Characteristics of Puffer from the comedy "Woe from Wit"
- Puffer
1 optionSkalozub Sergey Sergeyevich in his image is bred the ideal Moscow fiance, rude, uneducated, not too smart, but rich and pleased with himself. Famusov reads S. as the husband of his daughter, but she considers him not the hero of her novel. At the time of his first visit to Famusov's house, S. talks about himself. He participated in the war of 1812, but he received the order on his neck not for military exploits, but on the occasion of military celebrations. S. aims to be a general. The hero despises bookish wisdom. He speaks derogatoryly of his cousin who reads books in the countryside. S. tries to embellish himself externally and internally. He dresses in army fashion, cinched with straps so that his chest is a wheel. Having understood nothing in Chatsky's accusatory monologues, he, nevertheless, joins his opinion, saying all sorts of nonsense and nonsense.
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Puffer
Option 2Skalozub is a character in the comedy by A. S. Griboyedov Woe from Wit (1824). If we look for classical and, through them, ancient prototypes in the characters of the play, then S. corresponds to a boastful warrior, a popular mask of Roman comedies, embodied in the famous tower city winner Pirgopolinik, the hero of Plautus. The bully warrior was traditionally portrayed not only as a braggart, but also as a narcissistic person. S., if removed from the poetic context, is somewhat similar to his distant ancestor. It should be noted that many characters in Griboyedov's work wear comedic masks, but the maskedness is only the top layer of its voluminous plot. In the course of the action, S. is transformed into an individual comedic character. Colonel Sergei Sergeevich S. in the very center of the play. Already in the first act, Liza mentions him as Sophia's almost official fiance (and a golden bag and aims for the generals) in contrast to the unwanted Chatsky and the secret Molchalin. Perhaps, for the sake of S., in order to introduce him to the circle of relatives, Famusov starts a ball, where he represents S. Khlestova, who does not like him because of his lack of servility and too high growth. All the facts of S.'s biography in the eyes of Famusov favorably distinguish him from Chatsky. S. is rich, a military man, quickly and thoughtfully making a career, arguing little, speaking out in a straightforward and lapidary way. S.'s manner of not adapting to the tone of secular courtesy does not harm him in the opinion of others (like Chatsky), because in the main S. Famusovsky is his own: you won’t fool me with scholarship! . What his military career is based on becomes clear pretty soon: here the elders will be turned off by others, others, you see, are killed. It would be a mistake to underestimate the influence of S. in the Moscow environment: he is recognized and supported by society. At the climax of the discussion about the harm brought by books and education, S. announces the good news for everyone that it was decided to reform lyceums, schools and gymnasiums according to the barracks model: They will only teach in our way: one, two; And the books will be kept like this: for big occasions. (Which, however, still does not quite suit Famusov, who knows a surer way to restore order: to take away all the books and burn them.) S. is a collective character in which Griboyedov's contemporaries recognized many: from divisional colonel Frolov to Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, of the future Emperor Nicholas I. In the extensive stage history of Woe from Wit, no such solution to this image has yet been found, which would be free from the masquerade, equally emphasized by the actors with the most different directorial decisions in style. The image of S. is based on the technique of the grotesque, but not caricature or caricature. Such an image requires an interpretation akin to the poetics of the play as a whole, which Griboyedov called the poetics of an excellent poem.
Sergei Sergeevich Skalozub is a military man (colonel), an experienced serviceman who does not care about anything but military affairs and career growth in the service (“And a golden bag, and aims for generals”). He is not mentally developed at all, even, roughly speaking, stupid (Sofya about Skalozub: “he didn’t utter a smart word”). That is why he does not suit Sophia as a groom, despite how much her father craves it. Famusov, on the other hand, treats Skalozub with reverence, as he considers him the best match for his daughter.
Skalozub can only talk about the service, so he mentions it everywhere (“I don’t know, sir, it’s my fault; we didn’t serve together with her”) or tries to reduce the conversation to this topic. He ended up in high society solely due to his rank and good earnings, because otherwise no one would communicate with him. As you already understood, Skalozub is an opponent of all education and enlightenment, he considers this a completely unnecessary occupation, does not want to study himself and advises others to do the same (“You won’t fool me with learning”).
Updated: 2017-08-17
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Puffer.
Colonel Skalozub - a type of careerist officer from the time of Arakcheev. Mentally, he is a narrow-minded person. “He didn’t utter a smart word,” Sophia notes. Lisa also agrees with this characterization of Skalozub: “Yes, sir, so to speak, he is eloquent, but not painfully cunning.” Among the officers of that era were enlightened, highly educated people. Some of them were associated with the Decembrist movement.
The puffer is not one of them. On the contrary, it is the faithful guardian of the autocratic-feudal system, the enemy of enlightenment.
The serviceman, who was brought up in the barracks, Skalozub speaks with particular eagerness about what he is familiar with, and then his speech is full of such words as edging, shoulder straps, buttonholes, corps, division, distance, in line, sergeant major, etc. The tone of his speech is resolute, categorical: what a miserable rider! The distance is huge; sometimes his words sound like a command: There they will only teach in our way: one, two. He is polite to Famusov: I'm ashamed... Wherever you order... I don't know, sir, it's my fault. But in the presence of such persons as Chatsky or Repetilov, he is not shy and speaks rudely in the barracks: “Has our old man made a mistake?” “Look how he cracked, chest or side?”, “Deliver me”, “You won’t fool me with learning.”
Rocktooth's speech perfectly characterizes this "constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas."
Updated: 2011-05-07
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Next to Famusov in the comedy is Skalozub - "And the golden bag and aims at the generals." Colonel Skalozub is a typical representative of the Arakcheev army environment. There is nothing caricature in his appearance: historically he is quite truthful. Like Famusov, Colonel Skalozub is guided in his life by "philosophy" and the ideal of the "past century", only in an even more rude and frank form. He sees the purpose of his service not in protecting the fatherland from the encroachment of the enemy, but in achieving wealth and nobility, which, in his opinion, is more accessible to the military. Chatsky characterizes him like this:
Hoarse, strangled, bassoon, Constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas!
According to Sophia, Skalozub only says that "about the front and the ranks." The source of Skalozub's "military wisdom" is the Prussian-Pavlovian school in the Russian army, so hated by the free-thinking officers of that time, brought up on the precepts of Suvorov and Kutuzov. In one of the early editions of the comedy, in a conversation with Repetilov, Skalozub directly states:
I am the Friedrich school, the grenadiers are in the team, the Feldwebel are my Voltaires.
Skalozub began to make his career from the moment when the heroes of 1812 began to be replaced by stupid and slavishly devoted to the autocracy martinet, led by Arakcheev. Then “at every step there were pufferfish not only in the army, but also in the guards, for whom it was not clear that it was possible to straighten a good soldier out of a Russian man without breaking several wagonloads of sticks on his back,” notes the Decembrist Yakushkin. It was people like Skalozub who, less than a year after the end of Woe from Wit, shot the Decembrists from cannons on Senate Square in St. Petersburg. His image was of great political importance for exposing the military-feudal reaction of that time.
Characteristically, Skalozub Griboedov opposes his cousin, a representative of a different environment in the Russian army, that freedom-loving part of the officer corps, from which many Decembrists-military came out. After the end of the war of 1812-1814. Skalozub's cousin, having resigned, went to the village to "read books". The Decembrist P. Kakhovsky testifies to the veracity of this image. “In our country, young people, with all the meager means, are engaged more than anywhere else,” he writes, “many of them have retired and in their secluded rural houses study and arrange the welfare and enlightenment of farmers, the fate of their care entrusted ... How many will you meet now seventeen-year-old young people, about whom we can safely say that they read old books. The resignation of many advanced officers who distinguished themselves in the wars of 1812-1814 was also associated with the strengthening of the Arakcheev regime in the army - the persecution of any free thought, the imposition of stupid military drill and servile subordination. This is precisely what explains his resignation in 1817, the Decembrist V. Raevsky: “The influence of Arakcheev has already become tangible. The service became hard and offensive. What was required was not noble service, but servile subordination. Many officers have retired." This was one form of protest against reaction. And it was not for nothing that the Famusovs looked very askance at the non-serving young nobles.
"No less bright than the figure of Famusov. “A constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas,” says Chatsky about Skalozub. In the person of this hero, Griboyedov caricatured the type of military who pay attention mainly to the external part of military service, are interested in the form that distinguishes one regiment from another, are engaged in drill, “stepping”, as they said then, and are deprived of that real military spirit, which created the prowess of the Russian army. Skalozub embodies all the vulgarity, all the limitations of this kind of officers. His name testifies to the fact that he constantly "grins", jokes, tries to be witty; but his witticisms are not funny, but vulgar. Typical is his story about Princess Lasova, who, having fallen from a horse,
“... the other day I hurt myself in fluff:
The jockey did not support - he thought it was visible, flies.
And without that, she, as you can hear, is clumsy,
Now the rib is missing
So she is looking for a husband to support.
Typical is his answer to Famusov's question, what kind of relationship with him is Nastasya Nikolaevna:
“I don’t know, sir, it’s my fault:
We didn't serve together."
With this witticism Skalozub wants to show that he is not interested in anything outside of military service. What is it that occupies him? “In uniforms, edging, shoulder straps, buttonholes ...”, - a comparison of the guard with the army, in which the officers “everything is so fitted and the waist is so narrow” ...
Woe from the mind. Performance by the Maly Theatre, 1977
Skalozub strives only for ranks, awards, promotions. He himself is a colonel, but he is already "aiming for the generals." It is interesting to know how he reached the high rank; he himself quite frankly says that he received a promotion not for personal merit, but for a happy coincidence of circumstances:
“I am quite happy in my comrades, -
Vacancies are just open:
Then the elders will be turned off by others,
Others, you see, are killed.
The frankness with which Puffer speaks of his promotion testifies to his extreme stupidity:
"Speechy, but painfully not cunning",
- characterizes his maid Lisa. Just like Famusov, he is convinced of the dangers of science and wishes that in all lyceums and gymnasiums children would be taught to march.
I will make you happy: the general rumor,
That there is a project about lyceums, schools, gymnasiums;
There they will only teach in our way: one, two;
And the books will be kept like this: for big occasions.
That's what kind of son-in-law Famusov would like to have! But his daughter Sofya Skalozub is disgusted - and not only because she loves Molchalin. Sophia understands the emptiness and stupidity of Skalozub. When Chatsky, trying to find out Sophia's attitude towards a possible groom, mentions:
Here, for example, Colonel Skalozub:
And the golden bag, and marks the generals,
she answers:
Where is cute! and fun me fear
Hear about the front and rows;
He did not utter a clever word from birth, -
I don't care what's for him, what's in the water.