в моде. / […] / Так! .. в образованном я родился народе; / Язык и золото… вот наш кинжал и яд! "(" Murder is unfashionable, / [...] / I am a child of the enlightened time! / And word and gold are dagger and poison of time! ")
Then the baroness appears veiled in the prince's house. Arbenin tears off her veil and is astonished that he doesn't discover his wife underneath. He thinks the baroness is a matchmaker who has also brought his wife to the prince and leaves the house. The baroness shouts after him her confession that it was she who gave the bracelet to the prince, but Arbenin no longer hears her.
The baroness reveals herself to the prince as the one he dealt with at the masquerade ball. She wants to save the situation at all costs. The prince in turn finds a letter from Arbenin that invites him to N's house. The prince suspects that he will challenge him to a duel, but goes anyway. The situation escalates. Now the prince would like to challenge Arbenin to a duel, but he refuses and mocks him.
Third act
Another ball. When the prince appears, everyone turns away from him, since he has become dishonorable by rejecting the duel he has demanded. He is saying goodbye.
Arbenin and Nina are also present. She asks her husband to bring her some ice cream. The latter poisons the portion and goes home with Nina, where she dies. She insists on her innocence to the end, but Arbenin thinks that is only a lie.
Fourth act
One day after her death, Nina is laid out in the house. Relatives come to say goodbye. In addition, a stranger and the prince appear. The stranger turns out to be the masked person from the first act, who Arbenin had prophesied a misfortune. The stranger's motives for revenge are of a personal nature; he was seduced, ruined and mocked at a young age by Arbenin to play. The prince finally hopes for his duel in order to regain his honor, but Arbenin shows traces of a mental illness, which makes a duel impossible. While the prince regrets his fate of dishonor, the stranger triumphs across the board because of his successful vengeance.
Full text
- the drama in the original Russian on Wikisource
translation
- Mikhail Lermontov: Masquerade. Verse drama in four acts. In: Selected works in two volumes. Edited by Roland Opitz. Volume 2: prose and drama . Frankfurt / M .: Insel Verlag 1989. pp. 439-530.