What do we know about the father of the old thinker. Undergrowth characterization of the image of the starodum

He speaks mainly through the mouth of Starodum. Of all the characters in the play, this one seems to be especially sympathetic to the author. Starodum stands out among other reasoners with a simpler and more natural language. Calling Sophia's uncle Starodum, Fonvizin wanted to show that his way of thinking refers not to the contemporary Catherine's era, but to the old Peter's age. In fact, although Starodum does not approve of much in contemporary society, he partly agrees in views and opinions with Catherine herself and with some modern philosophers.

Heroes of "Undergrowth" Fonvizin

"An honest man," says Starodum, "must be completely fair man”, i.e., - must possess all the virtues at once. His understanding of the meaning and meaning of the nobility is remarkable. Usually the word "noble" is understood in the sense - a person of noble birth. Starodum believes that a real nobleman - one whose thoughts and actions are noble - "a nobleman unworthy of being a nobleman - I don’t know anything meaner than him!" he exclaims. The duty of a nobleman, first of all, is to serve, not in order to receive ranks and awards, but because “dishonor is to do nothing when there is so much to do: there are people to help, there is a fatherland to serve!” This is a concept inspired by the nobles by Peter the Great.

Fonvizin. Undergrowth. Performance of the Maly Theater

Starodum, of course, did not approve of the "Decree on the Liberty of the Nobility" of Peter III, especially since he saw the example of such nobles as Skotinin and Prostakova, who understood noble liberty as the right to indulge in arbitrariness with impunity and treat their peasants cruelly. Fonvizin, through the mouth of Starodum, expresses his views on the duties of the king, on the harm of court flattery and, in general, on court life; talking about family life, on marital relations and on the upbringing of children; in this last question, the influence of Rousseau is noticeable, the views of Empress Catherine II. Starodum puts the upbringing of the heart, "good character", above the mind, mental development.

A few years after the comedy "Undergrowth" was written, Fonvizin wanted to publish a magazine called "Starodum, or a friend of honest people." In articles written for this magazine, Fonvizin denounces the same social shortcomings that are portrayed in his comedies. The tone of his satire becomes more and more harsh and merciless. This did not please Empress Catherine, who believed that satire should be "in a smiling way." In addition, in some articles the author directly ridicules Catherine's court and criticizes some of the views and opinions of the empress herself. All this led to the fact that Catherine banned the publication of the magazine.

Who is Starodum? What portrait of his character can be represented in the work of Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin? How old is he and what is his position in society? What role did he play in the great comedy "" and in the life of the main characters of the work?

Mr. Starodum is a strong and respected goodie. By carefully following his dialogues in the context of comedy and the feedback of other characters, one can imagine detailed portrait his character and know many details about life. Starodum was a man in adulthood, had a great life experience and experience in serving the country. He is known, highly valued and respected by all decent citizens of the state. He has no ranks and titles, but has a great fortune and pride in an uncorrupted soul.

At a young age, he was in the war and received many wounds, but retired from service due to state injustice. His distant acquaintance, evaded military operations and remained at court, had a “length of service” pleasing to senior officials and received a rank, and Starodum, having serious injuries, was left with no inheritance.

The hero was offended by such life events. Having received neither titles nor wealth, he left the service. In a dialogue with Pravdin, Starodum regrets his act. He could continue to serve his homeland, not succumbing to the first impulses of pride and come to his senses. The hero understands that the true reward is respect for honesty, right deeds, the ability to control oneself in difficult situations and recognition of merits by others.

After his resignation, he went to St. Petersburg, where he was taken to serve at the court. In the service, he saw how people "go over their heads" for their own benefits and ungodly goals. He was glad to leave the service in the yard and left on time. With honor and dignity, he remained true to himself, his principles and word.

Neither rank nor wealth tempted him. Starodum earned his great fortune by honest labor in Siberia, which he is highly proud of. He considers his example of earning a truly noble, honest and the right way. Thanks to the acquired years and the experience gained, the hero has a sharp mind and is well versed in people. He is straightforward in his thoughts and words, always telling the truth and what he thinks. He does not look at the ranks and believes that where the ranks begin, the sincerity of a person disappears there. For this, many consider him a rude and gloomy man.

Starodum is restrained and deeply reasonable, being aged he is in no hurry to act, succumbing to the first impulses of feelings, but the hero did not always possess such qualities. Uncle Starodum has his only beloved niece, Sophia, and promises to give her his fortune so that she chooses a husband according to the dignity of his soul, and not to a rich fortune.

“... I have gained so much that when you get married, the poverty of a worthy groom does not stop us ...”.

The story of Starodum begins already from the first lines of the comedy, when it turns out that the niece Sophia was left alone after the death of her mother and distant relatives The Prostakovs took her away. All the characters are sure that Sophia has no one else left. And her uncle Starodum has long been dead. For selfish purposes, the Prostakovs want to marry her to a relative of the family - brother, Skotinin. His last name in the comedy is speaking. To emphasize this, the author endows him with a love for pigs.

Skotinin does not like Sophia and he is not interested in the villages belonging to her, his soul rejoices in the pigs that are available in these villages. But soon everyone will find out that Sophia's uncle is alive and very rich. He inherits his wealth from Sophia. The plans of the Prostakovs change dramatically, and they want to marry her not to Prostakov's brother, but to their own uneducated son.

Starodum arrives as Sophia's savior from an unwanted marriage and the wicked plans of her relatives. Thanks to Uncle Starodum, Sophia can choose her husband on her own. It turns out that the niece already has a chosen one. Starodum is pleased with the choice of his niece and blesses the young. But the heroes of the comedy are in no hurry to talk about their decision.

From which the actions around them turn into a ridiculous farce and sheer madness. With this act, Starodum showed the viewer a comedy, revealed to the surface all the low feelings and vices of man. He gave time for the heroes of the comedy, without knowing it themselves, to reveal the truth to others about their dishonor and low vices. The situation turned the Prostakovs and Skotinin inside out and showed how one can humiliate himself and fall in the eyes of himself and those around him in pursuit of low goals.

The very name of Starodum is speaking. It means that his thoughts, "thoughts" and, accordingly, actions come from the upbringing that his father put into him. And his father was brought up in the service of Peter the Great. So Starodum was brought up according to the old values, and this laid in him strong character traits and inflexibility of mind.

Many critics consider Starodum the personification of Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin himself. On behalf of the Starodum, the writer wanted to emphasize the immorality of the society of his time with the help of references to the generation of Peter brought up in the old ways. There were no arrogant ranks, he said:

“... Then one person was called You, and not You ... But now many are not worth one ...”.

Starodum respected people who were devoted to their word, honor and nobility, despising in response others who contradicted these qualities and did not respect them. He despised the nobles who received their ranks and property for ignoble service, feigned lies, flattery and betrayal of themselves and their principles, honor. Starodum did not tolerate the baseness of the human soul and arrogance, was rude and stingy with such people. And there were many such people in his time. The Prostakovs are the same proof and personification of these low people.

Thus, Starodum is one of the significant characters in the comedy. He played the most striking and important role in it - he discovered human vices. The character is the main key to unlocking an important theme throughout D.I. Fonvizin and the personification of noble human traits.

There in the old days
Satyrs bold lord
Fonvizin shone, friend of freedom.
A.S. Pushkin

The comedy was written by Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin in 1782. In it, he not only laughed at Mrs. Prostakova and her relatives, but also showed serfdom"In his best". The power of the landowners at that time was unlimited. And when the landlords were like Prostakova and Skotinin, then this power was to the detriment of everyone: both the landlords, because they felt they had the right to push other people around, and the peasants, who were treated like cattle, if not worse. The peasants had no rights: neither personal nor civil, they paid exorbitant dues, went to corvée. Almost everything they grew with their own hands, they had to give to the insatiable landowners, who grew rich, while the peasants starved and died of hunger.
The serfs were ignorant, but it was not their fault, while the nobles, who seemed to have the opportunity, were almost no different from the serfs in this. The upbringing of the younger generation was entrusted to the yard people, and the education of young nobles was carried out by foreigners (who were often coachmen, janitors in their homeland and had nothing to do with the sciences), retired semi-literate soldiers and clerks, who forced their students to memorize the psalter. Many young nobles lacked a sense of duty to the Fatherland. They served not for Russia, but for ranks, honors and money.
But Starodum was not like that - main character comedy. He was a nobleman, brought up in the time of Peter the Great. He was sure that “a nobleman would consider it a first dishonor not to do anything when he has so much to do: there are people who can be helped; there is a Fatherland to serve." Starodum highly valued the soul in a person, honor and rules. He despised flatterers - people striving for wealth, ranks. He was at court, but "reasoned that it is better to lead a life at home than in someone else's front." Starodum said: “I left the court without villages, without a ribbon, without ranks, but I brought mine home intact, my soul, my honor, my rules.” Starodum is characterized by such qualities as purposefulness, nobility, honesty, good manners. He always followed his own rules, and "from birth his tongue did not say yes, when his soul felt no."
In his youth, Starodum had a friend, a count, the illegitimate son of a nobleman, who "had a special opportunity to learn what was not yet part of their upbringing." When war was declared, Starodum offered his friend to go to war, "to become worthy of the title of nobleman." But the Count refused. Then Starodum realized that "between random people and respectable people there is sometimes an immeasurable difference, that in the big world there are very small souls and that with great enlightenment one can be a great stinger." Then, when Starodum was in the hospital, he learned that the count had been given a new rank, and he, who had many wounds, was bypassed. He resigned, but then he realized that “a downright pious person is jealous of deeds, and not of ranks, that ranks are often begged for, and true respect is deserved, that it is much more honest to be bypassed without guilt than to be granted without merit.”
Even Starodum's speech characterizes him, it is full of aphorisms. This is speech wise man who lived his life in such a way that he has nothing to be ashamed of, he never deviated from his rules.
Starodum despises people like Prostakova, Skotinin. Prostakova is an evil, rude, unpredictable, ruthless landowner. Prostakov is a pitiful, weak-willed man who is under the heel of his wife. Mitrofanushka is an illiterate, lazy, selfish bumpkin. Skotinin is a cruel, ignorant, bestial landowner who adores pigs and compares everyone around him to them. All these people are flattering Starodum, trying to expose themselves to best light, fawning, imitating benevolent people, because they want to force his niece Sophia, the heiress of a large fortune, to marriage. Greedy, greedy, ignorant people without a sense of duty, self-esteem can only cause contempt. But Starodum treats his niece, her fiancé Milon, Pravdin with respect, with love, because they are noble, purposeful people who are ready to serve their Fatherland.
It seems to me that Starodum is an ideal hero of the era of Russian classicism, because he is a patriot of his Motherland. I believe that Starodum is a person who is worth taking an example from, because he never deviated from his rules, did not flatter, did not grovel, he devoted all his strength to serving the Motherland. I am sure that at least a few people who have read the comedy "Undergrowth" will learn something, draw conclusions for themselves, and I will try to make every effort to never be like Mrs. Prostakova, her husband, Mitrofanushka and Skotinin , but try to cultivate in oneself the qualities inherent in Starodum.

Center in the row goodies belongs in the comedy "Undergrowth" to Starodum. Starodum, as his name shows, is a person who "thinks in the old way." In his face, Fonvizin portrayed, however, not a conservative, a man of outdated views, but, on the contrary, a representative advanced ideas. The name of Starodum and his position are explained by the polemical objectives of the play. The author had to oppose the modern reality, which he criticized, with a different era, a different political system. Such an epoch was for Starodum the “old”, Petrine era, which he sets as an example of modernity.

Starodum's personality is revealed mainly in his conversations with Pravdin and Sophia. We learn from the stories of this hero about his past: about his military career in his youth, about his resignation, about court service, about his future activities. About his activities after refusing court service in the comedy "Undergrowth" Starodum speaks somehow mysteriously and unclearly. He says that he retired “to the land where money is obtained, without exchanging it for conscience, without vile length of service, without robbing the fatherland; where they demand money from the land itself...” What kind of activity is this? This, apparently, is the development of the bowels of the earth, the extraction of minerals somewhere in Siberia or the Urals. If this is so, then in the comedy "Undergrowth" Starodum actually embodied his arguments of the advanced nobleman of the era. In his time, industry and trade were not in the eyes of the nobles. nobility. Fonvizin himself fought against this prejudice, releasing in 1766 a translation of Couillet's treatise "The merchant nobility opposed to the military nobility." In the comedy "Undergrowth" Starodum, therefore, not only reasoned - he really broke the prejudices of his class, showed him new ways of activity. This is an honest man whose word does not disagree with the deed.

How did Starodum draw for himself the ideal of the state and man? The answer to this question is given by his reasoning. They deal with three main themes: politics, morality and education.

The political views of Starodum are the views of the opposition nobility of his era. We learn his point of view both on the ideal of the ruler (“great sovereign”), and on the social duties of the nobility, and on serfdom, etc. Thus, Starodum’s position on the issue of serfdom is very clearly expressed by his phrase: illegal."

His indignation against the decline and coarsening of noble morals sounds very strongly in the speeches of the Starodum. Discussing the happiness of a citizen, the rights of a person to nobility, the signs of an enlightened mind, the choice of friends, family and marriage, Starodum first of all speaks of morality, i.e. about human morality. An indicator of a person's dignity for him is the "soul", "virtue". What the violation of moral foundations leads to, Starodum illustrates with a story about a young count, a friend of his youth, and a description of court morals, and remarks about Mitrofanushka.

It is impossible to understand the ideological side of the "Undergrowth" without the speeches of this hero. These speeches are an expression of the views and sentiments of the author himself. That is why Starodum has to talk so much from the stage. The heroes of the old plays, who expressed the views of the author from the stage and reasoned more than acted, were called reasoners (from French word raisonner - reason). In this sense, Starodum can also be called a reasoner. However, this is no ordinary reasoner for classical drama. In the comedy "Undergrowth" Starodum at the same time living face. When necessary, he argues, when possible, he jokes and laughs (for example, act IV, phenomenon 7). This is kind man of heart. He forgives Prostakov and, when she faints, carefully invites Sofya to help her.

There were not so many people who shared his advanced views in the 18th century, but he did exist. Starodum's speeches, in any case, found a sympathetic response. The proof of this is that the most great success during the performance of "Undergrowth" in the days of Fonvizin, the role of Starodum was usually used. In the years of Fonvizin, there was an assumption that N.I. served as the prototype for this hero. Novikov, an ardent fighter for advanced ideals.

Starodum.

Starodum is an enlightened and progressive person.

He was brought up in the spirit of Peter's time, the thoughts, customs and activities of people of that time are closer and more acceptable to him. Calling the hero Starodum, Fonvizin thereby emphasized his preference for the time of Peter the Great to contemporary reality. Why is Starodum dear to Fonvizin?

In comedy, Starodum talks more than he acts. His character, views and activities are revealed in his speeches.

Starodum is above all a deep patriot.

Honest and useful service to the fatherland is for him the first and sacred duty of a nobleman. Only then can a nobleman leave the service, "when he is internally convinced that the service to his fatherland does not bring direct benefits." Starodum regards a person according to his service to the fatherland. “The degree of nobility (i.e., value,” says Starodum, “I calculate according to the number of deeds that the great gentleman did for the fatherland ... without noble deeds, a noble state is nothing.” Service to the state, according to Starodum, is a matter of honor of a nobleman. During the war, the nobleman's duty is to be in the army, and not to settle in safe places in the rear, as the young count, familiar to Starodum, did.

In peacetime, a nobleman can serve the fatherland "not only as a public service, but also engaged in the development of the bowels of the earth working in the field of industrial development. Speaking about the industrial activity of Starodum, apparently in Siberia, Fonvizin points out to the nobles, who considered industry and trade not a noble matter, that the development of minerals does not drop noble dignity.

Starodum is a representative of the nobility, who has a negative attitude towards the orders of Catherine's reign. He sharply opposes the nobles of the queen's favorites, denounces the morals of the court nobility. He demands legitimacy, limiting the arbitrariness of the tsar and the feudal landlords. An ardent defender of enlightenment and humanity, Starodum is indignant at the inertia, savagery, malevolence of the landlord class, inhuman oppression of the serfs. “It is illegal to oppress your own kind by slavery,” he declares. Especially Starodum says a lot about education. He attaches more value to moral education than to education: “The mind, if it is only the mind, the most trifle, Good manners gives the direct price to the mind. Without him clever man- a monster, Science in a depraved person is a fierce weapon to do evil. Only raising good spiritual qualities, you can grow a real person: "Have a heart, have a soul - and you will be a person at all times."

In the speeches of Starodum expressed whole program views and activities of the advanced nobility of that era, and above all - Fonvizin himself. Contemporaries highly appreciated the speech of Starodum, they saw in him not a simple reasoner, that is, a person expressing the views of the author, but a lifelike, truthfully drawn representative of the enlightened nobility.

It cannot be denied, of course, that in life there were such honest and impeccable officials as Pravdin, but the role assigned to him by Fonvizin in the comedy is clearly composed by the author and does not correspond to reality: there were no such auditors at that time. Introducing Pravdin into the comedy in the role of an official empowered to take guardianship from the cruel landowners, Fonvizin thereby contrasted what, in his opinion, should have been with what actually happened in life. In the army of Suvorov, there were patriotic officers, loyal to their duty, like Mila a. In the memoirs of people of that time, one can find images of girls similar to Sophia. But characteristic of the nobility at that time, especially the provincial ones, were those features that are so fully and vividly embodied in the images of the Prostakovs-Skotinins. That is why the latter came out from the pen of Fonvizin artistically more perfect and vitally convincing.

The speech of positive characters is close to the book literary language that time. Phrases are constructed rather ponderously, gallicisms are often found (i.e., sentences built according to the syntax French): “I do my job” (Milon); “Incidents with a person of your qualities cannot be indifferent to anyone” (Pravdin), etc.

In the speech of Starodum, his love for aphorisms is manifested, that is, short, well-aimed sayings: “Ranks begin - sincerity ceases”; "An ignoramus without a soul is a beast"; "Golden blockhead - all blockhead", etc.

Updated: 2011-05-08

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