2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
When the arrested Lermontov was interrogated in the gendarmerie department about the "seditious lines" that stirred up Russia - a response to the death of the great Pushkin - he was then remembered for the "Masquerade" written in 1836. Obscurantists, of course, served in the third department, but by no means stupid people, Lermontov's drama "Masquerade" was read very carefully by them. Lermontov's sharp criticism of the secular customs of the 18th century was compared by the "guardians of morality" with the disgraced Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit".
“To serve him right - in jail, - thought the bullies, - what dared this "scribbler" M. Lermontov to take a swing at! Masquerade in the Engelhardt house! Yes, even members of the royal family visit it! The classic was forced to edit the drama many times, and it appeared on the theater stage only in 1846, five years after the fatal Pyatigorsk bullet.
Having mentioned the drama, let's recall its summary. Lermontov's "Masquerade" immediately, in the first scene, introduces us to Yevgeny Arbenin. Let's characterize this image: a middle-aged man, in the past - a successful card player (he won a fortune for himself). Wooed, following reason, because "the deadline has come", but the former playerunexpectedly falls in love with his young wife Nina. His future plans are to “tie up” with cards and start a measured, virtuous life of a Russian master. The character of Arbenin is closed, quick-tempered, "ebullient". His wife, Nastasya Pavlovna (in a family way, Nina) is young, beautiful, she is sincerely in love with her husband. By upbringing - a secular girl. She loves the tinsel of balls, like all her peers of the nobility. Nina, like a child, simply cannot be at home on holidays, when the entire court of St. Petersburg is having fun.
The plot of the drama is developing dynamically. Arbenin sat down against his will at the card table, succumbing to the persuasion of the "card" comrades. Not chasing after self-interest, he coolly helped his friend, Prince Zvezdich, to recoup. With relief, stopping the hateful game, the prince offers his savior to go to the masquerade to the Engelhardts.
Among the general disguised fun, Arbenin remains calm and imperturbable. Unexpectedly at the ball, an unfamiliar man approaches him, portends misfortune to him. Prince Zvezdich plunges headlong into the general fun. This is a typical representative of the “golden” noble youth of the 19th century, living according to the principle “after us, even a flood.” Arbenin has just saved him from financial problems, and he is already “rushing into battle” - he seeks to make a casual relationship. Arriving at the ball at the Engelhardt Palace, Zvezdich tries to attract the attention of ladies of easy virtue, primitively pretending to be a "romantic hero." His words that “love no longer touches his heart” are banal and “hackneyed.”
We recommend the reader this scene in the original, because Lermontov's lines are brighter, juicier than any summary. "Masquerade" Lermontov immerses us in the true atmosphere of the ball. One of the ladies, having heard the words of the prince, immediately gets acquainted with him. However, even she cannot restrain herself from the ironic characterization of Zvezdich as "godless", "characterless", "immoral". Lermontov puts a caustic characterization into her mouth: “puppet” passions, the hypocrisy of the entire “century”. He seems to mean: “Nobles, look at yourself from the outside. Behave with dignity, like decent people! Were these lines from the "Masquerade" remembered by the gendarmes to Mikhail Yuryevich?
Dear readers, we digress a little, leaving Zvezdich at the ball, looking for adventure in his sirloin places and finding them, but "on the head" of his friend. Judging by the plot, in the same place, at the ball, a “quite ordinary” for the prince casual relationship takes place. Of fundamental importance is the irony, which is unlikely to be able to convey a summary. Lermontov's "Masquerade" consistently develops a derogatory characterization of the prince, whose "romanticism" was previously ridiculed. He, continuing to portray Shakespeare's hero, asks the "beautiful stranger" for some gift "as a keepsake". She is already glad to get rid of the idiot, by chance her gaze falls on someone's nondescript lost bracelet. "Mask" picks up the find and gives it to Zvezdich.
The overjoyed prince demonstrates his "trophy" to Yevgeny Arbenin. He recalls that he saw the same somewhere, but does not delve into memories. He is already fed up with everything here, and he wants to come home quickly, missing Nina.
However, having returned at midnight, Eugene is waiting for his wife from the ball for a couple of hours. Arriving, she, bored, rushed into the arms of Arbenin. Suddenly, the husband notices the absence of a pair of bracelets on the right hand of his beloved, that very one … “Treason!” flashes through his mind. Ambition, selfishness overshadow his love. He, not wanting to hear anything, drives his wife away.
Nina naively believes that by buying a trinket similar to the lost one, she will make peace with Arbenin. She goes to the jewelry store. Then, to his misfortune, on the way home he stops by his friend Baroness Shtral. This young widow is courted by Zvezdich. After learning about Nina's lost bracelet, he remembers the Mask and begins to flirt with Nina. She, having doused him with "Epiphany cold", leaves the house. Upon her departure, Zvezdich, who does not know how to keep silent, lays out his story with the Mask to the baroness, introducing his friend as Nina. The Baroness is shocked, because the frivolous mask was herself! Further, the high society blockhead informs half of St. Petersburg about his "feat", and also sends a "love" letter to Nina at the Arbenins' house.
The letter was read by Evgeny Arbenin. He starts to take revenge. Being an experienced player, he starts a game with Prince Zvezdich, where he initiates a delicate situation in which he publicly accuses the nobleman of cheating. He, blinded by resentment, decides to kill Nina by poisoning her. Arriving at the ball, he outwardly meek and calm. Nina is pleased, thinking that reconciliation is close. She asks Eugene to bring ice cream. Poison - faithful and fast. That same night, youngbeauty is dying.
Zvezdich appears in the Arbenins' house with an unfamiliar man, a harbinger of misfortune. Those who have entered are eager for a duel. From them, Yevgeny Arbenin learns that the “mask” was the baroness, and his wife was innocent. The proof is a letter from the baroness. He's going crazy.
Let's ask ourselves the question: "How can this summary be expressed as concisely as possible?". Lermontov's "Masquerade" is a classic drama about jealousy, with truly Shakespearean passions, transferred to the 19th century. Perhaps that is why many critics compare it to Othello?
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