Zygmunt August – ideał władcy w tragedii Józefa Wybickiego
Sigismund Augustus – the Ideal of the Ruler in the Tragedy of Józef Wybicki

Author(s): Piotr Kąkol
Subject(s): Cultural history, Modern Age, Recent History (1900 till today), 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Sigismund II Augustus; Józef Wybicki; tragedy; Enlightenment
Summary/Abstract: The tragedy Zygmunt August (Sigismund Augustus), written at the turn of 1779 and 1780, was the playwriting debut of Józef Wybicki. In accordance with the Enlightenment tendencies, the author inscribed it in the trend of instructive modernization of national history, at the same time offering a critical analysis of the country’s weakness, and exposing the role that King Sigismund II Augustus played in it. The action of the piece focuses on the dispute between the ruler and the Sejm over the recognition of his marriage with Barbara Radziwiłłówna. The anti-royal opposition, led by Piotr Kmita, accused the king of tyranny, lack of respect for freedom and Catholic faith, and, eventually, took up arms. In this conflict, Wybicki pictures the monarch as full of Enlightenment ideals. This is not, however, an image of the real Sigismund II Augustus, but of the kind of a king the author would like to see. It is rather a figure, in which all virtues are concentrated: graciousness, goodness, wisdom, fortitude, justice, fidelity, tolerance, etc. The ruler does not embody the qualities of his enemies, such as: pride, greed, jealousy, betrayal, fanaticism. King Sigismund II Augustus, subjected here to Wybicki’s dramatic imagination, is thus mythologized.

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