The role of minor characters in the play by Ostrovsky Groz (A. N. Ostrovsky)

// / Role minor characters in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm"

From the pen of A.N. Ostrovsky published about 60 plays, which glorified the name of the author and made him eternal in the memory of Russian literature. One of the most decisive and frank is the play “”, in which we observe the world of tyrants and their boundless actions, which ultimately lead to tragic consequences.

The action takes place in the most ordinary town of Kalinov. But what happens in it attracts our attention. We, the readers, are observing the suffocating situation in which the residents of Kalinov find themselves. They are exposed to cruel merchants of all-permissible status on a daily basis.

There are quite a lot of minor characters in the play. They help the author reveal the types of relationships between people of that time and reveal the character traits of the main characters. Conventionally, we can divide the characters into pairs that are somewhat similar.

Very similar to each other (Kabanikha) and Dikoy. They are powerful people, no one dares to contradict them. Dikoy dominates the town of Kalinov, and Kabanikha dominates her estate. Both persons treat each other with respect, because they consider themselves similar and the same.

Kabanova's daughter is Katerina's friend. Girls always tell each other secrets. Varvara learned and adapted to life in her mother's house. And her main skill was lying. In her speech, she directly states that it is impossible to live in their family without this. She is similar in habits and character to her mother. Another character is equal to her - Ivan Kudryash. He is lively and playful, he is cocky and boastful. In some ways he reminds us of the Wild One himself. The couple Curly and Varvara end up running away from the city. But will they be able to become different people and free themselves from the principles of tyranny? Only the author knows this.

There are two similar male characters in the play. This is Katerina’s husband, Tikhon, and her beloved Boris. Both of them can be considered weak and spineless. could not protect Katerina from the constant oppression of Kabanikha and silently obeyed the will of his mother. But Boris could not take the girl with him to Siberia, and thereby save her from suicide. He was completely dependent on his uncle Diky. Both characters simply do not deserve attention, much less Katerina’s love.

The wanderer Feklusha and also stand in a pair, only these are completely opposite images. Feklusha is an adherent of the “dark kingdom”. She always comes to the defense of tyrants. Kuligin, on the other hand, opposes the images of the Wild One, Kabanikha and other similar persons. It was he who was able to make an indictment against Marfa Kabanova after Katerina’s death.

Thanks to such a variety of minor characters, we see fate against their background main character Katerina, who has no equal in this play. Only she was able to deal an irreparable blow to the “dark kingdom” and express an open protest against cruelty, callousness and lawlessness.

The purpose of the lesson: to uncover philosophical content Bunin's story.

Methodical techniques: analytical reading.

During the classes.

I. The teacher's word.

The first one was already underway World War, there was a crisis of civilization. Bunin addressed current problems, but not directly related to Russia, to current Russian reality. In the spring of 1910 I.A. Bunin visited France, Algeria, Capri. In December 1910 - spring 1911. I was in Egypt and Ceylon. In the spring of 1912 he again went to Capri, and in the summer of the following year he visited Trebizond, Constantinople, Bucharest and other European cities. From December 1913 he spent six months in Capri. The impressions from these travels were reflected in the stories and stories that made up the collections “Sukhodol” (1912), “John the Weeper” (1913), “The Cup of Life” (1915), “The Master from San Francisco” (1916).

The story "Mr. from San Francisco" ( original title“Death on Capri”) continued the tradition of L.N. Tolstoy, who depicted illness and death as the most important events that reveal the true value of an individual (“Polikushka”, 1863; “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, 1886; “The Master and the Worker”, 1895). Along with the philosophical line, Bunin’s story developed social issues related to a critical attitude towards the lack of spirituality of bourgeois society, towards the exaltation of technical progress to the detriment of internal improvement.

Bunin does not accept bourgeois civilization as a whole. The pathos of the story lies in the feeling of the inevitability of the death of this world.

Plot is based on a description of an accident that unexpectedly interrupted the well-established life and plans of the hero, whose name “no one remembered.” He is one of those who, until the age of fifty-eight, “worked tirelessly” to become like the rich people “whom he once took as a model.”

II. Conversation based on the story.

What images in the story have symbolic meaning?

(Firstly, the symbol of society is an ocean steamer with the significant name “Atlantis”, on which a nameless millionaire is sailing to Europe. Atlantis is a sunken legendary, mythical continent, a symbol lost civilization, unable to withstand the onslaught of the elements. Associations also arise with the Titanic, which sank in 1912. “The ocean that walked behind the walls” of the steamship is a symbol of the elements, nature, opposing civilization.
The image of the captain, “a red-haired man of monstrous size and bulk, similar... to a huge idol and very rarely appearing in public from his mysterious chambers,” is also symbolic. The image is symbolic title character (reference: the title character is the one whose name is in the title of the work; he may not be the main character). The gentleman from San Francisco is the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization.)

To more clearly imagine the nature of the relationship between “Atlantis” and the ocean, you can use a “cinematic” technique: the “camera” first glides along the floors of the ship, demonstrating the rich decoration, details emphasizing the luxury, solidity, reliability of “Atlantis”, and then gradually “sails away” showing the enormity of the ship as a whole; moving further, the “camera” moves further and further away from the steamer until it becomes like a nutshell in a huge raging ocean that fills the entire space. (Let us remember the final scene of the movie “Solaris”, where the seemingly acquired father’s house turns out to be only imaginary, given to the hero by the power of the Ocean. If possible, you can show these shots in class).

What is the significance of the main setting of the story?

(The main action of the story takes place on the huge steamship of the famous Atlantis. The limited plot space allows us to focus on the mechanism of functioning of bourgeois civilization. It appears as a society divided into upper “floors” and “basements.” Upstairs, life goes on as in a “hotel with everyone comforts", measuredly, calmly and idlely. There are "many" "passengers" living "prosperously", but there are much more - "a great multitude" - of those who work for them "in the cooks', sculleries" and in the "underwater womb" - at the “gigantic fireboxes.”)

What technique does Bunin use to depict the division of society?

(The division has the nature of the antithesis: rest, carelessness, dancing and work, unbearable tension are contrasted”; “the radiance... of the palace” and “the dark and sultry depths of the underworld”; “gentlemen” in tailcoats and tuxedos, ladies in “rich”, “lovely” “toilets” and “drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, people crimson from the flames.” A picture of heaven and hell is gradually being built.)

How do “tops” and “bottoms” relate to each other?

(They are strangely connected with each other. “Good money” helps to get to the top, and they “fed and watered” those who, like “the gentleman from San Francisco,” were “quite generous” to people from the “underworld.” . from morning to evening they served him, preventing his slightest desire, guarding his cleanliness and peace, carrying his things...".)

Why main character deprived of a name?

(The hero is simply called “master,” because that is precisely his essence. At least he considers himself a master and revels in his position. He can afford to go “just for the sake of entertainment” “to the Old World for two whole years” can enjoy all the benefits guaranteed by his status, believes “in the care of all those who fed and watered him, served him from morning to evening, warned his slightest desire,” can contemptuously throw out to the ragamuffins through gritted teeth: “Go away! Via!” ("Away!").)

(Describing the gentleman’s appearance, Bunin uses epithets that emphasize his wealth and his unnaturalness: “silver mustache”, “golden fillings” of teeth, “strong bald head”, compared to “old ivory”. There is nothing spiritual about the gentleman, his goal is becoming rich and reaping the benefits of this wealth came true, but he did not become happier because of it. The description of the gentleman from San Francisco is constantly accompanied by the author's irony.)

When does the hero begin to change and lose his self-confidence?

(“The gentleman” changes only in the face of death, it is no longer the gentleman from San Francisco that begins to appear in him - he was no longer there - but someone else.” Death makes him human: “his features began to become thinner, brighter... ". "Deceased", "deceased", "dead" - this is how the author now calls the hero. The attitude of those around him changes sharply: the corpse must be removed from the hotel so as not to spoil the mood of other guests, they cannot provide a coffin - only a box from - under soda (“soda” is also one of the signs of civilization), the servants, who were in awe of the living, mockingly laugh at the dead. At the end of the story it is mentioned “ dead body an old man from San Francisco,” which returns “home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World,” in a black hold. The power of the “master” turned out to be illusory.)

How is society shown in the story?

(The steamship - the latest technology - is a model human society. Its holds and decks are the layers of this society. On the upper floors of the ship, which looks like “a huge hotel with all the amenities,” flows steadily. life of the rich who have achieved complete “well-being”. This life is indicated by a long, vaguely personal sentence, occupying almost a page: “we got up early, ... drank coffee, chocolate, cocoa, ... sat in baths, stimulating appetite and good health, performed daily toilets and went to the first breakfast.. ." These proposals emphasize the impersonality and lack of individuality of those who consider themselves masters of life. Everything they do is unnatural: entertainment is needed only to artificially stimulate appetite. “Travelers” do not hear the evil howl of a siren, foreshadowing death - it is drowned out by the “sounds of a beautiful string orchestra.”
The ship's passengers represent the nameless “cream” of society: “Among this brilliant crowd there was a certain great rich man, ... there was a famous spanish writer, there was an all-world beauty, there was an elegant couple in love...” The couple pretended to be in love, were “hired by Lloyd to play at love for good money.” It is an artificial paradise filled with light, warmth and music.
And there is also hell. The “underwater womb of the steamship” is like hell. There, “gigantic furnaces cackled dully, devouring with their red-hot mouths piles of coal, with a roar thrown into them by people drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, crimson from the flames.” Let us note the alarming coloring and threatening sound of this description.)

How is the conflict between man and nature resolved?

(Society only looks like a well-oiled machine. Nature, which seems to be an object of entertainment along with “ancient monuments, tarantella, serenades of wandering singers and ... the love of young Neapolitan women,” recalls the illusory nature of life in the “hotel.” It is “huge,” but around it - "water desert" of the ocean and "cloudy sky". Man's eternal fear of the elements is drowned out by the sounds of the "string orchestra". It is reminded of by the siren "constantly calling" from hell, moaning "in mortal anguish" and "furious anger", but they hear her "few". All the rest believe in the inviolability of their existence, protected by a "pagan idol" - the commander of the ship. The specificity of the description is combined with symbolism, which makes it possible to emphasize philosophical character conflict. The social gap between rich and poor is nothing compared to the abyss that separates man from nature and life from non-existence.)

What is the role of the episodic characters in the story - Lorenzo and the Abruzzese highlanders?

(These characters appear at the end of the story and are in no way connected with its action. Lorenzo is “a tall old boatman, a carefree reveler and a handsome man,” probably the same age as the gentleman from San Francisco. Only a few lines are dedicated to him, but he is given a sonorous name, unlike from the title character. He is famous throughout Italy, more than once he served as a model for many painters. “With a regal demeanor" he looks around, feeling truly “royal,” enjoying life, “showing off with his rags, a clay pipe and a red woolen beret lowered on one ear.” The picturesque poor old man Lorenzo will live forever on the canvases of artists, but the rich old man from San Francisco was erased from life and forgotten before he could die.
The Abruzzese highlanders, like Lorenzo, personify the naturalness and joy of being. They live in harmony, in harmony with the world, with nature: “They walked - and the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them: and the rocky humps of the island, which almost all lay at their feet, and that fabulous blue, in which he swam, and the shining morning vapors over the sea to the east, under the dazzling sun...” The goatskin bagpipes and wooden foregrip of the Highlanders are contrasted with the “beautiful string orchestra” of the steamship. With their lively, artless music, the mountaineers give praise to the sun, the morning, “the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and wonderful world, and born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem...” That's what it is true values life, in contrast to the brilliant, expensive, but artificial, imaginary values ​​of the “masters.”)

What image is a general image of the insignificance and perishability of earthly wealth and glory?

(This is also an unnamed image, in which one recognizes the once powerful Roman Emperor Tiberius, who lived the last years of his life on Capri. Many “come to look at the remains of the stone house where he lived.” “Humanity will forever remember him,” but this is the glory of Herostratus : “a man who was unspeakably vile in satisfying his lust and for some reason had power over millions of people, inflicting cruelties on them beyond all measure.” In the word “for some reason” there is an exposure of fictitious power, pride; time puts everything in its place: gives immortality to the true and plunges the false into oblivion.)

III. Teacher's word.

The story gradually develops the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and spiritual civilization. It is contained in the epigraph, which was removed by Bunin only in latest edition 1951: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” This biblical phrase, reminiscent of Belshazzar's feast before the fall of the Chaldean kingdom, sounds like a harbinger of great disasters to come. The mention in the text of Vesuvius, the eruption of which destroyed Pompeii, reinforces the ominous prediction. An acute sense of the crisis of a civilization doomed to oblivion is coupled with philosophical reflections on life, man, death and immortality.

IV. Analysis of the composition and conflict of the story.
Material for teachers.

Composition The story has a circular character. The hero's journey begins in San Francisco and ends with a return "home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World." The “middle” of the story - a visit to the “Old World” - in addition to the specific one, also has a generalized meaning. " New person", returning to history, reassesses his place in the world. The arrival of the heroes in Naples and Capri opens up the opportunity to include in the text the author’s descriptions of a “wonderful,” “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country, the beauty of which “human words are powerless to express,” and philosophical digressions, conditioned by Italian impressions.
The climax is the scene of “unexpectedly and rudely falling” on the “master” of death in the “smallest, worst, most damp and cold” room of the “lower corridor”.
This event, only by coincidence of circumstances, was perceived as a “terrible incident” (“if it weren’t for the German in the reading room” who burst out of there “screaming”, the owner would have been able to “calm down... with hasty assurances that it was so, a trifle..."). The unexpected departure into oblivion in the context of the story is perceived as the highest moment of the collision of the illusory and the true, when nature “roughly” proves its omnipotence. But people continue their “carefree”, crazy existence, quickly returning to peace and quiet.” They cannot be awakened to life not only by the example of one of their contemporaries, but even by the memory of what happened “two thousand years ago” during the time of Tiberius, who lived “on one of the steepest slopes” of Capri, who was the Roman emperor during the life of Jesus Christ.
Conflict The story goes far beyond the scope of a particular case, and therefore its denouement is connected with reflections on the fate of not just one hero, but all past and future passengers of Atlantis. Doomed to the “hard” path of overcoming “darkness, ocean, blizzard”, locked in a “hellish” social machine, humanity is suppressed by the conditions of its earthly life. Only the naive and simple, like children, have access to the joy of joining “the eternal and blissful abodes.” In the story, the image of “two Abruzzese highlanders” appears, baring their heads in front of the plaster statue of the “immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer,” remembering her “blessed son,” who brought the “beautiful” beginning of good into the “evil” world. The master of the earthly world remained the devil, watching “from the rocky gates of two worlds” the actions of the “New Man with an old heart.” What will he choose? where will he go humanity, whether it can defeat the evil inclination within itself, is a question to which the story gives a “suppressing... soul” answer. But the denouement becomes problematic, since the finale affirms the idea of ​​a Man whose “pride” turns him into the third force of the world. A symbol of this is the ship’s path through time and the elements: “The blizzard beat in its rigging and wide-necked pipes, white with snow, but it was steadfast, firm, majestic and terrible.”
Artistic originality The story is associated with the interweaving of epic and lyrical principles. On the one hand, in full accordance with realistic principles image of the hero in his relationship with the environment, on the basis of social and everyday specifics, a type is created, the reminiscent background for which, first of all, is images “ dead souls"(N.V. Gogol. “Dead Souls”, 1842), At the same time, just like in Gogol, thanks to the author’s assessment, expressed in lyrical digressions, the problems deepen, the conflict takes on a philosophical character.

Additional material for teachers.

The melody of death begins to sound latently from the very first pages of the work, gradually becoming the leading motive. At first, death is extremely aestheticized and picturesque: in Monte Carlo, one of the activities of rich idlers is “shooting pigeons, which soar very beautifully and perch over the emerald lawn, against the backdrop of a sea the color of forget-me-nots, and immediately hit the ground with white lumps.” (Bunin is generally characterized by the aestheticization of things that are usually unsightly, which should rather frighten than attract the observer - well, who else but him could write about “slightly powdered, delicate pink pimples near the lips and between the shoulder blades” on the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco, compare the whites of the eyes of blacks with “flaky hard balls” or call it young man in a narrow tailcoat with long tails “handsome, like a huge leech!”) Then a hint of death appears in verbal portrait the crown prince of one of the Asian states, sweet and pleasant in general person, whose mustache, however, “saw like a dead man’s,” and the skin on his face was “as if stretched.” And the siren on the ship is choking in “mortal melancholy,” promising evil, and the museums are cold and “deadly pure,” and the ocean is moving “mourning mountains of silver foam” and hums like a “funeral mass.”
But the breath of death is felt even more clearly in the appearance of the main character, in whose portrait yellow-black-silver tones prevail: a yellowish face, gold fillings in the teeth, an ivory-colored skull. Cream silk underwear, black socks, trousers, and a tuxedo complete his look. And he sits in the golden-pearl glow of the dining hall. And it seems that from him these colors spread to nature and the whole the world. Except that an alarming red color has been added. It is clear that the ocean rolls its black waves, that crimson flames escape from the fireboxes of the ship, it is natural that Italian women have black hair, that the rubber capes of cab drivers give off a black look, that the crowd of footmen is “black,” and that musicians may have red jackets. But why does the beautiful island of Capri also approach “with its blackness”, “drilled with red lights”, why even “humble waves” shimmer like “black oil”, and “golden boas” flow along them from the lit lanterns on the pier?
This is how Bunin creates in the reader an idea of ​​the omnipotence of the gentleman from San Francisco, capable of drowning out even the beauty of nature! (...) After all, even sunny Naples is not illuminated by the sun while the American is there, and the island of Capri seems like some kind of ghost, “as if it never existed in the world,” when the rich man approaches him...

Remember in the works of which writers there is a “talking color scheme”. What role does Dostoevsky play in creating the image of St. Petersburg? yellow? What other colors are significant?

Bunin needs all this to prepare the reader for climax narrative - the death of the hero, which he does not think about, the thought of which does not penetrate his consciousness at all. And what kind of surprise can there be in this programmed world, where formal dressing for dinner is done in such a way as if a person is preparing for a “crowning” (that is, the happy pinnacle of his life!), where there is a cheerful smartness, albeit middle-aged, but well-shaven and yet a very elegant man who so easily overtakes an old woman who is late for dinner! Bunin has only one detail in store that “stands out” from the series of well-rehearsed actions and movements: when the gentleman from San Francisco gets dressed for dinner, his neck cuff does not obey his fingers. She doesn’t want to button up... But he still defeats her. Painfully biting “the flabby skin in the recess under the Adam’s apple,” he wins “with eyes shining from tension,” “all gray from the tight collar squeezing his throat.” And suddenly at that moment he utters words that in no way fit with the atmosphere of general contentment, with the delight that he was prepared to receive. “- Oh. This is terrible! - he muttered... and repeated with conviction: “This is terrible...” What exactly seemed terrible to him in this world designed for pleasure, the gentleman from San Francisco, not used to thinking about the unpleasant, never tried to understand. However, what is striking is that an American who previously spoke mainly English or Italian (his Russian remarks are very short and are perceived as “passing”) repeats this word twice in Russian... By the way, it is generally worth noting his abrupt, how barking speech: he does not utter more than two or three words in a row.
“Terrible” was the first touch of Death, never realized by a person in whose soul “for a long time there were no longer any mystical feelings left.” After all, as Bunin writes, the intense rhythm of his life did not leave “time for feelings and reflection.” However, he still had some feelings, or rather sensations, though they were simple, if not base... The writer repeatedly points out that the gentleman from San Francisco perked up only at the mention of the tarantella performer. (his question, asked “in an expressionless voice,” about her partner: is he not her husband - just reveals hidden excitement), only imagining how she is, “swarthy, with feigned eyes, looking like a mulatto, in a flowery outfit ( ...) dances,” only anticipating “the love of young Neapolitan women, albeit not entirely disinterested,” only admiring the “living pictures” in the dens or looking so openly at the famous blonde beauty that his daughter felt embarrassed. He feels despair only when he begins to suspect that life is slipping out of his control: he came to Italy to enjoy himself, but here there is fog, rain and terrifying pitching... But he is given the pleasure of dreaming about a spoonful of soup and a sip of wine.
And for this, and also for his entire life, in which there was self-confident efficiency, and cruel exploitation of other people, and endless accumulation of wealth, and the conviction that everyone around was called to “serve” him, “to prevent his slightest desires,” “ carry his things,” for the absence of any living principle, Bunin executes him and executes him cruelly, one might say, mercilessly.
The death of the gentleman from San Francisco is shocking in its ugliness and repulsive physiology. Now the writer takes full advantage aesthetic category“ugly” so that the disgusting picture is forever imprinted in our memory. Bunin spares no repulsive details to recreate a man whom no wealth can save from the humiliation that follows his death. Later, the dead man is also granted genuine communication with nature, which he was deprived of, which, being alive, he never felt the need for: “the stars looked at him from the sky, the cricket sang with sad carefreeness on the wall.”

What works can you name where the death of the hero is described in detail? What significance do these “finals” have for understanding the ideological plan? How is the author's position expressed in them?

The writer “rewarded” his hero with such an ugly, unenlightened death in order to once again emphasize the horror of that unrighteous life, which only could end in such a way. And indeed, after the death of the gentleman from San Francisco, the world felt relief. A miracle happened. The very next day, the morning blue sky turned golden, “peace and tranquility returned to the island,” ordinary people poured into the streets, and the city market was graced with the presence of the handsome Lorenzo, who serves as a model for many painters and, as it were, symbolizes beautiful Italy.. .

Municipal institution Department of Education

Promyshlennovsky district, Kemerovo region

Municipal educational institution

"Promyshlennovskaya secondary school No. 4"

Questions and assignments on twentieth-century literature

(Grade 11)

Compiled by:

Marina Nikolaevna

Osadchaya, Russian teacher

language and literature

Industrial

2004

Questions for Bunin's story "Antonov Apples."

What is this story about? What is its plot?

How is the narrative organized?

What is the subject of memories?

How is the effect of the reader’s presence in the described paintings achieved?

What is the tone of the story? How does she change throughout the story?

Questions for Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco."

What is your impression of Bunin’s story? Is it possible to say that

Does the story paint a picture of our time?

What images in the story have symbolic meaning?

Why is the hero deprived of a name? How does the author describe it?

How is society shown in the story?

What is the role of the episodic heroes of the story - Lorenzo and the Abruzzese highlanders?

What image is a general image of insignificance and perishability

Earthly wealth and glory?

What is the pathos of the story?

Questions for Bunin's story "Easy Breathing".

How is the story structured? What is its plot?

Make a compositional plan for the story. Try to explain

why is the main event - the death of Olya Meshcherskaya - reported at the very beginning of the story.

Why does the cool lady Olya appear at the end and tell the story of her life?

What is the role of the ending of the story and its final phrase? What is the symbolism?

expressions "light breathing"?

Questions for Bunin's story "The Late Hour".

When does the story take place? Why does the feeling of reality arise?

fictional journey? What is the role of descriptions in this?

What is the meaning of the title of the story “The Late Hour”?

Questions for Kuprin's story " Garnet bracelet».

How does Kuprin draw the main character of the story, Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina?

How does Zheltkov’s gift look against this background? What is its value? What is the symbolic meaning of this detail?

How does the theme of love develop in the story?

Do you think there is anything “mysterious” about the appearance of the main character of the story?

What is the role in the story of the scene of Prince Shein and Nikolai Nikolaevich visiting Zheltkov’s apartment? How does this scene set up the tragic ending of the story?

Can we say that the scene of reading the letter is the dramatic climax of the story “The Garnet Bracelet”? What happens to Prince and Princess Shein in this scene?

Who is Zheltkov? Can he be called a knight? selfless love? How to evaluate his all-consuming feeling?

What mood will the ending of the story have? What role does music play in creating this mood?

Works on the works of I.A. Bunin and A.I. Kuprina.

1. True and imaginary values ​​in the image of Bunin.
2. The mastery of depicting the world of human feelings in the works of Bunin and Kuprin.
3. The talent of love in the works of Kuprin.
4. The symbolic sound of details in Kuprin’s prose.
5. Eternal and “material” in the image of Bunin (based on the story “Mr. from San Francisco”)
6. Female images of Bunin's late prose (based on two or three stories of students' choice)

Poetry of the "senior symbolists"

Assignment: analyze a poem to choose from: D.S. Merezhkovsky (“Parks”, “Children of the Night”, “double abyss”), Z.N. Gippius (“Song”, “Dedication”, “Spiders”, “All Around”), V. Bryusov (“To the Young Poet”, “Dagger”, “Assargadon”, “The Coming Huns”) according to the following plan:

1.Date of writing and publication.

2. Place occupied in the poet’s work. Art

method.

3. Creative history

4. Main theme.

5.The meaning of the name.

6.Lyrical plot and its movement.

7.Composition. Presence of frame. Basic structural

Parts.

8. Main moods, tone of the poem.

9. Leading leitmotifs. Key words, transmitting them.

10. The lyrical hero, his originality and ways of

Self-disclosure.

11.Lyrical characters. Their experiences. Their destinies.

Sadness, controversy) and the transfer of his experiences.

13. Music of the poem.

14. Rhythm, size.

15.Rhyme, character of rhymes.

16.Vocabulary. Language expressive means.

17.Poetic syntax.

18. Sound recording. Phonetic coloring of the verse.

19.The idea of ​​the poem, revealed as a result of the analysis.

20. The sound of the poem today.

A analysis of poems by the “Young Symbolists”

According to the above plan.

1. K.D. Balmont “I caught the departing shadows with a dream”, “Reeds”, “Fantasy”.
2. V.Ya. Bryusov “To the Young Poet”, “Praise to Man”, “I am the God of the Mysterious World”.
3. A. Bely “To the Motherland”, “From the Car Window”, “To Friends”, “Dedication”.
4. I.F. Annensky “Bow and Strings”, “A Painful Sonnet”, “Snow”.

Analysis of poems by Acmeist poets

according to the above plan.

1.N. Gumilyov “Giraffe”, “On the polar seas and the southern ones”, “Sixth

Feeling", "Lost Tram".

2. A. Akhmatova “Song of the last meeting”, “The last time we

We met then."

Analysis of poems by futurist poets.

1. Igor Severyanin “July Afternoon” (“Cinematograph”)

Try to imagine the situations depicted in the poem

figures on the screen of the then “silent” cinema. How to use

cinematic vision conveys Northern dynamics

life?

Did you sense ironic notes in the poem? How are they

appear?

Make observations of neologisms in the poem

Northerner.

2.Analyze Severyanin’s poem “Poetry outside

subscription."

Topics of essays on the Silver Age of Russian poetry.

1. Searches and finds of poets of the Silver Age.

2. Contradictions of the era in the poetry of the Silver Age.

3.About one poem of the Silver Age.

4.My favorite poet of the Silver Age.

Analysis of Gorky's story "Old Woman Izergil".

What do you think is the meaning of the legend about Larra? Why at the beginning of the legend about

It says, like Danko: Larra is strong, beautiful, brave?

How the relationship between the hero and people is depicted in the legend of Danko,

whom he led through the dark forest?

What is the meaning of the final lines of the legend?

Gorky rewards all his romantic heroes with the epithet

"proud".

What meaning did the writer put into this epithet? Does it sound the same?

this epithet in relation to Larra and Danko?

Find in the text of the second part of the story the words Izergil: “In life...

there is always room for exploits.” What is their meaning in the mouth of Izergil?

The writer emphasizes this in his romantic statement

Danko's feat?

Details of the portrait of the old woman Izergil are given in all three parts of the story.

What do you think is the role of such appearance in the story?

Izergil?

What details of her portrait are most significant to her assessment?

What is the final moral assessment of the characters in the story? That is

a measure of human personality for M. Gorky?

Analysis of Gorky's play "At the Lower Depths". Features of genre and conflict.

How is the scene depicted?

What kind of people live in the shelter? What do lonely people have in common?

inhabitants of the shelter, “former people”?

What is the subject of the play? What is the conflict of the drama? Can

plan?

What brought its inhabitants to the shelter - Satin, Baron, Kleshch, Bubnov,

Actor, Nastya, Ash? What is the backstory of these characters?

What kind of conflicts, other than social ones, are highlighted in the play?

Gorky's play "At the Bottom". The role of Luka in the drama “At the Bottom”.

How do the inhabitants of the shelter perceive their situation before the arrival of

Bows?

Which scene sets up the conflict?

How does Luke affect night shelters?

Did Luka lie to the night shelters?

Gorky's play "At the Bottom". The question of truth in Gorky's drama.

What do the characters in the play mean by “truth”?

Another level of “truth”, ideological, is in Luke’s remarks. "Is it true"

Luke and his “lies” are expressed by the formula: “What you believe is what you believe.” Question

put this way: is truth needed at all? Your answer to this question.

What is Satin's role in the play?

Whose position does Satin express in his monologue about man?

A. Blok “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.”

Read the poem “I Enter Dark Temples...” (1902).

In front of us is a temple, a church: the flickering of red lamps, the shadow of a high column, the creaking of doors, candles, high cornices. But behind this, real, earthly world another one stands up:

...looks into my face, illuminated,

Only an image, only a dream about Her...

They run high along the cornices

Smiles, fairy tales and dreams.

The setting of the temple heightens the poet’s feelings and expectations. This dream is not about the canonical Mother of God. This is the dream of the Majestic Eternal Wife.

Read a selection of Blok’s poems: “I have a presentiment of You. Years pass by...", "Twilight, spring twilight...", "I keep wondering about You...", "I will get up on a foggy morning...", "I will meet you somewhere in the world...", "I'm scared to meet you... " How are these poems, in terms of ideas and figurative structure, close to the poem “I enter dark temples...”?

In what cases and why do you think Blok resorts to the unusual use of capital letters?

A. Blok. Poem "Stranger".

The first four stanzas are a kind of introduction, description

outskirts of the city, where “tested wits walk with the ladies.” Characteristic details that Blok could not even imagine in his youthful poems: boredom

country cottages, bakery pretzel, ditches, barriers, creaking rowlocks,

a child's cry, a woman's squeal... What role do you think these

details?

Stanzas three, five and seven of “Strangers” begin with the same

with the words: “And every evening...” What is the role of such repetition?

What features of the Stranger’s appearance indicate that she belongs to real world, and which ones make her in our minds a messenger of other, “stellar” worlds?

How is the tragic worldview of the lyrical hero conveyed in the poem?

Give examples of skillful sound writing that adds musicality to a poem.

A. Blok “About valor, about exploits, about glory...”

Read the poem. Pay attention to it ring composition(roll call of the first and last stanzas). With what details does the poet convey the tragedy not only of love, but also of the hero’s entire life?

Why does the first stanza say: “...your face in a simple frame / Shined on the table in front of me”

(it wasn’t visible, but it was shining)?

The poem is written in the form of memories of the lyrical hero, addressed to the present. The hero speaks about parting with his beloved three times: in the second, fourth and fifth stanzas. How and why does the hero's tragic feeling grow? What artistic means is it expressed?

Compare Blok’s poem with Pushkin’s poem “I remember a wonderful moment...” What are the similarities? What is the difference? Can we say that Blok’s poem is thoroughly pessimistic and hopeless? Or does the lyrical hero still find some kind of consolation in life?

A. Blok “On the Railroad.”

There are a lot of inconsistencies in the poem - as in any poetic work. We cannot accurately imagine the appearance and age of the heroine, only the following is said about her:

In a colored scarf thrown on her braids,

Beautiful and young.

We do not know the circumstances of her life and death. But we can conclude that this life did not bring her satisfaction. Think: why favorite place Was there a railway platform during the heroine's walks?

Why does the poet say about the heroine’s life: “So the useless youth rushed, \ Exhausted in empty dreams”?

How to understand the word iron in the lines “Road melancholy, iron, \ Whistled, breaking my heart”?

What is the meaning of the epithets: “how many greedy glances are cast into the deserted eyes of the carriages”?

What do you see as the meaning of the last stanza of the poem? How to understand the words “By love, mud or wheels \ She is crushed - everything hurts”

Why do you think the poet included this poem in the “Motherland” cycle?

A. Blok. Cycle “On the Kulikovo Field”.

Let’s re-read the stanza that opens the first poem of this cycle. Let’s pay attention to the epithets and metaphors: “the river spreads out...”, “it’s lazily sad,” “the haystacks are sad over the meager clay of the yellow cliff in the steppe.” What landscape appears before us?

Is the abrupt transition from this landscape to the lyrical monologue in the following stanzas justified? If justified, then by what?

Let us dwell on the exclamation “Oh, my Rus'! My wife!" To make it easier to understand, let us quote Blok’s words: “The more you feel the connection with your Motherland, the more realistically and willingly you imagine it as a living organism.”

Blok does not depict the course of the Battle of Kulikovo, but only conveys its anxious anticipation. By what means does he still give the reader the impression of the grandeur of the historical battle?

Why do the pronouns replace each other in the first poem of Blok’s cycle - mine, us, ours, I, us? What is the meaning of this poetic device?

Why do you think the poet repeatedly uses the word path in the second and third stanzas of this poem?

Reread the last three stanzas of the poem. Show that they are not only about the Battle of Kulikovo, but also about the future of Russia, about that. "What will happen". What premonitions torment the poet?

A. Blok. Poem "Twelve".

Read the poem. Pay attention to its name. What is the size of the Red Guard detachment? How many chapters are there in the poem? Is this a coincidence of numbers?

Briefly outline the theme of each chapter of the poem (you can use poetic lines, for example for the 1st chapter - Wind, wind - \ All over God's world! ")

How is the first chapter structured? How does it convey the moods of different segments of the population?

Is there a cross-cutting plot in the poem? If, in your opinion, it does not exist, then how is the ideological and artistic unity of the work created?

What role does the love story of Petrukha and Katka play in the poem? Why do you think it starts only with chapter 4, ends with chapter 7, and then follows with five more chapters?

Why do you think the poem is written in verse that does not have a single rhythm?

Give examples of vernacular and pathetic speech in the poem.

Give examples of everyday details in chapters 1 and 9 of the poem. Reveal their symbolic meaning.

Find contrasts in chapters 1 and 2, landscape sketches in chapters 10 and 11, determine their meaning.

How the poet draws the images of twelve Red Guards

What is the significance of the image of Christ in the poem?

S. Yesenin “Do not wander, do not crush in the crimson bushes...”

Can we say that this is a lyrical miniature about lost love? Or is the poem dedicated to the ideal of a beloved, a youthful dream, and such a girl did not exist in life?

What rhythm is set by Yesenin from the very first lines of the poem? What is the role of forcing negations here (“don’t wander, don’t crush… don’t search”)?

What is the role of the ring design of a poem?

S. Yesenin “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry...”

Observe how emotional “increases” are created in the poem: note repetitions, appeals, exclamations, where and how the rhythm changes, what is the meaning of sound combinations.

How does the content and emotional tone of the subsequent lines relate to the first line “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry…”?

Find in this poem the lines where Yesenin transforms well-known poetic expressions, thereby creating completely new perceived images.

What do you think is the meaning of the image of the “pink horse” in the penultimate stanza of the poem? Which Pushkin poem echoes “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry...”? What is their closeness?

S. Yesenin “Letter to Mother”.

Read Yesenin’s poem, written in 1917 and also addressed to his mother: “Wake me up early tomorrow...”.

What is the meaning of the roll call of the contents of these works: “Wake up” - “don’t wake up”, “there is no longer a return to the old ...”? What early “loss” do you think the poet is writing about? What was “received” and “didn’t come true”? What feeling is imbued with the request: “...don’t wake me up like eight years ago,” “And don’t teach me to pray, don’t…”?

What is the purpose of Yesenin’s favorite ring design in the poem?

Does the ring design emphasize the mood of the lyrical hero, who has suffered disappointment, loss, and mental fatigue? If yes, then how?

Why does the “ring” include not the first, but the second and last stanzas? Is the repetition verbatim? What are the nuanced changes in the last stanza compared to the second? What do they contribute to its meaning and sound?

S. Yesenin “Now we are leaving little by little...”

What thoughts and feelings are characteristic of the lyrical hero? Why does he talk about his actions and emotions in the past tense? What is the humanity of the feelings expressed in the poem?

What other poems by Yesenin about life and death do you know?

Why did the poet so often turn to this topic in those years?

Does the lyrical hero care how people remember him? Recall, for example, the final stanza of the poem “The golden grove dissuaded…”. What specific analogies arise here? Why does the author so want people to say “that the grove is golden \ Dissuaded with a sweet tongue.”

S. Yesenin “Letter to a Woman.”

Is it possible, after reading the poem, to say that Yesenin has freed himself from doubts and is now satisfied with his life?

Find the statements of the lyrical hero that convey his painful experiences.

How do you understand the statements of the lyrical hero: “Face to face \ You can’t see the face \ Big things are seen at a distance”? Do they relate to in this case to the relationship between the lyrical hero and his beloved or to the understanding and assessment of political events? Or maybe both? What artistic effect is achieved by repeating the word “face” three times in different cases?

The poet writes about himself that he is now “the most furious fellow traveler.” How do you perceive this self-characterization of the poet? How do you understand the definition of “furious”? What meaning does this word take on in this context?

S. Yesenin “The feather grass is sleeping. Dear plain..."

The entire poem is permeated with recognition of love for the homeland. Observe how this recognition is embodied in each of the stanzas. What meaning do the words “homeland” and “plain” acquire in the poem?

What “alien youth” is the poet talking about? What hidden meaning does the penultimate stanza acquire from the presence of the words “sprinkling with newness” in it? In what combination is the word “splashes” usually used?

It is known what significance the poet attaches to the initial and final lines of a poem. Let's see how “The feather grass is sleeping” is framed. The plain is dear.” A deep feeling for one's native land and cherished wish: “Give me my beloved homeland, / Loving everything, to die in peace!” Can we say that Yesenin is all about this immense love for people, for nature?

Yesenin's poem "Anna Snegina".

What traditional theme for Russian literature is developed in the poem?

Which character's speech opens the poem? What associations does this story evoke?

What is your attitude towards war? Why does the hero return from the war without permission?

How does the lyrical hero see the past?

What are the moods of the poet’s fellow countrymen?

What questions do men care about?

How are the feelings of the characters, Anna and Sergei, shown when they meet?

What is the reason for the discord in their relationship?

How is the new government portrayed in the poem?

What events take place before the hero’s next visit to his native place?

How does the leitmotif of the poem change in its final part?

V. Mayakovsky. Analysis of early poems.

Read Mayakovsky's poem “Here!” (1913)

What is the meaning of the contrast between the lyrical hero and the crowd? Why does the lyrical hero call himself a “rude Hun”; is there any basis for this in the poem? Is the poet’s “rudeness” justified?

How do you understand the lines: “All of you perch on the butterfly of the poet’s heart, dirty, in galoshes and without galoshes”?

Read Mayakovsky’s poem “The Violin and a Little Nervously” (1914)

What role does the image of a violin play in this poem? Which human qualities does she embody?

Read Mayakovsky’s poem “Listen!” (1914), paying attention to the division of lines and rhymes. What do you think is the reason for this division? What is the role of rhetorical questions and exclamations in the poem?

Mayakovsky's poem "Cloud in Pants".

Read the introduction and the first part of the poem. What expanded metaphors does the poet use to depict the lyrical hero’s experiences while waiting for his beloved and after the collapse of his hopes?

Why and how did the poet move from depicting love experiences to protesting against “lovers of sacrilege, crime, and slaughterhouses”? (The poem was written during the First World War.)

How is the poetic thought formulated in the introduction embodied in the first part:

Want to -

I'll be mad for meat

And, like the sky, changing tones

Want to -

I will be impeccably gentle,

Not a man, but a cloud in his pants!

Give examples of the fusion of lyricism, high pathos and satire in the poem. What do you think caused this merger?

V. Mayakovsky. Poems about the poet and poetry.

Read the poem “Anniversary” (1924).

What traits of Pushkin’s personality and creativity does Mayakovsky value, although he speaks about it jokingly.

How are they connected in the poem? love theme, lines about Pushkin, his contemporaries and modern life.

What role does the ending of the poem play? Does it flow naturally from its entire content or is it artificially attached to the poem as a slogan?

Pay attention to the rhythm of the poem. Why is book vocabulary combined with colloquial and even colloquial vocabulary in the poem (give examples)?

Read the poem “To Sergei Yesenin.”

Who and what is Mayakovsky speaking against in this poem?

Mayakovsky is a satirist. Analysis of the poem “The Sitting” (1922)

Remember what grotesque is. The basis of the grotesque in the poem “The Seated Ones” is a colloquial metaphor. Which? How does Mayakovsky create the grotesque, implementing a colloquial, everyday metaphor, that is, giving it the qualities and outlines of a real object?

Pay attention to the conversational intonation and colloquial figures of speech in the poem, to colloquial words and expressions (give examples). In what artistic value these techniques?

What do you see as the modern sound of the poem for us?

Analyze 1-2 satirical poems by Mayakovsky yourself.

Mayakovsky's love lyrics.

Read the poem “Lilychka! Instead of a letter" (1916). How do you see the lyrical hero of this poem? Which artistic details help to better see the tragedy of a lover?

Read the poem “Letter to Comrade Kostrov from Paris about the essence of love” (1928). How does it resonate with Mayakovsky’s letter to L.Yu. Brik, quoted below?

“Does love exhaust everything for me? Everything, but only differently...Love is life, this is the main thing...Poems, and deeds, and everything else unfold from it. Love is the heart of everything. If it stops working, everything else dies off, becomes superfluous, unnecessary. But if the heart works, it cannot but manifest itself in everything..."

Read the poem “Letter to Tatyana Yakovleva” (1928). (Tatyana Yakovleva is a Russian emigrant who lived in Paris.)

Why and how this poem combines vocabulary with political journalism ( characteristic poetry of Mayakovsky.

Essays on the works of Blok, Yesenin, Mayakovsky.

1.The theme of the homeland in the works of Blok, Yesenin, Mayakovsky.

2.Analysis of a poem by one of the poets (optional). Perception, interpretation, evaluation.

3. “He is all a child of goodness and light...” (the image of the artist in Blok’s lyrics).

4.Features of Yesenin’s love lyrics.

5. “Conversation with the future” in the works of Mayakovsky.

M.A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”. Questions and assignments.

Topic 1. The composition of the novel, its problems. Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri in the novel. (Chapters 2, 16, 25, 26, 32, epilogue).

Try to determine the genre of the novel.

How would you define the composition of Bulgakov's work?

What time period does the events of the novel cover?

Who is the narrator of the story of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua?

So, a novel written by the Master. Woland asks the Master: “What is the novel about?” What does he hear in response?

Read the portrait of Yeshua carefully. The master is not talking about God’s son; his hero is a simple man. Why?

What problems will be resolved in Bulgakov's novel - theological or real, worldly?

Pay attention to the portrait of Pontius Pilate. Follow the text to see how his eyes change.

Is the prisoner afraid of Pontius Pilate?

What fact, mentioned by Yeshua himself, confirms that he knows how to convince people?

Dispute about truth. How Yeshua develops this concept.

What decision does Pontius Pilate make in favor of the prisoner and why?

At what point will Pontius Pilate's mood change? Why would he be forced to abandon his original plan? Follow the text.

How did Pontius Pilate feel when he was forced to pronounce judgment on Yeshua? Why does the possibility of immortality not please him, but gives rise to horror in his soul?

What action will Pilate take in an attempt to alleviate the torments of his conscience?

What words does Yeshua ask to convey to Pontius Pilate before his death?

In the chapters we are considering, there is another hero - Matvey Levi. How will Matthew Levi behave when he learns about the inevitability of Yeshua’s death?

How will Levi Matvey fulfill his last duty to his teacher?

Re-read the conversation that took place between Pontius Pilate and Matthew Levi. (Chapter 26). Why can we say that Matthew Levi is truly a worthy disciple of Yeshua?

How did fate punish Pilate for his cowardice?

What episode will conclude the novel written by the Master?

Why did Bulgakov need such artistic technique- parallel to the narrative of modernity, also lead the line of a novel written by the Master and telling about the events that took place two thousand years ago?

What problems is Bulgakov's novel devoted to?

Topic 2. The fate of the Master.

In which episode does the Master first appear? Read the description of his appearance.

Why does a person, still quite young and talented, not consider it necessary to leave his current shelter?

Why did Ivan Bezdomny earn the Master’s trust?

Restore the Master's past from the text.

What did not suit the writers in the Master's novel. To answer this question, re-read chapter 5, “There was an affair in Griboedov.” Give examples that prove that the literary world of Moscow is terrible. Think about why Berlioz deserved such punishment? Which other people that the Master will encounter faithfully serve the authorities?

How did the Master eventually explain to himself the attacks on himself and his novel?

What was the fate of the novel written by the Master?

How will Margarita behave in this situation?

The conversation was still about literary world. But if he is like that, then he is nourished by the vital atmosphere as a whole. What is it like? Give examples general atmosphere life of the 30s. (Chapter 7, Chapter 27, Chapter 9)

Whose literary traditions does Bulgakov continue here?

Topic 3. “Evil spirits” in the novel. The problem of mercy, forgiveness and justice.

Which of the heroes of the novel written by the Master does Margarita resemble in her quest to save her lover? How will she get her love back?

What is the ideological and compositional role of the phantasmagoric scenes in which Margarita participates (flight, Satan’s ball).

In response to Woland’s readiness to fulfill one of her wishes, Margarita asks not for the Master, but for Frida. What is the point of this test?

What are Woland and his retinue like in the novel?

Remember who, how and for what Woland and his retinue punish. Are these punishments proportionate to the crime?

Why is Woland so harsh with the baron, Baron, Rimsky?

Why is Woland friendly towards Ivan Bezdomny, although in a dispute with him Ivan behaves even more aggressively than Berlioz, even more vehemently denies both the existence of God and the justice of biblical truths?

What illness do you think Ivan Bezdomny is curing from? Can he be considered a student of the Master?

Carefully re-read the chapter “Forgiveness and Eternal Shelter.” What role do you think the concepts of darkness and light play in the novel? Why did the Master not deserve light, but deserve peace?

Which characters in the novel do you sympathize with? Justify your opinion.

Essays based on the novel “The Master and Margarita”.

1. The all-conquering power of love and creativity.
2. 2.The theme of responsibility in the novel “The Master and Margarita”.
3. Christian issues in the novel.
4. True and imaginary values ​​in the novel.
5. Good and evil in the novel.

A.A.Platonov. The story "The Hidden Man".

How do you think Platonov understood the meaning of the word “hidden”?

Why did Platonov choose the plot of wandering, wandering to reveal

Character?

Who is Foma Pukhov: a jerk, a joker, a clown or “a challenge to everything ready-made, imposed on a person from a certain register of virtues” (V. Chalmaev)?

Re-read the final scene of the 4th chapter of the story. What symbolic meaning does this scene acquire in A. Platonov’s story?

At the end of the story, the sailor Sharikov invites Pukhov to “become a communist.”

Why doesn't Thomas want to become a communist?

Re-read the scene of the exam that was given to Pukhov in Novorossiysk. What is the role of this scene in the story?

Explain your attitude towards the hero of the story.

A.N. Tolstoy. Novel "Peter the Great".

Prepare messages on the following topics:

Book 1.

1.Secular backwardness of Moscow Rus'. Sophia's reign.

2.Peter’s childhood and youth. Creation of funny battalions. Image

The fight between Sophia and Peter.

3.Peter’s first reforms after the victory over Sophia. First Azov

Hike. Peter is studying shipbuilding abroad. Streltsy riot.

Book 2.

1.Peter’s transformative activities. Peter's struggle with the boyars for

New forms of life.

2.Russia entered into an alliance with Poland and Lithuania against the Swedes.

New chronology. Campaigns of the Russian army. Arkhangelsk fleet.

Book 3.

1. Conspiracy against Peter.

2. Construction of St. Petersburg.

3. Second Narva campaign.

The image of Peter in A.N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the First.”

A. Tolstoy admitted: “In my novel, the center is the figure of Peter1. The remaining figures accompanying him, in order of importance, are described with less and less detail and with less and less clarity...”

What evidence, in your opinion, is there that “the figure of Peter is the center of the novel”?

When does the idea of ​​the need for transformation come to Peter?

What do you think is the pattern of Peter’s transformations? How is this pattern shown in the novel?

What significance did the failure of the Azov campaign have for the formation of Peter?

Peter sees poverty, squalor, and darkness in the country; “Why is this? We sit in the great open spaces and are beggars...” What does he see as a way out?

How is the image of Peter revealed in contrast to Charles 12?

What actions of Peter are historically significant?

What interests A. Tolstoy most of all in the novel “Peter the Great”.

A.A.Akhmatova. Analysis of poems.

Read the poem “Song of the Last Meeting.”

With the help of what details is revealed in the poem? emotional experience? What details of the heroine’s behavior (gestures, movements, etc.) serve to express her internal state?

The meeting referred to in the poem is the last. How is this reflected in the text: in the situation, in the development of experience, in stylistic means (in particular, in epithets)?

Read the poem “Before spring there are days like this...”.

How do the details of the landscape drawn in the poem help reveal the heroine’s state of mind?

Find the epithets found here. What role do they play in revealing the feelings that possess the heroine?

Read the poem “Tear-stained autumn, like a widow...”.

Write down the key words for understanding the meaning of the poem, explain how the paintings and details of the autumn landscape serve to express the drama experienced by the heroine?

The result of the movement of lyrical experience in the poem are its two final lines. How do you understand them?

What is the semantic role of ellipsis pauses?

Read the poem “I don’t need Odic armies...”.

Do you remember the odes and elegies you know? Why does Akhmatova declare her disdain for these genres?

How is the life “material” that lies at the basis of the poems characterized in the poem?

What allows poems that have grown out of “rubbish” to sound “to the joy” of everyone?

How do you understand the words: “For me, everything in poetry should be out of place,//Not the way it is with people”?

Compare this poem with the poem “He probably wants a lot more...”. How are the incentives for creativity defined in the poem “He probably wants a lot more…”? Is there a contradiction here with what was said earlier about the birth of verse?

Read the poem “Seaside Sonnet.”

Find in the poem evidence of the presence of the name Pushkin in the author’s mind, despite the fact that it is not mentioned in the text itself. Compare this poem by Akhmatova with Pushkin’s “Do I wander along the noisy streets...”. What is common in the poets' solutions to the theme of life and death? Is it possible to say that these decisions, the poets’ attitudes towards the inevitable parting with the world coincide?

Akhmatova's poem "Requiem".

In the epigraph of the poem, the words “alien” and “my people” are repeated. What is the meaning of the opposition reinforced by such repetition?

Name the main motives of the poem. Watch how these motives develop.

Reveal the meaning of the title of the poem.

Why are the words that the poet selects for his poem called “poor” in the epilogue? How does this epithet characterize the state of both the heroine of the poem and those who stood with her in the terrible line outside the prison walls?

What attracted you and what did Akhmatova’s poetry reveal to you?

M. Tsvetaeva. Analysis of poems.

Read the poem “Yesterday I looked into your eyes...”.

Find images in the poem that go back to folklore. How do these images help Tsvetaeva strengthen the feelings expressed in this poem?

Compare this poem by Marina Tsvetaeva with “Song of the Last Meeting” by Anna Akhmatova. What is the difference between these poems, dedicated to the same topic - separation from a loved one?

Read the poems by M. Tsvetaeva “I wrote on a slate board...”, “My posture is simple...”. Compare them with the poem “Yesterday I looked into your eyes...”. Do these poems reflect the lyrical heroine’s attitude towards love as a “fatal duel”, in Tyutchev’s words?

Read the poem from the “Poets” series “A poet starts talking from afar.” In what meanings is the word “starts up” used in the opening lines of this poem?

Why, speaking about the creative path of the poet, M. Tsvetaeva compares the “poets’ path” with the movement of comets? How is this image enriched in the poem?

Why is the line about the calendar repeated twice in Tsvetaeva’s poem?

How is emotional tension created in the poem?

Read and compare the poems by M. Tsvetaeva “Above the blue of the groves near Moscow ... (1916), and “Motherland” (1932). Pay attention to how these poems convey the poet’s attitude towards his native language. Why does the perception of the native language change in Tsvetaeva’s poems? How is this perception conveyed in her poetic vocabulary?

Read the poem “Youth.” What is the first impression of the poem, what marks the first glance at it?

What artistic means are used to create the image of youth?

How does the image of youth develop and how does this image change in the second part of the poem?

What role does sound recording play?

N.A. Zabolotsky. Analysis of poems.

Read the poem “I am not looking for harmony in nature.”

What figurative means Does Zabolotsky convey the rapprochement between man and nature?

For what purpose does the poet use the device of personification in the poem?

Read Zabolotsky’s poem “The Old Actress.” What do you see as the complexity and inconsistency of the life situation that is the basis of the poem?

How is the collision of indifference, coldness, and a kind, reasonable principle embodied in the composition of the poem? (Answering this question, pay attention to two portraits of the actress in the poem, two interiors - an apartment-museum and a basement, two characters a – an old actress and her niece, two rows of epithets.)

What is the meaning of the ending of this poem?

Read the poem “Ugly Girl.”

Why did the poet resort to careful detailing of the appearance of the “ugly girl”?

What two parts can this poem be divided into? What images are contrasted here with each other?

In which lines of this poem is the poet’s special emotion felt?

Follow the vocabulary of the poem. What role do repetitions, exclamatory and interrogative sentences play in it?

What is the meaning of this poem for you?

M.A. Sholokhov. Questions and assignments for the novel "Quiet Don".

Topic 1. Pictures of the life of the Don Cossacks in the novel “Quiet Don”.

Re-read part 1 of book 1.

How would you describe moral world Cossacks? What traditions underlie the relationships of the Cossacks with each other? What are the criteria for assessing a person in the Cossack environment?

How do you see Grigory Melekhov, Aksinya, Dunyashka?

What details portrait characteristics Is Gregory used by the author (book 1, part 1, chapters 1, 17)?

Find a description of Aksinya in book 1, part 1, chapters 3, 4, 12; Part 2, Chapter 10.

What features of the heroine’s appearance does the author pay attention to? When describing Aksinya, the author speaks of her “vicious beauty.” Does the epithet used by Sholokhov express the author’s condemning attitude towards the heroine or does it have a different meaning in this phrase?

In book 1, part 1, chapter 3, find a short and succinct form of comparison, with the help of which the image of Dunyashka is drawn. What impression of the girl is created using this comparison?

How are the pictures of nature depicted in it related to the content of the novel (book 1, part 1, chapters 2,3,4,9)? Does Pantelei Prokofievich (chapter 9), Dunyashka (chapter 4.9) see her beauty? Does Gregory respond to the beauty of the world around him (chapter 3)?

In which episodes of Book 1 of the novel is Gregory’s harmony with the outside world, with the natural life of the peasantry, most acutely felt?

What qualities of Gregory are primarily recognized by other Cossacks (book 1, part 1, chapters 5, 18)? How does it compare with popular ideas about human dignity?

Find in the exposition of the novel confirmation that the novel specifically emphasizes the uniqueness of Gregory’s personality (book 1, part 1, chapter 1) Why is his “pedigree” described in such detail? Why is the behavior of grandfather Gregory, who married a Turkish woman, surprising the villagers? How did Gregory subsequently stand out from the Cossack camp?

Re-read in book 1, part 1, chapters 14, 17; in part 2, chapter 10. What actions of Gregory characterize him as a bright, youthfully impetuous and indomitable person? Is he able to forgive an offense and assess the situation with humor?

Topic 2. War in the image of Sholokhov.

How does Gregory feel about the Cossack code of honor? In what mood does he go into military service (book 1, part 2, chapter 21)?

One of the novel's heroes considers murder to be the Cossack's calling. Did this attitude towards military duty correspond to the thoughts and feelings of Grigory Melekhov at the beginning of the war? Remember his confession addressed to his brother: “I, Petro, have lost my soul. It’s as if I’m somehow half-baked... It’s as if I’ve been under a millstone, they crushed me and spat me out...” (book 1, part 3, chapter 10). What prompted Gregory to make such a confession? At what point and after what tests (book 1, part 3, chapter 5)?

How does Gregory protect his human dignity during war? What episodes indicate that Gregory cannot help but protest when faced with facts of arbitrariness and mockery of a person (book 1, part 3, chapter 2, 23)?

Read the description of the battle in which Grigory saves Stepan Astakhov (book 2. part 4, chapter 4). What feelings did he previously have for this person? What does Stepan himself say about his attitude towards Gregory? How can you explain why Gregory helps Stepan Astakhov?

What changes have occurred in Melekhov’s own worldview? What conclusions does he come to after, as he says, “he’s seen enough of the war”?

In the winter of 1918, Grigory Melekhov left the Red Army. But was it only the injury that played a role in this? What did Gregory “could neither forgive nor forget” (book 2, part 5, chapters 12, 13)?

The reprisal of Podtelkov by the whites takes place before Grigory’s eyes. What worries and torments Gregory after this event? What actions does it lead to (book 2, part 5, chapter 30)?

What doubts does Grigory Melekhov express in his dispute with the Bolsheviks Koshev and Kotlyarov? What worries him, makes him suffer (book 3, part 6, chapter 20)?

Why didn’t Grigory Melekhov come to either the whites or the reds? What caused his indignation in both camps, which he could not come to terms with?

Has the main character of the novel changed under the influence of cruel trials? Which one sees his later life Gregory at the moment of greatest external success, when he becomes division commander? Does he connect his plans with the conditions of a different, non-agricultural environment (book 3, part 6, chapter 36)?

Is Gregory still capable of feeling beauty? natural world(book 3, part 6, chapter 63)?

What turns out to be more terrible for Gregory - punishment for his deeds or a foreign land (book 4, part 7, chapter 29)?

Topic 3. Gregory and Aksinya.

What is Aksinya’s attractiveness, in your opinion, besides her bright beauty? What landscape parallels are used to emphasize the heroine’s charm (book 4, part 7, chapter 1)?

What role does the contrast between the two heroines of the novel – Natalya and Aksinya – play?

How do the dialogues between Aksinya and Gregory and the author’s comments that follow them convey the full depth of the characters’ feelings, the subtlety and passion of their experiences (book 4, part 8, chapter 17)?

Why do you think “Gregory, dying of horror, realized that it was all over, that the worst thing that could happen in his life had already happened” (book 4, part 8, chapter 17)?

Re-read the final pages of the novel (Book 4, Part 8, Chapter 18). Is it possible to talk about the moral collapse of Grigory Melekhov at the end of the novel, or is this a man whose painful suffering could not destroy his morality?

Why can Gregory be called a “truth seeker”? Is he looking for the truth for himself alone or for the entire Cossacks? What moral and humanistic ideals, developed over centuries of folk history, guide him in assessing what is happening around him?

Why is the ending of the novel so shocking? What do you see as the reasons for the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov?

pay attention to special shape disclosures psychological state hero when M. Sholokhov describes Grigory’s thoughts about his children, about himself. At what point does the author’s voice begin to be heard in Gregory’s internal monologue?

Why is Sholokhov’s realism often called “fierce”, “merciless”, “cruel”?

Your rating of the novel.

Essay topics based on the novel.

1. The origins of the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov.

2. Grigory Melekhov in search of the truth.

3. Female images of “Quiet Don”.

4. The element of folk life in the novel.

5.Civil war as a tragedy of the people.

Theme of the Great Patriotic War.

K. Vorobyov “Killed near Moscow.”

What is the meaning of the epigraph to the story - lines from A.T. Tvardovsky’s poem “I was killed near Rzhev”?

What unites the two main characters of the story: Captain Ryumin and Lieutenant Alexei Yastrebtsov, despite their differences?

The story ends with Alexey knocking out a tank. Why do you think the author ends his story with this description?

What do you see as the meaning of the fate of the young pre-war generation, as it appears in K. Vorobyov’s story?

V. Kondratiev. The story "Sashka".

How does the story begin and how does the author introduce his character to the reader?

What does Sashka do at the front? How is war portrayed?

Re-read the episode of the German's capture. Why did Sashka not obey the order to shoot the German? How should we evaluate this action of his?

What is the role of the episodic hero, liaison battalion commander Tolik?

What qualities of the hero does Kondratyev emphasize in the episode of the return of the wounded Sashka to the company?

War does not kill the humanity in Sashka, but even sharpens the thirst to love and live. What place does Zina occupy in Sashka’s life?

How does Sashka behave during his brief front-line friendship with Lieutenant Volodya?

What is the main thing in the character of a hero?

« Village prose" Shukshin's stories.

Read Shukshin's story "Cut".

How do you explain the behavior of Gleb Kapustin, his desire to “cut off” former fellow villagers who come to the village to stay?

Follow the progress of the dialogue-discussion. What are the logical connections between the statements of Kapustin and Zhuravlev?

What allows Gleb to gain the upper hand in a conversation with a scientist? Or is this just an apparent victory?

Read Shukshin's story "Freaks".

How do you see the main character of the story?

-The “weirdo” in the story suffers from minor incidents caused by his own mistakes. Give examples of such incidents and oversights.

How do others react to his “antics”?

Why do we only learn his name at the end of the story?

Read Shukshin's story "Pardon me, madam!"

What can you say about the character of the main character in the story?

What is Pupkov’s story about and how do listeners perceive it?

For what purpose, in your opinion, does Bronka tell her tale again and again?

"City Prose". The story by Yu. Trifonov “Exchange”.

What are the main events in the plot of the story?

What is the role of “everyday life” in the story?

How Trifonov expands the scope of the narrative, moves from description privacy to generalizations?

How are the Dmitriev and Lukyanov family clans different?

What is the meaning of the title of the story?

Mid-century drama. Vampilov's play "The Eldest Son".

What is special about the play's character system?

How does Busygin turn from the son of an impostor into a person dear to the Sarafanov family?

What is the meaning of the story of this transformation?

Literature of Russian Abroad. V. Nabokov “Mashenka”.

Find places in the text of the novel that talk about Russia.

What epithets accompany this word in the mouths of different heroes? How do Ganin, Alferov, and other characters feel about Russia, which was lost to them? What explains this difference in attitudes?

Is the theme of Russia connected with the image of Mashenka? Can it be seen as a symbol of lost Russia, especially for Ganin?

Find Ganin's description in Ch. 2. Why does he “seem different from all Russian young people”?

What is the occupation of the residents of the boarding house of Lydia Nikolaevna Dorn? What are the fates of Russian emigrants as depicted by Nabokov?

What is Ganin’s relationship with the people around him?

Analyze, based on the text, the relationship between Ganin and Podtyagin.

Explain what caused the mutual sympathy between Ganin and Podtyagin.

Chapter 6 is devoted to the image of Mashenka that appears in Ganin’s mind. Try to explain how this chapter differs from others - compositionally, stylistically. Why is it made up of separate pieces and fragments?

Re-read chapters 14-17. Pay attention to how Ganin's behavior changes. IN last chapter the plot gets unexpected turn: Ganin refuses his happiness, from meeting Mashenka. Why?

What interested you in this novel?

A.T. Tvardovsky. Analysis of poems.

Read the poem “I was killed near Rzhev.”

Find the lyrical beginning of the poem. Why can you call it soulful? What are the lines that give rise to this characteristic of him?

Why in the monologue of the fallen warrior “I” is organically intertwined with the “we” of the “dead, voiceless”?

Trace through the text what appeals are used by “the dead, the fallen” when appealing to the living? Write down these requests. What does the change in the nature of addresses from the beginning to the end of the poem indicate?

What is the idea of ​​this poem by Tvardovsky?

Read Tvardovsky’s poem “I know, it’s not my fault...” (1966).

Which common motive combines this poem with the poem “I was killed near Rzhev”?

How is the author’s lyrical excitement conveyed in a poetic work?

What lexical and stylistic means Do the poems correspond to the nature of the experience?

The book about Tvardovsky’s work provides a version of the ending of the poem, which was contained in the original layout:

That's not what it's about. But still...So what?

Don't know. I only know, in the days of war

Everyone has equal rights to life and death.

Why do you think Tvardovsky abandoned the final quatrain?

Read Tvardovsky’s poem “Confession” (1951).

What new shades of a person’s relationship to the world around him that appear over the years are mentioned in the poem? What signs of the transience of time are noted by the poet in “Confession”?

How do you understand the meaning of the title – “Confession”?

Read Tvardovsky’s poem “The whole essence is in one single covenant...”

What does the author mean by the word “covenant”? Why are the words “I’ll say” and “I know” repeated in the poem? What is the role of the tautological definition of “one and only”? Why does the poet, who tends to brevity and aphorism of expression, repeat the essence of “one” testament?

What did Tvardovsky see as the purpose and responsibility of the poet?

Read the first poem of the lyrical cycle “In Memory of the Mother” (1965) - “We say goodbye to mothers...”.

What does the poet think about when saying goodbye to his mother? Why does the poet prefer the first person plural form in the poem?

The second poem, “In the land where they were taken in droves...”, is based on true facts related to the forced relocation of the Tvardovsky family during the years of collectivization.

By what artistic means does the poet recreate the image of a distant northern region in the poem?

Which ideological and artistic Are the motives of memories and dreams important in creating the image of a mother?

What mood is the poem permeated with?

Pay attention to the ending of the poem. Why does the poet prefer short sentences in the final stanza?

Read the poem “To the bitter grievances of one’s own person...” (1968).

In Tvardovsky’s poem there are no usual epithets, comparisons, or personifications. But there are no indifferent, neutral words in it either. What do you see as the peculiarities of his vocabulary?

Why are there so many imperative verbs in the poem?

Tvardovsky's poem "By the right of memory." Questions and assignments.

Tell us about the tragedy of the Russian peasantry and the people as a whole in 1930-1940, using lines from the poem.

Tell us, using quotes, about the image of the father in the poem. Why are the words “A son is not responsible for his father” repeated many times?

How is “the people's father” Stalin shown in the poem? Why does the author of the poem call the night when Stalin died “good”?

Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin".

What is he like, Vasily Terkin, what do we know about his appearance, his biography, his fate? What does the hero's name say? Why is he so loved?

How does the hero's character develop throughout the poem?

What are the hero’s spiritual losses and gains in the last part of the poem?

Pay attention to the general tone of the work, the composition of the book as a whole and its individual chapters, vocabulary and phraseology. Think about what the work has folklore basis. Write down the most apt expressions, in your opinion.

Topics of essays on the works of Tvardovsky.

1. Poetic evidence of history.

2. “I know, it’s not my fault...”

3. The nationality of Tvardovsky’s poetry.

4. Folk character in the poem “Vasily Terkin”.

B.L. Parsnip. Analysis of poems.

Read Pasternak’s poem “About These Poems” (1917).

Explain the poetic idea of ​​the poem. Why does the question arise in the poem: “What kind of millennium are we in, dear ones?”?

Read the poem “There will be no one in the house...”. How does a poem “shine through” the most important, the most important thing in life through the ordinary, everyday?

What role do images of nature play in this poem?

With the help of what figurative details is this poem conveyed the feeling that completely controls the lyrical hero?

Read Pasternak's poem "On Early Trains" (1941).

What is the role in the poem of its lyrical, “internal” plot, which is based not on action, but on experience - the poet’s sense of blood relationship with the people who live next to him?

Highlight specific details, details of the lyrical hero’s trip to the city. What is their artistic role?

What human traits attract the poet in his companions?

The cycle of poems “Poems of Yuri Zhivago”.

- “Hamlet” opens the cycle “Poems of Yuri Zhivago”. Why is the name of the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy included in the title of the poem? What role does it play in embodying the meaning of Pasternak’s work?

How does the lyrical plot of the poem relate to the New Testament tradition? What is the meaning of comparing the fate of the poet with the fate of the Son of God?

What “stubborn plan” is spoken of in the poem “Hamlet”?

What causes the feeling of your own loneliness, opposition to the world at the end of the poem? How do you understand the line: “I am alone, everything is drowning in pharisaism”?

Read a poem from this series, “Winter Night.”

What is the role of repetition in a poem?

Read the poem “In everything I want to get to the very essence” (1956).

What are the signs of real life and why are they named in this poem?

Literature of the Thaw. M. Sholokhov “The Fate of Man.”

What are the features of the composition of the story “The Fate of Man”?

What are the main milestones in the fate of Andrei Sokolov?

What is truly dear and valuable to him? In which scenes of the story is it most fully shown? Russian dignity and pride"?

What role does the meeting with Vanyushka play in Sokolov’s fate?

How is the tragedy of our people, their misfortunes and suffering revealed in the story?

What is instructive about the story of Andrei Sokolov? What are the facets of Russian national character does this hero represent?

A.I. Solzhenitsyn. Analysis of the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.”

Why is a work about the camp world limited to describing one day?

Why does the writer choose “a day, unclouded, almost happy...” to depict the tragic circumstances of the hero’s life?

Why do you think Ivan Denisovich, a simple peasant, was chosen as the main character of the story?

Find the hero's thoughts about his military past, how he escaped from captivity and was accused of treason (conversation with Kildis while working on the construction of a thermal power plant). Can we say that Shukhov was passive and weak in soul during the war? Can you blame him for choosing life during the investigation?

Pay attention to how Shukhov treats everything that is made by human hands and supports his life (for example, shoes, bread, food). Find these details in the text. How does this characterize the hero? According to what moral laws lives a hero?

How does Shukhov feel about those with whom he works in the brigade? How do the team members treat him? What is Shukhov’s attitude to work, to business? To answer this question, compare the episodes of washing the floors in the guard's room and laying a wall in the thermal power plant. Why is the hero's behavior so different? How do you feel about Shukhov’s ability to serve? Remember the hero’s thoughts about the work of dyers in his native village. How does his attitude to work characterize Ivan Denisovich?

Can Ivan Denisovich be considered a person who opposes the will of the majority, who asserted human dignity throughout his life? Or is his goal still to survive, and then he can go to any humiliation? Does the hero “dissolve” in the team, in the brigade, in the mass of prisoners, or remains himself?

What is the meaning of the original and subsequent title of the story?

Which one is closer to the writer’s intention? Why?

Solzhenitsyn's story "Matrenin's Dvor"

Highlight the autobiographical moments in the story “Matrenin’s House.”

Prepare an expressive reading landscape sketches. What description is associated with the title of the story?

Expand the topic “Matryona’s past and present.” Show what role each plan plays in the story.

Name the other characters in the story. What role do they play in the fate of the main character?

Why was the title “A village is not worthwhile without a righteous man” possible? Reveal its philosophical meaning.

Literature of recent decades.

F. Abramov. The story "Pelageya".

Can we say that the heroine of the story has an integral, albeit contradictory, character?

What is the basis of her nature?

What is the drama of the main character of the story? What is her trouble and guilt? What, according to the author, is the lesson of Pelageya’s life?

V. Belov. The story "Business as usual."

What is the meaning of the proverb that became the title of the story?

How does he characterize the attitude of the hero of the story to life?

What is the essence of Ivan Afrikanovich’s character?

The second part of the seventh chapter bears the same title as the story as a whole. Explain the reason for this - of course not accidental - coincidence.

Re-read this part. What is the symbolic meaning of the scene of Ivan Afrikanovich wandering through the winter forest?

What is the writer's attitude towards his hero?

V. Rasputin. The story "The Deadline".

How is the narrative organized in this work?

What kind of person is Anna? What is the spiritual wealth of the heroine of “The Deadline”? What traits of Anna do you think are especially valuable and necessary for people today?

What are the reasons for the spiritual poverty of Anna’s children? How does the writer explain these reasons in the story?

Is there in the story moral lesson our time? What is it?

V. Astafiev. Cycle of stories "The King Fish".

How and with what the parts of the “Tsar-Pisces” cycle are combined into a single whole.

Who opposes nature, whom should it fear?

What role does the composition of stories and the construction of the work play?\

In addition to the main characters, it also includes secondary characters who play an equally important role in the play.

With the replicas of the minor characters, Ostrovsky draws a background that speaks about the state of the main characters and draws the reality around them. From their words you can learn a lot about the morals of Kalinov, its past and aggressive rejection of everything new, about the requirements that are presented to the residents of Kalinov, their way of life, dramas and characters.

In the remarks that lead us to the image of Katerina and her monologue-characterization, a modest young beautiful woman, about which no one can say anything bad. Only the attentive Varvara discerned her reaction to Boris and pushed her to betray her, not seeing anything bad in it and not at all tormented by a feeling of guilt towards her brother. Most likely, Katerina would never have decided to cheat, but her daughter-in-law simply hands her the key, knowing that she will not be able to resist. In the person of Varvara, we have proof that there is no love between loved ones in Kabanikha’s house, and everyone is only interested in his personal life, his benefits.

Her lover, Ivan Kudryash, also does not experience love. He can cheat on Varvara simply out of a desire to spoil the Dikiy, and would do this if his daughters were older. For Varvara and Kudryash, their meetings are an opportunity to satisfy bodily needs, to mutual pleasure. Animal lust is the obvious norm of the night Kalinov. The example of their couple shows the bulk of Kalinov’s youth, the same generation that is not interested in anything other than their personal needs.

The younger generation also includes married Tikhon and unmarried Boris, but they are different. This is rather an exception to the general rule.

Tikhon represents that part of the youth that is suppressed by their elders and is completely dependent on them. It is unlikely that he has ever behaved like his sister; he is more decent - and therefore unhappy. He cannot pretend to be subdued like his sister - he is truly subdued, his mother broke him. For him, it’s a pleasure to get drunk to death when there is no constant control in the person of his mother.

Boris is different because he did not grow up in Kalinov, and his late mother is a noblewoman. His father left Kalinov and was happy until he died, leaving the children orphans. Boris saw a different life. However, due to younger sister, he is ready for self-sacrifice - he is in the service of his uncle, dreaming that someday Dikoy will give them part of the inheritance left by his grandmother. In Kalinov there is no entertainment, no outlet - and he fell in love. This is really falling in love, not animal lust. His example shows Kalinov’s poor relatives forced to live with rich merchants.

Using the example of Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic trying to create a perpetuum mobile, inventors of small towns are shown who are forced to constantly ask for money to develop inventions, and receive insults and humiliating refusals, and even swearing. He's trying to bring progress to the city, but he's the only one doing it. The rest are happy with everything, or they have resigned themselves to fate. This is the only positive minor character plays, but he too resigned himself to fate. He is unable to fight the Wild One. The desire to create and create for the people is not even paid. But it is with his help that Ostrovsky condemns “ dark kingdom" He sees the beauty of the Volga, Kalinov, nature, the approaching thunderstorm - which no one but him sees. And it is he who, giving Katerina’s corpse, utters words of condemnation to the “dark kingdom.”

In contrast, the “professional” wanderer Feklusha settled down well. She doesn’t bring anything new, but she knows very well what those with whom she expects to have a delicious meal want to hear. Change is from the devil, who trades in big cities, confusing people. All new creations are also from the devil - exactly what fully corresponds to Kabanikha’s personal opinion. In Kalinov, assenting to Kabanikha, Feklusha will always be full, and food and comfort are the only things she is not indifferent to.

Not the least role is played by the half-crazed lady, about whom it was known that she sinned a lot in her youth, and in her old age she became fixated on this topic. “Sin” and “beauty” are two inseparable concepts for her. Beauty has disappeared - and the meaning of life has disappeared; this, of course, becomes God's punishment for sins. On this basis, the lady goes crazy and immediately begins to denounce him when she sees the beautiful face. But she gives the impression of an angel of retribution to the impressionable Katerina, although most of God’s terrible punishment for her act was invented by him herself.

Without the secondary characters, “The Thunderstorm” could not have been so emotionally and meaningfully rich. With thoughtful remarks, like brushstrokes, the author creates a complete picture of the hopeless life of the dark, patriarchal Kalinov, which can lead to death of any soul who dreams of flight. That’s why people “don’t fly” there. Or they fly, but for a matter of seconds, in free fall.

In today’s article I’m going to talk about one extremely subtle problem, which, unfortunately, not all novice authors think about. Today we will talk about roles of minor characters in a literary work. The fact is that novice authors sometimes either completely forget about the so-called supporting roles, or pay too much attention to a particularly successful secondary character to the detriment of the overall plan of the story. Therefore, in order to ensure that such problems arise as rarely as possible, we will discuss the place of minor characters in the overall structure of a literary text.

I think it’s no secret to you that within the blog “ Literary workshop“I pay the most serious attention to the issues of working on characters, since I am completely confident that a considerable share of the success of the entire work lies in the high-quality portrayal of characters. Of course, it’s up to everyone to share these judgments or reject them, but if you are interested in the issues of competently developing the characters in your work, this article will certainly be useful to you.

Minor characters.

So, at the very beginning, in order to better understand and structure the material, I will have to voice a couple of common truths. It is clear that these are well-known axioms, but without them subsequent investigation into the issue is simply impossible. The first platitude goes something like this: not all characters in a literary work are created equal. Indeed, they can be conditionally divided into main and secondary. And if the authors almost always pay increased attention to the main characters (they try to reveal the character, show the depth of internal experiences), then there is simply not enough of it on the secondary ones. But in vain. Sometimes supporting roles turn out to be no less important than the main ones... But first things first.

In general, the main characters are the characters about whom the story is told. The secondary ones are everyone else.

Second platitude for today: The author himself and readers during the course of the work must clearly understand which characters are the main ones and which ones are insignificant. If confusion or doubt arises among the public, the fault lies entirely with the author. He must clearly separate one from the other, and also be fully aware of what role the main characters play in his opus, and why he uses the secondary ones. And if with the first everything is generally clear (the main characters are the conductors of the main idea of ​​the work, the object of the audience's interest and empathy), then the place and tasks of the second are not always extremely clear and transparent. It is these difficulties that we will talk about later.

Live background.

So, unless our story takes place on a desert island, the main characters are usually surrounded by a lot of people who don't have much influence on the course of the story. In fact, they are only part of the background of our work. They may perform some minor functions (tell the hero the news, take him to the scene of action, step on his foot on a tram, steal a wallet in a crush, etc.), but after that they invariably disappear from sight. The main character cannot be in an absolute vacuum; there are always people around him, creating a moving background, a dynamic setting of the work, otherwise what is happening simply will not be realistic. It is very important that these minor characters do not attract undue attention to themselves and do not interfere with the perception of events and the hero himself.

However, it is not always possible to maintain the right balance between the main and secondary characters. Sometimes the image of some insignificant person turns out to be so vivid that he begins to “pull the blanket over himself” and distract the reader from the main direction of the story. In this case, the writer should think carefully about why this happens? Perhaps the influence of this character should be reduced, even to the point of excluding him from the text altogether, or maybe it would be more reasonable to change the plot somewhat, giving more free space to the successful bright image, making him one of the main characters? The author must decide this question independently, based on the general design and idea of ​​the work.

But in general, of course, The main role of secondary characters is to create a living background for the work.

Stereotyping.

How, by and large, does the main character of a literary work differ from ordinary person? In the overwhelming majority of cases, the fact that the hero is capable of actions that an ordinary person would never dare to do. That's why he's a hero. But on the other hand, a hero can only be a hero in the background ordinary people, only in comparison with their stereotyping can he demonstrate his heroism (the ability to deviate from the usual rules and norms, break prohibitions, show courage, etc.). Accordingly, the role of minor characters in the story is also demonstration of society stereotypes. That is, minor characters in any work are typical representatives society, bearers of its stereotypes. And as soon as one of the heroes violates these same stereotypes, he involuntarily attracts the reader’s attention. The author should use this subtle point as when working on the main characters.

However, these judgments in no way mean that minor characters should be faceless and similar friend on a friend. Not at all. They are also quite allowed to break stereotypes, but they must do this one by one, and not all at once.

Eccentricity and humor.

Characters who do not pretend to be the main roles should also have individuality - small but bright details will make the story more interesting and complete, set the mood, and sometimes add humor. I think it’s no secret that often the main jokers in works of art are not the main characters, but rather the secondary characters. The main characters are traditionally expected to take serious heroic deeds, saving the world and beautiful maidens, but nothing special is required from the secondary ones, so they can be funny to their heart’s content. Therefore, the eccentric behavior of episodic roles is exactly the resource with which a writer can make his own text more vivid and interesting. This should not be forgotten.

Here we can also mention “obsession” - an extreme version of eccentricity, in which a minor character behaves too intrusively or reacts too emotionally to any events.

This leads to the third function of minor characters: work on short-term entertainment of the audience. The author has the opportunity to make a minor character as eccentric as he likes, because he, in fact, does not affect the development of the plot, but at the same time, such vivid images make the text more interesting and memorable.

Exaggeration.

The moment of exaggeration when working on episodic roles has as its goal the same entertainment of the reader during the course of the story, creating vivid emotions in him that are not directly related to the main idea of ​​​​the work. In general, the whole range of sensations that were already discussed a little higher, in the previous paragraph about humor and eccentricity.

The main method here is the deliberate exaggeration of certain character traits of a secondary character: cruelty or kindness, spontaneity or prudence.

But why, one might ask, is exaggeration used for these purposes? Why not just draw an ordinary character endowed with this very prudence? The whole point is that hypertrophy makes it possible to focus attention on exactly the desired feature, and it is easy to highlight it against the general background of mediocrity.

How can this work? For example, in the form simple trick when a minor character first radiates exaggerated innocence and gentleness, and then at the right moment stands out with exaggerated prudence. As you understand, playing with contrasts is understandable always and everywhere. And the greater the contrast, the stronger the effect it usually produces.

That's all for today. We have looked at the three main functions of minor characters: creating a background, depicting stereotypes, entertaining the reader through eccentricity and humor. I hope this will help you be more thoughtful in how you draw your characters. I look forward to your comments and opinions! See you soon!