The Dynasts

The Dynasts is an English-language closet drama in verse by Thomas Hardy. Hardy himself described this work as "an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes". Not counting the Forescene and the Afterscene, the exact total number of scenes is 131.[1] The three parts were published in 1904, 1906 and 1908.

Because of the ambition and scale of the work, Hardy acknowledged that The Dynasts was not a work that could be conventionally staged in the theatre, and described the work as "the longest English drama in existence". Scholars have noted that Hardy remembered war stories of the veterans of the Napoleonic wars in his youth, and used them as partial inspiration for writing The Dynasts many years later in his own old age. In addition, Hardy was a distant relative of Captain Thomas Hardy, who had served with Admiral Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar.[1][2] Hardy consulted a number of histories and also visited Waterloo, Belgium, as part of his research.[3]

George Orwell wrote that Hardy had "set free his genius" by writing this drama and thought its main appeal was "in the grandiose and rather evil vision of armies marching and counter-marching through the mists, and men dying by hundreds of thousands in the Russian snows, and all for absolutely nothing."[4]

Synopsis

In addition to the various historical figures, The Dynasts also contains an extensive tragic chorus of metaphysical figures ("Spirits" and "Ancient Spirits") who observe and discuss the events.

Part First contains a Forescene and six Acts with 35 Scenes. The time period of the events in Part First covers 10-months, from March 1805, the time when Napoleon repeated his coronation ceremony at Milan and took up the crown of Lombardy, through January 1806, the time of the death of William Pitt the Younger. The principal historical events entail Napoleon's invasion plans for England, which are abandoned when French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve sails for the south, the Battle of Trafalgar, and subsequently the Battle of Ulm and the Battle of Austerlitz. The division of the Acts and its Scenes is as follows:

Fore Scene. The Overworld Act First: Scene I. England – A Ridge in Wessex Scene II. Paris – Office of the Minister of Marine Scene III. London – The Old House of Commons Scene IV. The Harbour of Boulogne Scene V. London – The House of a Lady of Quality Scene VI. Milan. The Cathedral Act Second: Scene I. The Dockyard, Gibraltar Scene II. Off Ferrol Scene III. The Camp and Harbour of Boulogne Scene IV. South Wessex – A Ridge-like Down near the Coast Scene V. The Same – Rainbarrows' Beacon, Egdon Heath Act Third: Scene I. The Chateau at Pont-de-Briques Scene II. The Frontiers of Upper Austria and Bavaria Scene III. Boulogne – The St Omer Road

Act Fourth:— Scene I. King George's Watering-place, South Wessex Scene II. Before the City of Ulm Scene III. Ulm – Within the City Scene IV. Before Ulm – The Same Day Scene V. The Same – The Michaelsberg Scene VI. London – Spring Gardens Act Fifth: Scene I. Off Cape Trafalgar Scene II. The Same – The Quarter-deck of the "Victory" Scene III. The Same – On Board the "Bucentaure" Scene IV. The Same – The Cockpit of the "Victory" Scene V. London – The Guildhall Scene VI. An Inn at Rennes Scene VII. King George's Watering-place, South Wessex Act Sixth: Scene I. The Field of Austerlitz – The French Position Scene II. The Same – The Russian Position Scene III. The Same – The French Position Scene IV. The Same – The Russian Position Scene V. The Same – Near the Windmill of Paleny Scene VI. Shockerwick House, near Bath Scene VII. Paris – A Street leading to the Tuileries Scene VIII. Putney – Bowling Green House

Part Second contains six Acts with 43 Scenes. The time period of the events of Part Second ranges over 7 years, from 1806 to just before the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The listing of the Acts and Scenes is as follows:

Act First: Scene I. London – Fox's Lodgings, Arlington Street Scene II. The Route between London and Paris Scene III. The Streets of Berlin Scene IV. The Field of Jena Scene V. Berlin – A Room overlooking a Public Place Scene VI. The Same Scene VII. Tilsit and the River Niemen Scene VIII. The Same Act Second: Scene I. The Pyrenees and Valleys adjoining Scene II. Aranjuez, near Madrid – A Room in the Palace of Godoy, the "Prince of Peace" Scene III. London – The Marchioness of Salisbury's Scene IV. Madrid and its Environs Scene V. The Open Sea between the English Coasts and the Spanish Peninsula Scene VI. St Cloud – The Boudoir of Josephine Scene VII. Vimiero Act Third: Scene I. Spain – A Road near Astorga Scene II. The Same Scene III. Before Coruna Scene IV. Coruna – Near the Ramparts Scene V. Vienna – A Cafe in the Stephans-Platz

Act Fourth: Scene I. A Road out of Vienna Scene II. The Island of Lobau, with Wagram beyond Scene III. The Field of Wagram Scene IV. The Field of Talavera Scene V. The Same Scene VI. Brighton – The Royal Pavilion Scene VII. The Same Scene VIII. Walcheren Act Fifth: Scene I. Paris – A Ballroom in the House of Cambaceres Scene II. Paris – The Tuileries Scene III. Vienna – A Private Apartment in the Imperial Palace Scene IV. London – A Club in St. James's Street Scene V. The old West Highway out of Vienna Scene VI. Courcelles Scene VII. Petersburg – The Palace of the Empress-Mother Scene VIII. Paris – The Grand Gallery of the Louvre and the Salon-Carre adjoining Act Sixth: Scene I. The Lines of Torres Vedras Scene II. The Same – Outside the Lines Scene III. Paris – The Tuileries Scene IV. Spain – Albuera Scene V. Windsor Castle – A Room in the King's Apartments Scene VI. London – Carlton House and the Streets adjoining Scene VII. The Same – The Interior of Carlton House

Part Third contains seven Acts with 53 Scenes, and an After Scene. The historical time period of Part Third covers Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 through his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The division of the Acts and Scenes is as follows:

Act First: Scene I. The Banks of the Niemen, near Kowno Scene II. The Ford of Santa Marta, Salamanca Scene III. The Field of Salamanca Scene IV. The Field of Borodino Scene V. The Same Scene VI. Moscow Scene VII. The Same – Outside the City Scene VIII. The Same – The Interior of the Kremlin Scene IX. The Road from Smolensko into Lithuania Scene X. The Bridge of the Beresina Scene XI. The Open Country between Smorgoni and Wilna Scene XII. Paris – The Tuileries Act Second: Scene I. The Plain of Vitoria Scene II. The Same, from the Puebla Heights Scene III. The Same – The Road from the Town Scene IV. A Fete at Vauxhall Gardens Act Third: Scene I. Leipzig – Napoleon's Quarters in the Reudnitz Suburb Scene II. The Same – The City and the Battlefield Scene III. The Same – from the Tower of the Pleissenburg Scene IV. The Same – At the Thonberg Windmill Scene V. The Same – A Street near the Ranstadt Gate Scene VI. The Pyrenees – Near the River Nivelle Act Fourth: Scene I. The Upper Rhine Scene II. Paris – The Tuileries Scene III. The Same – The Apartments of the Empress Scene IV. Fontainebleau – A Room in the Palace Scene V. Bayonne – The British Camp Scene VI. A Highway in the Outskirts of Avignon Scene VII. Malmaison – The Empress Josephine's Bedchamber Scene VIII. London – The Opera-House

Act Fifth: Scene I. Elba – The Quay, Porto Ferrajo Scene II. Vienna – The Imperial Palace Scene III. La Mure, near Grenoble Scene IV. Schonbrunn Scene V. London – The Old House of Commons Scene VI. Wessex – Durnover Green, Casterbridge Act Sixth: Scene I. The Belgian Frontier Scene II. A Ballroom in Brussels Scene III. Charleroi – Napoleon's Quarters Scene IV. A Chamber overlooking a Main Street in Brussels Scene V. The Field of Ligny Scene VI. The Field of Quatre-Bras Scene VII. Brussels – The Place Royale Scene VIII. The Road to Waterloo Act Seventh: Scene I. The Field of Waterloo Scene II. The Same – The French Position Scene III. Saint Lambert's Chapel Hill Scene IV. The Field of Waterloo – The English Position Scene V. The Same – The Women's Camp near Mont Saint-Jean Scene VI. The Same – The French Position Scene VII. The Same – The English Position Scene VIII. The Same – Later Scene IX. The Wood of Bossu After Scene. The Overworld

Analysis

Hardy regarded The Dynasts as his magnum opus and devoted much of his later life to its completion, but the work was not well received, and later critics have seen little reason to reverse that judgement. There is a case to be made, however, for the drama's having pioneered techniques that would later be regarded as characterising literary Modernism. Moreover, The Dynasts remains of interest to those studying Hardy's novels, both for the insight into his world-view and for its examination of a character mentioned famously but briefly at the end of Tess of the d'Urbervilles: the "President of the Immortals".

The design of The Dynasts is extremely ambitious, and because of its coverage of historical events of the same era, has received comparison to Tolstoy's War and Peace. Emma Clifford has written that Hardy used Tolstoy's novel as one of many sources of inspiration for the work, and in fact owned an early translation. However, it was not necessarily as a primary source, as Hardy also drew on the History of Europe by Archibald Alison, among others.[5]

Hardy juxtaposes scenes of ordinary life with scenes involving the principal historical figures of the age, and concentrating on their desire to found dynasties to preserve their power. There are extensive descriptions of landscape and battle scenes that are characterised by shifts of visual perspective that, in the opinion of John Wain,[6] anticipate cinematic techniques. George Witter Sherman has postulated on Hardy's observations of life in London as influences on elements of The Dynasts.[7] Elna Sherman has discussed Hardy's references to music and songs in the work.[8] Anna Henchman has written about Hardy's use of imagery in the manner of astronomical observation at great distances from the earth in this work.[9] Lawrence Jones has analysed Hardy's idiosyncrasies in his manner of narrative in The Dynasts.[10] J.O. Bailey has postulated an analogy of the Spirits in The Dynasts with other Mephistopheles-like figures in literature, and in relation to the Book of Job.[11]

References

1. Hynes, Samuel (Spring 1994). "Mr. Hardy's Monster: Reflections on The Dynasts". The Sewanee Review. 102 (2): 213–232. JSTOR 27546849.
2. Dickinson, Thomas H (April 1912). "Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts". The North American Review. 195 (677): 526–542. JSTOR 25119738.
3. Orel, Harold, "Thomas Hardy's Epic-Drama: A Study of The Dynasts". University of Kansas Publications (Humanistic Studies No 36), Lawrence, Kansas, USA, 1963.
4. Orwell, 'Thomas Hardy Looks at War' in Tribune, 18 September 1942
5. Clifford, Emma (August 1956). "War and Peace and The Dynasts". Modern Philology. 54 (1): 33–44. doi:10.1086/389123. JSTOR 435156.
6. Wain, John, Introduction to The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy, St Martin's Press (Papermac), 1965 printing.
7. Sherman, George Witter (1948). "The Influence of London on the Dynasts". PMLA. 63 (3): 1017–1028. doi:10.2307/459696. JSTOR 435156.
8. Sherman, Elna (1940). "Thomas Hardy: Lyricist, Symphonist". Music & Letters. 21 (2): 143–171. doi:10.1093/ml/21.2.143. JSTOR 727177.
9. Henchman, Anna (Autumn 2008). "Hardy's Stargazers and the Astronomy of Other Minds". Victorian Studies. 51 (1): 37–64. doi:10.2979/vic.2008.51.1.37. JSTOR 20537365.
10. Jones, Lawrence (Autumn 1975). "Thomas Hardy's "Idiosyncratic Mode of Regard"". ELH. 42 (3): 433–459. JSTOR 2872713.
11. Bailey, J.O. (December 1946). "Hardy's "Mephistophelian Visitants"". PMLA. 61 (4): 1146–1184. JSTOR 459110.

External links

• The Dynasts at Project Gutenberg
• Poetry Foundation page on Thomas Hardy