Foreign literature review. “The Old Man and the Sea”: the philosophical meaning of the story, the strength of the old man’s character

Presentation on the topic "Foreign literature of the 19th century. Review" on literature in powerpoint format. This presentation for schoolchildren contains 56 slides with a general description of Western European literature of the 19th century. Author of the presentation: teacher of Russian language and literature, Kolpakova M.Yu.

Fragments from the presentation

Literary movements and currents

Late Romanticism- a direction in literature, which is characterized by the depiction of an exceptional hero in exceptional, fantastic circumstances. The writer’s subjective assessment of the events being reproduced is important.
Critical realism- a direction in literature, which is characterized by a truthful depiction of reality, knowledge of the laws of development of social phenomena and “truthfulness in the reproduction of typical characters in typical circumstances” (F. Engels).
Symbolism- a direction in literature, which is characterized by the desire to put a symbol in the place of a specific image, which was opposed to naturalistic down-to-earthness and photographicity.

General characteristics of Western European realism of the 19th century.

Critical realism (M. Gorky's term) is a new stage in the development of realism, emerging in Western Europe in the 30-40s. XIX century after romanticism. It was romanticism that was the boundary that separated this period of development of realistic art from the previous ones. Realism was already given by the Renaissance, when the best of the masters of literature - Shakespeare, Cervantes - showed the rich and complex world of man.
An important stage was the realism of the Enlightenment, which reflected the ideal of the revolutionary bourgeoisie - the ideal of freedom and universal equality, the pathos of struggle. The positive hero here actively resisted circumstances and thereby asserted new principles, new morality. In educational realism, which immediately preceded the realism of the 19th century, the environment that shapes man is often depicted through conditional, implausible positions and details.

Criticism of contradictions

In the 19th century in the light of the most important historical experience - the replacement of feudal relations with bourgeois ones - a new type of realism was created. The contradictions of the new social system became the subject of his criticism: realist writers were able to reveal the source of these contradictions.
The understanding of the interconnection of life phenomena was also facilitated by the successes of natural science in the first decades of the century. Literature borrowed from the natural sciences the principles of observation, comprehension and generalization of the facts of surrounding life. It is no coincidence that Balzac’s novel “Père Goriot” is dedicated to the famous naturalist Saint-Hilaire, his contemporary, who discovered the diversity of species of the animal world.

A true depiction of reality

The most important feature of realism of the 19th century is a reliable life situation, which consists of truthfully recreated features of everyday life, human characters and relationships between people. In turn, these relationships and characters are always determined by objective reasons - phenomena of social order. For educators, the fate of a hero, for example Robinson Crusoe or Faust, is carried out in accordance with the author's ideal. Writer of the 19th century. reflects the dominance of the social laws of bourgeois society over the fate of an individual, acting like an irresistible element. Thus, in the development of realism, the subject of research becomes, first of all, those social relations that determine the position and actions of people.

Typical characters. Image-type

Therefore, the images in the realistic work of the 19th century. collective, typical. They carry within themselves, first of all, a generalization of the most characteristic features of a certain class or estate. However, the variety of typical images created by the literature of realism is achieved by the fact that the realist artist gives the depicted personality and individual characteristics, through which the social appearance of this person becomes more expressive, catchy, and memorable. Thanks to this, the image-type acquires a broad meaning, sometimes even going beyond the framework of the reality that gave birth to it, the meaning of a life phenomenon (in Russian literature such are, for example, the types of Gogol, in Western literature - Balzac). Engels considered the depiction of “typical characters in typical circumstances” to be the main distinguishing feature of realism.

The role of the portrait in a realistic work

One of the most important means of conveying a typical character is a portrait. It is in the portrait that the features that express the essence of the type are most often sharpened. In the facial expression, the outline of the figure, in the gait, manners, and costume, both the social position of a person and the moral qualities characteristic of people of his class are visually embodied: the carelessness and selfishness of the aristocrat, the prudence and heartlessness of the bourgeois. The best examples of realistic portraiture among Western European writers were given by Balzac and Dickens.

Psychologism is the most important feature of critical realism

Sometimes a portrait reflects not only social affiliation, not only “type”, but also the state of mind, the psychology of the hero. The further development of psychologism is another of the achievements of realism of the 19th century. “Typical circumstances” are the objective circumstances of life, derived in the work, that determine a person’s behavior, form his contradictory internal makeup, and cause mental struggle in him. The work of Stendhal, a remarkable contemporary of Balzac, is distinguished by its subtle rendering of a complex inner world.

The image of the "little man"

One of the methods of sharp criticism of society in a realistic work is a sharply negative, sometimes satirical presentation of representatives of the ruling class and at the same time a sympathetic portrayal of “little people,” the humble, the poor, who are most often victims of the social order. The latter, in their human merits, are immeasurably higher than the “masters of life.” And it is in them that the best human qualities are collected, in which the author sees the guarantee of a fair world order: hard work, kindness, nobility. However, these heroes do not represent an active force capable of resisting social evil: without engaging in the fight against it, they only suffer from it or seek to protect themselves from its vices.

CONCLUSIONS:

Realists of the 19th century picked up the denial of the inhuman world, first proclaimed by romanticism, but supported it with a specific analysis of reality.
From romanticism they also adopted exceptional attention to spiritual life, to human feelings, and here they also achieved a special power of image, revealing all the relationships between people - in the family, in society.
Having assimilated the achievements of previous stages in the development of art, critical realism became a new artistic method, with its own special principles for reflecting reality.
In each country, it was affected by the unique historical conditions and national literary traditions. But this does not prevent us from establishing the general features of the method, the development of which culminates in the works of N. Gogol, L. Tolstoy and F. Dostoevsky, O. Balzac, G. Maupassant and Charles Dickens and other writers.

Foreign literature of the 20th century, exploring the human phenomenon, combines various artistic styles and philosophical solutions. American writer D. D. Salinger(b. 1919) in the story “ Catcher in the rye(1951) explores the phenomenon of young man's alienation. Holden Caulfield, faced with reality, experiences emotional drama. The hero is shocked by the insincerity of people and plunged into a state of internal chaos. He sees salvation in the immaculate world of childhood and dreams of saving children from falling into the world of vulgar everyday life of adults.

Thematically, Salinger's work correlates with the novel Heinrich Bell(1917—1985) " Through the eyes of a clown"(1963). Lonely and having lost faith in the possibility of human mutual understanding, Hans Schnier decides to stage a clownish protest. At the end of the novel, he, despairing of the possibility of finding understanding from those around him, sits on the steps of the Bonn station, puts his hat in front of him and sings funny couplets. Rebellion against the world is perceived as the tragic clownery of a person who has not found himself in the world of selfish bourgeois morality.

A different semantic tone characterizes the story E. Hemingway « The Old Man and the Sea"(1952). At the center of the story-parable is the figure of the old fisherman Santiago. The author emphasizes that this is not an ordinary old man, this is a man who lives according to the laws of a special ethical code that contrasts heroism with moods of despair and despondency: “Man was not created to suffer defeat.” The author’s humanistic formula sounds like a concentrated expression of optimism: “A person can be destroyed, but he cannot be defeated.” It would seem that the story ends with the defeat of the hero: the sharks ate the fish he caught, but in terms of philosophical generalization, the ending demonstrates the idea of man's invincibility, his ability to overcome any difficulties.

This topic is important in post-war literature, when sentiments of pessimism intensified and many writers representing existentialist direction, emphasized the futility of human efforts to overcome the dictates of world tragedy. Hemingway proves the thesis: life is a struggle, thereby asserting the limitless possibilities of the individual.

A special place in foreign literature of the 20th century is occupied by image of a book and numerous motives associated with it. Time leaves chronicles, legends, books, creations of the human spirit to people. Time erases chronicles, legends, books... A dramatic search leads to the comprehension of the truth, systems of evidence become obsolete, once pressing problems give way to new ones, and they soon become a thing of the past. Understanding and acceptance of existence is replaced by mystical horror of it.

However, there is something that allows a person to establish himself in the stability of spiritual values, to resurrect entire eras and the diversity of individual life manifestations. This is a book. A book, embodied memory, reveals the history of thought and feeling, eliminates the boundary between past and future, turns a person to absolute truths, and directs him to immortality. Overcoming the fear of death is an impulse to creativity. Identity and continuity are the main forms of embodiment of culture and man, striving to understand the mystery of existence and man through an idea, image, word.

Truth can be discovered logically, or it can also be accidentally perceived through spiritual intuition. The book combines logic and intuition, it complicates reality, endows it with a phantasmagoric character, from the point of view of ordinary consciousness.

In the short story, a classic of Japanese literature Akutagawa Ryunosuke(1892-1927) " Thicket“Various options for deciphering the mysterious incident are presented. A murder has occurred in the mountains, witnesses and suspects testify, hypotheses are put forward, and the killer confesses to his crime. The plot is formally completed and, it would seem, it’s time to put an end to the work, but the author completes the short story with two chapters: “What the woman said in confession in the Kiyomizu temple,” in which she confesses to the murder of her husband, and “What the spirit of the murdered man said through the mouth of the soothsayer,” where the reader learns that a man took his own life. It is unknown who is telling the truth.

Where is the clue? The logic of cause-and-effect relationships turns out to be ineffective for interpreting the parable; the code of meaning is moved beyond the private literary text and is addressed to cultural memory, according to X. L. Borges, the “garden of forking paths,” where each marks its own direction in commenting on the mystery, gives its own version Life, the key to understanding Death.

Central theme of the novel Gabriel Garcia Marquez(b. 1928) " One Hundred Years of Solitude"(1966) - the absence of boundaries between life and death. The mythological idea of the permeability of existence into non-existence becomes the general law of existence.

Marquez plays on the classic plot of human loneliness, giving it the symbolic meaning of universal alienation: a hundred years of solitude. The Universe - Macondo - house - room - a chain of allegories, symbolic meanings commenting on the motive of boundless nostalgia of culture for a harmonious, ordered cosmos, stoically indifferent to death. Marquez's heroes can pass away and remain in oblivion until they are needed.

Marquez's plot is strictly determined by the history of the family, thematically close to the “ancestral” sagas of Galsworthy and Zola. The difference between the Colombian writer and his predecessors lies not in the saturation of the work with folklore elements, but, first of all, in the special organization of artistic time. It can develop in the past and future, creating a sense of continuity, constantly intrudes into ongoing history, and predicts destinies.

The phenomenon of eliminating the boundaries between the world of the living and the dead is associated with the theme of memory, first identified in the novel by “various gloomy prophecies about future offspring.”

The manuscript, which must be translated from Latin, is a chain of events that have already occurred and at the same time, prophecy is a form of predicting the future, it comes from the past, which will live as long as the movement of life is realized. The human race is exhausted by reading the text. The final hurricane materializes the “end of the book” metaphor and is transferred to the human world, equating the last word of the book with the last breath of a person.

One Hundred Years of Solitude ends with a hurricane scene, thematically related to the fire at the end of the novel. U. Eco “The Name of the Rose”. A fire in the library, the world of signs and mental experience, in a romantic interpretation can mean a tragedy of memory. Another interpretation is also possible. Borges in one of the program works " Babylonian Library” describes the universal repository of books “that have been written, are being written, or will be written. Here are signs suitable for creating works of art, books awaiting their interpreters...”

The author is far from a hoax, he substantiates his own hypothesis - all the books have been written a long time ago, and new texts are nothing more than the results of repeated repetition of conflicts, motives, artistic formulas, words. And it is impossible to bypass the library, limitless and comprehensive, open to the most diverse associations. Borges argues that culture can be reproduced in any volume, since any text gives rise to a huge number of models that can be reproduced indefinitely. However, the writer is far from optimistic in his belief in the eternity of literature.

For Marquez, like Borges, the categories of gender and memory are something more than individual history. Writers correlate it with the cycles of existence - birth, growth, death, but point out differences in the dynamics and prospects of development: culture is not subject to decay, it functions due to the constant increment of meanings, old meanings do not die, but are enlarged and can be comprehended exclusively as the embodiment of transpersonal quantities In Margaret Mitchell, a representative of a different cultural tradition, in the novel Gone with the Wind, the reflections of the main character Scarlett O’Hara are based on the leitmotif - “this is very difficult to understand... I’ll think about all this tomorrow.” Her private emotion is unable to comprehend an event that can only be interpreted in the context of generic thinking, the maximum embodiment of which is presented in Marquez’s novel.

The burnt library of U. Eco, the Macondo of G. G. Marquez, erased from the face of the earth, can be read as a universal model of the universe: there were many people, worlds, feelings, they died, leaving a memory of themselves in words and books.

Humanity leaves a memory of itself. The heir to the romantic tradition, M. Bulgakov, argued: “Manuscripts do not burn.” The end of the 20th century gives a different commentary on this problem: in order to survive, cultural experience must acquire a transtemporal, transpersonal character. If this does not happen, the “manuscripts” will begin to burn. In the parable "Coleridge's Dream" Borges proves the following idea: there is a plot that is in search of its final embodiment - it is dreamed by the Mongol emperor in the 13th century, Coleridge and Stevenson in the 19th century... And it will dream until it finds its completion; in the cyclical, infinite flow of life-culture there can be no ending. A person is reflected in his descendants, a book is reflected in books. An endless chain of repetitions. This concept bears a clear influence of postmodernist aesthetics.

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Foreign literature

Was the legendary blind singer from Asia Minor the author of these epic tales or just a celebrated performer? There are different points of view on this matter. The poems were probably composed by many folk singers over several generations. Homer may have combined the disparate songs into a single cycle, doing the work of an editor. It is possible that individual fragments are the fruit of his individual creativity. The “Homeric question” has been debated for over two hundred years, but none of the scientists denies that Homer owes exceptional credit for the dissemination of the ancient epic.

« Iliad"The poem is named because the second name of Troy was Ilion, located on the coast of Asia Minor. For a long time it was believed that the city was just a poetic fiction. However, Heinrich Schliemann's excavations showed that the siege of the city of Troy by the Greeks could well be a historical fact. Today, some of the finds of the German archaeologist can be seen in the exhibition of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin. The twenty-four songs of the Iliad recount the events that occurred during the forty-nine days of the last, tenth, year of the war.

In the poem "Iliad" there are two grandiose stages: the besieged Troy and the camp of the besieging Greeks. The epic tale embodies the struggle of equals, while the heroes are positioned symmetrically. The eldest son of the Trojan king Priam, Hector, is not inferior in courage to Achilles, from whom he is destined to die. He is equally skilled in all military techniques. Note that the battle narrative includes a whole series of fights. In single combat with Achilles' friend Patroclus, Hector dealt him a fatal blow and took away from him the armor that belonged to Achilles. Achilles must avenge the death of his friend. Hephaestus forges him a shield, which depicts land and seas, cities and villages, vineyards and pastures, everyday life and festivals. The image on the shield is symbolic, because it includes everything that the valiant Greek knight protects.

Events " Odyssey"are dated to the tenth year after the end of the Trojan War. All the victors returned to their cities, others, like Agamemnon, had already died. Only Odysseus cannot return to his island of Ithaca. This is prevented by Poseidon, who was angry with Odysseus for blinding his son the Cyclops Polyphemus.

Odysseus must return to Ithaca at all costs, where his parents, wife Penelope and son Telemachus are waiting for him. The Greeks were patriots; isolation from their homeland for Odysseus was tantamount to death.

On the way to the hero's home, trials await (episodes in the cave of Polyphemus, sailing past the island of Sirens and the monsters Scylla and Charybdis) and temptations - the love of the nymph Calypso and princess Nausicaa. Odysseus, thanks to his cunning and courage, emerges victorious in all dramatic conflicts.

The second plot motif of the Odyssey is associated with the image of the faithful Penelope, who waits for her husband for twenty years, by subterfuge rejecting the advances of those who want to share her bed and the royal throne.

The third storyline is dedicated to their son Telemacus, who goes in search of his father.

At the end of the poem, all the characters are united. The unrecognized Odysseus, together with Telemachus, expels uninvited guests - the suitors of his wife, who joyfully greets him.

Classical period Greek art and literature dates back to the 5th century. and coincides with the highest flowering of slave-owning democracy. Having won the Greco-Persian Wars (500-449), the city-states, united in an alliance led by Athens, defended their independence from Persian rule. This contributed to the development of trade and crafts, as well as the rise of morale and patriotism.

The largest theater was located in Megapol, it accommodated 44 thousand people.

The participation of the choir in the tragedy allows us to identify the genesis of the tragedy. The word "tragedy" itself means goat's song and also points to the origin of the dramatic genre. The tragedy arose from the choral performance of dithyrambs in honor of the god Dionysus, who was also called Bacchus. In the fall, the Greeks, having harvested grapes, made new wine and tasted it (diluted with water!), organized games in honor of the patron saint of winemaking. The satyrs and bacchantes who accompanied Dionysus dressed themselves in goat skins and stained their faces with grape marc. The one who was entrusted with the role of Dionysus took the lead, entering into dialogue with the choir. The procession was accompanied by riotous dancing and singing. Dialogue could obviously take place between individual actors, in any case, a dramatic performance - a tragedy - was born from the dialogue.

In tragedy, the hero entered into a duel with superpersonal forces. He invariably found himself defeated, but in the duel with fate his dignity and strength of resistance to the will of the gods were revealed.

Aeschylus (525-456)- the father of ancient Greek tragedy. An aristocrat and warrior, he took part in the battles with the Persians at Marathon and Salamis. He was the author of about 90 works, of which 7 have come down to us. In the tragedy “Oresteia”, which consisted of three parts “Agamemnon”, “Choephora”, “Eumenides”, he spoke about the sinister crimes of the Atrides family, about the murder of the leader of the Achaean army of his wife Clytemnestra, the cruel reprisal of children against their mother and the revenge of the gods on Orestes for his crime. The main conflict of the tragedy is not family, but historical.

In tragedy "Prometheus Bound" For the first time in world culture, Aeschylus recreated the image of a tyrant fighter, bringing people the light of truth. Aeschylus interprets everything that human civilization had achieved by that time as the gift of Prometheus. In the central monologue, the tragic hero speaks about himself and about people:

Sophocles (496-406) wrote 120 works, 7 tragedies have reached us. The son of a wealthy gunsmith from the Athens suburb of Colon, He received an excellent education, took an active part in the political life of Athens, and was a friend of Pericles. He won 24 victories in playwriting competitions. The most famous dramatic works of Sophocles are associated with the Theban cycle of myths. In tragedy "Oedipus the King" the hero, unknowingly, became the killer of his father and the husband of his mother. The gods send a terrible pestilence to the city of Thebes, because a regicide lives here. Oedipus, who became the ruler of Thebes, promises to punish the criminal, but soon becomes convinced of his own guilt. The action of the tragedy develops retrospectively: from the present to the past. People close to Oedipus, when suspicion of his own guilt crept in, convince him that he could not have committed the crime. But the more evidence they provide that it is impossible for him to commit crimes, the stronger his confidence: he himself is guilty. The tragedy of Oedipus consists of an unconsciously committed crime and a consciously accepted punishment. Oedipus was sighted, but did not know what he was doing. Punishing himself, he gouges out his eyes and leaves Thebes, then settles in Colon. The land that gives shelter to a repentant sinner is under the protection of the gods. This is the main idea of the tragedy “Oedipus at Colonus”.

In tragedy "Antigone" a conflict arises between the heirs of Oedipus. Two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices, died in the fratricidal war. The new ruler of Thebes, Creon, prohibits, on pain of death, the burial of Polyneices, who went to war against his hometown. Creon issues this law with the best intentions, wanting to stop chaos and anarchy. Oedipus' daughter Antigone, risking her life, disobeyed the ruler and buried her brother's body. Sophocles in the tragedy “Antigone” not only glorifies the heroine’s courage and loyalty to duty, but also confronts the eternal moral laws that humanity has developed throughout history with the willfulness of rulers who violate the world order.

The greatness of Sophocles' heroes lies in the fact that, broken by omnipotent fate, they remain faithful to their human duty.

Euripides (480-406)- the youngest of the tragic poets, the author of 92 works, of which 17 tragedies have come down to us. The best translations belong to In. Annensky.

Euripides was a follower of the philosophy of the Sophists, who argued that objective truth does not exist, since only man is the measure of all things. The playwright demonstrates human rights to actions that horrify others, but they follow from his internal logic. To his contemporaries, his heroes seemed too pampered, and his heroines too cruel. Really , Medea in the tragedy of the same name, she mercilessly takes revenge on the one whom Jason called his bride. Medea kills her own children because she wants her suffering to become the tragedy of the father of her children. She defends her dignity, just as in the tragedy “Hippolytus” Phaedra takes revenge on her stepson only because he does not consider love a sacred feeling that unites people. The heroines of Euripides are literally femme fatales; fate dominates them and leads them to death. In this sense, he agrees with Sophocles, but compared to the author of Oedipus the King, Euripides pays much more attention to psychological nuances, masterfully conveying the dialectic of feelings. So, for example, in the tragedy "Iphigenia in Aulis" The goddess Artemis demands that Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter, otherwise the Greek ships that have accumulated near the port city of Aulis will never reach the walls of Troy. Iphigenia, along with her mother Clytemnestra, is summoned to Aulis, allegedly to marry Achilles. She is happy. But having learned that it is not a wedding that awaits her, but the gloomy Hades, she desperately begs her father to take pity on her. Time passes, and Iphigenia perceives the lot that has fallen to her differently.

Iphigenia perceives fate as a duty; she is ready to die with dignity for the honor of her homeland. However, in the finale salvation comes: Artemis had mercy and replaced the girl’s body with a doe. Euripides uses a new technique discovered by him in the denouement: Deus ex machina - God from the machine. When the heroes are threatened with death, the gods save them at the last moment. There were special theatrical devices that lifted characters to heaven. Even in the most tragic situations, everything ends happily in a number of works by Euripides.

Aristophanes (c. 445 - c. 386)- father of ancient Greek comedy. The origin of comedy is associated with Bacchic songs. The term itself originally meant “the song of a riotous crowd.” A dialogue emerged from the humorous squabbles. Parody played a significant role in comedy. Aristophanes, in the monologues of his characters, parodied the speeches of politicians, military leaders and sophists. He was the author of about 40 comedies, of which 11 came to us.

The peculiarity of Roman literature during the reign of Octavian Augustus was that brilliant poets deliberately went to serve the ruler. This is equally characteristic of Virgil (70-19) and Horace (65-8).

The life of the greatest poet of ancient Rome is known from the biographical notes of Suetonius, the author of the famous books “The Lives of the Twelve Caesars” and “On Famous People”. Although Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was a contemporary of Virgil.

Virgil became famous for his “Bucolics” - pastoral idylls in which villagers indulge in love lamentations and joys, and also talk on philosophical topics. In one of the poems in this cycle the following line was heard:

In 30 Virgil turns to the creation of a poem "Aeneid", which immortalized his name. He presented the events first in prose and then in hexameter, following the traditions of Homer and continuing his plots.

The poem talks about the fate of the Trojan Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite. His mother commands him to leave burning Troy and go with his closest relatives to the Italian shores, for he is destined to become the founder of a new powerful state.

Horace- a poet of the golden mean, writing for a select few. In his poems he called for moderation, taught to be content with little, and in his satires he exposed the luxury and vices of the noble rich. In his odes, he glorified the wisdom of statesmen and their deeds done for the benefit of the people. Horace was the first in world literature to create a monument to poetry, proclaiming the immortality and power of the poetic word. His ode “Monument” served as a model for poets of subsequent generations. Let us recall that A.S. Pushkin to his poem “I erected a monument to myself not made by hands...” took the epigraph from Horace: Exegi monument.

The merit of Virgil and Horace was that, largely thanks to their poetry, Latin was preserved, since in the Middle Ages their works were read and studied by students.

Middle Ages: Romanesque and Gothic, heroic epic and chivalric romance, Dante and Giotto

The Middle Ages is a long period of world history, stretching from the end of the 5th century. to the 15th century, connecting antiquity with the Renaissance. The beginning of medieval history is conventionally considered to be 476, when the final fall of the Roman Empire took place as a result of numerous uprisings of slaves and uprisings of the plebs, as well as under the onslaught of barbarian tribes that invaded the Apennine Peninsula from the north. The end of the Middle Ages was the Renaissance of ancient culture, which began in Italy from the middle of the 14th century, and in France - from the beginning of the 16th century, in Spain and England - from the end of the same century. The Middle Ages were characterized by the dominance of the Christian religion, asceticism, the destruction of ancient monuments, and the oblivion of humanistic ideas in the name of religious dogma. From the end of the 4th century. Christianity became the state religion, first in Rome, and then in the emerging barbarian states, for the leaders of the Germans, Franks, and Celts soon realized that the ideas of monotheism contributed to the elevation of their authority among their fellow tribesmen. Having mastered and processed Latin, they accepted baptism and the dogmas of the church.

Finally, it was in the Middle Ages that literary genres arose that still exist today: the novel, sonnet, ballad, madrigal, canzone and others.

At the end of the Middle Ages, great geographical discoveries occurred and printing was invented, cities were revived and universities were opened.

Until recently, the Middle Ages in the historical process were interpreted as a decline in art and literature; now this view seems outdated. In the Middle Ages, verbal and plastic arts had their own specific feature - anonymity. In most cases, it is impossible to name the author of the works. They were created by a collective folk genius, as a rule, over a long period of time, often over several centuries, through the talent and dedication of many generations. Another characteristic feature of medieval literary monuments was the presence of so-called “wandering stories”, due to the fact that epic songs were spread orally, they gained recognition among different peoples inhabiting Europe, but each nation introduced original details into the stories about the exploits of heroes, in its own way interpreted the heroic and moral ideal.

The leading genre of medieval literature were epic poems, which arose at the final stage of the formation of nations and their unification into states under the auspices of the king.

In the epic tales of the Middle Ages, the loyal vassal of his overlord always plays a very important role. Such is the hero of the French "Songs of Roland" who did not spare his life to serve King Charlemagne. He, at the head of a small detachment of Franks in the Roncesvalles Gorge, repels the attack of thousands of Saracen troops. Dying on the battlefield, the hero covers his body with his military armor, lies down facing the enemies, “so that Karl would tell his glorious squad that Count Roland died, but won.”

The Song of Roland took shape over almost four centuries. The real details were partly forgotten, but its patriotic pathos intensified, the king was idealized as a symbol of the nation and state, and the feat in the name of faith and people was glorified.

Ruy Diaz de Bivar, nicknamed Sid, the hero of the Spanish folk epic, also faithfully serves his king Alfonso VI "Song of Sid" liberated Valencia and other Spanish lands from the Arab tribes that captured them.

The image of Sid captivates with its realistic versatility. He is not only a brave commander, but also a subtle diplomat. When he needed money, he did not disdain deception; he cleverly deceived gullible moneylenders, leaving them chests with sand and stones as collateral. Sid is having a hard time with the forced separation from his wife and daughters, and when the king betrothed them to noble swindlers, he suffers from the insult and calls out for justice to the king and the Cortes. Having restored the honor of the family and gained royal favor, Sid is satisfied and marries his daughters a second time, now to worthy grooms.

The epic hero of the Spanish epic is close to reality, this is explained by the fact that “The Song of Cid” arose just a hundred years after Rodrigo accomplished his exploits. In subsequent centuries, the Romansero cycle arose, telling about the youth of the epic hero.

Germanic heroic epic "Song of the Nibelungs" was written down around 1200, but its plot dates back to the era of the “great migration of peoples” and reflects a real historical event: the death of the Burgundian kingdom, destroyed by the Huns in 437.

“The Song of the Nibelungs” is one of the most tragic creations of world literature. Cunning and intrigue lead the Nibelungs to death. The tragedy of all the Nibelungs begins with the death of an epic hero, which is Siegfried - the ideal hero of the “Song of the Nibelungs”. The prince from the Lower Rhine, the son of the Dutch king Siegmund and Queen Sieglinde, the conqueror of the Nibelungs, who took possession of their treasure - the gold of the Rhine, is endowed with all the virtues of knighthood. He is noble, brave, courteous. Duty and honor are above all for him.

The image of Siegfried combines the archaic features of the hero of myths and fairy tales with the behavior of a feudal knight, ambitious and cocky. He soon resigns himself, remembering the purpose of his visit. It is characteristic that the prince unquestioningly serves King Gunther, not ashamed to become his vassal. This reflects not only the desire to get Kriemhild as a wife, but also the pathos of faithful service to the overlord, invariably inherent in the medieval heroic epic.

Siegfried plays a major role in Gunther's matchmaking with Brunhild. He not only helps him defeat a mighty hero in a duel, but also gathers a squad of thousands of Nibelungs, who must accompany the bride and groom returning to Worms. The powerful Burgundian ruler sends Siegfried to the capital city with the good news that he has mastered the warrior maiden, so that his relatives prepare a solemn meeting for them. This causes the heartfelt joy of Krimhilda, who hopes that the messenger can now count on marrying her. A magnificent double wedding took place.

After ten years of separation, Siegfried and Kriemhild receive an invitation from Gunther and Brunhild to visit Worms. The Nibelungs go to visit, not knowing what trouble awaits them there.

The quarrel between the two queens turned into disaster for Siegfried. Having learned from Kriemhild that Siegfried, having bathed in the blood of a dragon, had become invulnerable to arrows, their faithful vassal Hagen realized that the hero had his own “Achilles heel”: a fallen linden leaf covered the body between the shoulder blades, this is what poses a danger to the brave knight . The traitor kills Siegfried while hunting, throwing a spear at the unarmed hero leaning over a stream, aiming between the shoulder blades. The blow turned out to be fatal.

With the death of Siegfried, the narrators' attention is focused on the fate of his widow, who takes bloody revenge on her relatives for the death of her husband.

Kriemhild uses Etzel's matchmaking and then marriage with the king of the Huns exclusively to carry out her bloody plans. The compositional structure of “The Nibelungenlied” is symmetrical, and the characters repeat each other’s actions. So, Kriemhild persuades Etzel, as Brunhild had previously begged Gunther, to invite his brothers to visit him in order to inflict reprisals on them.

“The Song of the Nibelungs” is a story about the vicissitudes of human destinies, about the fratricidal wars that tore apart the feudal world. Etzel, the most powerful ruler of the early Middle Ages, acquired the features of an ideal ruler who paid for his nobility and gullibility, becoming a victim of those whom he revered as his closest people.

The heroic epic of the early Middle Ages was replaced in the twelfth century by a new genre - the novel, which was destined to have a long life in art - right up to the present day. In the medieval novel, the main character remained the knight, but his appearance and inner world underwent significant changes. Being an epic hero, the knight captivated with his dashing prowess, which he tirelessly demonstrated while fighting against foreign infidels. Such was Roland - the nephew and faithful vassal of his king, Charlemagne. The dying speeches of the brave warrior Roland are addressed to God and the King. But here’s what’s surprising: the dying knight never remembered his bride Alda, the sister of his comrade-in-arms and friend Olivier. Having learned about the death of her lover, Alda died of grief, which, however, is reported without much detail by the storyteller who called himself Turold, although little is known about him either. It is unlikely that he was the author of the “Song of Roland”; rather, he became famous as a talented juggler who could afford to leave his name in the text. But in general, the heroic epic - let us emphasize once again - is the result of the creation of a collective folk genius.

"Tristan and Isolde"

The relationship between the knight and the king also changed somewhat. A noble paladin of his king, while remaining a vassal, often acquires a slightly different status: a friend and confidant of the monarch. Sometimes a knight, on the orders of the king, performs a feat, but the heroic deed is connected not with politics, but with his personal life. For example, Tristan goes to conquer Isolde. The overseas beauty is to become the wife of King Mark, who is his uncle. The distance between the vassal and the king is reduced, and the knight becomes one of those close to him. The conflict in the novel about Tristan and Isolde is based on the fact that the vassal becomes a rival of the king himself, which would be absolutely impossible in the heroic epic. The love experiences of the characters are revealed with great psychological persuasiveness, their feelings are devoid of static, the pursuit of lovers only stimulates their passion.

The chivalric romance spread throughout the territories of future Germany and France, easily overcoming the language barrier. Many novels arose about the adventures of the Knights of the Round Table at the court of King Arthur. The source was Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1137), which became widely popular in France.

Wolfram is the largest poet of the German Middle Ages, the author of many lyrical works, the unfinished novel Willehalm (c. 1198-1210), and is valued primarily as the creator of the monumental novel Parzival (c. 1200-1210), numbering 28,840 verses. But it's not a matter of scale. Wolfram von Eschenbach revolutionized the genre of the novel itself, shifting the focus from external events (adventures, unexpected meetings, fights) to the inner world of the hero, who gradually, in the process of painful searches, disappointments and delusions, finds harmony with the world and peace of mind.

"Parzival"is a kind of family chronicle, since Wolfram von Eschenbach tells in great detail three stories - three biographies: Parzival's father Gamuret, Parzival himself and his son Lohengrin.

Gamuret is the ideal hero of a German chivalric romance. He longs to serve God alone and dreams of the only reward - the love of a beautiful lady, whose name is Herzloyda, which means yearning at heart. Herzloyd had to choose her spouse at a knight's tournament. The brave Gamuret defeats all his rivals, but he cannot live without the lists. Taking advantage of the freedom that the generous Herzloyda provided him, he went to fight and died in battle.

Parzival's story ends with the triumph of justice and universal joy. His beloved wife Condviramur, whom the wandering knight had been yearning for for so long, also arrives at the castle. Happy Parzival immediately saw his wonderful sons Cardeis and Lohengrin.

The ending of the story is idyllic: the Holy Grail feeds everyone with food and quenches thirst with wine. Parzival rules his country wisely and fairly.

Lohengrin is the son of Parzival and Condwiramur. Born, like his father, after the knight left for war. Their first meeting and mutual recognition occurs when Parzival has already mastered the Holy Grail. The further history of Lohengrin is outlined by Wolfram in a dotted manner. They talk about Lohengrin's courage, about his victories in many battles. Lohengrin fell in love with the beautiful princess of Brabant, Elsa, who rejected all those who sought her hand. He arrives in Antwerp on a boat drawn by a swan. The slender, blond, handsome man Lohengrin instantly won the princess's heart. He married her on one condition: Elsa should not ask where he came from. Obviously, Lohengrin had no right to reveal to anyone the secret of the Munsalves castle, in which the Holy Grail was kept. Lohengrin's wife complied with the condition for a long time, but as soon as she tried to find out her husband's secret, Lohengrin disappeared without a trace, drawn by a beautiful swan.

Gothic

A grandiose performance that took place in the city square - mystery(Latin mysterium - sacrament). It could be an action about the fall of Adam and Eve or a depiction of the way of the cross of Jesus Christ. Comic episodes began to penetrate serious dramatic performances. Appeared farce(French farce - filling), which depicted unfaithful wives, imaginary blind men begging for alms, scoundrel lawyers, stingy old men and helipads in love. The writers of farces laughed at them kindly, amusing the spectators who had gathered to watch the mysteries.

A drama with a happy ending was miracle(French miracle - miracle). In the miracles, heavenly powers intervened in the fate of the sinner and saved him. This is the already mentioned miracle “The Miracle of Theophilus” by Rutbeuf (mid-13th century). Nicholas of Myra often acted in the miracles, saving drowning sailors, helping homeless women find worthy suitors, curing the sick, and even exposing thieves.

Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) was born in Florence, took an active part in public life, and was elected one of the priors - governors of the city. However, when Dante's political opponents came to power, he was forced to go into exile. Although the famous poet was received with honors in many cities of Italy, he had a hard time being separated from Florence. The most important event in the poet’s spiritual life was the meeting with Beatrice, who became for him the earthly embodiment of heavenly love. The name Beatrice means bestower of bliss. Dante's poetic work became a glorification of the ideal; he created an image that embodies faith, wisdom, beauty, justice, compassion - in a word, all human virtues.

He first spoke about his love for Beatrice in a book "New life"(1292), which became the world's first autobiography of a poet. He talks about meetings with Beatrice, of which there were only three. He experienced bliss when he beheld her lovely appearance. He experienced terrible grief when he learned that Beatrice had died. In "New Life" poetry is combined with prose. In sonnets and canzones he captured her image, and in prose explanations he talked about what was the reason for creating the poem and what thought he wanted to express in it.

Above "Divine Comedy" Dante worked in exile for about 20 years. The poet called his work “Comedy”. This did not mean belonging to the dramatic genre; in the time of Dante, a comedy was a work that begins tragically but ends happily. Descendants called Dante's creation "Divina commedia", thereby expressing their admiration. The poem consists of three parts: "Hell", "Purgatory", "Heaven"", corresponding to the three states of the human soul in the afterlife. Each part consists of 33 songs.

The most terrible crime in the poet's mind is betrayal. The most painful tortures are in store for Judas, Brutus and Cassius. Dante, who has experienced treason and betrayal, is merciless towards them.

At the end of the poem, Dante meets with Beatrice, who introduces him to Divine Providence and eternity.

The Renaissance: the genesis of humanism, the titans of the Renaissance, Shakespeare and Cervantes

Starting from the fourteenth century, Italian artists and poets turned their attention to the ancient heritage and tried to revive in their art the image of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person. Among the first to take the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans as a model were Giotto and Dante, and then the poet Francesco Petrarca and the short story writer Giovanni Boccaccio, the sculptor Niccolo Pisano and the painter Simone Martini. Initially, the term Renaissance or Renaissance (French Renaissance) denoted the cultural and historical stage from which the study of ancient art and literature began, perceived as the ideal embodiment of the external appearance and inner spiritual life of a person.

The fundamental difference between Renaissance art and medieval art was the embodiment not of the divine, but of the human essence of existence. This gives rise to the main philosophical principle of the Renaissance - anthropocentrism, according to which man is the center and highest goal of the universe.

The modern system of genres of literature and art took shape to a large extent during the Renaissance. Lyric poetry can be considered a kind of analogue of self-portrait in literature. The lyrics of Francesco Petrarch, Pierre Ronsard, and William Shakespeare interpreted their inner life experiences, but connoisseurs of their lyrics recognized in the poets’ poems not only and not so much the authors, but themselves, discovering coincidences and similarities in sorrows and joys. Lyrics are subjective, but at the same time, lyric poetry can become a unifier of people in an emotional outburst. During the Renaissance, the main genre of lyric poetry was the sonnet. All the poets listed above wrote sonnets; in fourteen lines of a sonnet they managed to convey creative aspiration, the dream of poetic immortality, the finding of love and the loss of a beloved.

Renaissance in Italy. Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) - the first European humanist. His father, shortly before the poet's birth, was expelled from Florence by political opponents. Being a notary, his father wanted Francesco to also become a lawyer. Petrarch studied law at the universities of Montpellier and Bologna. After his father's death, by his own admission, he sent all his legal writings into long-term imprisonment. Having taken holy orders, in 1330 he entered the service of Cardinal Giovanni Colonna. As his secretary, Francesco Petrarca accompanied the cardinal on trips to France, Flanders, and Germany.

In the memory of descendants, Francesco Petrarch remained the author "Books of Songs" which he worked on from the first meeting with Laura until his death. Like Dante’s Beatrice, Laura in Petrarch’s poems is the personification of spiritual perfection, wisdom, and love. But the poets’ images of lovers have one significant difference. Beatrice is beautiful, Laura is beautiful. In Dante we will not find a description of her appearance, while Petrarch notices the whiteness of her hands, the gold of her hair, and her light gait. Laura's portrait is more real and concrete, but the main attention is still paid not to passion, but to virtue.

The Book of Songs consists of two parts: “On the life of Madonna Laura” and “On the death of Madonna Laura.”

The Book of Songs includes 317 sonnets, 29 canzonas, 9 sextinas, 7 ballads and 4 madrigals.. Most of these are poems about love, but Petrarch was not alien to patriotic issues. In the famous canzone “My Italy” he grieves over the ruin of the country caused by civil strife.

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) during his lifetime did not gain from his contemporaries the recognition that he later received. The author of “The Decameron” entered the history of world literature as the creator of the short story genre.

"Decameron"(1348-1353) - in Greek - ten days. Seven beautiful Florentine girls and three well-bred young men take refuge in a country villa from a plague epidemic. They spend ten days in solitude. Everyone tells one funny, touching or instructive story every day. In total, The Decameron contained one hundred short stories. Framing carries an important meaning. The optimistic content of most short stories contrasts with the atmosphere of the plague city. The author inspires the idea: remembering death, enjoy life.

There are many anticlerical jokes in The Decameron. Monks and clergymen achieve love pleasures using various tricks. The author condemns them not for their craving for pleasure, but for their hypocrisy and hypocrisy. In satirical short stories, the comic effect is created due to the fact that the sermons of churchmen diverge from their postulates. The positive hero of many short stories is an active, enterprising person who, subjected to various kinds of tests, emerges victorious due to his intelligence and will to live. These are the misadventures of the stories of the fifth day, in which the heroes manage to outwit fortune.

Francois Rabelais.

The future writer was born into the family of a lawyer in the south of France in the province of Touraine. He made the sunny fertile land of vineyards the setting for the first two parts of his book "Gargantua and Pantagruel" Francois Rabelais was a monk, but a special kind of monk - a scientist, philosopher and doctor. He studied medicine at the university in Montpellier, and was one of the first to risk dissecting corpses, which was prohibited by the church. The young doctor was invited as a personal physician by the Bishop of Paris, Jean du Bellay. Together with him he visited Italy, whose Renaissance culture had a beneficial influence on the writer.

In 1532, at a fair in Lyon, Rabelais bought a popular popular book "Great and invaluable chronicles of the great and huge giant Gargantua". Unnamed authors made fun of the knights, who from brave warriors turned into gluttons and drunkards. The satire on knights testified to a historical turning point, when warriors in armor and chain mail could no longer perform their former feats, since firearms were invented.

Rabelais retained the outline of the plot, but behind the ridicule of the garrulous joker and merry fellow, as the narrator seems to be, there is hidden a thoughtful look at modernity.

The trio of giants - grandfather Grangousier, son Gargantua and grandson Pantagruel - are fairy-tale kings, busy with libations and abundant meals. They care little about the welfare of their subjects, but according to Rabelais this is the best form of government, for a free king does not at all encroach on the freedom of his people. Wine drinking should be seen as a game: like real village drunkards, kings and their entourage compete to see who can outdrink whom. Rabelais has a great variety of harmless deception, all sorts of jokes, false oaths, deification - in a word, all kinds of deception. But at the same time he is always accurate, confidentially reporting, down to the last mug, how many large and small kegs were drunk. The more lies, the more accurate numbers - the deceiver Rabelais perfectly mastered this rule and constantly used it.

The atmosphere of the game is enhanced by the special linguistic element of the narrative. For Rabelais the rule is not acceptable: brevity is the sister of talent. On the contrary, he is talkative, talkative, talkative, and brawling. He possesses countless linguistic riches and generously shares his reserves with the reader. French speech in all its glory crowds out laconic Latin. The Frenchman Rabelais was one of the creators of the language of French prose.

Gargantua and Pantagruel is not yet a novel, but Rabelais's text contains the origins of several varieties of the romance genre. Talking about how Gargantua was raised by a wise humanist teacher, Rabelais outlines the contours of a biographical educational novel. The episode of the battle in the vineyard with the neighboring king - a bilious villain, isn't it a sketch of a battle novel? And when brother Jean, who distinguished himself in a brawl, sets up the Thelema monastery, where everyone has the right to do whatever he wants, this is already an application for a utopian novel.

Panurge embodies freedom, of everything in the world, ignoring outdated moral rules. He is free as a country boy who ran away from his masters to the city. But he lacks an understanding of why he needs freedom, how he can manage it.

With the appearance of Panurge, the narrative rushes into a new genre direction - the travel epic. The fact is that Panurge is planning to get married, but he is afraid that he will be cuckolded. Since none of the two dozen advisers recommended anything worthwhile, it was decided to go to China to find the truth to the oracle of the divine bottle. All the characters moved there by ship, sailing past the islands on which Rabelais gathered all the enemies of the human race: bribe-taking judges, fat Catholic monks, Protestant ascetics, scholastics, theologians and other evil spirits.

Poetry Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1584)h ends the Renaissance period in France. Ronsard was a patriot of France; he glorified the fatherland and heroes of his country in solemn odes and anthems. He mourned that religious strife was ruining his homeland and its people; the poet advocated for the unity of his compatriots.

Continuing the traditions of Petrarch, he glorified the feeling of love in sonnets. Moreover, the poet’s hobbies Cassandra, Maria and Elena, to which he dedicated poetic cycles were not speculative, but quite real, which is why love confessions sound sincere and frank.

Germany

German folk books - a special type of grassroots literature addressed to a democratic reader - have become a remarkable monument of humanistic culture. The first folk books appeared in the middle of the 15th century. in Germany in connection with the invention of printing and became widespread at the end of the 16th century.

The heroes of popular popular prints were both historical heroes, be it Alexander the Great, Charlemagne or Henry the Lion, and fictional ones: the swindler Till Eulenspiegel and the sage Doctor Faust. In the first case, the character inspired respect for his heroic courage, in the second he attracted attention with his resourcefulness and intelligence, which were of great value in the burgher environment. This is Till Eulenspiegel, the hero of the German folk book of the same name. The characters' nickname consists of two words: "Ule" (owl) and "Spiegel" (mirror). "The Owl Mirror" is perceived as a wise mockery of human stupidity. The biography of Till Eulenspiegel consists of ninety-five satirical stories that tell how Till, wandering around the world, fools representatives of various classes and professions.

Till Eulenspiegel is a collective image that reflected the critical aggravation of popular consciousness in the period immediately preceding the Peasants' War and the Reformation in Germany in the first quarter of the 16th century. The people's favorite constantly breaks the stable established class order, ridiculing the nobility, the rich and the holy.

Renaissance in Spain . Humanistic ideas penetrated the Iberian Peninsula at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. Spain during this period was an absolutist monarchy; rulers and subjects remained zealous Catholics. The Spanish economy was one of the most backward in Europe. The influx of income from the colonies led to a sharp increase in the price of goods and products. The aristocrats had nothing to eat on the golden dishes, and what can we say about the petty nobles - hidalgos, among whom the biggest celebrity remains to this day Don Quixote of La Mancha, created by the imagination of Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616) was the son of a poor doctor who belonged to the hidalgo class. His father had to wander around the Spanish provinces in search of work, so as a child the future writer visited Seville and Toledo, Madrid and Cordoba. Cervantes's literary gift manifested itself early; already in his youth he was composing sonnets.

The novel was conceived by Cervantes as a parody of a chivalric romance and chivalry in general, which had already ceased to play its role in society. As for the chivalric novels that the crazy hidalgo and some of his neighbors and friends read, only very naive people who were not versed in real life could take sorcerers and villains seriously. The satirical effect of Cervantes's narrative is based on the complete discrepancy between the images and situations of chivalric novels and everything that the crazy hidalgo encounters on the paths and crossroads of his wanderings. However, Don Quixote sees what he wants to see: in the cowgirl Dulcinea - a beautiful lady, in windmills - giants, in a mountain cave - a crystal castle.

"Don Quixote"- the first novel in European literature, because the nature of the novel genre is based on the fact that a person, by his own example, tests universal human ideals, studies the ways and possibilities of their implementation.

The alliance of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is ridiculous due to its external and internal contrast: a thin hidalgo and a fat peasant, a dreamer-visionary and a smart pragmatist. However, during their long wanderings they will learn a lot from each other. But something else is important. Cervantes, in two inseparably connected characters, for the first time showed the integrity of human consciousness, in which two contrasting views of the world coexist. In the end, both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza live inside everyone.

Revival in England . In English Renaissance art at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. The leading role belonged to the theater. William Shakespeare(1564-1616) was the most repertoire playwright. In London, or rather outside the city limits, there were several theater buildings: “Swan”, “Curtain”, “Globe”. The latter was the property of Richard Burbage and his family. Shakespeare was friendly with him and wrote plays with the expectation that Burbage would play the main roles in them. By the way, the actors were only men. Everyone in the troupe were shareholders; William Shakespeare was a mediocre performer, but became famous as a playwright. However, at that time dramaturgy was not valued as high literature, since the plays were rewritten many times, the text was adapted to the capabilities of the troupe. The playwright gave his brainchild to the theater, received a reward and lost ownership of the tragedy or comedy.

To the first period includes a significant part of Shakespeare's comedies: The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It. There are always several love lines in comedies. Between the characters in love there is a competition in wit, eloquence, and resourcefulness. The heroes are endowed with an active Renaissance character, they stubbornly go towards the goal, and every obstacle on the way only provokes them, as it gives an opportunity to demonstrate the extraordinary nature. The heroines are by no means timid; they know how to stand up for themselves, but are ready to submit to the groom, who is equal in intelligence and willpower. Numerous pranks, tricks of envious people, and carnival travesties emphasize the conflict-free nature of comedies. A Shakespearean viewer is always sure: “The end is the crown of the matter,” as the title of one of the comedies sounds.

The first period includes tragedy "Romeo and Juliet", which does not yet have that gloomy flavor as in subsequent tragedies. The love story of two young Veronese, who fell in love despite family feuds, plays out in the city square, at a ball and during a nightly date. It can be assumed that Romeo and Juliet could also find happiness like Hero and Claudio in the comedy Much Ado About Nothing. At first glance, the reason for the death of the heroes is a fatal coincidence of circumstances. However, the conflict of the tragedy is different: in a world that preserves medieval remnants, the heroes dared to live in the Renaissance way. They were ahead of their time and paid for it.

Shakespeare reveals the laws of time, their power over rulers and ordinary people in historical chronicles: “Richard II”, “Henry IV”, “Henry V”, “Richard III”. The events of the chronicles are mainly limited chronologically by the War of the Scarlet and White Roses (1455-1485). Shakespeare shows how, at the end of bloody civil strife in England, legitimate power is established. The chronicles persistently convey the idea that a just ruler can only be an internally free person who, nevertheless, follows the law in everything. This is Henry V. As a prince, in the chronicle “Henry IV” he was friends with Falstaff, participated in revelries and clownish tricks. But having inherited the crown and throne, he did not recognize his “old friend”; it was no longer fitting for him to be friends with a freedom-loving, merry fellow.

By the second period The creativity of William Shakespeare, limited to 1600-1608, includes, first of all, his great tragedies: Hamlet (1601), Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), Macbeth(1606) and tragedies written on a plot from the history of Ancient Rome.

Legend of the Prince Hamlet was first recorded by the Danish historian Saxo Grammarian at the beginning of the 13th century. It told that a certain Fengon, tormented by envy of his reigning brother, killed him and married his wife Geruta. Hamlet, pretending to be weak-minded, and thereby lulling his uncle's vigilance, took cruel revenge on Fengon and his associates.

Shakespeare turns to the archetypal plot of fratricide. The shadow of Hamlet's father calls on the prince to take revenge for the death of his parent. Hamlet does not immediately decide to kill Claudius; he strives to find more indisputable confirmation of what happened, arranging, with the help of actors, a test for his uncle, who falls into the trap of seeing on stage a crime he committed in reality. However, after reasonable reflection, Hamlet comes to the idea of the meaninglessness of revenge. He realizes that revenge and justice are not the same thing, since by shedding blood he will not correct the world. Hamlet tragically senses the imperfection of his surroundings. He sees Denmark as a prison, Elsinore Palace is filled with traitors and spies, and the people closest to him act as spies. This paralyzes Hamlet’s will to live; in the famous monologue “To be or not to be?”, he questions the expediency of human existence itself in an unjust world order. This monologue echoes sonnet 66.

The conflict of the tragedy is aggravated by the fact that Hamlet is at odds with himself. He realizes that the mission that has fallen to his lot is impossible, because he is not given the opportunity to realize humanistic principles. But Hamlet acts actively in the finale. He does not fight with Laertes, who lost his father, killed by Hamlet, he fights with the world of evil without hope of success, and in the end fulfills his father's will. By killing Claudius, he ensures that there is one less villain in the world.

In Othello, Shakespeare focuses on the relationship between the Venetian Moor and the beautiful Desdemona. Here again is the motive of female betrayal, moreover imaginary, but leading to an irreparable tragedy. It would be naive not to notice Othello’s jealousy, as well as to explain everything that happened with his frantic jealousy. A.S. Pushkin once remarked: “Othello is not jealous by nature - on the contrary: he is trusting.” In our country, it is customary to interpret Othello as a tragedy of betrayed trust. A fatal role in the conflict is played by Iago, who hates Othello, not because he is outranked by him, but for another reason. It infuriates him that the warrior and the happy newlywed find the world beautiful and people honest and kind. Iago sees the world as a collection of abomination and vice. He seeks to desecrate the ideals of Othello, he manages to convert him to his unbelief, “proving” that the one who seems to be the Moor’s ideal is dissolute and sinful. Othello's greatness is manifested in the fact that, having believed the villain and committed a crime, he severely punishes himself.

Tragedy "King Lear"carries the features of a parable and a fairy tale; it is not for nothing that the events are attributed to the 9th century. BC, when Britain as such did not exist. Shakespeare's Lear renounces power and possessions in favor of his daughters in order to enjoy their gratitude. Lear believes the impudent flattery of Goneril and Regan because he considers himself the center of the universe and the benefactor of humanity. He created an idol out of himself. Cordelia annoys him and he disinherits her.

Macbeth- a brave warrior, infected with ambition, which was awakened in him by the witches-soothsayers. For Shakespeare, the tragic in Macbeth lies in the moral and psychological destruction of the heroic personality.

Third period Shakespeare's works - 1608-1612 The playwright creates such dramatic works as "The Tempest", "Cymbeline", "Winter's Tale"" There is a lot of fabulous and fantastic stuff in them. The tragic conflict of The Winter's Tale is similar to the conflict of the tragedy Othello, but finds a happy resolution in the finale, the heroes forgive each other. In these plays one feels reconciliation with life, acceptance of existence, no matter how dramatic it may be.

Classicism andbarOkko 17th century- the main trends in art and literature of the seventeenth century, which was marked by the establishment of absolutism in France and Spain, the counter-reformation and the Thirty Years' War in Germany, the first bourgeois revolutions in the Netherlands and England. These events were reflected in drama and poetry, in prose and in the visual arts. However, writers and poets of the seventeenth century relatively rarely illustrated the political life of their era, preferring to talk about modernity, resorting to historical associations and mythological allusions.

Imitating ancient artists and poets, the champions of classicism, unlike the Renaissance humanists, borrowed from the heritage of antiquity not so much content as artistic principles, which were understood quite formally. Thus, based on the fact that in ancient tragedies the events took place in front of the palace from sunrise to sunset, and all plot lines were interconnected, the famous requirement of three unities is put forward: the unity of place, time and action, which the playwright was obliged to obey.

Classicism found its most complete embodiment in French art, which turned out to be very consonant with the idea of serving the sovereign and the state. In France, under Louis XIII (1610-1643), the de facto ruler of the country was Cardinal Richelieu, who managed to defeat the Fronde - the protests of the nobility against centralized power.

The aesthetics of classicism was finally formed in the treatise “Poetic Art” by Nicolas Boileau (1636-1711). The son of a judicial official at the beginning of his creative career acted as a satirist. Introduced to the king, he soon becomes the court historiographer. In “Poetic Art” (1674), written in verse, he formulates the official doctrine of classicist art.

Boileau's “poetic art” is a holistic aesthetic system that outlines the goals of art - the glorification of the monarchy - and the poetic means of achieving the desired effect. The first literary theorist of modern times places rationality, expediency and plausibility, alien to imitation, at the forefront. However, to create a true work of art, this is not enough; taste and talent are also needed.