The Dynasts is an English-language closet drama in verse and prose by Thomas Hardy. Hardy himself described this work as "an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes". Not counting the Forescene and the Afterscene, the exact total number of scenes is 131. The verse is primarily iambic pentameter, occasionally tetrameter, and often with rhymes. The three parts were published in 1904, 1906 and 1908.
Because of the ambition and scale of the work, Hardy acknowledged that The Dynasts was not a work that could be conventionally staged in the theatre, and described the work as "the longest English drama in existence". Scholars have noted that Hardy remembered war stories of the veterans of the Napoleonic wars in his youth, and used them as partial inspiration for writing The Dynasts many years later in his own old age. In addition, Hardy was a distant relative of Captain Thomas Hardy, who had served with Admiral Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar. Hardy consulted a number of histories and also visited Waterloo, Belgium, as part of his research.
George Orwell wrote that Hardy had "set free his genius" by writing this drama and thought its main appeal was "in the grandiose and rather evil vision of armies marching and counter-marching through the mists, and men dying by hundreds of thousands in the Russian snows, and all for absolutely nothing."
Synopsis
In addition to the various historical figures, The Dynasts also contains an extensive tragic chorus of metaphysical figures ("Spirits" and "Ancient Spirits") who observe and discuss the events.
Part First contains a Forescene and six Acts with 35 Scenes. The time period of the events in Part First covers 10 months, from March 1805, the time when Napoleon repeated his coronation ceremony at Milan and took up the crown of Lombardy, through January 1806, the time of the death of William Pitt the Younger. The principal historical events entail Napoleon's invasion plans for England, which are abandoned when French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve sails for the south, the Battle of Trafalgar, and subsequently the Battle of Ulm and the Battle of Austerlitz. The division of the Acts and its Scenes is as follows:
Fore Scene. The Overworld
Act First: Scene I. England – A Ridge in Wessex Scene II. Paris – Office of the Minister of Marine Scene III. London – The Old House of Commons Scene IV. The Harbour of Boulogne Scene V. London – The House of a Lady of Quality Scene VI. Milan. The Cathedral
Act Second: Scene I. The Dockyard, Gibraltar Scene II. Off Ferrol Scene III. The Camp and Harbour of Boulogne Scene IV. South Wessex – A Ridge-like Down near the Coast Scene V. The Same – Rainbarrows' Beacon, Egdon Heath
Act Third: Scene I. The Chateau at Pont-de-Briques Scene II. The Frontiers of Upper Austria and Bavaria Scene III. Boulogne – The St Omer Road
Act Fourth: Scene I. King George's Watering-place, South Wessex Scene II. Before the City of Ulm Scene III. Ulm – Within the City Scene IV. Before Ulm – The Same Day Scene V. The Same – The Michaelsberg Scene VI. London – Spring Gardens
Act Fifth: Scene I. Off Cape Trafalgar Scene II. The Same – The Quarter-deck of the "Victory" Scene III. The Same – On Board the "Bucentaure" Scene IV. The Same – The Cockpit of the "Victory" Scene V. London – The Guildhall Scene VI. An Inn at Rennes Scene VII. King George's Watering-place, South Wessex
Act Sixth: Scene I. The Field of Austerlitz – The French Position Scene II. The Same – The Russian Position Scene III. The Same – The French Position Scene IV. The Same – The Russian Position Scene V. The Same – Near the Windmill of Paleny Scene VI. Shockerwick House, near Bath Scene VII. Paris – A Street leading to the Tuileries Scene VIII. Putney – Bowling Green House
Part Second contains six Acts with 43 Scenes. The time period of the events of Part Second ranges over 7 years, from 1806 to just before the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The listing of the Acts and Scenes is as follows:
Act First: Scene I. London – Fox's Lodgings, Arlington Street Scene II. The Route between London and Paris Scene III. The Streets of Berlin Scene IV. The Field of Jena Scene V. Berlin – A Room overlooking a Public Place Scene VI. The Same Scene VII. Tilsit and the River Niemen Scene VIII. The Same
Act Second: Scene I. The Pyrenees and Valleys adjoining Scene II. Aranjuez, near Madrid – A Room in the Palace of Godoy, the "Prince of Peace" Scene III. London – The Marchioness of Salisbury's Scene IV. Madrid and its Environs Scene V. The Open Sea between the English Coasts and the Spanish Peninsula Scene VI. St Cloud – The Boudoir of Josephine Scene VII. Vimiero