Gogol's comedy The Marriage was prepared for publication and staged for the first time in 1842. Initial reviews of both the production and the printed text were mostly negative and fell short of the author's expectations. Let's try to figure out why.
Creation history and first performances
Gogol began work on the comedy "The Marriage" in 1833. For eight years, the name changed (the first version was “Grooms”), the scene (moved from the village to St. Petersburg), the plot (initially Podkolesin and Kochkarev were absent, and the landowner was the bride). The writer planned to give the play for staging in the spring of 1836, but the last point in it was staged only 5 years later, abroad.
The premiere of the comedy "The Marriage" by Gogol took place in early December 1842 at the Alexandria Theater, and two months later - in Moscow. None of them had the proper success, which was partly due to the behavior of the actors: many of them simply did not understand the essence of what was happening. And on the St. Petersburg stage, after the final curtain, there was a boo: such stories usually ended with a happy reunion of lovers, and here they had to look for an explanation for Podkolesin's act. The following performances turned out to be more successful, and now one of the advantages of the play is that it presents a broad picture of the life of different class groups of the first half to mid-19th century.
Let's see how Gogol portrays a contemporary in the comedy "The Marriage".
Summary of 1 action. Acquaintance with the main character
Court councilor Podkolesin is a bachelor, but has long dreamed of getting married. He has already turned to the matchmaker, Fyokla Ivanovna, ordered a tailor's coat, Stepan the servant bought waxes for his boots. It seems that the hero can only get acquainted with the future bride.
Podkolesin's conversation with the servant about the preparations for the wedding is interrupted by the visit of the matchmaker: she came to tell about the new girl. The court counselor immediately bombards her with questions about how old the bride is, what is included in the dowry, whether she is good-looking. Fyokla Ivanovna reports that Agafya Tikhonovna is the daughter of a merchant, but that she wants to see a nobleman as her husband. She has a solid dowry, and she is also pretty. After listening, Podkolesin asks to come the day after tomorrow - during this time he will think it over. “This has been going on for the third month already,” the matchmaker reproaches him and adds that she has other suitors in mind.
Gogol's "marriage" continues with the appearance of Kochkarev, a friend of the groom. First, he scolds Fyokla Ivanovna that she married him, but upon learning what was the matter, he immediately begins to insist that the wedding is the best event in life. And he undertakes today to introduce Podkolesin to the bride and arrange his fate.
In the house of Agafya Tikhonovna
While Kochkarev raises the court councilor from the couch and forces him to go to his bride, Fyokla Ivanovna introduces the merchant's daughter to potential suitors: Scrambled eggs, Anuchkin, Zhevakin. First in words, and then in person: soon they will appear in the house.
Having met the suitors, Agafya Tikhonovna feels awkward and runs away, and Fyokla Ivanovna invites everyone to evening tea for a better acquaintance. Kochkarev, who nevertheless pulled his friend out of the house and witnessed a scene of acquaintance, convinces Ivan Kuzmich that he cannot find a better game and that he must act immediately.
Thus, in the first part of the play, people appear before the viewer who want to find for themselves a certain ideal, created in the imagination. At the same time, none of them recalls that the main thing in marriage is the union of two kindred souls. Gogol brings us to such thoughts in the comedy "The Marriage".
Summary 2 actions. The results of Kochkarev's activities
The hero, who decided to marry Podkolesin by all means, takes the initiative into his own hands. First, Kochkarev assures Agafya Tikhonovna, anxious about the upcoming choice of a groom - she even decided to draw lots in this regard - that there is no better way to find Ivan Kuzmich. His move succeeds: the bride drives away the men who have reappeared in her house and runs away. Left alone with Yichnitsa, Anuchkin, Zhevakin, Kochkarev introduces himself as a relative of the heroine and talks about her “shortcomings”. Finally, he arranges a conversation between the bride and Podkolesin, in the hope that the latter will propose. However, the viewer becomes a witness of their timid conversation about nothing and shy silence - it sometimes helps to understand the inner feelings of the hero. Thus, instead of the happy logical ending of the comedy The Marriage, Gogol develops the action further.
Escape of the groom
Now Kochkarev makes an offer to Agafya Tikhonovna for his indecisive friend. He had already arranged for the wedding, and ordered supper. The bride went to put on the outfit long prepared for the occasion. It seems that this time everything was done by the initiative Kochkarev so that the marriage took place in the evening.
Gogol - a summary of this showed - portrays Podkolesin as a man apathetic, incapable of decisive changes in life. And at that moment, when everything was already decided, the ecstatic state caused by the conversation with the girl suddenly gives way to panic and fear of a new life. The hero finds nothing better than to jump out the window and go home. And who appeared on the stage, Agafya Tikhonovna, her aunt, matchmaker and Kochkarev himself, learning about this, are shocked. Fyokla's phrase “even if he ran out the door - a different matter, and if the groom did sneak out the window - already here…” N.V. Gogol. "Marriage" is a comedy, at the end of which the viewer must involuntarily reflect on the question of what made the hero, already almost ready for changes, to act in this way.
Characteristics of the characters
As already noted, the basis of the comedy was the portrayal of typical characters of the middle of the century. Let's consider them in more detail.
The first groom - Scrambled eggs, a rude and ignorant executor who ran in here in passing. He was flattered by a rich dowry and therefore immediately begins to check whether everything from the list compiled by the matchmaker is available. He doesn't care what his wife turns out to be, even a fool's way, as long as the "surplus articles" are good.
Anuchkin, an infantry soldier, wants to have a lady next to him who certainly speaks French and has secular manners, otherwise it will not be so. At the same time, high society is closed to him, and he himself does not understand anything in French.
Former sailor Zhevakin, who once made a trip to Sicily, wants to have a wife in the body, so that she would be "a kind of rose flower." And not once in the course of the development of the action of the comedy "The Marriage" by Gogol does not touch upon the question of the spiritual qualities of the bride and grooms, of mutual love or at least sympathy. Everything is measured by the amount of dowry and far-fetched whims that have nothing to do with real life.
Podkolesin is in many ways reminiscent of I. Goncharov Oblomov - the same lazy person and a person who is afraid to take responsibility. In addition, at first he cannot decide on his attitude towards the bride: it seems to him that she is really stupid, has a long nose and is worth nothing without French. However, with the same ease with which Ivan Kuzmich had previously accepted the point of view of each of the suitors, he agrees with his friend that Agafya Tikhonovna is practically perfect. For him, the impression made by the phenomenon, object, face on other people is more important, and not its true content. "The Marriage" - Gogol uses the methods of creating a psychological portrait in the play - reveals the most negative social vices.
Kochkarev also looks comical, possessing a great power of suggestion and enjoying the result of vigorous activity. This is an example of an unprincipled and cunning person who will stop at nothing to achieve a goal. He twirls the fate of others to please himself, and therefore his energy does more harm than good.
All characters created in the play, including women, are multifaceted and surprisingly realistic.
The meaning of comedy
"Marriage" became one of the first Russian comedies, in the center of which was the usual everyday scene, funny and sad at the same time. It was significantly ahead of its time and predetermined the appearance of A. Ostrovsky's plays and, to some extent, Goncharov's novel Oblomov.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
Marriage
(Written in 1833)
CHARACTERS
Agafya Tikhonovna, merchant's daughter, bride.
Arina Panteleimonovna, aunt.
Fekla Ivanovna, matchmaker.
Podkolesin, clerk, court counselor,
Kochkarev, his friend.
Omelette, executor.
Anuchkin, a retired infantry officer.
Zhevakin, sailor.
Dunyashka, girl in the house.
Starikov, hotel palace.
Stepan, Podkolesin's servant.
ACTION ONE
APPEARANCE I
Bachelor's room.
Podkolesin one, lying on the couch about the pipe.
Here's how you start to think about it alone at your leisure, so you see that finally you definitely need to get married. What, really? You live, you live, but finally it becomes such nasty. Here again the meat-eater missed. But, it seems, everything is ready, and the matchmaker has been walking for three months already. Right - he himself somehow becomes ashamed. Hey Stepan!
PHENOMENON II
Podkolesin, Stepan.
Podkolesin... Didn't the matchmaker come?
Stepan... No way.
Podkolesin... Did you have a tailor?
Stepan... Was.
Podkolesin... Well, is he sewing a tailcoat?
Stepan... Sews.
Podkolesin... And have you already sewed a lot?
Stepan... Yes, that's enough. He began to throw loops.
Podkolesin... What are you saying?
Stepan... I say: I've already started throwing loops.
Podkolesin... And he did not ask, what, they say, does the master need a coat?
Stepan... No, I didn't.
Podkolesin... Maybe he said if the master wants to marry?
Stepan... No, he didn't say anything.
Podkolesin... Have you seen, however, other tailcoats as well? After all, he sews for others too?
Stepan... Yes, he has a lot of tailcoats.
Podkolesin... However, there will be a cloth on them, tea, worse than on mine?
Stepan... Yes, it will be clearer than yours.
Podkolesin... What are you saying?
Stepan... I say: this one is clearer than that on yours.
Podkolesin... Okay. Well, he didn’t ask: why, they say, is the master sewing his tailcoat from such a thin cloth?
Stepan... No.
Podkolesin... Didn't say anything about whether he wants to discourse, get married?
Stepan... No, I didn't talk about it.
Podkolesin... You, however, said what rank I am and where I serve?
Stepan... He spoke.
Podkolesin... Why is he doing this?
Stepan... Says: I will try.
Podkolesin... Okay. Now go.
Stepan leaves.
APPEARANCE III
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, milk-sucking something. Those who are higher in rank should observe more, as they say, this ... I've forgotten the word! and a good word, but forgot. Yes, father, no matter how you turn it over, the court councilor is the same colonel, only perhaps a uniform without epaulettes. Hey Stepan!
APPEARANCE IV
Podkolesin, Stepan.
Podkolesin... Have you bought a wax?
Stepan... I bought it.
Podkolesin... Where did you buy it? In that shop that I told you about, that on Voznesensky Prospect?
Stepan... Yes, in that one.
Podkolesin... Well, is the wax good?
Stepan... Good.
Podkolesin... Have you tried cleaning boots with it?
Stepan... I tried it.
Podkolesin... Well, glitters?
Stepan... She shines well.
Podkolesin... And when he gave you the wax, he did not ask why, they say, the master needs such a wax?
Stepan... No.
Podkolesin... Maybe he didn’t say: is the master planning to get married?
Stepan... No, he didn't say anything.
Podkolesin... Well, okay, go yourself.
PHENOMENON V
Podkolesin one.
It seems that boots are an empty thing, but, nevertheless, if badly sewn and red wax, in good society there will be no such respect. Everything is somehow not that ... Here's still disgusting, if calluses. I am ready to endure God knows what, if only not to calluses. Hey Stepan!
APPEARANCE VI
Podkolesin, Stepan.
Stepan... What will you please?
Podkolesin... Did you tell the shoemaker not to have blisters?
Stepan... Spoke.
Podkolesin... What is he saying?
Stepan... Says good.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
Marriage
(Written in 1833)
CHARACTERS
Agafya Tikhonovna, merchant's daughter, bride.
Arina Panteleimonovna, aunt.
Fekla Ivanovna, matchmaker.
Podkolesin, clerk, court counselor,
Kochkarev, his friend.
Omelette, executor.
Anuchkin, a retired infantry officer.
Zhevakin, sailor.
Dunyashka, girl in the house.
Starikov, hotel palace.
Stepan, Podkolesin's servant.
ACTION ONE
APPEARANCE I
Bachelor's room.
Podkolesin one, lying on the couch about the pipe.
Here's how you start to think about it alone at your leisure, so you see that finally you definitely need to get married. What, really? You live, you live, but finally it becomes such nasty. Here again the meat-eater missed. But, it seems, everything is ready, and the matchmaker has been walking for three months already. Right - he himself somehow becomes ashamed. Hey Stepan!
PHENOMENON II
Podkolesin, Stepan.
Podkolesin... Didn't the matchmaker come?
Stepan... No way.
Podkolesin... Did you have a tailor?
Stepan... Was.
Podkolesin... Well, is he sewing a tailcoat?
Stepan... Sews.
Podkolesin... And have you already sewed a lot?
Stepan... Yes, that's enough. He began to throw loops.
Podkolesin... What are you saying?
Stepan... I say: I've already started throwing loops.
Podkolesin... And he did not ask, what, they say, does the master need a coat?
Stepan... No, I didn't.
Podkolesin... Maybe he said if the master wants to marry?
Stepan... No, he didn't say anything.
Podkolesin... Have you seen, however, other tailcoats as well? After all, he sews for others too?
Stepan... Yes, he has a lot of tailcoats.
Podkolesin... However, there will be a cloth on them, tea, worse than on mine?
Stepan... Yes, it will be clearer than yours.
Podkolesin... What are you saying?
Stepan... I say: this one is clearer than that on yours.
Podkolesin... Okay. Well, he didn’t ask: why, they say, is the master sewing his tailcoat from such a thin cloth?
Stepan... No.
Podkolesin... Didn't say anything about whether he wants to discourse, get married?
Stepan... No, I didn't talk about it.
Podkolesin... You, however, said what rank I am and where I serve?
Stepan... He spoke.
Podkolesin... Why is he doing this?
Stepan... Says: I will try.
Podkolesin... Okay. Now go.
Stepan leaves.
APPEARANCE III
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, milk-sucking something. Those who are higher in rank should observe more, as they say, this ... I've forgotten the word! and a good word, but forgot. Yes, father, no matter how you turn it over, the court councilor is the same colonel, only perhaps a uniform without epaulettes. Hey Stepan!
APPEARANCE IV
Podkolesin, Stepan.
Podkolesin... Have you bought a wax?
Stepan... I bought it.
Podkolesin... Where did you buy it? In that shop that I told you about, that on Voznesensky Prospect?
Stepan... Yes, in that one.
Podkolesin... Well, is the wax good?
Stepan... Good.
Podkolesin... Have you tried cleaning boots with it?
Stepan... I tried it.
Podkolesin... Well, glitters?
Stepan... She shines well.
Podkolesin... And when he gave you the wax, he did not ask why, they say, the master needs such a wax?
Stepan... No.
Podkolesin... Maybe he didn’t say: is the master planning to get married?
Stepan... No, he didn't say anything.
Podkolesin... Well, okay, go yourself.
PHENOMENON V
Podkolesin one.
It seems that boots are an empty thing, but, nevertheless, if badly sewn and red wax, in good society there will be no such respect. Everything is somehow not that ... Here's still disgusting, if calluses. I am ready to endure God knows what, if only not to calluses. Hey Stepan!
APPEARANCE VI
Podkolesin, Stepan.
Stepan... What will you please?
Podkolesin... Did you tell the shoemaker not to have blisters?
Stepan... Spoke.
Podkolesin... What is he saying?
Stepan... Says good.
Stepan leaves.
APPEARANCE VII
Podkolesin, later Stepan.
Podkolesin... But marriage, damn it, is a troublesome thing! This, yes, yes it is. For this and that it was correct - no, damn it, it's not as easy as they say. Hey Stepan!
Stepan enters.
I also wanted to tell you ...
Stepan... The old woman came.
Podkolesin... Oh, she came; call her here.
Stepan leaves.
Yes, this is the thing ... the wrong thing ... the difficult thing.
APPEARANCE VIII
Podkolesin and Fekla.
Podkolesin... And, hello, hello, Fekla Ivanovna. Well? as? Take a chair, sit down, and tell the story. Well, so how, how? What do you mean her: Melania? ..
Fekla... Agafya Tikhonovna.
Podkolesin... Yes, yes, Agafya Tikhonovna. And really, some forty-year-old maiden?
Fekla... No, no, no. That is, as you get married, so 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... A dowry, a dowry? Tell me again.
Fekla... And the dowry: a stone house in the Moscow part, about two houses, so profitable that it is a real pleasure. One meadowsweet pays seven hundred for a shop. The beer cellar also attracts a large society. Two wooden chiggers: one chliger is completely wooden, the other on a stone foundation; each ruble of four hundred brings income. There is also a vegetable garden on the Vyborg side: the third year the merchant hired for cabbage; and such a sober merchant, does not take intoxicated drink 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 the trade will be easier to send. I am already, he says, old, so let my son sit in the shop so that the trade would be easier. "
Podkolesin... Yes, what are you?
Fekla... Like a refinat! White, rosy, like blood and milk, such a sweetness that it is impossible to tell. You will be happy for now (points to the throat); that is, you will say to both your friend and the enemy: "Ah yes Fekla Ivanovna, thank you!"
Year of writing: 1833
Genre of the work: play
Main characters: Agafya Tikhonovna, Ivan Kuzmich Podkolesinmatchmaker Fyokla Ivanovna, the groom's buddy Kochkarev
In the works of Gogol, questions of personality maturity are often raised, as can be seen from the summary of the play "Marriage" for a 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 supervision of a matchmaker. The bride is determined in favor of Podkolesin, who is long overdue to start a family. Agafya kicks out other candidates.
The groom-to-be has doubts about the need to tie the knot. On the one hand, the years go by, on the other - he is afraid of family life. The hero likes the bride, but, ultimately, a friend Kochkarev makes an offer to Agafya 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 to find the fugitive. Agafya remains a fool - her chosen groom ran away, and she kicked out the rest.
Conclusion (my opinion)
How the story ended, the reader can think out. The author left the play an open end. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe story is that each person should be responsible for their decisions and deeds.
"The Marriage" is subtitled "An Incredible Event in Two Acts." It's a way to draw the reader's attention to an issue. First published in The Works of Nikolai Gogol in 1842. The first performances of the comedy took place in December 1842 at the Alexandrinsky Theater and in February 1843 in Moscow at the Maly Theater.
The comedy was created for about 9 years, was started in 1833 and was originally called "Grooms". According to the first concept, it was three-act, the action took place not in St. Petersburg, but in the countryside, in the landlord's environment (later the bride became a merchant's wife). There were grooms, but there were no main characters: Podkolesina and Kochkareva. The plot of the comedy is traditionally farcical: the rival grooms push each other aside with flattery, cunning, fists, and the bride does not know whom to choose.
In 1835, a new version of the play was ready, it was already called "The Marriage". Gogol interrupted work because of the "Inspector General" and resumed it in 1836 at the insistence of Schepkin, who was promised a benefit performance. Completed comedy in 1842
Genre and art direction
"Marriage" is considered the first Russian everyday comedy. Gogol abandoned the original idea of \u200b\u200bportraying Little Russian landowners and turned to the bureaucratic environment. Through his heroes, Gogol manages to show the lifestyle of Petersburg in the 1930s. Heroes in the home environment manifest themselves primarily as social types, so Gogol's comedy is social. Many researchers believe that "Marriage", like "The Inspector General", refers to a realistic direction in literature. Podkolesin is Oblomov's direct predecessor. He is ready to give up happiness, just not to take active action. But Oblomov's character is explained by the circumstances of his life and, ultimately, by serfdom. Why Podkolesin is timid, the viewer does not know. This example can be used to show the logic of those researchers who consider Gogol a romantic. Podkolesin's indecision in matchmaking can be considered a typical phenomenon, but the fact that the groom jumped out the window cannot be explained by realism.
"Marriage", like "The Inspector General," is a satirical comedy. They ridiculed not only the character traits and individual characteristics of the heroes, as in classic comedy, but also certain social phenomena, for example, marriage as a way to change social status. Satire is exposed to life without sincere feelings, marriage without love and responsibility.
Theme, plot and composition
The theme of the play is in the title. Marriage is not the result of the heroes' love relationship, but a deal, a commercial enterprise. The structure of the piece is very harmonious and has a clear plan. Gogol found a formula for the unity of the situation around which the action is built. Everything is determined by marriage and rivalry between suitors. The final version adds a motive of fear of change.
The composition of the play is looped: the comedy ends and begins with the same thing. J. Mann called the intrigue of the play mirage. "Mirage" and looping convey the essence and properties of Russian reality.
The plot of the comedy is about finding a profitable groom. A merchant's daughter wants a noble husband, and noble grooms are looking for a rich bride. The main characters of the comedy are indecisive. These features reveal Gogol's psychologism: habits in a person are stronger than the desire to raise social status (the bride) or improve matters (the groom). The fear of people of a different class, a lack of understanding of them, also matters. Indecision leads to immobility of events ("mirage"). Comic devices arise from the clash of desires and immobility. The bride hesitates, making up one ideal of all the suitors. Podkolesin also doubts. Indecision leads to a denouement - Podkolesin's jump into the window, the only purpose of which was to move away from the desired object for a huge distance.
A comic disaster happens at a time when a common effort is almost successful.
Heroes and characters
The system of characters in the comedy, according to A. Bely, is “double-relief,” that is, the characters form pairs. In each pair, such heroes, connecting, cause laughter, because their activity does not lead to the goal, but is extinguished by the other from the pair. The first pair is Agafya Tikhonovna and Podkolesin. They have a similar goal and a similar obstacle - fear. The second pair is professional matchmaker Fyokla and friend of the groom Kochkarev. Kochkarev, unlike Fyokla, himself does not know why he is engaged in the marriage of a friend. The third couple - Podkolesin and Kochkarev - are losers, groom and matchmaker. Double-relief parallelism leads to "mirage": the activity is ineffective, everything happens the other way around. Comedy roles are reinterpreted or parodied: the groom travestizes the lover, the friend of the groom - the confidant who helps to unite the lovers.
If we analyze comedy from the point of view of realism, then several types emerge. Podkolesin is a type of person who goes to the goal only in words, but in fact is inactive. This is the whole bureaucratic system of Russia in the 1930s.
Kochkarev is a person who spends his energy on an empty business and does not understand why. His desire to marry a friend has no motive (unless out of harm, so that he is not free). But to achieve his mirage goal, Kochkarev resorts to any means: deceives, composes.
Agafya Tikhonovna is a type of rich bride who cannot make a choice. Her reasoning on how to make her husband perfect (take lips from one, nose from another, etc.) is the most famous comedy passage. It is the bride's view of the wedding as a trade that destroys the very essence of marriage.
Conflict
The conflict in comedy is external and internal. The external conflict between the suitors is easily resolved by Kochkarev, but the internal conflict between Podkolesin (to marry or not to marry) and Agafya Tikhonovna (whom to choose) is insoluble and leads to a comic ending.
Artistic originality
The main trope that creates the artistic world of comedy is hyperbole. The eggs are too wide, Anuchkin is too slender. The character traits of the characters are exaggerated to the point of ridicule: Podkolesin's indecision, Scrambled eggs' efficiency, Kochkarev's energy.
Gogol resorts to a favorite technique that was widely used by playwrights of the 20th century. He brings the situation and the actions of the heroes to the point of absurdity. But the heroes perceive it as normal and even ordinary. Except for one and only event - a jump in the window. It is he who gives Gogol the right to call the comedy an incredible event in the subtitle.