As a character, she is reflected in fine arts, literature, cinema, and music. And the images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” in painting became the personification of the girl’s external image.
Snow Maiden: the origin of the heroine
Only Russian New Year's mythology includes a positive female hero. Despite its uniqueness, its origin is shrouded in mystery. There are three most popular theories that are not only unrelated, but also contradict each other.
The images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” in fine art clearly describe all three theories.
Various family connections are attributed to the young companion of Santa Claus. She and the daughter of Big Spruce, who appeared out of nowhere: crawling out from under a spreading spruce branch. She is the daughter of Frost and Spring. Also, its appearance is associated with childless old people who, in their twilight years, started thinking about children. Ivan and Marya made a little girl out of snow, and the Snow Maiden was born.
Girl made of snow
IN AND. Dahl wrote that in Rus' snow maidens, snowmen and bullfinches were called ptah (birds) that spent the winter in the forests. In addition, he noted that they were “blockheads made of snow.” According to V.I. Dahl, these idiots had the image of a man.
It is noteworthy that Dahl’s words generally characterize all the images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” in the visual arts.
The image of a girl molded from snow by old men appeared after the baptism of Rus'.
“The Snow Maiden” is Ostrovsky’s fairy tale; it is the most popular reflection of the character we are considering. However, the work is not isolated and unique.
The Russian folk tale "The Snow Maiden" shows us a heroine who was born from direct contact with a stove: grandmother and grandfather...
IN AND. Dahl in his fairy tale “The Snow Maiden Girl” presents the birth of the heroine as follows:
Mythologized image of frozen winter waters
Zharnikova S.V., ethnologist, believes that the image of the Snow Maiden found its first reflection in the god Varun. Svetlana Vasilievna explains this simply: Snegurochka is the faithful companion of Father Frost, and he dates back to the time of Varun. Therefore, Zharnikova suggests that the Snow Maiden is the embodiment of frozen (winter) waters. Her traditional attire also corresponds to her origin: white clothes combined with silver ornaments.
The Snow Maiden is the prototype of Kostroma
Some researchers connect our heroine with the Slavic funeral rite of Kostroma.
What do the images of Kostroma and the Snow Maiden have in common? Seasonality and external image (in one of the interpretations).
Kostroma is depicted as a young woman in snow-white robes, holding an oak branch in her hands. Most often shown surrounded by many people (round dance).
It is this face of Kostroma that makes her similar to the Snow Maiden. However, the straw effigy of a woman (the second image of Kostroma) also has much in common with the snow maiden. It is believed that the games end with the burning of the effigy: this means that winter is over - spring is coming. The Snow Maiden ends her annual cycle in a similar way: she melts after jumping over the fire.
What else do Snegurochka and Kostroma have in common? Kostroma is not only a female folklore image, but also a city in the Central Federal District of Russia, which is the birthplace of the granddaughter of Father Frost.
Fairy tale-play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Snow Maiden"
The Shchelykovo estate, located in the Kostroma region, is the small homeland of the playwright who wrote the work “The Snow Maiden”.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky’s fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” reveals the image of a girl from a slightly different side than the works of Russian folklore.
Ostrovsky tests his heroine:
- those around her (residents of Sloboda) do not understand her;
- Bobyl and Bobylikha, unlike the grandfather and grandmother from the folk tale, do not love their daughter, but use her, pursuing only one goal: profit.
Ostrovsky subjects the girl to tests: she goes through mental anguish.
Images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” in fine art
“Spring Tale” by A.N. Ostrovsky came to life and acquired its melody thanks to the composer, whose name is N. Rimsky-Korsakov.
After the first reading of the play, the composer was not inspired by its drama, but already in the winter of 1879 he began to think about creating the opera “The Snow Maiden”.
Here the images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” begin their journey in fine art.
The first artist to capture the image of a fabulous Russian beauty can be called V.M. Vasnetsova. It was he who designed the scenery for N.A.’s opera. Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Snow Maiden", staged at the Bolshoi Theater.
Inspired by the opera, Viktor Mikhailovich not only created the scenery for the production, but also became the author of a separate work: the painting “The Snow Maiden” (1899).
Vasnetsov is not the only artist who has brought to life the images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”. Sketches of costumes and scenery are by N.K. Roerich. He designed the play “The Snow Maiden” four times.
The first versions of the design (1908 and 1912) by N.K. Roerich transported the viewer to the world of ancient pre-Christian Rus', when paganism reigned in society and people recklessly believed in fairy tales. And the 1921 production was distinguished by a more modern (for those years) vision of the plot.
M.A. also contributed a brush to the creation of the image of the Snow Maiden. Vrubel.
V.M. Vasnetsov, N.K. Roerich, M.A. Vrubel - the painters, thanks to whom the Snow Maiden “found” her snowy image: a radiant white headband on her hair, a light snow robe, belted with ermine fur, a short fur coat.
The image of the snow girl was captured on their canvases by artists: Alexander Shabalin, Ilya Glazunov, Konstantin Korovin.
V.M. Vasnetsov - images of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”
Viktor Mikhailovich created the image of the Snow Maiden, consisting of a sundress and a hoop on her head. It is noteworthy that the artist himself was involved in painting the girl’s attire. His brushes also belong to many parts of the scenery. Later art critics will say that V.M. Vasnetsov became a full co-author of the play.
“The Snow Maiden” is perhaps the least typical of all Alexander Ostrovsky’s plays, which stands out sharply among his other works for its lyricism, unusual themes (instead of social drama, the author paid attention to personal drama, identifying the theme of love as the central theme) and absolutely fantastic surroundings. The play tells the story of the Snow Maiden, who appears before us as a young girl desperately yearning for the only thing she never had - love. Remaining true to the main line, Ostrovsky simultaneously reveals several more: the structure of his half-epic, half-fairy-tale world, the morals and customs of the Berendeys, the theme of continuity and retribution, and the cyclical nature of life, noting, albeit in an allegorical form, that life and death always go hand in hand.
History of creation
The Russian literary world owed the birth of the play to a happy accident: at the very beginning of 1873, the Maly Theater building was closed for major renovations, and a group of actors temporarily moved to the Bolshoi. Having decided to take advantage of the opportunities of the new stage and attract spectators, it was decided to organize an extravaganza performance, unusual for those times, using at once the ballet, drama and opera components of the theater team.
It was with the proposal to write a play for this extravaganza that they turned to Ostrovsky, who, taking the opportunity to implement a literary experiment, agreed. The author changed his habit of looking for inspiration in the unsightly sides of real life, and in search of material for the play he turned to the creativity of the people. There he found a legend about the Snow Maiden girl, which became the basis for his magnificent work.
In the early spring of 1873, Ostrovsky worked hard to create the play. And not alone - since stage production is impossible without music, the playwright worked together with the then very young Pyotr Tchaikovsky. According to critics and writers, this is precisely one of the reasons for the amazing rhythm of “The Snow Maiden” - words and music were composed in a single impulse, in close interaction, and were imbued with each other’s rhythm, initially forming one whole.
It is symbolic that Ostrovsky put the last point in “The Snow Maiden” on the day of his fiftieth anniversary, March 31. And a little more than a month later, on May 11, the premiere performance took place. He received quite different reviews among critics, both positive and sharply negative, but already in the 20th century literary scholars firmly agreed that “The Snow Maiden” is the brightest milestone in the playwright’s work.
Analysis of the work
Description of the work
The plot is based on the life path of the Snow Maiden girl, born from the union of Frost and Spring-Red, her father and mother. The Snow Maiden lives in Berendey's kingdom, invented by Ostrovsky, but not with her relatives - she left her father Frost, who protected her from all possible troubles, - but in the family of Bobyl and Bobylikha. The Snow Maiden longs for love, but cannot fall in love - even her interest in Lelya is dictated by the desire to be one and only, the desire for the shepherd boy, who equally gives warmth and joy to all the girls, to be affectionate with her alone. But Bobyl and Bobylikha are not going to shower her with their love; they have a more important task: to cash in on the girl’s beauty by marrying her off. The Snow Maiden indifferently looks at the Berendey men who change their lives for her, reject brides and violate social norms; she is internally cold, she is alien to the Berendeys, who are full of life - and therefore attracts them. However, misfortune also befalls the Snow Maiden - when she sees Lel, who is favorable to another and rejects her, the girl rushes to her mother with a request to let her fall in love - or die.
It is at this moment that Ostrovsky clearly expresses the central idea of his work: life without love is meaningless. The Snow Maiden cannot and does not want to put up with the emptiness and coldness that exists in her heart, and Spring, which is the personification of love, allows her daughter to experience this feeling, despite the fact that she herself thinks it’s bad.
The mother turns out to be right: the beloved Snow Maiden melts under the first rays of the hot and clear sun, having, however, managed to discover a new world filled with meaning. And her lover, who had previously abandoned his bride and was expelled by Tsar Mizgir, gives up his life in the pond, striving to reunite with the water, which the Snow Maiden has become.
Main characters
(Scene from the ballet performance "The Snow Maiden")
The Snow Maiden is the central figure of the work. A girl of extraordinary beauty, desperately wanting to know love, but at the same time cold at heart. Pure, partly naive and completely alien to the Berendey people, she turns out to be ready to give everything, even her life, in exchange for knowledge of what love is and why everyone craves it so much.
Frost is the father of the Snow Maiden, formidable and strict, trying to protect his daughter from all sorts of troubles.
Vesna-Krasna is the mother of a girl who, despite a premonition of trouble, could not go against her nature and her daughter’s pleas and endowed her with the ability to love.
Lel is a windy and cheerful shepherd who was the first to awaken some feelings and emotions in the Snow Maiden. It was precisely because she was rejected by him that the girl rushed to Vesna.
Mizgir is a trade guest, or, in other words, a merchant who fell in love with the girl so much that he not only offered all his wealth for her, but also left Kupava, his failed bride, thereby violating the traditionally observed customs of the Berendey kingdom. In the end, he found reciprocity with the one he loved, but not for long - and after her death he himself lost his life.
It is worth noting that despite the large number of characters in the play, even the minor characters turned out to be bright and characteristic: Tsar Berendey, Bobyl and Bobylikha, Mizgir’s ex-bride Kupava - all of them are remembered by the reader and have their own distinctive features and characteristics.
“The Snow Maiden” is a complex and multifaceted work, including both compositionally and rhythmically. The play is written without rhyme, but thanks to the unique rhythm and melodiousness present in literally every line, it sounds smoothly, like any rhymed verse. “The Snow Maiden” is also decorated with the rich use of colloquial expressions - this is a completely logical and justified step by the playwright, who, when creating the work, relied on folk tales telling about a girl made of snow.
The same statement about versatility is also true in relation to the content: behind the outwardly simple story of the Snow Maiden (she went out into the real world - rejected people - received love - was imbued with the human world - died) lies not only the statement that life without love is meaningless, but also many other equally important aspects.
Thus, one of the central themes is the interrelation of opposites, without which the natural course of things is impossible. Frost and Yarilo, cold and light, winter and the warm season outwardly oppose each other, enter into irreconcilable contradiction, but at the same time, a red line through the text runs the idea that one does not exist without the other.
In addition to the lyricism and sacrifice of love, the social aspect of the play, displayed against the backdrop of fairy-tale foundations, is also of interest. The norms and customs of the Berendey kingdom are strictly observed; violation is punishable by expulsion, as happened with Mizgir. These norms are fair and to some extent reflect Ostrovsky’s idea of an ideal old Russian community, where loyalty and love for one’s neighbor, life in unity with nature are valued. The figure of Tsar Berendey, the “kind” Tsar, who, although forced to make harsh decisions, regards the fate of the Snow Maiden as tragic, sad, evokes definitely positive emotions; It is easy to sympathize with such a king.
At the same time, in Berendey’s kingdom, justice is observed in everything: even after the death of the Snow Maiden as a result of her acceptance of love, Yarila’s anger and dispute disappears, and the Berendeyites can again enjoy the sun and warmth. Harmony triumphs.
Composition
The poetic fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” stands apart from a number of other works by Ostrovsky. In other plays, Ostrovsky paints gloomy pictures of the merchant environment, criticizes harsh morals and shows all the tragedy of a lonely soul forced to exist in the conditions of the “dark kingdom.”
The work “The Snow Maiden” is an amazing fairy tale that shows the beauty of the surrounding world, love, nature, and youth. The work is based on folk tales, songs, traditions and legends. Ostrovsky only combined fairy tales, legends and songs together and gave folk art a very unique flavor. In The Snow Maiden, human relationships occupy the main place. At first glance, the plot looks absolutely fantastic. But then it turns out that living human characters are visible in this phantasmagoria.
The action takes place in a fabulous place - the kingdom of Berendey. Describing the laws of this country, Ostrovsky seems to paint his ideal of social order. In the kingdom of Berendey, people live according to the laws of conscience and honor, trying not to provoke the wrath of the gods. Beauty is very important here. The beauty of the surrounding world, the beauty of girls, flowers, songs are appreciated. It is no coincidence that the singer of love Lel turns out to be so popular. He seems to personify youth, ardor, ardor.
Tsar Berendey himself symbolizes folk wisdom. He has lived a long time in the world, so he knows a lot. The king is worried about his people; it seems to him that something evil appears in the hearts of people:
In the hearts of people I noticed that I was cooling
Considerable; fervor of love
I haven’t seen the Berendeys for a long time.
The service of beauty has disappeared in them;
I don’t see the youth’s eyes,
Moistened with enchanting passion;
I don’t see maidens who are thoughtful, deeply
Sighing. On the eyes with wisps
There is no sublime melancholy of love,
But we see completely different passions:
Vanity, envy of other people's outfits
And so on.
What values does Tsar Berendey think about? He doesn't care about money or power. He cares for the hearts and souls of his subjects. By painting the Tsar this way, Ostrovsky wants to show an ideal picture of a fairy-tale society. Only in a fairy tale can people be so kind, noble and honest. And this intention of the writer in depicting a fabulous ideal reality warms the reader’s soul, makes him think about the beautiful and sublime.
Indeed, the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” is read with enthusiasm at any age. And after reading it, the thought appears about the value of such human qualities as spiritual beauty, fidelity and love. Ostrovsky talks about love in many of his works.
But in The Snow Maiden the conversation is conducted in a very special way. In the form of a fairy tale, the reader is presented with great truths about the enduring value of love.
The ideal kingdom of the Berendeys lives so happily precisely because they know how to appreciate love. That is why the gods are so merciful to the Berendeys. And it only takes breaking the law, insulting the great feeling of love, for something terrible to happen.
I've been living for a long time, and the old order
Quite well known to me. Berendey,
Beloved by the gods, they lived honestly.
Without fear, we entrusted our daughter to the guy,
For us, a wreath is a guarantee of their love
And loyalty to death. And never once
The wreath was not desecrated by treason,
And the girls knew no deception,
They knew no resentment.
It is no coincidence that Mizgir’s betrayal of Kupava resonated with pain in everyone around him. Everyone took the guy’s ignoble behavior as a personal insult:
...It's a shame for everyone,
Offense to all Berendey girls!
In the kingdom, simple but beautiful relationships have been developing between people for a long time. The deceived girl Kupava first of all turns to the tsar-protector with a request to punish the culprit of her grief. And having learned all the details from Kupava and those around him, the king makes his verdict: the culprit must be punished. What punishment does the king choose? He orders Mizgir to be driven out of sight. It is in exile that the Berendeys see the most terrible punishment for a guilty person
Honest people, worthy of the death penalty
His fault; but in our way
There are no bloody laws; may the gods
They execute him according to his crime,
And we are the people's court of Mizgir
We condemn you to eternal exile.
There are no bloody laws in the kingdom. This could only happen in a fairy tale created by the writer’s imagination. And this humanity makes the kingdom of the Berendeys even more beautiful and pure.
The figure of the Snow Maiden is remarkable. She is completely different from everyone around her. The Snow Maiden is a fairy-tale character. She is the daughter of Frost and Spring. That is why the Snow Maiden is a very contradictory creature. The coldness in her heart is the legacy of her father, the stern and gloomy Frost. For a long time, the Snow Maiden lives in the wilderness of the forest, and her mansion is carefully guarded by her stern father. But, as it turned out, the Snow Maiden is similar not only to her father, but also to her mother, the beautiful and kind Spring. That is why she was tired of living alone, locked up. She wants to see real human life, experience all its beauty, take part in girlish fun, listen to the wonderful songs of the shepherd Lelya. “Life is not a joy without songs.”
The way the Snow Maiden describes human life shows her genuine admiration for human joys. The cold heart of the fairy-tale girl does not yet know love and human feelings, but nevertheless she is already beckoned and attracted by the bewitching world of people. The girl realizes that she can no longer remain in the kingdom of ice and snow. She wants to find happiness, and perhaps this, in her opinion, only in the kingdom of the Berendeys. She says to her mother:
Mom, happiness
Whether I find it or not, I’ll look.
The Snow Maiden amazes people with her beauty. The family in which the Snow Maiden finds herself wants to take advantage of the girl’s beauty for their personal enrichment. They beg her to accept the courtship of the rich Berendeys. They cannot appreciate the girl who has become their named daughter.
The Snow Maiden seems more beautiful, more modest and gentler than all the girls around her. But she does not know love, so she cannot respond to ardent human feelings. There is no warmth in her soul, and she looks distantly at the passion that Mizgir feels for her. A creature that does not know love evokes pity and surprise. It is no coincidence that no one can understand the Snow Maiden: neither the Tsar nor any of the Berendeys.
The Snow Maiden attracts others so much precisely because of her coldness. She seems like a special girl, for whom you can give everything in the world, and even life itself. At first the girl is indifferent to everyone around her. Gradually she begins to experience some feelings for the shepherd Lelya. This is not love yet, but it’s already hard for the icy beauty to see the shepherd with Kupava:
...Kupava,
Homewrecker! This is your word;
She herself called me a homewrecker,
You yourself are the one who separates you from Lel.
Shepherd Lel rejects the Snow Maiden, and she decides to beg her mother for ardent love. The kind that burns the human heart and makes you forget about everything in the world:
The Snow Maiden is deceived, offended, and killed.
O mother, Red Spring!
I am running to you with a complaint and a request:
I ask for love, I want to love.
Give the Snow Maiden your girl's heart, mom!
Give me my love or take my life!
Spring gives her daughter a feeling of love, but this gift can be disastrous for the Snow Maiden. Spring is tormented by grave forebodings, because the Snow Maiden is her daughter. Love turns out to be tragic for the heroine. But without love, life loses all meaning. The Snow Maiden cannot cope with the desire to become the same as all the people around her. Therefore, she decides to neglect the precepts of her father, who warned her against the disastrous consequences of human passion.
The Snow Maiden in love becomes surprisingly touching. A whole world, completely unknown to her previously, opens up for her. Now she understands all those who experience love languor. She answers Mizgir by agreeing to become his wife. But Mizgir is not able to give up his intention to appear before all the Berendeys with his bride, considering the beauty’s fears a whim.
The first bright rays of the sun kill the Snow Maiden.
But what about me? bliss or death?
What a delight! What a feeling of languor!
Oh Mother Spring, thank you for the joy,
For the sweet gift of love! What bliss
The languishing flows within me! Oh Lel,
Your enchanting songs are in my ears,
There is fire in the eyes... and in the heart... and in the blood
There's fire all over. I love and melt, melt
From the sweet feelings of love. Goodbye everyone
Girlfriends, goodbye groom! Oh darling
The Snow Maiden's last look to you.
Mizgir cannot accept the death of his beloved, so he throws himself from a high mountain. But the death of the Snow Maiden seems to the Berendeys to be something natural. The Snow Maiden was alien to the warmth of her soul, so it was difficult for her to find her happiness among people.
Mythopoetic oppositions in the playA.N. Ostrovsky “Snow Maiden”
A.V. Semenov
Many scientists, including Yu.M. Lotman, V.V. Ivanov, V.N. Toporov, A.V. Yudin, Claude Lévi-Strauss believed that the thinking of primitive or ancient people was mythological. To perceive the world, ancient people needed to decompose it into components in their minds and contrast these components to each other, which made the picture of the world clear and understandable. Myths and folklore reflect the mythological consciousness of ancient people.
A.N. Ostrovsky's play “The Snow Maiden” is based on folklore material. The work clearly reflects the peculiarities of consciousness and worldview of the ancient Slavs, which is manifested in the presence of mythopoetic oppositions in “The Snow Maiden”.
The purpose of this work:
Identification of mythopoetic oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden” and their comprehensive characteristics.
Research objectives:
a) general characteristics of East Slavic mythology and determination of the place of mythological oppositions in it;
b) comparison of traditional mythological characters with the images of the heroes of Ostrovsky’s play; identifying similarities and differences;
c) comparison of the plots of the Russian folk tale “The Snow Maiden” and Ostrovsky’s play; identifying similarities and differences; highlighting mythological oppositions common to folk tales and plays;
d) identification and description of mythopoetic oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden”;
e) classification of mythopoetic oppositions in “The Snow Maiden”;
f) determination of the main functions of mythopoetic oppositions in the studied play by Ostrovsky.
Images of mythological characters in folklore tradition and their interpretation by A.N. Ostrovsky in “The Snow Maiden”
Many heroes of Ostrovsky's spring fairy tale are correlated with traditional characters of East Slavic mythology. The other characters in the play cannot be called such, but they have unique names that evoke certain associations in the minds of readers or viewers. When creating his work, Ostrovsky used images of traditional folklore characters, but interpreted them in his own way. Unlike folklore characters, who were bearers of specific, stable traits and functions, the heroes of A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden” are endowed with individual characters. The oppositions of which these characters are members become not only functional and gendered, but also characteristic.
Comparison of the Russian folk tale about the Snow Maiden and the spring fairy tale by A.N. Ostrovsky
The spring fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky occupies a special place both in the writer’s work and in Russian drama in general. A fairy tale is one of the genres of oral folk art; it has its own special structure, its own laws (see “Morphology of a fairy tale” by V.Ya. Propp). Ostrovsky, based on the well-known plot of a Russian folk tale, created a completely new, original work, preserving folklore traditions in it.
There are at least 4 versions of the folk tale about the Snow Maiden. For the study, we chose the simplest and most common plot: childless old people in winter sculpted a girl out of snow, she came to life, became their assistant and adopted granddaughter. In the summer, the Snow Maiden went with her friends to the forest for a walk, jumped over the fire and melted (Afanasyev A.N. Russian folk tales). It is probably this version that is transformed and developed in the play. From another version of the fairy tale, Ostrovsky borrowed forest animals that help the Snow Maiden.
As noted earlier, Ostrovsky, while preserving the main points of the folklore plot, transformed it, creating a new work, which in many ways diverges from the folk tale. Firstly, there are many more characters in the play than in the fairy tale. Secondly, the heroes of the play are endowed with characters, the author tries to show their psychology, which is completely uncharacteristic of folklore. Thirdly, the play contains a love conflict, the participants of which are opposed to each other on several grounds. Fourthly, Ostrovsky’s work describes a state entity, and not just a village. Fifthly, in the play not only the Snow Maiden dies, but also Mizgir, and the death of the heroes is more tragic than the death of a girl in a folk tale.
So, let's draw conclusions. In the folk tale and in Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden”, two oppositions traditional for East Slavic folklore coincide: the fundamental opposition heat - cold(Snegurochka - the sun) and opposition your own - someone else's world, represented by the opposition house - forest. All other oppositions in the spring fairy tale by A.N. Ostrovsky are the result of changes, additions and complication of the plot of the Russian folk tale.
Mytho-poetic oppositions
A.N. Ostrovsky was quite familiar with Russian oral folk art. While traveling around Northern Rus', the homeland of his ancestors, Ostrovsky visited several villages, observed the life, way of life, and traditions of Russian peasants, and was interested in folklore. Probably, the playwright learned a lot from Afanasyev’s works “Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature” and “Russian Folk Tales,” which were well known to him. There is an opinion that one of the sources of “The Snow Maiden” could be the novel by P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky “In the Forests”, containing an artistic treatment of the myth of the ancient Slavic god Yaril. One way or another, it is obvious that Ostrovsky was confident in the source material: he knew the fairy tale about the Snow Maiden girl melting in the flames of a fire, Russian folk traditions, holiday rituals and songs, as well as mythological and poetic oppositions characteristic of Russian folklore.
I. Opposition.
The fundamental opposition in the play “The Snow Maiden” is the opposition heat and cold. This opposition is binary and multi-level. It is expressed in a fairy tale in different ways and many times, and has several sublevels. It is on this opposition that the main conflict of the play is based. Let's try to highlight the main sublevels of the opposition:
1) Warm- This . With the onset of the warm season, nature comes to life, the gifts of which, in turn, are the source of human life. Cold destroys life, puts nature to sleep, takes away sources of food, and can kill. Thus, the opposition life death goes back to the opposition heat - cold. In “The Snow Maiden”, life-giving warmth is contrasted with deadening cold.
2) Opposition winter spring obviously correlates with heat - cold and life - death. It is already arranged by nature itself that the cold season is opposed to the warm season. Since ancient times, the division of the year into two main seasons has determined the way of life of Russian peasants. In cold times, rest, preparation for the coming suffering, a series of winter holidays, in warm times - basic work, supplies for the winter, summer holidays. It’s not for nothing that we pay attention to the holidays. In Ostrovsky's spring fairy tale, the change of seasons is reflected in the rituals and songs accompanying folk festivities. The author reflected in the play the traditions of Maslenitsa and Semik, that is, saying goodbye to winter, meeting spring and summer. This is symbolic in the work: cold gives way to warmth, life replaces death, love awakens...
3) In the literature, the definition of the human heart as cold or hot is often found. A person with a cold heart is an insensitive, indifferent creature, incapable of strong emotions, and therefore deprived of the gift of love. Love is characteristic of people with a warm heart. Such a person is endowed with a tendency to experience a range of vivid emotions in relation to others; he perceives the world and people differently than a person with a cold heart. Opposition love - indifference clearly manifested in “The Snow Maiden”. All the characters in the play can be divided into those who are capable and those who are unable to love. The second include Snegurochka and Frost, the first include all the rest. Snegurochka and Frost are the products of a cold winter, while the rest enjoy warm spring and summer. Misunderstanding and rejection arise between the characters, and a conflict develops.
4) The division of heroes on the basis of love - coldness entails a number of gender oppositions:
a) On the very first pages of the work we meet two mythical characters - Spring and Santa Claus. They are personifications of the cold and warm seasons. Spring brings with it warmth and love, but both are alien to Frost. However, the contradiction in the Frost-Spring opposition is not the most acute. Being a man and a woman, they find a common language. Frost responds to Spring's frivolous coquetry, and the result of their fragile union is the daughter Snegurochka.
b) The Snow Maiden is a creature with a cold heart. She is unfamiliar with love. Once in the world of people, she encounters those who are capable of experiencing ardent feelings. Opposition Snow Maiden – Lel creates one of the main conflicts in the play. Lel is an ardent young man, loving, raised by the Sun. He constantly craves love and affection. The Snow Maiden cannot give them to him, although she really likes Lel. This situation gives rise to a conflict between Snegurochka and Lelya and an internal conflict between Snegurochka. And yet the contradiction in this opposition does not reach its maximum point. Lelya’s heart is not broken by the girl’s coldness; the Snow Maiden’s sympathy for the young man is due to his good looks and talent.
c) Opposition Snegurochka – Kupava not gender-specific, but the tension is growing here. Ardent, completely devoted to love, Kupava is the complete opposite of the cold, reserved, modest Snow Maiden. The difference between the girls from each other leads to the emergence of two love triangles: Snegurochka - Kupava - Mizgir, Snegurochka - Kupava - Lel. The situation is very conflictual, there are two ways out of it: the harmonious union of Kupava and Lelya, the death of the Snow Maiden and Mizgir. Both are realized in the work.
d) The contradiction reaches its maximum intensity in the gender opposition Snow Maiden - Mizgir. The girl is the embodiment of coldness; passions are boiling in Mizgir. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Snow Maiden is not only indifferent to Mizgir, he is unpleasant to her, his pressure and sudden strong feelings frighten her. Mizgir’s desire to possess the Snow Maiden collides with her reluctance to belong. The hero's passion is contraindicated for the Snow Maiden's cold heart. The girl and Mizgir are so incompatible that, magically, the Snow Maiden’s reciprocal feeling leads her to death. This is the most inharmonious resolution of the conflict.
All the oppositions discussed above are implementations of the fundamental opposition heat - cold.
Opposition Snow Maiden – Mizgir requires additional attention. It manifests itself as a type of opposition between heat and cold, but is not limited to this. There is another level here. When the Snow Maiden, wearing a wreath of magical flowers, acquires the ability to love, for a short time she ceases to be the opposite of Mizgir on the basis of love - coldness. But another contradiction arises: Selfless love is selfish love. Mizgir initially cares only about his feelings and the satisfaction of his desires. Having fallen in love with the Snow Maiden, he forces himself on her, and later resorts to the use of force. Mizgir’s persistence and recklessness leads to the Snow Maiden’s discord with Kupava and Lel. The Snow Maiden knows how to sacrifice her well-being for the sake of others. Obeying her adoptive parents, she drives Lel away against her will. Having understood the importance of the ability to love, the girl is ready to sacrifice her life for a single moment of love. Actually, that's what she does. The Snow Maiden knows that the rays of the sun will melt her, but she submits to Mizgir’s will and goes with him to the clearing to meet Yarila. What about Mizgir? He wants to achieve the king's forgiveness and prove that he kept his word and conquered the Snow Maiden. Mizgir is intoxicated with success, he does not heed either fear or the requests of the bride and leads her straight to death. In a different situation, sacrificial love and selfish love could well coexist and even complement each other, but Ostrovsky ordered otherwise. He collided two types of one feeling and brought the matter to a tragic conclusion.
One of the most important oppositions in Ostrovsky’s spring fairy tale is the opposition Snow Maiden - Yarilo. Yarilo is the god of the sun, fertility, dying and resurrecting life. Its time is summer. Yarilo is quite cruel, demanding and vindictive. The cult of this deity implied sacrifices, sometimes bloody. All this is reflected in the play in question. From the very beginning, from Moroz’s speech, we learn about Yarila’s anger and his intention to kill the Snow Maiden. Later, King Berendey speaks about the extreme dissatisfaction of the sun god. He sees the reason for the bad weather, the cold, short summer in the cooling of human hearts, the diminishment of love. What makes the sun god so angry? Yarilo is responsible primarily for fertility, for the continuation of life. And in the world of people there is an unsightly picture. Love, the natural consequence of which is marriage and the birth of children, is losing its position in human hearts. There are betrayals, mutual cooling of husbands and wives, indifference of boys and girls to each other. All this was largely facilitated by the birth of the Snow Maiden, and then by her appearance in the settlement and settlement of the Berendeys. The Snow Maiden is the offspring of Frost, she increases the strength of the forces of Winter and cold. In addition, Spring, for the sake of her daughter, condones Frost’s abuses. Of course, Yarilo cannot help but be angry. And the cruel god takes out his irritation on people. There is another irreconcilable contradiction between Yarila and the daughter of Spring and Frost. The Snow Maiden is the embodiment of chastity, which is absolutely incompatible with sensual love, marriage and the birth of children. She is a creature initially opposed to Yarila, so God seeks to destroy her. The conflict between Yarila and the Snow Maiden is an allegory of marriage. The groom must deprive the bride of chastity in order to gain the opportunity to give birth to a new life. Yarila’s anger at the Snow Maiden is also intensified by the fact that the appearance of a new beauty in the settlement quarreled the young men with their brides, that is, it brought even more discord and coldness towards people, and upset more than one marriage. The conflict is irreconcilable, the only way out of it is the elimination of one of the participants. God is strong and immortal, the Snow Maiden dies.
The opposition in Ostrovsky's play is very curious your own - someone else's world. This opposition is most typical for folklore genres, especially fairy tales. In the spring fairy tale it is expressed by the opposition forest - house, otherwise forest - settlement and berendeev posad. Your own world or home is the world of people, in which otherworldly forces cannot operate. The way here is closed to representatives of the other world. An alien world or forest is a dangerous space for people. Spirits, gods, and magical creatures live here. Some of them are friendly, others are neutral, and others are hostile towards people. In “The Snow Maiden” its own world is represented by the settlement, the settlement and all the Berendeys. The alien world includes the forest, Frost, Spring, Leshy and other inhabitants of the thicket, Yarilo. The sun god is close to people, they worship him. Nevertheless, Yarilo is alien to the human world. It’s not for nothing that a holiday in his honor is held in a clearing in the middle of the forest, and not in a settlement or suburb. The Snow Maiden occupies a special position between her own and someone else’s world. She was born and raised in the forest, but can also live among people. However, the appearance of the Snow Maiden in his world causes discord in him. The human world rejects the representative of the other world. The opposition is not broken.
Another traditional folklore opposition in “The Snow Maiden” is wedding - funeral. The wedding and funeral rites were similar in many ways. The bride is partly akin to the deceased; she passes from one state to another. In “The Snow Maiden” the wedding and funeral are brought together as closely as possible. The holiday in honor of Yarila should be crowned with the entry into marriage of many young men and women. But this same moment in the play is marked by the death of the Snow Maiden and Mizgir. Moreover, the death of the Snow Maiden is necessary for the successful completion of the wedding ceremony. In an incomprehensible way, the funerals of the Snow Maiden and Mizgir, who violated the harmony of this world, are woven into the pagan wedding rite in the face of Yarila. This close proximity of death and wedding in the play can be explained by the peculiarity of the cult of the sun god. Yarilo is the deity of life and death continuing each other.
Analyzing the oppositions in the play “The Snow Maiden”, we should dwell on the opposition ancestors - descendants. Ancestors act as guardians and defenders of antiquity, descendants are representatives of new times, bearers of changed morals. Otherwise, this opposition can be represented as antiquity - modernity. In Ostrovsky’s fairy tale, it is permissible to name Tsar Berendey and Kupava’s father Murash as ancestors. We hear stories about them about how life used to be. Murash speaks of the honesty and loyalty to the word of the former Berendeys. The king is of the opinion that during his youth people loved each other more and everything in the world was good and correct. The descendants in the play are all young people. They have nothing to compare the reality around them with, and they take everything for granted. There is an inevitable clash of morals. The wise king does not like the behavior of Mizgir, Elena the Beautiful, boys and girls, but Berendey is endowed with power and is trying to change the situation. However, no one offers him much resistance. Young people are imbued with the spirit of the holiday in honor of Yarila, the mood of love and spring. Justice triumphs.
These are the main oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden”.
II. Classification of oppositions.
Oppositions in a spring fairy tale can be divided into two groups:
1) Contrasts, characteristic primarily of folklore genres.
2) oppositions that are firmly established in fiction.
Of course, such a classification is very conditional. Most of the oppositions in “The Snow Maiden” somehow come into contact with folklore. However, some of them have obvious mythological overtones. Such oppositions include all gender oppositions, the participants of which are fairy-tale creatures, namely Spring - Frost, Snow Maiden - Yarilo. This group also includes the opposition between one's own and another's world. This opposition extremely rarely goes beyond folklore genres. The exception is the works of romantic writers, chivalric and fantasy novels, in which another world is necessarily present. However, such works are most often based on folklore and are close to myths, fairy tales, tales, legends, and traditions. Another folklore opposition is wedding - funeral. The original wedding and funeral rites were preserved for a very long time among the peasants, but they found no place in the nobility, and later in modern society. As a result, the rituals, their similarities and the opposition between wedding and funeral are almost not reflected in literature. The opposition in question remains a part of folklore genres.
The second group of oppositions from the play “The Snow Maiden” includes oppositions whose affiliation with mythology turned out to be fragile. We are talking about oppositions that migrated from folklore genres to fiction. For example, the opposition heat - cold in its gender and characteristic expressions has become quite traditional for many literary genres. Perhaps most clearly it manifests itself in sentimental novels and stories (for example, “Sensitive and Cold” by N.M. Karamzin). The basis of such oppositions is the opposition between love and indifference, which goes back to heat and cold. Thus, the oppositions Snegurochka - Lel, Snegurochka - Kupava, Snegurochka - Mizgir, love - indifference can be called more poetic than mythological. This group should also include the opposition ancestors - descendants. The conflict between fathers and sons, old and new generations, outdated and modern beliefs and morals has been played out many times by poets and writers (for example, “Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev). The difference between ancestors and descendants is an inevitable and natural phenomenon in human society. This is due to the constant development of science, culture, religion and, as a consequence, the people themselves. Each new generation is ahead of the previous one in some way, and a discrepancy in beliefs arises, often leading to conflicts. This has probably always been the case, which is why the opposition between ancestors and descendants is characteristic of both ancient folklore genres and modern literature.
III. Functions of oppositions.
As noted earlier, A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden” is based on oppositions. Such a construction of a work cannot be accidental. Each opposition must perform one or another function. Let's try to determine what goals the contrasts in the spring fairy tale serve to achieve.
A.N. Ostrovsky, calling his play a fairy tale, obliged himself to follow certain traditions of the folklore genre. Participants in many oppositions in the play are mythical and fairy-tale creatures: Snow Maiden, Frost, Spring, Leshy, Yarilo. According to fairy tales, myths and popular beliefs, they opposed both each other and people. Oppositions involving otherworldly creatures mythologize Ostrovsky's play and turn it into a fairy tale. The same purpose is served by the opposition between one’s own and someone else’s world, otherwise home – forest. This opposition is a distinctive feature of folklore genres; its presence in Ostrovsky’s work allows us to identify the play with a fairy tale. The opposition between wedding and funeral also brings the play closer to folklore.
The plot of Ostrovsky’s “The Snow Maiden” only very vaguely resembles the plot of a Russian folk tale about a girl molded from snow by an old man and melted in the flames of a fire. The author of the play took a fresh look at the folklore plot, transformed it, and created a neomyth (see Domansky Yu.V. Word-forming role of archetypal meanings in a literary text). One of the means of accomplishing this task was the opposition. The leading role in the spring fairy tale is given to the love conflict and its participants, which is not the case in the folk tale. This conflict is based on the characters’ characters, their ability or inability to love, the warmth or coldness in their hearts. By pitting the Snow Maiden against Lel, Kupava and Mizgir, Ostrovsky creates a completely new plot of the fairy tale.
In the folk tale, the conflict between the Snow Maiden and Yarila is not indicated, however, even there the snow girl is afraid of warmth and sun rays, hides from them, and becomes sad when summer comes. Ostrovsky uses this motif in his play and develops it. In fairy tales, action always dominates, and the complexity and depth of the conflict, the motives of the heroes remain unattended. Ostrovsky is trying to show all aspects of the conflict. To do this, he introduces the opposition Snegurochka - Yarilo and complicates the plot. Analyzing this opposition, we understand the complexity of the opposition between heat and cold, Summer and Winter in Slavic mythology.
When determining the functions of oppositions in a spring fairy tale, it is necessary to remember that the Snow Maiden is a participant in most oppositions. This girl is an oxymoronic creature, since she is the daughter of Spring and Frost, who oppose each other. The Snow Maiden is cold, but knows how to value friendship and talent. The girl has an icy heart, but she wants to love and gets this opportunity. The daughter of Spring and Frost does not wish harm to anyone, but causes a lot of trouble to the people around her. The Snow Maiden is a product of an alien world, and yet she is quite capable of living among the Berendeys. Everything in Snegurochka is contradictory and at the same time harmoniously fused together. One gets the impression that the image of the main character embodies the duality of the culture and beliefs of the Russian people. Russian mythology is characterized by a combination of the incongruous, for example: marriages of creatures hostile to each other, the ability of a person to visit another world, interact with its representatives and return back. Even the functions of the gods are contradictory: Yarilo brings both life and death; Veles patronizes both merchants and thieves. The pagan deities themselves take either a masculine or a feminine gender. A striking example of the ambivalence of Russian folk culture is the phenomenon of dual faith, a harmonious combination of pagan beliefs, rituals and holidays with Christian ones. Ostrovsky probably used oppositions to portray the contradictory spirit of the Russian people in the play.
Finally, let's consider the main function of oppositions in a spring fairy tale. Opposition implies a collision, a collision leads to a conflict, the presence of a conflict is the main condition for the development of the plot. We must not forget that “The Snow Maiden” is a play. Here action predominates, and the conflict must be pronounced and as sharp as possible. All this is fully ensured by building the play on oppositions. The use of various contrasts gave the author the opportunity to create not only the main conflict, but also several secondary conflicts that deepen the main one and complicate the plot.
Conclusion
So, we managed to cope with the task. We have identified and examined the main oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden”, classified them and tried to determine their functions in the work. Some oppositions in a spring fairy tale have several meanings and perform more than one function. We can conclude that the oppositions in the work under consideration are intertwined into a complex system, the components of which complement, clarify, complicate and deepen each other’s meanings. The use of oppositions helped the author create an expressive picture of the morals and beliefs of the Russian people in the pre-Christian era. In addition, it is the oppositions that determine the dual nature of the play itself: “The Snow Maiden” is a realistic depiction of folk life in a fantastic form. The verisimilitude of the work is based on some oppositions, and its fabulousness on others. Let us conclude that without mytho-poetic oppositions there would not have been the play “The Snow Maiden,” at least as we know it.
Based on folklore material, A.N. Ostrovsky created a work that vividly reflects the traditions, rituals, songs, beliefs and worldview of the ancient Slavs. Because the « The Snow Maiden" is a work of art, the author allowed himself to interpret some mythical characters in his own way. Ostrovsky created new, even more colorful images and tried to reveal them as fully as possible. Ostrovsky's heroes turned out to be very memorable and began to be associated in the minds of readers with mythological characters, displacing traditional ideas about them. The images created by Ostrovsky in the spring fairy tale had a significant influence on the further use of the plot of the fairy tale about the Snow Maiden by other writers.
It can be concluded that the play « The Snow Maiden" has become one of the models for creating new mythologized works.
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