5th grade
Lesson number 25.
Topic. N.V. Gogol. "Christmas Eve". Folklore sources and motives. The historical basis of the story. Oksana and the blacksmith Vakula.
Target:
identify the historical basis, folklore sources and motives of the story; to form an idea of the image of the narrator, to determine the similarities and differences between the heroes of the story and fairy-tale characters;
to form the ability to highlight the main thing in the message of the teacher and students, work with the textbook and illustrations; as well as the skills of expressive reading, reading by roles, artistic retelling, lexical work;
to cultivate interest in the personality and work of N.V. Gogol.
Equipment: multimedia presentation.
DURING THE CLASSES.
I. Organizing time.
II. Reviewing what was learned in the previous lesson.
Folklore motifs, the historical basis of the story.
"Christmas Eve"
folklore motifs
Selling one's soul to the devil, riding a devil's horse, an anecdote about a blacksmith and the devil, a date between the devil and a witch, a witch flying on a broomstick through a chimney, the motif of a witch-stepmother.
folklore sources.
Ukrainian bylichki, past stories and legends (the legend of the pious house painter).
Bylichka- a genre of oral folk art: a hero's story about a meeting with "evil spirits".
Byvalshchina(true) - in Russian folk art, a short oral story about an incident, a case that actually took place, without emphasis on the personal testimony of the narrator.
Legend- one of the varieties of non-fabulous prose folklore. Poetic tradition about some historical event
Traditions of hagiographic literature.
"A word about the great John, archbishop of Great Novagrad".
Historical basis.
The time of action is the first half of the 1770s, on the eve of the abolition of the Zaporozhian Sich by Empress Catherine II in 1775. The story mentions the participation of the Cossacks in the war with the Turks and the conquest of the Crimea, a reliable portrait of the empress is given.
Explain the lexical meanings of words and phrases: chaise, volost, painting, assessor, kapelyukhi, cap, knysh.
Chaise - light road wagon mostly without springs, sometimes with an open top.
Parish - rural area subordinate to the city.
Engage in painting - draw .
Assessor - a person elected to participate in the work of a state or judicial institution.
Kapelyuhi - hat with ear flaps.
Cap - headdress with band and visor.
Knysh - a small round pie with cottage cheese baked inside or another filling: jam, or onions with cracklings.
Name the features that unite the story with a fairy tale. (It is based on the most common of the fairy tale plots: the hero’s trip to a distant kingdom for a magical item necessary in order to win a beauty. Two more are attached to this plot - also common: about a blacksmith who defeated the devil, and from a household fairy tale - about lovers hidden in sacks (as in a real fairy tale, good wins).
III. Images of Oksana and Vakula in the story "The Night Before Christmas".
1. Images of Oksana in the story.
When do the events in the story take place?
1.1. The story of Christmas Eve.
On the night of Christmas, according to popular belief, all sorts of miracles happen. It is believed that on this night the heavens “open”, all earthly waters, springs are endowed with magical healing powers. The wish made on this night will surely come true. There is a custom at Christmas midnight to look at the sky: the eyes of people living a righteous life open up heavenly heights of unthinkable beauty. On Christmas Eve in Russia, the custom of caroling was observed. Boys and girls gathered and went from house to house, singing carols and begging the owners for treats and money. The night before the holiday is a favorable time for the devil to act. This is a time of special freedom of behavior. The holiday, the beliefs associated with it, take life out of its usual rut and make the impossible possible.
1.2. The narrator in the story.
From whose perspective is the story being told?
Make an oral portrait of the narrator.
How does the narrator perceive what is happening? What do the details of the characteristics that he gives to the heroes of the story testify to?
1.3. An expressive reading of a fragment of the story from the words "But behind him he was a real provincial lawyer in uniform ..." to the words "... to teach the sins of good people." (p.162)
1.4. An expressive reading of a fragment from the words “Wonderfully arranged in our world!” to the words “Erysipelas, as Foma Grigorievich says, an abomination is an abomination, but he also builds love chickens!” (p.164)
1.5. An expressive reading of the fragment from the words “Maybe these very cunning and sharpness of her were the fault ...” to the words “... she put Father Kondrat’s hat on her head and ran back.” (p.174)
The narrator is his own person in the world he is talking about, and he addresses the reader as "his own". The text of the story is filled with references to mutual acquaintances, rumors, to someone's words. The narrator cannot but gossip about common acquaintances, distracting himself from the story that occupies him, plunging into the details.
Name the characters in the story.
Why are there so many characters in the story? (This is a story about a whole country, about a "tribe", and not just about a few people.)
What qualities of Oksana appear in the episodes:
"Oksana in front of a mirror";
"Conversation with a blacksmith"; "Friends Coming"?
1.6. Expressive reading by roles from the words “Now let's see what the beautiful daughter is doing, left alone ...” to the words “... That's all that could be done then the best.” (p.167-169)
1.7. Artistic retelling by students of the episode depicted in the illustration by M.S. Rodionov. (p.169-172)
1.8. Expressive reading by roles from the words "Heaps of girls with bags broke into Chub's hut, surrounded Oksana ..." to the words "The girls took the capricious beauty with them." (p.178-179)
How does Oksana differ from the positive heroines of folk tales? (The images of the heroines of folk tales are sketchy. Oksana is a living person. Gogol does not idealize the heroine. However, there is nothing repulsive in her coquetry. She looks quite simple, and sometimes comical).
Does the test that Oksana invented for Vakula look like the test of a hero in folk tales?
1.9. Appeal to the illustration "Get out the slippers, I'll get married!" Artist A.P. Bubnov. (p.185)
2. The image of Vakula in the story.
How is the blacksmith Vakula depicted? Write down key words that can tell about the character of the blacksmith Vakula.
How is Vakula similar to the hero of a fairy tale? (Vakula, like any positive hero of a fairy tale, is described extremely sparingly, his image is somewhat schematic. He is a skilled blacksmith and a talented artist. The hero is very strong, pious, pious. be in love).
The fact that Vakula is an artist is very important for Gogol. Gogol considered art, capable of resurrecting the soul of Russia, the most powerful tool for fighting evil. But this belief was subject to constant doubts, and in his work the artist defeats the devil twice - in "The Night Before Christmas" and in the second part of the story "Portrait".
What do we learn about Vakul the artist?
An expressive reading from the words “In his spare time, the blacksmith was engaged in painting ...” to the words “... and from that time on, the devil swore to take revenge on the blacksmith.” (p.163-164)
An expressive reading of the fragment from the words "Having already climbed the stairs, the Cossacks passed the first hall" to the words "That's all, I think, the German blacksmiths did for the most expensive prices." (p.202-203)
An expressive reading of a fragment from the words “And whose painted hut is this?” to the words "And the child, holding back tears, looked askance at the picture and clung to the breast of his mother." (p.212)
(Vakula paints fences, paints bowls, huts and chests, but at the same time he can draw a picture and appreciate the European painting of the time when he sees it in the palace in St. Petersburg. Vakula is an artist, he shames the devil not only with a cross, but also art, painting it in a shameful way.)
- There are several expressive descriptions of Vakula's art in the story. Are there details and halftones in Vakula's paintings? What does this indicate? (There are no midtones and no bright details in Vakula's paintings. The color contrasts are sharp and bold. This speaks of the artist's directness of character and sincerity.)
How is the winter night depicted in the story? Expressive reading of episodes. (The night seems to be painted by Vakula. She is depicted sparingly, without halftones, with bright colors, without unnecessary detail. Nature and people are in tune with each other.)
In the next fragment, mark the means of artistic expression. For what purpose are they used? From the words “The last day before Christmas passed ...” to the words “Here, through the chimney of one hut, smoke poured in clubs and went in a cloud across the sky, and together with the smoke a witch mounted on a broom rose.” (p.161) (Personifications allow us to imagine the natural world as alive, similar to the human world: “The moon majestically rose into the sky. The moon alone only looked furtively into them.)
IV. Summing up the lesson.
Gogol's appeal to Ukrainian subjects in The Night Before Christmas was largely determined by the literary situation of the era: interest in folk poetry and folk culture. This layer of folklore for a long time was outside the sphere of attention of high literature, being admitted only to low genres. In the work there are characters reminiscent of fairy-tale characters. These are Vakula and Oksana.
How did Gogol portray Vakula and Oksana? (Heroes are sincere and straightforward. Their images correspond to folk ideas about fairy-tale heroes. At the same time, they are living people who are endowed with certain character traits).
V. Homework.
1. Prepare a story about fantastic creatures acting in the story, citing the most significant fragments (Solokha, hell, Patsyuk).
2.Individual task:
Prepare a message about Poganom Idolishe;
Prepare a report on N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Night Before Christmas.
Topic. Reflection of Ukrainian folk life, folk legends and beliefs in the story "The Night Before Christmas" (consolidation of knowledge). The author's attitude to the events depicted.
Target: to develop the ability to comprehensively analyze the text, to penetrate deeply into the content of the work, to teach the ability to analyze the actions of the characters, to develop the ability of students to compare, generalize, draw conclusions, develop creativity, imagination, the ability to work in groups.Equipment: textbook, illustrations for the story by artists V. Makovsky, A. Bubnov, V. Zamirailo, K. Lavro, A. Kondyrev.
Lesson type: lesson of generalization and systematization of knowledge; type of lesson - lesson-creative laboratory.
DURING THE CLASSES
I. Updating of basic knowledge.
Teacher's word. It is difficult to find a person who would not admire the work of Gogol. Today we will reveal the skill of the writer, which made his work an outstanding phenomenon in Russian literature.II. Work on the topic of the lesson.
- Teacher's word.
N.V. Gogol gained fame after the publication of the collection, which included the story "The Night Before Christmas". What attracted the reader to her? Where did Gogol draw his knowledge of folk life and national characteristics? - Ethnographers:
- They talk about the life of the Little Russian villagers, about the Ukrainian costume, the furnishings of a rural hut, read out excerpts from the text (wall decoration, their painting, stove, front corner in the hut; icons decorated with towels, flowers, benches, crockery for dishes, a chest, a bread shelf; guard against evil deeds).
- Read out the description of Vakula and Oksana; present drawings with Ukrainian national costumes, talk about them: for men - a short shirt with a rectangular neck, for women - a long one with a single-cut sleeve; men wore wide harem pants, women wore a skirt in the form of two rectangular pieces of fabric - a reserve, a festive skirt was called a plakhta. The clothes were decorated with embroidery and appliqué. Particular importance was attached to color, preference was given to red, azure, green, yellow. Headwear for girls - hoops, dressings, a wreath of paper flowers ribbon; married women wore a namitka and an ochipok with which they covered their heads.
- Literary critics:
a) Reveal the connection of the story with the works of oral folk art, when the heroes from their world go to a strange world to complete the task; after completing the task, they return to their world (Reading text or artistic retelling); tell what magical powers help Vakula.
b) Explain the meaning of the word "carols", talk about the features of their performance and how the performers were rewarded. - Folk group:
Performs carols, after singing carols ask questions to the whole class:- What vocabulary is used most often in the story? Give examples of words that are typical for this vocabulary.
- What gives the language of the story the charm of national color?
- What techniques does the author use to create a more vivid picture of his characters?
- Compiling a table.
So, we saw that in the story "The Night Before Christmas" by N.V. Gogol refers to the Ukrainian folk life and folklore, which is well known to him.Folklore sources and the historical basis of the story "The Night Before Christmas" folklore sources Ukrainian bylichki, stories and legends.
Bylichka- a genre of oral folk art: a hero's story about a meeting with "evil spirits".
byvalschina(true) - in Russian folk art, a short oral story about an incident, a case that actually took place, without emphasis on the personal testimony of the narrator.
Legend- one of the varieties of non-fabulous prose folklore. Poetic tradition about some historical eventfolklore motifs Selling one's soul to the devil, riding a devil's horse, an anecdote about a blacksmith and the devil, a date between the devil and a witch, a witch flying on a broomstick through a chimney, the motif of a witch-stepmother. Historical basis The time of action is the first half of the 1770s, on the eve of the abolition of the Zaporozhian Sich by Empress Catherine II in 1775. The story mentions the participation of the Cossacks in the war with the Turks and the conquest of the Crimea, a reliable portrait of the empress is given. - Portrait painters:
The image of a literary hero is always understood more precisely if the author gives his portrait. Students present the main characters in portraits, read or recite the portrait of Oksana and Vakula by heart, they are assisted by artists who perform the scene of the conversation between Vakula and Oksana. - Interview with students:
- What did we learn about Oksana? How does her monologue at the mirror characterize?
- List the main character traits of Vakula. Which one do you think is the most important? Why?
- What condition did she set for Vakula, did she believe that he would fulfill it?
- How did Vakula manage to get the slippers? (Reading the scene at the queen). How does the blacksmith behave? Why didn't the queen refuse his request?
- What character trait of Vakula is evidenced by this act?
- Do you think our heroes will be happy? How does the author say about it?
- The story of the characters in the story.
Literary critics offer a plan:- Hero portrait.
- Their character traits and actions.
- Your attitude to Vakula and Oksana.
- The author's attitude to the events depicted in the story.
III. Summary of the lesson.
Microphone method:- I like the characters in the story and their actions.
- I can't agree with the actions of some of the characters.
- It's hard for me to understand why some characters do this.
IV. Homework.
- Plan your response.
- Individual tasks:
Assignment to the first group (3-4 students). Find fabulous episodes in the story (expressive reading or artistic retelling). Make a plan, prepare to defend your answer.
Assignment to the second group (3-4 students). Find the real events depicted in the story (reading or artistic retelling). Make a plan, prepare to defend your answer.
A group of "actors" staged 2 episodes: a visit to Solokha by a deacon and Chub and Vakul with the Cossacks at a reception at Catherine II.
Nikolenko O. N., Nikolenko E. S. (Poltava, Ukraine), Ph.D. n., prof., head. Department of Foreign Literature, Poltava National Pedagogical University named after V. G. Korolenko / 2012
Starting from the 17th century, Ukraine aroused great interest in Europe and in Russia as a land of beautiful nature, original traditions and history. This interest intensified in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in connection with the development of romanticism.
While in St. Petersburg, Gogol wrote in his letters to his mother and sisters that they sent him Little Russian stories, folk beliefs, descriptions of Ukrainian costumes and rituals. He used all this in the collection "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", which was published during 1830-1832 and was very successful.
The connection of the "Evenings" cycle with folk traditions has already been the subject of separate studies at the level of features of artistic consciousness, individual motifs and literary devices (V. Zvinyatskovsky, P. Mikhed and others). Recently, serious works have appeared on this problem, concerning the archetypes (A. Goldenberg) and mythopoetics (L. Sofronova) of the early Gogol. However, the connection of the writer's work with Ukrainian folklore and folk mythology remains a rather complicated issue of Gogol studies, requiring further study of specific texts of the cycle.
Dikanka as a topos was a very significant place as a historical crossroads (of the fate of Russia and Europe in the context of the Northern War), a sacred crossroads (in connection with ancient legends about the miraculous icon), a romantic crossroads (in connection with the story of Mazepa's love for Maria Kochubey). This place became a kind of crossroads of the fates of people associated with the Gogol family (the architect of the Dikan church M. Lvov and the writers G. Derzhavin, V. Kapnist were married to sisters, the Kochubei occupied a prominent place in the capital). Thus, Dikanka in the artistic mind of Gogol combined his homeland and the capital, historical and sacred, real and mythological.
The topos of Dikanka is clearly indicated by Gogol in the preface to the first part of Evenings: “About Dikanka, I think you have heard enough. And then say that there house (meaning the estate of Kochubey - ed.) cleaner than some beekeeper's hut. And about garden and there’s nothing to say: in your Petersburg, you probably won’t find such a thing ... ”(I, p. 106) Foma Grigorievich, deacon of the Dikan church, is one of the implicit characters in the cycle “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”.
In his book, Gogol opened Ukraine to society, which had not yet been discovered before - not only as a part of Russian history and part of the Russian empire, but also as a region with its own national identity, mythology, folklore, traditions and customs. Gogol thus affirmed not so much the exoticism as the cultural uniqueness and originality of Ukraine, which, although it was part of the Russian Empire as Little Russia, still had some differences.
In the list of words incomprehensible to readers, along with exoticisms and barbarisms - the names of details of Ukrainian life and culture (bandura, batog, zhupan, kaganets, dumplings, hopak, makitra, plakhta, sopilka, etc.) Gogol included names that testify to national identification. For example: "katsap - Russian a man with a beard", "Chumaks -" convoys traveling for salt and fish to the Crimea "(part 1)," Little Russians going for salt and fish, usually to the Crimea ”(part 2). The descriptive interpretation of Ukrainian words (maiden, lad, cossack, etc.) through the Russian language testifies, on the one hand, to the author's feeling of involvement in the Russian world, but on the other hand, it also emphasizes the national identity of the artistic world created by Gogol.
The preface to the first part of the collection contains an indication that "vecherniki" (Ukrainian. evening party) are similar to capital balls, but not quite: “They, if you please, they are similar to your balls; just can not say that at all. If you go to balls, it is precisely in order to turn your legs and yawn in your hand; and we will gather in one hut a crowd of girls not at all for the ball, with a spindle, with combs; and at first they seem to get down to business: the spindles rustle, songs flow, and each does not raise an eye to the side; but as soon as the lads with the violinist rush into the hut - a cry will rise, a shawl will be started, dances will go and such jokes will be started that it is impossible to tell. But it’s best when everyone gets together in a tight bunch and starts to guess riddles or just chatter. My God! What will they not tell you! Where do they not dig up the old ones! What fears they will not inflict!..” (I, p. 104).
The traditions of Ukrainian folklore, images, motifs and symbols of folk mythology influenced the artistic structure of the works collected in the collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, which was clearly manifested in the story The Night Before Christmas, which opens the second part of the cycle. Even in the preface to the first part, the author spoke about the intention of the second: “Let it be better, how I live, God willing, until the new year and publish another book, then it will be possible to intimidate people from that world and divas which were created in the old days in our Orthodox side” (I, p. 106).
The motifs of “the next world” and “diva” (“miracle”) are the key ones in the story “The Night Before Christmas” and go back to the traditions of paganism and Christianity, which are vividly reflected in Ukrainian folklore, mythology and Ukrainian ritual culture.
The events in the story take place on the "holy evening" (Ukr. Holy Vechir, Bagaty Vechir, Holy Supper). This evening, twelve Lenten dishes are prepared, the whole family gathers, prayers are read, the dead are commemorated, young people bring food to their godmothers and fathers. This evening everyone is waiting for the first star to break their fast. The central dish on the pre-Christmas table was kutya (in the story, Vakula recalls the “hungry kutya”, that is, lean), prepared from the gifts of nature - a symbol of further well-being, prosperity and a talisman against evil forces.
It has long been believed that amazing and magical events take place on Holy Evening, extraordinary transformations and even a meeting with evil spirits, which should recede before the Christian holiday of Christmas. In the story "The Night Before Christmas" such extraordinary transformations are found everywhere (the witch turns into Solokha, the devil - into a horse, etc.). Magical events also take place in the earthly world: the blacksmith Vakula saddled the devil himself, flew to St. Petersburg, and got slippers for the beautiful Oksana from the queen herself.
Evening (and night) in romanticism is a special time, a mysterious time, a time of meeting of the real and other worlds, God and the Devil, good and evil spirits. Gogol gives the romantic concepts "evening" and "night" a sacred meaning and a national flavor of Ukrainian culture.
As you know, Christian holidays begin the day before, so evening and night are included in their sacred time. In addition, the night in the pagan tradition of the Slavs is considered to be a particularly magical and especially effective time, when all the evil spirits crawl out of dark corners and it is necessary to actively resist it. Evening and night - a time of love sadness, sorrow for an unhappy fate. A number of beliefs are associated with the evening and night among the people (They do not give back borrowed money at night, do not throw out garbage, do not pour out water after bathing a child, etc.). The symbolic attribute of the night is the black horse (it is no coincidence that in Gogol the devil turns into a horse in St. Petersburg).
The folklore structure of “evening parties”, emphasized by the author in the preface to the first part, influenced the construction of works from the Gogol collection. The story "The Night Before Christmas" is focused on oral tradition, that is, on telling a certain story, which is interrupted by songs, jokes, scenes from folk life - quarrels (Ukr. welding), fights (Ukr. beaters), rumors (ukr. sensitive). The story consists of separate short stories, each of which is based on a specific episode, but these short stories are internally interconnected, and the ending of each of them creates the effect of expectation of continuation, which is also characteristic of the folklore structure of Ukrainian evening parties.
Let's also note that "vechornytsia" in Ukrainian folklore is a kind of synthetic structure, where the word, music, dance, theatrical performances are organically connected, where the everyday can coexist with the sacred, mystical, where the funny and the scary can be present at the same time. For "evening" is characterized by polyphony, stylistic diversity, constant appeal to the interlocutors, or rather - to the participants in the action. This artistic syncretism is observed in the story "The Night Before Christmas".
The structure of the story "The Night Before Christmas" was also influenced by the traditions of the Ukrainian nativity scene, where the performance was played in different tiers - the upper (heavenly) and the lower (earthly). Religious stories were shown in the upper tier, and funny scenes from Ukrainian folk life were shown in the lower tier. The traditional characters of the Ukrainian nativity scene were the Mother of God, Jesus, Herod, the Devil (in the upper tier), Baba, Muscovite, Gypsy, Shinkar, Dyak (in the lower tier). The main and most popular hero of the den was Kozak (Zaporozhets) - the most dynamic character, he always emerged victorious in all scenes.
The story "The Night Before Christmas" presents the iconic characters of the Ukrainian nativity scene - a woman (Solokha, a weaver, Pereperchikha), a clerk, a Head, a Cossack, a blacksmith, a beauty (Oksana), a queen, a godfather. Characteristic features are assigned to them: a cunning and grumpy woman, a brave and purposeful hero, a proud beauty, a fair and generous queen, an omniscient and omnipotent Cossack, a stupid head, a drunken godfather, a lustful clerk, etc.
The upper and lower tiers in Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" turn out to be interpenetrating, forming an organic unity of the story's artistic world. The majestic story of the birth of Christ is included in the earthly world with its everyday signs and real stories. The erasure of boundaries, movement from one world to another, the interpenetration of worlds is ensured by the miraculous transformations of characters and the freedom of oral storytelling (here the author-narrator acts as the Creator, setting in motion the entire world he created).
The artistic organization of the story "The Night Before Christmas" also manifested the traditions of ritual Ukrainian folklore.
Carols are calendar and ritual songs that have been performed in Ukraine since pagan times. The name is associated with Kolyada - the god who in paganism began a new Circle of the Sun (Svarog), that is, a new economic year. With the adoption of Christianity, Kolyada was associated with the great holiday of Christmas. The ritual of caroling consisted in the fact that carolers went from house to house, sang praises to God and good wishes to people, and in return received donations in a common bag, then these donations were divided among all participants in the procession. Kolyada is a symbol of the renewal of the world, a symbol of holiness and purity, the victory of good over evil. The word "Kolyada" itself comes from "kolo" (hence Ukrainian. colo, wheel, carols) is a symbol of the Sun. The carols praised the birth of the Sun and the most important components of the Universe - Fire and Water, as well as the birth of Christ.
Here are the carols recorded by A. Afanasyev:
Behind the steep mountain
For river bistro
To stand the fox is silent,
In quiet forests, fires burn,
Around fire people stand,
People stand, carol.
Oh, Kolyada, Kolyada!
You buvaesh, Kolyada,
Day before Christmas.
Chala Kolyada
In a little cart,
On a black horse!
I went to Vasil at the door.
Vasil, Vasil! Give Kolyada.
Kolyad, caroling caroler,
“Honey and salt” are traditional symbols of the Sun, “Ykhala Kolyada” is also the Sun, the turn of which people joyfully celebrate. Often, carolers changed clothes or turned the casing inside out, depicting a wolf (to scare away evil spirits). Among the carolers there was one who seemed to be a devil, he put on a skin, smeared his face with soot, attached horns to his head, a snout to his nose, and took hot coal in his teeth. He was an active participant in the action (hotel scenes) during caroling.
In constructing the plot of the story "The Night Before Christmas", Gogol relied on the ritual of caroling, which he often observed at home. Oksana is visited by carolers, among whom her attention is drawn to Odarka and her new slippers. Solokha hides those who came to her in bags, and Vakula exposes them to the street, which leads to new plot twists. The atmosphere of cheerful folk festivals-caroling reigns in the story.
The idea of the unity of the people, gathered to praise Christ in carols, is constantly heard in the work: “Noisier and noisier songs and cries were heard through the streets. The crowds of jostling people were increased by more people coming from neighboring villages. The lads were naughty and furious enough. Often, between the carols, some cheerful song was heard, which one of the young Cossacks immediately managed to compose ”(I, p. 220). In joyful unity, the inhabitants of Dikanka and the surrounding villages expected the feast of the birth of Christ, and together they celebrate the feast in the church. “It's morning. The whole church was full of people even before the light...” (I, p. 240).
Even in the very construction of Gogol's phrase, especially at the very beginning, one can feel the influence of carols, where the traditional symbols are the stars, the month, and also praise to Christ and an appeal to good people and to the whole world. “Winter, clear night has come. Stars looked. The moon rose majestically into the sky to shine good people and the whole world for everyone to be fun to carol and praise Christ"(I, p. 201).
In connection with the folklore tradition of caroling, Gogol's story includes the theme of the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, a new turn in life and the unity of the people in front of evil spirits.
Along with carols, Gogol also mentions other ritual songs of Ukrainians - schedrovki (ukr. generosity). The author resorts to direct quotation: “Then suddenly one of the crowd, instead of a carol, released a generous song and roared at the top of his voice:
Shchedryk, bucket!
Give me a dumpling
Porridge breast,
Kіltse cowbaski!
Laughter rewarded the entertainer” (I, p. 220).
Why did they laugh at the one who suddenly sang schedrovka?
"Generous Evening" (ukr. Generous evening) is included in the cycle of New Year and Christmas holidays, but it does not coincide with "Holy evening", but comes a week later. Shchedrovki (Ukrainian) generosity) are those magic words that should propitiate the generous God of the Savior and give a good harvest in the new year.
Carols and schedrovkas, directly introduced by Gogol into the story "The Night Before Christmas", give the work an atmosphere of lyricism, traditional folk culture and accentuate the eternal themes and motifs that unfold in the story: the turn to the new economic year, the struggle of light and darkness, good and evil, and also the coming of the great Orthodox feast, for which Christians must unite.
In the story "The Night Before Christmas" another genre of Ukrainian folklore is mentioned - a thought (when Vakula thinks about Oksana). In his monologue there is doubt, but at the same time confidence in overcoming difficulties. In the mouth of Vakula Gogol also puts the folk song "I don't mess with a woman ...". This is part of the folk song “Oh, oh, on the mountain, that woman will reap ...”, in which the theme of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, the campaigns of the Cossacks sounds (Sagaydachny, Doroshenko are mentioned there). That is, in the image of the blacksmith Vakula, the features of a Cossack are also accentuated.
Vakula's connection with the Ukrainian Cossacks is also confirmed by the scenes in St. Petersburg, where he does not immediately go to the queen, but relies on the friendly support of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, who were passing through Dikanka. The motive of the Cossack partnership would later become central in the story "Taras Bulba". The courage and straightforwardness of the hero when meeting with the queen (which also corresponded to the code of the Ukrainian Cossack) helped him get the treasured item - gold laces for Oksana.
In the story "The Night Before Christmas" there are separate elements of the Ukrainian folk tale: at the level of images (a hero and a beauty, two godfathers, a wife and a deceived husband, a woman and her admirers, two grumpy women, miraculous transformations of characters, etc.), on the level of plot structures (testing the hero by a beauty, women's subterfuge, meeting the hero with the devil, the devil's contract with a person, etc.), at the level of the chronotope (the home world is the capital, the earthly world is the other world, etc.), at the level of motives ( the struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, hero and devil, testing the hero, searching for the cherished object necessary for happiness, etc.), at the level of style and language (promise (Ukrainian obitnytsia), repetitions, traditional epithets and metaphors, folk turns of speech, etc.).
At the end of the story "The Night Before Christmas", the traditional motif of a folk tale - the achievement of happiness with the help of the cherished object obtained by the hero, as well as the transformation of the heroes (Oksana no longer needs slippers, because she realized that love is more important) is associated with the Christian motif "miracle" during the great feast of Christmas.
The month is a traditional Slavic symbol along with the Sun. According to ancient beliefs, stars were born from the union of the Sun and the Moon. In ancient carols, the heavenly world appears very harmonious: the sky is called a temple (hall), the Month is the lord, the Sun is his wife, and the stars are their children. In Ukrainian legends, the month that shines at night awakens the seeds of life and makes them fertile. With the aging month, crops were not started. It was believed that if you sow bread "for a young man" (that is, with a young month), the bread will grow faster. Carols, songs (sowing), and conspiracies (Ukrainian spells) were associated with the month. In order for the month to contribute to the well-being of the family, they made sacrifices in the form of dumplings or dumplings, which resemble the month in shape. Echoes of all these folklore and mythological ideas can be found in Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas". The devil stole the month, and this was a threat to the whole world. Patsyuk eats dumplings and dumplings, which is associated with mythological ideas about the magical power of the month.
Representatives of the "other world" - a witch and a devil are shown in the home space, they acquire human features and act along with human characters. The devil has the features of a "Yareskovsky head" and a "provincial attorney". And the witch turns into Solokha, who "enchants" men. In the Ukrainian tradition, both the devil and the witch had a number of names that differed in semantics (terrible, euphemisms, comic, etc.). This is manifested in the story "The Night Before Christmas": the devil is a damned German, a nimble dandy with a tail and a goat's beard, a crafty, evil spirit, bald, lame, Satan, cocoa and etc.; witch - Solokha, hostess, devil woman, etc.
The conflict between the blacksmith Vakula and the devil is a kind of interpretation of the well-known Ukrainian proverb "The devil is not so terrible, like Yogo is painted." In Ukrainian folklore, there are quite widespread stories about various adventures of the devil in the earthly world, about the courtship (in Ukrainian) of the devil after a woman (a widow, someone else's wife), about theft by the devil of the month (sun, stars), about an agreement (contract) between the devil and a man , about the victory of the hero over the devil. The devil in folk mythology is able to fly rapidly across the sky, scattering sparks, and (like a witch) fly in and out through the chimney. Therefore, the image of smoke goes back to ancient mythological ideas about evil spirits. Very often in Ukrainian folk tales the devil appears deceived - the hero makes him act in his own interests. The devil, as a rule, should help the hero get married, get some treasured item, or complete an impossible task. This folklore motif can be traced in the story "The Night Before Christmas" by Gogol. In this case, the motif of victory over the devil is consistent with the Christian idea of Christmas.
The images of the devil and the blacksmith Vakula are closely connected in Gogol's work. Even in pagan ideas, a blacksmith (Ukr. farrier) was endowed with a special magical power, because he was the ruler of the elements of fire. In addition, blacksmiths were considered in some way "priests", since "kovati" (Ukr. Kuwati) meant art in general, including magic. During Christian times, the blacksmith's craft gained even more importance, because blacksmiths worked on the construction of churches. Blacksmith Vakula not only knows how to work with a hammer, but also knows how to draw (paint). He painted the Trinity Church with pictures of the Last Judgment, which led to his conflict with the devil, and the devil interfered with him not only during painting, but also in life (trying to quarrel with Chub, thereby preventing him from marrying Oksana).
The motif "painting" appears in the story more than once. The blacksmith saw in the chambers of the queen the Most Pure Virgin with a baby in her arms, and this greatly excited him. At the end of the story, Oksana herself appears as the Blessed Virgin with her child. The hut of Vakula and Oksana is "painted". And the devil that Vakula drew in the church, the women showed the children and said: “He is a bach, yak cocoa painted” (I, p. 243).
Thus, the action "painting" had a sacred meaning, it goes back to the mythological ideas of the ancient Slavs that with the help of certain symbols, signs, colors, evil forces can be overcome. In the era of Christianity, "painting" became even more common in connection with iconography. In the Ukrainian folk tradition, churches, huts, Easter eggs (pysanky), clothes (shirts, plakhty, belts, etc. with the help of embroidery), dishes, stoves, etc. were painted, which was considered a talisman against the devil.
The story "The Night Before Christmas" uses color symbolism based on the mythological ideas of the people. The red color (“red paint all around”) is a symbol of Christ, his blood, as well as the colors of youth and love (Oksana's shirt was embroidered with red silk). Green is the color of nature, prosperity, family happiness. The blacksmith Vakula painted the wing of the Trinity Church green and decorated it with red flowers. Such a pattern is quite consistent with the traditions of the Ukrainian baroque. Gogol knew that the Trinity Church was built in the shape of a cross (that's why the hell it was bad there) in the late baroque style. Therefore, all kinds of decorations were quite natural for her, although she had a single dome.
There is also another Ukrainian proverb: "The woman is more for the devil." It is artistically interpreted by the author in the image of Solokha. The witch is one of the brightest characters in Ukrainian demonology. As you know, the witch comes from the word "know", that is, she had special knowledge and knew how to tell fortunes, enchant, reincarnate. It is very difficult to recognize a witch among people: she can be old and young, appear in various guises. In Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas", Solokha is depicted as a very attractive witch, she does not harm the main characters, but in some way influences the course of events. Motives of women's evasions, pranks, charms and courtship are very common in Ukrainian folk tales. And the fact that Solokha the witch is the mother of the blacksmith Vakula (who is also endowed with a certain magic) is quite natural. In Ukrainian folklore, the motif is quite frequent, when the hero must pass a certain spiritual test and overcome the action of evil forces, cleanse himself and enter a new life.
Night in the folk tradition was divided into three parts: the first - from sunset to midnight; the second - before the cock crow; the third - before sunrise. Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" reflects this tripartite temporal structure. At the beginning of the story, events begin from the moment the moon looked out and the stars poured out in the sky. The main events unfold before midnight and after. Vakula returned from St. Petersburg to his hut when a rooster crowed (in folk tradition - a symbol of the sun, light, fire, resurrection, male strength, a warrior against evil power; in Christianity - a symbol of resurrection, the victory of a good spirit over evil, repentance), and then slept through morning and afternoon.
In folklore, time and space are able to change their boundaries (up to their absence at all), shrink, layer, interpenetrate, which is what happens in the story "The Night Before Christmas", when so many events take place during one night - both everyday and fantastic , both funny and dramatic, but as a result, everything is directed to one point - to achieve the victory of goodness, light and love.
At the end of the work, Christian motifs of the resurrection are combined (“Chub bulged his eyes when the blacksmith entered him, and did not know what to be surprised: whether that the blacksmith had risen, or that the blacksmith dared to come to him, or that he dressed up like this a dandy and a Cossack" (I, p. 242)), the return of the prodigal son (Vakula prostrates himself before Chub and asks for forgiveness), repentance (Vakula repents of everything), the Trinity (Three times Chub hits Vakula on the back) and folklore motifs of matchmaking (Vakula asks for Oksana's hand), offering gifts (Vakula gives Oksana little slippers) and moral cleansing (Oksana says: "I don't have slippers...").
The motif of "glory" ("praise") loops the composition of the story. If at the beginning of the work there was talk about how fun it was for everyone to carol and praise Christ, then at the end of the story the bishop, who was passing through Dikanka and saw the “painted” hut of the blacksmith Vakula, said: “Glorious! Nice work! The motive of glory in Gogol's story extends not only to the heavenly world, but also to the earthly world, including the creations of human hands, to his art of life. In the Ukrainian folk tradition, the word “glory” still has a special magical meaning (“Glory to Ukraine!” - “Glory to the Heroes” - this is how people greet each other on major Ukrainian holidays).
Thus, the traditions of Ukrainian folklore and folk mythology influenced the artistic structure of the story "The Night Before Christmas", in particular, the plot, figurative system, motive organization, artistic time and space, as well as the genre content of the work, its stylistic originality and language. Folklore and mythological structures in Gogol's story contributed to the establishment of Christian ideas and the triumph of man's spiritual capabilities, his unity with God, nature and people. In addition, the use of elements of Ukrainian folklore and folk mythology contributed to the creation of a national image of the world in Gogol's work.
1 option
N. V. Gogol was born in Ukraine in the town of Sorochintsy, Poltava province. He grew up among simple, kind and cheerful people, listened to folk tales and legends, laughed at the inexhaustible jokes of village jokers, selflessly sang carols and generous songs on holidays. And since she endowed this cheerful man with a brilliant literary talent, he transferred to the pages of his works everything that was dear to his heart, sparkling humor, juicy and bright language, "the customs and customs of our Little Russians."
The whole of N.V. Gogol's "The Night Before Christmas" is saturated with Ukrainian folklore. The people described in the story do not just believe in mermen and mermaids, witches and devils - they live next to them.
But the first witch in the village, the “magnificent”, “dearest” Solo-ha, is not at all scary. She is witty and charming, cunning and "sharp-witted", "a kind mistress".
Fellow villagers suspected her involvement in evil spirits, but this was not proven by anyone, and therefore “old women” could hardly say anything, especially when they drank too much somewhere at a fun gathering.
Cheerful laughter, and not at all horror and awe, is caused by the figure of the devil. What is one of his descriptions worth: “he imagines himself handsome, while the figure is ashamed to look. Erysipelas ... an abomination an abomination ... "
This is a representative of evil spirits, especially on the last night before the bright Christmas, he is vain and vengeful, stupid and boastful, and in general - petty and insignificant. Serve him right from the blacksmith Vakula, because "instead of guiding, seducing and fooling others, the enemy of the human race was himself fooled."
With his wonderful story, N.V. Gogol claims that no evil spirits are terrible for a person if he is brave and cheerful, hardworking and generous, if his heart is open to love, and his soul is to God.
Option 2
I really like N.V. Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas", because it miraculously combines reality and fantasy. Characters of Ukrainian folklore coexist next to ordinary villagers, everyday life is not intertwined with magic.
We are witnessing how folk legends and beliefs come to life on the pages of the story, for example, that on Christmas night the evil spirit becomes especially active and anything can happen.
The most prominent representative of petty evil spirits is the devil, who tries to intrigue and harm good people in every possible way. He steals the month, arranges a snowstorm in the middle of a clear winter night, so that Chub and his godfather go astray, tries to take possession of Vakula's soul in exchange for Oksana's slippers. But the pious and savvy blacksmith eventually manages to ridicule and punish the devil.
Gorgeous Solokha turns out to be a witch. She flies on a broom across the sky, hides stars in her sleeve, and can turn into animals. Some of the inhabitants of Dikanka saw her tail from behind, someone recognized her in the form of a black cat and a pig.
Dear sorcerer Patsyuk "has to be akin to hell." He does not fast and on the evening of a hungry kutya he eats dumplings with sour cream, he easily sees evil spirits. The revived characters of Ukrainian folklore make the story more fun, interesting, fabulous, help the author convey the richness and originality of folk mythology.
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Analysis of folklore elements in the story "The Night Before Christmas"
The artistic world of the story "The Night Before Christmas" is filled with evil spirits, witches and devils. Solokha - the mother of the protagonist, appears to be a witch. One of the traditionally described skills of witches in folklore is the ability to fly. To prove this, we can recall Baba Yaga, who can fly on a broomstick, or Western European witches, who also “practice” broom flying. Such a supernatural skill allows witches to feel free in the air (and therefore heavenly) elements. It is not available to a mere mortal. Among other things, Solokha is very attractive, her feminine charms extend not only to people, but also to otherworldly creatures (damn). This is another feature of the folklore idea of witches: they are very beautiful and able to win the heart of any man.
The motive in which a woman hides her many lovers, incidental situations associated with this, are traditional for folklore and literature. An example is the fairy tale "Smart Wife" or "The Tale of Pyotr Sutulov and his Wise Wife", in which the heroines showed their cunning, ingenuity and can turn difficult life situations to their advantage. A similar plot and characters can be found in Boccaccio's Decameron and other works of world literature.
It should be assumed that in many ways the strength and cunning of Vakula is due to the fact that he is the son of a witch, which means that he has some kind of power, an advantage over other people.
The motif of the abduction of heavenly bodies by an evil force should be regarded as traditional. The devil steals the month, this element can be interpreted as an attempt to encroach on divine powers. In apocryphal literature, the plot of the appearance of the so-called fallen angels, who were expelled from paradise for certain misdeeds, is quite common. The connection of divine, demonic forces, as well as the world of people, transformation and possible transition to other worlds is found, for example, in the story “Sorochinsky Fair” when describing the appearance of the “red scroll”: the devil was expelled from hell for some offense, drunk in the world people, drank everything he had in a tavern, and pawned the “red scroll”. Or, for example, a person's journey to the demonic world in The Lost Letter, where Foma Grigorievich's grandfather not only witnesses the Sabbath of evil spirits, but also enters into communication with it.
It should be assumed that the artistic world of the stories under consideration is based on three worlds: the world of people (the usual, everyday life for most heroes), the world of evil spirits (where a person can get under certain circumstances) and the divine world (which assumes its existence as a kind of opposition) . However, the divine power almost does not manifest itself in the stories under consideration, its presence is only assumed. While the distance between the world of evil spirits and the human world is maximally reduced, they are in contact and constantly interact. The evil spirit turns out to be closer to a person, more understandable and “more humane”. It should be noted that most representatives of evil spirits are either anthropomorphic or completely human in appearance.
Also, quite often, otherworldly power is depicted with the help of zoomorphic details: furry hands, dog mouths, and so on. In the story under consideration at the devil’s “dog’s snout”, an analysis of the conspiracies of Little Russia shows that the dog (wolf) is often associated with the devil, therefore this metonymic epithet was chosen by N.V. Gogol is not accidental and corresponds to folklore ideas about the image of a demon, combining anthropomorphic features with zoomorphic fantastic features. The devil is from "black", a color characteristic of all evil spirits. The black color symbolizes the presence of the demon in hell, his burned soul.
The story depicts carols, Christmas folk festivals, accompanied by songs traditional for the culture of Little Russia. An integral feature of the carols are the mummers, who symbolize the spirits of the ancestors, they come during the carols and wish a rich harvest, goodness and good. The honoring of totemic creatures, the symbols of which are represented by the mummers, is traditional for the pagan faith. The treat presented to the mummers is presented as a sacrificial gift and is also rooted in ancient beliefs. However, it should be noted that both pagan traditions (carols, fortune-telling) and religious (the holiday itself) traditions are closely intertwined in Christmas. Vakula, who made a deal with the devil for a while, paints the walls of the church with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, that is, he knows what the evil spirit is. Thus, we can conclude that the ecclesiastical is always inseparable from the demonic.
It should be noted that the devil initially disliked Vakula, since he depicted on the church wall the scene of the Last Judgment, shaming the devil. That is, the demon in the artistic world of Gogol has a very humane sense of shame (shame): having left the “unclean” environment, he cannot completely immerse himself in the world of people, but he cannot return either, since he has acquired human features.
The plot of the story ends with a happy denouement, which is typical for the scheme of a fairy tale, in which the hero, having gone through a series of trials, receives a wife as a reward.
