ABOUT

Sumarokov also had his say in the comedy genre. By exposing human vices in a funny way, exposing them, comedy should thereby contribute to liberation from them. Comedy must be separated from tragedy, on the one hand, and from farcical games, on the other. Sumarokov nevertheless turned to the practice of people. theater They are small in volume (1-3 acts), written in prose, and often lack a plot basis. (Let’s pray to Santa Nikolaus once again - how good it is that he will no longer be there J), characterized by farcical comedy, characters - clerk, judge, etc., note. Sumarokov in Russian. life. Trying to imitate the French. The comedies of Moliere and Sumarokov are far from the comedies of Western classicism (5 acts, in verse, compositional rigor, completeness, etc.). Imitation of the French comedy was reflected in the borrowing of character names: Erast, Isabella, etc.

Wrote 12 books, according to ideological significance and art. values ​​are lower than tragic. First com. – 1750 – “An Empty Quarrel” and others. In the 60s. – “Guardian” and others. In 1772 – “Cuckold by Imagination” and others. Com. served as a means of polemics - the pamphlet character of most of them. Unlike tr. over the room worked for a short time. In the first com. – each action the face showed the public its vice, the scenes were mechanically connected. In a small room. - a lot of actions. persons (10-11). Their portraiture made it possible for contemporaries to find out who in reality served as the prototype. Real persons, everyday details, negative phenomena Russian. life - gave the room, despite the conventionality of the image, a connection with reality. Bright, expressive language, often colored with the features of a lively dialect - the desire to individualize the speech of characters. Early com. directed against enemies in lit. field. The images had a conventional character and were far from typical generalizations.

Second group com. – com. characters are distinguished by greater depth and conditionality of the depiction of the main characters. All attention is focused on the main character, other actions. faces - to reveal character traits ch. hero, I suppose. characters, performance reasoners. The most successful images are denied. heroes, in the character of a cat. a lot of satire. and everyday traits.

One of the best com. this period - "Guardian"(com in 1 action), com. about the nobleman-usurer, swindler and hypocrite Stranger, fleecing orphans, cat. came under his care. The “original” of the Stranger is Sumarokov’s relative Buturlin. Sumarokov does not show the bearer of one vice, but draws a complex one. character Before us is a miser who does not know. no conscience, no pity, a bigot, an ignoramus, a libertine. Sumarokov creates a generalized conditional satyr. Russian image vicious nobleman. The disclosure of character is facilitated by speech character (speech is full of proverbs and sayings, in addressing God - Church Slavonicisms) and everyday life. details. Valery - put it down. the hero is a reasoner, devoid of vitality. Figurative names will be denied. characters (Stranger) – moralizing goals characteristic of classicism. Valid persons: Stranger (70 l) - nobleman, Sostrata - courtyard. daughter, Valery - lover of Sostrata, Nisa (17 years old) - noblewoman and servant of the Stranger, Pasquin - servant of the Stranger, Palemon - friend of Valery's late father, secretary, soldiers. The action takes place in St. Petersburg. One of his own stole a cross with his name from Pasquin. Sostrata admits to the theft. Pasquin – present name Valerian, brother of Valery, which turns out later. Pasquin loves Nysa, Stranger wants to marry her. The stranger prevents the marriage of Valery and Sostrata, because he does not follow either past or current fashion, he is smart, and it is difficult to deceive him. The stranger is afraid of God's judgment, repents, wants to go to Kyiv to atone for his sins. As a result, all the atrocities of the Stranger are revealed (he used to be a hypocrite so that they would not interfere with his getting rich), he is taken to trial, his estate goes to Valerian (Pasquin), everyone gets married, the power of the rulers is exposed, cat. they don't deserve her. “Lawlessness disappear, virtue flourish!” Lots of talk about the soul. The main thing: money solves everything. The stranger is a slacker and the servants are the same.

Con. 60's - 70's – the growth of opposition sentiments towards enlightened absolutism among the progressive nobility and the various intelligentsia. The peasant question and the relationship between landowners and peasants are raised. Attention to everyday life, surroundings. man, the desire for more complexity. psychologist. disclosure of characters in definition. social conditions. The best play in Sumarokov’s comedy TV "Cuckold by Imagination"(3 acts) appeared after Fonvizin’s “Brigadier” and anticipated the appearance of “Undergrowth” (commonality of situations, characters).

The focus is on the life of the provincial poor landowners, Vikul and Khavronya. Limited interests, ignorance, narrow-mindedness characterize them. The characters are not one-sided. Making fun of the savagery, the absurdity of these people, cat. they only talk about sowing (no, not our Megaseva, but it’s a pity, it would be interesting))), about reaping, about threshing, about chickens,” from the cat. peasants walk around the world (Havronya forces all the peasants to work, puts money aside for a rainy day), Sumarokov shows traits, a challenge. sympathy for them. Vikul and Khavronya touch with their affection, they are kind to their pupil, the poor girl in the yard. clan Florise. The absurdity of Vikula and Khavronya’s life is emphasized by the plot of the comedy. Vikul was jealous of Khavronya (60 l) of the brilliant Count Cassander, a rich neighbor, cat. I loved Floriza. The dialogues are full of comedy, cat. Vikul reproaches Khavronya for infidelity, believing that she cuckolded him.

The speech characteristics of the characters help to recreate the appearance and morals of the provincial nobles.

Their language is rich and expressive. This is not the smooth, correct speech of noble salons, but rough, colorful, peppered with proverbs and sayings, akin to the common language of the provincial nobility.

Valid persons: Vikul - a nobleman, Khavronya - his wife, Floriza - a poor noblewoman, Kasander - Count, Dvoretskoy, Nisa - Khavronya's maid, Count Cassandra's huntsman. The Count is going to come to them for lunch, Khavronya is giving instructions, she knows Cassandra - they were sitting next to each other in the theater in Moscow. Vikula is jealous. The count marries Floriza, Khavronya gives way to Nisa. The Count is ready to share everything with them.

In this regard, the comedic form that Sumarokov gave to his literary pamphlets is completely optional: with the same success, Sumarokov could achieve his extraneous goals in journalism, satire or parody. But the reason for the controversy - Trediakovsky’s extremely harsh review of the tragedy “Khorev” - from the very beginning parodically projected Sumarokov’s comedy onto the aesthetics and poetics of the tragic genre.

Starting with the comedy “Tresotinius”, in which a caricature of Trediakovsky’s literary personality is given - a criticism of the tragedy “Khorev”, tragedy forms the constant literary background of Sumarokov’s comedy. In “Monsters,” for example, one of Trediakovsky’s attacks against Sumarokov’s use of words is parodied:

Have you seen the Russian tragedy?

Criticiondius

I saw for my sins. ‹…› They handed Kiy a chair, God knows what, as if he was in such a state that he couldn’t even stand. ‹…› The chair is called a seat, as if it were impossible to call it a chair (V;263).

What is meant here is the following critical passage by Trediakovsky: “The cue asks, having become extremely indignant, that a seat be given to him ‹…›. The Author knows that this word is Slavic, and is used in the psalms for the chair: but he does not know that the Slavic Russian language ‹…› has now connected with this word a vile idea, namely what in our scripture is called aphedrone. Therefore, whatever Kiy asks to be given to him, let Kiy himself, like a tragic person introduced from the Author, smell.”

A kind of rhyme to this exchange of pleasantries regarding the tragedy “Khorev” in Sumarokov’s late comedy is a self-parody of the same tragedy, put into the mouth of the main comic character, the landowner Khavronya in the comedy “Cuckold by Imagination” (1772):

Sow

‹…› then someone came out, and some woman was brought to him on a chain ‹…› they gave him a gilded cup, ‹…› he sent this cup to her, and everything was fine; then someone else came, talked a little, and something came over him; when he, daddy, screamed, his hat flew off, and he began to rush around like a mad cat, and when he took out the knife, he sprayed himself, and I froze (VI; 9).

Thus, the shadow of his first tragedy fell over all of Sumarokov’s comedic work, from the caricature of the critic “Khorev” in “Tresotinius” to the self-parody in “Cuckold by Imagination.” One of Kiy’s most famous lines in the tragedy “Khorev”, clearly articulating the political nature of the conflict in Russian tragedy: “In all the sunflowers the monarch’s passion thunders, // And strict power turns into tyranny” (Sh; 47) gives rise to the incredible productivity of the phrase “in all the sunflowers” in the mouths of comedic characters who use this high style cliche in a distinctly everyday, humorous context. Here is just one example from the comedy “The Guardian”: “Stranger. In all the sunflowers there is nothing more useful than the sun and money” (V;23). On the other hand, the ability of parody not only to repeat what has already been said, but also to predict what is yet to be heard, gives rise in the finales of Sumarokov’s comedies to the motif of hellish torment of sinful souls, which is to be cast in the equally famous replica of the tragedy “Dimitri the Pretender”: “Go to hell, soul, and be forever captured!” (IV;26). Before finding its clear verse embodiment in tragedy, this final line will be heard repeatedly in comedic endings, for example, in the same comedy “Guardian”: “Nisa. Where is the soul? to hell? “Stranger. I'm dying! I'm going to hell!" (V; 13.48).

The constant parodic correlation of Sumarokov’s tragic and comedic texts, in addition to the fact that it gives rise to an additional laughter effect of the comedy, has important genre-forming consequences. Along with this parodic two-dimensionality of the comedic text, one of the leading techniques for achieving purely linguistic comedy in Sumarokov is the pun: a context in which a word appears in two meanings at once - literal and figurative, objective and metaphorical:

"Tresotinius":

I ‹…› prefer the firmly alarming to the one-legged firm. If this one's leg breaks, then throw him away; and even though two of this one's legs break, the third one will still remain.

Bobembius.

Mine is solid with three legs, and for this reason it stands firmly, ergo it is solid; but yours is not solid, ergo it is not solid (V;305-306).

This parody-comic dispute about the graphics of the letter “t”, in which its Slavic name “firmly” and the direct, material meaning of this word collide, a dispute meaning Latin (“t” - “firmly one-legged”) and Slavic (“t ” - “firmly tripod”), the ways of writing it and aiming at Trediakovsky’s grammatical studies, opens up a genuine parade of puns in Sumarokov’s comedies. Almost none of his comedies can do without word play. Here are just a few examples:

"Guardian"

Alien grabber. And the children of an honest man came to beg for alms, whose father traveled to the Chinese kingdom and was in the Kamchatka state ‹…›, and his daughters have krashenin bostroks, ‹…› and for this reason they call them krasheninkini (V; 12) .

"Cuckold by Imagination"

Graph. What horns? I don’t even have them in my head. In and to at l. Yes, I have them on my head (VI;40).

Thus, a pun word initially bifurcates the entire verbal plan of comedy into objective and figurative meanings of the same word, thing, concept. These meanings are found in one word, and each object and concept can be interpreted in two meanings - material and ideal. The attributive-spatial organization of the comedic world image is also connected with the punning nature of the word. The environment in which the comedy takes place is completely identical to the environment of tragedy, intangible and conventional. A scene in a comedy is also a conventional place, roughly designated as someone’s house, without any material detail. But at the level of the comedic word, the action of the comedy is significantly customized due to the expansion of the array of words with the meaning of a thing in the speech characteristics of the characters, and these words gravitate towards the three semantic centers of the satirical world image that are already familiar to us: the motifs of food, clothing and money come to life as the main plots of the dialogues.

Fluctuations of the comedic word on the verge of objective and figurative meanings cause a doubling of the comedic world image at the next level - a fundamentally important level of the concept, which, just like in tragedy, is a conflict-generating category in Sumarokov’s comedy. The entire comedic conflict, just like the conflict of tragedy, is built not so much on a clash of characters, but on a clash of concepts. Perhaps the most expressive example is the incredible productivity of the concept of honor, which is genetically tragic, in Sumarokov’s comedies. All the characters in the comedy are preoccupied with honor and dishonor: this word does not leave their lips in ordinary phraseological units: my word of honor, my honest name, I swear honestly, I have the honor, and also becomes a subject of discussion, forming the moral position of vice (false honor) and virtue (true honor) in the conflict. At the same time, the concept of honor is also a pun in Sumarokov’s comedies, since the false interpretation of this concept has a distinct material-objective character, and the true one has a spiritual-ideal character in those contexts that are created around the word “honor”.

Comedies by Sumarokov. Household comedy. “Guardian,” “Cuckold by Imagination” Who does the title refer to? (imagined that his wife was cheating on him)

In comedies S. A strong feature is elements of everyday life and spoken language. Individualization of the characters' speech appeared. S. treated comedies lightly; in them he denounced the ignorant nobility, criticized clerks, and portrayed the negative traits of people. He wrote short comedies: 8 of 1 act, 4 of 4 acts. Sumarokov’s comedies “The Guardian” (1765), “The Dashing Man” (1768) and others were directed against the class arrogance and ignorance of the provincial nobility. In “Epistole on Poetry,” S. says that the property of comedy is “to rule the temper with mockery,” which should be separated from tragedy on the one hand and from farcical games on the other. S. deviated from tradition. forms class. five-act comedy. 12 comedies. According to thin values ​​lower than tragedies. Most often, comedies served as a means of polemic for S., hence the pamphlet genre of most of them.
In his first comedies in the 50s (“Tresotinius”, “Monsters”, “A Simple Quarrel”), each of the actions. the persons appearing on stage showed their vice to the public, and the scenes were mechanically connected. A small comedy has many characters.
In the comedies of the second group (60s) - (“Guardian”, “Poisonous”, “Rakish”, “Narcissus”, “Three Brothers Together”), the portrayal of the main characters is deep and conditional. They also had a conventional character and were far from typical generalizations. Other actions faces serve to reveal the features of the main character. “Guardian” - a comedy about a nobleman - a moneylender, a swindler and a hypocrite, Stranger, who fleeces orphans, a cat. came under his care. “Poisonous” is about a slanderer. Ost. persons are reasoners.
In the 70s, three more books were written (“Cuckold by Imagination”, “Mother Companion to Daughter”, “Crazy Woman”).
The "everyday" comedies date back to 1772: "Mother - Daughter's Companion", "Crazy Woman" and "Cuckold by Imagination". The last of them was influenced by Fonvizin’s play “The Brigadier”.
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"RpoV".
The writer focuses on the life of the provincial poor landowners Vikul and Khavronya. Tied to others. Close-minded, but not one-sided. Kind to Florise, the pupil of the yard. kind. V. was jealous of H.’s rich neighbor, Cassandra. fell in love with F. Rough folk language. The pinnacle of satyr. TV-va S.
In “The Cuckold,” two types of nobles are contrasted with each other: the educated, endowed with subtle feelings, Florisa and Count Cassander, and the ignorant, rude, primitive landowner Vikul and his wife Khavronya. This couple eats a lot, sleeps a lot, and plays cards out of boredom. Khavronya’s story about her visit to the St. Petersburg theater, where she watched Sumarokov’s tragedy “Khorev” is funny. She took everything she saw on stage as a real incident and after Khorev’s suicide she decided to leave the theater as soon as possible. “Cuckold by Imagination” is a step forward in Sumarokov’s dramaturgy. Unlike previous plays, the writer here avoids too straightforward condemnation of the characters. In essence, Vikul and Khavronya are not bad people. They are good-natured, hospitable, touchingly attached to each other. Their trouble is that they did not receive proper upbringing and education.
On "R. “Imagining” was influenced by “Brigadier” by Fonvizin, and “R...” - by “Undergrown”. This comedy is more irony than accusation.
Plot: The main characters in it are a couple of provincial small-scale nobles with characteristic names - Vikul and Khavronya. Vikul's unfounded suspicions towards his wife, a lady immersed in household chores, somewhat reminiscent of Fonvizin's Brigadier, form the basis of numerous comic episodes. Scenes of jealousy arise as the melodramatic plot develops - the love of a rich count for a poor girl brought up by these kind but ignorant homebodies. The main artistic interest of the play lies in its rich depiction of morals. The verbal individualization of the images of Vikul and Khavronya grew out of a simple way of life with its everyday village worries and hospitality. These people are characterized by spontaneity in expressing their feelings, their language is a vivid example of lively colloquial Russian speech, full of folk proverbs and sayings (“For a dear friend and an earring from an ear”, “A hut is not red in its corners, but red in its pies”, “It happens in the old woman is a mess”, “You can’t hide an awl in a sack”, etc.). And the whole comedy ends with a proverb that Vikul utters, reconciling with his wife, who was unwittingly offended by him: “Kiss me, Khavronyushka: and whoever remembers the old will be out of sight.” In terms of the brightness and folkloric coloring of the style, Sumarokov’s latest comedies generally stand out against the background of his earlier plays.
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"Guardian". Characters: Stranger (nobleman), Sostrata (nobleman's daughter), Valery (her lover), Nisa (noblewoman and servant Ch.), Pasquin (servant Ch.), Palemon (friend of V.'s late father), secretary, soldiers. Action in St. Petersburg.
Plot: a nobleman took orphans under his guardianship and mercilessly robbed them. He is greedy, hypocritical, depraved, and does not understand how a girl can refuse him if he is rich. By the way, he doesn’t have 1 trait (and usually S. has 1 character with 1 trait)
The Stranger believes that “what is taken is holy” and loves the Feast of All Saints.
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During the period of writing these comedies, Sumarokov had been living in Moscow for several years. He is all about creating a new theater in Moscow. The aging playwright does not give up thinking about new plays, although he is aware that his strength is running out. His letters to Empress Catherine II eloquently speak about Sumarokov’s state of mind during this period. In one of them, dated April 30, 1772, he shares his plans with the monarch: “And I think that my comedies can make no less adjustments than bring amusement and laughter, and comedies in Moscow and for the sake of driving away ignorance to your wise reign they should certainly be pleasing to be, and they will certainly bring a lot of fruit to Russia. And if the time of my fading life and my weakening strength are strengthened by your royal mercy, then I hope to work for the theater for another four years, and especially with comedies, I hope to serve, for I will write prose comedies “, having both theory and practice, and seeing the everyday stupidity and delusions of the ignorant, it is very easy” (Letters of Russian writers of the 18th century. L., 1980, p. 153.). And in his latest comedies, Sumarokov never ceases to recognize himself first and foremost as a satirist. Although the content of these plays cannot be said to be bombastic, their accusatory pathos is undeniable. And the main object of denunciation remains the vices of the representatives of the ruling class, and above all the spiritual limitations and class arrogance of the nobles. The methods of satirical ridicule of gentlemen who disgrace their rank are varied. Sometimes these are invectives, incidentally interspersed in the speeches of neutral characters, such as the remark of the maid Nisa addressed to ignorant landowners who boast of their noble origins: “There is nothing more intolerable than that creature who is exalted by the mere shadow of a noble name and who, sitting near the kneading bowl, is surrounded by servants in bast shoes and sashes ... the boyars are elevated to the title" ("Cuckold by Imagination"). Much more often, the main characters of comedies themselves turn out to be the direct object of satirical denunciation. Such, for example, is the aging coquette and fashionista Minodora, who is courting her daughter’s fiancé. And in the image of the wild and capricious landowner Burda (the comedy “The Foolish Woman”), some of the character traits of Fonvizin’s Mrs. Prostakova are anticipated in their own way.
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Interest in this genre in Russia in the 18th century is confirmed by the abundance of translations and adaptations of European comedies and the extraordinary intensity of development of the genre by Russian authors. Sumarokov was also at the origins of this process. The popularity of comedy in Russia was historically determined. It rested on the traditions of laughter culture, which were formed on Russian soil back in the 17th century and which were especially vividly embodied in the democratic satire of this century. And in Sumarokov’s system of theoretical views, the subject and function of comedy are conceived inseparably from the satirical task:

The ability of comedy to correct one's temper by mockery:
Mix and use its direct charter.
Imagine a soulless clerk in an order,
The judge, who will not understand what is written in the decree,
Imagine me a dandy who lifts his nose,
What a whole century has been thinking about the beauty of hair.<...>
Imagine a Latin scholar at his debate,
Who won't lie without ergo...

This is what Sumarokov writes about the purpose and meaning of the comedy genre in his “Epistole on Poetry.” Accordingly, in developing the structural properties of comedy, Sumarokov proceeds primarily from the fulfillment of the main task - ridicule of the vice exposed on stage. This is clearly manifested in the construction of his earliest comedies, created in 1750: “Tresotinyuos”, “Monsters” (the original title of the comedy was “Arbitration Court”) and “An Empty Quarrel” (the original title was “A Quarrel between a Husband and His Wife” ). The first two plays were then presented in St. Petersburg along with the tragedies.
The plot basis of the action in Sumarokov's early comedies is unusually simple: the parents choose a groom for their daughter, whose hand is sought by several suitors. And since the desires of the daughter herself usually do not coincide with the plans of the parents, the action of the comedy comes down to discrediting the suitors and destroying the parental intentions. Here the influence of the traditions of the Italian comedy of masks was felt, the repertoire of which Sumarokov could become quite familiar with when the Italian troupe toured in St. Petersburg on the court stage. True, in Italian comedy an important role was given to intrigue, built on the cunning tricks of the omnipresent Brighella and Harlequin. In Sumarokov's comedies there is usually only one servant and intrigue as the organizing principle of comic action is also practically absent.
The entertainment value of comic action is understood by Sumarokov in the spirit of the tradition of sideshows, that is, as a stage portrait of vices. Therefore, the plot acts in his early comedies as just a kind of framework for the consistent self-revelation of the exposed characters, personifying some kind of vice. This is the pedant Tresotinius, together with his colleagues Bobembius and Xaxoximenius, this is the boastful captain Bramarbas from the same comedy; clerk Khabzey (“Monsters”); the gallomaniac dandy Dulizh, the village urchin Fatyu, the coquette Delamida (“An Empty Quarrel”). In depicting individual types, Sumarokov followed the traditions of famous European playwrights. Thus, certain character traits of the main character in the first comedy, along with his name, were borrowed from Moliere’s comedy “Learned Women”. The image of the boastful officer Bramarbas is suggested by the German translation of L. Golberg's comedy "The Boastful Soldier". At the same time, in a number of farcical scenes of fights, brawls, deceptions, disguises, and cartoonish scientific debates, Sumarokov combines the comedic principles of Molière’s theater with the traditions of folk sideshow.
A characteristic feature of the content of Sumarokov’s comedies, especially the early ones, is their bombast. All researchers of Sumarokov’s work pointed to this feature. He uses comedy as a means of dealing with his opponents. In two early comedies, the object of Sumarokov’s attacks was his literary opponent V.K. Trediakovsky, depicted in the first play in the image of the learned pedant Tresotinius, and in the second under the name of the pedant Criticiondius. Later, Sumarokov would expand the circle of people he ridiculed, presenting on stage in caricature form the famous novelist F. Emin, and his relative A. I. Buturlin, and others.
Speaking about Sumarokov's early comedies, one cannot help but note a specific tendency in the playwright's approach to depicting the environment in which the plays take place. Unlike tragedies, which, as we remember, were based on the material of legendary events of ancient Russian history, in Sumarokov’s comedies the action is almost devoid of national coloring. Marriage contracts are signed on stage, the servants behave rather cheekily with their masters, deceiving and lecturing them. From play to play in Sumarokov's early comedies, the names of comedy characters traditional for European theater pass from play to play: Orontes, Valer, Dorant, Clarice, Dorimena, Delamida, servants Pasquin and Arlikin. In a word, the action is performed in some conditional forms, far from the Russian way of life. True, when introducing his literary opponents or outlining the characters of the undergrown Fatyuya, the absurd noblewoman Gidima (“Monsters”), Sumarokov quite successfully conveys living types generated by national living conditions. But these are rather exceptions to the rule. What is the reason for this situation?
Sumarokov stood at the origins of the creation of a new type of Russian comedy. He realized the importance of his efforts to enrich the national repertoire with the right plays, as indicated, by the way, by a significant remark in his “Epistle on Poetry” concerning the purpose of the comedy genre:

Don’t write games for knowledgeable people,
To make people laugh without reason is a gift from a vile soul.

In these verses, Sumarokov actually repeated the thoughts of Boileau, who in his treatise “Poetic Art” warned authors against transferring into comedy the traditions of a common public farce. On Russian soil, the bearer of the stage laughter tradition, from which the theorist of French classicism warned his compatriots, were, in Sumarokov’s eyes, of course, sideshows, those “thrown games” that migrated from school dramas to the stage of farcical theaters that served the common people. And when Sumarokov, in his first comedies, brought Orontes, Dorants, Clarices and Pasquivs to the stage, this was dictated by his desire to establish a new type of comic performances on the Russian stage. At the first stage of the genre’s formation, the task was precisely to delimitate itself from the traditions of grassroots theater, which is what Sumarokov accomplished in his early comedies.
However, with all his emphasized rejection of the spirit of the common folk stage, Sumarokov remained dependent on it in developing the structural properties of the comedy genre. There was no impassable line between the traditions of farce, adopted by Sumarokov from the European theater, and the traditions of the farce of school sideshows. Therefore, the observation of G. A. Gukovsky, who noted at one time that “the first farce comedies of Sumarokov are more like the sideshows of those that were presented on the stage of the people's theater under Peter the Great, than the correct comedy of Molière and Regnard” (Gukovsky G A. Russian poetry of the 18th century. L., 1927, p. 11.).
In the 1760s, the method of Sumarokov the comedian underwent changes. There is a reorientation in the choice of sources for plot schemes. The comedies of this period are marked by the obvious influence of the traditions of the “tearful” bourgeois drama - a genre that arose in Europe as a reflection of the interests of the bourgeois spectator. The play “Dowry by Deception” (1756) is transitional in this regard. Its plot still retains traces of the Italian comedy of masks, for the main character is the servant Pasquin, who deceives his master, the stingy Salidar. Pasquin's antics form the basis of the play's intrigue. The heiress of Salidar, in whose interests a clever servant acts, is called upon to embody virtue, suffering under the yoke of vice. A similar motive was typical for a “tearful” drama, and despite all of Sumarokov’s sharply negative attitude towards such plays, “Dowry by Deception” meant a rapprochement with this genre.
Sumarokov's comedies of the 1760s ("Guardian", "Reddy Man", "Poisonous") mark a new stage in the evolution of his comedic satire. The action in these plays is freed from farcical comedy. Sumarokov resorts to the grotesque, focusing on exposing the central characters who embody vicious passions. This is the insidious Stranger, the main character of the comedy "The Guardian", who claims the inheritance of orphans and illegally turns a young nobleman into a servant. This is the moneylender Kashchei, who reaches the point of fanaticism (the comedy "The Covetous Man"), who, due to his stinginess, keeps his servants from hand to mouth and forces them to steal firewood. This is, finally, the godless hypocrite and evil-tongued Herostratus (the comedy “Poisonous”), blackmailing his daughter and father, who have become dependent on him.
Accordingly, in the comedies of the 1760s, a new type of plot stereotype emerged: temporarily triumphant vice, personified in the ominous images of the Stranger, Kashchei and Herostratus, is opposed by suffering virtue. Loss of fortune, uncertainty of origin, imaginary death of relatives increase the burden of suffering that befalls virtuous characters. But vice inevitably awaits retribution. At the same time, the playwright uses traditional techniques for the genre of “tearful” drama. Here is the motive of recognition by the cross, and the appearance on the scene of eyewitnesses of the crime, and the sudden discovery of the noble origin of innocent sufferers, and an unexpectedly fair decision of the court. In the finale, vice is punished and virtue triumphs. The entire action of the comedies appears as a kind of moral lesson; Now plays are designed not so much to treat audiences with laughter, but to touch them with sensitivity.
The focus on sensitivity and the associated rejection of farcical comedy techniques meant a turn to serious moral comedy. Sumarokov is no longer satisfied with combining satire with entertainment, but puts denunciation at the center of his ideological plan. At the same time, lampooning continues to be a distinctive feature of his comedies. A number of features in the character of Stranger or Kashchei give reason to believe that in them Sumarokov drew a caricature portrait of his son-in-law, A.I. Buturlin, known for his excessive stinginess, hypocrisy and cruel treatment of servants. One can most likely assume the pamphlet nature of the comedy "Poisonous", where in the image of the evil-tongued Herostratus one can simultaneously discern the personality traits of the writer F. Emin and the poet I. S. Barkov (The question of the prototypes of Sumarokov's pamphlet comedies is discussed in detail by P. N. Berkov in the book "History" Russian comedy of the 18th century" (L., 1977, pp. 86--90).). In ideological terms, such pamphleteering was complemented by broad generalizations stemming from the playwright’s sharply critical attitude to certain phenomena of the then reality - usury, corruption in the courts, the tax farming system, the class arrogance of the nobles. If in the tragedies of the mature period the orientation towards the modernity of the problematic was manifested in the strengthening of the allusive principle, then in the comedies the actualization of the content was achieved by parodying the code of class morality, when the very essence of moral concepts defining good and evil was distorted in the mouths of vicious characters. Such, for example, are the tirades about “honor” that sound in the arguments of the Stranger or Kashchei.

The action takes place at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th century, at a time when Kiy rules in Rus', and his power is strong and undeniable.

Sixteen years ago, Kiy overthrew Zavlokh, the Kyiv prince, from the throne in order to reign in his place. In that battle, the sons of Zavlokh were killed, and the defeated prince himself was forced to hastily flee with the remaining army to the steppe. His wife, hearing that the victorious Kiy was already at the city gates, and she, who had lost her children, was condemned to separation from her beloved husband, kissed her one-year-old daughter Osnelda goodbye and committed suicide. Little Osnelda was taken prisoner by Kiy.

Although the grown-up girl does not remember either her father or her mother, she does not forget about her origin and hates Kiya, a killer of her kind. However, Kiya's younger brother Khorev evokes different feelings in Osnelda. She likes the noble young man, who tried to the best of his ability to ease the burden of the girl languishing in captivity.

One day, Osnelda’s mother Asgrada brings the princess happy news: Zavlokh, having approached the walls of Kyiv with his army, demands her daughter, and Kiy, not wanting bloodshed, agrees to let Osnelda go... Asgrada is surprised to see that the girl is not happy. In response, Osnelda reveals to her mother her love for Khorev. Although she wants to unite with her father, at the same time she understands that the day of her meeting with Zavlokh will be the day of parting with her lover. Torn between her daughter's duty and love, she no longer knows whether to have fun or be sad that the moment of parting with this city is near, which for her is “a collection and mixture of sorrows and joys...”.

Khorev finds her in this state of mind. He comes to say goodbye to Osnelda and, once again expressing his love to her, begs her to answer at least on the last day whether his feeling has found a response in her soul. The girl admits to reciprocal feelings, but immediately asks Khorev to forget her - after all, Osnelda must leave Kyiv forever. The young man begs her to stay and become his wife, but she remembers her filial duty: how can she marry Kiy’s brother? Khorev objects: “What if your father allows us this?..”. Inspired by this hope, the lovers decide to send Zavlokh a letter and ask for permission to marry, which will again glorify the Zavlokh family and end the long-standing strife in peace.

Unfortunately, Stalverkh, the first Kyiv boyar, having overheard the end of the conversation between the lovers, mistakenly concludes that Khorev, with the assistance of Zavlokh, wants to take the throne in Kyiv himself, and warns Kiya about this. Kiy cannot believe that his brother, his heir, whom he loves like a son, is capable of treason. To test Khorev's loyalty, he calls his brother and orders him to gather soldiers and go against Zavlokh. Khorev objects: why fight and shed blood if you can end things peacefully by simply giving Osnelda to his father? But if this is the order of his brother, he, Khorev, will go to battle without hesitation and return with the head of Zavlokh. Kiy calms down: Khorev is not a traitor.

Hearing the sound of trumpets calling the regiments to battle, Osnelda understands that she will not be given to her father. Shedding tears, the girl sends Astrada to beg Kiya for mercy. But Kiy does not heed her pleas. And Horev is already gathering an army... All hopes are crumbling. Therefore, it is not surprising that when Horev comes to Osnelda, she unleashes a stream of reproaches on him. The young man makes an excuse: to evade the order means to bring dishonor upon oneself, and Khorev cannot bear this - death is better. The princess begs her beloved to at least spare her father and shed as little blood as possible in the battle. But both still hope that news will come from Zavlokh promising an end to the discord.

Alas! In his letter, Zavlokh forbids his daughter to love Khorev. Osnelda decides to commit suicide, but Astrada manages to take the dagger from her pupil at the last minute.

The siege of the city begins. Khorev leads the army and performs miracles of courage. However, Stalverh does not give up his suspicions. He tells Kiy that, according to his information, one of Zavlokhov’s former subjects was released from captivity by Velkar, Khorev’s confidant, and sent to the enemy’s camp, after which he was returned back. Kiy demands that witnesses be presented to him, and the boyar brings the dungeon guard, who says that the prisoner was allegedly taken away from him to the sovereign, and the guard of the city gate, who testifies that he let the prisoner through to Zavlokh, allegedly with a letter from Kiy. And since Kiy still has doubts, Stalverh calls the slave himself. Kiy promises him freedom if he tells the truth, and the prisoner admits that Velkar led him to Osnelda, who asked him to take a letter to his father; he did this and brought Zavlokh’s answer, but he doesn’t know what was in those letters. The slave is freed.

Kiya's last doubts are dispelled. Angry, he exclaims: “Let me not be cast into hell by Horus’s slave,” deciding to kill himself before his brother does, but before that, having killed the culprit of all troubles, Osnelda.

Presented before the eyes of Kiya, Osnelda does not want to justify herself and ask for mercy - she is ready to accept execution. The princess only passionately convinces the sovereign that Khorev is innocent, and to prove this, she reveals to Kiya what kind of correspondence she actually had with her father. Kiy says that he will believe her if she presents him with Zavlokh’s letter, but Osnelda cannot do this - after all, she tore up the letter. Then Kiy, suppressing the pity that he against his will feels for the girl, orders Stalverh to take her a cup of poison.

However, Velkar soon arrived and brought news of the victory over the enemy and gave Kiy the sword of Zavlokh, who had been taken prisoner by Khorev. Having received such irrefutable proof of his brother’s loyalty, the king immediately orders one of the soldiers to run to Osnelda and free her; he now even agrees to the girl’s wedding to Khorev. But, unfortunately, the order is late: the princess is already dead.

Meanwhile, Khorev generously invites the defeated Zavlokh to forget the past and enter into an alliance, and he, touched by the nobility of the enemy, agrees to become his friend and give his daughter for him. Hearing this, Kiy is even more horrified by his own mistake. Immediately news comes that Stalverh, realizing how terribly he had slandered an innocent girl, committed suicide by rushing into the Dnieper. In despair, Kiy publicly confesses to the murder he committed and begs his brother to subject him to fair punishment.

But Khorev has no idea of ​​killing his brother or depriving him of the throne - after all, neither this nor tears will bring back his forever lost beloved. The young man asks Kiya to return freedom to Zavlokh and let him and his army leave the city, and Zavlokh to take Osnelda’s body with him, bury him with dignity and write over the coffin: “The maiden, whose ashes rest in this place, /And remains in hell with her Khorev, / Whom she loved in this life, - / Horev, having lost her, followed her!

With these words, Khorev stabs himself with a dagger.

Cuckold by imagination

A. P. Sumarokov. Dramatic works.

L., "Art", 1990

OCR Bychkov M.N.

CHARACTERS

Vikul, nobleman.

Khavronya, his wife.

Floriza, poor servant.

Kasander, Count.

Butler.

Nisa, Khavronin's maid.

Huntsman of Count Kassandra.

ACT ONE

PHENOMENON I

Nisa (alone).

Someone's huntsman has been sent to us; Of course, we will have guests, but the master is still sleeping. Usually it is those husbands who do not get out of bed for a long time, who love their wives very tenderly; and our old people, it seems, are no longer old enough.

^ SCENE II

Nisa and the Huntsman.

Huntsman. Is your lord at home, girl?

Nisa. He's still in bed. Who sent you from and why?

Huntsman. To whom I was sent, I will tell him from whom I was sent and why.

Nisa. Wow, dad, how arrogant!

Huntsman. Wow, mother, how curious.

Nisa. Of course, are you a joker?

Huntsman. And you, darling, are so pretty that I haven’t seen many pretty ones. Do you know, girl, that I am mortally in love with you.

Nisa. Stop joking around.

Huntsman. What a joke! If this is a lie, then hang me.

Nisa. It's time for me to go to the bars, the lady will get up soon. So what can I say about you?

Huntsman. Tell him that a huntsman has been sent from Count Kasander.

^ SCENE III

Huntsman (one).

Oh, sudden wound! O Cupid! You're a perfect target: you're more skillful and agile than me in shooting! And if all the huntsmen were like you in shooting, then in one year there would not be a single sandpiper and not a single thrush left in the world.

^ SCENE IV

Vikul and Jaeger.

Vikul. What are you doing, my friend?

Huntsman. I was sent from Count Kasander to your this... to your superior... to your high... What rank are you, sir?

Vikul. What do you care, brother, about my rank? Whatever it is.

Huntsman. I was sent from Count Kasander to your honor... Do you, sir, have the rank of major?

Vikul. No, brother.

Huntsman. I was sent from Count Kasander to your noble... Are you, sir, a nobleman?

Vikul. Although not rich... But why and from whom were you sent?

Huntsman. I was sent from Count Kasander to your health. Graph

I ordered you to pay your humble respects. (Bows to ground.)

Vikul. This is very low.

Huntsman. There is nothing lower than the lowest bow. As for the most humble bow, I don’t even understand that anymore.

Vikul. What else have you been ordered to do?

Huntsman. Also cohabitate... also the spouse... How, sir, are the wives of village nobles titled?

Vikul. Title it as you wish. What does the Count care about my wife?

Huntsman. It's time to pay her respects.

Vikul. Yes, he doesn’t even know her.

Huntsman. He is your neighbor, so he knows the name of your partner... spouse... well, whatever it is.

Vikul. Why is it known?

Huntsman. Because she is a landowner here.

Vikul. No, brother, I am the landowner, not she. And she owns only the seventh part of my real estate. And even then she will get it if she survives me.

Huntsman. I was ordered to pay my deepest respects to her as well.

Vikul. Okay, my friend, I’ll give her this bow.

Huntsman. You, sir, are not a young man, so you need to take care of your back. I think you are feeling bad weather?

Vikul. Tell me, my friend, why you were sent, briefly.

Huntsman. Count Kasander, riding like a dog, will come to you at a crossroads. Vikul. Welcome. Bow to His Excellency.

^ SCENE V

Vikul (one).

Isn’t that why the count wants to come to me so that he can dangle my wife? It's not very useful to me. And you, Count, bare your teeth at someone else’s property in vain; for this honor, Your Excellency, I humbly thank you.

^ SCENE VI

Vikul and Khavronya.

Sow. What the hell kind of adjutant did we have?

Vikul. Not an adjutant, he was a huntsman. In our opinion, a servant who shoots walking birds.

Sow. What a servant; all in prose.

Vikul. Nowadays gentlemen have this manner. It was a huntsman from Count Kasander: His Excellency would like to come to us.

Sow. His Excellency!

Vikul. And what? Is he familiar to you?

Sow. Yes, I will not forget his high mercy, having a soul in a body. And if he had shown me such a sinful fatherly mercy and ordered the painter to paint his person, I would have placed her in front of my bed and would not have taken my eyes off her.

Vikul (especially). It was as if my heart heard it! Why do you know him and what kindness did he do to you?

Sow. But, my dear, I’ll tell you. Just as I was in Moscow without you this winter, they praised some kind of intermecia to me and persuaded me to go there. Sometimes it happens to an old woman. I went, I entered the hall, they started playing violins, oboes, and clevicorts; Some people came out and started talking all sorts of things, and they were waving and waving their arms like dolls; then someone came out, and some woman was brought to him on a chain, from whom he asked I don’t know what letter, and she answered that she had torn him up; came out, they gave him a gilded goblet, but with what drink, I don’t know; he sent this cup to her, and everything was fine; then someone else came, talked a little, and something came over him; when he, daddy, screamed, his hat flew off, and he began to rush around like a mad cat, and when he took out the knife, he sprayed himself, and I froze. And this count, then sitting with me in the same closet and having started talking before the interlude that I was his neighbor, then with Mungal vodka, as I fainted from fear, he saved me from death.

Vikul. Is graph-at good?

Sow. So handsome, pretentious and courteous that it’s completely taboo.

Vikul. Wife! at least you praised him less.

Sow. How not to praise! Yes, such a good fellow and the old people won’t remember him.

Vikul. Wife! I don't like it.

Sow. AND! my swallow! Are you already jealous of him? Yes, I wouldn’t exchange you for the prince’s Bova.

Vikul. Wife! I don’t know what gives me the creeps! Go and lie down.

Sow. And I’ll tell you about the food and snacks.

^ SCENE VII

Khavronya (one).

For the mercy of his High Reis-County Excellency, it is necessary to treat him better; for a dear friend and an earring from the ear. Butler!

^ SCENE VIII

Khavronya and Dvoretsky.

Sow. Do we have pig feet?

Butler. Yes, madam.

Sow. Order them to be cooked with sour cream and horseradish, and order them to stuff the stomach, and have it sewn up with silk, not thread. Yes, tell the bastard to make some porridge...

Butler. Would you like it in a pot, lady empress, or on a platter?

Sow. In a pot, and in a pot, and cover it with a Venice plate; pies with carrots, pies with salted milk mushrooms, left-handed mushrooms with dried raspberries, pork frucasse with prunes, French pie made from sleeve flour, and filled with lingonberry marshmallows. Do we have Kaluga dough?

Butler. Available.

Sow. And besides that, order yourself what to cook, fry, bake, as long as there is enough of everything. Serve the salad not with hemp oil, but with nut butter.

Butler. Noble gentlemen prefer to use wooden oil for salads: so wouldn’t you rather order some butter to go with lampatnova salad?

Sow. Phew, dad! I'm not an infidel! And after the meal, put out pods, beans, carrots, turnips and cucumbers, both fresh and freshly salted, and serve coffee with sugar, not molasses. Fix everything as it should, and they went to the market to buy gilded gingerbread, and they ordered to sweep away the cobwebs, and they ordered to grease the doors so that they would not creak, and they ordered to feed the people.

Butler. This, noble empress, is not common, it is an old fashion. Previously, they fed the living room horses, but now they don’t feed people either.

Sow. Feed both the people and the horses of His Excellency; everything would be as you were ordered.

Butler. Our business, madam. Everything will be fine.

^ SCENE IX

Khavronya (one).

One day there will be us! And you, Count's Excellency, can eat our bread and salt without shame. It is a gift that our mansions are not colorful: the hut is not red in its corners, but red in its pies.

^ PHENOMENON X

Khavronya and Nisa.

Nisa. The butler orders forty dishes to be prepared for your table. And Florisa, having canceled it, ordered only twelve dishes to be prepared: I know better how to establish this. Do you know that she grew up and was raised in St. Petersburg. So won’t you order us to attend her feast, so as not to be dishonored? And she grew up in public. Sow. How can this be better!

^ SCENE XI

Khavronya, Floriza and Nisa.

Sow. Intercede, mother, for our salvation.

Floriza. Okay, madam, I’ve already ordered everything, and besides that, I’ll see to everything myself. Sow. And I’ll go and confirm for them.

^ SCENE XII

Floriza and Nisa.

Floriza. Why are you so cheerful, Nisa?

Nisa. And you, mother, why are you so sad?

Floriza. When do you see me cheerful?

Nisa. And today you are extremely sad.

Floriza. When others are having fun or are ready for a pleasant pastime, then I am usually sadder, imagining to myself that fate brought me into poverty and despondency.

Nisa. Maybe your life will change someday.

Floriza. That's not where it's heading.

Nisa. You are still young; so maybe you will marry a husband who will turn all your current sadness into joy.

Floriza. It is difficult for a poor or, better said, poor girl to have a worthy groom: a poor and worthy one will not take me, and I will not marry an unworthy rich man.

Nisa. Or maybe your husband will be smart, good, and rich.

Floriza. Such lots are now very rare for wealthy people to marry meager girls.

Nisa. Yes, you have all the virtues: you are beautiful, smart, well-behaved, young, raised nobly by your late parents, you know the teaching that is proper for noble girls, a reader of books...

Floriza. Even if all this was in me, my first dignity is that I don’t have a dowry.

Nisa. What does this word dowry exactly mean? And why is the bride’s wealth called that?

Floriza. Addition to the person. However, for the most part, it is not money and not property that is attached to a person, but a person is attached to property and money, and speaking about this, is it possible for me not to be sad? Here's my thoughtfulness. Why are you so cheerful today?

Nisa. And today I am happy that I have received hope of getting out of this home. Have you, madam, heard from me how I got into the house here?

Floriza. I heard it, but I really don’t remember it in detail.

Nisa. I inherited this house from my late Vikulova sister. I grew up in Moscow, and now I must, wearing out the rest of my clothes, live like a village and hear only about hay, about harvesting, about threshing, about chickens, about ducks, about geese, about rams and, eating up my life, I must still wait for a groom who will say: publish a FAQ, dear heart? bysta with me - and other similar peasant speeches. And the petty nobles themselves are intolerable. I'm not talking about everyone; There are quite a few good people among them. But some of them sulk like frogs, and think only about their nobility, which they know by name alone, and dream about their peasants that they were created by God for their masters to reproach themselves. There is nothing more intolerable than that creature who is exalted by the mere shadow of a noble name and who, sitting near the kneading bowl, is surrounded by servants in bast shoes and sashes and barefoot servants in sarafans, exalted with the title of a boyar.

Floriza. What hope do you have of leaving this house?

Nisa. The huntsman sent by Count Kasander fell in love with me.

Floriza. How about you, Nisa, aren’t you ashamed! What kind of faint hope do you rejoice in!

Nisa. Don't take her away from me; Let her at least amuse me empty.

Floriza. But I don’t see hope even in a dream.

^ SCENE XIII

Vikul, Khavronya, Floriza and Nisa.

Sow. Phew, dad! How are you not afraid of God? What thoughts did you have in your old age? If you tell people this, they will laugh! By the way, did you come up with this?

Vikul. How can you not be afraid of what happens to other people?

Sow. I’m not a young woman anymore, so why should you be afraid?

Vikul. Yes, there is a proverb that thunder does not always thunder from a heavenly cloud, but sometimes from a dung heap.

Sow. A peck on your tongue; what kind of dung do you have?

Floriza. What is this, madam?

Vikul. Wife, keep this to yourself.

Sow. FAQ about yourself? This is a shame and rubbish.

Vikul. Don’t talk, my treasure, my diamond reed.

Sow. Yes, this is not good, my cherry berry.

Vikul. Wife, stop it.

Sow. Kiss me, strong mighty hero.

Vikul. Let's kiss, my sunflower star.

Sow. Be more cheerful and as bright as a new month; don't be jealous.

Vikul. Wife who talks about jealousy.

Sow. Why did this break through me! Yes, that’s it, the horse has four legs, and even he stumbles, and I’m an illiterate woman, so I can’t say anything.

Vikul. Yes, you said it not in words, but in deeds.

Sow. I’m a village dad, and I don’t know what the word is, what the deed is.

Vikul. The deed is more, but the word is less.

Sow. And I thought that the word is more, but the deed is less. A clerk who was about fifty years old in the detective department told me this.

Vikul. Otherwise, you're singing and just delirious.

Sow. From now on, I won’t say a word about your jealousy towards Count Kasander.

Vikul. Fool, you've gone crazy: who is telling you about Count Kasandra?

Sow. You say...wow! I really started talking. Vikul. Now lie whatever you want.

Floriza. Is it too late, sir, for her to fall in love with others, and for you to be jealous of her? Vikul. Love does not count years.

^ SCENE XIV

Same with Butler.

Butler. His Highness, the Most Honorable and Most Excellent Count, deigns to go.

Sow. We'll go out to the gate.

Vikul. Enough to get off the porch. Edakov is a gruff to her! (Especially.)

^ SCENE XV

Floriza and Nisa.

Floriza. Nisa, your ears are laughing.

Nisa. I’m not hiding, the truth is yours.

Floriza. And as soon as the guests leave, your ears will begin to cry.

Nisa. Or things won't be like that.

Floriza. I wish that your hope does not deceive you; you know how much I love you and that I come to this house more for your sake.

Nisa. And I would marry you in Moscow, mother.

Floriza. For me, there is neither happiness nor a groom in the world.

^ SCENE XVI