Characteristics of the main characters of the story Shemyakin Court. extracurricular reading

The heroes of the story “Shemyakin’s Court” are the rich and the poor, the brothers-farmers, the priest, the “resident of the city” whose father was killed by the poor man, and Judge Shemyak.

The main character of the story committed three crimes: he “torn off” the tail of a horse, which he rented from his rich brother; in the priest's house he fell from the floor and killed his son; intending to commit suicide, he jumped from a bridge and ran over his grandfather, whom his son was taking to the bathhouse to wash.

Shemyaka punishes three injured heroes in court: a rich farmer, a priest and a “resident of the city” whose father was killed by the poor man.

Each of the heroes is right in their own way. Each misfortune in the story is a consequence of the previous one, so it is difficult to say whose side the author is on - at certain moments he sympathizes with each hero. Particular sympathy is evoked by the heroes of the story “Shemyakin Court”, the priest and the “city resident” whose father died. They lost their close relatives, went to court to seek a fair punishment for the offender, and found the bullying of a corrupt judge.

The expression “Shemyakin court” means an unfair, corrupt court. The main technique of satirical depiction in the story is the grotesque. He aggravates life relationships in the story; shows both the comedy of the situation and the tragedy of human destinies. The court's decisions are raised to the level of absurdity: Shemyaka offers to give her butt to the wretched priest until she gives birth to a new son; he offers to give a rich farmer a horse to a poor farmer until it grows a tail.

The story ridicules bribery and the greed of judges; lack of an orderly legislative system in the state.

Essay on the work: “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court”

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The work we are interested in is perhaps the most popular monument of the 17th century. Its name later even became a saying: “Shemyakin court” means an unfair trial, a parody of it. There are known poetic and dramatic adaptations of “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court”, as well as its popular print reproduction. In addition, it gave rise to the famous fairy tale about the poor and rich brother.

Authorship issues, sources

The author of “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court” is unknown, because it is folk in origin. Researchers looked for works with similar content in Indian and Persian literatures. It is also known that the famous writer Mikolaj Rey, who lived in the 17th century and received the honorary title “father of Polish literature,” worked with a similar plot. Some lists directly state: “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court” was copied “from Polish books.” Questions about its sources, however, remained unresolved. There is no convincing evidence about the connection of the Russian monument with a specific work of foreign literature. The identified roll calls indicate the presence of so-called wandering subjects, nothing more. As often happens with monuments of folklore, jokes and anecdotes cannot belong to one people. They successfully migrate from one area to another, since everyday conflicts are essentially the same everywhere. This feature makes it especially difficult to distinguish between translated and original literary monuments of the 17th century.

“The Tale of the Shemyakin Court”: contents

The first part of the story tells about the incidents (at the same time hilarious and sad) that happened to a poor peasant. It all starts with his rich brother giving him a horse, but forgetting about the collar. The main character ties the firewood to his tail, and it breaks. The next misfortune happened to the peasant when he spent the night with the priest on a bed (that is, on a sunbed). Naturally, the greedy priest did not invite him to dinner. Looking at the table laden with food, the main character accidentally kills the baby, the son of a priest. Now the poor fellow is facing trial for these offences. Out of despair, he wants to take his own life and throws himself off the bridge. And again - failure. The peasant himself remains intact, but the old man, on whom the main character landed, went to his forefathers.

So, the peasant will have to answer for three crimes. The reader is in for a climax - the cunning and unjust judge Shemyaka, taking a stone wrapped in a scarf as a generous promise, decides the case in favor of the poor peasant. So, the first victim had to wait until the horse grew a new tail. The priest was offered to give his wife to a peasant, from whom she should bear a child. And the son of the dead old man, as compensation, must himself fall from the bridge and kill the poor peasant. Naturally, all victims decide to pay off such decisions.

Specifics of the composition

“The Tale of the Shemyakin Court” is divided into two parts. The first part consists of three episodes described above. By themselves, they are perceived as ordinary funny anecdotes that serve as a set-up. Here they seem to be outside the scope of the main narrative, although this is not observed in classical examples of narratives about courts. In addition, all the events presented there are narrated in A and not in the present, which is different from “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court.” This feature gives dynamism to the plot of the ancient Russian monument.

The second component of the composition is more complex: Shemyaka’s actual sentences, which are the adventures of a poor peasant, are preceded by a frame - a scene of the defendant showing the “reward” to the judge.

Traditions of satire

Satire was very popular in the literature of the 17th century. The fact of its demand can be explained based on the specifics of social life of that time. There was a strengthening of the role of the trade and craft population, but this did not contribute to the development of their civil rights. In satire, many aspects of the life of society of those times were condemned and denounced - unfair trial, hypocrisy and hypocrisy of monasticism, extreme

“The Tale of the Shemyakin Court” fits well into the established tradition. A reader of that time would undoubtedly understand that the story parodies the “Code” of 1649 - a set of laws that proposed choosing a punishment depending on the crime of the offender. Thus, murder was punishable by execution, and manufacturing was punished by pouring lead into the throat. That is, “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court” can be defined as a parody of ancient Russian legal proceedings.

Ideological level

The story ended happily for the wretched peasant; he triumphs over the world of injustice and tyranny. “Truth” turns out to be stronger than “falsehood.” As for the judge himself, he learned a valuable lesson from what happened: “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court” ends with the crook learning the truth about the “message.” But nevertheless, he even rejoices at his own sentences, because otherwise, this cobblestone would have knocked the wind out of him.

Artistic Features

“The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court” is distinguished by the speed of action, the comical situations in which the characters find themselves, and also the emphatically dispassionate manner of narration, which only enhances the satirical sound of the ancient Russian monument. These features indicate the closeness of the story to magical and social folk tales.

The Tale of the Shemyakin Court

XVII century

There lived two peasant brothers: one rich and the other poor. For many years the rich lent money to the poor, but he remained just as poor. One day a poor man came to ask a rich man for a horse to bring firewood. He reluctantly gave the horse. Then the poor man began to ask for a collar. But the brother got angry and didn’t give me the clamp.

There is nothing to do - the poor man tied his logs to the horse's tail. When he was carrying firewood home, he forgot to open the gateway, and the horse, driving through the gate, tore off its tail.

A poor man brought his brother a horse without a tail. But he didn’t take the horse, but went to the city to see Judge Shemyaka to attack his brother. The poor man followed him, knowing that he would still be forced to appear in court.

They reached one village. The rich man stayed with his friend, the village priest. The poor man came to the same priest and lay down on the floor. The rich man and the priest sat down to eat, but the poor man was not invited. He watched from the floor what they were eating, fell down, fell on the cradle and crushed the child. The priest also went to the city to complain about the poor man.

They were passing through the bridge. And below, along the ditch, one man was taking his father to the bathhouse. The poor man, foreseeing his death, decided to commit suicide. He threw himself off the bridge, fell on the old man and killed him. He was caught and brought before a judge. The poor man wondered what he should give to the judge... He took a stone, wrapped it in a cloth and stood in front of the judge.

After listening to the rich brother's complaint, Judge Shemyaka ordered the poor brother to answer. He showed the judge the wrapped stone. Shemyaka decided: let the poor man not give the horse to the rich man until it grows a new tail.

Then he brought the petition priest. And the poor man again showed the stone. The judge decided: let the priest give the priest his priest until he “gets” a new child.

Then the son began to complain, whose poor father had been killed. The poor man again showed the stone to the judge. The judge decided: let the plaintiff kill the poor man in the same way, that is, throw himself at him from the bridge.

After the trial, the rich man began to ask the poor man for a horse, but he refused to give it, citing the judge's decision. The rich man gave him five rubles so that he could give away the horse without the tail.

Then the poor man began, by a judge's decision, to demand the priest's butt. The priest gave him ten rubles, just so that he would not take the hit.

Bedny suggested that the third plaintiff comply with the judge's decision. But he, on reflection, did not want to throw himself at him from the bridge, but began to make peace and also gave the poor man a bribe.

And the judge sent his man to the defendant to ask about the three bundles that the poor man showed to the judge. The poor man pulled out the stone. Shemyakin's servant was surprised and asked what kind of stone it was. The defendant explained that if the judge had not judged by him, he would have hurt him with this stone.

Having learned about the danger that threatened him, the judge was very glad that he had judged this way. And the poor man went home rejoicing.

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The story first of all exposes the wrong, corrupt court. In the 17th century litigation was such a great public disaster that superstitious people even wore amulet around their necks with a spell from covetous judges. The story contains details that introduce us to the typical situation of that time: the poor brother does not have not only a horse, but even a collar and goes voluntarily? going to court for the rich, so as not to pay tax for the summons; The priest does not invite the poor man to dinner and he lies on the bed hungry; Going to court with the priest and his brother, the poor man realizes that he will be sued and wants to commit suicide.

The story “The Shemyakin Court,” which dates back to the second half of the 17th century, tells about poverty, an unfair trial and the cunning of a little man. It is close to the satirical folk tale about an unfair trial. The story begins with the fact that the rich brother gave the poor man a horse to bring firewood, but regretted giving him a clamp. The poor man tied a piece of wood to the horse's tail, it got caught in the gateway and the tail came off. The rich man did not want to accept the tailless horse, and a lawsuit arose. On the way to court, the brothers spent the night with the priest, the poor man accidentally ran over the priest’s child, and the priest also went to court. Fearing punishment, the poor man decided to commit suicide, but, falling from the bridge, he accidentally ran over an old man who was being taken to the bathhouse under the bridge. It seemed that there was no way out, but ingenuity came to the aid of the poor man, as in every folk tale. He picked up a stone from the road, wrapped it in a scarf and showed it to the judge three times at the trial. The selfish judge Shemyaka thought that the poor man had a rich promise, and decided the case in his favor. When the judge demanded payment, the poor man resorted to cunning. He told the judge that if he had judged differently, the poor man “would have killed him with that stone.” And Shemyaka was happy that he decided the case in favor of the poor man.

The closeness to the fairy tale is evidenced by: a comic plot, arrangement of characters - poor and rich, a happy ending in favor of the poor man, threefold repetitions (the judge makes three sentences, the poor man shows the stone to the judge three times, the plaintiffs pay the poor man three times). The outcome also has a fairy-tale character in its unexpectedness - a threat to the judge.