In this blog post, we will examine how the novel ‘The Doll’ revealed the upheavals in Polish society and the conflicts over class and identity amid industrialization and Positivism following the Partitions of 1795 and the January Uprising, focusing on the historical background and social conditions.

Historical Background

In 1795, Poland was completely partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, vanishing from the European political landscape. At the time, Poland’s political system was not a hereditary monarchy but a republic (Rzeczpospolita) elected by the nobility; therefore, the partition by foreign powers was perceived by Poles as an unacceptable injustice.
In the 17th century, Poland had once been a major power in Central Europe—having captured Moscow (1610) and helped defend European civilization by repelling the massive Ottoman army (1683)—making the country’s disappearance all the more shocking. This historical consciousness is reflected in the lyrics of the national anthem, “The Song of the Polish Insurgents” (Mazurek Dąbrowskiego).
Following the Partitions, Poles placed great hope in Napoleon as he fought against foreign powers, and as a result, many Poles joined Napoleon’s army. Approximately 100,000 Poles even participated in Napoleon’s Russian campaign (1812–1813).
The defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856) sparked political changes within Russia. After a long period of police-state rule, Nicholas I died (1855) and Alexander II became tsar. Although he implemented reforms such as the emancipation of the serfs (1861), these failed to meet expectations, leading to widespread resistance against the tsarist regime in both Russia and Poland.
In October 1861, Russian authorities declared a state of emergency throughout the Kingdom of Poland, prompting the Polish revolutionary movement to prepare for an armed uprising. On January 14, 1863, the administrative governor, Bielopolski, carried out a forced conscription (branka), but most of those targeted had already fled. On January 22, the revolutionary forces declared a nationwide armed uprising, an event known in history as the “January Uprising.”
Although the uprising initially unfolded despite regional and class differences, it had no realistic chance of success. The uprising, which continued for 15 months primarily in the form of guerrilla warfare, ultimately ended in failure, followed by reprisals from the Tsarist government. Many were executed or subjected to forced labor, tens of thousands were exiled to Siberia, and land was confiscated and destroyed.
Furthermore, following the uprising, Russia pushed a strong policy of Russification across all aspects of education and administration, and among Poles who witnessed this grim reality, the illusion of armed struggle was greatly diminished.

Social Conditions

Following the January Uprising, significant changes took place in Polish society and among the intellectuals. The late 19th century was a period of rapid industrialization; as the noise of machines and trains permeated daily life, the voice of the traditional poet lost its place. Instead, journalists and prose writers who exposed the realities of workers and peasants overshadowed by industrialization came to exert a major influence on the public.
Amid these changes, Romanticism—with its emphasis on emotion and fantasy—gradually declined, and positivism (pozytywizm), based on reason, established itself as the dominant trend in the literary world. Feudalism, rooted in land ownership, collapsed; a bourgeoisie supported by industry and commerce emerged; and an era arrived in which the values of science, education, and labor were emphasized.
Although Poland’s industrialization was primarily driven by foreign capital and entrepreneurs, society as a whole could not escape the tide of capitalism. Faced with the Tsarist government’s strict censorship, which made it difficult to openly express political demands, intellectuals found hope in scientific and economic progress.
After 1868, numerous magazines and newspapers emerged, and the translation and publication of foreign scientific and literary works flourished. In particular, the Warsaw Positivists (pozytywizm warszawski) viewed society as a single organism and emphasized the role of each member; borrowing from evolutionary theory, they argued that society could also develop through gradual improvement.
The press emphasized that it was the duty of citizens to develop industry and commerce and to promote education, and it advocated the position that contributing to economic and cultural development took precedence over national independence. At the same time, it placed great importance on ethical issues and attacked the anti-Enlightenment attitudes of the nobility, the dogmatism of the clergy, and class barriers.
Positivist writers advocated for equal rights for groups that had long faced discrimination—such as peasants, Jews, and women—and criticized the feudal mindset as an obstacle to modernization. A leading figure in this positivist movement was Prus, who emphasized the value of labor and the importance of science, technology, and rational thought, advocating for national revival through the enlightenment of peasants and economic self-reliance.
Nevertheless, the aspiration for national independence did not fade, and the issue of independence was addressed by various political forces. The literature mentions the emergence of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna) and the National Democracy (ND, Narodowa Demokracja), noting that the former exhibited a relatively pro-Western orientation, while the latter displayed a conservative tendency that prioritized cooperation with Russia. The reconstruction of Poland following World War I (1918) was not unrelated to these political trends.
Philosophically, the movement was influenced by the positivism of the French philosopher Auguste Comte and British utilitarian ethics. Expectations of progress born of the Industrial Revolution and the belief that science could solve social problems gave Polish positivists great hope.
Meanwhile, Poland had traditionally been a multi-ethnic nation. Approximately one-third of the pre-World War II population consisted of ethnic minorities—including Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans, and Jews—with the Jewish population being particularly large.
Jews had migrated to Poland from Prague in the late 11th century and enjoyed protection as well as religious and occupational freedom; however, as time passed and they began to excel in commerce, crafts, trade, and moneylending, anti-Semitism began to take root alongside resentment from Christians. Amid this atmosphere, Polish Positivists relentlessly criticized anti-Semitism.
Among them, Posmodernist writers such as Eliza Orzeszkowa and Maria Konopnicka denounced the persecution and prejudice against Jews as “moral madness” (moralny obłęd) and used literature to warn of the harm that anti-Semitism inflicted on society. Furthermore, the presence of Jewish writers of Polish origin—such as Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature for works published in Yiddish—demonstrates the multifaceted cultural landscape of Polish society at the time.

19th-Century Polish Literature

From a literary-historical perspective, the first half of the 19th century was the Romantic period, which is regarded as the golden age of Polish literature. At that time, Poland had three national poets (wieszcz), all of whom were Romantic poets: Mickiewicz, Słowacki, and Krasinski. These poets served as national symbols and objects of reverence for Poles who had lost their country, and today, statues of these national poets or streets named after them can easily be found in any Polish city.
During the 123-year period of lost sovereignty, from 1795 to 1918, Polish literature developed in close connection with the nation’s tragic reality. It is difficult to find literature in other European countries that is as closely intertwined with history as Polish literature. The “fate of the nation and the people” was a central theme not only in Romantic-era literature but also in the Positivist literature of the late 19th century, which emerged after the January Uprising of 1863.
However, Romanticism and Positivism diverged significantly in their approaches to regaining independence and their diagnoses of the underlying causes. Romantic poets attributed Poland’s downfall to the greed of neighboring absolute monarchies and believed that independence could be restored through armed struggle. In contrast, Positivists identified the causes within Poland itself—particularly the selfishness and divisions among the high nobility, political chaos, and the decline of national power—and argued that the priority should be placed on the enlightenment of the people, economic development, and individual economic self-reliance rather than independence.
The subjects of interest to Positivist writers extended beyond the nobility to include social classes that had been relatively neglected in earlier Romantic literature—such as citizens, bankers, factory owners, merchants, farmers, Jews, and laborers. In other words, ordinary citizens were finally beginning to emerge as the masters of society. This shift vividly reflected the modernization of Polish society as a whole and the changes in its social hierarchy within the literature.

‘The Doll’ and Bolesław Prus

Bolesław Prus’s masterpiece, ‘The Doll’ (‘Lalka’), is recognized as one of Poland’s greatest novels by many literary critics, including Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Miłosz (Czesław Miłosz, 1911–2004). The novel’s outstanding virtues lie in its realistic and detailed descriptions, rich scene composition, and simple yet lucid writing style.
The special bond between Prus and his readers is still evident throughout Warsaw. Commemorative plaques on the walls of several buildings in Warsaw—suggesting that the novel’s characters actually lived in those places—demonstrate the readers’ imagination and affection. For example, a stone plaque honoring the characters Stanisław Wokulski and Ignacy Zetski is affixed to a building near the university, prompting readers to draw connections between the fictional characters and reality. Such memorials are a rare expression of affection between an author and their readers, even in the context of world literature.
Evidence of the nationwide affection for Prus’s novel can also be seen in contemporary events. In 2015, events where people read ‘The Doll’ together were held at approximately 1,600 schools, cultural centers, libraries, and bookstores across the country, demonstrating that this work remains an important literary asset for the Polish public.
The plot of ‘The Doll’ centers on the tragic love of the self-made businessman Wokulski for Izabela, the only daughter of a high-ranking noble family, and depicts the panoramic, generational changes in Warsaw. Wokulski is portrayed as a strong-willed, hardworking, and adventurous businessman—a staunch anti-feudal liberal and a leading figure of Polish Positivism. However, he has a fatal flaw: he is a “Polish romantic” who dreams of an idealistic and unattainable love.
Bokulski is blinded by his infatuation with Izabela—a beautiful woman from a high-ranking aristocratic family who is selfish and vain—and is driven to ruin. His close friends—Jetski, Schumann, and Ochotski—know he is heading down the wrong path but are unable to stop his obsessive love. Their personalities and actions are key elements that elevate the novel from a simple love story to a social diagnosis.
Jetski, as Bokulski’s business agent and friend, provides a rich interpretation of events through his innocent and humorous “memoirs.” He is a character who upholds traditional values to the very end, embodying diligence, integrity, frugality, and a sense of justice. His political idealism is metaphorically represented through the myth of Napoleon, a literary device chosen with an eye toward Russian censorship at the time.
Schumann, a Jewish intellectual, offers an intriguing and persuasive perspective through his complex feelings toward and analysis of the Jewish people. Meanwhile, Okhotsky, a passionate natural scientist, is a rational and humble figure who offers insight into the backwardness of Polish society and its leadership, which is insensitive to change and listless. Each of their perspectives allows the novel to present a multidimensional view of various social strata.
Ultimately, the idealism that Bokulski and his friends dreamed of fails to bear significant fruit and ends in emptiness. Although it is generally believed that Bokulski met his downfall due to blind love, his death remains unconfirmed, leaving room for debate. Jezicki is so shocked by the news of Bokulski’s death that he dies suddenly; Schumann eventually turns to the pursuit of money; and Okhotsky attempts to gather all his funds to leave the country. However, the novel leaves room for interpretation throughout, refraining from a definitive conclusion, and thus discussion of the events continues to this day.
Through ‘The Doll’, Prus sharply criticizes the obstacles to modernization among the Polish nobility, including their stubborn sense of privilege, selfishness, moral laxity, lack of economic awareness, contempt for labor, and ignorance of the changing times. At the same time, the author’s gentle nature and deep affection for humanity are revealed in the way he shows that even villainous characters possess human qualities.
For example, even characters like the Ksioskowskis or Marusewicz are not portrayed as purely evil, and even a character like Starski—who caused misery for many—can be interpreted as ultimately serving a positive function by opening the eyes of others to reality through his actions. These aspects have made ‘The Doll’ not merely a novel of social criticism, but a representative work of inclusive Polish realism.
‘The Doll’ has been translated into more than 20 foreign languages and adapted into films, plays, and TV series. This widespread translation and adaptation demonstrate both the work’s universal value and its literary excellence in delicately capturing Polish society and the human condition.