Boris Godunov (Annotated)

Boris Godunov is Pushkin's austere historical tragedy of power, legitimacy, and national memory, set during Russia's Time of Troubles after the death of Tsarevich Dmitry. Written in blank verse and prose-like dramatic scenes, it rejects neoclassical constraint for a Shakespearean breadth of voices: tsar, monk, pretender, boyar, and crowd. Its fragmented structure and political ambiguity make it a ...