Heroes of the play “Poverty is not a vice” by A. Ostrovsky: brief description, character analysis.

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At Christmas time, when “there is a holiday on the street, everyone has a holiday in the house,” the loneliness of L.T., whose soul is “frozen,” is felt more acutely. L.T.’s bitter buffoonery and the need to clown around for a piece of bread make him a “fool against his will.” In the behavior of L.T. features of conscious social self-destruction can be traced, making him similar to the holy fools of Ancient Rus'. His “decrepit burnus” is akin to the “thin vestments” in which the holy fools, “swearing at the world,” exposed the insignificance of common sense and practical needs in the face of God’s truth. L.T. remembers her when he exclaims: “And my tear will reach the sky!” L.T. does not wish or do harm to anyone, “does not eat up someone else’s age”, treats good people sympathetically and lovingly, and is angry and contemptuous towards those who have forgotten shame and conscience. “A monster of nature,” he says about African Korshunov, who has lost the image of God in himself. The key to the image of L.T. is his passionate monologue, in which he asks his brother not to ruin his daughter’s happiness and to marry her for love to the poor clerk Mitya. As a result of the intervention of L.T. The “villain” Africanus is put to shame, the proud brother is “brought to his senses,” and the poor lovers are united. The words of Gordey’s wife reveal the meaning of the events that took place and the role of L.T. in them: “Love-fly, you took away a great sin from our soul, if only we could pray for it.” L.T. not just fallen man. The most important feature of his personality is the consciousness of his fall. In the image of L.T. Ostrovsky reveals a deeply national trait of the Russian character: the ability to fall low, but not lose moral purity, and in the very fall to retain the ability to distinguish between good and evil. Ostrovsky's comedy, written in line with the traditions of folk theater, is quite simple-minded. The almost parable plot, the monochromatic character, clearly divided into “proud” and “humble,” and the happy ending are reminiscent of the ancient genres of “tearful comedy” and folk melodrama. But the image of L.T. was an exception. Ostrovsky created it according to the laws of realistic art and thereby made comedy a significant event in the history of Russian theater. The impact of the image of L.T. had a noticeable impact in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky (Marmeladov in the novel “Crime and Punishment”) and L.N. Tolstoy (Fedya Protasov in the drama “The Living Corpse”). The first performer of the role of L.T. was P.M. Sadovsky (1854), to whom Ostrovsky dedicated the comedy. Other performers include V.V. Samoilov (1854), M.S. Shchepkin (1855), P.V. Vasiliev (1861), A.A. Ostuzhev (1934).

Characteristics of the heroes of Ostrovsky’s work “Poverty is not a vice.”

Lyubov Gordeevna is the first of Ostrovsky’s heroines with a warm heart. . In Lyubov Gordeevna there is no love of freedom, no reckless prowess, but she is strong with her strong connection
with patriarchal morality. She is a strong and whole person. Her love for Mitya is sincere, ardent and tinged with some kind of adult, maternal pity for a poor and dependent person. Oh, Annushka, how I love him, if only you knew! The guy is good... It hurts my heart, he is so quiet and lonely.
The love of Mitya and Lyubov Gordeevna is poeticized by Ostrovsky, she introduces herself
to him the ideal, complete expression of true love, as it is understood among the people. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the relationships of lovers are constantly commented on, accompanied as a leitmotif by folk lyrical songs. Lyubov Gordeevna is especially closely connected and correlated with the folklore element. In accordance with her personality, the heroine’s speech is laconic and restrained, but all of it is strictly styled in a purely folk, peasant style. If a clerk is visible in Mitya’s style of speech, turns and expressions of Gostiny Dvor gallantry penetrate into her,
then Lyubov Gordeevna’s speech is completely devoid of this touch.
In the comedy Poverty is not a vice, the ideal love of Mitya and Lyubov Gordeevna, patriarchal in its essence, collides with the dark, unbridled tyranny of Gordey, which, according to Ostrovsky, is only a distortion and vulgarization of the idea of parental authority, a mockery of it. It is no coincidence that it is Mitya who reminds his beloved mother of the basic principle, the basic commandment of the patriarchally understood duty of parents towards children: Why do you eat up your girlhood,
are you giving into bondage? Isn't this a sin? After all, tea, God will give you an answer for it. Lyubov Gordeevna does not even think of the possibility of violating her father’s will and is ready to submit to it, accepting the upcoming marriage as a feat of obedience, a sacrifice. It is very characteristic that she does not ask her father to listen to her, to follow her wishes, in desperation she begs him: Baby! Don't want my unhappiness for the rest of my life! . Change your mind, darling!.. .
With all this, Lyubov Gordeevna cannot be denied a kind of courage. Having made a decision, she shows firmness and does not want to torment anyone with the spectacle of her suffering. When Pelageya Egorovna tries to sympathize with her, praises and pities Mitya, Lyubov Gordeevna firmly stops her: Well, mamma, what can you think about, what you can’t do, just torment yourself.
Ostrovsky sees in Lyubov Gordeevna’s behavior not slavish obedience, especially
not fear of the hardships that await a girl if her father’s will is violated. The heroine is held back by the thought of moral duty, as this duty is understood in her environment. I must submit to him, such is our lot as a girl. So, you know, this is how it should be, this is how it has been established since ancient times. I don’t want to go against my father, so that people won’t talk about me or make an example of me. Even though I may have torn my heart through this, at least I know that I live according to the law, no one dares to laugh in my face.

Although in this article we will analyze the play “Poverty is not a vice” by Alexander Ostrovsky, we will first consider the history of the creation of this outstanding work. This is important, because it was with Ostrovsky’s plays that the history of Russian theater began. He creates the integrity of the acting in extraordinary situations. In 1869, the play “Poverty is not a vice” was first staged at the Sadkovsky Theater. You may also be interested in a summary of this work.

As you know, a play is a very broad concept, and the genre of the play “Poverty is not a vice” should be clarified. This is a comedy with its own problems and a clearly expressed main theme. The problems that the author reveals to readers are the formation of the human personality, conflict resolution, the morality of the era and the fall of these very morals. Contemporary critics did not perceive the play as a serious work, and considered the happy outcome only a transformation of reality, hiding the real flaws of the human soul. In addition, Ostrovsky ridiculed the vices of people, which offended close friends who recognized themselves in his heroes.

Themes and main images of comedy

Of course, the analysis of the play “Poverty is not a vice” implies a precise definition of the main theme. In the play, Ostrovsky raises several topical topics, but despite their global nature and significance, they are all solvable. This is the vision of the great playwright. The comedy has a love line and examines the relationship between wealth and poverty. Who are the main characters of comedy? Let's briefly look at each of them:

Gordey Karpych Tortsov is a wealthy elderly merchant. A man with stern views and a difficult character, from which everyone around him suffers.
Pelageya Egorovna Tortsova is Tortsov’s elderly wife. His soul sincerely loves him and does not dare to object to his antics.
Lyubov Gordeevna Tortsova is their daughter, ready for marriage. She is in love with Mitya, who works for her father. Their love is mutual, but Tortsov is against such a union, and Lyuba cannot defend her feelings and submits to her father’s will.
Mitya is Lyuba's loving fiancé. She endures all the bullying from her father.
We love Karpych Tortsov - Tortsov’s brother, his complete opposite, a good drunkard. It is this beggar who manages to persuade his strict brother to marry Lyubov to Mitya.
African Savich Korshunov is a rich man, an old man and a friend of Tortsov. He intends to marry his young daughter, but their wedding did not take place.
Yasha Guslin is the nephew of the merchant Tortsov, Yasha sings songs with a guitar, and is Mitya’s friend. He is also in love with the young widow Anna Ivanovna, their feelings are mutual. But Tortsov is against this union, although they also manage to receive his blessing.
Anna Ivanovna - Yasha's beloved
Grisha Razlyulyaev is a friend of the young men Mitya and Yasha, but in love with Lyuba. When he finds out that Mitya will become Lyuba’s husband, he is sincerely happy for him. A great example of true friendship.

Analysis of the play "Poverty is not a vice"

Among such an abundance of heroes, completely different, it is difficult to single out the main one. It could very well be Gordey, because he decides all situations in his family. But Lyubim cannot be left aside. Having entered into an argument with his strict brother, he still achieves a happy outcome and the victory of love.

All heroes become morally pure, despite the trials they had to go through. They know how to differentiate between good and evil, love and hate. It seems that all situations will end positively in advance. Especially at the moment of the argument, when Tortsov says that he will marry his daughter to the first person he meets. Mitya enters the room. Or maybe it's fate? After all, the wedding of young lovers took place.

You have read an article that presented an analysis of the play “Poverty is not a Vice” by Alexander Ostrovsky.

After his father’s funeral, Gordey divided the inheritance according to a scheme convenient for himself - he kept the establishment for himself, which brought in a stable income, and gave his brother the difference in cash and valuable bills. The inheritance regularly “worked” for Gordey, his capital increased many times over, which gave him a heightened sense of pride. And Lyubim Karpych quickly squandered almost all his money, and the money that remained with him was deceived by the manufacturer Korshunov. In order not to starve, Lyubim was forced to earn extra money as a jester.

At the beginning of the story, the reader knows Gordey Karpych as a grumpy and demanding owner, who is irritated by everyone and everything around him, from close people to house guests. He tends to lash out at the clerk Mitya with demands “above his head”, he endlessly scolds his brother and believes that he is behaving unworthily and insultingly, Proudey openly considers his wife a stupid ignoramus who does not deserve respect.

Having gone on vacation to Moscow, the hero became ill with the desire to stay there forever. Now he is sure that his true place is in the highest circles and only in the capital. He no longer likes everything Russian; he wants to surround himself only with foreign and outlandish things. Gordey even had a corresponding friend - Afrikan Savich. The manufacturer has reliably ingratiated himself into the trust of the hero, who does not suspect that it was this rich old man who deceived his brother, and now aims to ruin him himself.

Gordey Karpych had already promised to marry his only daughter to Korshunov, but, fortunately, Lyubim exposed the fraudster in time, and the wedding did not take place. After what happened, Gordey reveals himself to the reader from a new, unfamiliar side of a person who knows how to realize his mistakes, repent of what he has done and be grateful for the help provided. He reconciles with the brother who rescued him, and gives his daughter down the aisle with the one who really loves her.

Quotes from Gordey Tortsov

Yes, I’ll throw such a wedding as you’ve never seen: I’ll order musicians from Moscow, I’ll go alone in four carriages.

What tenderness in our poverty!

Why are you there? Is this where you belong? A crow flew into the high mansion!

Eh, if I were poor, I would be a man. Poverty is not a vice.

You know a lot! Well, there’s nothing to collect from you! You yourself are stupid, and your father isn’t very smart... he’s been walking around with a greasy belly for a whole century; You live as unenlightened fools, and you will die as fools.

The only form that protest can take among the dark merchants is the liberation of the individual from the bonds of his stuffy life... If the individual is cultured, many paths are open to him. If not, she, most often, turns out to be unsettled and dies: robbery, revelry, drunkenness, vagrancy - this is how this protest was expressed in ancient Rus'.

This protest resulted in such a popular, ancient form even in an atmosphere of merchant “tyranny.” In Ostrovsky’s comedy “Poverty is not a vice” (see its full text, summary and more detailed contents of individual actions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd), Lyubim Tortsov, brother of the tyrant Gordey, is introduced. By nature, possessing an ardent temperament, what is called a “broad nature”, during his father’s life in his own family, where, in all likelihood, tyranny also reigned, he inevitably had to restrain himself, submitting to the dominant force. The stronger this submission was, the more his passionate nature changed, the more powerfully the uncontrollable need for a “free will” should have awakened in him - the desire to give space to a soul striving for strong, varied impressions.

Ostrovsky. Poverty is not a vice. Performance, 1969

Lyubim swung wide when he broke free - revelry, debauchery, drunkenness, all kinds of hobbies - he experienced everything, not knowing where to look for true freedom. He soon squandered all his father's inheritance, became a drunkard, a tramp, and earned his living by buffoonery. But he didn’t drink, he didn’t waste his soul. We love, and she spoke to him: “Fear attacked me,” he says, “horror came over me. How did I live? What kind of business was I doing? I began to feel sad, so sad that it seemed better to die!”

Such soul-cleansing impulses of people in ancient Rus' usually led to the monastery (cf. “The Tale of Misfortune-Grief”), but Lyubim did not go to the monastery - he became a drunkard, did not work, perhaps because that his brother did not give him a helping hand when he asked for it. But under the rags of a tramp, he had an honest heart beating - truthful, grateful to those who were sympathetic to him.

Having experienced a lot of grief, Lyubim became responsive to the suffering of others; While idle himself, he, however, knows how to respect work. Smart and at the same time cunning, he cleverly thwarts Gordey’s intentions to marry his daughter Lyubov to old African Korshunov. He knows how to help the young man Mitya, who has tender feelings for Lyuba, and he also knows how to pity Gordey’s stony heart.

“Are you a man or a beast?” says We love our brother, kneeling in front of him. “Have pity on Lyubim Tortsov too! Brother, give Lyubushkuz to Mitya - he will give me a corner. I'm already cold and hungry. My summers are over, it’s hard for me to clown around in the cold just for a piece of bread; at least in old age, but live honestly! After all, I deceived the people, begged for alms, and got drunk myself. If they give me a job, I’ll have my own pot of cabbage soup. Then I will thank God. Brother! and my tears will reach the sky... Why is he poor! Eh, if I were poor, I would Human was. Poverty is not a vice!"

This heartfelt, strong speech expressed a purely Russian, common people’s view of life. In general, Ostrovsky’s entire play, rich in folk songs, sayings and proverbs, written in purely beautiful Russian language, made such an impression on his contemporaries with its “nationality” that one of the contemporaries of the Slavophile poets sang of the Russian stage, updated by this comedy, in the following verses:

There... now the native life is walking around;
There the Russian song flows freely and loudly,
There is a whole world there - a free and living world...
Great Russian life feasts on stage,
The Great Russian principle triumphs!..
Great Russian speech warehouse,
Great Russian mind, Great Russian look,
Like Mother Volga, wide and roaring!

“Wider the road - Love Tortsov is coming!” - this exclamation of the intoxicated Lyubim became a solemn cry that swept through Russian Slavophile literature after the publication of the comedy “Poverty is not a vice.” In Lyubim they saw the personification of the Russian national soul, the Russian mind and heart...

The fact that Ostrovsky chose a fallen man as the bearer of “national ideals” did not bother anyone. With a light hand