"The current century and the past century" (the main conflict in the comedy "Woe from Wit")
The comedy of Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov became innovative in Russian literature of the first quarter of the 19th century.
Classical comedy was characterized by the division of heroes into positive and negative. Victory has always been goodies while the negative ones were ridiculed and defeated. In Griboedov's comedy, the characters are distributed in a completely different way. The main conflict of the play is connected with the division of the characters into representatives of the "current century" and the "past century", and almost only Alexander Andreyevich Chatsky belongs to the former, moreover, he often finds himself in a ridiculous position, although he is a positive hero. At the same time, his main "opponent" Famusov is by no means some notorious bastard, on the contrary, he is a caring father and a good-natured person.
It is interesting that Chatsky's childhood passed in the house of Pavel Afanasyevich Famusov. Moscow lordly life was measured and calm. Every day was like another. Balls, dinners, dinners, christenings...
He got married - he managed, but he gave a miss.
All the same sense, and the same verses in the albums.
Women are mainly occupied with outfits. They love everything foreign, French. The ladies of the Famus society have one goal - to marry or marry off their daughters to an influential and wealthy person. With all this, in the words of Famusov himself, women "are judges of everything, everywhere, there are no judges over them." For patronage, everyone goes to a certain Tatyana Yuryevna, because "officials and officials are all her friends and all her relatives." Princess Marya Alekseevna has such weight in high society that Famusov somehow exclaims in fear:
Oh! My God! What will he say
Princess Marya Alexevna!
But what about men? They are all busy trying to move as high as possible on the social ladder. Here is the thoughtless martinet Skalozub, who measures everything by military standards, jokes in a military way, being a model of stupidity and narrow-mindedness. But this just means a good growth prospect. He has one goal - "to get to the generals." Here is a petty official Molchalin. He says, not without pleasure, that "he received three awards, is listed in the Archives," and he, of course, wants to "reach the known degrees."
The Moscow "ace" Famusov himself tells young people about the nobleman Maxim Petrovich, who served under Catherine and, seeking a place at court, did not show any business qualities or talents, but became famous only for the fact that he often "bent neck" in bows. But "he had a hundred people at his service", "all in orders." This is the ideal of the Famus society.
Moscow nobles are arrogant and arrogant. They treat people poorer than themselves with contempt. But a special arrogance is heard in the remarks addressed to the serfs. They are "parsleys", "fomkas", "chumps", "lazy grouse". With them one conversation: "In the work you! In the settlement of you!" In close formation, the Famusites oppose everything new, advanced. They can be liberal, but they are afraid of fundamental changes like fire. How much hatred in Famusov's words:
Learning is the plague, learning is the cause
What is now more than ever,
Crazy divorced people, and deeds, and opinions.
Thus, Chatsky is well aware of the spirit of the "past century", marked by cringing, hatred for enlightenment, the emptiness of life. All this early aroused boredom and disgust in our hero. Despite his friendship with sweet Sophia, Chatsky leaves the house of his relatives and begins independent life.
"The desire to wander attacked him ..." His soul longed for the novelty of modern ideas, communication with the advanced people of the time. He leaves Moscow and travels to Petersburg. "High thoughts" for him above all. It was in St. Petersburg that Chatsky's views and aspirations were formed. He appears to have taken an interest in literature. Even Famusov heard rumors that Chatsky "writes and translates nicely." At the same time, Chatsky is fascinated social activity. He has a "connection with the ministers." However, not for long. High concepts of honor do not allow him to serve, he wanted to serve the cause, not individuals.
After that, Chatsky probably visited the village, where, according to Famusov, he “blissed out”, blunderingly managing the estate. Then our hero goes abroad. At that time, “travelling” was viewed askance as a manifestation of the liberal spirit. But just the acquaintance of representatives of Russian noble youth with the life, philosophy, history of Western Europe had great importance for their development.
And here we are already meeting with a mature Chatsky, a man with established ideas. Chatsky contrasts the slave morality of the Famus society with a high understanding of honor and duty. He passionately denounces the hated feudal system. He cannot calmly talk about “Nestor noble scoundrels”, who changes servants for dogs, or about the one who “drew ... from their mothers, fathers, rejected children to a fortress ballet” and, having gone bankrupt, sold everyone one by one.
Here are those who lived to gray hair!
That's who we should respect in the wilderness!
Here are our strict connoisseurs and judges!
Chatsky hates "the meanest traits of the past life," people who "draw their judgments from the forgotten newspapers of the times of the Ochakovskys and the conquest of the Crimea." A sharp protest is caused in him by the noble servility to everything foreign, the French upbringing, usual in the lordly environment. In his famous monologue about the "Frenchman from Bordeaux", he speaks of the ardent attachment of the common people to their homeland, national customs and language.
As a true enlightener, Chatsky passionately defends the rights of reason and deeply believes in its power. In reason, in education, in public opinion, in the power of ideological and moral influence, he sees the main and powerful means of reshaping society, changing life. He defends the right to serve enlightenment and science:
Now let one of us
Of the young people, there is an enemy of quest,
Not demanding either places or promotions,
In the sciences, he will fix the mind, thirsty for knowledge;
Or in his soul God himself will excite the heat
To creative arts, lofty and beautiful, -
They immediately: robbery! Fire!
He will pass for them as a dreamer! Dangerous!!!
Among such young people in the play, in addition to Chatsky, one can perhaps also include Skalozub's cousin, the nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya - "a chemist and botanist". But they are mentioned in passing in the play. Among the guests of Famusov, our hero is a loner.
Of course, Chatsky is making enemies. Well, will Skalozub forgive him if he hears about himself: "Wheezy, strangled, bassoon, a constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas!" Or Natalya Dmitrievna, whom he advised to live in the countryside? Or Khlestov, whom Chatsky openly laughs at? But most of all goes, of course, to Molchalin. Chatsky considers him "the most miserable creature", similar to all fools. Sophia, out of revenge for such words, declares Chatsky crazy. Everyone happily picks up this news, they sincerely believe in gossip, because, indeed, in this society, he seems crazy.
A. S. Pushkin, after reading "Woe from Wit", noticed that Chatsky throws pearls in front of pigs, that he will never convince those to whom he addresses with his angry, passionate monologues. And one cannot but agree with this. But Chatsky is young. Yes, he does not have the goal of starting disputes with the older generation. First of all, he wanted to see Sophia, to whom from childhood he had a cordial affection. Another thing is that in the time that has passed since their last meeting, Sophia has changed. Chatsky is discouraged by her cold reception, he struggles to understand how it could be that she no longer needs him. Maybe it was this mental trauma that triggered the conflict mechanism.
As a result, there is a complete break of Chatsky with the world in which he spent his childhood and with which he is connected by blood ties. But the conflict that led to this gap is not personal, not accidental. This conflict is social. We collided not only different people but different worldviews, different public positions. The outward tie of the conflict was the arrival of Chatsky at Famusov's house, he received development in disputes and monologues of the main characters ("And who are the judges?", "That's it, you are all proud! .."). The growing misunderstanding and alienation lead to a climax: at the ball, Chatsky is recognized as insane. And then he realizes for himself that all his words and spiritual movements were in vain:
Mad you glorified me all in unison.
You are right: he will come out of the fire unharmed,
Who will have time to spend the day with you,
Breathe the air alone
And his mind will survive.
The outcome of the conflict is the departure of Chatsky from Moscow. The relationship between the Famus society and the protagonist has been clarified to the end: they deeply despise each other and do not want to have anything in common. It's impossible to tell who's winning. After all, the conflict between the old and the new is eternal, like the world. And the theme of the suffering of an intelligent, educated person in Russia is topical even today. And to this day, they suffer more from the mind than from its absence. In this sense, Griboyedov created a comedy for all time.
Plan:
1. Introduction
a) representatives of the "past century";
b) representatives of the "current century".
2. Main body:
a) Chatsky's point of view;
b) Famusov's point of view;
c) conflict resolution.
3. Conclusion.
In the comedy "Woe from Wit" A.S. Griboyedov shows the conflict between the “current century” in the person of Chatsky and the “past century” in the person of the “famus society”. This is the main conflict to which the whole play is devoted; not without reason Goncharov in the critical article "A Million of Torments" writes that "Chatsky begins a new century - and this is all his significance and all his "mind". Thus, even the title of the work indicates that, first of all, Griboyedov wanted to show the clash of two centuries.
“The past century” is, of course, the Famusovs. Pavel Afanasyevich Famusov, an elderly nobleman and official with money, and his daughter, Sofia Pavlovna Famusova, an educated and pretty young girl. Molchalin a, Colonel Skalozub, as well as almost all secondary characters comedies: the Tugoukhovsky couple, Mrs. Khlestova and others. All together they form a "famus society", the personification of the "past century".
"The current century" - Alexander Andreevich Chatsky. Others are fleetingly mentioned, as if heroes similar to him in thinking: Skalozub's cousin, Prince Fyodor - these young people also strive to live a different life, different from the life of the "famus society". However, there is a significant difference between them and Chatsky: Chatsky is an accuser and an implacable fighter, while these characters do not impose their point of view on anyone.
The clash of Famusov and Chatsky inevitably leads to a clash of centuries to which they belong. According to Pavel Afanasyevich, Chatsky should have taken up the service - Famusov sees in the young man good inclinations for a brilliant career, besides, Alexander Andreevich is the son of his friend, so Famusov is extremely friendly towards him. Chatsky is also happy to return home, not yet suspecting how this return will end; he is glad to see Famusov, but is not ready to share his views: “I would be glad to serve, it’s sickening to serve.”
A young nobleman, after traveling around Europe, sees all too clearly all the frightening flaws of the Motherland: disastrous for human souls serfdom, imitation of foreigners, "subservience", stupid and ridiculous "love for the uniform" ... each of these flaws raises a sincere protest in him, and Chatsky breaks out into another fiery tirade. His famous monologues “And for sure, the world began to grow stupid”, “I won’t come to my senses ...”, “And who are the judges?” - a desperate attempt to make people see what false ideals they follow, how they curtain the windows with their own hands from the rays of a brighter future. Famusov is disappointed in Chatsky. "Small with a head" refuses to follow generally accepted traditions, acts as an accuser and even an insult to the values of the "famus society". “Everything has its own laws,” and Chatsky diligently violates these laws, and then scoffs at them.
Of course, a worthy representative of Moscow society cannot tolerate this, and every now and then asks Chatsky to be silent for his own good. Strange as it may seem, the most terrible, decisive clash does not take place between Pavel Afansevich and Chatsky. Yes, they develop the conflict of the centuries, demonstrating different views on the order in society, but it is not Famusov who will put an end to the conflict, but his daughter. Sophia, until the last, beloved by Chatsky, not only exchanged him for the helpful hypocritical Molchalin, but also unwittingly became the culprit of his expulsion - it was because of her that Chatsky was considered crazy. Rather, she only wanted to start a rumor in order to avenge him for mocking Molchalin, but the “Famus society” too willingly picked up and believed: after all, a madman is not dangerous, all his accusatory, terrible “gone century” speeches can be attributed to clouding of reason ...
So, the "present century" and the "past century" could not but come into conflict because of too different, contradictory views on the correct structure of society and the behavior of people in it. And although in the comedy Chatsky flees from Moscow, admitting his defeat, the "Famus society" does not have long. Goncharov writes about it this way: "Chatsky is broken by the amount of old strength, inflicting a mortal blow on it with the quality of fresh strength."
"Current Age" and "Previous Age".
In the comedy "Woe from Wit", written at the beginning of the 19th century, A. S. Griboyedov touches on many serious issues of social life, morality, culture, relevant in the era of the change of centuries, when social foundations are changing and contradictions are growing between representatives of the "current century" and "past century".
In the work there are people of different societies from Famusov and Khlestova to serf servants. The representative of an advanced, revolutionary-minded society is Alexander Andreevich Chatsky, he is opposed by the conservative Famus society, which includes both the older generation (Skalozub, Khryumina) and the youth (Sofya, Molchalin). The "past century" is not only an indicator of age, but also a system of outdated views.
So what are the main contradictions between the "present age" and the "past century"?
Members of the Famus society value a person only by origin, wealth, as well as position in society. The ideals for them are people like Maxim Petrovich, an arrogant nobleman and a "hunter to be mean." All character traits the veneration of rank of that time is clearly expressed in the image of Mochalin: he is silent, afraid to express his opinion, seeks the favor of everyone whose rank is higher than his own, in order to become an important official, he is ready for a lot. For Chatsky, the main human quality is rich. spiritual world. He communicates with those who are really interesting to him and does not curry favor with the guests of Famusov's house.
The purpose of life for Pavel Afanasyevich and others like him is a career and enrichment. Nepotism is a common occurrence in their circles. Secular people serve not for the good of the state, but for personal gain, this confirms the statement of Colonel Skalozub:
Yes, in order to get ranks, there are many channels;
About them as a true philosopher I judge:
I just want to be a general.
Chatsky, on the other hand, does not want to serve "persons", it is to him that the statement belongs: "I would be glad to serve, it is sickening to serve."
Alexander Andreevich is an excellently educated person. He spent three years abroad, which changed his outlook. Chatsky is the bearer of new, revolutionary ideas, but it is everything new and progressive that frightens the Famus society, and these people see the source of “freethinking” in enlightenment:
Learning is the plague, learning is the cause
What is now more than ever
Crazy divorced people, and deeds, and thoughts.
The society saw in Chatsky a person who contradicted the basic moral principles, which is why the rumor about his madness spread so quickly, and it was not difficult for anyone to believe in him.
Representatives of the two centuries have different views on love. Famusov managed to benefit from the brightest and purest feeling: for his daughter, he chose Skalozub as her husband, who "both a golden bag and aims for generals." It is clear that with such an attitude, true love do not have to speak. Chatsky for many years retained sincere feelings for Sophia. Returning to Moscow, he hoped for reciprocity, but Sophia was strongly influenced by her father's society, and also, having read French novels, she found herself "both a husband-boy and a husband-servant" Molchalin, and he, in turn, with Sophia was going to get another rank with the help of Sophia:
And here's the lover I assume
To please the daughter of such a man
For the only time, the opinions of Famusov and Chatsky coincide on the issue of the influence of foreigners on Russia, but each has his own reasons for this. Chatsky says how true patriot, he is an opponent of "empty, slavish, blind imitation" of foreigners, he is disgusted to listen to the speech of people of the Famus society, where "a mixture of languages dominated: French with Nizhny Novgorod." Famusov has a negative attitude towards foreigners only because he is a father, and his daughter can inadvertently marry some Frenchman:
And all the Kuznetsky bridge and the eternal French,
From there, fashion to us, and authors, and muses:
Robbers of pockets and hearts.
In a clash with the Famus society, Chatsky is defeated, but he remains undefeated, as he understands the need to fight against the "past century". He believes that the future belongs to his fellow souls.
ATTITUDE TO EDUCATION
The current century: The main representative of the present century in comedy is Chatsky. He is smart, well developed, "can talk," "can laugh at everyone nicely, chatting, joking." Unfortunately, his mind makes him feel "out of his element" in Famus society. People do not understand and do not listen to him, and towards the end of the work they consider him already crazy.
The past century: In the work of Famusov (it is he and his society that are considered as representatives of the past century), he is very negatively disposed towards education: "I would like to take the books and burn them."
(In a conversation about Sophia:) “Tell me that it’s not good for her eyes to spoil, and it’s not great for reading: she can’t sleep from French books, but it hurts me to sleep from Russians.” "Learning is the plague, learning is the cause." "All his life he has been reading fables, and here are the fruits of these books" (about Sophia).
Famusov believes that education is a completely unnecessary part human life that, having money, a person does not need education or books (as a way of entertainment).
ATTITUDE TO SERVICE
The current century: Chatsky was in military service. His main goal is business, not profit, rank. Service is necessary for self-development, improvement of abilities. "I would be glad to serve, it's sickening to serve."
The past century: For Famusov, service is, first of all, getting a rank. Military service is also a way to develop a career, and a career is money. Famusov believes that a person without money is a nobody - a person of the lowest grade.
ATTITUDE TO WEALTH AND RANKS
Current century: For Chatsky, wealth is not the main characteristic of a person, although he understands that this is an indicator of power (in any century). "And for those who are higher, flattery, like lace, was woven." - people for the sake of money are ready to say goodbye with pride and go to any lengths. "Ranks are given by people, but people can be deceived."
The past century: Wealth is a definition of position in society. If a person is rich, then Famusov, most likely, will gladly begin to communicate with him (These are visits to dear guests, and also, perhaps, a benefit for himself). Of course, for the daughter of Sofia Famusov also wants to find a rich husband - to improve his own income. "He who is poor is not a couple for you." "Be poor, but if there are souls of two thousand family members, that is the groom."
ATTITUDE TO FOREIGN
The current century: Being in Europe, Chatsky got used to its variability, life, movement, fashion. "What new will Moscow show me?". "How from an early time we got used to believing that there is no salvation for us without the Germans." "Ah, if we were born to adopt everything, at least we could take some of the Chinese's wise ignorance of foreigners from them. Will we ever rise from the foreign rule of fashion? So that our smart, cheerful people, although in language we are not considered Germans. "
Past century: Having got used to his generation, Famusov does not welcome French fashion. Disapproving of books at all, he dislikes French novels even more. "She can't sleep from French books." When Famusov found Molchalin at Sophia’s: “And here are the fruits of these books! And all the Kuznetsk bridge, and the eternal Frenchmen, from there there are fashions for us, and authors, and muses: destroyers of pockets and hearts! When the Creator will save us from their hats! Cheptsov! And hairpins! And pins! And bookstores and biscuit shops!"
ATTITUDE TO FREEDOM OF JUDGMENT
The current age: First of all, you need to listen to yourself and your mind. "Why are other people's opinions only holy? I believe my own eyes." In a conversation with Molchalin, Chatsky completely disagrees with him that "at their age one should not dare to have one's own judgments." But, unfortunately, having his own opinion leads him to troubles in the Famus society.
The past century: "Today, more than ever, crazy divorced people, and deeds, and opinions." Accordingly, all troubles occur due to the emergence of their own opinions in other people. In a Famus society, it is beneficial to keep with you those who do not have such a "flaw". People must live and act strictly according to a pattern, obeying, most importantly, people who are higher in rank.
ATTITUDE TO LOVE
current century:
1) For Chatsky, love is, first of all, sincere feeling. Despite this, he knows how to think sensibly, puts love no higher than reason.
2) Brought up on French novels, Sophia completely goes into her dreams, often very different from reality. This makes her blind, not seeing that Molchalin is looking exclusively for the benefit of their "love". "I don't care what is for him, what is in the water!", "Happy hours do not notice."
3) Molchalin is unlikely to understand the concept of "sincere love." Beautiful words are the only way he affects Sophia, for whom this and his ideal fictional image created by her is quite enough. Sofia for Molchalin is the perfect way to get close to her father's money. According to Chatsky, Molchalin is not worthy of love. At the same time, he manages to flirt with Lisa. As a result, for him Sophia is a benefit, Lisa is entertainment.
The past century: Famusov does not believe in the existence of love, since he himself is in love only with his own income. In his opinion, marriage is good connections, climbing the career ladder. "That beggar, this dandy friend, is a notorious spendthrift, a tomboy; What kind of commission, creator, to be adult daughter father!"
