How Famus society appears before us. Famus Society
Famus Society
The comedy "Woe from Wit" was written by Griboyedov in 1824. It gives a general picture of the entire Russian life of the 10-20s of the 19th century, reproduces the eternal struggle between old and new, which unfolded with particular force at that time not only in Moscow, but throughout Russia between two camps: the progressive, Decembrist-minded people of the "century" present" and serf-owners (people of the "past century").
All the images created by G-dov in the comedy are deeply realistic. Famusov, Skalozub, Molchalin, Khlestova, the rogue Zagoretsky and all the others are a reflection of reality. These people, stupid and selfish, afraid of enlightenment and progress, their thoughts are focused only on acquiring honors and titles, wealth and outfits, they form a single camp of reaction that tramples all living things. “The Past Century” in the comedy is represented by a number of bright types. These are Famusov, Skalozub, Repetilov, and Molchalin.
F-th society is traditional. His principles of life are such that he must learn, “looking at his elders,” destroy free-thinking thoughts, serve with obedience to persons standing a step higher, and most importantly, be rich. The ideal of this society is in Famusov's monologues Uncle Maxim Petrovich and Kuzma Petrovich: ... here is an example: The deceased was a respectable chamberlain, With a key, and he knew how to deliver the key to his son; Rich, and married to a rich woman; Married children, grandchildren; Died; everyone remembers him sadly. Kuzma Petrovich! Peace be upon him! - What kind of aces live and die in Moscow!..
At the head of the entire society is the figure of Famusov, an old Moscow nobleman who has earned general favor in the capital's circles. He is friendly, courteous, witty, cheerful. But this is only the external side. The author reveals the image of Famusov comprehensively. This is not only a hospitable host, but also a convinced serf owner, a fierce opponent of enlightenment. “They would take all the books and burn them,” he says. Chatsky, a representative of the “present century,” dreams of “injecting a mind hungry for knowledge into science.” He is outraged by the rules established in the f-th society, since it evaluates a person by his origin and the number of serf souls he has. Famusov himself dreams of marrying off his daughter Sophia at a better price and says to her: “Oh, mother, don’t finish the blow! Whoever is poor is not a match for you.” And then he adds: “For example, from time immemorial it has been the practice among us that honor is given to father and son: be poor, but if there are two thousand souls from the family, he is the groom.” Unlike the representatives of the f-th society, Chatsky longs for “sublime love, before which the whole world is dust and vanity.”
In the relationship between Chatsky and the f-go society, the views of the “past century” on careers, on service, on what is most valued in people are revealed and ridiculed. In other words, Chatsky despises them. Famusov takes only relatives and friends into his service. He respects flattery and sycophancy. He wants to convince Chatsky to serve, “looking at the elders,” “putting up a chair, raising a handkerchief.” To this Chatsky objects: “I would be glad to serve, but being served is sickening.” Chatsky takes service very seriously. And if Famusov treats it formally, bureaucratically (“it’s signed, off your shoulders”), then Chatsky says: “When in business, I hide from fun, when fooling around, I’m fooling around, and mixing these two crafts is a darkness of experts, I don’t from among them." Famusov worries about affairs only on one hand, mortally afraid, “so that a lot of them do not accumulate.” He does not consider his servants to be people, he treats them rudely, he can sell them, send them to hard labor. He scolds them as donkeys, logs, calls them Parsleys, Filkas, Fomkas. Thus, representatives of the f-go society treat service as a source of personal benefits, service to individuals, and not to business.
Chatsky strives to serve the fatherland, “the cause, not the persons.” He despises Molchalin, who is accustomed to “pleasing all people without exception - the owner where I happen to live, the boss with whom I will serve, his servant who cleans dresses, the doorman, the janitor, to avoid evil, the janitor’s dog, so that it is affectionate.” Everything in Molchalin: both behavior and words - emphasize the youthfulness of an immoral person making a career. Chatsky speaks bitterly about such people: “Silent people are blissful in the world!” It is Molchalin who arranges his life best of all. He is also talented in his own way. He earned Famusov's favor, Sophia's love, and received three awards. He values two qualities of his character most of all: “moderation and accuracy.” For Famusov and his circle, the opinion of the world is sacred and infallible; the most terrible thing is “what Princess Marya Aleksevna will say!”
Another prominent representative of the f-th society is Skalozub. This is exactly the kind of son-in-law Famusov dreamed of having. After all, Skalozub is “both a golden bag and aims to be a general.” This character embodied the typical features of a reactionary of Arakcheev’s time. “A wheeze, a strangled man, a bassoon, a constellation of maneuvers and a mazurka,” he is as much an enemy of education and science as Famusov. “You can’t fool me with learning,” says Skalozub. It is quite obvious that the very atmosphere of the f-th society forces representatives of the younger generation to show their negative qualities.
So, Sophia uses her sharp mind to outright lie, spreading rumors about Chatsky’s madness. Sophia fully corresponds to the morality of the “fathers”. And although she is an intelligent girl, with a strong, independent character, a warm heart, and a dreamy soul, her false upbringing still instilled in Sophia many negative qualities and made her a representative of the generally accepted views in this circle. She does not understand Chatsky, she has not grown up to him, to his sharp mind, to his logical, merciless criticism. She also does not understand Molchalin, who “loves her because of his position.” It is not her fault that Sophia has become a typical young lady of the f-th society. The society in which she was born and lived is to blame, “she was ruined, in the stuffiness, where not a single ray of light, not a single stream of fresh air penetrated” (Goncharov “A Million Torments”).
Another comedy character is very interesting. This is Repetilov. He is a completely unprincipled person, a “cracker,” but he was the only one who considered Chatsky to be “highly intelligent” and, not believing in his madness, called Famus’s pack of guests “chimeras” and “game.” Thus, he was at least one step above them all. “So! I have completely sobered up,” says Chatsky at the end of the comedy. What is this - defeat or insight? Yes, the end of this work is far from cheerful, but Goncharov is right when he said about the ending this way: “Chatsky is broken by the amount of old power, having dealt it in turn a fatal blow with the quality of fresh power.” And I completely agree with Goncharov, who believes that the role of all Chatskys is “passive”, but at the same time always “victorious”.
Chatsky opposes the society of ignoramuses and serf owners. He fights against noble scoundrels and sycophants, swindlers, cheats and informers. In his famous monologue “And who are the judges?..” he tore off the mask from the vile and vulgar Famus world, in which the Russian people turned into an object of purchase and sale, where landowners even exchanged serfs for dogs: That Nestor of noble scoundrels, Surrounded by a crowd of servants; Zealous, they saved his honor and life more than once during the hours of wine and fights: suddenly he traded three greyhounds for them!!!
Chatsky defends a real person, humanity and honesty, intelligence and culture. He protects the Russian people, his Russia from a bad, inert and backward society. Chatsky wants to see Russia literate and cultural. He defends this in disputes and conversations with all the characters in the comedy "Go", directing all his intelligence, wit, evil, temper and determination to this. Therefore, those around him take revenge on Chatsky for the truth, which hurts his eyes, for his attempt to disrupt the usual way of life. The “past century,” that is, the f-th society, is afraid of people like Chatsky, because they encroach on the order of life that is the basis of the well-being of this society. Chatsky calls the past century, which Famusov admires so much, the century of “humility and fear.” The community is strong, its principles are firm, but Chatsky also has like-minded people. These are the persons mentioned: Skalozub's cousin ("The rank followed him: he suddenly left his service and began reading books in the village."), nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya. Chatsky himself constantly says “we,” “one of us,” thus speaking not only on his own behalf. So ASG-dov wanted to hint to the reader that the time of the “past century” is passing, it is being replaced by the “present century”, strong, smart, educated.
References
To prepare this work, materials from the site http://ilib.ru/ were used
Famus Society in the comedy Woe from Wit
The ideological and thematic content of the comedy is revealed in its images and in the development of the action.
A large number of characters representing Moscow noble society, is supplemented by so-called off-stage images, i.e. ( This material will help you write competently on the topic of Famus Society in the comedy Woe from Wit. Summary does not make it possible to understand the full meaning of the work, so this material will be useful for a deep understanding of the work of writers and poets, as well as their novels, novellas, short stories, plays, and poems.) e. such characters who do not appear on stage, but about whom we learn from the stories of the characters. Thus, the Famus society includes such off-stage characters as Maxim Petrovich, Kuzma Petrovich, “Nestor of the noble scoundrels,” the landowner - a ballet lover, Tatyana Yuryevna, Princess Marya Alekseevna and many others. These images allowed Griboedov to expand the scope of the satirical picture beyond Moscow and include court circles in the play. Thanks to this, “Woe from Wit” grows into a work that gives the broadest picture of the entire Russian life of the 10-20s of the 19th century, faithfully reproducing the social struggle that unfolded with great force at that time throughout Russia, and not just in Moscow , between two camps: advanced, Decembrist-minded people and serf owners, the stronghold of antiquity.
Let us first dwell on the defenders of antiquity, on the conservative mass of the nobility. This group of nobles makes up the Famus society. How does Griboyedov characterize him?
1. People of Famusov’s circle, especially older generation, are staunch supporters of the autocratic-serf system, avid reactionary serf-owners. The past is dear to them, the century of Catherine II, when the power of the noble landowners was especially strong. Famusov recalls with reverence the court of the queen. Speaking about the nobleman Maxim Petrovich, Famusov contrasts Catherine’s court with the new court circle:
Then it’s not like now:
He served under the Empress Catherine.
And in those days everyone is important! at forty pounds...
Take a bow and they won’t nod.
The nobleman in the case, even more so,
Not like anyone else, and he drank and ate differently.
The same Famusov, a little later, speaks of the old people’s dissatisfaction with new times, with the policies of the young tsar, which seem liberal to them.
What about our old people? - How they will be taken with enthusiasm, They will judge their deeds, that the word is a sentence, - After all, they are all pillars, they don’t blow anyone’s lips, And sometimes they talk about the government in such a way that if someone overheard them... trouble! It’s not that new things were introduced - never, God save us!.. No...
It is precisely novelty that these “straightforward retired chancellors in mind,” enemies of free life, who “draw their judgments from forgotten newspapers from the times of Ochakov and the conquest of the Crimea,” are afraid of. At the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, when he surrounded himself with young friends who seemed free-thinking to these old men, they left the service in protest. This is what the famous admiral Shishkov did when he returned to government activities only when government policy took a sharply reactionary direction. There were especially many such Shishkovs in Moscow. They set the pace of life here; Famusov is convinced “that things won’t get done without them,” they will determine policy.
2. Famus society tightly guards its noble interests. A person here is valued only by his origin and wealth, and not by his personal qualities:
For example, we have been doing this since ancient times,
What honor is there between father and son; Be bad, but if you get enough
Two thousand ancestral souls,
He's the groom.
The other one, at least be quicker, puffed up with all sorts of arrogance,
Let yourself be known as a wise man,
But they won’t include us in the family, don’t look at us,
After all, only here they also value the nobility.
This is Famusov speaking. Princess Tugoukhovskaya shares the same opinion. Having learned that Chatsky is not a chamber cadet and is not rich, she ceases to be interested in him. Arguing with Famusov about the number of serf souls Chatsky has, Khlestova declares with resentment: “I don’t know other people’s estates!”
3. The nobles of the Famus circle do not see the peasants as people and brutally deal with them. Chatsky recalls, for example, one landowner who exchanged his servants, who had saved his honor and life more than once, for three greyhounds. Khlestova comes to Famusov for the evening, accompanied by a “blackamoor girl” and a dog, and asks Sophia: “Tell them to feed them already, my friend, a handout from dinner.” Angry with his servants, Famusov shouts to the doorman Filka: “Get to work! to settle you!”
4. The goal in life for Famusov and his guests is career, honors, wealth. Maxim Petrovich, a nobleman of Catherine's time, Kuzma Petrovich, chamberlain of the court - these are role models. Famusov takes care of Skalozub, dreams of marrying his daughter to him only because he “is a gold bag and aims to be a general.” Service in Famus society is understood only as a source of income, a means of achieving ranks and honors. They do not deal with matters on the merits; Famusov only signs the papers that are presented to him by his “businesslike” secretary Molchalin. He admits this himself:
As for me, what matters and what doesn’t matter.
My custom is this: Signed, off your shoulders.
Occupying the important post of “manager in a government place” (probably the head of the archive), Famusov accommodates his relatives:
When I have employees, strangers are very rare:
More and more sisters, sisters-in-law and children. . .
How will you begin to introduce yourself to a little cross, to a small town,
Well, how can you not please your loved one!
Patronage and nepotism are a common occurrence in the Famusov world. The Famusovs care not about the interests of the state, but about personal benefit. This is the case in the civil service, but we see the same thing among the military. Colonel Skalozub, as if echoing Famusov, declares:
Yes, to get ranks, there are many channels;
I judge them as a true philosopher:
; I just wish I could become a general.
He makes his career quite successfully, frankly explaining this not by his personal qualities, but by the fact that circumstances favor him:
I am quite happy in my comrades,
Vacancies are currently open:
Then the elders will turn off others,
The others, you see, have been killed.
5. Careerism, sycophancy, servility to superiors, dumbness - everything characteristic features The bureaucratic world of that time is especially fully revealed in the image of Molchalin.
Having begun his service in Tver, Molchalin, either a minor nobleman or a commoner, was transferred to Moscow thanks to the patronage of Famusov. In Moscow he is confidently advancing in his career. Molchalin understands perfectly well what is required of an official if he wants to make a career. It’s only been three years since he’s been in Famusov’s service, but he’s already managed to “receive three awards” and become the right person for Famusov, to enter his house. That is why Chatsky, who is well familiar with the type of such official, predicts Molchalin the possibility of a brilliant career:
However, he will reach the known degrees, | After all, nowadays they love the dumb.
Such dexterous secretaries in that “age of humility and fear,” when they served “persons, not business,” became noble people and achieved high positions in the service. Repetilov talks about his father-in-law's secretaries:
His secretaries are all boors, all corrupt,
Little people, writing creature,
Everyone has become a nobility, everyone is important today.
Molchalin has all the data to become a important official: the ability to curry favor with influential people, complete indiscriminateness in the means to achieve one’s goal, the absence of any moral rules, and in addition to all this, two “talents” - “moderation and accuracy.”
6. The conservative society of the Famusov-serf owners is afraid like fire of everything new, progressive, everything that could threaten its dominant position. Famusov and his guests show rare unanimity in the struggle to suppress the ideas and views of Chatsky, who seems to them a freethinker, a preacher of “crazy deeds and opinions.” And since they all see the source of this “freedom”, revolutionary ideas in enlightenment, then with a common front they oppose the sciences, educational institutions, enlightenment in general. Famusov teaches:
Learning is the plague, learning is the reason, That now there are more crazy people, and deeds, and opinions.
He offers a decisive way to combat this evil:
Once evil is stopped:
Take all the books and burn them.
Famusov echoes.
Skalozub:
I will make you happy: universal rumor,
That there is a project about lyceums, schools, gymnasiums, -
There they will only teach in our way: one, two,
And the books will be saved like this: for big occasions.
Against the hotbeds of education - “boarding schools, schools, lyceums”, pedagogical institute, where “professors practice schisms and lack of faith,” both Khlestova and Princess Tugoukhovskaya perform.
7. The education that representatives of Famus society receive makes them alien to their people. Chatsky is indignant at the educational system that reigns in the noble houses of Moscow. Here, raising children from the very beginning youth entrusted to foreigners, usually Germans and French. As a result, the nobles were torn away from everything Russian, their speech was dominated by “a mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod languages”, from childhood the conviction was instilled “that we have no salvation without the Germans”, “this unclean spirit of empty, slavish, blind imitation” was instilled in everything foreign. “The Frenchman from Bordeaux,” having arrived in Russia, “did not meet either a Russian sound or a Russian face.”
This is the Famus society, which was depicted with such artistic skill by Griboyedov in his comedy and which displays the typical features of the entire mass of serf-owning nobles of that time. This nobility, imbued with fear of the growing liberation movement, unitedly opposes the progressive people, whose representative is Chatsky.)
This society is depicted in Griboyedov’s wonderful comedy in bright, individualized images. Each of them is a truthfully drawn living face, with unique character traits and peculiarities of speech.
In his article “On Plays,” Gorky wrote: “The characters in a play are created exclusively and only by their speeches, that is, by purely verbal language, and not descriptive. This is very important to understand, because in order for the figures of the play to acquire on stage, in the depiction of its artists, artistic value and social persuasiveness, it is necessary that the speech of each figure be strictly original, extremely expressive... Let's take for example the heroes of our wonderful comedies: Famusov, Skalozub, Molchalin, Repetilov, Khlestakov, Gorodnichy, Rasplyuev, etc. - each of these the figures were created by a small number of words and each of them gives a completely accurate idea of its class, its era.”
Let's see how Griboyedov sketches the individual characters of his comedy.
"? Typical representatives of the society with which Chatsky has to fight include Famusov, Molchalin, Sofya, Skalozub, Khlestova, Zagoretsky, Khryumins, Tugoukhovskys. All of them, to the same extent, are inherent in the fear of earning a bad reputation in the “world.” Here, in this “society”, first of all, they try to live “like everyone else” - this is its main characteristic.
Woe from the mind. Maly Theater performance, 1977
“How can you go against everyone» – exclaim the Tugoukhovsky princesses, and this exclamation can be used as an epigraph to the entire play. “Sin is not a problem, rumor is not good!” - says the maid Liza, and in these words she reveals the hidden fear of this society not of evil, but of evil rumor. The thought, “what will Princess Maria Aleksevna say?” - for Famusov, it’s worse than the conviction of his daughter’s guilt. This fear of “public judgment” forces representatives of Famus society to make every effort to live “like everyone else” - without differing in anything: neither in dress, nor in way of thinking, nor in lifestyle. That's why this society is such a cohesive force.
Deeply ignorant, it treats enlightenment with hostility - this “evil” that it would like to “stop”, not even stopping at burning all existing books. It is clear that such a society, deprived of all higher interests, lives a meaningless life: dinners , dinners, weddings, balls, cards, christenings and funerals - these are the “things” that filled the idle and well-fed life of these parasites, carelessly living on the labor of serfs and at the expense of the state.
This society is timid about the judgment of its fellow members, but it bravely brands with contempt people not of its own “caste” - those who dare to have their own judgment. Who belonged to the "caste" – to someone like Zagoretsky, everything was forgiven: even the fact that he was “a liar, a gambler, a thief...”. “Be inferior,” says Famusov about Moscow suitors, “but they will still include you in the family if the groom met the standard that was applied to “suitors” in this society.
A typical representative of Moscow society in comedy is, first of all, Famusov himself (see Image of Famusov and Characteristics of Famusov). Molchalin, Skalozub and Sofya are also typical for this environment.
Numerous characters comedies that represent the capital's noble society are successfully supplemented with off-stage characters. We do not see them on stage, but we know about their existence from the stories of other heroes. Such off-stage images include Maxim Petrovich, as well as Tatyana Yuryevna, Kuzma Petrovich, Princess Marya Alekseevna and many others. All of them belong to Famus society. Thanks to them, Griboedov expands the scope of the comedy far beyond the borders of Moscow, and also includes courtiers in the work.
It is precisely because of the presence of off-stage characters that the work becomes the play that gives the most detailed picture of life in Russia in the 20s of the 19th century. “Woe from Wit” realistically shows the social situation that was brewing at that time, the struggle that unfolded throughout the country between the Decembrists, revolutionary-minded people and adherents of serfdom, defenders of the old system.
Let us first consider the conservative nobility, the so-called supporters of antiquity. This rather large group is the Famus society. How does Griboyedov describe him?
1. These people, especially the older generation, are convinced serf owners, supporters of autocracy, and avid defenders of the old structure of society. They value the past and long-standing traditions of building social relationships. They like the times of Catherine II, because this era is famous for its special strength, the power of the noble landowners. Famusov attaches reverence and respect to the memories of the queen’s court. He draws a parallel, compares the current court circle and the court of Catherine, citing as an example the personality of the nobleman Maxim Petrovich.
Later, Famusov speaks out that the old people are dissatisfied with the new trends in politics and the actions of the young tsar, who is too liberal in their opinion. Defenders of the old way of life are opposed to everything new, they are afraid of any changes that could destroy the world they are familiar with. Many old officials left their posts at the very beginning of the reign of Alexander I. They did this on purpose, as a sign of protest, because they considered that the young people with whom the king surrounded himself were too free-thinking. For example, Admiral Shishkov, a fairly well-known statesman, returned to service only at the moment when government policy changed direction to a sharply reactionary one. And there were many such Shishkovs, especially in Moscow. They determined the course public life, and therefore Famusov was convinced that it was precisely such people who would continue to influence politics.
2. The old society stubbornly defends its noble interests. In Famus’s circle, a person is evaluated based on his origin and financial situation, and they do not pay any attention to personal qualities. For example, Princess Tugoukhovskaya ceases to be interested in Chatsky as soon as it becomes clear that he is far from a chamber cadet, and is not at all rich. Khlestova, in a dispute with Famusov, proving that she is right about the presence of one or another number of serfs at Chatsky, claims that she knows all the estates inside out, since this is the most important thing.
3. Nobles like Famusov do not see serfs as people and treat them cruelly. Chatsky shares his memory that one landowner exchanged his servants for three dogs, but they saved his honor and life many times. Khlestova puts her maid and dog on the same line: when she comes to Famusov, she orders them to be fed, sending the leftovers from dinner. Famusov himself constantly yells at the servants and threatens the doorman to send him to work in the village.
4. The main life goal for people of Famus society is career, wealth, honors. They consider the nobleman Maxim Petrovich and the chamberlain of the court Kuzma Petrovich, who once served under Catherine, as models for general imitation. Famusov courtes Skalozub because he wants to give his daughter to him. This desire is dictated only by the fact that Skalozub is rich and has had a successful career. Old people consider service in society as a source of profit, income, material enrichment, and a means for obtaining ranks. No one is doing things the right way, for real. For example, Famusov at the service only signs the papers given to him by secretary Molchalin. But everyone is happy to use their official position. Famusov constantly employs various relatives at his place of work. Nepotism and patronage are the most common and widespread practice here. The Famusovs do not care about the interests of the state, they are only concerned about personal benefit and gain. And this applies not only to the civil service, but also to the military. Anyone can become a successful soldier if they are supported, promoted, and favored.
5. In the image of Molchalin, the author wanted to show the main features of the world of officials characteristic of that time. This is sycophancy, careerism, dumbness, and the ability to please superiors. Molchalin was a commoner or minor nobleman. He began his service in Tver, but then transferred to Moscow, which Famusov contributed to. In Moscow, Molchalin quickly rises through the ranks. He understands perfectly well what needs to be done if you want to make a career. Only three years passed, and Molchalin managed to become needed by Famusov, receive several thanks and enter the house of his benefactor. Chatsky predicts a brilliant career for him, as he is well acquainted with this type of official. It was precisely such secretaries at that time who could become noble people and achieve high positions. Molchalin has all the necessary data. This is the ability to curry favor, gain the trust of influential people, indiscriminateness in means when achieving a goal, accuracy, and lack of moral principles.
6. The skeletal, conservative society of serf-owners is very afraid of everything progressive. These people perceive any innovations with hostility, since it may threaten their position and dominance. Famusov and his guests are surprisingly unanimous in condemning Chatsky’s ideas. They instantly rallied in the fight against views that they consider freethinking. They consider education to be the source of all liberties, and therefore oppose educational institutions and sciences. The Famus Society offers a radical method of combating such evil. Khlestova and Princess Tugoukhovskaya also have a negative attitude towards schools, boarding schools, and lyceums.
7. Representatives of the old regime society are alien to their people, since they received a certain education in their time. Chatsky is outraged by this system, in which the upbringing of noble children is entrusted to foreigners. As a result, young nobles grew up cut off from everything national and Russian; their speech became mixed with a foreign language. From childhood, they were instilled with the imaginary need to imitate the Germans or French.
This is how Famus society appears before us, depicted by Griboyedov with special care. The author of the comedy depicted the characteristic, typical features of the serf-owning nobles of that era. The nobility is in fear of the liberation movement, and therefore opposes Chatsky, who is the personification of progressive people. Griboyedov shows this society through individualized images, each of which is a living person with his own features, character, and special speech.
“In a group of twenty people there was reflected...
all the old Moscow...”
I.A.Goncharov
The comedy “Woe from Wit” belongs to those few works that do not lose their value in our time.
A.S. Griboedov shows a broad picture of life in the 10-20s of the 19th century, reproducing the social struggle that unfolded between progressive, Decembrist-minded people; and the conservative mass of the nobility. This group of nobles makes up the Famus society.
People in this circle are staunch supporters of the autocratic-serf system. The age of Catherine II is dear to them, when the power of the noble landowners was especially strong. In the famous “ode to lackeyism,” Famusov admires the nobleman Maxim Petrovich, who “ate not only on silver, but on gold.” He achieved honor, fame, accumulated wealth, showing servility and servility. This is what Famusov credits him with and considers him a role model.
Representatives of the Famusov society live in the past, “deriving their judgments from forgotten newspapers from the times of the Ochakovskys and the conquest of the Crimea.” They sacredly protect their selfish interests, value a person by his origin, rank, wealth, and not by his business qualities. Famusov says: “... we have had it since ancient times that honor is given to father and son.” Countess Tugoukhovskaya loses interest in Chatsky as soon as she finds out that he is not a chamber cadet and is not rich.
Famusov and his like-minded people treat their serfs cruelly, do not consider them to be people, and dispose of their destinies at their own discretion. So, for example, Chatsky is indignant at the landowner who exchanged his faithful servants, who more than once saved “both his honor and his life,” for “three greyhounds.” And the noble lady Khlestova, who came to the ball, “out of boredom took a blackamoor - a girl and a dog.” She makes no difference between them and asks Sophia: “Tell them to feed, my friend, they got a handout from dinner.”
The author of the comedy notes that for Famusov and his friends, service is a source of income, a means of achieving ranks and honors. Famusov himself takes his business carelessly: “My custom is this: it’s signed, then off your shoulders.” He reserves a cushy place for his relatives and helps them move up the career ladder. Colonel Skalozub also pursues personal, not state interests. For him, all means are good, just “if only he could become a general.”
Careerism, sycophancy, sycophancy, servility - all these qualities are inherent in the officials depicted in the comedy. They are most clearly manifested in the image of Molchalin, Famusov’s secretary, a “business man” who, thanks to his “helpfulness” and “silence”, “received three awards.”
It should be noted that Famusov and his guests are ardent enemies of enlightenment, since they believe that all evil comes from it. Famusov states:
Learning is the plague, learning is the cause.
What is worse now than before,
There have been crazy people, deeds, and opinions...
Skalozub, Khlestova, and Princess Tugoukhovskaya share the same opinion.
The conservative society of noble landowners, depicted by A.S. Griboyedov, is afraid of progress, which threatens its dominant position. That is why they so unanimously condemn Chatsky and his views and consider him a conductor of “crazy deeds and opinions.”
