Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/162

148 The young man (Bod) returns to Hungary, having no remembrance of his country or of his family, members of which he happens to meet, though without recognition on either side. Such a situation could easily give rise to tragical incidents, but Vörösmarty, writing under the influence of the French school, heaped wonder upon wonder, intro­ docing extravagant passions and improbable actions. Bod meets Ida, the wife of his brother Marót, and instead of stealing her for his master's harem, falls in love with her himself, and declares his love just as her hushand returns home.

Then comes a common stage trick. Marót spreads a false report of his own death in order to deceive the lovers. A funeral ceremony is arranged, and Marót, unseen, hears Ida tell Bod that she loves him. The husband, embittered by his wife's faithlessness and especially enraged by her confession of love for a Turk, bands her over to the Bey and demands that Bod shall be beheaded. Soon, however, he discovers by means of a sword carried by Bod, which is a family heirloom, that Bod is his brother. He forgives him, and endeavours to free his wife from the Turkish Bey's prison. Bod under­takes the task of rescuing Ida; he penetrates to the Bey's tent, but finding himself unable to deliver her, kills her, in order to put an end to the shame of his brother's wife. This costs him his own life, for he falls by the hand of the Bey. In the battle which follows the Hungarians are victorious, and Marót executes the Bey and swears the destruction of the Turks.

It is easy to recognise the influence of Victor Hugo and the French école romantique in this tragedy. Two brothers as deadly enemies, who recognise each other towards the end of the drama by means of a family