What is the work of a miserly knight. Alexander Pushkin - The Miserly Knight (Tragedy): Verse. About the theme and plot of the work

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Boldin autumn is one of the most fruitful periods in Pushkin's life. The cholera epidemic found the writer in his father's estate, in Boldino. Many works were born here, including The Miserly Knight. In fact, the idea for The Miserly Knight originated earlier, in 1826. However, Alexander Sergeevich finished this text only in 1830. As you know, Pushkin was engaged in a magazine - the famous Sovremennik. Therefore, it is not surprising that the work appeared on the pages of this particular edition in 1836.

Mystical collisions of "The Miserly Knight"

There is one curious moment connected with this play. The fact is that Pushkin laid autobiographical moments here. However, these details from the life of the writer concerned a very delicate topic - the stinginess of Father Alexander Sergeevich. In order to slightly confuse readers and literary critics, Pushkin provided his work with a subtitle - "From Chenstone's tragicomedy." Chenston (or William Shenston) is an 18th-century writer who, however, does not have any similar works available. The tradition of the 19th century demanded that the name of this author be written exactly as "Chenston", so sometimes there is confusion associated with names.

About the theme and plot of the work

The Miserly Knight is considered the first text in Pushkin's series of dramatic sketches. These are short plays, later called "Little Tragedies". Alexander Sergeevich had an idea: to dedicate each play to the disclosure of some particular side of the human soul. And Pushkin wanted to write not just about the side of the soul, but about passion - an all-consuming feeling. In this case, we are talking about greed. Alexander Sergeevich reveals the depth of a person's spiritual qualities, showing these qualities through sharp and unusual plots.

About the characters and images of "The Miserly Knight"

Baron image

The Baron is perhaps the key image from this Pushkin masterpiece. The hero is famous for his wealth, but the stinginess of the baron is no less than his wealth. The author spares no words when describing the wealth of the baron: chests full of gold, coins... However, the hero leaves everything intact, without pulling anything out of the chests. Here is how Baron Albert describes:

ABOUT! my father is not servants and not friends
He sees in them, but gentlemen; and serves them.
And how does it serve? like an Algerian slave
Like a dog on a chain. In an unheated kennel
Lives, drinks water, eats dry crusts,

He doesn’t sleep all night, everything runs and barks ...

According to the baron, he is omnipotent with money. Everything can be bought for gold coins, because everything is for sale - love, virtues, atrocities, genius, artistic inspiration, human labor ... Everything that interests the baron is wealth. The hero is even capable of killing if someone wants to appropriate his money for himself. When the baron suspected his son of this, he challenged him to a duel. The duke tried to prevent the duel, but the baron dies only at the thought of losing his money.

So Pushkin metaphorically shows that passion can absorb a person.

Thus, the baron can be described as a mature man, wise in his own way. The baron was well trained, brought up in the old traditions, he was once a valiant knight. But now the hero has concluded the whole meaning of life in the accumulation of money. The Baron believes that his son knows little about life to trust him with his money:

My son does not like noisy, high life;
He is wild and gloomy disposition -
Around the castle in the forests he always wanders,
Like a young deer...

money image

Money could be counted separately. How does the baron perceive wealth? Money for the baron is masters, rulers. They are not tools at all, not means, not servants. Also, the baron does not consider money friends (as the usurer Solomon thought). But the hero refuses to admit that he has become a slave to money.

Solomon treats money differently. For a moneylender, money is just a job, a way to survive in this world. However, Solomon also has a passion: in order to get rich, the hero even offers Albert to kill his father.

Albert's image

Albert is twenty years old, and youth affects the young man: the hero longs to enjoy life. Albert is depicted as a worthy young knight, strong and courageous. Albert easily wins knightly tournaments, enjoys the attention and sympathy of women. However, only a detail torments the knight - complete dependence on his own father. The young man is so poor that he has no money for knightly uniforms, a horse, armor, food. The hero is constantly forced to beg before his father. Hopelessness pushes the knight to complain about his misfortune to the duke.

So he dug his claws into her! - a monster!
Come on: don't dare in front of my eyes
Appear as long as I myself
I won't invite you...

Duke image

The duke in Pushkin's work is depicted as a representative of power who voluntarily assumes these heavy obligations. The era in which he lives, as well as people (for the callousness of their hearts), the duke condemns, calling them terrible. So - in the mouth of this hero - the author puts his own thoughts about his contemporary era.

The Duke tries to always be fair:
I believe, I believe: a noble knight,
Like you, he won't blame his father
No extreme. There are few such depraved ...
Be calm: your father
I will advise in private, without noise ...

The image of Ivan

The play also features a secondary image of Ivan, the young servant of Albert. Ivan is very devoted to his young master.

About the problems of the text

In his "Little Tragedies" the writer understands a certain vice. As for The Miserly Knight, here the author is interested in depicting stinginess. This, of course, is not one of the deadly sins, however, stinginess pushes people to destructive acts. Under the influence of stinginess, a worthy person sometimes changes beyond recognition. Pushkin presents heroes submissive to vices. And so in this play, vices are portrayed as the reason why people lose their own dignity.

About the conflict of the work

The key conflict of Pushkin's work is external. The conflict unfolds between the baron and Albert, who claims his inheritance. According to the Baron, money should be treated carefully, not wastefully. And this attitude is taught by suffering. The Baron wishes to preserve and increase his wealth. And the son, in turn, seeks to use money to enjoy life.

The poem "The Village" by Pushkin is an example of a work written far from the bustling city. We offer readers

The conflict causes a clash of interests of the characters. Moreover, the situation is greatly aggravated due to the intervention of the duke. In this situation, the baron slanders Albert. The conflict can only be resolved in a tragic way. One side must die for the conflict to end. As a result, the passion turns out to be so destructive that it kills the baron, who is represented by the mean knight. However, Pushkin does not talk about the fate of Albert, so the reader can only speculate.

On the composition and genre of The Miserly Knight

The tragedy includes three episodes. In the first scene, the writer talks about the position of the baron's son. Albert suffers from material need, because the baron is excessively stingy. In the second scene, the reader is introduced to the baron's monologue, reflecting on his passion. Finally, in the third scene, the conflict is gaining momentum, the duke, one of the most just characters, joins the conflict. Without wanting it and not assuming it, the duke accelerates the tragic denouement of the conflict. The obsessed baron dies. The climax is the death of the miserly knight. And the denouement, in turn, is the conclusion of the duke:

Terrible age, terrible hearts!

According to the genre, Pushkin's work is definitely a tragedy, since the central character dies at the end. Despite the small volume of this text, the author managed to concisely and succinctly display the whole essence.

Pushkin set out to present the psychological characteristics of a person who is obsessed with a destructive passion - avarice.

On the style and artistic originality of The Miserly Knight

It should be said that the author created Pushkin's tragedies more for theatrical production than for reading. There are many theatrical elements in the work - for example, what is the image of a miserly knight, a dark basement and shiny gold worth. In addition, critics consider this text a poetic masterpiece.

Mystical and biblical subtexts of the work

However, Pushkin lays deeper meanings in his text than it seems at first glance. The baron is not attracted to wealth per se. The hero is more interested in the world of ideas and emotions associated with gold. This is the difference between the image of the baron and the images of "misers" from Russian comedies of the 18th century (as an example, we can recall the heroes from the works of Derzhavin). Initially, Alexander Sergeevich took the epigraph from Derzhavin's text called "Skopikhin". In literature, writers tend to deduce several types. The first type is comedy-satirical (miser), and the second type is lofty, tragic (hoarder). Baron, respectively, belongs to the second type. The combination of these types is observed in Gogol's "Dead Souls", and specifically - in the personality of Plyushkin.

High drive image

This image is fully revealed in the baron's monologue presented in the second part of The Miserly Knight. The author describes how the baron goes to the dungeon of his castle. This, in turn, is a symbol of the altar in the underworld, the devil's sanctuary. The hero pours a handful of coins into the chest. This chest is not yet full. In this scene, the confession of the hero in front of him is presented. In addition, here Pushkin cites a common leitmotif for the entire cycle of tragedies - a feast by candlelight. Such a feast pleases both the eyes and the soul - this is a sacrament, a mass for money.

This is the mystical subtext of Pushkin's work, which is combined with the gospel paraphrases from the baron's confession. Pushkin describes the piled gold as a “proud hill”. Standing on a hill, rising above the surrounding world, the baron feels power. The lower the hero bends over gold, the stronger, the more his passion rises. And passion is the embodiment of a demonic spirit. The reader probably noticed a similar image in the Bible: the Devil promises Jesus Christ world power. To demonstrate power, the Devil lifts Christ to a high hill. Sometimes literary critics see the baron as an inverted image of God. Considering that gold is a symbol of power over the world, the words of the baron about kingship are not surprising.

Another question is why the baron treats his son as an enemy. This has nothing to do with Albert's moral character. The reason is the extravagance of the young man. Albert's pocket is not a place where gold accumulates, but an abyss, an abyss that absorbs money.

Antipodes

In order to focus on the destructive nature of passions, the writer introduces an antipode character, a contrasting image of the protagonist. The baron's antipode is a usurer (Jew). Solomon lends Albert money, but in the end pushes the young man to kill his father. However, the young knight does not want to commit such a sin and drives the usurer away.

“Do I wander along the noisy streets…” is a work that reflected the philosophical reflections of Alexander Pushkin on eternal questions. We invite lovers of the classics to read

The usurer wants gold as a medium of exchange. There are no elevated emotions here, like a baron. This is also seen in the behavior of Solomon. The mode of action of the usurer betrays the scoundrel rather than the knight in the hero. In this context, it is symbolic that the author singles out individual characters into a separate category of knights.

The tragedy "The Miserly Knight" by Pushkin was written in 1830, in the so-called "Boldino autumn" - the most productive creative period of the writer. Most likely, the idea of ​​the book was inspired by the difficult relationship between Alexander Sergeevich and his stingy father. One of Pushkin's "little tragedies" was first published in 1936 in Sovremennik under the title "Scene from Chenstone's tragicomedy".

For a reader's diary and better preparation for a literature lesson, we recommend reading the online summary of The Miserly Knight chapter by chapter.

Main characters

Baron- a mature man of the old school, in the past a valiant knight. He sees the meaning of all life in the accumulation of wealth.

Albert- A twenty-year-old youth, a knight, forced to endure extreme poverty due to the excessive stinginess of his father, the baron.

Other characters

Jew Solomon is a pawnbroker who regularly lends money to Albert.

Ivan- a young servant of the knight Albert, who serves him faithfully.

duke- the main representative of the authorities, in whose subordination are not only ordinary residents, but also all the local nobility. Acts as a judge during the confrontation between Albert and the baron.

Scene I

Knight Albert shares his problems with his servant Ivan. Despite the noble origin and knighthood, the young man is in great need. At the last tournament, his helmet was pierced by the spear of Count Delorge. And, although the enemy was defeated, Albert is not too happy about his victory, for which he had to pay a price that was too high for him - damaged armor.

The horse Emir was also injured, which after a fierce battle began to limp. In addition, the young nobleman needs a new dress. During a dinner party, he was forced to sit in armor and make excuses to the ladies that "I got to the tournament by accident."

Albert confesses to the faithful Ivan that his brilliant victory over Count Delorge was not due to courage, but to the stinginess of his father. The young man is forced to make do with the crumbs that his father gives him. He has no choice but to sigh heavily: “O poverty, poverty! How it humiliates our hearts!”

To buy a new horse, Albert is forced once again to turn to the usurer Solomon. However, he refuses to give money without a mortgage. Solomon gently leads the young man to the idea that "what time is it for the baron to die", and offers the services of a pharmacist who makes an effective and fast-acting poison.

Enraged, Albert chases away the Jew who dared to suggest that he poison his own father. However, he is no longer able to drag out a miserable existence. The young knight decides to seek help from the duke so that he can influence the stingy father, and he will stop holding his own son, "like a mouse born underground".

Scene II

The baron descends into the basement to pour "a handful of accumulated gold" into the still incomplete sixth chest. He compares his savings to a hill that has grown thanks to small handfuls of earth brought by soldiers on the orders of the king. From the height of this hill, the ruler could admire his possessions.

So the baron, looking at his wealth, feels his power and superiority. He understands that, if desired, he can afford anything, any joy, any meanness. The feeling of one's own strength calms a man, and he is quite "enough of this consciousness."

The money that the baron brings to the cellar has a bad reputation. Looking at them, the hero remembers that he received the “old doubloon” from an inconsolable widow with three children, who sobbed in the rain for half a day. She was forced to give the last coin in payment of the debt of her dead husband, but the tears of the poor woman did not pity the insensitive baron.

The miser has no doubts about the origin of the other coin - of course, it was stolen by the rogue and rogue Thibaut, but this in no way worries the baron. The main thing is that the sixth chest of gold is slowly but surely replenished.

Every time he opens the chest, the old curmudgeon falls into "heat and trepidation." However, he is not afraid of the attack of the villain, no, he is tormented by a strange feeling, akin to the pleasure that an inveterate killer experiences, plunging a knife into the chest of his victim. The baron is “pleasant and scared together”, and in this he feels true bliss.

Admiring his wealth, the old man is truly happy, and only one thought gnaws at him. The Baron understands that his last hour is near, and after his death, all these treasures, acquired through years of hardship, will be in the hands of his son. Golden coins will flow like a river into “satiny pockets”, and a careless young man will instantly spread his father’s wealth around the world, squander it in the company of young charmers and cheerful friends.

The Baron dreams that even after death, in the form of a spirit, he will guard his chests with gold with a “guard shadow”. A possible separation from the dead weight acquired by good falls on the soul of an old man, for whom the only joy of life lies in increasing his wealth.

Scene III

Albert complains to the duke that he has to experience "the shame of bitter poverty", and asks to reason with his overly greedy father. The duke agrees to help the young knight - he remembers the good relations between his grandfather and the miserly baron. In those days, he was still an honest, brave knight without fear and reproach.

Meanwhile, the duke notices in the window the baron, who is heading to his castle. He orders Albert to hide in the next room, and receives his father in his chambers. After an exchange of mutual pleasantries, the duke invites the baron to send his son to him - he is ready to offer the young knight a decent salary and service at court.

To which the old baron replies that this is impossible, because the son wanted to kill him and rob him. Unable to bear such impudent slander, Albert jumps out of the room and accuses his father of lying. The father tosses the glove to the son, who picks it up, indicating that he accepts the challenge.

Stunned by what he saw, the duke separates father and son, and in anger drives them out of the palace. Such a scene causes the death of the old baron, who in the last moments of his life thinks only about his wealth. The duke is in dismay: "A terrible age, terrible hearts!".

Conclusion

In the work "The Miserly Knight" under the close attention of Alexander Sergeevich is such a vice as greed. Under its influence, irreversible personality changes occur: the once fearless and noble knight becomes a slave to gold coins, he completely loses his dignity, and is even ready to harm his only son, if only he does not take possession of his wealth.

After reading the retelling of The Miserly Knight, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the full version of Pushkin's play.

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Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich

Miserly knight

(SCENES FROM CHENSTON'S TRAGICOMEDY: THE COVETOUS KNIGHT )

In the tower

Albert And Ivan

Albert

By all means in the tournament

I will appear. Show me the helmet, Ivan.

Ivan gives him a helmet.

Broken through, damaged. Impossible

Put it on. I need to get a new one.

What a blow! damned Count Delorge!

And you repaid him in kind:

How did you knock him out of the stirrups,

He lay dead for days - and hardly

Recovered.

Albert

And yet he is not at a loss;

His bib is intact Venetian,

And his own chest: he is not worth a penny;

Will not buy another one.

Why didn't I take off his helmet right there!

And I would take it off if I wasn't ashamed

I will give the duke also. Damned Count!

He'd rather punch me in the head.

And I need a dress. Last time

All the knights were sitting here in the atlas

Yes, velvet; I was alone in armor

At the ducal table. dissuaded

I mean that I got to the tournament by accident.

And now what shall I say? O poverty, poverty!

How it humiliates our hearts!

When Delorge with his heavy spear

He pierced my helmet and galloped past,

And I spurred with an open head

My Emir, rushed off like a whirlwind

And threw the count twenty paces,

Like a little page; like all ladies

They got up from their seats when Clotilde herself,

Covering her face, she screamed involuntarily,

And the heralds praised my blow, -

Then no one thought about the reason

And my courage and marvelous strength!

I got mad for the damaged helmet,

What was the fault of heroism? - stinginess.

Yes! it is not difficult to get infected here

Under the same roof as my father.

What is my poor Emir?

He's limping.

You can't drive it yet.

Albert

Well, there's nothing to do: I'll buy Gnedy.

Inexpensive and asking for it.

It's cheap, but we don't have money.

Albert

What does the loafer Solomon say?

He says he can no longer

Loans to give you money without collateral.

Albert

Mortgage! and where can I get a mortgage, the devil!

I said.

Albert

Grunts and cries.

Albert

Would you tell him that my father

Rich himself, like a Jew, that sooner or later

I inherit everything.

I told.

Albert

It cries and groans.

Albert

What grief!

He himself wanted to come.

Albert

Well, thank God.

I won't release it without a ransom.

They knock on the door.

Included Jew.

Your servant is low.

Albert

Ah, buddy!

Cursed Jew, venerable Solomon,

Perhaps here: so you, I hear

Don't believe in debt.

Ah, merciful knight,

I swear to you: I would be glad ... I really can’t.

Where to get money? I'm all ruined

All the knights diligently helping.

Nobody pays. I wanted to ask you

Can't you give away some...

Albert

Robber!

Yes, if I had money,

Would I mess with you? full,

Don't be stubborn, my dear Solomon;

Come on, rednecks. Give me a hundred

Until you get frisked.

If only I had a hundred ducats!

Albert

Aren't you ashamed of your friends

Don't bail out?

I swear...

Albert

Full, full.

Do you require a deposit? what nonsense!

What will I pledge to you? pig skin?

When I could pawn something, long ago

I would have sold. Or a knightly word

Is it enough for you, dog?

your word,

As long as you are alive, a lot, a lot means.

All chests of the Flemish rich

Like a talisman, it will unlock you.

But if you pass it

Me, a poor Jew, and meanwhile

Die (God forbid), then

In my hands it will be like

The key to the abandoned box in the sea.

Albert

Will my father outlive me?

How to know? our days are not numbered by us;

The young man blossomed in the evening, and now he has died,

And here are his four old men

Carry on hunched shoulders to the grave.

The Baron is healthy. God willing - ten years, twenty

And he will live twenty-five and thirty.

Albert

You're lying, Jew: yes, in thirty years

I hit fifty, then the money

What will be good for me?

Money? - money

Always, at every age are suitable for us;

But the young man in them is looking for nimble servants

And not sparing sends there, here.

The old man sees in them reliable friends

And he keeps them like the apple of his eye.

Albert

ABOUT! my father is not servants and not friends

He sees in them, but gentlemen; and serves them.

And how does it serve? like an Algerian slave

Like a dog on a chain. In an unheated kennel

Lives, drinks water, eats dry crusts,

He does not sleep all night, everything runs and barks.

And the gold is calm in the chests

Lies to himself. Be quiet! some day

It will serve me, it will forget to lie down.

Yes, at the baron's funeral

More money will be shed than tears.

God send you an inheritance soon.

Albert

And can b...

Albert

So, I thought that the remedy

There is such...

Albert

"The Miserly Knight" was conceived in 1826, and completed in the Boldin autumn in 1830. It was published in 1836 in the Sovremennik magazine. Pushkin gave the play the subtitle "From Chenstone's tragicomedy". But the writer of the 18th century Shenstone (in the tradition of the 19th century his name was spelled Chenstone) there was no such play. Perhaps Pushkin referred to a foreign author so that his contemporaries would not suspect that the poet described the relationship with his father, known for 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 (stinginess in The Miserly Knight). Mental qualities, 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 and not friends for him, as for the usurer Solomon, but the Lord. The Baron does not want to admit to himself that money has enslaved him. He believes that thanks to the money, quietly sleeping in chests, everything is subject to him: 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 duel is prevented by the duke, but the very possibility of losing money kills the baron. The passion that the baron is possessed consumes him.

Solomon has a different attitude to money: it is a way to achieve a goal, to survive. But, like the baron, for the sake of enrichment, he does not shun anything, offering Albert to 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 the tournament, only out of desperation he decides to complain to the duke.

Albert has excellent spiritual qualities, he is kind, 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 pass to him by inheritance. When the usurer Solomon offers to set Albert up with an apothecary who sells poison to poison his father, the knight casts him out 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 assumed this burden. The duke calls his age and the hearts of people terrible. Through the mouth of the Duke, Pushkin also speaks of his time.

Issues

In every little tragedy, Pushkin peers intently at some vice. In The Miserly Knight, this pernicious passion is stinginess: the change in the personality of a once worthy member of society under the influence of vice; the hero's obedience 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 endured so as not to be wasted. The goal of the baron is to preserve and increase, the goal of Albert is to use and enjoy. The conflict is caused by the 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 the difficult financial situation of Albert, associated with the stinginess of his father. 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 causes the death of the hero obsessed with passion. The climax (the death of the baron) is adjacent to the denouement - the conclusion of the duke: "A terrible age, terrible hearts!"

Genre

The Miserly Knight is a tragedy, that is, a dramatic work in which the protagonist dies. Pushkin achieved the small size of his tragedies, 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 variety of vices.

Style and artistic originality

All "Little Tragedies" are intended not so much to be read as to be staged: how theatrical the stingy knight looks in a dark cellar among gold, flickering in the light of a candle! The dialogues of the tragedies are dynamic, and the stingy knight's monologue is a poetic masterpiece. The reader can see how bloodied villainy crawls into the basement and licks the hand of a miserly knight. The images of The Miserly Knight are impossible to forget.

• "The Miserly Knight", a summary of the scenes of Pushkin's play
• "The Captain's Daughter", a summary of the chapters of Pushkin's story