In the autumn of 1824, the satirical play Woe from Wit, which made A. S. Griboedov a Russian classic, was finally edited. Many acute and painful issues are considered by this work. It deals with the opposition of the “present century” to the “past century”, which touches on the themes of education, upbringing, morality, the order of government, and also reveals the mores of higher Moscow society, which at that time had already lost all moral values and was almost completely immersed in insincerity and falsehood. Now everything is sold and bought, even love and friendship. The writer Griboedov constantly thinks and thinks about this. Chatsky is only an art hero who voices his thoughts. The most surprising thing in this work is that the phrases from it became one of the most cited in Russian literature.
"Woe from Wit." Comedy. Chatsky
Many winged expressions of the play “Woe from Wit” are used today in our everyday life, but now it makes no sense to list them all. Initially, this work was forbidden by censorship, since the author’s attacks on the existing system of autocracy with its serfdom, army structure and many others were very obvious.
The protagonist of these very ideas was the main character - a young nobleman with progressive views - Chatsky. His opponent was a person from the Moscow aristocratic society - the master and the landowner Famusov.
Chatsky's attitude to serfdom
These two were opposed to each other by their views on the state system. For several citations of the work, one can characterize Chatsky's attitude to serfdom. It is in them that the whole point of the caustic satire of comedy created by Griboedov lies. These statements are not so many, but what they are!
Chatsky defends the oppressed people and speaks out at the expense of serfdom very emotionally and strongly. One part of these statements begins with the words: "That Nestor is a scoundrel of nobles, surrounded by a crowd of servants ...". She only further emphasizes the indignation of the protagonist when it comes to serfs.
The word "Nestor" used at first is interpreted as "manager", that is, that Russian nobility that owns serfs. The humiliated and insulted mob serves these high-ranking masters faithfully, protects them from all kinds of misfortunes, and sometimes saves them from inevitable death.
Dangerous man
As a result, they received "gratitude" in the form of an exchange of them - living people - for puppies of thoroughbred greyhounds. Chatsky’s attitude to serfdom is very obvious and negative. He does not hide his rage and contempt, his indignation has no limit. During this time, he managed to spend three years abroad and returned to Moscow. It follows from this that Chatsky has seen many different societies and government structures that did not have serfdom. He was offended by his people and the open form of slavery present in Russia in the 19th century.
Independent person
There is another statement that followed the previous one, and it sounded like this: “Or there’s that one who, for the sake of undertaking, drove to the fortress ballet on many waggons ...”. This shows that often serfs were used for fun, for the amusement or surprise of guests and friends. Chatsky recalls some noble nobleman (collective image), who created the ballet, in which the serf people participated. For Chatsky, this was a terrible example of the exploitation of living people as inanimate puppets. But the whole trouble was that when the owner came in need, he gave the serfs for debts as some sort of thing.
Chatsky’s first statement is revealing and severe, and the second contains a feeling of pity for the poor.
It is also interesting that Chatsky's attitude to serfdom does not imply direct attacks in the direction of Famusov. But even this does not create doubts about the views of the hero, because he is a true patriot of independent freedom-loving views. Chatsky sincerely wishes prosperity for his homeland, despises careerism and reverence, condemns all imitations abroad and believes that a person should be respected and appreciated not for the number of serfs, but for his personal qualities.