Riassunto
Riassunto di Giuda
A chi è rivolto
Readers who love poetry on the stage, retellings of sacred stories from an unexpected side, and portraits of a troubled mind, along with anyone curious about Judas, Pilate's household and the women of Bethany.
Che cos’è questo libro
Judas is a lyric drama in four acts by the Portuguese poet Augusto de Lacerda, written between 1888 and 1890. It retells the Passover week of Jesus, but it puts the traitor at the centre. The Master is spoken of by everyone and never appears on stage. Instead you meet the people around him: a village family in Bethany, the disciples from Galilee, a Roman governor and his bored wife, and the priests who plot in the dark.
The play asks why a man who followed the Master would sell him. Lacerda's answer is a tangle of jealousy, longing, pride and fear, voiced in rhymed and rhythmic speeches that rise and fall like songs. Each act is dated by a day of the Jewish month of Nisan, so the Passover week closes in step by step. Let us begin where the play begins, on a spring evening in the village of Bethany.
In questo riassunto
- 1Bethany waits under a darkening spring skyFree
- 2Two women meet Pilate's wife on the road
- 3The Twelve arrive and Judas stands apart
- 4A lonely man speaks of a burning desire
- 5A quarrel and a secret offer in Bethany
- 6Maria refuses him and Judas loses control
- 7In Pilate's palace the plot is sold
- 8Maria begs Claudia and the dawn brings grief
- 9What the play is about and how it speaks
Punto chiave 1 di 9
Bethany waits under a darkening spring sky
The first act opens on the eighth of Nisan, in the village of Bethany, an hour and a half from Jerusalem. The author paints the setting: the house of Simon the Leper, the spring pouring into a Roman basin, the Mount of Olives, the Kidron stream and the crowded city in the distance. It is a calm evening, and that calm is soon broken.
The old scholar Gamaliel arrives from the city with grave news. He speaks first to Eleazar, a young man who lives in the house with his two sisters, Maria and Martha. The Council of priests is plotting to seize the Master, and Gamaliel urges silence. Eleazar dreams of a nation rising against Rome, while Maria answers that the Master offers only the word, with no sword and no cross.
Gamaliel bitterly recalls the long line of foreign rulers, from Herod down to the Roman procurators. He says Judea has become a province where servility is the only habit left. Eleazar answers with fire, hoping that the voice of Elijah lives again in the Master.
So from the first scene the listener learns the stakes. A beloved teacher is in danger, a household tries to hide its fear, and every character reads the Master through their own hopes. Some see a prophet, some a king in waiting, and Maria sees something more.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Giuda
What is the play Judas by Augusto de Lacerda about?
It is a four act verse drama about the Passover week of Jesus. It follows Judas, his jealousy and his hidden love for Maria of Bethany, along with the priests, the disciples and Pilate's household.
Does Jesus appear as a character in Judas?
No. The Master is spoken of by everyone but never appears. The audience sees him only through the hopes, fears and love of those around him, which keeps attention on the people who must decide.
Who are Maria, Martha and Eleazar in the play?
They are three orphaned siblings who live in Bethany in the house of Simon the Leper. Maria loves the Master with a pure devotion, Martha is lively, and Eleazar dreams of freeing Judea from Rome.
When was Judas written and what style is it?
Lacerda wrote it between 1888 and 1890. It is a lyric drama in verse, with speeches full of images, detailed stage directions and settings placed on dated days of the month of Nisan.
Why does Judas betray the Master in this play?
The play gives him a mix of motives: resentment at being treated as an outsider, jealousy, and an unreturned love for Maria. He reasons through them aloud in several speeches.