Social conflict comedy woe from wit. Essay by Griboyedov A.S.
Innovation of the comedy "Woe from Wit"
Comedy A.S. Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit" is innovative. This is due to artistic method comedies. Traditionally, “Woe from Wit” is considered the first Russian realistic play. The main departure from classicist traditions lies in the author’s rejection of the unity of action: there is more than one conflict in the comedy “Woe from Wit”. In the play, two conflicts coexist and flow from one another: love and social. It is advisable to turn to the genre of the play to identify the main conflict in the comedy “Woe from Wit”.
The role of love conflict in the comedy "Woe from Wit"
As in a traditional classic play, the comedy “Woe from Wit” is based on a love affair. However, the genre of this dramatic work – social comedy. That's why social conflict dominates over love.
Still opens the play love conflict. Already in the exposition of the comedy, a love triangle is outlined. Sophia's night date with Molchalin in the very first scene of the first act shows the girl's sensual preferences. Also in the first appearance, the maid Liza remembers Chatsky, who was once connected with Sophia by youthful love. Thus, a classic love triangle unfolds before the reader: Sophia - Molchalin - Chatsky. But as soon as Chatsky appears in Famusov’s house, a social line begins to develop in parallel with the love one. The plot lines closely interact with each other, and this is the uniqueness of the conflict in the play “Woe from Wit.”
To enhance comic effect In the play, the author introduces two more love triangles into it (Sofya - Molchalin - maid Liza; Liza - Molchalin - bartender Petrusha). Sophia, in love with Molchalin, does not even suspect that the maid Liza is much nicer to him, which he clearly hints to Liza. The maid is in love with the bartender Petrusha, but is afraid to confess her feelings to him.
Social conflict in the play and its interaction with the love story
The social conflict of the comedy was based on the confrontation between the “present century” and the “past century” - the progressive and conservative nobility. The only representative of the “present century”, with the exception of off-stage characters, in the comedy is Chatsky. In his monologues, he passionately adheres to the idea of serving “the cause, not persons.” Alien to him moral ideals Famusov society, namely the desire to adapt to circumstances, to “curry favor” if this will help to get another rank or other material benefits. He appreciates the ideas of the Enlightenment, and in conversations with Famusov and other characters he defends science and art. This is a person free from prejudice.
The main representative of the “past century” is Famusov. All the vices of the aristocratic society of that time were concentrated in it. Most of all, he is concerned with the opinion of the world about himself. After Chatsky leaves the ball, his only concern is “what Princess Marya Aleksevna will say.”
He admires Colonel Skalozub, a stupid and shallow man who only dreams of “getting” the rank of general. It is his Famusov who would like to see him as his son-in-law, because Skalozub has the main advantage recognized by the world - money. With rapture, Famusov talks about his uncle Maxim Petrovich, who, after an awkward fall at a reception with the Empress, was “bestowed with the highest smile.” In Famusov’s opinion, the uncle’s ability to “curry favor” is worthy of admiration: to amuse those present and the monarch, he fell two more times, but this time on purpose. Famusov is sincerely afraid of Chatsky’s progressive views, because they threaten the usual way of life of the conservative nobility.
It should be noted that the clash between the “present century” and the “past century” is not at all a conflict between the fathers and children of “Woe from Wit”. For example, Molchalin, being a representative of the “children” generation, shares the views of the Famus society on the need to make useful contacts and skillfully use them to achieve their goals. He feeds the same tremulous love to awards and ranks. In the end, he communicates with Sophia and supports her passion for him only out of a desire to please her influential father.
Sophia, Famusov’s daughter, cannot be attributed either to the “present century” or to the “past century.” Her opposition to her father is connected only with her love for Molchalin, but not with her views on the structure of society. Famusov, who openly flirts with the maid, is a caring father, but is not good example for Sophia. The young girl is quite progressive in her views, smart, and not worried about the opinions of society. All this is the reason for the disagreement between father and daughter. “What a commission, creator, to be a father to an adult daughter!” - Famusov laments. However, she is not on Chatsky’s side. With her hands, and more precisely in a word, spoken out of revenge, Chatsky is expelled from the society he hates. It is Sophia who is the author of the rumors about Chatsky’s madness. And the world easily picks up these rumors, because in Chatsky’s accusatory speeches everyone sees a direct threat to their well-being. Thus, in spreading the rumor about the protagonist’s madness in the world, a love conflict played a decisive role. Chatsky and Sophia do not clash on ideological grounds. Sophia is just worried that ex-lover could destroy her personal happiness.
conclusions
Thus, main feature conflict of the play "Woe from Wit" - the presence of two conflicts and their close relationship. Love affair opens the play and serves as the reason for Chatsky’s clash with the “past century.” Love line It also helps the Famus society to declare its enemy insane and disarm him. However, the social conflict is the main one, because “Woe from Wit” is a social comedy, the purpose of which is to expose morals noble society early 19th century.
Work test
A. S. Griboyedov brought a lot of new things to Russian literature with his comedy “Woe from Wit.” This also concerns the essence of the conflict itself in the work. Before Griboedov, the main thing in the comedies of classic writers driving force in the development of the action there was a love conflict. “Woe from Wit” is not only and not so much built on love triangle, how much on the collision of the main character Chatsky with society, that is we're talking about about the so-called psychological conflict, which is built on the opposition of educational ideas, that is, the mind, and real life.
After a three year absence main character comedy Chatsky comes to Famusov’s house in order to see Sofya Pavlovna, to find out whether tender feelings for him remain in her soul. But the girl no longer reciprocates Chatsky’s feelings; she fell in love with Molchalin. Chatsky is irritated by Sophia’s coldness and the fact that he does not understand who she loves. All his thoughts are aimed at solving this riddle, however, the riddle is only for his loving heart. Because by Sophia’s cold reception, by her excuses, for example, about the tongs getting cold, by her fainting after Molchalin’s fall, everyone would have understood to whom her heart was given. But Chatsky is in love, he, and not Sophia, “lured himself with hopes.” He doubts, he is alarmed, irritated and therefore constantly talks about all the shortcomings of the people around him. Chatsky criticizes everyone, criticizes the society in which he was born, brought up and raised. Thus, the love conflict develops into a conflict between Chatsky and society. The Famus society, defending itself from Chatsky’s accuser, perceives Sophia’s slip of the tongue: “He’s out of his mind” as a real medical report about Chatsky’s mental illness. Indeed, it is very convenient to consider the main character crazy: you can not only not pay attention to his words, but even feel sorry for the person who has been damaged in his mind. At Famusov’s ball, after the news of Chatsky’s madness spread, everyone “backs away from him in the opposite direction,” looking at him “cautiously,” moves away from him and “twirls in a waltz with the greatest zeal,” scatters to the card tables. The ball ends, the guests leave, and Chatsky meets Repetilov. Repetilov is a parody of Chatsky. He exactly fulfills, does everything that Chatsky talks about in figuratively: “It’s barely light and you’re already on your feet! And I am at your feet." Repetilov: “Grab, he hit his foot on the threshold, / And stretched out to his full height.” Repetilov, like Chatsky, does not even notice that his recent interlocutor is disappearing, being replaced by one or the other. With the help of this image, the writer shows that Chatsky’s educational ideas, sown in the soil of Famusov’s society, can only produce such shoots as Repetilov and his “ most secret alliance”, which means that any attempts to change the world with words are doomed to failure. When leaving, Repetilov utters the phrase: “Go, put me in the carriage, / Take me somewhere.” This is like an anticipation of the departure of Chatsky, who will say: “I’ll go search around the world, / Where there is a corner for the offended feeling! “A carriage for me, a carriage!”
The appearance of Repetilov and the emphasized indifference of those around him to Chatsky make the reader a witness to the fact that Chatsky’s conflict with society is developing into a serious contradiction between Chatsky’s educational ideas, with the help of which it is impossible to change the world, and himself real world, which has the right to exist.
Having overheard the conversation between Molchalin, Lisa and Sophia, Chatsky finally resolves his doubts about who is dear to Sophia’s heart. He creates a scene of jealousy for the girl, and the whole house comes running to hear the noise. Chatsky finally regains the ability to think sensibly. He says: “...I have sobered up completely.” The love conflict is resolved - Chatsky finds out that Sophia loves Molchalin, and the conflict with society is over - the main character leaves. But the conflict between the real world and educational ideas, apparently, is not exhausted by this - Chatsky does not abandon his worldview, leaving with “a million torments” in his heart. Chatsky's psychological drama remains with him, in his soul.
Such a complex interweaving of conflicts became firmly entrenched in Russian literature after A. S. Griboedov. Modern Readers can no longer imagine literary work with just one conflict. The diversity of conflicts is now familiar to us. We should not forget that it was A. S. Griboyedov who developed this type of complicated conflict in the comedy “Woe from Wit.”
And it’s not just about educational ideas and the troubles that they entail. This is a drama of consciousness. “It is not good for a person to eat from the tree of knowledge,” Andrei Bolkonsky would later say in Tolstoy. Tragic misunderstanding of each other between good people, honest people(like Sophia and Chatsky), the inability for a person to radically change the world, finally, his mortality in contrast with the craving for a solution eternal questions- this is the essence of the conflict of this great comedy.
The main conflict in the comedy "Woe from Wit"
Paskevich is pushing around,
The disgraced Yermolov is slandering...
What is left for him?
Ambition, coldness and anger...
From bureaucratic old women,
From caustic social jabs
He's riding in a wagon,
Resting your chin on the cane.
D. Kedrin
Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov acquired a large literary fame and national fame by writing the comedy “Woe from Wit.” This work was innovative in Russian literature, the first quarter of the XIX century.
For classic comedy There was a characteristic division of heroes into positive and negative. Victory was always for positive heroes, while the negative ones were ridiculed and defeated. In Griboyedov's comedy, the characters are distributed in a completely different way. The main conflict of the play is connected with the division of the heroes into representatives of the “present century” and the “past century”, and the first one actually includes Alexander Andreevich Chatsky, moreover, he often finds himself in a funny position, although he is a positive hero. At the same time, his main “opponent” Famusov is by no means some notorious scoundrel; on the contrary, he is a caring father and a good-natured person.
It is interesting that Chatsky spent his childhood in the house of Pavel Afanasyevich Famusov. Moscow lordly life was measured and calm. Every day was the same. Balls, lunches, dinners, christenings...
He made a match - he succeeded, but he missed.
All the same sense, and the same poems in the albums.
Women were mainly concerned with their outfits. They love everything foreign and French. The ladies of Famus society have one goal - to marry or give their daughters to an influential and rich man. With all this, as Famusov himself puts it, women “are judges of everything, everywhere, there are no judges over them.” Everyone goes to a certain Tatyana Yuryevna for patronage, because “officials and officials are all her friends and all her relatives.” Princess Marya Alekseevna has such weight in high society that Famusov somehow exclaims in fear:
Oh! My God! What will Princess Marya Aleksevna say?
What about men? They are all busy trying to move up the social ladder as much as possible. Here is the thoughtless martinet Skalozub, who measures everything by military standards, jokes in a military way, being an example of stupidity and narrow-mindedness. But this just means a good growth prospect. He has one goal - “to become a general.” Here is the petty official Molchalin. He says, not without pleasure, that “he received three awards, is listed in the Archives,” and he, of course, wants to “reach the well-known levels.”
The Moscow “ace” Famusov himself tells young people about the nobleman Maxim Petrovich, who served under Catherine and, seeking a place at court, showed neither business qualities nor talents, but became famous only for the fact that his neck often “bent” in bows. But “he had a hundred people at his service,” “all wearing orders.” This is the ideal of Famus society.
Moscow nobles are arrogant and arrogant. They treat people poorer than themselves with contempt. But special arrogance can be heard in remarks addressed to the serfs. They are “parsleys”, “crowbars”, “blocks”, “lazy grouse”. One conversation with them: “You’re welcome! You are welcome!” In close formation, the Famusites oppose everything new and advanced. They can be liberal, but they are afraid of fundamental changes like fire. There is so much hatred in Famusov’s words:
Learning is the plague, learning is the reason,
What is worse now than then,
There were crazy people, deeds, and opinions.
Thus, Chatsky is well acquainted with the spirit of the “past century,” marked by servility, hatred of enlightenment, and the emptiness of life. All this early aroused boredom and disgust in our hero. Despite his friendship with sweet Sophia, Chatsky leaves the house of his relatives and begins independent life.
“The desire to wander attacked him...” His soul thirsted for the novelty of modern ideas, communication with the progressive people of the time. He leaves Moscow and goes to St. Petersburg. “High thoughts” are above all for him. It was in St. Petersburg that Chatsky’s views and aspirations took shape. He apparently became interested in literature. Even Famusov heard rumors that Chatsky “writes and translates well.” At the same time, Chatsky is fascinated by social activity. He develops a “connection with the ministers.” However, not for long. High concepts of honor did not allow him to serve; he wanted to serve the cause, not individuals.
After this, Chatsky probably visited the village, where, according to Famusov, he “made a mistake” by mishandling the estate. Then our hero goes abroad. At that time, “travel” was looked at askance, as a manifestation of the liberal spirit. But just the acquaintance of representatives of Russian noble youth with life, philosophy, history Western Europe had great importance for their development.
And now we meet the mature Chatsky, a man with established ideas. Chatsky contrasts the slave morality of Famus society with a high understanding of honor and duty. He passionately denounces the one he hates serfdom. He cannot calmly talk about “Nestor of the noble scoundrels,” who exchanges servants for dogs, or about the one who “drove ... from their mothers, fathers, rejected children to the serf ballet” and, having gone bankrupt, sold them all one by one.
These are the ones who lived to see their gray hairs!
This is who we should respect in the wilderness!
Here are our strict connoisseurs and judges!
Chatsky hates “the meanest traits of the past,” people who “draw their judgments from forgotten newspapers from the times of the Ochakovskys and the conquest of the Crimea.” His sharp protest is caused by his noble servility to everything foreign, his French upbringing, common in the lordly environment. In his famous monologue about the “Frenchman from Bordeaux,” he talks about passionate affection common people to your homeland, national customs and language.
As a true educator, Chatsky passionately defends the rights of reason and deeply believes in its power. In the mind, in education, in public opinion, he sees the power of ideological and moral influence as the main and powerful means of remaking society and changing life. He defends the right to serve education and science:
Now let one of us
Of the young people, there is an enemy of quest, -
Without demanding either places or promotion,
He will focus his mind on science, hungry for knowledge;
Or God himself will stir up heat in his soul
To the creative, high and beautiful arts, -
They immediately: robbery! Fire!
And he will be known among them as a dreamer! Dangerous!!!
Among such young people in the play, in addition to Chatsky, one can also include, perhaps, Skalozub’s cousin, the nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya - “a chemist and a botanist.” But the play talks about them in passing. Among Famusov's guests, our hero is a loner.
Of course, Chatsky makes enemies for himself. Well, will Skalozub forgive him if he hears about himself: “Wheezing, strangled, bassoon, constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas!” Or Natalya Dmitrievna, whom he advised to live in the village? Or Khlestova, at whom Chatsky openly laughs? But, of course, Molchalin gets the most. Chatsky considers him “the most pitiful creature”, like all fools. Out of revenge for such words, Sophia declares Chatsky crazy. Everyone happily picks up the news, they sincerely believe in the gossip, because, indeed, in this society he seems crazy.
A.S. Pushkin, having read “Woe from Wit,” noticed that Chatsky was throwing pearls before swine, that he would never convince those to whom he addressed with his angry, passionate monologues. And one cannot but agree with this. But Chatsky is young. Yes, he had no intention of starting disputes with the older generation. First of all, he wanted to see Sophia, for whom he had had a heartfelt affection since childhood. Another thing is that during the time that has passed since their last meeting, Sophia has changed. Chatsky is discouraged by her cold reception, he is trying to understand how it could happen that she no longer needs him. Perhaps it was this mental trauma that triggered the conflict mechanism.
As a result, there is a complete break between Chatsky and the world in which he spent his childhood and with which he is connected by blood ties. But the conflict that led to this break is not personal, not accidental. This conflict is social. We didn't just collide different people, but different worldviews, different public positions. The external outbreak of the conflict was Chatsky’s arrival at Famusov’s house; it was developed in disputes and monologues of the main characters (“Who are the judges?”, “That’s it, you are all proud!”). Growing misunderstanding and alienation lead to a climax: at the ball, Chatsky is declared insane. And then he himself understands that all his words and emotional movements were in vain:
You all glorified me as crazy.
You are right: he will come out of the fire unharmed,
Who will have time to spend a day with you,
Breathe the air alone
And his sanity will survive.
The outcome of the conflict is Chatsky’s departure from Moscow. The relationship between Famus society and the main character is clarified to the end: they deeply despise each other and do not want to have anything in common. It's impossible to tell who has the upper hand. After all, the conflict between old and new is as eternal as the world. And the theme of the suffering of the smart, educated person in Russia it is still topical today. To this day, people suffer more from their intelligence than from their absence. In this sense, A.S. Griboyedov created a comedy for all times.
There are several conflicts in the play “Woe from Wit”, while a necessary condition The classic play had only one conflict.
“Woe from Wit” - a comedy with two storylines, and at first glance it seems that there are two conflicts in the play: love (between Chatsky and Sophia) and social (between Chatsky and Famus’s society).
The play begins with the beginning of a love conflict - Chatsky comes to Moscow to see his beloved girl. Gradually, the love conflict develops into a social one. Finding out whether Sophia loves him, Chatsky encounters Famus society. In the comedy, the image of Chatsky represents new type personalities early XIX century. Chatsky is opposed to the entire conservative, ossified world of the Famusovs. In his monologues, ridiculing the life, customs, and ideology of the old Moscow society, Chatsky tries to open the eyes of Famusov and everyone else to how they live and what they live with. The social conflict “Woe from Wit” is insoluble. The old lordly society does not listen to the freedom-loving, intelligent Chatsky, it does not understand him and declares him crazy.
The social conflict in A. S. Griboedov’s play is connected with another conflict - between the “present century” and the “past century.” Chatsky is a type of new person, he is an exponent of the new ideology of the new time, the “present century.” And the old conservative society Famusovs refers to the “past century”. The old does not want to give up its position and go into the historical past, while the new actively invades life, trying to establish its own laws. The conflict between old and new is one of the main ones in Russian life at that time. This eternal conflict takes great place V XIX literature century, for example, in such works as “Fathers and Sons”, “The Thunderstorm”. But this conflict does not exhaust all the conflicts of comedy.
Among the heroes of Griboyedov’s play, perhaps not stupid people, each of them has his own worldly mind, that is, an idea of life. Each of the characters in “Woe from Wit” knows what he needs from life and what he should strive for. For example, Famusov wants to live his life without going beyond secular laws, so as not to give a reason to be condemned by the powerful socialites, such as Marya Aleksevna and Tatyana Yuryevna. That is why Famusov is so concerned about finding a worthy husband for his daughter. Molchalin’s goal in life is to quietly, even if slowly, but surely move up the career ladder. He is not even ashamed of the fact that he will humiliate himself a lot in the struggle to achieve his goals: wealth and power (“and win awards and have fun”). He does not love Sophia, but looks at her as a means to achieve his goals.
Sophia, as one of the representatives of the Famusov society, having read sentimental novels, dreams of a timid, quiet, gentle beloved, whom she will marry and make of him a “husband-boy”, “husband-servant”. It is Molchalin, and not Chatsky, who fits her standards of a future husband.
So, Griboyedov in his comedy not only shows how immoral and conservative typical representatives of Moscow society are. It is also important for him to emphasize that they all have different understandings of life, its meaning and ideals.
If we turn to the final act of the comedy, we will see that each of the heroes turns out to be unhappy in the end. Chatsky, Famusov, Molchalin, Sophia - everyone is left with their own grief. And they are unhappy because of their wrong ideas about life, their wrong understanding of life. Famusov always tried to live according to the laws of the world, tried not to cause condemnation or disapproval of the world. And what did he get in the end? He was disgraced by his own daughter! "Oh! My God! what will Princess Marya Aleksevna say,” he exclaims, considering himself the most unfortunate of all people.
Molchalin is no less unhappy. All his efforts were in vain: Sophia will no longer help him, and maybe, even worse, she will complain to daddy.
And Sophia has her own grief; she was betrayed by her loved one. She became disillusioned with her ideal of a worthy husband.
But the most unfortunate of all turns out to be Chatsky, an ardent, freedom-loving educator, a leading man of his time, an exposer of the rigidity and conservatism of Russian life. The smartest in comedy, he cannot with all his intelligence make Sophia fall in love with him. Chatsky, who believed only in his own mind, in the fact that a smart girl cannot prefer a fool to a smart one, is so disappointed in the end. After all, everything he believed in - in his mind and advanced ideas - not only did not help win the heart of his beloved girl, but, on the contrary, pushed her away from him forever. In addition, it is precisely because of his freedom-loving opinions that Famus society rejects him and declares him crazy.
Thus, Griboyedov proves that the reason for Chatsky’s tragedy and the misfortunes of the other heroes of the comedy is the discrepancy between their ideas about life and life itself. “The mind is not in harmony with the heart” - this is the main conflict of “Woe from Wit”. But then the question arises, what ideas about life are true and whether happiness is possible at all. The image of Chatsky, in my opinion, gives a negative answer to these questions. Chatsky is deeply sympathetic to Griboyedov. It compares favorably with Famus society. His image reflected typical features Decembrist: Chatsky is ardent, dreamy, freedom-loving. But his views are far from real life and do not lead to happiness. Perhaps Griboedov foresaw the tragedy of the Decembrists, who believed in their idealistic theory, divorced from life.
Thus, in “Woe from Wit” there are several conflicts: love, social, the conflict of “the present century” and the “past century”, but the main one, in my opinion, is the conflict of idealistic ideas about life and real life. Griboyedov was the first writer to raise this problem, which many will turn to in the future writers XIX. centuries: I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy.