The image of a secular young man in light comedy of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries

Vysokovich Kseniya Olegovna ORCID: 0000-0002-6019-2492 Postgraduate student, the department of Literature, Kaluga State University in the name of K. E. Tsiolkovsky 214000, Russia, Smolenskaya oblast', g. Smolensk, ul. Prospekt Gagarina, 26 ksusha161094@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The satirical comedy of the XVIII century is being replaced by light comedy, which shifts the perspective of the depicted from the acute political and social sphere to the everyday area. The main problems of this type of comedy are issues of love, marriage, infidelity. It is no coincidence that a secular young man becomes the hero of the transition period, and the scene moves to the salon.

The character traits and inclinations of secular young people can be clearly distinguished in the comedies: N. I. Khmelnitsky's "Secular Case" (1826), A. S. Griboyedov's "Young Spouses" (1815), A. I. Pisarev's "The Heiress" (1824).

In the article "Light comedy in the genre system of Russian dramaturgy of the first third of the XIX century", I. V. Alexandrova notes that within the framework of light comedy, two genre models are distinguished by the nature of intrigue: "The first group is represented by comedies, in the center of the plot of which is the exposure of all kinds of eccentricities and comic oddities (falsehood, projectedness, indecision, talkativeness, arrogance, etc.), a kind of lesson to the hero-crank" ^[2]. The peculiarity of the second group of comedies "is the love affair itself and the misunderstandings and delusions of the characters associated with it. The authors are primarily interested in reproducing people's personal relationships and their feelings on stage" ^[2]. Despite the fact that the comedies in question can be attributed to character comedies, the authors do not always pay due attention to the characters, they are quite schematic, nevertheless, from the dialogues of the characters, we can see the features of the social life of a young man of that period.

The title of N. I. Khmelnitsky's comedy "A Secular case" only emphasizes the banality of what is happening. Indeed, the plot of the work is simple, based on a love triangle. Father Radugin wants to marry his only daughter Evgenia to Stolitsyn, the girl does not like the groom, but she cannot go against her father's will. Evgenia is in love with Ramirsky, whom she sees every morning from the window and who turns out to be a friend of the groom. A typical plot characteristic of light comedy of that time, nevertheless it is interesting to analyze the image of Ramirsky and his unworthy rival Stolitsyn.

Ramirsky, realizing that Evgenia is his friend's fiancee, wants to abandon his dreams, relying on the norms of morality and honor: "Love could ... but honor and friendship forbids" ^{[9, p. 550]}.

Stolitsyn does not understand Ramirsky's ambiguous phrases and believes that you can break any rules to achieve what you want:

"My God! Yes forget about friendship:

In public affairs, in serious matters, in the service -

Everyone knows without you what it means: duty and honor;

But in the pranks of love, what can not be counted!

Spare rivals and ballroom colleagues -

There are no such patriarchal rules for this" ^{[9, p. 551]}.

         Thus, according to Stolitsyn, in order to realize personal interests, you can do anything, even deceive your own friend. Stolitsyn embodies the typical features of a secular young man: carelessness, hypocrisy, striving for personal gain, idleness of lifestyle.

Stolitsyn claims that cheating is no longer a serious crime, it is something ordinary that fits into secular rules. He convinces Ramirsky that there is nothing shameful to take the bride away from a friend, Stolitsyn also easily deceives the future father-in-law:

"And I, having confirmed that he is in great connections,

I entrusted everything to him – and in pure fools" ^{[9, p. 542]}

Stolitsyn leads an idle lifestyle, not burdened with obligations: he visits theaters, balls.

"With his carelessness, he only ruined the case:

Where is it necessary for him to file petitions, –

And he will take them aside and fly away to the ball,

He would go to court, and he would go to the theater or at a concert..." ^{[9, p. 543]}

Such leisure was typical for the lifestyle of a secular person: "In the afternoon, the young dandy sought to "kill" by filling the gap between the restaurant and the ball. One of the possibilities was the theater. For the St. Petersburg dandy of that time, he was not only an artistic spectacle and a kind of club where social meetings took place, but also a place of love intrigues and accessible backstage hobbies" ^[7].

Stolitsyn does not see positive features in his future wife, he is primarily concerned about inheritance: "Kinship! It's a misfortune, sir, to the girls: // With the brothers, will the sisters get a lot? And here is one and all?" ^{[9, p. 548]}.

The peculiarity of secular young people was very accurately noted by A. S. Griboyedov in the comedy "Young Spouses", which is a reworking of the comedy in the poems of Auguste-Francois Creuse de Lesser "The Secret of family Life" ("Le secret du m?nage"). The newlyweds Arist and Elmira have been living together for only three months, nevertheless, the husband is already dissatisfied with his wife, since she has stopped going out, preening and singing for him. Elmira thinks it's all empty and tries to please her husband in other ways. Their friend Safir is dedicated to the problems of the young family, who advises Elmira to make Arista jealous. In parallel with the twists and turns of love, Elmira solves the issue of her husband's litigation.

Elmira is ready for anything to return her husband's love, she guesses about his intrigues on the side, but she is ready to forgive him everything:

"I approve of everything that he finds necessary,

I don't ask where he spends his days;

Whatever he's up to, I'm silent in front of him

And I don't want to have my own will" ^{[3, p. 18]}.

Secular young people do not deny the fact of infidelity, treat it as approved norms of high society, for example, Arist calmly talks about infidelity both from his side and does not deny that in the future his wife will also have a lover:

"I know my future destiny in advance;

In our age, the degree of the wedding in a year

Takes a lover; – monogamy is boring,

And the husband is obliged to look at it indifferently.

All this is unprofitable, all this should be

With me, as with another, it's just the way it is" ^{[3, p. 16]}.

Arist has been married for only three months, but it's all too boring and hard for him, he flirts with other ladies and dates them. However, when his wife plays out an imaginary infidelity in front of him, he cannot accept this state of affairs and arranges a real scene for her until he realizes that this is just a deception.

A similar situation can be observed in the joint comedy by A. S. Griboyedov and A. A. Gendra "Feigned infidelity", the play is a free translation of the comedy by Nicolas-Tom Bart "Imaginary Infidelities" ("Les fausses Infid?lit?s"), where charming girls want to check their suitors, one of whom is excessively jealous, the second, on the contrary, is cold and restrained. As soon as Roslavlev begins to think that Lisa is unfaithful to him, he immediately looks for a backup option and laments that he did not choose Natalia Velskaya:

"Oh, Lisa! Ah! What am I behind from Velskaya?

Listen, you're a letter... I read the damned..." ^{[3, p. 141]}

The magazine "Son of the Fatherland" praised the comedy and noted the beautiful language: "We can safely recommend this translation to poetry lovers! He is very good: free, pure, noble, pleasant. It is well known how difficult it is to translate from spoken French into bookish Russian. All the more honor to the winners! Reading "Feigned infidelity", you forget that this is a translation" ^{[10, p. 263]}.

Of course, the genre principles of light comedy limited the authors in constructing bright, memorable features and characters, because the main setting was aimed at entertaining intrigue, but already in the work of A. S. Griboyedov we can talk about the appeal: "to the image of typical situations of secular life, to young contemporaries. The passion of Roslavlev, who was able to get carried away and lose his head, the ironic observation of the judicious Lensky in Griboyedov became not just translated “cliches”: the depiction of these figures embodied the immediate life impressions of the author, who was the same age as his heroes, reality itself actualized these two psychological types among the advanced noble youth of the pre–Decabrist era, finally, the combination of these traits was characteristic of nature the poet-playwright himself. Abandoning the "mask" of the comic jealous, Griboyedov makes Roslavlev attractive in many of his properties; Lensky impresses not with cold witticisms, but with witty "notes", clarity of mind" ^{[5, p. 427]}.

         In the comedy of A. I. Pisarev, the main plot is also built around the issues of marriage, marriage. Count Tonsky wants to get married, but cannot find a suitable couple for himself, he likes Princess Lyrskaya, with whom he and his nephew are staying, but she has one significant drawback: "with a lovely soul…one vice is poor" ^{[9, p. 582]}. Then he decides to marry the princess with his nephew Beloved Delaware. Neither we love nor the Princess have tender feelings for each other, but Count Tonskoy so cleverly arranges the whole thing that in the end everything goes to the wedding of the young. In addition, the Princess of Lyra becomes a rich heiress.

         Despite the fact that the young people fell in love with each other, at the beginning of the play we learn the peculiarities of the characters' lives. Princess Lyrskaya is a young widow, and when the count offers her to marry, she remembers all the disadvantages of the previous marriage:

"Do you remember the prince? He was young, beautiful,

The whole city admired his courtesy,

He laughed in societies, but at home he was bored.

He was jealous in order to be unfaithful more often.

He tormented his wife – and was reputed to be an exemplary husband.

In Moscow, everyone was shouting: how happy she is!

They envied me, and I was the only one who knew,

That I am not envious, but worthy of pity" ^{[9, p. 584]}.

Here there is a significant motif of 'imaginary – true', which runs through all the plays, the princess's life seems happy to many, although in fact everything was different. E. V. Lavrentieva notes: "Self–control is a distinctive feature of a secular person who "should seem satisfied when in fact he is very far from it"" ^[6].

For example, Lyubim Delavarsky is not initially in love with the princess, but by all means wants to gain her favor in order to win a dispute with his uncle:

"I assure you,

That I will soon take revenge on her for us.

And I bet that tomorrow by all means

I will fall in love with her" ^{[9, p. 596]}.

M. N. Serbul and M. N. Sorovegina referred the considered type of hero to the category of secular rakes: "In the noble comedies of Khmelnitsky, three characters can certainly be attributed to the category of secular rakes: this is Count Zvonov ("Talker"), officer Erast ("Pranks of lovers"), Stolitsyn ("Secular case"). Of these, two characters – Zvonov and Stolitsyn – are “negative”, ridiculed, acting in the role of “buffoon lovers". In comedies, they are contrasted with the modest and noble Modestov ("Talker") and Ramirsky ("Secular Case")" ^[8].

         Thus, secular young people are united by the following features:

1. Hypocrisy. The hero is capable of deception because of his own carelessness or to implement his plans. Heroes deceive relatives and friends (for example, N. I. Khmelnitsky "Talker", "Secular case", A. A. Shakhovskaya "Don't like – don't listen, but don't interfere with lying"). Sometimes deception is used to woo a lady, for example, in the comedy A. I. Pisarev "The Heiress":

"You will see a woman at the ball on Monday,

On Tuesday you will fall in love; the middle comes –

Here you swear to adore her forever;

On Thursday, you will demand a date courteously;

And happy on Friday. Saturday is Breakup Day;

And on Sunday everything will have to be forgotten,

To start the same thing again from Monday" ^{[9, p. 594]}.

2. Infidelity. Secular young people are calm about infidelity, often justify them, a completely different attitude to the heroines of light comedies. Women must observe strict rules of decency, any infidelity is imaginary in order to return the attention of her husband, to make her lover jealous.

3. An idle lifestyle. The heroes of light comedies, as a rule, lead an aimless lifestyle, attend balls, theaters for the purpose of flirting and making useful acquaintances.

Arist tells Safir about how he spends his time at balls:

"With Aglaya, I kept whispering and dancing on purpose;

And he blushed, turned pale, trembled, grumbled, well, exactly

More than once deceived jealous on the clock" ^{[3, p. 14]}.

4. Marriage of convenience. Often the heroes do not see the advantages of their brides and take care of them for personal gain. For example, Stolitsyn notes the beauty of the bride and the inheritance, but complains about her stupidity, although later he will realize how much he was wrong. Zarnitkin from the comedy by A. A. Shakhovsky "Don't like – don't listen, and don't bother lying" also says that marriage served as a career boost:

"Through her relatives, I was looking for a place in the service,

I wanted to get into the ranks as soon as possible,

She imposed herself on me with love..." ^{[9, p. 367]}.