Pushkin's tragedy "Mozart and Salieri" is a very controversial work: who, if not Alexander Sergeevich himself, knows what envy is and what its "fruits" are. For a complete and detailed analysis of the work, it is advisable to know the main milestones in the life and work of the writer, his worldview and life position. In our article you will find all the necessary information on the topic, including the history of creation, theme, idea and features of the composition of the play.
Brief analysis
Year of writing-1830 year.
History of creation- written in the Boldino period, the work was fruitful, in 1831 the tragedy was published in the almanac "Northern Flowers for 1832". The basis was the legend of the untimely death of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the rumors associated with it.
Subject- envy, talent and hard work, rationalism and creativity, "handicraft" and genius.
Composition- a traditional composition characteristic of the genre of tragedy. Salieri's monologues structurally ring the action in the play.
Genre A tragedy in two acts. Pushkin characterized his genre as a "little tragedy", this concept has taken root in literary criticism.
Direction- classicism (unity of place, time and action).
History of creation
According to researchers of the poet's work, the idea was born by Pushkin back in 1826. The period of the Boldino autumn is the brightest in Pushkin's work, it was then that his most brilliant works were created, the work went easily and fruitfully. “Mozart and Salieri” refers to the cycle of the so-called “little tragedies”, of which the writer managed to write only four, although he planned to write nine.
In the twenties of the 19th century there was a kind of cult of Mozart. They admired him, they were interested in his life and the details of death, all of Europe was lost in conjectures about the fate of the brilliant composer. It should be noted that after Alexander Sergeevich created his tragedy, the myth that Mozart was poisoned became so popular that over time it turned into a stereotype. And the name Salieri has become a household name in the meaning of "envious".
Alexander Sergeevich was amused by the reaction of the public to his creations, he loved artistic mystification, deliberately confusing "traces", referred to scandalous rumors. Tragedy is nothing more than a creative vision of human envy by the author, and the images of the main characters are secondary. Problem human destinies always occupied Pushkin, so he looked up to the great geniuses, but created his own creative truth. No historical fact confirming that the composer Salieri poisoned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for this reason the work cannot be considered a historical tragedy. Initially, the author planned to name the tragedy “Envy”, which simply and concisely characterized the meaning and essence of the action.
Subject
The conflict between the rational and the creative- an eternal plot in literature. The hard-working, elderly composer Salieri sees mathematics, scientific approach and hard work in his profession. Mozart is a young composer, he does not understand his genius, wastes his talent, enjoys life and composes as he breathes. Despite friendly ties, Salieri is tormented by envy, decides to poison Mozart because he spends his genius on trifles, does not understand his chosenness, is not grateful to heaven for his happy fate.
Envy, as the most destructive thing, becomes the main engine of the plot. One of the most terrible mortal sins, which is envy, forces the already middle-aged composer to commit a crime: to poison his own friend, a young colleague of Mozart. Main thought, what this work teaches is simple: having committed a sin, a person is left alone with his conscience; the problem is within the person himself, not outside him. The poisoned Mozart triumphs, striking his friend with the phrase that genius and evil are incompatible. He is ahead again, he is above villainy and malice.
Composition
The composition of the work begins with an exposition - Salieri's monologue about his life and art. The remaining structural components are fully disclosed in the work: an obvious climax, a philosophical denouement.
A feature of the composition is that both actions consist of monologues and dialogues of the main characters. Salieri's deep, painful monologues make the ring composition of the work; they seem to envelop the entire action. It is the thoughts of the old composer that begin the tragedy, they also sound in the final lines of the play. Envy, like a snake, creeps into the consciousness of a person and slowly suffocates him. This is the semantic side of the author's compositional system. state of mind the hero personifying evil (Salieri) flows from the depths of human essence into a real action - murder.
It is the clash of good and evil that is the inner basis of the composition.
Main characters
Genre
The genre in which the work is written is characterized by acute conflict, a clear idea, pressing issues and a tragic ending. Most of the tragedies are written in poetic form, Pushkin's too - in white iambic pentameter, which is commonly called "Shakespearean".
The volume of the work is small, the plot is simple, it does not contain additional branches: two main characters and a blind violinist, who is rather an episodic character. The tragedy in two acts is called small precisely because of its uniqueness in the genre system. However small work Pushkino is huge and meaningful in terms of meaning and philosophy.
In Mozart and Salieri, the analysis of the internal structure and genre features allows us to conclude that Pushkin's invention, the "little tragedy", is unique. This genre includes stone guest”, “Feast during the Plague” and “The Miserly Knight” by A. S. Pushkin. These works, written in the direction of classicism, are characterized by a classical artistic trinity, eternal themes and unresolvable conflicts.
Artwork test
Analysis Rating
Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 352.
According to the genre direction, the work belongs to the tragedy, called by the author small and created in accordance with the unity of place, time and action in the style of classicism. Creation is one of constituent parts Pushkin's cycle, called "Little Tragedies".
basis The legend about the death of the talented musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which has no historical evidence, is used to create the work, so the poet's tragedy cannot be a historical work.
Composition structure The work consists of two acts and is traditional, characteristic of the tragic genre, in which the monologues of one of Salieri's heroes have a structural ring that envelops the action of the play. The internal composition of the tragedy is an exposition in the form of Salieri's monologue, containing discussions about art and his own life, an obvious culmination in the form of the death of one of the characters and a philosophical denouement.
The main theme of the play the poet considers the manifestation of interrelated human feelings in the form of envy, talent and hard work, rationalism and creativity, craftsmanship and genius.
As poetic size iambic six-foot, called Shakespeare's, is used.
Characters in the work is fictitious images, conditionally coinciding with real prototypes by the Austrian composer Mozart and the Italian musician Salieri. The image of Mozart is used by the poet in an auxiliary role to reveal the true essence of the second hero in the image of Salieri, while the development of the characters of the heroes throughout the story does not occur, and their natures are tested.
The content of the work emphasizes the opposite of the images of the characters, in which Salieri symbolizes human self-affirmation, a servant of art, and Mozart personifies the heavenly forces, identified in life carelessness, unconsciousness, breathing genius in musical creativity, because he is friends with the will of heaven and is the son of harmony, indulging in free art.
Central location in storyline is given to the demonstration of human negative feelings in the form of envy, which is depicted by the poet as the most destructive thing, which is a terrible mortal sin that pushes people to commit a crime.
works conveys the author's intention, which consists in the problem internal state a person who cannot be resolved by villainous deeds, which is proved by the poet in the form of the triumph of the poisoned Mozart over his murderer, arguing the incompatibility of two things: genius and villainy.Final conclusion in tragedy, it sounds like a requiem, a funeral hymn created by the deceased Mozart, publishing a marvelous melody that causes tears and pain for Salieri, who considered himself a fighter for the restoration of justice for the sake of serving art.
Option 2
In 1830, in the most fruitful period of the Boldino autumn, the genius of Pushkin gives birth to the world "Mozart and Salieri". A small tragedy, as the poet himself characterized this genre, became one of the four embodied on paper. In general, Pushkin planned to write thirteen tragedies. But only four are familiar to the reader - “The Miserly Knight”, “Feast during the Plague”, “The Stone Guest” and “Mozart and Salieri”.
The work consists of two scenes, as a result of which the name itself appeared - a small tragedy. But, despite the laconic presentation in the tragedy, Pushkin raises the deep question of the oldest of human vices- envy and others like her.
Based on the legend of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his friend, the Italian musician Antonio Salieri. However, the characters in Pushkin only conditionally coincide with the real prototypes. This story helped the poet to pour out on paper his attitude to this quality of people and show the scale of the tragedy. human soul. By the way, after the publication of the work, almost no one doubted that Mozart died at the hands of Salieri. The name of the poisoner Salieri subsequently became generally recognized as a household name with the meaning "envious".
The protagonist of the tragedy is Salieri. At that time, no matter how strange it may seem, Mozart is a minor person. The author uses the image of a genius only to show readers through him the whole baseness of Salieri's soul, his vile thoughts and thoughts. Exploring inner world the protagonist, Pushkin denounces envy, pushing to the crime.
The story of the tragedy begins in Salieri's house. At the very moment when a certain breakdown occurs in his soul. Salieri went to fame for a long time and stubbornly - he studied the beauty of music and the correct construction of melodies, literally hates and envies his young friend and colleague Mozart, who was given talent at birth. His former calm leaves him, because he is unable to cope with giftedness.
At this moment, Salieri becomes obsessed with a new idea - he wants to poison Mozart, despite the trusting relationship established between them. Since the envious person considers the young talent a “mistake of nature”, who did not make a single drop of effort to achieve such heights, and also absolutely does not appreciate his talent and squanders it.
As conceived by Pushkin, Salieri is a human self-affirmation that has achieved everything with blood and sweat, while Mozart is the personification of higher, heavenly powers. The confrontation of these forces is inevitable, and here Salieri reveals himself completely, exposing his dirty insides. However, Mozart does not even suspect what is happening in the soul of a comrade. He likes the company of a friend, he is pure in front of him like a child.
Although Mozart is minor character, main idea at the end of the tragedy, it is he who says: "genius and villainy are two incompatible things." This phrase, spoken by a dying genius, finally tramples Salieri's soul. Only now he realizes that he made the greatest mistake in his life and understands that together with his friend he killed a genius in himself, now he has no reason to live. The talent that died at his hands will live forever in the hearts of people, and he will be forgotten.
The lyrical image of Mozart became a kind of identification with the poet himself, he was also well aware of envy. Pushkin was well aware of how this vile vice - envy - is insidious, how it destroys friendship and corrodes hearts.
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"Little Tragedies" is dedicated to the depiction of the human soul, captured by an all-consuming and destructive passion, stinginess ("The Miserly Knight"), envy ("Mozart and Salieri"), sensuality ("The Stone Guest"). The heroes of Pushkin Baron, Salieri, Don Juan are outstanding, thinking, strong natures. That is why the internal conflict of each of them is colored with GENUINE tragedy.
Passion that burns the soul of Salieri ("Mozart and Salieri"), envy. Salieri "deeply, painfully" envies his brilliant, but careless and laughter friend Mozart. The envious person, with disgust and heartache, discovers in himself this feeling, which was previously unusual for him:
Who will say that Salieri was proud
Ever envious despicable,
A snake, trampled by people, alive
Sand and dust gnawing powerlessly?
The nature of this envy is not entirely clear to the hero himself. After all, this is not the envy of mediocrity for talent, a loser for the minion of fate. "Salieri great composer, devoted to art, crowned with glory. His attitude to creativity is self-denying service. However, there is something terrible, frightening in Salieri's admiration for music. For some reason, images of death flicker in his memoirs of his youth, of his years of apprenticeship:
Dead sounds,
I tore apart the music like a corpse. believed
I algebra harmony.
These images are not random. Salieri has lost the ability to easily and joyfully perceive life, has lost the very love of life, so he sees service to art in gloomy, harsh colors. Creativity, Salieri believes, is the destiny of the elite and the right to it must be earned. Only the feat of self-denial opens access to the circle of dedicated creators. Anyone who understands the service of art in a different way encroaches on the shrine. In the carefree gaiety of the brilliant Mozart, Salieri sees, first of all, a mockery of what is sacred. Mozart, from Salieri's point of view, is a "god" who is "unworthy of himself."
The soul of an envious person is also burned by another passion - pride. He deeply feels resentment and feels like a stern and fair judge, an executor of the highest will: "... I chose to stop him ...". The great works of Mozart, Salieri argues, are ultimately fatal to art. They awaken in the "children of dust" only "wingless desire"; created without effort, they deny the need for ascetic labor. But art is higher than man, and therefore Mozart's life must be sacrificed "otherwise we are all lost."
The life of Mozart (of a person in general) is made dependent on the “benefit” that he brings to the progress of art:
What's the use if Mozart is alive
And will it reach new heights?
Will he raise art?
Thus the most noble and humanistic idea of art is used to justify murder.
In Mozart, the author emphasizes his humanity, cheerfulness, openness to the world. Mozart is glad to “treat” his friend with an unexpected joke and sincerely laughs when the blind violinist “treats” Salieri with his pitiful “art”. From the lips of Mozart, the mention of playing on the floor with a child naturally sounds. His lines are light and direct, even when Salieri (almost not joking!) calls Mozart a “god”: “Ba right? maybe... But my god is hungry.”
Before us is a human, not a priestly image. At the table in the "Golden Lion" sits a cheerful and childish person, and next to him is the one who says about himself: "... I love life a little." A brilliant composer plays his "Requiem" for a friend, not suspecting that the friend will become his executioner. A friendly feast becomes a feast of death.
The shadow of the fatal feast flashes already in the first conversation between Mozart and Salieri: "I am cheerful ... Suddenly: a vision of a grave ...". The appearance of a messenger of death is predicted. But the severity of the situation lies in the fact that a friend is the herald of death, "the vision of the grave." Blind worship of the idea turned Salieri into a "black man", into a Commander, into stone. Pushkin's Mozart is endowed with the gift of intuition, and therefore he is tormented by a vague foreboding of trouble. He mentions the "black man" who ordered the "Requiem", and suddenly feels his presence at the table, and when the name of Beaumarchais comes out of Salieri's lips, he immediately recalls the rumors that stained the name of the French poet:
Oh, is it true, Salieri,
That Beaumarchais poisoned someone?
At this moment, Mozart and Salieri seem to change places. In the last moments of his life, Mozart for a moment becomes the judge of his killer, saying again, sounding like a sentence for Salieri:
Genius and villainy
Two things are incompatible.
The actual victory goes to Salieri (he is alive, Mozart is poisoned). But, having killed Mozart, Salieri could not eliminate the source of his moral torture - envy. The deep meaning is revealed by Salieri at the moment of parting with Mozart. That genius, for it is endowed with the gift of inner harmony, the gift of humanity, and therefore the “feast of life” is available to him, the carefree joy of being, the ability to appreciate the moment. Salieri is severely deprived of these gifts, so his art is doomed to oblivion.
Extracurricular reading lesson
Lesson extracurricular reading. A. S. Pushkin "Mozart and Salieri"
The problem of "genius and villainy". Two types of worldview of characters.
Course of the lesson I. Organizing moment II. Theme and purpose of the lesson message of the topic of the lesson; problematic issue; setting a goal (discussion in groups, filling out a work card). III. Explanation of the new material 1. From the history of the creation of "Little Tragedies" (a teacher's lecture with elements of a conversation is accompanied by a slide presentation) In 1830, Pushkin wrote four plays in Boldino: "The Miserly Knight", "Mozart and Salieri", "The Stone Guest", " Feast in Time of Plague". In a letter to P.A. Pushkin informed Pletnev that he had brought "several dramatic scenes, or small tragedies." The plays began to be called "Little Tragedies". They are really small in volume, have a small number of scenes and characters. "Dramatic Scenes", "Dramatic Essays", "Dramatic Studies" - these are the names Pushkin wanted to give his plays, emphasizing their difference from traditional ones. The "Little Tragedies" are characterized by a rapid development of the action, a sharp dramatic conflict, a depth of penetration into the psychology of the characters, captured by a strong passion, a truthful portrayal of characters that are distinguished by their versatility, individual and typical features. In the "Little Tragedies" all-consuming passions or vices are shown:
pride
, despising all;
greed
which does not give a person even a minute to think about the spiritual;
envy
leading to atrocity;
gluttony
who does not know any posts, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements;
anger
, causing terrible destructive actions. IN
"The Miserly Knight"
the Middle Ages of Western Europe, the life and customs of a knight's castle were reflected, the power of gold over the human soul is shown. IN "
stone guest
» the old Spanish legend about Don Juan, who lives only for himself and does not take into account moral standards, is developed in a new way; courage, dexterity, wit - all these qualities he directed to the satisfaction of his desires in the pursuit of pleasure. "
Feast in Time of Plague
» – philosophical reflection about human behavior in the face of the danger of death. 2.
The theme of the tragedy "Mozart and Salieri"
- What theme is revealed in the tragedy "Mozart and Salieri"? (In "Mozart and Salieri" the destructive power of envy was revealed.) Theme - artistic creativity and envy as an all-consuming passion of a person, leading him to villainy. The original name of the tragedy "Envy" has been preserved, which largely determines its theme.
3
. The legend and facts of the life of Mozart and Salieri.
The heroes of tragedy are real people: Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Italian composer, conductor, teacher Antonio Salieri (1750-1825). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an Austrian composer. Mozart has been composing music since the age of five. At fourteen he became a court musician in Salzburg. Then he lived and worked in Vienna. He visited Italy, was elected a member of the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna. In 1787, the first performance in Prague of his opera Don Giovanni took place. The following year it was staged in Vienna, Salieri was present. High harmony, grace, nobility, humanistic orientation of Mozart's works were noted by his contemporaries. Critics wrote that his music is "full of light, peace and spiritual clarity, as if earthly sufferings awakened only the Divine sides of this person, and if at times a shadow of sorrow sweeps, then peace of mind is visible in it, arising from complete obedience to Providence." Mozart's music is distinctive and original. He created 628 works, including 17 operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, and others. Requiem, a work that Mozart worked on before his death, remained unfinished. Requiem is a mournful vocal or vocal-instrumental piece of music. (Sound fragment) Mozart's premature, early death is connected with the legend of his poisoning by Salieri, who lived and worked in Vienna from 1766, was the court chamber conductor and composer of the Italian opera in Vienna. Then he went to Paris, where he became close to the composer Gluck, became his student and follower. Returning to Vienna, he took up the post of court conductor. Salieri's students were L. van Beethoven, F. Liszt, F. Schubert. Salieri wrote 39 operas: Tararre, Falstaff (comic opera) and others. The version that Salieri allegedly poisoned Mozart has no exact confirmation and remains a legend. It is based on the assertion circulated in the German press that Salieri confessed the sin of killing Mozart on his deathbed. – Why A.S. Pushkin was interested in the legend of the poisoning of Mozart? (The legend of the poisoning of Mozart was of interest to Pushkin because it made it possible to reveal the psychological reasons for the birth of envy in the soul of a person, leading him to an irreconcilable conflict and to a crime. Historical figures, documentary facts from life acquired an artistic generalization.) Why are small dramatic works Pushkin calls "Little Tragedies"? What are the characteristics of this genre? (Small - because these are tragedies of people, not nations. Tragedies - because the characters of the heroes are not given in dynamics, they are peculiar symbols, and the human world is ruled by passions, they are the basis of a dramatic conflict.) What universal problems are raised in tragedies? (Money - art - love - death.) From what positions does the author solve these questions? How to connect the concrete historical realities of the time depicted in the tragedies with the era of Pushkin and with the problems of our days?
Questions and tasks for discussing the tragedy "Mozart and Salieri"
To scene I:
1. Read Salieri's first monologue. Is he right in believing that genius is a reward for long and hard work? Calling for higher justice, Salieri forgets that Mozart's genius is also a "gift of God." Confirm or refute this point of view.
2. How does Mozart and Salieri characterize their attitude to the unpretentious playing of a blind violinist? 3. What is the attitude of Mozart and Salieri to the sublime world of music and manifestations of earthly life? How does each of them represent the harmony of life? 4. Why does Salieri separate Mozart the musician and Mozart the man in his mind? How does this characterize him? 5. Read Salieri's second monologue at the end of scene I. What reasons does he give to justify the decision to poison Mozart? Is it possible to disagree with them? Justify your opinion.
To scene II:
1. What is the mood of Mozart in the scene in the tavern? What image-symbols are associated with its internal state? (A man dressed in black - my black man - is like a shadow - he sits with us a third himself.) 2. What is the tragedy of Mozart's statement that "genius and villainy are two incompatible things"? 3. Comment on the remark of Mozart drinking poison: “To your health, friend ...” - and Salieri’s remark: “You drank! .. without me? ..” 4. Read the last monologue of Mozart. Why does he think that if everyone felt the “power of harmony”, like Salieri, then “the world would cease to exist”? 5. What, according to Mozart, is the balance and harmony of the world? How can his idea of geniuses, chosen ones, "neglecting contemptible good", be connected with the aesthetic position of Pushkin's work? 6. Why does the tragedy end with Salieri's question about the alleged villainy of Michelangelo?
Lesson conclusions.
Salieri's painful contradictions are connected with the solution of questions about the correlation of craftsmanship and genius, idleness and labor, lightness of life and mortal severity. For Mozart, the harmony of the world is in the inseparable interpenetration of high and low, funny and sad, mundane and existential, art and life. He is the bearer of Pushkin's idea that genius is a gift from above, genius is a companion of goodness. The humanistic meaning of the tragedy is that no atrocity can be justified even by lofty goals. No mortal person can punish and pardon at his own discretion even in the name of art, that is, it is inhumane to dare to take on the functions of a higher mind, to try to remake what the Almighty created, because the world was originally arranged harmoniously and rationally. The finale of the tragedy affirms Mozart's truth and closes its content into a logical and compositional ring. The tragedy begins with the statement that "there is no truth on earth, but there is no truth above," and ends with the word "untruth." Salieri's main argument in his favor that the creator of the Vatican was a murderer is no longer a statement, but a question. Salieri is no longer a stronghold of orthodoxy and inviolability in his judgments. He doubted for the first time and therefore ceased to be a symbol. He has changed, which for him is tantamount to death. Therefore, in the finale, not only Mozart perishes, but also Salieri, who lived only in the realization of his indisputable right. This further enhances the tragedy of the finale and brings the play closer to the intensity of passions with ancient tragedies.
House assignment:
Envy is a very scary thing. How to deal with it. Try to think about this problem. Write your recipes.
Oct 15 2015
Themes and Problems (Mozart and Salieri). “Little Tragedies” is a cycle of P-n's plays, including four tragedies: “The Miserly Knight”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “The Stone Guest”, “Feast during the Plague”. All these works were written during the Boldin autumn (1830 This text is for private use only, 2005). “Little tragedies” is not Pushkin's name, it arose during publication and was based on P-n's phrase, where the phrase “little tragedies” was used in a literal sense. The author's titles of the cycle are as follows: "Dramatic Scenes", "Dramatic Essays", "Dramatic Studies", "Experience in Dramatic Studies". The last two names emphasize the experimental character artistic intent P-on. After "Boris Godunov" (1825), with its monumental form and complex composition P-n creates short, intimate scenes with few actors. The exposition is compressed to a few verses. There is no complex intrigue and lengthy dialogues.
The climax is resolved by an instant denouement. The original version of the name of the tragedy “Mozart and Salieri” is “Envy”, but the playwright refuses this name. He is not interested in the temper of the envious, but in the philosophy of the artist-creator. “Mozart and Salieri” is the only one of the “Little Tragedies” where images are created not fictional, but real historical persons. However, Pushkin's Mozart is as far from the real Mozart as the whole plot of the tragedy, based on the legend, now refuted, that Mozart was poisoned by Antonio Salieri, who hated and harbored burning hatred for him. But P-n nevertheless uses this legend, recalling an episode that took place during the performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni: "there was a whistle, everyone turned indignantly, and the famous Salieri left the hall in a rage, consumed with envy." abnormal in terms of common sense Salieri's act shows that he was not only engulfed in envy, but furiously consumed by it. And rabies is dangerous, because the root of the word indicates that a person who has succumbed to this feeling does not belong to himself, because he is led by a demon. What led Salieri to kill?
Salieri from the very early childhood devoted himself to music, he is not opposed to inspiration, but he believes that the right to inspiration is won by long work, service, which opens access to the circle of dedicated creators. From that moment begins the fatal movement of Salieri to crime. Putting art above man, Salieri convinces himself that man and him can be sacrificed to this fetish. The first step to murder is the assertion that the killer is only an executor of someone's higher will and does not bear personal responsibility. Then the most decisive step is taken: the word “kill” is replaced by the word “stop”: ...
I was chosen to Stop him... At the same time, Salieri considers Mozart to be the aggressive side, this is essential in the sophistry of murder: the victim is portrayed as a strong and dangerous attacking enemy, and the killer as a defending victim. In this work, one more Cain can be distinguished. The theme of Cain and his sacrifice is one of the most important in Mozart and Salieri. Cain's theme is Salieri's theme.
Salieri is just as outraged by injustice as Cain, he says: “Everyone says: there is no truth on earth. But there is no higher truth.” His hard work is not accepted by God. The work of the farmer Cain is harder than the work of Abel, like the work of Salieri, who “believed ...
algebra harmony”, harder than the work of the “madman” and “idle reveler” Mozart. Salieri is just as protesting and intellectual as Cain's crime. It is not for nothing that in ancient legends Cain appears as the first murderer and the first intellectual who asks difficult questions to God. The same questions are asked by Salieri, an intellectual, a hard worker, an artisan.
The moral is clear: Salieri worked for a reward, Mozart created because he liked music, and therefore his carefree sacrifice is accepted, and Salieri's sacrifice is rejected. Mozart's reward is already in his work itself, he can be inglorious, a beggar because he is saved by his music. Salieri sees in his own not an end, but a means. However, for P-on everything is not so simple: he is not interested in morality, but in the problem of the artist-creator.
Salieri's doubts, his envy, do not belong to him alone, but to P-well. Osip wrote: "In every poet there is both Mozart and Salieri." Many critics note the paradoxical brotherhood of these heroes: Mozart is the echo of Salieri, and Salieri is the echo of Mozart. This is especially evident thanks to one phrase that both speak, but with different intonation.
Mozart asks: “Genius and villainy are two incompatible things. Isn't it true?" Salieri says: “Genius and villainy are two things that are incompatible. Not true…
" Another one important topic in the play, the theme of death, the theme of the “black man”, which is connected with the theme of fate. All the stories about the “black man”, about the “Requiem” Salieri could perceive as a reminder of his decision, but he does not refuse it. Salieri is a logician, an experimenter, a rationalist, he does not need earthly kingdoms, but justice, he does not understand why inspiration is not given to him without difficulty? Why isn't he a genius? And Mozart replies that genius is not capable of villainy.
After Mozart leaves, Salieri asks: "But is he right, and I'm not a genius?" Salieri is left with an unresolved problem of justice. Thus, in his tragedy, he created the archetypes of artists: the light, inspired Mozart and the hard worker Salieri. This helped him touch upon very important issues of creativity, ask questions that are very relevant for all mankind, and touch on topics that worry us throughout our lives.
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