A. S. Pushkin's poem " Bronze Horseman» combines both historical and social issues. This is the author's reflection on Peter the Great as a reformer, collection different opinions and assessments of his actions. This poem is one of his perfect compositions, having philosophical meaning. We offer for acquaintance brief analysis poems, the material can be used to work on literature lessons in grade 7.
Brief analysis
Year of writing– 1833
History of creation- During his "golden autumn", when Pushkin was forced to stay in the Boldin estate, the poet had a creative upsurge. In that "golden" time, the author created many brilliant works that produced great impression both to the public and critics. One of such works of the Boldino period was the poem "The Bronze Horseman".
Subject– The reign of Peter the Great, the attitude of society to his reforms – main topic"The Bronze Horseman"
Composition– The composition consists of a large introduction, it can be considered as a separate poem, and two parts, in which in question about the main character, the devastating flood of 1824, and about the meeting of the hero with the Bronze Horseman.
Genre- The genre of "The Bronze Horseman" is a poem.
Direction - historical poem describing actual events, direction- realism.
History of creation
At the very beginning of the history of the creation of the poem, the writer was in the Boldin estate. He thought a lot about history Russian state, about its rulers and autocratic power. At that time, society was divided into two types of people - some fully supported the policy of Peter the Great, treated him with adoration, and the other type of people found in the great emperor similarities with evil spirit, considered him a fiend, and treated him accordingly.
The writer listened to different opinions about the reign of Peter, the result of his reflections and the collection of various information, was the poem "The Bronze Horseman", which completed his Boldino heyday of creativity, the year the poem was written was 1833.
Subject
In The Bronze Horseman, the analysis of the work displays one of the main topics- power and a small person. The author reflects on the rule of the state, on the clash little man with a huge colossus.
Myself the meaning of the name- "The Bronze Horseman" - contains the main idea poetic work. The monument to Peter is made of bronze, but the author preferred another epithet, more ponderous and gloomy. So, through expressive artistic means, the poet describes a powerful state machine, for which the problems of small people suffering from the power of autocratic rule are indifferent.
In this poem, conflict between the little man and the authorities does not have its continuation, a person is so small for the state, when "the forest is cut down - the chips fly."
In different ways one can judge the role of one person in the fate of the state. In his introduction to the poem, the author characterizes Peter the Great as a man of amazing intelligence, far-sighted and decisive. Being in power, Peter looked far ahead, he thought about the future of Russia, about its power and invincibility. The actions of Peter the Great can be judged in different ways, accusing him of despotism and tyranny in relation to common people. It is impossible to justify the actions of a ruler who built power on the bones of people.
Composition
Pushkin's ingenious idea in the features of the composition of the poem serves as proof of the poet's creative skill. A large introduction dedicated to Peter the Great and the city he built can be read as an independent work.
The language of the poem has absorbed all genre originality emphasizing the attitude of the author to the events he describes. In the description of Peter and Petersburg, the language is pretentious, majestic, completely in harmony with the appearance of the emperor, great and powerful.
The story is told in a completely different language. simple Evgenia. Narrative speech about the hero is in the usual language, reflects the essence of the "little man".
The greatest genius of Pushkin is clearly visible in this poem, it is all written by one poetic size, but in different places works sound completely different. The two parts of the poem following the introduction can also be considered a separate work. These parts talk about ordinary person who lost his girlfriend in a flood.
Eugene blames the monument to Peter for this, implying in it the emperor himself - the autocrat. A person who dreams of simple human happiness has lost the meaning of life, having lost the most precious thing - he has lost his beloved girl, his future. It seems to Evgeny that the Bronze Horseman is chasing him. Eugene understands that the autocrat is cruel and ruthless. Crushed by grief, the young man goes crazy, and then dies, left without the meaning of life.
It can be concluded that in this way the author continues the theme of the “little man”, developed at that time in Russian literature. By this he proves how despotic government is in relation to the common people.
Main characters
Genre
The work "The Bronze Horseman" belongs to the genre verse poem with a realistic direction.
The poem is large-scale in its deep content, it includes both historical and philosophical problems. There is no epilogue in the poem, and the contradictions between the little man and the whole state remain open.
The literary activity of Aristophanes proceeded between 427 and 388.; in its main part, it falls on the period of the Peloponnesian War and the crisis of the Athenian state. Intensified struggle of various factions around political program radical democracy, the contradictions between town and countryside, issues of war and peace, the crisis of traditional ideology and new trends in philosophy and literature - all this was vividly reflected in the work of Aristophanes.
His comedies, besides his artistic value, are the most valuable historical source, reflecting the political and cultural life Athens at the end of the 5th century
In political matters, Aristophanes approaches the moderate democratic party, most often conveying the mood of the Attic peasantry, dissatisfied with the war and hostile to the aggressive foreign policy radical democracy. He takes the same moderately conservative position in ideological struggle of his time. Peacefully poking fun at the admirers of antiquity, he turns the edge of his comedic talent against the leaders of the urban demos and representatives of newfangled ideological trends.
Among political comedies Aristophanes, the Horsemen (424) are most poignant. This play was directed against the influential leader of the radical party, Cleon, at the time of his greatest popularity, after his brilliant military success over the Spartans.
The action takes place in front of the house where the capricious, deaf old man Demos (that is, the Athenian people) lives. The prologue begins with a comic dialogue between two slaves, in which the audience could recognize the famous generals Demosthenes and Nikias from the very first words. It turns out that Demos transferred all power in the house to a new slave, the tanner Paphlagonian (an allusion to the profession of Cleon's father). Over a glass of stolen wine, it occurs to the slaves brilliant thought- pull the oracles from the tanner, with which he fools the old man's head (a hint at the numerous oracles that promised a successful outcome of the Peloponnesian War). The oracle has been found: the tanner will have to yield power to an even more "low" profession, the sausage maker. The action of the comedy is thus built on the basic principle of carnival rites - “turning over” public relations("Let the last be first"). A sausage maker immediately appears with a tray and sausages. In a scene that parodies the carnival rite of electing a slave or jester as the "king" and "savior" of the community, the sausage maker is explained his mission - to be the ruler of Athens. The arrival of the Paphlagonian, however, puts the sausage maker to flight, but the choir of “horsemen” (an aristocratic group hostile to Cleon) comes to his aid. The scuffle and swearing end in "agon", in which the sausage-maker surpasses the Paphlagonian in shamelessness and bragging.
Sausage wins the location of Demos even earlier, when he gave him a pillow so as not to sit on the bare stones on Pnyx.
THE THEME OF POWER AND THE PEOPLE
The finale of the comedy is associated with fabulous metamorphoses. After the victory, Kolbasnik decides to serve the people worthily and honestly, and turns into a wise ruler. In the final scene, Demos is reborn: the sausage-maker restored his youth by boiling him in boiling water (popular fairy motif; cf. the same ending in Yershov's The Little Humpbacked Horse), and Demos is now as strong and fresh as during the Greco-Persian wars. The tanner, on the other hand, remains ashamed for his self-interest, ambition, aggressiveness, and the title of demagogue after the comedies of Aristophanes becomes compromised.
Comedy ends normally love scene: beauties run in, representing the world for thirty years, and the komos leaves the orchestra, led by Demos and the sausage maker.
B.19 Comic techniques in the work of Aristophanes. (Or an ideological and artistic analysis of the comedies "Clouds", "Frogs" - optional ).
ancient greek philosopher Aristotle argued that the ability to laugh is the virtue that distinguishes a person from an animal. In his Poetics, he derives the name of the comedy from the word "komos" - a merry procession of tipsy revelers, and the beginning of it derives from "phallic" songs in honor of the butler god Dionysus. Ritual songs invariably had to include jokes, ridicule and even obscenities. Aristophanes designed the comic into the canonical comedy genre, for which he received the title of "father of comedy". In "Arkharnyany" he reproduced in a small scene a village procession with a ritual song. The idea of "komos" can also be given by the scene described by Plato in "Feast", when a drunken Alquiviades, leading a crowd of revelers, breaks into the house of the poet Agathon with songs. In ancient ritual games important place engaged in an argument when the ridicule of one side was answered by the other, and it came to swear words, and even to a fight. Aristophanes in his comedies removed from circulation all coarse, purely external comic tricks based on obscenities. "Whoever finds it funny will not get pleasure from my jokes," he says in the comedy Clouds. In the elimination of everything vulgar (refusing to "throw treats into the crowd"), Aristophanes saw his difference from his predecessors, who began to develop this genre. In the comedy "The World" artistic principles expresses the choir. He, firstly, alone among the rivals of all, stopped their custom of laughing At torn clothes and those people who fight only with lice; He expelled both the Hercules, kneading bread, and the gluttons of these eternally hungry, And the fleeing slaves, deftly puffing up, deliberately enduring beatings - He was the first to recognize all this as unworthy, and he did not begin to lead out the slaves, like others, Shedding tears. And, throwing away such vulgarity and nonsense, such obscene jokes, He exalted our art with this, strengthened, erecting this building, With majestic speech and deep thought and jokes unscrupulous, He began to ridicule not ordinary people in comedies, not women, But with passion Some kind of Hercules, he began to attack the most powerful (Translation by S. Radzig)
Aristophanes was really not afraid to attack "the mightiest" In comedy
"Horsemen" he makes fun of one of the leaders Athenian democracy the demagogue Cleon, portraying him in the form of an impudent and dexterous slave, who by cunning seized power over his master Demos, that is, the people. The influential Cleon sued the playwright, but lost the case. Here, comedy has already grown into a more "evil" genre - satire. Once the ironic Heine was asked why he should not try his hand as a satirist. "This is a dangerous trade," he replied. "... Any satire hurts someone... The greatest satirist was Aristophanes ... "- added the poet, recognizing that not everyone can take the height of the ancient mocker. It should be noted that this craft is dangerous not only for the satirist himself, but also for those whom he chooses as his "objects". That laughter is often scarier than a gun"- in the literal sense, we will see in the course of our story. Very little is known about the life of Aristophanes. He was born around 446 BC in the Kidafin deme (demes - ancient Greek territorial districts in Attica) and was an Athenian citizen. There is the supposition, on the basis of his remark in the Acharnians, that he was a cleruchus, that is, an Athenian colonial landowner on the island of Aegina.
According to Aristophanes, he began to write very young. The first comedies created in 427-425 BC. e. ("Feasters", "Babylonians", "Archarnians"), staged under the name of the actor Callistratus and sometimes acted as an actor himself, for example, he played the role of Cleon in "Horsemen". The life of the playwright coincided with events of exceptional importance for Athens. By the middle of the 5th century BC. e. Athens won the long-term war with the Persian monarchy and occupied a dominant position in Ancient Hellas, leading a coalition of many small states and islands of the Aegean archipelago. It was the heyday state structure Athens, and all the arts. On the top the Athenian Acropolis the Parthenon (the temple of the goddess Athena) is being built, at its foot in the theater of Dionysus Sophocles and Euripides stage their tragedies, the historian Herodotus, the sculptor Phidias, the philosopher Anaxagoras unite around the enlightened Athenian leader Pericles. IN recent decades 5th century BC e. the Peloponnesian War broke out (431-404 BC), in which Athens clashed with another powerful association - Sparta. In Athens, parties arose with different views on the war. Wealthy merchants associated with maritime trade, stood for the continuation of the war and the expansion of Athenian domination, and the landowners, suffering from Spartan raids, insisted on its termination. Aristophanes in his views was close to the latter and in the comedies "Peace", "Lysistrata" and others opposed the war. inner life Athens also underwent changes. Wandering teachers of wisdom - the sophists - criticized the age-old ideas of morality that the ancestors adhered to, as well as the traditional belief in the gods. Formally, Socrates, who preached his doctrine on the Athenian streets and frightened fellow citizens with an exotic appearance, was also referred to the sophists by contemporaries. (Only subsequent epochs will see in him the ideal of a sage - thanks to Plato, who conveyed the thoughts of his teacher in the "Apology of Socrates".) This is the historical background, those phenomena that became the content of Aristophanes' comedies. By conviction, he was a statesman, and in everything that, in his opinion, shook the foundations of the state, he saw objects for satirical arrows. Aristophanes attached great social and political importance to his work, calling himself "a purifier who averts troubles from his country." So, in "The Clouds" he made Socrates and the sophists his characters, ridiculing their new philosophical theories. According to the plot, the peasant Strepsiades had a son, Phidippides, from his wife, taken from a noble family. The son made friends with aristocratic youth. Having become interested in equestrian sports, he forced his father to buy trotters for himself and dragged him into debt. Not knowing how to get out of the situation, old Strepsiades goes to Socrates' "thought room" to learn from him the science of not paying debts (as Aristophanes called the whole teaching of the philosopher). Socrates invokes new gods - Clouds - the patrons of the new science of fogging heads, and they appear in the form of a choir (hence the name of the comedy). Strepsias training is shown in a number comic scenes, where Socrates appears as a real swindler and rogue. The peasant turns out to be too stupid to learn such a science, and Socrates drives him away. Then Strepsiades sends his son to the "thinking room". At this time, creditors come to the peasant, but he, having picked up fraudulent evasions from Socrates, expels them with nothing. After completing the course of science, Pheidippides returns home, and on this occasion his father arranges a feast, during which an argument flares up between them. In the heat of the moment, Pheidippides beats his father and proves that, according to modern scientific views, he has the right to do so, since this is also observed in nature - in animals. “And how,” he exclaims, “animals differ from people? Is it only because they do not write psephism” (decrees). Here Aristophanes parodies the theory of natural law developed by the sophists, which proclaimed nature to be the highest norm of everything that exists and regarded all phenomena on the basis of whether they exist by nature or by human establishment. He referred Socrates to the sophists. The beaten Strepsiades realizes all the falsity of the new teachings: "Oh, I'm a fool! Oh, crazy, mad! I drove the gods away, I exchanged them for Socrates." Seeing the root of evil in Socrates, he sets fire to his "thought room".
The first performances of the comedy failed, and Aristophanes remade the comedy; only the second edition has come down to us. The comedy "Clouds" not only brought a lot of trouble to the author, but played a sinister role in the fate of his character. During the trial of Socrates, which sentenced him to death (399 BC) "for worshiping new deities" and "corrupting youth", the comedy was used as one of the proofs of the philosopher's guilt. Until now, comedy is of great historical and literary interest. "Frogs ". In it, Aristophanes expressed his views on the role of the poet in the state, as well as his artistic ideals. Actors he made real tragic poets - Aeschylus and Euripides, who recently passed away. In essence, in this comedy, Aristophanes polemicizes with public views and artistic techniques Euripides. The views of Aristophanes are voiced by Aeschylus.
Riders are not just horsemen: this was the name of the whole estate in Athens - those who had enough money to keep a war horse. These were wealthy people who had small estates outside the city, lived on their income and wanted Athens to be a peaceful, closed agricultural state.
The poet Aristophanes wanted peace; that is why he made the riders the chorus of his comedy. They performed in two hemichoirs and, to make it funnier, rode on toy wooden horses. And in front of them, the actors played a buffoonish parody of the Athenian political life. The owner of the state is the old People, decrepit, lazy and out of his mind, and he is courted and flattered by cunning politicians-demagogues: whoever is more obsequious is stronger. There are four of them on the stage: two are called by their real names, Nikias and Demosthenes, the third is called the Kozhevnik (his real name is Cleon), and the fourth is called the Sausage Man (Aristophanes invented this main character himself).
It was a difficult time for peaceful agitation. Nicias and Demosthenes (not comedy, but real Athenian generals; do not confuse this Demosthenes with the same name famous speaker, who lived a hundred years later) just near the city of Pylos they surrounded a large Spartan army, but they could not defeat and capture him. They offered to use this to conclude a profitable peace. And their opponent Cleon (he really was a leather craftsman) demanded to finish off the enemy and continue the war until victory. Then the enemies of Cleon offered him to take command himself - in the hope that he, who had never fought, would be defeated and leave the stage. But a surprise happened: Cleon won a victory at Pylos, brought the Spartan captives to Athens, and after that there was no way out of him in politics at all: whoever tried to argue with Cleon and denounce him was immediately reminded: “And Pylos? and Pylos? - and had to shut up. And so Aristophanes took upon himself the unthinkable task: to laugh at this "Pylos", so that at any mention of this word the Athenians would remember not Cleon's victory, but Aristophanes' jokes and would not be proud, but would laugh.
So, on the stage is the house of the owner of the People, and in front of the house two of his servant-servants, Nicias and Demosthenes, are sitting and grieving: they were with the owner in mercy, and now they have been wiped off by a new slave, a scoundrel tanner. The two of them made a nice porridge in Pylos, and he snatched it from under their noses and offered it to the People. He slurps, and the tanner throws everything tidbits. What to do? Let's look at the ancient predictions! War is a disturbing, superstitious time, people in great numbers recalled (or invented) ancient dark prophecies and interpreted them in relation to current circumstances. While the tanner is sleeping, let's steal the most important prophecy from under his pillow! Stole; it says: “The worst is defeated only by the worst: there will be a rope-maker in Athens, and his cattle breeder will be worse, and his tanner will be worse, and his sausage-maker will be worse.” The tightrope politician and the cattle breeder politician have already been in power; now there is a tanner; I need to find a sausage maker.
Here is a sausage maker with a meat tray. "Are you a scientist?" - "Only beaters." - "What did you study?" - "Steal and unlock." - "What do you live for?" - "And in front, and behind, and sausages." “Oh, our savior! Do you see these people in the theater? Do you want to rule over them all? Twirling the Council, yelling in the assembly, drinking and fornication at public expense? One foot on Asia, the other on Africa? - "Yes I low class!" - "All the better!" - "Yes, I'm almost illiterate!" - "That's good!" - "And what to do?" - “The same as with sausages: knead more abruptly, add salt more strongly, sweeten more flatteringly, call out louder.” - "And who will help?" - "Riders!" On wooden horses, riders enter the stage, chasing Cleon the tanner. “Here is your enemy: surpass him with bragging, and the fatherland is yours!”
A bragging contest ensues, interspersed with fights. "You are a tanner, you are a swindler, all your soles are rot!" - "But I swallowed the whole Pylos in one gulp!" - “But first he filled the womb with the entire Athenian treasury!” - “The sausage maker himself, the intestine himself, he himself stole the leftovers!” - “No matter how hard you try, no matter how you pout, I’ll still shout it out!” The choir comments, incites, remembers the good morals of the fathers and praises the citizens for the best intentions of the poet Aristophanes: there were good writers of comedies before, but one is old, the other is drunk, but this one is worth listening to. So it was supposed to be in all the old comedies.
But this is a saying, the main thing is ahead. At the noise from the house, the old People staggeringly comes out: which of the rivals loves him more? “If I don’t love you, let them cut me into belts!” the tanner shouts. “And let them chop me into minced meat!” - shouts the sausage man. "I want your Athens to rule over all of Greece!" - “So that you, the People, suffer on campaigns, and he profits from every prey!” - "Remember, People, how many conspiracies I saved you from!" - "Do not believe him, it was he himself who muddied the water in order to catch a fish!" - "Here's my sheepskin to warm the old bones!" - “And here is a pillow under your ass, which you rubbed while rowing at Salamis!” “I have a whole chest of good prophecies for you!” - “And I have a whole shed!” One by one these prophecies are read - a grandiloquent set of meaningless words - and one by one they are interpreted in the most fantastic way: each for his own benefit and for the evil of the enemy. Of course, it turns out much more interesting for a sausage maker. When the prophecies end, well-known sayings come into play - and also with the most unexpected interpretations on the topic of the day. Finally, it comes to the proverb: “There is, besides Pylos, Pylos, but there is also Pylos and a third!” (there were actually three cities in Greece with that name), there are a lot of untranslatable puns on the word "Pylos". And it's ready - the goal of Aristophanes has been achieved, not one of the spectators will remember this Kleon's "Pylos" without a cheerful laugh. "Here's a stew from me, Folk!" - “And porridge from me!” - "And from me a pie!" - “And wine from me!” - "And from me it's hot!" - “Oh, tanner, look, they’re carrying money, you can profit!” - "Where? Where?" The tanner rushes to look for money, the sausage-maker picks up his roast and brings it away from him. "Oh, you scoundrel, you bring someone else's from you!" “But isn’t that how you appropriated Pylos to yourself after Nikias and Demosthenes?” - “It doesn’t matter who fried it, - honor to the one who brought it!” - proclaims the People. The tanner is driven by the neck, the sausage-maker is proclaimed the chief adviser of the People. The choir sings along with all this in verses in praise of the People and in reproach to such and such a libertine, and such and such a coward, and such and such a embezzler, all under their own names.
The twist is fabulous. There was a myth about the sorceress Medea, who threw the old man into a cauldron of potions, and the old man came out of there as a young man. This is how behind the stage the sausage-maker throws the old Folk into a boiling cauldron, and it comes out young and flourishing. They march across the stage, and the People majestically announce how good it will be to live now. good people and how the bad ones will rightly pay (and such and such, and such and such, and such and such), and the choir rejoices that the old good times when everyone lived freely, peacefully and satisfyingly.
wisdom and sends his son in his place. From theoretical questions satire moves into the realm of practical morality. Before Pheidippides, Pravda (“Fair Speech”) and Krivda (“Unfair Speech”) compete in the “agon”. Truth praises the old strict upbringing and its good results for the physical and moral health of citizens. The falsehood defends the freedom of lust. Krivda wins. Pheidippides quickly masters all the necessary tricks, and the old man escorts his creditors. But soon the sophistical art of the son turns against the father. A lover of the old poets Simonides and Aeschylus, Strepsiades did not agree in literary tastes with his son, an admirer of Euripides. The dispute turned into a fight, and Pheidippides, having beaten the old man, proves to him in a new "agon" that the son has the right to beat his father. Strepsiades is ready to recognize the strength of this argument, but when Pheidippides promises to prove that it is legal to beat mothers, the enraged old man sets fire to the “thinking room” of the atheist Socrates. The comedy ends, therefore, without the usual ceremonial wedding. However, it should be borne in mind that, according to an ancient report, the current final scene and the contest between Pravda and Krivda were introduced by the poet only in the second edition of the play.
In the second part of the comedy, the satire is much more serious than in the first. Educated and alien to all superstitions, Aristophanes is by no means an obscurantist, an enemy of science. In sophistry, he is frightened by the separation from the polis ethics: the new upbringing does not lay the foundation for civic prowess. From this point of view, the choice of Socrates as a representative of new trends was not an artistic mistake. No matter how great were the differences between Socrates and the sophists on a number of issues, he was united with them by a critical attitude towards the traditional morality of the polis, which Aristophanes defends in his comedy.
Aristophanes holds the same views in relation to new literary trends. He often ridicules fashionable lyric poets, but his main controversy is directed against Euripides, as the most prominent representative of new school in the leading poetic genre of the 5th century. - tragedy. We find mockery of Euripides and his ragged lame heroes already in the Acharnians; the play “Women at the Feast of Thesmophoria” (411) is directed specifically against Euripides, but Aristophanes’ polemic gets the most fundamental character in “The Frogs” (405).
This comedy is divided into two parts. The first depicts the journey of Dionysus to realm of the dead. The god of tragic contests, disturbed by the emptiness on the tragic scene after the recent death of Euripides and Sophocles, goes to the underworld to bring out his favorite Euripides. This part of the comedy is filled with buffoon scenes and spectacular effects. The cowardly Dionysus, stocked up for a dangerous journey with the lion skin of Hercules, and his slave Xanthias find themselves in various comic situations, meeting with fantastic figures with which Greek folklore inhabited the realm of the dead. Dionysus, out of fear, constantly changes roles with Xanthius, and each time to his own detriment. The comedy got its name from the chorus of frogs, who, during the crossing of Dionysus to the underworld on Charon's shuttle, sing their songs with the refrain "brekekekex, coax, coax"; this choir was used only in one scene and was later replaced by a choir of mysts (i.e., joining
"Riders"(Ἱππεῖς; Att. Ἱππῆς; Lat. Equites) - fourth famous play Aristophanes, master of the old comedy.
Characteristics of comedy
The work itself is a satire on the socio-political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War. This feature is characteristic of all the playwright's early plays. The text that has survived to this day is replete with attacks against Cleon with his pro-war demagogy. The comedy relies heavily on allegory, which was well known to the Athenians of this era and needs to be commented on today. In particular, Cleon to his rival in the play, the Sausage Man, often hints at the rich Asia Minor policy of Miletus:
Cleon: Though you eat flounder, you will not master the Milesians. Sausage man: What? Yes, having drunk jelly to my heart's content, and I will buy mines.
Most likely, these are the benefits that the inhabitants of Miletus drew from the mines that they managed to get under Histia. Comedy in 424 received first prize in the competition of playwrights. It is not only a parody of Athens contemporary to Aristophanes, it not only contains anti-war pathos, but also widely presents the themes of justice, caring for the native policy, incompatible with stupidity, greed and idle talk.
Synopsis
Old Demos (Greek for "the people") is fooled by his Paphlagonian slave. Two other slaves of Demos, Nicias and Demosthenes, come to the conclusion that they can no longer tolerate the antics of the master's favorite. They find in the things of the Paphlagonian the text of the prophecy, according to which the sausage-maker named Agoracritus (a man who shouts at a public meeting is often not on business and spreads false information, talker) will be able to overthrow the Paphlagonian. Demosthenes and Nicias arrange on Pnyx, the meeting place of the ekklesia (council of the Athenian elders), a contest between the rude Agoracritus and the Paphlagonian. Thanks to the inherent qualities of the sausage - the ability to flatter, bragging, resourcefulness, he defeats him and turns into a favorite of Demos. The latter, having stopped listening to the Paphlagonian in everything, again becomes young and strong. The choir that accompanies the action of the comedy consists of worthy citizens - riders who, not in words, but in deeds, defend the fatherland. It is noteworthy that Agoracritus, having defeated the Paphlagonian, dedicates the victory to the god Zeus, and not to any folk deity; moreover, the mention of Athena, the patroness of the policy, makes this victory the will of the gods. A simple person, with many shortcomings, can also influence the course of history, and, in this case, works a miracle: he defeats an experienced demagogue. The latter has to take on the craft of a happy rival - to become a sausage maker.
The circumstances of the comedy
The Riders were staged in the theater at a time when, after a successful Pylos campaign, Cleon was at the zenith of power. The merits of Nikias and Demosthenes, two strategists of the time of the Peloponnesian War, who organized a brilliant military operation to capture the island of Sphracteria and the harbor of Pylos, went unnoticed. When the Athenians besieged the Spartans on Sphracteria, Nicias considered this an opportune moment for making peace. In the Athenian popular assembly, a debate began between the demagogue Cleon and Nikias. In the end, the storming of the Sphracteria was entrusted to Cleon, perhaps in the capacity of an extraordinary liturgy. But, in fact, Cleon's participation was reduced only to helping Demosthenes acting there. Honors - the right to sit in the theater on the front row, a lifelong dinner in the pritanae (Athenian council) went to Cleon. Moreover, the Athenians choose him as a strategist. Nicias, on the other hand, makes a successful campaign against Corinth, but despite the successes accompanying him during this period, he advocated an end to hostilities with Sparta (which was reflected in the comedy). Cleon, leader of the Democrats, vehemently insisted on continuing the war. His political activity associated with lawsuits against the supporters of Pericles (a hint of minor "procedures" is in the text of the comedy). Thucydides in the History refuses to Cleon any good qualities, and Aristophanes himself emphasizes that only vices allowed Cleon to set the tone in the popular assembly and be popular with the demos. However, it is possible that there were also personal hostile relations between the demagogue and the "father of comedy." Cleon was no match for the Spartan Brasidas, and eventually died at the Battle of Amphipolis, where the Athenians were defeated.
Translations into Russian
The comedy was translated into Russian by A. Piotrovsky, A. Stankevich and V. Yarkho. .
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An excerpt characterizing the Riders (comedy)
Dolokhov's appearance struck Petya strangely with its simplicity.Denisov dressed in a chekmen, wore a beard and on his chest the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker, and in his manner of speaking, in all methods, he showed the peculiarity of his position. Dolokhov, on the other hand, who had previously worn a Persian suit in Moscow, now looked like the most prim guards officer. His face was clean-shaven, he was dressed in a Guards padded frock coat with Georgy in his buttonhole and in a plain cap put on directly. He took off his wet cloak in the corner and, going up to Denisov, without greeting anyone, immediately began to question him about the matter. Denisov told him about the plans that large detachments had for their transport, and about sending Petya, and about how he answered both generals. Then Denisov told everything he knew about the position of the French detachment.
“That’s true, but you need to know what and how many troops,” Dolokhov said, “it will be necessary to go. Without knowing exactly how many there are, one cannot go into business. I like to do things carefully. Here, if any of the gentlemen wants to go with me to their camp. I have my uniforms with me.
- I, I ... I will go with you! Petya screamed.
“You don’t need to go at all,” Denisov said, turning to Dolokhov, “and I won’t let him go for anything.”
- That's great! Petya cried out, “why shouldn’t I go? ..
- Yes, because there is no need.
"Well, you'll have to excuse me, because... because... I'll go, that's all." Will you take me? he turned to Dolokhov.
- Why ... - Dolokhov answered absently, peering into the face of the French drummer.
- How long have you had this young man? he asked Denisov.
- Today they took it, but they don’t know anything. I left it pg "and myself.
Well, where are you going with the rest? Dolokhov said.
- How to where? I’m sending you under Mr. Aspis! - Denisov suddenly turned red, exclaimed. - And I can boldly say that there is not a single person on my conscience. than magic, I pg, I’ll say, the honor of a soldier.
“It’s decent for a young count at sixteen to say these courtesies,” Dolokhov said with a cold smile, “but it’s time for you to leave it.
“Well, I’m not saying anything, I’m only saying that I will certainly go with you,” Petya said timidly.
“But it’s time for you and me, brother, to give up these courtesies,” Dolokhov continued, as if he found particular pleasure in talking about this subject that irritated Denisov. “Well, why did you take this with you?” he said, shaking his head. "Then why do you feel sorry for him?" After all, we know these receipts of yours. You send a hundred of them, and thirty will come. They will die of hunger or be beaten. So isn't it all the same to not take them?
Esaul, narrowing his bright eyes, nodded his head approvingly.
- It's all g "Absolutely, there's nothing to argue about. I don't want to take it on my soul. You talk" ish - help "ut". Just not from me.
Dolokhov laughed.
“Who didn’t tell them to catch me twenty times?” But they will catch me and you, with your chivalry, all the same on an aspen. He paused. “However, the work must be done. Send my Cossack with a pack! I have two French uniforms. Well, are you coming with me? he asked Petya.
- I? Yes, yes, certainly, - Petya, blushing almost to tears, cried out, looking at Denisov.
Again, while Dolokhov was arguing with Denisov about what should be done with the prisoners, Petya felt awkward and hasty; but again he did not have time to understand well what they were talking about. “If big, well-known think like that, then it’s necessary, so it’s good,” he thought. - And most importantly, it is necessary that Denisov does not dare to think that I will obey him, that he can command me. I will certainly go with Dolokhov to the French camp. He can, and I can."
To all Denisov's persuasion not to travel, Petya replied that he, too, was accustomed to doing everything carefully, and not Lazarus at random, and that he never thought of danger to himself.
“Because,” you yourself will agree, “if you don’t know exactly how many there are, life depends on it, maybe hundreds, and here we are alone, and then I really want this, and I will certainly, certainly go, you won’t keep me.” “It will only get worse,” he said.
Dressed in French overcoats and shakos, Petya and Dolokhov went to the clearing from which Denisov looked at the camp, and, leaving the forest in complete darkness, went down into the hollow. Having moved down, Dolokhov ordered the Cossacks accompanying him to wait here and rode at a large trot along the road to the bridge. Petya, trembling with excitement, rode beside him.
“If we get caught, I won’t give myself up alive, I have a gun,” Petya whispered.
“Don’t speak Russian,” Dolokhov said in a quick whisper, and at that very moment a call was heard in the darkness: “Qui vive?” [Who's coming?] and the sound of a gun.
Blood rushed into Petya's face, and he grabbed the pistol.
- Lanciers du sixieme, [Lancers of the sixth regiment.] - Dolokhov said, without shortening or adding speed to the horse. The black figure of a sentry stood on the bridge.
- Mot d "ordre? [Review?] - Dolokhov held his horse back and rode at a pace.
– Dites donc, le colonel Gerard est ici? [Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?] he said.
