Phenomenon XXI

Podkolesin And Kochkarev.

Agafya Tikhonovna , merchant's daughter, bride.

Arina Panteleimonovna , aunt.

Fekla Ivanovna , matchmaker.

Podkolesin , employee, court adviser.

Kochkarev , his friend.

Fried eggs , executor.

Anuchkin , retired infantry officer.

Zhevakin , sailor.

Dunyashka , girl in the house.

Starikov , gostinodvorets.

Stepan , a servant of Podkolesin.

Bachelor's room.

Podkolesin alone, lies on the couch with a pipe.

That's how you start thinking about it alone at your leisure, so you see that at last you definitely need to get married. What, really? You live, you live, but such filth finally becomes. Here again missed the meat-eater. But it seems that everything is ready, and the matchmaker has been walking for three months now. The right, most somehow becomes ashamed. Hey Stepan!

Podkolesin , Stepan .

Podkolesin . Didn't the matchmaker come?

Stepan . Not at all.

Podkolesin . Did you have a tailor?

Stepan . Was.

Podkolesin . Well, is he sewing a tailcoat?

Stepan . Sews.

Podkolesin . And have you already sewn a lot?

Stepan . Yes, that's enough. I started throwing loops.

Podkolesin . What are you saying?

Stepan. I say: I have already begun to throw loops.

Podkolesin. But he didn’t ask why, they say, the master’s tailcoat is needed?

Stepan. No, I didn't.

Podkolesin. Maybe he said, does the master want to marry?

Stepan. No, he didn't say anything.

Podkolesin. Have you seen, however, that he has other tailcoats? After all, he also sews for others?

Stepan. Yes, he has a lot of tailcoats.

Podkolesin. However, after all, the cloth on them, tea, will be worse than on mine?

Stepan. Yeah, it'll be a little better looking than what's on yours.

Podkolesin. What are you spurring?

Stepan. I say: it's better than what's on yours.

Podkolesin. Fine. Well, he didn’t ask: why, they say, does the gentleman sew a tailcoat from such fine cloth?

Stepan. No.

Podkolesin. Didn't say anything about whether he wants to, disk, get married?

Stepan. No, he didn't talk about it.

Podkolesin. However, did you say what rank I have and where I serve?

Stepan. He said.

Podkolesin. What is he to it?

Stepan. He says I will try.

Podkolesin. Fine. Now go.

Stepan leaves.

Podkolesin one.

I am of the opinion that a black coat is somehow more solid. Colored ones are more suitable for secretaries, titular and other small fry, something milky. Those who are higher in rank should observe more, as they say, this ... I forgot the word! and a good word, but forgot. Yes, father, no matter how you turn yourself there, but the court adviser is the same colonel, except perhaps a uniform without an epaulette. Hey Stepan!

Podkolesin, Stepan.

Podkolesin. Did you buy a wax?

Stepan. Bought.

Podkolesin. Where did you buy? In that shop that I told you about, on Voznesensky Prospekt?

Stepan. Yes, in the same one.

Podkolesin. Well, good wax?

Stepan. Good.

Podkolesin. Have you tried cleaning your boots with it?

Stepan. Tried.

Podkolesin. Well, is it shiny?

Stepan. Shine, she shines well.

Podkolesin. And when he gave you a polish, he didn’t ask why, they say, the master needs such a polish?

Stepan. No.

Podkolesin. Maybe he didn't say: isn't the gentleman planning to get married?

Stepan. No, he didn't say anything.

Podkolesin. Okay, well, go ahead.

Podkolesin one.

It seems that boots are an empty thing, but, however, if they are badly sewn and a red-haired black shoe, there will not be such respect in good society. Everything is somehow wrong ... That's still disgusting, if corns. Ready to endure God knows what, just not blisters. Hey Stepan!

Podkolesin, Stepan.

Stepan. What would you like?

Podkolesin. Did you tell the shoemaker not to have blisters?

Stepan. Said.

Podkolesin. What does he say?

Stepan. Says good.

Stepan leaves.

Podkolesin, Then Stepan.

Podkolesin. But troublesome, damn it, the thing of marriage! This, yes, yes this. So that yes it was in order - no, damn it, it's not as easy as they say. Hey Stepan!

Stepan is included.

I also wanted to tell you...

Stepan. The old woman came.

Podkolesin. Ah, she came; call her here.

Stepan leaves.

Yes, it's a thing... but that's a... difficult thing.

Podkolesin And Fekla.

Podkolesin. Ah, hello, hello, Fyokla Ivanovna. Well? How? Take a chair, sit down, and tell me. Well, so how, how? What do you call her: Melania? ..

Fekla. Agafya Tikhonovna.

Podkolesin. Yes, yes, Agafya Tikhonovna. And right, some forty-year-old maiden?

Fekla. Well, no, it's not. That is, as you get married, every day you will begin to praise and thank.

Podkolesin. You're lying, Fyokla Ivanovna.

Fekla. I am outdated, my father, to lie; the dog is lying.

Podkolesin. What about a dowry, a dowry? Tell me again.

Fekla. And the dowry: a stone house in the Moscow part, about two eltazh, so profitable that it is a real pleasure. One labaznik pays seven hundred for a shop. The beer cellar also attracts a large community. Two wooden hligers: one hliger is completely wooden, the other is on a stone foundation; every four hundred rubles brings income. There is also a garden on the Vyborg side: the third year the merchant hired for cabbage; and such a sober merchant, does not take drunkenness in his mouth at all, and has three sons: he has already married two, “and the third, he says, is still young, let him sit in the shop so that it would be easier to send trade. I’m already, he says, old, so let my son sit in the shop so that trade goes easier.

Podkolesin. Yes, what is it like?

Fekla. Like a refinate! White, ruddy, like blood with milk, the sweetness is such that it is impossible to describe. For now you will be satisfied (pointing to throat); that is, you will say to a friend and an enemy: “Ah yes, Fekla Ivanovna, thank you!”

Year of writing: 1833

Genre of work: play

Main characters: Agafya Tikhonovna, Ivan Kuzmich Podkolyosin, matchmaker Fyokla Ivanovna the groom's friend Kochkarev

In the works of Gogol, questions of the maturity of the individual are often raised, you can see this by reading summary play "Marriage" for the reader's diary.

Plot

Agafya is the daughter of a merchant, who has sat up in brides. She has 6 suitors to choose from. The matchmaking process takes place under the control of the matchmaker. The bride is determined in favor of Podkolesin, who is long overdue to start a family. Other candidates Agafya kicks out.

The future groom doubts the need to tie the knot. On the one hand, the years go by, on the other, he is afraid family life. The hero likes the bride, but, in the end, Agafya's friend Kochkarev makes an offer for him.

Left alone, while the future wife is preparing to leave, Podkolesin realizes that he is still not ready to marry, and runs away through the window. Everyone rushes in search of the fugitive. Agafya remains in the cold - the groom chosen by her fled, and she kicked out the rest.

Conclusion (my opinion)

How the story ended, the reader can guess. The author left the play open. the main idea storytelling - each person must be responsible for their decisions and actions.

In literature assignments, the topic is often found: “Summary (“Marriage”, Gogol)”. The author filled the work with satire, characters, depicting the realism of the life of the nobility in the provinces. Now this play is rightfully considered a classic. This article will introduce the play "Marriage". Summary (Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol originally called the work “Grooms”) will slightly open the veil of what should be seen on the stage of the theater. You won't regret it.

How is the play divided into sections?

You will not waste time in vain by going to a performance based on a play by such an author as Gogol N.V. (“Marriage”). A summary of the chapters will not be able to convey the irony of what is happening.

The plays of that time are very difficult to break into pieces, because they provide for 2-3 actions and an infinite number of phenomena. There is no separation in the format of the novel, so you will have to break everything into logical scenes yourself.

It's hard enough to summarize. "Marriage" (Gogol is a master of dialogues) has the most important component of the play - the unique conversations of the characters. But even without them, the irony of the author is understandable.

The beginning of the story

The beauty of the play lies in its plot, this is confirmed by the summary. "Marriage" (Gogol more than once unsuccessfully wanted to put it on stage) was played for the first time on December 9, 1842 in St. Petersburg. The comedy drew mixed responses from critics.

The beginning of the play is the home of the bachelor Podkolesin.

The lazy, smoker, nobleman Ivan Kuzmich Podkolesin, lies on the couch all day (if he is not in the service, of course). The bachelor life, it seems, completely suits him, but something is missing! Performing the duties of an adviser, Podkolesin behaves like a colonel, despising people of low rank. To give his person even more importance, he decides to marry. Of course, not for the sake of love, but for the sake of talking about him and about a significant event.

The matchmaker, Fyokla Ivanovna, "ate the dog" on people like him. It is not so important for them who to marry and what dowry the bride will have. If only there was. Therefore, such issues are resolved quickly and for a “good price”. However, Ivan Kuzmich was lucky - just at the same time they were looking for a groom for Agafya Tikhonovna Kuperdyagina, and Fekla intends to bring them together.

Disservice

At the very moment she comes to talk with Podkolesin, Ilya Fomich Kochkarev, Ivan Kuzmich's best friend, arrives with her. At one time, Thekla married him, and not very successfully. Having found out information about Agafya Tikhonovna from the matchmaker, Ilya Fomich kicks her out, declaring that he will woo a friend. Yes, the fact is that Kochkarev is an extremely stubborn fellow, he is used to, as they say, from the spot - to the quarry. Therefore, he takes Podkolesin to Agafya Tikhonovna immediately.

Three more grooms arrive at the Kuperdyagins' house together with Podkolesin, but under the leadership of Fekla. They get to know each other, communicate - each understands why the other came. Finally, the bride herself appears. Grooms vying with each other speak with her in the way it is supposed to be in Russian matchmaking - initially on extraneous topics. Only Ivan Kuzmich is silent, Kochkarev speaks for him.

persistence

However, their hints are clear to Agafya Tikhonovna. Unable to stand it, she simply runs away to another room. The dumbfounded men are left alone with the matchmaker, who suggests that they wait until the evening. Everyone agrees.

One Kochkarev cannot calm down. He urges to go to the bride right now. Podkolesin insists that the lady should choose herself. But he agrees to marry immediately if all the other suitors fall away.

The power of cunning

In the evening, Agafya Tikhonovna tries to determine by lot who is more dear to her. She likes all suitors equally, and she simply cannot decide. Suddenly, Kochkarev appears in the room, insisting on the need to choose Ivan Kuzmich.

He praises him, telling him what a wonderful person he is. He condemns all the other suitors: that fighter, that brawler. He offers to slam the door in front of their noses and just talk alone with Podkolesin to see how right Ilya Fomich is.

Each groom in the evening tends to come first to chat with the bride. In the end, they all gather at the Kuperdyagins' house ahead of schedule and almost at the same time. Once again, they are forced to communicate with each other, almost without hiding disgust. There is everything except the main character.

Here comes Agafya Tikhonovna. Suitors immediately pounce on her with conversations. She, frightened, uses the advice of Kochkarev, kicks everyone out and runs out of the room herself. Ilya Fomich immediately appears, blaming the bride. His trick is working. Future grooms are almost convinced that the bride is bad. They leave the Kuperdyagins, opening the way for Ivan Kuzmich.

Alone

The next scene (appearance XIV) is very important. And it is necessary to mention it, if we are already presenting a summary. “Marriage” (Gogol opened the characters in a new way with such a small dialogue) is a play filled with ridiculous scenes that surprisingly convey all the comedy and absurdity of the situation, the heaviness that hung in the air. Such a dialogue must be read, delving into every word.

Podkolyosin enters the stage. He does not know what to talk about, what to discuss.

They jump from topic to topic, from weather to workers. They are simply lost, but they feel sympathy for each other. This is especially noticeable in Agafya Tikhonovna, who, despite the modesty of her interlocutor, cannot but be amazed at his soul. And this is probably the best scene in the whole play.

Final part

So, it would seem that everything has settled down. The newlyweds timidly talk to each other, both like each other ... But Kochkarev reappears. He (speaking in his ear) demands from Podkolesin to make an offer to Agafya Tikhonovna. But he refuses.

Then Ilya Fomich does it himself, referring to the timidity of Ivan Kuzmich. The bride answers “yes” and runs off to change, because the wedding is already today!

However, Podkolesin does not dare to take such a desperate step. They quarrel with Kochkarev, then reconcile. On emotions, Ivan Kuzmich thanks Ilya Fomich, and he leaves to check if everything is in order with the bride. At the same time, he takes his friend's hat so that he does not leave. However, Podkolesin is not going to leave anyone. On the contrary, he is indescribably happy. With himself, he conducts a monologue about all the delights of marriage, walks around the room, arguing that now he will not be alone!

And at some point he realizes that he does not like all this. But where to go? Only run. And he escapes through the open window.

The bride enters the room, but does not find her future husband in it. A silent scene, after which all eyes turn to Kochkarev. He doesn't even know what to do. Everyone starts scolding him for what the light is worth.

This is how you can end the summary of the book “Marriage” (the author, whose name is N.V. Gogol, everyone knows today).

Conclusion

Gogol had amazing qualities.

Being a man prone to mysticism, dark, incomprehensible, he liked to instill fear in the reader, but at the same time he remained an incredibly humorous person. The satire in the form of the play "Marriage" is a vivid example of this. Here Nikolai Vasilievich managed to laugh at everything, from the bad institute of courtship of the nobles, from cowardice to excessive determination and self-confidence.

The author would probably be surprised how popular the play has become, and how often one can read on theater posters: "Marriage", Gogol. A very brief content, of course, does not allow you to enjoy many of its aspects to the fullest. For example, dialogues that in many ways resembled the future Ostrovsky.

It remains to be hoped that the summary of Gogol's play "The Marriage" will provide an opportunity to at least feel the "flavor" of the author's gigantic irony, his ability to show everything from a funny side. And if it makes you want to read the play or see it staged, then believe me, you won't regret it. This work deserves its place on your bookshelf.

Family play "Marriage"

The history of the creation of the play "Marriage"

Theatrical interests occupied a large place in the life of N. V. Gogol. It is not surprising that the very first attempts of the writer to turn from the romantic fiction "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" to modern reality led him to the idea of ​​​​creating a comedy. Evidence of this goes back to the end of 1832 (letter from P. A. Pletnev to V. A. Zhukovsky dated December 8, 1832). And on February 20, 1833, the author himself informs M. N. Pogodin:

“I didn’t write to you: I’m obsessed with comedy. She, when I was in Moscow, on the road [Gogol returned to St. Petersburg on October 30, 1832 - A. S.], and when I arrived here, did not get out of my head, but so far I have not written anything. The plot had already begun to be drawn up the other day, and the title was already written on a thick white notebook:

"Vladimir of the 3rd degree", and how much anger! laughter! salt!.. But suddenly he stopped, seeing that the pen was just pushing against such places that the censorship would never let through. What if the play is not being played? Drama lives only on the stage. Without it, she is like a soul without a body. What kind of master will carry an unfinished work for show to the people? There is nothing left for me but to invent the most innocent plot, which even a quarterly could not be offended by. But what is a comedy without truth and malice! So, I can’t take on a comedy ”See: Khrapchenko M.B. Nikolai Gogol: Literary Way: The greatness of the writer. - M., 1984. - S. 168 - 169 .. This testimony of Gogol speaks volumes. Here, with great force, the advanced ideas of Gogol's theatrical aesthetics are formulated and the ideological orientation of his dramaturgy is revealed. "Truth" and "malice", i.e., realism and bold, merciless criticism - this is the ideological and artistic law of comedy. Without it, it doesn't make sense. Gogol's comedy had to meet these requirements. Her critical focus went far beyond the limits of censorship. The conceived comedy was to become a vivid example of critical realism. The plot gave a full opportunity for this: the hero seeks to be awarded the order by any means, but fails due to the machinations of ambitious people like himself, and goes crazy, imagining himself Vladimir of the third degree. Gogol dealt a blow to the main vices of the bureaucratic system of that time. The written parts of the failed comedy (“Morning of a Business Man”, “Tyazhba”, “Lakeyskaya”, “Excerpt”) confirm this nature of Gogol's plan.

In search of a plot that even the quarterly could not be offended by, Gogol turns to the idea of ​​a comedy on a family and everyday theme. In 1833, he began to write "The Marriage" (the original title was "Grooms"). Through a series of intermediate revisions, Gogol only in 1841 comes to the final version of the comedy, which was published in 1842. In the last edition of the play, Gogol not only changes certain aspects of the content (for example, the action originally took place in a landowner's estate and the landowner tried to get married) , but, more importantly, in accordance with the development of his aesthetic views, he frees comedy from the elements of vaudeville, from the methods of external comedy. "Marriage" becomes a social comedy from the life of merchants and bureaucrats. In the plot about the matchmaking of suitors differing in character and position to a merchant's daughter, the comedian ridicules the stagnation, primitive life of the depicted environment, the squalor spiritual world people in this circle. With great force, Gogol showed the vulgarization of love and marriage, characteristic of this environment, so poetically depicted by him in stories from folk life (“Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”). Grotesquely sharpening the outline of the characters and the unexpected denouement (the groom's flight at the last minute through the window), Gogol gives his comedy the subtitle "An absolutely incredible event in two acts." But this is only a means, characteristic of the comic writer, of emphasizing the vitality of his work. The realism of The Marriage was opposed to the conventions of those melodramas and vaudevilles, the dominance of which in the repertoire of the Russian theater Gogol complained.

In the history of the genre of family comedy "Marriage" has an important place. The great talent of a comic writer allowed Gogol to develop and enrich the traditions of Russian comedy, which was already turning to merchant life. The genre features of such a comedy were further developed in the dramaturgy of A. N. Ostrovsky. In his very first comedy, "Our people - let's settle" the reader met with the merchant's daughter, dreaming of a "noble" groom, and with the matchmaker - an indispensable participant in the marriage deal.

In the initial drafts of The Marriage (1833), the action took place in the countryside, among the landlords. Neither Podkolesin nor Kochkarev were in the early text. Then the action was transferred to St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg characters Podkolesin and Kochkarev appeared. V. G. Belinsky defined the essence of the final edition of this comedy in this way: Gogol's "Marriage" is not a crude farce, but a picture full of truth and artistically reproduced picture of the mores of the St. Petersburg society of the middle hand" Belinsky V.G. Full coll. op. in 13 volumes - M., 1959. - V.5, S.333.

This is not the capital Petersburg of Nevsky Prospekt, Millionnaya Street and Angliyskaya Embankment, this is provincial Petersburg - the Moscow part, Sands, Shestilavochnaya, Soap lanes, one-story wooden houses with front gardens.

The comedy is built on a paradox: everything revolves around marriage, but no one is in love, there is no trace of love in comedy. Marriage is an enterprise, a business. This attitude to marriage is familiar to Ivan Fedorovich Shponka: “... Then he suddenly dreamed that his wife was not a person at all, but some kind of woolen matter; that he comes to the merchant's shop in Mogilev. “What matter do you order? - says the merchant. “You take a wife, this is the most fashionable matter! Very kind! Everyone now sews frock coats out of it.” The merchant measures and cuts his wife. Ivan Fedorovich takes it under his arm, goes to ... the tailor "Gogol N.V. complete collection works: In 14 volumes - M., L., 1939. - T. 1. - S. 320 ..

All the absurdity of marriage as a deal, nakedly shown in Ivan Fyodorovich's dream, became main theme Gogol's comedies. Exposing the vulgarity of the St. Petersburg philistines, Gogol the playwright expanded the circle of social observations and sketches he made in Ukrainian and St. Petersburg stories. The way of thinking and feeling, the very structure of the speech of the characters introduces the reader into the limited world of the capital's inhabitants, not far removed in their development from the inhabitants of Mirgorod. And at the same time, behind the images of the merchant’s daughter Agafya Tikhonovna, her aunt Arina Panteleymonovna, the matchmaker Fyokla Ivanovna, the Starikov’s hotel palace and four suitors, there arises the image of St. cabbies who, for a dime, are driven through the whole city.

"Marriage", of course, goes far beyond the boundaries of St. Petersburg life. In this satirical comedy, as in his other works, Gogol sought to present the reader with all of Rus', in all its details.

Gogol's special attention to "The Marriage" can be explained precisely by the fact that he already saw in the play's conception the possibility of a broad social generalization - this can be traced even in its draft versions. Conceiving "Vladimir of the 3rd degree", Gogol writes that "this comedy will have a lot of" salt and anger ". This "anger" did not evaporate during the transition to "Grooms", but, on the contrary, increased.

If in “Vladimir of the 3rd degree”, in the small comedies that broke away from him, in “The Government Inspector”, Gogol was preoccupied with the public face of his characters, then in “Marriage”, Gogol’s only comedy in this sense, we are talking about personal matters, about intimate the world of people, about the arrangement of their own destiny. Officials and landowners, merchants and nobles are presented here simply as people who have exposed their most intimate feelings.

Nothing much has changed due to the fact that the action, which in "Vladimir of the 3rd degree" was supposed to unfold in St. Petersburg, was transferred to the village in "The Marriage" - the satirical intensity of the comedy has not weakened. Agafya Tikhonovna's gallery of village grooms is a vivid satire on the then society. Basically painted with the same colors as in the final edition, all of them: Fried eggs (called at one time Pot), and Onuchin (later Anuchin), and Zhevakin, and the stutterer Panteleev (who later remained only in Fyokla's stories) - they are all voluntary slaves of vulgarity, devoid of even personal virtues.

Every time when it comes to the analysis of "The Marriage", thoughts arise about the satirical intensity associated only with the denunciations of officials. This play is placed, as a rule, lower than The Inspector General and the unfulfilled plan of Vladimir 3rd degree, because there the characters are revealed in social manifestations, but here - at home. It would seem that a person is shown by Gogol "at home", outside of his social ties, but, nevertheless, he is revealed as a social unit - this is the satirical prick of "Marriage".

Excluded from the sphere of service interests, Podkolyosin and other suitors of Agafya Tikhonovna could show the usual individual human traits. But not for a minute does Fried Eggs stop being a fat and rude executor, frightening his subordinates with his practiced bass. Not for a second does Podkolyosin forget that he is a court adviser, that even the color of his tailcoat is not the same as that of the titular small fry.

The strength of this comedy also lies in the fact that Gogol showed the close relationship between personal life and social life, showed how the moral character of people who are the backbone of autocratic-bureaucratic Russia is formed.

The satirical aim of "Marriage" is felt from the first lines of the comedy, because Podkolyosin lying at home on the couch is the same Podkolyosin who will receive his subordinates tomorrow morning. There are only two people in the room - he and Stepan, who is standing near the lying master. It is impossible not to hear Stepan's answers. And yet, Podkolesin continually asks the servant again: “What are you talking about?”. And he, not surprised or annoyed, stupidly repeats everything from the beginning.

Podkolesin. Did you have a tailor?

Stepan. Was.

Podkolesin. ... And have you already sewn a lot? ..

Stepan. Yes, that’s enough, I’ve already begun to throw loops ...

Podkolesin. What are you saying?

Stepan. I say, I began to throw loops.

The dialogue continues. Two or three more questions-answers, and again the servant is interrupted by the obnoxious-lordly:

"What are you saying?

Stepan. Yes, he has a lot of tailcoats.

Podkolesin. However, after all, they will have cloth, worse tea than mine?

Stepan. Yeah, it'll be a little better looking than what's on yours.

Podkolesin. What are you saying?

Stepan. I say: it’s better to look at what’s on yours ... ”Gogol N.V. Complete works: In 14 volumes - M., L., 1939. - T. 3. - S. 62.

Why, it would seem, Podkolesin, who does not show hearing loss with anyone other than Stepan, endlessly asks the servant again? And then, that Podkolesin behaves in this way in his position, pretending that he does not understand the explanations of the junior rank.

All Gogol's comedies, despite the difference in their content, are built one by one. creative plan expressing the writer's point of view on the place and importance of satire in the life of society. Satire, he believed, should reveal terrible ulcers, among which the most dangerous are the lack of ordinary, sincere feelings in people and the destruction of a sense of duty. In "The Marriage" there is neither love nor a sense of duty - Gogol persistently emphasized this idea. So, for example, in one of the first versions of the play, Fekla, referring to Podkolesin, said: “Soon you will not be at all fit for marital duty.” Insignificant, at first glance, this phrase undergoes a change in the final version: “Soon you will not be fit for marital affairs at all” Ibid. P.85. Podkolesin will not be suitable for “business” in time, but he is not suitable for duty even now.