Skalozub has served in the army since 1809 (in his own words), but he doesn’t even mention the Patriotic War of 1812, except for his words about the fire of Moscow, which, in his opinion, “contributed to her a lot to decorate.” He "distinguished himself" in the thirteenth year, and on August 3, when he "sat down in the trench", he received the order. Professor Nechkina, in his book about Griboedov and the Decembrists, says that at that time there were no hostilities, so Skalozub received his orders and awards not for military exploits, but due to the ability to use various "channels". Skalozub has the rank of colonel (“Colonels for a long time, but you serve recently,” Famusov notes with approval) and strives to become a general.
Puffer
Yes, in order to get ranks, there are many channels;
About them as a true philosopher I judge:
I just would get the axis in the generals, -
he himself admits, and it is clear that he does not neglect any of these
"channels". He, by his own admission, is lucky in the service:
I'm pretty happy in my comrades
Vacancies are just open:
Then the elders will be turned off by others,
Others, you see, are killed.
In his naivety and stupidity, he does not even understand what immoral things he says: after all, he sees his happiness in the fact that his comrades are killed, as this gives him the opportunity to advance in the service. In his striving for the ranks, Skalozub is similar to Famusov.
He is unanimous with Famusov in his views on education. At a ball at Famusov's, he announces:
I will make you happy: the general rumor,
That there is a project about lyceums, schools, gymnasiums;
There they will only teach in our way: one, two;
And the books will be kept like this: for big occasions.
When Repetilov calls him to go to a meeting of the smartest, in his opinion, people, Skalozub replies:
Deliver. Don't fool me with learning
Call others, and if you want,
I am Prince Gregory and you
Sergeant major in Voltaire ladies,
He will build you in three lines,
And squeal, it will instantly calm you down.
Skalozub puts the drill, the team, the front, the barracks, the shagistik, the ranks above all else, shows an exact knowledge of the difference between all the regiments in terms of piping, shoulder straps, buttonholes on uniforms (in a conversation with Khlestova), becomes animated and becomes talkative when the conversation comes up about it. He is not interested in anything else and cannot connect about anything.
talk, with the exception of secular gossip, which he willingly retells, adding "a hundred embellishments." So, with sincere pleasure, he tells gossip about the princess. Skalozub pours out military terms: distance, rank, sergeant major, etc., and here the comic is achieved by the fact that Skalozub speaks about things that have nothing to do with military life in just such a language. When Famusov asks him how he gets Nastasya Nikolaevna, Skalozub replies:
I don't know, it's my fault
We did not serve together.
When it comes to Moscow and Muscovites, and Famusov utters a laudatory speech, and Chatsky a diatribe, Skalozub has only three words in praise of Moscow: "Distances of enormous size." He strives to be polite with Famusov, but in front of people with whom he does not stand on ceremony, he says ponderously and rudely: “Look how he cracked - in the chest or in the side?”. If Skalozub is similar to Famusov in his views on service, rank, education, then mentally he is much lower than Famusov, who is not stupid, and eloquent, and observant. Sofya says about Skalozub: “He didn’t utter a word of wisdom from his life,” and Lisa agrees with her, she only expresses it in her own way: “it’s not painfully cunning.” In conclusion, let us recall the reviews of Skalozub by two ideological enemies, representatives of opposite camps, Famusov and Chatsky.
Famous person, respectable,
And he picked up the darkness of differences;
Out of years, and an enviable rank,
Not today, tomorrow General, -
this is how Famusov respectfully evaluates Skalozub. Chatsky, on the other hand, gives him a brief pigrammatic description:
hoarse, strangled, bassoon,
A constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas!
"And the golden bag, and aims at the generals," - in these well-aimed words
Lisa is the whole Skalozub.
It was precisely such people - narcissistic, stupid, ignorant, not reasoning, admirers, shagists, barracks education, cane drill, enemies of free thought - who succeeded in the time of Arakcheev in the army. Real people, educated and thinking, in protest against the Arakcheevshchina resigned, as Skalozub's cousin, a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, did.
Puffer.
Colonel Skalozub - a type of careerist officer from the time of Arakcheev. Mentally, he is a narrow-minded person. “He didn’t utter a smart word,” Sophia notes. Lisa also agrees with this characterization of Skalozub: “Yes, sir, so to speak, he is eloquent, but not painfully cunning.” Among the officers of that era were enlightened, highly educated people. Some of them were associated with the Decembrist movement.
The puffer is not one of them. On the contrary, it is the faithful guardian of the autocratic-feudal system, the enemy of enlightenment.
A serviceman who was brought up in the barracks, Skalozub speaks with particular eagerness about what he is familiar with, and then his speech is full of such words as edging, shoulder straps, buttonholes, corps, division, distance, in line, sergeant major, etc. The tone of his speech is resolute, categorical: what a miserable rider! The distance is huge; sometimes his words sound like a command: There they will only teach in our way: one, two. He is polite to Famusov: I'm ashamed... Wherever you order... I don't know, sir, it's my fault. But in the presence of such persons as Chatsky or Repetilov, he is not shy and speaks rudely in the barracks: “Has our old man made a mistake?” “Look how he cracked, chest or side?”, “Deliver me”, “You won’t fool me with learning.”
Rocktooth's speech perfectly characterizes this "constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas."
Updated: 2011-05-07
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Skalozub Sergey Sergeyevich - in his image the “ideal” Moscow groom is bred - rude, uneducated, not very smart, but rich and pleased with himself. Famusov reads S. as her daughter's husband, but she considers him "not the hero of her novel." At the time of his first visit to Famusov's house, S. talks about himself. He participated in the war of 1812, but he received the order "on the neck" not for military exploits, but on the occasion of military celebrations. S. "aims at the generals." The hero despises bookish wisdom. He speaks derogatoryly of his cousin who reads books in the countryside. S. tries to embellish himself externally and internally. He dresses in army fashion, "tightening" with straps so that his chest is a wheel. Having understood nothing in Chatsky's accusatory monologues, he, nevertheless, joins his opinion, saying all sorts of nonsense and nonsense.
Skalozub - a character in the comedy A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit" (1824). If we look for classical and, through them, ancient prototypes in the characters of the play, then S. corresponds to the “boastful warrior”, a popular mask of Roman comedies, embodied in the famous “conquering tower city” Pirgopolinike, the hero of Plautus. The bully warrior was traditionally portrayed not only as a braggart, but also as a narcissistic person. S., if removed from the poetic context, is somewhat similar to his distant ancestor. It should be noted that many characters in Griboedov's work wear comedy masks, but the "mask" is only the top layer of its voluminous plot. In the course of the action, S. is transformed into an individual comedic character. Colonel Sergei Sergeevich S. is at the very center of the play's events. Already in the first act, Lisa mentions him as Sophia's almost official fiance ("and a golden bag and aims for the generals") in contrast to the "unwanted" Chatsky and the "secret" Molchalin. Perhaps, for the sake of S., in order to introduce him to the circle of relatives, Famusov starts a ball, where he represents S. Khlestova, who does not like him because of his lack of servility and too high growth. All the facts of S.'s biography in the eyes of Famusov favorably distinguish him from Chatsky. S. is rich, a military man, quickly and thoughtfully making a career, arguing little, speaking out in a straightforward and lapidary way. S.'s manner of not adjusting to the tone of secular courtesy does not harm him in the opinion of others (like Chatsky), because in the main S. is Famusovsky, his own: “You won’t fool me with learning!” What his military career is based on becomes clear pretty soon: "here the elders will be turned off by others, others, you see, are killed." It would be a mistake to underestimate the influence of S. in the "Moscow" environment: he is recognized and supported by society. At the climax of the discussion about the harm brought by books and education, S. announces the good news for everyone that it was decided to reform lyceums, schools and gymnasiums according to the barracks model: “They will only teach in our way: one, two; And the books will be kept like this: for big occasions. (Which, however, does not quite suit Famusov, who knows a more correct way to restore order: “I would take all the books and burn them.”) S. is a collective character in which Griboedov’s contemporaries recognized many: from divisional colonel Frolov to the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, the future Emperor Nicholas I. In the extensive stage history of “Woe from Wit”, no solution to this image has yet been found that would be free from the “masquerade”, equally emphasized by the actors with very different directorial decisions in style. The image of S. is based on the technique of the grotesque, but not caricature or caricature. Such an image requires an interpretation akin to the poetics of the play as a whole, which Griboyedov called "the poetics of an excellent poem."
Sergei Sergeevich Skalozub is a military man (colonel), an experienced serviceman who does not care about anything but military affairs and career growth in the service (“And a golden bag, and aims for generals”). He is not mentally developed at all, even, roughly speaking, stupid (Sofya about Skalozub: “he didn’t utter a smart word”). That is why he does not suit Sophia as a groom, despite how much her father craves it. Famusov, on the other hand, treats Skalozub with reverence, as he considers him the best match for his daughter.
Skalozub can only talk about the service, so he mentions it everywhere (“I don’t know, sir, it’s my fault; we didn’t serve together with her”) or tries to reduce the conversation to this topic. He ended up in high society solely due to his rank and good earnings, because otherwise no one would communicate with him. As you already understood, Skalozub is an opponent of all education and enlightenment, he considers this a completely unnecessary occupation, does not want to study himself and advises others to do the same (“You won’t fool me with learning”).
Updated: 2017-08-17
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Comedy "Woe from Wit", written by A.S. Griboyedov in 1824, denounces the morals of the nobles of the early 19th century. The play presents a situation when, after the war of 1812, at a turning point for Russia, people with progressive views on the structure of society began to appear in the noble society. The main theme of the work is the struggle between the "past century" and the "present century", the old against the new. The camp of the "age of the past" is represented in the play by many people of different types. Of great importance for understanding the problems of the work is the characterization of Skalozub in the comedy "Woe from Wit".
This hero is highly respected among the Famus society. From the first pages of the book, we learn that Famusov considers him the most desirable contender for the hand of his daughter Sophia. In the play “Woe from Wit”, Skalozub fully corresponds to the ideals of the Moscow noble society: “And a golden bag, and aims for generals.” Sophia, as a sane girl, does not at all want to marry Skalozub. She considers him very stupid: “He won’t utter a smart word from time to time - I don’t care what for him, what’s in the water.”
If Chatsky is not suitable for the role of Sophia's husband, because he "does not serve, that is, he does not find any benefit in that," then Skalozub is a colonel. A high rank is the main thing that is valued in Moscow. The image of this hero is a satire on the Russian army of the Arakcheev period, when any free thought was persecuted, and thoughtless submission was required. In this regard, many young nobles retired. Dumb military drill then reigned in the army. That is why in the Famus society they are so wary of Chatsky, who “would be glad to serve”, but does not want to “serve”, because this indicates his dissent. Skalozub is “with stars and ranks”, which means that everything is in order with him. In the Famus society, even rudeness is forgiven him, which is not forgiven to Chatsky.
As a typical representative of the “past century”, Skalozub serves to enrich himself, gain a solid weight in society, and not to take care of the security of his homeland. In the comedy Woe from Wit, the army rank of Skalozub is very attractive to Famus Moscow. In this regard, Chatsky gives an apt description of Skalozub: "A constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas."
Ways to achieve high ranks and awards for people like Skalozub do not matter. Most often, promotion in the nobility of that time was achieved through connections. Skalozub's character helps him skillfully use these connections: "... To get ranks, there are many channels ... I just want to get into the generals."
Even Skalozub received his order not for military merit, but on the occasion of military celebrations.
In the comedy Woe from Wit, the characterization of Skalozub would be incomplete if the work did not contrast this hero with other representatives of the military class - progressive-minded nobles who respect the human personality. It was these people who retired at that time. Such is Skalozub's cousin, who, despite the fact that "the rank followed him", left military service and went to live in the village, where "he began to read books." Refusing another rank is unthinkable for Skalozub. Skalozub speaks of his brother with disdain also because he is also an opponent of learning and education. It is from the lips of this hero at the ball at Famusov that information comes about the reform of educational institutions according to the barracks type: “They will only teach in our way: one or two; and the books will be kept - like this: for big occasions.
