The Wedding (1901 play)

The play limns the vicissitudes of Polish aspirations for national self-determination in the aftermath of two disastrous uprisings against one of Poland's three partitioning powers, the Russian Empire, which began in November 1830 and January 1863.

The play's action takes place at the wedding of a member of the Kraków intelligentsia (the Bridegroom) and his peasant Bride.

The wedding guests are hypnotized by a rosebush straw-wrap (Chochoł) from the garden which comes to life and joins the party.

[6] The "Poet" is visited successively by the "Black Knight" (a symbol of the nation's past military glory); the "Journalist"; the court jester Stańczyk, a conservative political sage; and the "Ghost of Wernyhora" (a paradigm of leadership for Poland).

[7] Wernyhora presents the Host with a golden horn symbolizing the national mission, and calls on the Polish people to revolt.