Abstract
The article attempts to compare the two final monologues of the tragedies written at the turn of the XVII – XVIII centuries by J. Addison and I. K. Gottsched representing the samples of the classic drama of early Enlightening. Tragedies, undoubtedly, played a key role in the formation and development of the literature of the time, but were forgotten and fell out of the sight of modern researchers because of the later and large-scale achievements of enlightening literature in England and Germany. The protagonist of both tragedies, a legendary stoic and a fighter against Caesar’s tyranny Cato Uticensis is faced with a dilemma: to die or bow his head before the winner. As a result of long thought and doubt Cato killed himself with a sword. Issues of voluntary passing were not often discussed in Philosophic and literary sources of the XVII – XVIII centuries. The general negative attitude to suicide began to weaken only at the end of the XVIII century in the works of Montaigne and D. Hume. Both Gottsched and Addison certainly needed valid arguments that would substantiate and justify the action of the protagonist. In Gottsched’s tragedy, "The death of Cato", this passage, like the others, is only a translation of the soliloquy of Cato from Addison's tragedy "Cato". But Gottsched’s monologue is ten lines longer! Why did he need to improve already well-known passage? Comparative analysis of the monologues, one of which is relatively original, and the other is a free interpretation of the first, allows us to find answers to the questions and draws attention to the work of representatives of the early European Enlightenment, that influenced the development of national literature as well.
Keywords: Enlightenment, tragedy, classicism, Cato, monologue, J. Addison, I. K. Gottsched
Аuthors:
Olga Yu. Kolesnikova, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Institute for the Humanities, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University Magnitogorsk, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Maria L. Skvortsova, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Institute for the Humanities, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
References
1. Anikst A. A. Teoriya dramy ot Aristotelya do Lessinga. Moscow, Nauka, 1967, 454 p.
2. Kolesnikova O. Yu., Skvortsova M. L. Motiv «porok» v dramaturgii epokhi Vozrozhdeniya, Teoriya i praktika sovremennoi nauki, 2016, no. 6‒1 (12), pp. 616‒621.
3. Kolesnikova O. Yu., Skvortsova M. L., Kharitonova S. V. U istokov byurgerskoi kul'tury: moralisti-cheskie ezhenedel'niki I. K. Gotsheda, Problemy istorii, filologii, kul'tury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies], 2015, no. 4 (50), pp. 248‒253.
4. Skvortsova M. L. Tvorchestvo I. K. Gotsheda v kontekste rannego nemetskogo Prosveshcheniya : dis. … kand. filol.nauk, Magnitogorsk, 2004, 205 p.
5. Gottsched J. Ch. Versuch einer Critischen Dichtkunst vor die Deutschen; darinnenn erstlich die allgemeinen Regeln der Poesie, hernach alle besonderen Gattungen der Gedichte abgehandelt und mit Exemheln erläutert warden? Überall aber gezeigt wird, daβ das innere Wesen der Poesie in einer Nachahmung der Natur bestehe. Leipzig, 1730, 750 s.
For citation
Kolesnikova O. Yu., Skvortsova M. L. Hero of Enlightenment in the Face of Death (Caton’s last Soliloquy in Tragedies by J. Addison and I. K. Gottsched) Gumanitarno-pedagogicheskie issledovaniya [Humanitarian and pedagogical Research], 2019, vol. 3, no 2, pp. 36–41.