What really caught by attention about the whole story of the False Dimitri is that it is very much in line with Gogol’s notes which we read on our first day of class. Indeed, as I watched Boris Godunov and Perused the “Pseudo Dimitri” text, Gogol’s claim that the character of Russians is “inherently more subtle” than any other European and that “every Russian” knows “how to pretend” so well as to “get the better” of anyone. The raw intrigue presented in the story of the False Dimitri screams cunning and subtly of course, but the way both the Opera and the Pseudo Dimitri text seem glorify it is very interesting to me.

Boris Godunov didn’t shy away from portraying the monstrous nature of Russian cunning. Tsar Boris in the 5th excerpt is seen violently struggling with his crimes of murder. He is thrown to the ground by his guilt, the royal reds of his robs being encroached upon by darkness in a way which was visually reminiscent of the Repin painting. His anguish is astounding, and the cunning he used to attain power is clearly being condemned. But in the final clip, we see the False Dimitry being lauded as a hero, though his lionization is clearly cast in a somewhat negative light by the bloody ending of the play. Still, the despite the ultimate outcome of his duplicity, and the critical way the opera portrays him, Dimitri ultimately wins power in a fantastic way. Boris Godunov seems to be telling that the Russian character is tied deeply in duplicity and that, though this is disastrous, it deserves to be glorified for its immense power.

Boris Godunov seemed to me to portray Grigori as, at best, an anti-hero. (I say this tentatively, having not seen the entire opera.) The elective reading of course portrays him as little more than the devil’s tool. Grigori’s duplicity is painted in the reading as an abomination. The lines at the start of the text however interested me because they seem to glorify Tsar Boris’s cunning in the same way Boris Gudunov glorifies Grigori’s trickery.  The reading describes Boris as a “brilliant” statesmen, even as it details his killing of the real Dimitri. Once again, the cunning Russian character is praised.

(Note- this whole blog rests on the fact that “glorification” and “dramatization” are one and the same.)