Bereczky Erzsébet (szerk.): Imre Madách: The Tragedy of Man. Essays about the ideas and the directing of the Drama (Budapest, 1985)
dr. Ferenc Kerényi: A Dramatic Poem from Hungary to the Theaters of the World
Christianity. The picture that Madách paints of the popular masses, and the emphasis he places on their gullability can, beyond doubt, be explained by the events of his personal life and of the historic period in which he lived. Without question, profound disappointment experienced by Madách and his progressive-minded contemporaries in 1848-1849 in the masses who misunderstood and at times even attacked the prophet of their age had taught him a bitter lesson. Thus, although the three scenes from ancient times deal with one of the favourite themes of romanticism — the conflicts of the lonely Titan — Adam remains also a Man and a representative of Mankind. Disappointed by the liberated slaves and by the institutions of ancient Athens he had hoped to be democratic, Adam casts himself into the frenzy of imperial Rome. The same desire to escape is repeated after Scene VII containing the vision of the „bloody cross”; in the next scene Adam, in the role of Kepler, seeks to withdraw into the ivory tower of science. Scenes VIII and X, which both take place in Prague in the imperial court of Rudolph Hapsburg, serve as a setting for the ideological climax of the work: the French Revolution of Scene IX, in which Adam appears as Danton. Although the noble idea of liberty, equality, fraternity is dashed to the ground by a revolution which would destroy its own (Danton is condemned to death under the pressure of the masses, by Robespierre and Saint-Just), fits into the chain of ideas destroyed throughout ages, yet it proves to be the only ideal which Adam does not repudiate on awakening: What mighty visions were before my eyes, All but the blind could see and realize The godly spark, covered by blood and mire: How great tehy were in virtue, sin and ire! It was amazing how they put the brand Of giant forces on their fatherland. Scene XI, which takes place in London, can be considered the symbol of the 19th century. Here Madách catches up with his own era. This explains the Dance of Death at the end of the scene 15
