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Johann Wolfgang Goethe conceived his famous tragedy Faust when he was in his early twenties and completed it a few months before his death. Of course, during this time he wrote a lot of other works, which made up the creative heritage of the writer, but major work, reflecting the whole picture of that critical era, after all, was Faust.
The plot of the tragedy is based on the legend of the medieval warlock and magician Dr. Johann Faust. It was a person who actually existed, but as is the case with outstanding personalities endowed with extraordinary abilities, legends and tales circulated about him already during his lifetime, where truth was intricately intertwined with fiction. Shortly thereafter, a book by an unknown author appeared in Germany under the title: "The Story of Doctor Faust, the famous magician and warlock", condemning this semi-legendary person for apostasy from the church and connection with Satan. However, the book was not without an objective assessment of some of the positive aspects of the activities of Dr. Faust, who decisively broke with medieval scholastic science and church theology and set out to resolve the burning questions of human existence and the structure of the world.
There were also other works on this subject. In particular, Shakespeare's contemporary Christopher Maplo, Goethe's contemporary and friend Friedrich Klinger and many others wrote about Dr. Faust. All this, however, does not in the least detract from the originality of Goethe's own work, the significance and place of his tragedy in world literature. In those days, the use of so-called wandering plots, as well as legends, fairy tales and other things to create your own original works was not considered plagiarism. Then there simply was no such thing as plagiarism. This can be seen in the example of Pushkin's work, who used the plots of many Russian folk tales. The same can be said about the English playwright Shakespeare, almost all of whose plays are based on borrowed plots. By the way, Goethe, at the time when he began work on Faust, did not read many works on this subject by other authors, he only knew puppet comedies on this subject, which at that time were very popular at fair performances in Germany. If we compare The Tragic History of Dr. Faust by Christopher Marlo and Goethe's work, then from Marlo Faust wants to get the entire amount of knowledge about the world in order to achieve power over the world and experience all the pleasures of life, and from Goethe, Faust craves knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself, for the sake of self-improvement. He does not want the benefits for himself personally, not the pleasures and satisfaction of base passions, but the comprehension of the meaning of life. In fact, resorting to the help of the devil, Faust is still looking for a way to God.
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Goethe's tragedy "Faust" is not an ordinary work in form. Written in verse according to the laws of a dramatic work, at the same time it cannot be staged because of its exorbitant volume. Therefore, "Faust", most likely, is not a drama, but a dramatic poem with elements of an epic, in view of the fact that the action of the work has a large extent in space and time. The speeches of characters and heroes, especially Faust and Margarita, are very reminiscent of lyrical poems. Thus, "Faust" organically bears the features of all three main types of literature: drama, lyrics and epic.
If you look at Goethe's work from the point of view of stylistic features, then it is very multifaceted. It combines both features of realism and romanticism. In "Faust" there are everyday episodes written according to the laws of realism, there are lyrical scenes, such as the meeting of Dr. Faust with Margarita, there are also tragic moments. But the main line that permeates the whole tragedy is mystical. Goethe introduces into the narrative such unreal characters as God, archangels, the devil, witches. All this is generated partly by the author's fantasy, partly by the need to follow the plot conflicts of the old legend, taken as the basis for writing Faust. However, all these unrealistic episodes are not an end in themselves. Rejecting plausibility, Goethe thus wanted to express his complex understanding of life. All this is a technique that allows the author to distance himself from reality and better understand everything that occurs around him. The author thus becomes above reality. Thus, Goethe's fantasy is always connected with reality. Images of real people enter into relationships with unreal ones. Fantastic, mythological characters get into a real environment and, at times, act as real people. For Goethe and his contemporaries, the value of these fantastic characters lay in their traditionality and recognizability.
Goethe's free pen masterfully processed myths that had different sources. He turned to ancient Greek myths, biblical, medieval. Reworked by the flight of his poetic thought, all these legends and myths of different origin were subject to a single philosophical task - the search for the true meaning of the world and man in it.
But the tragedy of Goethe is not just a philosophical treatise, veiled by the techniques of fiction. Goethe, as a poet, created a work of high poetic skill. In German poetry there is no work equal to Faust in the use of all the richness of the poetic palette. In "Faust" there is intimate lyrics, and civil pathos, and deep philosophical reflections, and sharp satire, and lively folk humor. There are a lot of successful images in Goethe's work, the poetic structure of speech is diverse, all the shades of the sound of the verse are expressed. All the wealth of feelings that human speech is capable of expressing was conveyed by Goethe in his tragedy.
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Now let's move on to characterizing the content of Faust.
The tragedy begins with two prologues. In the first prologue ("Prologue in the Theatre") Goethe expresses his views on art. In the "Prologue in Heaven" the key to understanding the ideological meaning of the tragedy is given, here begins the life story of the protagonist of the work, Dr. Faust.
Mephistopheles, talking with God, mocks a man, considers him insignificant and pitiful. Faust's pursuit of truth seems to him senseless. However, Goethe, through the mouth of the Lord, refutes these views of Mephistopheles. The Lord says about Faust:
He serves me and it's obvious
And break out of the darkness to please me.
When a gardener plants a tree
The fruit is known in advance to the gardener.
Thus, in the Prologue in Heaven, Goethe gives the beginning of the struggle around Faust and predicts that Faust will win.
At first, Faust is very sorry about his helplessness in resolving the fundamental issues of life, since the sciences in which he diligently studied are not able to give an exhaustive answer to these questions. Faust is opposed by Wagner, who is just a self-satisfied layman in science, who set himself the goal of mindlessly “absorbing” learned books, page by page. The image of Wagner embodies a dead theory, divorced from practice and far from real life. Faust, on the other hand, seeks to find the truth and understands that it must not be sought in the dead trash of old books, as Wagner does.
It is not for nothing that Goethe's Faust seeks to acquire new knowledge and to comprehend the truth about the world and the destiny of man in it. By this, the writer means the mental movement of an entire era of the spiritual development of European society, which was later called the Age of Enlightenment. At this time, the progressive minds of Europe fought against church prejudices and all kinds of obscurantism. Scientific knowledge was opposed to church scholasticism. The intellectual movement echoed the struggle of the advanced forces of society against feudalism for individual freedom and democratization.
Goethe in Germany also joined this pan-European process of enlightenment. In the tragedy Faust, he expressed his personal understanding of life, dressing it in a poetic form. The hero of the tragedy is a symbolic figure embodying all of humanity. But in this type literary hero there are features of a real person. Being a bright, unusual personality, Dr. Faust does not at all pretend to be an angel in the flesh. First of all, he is a man and nothing human is alien to him. Faust also has flaws. But therein lies the veracity of this image, its true reality. Faust himself also understands his imperfection, he does not deceive himself at the expense of his merits. The hero has a very positive feature - eternal dissatisfaction with himself and the world around him. Faust constantly strives to become better than he was before, and to make the world more perfect for the lives of other people.
Strictly speaking, the hero appears before the reader at the beginning of the tragedy, dissatisfied with all the available knowledge, in view of the fact that they do not give the most important thing that Faust's soul strives for - understanding the essence of life. Faust is not the kind of person who would be satisfied with what religion and speculative bookish knowledge offer. The despair of the hero is so great that he even has the thought of committing suicide, but, having heard the song of those praying coming from the temple, Faust abandons his intention. He understands that the people, not finding a way out of everyday difficulties, turn to God for help, just like he once did, and decides to help people find answers to the burning questions of life. However, he immediately refuses the help of religion and science - all this is a passed stage for him. Temporarily, he resorts to the help of otherworldly forces (the devil).
The appearance of Mephistopheles before Faust is not accidental. As in the old legend, the devil comes to seduce Faust with all the pleasures of life and, plunging into the abyss of sin, take possession of his soul. Mephistopheles in Goethe does not look like a caricature of the devil in folk legends, this image is saturated with deep philosophical sense. Mephistopheles is the embodiment of the spirit of negation as opposed to the image of God. However, in Goethe the devil is not exclusively the embodiment of evil. We must pay tribute, critical remarks of Mephistopheles are largely not unfounded. Mephistopheles is smart, he is a master of noticing human weaknesses and vices. Bitter truths often sound in his mouth.
Characteristic is the opinion of Mephistopheles himself, who, answering the question of Faust, says that he "does good, wishing evil to everything."
Thus, Mephistopheles, with his intrigues, provokes the opposition of Faust and thus is the main reason for his activity. Pushing Faust to commit evil deeds, Mephistopheles, unwittingly, awakens the best sides of his nature. Completely opposite in their desires and aspirations, Mephistopheles and Faust, however, are inseparable from each other.
Faust does not seek sensual pleasures at all, he is driven by other aspirations. But the task of knowing the truth cannot be solved overnight. Therefore, Faust, demanding from Mephistopheles the fulfillment of all his desires, sets the condition that Mephistopheles will receive his soul only if Faust calms down, stops his searches and, enjoying life, shouts: “Stop, a moment, you are beautiful!”
Mephistopheles does not believe in the loftiness of Faust's ideas and expects to easily prove his case about the insignificance of man. At first, he invites Faust to attend a student feast in a tavern, hoping that Faust will also take part in the feast. But Faust is disgusted by this drunken company. Then Mephistopheles in the witch's kitchen returns Faust's youth, and he at first succumbs to the trick of the devil, he asks Mephistopheles to help him get acquainted with Margarita. But Mephistopheles' expectations that Faust would give himself up only to sensual pleasures turn out to be in vain. Very soon, Faust's rough, sensual relationship with Marguerite is replaced by an ever-increasing love. His feeling for the girl becomes not only physical, but also spiritual. Their love became mutual, but, as people, they were completely different and this is the main reason for the tragic outcome of their love.
Unlike Faust with his critical freedom-loving character, Gretchen accepts life as it is in this moment. Brought up in strict religious rules, she considers the natural inclinations of her nature to be the offspring of sin. Having succumbed to her passion for Faust, she then deeply experiences her fall. Gretchen turns out to be a sinner not only in her own eyes, but also in the opinion of the environment with its sanctimonious prejudices. These two factors caused the tragic end of her life.
The death of Gretchen is a tragedy, the tragedy of an honest and beautiful woman who, because of her love, became involved in the cycle of terrible events that brought her to the murder of her own child. As a result of all this, Margarita goes crazy. She is condemned to death. This concludes the first part of Goethe's tragedy.
And although the first part of "Faust" is a completely completed work of art, telling about the tragedy of a scientist who was disillusioned with science, who did not find happiness in love, Goethe continues the story of the fate of Dr. Faust in the second part.
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The first and second parts are different in their form. The first part, despite many fantastic moments, is generally plausible. Faust's spiritual quest, as well as his undeveloped love, excites the feelings of readers. The second part is almost devoid of psychological motives, there is no depiction of human passions in it. Here the writer is more interested in general ideas. The images of people in the second part are deprived of full life authenticity. These are only poetic symbols of certain ideas and concepts. In a symbolic form, the language of conventional concepts, the crisis of the monarchical system is depicted here, feudal wars are condemned, the search for spiritual beauty and work for the benefit of people are glorified.
In the second part, Faust is less active than in the first. At times, only Mephistopheles and other characters are in the foreground. Here, attention is deliberately shifted from the personality of the hero to the world around him. Faust himself no longer presents a riddle to the reader. In the second part of the tragedy, Goethe tries to highlight some of the world's problems.
One of them is the problem of the main law of the development of life. Characteristic in this regard is the dispute between the Greek philosophers Thales and Anaxagoras. Thales proves that the source of life is water, Anaxagoras holds a different point of view. He claims that everything develops by leaps and catastrophes. Goethe rejected this principle as the law of world development. He was more inclined to think about the gradual evolution of animal species, the peak of which was man.
Goethe introduces the principle of development into the characterization of spiritual life. The poet believes in the idea of progress, but he presents the development of human history as a path full of struggle and inevitable complex contradictions.
Touching upon the most diverse aspects of life, Goethe does not strive for unity in the development of the plot of his work. The second part consists of five acts, very little connected with each other. Each is a complete whole, with its own plot and theme.
After the tragic death of Gretchen, Faust is reborn to a new life and continues his search for the truth. At first, he finds himself in the state field, but, disappointed in this activity, Faust is looking for new ways.
In the end, it seems to him that he finds what he needs: the Spartan queen Helen revived to life. Faust and Helena personify two principles: Helena is a symbol of ideal ancient beauty, and Faust is the embodiment of a restless romantic spirit. As a result of their symbolic marriage, a beautiful young man Euphorion is born, in which the features of his parents are combined. But Euphorion is too ideal for an imperfect world. Euphorion is dying. With his death, Elena also disappears. Faust is left with only her clothes, as if meant to symbolize the impossibility of reviving the ancient ideal of beauty. The spirit of the past, alas, cannot be returned, and humanity, as in the case of Elena's clothes, has only the external forms of ancient beauty left.
Despite new failure and new disappointment, Faust is relentless, he does not give up his idea. For helping the emperor, he receives a vast, but uninhabitable territory. For the rest of his life, despite the secret opposition of Mephistopheles, Faust devotes to the work of turning this piece of land into a beautiful and safe area from the waves of the sea, where people would work quietly.
The implementation of Faust's plan takes a long time, but what matters to him is that he has finally found what he wants and is close to his goal. Faust found the meaning of life in constant trials, in struggle, in work. Life brought him brief moments
happiness, replaced by long years of overcoming difficulties. And although his plan has not yet been finally completed, Faust believes in the final implementation of his idea. Thus, Faust sees clearly and gains an understanding of the truth only at the end of his life.
After the death of Faust, Mephistopheles tries to take his soul to hell, but the divine forces resist this and take Faust's soul to heaven, where she must meet with the soul of Margaret. This is the end of the tragedy as a whole.
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The significance of Goethe's work in world literature can hardly be overestimated. Many literary books have been written about Faust, in which the characters and events of the tragedy are interpreted from various angles, which do not always coincide with each other. The questions raised by Goethe do not lend themselves to a simple and unambiguous solution. Scientists and writers are still scratching their heads over these questions.
In our country, the freedom-loving thought of Goethe captivated the talented writer Mikhail Bulgakov to create his own work, somewhat echoing Faust. This is the famous novel The Master and Margarita, preceded by an epigraph from Faust. Other works on this subject are less significant, not to mention the contemporary epigones of Goethe and Bulgakov. To repeat such a literary feat is not for everyone. Works like Faust and The Master and Margarita are extremely rare. This is not just a fact of human activity, an effort of the mind, but, I would say, a fact of cosmic interference, the transmission of information from other worlds. Which, in fact, is any creativity.
JUST READ THIS TO ME, I WILL NOT WRITE THIS AS I REMEMBER
Heinrich Faust- a doctor, a scientist disillusioned with life and science. Made a deal with Mephistopheles.
Mephistopheles- an evil spirit, the devil, argued with the Lord that he could get the soul of Faust.
Gretchen (Margarita) - beloved Faust. An innocent girl who, out of love for Heinrich, accidentally killed her mother, and then, going crazy, drowned her daughter. Died in prison.
Other characters
Wagner - student of Faust who created the Homunculus.
Elena- an ancient Greek heroine, beloved of Faust, from whom her son Euphorion was born. Their marriage is a symbol of the combination of ancient and romantic beginnings.
Euphorion - the son of Faust and Helen, endowed with the features of a romantic, Byronic hero.
Martha- Margarita's neighbor, a widow.
Valentine- soldier, brother Gretchen, who was killed by Faust.
Theater Director, Poet
Homunculus
"Faust, tragedy" (more often just "Faust" - a philosophical drama for reading, which is considered the main work of Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Contains the most famous version of the legend of Dr. Faust.
Goethe worked on the concept of Faust for 60 years of his life. The first part was written as early as the 1790s, completed in 1806, published two years later, and revised several times by Goethe in reprints. Goethe worked on the second part in his advanced years; she saw the light after his death, in 1832. In 1886, the text of "Prafaust" was discovered, composed by Goethe in his youth, in 1772-1775.
In form it is a drama for reading, in genre it is a philosophical poem.
There are no direct author's words, everything is given to the characters: monologues, dialogues, charades. It has a rather complex, but at the same time transparent composition. It begins with two prologues: 1. a prologue in the theater (for which the theater exists in particular, art in general - the director: the audience pays for tickets, the act: words, fame, the satisfaction of vanity, the answer of the author-Goethe: art exists to reveal to people the untried , an unknown way of self-expression of a creative person, a way of cognition). 2. prologue in heaven, serves as an introduction that pushes you to the plot. The messenger of hell Mephistopheles appears before God, he declares that God made a mistake by creating people, that they are evil, insidious and need to be got rid of. A dispute arises between God and Mephistopheles, the result of which is an experiment. They conclude an agreement: to test people, they choose the old scientist Faust as an experimental subject. If Mephistopheles proves that man is insignificant, insidious, then God will destroy humanity. The prologue is followed by part 1 (a person's personal life), part 2 (a person and society) and an epilogue.
Part 1: the division goes into episodes and scenes. The beginning is the office of Faust, an 80-year-old man, he lived alone almost all his life. His life was reduced to knowledge captured in books, abstract knowledge. He knew practically nothing about the world outside the office. Faust is obsessed with the idea of knowledge, he is close to death, he must admit that his life has been lived in vain. Because of this fear, he turns to the spirits of the elements, they appear, but no one can give an answer to his questions. He becomes more fearful and unbearable. Under the influence of fear, Faust leaves the office. He has nothing in common with the people who live near him. Goethe draws spring, a holiday, but nobody cares about Faust. Then a memory comes to him from adolescence. Faust's father was a doctor, and when his son was 14 years old, a terrible epidemic began. Elder Faust tried to save people, prescribed medicines, but even more people die from them. His intervention is not only useless, but disastrous. After that, Faust the son goes into seclusion.
In order not to collide with people, Faust goes into the field. Where a poodle sticks to him. The owner returns home and the poodle slips up to him. When midnight strikes, the poodle turns into Mephistopheles. He is trying to negotiate with Faust that he will fulfill all his desires, make him young if Faust signs an agreement with one condition: Faust will live until then. Until he says, “You are beautiful for a moment, stop, wait!”. Faust is not subject to the temptations that Mephistopheles tests him with. ON the image of eternal femininity, Faust is seduced and signs an agreement with Mephistopheles. Faust gets the opportunity to live a second life, a fundamentally different one. But he can be above people, watch them. He returns to the office, but only to leave forever. His student Wagner settled in his house. After the conclusion of the contract, they go to the city, to a tavern where students gather. Seduced by wine and fun, Faust does not give in (the song about the flea is a denunciation of favoritism). Then they go to the Witch's kitchen, where a cauldron is boiling, an owl and a cat are watching. This potion is drunk by Faust and youth returns to him. He pays attention to city holidays, he meets with Margarita (Gretchen). She is an unfortunate person, lives in the suburbs, pretty, modest, well-bred, pious, caring, she loves children very much. She has a younger sister. When a rich young man comes up to her, compliments her, wants to see her off, she tries to deflect, saying that she is not beautiful and she becomes even more desirable for Faust. Mephistopheles advises to present an expensive gift (a box of stones), but his mother saw him first and she ordered her daughter to take it to church. For the second time, the casket was given not to Margarita, but to the neighbor Martha, who becomes Faust's accomplice and gives the jewelry to Gretchen when her mother was gone. The donor becomes mysterious and interesting for her, she agrees to a nightly date with him. The girl is virtuous, as evidenced by the song "The Ballad of the King of Ful", which she sang. Love, as Goethe shows it, is a test for a woman, moreover, it is destructive. Margarita unrequitedly loves Faust, becomes criminal. There are 3 crimes on her conscience (she dooms herself to complete loneliness) - she puts sleeping pills to her mother, on one unfortunate day her mother does not wake up from an overdose of sleeping pills, the duel of Valentine and Faust, Valentine turns out to be doomed, he is slain by Faust's hand, Margarita turns out to be the cause of the death of her brother, Margarita drowns the baby daughter from Faust in a swamp (chthonic environment). Faust leaves her, he is only interested in her as long as he achieves her. Faust forgets about her, he does not feel obligations to her, does not remember her fate. Left alone, Margarita takes steps that lead her to repentance, forgiveness. Her murder becomes known, and she is put in a dungeon, she, as a mother of a child killer, should be cut off her head.
At the end of part 1, an important episode "Walpurgis Night" appears. In the midst of fun, the ghost of Margaret appears before Faust, and he demands to be delivered to her. Mephistopheles fulfills and transfers Faust to Margarita's dungeon, he is overwhelmed with remorse and wants to save his beloved. But Margaret refuses, she does not want to follow Faust, since Mephistopheles is with him. She remains in the dungeon, the night is already ending, and the executioner should come with the first rays. Mephistopheles persuades Faust to flee, and then he obeys. At this time, a voice is heard from heaven "Saved." Margarita assumes all responsibility, pays with her life for her soul. When Faust dies, among the righteous souls sent to meet his soul, will be the soul of Margarita.
Physical, cosmological aspect, aspect associated with the category of "ideal". When Faust utters this phrase, the moment stops, time breaks, the axis of the earth shifts, the movement of the Sun changes, a great cosmic catastrophe has come, Faust does not notice this trap. To stop the moment means to reach the absolute, to know the ideal. And the nature of the ideal is that. That it cannot be realized, one can only strive for it. Thus, Mephistopheles violates the law of the universe ("philosophical trap"). Love is by no means unambiguous. What happens between Faust and Margarita is severe and cruel.
Part 2: More complex as it is more abstract. Faust and Mephistopheles find themselves at the court of a certain emperor. The emperor, who, it would seem, has power, is not at all omnipotent and fully controls himself and his subjects. External threats, internal economic difficulties. Faust appears and inspires the emperor with the idea that an adviser will appear who can help cope with these difficulties. But being at court gives Faust practically nothing, even though he is in favor. To cope with the crisis, Mephistopheles proposes to print banknotes. For Faust, stay is associated with two important points: reward from the king - a strip of land cut into the sea and a meeting with Elena the Beautiful (part 2 is aimed at antiquity). In the second part, there is a parallel with Walpurgis Night only with ancient creatures (sphinxes, chimeras). Against this background, Elena appears. Before us is a maid of honor, not the first youth and beauty. And at first she does not make a strong impression on Faust. But he tends to see in her eternal femininity, Elena becomes the lawful wife of Faust, they have a son. The son is amazing, this young creature of amazing beauty and charm, gifted by nature, Eufarion (euphoria, bliss, aspiration to heaven). Loved by parents to madness. Their lives are colored by the constant fear that they will lose him and will not be able to keep him on earth. These fears are coming true. Having become an adult, Eufarion asks his parents to let him go. It does not return to earth, it dissolves into the ether. In the fate of Faust's children there is a polar divergence.
The entire amplitude of human life rests on the mortality of man.
His student, Wagner, thinks that science should give practical solutions to problems, that it should be useful, and he creates an artificial man. Comparison with the mighty God - nature, as Goethe shows, man, created by God, is imperfect (he dies, suffers, doubts), or maybe a man created by man will be perfect?
Wagner manages to create an artificial man, raised in a flask, there is a little man, but an adult. He tries to free himself, gets out, but turns out to be unviable.
"Faust on the Seashore" (the last third of the second part). Faust decides that he will use his reward for the benefit of people. He will give it to those who will be happy on it. Faust has a new idea of life. Thinking about others, living for generations, it gives a sense of perspective. Faust by this time is so old that he cannot do anything himself, he is frail, weak and blind. Faust demands from Mephistopheles that this strip of land be expanded, secured, so that a large number of people can prosper there. In this regard, the problem of man and nature arises, the transforming power of culture on this earth, under the leadership of Faust, is digging graves, and on the edge of the earth a grave for Faust himself.
"The myth of Philemon and Baucis" - loving spouses who died on the same day and the Gods, as a reward, turned the husband into an oak tree and his wife into a linden tree. With Goethe they live on this cape, but they go to work. From the ringing of bells, Mephistopheles gnashes his teeth, but cannot do anything with them and persuades Faust to move them, as they interfere with him. He swears that they will not lose anything, but he scared them so much that they died on the spot.
Faust lives to his last day and it seems to him that he understood the secret of why to live. He believes that on a well-organized land they will live happy people worthy of glory and freedom. The meaning of life is to fight every day for glory and freedom. And having understood this thought, then I would say “You are beautiful for a moment ...” (in a conditional mood). Nevertheless, death overtakes Faust, and next to him is Mephistopheles, but legions of souls of the righteous rush to intercept Faust's soul to save his soul, God, forgetting about humanity. Remembers a person. Among the spirits Margarita. Everything in the world is in motion - the struggle of contradictions and unity.
The dispute over Faust goes on all the time fine line, on the blade of a knife, and the existence of mankind is on this edge and you need to keep a balance. BUT evil turns out to be not only not omnipotent, in itself there is a contradiction (in the image of Mephistopheles), he speaks of himself as a part of that force that seeks and desires evil, but contributes to the creation of good.
10. "Faust" by I. V. Goethe in the context of world culture (from the Book of Job to "Doctor Faustus" by T. Mann).
The figure of Johann Georg Faust, who really lived in the 16th century. in Germany, a doctor, has been of interest to many poets and writers for many centuries. Numerous folk legends and traditions are known that describe the life and deeds of this warlock, as well as dozens of novels, poems, plays and scripts.
The idea of writing "Faust" came to the twenty-year-old Goethe at the very beginning of the 70s. 18th century. But it took the poet more than 50 years to complete the masterpiece. Truly, the author worked on this tragedy for almost his entire life, which in itself makes this work significant, both for the poet himself and for all literature in general.
Between 1774 and 1775 Goethe writes the work Prafaust, where the hero is represented as a rebel who wants to comprehend the secrets of nature. In 1790, Faust was published in the form of an "excerpt", and in 1806 Goethe completed work on the 1st part, which was published in 1808.
The first part is inherent in fragmentation, clarity, it is divided into completely self-sufficient scenes, while the second will itself be a compositional whole.
After 17 years, the poet is taken for the second part of the tragedy. Here Goethe reflects on philosophy, politics, aesthetics, natural sciences, which makes this part rather difficult for an unprepared reader to understand. In this part, a peculiar picture of the life of the society contemporary to the poet is given, the connection between the present and the past is shown.
In 1826, Goethe finished work on the episode "Helen", begun back in 1799. And in 1830 he wrote "Classical Walpurgis Night". In mid-July 1831, a year before his death, the poet completed writing this work, significant for world literature.
Then the great German poet sealed the manuscript in an envelope and bequeathed to open it and publish the tragedy only after his death, which was done soon: in 1832, the second part was published in the 41st volume of the Collected Works.
An interesting fact is that in Goethe's tragedy, Dr. Faust bears the name Heinrich, and not Johann, as his real prototype.
Since Goethe worked on his main masterpiece for almost 60 years, it becomes clear that in Faust various milestones of everything diverse and contradictory can be traced. creative way author: from the period of "Storm and Onslaught" and ending with romanticism.
In addition to the history of the creation of Faust, there are other works on GoldLit:
Analysis of Goethe's work "Faust" allows us to conclude that it is the most ambitious, great and incomprehensible work in all world literature. The heroes of the work are so diverse, and the time frame is blurred and limitless, that the genre, composition and theme of the work are still the subject of controversy in the world of literary criticism. "Faust" analysis can be useful for students of grade 9 to prepare for literature lessons, test and creative work.
Brief analysis
Year of writing- about 1773 -1831.
History of creation- The work was written over 60 years. Starting at the age of 20, the author finished it a year and a half before his death. The idea of the tragedy was influenced by the Sturm und Drang society (opposing feudalism in Germany), in which the author was a member.
Topic is the meaning of human existence.
Composition- form - a drama for reading, part 1 - 25 scenes, part 2 - 5 actions. The first part has fairly clear compositional elements.
Genre- philosophical tragedy, dramatic poem, play.
Direction- romanticism.
History of creation
"Faust" is the fruit of the writer's work, which lasted almost his entire life. Naturally, the work "grew" along with its author, it absorbed the system of views of European society for half a century. The story of the German warlock Faust, who really existed in the 16th century in Germany, was taken as the basis of their works by many writers, poets, composers, and artists.
However, Johann Goethe made this image as alive, feeling, thinking as possible, defined him as a person striving for the truth. The legends about Dr. Faust are rather gloomy, he is accused of apostasy, practicing magic and sorcery, resurrecting people, and having an inappropriate lifestyle. According to legend, he performed tricks, healed the sick, and was a wanderer. Before Goethe, no one focused on the fact that the great scientist is looking for answers to eternal questions, that he is great in his thirst for truth, he is faithful to the cause he has chosen.
The beginning of the writer's work on "Faust" fell on his twenty years of age. Then the future scientist and great writer did not know that he would create this work all his life, that it would become a great immortal masterpiece of all times and peoples. From 1773 to 1775, work on numerous scenes of the tragedy proceeded most favorably.
In 1790, the friendship of Goethe and Schiller led to the fact that the latter persuaded the poet to continue working on Faust and certainly complete this masterpiece. Between 1825-31, already at an advanced age, Goethe completed his life's work. He did not want to print it during his lifetime, the will indicated the desire to publish Faust after the death of the writer. In 1832, the entire work was published.
Topic
The meaning of human life, the structure of the world, love, power, money, unlimited desires and their consequences - this is only a part of topics that are touched upon by the author of Faust. Highlight main idea in such a large-scale work is quite difficult. The tragedy of Goethe teaches that absolute knowledge is not always good, a person is too weak a being to, having passed the devilish trials, keep his soul unharmed and pure.
Above idea"Faust" disputes of literary critics and critics still do not subside. The thirst for knowledge of the world, emotional, physical, intellectual, inevitably leads to the death of the soul, because going on about one's desires is a deliberate failure. Goethe filled the work with a serious philosophical issues, while the basis of the plot is folk legend. If we add to this ideas enlightenment and criticism of the Middle Ages - you get an absolutely unique creation - such was the tragedy "Faust".
Composition
"Faust" in its form can be attributed to the drama for reading, not all of its scenes are suitable for staging in the theater. The work has a transparent composition: initiation, prologue on earth (in the theater), prologue in heaven, the plot of the action, the development of events, the climax and the denouement. The second part of "Faust" is very abstract, it is difficult to single out obvious structural compositional elements in it.
The main feature of the composition of "Faust" is its multi-layered, focus on reading with a visual representation of what is happening "on the stage". The first part consists of 25 scenes, the second - 5 acts. Despite the complexity of the play, it is quite holistic in terms of meaning and art.
Genre
The author himself defined the genre of the work as a tragedy. Literary critics tend to consider Goethe's masterpiece a dramatic poem, because it is full of lyricism and deeply poetic. Considering that many scenes from Faust can be staged in a theater, the work can also be called a play. It should be noted that the work has a fairly clear epic beginning, so it is rather difficult to dwell on a particular genre.
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In the form of Faust faith in the limitless possibilities of man is embodied. In the process of searching, Faust puts forward the act as the basis of being. The result of the search is the conviction that the ideal must be realized on the real earth. In the name of this ideal, a person must act and fight . Main character philosophical tragedy in verse - Faust - embodies the social dreams of his time about a comprehensive knowledge of the world. The change of the medieval cultural formation to a new one, the revivalist one and the Enlightenment one that followed it, is best revealed in the artistic image of a person who is ready to give his soul for true knowledge. Goethe's Faust is, first of all, a poet: a man endowed with an unquenchable thirst for life, a desire to know the universe around him, the nature of things and his own feelings.
Margarita is the first temptation on the path of Faust, the first temptation.
in Faust, it is not only about Germany, but ultimately about all of humanity, called to to transform the world by joint free and reasonable labor. Belinsky was equally right when he asserted that Faust is a complete reflection of the whole life of contemporary German society ", and when he said that in this tragedy "all the moral questions that can arise in the chest are contained the inner man of our time…»
16. The originality of French literatureXVIII century: the "titans" of the French Enlightenment, the creative heritage of Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot (build the answer on the example of the work of one writer).
Cultural - historical. Context: the last years of the reign of Louis 14, the crisis of the feudal-absolutist system, the war with Spain lasted 12 years and caused a shortage of goats. The defeat of France led to a decline in the prestige of the state. Strengthening the police regime, the authorities put pressure on people. Hence the gap between the authorities and the people, rampant morals, secular life. The phenomenon of favoritism is “the favorite is favored by the authorities”. Literature at this time completes the classical stage.
A new stage of the ENCYCLOPEDIA RELEASE begins. 18th century - the age of philosophy, she is the queen of sciences, a person is considered reasonable, he is able to fight for his rights, which are granted to him by nature. A person feels his naturalness. Encyclopedia. An era of precedent for universalism. Encyclopedia. Will be about everything. The philosophical style is influenced by literature: the articles are rhetorical, the style is elegant, the pathos of speech, the enchanting judgments. Literature, on the contrary, includes naturally scientific and philosophical reasoning. The phenomenon of the dialogue between the monarch and the philosopher is born, they are in private correspondence. The phenomenon of an enlightened monarch, intelligent, erudite, is born. They have been taught by philosophers since childhood. Monarchs are buying up libraries (Catherine 2 bought the Bible from Diderot) in part this is just a tribute to fashion, the monarch should at least look enlightened. HERE I WILL TELL YOU IN DETAILS ABOUT DIDRO (YOU CAN TALK ABOUT WHOM YOU PREPARED TO SPEAK)
Denis Diderot born October 5, 1713, His mother was the daughter of a tanner, and Diderot's father was a cutler. At the request of the family, young Denis prepared himself for a spiritual career, in 1723-28 he studied at the Langres Jesuit College, and became an abbot. During this period he was especially religious. then arrived in Paris to complete his education. he received a master's degree from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Paris, he thought about becoming a lawyer, but preferred a free lifestyle. The first time after his marriage, Diderot earned money by translations. his first works, which testified not so much to the maturity as to the courage of the novice author: "Philosophical Thoughts" "Alleys, or a skeptic's walk" Judging by them, Diderot was already a deist, and then a convinced atheist and materialist. Diderot's free-thinking writings led to his arrest and imprisonment in the Château de Vincennes.
Diderot and encyclopedias: after an unsuccessful experience with the first editor-in-chief, they decided to entrust their undertaking to Denis Diderot. It was Diderot who gave the Encyclopedia the scope and polemical fervor that made it the manifesto of the Enlightenment. He himself wrote articles for her and edited them. The result was a universal body of modern knowledge. At the same time, articles on political topics none of the forms of government was given preference. Some articles (more precisely, their authors) supported a limited monarchy, others - an absolute one, seeing it as a guarantor of the general welfare. The Encyclopedia recognized, however, the need for a social hierarchy in society. Wishing to help alleviate the lot of the common people, the encyclopedists did not, however, call for the establishment of democracy in France; they turned specifically to the government when they talked about the need for fair taxation, education reform, and the fight against poverty.
Diderot - writer: In the 1950s, Denis Diderot published two plays - "Bate Son or Trials of Virtue" and "Father of the Family". Rejecting the normative poetics of classicism in them, he sought to implement the principles of a new ("petty-bourgeois") drama depicting conflicts between people of the third estate in everyday life. living environment. Despite the difference in the genres of his works, they are united by rationality, realism, a clear transparent style, a sense of humor, and the absence of verbal embellishments. They expressed Diderot's rejection of religion and the church, the tragic awareness of the power of evil, as well as adherence to humanistic ideals, high ideas of human duty.
Diderot and Russia: Catherine II, having barely ascended the throne, offered Diderot to transfer the edition of the Encyclopedia to Russia. Behind the gesture of the empress, there was not only a desire to strengthen her reputation, but also a desire to satisfy the interest of Russian society in the Encyclopedia. By rejecting the proposal of Catherine II, Diderot did not lose her favor. She purchased his library. Denis, at the invitation of Catherine II, visited Russia and lived here for some time.
17. Dramaturgical principles of Moliere's theater. Classicism in the genre of comedy. "Comedy of characters" the triumph of passion over reason, the hero is a victim of manic passion ("Tartuffe"). Intentional ideological coloring of the finale of Tartuffe. "In love I love freedom": the universal character of Don Juan's ideal aspirations. Don Juan is the hero of "high comedy".
“A man who could terribly strike, in the face of a hypocritical society, the poisonous hydra of hypocrisy, is a great man! The creator of "Tartuffe" cannot be forgotten!"
V.G. Belinsky.
"High comedy is based not only on laughter, but on the development of characters and comes close to tragedy"
A.S. Pushkin.
Already in the first half of the XVII century. theorists of classicism defined the genre of comedy as a lower genre, the scope of which was private life, everyday life and customs. in France by the middle of the 17th century. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (stage name - Molière, Jean Baptiste Poquelin, Molière, 1622-1673), the son of a court upholsterer-decorator, became the true creator of classical comedy. Moliere received an excellent education for that time. Thoroughly studied ancient languages, literature of antiquity. Moliere gave preference to history, philosophy, natural sciences. At the college, Moliere also got acquainted with the philosophy of P. Gassendi and became a staunch supporter of it. Following Gassendi, Moliere believed in the legitimacy and rationality of the natural instincts of man, in the need for freedom in the development of human nature.
At the end of his studies, Moliere chose the profession of an actor, causing dissatisfaction with his relatives.
Molière becomes a professional actor and heads the Brilliant Theater (1643), which he created together with a group of amateur actors, which lasted less than two years. The theater staged tragedies, but Moliere himself was a natural comic actor, and his new comrades by nature were also comic actors.
In 1645 Molière and his friends leave Paris and become itinerant comedians. Wanderings in the provinces continued until 1658, and were a severe test that enriched Molière with life observations and professional experience. Wanderings in France became:
Moliere personally got acquainted with folk customs, the life of cities and villages, he observed a variety of characters. He also learned, often through personal experience, the injustice of established laws and practices.
Molière found during these years (and he had already begun to play comic roles) his true acting vocation; his troupe (he led it in 1650) gradually developed into a rare combination of excellent comic talents.
It was in the province that Molière began to write himself in order to provide his theater with an original repertoire. Taking into account the tastes of the viewer, usually folk, and, accordingly, his own aspirations, he writes in the comic genre. First of all, Moliere turns to the traditions of farce, centuries-old folk art.
“The strength of Molière is in his direct appeal to his modernity, in the merciless exposure of its social deformities, in the deep disclosure of the main contradictions of the time in dramatic conflicts, in the creation of vivid satirical types that embody the main vices of the contemporary noble-bourgeois society.” (according to Boyadzhiev)
The source of Molière's greatness was his excellent knowledge of reality and ardent love for the people with whom he communicated both in life and from the stage of the theater.(Boyadzhiev). Molière, the author who once said: “I take my good where I find it,” builds comedies not only on original intrigue, but often on the use of already developed plots. However, familiar plots under the pen of Moliere acquired a new meaning: the great comic power of his first works, the ability to highlight the characteristic features of various social groups and professions and, later, the social and satirical content of his comedies were both weightier and more significant than the original meaning of some of the sources that Molière used. From the very beginning, Moliere was aware of the high social and moral purpose of comedy.
The viewer quickly realized that Molière's plays promoted a moral and social revival. Molière created the social comedy.
Louis XIV watched all the best pieces of Molière's repertoire. His favorable attitude, disposition and patronage were explained by the fact that the king saw in Molière, first of all, a resourceful improviser. The patronage of the king was the only real support for Molière, capable of protecting him, at least in part, from persecution and persecution by the reactionary feudal-clerical circles.
According to Goethe, Molière "dominated the mores of his age"; he educated people by giving them a true picture.
The year 1668 arrived, the year of the so-called "ecclesiastical peace" between orthodox Catholicism and Jansenism, which contributed to a certain tolerance in religious matters. It was then that the production of Tartuffe was allowed. On February 9, 1669, the performance of the play was a huge success.
What was the reason for such violent attacks on "Tartuffe"?
The theme of hypocrisy, which he observed everywhere in public life. Religious hypocrisy. Acting under the motto "Suppress every evil, promote every good," the members of the society set their main task as the fight against freethinking and godlessness. Members of the society preached austerity and asceticism in morals, had a negative attitude towards all kinds of secular entertainment and theater, and pursued a passion for fashion. Molière watched the members "Society of Holy Gifts" insinuatingly and skillfully rub themselves into other people's families, as they subjugate people, completely taking possession of their conscience and their will. This prompted the plot of the play, while the character of Tartuffe was formed from the typical features inherent in the members of the "Society of Holy Gifts".
(Like them, Tartuffe is connected with the court, with the police, he is patronized at court. He hides his true appearance, posing as an impoverished nobleman seeking food on the church porch. He enters the Orgon family because in this house after the marriage of the owner with young Elmira, instead of the former piety, free morals, fun, critical speeches are heard. In addition, Orgon's friend Argas, a political exile, a member of the Parliamentary Fronde (1649), left him incriminating documents that are stored in a box. Such a family could well seem to the "Society" suspicious, such families were followed.)
Tartuffe is not the embodiment of hypocrisy as a universal vice, it is a socially generalized type. No wonder he is not alone in comedy: his servant Laurent, the bailiff Loyal, and the old woman - Orgon's mother, Mrs. Pernel, are hypocritical. They all cover up their unsightly deeds with pious speeches and vigilantly watch the behavior of others. The characteristic appearance of Tartuffe is created by his imaginary holiness and humility: “He prayed near me every day in the church, / In a pious impulse, kneeling down. // He attracted everyone's attention to himself" (I, 6). Tartuffe is not without external attractiveness, he has courteous, insinuating manners, behind which are hidden prudence, energy, an ambitious thirst for power, the ability to take revenge. He settled well in the house of Orgon, where the owner not only satisfies his slightest whims, but is also ready to give him his daughter Marianna, a rich heiress, as his wife. Tartuffe succeeds because he is a subtle psychologist; playing on the fear of the gullible Orgon, he forces the latter to reveal any secrets to him. Tartuffe covers his insidious plans with religious arguments. He is well aware of his strength, and therefore does not restrain his vicious inclinations. He does not love Marianne, she is only a profitable bride for him, he was fascinated by the beautiful Elmira, whom Tartuffe is trying to seduce. His casuistic reasoning that treason is not a sin if no one knows about it outrages Elmira. Damis, the son of Orgon, a witness of a secret meeting, wants to expose the villain, but he, having taken a pose of self-flagellation and repentance for supposedly imperfect sins, again makes Orgon his protector. When, after the second date, Tartuffe falls into a trap and Orgon kicks him out of the house, he begins to take revenge, fully showing his vicious, corrupt and selfish nature.
But Molière not only exposes hypocrisy. In Tartuffe, he raises an important question: why did Orgon allow himself to be so deceived? This already middle-aged man, obviously not stupid, with a strong temper and a strong will, succumbed to the widespread fashion for piety. Orgon believed in the piety and "holiness" of Tartuffe and sees him as his spiritual mentor. However, he becomes a pawn in the hands of Tartuffe, who shamelessly declares that Orgon would rather believe him "than his own eyes" (IV, 5). The reason for this is the inertia of Orgon's consciousness, brought up in submission to authorities. This inertness does not give him the opportunity to critically comprehend the phenomena of life and evaluate the people around him. If Orgon nevertheless acquires a sound view of the world after the exposure of Tartuffe, then his mother, the old woman Pernel, a stupidly pious supporter of inert patriarchal views, never saw the true face of Tartuffe.
The younger generation, represented in the comedy, which immediately saw the true face of Tartuffe, is united by the maid Dorina, who has long and devotedly served in the house of Orgon and is loved and respected here. Her wisdom, common sense, insight help to find the most suitable means to deal with a cunning rogue.
Tartuffe (stingy) - a hypocrite and a scoundrel. Vice brings to the collapse of its carrier, and not attempts to bring the deceiver to clean water.
Religious judgments (which are mentioned above).
Moliere the artist, creating "Tartuffe", used a wide variety of means: here you can find elements of farce (Orgon hides under the table), comedies of intrigue (the story of the box with documents), comedies of manners (scenes in the house of a wealthy bourgeois), comedies of characters (dependence of development actions from the nature of the hero). At the same time, Molière's work is a typical classic comedy. All “rules” are strictly observed in it: it is designed not only to entertain, but also to instruct the viewer. In the "Preface" to "Tartuffe" it is said: "You can't catch people like that by depicting their shortcomings. They listen to reproaches with indifference, but they cannot bear ridicule. Comedy in pleasant teaching reproaches people for their shortcomings.
After Tartuffe was accepted, Molière changed the name to "Panulf" and, in the spirit of the Cid's finale (classic), adds a spectacular ending where the king is praised.
During the years of the struggle for Tartuffe, Moliere created his most significant satirical and oppositional comedies.
Becomes acutely political. Modernity touches upon metaphysical problems.
"Don Juan, or stone guest"(1665) was written extremely quickly in order to improve the affairs of the theater after the prohibition of Tartuffe. Molière turned to an extraordinarily popular theme, first developed in Spain, of a debauchee who knows no barriers in his pursuit of pleasure. For the first time, Tirso de Molina wrote about Don Juan, using folk sources, Seville chronicles about don Juan Tenorio, a libertine who kidnapped the daughter of Commander Gonzalo de Ulloa, killed him and desecrated his tomb image. Later, this theme attracted the attention of playwrights in Italy and France, who developed it as a legend about an unrepentant sinner, devoid of national and everyday features. Moliere treated this well-known theme in a completely original way, abandoning the religious and moral interpretation of the image of the protagonist. His Don Juan is an ordinary secular person, and the events that happen to him are determined by the properties of his nature, everyday traditions, and social relations. Don Juan of Moliere, who from the very beginning of the play is defined by his servant Sganarelle as "the greatest of all the villains that the earth has ever carried, a monster, a dog, a devil, a Turk, a heretic" (I, 1), is a young daredevil, a rake, who sees no barriers to the manifestation of his vicious personality: he lives according to the principle "everything is allowed." Creating his Don Juan, Moliere denounced not debauchery in general, but the immorality inherent in the French aristocrat of the 17th century; Moliere knew this breed of people well and therefore described his hero very reliably.
Don Juan freed himself from all moral responsibility. He seduces women, destroys other people's families, cynically strives to corrupt everyone with whom he deals: simple-hearted peasant girls, each of whom he promises to marry, a beggar, to whom he offers gold for blasphemy, Sganarelle, to whom he sets a clear example of the treatment of the creditor Dimansh. The "petty-bourgeois" virtues - marital fidelity and filial respect - cause him only a smile. However, Moliere objectively notes in his hero the intellectual culture characteristic of the nobility. Elegance, wit, courage, beauty - these are also the features of Don Juan, who knows how to charm not only women. Sganarelle, a polysemantic figure (he is both simple and shrewdly intelligent), condemns his master, although he often admires him. Don Juan is smart, he thinks broadly; he is a universal skeptic, laughing at everything - and over love, and over medicine, and over religion. Don Juan is a philosopher, a freethinker. However, the attractive features of Don Juan, combined with his conviction in his right to trample on the dignity of others, only emphasize the vitality of this image.
The main thing for Don Juan, a convinced womanizer, is the desire for pleasure. Not wanting to think about the misadventures that await him, he admits: “I cannot love once, every new object fascinates me ... Nothing can stop my desires. My heart is capable of loving the whole world” (I, 2). Just as little does he think about the moral meaning of his actions and their consequences for others. He only believes that two plus two equals four. One of Don Juan's attractions throughout most of the play is his sincerity. He is not a prude, he does not try to portray himself better than he is, and in general he values \u200b\u200bthe opinions of others a little.
« Don Juan "remains on the whole a classic comedy, the main purpose of which is the fight against human vices, the formulation of moral and social problems, the depiction of generalized, typified characters.
The concept of Boyadzhiev (XX century) "Don Juan": Its tragic emptiness (D.Zh.). he lives like a predator, the thirst for the chase deprives him of his value system, people are primitive, boring and empty - they have no values, love, compassion, no conscience / duty. "Only that which is useful to me is true."
Molière's criticism of the modern way of life was broad and multifaceted. Not limited to exposing the nobility and aristocracy, the playwright creates comedies in which anti-bourgeois satire prevails.
In Russia XVIII - the first half of the XIX century. many comedians turned to Molière's work. In the 18th century, comedies close to folk farce aroused the greatest interest: Molière's plays were translated, Russified, and remade. A. P. Sumarokov, Ya. B. Knyaznin, V. V. Kapnist, D. I. Fonvizin, I. A. Krylov studied with Moliere. At the beginning of the XIX century. a new stage in the development of Molière's heritage begins. Now more attention of playwrights and the public is attracted by his serious comedies. "Tartuffe" is beginning to enjoy particular popularity. It is known that M. Yu. Lermontov carefully studied Tartuffe. Gogol is also close to Molière with his satirical depiction of the society of his time (The Inspector General, The Marriage) and polemical pathos (The Theater Journey).
From childhood, Pushkin knew and appreciated Molière, who called him “Giant Molière”. The creator of "Tartuffe" remained "immortal" for Pushkin, and this play was perceived by him as "the fruit of the strongest tension of comic genius", distinguished by "supreme courage", "audacity of invention".
Starting from the second half of the XIX century. in connection with overcoming the traditions of classicism and the establishment of a realistic method in Russian literature, Molière's influence on Russian writers is somewhat weakening, but he was not forgotten: he was known and loved by A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin; A. N. Ostrovsky, shortly before his death, was going to translate into Russian all the works of Molière; LN Tolstoy preferred Molière to Shakespeare.
18. Russian culture of the XVIII century: the main signs of Russian life and literary development. A book in the border zone of culture: from ancient Russian books to secular ones.
At the beginning of the XVIII century. there is a transition from the Middle Ages to the culture of the new time, all spheres of society are being Europeanized, there is a secularization of culture (separation of the church from culture).
In the XVIII century. in Western Europe, the policy, economy and culture of which the eyes of Russians turned through the window cut through by the reforms of Peter I, was dominated by a rationalistic worldview. The rationalistic type of worldview is by its nature dual and hierarchical. The dualism of the rationalistic worldview determines the structure of the philosophical picture of the world: in the minds of the people of the XVIII century. the world was not unified, integral, developing and changing.
The eighteenth century in Russia opens a new era of its statehood and culture. For the first time in its history, Russia counted the year 1700 not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ and met it on January 1st, not September 1st. This is a cultural sign of a symbolic boundary that separates ancient medieval Russia from Russia of the Petrine era of modern history.
Theocracy is replaced by secular power after the reforms of Peter.
Early 18th century (1721) Theses:
The church is engaged in the spiritual nourishment (??) of the people, and the state is engaged in laws and public life.
Forms government controlled and noble life acquired a European character.
Russia is a vast country
Now man longs for happiness on earth. The components of human happiness are the personal activity of a person.
The Old Russian book is a space where culture and faith meet. Slavic writing did not witness many important events in history. The Bible is an eternal book that is meant not so much to be read as to be venerated. Replacing sacred texts, literature inherited their cultural function. This predetermined the originality of the national concept of literature as a branch of the spiritual life of society.
Literature of the first third of the XVIII century. Spiritual life of the XVIII century. is distinguished by an unprecedented degree of intensity and concentration, especially noticeable in the example of new Russian literature. The path that the cultures of other European countries have been making for centuries, the Russian verbal culture - from Kantemir to Derzhavin and from authorless stories to Karamzin has done in almost half a century.
Analyzing Western European literary life at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, Yu. M. Lotman rightly noted that there [in Europe] life generated the text, here [in Russia] the text had to generate life. This principle is in general very essential for the literature of the 18th century, it becomes a model for life, one learns to feel from novels and elegies, to think from tragedies and odes. the writer does not follow the cultural situation, but actively creates it. He proceeds from the need to create not only texts, but also readers of these texts, and a culture for which these texts will be organic.
The period of formation, strengthening and domination of classicism (1730s - mid-1760s). During the 1730-1740s. the main normative acts of Russian classicism were implemented, the meaning of which was to create stable, orderly norms of literary creativity: the reform of versification, the regulation of the genre system of literature, and the stylistic reform. Simultaneously with the theoretical activities of Russian writers, who at that time were also philologists, the genre system of Russian classic literature was also taking shape. In the work of Kantemir and Lomonosov, the older genres of satire and solemn ode are formed. Creativity Trediakovsky gives samples of artistic prose, poetic epic and begins to form a genre system of lyrics. Under the pen of the father of the Russian theater, Sumarokov, genre models of tragedy and comedy are being formed. The central literary figure of this period is Sumarokov, both because the concept of Russian classicism is especially closely associated with his name, and because his literary orientation to the genre universalism of creativity led to the formation of the genre system of Russian literature of the 18th century.
From here naturally follows a certain hierarchy within the very Russian verbal culture of modern times; literature, as it were, breaks up into two modes of functioning according to the criterion of the relationship between the reader and the writer. For almost the entire 18th century There are two literary traditions, grassroots and high.
Second half of the 1760s-1780s the third period in the development of Russian literature of the 18th century. is the most turbulent and multifaceted, as well as the period of Russian history corresponding to it. Late 1760s This first era of glasnost in modern Russian history was marked by an unprecedented flourishing of journalistic genres on the pages of periodicals in 1769-1774. In the stable hierarchical genre system of classicism, internal vortex movements and crisis phenomena are outlined, provoked by the invasion of grassroots democratic fiction into high literature. The clear hierarchy of genres of classicism begins to fluctuate under the onslaught of synthetic structures that connect high and low literary world images. During the life of the founders of Russian literature of the XVIII century. Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, Sumarokov, literature includes not only democratic writers of the 1760s and 1770s, but also those who are already destined to become writers in this twenty years, defining the face of Russian literature of the 18th century. in general and the founders of many fruitful traditions that go into the perspective of the 19th and 20th centuries. Fonvizin, Derzhavin, Krylov, Radishchev, forming a new generation of writers, determine the culmination of Russian literature of the 18th century with their work.
Last decade of the 18th century 1790s - a change in the type of aesthetic consciousness and a final turning point from ideology to aesthetics in literary theory and practice. 1790s marked by the fact that classicism as the main literary method gives way to sentimentalism, reason to feeling, the desire to inspire the reader with moral truth, the desire to excite and emotionally captivate (N. M. Karamzin is a representative of this time). In this sense, we can say that in Russian literature of the XIX century. came 10 years earlier than in Russian history: Karamzin, in his aesthetic attitudes, is more likely the first classic of Russian literature of the 19th century than the last of the 18th century. As an aesthetic unity, Russian literature of the 18th century found its culmination in the work of the sentimentalist Radishchev; sentimentalist Karamzin opened with his work a new age of Russian literature.
The generally accepted criterion for the periodization of pre-revolutionary Russian history is the change of power. The trends of major historical segments of Russian life are determined by the history and nature of the reign of this or that monarch. From this point of view, the history of the Russian XVIII century. appears in the form of the following periods:
The reign of Peter I (1700-1725), the era of state reforms, the time of comprehensive Western reforms. In the era of Peter the Great, the foundations of a new Russian statehood, politics, economy, and culture were laid. Russia is rapidly expanding its territorial boundaries and establishing trade and political contacts with the countries of Western Europe.
The fifth anniversary of a kind of state turmoil is coming. At this time, the widow of Peter, Catherine I (1725-1727) and his young grandson Peter II (1727-1730) reign. From that moment until the death of Catherine II in 1796, the Russian throne would pass from autocrat to autocrat through conspiracies and coup d'état.
The reign of Anna Ioannovna, niece of Peter I (1730-1740). The decade of her tenure in power was marked by the repressive regime of the Bironovshchina (named after her favorite, Duke of Courland Ernst Biron), the disgrace of cultural figures of the Petrine era (Feofan Prokopovich, Kantemir) and rampant activities of the Secret Chancellery with mass torture and executions.
The reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter I (1741-1761). On the twentieth anniversary of her reign, Russian noble culture flourished, the activities of noble educational institutions and the Academy of Sciences. This is the period of stabilization of the Russian monarchy in the 18th century.
The reign of Catherine II (1762-1796). Her reign lasted 34 years, the longest reign in the history of the 18th century, and it was very stormy. Catherine II marked the first 10 years of her stay in power with a number of liberal legislative acts. At the same time, the most serious crisis of Russian statehood in the 18th century occurred during the reign of Catherine II. the Pugachev revolt, in fact, a civil war, after the termination of which the reign of Catherine gradually acquires a repressive character in the practice of tightening censorship, restricting freedom of speech and the press, and persecuting dissidents.
The reign of Paul I (1796-1801). The son of Catherine II, Paul I was the last Russian emperor of the 18th century. Last years centuries were marked by a deep crisis of power, partly provoked by the personality of Paul I, partly by discrediting the idea of an enlightened monarchy in the Russian public consciousness.
19. The originality of Russian literature of the XVIII century. Antioch Cantemir and the educational tasks of his satire, the ancient genesis of his work. According to Lebedeva
Antioch Dmitrievich Cantemir, the son of an active associate of Peter I, the Moldavian ruler Prince Dmitry Cantemir, is considered the first secular writer in the history of new Russian literature.
The creative range of Cantemir the writer was very wide: he wrote several odes (or "songs"), poetic messages, fables, epigrams, transcriptions of psalms, the experience of the epic poem "Petrida" (song 1). Cantemir translated the messages of Horace, the lyrics of Anacreon; in enlightened circles of the Russian reading public in the 1740s-1770s. his translation of the book of the French educator Bernard Fontenelle "A Conversation about the Many Worlds", which is a popular exposition of the heliocentric system of N. Copernicus, was very popular; Kantemir also owns the theoretical and literary work “A Letter from Khariton Makentin [an anagram of the name Antioch Cantemir] to a friend about the composition of Russian poetry”, which is a response to the publication of V. K. Trediakovsky’s “A New and Brief Method for the Composition of Russian Poetry” (1735).
Kantemir entered the history of Russian literature of modern times primarily with his satires: the name of the writer and the genre of satire are connected in the historical and literary perspective of Russian culture by an indissoluble associative bond.
The satire of Kantemir as a genre goes directly to the sermon and the secular oratorical Word of Feofan Prokopovich: “the very method, norm, speech principle was learned by him [Kantemir] from the Russian preaching tradition, especially from Feofan;<...>all his satire (especially the early one) was a kind of secularization of Theophan's sermons, the allocation to independence and the development of satirical-political elements.
In total, Kantemir wrote eight satires: five in Russia, from 1729 to 1731, three abroad, in London and Paris, where he was in the diplomatic service from 1732. During the period of writing three late satires - 1738-1739. - Kantemir significantly reworked the texts of the five early ones. There is also the so-called "Ninth Satire", the question of the time of creation of which and its belonging to the pen of Cantemir is debatable. During the life of Kantemir, his satires were known only in handwritten copies - their first printed edition in Russia was carried out in 1762.
Russian and foreign satires differ markedly in their genre features. This difference was very accurately determined by the poet V. A. Zhukovsky, who in 1809 devoted the article “On the satire and satires of Cantemir” to the work of Cantemir, thereby resurrecting the memory of the forgotten by the beginning of the 19th century. writer: “Kantemirov's satires can be divided into two classes: philosophical and pictorial; in some, the satirist appears to us as a philosopher, and in others, as a skillful painter of vicious people.
The satires written in Russia are "picturesque", that is, they are a gallery of portraits of the bearers of vice;
Foreign satires are "philosophical", since in them Cantemir is more inclined to talk about vice as such. However, with these fluctuations in the forms of satirical depiction and denial of vice, the satire genre of Cantemir as a whole is characterized by a number of stable features that are repeated in all eight texts. Taken together, these features make up the category that we will call the genre model of satire, and which, as already noted, developed under the strong influence of the oratorical genres of sermon and the Word.
Attachment of the Word and satire, their thematic material to a certain "case": for the sermon it is an interpreted biblical text, for the Word of Prokopovich it is a major political event. In satire, this attachment is not so obvious, but, nevertheless, it exists: as G. A. Gukovsky convincingly showed, the five Russian satires of Cantemir are closely connected with the political events of the turn of 1720-1730: Russian aristocracy and clergy who want to return the pre-Petrine order, with adherents and heirs of the Peter the Great reforms, including Feofan, who took an active part in the palace coup of 1730, as a result of which Empress Anna Ioannovna ascended the Russian throne.
A typical rhetorical mirror-cumulative composition: like an oratorical speech, each satire of Cantemir begins and ends with an appeal to its addressee (the genre form of satire is similar to the form of a poetic message); the second compositional ring is, as in oratory, the formulation of the main thesis at the beginning and the conclusion, repeating this formulation at the end. The central compositional part of satire varies depending on which genre variety this satire belongs to. In "painterly" satires, this is a gallery of portrait sketches of different types of carriers of the same vice, and these portraits are interconnected by a simple enumerative intonation (a type of cumulative stringing). In "philosophical" satires, the central part is occupied by logical discourse - that is, a discussion about a specific vice in its abstract conceptual embodiment, only occasionally illustrated with specific portrait descriptions. This close connection of the satires of Cantemir with the laws of oratory, with all the literary nature of the genre of satire, determined the peculiarities of the poetics of satire at all levels.
According to Cantemir, the mind has not yet matured. The insufficiency of knowledge, the path to knowledge will be shown by the muses. The texts of Kantemir's satires are literally oversaturated with rhetorical figures of exclamation, questioning and appeal, which support the feeling of oral, sounding speech generated by the satire text. Particularly diverse in their functions of circulation. Cantemir's vices are more funny than scary.
It is not surprising that an extensive system of rhetorical appeals is able to translate the potential dialogism of satire from a substantive plan into a formal one. Two satires of Cantemir - II ("Filaret and Eugene") and V ("Satyr and Perierg") have a dialogic form. At the same time, it turns out to be important that the narration about vice and its exposure are transmitted from the author to the character and the author's opinion, directly declaratively expressed in formally monologue satire, is hidden behind the character's opinion in dialogic satire. Thus, long before its practical implementation, another aspect of genre continuity in Russian literature of the 18th century is planned: sermon - satire - drama (comedy).
One of the most striking stylistic features of Kantemirova's satire is the imitation of her text under oral colloquial speech, the sounding word. As a result, both the author's word and the character's word reveal their oratorical genesis in the verbal motif itself. speaking, incredibly productive in the satires of Cantemir. Moreover, this speaking is far from aimless: the oratorical genres and the panegyric style of the Petrine era were a powerful tool for direct moral and social influence; speaking was supposed to bear fruit, and depending on the quality of these fruits, it was determined whether a given word refers to a higher, spiritual, or lower, material reality. This ultimately shaped the moral and literary status of the genre.
The true semantic center of the satires of Cantemir is Satire III “On the difference in human passions. To the Archbishop of Novgorod”, addressed to Feofan Prokopovich. Accordingly, the focus on the cultural personality of Theophan - an orator and preacher - the main content of satire is connected with speaking as a full-fledged action. Word and deed as interrelated and equivalent categories frame satire with a mirror compositional ring: “What is in the houses, what is in the street, in the yard and the order // They say and do" - “Poems to write against indecent // Actions and words"
A set of vices exposed in satire is also connected with the effectiveness of the word: upon closer examination, various human passions turn out to be a perversion of the proper high nature of the word. Of the twelve vicious characters of Satire III, five are carriers of vices associated with the distortion of the word in its communicative, social and ethical functions: Menander is a gossip (“Immediately in the ears of news from two hundred // Whistle ...”); Longinus is a chatterer (“All in foam, in sweat, he does not know how to calm his lips”); Varlam is a liar (“Hear a little as he speaks, a little as he walks - he steps”); Sozim - slanderous ("And poisonous lips whisper in my ear"); Trofim is a flatterer ("Getting on, he praises everything indiscriminately").
These annular appeals to Theophanes at the beginning and end of the satire also equate the statement with the deed and action, but this action is not material, but spiritual, since Theophanes' oratorical word educates the soul and enlightens the mind. This separation, or rather, the forms of its expression, are associated with the attitude inherited by satire from the oratorical Word and sermon, but this time it is no longer an orientation towards oral sounding speech, but forms of expression of the moral meaning of satire and a way of social impact of the satirical text.
20. Baroque trends in the odic style of M.V. Lomonosov. The image of the ideal monarch in the odes of Lomonosov, the originality of his author's style.
Lomonosov is a revival writer. The originality of the author's style on the example of a solemn ode:
Over-decoration (color, light - solemn, bright).
Features of space (space, huge, open to infinity).
Name (extensive, heaped up - baroque).
Oddities (everything around is talking - a river, wind, trees ...; convergence of distant ideas).
Striving for abundance.
Overabundance of trails. Ornate speeches.
Intonation - pathos. Theatrical style.
A mixture of biblical, Slavic and scientific speech.
"ROS" is a collective image of the nation. Russia is a heavenly place.
The dialectic of light and shadow, their struggle. Everything ends with the victory of light.
Ode is the culminating event of the beginning of the national-spiritual life. In the ode - the pronoun WE. Lomonosov likens himself to Pindar.
In his stylistic reform, Lomonosov was guided by the most important tasks of the literary theory of classicism, the need to distinguish between literary styles and establish strong genre-style correspondences and the objective linguistic reality of the first half of the 18th century. in Russia. It was a situation of a kind of bilingualism, since all this time in Russia there were two varieties of book written language in parallel. One of them is the tradition of Old Russian literacy, liturgical literature in Church Slavonic (in the 18th century it was called Slavonic in contrast to Russian Russian), which, although closely related to Russian, was still a different language. The second tradition of everyday business writing, incomparably closer to the living spoken Russian language, but having a distinct clerical character, was the written language of official business papers, correspondence and documents.
Lomonosov proceeded from the main thing: the centuries-old Russian bilingualism, the functioning of the Slavic language of ancient literacy, along with the living Russian spoken language, led to a very deep and organic assimilation of a large number of Slavicisms by this latter. Compare, for example, Slavicisms enemy, brave enemy instead of Russianisms, good, need instead of need, hope instead of hope, etc. There was also a very frequent situation when Slavism did not supplant Russianism, but remained in the Russian language with its own independent meaning: country side , ignorant ignoramus, burning hot, truth is true, drive out, etc. Therefore, Lomonosov, substantiating the norms of the literary style of the new Russian writing and, consequently, based on the givenness of the living contemporary Russian language, based his reform on precisely this, Slavonic Russian linguistic community.
He divided all the words of the Russian language into three groups. To the first, he attributed the words that are common among the ancient Slavs and now among Russians, for example: god, glory, hand, now, I honor (474), that is, common to the Church Slavonic and Russian languages, which do not differ in content and form. To the second koi, although they are rarely used in general, and especially in conversations, they are intelligible to all literate people, for example: I open, Lord, planted, I cry (474), that is, words that have practically disappeared from colloquial use, but are common in the Church Slavonic written tradition. Dilapidated and incomprehensible archaisms (obavay, rassny, ovogda, svene) Lomonosov excluded from this group. Finally, the third group included native Russian words that are not found in the remains of the Slavic language, that is, in church books, for example: I say, a stream, which, so far, is only (474). And for this group, too, there was an exception: contemptible words, which are not proper to use in any style (474). Lomonosov does not give examples of such words, but from the context of his other works it is clear that here he means not so much profanity as rude colloquial vulgarisms such as squabble or pimple.
Based on this division of the lexical composition of the Russian language into three genetic layers, Lomonosov proposes his theory of styles: high, mediocre [medium or simple] and low. As a writer and poet, Lomonosov in his solemn odes gave a brilliant example of precisely the high literary style. His lyrics (Anacreontic odes) and satirical-epigrammatic poetry had no such influence on the subsequent literary process. However, Lomonosov turned out to be just as far-sighted in his theoretical orientation towards the average stylistic literary norm as in the reform of versification: this is an extremely productive direction of Russian literary development.
And, of course, it is not at all accidental that soon after this final normative act of Russian classicism, Russian artistic prose (1760-1780) began to develop rapidly, and at the end of the century it was precisely this line of the Lomonosov stylistic reform that Karamzin picked up, who created the classical stylistic standard for Russian literature of the 19th century. But before this happened, Russian literature of the XVIII century. made a short chronological, but unusually saturated in aesthetic terms, path of formation and development of its genre system, at the origins of which lies the first regulated genre of new Russian literature, the genre of satire, which was embodied in the work of A. D. Kantemir.
21. The originality of Russian tragedy in the work of A. Sumarokov: the image of the ideal monarch in the tragedy "Dimitri the Pretender".
The history of Russian theatrical culture of the 18th century is inextricably linked with the name of A.P. Sumarokov. At the time of the formation of professional theater in Russia, he acts both as a playwright, who laid the foundations of the national repertoire, and as a theorist of a new artistic direction - classicism, and as an active, tireless organizer of theatrical business.
Peru Sumarokov belonged to the first in Russian samples of poetic tragedies, comedies, opera librettos. His plays were sustained in the spirit of the traditions of the outstanding European playwrights of the era of classicism. They opened the world of a new theatrical culture to the viewer. In the poetic treatise "Epistole. On poetry" (1747), Sumarokov, following the example of Boileau, outlined the fundamental principles of the leading genres of classicism - tragedy and comedy.
: Thus, the inner pathos of Sumarokov's tragedies is permeated with moral and political didacticism. As G. A. Gukovsky rightly wrote in his time, Sumarokov’s tragedies “should have been a demonstration of his political views, a school for tsars and rulers of the Russian state, primarily a school for the Russian nobility, to whom Sumarokov undertook to explain and show what it should demand from its monarch and what it is obliged to prevent in its actions, finally, what should be the basic unshakable rules of conduct - both for a nobleman in general and for the head of the nobility - the monarch ”(Gukovsky G. A. Russian literature of the XVIII century. M., 1939, p. 150). That is why the source of the tragic situation always has a political coloring in Sumarokov. This is explained by historical reasons. In the context of the strengthening of the system of monarchical statehood in Russia after the reforms of Peter I, the idea of noble duty fit into the value code of enlightened absolutism. Turning his plays into a school of virtue for monarchs and class honor for subjects, Sumarokov not only instilled in the audience thoughts about the perniciousness of both the state and the individual self-will, but also demonstrated on stage how they should fulfill their duty.
The final work of Sumarokov in the genre of tragedy was the play "Dimitry the Pretender", presented on the stage of the court theater in St. Petersburg in February 1771. This is the first and only tragedy of Sumarokov, the plot of which was based on true historical events. The protagonist of the play is False Dmitry, who illegally occupied the Russian throne with the support of the Poles in 1605. The choice of such a plot gave Sumarokov the opportunity to pose serious topical problems in the tragedy, such as the problem of succession to the throne, the dependence of the power of the monarch on the will of his subjects, etc. But the playwright still focuses on the duty and responsibility of the sovereign. Sumarokov makes the right of the monarch to occupy the throne dependent on his moral qualities. Dynastic considerations recede into the background. So, in response to the cunning Prince Shuisky's remark that "Demetrius was raised to the throne by his breed", the objection of the wise and disinterested Parmen follows. Through his lips in the play, the position of the author himself is expressed:
When there is no dignity to own,
In the case of such a breed, nothing.
Let him be Otrepiev, but also in the midst of deceit,
If he is a worthy king, he is worthy of the royal dignity.
Considering the circumstances that accompanied Catherine II's (legally illegal) stay on the Russian throne, such a discussion of dynastic problems on the stage, of course, was filled with allusive meaning. Sumarokov's main subject of denunciation in the tragedy is the unlimited despotism of the monarch, who replaces the law with personal arbitrariness. Demetrius despises the faith and customs of the people he rules, he persecutes the Russian boyars, exiling some and executing others. Cruelty and self-will drive the actions of Demetrius:
Sumarokov constantly reinforces the motif of the formidable punishment that awaits Dimitri for his crimes. The doom of the tyrant is felt in the news of the unrest of the people, the precariousness of the throne reminds Demetrius Parmen. An uprising is being prepared against the impostor, led by Xenia's father, Prince Shuisky. The conflict, already indicated at the very beginning of the play as a consequence of tyranny, is resolved by an uprising against the tyrant. Alien to remorse, rejected by everyone and hated by the people, Dimitri commits suicide.
While working on Dimitry the Pretender, Sumarokov wrote from Moscow to G.V. Kozitsky: “This tragedy will show Shakespeare to Russia” (letter dated February 25, 1770. Letters from Russian writers of the 18th century. L., 1980, p. 133). Having set himself the goal of revealing the fate of the despot on the throne on the basis of real facts of history, Sumarokov found an exemplary solution to this problem in Shakespeare. He endows his Demetrius with some of the features of Richard III from Shakespeare's chronicle of the same name. Researchers have already pointed out that Demetrius' monologue from the second act, where the usurper is afraid of the terrible retribution awaiting him, is somewhat consistent with Richard's famous monologue on the eve of the decisive battle. But of course, talking about the "Shakespearianism" of this tragedy by Sumarokov should be done with great caution. In the main, in the very approach to depicting the character of the monarch, Sumarokov and Shakespeare stand on diametrically opposed positions. Shakespeare's Richard is cruel, but throughout most of the play he carefully disguises his ambitious plans, hypocritically pretending to be a friend of those whom he himself sends to death. Shakespeare gives a portrait of a hypocrite despot, exposing the secret springs of the usurper's seizure of power. Dimitri in Sumarokov's tragedy is an outright tyrant who does not hide his despotic aspirations. And just as openly, the playwright demonstrates the doom of the tyrant through the entire course of the play.
22. Innovation of Fonvizin the playwright: "Undergrowth" as the first experience of Russian socio-political comedy. Cultural and historical problems of the work and the features of the solution by the author of the issues of upbringing, education, love and marriage, serfdom and state power, the hero of the time.
"Undergrowth" is rightly considered the pinnacle of D.I. Fonvizin and all domestic dramaturgy of the 18th century. Keeping in some cases the connection with the previous tradition, the comedy "Undergrowth" is, of course, an innovative work. First of all, this is found in his genre. This is the first socio-political comedy on the Russian stage. According to N.V. Gogol, Fonvizin revealed "the wounds and diseases of our society, severe internal abuses, which are exposed by the merciless power of irony in stunning evidence."
This comedy successfully combines vivid and truthful pictures from the life of the local nobility and the latest educational ideas concerning the government, the "straight up honest" citizen. Fonvizin, of course, does not show on the stage a direct clash between the enslaved peasantry and their oppressors-landowners, but very deeply and accurately reveals the reasons leading to this, moreover, with a fair amount of irony and sarcasm.
The very name of the comedy - "Undergrowth" - suggests that its main problem lies in the distinction between true and false education. But, when the viewer hears the final words of Starodum ("Here are the worthy fruits of evil-mindedness!"), He understands that the matter is not only in bad education, but much deeper - in the very phenomenon of serfdom. Thus, several main themes of the comedy can be distinguished: serfdom, the speeches of the enlighteners against Catherine II, education and the question of the form of state power.
From the very first appearances, the author shows the arbitrariness of the landowners: the serf Trishka, who never studied tailoring anywhere, sewed a caftan for Mitrofan, for which he receives only scolding and beatings; There will always be a reason for punishment, because Prostakova "does not intend to indulge the lackeys." Gets from the Prostakovs and their faithful maid and nanny Mitrofan Yeremeevna, her reward for her work is "five rubles a year and five slaps a day." In addition, this family skillfully rob their peasants. "Since we took away everything that the peasants had, we can't tear anything off. Such a disaster!" - Prostakova complains. It is worth noting, however, that the image of Prostakova, at the beginning of the comedy causing only anger and contempt, at the end can even cause pity. After all, she madly loves her son, and in the final scene, having lost her unlimited power over the serfs, she is also rejected by her own son and in the future is unlikely to be able to count on his filial gratitude. She is humiliated and pathetic.
It is worth saying about Mitrofan that Fonvizin, creating his image, pursued the goal not only of making him a laughingstock, although his actions and remarks ("knowledge" in grammar, the desire not to study, but to marry) are certainly ridiculous. But his attitude towards Eremeevna, his pity for his mother, who, as he dreamed, was tired of beating his father, his readiness to "take on people" (that is, to deal with them), his renunciation of his mother - all this proves that a cruel and despotic serf.
Fonvizin also denounces the peasants, who were affected by the pernicious influence of serfdom: for example, Eremeevna lost her self-esteem and was slavishly devoted to her masters. By the way, it is important to note the fact that the playwright does not advocate the abolition of serfdom, but only its restriction (this, by the way, can also be seen in his Discourse on the Indispensable State Laws).
The maturity of Fonvizin's comedy is evidenced by the fact that here he boldly criticizes the reign of Catherine II. His positive characters, primarily Starodum, come out with the revelations of the legend of Catherine II as an enlightened ruler. Her court is mired in intrigues, "one knocks down the other, and the one who is on his feet never lifts the one who is on the ground." Through the mouth of the Starodum, Fonvizin says what he would like to see the empress: "How great a soul you need to be in a sovereign in order to take the path of truth and never deviate from it!"
It is impossible not to mention that the theme of the ideal sovereign (empress) was very characteristic, one might say, typical, for the work of writers of the 18th century, this is a favorite theme of the classicists, that is, Fonvizin is the son of his generation. At the same time, the artistic originality of "Undergrowth" does not fit into the framework of either classicism, or sentimentalism, or romanticism. There is a search by the author for a new ideological and aesthetic system, a new method in literature. Fonvizin was able to broadly embrace and objectively assess the reality of his day, he created typical and at the same time individualized images and characters, the questions he posed are clear and bold - all these are signs that the formation of critical realism began in Russian literature.
23. “The innovation of G. Derzhavin's lyrics against the background of his predecessors: desacralization of the image of the monarch, interest in private life, in the peculiarities of national life. Transformation of the ode genre, the Anacreontic spirit of creativity.
The fate of Russian poetry of the 18th century, its character and direction were largely determined by the activities of M.V. Lomonosov, thanks to whom odic poetry became recognized and leading, which made it possible to combine lyrics and journalism in a large poem. G. R. Derzhavin, recalling his first literary steps, said that, following the advice of V. K. Trediakovsky, he tried stylistically to imitate Lomonosov, “but not having such talent as he did not have time to do.”
Meanwhile, according to researchers, his poetic work reflected the life of his time in a broader and more multifaceted way.
The new poetic manner allowed Derzhavin to boldly address powerful nobles and merchants, princes and monarchs, even to God himself. In new odes and poems, the poet, relying on the laws of honor, justice, dignity, boldly and resolutely defended his opinion. According to N. G. Chernyshevsky, Derzhavin discovered “the most variegated mixture of thoughts inspired by the heart, noble by nature, with the then dominant ideas of a completely different nature.” On the one hand, he remained faithful to the idea of the monarchy, on the other hand, he showed a desire to eradicate all "abuses". Thus, he combined "praise" and "reproaches" in a high ode.
Of great importance in the work of Derzhavin is the ode "Felitsa", which was created in 1782. This work marked a new stage in Russian poetry. If we talk about the genre "Felitsa", then it was a real laudatory ode.
But the originality of the work was that the poet deviated from the usual rules.
He expressed his feelings towards the empress in a different language, not in the same way as they usually praised the powerful of this world. Empress Catherine II is shown as Felitsa.
In this work, the image of the empress differs significantly from the usual classic image of the monarch. Derzhavin portrays a real person, talks about her habits and activities. Derzhavin uses satirical motifs and everyday descriptions. And the laws of classicism did not allow the use of satire and everyday details when writing an ode.
Derzhavin deliberately breaks the tradition, so his innovation in writing the ode is undoubted.
Derzhavin makes extensive use of low vocabulary. He says about himself: “I smoke tobacco”, “I drink coffee”, “I will have fun barking dogs”, “I play the fool with my wife”.
Thus, the poet reveals to the reader the details of his private life.
Classical traditions did not allow such descriptions.
Derzhavin's innovation is manifested not only in Felitsa, but also in a number of other works. His main merit is that he significantly expanded the narrow boundaries of the classic traditions. Classicism was the dominant trend in 18th-century literature. According to the canons of classicism, the creator must portray not a real person, but a certain type of hero. For example, if it was about the image of a positive hero, then it should have been a person without flaws, perfect hero, strikingly different from living people. If it was about the image of a negative hero, then it should have been a highly dishonorable person, the personification of everything dark, infernal that is in a person. Classicism did not take into account that both positive and negative traits could successfully coexist in one person. Also, the classic traditions did not recognize any mention of everyday life or manifestations of simple human feelings. Derzhavin's innovation was the beginning of the emergence of a new poetry, where there is a place real person and his truly human feelings, interests and qualities.
Anacreontic Songs" by Derzhavin summarized the best achievements of Russian anacreontics of the 18th century. and summed up its development. The poet's appeal to anacreontics expressed his hope to find harmony in modern life. Derzhavin read and interpreted Apasgeoshea in a new way and, relying on its example, depicted the real world and modern man, often himself. Derzhavin's attitude to Anacreon changed, and at different stages of his work one can speak of the correlation of various structural and thematic levels (translation, transcription, imitation, individual Anacreontic songs). The evolution of Derzhavin's anacreontics took place in several stages. Until 1794, the Russian poet did not turn to traditional subjects. Anacreontics of this period is the poetry of real life, revealing the personality in the everyday sphere. His poems are saturated with autobiographical features, the realities of modern life, and convey civil moods. Lvov's translation inspired Derzhavin. Since 1794, on the one hand, actual Anacreontic motifs and images begin to appear in his songs, on the other hand, the desire to give the poems a national color, an autobiographical character, and bring images closer to folklore is becoming more and more intense. In 1797-1798. Derzhavin for the first time creates fundamentally new, original Anacreontic poems, in which the solution to the problem of authorial self-affirmation is achieved on the basis of the full recognition of the correctness of Anacreon's philosophy of life. Citizenship, autobiography, folklore became the innovative basis of Derzhavin's anacreontics.
In the center of the "Anacreontic Songs" is a citizen poet proclaiming the idea of personal independence from kings and nobles. Based on the Lvov concept of Anacreon, Derzhavin creates a new image of a Greek poet, internally polemical in relation to the Western and Russian traditions. For him, Anacreon is, first of all, a poet independent of power, a free man who has the right to earthly joys. Such an attitude towards Anacreon served for the Russian poet as a kind of means of defending his creative independence. Derzhavin turned to anacreontics to establish the ideal of an independent personality in poetry. He updated Anacreontics, created a new tradition, introducing civil, political motives into it.
Autobiography determines the content of many of Derzhavin's songs. The Anacreontic hero was not a private, thirsty person, but a free poet, independent of power. Autobiographical moments are found in the anacreontics of other Russian poets before Derzhavin, but their images are devoid of individuality, given out of the context of circumstances.
Derzhavin writes in detail about the most ordinary things in life, finds the poetic in everyday life, in everyday life.
