Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/139

 KATONA theme is in itself strikingly tragic. lmagine a just and noble-minded king who is compelled to leave his country and · fight in foreign lands, and therefore charges his re­ presentative, the palatine and chief judge of the country, with the safegu arding of his kingdom and his queen. While he is away, the over-induiged brother of the queen , with her consent and assistance, seduces the palatine's wife. Simultaneously the most ardent patriots, ernbittered agaiost the foreign queen, wh o, for the sake of her foreign courtiers, neglects and oppresses the H ungarians, fo rm a conspiracy agaiost her. What a conflict of circumstances for the Pal atine ! What contending duties l Which side shall he take ? Duty points to his place by the side of the queen. But she is the enemy of his fatherland and the originator of the offence agaiost his honour. On the other hand, how can he, the repre­ sentative of the king, take the part of the conspirators ? Th is truly dramatic situation attracted many authors. As early as 1 562 Hans Sach s discovered its dramatic possibilities, and wrote a play entitled Ein tragedi, mit zw(Jlf f personen zu sp ielen, Andreas der ungerisch K(Jn ig mit Bankbano seinem getrewen statthalter. Nearly two bundred years later the English writer, George Lillo, 'Yrote a play on. the same subject, called Elmerick, ot Justice Triumphant. Both Lillo and Hans Sach s took their subj ect from Bonfini's Latin History of Hungary. Six years after Katona's play was published, the Austrian poet Grillparzer wrote a tragedy, Ein treuer Diener seines He rrn, also dealing with the story of the palatine. Grill­ parzer knew nothing of Katona's drama. Katona rose far above ali other writers in his treatment of the theme. His drama is a plastic image of the storm­ tossed soul of the noble palatine.