Summary of Dzyady Adam Mickiewicz

Adam Mickiewicz
Dziady
The poem reflects some facts of the author’s biography (unhappy love, arrest in Vilna for participating in the activities of circles of patriotic Polish youth, expulsion to the internal gubernias of Russia). The first part of the poem was not finished.
In the poetic introduction of the “Ghost”, the suicide youth, having risen from the coffin, pines for his beloved and with tenderness recalls the past. In the prosaic introduction, the author explains that Dzyady is an ancient folk ritual of remembrance of the deceased, based on the cult of ancestors (grandfathers). Struggling against the remnants of pagan beliefs, the church tried to eradicate this custom, and therefore the people kept Dziady secretly, in chapels or empty houses near cemeteries, where people put on a feast at night, called uninvited souls and tried to help them find eternal rest.
Part II. At night in the chapel, the Magician calls spells of the souls of

the dead. The elder and the choir echoed him. The souls of two innocent children ask for mustard seeds: “He who does not know sorrow in the world, after death, does not know joy!” The terrible specter of the late Pan begs from his peasants even a crumb of bread – only then the tortures of the villain will cease. But the people whom he once starved to death turned to ravens and owls after death and are now tearing food away from the cruel pan from the throat. The beautiful Zosia, who drove the guys crazy, but who never gave love and happiness to anyone, now languishes in anguish: “Whoever did not know the world here with earth, he will not be in heaven!”
To the woman in mourning rushes suddenly a ghost with a face pale and terrible, with a bleeding wound in the heart. Without obeying any spells,
Part IV. The dwelling of the priest. Night. The priest himself prays for the deceased. The Hermit enters in an arjuga, covered with leaves and grass. From afar he returned to the fatherland. “He who does not know love, he lives happily,” sings the stranger. Oh, what a flame burns in his chest! .. He bitterly confesses that, after reading the books, he was looking for the perfect love, traveled the whole world, and then met Her, here, next, “to lose forever.” The priest looks at the unhappy man with compassion, who is “healthy from the face, but seriously wounded in the heart.” A madman fervently and incoherently talks about his great love, copiously copying the speech with quotes from Schiller and Goethe. The priest gently notes that there are people more unhappy than his guest. But that does not concern other people’s suffering. He mourns his Maryl. She is alive – but dead to him. “He is dead,
The rooster sings. The first candle goes out. And the priest suddenly finds out in the newcomer of his pupil Gustav, “the beauty and pride of the youth,” which disappeared for many years. But Gustav refuses to stay with the priest: the boy can not repay for love and care, all his feelings – in the edges of memories. After all, everything went… “In addition to the soul and God!” – the priest answers. Gustav again in despair remembers his beloved. She preferred honor and gold… But he does not blame her: what could he give her? One love to the grave… A young man asks the priest not to tell Maryle that Gustav died from grief, and he stabs himself in the chest with a dagger. The second candle goes out. Gustav quietly hides the dagger and explains to the excited priest that he only repeated for the precepts done much earlier. Here he appeared to ask the servant of the church to return Dzyady to the people: After all, the deceased need sincere tears and prayers of the living! Gustav himself became after his death the shadow of his beloved and will remain with Maryleigh until her death, when they meet in heaven. After all, he knew heavenly bliss beside her, and “who in the sky was at least once to death, dead, does not immediately get there!”
The hours are beating. Gustav disappears.
Part III. In the prosaic introduction, the poet talks about the sufferings of Poland under the rule of Alexander I and the ruthless persecutions that struck in 1823 on Polish youth, who studied in Vilna and sought to preserve their native language and national culture. “In the case of Vilnius students there is something mystical. The high self-denial of young prisoners, to all the obvious God’s punishment that befell the oppressors – all this is deeply imprinted in the minds of the witnesses and participants in those events.
In Vilna, in the monastery of the fathers of basilians, turned into a prison, a prisoner sleeps. Angels and demons argue, fighting for his soul. A waking prisoner understands: if his enemies, “taking the speech from a bard”, will send him into exile, there, “where the song of his misunderstanding will be,”
Conrad falls asleep again. The spirit admires the power of human thought: “In prison for thought there is no obstacle: she will exalt, she will overthrow the throne.”
At night, the prisoners, using the sympathy of the Pole guard, gather in the chamber of Conrad, adjacent to the church, and celebrate Christmas. Tomasz, whom the young men consider to be their head, explains Zhegote, who was seized today: Senator Novosiltsev, who fell into disgrace “for drinking and stealing openly,” is now trying to curry favor with the tsar, “plotting to find, to slander and thereby save himself.” Noble Tomasz is ready to take all the blame on himself.
Comrades with irony tell Zhete about the horrors of imprisonment, they talk about kibitkah, taking chain boys to Siberia… Remember how the patriots shouted out of the waggons: “Forever glory to Poland!”, As soldiers were dragging prisoners who had been beaten to death… “It is not God who will only rebuild himself an unkind person, who will see the grain of grain and bury!” – Grins Zhegota. Prisoners sing a merry song about how they will extract ore in Siberia – to forge an ax for the tsar. Looking at the sullen Conrad, friends understand: he is enveloped in inspiration. Conrad sings a violent song that “calls for great vengeance” – and falls without feeling. His friends fled when they heard the patrol footsteps. And Conrad, having risen, speaks of the loneliness of the poet, Not people, but only God and nature will understand the singer! His song is “the universe of creation”! He is equal to the Creator! Immensely loving their people, the poet wants to “instruct and glorify him,” and demands that God have great power over the hearts of men. It is bitterly reproached by Conrad the Most High: why does He punish unfortunate Poles?!
The young man again falls unconscious. Demons are angry: if in his pride he continued to quarrel with God, they would get the poet’s soul! But, seeing the priest, Peter, whom the guard brought, the devils scatter. Peter expels from Conrad an evil spirit. He wriggles, yulit (“Ah, hard in hell to sensitive people! When I’m ripping off a sinner with the claws, believe me, I wipe the tears off my tail!”), But he must submit to the pious priest. Angels ask the Most High to forgive the poet: he did not honor the Lord, but loved his people and suffered for him.
In the village near Lviv, young Eva prays for the unfortunate, thrown into prison, and for the poet, whose poems are so beautiful.
In his cell, Peter the priest prays: “In place of the frontal erect my people, Vinegar Prussia, bile – Austria brings, the tsar’s soldier pierced the crucified spear, but this fierce enemy will be corrected in the future, one of all forgiven he will be Almighty.”
In his luxurious bedroom, the Senator turns on his bed. The devils rejoice: this stinking soul will not escape them!
Warsaw showroom. To know at the table chirrups in French about balls and refuses to listen to Polish poems: this is nonsense! At the door, young people and several old people speak Polish about the blood of patriots who have poured into Lithuania. But secular society does not want to hear about it: firstly, it’s dangerous, and secondly, “Lithuania is part of another planet: the Paris newspapers are completely silent about it!” The writers refuse to write about how Polish patriots suffer in prisons. “Legends as long as no…” That’s over a hundred years… Moreover, there is no national color in the subject: “We must sing the flocks, the love of the villagers: to the simple idyll always attracts the Slavs.” Outraged youth leaves the salon. Young people understand: we must go to the people.
Wilno. In the reception hall, the Senator and his henchmen create new cases for the Poles, try to throw into the dungeon a blind widow who is praying for a meeting with a severely beaten son in prison, mocking the priest Pyotr. He quietly predicts quick death to the scoundrels. finally, to taste forbidden joys. “And the judge decided to marry his nephew, who is going to leave his estate in.
In the house, Tadeusz encounters the adorable young girl.” He sees the curls of thick, short hair twisted in the morning on white papillotics, streaming the quiet glow of the golden glow. “The beauty runs away, and the young man is dreaming about her all day.
In the evening, the judge arranges dinner for the numerous guests in a half-ruined castle. He belonged once to the wealthy and distinguished nobleman Goreshko, who was friends with the judge’s brother, a dashing shirt by Jacek Soplica, but refused to give him his daughter, the blue-eyed beauty Eva, as his wife, although the young people loved each other. The tycoon found her husband more knowledgeable… Then, when the castle was stormed by the tsarist forces that occupied Lithuania, Jacek killed a shot of Goreshko, who headed the defense of this fortress. For this the new authorities gave the Castle to the Soplics. But Jacek disappeared somewhere. Now his brother is suing for the castle with the young blue-eyed handsome Count, a distant relative of Pan Goreshko.
At the feast next to Tadeusz, the dark-haired beauty of Telimena, dressed in the latest fashion, sits down. The young man is happy: this is what he saw this morning! True, then she seemed younger to him… However, these are trifles!
And the judge is talking at the table with priest Robak – a dashing monk, whose face is covered with scars. He came from behind the Neman and always whispers about something to local gentry, after which many young men flee to Polish detachments that fight under the banners of Napoleon. The Poles see the French emperor as their liberator.
In the morning, the judge arranges a hunt, in which the count also takes part, who praises himself as a romantic. “Gentry local in all corners whispered:” The count in the head, they say, does not have enough small. But they honored her for their generosity, the antiquity of the family, for never insulting the people. “The Count wandered into the castle, and there the bald key, the old shirt of Gervasi, the faithful servant of Pan Goreshko, sworn to kill the scoundrel Yatsek, begs the young man not to give these ruins to the wicked Sopilians! The Count is touched by the romantic history of the castle. “It’s a pity that Soplitsa does not have a daughter to whom the graph for the fullness of the picture could burn with a mad passion!” And suddenly he sees in the judge’s garden a lovely blond girl. “Like a toad jumping” “between mugs” , the count is chosen to be beautiful, But the sweet simplicity of “heavenly creation” disappoints him. ” On poor cucumbers, having lost his annoyance, “the count goes to the grove and sees a sophisticated secular lady, Telimenu, who carried away the judges for mushrooms, but now she is sad:” Nobody devoured the beautiful eyes, everyone was busy with despicable mushrooms! “Finally to her the judge sits down and starts talking about Tadeusz, his father, Jacek, told the deceased, and “he himself hides somewhere, does not want between that the son learned about it.” Now Jacek wrote to the judge that he married Tadeusz on the young beauty Zosia Telimena does not want to hear about Tadeusz’s wedding. the daughter of the deceased Eva in Siberia, Telimena will not give it to him… Is it not enough that Zosia spent all these years on Yatek’s money… But, fearing that the judge can marry his nephew on someone else, Telimena promises to think. the count goes to the grove and sees there a sophisticated secular lady Telimenu, who carried away all the judges’ guests for mushrooms. Now she is sad: “Nobody devoured the beautiful eyes, everyone was busy with despicable mushrooms!” Finally, a judge steps in and starts talking about Tadeusz. His father, Jacek, said the deceased, and “he hid himself somewhere, does not want between, so that the son learned about it.” Now Jacek wrote to the judge that he married Tadeusz on the young beauty Zos. Telimena does not want to hear about Tadeusz’s wedding. And his pupil Zosia, the daughter of Eva, who died in Siberia, Telimena will not give it to him. It’s not enough that all these years, Zosia lived on the money of Jacek… But, fearing that the judge can marry his nephew on someone else, Telimena promises to think. the count goes to the grove and sees there a sophisticated secular lady Telimenu, who carried away all the judges’ guests for mushrooms. Now she is sad: “Nobody devoured the beautiful eyes, everyone was busy with despicable mushrooms!” Finally, a judge steps in and starts talking about Tadeusz. His father, Jacek, said the deceased, and “he hid himself somewhere, does not want between, so that the son learned about it.” Now Jacek wrote to the judge that he married Tadeusz on the young beauty Zos. Telimena does not want to hear about Tadeusz’s wedding. And his pupil Zosia, the daughter of Eva, who died in Siberia, Telimena will not give it to him. It’s not enough that all these years, Zosia lived on the money of Jacek… But, fearing that the judge can marry his nephew on someone else, Telimena promises to think. Now she is sad: “Nobody devoured the beautiful eyes, everyone was busy with despicable mushrooms!” Finally, a judge steps in and starts talking about Tadeusz. His father, Jacek, said the deceased, and “he hid himself somewhere, does not want between, so that the son learned about it.” Now Jacek wrote to the judge that he married Tadeusz on the young beauty Zos. Telimena does not want to hear about Tadeusz’s wedding. And his pupil Zosia, the daughter of Eva, who died in Siberia, Telimena will not give it to him. It’s not enough that all these years, Zosia lived on the money of Jacek… But, fearing that the judge can marry his nephew on someone else, Telimena promises to think. Now she is sad: “Nobody devoured the beautiful eyes, everyone was busy with despicable mushrooms!” Finally, a judge steps in and starts talking about Tadeusz. His father, Jacek, said the deceased, and “he hid himself somewhere, does not want between, so that the son learned about it.” Now Jacek wrote to the judge that he married Tadeusz on the young beauty Zos. Telimena does not want to hear about Tadeusz’s wedding. And his pupil Zosia, the daughter of Eva, who died in Siberia, Telimena will not give it to him. It’s not enough that all these years, Zosia lived on the money of Jacek… But, fearing that the judge can marry his nephew on someone else, Telimena promises to think.
Leaving behind a bush, the count bows to her, and Telimena begins to chirp about divine Italy. “Paying tribute to the raptures of the south,” they “blasphemed the homeland and echoed each other.” Appeared Tadeusz hotly intercedes for the Lithuanian nature – and with his hand he presses the Telimeny’s pen. ” She flirts with both fans, Tadeuszu puts a key and a note.
The next morning, waking up, happy Tadeusz recalls the night’s pleasures – and suddenly sees the face of the golden-haired beauty that he encountered on the day of his arrival. But the young man must hurry to hunt. He rushes past the tavern of the venerable Jew Yankel; for honesty and good advice “a good Pole” he “hears in his own way”. Now priest Roebuck says the gentry gathered in the tavern that soon Napoleon will liberate Lithuania. So the Poles “on horses it’s time to sit down and take out the sabers, so you do not have to be ashamed!”
In the forest on Tadeusz and the count rushes an angry bear. The young man is rescued by Robak, who has packed the beast from a hundred steps. So once shot Yatek Soplica fired…
And Telimena estimates which of the two admirers, to her, elderly and poor, to draw to the altar. “Count of the noble bar! Varied tycoons… Blond… Blondes all in love are cold… Tadeusz is a simpleton, besides a nice fellow and loves for the first time, it’s safer, perhaps!” A graph would be nice to marry Zos! Then Telimene and the place would “found in the matrimonial estate.” And Telimena decides to present to the public today the fourteen-year-old Zosia. Enough of her messing with chickens and playing with peasant children!
Seeing Zosia dressed in the latest fashion in the living room, Tadeusz stumbles, and then desperately runs into the woods. Soon he sees Telimenu, who, wringing her hands, rushes across the lawn. But it’s not about spiritual anguish. Ants were infected by ants… Tadeusz rushes to her aid, and because of the bushes for a couple watching the jealous count.
Everyone is dining in the castle. Tadeusz is gloomy. When he saw it, he finally recognized the terrible secret of Telimen: “She was rosy!” The young man is desperately jealous of Zosia to the earl, who runs after the baby to spite Telimene. In annoyance, the Count starts a quarrel with the judge over the castle. Tadeusz summons the Count to a duel. Having defeated the whole hall and fled from the battlefield, the faithful Gerwazy picks up the Count to make a run on Soplicov!
In the morning, priest Rawak explains to the judge that Jacek Soplica “repented of a terrible crime and vowed to return the estate to the heirs.” He dreams “Tadeusz now to mate with an orphan”, “in such a way to get rid of the hostility.” There is a war for the freedom of the homeland! And in these parts, Judge Soplic will lead the patriots!
Gervaziy calls on the fellows of Dobrzyński and other local nobles to get rid of Soplic, whose brother killed the patriot Goreshko. And the szlachta, having drunk hard, falls in delight at the count, dressed “in black, on a horse excellent, in an open cloak elegant, foreign.”
And the judge and his guests are looking in amazement at the comet. Ungrateful is a sign! The priest finally admits to the judge that he, Roebuck, is Jacek Soplica. Tadeusz, once completely entangled in his love affairs, decides to immediately fight the count, and then run to the rebels. In the dark corridor, the young man lies in wait for Telimen and threatens to tell everyone how Tadeusz insidiously seduced her, an innocent girl. A young man calls her a fool, but understands: his future is ruined. Let Zosenka find happiness with the Count! And the poor fellow runs to the fire, but at the pond he encounters a rival who is going to storm Soplitsov. Tadeusz is seized; a gang of szlachta flies into the estate. Telimena throws the Count to her feet. The embarrassed Count locks the prisoners in the house, and the nobility attacks the cellar and the kitchen.
Stirring brawlers are wringing soldiers-Moskali. The judge herself and Zosenka ask to release dissolute gentry. Women are sobbing. “From these tears and cries the captain, the brave Nikita Rykov, softened,” but Major Dodger – a Pole, in pursuit of rank and money remaking his Russian name Plutovich in Russian, is going to severely punish rioters. After all, the Dobrinsky shouted in all corners that he had robbed the regimental cashier! Now they will go to Siberia, if the judge does not lay out a thousand for each!
But here the priest Roebuck leads all the neighbors, and the battle begins. Poles are overwhelmed. Robak to Rykov “sent a parlementer and offered him to hand over the weapon without a dispute, but Rykov did not want to beg for pardon.” The battle continues. The priest covers his wounded count with his body. Finally, the enemy was defeated, Rykov captured. “I, Lyahs, love you!” the captain admits with genuine admiration. The dodger hid himself in the courtyard next door, and that’s the end of the raid in Lithuania. ”
With indignation having refused money, Rykov promises to settle business with the authorities. “Moscow for Moskal, and Poland for the Pole, for me, let it be so – the king does not want to, however,” the captain observes with a sigh.
Gervasi recalls that he killed the Dodger. The wounded Robak announces that the heroes of the battle must immediately flee abroad. Before separation, Tadeusz does not want to associate Zosia with the engagement. But he hopes to return to his beloved, fanned by glory. Zosia, tearing with tears, hangs an incense around his neck. Count, realizing that they are not competitors with Tadeusz, gently bids farewell to astonished Telimen and, following the example of a young man, also goes to perform feats on the battlefield. The priest advises the rich count to equip a whole regiment. When everyone leaves, Robak confesses to Gervazia that he is Jacek Soplica. He sincerely loved Garelszko, who frankly used it. When the tycoon, knowing the feelings of Yacek and Eva, gave his daughter for another, insulted Jacek in despair married a wretched girl and sorrow from sorrow. His unhappy wife soon died, leaving him a son Tadeusz. Mad with his pride and love for Eve, Jacek killed Goreshko, who defended the castle from the “Muscovites”. And everyone began to regard Yatsek as a traitor! Redeeming his sin, he took the name of Robak – “in the dust of the worm” – and gave himself entirely to the service of the Lord and the fatherland. Shocked by the suffering that Jacek suffered, Gervasiia admits that Goreshko, when he died, forgave Soplic.
They bring a letter from Warsaw: a war has been declared. The Saeima decided to reunite Poland and Lithuania. With a reconciled soul, Jacek dies of wounds.
1812. French and Polish troops enter Lithuania. They are enthusiastically welcomed by the local gentry. In Soplitsov, General Dombrovsky himself appeared at midnight. ” The estate hosts a grand feast. Here they restore the honest name of Jacek Soplica: “the deceased was awarded the hand of Napoleon with a distinction – the Cross of the Legion of Honor.” At the feast, they announce the engagement of Zosi, dressed up in Lithuanian national dress and the brave lancer Tadeusz, recovering from his wounds. Appeared at the feast and another couple – Telimena and her fiance – a notary who replaced at the request of the bride the Polish dress on the coats. Treason! – Shouts the shocked Count, produced by Napoleon in the colonels. Telimena is ready to immediately throw the notary, but now she seems to be a “vulgar, prosaic” count. “Pretty nonsense to grind!”
Tadeusz decides to free his peasants: “It is shameful for a man to be a slave owner!” “If from this we become poor, what is it? You will become even more dear to me then!” – Zosia answers, ready to live with her beloved in the backwoods, in the countryside, “turkeys, chickens, and pheasants are a hundred times miles away than Petersburg is foggy!” The old Gervasius does not very much approve of the plans for the emancipation of the peasants, but to ensure that the young do not run poorly, hands the precious treasure hidden in the castle by her ancestors to the hands of Zosi, and a bag of thalers from himself. Sam key is going to live with Zosenka and Tadeusz and raise their sons with excellent shirts.
Under the cymbals of Yankel, everyone is dancing a polonaise, the melody of which seems to tell us about the victories and defeats of the Poles.
“And I was with the guests, I drank good honey and wine, I saw what I heard, collected here together.”
Epilogue. “So I thought in the streets of Paris” In the hype, in the chaos of low-level deceptions. One joy in a difficult time… Dreaming of a homeland, forgetting a foreign land. “