Vörösmarty Mihály:: A Rom : elemzés

Abstract

The paper attempts a motivistic approach to one of Vörösmarty s shorter epics „A Rom" (,,The Rom"—-thename having a colloquial meaning as well: the ruin). The work is understood as a symbolic history of the world, its hero, the anonymous youth as the representative of mankind. The sequence of dreams brings diappointment, the values of life prove illusory and not satisfying, until the final catastrophe (the lost battle) forces the youth to wake up without having found the meaning, aim or significance of human existence. Not a sign shows that the fourth dream (fight for liberty) would fulfill this demand any better than the others provided it turned out successfully. The structure of the work is not linear but — similarly to some other great Vörösmarty works („Csongor és Tünde", „Gondolatok a könyvtárban") — it is circular: in the last lines the opening scene returns with Rom sitting in the vast unworldly desert and the youth starting his quest afresh.