The story “The Childhood of Theme” by Garin-Mikhailovsky was written in 1892. This autobiographical work, in which the writer devoted special attention the period in which a person is most vulnerable, tender and helpless - childhood.
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Main characters
Artemy Kartashev (Theme)- a lively, restless boy with kind hearted and an inquisitive mind.
Other characters
Nikolay Semenovich Kartashev- Tema's father, a retired general, a straightforward, honest, firm man.
Aglaida Vasilievna Kratasheva- Tema’s mother, a kind, sensitive, understanding woman.
Zina- Tema's older sister, with whom he constantly conflicts.
Tanya- Tema’s favorite maid, a kind and friendly girl.
Vakhnov, Ivanov, Kasitsky, Danilov- Tema's classmates.
Chapter 1. Bad day
The morning of eight-year-old Tema began, as always, very joyfully. After hygiene procedures and breakfast, the boy went to the terrace, where he saw how “father’s favorite flower, which he had been fussing over so much,” bloomed.
“Tema’s little heart” trembled with happiness - he imagined how happy dad would be, and how they would go together to the head gardener botanical garden to show off this wonderful flower.
Due to overwhelming feelings, Tema wanted to kiss the flower, but, unable to keep his balance, he fell and broke it. Looking with horror at the broken flower, Tema would give anything “for everything to suddenly stop” and the trouble to pass by.
The boy imagined how his father, having learned about what he had done, would terribly punish him. Unable to bear this torment, Tema decided to rectify the situation and stuck the stem of a flower into the ground. Hiding in the kitchen, he was relieved to learn that his parents were getting ready to leave - the punishment was postponed.
Seeing his parents off, Tema kissed his mother especially warmly, and she suspected that the boy’s conscience was not clear. The father decided that such an upbringing would turn his son into “some kind of nasty slobber.”
Left without parental supervision, Tema began to play pranks with all his might. He climbed onto a fast horse and, after galloping a little, fell off it. Then he began to quarrel with Bonnie and fight with his older sister Zina.
Left alone, Tema invited Ioska, the dishwasher’s son, to play with him in exchange for pieces of sugar. The boy was caught stealing sugar by a German woman and his sister. Now you definitely can’t escape your father’s punishment!
When the thunderstorm began, Tema remembered that he had not seen his dog Zhuchka for a long time. He rushed outside to look for her, and at that moment he ran into his father.
Chapter 2. Punishment
Having revealed the “complete failure of the system of raising his son,” the father decided to punish him. Tema suggested cutting off his hands or giving them to the robbers, but his father decided otherwise. He began to spank the boy, despite his pleas to stop. For the first time, rage and hatred awoke in the child’s soul, and he bit his father’s hand. Unable to bear the screams, the mother ran into the office and stopped the spanking.
Chapter 3. Forgiveness
The mother noticed “the small figure of Tema lying on the sofa with his face buried.” Aglaida Vasilievna decided not to disturb him and went to her chambers. The woman reproached herself for allowing corporal punishment son. She believed that children should not be beaten, but explained, convinced and told - “this is the task of proper upbringing.”
Having learned that her son had not eaten anything all day, Aglaida Vasilievna was very upset. In the evening she prepared a bath for Tema and dimmed the lights. She knew that during the spanking Tema wet his pants, and ordered everyone to pretend as if nothing had happened.
Tema washed himself and, seeing the specially left bread, ate it. His beloved maid - kind and friendly Tanya - suggested that the boy wish Good night parents, and he reluctantly agreed.
Unable to bear the stress of the day, Tema cried bitterly, “hiding his face with his hands.” He told his mother about everything that had happened, and tears brought long-awaited relief to his soul. Aglaida Vasilyeva explained to her son that “being a coward and being afraid of the truth is shameful,” and he should have immediately confessed to what he had done - then there would have been no punishment.
Chapter 4. Old well
From his nanny, Tema learned that his favorite Bug “was thrown into an old well by some Herod.” The dog suffered, barked and squealed all day, but no one helped her. Tema had difficulty falling asleep, and in the morning he felt “some kind of painful languor.”
Overcoming his weakness, the boy went to an abandoned well to help Bug. From the pitiful howl of the dog, “Tema’s heart sank painfully.” With great difficulty, he went down to the bottom of the well and took out the Bug. Theme's strength left him and he lost consciousness.
Tema woke up “lying on his bed” and with ice compresses on his head. He was very sick and was on the verge of death.
Chapter 5. Rented yard
Tema fought the disease all summer, and only by autumn “the child’s body took over.” In order for Tema to quickly regain his previous strength, his parents allowed him to “run and play in the hired yard.”
A spacious rented yard adjoined the house where the Kartashev family lived and was separated from it by a solid wall. Nikolai Semenovich rented this place, useless to him, to the Jew Leiba, who, in turn, rented out the hired yard in parts. On the territory of the courtyard there was a shop, a tavern, as well as tiny apartments, which Leiba “rented out to all the city’s poor people.” There were many dirty, but healthy and cheerful children who “ran around the yard all day long.”
Tema plunged into this completely new life for him with great surprise and no less pleasure. The piles of garbage, of which there were a great many in the yard, represented “inexhaustible sources of wealth and pleasure” for local boys. Tema did not notice how the year flew by during fun games with his new friends. During this time, he noticeably “grew, became stronger and developed.”
One day the guys entered the slaughterhouse without permission, where they were attacked by an angry bull. Only by a miracle did the butcher manage to save Tema, and he “took his ears as a farewell.” The boy decided to repay this humiliation and threw a stone at the butcher, breaking his face. The general stood up for his son, while Aglaida Vasilievna was deeply outraged by Tema’s act.
Chapter 6. Admission to the gymnasium
Tema entered the gymnasium and “put on his uniform for the first time” - he was very happy. He did not deny himself the pleasure of walking around the hired yard in his new uniform so that everyone would notice his new status.
Tema agreed to go with the guys to swim in the sea, where his uniform was stolen by some old man. He had to walk naked through the city streets, and he could hardly endure this unheard-of humiliation. While we were sewing new uniform, Tema was forced to stay at home, and he arrived at the gymnasium late.
There was an empty seat on the last desk, where the big guy, fourteen-year-old Vakhnov, was sitting. Because of him, Tema's first day at the gymnasium turned out to be extremely painful. However, he did not tell the director about Vakhnov, and he decided to expel him from the gymnasium.
The Kartashevs “went to explain themselves to the director.” At the pedagogical council it was decided to leave the topic on extra hour in the gymnasium as punishment.
Chapter 7. Everyday life
That same year, Zina also entered the gymnasium, and now brother and sister went to study together every morning. Tema loved to indulge in fantasies and was often late, for which he was constantly scolded by his teachers.
Vakhnov did not stop mocking the weaker and defenseless Tema, who invariably received bad grades for his behavior. Vakhnov bullied not only Theme, but also the weak teacher German language, suffering from a “severe, incurable” illness.
Tema told his mother about the sick teacher, and they went to visit him. There they met Tomylin, a natural history teacher whom all the students loved. Aglaida Vasilievna expressed gratitude to him for his teaching methods, as well as for his sensitivity and desire to protect “the child’s self-esteem.”
Zina and Tema did their homework together, “always under the direct supervision of their mother.” They were very different in their attitude to lessons: Zina was a diligent, hardworking student, while Tema tried in every possible way to evade his responsibilities.
After lessons, Tema wandered around the house a little, and then went to bed, because early in the morning he had to go to school - so a series of “boring, dreary days” flew by...
Chapter 8. Ivanov
The German teacher finally died, and a new teacher took his place. Somehow, unnoticed by himself, Theme “got along with his new neighbor, Ivanov.” The quiet and calm boy had a great influence on Tema - thanks to a new friend, he became addicted to reading, and already in the second grade he enthusiastically read Gogol, Main-Read, and Wagner.
Ivanov was an orphan and lived with relatives. Aglaida Vasilyevna immediately liked him and felt sorry for him. Tema told his mother that a friend had invited him to relax in their village in the summer. Aglaida Vasilievna agreed, but only on the condition that Tema would safely transfer to third grade.
Chapter 9. Sneaky
However, Tema's plans to go to the village in the summer were not destined to come true. One day Vakhnov decided to take revenge on his teacher French and stick a needle into his chair. He told Ivanov and Tema about this, but instead of approval he heard that it was “disgusting muck.”
When the teacher complained to the director about the evil prank, he brought Tema to his office and forced him to name the prankster. Vakhnov was expelled from the gymnasium, and Ivanov was also expelled, who, even under the threat of expulsion, could not “do something mean.” After this story, Tema felt disgusting.
He told the whole truth only to his mother, and she suggested that he pray and ask God for “firmness and strong will in moments of fear and danger.”
Chapter 10. To America
Tema became friends with Kasitsky and Danilov - only these boys from the whole class took pity on him after the unpleasant story with Ivanov and Vakhnov. The new friends decided to sit at the same desk.
Danilov, like the true son of the port captain, “slept and dreamed of the sea.” He “had long been able to both row and steer,” and invited Tema and Kasitsky to take a boat ride. Soon, “walks by the sea became a favorite pastime of friends.” In winter, when the sea froze, they simply walked along the shore, listening to Kasitsky’s fascinating stories.
One day the guys decided to go to America. They began saving money and even built a boat. However, they were unable to sail away, but they were not too upset - important exams were coming up.
Chapter 11. Exams
During the exams, Tema confidently held the line and told his parents that he was passing all subjects well. But it soon became clear that “he failed in three subjects,” and the parents had to personally appear to the director so that he would allow the careless student to retake.
Tema expected expressions of anger and reproaches against him, but his parents treated him with contempt for his poor knowledge, but most importantly, for his deception. Tormented by shame, he decided - “why shouldn’t he die?!” . Tema imagined how upset his parents would be, and an “evil, unkind feeling” stirred in his heart.
Without thinking twice, Tema carried out his plan and swallowed sulfur heads from matches. Fortunately, Tanya noticed Tema's intention in time, and he was saved.
The parents agreed with the director to retake the exams, and Tema “couldn’t tear himself away from the books” all week. After brilliantly passing all the subjects, the director noted that Tema, if desired, “could be the decoration of the gymnasium.”
Chapter 12. Father
The health of Nikolai Semenovich Kartashev began to deteriorate noticeably. “He became softer, more affectionate,” and more and more often sought the company of his family.
Tema shared his dream with his parents - to join the navy, and his father unexpectedly supported him. He began to tell the boy fascinating stories from his past military life, colorfully describing battles and relationships with comrades in arms.
Soon Nikolai Semenovich felt so bad that he went to bed and never got up again. The helplessness of the once brave general “pinched my heart and brought about involuntary tears.”
Before his death, Nikolai Semenovich managed to bless his children, and died at dawn. With the passing of his father, Tema’s childhood also ended...
Conclusion
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Vasily Vasilyevich Kapnist (1757-1823). "Sneak" - satirical comedy - late 18th century. Plot: the rich landowner Pravolov is trying to take away the estate from his neighbor, the landowner Pryamikov. Pravolov is a bastard, “he’s an evil sneak; that’s all.” He bribes officials, and is even ready to become related to the chairman of the citizens in order to achieve his goal. chambers. Honest Straight. encounters a gang of robbers. Dobrov (an honest clerk) characterizes the chairman of the Criminal Chamber as follows: “a true Judas and a traitor.” “The laws are holy, but the executors are dashing adversaries.” Pryamikov loves Sofia, the daughter of Krivosudov (chairman of the civil chamber). There is a song about “you have to take it.” Later it is used by Ostrovsky in “A Profitable Place”. In the end virtue triumphs. It must be said that Kapnist’s radicalism did not go further than the poetry of noble enlightenment. The comedy is written according to the canons of classicism: preserved unities, division of heroes into bad and good, 5 acts. First staged in 1798, it was then banned until 1805.
Vasily Vasilyevich Kapnist came from a wealthy background noble family, who settled under Peter I in Ukraine; here in the village of Obukhovka, which he later sang in poetry, he was born in 1757.
About Kapnist
Kapnist's years of study were spent in St. Petersburg, first at a boarding school, then at the school of the Izmailovsky Regiment. During Kapnist’s stay in the regiment, he met N.A. Lvov. Having transferred to the Preobrazhensky Regiment, he met Derzhavin. Since the 70s, Kapnist entered the literary circle Derzhavin, with whom he was friends until his death. Service activities occupied an insignificant place in Kapnist’s life. Until the end of his days, he remained a poet, an independent person, a landowner, alien to the desire for “the glory of this world.” He spent most of his life in his Obukhovka, where he was buried (he died in 1823).
Satirical comedy « Snitch", Kapnist’s main work, was completed by him no later than 1796, during the reign of Catherine II, but then it was neither staged nor published. The accession of Paul gave some hope to Kapnist. His aspirations were reflected in the dedication that preceded the comedy:
Monarch! having accepted the crown, you have truth on the throne
He reigned with himself...
I depicted the vice with Thalia’s brush;
Bribery, sneaking, exposed all the vileness,
And now I give it up to the ridicule of the world.
I am not vindictive from them, I am afraid of slander:
Under Paul's shield we are still unharmed...
In 1798, "Sneak" was published. On August 22 of the same year she appeared on stage for the first time. The comedy was a brilliant success, but Kapnist’s hopes for Paul’s patronage were not justified. After four performances of the play, on October 23, the highest order unexpectedly followed to ban it and withdraw printed copies from sale.
When writing his comedy, Kapnist used material from the process that he himself had to conduct with the landowner Tarnovskaya, who illegally appropriated part of his brother’s estate. Thus, Kapnist’s direct acquaintance with the predatory practices of the Russian judicial apparatus formed the basis of the plot of the comedy, and Russian reality served as material for the satire. The theme of “Sneak,” that is, the arbitrariness of the bureaucratic apparatus, has long attracted the attention of progressive Russian thought and served as the object of satire (Sumarokov, Novikov, Fonvizin, Khemnitser, etc.). The success of the comedy could also be facilitated by the fact that in the comedy one could see hints about the circumstances of Kapnist’s own court case. On Kapnist’s part it was like an appeal to the advanced public opinion, negatively disposed towards the bureaucratic apparatus.
The motif of a court hearing on stage is found even earlier in Racine’s comedy “Littles,” in Sumarokov’s comedy “Monsters,” in Verevkin’s play “It’s As It Should,” and in Beaumarchais’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”
In Beaumarchais's comedy it is revealed that the abuses of the court are based on its close connection with the entire system of public administration. Kapnist’s comedy is also permeated with the realization that judicial arbitrariness is not accidental, but inevitable, since it is based on the practice of power. At the end of the comedy, the Senate gives the guilty members of the Trial Chamber to trial in the Criminal Chamber. But all government agencies are bound by mutual responsibility. Foreman Dobrov consoles the perpetrators:
Indeed: he washes, he says, after all, a hand is a hand;
And with the criminal civil chamber
She really often lives with her friend;
Not so during any celebration
The manifesto will be moved under your mercy.
“The punishment of vice” and the “triumph of virtue” acquired an ironic connotation here.
The originality and strength of Kapnist's comedy lay in the depiction of the abuses of the judicial apparatus as typical phenomena Russian statehood his time. This was also its difference from Sudovshchikov’s comedy “An Unheard of Deed, or an Honest Secretary,” which was in many ways similar to “The Whistleblower” and was written under its influence. The satirical element of Sudovshchikov's comedy comes down to exposing the selfishness of one person - Krivosudov, and not a whole group of people, not a system, like Kapnist.
“Sneak” is a “high” comedy; It was written, as expected in this genre, in poetry. However, from classic style comedies of this kind - Molière's "The Misanthrope", "Tartuffe" or the prince's "The Braggart" - "Sneak" is significantly different in that it does not have a "hero", there is no central negative character: her hero is a “sneak”, the court, judicial procedures, the entire system of the state apparatus of the Russian Empire.
Conditional form high comedy with the observance of unity, with six-foot Alexandrian verse, she could not prevent the fact that internally, in the essence of the content, in “The Yabed” there is more from the bourgeois drama than from the comedy of the characters of classicism.
The traditional comedic motif, love overcoming obstacles, recedes into the background in Kapnist's play, giving way to a sharp picture of litigiousness, fraud and robbery. All the circumstances of the case, the fraudulent tricks of the judges, bribery, erasures in cases, and finally, the ugly court hearing - all this happens on stage, and does not hide behind the scenes. Kapnist wanted to show and showed with his own eyes the state machine of despotism in action.
There are no individual characters in Yabed, since each of the judicial officials is similar to Kapnist’s others in his social practice, in his attitude to business, and the difference between them comes down only to certain personal habits that do not change the essence of the matter. There are no personal comic characters in “The Snitch,” because Kapnist created not so much a comedy as a social satire, showing on stage a single group picture of the environment of bribe-takers and criminals, the world of bureaucracy, and sneakers in general.
In "Yabed" there is more horror and horror than comedy. Scene of officials drinking Act III from an externally farcical buffoonery it turns into a grotesque and symbolic depiction of the rampant gang of robbers and bribe-takers. And the feasting song:
Take it, there is no big science here;
Take what you can take.
What are we hanging our hands on?
Why not take it?
(Everyone repeats):
Take, take, take.
gives a gathering of drunken officials the character of a blasphemous rite, A. Pisarev, who read in 1828 at the Society of Amateurs Russian literature“A word of praise” to Kapnist, placed “Sneak” even higher than “The Minor” and brought Kapnist’s comedy closer to the comedies of Aristophanes. With this rapprochement, he undoubtedly wanted to emphasize the political nature of Yabeda.
In his speech, he dwells on the accusations brought against Kapnist by his contemporaries. The main accusation was that it was not a comedy, but “satire in action.” "Sneak" did not meet the main requirement for a classic comedy: the funny was not predominant in it. This was especially noted by contemporaries in relation to the bold drinking scene. A. Pisarev gave the following description of this scene: “After a drinking session... a gang of greedy people appears without a mask, and the very laughter they excite brings some kind of horror to the viewer. Are you thinking of attending a feast of robbers..."
In “Yabed,” the life of Krivosudov and his family takes place on stage: they play cards, receive guests, get drunk, and do business. But the depiction of everyday life does not become an end in itself; the everyday external plan is always accompanied by another, internal, sharply satirical one, the development of which determines the need to introduce certain aspects of everyday life. Thus, in Act III, during a game of cards, against the backdrop of the players’ remarks, the discussion of the possibility of choosing the right law in order to take away the estate from the owner and transfer it to the litigant Pravolov sounds especially ironic.
Also characteristic is the cult of ancient poetry, “Horatianism” and the epicureanism of Kapnist, who, starting from the late 1790s, translated a lot and freely adapted Horace. The craving for the distant was also reflected here. ancient culture, unlike living social reality, and a craving for a finished and aestheticized poetic style. Kapnist sees in Horace a teacher in renunciation of the vital interests of life, in disappointment from careless hopes; He interprets Anacreontism as a poetry of light and somewhat sentimental consolation, revealing dreamy happiness in the fleeting joys of the soul. The finishing of the language, the harmony of the sound composition of the verse, the calculation in each turn of the phrase, the selection of a specific poetic vocabulary - all this subtle work on the verse in Kapnist’s lyrics goes in the direction of creating the poetic culture that the young Pushkin received from the Karamzinists.
However, Kapnist’s refusal political activity in the field of his lyrical creativity, the pessimistic and sentimental moods that possessed him especially from the very end of the 1790s did not make him a reactionary in principle even at that time. Back in the 1790s, he could be indignant at the orders of the Russian autocracy and could openly oppose them. And later, we cannot forget that Kapnist’s sons were members of Decembrist organizations, and the sons of his closest friend I.M. Muravyov-Apostol were the most prominent figures in the Decembrist uprising.
"Sneak" by Kapnist. Kapnist’s free-thinking was clearly expressed in his most significant work, the famous comedy “Sneak,” which was popular until mid-19th V.
“Sneak” is a comedy-satire about officials and, in particular, about court officials, about injustice, which not only was not eradicated by Catherine’s legislation, but also spread after its implementation. When writing his comedy, Kapnist used material from the trial that he himself had to conduct, defending himself from a certain landowner Tarkovsky, who illegally appropriated part of his estate. This litigation served as the reason for the composition of “Sneak”. The comedy was completed by Kapnist no later than 1796, during the reign of Catherine II, but then it was neither staged nor published. Then Kapnist made some changes to it and shortened it in places), and in 1798 it was published and simultaneously staged on the St. Petersburg stage. She was a success; There were four performances in a row. September 20 was set for the fifth, when suddenly Paul I personally ordered that the comedy be banned from production and copies of its publication withdrawn from sale. "Yabeda" was released from the ban only in 1805, already under Alexander I.
The plot of "The Yabeda" is a typical story of one trial. “The Snitch,” a clever swindler, a specialist in litigation, Pravolov, wants to take away the estate from the honest, straightforward officer Pryamikov without any legal grounds; Pravolov acts with certainty: he diligently distributes bribes to judges; The chairman of the civil court chamber is in his hands, takes bribes from him and is even going to become related to him by marrying his daughter to him. Pryamikov, firmly hoping for his right, is convinced that nothing can be done with the right against bribes. The court had already awarded his estate to Pravolov, but, fortunately, the government intervened in the matter, and the outrages of the civil chamber and Pravolov came to its attention. The latter is arrested, and the members of the court are put on trial; Pryamikov marries the judge's daughter, the virtuous Sofia, whom he loves and who loves him.
The theme of “Sneak,” the rampant tyranny and robbery of officials, was an acute, topical topic, necessary in the time of Kapnist and much later, in the 19th century, which has not lost its interest. The comedy was written in the 1790s, at the time of the final strengthening of the bureaucratic and police apparatus created by Potemkin, then Zubov and Bezborodko and, finally, especially flourishing under Paul I. Bureaucracy has long been the enemy of independent social thought; the bureaucracy carried out the arbitrariness of the despot and repeated it on a smaller scale “on the ground.” The bureaucracy, people loyal to the government, bought by the fact that they were given the opportunity to rob the people with impunity, was opposed by the government to attempts to create and organize a noble progressive society. Even a nobleman felt the shackles of the offices, the clerical tricks of the “sneak”, if he himself did not want or could not become a partner in the mutual responsibility of the authorities, higher or lower, if he could not be a nobleman and did not want to be some kind of bribe-taking assessor. To "sneak", i.e. Kapnist attacked the bureaucracy, its wild arbitrariness, corruption, and arbitrariness in his comedy, also from the position of the noble community. Belinsky wrote that Yabeda belongs to the historically important phenomena Russian literature, as a bold and decisive attack of satire on chicanery, sneaking and extortion, which so terribly tormented the society of the past” (op. cit.).
You. You. Kapnist is a progressive, liberal-minded noble writer. Began lit. activity in 1780 " Ode to Hope", in which civil and political motives are visible. IN " Ode to slavery”, which appeared after the decree on the enslavement of peasants of some Ukrainian governorships (K. was Ukrainian), expressed anti-serfdom ideas. Tears, grief, tirades against tyranny. When Catherine issued a decree where she allowed not “slave” but “loyal subject” to be signed on official papers (a big deal), K. wrote “Ode to the extermination of the title of slave in Russia,” where he praised Catherine in every possible way.
Entered friendly circle of Lvov together with Khemnitser, Derzhavin. The motifs of the poetry of the circle members are also characteristic of K.’s poetry: the glorification of peace, silence, solitude, the joy of communication with family and friends.
In the most significant work " Snitch» K. denounces legal proceedings, chicanery, bribery and other social vices. K. managed to reveal this social evil as a phenomenon typical. Lawlessness is the system of the entire bureaucratic state. The rampant tyranny and robbery of officials is the theme of “I.” K. himself had to face judicial procedures, which gave the comedy a vitally truthful character.
The rich landowner Pravolov, an “evil sneaker,” is trying to take away the estate from his neighbor, the landowner Pryamikov. Pravolov bribes officials of the Civil Chamber, even preparing to become related to its chairman in the interests of the case. Type of landowner Pravolov characteristic for Russian landowners. Honest Pryamikov encounters an organized and powerful gang of robbers. It seems that there is no fall on bribe takers - because the same rules reign in other institutions of Russia.
"I." amazed with its life's truthfulness. K.'s public indignation is especially evident in the scenes of the officials' drinking bout and the court hearing. At the end of the comedy, vice is punished - although this does not inspire bright hopes. The comedy was highly appreciated Belinsky.
"I." written according to the rules classicism: 5 acts, unity, strictly + and – characters, speaking names(Khvatayko, Krivosudov, drunkard Bulbulkin). Iambic verse and live colloquial speech, aphorism, sayings. Realistic tendencies: satirical orientation and typically generalized images, language.
"I." was staged in 1798, but after 4 performances it was “highly” prohibited.
Brief retelling"Sneaks"
This stupid "Sneak" was found only in a slightly abbreviated version in a textbook, but excuse me. It is not available in its entirety either in the library or on the Internet. Here, half is my retelling, half is a rewritten retelling of their anthology (just the missing actions).
Characters: Pravolov (retired assessor), Krivosudov (chairman of the Civil Chamber), Fekla - his wife, Sofia - his daughter, Pryamikov (lieutenant colonel, employee), Bulbulkin, Atuev, Radbyn - members of the Civil Chamber, Parolkin, Khvataykin (prosecutor), Kokhtin ( secretary of the General Directorate), Dobrov (supervisor), Anna (Sofia’s servant), Naumych (Pravolov’s trustee), Arkhip (Pravolov’s servant).
Everything happens in Krivosudov’s house. Pryamikov and Dobrov meet. Pryamikov tells Dobrov that he came to this house because of his neighbor, Pravolov, who, when Pryamikov returned from the army, started a lawsuit with him. Pravolov has already lost in two courts, and now he has come to the Civil Court. And Dobrov tells him everything: that Pravolov is an evil sneaker, a swindler, a selfish scoundrel who knows who needs to be paid and bribed to get his way. Krivosudov is a bribe-taker and also a bastard. The members of the council are all drunkards, the assessors are gamblers, the prosecutor is “to tell me in rhyme, the most significant thief.” The secretary is also one of their gang, he “steals” any document. Pryamikov says that the law is his shield, and Dobrov says: “the laws are holy, but the executors are dashing adversaries” (in general, it must be said, the language in the work is aphoristic and pleasant).
Dobrov reports that Krivosudov has a double holiday today: his name day and his daughter’s conspiracy. Pryamikov says that he met Sophia and fell in love with her even before leaving for the army, at his aunt’s in Moscow, where she was raised. Pryamikov asks Krivosudov for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but receives an evasive answer.
Krivosudov and Dobrov are talking. K. says that he wants to find a groom for his daughter so that he can earn money, and he already has someone in mind. Dobrov says that three cases in three years were never resolved: one’s neighbors took possession of his property and burned his house, the landowner put some of the nobles on a per capita salary, and another was beaten in the landowner’s yard for a land dispute; Krivosudov makes an excuse in the spirit that, they say, they did it themselves.
Pravolov and Naumych give gifts to Krivosudov; Pravolov is invited to dinner. Naumych starts talking about his “rival” - Pryamikov, who loves Sofia; Pravolov replies, looking at the gifts, that he has everything under control.
Then the chairman of the chamber, officials, and the prosecutor, bribed by Pravolov, during a drinking binge, decide to take away Pryamikov’s estate based on Pravolov’s false claim. The next morning, Pryamikov comes to Krivosudov to warn him about the trouble threatening the Civil Chamber for previous cases that were wrongly decided in favor of the snitch Pravolov. However, Fekla, who decided to marry Sophia to Pravolov, kicks Pryamikov out of the house. The assembled officials sign the wrong verdict.
Pravolov is brought the sent order: the Senate decided to take Pravolov into custody for robbery, robbery, dissipation, and conduct a strict search of all public places, and transport all other scoundrels to the public chamber. He runs away in horror. Then others read this document and are also horrified (only Dobrov is happy, he is kind). Then Thekla finds out about this and is indignant for a long time - they say, “Is it really only the court where thieves have settled in?” And then Pryamikov comes and says - you know, despite this whole situation, I haven’t stopped loving Sofia and I want to marry her. Feka and Krivsudov are already completely in favor. Happy ending - the culprits are punished, everyone gets married, but it is clear that in general nothing will happen to the scammers.
V. V. Kapnist’s comedy “The Yabeda,” created in 1796, at the end of the century, inherits the tradition of national drama in its entirety.
“Sneak” and “Nedorosl”: the tradition of prose
high comedy in the poetic variety of the genre
“Sneak” is specifically associated with the mirror of life in the minds of close contemporaries.
The general identification of theater and drama with a mirror by the end of the 18th century. became an indispensable reality of emerging aesthetics and theatrical criticism. It was the comedy “The Yabeda,” perceived by contemporaries as a mirror of Russian morals, that became a kind of semantic focus of Russian high comedy of the 18th century. First of all, the proximity is obvious love line“Sneaks” corresponding to the plot motif of “The Minor.” In both comedies, the heroine, bearing the same name Sophia, is loved by an officer (Milon and Pryamikov), who was separated from her by the circumstances of his service.
In both comedies, the heroine was brought up in an environment far from the material life of Prostakov’s estate and the crooked court house. In both “The Minor” and “The Yabed,” the heroine faces a forced marriage for the selfish motives of the groom’s family.
In both comedies, lovers owe their final happiness to the intervention of an external force
The pun word becomes the main means of differentiation of the figurative system and an artistic technique for recreating a world image split into an idea and a thing.
The functions of a pun word in the comedy “Sneak”: characterological, effective, genre-forming, world-modeling.
The word in “Sneak” begins to play with meanings, the word “Sneak” is a self-exposure of that “social disaster”, which means: “Sneak” - “I - trouble." The very name of the comedy marks the playful nature of its verbal plan, thereby forcing us to see the main action of the comedy in it.
The pun in “Yabed” has not only a playful, but also a functional purpose: it differentiates the figurative system of comedy; the first level at which it manifests its activity is characterology.
Being applied to “edible” and “drinkable” in the words of Fekla Krivosudova, it emphasizes precisely the everyday, material perversion of the spiritual concept of “good”. It is used equally by all comedy characters; its meaning in a given speech characteristic becomes the main device general characteristics character.
A wallet can symbolize only one thing: self-interest, incompatible with the dignity of a human concept.
For Pryamikov, the main thing in litigation is not the material good (estate), but the spiritual good - right and love.
But for a group of Krivosudov’s characters, “good” and “good” are tangible material things, and the word “thank” means literally “to give good” - to give a bribe with food, clothing, money and material values
The pun “Sneak” emphasizes two functional aspects of the word, verbal and effective. Both of them are covered by the same verbal form, but at the same time the word means one thing, and the deed indicated by it looks completely different.
The semantic leitmotif of Kapnist’s comedy - the opposition of the concepts of “word” and “deed” - is realized in the stage action.
In “Yabed”, “word” and “deed” are absolutely opposite: Pryamikov’s right word and Pravolov’s deceitful deed.
The plot of “Sneak” is based on a trial, and therefore the concept of “case” immediately appears in the comedy in its two lexical meanings: action-deed and document. As for Pryamikov, in his understanding, a court case can be resolved by verbal action; attempts run into the blank wall of irrevocability of the pure word in the material environment of the Krivosudovsky court house, where the material embodiment of the word in a written document, paper is preferable.
Features of the denouement and typology of the hero-ideologist in Russian high comedy.
“Sneak” has a double denouement: the first is internal, flowing from the action of the comedy itself, the second is external, provoked by forces invading the comedic world image from outside it. The first denouement of Yabeda - the decision of the Civil Chamber in the Pryamikov-Pravolov case - is typically tragic. In the verbal and colloquial matter of Russian drama, deprivation of a name is tantamount to murder, and this is exactly what happens to Pryamikov in the court ruling, on paper; Moreover, deprivation of a name is complemented by deprivation of property.
Thus, by the decision of the Civil Chamber, Pryamikov was immediately erased from two spheres of reality of the 18th century: ideal, where a person is identical to his name, and material, where he is the owner of his estate; therefore, Bogdan Pryamikov is declared non-existent, which is functionally equivalent to violent death.
The second denouement of “The Yabeda” has also long and rightly raised doubts among researchers about their well-being. The Senate trial turns out to be nothing more than an “empty word” with no visible consequences:
The highest good of power and law, which in its everyday interpretation turns into its own punning antonym: the whim of tyrannical arbitrariness and judicial lawlessness.
The word “law” in the singular in “Sneak” is practically synonymous with the concept of “good” in the highest sense (goodness, justice, justice).
Already in these remarks, where the concept of “law” is translated into the plural of the word “laws,” the opposition of meanings is obvious: the clear unambiguity of the law - and the endless variability of laws, turning them into a plastic mass, obedient to the subjective arbitrariness of a selfish official.
A law that justifies the guilty and a law that ruins the just is no longer law, but lawlessness.
It is no coincidence that the quantitative opposition “one - many” has already been formed in “Sneak” by the confrontation between the law-truth and the laws-lie.
The potential associativity of the hero with the Gospel Son of God, the incarnate Word, the Logos, an integral attribute of which is his goodness and his truth, is steadily growing; this potential associativity is especially clearly manifested in the image of Pryamikov:
First of all, in “Yabed” it is unknown where Pryamikov came from to the settled life of the Krivosudovsky house
The motive for desecration of the highest truth and the nominal murder of Pryamikov: deprivation of name and property.
In one of the intermediate versions of the text, “Sneak” was supposed to end with a kind of “silent scene”, allegorically depicting Justice - the idea of the Last Judgment.
Most clearly, the tendency to synthesize the odic and satirical, ideological and everyday, conceptual and plastic world images was expressed in the lyrics, which are still especially clearly differentiated according to their genre characteristics.