A clear conscience is the best pillow.
G. Ibsen
Among the vast heritage of Saltykov-Shchedrin, his fairy tales are the most popular. In them, fantasy is intertwined with reality, the comic is combined with the tragic. The tale “Conscience Lost” tells about how life has changed when conscience disappeared from it. Everything seemed to remain the same, but "some kind of pipe stopped playing in the orchestra of life." It has become easier to deceive, to cunning, to swindle, to grovel, it has become more dexterous to turn one's neighbor's foot, it is more convenient to flatter.
In the fairy tale, conscience turned into a “useless rag”, from which everyone tried to get rid of as soon as possible. And Shchedrin also called her "annoying hanger-on." "What happened to the people?" the author asks. And he himself answers his own question: people are "sharp-venely." Robberies and robberies began, general ruin began.
The “useless rag” was lying on the road, and everyone who was not too lazy tossed it away from him until some drunkard picked up this unnecessary thing in the hope of getting it on the scale. Raised - and his head cleared up, and his whole life began to seem "a continuous ugly crime." But, alas, this made him very sick. And he sold this burden to Prokhorych, who traded in a drinking establishment. “It’s bad to get poor people drunk,” his conscience began to whisper to him. The distraught tavern keeper began to prove to the visitors that wine is the source of all their misfortunes. Prokhorych was about to break all the dishes and pour the wine into the ditch, but then his wife intervened, who was not touched by such grace as conscience. Stealing her husband's conscience, she slipped the burdensome rag into the pocket of a district warden named Lovets. The catcher, in the words of the author, was "a small one, not that completely shameless, but he did not like to embarrass himself and launched his paw quite freely." And then he walked through the bazaar, took nothing, returned home empty-handed. And he kept repeating one phrase: “I testify before my conscience...” The catcher, having distributed all the money, asked for forgiveness, brought the beggars to his yard and ordered them to feed them.
After checking the pockets of her husband's coat, the wife found a dirty rag - conscience. Putting
her in an envelope, she sent her conscience to the "financier and railway inventor"
Brzhotsky. The family of the "financier" was sitting at dinner when the owner received the envelope.
He found a way out quickly: he decided to make a donation. Taking out the conscience with tweezers,
Brzhotsky transferred it to another envelope, added a hundred banknote and took it to
light, and no one wanted to shelter her, everyone only thought to get rid of conscience with
hands Conscience pleaded and asked the poorest man who traded
dust in the entrance yard, find a little child, maybe he will later become people with a conscience
out... That's how it all happened. A little child grows, and with him grows in him
conscience. Shchedrin ends the tale with encouraging words: “And they will disappear ... all
unrighteousness, deceit and violence, because the conscience will not be timid and will want to manage everything itself.
Such is the truth of life in Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tale "Conscience Lost". Unfortunately, everything that the author told about has a continuation in our life. There is almost no funny in the fairy tale, and tragic - in the title itself. And we all should think about this fairy tale and understand: the conscience is gone ... - this is a tragedy for both man and society!
A fairy tale, nothing more than a fairy tale
meanwhile, a great tragedy...
I. Kramskoy
ME Saltykov-Shchedrin was a multi-talented writer. He wrote novels, short stories, essays, chronicles, articles. Shchedrin's fairy tales made him especially popular among the people.
Fairy tales are subtitled "For children of a fair age", and this indicates that the fairy tale allegorical form was chosen in order to be able to express thoughts that would be dangerous to express in another form. Pretending to be a simpleton, the satirist speaks of things that are not at all fabulous.
Fairy tales were written by Shchedrin at the end of his life and seemed to sum up his many years of literary work. They combined fantastic and real, comic and tragic, hyperbole and Aesopian language.
In the writer's fairy tales there are also fierce, ignorant rulers ("The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Eagle-Maecenas", "The Wild Landowner"), and the hardworking people, submissive to their exploiters ("The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals", " Konyaga"), and the people awakening and seeking the truth ("Crow petitioner").
In many fairy tales, there is a belief in the triumph of positive ideals. So, in the fairy tale “Conscience Lost” it is told how conscience was expelled from the world of people. She was thrown away like a useless old rag. The writer expresses confidence that only once in the cradle where a small child lies, the conscience will finally find its defender.
The writer widely uses the technique of allegory: under the guise of animals and birds, he depicts representatives of various social classes and groups. Based on folk tradition, using images and folk speech filled with folk humor, Shchedrin created works whose goal is to awaken the people. The great satirist sought to make sure that "children of a fair age" ceased to be children. The peculiarity of the writer's fairy tales is that he does not offer readers understandable comparisons, but confronts such aspects of human and animal life that no one had noticed before. Sometimes it is simply impossible to understand who we are talking about: "Crucian carp is a quiet fish and prone to idealism."
The fairy tale turned into a political satire for Shchedrin. Each image was directed against the reigning eagles, beautiful-hearted crucian carp, moderately liberal squeakers.
The writer speaks with sadness and sympathy about the patience of the people, about their naive political illusions. He wants to show that it is impossible for a peasant to get along with voracious pikes and bears in the province, and to explain to the oppressed people that they themselves are a powerful and formidable force to repulse the reigning predators and fight them.
Unfortunately, in life evil often wins, not good, and this is the true tragedy of the fairy tale “Karas the Idealist”, after reading which the artist I. Kramskoy said: “A fairy tale, nothing more than a fairy tale, but meanwhile a high tragedy.” material from the site
The tragic situation of the enslaved, robbed and disenfranchised people, their hard labor, the fruits of which go to "waste dances", are shown in the fairy tale "Konyaga". The image of Konyaga is a symbol of the oppressed, tormented people, to whom the author treats with the greatest sympathy. It is on him that he pins hopes for a new life: “From century to century, the formidable, immovable mass of fields freezes, as if guarding a fairy-tale force in captivity. Who will free this force from captivity? Who will bring her into the world? This task fell to two creatures: the peasant and the Horse-ge, ”the author confidently writes.
The tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin have been carrying the undying ideas of satire for more than a hundred years. Even today they are read with great interest, because even today their characters live among us.
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This article examines in detail the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin "Conscience Lost". A brief summary and analysis will touch upon those special moral strings of the soul of a person and society as a whole. The question that has been of interest to people for more than one century, which should be understood first of all: “What is it - conscience?” Censor, controller, inner voice? Why is she needed if without her it becomes so calm? This and many other things are described in the article devoted to such a difficult topic, touched upon in the work of the outstanding Russian writer M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Conscience Lost”.
To begin with, I would like to say a few words about the writer himself, whose merits are significant and great, and the works written by him throughout his life put him on a par with the great minds of Russia: with Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chekhov.
So, Saltykov-Shchedrin was born in 1826 on January 27 (15 according to the old style) into a noble family of an old family. Giftedness, intelligence, incredible diligence were faithful companions of the writer from childhood. At the age of 10 he was sent to the Moscow Noble Institute, two years later he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum for excellent studies. "For freethinking" was exiled to Vyatka for 8 years. In 1856, in connection with the death of Nicholas I, the young writer returned back and resumed writing. Participation in the peasant reform, the position of governor of the province and work in the Ministry of the Interior became an integral part of the writer's life.
After retiring, he becomes the editor-in-chief of the Sovremennik magazine. Agree, an impressive list of achievements! Talented writer, satirist, statesman, artist left an unforgettable mark in the history of his country, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin are topical and have not lost their relevance to this day.
The writer often refers to the theme of fairy tales in his works. And here is an unusual situation before the reader - conscience disappears from the life of society. What happened to the people? They began to feel freer, but do not be mistaken and confuse the inspiring feeling of freedom with a sense of permissiveness that generates chaos, aggression and anger. The human disappears in man himself, precisely what should distinguish in him a thinking, creative being, alien to destruction and collapse.
What happened to conscience? Pay attention to how the author calls her: "annoying hooker", and this is not accidental. Thus, the author makes it clear to the reader that the conscience is like something alive and real, in need of nourishment and care, which in turn will thank its “owner” with a blessed feeling of peace and self-satisfaction. And without a person, it turns into that unnecessary appendage and becomes that “annoying hanger”.
Further, in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, as an example, one can observe the peaceful dream of the owner of a drinking establishment, who, perhaps for the first time in his life, behaved like a responsible person for his actions. Or, say, the very first "owner" of conscience - a drunkard who freed himself from the yoke of wine intoxication and realized all his worthlessness of existence, which is why he feels fear. But the bitter drunkard destroys only himself, he is only responsible for his actions, unlike Prokhor, the owner of a drinking establishment, who destroys so many people with his potion. Conscience gives Prokhor a sense of relief, since for the first time in his life he acts according to his conscience. What does the author want to tell us?
The summary of “Conscience Lost” by Saltykov-Shchedrin, analyzed by us in this material, covers important aspects of the life of human society. If there was a conscience nearby, then there would be no drunkards in the world, and the owners of beer houses would bake bread and buns. Adults will definitely smile in this place, as each of them knows how difficult our world is. But that's why it's a fairy tale - you might think. The tale “Conscience Lost” is a kind of reminder for adults and a lesson for children.
The journey of conscience continues, but most likely it was a toll-house that brings suffering, wanderings. Conscience falls to the Trapper. The author does not give a name to his character, but is limited only by a nickname, thereby emphasizing the essence of this person. What is his fault? Unlike the first two characters, one of which destroyed himself, and the other - others, in this case the sin of the Catcher is great and heavy, he is a bribe taker.
The next owner of conscience is already a completely different person, the author paints a picture of a prosperous family of a banker, but extreme prudence is the vice of a hero who even conscience sells on the sly. The tale “Conscience Lost” by Saltykov-Shchedrin, the analysis of which makes one involuntarily think about the globality and depth of the question, about whether there is a place for conscience in our world at all? How easy and difficult it is to act according to conscience at the same time, but how easy it becomes on the soul when it is pure. How to breathe, how to live in a new way!
Turning to dictionaries, we find a definition of the concept of conscience. Conscience is a feeling and a concept at the same time, a sense of responsibility for one's actions is intertwined with the awareness of those moral principles on which the health of society should be based. This ability to distinguish between good and bad must be instilled from infancy. Parents are a kind of guides to the world who teach the child to love good and hate evil, and children, in turn, fearing to lose the love and favor of their parents, clearly and quickly absorb and assimilate precisely those concepts that are given by the father and mother.
In the work, Saltykov-Shchedrin gives voice to his main character - conscience. What does she ask for, what does she want? She asks to find her a little Russian child so that she can dissolve in his heart. “Why exactly in the heart of a child?” - you ask. The author thus wants to make it clear to the reader how important it is to place hopes on the younger generation, and it should be remembered that children are innocent and pure, and it will depend only on adults what colors their future world, conscience, life will be filled with. The problem of “Conscience Lost” by Saltykov-Shchedrin concerns that side of the human soul, where there comes the realization of good and evil, truth and hope.
In conclusion, summing up what has been said, I would like to note that the author of the immortal work wanted to emphasize the importance of conscience in human life, to show the reader conscience as the guardian of all those human qualities on which the best part of civilization was built. The summary of “Conscience Lost” by Saltykov-Shchedrin, analyzed in our article, we hope will give food for thought and touch the strings of your soul, help you make the right choice, give you peace.
