Norwid unknown – the death of God in the The Ring of Great Lady

Abstract

The article is an analysis of Norwid’s work in terms of the theme of the Death of God. I focus on the proximity between Norwid’s conclusions and Nietzsche and Heidegger’s presumptions. According to the author of The Joyful Wisdom, dead God leaves Nothingness behind himself. The filling of this space is the major problem which the protagonists of the Pierścień Wielkiej Damy will face. Through dramatization of their behavior and downgrading religious objects to the role of props they will be an attempt at simulating transcendence. Norwid uses the conventions of a play within a play and deus ex machina ironically. It is irony that will become the basis for a new kind of drama, which originally a Norwidian white tragedy was supposed to be. Pierścień Wielkiej Damy is not only an attempt to at a deeper reflection on the crisis of metaphysics, but also to introduce new quality to European drama.