Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) - French poet and playwright, creator of the greatest work of classicism, the play "Sid", which became the pinnacle of his work.

Characters:
Don Fernando, first king of Castile
Doña Urraca, Infanta of Castile.
Don Diego, father of Don Rodrigo.
Don Gomez, Count Gomez, father of Jimena.
Don Rodrigo, lover of Jimena.
Don Sancho in love with Jimena.
Don Arias, Don Alonso - Castilian nobles
Jimena, daughter of Don Gomez.
Leonor, tutor of the Infanta.
Elvira, tutor of Chimene.
Page.
Infanta.

Genre "Sida" - tragicomedy, (that is, a tragedy with a happy ending). Corneille painted it in 1636. The protagonist of the play is Don Rodrigo, who was called Sid for military merit. In the first act of the play, there is a quarrel between Count Gomez and Don Diego, during which the Count slaps Diego. Gomez refuses to fight, not considering the old man a worthy opponent. Then Diego asks his son to wash away his insult with the blood of the offender. Rodrigo is confused:

"Fortunately, I was so close at last, -Oh, the evil fates of treason! —And at that moment my father is offended,And the offender was the father of Chimene.I am devoted to internal war;My love and honor in the irreconcilable struggle:Stand up for your father, renounce your beloved!

In the second act, the king tells the count to apologize to Diego, but it's too late: Rodrigo and Gomez go to a duel. Jimena also faces a choice between feeling and duty, and yet chooses to defend the honor of her deceased father:

“Punish the young fool with courage:He took the life of the one who needed the crown;He deprived his daughter of his father.

In the third act, Rodrigo executes himself and comes to repentance to Jimena:

“Having executed the offender, I myself go to the execution.The judge is my love, the judge is my Jimena.To earn her enmity is worse than betrayal,And I came to earn, as a quench of torment,Your judgment from sweet lips and death from sweet hands"

But the Infanta dissuades him from this meeting. Jimena confesses to her that she loves Rodrigo, and, having avenged herself, she will die. Then the killer of her father comes out and offers her to kill him with the same sword, but Jimena relies on the king. At this time, the Moors attack Seville. Diego offers his son to lead the squad. In the fourth act, Rodrigo returns as a hero. The king is delighted with his deed. Jimena declares that she will marry someone who will avenge her father. Sancho, who has long been in love with her, decides to fight. In the fifth act, Sancho returns and reports that Rodrigo knocked the sword out of his hands, but did not kill the one who protects Jimena. Then the king gives Jimena a year to "dry the tears”, and Rodrigo will perform feats for now:

“Trust in yourself, in the royal word;Chimena is ready to give you her heart again,And soothe the unresolved pain in herThe change of days, your sword and your king will help!

"Sid" by Pierre Corneille as a work of classicism

What is classicism? Briefly

Classicism arose in France at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries. The manifesto of the genre is the work of Boileau "Poetic Art". The main conflict in classicism is the struggle between feeling and duty. At the same time, heroes should always choose with their heads, not with their hearts.

The main features of classicism on the example of the play "Sid":

A hero must always be himself. In the play, the characters choose duty and follow it to the end. The concept of the heroic in the play "Sid" suggests that Rodrigo must overcome the unreasonable voice of feelings in himself, this is what makes him "Sid", and not the victory over the Moors. His main triumph is the superiority of will and reason over passions.

- The unity of form and content, but the main role is played by content.

- The tragicomedy is written in verse in a clear and precise language, without excess of tropes.

“A hero must always choose duty over feeling. He is driven by rationalism, not romantic impulses. In the play "Sid" both heroes follow the duty, Corneille shows how hard this choice is given to them. They sacrifice happiness for the sake of duty, but in the end the author gives them hope for a happy ending as a reward.

The drama is based on real historical events. Rodrigo Diaz is a real-life character who was the hero of the Reconquista. The image of Sid is not a fictional character.

- The number of acts must strictly be odd (3.5, rarely 7). There are 5 acts in Corneille's play "Sid".

- The problematics of "The Sid" fully fit into the classic repertoire of that time: the conflict of feelings and duty, mind and heart, public and personal.

The rule of trinity in classicism on the example of Corneille's play "Sid":

- Places. All the action takes place in one place - the city of Seville, which has an ambiguous interpretation, since this is an extended scene of action.

- Time. According to the canons of classicism, the action should last no more than a day. The play takes place over two days. On the first day there is a quarrel between the count and Diego, at night the Moors attack the city, the next day the king gives Jimena the hand and heart of Rodrigo.

- Actions. Throughout the play, one storyline, one conflict should develop. The storyline is broken by the role of the king's daughter Infanta, who, above all, is in love with Don Rodrigo.

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The great French playwright Pierre Corneille was born on June 6, 1606 in Rouen. Having studied law, he received a diploma and, according to the custom of that time, bought himself a government position. But Corneille did not feel much attraction to the profession of a lawyer. He did not know how to speak beautifully, was embarrassed in front of the public, was extremely impractical. In 1629, Corneille made his debut in literature with the comedy Melita, which was a resounding success. He created a troupe of actors who staged his plays.

Pierre Corneille. Portrait by an anonymous 17th-century author

After writing a few more comedies, Corneille set to tragedies - he embarked on a path that fully corresponded to the nature of his talent. His first tragedy was Medea, in which the brush of the great master is already visible in places. The era of the highest flowering of the genius of Corneille embraces the period between 1636 and 1645. This period opens with the tragicomedy Sid (see its analysis and characterization of the characters), which constituted an era in the history of the European theater. The plot is taken from the dramatic chronicle of the Spanish writer Guillen de Castro. Following the principle followed by Moliere after him, Corneille "takes his good where he finds it", transfers 72 of the most successful verses of the Spanish writer into his play. But Corneille's borrowings are limited to this. Instead of a formless, incoherent dramatic chronicle, we see in Corneille a harmonious play in which all the actions of the characters are psychologically motivated.

The play was a huge success. Cardinal Richelieu, who was himself a writer and envious of Corneille, incited his critics. But nothing could overshadow the success of "Sid". All French society took the side of Corneille. There was even a special saying: "it's fine, like" Sid "". Tragedies follow this play: Horace (see summary and analysis), Cinna (1640), Polyeuct (1643), Pompey; as well as comedies: "The Liar" (1643 - 1644), "Continuation of the Liar" and the tragedy "Rodogun" (1644 - 1645).

In 1647 Corneille was elected a member of the academy. He resigned his judicial office, deciding to devote himself entirely to literature. Soon after, Corneille experienced his first major setback: his play Pertarite was booed (1652). Corneille gave up writing for 7 years. In 1659 he staged Oedipus, but the audience greeted this tragedy coldly. His subsequent tragedies were not successful either. The generation to which the author of Sid belonged was replaced by new people. Corneille's happy rival, Jean Racine, became their favorite. From 1662 Corneille moved from Rouen to Paris. The king assigned him an allowance of 2,000 livres a year, but it was issued very inaccurately: Corneille died in poverty and all alone on September 30, 1684.

With Corneille, French classical tragedy took its final form. The plays of his predecessors - Garnier, Montchretien and others - in their external construction resemble mysteries. The psychology in them is extremely primitive, and the action develops, so to speak, in leaps; the various parts of the play are connected in a purely external way. On the contrary, in Corneille's plays the dramatic action develops in a surprisingly consistent manner. Corneille accepted the unity of Aristotle, but he did this not out of slavish submission to the authority of the great thinker, but because the unity fully corresponded to the nature of his tragedies. In contrast to Shakespeare, Corneille depicts passion not throughout its entire length, but at the moment of its highest tension, at the moment of crisis. And since in life a moral crisis lasts only a few hours, Corneille limited the action of his plays to 24 hours. Striving above all for plausibility, Corneille excluded external action from his tragedies; moreover, he observes the unity of place. This is due to the conditions of the then French scene. The so-called “clean audience” was on the stage itself, next to the actors, and therefore it was very difficult to change the scenery and depict battles, conspiracies, popular meetings, etc. on the stage. Therefore, Corneille takes all this behind the scenes: about what is happening , the messengers report.

The tragedy of Corneille is built mainly on an internal, moral conflict. He takes the plots for his plays from history, but gives his characters the features of his favorite dramatic type. This type is reminiscent of Corneille's contemporaries, people of the era of the Fronde and the Thirty Years' War, ambitious people like Cardinal Retz or Richelieu, rational, stubborn in pursuit of the intended goal. The hero of Corneille is a man with a powerful will that controls all his actions and curbs his passions. Corneille looks at the latter in the same way as Descartes (in his treatise On the Passions, 1649). Passions for Corneille are crude impulses of instinct. The will controls them, curbs them, opposing one passion to another; the will is always powerful to prevent their outward manifestation. Kornelev's hero can be an enthusiast, then a fanatic, but he always acts consciously, always fully aware of all his actions. That is why the heroines of Corneille are so little feminine, with the exception, however, of Polina (in the tragedy "Polyeuct"). Even love is subject to their reason and will. Love in Corneille's plays is not a blind elemental force, but a conscious desire for goodness: we love what we find perfect.

From such a one-sided understanding of psychology stem all the main shortcomings of Corneille's plays. First of all, they have too much rationality. Before making any decision, Corneille's heroes weigh all the pros and cons for a long time (remember Rodrigo's monologue in The Side), and this discourages the viewer and slows down the action. In addition, there is little variety in Corneille's plays; his heroes are similar to each other: whether they are Romans, Spaniards, Byzantines - they are all exactly cast from one piece of steel, all are equally "heroic" and monumental. But these shortcomings are redeemed by a number of brilliant virtues. No writer can compare with Corneille in his ability to depict the dynamics of the human soul. With hitherto unprecedented skill, Corneille showed in his plays the full power of the human spirit, all the greatness of his daring and achievements.

Corneille developed his own style over many years. In the best scenes of The Cid and in his "Roman" tragedies, Corneille is a great artist of the word. Many of his poems have become sayings, like the poems of our Griboyedov. Corneille is fluent in dialogue; short strong remarks intersect with him, like the swords of two fighters.

The formation of classicism in France takes place during the formation of national and state unity, which, in the end, led to the creation of an absolute monarchy. The most resolute and persistent supporter of absolute royal power was the minister of Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu, who built an impeccable bureaucratic state apparatus, the main principle of which was universal discipline. This basic principle of social life could not but influence the development of art. Art was valued very highly, the state encouraged artists, but at the same time sought to subordinate their work to its own interests. Naturally, in such a situation, it was precisely the art of classicism that turned out to be the most viable.

At the same time, in no case should we forget that classicism in France is formed in the context of precision literature, which has provided many wonderful examples. The main advantage of this literature and precision culture as a whole was that it sharply raised the value of the game - in art and in life itself, they saw a special dignity in lightness, ease. Nevertheless, classicism became a symbol of the culture of France in the 17th century. If precision literature was guided by the unexpectedness, the originality of each poet's vision of the world, then the theorists of classicism believed that the basis of beauty in art is formed by certain laws generated by a reasonable comprehension of harmony. Numerous treatises on art just put at the forefront the harmony, rationality and creative discipline of the poet, who is obliged to resist the chaos of the world. The aesthetics of classicism was basically rationalistic, which is why it rejected everything supernatural, fantastic and miraculous as contrary to common sense. It is no coincidence that the classicists rarely and reluctantly turned to Christian themes. Antique culture, on the contrary, seemed to them the embodiment of reason and beauty.

The most famous theorist of French classicism - Nicolas Boileau-Depreo (). In his treatise The Art of Poetry (1674), the practice of contemporary writers took on the appearance of a coherent system. The most significant elements of this system are:

Regulations on the correlation of genres (“high”, “medium”, “low”) and styles (there are also three of them, respectively);

Promotion to the first place among the literary genres of dramaturgy;

In dramaturgy, the emphasis on tragedy as the most “worthy” genre; it also contains recommendations regarding the plot (antiquity, the life of great people, heroes), versification (12 complex verse with a caesura in the middle)

Comedy allowed some indulgence: prose is acceptable, ordinary nobles and even respectable bourgeois act as heroes;

A single requirement for dramaturgy is the observance of the “three unities” rule, which was formulated before Boileau, but it was he who managed to show how this principle serves to build a harmonious and reasonable plot: all events must fit within 24 hours and take place in one place; in tragedy there is only one plot and one denouement (in comedy, some deviations are again allowed); the play consists of five acts, where the plot, climax and denouement are clearly indicated; following these rules, the playwright created a work in which the events unfold as if in one breath and require the heroes to exert all their spiritual strength.

Such a focus on the inner world of the hero often reduced theatrical props to a minimum: high passions and heroic deeds of the characters could be performed in an abstract, conditional setting. Hence - the constant remark of the classic tragedy: “the scene depicts the palace in general (palais `a volonte). The documents that have come down to us characterizing the staging of individual performances in the Burgundy Hotel provide an extremely limited list of theatrical props necessary for staging classic tragedies. So, for "Cid" and "Horace" by Corneille, only an armchair is indicated, for "Cinna" - an armchair and two stools, for "Heraclius" - three notes, for "Nycomedes" - a ring, for "Oedipus" - nothing but a conditional scenery palace in general.

Of course, all these principles, summarized in Boileau's treatise, were not developed immediately, but it is characteristic that already in 1634, on the initiative of Cardinal Richelieu, an Academy was created in France, whose task was to compile a dictionary of the French language, and this institution was called regulate and direct literary practice and theory. In addition, the most outstanding literary works were discussed at the academy, and assistance was provided to the most worthy authors. All decisions were made by the “forty immortals,” as members of the academy, who were elected for life, were half-respectfully, half-ironically called. Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine and Jean-Baptiste Moliere are still considered the most prominent representatives of French classicism.

II. 2.1. Classicism in the work of Pierre Corneille ()

Pierre Corneille ()- the greatest playwright of French classicism. It is his work that is a kind of standard of classic tragedy, although contemporaries have repeatedly reproached him for his too free, from their point of view, handling of rules and norms. Violating superficially understood canons, he ingeniously embodied the very spirit and great possibilities of classic poetics.

Pierre Corneille was born in the city of Rouen, located in the north-west of France, in Normandy. His father was a respectable bourgeois - a lawyer at the local parliament. At the end of the Jesuit college, Pierre was also admitted to the bar of Rouen. However, Corneille's judicial career did not take place, since literature became his true vocation.

Early creativity. Search for a tragic conflict

Corneille's first literary experiments were far from the area that became his true vocation: these were gallant verses and epigrams, later published in the collection Poetic Mixture (1632).

Corneille wrote his first comedy in verse, Melita, or Anonymous Letters, in 1629. He offered it to the famous actor Mondori (later the first performer of the role of Sid), who was touring at that time with his troupe in Rouen. Mondori agreed to stage the young author's comedy in Paris, and Corneille followed the troupe to the capital. "Melita", which stood out sharply against the background of the modern comedy repertoire with its novelty and freshness, was a great success and immediately made the name of Corneille famous in the literary and theatrical world.

Encouraged by his first success, Corneille writes a number of plays, mostly continuing the line begun in Melita, the plot of which is based on an intricate love affair. According to the author himself, when composing Melita, he did not even suspect the existence of any rules. From 1631 to 1633, Corneille wrote the comedies The Widow, or the Punished Traitor, The Gallery of the Court, or the Companion-Rival, Soubretka, and The Place Royale, or the Mad Lover. All of them were staged by the Mondori troupe, which finally settled in Paris and adopted the name of the Theater Marais in 1634. Their success is evidenced by the numerous poetic greetings of fellow professionals addressed to Corneille (Scuderi, Mere, Rotru). So, for example, Georges Scuderi, a playwright popular at that time, put it this way: "The sun has risen, hide, stars."

Corneille wrote comedies in a "gallant spirit", saturating them with sublime and elegant love experiences, in which, undoubtedly, the influence of precision literature is felt. However, at the same time, he managed to portray love in a completely special way - as a strong, contradictory feeling, and, most importantly, developing.

In this regard, the comedy "Royal Square" is of particular interest. Its protagonist, Alidor, renounces love for the sake of principle: happy love "enslaves his will." Above all, he appreciates the spiritual freedom that the lover inevitably loses. He betrays the sincere and devoted Angelica, and the heroine, disappointed both in love and in secular life, leaves for a monastery. Only now does Alidor realize how wrong he was and how much he loves Angelica, but it's too late. And the hero decides that from now on his heart will be closed to true feelings. There is no happy ending in this comedy, and it is close to a tragicomedy. Moreover, the main characters are reminiscent of the future heroes of Corneille's tragedies: they know how to feel deeply and strongly, but consider it necessary to subordinate passion to reason, even if dooming themselves to suffering. To create a tragedy, Corneille lacks one thing - to find a real tragic conflict, to determine which ideas are worthy of giving up such a strong feeling as love for them. In "Royal Square" the hero acts for the sake of an absurd "crazy" theory, from the point of view of the author, and he himself is convinced of its failure. In tragedies, the dictates of reason will be associated with the highest duty to the state, fatherland, king (for the French of the 17th century, these three concepts were combined), and therefore the conflict between the heart and mind will become so sublime and insoluble.

II.2.1.1. Tragedies of Corneille. Philosophical basis

writer's worldview. Tragedy "Sid"

Corneille's worldview was formed in the era of the powerful first minister of the kingdom - the famous cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis Richelieu. He was an outstanding and tough politician who set himself the task of turning France into a strong unified state headed by a king endowed with absolute power. All spheres of political and public life in France were subordinated to the interests of the state. Therefore, it is no coincidence that at this time the philosophy of neostoicism with its cult of a strong personality was spreading. These ideas had a significant impact on the work of Corneille, especially during the period of creation of tragedies. In addition, the teachings of the greatest philosopher - the rationalist of the 17th century, Rene Descartes, are also widely disseminated.

Descartes and Corneille are in many ways the same approach to solving the main ethical problem - the conflict between passions and reason, as two hostile and irreconcilable principles of human nature. From the point of view of Cartesian rationalism, as well as from the point of view of the playwright, any personal passion is a manifestation of individual self-will, the sensual nature of man. The "higher" principle is called upon to defeat him - the mind that directs the free human will. However, this triumph of reason and will over passions comes at the cost of a severe internal struggle, and the very clash between these principles turns into a tragic conflict.

Tragedy "Sid"

Features of conflict resolution

In 1636, Corneille's tragedy "The Sid" was staged at the Marais Theater, enthusiastically received by the public. The source of the play was the play of the Spanish playwright Guillen de Castro "The Youth of Cid" (1618). The plot is based on the events of the 11th century, the period of the Reconquista, the struggle for the conquest of Spanish lands from the Arabs, who captured the Spanish peninsula in the 8th century. Her hero is a real historical figure, the Castilian hidalgo Rodrigo Diaz, who won many glorious victories over the Moors, for which he received the nickname "Sida" (in Arabic "master"). The epic poem "The Song of My Side", composed in the wake of recent events, captured the image of a stern, courageous, mature warrior, experienced in military affairs, able to use cunning if necessary and not disdainful of prey. But the further development of the folk legend about Side brought to the fore the romantic story of his love, which became the subject of numerous romances about Side composed in the 14th-15th centuries. They served as direct material for the dramatic processing of the plot.

Corneille greatly simplified the plot of the Spanish play by removing minor episodes and characters from it. Thanks to this, the playwright focused all his attention on the mental struggle and psychological experiences of the characters.

In the center of the tragedy is the love of young Rodrigo, who has not yet glorified himself by his exploits, and his future wife Jimena. Both from the noblest Spanish families, and everything is going to marriage. The action begins at the moment when the fathers of Rodrigo and Jimena are waiting for which of them the king will appoint as his son's mentor. The king chooses Don Diego, Rodrigo's father. Don Gormes - Jimena's father - considers himself offended. He showers his opponent with reproaches; a quarrel flares up, during which Don Gormes gives Don Diego a slap in the face.

Today it is difficult to imagine what impression this made on the audience of the French theater of the 17th century. Then it was not customary to show the action on the stage, it was reported as a fact that had happened. In addition, it was believed that a slap in the face is appropriate only in a "low" comedy, farce, and should cause laughter. Corneille breaks tradition: in his play, it was the slap in the face that justified the hero’s further actions, because the insult inflicted on his father was really terrible, and only blood could wash it away. Don Diego challenges the offender to a duel, but he is old, and this means that Rodrigo must defend the family honor. The exchange of remarks between father and son is very swift:

Don Diego: Rodrigo, are you not a coward?

Rodrigo: Give you a clear answer

One thing bothers me:

I am your son.

Don Diego: Anger is comforting!

translation by Yu. B. Korneev).

The first remark is rather difficult to translate into Russian. In French, it sounds like "Rodrique, as-tu du Coeur?". The word "Coeur", used by Don Diego, means both "heart", and "courage", and "generosity", and "the ability to indulge in the ardor of feeling." Rodrigo's answer leaves no doubt how important the concept of honor is to him.

Having informed his son with whom he will duel, Don Diego leaves. And Rodrigo, confused and crushed, remains alone and pronounces the famous monologue - it is customary to call it "Rodrigo's stanzas" (d. 1, yavl. 6th). Here Corneille again deviates from the generally accepted rules: unlike the usual size of the classic tragedy - Alexandrian verse (twelve-syllable, with paired rhymes), he writes in the form of free lyrical stanzas.

Corneille shows what is happening in the soul of the hero, how he makes a decision. The monologue begins with a man overwhelmed by the incredible weight that has fallen on him:

Pierced by an unexpected arrow

What rock threw into my chest,

my furious persecutor,

I stood up for the right cause

like an avenger

But sadly I swear my destiny is wrong

And I hesitate, amusing the spirit with aimless hope

Endure a fatal blow.

I did not wait, blinded by close happiness,

From the evil fate of treason,

But then my parent was offended,

And the father of Chimene insulted him.

Rodrigo's words are full of passion, overflowing despair, and at the same time they are accurate, logical, rational. This is where the ability of Corneille the lawyer to build a judicial speech affected.

Rodrigo is confused; he will have to make a choice: to refuse revenge for his father, not out of fear of death, but out of love for Jimena, or to lose his honor and thereby lose the respect and love of Jimena herself. He decides that the best way out for him will be death. But to die means to disgrace yourself, to tarnish the honor of your kind. Yes, and Jimena herself, who also values ​​\u200b\u200bhonor, will be the first to brand him with contempt. The monologue ends with a man who survived the collapse of hopes and regained firmness, having decided on an act:

My mind cleared up again.

I owe my father not in the same way as my dear, - more.

I will die in battle or from heartache.

But in my veins the blood will be pure!

I reproach myself more and more for negligence.

Let's get revenge soon

And no matter how strong our enemy is,

Let's not commit treason.

What is it - if my parent

offended -

What insulted his father Chimene!

In a fair duel, Rodrigo kills Don Gormes. Now Jimena is already suffering. She loves Rodrigo, but she cannot help but demand revenge for her father. And so Rodrigo comes to Jimena.

Jimena: Elvira, what is this?

I do not believe my eyes!

I have Rodrigo!

He dared to come to us!

Rodrigo: Spill my blood

And enjoy more

By your vengeance

And my death.

Jimena: Get out!

Rodrigo: Hold on!

Jimena: No power!

Rodrigo: Just give me a moment, please!

Jimena: Go away or I'll die!

Corneille skillfully weaves a whole dialogue into the framework of one 12-complex verse; poetic rhythm dictates to the actors with what speed and passion each of the short lines should be delivered.

The conflict is approaching a tragic denouement. In accordance with the basic moral and philosophical concept of Corneille, the "reasonable" will, the consciousness of duty triumph over the "unreasonable" passion. Not for Corneille himself, family honor is not that unconditionally “reasonable” beginning, which one should, without hesitation, sacrifice personal feelings. When Corneille was looking for a worthy counterbalance to a deep feeling of love, he least of all saw in him the offended pride of the conceited courtier - the father of Jimena, annoyed by the fact that the king preferred father Rodrigo to him. Thus, an act of individualistic self-will, a petty personal passion, cannot justify the heroes' stoic renunciation of love and happiness. Therefore, Corneille finds a psychological and plot resolution of the conflict, introducing a truly supra-personal principle - the highest duty, before which both love and family honor fade. This is a patriotic feat Rodrigo, which he performs on the advice of his father. Now he is a national hero and savior of the fatherland. According to the decision of the king, who in the classic system of values ​​personifies the highest justice, Jimena must abandon thoughts of revenge and reward the savior of the motherland with her hand. The “prosperous” end of “The Sid”, which provoked objections from pedantic criticism, which for this reason attributed the play to the “lower” genre of tragicomedy, is neither an external artificial device, nor a compromise of the characters who abandon the previously proclaimed principles. The denouement of "Sid" is artistically motivated and natural.

"Battle" around "Sid"

The fundamental difference between The Sid and other contemporary tragedies was the acuteness of the psychological conflict, built on an actual moral and ethical problem. This determined his success. Shortly after the premiere, the saying "It's fine as Sid" appeared. But this success also became the reason for the attacks of envious people and ill-wishers.

The glorification of knightly, feudal honor, dictated to Corneille by his Spanish source, was completely untimely for France in the 1630s. The cult of ancestral family duty contradicted the assertion of absolutism. In addition, the role of the royal power itself in the play was insufficient and was reduced to purely formal external interference. The figure of Don Fernando, "the first king of Castile", as he is solemnly indicated in the list of actors, is completely relegated to the background by the image of Rodrigo. It is also worth noting that when Corneille wrote The Cid, France was fighting duels, in which the royal power saw the manifestation of an outdated concept of honor that was detrimental to the interests of the state.

Poetics of the tragedy "Sid"

The external impetus for the beginning of the discussion was Corneille's own poem "Apology to Ariste", written in an independent tone and challenging fellow writers. Touched by the attack of the “arrogant provincial”, and most of all by the unprecedented success of his play, the playwrights Mere and Scuderi responded - one with a poetic message accusing Corneille of plagiarism from Guillen de Castro, the other with critical “Remarks on Side”. At least the fact that Mere, playing with the meaning of Corneille's surname ("Corneille" - "crow"), calls him "a crow in other people's feathers", testifies to the methods and sharpness of the disputes.

Scuderi in his "Remarks", in addition to criticizing the composition, plot and poetry of the play, put forward the thesis about the "immorality" of the heroine, who agreed at the end to marry (albeit a year later) the murderer of her father.

Many playwrights and critics joined the Scuderi and Mere. Some tried to attribute the success of Cid to the acting skills of Mondori, who played Rodrigo, others accused Corneille of greed, indignant at the fact that he published Cid shortly after the premiere and thereby deprived the Mondori troupe of the exclusive production of the play. The accusation of plagiarism was especially eager to return, although the use of previously processed plots (in particular, ancient ones) was not only permissible, but was directly prescribed by the classic rules.

In total, over twenty essays for and against the play appeared during 1637, making up the so-called “battle around the Cid” (“la bataille du Cid”).

The French Academy twice submitted to Richelieu for review the decision on "Sid", and twice he rejected it, until, finally, the third edition, compiled by the secretary of the Academy, Chaplin, did not satisfy the minister. It was published at the beginning of 1638 under the title "Opinion of the French Academy on the tragicomedy" Sid ".

Noting the individual merits of the play, the Academy subjected to captious criticism all the deviations from the classic poetics made by Corneille: the length of the action, exceeding the prescribed twenty-four hours (by pedantic calculation, it was proved that these events should take at least thirty-six hours), a happy denouement, inappropriate in tragedy, the introduction of a second storyline that violates the unity of action (the unrequited love of the king's daughter, the infanta, for Rodrigo), the use of a free strophic form of stanzas in Rodrigo's monologue, and other nit-picking of individual words and expressions. The only reproach to the internal content of the play was the repetition of Scuderi's thesis about the "immorality" of Jimena. Her consent to marry Rodrigo was contrary, according to the Academy, to the laws of likelihood, and even if it coincides with historical fact, such "truth is outrageous for the moral sense of the viewer and must be changed." The historical authenticity of the plot in this case cannot justify the poet, because "... the mind makes the property of epic and dramatic poetry precisely the plausible, and not the true ... There is such a monstrous truth, the image of which should be avoided for the good of society ...".

Poetics of the tragedy "Sid"

Against the background of the classicist doctrine that had developed by that time, “Sid” really looked like a “wrong” play: a medieval plot instead of an obligatory antique one, an overload of action with events and unexpected turns in the fate of the characters (a campaign against the Moors, the second duel between Rodrigo and Don Jimena in love Sancho), individual stylistic liberties, bold epithets and metaphors that deviate from generally accepted shtup - all this provided abundant ground for criticism. But it was precisely these artistic features of the play, closely related to its philosophical basis, that determined its novelty and made, contrary to all rules, the true founder of the French national classicist dramaturgy "Sida", and not Mere's tragedy "Sofonisba" written shortly before that according to all the requirements of classic poetics. ".

Characteristically, these same features "saved" "Sid" from the devastating criticism that later, in the era of romanticism, all classic dramaturgy was subjected to. It was these features that the young Pushkin appreciated in Corneille's play, who wrote to N. N. Raevsky in 1825: “The true geniuses of tragedy never cared about credibility. See how deftly Corneille dealt with Sid: “Ah, do you want to comply with the rules about 24 hours? Please!” - And piled events for four months!

The discussion about "Sid" served as an occasion for a clear formulation of classicist rules, and "Opinion of the French Academy about Side" became one of the programmatic theoretical manifestos of classicism.

II.2.1.3. The political tragedies of Corneille

Three years later, Horace and Cinna, or Mercy of Augustus (1640) appeared, which marked the emergence of the genre of political tragedy. Its protagonist is a statesman or public figure who must make a choice between feeling and duty. In these tragedies, the main moral and ethical problem is clothed in a much more distinct ideological form: the stoic renunciation of individual personal passions and interests is no longer dictated by tribal honor, but by a higher civic duty - the good of the state. Corneille sees the ideal embodiment of this civil stoicism in the history of ancient Rome, which formed the basis of the plots of these tragedies. Both plays were written in strict accordance with the rules of classicism. Horace deserves special attention in this regard.

The theme of the formation of the strongest power in world history - Rome - is consonant with the era of Richelieu, who sought to strengthen the powerful power of the French king. The plot of the tragedy was borrowed by Corneille from the Roman historian Titus Livy and refers to the legendary period of the "seven kings". However, in the French playwright, it is devoid of monarchical overtones. The state appears here as a kind of abstract and generalized principle, as a higher power that requires unquestioning obedience and sacrifice. For Corneille, the state is, first of all, a stronghold and protection of the public good, it embodies not the arbitrariness of a despot autocrat, but a “reasonable” will that stands above personal whims and passions.

The immediate cause of the conflict was the political confrontation between Rome and its older rival, the city of Alba Longhi. The outcome of this struggle must be decided by single combat between the three brothers from the Roman family of Horatii and the three brothers Curiatii - citizens of Alba Longa. The sharpness of this confrontation lies in the fact that the families of the opponents are bound by double ties of kinship and friendship: one of the Horatii is married to the sister of the Curiatii Sabina, one of the Curiatii is engaged to the sister of the Horatii Camilla. It is these two opponents who appear in the tragedy, who, due to family ties, find themselves in the center of a tragic conflict.

Such a symmetrical arrangement of characters allowed Corneille to contrast the difference in the behavior and experiences of the characters, who faced the same tragic choice: men must enter into a deadly duel, forgetting about friendship and kinship, or become traitors and cowards. Women are inevitably doomed to mourn one of the two dear people - a husband or a brother.

It is characteristic that this last point is not emphasized by Corneille. In this story, he is not at all interested in the struggle between the ties of consanguinity and the love that occurs in the soul of the heroines. What in "Sid" was the essence of psychological conflict, in "Horace" recedes into the background. Moreover, the heroines of "Horace" are not given that "freedom of choice" that determined the active role of Chimene in the development of dramatic action. From the decision of Sabina and Camilla, nothing can change - they can only complain about fate and indulge in despair. The main attention of the playwright is focused on a more general problem: love for the motherland or personal attachments.

Central in terms of composition is the third scene of the second act, when Horace and Curiatius learn about the honorable choice that has fallen to their lot - to decide the fate of their cities in single combat. Here, the technique characteristic of Corneille is especially pronounced: a clash of opposing points of view, two worldviews, a dispute in which each of the opponents defends his position.

Corneille Pierre (1606-1684)

French playwright. Member of the French Academy since 1647. Founder of classicist tragedy in France.

Born July 6, 1606 in Rouen in the family of a lawyer. At the insistence of his relatives, he studied law and even got the practice of law, but all the interests of the young Corneille lay in the field of fine arts. He wrote love poems in the then fashionable gallant style, was a regular in the performances of touring troupes that came to Rouen, and with all his heart aspired to Paris. In 1629, he showed his first comedy in verse, Melita, to the then not very famous actor Guillaume Mondori, the head of a theater troupe that toured the French provinces.

In the same 1629, Mondori staged Melita in Paris. The success of the production allowed both the actors and the author to settle in the capital. The Mondori troupe also staged several of Corneille's next plays - "The Widow", "Court Gallery", "Subretka", "Royal Square". In 1634, Mondori, with the support of Cardinal Richelieu, and in violation of the monopoly of the theater "Burgundy Hotel", organized the theater "Mare".

Richelieu paid close attention to the work of Corneille and even included him in the "team" of poets who wrote plays according to the plan of the cardinal himself. However, Corneille soon left this group: he was looking for his own path in dramaturgy. From the plots of the playwright's early plays, comic elements are gradually leaving, the dramatic and even tragic sound is aggravated.

Along with comedies (which, however, were rather tragicomedies), Corneille wrote his first tragedies: Clitander, Medea. This stage is completed by the play "Illusion", which stands apart in the work of Corneille - it is dedicated to the theater and acting brotherhood.

But the next play by Corneille - "Sid" (1636) - turned out to be a turning point not only for the playwright himself, but also for the history of the entire world theater. Here, for the first time, the conflict between feeling and duty sounded in full force, which became obligatory in the themes of classicist tragedy. "Sid" enjoyed a resounding success with the public, and became a real triumph for the playwright and actors. Corneille received the long-awaited nobility and pension from Cardinal Richelieu. However, he managed to get into the French Academy only on the third attempt; twice the "immortals" failed his candidacy.

During this period, Corneille also writes commentaries on his individual plays and three Discourses on Dramatic Poetry (Discourse on the Usefulness and Features of a Dramatic Work, Discourse on Tragedy and Discourse on the Three Unities), published in 1660. Practical these theoretical developments were embodied in the tragedies "Horace" and "Cinna". The tragedy "Polyevkt" continues this line. Cornell interpreted the conflict of feeling and duty only from the point of view of state expediency.

The further evolution of Corneille's work is connected with the period of preparation and the events themselves of the Fronde (the social movement against absolutism in France in 1648-1653). The plays “Rodoguna”, “Heraclius”, “Don Sancho of Aragon” (the genre of the play is defined by the playwright as “heroic comedy”), “Nycomedes”, “Pertarite” belong to this time. In the center of the plot weaves is the struggle for power.

By this time, audience interest in Corneille's plays was gradually declining, and the premiere of Pertarita at the Burgundy Hotel turned out to be a failure. The playwright again leaves for Rouen and decides to give up literature. However, seven years later, in 1659, he returned to Paris at the invitation of the Minister of Finance Fouquet, bringing with him a new tragedy - Oedipus.

The next 15 years were the last stage of Corneille's dramatic work, during which he wrote several political tragedies (Sertorius, Sofonisba, Otto, Attila, Titus and Berenice, Surena, etc.). By this time, the French theatrical audience found a new idol - Jean Racine, who raised the classicist theater to new heights. For the last ten years of his life, Corneille did not write for the theater, although in 1682 he released a new collection of his plays.

Plot

The first novel, The Life and Wonders of Robinson Crusoe, is written as the fictional autobiography of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York who spent 28 years on a desert island after a shipwreck. During his life on the island, he faced various difficulties and dangers, both of natural origin and coming from savage cannibals and pirates. All events are recorded in the form of memories and create a realistic picture of a pseudo-documentary work. Most likely, the novel was written under the influence of a real story that happened to Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean (today this island in the Juan Fernandez archipelago is named after the literary hero Defoe).

The tragedy of P. Corneille "Sid": the source of the plot, the essence of the conflict,
system of images, the ideological meaning of the finale. controversy around the play.

In the days of Corneille, the norms of the classical theater were just beginning to take shape, in particular the rules of the three unities - time, place and action. Corneille accepted these rules, but performed them very relatively and, if necessary, boldly violated them.

Contemporaries greatly valued the poet as a historical writer of everyday life. "Sid" (medieval Spain), "Horace" (the era of kings in Roman history), "Cinna" (imperial Rome), "Pompeii" (civil wars in the Roman state), "Attila" (Mongol invasion), "Heraclius" ( Byzantine Empire), "Polyeuct" (the era of the original "Christianity"), etc. - all these tragedies, like others, are built on the use of historical facts. Corneille took the most acute, dramatic moments from the historical past, depicting the clashes of various political and religious systems, the fate of people in moments of major historical shifts and upheavals.Corneille is primarily a political writer.

Psychological conflicts, the history of feelings, the ups and downs of love in his tragedy faded into the background. He, of course, understood that the theater is not a parliament, that tragedy is not a political treatise, that “a dramatic work is ... a portrait of human actions ... the portrait is the more perfect, the more it resembles the original” (“Discourses on three unities). Nevertheless, he built his tragedies according to the type of political disputes.

The tragedy of the Sid (by Corneille's definition a tragicomedy) was written in 1636 and became the first great work of classicism. Characters are created differently than before. They are not characterized by versatility, acute conflict of the inner world, inconsistency in behavior. The characters in Side are not individualized, it is not by chance that such a plot is chosen in which the same problem confronts several characters, while all of them solve it in the same way. It was typical for classicism to understand one trait as a character, which, as it were, suppresses all the others. Those characters who can subordinate their personal feelings to the dictates of duty have character. Creating such characters as Ximena, Fernando, Infanta, Corneille gives them majesty and nobility. The majesty of the characters, their citizenship in a special way color the feeling of love. Corneille denies the attitude to love as a dark, destructive passion or gallant, frivolous entertainment. He struggles with the precise idea of ​​love, introducing rationalism into this area, illuminating love with a deep humanism. Love is possible if lovers respect each other's noble personality. The heroes of Corneille are above ordinary people, they are people with feelings inherent in people, passions and sufferings, and - they are people of great will ... (images for chit days) Of the many stories associated with the name of Sid, Corneille took only one - the story of his marriage. He simplified the plot scheme to the limit, reduced the characters to a minimum, removed all the events from the stage and left only the feelings of the characters.

Conflict. Corneille reveals a new conflict - the struggle between feeling and duty - through a system of more specific conflicts. The first of these is the conflict between the personal aspirations and feelings of the characters and the duty to the feudal family, or family duty. The second is the conflict between the feelings of the hero and the duty to the state, to his king. The third is the conflict of family duty and duty to the state. These conflicts are revealed in a definition, sequence: first through the images of Rodrigo and his beloved Jimena - the first, then through the image of the infanta (the daughter of the king), suppressing her love for Rodrigo in the name of state interests, - the second, and finally, through the image of the king of Spain, Fernando - third.

A whole campaign was launched against the play, which lasted 2 years. She was attacked by a number of critical articles written by Mere, Scuderi, Clavere and others. Mere accused K. of plagiarism (apparently from Guillen de Castro), Scuderi analyzed the play from t. "Poetics" of Aristotle. K. was condemned for the fact that he did not observe 3 unity, and especially for the apology of Rodrigo and Jimena, for the image of Jimena, for the fact that she was marrying her father's murderer. Against the play, a special Opinion of the French Academy on the Side was formed, edited by Chaplin and inspired by Richelieu. The attacks affected the playwright to such an extent that at first he fell silent for 3 years, and then tried to take into account the wishes. But it's useless - Richelieu didn't like Horace either.

The reproaches thrown at The Sid reflected the real features that distinguished it from modern "correct" tragedies. But it was precisely these features that determined the dramatic tension, the dynamism that provided the play with a long stage life. "Sid" is still included in the world theatrical repertoire. These same “shortcomings” of the play were highly appreciated two centuries after its creation by the romantics, who excluded The Sid from the list of classicist tragedies they rejected. The unusualness of its dramatic structure was also appreciated by the young Pushkin, who wrote to N. N. Raevsky in 1825: “The true geniuses of tragedy never cared about plausibility. See how Corneille handled Sid slickly “Ah, do you want the 24-hour rule to be respected? If you please" - and heaped up events for 4 months ".

The discussion about "Sid" was the occasion for a clear formulation of the rules of classical tragedy. “The opinion of the French Academy on the tragicomedy “Sid”” became one of the program manifestos of the classical school.

5. Lope de Vega as a theoretician of the new drama.
The originality of the genre of love comedy in the work of the playwright.

The Spaniards created a "theatre for all". Its creation and approval in rights is rightly associated with the name of Lope de Vega. It is his titanic figure that stands at the beginning of the original Spanish drama. New Drama Art and Lope de Vega are almost synonymous.

Lope de Vega created a new "theatrical empire", and became, in the words of Cervantes, "its autocrat". The empire was created with difficulty and not immediately. Lope relied on the experience of his predecessors, searched, improvised. The first decisions were often compromises, the habitual literary consciousness was confronted with a living sensation. It was not enough to be a supporter of traditional folk poetry, cultivate romances and profess Platonic ideas about nature. "Bringing" them into the dramaturgy mechanically did not yet solve the matter.

"A new guide to writing comedies in our time", which Lope de Vega wrote seven years after this motto, is just devoted to substantiating new principles. Its essence boils down to a few basic provisions. First of all, it is necessary to renounce admiration for the authority of Aristotle. Aristotle was right for his time. To apply the laws he derived today is absurd. The legislator should be ordinary people (that is, the main viewer). New laws are needed, corresponding to the most important of them: to bring pleasure to the reader, the viewer.

Stopping on the notorious three unities, the law derived by the scientific theorists of the Renaissance from Aristotle, Lope leaves only one thing unconditional: the unity of action. Note that Lope himself and, especially, his students and followers brought this law to such an absolute that it sometimes turned into a burden no less than the unity of place and time among the classicists. As regards the other two unities, here the Spanish playwrights really acted with a new freedom. Although in many comedies the unity of place was, in essence, protected, which was caused by the partial technique of the stage, partly by excessive observance of the unity of action, that is, its extreme concentration. In general, it must be said that both in the time of Lope de Vega and in the polemics of the romantics with the classicists, the question of the "law of three unities" acquired almost paramount importance in theoretical disputes, but in practice it was considered only based on the specific needs of one or the other. works.

In his "Guide" Lope also speaks of the fundamental mixture of the comic and the tragic. As in life - and in literature. In the era of the young Lope, the term "comedy" had a combative, polemical meaning. They designated plays built on a fundamental mixture of the tragic and the comic in the name of greater life-like plausibility. Some types of dramatic works appeared, intermediate between comedy and tragedy in the classicist understanding. Outraged keepers of scientific traditions called these new species "monstrous hermaphrodite", and Lope de Vega, who made fun of their indignation, called the more elegant and classical word "minotaur".

The playwright's goal - according to Lope de Vega - is to please the audience. Therefore, he recognized the intrigue as the main nerve of comedy, which should capture, captivate this viewer from the very first scene and keep in suspense until the last act.

The role of Lope de Vega in the development of the Spanish theater is incomparable to that of any other playwright. They laid all the foundations

The themes of Lope de Vega's plays are divided into several groups.

K. Derzhavin, the leading Soviet researcher of Spanish literature, believes that they are grouped around problems of a state-historical (the so-called "heroic dramas"), socio-political, and domestic nature. The latter are usually called "cloak-and-sword comedies".

In love comedies, Lope had no equal in Spanish dramaturgy. He could be inferior to Tirso or Alarcon in the development of characters, in the technique of building an intrigue to Calderon and Moreto, but in sincerity and pressure of feelings they were inferior to him, all taken together. According to the scheme, in all comedies of this kind, love is always a steeplechase, where the finish is the reward.

In most cases, especially among the followers of Lope, the interest is based on the maximum accumulation of obstacles. In such comedies, it is the overcoming of obstacles that is of interest, not the feeling itself. Otherwise, in the best comedies of Lope de Vega. There, interest rests primarily on the development of feeling. It is the main subject of comedy. In this sense, "Dog in the Manger" is remarkable. In it, love step by step sweeps away class prejudices, overcomes selfishness and gradually, but without a trace, fills the whole being of the characters with its highest meaning.

Lope gave many examples for different types of love comedy: for the comedy of "intrigue", and for the "psychological" comedy, and the "moral-edifying" comedy. But in the best samples there was always a feeling as the main core of the action, literally all varieties of comedy, which later, under the pen of his students, filled the Spanish theaters with varying success, were set by the great teacher. Over time, he turned them into diagrams. There were love comedies "without love".

6. The genre of religious and philosophical drama in the work of P. Calderon.
The play "Life is a dream" as the "quintessence" of the Baroque worldview.

"LIFE IS A DREAM" P. Calderon. Reality and dream, illusion and reality here lose their uniqueness and become like each other: sueno in Spanish is not only a dream, but also a dream; therefore "La vida es sueno" can also be translated as "Life is a dream." Pedro Calderon is a prominent representative of Baroque literature, in particular Baroque dramaturgy. He was a follower of Lope de Vega. Pedro Calderon de la Barga (1600-1681) from an old noble family graduated from college, university, where he studied scholasticism. Potto, he began to write and gained fame, since 1625 he has been a court playwright. The teachings of the Jesuits had a great influence on his worldview - Life and death, reality and sleep form a complex interweaving. This complex world is impossible to understand, but the mind can control feelings and suppressing them, a person can find the way, if not to truth, then to peace of mind.

Features of dramaturgy: 1) harmonious exposition, composition 2) intense dramatic action and its concentration around 1-2 characters 3) schematism in depicting the characters of the characters 4) expressive language (often he refers to metaphor, transition)

Creativity can be divided into 2 periods: 1) early - until the 1630s. - the genre of comedy prevails 2) from 30 - until the end of life. Late period, he takes the priesthood, his worldview and the direction of his work change. A new genre appears - it denotes a sacred action (today it is a moral and philosophical religious drama)

Drama "Life is a dream." Written in 1635 The story of the Polish prince Sigismund, when a prediction was born to his father - the son will be cruel. From childhood he imprisoned his son, he had only a teacher. Time passes, the father decides to check the prediction. Gets to the ball, shows his temper. Imprisonment again.

Sigismund is shown as a man, as he came out of the bosom of nature. He morally depends on nature, on his passions. Confirmation is the words of Sigismund himself: "the combination of man and beast." Man, because he thinks and his mind is inquisitive. Beast, as a slave of his nature.

He does not believe that the animal principle is only from nature. From birth he was put in such harsh conditions that he turned into a man-beast. He blames his father. It is ironic that they tried the bestial principle in him, bringing him to the bestial state. He believes that humanity should not be asserted by force. After awakening, the prince is transformed. He asks the servant about what happened. He says that everything was a dream, and a dream is something transient. He awoke from the dream where he was a prince, but did not awake from the sleep of life. At this moment, he comes to the conclusion: everything he lives by (royalty, wealth) is a dream, but a dream of a rich man. Poverty is a poor man's dream. These are all dreams anyway. All human life is a dream. So all this is not so important, neither aspirations nor vanity, having understood this, the prince becomes a wise man.

The topic is raised, the idea of ​​a person's self-education (which is associated with the mind). Reason helps the prince to overcome passions.

The theme of freedom. The prince talks about this already in the first act of the drama, where he talks about the human right to freedom. He compares himself with a bird, an animal, a fish and is surprised that he has more feelings, knowledge, but he is less free than they are.

In the end, the prince is wise. The king saw this, decides to choose another heir (foreign person). The prince became king as a result of his upbringing. The king is in his power, but Sigismund was not for the restoration of his dynastic rights, but for the restoration of human rights. Remembering his journey from beast to man, Sigismund pardoned his father and left him alive.

The dramatic method of Calderon is to expose the contradictions of life. HE leads his hero through hostile circumstances and reveals his inner struggle, leads the hero to spiritual enlightenment. This work corresponds to the laws of the Baroque. one

) the action takes place in Polonia (Poland), but this is an abstract place, there is no concretization of time, the characters are schematic and express the idea of ​​the author, and do not represent a valuable image. 2) The hero is not static (it changes and forms under external circumstances) 3) The introduction reflects the idea of ​​hostility, the chaotic nature of the surrounding world, of human suffering (Rosaura's monologue)

Ideological and artistic originality of P. Corneille's tragedy "Horace".

The tragedy "Horace" (1639) Corneille dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu. The plot for his tragedy K. borrowed from the Roman historian Tito Livy. We are talking about the initial semi-legendary events of the formation of the ancient Roman state. Two cities - policies: Rome and Alba Longa, which later merged into one state, still keep apart, although their inhabitants are already connected with each other by common interests and family ties. To decide under whose authority the cities should unite, they decided to resort to a duel.

In "Horace" (1640), the image of the protagonist is peculiar, not reasoning, blindly obeying the decision made and at the same time striking in his determination. Horace is admired for his integrity, confidence in his rightness. He understands everything, everything is decided for him. Corneille's position does not fully coincide with the position of Horace, who is closer not to Corneille, but to Richelieu, to the real political practice and ideology of absolutism. Next to Horace in the tragedy, it is not by chance that Curiatius is present, a character who accepts someone else's principle, only having personally convinced himself of the correctness of this principle. The triumph of a sense of duty to the motherland comes to Curiatius only as a result of long hesitation, doubts, during which he carefully weighs this feeling. In addition, in the play, other characters different from him act next to Horace, and among them is his direct antagonist Camilla. The success of the tragedy during the years of the French Revolution is explained precisely by the fact that its patriotic pathos, namely, to which the play owes its success in 1789-1792, permeates not only the image of Horace, but also the images of his father, Sabina, Curiatius. The moral-philosophical conflict between passion and duty is transferred here to a different plane: the stoic renunciation of personal feelings is performed in the name of a lofty state idea. Debt acquires a superpersonal significance. The glory and greatness of the motherland, the states form a new patriotic heroism, which in "Sid" was only just outlined as the second theme of the play.

The plot of "Horace" is borrowed from the Roman historian Titus Livius and refers to the semi-legendary period of the "seven kings". However, the theme of monarchical power as such is not raised in the tragedy, and King Tullus plays an even less significant role in it than the Castilian king Fernando in the Side. Corneille is interested here not in a specific form of state power, but in the state as the highest generalized principle that requires unquestioning obedience from an individual in the name of the common good. In the era of Corneille, ancient Rome was considered a classic example of a mighty power, and the playwright sees the source of its strength and authority in the stoic renunciation of citizens from personal interests for the benefit of the state. Corneille reveals this moral and political problem by choosing a laconic intense plot.

The source of the dramatic conflict is the political rivalry between the two cities - Rome and Alba Longa, whose inhabitants have long been connected by family and marriage ties. Members of one family are drawn into the conflict of two warring parties.

The fate of the cities must be decided in a triple duel of fighters put up by each side - the Romans Horatii and the Albanians Curiacii, who became related to each other. Faced with the tragic need to fight for the glory of the fatherland with close relatives, the heroes of Corneille perceive their civic duty in different ways. Horace is proud of the exorbitance of the demand presented to him, he sees in this a manifestation of the highest trust of the state in its citizen, called upon to protect him: But the main dramatic conflict does not receive a harmonious resolution. The central problem of the play - the relationship between the individual and the state - appears in a tragic aspect, and the final triumph of stoic self-denial and the affirmation of the civic idea does not remove this tragedy. Nevertheless, throughout the long stage life of Horace, it was precisely this citizenship of the play that determined its social relevance and success; this was the case, for example, during the years of the French bourgeois revolution, when Corneille's tragedy enjoyed great popularity and was repeatedly staged on the revolutionary stage. In its structure, "Horace" meets the requirements of classical poetics much more than "Sid". The external action here is reduced to a minimum, it begins at the moment when the dramatic conflict is already there and then it only develops. No extraneous, incidental plot lines complicate the main one; the dramatic interest is centered around the three main characters - Horace, Camilla and Curiatius. Attention is also drawn to the symmetrical arrangement of the characters, corresponding to their family relations and origin (Romans - Albanians). Against the background of this strict symmetry, the opposite of the internal positions of the characters comes through especially clearly. The reception of antithesis permeates the entire artistic structure of the play, including the construction of the verse, which, as a rule, breaks up into two half-verses that are opposite in meaning. "Horace" finally approved the canonical type of classical tragedy, and the following plays by Corneille - "Cinna" and "Polyeuct" fixed it.

21. The tragedy of J. Racine "Andromache": the source of the plot,
conflict, system of images, psychologism.

Racine's appeal to the ancient Greek mythological plot differs from Thebaid primarily in the scale of the moral problem, the organic solidarity of various elements of the ideological and artistic structure of the work. The main dramatic situation of "Andromache" is drawn by Racine from ancient sources - Euripides, Seneca, Virgil. But it also brings us back to the typical plot scheme of pastoral novels, seemingly infinitely distant in their artistic principles from strict classical tragedy: In "A", the ideological core is the collision of a rational and moral principle in a person with an elemental passion that leads him to crime and death .

Three - Pyrrhus, Hermione and Orestes - become a victim of their passion, which they recognize as improper, contrary to the moral law, but not subject to their will. The fourth - Andromache - as a moral person stands outside the passions and above the passions, but as a defeated queen, a captive, she is, against her will, involved in the whirlpool of other people's passions, playing with her fate and the fate of her son. The primordial conflict on which French classical tragedy grew, above all the tragedy of Corneille - the conflict between reason and passion, feeling and duty - is completely rethought in this tragedy by Racine, and in this for the first time his inner liberation from the fetters of tradition and models is manifested. The freedom of choice that the heroes of Corneille had, otherwise, the freedom of the rational will to make a decision and implement it at least at the cost of life, is not available to the heroes of Racine: the first three because of their inner impotence, doom in the face of their own passion; And - because of its external lack of rights and doom before someone else's ruthless and despotic will. The alternative facing Andromache - to change the memory of her husband, becoming the wife of the murderer of her entire family, or to sacrifice her only son - does not have a reasonable and moral solution. And when A finds such a solution - in suicide at the marriage altar, then this is not just a heroic refusal of life in the name of high duty. This is a moral compromise built on the double meaning of her marriage vow, for the marriage that will buy her son's life will not actually take place.

Thus, if the heroes of Corneille knew what they were doing, what and for what they were sacrificing, then the heroes of Racine are frenziedly fighting with themselves and with each other in the name of imaginaries that reveal their true meaning too late. And even the prosperous outcome for the main character - the salvation of her son and the proclamation of her queen of Epirus - bears the stamp of imaginary: without becoming the wife of Pyrrhus, she nevertheless inherits, along with this throne, the obligation to avenge the one who was supposed to take place of Hector.

The novelty and even the well-known paradox of the artistic construction of "A" is not only in this discrepancy between the actions of the characters and their results. The same discrepancy exists between the actions and the external position of the characters. Consciousness of the audience of the XVII century. was brought up on stable stereotypes of behavior, fixed by etiquette and identified with the universal laws of the mind. Heroes "A" at every step violate these stereotypes, and this also shows the strength of the passion that has gripped them. Pyrrhus not only cools off towards Hermione, but plays an unworthy game with her, designed to break A.'s resistance. Hermione, instead of rejecting Pyrrhus with contempt and thereby maintaining her dignity and honor, is ready to accept him, even knowing about his love to the trojan. Orestes, instead of honestly fulfilling his mission as an ambassador, does everything to make it unsuccessful.

Reason is present in tragedy as the ability of heroes to realize and analyze their feelings and actions and ultimately pass judgment on themselves, in other words, in the words of Pascal, as an awareness of their weakness. Heroes "A" deviate from the moral norm, not because they are not aware of it, but because they are unable to rise to this norm, overcoming the passions that overwhelm them.

22. Moral and philosophical content of the tragedy of Racine "Phaedra":
interpretation of the image of Phaedra in the ancient tradition and in the plays of Racine.

Over the years, changes have taken place in the artistic attitude and creative manner of Racine. The conflict between humanistic and anti-humanistic forces grows more and more with the playwright from a clash between two opposing camps into a fierce single combat of man with himself. Light and darkness, reason and destructive passions, muddy instincts and burning remorse collide in the soul of the same hero, infected with the vices of his environment, but striving to rise above it, not wanting to come to terms with his fall.

However, these tendencies reach their peak in the Phaedrus. Phaedra, who is constantly betrayed by Theseus, who is mired in vices, feels lonely and abandoned, and a destructive passion for her stepson Hippolytus is born in her soul. Phaedra, to some extent, fell in love with Hippolytus because in his appearance, the former, once valiant and beautiful Theseus, as it were, resurrected. But Phaedra also admits that a terrible fate weighs on her and her family, that she has a tendency to pernicious passions in her blood, inherited from her ancestors. Ippolit is also convinced of the moral depravity of those around him. Turning to his beloved Aricia, Hippolyte declares that they are all "covered by a terrible flame of vice", and calls her to leave "the fatal and desecrated place where virtue is called upon to breathe contaminated air."

But Phaedra, who seeks the reciprocity of her stepson and slanders him, appears in Racine not only as a typical representative of her corrupt environment. It rises above this environment at the same time. It was in this direction that Racine made the most significant changes to the image inherited from antiquity, from Euripides and Seneca. Phaedra Racina, for all her spiritual drama, is a man of clear self-consciousness, a man in whom the poison of instincts that corrodes the heart is combined with an irresistible desire for truth, purity and moral dignity. Moreover, she does not for a moment forget that she is not a private person, but a queen, the bearer of state power, that her behavior is called upon to serve as a model for society, that the glory of the name doubles the torment. The culminating moment in the development of the ideological content of the tragedy is Phaedra's slander and the victory that is then won in the mind of the heroine by a sense of moral justice over the selfish instinct of self-preservation. Phaedra restores the truth, but life is already unbearable for her, and she destroys herself.

3. The problem of baroque in contemporary literary studies. The nature of the baroque light perception. Aesthetics of the baroque. tipi baroque

Instead of a linear Renaissance perspective, there is a “strange baroque perspective”: double space, mirroring, which symbolized the illusory nature of ideas about the world.

The world is split. But not only that, it is also moving, but it is not clear where. Hence the theme of the transience of human life and time in general (“traces of centuries, like moments, are short” - Calderon). This is also the sonnet of Luis de Gongora, which, unlike the above-cited sonnet of Calderon, is formally baroque: the repetition of the same thought, a string of metaphors, a bunch of historical reminiscences, which testified to the scope of time, the instantaneity of not only people, but also civilizations. (Vannikova spoke about this sonnet at a lecture, no one was obliged to read it. As well as talk about it at the exam).

But it would be nice to say that Baroque poets were very fond of metaphor. It created an atmosphere of intellectual play. And the game is a property of all baroque genres (in metaphors, in conjugation of unexpected ideas and images). In dramaturgy, the game led to a special theatricality and the technique of "stage on stage" + the metaphor "life-theater" (Calderon's auto "The Great Theater of the World" is the apotheosis of this metaphor). Theater is also to reveal the elusiveness of the world and the illusory nature of ideas about it.

And in such conditions, when everything is bad, a certain beginning begins to emerge, on the basis of which natural chaos is overcome - the resilience of the human spirit.

At the same time, classicism emerges. Both of these systems arise as an awareness of the crisis of Renaissance ideals.

Artists of both Baroque and Classicism reject the idea of ​​harmony that underlies the humanistic Renaissance concept. But at the same time, baroque and classicism are clearly opposed to each other.

in dramaturgy: there is no strict standardization, there is no unity of place and time, a mixture of the tragic and the comic in one work, and the main genre is tragicomedy, the baroque theater is the theater of action.

I remind you that classicism opposed the baroque. Classicism, as it were, resurrects the style of the High Renaissance. The most vile monster should be written in such a way that it pleases the eye, which Boileau writes about. Everything must be done in moderation and good taste. The peculiarity of classicism is that the rules are clearly formulated and fixed and mainly relate to the form of the work.

1670s - "Poetic Art" Boileau. Manifesto of classicism. In this work, B. relies on Aristotle and Horace. The work consists of three parts: 1 - about the poet. art in general, 2 - about small poetic genres, 3 - large genres (tragedy, epic, comedy), 4 - again in general.

General principles: love the mind and choose nature as your mentor.

There are two quotes about this:

Love the thought in verse, let it be one

They owe both brilliance and price.

You should always go to common sense.

Who left this path - immediately perishes.

There is only one path to the mind - there is no other way.

Reason is clarity, harmony of the world, the most important sign of beauty. What is unclear - unreasonable - ugly (medieval myths, for example). In dramaturgy - the movement from medieval drama to ancient (and they called it modern art). B. generally rejected all medieval art (well, a fool!).

And he also denied the baroque, namely the precision and burlesque (these were varieties of the French baroque). Preciosity was a reaction to sobriety, rationalism, lack of spirituality. To all this she contrasted the refinement of morals, the height of feelings and passions. Not the best variety of baroque, but within its framework, a novel developed with its psychologism and plot intrigue. Precise works were distinguished by a complicated plot, a large number of descriptions, violent metaphor and a play on words, which infuriated Boileau.

Burlesque opposed pretentiousness. It was a grassroots form of baroque with a striving for rough truth, the triumph of the vulgar over the sublime. It was based on a playful retelling of ancient and medieval heroic tales. The language was, accordingly, areal, which B.

Another discrepancy with the Baroque, this time imaginary. This is a question of imitation and imagination. Baroque artists rejected the ancient principle of imitation of nature, instead - unfettered imagination. And B. seems to be true to imitation. But he believes that art reproduces not the original, but nature transformed by the human mind (see about the monster). The principle of imitation is combined with the principle of imagination, and the true way of imitation of nature is according to the rules created by the mind. It is they who bring beauty to the work, which is impossible in reality. I quote Vannikova's favorite phrase:

Embodied in art, and a monster, and a reptile,

We are still pleased with the watchful eye.

In the center of B.'s attention is tragedy (in passing about the novel - a novel, entertaining reading, he can be forgiven for the fact that tragedy cannot be forgiven, for example, not a great hero, incongruity). Rejects tragicomedy. The tragedy is cruel and terrible, but the world of art is beautiful because the rules allow it to be made that way. Tragedy works through horror and compassion. If the play does not evoke compassion, the author has tried in vain. Orientation to the traditional plot, where the poet competes with his predecessors. The author creates within the framework of tradition. They comprehended their problems in the mirror of ancient stories.

But B. offered to interpret antique. stories are believable. Truth is not the same as truth! The truth may be such that the viewer will not believe it, and the untruth may be plausible. The main thing is that the viewer believes that everything was so. Such a misfortune happened to "Sid" Corneille: he was reproached that the plot was implausible. And he replied that it was recorded in history. Quote from B. about the truth (literal translation): "The mind of a man will not be moved by what he does not believe." Translated by Neserova:

Do not torment us with incredible things, disturbing the mind.

And the truth is sometimes not the truth.

Wonderful nonsense I will not admire.

The mind does not care what it does not believe.

Truth is conformity to the universal laws of reason.

Classical heroes are sublime and noble natures. But heroism must necessarily be combined with weakness (this is plausible and explains the mistakes of the hero). The requirement for consistency in the character of the characters in all circumstances (but a variety of feelings and aspirations is not ruled out). In the tragic hero, oppositely directed feelings must collide, but set from the very beginning.

The notorious 3 unities are also explained by the requirement of plausibility. They had to minimize all the conventions that a theatrical production involves. The main thing is the unity of action, i.e. intrigue, which should begin immediately, develop quickly and logically end. Unity liberated the theater from medieval spectacle, shifted the focus from external to internal action. The classic theater is a theater of internal action, where attention is focused on the analysis of the feelings of the characters, intrigue does not play a dominant role here. The sharp moments of the play should be behind the scenes, they are not worthy of entertainment. Here is what Racine writes about this in the first preface to Britannicus (it's about what not to do): only with the interests, feelings and passions of the characters, which gradually lead it to an end, it would be necessary to fill this very action with a multitude of incidents for which a whole month would not be enough, a large number of vicissitudes, all the more striking, the less plausible they are, with an endless recitation, during which the actors would be forced to say just the opposite of what they should.

B. created his theory of tragedy in the 70s., When Corneille and Racine had already written their plays.

Boileau also ordered not to write about low subjects:

Avoid the low, it is always ugliness.

In the simplest style, there should still be nobility.

5. Renaissance traditions in dramaturgy of the 17th century. Theater of Lope de Vega.

Renaissance origins of the theater of the XVII century. At the end of the Renaissance, a great tradition of dramatic art takes shape in two countries - in Spain and in England. The golden age of drama will last from the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century.

The memory of the past lives in combination with the features of the new art. They are most distinct in Spain.

Spanish influence spread throughout Europe until, by the beginning of the second half of the 17th century, the center of European culture finally moved to Paris. This geographical movement will be accompanied by a change in the dominant style - from baroque to classicism. Spain is an example of the first, France of the second. In England, where neither style triumphed unconditionally, the commonality of the Renaissance basis is most palpable. Both styles originate in the same literary circle - younger contemporaries and associates of Shakespeare.

A special place was given to the theater. In the coronation procession of Jacob on July 25, 1603, there were actors from Shakespeare's Globe Theater, who from then on began to be called "servants of the king" and actually became a court troupe. Theatricalization became part of court life. The court, including the monarch himself, took part in the production of allegorical court performances - masks. Until that time, their main authors were the composer and the artist, but with the advent of Ben Jonson (1573–1637), the text begins to play a much greater role.

From Ben Jonson, a direct path to classicism opens up, but he himself only outlined it as one of the possibilities. Sometimes he writes didactic comedy, observing the rules, sometimes he easily deviates from them. Many playwrights still do not think about rules, as Shakespeare did not think about them. However, his younger contemporaries sometimes allow even more freedom, especially those of them who got acquainted with the Italian and Spanish theater. These are, first of all, John Fletcher (1579–1625) and Francis Beaumont (1584–1616), the most popular among the viewer. They wrote many plays together, earning the fame of entertainers of the gentry, that is, the nobility. Having a social address is also a new feature: Shakespeare wrote for everyone; now the London craftsmen had their favorites, the nobles had their own. And in the field of art there is a delimitation of tastes.

The recipe for entertainment is not sought from ancient authors. It is found in Italy, where the tragicomedy genre first appeared at the end of the 16th century. From the name it is clear that this genre is a combination of comic and tragic. Isn't it in Shakespeare's tragedies? Yes, but it happens differently. Tragicomedy is more like the later Shakespearean comedies, where the nature of the conflict changes. Evil enters deeper into him, and therefore it already ceases to seem like everything is good that ends well. The happy ending, as a surprise, crowns the intricate intrigue, but does not remove the feeling that the world has ceased to be happy and harmonious.

In the preface to one of his plays (The Faithful Shepherdess), Fletcher defined the genre: "Tragicomedy received such a nickname not because it contains both joy and murder, but because there is no death in it, which is enough for it to not be considered a tragedy, but death in it is so close that this is enough for it not to be considered a comedy, which represents ordinary people with their difficulties that do not contradict ordinary life. ordinary people, like in comedy."

In England, tragicomedy coexists with the satirical comedy of characters. The didactic task does not negate the possibility of unbridled entertainment; the confusion and chaotic nature of the new genre does not negate the desire for orderliness. Both tendencies arise on the basis of the Renaissance theater and attitude. The Renaissance heritage is also strong in Spain, but the nature of the changes introduced there is more consistent, associated with one direction and one name - Lope de Vega.

Lope Felix de Vega Carpio (1562-1635) is an example of another Renaissance personality. His father, a gold-embroiderer, a lover of poetry, gave his son a good education: in addition to university knowledge, the skill of a dancer, possession of a sword and verse. However, in poetry, Lope had an improvisational gift, without which he simply would not have had time to create more than two thousand plays (about five hundred have survived), not counting sonnets, poems and novels in verse.

From his youth, he was possessed by a thirst for achievement, which forced him, together with the Invincible Armada, to set off to conquer England in 1588. The fate of the Spanish fleet was sad. Lope de Vega, fortunately, escaped. He's back to conquer the stage. In Spain, theater is a popular spectacle. This is the last bastion of freedom that neither the harsh Spanish monarchs nor the threats of the Inquisition could break: the bans were renewed, but the theater lived on. The troupes continued to play in hotel yards - corrals (that was the name of the theaters) and on the stages of the capital. The performance is impossible to imagine without music, dance, dressing up, just as it is impossible to imagine the Spanish drama chained to strict rules. She was born and continued to be part of the carnival action.

Nevertheless, in the prime of his work, Lope de Vega wrote a treatise, The New Art of Composing Comedy in Our Time (1609). This is not so much a set of rules as a justification for the freedom of the Spanish theater with its predilection for intricate and unpredictable intrigue, the brightness of passions. All this is still quite close to the Renaissance, the ideals of which will be reminded more than once by Lope de Vega, who starts a treatise with the aim of "... to gild // I want the people's delusions." However, one should not forget about Aristotle, who rightly taught that "the subject of art is Plausibility ..." The general principle of art was inherited from Horace - to teach while entertaining.

In Spain, a dramatic action is divided not into five acts, but into three parts - hornades (from the word day), and therefore each hornad should not contain more than a day. The first hornad is the plot, the second is the complications, the third is the denouement. This gives the development of intrigue consistency and swiftness. Is unity necessary? Only one thing is obligatory - the unity of action, and in the rest:

There is no need to respect the boundaries of the day,

Although Aristotle orders to observe them,

But we've already broken the laws

Mixing tragic speech

With comic and everyday speech.

(Translated by O. Rumer)

The difference between comedy and tragedy is preserved in the choice of material: "...tragedy is nourished by history, // Comedy is fiction..." The dignity of historical characters is higher than contemporary ones, and this determines the dignity of each of the genres. Among the many plays written by Lope de Vega, there are many that are kept within fairly strict genre limits, but others are most memorable - mixing high characters with low ones, history and modernity. Lope called them comedies. Later, based on the title of the treatise, they will be referred to as a "new comedy", although the term "tragicomedy", which has already entered European languages, would be quite appropriate.

The genre that has developed in Spain is also known as the "cloak and sword comedy". This term has a theatrical origin - according to the necessary props for the performance of these plays, where most of the characters were nobles, that is, they had the right to wear a cloak and sword. However, in the most famous plays by Lope, the intrigue is precisely built around the one who has this right, and along with him has the noble honor.

"A Dog in the Manger" (published in 1618; the exact time of creation of most of Lope de Vega's plays is unknown) is the best work of this genre, which to this day does not leave the stages of the whole world. Wit, play of passions, carnival, secret dates - in their totality, the intrigue characteristic of this kind of comedy is woven. Teodoro must decide who he loves - his mistress (he is her secretary) Diana de Belflor, a young widow, or her servant Marcella. Crane in the sky or bird in hand? The play, however, is named after another proverb that determines the choice of the lady, who does not know what to give up - love or honor, having tied herself with her secretary, a man of ignoble origin. In the meantime, she is jealous of him for Marcella, does not let go of herself and does not allow him to come to her.

Love triumphs by resorting to carnival tricks - dressing up and changing. Teodoro's servant Tristan, a jester in his theatrical pedigree, finds an old count whose son disappeared many years ago, appears to him in the form of an overseas merchant, and then introduces Teodoro, who allegedly showed up as his son. He who has human dignity is worthy of having honor as well - such is the poetic justice of this finale. Here it is achieved by cunning intrigue, but in other cases it requires a truly heroic effort.

Along with comedies, Lope de Vega created dramas. Based on their pathos, the genre is often called a heroic drama. Its most memorable example at Lope is the “Sheep Spring”, or (according to the Spanish name of the place in which the action takes place) “Fuente Ovejuna” (published in 1619). The play is also an example of tragicomic confusion. Its material, like a tragedy, is history: the action is related to the events of the Reconquista (liberation of Spain from the Moors) in 1476. The main characters are peasants, that is, characters that are appropriate in a low genre - in comedy.

The commander of the Order of Calatrava (one of the spiritual and secular orders of chivalry created during the Reconquista) Fernando Gomez de Guzman meets the resistance of the girl Laurencia he liked from the town of Fuente Ovejuna, which came under his power. On her side are all the peasants, one of whom throws to the commander: "We want to live, as we still do, / Honoring your honor and our honor" (translated by M. Lozinsky). The commander does not understand the speech about honor from the lips of a peasant. He stubbornly pursues his goal, becoming more and more angry, and finally appears at the head of an armed detachment, prompting the peasants to revolt. The commander is killed. The investigation is led by the king, but to the question: "Who killed?" - even under torture, the peasants repeat: "Fuente Ovejuna."

The play, ending with the readiness of people from the people to defend their dignity up to an armed uprising, begins with the fact that one of them - Laurencia - in response to the declaration of love of the young peasant Frondoso, laughingly answered that she loves only her honor. Are these different events connected? Undoubtedly. Between the initial love for oneself (for to love honor is to love oneself) and the final scene, the formation of the heroine's personality takes place. She fell in love with Frondoso, and their love was accompanied not by the silence of the pastoral, but by the threat posed by the powers that be. Against this formidable background, in its former Renaissance quality, a feeling of love arises as a path to dignity, not in the sense of social privilege, but as an inalienable property of humanity.

There is a return to the Renaissance values, from which Lope de Vega did not leave, but which leave the world of his time, being replaced by new ones, devoid of universal human meaning. They are designed for an individual, moreover, not for everyone, but only for someone who can confirm his right with a letter of nobility. The former dignity is achievable only as a result of a heroic deed.

Lope de Vega was not only the finalist of a certain tradition of Spanish drama, but also a man who recalls the height of the Renaissance ideal, which, under new conditions, is exposed to new dangers and temptations. Old values ​​are rethought, sometimes distorted, as it happens with love. One of those who are considered to be the "School of Lope", Tirso de Molina (1583? -1648) introduced the image of Don Juan ("The Seville Mischievous Man, or the Stone Guest") from the Spanish legend into world literature. This image seems to be one of the projections of the Renaissance idea of ​​a free, loving person. However, love now, as the name implies, is mischief, and freedom is self-will. The story of the mischievous will immediately turn into one of the eternal (archetypal) images of world culture and will receive a philosophical interpretation as early as the 17th century (see Molière).

6. Creativity of P. Calderon in the context of Baroque literature. Uzagalneno-metaphorical zmist call the work "Life is a dream." The problem of the share in the drama and its role in the development of the main conflict p "isi. Philosophical sensory drama.

"LIFE IS A DREAM" P. Calderon. Reality and dream, illusion and reality here lose their uniqueness and become like each other: sueno in Spanish is not only a dream, but also a dream; therefore "La vida es sueno" can also be translated as "Life is a dream."

The teachings of the Jesuits had a great influence on his worldview - Life and death, reality and sleep form a complex interweaving. This complex world is impossible to understand, but the mind can control feelings and suppressing them, a person can find the way, if not to truth, then to peace of mind.

The dramatic method of Calderon is to expose the contradictions of life. HE leads his hero through hostile circumstances and reveals his inner struggle, leads the hero to spiritual enlightenment. This work corresponds to the laws of the Baroque.

1) the action takes place in Polonia (Poland), but this is an abstract place, there is no concretization of time, the characters are schematic and express the idea of ​​the author, and do not represent a valuable image.

2) The hero is not static (it changes and forms under external circumstances)

3) The introduction reflects the idea of ​​hostility, the chaotic nature of the world around us, of human suffering (Rosaura's monologue)

The language of drama is replete with ornaments, Metaphors and allegories are especially frequent, Complex syntactic constructions. Multi-layered composition: several storylines (central: love theme line).

Considering the problem of the struggle with fate (traditional for this genre), Calderon, in the process of plot development, shows that the fateful prediction is fulfilled precisely because this was facilitated by the blind will of the despot father, who imprisoned him in a tower, where the unfortunate one grew up in wildness and, naturally, did not could not be furious. Here Calderon refers to the thesis of free will and that people only fulfill the will of heaven, playing the roles predetermined by them, and they can improve and change their destiny in only one way - by changing themselves and constantly struggling with the sinfulness of human nature. “In Calderon, the implementation of the thesis of free will is characterized by extreme tension and drama in the conditions of hierarchical reality, fraught in the understanding of baroque writers with contradictory extremes - mysterious, but inhuman heavenly predestination and destructive willfulness of a person or weak-willed humility and humility, which suddenly turn out to be a tragic delusion (the image of Basilio )” (3, p. 79). The Baroque understanding of the world as the triumph of two opposite essences - divinity and non-existence - deprives a person of the honorable place that the Renaissance assigned him. Therefore, the activity of a person in a situation of predetermined destiny from above does not mean a godless deification of a person, free will is a synonym for “the identity of an individual who threatens to dissolve in the uncontrollable element of higher powers and his own passions” (3, p. 79). The episode of the prince's trial by power makes it possible to understand the measure of moral responsibility that Calderon places on the ideal ruler. In his understanding (characteristic of the Baroque), a person who has won a moral victory over himself has the highest value.

Calderon builds his philosophical drama, of course, on a somewhat pessimistic worldview, arising from religious Christian mysticism. However, there is no true pessimism here - after all, there is always God next to a person, and a person endowed with free will can always turn to Him. Calderon, although in a certain sense inherits the thoughts of the ancient Greek philosophers and moralists that life is just a dream, and everything around a person is only the shadows of objects, and not the objects themselves, but to a greater extent he follows the early Christian moralists who said that life is dream compared to the reality of eternal life. The playwright does not get tired of asserting that eternal life is built by man himself, by his actions, and that good unconditionally remains good, even in a dream. The controversy with the revivalist moralists on the issue of human freedom is clearly visible in the drama in the line of Sechismundo and Basilio. The king, frightened by terrible signs, imprisons the prince in a tower in order, as he thinks, to overcome fate with the power of reason and thus rid the state of the tyrant. However, reason alone, without love and without faith, is not enough. The prince, having lived all his life in prison in dreams of being free, like a bird or like a beast, being free, and likened to a beast. So Calderon shows that the king, wanting to avoid evil, created it himself - after all, it was the prison that embittered Sechismundo. Perhaps this is what the stars predicted? And it turns out that fate cannot be defeated? But the playwright objects: no, you can. And shows how. His hero, once again in prison, realizes that "bestial freedom" is actually false. And he begins to seek freedom in himself, turning to God. And when Sekhismundo comes out of prison again, he is more free than a beast - he is free precisely as a man, because he has known the freedom of choice given to him by God. And Sehismundo chooses good, and understands that he must constantly remember the choice made and go this way.

7. Simplicissimus was published in 1669 in an atmosphere of mystery and hoax. The frontispiece depicts a strange creature. On the title page it is indicated that this is “The Biography of a Outlandish Vagant named Melchior Sternfels von Fuchsheim”, and it was published by a certain Herman Schleif-heim von Sulsfoort. Judging by the title page, the book was printed in the little-known city of Montpelgart by an unknown publisher, Johann Fillion. In the same year, the Continuatio, or the sixth book of the Simplicissimus, appeared, where it was reported that this was the work of Samuel Greifensohn von Hirschfeld, who for unknown reasons placed a different name on the title page, for which he “rearranged the letters” of his original. The work is published posthumously, although the author managed to submit the first five parts to print. He partially wrote the book when he was still a musketeer. The note was signed with mysterious initials: “N. I. C. V. G. P. zu Cernhein. In 1670, the novel “Simplicia in defiance, or a lengthy and outlandish biography of the hardened liar and vagabond Courage” appeared ... dictated right under the pen to the author, this time calling himself Philarch Grossus von Trommenheim. Printed in Utopia by Felix Stratiot. In the same year, on behalf of the same author, the novel “Outlandish Springinsfeld, that is, full of jokes, ridiculous and very amusing, was published. The biography of a once vigorous, experienced and brave soldier, now an exhausted, decrepit, but very ventilated vagabond and a beggar ... Printed in Paphlagonia Felix Stratiot. Thus, the same publisher is indicated, but the place of publication is different and, moreover, obviously fictitious. But in 1672, the first part of the novel "The Miraculous Bird's Nest" appeared, related in content to the previous ones. Michael Rechulin von Semsdorf has already been named its author. And when (about 1673) the last (second) part of the same novel came out, its writer was indicated by a whole line of letters, from which it was proposed to compose his name. The author seemed to be not so much hiding behind a mask as pointing out the possibility of opening it. And, apparently, for many it was not a special secret. But he was too clever, and as soon as historical circumstances changed, the key to the riddle, which he thrust into the hands of the reader, was lost. In the meantime, a whole hail of books rained down, no longer connected in any way with the content of the above-mentioned series of novels, but simply attached to the name of Simplicissimus. In 1670, a funny pamphlet “The First Couch potato” was published, which is a reworking of a folk legend with the addition of “Simplicissimus’ Pocket Book of Tricks” - a series of engravings depicting jesters, townspeople, landsknechts, mythological creatures, images of a tent city, weapons, medals, maps and mysterious inscriptions. The author calls himself an Ignorant and even an Idiot. In 1672, an equally remarkable book, full of bizarre fiction and sharp satire, was published - The Intricate Simplicissimus The World Inside Out. And a year after it appeared an essay full of superstitious tales and legends about a magic root that allegedly grows under the gallows - "Simplicissimus' Gallows Man". And a little earlier, an intricate treatise on socio-political topics, Pluto's Judges, or the Art of Getting Rich, where Simplicissimus and all his relatives speak, gathered at a fashionable resort to talk about this and that. The treatise, presented in a theatrical form, is not without caustic satire, it parodies the literary social conversations and games that were common at that time. In 1673, a certain Seigneur Messmal published a serious discourse on the purity of the German language under the cheerful title "The world-famous Simplicissimus Boasting and Boasting of his German Michel, with the permission of anyone who can, to read without laughing." The place of publication is the country where the printing press was invented (Nuremberg), and the year of publication is simply classified by highlighting individual letters (as in the publication of some other books with the name of Simplicissimus). And in the same year, an anonymous little book was published - a comic New Year's gift - "The War of the Beards, or the Dregs of the Unnamed Red Beard from the World-famous Black Beard of Simplicissimus." The question of the author (or authors) of all these works was far from idle. In those days, they appropriated the names and works of very famous authors. Several “Simplician” folk calendars appear, filled with economic advice and astrological predictions, funny anecdotes about Simplicissimus, and even whole stories that serve as a continuation of the novel, attached to its later edition. As if at least these sequels should be attributed to one author. A new chain of novels, sometimes entertaining, sometimes watery stories about the adventures of various vagabonds, retired soldiers, buffoons and rogues, filled with descriptions of military operations, then buffoonish tricks, such as Simplician Goggle-eye-to-the-world, or The Adventures of Jan Rebhu in four parts ”(1677 - 1679,“ An outlandish biography of the French warrior Simplicissimus ”(1682), in addition, published by the publisher Fillion, whose name appears on the first editions of the Simplicissimus”, “The Hungarian or Dacian Simplicissimus” (1683) and, finally, “Very amusing and intricate Malcolmo von Libandus... Composed by Simplicius Simplicissimus for rare amusement” (1686). In 1683 - 1684. Nuremberg publisher Johann Jonathan Felseker published a collection of Simplician works in three volumes with copious commentary by an unknown author. The preface to the first volume proclaimed: “The highly esteemed reader, let it please you to know that this German Simplicissimus, which has risen from the grave of oblivion, is greatly improved, multiplied and embellished with the addition of excellent notes and euphonious verses, as well as many important recreational and instructive things than ever before” . The words about the "grave of oblivion" should be considered a publishing trick, calculated on the fact that the "Simplicissimus" was still well remembered, but it was already difficult to get it. Otherwise, two more collections of works published by the heirs of I. Felseker in 1685-1699 would not soon come out. and 1713. The Fellseker edition includes verse appeals to the reader and explanations of the engraved title pages. The couplets summarizing the content of the chapters are carried through the entire edition. At the end of the novel "Springinsfeld" and "The Miraculous Bird's Nest" are also placed moralizing verses that were absent in the first editions. It also included some little-known works associated with the name of Simplicissimus, regarding which for a long time it was impossible to say with complete certainty who they still belong to. All the works included in this edition were printed under the same pseudonyms under which they appeared at the time. The biography of the author, reported by the Commentator, as we shall see, turned out to be inconsistent and illusory. We can safely say that by the end of the century the memory of him was erased. Only the hero's name remained. In 1751 Jocher's General Lexicon of Scholars reported under the heading "Simplicius" that it was "the false name of a satirist under whom in 1669 the Intricate Simple. Simplicissimus", transcribed into German by Hermann Schleifheim; 1670 "Eternal Calendar", "The Hanging Man", to which Israel Fromschmidt or Yog. Ludw. Hartmann wrote notes; "Inverted World"; 1671 "The Satirical Pilgram"; 1679 "Goggle at the whole world" in 4o; and in 1681 the German translation of Francis from Claustro "Bestia Civitatus"". This information is fantastic. The author of "Simplicissimus" is credited with books in which he was not involved, and the most important ones, which are its continuation, are omitted: "Courage" and "Springinsfeld". Israel Fromschmidt is identified with the insignificant writer Johann Ludwig Hartmann (1640 - 1684).The compiler of the note, apparently, did not see a single copy of the Simplicissimus, for he omitted the name "Sulsfoort" displayed on all editions of this book, and did not know that she was revealed to be the pseudonym of Samuel Greifensohn von Hirschfeld. Lessing became interested in Simplicissimus and was even going to rework it for a new edition. He began to draw up a note about its author for the “Additions” to the Yocher dictionary, where it was placed by Adelung in an unfinished form: “Greyfenson (Samuel) from Hirschfeld lived in the last century and was a musketeer in his youth. Nothing more is known about him, although he wrote various works, namely: "Simplicissimus" - a favorite novel of his time, which he first published under the alias Hermani Schleifheim von Zelsfort and which in 1684 was again published in Nuremberg in two parts in the 8th part of the sheet, along with other foreign works. "The Chaste Joseph" ... also in two parts of the Nuremberg edition of the previous one. "The satirical Pilgram... (From the manuscript heritage of Lessing)"".

13. Landscape sketches play a big role in the poem. Nature is not just a background against which the action takes place, but a full-fledged protagonist of the work. The author uses the technique of contrast. In paradise, the first people are surrounded by ideal nature. Even the rains there are warm and fertile. But this idyll, which still surrounds sinless people, is being replaced by another nature - a gloomy landscape. The stylistic originality of the poem lies in the fact that it is written in a very pompous ornate style. Milton literally "heaps" comparison upon comparison. For example, Satan is at the same time a comet, and a menacing cloud, and a wolf, and a winged giant. There are many lengthy descriptions in the poem. At the same time, the author resorts to the individualization of the speech of the characters. One can be convinced of this by comparing the furious threatening appeal of Satan, the slow stately speech of God, the monologues of Adam full of dignity, the gentle melodious speech of Eve.

15. European baroque lyrics

The seventeenth century is the highest stage in the development of European Baroque poetry. Baroque flourished especially brightly in the 17th century in the literature and art of those countries where feudal circles, as a result of intense socio-political conflicts, temporarily triumphed, slowing down the development of capitalist relations for a long time, that is, in Italy, Spain, Germany. Baroque literature reflects the desire of the court environment, crowding around the throne of absolute monarchs, to surround themselves with brilliance and glory, to sing their greatness and power. The contribution made to the baroque by the Jesuits, the figures of the Counter-Reformation, on the one hand, and the representatives of the Protestant church, on the other, is also very significant (along with the Catholic, Protestant baroque is also richly represented in Western European literature of the 17th century). The stages of the heyday of the Baroque in the literatures of the West, as a rule, coincide with periods of time when church forces are activated and a wave of religious sentiments is growing (religious wars in France, the crisis of humanism due to the aggravation of social contradictions in Spain and England in the first quarter of the 17th century, the spread of mystical tendencies in Germany during the Thirty Years' War), or with periods of upsurge experienced by noble circles.

Taking all this into account, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the emergence of the Baroque was due to objective reasons rooted in the patterns of social life in Europe in the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Baroque was primarily a product of those deep socio-political crises that shook Europe at that time and which acquired a special scope in the 17th century. The church and the aristocracy tried to take advantage of the mood that arose as a result of these