The eighteenth century gave Russian (and world, of course) literature many outstanding names and talented figures. One of them is Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin, a writer and playwright. Most ordinary people know him as the author of the comedy "Minor". How the most was created famous work author, with whom he wrote his characters and what is special about one of the heroes of the play - Mitrofanushka?

Denis Fonvizin

Before talking about the comedy itself, it is necessary to at least briefly say about its author. Denis Fonvizin lived not too long (only forty-seven years), but a bright life. Most people know him only as the person who wrote "The Minor", meanwhile he wrote the play "Brigadier", many translations and adaptations, treatises and essays.

Despite the fact that he wrote only two plays (and then after the "Brigadier" for more than ten years he did not turn to drama), it is Fonvizin who is the "progenitor" of the so-called Russian everyday comedy.

"Minor" Fonvizin: the history of creation

Despite the fact that "The Minor" was completed by the writer and politician in the early eighties, there is reason to believe that Fonvizin conceived his satirical "comedy of manners" back in the sixties: it is to this time that the play belongs, which first saw the light only in the past century - at the author's life, it was never published. Its characters can be called early prototypes of the heroes of "The Minor": in each of them, familiar features are easily caught.

Working on a comedy, Denis Ivanovich used a huge variety of sources - both articles and works of various authors (both modern and past centuries), and even texts belonging to the pen of Catherine the Great herself. Having finished the work on "The Minor", Fonvizin, of course, decided to stage the play, although he understood that it would be difficult to do it - the abundance of new ideas and bold statements blocked the way for the work to reach a wide audience. Nevertheless, he himself took up the preparation of the play and, albeit slowly, albeit with all kinds of delays, "The Minor" was released at the theater on Tsaritsyno Meadow and received phenomenal success with the audience. It happened in 1782, and a year later the play was first published.

Who is an undergrowth

Many people are sincerely bewildered by the title of the work. Indeed, why is he an undergrowth? What kind of word is this anyway? It's simple. In the eighteenth century (and it was then that Denis Fonvizin lived and worked), they called young man of noble (that is, noble) origin, who did not receive an education. A lazy, stupid person, incapable of anything - that is who such an ignoramus is. Such young men could not get a job, and they were not given permission to marry.

Denis Ivanovich called his work "Minor" because this is exactly what Mitrofanushka, one of the main characters, is. He put a little more satire into this word than it actually had. A minor, with the light hand of Fonvizin, is not only uneducated, but also selfish and rude young man. The characteristics of the image of Mitrofanushka will be presented in more detail below.

The plot of "The Minor" revolves around a modest girl Sophia, left without parents and therefore taken up by the Prostakov family, greedy and narrow-minded people. Sophia is a rich heiress, a marriageable bride, and the Prostakovs want to get a spouse with such a dowry, trying to marry her off to their sixteen-year-old son Mitrofanushka, an undergrowth, and Prostakova's brother Skotinin, obsessed with the idea of ​​a large number of cattle in Sofya's farm. Sophia has a loved one - Milon, for whom her only relative, Uncle Starodum, also wants to give her. He comes to the Prostakovs and is very surprised to see how the owners curry favor with him and his niece. They try to put Mitrofanushka in the best light, however, an uneducated and lazy goof spoils all the attempts of the mother.

Upon learning that Starodum and Milon are taking Sophia away, at night, by order of the Prostakovs, they try to kidnap her, but Milon prevents the abduction. It all ends with the fact that the Prostakovs lose not only an advantageous bride, but also their estates - their greed, anger and greed are to blame.

Main characters

The main characters of "The Minor" are the already mentioned Mitrofanushka, his parents (it should be noted that everything in this family is run by a mother who does not consider servants to be people, strenuously following the fashion of that time; the father of the family is completely under the thumb of his domineering wife, who even raises a hand on him), Sophia, her uncle Starodum, fiance Milon, government official Pravdin, whose goal is to expose the atrocities of the Prostakovs (in this he ultimately succeeds). It is necessary to pay special attention to the fact that Fonvizin used “speaking” names for his characters - they are endowed with both positive (Starodum, Pravdin, Sophia) and negative (Skotinin, Prostakov) characters. In characterizing Mitrofanushka, his name is also of great importance - from Greek "Mitrofan" means "mama's son", which really fully reflects the character of the hero. Only at the very end of the play Mitrofanushka quarrels with his mother and tells her to leave him behind.

Fonvizin clashes completely different social strata with their heads in his work - officials, nobles, and servants are represented here ... He openly ridicules the nobles with their upbringing, condemns people like the Prostakovs. From the very first words of the play, it is easy to understand where the positive and where the negative characters are and what is the author's attitude to each of them. Largely thanks to the perfectly written images of negative characters (especially the characterization of Mitrofanushka), the “comedy of morals” brought such success to its creator. The name of Mitrofanushka has generally become a household name. The play, in addition, was dismantled into catchphrases with quotations.

Special attention should be paid to the characteristics of Mitrofanushka. However, first it is necessary to say about three more characters in the play. These are Mitrofanushka's teachers - Tsyfirkin, Kuteikin and Vralman. They cannot be directly attributed to either positive, nor to they belong to this type of people in which both good and bad are equally combined. However, their surnames are also "speaking": but they speak about the main property of a person - for example, for Vralman this is a lie, while for Tsyfirkin it is a love of mathematics.

"Minor": characteristics of Mitrofanushka

The character in whose "honor" the work is named is almost sixteen years old. While many at his age are completely independent adults, Mitrofanushka cannot even take a step without mother's prompting, without holding onto her skirt. He is one of those who are called "mama's son" (and as mentioned above, a direct indication of this is contained even in the meaning of his name). Despite the fact that Mitrofanushka has a father, the boy does not receive male upbringing in the full sense of this word - his father himself is not famous for such properties.

For parents, Mitrofanushka is still Small child- even in his presence, they talk about him in this way, calling him a child, a child - and Mitrofanushka shamelessly uses this throughout the comedy. The boy does not give a penny to his father, proving once again that he is a perfect "mama's son". Very indicative in this regard is the scene where Mitrofan takes pity on his mother, who was tired of beating her father - so she, poor, worked hard, beating him. There is no question of sympathizing with my father.

It is not entirely possible to give a brief description of Mitrofanushka in The Nedorosl - so much can be said about this character. For example, he very much loves to eat tightly, and then to indulge himself to his heart's content (however, he doesn't really have much to do, except for his studies, in which, it should be noted honestly, he is not diligent at all). Like his mother, Mitrofan is a rather heartless person. He likes to humiliate others, putting them below himself, once again "showing the place" to people working for him. So, he constantly offends his nanny, who was assigned to him from birth, who is always on his side. This is another significant moment in the characterization of Mitrofanushka from the comedy "The Minor".

Mitrofanushka is a sneak and impudent, but meanwhile he is a toady: already at this age he feels who should not be rude, before whom should "show his best qualities." The only trouble is that with such a mama's upbringing, Mitrofanushka simply cannot have the best qualities. Even to her, the one who so blindly loves him and allows him everything, he threatens, blackmails her in an attempt to achieve what she wants for herself. Such qualities do not honor the characterization of Mitrofanushka, speaking of him as a bad person, ready to go over the heads for the sake of only himself and his demands, as a person who loves only as long as his will is fulfilled.

It is interesting that self-criticism is inherent in Mitrofan: he realizes that he is lazy and stupid. However, he is not at all upset about this, declaring that he is "not a hunter for clever girls." It is unlikely that such a quality passed to him from his mother, rather he took it over from his father - at least something he had to inherit from him. Such is a brief description of Mitrofanushki, a hero whose name for several centuries has been called people with similar character traits.

Was there a boy?

It is known that Fonvizin "spied" scenes for his work in real life. And what about the heroes? Are they completely invented or copied from real persons?

The characterization of the hero Mitrofanushka gives reason to believe that Alexei Olenin was his prototype. Subsequently, he became known as a statesman and historian, as well as an artist. But until the age of eighteen, his behavior was absolutely similar to the characteristics of Mitrofanushka: he did not want to study, was rude, lazy, as they say, wasted his life. It is believed that it was Fonvizin's comedy that helped Aleksey Olenin to "take the right path": allegedly, after reading it, he recognized himself in the main character, saw his portrait for the first time from the outside and was so shocked that he found motivation for "rebirth".

Whether it is true or not, it is now impossible to reliably know. But some facts from Olenin's biography have survived. So, until the age of ten he was brought up by his father and a specially hired tutor, he also studied at home. When he went to school (and not to any, but to the Courtyard of Pages), he was soon sent to continue his studies abroad - they chose him for this purpose, since little Alyosha showed excellent success in education. Abroad, he graduated from two higher institutions - thus, it is not necessary to say that Olenin was a lazy and ignorant, like Mitrofanushka. It is possible that some of the qualities inherent in Olenin resembled the characteristics of Mitrofanushka, however, most likely, it is impossible to assert that Olenin is a 100% prototype of the Fonvizin hero. It is more likely, nevertheless, that Mitrofan is a kind of collective image.

The meaning of the comedy "Minor" in literature

The "Minor" has been studied for more than two centuries - from the very release of the play to the present day. Its importance is difficult to overestimate: it satirically ridicules the social and even state structure of society. And she does it openly, without even being afraid of the authorities - and meanwhile, Catherine the Great precisely because of this, after the publication of "Nedoroslya", forbade the publication of anything that came out of the pen of Fonvizin.

His comedy emphasizes the burning issues of the time, but they remain no less relevant today. The flaws in society that existed in the eighteenth century did not go away in the twenty-first. The play, with the light hand of Pushkin, was called "folk comedy" - it has full right be called so in our days.

1. In the first version of the play, Mitrofanushka is called Ivanushka.
2. The initial version of the comedy is closer to the play "Brigadier".
3. Fonvizin worked on "Nedorosl" for about three years.
4. He drew ideas for writing from life, but he talked about the creation of only one scene - the one where Eremeevna protects her pupil from Skotinin.
5. When Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol studied at the gymnasium, he played the role of Mrs. Prostakova in school productions.
6. Fonvizin sketched the sequel to "The Minor" in letters to each other from Sophia and Starodum: according to the author's idea, after the wedding, Milon cheated on Sophia, which she complained to her uncle.
7. For the first time, the idea of ​​creating such a work originated with Denis Ivanovich when he was in France.

More than two centuries have passed since the creation of the play, and it does not lose its relevance to this day. More and more new studies are devoted to the study of the comedy itself and its individual characters. This means that Denis Fonvizin managed to notice and illuminate in his work something that will rive the attention of readers and viewers at all times.

The play by Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin is a comedy about an undersized Mitrofanushka (from the Greek "like his mother"), about the vices of his upbringing, which turns a young man into a spoiled and stupid creature. Previously, there was nothing wrong with this word, and only over time it became a household word. In those days, teenagers under the age of fifteen, required to enter the service, were called undersized.

The decree on the liberty of the nobility, signed by Peter I, gave the nobles the right to choose: to serve or not to serve. But somehow, training became compulsory. Mrs. Prostakova is trying to follow the law, but wants to keep her son “with her” for another ten years: “While Mitrofan is still in a small state, while he is married; and there in a dozen years, as soon as he enters, God forbid, into the service, be patient with everything. "

Being the only son of the landowners Prostakovs, Mitrofan Terentyevich at the age of sixteen lives with his parents, not knowing worries. The domineering mother decides everything for him: whom to marry, whom to kiss in the hand.

Characteristics of the hero

(Comedy illustration. Artist T.N. Kasterina, 1981)

Our the main character- a spoiled mama's son who behaves as he pleases. However, his mother's undivided love turned him not only into an egoist, but also into a skillful manipulator. He does not recognize his father at all and does not value his father, because he does not indulge his whims. Mitrofan does not like his own uncle and is rude in every possible way.

Throughout the action of the play, simpletons enjoy home comfort and idleness, instead of serving. Nothing bothers him, well, except that delicious and plentiful food and fun.

Mitrofanushka has neither life goals nor high aspirations. He also has no desire to study, which he "gave" for four whole years, but he could not learn either literacy or arithmetic. This is understandable, because Prostakov never lived with his own mind, and the caring mother did not want to “torment the child with her studies,” hiring teachers only because it was customary in the families of noblemen.

It is curious that Mitrofan is also characterized by a certain self-criticism: he realizes that he is lazy and stupid. However, this fact does not upset him at all.

Cruelty towards his teachers and servants was the norm for him, because he was narcissistic and arrogant, just like Mrs. Prostakova, who also did not take into account anyone's opinion except her own. The young man's nanny, Eremeevna, has suffered a lot from him. Mitrofan constantly complained to his mother about the poor woman and they stopped paying her salary.

The whole plot is built around the plan of Mitrofanushka's sudden marriage to the poor orphan Sophia, who (suddenly!) Turns out to be a rich heiress. Following the material instructions, the hero eventually betrays her: "Yes, get off, mother, as you imposed."

The image of the hero in the work

For his family, Mitrofan Prostakov is still a small child - even in his presence they talk about him in this way, calling him now a child, now a child - and Mitrofanushka shamelessly uses this throughout the comedy.

Through the image of Mitrofan, one of the main negative heroes, the author shows the degradation of the nobility of that time. Ignorance and rudeness, stupidity and apathy are just the tip of the iceberg of problems of wrong education and permissiveness.

Mom's darling, whose life is burdened with class vices, causes laughter through tears: "Although he is 16 years old, he has already reached the last degree of his perfection and will not go far." He is a slave to his mother, he is her tyrant. His heart is ignorant of love, pity and compassion.

Thanks to the image created by Fonvizin, ignorant and stupid people are called the word "ignoramus" in our time.

Mitrofan is an undergrowth, negative character in a comedy, by a young nobleman. He is very similar to his mother, Mrs. Prostakova, brother of Taras Skotinin. In Mitrofan, in Mrs. Prostakova, in Skotinin, one can notice such character traits as greed and greed. Mitrofanushka knows that all power in the house belongs to his mother, who loves him and allows him to behave the way he wants. Mitrofan is lazy, does not like and does not know how to work and study, only frolics, has fun and sits on the dovecote. Not so much the mama's boy himself

It has an impact on others, as much as they do on him, trying to bring up an ignoramus as an honest, educated person, and he suits his mother in everything. Mitrofan treats the servants very cruelly, insults them and generally does not consider them to be people:
Eremeevna. Yes, learn a little.
Mitrofan. Well, say another word, old little bastard! I'll finish those; I will complain to my mother again, so she will deign to give you a task in the way of yesterday.
Mitrofan also has no respect for teachers. He seeks only for his own personal benefit, and when he learns that Sophia has become the heir to Starodum, he immediately intends to offer her his hand and heart, and the attitude towards Sophia in the Prostakovs' house changes significantly in better side... And all this is only because of greed and cunning, and not because of the feat of the heart.
Mitrofan is depicted in the comedy "The Minor" very vividly, vital, with many human vices, and Mrs. Prostakova simply does not like a soul in her son:
Ms. Prostakova. ... We do not regret the last crumbs, if only to teach our son everything. My Mitrofanushka doesn't get up for days because of the book. Motherly my heart. Something else is a pity, a pity, but you will think: for that there will be a kid anywhere. The groom, at least to anyone, but still the teachers go, does not lose an hour, and now two are waiting in the hallway. My Mitrofanushka has no peace either day or night.
The opposite of Mitrofan is Sophia, a young, kind, reasonable girl.
The main problem that led Fonvizin to create the image of Mitrofan is upbringing to a small extent - serfdom (in general, the relationship between people of different social conditions).

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2. Morning at Prostakova's house. The omnipotent mistress examines the caftan sewn by serf Trishka. And although the caftan is sewn "pretty badly", it is difficult for a capricious lady to please. “Thief”, “thieves' mug”, “blockhead”, “swindler” - these are the mildest epithets, ...
3. Nyy writer, widely educated person, a prominent politician, Fonvizin in his works not only acted as an exponent cutting edge ideas social and political life of Russia at that time, but also made an invaluable contribution to ...
4. Fonvizin's political views are most clearly formulated in his work "Discourse on the indispensable laws of the state." This work, written in the late 1870s, was conceived as an introduction to the project “Fundamental ...
5. DI Fonvizin was destined to live in a rather gloomy era of the reign of Catherine II, when the inhuman forms of exploitation of serfs reached the limit, which could only be followed by a peasant revolt. It...
6. The comedy "Minor" was written by Dmitry Ivanovich Fonvizin in the 18th century, when the main literary direction was classicism. One of the features of the work is “speaking” surnames, so the author named the main character Mitrofan, which ...
7. The comedy "Minor" has absorbed all the experience accumulated by Fonvizin earlier, and in depth ideological issues, by the boldness and originality of the artistic solutions found, it remains an unsurpassed masterpiece of Russian drama of the 18th century. Accusatory...
8. Three main themes run through all dramatic works Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin: the topic of raising a "new breed" of people, serfdom, state structure Russia. In the comedy "The Minor" the first is most vividly reflected. Education theme ...
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10. Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin is the creator of the immortal comedy "The Minor". For more than two hundred years, it has not left the stages of Russian theaters, remaining as before interesting and relevant to new and new generations of spectators ...
11. Another problem is connected with the image of Mitrofan - the writer's thinking about the legacy that the Prostakovs and Skotinins are preparing for Russia. Before Fonvizin, the word “ignoramus” did not have a condemning meaning. Noble children were called undersized, ...
12. Fonvizin in the play "The Minor" embodied only his idea of ​​"honest people" as they should be, but also his observations of those in whom he saw their living personification. The specificity of the biography ...
13. In comparison with “The Brigadier”, “The Minor” (1782) is distinguished by a greater social depth and a sharper satirical orientation. In "Brigadier" it was about the mental limitations of the heroes, about their Gallomania, unscrupulous attitude towards the service ...
14. The comedy "The Minor" was written by DI Fonvizin in 1781 and became the pinnacle of Russian drama of the 18th century. This is a work of classicism, but it also exhibits certain features of realism, which makes ...
15. After rereading the brilliant comedy of the Russian writer of Catherine's epoch Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin "The Minor", I once again experienced the true pleasure of reading. Each hero of this work is interesting and unique. Each of the heroes ...
16. The rich ideological and thematic content of the comedy "Minor" is embodied in a masterfully developed art form... Fonvizin managed to create a harmonious plan for a comedy, skillfully intertwining pictures of everyday life with the disclosure of the views of the heroes. With great care and ...
17. Sophia - Starodum's niece (daughter of his sister); S.'s mother is Prostakova's matchmaker and a relative (like S.) Prostakova. Sophia - in Greek means "wisdom". However, the name of the heroine gets a special one in the comedy ...
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19. The famous comedy by DI Fonvizin "The Minor" is distinguished by its great social depth and sharp satirical orientation. With her, in essence, the Russian public comedy begins. The play continues the traditions of classicism, but later, ...
20. "The Minor" is the first Russian socio-political comedy. Fonvizin depicts the vices of contemporary society: masters who do not rule by right, nobles who do not deserve to be nobles, “random” statesmen, self-appointed teachers. Mrs. Prostakova –...

Denis Fonvizin wrote the comedy "The Minor" in the 18th century. At that time, a decree of Peter I was in force in Russia, prescribing that young men under 21 years of age without education were forbidden to enter military and government service, as well as to marry. Young people up to this age in this document were called "ignoramuses" - this definition formed the basis of the title of the play. In the work, the main character is Mitrofanushka the ignoramus. Fonvizin portrayed him as a stupid, cruel, greedy and lazy young man of 16, who behaves like a small child, does not want to learn and is capricious. Mitrofan is a negative character and the funniest hero of the comedy - his absurd statements of stupidity and ignorance cause laughter not only among readers and spectators, but also among other heroes of the play. The character plays an important role in ideological concept plays, therefore the image of Mitrofan the Ignorant requires a detailed analysis.

Mitrofan and Prostakova

In Fonvizin's work "The Minor", the image of Mitrofanushka is closely related to the theme of education, since in fact it was the wrong upbringing that caused the youth's malice and all its negative features. His mother, Mrs. Prostakova, is an uneducated, cruel, despotic woman, for whom the main values ​​are material wealth and power. She adopted her views on the world from her parents - representatives of the old nobility, the same uneducated and ignorant landowners as herself. The values ​​and views she received through education were passed on to Prostakova and Mitrofan - the young man in the play is depicted as a "mama's boy" - he cannot do anything on his own, the servants or the mother do everything for him. Having received from Prostakova cruelty towards servants, rudeness and the opinion that education is one of the last places in life, Mitrofan also adopted disrespect for loved ones, a willingness to deceive or betray them for the sake of a better offer. Let us recall how Prostakova persuaded Skotinin to marry Sophia in order to essentially get rid of the “extra mouth”.

While the news of the girl's large inheritance made her a "caring teacher", allegedly loving Sophia and wishing her happiness. Prostakova is looking for her own self-interest in everything, and therefore she refused Skotinin, because if the girl and Mitrofan, who listens to his mother in everything, married Sophia's money, Sophia's money would go to her.

The young man is as selfish as Prostakova. He becomes a worthy son of his mother, adopting her "best" features, which explains the final scene of the comedy, when Mitrofan abandons Prostakov, who has lost everything, leaving to serve the new owner of the village, Pravdin. For him, the efforts and love of his mother were insignificant in front of the authority of money and power.

Influence on Mitrofan's father and uncle

Analyzing the upbringing of Mitrofan in the comedy "The Minor", one cannot fail to mention the figure of the father and his influence on the personality of the young man. Prostakov appears before the reader as a weak-willed shadow of his wife. It was passivity and the desire to transfer the initiative to someone stronger that Mitrofan took over from his father. It is paradoxical that Pravdin speaks of Prostakov as a stupid person, but in the action of the play his role is so insignificant that the reader cannot fully understand whether he is really that stupid. Even the fact that Prostakov reproaches his son when Mitrofan leaves his mother at the end of the work does not indicate him as a character with positive features... The man, like the others, does not try to help Prostakova, remaining on the sidelines, thus again showing an example of weakness and lack of initiative to his son - he does not care, how it was all the same while Prostakova beat his peasants and disposed of his property in her own way.

The second man who influenced the upbringing of Mitrofan is his uncle. Skotinin, in fact, is a personality that a young man could become in the future. They are even brought together by a common love for pigs, whose company they are much more pleasant than the company of people.

Mitrofan's training

According to the plot, the description of Mitrofan's training is in no way connected with the main events - the struggle for Sophia's heart. However, it is these episodes that reveal many important problems that Fonvizin highlights in the comedy. The author shows that the reason for the stupidity of a young man is not only a bad upbringing, but also a bad education. When Prostakova hired teachers for Mitrofan, she chose not educated smart teachers, but those who would take less. Retired sergeant Tsyfirkin, dropout Kuteikin, former groom Vralman - none of them could give Mitrofan a decent education. They all depended on Prostakova, and therefore could not ask her to leave and not interfere with the lesson. Let us recall how a woman did not even let her son think about solving an arithmetic problem, proposing “her own solution”. The exposure of Mitrofan's useless training is the scene of a conversation with Starodum, when the young man begins to come up with his own grammar rules and does not know that he is studying geography. At the same time, the illiterate Prostakova also does not know the answer, but if the teachers could not laugh at her stupidity, the educated Starodum openly ridicules the ignorance of the mother and son.

Thus, Fonvizin, introducing into the play scenes of Mitrofan's teaching and exposing his ignorance, raises the acute social problems of education in Russia at that time. Noble children were taught not by authoritative educated personalities, but by slaves who knew the letter, who needed a pittance. Mitrofan is one of the victims of such an old landowner, obsolete and, as the author emphasizes, senseless education.

Why is Mitrofan the central character?

As it becomes clear from the title of the work, the young man is the central image of the comedy "The Minor". In the character system, he is contrasted with the positive heroine Sophia, who appears before the reader as an intelligent, educated girl who respects her parents and older people. It would seem why the author made the key figure of the play a weak-willed, stupid, with a completely negative characterization of an ignoramus? Fonvizin in the image of Mitrofan showed a whole generation of young Russian noblemen. The author was worried about the mental and moral degradation of society, in particular, young people who adopted outdated values ​​from their parents.

In addition, in "Nedorosl" the characteristic of Mitrofan is a composite image of negative traits. contemporary to Fonvizin landlords. The author sees cruelty, stupidity, ignorance, sycophancy, disrespect for others, greed, civic passivity and infantilism not only in outstanding landowners, but also in officials at court, who also forgot about humanism and high morality. For the modern reader, the image of Mitrofan is, first of all, a reminder of what a person becomes when he stops developing, learning new things and forgets about eternal human values ​​- respect, kindness, love, mercy.

A detailed description of Mitrofan, his character and lifestyle will help students of grades 8-9 when preparing a report or essay on the topic "Characteristics of Mitrofan in the comedy" The Minor "

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Writer and playwright D.I. Fonvizin, whose comedy "Brigadier" never left the stage, was compared to Moliere. That is why the play "The Minor", staged on the stage of the Moscow theater "Medox" on May 14, 1783, was also a huge success.

One of the main characters of this comedy was Prostakov Mitrofan Terentyevich, the son of the Prostakovs, simply Mitrofanushka.

As soon as the name of the comedy "Minor" is pronounced, the image of a mama's son, a bummer and a stupid ignoramus, immediately arises in the imagination. Before this comedy, the word "ignoramus" did not carry an ironic meaning. At the time of Peter I, this was the name of the noble teenagers who did not reach the age of 15. After the appearance of the play, this word became a household word.

The main character himself, Mitrofanushka, is deprived of any purpose in life. The main activities in life, which are a joy to him: eating, lounging and driving pigeons. His doing nothing is encouraged by his mother. “Go and frolic, Mitrofanushka,” - this is how she answers her son when he is going to go chasing pigeons.

A sixteen-year-old boy at that time was supposed to go to the service at this age, but his mother did not want to let him go. She wanted to keep him with her until she was 26 years old.

Prostakova doted on her son, she loved the blind maternal love, which only harmed him: Mitrofanushka gorged himself until colic in his stomach, and Prostakova persuaded him to eat more. The nanny said to this that he had already eaten five pieces of pies. And Prostakova answered: "So you feel sorry for the sixth."

When Mitrofanushka was offended, she stood up for him, and he was the only consolation for her. Everything was done only for the sake of her son, even to provide him with a carefree future, she decided to marry him to a rich bride.

She tried not to bother him with anything, even with her studies. In noble families, it was customary to hire teachers. And Prostakova hired teachers for him, but not so that he could learn the mind, but it was just the way it was supposed to be. The names of the teachers spoke for themselves: German coachman Vralman, retired soldier Tsyfirkin, half-graduate seminarian Kuteikin. Mitrofan did not want to study and told his mother: “Listen, mother. I'll amuse those. I will study; just to be the last time. The hour of my will has come. I don't want to study - I want to get married. " And Prostakova agreed with him, because she herself was illiterate, stupid. “Only you are tormented, and everything, I see, is emptiness. Don't study this stupid science! "

All relatives irritated Mitrofanushka, he did not love anyone - neither his father nor his uncle. The nanny, who did not receive money for raising Mitrofan and always protected him from his uncle, tried to teach him something. She persuaded him: "Yes, teach at least a little." Mitrofan answered her: “Well, say another word, old little bastard! I’ll finish those, I’ll complain to my mother again, so she will deign to give you a task like yesterday. ” Nobody's worries touched him. This hero combined the most evil qualities of the young noblemen of that time.

All the worries of the mother for her son did not find an answer. Mitrofanushka treated his mother with disdain. He did not respect her at all and played on her feelings: His words: “Vit here and the river is close. I dive, and remember what you called "or" The night all such rubbish climbed into my eyes. -What kind of rubbish, Mitrofanushka? - Yes, then you, mother, then father, ”- they prove it.

Even at a difficult moment for the mother, the son refuses her. "You are the only one left with me, my dear friend," - with these words Prostakova rushes to her son. She seems to be looking for support in the only person close to her. Mitrofan indifferently throws: "Yes, get off, mother, how imposed."

Maternal upbringing and the environment in which Mitrofan Prostakov lived made him a heartless, stupid animal, which knows only what to eat and to have fun. The thoughts instilled in Mitrofan by his mother that lying on your side you can get both ranks and money, fell on fertile soil. We can conclude that Mitrofan, if his fate had been the way his mother intended, he would not have put his "surname" to shame.

It seems to me that the meaning of this comedy is in the playwright's protest against the Prostakovs and Skotinins. There should be as few as possible such inhuman, rude, stupid people. They don't have to make up the majority of society. I share the writer's point of view.