Features of classicism.
Close to classicism is the conflict between smart hero and "poverty of reason." From classicism and the unity of place and time, the poetic form of comedy, the poetics of names, Chatsky’s reasoning.
A.S. Griboedov undoubtedly complies three famous unities classical play : the action takes place over one day, in one place and develops around one main character.
The action of the comedy begins at dawn in Famusov's house and ends exactly 24 hours later, when the guests leave the party. However unity of time and places are not introduced formally, as a necessary convention, but are meaningfully justified. It is no coincidence that at the end of the play Chatsky says:
You are right: he will come out of the fire unharmed,
Who will have time to live a day with you,
Breathe the air alone
And his sanity will survive.
One day was enough for this conflict to occur. Chatsky, with his uncompromising character, play of mind, passion of a lover and Famusov society, with its conservatism and distrust of the educated young man, can't find common language even with such a short communication. Unity of place also motivated by plot and conflict. Famusov's mansion is a symbol of all of Moscow in the comedy. In the remarks of Liza, Famusov, the main character himself and other characters, what is happening in the house is interpreted on the scale of the capital (“Like all Moscow people, your father is like that...”, “All Moscow people have a special imprint...”, etc.) . The central figure of the action is Chatsky. It was from the moment of his appearance in Famusov’s house that a conflict began. The play ends with the hero's departure from Moscow. Principle unity of action means that in the work all events unfold around the figure of the main character, and there is one conflict, not complicated by side plot lines, which is completely resolved at the end. In the finale of the classic play, virtue finally triumphs and vice is punished. The comedy author fulfills none of these requirements exactly. The work has two conflicts and, accordingly, two closely intertwined storylines: love and social. The conflict first begins as a love conflict, then becomes complicated by a confrontation of opinions. Both lines, closely intertwined, reach their climax in the 4th act. Love line ends with the exposure of Molchalin, the catastrophe of Sophia's life and the bitterness of a deceived feeling for Chatsky. Social conflict does not find its resolution on stage. The viewer can only guess where Chatsky will go, and what resonance his visit to Famusov’s house will receive. Instead of the prescribed classical composition consisting of 3 or 5 acts, Griboyedov writes a play of 4. The openness of the ending, the absence of a complete resolution of the conflict, the triumph of virtue and the punishment of vice, can be considered Griboyedov’s innovation.
The author uses speaking names: Famusov (from the Latin "fama" - rumor), Molchalin, Skalozub, Khlestova, Tugoukhovskie, Repetilov (from "repeter" - repeat). However, their function is different than in classicism. Almost all surnames are correlated in meaning with the words “speak”, “hear”, “repeat”, “be silent”, which leads to the most important topic plays - the motive of deafness and gossip. Surnames contain a certain range of associations, which in general does not simplify, but on the contrary, complicates the understanding of character, revealing some new facet in it. The names of the characters are significant not only individually, but also all together: together they form an important symbolic key to understanding the problems of “Woe from Wit.” Such deep symbolism is not characteristic of “speaking” surnames in classicism.
The author did not refuse traditional roles : a deceived father, a narrow-minded military man, a maid participating in the love affair of her mistress, a comic old woman. These roles determined the comedy ensemble of the classical play, rarely exceeding 10-12 characters. Griboedov violates this canon by creating a “crowded” play and introducing a huge number of minor and off-stage characters. Off-stage characters create a unique historical background comedic action, allow you to expand the temporal and spatial framework of the play, deepen the characteristics of those main characters who talk about them, and, finally, convince the viewer that Chatsky is alone only on stage.
Thus, it turns out that Griboyedov only formally preserves the classicist framework, filling it with socio-psychological content. The authenticity of the characters is combined with the author's irony in relation to the usual style of depiction - classicism.
Traits of Romanticism.
Chatsky's monologues are an expression of his position. First of all, these are the monologues spoken in the second act. All of his criticism of Famus society can well be presented as independent invective directed against the noble conservative landowner environment; these monologues can be used by the Decembrists as propaganda materials, along with civil lyrics. This is criticism modern society, the monologues combine features of elegies, odes, and satires. One way or another, these are texts that can act as independent lyrical performances. These monologues can be defined as civil-romantic monologues.
Chatsky’s romanticism is also manifested in the fact that one is opposed to the crowd. The theme of loneliness in a crowd is typical of romanticism. An irreconcilable contradiction with the world, a contradiction between I and Society is very characteristic of Chatsky. Griboyedov paints a truly lonely hero, although there are non-stage characters mentioned - “we, young people”, this is a new generation in which there are others, not like Molchalin. This conflict is not between “the present century and the past century.” The present century differs from the century of Catherine in that in this century there are new people, like Chatsky, who do not chase ranks, but prefer studies in the sciences and arts, free from careerist speeches, free from mercantilism. These people are already ridiculing those who are ready to bang their foreheads on the floor just to get rank and money. That is, people appear with a new position. This is what distinguishes the age of Alexander from the age of Catherine. Famusov and Maxim Petrovich remain in the past. There is no direct conflict with the past century. The current century unites all the heroes, a conflict within a century, and not between centuries. Conflict between heroes with different worldviews. The scene of action is “lordly Moscow”. Moscow is also a conservative city, in those years more conservative than St. Petersburg. Famusovskaya Moscow is the quintessence of conservatism. A man with a new position and new preferences comes to Moscow and ridicules it, dares to look critically at what was absolute. This new approach and distinguishes this hero, and he can be considered a character who is close to the Decembrist movement. New hero with civic-romantic moods and traits, lonely, opposed to the conservative Famusov society. This conflict is romantic; the romantic here is manifested both in the rejection of classicist requirements and in the synthesis of genre elements.
Features of realism. The conflict of the play reflects the most important contradiction of reality, and the understanding of reality and the characters generated by it is imbued with historicism. The realism of the play was also reflected in the principles of depicting its characters. Given the single essence of Famus society, each of them is given in all the certainty of their individual appearance, and these are complete, multifaceted characters. Famusov is not only an obscurantist, but also a strict boss and a loving father, etc.
Realism in character is achieved and the colorfulness of their language, pompous with vernacular, is achieved: the commanding speech of Skalozub, the servile language of Molchalin, the lordly speech of the semi-literate Khlestova. Realism speech characteristics is aimed at expressing not only a professional, class and cultural image, but also a psychological one.
The fable verse of comedy is also subordinated to the tasks of realistic depiction - free iambic from monometer to hexameter.
Written at the beginning XIX century, namely in 1821, Alexander Sergeevich Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” absorbed all the features literary process that time. It is interesting to analyze the formal and substantive features of comedy from the point of view artistic method. Literature, like all social phenomena, is subject to specific historical development, therefore, at the turn of the century, a situation arose of the parallel existence of three methods: classicism, romanticism and critical realism. The comedy of A. S. Griboedov was a unique experience in combining all these methods; their individual features clearly emerge both at the level of content and at the level of form.
From the theory of literature it is known that these two concepts are inextricably linked, and one can often come across the opinion that content is always formal, and form is meaningful. Therefore, when considering the content of A. S. Griboedov’s comedy, we will turn to the theme, problem and ideological-emotional assessment, and in matters of form we will study subject-based visualization, plot, composition and artistic speech.
The essence of comedy is the grief of a person, and this grief stems from his mind. It must be said that the very problem of “mind” in Griboyedov’s time was very topical and “mind” was understood broadly - as in general intelligence, enlightenment, and culture. The concepts of “smart” and “clever” were then associated with the idea of a person who was not just smart, but “free-thinking,” a bearer of new ideas. The ardor of such “clever men” often turned into “madness” and “woe from the mind” in the eyes of reactionaries and ordinary people.
It is Chatsky’s mind in this broad and special understanding that puts him outside the circle of the Famusovs, Mollins, Skalozubs and Zagoretskys, outside the norms and rules familiar to them social behavior. This is precisely what the development of the conflict between the hero and the environment in the comedy is based on: the best human qualities and inclinations of the hero make him, in the minds of others, at first an “eccentric”, “ strange person”, and then just crazy. "Well? Don’t you see that he’s gone crazy?” - Famusov says with complete confidence towards the end.
Chatsky's personal drama, his unrequited love for Sophia, is naturally included in the main theme of the comedy. Sophia, for all her spiritual inclinations, still belongs entirely to Famus’s world. She cannot fall in love with Chatsky, who opposes this world with all his mind and soul. She, too, is among the “tormentors” who insulted Chatsky’s fresh mind. That is why the personal and social dramas of the protagonist do not contradict, but complement each other: the conflict of the hero with environment applies to all his everyday relationships, including love ones.
From this we can conclude that the problems of A. S. Griboedov’s comedy are not classicistic, because we do not observe a struggle between duty and feeling; on the contrary, conflicts exist in parallel, one complements the other.
One more non-classical feature can be identified in this work. If from the law of “three unities” the unity of place and time is observed, then the unity of action is not. Indeed, all four actions take place in Moscow, in Famusov’s house. Within one day, Chatsky discovers the deception, and, appearing at dawn, he leaves at dawn. But the plot line is not unilinear. The play has two plots: one is the cold reception of Chatsky by Sophia, the other is the clash between Chatsky and Famusov and Famusov’s society; two storylines, two climaxes and one overall resolution. This form of the work showed the innovation of A. S. Griboedov.
But comedy retains some other features of classicism. So, main character Chatsky is a nobleman, an educated, well-read, witty young man. Here the artist is faithful to the tradition of the French classicists - to place heroes, kings, military leaders or nobles in the center. The image of Lisa is interesting. In “Woe from Wit” she is too
she behaves freely for a servant and looks like the heroine of a classical comedy, lively, resourceful, interfering in the love affairs of her masters.
In addition, the comedy is written predominantly in a low style and this is also the innovation of A. S. Griboyedov.
The features of romanticism in the work appeared very interestingly, for the problematic of “Woe from Wit” is partially romantic character. In the center is not only a nobleman, but also a man who is disillusioned with the power of reason, looking for himself in the sphere of the irrational, in the sphere of feelings, but Chatsky is unhappy in love, he is fatally alone. From here - social conflict with representatives of the Moscow nobility, a tragedy of the mind.
The theme of wandering around the world is also characteristic of romanticism: Chatsky, not having time to arrive in Moscow, leaves it at dawn.
In the comedy of A. S. Griboyedov, the beginnings of a new method for that time - critical realism - appear. In particular, two of its three rules are observed. This is sociality and aesthetic materialism.
Griboyedov is true to reality. Knowing how to highlight the most essential things in it, he portrayed his characters in such a way that we see the social laws behind them that determine their psychology and behavior. Created in “Woe from Wit” extensive gallery realistic artistic types, that is, in comedy typical heroes appear in typical circumstances. The names of the characters in the great comedy have become household names. They still serve as a designation for such phenomena as swagger (Famusovism), meanness and sycophancy (silence), and cheap liberal idle talk (Repetilovism).
But it turns out that Chatsky, an essentially romantic hero, has realistic traits. He's social. It is not conditioned by the environment, but is opposed to it. Chatsky is emblematic. A contrast between personality and environment arises, a person opposes society. But in any case, it is a tight connection. Man and society in realistic works are always inextricably linked.
The language of A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy is also syncretic. Written in a low style, according to the laws of classicism, it absorbed all the charm of the living great Russian language. A.S. Pushkin also predicted that a good part of comedy phrases would become catchphrases.
Thus, the comedy of Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov is a complex synthesis of three literary methods, a combination, on the one hand, of their individual features, and on the other, a holistic panorama of Russian life early XIX century.
The comedy “Woe from Wit” was created in the early 20s of the 19th century. Main conflict, on which the play is based, is the confrontation between the “present century” and the “past century.” The classicism of the era of Catherine the Great still had power over the literature of that time. But outdated canons limited the playwright’s freedom in describing real life, therefore, Griboyedov, taking classic comedy as a basis, neglected, as necessary, some of the laws of its construction.
Any classic work (drama) had to be built on the principles of unity of time, place and action, constancy of characters.
The first two principles are observed quite strictly in comedy. In the work you can notice more than one love affair, as was customary (Chatsky - Sophia, Sophia - Molchalin, Molchalin - Liza, Liza - Petrusha), but they all seem to line up “in one line”, without violating the unity of action. In classic works, a loving pair of masters was matched by a pair of servants, parodying them. In “Woe from Wit” this picture is blurred: the master’s daughter herself is in love with the “servant” (Molchalin). Thus, Griboedov wanted to show a really existing type of people in the person of Molchalin, whom Famusov “warmed up the rootless and introduced him to the secretary...” (and now Molchalin is preparing to become a nobleman by marrying his daughter).
Most classic works were built on the principle: duty is higher than feelings. In the comedy “Woe from Wit,” a love conflict plays an important role, which develops into a socio-political one.
All heroes of classic works were clearly divided into positive and negative. This principle is observed only in general outline: the so-called “Famus society” is contrasted with a hero expressing new, progressive views. But if we consider each representative of this society separately, it turns out that each of them is not so bad. For example, in the image of Famusov (Chatsky’s main antipode in social conflict) quite understandable positive human traits emerge: ok loves his daughter, wishes her well (in his understanding), and Chatsky for him - dear person(after the death of Chatsky’s father, Famusov became his guardian and educator) at the beginning of the comedy. Famusov gives Chatsky some very practical advice:
... First of all, don’t be a whim,
Brother, don’t mismanage your property,
And most importantly - go ahead and serve...
The image of the positive hero, the progressive Chatsky, is noted by some negative traits: hot temper, a penchant for demagoguery (it was not for nothing that A.S. Pushkin was perplexed: why the main character makes fiery speeches in front of these aunties, grandmothers, repeaters), excessive irritability, even anger. (“Not a man - a snake” - this is Chatsky’s assessment ex-lover Sophia). This approach to the main characters indicates the emergence of new, realistic trends in Russian literature.
A must in classic comedy happy end, that is, the victory of positive heroes and virtue over negative heroes, over vice. In “Woe from Wit” the number negative heroes in many times more quantity positive (positive characters include Chatsky and two other off-stage characters - a relative of Skalozub, about whom he says: “The rank followed him, he suddenly left the service, began to read books in the village”; and the nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya, about whom she disdainfully reports : “... he is a chemist, he is a botanist, Prince Fedor, my nephew”). And because of the disparity of forces goodies in the play they are defeated, “they are broken by the old force.” In fact, Chatsky leaves as a winner, since he is confident that he is right. By the way, the use of off-stage characters is also an innovative technique. These heroes help to understand what is happening in Famusov’s house more broadly, on a national scale; they seem to expand, push the boundaries of the narrative.
According to the laws of classicism, the genre of a work strictly determined its content. The comedy had to be either humorous, farcical, or satirical in nature. Griboedov's comedy not only combines these two types, but also incorporates a purely dramatic element. In comedy there are such heroes as Skalozub and Tugoukhovsky, funny in every word and action. Or such as the princesses, who were not even given names (a parody of all Moscow young ladies) Platon Gorich, “a husband-boy, a husband-servant from his wife’s pages, the high ideal of all Moscow husbands”; nameless gentlemen N and P, necessary to show the cruel mechanism of spreading gossip in secular society(elements of satire). Other techniques are also used in comedy comic image: telling surnames (Skalozub, Molchaliv, Repetilov, Gorich, Tugoukhovsky, Famusov), “distorting mirror” (Chatsky-Repetilov).
Just as the entire work combines humor and satire, its main characters (Chatsky and Famusov) are ambiguous. We laugh merrily at the head of the family and the owner of the house, Famusov, when he flirts with Liza, goes out of his way to marry his daughter to the ridiculous Skalozub, but we think about the structure of society at that time when he, an adult and respected by all, fears “What will Princess Marya Aleksevna say?”
Chatsky is an even more ambiguous hero. He somewhat expresses the author’s point of view (acts as a reasoner), at first he sneers at Moscow residents and their way of life, but, tormented by unrequited love (hero-lover), becoming embittered, he begins to expose everyone and everything (hero-accuser).
So, Griboedov wanted to ridicule the vices of his contemporary society in a comedy built in accordance with the canons of classicism. But in order to more fully reflect the real situation, he had to deviate from the canons of classic comedy. As a result, we can say that in the comedy “Woe from Wit”, through the classicist form of the work, built on the principles of the “past century,” features of the new are visible literary direction, realism, which opens up new possibilities for the writer to depict real life.
Comedy "Woe from Wit": artistic method.
1. Artistic method - a special type of figurative vision of the world and reflection of reality, a special principle of selection and evaluation by the writer of the phenomena of reality. The concept of artistic method includes:
principles of artistic selection;
methods of artistic generalization;
principles of aesthetic assessment of reality from the position of the ideal;
principles of artistic embodiment of reality in a work of art.
The main methods are realistic and non-realistic (for example, romanticism, sentimentalism, etc.)
2. Realism in Russia (literary forms).
the desire for a broad coverage of reality in its contradictions, deep patterns and development;
attraction to depicting a person in his interaction with the environment, inner world the characters, their behavior bear the signs of the times, much attention is paid to the social and everyday background of the time;
versatility in depicting a person;
historical point of view on life.
The main property is to reflect life through typification in images that correspond to the essence of the phenomena of life itself.
Traits:
3. Stages of development of realism in Russia:
Enlightenment realism(Fonvizin, Novikov, Radishchev, Krylov);
- “syncretistic” realism: a combination of realistic and romantic motifs with the dominance of the realistic (Griboyedov, Pushkin, Lermontov);
Critical realism– accusatory orientation, a decisive break with romantic tradition(Goncharov, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Ostrovsky, etc.);
Socialist realism is imbued with revolutionary reality and a sense of socialist transformation of the world, close to classicism in many principles of depicting reality.
4. Method and hero of Griboyedov.
Griboyedov was one of the first Russian playwrights to turn to the realistic method of depicting reality. The contradictions in the image of the main character of “woe from mind” are not only the contradictions of his nature. But also the peculiarity of the manifestation of a new method of literature. This allows Griboyedov to reflect new type personality, which revealed the most important trends in Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century. The writer showed the most pressing conflict: the old does not give up its positions, while the new actively invades life, wanting to control it and establish its own laws. This is a frontal conflict in Russian life at that time and, as it later turned out, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
SIGNS OF REALISM IN THE COMEDY “WOE FROM MIND”:
lack of a plot resolution and a happy ending (unresolved and unsolvable conflict, that is, an “open ending”);
rethinking the character system characteristic of romanticism (the top one - with one main character);
the characters are revealed deeply and multifacetedly, taking into account contradictions, individualized with the help of speech portraits;
motivation of plot conflicts and characters’ actions;
rethinking the romantic conflict "HERO-SOCIETY";
constructing a play based on two storylines(love and socio-political);
absence of major turning points;
the aphorism of the characters’ speech, the “epigrammatic salt” of the characters’ remarks.
modern conflict, modern hero, expressing the most current trend Russian society.
SIGNS OF CLASSICISM IN THE COMEDY “WOE FROM MIND”:
the presence of “speaking” surnames and names (Molchalin, Skalozub, Sophia, etc.);
the presence of traditional roles (Lisa is a soubrette: friend and servant of the main character).
extensive monologues that do not contribute to the development of action;
the traditional number of acts is 5;
the presence of “three unities” (time, place and action), with a violation of the unity of action;
SIGNS OF ROMANTICISM IN “WOE FROM MIND”:
the hero, entering into conflict with society, escapes from reality;
The sleepy conflict of romanticism “A LONE HERO AND SOCIETY” is placed at the center of the comedy.
3. COMEDY “WOE FROM WITH”: THE PROBLEM OF THE GENRE.
1). COMEDY - genre dramatic work, which is based on the contradiction (=inconsistency) of the real and the imaginary, the true and the imaginary, the beautiful and the ugly, causing laughter. There are sitcoms, comedies of manners, lyrical comedies, satirical comedies, comedies of characters, however, it is also possible to merge certain varieties into a single whole.
NOTE: “Woe from Wit” is a comedy of characters.
2). COMIC – an aesthetic category that reflects the contradictions inherent in the phenomena of reality, which is based on laughter.
3). COMIC TECHNIQUES IN THE COMEDY “WOE FROM MIND”:
technique of “conversation of the deaf”. The interlocutors do not hear each other and pronounce as if two monologues parallel to each other, and do not participate in the dialogue (action 2, phenomenon 1, Famusov and Chatsky);
(3 act, 3 phenomenon, Chatsky and Molchalin);
A farcical scene of communication between the barely hearing Countess Grandmother and the completely deaf Prince Tugoukhovsky (4 acts, January 20).
"distorting mirror" technique. The characters parody each other. (For example, Chatsky and Repetilov: the very name of Repetilov speaks of his secondary nature, the subordination of his image to the figure of the main character of the work. Repetilov - from French the words "repeat". Nobody takes or listens to Chatsky or Repetilov seriously. " false mirror“brings Chatsky’s features to the point of absurdity, showing his shortcomings and weaknesses.
Reception of “speaking names”. This is a traditional technique of world literature, when the name of a character suggests his character, setting the reader up to perceive the image-character. (Tugoukhovsky - deaf, Molchalin - pointedly laconic, Skalozub - laughs out of place, “grinds his teeth”, Famusov - from the Latin word “FAMA” - rumor, Sophia - wisdom, Chatsky - sound association with the words “smoke” - blow smoke and surname "Chaadaev". Chaadaev is a Western philosopher recognized as crazy.)
4. THE MEANING OF CHATSKY’S IMAGE.
Chatsky is a new type of person active in the history of Russian society. His main idea is civil service. The most hated thing for him is slavery in all its forms. Everything around him, in his opinion, needs a total overhaul. Chatsky’s clash with Famusov’s world is not everyday, not private. It is universal. Chatsky brings reformist fervor to society. In the eyes of society, Chatsky is a dangerous person (“carbonari”), violating the usual order of the existence of the world. For the viewer, this is a revolutionary who has confused a secular drawing room and a civil debate.
Griboyedov was the first in Russian literature of the 19th century to show “ extra person"(term by A.I. Herzen), the mechanism of its appearance in Russian society. Chatsky is the first in this row. Behind him are Onegin, Pechorin, Bazarov.
