News from Italy
The Dragon and the Mirror
by Ayfer Selamoğlu
Evgeny Schwartz’s play “The Dragon” is one of the most impactful political works. It is timeless, boundless, and eternal. It serves as a mirror to authoritarian regimes and their corrupting effects on the human soul. It showcases the ugliness of oppression and the beauty of resistance…
Schwartz’s work takes place in a town during the Middle Ages. As Lancelot, a wandering knight, passes by, he learns that the town has been ruled by a cunning and powerful dragon for nearly 400 years. This three-headed, fire-breathing creature kept the people subject to tribute. The townspeople spent all their time, labour, and income feeding the Dragon. And every year, they sacrificed the most beautiful young girl in town to the Dragon…
Interestingly, the townspeople accepted this order as natural in a drugged harmony. Because the cunning Dragon had seized not only the material assets of the townspeople but also their souls, he had divided all their souls into pieces according to his needs. “I crippled them. Human souls are excellent things. If you cut a body in half, the man dies. If you cut his soul in half, he becomes more obedient. You won’t find such souls anywhere else, only in my town. Armless souls, legless souls, deaf and dumb souls, chained souls, dove souls, cursed souls. Ragged souls, souls that can be bought and sold, dead souls. It’s too bad they’re invisible,” the Dragon boasts…
For example, that year, the victim to be given to the Dragon was Elsa, the daughter of Mr. Charlemagne, the kind owner of the house where Lancelot was a guest. But both of them considered this situation normal. They even defended the Dragon. So much so that they claimed that the Dragon was not so bad. Their Dragon had three heads; when necessary, it could turn into three different people with different personalities and mix with the people. For example, during a cholera epidemic, it breathed fire into the lake near the town to provide water for its people. Most importantly, it protected the town from other dangerous external dragons…
When the three-headed Dragon visits Charlemagne’s house, Lancelot challenges him to a fight. However, he immediately finds himself confronted by the town’s human servants. The Mayor tries to dissuade Lancelot from fighting. Elsa’s former fiancé, now the Dragon’s private secretary, Henry, also acts as his father. The town’s high-ranking citizens follow them. They use every means possible, from bribery to attempted murder. However, all their attempts fail, and the Dragon eventually dies. Lancelot is badly wounded…
While Lancelot battled the dragon in the sky, the people below watched with curiosity, initially supporting their master, the dragon. However, as Lancelot starts to gain the upper hand, they quickly change their allegiance. The mayor and his son, Henry, worked to maintain order during this chaotic time. The mayor even attempted to shield the audience from witnessing the moments when the dragon was defeated. He said, “You will be informed later.” Some people murmured, “Why doesn’t this Lancelot give up? He knows the dragon cannot be overcome. He is just torturing us on purpose!” When the dragon’s three heads fell in the square, the people who had once pledged their loyalty to the monster began celebrating their salvation. At that moment, one of the dragon’s heads sighed, “I really should have created at least one loyal spirit, but the material wasn’t suitable.”
The Mayor, who had experienced mental illness but suddenly regained his sanity, assures his son Henry that the rebellious mood of the people will not last long: “Every dog, when it breaks free, jumps wildly. Then it returns to its kennel of its own accord. The departed man has trained them so well that they will obey anyone taking the reins…”
A year has passed since this incident. The whereabouts of Lancelot, who was left badly wounded, remain unknown. The Mayor has assumed the role of the new Mayor of the Free City. A special commission established in the city concluded that Lancelot was a candidate hero” who had wounded the beast, awarding the title of’ Dragon Slayer’ to the Mayor. All those who witnessed the Dragon’s head fall to the square readily accepted the official narrative that Lancelot only scratched the Dragon and that the Mayor killed it. Those who sided with Knight Lancelot and assisted him have been imprisoned along with the other malcontents. The remaining individuals, primarily servants, have begun to display their naive, cunning, sycophantic, and self-interested obedience to the false dragon slayer, who is now preparing to marry the most beautiful girl in town, his son Henry’s ex-fiancée, Elsa…
In familiar tales, the Dragon dies, the people are saved, and the story concludes in victory. However, Schwartz reverses this pattern. When Lancelot defeats the Dragon, the town is not freed. On the contrary, the town’s Mayor assumes the vacant power and continues the same oppression under a different guise.
Lancelot returns to the town unexpectedly and confronts a harsh truth: the real dragon is not the monster he killed but the one hidden within people’s souls. The mayor and his son, Henry, are imprisoned. Lancelot and Elsaa are together, faced with the daunting task of transforming the townspeople into free men and women. Lancelot declares, “The dragon within each of them must be slain.”
The content of Lancelot’s message is as follows:
The dragon is the symbol of totalitarianism. Dragons use fear for control, bureaucracy for power, and cruelty for necessity. The people are also responsible for the dragons being in power and the cruelty experienced. Because dragons feed on fear, indifference, and submission, on the other hand, the human spirit bends under pressure but does not break completely; there is a potential for resistance even in the worst cruelty. It waits for a spark, a moment of awakening. Therefore, true freedom does not come from external intervention or victories won by someone else; it requires an internal awakening. Consequently, we must plant and grow delicious seeds of freedom in each individual…