Pushkin “The Miserly Knight” – analysis. The essence of the poem is the miserly knight

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Boldino autumn is one of the most fruitful periods in Pushkin’s life. The cholera epidemic found the writer on his father's estate, in Boldino. Many works were born here, including “The Miserly Knight.” In fact, the idea for The Miserly Knight originated earlier, in 1826. However, Alexander Sergeevich finished this text only in 1830. As you know, Pushkin was involved in a magazine - the famous Sovremennik. Therefore, it is not surprising that the work was published on the pages of this particular publication in 1836.

Mystical collisions of “The Stingy Knight”

There is one curious point connected with this play. The fact is that Pushkin included autobiographical moments here. However, these details from the writer’s life touched on a very delicate topic - the stinginess of Alexander Sergeevich’s father. To confuse readers and literary critics a little, Pushkin provided his work with a subtitle - “From Chanston’s tragicomedy.” Chanston (or William Shenstone) is an 18th-century writer who, however, does not have any similar works. The tradition of the 19th century required that the name of this author be written as “Chenston”, so sometimes confusion arises regarding names.

About the theme and plot of the work

“The Miserly Knight” is considered the first text from the cycle of dramatic sketches by Pushkin. These are short plays, later called “Little Tragedies”. Alexander Sergeevich had an idea: to devote each play to revealing a specific side of the human soul. And Pushkin wanted to write not just about a side of the soul, but about passion - an all-consuming feeling. In this case we are talking about stinginess. Alexander Sergeevich reveals the depth of a person’s spiritual qualities, showing these qualities through poignant and unusual plots.

About the heroes and images of “The Miserly Knight”

Baron image

The Baron is perhaps the key image from this Pushkin masterpiece. The hero is famous for his wealth, but the baron's stinginess is no less than his wealth. The author does not spare words when describing the baron's wealth: chests full of gold, coins... However, the hero leaves everything safe, without pulling anything out of the chests. This is how Albert describes Baron:

ABOUT! my father has no servants and no friends
He sees them as masters; and he serves them himself.
And how does it serve? like an Algerian slave,
Like a chained dog. In an unheated kennel
Lives, drinks water, eats dry crusts,

He doesn’t sleep all night, he keeps running and barking...

According to the baron, he is omnipotent with money. You can buy everything for gold coins, because everything is for sale - love, virtues, atrocities, genius, artistic inspiration, human labor... All the baron is interested in is wealth. The hero is even capable of murder if someone wants to appropriate his money for themselves. When the baron suspected his son of this, he challenged him to a duel. The Duke tried to prevent the duel, but the Baron dies just from the thought of losing his money.

This is how Pushkin metaphorically shows that passion can consume a person.

Thus, the Baron can be described as a mature man, wise in his own way. The Baron was well trained, brought up in old traditions, and was once a valiant knight. But now the hero has concluded the whole meaning of life in accumulating money. The Baron believes that his son doesn’t know enough about life to trust him with his money:

My son does not like noisy, social life;
He is of a wild and gloomy disposition -
He always wanders through the forests around the castle,
Like a young deer...

Image of money

Money could be counted in a separate way. How does the Baron perceive wealth? For the baron, money is masters, rulers. These are not tools, not means, not servants at all. Also, the baron does not consider money as friends (as the moneylender Solomon did). But the hero refuses to admit that he has become a slave to money.

Solomon has a different attitude towards money. For a moneylender, money is just a job, a way to survive in this world. However, Solomon also has a passion: in order to get rich, the hero even suggests that Albert kill his father.

Albert's image

Albert is twenty years old, and youth takes its toll on the young man: the hero longs to enjoy life. Albert is depicted as a worthy young knight, strong and brave. Albert easily wins knightly tournaments and enjoys the attention and sympathy of women. However, only detail torments the knight - complete dependence on his own father. The young man is so poor that he has no money for knightly uniform, a horse, armor, or food. The hero is constantly forced to beg before his father. Despair pushes the knight to complain about his misfortune to the duke.

So he dug his claws into it! - monster!
Come on: don't you dare look into my eyes
Appear as long as I myself
I won’t invite you...

Duke image

The Duke in Pushkin’s work is depicted as a representative of the authorities who voluntarily takes on these difficult obligations. The Duke condemns the era in which he lives, as well as the people (for the callousness of their hearts), calling them terrible. So - into the mouth of this hero - the author puts his own thoughts about his contemporary era.

The Duke always tries to be fair:
I believe, I believe: noble knight,
Someone like you won't blame his father
Without extremes. There are few such depraved ones...
Rest assured: your father
I will advise you in private, without noise...

Ivan's image

The play also features a minor character, Ivan, Albert’s young servant. Ivan is very devoted to his young master.

About the problems of the text

In his “Little Tragedies,” the writer examines a certain vice. As for “The Stingy Knight,” here the author is interested in depicting stinginess. This, of course, is not one of the deadly sins, however, stinginess also pushes people to destructive actions. Under the influence of stinginess, a worthy person sometimes changes beyond recognition. Pushkin represents heroes submissive to vices. And so in this play, vices are portrayed as the reason why people lose their dignity.

About the conflict of the work

The key conflict of Pushkin's work is external. The conflict unfolds between the baron and Albert, who claims the inheritance due to him. According to the baron, money should be treated with care, and not wastefully. And suffering teaches such an attitude. The Baron wants to preserve and increase his wealth. And the son, in turn, strives to use money to enjoy life.

The poem “Village” by Pushkin is an example of a work written far from the bustle of the city. We offer our readers

The conflict causes a clash of interests of the heroes. Moreover, the situation is significantly worsened by the Duke's intervention. In this situation, the baron slanders Albert. The conflict can only be resolved tragically. One side must die for the conflict to end. As a result, the passion turns out to be so destructive that it kills the baron, who is represented by that same stingy knight. However, Pushkin does not talk about Albert’s fate, so the reader can only speculate.

About the composition and genre of “The Miserly Knight”

The tragedy includes three episodes. In the first scene, the writer talks about the situation of the baron's son. Albert suffers from material need because the baron is excessively stingy. In the second scene, the reader is introduced to the baron's monologue, reflecting on his passion. Finally, in the third scene, the conflict gains scale; the Duke, one of the fairest characters, joins the conflict. Without wanting it or expecting it, the Duke accelerates the tragic outcome of the conflict. The baron, obsessed with passion, dies. The climax is the death of the miserly knight. And the denouement, in turn, is the Duke’s conclusion:

Terrible age, terrible hearts!

In terms of genre, Pushkin’s work is definitely a tragedy, since the central character dies at the end. Despite the small volume of this text, the author managed to succinctly and succinctly convey the essence.

Pushkin set out to present the psychological characteristics of a person who is obsessed with a destructive passion - stinginess.

About the style and artistic originality of “The Miserly Knight”

It should be said that the author created Pushkin’s tragedies more for theatrical production than for reading. There are many theatrical elements in the work - for example, look at the image of a stingy knight, a dark basement and shiny gold. In addition, critics consider this text a poetic masterpiece.

Mystical and biblical overtones of the work

However, Pushkin puts deeper meanings into his text than it seems at first glance. The Baron is not attracted to wealth in itself. The hero is more interested in the world of ideas and emotions associated with gold. This is the difference between the image of the baron and the images of “misers” from Russian comedies of the 18th century (as an example, we can recall the heroes from the works of Derzhavin). Initially, Alexander Sergeevich took the epigraph from Derzhavin’s text called “Skopikhin”. In literature, writers tend to create several types. The first type is comedic-satirical (the miser), and the second type is high, tragic (the hoarder). The Baron, accordingly, belongs to the second type. The combination of these types is observed in Gogol’s “Dead Souls”, and specifically in the personality of Plyushkin.

High drive image

This image is fully revealed in the baron’s monologue, presented in the second part of “The Miserly Knight.” The author describes how the baron goes to the dungeon of his castle. This, in turn, is a symbol of the altar in the underworld, the devil’s sanctuary. The hero pours a handful of coins into the chest. This chest is not yet fully filled. This scene presents the hero's confession to himself. In addition, here Pushkin gives a common leitmotif for the entire cycle of tragedies - a feast by candlelight. Such a feast pleases both the eyes and the soul - it is a sacrament, a mass for money.

This is the mystical subtext of Pushkin’s work, which is combined with gospel paraphrases from the baron’s confession. Pushkin describes the gold piled up in heaps with the image of a “proud hill.” Standing on a hill, towering above the surrounding world, the baron feels power. The lower the hero bends over gold, the stronger, the more his passion rises. And passion is the embodiment of the demonic spirit. The reader probably noticed a similar image in the Bible: The Devil promises Jesus Christ world power. To demonstrate his power, the Devil lifts Christ to a high hill. Sometimes literary scholars see the baron as an inverted image of God. Considering that gold is a symbol of power over the world, the baron’s words about reign are not surprising.

Another question is why the Baron treats his son as an enemy. This has nothing to do with Albert's moral qualities. The reason is the youth's extravagance. Albert's pocket is not a place where gold accumulates, but an abyss, an abyss that absorbs money.

Antipodean images

In order to focus attention on the destructive nature of passions, the writer introduces an antipodean character, contrasting the image of the main character. The baron's antipode is the usurer (Jew). Solomon lends money to Albert, but ultimately pushes the young man to kill his father. However, the young knight does not want to commit such a sin and drives the moneylender away.

“Am I wandering along the noisy streets...” is a work that reflected Alexander Pushkin’s philosophical reflections on eternal questions. We invite classics lovers to familiarize themselves with

The moneylender wants gold as a medium of exchange. There are no sublime emotions here, like the Baron. This can also be seen in Solomon's behavior. The moneylender's method of action reveals the hero to be a scoundrel rather than a knight. In this context, it is symbolic that the author identifies individual characters as a separate category of knights.

All of Pushkin's works are filled with galleries of various images. Many captivate the reader with their nobility, self-esteem or courage. More than one generation has grown up on the remarkable work of Alexander Sergeevich. Reading his poems, poems and fairy tales, people of all ages get great pleasure. The same can be said about the work "The Miserly Knight". His heroes and their actions make even the youngest lover of Alexander Sergeevich’s work think.

Meet the brave but poor knight

Our article will present only a brief summary. "The Miserly Knight", however, is worthy of familiarizing yourself with the tragedy in the original. So let's get started...

A young knight, whose name is Albert, is going to the next tournament. He asked Ivan's servant to bring his helmet. As it turned out, it was pierced through. The reason for this was his previous participation in the battle with the knight Delorge. Albert is upset. But Ivan tries to console his master, saying that there is no need to be sad about the damaged helmet. After all, young Albert still repaid the offender. The enemy has still not recovered from the terrible blow.

But the knight replies that it was the damaged helmet that gave him heroism. It was stinginess that became the reason to finally defeat the enemy. Albert complains about his poverty and modesty, which did not allow him to remove Delorge’s helmet. He tells the servant that during dinners with the Duke, all the knights sit at the table in luxurious outfits, which are made from expensive fabrics, while Albert, due to the lack of money to buy new clothes, has to be present in armor...

This is how the tragedy itself begins, and from this we began to present its summary.

"The Miserly Knight": the appearance of a new hero of the work

Young Albert, in his conversation with a servant, mentions his father, who is such a stingy old baron that not only does he not allocate money for clothes, but he also spares money for new weapons and a horse. There is also an old Jewish moneylender named Solomon. The young knight often used his services. But now this creditor also refuses to lend to him. Only subject to collateral.

But what can a poor knight give as bail except his uniform and good name! Albert even tried to persuade the moneylender, saying that his father was already very old and would probably die soon, and, accordingly, all the huge fortune he owned would go to Albert. Then he will definitely be able to pay off all his debts. But Solomon was not convinced by this argument either.

The meaning of money in a person’s life, or his attitude towards it

Solomon himself, mentioned by the knight, appears. Albert, taking this opportunity, wants to beg him for another sum. But the moneylender, although gently but firmly, refuses him. He explains to the young knight that his father is still quite healthy and will live even thirty years. Albert is sad. After all, then he will be fifty years old and will no longer need the money.

To which the Jewish moneylender reprimands the young man that he is wrong. At any age, a person needs money. It’s just that at every stage of life people approach wealth differently. Young people are mostly too careless, but older people find true friends in them. But Albert argues with Solomon, describing his father's attitude towards wealth.

He denies himself everything, and puts the money in chests, which he then guards like a dog. And the only hope for the young man is that the time will come when he will be able to take advantage of all this wealth. How do the events that our summary describes further develop? "The Miserly Knight" tells the reader about the terrible advice that Solomon gives to young Albert.

When Solomon sees the plight of the young knight, he hints that he should hasten his father’s departure to another world by giving him poison to drink. When Albert realized the meaning of the moneylender’s hints, he was even going to hang him, he was so outraged. The frightened Jew tries to offer him money to avoid punishment, but the knight kicks him out.

Upset, Albert asks the servant to bring wine. But Ivan says that there is none left in the house. And then the young man decides to turn to the Duke for help and tell him about his misfortunes, as well as about his stingy father. Albert cherishes the hope that he will at least be able to force his father to support him as he should.

The Greedy Baron, or a description of a new character

What happens next in the tragedy? Let's continue with the summary. The stingy knight finally appears to us in person: the author introduces the reader to the father of poor Albert. The old man went to the basement, where he hides all his gold, in order to carry another handful of coins. Having opened all the chests filled with wealth, the baron lights a few candles and sits nearby to admire his fortune. All of Pushkin's works very vividly convey the images of the characters, and this tragedy is no exception.

The Baron remembers how he came into possession of each of these coins. Many of them brought people a lot of tears. Some even caused poverty and death. It even seems to him that if all the tears shed for this money were collected together, a flood would certainly happen. And then the thought occurs to him that after his death, an heir who did not deserve it at all will begin to use all this wealth.

Leads to indignation. This is how Alexander Sergeevich describes Father Albert in his work “The Stingy Knight.” An analysis of the entire tragedy will help the reader understand what this attitude towards money and neglect of his own son led the baron to.

Meeting of a greedy father and a beggar son

In fashion, the knight at this time tells the Duke about his misfortunes, about his greedy father and lack of maintenance. And he promises the young man to help convince the baron to be more generous. After some time, the father himself appeared at the palace. The Duke ordered the young man to hide in the next room, and he himself began to inquire about the baron’s health, why he so rarely appears at court, and also about where his son was.

The old man suddenly begins to complain about the heir. Allegedly, young Albert wants to kill him and take over the wealth. The Duke promises to punish the young man. But he himself runs into the room and calls the baron a liar. Then the angry father throws the glove to his son, and the young man accepts it. The Duke is not only surprised, but also outraged. He took away this symbol of the upcoming fight and kicked both of them out of the palace. But the old man’s health could not withstand such shocks, and he died on the spot. This is how the last events of the work end.

“The Stingy Knight” - which not only introduced the reader to all its characters, but also made them think about one of the human vices - greed. It is she who often destroys the relationship between close friends and relatives. Money sometimes makes people do inhumane things. Many of Pushkin’s works are filled with deep meaning and point out to the reader one or another shortcoming of a person.

Pushkin wrote the tragedy in the 20s of the 19th century. And it was published in the Sovremennik magazine. The tragedy of the Miserly Knight begins a series of works called “Little Tragedies.” In the work, Pushkin exposes such a negative trait of human character as stinginess.

He transfers the action of the work to France so that no one would guess that we are talking about a person very close to him, about his father. He is the one who is the stingy one. Here he lives in Paris, surrounded by 6 chests of gold. But he doesn’t take a penny from there. He will open it, take a look, and close it again.

The main goal in life is hoarding. But the baron does not understand how mentally ill he is. This “golden serpent” completely subjugated him to his will. The miser believes that thanks to gold he will gain independence and freedom. But he does not notice how this serpent deprives him of not only all human feelings. But he even perceives his own son as an enemy. His mind was completely confused. He challenges him to a duel over money.

The son of a knight is a strong and brave man, he often emerges victorious in knightly tournaments. He is good-looking and appeals to the female sex. But he is financially dependent on his father. And he manipulates his son with money, insults his pride and honor. Even the strongest person's will can be broken. Communism has not yet arrived, and money still rules the world now, as it did then. Therefore, the son secretly hopes that he will kill his father and take over the money.

The Duke stops the duel. He calls his son a monster. But the baron is killed by the very thought of losing money. I wonder why there were no banks back in those days? I would put the money at interest and live comfortably. And he, apparently, kept them at home, so he was shaking over every coin.

Here is another hero, Solomon, who also had his eye on the wealth of the stingy knight. For the sake of his own enrichment, he does not disdain anything. He acts cunningly and subtly - he invites his son to kill his father. Just poison him. The son drives him away in shame. But he is ready to fight with his own father for insulting his honor.

Passions have run high, and only the death of one of the parties can calm the duelists.

There are only three scenes in the tragedy. The first scene - the son admits his difficult financial situation. The second scene - the stingy knight pours out his soul. The third scene is the intervention of the Duke and the death of the stingy knight. And at the end of the day the words sound: “Terrible age, terrible hearts.” Therefore, the genre of the work can be defined as tragedy.

The precise and apt language of Pushkin’s comparisons and epithets allows us to imagine a stingy knight. Here he is sorting through gold coins in a dark basement amid the flickering light of candles. His monologue is so realistic that you can shudder, imagining how villainy in the blood crawls into this gloomy damp basement. And licks the knight's hands. It becomes scary and disgusting from the picture presented.

The time of the tragedy is medieval France. The end, a new system - capitalism - is on the threshold. Therefore, a stingy knight, on the one hand, is a knight, and on the other hand, a usurer, lends money at interest. That's where he got such a huge amount of money.

Everyone has their own truth. The son sees his father as a chain dog, an Algerian slave. And the father sees in his son a flighty young man who will not earn money by his own hump, but will receive it by inheritance. He calls him a madman, a young spendthrift who participates in riotous revels.

Option 2

The genre versatility of A.S. Pushkin is great. He is a master of words, and his work is represented by novels, fairy tales, poems, poems, and drama. The writer reflects the reality of his time, reveals human vices, and seeks psychological solutions to problems. The cycle of his works “Little Tragedies” is the cry of the human soul. The author in them wants to show his reader: what greed, stupidity, envy, and the desire to get rich look like from the outside.

The first play in Little Tragedies is The Miserly Knight. It took the writer four long years to realize the plot he had planned.

Human greed is a common vice that has existed and exists at different times. The work “The Miserly Knight” takes the reader to medieval France. The main character of the play is Baron Philip. The man is rich and stingy. His chests of gold haunt him. He does not spend money, the meaning of his life is only accumulation. Money has consumed his soul, he is completely dependent on it. The Baron also manifests his stinginess in human relationships. His son is an enemy for him, who poses a threat to his wealth. From a once noble man, he turned into a slave of his passion.

The baron's son is a strong young man, a knight. Handsome and brave, girls like him, often participates in tournaments and wins them. But financially Albert depends on his father. The young man cannot afford to buy a horse, armor, or even decent clothes for going out. The bright opposite of the father, the son is kind to people. The difficult financial situation broke the son’s will. He dreams of receiving an inheritance. A man of honor, after being insulted, he challenges Baron Philip to a duel, wanting him dead.

Another character in the play is the Duke. He acts as a judge of the conflict as a representative of the authorities. Condemning the knight's act, the Duke calls him a monster. The very attitude of the writer to the events occurring in the tragedy is embedded in the speeches of this hero.

Compositionally, the play consists of three parts. The opening scene is about Albert and his plight. In it, the author reveals the cause of the conflict. The second scene is a monologue of the father, who appears to the viewer as a “mean knight”. The ending is the denouement of the story, the death of the possessed baron and the author’s conclusion about what happened.

As in any tragedy, the outcome of the plot is classic - the death of the main character. But for Pushkin, who managed to reflect the essence of the conflict in a small work, the main thing is to show a person’s psychological dependence on his vice - stinginess.

The work written by A.S. Pushkin back in the 19th century is relevant to this day. Humanity has not gotten rid of the sin of accumulating material wealth. Now the generational conflict between children and parents has not been resolved. Many examples can be seen in our time. Children renting their parents to nursing homes in order to get apartments is not uncommon now. Said by the Duke in the tragedy: “Terrible age, terrible hearts!” can be attributed to our 21st century.

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Stingy knight.

The young knight Albert is about to appear at the tournament and asks his servant Ivan to show him his helmet. The helmet was pierced through in the last duel with the knight Delorge. It is impossible to put it on. The servant consoles Albert with the fact that he repaid Delorge in full, knocking him out of the saddle with a powerful blow, from which Albert’s offender lay dead for a day and has hardly recovered to this day. Albert says that the reason for his courage and strength was his rage over his damaged helmet.

The fault of heroism is stinginess. Albert complains about poverty, about the embarrassment that prevented him from removing the helmet from a defeated enemy, says that he needs a new dress, that he alone is forced to sit at the ducal table in armor, while other knights flaunt in satin and velvet. But there is no money for clothes and weapons, and Albert’s father, the old baron, is a miser. There is no money to buy a new horse, and Albert’s constant creditor, the Jew Solomon, according to Ivan, refuses to continue to believe in debt without a mortgage. But the knight has nothing to pawn. The moneylender does not give in to any persuasion, and even the argument that Albert’s father is old, will soon die and leave his entire enormous fortune to his son does not convince the lender.

At this time, Solomon himself appears. Albert tries to ask him to borrow money, but Solomon, although gently, nevertheless resolutely refuses to give money even on his word of honor. Albert, upset, does not believe that his father can survive him, but Solomon says that everything happens in life, that “our days are not numbered by us,” and the baron is strong and can live another thirty years. In despair, Albert says that in thirty years he will be fifty, and then he will hardly need the money.

Solomon objects that money is needed at any age, only “a young man looks for nimble servants in it,” “but an old man sees reliable friends in them.” Albert claims that his father himself serves money, like an Algerian slave, “like a chained dog.” He denies himself everything and lives worse than a beggar, and “the gold lies quietly in his chests.” Albert still hopes that someday it will serve him, Albert. Seeing Albert's despair and his readiness to do anything, Solomon hints to him that his father's death can be hastened with the help of poison. At first, Albert does not understand these hints.

But, having understood the matter, he wants to immediately hang Solomon on the castle gates. Solomon, realizing that the knight is not joking, wants to pay off, but Albert drives him out. Having come to his senses, he intends to send a servant for the moneylender to accept the money offered, but changes his mind because it seems to him that they will smell of poison. He demands to serve wine, but it turns out that there is not a drop of wine in the house. Cursing such a life, Albert decides to seek justice for his father from the Duke, who must force the old man to support his son, as befits a knight.

The Baron goes down to his basement, where he stores chests of gold, so that he can pour a handful of coins into the sixth chest, which is not yet full. Looking at his treasures, he remembers the legend of the king who ordered his soldiers to put in a handful of earth, and how as a result a giant hill grew from which the king could survey vast spaces. The baron likens his treasures, collected bit by bit, to this hill, which makes him the ruler of the whole world. He remembers the history of each coin, behind which are the tears and grief of people, poverty and death. It seems to him that if all the tears, blood and sweat shed for this money came out of the bowels of the earth now, there would be a flood.

He pours a handful of money into the chest, and then unlocks all the chests, places lighted candles in front of them and admires the shine of gold, feeling like the ruler of a mighty power. But the thought that after his death the heir will come here and squander his wealth makes the baron furious and indignant. He believes that he has no right to this, that if he himself had accumulated these treasures bit by bit through hard work, then he certainly would not have thrown gold left and right.

In the palace, Albert complains to the Duke about his father, and the Duke promises to help the knight, to persuade the Baron to support his son as it should be. He hopes to awaken fatherly feelings in the baron, because the baron was a friend of his grandfather and played with the duke when he was still a child.

The baron approaches the palace, and the duke asks Albert to hide in the next room while he talks with his father. The Baron appears, the Duke greets him and tries to evoke memories of his youth. He wants the baron to appear at court, but the baron is dissuaded by old age and infirmity, but promises that in case of war he will have the strength to draw his sword for his duke. The Duke asks why he does not see the Baron’s son at court, to which the Baron replies that his son’s gloomy disposition is a hindrance. The Duke asks the Baron to send his son to the palace and promises to teach him to have fun. He demands that the baron assign his son a salary befitting a knight.

Turning gloomy, the baron says that his son is unworthy of the duke’s care and attention, that “he is vicious,” and refuses to fulfill the duke’s request. He says that he is angry with his son for plotting parricide. The Duke threatens to put Albert on trial for this. The Baron reports that his son intends to rob him. Hearing these slander, Albert bursts into the room and accuses his father of lying. The angry baron throws the glove to his son. With the words “Thank you.” This is my father’s first gift.” Albert accepts the baron’s challenge. This incident plunges the Duke into amazement and anger, he takes the Baron’s glove from Albert and drives his father and son away. At that moment, with words about the keys on his lips, the Baron dies, and the Duke complains about “a terrible age, terrible hearts.”

The theme of “The Miserly Knight” is the terrible power of money, that “gold” that a sober bourgeois merchant encouraged people of the “Iron Age”, the “merchant age” to accumulate back in 1824 in Pushkin’s “Conversation of a Bookseller with a Poet”. In the monologue of Baron Philip, this knight-usurer, in front of his chests, Pushkin depicts the deeply inhuman nature of the “immediate emergence of capital” - the initial accumulation of piles of “gold”, compared by the stingy knight with the “proud hill” of a certain ancient king, who ordered his soldiers to “demolish the lands handfuls into a pile": * (Looks at his gold.) * It seems not a lot, * But how many human worries, * Deceptions, tears, prayers and curses * It is a ponderous representative! * There is an old doubloon... here it is. * Today the Widow gave it to me, but not before * With three children, half a day in front of the window * She was on her knees howling. * It rained, and stopped, and started again, * The pretender did not move; * I could have driven Her away, but something whispered to me, * That she brought me her husband’s debt, * And she won’t want to be in prison tomorrow. *And this one? This one was brought to me by Thibault * Where could the sloth, the rogue, get it? * Stole, of course; or maybe * There on the high road, at night, in the grove. * Yes! If all the tears, blood and sweat, * Shed for everything that is stored here, * All of a sudden came out of the bowels of the earth, * There would be a flood again - I would choke * In my faithful basements. Tears, blood and sweat - these are the foundations on which the world of “gold”, the world of the “merchant century” is built. And it is not for nothing that Baron Philip, in whom “gold” suppressed and disfigured his human nature, simple and natural movements of the heart - pity, sympathy for the suffering of other people - compares the feeling that covers him when he unlocks his chest with the sadistic sensations of a perverted killers: * ... my heart is pressing * Some unknown feeling... * Doctors assure us: there are people * who find pleasure in murder. * When I put the key in the lock, the same thing * I feel what they should feel * They, stabbing the victim with a knife: pleasant * And scary together. Creating the image of his “miserly knight”, giving a vivid picture of his experiences, Pushkin also shows the main features, features of money - capital, everything that he brings to people with him, brings into human relations. Money, gold for Baron Philip is, in the words of Belinsky, an object of super-possession, a source of supreme power and might: * What is not under my control? like a certain Demon * From now on I can rule the world; * As soon as I want, palaces will be erected; * Into my magnificent gardens * Nymphs will come running in a playful crowd; * And the muses will bring me their tribute, * And the free genius will be enslaved to me, * And virtue and sleepless labor * They will humbly await my reward. Here the peculiar figure of Pushkin’s knight-usurer acquires gigantic dimensions and outlines, grows into an ominous, demonic prototype of the coming capitalism with its boundless greed and insatiable lusts, with its crazy dreams of world domination. A striking example of thwarting such superpower of money is the same “miserly knight”. Completely alone, secluded from everything and everyone in his basement with gold, Baron Philip looks at his own son - the only person vitally close to him on earth, as his worst enemy, a potential murderer (the son really cannot wait for his death) and the thief: he will squander, throw to the wind after his death all the wealth he selflessly accumulated. This culminates in the scene where the father challenges his son to a duel and the joyful readiness with which the latter “hurriedly picks up” the glove thrown to him. Marx noted, among other things, the special aesthetic properties of the so-called “noble metals” - silver and gold: “They are, to a certain extent, native light extracted from the underground world, since silver reflects all light rays in their original mixture, and gold reflects color highest voltage, red. The sense of color is the most popular form of aesthetic feeling in general.”1 Baron Philip of Pushkin - we know - is a kind of poet of the passion with which he is seized. Gold gives him not only intellectual (the thought of his omnipotence, omnipotence: “Everything is obedient to me, but I obey nothing”), but also purely sensual pleasure, and precisely with its “feast” for the eyes - color, brilliance, sparkle: * I want for myself Today we will arrange a feast: * I will light a candle in front of each chest, * And I will open them all, and I myself will begin * Among them, I will look at the shining piles. * (Lights a candle and unlocks the chests one by one.) * I reign!.. * What a magical shine! Pushkin very expressively shows in the image of the “miserly knight” another consequence that naturally follows from the “damned thirst for gold” characteristic of capitalist accumulation. Money, as a means, for a person obsessed with a damned thirst for gold, turns into an end in itself, the passion for enrichment becomes stinginess. Money, as “an individual of universal wealth,” gives its owner “universal domination over society, over the entire world of pleasures and labor. This is the same as if, for example, the discovery of a stone gave me, completely independently of my individuality, mastery of all sciences. Possession of money puts me in relation to wealth (social) in exactly the same relation as the possession of the philosopher's stone would place me in relation to the sciences.

"The Stingy Knight" analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, issues and other issues are discussed in this article.

History of creation

“The Miserly Knight” was conceived in 1826, and completed in the Boldin autumn of 1830. Published in 1836 in the Sovremennik magazine. Pushkin gave the play the subtitle “From Chenston’s tragicomedy.” But the writer is from the 18th century. Shenston (in the tradition of the 19th century his name was written Chenston) there was no such play. Perhaps Pushkin referred to a foreign author so that his contemporaries would not suspect that the poet was describing his relationship with his father, known for his stinginess.

Theme and plot

Pushkin's play “The Miserly Knight” is the first work in a cycle of dramatic sketches, short plays, which were later called “Little Tragedies.” Pushkin intended in each play to reveal some side of the human soul, an all-consuming passion (the stinginess in “The Stingy Knight”). Spiritual qualities and psychology are shown in sharp and unusual plots.

Heroes and images

The Baron is rich, but stingy. He has six chests full of gold, from which he does not take a penny. Money is not servants or friends for him, as for the moneylender Solomon, but masters. The Baron does not want to admit to himself that money has enslaved him. He believes that thanks to the money, quietly sleeping in his chests, everything is subject to him: love, inspiration, genius, virtue, work, even villainy. The Baron is ready to kill anyone who encroaches on his wealth, even his own son, whom he challenges to a duel. The duke prevents the duel, but the baron is killed by the very possibility of losing money. The Baron's passion consumes him.

Solomon has a different attitude towards money: it is a way to achieve a goal, to survive. But, like the baron, he does not disdain anything for the sake of enrichment, suggesting that Albert poison his own father.

Albert is a worthy young knight, strong and brave, winning tournaments and enjoying the favor of the ladies. He is completely dependent on his father. The young man has nothing to buy a helmet and armor, a dress for a feast and a horse for a tournament, only out of despair he decides to complain to the duke.

Albert has excellent spiritual qualities, he is kind, he gives the last bottle of wine to the sick blacksmith. But he is broken by circumstances and dreams of the time when the gold will be inherited by him. When the moneylender Solomon offers to set Albert up with a pharmacist who sells poison to poison his father, the knight expels him in disgrace. And soon Albert already accepts the baron’s challenge to a duel; he is ready to fight to the death with his own father, who insulted his honor. The Duke calls Albert a monster for this act.

The Duke in the tragedy is a representative of the authorities who voluntarily took on this burden. The Duke calls his age and the hearts of people terrible. Through the lips of the Duke, Pushkin also speaks about his time.

Issues

In every little tragedy, Pushkin gazes intently at some vice. In The Miserly Knight, this destructive passion is avarice: the change in personality of a once worthy member of society under the influence of vice; the hero's submission to vice; vice as a cause of loss of dignity.

Conflict

The main conflict is external: between a stingy knight and his son, who claims his share. The Baron believes that wealth must be suffered so as not to be squandered. The Baron's goal is to preserve and increase, Albert's goal is to use and enjoy. The conflict is caused by a clash of these interests. It is aggravated by the participation of the Duke, to whom the Baron is forced to slander his son. The strength of the conflict is such that only the death of one of the parties can resolve it. Passion destroys the stingy knight; the reader can only guess about the fate of his wealth.

Composition

There are three scenes in the tragedy. From the first, the reader learns about Albert’s difficult financial situation, associated with his father’s stinginess. The second scene is a monologue of a stingy knight, from which it is clear that passion has completely taken possession of him. In the third scene, the just duke intervenes in the conflict and unwittingly becomes the cause of the death of the hero obsessed with passion. The climax (the death of the baron) is adjacent to the denouement - the Duke’s conclusion: “A terrible age, terrible hearts!”

Genre

"The Miserly Knight" is a tragedy, that is, a dramatic work in which the main character dies. Pushkin achieved the small size of his tragedies by excluding everything unimportant. Pushkin's goal is to show the psychology of a person obsessed with the passion of stinginess. All “Little Tragedies” complement each other, creating a three-dimensional portrait of humanity in all its diversity of vices.

Style and artistic originality

All “Little Tragedies” are intended not so much for reading as for staging: how theatrical the stingy knight looks in a dark basement among gold flickering in the light of a candle! The dialogues of the tragedies are dynamic, and the monologue of the miserly knight is a poetic masterpiece. The reader can see how a bloody villain crawls into the basement and licks the hand of a stingy knight. The images of The Miserly Knight are impossible to forget.

In “small tragedies” Pushkin confronts the mutually exclusive and at the same time inextricably linked points of view and truths of his heroes in a kind of polyphonic counterpoint. This combination of opposite principles of life is manifested not only in the figurative and semantic structure of the tragedies, but also in their poetics. This is clearly manifested in the title of the first tragedy - “The Miserly Knight”.

The action takes place in France, in the late Middle Ages. In the person of Baron Philip, Pushkin captured a unique type of knight-usurer, generated by the era of transition from feudal relations to bourgeois monetary ones. This is a special social “species”, a kind of social centaur, bizarrely combining the features of opposite eras and ways of life. Ideas about knightly honor and his social privilege are still alive in him. At the same time, he is the bearer of other aspirations and ideals, generated by the growing power of money, on which a person’s position in society depends, to a greater extent than on origin and titles. Money undermines, blurs the boundaries of class and caste groups, and destroys the barriers between them. In this regard, the importance of the personal principle in a person increases, his freedom, but at the same time responsibility - for himself and others.

Baron Philip is a large, complex character, a man of enormous will. His main goal is the accumulation of gold as the main value in the emerging new way of life. At first, this accumulation is not an end in itself for him, but only a means of gaining complete independence and freedom. And the Baron seems to achieve his goal, as evidenced by his monologue in the “basements of the faithful”: “What is not under my control? As a certain demon, I can now rule the world...”, etc. (V, 342-343). However, this independence, power and strength are bought at too high a price - the tears, sweat and blood of the victims of the baron's passion. But the matter is not limited to turning other people into a means of achieving his goal. The Baron ultimately turns himself into only a means of achieving this goal, for which he pays with the loss of his human feelings and qualities, even such natural ones as his father’s, perceiving his own son as his mortal enemy. So money, from a means of gaining independence and freedom, unnoticed by the hero, turns into an end in itself, of which the Baron becomes an appendage. It is not for nothing that his son Albert speaks about money: “Oh, my father sees them not as servants or friends, but as masters, and he himself serves them... like an Algerian slave, - Like a chained dog” (V, 338). Pushkin seems to rethink anew, but realistically, the problem posed in “Prisoner of the Caucasus”: the inevitability of finding slavery on the paths of individualistic escape from society instead of the desired freedom. Egoistic monopassion leads the Baron not only to his alienation, but also to self-alienation, that is, to alienation from his human essence, from humanity as its basis.

However, Baron Philip has his own truth, which explains and to some extent justifies his position in life. Thinking about his son - the heir to all his wealth, which he will get without any effort or worries, he sees in this a violation of justice, the destruction of the foundations of the world order he affirms, in which everything must be achieved and suffered by the person himself, and not passed on as an undeserved gift from God (including the royal throne - here there is an interesting overlap with the problems of “Boris Godunov”, but on a different basis in life). Enjoying the contemplation of his treasures, the Baron exclaims: “I reign!.. What a magical shine! Obedient to me, my power is strong; In her is happiness, in her is my honor and glory!” But after this he is suddenly overcome by confusion and horror: “I reign... but who, after me, will take power over her? My heir! Madman, young spendthrift. The interlocutor of debauched debauchees!” The Baron is horrified not by the inevitability of death, parting with life and treasures, but by the violation of the highest justice, which gave his life meaning: “He will waste... And by what right? Did I really get all this for nothing... Who knows how many bitter abstinences, Bridled passions, heavy thoughts, Daytime worries, sleepless nights All this cost me? that he acquired with blood" (V, 345-346).

There is a logic here, a coherent philosophy of a strong and tragic personality, with its own consistent, although it did not stand the test of humanity, truth. Who is to blame for this? On the one hand, historical circumstances, the era of advancing commercialism, in which the unrestrained growth of material wealth leads to spiritual impoverishment and turns a person from an end in itself into merely a means of achieving other goals. But Pushkin does not relieve responsibility from the hero himself, who chose the path of achieving freedom and independence in individualistic isolation from people.

The image of Albert is also connected with the problem of choosing a life position. It is simplistic to see his common interpretation as a shredded version of his father's personality, in which, over time, the traits of chivalry will be lost and the qualities of a moneylender-hoarder will triumph. In principle, such a metamorphosis is possible. But it is not fatally inevitable, because it also depends on Albert himself whether he will retain his inherent openness to people, sociability, kindness, the ability to think not only about himself, but also about others (the episode with the sick blacksmith is indicative here), or will he lose these qualities, like his father. In this regard, the Duke’s final remark is significant: “Terrible age, terrible hearts.” In it, guilt and responsibility seem to be evenly distributed - between the century and the “heart” of a person, his feeling, mind and will. At the moment of development of the action, Baron Philippe and Albert act, despite their blood relationship, as bearers of two opposing, but in some ways mutually correcting truths. Both have elements of both absoluteness and relativity, tested and developed in each era by each person in his own way.

In “The Miserly Knight,” as in all other “small tragedies,” Pushkin’s realistic mastery reaches its peak - in the depth of penetration into the socio-historical and moral-psychological essence of the characters depicted, in the ability to consider in the temporal and particular - the enduring and universal. In them, such a feature of the poetics of Pushkin’s works as their “dizzying brevity” (A. Akhmatova), which contains the “abyss of space” (N. Gogol), reaches its full development. From tragedy to tragedy, the scale and meaningful capacity of the depicted images-characters increases, the depth, including moral and philosophical, of the depicted conflicts and problems of human existence - in its special national modifications and deep universal “invariants”.

“The Miserly Knight” was conceived in 1826, and completed in the Boldin autumn of 1830. Published in 1836 in the magazine “Sovremennik”. Pushkin gave the play the subtitle “From Chenston’s tragicomedy.” But the writer is from the 18th century. Shenston (in the tradition of the 19th century his name was written Chenston) there was no such play.

Perhaps Pushkin referred to a foreign author so that his contemporaries would not suspect that the poet was describing his relationship with his father, known for his stinginess.

Theme and plot

Pushkin’s play “The Miserly Knight” is the first work in the cycle

Dramatic sketches, short plays, which were later called “Little Tragedies”. Pushkin intended in each play to reveal some side of the human soul, an all-consuming passion (the stinginess in “The Stingy Knight”). Spiritual qualities and psychology are shown in sharp and unusual plots.

Heroes and images

The Baron is rich, but stingy. He has six chests full of gold, from which he does not take a penny. Money is not servants or friends for him, as for the moneylender Solomon, but masters.

The Baron does not want to admit to himself that money has enslaved him. He believes that thanks to the money, quietly sleeping in his chests, everything is subject to him: love, inspiration, genius, virtue, work, even villainy. The Baron is ready to kill anyone who encroaches on his wealth, even his own son, whom he challenges to a duel. The duke prevents the duel, but the baron is killed by the very possibility of losing money.

The Baron's passion consumes him.

And soon Albert already accepts the baron’s challenge to a duel; he is ready to fight to the death with his own father, who insulted his honor. The Duke calls Albert a monster for this act.

Issues

In every little tragedy, Pushkin gazes intently at some vice. In “The Stingy Knight,” this destructive passion is stinginess: the change in the personality of a once worthy member of society under the influence of vice; the hero's submission to vice; vice as a cause of loss of dignity.

Conflict

The conflict is caused by a clash of these interests. It is aggravated by the participation of the Duke, to whom the Baron is forced to slander his son. The strength of the conflict is such that only the death of one of the parties can resolve it.

Passion destroys the stingy knight; the reader can only guess about the fate of his wealth.

Composition

There are three scenes in the tragedy. From the first, the reader learns about Albert’s difficult financial situation associated with his father’s stinginess. The second scene is a monologue of a stingy knight, from which it is clear that passion has completely taken possession of him.

In the third scene, the just duke intervenes in the conflict and unwittingly becomes the cause of the death of the hero obsessed with passion. The climax (the death of the baron) is adjacent to the denouement - the Duke’s conclusion: “A terrible age, terrible hearts!”

Genre

“The Miserly Knight” is a tragedy, that is, a dramatic work in which the main character dies. Pushkin achieved the small size of his tragedies by excluding everything unimportant. Pushkin's goal is to show the psychology of a person obsessed with the passion of stinginess.

All “Little Tragedies” complement each other, creating a three-dimensional portrait of humanity in all its diversity of vices.

Style and artistic originality

The images of “The Miserly Knight” are impossible to forget.

(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

Scene 1 In the tower, the knight Albert shares his misfortune with his servant Ivan: at the knight's tournament, Count Delorge pierced his helmet, but there is no money for a new one, because Albert's father, the baron, is stingy. Albert regrets that Delorge pierced his helmet and not his head. The knight was so angry about the damaged armor that he threw the count twenty steps away, [...]
A. S. Pushkin The Stingy Knight The young knight Albert is about to appear at the tournament and asks his servant Ivan to show him his helmet. The helmet was pierced through in the last duel with the knight Delorge. It is impossible to put it on. The servant consoles Albert with the fact that he repaid Delorge in full, knocking him out of the saddle with a powerful blow, from which Albert’s offender lay dead for a day and barely […]...
Pushkin A. S. The Miserly Knight (Scenes from Chenston's tragicomedy: The covetous knight) Tragedy (1830) The young knight Albert is going to appear at the tournament and asks his servant Ivan to show him his helmet. The helmet was pierced through in the last duel with the knight Delorge. It is impossible to put it on. The servant consoles Albert with the fact that he repaid Delorge in full, knocking him out of the saddle with a powerful blow, [...]
THE STINGY KNIGHT (Scenes from Chenston’s tragicomedy “The covetous Knight”, 1830) Albert is a young knight, the son of a stingy baron, the hero of a tragedy stylized as a translation from a non-existent work by Chenston (Shenston). The plot centers on the conflict between two heroes, father (Baron) and son (A.). Both belong to the French knighthood, but to different eras of its history. A. is young and ambitious; For […]...
Scene I In the tower. Albert and his servant Ivan are discussing a knight's tournament. Albert complains that he bent his helmet and has nothing to buy a new one. Albert does not have decent clothes to appear at court. The reason for Albert's victory in the tournament was his rage at his opponent for bending his helmet. Albert is interested in what the Jew Solomon conveyed […]...
The full title of the first of the small tragedies is “The Miserly Knight (scenes from Chenston’s new tragicomedy: Te soue! oiz Ksh§Y:).” Why did Pushkin make a reference to the non-existent work of the English poet Chanston? What is this: a literary device to intrigue the reader, or a desire to hide the essence of modern egoism embodied in historical, albeit fictitious, images? Apparently, both [...]
1. The mystical aura of Pushkin’s text. 2. The unspiritual power of money. 3. Devalued human relationships. A person, by ruling over others, loses his own freedom. F. Bacon In 1830, A.S. Pushkin went to Boldino to take possession of the estate. But because of cholera he is forced to stay there for three months. This period in the work of the great prose writer and poet is called Boldinskaya […]...
Why do we love theater so much? Why do we rush to the auditorium in the evenings, forgetting about fatigue, the stuffiness of the gallery, leaving the comfort of home? And isn’t it strange that hundreds of people tensely stare for hours at the stage box open to the auditorium, laugh and cry, and then exultantly shout “Bravo!” and applaud? Theater arose from a holiday, from the desire of people to merge […]...
THE STINGY KNIGHT (Scenes from Chanston’s tragicomedy “The covetous Knight”, 1830) The Baron is the father of the young knight Albert; brought up in a previous era, when belonging to knighthood meant, first of all, to be a brave warrior and a rich feudal lord, and not a servant of the cult of a beautiful lady and a participant in court tournaments. Old age freed B. from the need to put on armor (although in the final scene he […]...
Pushkin provided the play with the subtitle “Scene from Chanston’s tragicomedy: The covetous Knight.” Chanston in Russia in the 18th century. called the English writer Shenstone, but he does not have such a play. It was found that there is no such work in English literature at all. Pushkin's instruction is a hoax. The genre definition – “tragicomedy” – hints at the dramatic tradition in developing the theme of stinginess. In the history of drama [...]
The feudal regime strictly regulated the places of people on the social ladder of society. The title of baron, which Philip inherited, helped him take a place at court. Personal qualities ensured friendship with the Duke. He couldn't hope for more. And he was burned by ambition, the thirst for power. The new, bourgeois century opened up a different, cynical, but reliable path to power and [...] unknown to the old system.
The Middle Ages is a noble and sublime world of knightly tournaments, sanctified by beautiful rituals, the cult of the lady of the heart, beautiful and unattainable as an ideal, inspiring deeds. Knights are bearers of honor and nobility, independence and selflessness, defenders of all the weak and offended. But that's all in the past. The world has changed, and maintaining the knightly code of honor has become an unbearable burden for [...]
Alexander Pushkin went down in the history of Russian literature as a romantic poet, whose works still evoke bright and warm feelings among readers. One of this author’s favorite poetic forms was the ballad, and the poet himself repeatedly admitted that in such works he could most fully and colorfully reveal the plot. Pushkin based his first ballads on […]...
In Pushkin’s creative treasury there is a whole cycle of so-called “small tragedies”, similar in character to philosophical lyrics. They concern topics such as death and immortality, life and art. Pushkin wrote these dramatic works during the most fruitful period of his work in 1830. In general, “small tragedies” are built on external and internal conflicts. For example, the creative work “Stingy […]...
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The poem “Knight for an Hour” by A. N. Nekrasov consists of two logical parts, each of which is united by a common theme. The first part gives us a description of the nature and feelings of the lyrical hero, such as deep repentance: “Conscience begins to sing its song...” Pictures of living nature appear before us: “I walk across a wide field... /... I woke up the geese on the pond...” They are intertwined with the description [ …]...
KNIGHT FOR AN HOUR (Poem, 1860-1862) Knight for an hour is one of the main incarnations of the lyrical hero Nekrasov. Tormented by insomnia, R. leaves the house at night and surrenders “to the power / of the surrounding vigorous nature.” Contemplation of her beauty awakens conscience and “thirst for action” in his soul. Majestic landscapes open to his eyes, the solemn sounds of a village bell to his ears, […]...
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History of creation “The Stone Guest” was written in 1830 in Boldin, but was conceived several years earlier. It was published after the poet’s death 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 a traditional plot, the legend of the depraved Don […]...
The poem “The Captive Knight,” written in 1840, belongs to the mature works of M. Lermontov. It was probably created by the poet in March-April 1840, while he was under arrest after a duel with E. Barant. The poem was first published a year later, in the eighth issue of Otechestvennye zapiski. “The Captive Knight” continues the “prison theme” raised by Lermontov in “The Prisoner” and “The Neighbor”. […]...
What is passion? Let's turn to Vladimir Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language. There the following explanation is given: passion is, first of all, suffering, torment, bodily pain, mental sorrow, consciously accepted hardships and martyrdom. And at the same time, passion is an unconscious attraction, unbridled, unreasonable desire, greed. In an animal, passions are fused into one with […]...
Despite his noble origin, Mikhail Lermontov felt truly free only in early childhood. However, from the age of 7, his life was subject to a strict routine, in which study alternated with the development of secular manners. As a teenager, Lermontov dreamed of becoming a great commander and being able to accomplish at least one feat worthy of mention in history. […]...
History of creation The poem “A Knight for an Hour” was written in 1862 and published in No. 1-2 of Sovremennik for 1863. It was originally called “Insomnia”. The poem reflected Nekrasov’s impressions from his stay in Greshnev and Abakumtsevo, where Nekrasov’s mother was buried behind the fence of the Church of Peter and Paul. Dostoevsky believed that “A Knight for an Hour” was Nekrasov’s masterpiece. Myself […]...
In Boldin, the poet creates masterpieces of his drama - “small tragedies”. Pushkin emerged as a deep connoisseur of human passions, a remarkable master of character molding, and an artist of acute dramatic conflicts. “The Miserly Knight” historically correctly shows the era of the late Middle Ages, the typical aspects of life, life and customs of feudal chivalry during the period of its decline and decrease in the power of the overlords. Tournaments, castles, the cult of a beautiful lady, a usurer who ruins [...]
Life has not been kind to Nikolai Nekrasov since birth. He was born into the family of a retired officer, who was particularly cruel and tyrannized his household. Therefore, the future poet left his father’s house as a teenager and for many years was forced to eke out a semi-beggarly existence, often without money for food and lodging. Severe tests hardened Nekrasov so much that he repeatedly [...]
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra conceived the novel about Don Quixote as a parody of the chivalric romances that filled medieval Spain. But the parody, according to critics, did not work out. The result was a novel unlike any that existed at that time - a novel about a naive, noble, half-crazed man who imagines himself a knight, a novel about how to relate to dreamers and eccentrics who live [...]
In Pushkin’s creative heritage there is a cycle of small dramatic works called “small tragedies”. In character they are close to philosophical lyrics. They also raise large universal human problems related to questions about the meaning of life, death and immortality, and the purpose of art. “Little tragedies” Pushkin wrote in 1830 during the famous Boldian autumn, which turned out to be […]...
The history of the creation of the Tragedy “Boris Godunov” is connected with the events of 1825. Pushkin wrote it for about a year and finished it in 1825 in Mikhailovsky, and published it in 1831. In “Boris Godunov,” completed a month before the Decembrist uprising, Pushkin found a historical solution to the problem that worried him and the Decembrists—the relationship between the tsar and the people. The ideas of the Decembrists, which consisted of limiting [...]
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin planned to write 13 tragedies. 4 were completed: “The Miserly Knight”, “The Stone Guest”, A Feast during the Plague”, “Mozart and Salieri”. The word “small” indicates a reduced volume - 3 scenes. The action of the tragedy begins at the most tense moment, is brought to a climax and puts the heroes in the face of death, so the tragedy ends with the death of one of them. Self-affirmation is shown […]...
A knight for an hour is one of the main incarnations of the lyrical hero Nekrasov. Tormented by insomnia, R. leaves the house at night and surrenders “to the power / of the surrounding vigorous nature.” Contemplation of her beauty awakens conscience and “thirst for action” in his soul. Majestic landscapes open to his eyes, the solemn sounds of a village bell to his ears, and the smallest details of the past to his memory (“everything that […]...
Nekrasov N.A. Knight for an hour is one of the main incarnations of the lyrical hero Nekrasov. Tormented by insomnia, R. leaves the house at night and surrenders “to the power / of the surrounding vigorous nature.” Contemplation of her beauty awakens conscience and “thirst for action” in his soul. Majestic landscapes open to his eyes, the solemn sounds of the village bell to his ears, the smallest details to his memory […]...
All events in the comedy take place over the course of one day in the house of Mr. Jourdain. The first two acts are an exposition of the comedy: here we are introduced to the character of Mr. Jourdain. He is shown surrounded by teachers, with the help of whom he tries to prepare as best as possible for the reception of Dorimena. Teachers, like the tailor, “play” Mr. Jourdain: they teach him wisdom, which is nothing […]...
“The Golden Knight” is a short story by Nikolai Gumilev - a unique reflection of a small world, the world of all Gumilev’s creativity, his fate. Fate, a person to whom we can answer for the happiness given to us by nature, for patriotism and for love for our Motherland. For the happiness of living on this Earth. The name itself: “Golden Knight” attracts the potential reader with its tempting sound. […]...
Bernard Shaw's play is based on the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmaleon and Galatea. Madly in love with his creation, he asked Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to bring the statue to life. In the play itself, naturally, there is nothing such mystical. The plot centers on a social conflict, as the main characters are from different classes. Eliza Doolittle is a young, cheerful, lively girl who earns her […]...
In the autumn of 1830, in Boldino, Pushkin wrote four tragedies: “A Feast during the Plague”, “The Stone Guest”, “The Miserly Knight”, “Mozart and Salieri”. The poet planned to create nine more plays, but did not have time to implement his plan. The name “small tragedies” appeared thanks to Pushkin himself, who described his dramatic miniatures this way in a letter to the critic Pletnev. Readers got acquainted with “Mozart […]...
The famous Russian playwright Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, who received a law degree, worked for some time in the Moscow Commercial Court, where property disputes between close relatives were dealt with. This life experience, observations, knowledge of the life and psychology of the bourgeois-merchant class were the basis for the work of the future playwright. Ostrovsky’s first major work was the play “Bankrupt” (1849), later called “My People – […]...
The heroes of these works have a lot in common. Both main characters are peers, contemporaries, representatives of the same class - the small landed nobility. Both bear the stamp of raising minors in a landowner family. Both Mitrofan Prostakov and Pyotr Grinev loved to chase pigeons and play leapfrog with the yard boys. The heroes were unlucky with their teachers. How Mitrofan is taught by a German, former [...]
One must be mentally clear, morally clean and physically tidy. A.P. Chekhov “Little Tragedies” were written by A.S. Pushkin in 1830 in Boldin. All of them, to one degree or another, relate to the tragedy of human fate, because the main characters of these works, each in their own way, transgress universal moral laws, which not only leads many of them to [...]
Some people take the wrong path unwittingly, because the straight path does not exist for them. Thomas Mann He is terrible who has nothing left to lose. Goethe Despite the fact that A. M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” was written at the beginning of the last century (in 1902), famous stage directors have been turning to it for more than a hundred years. In the heroes of the play, who have fallen [...]

The gold motif, which permeates the entire musical development in the second scene of the opera, undergoes especially diverse changes. In the small orchestral introduction to the picture, it sounds dull and gloomy, even somewhat mysterious, in the low register of tremulous strings. The same motif takes on a different color in the central section, which begins with the words of the Baron:

I want to throw myself a feast today:
I will light a candle in front of each chest,
And I’ll unlock them all, and I’ll stand there myself
Among them, look at the shining piles.

The gradual increase in light and brilliance, which reaches dazzling brightness at the moment when all the candles are lit in front of the open chests of gold and the gloomy basement seems to be flooded with the glow of a fire, was conveyed by Rachmaninov in a large symphonic episode, which is the pinnacle of this picture. A long organ point on the dominant prepares the culmination of the theme of gold in the shining D-dur (Rachmaninov chose D-dur as the “key of gold”, following Rimsky-Korsakov, in whom it also sounds extremely brightly and with great force in the fourth scene “Sadko” , in the episode of the transformation of fish into gold bars. Of course, when comparing these two examples, one must take into account their completely different expressive nature.). The brilliant sonority of four horns, accompanied by a powerful orchestral tutti, and the change in the rhythmic pattern of the theme give it a majestic knightly character:

Following this climax comes a sudden breakdown. The selfless delight of the Baron, exclaiming in ecstasy: “I reign!.., my power is strong...” - gives way to anxiety and despair at the thought of what will happen to the wealth he has accumulated after his death. The picture ends with an episode of an ariot character (Moderato: “Who knows how many bitter abstinences”) in d minor, a key that Rachmaninov usually used to express mournful and dramatic experiences. The basis of the dramatic structure of this picture is made up of three supporting points: an introduction built on the theme of gold, a central episode of the miser’s feast, in which the same theme develops, and a minor final structure. They assert the dominant importance in it of the tonalities D-dur - d-moll. The arioso (d minor) that completes the picture summarizes and partially rethinks the above three themes. Thus, from the motive of human tears and suffering, a pathetic theme of conscience arises, connecting with the theme of gloomy obsession and heavy, concentrated thoughts:

The theme of gold, “being neglected,” seems to fade, loses its shine and shimmer, and from it grows a mournful phrase, which alternates with the oboe, cor anglais and bassoon, descending into an increasingly lower register:

In the very last bars of the second picture, attention is drawn to the expressively sounding chromatic sequence of harmonies, “sliding” to the tonic d-minor:

This turn, imbued with a mood of gloomy despair, has similarities with both the theme of gold and Albert’s leitmotif, thus emphasizing the fatal connection between father and son, whom rivalry and the struggle for the possession of gold made irreconcilable enemies. The same turn of phrase sounds at the end of the entire opera, at the moment of the death of the old Baron.

Third picture the operas, the most brief and laconic, are almost entirely built on thematic material that has already been heard before; here he often appears in the same presentation and even in the same keys in which he was presented earlier (this picture begins with Albert’s theme in Es-dur, very reminiscent of the beginning of the first picture). If this achieves the integrity of the characteristics, then at the same time the abundance of repetitions becomes somewhat tiresome towards the end and weakens the power of the dramatic impact.

After the scene in the basement, in which, despite the well-known imbalance of the vocal and orchestral-symphonic beginnings, Rachmaninov managed to achieve high tragic pathos, in the final picture there is a clear decline in dramatic tension. One of the most acute dramatic moments, where there is a direct clash between father and son, ending in the death of the old Baron, turned out to be rather colorless and significantly inferior in power of expression to much of what preceded it. This imbalance affects the overall impression of the opera. The Baron's monologue rises so high above everything else that the two paintings bordering it seem to some extent to be unnecessary appendages to it.