Boris Godunov

“ We see Boris Godunov on the throne, which he has unlawfully usurped; we know he feels remorse; he tells us so in monologues; we see his soul stripped before us, bound upon a wheel of fire, and we watch the wheel revolve; and that is all the moral and spiritual action that the part contains; he is static and not dynamic, he never has to make up his mind; his will never has to encounter the shock of another will during the whole play. Neither does the chronicle centre round the Pretender. ”

“ Feodor, a weakling who was almost imbecile, had married Irene, the daughter of Boris Godunov, whereby it had fallen out that Boris became the real ruler of Russia, the power behind the throne. But his insatiable ambition coveted still more. He must wear the crown as well as wield the sceptre; and this could not be until the Ruric dynasty which had ruled Russia for nearly seven centuries should be stamped out. Between himself and the throne stood his daughter’s husband and their child, and the boy Demetrius, who had been dispatched with his mother, the dowager Tsarina, to Uglich. ”

“ Ye know How Divine Providence saved the tsarevich From out the murderer's hands; he went to punish His murderer, but God's judgment hath already Struck down Boris. All Russia hath submitted Unto Dimitry; with heartfelt repentance Basmanov hath himself led forth his troops To swear allegiance to him. In love, in peace Dimitry comes to you. Would ye, to please The house of Godunov, uplift a hand Against the lawful tsar, against the grandson Of Monomakh? THE PEOPLE. Not we. PUSHKIN. Townsmen of Moscow! The world well knows how much ye have endured Under the rule of the cruel stranger ”

“ It may be that Boris Godunov plotted for his removal, but it is known that Boris was anxious for Theodore to have a son to succeed to the throne, and, probably, had then little intention of securing it for himself. One of the complaints made by the Russia Company against Jerom Horsey was in connection with a wrongly interpreted order he executed on behalf of Boris Godunov who wished a “wise woman” sent out from England to doctor the Tsaritsa, and the company instead sent out a midwife. ”

“ Russian music, whether it be the fine liturgical music of the church, the rhythmic and somewhat monotonous singing of the Volga boatmen, the boisterous Troika song, or an ornate opera like Boris Godunov, is permeated through and through with the spirit of the endless plain and a sense of loneliness that rarely admits of majors. The somber hues of the landscape, the atmosphere of the boundless solitudes, dominate; Russian popular music is all in the minor key. ”

“ Boris Godunov, as brother of the Tsar’s wife, had{81} a recognised position apart from the favour the Tsar’s father had shown him. The relatives of the Tsarina were always counted less dangerous to the dynasty than were the Tsar’s blood relations, and their influence at Court was greater than their precedence warranted. Theodore was the opposite of his father, unintelligent, feeble-willed, incompetent, he thrust greatness upon Boris Godunov, who saved Moscow. ”

“ Then we, 'twould seem, should have the right to mount Feodor's throne. SHUISKY. Rather than Godunov. VOROTINSKY. In very truth 'twould seem so. SHUISKY. And what then? If still Boris pursue his crafty ways, Let us contrive by skilful means to rouse The people. Let them turn from Godunov; Princes they have in plenty of their own; Let them from out their number choose a tsar. VOROTINSKY. Of us, Varyags in blood, there are full many, But 'tis no easy thing for us to vie With Godunov; the people are not wont To recognise in us an ancient branch Of their old warlike masters ”

“ Shooiski, who tried to get together a party among the merchants, was banished to a distant town; Dionysius, the metropolitan, was deposed, and a nominee of Godunov’s succeeded to the primacy of the church. When, in 1586, Batory, King of Lithuania died, Boris Godunov put forward Theodore as candidate for the crown of Poland. But the Poles would have no ruler who belonged to the eastern church. Moreover, they feared the Muscovites would join Poland to Muscovy like a sleeve to a coat; but the claim proved that Russia was still a power with which the west would have to reckon. ”

“ FEODOR. That is The Volga. TSAR. Very good! Here's the sweet fruit Of learning. One can view as from the clouds Our whole dominion at a glance; its frontiers, Its towns, its rivers. Learn, my son; 'tis science Which gives to us an abstract of the events Of our swift-flowing life. Some day, perchance Soon, all the lands which thou so cunningly Today hast drawn on paper, all will come Under thy hand. Learn, therefore; and more smoothly, More clearly wilt thou take, my son, upon thee The cares of state. (SEMYON Godunov enters.) But there comes Godunov Bringing reports to me. ”

“ It was Boris Godunov, to whom his contemporaries give the title Lieutenant of the Empire, who in reality introduced into it the attachment of serfs to the soil. Up till then the peasants, using and abusing the faculty of passing from one estate to another, had changed masters on every occasion; and many were the inconveniences which resulted, notably this that they accustomed themselves to no given situation with its climate, men, and accessories, were not attached to the ground, and remained strangers to the locality they inhabited. ”

“ MARINA. Can't you be quicker? ROUZYA. At once. Today your father counts upon you. 'Twas not for naught the young tsarevich saw you; He could not hide his rapture; wounded he is Already; so it only needs to deal him A resolute blow, and instantly, my lady, He'll be in love with you. 'Tis now a month Since, quitting Cracow, heedless of the war And throne of Moscow, he has feasted here, Your guest, enraging Poles alike and Russians. Heavens! Shall I ever live to see the day?— Say, you will not, when to his capital Dimitry leads the queen of Moscow, say You'll not forsake me? ”

“ This poem is written as a folk-story, in the style of the Byliny, and it in no way resembles a pastiche. It equals, if it does not surpass, Pushkin’s Boris Godunov as a realistic vision of the past; and as an epic tale, for simplicity, absolute appropriateness of tone, vividness, truth to nature and terseness, there is nothing in modern Russian literature to compare with it. Besides these larger poems, Lermontov wrote a quantity of short lyrics, many of which, such as “The Sail,” “The Angel,” “The Prayer,” every Russian child knows by heart. ”

“ Ivan’s youngest son, Dmitri, with his mother Maria, and her relatives, the Nagois, were domiciled in Uglitch by the order of Boris; whilst there in 1581, about the period of the Tartar invasion, young Dmitri was murdered—at Boris Godunov’s instigation it is said. Jerom Horsey, who was in Uglitch at the time, states that he was aroused late at night, the news given him, and his aid requested on behalf of Dmitri’s mother believed to be poisoned. ”

“ Theodore II. (1589–1605) , tsar of Russia, was the son of Tsar Boris Godunov and one of the daughters of Malyuta-Skuratov, the infamous favourite of Ivan the Terrible. Passionately beloved by his father, he received the best available education for those days, and from childhood was initiated into all the minutiae of government, besides sitting regularly in the council and receiving the foreign envoys. He seems also to have been remarkably and precociously intelligent, and the first map of Russia by a native, still preserved, is by his hand. ”

“ One of the most remarkable specimens of Muscovite architecture has survived from Boris Godunov’s day, the church of the Assumption he built on the Pokrovka. Like other churches of mediæval Moscow, its chief entrance is by steps to a second storey, but unlike them it is carried much higher and appears more like a collection of buildings piled upon each other. Thirteen cupolas, at different heights, are arranged around the central dome. A covered gallery surrounds the church on the main storey, and the logia beneath was, until recently, divided and let as shops. ”

“ TSAR. I go To welcome them. Basmanov, wait, stay here; I still have need to speak: a word with thee. (Exit.) BASMANOV. High sovereign spirit! God grant he may subdue The accurst Otrepiev; and much, still much Of good he'll do for Russia. A great thought Within his mind has taken birth; it must not Be suffered to grow cold. What a career For me when the ancestral horn he breaks Of the nobility. I have no rivals In war. I shall stand closest to the throne— And it may chance—But what is that strange sound? (Alarum. Boyars and court-attendants run in disorder, meet each other and whisper.) ”

“ PUSHKIN. He doth offer thee his friendship And the next place to his in the realm of Moscow. BASMANOV. But even thus highly by Feodor am I Already raised; the army I command; For me he scorned nobility of rank And the wrath of the boyars. I have sworn to him Allegiance. PUSHKIN. To the throne's lawful successor Allegiance thou hast sworn; but what if one More lawful still be living? BASMANOV. Listen, Pushkin: Enough of that; tell me no idle tales! I know the man. PUSHKIN. Russia and Lithuania Have long acknowledged him to be Dimitry ”

“ They even claimed the right to make war without command of the czar, and in spite of his injunctions devoted themselves to piracy on the Black Sea and even on the Caspian Sea. In 1593, when Boris Godunov instituted serfdom in Russia, by a ukase which forbade the peasants to change their lord or their [242] domicile, the Cossacks received immense additions to their numbers. All those who wished to live in freedom took refuge in a stanitsa, where they were sure of finding an asylum. In their ideas of honour, the atamans considered it their first duty to protect fugitives. ”

“ Then 'tis time to tame the madman! Trubetskoy, set thou forth, and thou Basmanov; My zealous governors need help. Chernigov Already by the rebel is besieged; Rescue the city and citizens. BASMANOV. Three months Shall not pass, Sire, ere even rumour's tongue Shall cease to speak of the pretender; caged In iron, like a wild beast from oversea, We'll hale him into Moscow, I swear by God. (Exit with TRUBETSKOY.) TSAR. The Lord of Sweden hath by envoys tendered Alliance to me. But we have no need To lean on foreign aid; we have enough Of our own warlike people to repel Traitors and Poles. ”

“ He was employed on diplomatic service in Scotland, Germany and Holland, and in 1588 was sent to Russia to the court of the czar Theodore with instructions to conclude as alliance between England and Russia, to restore English trade, and to obtain better conditions for the English Russia Company. The factor of the company, Jerome Horsey, had already obtained large concessions through the favour of the protector, Boris Godunov, but when Dr Fletcher reached Moscow in 1588 he found that Godunov’s interest was alienated, and that the Russian government was contemplating an alliance with Spain. ”

“ Then, when Tzar Boris Godunov, after usurping the throne, instituted serfdom (about 1592) —almost, under prevailing conditions, justifiable as a measure of state—every peasant who rebelled against being bound to the glebe fled to the Kamarynskaya. The Great Famine of 1601–3 sent more recruits. The district was conveniently near home for the immigrants, and fell into the category of "Crown Lands," so that serfdom was not established there. Naturally, also, no one was particularly anxious to own the sort of people who belonged there. ”

“ Hail Dimitry! Perish the race of Godunov!
THE KREMLIN. HOUSE OF BORIS A GUARD on the Staircase. FEODOR at a Window BEGGAR. Give alms, for Christ's sake. GUARD. Go away; it is forbidden to speak to the prisoners. FEODOR. Go, old man, I am poorer than thou; thou art at liberty. (KSENIA, veiled, also comes to the window.) ONE OF THE PEOPLE. Brother and sister—poor children, like birds in a cage. SECOND PERSON. Are you going to pity them? Accursed Family! FIRST PERSON. The father was a villain, but the children are innocent. SECOND PERSON. The apple does not fall far from the apple-tree. ”

“ Whether I meet with death as fits a soldier In honourable fight, or as a miscreant Upon the public scaffold, thou shalt not Be my companion, nor shalt share with me My fate; but it may be thou shalt regret The destiny thou hast refused. MARINA. But what If I expose beforehand thy bold fraud To all men? PRETENDER. Dost thou think I fear thee? Think'st thou They will believe a Polish maiden more Than Russia's own tsarevich? Know, proud lady, That neither king, nor pope, nor nobles trouble Whether my words be true, whether I be Dimitry or another. What care they? ”

“ PRETENDER. (Proudly.) The phantom of the Terrible hath made me His son; from out the sepulchre hath named me Dimitry, hath stirred up the people round me, And hath consigned Boris to be my victim. I am tsarevich. Enough! 'Twere shame for me To stoop before a haughty Polish dame. Farewell for ever; the game of bloody war, The wide cares of my destiny, will smother, I hope, the pangs Of love. O, when the heat Of shameful passion is o'erspent, how then Shall I detest thee! Now I leave thee—ruin, Or else a crown, awaits my head in Russia ”

“ The boyards Mstislavski, Vasili Shooiski, Belski and others, went out to argue with the citizens, but they were met with cries of “The day of Godunov is over! To-day the sun rises upon Russia; Dmitri! Long live the Tsar Dmitri! Down with the Godunovs! Cursed be the memory of Boris! Long live Dmitri!” So shouting, this crowd made its way into the Kremlin.
The rioters were masters; the guard fled, and the townsmen who had forced their way into the palace actually pulled the young Tsar from the throne. His mother begged them to spare his life, and her cry was heeded. ”