The system of characters in a work of art.

Copyright Contest -K2
An artistic creation must be completely ready in the soul of the artist before he takes up the pen... He must first see the faces in front of him, from the mutual relations of which his drama or story is formed...

V.G. Belinsky

As you know, the composition of a literary work includes elements:
- arrangement of images-characters and grouping of other images;
- plot composition
- composition of non-plot elements;
- ways of narration (from the author, from the narrator, from the hero; in the form of an oral story, in the form of diaries, letters)
- composition of details (details of the situation, behavior);
- speech composition (stylistic devices).

In this article, we will talk about the character system

1. Character system: elements and structure
2. Elements of the character sphere
Categories of characters - main, secondary, episodic, off-stage
Parameters for defining the category of characters
3. The structure of the character sphere
Number of characters
Hierarchy of the character system
Connections between characters - opposition, grouping by thematic principle, juxtaposition
4. Resume

CHARACTER SYSTEM

A character (literary hero) is the protagonist of a plot work of art.
The organization of characters in a literary and artistic work appears as a system of characters.

The character system should be viewed from two perspectives:
1. as a system of relationships between characters (struggle, clashes, etc.) - that is, from the point of view of the content of the work;
2. as an embodiment of the principle of composition and a means of characterizing the characters - that is, as the position of the author.

Like any system, the character sphere is characterized through its constituent ELEMENTS (characters) and STRUCTURE (relatively stable method = the law of connection of elements).

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER SPHERE

There are the following CATEGORIES OF CHARACTERS:

MAIN - are in the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work,

SECONDARY - also quite actively participating in the plot, having their own character, but which receive less author's attention; in some cases, their function is to help reveal the images of the main characters,

EPISODIC - appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often not having their own character and standing on the periphery of the author's attention; their main function is to give an impetus to the plot action at the right time or to set off certain features of the main and secondary characters).

In addition, there are also so-called. EXTERNAL characters in question, but they do not participate in the action (for example, in "Woe from Wit" by A. S. Griboyedov, this is Princess Marya Alekseevna, whose opinions everyone is so afraid of, or Uncle Famusova, a certain Maxim Petrovich).
For example, Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" seems to be about the life of one person. However, the novel is densely populated. Robinson's memories and dreams are filled with different faces (= off-stage characters): a father who warned his son against the sea; dead companions, with whose fate he often compares his own; the basket-maker, whose work he observed as a child; the desired comrade is "a living person with whom I could talk." The role of non-stage characters, as if casually mentioned, is very important: after all, Robinson on his island is both alone and not alone, since he personifies the total human experience, diligence and enterprise of his contemporaries and compatriots.

What PARAMETERS determine the category of characters?

There are two of them. This:
- the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the amount of text that this character is given;
- the degree of importance of this character for revealing the sides of the artistic content.

Most often, these parameters coincide. So, in "Fathers and Sons" Bazarov is the main character in both respects, Pavel Petrovich, Nikolai Petrovich, Arkady, Odintsova are secondary characters in all respects, and Sitnikov or Kukshina are episodic.

An example is Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter.
“It would seem that it is impossible to imagine a more episodic image than Empress Catherine: it seems that she exists only in order to bring the rather intricate story of the main characters to a happy denouement. But for the problematics and the idea of ​​the story, this image is of paramount importance, because without it the most important idea of ​​the story, the idea of ​​mercy, would not have received a semantic and compositional completion. Just as Pugachev at one time, in spite of all circumstances, pardons Grinev, so Ekaterina pardons him, although the circumstances of the case seem to point against him. Just as Grinev meets with Pugachev as a person with a person, and only later he turns into an autocrat, so Masha meets with Catherine, not suspecting that the empress is in front of her - also like a person with a person. And had it not been for this image in the system of characters in the story, the composition would not have been closed, and consequently, the idea of ​​the human connection of all people, without distinction of estates and positions, would not have sounded artistically convincing, the idea that “doing alms” is one of the best manifestations of human spirit, but a solid foundation of human community - not cruelty and violence, but kindness and mercy "(c)

And it also happens that the question of dividing characters into categories generally loses all meaningful meaning.

For example, in the composition of "Dead Souls" episodic characters differ from the main ones only quantitatively, not qualitatively: in terms of the volume of the image, but not in the degree of the author's interest in them.
The number of characters in the poem literally rolls over. Uncle Minyay and Uncle Mityai, Nozdrev’s son-in-law Mizhuev, the boys begging Chichikov at the gates of the hotel, and especially one of them, “a great hunter to stand on the heels”, and staff captain Kisses, and a certain assessor Drobyazhkin, and Fetinya, a master of whipping featherbeds, some lieutenant who came from Ryazan, a big, apparently, hunter for boots, because he had already ordered four pairs and was constantly trying on the fifth, and further, further, further.
These figures do not give impetus to the plot action and in no way characterize GG - Chichikov. Moreover, the detailing of these figures is clearly excessive - let us recall the men who talked about Manilovka and Zamanilovka, Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye snout, the wife of Sobakevich, the daughter of an old clerk, whose face was threshing peas at night, the late husband of Korobochka, who loved someone sometimes scratched his heels at night, but without this he could not fall asleep at all.
However, this is not an excess and certainly not the author's inability to build a plot. This, on the contrary, is a subtle compositional device, with the help of which Gogol created a special setting. He showed not just images of individual people, but something broader and more significant - the image of the population, the people, the nation. Peace, finally.

Almost the same composition of the system of characters is observed in Chekhov's plays, and the matter is even more complicated: the main and secondary characters cannot be distinguished even by the degree of participation in the plot and the volume of the image. With the help of this system, Chekhov shows “a certain multitude of ordinary people, ordinary consciousness, among which there are no outstanding, outstanding heroes, on whose images one can build a play, but for the most part they are nonetheless interesting and significant. For this, it is necessary to show a lot of equal characters, without singling out the main and secondary ones from them; only in this way is something in common revealed in them, namely, the drama of a failed life, inherent in everyday consciousness, a life that has passed or is passing in vain, without meaning and even without pleasure "(c)

STRUCTURE OF THE CHARACTER SPHERE

How many characters are needed and enough?

While working on The Three Sisters, Chekhov sneered at himself: “I am not writing a play, but some kind of confusion. There are many actors - it is possible that I will go astray and quit writing. And at the end he recalled: “It was terribly difficult to write“ Three Sisters ”. After all, there are three heroines, each should be on her own model, and all three are the general's daughters!

Every author is faced with the problem - are all the characters obligatory? Are there redundant ones among them? And what to do if you want to write a mass scene, but there is no desire to produce Persians?
Like a classic, where “the red natives and natives (positive and innumerable hordes)” are introduced into the play “citizen Jules Verne”. (Bulgakov. Crimson Island).

So, NUMBER OF CHARACTERS.

At least two subjects are needed to form a system of characters.
As an option - there may be a split of the hero - Semyon Semenovich with glasses and without glasses (Kharms, "Cases").

The maximum number of characters is not limited.
According to some estimates, there are about 600 characters in Tolstoy's War and Peace, and about 2,000 in Balzac's The Human Comedy. (For comparison, the population of a medieval Western European city was 1-3 thousand inhabitants).
The numbers are impressive.
And immediately the question is - can you create a work with a similar number of characters? No, stuffing characters into a story is easy. But then you have to manage them - so that your thing does not look like a telephone directory.

CHARACTERS MUST INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER.

Some succeed. For example, King's multi-character items are Needful Things, Armageddon (another translation is The Stand), Under the Dome.

Or the classic example is Homer, The Odyssey. Philologists have established more than 1,700 connections between 342 characters in the poem. There is a connection between the characters if, according to the plot, they meet, talk to each other, quote each other's words to a third character, or it is clear from the text that they are familiar. The structure of Odyssey surprisingly resembles a social network - like Facebook or Twitter. Is history repeating itself?

So, the system of characters is the interconnections and relations between the Persians, that is, a concept related to the composition of the work.

The most important property of the character system is HIERARCHY.
We have already talked about this here:

In most cases, the character is at the point where the three rays intersect.
The first is friends, associates (friendly relations).
The second is enemies, ill-wishers (hostile relations).
Third - other strangers (neutral relations)
These three rays (and the people in them) create a strict hierarchical structure.

We continue the conversation.

“The plot in its formation is, first of all, the creation of a system of characters. An important stage is the establishment of the central figure and then the establishment of the rest of the characters, who are located around this figure on a descending ladder ”(G.A. Shengeli)

The simplest and most common case is the OPPOSITE of two images to each other.
Mozart and Salieri, Grinev and Shvabrin, Oblomov and Stolz, Malchish-Kibalchish and Malchish-Plokhish.

A somewhat more complicated case, when one character is opposed to all others, as, for example, in Griboedov's comedy Woe from Wit, where even quantitative ratios are important: it was not for nothing that Griboyedov wrote that in his comedy "twenty-five fools per one smart person."

“The characters are grouped in the work. The simplest case is the division of all actors into two camps: friends and enemies of the protagonist. In more complex works, there may be several such groups, and each of these groups is connected by various relationships with other persons ”(Tomashevsky B.V. Poetics)

So, in Anna Karenina, the main compositional grouping of characters is according to the thematic principle stated at the beginning of the novel: “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Different families in the novel develop this theme in different ways.

In "Fathers and Sons", in addition to the opposition of Bazarov to all other characters, which is obvious and realized in the plot, another, more hidden and not embodied in the plot, compositional principle is carried out, namely, the comparison of the similarity of two groups of characters: on the one hand, this is Arkady and Nikolai Petrovich, on the other - Bazarov and his parents. “In both cases, these characters embody the same problem - the problem of the relationship between generations. Turgenev shows that, no matter what the individual people may be, the problem remains essentially the same: it is an ardent love for children, for whom, in fact, the older generation lives, this is an inevitable misunderstanding, the desire of children to prove their “adulthood” and superiority, dramatic internal collisions as a result of this, and yet, in the end, the inevitable spiritual unity of generations "(c)

There are also more complex compositional connections between the characters.

An example is "Crime and Punishment".
“The character system is organized around the main character Raskolnikov; the rest of the characters are in complex relationships with him, and not only in the plot; and it is in extra-plot connections that the richness of the composition of the novel is revealed.
First of all, Raskolnikov is compositionally connected with Sonya. In their life position, they are primarily opposed. But not only. They also have something in common, primarily in pain for a person and in suffering, which is why Sonya Raskolnikov understands so easily and immediately. In addition, as Raskolnikov himself emphasizes, they are both criminals, both murderers, only Sonya killed herself, and Raskolnikov killed the other. Here the comparison ends and the opposition begins again: for Dostoevsky, these two “murders” are not at all equivalent, moreover, they have a fundamentally opposite worldview meaning. And yet, both criminals, who are united by the gospel motif of sacrifice for humanity, the cross, redemption, it was not by chance that Dostoevsky emphasized the strange neighborhood of "a murderer and a harlot who came together to read an eternal book." So, Sonya is both the antipode and a kind of double of Raskolnikov.

The rest of the characters are also organized around Raskolnikov on the same principle; it is, as it were, repeatedly reflected in its counterparts, but reflected with distortions, or incompletely.
So, Razumikhin approaches Raskolnikov with his rationality and confidence that life can be arranged without God, relying only on oneself, but he is sharply opposed to him, since he does not accept the idea of ​​"blood according to conscience."

Porfiry Petrovich is the antipode of Raskolnikov, but there is something Raskolnikov in him, because he understands the main character faster and better than anyone.

Luzhin takes the practical part of Raskolnikov's theory of the right to crime, but completely emasculates all sublime meaning from it. In the "new currents" he sees only a justification for his boundless egoism, believing that the new morality gives him the sanction to try only for his own benefit, not stopping at any moral prohibitions. Luzhin reflects Raskolnikov's philosophy in a distorted mirror of cynicism, and Raskolnikov himself looks with disgust at Luzhin and his theory - thus, we have another double, another antipodal twin.

Svidrigailov, as is typical of an ironist, brings Raskolnikov's ideas to their logical end, advising him to stop thinking about the good of mankind, about questions of "man and citizen". But, like everyone penetrated, Svidrigailov does not accept Raskolnikov's theory personally for himself, being skeptical of any philosophy. And Svidrigailov disgusts Raskolnikov; they again turn out to be mismatched twins, antipodal twins.

Such a composition of the system of characters is caused by the need to raise and solve complex moral and philosophical questions, to consider the theory of the protagonist and its implementation in practice in a variety of applications and aspects. The composition here, therefore, works to reveal the problematics ”(c) L.V. Chernets. Character system.

The system of characters is the interconnections and relations between the Persians, that is, a concept related to the composition of the work.

The system of characters reveals the content of the works, but - it itself is one of the sides of their composition.

The compositional grouping of characters is carried out in accordance with the THEMES and PROBLEMS that these characters embody.

The main characters, those whose fate attracted the writer's special attention, are called heroes. Other characters are divided into secondary, auxiliary and random or situational. In this case, the following complications are possible: minor characters can, while attracting the attention of the reader, at the same time attract his sympathy or dissympathy; in the first case, the author usually seeks to put limits on the interest of the reader. (c) G.A. Shengeli.

There are two types of RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHARACTERS - according to the plot (thesis-antithesis) and according to the ratio of characters.

© Copyright: Copyright Contest -K2, 2014
Publication Certificate No. 214010101267
discussion

part three and last

How many boys to take with you? Chernomor

Pushkin, ..., you yourself once a thread
nibbling emeralds??? 0000 Squirrel

Sms for Pushkin A.S.

3. Secondary characters. episodic characters.

Even Robinson Crusoe, although he lived on a desert island, was not the only character in the book. Conclusion: two characters to create a series will obviously not be enough for you. Those who are called "supporting actors" and "episodic characters" in the cinema should come to the rescue.
TO secondary characters we will include all those who are not the hero (or villain) of this story, but whose life is described in sufficient detail. These are the friends of the hero and the villain, their families, bosses, colleagues, neighbors - people in whose company the main characters spend a lot of time.
Is it necessary to think over and describe the images of secondary characters as carefully as the main ones? Perhaps yes - and secondary characters should be alive, multidimensional. Describing them, perhaps, you can pay less attention to details, but still, each hero should have his own story and his own character.

TO episodic characters we will take all those who appear in our story only to push the main character, issue a ticket to the hero for improper parking, or solemnly say: "The inspector from St. Petersburg!"
Despite the insignificance of these characters, one should not underestimate them: in a good story there are no superfluous images, and it happens that an episodic hero suddenly finds himself in the center of attention. For example, the postman who carried love letters from the heroine to the hero could be the same villain who bullied the heroine and killed the hero (as in one of Chesterton's works).
Episodic characters are the easiest to create: one or two distinguishing features are enough, and the image is ready. Most often, when describing such characters, the author uses it either to give the desired tone to the narrative (an unknown person with a knife on a dark street), or to give a comic effect to the scene (a policeman who has lost his cap).

4. Fantastic characters.

In our turbulent time full of horrors, every second, if not every first author includes supernatural creatures in the list of characters: vampires and vampire hunters, werewolves, witches, mermaids, goblin, ghosts, messengers from Paradise and guests from the Underworld ... and so on. Now, when the readers are told like a hero - what a surprise! oh miracle! - someone appeared and said that our Fedenka was endowed with magical powers and therefore had to pack a suitcase in 24 hours and depart in the direction of Kudykina Gora in order to save the world, they don’t even laugh anymore. They sob.
How to avoid annoying mistakes and clichés when describing magical characters?

First of all, remember one simple truth:
No one knows how fantasy characters should behave, because no one has encountered them in real life.
But that doesn't mean you can make them do whatever you want.

I still remember the ingenious formulation of my drawing teacher:
"Fiction is a mixture of the ordinary and the magical. It is an ordinary object (or person) in an unusual setting, or an unusual object (or person) in an ordinary setting."
Almost all science fiction works are built on this principle.

Example: An ordinary family - mom, dad and son - wake up one day and realize that all the people except them have disappeared.

Another example: A scientist, turned invisible as a result of an experiment, wanders the streets of an ordinary provincial town and dies at the hands of an embittered mob.

I think you have already guessed that the first work was written by Ray Bradbury, the second - by H. G. Wells. If you dig into your memory, you'll find many more examples.
What the hell am I leading up to? And to the fact that, oddly enough, science fiction requires even more realism than any other genre. Truth in the description of characters and relationships, accuracy in the description of the surrounding world - that's what any magical story needs.
Even if your hero is abandoned on a desert island, alien planet or in a parallel reality, he remains the same ordinary person as he was in our world, with all his weaknesses and fears.
Even if your hero comes from other worlds, he must have at least a remote resemblance to a person. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to describe it in such a way that at least a little bit "humanize" the hero.
Whatever magical powers your character is endowed with, he must behave, think and act like an ordinary person.
Even an almighty wizard at the most unnecessary moment can grab his stomach. Keep this in mind when you start writing another saga about a fearless warrior or a cunning sorceress.

Last three character tips:

Expediency. Remember: if the character does not symbolize anything, does nothing important and does not say anything important, then it is better not to describe him.

Number. There should be as many characters as necessary for the development of the action, but so few that readers can remember them all. I think for a short sim story, ten characters is the perfect number (hero, villain, and their entourage).

Names. When naming your characters, try to give each one a sweet-sounding, pleasant name, not too common (not Masha Ivanova and not Jane Smith), but not too strange (not Dozdraperma Efrailovna and not Geilern's Zalimania... uhm). I remind you again: skim through all the topics with the series, if there is a character with a similar name somewhere, otherwise embarrassment will come out. I won’t even talk about the fact that the character’s name should not coincide with the nickname of one of the members of the forum - this is obvious to everyone. I remind you: the name of the character is another part of his image, choose it wisely.

This concludes our conversation about characters and moves on to the next section.

COMPOSITION. TYPES OF CONFLICTS.

CHARACTER SYSTEM

Sub-section terminology

Composition

Type of work: event, psychological, mixed

Conflict: external, internal, explicit, hidden

Character- actor

Main characters, secondary characters, incidental characters

The character is static - the character is in development

One-dimensional character - multi-dimensional character

Positive character - negative character

Main character

antihero

Title character

Protagonist - Antagonist

Characteristics of the characters: direct - indirect

Composition (the composition, the type of the story)

Any work of art is a complex whole, an organization of its constituent elements located in a certain system and sequence.

Before the reader, this or that event, experience develops, ends, this or that character is determined as a result of correlation, interaction of all elements of the work. Such an interaction is called a compo sition.

Composition (lat. сompositio - compilation, connection) - the connection of parts of components into a whole; organization, construction of a work of art.

Composition - compound parts, but not the parts themselves. Depending on what level (layer) of the art form we are talking about, there are aspects of the composition: the placement of characters, the event (plot) connections of the work, the installation of details (psychological, portrait, landscape and repetitions of symbolic details (forming motives and leitmotifs). Also aspects of the composition include the change of forms of speech (narration - description - dialogue - reasoning), the change of subjects of speech, the division of the text into parts, the discrepancy between poetic rhythm and meter, etc. Thus, it is clear that the composition is a complex structure.

Within the framework of the aspects of composition, two types of work are distinguished: event / plot type ( the plot type) and psychological/non-plot ( the psychological type). Epic storytelling and dramaturgy are plot-driven in nature, i.e. belong to the event type; lyrics are psychological, but this does not mean that there is no conflict, development, inconsistency in lyrics. At the same time, both in the narrative work and in the dramatic one, the psychological element can be clearly expressed.

Ø The psychological one is aimed at revealing the inner world of a person, the series of events in it is poor, almost without external action, because importance is attached not to events, but to their assessment, the attitude of its heroes themselves, as well as the author and reader, towards them. Most of the works of this type belong to the small form (“Dark Alleys” by I. Bunin, “Cat in the Rain” by E. Hemingway); nevertheless, there is also a large narrative form of the psychological type (“Mrs. Dalloway”, “To the Lighthouse” by W. Wolfe, etc.).

There is also a mixed type ( the mixed type), which presents elements of both event and psychological, and several options are possible:

The psychological and event side are in balance;

The psychological side dominates (saturation with events gives way to the disclosure of the inner world of the characters)

The event side dominates (the inner world of the characters gives way to events).

Examples of works of a mixed type: "The Black Cat" by E. Poe, "Ten Little Indians" by A. Christie, "The Captain's Daughter" by A. S. Pushkin.

The system of characters (the system of characters)

The system of characters is one of the sides of the composition, which reveals the content of the work and helps to correctly determine its idea. To begin with, we note that the characters are divided into main (main characters), minor (rival characters) and episodic (minor characters).

It is known that epic and dramatic works depict human individualities with their inherent behavior, appearance, world outlook. They are usually called

characters (characters)

Actors (in drama: dramatis personae),

Heroes (heroes),

images,

characters (personages).

The word "persona" is of Latin origin. Previously, this was the name of the mask worn by the actor.

The concepts denoted by these terms are confused wherever "man in literature" is meant, and differ when they are related to each other.

So, character – the broadest, most universal concept a participant in the events of a work who performs the functions specified (by tradition or by the author), i.e. performs actions, undergoes adversity, moves in space and time of the depicted world.

Most works feature multiple characters; in voluminous novels and epics, you can count dozens or even hundreds.

In an epic work, the narrator (narrator) can also be a character if he participates in the plot (Grinev in A. S. Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter). In the lyrics, which primarily recreate the inner world of a person, the characters (if any) are depicted in a dotted, fragmentary way.

Most often, a literary character is a person. However, along with people, animals, plants, things, natural elements, fantastic creatures, robots, etc. can act and talk in the works (“The Blue Bird” by M. Maeterlinck, “Mowgli” by R. Kipling, “The Amphibian Man” by A. Belyaev , "War with Salamanders" by K. Chapek, "Solaris" by St. Lem, "Master and Margarita" by M. Bulgagov). Such an approach is called personification .

Image- one of the most indefinite and at the same time frequent literary concepts ( e.g. image system = character system). The image in the work is understood as a reflection of the character in the mind of the reader.

character- an individual who chooses his own role as a participant in a separate event, having a conscious life position, his own system of values. Character - the embodiment of common, essential, socially determined properties of a number of people; a model of human behavior, transformed in accordance with the views of the writer.

The number of characters and characters in the work often does not match, there are much more characters. There are persons who do not have a character, performing only a plot role, there are doubles, variants of the same type (Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky in N.V. Gogol's The Government Inspector, Rosencrantz and Guildestern in W. Shakespeare's Hamlet).

Type- the highest degree of specificity, a ready-made form of personality, a “function” (for example, “little man”). Often the words "character" and "type" are used interchangeably.

Ø Meet psychological life types (miser, jealous), social(poor knight, monk, robber, judge), socio-historical(types of officials from N.V. Gogol, merchants and squandered nobles from A.N. Ostrovsky), national(Romantic Gypsies, Gogol's Jews, L. N. Tolstoy's French, F. M. Dostoevsky's Poles).

Actor- as a rule, a participant in events in dramaturgy, in a play, although when it comes to epic works, the term is also used.

The concept of " title character» denotes the character whose name appears in the title of the work. More often this is the central character (Oliver Twist, Jen Eyre, Eugene Onegin), but not necessarily. In V. Nabokov's novel "Lolita", Lolita herself - the title character - is a bright and extremely important image, but a secondary one. And the main one will be Humbert Humbert. A similar situation is in I.S. Turgenev's story "Asya".

Hero (hero) has several meanings:

1. a person who has accomplished a feat;

2. any character (in everyday speech);

3. the central positive character in the work; a person of extraordinary merit, and performing significant and noble deeds.

4. demigod in ancient Greek mythology.

Ø From other characters, the hero is distinguished by his importance for the development of the plot: without his participation, the main plot events will not take place. He is distinguished by the bright qualities of nature, initiative, the ability to overcome obstacles that are insurmountable for others.

In a literary work, the only main character is called protagonist; from other Greek πρωταγωνιστής: πρώτος - “first” and αγωνίζομαι - “I compete”, αγωνιστής - “fighter”). In turn, the one who is opposed to him in the conflict - a n t a g o n i s t (antagonist; from other Greek ανταγωνιστής - “opponent, rival”); for example, Grinev - Pugachev or Grinev - Shvabrin in "The Captain's Daughter" by A. S. Pushkin). An antagonist is also considered a character who represents the opposite of the main character in terms of qualities, character - or social status (Scarlett and Melanie; Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov). Sometimes the opposition of the protagonist and antagonist coincides with the division of characters into positive and negative (Hamlet - Claudius, Harry Potter - Draco Malfoy), but this is not necessary. For example, in pairs of antagonists Katarina - Petruchio (W. Shakespeare, "The Taming of the Shrew") or Montecchi - Capulet ("Romeo and Juliet") there is no division into "heroes" and "villains".

Along with the antagonist and protagonist in literary criticism, the term anti-hero (anti-hero). It has three meanings:

1. the central negative character, the antagonist of the main character, the "main villain" (Harry Potter - Voldemort);

2. a negative character as a central, main character (W. Shakespeare, "Macbeth", "Richard III"; Choderlos de Laclos, "Dangerous Liaisons" - Marquise de Merteuil, Viscount de Valmont; W. Thackeray, "Vanity Fair - Becky Sharp ; F. M. Dostoevsky, "Demons" - Stavrogin; "The Collector" by D. Fowles, "A Clockwork Orange" by E. Burgess, "Perfume" by P. Suskind);

3. emphatically ordinary, not outstanding personality, "little man" as the main character (A.P. Chekhov, "Ionych", "Man in a Case"; J. Joyce - Bloom ("Ulysses"); F. Kafka - Gregor Zamza ("Transformation").

In addition to the division into main and secondary characters, characters can be divided into positive And negative.

However, this criterion is conditional, somewhat schematic and not always effective. Such a division is more common in literature of a tendentious nature (for example, in fables), as well as in genre literature (fairy tales, detective stories, adventurous and adventure works).

Much more relevant is the division of characters into single-digit / single-plane (flat) And ambiguous / multifaceted (round). Characters that are both clearly positive (Grinev, Harry Potter) and clearly negative (Shvabrin, Draco Malfoy) can be unambiguous. Examples of ambiguous characters are Pugachev, Pechorin, Scarlett O'Hara.

Also distinguish characters unchanged / static: Sherlock Holmes, Oblomov, Pechorin, Woland, - and characters in development (dynamic): Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, Julien Sorel, Harry Potter.

There are two ways to characterize characters: direct characterization and indirect characterization. The first implies that the author directly speaks about the character traits and feelings of the character. This method is never the main one in the work.

An indirect characterization provides the reader with the opportunity to draw conclusions based on on the outside(in this case, the author's assessment can be traced only in the selection of vocabulary, cf .: "Into the room a tall, slender young man entered' and 'Into the room a skinny lanky youth tumbled in"). The character is also characterized by his speech, and both content and form are important (the way of constructing phrases, vocabulary, word usage tell about the type of thinking of the character, his education, emotional state, etc.). Less informative and relationship a specific character with other actors (evaluation of one character by others). Of course, it takes into account deeds character, his thoughts and feelings, which the author can report directly or give the reader the opportunity to guess for himself on the basis of their external manifestations). Possible option self-characteristics character. In addition, methods of indirect characterization include interior(e.g. character housing) and scenery, details (costume, behavior).

INbasisstudyliterature - creativitywriterAndliteraryprocess - liesanalyticalconsiderationliterary- artisticworks, whichisyourselfcomplex unity, artisticreality, organizedBycertainlaws, reflective, Withonesides, outlookAndartisticthinkingwriter, AWithanothersides, - lawsreality. Truly " workThere isThat " quantum", Vwhichartisticenergyacquiresrealbeing" .

" MainVliterary criticismThere issimpleunderstandingthe meaning of literaryworks... Targetanyliterary criticismconsists ofVvolume, tolearnreadliteraryworks, understanding the meaning of real life embedded in them" . This thought soundsa call to the researcher not to present a work of art as merely an expression of his own scientific understanding of literature and life. "The main forms of mastering literary works today are their analysis, interpretation and evaluation, therefore, the methods of literary activity are, first of all, methods of analysis, interpretation and evaluation" . At the same time, the method should be understood as "a kind of analogue of the subject", i.e. reflect the "most general properties and laws" of a literary work; "the method must take into account the nature of the subject" . It should always be borne in mind that the "meaning of a literary work" belongs to the reality of the second order, the idea of ​​which is associated both with the "meaning of real life" and with the implementation of the "artistic energy" of the creator.

The deepening of ideas about a literary and artistic work, the development of methods for analyzing an individual work of art is one of the important tasks that is closely related to the theoretical understanding of the phenomena of literature. However, relying on the Marxist-Leninist dialectic, the researcher necessarily concludes that analysis in the proper sense of the term is insufficient, because analysis "is important not in itself, but for the sake of the subsequent synthesis that returns us to the original whole, which now appears as a scientifically known concrete" . SpecifiedThe principle extends both to the analysis of the work as a whole and to certain aspects of it. In the future, we will understand the term "analysis" in a broad sense - as "a study that includes both the mental decomposition of a work and the combination of the selected sides of the elements into a whole" .

Whether we turn to the analysis of the elements of form or content in a particular case, we must remember that we are dealing with a meaningful form and artistic (figurative, "decorated") content. In turn, the concept of "substantial form" is multifaceted. It is possible to single out a number of its levels, aspects that could become the subject of independent consideration or the starting point for analyzing the work as a whole, for example: plot, narration, composition, etc. One of the levels of the content form of the work should be considered the system of characters. The importance of the system of characters in a literary and artistic work is evidenced, for example, by the following statement by V.G. Belinsky: "An artistic creation must be completely ready in the artist's soul before he takes up a pen ... He must first see the faces in front of him, from the mutual relations of which his drama or story is formed ..." . In the book "Introduction to Literary Studies" edited by G.N. Pospelov we read: “The characters, in their totality, making up the system, are, apparently, the side of the literary and artistic work, most closely associated with the content. And when understanding the idea of ​​​​an epic or dramatic work, it is important to understand, first of all, the function of the character system - its meaning It is with this that it is natural to begin the consideration of a short story or a novel, a comedy ortragedy" .

§ I. The concept of the character system

In itself, the terminological designation of the image of a person in a literary work is one of the important problems of modern literary criticism (see AppendixI). In accordance withthe aim of this studyWeLet us assume that a character (literary hero) is the protagonist of a plot work of art, most often embodying the characteristic features of a person's image. The main characters of the work have a character expressed in a complex system of artistic means. A concrete analysis of the characters of a literary and artistic work will simultaneously reveal their characters and artistic means of their embodiment.

The organization of characters in a literary and artistic work appears as a system. The description of its specific aspects is a task of paramount importance for the present work, the starting point for the analysis of the work. At the same time, neither the academic "Theory of Literature", nor the "Concise Literary Encyclopedia", nor educational theoretical and literary manuals, with the exception of the book "Introduction to Literary Studies" ed. G.N. Pospelov, cited above. A.G. dwells on some aspects of the character system. Zeitlin in "A Writer's Work" . First, the characters in a work of art act in some way, i.e. perform actions, and therefore are in a certain relationship. Further: "The writer strives ... to ensure that the state of mind of the characters would become clear from his (as in the text - S.Z.) actions." The system of characters is "continuously changing", while a certain "hierarchy of actors" is observed. In addition, there is a grouping, which "within the system of characters each time corresponds to the correlation of certain social forces"; this is how the principle of "representativeness" of characters is implemented. Above marked as external properties of the systemcharacters - its variability, hierarchy, and based on the interaction and opposition of characters, its internal features - the embodiment of the "mental state of the heroes", a reflection of the struggle of social forces, i.e. ultimately - the ideological content of the work.

The concept of a system of characters is used by many researchers without a special definition, although it should be noted that we are talking mainly about a system of images (as in Zeitlin A.G.), where the image means the image of a person in a work of art. . B.T. writes about the system of images. Udodov, noting the peculiarities of the ratio of the characters in the novel "A Hero of Our Time": "The disclosure of the central image of Pechorin is subordinated to the image of all otherscharacters ... At the same time, secondary characters have an independent meaning " . E.N.Mikhailova, speaking of the "composition of images",establishes in this case an important compositional relationship of the characters as a result of their opposition and on the basis of the place in the plot action, emphasizing the active role of Pechorin. The system of characters in late Romantic literature, with its specificgrouping becomes the subject of consideration in the article by F.P. Fedorova .

Without using the term "character system", Yu.V. Mann writes aboutvarious connections between characters. Paying attention to the importance of "the motive of leaving, leaving" for the entire artistic fabric of the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Smoke", the researcher states "a special kind of character connections" that arise as a result of the development of this motive: "Meanwhile, since the motive of leaving implements not only the moment of ideological confrontation (in itself very important), but a subtle play of sympathies or antipathies, closeness or alienation - in a word, the whole variety of human relations - then he, thismotif becomes the unifying beginning of the novel action" . In the novel "Nov" there is an associative-contrast relationship of characters" . In the work of Yu.V. Mann, it is important for us, firstly, to highlight the various connections between the characters, and secondly, to establish a connection between the "ideological confrontation" and a wide range of relationships that make up the event-psychological basis of the system of characters. Of course, we have mentioned only a few works where in one way or another we are talking about the system of characters; apparently, other interesting observations and conclusions could be cited. However, considering everything that has been established above, we can already give a working definition of the character system. The system of characters is one of the aspects of the artistic form of a literary work, an artistic unity in which the characters are united by mutual likes and dislikes, the coincidence of ideological aspirations and antagonism, family ties, love and friendship attachments; they enter into relationships and correlate with each other, and this correlation in the plot serves as one of the expressions - sometimes the most important - of the ideological content of the work, which is embodied through conjugationgroups and individual characters in a certain relation to the world of the author and objective reality.

Based on this definition, the system of characters should be considered from at least two points of view: 1) as a system of relationships between characters (struggle, clashes, etc.) outside of them; 2) as a concrete embodiment of the principles of compositional conjugation of meaningful elements. The system of characters in the first case is interpreted as an expression of the theme of the work, i.e. in terms of its content. In this sense, the character system is a reflection of human relations in society. In the second case, the system of characters is considered as a moment of the composition of the work, acting at the same time as a means of characterizing the characters. The system of characters in this case is an important level in the general relation of a work of art to the world of the author and to reality.

Regarding the hierarchy of characters in the work of A.G. Zeitlin notes that for A.N. Tolstoy, for example, the most important stage was "the establishment of the central figure and then the establishment of the rest of the characters, who are located on the descending stairs around this figure" . In the work of G.A. Shengel specifies the steps of this "ladder" of characters: "The main characters, those whose fate attracted the writer's special attention, are called heroes. Other characters are divided into secondary, auxiliary and random or situational." "In this case, the following complications are possible: secondary characters can, attracting the reader's attention, at the same time attract his sympathy or dissympathy; in the first case, the author usually seeks to set limits to the reader's interest" .

In general, regarding the classification of characters, we can talk about the well-known polyphony of research literature, the use of terms in most cases is determined by the individual.researcher's approach. So stands out "the central character, whosepsychology and point of view on events reveals the author" , the "centralizing role of the main character" is noted

“Woe from Wit” is the first Russian realistic comedy, in which we saw the life of Moscow in the 10-20s of the 19th century. Using one of the basic principles of realism - the principle of typing, the playwright created a gallery of images, each of which is typical of its time and class, but at the same time has individual, unique features.
A special role in comedy is given to off-stage and episodic characters, which are so widely represented in comedy. With their help, the spatial and temporal boundaries of comedy are expanding.
Griboyedov created vivid portraits, without which it is difficult to imagine the regulars of the English Club or the aristocratic salon. The author himself in one of his letters to a friend and writer Katenin wrote: "Portraits and only portraits are part of comedy and tragedy."
In a series of images of the old nobility, a portrait of Catherine's nobleman Maxim Petrovich occupies a special place. The head of the house, the official Famusov, presents this “nobleman in the event” as his ideal to follow and addresses him to the younger generation in the person of Chatsky. For Famusov, it is important that his uncle received orders, “he ate on gold, a hundred people were for services, he always traveled in a train”, but the most important thing is that “a century at court”. Thus, a person in Famus society was valued according to what rank he occupied and on “what he ate”. That is why this society is fighting to keep everything the same. The main life principle was following the traditions, unshakable authority, social superiority. A nobleman in Russia was protected by the very fact of his origin, and if he followed the traditions and foundations of his class, society, worshiped his ideals, then good prospects for career growth and material well-being opened up before him. The main thing is not to be a loser, like Repetilov, or a crazy man, like Zagoretsky, whom Chatsky described as follows: “Molchalin! Zagoretsky will not die in it!” Zagoretsky is everywhere, he knows a lot about members of society, he is a “master of service”: he gets tickets for the performance of Sofya, two blacks for Khlestova and her sister Praskovya. Molchalin also strives to please everyone, while following the precepts of his father “to please all people without exception”:
Who else will settle everything peacefully!
There the pug will stroke in time,
There, just in time, the card will be inserted.
A small official seeks to make a career, take a certain place in society, become like Famusov.
Among the representatives of this society there are those who already have ranks, for example, Foma Fomich. “Under three ministers there was the head of the department,” Molchalin introduces him, to which Chatsky caustically remarks: “The most empty person from the most stupid.” Before us is a portrait of a man who has succeeded in life, in contrast to Repetilov, who “would climb into the ranks, but met failures.” He wanted to marry the daughter of Baron von Klotz, who “met in the ministers”, get a promotion and a good dowry, but nothing came of it. Repetilov is an unlucky person and society doesn't take him seriously.
With great respect and reverence, the Famus society treats the Frenchman from Bordeaux, who was going “to Russia, to the barbarians”, but arrived as if “in his province”, “he did not meet the sound of a Russian, or a Russian face.” Chatsky is indignant at blind admiration for everything foreign. The English club depicted by Griboyedov can also be called a “blind imitation”. A parody of secret meetings can also be considered the “most secret union”, gathering on Thursdays, whose members say to themselves: “We make noise, brother, we make noise.” To create the appearance of activity is typical for this society, as it is typical for Russia as a whole, which Gogol would later show in his immortal comedy The Government Inspector.
But another phenomenon characteristic of the Moscow nobility is the omnipotence of women. Take, for example, Platon Mikhailovich Gorich, “a husband-boy, a husband-servant”, who is completely and completely under the heel of his wife. He is not entirely satisfied with the fact that Natalya Dmitrievna gives him instructions, like a mother to an unreasonable child: “You opened your whole body and unbuttoned your vest! .. Fasten it up!”, but, nevertheless, he doesn’t say a word to her across.
The same state of affairs reigns in another family: Prince Tugoukhovsky does everything that and how his wife says: he goes to bow, invites guests to the house. By the way these representatives of the weaker sex manage their husbands, we can judge them as powerful women who will not cede their power to anyone and will defend the existing order to the last.
Famusov also characterizes other women, episodic characters: “Judges for everything, everywhere, there are no judges over them” - they can command an army, sit in the Senate - they can do everything. The Famus society, despite the existence of an emperor, lives in a state with female rule. The author introduces readers to no less important and significant ladies who occupy a high position in society - Princess Marya Aleksevna and Tatiana Yurievna. Therefore, Molchalin advises Chatsky to go to Tatyana Yuryevna, because “bureaucrats and officials are all her friends and all relatives.” And Famusov himself is very worried about “what Princess Marya Aleksevna will say.” For him, a government official, the court of the princess is more terrible, because her word is very significant in society. Also, many are afraid of Khlestova's trial, because her opinion is also public. In addition, she, like many other representatives of the Famus society, loves to gossip very much. The Countess-granddaughter is an embittered gossip, since "a whole century in girls." She is unhappy with the fact that many people go abroad and get married there.
Natalya Dmitrievna greets the princesses in a thin voice, they kiss and examine each other from head to toe, trying to find flaws, which will be a reason for gossip. Gossip reigns in the society of Moscow bars. It is the gossip about Chatsky's madness, launched by his beloved Sophia, that makes the hero a social madman, dooms an intelligent person to exile.
Among the off-stage characters, one can single out not only representatives of the "past century", but also Chatsky's like-minded people. This is Skalozub's cousin, who is condemned by society for the fact that "the rank followed him: he suddenly left the service, began to read books in the village." He missed the opportunity to get a rank, and this is unacceptable from the point of view of the Famus society, besides, for them, “study is the plague.” Or Prince Fedor, the nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya, - “he is a chemist, he is a botanist”, “runs away from women”, as well as professors of the Pedagogical Institute, “practicing in splits and disbelief”.
It should also be said about Liza, a maid in the Famusov house. She has a practical mind, worldly wisdom. She gives apt descriptions of the heroes: “Like all Moscow ones, your father is like that,” she says to Sofya about Famusov, who is “famous for monastic ignorance” and is not averse to hitting Lisa, and that one after Petrush’s heart. About Skalozub, Lisa has a low opinion: “Speechy, but not painfully cunning.” To Chatsky, she is more supportive: "Who is so sensitive, and cheerful, and sharp." Lisa is the second reasoner in the comedy, expressing the opinion of the author himself. The characteristics of the characters given by Lisa are additional touches to the portraits created by Griboyedov. It is also interesting that the author gives associative surnames to many heroes: Repetilov, Tugoukhovsky, Skalozub, Khlestova, Molchalin.
Thus, episodic and off-stage characters help to reveal the characters of the main characters, expand the spatial and temporal framework of the play, and also help create a picture of the life and customs of the life of the Moscow nobility in the 10-20s of the XIX century, contribute to a deeper disclosure of the conflict of the play - the clash of the “century present” with “the past century”.

Tasks and tests on the topic "Off-stage and episodic characters and their role in A. S. Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit""

• The role of soft and hard signs - Spelling of vowels and consonants in significant parts of the word Grade 4