Persona inferna – a mask from hell. The Pretender in Pushkin’s tragedy Boris Godunov

Abstract

The author interprets the Pretender in Pushkin’s Boris Godunov as an infernal figure rather than an example of an unsophisticated yet talented and ambitious adventurer. Comparative analysis of 17th-c. Russian historical sources and the tragedy reveals that, in his depiction of the Pretender, Pushkin relied on hagiographies, chronicles, and reminiscences of people with first-hand knowledge, rather than N. Karamzin’s work. The paper examines the qualities attributed to the Pretender by other characters in the tragedy: they concern his personality, official and canonical legal status. The author stresses that the attributions are unbiased reflections on the Pretender’s actions. To this end, the researcher analyses the meaning and significance of the terms ‘rasstriga’ (‘runaway monk’), ‘samozvanets’ (‘pretender’), ‘eretic’ (‘heretic’), ‘postrel’ (‘scamp’), ‘sosud diavolskiy’ (‘vessel of evil’), and ‘vragougodnik’ (‘devil’s accomplice’) in their meanings from the 17th c. and up until Pushkin’s lifetime. Viewed from this angle, the Pushkinian character is presented as a menacing figure hell-bent on getting a Faustian bargain.