Ideals and views of Chatsky (Griboyedov)
The action of A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” takes place in those years when the split in the noble environment became more and more obvious. It was the beginning of the 20s of the XIX century. The influence of the ideas of French enlighteners, the growth of Russian national identity after the War of 1812 and foreign trips united many young nobles in their quest to change society. But most of the Russian nobility remained deaf or hostile to new trends. It was this situation, this conflict that Griboyedov captured in his work.
The main conflict of comedy is the conflict of two worldviews, the clash of the “present century” with the “past century.” In comedy there is also a second conflict - love (there is even a classic love triangle: Chatsky - Sophia - Molcha-lin), but it is not the main one, although both conflicts are closely intertwined and complement each other, both of them find their resolution at the end of the play.
The bearer of new, progressive ideas is Alexander Chatsky, his ideological opponent in comedy is the entire Famus society. Why was their collision inevitable? Because Chatsky's ideals and views did not and could not coincide with the views and ideals of Famusov. First of all, they have different views on service. If for Famusov service is only a source of rank and wealth, then for Chatsky it is the civic duty of every young nobleman. Chatsky is ready to serve, but “to a cause, not to persons,” to the Fatherland, and not to a higher official. He tried to serve, he even knew the ministers, but then he retired and broke off his previous acquaintances, as he was convinced that it was impossible to serve honestly without being served at that time. Chatsky responds to Famusov’s advice to “go serve”: “I would be glad to serve, it’s sickening to be served.”
In the monologue “And indeed, the world has begun to grow stupid,” he speaks indignantly about those officials who “not in war, but in peace, took it head on, hit the floor without regret!” Chatsky calls the past century very precisely: “The century of obedience and fear was direct.” But for Famusov it was a “golden” age; It’s not for nothing that he sets Chatsky’s uncle Maxim Petrovich as an example, who, having stumbled at the reception, managed to make the queen laugh and win her favor. For Skalozub and Molchalin, career is the most important thing in life, and they are ready to achieve ranks by any means, even humiliation and flattery. Skalozub’s dream is “if only I could become a general.”
Alexander Andreevich appears in the comedy as a fierce opponent of serfdom. And this is understandable: he expresses the views on the social structure of Russia not only of the author himself, but also of many of his Decembrist friends, who believed that an educated, enlightened person should not rule over other people. Chatsky speaks with anger about a certain serf owner, “Nestor of the noble scoundrels,” who exchanged his faithful servants, who more than once saved his life and honor “in hours of wine and fights,” for “three greyhounds.” Chatsky in the monologue “Who are the judges?” denounces those “fatherland of fathers” who, “rich in robbery,” “found protection from court in friends, in kinship, built magnificent chambers where they indulge in feasts and extravagance,” exposes “the meanest traits of their past lives.” Myself
Chatsky treats the people with great respect, he calls them “our smart, cheerful people.” It is impossible to imagine Chatsky in the role of a serf owner; it is not for nothing that Famusov advises him not to manage the “estate by mistake.” Chatsky values a person by his intelligence, education, and not by the number of serf souls or rank. Therefore, for him, a certain Foma Fomich, a famous and important official, is just “the most empty person, the most stupid.” Chatsky stands up for personal freedom, for the right of a person to decide his own destiny: to serve or not to serve, to engage in science or art, to live in a village or in a city. Chatsky is a supporter of enlightenment, education, and all these Chatsky's views cause horror of rejection among his ideological opponents.
Chatsky's ideals and views- This Ideals and views true patriot; he speaks sarcastically about a certain Frenchman from Bordeaux, who, at an evening in Famusov’s house, told the assembled guests “how he prepared for the journey to Russia, to the barbarians, with fear and tears,” but when he arrived, “he found that there was no end to the caresses, no I didn’t meet a Russian sound or a Russian face...” This Frenchman felt like a “little king,” and Chatsky yearns with all his soul,
So that the unclean Lord destroys this spirit
Empty, slavish, blind imitation...
In the comedy, Chatsky is tragically alone, he has no supporters among the main characters, but there are two off-stage characters whom we can classify as supporters of the main character. This is, first of all, Skalozub’s cousin, who unexpectedly retired and “began reading books in the village,” and Princess Tugoukhovskaya’s nephew, about whom she indignantly says: “The official doesn’t want to know! He is a chemist, he is a botanist, Prince Fyodor, my nephew.”
In a clash with Famus society, Chatsky is defeated. This defeat was inevitable, since there were still too few Chatskys in society. As I wrote in critical study“A Million Torments” by I. A. Goncharov: “Chatsky is broken by the amount of old strength, inflicting a mortal blow on it in turn with the quality of fresh strength.” But Goncharov called people like Chatsky “advanced warriors, skirmishers” who are the first to enter battle and almost always die. But thoughts, ideas, Chatsky's ideals and views did not go to waste, such Chatskys will come out to Senate Square December 14, 1825, where they will collide with the world of the Famusovs, the Silent-Links and the Skalozubs.
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Alexander Andreevich Chatsky - main character comedy by A. S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit", which, according to the author's contemporaries, was similar to the author himself.
Chatsky is a nobleman. He, like the daughter of his antipode Pavel Afanasyevich Famusov, studied with tutors, as well as with Russian and foreign teachers. He translated and wrote works of art, tried to become a military man, traveled a lot - searched for intelligence.
He never settled on any specific profession, because he did not want to serve: “I would be glad to serve, but being served is sickening.” With bitterness and passion, he opposes serfdom, condemning the landowners who, having a theater in their possession, admiring art, do not give freedom to the actors. Chatsky does not understand why the ideal for young people should be the 18th century nobleman Maxim Petrovich, who earned respect for the fact that many times, like a buffoon, he fell to his knees before Catherine the Second. Alexander Andreevich is surprised that there are such warriors in society... as Colonel Skalozub, who received ranks and titles at the expense of his killed comrades. With bitterness, Chatsky says that Russians will soon stop communicating in their language; their lot is a mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod. This, in the deep conviction of the rebel, happens because children are raised by tutors - foreigners who were not involved in pedagogy at all in their homeland.
Chatsky expresses his views in monologues and dialogues, talking with guests in Famusov’s house. Our romantic hero has no friends. His peers prefer to be “businesslike,” “submissive,” to pursue a career and serve individuals. This, according to Alexander Chatsky, reduces the interest of his contemporaries in high ideas and national culture. Meanwhile, the Russian people, the vigorous Russian people with unspoiled taste, are economically dependent and suffering.
In "Woe from Wit" there are two storylines: social and love. Both of them end in nothing for our hero. Why? Chatsky is sincerely in love with Famusov’s daughter Sophia. The girl prefers the quiet Molchalin to him. She doesn't like ardor, criticism young man, whom she had known since childhood. At first she simply turns away, then throws impartial remarks to the side, and then even notices that Chatsky is crazy.
Chatsky is a fighter. He does not know how to lie, his mind is active, filled with ideas for transforming society. The speech is bright. He knows a lot of proverbs and sayings, knows how to use them appropriately and foreign words. But not one of his talents can be appreciated where they live in the old fashioned way, where the educated and spiritually despised wonderful people. Alexander Andreevich Chatsky leaves Moscow. But he is a winner, because he became a troublemaker and forced him to think differently. Only geniuses are capable of this. And behind them is the future.
A. S. Griboedov is a great Russian writer, diplomat, one of the most educated people of his time. His main work was and remains the comedy “Woe from Wit,” the secret of whose immortality lies in the fact that the author surprisingly accurately recreated the atmosphere of life of noble society in the twenties of the nineteenth century, described the thoughts, moods, and morals that reigned in those circles.
Griboedov's life was closely connected with the Decembrist movement: he fully shared the hatred of the first Russian revolutionaries for autocracy and serfdom. Therefore, the main character of the comedy “Woe from Wit” Chatsky is the most accurate and generally accepted personification in literature of the image of the Decembrist, advanced person of its time.
Chatsky is a young educated nobleman. Hoping to relieve boredom, he traveled a lot. At the beginning of the play, Chatsky appears in Famusov's house after a three-year absence. This is how this Moscow gentleman characterizes him:
It does not serve, that is, he does not find any benefit in it,
But if you wanted, it would be businesslike,
It's a pity, it's a pity, he's small in head,
And he writes nicely and moves on.
In the first act of the play, Griboedov talks about Chatsky’s personal drama, which gradually develops into a social conflict between the “present century” and the “past century.”
Serfdom, careerism and veneration of rank, slave morality and silence, ignorance, admiration for everything foreign and disdain for national culture - all this comes under harsh criticism from Chatsky, the man new era, affirming the advanced ideas of our time.
The protagonist of the comedy proclaims respect for to the common man. He dreams of a time when the cruelty of the landowners will be forgotten forever and all people will become free and equal.
Chatsky does not serve, that is, he does not find any benefit in it, because in lordly Moscow, and throughout Russia, careerism and sycophancy flourish. “I’d be glad to serve, but it’s sickening to listen,” he says to Famusov with indignation. The ideals of his youth aroused in Chatsky a passionate desire to serve the fatherland. But he experienced many disappointments, since titles were earned not by deeds, but by flattery. Chatsky refuses to “have patrons yawn at the ceiling, // Show up to be silent, shuffle, have lunch, // Set up a chair, lift up a scarf.”
Fear of change, life in the old fashioned way are also condemned by Chatsky: Judgments are drawn from forgotten newspapers from the times of the Ochakovskys and the conquest of the Crimea.
Chatsky, like a fresh wind, burst into the musty world of the Moscow nobility and discovered the ignorance and lack of education of the representatives high society. Why do these people want “so that no one knows or learns to read and write”? Because they are afraid smart people, who express “dangerous” ideas and want to change this conservative world, so that in the new society there would be no place for either the famus, or the silent, or the skalozub, or the whip.
Chatsky proclaims freedom of thought and expression and longs for the prosperity of the sciences and arts:
Now let one of us
Among the young people, there will be an enemy of quest,
Without demanding either places or promotion,
He will focus his mind on science, hungry for knowledge;
Or God himself will stir up heat in his soul
To the creative, high and beautiful arts...
Foreign culture dominated in Griboyedov's Moscow. The nobles spoke French, dressed in French fashion, read French books, invited foreign tutors, sometimes far from enlightenment. Chatsky advocates the preservation of Russian culture, understanding that a person cannot be considered a citizen of his own country, professing foreign customs, traditions, language and morals:
As we have been accustomed to believe since early times,
That without the Germans we have no salvation!
Chatsky condemns the meaning of life of representatives Famusov society- “and take awards and have fun” - and proclaims service to the people and homeland as an undeniable truth advanced people new era.
“During sharp transitions from one century to another, the Chatskys live and are not transferred in society, repeating themselves at every step; in every house where the old and the young coexist under one roof, where two centuries come face to face in crowded families, the struggle between the new and the outdated, the sick and the healthy continues,” wrote I. A. Goncharov in the article “A Million of Torments” .
Humanity will always move forward, and in any country you will meet both Famusovs and Chatskys. A. S. Griboyedov’s play “Woe from Wit” remains the main work of the Decembrist era: its freedom-loving hero is truly the personification of courage, nobility and humanism.
Plan
- About the comedy "Woe from Wit".
- What is tormenting Chatsky?
- Hatred of serfdom
- To the feudal landowners
- The plight of the people
- The vices of Famus society
- Duty to the Fatherland
- Personal drama
- Loneliness
- Hatred of serfdom
- What did Chatsky’s torment lead to?
The comedy "Woe from Wit" was written in the first third of the 19th century. This time is characterized by a difficult political situation. In Russia, awakened by the war of 1812, a wave of protest against serfdom rises. Secret societies are emerging in progressive circles. There is a clash between two socio-political camps. In the comedy, Griboedov depicted this conflict with historical accuracy. The main character of the comedy, Chatsky, enters into a fight with Famus society, and his torment begins.
What is tormenting Chatsky?
The main thing is those public relations that existed in Russia. Serfdom was hated by every free-thinking person. Chatsky is depicted in the comedy not just as a “desert sower of freedom,” but as a future Decembrist:
"...a million torments
Breasts from friendly vices,
Feet from shuffling, ears from exclamations,
And all sorts of trifles are worse than my head.”
With anger and pain, he denounces ardent serf owners in his monologues. His words about “Nestor of the ignorant nobles,” about the landowner-balletomane, sound like hatred.
Chatsky is a humanist, defender of freedom and independence of the individual. He is especially angry at the landowners’ bullying of the peasant’s personality:
"Cupids and zephyrs are all
Sold out individually!!!”
Chatsky loves the people, calls them “kind and smart,” hence his suffering about the fate of the people. The vices of Famus society especially make Chatsky suffer. This society slows down everything progressive and blocks its path to the people. They especially hate education:
“Learning is a plague,
Learning is the reason
What is worse now than then,
Crazy people got divorced
Both deeds and opinions.”
The fact that society fiercely resists the influence of noble ideas deals a blow to Chatsky’s philosophy and adds to his torment.
These people see the ideal in the army. This is a product of the era of Arakcheev, who saw the army as a stronghold of serfdom. Holds on cliff teeth serfdom and the throne, which is why they are so dear to the Famus family and hated by Chatsky.
“Uniform! One uniform!
He is in their former life
Once covered, embroidered and beautiful,
Their weakness, their poverty of reason..."
The tailcoat of a foreigner also evokes admiration, which is also painful for Chatsky to see. He speaks of a “Frenchman from Bordeaux” who in Russia did not encounter “neither the sound of a Russian nor a Russian face.” Chatsky opposes “empty, slavish, blind imitation.” But when Chatsky utters these words, everyone is convinced that he is crazy.
The image of Chatsky is the image of a citizen in the high sense of the word. Chatsky contrasts the slave morality of the Famus and Silent people with a high understanding of honor and duty; he is ready to serve the Motherland and its interests. “I would be glad to serve, but being served is sickening.” This also contains the hero’s suffering. High understanding of duty – bright side Chatsky's personality. The tragic collision between duty and feeling tragically ends everything in Chatsky’s soul. He is haunted by the thought that he is alone: “And in the crowd I am lost,” he says. Chatsky dealt a crushing blow to lordly Moscow, to its aces, who not only live, but also die.
Griboyedov was the first in Russian literature to create realistic image positive hero of his time, who embodied in his worldview and character the real features and appearance of the Decembrist.
Chatsky in the comedy “Woe from Wit” is contrasted with the camp of old Moscow, the enemies of free thought and enlightenment. This is a representative of the new younger generation, following different paths than Famusov and Molchalin. This is how Griboyedov’s hero introduces himself:
Without demanding either places or promotion,
In science he will focus his mind, hungry for knowledge,
Or God himself will stir up heat in his soul
To the creative arts “high and beautiful.”
Chatsky is a humanist, defender of freedom and personal independence. He contrasts the slave morality of the Famusovs and Molchalins with a high understanding of honor and duty, public role and human responsibilities. A free and independent way of thinking instead of silent worship before the “opinions of others”, independence and proud dignity instead of servility and flattery before superiors, service to a cause and not to individuals in the name of honor and the good of the homeland - these are the moral principles of the main character of the comedy. He passionately defends the rights of reason and deeply believes in its power, in the power of the word.
This is the meaning of Chatsky’s spiritual drama. He suffers grief from his mind, which is deep in its critical attitude towards the selfish and unreasonable world of famus and rock-toothed people, but still weak in determining the right ways to fight for the transformation of reality.
As already mentioned, Chatsky was a true representative of the Age of Enlightenment. He saw the reasons for the ugliness of life in the irrationality of society. The hero believed that the serf system could be changed and corrected through the influence of noble humane ideas. But life dealt a terrible blow to these hopes and dreams, shattering not only Chatsky’s social but also personal hopes.
But not only Chatsky, but the entire Famus world experiences grief from his own mind. After all, the main character felt like a human being." this century“and did not at all realize that he was alone. And, despite their “grief,” the Chatskys deal a terrible blow to the world of the Famusovs, the Silencers and the Skalozubs. The calm and carefree existence of this society ended: its philosophy of life was condemned and they rebelled against it. And if the Chatskys are still weak in their struggle, then the Famusovs are powerless to stop the development of enlightenment and advanced ideas.
So, central problem and the most important ideological dispute of the comedy is the contradictory attitude of the heroes to the “mind”.
Woe from Wit is a situation when a person lives guided by an internalized system of stereotypes. Chatsky in this sense is no different from others. His tragedy is in excess of enthusiasm with insufficient understanding of his real goals.