Interpretation of Political Aggression in the Drama The Mistr (2010) by Marius Ivaškevičius

Abstract

Marius Ivaškevičius’ drama The Mistr (2010) is a tragi-comical grotesque pasted together from historical and cultural symbols and interpreting the person of Adomas Mickevičius (1798–1855) and his relationships with Andrzej Towiański (1799–1878), the prototype for the Mistr in the play. In religious and cultural history Andrzej Towiański, a self-proclaimed prophet, „a mistr called by God“, represents the archetypical figure of the false prophet. M. Ivaškevičius’ play constructs the demonic figure of the Mistr as the sign of the demonic nature of political oppression. The entanglement of political aggression and the demonic is typically found in Lithuanian literature. The work offers an original variation on the entanglement by reflecting the Soviet propaganda, its fantastic ability to penetrate into the deepest levels of a victim’s mentality.