Marusya Boguslavka is the main character of the Ukrainian People's Duma. Ukrainian Literature

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Dumas are lyrical and epic works of Ukrainian folklore about events from the life of the Cossacks of the 16th-18th centuries. They were performed by recitative to the accompaniment of bandura, lyre or kobza by wandering singers. This is a genre of purely Ukrainian folk literature. In their plot and style, they are close to slave laments.

From the lips of the people to the pages of collections

Lyric-epic works of the 16th century have not survived to our time, there are only mentions in some sources about their existence. The fact is that the text of the songs was passed from mouth to mouth, and they began to write them down only in the 17th century. Naturally, there were dozens of versions of the same thought, because each performer modified the text in his own way, adding something and removing something. Thanks to such collectors of folk art as Nikolai Tsertelev, Panteleimon Kulish, Nikolai Maksimovich, Ambrose Metlinsky, Izmail Sreznevsky, several hundred thoughts in different interpretations have survived to our time.

Among them is "Marusya Boguslavka", first recorded in the 50s of the century before last in the Kharkov province from the lipskobzar Rigorenko from the village of Krasnokutsk. Until the 30s of the 20th century, several dozen versions of this song were collected. But the main text is considered to be the one that was published for the first time in "Notes on Southern Russia" by Panteleimon Kulish.

She's been examined countless times. Even Taras Shevchenko himself published it in his Primer for South Russian Schools. The plot also inspired Mikhail Staritsky to write a drama of the same name, and composer Alexander Sveshnikov to create a ballet.

"Marusya Boguslavka": author

If you say that it does not exist, then it is wrong. Yes, it is not known who first came up with the words and how the original text sounded, so authorship cannot be attributed to someone alone. In this case, it is generally accepted that they are the result of collective creativity. And indeed it is. Dumas, like any other folklore works, were passed from mouth to mouth. This means that if the idea of this song was alien to the people's self-consciousness, it would not take root and it would not be re-sung over and over again. Each kobzar (they were usually the carriers of folk songs) added his mite to the text, slightly changing it.

Therefore, the thought "Marusya Boguslavka", like everyone else, is truly the fruit of an entire ethnic group.

Theme and Idea

This duma is rightfully considered the pearl of the folk epic. The theme that this song carries is a description of the struggle of the Ukrainian people with the Turks, the long stay of the Cossacks in enemy captivityand the help that the girl Marusya wanted to provide to her countrymen.

The idea of the work is to condemn the enslavement and suffering that Ukrainians had to endure, and to affirm faith in a better life. People's self-consciousness wanted to convey the following thought to contemporaries and future generations through this thought: no matter how many sorrows and humiliations have been experienced, freedom is possible thanks to bold and courageous deeds.

A peculiar poetic form (verbal rhymes, repetitions of sentences), a clear construction of the plot, the narrative nature of the description of events, strong lyricism, penetration into the inner world of the characters - all these characteristic features of the lyric-epic are also inherent in this song about Marusya Bogulavka.

Composition

Intro: the story that the Cossacks are in captivity of the Turkish Khan.

Main part: Marusya Boguslavka's promise to release compatriots.

Ending: the girl keeps her word, but she herself refuses to run with the Cossacks to her native land.

Storyline

The Duma begins with a mention that 700 Cossacks have been languishing in prison for 30 long years and do not see the white light. Then Marusya Boguslavka comes to them and asks them if they know what holiday tomorrow is in Ukraine. They, of course, cannot know, but she informs them that it is Easter. The Cossacks begin to curse Marusya because she stirs their hearts, but the girl asks not to do this, because she promises to release them on the eve of the holiday. Her husband, Turkish Khan, when he goes to the mosque, in her armsgives the keys to the dungeon. Marusya, as promised, arranges an escape for the Cossacks. In parting, she asks them to go to the city of Boguslav, to tell her father that he should not collect money for a ransom, because she "has become mad, has become mad." The Ukrainian People's Duma ends with a request to God for the release of all slaves.

The image of the main character

He doesn't reveal himself right away, but gradually, as the story progresses. Marusya is a simple slave who was taken prisoner, where she became the wife-concubine of the Turkish Khan.

She remembers her past, because she calls herself "priest", that is, the daughter of a priest. Marusya Boguslavka is sincere and noble, she sincerely tells the Cossacks about her intentions to free them and about why she considers herself not en titled to set foot on her native land again.

The tragedy of her situation is that, even with the opportunity to escape, she does not use it. She is sickened by her conscience, because for many years in captivity the girl became a Muslim, although her father was a priest. Marusya Boguslavka herself explains that she "became dirty for Turkish luxury, for the delicacy of the unfortunate." But the narrator's sympathy is on the side of the heroine, and he tries not to condemn her, but to arouse sympathy.

Historical foundation

There are no reliable facts about the existence of the real Marusya Boguslavka. This is most likely a collective image. During the years of Turkish oppression, many girls were taken prisoner, and some even managed to achieve an influential position in a foreign land. Byat least one such is known - Nastya Lisovskaya, who became the wife of Sultan Suleiman. And for the good of their compatriots, such girls risked their own lives.

Such original works as the thought about Marusya Boguslavka are deservedly included in the treasury of world literature.