AN ARTISTIC VERSION OF HISTORICAL EVENTS IN THE DRAMA “IVAN MAZEPA” BY LYUDMILA STARITSKA-CHERNYAKHYSKA

Abstract

In the article «An artistic version of historical events in the drama «Ivan Mazepa» by Lyudmila Staritska-Chernyakhyvska» traced how the writer, using specific facts and events, created an artistic version of historical events in a dramatic work. In the drama «Ivan Mazepa», Lyudmila Staritska-Chernyakhyvska reproduced a difficult and dramatic period of Ukrainian history during the hetmanship of Ivan Mazepa. She exalted the most outstanding hetman of Ukraine, Ivan Mazepa, who, in unfavorable conditions, tried to develop the foundations of the Ukrainian Independent State, but he failed to realize his plan for various reasons. Focusing on the last years of the hetmanship of Ivan Mazepa, the writer reproduced the atmosphere of the era, showed the leader of the Ukrainian nation surrounded by his participants – King of Sweden Charles XII, Semen Palia, Orlyk, Kochubey, Kochubeihi, Motra Kochubeivna, Voynarovskyi, Apostola, Hordiyenko, Lomykovskyi, Skoropadskyi, Sparks – during the national liberation war. The conflict in the drama is not clearly defined, but it can be seen in the subtext, in the individual remarks of the Kozaks who suffered henchmen from the Moscow servants, and the central place in the work is a conflict situation in which the characters of the hetman Mazepa and Tsar Peter I., who faced in the decisive battle between Ukraine and Muscovy, will appear. Staritska-Chernyakhyvska reproduced the tragedy of the Ukrainian nation, which was stratified, confused and intimidated and could not support the strategic plans of its leader with a single impulse, condemning itself to many years of impoverishment and captivity. But a strange miracle happened – Moscow troops defeated in the battle of Poltava, desecrated and discredited by representatives of Moscow and their henchmen, Ivan Mazepa became a symbol of the national liberation struggle of Ukrainians. His ideas of the Independent Ukrainian State and the unconquered nation were picked up as a flag by patriotic Ukrainians and carried through the ages.