The Dynasts By Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

The Dynasts is an English-language closet drama in verse and prose by Thomas Hardy. Hardy himself described this work as "an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts and one hundred and thirty scenes". Not counting the Forescene and the Afterscene, the exact total number of scenes is 131. The verse is primarily iambic pentameter, occasionally tetrameter, and often with rhymes. The three parts were published in 1904, 1906 and 1908. Because of the ambition and scale of the work, Hardy acknowledged that The Dynasts was not a work that could be conventionally staged in the theatre, and described the work as "the longest English drama in existence". Scholars have noted that Hardy remembered war stories of the veterans of the Napoleonic wars in his youth, and used them as partial inspiration for writing The Dynasts many years later in his own old age. In addition, Hardy was a distant relative of Captain Thomas Hardy, who had served with Admiral Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar. Hardy consulted a number of histories and also visited Waterloo, Belgium, as part of his research. George Orwell wrote that Hardy had "set free his genius" by writing this drama and thought its main appeal was "in the grandiose and rather evil vision of armies marching and counter-marching through the mists, and men dying by hundreds of thousands in the Russian snows, and all for absolutely nothing."

Table of contents

• The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama Of The War With Napoleon
• Part First
• Fore Scene - The Overworld
• Act First
• Scene Ii - Paris. Office Of The Minister Of Marine
• Scene Iii - London. The Old House Of Commons
• Scene Iv - The Harbour Of Boulogne
• Scene V - London. The House Of A Lady Of Quality
• Scene Vi - Milan. The Cathedral
• Act Second
• Scene Ii - Off Ferrol
• Scene Iii - The Camp And Harbour Of Boulogne
• Scene Iv - South Wessex. A Ridge-Like Down Near The Coast
• Scene V - The Same. Rainbarrow's Beacon, Egdon Heath
• Act Third
• Scene Ii - The Frontiers Of Upper Austria And Bavaria
• Scene Iii - Boulogne. The St. Omer Road
• Act Fourth
• Scene Ii - Before The City Of Ulm
• Scene Iii - Ulm. Within The City
• Scene Iv - Before Ulm. The Same Day
• Scene V - The Same. The Michaelsberg
• Scene Vi - London. Spring Gardens
• Act Fifth
• Scene Ii - The Same. The Quarter-Deck Of The “Victory”
• Scene Iii - The Same. On Board The “Bucentaure”
• Scene Iv - The Same. The Cockpit Of The “Victory”
• Scene V - London. The Guildhall
• Scene Vi - An Inn At Rennes
• Scene Vii - King George's Watering-Place, South Wessex
• Act Sixth
• Scene Ii - The Same. The Russian Position
• Scene Iii - The Same. The French Position
• Scene Iv - The Same. The Russian Position
• Scene V - The Same. Near The Windmill Of Paleny
• Scene Vi - Shockerwick House, Near Bath
• Scene Vii - Paris. A Street Leading To The Tuileries
• Scene Viii - Putney. Bowling Green House
• Part Second
• Act First
• Scene Ii - The Route Between London And Paris
• Scene Iii - The Streets Of Berlin
• Scene Iv - The Field Of Jena
• Scene V - Berlin. A Room Overlooking A Public Place
• Scene Vi - The Same
• Scene Vii - Tilsit And The River Niemen
• Scene Viii - The Same
• Act Second
• Scene Ii - Aranjuez, Near Madrid. A Room In The Palace Of Godoy, The “Prince Of Peace
• Scene Iii - London: The Marchioness Of Salisbury's
• Scene Iv - Madrid And Its Environs
• Scene V - The Open Sea Between The English Coasts And The Spanish Peninsula
• Scene Vi - St. Cloud. The Boudoir Of Josephine
• Scene Vii - Vimiero
• Act Third
• Scene Ii - The Same
• Scene Iii - Before Coruna
• Scene Iv - Coruna. Near The Ramparts
• Scene V - Vienna. A Cafe In The Stephans-Platz
• Act Fourth
• Scene Ii - The Island Of Lobau, With Wagram Beyond
• Scene Iii - The Field Of Wagram
• Scene Iv - The Field Of Talavera
• Scene V - The Same
• Scene Vi - Brighton. The Royal Pavilion
• Scene Vii - The Same. The Assembly Rooms
• Scene Viii - Walcheren
• Act Fifth
• Scene Ii - Paris. The Tuileries
• Scene Iii - Vienna. A Private Apartment In The Imperial Palace
• Scene Iv - London. A Club In St. James's Street
• Scene V -The Old West Highway Out Of Vienna
• Scene Vi - Courcelles
• Scene Vii - Petersburg. The Palace Of The Empress-Mother
• Scene Viii - Paris. The Grand Gallery Of The Louvre And The Salon-Carre Adjoining
• Act Sixth
• Scene Ii - The Same. Outside The Lines
• Scene Iii - Paris. The Tuileries
• Scene Iv - Spain. Albuera
• Scene V - Windsor Castle. A Room In The King's Apartment
• Scene Vi - London. Carlton House And The Streets Adjoining
• Scene Vii - The Same. The Interior Of Carlton House
• Part Third
• Act First
• Scene Ii - The Ford Of Santa Marta, Salamanca
• Scene Iii - The Field Of Salamanca
• Scene Iv - The Field Of Borodino
• Scene V - The Same
• Scene Vi - Moscow
• Scene Vii - The Same. Outside The City
• Scene Viii - The Same. The Interior Of The Kremlin
• Scene Ix - The Road From Smolensko Into Lithuania
• Scene X - The Bridge Of The Beresina
• Scene Xi - The Open Country Between Smorgoni And Wilna
• Scene Xii - Paris. The Tuileries
• Act Second
• Scene Ii - The Same, From The Puebla Heights
• Scene Iii - The Same. The Road From The Town
• Scene Iv - A Fete At Vauxhall
• Act Third
• Scene Ii - The Same. The City And The Battlefield
• Scene Iii - The Same, From The Tower Of The Pleissenburg
• Scene Iv - The Same. At The Thonberg Windmill
• Scene V - The Same. A Street Near The Ranstadt Gate
• Scene Vi - The Pyrenees. Near The River Nivelle
• Act Fourth
• Scene Ii - Paris. The Tuileries
• Scene Iii - The Same. The Apartments Of The Empress
• Scene Iv - Fontainebleau. A Room In The Palace
• Scene V - Bayonne. The British Camp
• Scene Vi - A Highway In The Outskirts Of Avignon
• Scene Vii - Malmaison. The Empress Josephine's Bedchamber
• Scene Viii - London. The Opera House
• Act Fifth
• Scene Ii - Vienna. The Imperial Palace
• Scene Iii - La Mure, Near Grenoble
• Scene Iv - Schonbrunn
• Scene V - London. The Old House Of Commons
• Scene Vi - Wessex. Durnover Green, Casterbridge
• Act Sixth
• Scene Ii - A Ballroom In Brussels[22]
• Scene Iii - Charleroi. Napoleon's Quarters
• Scene Iv - A Chamber Overlooking A Main Street In Brussels
• Scene V - The Field Of Ligny
• Scene Vi - The Field At Quatre-Bras
• Scene Vii - Brussels. The Place Royale
• Scene Viii - The Road To Waterloo
• Act Seventh
• Scene Ii - The Same. The French Position
• Scene Iii - Saint Lambert's Chapel Hill
• Scene Iv - The Field Of Waterloo. The English Position
• Scene V - The Same. The Women's Camp Near Mont Saint-Jean
• Scene Vi - The Same. The French Position
• Scene Vii - The Same. The English Position
• Scene Viii - The Same. Later
• Scene Ix - The Wood Of Bossu
• After Scene - The Overworld