Who is Makropulos? "The Means of Makropulos" is a comedy by Karel Capek

Karel Čapek (1890-1938) is a multifaceted person. Intellectual, he was a writer, journalist, playwright, translator and photographer.

Brief information

His work can be divided into two parts:

• Czapek regards the inner life of man as an individual and tries to explore the possibilities and limits of human cognition. Example: there was an alchemist Hieronymus Makropulos. The writer invented the means of immortality.
• Chapek creates utopian dramas and novels in which he criticizes social dramas and the problems of modern society. From these works one can see how he fears the development of fascism, seeing in him a real threat to society.

The Munich agreement and the transfer of the country of Germany became a personal tragedy for the writer. He died of pulmonary edema a few months before his arrest of the Gestapo.

Comedy: action first

It takes place in the office of the lawyer Kolenata. Archivist Vitek parses and removes numerous folders and papers in their places. Holding the "Gregor-Prus" case in his hands, he as a professional is touched by the fact that the matter lasts almost a hundred years and seems to be over today. The daughter of Archivist Christa comes. The girl, having a voice, learns to sing and performs in the theater, but today she listened to the rehearsal of the great opera singer Emilia Marti. She sang so brilliantly, so unattainably technically that the girl, sobbing, expresses her desire to leave the singing forever. The office includes Emilia Marti.

To everyone's amazement, she shows an interest in the Gregor case. She is told all the vicissitudes of a complex process. And the singer, in turn, tells the lawyer where to find a controversial testament, so that the process accurately won Gregor. For the information provided, thanks to which the process will be won, she asks Gregor for a manuscript in Greek. The name Makropulos, means it has not been announced yet.

Triple Action

Theater after the show. Emilia Marty had a tremendous success. Appear Christina and in love with her Janek Prus. Gradually, all the characters gather and congratulate Emilia Marty. But Gregor notes that when she sings, she's bored. Talking about this and that, they touch on historical issues, and Marti talks to everyone, telling such details and details, about which no one has read anywhere. Prus suddenly asks if Emilia's name is Makropulos. Again, no one mentions its remedy. Emilia turns around, answering, and drives out Prus. Gregor admits Marty in love, she also, bored, sitting, falls asleep. Gregor leaves, Janek Prus appears. Emilia asks him to steal an envelope from his father. It contains the composition of Makropulos. Only the singer knows this. The conversation is eavesdropped by Father Prus and promises to give her an envelope at night.

The third action

Hotel. Bedroom of Emilia. Morning. Prus, half-dressed, at the request of Emilia hands her an envelope. She is pleased - Makropulos's tool is finally with her. From the house of Prus comes an agitated servant and summons his master. He leaves for a short while, and when he returns, falls into an armchair and says that his son shot himself because he loved Marty, and she chose his father. Emilia is cold to everything.

But then there are Vitek, Gregor and Christina, who accuse Marty of Yanek's death. And they begin to understand who wrote letters written almost a hundred years ago, but with modern ink, as the handwriting is without doubt the same: Elina Maropulos, Emilia Marti or Ellen McGregor. The company of the assembled men begins to search the things of Emilia Marty. Among all other things, they find papers dated 1603 year. Emilie Marty promises to tell the truth, but let everything be as in the present trial. Soon everyone will know what her father Makropulos came up with. Is his tool diabolical or for the good of mankind?

Epilogue

The same hotel room, but furnished as a courtroom. On the table there is a Bible, a candle and a skull. Introduce a completely drunk elegantly dressed Emilia. She explains that her name is Elina Makropulos, she was born in Crete in 1585 and she is now 337 years old. She changed names, because one person can not live for so many years, but she always left the same initials. She loved one person for three hundred years and only gave him the means of Makropulos. And now, feeling that she is getting old, she wants to get it back.

Her father made an anti-aging remedy for Emperor Rudolph, but he did not dare drink it, and the two men tried, as it does, on Elina. Many envy her, but she is tired of life, because human life is complex, and her normal length is sufficient. For 300 years she has learned all human qualities and sees only that they are constantly repeated, she is tired, but is afraid of death. And men think what to do with the means of Makropulos. There is a philosophical dispute whether or not an individual needs immortality. Emilia returned and summed up the argument, saying that in this life the soul dies. All together refused to try the recipe on themselves and burned it on a candle.

"Makropulos": reviews

Viewers and readers with knowledge of the business disassemble the plan of the play and with pleasure follow the tense detective intrigue that unfolds before them. According to the reviews, it is very interesting to understand the psychological nuances of the play.

"The tool of Makropulos" Karel Capek wrote as a warning to humanity and partly came forward with a polemic against Bernard Shaw, who at the same time created "Back to Methuselah".