2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
The story of a fox who was tempted by grapes, but never managed to achieve what he wanted, sounds in works created much earlier than Ivan Krylov's fable "The Fox and the Grapes". What is the fabulist talking about? A starving fox saw ripe appetizing grapes in a strange garden and tried to jump to it, but without success. After many attempts, the godfather is annoyed: “He looks good, but green,” and “you will immediately set your teeth on edge.” The author here, unlike his other fables, does not give direct lines that contain morality. However, the moralizing message of Krylov's fable is obvious: the Fox and the grapes are a person and his goal, which he sees as desirable and accessible. Having failed to achieve it, he is disappointed, but does not want to admit his weakness or inferiority, and then he begins to hypocritically devalue what he wants, speaking of it dismissively. This is, in general terms, the meaning of Krylov's fable.
Fox and grapes in the works of ancient authors
In the Church Slavonic parable of the fox and the clusters (Krylov read it in the ancient Alexandrian collection "Physiologist"), a simple story is told about how a hungry foxI saw ripe bunches of grapes, but I couldn’t get to them and started the “zelo hayati” berries. Further, the conclusion is drawn: there are people who, desiring something, cannot get it, and in order to “tame their desire by that”, they begin to scold. Perhaps this is not bad for complacency, but it is certainly unworthy socially. This is how this idea is reflected in a literary source created long before Krylov's fable.
Fox and grapes in the interpretation of the ancient fabulist Aesop appear in the same conflict - a hungry fox and inaccessible high-hanging berries. Unable to get the grapes, the fox recommended it with unripe sour meat. The Greek's fable also ends with a moralizing hint: "Whoever denigrates the unbearable in words - his behavior here should be seen."
French interpretation
The fable of the French writer La Fontaine hides in the image of a fox "a Gascon, or maybe a Norman", whose eyes lit up on ripe ruddy grapes. The author remarks that "a lover would be glad to feast on them," but did not reach out. Then he snorted contemptuously: “He's green. Let every rabble feed on them!” What is the moral in Lafontaine's fable "The Fox and the Grapes"? The poet ridicules the inherent, in his opinion, the pride and arrogance of the Gascons and Normans. This instructive essay differs from previous parables and Krylov's fable, The Fox and the grapes, in which they hint at universal human flaws, and do not indicate national shortcomings.
Features of Krylov's fables
No wonder contemporariesnoted that Ivan Andreevich had a bright directorial talent. He wrote out his characters so visibly and expressively that in addition to the main purpose of the fable - allegorical ridicule of human vices - we see lively expressive characters and juicy colorful details. We see with our own eyes how "the gossip's eyes and teeth flared up." The author scathingly and accurately defines a satirically colored situation: "even though the eye sees, the tooth is numb." Here the Fox and the grapes are very eloquent in the dynamic instructive scene. Krylov so generously "feeds" his works with the spirit of oral folk art that his fables themselves become a source of sayings and proverbs.
Something from the natural world
It turns out that the passion of foxes for grapes is not entirely an invention of fabulists. Research by wildlife ecologist Andrew Carter has shown that, for example, fluffy predators from Australia are not averse to tasting fragrant wine berries, and as soon as dusk falls, they rush to the vineyard and eat the fruit with pleasure.
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