Abstract: The subject of this research the comedies “Secular Event” (1826), "The Talker" (1817) by N. I. Khmelnitsky, "The Heiress" (1824) by A. I. Pisarev, "Young Spouses" (1815) by A. S. Griboyedov, and “Feigned Infidelity” (1818) co-authored by A. S. Griboyedov and A. A. Zhandra. The goal lies in revealing the traits of a secular young man reflected in light comedy of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries. The research employs the following methods: 1) motivic analysis for determining the main motivation of the hero; 2) cultural-historical for establishing correlation between the literary tradition (image of a secular young man) and the real historical type. The novelty consists in the fact that this article is first to analyze light comedy of the late XVIII – early XIX century for the purpose of revealing the traits characteristic to a secular young man. It is established that the embodiment of the image of a secular young man is characterized with the motif of “the fictitious and the true”.  The hero is most interested in his own gain. He is willing to comply with the rules of the secular game in order to maintain the external decency. In the work of "Young Spouses" by A. S. Griboyedov, Arist in his reasoning comes to justification of infidelity, considering it a secular norm. Therefore, the hero of the salon comedy pursues his goals by means of deception, justifying it by the norms the privileged circles.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the motif-imagery analysis of the comedy “The Country Wife” by W. Wycherley. The method of motif analysis allowed revealing the core motifs and their implementation in the text, while the structural method allowed outlining the patterns and correlations between motifs. The article is dedicated to the analysis of the motivic complex, as well as the images of the characters. Special attention is given to the protagonist of the comedy Mr. Horner, whose image receives different interpretation of the researchers – from crafty libertine to playwright. W. Wycherley introduces an entire gallery of hypocrites, and each one of them seeks to fulfill their hidden motives. Comedy “The Country Wife” is considered the pinnacle of W. Wycherley’s work and multiple times has become the subject of scientific research. However, the novelty of this study lies in the analysis of the motivic complex of deception in the comedy. The study reveals the following motives associated with deception: motive of deception, motive of disguise, motive of writing / giving the note, motive of infidelity, motive of fear of infidelity (fear of becoming cuckold), motive of theater that is directly related to the image the hypocritical hero Harry Horner. All these motives create the general background of the work, and are the elements of the true or phantom motive. The character type is also important for realization of the motivic complex. The classification of W. Janz clearly indicates the prevalence of two types of hypocrisy in the comedy under review: moral (Lady Fidget, Mrs. Dainty Fidget and Mrs. Squeamish, Mr. Sparkish, Mr. Pinchwife) and intellectual (Mr. Horner).