[sindikaproductions.com]
The figure of Ivan IV, known for his cruelty as Ivan the Terrible, is one of the greatest riddles in history. Some considered him the most progressive and intellectual monarch of his time – a genius even -- doubling Russia’s territory and imposing firm sovereign rule over Slav lands for the first time in history. Others consider him a madman whose savagery and debauchery outstripped that of Nero or Caligula, who destroyed his people’s love for freedom -- a regression which is claimed by some as being felt even to this day. His example provided inspiration for subsequent tyrants in Russian history until four hundred years later, history repeated itself in the form of Joseph Stalin.
Ivan’s father, Vasily III, died when Ivan was only 3 years old. His mother Helena Glinskaya assumed power on his behalf but she was poisoned five years later and Ivan was left an orphan. A vicious power struggle ensued among the boyars of the Kremlin. Within days of his mother’s death, his favourite guardian was murdered before his eyes. This was followed shortly afterwards by the murder of his nursemaid who had replaced his mother. Only the fierce antagonism between the boyars -- some of whom were the de facto rulers of Russia in Ivan’s name -- saved the young prince’s life.. Ivan grew up much influenced by these horrific events and his hatred for and fear of the boyars persisted throughout his life causing much bloodshed.
Ivan grew up to be vengeful, nervous and cruel. Yet, Ivan was raised as a true Christian and became a missionary, later building Russia’s greatest churches, collecting and saving religious relics and promoting the Slav order of Orthodoxy. His dream was to make Moscow the 3rd Rome after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. He was an intellectual who collected and read all modern books of his period, who promoted intellectual activity, brought printing to Russia and wrote history. He was not a complete monster as some authors have depicted him. But that he was seriously ill with paranoia, there is little doubt.
In 1546, at age 16 Ivan announced that he intended to marry and assume the throne. Furthermore he did not intend to take the title of Grand Prince of Moscow, as his father and grandfather had done before him, but that of the Tsar. In 1547 Ivan was crowned Tsar and immediately afterward married Anastasia Zakharina. She produced three surviving sons. Anastasia died suspiciously in 1560, leaving Ivan the Terrible in a state of mistrust and paranoia.
Most of Ivan’s characteristics are amply described by Russian historians and the chronicles of the period. We know that he had an insatiable passion for women, so intense that some modern historians consider him to have been a sex maniac and bisexual. Some historians also portray Ivan as a pathological coward, ignoring the historic fact that Ivan faced his enemies both foreign and domestic and defeated them through a combination of guile, intimidation and brute force.
But the picture that emerges in Balagova’s poem and in the film script for IVAN THE TERRIBLE is much more complex.. It is true that he was sick with paranoia and schizophrenia and when he experienced an attack of the illness he did awful things. However when he recovered, he would go to the church and cry, praying to Jesus for forgiveness for the terrible deeds he had done. This duality in Ivan’s character is the embodiment of drama personified. Maria was caught in this duality and she spent her short life with him, supporting him, believing in his mission and accepting his transgressions as a supportive partner.