W „ciemnej jaskini trumien” – wędrówka po podziemiach w utworach Juliusza Słowackiego

Abstract

The present sketch analyses underground scenes from three dramas by Juliusz Słowacki: Mary Stuart, Kordian and Beatrix Cenci. They constitute a significant element of the creation not just of space and mood as such, but of the depth of the represented reality, and above all the depth of the characters, who – for various reasons – take decisions of evil or at least morally dubious deeds in isolated spaces, located underground or profoundly separated from the external world. In these texts, hidden, underground places become the space of revealing deeply concealed desires and intentions which the characters them selves often did not realize before. This is because a journey into the depths of the earth is a journey into the most profound interior of the human being, or, as Maria Janion puts it, into “dark labyrinths of the soul”, corridors, dungeons and “cellars of the mind” 26, which also implies approaching some mystery (the mystery of nature, the mystery of the human psyche). It is also a descent towards our roots, into the source of the subconscious, to the causes of our actions.