Monika Hornová

The Hussite dialogue Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí (=A Dialogue between a Human and Death, hereafter Rozmlouvání) has been a subject of interest for Lenka Jiroušková, a researcher who presenter a paper at the international conference organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences in January 2011 (the proceedings of which were edited by Dąbrówka and Stępień in 2014). In this paper, she compared three surviving Medieval dialogues, namely the Latin Dialogus mortis cum homine, the Old Polish text Rozmowa mistrza Polikarpa ze Śmiercią and the Hussite dialogue Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí.

Jiroušková’s paper summarizes and builds on the findings of the ongoing research into the Hussite dialogue. (for interpretation of its structure and a timeframe, cf. Vrtel-Wierczyński, Svejkovský, Kolár 1964 and 1965, Všetička). Furthermore, it presents an interpretation of the dialogue structure from a new perspective.

Jiroušková distinguishes three parts in the dialogue on the basis of changes in the communicative situation. The boundaries between the three situations are formed by the employment of the motif of a door, or rather a struggle to open it (Jiroušková, p. 42). The boundary between the first and second communicative situations is represented by the Human’s decision to stop listening to the preaching of Death and to close the door; cf. the lines, [Člověk] “Chciť se tebe již zbaviti, / a tiem lépe se přivřieti.”¹ (Rozmlouvání, p. 633-4). The next boundary, according to Jiroušková, occurs in the author-narrator speech in which he introduces a new situation, namely an open confrontation between the two protagonists after Death breaks into the Human’s house (Jiroušková, p. 44); cf. lines, [Autorská řeč] “A s tiem smrt dveři vyrazí, / hned hospodáře poraz픲 (Rozmlouvání, p. 1220-1). Both protagonists refer to the closed door on multiple occasions during their exchange, specifically in lines 4, 180, 634, 645, 712, 716, 804–8, 869 and 1120.

The dramatic nature and escalation of suspense, both of which are related to Death’s forced opening of the door, constitute an important part of the text structure and are reflected in the expressions and verbs used. They range from begging through commanding to the forced opening of the door (cf. Kolár, p. 484, Všetička, p. 198, Jiroušková, p. 42). The door then becomes a spatial boundary (“prostorová hranice“, Jiroušková, p. 42) through which one can hear – but not see – and the potential destruction of which means, for the Human, the ultimate loss, i.e. his instant demise. Lenka Jiroušková comments on this motif in the following way: “The antagonistic character of the communication is concentrated in the fight for the door. Death uses all Its means to make the Human open the door. The Human, on the other hand, does His utmost to stop Death from entering His house, to make It leave. The turning point comes when Death uses physical violence and shatters the door. The communication ceases and, face to face with Death, the Human dies” (Jiroušková, p. 42).

Thus, Jiroušková claims that one can associate the motif of the door in Rozmlouvání with the motif of a visit. One can perceive the visit of Death personified as a metaphor for Human’s confrontation with Death and with His mortality. The goal of the present paper is to describe the aspects of the two protagonists’ meeting, to trace the motif of the visit in the Hussite dialogue and, in doing so, to build up on Lenka Jiroušková’s findings.

Although the introductory prologue of the Hussite dialogue is now lost, and there is no indication of the circumstances under which the Human meets Death in the surviving fragment, one can infer from the opening lines (“Musímť se na péči míti, / a tím lépe dveří přivříti”³ (Rozmlouvání 3-4) that the initial contact is made through the front house door that has been left ajar (“profane space”, cf. Hornová, p. 189). The door, thus, presents a possible defence mechanism for the human protagonist while at the same time blocking the way for his counterpart. The fifth time the Human speaks (“Ale neokazuj mi své tváři, / ještě mluv se mnú tak skrze dveři”⁴ (Rozmlouvání, p. 179–80)), He makes it clear to the reader that He is meeting Death, which is personified in natura (Jiroušková, p. 42) and which has assumed a specific physical shape that instils fear in Human (cf. “Neb jakž bych tvú tvář opatřil, / snad bych se až na smrt zděsil.”⁵ (Rozmlouvání, p. 181-2)).

After finding and comparing the similarities between the internal structure of Rozmlouvání and the design of the Medieval Polish dialogue Rozmowa mistrza Polikarpa ze Śmiercią (cf. Jiroušková, Hornová), which deals with the same topic, a conclusion can be drawn that the Hussite poet introduced the situation of the direct encounter of the two protagonists in the missing lines. The countenance of Death personified is likely to be presented in a naturalistic vein. It is also likely that Death has come to visit the Human unexpectedly and, knocking on the door, demanded to be let in. The Human may have indeed opened the door but, having become terrified of Its appearance, probably closed the door again and secured it with a bolt. From that point on, the Human communicated with Death through the closed door asking It about Its reason for visiting Him. This reconstruction of what was conveyed in the missing lines is supported by texts of the ars bene moriendi type and the attached wood engravings. In these texts, Death is either found dwelling in immediate proximity of a dying person or is demanding entry into his house for the purpose of a visit (Włodarski, p. 66–8). I see this common topos of a (dying) human being’s encounter with Death, which is typical of the ars bene moriendi type of treatises, as applicable to the Hussite text as well.

Another aspect of the described motif can be observed in the third communicative situation, the greeting of the lord of the house, that starts after Death makes a forced entry into Human’s house. When Death addresses Its host with “Pokoj tobě, hospodáři”⁶ (Rozmlouvání p. 1122), the reply is ironic: “Vítaj, ó nevděčný hosti, / můj smutku i má žalosti”⁷ (p. 1172–3). The encounter is, thus, framed by double irony.

The motif of a visit occurs repeatedly in Death’s speech in the following lines: “všeť já navštieviti umím”⁸ (Rozmlouvání, p. 35) and “nebo mé navštívení / jest dobrým k utěšení”⁹ (p. 137–8). Both occurrences express, in a metaphorical way, the sudden face-to-face confrontation between Human and Death, which symbolizes human mortality and clarifies the meaning of the text as reflected in the moralistic imperative memento mori. The latter quote underlines the positive consequences of dying.

In addition to depicting the actual visit paid by Death to Its counterpart, the Hussite dialogue contains allusions to the motif a visit in numerous verbal expressions that refer to how Death enters houses and monasteries and how it unexpectedly and suddenly accosts representatives of Medieval society, particularly Church officials, cf. [Smrt] “Vejduť do měst pevných / neoptajíci se branných. / Shledámť já městské konšely, / […] / Vlezuť do klášteruov pevných, / […] / mezi mnichy se přilúdím / […] / Vkraduť se mezi jeptišky, / […] / Přijduť také i mezi sedláky, / […] / Shledámť já je po záles픹⁰ (Rozmlouvání, p. 661–85). The author uses the same method as when he lists the secular abodes visited by Death juxtaposing the castle and the farm as well as the locked cellar and the shepherd’s cottage. This way, the apodictic assertion is made that all men are equal in the face of Death; cf. lines, [Smrt] “Tak směle na hrad potluku / jako na sedlskú chalupu. / Tak do sklepu zamčeného / jako do domu pastušího”¹¹ (Rozmlouvání, p. 649–52).

It seems appropriate to elaborate on the findings of Lenka Jiroušková who perceives the motif of a door in Rozmlouvání as a boundary between narrative-communicative parts of the dialogue and to state that the motif of a door is closely related to the motif of a visit. In effect, this motif is an image of a warped (even parodied) social event as the host locks himself in before the uninvited and disagreeable guest who uses violence to enter the place. The metaphor of an unannounced visit, which symbolizes the suddenness and violence of Death, appears in the speeches of Death several times. This way, the moralistic memento mori, which was a generally accepted warning in the Middle Ages, is strengthened.

In spite of various interpretations and efforts of researchers to explain basic questions related to the text, such as its origin, author and structure, there are still a few mysteries and unexplained issues left. For example, who has warned the Human and who has given Him a good warning (cf. “(…) se jmenovala, / dobrous mi výstrahu dala.”¹² (Rozmlouvání, p. 1–2)). These questions could be answered by a new critical edition of the Hussite text which would summarize the research into Rozmlouvání, take all the three versions of the text into consideration and replace Svejkovsky’s 1963 edition (cf. Jiroušková, p. 33).

Literature

Dąbrówka, A. – Stępień, P. (eds). Widzenie Polikarpa: Średniowieczne rozmowy człowieka ze śmiercią. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo IBL PAN, 2014.

Hornová, M. The Motifs of Death in the Polish Medieval Dialogue Rozmowa mistrza Polikarpa ze Śmiercią and the Czech Dialogue Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí. Diss. Masaryk University, 2015.

Jiroušková, L. Rozmlúvanie Smrti s člověkem a člověka se Smrtí: Komparativní úvahy nad staročeským, latinským a staropolským zpracováním. Widzenie Polikarpa: Średniowieczne rozmowy człowieka ze śmiercią. Dąbrówka, Andrzej and Paweł Stępień (eds). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo IBL PAN, 2014. 32–82.

Kolár, J. Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí v české poezii 15. století. Česká literatura: Časopis pro literární vědu 12.6 (1964): 478–90.

Kolár, J. K dataci staročeského Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí. Listy filologické 88.3 (1965): 295–307.

Svejkovský, F (ed.). Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí. In: Veršované skladby doby husitské. Praha: Nakladatelství Československé akademie věd, 1963. 49–89.

Vrtel-Wierczyński, S. Rozmowa człowieka ze śmiercią w literaturze średniowiecznej polskiej i czeskiej. Lwów: Wydawnictwo Zakładu Narodowego imienia Ossolińskich, 1926.

Všetička, F. Kompozice staročeského Rozmlouvání člověka se Smrtí. Listy filologické 91.2 (1968): 198–206.

Mgr. Monika Hornová – absolventka bohemistiky a polonistiky na Masarykově univerzitě. V současné době doktorandka (obor: Polská literatura), která se ve své doktorské práci věnuje srovnání motivů smrti ve staropolském a husitském dialogu člověka s personifikovanou Smrtí. Zabývá se mimo jiné možnostmi využití mobilních aplikací ve výuce.

Kontakt: hornova.monika@seznam.cz