These are the worthy fruits of evil, the meaning of the phrase. Essay “Fonvizin “Minor”

The problem of education in the comedy "The Minor" D. I. Fonvizin

The main problem that Fonvizin raises in the comedy “Minor” is the problem of educating enlightened advanced people. A nobleman, a future citizen of the country who must do things for the good of the fatherland, is brought up from birth in an atmosphere of immorality, complacency and self-sufficiency. In his play, Fonvizin showed the main evil of Russian life at that time - serfdom and painted typical features Russian serf owners.

The entire household structure of the Prostakovs is based on the unlimited power of serfdom. The author exposes the greed and cruelty of the Prostakovs, the impunity and ignorance of the Skotinins. We see the unkempt estate of the Prostakovs, where the Skotinins also live. The mistress of the house alternately scolds and fights: “that’s how the house holds together.” Prostakova is cruel and rude, but she madly loves her son. Prostakova's speech is illiterate, but very changeable: from timid intonation she easily moves to an imperious rude tone. Skotinin’s speech is not only rude, but also fully corresponds to his surname. He speaks of himself and others not as people, but as animals.

In the person of the rude ignorant Mitrofanushka, the writer showed “the unfortunate consequences of bad upbringing.” Mitrofanushka is spoiled by the wrong upbringing that he is given, a complete lack of upbringing and a harmful maternal example. Mitrofanushka’s first teacher and educator was the old nanny Eremeevna, who for her work receives “five rubles a year, and five slaps a day.” The nanny cared more about the pupil's belly, and not about his head. Three teachers come to Mitrofan, who for several years have been unsuccessfully trying to hammer at least some rudiments of knowledge into the “child’s” head. Mitrofan’s teacher, retired sergeant Tsyfirkin, teaches him arithmetic (Arithmetic is taught to him...by one retired sergeant, Tsyfirkin), seminarian Kuteikin teaches him letters (“For letters, the sexton from Pokrov, Kuteikin, comes to him for letters”), and the German Vralman provides general guidance, supposedly teaching the owner's son “all sciences” (“The German Adam Adamych Vralman teaches him French and all sciences”). Vralman, as the former coachman of Starodum, which turns out at the end of the play, has no idea about science, but he is German, and therefore the ignorant owners trust him. In addition, they like Vralman’s position: “not to burden the child” (“He does not bondage the child”). The German is paid much more (“This one gets three hundred rubles a year”) than Tsyfirkin and Kuteikin, he is fed (“We put him at the table with us… There’s a glass of wine at the table”) and dressed in the house (“Our women wash his linen”). The two Russian teachers are not considered at all, Mitrofanushka studies with great reluctance, insults them with impunity, interrupts classes and does not understand anything, although she has been “studying” for several years (“I’ve been studying for four years now”).

Mitrofan's character is nurtured by the atmosphere in a family where a woman is in charge. The landowner Prostakov completely obeys his wife and does not dare say a word against her. This is how the men of the Prostakov family, together with Uncle Skotinin, characterize themselves: “I am my sister’s brother... I am my wife’s husband... and I am my mother’s son.”

Mitrofan does not love anyone, he is angry, ignorant and also aggressive. Mitrofanushka is a lazy person, accustomed to being lazy and climbing into the dovecote. Mitrofan is not only an ignoramus and a “mother’s son.” He is cunning and knows how to flatter his mother. Starodum laughs at Mitrofan, realizing that ignorance is not the biggest problem. Heartlessness is much more dangerous. “An ignoramus without a soul is a beast.” Life and upbringing immediately took away the purpose and meaning of life from Mitrofan. And teachers will not be able to help (this is just a tribute to fashion on the part of Mrs. Prostakova); Mitrofan had no other desires than to eat, run around in the dovecote and get married.

In his play, Fonvizin tells readers that first they need to cultivate virtue, take care of the soul, and only then - about the mind.

The comedy "The Minor" (1782) reveals the acute social problems of its time. Although the work is based on the idea of education, the satire is directed against serfdom and landowner tyranny. The author shows that from the soil of serfdom evil fruits grew - meanness, mental dullness. The bearers of this are the Prostakovs and Skotinins. Prostakova, nee Skotinina, is a worthy daughter of her father, who used to say: “And don’t be the Skotinin who wants to learn something.” She is proud that she cannot read, and is outraged that girls are taught to read and write (Sophia), because... I am sure that a lot can be achieved without education. “From our surname Prostakovs..., lying on their sides, they fly to their ranks.” Prostakova understands that different times have come, and teaches her son, rejoicing that Mitrofan’s teachers are not in bondage. She “prepares Mitrofan to become a people”, hiring him to teach literacy - the sexton Kuteikin, arithmetic - the retired sergeant Tsyfirkin, French and all sciences - the German Vralman, a former coachman. According to her concepts, “Eorgafia” is not needed by a nobleman: “But what about cab drivers?” She is sure that even without science it is possible to “make enough money.” Prostakova considers studying a torment and indulges her son in his laziness. She calls her husband a “freak” and a “weeper” and beats him. She also beats serfs, considering them “brutes” and “blockheads.” Prostakova is an ignorant, stingy, evil landowner. “From morning to evening, as if hung by the tongue, I don’t lay down my hands: I scold, I fight.” Verna Eremeevna advises her to “grab her brother by the mug,” calling her “you dog’s daughter,” giving her “five slaps in the face a day.” When Mitrofan failed to marry Sophia, she shouts: “I’ll order everyone to be beaten to death!” Pravdin calls her to order, to which she indignantly declares: “Isn’t a nobleman free to beat a servant whenever he wants?” She loves Mitrofan Prostakov with blind love, making him a real undergrowth. Prostakova’s brother, Skotinin, is a lover of pigs, whom he considers “a whole head taller than each of us.” “The skotinins are all hard-headed by birth,” and the brother, in whom “what came into his mind, stuck there.” He, like his sister, believes “that learning is nonsense.” He treats pigs better than people, declaring: “People in front of me are smart, but among pigs I myself am smarter than everyone else.” Rude, like his sister, promises to make Mitrofan a freak for Sophia: “By the legs, and on the corner!” Prostakov - weak-willed downtrodden man and says about himself: “I am a wife’s husband.” Mitrofan – true son their parents. He is a glutton, a rude man and a lazy man. Mitrofan used to, in childhood, “see a pig and tremble with joy.” For four years, three teachers have been teaching Mitrofan to read and write, but the 16-year-old teenager does not like to study. The mother threatens: “Dive - remember what your name was!” Declares: “I don’t want to study, but I want to get married!” He calls the teachers names (“garrison rat”) and threatens to complain to his mother about them. He calls Vernaya Eremeevna “old hrychevka.” “I’ll finish them off!” - he threatens her. A failed marriage to Sophia tells Mitrofan that the time has come to “take on people.” Angry at his uncle, he shouts: “Get out, uncle! Get lost!” And in the finale, when Prostakova rushes to her son for consolation, he tells her: “Let it go, mother, you forced yourself on me.” The Prostakov family raised a worthy son. Starodub says correctly in the finale: “This is evil worthy fruits».

The last lines of the comedy have been read. I feel some kind of confusion in my soul. Why would this be? After all, the ending is logical: Pravdin warned that this could happen. Evil must be punished - we have known this from fairy tales since childhood. Why is another feeling mixed with the satisfaction from the restoration of justice - pity? And even to Prostakova?! Everything is clear and simple: I am a person, and I feel sorry for another person who feels bad. I understand that Prostakova deserves pity least of all, but I still feel sorry for her. If only because the biggest insult, the biggest wound is inflicted on her by her son, for whom she lived, for whom she wanted to arrange a life and for whose sake she is collapsing. Her servants and peasants, whom She oppressed and humiliated, could condemn her; Starodum and Pravdin had the right to judge her, but not Mitrofan. This is betrayal and cruelty towards the mother. Maybe that’s why I still feel sorry for Prostakova.

Sounds last phrase Starodum: “These are the fruits of evil!” She forces us to return to the very beginning of the comedy in order to find the reason for Prostakova’s fall. You don’t have to look long for examples of cruelty, inhumanity, and stupidity of a landowner who has power and strength over people. She robs the peasants completely, the advice of Skotinin, her brother, helps in this. The servants get it even more, because they are in front of everyone all the time, and she doesn’t even consider them people. “Harya”, “beast”, “cattle”, “dog’s daughter”, “blockhead” - all this is addressed to those who feed the landowner’s family, clean, and look after. What about servants! The simpleton is ready to destroy her own brother when he gets in her way. And all this for the sake of Mitrofanushka, her hope, her little blood! Any mother wants the best for her child and gives him her love and care. But for Prostakova it is blind love, terrible, crazy. She herself is insignificant, dishonest, and she is raising her son to be the same. If it had been her way, she would never have bothered him with his studies. Prostakova lives illiterate, and her brother is illiterate, but they have power and wealth. But the tsar’s decrees force the nobles to teach their children - so she has been teaching her Mitrofan for four years now, but to no avail, because she spared money for good teachers. But the bad ones teach poorly, and Mitrofan cannot be taught. Prostakova’s own ignorance, her immorality have no limits, she has long since fallen asleep. Prostakova is terrible for her actions, her lifestyle, and her principles. She is to blame for the fact that with her upbringing she killed everything human in Mitrofanushka and made him a moral monster. Prostakova even lost her sense of danger. She is no longer able to stop even when Pravdin warns of punishment.

They say: “conscience spoke”, “conscience prompted”. But Prostakova’s conscience is no longer a helper. “Conscience, like a friend, always warns before punishing like a judge,” Starodum taught Sophia. Conscience could not warn Prostakova, because she had long been deaf to any moral feeling. Everything goes to a natural ending, because the landowner’s arbitrariness knows no limits, and her ignorance knows no shame.

Mrs. Prostakova was punished severely, but fairly. Her greed, rudeness, hypocrisy gave rise to the fruits of evil, for which she is destined to pay. This is the lesson of the comedy “The Minor,” which teaches and warns everyone who wants to take the path of Prostakova. And I don't feel sorry for her anymore.

FOR THE CURIOUS

1. Name the first play by D. I. Fonvizin. ("Brigadier", 1769)

2. What did D.I. Fonvizin say when he visited abroad? (“Glorious are the tambourines beyond the mountains.”)

3. What is the name of D.I. Fonvizin’s “grammar”? (“General Court Grammar.”)

4. The heroes of which plays wear Fonvizin same names? (Sofia in “The Brigadier” and Sophia in “The Minor.”)

5. Where and in what year did the premiere of the play “The Minor” take place? (Petersburg, 1782)

6. Premiere of the play “The Minor”: “When the curtain fell, there was thunderous applause, they flew onto the stage...” What flew onto the stage? (Wallets.)

7. Who was the prototype of Mitrofanushka in “Nedorosl”? (A. N. Olenin, 18 years old, later president of the Academy of Arts, director Public library in St. Petersburg.)

8. Who owns the words in the play “The Minor”:

“In the great world there are small souls.”

"The golden idiot is everyone's idiot."

“Cash is not cash worth.”

“Without noble deeds, a noble fortune is nothing.”

(To Starodum.)

9. What phrase is heard in the finale of the comedy “Minor”? Who does it belong to? (“Here are the fruits worthy of evil,” to Starodum.)

10. Who said that in “The Minor” “the excellent satirist executed ignorance in folk comedy”? (A.S. Pushkin.)

11. Which character in the play “The Minor” is mentioned in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” among the Larins’ guests?

(Skotinins, gray-haired couple

With children of all ages...)

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Text based on the comedy by D.I. Fonvizin "" Minor "

“Here are the fruits of evil.”

This phrase ends the comedy of the satirical writer D.I. Fonvizina. The comedy is written in the style of classicism in compliance with all requirements this direction. This is a clearly expressed morality, positive and negative heroes, observance of the three unities.

The official Pravdin, having arrived at the estate of the landowner Prostakova, investigates the facts of the atrocities that the inhuman serfdom committed against her “subjects”, serfs, “people”. Her cruelty and malice become known in the “government,” that is, in official circles.

Pravdin, Starodum, Sophia are witnesses to how this illiterate, ignorant, greedy woman holds all the power in the house in her hands, how those around her, members of her family, hate her; and the servants, being completely dependent on her, tremble at any manifestation of the mistress’s malice and tyranny.

The word "evil character" has an ambiguous and broad meaning. Serfdom as part social order Russia is leading to the most destructive and disastrous consequences. The evil of serfdom destroys the souls and spoils the morals of the masters, the feudal landowners, and makes the life of the serfs dependent on them miserable.

The omnipotent and imperious Prostakova is confident in her impunity, so at any time she can arrange a “task” for the servants who are guilty before her, and she has “every guilt to blame”: the landowner will always find something to blame them for. When Sophia’s abduction did not take place, Prostakova angrily exclaims: “Take care of people!”, meaning her servants.

Prostakova, Skotinin, Mitrofan have no spiritual interests. They seek only to enrich themselves and satisfy their selfish interests.

“Evil morality” gives rise to narrowness of thinking in people, poverty of experiences, and reluctance to participate in public life.

Prostakova adores her lazy and narrow-minded Mitrofanushka and does not want to know that he is not only her son, but also a citizen of Russia, called upon to serve the interests of society and the state.

Prostakova hopelessly ruined her son’s character with her so-called “upbringing.”

He is rude, callous in soul and at the same time shows ingratitude towards his mother, who seeks support and support in him. When the official Pravdin, as a representative of the authorities, is ready to sternly confront Prostakova for her atrocities, and the estate is taken under the guardianship of the “government,” the landowner completely loses her head from grief and humiliation. Desperate, she asks Mitrofan for support, but the little one is indifferent to the requests of his parent. “Go away, mother! How intrusive!” - he exclaims. The behavior of the ungrateful son causes indignation even among strangers, Pravdin and Starodum. Starodum defines as an official person future fate young nobleman: he will have to “serve.” Mitrofan greets this decision with indifference: “For me, wherever they tell you to!”

The play ends with a depiction of the mother's grief and the son's unfortunate fate. “These are the fruits worthy of evil!”

The work “Undergrowth”, created by D.I. Fonvizin in 1782, is realistic in idea and instructive in meaning. The comedy complied with the basic requirements of classicism as literary direction. It carried the idea of moral strengthening of Russian society and contained criticism of serfdom as one of the main vices in the social structure of Russia.

D.I. Fonvizin in his comedy "Minor" raises the problems of his time, when there was still serfdom, and poor people were uneducated, and rich people neglected their opportunities to learn. But I think some of them are still relevant today. Main problem- arrogance and lack of education of the serf-owning nobles.

In this comedy, the main character is Mitrofan, the son of the Prostakovs, who are noble serfs. It's safe to say that he is worthy of his parents. Selfish, stupid and lazy.

But who else could he become if his mother is an arrogant and greedy woman, and his father does not even have influence in his own home?

Mitrofanushka treats her teachers terribly, calls them names and throws tantrums just because she doesn’t want to study. He also does not show due respect to Eremeevna and insults her in every possible way, despite the fact that she raised him from childhood and invested her soul and love. But the boy has someone to follow as an example; his mother, because of her narrow-mindedness, does not understand how high-ranking people who have influence over their servants tend to behave. Mitrofan is a little afraid of Prostakov, but the mother, although in her own way, loves her son. She assents to him and pampers him in every possible way, thereby unconsciously making him a real “minor.”

All this was not in vain, because at the end of the comedy, when such an unpleasant picture emerges for the Prostakovs, when justice and prudence came to their house in the form of Pravdin, even his own son abandons his mother.

This is what Starodum had in mind when she expressed the idea that this whole situation is “The worthy fruits of evil.”

Comedy has great value in the world of literature, you can laugh and think with her. It can help you understand many things related to morality and draw the right conclusions. Fonvizin deliberately presents this work in the form of a comedy so that people make fun of the “minor”, but do not become one themselves. And I hope that this work will always be relevant and readable.

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Updated: 2017-11-18

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