Cat Basilio - a bright character in Tolstoy's fairy tale

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Basilio (aka "Vasily", "Vaska", but only in Italian style) - of course, one of the most striking and original characters in Tolstoy's fairy tale "Pinocchio". In Russia of that time, almost a good half of the cats were called Vaska, so this name is quite a household name, implying not only cunning, a tendency to cheat, stupidity (everyone knows “Vaska listens and eats”), but also simplicity, which makes us often touched by this hero.

Meet Pinocchio

Cat Basilio, Karabas, Duremar, Alice, undoubtedly, personify the so-called "evil forces" in this tale. And Tolstoy continues to ridicule them throughout his tale. We laugh at how the annoyed Karabas, stuffing his beard into his pocket, sneezes non-stop. And over how the “blind” cat Basilio fights over Pinocchio’s money with his “partner” the fox Alice, and over how ridiculous these characters sometimes look.

Butthe actions in the fairy tale develop so rapidly that sometimes you don’t even know which of the heroes should be considered a villain, and who should be sympathized with. Even negative characters, such as the rogue Basilio, sometimes make us sympathetic and touch to the core. After all, trying to deceive Pinocchio, the cat Basilio often gets into trouble himself, causing pity and sympathy from the reader. This is because Tolstoy's tale "Pinocchio" is initially good. It reads fun and easy, so to speak, "in one breath."

The cat Basilio and the fox Alice meet on Pinocchio's path almost at the very beginning of the work and accompany the main character almost to the very end, one way or another participating in the events unfolding before us. They are, as it were, secondary characters, but at the same time, this “sweet couple” makes us draw attention to themselves with the brightness of their characters. Pinocchio sees two beggars who are wandering along a dusty road. These are our characters: Basilio the cat, Alice the fox. The boy wants to pass already, but Alice calls him affectionately, calling him "kind Pinocchio".

Country of Fools and five gold coins

When the crooks (Basilio the cat, Alice the fox) find out about the gold coins, they offer the wooden boy to travel to the imaginary Land of Fools. There, on the Field of Miracles, Pinocchio's money will need to be buried. And in the morning, a Money Tree will definitely grow out of these money, and on it are golden ones! Pinocchio agrees. But halfway to the Land of Fools, the boy loses his companions, and at night in the forest onhe is attacked by disguised robbers, surprisingly similar to a cat and a fox!

Pinocchio puts coins in his mouth, and in order to get gold, the robbers hang a wooden boy upside down on a tree and leave. Here he is discovered by Malvina, who, together with Artemon, escaped from Karabas. The girl will try to re-educate the boy, but in vain. After all, the stubborn Pinocchio is difficult to educate! And the wooden boy ended up in a dark closet, from where a bat rescues him. Here, meeting again with the fox and the cat, Pinocchio finally arrives at the Field of Miracles … In general, the plot is exciting! I advise you to read a fairy tale!

It only remains to add that the role of Basilio in the film "The Adventures of Pinocchio" was brilliantly played by the famous actor Rolan Bykov.