Law and religion in “Martian the Lawyer”, the dramatic poem by Lesia Ukrainka

Abstract

The paper explains the attitudes towards law and religion in Lesia Ukrainka’s dramatic poem “Martian the Lawyer” (1911). The poem depicts the life of early Christians under the Roman law in the third century and obtains new relevance in the context of the movement ‘Law and Literature’, as the focus on law in this oeuvre allows a deeper exploration of its meaning. Law is connected with religion in two ways in the poem: as a part of the civil religion and as a system of prohibitions and punishments within the Christian community. Analysis of the text shows that Martian is a carrier of a sophisticated religious form, which implies the juridical elements codified in early Christianity, as well as a belief in law as the incarnation of the idea of truth and justice. The two antagonistic social and spiritual systems – early Christianity and the Roman law – fuse into one ideology that consumes the life of the protagonist. The difference between the juridical laws, the law of nature, and the commandments of Christian leaders disappears within this religious form. In the house of the hero, only those things that represent time or law remain, such as different types of timepieces and juridical texts; Martian’s home becomes a place for abstract ideas, but not for human beings with their needs and feelings. For the protagonist, there are no conflicts between law and religion, but there is a conflict between early Christianity and the Roman law on the one side and, on the other side, human compassion, which is supposed to be a crucial idea within Christianity but is not practiced in the local Christian community. Because of this conflict, Martian completely loses contact with human feelings and becomes an ideal lawyer, which is beneficial for his Christian community but tragic for himself and his relatives. This development signifies not only a sacrifice but also the full realization of Martian’s talent (Ukrainian: ‘khyst’). In some episodes within other poems by Lesia Ukrainka, law and religion are presented as intertwined or undifferentiated, but in “Martian the Lawyer” the author for the first time elaborates this issue thoroughly and creates an ambivalent and sophisticated dramatic situation.