Stone guest heroes. Images of the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin "The Stone Guest". Date scene and tragic denouement

The writing

The tragedy "The Stone Guest" is an artistic version of a popular legend, which many famous writers turned to. The work is so saturated with philosophical meanings of such depth that Belinsky called the tragedy "without any comparison, the best and highest artistic creation of Pushkin."

The era of the late Middle Ages: man became the dominant value. It was possible to be liberated, to cast off the fetters of far-fetched restrictions, and humanity faced the opposite problem: where is the limit of personal expansion and how to determine a reasonable balance between freedom and observance of public interests. Exiled from Madrid for the murder of a nobleman, Don Juan secretly returns to the capital. The hero of the tragedy is brave, honest (within the knightly code of honor) and extremely selfish. To achieve his goals, he can go to any lengths except loss of honor. His egoism is natural and inevitable in a kind of "thaw". In Madrid, at every crossroads, he can meet "his own brother, an impudent gentleman, with a sword under his arm and in a raincoat." Religious morality is in crisis, and secular power is clumsy and condescending. Don Juan does not take the formal ban on his appearance in Madrid seriously: he is convinced of the loyalty of the king, who removed him from the capital only for the sake of appearances:

* Surely my head will not be cut off.
* After all, I'm not a state criminal.
* He removed me, loving me;
* To leave me alone
* The family of the deceased ...

The hero is confident in his right to sensual desires, because he does not force anyone, his claims come from the depths of his soul. But Don Juan is not a banal seeker of sensual pleasures: each of his women is not an impersonal stage of satisfying male vanity, but a beloved, worthy of passion. Remembering poor Ine-ze, about whom the servant Leporello cynically replied: “Well, there were others after her,” the hero recreates her sacrificial image heartfeltly:

* Yes, a look ... such a look
* I've never seen one before. A voice
* She was quiet and weak - like a patient.
* Her husband was a stern scoundrel,
* I found out too late... Poor Inez!..

Don Juan satisfied his desires without thinking about morality, public opinion, but he always respected freedom. Conventions for Don Juan are nothing, and a person's desire for happiness is the main condition of life. Don Juan always goes straight to the goal, refusing picaresque tricks, remaining true to himself, the dignity of a true Spanish grandee. Returning to Madrid, Don Juan does not rush in search of new pleasures, he returns to Laura, his last mistress. Having met with an opponent, he does not recklessly rush into battle, but provides Don Carlos with a peaceful retreat. After killing an opponent, Don Juan does not feel the slightest remorse. Laura sincerely loves Don Juan, and with the same love. She is also natural in her impulses and inconstancy. Both of them are "improvisers of a love song", loving with inspiration and able to make unforgettable every moment of their lives and the lives of those to whom their heart is turned. The affinity of their souls is emphasized by Laura, uttering a contradictory but true characterization-appeal to Don Juan: "My faithful friend, my windy lover."

Danger awaits Don Juan when he comes into conflict with the very order of the world that gave birth to him. It is the living human feeling that the dead and soulless world cannot forgive him. Having begun the seduction of Dona Anna as an "improviser of a love song", controlling every spiritual movement, every change in the situation ("Things are coming to a denouement!"), Don Juan gradually forgets about all the tricks. He sincerely sympathizes with his beloved, caught in the net of a rich hidalgo (“,., my mother ordered me to give a hand to Don Alvar, we were poor, Don Alvar is rich”). In fact, having bought the love of a lovely woman, the Commander evokes the ironic and angry attitude of Don Juan:

* Lucky! He is an empty treasure
* Brought to the feet of the goddess, that's what
* He tasted heavenly bliss!

The hero strives for the utmost honesty of relations and, although he risks being refused, voluntarily confesses to all the sins of his life, including the murder of the Commander. Don Juan wants complete understanding, counting not on forgiveness, but on sympathy. And how sincerely he fell in love with Dona Anna with all her weaknesses, so anxiously awaits the trial of his feelings:

* ...So, debauchery
* I have long been a humble student,
* But ever since I saw you,
* I feel like I'm completely reborn.
* I love you, I love virtue
* And for the first time humbly in front of her
* I bow my trembling knees.

The heroes have achieved absolute trust in each other, in their relationship the main thing is not self-affirmation, but selflessness, the desire to devote oneself to another. Don Juan threw a direct challenge to the world of bigotry and hypocrisy, wanting to protect his beloved from false morality. He makes a fatal suggestion:

* I, commander, ask you to come
* To your widow, where I will be tomorrow,
* And stand guard at the door. What? Will you?

He is bold, but honest and brave, defending the woman's right to sincerity of feelings, freedom of choice. And the world, living according to dead laws, executes Don Juan in the name of marital duty, fidelity, morality. The heroes die on the threshold of happiness, when a man awakens in Don Juan. But still, despite the unconditional relationship of characters, there is a deep difference between them. Don Juan is certainly spiritually richer than the heroine, he empathizes with everything that happens, and the burden of what he has experienced constantly accompanies him. Just like Don Juan, she fully expresses herself in every moment, but she is not able to psychologically comprehend what she has experienced.

Don Juan is a complex, contradictory personality. He combines responsiveness, indestructible love of life and absolute fearlessness in the face of death. He himself characterizes his life as "instant". But every moment for him is his whole life, all happiness. He is a poet in everything, including in his passion. For him, love is a musical element, a triumphant, victorious song. Don Juan seeks the fullness of victory, the fullness of triumph, but he conquers not only bodies, but also hearts, so the psychological appearance of his beloved remains in his memory. It is important for him to find the limit of human capabilities and thereby determine the price of a person. Don Juan constantly plays a love game on the verge of life and death, a game in which many died, and he himself more than once put his own life at stake. He is extremely honest in this game, as he is extremely sincere with all his women. He is different every minute - and every minute he is true to himself.

And yet Don Juan is responsible for his own fate and the fate of people who have become unwitting victims of his love of life and selfishness. After all, he himself makes the choice of his own path, which will certainly intersect with the path of other people, bring them suffering and, possibly, death. But, enjoying only a moment, living at the limit of human capabilities, in constant struggle, Don Juan does not care about others at all, as long as he does not value his own life. He is aware that in his pursuit of pleasure he has hurt many, but to give up the endless experience of self-assertion is tantamount to giving up life for him:

* There is a lot of evil on the conscience of a tired,
* Perhaps, it gravitates.

Don Juan does not impose a fight on the opponent, giving him a choice, but, meeting a rebuff, ruthlessly kills the enemy, indifferently stating: "He himself wanted it." Understanding that the choice of the other is only a formal one - to die with honor or leave with dishonor, the hero does not imagine another way to resolve the conflict in life: everything that prevents the realization of his desires must be eliminated at any cost. And he always wins, because Don Juan is the product and pride of his era.

"Stone Guest" was written in 1830 in Boldin, but was conceived several years earlier. It was published after the death of the poet in 1839 in the collection One Hundred Russian Writers.

Literary sources

Pushkin was familiar with Moliere's comedy and Mozart's opera, which is mentioned in the epigraph. Both of these works are based on the traditional plot, the legend of the depraved Don Juan, punished by a walking and talking statue and plunged into hellfire. Pushkin's goal is to create new characters within the framework of a traditional plot.

Characters of heroes and conflict

As in other Little Tragedies, Pushkin primarily depicts the psychology of the characters. Don Juan combines many features: he is a windy lover, but a sincerely fond person; he is bold, noble, but prudent; he is a poet (Laura sings his song). The character of the protagonist is contradictory, but this does not lead to internal conflict, because Don Juan is always sincere or seems to be. The reader cannot understand how truthful Don Juan is when he tells Dona Anna that he had never really loved a single woman before her.

The external conflict in the play is necessary for the development of the plot: it was the numerous duels that caused the exile of Don Juan, the duel with the commander and his murder led to the arrival of the stone guest.

The character of the servant Leporello largely repeats the comedic nature of previous literary images: he is cowardly, condemns the love affairs of his master and suffers from the fact that he must endure all this. Even less significant for the development of the action is the character of Don Carlos, whose brother was killed by Don Juan. The reader can only guess whether Don Carlos is the brother of Don Alvar, commander, husband of Dona Anna. The image of Don Carlos helps to show what Laura and Don Juan are like. Seeing the dead body, Laura, who had just sworn love to Don Carlos, cares only about where to put the murdered. She is as adventurous as Don Juan, who does not think for a minute, accepting Don Carlos' challenge to an immediate battle.

The images of his three women are important for revealing the character of Don Juan, and only three of the many are shown in the play. The first of them, Inesa, is called Poor Don Juan. She died early, perhaps at the hands of her husband, a stern scoundrel. There was “little truly beautiful” in her: dead lips, quiet and weak, like a sick voice. But the black eyes and gaze conquered Don Juan. He remembers her with sadness and tenderness.

Another lover, Laura, is similar to Don Juan himself. She lives freely and does what she likes. Laura is an actress who plays with inspiration, from the heart. She chooses lovers with the same inspiration and is truthful with them. She tells Don Carlos that she chose him because he resembles Don Juan when he is angry. Neither Laura nor Don Juan hide the fact that they are cheating on each other. Their love is close to friendship, the unity of two similar people.

The image of Dona Anna is full of internal contradictions. She is pious, wants to be faithful to her worthy husband, but shows no hatred for his killer. Dona Anna even flirts with Don Juan and accepts his advances. She is modest, sincere, but her passion is looking for a way out, and the woman is unable to resist the sudden surging feelings. Dona Anna is naive, she believes in Don Juan's love, but at the same time she is ironic: "Oh, Don Juan is eloquent - I know." Dona Anna awakens in Don Juan, it would seem, sincere and deep feelings: “So, for a long time I was a humble student of debauchery, But since the time I saw you, It seems to me that I have been completely reborn!” About how sincere Don Juan is to be judged by the reader.

Plot and composition

The play consists of 4 scenes, each revealing new character traits of the protagonist. The reader's initial attitude towards him as a ladies' man and a killer-duelist changes, and sympathy arises. In the first scene, the character is clarified through the connection with Ineza, in the second - with Laura, in the third and fourth - through feelings for Dona Anna. In the third scene, Don Juan jokingly calls the statue of the commander to Dona Anna. In the fourth scene, Don Juan is closer than ever to happiness: he truly loves Dona Anna, she recognizes his true name and forgives him, ready for mutual love. But evil fate overtakes a person close to happiness. The image of the commander's statue is fate, a symbol of Don Juan's past misdeeds, heavy, like shaking a stone hand, preventing a happy life. The climax coincides with the denouement, as in other Little Tragedies.

Artistic originality is associated with the laconism of presentation, which creates volume and drama of the characters and remains innuendo and the possibility for interpretation.

• "The Stone Guest", a summary of the scenes of Pushkin's play
• "The Captain's Daughter", a summary of the chapters of Pushkin's story
• "The daylight went out", analysis of Pushkin's poem

Pushkin's play is based on a well-known plot of medieval legends, the ancestor of which was the Spanish playwright Tirso de Molina ("The Seville Mischievous Man, or the Stone Guest"). Subsequently, J. B. Moliere (“Don Juan” or “Stone Feast”) and D. G. Byron (“Don Juan”) turned to this plot. Mozart wrote the opera Don Giovanni to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It has not yet been clarified whether Pushkin knew Tirso de Molina's play, but the poet was well acquainted with both the works of Molière and Byron and Mozart's opera (the words from Da Ponte's libretto served as the epigraph to The Stone Guest; in addition, the name of Leporello's servant is also is in the libretto).

Molière's play (translated by Valberkhov) was staged in St. Petersburg in 1816 under the title The Stone Guest. In 1848 a ballet was staged under the same title. For Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, see note. on page 107.

Pushkin's hero was originally called Don Juan, but then decisively changed to Don Juan, that is, the name was given a Spanish coloring. The scene was first Seville, a city in the Spanish province of Andalusia. However, Pushkin moved the action to the capital - Madrit (Madrid). It is believed that this change strengthened the autobiographical moment. Don Juan, as A. A. Akhmatova noted, was a Spanish grandee and at the same time a poet.

He is close to the king. The idea that "our poets themselves are masters" was extremely dear to Pushkin, who defended independence and did not want the august patronage. The situation of the play - the secret return of Don Juan from exile to the capital - is also largely autobiographical. It is known that Pushkin passionately rushed out of Mikhailovsky, but his friends held him back in almost the same words as Leporello, who reproached Don Juan (“You should sit quietly there for yourself”).

From literary works, the play was compared by B. V. Tomashevsky with the story “The Shot”: Silvio wants to hit Count B. when life is especially dear to him. It is at this moment that Don Juan dies. It is also noted that the plot of the play "attracts many of Pushkin's poems, sometimes even early ones", for example, "To the Young Widow" (1817):

O priceless friend! Are you always shedding tears? Is it always a dead spouse From the grave to call?

The crowned lucky man sleeps, Believe in love - we are innocent. No!., an angry jealous man Will not come from eternal darkness; On a quiet night, the thunder will not strike, And the envious shadow will not be near lovers, Causing a sleeping day.

Of course, Pushkin's tragedy is not limited to autobiographical details or literary examples. Pushkin is exceptionally independent and deep in the development of the "eternal" plot. His tragedy contained a huge and original content.

Page 56. Gitana - this is how a gypsy is called in Spain. Page 57. Andalusia - a region in southern Spain.

Anthony Monastery.-It is not known which monastery is mentioned in the play. There are two Antoniev monasteries in Madrid: one is located on the western outskirts, and the other is in the northern quarter of the city. In Spain, St. Anthony of Padua.

Page 58. Poor Inez! .. - The name Inez is a traditional Spanish name for Pushkin; see, for example, a romance with a Spanish flavor: "I'm here, Inezilla ...", written in Boldinskaya autumn (October 9, 1830).

Page 59. Commander - the highest rank in knightly orders (unions).

Page 62. Grand - this is how representatives of the highest nobility and clergy were called in Spain.

Page 70. Venta - an inn, a tavern in Spain.

Page 71. Epancha - a wide and long sleeveless cloak worn over clothing.

Page 72. ... What kind of Hercules! .. - Hercules (Hercules) is a Greek folk hero who possessed unprecedented power (ancient Greek myth); here the comparison of the Commander with Hercules is ironic.

Escurial - monastery 50 km. from Madrid; also called the royal palace on the territory of the monastery.

Updated: 2011-09-26

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Don Juan and his servant Leporello are sitting at the gates of Madrit. They are going to wait here for the night, so that under its cover they can enter the city. The nonchalant Don Juan thinks he won't be recognized in town, but the sober Leporello is sarcastic about it. However, no danger can stop Don Juan. He is sure that the king, having learned about his unauthorized return from exile, will not execute him, that the king sent him into exile in order to save the family of the nobleman he killed from revenge. But he cannot stay in exile for a long time, and most of all he is dissatisfied with the women there, who seem to him like wax dolls.

Looking around, Don Juan recognizes the area. This is the Antoniev Monastery, where he met with his beloved Ineza, who turned out to have a jealous husband. Poetically inspired Don Juan describes her features and sad look. Leporello reassures him that Don Juan had and will still have lovers. He is interested in who this time his master will be looking for in Madrit. Don Juan intends to look for Laura. While Don Juan is dreaming, a monk appears who, seeing the visitors, wonders if they are the people of Dona Anna, who is about to come here to the grave of her husband, Commodore de Solva, who was killed in a duel by "the shameless, godless Don Guan" , as the monk calls him, unaware that he is talking to Don Juan himself. He says that the widow erected a monument to her husband and every day she comes to pray for the repose of his soul. Don Juan thinks this behavior of the widow is strange, and he wonders if she is good. He asks permission to talk to her, but the monk replies that Dona Anna does not talk to men. And at this time, Dona Anna appears, the Monk unlocks the grate, and she passes, so that Don Juan does not have time to examine her, but his imagination, which, according to Leporello, is “quicker than a painter,” is able to paint her portrait. Don Juan decides to get acquainted with Dona Anna, Leporello shames him for blasphemy. As the conversation grows dark, the master and his servant enter Madrit.

Guests dine in Laura's room and admire her talent and inspired acting. They ask Laura to sing. Even the gloomy Carlos seems to be touched by her singing, but upon learning that the words of this song were written by Don Juan, who was Laura's lover, Don Carlos calls him an atheist and a scoundrel. Enraged, Laura screams that she is now ordering her servants to kill Carlos, even that Spanish grandee. The fearless Don Carlos is ready, but the guests calm them down. Laura believes that the reason for Carlos's rude antics is that Don Juan killed Don Carlos' brother in a fair duel. Don Carlos admits he was wrong and they reconcile. Having sung one more song at the general request, Laura says goodbye to the guests, but asks Don Carlos to stay. She says that with his temperament he reminded her of Don Juan. Laura and Don Carlos are talking, and at this time there is a knock and someone calls Laura. Laura unlocks and Don Juan enters. Carlos, hearing this name, calls himself and demands an immediate duel. Despite Laura's protests, the grandees fight and Don Juan kills Don Carlos. Laura is confused, but, having learned that Don Juan had just secretly returned to Madrit and immediately rushed to her, she softens.

After killing Don Carlos, Don Juan, in monastic guise, hides in the Antoniev Monastery and, standing at the monument to the commander, thanks fate that she thus gave him the opportunity to see the lovely Don Anna every day. He intends to speak to her today and hopes that he will be able to attract her attention. Looking at the statue of the commander, Don Juan is ironic that here the victim is represented by a giant, although he was frail in life. Dona Anna enters and spots the monk. She asks for forgiveness that she prevented him from praying, to which the monk replies that it is he who is to blame before her, for he prevents her sadness from “flowing freely”; he admires her beauty and angelic meekness. Such speeches surprise and embarrass Dona Anna, and the monk unexpectedly admits that under this dress the nobleman Diego de Calvada, the victim of an unfortunate passion for her, is hiding. With ardent speeches, Don Juan persuades Don Anna not to persecute him, and the embarrassed Don Anna invites him to come to her house the next day, on condition that he be modest. Dona Anna leaves, and Don Juan demands that Leporello invite the statue of the Commander to tomorrow's date. It seems to the timid Leporello that the statue nods in response to this blasphemous proposal. Don Juan himself repeats his invitation, and the statue nods again. Startled, Don Juan and Leporello leave.

Dona Anna is talking to Don Diego in her house. She admits that Don Alvar was not her chosen one, that her mother forced her into this marriage. Don Diego is jealous of the commander, who, in exchange for empty riches, got true bliss. Such speeches confuse Don Anna. She is reproached by the thought of a dead husband who would never have received a lady in love if he had been a widower. Don Diego asks her not to torment his heart with eternal reminders of her husband, although he deserves to be executed. Dona Anna is interested in what exactly Don Diego has done wrong to her, and in response to her persistent requests, Don Juan reveals to her his true name, the name of her husband's killer. Dona Anna is amazed and, under the influence of what happened, loses her senses. Recovering herself, she chases Don Juan. Don Juan agrees that the rumor does not in vain paint him as a villain, but he assures that he was reborn, having experienced love for her. As a pledge of farewell before parting, he asks to give him a cold peaceful kiss.

Dona Anna kisses him, and Don Juan leaves, but immediately runs back in. Behind him enters the statue of the commander, who came to the call. The commander accuses Don Juan of cowardice, but he boldly holds out his hand to shake hands with a stone statue, from which he dies with the name of Dona Anna on his lips.

You have read the summary of the tragedy The Stone Guest. We also suggest that you visit the Summary section to read the presentations of other popular writers.

Please note that the summary of the tragedy The Stone Guest does not reflect the full picture of events and characterization of the characters. We recommend you to read the full version of the tragedy.

The tragedy "The Stone Guest" is based on the Spanish legend of the depraved Don Juan, which has become an "eternal" plot for subsequent processing. Of the literary and musical sources, the most important for Pushkin were Moliere's play, which was performed in Russia under Pushkin under the title Don Giovanni, or the Stone Guest, and Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. From his predecessors, Pushkin took the names, the scene of the invitation of the statue, from the libretto of the opera Don Giovanni - the words as an epigraph. The rest of the play is completely independent.

Pushkin's Don Guan is an "improviser of a love song", an "eternal lover", a cheerful adventurer, always ready to embark on a love adventure. Pushkin sets off the character of Don Juan by introducing the scene with Laura, when the hero appears lawlessly in Madrid, exiled for his adventures. Pushkin's predecessors do not have this scene. Here Don Juan emerges victorious. He not only wins Laura, but also stabs her new chosen one. Here the features of the character of Don Juan are clarified. Love only brings pleasure to the hero when it is "especially sharp." This happens in moments of mortal danger. At such moments, love is experienced with the greatest strength. Don Juan constantly recalls his love affairs in connection with death. And this dangerously brings the hero closer to the demonic world. Laura directly calls him "devil". Dona Anna knows from rumors and stories that he is "a real demon." Don Juan, therefore, connects two worlds - divine and demonic, two states of being - life and death. Having reached the limit of sensations and feelings, Don Juan rushes to a new love adventure, never being sated and frivolously playing a love game on the verge of life and death. The image of Dona Anna is conditional: a weak woman appears in her, a widow who remains faithful to her late husband, and a Spaniard who is ready to respond to Don Juan's feelings and venture into a love adventure.

Pushkin interrupts the love plot. The fate of Dona Anna after the death of Don Juan remains unknown. The lyrical theme of the angelic, heavenly soul is also connected with Dona Anna, which, again, can only be guessed at.

With the same playfulness with which Don Juan defeats women, he also addresses the statue of the Commander, inviting her to his love date with his widow. This joke is in the spirit of Don Juan: he needs to sharpen the amorous enjoyment of the presence of the dead and arouse the dead man's jealousy for the lucky living man, just as recently Don Juan himself was jealous of the dead Don Alvar. The statue demonically comes to life, meaning not a metaphor for death, but Death itself. For a moment of meeting, in which eternity was lived, one must pay with life. To Don Juan's credit, he retains his dignity and dies with the name of Dona Anna on his lips, for the first time, perhaps at the moment of death, understanding the lofty and serious meaning of life and love.

“A Feast in the Time of the Plague” is a translation of one scene from the dramatic poem “The Plague City” by the English playwright John Wilson, which describes the London plague of 1665 (in Russia in 1830 cholera raged, it was often called the plague).

The poet put all feasters in the face of death. The actors cannot avoid the death that threatens them at any moment. They have lost many loved ones. The exclusivity of the situation strains the mind and feelings of the characters to the limit, but the tension is expressed not in action (the characters have no power over the plague that brings death), but in the motives of behavior, which are pointed. The souls of the characters must pour out and explain the meaning of their behavior. From here arises the lyricism of the last “little tragedy”, which is especially expressive in Mary's song and the Anthem of the Chairman, which are contrasting in mood and content. Mary sings about love that overcomes death. The Chairman dedicates his hymn to the proud confrontation of the deadly elements. In order to forget and not go crazy from the horror that is happening around, the characters plunge into a crazy and cheerful feast. They are aware of their doom, and their fun is the fun of the doomed. Habitual values ​​disappear in the face of death.

The young man demands Bacchic fun. Louise fails the test. Mary sings a sad song that the world has changed, life is gone, grave cold and fear reigns around. It glorifies love as a force that keeps within the boundaries of reason and does not allow a person to shamefully fall before the horror of mortal separation. After the scene with a cart loaded with dead bodies and driven by a Negro (a black man - a symbol of hellish darkness, death), the Walsingham solemnly glorifies despair and the Plague. In the hymn of Walsingam, god-fighting motives clearly sound (it is inspired not by the Kingdom of God, but by the Kingdom of the Plague), the Chairman's Hymn is a hymn to madness. It contains notes of enjoyment of the elements hostile to humanity. Entering into an argument with them, he sings about "rapture in battle." Here the proud and uplifting challenge to fate merges with the demonic glorification of the deadly Plague. At the same time, the forces of Valsingam and Plague are not equal. The victory of the Plague is predetermined.

The chairman is concerned about how, in the conditions of doom, dignity and honor can be preserved (“What should we do? and how can we help?”). The behavior of the doomed, which he praises, does not consist in a struggle, not in a fight, but in “glorifying the Kingdom of the Plague”, having fun in its honor, because the Plague, bringing death, at the same time awakens forces in a person that still allow meet death not with fear, not with the despair of a clouded mind, but by preserving the greatness of the soul. A person should thank the Plague for the fact that it mobilizes his will, does not leave him helpless, and even before death makes him feel "inexplicable pleasures."

However, Valsingam's position is not devoid of ambiguity and irony: the solemn glory of the Plague is filled with contempt for it, but the Anthem of the Chairman is both a hymn to death and contempt for life. It is generated not only by courage and fearlessness, but also by "despair", "consciousness of lawlessness". The picture of the world in this latter case appears distorted and destroyed, for it is unnatural to glorify that which brings death, and not life.

To restore the true picture, Pushkin needs the Chairman's antagonist - the Priest. He does not deliver from death, but speaks of the blasphemy committed by those who feast, and awakens the memory of Valsingam. Although the Chairman remains deaf to the reminder of his mother's death, the name of Matilda causes confusion in his soul. He understands that, having remained a "fallen spirit", he will never "reach" the heavenly paradise, where his wife, Matilda, the "holy child of light," found peace.

The priest, returning the memory and turning it back to torment and suffering, restores the connection between the dead and the living. He is no longer an obsessive "old man" for the Chairman, but "My Father." A reasonable and religiously meaningful picture of the world entered the mind of the Chairman and took possession of his soul. From now on, the Chairman is singled out from the feasting environment and is depicted immersed "in deep thought." He does not take part in the feast, but he does not follow the Priest either.

Pushkin ends The Feast in the Time of the Plague on the climax, the most intense scene, when a person is immersed in a state of shocked thoughtfulness, which means the struggle between good and evil taking place in him. The recovery of the soul did not happen, but the words of the Priest and the remarks of Pushkin speak of the hope that has appeared for the spiritual and spiritual healing of Valsingam.

The results of the Boldin autumn of 1830 in Pushkin's work are significant. The poet became the conductor of that fruitful idea that the fate and character of an individual human personality depend on the environment. However, he also understood the weak side of this idea, which he managed to avoid in his works. If the thoughts, actions, character of a person are entirely determined by the environment, then, therefore, nothing depends on the person, that is, he was assigned a passive role and any responsibility for certain actions was removed from him.

Pushkin's characters in the novel "Eugene Onegin", in prose and dramaturgy, depend on the environment, but they are not passive victims, they are not relieved of responsibility. Pushkin's personality is determined not so much by the immediate environment as by national and world history. This allows Pushkin's heroes to make a choice. The poet does not remove guilt from either the circumstances or the characters. In life, he especially valued resistance to circumstances and did not allow the “environment” to celebrate victory over him.

Questions and tasks

1. Tell us about Pushkin's lyrics in the 1830s.
2. Find poems related to the theme of the poet and poetry, and try to analyze them, keeping in mind also "Prophet" and "I erected a monument to myself not made by hands ...".
3. Tell us about the Belkin Tale series. Why did Pushkin need a fictional author - Ivan Petrovich Belkin? Who tells Belkin the stories he writes down? Tell about the plots of all the stories. What works are parodied in Belkin's Tales? Confirm with the text that the author is present in each story and that he "directs" Belkin's story.
4. What artistic function do individual details and episodes have (for example, what does Silvio's shooting at flies for six years mean and how does this characterize the hero)? Is it possible to say that Pushkin takes off the masks from his heroes and shows us their true faces?
5. How do you understand the name "Little Tragedies" by which Pushkin designated his Boldinsky dramatic cycle? What other names did he use to refer to the cycle? Which one do you think is the most appropriate and appropriate? Retell the plots of the "little tragedies". What conflicts underlie the "little tragedies"?