The work of the Ostrovsky Snow Maiden. Snow Maiden (Spring Tale) A. N. Ostrovsky. Brusilo, Kid - boys
Below we characterize the play-fairy tale by A.N. Ostrovsky, making the necessary, from our point of view, accents.
The Snow Maiden extravaganza appeared one hundred and forty years ago, in 1873, in the Vestnik Evropy magazine. Everything was unusual in this play: genre (fairy tale play, extravaganza); combination of dramatic poetic text with music and ballet elements; plot; heroes - gods, demigods, ordinary inhabitants of the country - berendei; fantasy, organically fused with realistic, often everyday pictures; a folk language, which includes elements of vernacular and, on the other hand, in some places turns into a high, poetic, solemn speech.
In the critical literature, an opinion was expressed that the appearance of such a play was associated with random circumstances: in 1873 the Maly Theater was closed for renovations, the troupe moved to the building of the Bolshoi Theater to occupy the artists of the drama and opera and ballet theaters, the management decided to ask A.N. Ostrovsky to write a corresponding play. He agreed.
In fact, everything was more serious. The move of the Maly Theater was only a pretext, an impetus for the implementation of the theatrical genre conceived by Ostrovsky. The playwright's interests have long been associated with plays of this kind, folklore was his favorite and native element, and the folk extravaganza occupied his thought long before 1873 and much later.
“On a holiday,” he wrote in 1881, “every working person is tempted to spend an evening outside the home ... I want to forget the boring reality, I want to see a different life, a different environment, other forms of community. I would like to see the boyar, princely mansions, royal chambers, I would like to hear hot and solemn speeches, I would like to see the triumph of truth. "
The action takes place in the fairyland of the Berendeys, as the playwright writes, in "prehistoric times." The name of the Berendey tribe is found in the Tale of Bygone Years. Heard the writer and oral stories about the ancient city of the Berendey and the king Berendey. "
Mythological characters pass in front of the viewer - gods (Yarilo), demigods (Frost, Spring-Red), the daughter of Frost and Spring-Red, Snow Maiden (the child of a marriage opposite to Yarila), goblin, talking birds, bushes that come to life, ghosts. But all this fantasy is closely combined with realistic, everyday scenes. The great realist, the writer of everyday life could not fetter his imagination in the framework of fiction.
Living real life bursts into the play and gives a special brightness to the time and place of its action.
The Snow Maiden, Kupava, Lel, Moroz, Vesna-Krasna, Mizgir are endowed with features of unique characters. There is something in them from the people of Ostrovsky's time and later years.
The dialogue between Frost and Spring-Red about the future of their daughter is indistinguishable in tone even from the conversations of the parents of our time. Bobyl is a splinter from a typical idle peasant, a drinker, even Yarilo appears in the guise of a young pariah in white clothes with a human head in one hand and a sheaf of rye in the other (as he was painted in folk legends in some places of Russia).
There are not so many traces of the primitive communal system in the fairy-tale play (mostly mythological images). But there is plenty of evidence for the conventionality of "prehistoric time".
First of all, let us note the social inequality in the Berendean kingdom. Society is divided into rich and poor, with the latter openly jealous of the former. Not to mention Bobylikha, who dreams of "stuffing a bag thicker" and commanding the family like Kabanikha, let's pay attention to the pure and noble Kupava, who, getting ready to marry Mizgir, draws her future this way: , / In all sight, a rich mistress / I will reign ...
The richer Murash refuses to accept the shepherd Lel for the night, despising him as a poor man and not believing in his honesty: "Use bows to deceive others, / And we know you, my friend, / What is safe is safe, they say."
It is no coincidence that in the remark to the first act we read: “On the right side is the poor Bobyl's hut, with a shaky porch; a bench in front of the hut; on the left side there is a large Murash hut decorated with carvings; in the back is the street; across the street Khmelnik and Murash the bee ". A small sketch becomes symbolic.
In the Berendey kingdom, elements of the social hierarchy are strong. Talking birds, singing about their life order, in essence, recreate a picture of the social system of the Berendei; they have governors, clerks, boyars, nobles (this is in "prehistoric times"), peasants, slaves, centurions, people of different professions and positions: farmers, kissing men, fishermen, merchants, masters, servants, priest, youths, buffoons.
The king with his faithful assistant boyar Bermyat is crowning all this feast. Can the life of the Berendeans be considered a kind of idyll, serene and happy, as some researchers say?
Yes, in comparison with the surrounding world, where continuous wars are going on (buffoons are singing about them, depicted in The Lay of Igor's Campaign), the land of the Berendei may seem like a paradise.
For a peaceful life, for relative freedom, for the opportunity in any difficult case to turn to the king, the Berendei praise without any measure the wise father of their land. And the king takes this praise for granted.
Nevertheless, life in the Berendey kingdom is far from ideal. No wonder the action of the play is opened by the words of Vesna-Krasna:
Cheerfully and coldly meets
Spring is its gloomy country.
This remark applies not only to the weather, then it turns out that the supreme deity Yarilo (the Sun) is angry with the Berendeys for the fact that Frost and Spring-Red, violating canons and traditions, entered into marriage and gave birth to an unprecedented creature - a beautiful girl. Yarilo swore a terrible oath to destroy both this girl, the Snow Maiden, and her father, and brought all sorts of troubles to the inhabitants of the country (however, they experienced these troubles even without Yarila's will).
The tsar himself is forced to admit that he has not seen well-being in the people for a long time. And the point is not only that, according to Bermyaty, compatriots "steal a little" (this sin is unforgivable, but we can correct it from the point of view of the king), the point is that the morale of the country's inhabitants has changed:
The service to beauty disappeared in them ...
But completely different passions are seen:
Vanity, envy of other people's outfits ...
People are jealous of wealth, lovers often cheat on each other, they are ready to fight with a rival. Priyuchi, calling the Berendeys to a meeting with the tsar, jokingly give evil but truthful characteristics to their contemporaries: “Sovereign people: / Boyars, nobles, / Boyar children, / Cheerful heads / Wide beards! / Do you, nobles, / Greyhound dogs, / Barefoot slaves! / Trade guests, / beaver hats, / Thick heads, / Thick beards, / Tight purses. / Clerks, clerks, / Hot guys, / Your business is to drag and hold, / Yes, to hold your hand with a hook (i.e., take bribes, bribes) / Old old women / Your business; muddy up, spinning, / Divorce the son and daughter-in-law. / Young fellows, / Daring daredevils, / people for the cause, / You are for idleness. / It's up to you to look around the towers / to lure the girls out.
Such "prehistoric times" are not much different from later times - the great playwright remains true to himself in exposing human vices and shortcomings. The researcher is hardly wrong when she writes that "Berendey's society is cruel, it no longer lives according to natural, but human laws, covering up its imperfection with the desires of Yaripa the Sun."
A few words about the king should be added here. In the critical literature, his figure is assessed positively. He really provided peace to his people, in any case, he did not embark on reckless wars, he thinks a lot about the happiness of young people, does not shy away from communicating with ordinary Berendey, to some extent he is not alien to art - he paints his palace. But unlimited power, as usual, left an imprint on his thoughts, feelings and behavior.
He is convinced that the will of the king has no boundaries. When he decides to gather all the lovers and arrange a collective wedding on the solemn Yarilin's day, and Bermyata doubts the possibility of such a holiday, the tsar exclaims in anger: What? What is not allowed, bermata? Can't do what the king wants? Are you in your mind?
Having learned from Kupava that Mizgir cheated on her for the sake of the Snow Maiden, he considers Mizgir a criminal worthy of death. But since “there are no bloody laws in our code,” the tsar, on behalf of the people, condemns Mizgir to ostracism - eternal exile - and calls on those who want to fall in love with the Snow Maiden before the end of the night (no later!).
True, falling in love and disappointment in the Berendey kingdom flares up and goes out with the speed of a match, but such is the tradition of literature that goes back to the Renaissance - remember Romeo and Juliet, who fell in love in a matter of seconds, in fact, without recognizing each other. But even taking into account this tradition, the order of the king looks like an act of arbitrariness.
Hearing that the appearance of the Snow Maiden on the Berendeeva land caused a complete commotion among the young people due to jealousy, the tsar ordered Bermyata to “settle everyone and reconcile until tomorrow” (!), And the Snow Maiden to look for a friend after her heart.
The promised holiday is coming, a friend - Misgir - is found, young people are in love without memory, but the vengeful Yarilo remembers his oath. Hot passion destroys the Snow Maiden, she melts under the influence of sunlight. Misgir commits suicide, and the tsar, who shortly before that admired the beauty of the Snow Maiden and promised to arrange a feast with a mountain to the one who “will manage to captivate the Snow Maiden with love before dawn,” now solemnly says:
Snow Maiden sad demise
And the terrible death of Mizgir
They cannot disturb us. The sun knows
Whom to punish and pardon. Finished
True judgment! A product of frost,
The cold Snow Maiden died.
Now, the Tsar believes, Yarilo will stop his acts of revenge and "look at the loyalty of the submissive Berendei." The king most of all adores the obedience of his subjects to himself and to the highest deity - Yaril-Sun. Instead of a mourning one, he offers to sing a cheerful song, and the subjects are happy to fulfill the will of the king. The death of two people in comparison with the life of the masses does not matter.
In general, Ostrovsky's entire play, for all its apparent gaiety, is built on an antithesis, which creates a contradictory, sometimes bleak picture. Warmth and cold, wealth and poverty, love and infidelity, contentment with life and envy, war and peace, in a broader sense - good and evil, life and death are opposed to each other and determine the general atmosphere of the Berendean kingdom, and contradictions and disharmony in characters actors.
The hostile principle has penetrated even into space. The Yarilo-Sun, the blessed sun, which gives wealth and joy to earthlings, sends bad weather, crop failures, all kinds of sorrow to the Berendei and destroys the innocent illegitimate daughter of illegitimate parents, taking revenge not only on Frost, but also on the spiritually close Spring-Red, depriving her beloved daughter.
If we talk about the philosophical aspect of the play, then before us is not the embodiment of the dream of an ideal "prehistoric" kingdom, but a fairy tale work imbued with a thirst for harmony of life in the present and the future. This harmony is deprived of the Berendey kingdom, this harmony is absent in the character of the main character.
She merged physical beauty with spiritual nobility, a kind of almost childish naivety and defenselessness with a cold heart, an inability to love. A desperate attempt to go beyond the circle designated by nature causes an inhuman tension of strength and emotions and ends in tragedy.
We can say that the playwright's idea to show “a different life, a different environment” so that the audience at least temporarily forgot “boring reality” was not entirely successful. But the image of the truth of life was fully succeeded, as A.N. Ostrovsky wrote about in the letter cited above.
She is attracted by the persistent and irrepressible desire of the main character to change her fate, her high understanding of love, for the sake of which one can accept death:
Let me perish, love one moment
More dear to me than years of melancholy and tears ...
Everything that is dear in the world
Lives in just one word. This word
Love.
At first Lel fascinates her with her songs, the softness of nature. Mother reminds her that Lel is the beloved son of the Sun, hostile to the father of the Snow Maiden.
I'm not afraid of either Lelya or the Sun,
she answers ...
... Happiness
I’ll find or not, but I’ll look.
Love is above all, dearer than earthly existence - this is the leitmotif of the play. As noted in the critical literature, “in the late phase of creativity (from the second half of the 1870s), the main concern of the playwright was the fate of loving women.
In the chronological interval between "Thunderstorm" and "Dowry" Ostrovsky creates an extravaganza "Snow Maiden". And those are the unfortunate fate of a woman, albeit in a fabulous interpretation, in the foreground. The physical cold that surrounds the daughter Frost-father can be endured - the mental cold is unbearable. Love warms, makes a person a person. This is a great feeling, but it requires the willingness of the lover to fight for his happiness.
Sometimes, unfortunately, a high romantic feeling ends tragically - for a number of reasons, including a conflict with society or supermundane forces, as shown by the classics of distant and closer times to us, and as A.N. Ostrovsky in his fairy tale play.
But the strength of the spirit of the dying hero gives rise to deep respect for him on the part of the person who perceives the art and does not pass without a trace for the consciousness and emotional world of the reader and viewer. From these positions can assess the tragedy of the Snow Maiden.
Summary of the tale
The action takes place in the land of the Berendei in mythical times. The end of winter comes - the lion is hiding in a hollow. Spring arrives on Krasnaya Gorka near Berendey Posad, the capital of Tsar Berendey, and with it the birds also return: cranes, swans - Spring's suite. Spring is greeted with cold by the country of the Berendeys, and all because of Spring's flirtations with Frost, the old grandfather, is recognized by Spring itself.
Their daughter, Snow Maiden, was born. Spring is afraid to quarrel with Frost for the sake of her daughter and is forced to endure everything. The "jealous" Sun itself is also angry. Therefore, Spring calls all birds to warm up with a dance, as people themselves do in the cold. But the fun only begins - the chorus of birds and their dancing - as a blizzard rises. Spring hides the birds in the bushes until the next morning and promises to warm them. Meanwhile, Frost comes out of the forest and reminds Vesna that they have a common child.
Frost, Spring, Snow Maiden. Snow Maiden (Spring Tale) A. N. Ostrovsky, illustration by Adrian Mikhailovich Ermolaev
Each of the parents takes care of the Snow Maiden in their own way. Frost wants to hide her in the forest so that she lives among obedient animals in a forest chapel. Spring wants a different future for her daughter: to live among people, among cheerful friends and children who play and dance until midnight. Peaceful meeting turns into cpop. Frost knows that the God of the Sun of the Berendeys, hot Yarilo, has sworn to destroy the Snow Maiden.
As soon as the fire of love is kindled in her heart, it will melt her. Spring does not believe. After a quarrel, Frost proposes to give their daughter to be raised by a childless Bean in a suburb, where the guys are unlikely to pay attention to their Snow Maiden. Spring agrees.
Frost calls Snow Maiden from the forest and asks if she wants to live with people. The Snow Maiden admits that she has longed for girlish songs and round dances, that she likes the songs of the young shepherd Lelia.
Snow Maiden, artist A.M. Ermolaev
This especially frightens the father, and he punishes the Snow Maiden more than anything else in the world to beware of Lel, in which the "scorching rays" of the Sun live. Parting with his daughter, Moroz entrusts the care of her to his forest "leshutki". And finally, it gives way to Spring. Folk festivities begin - Shrovetide. The Berendeys greet the arrival of Spring with songs.
Bobyl went into the forest for firewood and sees the Snow Maiden, dressed like a hawthorn. She wanted to stay with Bobyl and Bobylikha's adopted daughter.
Bobyl and Bobylikha. V.M. Vasnetsov
It is not easy for the Snow Maiden to live with Bobyl and Bobylikha: the named parents are angry that she, with her excessive shyness and modesty, has discouraged all the suitors and they cannot get rich with the help of a profitable marriage of their adopted daughter. Lel comes to the Bobyls to stay, because they alone are ready to let him into the house for money collected by other families. The rest are afraid that their wives and daughters will not resist Lel's charm.
Snow Maiden and Lel. Vasnetsov, sketch
The Snow Maiden does not understand Lel's requests for a kiss for a song, for a flower gift. She picks the flower with surprise and gives it to Lel, but the latter, singing a song and seeing other girls calling him, throws the already withered flower of the Snow Maiden and runs away to new fun.
Many girls quarrel with guys who are inattentive to them because of their passion for the beauty of the Snow Maiden. Only Kupava, the daughter of a rich Slobozhan Murash, is affectionate to the Snow Maiden. She informs her of her happiness: a rich merchant guest from the royal settlement of Mizgir wooed her. Here Mizgir himself appears with two bags of gifts - a ransom for the bride for girls and boys.
Kupava, along with Mizgir, approaches the Snow Maiden, who is spinning in front of the house, and calls her for the last time to lead a girl's round dances. But seeing the Snow Maiden, Mizgir fell passionately in love with her and rejected Kupava. He orders to carry his treasury to the Bobyl's house. The Snow Maiden resists these changes, not wishing any harm to Kupava, but the bribed Bobyl and Bobylikha make the Snow Maiden even drive Lel away, which Mizgir demands.
Misgir and Kupava. Vasnetsov, sketch 1885-1886
The shocked Kupava asks Mizgir about the reasons for his betrayal and hears in response that the Snow Maiden won his heart with her modesty and bashfulness, and Kupava's courage now seems to him a harbinger of future betrayal. The offended Kupava asks for protection from the Berendeys and sends curses to Mizgir. She wants to drown herself, but Lel stops her, and she falls unconscious into his arms. In the chambers of Tsar Berendey, a conversation takes place between him and his entourage Bermata about the trouble in the kingdom: for fifteen years Yarilo has been unmerciful to the Berendey, winters are getting colder, springs are getting colder, and here and there snow lies in summer.
Berendeiki in the "Snow Maiden". V. Vasnetsov.
Berendey is sure that Yarilo is angry with the Berendey for cooling their hearts, for the “cold of feelings”. In order to extinguish the anger of the Sun, Berendey decides to appease him with a victim: on Yarilin's day, the next day, tie as many grooms and brides as possible by marriage. However, Bermyata reports that because of some Snow Maiden who appeared in the settlement, all the girls quarreled with the guys and it is impossible to find grooms and brides for marriage.
Here Kupava, abandoned by Mizgir, runs in and weeps all his grief to the king. The tsar orders to find Mizgir and summon the berendeys to trial. They bring Mizgir, and Berendey asks Bermyata how to punish him for betraying his bride. Bermyata proposes to force Mizgir to marry Kupava. But Mizgir boldly objects that his bride is the Snow Maiden.
Kupava also does not want to marry a traitor. The Berendeys do not have the death penalty, and Mizgir is sentenced to exile. Mizgir only asks the king to look at the Snow Maiden himself. Seeing the Snow Maiden who came with Bobyl and Bobylikha, the tsar was struck by her beauty and tenderness, and wants to find a worthy husband for her: such a “sacrifice” will surely cajole Yarila.
The Snow Maiden admits that her heart does not know love. The king turns to his wife for advice. Elena the Beautiful says that the only one who can melt the heart of the Snow Maiden is Lel. Lel calls the Snow Maiden to twine wreaths until the morning sun and promises that love will wake up in her heart by morning. But Mizgir does not want to give up the Snow Maiden to an opponent and asks permission to join the fight for the Snow Maiden's heart. Berendey allows and is confident that at the dawn of the Berendei they will gladly meet the Sun, which will accept their atoning "sacrifice." The people glorify the wisdom of their king Berendey.
At dawn, girls and boys begin to dance in circles, in the center - the Snow Maiden with Lel, Mizgir appears and disappears in the forest. Delighted with Lel's singing, the tsar invites him to choose a girl who will reward him with a kiss. The Snow Maiden wants Lel to choose her, but Lel chooses Kupava. Other girls put up with their sweethearts, forgiving their past betrayals. Lel is looking for Kupava, who has gone home with her father, and meets a crying Snow Maiden, but he does not pity her for these "jealous tears", caused not by love, but by envy of Kupava.
Sketch of the poster for the opera by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden. Artist K.A. Korovin
He tells her about secret lovemaking, which is more valuable than a public kiss, and only for true love is he ready to lead her to meet the Sun in the morning. Lel recalls how he cried when the Snow Maiden had not previously responded to his love, and goes to the guys, leaving the Snow Maiden to wait. And yet, not love lives in the heart of the Snow Maiden, but only pride that it is Lel who will lead her to meet Yarila. But then Mizgir finds Snegurochka, he pours out his soul to her, full of burning, real male passion.
He, who never prayed for love from girls, falls on his knees before her. But the Snow Maiden is afraid of his passion, and threats to avenge humiliation are also terrible. She also rejects the priceless pearls with which Mizgir is trying to buy her love, and says that she will exchange her love for Lel's love. Then Mizgir wants to get the Snow Maiden by force. She calls Lelya, but "Leshutki" come to her aid, whom Father Frost instructed to take care of his daughter.
Elena Katulskaya as the Snow Maiden in N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden
They take Mizgir into the forest, beckoning him with the ghost of the Snow Maiden, in the forest he wanders all night, hoping to overtake the Snow Maiden the ghost.
Meanwhile, even the heart of the tsar's wife was melted by Lel's songs. But the shepherd deftly dodges both Elena the Beautiful, leaving her in the care of Bermyaty, and from the Snow Maiden, from whom he runs away, seeing Kupava. It was such a reckless and ardent love that his heart was waiting for, and he advises the Snow Maiden to "eavesdrop" on Kupavin's hot speeches in order to learn to love. The Snow Maiden, in her last hope, runs to mother Vesna and asks her to teach her real feelings.
Actress Alyabyeva as Spring in the play "Snow Maiden";
Viktor Vasnetsov. Spring. Sketch for the play "Snow Maiden";
Nadezhda Zabela (Vrubel) as the Snow Maiden (1890).
In the forest edge of the Kostroma region, among the wonderful nature, there is Shchelykovo, a former estate, and now a museum-reserve of the great Russian playwright A. N. Ostrovsky.
Ostrovsky first came to these places as a young man. He was twenty-five years old.
Since then, the writer has had a cherished dream - to settle in Shchelykovo. He was able to realize this dream only 19 years later, when, together with his brother, he bought the estate from his stepmother. Having become a co-owner of the estate, Ostrovsky came there every year in early May and left only in late autumn.
Nature appeared before him in bright variety, changing her clothes. He watched her rebirth, lush bloom and wilting.
He also had his favorite places here.
Ostrovsky from an early age was distinguished by a passion for fishing. At the dam of the winding river Kueksha, he spent long hours with fishing rods. Near the steep banks of the Sendega River, it could be seen from a prison. On the wide river Meru, which flows into the Volga, he rode out with a seine.
It was a great pleasure for the writer to walk through the surrounding villages, forest tracts and glades.
He often went to the grove with the strange name "Pig's Forest". Century birch trees grew in this grove.
Alexander Nikolaevich descended from the mountain on which the estate is located, to the old channel of the Kuekshi River and walked along a wide valley, which served as a place for festive games and entertainment for the surrounding youth. There is a small spring in the upper part of this sloping valley. In the days of Ostrovsky, a fair was held here every spring, which gathered crowds of people.
The writer also visited a round meadow near the village of Lobanovo. Surrounded by the forest, it also served as a Sunday resting place for peasant youth. Here the playwright watched round dances and listened to songs.
Ostrovsky often visited the village of Berezhki with his friend I.V. Sobolev, a skilled woodcarver. The extraordinary silence of this forest corner, the lack of people (there were only a few houses there) and the peculiar northern architecture of the tall, pointed-topped barns belonging to the inhabitants of this village created the impression of some kind of detachment from the world, fabulousness.
Ostrovsky also had other places he liked.
His attachment to Shchelykov only grew stronger over the years. He expressed his admiration for the beauties of Shchelykov's nature more than once in letters to friends. So, on April 29, 1876, he wrote to the artist M. O. Mikeshin: “It's a pity that you are not a landscape painter, otherwise you would have visited my village; you can hardly find a similar Russian landscape anywhere. "
Ostrovsky's observations of people and the nature of the Shchelykovsky environs were reflected in many of his works.
They were most vividly reflected in the spring fairy tale The Snow Maiden (1873). The basis of this poetic work was made up of folk tales, legends and legends, rituals and customs, sayings and songs, with which the writer got acquainted from childhood. He bloomed the folk fantasy with the bright colors of his own invention, saturated the work with subtle humor and inserted the images of his fairy tale into the frame of the picturesque nature of Shchelykov.
The Snow Maiden is a tale about the beauty of a mighty, ever-renewing nature and at the same time about human feelings, about a people, their aspirations and dreams.
In this life-affirming work, Ostrovsky draws his ideal of social life, which defines fair and beautiful human relationships.
The playwright begins his tale with the meeting of Frost and Spring on Krasnaya Gorka.
The builder of ice palaces, the master and lord of blizzards and blizzards, Frost is a poetic embodiment of winter, cold, freezing nature. Spring-Red, accompanied by birds, is a warm breath and light penetrating into the kingdom of winter, the personification of all fertilizing power, a symbol of awakening life.
The Snow Maiden is a wonderful child of Frost and Spring. There is a coldness in her soul - the harsh heritage of her father, but life-giving forces are also in her, bringing her closer to her mother in Spring.
Frost and Vesna gave Snegurochka, when she was 15 years old, to the village beyond the river Berendey Posad, the capital of Tsar Berendey. And so Ostrovsky draws before us the kingdom of the happy Berendeys.
What prompted the poet to create an image of the fabulous Berendey kingdom?
Ostrovsky had obviously heard that the Berendeevo swamp existed in the Vladimir province. The legend about the ancient city of the Berendeys was associated with it. This legend could have suggested to Ostrovsky a fantastic image of the Berendey kingdom.
Russian village life, ancient rituals and customs, folk types, which Ostrovsky admired in Shchelykovo, helped him to recreate the look of the merry Berendeys.
A remarkable feature of Ostrovsky's tale is that it is fantastic and at the same time true, that in its conventional, bizarre images, the deep truth of human feelings is clearly seen.
Ostrovsky embodied in the Berendey Kingdom the people's dream of a fabulous country where peaceful labor, justice, art and beauty rule, where people are free, happy and cheerful.
Tsar Berendey personifies popular wisdom. This is "the father of his land", "the intercessor for all orphans", "the guardian of the world", confident that the light "only holds on with truth and conscience." Berendey is alien to the bloody deeds of war. His state is glorious for its working, peaceful and joyful life. He is a philosopher, worker and artist. Berendey paints his chambers with a skillful brush, enjoys the luxurious colors of nature.
Berendey also loves fun. His close boyar Bermyata is a joker and witty, to whom the tsar entrusts the arrangement of folk amusements and games.
Ostrovsky admires in his fairy tale the common people - noble, humane, cheerful, tireless in work and fun.
King Berendey, addressing the singing and dancing Berendey, says:
The people are generous
Great in everything: to interfere with idleness
He will not - work so hard,
Dance and sing - so much, until I drop.
Looking at you with a reasonable eye, you will say
That you are an honest and kind people, for
Only kind and honest are capable
Sing so loud and dance so bravely.
The inner world of the Berendeys is vividly revealed in their attraction to art. They love songs, dances, music. Their houses are painted with colorful paints, decorated with intricate carvings.
Berendei are distinguished by strong moral foundations. They highly respect love. For them, love is an expression of the best feelings of a person, his service to beauty.
Back in 1873 A.N. Ostrovsky wrote a wonderful play, which is considered the spring fairy tale of the Slavic peoples, called The Snow Maiden. The events of the work are presented in four acts. All the main characters are fictional.
For the first time the text of the play was published in the literary magazine Vestnik Evropy. In the same year, the premiere of the play took place on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
The appearance of a spring fairy tale, written in poetic form, was an absolutely random event.
In 1873, the leadership of the Ministry of Culture decided to temporarily close the small theater in order to carry out major repairs in the building.
All the artists moved to the Bolshoi Theater, where they were supposed to be involved in local productions.
To provide everyone with a sufficient amount of work, A.N. Ostrovsky was instructed to write an enchanting play, the plot and genre of which would allow several artistic groups to be involved at once, namely:
- dramatic;
- ballet;
- operatic.
The writer willingly agreed to the proposal and immediately began writing a literary work.
The plot is based on a Russian folk tale about a girl who was born from the love of Santa Claus and Spring and was named Snegurochka. The music for the fairy tale-extravaganza was commissioned to write the then young and still unknown in wide circles P. Tchaikovsky.
Brief retelling of actions
What is Ostrovsky's play about? First of all, about love. Events take place in the mythical state of the Berendei.
Spring is slowly entering its domain, the mountains are still covered with snow. In the distance is the capital of the Berendean kingdom and the throne of the king himself, which is made of wood and covered with intricate carvings. Goblin does not like spring awakening and is already ready to hide in a hollow until the next winter season.
He sits and watches as the Queen Vesna descends from the top on a team of geese, swans and cranes. Then the events of the play unfold in four acts with a description of the main characters.
Important! If there is no time to read the entire work as a whole, then it is recommended to read the summary.
Action one
Local residents of Berendey's kingdom will learn about the unprecedented beauty of the daughter of Santa Claus and Vesna-krasna. All the guys are trying to woo the beauty and do not give her a way, but she does not love anyone. The girl's appearance is formidable, her lips are compressed, and her forehead is wrinkled.
All the guys who crammed into her suitors were refused. The named grandfather and grandmother of the beauty, who in the play are referred to as Bobylikha and Bobyl, scold her very much, say that she neglects happiness.
In the fairy tale, the girl has a good friend - Kupava, who is also a marriageable girl. A young guy named Mizgir is wooing her. His father holds a noble rank in the royal settlement of the Berendeys and is a very rich man.
Kupava dreams of marrying him, and the date of the wedding is almost agreed upon, but suddenly she decides to introduce her fiancé to her friend.
As soon as Mizgir saw the extraordinary beauty of the Snow Maiden, he immediately fell in love with her, completely forgetting about his previously beloved Kupava.
The offended girl did not expect such a turn of events and accuses Snegurochka of betrayal, says that she recaptured her fiancé, and curses her so that she would never be happy.
Mizgir does not abandon attempts to win the heart of the beauty, gives her expensive gifts, but the newly made love refuses to reciprocate.
Second action
In the kingdom of the Berendey, the great ruler Berendey sits on a golden throne. Buffoons run around him, who periodically fight among themselves on their fists. A boyar named Bermyata enters the room. He asks how things are in the kingdom.
The buffoons shout that everything is fine, but the king is not sure about it. The boyar answers with great doubts, they say, has long been in the kingdom of cold and cold. Summer passes too quickly, and it is very cold.
Berendey believes that the lord of the sun's heat - Yarilo was angry with people, because the former feeling of love for each other disappeared in their hearts.
This kind and heartfelt longing is no longer there. The hearts of the inhabitants of the Berendey state were filled only with envy for the beautiful outfits of their neighbors and vanity.
This worries him greatly, since no one knows the warmth while the cold is walking in his soul. For this Yarilo, the lord of the sun, will continue to take revenge on all the Berendeys.
The king proposed his own plan of action. Berendey says that tomorrow is Yarilyn's day. To please the lord of the sun's heat, you need to gather all the young grooms and beautiful brides in the meadow, and then marry them.
It will be a sacrifice of love, for which Yarilo will thank all the inhabitants of the Berendei state, stop taking revenge and give it a warm spring, and then a long summer.
Bermyata, in response to the king's proposal, explained that this was impossible, because all the young couples living in the kingdom had quarreled. This is due to the beautiful Snow Maiden.
Young guys are totally in love with the girl, do not give her a way, and abandoned their brides. At the same time, the beauty herself does not love anyone.
Berendey cannot believe what the boyar has told him and demands that his order be carried out immediately.
A boy comes into the room, who invited Kupava to complain that the Snow Maiden broke her love, charming Mizgir.
The king listened attentively to the offended girl. The boyar, who stands nearby, offered to oblige Mizgir to marry Kupava, who had been deceived by him, but the girl responded with an unequivocal and proud refusal. From now on, her heart is broken and can not feel anything for the guy but bitter hatred.
Berendey decides to judge Mizgir according to the rules of the people's court. Orders to expel the guy from the state, so that he could never deceive anyone again. Mizgir defends himself, invites the tsar to go and see how beautiful the Snow Maiden is.
Berendey agrees to this proposal. As soon as he saw the girl, he was immediately convinced of her extraordinary beauty. At this moment, the ruler promises the girl to find a beautiful groom for her.
The beauty offered by the tsar refuses, arguing that she still does not know the feeling of love.
Bermyaty's wife, Elena, breaks into the conversation and says that she knows who will help them.
This is Lel the shepherd boy. Only this boy is able to melt the cold and unapproachable heart of a girl.
On the instructions of the ruler, the shepherd invites the Snow Maiden to weave wreaths of field herbs all night, convincing the beauty that from this her heart will know true love.
At the same time, Mizgir does not abandon his attempts to get a girl as his bride.
Act three
In the Berendey state, evening fell, and the youth rushed to lead round dances. Lel began to sing his wonderful songs, which Tsar Berendey liked incredibly. As a token of gratitude, the sovereign orders the guy to choose any bride who will give him a hot kiss in return.
The Snow Maiden's eyes lit up with happiness, and she asks Lelya to choose her, but the guy turns his back on the girl, choosing Kupava.
Mizgir rushes to the Snow Maiden and swears his sincere love to her, but the girl is frightened by his excessive passion and determination.
Misgir does not stop his actions and tries to achieve the beauty by force.
Goblin comes to her aid, who magically creates the ghost of the Snow Maiden and takes the madman away.
At the same time, Lel continues to sing with her beautiful voice, driving Elena, boyar's wife, and Kupava herself crazy.
Act four
Lel starts a sincere conversation with Snegurochka, in which she recommends that she learn true love from Kupava. The girl runs in tears to her mother - Spring and asks to teach her about love.
The mother warns the girl, but still gives her a wreath, saying that now she will fall in love with the first person she meets. This guy turns out to be Mizgir, who is bursting with pride that he still got the desired love.
The groom does not even want to hear anything about the girl's fear of the rays of Yaril and calls her with him to Krasnaya Gora, where all the inhabitants of the Berendey state gathered to meet the sun.
As soon as the solar circle appears on the horizon, the Snow Maiden's body immediately begins to melt and turn into a lake.
The girl understands that now she is dying, but despite this, she still blesses her love, since it was at this moment that she was able to experience real warm feelings.
Mizgir can not stand what is happening, cries and yearns for his beloved. The realization comes to him that the gods laughed at him in this way.
He no longer wants to live without his bride, whose reciprocity he has been seeking for so long.
The guy scatters and rushes from the mountain straight into the lake. Sovereign Berendey assures that the sacrifices of the Snow Maiden and Berendey will only appease Yarilo. He will no longer take revenge and will bestow all the inhabitants of the kingdom with the rays of his warmth.
Important!Despite the tragic conclusion of the play, which consists in the death of the main character, as well as her lover, the original of the work is read easily and naturally.
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Let's sum up
In the work of Ostrovsky the Snow Maiden, the main character, like other characters, is a reflection of those difficult relationships between a man and a woman that happen in real life.
Many literary critics believe that this play is not just a fairy tale-extravaganza, but also filled with deep dramatic meaning, since the writer paid great attention to the issue of unrequited love and the consequences to which it can lead.
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Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky
Snow Maiden
A Spring Tale in four acts with a prologue
The action takes place in the land of the Berendei in prehistoric times. Prologue on Krasnaya Gorka, near Berendey Posad, the capital of Tsar Berendey. The first action in the Berendeyevka settlement beyond the river. The second act in the palace of King Berendey. The third act in the reserved forest. The fourth act in the Yarilina Valley.
Faces :
Spring-Red.
Santa Claus.
Girl - Snow Maiden.
Leshy.
Maslenitsa - straw stuffed animal.
Bean Bakula.
Bobylikha, his wife.
Berendei of both sexes and all ages.
Spring suite, birds: cranes, geese, ducks, rooks, magpies, starlings, larks and others.
The beginning of spring. Midnight. Red hill covered with snow. To the right are bushes and a rare leafless birch grove; to the left there is a dense dense forest of large pines and firs with branches hanging from the weight of the snow; in the depths, under the mountain, the river; openings and ice-holes are lined with spruce forest. Across the river Berendeyev Posad, the capital of Tsar Berendey: palaces, houses, huts - all wooden, with fanciful painted carvings; there are lights in the windows. The full moon gives silver to the entire open area. Roosters are crowing in the distance.
The first phenomenon
Leshy sitting on a dry tree stump. The whole sky is covered with birds that have flown in from overseas. Spring-Red on cranes, swans and geese descends to the ground, surrounded by a retinue of birds.
Leshy
The roosters crowed the end of winter
Spring-Red descends to the ground.
Midnight hour has come, goblin
Fenced off - dive into the hollow and sleep!
(Falls into a hollow.)
Spring-Red goes down to Krasnaya Gorka, accompanied by birds.
Spring-Red
At the appointed hour, as usual
I come to the land of the Berendeys,
Cheerfully and coldly meets
Spring is its gloomy country.
Sad Look: Under the Shroud of Snow
Deprived of living, cheerful colors,
Deprived of the fruitful power
The fields lie cold. In chains
Playful streams - in the quiet of midnight
You can't hear their glass murmur.
The forests stand silent, under the snow
Thick paws of firs are lowered,
Like old furrowed brows.
In the raspberries, under the pines they were shy
Cold darkness, icy
Icicles amber resin
Hangs from straight trunks. And in the clear sky
As the heat burns the moon and the stars shine
Enhanced radiance. Earth,
Covered with down powder
In response to their hello, it seems cold
Same shine, same diamonds
From the tops of trees and mountains, from gentle fields,
From the potholes of the road
And the same sparks hung in the air
They oscillate without falling, shimmer.
And everything is just light, and everything is just a cold shine,
And there is no heat. Not the way they meet me
The happy valleys of the south are there
Carpets of meadows, acacia scents,
And the warm steam of the cultivated gardens,
And milky, lazy radiance
From the dull moon on the minarets,
On poplars and black cypresses.
But I love midnight countries
I love their mighty nature
Wake up from sleep and call from the depths of the earth
A giving birth, a mysterious force,
Carrying careless berendey
Abundance lives unpretentious. Lubo
Warm for the joys of love
For frequent games and celebrations, clean up
Secluded shrubs and groves
Silk carpets of colored herbs.
(Referring to birds that shiver with cold.)
Comrades: white-sided magpies,
Cheerful chatterboxes,
Gloomy rooks and larks
Singers of the fields, heralds of spring,
And you, crane, with your friend the heron,
Beauties, swans, and geese
Noisy, and bustling ducks,
And little birds - are you cold?
Though I am ashamed but I must confess
Before the birds. I myself am to blame
What's cold for me, Spring, and you.
Sixteen years ago for a joke
And amusing your fickle disposition,
Changeable and whimsical, became
Flirt with Frost, old grandfather,
Gray-haired prankster; and since then
I'm in captivity with the old one. Man
Always like this: give a little will,
And he will take everything, that's how it is
From antiquity. Leave the gray-haired
But the trouble is, we have an old daughter -
Snow Maiden. In the deep forest slums
Returns to the abysmal slaves
The old man is his child. Loving the Snow Maiden,
Feel sorry for her in an unhappy lot,
I am afraid to quarrel with the old;
And he is glad of that - chills, freezes
Me, Vesna, and Berendeev. The sun
Jealous looks at us angrily
And frowns at everyone and that's the reason
Severe winters and cold spring.
Are you trembling, poor things? Dance
You will get warm! I have seen more than once
That people were warmed up by dancing.
Though reluctantly, even from the cold, but dancing
We will celebrate the arrival for the housewarming.
Some birds take to instruments, others sing, and still others dance.
Chorus of birds
The birds were gathering
The singers gathered
Herds, herds.
Birds sat down
The singers sat down
Rows, rows.
And who are you, birds,
And who are you, singers,
Big, big?