Denis Fonvizin

Brigadier

Comedy in five acts

CHARACTERS

Brigadier.

Ivanushka, his son.

Brigadier.

Advisor.

Advisor, his wife.

Sophia, the adviser's daughter.

Dobrolyubov, Sophia's lover.

Advisory servant.

ACT ONE

PHENOMENON I

The theater presents a room decorated in a rustic style. The brigadier, in a frock coat, walks around and smokes tobacco. His son, in disbelief, swears, drinks tea. The adviser, wearing a Cossack, looks at the calendar. On the other side there is a table with a tea set, next to which sits an adviser in a desabille and cornet and, simulating, pours tea. The foreman sits at a distance and knits a stocking. Sophia also sits at a distance and sews in the vestibule.

Advisor(looking at the calendar). So if God bless, then the twenty-sixth will be the wedding.

Brigadier. Very fair, good neighbor. Although we only recently got to know each other, this did not stop me, on my way home from St. Petersburg, from visiting your village with my wife and son. An adviser like you deserves to be a friend from the army to the brigadier, and I have already begun to deal with all of you without rank.

Advisor. For us, sir, styles are not needed. In the village we ourselves treat everyone without ceremony.

Brigadier. Ah, my mother! What a ceremony between us when (pointing to the adviser) does he want to marry his daughter to our Ivanushka, and you your stepdaughter, with God’s blessing? And so that you can better rely on him, gentlemen, you also give her your parental reward. What is the ceremony for?

Advisor. Oh, how happy our daughter is! She goes after the one who was in Paris. Ah, my joy! I know quite well what it’s like to live with that husband who hasn’t been to Paris.

Son(after listening, he lifts the top of his cap). Madame! I thank you for your courtesy. I admit that I myself would like to have a wife with whom I could not speak in any other language other than French. Our life would be much happier.

Brigadier. Oh Ivanushka! God is merciful. You, of course, will live better than ours. You, thank God, did not serve in military service, and your wife will neither drag around on campaigns without a salary, nor answer at home for what they teased her husband with in the ranks. My Ignatius Andreevich took out the guilt of every private on me.

Brigadier. Wife, don’t lie everything you know.

Advisor. That's enough, neighbor. Don't sin, for God's sake. Don't be angry, gentlemen. Do you know what kind of intelligent partner you have? She is fit to be the college president. This is how wise Akulina Timofeevna is.

Brigadier. Wise! There you go, neighbor! You, pitying us, deign to speak like that, but it seems to me that her wisdom is very similar to stupidity. Your Avdotya Potapevna is a different matter. ABOUT! I can tell her, to her face and behind her eyes, that she has a whole chamber of intelligence. I am a man and a foreman, but she-she would be glad to lose all my patents for ranks that I bought with my blood, just to have the mind of her highness.

Brigadier. Don’t sin, my father, for God’s sake, He has generals, headquarters and chief officers of the same rank.

Brigadier. Ay, wife! I'm telling you, don't interfere. Or I’ll soon do something that really won’t have anything to count on your head. If only you knew God more, you wouldn’t be talking such waste. How can one think that God, who knows everything, is unaware of our table of ranks? It's a shame.

Advisor. Stop such talk. Is it not possible to discuss something else? They chose such a serious matter that I don’t understand.

Brigadier. I myself, mother, am not saying that it would be funny to argue about such matter, which does not belong either to execution, or to battles, and nothing that would...

Advisor. That would at least serve as a judge, plaintiff or defendant. To tell the truth, I myself am reluctant to talk about something that, when talking about, one cannot refer to either decrees or regulations.

Brigadier. I myself am bored by those speeches from which there is no profit. (To the adviser.) Let's change, my light, speech. Please tell me what you have suits people, table food or money? Do horses eat their own oats or purchased ones?

Advisor. You're kidding, joy. Why do I know what all these cattle eat?

Advisor(to his wife). Don't shame me! Mother Akulina Timofeevna, our people are eating the feast. Don't make my wife angry. She doesn’t care about that: I give out the bread and oats myself.

Brigadier. That’s how I have my Ignatius Andreich: he doesn’t care about anything. I go to the barns alone.

Advisor(to the side). A treasure, not a woman! What honey-drinking lips she has! Just listen to her, and you will become a slave of sin: you cannot help but be seduced.

Brigadier. What are you saying, matchmaker? (To the side.) The owner here is no match for my woman.

Advisor. I praise your wife’s reasonable care for home economy.

Brigadier. I am grateful for her savings. For her, she thinks more about the livestock than about me.

Brigadier. How about it, my father? Cattle cannot think of themselves. So shouldn't I think about it? You seem to be smarter than him, but you want me to look after you.

Brigadier. Listen, wife, I don’t care whether you’re lying foolishly or out of your mind, but I’m telling you, in all honest company, not to open your mouth again. Hey, it's going to be bad!

Advisor. In fact, my life, it seems to me that he is no smarter than my husband, of whom there are stupider people in the world, but very rarely.

Advisor. Let's change the speech, je vous en prie; my ears cannot stand hearing about devils and those people who are so much like them.

Son. Madame! Tell me, how do you spend your time?

Advisor. Oh, my soul, I'm dying of boredom. And if I hadn’t sat by the toilet for three hours in the morning, I can say that I would have died anyway; The only reason I breathe is that they often send me hats from Moscow, which I put on my head every now and then.

Son. In my opinion, lace and blondes make the best decoration for the head. Pedants think that this is nonsense and that one should decorate the inside of the head, not the outside. What emptiness! The devil sees what is hidden, but everyone sees what is external.

Advisor. So, my soul: I myself share the same sentiments with you; I see that you have powder on your head, but damn if there’s anything in your head, I can’t tell.

Son. Pardieu! Of course, no one can notice this.

Advisor. After the toilet, my best way to pass the time is by making cards.

Son. You know how to make a wish, grand dieu! I myself can call myself a prophet. Do you want me to show you my art?

Advisor. Ah, my soul! You will do me an enormous favor.

Son(pushing the table With cards). First you guess for me, and then I’ll guess for you.

Advisor. With joy. Please make a wish for the king and queen.

Son(after thinking). I made a wish.

Advisor(lays out cards). Oh, what do I see! Wedding! (Sighs.) The king is getting married.

Son. My God! He's getting married! What is more intolerable to me than this!

Advisor. But the lady doesn’t love him...

Son. Damn me if I love you too. No, I have no strength to endure anymore. I made a wish about myself. Ah, madame! Or don’t you see that I don’t want to get married?

Advisor(sighing and coying). Don't you want to get married? Hasn't my stepdaughter quite captivated your heart? She is so constant!

Son. She is constant!... Oh, the height of my misfortune! She is also permanent! I swear to you that if I notice this in her when I get married, I will divorce her that very minute. Having a permanent wife terrifies me. Ah, madame! If you were my wife, I would never divorce you.

Advisor. Ah, my life! What can’t happen, why worry about it? I think that you wouldn’t bore me with unnecessary claims.

Son. Let me now, madame, guess something for you. Think about a king and a queen too.

Advisor. Very good. King of clubs and queen of kings.

Son(spreading out the cards). The king is mortally in love with the lady.

Advisor. Oh, what do I hear! I'm amazed. I'm overjoyed.

Son(looking at her with tenderness). And the lady is not without an inclination towards him.

Advisor. Ah, my soul, not without inclination! Better yet, say, madly in love.

Son. I would give my life, I would give thousands of lives, to find out who this potted lady is. You blush, you turn pale. Of course this is...

Advisor. Oh, how unbearable it is to admit your passion!

Son(with haste). So it's you...

Advisor(pretending like the last word expensive to her costs). Me, myself.

Son(sighing). And who is this blessed king of clubs who was able to pierce the heart of the queen of kings?

Advisor. You want me to suddenly tell you everything.

Son(standing up). Yes, madame, yes. I want this, and if I am not that prosperous king of clubs, then my flame for you will be poorly rewarded.

Advisor. How! And are you burning for me?

Son(throwing to his knees). You're a crazy lady!

Advisor(picking him up). You are the king of clubs!

Son(in admiration). Oh happiness! O bonheur!

Advisor. Maybe you, my soul, don’t even know that your bride is in love with Dobrolyubov and that he himself is mortally in love with her.

Son. St... St... They are coming. If this is true, oh, que nous sommes heureux! We absolutely need to leave them alone, so that over time they will leave us alone.

SCENE IV

The same, Dobrolyubov and Sophia.

Sophia. You deigned to stay here alone, mother; I came to you on purpose so that you alone would not be bored.

Dobrolyubov. And I, madam, took the liberty of taking her to you.

Advisor. We are very bored here. We wished on cards.

Son. It seems to me, mademoiselle, that you came here on purpose to announce your wedding.

Sophia. What does it mean?

Advisor. We made wishes about you, and if you believe the cards, which, however, can never lie, then your marriage is not very successful.

Sophia. I know this even without cards, mother.

Son. You know this, what are you risking?

Sophia. There is no risk here, but there is my obvious destruction, into which my father and mother are leading me.

Advisor. Perhaps, madam, don’t blame me. You yourself know that I never wanted what your father wants.

Son. What are such explanations for? (To the adviser). Madame, we understand each other quite well; Would you like to meet some company?

Advisor. For me there is nothing more fashionable than freedom. I know that it makes no difference whether to have a husband or to be tied up.

Son(gives her signs to leave Sophia and Dobrolyubov). Don’t you ever intend to leave here...

Advisor. Please, my soul.

PHENOMENA V

Dobrolyubov, Sophia.

Dobrolyubov. They left us alone. What does it mean?

Sophia. This means that my fiancé is not jealous of me at all.

Dobrolyubov. And it seems to me that your stepmother wouldn’t be disgusted if your wedding were somehow ruined.

Sophia. It's much more noticeable. It seems to me that we came to them very inopportunely.

Dobrolyubov. So much the better if this fool fell in love with her, and she could be forgiven for being captivated by him.

Sophia. In her mind, her coquetry is very forgivable, and she, of course, cannot find a better lover; however, I also regret the priest.

Dobrolyubov. Oh, perhaps don’t worry about him. Your father, it seems to me, looks at the foreman with excellent tenderness.

Sophia. No. I don't think so. My father, of course, will not cheat on my stepmother, so as not to anger God.

Dobrolyubov. However, he also knows that God is long-suffering.

Sophia. If this is true, then except for the foreman, it seems to me that everyone here is in love.

Dobrolyubov. True, the only difference is that their love is ridiculous, shameful and brings dishonor to them. Our love is based on an honest intention and is worthy of everyone wishing for our happiness. You know that if my small wealth had not turned your father away from having me as his own, then I would have been prosperous with you long ago.

Sophia. I assured you and now I assure you that my love for you will end with my life. I am ready to do anything just to be your wife. Your small wealth does not frighten me. I'm happy to demolish everything in the world for you.

Dobrolyubov. Perhaps my wealth will soon increase. My work is coming to an end. It would have ended a long time ago, but most of the judges today, although they don’t take bribes, don’t even get things done. This is why my poor condition has not changed to this day.

Sophia. We started talking for a long time. We need to go to them to avoid suspicion.

End of the first act

ACT TWO

PHENOMENON I

Advisor and Sophia.

Advisor. Come here, Sofyushka. I need to talk to you about a lot of things.

Sophia. What do you want to talk about, father?

Advisor. First of all, what are you sad about?

Sophia. About the fact, father, that your will does not agree with my desire.

Advisor. Can children really want what their parents don’t want? Do you know that father and children should think alike? I’m not talking about modern times: now everything is new, but in my time, when the father was guilty, then they punish the son, and when the son is guilty, then the father is responsible for him; That's how it used to be in the old days.

Sophia. Thank God this is not the case in our times.

Advisor. So much the worse. Now whoever is to blame must answer, but what do you want to rip off from someone else? Which is what orders are issued for, if only one person is to blame. It happened...

Sophia. But to the right, father, why should he be guilty?

Advisor. Because all humans are sinners. I myself have been a judge: the guilty sometimes pay for their guilt, and the right for their truth; and so in my time everyone was happy: the judge, the plaintiff, and the defendant.

Sophia. Allow me, father, to doubt; I think that the right one, of course, remained guilty then when he was accused.

Advisor. Empty. When a right person is accused by a judge’s verdict, then he is no longer right, but guilty; so he has no need to be clever here. Our decrees are stronger than those of the petitioners. The petitioner interprets the decree in one manner, that is, in his own way, but our brother, the judge, for the general benefit, can interpret the decree in twenty-one manners.

Sophia. What, finally, father, do you want from me?

Advisor. So that you interpret my decree to get married not according to our judicial custom and marry the one I tell you to marry.

Sophia. I must obey you; Just imagine my misfortune: I will be the wife of such a fool, who is full of nothing but French nonsense, who has not only love for me, nor the slightest respect.

Advisor. What kind of respect would you like from him? It seems to me that you should honor him, not he you. He will be your head, and not you his head. You, I see, are a young girl and have not read the Holy Scriptures.

Sophia. At least, father, you can be sure that he will not honor you either.

Advisor. I know, I know everything; however, your fiance has good dignity.

Sophia. What, father?

Advisor. It has quite a few villages. And if my son-in-law does not take care of his savings, then I will take over the government of his villages.

Sophia. I don’t think that my future father-in-law would want to work for you looking after his son’s villages. My mother-in-law is also a huntress; however, I don’t win through either one or the other. I'm used to witnessing good savings.

Advisor. All the better. You won't lose yours; But is it little happiness for you that you will have such a mother-in-law, who, it seems to me, surpasses every creature in her kindnesses.

Sophia. Unfortunately, I couldn’t notice them in her yet.

Advisor. This is still because you are a young girl and do not know what direct virtues consist of. You do not know, I see, neither your mother-in-law, nor the direct path to your salvation.

Sophia. I am surprised, father, what participation my mother-in-law can have in the path of my salvation.

Advisor. Here's what: when you get married, honor your mother-in-law; she will be your mother, friend, and mentor. And you are her first in God, please her quick-discerning eyes in everything and learn from her all that is good. Because of our agreement, people on earth will rejoice, and angels in heaven will rejoice.

Sophia. How, father, do the angels in heaven really care so much about my mother-in-law that they will then rejoice if I please her?

Advisor. Of course it is. Or do you think that Akulina Timofeevna is not written in the Lord’s book of animals?

Sophia. Father! I don't know if she's in it.

Advisor. And I believe that there is. Go, my friend, to the guests and, as if on your own behalf, tell your future mother-in-law that I, I instruct you to please her.

Sophia. Let me tell you, father, what is this for? Wouldn't it be enough if I please her without any statement?

Advisor. I tell you to tell her, and not question me. Here's my answer. Let's go!

SCENE II

Advisor

Advisor(one). She is not a fool, but with all her intelligence she cannot guess that I am attached to her mother-in-law, attached with my eyes, thoughts and all my feelings. I don’t know how to tell her about my damnation. I see that I am ruining my soul, wanting to seduce the unblemished. Oh, the weight of my sins! And even if she agreed to my prayer, what will Ignatius Andreevich do to me, who cares for his wife as much as I do for mine, although, however, not two hours in a row have passed between us in a row? This is what love can bring to someone else's wife. I marry my daughter against her will to her son, only so that I can see my beloved in-law more often through kinship. I find in her something extremely reasonable that others cannot notice in her. I'm not talking about her husband. Although he was always known as a reasonable man, a military man, and a cavalryman at that, sometimes loves his wife not so much as his horse... Ah! yes here she comes

SCENE III

Advisor and foreman.

Advisor. Oh!

Brigadier. What are you sighing about, my father?

Advisor. About your damnation.

Brigadier. Already, my father, with fasting and prayer you will soon resemble the deceased, and how long will it take you to exhaust your body?

Advisor. Oh, my mother! My body is not yet exhausted. God willing, I would bring it through my sinful prayer and fasting to the point that it would be delivered from the devil’s temptation: then I would not sin either in heaven or before you.

Brigadier. In front of me? Why are you sinning against me?

Advisor. With eye and mind.

Brigadier. How can they sin with their eyes?

Advisor. I sin before you, looking at you with my eyes...

Brigadier. Yes, I’m looking at you and both. Is this really a sin?

Advisor. It’s such a sin for me that if I want to get rid of eternal torment in the next world, then I must walk around here with one eye until my last breath. My eye tempts me, and I must exterminate it for spiritual salvation.

Brigadier. So, my father, do you really want to gouge out your eye?

Advisor. When my whole sinful body resists the commandments, then, of course, my hands are not so righteous that they alone would undertake to fulfill the Scripture; Yes, I am afraid of the warm faith of your roommate, I am afraid that, having seen my sin, he will not fulfill the commandments of God on me.

Brigadier. What sin?

Advisor. Sin, all mortals are enslaved to it. Every person has a spirit and a body. Although the spirit is vigorous, the flesh is weak. Moreover, there is no sin that cannot be cleansed by repentance... (With tenderness.) Let's sin and repent.

Brigadier. How not to sin, father! There is one God without sin.

Advisor. Yes, my mother. And you yourself now confess that you are involved in this sin.

Brigadier. I confess, father, always in Lent on first. Tell me, perhaps, what do you care about my sins?

Advisor. I have the same need for your sins as I need for salvation. I want your sins and mine to be the same. so that nothing could destroy the union of our souls and bodies.

Brigadier. And what is this, father, copulation? I understand the church language as little as I understand French. Whoever the Lord wants to have mercy on. He will open French, and German, and all kinds of reading and writing to someone else, but I, a sinner, don’t even understand Russian well. I’m not talking to you anymore, but I don’t understand your speeches anymore. I almost don’t understand Ivanushka and your roommate. If I understand more than anyone, it’s my Ignatius Andreevich. He pronounces all his words so clearly, so eloquently, like a parrot... Have you, my father, seen parrots?

Advisor. The matter before us is not about birds, it is about intelligent creatures. Really, mother, don’t you understand my desire?

Brigadier. I don’t understand, my father. What do you want?

Advisor. May I ask...

Brigadier. What do you want to ask me for? If only, my father, it’s not money, then I can lend you anything. You know what money is like these days: no one lends it for free, and nothing is refused for it.

Here the son comes in, but they don’t see him.

Advisor. It's not about money: I myself can agree to anything for money. (Kneels down.) I love you, my mother...

At that very moment, seeing the son’s adviser, he jumped up, and the son laughed and applauded.

SCENE IV

Same with my son.

Son. Bravissimo! Bravissimo!

Brigadier. Why are you jumping like that, Ivanushka? We talked about business. You interfered with Artamon Vlasich: he, I don’t know, wanted to ask me for something.

Son. Yes, mother, he makes you a declaration en forme.

Advisor. Don't judge, you won't be condemned. (Stunned, he leaves.)

Brigadier. Ivanushka! Tell me better, what did you say now?

Son. Mother, he loves you! Do you even understand this?

Brigadier. He's amused! And, my father, what’s on your mind!

Son. Damn me if this isn't true.

Brigadier. Cross yourself. What kind of god are you swearing, come to your senses! The devil is not joking. Fold your hand, Ivanushka, and cross yourself thoroughly.

Son. Mother, I see you don’t believe this. Why did he kneel down?

Brigadier. How do I know, Ivanushka? Is this really for cupid? Oh, he's a damned son! Why did he come up with this?

PHENOMENA V

The same goes for the advisor.

Son. Madamo, I have now witnessed a funny scene. J"ai pense crever de rire. Your husband declared his love to my mother! Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Advisor. Isn't it true? (During the speech, the foreman takes her son away and whispers something to him.)

Brigadier(in hearts). Oh, he's a dog! What was he really up to? Has God taken my tongue? Now I’ll tell Ignatius Andreich everything. Let him open his forehead in his own way. Why did he come up with this? I'm a foreman! No, he's a rogue! Don’t think that he’ll think it’s a fool!... Thank God, I don’t mind! I'll go right away...

The son and the adviser grabbed her by the skirts.

Son. Mother, wait, wait...

Advisor. Wait, ladies!

Son. But didn’t you, mother, notice that I was joking?

Brigadier. What a joke! Vit, I heard you swearing.

Advisor. He was, of course, joking, madam.

Son. Damn me if this wasn't a joke!

Brigadier. How are you the same now, father! What a devilry! But what to believe?

Advisor. How, madam! Can't you separate the jokes from the serious?

Brigadier. Yes, it’s impossible, my mother: he swears so much that my tongue can’t even pronounce it.

Advisor. Yes, of course, he swore as a joke.

Son. Of course, as a joke. I knew in Paris, and here too, a great many reasonable people, et meme fort honnetes gens, who put deity at nothing.

Brigadier. So, Ivanushka, were you really joking?

Son. Do you want me to swear to you again?

Brigadier. Yes, maybe you’ll start joking again! So, for God's sake, don't make a fool of me.

Advisor. By the way, my joy! Be calm. I know my husband; If this were true, I would be furious myself.

Brigadier. Well, thank God it's a joke. Now my soul is in place. (Leaves.)

SCENE VI

Son and advisor.

Advisor. You ruined the whole thing. Well, if your mother had complained to your father, he would have gone mad and taken you and her away from here that minute.

Son. Madame! You can forgive me for this. I admit that this kind of behavior is typical for me; Otherwise I would have badly imitated the French.

Advisor. We must, my soul, remain silent about this, and I could not excite your immodesty in any way if caution were not ridiculous in young man, and especially the one that was in Paris.

Advisor. That's right, my soul! Only, I think, your father will not agree to let you go to France another time.

Son. And I think that I will take him there with me. It's never too late to be enlightened; and I guarantee that, having gone to Paris, he will at least at least somewhat resemble a person.

Advisor. That's not what's on your father's mind. I am very sure that he will prefer our village to both paradise and Paris. In a word, he makes me his chicken.

Advisor. I notice that he is mortally in love with me.

Son. Does he know the rights of honest people? Does he know that they are fighting for this?

Advisor. How, my soul, do you want to fight with your father?

Brigadier. What kind of manmok is this?

Son. The fact that I don’t care about your team leader. I forget him; and you forget that your son knows the world, that he was in Paris.

Brigadier. Oh, if only I could forget this! No, my friend! You yourself remind of this every minute with new foolishness, of which, for the least, according to our military regulations, you should be driven away with a spitsruten.

Son. Father, it all seems to you as if you are standing in front of the front and commanding. Why make so much noise?

Brigadier. Your truth is of no use; and as soon as you tell a lie, I’ll hit you in the back with two hundred Russian sticks. Do you understand?

Son. I understand, but will you understand me yourself? Every gallant, and especially those who have been in France, cannot argue that in his life he has never had to do with such a person as you; therefore, he cannot retort that he was never beaten. And you, if you go into the forest and manage to run into a bear, then he will do the same to you as you want to interpret me.

Brigadier. Such a freak! He applied his father to the bear: do I look like him?

Son. Isn't it here? I told you what I think: voila mon caractere. What right do you have to rule over me?

Brigadier. Fools! I am your father.

Son. Tell me, father, are not all animals, les animaux, the same?

Brigadier. What is this for? Of course, that's it. From man to cattle. What kind of nonsense are you trying to tell me?

Son. Listen, if all animals are the same, then can I immediately include myself?

Brigadier. Why not? I told you: from man to beast; so why don't you place yourself right there?

Son. Very good; and when a puppy is not obliged to respect the dog who was his father, then do I owe you even the slightest respect?

Brigadier. No one doubts that you are a puppy; however, I swear to you, Ivan, as a sworn man, that if you use me again on a dog, you will soon no longer look like a man. I will teach you how to speak to your father and an honored person. It’s a pity that I don’t have a stick with me, I’m such a bastard!

SCENE II

The same goes for the foreman.

Brigadier. What's that noise? Why are you, my father, so angry? Have you, Ivanushka, caused us any loss? Have you lost anything?

Brigadier. And a lot. The loss is not small.

Brigadier(out of breath). What's the problem? What's happened?

Brigadier. He lost his mind, if he had one.

Brigadier(resting). Ugh, what an abyss! God bless. I was frozen, scared: I thought that something really was missing.

Brigadier. Is the mind really nothing?

Brigadier. Like nothing! Who told you this, father? Living without a mind is bad; What will you do without him?

Brigadier. Without him! And without him you made this monster; didn’t I tell you: wife! do not spoil the child; let's enlist him in the regiment; let him, while serving in the regiment, gain intelligence, just as I did; and you always deigned to chatter: oh, father! no, my father! What do you want to do with the baby? do not kill him, my light! - Here, my mother, here he is in good health! In just a minute he applied me to the male dog: would you like to listen too?

Son(yawns). Quelles especes!

Brigadier. Well, if you talk to him, perhaps, he’ll just move his mouth. Ivan, don't piss me off. You know that I will snatch two ribs from you at once. You know what I'm like.

SCENE III

The same goes for the advisor.

Advisor. What are you up to, sir? Is it possible for me to endure such barbarie here?

Brigadier. I, mother, want to teach my Ivan a little.

Advisor. How! Do you want to teach your son a little by breaking out two of his ribs?

Brigadier. Yes, mother, he not only has two ribs: even if I break them out, there will still be left of him. But for me it’s all the same whether he has those two ribs or not.

Brigadier. This, mother, is how he deigns to talk about his birth.

Son(to the adviser). C"est 1"homme le plus bourru, que je connais.

Advisor. Do you know, sir, that your rudeness towards your son worries me?

Brigadier. And I, mother, thought that his rudeness towards me bothered you.

Advisor. Not at all. I can't tolerate addiction. Merits should always be respected: of course, you do not see any merit in your son.

Brigadier. I don’t see it, but tell me, what merits do you see in him?

Advisor. Don't you know that he was in Paris?

Brigadier. Only, mother, that he was in Paris! Still in France. Is this a joke!

Brigadier. Wife, isn’t it enough to lie to you?

Brigadier. Now, father, don’t tell you the truth.

Brigadier. Speak, don't lie.

Advisor(to the foreman). You, of course, did not hear how he was received in Paris.

Brigadier. He still hasn’t dared to tell me this, mother.

Advisor. Better say that you didn’t want to; and if I ask you, monsieur, now to talk about your voyage, will you agree to contact me?

Advisor. Start with what you liked about Paris and why you, monsieur, liked Paris.

Son. I liked Paris, firstly, because everyone there has their own merits.

Brigadier. Wait, wait, Ivan! If this is true, then how did Paris like you?

Advisor. You promised, sir, not to disturb him. At least you owe it to the ladies who want to listen to him and not you.

Brigadier. I am to blame, mother, and for you, and no one else, I will remain silent.

Advisor(to his son). Continue, monsieur, continuez.

Son. In Paris, everyone respected me as I deserved. Wherever I went, either I was the only one talking, or everyone was talking about me. Everyone admired my conversation. Wherever they saw me, everywhere joy appeared on everyone’s faces, and often, unable to hide it, they declared it with such extreme laughter that directly showed that O they think about me.

Advisor(foreman). Shouldn't you be amazed? Without being obliged to do anything, I am delighted with his words.

Brigadier(crying). I'm crazy with joy. God brought me in my old age to see Ivanushka with such intelligence.

Advisor(foreman). Why don't you say anything?

Brigadier. I, mother, am afraid of angering you, and without that, of course, I would either laugh or cry.

Advisor. Continuez, my soul.

Son. In France, people are not at all like you, that is, not Russian.

Advisor. Look, my joy, I haven’t been there, but I’ve already gotten a pretty good idea about France from you. Isn't it true that most of the people living in France are French?

Son(with delight). Vous avez le don de deviner.

Brigadier. Why, Ivanushka! Are the people there really not like all of us Russians?

Son. Not like you, not like me.

Brigadier. What for? Vit and you are my birth.

Brigadier(to the adviser). Mother, let me say one word to him about everything.

Son(to the adviser). Cela m"excede, je me retire. (Comes out.)

Brigadier(to the adviser). What did he say, mother? Wasn’t Ivanushka sick that he rushed out of here so headlong? It was a good idea to go and see.

SCENE IV

Brigadier, advisor.

Advisor. That's what you did. You have deprived me of the pleasure of hearing the story of your son and the whole of Paris.

Brigadier. And I would think that I spared you the displeasure of hearing tomfoolery. Do you really want to joke about my son, mother?

Advisor. Do you, sir, want to joke with me?

Brigadier. Above you! God save me. I want to be harrassed at that moment in which I think ill of you.

Advisor. Thank you, sir, for your estimate.

Brigadier. You're welcome, mother.

Advisor. Your son, I see, suffers from your rudeness.

Brigadier. Now I’m letting him down for you; however, sooner or later I will knock the French spirit out of him; I see that you are already bored with him.

Advisor. You are mistaken; stop being rude to your son. Do you know that I admire his words?

Brigadier. Which ones?

Advisor. Are you deaf? Were you insensitive when he talked about himself and Paris?

Brigadier. I would like to be like this this time, mother; I see that you are joking now; his stories are wasteland. Although he is my son, there is nothing to hide; where he was? on what trips? which shares? And if you really want to listen to something pleasant, then order me, I’ll tell you in an instant how we killed the Turks on the spot, I did not spare the blood of the Basurman. And no matter how noisy it was then, everything is not as dangerous as it is now.

Advisor. As it is now? What it is?

Brigadier. This is what I, mother, have wanted to talk to you about for a long time, but my damned son with his trinkets interfered with me every time; and if you wish, then tomorrow I will make him without a belly for this.

Advisor. Why, sir, do you want to mutilate him like that?

Brigadier. Because, perhaps, without him, I would have told you my secret long ago and would have taken an answer from you.

Advisor. What secret? What answer?

Brigadier. I don’t like officials, I want one of two things: yes or no.

Advisor. What do you want? Why have you changed so much?

Brigadier. Oh, if you only knew how anxious I am now when I look at your cheerful eyes.

Advisor. What kind of anxiety is this?

Brigadier. Anxiety, which I fear much more than going against an entire enemy army. Your eyes are scarier to me than all the bullets, cannonballs and buckshot. Their first shot has already shot right through my heart, and before they kill me, I surrender to your prisoners of war.

Advisor. I, sir, do not understand your discourse at all and for this reason, with your permission, I am leaving you.

Brigadier. Wait, mother. I'll explain everything to you much more clearly. Imagine a fortification that a brave general wants to take. How does he feel then? That's exactly what I do now. I am like a brave commander, and you are my fortification, which, no matter how strong it is, can still make any breach in it.

PHENOMENA V

The same, adviser, Dobrolyubov.

Advisor(to Dobrolyubov). So your matter has already been decided?

Dobrolyubov. It's decided, sir.

Brigadier. ABOUT! Damn them! How many times do I start, but they won’t let me finish!

Advisor. What are you doing, sir?

Brigadier. Mother! This is not the kind of thing I would talk about in front of your roommate. (Leaving.) I'll crack out of frustration.

SCENE VI

Advisor, Dobrolyubov, advisor.

Advisor. How early did you know about your business?

Dobrolyubov. Now.

Advisor. How? Did you win your case?

Dobrolyubov. Yes, madam; My condition has improved much. I have two thousand souls.

Advisor. Two thousand souls! O my creator, Lord! And with your merits! Oh, how worthy of respect you are now!

Advisor. But weren’t you also in Paris?

Dobrolyubov. No, madam.

Advisor. It’s a pity: this alone can darken all standards.

Advisor. However, if someone has two thousand souls, then, it seems to me, they can reward all vices. Two thousand souls and without the merits of a landowner there are always two thousand souls, and without them the virtues are what the hell are the virtues; However, a word about us, it’s wonderful to me that you could get out of your business so quickly and, having chased after it, did not lose anything else.

Dobrolyubov. Your truth. The selfishness of our covetous people has gone beyond all limits. It seems that there are no prohibitions that could calm them down.

Advisor. And I have always said that it is impossible to prohibit bribes. How can you solve a case for nothing, just for your salary? We were born and never heard of this! This is against human nature... How did you get to the point where your matter was finally decided?

Dobrolyubov. We are happy that anyone who does not find his right in established places can finally go straight to the highest justice; I took the courage to resort to it, and my judges were forced by a strict command to decide my case.

Advisor. It’s good that your cause is right, so you could move on; Well, if it weren’t like that, how would you go further with it?

Dobrolyubov. Not only would I not have gone further then, but I would not have even bothered with the judicial position.

Advisor. So is this a good thing? And in my time, everyone, whether right or wrong, went to the order and could, by making friends with the judge, receive a merciful resolution. In my time they didn’t interfere much. We had a proverb: it’s high to God, but it’s far to the Tsar.

Advisor(to Dobrolyubov). It seems to me that it’s time for you to establish yourself, it’s time to get married.

Dobrolyubov. I don’t want to marry anyone when you don’t agree to give up your daughter for me.

Advisor. My dear friend, you were not enough, and besides, my circumstances are not like that.

Advisor. For my part, I never interfered with your matchmaking.

Dobrolyubov. However, I can already be flattered...

Advisor. Now I can’t say either one or the other. Let's go and have a cup of tea. It’s awkward to talk about business after lunch. I always solved interesting problems in the morning.

End of Act Three

ACT FOUR

PHENOMENON I

Dobrolyubov, Sophia.

Dobrolyubov. I have great hope that our desire will be fulfilled.

Sophia. But I still don’t dare caress her. I can speak frankly with you. If it is true that my father is cheating on my stepmother, then a change in your condition cannot change his intentions.

Dobrolyubov. However, I saw with what feeling he heard the news about the decision of my case in my favor. I also cannot hide my thoughts from you. You know yourself that your father loves wealth; and greed makes the same miracles out of a person as love.

Sophia. With all that, greed rarely wins over love. I don’t know if I will be so happy that your fate will unite with mine; I, however, am already consoled by this fact that your condition has improved.

Dobrolyubov. My condition will remain miserable until my greatest desire is fulfilled. You know what it is. You know my heart...

SCENE II

The same goes for the foreman.

Dobrolyubov(seeing the foreman wiping away her tears). What were you crying about, madam?

Brigadier. This is not the first time in my life that I, my father, have cried. Only God sees what my life is like!

Sophia. What is it, madam?

Brigadier. I will order both my friend and my enemy to get married.

Sophia. How, madam? Can you say this at the very time when you don’t want me to be your son’s wife?

Brigadier. Why do you, mother, want to marry him? I said so to myself.

Dobrolyubov. No, now you deigned to talk about everyone.

Brigadier. And it is known.

Sophia. How is it: sometimes about yourself, sometimes about everyone? Tell me, mother, one thing.

Brigadier. You please speak; what about me?

Dobrolyubov. What do you want?

Brigadier. Nothing. I came here to cry to my heart's content.

Sophia. But what about?

Brigadier(crying). About the fact that I'm sad. Now Ignatius Andreevich attack me for nothing, for nothing. He scolded and scolded, but God knows why. I’ve become both a pig and a fool with him; and you can see for yourself whether I’m a fool?

Dobrolyubov. Of course we see, madam.

Sophia. Why did he attack you like that now?

Brigadier. So, word for word. He’s such a tough character, God forbid; I see that he will cut me with anything; Think about it, my mother, how long will it take before trouble: it will split your skull at once. Then you realize that there’s nothing you can do.

Dobrolyubov. Is that why your life is in danger every minute?

Brigadier. How long until the bad hour?

Sophia. Did he really treat you so barbarously that you have already endured something similar from him?

Brigadier. No, my mother. This has never happened before, for him to kill me to death. No, not yet.

Dobrolyubov. Nobody asks you about this, madam.

Sophia. It is enough if he had the barbarity to use the right of the strong.

Brigadier. He is strong, mother. Once, and then without hearts, you know, as a joke, he pushed me in the chest, so would you believe, my mother, the Lord God, that I sighed forcibly: so my eyes rolled under my forehead, I did not see the light of God.

Sophia. And it was a joke!

Brigadier. I had a hard time resting; and he, my father, laughs and amuses himself.

Dobrolyubov. Quite a laugh!

Brigadier. Five or six weeks later I laughed at that, and then, my mother, I almost gave my soul to God without repentance.

Dobrolyubov. How can you live with him when he almost sent you to the next world as a joke?

Brigadier. So live. I, my mother, am not the only one married. My life is very bad, but everything is not the same as it used to be for our officers. I've seen enough of everything. We had a captain of our regiment of the first company, nicknamed Gvozdilov; his wife was such a hefty, hefty young lady. So, it happened that he would get angry for something, and more so when he was intoxicated: so, do you believe God, my mother, that he nails, nails her, it happened that the soul will remain in it, but no matter what you bear with it. Well, we, our side of the story, but otherwise you’ll cry looking at it.

Sophia. Please, madam, stop talking about what outrages humanity.

Brigadier. Now, mother, you don’t even want to hear about this, what was it like for the captain to endure?

SCENE III

The same son and adviser.

Advisor(to son). Would you like to play a game of cards?

Son. With great pleasure, avec plaisir.

Advisor. So tell them to hand over the cards. Lackey, table and cards. (To Dobrolyubov.) Would you like to play a square dance here?

Dobrolyubov. If you like.

Meanwhile, the table is served and the cards are placed.

Son(takes apart the cards and gives everyone a place card. To the adviser). Madame! (To the foreman.) Madame!

Brigadier. What is this for, Ivanushka? If you're going to play, give it all away. Is it possible, my father, that people now play with just one card?

Son. This is for places.

Brigadier. AND! And so, by the grace of the owner, there will be a place for me.

Son. Mother, take it.

Brigadier. What do I need, father, in one card?

Advisor. Do you play square dance, madam?

Brigadier. And, my mother, I had never even heard of what it was.

Advisor(to Sophia). So take it.

Son. Mademoiselle! (He serves, everyone sits down, while the son deals the cards.)

Brigadier. And I’ll sit down, mother, and watch you enjoy yourself.

SCENE IV

The same, foreman and adviser.

Brigadier. Bah! Here they started playing cards!

Advisor. Would you like to play a big game of chess with me? Brigadier. Come on, take it.

They sit down at the other end. Meanwhile, the adviser and the foreman speak and one says to the other: “I am so,” and the latter says to him: “I am so.”

Advisor. There is freedom in the kers.

Son. Passe.

And everyone gives up.

Advisor. They and them.

Brigadier. What kind of nonsense are they and them? Who are they?

Advisor(hearing her question). Nowadays, mother, you can’t figure out all the games that people deign to amuse themselves with.

Brigadier. So, my father, they won’t come up with anything nowadays. They and them! How wise people are! (Looking at his son’s cards.) Oh, Ivanushka, how you have acorns in your hands, acorns!

Son. Mother, I will throw the cards; je les jettes par terre.

Advisor. Indeed, madam, you could only keep this in your mind... Rekiz.

Brigadier(after listening to the adviser’s speech). On your mind? It would be something!... Shakh!

Advisor. It's bad, it's bad for me.

Brigadier. Don't joke, matchmaker.

Son(showing cards). Sanprander six matedors.

Brigadier. What, my father, what did you say, madaduras? Nowadays they have started to play fools, and it used to be that everyone played fools.

Advisor. So, my mother, you never know what happened and what didn’t—what didn’t happen and what still exists.

Brigadier. Yes, my father. I’ve also been around people; and now - needless to say - old age has come; There’s no memory either.

Brigadier. But I was out of my mind.

Son(sings a French song; the adviser pesters him. To the adviser). Madame! We're both betas. Mother, sing some er to us.

Brigadier. What should I sing? And, my father, there is no voice. The spirit occupies... What kind of game are you playing? I won't understand it even if you stab me. It happened that when we started a game, we either played maria or played fools; and it used to be that the most fun was in the pigs. Three cards will be distributed; whoever has a pigus, he came out; and whoever stays will cause such a fuss that you will tear your stomachs.

Advisor(laughs tenderly). Ha ha ha! I myself used to play, and, I remember, there were different kinds of fun for every card.

Dobrolyubov. Mediator.

Brigadier. Yes, my father! (She grabbed some cards and ran up to the adviser.) Now, it happened that if someone was guilty, they would say: don’t ask for this on the other side, and don’t ask for that on the other side; and then (holding cards in one hand, he flicks one finger, meanwhile the adviser stops the game of chess and looks at her with tenderness) he looks out the card; and there, up to this card, he will go for all sorts of rubbish; there are different things: stealing on the cheek, dragging the slave by the ear.

Brigadier. Wife, come piggy with me! (Rises.) It's your will, we won't end this century.

Son. Pardieu! Mother, where did you put the cards?

Brigadier. Here, Ivanushka.

Son(jumping up). Il est impossible de jouer.

Everyone gets up.

Brigadier. Have I disturbed us, my father? You have cards, and even with threes.

Brigadier. Listen, wife! Wherever you go, you will make mischief everywhere.

Brigadier. Yes, my father, why did I bother you? You would know that you performed with your game. Vit I approached him (pointing to the adviser), and not to you.

Brigadier. He who has no intelligence can, by approaching one, disturb everyone.

Brigadier. Like this; It was my fault.

Son. Mother, is it really my fault? (Pointing to Dobrolyubov.) Ou ce monsieur? (Pointing to women). Ou ces dames?

Advisor. Come on, son-in-law: it would be a sin for you to reproach the woman who gave birth.

Advisor. And you are ashamed, sir, to intervene in matters that are not yours.

Brigadier. I, matchmaker, love you; and with my wife, perhaps, don’t put me at peace. Don't you, matchmaker, know the proverb: your own dogs squabble, don't bother someone else's?

Son. So, father, all proverbs are true, especially the French ones. Not true (to Dobrolyubov), monsieur?

Dobrolyubov. I know a lot of Russians who are very fair; isn't it true, madam (to Sophia)?

Sophia. Is it true.

Son(to Sophia). And what kind?

Sophia. For example, sir: you fool, lie whatever you want, no taxes are taken from lies.

Brigadier. Yes, mother, I love you! Here's a proverb and a riddle for you. And if you want me to guess it, Ivan, then you will turn out to be a fool.

Advisor. For what reason?

Brigadier. Because, mother, he lies duty-free.

Brigadier. Thank God, the grace of God, that there are no duties on lies. Look how ruinous it would be for all of us!

Brigadier. Nothing for you: you could be walking around the world in five or six hours.

Advisor. Don’t be angry, mother, with your husband, I found a bad verse for him today.

Brigadier. And, my father, should I be angry when he is angry; My job now is to clean up. (Leaves.)

PHENOMENA V

Brigadier, adviser, adviser, Dobrolyubov, son, Sophia.

Brigadier. I did the job.

Advisor(to Sophia). Go, madam, to your mother-in-law. After all, she’s not the only one sitting there.

Sophia. I'm coming, madam. (Leaves.)

SCENE VI

Brigadier, adviser, adviser, Dobrolyubov, son.

Advisor. Your will, brother. You are treating your wife very badly.

Brigadier. And she is very mean to me.

Advisor. What then, sir?

Brigadier. Tom, mother, she is sad inappropriately, cheerful inappropriately, she has healed, there is a lot of sin, it is inappropriate.

Advisor. How inopportune? What are you really saying, matchmaker? May God grant her many years of health and long life. Are you smart? Who do you wish dead on?

Son. No one needs to wish for death, mon cher pere, not even a dog, not just my mother.

Brigadier. Ivan, don't teach me. Although I said this, I still want the best for her more than you do for both of us.

Son. I'm not teaching you, I'm telling you the truth.

Brigadier. Say it when asked.

Advisor. Why do you tell him when he doesn’t ask you?

Brigadier. Because, mother, he is my son; what does it feel like same What will happen to me when people start saying that some foreman, a distinguished man, has a scoundrel son?

Son. Father, I'm a scoundrel! Je vous demande pardon; I am the kind of son by whom the world will recognize you more than by your leadership! You, monsieur (to Dobrolyubov), Of course, you yourself know many children who are a credit to their fathers.

Dobrolyubov. And there are even more who bring dishonor to them. It is also true that education is the reason for everything.

Brigadier. Yes, my lord, this is true. His mother is a fool, and my wife is the reason that he became a rake, and even worse, that he became a French rake. The Russians are bad, and the French are even worse.

Advisor. Eh! You are not afraid of the Lord God, matchmaker; Why do you scold your wife so much, who can be called the repository of human virtues?

Brigadier. Which ones?

Advisor. She is humble like a lamb, hardworking like a bee, beautiful like a bird of paradise (sighing) and faithful as a turtle dove.

Brigadier. Is she as smart as a cow, as beautiful as... like an owl?

Advisor. How dare you apply your wife to a night bird?

Brigadier. It seems that it is possible to apply a daytime fool to a night bird.

Advisor(sighing). However, she remains faithful to you.

Advisor. Indeed, there is a lot of virtue in her if she loves you.

Brigadier. But who should she love if not me? It’s bad for me to brag about myself; and, really, it seems, thanks to God, I earned my rank with faith and truth, that is, she became a foreman because of me, and not I, because of my wife, became a foreman; This needs to be noted in the current light. So how can she love someone else? And if I weren’t like that, then I would have looked at her virtue; and especially when one of our brothers from the first five classes also looked in it.

Advisor. No, brother, don’t say that: your wife is truly not like that. Let not all flesh boast before God; and even if a worthy and honorable person looked in it, he would not have found anything. This, my friend, is not a city; you can’t take it by storm.

Brigadier. You say this, but I know what I am like.

Son. What are you doing, father? Ha ha ha ha! Are you really thinking of taking your heart by storm?

Brigadier. Ivan, it seems to me that there are storms in your head now? Can't you be quieter?

Advisor. You yourself love to make noise more than anyone else. I don’t know why you want your son not to say what he thinks? You are already like a bizar! (To his son and Dobrolyubov). Messieurs! I want to leave them to continue their important discussions and I ask you to do the same.

Son. I'm coming for you. Adieu, messieurs!

Dobrolyubov. I obey your will.

SCENE VII

Brigadier and advisor.

Advisor. And my wife has already noticed that you are attacking your wife.

Brigadier. No, but I noticed that she stood up for my son too ardently.

Advisor. I don't notice that.

Brigadier. So much the worse.

Advisor. So what?

Brigadier. Nothing, matchmaker; however, I would not advise my wife to stand up for someone else’s kid like that in front of me.

Advisor. Do you think, brother, that I would have let my wife down if I had seen something blissful in her mind... Thank God, I have eyes; I’m not one of those husbands who looks and doesn’t see.

Brigadier. For my part, I am calm; my wife will not love anyone else.

Advisor. Her chastity is known to those who, unfortunately, are blinded by her charms.

Brigadier. However, there is no such fool in the world who would have the idea of ​​dragging after her.

Advisor. Why are you scolding?

Brigadier. Whom? No, brother. I say that such a beast has not yet been born who would think of looking for my wife.

Advisor. Why are you scolding?

Brigadier. It’s as if I’m scolding when I say that you would have to be very stingy if you were to be seduced by my wife.

Advisor. As if you weren't even scolding? (With heart.) Why is that fool who would be captivated by Akulina Timofeevna?

Brigadier. Because she's stupid.

Advisor. And she is so intelligent that all her words can be printed.

Brigadier. Why not print? I heard, matchmaker, that in today's printed books people lie no smarter than my wife.

Advisor. Is it possible for books to lie? Do you know, brother, that all of us Orthodox believe what is printed? Apparently our faith has been shaken. There are more heretics.

Brigadier. But it seems to me that we have a lot of printed nonsense not because there are more heretics, but because there are more fools. When I talk about my wife, I’m not saying that she is the stupidest of all.

Advisor. And I’m talking about your wife, and I’ll always say that there is no one more reasonable than her.

Brigadier. Even if it happened to me to crack out of frustration, I won’t deny that your mistress is very reasonable.

Advisor. To everyone, brother, a piece in someone else’s hand seems bigger. I see a lot in my wife that you don’t see.

Brigadier. Let's assume that this is true; however, it is not a lie that I now also see a lot in your wife that you do not see.

Advisor. What would it be?

Brigadier. What you might see is too late.

Advisor. I know, brother, what you're up to! You think that I don’t look after my wife enough; however, for the happiness of husbands, God grant that all wives be as chaste as mine.

Brigadier. Women are usually chaste with deserved people, but rarely with rakes.

Advisor. It’s tricky, brother Ignatius Andreevich, to deceive me.

Brigadier. And the wisest thing is if I am deceived in this.

Advisor. Both of us, it seems, are not such that our wives could fall in love with someone else’s man. I lived with my first wife for about fifteen years and I can, thank God, say that she lived the same way as this one. I am not unhappy with my wives.

Brigadier. I understand.

Advisor. No matter what kind of wife she is, only if she has a good husband, then it would never even occur to her to love another.

Brigadier. Don't talk, brother. He served in the same regiment as a second major with me - there is no need for a name - the man is not a fool and in the eyes of a good fellow. Almost twice my height...

Advisor.

Brigadier. However, I'm not lying. In my time, when I was younger, the people were much larger.

Advisor. Only it’s not as big as you say. It's true that... in our college there was one clerk, almost five times thicker than me...

Brigadier. This cannot happen, brother...

Advisor. Of course it is. When I was on the board, then, from the president to the watchman, everyone was portly people.

Brigadier. You, brother, only interrupted my speech. What did I want to tell you about?

Advisor. Really, I don't know.

Brigadier. And I don’t know... what I mean... yes, about the second major. He was a dear man; the whole regiment knew that his wife loved our colonel, lieutenant colonel, prime major, or, better to say, everyone knew that of our headquarters and chief officers she did not love the only one; and he, a dog’s son, didn’t even want to think that she could love anyone but him.

Advisor. Why have we been talking alone for so long?

Brigadier. I’m not boring to talk about business; however, let's go where everyone is. (Leaving.) Indeed, if we never stop talking about how people make mistakes, then we will not leave our place until the end of our lives.

Advisor. Let's go, let's go.

End of Act Four

ACT FIVE

PHENOMENON I

Brigadier and son.

Brigadier. Don't be stubborn, Ivanushka. Why don't you get married?

Son. Mother, just seeing you and your father is enough to get the perfect incentive to get married.

Brigadier. What would it be, my friend? Are we living carelessly? It’s true that we don’t have much money, but it doesn’t transfer.

Son. Little or nothing, c"est la meme chose, it doesn't matter to me.

Brigadier. It’s all the same, father! Sometimes there is a need for ten kopecks, but you won’t be able to dig those out of the ground. Really, how whimsical have you become! You have ten kopecks per litter, but you don’t even remember that with a hryvnia a day you can be fed.

Son. Mother! I would rather be hungry than full for a hryvnia.

Brigadier. Where it hurts, Ivanushka! If we don’t feed you today, if we don’t feed you tomorrow, you’ll probably be happy with our crackers.

Son. In case of famine, I dare to think that even a natural Frenchman would humiliate himself to eat our crackers... Mother, when you talk about something Russian, then I would like to be a hundred French miles away from you, and especially when it comes to my marriage.

Brigadier. How about it, Ivanushka? We have already put it at our word.

Son. Yes I don't.

Brigadier. What do we care about that? Our job is to find you a bride, and your job is to get married. It’s none of your business and don’t interfere.

Brigadier. May God's mercy and my blessing be with you.

Brigadier. Either I have become deaf, or you are dumb.

Brigadier. Will I have something with you, Ivanushka? How can you speak to me?

Son. Guilty. I forgot that I need to speak Russian with you.

Brigadier. Ivanushka, my friend, either you teach me French, or unlearn it yourself. I see that I can’t listen to you or speak myself. (Leaves.)

Son. As you wish.

SCENE II

Son and advisor.

Advisor. Do you know what, my soul? It seems to me that your father is very jealous, we must try as hard as possible to hide our love.

Son. Madame, is it possible to hide a fire? And so strong, sag je brule-moi.

Advisor. I am afraid that, having learned about our flame, your father and my fool husband will not come to extinguish it.

Son. Madame, you have not been to Paris, but you know all the French elephants. (Both sit down.) Avouez (with a cheerful look) Did you have a conversation with any Frenchman?

Advisor(embarrassed). No, my soul. It was impossible for me to meet anyone while living in Moscow.

They enter: the foreman at one end, the adviser at the other. And they, without seeing them, continue.

Advisor. I, loving you, agree to everything.

Son. For all! (Throws himself on his knees.) Idole de mon ame!

SCENE III

The same, foreman and adviser.

Brigadier. Bah! What's this? In reality or in a dream?

Advisor. God is with us! Am I fainting?

Son(jumping up and dumbfounded). Serviteur tres humble.

Brigadier. Now I want to talk to you, Ivan, in Russian.

Advisor(to the adviser). You, my father, are beside yourself. What happened to you?

Advisor(with rage). What happened to me, damned one! And wasn’t it you who, speaking with this rake, agreed to everything?

Son. Why are you scolding me! Let the priest deign to scold me.

Brigadier. No, my friend. I'm going to beat you up.

Advisor. How! Do you want to beat him because he kneeled in front of me out of politeness?

Brigadier. Yes, my mother. I saw it, I saw it. Congratulations, brother, for changing your son-in-law to your brother-in-law.

Advisor. O my Lord, Creator! Did it even occur to me to see such an abominable thing!

Brigadier. Brother, remember, I told you: take care of your wife, do not give her free rein; that's what happened. You and I became related, but from the wrong side. You are offended, so is your daughter (to the side), and me no less.

Son(to the adviser). Does it matter, monsieur: you want to have me as your in-law: I willingly...

Advisor. O villainess! you have deprived me of honor - my last treasure.

Brigadier(getting angry). If you, matchmaker, only had treasures left, then you are not too rich: there is nothing to chase after.

Advisor. Judge for yourself man of sense, and I entrusted this small treasure into these hands (pointing to his wife).

SCENE IV

The same, the foreman, Sofia, Dobrolyubov.

Brigadier. Treasure! What kind of treasure? You've found the treasure! God forbid!

Brigadier. A treasure is not a treasure, but they found something they didn’t expect.

Brigadier. What's happened?

Brigadier(pointing to the adviser). Here he is in profit.

Advisor(to the foreman). My damned wife, not fearing God, not ashamed good people, I fell in love with your son, and my betrothed son-in-law!

Brigadier. Ha ha ha! What nonsense, my father. Ivanushka has a fiancée, so how can he fall in love with her! This is not common.

Son. Of course, it doesn’t happen; and even if it happened, it’s impossible, pour une bagatelle, for honest people to get angry over such a trifle. Among people who know the world, they laugh at this.

Brigadier. If anyone had the foolishness to follow my old woman, I would not expect long-distance conversations from him: I would suck his sides wherever I met him.

Advisor. No, my lord; I know what to do with your son. He dishonored me; and how much dishonor is due to me according to the decrees, I know about this.

Brigadier. How! We have to pay dishonor! Remind God why?

Advisor. Because, my mother, honor is most dear to me... I will take all the shares assigned to me by rank and will not give up a single half.

Brigadier. Listen, brother: if it really comes down to payment, then my son will have to pay one half, and let your wife pay you the other. After all, they dishonored you at the same time.

Brigadier. And you know, it’s a sin in half.

Advisor(to her husband). Don't you want to have him as your son-in-law?

Advisor. Shut your mouth, damned one!

Sophia. Father, after such an act that my fiancé did, let me assure you that I will not marry him in my life.

Advisor. I agree to this.

Dobrolyubov(to Sophia). Hope flatters me for more than an hour.

Brigadier. And I don’t want my son to have such a chaste mother-in-law; and with you, Ivan, I will deal with this (points with a stick).

Advisor. So, my lord, you with a stick, and I with a coin.

Son. Father, don’t listen to him: he is not worthy to have her as his wife.

Advisor. Traitor! barbarian! tyrant!

Advisor(taken aback). What, what is it?

Son(to the adviser). Wasn’t it I who saw you kneel before your mother?

Brigadier. Who's on their knees? Bah! In front of whom?

Son. He is in front of my mother.

Brigadier. Do you hear, my friend? A? What is this?

Advisor. I don’t dare look up at the sky.

Brigadier(to the foreman). He was following you, and you didn’t tell me this, you fool!

Brigadier. My father, Ignatius Andreevich, how can I say to God, I myself did not know about this; good people told me later.

Brigadier. Brother, I’ll deal with Ivan; and I see that he is coming to file a petition against me too, only not for dishonor, but for injury.

Advisor(frightened). Your Highness! And the Lord accepts the repentant. Forgive me for sinning before you.

Son. Mon pere! Out of decency...

Brigadier. Don’t teach me, Ivan, don’t forget that I’m going to beat you.

Advisor. What are you really up to? (Approaches him.) Wasn’t it you who declared your love to me here, in this place?

Advisor. How? What is it, my lord?...

Brigadier(quiet). What do you want?

Advisor. Who is she talking about?

Brigadier. About me.

Advisor. So, my lord, did you come to my house to tempt my wife?

Brigadier. If that’s the case, then I’ll go back.

Advisor. Without missing an hour.

Brigadier. Not for a minute. It is clear that I fell into the hands of honest and deserved people. Ivan, tell me to bring the stroller quickly. Wife! This minute we will leave the house where I am, fair man, almost became a slacker.

Brigadier. My father, let me at least tidy up some things.

Brigadier. Whatever you're wearing, get out of the yard!

Advisor. And what remains is mine.

Son(rushing to the adviser). Sorry, la moitie de mon amé!

Advisor(rushing to his son). Adieu, half of my soul!

The foreman and adviser rush to separate them.

Brigadier. Where, dog!

Advisor. Where, damn it! Oh my God!

Brigadier(imitating him). Oh my God! No, brother, I see from this that whoever has God on his tongue most often has the devil on his heart... Look, everyone is mine!

Advisor(following the foreman, clasping his hands). Sorry, Akulina Timofeevna!

PHENOMENA V

Advisor, advisor, Sophia, Dobrolyubov.

Advisor. Oh my God! You will punish us according to our deeds. And you, Sofyushka, why did you lose your fiancé?

Dobrolyubov. If your will agrees with our desire, then I, having become her groom, consider myself a prosperous person.

Advisor. How? Having already received two thousand souls, do you not change your intentions?

Dobrolyubov. Nothing in the world will attract me to change it.

Advisor. And you, Sofyushka, agree to marry him?

Sophia. If your and mother’s wishes do not interfere with this, then I joyfully want to be his wife.

Advisor. I have never interfered with your happiness.

Advisor. If so, then be the bride and groom.

Dobrolyubov(Sofya). Our desire is fulfilled; how much am I prosperous!

Sophia. You alone can make me happy in the world.

Advisor. May you be prosperous, and I, for all my sins, have been fairly punished by the Lord: here is my Gehenna!

Advisor. I wish you good fortune, but I am condemned to suffer to death: here is my tartar!

Advisor(to the stalls). They say that living with a conscience is bad: but I myself have now learned that living without a conscience is worse than anything in the world.

“The Brigadier” is the first Russian nationally original comedy,” which Fonvizin wrote from 1766 to 1769. The theme of the comedy, it would seem, is not new. Since the time of Kantemir, Russian writers have been fighting against servility to foreigners, against Frenchmania. Fonvizin’s merit was that that he was able to show the Frenchmania of the nobility as terrible social evil, separating the noble class from the people, the Motherland, and captured this with great artistic persuasiveness. The disclosure of this theme lies, first of all, in the images of Ivanushka and the Councilwoman, who are ashamed that they were born in Russia and despise the Russian language as the property of a “vile” people. Their speech is sprinkled with French words, and speech characteristic, which Fonvizin endowed his characters with, helps to reveal their ignorant and wretched “French madness”, contempt for everything domestic. The comedy characters created by Fonvizin are extremely lifelike. Fonvizin’s contemporaries already felt this. Already in this comedy, Fonvizin strives to give social determinacy to characters, to show the importance of education for the formation of a person’s character. In “The Brigadier” the theme is the importance of education, environment sounded clearly, and later it receives a deeper and more realistic understanding in Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor.” "Brigadier" - the first Russian domestic comedy, wherein life situations, everyday life are brought onto the stage. Shown on stage home life(remember the Councilor’s house), here they drink tea, play cards, make wishes on cards. This was also Fonvizin’s innovation as a playwright who destroyed the canons of classicism comedy. At the same time, there is still a lot of traditional in comedy, coming from the poetics of classicism. The structure of the comedy is quite conventional, the plot is simple. The comedy “Brigadier” influenced the development of Russian comedy in general and the late comedies of Sumarokov in particular. She contributed to the recognition of Fonvizin the writer in public circles and his friendship with N. Panin, whom Fonvizin called “a man of true reason and honesty, above the morals of this century.”

The comedy characters created by Fonvizin are extremely lifelike. Already in this comedy, Fonvizin strives to give social determinacy to characters, to show the importance of education for the formation of a person’s character. Not only the content of the characters' speeches, but also the language they speak contribute to the revelation of the characters' characters. In Fonvizin's comedy, the individualization of the language of the Brigadier, Advisor, Ivanushka, Brigadier and others contributed to the typification of characters. Suffice it to recall the dialogues between the Foreman and the Advisor, the Advisor with the Foreman, and Ivanushka with the Advisor. By creating realistic types of feudal landowners and revealing the pattern of such arbitrariness, Fonvizin, in the spirit of “Discourse on Indispensable State Laws,” hopes for the possibility of beneficial changes in the state through the introduction of “indispensable” laws. Fonvizin's comedy is addressed to real life. Before the eyes of the audience, the life of the Prostakov family, teachers, and servants unfolds. On stage is Mitrofan's lesson, Trishka with a caftan, whom Prostakova scolds, Skotinin's fight with Prostakova. The author's remarks are also aimed at making their characters more lifelike and revealing them psychological condition: “Sophia, seeing Starodum, runs up to him.” Such remarks as “with annoyance”, “with timidity”, “in delight”, “trembling and threatening”, etc., speak of one or another emotional mood of the characters. It is typical for Fonvizin, a writer-publicist, that, speaking in different genres: comedies, satires, letters and journalistic works, he seeks to clarify his political views and influence change public order

QUESTION No. 23

Satirical works D. I. Fonvizina ("The Fox-Executor", "Message to My Servants", "General Court Grammar")

Fonvizin’s belonging to the educational camp can be traced in his earliest works, both translated and original. In the early 60s, he translated and published the fables of the Danish writer Holberg, Voltaire’s anticlerical tragedy “Alzira”, didactic novel Terrasona “Heroic Virtue, or the Life of Seth, King of Egypt” and a number of other books. Among the original experiments is “Message to my servants - Shumilov, Vanka and Petrushka.” The author later recalled that for this essay he was known by many as an atheist. The “Message” combines two themes: the denial of the harmonious structure of the universe, which the churchmen insisted on, and, as confirmation of this idea, - satirical image life in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The poem depicts Fonvizin's real servants, whose names are mentioned in his letters. The writer addresses them with a philosophical question: “Why was this light created?”, i.e., what goal did God pursue when creating man and human society. The task turns out to be too difficult for unprepared interlocutors, as Uncle Shumilov immediately admits. The coachman Vanka, an experienced man, can only say one thing: the world rests on self-interest and deception:

The priests are trying to deceive the people,

The butler's servants, the master's butlers,

Each other's gentlemen, and noble boyars

Often they want to deceive the sovereign.

Lackey Petrushka complements Vanka’s thought with a purely practical conclusion. If the world is so vicious, then we need to extract as much benefit from it as possible, without disdaining any means. However, why such a bad light was created, he does not know. Therefore, all three servants turn to the master for an answer. But he is also unable to resolve this issue. The form of the “Message” approaches a small dramatic scene. The characters of each of the interlocutors are clearly outlined: the sedate uncle Shumilov, the lively, intelligent Vanka, who has seen big light and who formed his own unflattering opinion about him, and, finally, Petrushka with his lackey, cynical outlook on life.

The fable “The Fox the Executor” (i.e. The Fox the Preacher) was written around 1785 and published anonymously in 1787. Its plot is borrowed from a prose fable by the German educator H.F.D. Schubart. At Leo’s funeral, the funeral oration is delivered by the Fox, “with a humble chareya, in monastic attire.” She lists the “merits” and “virtues” of the late tsar, which gives Fonvizin the opportunity to parody the genre of praise. The problem of the fable - condemnation of despotism and servility - characteristic Fonvizin’s creativity, as well as the theme of “bestiality” (Leo “was a wild beast”, “He nurtured bestiality in his soul”), widely represented in his comedies.

A feature of Fonvizin’s work is the organic combination in most of his works of satirical wit with a socio-political orientation. Fonvizin's strength lies in his literary and civic honesty and directness. He courageously and directly spoke out against social injustice, ignorance and prejudices of his class and his era, exposed the landowners and autocratic bureaucratic tyranny.

QUESTION No. 26

« Genre and style originality poetry by G.R. Derzhavin 1779"

As Derzhavin himself believed, his own real poetic activity began in 1779, when he finally abandoned attempts to imitate his poetic idols. In 1805, when creating an autobiographical note and referring to himself in it in the third person, Derzhavin defined the meaning of the turning point in his position as follows: “He tried to imitate Mr. Lomonosov in expression and style, but, wanting to soar, he could not stand the constant, beautiful a set of words characteristic of the only Russian Pindar of splendor and splendor. And for that, since 1779, he chose a completely different path.” .

Some idea of ​​the direction chosen by Derzhavin in poetry can be given by three poetic miniatures from 1779, symbolically associated with his further creativity in that in the living poetic fabric of the texts they express the basis of Derzhavin’s aesthetic position, defining its main parameters:

Dedications to Lomonosov and Kantemir resurrect the genre and style traditions of ode and satire in Derzhavin’s aesthetic consciousness. The epitaph, developing the traditional theme of the transience of earthly life and glory, is built on the contrasting clash of the concepts “radiance - insignificance”, “hero - decay”. It is the contrasting ratio of elements of interpenetrating odic and satirical world images, the contrast of genre and style, and conceptual contrast that distinguishes Derzhavin’s lyrics at the moment when his poetic voice is gaining strength and the formation of an individual poetic manner takes place in line with the general trend of Russian literature of the 1760-1780s. to the synthesis of previously isolated genres and the interpenetration of genre-style structures that are opposite in hierarchy.

The first example of such a complex genre formation in Derzhavin’s lyrics is “Poems for the birth of a porphyry-born youth in the North” (1779), dedicated to the birth of the future Emperor Alexander I, the elder, grandson of Catherine II. Thematically, the poem is undeniably a solemn ode. But Derzhavin calls his poem differently - “Poems,” thereby giving it the character of chamber, homely lyrics. What will later be called “poems for the occasion” relates entirely to the area of ​​​​a person’s intimate private life. Thus, by combining the odic subject with the genre form of “poems for the occasion,” Derzhavin abolishes the distance between the historically and socially significant fact of the life of the state and private human life.

This disappearance of distance determined the poetics of the Poems. For his work, Derzhavin emphatically chooses the recognized meter of the Anacreontic ode - a short tetrameter trochee and begins the poem with an emphatically burlesque picture of the Russian winter, created according to the traditions of mixing high and low imagery in a burlesque combination of ancient allegorical images with a reliable plastic and everyday description of the Russian winter. And so that the addressee of the polemic becomes obvious, Derzhavin begins his poems with a slightly paraphrased verse from Lomonosov’s famous ode of 1747: “Where with Borey’s frozen wings... » :

The aesthetic result of such a combination is similar to that achieved by Bogdanovich in the poem “Darling”: by combining myth and folklore, Bogdanovich neutralized everyday life as an artistic device. Derzhavin slightly changed the combination of these categories, combining everyday life with the mythological world image, but the sum remained approximately the same: in the dance rhythm of the trochaic tetrameter and in the image of the white-haired, gray-bearded “dashing old man” Borey, more like the fairy-tale Santa Claus, folklore associations began to sound, and the general tone The narrative acquired an intonation that Bogdanovich called “a funny verse,” and Derzhavin later, in imitation of Horace’s ode “Exegi monumentum,” would call it a “funny Russian syllable.”

As a result of the fact that the odic state event of the birth of the heir to the throne comes extremely close to private human life as its equal fact, this event itself undergoes changes. Derzhavin's poems successfully use the international fairy-tale motif of geniuses bringing gifts to the royal baby. The porphyritic child receives as a gift all the traditional royal virtues: “thunder<...>future victories”, “purple radiance”, “calmness and peace”, “mind, height of spirit”. However, the last gift stands out noticeably from this semantic series: “But the last, virtue // Originating in it, rivers: // “Be the ruler of your passions, // Be a man on the throne!” (27).

In the motif of the monarch’s self-control and awareness of his human nature, which naturally equates the ruler with any of his subjects, it is difficult not to hear an echo of the main leitmotif of the satirical journalism of 1769-1774, which for the first time in the history of Russian literature of modern times expressed the idea that the ruler is also a person , but did it in terms of satirically exposing the human imperfection of the ruler. In “Poems for the Birth of a Porphyritic Youth in the North,” with all the complexities of their synthetic genre and style structure, this idea is translated into a high odic plane: “Behold the divine,” they said, “// He has chosen a gift for the baby!”

Another synthetic genre formation in the lyrics of 1779-1783. offers an ode “On the death of Prince Meshchersky” (1779). The theme of death and loss is traditionally elegiac, and in the work of Derzhavin himself in subsequent years it will find both a completely adequate genre embodiment (a heartfelt elegy on the death of Derzhavin’s first wife, Ekaterina Yakovlevna, written in 1794), and a travesty: the theme of death, with in all its tragedy, was always realized and embodied by Derzhavin in contrast. So, perhaps, one of the most characteristic poems for Derzhavin’s style of poetic thinking, which concisely demonstrates in four verses the uniqueness of his poetic style, was also written for death: “For the death of the dog Milushka, who, upon receiving the news of the death of Louis XVI, fell from the lap of her mistress and killed herself to death" (1793):

The equality of all facts of life in Derzhavin’s aesthetic consciousness makes the unthinkable possible for him - the unification of an absolutely historical incident significant for the fate of humanity as a whole (the execution of Louis XVI during the Great french revolution) and the fact of absolutely private life (the sad fate of a lapdog) in one picture of the world, where everything alive and living is inexorably subject to a common fate: to live and die. Thus, poetic impromptu, perceived as a mischievous joke, turns out to be fraught with deep philosophical meaning, and it is not surprising that, turning to the topic of death in 1779, Derzhavin wrote a deeply emotional philosophical ode on a traditionally elegiac theme.

“On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” is a comprehensive embodiment of the contrast of Derzhavin’s poetic thinking, which, in principle, is incapable of perceiving the world monotonously, monochromatically, unambiguously. The first level of contrast, which first of all catches the eye, is conceptual contrast. Derzhavin’s entire poem is built on conceptual and thematic antitheses: “I barely saw this light, // Death is already gnashing its teeth,” “The monarch and the prisoner are food for worms”; “We accept our death with life, // We are born in order to die”; “Where there was a table of food, there the coffin stands”; “Today is God, and tomorrow is dust” (29-30) - all these hammered aphorisms emphasize the central antithesis of the poem: “eternity is death”, parts of which seem to be opposite in meaning (eternity - immortality, death - non-existence, the end), turn out to be likened to each other in the course of the development of Derzhavin’s poetic thought: “Only a mortal does not imagine dying // And he expects himself to be eternal” - “Put away possible happiness, // You are all constant here and false: // I stand at the door of eternity” (31).

And if by means of contrasting opposition of concepts Derzhavin achieved the unity of poetic thought in his philosophical ode, then the unity of its text is determined by the techniques of repetition and anaphora, which at the compositional level unite poems containing contrasting concepts by similar principles, and also link stanzas together according to the principle of anaphoric repetition from the last verse of the previous stanza to the first verse of the next:

Moreover, the reception of anaphora itself turns out to be, in terms of expressive means, is contrastingly opposed to the technique of antithesis, which is functional within one verse or one stanza, while anaphora operates at the junctions of verses and stanzas.

The verbal-thematic contrast and the contrast of expressive means - the techniques of antithesis and anaphora, are complemented in the ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” and the intonation contrast. The poem as a whole is distinguished by its extreme emotional intensity, and the mood of tragic confusion and horror set in the first stanza:

by the end of the poem it is intensified to the point of unbearability, which forced Belinsky to exclaim: “How terrible is his ode “On the death of Prince Meshchersky”: the blood runs cold in your veins<...>! But here is the last stanza - an unexpected conclusion made by the poet from the gloomy poetic spectacle of all-consuming death and contrasting with it with its epicurean-cheerful intonation:

This intonation difference, associated with the poet’s address to a third person, forces us to pay attention to such a property of Derzhavin’s poetic thinking as its concreteness, which contrasts with the general tone of the philosophical ode, operating with generic categories and abstract concepts. In his declining years, in 1808, Derzhavin wrote “Explanations” for his poems, where he also commented on the ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky.” In particular, he considered it necessary to report exactly the rank of Prince Meshchersky: “Actual Privy Councilor,<...>chief judge of the customs office,” point out his habits: “He was a great hospitable man and lived very luxuriously,” and also report who Perfilyev was: “Major General<...>, good friend Prince Meshchersky, with whom we were together every day” (319).

In this precise biographical and everyday context, the poem takes on additional meaning: the verse “Where there was a table of food, there a coffin stands” begins to be perceived not only as a general philosophical contrast between life and death, but also as a national household custom (putting a coffin with a dead person on the table) and how a sign of the epicurean love of life of the hospitable Prince Meshchersky, with whom he was shared by his friends Perfilyev and Derzhavin. Thus, the epicurean ending of the poem turns out to be closely connected with the everyday personality of Prince Meshchersky, whose death brought to life Derzhavin’s philosophical ode-elegy.

So in the poetry of 1779 the main aesthetic principles Derzhavin’s individual poetic manner: attraction to synthetic genre structures, contrast and specificity of poetic imaginative thinking, convergence of categories historical event and circumstances of private life in a close connection between the biographical facts of the poet’s life and his texts, which he considers it necessary to comment on reports about the specific circumstances of their occurrence and information about the people mentioned in them. All these properties of Derzhavin’s increasingly individual poetic style came into sharp focus in his ode “Felitsa,” dedicated to Catherine II. With the publication of this ode in 1783, literary fame began for Derzhavin, and for the Russian laudable ode - new life lyric genre, and for Russian poetry - new era its development.

Innovative character

Derzhavin's ode "Felitsa".

All the properties of Derzhavin’s increasingly individual poetic style were gathered in his ode “Felitsa,” dedicated to Catherine II. With the publication of this ode in 1783, literary fame came to Derzhavin, and a new life of the lyrical genre came to the Russian laudable ode. A new era in the development of Russian poetry begins.
In terms of expression, “Felitsa” fully complies with the canons of Lomonosov’s solemn ode: iambic tetrameter, ten-line stanza with the rhyme aBaBVVgDDg. However, its stylistic form is completely new.
Derzhavin uses the plot of “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” which Catherine wrote for her little grandson Alexander: the daughter of the Kyrgyz-Kaisak Khan Felitsa (from the Latin felix - happy) and the young Prince Chlorus are busy searching for a rose without thorns (an allegory of virtue), which they find , after many obstacles and overcoming temptations, at the top high mountain, symbolizing spiritual self-improvement.
Derzhavin addresses the queen indirectly, through her artistic text in order to avoid, if possible, the required elevated tone necessary when addressing royalty directly. Derzhavin writes an ode on behalf of “a certain Tatar Murza”, playing on the legend about the origin of his family from the Tatar Murza Bagrim. In the first publication, the ode “Felitsa” was called this: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by some Tatar Murza, who had long settled in Moscow, and lived on their business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic".
In the text of the ode there are two plans: the author’s plan and the hero’s plan, connected by the plot motif of the search for a “rose without thorns” - a virtue, which Derzhavin learned from “The Tale of Prince Chlorus”. The “weak”, “depraved”, “slave of whims” Murza, on whose behalf the ode was written, turns to the virtuous “god-like princess” with a request for help in finding a “rose without thorns”. Thus, the ode combines the ethical principles of older genres - satire (denunciation of Murza) and ode (glorification of Felitsa), which were once absolutely contrasting and isolated.

Appears for the first time in ode It was precisely the everyday concreteness and authenticity of the appearance of Catherine II in her daily activities and habits, listing which Derzhavin successfully used the motif of the daily routine, going back to the satire of II Cantemir “Filaret and “Eugene”. This has not yet been allowed in Russian literature.
Without imitating your Murzas, You alone are only decent.
You often walk on foot, Princess! create light from darkness;
And the food is the simplest Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,
Happens at your table; The union will strengthen their integrity;
Without valuing your peace, out of disagreement comes agreement
You read, you write in front of the levy And from fierce passions happiness
And from your pen you can only create.
You shed bliss on mortals: So the helmsman, sailing through the ponies,
Like you don’t play cards, catching the roaring wind under sail,
Like me, from morning to morning. Knows how to steer a ship.
The individualized and specific personal image of virtue is opposed in the ode “Felitsa” by a generalized collective image of vice, but it is opposed only ethically: as an aesthetic essence, the image of vice is absolutely identical to the image of virtue, since it is the same synthesis of odic and satirical typology of imagery, deployed in the same plot motive of the daily routine:
And I, having slept until noon, such, Felitsa, I am depraved!
I smoke tobacco and drink coffee; But the whole world looks like me.
Transforming everyday life into a holiday, No matter how noble in wisdom,
My thoughts are spinning in chimeras: But every person is a lie.
Then I steal captivity from the Persians, We do not walk in the ways of light,
Then I direct arrows towards the Turks; We run debauchery after dreams,
Then, having dreamed that I was a sultan, Between a lazy person and a grouch,
I terrify the universe with my gaze; Between vanity and vice
Then suddenly, seduced by the outfit, someone accidentally found
I'm off to the tailor for a caftan. The path of well-wishers is straight.
The only aesthetic difference between the images of Felitsa the virtue and Murza the vice is their correlation with the specific personalities of Derzhavin’s contemporaries. In this sense, Felitsa-Ekaterina is, according to the author's intention, an accurate portrait, and Murza - the mask of the author of the ode, the lyrical subject of the text - is a collective, but concrete to such an extent that to this day its concreteness tempts researchers of Derzhavin's work to see in the features this mask resembles the face of the poet himself, although Derzhavin himself left unambiguous and precise indications that the prototypes for this collective image Potemkin, A. Orlov, P.I. Panin, S.K. Naryshkin served him as nobles and courtiers with their characteristic properties and everyday preferences - “whimsical disposition”, “hunting for horse races”, “exercises in dress”, passion for “to all Russian youth” (fist fighting, hound hunting, horn music). When creating the image of Murza, Derzhavin also had in mind “in general, ancient Russian customs and amusements.”
Thus, in Derzhavin’s “Felitsa,” ode and satire, intersecting with their ethical genre-forming guidelines and aesthetic features of the typology of artistic imagery, merge into one genre, which, strictly speaking, can no longer be called either satire or ode. “Felitsa” by Derzhavin continues to be traditionally called an “ode” only due to the odic associations of the theme. In general, this is a lyrical poem that has finally parted with the oratorical nature of the high solemn ode and only partially uses some methods of satirical world modeling.
The formation of a synthetic poetic genre belonging to the field of pure lyricism is the main achievement of Derzhavin in 1779-1783. And in total it poetic texts This period clearly reveals a process of restructuring of Russian lyric poetry in line with the same patterns that we have already had the opportunity to observe in journalistic prose, fiction, poetic epic and comedy of the 1760-1780s. With the exception of dramaturgy - fundamentally authorless in external forms of expressions of the kind verbal creativity- in all these branches of Russian fine literature, the result of crossing high and low worldviews was the activation of forms of expression of the author's, personal beginning. It is precisely the forms of expression of the personal author's principle through the category of the lyrical hero and the poet as a figurative unity that fuses the entire set of individual poetic texts into a single aesthetic whole that is the factor that determines the fundamental innovation of Derzhavin the poet relative to the national poetic tradition that preceded him.

Fonvizin was only 21 years old when he wrote his first comedy, “The Brigadier”; The inexperience and youth of the author can explain some of the shortcomings of this comedy, in which at the same time great talent is felt.

The disadvantages of comedy are the lack of action and some artificiality of the denouement. Characters are divided into two (groups: the foreman, the foreman and Ivanushka, their son; the adviser, the adviser and Sophia, the adviser’s daughter. The whole plot of the comedy is that the foreman is in love with the adviser, the adviser is in love with the foreman; Ivanushka and the adviser are in love with each other. Because of this confusion, comic scenes and conversations occur. Despite the poverty of the plot, the characters of some of the characters are outlined with talent and vividness, but with a certain caricatured exaggeration.

In the person of Ivanushka and the adviser, the type of petit-master and dandy is depicted. subtly noticed in this newfangled type the combination of external panache and imitation of European manners with extraordinary ignorance and rudeness. Ivanushka and the adviser sprinkle their speech with French words mixed with rude Russian expressions. Ivanushka was educated at a boarding school run by a French coachman who managed to instill in his pupils extreme contempt for everything Russian. Then Ivanushka visited Paris and returned from there a perfect petit master. “My body,” he says, “was born in Russia; however, the spirit belongs to the French crown.” Ivanushka is unusually stupid. From his stories it is clear that his appearance in Parisian salons always caused general laughter; he thought that everyone was happy about him and that everyone appreciated his qualities, not realizing that everyone was laughing at his stupidity. He apparently moved in the debauched and immoral environment of Parisians and was imbued with what was, in his opinion, a fashionable spirit of disrespect for parents, cynicism and immorality. “I,” he says, “am independent in everything that belongs to my father and mother”; alluding to his parents, he says that he “lives with animals.” Having learned that his father, just like himself, is in love with the adviser, Ivanushka is going to challenge him to a duel, saying that if “a youngster is not obliged to respect the dog who was his father,” then why does he owe his father “even the slightest respect?”

Ivanushka believes that teaching and scholarship are useless: “What is grammar for?” - he says, “I myself wrote a thousand bills, but it seems to me that “my light”, “my soul”, “AsIei, ta Goethe”, one can say without looking at the grammar.” “Lace and blondes make the best decoration for the head,” he tells the adviser. “Pedants think that this is nonsense, and that it is necessary to decorate the head from the inside, and not from the outside. What emptiness! Does the devil see what is hidden? but everyone sees from the outside.” The adviser completely agrees with Ivanushka: “Yes, my soul; I myself share the same sentiments with you; I see that you have powder on your head, but damn if there’s anything in your head, I can’t tell.” This is how elegantly this dandy expresses herself, who spends three hours every day at the toilet, trying on different hats. Her feelings are as raw as her expressions. When asked by the foreman, do her people receive their salaries in money or food? “Do horses eat their own oats, or purchased ones?” - “You’re kidding, joy,” the adviser answers, “why do I know what all this cattle eats?” Thus, she equates people to horses. The adviser had never been to France, but still learned to insert French words into her not always elegant speech. “That’s enough of a shame,” she says to her husband, “I’m willing to divorce you if you continue to pester me like that.”

The name of which the comedy is named is rather poorly outlined. This is the type of rude servant, a despot in his family, taking out on his wife everything with which he was “teased in the ranks,” “the guilt of every private.” The role of a man in love with a fashionable dandy, an adviser, does not suit him at all.

The adviser, a rogue and a bribe-taker, made a fortune for himself “by virtue of decrees” and “resigned the year the decree on extortion was issued.” He saw that he had nothing to do at the College. Remembering his past service, he tells his daughter with naive cynicism: “I myself was a judge; the guilty, it happened, pays for his guilt, and the right - for his truth,” thus he, like many other dishonest people, made a fortune for himself, while being able to interpret every law in his favor: “our brother, the judge, has twenty manners one decree can be interpreted,” says the adviser. In addition, he is also a hypocrite; he thinks that he can atone for his sins with external piety. “My freak,” the adviser says about him, “a terrible prude, he doesn’t miss mass or matins, and he thinks that for one all-night vigil he will be forgiven for everything that was stolen during the day.”

In the person of the foreman, Akulina Timofeevna, Fonvizin wanted to portray a stingy, stupid, ignorant woman.

Her stupidity and love for money really reach incredible proportions: when she hears that Ivanushka has lost something, she gets scared; but when her husband explains that Ivanushka has lost his mind, she sighs with relief: “Ugh, what an abyss! I was frozen, scared. I wondered if something was really missing.” Losing a wallet, in her opinion, is much worse than losing your mind. Despite her stupidity and eternal trembling over every penny, Akulina Timofeevna is depicted as a simple Russian woman, kind, responsive to the grief of others; she is infinitely devoted to her husband and patiently endures his rudeness. They think that Fonvizin portrayed a Moscow lady he knew in the person of the foreman. Akulina Timofeevna is, indeed, the most lively person in the play. “Your brigadier is dear to everyone,” Count Panin told the author, “no one can say that Akulina Timofeevna does not have the same grandmother, or aunt, or some kind of relative.”

The other characters in the comedy, Sophia and Dobrolyubov, are outlined very palely; These are reasoners, virtuous persons who do not have any characteristic features.

As already mentioned, “Brigadier” enjoyed great success in its time. The shortcomings of the comedy do not detract from its significance in the history of our literature, as the first comedy “in our morals” (Count Panin’s expression), in places very witty and funny.

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They were accused of borrowing heavily from Western writers. Such borrowings were found not only in letters and articles, but even in “Nedorosl” and “Brigadier”. In “The Brigadier,” even the basis of the plot and the character of one of the main characters (Ivanushka) are taken from Golberg’s comedy “Jean de France.” Nevertheless, the most cursory analysis shows that “The Brigadier” (see its full text and characteristics of the characters) remains an original comedy that grew organically in the process of development of Russian drama.

Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin

In relation to dramatic composition, Fonvizin follows in the five-act “Brigadier” the principles that Sumarokov had previously used for his small (no more than three acts) comedies. In The Brigadier there is no single plot movement that covers all the positions of the play and through them all its characters. It breaks up into a number of episodes more or less independent from each other. The love affair of the virtuous heroes, which should seem to connect these episodes, fades into the background and only occasionally emerges in the comedy. In this regard, in “The Brigadier”, in fact, there are no main, central characters (Dobrolyubov and Sophia play too small a role in the play). Groups of characters pass before the viewer, each with its own limited plot core; each of them carries its own "dramatic interest".

This is how the plan for this comedy was created, where one pair of lovers is followed by another, and all the threads of these novels are pulled together only in the final scenes, which bring out the love affairs of all the characters. This technique of comedy, in which almost all scenes are a deviation from the almost fictitious main intrigue, elevating comic situations to an end in themselves, goes back to the technique of sideshow-farce of the early 18th century (and maybe earlier). This technique of the repertoire, which had already become almost popular, was developed by Sumarokov, creating techniques for combining a whole series of interlude passages into a comedy of a larger volume, and finally, Fonvizin used it in a 5-act comedy.

Fonvizin. Brigadier. Audiobook (1 act)

An analysis of the principles of constructing the roles of “The Brigadier” also reveals Sumarokov’s techniques in them. Based on one or two comic touches, very specific and related to the everyday material of our time, a caricature is created, a bright, but simplified in its hyperbolic character (for example, the Brigadier is a stingy fool, or Ivanushka is a person in love with everything French). The characters are placed in sharply comic situations that emphasize their exaggerated ludicrousness. Fonvizin's comedy is filled with distinct everyday details; on stage they drink tea, play cards, talk about the little things of the household, etc. Its realism is emphasized by language that is very simple, even rude. However, individual speech characters (Russian-French in Ivanushka, soldier in the Brigadier), serving as one of the brightest ways to characterize these caricature characters, is itself constructed as a caricature, since it is entirely composed of elements that are hyperbolic in their characteristic comic style. Fonvizin’s desire, first of all, to make the viewer laugh was reflected in the fact that all his roles are filled with witticisms, comic tricks, etc.

"Brigadier." A comedy in five acts, written by the innovator of dramatic art Denis Fonvizin in 1769. Satirical comedy differs in realism.

Fonvizin very accurately depicted the conflict between virtue and immorality, intelligence and stupidity. The playwright wanted to show an environment where apathy, lack of spirituality and mental limitation reign, which means there can be no talk of any enlightenment.

The desire for European trends will not take root where it becomes just an unsuccessful parody. To start talking about lofty things, you must first overcome your own ignorance. D. created a whole study of the morals of society, which he embodied in “The Brigadier”.

So what is the plot of the famous play?

The play tells about a fairly ordinary everyday situation - a wedding. Brigadier Ignatiy Andreevich and his wife Akulina Timofeevna want a marriage between their son Ivan and the adviser’s daughter Sophia. The girl is incredibly beautiful and smart, unlike her dull fiancé.

Ivan was recently in Paris, where he picked up newfangled ideas, and now he inserts everywhere French words, considering himself “Russian in body and French in soul.” Sophia is not at all happy about such a marriage, unlike her mother, who has read too many romance novels.

In contrast to the wife’s stupidity is the Advisor, as well as Ivan’s parents, who are ordinary Russian nobles who do not see the need for grammar. True, the further the events develop, the more strongly it is felt that the other characters are not much different from Ivan in their judgments.

People who decide to become a family have no common interests: the brigadier is a military man, Akulina thinks only about the household, and the Advisor is busy only with his legal career. Ivan does not want marriage and calls his parents animals, and Sophia loves Dobrolyubov. But the adviser insists on marriage, hiding another more piquant reason for his decision. He fell in love with the foreman, and the foreman with the adviser.

Behind all these fake feelings and Ivan’s ignorance, only Dobrolyubov and Sophia look real. Only lovers do not have a chance to be together for a reason quite familiar to that society: the man has no money. It seems to Sophia that everyone around her is in love, only the love of these people is dishonest and shameful, while hers is based on good intentions and bright feelings.

It soon turns out that Ivan falls in love with the adviser and even confesses his feelings to her. They suit each other, for both are delighted with everything French. This scene, of course, is noticed by the rest of the relatives. An attempt to blame each other ends with the realization of the guilt of everyone in this house.

The foreman asked for the love of the adviser, and she was delighted with Ivan, and the adviser confessed to the foreman. As a result, everyone goes home and the wedding does not take place. Sophia is happy about this, who is now allowed to be happy with Dobrolyubov. Her love won, as did spirituality over ignorance. “They say that living with a conscience is bad: now I have learned that living without a conscience is worse than anything in the world!” These are the words the Advisor says, admitting his unworthy behavior.

Perhaps this phrase can be used to summarize what the author wanted to say, who wanted to show the immorality of society, the numerousness of their vices and the need to raise their spiritual level.