The motif of personal resistance in the dramatic interpretation of the Revolution of Dignity
Authors: Artemenko Inna 
Published: July 2020

The Subject of the study is personal resistance, which occupies an important place among the objects of philosophical understanding. Therefore, its implementation in fiction, especially in the Ukrainian drama of the last decade, is quite relevant. The Revolution of Dignity has made its adjustments in understanding the motives of resistance, compared to previous revolutions and coups, because that experience took place with completely different information and technical capabilities, and they are important for the organization of people. In addition, the motive of resistance has its own tradition in Ukrainian literature, consisting of works by Taras Shevchenko, poets of “Visnyk”, sixtiers, and dissidents. However, it is mainly journalism and poetry. A new wave of Ukrainian resistance poured into literature. But it is especially important to study the motive of resistance in the dramatic sense, because it is a somewhat new experience. Any resistance movement has a number of organizational and psychological conditions under which it takes place. These conditions are reflected, if not differently, then with shifted accents in the texts of the plays. The article considers dramatic works written before, during and after the Revolution of Dignity. The aim of the article is to trace how the artistic understanding of the social causes and identity of the participant of the resistance movement has changed in the plays dedicated to the Maidan in 2013–2014 and the events taking place in Ukraine as a result of the Revolution. Special attention is paid to the formation of the image of a hero, fighter, patriot. The development of personal resistance in accordance with the described events and the time of their action are considered. Methods of plot and textual analysis, conflict studies and intertextual methods have been used to achieve the set tasks. The study is based on two anthologies of modern Ukrainian drama “Maidan. Before and after” and “Labyrinth of ice and fire”. Due to their structure, these collections allow us to consider personal resistance as a dream, as a real acting image and as a heroic, patriotic feat. Also, the article traces the literary means of creating such an image, and how these means change depending on the development of the image in the texts. All dramas create a generalized image of a Ukrainian, who has all the best qualities, impulses and views, he has high patriotism, willpower, courage, etc., and is thus the image of the Ukrainian who “lacks” the country. This is a dream hero. However, in different sections of the collections, this image changes, transforms and improves. And at the same time the motive of the participant's resistance changes. For the first time, it is traced how Ukrainian playwrights felt and understood the reasons and the course of social, including personal, resistance that led to the Revolution of Dignity. Particular attention is paid to differences in the artistic interpretation of the same motive of social and personal resistance. Also, for the first time, the connection of the resistance motive with the artistic conflicts of the plays of the collections “Maidan. Before and after” and “Labyrinth of ice and fire” is retraced. The material can be used for further in-depth research on this topic, such as the study of texts of epic genres about the Maidan and even poetry collections.