Dr. Moviszter’s compassion towards servants not only supports the reason of why he made his statement explaining why Anna murdered the Vizy’s, but it also raises an opportunity for the reader to see the quarrelsome issue of class relations during this period. On one occasion, the issue was presented the night when Mr. Tatár confronts Dr. Moviszter on the matter. Mr. Tatár tells Dr. Moviszter that servants’ “stomachs are different and so are their souls” (p. 81). From that quote it is quite clear that Mr. Tatár draws a thick line between servants and individuals that are of higher class, and tells the doctor that they are “servants and that’s what they’ll remain” (p. 81). From Mr. Tatár’s statements, the reader is able to gain much insight about how people of Hungary felt about classes and communism during this time period. Some individuals, such as Mr. Tatár, were completely against communism and a classless society where everybody was to be equal. However, there were not many but few people like Dr. Moviszter who believed that a classless society would bring the community closer to human equality (p. 83). This is illustrated when Mr. Tatár tells Dr. Moviszter that “there’s no such thing as human equality”, that “masters and servants have ever been and ever will be”, and concludes his rant with the statement that there is “no alternative” to that idea (p. 83). Dr. Moviszter’s response to these statements once again supports his consistent outlook that empathy is a very important factor to take into consideration when dealing with servants. He tells Mr. Tatár that showing compassion towards servants will not realize, but will bring the society closer to realizing the ideal of everyone being master and servant at once, which will ultimately bring human equality (p. 83). The way that Dr. Moviszter responded to Mr. Tatár on this subject is highly significant because it allows the reader to see early on that Dr. Moviszter had always been wholehearted toward servants, (which eventually led to his controversial statement during the trial) which is an emotion that is foreign to most of the characters in the novel. Having said this, Dezső Kosztolányi widely separates Dr. Moviszter from most other characters, who look down upon the idea of everybody being equal and who do not take the time to understand servants or show consideration towards them like Dr. Moviszter does. Kosztolányi also demonstrates how different groups of people had varied feelings of a society without distinct classes versus one with classes that separated its members.
Although the statement made by Dr. Moviszter during the trial was partially influenced by his passionate side, the major foundation of his belief was that Anna carried out her crime because of the treatment she received. The root of this poor treatment was due to a couple of very significant factors, one of which was a series of internal conflicts that Mrs. Vizy was engaged in. Mrs. Vizy was battling through many inner struggles mainly caused by her troubled history with past servants. From these struggles the reader is able to gain awareness of how communism affected living conditions for the people of Hungary as well as its effect on the difficulty of managing servants. From the start of the novel, Kosztolányi presents to the reader that Mrs. Vizy did not have very good luck with servants- having to deal with servants that stole from her, broke her belongings, and had secret lovers (p. 16 &17). Katica, Anna’s predecessor, exhausted every last ounce of tolerance that Mrs. Vizy had by displaying her complete lack of obedience (by leaving the house unannounced to see her sailor lover, leaving the flat very untidy, and by exerting much rudeness toward her employers). Observing these circumstances, the reader can see that managing servants during this period was very difficult perhaps because of their interest in the communist movement and the idea of a classless society. Because of this, Mrs. Vizy was hit by a period of pure unhappiness and even suffered from a string of anxiety attacks and headaches that were due to her struggle of trying to persuade Anna to become her servant (p. 32). However, after the Vizy’s finally tore Anna apart from the Bartos’, a family that she was very closed to, Anna did not receive the treatment she was used to during her days at the Bartos household. The sudden change in conditions that Anna had to face, such as working from four in the morning until late at night with very little time off and being forced to sleep on a makeshift bed significantly contributed to the blowing of her fuse in the end of the novel. The root of this poor treatment towards Anna also stemmed from the impact of Mrs. Vizy’s past. More specifically, aside from her distressed experiences with past servants, Mrs. Vizy also had to battle with the loss of her only child, the fact that she had no control over her husband who committed adultery on numerous occasions, and the fact that she was struggling to adapt to the political circumstances at the time as well, which at one point she was even arrested (p. 13). Since the only thing that Mrs. Vizy truly had to keep her occupied in her life was the four rooms that she occupied and the management of Anna, her life was empty. This leads Mrs. Vizy to feel that if she can take credit for her servant, then she can accomplish something meaningful in her life, which ultimately leads to Dr. Moviszter’s claim that the Vizy’s “did not deal with [Anna] as with a human being”, and that “they turned her into a machine” (p. 211). Mrs. Vizy’s desire to control Anna additionally supports the idea of oppression of certain social classes in the society at this time, in a case where an employer uses her servant as a puppet in order to make her own life meaningful. All of the internal battles within Mrs. Vizy heavily contributed to the poor treatment Anna was given, which in due course led Anna to retaliate in such a destructive way.
Another factor that profoundly contributed to the poor treatment of Anna and which also contributes to the insight that the novel gives the reader about this historic period of Hungary is the impact that the Bolshevik rule had on the Vizy’s. Bolshevism had greatly impacted the Vizy’s lives; Kosztolányi expresses this by stating that Mr. Vizy “had starved under Bolshevism” (p. 12). This was due to the fact that Mr. Vizy was demoted, even put on half-pay, and lost all of his money from government expenses such as war-bonds and securities (p. 12). Even with being a government bureaucrat, Mr. Vizy did not see the slightest hint of advancement during this time, as he was branded as “a mill without grain, the wheels ground on within him uselessly” (p. 13). This caused much frustration for Mr. Vizy, and his wife was not handling this time very smoothly either, as she was even feeling sick from “the recent excitements under the Bolshevik regime” (p. 12). These changing times in the social order in Hungary were clearly reflected in the bitterness of the Vizy’s and contributed to the resentment they portrayed towards Anna, which makes it more clear to the reader why Dr. Moviszter placed the blame of the double murder on the poor treatment Anna was receiving. Anna could only fight through the reign of these two ruthless masters for a limited time until she eventually lost control of herself and acted solely on her spontaneous and critical actions.
As the story of this tragic downfall unveils itself, the reader acquires a great vision of Hungary during this historic time period. The impacts that this time had on the novel’s many characters were visible in their actions and beliefs, and showed that the view of the communist movement varied among different groups of people. Dr. Moviszter’s compassion towards servants could be used as a tool given by Kosztolányi to demonstrate that human equality was a belief that was more prevalent in some people than others. Although the doctor places the blame of the horrific murders on the treatment that Anna’s employers gave her, there were multiple influences that led to that tragic event. It was the overpowering combination of numerous factors that played a role in the disastrous collapse of the main characters, and these factors are: the effects caused by the drastic changes in the social order of Hungary during this time, the deep rooted internal conflicts that both Vizy’s faced due to these changes, and multiple external issues such as the never ending debate of human equality in Hungary.
by
trackkid520 (student)
