Off-stage and episodic characters and their role in the comedy A. S.

Copyright Contest -K2
An artistic creation must be fully prepared in the soul of the artist before he takes up the pen ... He must first see faces in front of him, from mutual relations which his drama or story is formed ...

V.G. Belinsky

As you know, the composition of a literary work includes elements:
- arrangement of images-characters and grouping of other images;
- plot composition
- composition of non-plot elements;
- ways of narration (from the author, from the narrator, from the hero; in the form of an oral story, in the form of diaries, letters)
- composition of details (details of the situation, behavior);
- speech composition (stylistic devices).

In this article, we will talk about the character system

1. Character system: elements and structure
2. Elements of the character sphere
Categories of characters - main, secondary, episodic, off-stage
Parameters for defining the category of characters
3. The structure of the character sphere
Number of characters
Hierarchy of the character system
Connections between characters - opposition, grouping by thematic principle, juxtaposition
4. Resume

CHARACTER SYSTEM

Character ( literary hero) is the protagonist of the plot artwork.
The organization of characters in a literary and artistic work appears as a system of characters.

The character system should be viewed from two perspectives:
1. as a system of relationships between characters (struggle, clashes, etc.) - that is, from the point of view of the content of the work;
2. as the embodiment of the principle of composition and a means of characterizing the characters - that is, as the position of the author.

Like any system, the character sphere is characterized through its constituent ELEMENTS (characters) and STRUCTURE (relatively stable method = the law of connection of elements).

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER SPHERE

There are the following CATEGORIES OF CHARACTERS:

MAIN - are in the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work,

SECONDARY - also quite actively participating in the plot, having their own character, but which receive less author's attention; in some cases, their function is to help reveal the images of the main characters,

EPISODIC - appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often not having their own character and standing on the periphery of the author's attention; their main function is to give an impetus to the plot action at the right time or to set off certain features of the main and secondary characters).

In addition, there are also so-called. EXTERNAL characters in question, but they do not participate in the action (for example, in "Woe from Wit" by A. S. Griboyedov, this is Princess Marya Alekseevna, whose opinions everyone is so afraid of, or Uncle Famusova, a certain Maxim Petrovich).
For example, Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" seems to be about the life of one person. However, the novel is densely populated. Robinson's memories and dreams are filled with different faces (= off-stage characters): a father who warned his son against the sea; dead companions, with whose fate he often compares his own; the basket-maker, whose work he observed as a child; the desired comrade is "a living person with whom I could talk." The role of non-stage characters, as if casually mentioned, is very important: after all, Robinson on his island is both alone and not alone, since he personifies the total human experience, hard work and enterprise of his contemporaries and compatriots.

What PARAMETERS determine the category of characters?

There are two of them. It:
- the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the amount of text that this character is given;
- the degree of importance of this character for revealing the sides of the artistic content.

Most often, these parameters coincide. So, in "Fathers and Sons" Bazarov - main character in both respects, Pavel Petrovich, Nikolai Petrovich, Arkady, Odintsova are secondary characters in all respects, and Sitnikov or Kukshina are episodic.

Example - " Captain's daughter» Pushkin.
“It would seem that it is impossible to imagine a more episodic image than Empress Catherine: it seems that she exists only in order to bring the rather intricate story of the main characters to a happy denouement. But for the problematics and the idea of ​​the story, this image is of paramount importance, because without it the most important idea of ​​the story, the idea of ​​mercy, would not have received its semantic and compositional completion. Just as Pugachev at one time, in spite of all circumstances, pardons Grinev, so Ekaterina pardons him, although the circumstances of the case seem to point against him. Just as Grinev meets with Pugachev as a person with a person, and only later he turns into an autocrat, so Masha meets with Catherine, not suspecting that the empress is in front of her - also like a person with a person. And had it not been for this image in the system of characters in the story, the composition would not have been closed, and therefore the idea of ​​the human connection of all people, without distinction of estates and positions, would not have sounded artistically convincing, the idea that “doing alms” is one of the best manifestations of human spirit, but a solid foundation of human community - not cruelty and violence, but kindness and mercy "(c)

And it also happens that the question of dividing characters into categories generally loses all meaningful meaning.

For example, in the composition dead souls» episodic characters differ from the main ones only quantitatively, not qualitatively: in terms of the volume of the image, but not in terms of the degree of the author's interest in them.
The number of characters in the poem literally rolls over. Uncle Minyai and Uncle Mityai, Nozdrev’s son-in-law Mizhuev, the boys begging Chichikov at the gates of the hotel, and especially one of them, “a great hunter to stand on the heels”, and staff captain Kisses, and a certain assessor Drobyazhkin, and Fetinya, a master of whipping featherbeds, some lieutenant who came from Ryazan, a big, apparently, hunter for boots, because he had already ordered four pairs and was constantly trying on the fifth, and further, further, further.
These figures do not give impetus to the plot action and in no way characterize GG - Chichikov. Moreover, the detailing of these figures is clearly excessive - let us recall the men who talked about Manilovka and Zamanilovka, Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye snout, the wife of Sobakevich, the daughter of an old clerk, whose face was threshing peas at night, the late husband of Korobochka, who loved someone sometimes I scratched his heels at night, but without this I couldn’t fall asleep at all.
However, this is not an excess and certainly not the author's inability to build a plot. It is, on the contrary, thin compositional technique, with the help of which Gogol created a special installation. He showed not just images of individual people, but something broader and more significant - the image of the population, the people, the nation. Peace, finally.

Almost the same composition of the system of characters is observed in Chekhov's plays, and the matter is even more complicated: the main and secondary characters cannot be distinguished even by the degree of participation in the plot and the volume of the image. With the help of this system, Chekhov shows "a certain set ordinary people, ordinary consciousness, among which there are no outstanding, outstanding heroes, on the images of which a play can be built, but for the most part they are nonetheless interesting and significant. For this, it is necessary to show a lot of equal characters, without singling out the main and secondary ones from them; only in this way is something in common revealed in them, namely, the drama of a life that has not taken place, a life that has passed or is passing in vain, without meaning and even without pleasure, inherent in ordinary consciousness.

STRUCTURE OF THE CHARACTER SPHERE

How many characters are needed and enough?

While working on The Three Sisters, Chekhov sneered at himself: “I am not writing a play, but some kind of confusion. There are many actors - it is possible that I will go astray and quit writing. And at the end he recalled: “It was terribly difficult to write“ Three Sisters ”. After all, there are three heroines, each should be on her own model, and all three are the general's daughters!

Every author is faced with the problem - are all the characters obligatory? Are there redundant ones among them? And what to do if you want to write a mass scene, but there is no desire to produce Persians?
Like a classic, where “the red natives and natives (positive and innumerable hordes)” are introduced into the play “citizen Jules Verne”. (Bulgakov. Crimson Island).

So, NUMBER OF CHARACTERS.

At least two subjects are needed to form a system of characters.
As an option - there may be a split of the hero - Semyon Semenovich with glasses and without glasses (Kharms, "Cases").

The maximum number of characters is not limited.
According to some estimates, there are about 600 characters in Tolstoy's "War and Peace", in " human comedy» Balzac - about 2,000. (For comparison, the population of a medieval Western European city was 1-3 thousand inhabitants).
The numbers are impressive.
And immediately the question is - can you create a work with a similar number of characters? No, stuffing characters into a story is easy. But then you have to manage them - so that your thing does not look like a telephone directory.

CHARACTERS MUST INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER.

Some succeed. For example, King's multi-character items are Needful Things, Armageddon (another translation is The Stand), Under the Dome.

Or classic example- Homer, The Odyssey. Philologists have established more than 1,700 connections between 342 characters in the poem. There is a connection between the characters if, according to the plot, they meet, talk to each other, quote each other's words to a third character, or it is clear from the text that they are familiar. The structure of the Odyssey surprisingly resembles social network Like Facebook or Twitter. Is history repeating itself?

So, the system of characters is the interconnections and relations between the Persians, that is, a concept related to the composition of the work.

The most important property of the character system is HIERARCHY.
We have already talked about this here:

In most cases, the character is at the point where the three rays intersect.
The first is friends, associates (friendly relations).
The second is enemies, ill-wishers (hostile relations).
Third - other strangers (neutral relations)
These three rays (and the people in them) create a strict hierarchical structure.

We continue the conversation.

“The plot in its formation is, first of all, the creation of a system of characters. An important stage is the establishment of the central figure and then the establishment of the rest of the characters, who are located around this figure on a descending ladder ”(G.A. Shengeli)

The simplest and most common case is the OPPOSITE of two images to each other.
Mozart and Salieri, Grinev and Shvabrin, Oblomov and Stolz, Malchish-Kibalchish and Malchish-Plokhish.

A few more difficult case, when one character is opposed to all others, as, for example, in Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit", where even quantitative ratios are important: it was not for nothing that Griboyedov wrote that in his comedy "twenty-five fools per one smart person."

“The characters are grouped in the work. The simplest case is the division of all actors into two camps: friends and enemies of the protagonist. In more complex works, there may be several such groups, and each of these groups is connected by various relationships with other persons ”(Tomashevsky B.V. Poetics)

So, in Anna Karenina, the main compositional grouping of characters is according to the thematic principle stated at the beginning of the novel: “Everything happy families similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Different families in the novel develop this theme in different ways.

In "Fathers and Sons", in addition to the obvious and realized in the plot opposition of Bazarov to all other characters, another one is carried out, more hidden and not embodied in the plot compositional principle, namely, the comparison by similarity of two groups of characters: on the one hand, these are Arkady and Nikolai Petrovich, on the other, Bazarov and his parents. “In both cases, these characters embody the same problem - the problem of the relationship between generations. Turgenev shows that, no matter what the individual people may be, the problem remains essentially the same: it is an ardent love for children, for whom, in fact, older generation and lives, this is an inevitable misunderstanding, the desire of children to prove their “adulthood” and superiority, dramatic internal conflicts as a result of this, and yet, in the end, the inevitable spiritual unity of generations ”(c)

There are also more complex compositional connections between the characters.

An example is "Crime and Punishment".
“The character system is organized around the main character Raskolnikov; the rest of the characters are in complex relationships with him, and not only in the plot; and it is in extra-plot connections that the richness of the composition of the novel is revealed.
First of all, Raskolnikov is compositionally connected with Sonya. In their life position, they are primarily opposed. But not only. They also have something in common, primarily in pain for a person and in suffering, which is why Sonya Raskolnikov understands so easily and immediately. In addition, as Raskolnikov himself emphasizes, they are both criminals, both murderers, only Sonya killed herself, and Raskolnikov killed the other. Here the comparison ends and the opposition begins again: for Dostoevsky, these two “murders” are not at all equivalent, moreover, they have a fundamentally opposite worldview meaning. And yet, both criminals, who are united by the gospel motif of sacrifice for humanity, the cross, redemption, it is no coincidence that Dostoevsky emphasized the strange neighborhood of “a murderer and a harlot who came together to read eternal book". So, Sonya is both the antipode and a kind of double of Raskolnikov.

The rest of the characters are also organized around Raskolnikov on the same principle; it is, as it were, repeatedly reflected in its counterparts, but reflected with distortions, or incompletely.
So, Razumikhin approaches Raskolnikov with his rationality and confidence that life can be arranged without God, relying only on oneself, but he is sharply opposed to him, since he does not accept the idea of ​​"blood according to conscience."

Porfiry Petrovich is the antipode of Raskolnikov, but there is something Raskolnikov in him, because he understands the main character faster and better than anyone.

Luzhin takes the practical part of Raskolnikov's theory of the right to crime, but completely emasculates all sublime meaning from it. In the "new currents" he sees only a justification for his boundless egoism, believing that the new morality gives him the sanction to try only for his own benefit, not stopping at any moral prohibitions. Luzhin reflects Raskolnikov's philosophy in a distorted mirror of cynicism, and Raskolnikov himself looks with disgust at Luzhin and his theory - thus, we have another double, another twin antipode.

Svidrigailov, as is typical of an ironist, brings Raskolnikov's ideas to their logical end, advising him to stop thinking about the welfare of mankind, about questions of "man and citizen". But, like everyone penetrated, Svidrigailov does not accept Raskolnikov's theory personally for himself, being skeptical of any philosophy. And Svidrigailov disgusts Raskolnikov; they again turn out to be mismatched twins, antipodal twins.

Such a composition of the system of characters is caused by the need to raise and solve complex moral and philosophical questions, to consider the theory of the protagonist and its implementation in practice in a variety of applications and aspects. The composition here, therefore, works to reveal the problematics ”(c) L.V. Chernets. Character system.

The system of characters is the interconnections and relations between the Persians, that is, the concept related to the composition of the work.

The system of characters reveals the content of the works, but - it itself is one of the sides of their composition.

The compositional grouping of characters is carried out in accordance with the THEMES and PROBLEMS that these characters embody.

The main characters, those whose fate attracted the writer's special attention, are called heroes. Other characters are divided into secondary, auxiliary and random or situational. In this case, the following complications are possible: secondary characters may, by attracting the attention of the reader, at the same time attract his sympathy or dissympathy; in the first case, the author usually seeks to put limits on the interest of the reader. (c) G.A. Shengeli.

There are two types of RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHARACTERS - according to the plot (thesis-antithesis) and according to the ratio of characters.

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Literary ideas about the system of characters

This work is devoted to the analysis of the system of characters in literature lessons in high school. We will understand the term "analysis" in a broad sense - as "a study that includes both the mental decomposition of a work and the combination of the selected sides of the elements into a whole." The organization of characters in a literary and artistic work appears as a system. The description of its specific aspects is a task of paramount importance for the present work, the starting point for the analysis of the work. Our task is to identify these sides and understand how the characters are organized into a system. To begin with, we will try to decompose the work into its constituent elements, highlight important aspects, and then combine them into a whole according to common features.

Turning to the consideration of the work, we proceed from the ideas reflected in the work of V.G. Zinchenko "Methods of studying literature". According to these ideas, we are dealing with meaningful form and artistic content. According to the same source, the concept of “substantive form” consists of several components that can become the subject of independent consideration or the starting point for analyzing a work, for example: plot or composition. One of the levels of the content form of the work should be considered the system of characters. The significance of the system of characters in a literary and artistic work is evidenced, for example, by the following statement by V.G. Belinsky: “An artistic creation must be completely ready in the artist’s soul before he takes up a pen ... He must firstto see in front of him the faces, from the mutual relations of which his drama or story is formed ...» . Thus, already V.G. Belinsky noted that there is a certain connection between the heroes of the work, without which the implementation of the plan is impossible.

What is a system in the broadest sense? The term "system" comes from the Greek word "systema", meaning a whole made up of parts. The definition of a system is present in different branches of science in a narrow and broad sense - both as a regularly organized set of homogeneous elements, and as a set of systems and subsystems. According to V.G. Zinchenko« A system is understood as a certain integrity formed by a set of elements that are in relationships and in relationships with each other. In addition to the property of connectivity, hierarchy is also usually mentioned as the most important feature of the system. The system of characters in the work, like any other system, is an integrity. In the case of the system of characters, its elements will be directly the characters themselves, that is, the heroes acting in the work. Subsystems can be considered their groups, compounds formed by several characters, which are united according to the main features. Let's not forget about the hierarchy, which is somehow present in any work with a sufficient number of characters.

What is a character as an element of the system? The terminological designation of the image of a person in a literary work is one of the important problems of modern literary criticism. In accordance with the task of this work, we will consider that the character is the protagonist of the plot of a work of art, most often embodying the characteristic features of the image of a person. The main characters of the work have a character expressed in a complex system of artistic means. Thus, a specific analysis of the system of characters in a literary work will simultaneously reveal the characters and artistic means of their embodiment.

There are a lot of references to the concept of "character system" today. In literary criticism, the term "character system" appeared only in the 80s of the 20th century.

The concept of a system of characters is still used by many researchers without a special definition, although it should be noted that we are talking mainly about a system of images, where “an image means the image of a person in a work of art” .

Without using the term "character system", Yu.V. Mann writes about various kinds of connections between characters. Paying attention to the importance of “the motive of leaving, leaving” for the entire artistic fabric of the novel by I.S. Turgenev “Smoke”, the researcher states “a special kind of character connections” that arise as a result of the development of this motive: “Meanwhile, since the motive of leaving implements not only the moment of ideological confrontation, but a subtle play of likes or dislikes, closeness or alienation - in a word, everything the diversity of human relations, then this motif becomes the unifying beginning of the novel action. In the work of Yu.V. Mann, it is important for us, firstly, to highlight the various connections between the characters, and secondly, to establish a connection between the "ideological confrontation" and a wide range of relationships that make up the event-psychological basis of the system of characters.

The article by V.A. Grekhnev from the book " verbal image and literary work ":" In large genre forms(primarily in the novel) the composition can be organized around one or more large-scale characters. Thus, the author of the article seeks to designate the system of characters in the work. But we think it would not be entirely correct to consider that this phenomenon is typical only for large genre forms.

A.G. also dwells on some features of the character system. Zeitlin in The Work of a Writer. Firstly, “the characters of a work of art act in some way, i.e. perform actions and are therefore in certain relationships. It is further noted: "The writer strives ... to ensure that the state of mind of the hero would become clear from his actions." The system of characters is "continuously changing", while a certain "hierarchy of actors" is observed. In addition, there is a grouping that "within the system of characters each time corresponds to the correlation of certain social forces" . The literary critic draws attention both to the external properties of the system of characters (its variability, hierarchy), and its internal features based on the interaction and opposition of characters - the embodiment of the "mental state of the characters", a reflection of the struggle of social forces, i.e. ultimately - the ideological content of the work.

N.D. Tamarchenko in the book " Literary terms” gives the following definition to the concept of interest to us: “The system of characters is an artistically purposeful correlation of all the “leading” characters and all the so-called “secondary” characters in a literary work. Through a system of characters, a single author's idea of ​​a person is expressed in his relationship with nature, society and history, as well as about the types of a person ... ". This definition clearly expresses the idea that the system of characters serves, first of all, as a means of expressing the author's attitude to the environment and understanding life as such.

Speaking about the role of the author in the system of characters, researcher V.E. Khalizev notes that the author invariably expresses (of course, in the language of artistic images, and not in direct conclusions) his attitude to the position, attitudes, and value orientation of his character. At the same time, the image of the character, according to V.E. Khalizeva (like all other parts of the verbal and artistic form), “appears as the embodiment of the writer's concept, idea, i.e. as something whole within the framework of another, wider, proper artistic integrity (the work as such). He depends on this integrity, one might say, serves it according to the will of the author. With any serious mastery of the character sphere of the work, the reader inevitably penetrates into spiritual world author: in the images of the characters he sees (primarily by direct feeling) the creative will of the writer.

Expressed by V.E. Khalizev’s idea that the attitude of the author to the hero can be predominantly either alienated or related, but not neutral, allows us to understand that each character, regardless of his position in the system, has a certain author’s assessment, which, perhaps, in in turn determines his place in this system of characters. Equally interesting is the idea of ​​V.E. Khalizeva about the importance of group, collective characters that can act in the work. In addition, characters are often the stimulus for the unfolding of the events that make up the plot, which is important when characters appear in the plot and thus their functions in the system.

Turning to the concept of a character as an element of the L.V. Chernets notes that the concept of a character (hero, protagonist) is the most important in the analysis of epic and dramatic works, where exactly the characters that form a certain system and the plot (system of events) form the basis objective world.

We know that most often a literary character is a person. The degree of concreteness of his presentation, according to L.V. Chernets, can be different and depends on many reasons: on the place in the system of characters, on the type and genre of the work, etc. But most of all, the principles of the image, the very direction of detailing are determined by the intention of the work, creative method writer: more can be said about the minor character of a realistic story in biographical and social terms than about the protagonist of a modernist novel. Thus, we cannot judge the place of a character in the system only by the amount of text that the author allocated to this particular character. It is important to determine the author's intention and clearly understand which of the characters serves to implement this intention.

The character sphere of literature is made up not only of isolated individuals, but also collective heroes. L.V. Chernets remarks on this: “Interest in the problems of nationality, social psychology stimulated in the literature of the 19th-20th centuries. the development of this aspect of the image (the crowd in the "Notre Dame Cathedral" by V. Hugo, the market in the "Womb of Paris" by E. Zola, the working settlement in M. Gorky's novel "Mother", "old women", "neighbors", "guests", " drunkards" in the play by L. Andreev "The Life of a Man", etc.) ".

If the characters in a work are usually easy to count, then the understanding of the characters embodied in them and the corresponding grouping of persons is, according to L.V. Chernets, an act of interpretation, analysis. Further, the author notes that the number of characters and characters in the work (as well as in the work of the writer as a whole) usually does not coincide: there are much more characters. There are persons who have no character, who perform only a plot role (for example, in “Poor Lisa” N.M. Karamzin is the heroine’s friend who informed her mother about the death of her daughter). There are twins, variants of the same type (six princesses Tugoukhovsky in "Woe from Wit" by A.S. Griboyedov, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky in "The Government Inspector" by N.V. Gogol, Berkutov and Glafira, who make up a contrasting pair in relation to Kupavina and Lynyaev, in comedy "Wolves and Sheep" by A.N. Ostrovsky). Usually you have to figure out whether heroes of this type are so important in the system, and for what purpose they are present in a particular work.

The researchers also emphasize that the system of characters is directly related to the plot of the work. L.V. Chernets believes that the basis of the objective world of epic and dramatic works is usually a system of characters and a plot. "Even in works main topic which - a person alone with wild, virgin nature ("Robinson Crusoe" by D. Defoe, "Walden, or Life in the Forest" by G. Thoreau, "Mowgli" by R. Kipling), the character sphere, as a rule, is not limited to one hero ".

It is important to remember, according to L.V. Chernets: like any system, the character sphere of a work is characterized through its constituent elements (characters) and structure - "a relatively stable way (law) of connecting elements." This or that image receives the status of a character precisely as an element of the system, part of the whole, which is especially clearly seen when comparing images of animals, plants, things, etc. in various works them with a person.

Secondary characters are grouped around the main characters, participating in the struggle on one side or the other (the most important property of the structure is hierarchy). At the same time, the variety of specific characters in archaic plot genres lends itself to classification.

Plot connections as a backbone principle can be very complex, branched and cover a huge number of characters. As an example, L.V. Chernets cites "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy, where there are about six hundred characters, and "The Human Comedy" by O. Balzac - about two thousand. The appearance of these faces in most cases is motivated by the plot.

However, the researcher further notes, plot connection is not the only type of connection between characters. “The character system is a certain correlation of characters. Most often, the plot roles of the characters more or less correspond to their significance as characters.

Among the main provisions addressed to the system of characters, L.V. Chernets highlights a kind of feature, which consists in the fact that characters, along with people, can also be fantastic creatures. Collective heroes also make up the character sphere. In addition, there are characters who do not have a character, performing only a plot role. The appearance of secondary characters in most cases is motivated by the plot. Here the author introduces us to the concept of superfluous characters. As for the author of the work, his creative position is important here, since the principle of depicting characters is determined by the creative method of the writer.

In the book "Introduction to Literary Studies" edited by G.N. Pospelov also emphasized the importance of the character system: “Characters, in their totality constituting the system, are, apparently, the side of a literary and artistic work, most closely associated with the content. And when understanding the idea of ​​an epic or dramatic work, it is important to understand, first of all, the function of the system of characters - its meaning and meaning. It is from this that it is natural to begin the consideration of a short story or a novel, a comedy or a tragedy.

A.B. Yesin, notes that when analyzing epic and dramatic works, some attention should be paid to the composition of the system of characters, that is, the actors of the work (we emphasize that the analysis is not of the characters themselves, but of their mutual connections and relationships, that is, composition). For the convenience of approach to this analysis, notes A.B. Esin, it is customary to distinguish between the main characters (who are in the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work), secondary ones (also quite actively participating in the plot, having their own character, but which receive less authorial attention; in some cases, their function - to help reveal the images of the main characters) and episodic (appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often not having their own character and standing on the periphery of the author's attention; their main function is to give impetus to the plot action at the right time or set off certain features of the characters of the main and secondary). This is the most common classification, but not the only one. It would seem that a very simple and convenient division, but meanwhile, notes A.B. Yesin, in practice it often causes bewilderment and some confusion. The fact is that the category of a character (main, secondary or episodic) can be determined by two different parameters. The first is the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the amount of text that this character is given. The second is the degree of importance of this character for revealing the sides of the artistic content. But it often happens that the parameters of the character do not match; most often in the event that a person who is secondary or episodic from the point of view of the plot bears a large content load.

But, it should be noted that this gradation is not always important, in some artistic systems we meet with such an organization of the system of characters that the question of their division into main, secondary and episodic loses all meaningful meaning. Although in some cases there are differences between individual characters in terms of plot and volume of text. And A.B. Esin notes that Gogol wrote about his comedy The Inspector General: “There is every hero here; the course and course of the play produces a shock to the whole machine: not a single wheel should remain as rusty and out of business "

The same principle, according to the literary critic, in the composition of the system of characters is sustained by Gogol in the poem "Dead Souls". In the orbit of our attention, first of all, Chichikov is the “main” character (the word “main” involuntarily has to be put in quotation marks, because, as it gradually turns out, he is no more important than all the others). Further, landowners, sometimes officials, and - if time permits - one or two images from among Plyushkin's "souls" fall into our field of vision. And this is unusually small compared to the crowd of people that inhabits the space of Gogol's poem. The number of people in the poem is simply amazing, they are at every step, and before we get to know Chichikov, we have already seen “two Russian peasants”, without a name and external signs, who do not play any role in the plot, do not characterize Chichikov in any way and in general seems to be of no use. And then we will meet a great many such figures ... To list all or at least a significant part, according to A.B. Yesina, there is no way. And the most interesting thing in Gogol's system of "episodic" characters, he notes, is that each of them is unforgettably individual, and yet none of them has any functions that are usual for this type of characters; they do not give impetus to the plot action and do not help to characterize the main characters. In addition, Yesin also pays attention to the detail, the detail in the depiction of these characters, which is clearly excessive for the “passing”, peripheral hero, the nameless mistress of the roadside tavern turns out to be no less interesting for the author than Chichikov or Plyushkin. And this already creates a special setting, a special meaningful meaning of the composition: before us are no longer images of individual people, but something broader and more significant - the image of the population, people, nation; peace, finally.

Almost the same composition of the system of characters, notes A.B. Yesin, is observed in Chekhov's plays, and here, the matter is even more complicated: the main and secondary characters cannot be distinguished even by the degree of participation in the plot and the volume of the image. And here, the following composition carries a close, but somewhat different than Gogol's, meaningful meaning: Chekhov needs to show a certain set of ordinary people, ordinary consciousness, among which there are no outstanding, outstanding heroes, on whose images one can build a play, but for the most part they are nonetheless interesting and significant. For this, it is necessary to show a lot of equal characters, without singling out the main and secondary ones from them; only in this way is something in common revealed in them, namely, the drama of a life that has not taken place, a life that has passed or is passing in vain, without meaning and even without pleasure, inherent in ordinary consciousness.

Thus, although A.B. Esin proposes to divide the characters into main, secondary and episodic ones, but in some artistic systems this division loses all meaning, so you need to understand whether it is possible to classify the characters of the work under study in this way. This assumes that two parameters must be taken into account to determine the category of characters. This is the degree of participation in the plot of a particular character (the amount of text that is assigned to him) and the degree of importance of this character for revealing the sides of the artistic content. Episodic characters can differ from the main ones only quantitatively (by the volume of the image), and not qualitatively (by the degree of the author's interest in them). This creates a special meaningful meaning - the image of the people, nation, population. Sometimes the heroes of the main and secondary cannot be distinguished either by the degree of participation in the plot, or by the volume of the image. Many equal characters help to reveal something in common. Grouping of characters can also be carried out in accordance with the themes that they embody.

So, having an idea of ​​what the character system is, it becomes absolutely necessary to understand the function of the character system, its meaning, its meaning. It is from the analysis of the system of characters, as the above-mentioned researchers suggest, that it is important to begin the analysis of the work. Everything must be taken into account, even the most small parts associated with the presence of any character in the system. The division of characters into main, secondary and episodic, as noted, is not always possible. Can the characters that appear in the course of the work and, in one way or another, enter the system of characters and make up part of it, be called episodic, that is, appearing only in some episodes? Does the title suit the main characters who are in the center of the author's attention? Can the secondary characters that form the basis of the plot action be considered secondary?

In order for students to understand the role of characters in a literary work and their role in a text, in order to be able to correctly construct a retelling, it is necessary to try to correctly answer these questions in the first lessons of literature in high school.

List of used literature

1. Andreev A.N. Theory of Literature: Personality, Work, Artistic Creation. Mn.: BGU, 2004. 187 p.
2. Belinsky V.G. Full composition of writings. In 5 vol. M.: AN SSSR, 1954. V.5 414 p.
3. Introduction to literary criticism / Ed. ed. G.N. Pospelov. M.: Higher. school, 1976. 283 p.
4. Grekhnev V.A. Verbal image and literary work. The book for the teacher. Moscow: Education, 1992. 212 p.
5. Esin A.B. Principles and techniques for analyzing a literary work: Tutorial. M.: Flinta, Nauka, 2000. 248 p.
6. Zinchenko V.G. etc. Methods of studying literature. System approach (textbook) / Zinchenko V.G., Zusman V.G., Kirnoze Z.I. M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2002. 200 p.
7. Literary encyclopedic Dictionary/ Rev. ed. V.M. Kozhevnikova, M.: Sov. encyclopedia, 1987. 432 p.
8. Mann Yu.V. The dialectic of the artistic image. M.: Sov. writer, 1987. 137 p.
9. Tamarchenko N.D. literary terms. Materials for the dictionary. Kolomna, 1999. 282 p.
10. Khabibulina, G.N. Introduction to Literary Studies and Theory of Literature ( Toolkit) M: graduate School: Academy, 2008. 68 p.
11. Khalizev V. E. Theory of Literature. M.: Higher school, 2002. 437 p.
12. Chernets L.V., Khalizev V.E., Broitman S.N. Introduction to Literary Studies. Literary work: Basic concepts and terms: Textbook. M.: Higher school: Ed. Center Academy, 1999. 556 p.
13. Zeitlin A.G. The work of a writer. M.: Sov. writer, 1962. 412s.

Character - a kind of artistic image, the subject of action, experience, statements in the work. Characters + plot - the basis of the objective world. Most of the time, the character is human. But! Non-human characters are carriers of moral qualities.

Character ( artistic image, embodying given character with varying degrees of aesthetic perfection) vs character (socially significant features that manifest themselves quite clearly in the behavior and mentality of people). The number of characters and characters usually does not match. There are people who have no character.

Type is a higher degree of generalization than character. When evaluating character, its national, universal significance is important. The means of revealing the character are the components of the objective world. Characters are judged from an aesthetic point of view - how fully they express character.

Off-stage heroes - economy of means of the image; borrowed characters.

The character sphere includes 1) individuals 2) group images (seven temporarily obligated men) 3) collective heroes (crowd).

The system of characters is made up of constituent elements (characters) and structure (a relatively stable way of connecting elements). This or that image receives the status of a character precisely as an element of the system. At least two entities are required to form a system. The most important property of the structure is hierarchy.

The connection between the characters: plot vs the relationship of characters. Most often, the plot roles of the characters correspond to their significance as characters. Secondary characters - set off the various properties of the main problematic character.

The creative concept creates the unity of the compositions.

Off-stage image vs bifurcation, transformation - a commemoration of various beginnings in a person. The non-participation of the character in the main action is needed as a symbol, a reasoner.

The study of the character as a character.

Characters in lyrics - people - objects of perception of the lyrical subject. Pospelov: the character exists in those works where the object of lyrical meditation is a separate personality, embodying the specificity of social life, with individual features. A broader concept is any person who has fallen into the zone of perception of the subject. Lyrics - character and characterless. The character in the lyrics is revealed through the attitude of the lyrical subject. The most important way to create characters is nominations: primary (names, nicknames, pronouns) and secondary (qualities, signs). In the lyrics, the importance of nominations-pronouns increases. Characters rarely appear in lyrics - there are few means for disclosure. But there are character systems.

CHARACTER SYSTEM - “the correlation of characters with each other as part of a work of art; the most important aspect of composition. Being a component of the “content form”, C<истема>P<ерсонажей>performs two functions in literature: constructive (forms the structural unity of the work) and substantive (reveals the logic of the artistic conception, is the conductor of the author's concept)”. A system is such a community of elements in which the whole more than the amount parts. An element taken in a system is not equal to itself taken in isolation or in another system. “Like any system, the character sphere of a work is characterized through its constituent elements (characters) and structure...”. If there were no Kirsanov family in the novel about Bazarov, it could not be called “Fathers and Sons”, it would not only have a different plot, but also other themes and ideas.

In "Crime and Punishment" a complex system of "twins" of the protagonist, "light" and "dark", with their own "ideas" has been developed: firstly, one way or another they "step over" universal norms, become "outcasts" Raskolnikov, Sonya and Marmeladov in his "mean" incarnation; secondly, after his crime, Raskolnikov finds himself on a par with Luzhin and Svidrigailov, hated by him; thirdly, Raskolnikov, who knows in advance what he is dooming himself to, realizing his idea, sacrifices himself, for which his sister Dunya is ready in her own way; the suffering brother and sister are paralleled by the quiet, unrequited Lizaveta, who is somewhat reminiscent of Sonya, the twitchy Katerina Ivanovna and even Marmeladov in her other incarnation, as deliberately dooming herself to suffering (“I drink, because I want to suffer especially!”). The simple and kind Razumikhin is necessary in the novel as a person who is fundamentally alien to extreme “ideas”, and he becomes a worthy couple for Dunechka. He is also needed for the development of the plot, with his relative, the investigator Porfiry Petrovich, Raskolnikov gets acquainted thanks to him. And Svidrigailov, who could not stand his own baseness and spiritual emptiness, nevertheless, before his suicide, did the kindest deed in the whole novel, arranging the children of the deceased Katerina Ivanovna and thereby enabling Sonya to carry out her moral feat - to help Raskolnikov spiritually reborn in hard labor. In fact, Raskolnikov is saved by Porfiry Petrovich, who exposes him. "Enemies" become saviors. Evil did not become an instrument of good according to Raskolnikov's theory, but good came from the most unexpected sources.

A sophisticated system of characters distinguishes the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" Many of the figures in the main storyline correspond to figures in the Master's novel about Pilate. These are the pairs of Master - Yeshua, “disciples” Ivan Bezdomny - Levi Matvey, traitors Aloisy Mogarych (and tayuke Baron Meigel) - Judas from Kiriaf, chairman of MASSOLIT Mikhail Berlioz - Jewish high priest Joseph Kaifa, etc.

The word "system" is weakly applicable to works with a chronicle plot. Chichikov’s visit to each of the landowners is in many ways a self-sufficient picture, there could have been more such pictures (in the second volume of Dead Souls, Gogol tried to expand his portrait gallery), but, on the other hand, the unfinished “poem” due to its chronicity did not become too big disadvantage. In “A Hero of Our Time”, each of the constituent parts has its own plot and its own system of characters, but all of them are necessary to reveal the character of Pechorin and the patterns of his fate. In the story of I.A. Bunin's "Sunstroke" there are only two main characters: the lieutenant and "she", and "she" appears the way the lieutenant remembered. Although " sunstroke” struck two people, this is a kind of mono-narrative, in the center of it is one person, whose entire consciousness suddenly turned upside down. There is no need to talk about the character system here.

A character (literary hero) is the protagonist of a plot work of art.
The organization of characters in a literary and artistic work appears as a system of characters.

The character system should be viewed from two perspectives:

1. as a system of relationships between characters (struggle, clashes, etc.) - that is, from the point of view of the content of the work;
2. as the embodiment of the principle of composition and a means of characterizing the characters - that is, as the position of the author.

Like any system, the character sphere is characterized through its constituent ELEMENTS (characters) and STRUCTURE (relatively stable method = the law of connection of elements).

Character Sphere Elements

MAIN- are in the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work,

SECONDARY- also quite actively participating in the plot, having their own character, but who receive less authorial attention; in some cases, their function is to help reveal the images of the main characters,

EPISODIC- appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often not having their own character and standing on the periphery of the author's attention; their main function is to give an impetus to the plot action at the right time or to set off certain features of the main and secondary characters).

In addition, there are also so-called. EXTERNAL the characters in question, but they do not participate in the action (for example, in "Woe from Wit" by A. S. Griboedov, this is Princess Marya Alekseevna, whose opinions everyone is so afraid of, or Uncle Famusova, a certain Maxim Petrovich).
For example, Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" seems to be about the life of one person. However, the novel is densely populated. Robinson's memories and dreams are filled with different faces (= off-stage characters): a father who warned his son against the sea; dead companions, with whose fate he often compares his own; the basket-maker, whose work he observed as a child; the desired comrade is "a living person with whom I could talk." The role of non-stage characters, as if casually mentioned, is very important: after all, Robinson on his island is both alone and not alone, since he personifies the total human experience, hard work and enterprise of his contemporaries and compatriots.

Character category definition parameters

• - the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the amount of text that this character is given;
• - the degree of importance of this character for revealing the sides of the artistic content.

Character system of the work

The basis of the objective world of epic and dramatic works is usually character system and plot. Even in works whose main theme is a man alone with wild, virgin nature (Robinson Crusoe by D. Defoe, Walden, or Life in the Forest by G. Thoreau, Mowgli by R. Kipling), the character sphere, as a rule, is not limited to one hero. So, Defoe's novel is densely populated at the beginning and at the end, and different people live in the memories and dreams of Robinson the Hermit: the father who warned his son against the sea; dead companions, with whose fate he often compares his own; the basket-maker, whose work he observed as a child; the desired comrade is "a living person with whom I could talk." In the main part of the novel, the role of these and other off-stage characters, as if casually mentioned, is very important: after all, Robinson on his island is both alone and not alone, since he personifies the cumulative human experience, hard work and enterprise of his contemporaries and compatriots, including Defoe himself ( "fountain of energy" - so it was called by biographers).

Like any system, the character sphere of the work is characterized through its constituent elements(characters) and structure- "a relatively stable way (law) of the connection of elements." This or that image receives the status of a character precisely as an element of the system, part of the whole, which is especially clearly seen when comparing images of animals, plants, things, etc. in various works. In Defoe's novel, goats bred by Robinson, his parrot, dogs and cats, germinated stalks of barley and rice, pottery made by him consistently represent the "fayny", "flora" created before our eyes " material culture". For Defoe, according to one English critic (presumably W. Badget), “a tea rose is nothing more than a tea rose”, nature is “only a source of drought and rain” (W. Wolfe). But in the conventional world of such genres as a fairy tale, legend, fable, parable, ballad, the personification of natural phenomena and things is common. In "The Tale of the Toad and the Rose" Vs. M. Garshina rose - “more than a rose”, this is an allegory of a beautiful, but very short life. In the works of the life-like style, higher animals are often introduced into the character series, in which, in the stable traditions of animalistic literature, what brings them closer to humans is emphasized. “Does it matter who you talk about? Each of those who lived on earth deserves it, ”so begins I.A. Bunin his story "Chang's Dreams", where the two main characters are the captain and his dog Chang. Synecdoche (“everyone who lived on earth”) unites the captain and Chang, and throughout the story the psychological parallel is maintained: both are aware of fear and longing, as well as delight and glee. After all, Chang's heart "beat exactly the same as that of the captain ....

At least two subjects are needed to form a character system; their equivalent may be the "bifurcation" of the character (for example, in the miniature of D. Kharms from the cycle "Cases" - Semyon Semenovich with glasses and without glasses). In the early stages of narrative art, the number of characters and the connections between them were determined primarily by logic. plot development.“The single hero of a primitive tale once demanded his antithesis, the opposing hero; still later, the idea of ​​the heroine as a pretext for this struggle appeared - and the number three for a long time became sacred number narrative composition. Secondary characters are grouped around the main characters, participating in the struggle on one side or the other (the most important property of the structure is hierarchy). At the same time, the variety of specific characters in archaic plot genres lends itself to classification. Numerous characters of the Russian fairy tale (“There are miracles: there the goblin roams, / The mermaid sits on the branches ...”) V.Ya. Propp reduced it to seven invariants, based on the plot functions they perform (absence, prohibition, violation, etc.—a total of 31 functions, according to the scientist's calculations). This "seven-character" scheme included pest, giver, helper, princess (desired character) and her father, sender, hero, false hero.

In the ancient Greek theater, the number of actors who were simultaneously on the stage increased gradually. The pre-Aeschylean tragedy was a song of the choir, to which Thespis added one actor-reciter, who periodically left the stage and returned with reports of new events. “... Aeschylus was the first to introduce two instead of one; he also reduced the parts of the choir and put the dialogue in the first place, and Sophocles introduced three actors and scenery. Thus, the custom of performing a play by three actors (each could play several roles) was established, which was also observed by the Romans. Aeschylus' innovation created "the premise for depicting a clash between the two sides"; the presence of a third actor included minor persons in the action.

Plot connections as a backbone principle can be very complex, branched and cover a huge number of characters. Homer's Iliad sings not only Achilles and his wrath (“Wrath, goddess, sing Achilles, Peleus' son...”), but also many heroes and their patron gods involved in the Trojan War. According to some estimates, in "War and Peace" L.N. Tolstoy - about six hundred characters, and in the "Human Comedy" by O. Balzac - about two thousand. The appearance of these faces in most cases is motivated by the plot.

However, plot connection is not the only type of connection between characters; in literature that has said goodbye to the mythological cradle, he is usually not the main one. The character system is character ratio. With a variety of understandings of "character", the typification itself and the individualization of the depicted persons associated with it is the principle artistic creativity, uniting writers of different times and peoples. "...People are not alike, they love one thing, and others another," says Homer through the mouth of Odysseus ("Odyssey." Canto 14).

Most often, the plot roles of the characters more or less correspond to their significance as characters. Antigone from the tragedy of the same name by Sophocles passive role prepared by myth. The conflict between her and Creon, reflecting "a different understanding of the essence of the law" (as a traditional religious and moral norm or as the will of the king), its bloody denouement (three deaths: Antigone, Haemon, Eurydice, late regret Creon) - such is the mythological plot, "the basis and, as it were, the soul of tragedy ...", according to Aristotle. But developing, dramatizing this "woven", with ups and downs and recognitions, plot, Sophocles "captures the characters ...". Of the ways in which the playwright creates a heroic and tragic halo around Antigone, the general correlation of characters, their opposition, is very important. “Antigone appears before us even more heroic and bold,” writes A.A. Takho-Godi—when you see the quiet, timid Yemen next to her. Haemon's passionate, youthful audacity emphasizes Creong's firm, conscious decision. Wise knowledge of the truth in the speeches of Tiresias proves the complete inconsistency and senselessness of Creon's act. Sophocles "captures" even the characters of episodic persons, especially the "guard". "... This cunning man deftly defends himself by betraying Antigone into the hands of Creon."

In the aesthetics of most areas of European literature, characters more important than the plot, evaluated primarily in its characterological function. “Action is the clearest revelation of a person, the revelation of both his mentality and his goals,” Hegel believed. Usually the main characters of the works through which the creative concept is revealed occupy central position and in the story. The author composes, builds a chain of events, guided by his hierarchy of characters, depending on the chosen topic.

To understand the main problematic hero (heroes), secondary characters can play a large role, shading the various properties of his character; as a result, a whole system of parallels and oppositions, dissimilarities in the similar and similarities in the dissimilar arises. In the novel by I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov", the type of the protagonist is explained both by his antipode, the "German" Stolz, and Zakhar (who constitutes a psychological parallel to his master), but in particular by Olga, demanding in her love, and undemanding, quiet Agafya Matveevna, who created an idyllic whirlpool for Ilya Ilyich. A.V. Druzhinin found the figure of Stolz even superfluous in this series: “The creation of Olga is so complete - and the task she performed in the novel is so richly accomplished that further explanation of Oblomov’s type through other characters becomes a luxury, sometimes unnecessary. One of the representatives of this excessive luxury is us Stolz<...>to his share, in the former idea of ​​the author, fell the great work of understanding Oblomov and Oblomovism by way of an understandable opposition of the two heroes. But Olga took matters into her own hands.<.. .>dry ungrateful contrast was replaced by a drama full of love, tears, laughter and pity.

All these and other characters, also in their own way shading the type of Oblomov (Alekseev, Tarantiev, etc.), are introduced into the plot very naturally: Stolz is a childhood friend who introduces Oblomov to Olga; Zakhar spent his whole life with the master; Agafya Matveevna - hostess rented apartment etc. All of them constitute the immediate environment of the protagonist and are illuminated by the even light of the author's attention.

However, there can be significant disproportions between the place of the hero in the plot of the work and in the hierarchy of characters. Their formal premises are numerous. In the plot itself, along with the events that form the causal chain (it is often called plot), may be so-called free motives. Their appearance, which loosens the rigid structure of events characteristic of archaic genres, is fixed very early. So, comparing the fables of the Roman poet Phaedrus (1st century AD) and the ancient Greek poet Babrius (2nd century AD), M.L. Gasparov points to Babri's much greater thoroughness and freedom of presentation. “Among the images and motives of a work of art, there are structural ones that are organically included in the plot scheme, and free ones that are not directly related to it: if the structural motive is removed from the work, the entire plot will collapse, if the free motive is removed, then the work will retain harmony and meaning, but will become paler and poorer. And so, it can be seen that Phaedrus develops almost exclusively structural images and motifs, and Babrius pays main attention to free images and motives. The introduction of free motives (deviations from the main plot), the combination in the work of non-intersecting or weak bound friend with other storylines, the very detailing of the action, its inhibition by descriptive, static episodes (portrait, landscape, interior, genre scenes, etc.) - these and other complications in the composition of epic and dramatic works open up for the writer different ways embodiment of the creative concept, including the possibility of revealing the character Not only in connection with his participation in the plot.

In the novel "Oblomov" there is an introductory episode - "Oblomov's Dream", where time seems to stop; critics of different directions (Druzhinin, Dobrolyubov, Ap. Grigoriev) saw in it the key to the whole novel, since it is here that the rootedness of “Oblomovism” in national life is revealed. Comparing Goncharov with the Flemish painters who poetized their land, Druzhinin emphasized the deep meaning of the details of the description and episodic faces: “There is nothing superfluous here, you will not find an obscure line or a word said in vain, all the little things of the situation are necessary, everything is legal and beautiful. Onisim Suslov, whose porch could only be reached by grabbing the grass with one hand and the roof of the hut with the other, is kind to us and necessary in this matter of clarification. Ap. Grigoriev saw in "Oblomov's Dream" "the grain from which the whole "Oblomov" was born"; it is here that "the author becomes a true poet...". ON THE. Dobrolyubov, in his analysis of Oblomovism, also refers to the material in Sna, in which the most important thing for him is the upbringing of Ilyusha. "... The vile habit of obtaining satisfaction of one's desires not from one's own efforts, but from others, developed in him an apathetic immobility and plunged him into a miserable state of moral slavery."

Ariadne's thread, which makes it possible to see a system of characters behind the characters, is, first of all, creative concept, idea works; it is she who creates the unity of the most complex compositions. In understanding this concept, the main idea of ​​the work, of course, differences are possible and even inevitable: any interpretation is subjective to one degree or another. But both in adequate and polemical interpretations in relation to the author's concept, the characters and their arrangement are considered not naively realistically, but in the light of the general idea, the unity of the meaning of the work.

V.G. Belinsky in the analysis of "The Hero of Our Time" M.Yu. Lermontov saw the connection between the five parts of this novel-cycle, with their different characters and plots, in "one thought" - in the psychological riddle of Pechorin's character. All the other faces, “each one so interesting in itself, so fully educated, stand around one person, form a group with him, of which this one person is the center, look at him together with you, some with love, some with hatred ... ". Having examined Bela and Maksim Maksimych, the critic notes that Pechorin "is not the hero of these stories, but without him there would be no these stories: he is the hero of the novel, of which these two stories are only parts." In "Anna Karenina" the main storylines (Anna - Karenin - Vronsky, Kita - Vronsky - Levin, Dolly - Stiva) are united primarily family theme, in Tolstoy's understanding and assessments. The words of the writer are known: “I am proud of ... architecture - the vaults are brought together so that it is impossible to even notice where the castle is. And that's what I tried the most. The connection of the construction is made not on the plot and not on the relationship (acquaintance) of persons, but on the internal connection. "Internal communication", a complex roll call of epochs and values ​​- at the heart of the composition of "The Master and Margarita" by M.A. Bulgakov.

In the light of a particular concept of the work, covering it as a whole, and taking into account the diversity of image structures, the meaning of the character as a character is determined. At the same time, it turns out that approximately equal employment in the plot does not mean a similar status of the characters. In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Shylock far surpasses — in terms of the potential for ambiguity of the image — his debtor Angonio, as well as other persons (despite or thanks to the author's intention?). In Tolstoy's "War and Peace" Tikhon Shcherbaty is incomparable with Platon Karataev, the symbol of " swarm life", Pierre's mental judge in the epilogue (although both Shcherbaty and Karataev are episodic persons in the plot). Main troubled hero hidden in the depths of the story special person"Rakhmetov in the secret writing of Chernyshevsky's novel" What is to be done?), his image can even be "off-stage, as in Bulgakov's play" Last days(Pushkin)". According to the memoirs of B.S. Bulgakova, V.V. Veresaev “at first ... was stunned that MA. decided to write the play without Pushkin (otherwise it would be vulgar), but after thinking it over, he agreed. In the “absurdist” plays “Chairs” by E. Ionesco and “Waiting for Godot” by S. Beckett, images of the vainly expected are created in the dialogue of those present on the stage.

The off-stage image is not inferior to the eccentric reception bifurcation character, signifying various beginnings in a person (“ kind person from Cesuan" by B. Brecht, "Shadow" by E. Schwartz, which develops the motive coming from A. Chamisso), as well as his transformation(into an animal, insect: "Transformation" by F. Kafka, "Heart of a Dog" by M.A. Bulgakov, "Bug" by V. Mayakovsky). A complex, doubly plot here reveals essentially one character.

The non-participation of a character in the main action of a work is often a kind of sign of his importance as a spokesman for public opinion, a symbol, an author's reasoner, etc. In artistic realism, with its attention to socio-historical circumstances, such persons usually embody these circumstances, helping to understand the motives of the actions of the main heroes. In Flaubert's Madame Bovary, the symbol of vulgarity is the apothecary Homé, a local educator, a correspondent for the Rouen Lantern newspaper, whose reasoning resembles the writer's Lexicon of Common Truths; the eternal presence of the self-satisfied Ome and the boredom of Emma are closely related. The role of the grotesque Ippolit Ippolitich in Chekhov's story "The Teacher of Literature" is similar, saying in his dying delirium that "the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea ..."; its commonplaces exaggerate the mechanistic, ritualistic nature of the remarks of the Shelestovs and their guests, which Nikitin did not immediately discover. In "Thunderstorm" A.N. Ostrovsky, the plays by Feklusha and Kuligin that do not participate in the intrigue are, as it were, two poles of the spiritual life of the city of Kalinoya. According to Dobrolyubov, without the so-called "unnecessary" faces in The Thunderstorm, "we cannot understand the heroine's faces and can easily distort the meaning of the whole play...".

The freedom of a realist playwright in constructing a system of characters is especially evident against the backdrop of the classic rule unity of action—guidelines for the selection of persons [thus, Corneille was reproached for introducing the Infanta to the Sid, "for this character in no way contributes or prevents the conclusion of the said marriage ..." (Rodrigo and Jimena)].

However, freedom is not arbitrariness. And in the postclassic era, there was a critical filter that detected "superfluous" characters. “... The play would have won,” Chekhov advises E.P. Goslavsky, - if you eliminated some of the characters altogether, for example, Nadia, who is unknown why she is 18 years old and who knows why she is a poetess. And her fiancé is superfluous. And Sophie is redundant. The teacher and Kachedykin (professor) from economy could be merged into one person. The tighter, the more compact, the more expressive and brighter. Saltykov-Shchedrin venomously reviews F. Ustryalov's comedy "Word and Deed": "The second act in the Martovs' house. This family consists of the old woman Martova, the daughter of Nadenka and Mrs. Repina, who was introduced by the author into the play solely to show that aunts can exist in nature.

At the same time, the principle of "savings" in building a system of characters is perfectly combined, if the content requires it, using twins(two characters, but one type: Rosencrantz and Guildestern in Shakespeare's Hamlet; Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky in N.V. Gogol's The Inspector General; Chibisov and Ibisov, Shatala and Kachala in A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin's Death of Tarelkin) , collective images and the corresponding "mass scenes", in general with the multi-heroic nature of the works. While working on The Three Sisters, Chekhov sneered at himself: “I am not writing a play, but some kind of confusion. There are many actors - it is possible that I will go astray and quit writing. And at the end of the play, he recalled: “It was terribly difficult to write“ Three Sisters ”. After all, there are three heroines, each should be on her own model, and all three are the general's daughters! The crowded nature of Chekhov's drama in the 1900s emphasizes the general, stable conflict situation, "hidden dramas and tragedies in each figure of the play. Naturally, authors of epics, moralistic panoramas and other genres that involve a wide coverage of reality gravitate towards multi-personality. In "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, according to the conclusion of AA. Saburov, the character system includes four categories (main, secondary, episodic, introductory persons), while "the significance of the lower categories is incomparably greater than in the novel."

Collective images are a sign of the style of many works of early Soviet literature (“Iron Stream” by A. Serafimovich, “Mystery Buff” by Mayakovsky, etc.). Often this technique was also a tribute to fashion, the fulfillment of a social order, in connection with a kind of “sacralization” of the theme of the people. Extras on the stage are the target of Bulgakov's satire in "Crimson Island", where "red natives and natives (positive and countless hordes)" are introduced into the play "citizen Jules Verne", as well as I. Ilfa and Evg. Petrova: in their story “How Robinson was Created”, the editor advises a craftsman novelist writing about “Soviet Robinson” to show “broad strata of working people”. In the parodies of satirists, it is emphasized, thanks to comic hyperbole, significant reception, characteristic of normative genres in general.

But, unlike the clichés of opportunistic handicrafts, the "language" of the genre canons of the literature of the past evokes the joy of recognition, meeting with the childhood of culture. This "language" includes a stable ensemble of characters bearing traditional (often "speaking") names. Already the list of characters gives rise to very specific expectations, ideas about the type of work, its conflict and characters, its denouement. For example, such heroes of the play as the braggart Helicopter, his uncle Prostodum, the wealthy noblewoman Chvankina and her daughter Milena, the adviser from the governorship Cheston and his son Zamir, clearly promise a classic comedy (this is Ya.B. Knyaznin's "Bouncer").

The study of character systems in the aspect of historical poetics, their iconic, very vivid in some genres (commedia dell'arte, mystery, morality, chivalric, pastoral, gothic novels, hagiography, etc.), prepares for a deeper perception of modern literature, sophisticated and wide using the wealth accumulated by the culture.