"The Stingy Knight" analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, issues and other issues are discussed in this article.
History of creation
“The Miserly Knight” was conceived in 1826, and completed in the Boldin autumn of 1830. Published in 1836 in the magazine “Sovremennik”. Pushkin gave the play the subtitle “From Chenston’s tragicomedy.” But the writer is from the 18th century. Shenston (in the tradition of the 19th century his name was written Chenston) there was no such play. Perhaps Pushkin referred to a foreign author so that his contemporaries would not suspect that the poet was describing his relationship with his father, known for his stinginess.
Theme and plot
Pushkin's play “The Miserly Knight” is the first work in a cycle of dramatic sketches, short plays, which were later called “Little Tragedies.” Pushkin intended in each play to reveal some side of the human soul, an all-consuming passion (the stinginess in “The Stingy Knight”). Spiritual qualities and psychology are shown in sharp and unusual plots.
Heroes and images
The Baron is rich, but stingy. He has six chests full of gold, from which he does not take a penny. Money is not servants or friends for him, as for the moneylender Solomon, but masters. The Baron does not want to admit to himself that money has enslaved him. He believes that thanks to the money sleeping peacefully in his chests, everything is within his control: love, inspiration, genius, virtue, work, even villainy. The Baron is ready to kill anyone who encroaches on his wealth, even his own son, whom he challenges to a duel. The duke prevents the duel, but the baron is killed by the very possibility of losing money. The Baron's passion consumes him.
Solomon has a different attitude towards money: it is a way to achieve a goal, to survive. But, like the baron, he does not disdain anything for the sake of enrichment, suggesting that Albert poison his own father.
Albert is a worthy young knight, strong and brave, winning tournaments and enjoying the favor of the ladies. He is completely dependent on his father. The young man has nothing to buy a helmet and armor, a dress for a feast and a horse for a tournament, only out of despair he decides to complain to the duke.
Albert has excellent spiritual qualities, he is kind, he gives the last bottle of wine to the sick blacksmith. But he is broken by circumstances and dreams of the time when the gold will be inherited by him. When the moneylender Solomon offers to set Albert up with a pharmacist who sells poison to poison his father, the knight expels him in disgrace. And soon Albert already accepts the baron’s challenge to a duel; he is ready to fight to the death with his own father, who insulted his honor. The Duke calls Albert a monster for this act.
The Duke in the tragedy is a representative of the authorities who voluntarily took on this burden. The Duke calls his age and the hearts of people terrible. Through the lips of the Duke, Pushkin also speaks about his time.
Issues
In every little tragedy, Pushkin gazes intently at some vice. In The Miserly Knight, this destructive passion is avarice: the change in personality of a once worthy member of society under the influence of vice; the hero's submission to vice; vice as a cause of loss of dignity.
Conflict
The main conflict is external: between a stingy knight and his son, who claims his share. The Baron believes that wealth must be suffered so as not to be squandered. The Baron's goal is to preserve and increase, Albert's goal is to use and enjoy. The conflict is caused by a clash of these interests. It is aggravated by the participation of the Duke, to whom the Baron is forced to slander his son. The strength of the conflict is such that only the death of one of the parties can resolve it. Passion destroys the stingy knight; the reader can only guess about the fate of his wealth.
Composition
There are three scenes in the tragedy. From the first, the reader learns about Albert’s difficult financial situation, associated with his father’s stinginess. The second scene is a monologue of a stingy knight, from which it is clear that passion has completely taken possession of him. In the third scene, the just duke intervenes in the conflict and unwittingly becomes the cause of the death of the hero obsessed with passion. The climax (the death of the baron) is adjacent to the denouement - the Duke’s conclusion: “A terrible age, terrible hearts!”
Genre
"The Miserly Knight" is a tragedy, that is, a dramatic work in which the main character dies. Pushkin achieved the small size of his tragedies by excluding everything unimportant. Pushkin's goal is to show the psychology of a person obsessed with the passion of stinginess. All “Little Tragedies” complement each other, creating a three-dimensional portrait of humanity in all its diversity of vices.
Style and artistic originality
All “Little Tragedies” are intended not so much for reading as for staging: how theatrical the stingy knight looks in a dark basement among gold flickering in the light of a candle! The dialogues of the tragedies are dynamic, and the monologue of the miserly knight is a poetic masterpiece. The reader can see how a bloody villain crawls into the basement and licks the hand of a stingy knight. The images of The Miserly Knight are impossible to forget.
"The Stingy Knight"- a dramatic work (play), conceived in 1826 (the plan dates back to the beginning of January 1826); created in the Boldino autumn of 1830, it is part of Pushkin’s cycle of small tragedies. The play was filmed.
The Miserly Knight shows the corrupting, dehumanizing, devastating power of gold. Pushkin was the first in Russian literature to notice the terrible power of money.
The result in the play is the words of the Duke:
...Terrible century - Terrible hearts...
With amazing depth, the author reveals the psychology of stinginess, but most importantly, the origins that feed it. The type of stingy knight is revealed as a product of a certain historical era. At the same time, in the tragedy the poet rises to a broad generalization of the inhumanity of the power of gold.
Pushkin does not resort to any moral teachings or discussions on this topic, but with the entire content of the play he illuminates the immorality and crime of such relations between people in which everything is determined by the power of gold.
Obviously, in order to avoid possible biographical connections (everyone knew the stinginess of the poet’s father, S.L. Pushkin, and his difficult relationship with his son), Pushkin passed off this completely original play as a translation from a non-existent English original.
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See what “The Miserly Knight” is in other dictionaries:
The hero of the dramatic scenes of the same name (1830) by A. S. Pushkin (1799 1837), a miser and a miser. A common noun for people of this type (ironic). Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M.: Locked Press. Vadim Serov. 2003 ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions
- “THE MISTERY KNIGHT”, Russia, Moscow theater “Vernissage”/Culture, 1999, color, 52 min. Teleplay, tragicomedy. Based on the drama of the same name by A. S. Pushkin from the series “Little Tragedies”. Cast: Georgy Menglet (see MENGLET Georgy Pavlovich), Igor... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema
Noun, number of synonyms: 1 miser (70) Dictionary of synonyms ASIS. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary
Stingy Knight- Werkdaten Titel: Der geizige Ritter Originaltitel: The Miserly Knight (Skupoi ryzar) Form: durchkomponiert Originalsprache: russisch Musik … Deutsch Wikipedia
(mean)knight- Iron. About a stingy person. The voluptuous man, on the contrary, proceeds from the ideal of physiological completeness; he is a stingy knight of pleasures who puts into a treasured chest his gold of caresses, kisses, favors bestowed upon him, everything that he managed to snatch from... Dictionary of oxymorons of the Russian language
This extracurricular reading lesson is carried out after studying several works by A.S. Pushkin: the drama “Boris Godunov” (episode “Scene in the Miracle Monastery”), the story “The Station Agent” and “The Snowstorm”.
Lesson objectives:
- teach to analyze a dramatic work (determine the theme, idea, conflict of the drama),
- give the concept of dramatic character;
- develop the ability to work with the text of a literary work (selective reading, expressive reading, role reading, selection of quotes);
- cultivate the moral qualities of the individual.
During the classes
1. The history of the creation of “Little Tragedies” by A.S. Pushkin(teacher's word).
In 1830, A.S. Pushkin received a blessing to marry N.N. Goncharova. The troubles and preparations for the wedding began. The poet had to urgently go to the village of Boldino, Nizhny Novgorod province, to arrange the part of the family estate allocated to him by his father. The cholera epidemic that suddenly began kept Pushkin in rural solitude for a long time. Here the miracle of the first Boldino autumn happened: the poet experienced a happy and unprecedented surge of creative inspiration. In less than three months, he wrote the poetic story “The House in Kolomna”, the dramatic works “The Miserly Knight”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “A Feast during the Plague”, “Don Juan”, later called “Little Tragedies”, and also created “Belkin's Tales”, “The History of the Village of Goryukhin”, about thirty wonderful lyric poems were written, the novel “Eugene Onegin” was completed.
The relationship between a person and the people around him - relatives, friends, enemies, like-minded people, casual acquaintances - is a topic that always worried Pushkin, so in his works he explores various human passions and their consequences.
In “Little Tragedies,” the poet seems to travel through space and time across Western Europe, with him the reader finds himself in the late Middle Ages (“The Miserly Knight”), the Renaissance (“The Stone Guest”), and the Enlightenment (“Mozart and Salieri”). .
Each tragedy turns into a philosophical discussion about love and hate, life and death, the eternity of art, greed, betrayal, true talent...
2.Analysis of the drama “The Miserly Knight”(frontal conversation).
1) -Which of the following topics do you think this drama is dedicated to?
(Theme of greed, the power of money).
What money-related problems might a person have?
(Lack of money, or, conversely, too much of it, inability to manage money, greed...)
Is it possible to judge the theme and idea of the work by the title of this drama?
2) "The Miserly Knight" - can a knight be stingy? Who were called knights in medieval Europe? How did knights appear? What qualities are characteristic of knights?
(Children prepare answers to these questions at home. This can be individual messages or homework ahead of time for the whole class.
The word "knight" comes from the German "ritter", i.e. horseman, in French there is a synonym “chevalier” from the word “cheval”, i.e. horse. So, initially this is what they call a horseman, a warrior on a horse. The first real knights appeared in France around 800. These were fierce and skillful warriors who, under the leadership of the leader of the Frankish tribe Clovis, defeated other tribes and by 500 conquered the territory of all of present-day France. By 800 they controlled even more of Germany and Italy. In 800, the Pope proclaimed Charlemagne Emperor of Rome. This is how the Holy Roman Empire arose. Over the years, the Franks increasingly used cavalry in military operations, invented stirrups and various weapons.
By the end of the 12th century, chivalry began to be perceived as a bearer of ethical ideals. The chivalric code of honor includes such values as courage, courage, loyalty, and protection of the weak. Betrayal, revenge, and stinginess caused sharp condemnation. There were special rules for the behavior of a knight in battle: it was forbidden to retreat, to show disrespect for the enemy, it was forbidden to deliver fatal blows from behind, and to kill an unarmed person. The knights showed humanity to the enemy, especially if he was wounded.
The knight dedicated his victories in battle or in tournaments to his lady, so the era of chivalry is also associated with romantic feelings: love, infatuation, self-sacrifice for the sake of the beloved.)
Finding out the meaning of the word “knight”, students come to the conclusion that the title of the work “The Stingy Knight” contains a contradiction: a knight could not be stingy.
3)Introduction to the term "oxymoron"
Oxymoron – an artistic device based on the lexical inconsistency of words in a phrase, a stylistic figure, a combination of words that are opposed in meaning, “a combination of the incongruous.”
(The term is written down in notebooks or linguistic dictionaries)
4) - Which of the drama heroes can be called a stingy knight?
(Barona)
What do we know about the Baron from scene 1?
(Students work with the text. Read out quotes)
What was the fault of heroism? - stinginess
Yes! It's easy to get infected here
Under one roof with my father.Yes, you should have told him that my father
Rich himself, like a Jew...Baron is healthy. God willing - ten, twenty years
And he will live twenty-five and thirty...ABOUT! My father has no servants and no friends
He sees them as masters;...
5) Reading the Baron's Monologue (Scene 2)
Explain where the baron's stinginess came from? What is the main character trait of the Baron that dominates all others? Find a keyword, a key image.
(Power)
Who does Baron compare himself to?
(With the king commanding his warriors)
Who was the Baron before?
(A warrior, a knight of sword and loyalty, in his youth he did not think about chests with doubloons)
What has changed, who has he become now?
(As a moneylender)
How do you understand the term " dramatic character"? (Explanation of the term is written in notebooks)
6) Vocabulary work.
We explain the meaning of the words “money lender” (you can choose the same root words “growth”, “grow”), “code of honor”, “pigskin” - parchment with a family tree, with a coat of arms or knightly rights, “knightly word”.
7) Analysis of scene 3.
What does the Duke say about the Baron? What was the baron's name, what do we learn about him from his greeting to the Duke?
(Philip is the name of kings and dukes. The Baron lived at the Duke’s court, was first among equals.)
Did the knight in the baron die?
(No. The Baron is insulted by his son in the presence of the Duke, and this increases his insult. He challenges his son to a duel)
Why did the Baron, who was a real knight, become a moneylender?
(He was accustomed to power. In the days of his youth, power was given by the sword, knighthood, baronial privileges, military deeds)
What has changed?
(Time)
Another time comes and with it another generation of nobles. What is the Baron afraid of?
(Ruin of accumulated wealth)
What can you say about the baron’s son, Albert? How is his life? Can we call him a knight?
(For him, a knightly word and “pigskin” are an empty phrase)
What motivates Albert when he surprises everyone with his courage at the tournament?
(Stinginess)
Is Albert himself a miser, like his father?
(No. He gives the last bottle of wine to the sick blacksmith; he does not agree to poison his father and commit a crime for money)
What can be said about the relationship between father and son - Baron and Albert?
(The Baron accuses his son of plotting parricide, of trying to rob him)
8) Read by role the scene of a quarrel between father and son.
What caused the quarrel?
(Because of money)
What does the Baron think about in the last minutes of his life?
(About money)
Read the Duke's last words.
He died God!
Terrible age, terrible hearts!
What century is the Duke talking about? (About the age of money)
3. Conclusions. The final part of the lesson.(Teacher's word)
The basis of any dramatic work is conflict. Thanks to him, the action develops. What caused the tragedy? (The meaning of the terms is written down in the notebook)
This is the power of money that rules people. The power of money brings great suffering to the world of the poor, crimes committed in the name of gold. Because of money, relatives and close people become enemies and are ready to kill each other.
The theme of stinginess and the power of money is one of the eternal themes of world art and literature. Writers from different countries dedicated their works to her:
- Honore de Balzac "Gobsek"
- Jean Baptiste Moliere "The Miser"
- D. Fonvizin “Undergrowth”,
- N. Gogol “Portrait”,
- "Dead Souls" (image of Plyushkin),
- "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala"
4. Homework:
- Read N. Gogol’s story “Portrait”;
- In your notebooks, write a detailed answer to the question “How can you explain the name of the drama “The Miserly Knight”?
- Prepare a report on the topic “The Image of the Miser in World Art.” (Individual task)
All of Pushkin's works are filled with galleries of various images. Many captivate the reader with their nobility, self-esteem or courage. More than one generation has grown up on the remarkable work of Alexander Sergeevich. Reading his poems, poems and fairy tales, people of all ages get great pleasure. The same can be said about the work "The Miserly Knight". His heroes and their actions make even the youngest lover of Alexander Sergeevich’s work think.
Meet the brave but poor knight
Our article will present only a brief summary. "The Miserly Knight", however, is worthy of familiarizing yourself with the tragedy in the original. So let's get started...
A young knight, whose name is Albert, is going to the next tournament. He asked Ivan's servant to bring his helmet. As it turned out, it was pierced through. The reason for this was his previous participation in the battle with the knight Delorge. Albert is upset. But Ivan tries to console his master, saying that there is no need to be sad about the damaged helmet. After all, young Albert still repaid the offender. The enemy has still not recovered from the terrible blow.
But the knight replies that it was the damaged helmet that gave him heroism. It was stinginess that became the reason to finally defeat the enemy. Albert complains about his poverty and modesty, which did not allow him to remove Delorge’s helmet. He tells the servant that during dinners with the Duke, all the knights sit at the table in luxurious outfits, which are made from expensive fabrics, while Albert, due to the lack of money to buy new clothes, has to be present in armor...
This is how the tragedy itself begins, and from this we began to present its summary.
"The Miserly Knight": the appearance of a new hero of the work
Young Albert, in his conversation with a servant, mentions his father, who is such a stingy old baron that not only does he not allocate money for clothes, but he also spares money for new weapons and a horse. There is also an old Jewish moneylender named Solomon. The young knight often used his services. But now this creditor also refuses to lend to him. Only subject to collateral.
But what can a poor knight give as bail except his uniform and good name! Albert even tried to persuade the moneylender, saying that his father was already very old and would probably die soon, and, accordingly, all the huge fortune he owned would go to Albert. Then he will definitely be able to pay off all his debts. But Solomon was not convinced by this argument either.
The meaning of money in a person’s life, or his attitude towards it
Solomon himself, mentioned by the knight, appears. Albert, taking this opportunity, wants to beg him for another sum. But the moneylender, although gently but firmly, refuses him. He explains to the young knight that his father is still quite healthy and will live even thirty years. Albert is sad. After all, then he will be fifty years old and will no longer need the money.
To which the Jewish moneylender reprimands the young man that he is wrong. At any age, a person needs money. It’s just that at every stage of life people approach wealth differently. Young people are mostly too careless, but older people find true friends in them. But Albert argues with Solomon, describing his father's attitude towards wealth.
He denies himself everything, and puts the money in chests, which he then guards like a dog. And the only hope for the young man is that the time will come when he will be able to take advantage of all this wealth. How do the events that our summary describes further develop? "The Miserly Knight" tells the reader about the terrible advice that Solomon gives to young Albert.
When Solomon sees the plight of the young knight, he hints that he should hasten his father’s departure to another world by giving him poison to drink. When Albert realized the meaning of the moneylender’s hints, he was even going to hang him, he was so outraged. The frightened Jew tries to offer him money to avoid punishment, but the knight kicks him out.
Upset, Albert asks the servant to bring wine. But Ivan says that there is none left in the house. And then the young man decides to turn to the Duke for help and tell him about his misfortunes, as well as about his stingy father. Albert cherishes the hope that he will at least be able to force his father to support him as he should.
The Greedy Baron, or a description of a new character
What happens next in the tragedy? Let's continue with the summary. The stingy knight finally appears to us in person: the author introduces the reader to the father of poor Albert. The old man went to the basement, where he hides all his gold, in order to carry another handful of coins. Having opened all the chests filled with wealth, the baron lights a few candles and sits nearby to admire his fortune. All of Pushkin's works very vividly convey the images of the characters, and this tragedy is no exception.
The Baron remembers how he came into possession of each of these coins. Many of them brought people a lot of tears. Some even caused poverty and death. It even seems to him that if you collect all the tears shed for this money together, a flood will certainly happen. And then the thought occurs to him that after his death, an heir who did not deserve it at all will begin to use all this wealth.
Leads to indignation. This is how Alexander Sergeevich describes Father Albert in his work “The Stingy Knight.” An analysis of the entire tragedy will help the reader understand what this attitude towards money and neglect of his own son led the baron to.
Meeting of a greedy father and a beggar son
In fashion, the knight at this time tells the Duke about his misfortunes, about his greedy father and lack of maintenance. And he promises the young man to help convince the baron to be more generous. After some time, the father himself appeared at the palace. The Duke ordered the young man to hide in the next room, and he himself began to inquire about the baron’s health, why he so rarely appears at court, and also about where his son was.
The old man suddenly begins to complain about the heir. Allegedly, young Albert wants to kill him and take over the wealth. The Duke promises to punish the young man. But he himself runs into the room and calls the baron a liar. Then the angry father throws the glove to his son, and the young man accepts it. The Duke is not only surprised, but also outraged. He took away this symbol of the upcoming fight and kicked both of them out of the palace. But the old man’s health could not withstand such shocks, and he died on the spot. This is how the last events of the work end.
“The Stingy Knight” - which not only introduced the reader to all its characters, but also made us think about one of the human vices - greed. It is she who often destroys the relationship between close friends and relatives. Money sometimes makes people do inhumane things. Many of Pushkin’s works are filled with deep meaning and point out to the reader one or another shortcoming of a person.
Comparative analysis of the tragedy "The Miserly Knight" by A.S. Pushkin and the comedy "The Miser" by Moliere
Why do we love theater so much? Why do we rush to the auditorium in the evenings, forgetting about fatigue, the stuffiness of the gallery, leaving the comfort of home? And isn’t it strange that hundreds of people tensely stare for hours at the stage box open to the auditorium, laugh and cry, and then exultantly shout “Bravo!” and applaud?
Theater arose from a holiday, from the desire of people to merge in a single feeling, to understand their own fate in someone else’s fate, to see their thoughts and experiences embodied on stage. As we remember, in Ancient Greece, during the holidays of the cheerful god of wine and fertility, Dionysus, rituals involving dressing up, singing, and acting out scenes were adopted; On the square, amid the popular procession, comedy and tragedy were born. Then another god became the patron of art - the sun god, the strict and graceful Apollo, and his companions were not goat-legged satyrs, but lovely muses. From unbridled joy, humanity moved towards harmony.
The muse of tragedy was named Melpomene. She is full of will and movement, impulse and sublime thought. Melpomene's face shows more enlightenment than despondency. And only the mask, which the muse holds in her hands, screams in horror, pain and anger. Melpomene, as it were, overcomes suffering, which has always been the content of tragedy, and elevates us, the audience, to catharsis - the purification of the soul through suffering, a wise understanding of life.
“The essence of tragedy,” wrote V.G. Belinsky, - lies in the collision... of the natural attraction of the heart with a moral duty or simply with an insurmountable obstacle... The effect produced by tragedy is a sacred horror that shakes the soul; the action produced by comedy is laughter... The essence of comedy is the contradiction between the phenomena of life and the purpose of life.”
Let's take a closer look at the muse of comedy Talia. Throwing off her heavy cloak, she sat down on a stone, and it seems that her light body is ready for flight, play, youthful pranks and insolence. But there is also fatigue in her pose, and bewilderment in her face. Maybe Talia is thinking about how much evil there is in the world and how difficult it is for her, young, beautiful, light, to be the scourge of vices?
Comedy and tragedy confront each other as different attitudes to life. Compare the masks that Melpomene and Thalia are holding in their hands. They are irreconcilable: grief and anger, despair and mockery, pain and deceit. This is how comedy and tragedy respond differently to the contradictions of life. But Talia is not cheerful, but rather sad and thoughtful. The comedy cheerfully fights evil, but there is also bitterness in it.
To understand how comedy and tragedy are opposed and related, let us compare Pushkin’s “The Miserly Knight” and Molière’s “The Miser.” At the same time, we will see the difference in two directions of art - classicism and realism.
In the comedy of classicism, truth was allowed - “imitation of nature”; the brightness of character, in which one, main property predominated, was valued, but grace and lightness were also required. Boileau scolded Moliere for the fact that his comedies were too sharp, caustic, and harsh.
Molière's comedy "The Miser" mercilessly makes fun of the old man Harpagon, who loves money more than anything in the world. Harpagon's son Cleante is in love with a girl from a poor family, Marianne, and is very sad that he cannot help her. “It’s so bitter,” Cleant complains to his sister Eliza, “that it’s impossible to say! Indeed, what could be more terrible than this callousness, this incomprehensible stinginess of a father? What good do we need wealth in the future, if we cannot use it now, while we are young, if I am completely in debt, because I have nothing to live on, if you and I have to borrow from merchants in order to dress at least decently? ? Through the moneylender Simone, Cleant is trying to get money by paying monstrous interest. Justifying himself, he says: “This is what our fathers are bringing us to with their damned stinginess! Can we then be surprised that we wish them death?
Old Harpagon himself wants to marry young Marianne. But falling in love does not make him either generous or noble. Constantly suspecting his children and servants of wanting to rob him, he hides a box with his capital of 10 thousand ecus in the garden and runs there all the time to look after it. However, the clever servant Cleanthe Lafleche, choosing the moment, steals the box. Harpagon is furious:
“Harpagon (screams in the garden, then runs in). The thieves! The thieves! Robbers! The killers! Have mercy, heavenly powers! I died, I was killed, I was stabbed to death, my money was stolen! Who could it be? What happened to him? Where is he? Where did you hide? How can I find him? Where to run? Or should I not run? Isn't he there? Isn't he here? Who is he? Stop! Give me my money, you swindler!.. (He catches himself by the hand.) Oh, it’s me!.. I’ve lost my head - I don’t understand where I am, who I am and what I’m doing. Oh, my poor money, my dear friends, it took you away from me! They took away my support, my joy, my joy! Everything is over for me, I have nothing more to do in this world! I can't live without you! My vision darkened, my breath was taken away, I was dying, dead, buried. Who will resurrect me?
The comedy ends happily. For the sake of returning the box, Harpagon agrees to the marriage of his son and Marianne and renounces his desire to marry her.
