Chatsky's attitude to serfdom. The play "Woe from Wit". Griboyedov

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the autumn of 1824, the satirical play "Woe from Wit" was finally edited, which made A. S. Griboyedov a Russian classic. Many acute and painful questions are considered by this work. It deals with the opposition of the “current century” to the “past century”, where the topics of education, upbringing, morality, the order of the state system are touched upon, and the morals of the higher Moscow society, which by that time had already lost all moral values and almost completely mired in insincerity and falsehood. Now everything is bought and sold, even love and friendship. The writer Griboyedov constantly thinks and reflects on this. Chatsky is only an artistic hero who voices his thoughts. The most amazing thing about this work is that the phrases from it have become one of the most quoted in Russian literature.

"Woe from Wit". Comedy. Chatsky

Many popular expressions of the play "Woe frommind" are used today in our everyday life, but now it makes no sense to list them all. Initially, this work was banned by censorship, since the author's attacks on the existing system of autocracy with its serfdom, the organization of the army, and many others were already very obvious.

The protagonist, a young nobleman with progressive views, Chatsky, became the spokesman for these very ideas. His opponent was a person from the Moscow aristocratic society - the gentleman and landowner Famusov.

Chatsky's attitude to serfdom

These two were opposed to each other by their views on the state structure. According to several quotes from the work, Chatsky's attitude to serfdom can be characterized. It is in them that the whole point of the caustic satire of the comedy created by Griboyedov lies. These statements are not so many, but what are they!

Chatsky stands up for the oppressed people and speaks out about serfdom very emotionally and strongly. One part of these statements begins with the words: "That Nestor of noble villains, surrounded by a crowd of servants …". She only further emphasizes the resentment of the protagonist when it comes to serfs.

The word “Nestor” used at the beginning is interpreted as “manager”, that is, that Russian nobility who owns serfs. The humiliated and offended mob serves these high-ranking gentlemen faithfully, protecting them from all kinds of misfortunes, and sometimes saving them from inevitable death.

Dangerous man

As a result, they received"gratitude" in the form of exchanging them - living people - for puppies of thoroughbred greyhounds. Chatsky's attitude to serfdom is very clear and negative. He does not hide his rage and contempt, his indignation knows no bounds. During this time, he managed to spend three years abroad and returned to Moscow. From this follows the conclusion that Chatsky saw many different societies and state structures that did not have serfdom. He felt sorry for his people and for the open form of slavery that was present in Russia in the 19th century.

Independent personality

There is another of his statements, which followed the previous one, and it sounded like this: “Or the one over there, who, for fun, drove to the fortress ballet on many trucks …”. This shows that serfs were often used for fun, for the amusement or surprise of guests and friends. Chatsky recalls some noble nobleman (a collective image) who created a ballet in which the serfs participated. For Chatsky, this was a terrible example of the exploitation of living people as inanimate puppets. But the whole trouble was that when the need came to the owner, he gave the serfs for debts as some kind of thing.

Chatsky's first statement is denunciatory and harsh, while the second contains a feeling of pity for poor people.

It is also interesting that Chatsky's attitude to serfdom does not imply direct attacks on Famusov. But even this does not create doubts about the views of the hero, because he is a true patriot of independent freedom-loving views. Chatsky sincerely wishesthe prosperity of his homeland, despises careerism and servility, condemns all imitation of foreign and believes that a person should be respected and valued not for the number of serfs, but for his personal qualities.