"Pushkin's themes in this play are similar to those of Shakespeare's Macbeth."

[gggg gggg]

https://www.enotes.com/topics/boris-godunov/themes

[Peter Nockolds]

Post by gggg gggg
https://www.enotes.com/topics/boris-godunov/themes

I have seen the opera several times and the parallel is obvious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Godunov

"Boris' life was dramatised by the founder of Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin, in his play Boris Godunov (1831), which was inspired by Shakespeare's Henry IV. Modest Mussorgsky based his opera Boris Godunov on Pushkin's play."

https://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1094961/FULLTEXT03.pdf

"In the draft letter to the publisher of Moskovskii vestnik (1828), Pushkin claims to have written Boris Godunov “po sisteme Ottsa nashego - Shekspira” [according to the system of our Father Shakespeare] (Pushkin [1828]"

I've heard the expression 'William - nashego Shekspira' many times in Russia.

https://www.wordaz.com/Nashego.html
- Shostakovich looks] "A ne zamakhnut'sya li nam na Vil'yama, ponimayete li, nashego Shekspira?" [Why don't we aim a blow at William, you know, our Shakespeare...

I didn't realise it went back to Pushkin.

Brush up your Shakespeare and the Russians you will wow!

Pyotr

[gggg gggg]

Post by Peter Nockolds

Post by gggg gggg
https://www.enotes.com/topics/boris-godunov/themes

I have seen the opera several times and the parallel is obvious.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Godunov
"Boris' life was dramatised by the founder of Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin, in his play Boris Godunov (1831), which was inspired by Shakespeare's Henry IV. Modest Mussorgsky based his opera Boris Godunov on Pushkin's play."
https://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1094961/FULLTEXT03.pdf
"In the draft letter to the publisher of Moskovskii vestnik (1828), Pushkin claims to have written Boris Godunov “po sisteme Ottsa nashego - Shekspira” [according to the system of our Father Shakespeare] (Pushkin [1828]"
I've heard the expression 'William - nashego Shekspira' many times in Russia.
https://www.wordaz.com/Nashego.html
- Shostakovich looks] "A ne zamakhnut'sya li nam na Vil'yama, ponimayete li, nashego Shekspira?" [Why don't we aim a blow at William, you know, our Shakespeare...
I didn't realise it went back to Pushkin.
Brush up your Shakespeare and the Russians you will wow!
Pyotr

According to this:

- ...The fool embodies Pushkin’s most important political statement, namely that the uneducated people accept everything if only the old is replaced, without realizing that the new will not be better than the old.

https://opera-inside.com/boris-godunov-by-modest-mussorgsky-the-opera-guide-and-synopsis/

[gggg gggg]

Post by gggg gggg
https://www.enotes.com/topics/boris-godunov/themes

Pushkin wrote of the play:

- The study of Shakespeare, Karamzin, and our old chronicles gave me the idea of clothing in dramatic forms one of the most dramatic epochs of our history. Not disturbed by any other influence, I imitated Shakespeare in his broad and free depictions of characters, in the simple and careless combination of plots;...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Godunov_(play)#Composition

[Peter Nockolds]

Post by gggg gggg

Post by gggg gggg
https://www.enotes.com/topics/boris-godunov/themes

- The study of Shakespeare, Karamzin, and our old chronicles gave me the idea of clothing in dramatic forms one of the most dramatic epochs of our history. Not disturbed by any other influence, I imitated Shakespeare in his broad and free depictions of characters, in the simple and careless combination of plots;...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Godunov_(play)#Composition

It's like Henry the Fourth in that both Godunov and Henry the Fourth come to the throne by devious means which provoke conflicts, insurrection in Henry IV, Polish invasion in Boris. The events of Boris also happen to take place during the period at which Shakespeare was writing, which would hardly have escaped Pushkin's notice. (BTW Byron was also a great influence on Pushkin, though not necessarily in this play)

[marc hanson]

Post by gggg gggg

Post by gggg gggg
https://www.enotes.com/topics/boris-godunov/themes

- The study of Shakespeare, Karamzin, and our old chronicles gave me the idea of clothing in dramatic forms one of the most dramatic epochs of our history. Not disturbed by any other influence, I imitated Shakespeare in his broad and free depictions of characters, in the simple and careless combination of plots;...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Godunov_(play)#Composition

It's like Henry the Fourth in that both Godunov and Henry the Fourth come to the throne by devious means which provoke conflicts, insurrection in Henry IV, Polish invasion in Boris. The events of Boris also happen to take place during the period at which Shakespeare was writing, which would hardly have escaped Pushkin's notice. (BTW Byron was also a great influence on Pushkin, though not necessarily in this play).