How does Sophia perceive Chatsky? “Woe from Wit” (comedy by Griboyedov). Is Sophia worthy of Chatsky's love? based on the comedy by A. S. Griboyedov Woe from Wit

1 . Where in Famusov's house does the dialogue between the characters take place? Why is the situation so dramatic for them?

– Judging by the stage directions for the finale of the previous act, Sophia heads to her room, where Chatsky intercepts her. During his several hours of staying in Famusov’s house, Chatsky managed to cause not only irritation and annoyance in Sophia, but also rage (“not a man, a snake”). One can imagine how Sophia feels when she sees Chatsky at the door of her room, where Molchalin is now supposed to come.

As for Chatsky, they have already made it clear to him more than once that he is superfluous, that they do not like him, Molchalin has already been indirectly cited as an example. But precisely because he was told the truth, he was unable to believe it. His high, noble mind does not accept such a stupid truth. He is not able to understand that Sophia can love Molchalin, that he is not so stupid. And in his very first remark, Chatsky again speaks contemptuously of Molchalin:

Have you really grown wiser?

2 . How do the characters behave at the beginning of the dialogue?
- Chatsky - assertively: “Can’t I find out... who you love?”, “Who is dearer to you?” Sophia is evasive, trying to get rid of Chatsky as quickly as possible, but unable to hide her irritation.

3 . At what point does a turning point occur in the dialogue?
– Chatsky’s sad impulse “I’m going to get into a noose, but it’s funny for her” affected Sophia, and she decides to tell a half-truth. She tries to explain to Chatsky why she does not love him and cannot love him.

4 . How do these confessions characterize her? What do they discover in it?
– She doesn’t trust a person who is too bright and independent. In addition, she is too smart and insightful not to notice that Chatsky is busy with himself, and does not hear and understand her well. But why did smart Sophia fall in love with Molchalin? Sophia is essentially a very lonely person: she lost her mother early, her father is busy with himself, Madame Rosier, the “second mother,” was bought for five hundred rubles, and Chatsky abandoned her too. She wants something reliable, something of her own, and her mind dictates to her to look for a dependent, submissive person who would always be at hand. That’s why she admires Molchalin’s timidity, modesty, amenability, and ability to get along with everyone. But she, of course, idealizes Molchalin, and Chatsky tells her about this. Sophia even partly agrees with him:

Of course, he doesn’t have this mind...

But it seems to her that it is precisely the absence of intelligence that is the key to sincerity: “There is not a shadow of worry in her face...”

5 . How does this scene characterize Chatsky?
“He still shows tragic insensitivity, insensitivity to his interlocutor. He is smart and absolutely right about almost everything, but ideally. But in reality, with his ideals, he looks stupid, ridiculous and funny. Unable to hear others, he is convinced that his ideas are shared by everyone smart people. Therefore, listening to Sophia praise Molchalin, she suspects her of deceit.

6 . How does the dialogue end?
– Chatsky, not wanting to see the obvious, remains with his riddle. But even more dramatic is that, not wanting to understand someone else’s truth, he feels himself on the verge of madness.

The comedy "Woe from Wit" by Griboyedov is undoubtedly a work of great social significance. It reflected the rebellious time when freedom-loving ideas spread throughout Russia. At the center of the play is Alexander Andreevich Chatsky, who embodied best features progressive noble youth of the beginning of the century. This hero combines two comedy storylines. One contains a conflict between the “past century” and the “present century” and proposes a confrontation between Chatsky and Famusov. Another storyline - Chatsky - Sophia - reveals the personal drama of the protagonist.

Sophia standing between Famusovsky Society and Chatsky, played a big role in creating the hero’s “millions of torments,” although she herself experienced her own “woe from the mind.” “Sophia is drawn unclearly...” noted Pushkin. Indeed, in her behavior and moods there is a contradiction between a sober mind and sentimental experiences. Her excellent understanding of the characters of her father and Skalozub is combined with complete blindness in relation to Molchalin. Sophia is much taller than her peers, so poisonously depicted by Griboyedov in the person of the six Tugoukhovsky princesses, for whom it is not love that is important, but a rich “husband-boy”, “husband-servant”. Sophia lives only by love. Molchalin’s low and dependent position even seems to intensify her attraction to him. Her feeling is serious, it gives her the courage not to be afraid of the opinion of the “world”.

We cannot agree that Famusov’s words about Moscow girls: “They won’t say a word in simplicity, they all have a grimace,” have a direct bearing on his daughter. She is always sincere. “What is rumor to me? Whoever wants to judge it,” she says. Sophia is not alien to spiritual interests, she is not carried away by secular vanity. Famusov calls her reading books a “whim.” Indeed, then this was news for a noble girl. Sophia is horrified that her father will predict Skalozub as her groom, who “will not utter a smart word right away.” She also does not like empty cleverness, wit and slander. However, Chatsky’s mercilessly logical, sharp thought is alien and unpleasant to her. Sophia has not grown up to her, she is too full of “sensitivity”. She was brought up in the age of Karamzin and Zhukovsky. Her ideal is a timid, dreamy young man, whose image was depicted in the sentimental-romantic literature of the end XVIII beginning XIX centuries. This is exactly how Sofia Molchalin appears to be.

Her unexpected love for her father's secretary cannot be understood unless you think about everything that happened between her and Chatsky. He carried her away, but suddenly, in a fit Onegin blues, when he was tired of everything in the world, including her, he went abroad and did not write her a word for three years. Sophia, listening to the lover Chatsky, thinks that he can only “pretend to be in love”, that he “has thought highly of himself.” She exclaims with irony: “The desire to wander attacked him... Ah! If someone loves someone, why search for the mind and travel so far?”

I think that one cannot condemn Sophia for her love for Molchalin. Love for Molchalin is her healthy portrait, her bitter reaction to her love for Chatsky, from which she was left with a feeling of disappointment, resentment, insult. Molchalin may not be as bright as Chatsky, but you can rely on Molchalin’s feelings.

Maybe Molchalin didn’t want Sophia to love him. Molchalin was timidly respectful to everyone who pleased her, like “with a janitor’s dog, so that she would be affectionate.” He wanted to gain the sympathy of the boss's daughter. He tried so hard to win her favor that she mistook this obsequiousness for deep, tremulous love, which she met in sentimental French novels, so hated by her father.

Sophia saw in Molchalin’s cowardly timidity the noble, chaste timidity of an exalted soul. And it was not immorality that forced her to spend her nights locked up with Molchalin. And many critics reproached her for this. It is precisely confidence in the purity of Molchalin’s thoughts in relation to her, contempt for “rumor” and, of course, love that guides Sophia.

Without seeing Molchalin, she failed to appreciate Chatsky, did not see, like the clever maid Liza, that Chatsky was not only “cheerful and sharp,” but also “sensitive,” that is, not only smart, but also gentle.

It seems to me that when Sophia and Chatsky grew up together, he undoubtedly influenced her. This is what taught Sophia not to turn away from the poor, not to despise them, despite her father’s philosophy - “Whoever is poor is not a match for you.” Three years of separation from Chatsky could not help but change Sophia, and leave an imprint on the “false, affected environment of Moscow society.”

Chatsky’s freedom-loving thoughts, caustic, caustic ridicule towards people in her circle, especially Molchalin, now irritate Sophia. "Not a man, a snake!" - she speaks about him. And Chatsky feels sincere, ardent love for Sophia. He declares his love for her at his first appearance. There is no secrecy, no falsehood in Chatsky. The strength and nature of his feelings can be judged by the words about Molchalin addressed to Sophia:

But does he have that passion? that feeling? That ardor?
So that, besides you, he has the whole world
Did it seem like dust and vanity?

Chatsky is having a hard time with his disappointment in his girlfriend. He reproaches her for being hot-tempered even for things that she is not guilty of before him:

Why did they lure me with hope?
Why didn't they tell me directly?
That you turned everything that happened into laughter?

Goncharov notes in this regard that Chatsky acted out a scene of jealousy without having any right to do so. This speaks not only of the blindness of Sophia in love, but also of the blindness of Chatsky in love. Traditional love triangle"broken". Both Sophia and Molchalin are offended in their feelings. And both are trying to lead with dignity. No matter how hard it was for Sophia, she found the courage and dignity not to burst into tears, not to show her weakness in any way. She is irreconcilable with Molchalin, crawling at her feet. In every word she feels a proud character worthy of Chatsky. She demands that Molchalin immediately leave their house, and that “from now on it’s as if I didn’t know you.”

In my opinion, Sophia is certainly worthy of Chatsky’s love. She is smart and brave no less than Chatsky, because she managed to endure the consequences of her mistake.

In the article “A Million Torments,” Goncharov noted that Sophia “has the makings of a remarkable nature.” It was not for nothing that Chatsky loved her. She deserves sympathy when her father’s sentence sounds: “To the village, to my aunt, to the wilderness, to Saratov.”

Showing the love “duel” of the heroes, Griboyedov discovers personality not only in Chatsky alone, but also in Sophia. And this also confirms that Sophia is a worthy object of love. But, unfortunately, their love did not materialize. Both are in trouble, and it is difficult to say who “hit” harder, more painfully. WITH light hand Sofia Chatsky was declared insane. He is expelled from both the girl’s heart and society.

Thus, the personal drama complicates his public drama, embittering Chatsky more and more against noble Moscow.

He accidentally runs into her in the room and asks who she loves. Sophia replies that “the whole world” and says to Chatsky: you are too sarcastic, you mock this or that, but wouldn’t it be better for you to pay more attention to yourself? (See the full text of "Woe from Wit".)

Chatsky openly asks her about Molchalin. Does he have “that passion, that feeling, that ardor so that, except for you, the whole world seems like dust and vanity to him?” Is Molchalin too humble? Have you ascribed to him in your imagination qualities that he does not have?

Woe from the mind. Maly Theater performance, 1977

Sophia regrets to herself that she “reluctantly drove Chatsky crazy,” however. But he denies his love for Molchalin. He says that he simply feels compassion for him when he hears how evilly Chatsky ridicules him. Sophia insists: Molchalin is not stupid, he knows how to disarm the hot-tempered Famusov with meekness, and out of the kindness of his soul he spends whole hours with boring old men. “He is finally: compliant, modest, quiet... He doesn’t cut strangers at random.”

Listening to Sophia, Chatsky convinces himself: she is not capable of loving Molchalin - the character traits that she praises in him are too shallow. Sophia says directly about Skalozub: he is the hero of “not my novel.”

Lisa appears and slowly tells Sophia that Molchalin is going to come to her. Sophia leaves Chatsky under the pretext that she needs to see a hairdresser. Molchalin enters Chatsky’s room. Chatsky asks how he is doing. Molchalin says that he recently received a promotion in the Archives: his superiors appreciated his two talents - moderation and accuracy. “The most wonderful two! and are worth all of us,” Chatsky sneers. Molchalin hints that Chatsky is simply jealous: after all, he “was not given ranks.” He tells how the influential Moscow lady Tatyana Yuryevna, returning from St. Petersburg, said: Chatsky’s previously existing connection with the ministers quickly ended. Much to Molchalin’s surprise, Chatsky doesn’t even know who Tatyana Yuryevna is.

Molchalin advises Chatsky to serve in Moscow: “and take awards and live happily.” Chatsky replies: “When I’m in business, I hide from fun; when I’m fooling around, I’m fooling around; and to mix these two crafts is a multitude of skilled people, I am not one of them.” Molchalin remembers another Foma Fomich. Chatsky calls this department head “an empty and stupid person” and is interested in Molchalin’s opinion of him. “At my age, I shouldn’t dare to have my own opinion... We are of small rank,” Molchalin replies with feigned modesty.

Chatsky almost openly mocks him and again comes to the idea that Sophia cannot love such a nonentity.

Guests are gathering at Famusov's house for a ball. The footmen are preparing the tables. Chatsky stands alone. A carriage arrives. The young lady Natalya Dmitrievna is surprised to see Chatsky: she believed that he was far from Moscow. She says that she married Platon Mikhailovich Gorich. Platon Mikhailovich himself, also a close acquaintance of Chatsky, enters. Chatsky jokingly inquires: after marriage, “the noise of the camp, comrades and brothers, is forgotten”? - Gorich replies with regret: now I have other things to do; Right now I’m performing an a-molal duet on the flute. “Brother, if you get married, then remember me! Out of boredom you will whistle the same thing.” Chatsky reminds Gorich of his old days military service in the regiment. However, Natalya Dmitrievna hastens to answer: Platon Mikhailovich now has rumatism and headaches, he loves the city, Moscow, and in the wilderness of the army garrison he will waste his days. Natalya Dmitrievna intrusively takes care of her husband, insists that he fasten his vest and move away from the draft. Gorich even raises his eyes to the sky. Chatsky: “Wasn’t it last year, at the end, that I knew you in the regiment? only morning: your foot is in the stirrup and you are rushing around on a greyhound stallion; blow the autumn wind, either from the front or from the rear.” – Gorich: “Eh! brother! It was a nice life back then.”

The Tugoukhovsky family arrives: a prince and princess with six unmarried daughters. Natalya Dmitrievna runs to kiss them. Ladies loudly discuss styles of dresses and scarves. The princess, noticing Chatsky, asks Natalya Dmitrievna who he is. She answers: “Chatsky, a bachelor.” The princess immediately tells the prince to go “invite Chatsky to come to dinner with us.” The somewhat deaf prince, having listened to his wife’s instructions through the ear tube, goes to carry them out. Meanwhile, he explains to the princess: Chatsky is not a chamber cadet and is not rich. Princess: “Prince, prince, go back!”

The grumpy, irritated Countesses Khryumina arrive. Other guests arrive. Between them is the fussy Zagoretsky, who immediately offers Sophia a ticket to tomorrow’s performance, which he got through an acquaintance. Zagoretsky tries to talk to Gorich, but he advises him with disgust to “fool women.” Gorich recommends Zagoretsky to Chatsky as a “notorious swindler and rogue” with whom it is dangerous to even play cards.

The old woman Khlestova, Famusov’s sister-in-law, appears with a blackaa girl and a dog. He boasts about them to Sophia. He says that Zagoretsky helped get them. Zagoretsky, hearing these words, steps forward from the crowd. But Khlestova continues about him to Sophia: “liar, gambler, thief” - and Zagoretsky immediately disappears. Chatsky laughs at this scene. Khlestova does not like his laughter: she thinks that Chatsky is laughing at her.

Famusov comes out, loudly asking if Sergei Sergeich Skalozub has arrived. He soon appears. Molchalin had already taken a place for Khlestova at the card table. She strokes her Spitz and admires his fur.

Chatsky approaches Sophia. He mocks Molchalin’s flattering habits and finds in him similarities with Zagoretsky. When Chatsky leaves, Sophia is furious. “This man always causes me terrible distress! I am glad to humiliate, to stab; envious, proud and angry! Mr. N approaches Sophia and inquires about Chatsky. Sophia: “He’s out of his mind!” Mr. N is surprised and interested. Sophia, noticing this, thinks to herself: “Oh, Chatsky, you like to dress everyone up as jesters, would you like to try it on yourself?”

Mr. N conveys the rumor about Chatsky’s madness to Mr. D. From Mr. D the news goes to Zagoretsky. He assures that he had heard before: Chatsky was sitting on a chain in a yellow house, but then he was released from the chain. Zagoretsky tells the rumor to the Khryumin countesses. The granddaughter, without thinking twice, confirms: she herself noticed Chatsky’s madness. The somewhat deaf countess-grandmother can actually hear: Chatsky has either been sent to prison, or has become an infidel. The grandmother is trying to tell the news to the equally deaf Prince Tugoukhovsky.

Little by little, all the guests learn about the “Chatsky madness”. Nobody knows from whom it came first. Famusov says that he is not at all surprised, because Chatsky “bow a little low, bend someone like a ring, even in front of the monarch’s face, so he will call him a scoundrel!..” Everyone is very happy about the news, everyone has reasons to be annoyed with the smart, sarcastic Chatsky. Famusov already claims that Chatsky’s mother went crazy eight times. Khlestova asks: “did he drink beyond his years?” Natalya Dmitrievna confirms: “in bottles, sir, and big ones,” and Zagoretsky: “No, sir, in forty-size barrels.” Famusov declares: “Well! It’s a great misfortune that a man drinks too much! Learning is the plague, learning is the cause.”

Everyone picks up the theme about the dangers of teaching. Princess Tukhoukhovskaya talks about her relative, who studied at the Pedagogical Institute and now: “He runs away from women, and even from me! Chinov doesn’t want to know! He is a chemist, he is a botanist, Prince Fedor, my nephew.” Skalozub says that there is already a project to reorganize all schools and gymnasiums on a military basis, “and the books will be preserved like this: for big occasions.” Famusov: “If you want to stop evil, you should take all the books and burn them.” Zagoretsky is indignant that fabulists in their poems mock “lions and eagles.” They begin to argue heatedly about how many peasant souls Chatsky has.

He appears himself. Everyone backs away from him (“I wouldn’t start fighting”). Chatsky approaches Sophia and tells her that he didn’t like Moscow. He tells how he just spoke in the next room with a visiting Frenchman from Bordeaux. He was afraid to go to Russia, “to the barbarians,” but when he arrived here, he felt as if in his own fatherland: everyone speaks French, the ladies have the same outfits... Chatsky is indignant at the lack of national spirit in high Russian society.

Oh! if we are born to adopt everything,
At least we could borrow some from the Chinese
Their ignorance of foreigners is wise.
Will we ever be resurrected from the alien power of fashion?
So that our smart, cheerful people
Although, based on our language, he didn’t consider us Germans.

Arts and entertainment

Chatsky's attitude towards Sophia. Is Sophia worthy of Chatsky's love?

“Woe from Wit” is a multifaceted work. In it one can see a social parody, a criticism of the regime, and a historical sketch of morals. Not last place The book also features a love affair. Chatsky’s attitude towards Sophia, their feelings are the core that serves as the basis of the plot, filling it with life and emotions.

Characters through the eyes of schoolchildren

You can analyze “Woe from Wit” endlessly. Examine individual plot moves with a magnifying glass, compare quotes with the memories of contemporaries and biographies of alleged prototypes. But this is the approach of a professional analyst, literary critic. On school lessons the work is read completely differently. And they are analyzed in accordance with the recommendations of methodological publications.

There is a certain type of topic that the Ministry of Education regularly offers students for comprehension and subsequent writing of essays: “Is Sophia worthy of Chatsky’s love?”, “Was Karenina right in making the decision to divorce?”, “Characteristics of the actions of Prince Myshkin.” It is not entirely clear what the education system wants to achieve with this. Such an analysis has nothing in common with the literature itself. This is, rather, a monologue of a grandmother at the entrance, discussing whether Klava from the third apartment was right when she kicked out Vaska the alcoholic, or whether she was wrong.

Yes and life experience a 9th grade student hardly allows us to judge what the character should have done. It is unlikely that he will be able to understand what irritates Sophia in Chatsky and why. Except, of course, for the obvious things - those that the heroine herself talks about.

Peculiarities of perception of the play

Traditional The interpretation of the play “Woe from Wit” is as follows. Chatsky is principled, noble and uncompromising. Those around him are low, narrow-minded and conservative people who do not understand or accept the advanced, innovative ideology of the protagonist. Chatsky speaks, denounces and mocks, attacks the vices of society with his words, and society writhes from well-aimed hits, is angry and indignant.

It is difficult to say whether this is the effect Griboedov was trying to achieve. There is an opposite version, which explains the construction of the play with endless monologues and appeals of the main character precisely by the fact that the author parodied the image of a liberal who talks a lot and does nothing. And the characteristics of Sophia and Chatsky are largely determined by how the reader perceives the work. In the first case, he sees an idealistic hero and a bourgeois woman who did not appreciate his impulses, in the second - a chatterbox-demagogue and... still not an appreciative of his impulses. Is it so?

Details of plot collisions

Who are Chatsky and Sophia? He is twenty-one, she is seventeen. Separated for three years back. Chatsky left as soon as he came of age, left his guardian’s house and returned to the family estate. Didn't come, didn't write. He just took it and disappeared. For what reasons is not so important. But how should a fourteen-year-old girl in love feel when the man she considers her lover, her future groom, just picks up and leaves? Not for a week, not for a month. For three years. Even at thirty this is a long time. And at fourteen it’s an eternity. What was he doing all this time? Who were you thinking about? Can she be sure that love is still alive?

At fourteen years old, with teenage maximalism, with teenage emotionality. Critics make demands on the girl that not everyone adult woman corresponds. But Chatsky’s attitude towards Sophia is far from an obvious point. It is enough to imagine the situation through the eyes of the girl, and not the omniscient reader to whom Griboyedov told everything. Isn’t it more logical to ask: should Sophia at all retain at least some feelings for Chatsky? And if so, why? He is not her husband, not her fiancé. He is a romantic admirer, who at one point fled away like a moth from a clearing for three whole years. He had an impulse of his soul. Feelings. Offended dignity. What about her? She shouldn't have felt offended, bewildered, angry in such a situation? Disappointment at last? Penelope, of course, waited for Odysseus much longer - but the situation was completely different. Chatsky is far from Odysseus.

Sophia close up

But all this remains behind the scenes. Yes, attentive reader he will understand everything himself if thinks, but the situation is still presented in hints, snippets of conversations, memories. Therefore, it may well elude a person who is accustomed to seeing only the main storyline works. What's there?

Chatsky suddenly returns to his guardian's house, where he has not been for three years. He's excited, he's excited, he's happy. Chatsky's attitude towards Sophia remained the same. But she already loves someone else. The first, still childhood, love is forgotten. She is passionate about Molchalin. Alas, the chosen one is very bad. Objectively, he is poor, of lower class, this is an obvious misalliance. And subjectively he is a weak-willed sycophant, a flatterer and a nonentity. Although, it should be noted, his prospects are quite good. Molchalin has already begun to make a career and is coping well with the task. It can be assumed that Sophia's new chosen one will go far

At the same time, the young man himself is not at all in love, he is simply afraid to admit it. And the prospect of a profitable marriage is also probably very attractive to him. Often it is this unfortunate choice that is blamed on the girl, answering the question, is Sophia worthy of Chatsky’s love? She traded the eagle for a plucked sparrow, stupid.

Who is Sophia? A girl who grew up without a mother, locked up, almost never leaving the threshold of the house. Her social circle is her father, who has no idea about raising children in general and daughters in particular, and a maid. What might Sophia know about men? Where can she get any experience? The only source of information is books. Ladies' French novels, which her daddy allows her to read. How could such a girl discern the insincerity of a person who had gained the trust of much older and more experienced people? This is simply unrealistic.

Sophia is very young, she is naive, romantic and inexperienced. Molchalin is the only young man she sees almost every day. He is poor, honest, unhappy, timid and charming. Everything is the same as in the novels that Sophia reads every day. Of course, she simply could not help but fall in love.

What about Chatsky?

Chatsky’s personality deserves the same close attention. Is this a mistake? does Sophia do? If you look at the situation objectively, is this marriage a big loss in her life?

Chatsky is twenty-one. He couldn't find a place for himself. Tried there, tried here. But... “I’d be glad to serve, but it’s sickening to be served.” But a position that would meet his needs still doesn’t come across. On what means does Chatsky live? He has an estate. And, naturally, serfs. This is the main source of income for the young liberal. The very one who ardently and sincerely condemns serfdom, calls it barbarism and savagery. This is such a funny problem.

Does Chatsky have any prospects? He won't make a career, that's obvious. Neither the military - he is not a stupid martinet. Neither financially - he is not a huckster. Neither political - he will not betray ideals. He won’t become another Demidov either - his grip is not the same. Chatsky is one of those who speak, and not one of those who do.

His reputation is already ruined, society is running away from him like the plague. It is very likely that Chatsky will spend his entire life in family name, occasionally traveling to resorts and the capital. What irritates Sophia in Chatsky already now will only progress; with age, he will become even more caustic and cynical, embittered by constant failures and disappointments. Can marriage with such a person be considered a successful match? And will Sophia be happy with him - just humanly happy? Even if Chatsky really loves her and keeps this love? Hardly. Perhaps the ending of the play is tragic only for the main character. Sophia was just lucky. Got off cheap.

And about posing the question

Although, when Chatsky’s attitude towards Sophia is discussed in the key: is she worthy of such great love or not - that in itself is strange. Unethical. Is it possible to be worthy of love? What is this, a bonus? Promotion? Compliance with the position held? They don’t love for something, they love for no reason. Because this person is needed, and no one else. That's life. And no love obliges its object to experience reciprocal feelings. Alas. The question itself is incorrect. You can not do it this way. Love is not a potato in the market to tell whether it is worth what they ask for it. And even schoolchildren should be clearly aware of this, not to mention older people.

Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit" is sad story about a man whose grief stems from the fact that he is not like the others. Intelligence, honor, nobility, reluctance to curry favor - these are the qualities because of which the doors to the society of the Famusovs, Mollins, Skalozubs and Zagoretskys are closed in front of Chatsky. This is precisely what the internal development of the conflict between the hero and the environment in comedy is based on.

And everything would be much simpler if Chatsky’s personal drama, his unrequited love to Sophia. To find out the origins of this drama, it is necessary to understand how Sophia really feels about Chatsky. Already in a conversation with Lisa, she says that Chatsky was only a childhood friend for her:

YES, with Chatsky, it’s true, we were brought up and grew up;

The habit of being together every day inseparably

She bound us together with childhood friendship...

Sophia doesn’t even want to admit the possibility that Chatsky still loves her:

Oh! if someone loves someone,

Why bother searching and traveling so far?

No, there is no place left in her heart for Chatsky, it belongs entirely to Molchalin. Her meeting with Chatsky is another proof of this. Chatsky runs to Sophia straight from the road carriage, passionately kisses her hand, hoping to find an answer to his old feeling - and does not find it. He was struck by two changes: she became unusually prettier and cooled off towards him - also unusual.

This puzzled him, upset him, and a little irritated him. Chatsky’s conversation is still generously sprinkled with the salt of humor, because Sophia used to like it so much. Everyone gets it, he went through everyone: from Famusov to Molchalin, and with what apt features he describes Moscow! But everything is in vain: tender memories, witticisms - nothing helps. Chatsky tolerates coldness from Sophia until, caustically touching Molchalin, he touches her too. She, barely hiding her anger, asks Chatsky:

Has it ever happened that you laughed? or sad?

A mistake? did they say good things about anyone?

At least not now, but in childhood, maybe.

From this moment on, a serious struggle flares up between Sophia and Chatsky. Every step of Chatsky, almost every word in the play is closely connected with his feelings for Sophia. Chatsky feels some kind of falseness in her actions, which he tries to unravel. The unhappy lover is at a loss, but still cannot understand who Sophia’s heart is occupied with. Molchalin or Skalozub? Sophia's fainting when Molchalin falls from his horse brings Chatsky closer to the truth:

Confusion, fainting, haste, anger of fright!

So you can only feel

When you lose your only friend.

At the ball, Chatsky realizes more and more clearly that Sophia is dearer to his “others.” And when she enthusiastically describes Molchalin’s portrait, Chatsky realizes that Sophia is lost to him forever. And yet, hiding in the Swiss waiting for the carriage, he spied on Sophia’s date with Molchalin, and then played the role of a deceived lover, without having any rights to do so. Chatsky reproaches her for “luring him with hope” and not saying directly that the past is forgotten. And here we must pay tribute to Sophia. She did not entice him with any hope. All she did was barely speak to him and leave at the first opportunity. Their old children's novel Sophia called it “childish” and even hinted that “God brought her together with Molchalin.”

We should not forget that Sophia is her father’s daughter, and with all her spiritual inclinations, she still entirely belongs to Famus’s world. She cannot fall in love with Chatsky, who opposes this world with all his mind and soul, which is why she chooses Molchalin. Yes, he is pitiful and low, the meaning of his life is “to please all people without exception.” But this is Sophia’s choice, and in the finale of the comedy she will pay for it in full. And who knows, maybe this mistake will open Sophia’s eyes and make her look at the world differently in the future.