Schiller's Jungfrau, Euripides's Iphigenia Plays, and Joan of Arc on the Stage

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2015 Sisters in Sublime Sanctity: Schiller's Jungfrau, Euripides's Iphigenia Plays, and Joan of Arc on the Stage John Martin Pendergast Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1090 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] SISTERS IN SUBLIME SANCTITY: Schiller’s Jungfrau, Euripides’s Iphigenia Plays, and Joan of Arc on the Stage by John Pendergast A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2015 ii © 2015 JOHN PENDERGAST All Rights Reserved iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 21 May 2015 Dr. Paul Oppenheimer________________________ Date Chair of the Examining Committee 21 May 2015______________ Dr. Giancarlo Lombardi ______________________ Date Executive Officer Dr. Paul Oppenheimer Dr. Elizabeth Beaujour Dr. André Aciman Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv Abstract Sisters in Sublime Sanctity: Schiller’s Jungfrau, Euripides’s Iphigenia Plays, and Joan of Arc on the Stage by John Pendergast Adviser: Professor Paul Oppenheimer At the dawn of the nineteenth century, Friedrich Schiller reinvented the image of Joan of Arc in his play, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, with consequences that affected theatrical representations of Joan for the rest of that century and well into the twentieth. Regarding representations of Joan of Arc to be found in Shakespeare or Voltaire as unworthy of her nobility, Schiller set out to create a more powerful character who suffers at the hands of fate but changes history by sheer force of will. He took as his allegorical model the characterization of Iphigenia made famous by Euripides in Iphigenia among the Taurians and Iphigenia in Aulis, in which the ancient Greek tragedian transformed his heroine from a pitiable victim of fate into a fearsome priestess with the power to reverse a familial curse and unite a nation at war. Schiller was equally bold with the historical facts of Joan of Arc’s life. Inspired by Euripides, he introduced romance, paternal betrayal, and a rescue almost worthy of a deus ex machina. In Schiller’s alternate version, the enemy soldier who captured her in history becomes the object of her captivated gaze. In place of condemnation by the church, she finds herself denounced by her v own father. Instead of burning at the stake, she experiences a glowing vision of the heavens as she dies in the glory of battle. The effect was electric, and his play’s enormous (albeit short- lived) popularity gave rise to numerous subsequent treatments, including a translation into Russian by Zhukovsky, an opera by Verdi, and an opera by Tchaikovsky. This dissertation examines the literary and aesthetic context in which Schiller created his drama and proposes several reasons for its notoriously ahistorical character. The fundamental, guiding concept here is “sublime sanctity,” which I plan to argue is the product of Schiller’s appropriation of Euripides’ themes into his play. Sublime sanctity, as I plan to show, is the essential quality in Schiller’s depiction of Joan, an idea that seizes the willing spectator and enables the play to achieve its intended force. I plan to argue, moreover, that subsequent versions only achieve their force by retaining key salient qualities that Schiller’s Joan shares with Euripides’ Iphigenia. Without them, these versions must fail; with them, audiences may be introduced to sublime sanctity itself, irrespective of their aesthetic dispositions. After establishing the ideas and principles underpinning sublime sanctity, the investigation will proceed chronologically, with an examination of other manifestations of Joan of Arc, primarily in the theater, either tracing their provenance directly to Schiller or, in the case of Shaw’s Saint Joan, bearing a high degree of affinity with his creation. The discussion will return often to the fluctuating distinctions between classicism and romanticism, idealism and realism, philosophy and history, and the impact produced by these ideas on the creative artists, their works, and their audiences. I will attempt to account for the enduring appeal – or just as often the lack thereof – of the various plays and operas on the basis of these ideas throughout the nineteenth century across Europe. I plan to consider these ideas more as reflections of the circumstances in which the works were created than as the basis for assessing their dramatic impact. Ultimately, this dissertation contends that vi the dramatic value of each of the theatrical incarnations of Joan of Arc under discussion must be judged by the degree to which the various authors and composers preserve the salient elements of sublime sanctity and create an atmosphere for the audience to respond to it. vii Acknowledgements Why Joan? Numerous intersections between the popular conception of Joan of Arc, especially the ideas and symbols depicted in Schiller’s play about her, and the details of my own life explain my choice of this topic. One of my sisters is named Joan, and as a pious little Catholic girl, Joan of Arc was a natural hero for her growing up. She dressed up as Joan of Arc when we were little, and I was very jealous of the sword, shield, and banner my mother made for her. A cousin named Joanne, the variation of Joan, has been fascinated by Joan of Arc all her life, as well. To them I dedicate my work in gratitude for sharing their sincere feeling for Joan, a connection of blood and heart. As Schiller says of Joan: “Dich schuf das Herz” (“You were made by heart”). My sister as Joan of Arc, with our mother behind. Photo credit: Dad, Patrick Pendergast, 1928-2008 Through the entire doctoral process, my partner João Forte, my daughters Tasha and Ali, my other sister Helen, my brother Patrick, my mother Catherine and my extended family have shown enormous patience, understanding, and support, without which I would never have found the heart to complete this dissertation. To them I say: obrigado, спасибо, Danke, and thank you! I have taught at the United States Military Academy, West Point, since 2002, and images related to Schiller’s depiction of Joan abound there, as well. The most prominent is displayed on a viii mural decorating one of the walls in the enormous dining hall, or Cadet Mess, of the academy. This mural is called the “Panorama of Military History,” the center of which is occupied by the image of Richard the Lionheart heading off to the Crusades. Practically touching the nose of his steed is a figure labled “Jeanne d’Arc,” hoisting aloft her sword of St. Catherine of Fierbois as she lifts the Siege of Orleans. Most striking about the image of Joan is its Detail, “Panorama of Military History” resemblance to the tableau that closes the final scene West Point Cadet Mess of Schiller’s play. Another character briefly featured but pivotal to the plot in Schiller’s play is the Black Knight, who is the mascot for the sports teams at West Point. Schiller specifically requested that the image of Minerva grace the cover of the published version of the play. The seal of West Point features the helmet of Minerva, goddess of wisdom. Renderings of Minerva, looming larger than life, look down from a frieze at the top of the old library and, in the form of a statue, from the rafters of a reception hall in the Officers’ Club. Clearly, I had only to look around me to find suggestions for this endeavor. I have been fortunate to be surrounded also by extraordinary cadets and colleagues, to whom I dedicate my efforts for providing inspiration, especially Brig. Gen. Rick McPeak (US Army, Ret.) and Dr. Larry Mansour of the United States Military Academy, who were the first to see in me a potential scholar of Russian language and literature. ix Minerva was the Roman name of the Greek goddess, Athena. My name is John. Like Minerva and Athena, my sister’s name and mine are mirror reflections, which reminds us that brother and sister play a critical role in Euripides’s plays. On the human level, we have Iphigenia and her brother, Orestes. They, in turn, are under the watchful gaze and influence of the brother and sister gods, Apollo and Artemis. I have been fortunate to benefit in the course of my academic development from a scholarly pantheon that continues to open my mind to the riches of Comparative Literature. First and foremost I wish to thank my advisor, Professor Paul Oppenheimer of City College and the CUNY Graduate Center, for first guiding me into the realm of Goethe and Schiller’s Weimar Classicism and for his astonishingly meticulous editing of this dissertation; my readers, Professor Elizabeth Beaujour of Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center and Professor André Aciman of the CUNY Graduate Center, for their patience and forbearance; Professor Jacob Stern of the CUNY Graduate Center, who first made the world of ancient Greek and Roman literature comprensible to me; Professor Boris Gasparov of Columbia University, whose literary and musiciological insight blazes trails as it opens new vistas; and Professor Caryl Emerson of Princeton University, whose presence at my first academic conference presentation was as encouraging afterward as it was terrifying beforehand.

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