Dramatic literature. Types and genres of drama

Drama(ancient Greek δρμα - act, action) - one of the three types of literature, along with epic and lyrics, simultaneously belongs to two types of art: literature and theater. Intended to be played on stage, drama differs formally from epic and lyric poetry in that the text in it is presented in the form of replicas of characters and author's remarks and, as a rule, is divided into actions and phenomena. Any literary work built in a dialogical form, including comedy, tragedy, drama (as a genre), farce, vaudeville, etc., refers to drama in one way or another.

Since ancient times, it has existed in folklore or literary form among various peoples; independently of each other dramatic traditions created by the ancient Greeks, ancient Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Indians of America.

Literally translated from ancient Greek, drama means "action".

The specifics of drama literary kind consists in a special organization of artistic speech: unlike the epic, there is no narration in the drama and the direct speech of the characters, their dialogues and monologues are of paramount importance.

Dramatic works are intended to be staged, this determines the specific features of the drama:

1. lack of a narrative-descriptive image;
2. "auxiliary" author's speech (remarks);
3. the main text of the dramatic work is presented in the form of replicas of the characters (monologue and dialogue);
4. drama as a kind of literature does not have such a variety of artistic and visual means as the epic: speech and deed are the main means of creating the image of the hero;
5. the volume of the text and the duration of the action is limited by the stage frames;
6. requirements performing arts such a feature of the drama as a kind of exaggeration (hyperbolization) was also dictated: “exaggeration of events, exaggeration of feelings and exaggeration of expressions” (L.N. Tolstoy) - in other words, theatrical showiness, increased expressiveness; the viewer of the play feels the convention of what is happening, which was very well said by A.S. Pushkin: “The very essence of dramatic art excludes plausibility... when reading a poem, a novel, we can often forget ourselves and believe that the incident described is not fiction, but the truth. In an ode, in an elegy, we can think that the poet portrayed his real feelings, in real circumstances. But where is the credibility in a building divided into two parts, of which one is filled with spectators who have agreed etc.

The traditional scheme of the plot of any dramatic work:

EXPOSITION - presentation of heroes

STRING - clash

DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION - a set of scenes, the development of an idea

CULMINATION - the apogee of the conflict

DENOUNCING

Drama history

The rudiments of drama are in primitive poetry, in which the elements of lyricism, epic and drama that emerged later merged in connection with music and mimic movements. Earlier than among other peoples, drama as a special kind of poetry was formed among the Hindus and Greeks.

Greek drama that develops serious religious and mythological plots (tragedy) and funny ones drawn from modern life(comedy), reaches high excellence and in the 16th century it is a model for European drama, which until that time artlessly processed religious and narrative secular subjects (mysteries, school dramas and interludes, fastnachtspiel, sottises).

French playwrights, imitating the Greek ones, strictly adhered to certain provisions that were considered invariable for the aesthetic dignity of the drama, such are: the unity of time and place; the duration of the episode depicted on the stage should not exceed a day; the action must take place in the same place; the drama should develop correctly in 3-5 acts, from the plot (finding out the initial position and characters of the characters) through the middle vicissitudes (changes in positions and relationships) to the denouement (usually a disaster); the number of actors is very limited (usually 3 to 5); these are exclusively the highest representatives of society (kings, queens, princes and princesses) and their closest servants, confidants, who are introduced onto the stage for the convenience of conducting dialogue and making remarks. These are the main features of French classical drama (Corneille, Racine).

The strictness of the requirements of the classical style was already less respected in comedies (Molière, Lope de Vega, Beaumarchais), which gradually moved from convention to image ordinary life(genre). Shakespeare's work, free from classical conventions, opened up new paths for drama. The end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century were marked by the appearance of romantic and national dramas: Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, Hugo, Kleist, Grabbe.

Second half of XIX century in European drama, realism prevails (Dumas son, Ogier, Sardou, Paleron, Ibsen, Suderman, Schnitzler, Hauptmann, Beyerlein).

In the latest quarter XIX century, under the influence of Ibsen and Maeterlinck, symbolism began to take hold of the European scene (Hauptmann, Pshibyshevsky, Bar, D'Annunzio, Hoffmannsthal).

Drama types

• Tragedy is a genre of fiction intended to be staged, in which the plot leads the characters to a catastrophic outcome. The tragedy is marked by severe seriousness, depicts reality most pointedly, like a clot internal contradictions, reveals the deepest conflicts of reality in an extremely intense and saturated form, which acquires the meaning of an artistic symbol. Most tragedies are written in verse. The works are often filled with pathos. The opposite genre is comedy.
• Drama (psychological, criminal, existential) is a literary (dramatic), stage and cinematic genre. Received special distribution in the literature of the XVIII-XXI centuries, gradually replacing another genre of drama - tragedy, opposing it mainly household plot and style more close to everyday reality. With the advent of cinema, he also moved into this type of art, becoming one of its most common genres (see the corresponding category).
• Dramas specifically depict, as a rule, the private life of a person and his social conflicts. At the same time, the emphasis is often placed on universal human contradictions embodied in the behavior and actions of specific characters.

  The concept of "drama as a genre" (different from the concept of "drama as a kind of literature") is known in Russian literary criticism. So, B. V. Tomashevsky writes:
  

  In the XVIII century. quantity<драматических>genres is increasing. Along with strict theatrical genres lower, "fair" ones are put forward: Italian buffoonery comedy, vaudeville, parody, etc. These genres are the sources of modern farce, grotesque, operetta, miniature. The comedy splits, separating from itself a “drama”, that is, a play with a modern everyday theme, but without a specific “comic” situation (“petty-bourgeois tragedy” or “tearful comedy”).<...>Drama decisively supplants other genres in the 19th century, harmonizing with the evolution of the psychological and everyday novel.

  On the other hand, drama as a genre in the history of literature is divided into several separate modifications:

  Thus, the 18th century was the time of petty-bourgeois drama (J. Lillo, D. Diderot, P.-O. Beaumarchais, G. E. Lessing, early F. Schiller).
  In the 19th century, realistic and naturalistic drama was developed (A. N. Ostrovsky, G. Ibsen, G. Hauptman, A. Strindberg, A. P. Chekhov).
  At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the development symbolist drama(M. Maeterlinck).
  In the 20th century - surrealist drama, expressionist drama (F. Werfel, W. Hasenclever), the drama of the absurd (S. Beckett, E. Ionesco, E. Albee, V. Gombrowicz), etc.
  

  Many playwrights of the 19th and 20th centuries used the word "drama" as a designation for the genre of their stage works.

• Drama in verse - all the same, only in poetic form.
• Melodrama - genre fiction, theatrical art and cinema, whose works reveal the spiritual and sensual world of heroes in especially vivid emotional circumstances based on contrasts: good and evil, love and hate, etc.
• Hierodrama - in France of the old order (second half of the 18th century), the name of vocal compositions for two or more voices on biblical stories.
  Unlike oratorios and mysteries, the hierodramas used not the words of Latin psalms, but the texts of modern French poets and they were performed not in churches, but at spiritual concerts in the Tuileries Palace.
• In particular, the words of Voltaire were presented in 1780 "The Sacrifice of Abraham" (music by Cambini) and in 1783 "Samson". Impressed by the revolution, Desogier composed his cantata Hierodrama.
• Mystery is one of the genres of European medieval theater associated with religion.
• The plot of the mystery was usually taken from the Bible or the Gospel and interspersed with various everyday comic scenes. From the middle of the 15th century, mysteries began to increase in volume. The "Mystery of the Acts of the Apostles" contains more than 60,000 verses, and its presentation in Bourges in 1536 lasted, according to evidence, 40 days.
• If in Italy the mystery died naturally, then in a number of other countries it was banned during the Counter-Reformation; in particular, in France - November 17, 1548 by order of the Paris Parliament; in Protestant England in 1672 the bishop of Chester banned the mystery, and three years later the ban was repeated by the archbishop of York. In Catholic Spain, mystery performances continued until the middle of the 18th century, they were composed by Lope de Vega, and Tirso de Molina, and Calderon de la Barca, Pedro; only in 1756 they were officially banned by the decree of Charles III.
• Comedy is a genre of fiction characterized by a humorous or satirical approach, as well as a type of drama in which the moment of effective conflict or struggle of antagonistic characters is specifically resolved.
  Aristotle defined comedy as "the imitation the worst people, but not in all their depravity, but in a ridiculous way” (“Poetics”, ch. V). The earliest surviving comedies were created in ancient Athens and belong to the pen of Aristophanes.

  Distinguish situation comedy And comedy of characters.

  Sitcom (situation comedy, situation comedy) is a comedy in which events and circumstances are the source of the funny.
  Comedy of characters (comedy of manners) is a comedy in which the source of the funny is the inner essence of characters (mores), funny and ugly one-sidedness, an exaggerated trait or passion (vice, flaw). Very often the comedy of manners is a satirical comedy, ridicules all these human qualities.

• Vaudeville- a comedy play with couplet songs and dances, as well as a genre of dramatic art. In Russia, the prototype of vaudeville was a small comic opera of the late 17th century, which remained in the repertoire of the Russian theater and early XIX century.
• Farce- a comedy of light content with purely external comic tricks.
  In the Middle Ages, a farce was also called a kind folk theater and literature, widespread in the XIV-XVI centuries in Western European countries. Having matured within the mystery, the farce acquires its independence in the 15th century, and in the next century it becomes the dominant genre in theater and literature. Techniques of farcical buffoonery have been preserved in circus clowning.
  The main element of the farce was not conscious political satire, but a laid-back and carefree depiction of urban life with all its scandalous incidents, obscenity, rudeness and fun. In the French farce, the theme of the scandal between the spouses often varied.
  In modern Russian, a farce is usually called profanity, an imitation of a process, for example, a trial.

This is an objective-subjective kind of literature (Hegel). This is an objective picture of the world and its subjective deployment.

The generic form is dialogue. From the point of view of the generic features of the content, dramatic works should be characterized in turn from the position

A) conflict

Drama(Greek dráma, literally - action), 1) one of the three types of literature (along with epic and lyrics; see below). Genus literary ). Drama (in literature) belongs at the same time theater And literature : being the fundamental principle of the performance, it is also perceived in reading. Drama (in literature) was formed on the basis of the evolution of theatrical art: the promotion of actors connecting pantomime with the spoken word, marked its emergence as a kind of literature. Its specificity is composed of: plot, i.e., reproduction of the course of events; the dramatic intensity of the action and its division into stage episodes; the continuity of the characters' utterances; the absence (or subordination) of the narrative beginning (cf. Narration ). Designed for collective perception, Drama (in literature) always gravitated towards the most acute problems and in the most striking examples became popular. According to A. S. Pushkin, the appointment Drama (in literature) in "... acting on the crowd, on the multitude, occupying his curiosity" ( complete collection soch., vol. 7, 1958, p. 214).

Drama (in literature) deep conflict is inherent; its fundamental principle is the intense and effective experience by people of socio-historical or "eternal", universal human contradictions. Dramaticism, accessible to all types of art, naturally dominates in Drama (in literature) According to V. G. Belinsky, drama - important property the human spirit, awakened by situations when the cherished or passionately desired, demanding fulfillment, is under threat.

Dramatic conflicts are embodied in action - in the behavior of the characters, in their actions and accomplishments. Majority Drama (in literature) built on a single external action (which corresponds to the principle of "unity of action" of Aristotle), based, as a rule, on the direct confrontation of the characters. The action is traced from strings before interchanges , capturing large periods of time (medieval and eastern Drama (in literature), for example, “Shakuntala” by Kalidasa), or is taken only at its climax, close to the denouement (ancient tragedies, for example, “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles, and many Drama (in literature) new time, for example, "Dowry" by A. N. Ostrovsky). Classical aesthetics of the 19th century. inclined to absolutize these principles of construction Drama (in literature) Looking after Hegel Drama (in literature) as a reproduction of volitional acts (“actions” and “reactions”) colliding with each other, Belinsky wrote: “The action of the drama should be focused on one interest and be alien to secondary interests ... In the drama there should not be a single person who would not be necessary in the mechanism of its course and development” (Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 5, 1954, p. 53). At the same time, "... the decision in choosing the path depends on the hero of the drama, and not on the event" (ibid., p. 20).

The most important formal properties Drama (in literature): a continuous chain of statements that act as acts of behavior of characters (i.e., their actions), and as a result of this - the concentration of the depicted in closed areas of space and time. The universal basis of the composition Drama (in literature): stage episodes (scenes), within which the depicted, so-called real, time is adequate to the time of perception, the so-called artistic. In folk, medieval and oriental Drama (in literature), as well as in Shakespeare, in Pushkin's "Boris Godunov", in Brecht's plays, the place and time of action change very often. European Drama (in literature) 17th-19th centuries is based, as a rule, on a few and very lengthy stage episodes that coincide with the acts of theatrical performances. The extreme expression of the compactness of the development of space and time is the “unities” known from the “Poetic Art” by N. Boileau, which survived until the 19th century. (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov).

Dramatic works in the vast majority of cases are intended for staging on stage, there is a very narrow circle of dramatic works that are called drama for reading.

Dramatic genres have their own history, the features of which are largely determined by the fact that historically, from antiquity to the classics inclusive, it was a two-genre phenomenon: either the mask cried (tragedy) or the mask laughed (comedy).

But in the 18th century, a synthesis of comedy and tragedy-drama appeared.

Drama has replaced tragedy.

1)tragedy

2) comedy

4)farce

5)vaudeville genre content is close to the genre content of comedy, in most cases humorous. genre form is a one-act play with genres and verses..

6) tragicomedy frontal combination of depicted suffering and joy with a corresponding reaction of laughter-tears (Eduardo de Filippo)

7) dramatic chronicle. A genre close to the drama genre that usually does not have one hero, and events given by the stream. Bill Berodelkovsky Storm

The largest number comedy has historically had genre options: Italian scientific comedy; comedy of masks in Spain; , Cloak and sword, There was a comedy of character, position, comedy of manners (household) buffoonery, etc.

RUSSIAN DRAMA. Russian professional literary dramaturgy took shape at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries, but it was preceded by a centuries-old period of folk, mostly oral and partly handwritten folk drama. At first, archaic ritual actions, then round dance games and buffoons contained elements characteristic of dramaturgy as an art form: dialogue, dramatization of the action, playing it in faces, the image of one or another character (disguise). These elements were consolidated and developed in the folklore drama.

The pagan stage of folklore Russian drama was lost: the study of folklore art in Russia began only in the 19th century, the first scientific publications of large folk dramas appeared only in 1890-1900 in the journal "Ethnographic Review" (with comments by scientists of that time V. Kallash and A. Gruzinsky ). Such a late beginning of the study of folklore drama led to the widespread opinion that the emergence of folk drama in Russia dates back only to the 16th-17th centuries. There is also an alternative point of view, where the genesis boats derived from the burial customs of the pagan Slavs. But in any case, plot and semantic changes in texts folklore dramas, which took place for at least ten centuries, are considered in cultural studies, art history and ethnography at the level of hypotheses. Every historical period left its mark on the content of folklore dramas, which was facilitated by the capacity and richness of the associative links of their content.

Early Russian literary dramaturgy. The origin of the Russian literary dramaturgy belongs to the 17th century. and is associated with the school-church theater, which arises in Rus' under the influence of school performances in Ukraine in the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Fighting the Catholic tendencies coming from Poland, Orthodox Church in Ukraine used folklore theater. The authors of the plays borrowed the plots of church rituals, painting them into dialogues and interspersing them with comedy interludes, musical and dance numbers. In terms of genre, this dramaturgy resembled a hybrid of Western European morality and miracles. Written in a moralizing, lofty declamatory style, these works of school drama united allegorical characters (Vice, Pride, Truth, etc.) with historical characters (Alexander the Great, Nero), mythological (Fortune, Mars) and biblical (Jesus Nun, Herod and etc.). The most famous works - Action about Alexy, God's man, Action on the Passion of Christ and others. The development of school drama is associated with the names of Dmitry Rostovsky ( Assumption drama, Christmas drama, Rostov action and others), Feofan Prokopovich ( Vladimir), Mitrofan Dovgalevsky ( The Powerful Image of God's Love for Man), George Konissky ( Resurrection of the dead) and others. Simeon Polotsky also started in the church school theater

.

Russian drama of the 18th century After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the theater was closed, and was revived only under Peter I. However, the pause in the development of Russian drama lasted a little longer: in the theater of Peter the Great, translated plays were mainly played. True, panegyric actions with pathetic monologues, choirs, musical divertissements, and solemn processions became widespread at this time. They glorified the activities of Peter and responded to topical events ( The triumph of the Orthodox world, Liberation of Livonia and Ingria etc.), but they did not have a special influence on the development of dramaturgy. The texts for these performances were rather applied in nature and were anonymous. Russian drama began to experience a rapid upswing in the middle of the 18th century, simultaneously with the formation of a professional theater that needed a national repertoire.

In the middle of the 18th century the formation of Russian classicism is necessary (in Europe, the heyday of classicism by this time was long in the past: Corneille died in 1684, Racine - in 1699.) V. Trediakovsky and M. Lomonosov tried their hand at classicist tragedy, but the founder of Russian classicism (and Russian literary drama in general) was A. Sumarokov, who in 1756 became the director of the first professional Russian theater. He wrote 9 tragedies and 12 comedies, which formed the basis of the theater repertoire of the 1750s and 1760s. Sumarokov also owns the first Russian literary and theoretical works. In particular, in Epistle on poetry(1747) he defends principles similar to the classicist canons of Boileau: a strict division of genres of dramaturgy, observance "three unities". Unlike the French classicists, Sumarokov was not based on antique stories, and on Russian chronicles ( Khorev, Sinav and Truvor) and Russian history ( Dmitry Pretender and etc.). Other major representatives of Russian classicism worked in the same vein - N. Nikolev ( Sorena and Zamir), Ya. Knyaznin ( Rosslav, Vadim Novgorodsky and etc.).

Russian classicist dramaturgy had another difference from French: the authors of tragedies simultaneously wrote comedies. This blurred the strict boundaries of classicism and contributed to the diversity of aesthetic trends. Classicist, educational and sentimentalist drama in Russia do not replace each other, but develop almost simultaneously. The first attempts to create a satirical comedy were already made by Sumarokov ( Monsters, Empty quarrel, Covetous man, Dowry by deceit, Narcissus and etc.). Moreover, in these comedies, he used the stylistic devices of folklore interchanges and farces - despite the fact that in his theoretical works he was critical of folk "games". In the 1760s-1780s. genre becomes widespread. comic opera. They pay tribute to her as classicists - Knyazhnin ( Trouble from the carriage, Sbitenshchik, Braggart etc.), Nikolev ( Rosana and Love), and comedians-satirists: I. Krylov ( coffee pot) and others. Directions of tearful comedy and petty-bourgeois drama appear - V. Lukin ( Mot, corrected by love), M.Verevkin ( So it should, Exactly the same), P. Plavilshchikov ( Bobyl, Sidelets) and others. These genres contributed not only to the democratization and increase in the popularity of the theater, but also formed the basis of the psychological theater beloved in Russia with its traditions of detailed development of multifaceted characters. The pinnacle of Russian drama in the 18th century. can be called almost realistic comedies V.Kapnista (Yabeda), D. Fonvizina (undergrowth, Brigadier), I. Krylova (fashion shop, Lesson for daughters and etc.). Krylov's "jester-tragedy" seems interesting Trumpf, or Podshchipa, in which a satire on the reign of Paul I was combined with a caustic parody of classicist techniques. The play was written in 1800 - it took only 53 years for the classicist aesthetics, which was innovative for Russia, to begin to be perceived as archaic. Krylov also paid attention to the theory of drama ( Note on comedy "Laughter and sorrow", Review of the comedy by A. Klushin "Alchemist" and etc.).

Russian dramaturgy of the 19th century By the beginning of the 19th century. the historical gap between Russian dramaturgy and European drama came to naught. Since that time, Russian theater has been developing in a general context European culture. A variety of aesthetic trends in Russian drama is preserved - sentimentalism ( N. Karamzin, N. Ilyin, V. Fedorov, etc.) coexists with a romantic tragedy of a somewhat classicist nature (V. Ozerov, N. Kukolnik, N. Polevoy, etc.), a lyrical and emotional drama (I. Turgenev) - with a caustic pamphlet satire (A. Sukhovo-Kobylin, M. Saltykov-Shchedrin). Light, funny and witty vaudevilles are popular (A. Shakhovskoy, N. Khmelnitsky, M. Zagoskin, A. Pisarev, D. Lensky, F. Koni, V. Karatygin and etc.). But it was the 19th century, the time of great Russian literature, that became the "golden age" of Russian drama, giving rise to authors whose works are still included in the golden fund of world theatrical classics today.

The first play of a new type was a comedy A.Griboedova Woe from Wit. The author achieves amazing mastery in the development of all components of the play: characters (in which psychological realism is organically combined with a high degree typification), intrigue (where love vicissitudes are inextricably intertwined with civil and ideological conflict), language (almost the entire play is completely dispersed into sayings, proverbs and idioms preserved in living speech today).

about the true discovery of Russian dramaturgy of that time, which was far ahead of its time and determined the vector for the further development of the world theater, were the plays A. Chekhov. Ivanov, Gull, Uncle Ivan, Three sisters, The Cherry Orchard do not fit into the traditional system of dramatic genres and actually refute all the theoretical canons of dramaturgy. There is practically no plot intrigue in them - in any case, the plot never has an organizing value, there is no traditional dramatic scheme: plot - ups and downs - denouement; there is no single "end-to-end" conflict. Events change their semantic scale all the time: large things become insignificant, and everyday little things grow to a global scale.

Russian dramaturgy after 1917. After October revolution and the subsequent establishment of state control over the theaters, a need arose for a new repertoire that meets modern ideology. However, of the earliest plays, perhaps only one can be named today - Mystery Buff V. Mayakovsky (1918). Basically, the modern repertoire of the early Soviet period was formed on topical "propaganda" that lost their relevance for a short period.

The new Soviet drama, reflecting the class struggle, was formed during the 1920s. During this period, such playwrights as L. Seifullina became famous ( Virineya), A. Serafimovich (Mariana, author's dramatization of the novel iron stream), L.Leonov ( Badgers), K.Trenev (Lyubov Yarovaya), B. Lavrenev (Fault), V. Ivanov (Armored train 14-69), V. Bill-Belotserkovsky ( Storm), D. Furmanov ( rebellion) and others. Their dramaturgy was generally distinguished by a romantic interpretation revolutionary events, a combination of tragedy with social optimism. In the 1930s V. Vishnevsky wrote a play whose title accurately defined the main genre of the new patriotic dramaturgy: An optimistic tragedy(this name has changed the original, more pretentious options - Hymn to sailors And triumphant tragedy).

The end of the 1950s - the beginning of the 1970s were marked by a bright personality A.Vampilova. During his short life he wrote only a few plays: Goodbye in June, eldest son, duck hunting , Provincial jokes (Twenty minutes with an angel And The case with the metropolitan page), Last summer in Chulimsk and unfinished vaudeville Incomparable Tips. Returning to Chekhov's aesthetics, Vampilov set the direction for the development of Russian drama in the next two decades. The main dramatic successes of the 1970s-1980s in Russia are connected with the genre tragicomedies. These were the plays E. Radzinsky, L. Petrushevskaya, A. Sokolova, L. Razumovskaya, M.Roshchina, A. Galina, Gr. Gorina, A. Chervinsky, A. Smirnova, V. Slavkin, A. Kazantsev, S. Zlotnikov, N. Kolyada, V. Merezhko, O. Kuchkina and others. Vampilov's aesthetics had an indirect, but tangible impact on the masters of Russian drama. Tragicomic motifs are palpable in the plays of that time written by V. Rozov ( Boar), A. Volodin ( two arrows, Lizard, movie script Autumn marathon), and especially A. Arbuzov ( My feast for the eyes, Happy days of an unlucky man, Tales of the old Arbat,In this sweet old house, winner, cruel games). In the early 1990s, the playwrights of St. Petersburg created their own association - "The Playwright's House". In 2002 by the association " golden mask", Theater.doc and Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov was organized annual festival"New Drama" In these associations, laboratories, competitions, a new generation was formed theater writers who gained fame in post-Soviet period: M. Ugarov, O. Ernev, E. Gremina, O. Shipenko, O. Mikhailova, I. Vyrypaev, O. and V. Presnyakovs, K. Dragunskaya, O. Bogaev, N. Ptushkina, O. Mukhina, I. Okhlobystin, M. Kurochkin, V. Sigarev, A. Zinchuk, A. Obraztsov, I. Shprits and others.

However, critics note that a paradoxical situation has developed in Russia today: modern theater and modern dramaturgy exist, as it were, in parallel, in some isolation from each other. The most high-profile directorial searches of the beginning of the 21st century. associated with the production of classical plays. Modern dramaturgy, on the other hand, conducts its experiments more "on paper" and in the virtual space of the Internet.

Dramatic works (another gr. action), like epic ones, recreate the series of events, the actions of people and their relationships. Like the author of an epic work, the playwright is subject to the "law of developing action." But there is no detailed narrative-descriptive image in the drama.

Actually, the author's speech here is auxiliary and episodic. Such are the lists of actors, sometimes accompanied by brief characteristics, designation of time and place of action; descriptions of the stage situation at the beginning of acts and episodes, as well as comments on individual replicas of the characters and indications of their movements, gestures, facial expressions, intonations (remarks).

All this constitutes a side text of a dramatic work. Its main text is a chain of statements of characters, their replicas and monologues.

Hence some limited artistic possibilities of the drama. The writer-playwright uses only a part of the visual means that are available to the creator of a novel or epic, short story or short story. And the characters of the characters are revealed in the drama with less freedom and fullness than in the epic. “I perceive the drama,” noted T. Mann, “as the art of the silhouette, and I feel only the told person as a voluminous, integral, real and plastic image.”

At the same time, playwrights, unlike authors epic works, are forced to limit themselves to the volume of verbal text that meets the requirements of theatrical art. The time of the action depicted in the drama must fit into the strict framework of the stage time.

And the performance in the forms familiar to the new European theater lasts, as you know, no more than three or four hours. And this requires an appropriate size of the dramatic text.

The time of the events reproduced by the playwright during the stage episode is not compressed or stretched; the characters of the drama exchange remarks without any noticeable time intervals, and their statements, as noted by K.S. Stanislavsky, make up a solid, continuous line.

If with the help of narration the action is imprinted as something past, then the chain of dialogues and monologues in the drama creates the illusion of the present time. Life here speaks as if from its own face: between what is depicted and the reader there is no intermediary-narrator.

The action is recreated in the drama with maximum immediacy. It flows as if before the eyes of the reader. “All narrative forms,” wrote F. Schiller, “transfer the present into the past; all the dramatic make the past present.”

Drama is stage oriented. And the theater is a public, mass art. The performance directly affects many people, as if merging into one in response to what is happening before them.

The purpose of the drama, according to Pushkin, is to act on the multitude, to occupy its curiosity” and for this purpose capture the “truth of passions”: “Drama was born on the square and constituted the amusement of the people. The people, like children, require entertainment, action. The drama presents him with extraordinary, strange incidents. People want strong feelings. Laughter, pity and horror are the three strings of our imagination, shaken by dramatic art.

The dramatic genre of literature is associated with especially close ties with the sphere of laughter, for the theater was consolidated and developed in inseparable connection with mass festivities, in an atmosphere of play and fun. “The comic genre is universal for antiquity,” remarked O. M. Freidenberg.

The same is true to say about the theater and drama of other countries and eras. T. Mann was right when he called the "comedian instinct" "the fundamental principle of any dramatic skill."

It is not surprising that drama gravitates towards an outwardly spectacular presentation of what is depicted. Her imagery turns out to be hyperbolic, catchy, theatrical and bright. “The theater requires exaggerated broad lines both in voice, recitation, and in gestures,” N. Boileau wrote. And this property of stage art invariably leaves its mark on the behavior of the heroes of dramatic works.

“How he acted out in the theater,” Bubnov (At the Bottom by Gorky) comments on the frenzied tirade of the desperate Klesh, who, by an unexpected intrusion into the general conversation, gave it theatrical effect.

Significant (as a characteristic of the dramatic kind of literature) are Tolstoy's reproaches against W. Shakespeare for the abundance of hyperbole, because of which the possibility of an artistic impression is allegedly violated. “From the very first words,” he wrote about the tragedy “King Lear”, “one can see an exaggeration: an exaggeration of events, an exaggeration of feelings and an exaggeration of expressions.”

L. Tolstoy was wrong in assessing Shakespeare's work, but the idea of ​​the great English playwright's commitment to theatrical hyperbole is completely justified. What has been said about "King Lear" with no less reason can be attributed to ancient comedies and tragedies, dramatic works of classicism, plays by F. Schiller and V. Hugo, etc.

In the 19th-20th centuries, when the desire for worldly authenticity prevailed in literature, the conventions inherent in the drama became less obvious, often they were reduced to a minimum. At the origins of this phenomenon is the so-called "petty-bourgeois drama" of the 18th century, the creators and theorists of which were D. Diderot and G.E. Lessing.

Works of the largest Russian playwrights of the XIX century. and the beginning of the 20th century - A.N. Ostrovsky, A.P. Chekhov and M. Gorky - are distinguished by the reliability of the recreated life forms. But even when the playwrights set their sights on plausibility, plot, psychological, and actually verbal hyperbole persisted.

Theatrical conventions made themselves felt even in Chekhov's dramaturgy, which was the maximum limit of "life-likeness". Let's take a look at the final scene of The Three Sisters. One young woman broke up with a loved one ten or fifteen minutes ago, probably forever. Another five minutes ago found out about the death of her fiancé. And now they, together with the eldest, third sister, sum up the moral and philosophical results of the past, thinking to the sounds of a military march about the fate of their generation, about the future of mankind.

It is hardly possible to imagine this happening in reality. But we do not notice the implausibility of the ending of The Three Sisters, because we are used to the fact that the drama significantly changes the forms of people's life.

The foregoing convinces of the justice of A. S. Pushkin’s judgment (from his already cited article) that “the very essence of dramatic art excludes plausibility”; “Reading a poem, a novel, we can often forget ourselves and believe that the incident described is not fiction, but the truth.

In an ode, in an elegy, we can think that the poet portrayed his real feelings, in real circumstances. But where is the credibility in a building divided into two parts, of which one is filled with spectators who have agreed.

The most important role in dramatic works belongs to the conventions of speech self-disclosure of the characters, whose dialogues and monologues, often saturated with aphorisms and maxims, turn out to be much more extensive and effective than those remarks that could be uttered in a similar life situation.

Replicas “aside” are conventional, which, as it were, do not exist for other characters on the stage, but are clearly audible to the audience, as well as monologues uttered by the characters alone, alone with themselves, which are a purely stage technique for bringing out the inner speech (there are many such monologues as V ancient tragedies, and in the dramaturgy of modern times).

The playwright, setting up a kind of experiment, shows how a person would express himself if he expressed his moods with maximum fullness and brightness in the spoken words. And speech in a dramatic work often takes on a resemblance to artistic lyrical or oratorical speech: the characters here tend to express themselves as improvisers-poets or masters of public speaking.

Therefore, Hegel was partly right, considering the drama as a synthesis of the epic beginning (eventfulness) and the lyrical (speech expression).

Drama has, as it were, two lives in art: theatrical and literary. Constituting the dramatic basis of the performances, existing in their composition, the dramatic work is also perceived by the reading public.

But this was not always the case. The emancipation of the drama from the stage was carried out gradually - over a number of centuries and ended relatively recently: in the 18th-19th centuries. The world-famous examples of drama (from antiquity to the 17th century) at the time of their creation were practically not recognized as literary works: they existed only as part of the performing arts.

Neither W. Shakespeare nor J. B. Molière were perceived by their contemporaries as writers. The “discovery” in the second half of the XVIII century Shakespeare as a great dramatic poet.

In the 19th century (especially in its first half) the literary merits of the drama were often placed above the scenic ones. So, Goethe believed that "Shakespeare's works are not for bodily eyes", and Griboyedov called his desire to hear the verses of "Woe from Wit" from the stage "childish".

The so-called Lesedrama (drama for reading), created with the focus primarily on perception in reading, has become widespread. Such are Goethe's Faust, dramatic works Byron, Pushkin's little tragedies, Turgenev's dramas, about which the author remarked: "My plays, unsatisfactory on stage, may be of some interest in reading."

There are no fundamental differences between the Lesedrama and the play, which the author is oriented towards stage production. Dramas created for reading are often potentially stage dramas. And the theater (including the modern one) stubbornly seeks and sometimes finds the keys to them, evidence of which - successful productions Turgenev's "A Month in the Village" (first of all, this is the famous pre-revolutionary performance Art Theater) and numerous (although far from always successful) stage readings of Pushkin's little tragedies in the 20th century.

The old truth remains in force: the most important, the main purpose of the drama is the stage. “Only when performed on stage,” A. N. Ostrovsky noted, “does the author’s dramatic fiction take on a completely finished form and produce exactly the moral action that the author set himself as a goal to achieve.”

The creation of a performance based on a dramatic work is associated with its creative completion: the actors create intonation-plastic drawings of the roles they play, the artist designs the stage space, the director develops the mise-en-scenes. In this regard, the concept of the play changes somewhat (more attention is paid to some of its aspects, less attention to others), it is often concretized and enriched: the stage production introduces new semantic shades into the drama.

At the same time, the principle of faithful reading of literature is of paramount importance for the theater. The director and actors are called upon to convey the staged work to the audience with the maximum possible completeness. The fidelity of stage reading takes place where the director and actors deeply comprehend the dramatic work in its main content, genre, and style features.

Stage productions (as well as film adaptations) are legitimate only in those cases where there is agreement (even if relative) between the director and actors and the circle of ideas of the playwright writer, when the stage figures are carefully attentive to the meaning of the staged work, to the features of its genre, the features of its style and to the text itself.

In the classical aesthetics of the 18th-19th centuries, in particular by Hegel and Belinsky, drama (primarily the genre of tragedy) was considered as higher form literary creativity: as "the crown of poetry."

A whole series of artistic epochs has, in fact, manifested itself predominantly in the dramatic art. Aeschylus and Sophocles in the heyday of ancient culture, Moliere, Racine and Corneille in the time of classicism had no equal among the authors of epic works.

Significant in this respect is the work of Goethe. For the great German writer all literary genres were available, but he crowned his life in art with the creation of a dramatic work - the immortal Faust.

In past centuries (up to the 18th century), drama not only successfully competed with the epic, but often became the leading form of artistic reproduction of life in space and time.

This is due to a number of reasons. First, the theatrical art played a huge role, accessible (unlike handwritten and printed books) to the widest strata of society. Secondly, the properties of dramatic works (the depiction of characters with pronounced features, the reproduction of human passions, the attraction to pathos and the grotesque) in the "pre-realist" era fully corresponded to general literary and general artistic trends.

And although in the XIX-XX centuries. the socio-psychological novel, a genre of epic literature, moved to the forefront of literature; dramatic works still have a place of honor.

V.E. Khalizev Theory of Literature. 1999

Drama (other Greek drama - action) is a kind of literature that reflects life in actions taking place in the present.

Dramatic works are intended to be staged, this determines the specific features of the drama:

1) the absence of a narrative-descriptive image;

3) the main text of the dramatic work is presented in the form of replicas of the characters (monologue and dialogue);

4) drama as a kind of literature does not have such a variety of artistic and visual means as epic: speech and deed are the main means of creating the image of a hero;

5) the volume of the text and the duration of the action is limited by the stage framework;

6) the requirements of the performing arts dictated such a feature of the drama as a kind of exaggeration (hyperbolization): “exaggeration of events, exaggeration of feelings and exaggeration of expressions” (L.N. Tolstoy) - in other words, theatrical showiness, increased expressiveness; the viewer of the play feels the conditionality of what is happening, which was very well said by A.S. Pushkin: “The very essence of dramatic art excludes plausibility... when reading a poem, a novel, we can often forget ourselves and believe that the incident described is not fiction, but the truth. In an ode, in an elegy, we can think that the poet portrayed his real feelings, in real circumstances. But where is the credibility in a building divided into two parts, of which one is filled with spectators who have agreed etc.

Drama (ancient Greek δρᾶμα - act, action) - one of the three types of literature, along with epic and lyrics, simultaneously belongs to two types of art: literature and theater. Intended to be played on stage, drama differs formally from epic and lyric poetry in that the text in it is presented in the form of replicas of characters and author's remarks and, as a rule, is divided into actions and phenomena. Any literary work built in a dialogical form, including comedy, tragedy, drama (as a genre), farce, vaudeville, etc., refers to drama in one way or another.

Since ancient times, it has existed in folklore or literary form among various peoples; independently of each other, the ancient Greeks, the ancient Indians, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Indians of America created their own dramatic traditions.

Literally translated from ancient Greek, drama means "action".

Drama types tragedy drama (genre) drama for reading (play for reading)

Melodrama hierodrama mystery comedy vaudeville farce zaju

Drama history The rudiments of drama - in primitive poetry, in which the elements of lyrics, epic and drama that emerged later merged in connection with music and mimic movements. Earlier than among other peoples, drama as a special kind of poetry was formed among the Hindus and Greeks.

Dionysian dances

Greek drama, which develops serious religious and mythological plots (tragedy) and amusing ones drawn from modern life (comedy), reaches high perfection and in the 16th century is a model for European drama, which until that time artlessly processed religious and narrative secular plots (mysteries, school dramas and interludes, fastnachtspiel, sottises).

French playwrights, imitating the Greek ones, strictly adhered to certain provisions that were considered invariable for the aesthetic dignity of the drama, such are: the unity of time and place; the duration of the episode depicted on the stage should not exceed a day; the action must take place in the same place; the drama should develop correctly in 3-5 acts, from the plot (finding out the initial position and characters of the characters) through the middle vicissitudes (changes in positions and relationships) to the denouement (usually a disaster); the number of actors is very limited (usually 3 to 5); these are exclusively the highest representatives of society (kings, queens, princes and princesses) and their closest servants, confidants, who are introduced onto the stage for the convenience of conducting dialogue and making remarks. These are the main features of French classical drama (Corneille, Racine).

The strictness of the requirements of the classical style was already less respected in comedies (Molière, Lope de Vega, Beaumarchais), which gradually moved from conventionality to the depiction of ordinary life (genre). Shakespeare's work, free from classical conventions, opened up new paths for drama. The end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century were marked by the appearance of romantic and national dramas: Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, Hugo, Kleist, Grabbe.

In the second half of the 19th century, realism prevailed in European drama (Dumas son, Ogier, Sardou, Paleron, Ibsen, Suderman, Schnitzler, Hauptmann, Beyerlein).

In the last quarter of the 19th century, under the influence of Ibsen and Maeterlinck, symbolism began to take hold of the European scene (Hauptmann, Przybyszewski, Bar, D'Annunzio, Hofmannsthal).

The design of a dramatic work Unlike other prose and poetry works, dramatic works have a rigidly defined structure. A dramatic work consists of alternating blocks of text, each with its own purpose, and highlighted with typography so that they can be easily distinguished from each other. Dramatic text may include the following blocks:

The list of characters is usually located before the main text of the work. In it, if necessary, a brief description of the hero is given (age, features of appearance, etc.)

External remarks - a description of the action, the situation, the appearance and departure of the characters. Often typed either in a reduced size, or in the same font as the replicas, but in a larger format. In the external remark, the names of the heroes can be given, and if the hero appears for the first time, his name is additionally highlighted. Example:

The room, which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads to Anna's room. Dawn, soon the sun will rise. It's already May, the cherry trees are blooming, but it's cold in the garden, it's a matinee. The windows in the room are closed.

Enter Dunyasha with a candle and Lopakhin with a book in his hand.

Replicas are the words spoken by the characters. Remarks must be preceded by the name of the actor and may include internal remarks. Example:

Dunyasha. I thought you left. (Listens.) Here, it seems, they are already on their way.

LOPAKHIN (listens). No ... get luggage, then yes ...

Internal remarks, unlike external remarks, briefly describe the actions that occur during the pronunciation of a replica by the hero, or the features of the pronunciation. If some complex action occurs during the utterance of a cue, it should be described using an external cue, while indicating either in the remark itself or in the cue with the help of an internal remark that the actor continues to speak during the action. An inside note refers only to a specific line of a specific actor. It is separated from the replica by brackets, it can be typed in italics.

The most common are two ways of designing dramatic works: book and cinema. If in book format different font styles, different sizes, etc. can be used to separate parts of a dramatic work, then in cinematic scenarios it is customary to use only a monospaced typewriter font, and to separate parts of a work, use padding, set to a different format, set by all capitals, discharge, etc. - that is, only those means that are available on a typewriter. This allowed the scripts to be modified many times as they were produced, while maintaining readability. .

Drama in Russia

Drama was brought to Russia from the West at the end of the 17th century. Independent dramatic literature appears only at the end of the 18th century. Until the first quarter of the 19th century, the classical direction prevailed in drama, both in tragedy and in comedy and comedy opera; best authors: Lomonosov, Knyaznin, Ozerov; I. Lukin's attempt to draw the attention of playwrights to the depiction of Russian life and customs remained in vain: all their plays are lifeless, stilted and alien to Russian reality, except for the famous "Undergrowth" and "Brigadier" by Fonvizin, "Yabeda" by Kapnist and some comedies by I. A. Krylov .

At the beginning of the 19th century, Shakhovskoy, Khmelnitsky, Zagoskin became imitators of light French drama and comedy, and the Dollmaker was a representative of the stilted patriotic drama. Griboyedov's comedy Woe from Wit, later Gogol's Inspector General, Marriage, become the basis of Russian everyday drama. After Gogol, even in vaudeville (D. Lensky, F. Koni, Sollogub, Karatygin), the desire to get closer to life is noticeable.

Ostrovsky gave a number of remarkable historical chronicles and everyday comedies. After him, Russian drama stood on solid ground; the most prominent playwrights: A. Sukhovo-Kobylin, I. S. Turgenev, A. Potekhin, A. Palm, V. Dyachenko, I. Chernyshev, V. Krylov, N. Ya. Solovyov, N. Chaev, gr. A. Tolstoy, c. L. Tolstoy, D. Averkiev, P. Boborykin, Prince Sumbatov, Novezhin, N. Gnedich, Shpazhinsky, Evt. Karpov, V. Tikhonov, I. Shcheglov, Vl. Nemirovich-Danchenko, A. Chekhov, M. Gorky, L. Andreev and others.

Before reading the test, remember what you already know about drama as a kind of literature. What are the characters in the drama called? What is a replica, remark? What dramatic works do you know?

The word "drama" (δράμα) in Greek means "action". A drama is a literary work, but is meant to be staged. Thanks to this feature of the drama, literature not only describes reality, but also presents it in the dialogues of the characters and the play of the performers. The Russian critic of the 19th century V. G. Belinsky wrote: “Dramatic poetry is not complete without stage art: in order to fully understand a face, it is not enough to know how it acts, speaks, feels - you need to see and hear how it acts, speaks, feels” .

Drama appeared in antiquity as a result of the performance of ritual chants, in which the song-story about the event was combined with the expression of its assessment, that is, in the combination of epic and lyrics. Drama originated in different countries ancient world- Asia, America, Europe - where ritual and ritual actions were performed. The beginning of the European drama was laid by the classical drama-tragedy Ancient Greece. Since the time of the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus, in addition to tragedy, comedy and drama have been developing in literature as a genre of a dramatic literary kind. A famous ancient Greek comedian was Aristophanes, and the playwrights who continued the development of tragedy and laid the foundations of drama were Sophocles and Euripides. Note that the term "drama" is used in two senses: drama as a genus and drama as a genre.

The treasury of the world drama included works by European playwrights who developed the canons laid down in ancient Greek drama: in French literature - P. Corneille, J. Racine, J.-B. Moliere, V. Hugo, in English - V. Shakespeare, in German - I. Schiller, I.-V. Goethe. The European drama of the 16th-19th centuries, in turn, formed the basis of Russian drama. The first truly national playwright was the author of the classic Russian comedy D.I. Fonvizin in the 18th century. Russian drama reached its heyday in the 19th century, such masterpieces of drama as the comedy of A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit", tragedy by A.S. Pushkin "Boris Godunov", drama by M.Yu. Lermontov "Masquerade", comedy N.V. Gogol "The Government Inspector", drama-tragedy by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm", drama-comedy by A.P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard".

1. How does the etymology of the word "drama" help to reveal the main feature of this kind of literature?

2. Can it be argued that drama as a kind of literature appeared as a result of the combination of epic and lyrics?

3. What are the two meanings of the term "drama"?

4. Match the names ancient Greek playwrights with those genres to which their work belongs (indicate the correspondence with arrows):

Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin

(1744/5 – 1792)

Before reading the text, remember from a history course, read in an encyclopedia or the Internet, and tell the class about the main events Russian history XVIII century. Why is this age often called the Age of Reason or the Age of Enlightenment?

Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin is a Russian writer and comedian. Fonvizin's comedies "The Brigadier" (1769) and "Undergrowth" (1782) laid down the traditions of the subsequent Russian dramaturgy - the comedies of A.S. Griboedova, N.V. Gogol, A.N. Ostrovsky and A.P. Chekhov. Fonvizin's work had a great influence on followers due to the writer's great literary talent, apt and rich language, fidelity in depicting the characters and morals of his heroes, as well as the honesty and firmness of the writer's civic position.

Fonvizin was born in Moscow in noble family. The youth of the future playwright was associated with Moscow University: Fonvizin graduated from the gymnasium at the university and then studied at the Faculty of Philosophy for a year. Fonvizin began to engage in literary work early: initially he translated the works of contemporary European writers of the Enlightenment. For 20 years, from 1762 to 1782, Fonvizin was in the public service: in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs and subsequently as the personal secretary of its leader, Count N. Panin.

Fonvizin shared Political Views Panin, the main of which were the need for a Constitution in Russia, the granting of rights and freedom to all citizens of the country, the abolition of serfdom. Especially important for Fonvizin was the education in a Russian citizen of respect for his national dignity and culture. In the comedy Brigadier, Fonvizin sharply and caustically denounced the servility of Russian nobles to French fashion, contrasting their servility with a high sense of love for their homeland and reverence for its original life. Here, for example, is how shameful the remark of the heroine from "The Brigadier" sounds:

Oh, how happy our daughter is! She goes for the one who was in Paris.

A contemporary of Fonvizin, famous writer and journalist N. Novikov wrote about the comedy "The Brigadier" that "it was written exactly in our manners." The theme of the upbringing of a young nobleman, the formation in the younger generation of a sense of patriotism and pride in Russia was developed in Fonvizin's second comedy, Undergrowth. The works are separated by 13 years, years during which the writer's work was enriched with deep social content, topical and pressing topics. The despotism of power and the ignorance of the landlords were at the center of Fonvizin's criticism.

Fonvizin died in 1792. Sharpness and courage literary works the writer had a strong impact on the consciousness of the Russian reader, bringing up in him a real citizen. IN last years life Fonvizin was forbidden to appear in the press.

1. Find in the text the answer to the question: what are the main themes of Fonvizin's works.

2. Why do you think Fonvizin was forbidden to appear in the press in the last years of his life?

Comedy D.I. Fonvizin "Undergrowth"

Before reading the text, explain what comedy is. If necessary, consult a literary dictionary or the Internet.

§ 1. The comedy "Undergrowth" is the pinnacle of D.I. Fonvizin's work, it is also one of the most significant works of Russian literature. This is the first truly national, original comedy. It reflected main question era - the choice of the path along which Russia should develop. Fonvizin's work took place during the reign of Catherine II (1762 - 1796), the heyday of the power and wealth of the Russian nobility - the nobility, after which a gradual and steady weakening of his role in society followed. The future of the country and its fate depended on the choice of the nobleman of his life and civic position.

The comedy "Undergrowth" was created in 1779-1782. The comedy premiered at the theater on September 24, 1782. It was first published with cuts in 1783; it appeared in its entirety nearly fifty years later, in 1830. Due to the topicality of its problems, the clash of two types of nobility - the enlightened and virtuous with the ignorant and despotic - the comedy instantly gained popularity and received recognition and appreciation in society. And now, after more than two centuries, Fonvizin's "Undergrowth" is well known modern reader since comedy has become an integral part of Russian culture.

The longevity of comedy is primarily due to its relevance: the problem of educating the younger generation entering into adulthood worthy and educated people turned out to be essential for all time. Secondly, Fonvizin created a brilliant comedy of manners, creating vivid images of their heroes: the rude and cruel landowners Prostakovs and Skotinins, the virtuous and wise Starodum, the honest and direct Pravdin, the faithful and courageous Milon, the gentle and loving Sophia, and most importantly, the image of the undergrowth Mitrofan, the stupid, underdeveloped and greedy son of the self-destructive landowner Prostakova. Thanks to Fonvizin, the word "undergrowth", long out of use as denoting age and social status person, is used by us to refer to people like Mitrofan.

Finally, the speech portrait of various strata and types of Russian society is accurately conveyed in the comedy. For example, the character of Mrs. Prostakova is revealed in her swearing, vulgar speech: Here is how the reader gets to know this heroine:

And you, cattle, come closer. Didn't I tell you, thieves' mug, to let your caftan go wider.

Pravdin expresses himself directly and distinctly:

Excuse me, ma'am. I never read letters without the permission of those to whom they are written.

The speech of each character is individualized. Complex expressions and high vocabulary expresses Starodum, plain language former soldier arithmetic teacher Tsyfirkin, stupidity and bragging are permeated with the replicas of the fool Skotinin, nonsense is the impudent chatter of the "teacher" Vralman, but most of all, the voice of the immature Mitrofan is remembered:

I don't want to study, I want to get married.

undergrowth

Before reading the text, look at explanatory dictionary, which means the word "undergrowth".

Comedy in five acts

Characters

Prostakov.

Mrs. Prostakova, his wife.

Mitrofan, their son, is undersized.

Eremeevna, Mitrofanov's mother.

Starodum.

Sophia, niece of Starodum.

Skotinin, brother of Mrs. Prostakova.

Kuteikin, seminarian.

Tsyfirkin, retired sergeant.

Vralman, teacher.

Trishka, tailor.

Servant of Prostakov.

Starodum's valet.

Ms. Prostakova (examining the caftan on Mitrofan). The coat is all ruined. Eremeevna, bring in the swindler Trishka here. (Yeremeevna leaves.) He, the thief, has restrained him everywhere. Mitrofanushka, my friend! I have tea, you are pressed to death. Call your father here.

Ms. Prostakova (Trishka). And you, cattle, come closer. Didn't I tell you, thieves' mug, that you let your caftan go wider. The child, the first, grows; another, a child and without a narrow caftan of delicate build. Tell me, idiot, what's your excuse?

Trishka. Why, madame, I was self-taught. I then reported to you: well, if you please, give it to the tailor.

Ms Prostakova. So is it really necessary to be a tailor in order to be able to sew a caftan well. What a beastly argument!

Trishka. Yes, a tailor learned to knit, madam, but I didn’t.

Ms Prostakova. He is also seeking and arguing. A tailor learned from another, another from a third, but who did the first tailor learn from? Speak, cattle.

Trishka. Yes, the first tailor, perhaps, sewed worse than mine.

Mitrofan (runs in). Called my father. I dared to say: immediately.

Ms Prostakova. So go and get him out, if you don’t call for good.

Mitrofan. Yes, here is the father.

Phenomenon III

The same and Prostakov.

Ms Prostakova. What, what are you trying to hide from me? Here, sir, what I have lived with your indulgence. What is the son's new thing to his uncle's conspiracy? What caftan Trishka deigned to sew?

Prostakov (stammering from timidity). Me...a little baggy.

Ms Prostakova. You yourself are baggy, smart head.

Prostakov. Yes, I thought, mother, that you think so.

Ms Prostakova. Are you blind yourself?

Prostakov. With your eyes mine see nothing.

Ms Prostakova. That's the kind of hubby the Lord has given me: he doesn't know how to make out what is wide and what is narrow.

Prostakov. In this I believe in you, mother, and believe.

Ms Prostakova. So believe the same and the fact that I do not intend to indulge the lackeys. Go, sir, and now punish...

Event IV

The same and Skotinin.

Skotinin. Whom? For what? On the day of my collusion! I will forgive you, sister, for such a holiday to postpone the punishment until tomorrow; and tomorrow, if you please, I myself will gladly help. If I were not Taras Skotinin, if the shadow is not to blame for everything. In this, sister, I have the same custom with you. Why are you so angry?

Ms Prostakova. Yes, brother, I will send to your eyes. Mitrofanushka, come here. Is this coat baggy?

Skotinin. No.

Prostakov. Yes, I myself can already see, mother, that it is narrow.

Skotinin. I don't see that either. The caftan, brother, is quite well made.

Ms. Prostakova (Trishka). Get out, cattle. (Eremeevna.) Come on, Eremeevna, let the little guy have breakfast. Vit, I have tea, soon the teachers will come.

Eremeevna. He already, mother, deigned to eat five buns.

Ms Prostakova. So you're sorry for the sixth, you bastard? What zeal! Feel free to watch.

Eremeevna. Hello, mother. I said this for Mitrofan Terentyevich. Protoskoval until morning.

Ms Prostakova. Ah, mother of God! What happened to you, Mitrofanushka?

Mitrofan. Yes, mother. Yesterday, after dinner, I had a seizure.

Skotinin. Yes, it can be seen, brother, you dined tightly.

Mitrofan. And I, uncle, hardly ate supper at all.

Prostakov. I remember, my friend, you deigned to eat something.

Mitrofan. What! Three slices of corned beef, yes hearth, I don’t remember, five, I don’t remember, six.

Eremeevna. At night every now and then he asked for a drink. The whole jug deigned to eat kvass.

Mitrofan. And now I'm walking like crazy. All night long such rubbish climbed into the eyes.

Ms Prostakova. What kind of rubbish, Mitrofanushka?

Mitrofan. Yes, then you, mother, then father.

Ms Prostakova. How is it?

Mitrofan. As soon as I begin to fall asleep, then I see that you, mother, deign to beat the father.

Prostakov (to the side). Well, my trouble! Dream in hand!

Mitrofan (spread out). So I felt sorry.

Ms. Prostakova (with annoyance). Who, Mitrofanushka?

Mitrofan. You, mother: you are so tired, beating the father.

Ms Prostakova. Embrace me, my friend of the heart! Here, son, is one of my consolations.

Skotinin. Well, Mitrofanushka, I see you are a mother's son, not a father!

Prostakov. At least I love him as a parent should, this is a clever child, this is a reasonable child, an amusing, entertainer; sometimes I am beside myself with him and with joy I myself truly do not believe that he is my son.

Skotinin. Only now our amusing fellow is frowning at something.

Ms Prostakova. Why not send for a doctor to the city?

Mitrofan. No, no, mother. I'd rather get better on my own. I’ll run to the dovecote now, so maybe ...

Ms Prostakova. So maybe the Lord is merciful. Come, frolic, Mitrofanushka.

Skotinin. Why can't I see my bride? Where is she? In the evening there will be an agreement, so isn't it time for her to say that she is being married off?

Ms Prostakova. We'll make it, brother. If she is told this ahead of time, then she may still think that we are reporting to her. Although by my husband, however, I am a relative of hers; And I love that strangers listen to me.

Prostakov (Skotinin). To tell the truth, we treated Sofyushka like a real orphan. After her father, she remained a baby. Tom, with six months, as her mother, and my fiancé, had a stroke ...

Ms. Prostakova (showing that he baptizes his heart). The power of the cross is with us.

Prostakov. From which she went into the next world. Her uncle, Mr. Starodum, went to Siberia; and since for several years now there has been neither a rumor nor news about him, we consider him dead. We, seeing that she was left alone, took her to our village and oversee her estate as if it were our own.

Ms Prostakova. What, why are you so pissed off today, my father? Looking for a brother, he might think that we took her to us for the sake of interest.

Prostakov. Well, mother, how can he think it? After all, Sofyushkino's real estate cannot be moved to us.

Skotinin. And although the movable has been put forward, I am not a petitioner. I don't like to bother, and I'm afraid. No matter how much the neighbors offended me, no matter how much damage they did, I didn’t hit anyone with my forehead, and any loss, than to go after him, I’ll tear off my own peasants, and the ends are in the water.

Prostakov. That's true, brother: the whole neighborhood says that you are a masterful collector of dues.

Ms Prostakova. At least you taught us, brother father; and we can't. Since we took away everything that the peasants had, we can no longer tear anything off. Such trouble!

Skotinin. If you please, sister, I will teach you, I will teach you, just marry me to Sofyushka.

Ms Prostakova. Do you really like this girl?

Skotinin. No, I'm not correct girl.

Prostakov. So in the neighborhood of her village?

Skotinin. And not villages, but the fact that in the villages it is found and what my mortal hunt is.

Ms Prostakova. To what, brother?

Skotinin. I love pigs, sister, and we have such large pigs in our neighborhood that there is not a single one of them that, standing on its hind legs, would not be taller than each of us with a whole head.

Prostakov. It's strange, brother, how rhodium can resemble relatives. Our Mitrofanushka looks like an uncle. And he is a pig hunter from childhood, just like you. As he was still three years old, so, when he saw his back, he would tremble with joy.

Skotinin. This is truly a curiosity! Well, brother, Mitrofan loves pigs because he is my nephew. There is some resemblance here; why am I so fond of pigs?

Prostakov. And there is some similarity, I think.

Event VI

Ms. Prostakova (Sophia). What's so funny, mother? What were you happy about?

Sophia. I have just received good news. Uncle, about whom we have known nothing for so long, whom I love and revere as my father, has recently arrived in Moscow. Here is the letter I received from him.

Ms. Prostakova (frightened, angrily). How! Starodum, your uncle, is alive! And you deign to conceive that he is risen! Here's some fancy stuff!

Sophia. Yes, he never died.

Ms Prostakova. Didn't die! And why can't he die? No, madam, these are your inventions, so that we can frighten us with uncle, so that we give you free rein. Uncle is a smart man; he, seeing me in the hands of others, will find a way to help me out. That's what you're glad about, ma'am; however, perhaps, do not be very cheerful: your uncle, of course, did not resurrect.

Skotinin. Sister, well, if he did not die?

Prostakov. God forbid he didn't die!

Ms. Prostakova (to her husband). How did he not die! What are you confusing grandma? Don't you know that for several years from me he has been remembered in memorials for his repose? Surely my sinful prayers did not reach! (To Sophia.) Perhaps a letter to me. (Almost throws up.) I bet it's some kind of amorous. And guess who. This is from the officer who was looking for you to marry and for whom you yourself wanted to marry. Yes, that beast without my asking gives you letters! I'll get there. Here's what we've come up with. They write letters to the girls! girls can read and write!

Sophia. Read it for yourself, sir. You will see that nothing could be more innocent.

Ms Prostakova. Read it yourself! No, madame, I, thank God, have not been brought up like that. I can receive letters, but I always order someone else to read them. (To her husband.) Read.

Prostakov (long looking). Tricky.

Ms Prostakova. And you, my father, apparently, were brought up as a red maiden. Brother, please read.

Skotinin. I? I never read anything in my life, sister! God delivered me from this boredom.

Sophia. Let me read.

Ms Prostakova. O mother! I know that you are a craftswoman, but I do not really believe you. Here, I have tea, teacher Mitrofanushkin will come soon. I tell him...

Skotinin. Have you already begun to teach the young man to read and write?

Ms Prostakova. Ah, father brother! She has been studying for four years now. Nothing, it’s a sin to say that we don’t try to educate Mitrofanushka. We pay money to three teachers. For the diploma, the deacon from the Intercession, Kuteikin, goes to him. He is taught arithmetic, father, by a retired sergeant, Tsyfirkin. Both of them come here from the city. The city is three miles away from us, father. He is taught in French and all sciences by the German Adam Adamych Vralman. This is three hundred rubles a year. We sit at the table with us. Our women wash his linen. Where necessary - a horse. A glass of wine at the table. At night, a tallow candle, and our Fomka directs the wig for nothing. To tell the truth, and we are pleased with him, father, brother. He does not captivate the child. Vity, my father, while Mitrofanushka is still undergrowth, sweat him and pamper him; and there, in a dozen years, when he enters, God forbid, into the service, he will endure everything. How is happiness written in the family, brother. From our surname Prostakov, look, lying on your side, they fly to their ranks. Why is their Mitrofanushka worse? Ba! yes, by the way, our dear guest came by the way.

Appearance VII

The same and Pravdin.

Pravdin. I am glad to have made your acquaintance.

Skotinin. All right, my lord! As for the last name, I didn't hear it.

Pravdin. I am called Pravdin, so you can hear.

Skotinin. What native, my lord? Where are the villages?

Pravdin. I was born in Moscow, if you need to know, and my villages are in the local governorship.

Skotinin. But do I dare to ask, my lord, - I don’t know my name and patronymic, - are there pigs in your villages?

Ms Prostakova. Enough, brother, let's start about pigs. Let's talk about our grief. (To Pravdin.) Here, father! God told us to take the girl in our arms. She deigns to receive letters from her uncles. Uncles write to her from the other world. Do me a favor, my father, take the trouble to read it aloud to all of us.

Pravdin. Excuse me, ma'am. I never read letters without the permission of those to whom they are written.

Sophia. I ask you about it. You are doing me a great favor.

Pravdin. If you order. (Is reading.)"Dear niece! My deeds forced me to live for several years in separation from my neighbors; and the distance has deprived me of the pleasure of having news of you. I am now in Moscow, having lived for several years in Siberia. I can serve as an example that one can make one's fortune through labor and honesty. By these means, with the help of happiness, I amassed ten thousand rubles in income ... "

Skotinin and both Prostakovs. Ten thousand!

Pravdin (is reading)."... of which you, my dear niece, I make you an heiress ..."

Ms Prostakova. Your heiress!

Prostakov. Sophia the heiress! (Together.)

Skotinin. Her heiress!

Ms. Prostakova (rushing to hug Sophia). Congratulations, Sofyushka! Congratulations, my soul! I'm overjoyed! Now you need a groom. I, I best bride and I don’t want Mitrofanushka. That's uncle! That's a father! I myself still thought that God would protect him, that he was still alive.

Skotinin (holding out his hand). Well, sister, hurry up on your hands.

Ms. Prostakova (quietly to Skotinin). Hold on, brother. First you need to ask her if she still wants to marry you?

Skotinin. How! What a question! Are you going to report to her?

Skotinin. And for what? Yes, even if you read for five years, you will never read better than ten thousand.

Ms. Prostakova (to Sophia). Sofyushka, my soul! let's go to my bedroom. I desperately need to talk to you. (Takes Sophia away.)

Skotinin. Ba! so I see that today collusion is unlikely to be.

Appearance VIII

Servant (to Prostakov, out of breath). Barin! master! the soldiers came and stopped in our village.

Prostakov. What trouble! Well, they will ruin us to the end!

Pravdin. What are you afraid of?

Prostakov. Oh, you dear father! We've already seen the views. I don't dare to go to them.

Pravdin. Do not be afraid. Of course, they are led by an officer who will not allow any impudence. Come to him with me. I am sure that you are shy in vain.

Skotinin. Everyone left me alone. Go for a walk in the barnyard.

End of the first act.

ACT TWO

Phenomenon I

Milo. How glad I am, my dear friend, that I accidentally saw you! Tell me in what way...

Pravdin. As a friend, I will tell you the reason for my being here. I have been designated as a member of the governorship here. I have a command to go around the local district; and besides, from my own feat of my heart, I do not leave to notice those malevolent ignoramuses who, having full power over their people, use it for evil inhumanely. You know the mindset of our viceroy. With what zeal he helps suffering mankind! With what zeal does he thereby fulfill the philanthropic forms of the higher authorities! In our region, we ourselves have experienced that where the governor is such as the governor is depicted in the Institution, there the well-being of the inhabitants is true and reliable. I have been living here for three days now. I found the landowner an innumerable fool, and his wife a wicked fury, to whom the infernal rights make the misfortune of their whole house. What are you thinking, my friend, tell me, how long have you stayed here?

Milo. I'm leaving here in a few hours.

Pravdin. What's so soon? Have a rest.

Milo. I can not. I have been ordered to lead the soldiers without delay ... yes, moreover, I myself am burning with impatience to be in Moscow.

Pravdin. What's the reason?

Milo. I will reveal to you the secret of my heart, dear friend! I am in love and have the happiness of being loved. For more than half a year, I have been separated from the one who is dearest to me in the world, and, what is even sadder, I have not heard anything about her during all this time. Often, attributing the silence to her coldness, I was tormented by grief; but suddenly I received news that struck me. They write to me that, after the death of her mother, some distant relatives took her to their villages. I don't know who or where. Perhaps she is now in the hands of some greedy people who, taking advantage of her orphanhood, keep her in tyranny. That thought alone makes me beside myself.

Pravdin. I see similar inhumanity in the local house. I caress, however, to soon put limits on the wickedness of the wife and the stupidity of the husband. I have already informed our chief of all the local barbarisms, and I have no doubt that measures will be taken to appease them.

Milo. Happy are you, my friend, being able to alleviate the fate of the unfortunate. I do not know what to do in my sad situation.

Pravdin. Let me ask about her name.

Milon (excited). A! here she is.

Phenomenon II

The same and Sophia.

Sofia (in admiration). Milo! do I see you?

Pravdin. What happiness!

Milo. Here is the one that owns my heart. Dear Sophia! Tell me, how do I find you here?

Sophia. How many sorrows have I endured since the day of our separation! My shameless in-laws...

Pravdin. My friend! do not ask about what is so sad for her ... You will learn from me what rudeness ...

Milo. Unworthy people!

Sophia. Today, however, for the first time the hostess here changed her behavior with me. Hearing that my uncle was making me an heiress, she suddenly turned from being rude and quarrelsome to the very base, and I can see from all her innuendo that she will read me as a bride to her son.

Milon (eagerly). And you did not show her the same hour of perfect contempt? ..

Sophia. No...

Milo. And didn't tell her that you had a heartfelt obligation, that...

Sophia. No...

Milo. A! now I see my doom. My opponent is happy! I do not deny all the merits in it. He may be reasonable, enlightened, kind; but so that he could compare with me in my love for you, so that ...

Sofia (grinning). My God! If you saw him, your jealousy would drive you to the extreme!

Milon (indignantly). I imagine all its virtues.

Sophia. You can't imagine everyone. Although he is sixteen years old, he has already reached the last degree of his perfection and will not go far.

Pravdin. How far will it not go, madam? He finishes teaching hours; and there, one must think, they will also take up the psalter.

Milo. How! This is my rival! And, dear Sophia, why are you tormenting me with a joke? You know how easily a passionate person is upset by the slightest suspicion.

Sophia. Think how unfortunate my condition is! I could not answer this stupid proposal decisively. In order to get rid of their rudeness, in order to have some freedom, I was forced to hide my feelings.

Milo. What did you answer her?

Pravdin. How did you sneak up, Mr. Skotinin! I wouldn't expect this from you.

Skotinin. I passed by you. Heard that they called me, I answered. I have such a custom: whoever screams - Skotinin! And I to him: me! What are you, brothers, and for real? I myself served in the guards and retired as a corporal. It used to happen that at the exit they would shout at the roll call: Taras Skotinin! And I wholeheartedly: I!

Pravdin. We have not called you now, and you can go where you went.

Skotinin. I didn’t go anywhere, but I wander, thinking. I have such a custom, as if you put a fence in the head, then you can’t knock it out with a nail. With me, you hear, what entered the mind, it settled here. All I think about is that I only see in a dream, as in reality, and in reality, as in a dream.

Pravdin. What would interest you so much now?

Skotinin. Oh, brother, you are my dearest friend! Miracles are happening to me. My sister quickly took me out of my village to hers, and if she takes me out of her village to mine just as quickly, I can honestly say before the whole world: I went for nothing, brought nothing.

Pravdin. What a pity, Mr. Skotinin! Your sister plays with you like a ball.

Skotinin (embittered). How about a ball? Protect God! Yes, I myself will throw it so that they won’t find a whole village in a week.

Sophia. Oh, how angry you are!

Milo. What happened to you?

Skotinin. You yourself, a smart person, think about it. My sister brought me here to get married. Now she herself drove up with a challenge: “What is it to you, brother, in your wife; you would have, brother, a good pig. No sister! I want to bring my pigs too. It's not easy to fool me.

Pravdin. It seems to me, Mr. Skotinin, that your sister is thinking about a wedding, but not about yours.

Skotinin. What a parable! I am not a hindrance to others. Everyone marry his bride. I will not touch a stranger, and do not touch my stranger. (Sophia.) Don't worry, darling. No one will beat you from me.

Sophia. What does it mean? Here's another one!

Milon (shouted). What audacity!

Skotinin (to Sophia). What are you afraid of?

Pravdin (to Milo). How can you be angry with Skotinin!

Sofia (Skotinin). Am I destined to be your wife?

Milo. I can hardly resist!

Skotinin. You can’t drive around your betrothed, darling! You blame it on your happiness. You will live happily ever after with me. Ten thousand of your income! Eco happiness rolled; Yes, I was born so much and have not seen; yes, I will redeem all the pigs from the world for them; Yes, I, you hear, I will make everyone blow their trumpet: in the local neighborhood, and only pigs live.

Pravdin. When only cattle can be happy among you, then your wife will have poor peace from them and from you.

Skotinin. Bad peace! bah! bah! bah! do I have enough lights? For her, I’ll give you a coal stove with a stove bench. You are my dearest friend! if I now, without seeing anything, have a special pecking for each pig, then I will find a room for my wife.

Milo. What a beastly comparison!

Pravdin (Skotinin). Nothing will happen, Mr. Skotinin! I will tell you that your sister will read it for her son.

Skotinin. How! Nephew to interrupt from his uncle! Yes, I'll break him like hell at the first meeting. Well, if I'm a pig's son, if I'm not her husband, or if Mitrofan is a freak.

Event IV

The same, Eremeevna and Mitrofan.

Eremeevna. Yes, learn a little.

Mitrofan. Well, say another word, you old bastard! I'll finish them off; I will again complain to my mother, so she will deign to give you a task in yesterday's way.

Skotinin. Come here, buddy.

Eremeevna. Feel free to go to your uncle.

Mitrofan. Hello, uncle! What are you so bristling deigned?

Skotinin. Mitrofan! Look straight at me.

Eremeevna. Look, father.

Mitrofan (Eremeevna). Yes, uncle, what kind of unseen? What will you see on it?

Skotinin. Once again: look at me straighter.

Eremeevna. Don't make uncle angry. There, if you please look, father, how he goggled his eyes, and you, if you please, also goggle yours.

Milo. Here's a good explanation!

Pravdin. Will it end somehow?

Skotinin. Mitrofan! You are now on the strip of death. Tell the whole truth; if I had not been afraid of sin, I would have those, without saying a word, by the legs and about the corner. Yes, I do not want to destroy souls without finding the guilty one.

Eremeevna (trembled). Oh, he's leaving! Where should my head go?

Mitrofan. What are you, uncle, ate henbane? Yes, I don’t know why you deigned to jump on me.

Skotinin. Look, don’t deny it, so that I don’t knock the spirit out of you at once in my hearts. You can't put your hands up here. My sin. Blame God and the sovereign. Look, do not riveted on yourself, so as not to accept a needless beating.

Eremeevna. God forbid the slander!

Skotinin. Do you want to get married?

Mitrofan (spread out). For a long time, uncle, be-mouth hunting ...

Skotinin (rushing at Mitrofan). Oh you damned bastard!

Pravdin (excluding Skotinin). Mr Skotinin! Do not let your hands go.

Mitrofan. Mommy, cover me!

Eremeevna (shielding Mitrofan, frenzied and raising his fists). I will die on the spot, but I will not give the child away. Sup, sir, just poke your head. I'll scratch those walleyes.

Skotinin (trembling and threatening, departs). I'll get you!

Eremeevna (trembling, following). I have my own hooks too!

Mitrofan (following Skotinin). Get out, uncle, get out!

Phenomenon V

The same and both Prostakovs.

Ms. Prostakova (husband, go). There is nothing to override here. All your life, sir, you walk with your ears hanging out.

Prostakov. Yes, he himself and Pravdin have disappeared from my eyes. What am I to blame?

Ms. Prostakova (to Milo). Ah, my father! Mister officer! I have now been looking for you all over the village; she knocked her husband down to bring you, father, the lowest thanksgiving for a good command.

Milo. For what, ma'am?

Ms Prostakova. Why, my father! The soldiers are so kind. So far, no one has touched the hair. Do not be angry, my father, that my freak missed you. Otrodu does not make sense to treat anyone. I was born so rotten, my father.

Milo. I don't blame you at all, ma'am.

Ms Prostakova. On him, my father, he finds such, in a local way, tetanus. Sometimes, bulging eyes, stands dead hour like dug in. I didn't do anything with him; What could he not stand for me! You won't get through anything. If the tetanus goes away, then, my father, it will bring such game that you ask God for tetanus again.

Pravdin. At least, ma'am, you can't complain about his wicked temper. He is humble...

Ms Prostakova. Like a calf, my father; that's why everything in our house is spoiled. It doesn’t make sense for him to have strictness in the house in order to punish the guilty by way. I manage everything myself, father. From morning to evening, as if hanging by the tongue, I don’t lay my hands on it: either I scold, or I fight; That's how the house is kept, my father!

Pravdin (to the side). Soon it will be different.

Mitrofan. And today my mother deigned to be busy with the servants all morning.

Ms. Prostakova (to Sophia). Cleaned up the rooms for your kind uncle. I'm dying, I want to see this respectable old man. I heard a lot about him. And his villains only say that he is a little gloomy, but such a deceitful one, but if he already loves someone, he will love him directly.

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