Starodum.
Starodum is an enlightened and progressive person.
He was brought up in the spirit of Peter's time, the thoughts, customs and activities of the people of that time are closer and more acceptable to him. Calling the hero Starodum, Fonvizin thereby emphasized his preference for the time of Peter the Great to contemporary reality. Why is Starodum dear to Fonvizin?
In comedy, Starodum talks more than he acts. His character, views and activities are revealed in his speeches.
Starodum is above all a deep patriot.
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Honest and useful service to the fatherland is for him the first and sacred duty of a nobleman. Only then can a nobleman leave the service, "when he is internally convinced that the service to his fatherland does not bring direct benefits." Starodum regards a person according to his service to the fatherland. “The degree of nobility (i.e., value,” says Starodum, “I calculate according to the number of deeds that the great gentleman did for the fatherland ... without noble deeds, a noble state is nothing.” Service to the state, according to Starodum, is a matter of honor of a nobleman. During the war, the nobleman's duty is to be in the army, and not to settle in safe places in the rear, as the young count, familiar to Starodum, did. In peacetime, a nobleman can serve the fatherland "not only by being in the public service, but also by developing the bowels of the earth, working in the field of industrial development. Speaking about the industrial activity of Starodum, apparently in Siberia, Fonvizin points out to the nobles, who considered industry and trade not a noble matter, that the development of minerals does not drop noble dignity.
Starodum is a representative of the nobility, who has a negative attitude towards the orders of Catherine's reign. He sharply opposes the nobles of the queen's favorites, denounces the morals of the court nobility. He demands legitimacy, limiting the arbitrariness of the tsar and the feudal landlords. An ardent defender of enlightenment and humanity, Starodum is indignant at the inertia, savagery, malevolence of the landlord class, inhuman oppression of the serfs. “It is illegal to oppress your own kind with slavery,” he declares. Especially Starodum says a lot about education. He attaches more value to moral education than to education: “The mind, if it is only the mind, the most trifle, Good manners gives the direct price to the mind. Without it, an intelligent person is a monster, Science in a depraved person is a fierce weapon to do evil. Only by cultivating good spiritual qualities, you can grow a real person: "Have a heart, have a soul - and you will be a person at all times."
Starodum's speeches expressed a whole program of views and activities of the advanced nobility of that era, and above all, Fonvizin himself. Contemporaries highly appreciated the speech of Starodum, they saw in him not a simple reasoner, that is, a person expressing the views of the author, but a lifelike, truthfully drawn representative of the enlightened nobility.
It cannot be denied, of course, that in life there were such honest and impeccable officials as Pravdin, but the role that Fonvizin assigned him in the comedy is clearly composed by the author and does not correspond to reality: there were no such auditors at that time. Introducing Pravdin into the comedy in the role of an official empowered to take guardianship from the cruel landowners, Fonvizin thereby contrasted what, in his opinion, should have been with what actually happened in life. In the army of Suvorov, there were patriotic officers, loyal to their duty, like Mila a. In the memoirs of people of that time, one can find images of girls similar to Sophia. But characteristic of the nobility at that time, especially the provincial ones, were those features that are so fully and vividly embodied in the images of the Prostakovs-Skotinins. That is why the latter came out from the pen of Fonvizin artistically more perfect and vitally convincing.
The speech of positive characters is close to the book literary language of that time. The phrases are built rather ponderously, gallicisms are often found (that is, sentences built according to the syntax of the French language): “I am doing my job” (Milon); “Incidents with a person of your qualities cannot be indifferent to anyone” (Pravdin), etc.
In Starodum's speech, his love for aphorisms is manifested, that is, short, well-aimed sayings: “Ranks begin - sincerity ceases”; "An ignoramus without a soul is a beast"; "Golden blockhead - all blockhead", etc.
The comedy "Undergrowth" is a famous play by Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin, it was staged for a long time, it is notable for being the first comedy with a socio-political content. The play describes representatives of various social strata, from servants to nobles and statesmen, in the work one can appreciate the theme itself, humor, interesting dialogues and bright negative characters.
Starodum can be attributed to the main characters, already by his last name it is clear that his character corresponds to the old era. The hero is convinced that education comes from the heart and soul, so he remains himself regardless of the problems. Starodum is not present from the beginning of the play, but it is with his help that Sophia gets rid of the tyranny of the "new" nobles.
Starodum is a man aged 60, he is a retired officer, he managed to be a participant in hostilities, to serve at the imperial court. He has his own fortune, but he made it with his own labor, having lived for a certain time in Siberia. He claims to have made an income without stealing or cheating.
Among the positive qualities of Starodum, the following can be distinguished:
Among the negative features are:
Starodum behaves as his father taught him, namely in the spirit of the old era, he received an education sufficient for the old times, but he knows how to catch the main thing in people. He is positively disposed towards the pupil, wants her happiness, therefore he will find a suitable groom for her, and even leave the acquired funds as an inheritance. Starodum is an ardent defender of enlightenment, humanity, he evaluates people by deeds, not paying attention to other nuances. He complains about the arbitrariness in relation to the peasants and considers the defense of the homeland the most important task for a nobleman.
From the Petrine era, Starodum took out his priorities: wisdom, following traditions, he is wise, and accumulates the experience gained. At the same time, the character is enlightened and advanced. The hero attaches great importance to the moral side of personalities, as well as good manners. He believes that if a person is corrupted in himself, then science and education will make him even more evil and dangerous. Starodum does not tolerate savagery, bone, inhumanity and bad temper in others.
Starodum is a positive character, he has traits that he brought up in himself. Starodum is respectable, appreciates justice, loves conservatism. His main purpose is to save Sophia, who lives with the Prostakovs, he leaves her an inheritance, and this leads to the desire of Mrs. Prostakova to marry the girl to her son Mitrofan.
After the arrival of Starodum, a distant relative tries with all her might to get close to the money, she even goes to extremes, trying to betroth Mitrofan and Sophia. Luckily, Milon interferes with this venture, Sophia loves this officer. In the denouement, the three of them manage to safely leave the Prostakov estate.
Starodum shows us an almost perfect image; using his example, the author showed how a real nobleman should behave. The hero is distinguished by honesty, he is not just noble by birth, he believes that actions should be noble. Starodum believes that it is dishonor not to do business and not help the fatherland. He does not like much in the consequences of the decree on the freedom of the nobility and the cruel treatment of serfs disgusts him. Starodum allows us to think about injustice towards people who depend on us, and shows which strategy of behavior is correct.
First of all, you need to understand that the comedy "Undergrowth" is a vivid example of a play from the era of classicism, and all the characters in it have an unambiguous positive or negative character. In addition, all the characters have speaking surnames, only after reading which, the reader begins to form his own opinion and understanding of the characters.
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The image of Starodum in the comedy "Undergrowth"- one of the most powerful and unambiguous. Against the background of this hero, other characters of the comedy, especially negative ones, are revealed especially brightly, fully showing their unsightly and without that character traits. Without a doubt, Starodum is one of the key figures of the entire work, and the life principles Starodum are relevant and deserve respect and in our days.
In Fonvizin's comedy, not just events related to one family are described, the whole life and customs of the nobility and landowner life in the bulk are described by its example. Of course, Sophia's uncle is one of the main characters in the play, in addition, he is a reasoner - that is, the author speaks to us through his mouth, conveys the morality that he puts into his work.
From all the above points, you can add up a fairly solid image of the hero - a straightforward and honest man of advanced years, who puts honor and dignity above all else, and other people's desire to cash in at someone else's expense, rudeness and bestiality, cause him ardent rejection. His candor and sincerity, others are often mistaken for rudeness, harshness. Never in his deeds, thoughts and words, the hero did not go against himself - if he felt rejection, he never agreed with it, and did not put up with it.
If we talk about the aphorisms of this character, from the text of the play you can select a dozen, if not a hundred. However, the most important, both according to Starodum and according to Pravdin, is the following:
“... I have a rule - do not start anything in the first movement ...”
Starodum Sophia's uncle, her mother's brother. The educator of Paul I, Count I. I. Panin, and the Freemason-educator N. I. Novikov, were called as prototypes of the image of S.. The surname "Starodum" means that the carrier does not follow the customs of patriarchal antiquity and not the new mores of the modern world, but the principles of the Petrine era, distorted under Catherine II, when education and upbringing took on false forms (too new and too old). For this reason, the playwright contrasts S.'s pedigree and his upbringing with Prostakova's pedigree and her upbringing. Barely appearing in Prostakova’s house, S. tells about his father: “He served Peter the Great”, “My father constantly told me the same thing: have a heart, have a soul, and you will be a man at all times” (d. 3, yavl. I).
The role of S. in comedy is a reasoner. In dramatic works, the wise old gentleman was usually the reason. The area of his moral teachings is most often family problems. Fonvizin rethinks the function of the reasoner in an original way compared to the old drama. The moral maxims of the reasoner, in which the author's point of view is expressed, in The Undergrowth become a form of presentation of the political program. S.'s speeches resemble the monologues of the heroes of the Russian tyrannical tragedy both in terms of the content contained in them and in civic pathos, and he himself is akin to such heroes.
In the comedy, S. appears in the 3rd act of the first phenomenon, relatively late, when the conflict has already been identified and Prostakova's entourage has revealed itself. The role of S. is to save Sophia from the tyranny of Prostakova, to give a proper assessment of her actions, the upbringing of Mitrofan and to proclaim the reasonable principles of the state system, the true foundations of morality and correctly understood education. The function of the “deliverer” is somewhat weakened (in the strict sense, Milon and Pravdin save Sophia and punish Prostakov; S. sums up the moral result: “Here are worthy fruits of evil-mindedness!” - d. 5, yavl. last), but the function of S. is strengthened - political thinker. The positive characters from his speeches should "theoretically" realize why "malice" triumphed in the Prostakov family, and viewers and readers should understand the reasons for the collapse of Prostakov. Therefore, S. simultaneously addresses both the actors and the audience.
S. considers noble idleness unworthy of a nobleman, and considers his upbringing a matter of state; the main thing is to return to the nobility its true content. Here S. (and Fonvizin), influenced by the experience of Russian life, disagree with the ideas of the French Enlightenment. "Enlightenment" and "education" are not reduced for the reasoner and the author to "enlightenment of the mind", "education of the mind". S. says: "An ignoramus without a soul is a beast." But without a soul, “the most enlightened smart girl is a miserable creature” (d. 3, yavl. I). What the ignorance of the mind and bad manners of the soul leads to, S. does not have to explain: this is the subject of comedy. An example of an intelligent, enlightened, but petty and insignificant person is the comrade of youth S, Count. "He<...>the son of an accidental father, brought up in a big society and had a special opportunity to learn what was not part of our upbringing yet ”(d. 3, yavl. I). However, S.'s patriotic appeal to the count to serve the fatherland on the battlefield meets with a cold rebuff. The figure of the unfortunate teacher Tsyfirkin is an example of the opposite: the arithmetic teacher is uneducated, but he has a soul, and S. sympathizes with the former warrior, forgiving him his lack of knowledge. The French "wise men", according to Fonvizin, put the mind (reason) in the first place and forgot the soul. Reason has found no support in anything but itself, and, left in neglect, can serve both good and evil. On the contrary, from the education of the soul lies a direct path to the education of honor and nobility. Such education takes the mind as its assistant, achieves that a person does for others what he would like for himself. S. contrasts the rationalism of the West with Russian experience, Russian tradition, and the Russian idea of the essence of enlightenment. Therefore, the education of young people should be based on the strength of a positive and negative example and put the good of the fatherland as its criterion.
Fonvizin tried in every possible way to revive the figure of the reasoner. He “gave” S. a detailed biography, reported on his service and resignation, that he had lived in Siberia for a long time and had made a fortune with his work. Following the dictates of his heart and his convictions, S. wants to arrange Sophia's happiness and makes her heiress. As the closest relative, S. takes care of Sophia and wishes her a worthy groom. However, he refuses to force a girl's heart. Preventing the appearance of S, Prostakov, and then Pravdin, they speak of his “gloom”, “rudeness” (d. 2, yavl. V). However, Pravdin, who knows S, calls these harsh features "the effect of his straightforwardness." S.'s direct disposition also affects his attitude towards people ("whoever he loves, he will love so directly", "And whom he dislikes, he himself is a bad person"). S. from the height of his experience (he is sixty years old, behind him a large school of life) shrewdly, almost at first glance, understands what kind of house the Prostakovs have, what the mistress’s temper is, what Mitrofan’s teachers are and how Sophia lived before his arrival. Flattery Prostakova in vain: S. does not tolerate servility.
Making great demands on people, S. subjects himself to a strict moral judgment. Finally, S, despite his “harsh” reputation, turns out to be pleasant in communication, an amiable and well-mannered person, not alien to fun, irony, laughter, feeling the comical nature of situations and speeches. He can be touching, exalted, filled with anger and compassionate (not wanting Prostakova's evil, he forgives her and takes part in her fate).
S.'s contemporaries were perceived as a teacher of life. The success of the character with the public is evidenced by the name of the magazine “Friend of Honest People, or Starodum”, conceived by Fonvizin, but not implemented, in which the writer addressed his hero: “I must admit that I owe your person for the success of my comedy “Undergrowth”. From your conversations with Pravdin, Milon and Sophia, I have compiled whole phenomena, which the public listens to with pleasure.
It was written in the 18th century - in the transitional era, when Russian society consisted of two opposite camps - adherents of new, educational ideas and carriers of outdated, landlord values. A striking representative of the first in the play is Starodum. "Undergrowth" is a classic work, therefore, already in the name of the hero, Fonvizin provides the reader with a brief description of Starodum. "Starodum" - the one who thinks in the old way. In the context of comedy, this is a person for whom the priorities of the previous - Peter's era are important - at that time the monarch actively introduced reforms in enlightenment and education, thus moving away from the ideas of house building that were rooted in Russian society. In addition, the meaning of the surname "Starodum" can be interpreted more globally - as a bearer of wisdom, experience, traditions, Christian morality and humanity.
In the play, Starodum acts as a positive hero. This is an educated man of advanced age, with great life experience.
The main features of Starodum are wisdom, honesty, kindness, respect for other people, justice, responsibility for the future of their fatherland and love for the motherland.
According to the plot of the comedy, Starodum is Sophia's uncle. Even when the girl was little, he had to leave for Siberia, where he honestly made a fortune, and now he has returned home to spend his old age in peace. In the comedy, Starodum is one of the main characters and is opposed in the play, first of all, to Mrs. Prostakova. Both characters are parents, but their approach to education is radically different. If Prostakova sees in Mitrofan a small child who requires constant care, indulges him in every possible way and indulges him, then Starodum treats Sophia as an adult, mature personality. He cares about her future, choosing neither the rude Skotinin or the stupid Mitrofan as her husband, but the worthy, educated and honest Milon. Talking with Sophia, he instructs her, explaining how important equality, respect and friendship between spouses are, which leads to misunderstanding and detachment in marriage, while Prostakova does not even explain to Mitrofan the full responsibility of marriage, and the young man perceives her as another fun.
In addition, the basic values instilled by parents in their children are also opposed. So, Prostakova explains to Mitrofan that the main thing is money, which gives unlimited power, including over people - servants and peasants, who can be mocked, as the landowner decides. Starodum, on the other hand, explains to Sofya that the main thing in a person is good manners. Particularly revealing are his words that if an intelligent person does not have any quality of the mind, then he can be forgiven, while "an honest person cannot be forgiven if he lacks any quality of the heart."
That is, for Starodum, an exemplary personality is not necessarily someone who has achieved a lot or knows a lot, but an honest, kind, merciful, loving person with high moral values - without them, according to a man, a person is a failed. Representing just such a person, Starodum is opposed to other negative characters - Mitrofan, Skotinin and Prostakov.
The image of Starodum in "Undergrowth" is opposed not only to negative characters, but also to the positive Pravdin. The heroes have seemingly similar views on the need to re-educate the landowners, both are carriers of the ideas of humanism and enlightenment, both consider the morality and moral values of a person to be important. However, Pravdin's main regulatory mechanism is the letter of the law - it is she who determines who is right and who is wrong - even the punishment of Prostakova is carried out only after the appearance of the corresponding order. First of all, he is an official, for whom the mind of a person, his achievements and reasoning are more important than personal preferences. Starodum, on the other hand, is more guided by his heart than by his mind - the story of his friend, an educated intelligent man who did not want to serve his homeland, thinking more about himself than about the fate of the fatherland, is indicative. Whereas Tsyfirkin evokes sympathy and favor from Starodum, the teacher does not have a good education, but is kind and honest, which is what attracts a man.
Thus, when comparing the images of Pravdin and Starodum, it becomes clear that an official is a modern rational personality of the Enlightenment, for him the justice of the law, based on humanity and honesty, is important. Starodum, on the other hand, acts as an image representing the wisdom of generations - he condemns the outdated values of the landlords, but does not elevate the rationalism of the new nobles to a pedestal, adhering to timeless, "eternal" human values - honor, cordiality, kindness, good manners.
The image of Starodum in the comedy acts as a reasoner for the opinion of the author himself. One of the confirmations of this is the decision of Fonvizin to publish the Starodum magazine a few years after the play was written (even before the release of the first issue, it was banned by Catherine II). Contrasting in the play two opposite value-ideological directions - the landowners and the new nobility, the author cites the third one, which is between them and depends not only on the education received in childhood, as can be seen in the rest of the characters, but on the personal experience of the hero. Starodum did not receive a good education in childhood, but “the upbringing given to me by my father was the best in that century. At that time, there were few ways to learn, and they still didn’t know how to fill an empty head with someone else’s mind. Fonvizin emphasizes that a person with the right upbringing is able to acquire the necessary knowledge himself and grow up as a worthy person.
In addition, with the words of Starodum, the author sharply criticizes the contemporary authorities - Catherine II and the court, exposing all their shortcomings, emphasizing the cunning and deceit of the nobility, their dishonest struggle for ranks, when people are ready to "walk over their heads." According to the hero, and, consequently, Fonvizin, the monarch should be an example of nobility, honor, justice, the best human qualities for his subjects, and society itself needs to change guidelines, educate humanism, kindness, respect and love for one's neighbor and one's homeland.
The views expressed in the work on what society as a whole and each individual in particular should be like remain relevant today, attracting more and more connoisseurs of classical literature.
A detailed description of Starodum in The Undergrowth makes it possible to understand the author's ideological intent, to clarify his views on Russian society of that era. It will be useful to students of different classes when preparing an essay on the topic "Characteristics of the image of Starodum in the comedy" Undergrowth "".
Characteristics of Starodum in the comedy "Undergrowth" by Fonvizin - a description of the image for an essay on the topic |
