In the comedy in verses "Woe from Wit," off-stage characters play an important role. This is a unique work, which skillfully immediately combines the elements of romanticism, classicism and realism. It describes the classical secular society of contemporaries Griboedov, in which serfdom reigns. The action takes place ten years after the Patriotic War of 1812.
Comedy Griboedov
In Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit”, out-of-stage characters deserve special mention. It contains a caustic and skillful satire on the aristocratic Moscow society that was in Russia in the first half of the 19th century.
Comedy is considered one of the pinnacles of Russian poetry and drama. And her aphoristic style served to the fact that soon she literally broke up into quotes that are still famous.
The plot of "Woe from Wit"
At the center of the story is a young and successful nobleman named Alexander Andreevich Chatsky. At the very beginning of the work, he returns from abroad to meet his beloved Sofia Famusova. Young people have not seen each other for three years.
They grew up since childhood, fell in love with each other in their youth. True, they did not part as good friends. Sophia was greatly offended by Chatsky for leaving suddenly, without really saying goodbye to her.
Chatsky returns from abroad with a firm desire to marry Sophia. But contrary to his hopes, the girl meets him very coldly. It turns out that during his absence she managed to fall in love with another. This is Alexei Molchalin, who lives in her father’s house and works as his secretary. At first, Chatsky could not understand what she had found in him. Molchalin seems to him a petty and insignificant person. In addition, he despises him for wanting to please everyone around him and honoring him. Realizing that it was such a person that his lover liked, he was completely disappointed in her.
Throughout the comedy, the protagonist utters colorful monologues, through which he exposes the metropolitan society. A prominent representative of this society is Sophia's father - Pavel Famusov. What Chatsky says is strongly disliked by many. Therefore, rumors about the madness of the hero begin to spread in society. Sophia began to dismiss them out of frustration, and those around them picked them up with pleasure. The play ends with Chatsky deciding to leave everything and leave Moscow.
The value of off-stage characters
In the comedy Woe from Wit, off-stage characters allowed Griboedov to become an innovator in his genre. None of the writers before him set the task of ridiculing the whole city and its inhabitants. In this case, we are talking about Moscow. Therefore, the author brings to the first roles Famus society, it begins to play one of the leading roles in comedy.
The author transferred to the pages of the work prototypes of people he knew well, who were his contemporaries. He gives them speaking surnames, for example, Molchalin, Repetilov or Tugoukhovsky. At the same time, he retained the main features, characters and types of characters.
The main activities to which they devote their lives are participation in balls, playing cards, gossip and empty-voiced fun. All these are elements of an idle and carefree life. They hate enlightenment, they hate communication with educated youth. They work only in order to receive ranks and titles. The main thing in their midst is the uniform and rank, and a person is evaluated only by the number of serf souls.
House of Famusov
In "Woe from Wit," the role of off-stage characters is great. With their help, the author vividly and vividly draws for us a picture of the inhabitants of the Famusovsky house, which corresponds to Moscow society in the 10-20s of the XIX century. Only in miniature.
At the same time, Griboedov does not hesitate to violate the classical rule of three unities (place, time and action). He expands the space of Famusov’s house with the help of off-stage characters. “Woe from Wit” is a comedy in which the whole picture of the manners of Griboedov’s Moscow is shown.
Moscow society
In the list of out-of- character characters "Woe from Wit" you can make a large number of heroes, personifying the so-called past century. As a rule, these are princes and princesses, whom in the house of Famusov are revered as a model. Communication with them is very much appreciated.
For example, for Famusov himself, such a role model is the venerable chamberlain Kuzma Petrovich. And also another of his comrade Maxim Petrovich. All of them are distinguished by helpfulness and readiness to bend at any right time.
The ideal of Molchalin
Separately, it is worth mentioning the ideal of another character in the comedy Molchalin, Sophia's lover. He sincerely considers Tatyana Yuryevna, who gives the richest and most magnificent balls in the district, to be his role model. On her example, you can characterize the extra-scenic characters of "Woe from Wit." This is nobility, wealth and reverence.
When Molchalin learns that Chatsky is unfamiliar with her, he is really surprised and amazed. For convenience, you can put in a table of out-of-character characters "Woe from Wit." In this case, there will be a place for Foma Fomich. He is known for being the head of the department under three ministers at once. All this speaks of his phenomenal coping with any power, ability to adapt to any environmental conditions.
The representatives of the Famusian society should also include the Khvorovs, Dryansky, Skachkovy, Varlansky. All of them quickly take for granted the news of Chatsky's insanity. For those around them, these are famous people whose surnames speak a lot of things, they have weight in society, they are oriented towards them, they strive to imitate and correspond to them.
When the protagonist asks the rhetorical question: “And who are the judges?”, It turns out that they are the ones who are the judges of the capital's Famus society.
Landowners
The landowners-serfs, who boast only about how they easily exchange their servants for greyhound puppies, should be considered as stage characters in the comedy "Woe from Wit".
There is among them a type of landowners-theater-goers who organize serf ballet in their estates. But after the performance, they still sell the mothers and their children one by one, not caring at all about the integrity of the family.
The attentive reader will find in the comedy a vivid parody of members of a secret society. Obviously, this refers to the future Decembrists, who will enter the Senate Square only after three years. Among the characters in the comedy Griboedov are Left and Borinka, Evdokim Vorkulov, Ippolit Udushiev. They also have very speaking surnames that give an idea of what they are.
Thus, we can admit that in his comedy Griboedov portrayed Moscow society in all its diversity. With all the shortcomings and advantages, magnificence and lack of enlightenment. Such a large number of out-of-stage characters in the work helps the author emphasize typical persons, most fully depict the picture of Moscow's life in the 10-20s of the XIX century.