Cock Your Pistols
Published in 1844, The Luck of Barry Lyndon is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. In 1975, the film adaptation of the novel was released for the silver screen by director Stanley Kubrick. In respect to making connections, comparisons will be made between the film adaption of Barry Lyndon and the stage play, Hedda Gabler; but it is important to note that the novel in which the film is based was published 46 years before Henrik Ibsen’s play. Although there may not have been a direct influence of one work impacting the other, both works are a part of the same writing era, the Victorian period, which ranges from 1832 to 1901. Works from similar time periods often share similar themes and styles, so what does the story of Barry have in relation to Hedda? Not too much. Not much at all, besides both stories are named after their main character, and both use pistols to ‘kill time’ by telling stories. Both characters develop around the beauty and power of a pistol. But what is the significance of pistols in the Victorian Era of writing?
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian author and playwright, who lived from 1860 to 1904, who tackles the significance of the instrument. In his work, he brought light to a concept referred to as ‘Chekhov’s Gun’ which describes how each element of a story should contribute to the whole. Chekhov says, “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there” which is precisely done in Hedda Gabler. It is done in each and every act. In the closing moments of Act I, Hedda mentions to George, “I shall have one thing at least to kill time within the meanwhile… my pistols”(800). Hedda ends the first act of the play with pistol talk. In the following act, Act II, the scene begins with one pistol in Hedda’s hand and the matching pistol on the writing-table. Hedda says “Hello again, Judge” and after he acknowledges her presence, she raises the pistol, aims, and shoots(800). Act III ends with Hedda gifting Lovborg a pistol. Foreshadowing, again, the use of the instrument in the following, and final, act. In Act IV, Hedda is told by Judge Brack about Lovborg and his incident with the gifted pistol. It seems to be solidifying the purpose of the pistol in the third act. But to finalize the play, Hedda uses the matching pistol, which was mentioned to be located on the writing-table, to blow her brains out. A superb example of Chekhov’s gun in the same era of its discovery.
The pistol is relevant in both the film and the play. The film, Barry Lyndon, begins with a duel. The man directing the duel says the first words, “Gentlemen, cock your pistols” and immediately, there is an intriguing scenario revolving around pistols. The first action is taken and Barry’s father is killed in a duel. Later in the act, there is a duel between Redmond Barry and Captain Quinn of the English Army over the love of a woman. Barry is on the left, just as his father was in the opening scene. His opponent is on the right. Unlike his father, Barry wins the duel. It is later in the story where Barry learns the duel was fixed. The guns were faulty. The duel was designed in such a way to teach the boy a lesson. Now, according to Anton Chekhov, every element of a story should contribute to the whole. So Kubrick altered the climactic tension between Barry and his step-son, in the second act to bring rhyme and reason to the faulty pistols used in the first act. In Act II, it is Barry who alters the pistols to teach his opponent the stakes of dueling. Another sublime use of Chekhov’s Gun.
Evan, I wish I remembered more about Barry Lyndon. I saw the film, but only really remember the aesthetics of it, and don’t recall much about the plot. Did you watch Bergman’s Hedda Gabler? It might be interesting to compare those two films’ treatment of nineteenth century texts as a way of thinking about how twentieth century filmmakers reenvisioned and reframed victorian texts to suit a contemporary audience.