"This no one will escape ..." Such an inscription can be seen on the icon in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where the guardian angel points to the wooden coffin, recalling the fate awaiting us all and the Judgment, at which each person will be judged according to his deeds ...

Introduction.

When you read the story, you can see in Adrian Prokhorov a dead soul "incapable of sympathy", a person who thinks "only about his own good (at the expense of others), about the number of orders" and profit, and accused him of wanting to "die to others for his own benefit. , in heartlessness, in deceiving customers, in acquaintance for the sake of profit. "

In my opinion, Pushkin assures the reader: the hero's moral death occurred during his lifetime, and retribution awaits the undertaker for everything he did.

In fact, each of us deserves "correctional labor" if we think about the days and years we have lived, give an account of our thoughts and actions. Pushkin, a Christian, undoubtedly knew about the Last Judgment and believed that the human soul would be responsible for everything he had done. The memory of this makes a person comprehend and evaluate what has been done, regret his misdeeds, repent of them and get rid of them, that is, work on himself until the last hour.

Moving to a new home.

Is the undertaker rich? How does he appear at the moment of moving?

For 18 years, the old undertaker was collecting money for a house, where he finally moved. His belongings are small, his main "wealth" is made up of coffins, cupboards with mourning hats, robes and torches necessary for burial. Not for a year he saved up money and not for a house - for a house. In one of the first editions of Belkin's Tales, it was not about eighteen years, during which the undertaker raised money for new housing, but about forty-four. But eighteen is a lot.

Having sent the last luggage on the funeral cart (this is the fourth ride in a day, not on hired horses, but on a "skinny pair"), out of economy, he walks across Moscow, not feeling the joy of the new acquisition; on the contrary, "he sighed about the dilapidated hovel": most likely, all the undertaker's savings went to the house. Apparently, the undertaker, like the stationmaster, is widows; he alone has to raise his daughters, and he is strict with them.

Arriving at the house, Prokhorov "began to scold both his daughters and the worker for their slowness and he began to help them." A little further we read: "He allowed silence only in order to scold his daughters when he found them idly staring out the window at passers-by." As you can see, his dissatisfaction with his daughters has its reasons and he does not want to see them lazy, idle, killing time for nothing. Let us pay attention to the fact that in the room not occupied by coffins, he first of all put in place a "kivot with images", which allows us to assert that the undertaker is a believer, and only then - "a cupboard with dishes, a table, a sofa and a bed." No luxury, no frills.

The undertaker's craft, like any other artisan, is the source of his existence, therefore "... the owner's products were placed in the kitchen and living room: coffins of all colors and sizes, as well as cupboards with mourning hats, mantles and torches." Of course, the "burly Cupid" is not a suitable figure for the funeral business (the narrator is slightly ironic over his hero), but it attracts attention, and the overturned torch reminds us that every person is mortal.

The temper and hopes of the undertaker.

The author more than once emphasizes Adrian's gloom, gloom, and concern: "the temper of our undertaker was completely consistent with his gloomy craft." And is it possible to be different with a frequent meeting with death? Only if you are a cynic, indifferent to the grief of others and see in your craft only a means of profit.

Is this Adrian Prokhorov? What does the nonrandom, like everything in Pushkin, possessive pronoun in the phrase "our undertaker" tell the reader? A minimum of an indifferent attitude towards him. At the moment at which the reader catches him, the undertaker's preoccupation and sullenness has a specific everyday cause. A week ago, during the funeral of the retired brigadier, a downpour destroyed the items necessary for the funeral ritual: “Many robes have narrowed because of this, many hats warped ...

He foresaw the inevitable costs, for his old supply of coffin outfits was coming to a miserable state. He hoped to make up for the loss on the old merchant Tryukhina, who had been dying for about a year. But Tryukhina was dying on Razgulyai, and Prokhorov was afraid that her heirs, despite their promise, would not be too lazy to send for him so far and would not bargain with the nearest contractor. "

You can understand him: the money collected over the years was spent on new housing, the business, shaken due to unforeseen circumstances, required considerable investments. He was not the only one waiting for the death of the rich Tryukhina, and it is worth considering why, so as not to blame only "our" undertaker for wanting to profit from the death of a rich merchant. True, "our" undertaker was quicker and managed to negotiate with the heirs. But was their word firm and was it only given to him?

Schultz's visit.

Accepting an invitation from a neighbor, Adrian "asked the shoemaker to sit down and have a cup of tea ... soon they began to have a friendly conversation." A gloomy undertaker, as we see, can be responsive, respond to good with good. Each of them is interested in how the neighbor's trade is going. “I can't complain. Although, of course, my product is not what yours: a living man can do without boots, but a dead man cannot live without a coffin, ”Schultz replies. “It’s true,” Adrian remarked, “however, if a living person has nothing to buy a boot for, then don’t be angry, he walks barefoot, and a beggar dead man takes a coffin for himself.”

These words are confirmed in the following narration. In Adrian's dream, among other dead guests, there was a poor man, "recently buried for nothing." It is clear that even modestly, in rags, but buried by the undertaker Prokhorov. Would a shoemaker give away his goods for free?

Visiting Schultz.

At the silver wedding, Schultz had mostly German artisans. We'll skip the details, dwell on the moment when, after numerous toasts, among which was a humorous toast of the usually gloomy Adrian, the baker offered to raise glasses "to the health of those on whom we work ...". "The guests began to bow to each other, the tailor to the shoemaker, the shoemaker to the tailor, the baker to both of them, everything to the baker, and so on."

Indeed, one cannot do without the craft of everyone in life; both the baker, the shoemaker, and the tailor deserve respect. The undertaker cannot be removed from this list. The loud address of the security officer Yurko to the undertaker: “Well? drink, father, to the health of your dead, ”the audience laughed. "Everyone laughed, but the undertaker considered himself offended and frowned."

Was it appropriate to laugh with everyone? He came home drunk and angry, thinking: “How is my craft more dishonest than others? is the undertaker the brother of the executioner? .. “Then a strange idea comes to him to invite to the housewarming those for whom he worked:“ Orthodox dead ”.

Indeed, the undertaker is not at all a brother to the executioner. He doesn't kill anyone. He has his own craft. As bakers, shoemakers, tailors are needed, so are those who accompany a person on their last journey. Of course, you cannot drink for the health of those for whom he worked, you can only pray for the peace of their souls, which, undoubtedly, did the undertaker, accompanying the dead to the church for the funeral service, and after him to the cemetery. But the author does not talk about this, taking it for granted, and the readers who understand everything without unnecessary explanations.

Rejecting the absurd offer to drink to the health of his clients, Adrian unexpectedly invites them to a housewarming party. A daring thought, of course. But explainable by the state of the undertaker: "You are welcome, my benefactors, tomorrow evening I will have a feast ..." Let's note this appeal: clients are always benefactors of their artisans, since the welfare of the artisans depends on them. But that's what the undertaker says about them. True, at this moment he does not remember that one of his charges can deservedly reproach him and express their insult ...

Here we will say a few more words about Yurka, whom the undertaker meets for the sake of profit. What is it? Yurko is a security guard, that is, "a police watchman standing at the post at the guardhouse." Before the fire of Moscow in 1812, Yurko guarded the craft settlement for twenty-five years. His booth burned down, but a new one appeared.

The need for protection disappeared, and Yurko looked ridiculous "with an ax and in a blanket armor", but he stayed in his place out of habit and earned the favor and respect of most of the German artisans: "some of them even happened to spend the night at Yurka's Monday-. Why?

We make an assumption: it was not forbidden to mark a successful trade. And in order not to hear reproaches from the family, one could stay overnight at Yurka's; he could also bring him to his hospitable booth, if the artisan did not have the strength to do so. So Adrian "immediately got to know him as a man who sooner or later might happen to be in need." We understand that there is a huge distance between the need that Adrian may have and the benefit that he is not looking for at all, that need and benefit are not at all the same, and we will justify Adrian.

Adrian's dream.

- You don't immediately understand that reality is giving way to Pushkin's dream of an undertaker - a veiled fantasy. the phrase "with this word the undertaker went to bed and soon began to snore" (real fact) gets a logical continuation: "It was still dark in the yard, when Adrian was awakened." I fell asleep in the evening and woke up in the morning. But the author had awakened the undertaker in his sleep!

Hadrian's dream has two parts. And each of them says a lot about him, since the hero's subconsciousness gives out something that, perhaps, unconsciously, but for him is important, paramount. In a dream, he sees what is desired and expected. The first part of the dream brings the news of the death of the merchant Tryukhina. His competitors were also waiting for her: "at the gates of the deceased already ... merchants were pacing like crows, smelling a dead body." Adrian had a contract with the merchant's clerk that he would immediately report her death. We can guess that there will be a mutual benefit here. No wonder, having seen the clerk upon arrival in the house of the deceased,

Prokhorov exchanged "a significant glance with him and went to bother." As we understand it, he received a lucrative order, which he was counting on very much and which will cover the losses of the previous funeral. Tryukhina's nephew, a "young merchant", he assured that "all funeral accessories will be delivered to him in good condition." And we have no doubts: it will be so, Adrian will try!

Important for the reader is the answer of the merchant's heir, that "he does not bargain about the price, but relies on his conscience in everything." In Pushkin, every word is significant: it is no coincidence that the word "conscience" sounds in the undertaker's dream. Without edifying, A.S. Pushkin named the quality of a person that we should not lose under any circumstances.

When reminded of his conscience, "the undertaker, as usual, swore that he would not take too much, exchanged a significant glance with the clerk ..." But the reader already knows what he will take! So does the thought of something not done according to his conscience torment him?

The second part of the dream is connected with the arrival of the invited guests at Adrian's new home. Only here it becomes clear that the entire previous story of Tryukhina's death is not a reality, but a dream. But it is so realistic that we see how, in the effort to do everything in the best possible way, Adrian travels many times from Razgulyay to the Nikitsky Gate; as on a moonlit night, having completed all the affairs, the undertaker is walking home, as his new friend Yurko calls out, wishing good night.

Entering the house, the undertaker saw that the room was full of the dead, illuminated by the moon, the light of which came through the windows. “Adrian with horror recognized them as people buried by his efforts.< … > All of them, ladies and men, surrounded the undertaker with clones and greetings. Let us pay attention to the fact that "all of them (except for the one buried for free) were dressed decently: the deceased in caps and ribbons, the dead officials in uniforms."

If we consider that a dream is a kind of reflection of reality, then this vision tells the reader that Adrian performed his service regularly, and it is no coincidence that those invited by him bow to him and greet him.

But we read further: a small skeleton makes its way through the crowd to Adrian: “You did not recognize me, Prokhorov ... Do you remember the retired sergeant of the Guard, Pyotr Petrovich Kurilkin, the very one to whom in 1799 you sold your first coffin - and also a pine one for an oak one?

With this word, the dead man stretched out his bony arms to him, but Adrian, gathering his strength, screamed and pushed him away, Pyotr Petrovich staggered, fell and fell apart. Outraged by such a rude act, the other guests surrounded him with threats, and Adrian fell and fainted. One can understand his confusion, although the dead man “smiled tenderly” and was not in a belligerent mood, only reminded of an old event, the first dishonestly sold coffin. The surname of the long-dead retired sergeant is also not accidental for Pushkin.

She recalls the expression "The smoking room is alive", which was used for a long time in the game, lighting a torch, passing it from hand to hand and singing: "The smoking room is alive, alive, not dead." In whose hands the torch was extinguished, he lost.

Over time, the expression "smoking room is alive" began to be used, naming people or events that should have long ago sunk into oblivion, but nevertheless did not disappear. So was it only the sight of an almost decayed sergeant that caused the undertaker's horror?

We assume that his fear was also caused by the expectation of retribution for a sleeping conscience, for a pine coffin sold instead of an oak one, as Pyotr Petrovich recalled
Kurilkin: Smoking room is alive!

Awakening.

But here comes the true awakening. Opening his eyes in the morning, "Adrian recalled with horror all yesterday's incidents." What happened in a dream appears as an eerie reality, therefore, with such tension he waits for the worker's word, explaining what happened to him. The worker said that the neighbors came to ask about his health, but she did not wake him up. Adrian asked if they had come from the deceased Tryukhina, but the worker was surprised at the words of the merchant's death and said that the undertaker, as he returned from the shoemaker, was drunk, and fell asleep. It was only then that the undertaker realized that all the terrible events that had so frightened him had occurred in a dream.

The reaction of the undertaker to the words that Tryukhina is alive is very important to us:
- Oh! - said the delighted undertaker.
- Probably so, - the worker answered.
- Well, if so, give me some tea and call your daughters.

It seems that he should be upset to learn that Tryukhina is not dead. And he was delighted. I'd like to understand why. And we address this question to the whole class. But first, let us tell the students that there is more than one autobiographical detail in The Undertaker.

1799 - the year when Master Prokhorov began his service in coffin matters - this is the year of Pushkin's birth. Right. Opposite the house on Bolshaya Nikitskaya, where Pushkin's fiancee Natalya Goncharova lived, lived the undertaker Adrian. So the Pushkin undertaker had a real prototype.

Alexander Sergeevich had the experience of communicating with the undertaker in August 1820, when he was burying his uncle Vasily Lvovich. One more detail to think about. With a difference of two days, Pushkin wrote the story "The Undertaker" (September 7, 1830) and the poem "Demons" (September 9). What does this tell us?

Let us also remind that the story "The Undertaker" was written in Boldino, the first of the five "Tales of Belkin". While building the story, Pushkin put it third, that is, in the middle of the book. And it is worth considering why this particular story became the center of Belkin's Tales. In each of them, at the will of the author, the heroes test themselves or life tests them, and they come out of life circumstances differently than entering them. More than others, it seems that the fragility of life and the unpredictability of fate should be revealed to the undertaker.

But for everyday worries and worries about the performance of his guild duties "our" undertaker forgot about the being into which we enter, whoever we are. This, by the way, is the epigraph to the story. The dream that Hadrian dreamed brings him back to the compulsory meditation for a person about the righteousness of his life. He started his business with deception; how he survived it, the author did not tell us.

5 / 5. 1

Evgeniya Safonova,
Petra-Dubravskaya school,
Samara Region

Written on the Nizhny Novgorod land

On the meaning of Pushkin's story "THE GRUBOVSHIK"

Pushkin's prose is widely represented in modern programs at the school. Along with the textbook "The Captain's Daughter", "Dubrovsky", "The Queen of Spades" are included in the study and "Belkin's Tale". It is impossible to dwell in detail on the history of their readership and critical perception, but nevertheless, one cannot fail to note a very characteristic moment. Even a cursory glance reveals a very peculiar temporal sequence of the inclusion of Pushkin's stories into the circle of reader's perception. The most actively studied and studied at school are most often three, and even autonomously taken: "Stationmaster", "Shot" and "Blizzard". In the lesson, limiting himself to talking about individual works, the teacher willingly or unwillingly reduced the entire cycle to their content and meaning, sometimes only mentioning the rest. Sometimes "Shot" was replaced by another story of the cycle - "The Young Lady-Peasant". As for "The Undertaker", it turned out to be the most closed work for school study and, as a result, much less "read". A serious objective reason for the “rejection” of the fifth story from studying the entire cycle at school is the difficulty of its perception. Also L.N. Tolstoy remarked extremely accurately, while studying with Yasnaya Polyana students, the striking and difficult for immediate perception features of the "Undertaker" they read: "the author's frivolous attitude to faces"; "Comic characteristics"; "Understatement".

What to do? Is it possible to speak of a conceptual study of Belkin's Tales, ignoring the Undertaker? Creating five extremely dissimilar (in theme, style) stories, Pushkin combined them into a cycle, thereby revealing their integrity, closeness in spirit.

The Undertaker was written first (September 9, 1830), thus setting the direction of the entire cycle. As a result, he took the middle place in the cycle, standing between "Blizzard" and "Station Keeper". Thus, the question arises about the creative logic of the movement of the author's thought, which is impossible to comprehend without including the story "The Undertaker" in the school study.

When reading a work, certain images, especially when reading intermittently, usually evoke certain thoughts in the reader - such thoughts are natural and do not kill the emotionality of perception. We will ask students to record the questions that arise in the course of independent acquaintance with the text in the left column of the notebook. And in the right one, write down your answer options, if any appeared during further reading. A hard-to-read literary text simply needs such work. The homework system should be structured so that the main block is prepared for the lesson, and not after the lesson, so that the students learn to ask questions themselves and look for answers in the text, so that the teacher analyzes the written work in advance and builds on them to analyze the work of art in the lesson ... Empathy deepens when what the students are interested in on their own is further developed in the lesson. Then knowledge becomes necessary for the students themselves and gives rise to new questions.

One student without special training will begin a conversation about the main character in the lesson. It’s not scary if at the same time talking about the character will be like a real person whom he has just met. In identifying the initial perception, a naive-realistic approach is quite justified.

Imagine a literary hero as your acquaintance, the writer introduced you to him, showing him in different circumstances and from different angles. Let's now speak about it: how do you imagine it? Why is it unusual or, on the contrary, common? Why did Pushkin decide to offer readers the image of the undertaker Adriyan Prokhorov? What is the secret of this character?

For what purpose, in your opinion, is Pushkin presented the hero-undertaker? Either to study a representative of this profession, or to have fun, or even to capture the author's own sad state of health at the time of writing. What is the mood of the story? What brings a dark note to the beginning of the story?

The leading motive of the narrative is an indication of the gloomy character of Adriyan Prokhorov, his gloom. A dark note is also brought in by the character's craft. The epigraph to the story also tunes in to it. In Pushkin's epigraphs always have a special semantic role that organizes the whole. ... "Do we not see the graves every day, the gray hair of the decrepit universe" - words from Derzhavin's "Waterfall".

Do you think the style of the epigraph is comparable to the general style of the story? The lofty, solemn sounding of lines from Derzhavin, their cosmic philosophy, on the one hand, and a paltry farce from the life of a Moscow undertaker, on the other. Contrast or combination?

The lofty style of the epigraph seems to be in contrast to the background of the initial, deliberately lowered phrase about the undertaker's luggage heaped on the funeral cart. It is clear that death has not aroused special feelings in the hero for a long time. Irony resounds in the description of the sign, “Depicting a burly (!) Cupid (!) ... with the caption:“ Simple and painted coffins are sold and upholstered here, and old ones (!) Are also rented out (!) And repaired ”.”Is all this a clear inconsistency with the epigraph? Perhaps the author deliberately puts his “low” hero face to face with the eternal questions of being? After all, they stand not before the elect, but before any mortal. How does a person understand his purpose in life? Are you interested in its meaning?

Pushkin's humanism is revealed in the fact that any person in the world is part of the universality and truth of the universe. The author of the story "The Undertaker" suggests seeing something more significant in an ordinary person (without making the hero better, without embellishing his character). Combining the universal scale of death in the epigraph and the everyday comic story with the “dead” in the story itself, Pushkin establishes a system of relations: life-death, being-life. Pushkin again poses questions to readers. What is the meaning of life? How to achieve happiness, what is it? Can the hero be called an “ordinary” person? What is the dream of a “simple” person? Thus, the writer, opening the Belkin world to his readers, seems to open the doors, not to the master's funeral shop, but to Russian life, to the circle of “eternal” questions and problems.

To understand the character of the hero and his role in the ideological orientation of the story, we will choose a starting, clearly indicated in the text, the character trait of the character-image and try to develop it. Prokhorov's “gloominess” is that artistic detail without which it is impossible to comprehend the story.

The reasons for this gloom? How does it manifest itself in the story? What lies at the heart of the character of the hero: a mercenary profit (someone else's death as a means of gain), a cynical attitude towards the world and people (calmly drinking tea on coffins placed in the room) or something else?

What could be a joyful event for this person? Moving to a new place is long-awaited, but not a shadow of joy in the feelings of the hero: “Approaching the yellow house, which had seduced his imagination for so long and was finally bought by him for a decent sum, the old undertaker felt with surprise that his heart was not happy.”

It was said as if in passing. But in fact we have before us the key to the inner world of the hero. The manuscript was originally a "pink house". What associations arise with this color? What did the author want to say by replacing the color? Yellow in the spectrum of Russian culture is believed to tend to express negative-negative meanings. Elegiac memories of the “old shack” are also a signal; it is no coincidence that Adrian's further reaction is even more difficult to explain: “Feltfrom surprisethis your indifference ”.Lack of joy is a serious symptom of a person's inner state. But “surprise” at this circumstance is already the beginning of a reaction, which could lead to a number of serious changes in the attitude to life. Is the stability of life always the key to contentment and success? What is the synonym for “stability” here? Immobility, immutability of everyday life is a kind of non-being, elevated to the absolute. The “gloominess” of the undertaker is not just an attribute of the profession. Along with the “gloom” in the text, there is “thoughtfulness”: the hero “Gloomy and thoughtful”, “as usual ... immersed in sad thoughts”. A certain chain of transitions appears: gloomy–sullen–frowning–pensive.

What is the reason for the hero's reverie? What is he dissatisfied with in life?

Let's compare Adriyan Prokhorov with other characters in the story. “Merry” Schultz is the antipode of “gloomy” Adrian. Why do we quote keywords? How should they be understood in the context of the work?

In the "gloom" of Prokhorov lies dissatisfaction with life, ripening, as we will see below, protest. The following opposition is created: “gloom – gaiety” as “thoughtfulness – thoughtlessness in relation to life”. As for the outside, a cheerfully smiling Schultz sits at Prokhorov's samovar against the background of coffins leaning against the walls and calmly drinks tea.

In the story, there is another named character of the foreground, the function of which, upon initial perception, is unclear to the students. This is the guard - the Chukhonets Yurko. Together with Prokhorov and Schultz, he forms a kind of semantic “triangle”. Is he opposed to the main character or, on the contrary, correlated with him? Great events are happening around, the life of the capital city is going on, and Yurko spends his days at his booth. Historical events in Moscow pass by. This exclusion from historical events, from the life of the city is the same immutability, for nothing can change his life: he is always next to his booth, like Adrian next to the coffins.

But how do the heroes differ? Pushkin has no characters that duplicate each other. Heroes, as we said, form a "triangle", that is, they are all comparable and opposed at the same time. Let us again draw attention to the fact that Adrian, unlike Yurko, who is satisfied with everything in life, intuitively feels the absurdity of the hopelessness, joylessness, and inferiority of his existence. Therefore, he is gloomy and brooding. He has a need to see the perspective of life, its dynamics, which should destroy the immutability of being, that is, to designate the meaning and significance of further existence. In this case, the invitation of the dead to their housewarming party is Prokhorov's “riot”. "Why is my craft not more honest than others?" - "... is the undertaker a brother to the executioner? .." What is it about? About the dignity of human existence, no less.

The story of what is happening in reality is replaced by the image of what is happening in a dream. But how does it change? Imperceptibly. What is the meaning of the invisibility of such a transition? Why does the author need that the person reading this work for the first time until the very end cannot distinguish reality from dream?

The earliest "epigraph" to the Boldin creations of 1830 was the poem "Demons". Maybe in it we will find the key to the answer to the question asked?

Is there a situation in the poem on the verge of reality and illusion? (“What’s in the field?” - “Who knows them? A stump or a wolf?”; Do they bury the brownie, // Is a witch given out in marriage?) Before us is not just a concrete image of a blizzard, a description of events - we have an image of a person's inner world, where there may be something that is impossible in real life.

What is the role of the fantastic in the poem about demons and in the story of the appearance of the dead? The incomprehensible, unknown in Pushkin belongs not to the external world, but to the world of the “inner man” and is another key to understanding the nature of the image-character. This fiction is not fiction as such, but a method of depicting the inner essence, psychology, and character of the hero. What is the source of the supposed joy in Adrian's dream? Adrian is waiting for a “joyful event” - the death of a profitable client, merchant Tryukhina. But, realized in a dream, the desire does not bring him joy, but becomes just a household item, everyday chores. This means that profit and profit are not the defining components in the life of a hero. One more detail should be noted, which also casts doubt on money-grubbing as the main character trait. Not forgetting his own benefit, Adrian, however, does not pacing like other merchants on Razgulyay near Tryukhina, like a raven that senses a dead body. What is the joy of living for merchants, for Prokhorov, is rather the usual chores of the master's coffin.

How is his meeting with dead acquaintances represented? How does the hero feel here? What is the point of talking to a skeleton? How does awakening become? On the one hand, hope and illusory joy from a profitable order disappear. But they are suddenly replaced by ... a new joy. What is it? Ghost or real? It is a splash of joy in the light of the sun of living life.

The “gloomy” character at the beginning of the story becomes “overjoyed” at the end. And this is already a dynamic. “Oh whether! - said the delighted undertaker ... Well, if so, give me some tea, call your daughters. ” A failed funeral does not cause either annoyance or irritation. As a result - a bright major splash. Thus, the initial situation is refuted, the immobility and hopelessness of existence is denied. This means that the basis of a person's character is not at all acquisitiveness, not a cynical attitude towards the world and people. The hidden dominant feature of the story is an acute need for joy. It carries in itself the designation of the obligatory awakening of a person to life, the desire to enjoy, to be a full-fledged participant in life.

Why is this shown by Pushkin on the life story of some undertaker? Pushkin emphasizes that the desire for the joy of life is inherent in any person, that everyone in this world is self-sufficient and worthy of respect. A person “small” in social status is not at all such in terms of the spiritual: both Adriyan Prokhorov, and Samson Vyrin from “The Station Keeper”, and other heroes of Pushkin declare their right to ordinary well-being and dignity, understood in a direct, narrower meaning - to feel like a person next to the powerful of this world, and in a broader way - to be a person in your own eyes.

Will something change in the life of the undertaker from the moment of awakening? Outwardly, perhaps, everything will remain the same, but “inwardly” the hero is already different. The word “pondering” means the work of thought, the search for the meaning of life. “Thinking”, a person instinctively “foresees” another, more interesting side of life. Awakening from a nightmare, the hero feels this new life, he receives - for the first time in many years - the joy of his stay in the world, from communication with other people.

What unites the story "The Undertaker" with other works of the "Belkin" cycle? Ultimately, this is a question that concludes Pushkin's main conceptual idea - about a person's place in life, about happiness, honor and dignity.

As mentioned above, the next story after The Undertaker was The Station Keeper. Comparison of heroes and the question: what is the connection between these two stories? - may be homework for the next lesson.

With a variety of topics, the cycle of "Tales" is endowed with a single meaning. Already in the first story of the cycle "Undertaker" - the idea is affirmed that the life of the smallest person, in some ways even an outcast among fellow artisans, can be given against the background of cosmic life (epigraph from Derzhavin). The question of a person's life and death, of the value of life, was raised by Pushkin on a large scale and deeply in The Shot, The Blizzard, The Station Keeper, and The Lady-Peasant Woman.

Every time, when the Pushkin cycle of Pyotr Fomenko was extracted from the depths of the television archive, the show aroused great audience interest, responses in the press, “they wrote letters, thanked, argued,” the director recalled. These mesmerizing aerial films-performances "took a very special place in the television Pushkinian - a kind of spiritual tuning fork, exquisite sketches, all together creating a complete, strange, bizarre world" (T. Sergeeva). Of the five stories of the late Belkin, Fomenko filmed three - "reading" the stories in order. Opened this row "Shot" (1981), closed - "Undertaker" (1990).

The "Undertaker" narrated by Belkin seems like a detailed anecdote. Undertaker Adrian Prokhorov, having moved with his daughters to a new house, receives an invitation from a German neighbor to the festival. Stung by the remark of one of the guests in the direction of his profession, drunk Prokhorov invites his deceased clients to his housewarming party. The next night, when he comes home, he sees the dead people greeting him. When the situation reaches its peak, he wakes up: the terrible visit was not in reality.

It is known that The Undertaker is half a parody, a joke, sir, it is not good for retelling. There is no sense in it, no morality. As B. Eikhenbaum said, "the story is resolved into nothing." There are no moves in the play that redraw the story; the director follows the text. In an interview on Pushkin's television cycle, Fomenko noted that his theater is based on a word that he wants to restore "in its originality and primordiality." In The Undertaker, the actors are not afraid to repeat a phrase, stretch it out, separate one phrase from another with a pause. An expressive sounding word activates the viewer's imagination, which revives a blurred picture, completes the mise-en-scene hidden in the darkness. But, of course, one cannot speak of being dissolved in the author. The boundaries of the director's reading are very clear. An elegiac and slightly philosophical mood is rather an introduction of the theater.

The artist and the cameraman keep the viewer feeling unknown. The space feels much more voluminous than it appears in the frame. It is as if something is constantly hiding from the viewer. At some moments - with the acquisition of calmness - the camera stops, freezes, the image becomes static. But more often the soil literally leaves from under our feet. Fomenko said that he wanted to make the artist the guide of the camera. The viewer, in fact, seems to be moving by touch after Prokhorov - Mikhail Danilov. Spatial movements of the hero are often filmed without cuts - "in one go".

Pushkin is moving towards a mystical shift implicitly, indefinitely. In the story, the line is observed between the mundane and the mysterious. With Fomenko, the division of the world into the sphere of the living and the sphere of the dead becomes obvious very quickly. Artistic matter is deliberately theatrical, and the director uses this theatricality to whip up mystery. The sun does not penetrate into the gloomy space - consisting of streets, back streets, rooms. The special lighting makes the air cloudy, giving the illusion of patina on the old canvas. A group of characters immediately stands out: they have whitened faces, flaws (suspicious thinness or a twisted nose), and their vestments - a cocked hat and a powdered braid for a man, a white cap and ribbons for a woman - clearly from a previous era. This is an echo of the 18th century at the beginning of the 19th century. Ghostly figures swarm around Prokhorov, whispering, leaning out of the coffin. As soon as he opens the door or pulls back the curtain, letting in the light, they fly to the sides. The undertaker himself, his daughters performed by the Kutepov sisters, the worker - Galina Tyunina, the neighbor - Kirill Chernozemov against this background seem to be living, full-blooded characters.

At Fomenko's scenes, when Prokhorov comes to a German for a holiday and when the dead pay a visit to Prokhorov, they are rhymed. It is a feast for the living and a feast for the dead. The dialogue between the two dimensions is set up at the very beginning of the film and further is compositionally supported by inserts of Pushkin's poems.

In the exposition one can hear the voice of Fomenko, wisely, slowly reading the lines about how life can be lived: freely and beautifully. And the pale characters (the viewer will later recognize them as dead) gaze sadly at the burning torches in their hands: a capacious image of fleeting time. In another scene, the same figures, peeping through the windows of the German, look sadly at the celebration of life, which the heroes enjoy. "Let's drink and have fun, let's play with life." But the intonation with which the director reads this, and the context itself, are more reminiscent of "A Feast in Time of Plague."

The dead are having their fun. And at first the confused Prokhorov is fond of him. He, who among the Germans - "Basurmans" - looked so homeless, it seems, is pleased with the society of the "Orthodox dead". That feast, alive, flows into this one. If there, at the German's, everyone was treated to a cake with lighted candles, then here such a cake seems like a round stand with candles - like in a church, where they put for repose. The German offered Prokhorov a drink "to the health of the dead," and here an evil oxymoron seems to materialize. The candles on the funeral "cake" are burning - the dead are well. The continuous movement of the departed, supported by the whirling of the camera and the sounds of the waltz, beckons with beauty. I remember that critics wrote about Fomenko: his mise-en-scènes sound, they are musical in themselves.

The cycle "Belkin's Tale" by A. Pushkin includes 5 works, each of which has a special appeal. The life of the so-called little people is described simply and talentedly. The undertaker, whose story could be gray and boring, suddenly becomes a victim of his rash words and gets a lot of vivid impressions. The fantastic plot twist is captivating and the book reads in one breath.

Background

Already a famous poet, Alexander Sergeevich began to lean towards writing prose. In the fall of 1830, while in the village of Bolshoe Boldino, in less than two months he created a cycle of stories. They were published on behalf of the landowner Belkin.

The reason for the anonymity could be the predominance of the romantic style in the literature of that time. The stories about the everyday life and life of ordinary people, written without embellishment, did not evoke much response. When asked about the author of the works, Pushkin replied that it was unimportant, but the stories should be just that: short and simple.

The Undertaker: The Story of a Man

The work begins with a description of Adrian Prokhorov's move to Nikitskaya, where he acquired a beautiful yellow house. For a long time, the craftsman wanted to buy it, but when this happened, he did not feel joy.

On the first day, a neighbor, a shoemaker, paid a visit to the undertaker and invited him to his silver wedding celebration.

The invitation was accepted. The neighbors turned out to be cheerful and sociable. Toasts sounded, but one of those present touched Adrian with a careless joke. People were drunk and did not notice how much the undertaker was offended. The story took an unexpected turn: the main character decides to invite not his neighbors to the upcoming housewarming, but the dead - his clients.

At night, invited, but unexpected guests came to Adrian - those whom he once buried, but did not wait at all and was not at all happy to see them. Reality and illusion are so subtly intertwined in the story that until the denouement it remains unclear whether the events described are actually taking place or whether this is a drunken dream.

Character characteristics

Adrian is a thoughtful and taciturn person. He is constantly busy thinking about his income: how to save money, how to get a profitable order and because of whom he incurred losses. Unlike the characters in Shakespeare and Scott, Adrian is a dark undertaker. The story is written about a greedy, shameless person who looks at everything in terms of profit and loss. The undertaker speaks in three cases:

• when discussing order details with clients;
• chastise daughters if necessary;
• giving orders to the housekeeper.

Even when he meets the dead in his house, he thinks of them in terms of who he spent on whom. He sees the first client and remembers that he sold a pine coffin for him, passing it off as an oak one. Adrian is not capable of sincerely rejoicing. Even the fulfillment of a dream - the acquisition of a house - leaves him indifferent. The story shows how mercantile and inaccessible to bright emotions and feelings the undertaker was.

Pushkin sought to show the real Russia, the life of not only nobles, but also representatives of the lower classes.

Features of the work

Belkin's Tales, one of which is The Undertaker, is very different from other works of that time. Romantic style and long descriptions were in vogue, which Alexander Sergeevich gets rid of. In his stories, there is a subtle satire, mockery. The central character is an undertaker, whose story is simple: he came to visit, got drunk, saw a realistic nightmare. This was unusual for 19th century readers.

In the work itself, Alexander Sergeevich repeatedly compares his style with the way it was customary to write at that time. Even the laconic poet Baratynsky laughed while reading Belkin's Tale. They could be called 19th century anecdotes, one of which was written with elements of fantasy ("The Undertaker"). Pushkin acted wisely, attributing authorship to a landowner who did not differ much from the characters in his works. This move gave him the opportunity to more freely express his thoughts. Alexander Sergeevich, making fun of the behavior of the heroes, managed to show that everyone, even the poorest and smallest people, want to be happy.

The history of the creation of Pushkin's "Undertaker" has its own characteristics: in the 1830s the poet summed up the preliminary results of his creative activity. This contributed to the rapid writing of works that became the first completed work of Alexander Sergeevich in prose. Pushkin, with his small stories, created a new direction in Russian literature.

Today we will talk about the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin called "The Undertaker". The history of creation and a summary will be discussed below. The work was published in 1831.

History of creation

The cycle "Belkin's Tales" also includes the work "The Undertaker". The history of creation will be discussed further. The work on the story was completed in 1830, September 9. At that moment the author was in a village called Bolshoe Boldino. The rest of "Belkin's Tale" was also published there, a week after Pushkin arrived in this city. This is the first piece from the cycle. In total, it includes 5 stories. The image of the undertaker is borrowed from a real person. On the territory of Bolshaya Nikitskaya there really was a shop of Adrian the undertaker. It was located opposite the house in which Pushkin's bride lived

Plot

Below we give a summary of the story "The Undertaker". The history of creation was described in detail above. So, the author introduces the reader to the main character of the work named Adrian Prokhorov - the undertaker. He moves from Basmannaya Street to Nikitskaya. He settles in a long-chosen house. However, he does not feel joy. The novelty scares him a little. Soon, however, order was established in the new house. The sign is attached above the gate. Adrian, sitting at the window, orders to give him a samovar. Drinking tea, the hero plunged into a sad thought, since he had a gloomy disposition by nature. He was confused by everyday worries.

Neighbors

Further in the story "The Undertaker" Pushkin says that the hero's thoughts were mainly occupied by the wealthy merchant Tryukhina. She died on Razgulyay. The hero thought about whether the heirs would remember him or come to an agreement with the nearest contractor. While Adrian was thinking, a German craftsman - a neighbor - came to visit him. He called himself Gottlieb Schultz, a shoemaker. Noted that he lived across the street. He invited Adriyan to his place, because tomorrow he has a silver wedding. The hero accepted the invitation. He offered Schultz some tea. As a result, the neighbors got into conversation, and soon became friends. The next afternoon, Adrian and a couple of his daughters went to visit the shoemaker. Gathered in the house are German artisans - friends of Schultz, as well as their wives. The feast began. Soon the host proclaimed a toast to the health of Louise, his wife and guests. They all drank. The fun has become. Suddenly, one guest - a baker, offered to raise a toast to the health of the people for whom the audience worked. All those present began to bow to one another, since they were clients among themselves. The baker Yurko then suggested that Adriyan should drink to the health of the dead. Laughter arose, offended by the undertaker. The guests left late. Adrian returned home angry and drunk. It seemed to him that the incident was a deliberate mockery of the Germans over his craft. The fact is that the hero considered his work to be in no way inferior to others, arguing that the undertaker is not a brother to the executioner. Adrian then decided to invite his clients to the housewarming. His worker, having learned about this, invited the hero to cross himself.

The final

The story "Undertaker" in its final part tells how the main character returned from work. I saw a gate opened by someone. Upon entering his house, the undertaker sees a room full of the dead. They are lit by the moon shining through the window. With horror, the hero recognized them as former clients. They greeted Adriyan. The guests surrounded him with threats. Adrian fell. Lost feelings. In the morning, Adrian recalled the events of yesterday night. As a result, the undertaker realized that the terrible events that frightened him so much were just a dream. Then the hero ordered to call his daughters and set the samovar. So we examined the story "The Undertaker". The history of creation and key plot twists are described in great detail.