Halban in Konrad Wallenrod

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 deed, / I to the world my tell, to ages show" (91). 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 the memories of elders who knew what it was like to be a self-governing nation, the modern populous is empowered.

When writing the story, Mickiewicz took Lithuanian folktales and modified them to fit his own political purpose which was a call to arm against the current threat of Russian domination. The Wallenrod Mickiewicz writes of only pretends to become a Teutonic knight that he might rise up to the top of their ranks and destroy them from within. His action are duplicitous which would indicate that the character himself cannot be trusted which is never what a person wants to see in their national hero. However, these potentially unsavory maneuvers are shown to be more than worthy of the sacrifices of their perpetrators because though not successful in prohibiting the takeover of Poland from invaders, Wallenrod gave all of himself in the attempt. What is important, according to Mickiewicz is not necessarily who wins the war or who loses, but which side works in the most valiant ways and with the most earnest of nationalistic ideas.

Critics of the era, in response to the discovery that this story had spurned about the Uprising of 1830, argued that Adam Mickiewicz was responsible for teaching the young Polish citizenry that treason against your country is perfectly acceptable if it is done out of a sense of patriotism. One of Mickiewicz's rivals, a writer named Juliusz Slowacki stated that "Wallenrodism did indeed much good & #8230; / It introduced a certain method into treason / Out of one it made a hundred thousand traitors" (Murray 740). People pointed to Mickiewicz and blamed him for encouraging young men to act against their leaders in an attempt to regain the sovereignty of Poland by the Polish.

In honor of the story, the idea of Wallenrodism became a strong force in the Polish nation. This term would come to exemplify the ideas of brave actions against the enemy which may or may not be ethical but which are effective and cost the person committing the act a great sacrifice, even the potential for death (740). The Polish language is a part of what creates the sense of nationalism in the people of that country. Not only does the epic poem utilize this language, but through this term it has created language and thus become part of the national culture and heritage.