Halban in Konrad Wallenrod
The epic poem Konrad Wallenrod written by Adam Mickiewicz tells the story of 14th century Lithuania from the perspective of a 19th century author. Readers stood behind this story which symbolized the strength of the Polish people against all potential foreign invaders, whether in the past, the present, or the future. Not only did this give Polish nationalism a reason to have pride in their ancestors and in their heritage but they used this story as a rallying cry of sorts in their current difficulties with Russia. In the Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, author Christopher John Murray even points to this poem as inspiring the November 1830 uprising against the tsar and his endeavors to take over Poland (742). The character of Halban represents the old guard, those who cannot fight the wars of the young but who can survive though their defenders live. He is, in the words of writer Mickiewicz, "Halban, or, as the chroniclers call him, Doctor Leander von Albanus, a monk, the solitary and inseparable companion of Wallenrod, though he assumed the appearance of piety, was according to the chroniclers a heretic, a pagan, and perhaps a wizard" (xii). Though he is not the main hero of the story, Halban is the constant companion of the hero, Konrad Wallenrod. Therefore the character of Halban is witness to all the events of the protagonist without the necessity of having to sacrifice his life. He is the story teller, the documentarian, and the journal keeper and thus Halban represents all Polish people who would tell the story of Wallenrod in order to give themselves strength and to remind themselves that strength and courage is a part of their nation's heritage and history.
Halban himself tells the reader what his role in the story is when the enemy is at the gate and Alf hands him a glass of poison so that he may die rather than be taken prisoner and subject to torture and humiliation. He says, "I would as yet remain to close thine eyes, / And live, so that the glory of the...
As the hero of the tale risks his own life in order to protect his people, so too his leader pledges himself, even facing things that no king should have to endure so that the actions of his warrior can be celebrated. Here he speaks for the Polish people who will tell the story for the generations to follow that they too may feel empowered by it.
In his historical work about Poland, God's Playground, author Norman Davies discusses the fact that the idea of nationalism has always been of more importance in non-English speaking countries. "So long as the dynastic empires remain in place, the main struggle for power lay between the ultra-conservative champions of the ruling establishment and the motley ranks of revolutionaries who saw no possible hope of progress until the imperial regimes had been replaced by some new, more equitable form of state-entity" (4). In short, the nationalists of Poland felt unrepresented by a foreign power ruling them. Until the people of Poland are able to rule themselves, as they once did, they will never be able to feel like a fully represented and thus fairly sovereign nation.
Therefore, Halban represents both the storyteller and the people being ruled who are nostalgic for a time when they were allowed to govern themselves. At one particularly poignant moment of the story, Halban sings a song where he reminisces sadly about the homeland of Lithuania and how all is wondrously fair there. This section of the poem is a panegyric to the motherland where Halban compares his country to a beautiful woman. This functions in two ways; both to give the Polish people a type of folksong or anthem within a story designed to give the people a heroic figure to admire and model themselves after. In the Davies book, the author writes that "'Poland,' as an abstraction, could be remembered from the past, or aspired to for the future, but only imagined in the present" (8). While clinging to the past, both in story and in…
