Relations between men and women are attractive material for poets and writers, psychologists and philosophers. The art of subtle emotional relationships has been studied throughout human life. Love is simple in nature, but often unattainable due to the selfishness and selfishness of a person. One of the attempts to penetrate into the secret of the relationship between lovers was the one-act play by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ.
Summary of the play
The action takes place on the estate of Madame Libanova, who has a daughter, 19 years old, Vera. The hospitality of a wealthy landowner allowed a large number of people to live in her house and be a guest. Vera Nikolaevna, a rich heiress and a girl of marriageable age, possessed natural beauty and intelligence. An enviable bride was courted by a young man Vladimir Petrovich Stanitsyn, a neighbor of Madame Libanova. But his simplicity, timidity and clumsiness prevented the establishment of mutual affection between the girl and the boy.
Vera Nikolaevna was in no hurry to answer Stanitsaâs feelings for another reason. Her mother had another neighbor - Evgeny Andreyevich Gorsky, a prominent man of 26 years who was more attractive to Verochka as a spouse than his friend and rival Stanitsyn. By the way, the latter, by his naivety, did not suspect tender feelings between Vera and Gorsky. However, Gorsky was in no hurry to make a marriage proposal, and Vera Nikolaevna needed clarity in their relationship.
One evening, Eugene, full of lyrical feelings, reads her poems Lermontov in a boat in the middle of the pond, so much so that the girl understands his feelings. But the next day he is mocking and sarcastic, hiding his timidity, he behaves clumsily towards Vera. The girl is offended by such a duality of nature of Gorsky, and in the end she responds with consent to the proposal for a wedding made by Stanitsy.
Folk wisdom
The proverb âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ means that things in which there is no clarity and clarity, left to chance, at the most inopportune moment can bring trouble or lead to disaster.
The allegory with a thread is very revealing. A good housewife will not use a thread with thinned sections in sewing, which will certainly break. She will either take another thread or remove the damaged area. A negligent mistress, hoping for a chance (and suddenly blows), using a low-quality thread, runs the risk of wasting time and getting a bad result.
In life, we often encounter such a phenomenon, especially when it comes to human relationships, when a person does not solve psychological problems because of his complexes, but leaves them to chance - maybe everything will be resolved. Yes, it itself can be resolved, but the result, as a rule, is the opposite of the expectations of such a person. Turgenev subtly described this feature of human relationships in his play.
The connection of the play with the saying
âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ - the writer gave such a name to the work in order to focus readers on the internal psychological problem of the protagonist. Avoiding an honest dialogue with Faith, and above all with himself, he lost his relationship with the girl he liked. Fear of changes in life that should follow the marriage did not allow Gorsky to make a final decision. The weak character of the hero allowed him to agree and, somewhere, even rejoice at Veraâs decision to marry Stanitsyn.
The throwing of Yevgeny Gorsky between âI wantâ and âI'm afraidâ shows his inability to take responsibility, which cultivates the behavior of avoiding failure. The relationship was vague and incomprehensible to Vera: Eugene loves her or not, she still did not get a definite answer. Therefore, such a sad outcome - where it is subtle, it breaks.
Reasons for the gap
The main character of the play, the young girl Vera Nikolaevna, is only 19 years old. But it demonstrates worldly wisdom and the ability to make decisions with a cold head. When the night before, while walking in the garden, Eugene gave vent to his emotions, succumbing to the innocent charm of the youth of the protagonist, Vera thought that Gorsky was in love with her, and she was glad about it, since she was attracted to him.
However, the next day, Eugene seemed to be replaced - he was timid, mumbled, made excuses, avoided direct answers to direct questions. Perhaps, in time, he would have decided to get married, but Stanitsyn with his proposal forced Gorsky to make a choice immediately, which the hero was not ready for. Faith was embarrassed by such behavior, because it proves that Eugene doubts his feelings. And at first glance she made a hasty decision: itâs better to break where it is thin.
Young but smart
The behavior of the heroine from the side may seem spontaneous and frivolous. "In spite I will marry the first who will call," - this behavior of young ladies has become a classic. In a state of resentment, they are ready to punish the negligent groom, and as a result, they themselves and their unfortunate chosen ones suffer.
But Vera Nikolaevna approached the issue of marriage seriously. She agreed to Stanitsynâs proposal not because of resentment at Gorskyâs indecision, but in spite of him. She understood that if you wait for Eugene, where is the guarantee that in a married life he will not let her down. And Stanitsyn is reliable, caring and madly in love with her. It turns out marriage of convenience. Is it good or bad?
The choice between bad and very bad
Life is a series of choices, somewhere successful, and somewhere not. And the expression âit is better to break where it is thinâ indicates particularly unsuccessful decisions. Vera Nikolaevna was to make a choice that would decide her further fate.
In the play âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ in the content, the author does not describe Vera Nikolaevna as a romantic girl, whose heart sank from one kind of lover. On the contrary, Gorsky does not always feel comfortable under the gaze of Verochka. The relations of young people were subjunctive. Vera felt sluggish feelings for Eugene, the same as he had for her.
When a person is truly in love, like the same Stanitsyn, he does not fear the future, does not predict failures - on the contrary, he is happy and thinks that it will always be so. Indecision and fear of mistakes show that, in fact, neither Vera nor Gorsky had love. Therefore, the girl between the two bad options chooses the more acceptable - if she herself can not love, then at least let her love. She still has to go through her bitter lessons, to be punished for a selfish approach to relations with the opposite sex. But this, as they say, is a different story.
Where it is thin, there it breaks
Analyzing Turgenev and his work, we can understand that other works of the classic, such as âA Month in the Villageâ, âEvening in Sorrentâ, etc., were devoted to the topic of relations between men and women. This indicates the writerâs keen interest in the eternal theme of love. This is indicative when you consider that great works are always born on real experiences and experiences. In other words, the author in each work describes himself to some extent.
The play âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ is no exception. If you look at Turgenevâs life impartially, then in Gorsky you can guess the personality traits of the author. We will not be unfounded, but recall the biographical facts.
The writer writes about himself
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born into a wealthy noble family. From childhood I watched how popular wisdom was embodied in life, in particular the saying "Where it is thin, it breaks." The relationship between the parents was initially flawed: the father of the writer, a retired ruined officer, married the money of the power landowner. All that young Ivan could observe was a marriage in which not only adults but also children suffered.
Relationships in which initially there was neither love, respect, nor understanding, but only selfish desires to manage each other, led to the fact that in the fragile soul of the boy a fear arose of the institution of the family, of real responsible relationships.
Turgenev girls
The whole personal life of a genius writer seemed to pass under the slogan "Remember: it breaks where it is thin." The proof of this is Turgenevâs actions, committed by him both in his youth and in his mature years.
As expected, the young Ivan Turgenev falls in love with the same young and charming young ladies. But the moral of that time did not allow having close relations with the subject of sighing from the nobility. Like many, the young Mr. Turgenev had to resort to the help of a servant.
The seamstress Dunyasha became the mother of the only child of the writer. Ivan Sergeyevich wanted to marry his lover when he found out about pregnancy. But the mother did not allow an unequal marriage to take place, threw a scandal and sent the negligent son to Petersburg, and Dunyasha was urgently married.
Life went on, there were some hobbies and even thoughts about getting married, but it didnât go beyond dreams. But there was one big thing in the life of a great writer, one might even say fatal attraction.
Pauline Viardot
The writer, as is characteristic of the fervent disposition of youth, was fascinated by the actress so much that he was not stopped by the harsh educational measures of her mother (she deprived Turgenev of money for three years), neither ridicule nor insult. He followed the Viardot family everywhere. As the writer himself later writes: "I lived on the edge of someone else's nest."
Having met Polina and her husband at the age of 25, the writer will remain with the Viardot family until the end of his life, bequeathing to the actress all his rich inheritance. This woman played a decisive role in Turgenevâs life and in his final loneliness, as if to summarize: âLet it tear where it is thin!â
We all come from childhood
Psychological injuries received by Turgenev in childhood dealt a blow to the thinnest place. They did not allow Ivan Sergeyevich in adulthood to create harmonious happy relationships with the women he loved. He speaks the fear of married life through the lips of Gorsky in the play âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ:
And what? Five years after the marriage, as a captivating, lively Mary turned into a moronic and boisterous Marya Bogdanovna ...
Imperious and autocratic mother also influenced the formation of the character of Turgenev. He was a gentle man, somewhere even soft-skinned, for the most part he was afraid to make responsible decisions and tried to avoid conflicts, which was later reflected in literary work and civic positions. Turgenev will often be criticized for his weak character and called the "tourist of life."
The opinion of critics
But back to the play "Where it is thin, there it breaks." She received encouraging reviews from fellow writers and critics.
P.V. Annenkov noted the simplicity of the characters of the heroes and the skill of Turgenev to interest, in essence, a banal history, without passion and tragedy.
Druzhinin A. V. expressed his opinion about the comedy âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ: âLet the play be small, but the author ofâ Notes of the Hunter âproved that Russian comedy can be entertaining.â
Despite the positive reviews of the play, theatrical performances of the comedy were a failure, which immediately reflected in the negative reviews of theater critics. Dejected by failure, Turgenev banned the theatrical productions of the play. The ban was valid until the death of the writer.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, theatrical productions of the comedy âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ are resumed. The significance of the play in the cultural heritage of Turgenev is being revised, while criticism and the public give a positive assessment to the work.
"Good fellows lesson"
Almost 200 years have passed since the writing of the play, and the world has changed beyond recognition. Feminism has achieved equal freedoms for women. As another wise proverb says: "For what they fought, they ran into it." As a result, a woman from a weak turned into a strong one, in other words, she has to drag the whole burden of everyday problems on herself. The availability of bodily pleasures leads to increasing irresponsibility both on the part of men and women.
But, despite such radical external changes, the psychology of people does not change. Internal problems have no time limits. And today, very often we are faced with a situation so elegantly described by Turgenev in the comedy âWhere it is thin, it breaksâ. Let the scenery of the 21st century be different, and young people can be together for a long time and even have joint children, but when it comes to formalizing relations in the registry office, many modern Gorsky behave in exactly the same way as the Turgenev prototype. A brilliant story retains its freshness and relevance even through time.