Brief analysis of Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tale "The Wild Landowner": idea, problems, themes, image of the people

The tale "The Wild Landowner" was published by M. Ye. Saltykov-Shchedrin in 1869. This work is a satire on the Russian landowner and on the common Russian people. In order to circumvent the censorship, the writer chose a specific genre "fairy tale", within which a deliberate fiction is described. In the work, the author does not give names to his heroes, as if hinting that the landowner is a collective image of all landowners in Russia in the 19th century. And Senka and the rest of the peasants are typical representatives of the peasant class. The theme of the work is simple: the superiority of a hardworking and patient people over mediocre and stupid nobles, expressed in an allegorical manner.

Problems, features and meaning of the tale "The Wild Landowner"

The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are always distinguished by simplicity, irony and artistic details, using which the author can absolutely accurately convey the character of the character “And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper“ Vesti ”and his body was soft, white and crumbly”, “he lived and looked into the light rejoiced. "

The main problem in the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" is the problem of the difficult fate of the people. The landowner in the work appears as a cruel and ruthless tyrant, who intends to take the last from his peasants. But having heard the prayers of the peasants for a better life and the desire of the landowner to get rid of them forever, God fulfills their prayers. The landowners cease to bother, and the "men" get rid of oppression. The author shows that in the landowner's world the peasants were the creators of all goods. When they disappeared, he himself turned into an animal, overgrown, stopped eating normal food, since all products disappeared from the bazaar. With the disappearance of the peasants, a bright, eventful life went away, the world became uninteresting, dull, tasteless. Even the entertainment that the landowner enjoyed before - playing the bullet or watching a performance in the theater - no longer seemed so seductive. The world is empty without the peasantry. Thus, in the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" the meaning is quite real: the upper strata of society oppress and trample the lower ones, but at the same time they cannot remain at their illusory height without them, since it is the "slaves" who provide the country, but their master is nothing but problems, not able to provide.

The image of the people in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin

The people in the work of M. Ye. Saltykov-Shchedrin are hardworking people, in whose hands any business is “argued”. It was thanks to them that the landowner always lived in abundance. The people appear before us not just as a weak-willed and reckless mass, but as smart and perceptive people: “The peasants see: even though they are a stupid landowner, he is given great reason”. Also, peasants are endowed with such an important quality as a sense of justice. They refused to live under the yoke of the landowner, who imposed unfair and sometimes insane restrictions on them, and asked God for help.

The author himself respects the people. This can be traced in the contrast between how the landowner lived after the disappearance of the peasantry and during its return: “And suddenly again in that district there was a smell of chaff and sheepskins; but at the same time flour, meat, and all kinds of animals appeared in the bazaar, and there were so many taxes in one day that the treasurer, seeing such a pile of money, only threw up his hands in surprise ... " the driving force of society, the foundation on which the existence of such "landowners" is based, and they undoubtedly owe their well-being to an ordinary Russian peasant. This is the meaning of the ending of the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner".

In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, lived and looked out into the world rejoicing. He had enough of everything: peasants, bread, cattle, land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper "Vest" and his body was soft, white and crumbly.

Only this landowner once prayed to God:

- God! I am pleased with everything from you, I have been awarded with everything! Only one thing is intolerable to my heart: there is too much of a peasant in our kingdom!

But God knew that the landowner was stupid and did not heed his petition.

The landowner sees that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but that everything is coming, - he sees and fears: "Well, how will he come to me with all the good?"

The landowner will look in the newspaper "Vest", as in this case should be done, and read: "Try!"

“Only one word has been written,” the stupid landowner says, “but this is a golden word!

And he began to try, and not that somehow, but everything according to the rule. Whether a peasant chicken will wander into the master's oats - now, according to the rule, into the soup; Whether a peasant firewood is going to cut it in secret in the master's forest - now these are the same firewood for the master's yard, and from the chopper, according to the rule, a fine.

- More I now act on them with these fines! - says the landowner to his neighbors, - because for them it is clearer.

The peasants see: although they are a stupid landowner, he has been given great intelligence. He shortened them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: wherever they look - everything is impossible, but not allowed, but not yours! The cattle will come out to drink - the landowner shouts: "My water!" And earth, and water, and air - everything became him! The peasant did not light up Luchina in the light, the rod was gone, how could he sweep the hut. So the peasants prayed with the whole world to the Lord God:

- God! It is easier for us to be abyss with children and small ones, than to languish like that all our lives!

The merciful God heard an orphan's tearful prayer, and there was no peasant in the entire space of the possessions of the stupid landowner. Where did the peasant go - no one noticed, but only the people saw it, when suddenly a chaffy whirlwind rose and, like a black cloud, the mundane trousers of peasants swept through the air. The landowner came out onto the balcony, pulled his nose and senses: pure, pure air in all his possessions has become. Naturally, I was satisfied. Thinks: "Now I will pamper my white body, the body is white, friable, crumbly!"

And he began to live and live, and began to think how he could comfort his soul.

“I’ll start, he thinks, a theater at my place! I'll write to the actor Sadovsky: come, they say, dear friend! and bring the actors with you! "

The actor Sadovsky listened to him: he himself came and brought the actor. He only sees that the landlord's house is empty and that there is no one to put up a theater and raise the curtain.

- Where are you doing your peasants? - Sadovsky asks the landowner.

- But God, by my prayer, cleared all my possessions from the peasant!

- However, brother, you stupid landowner! Who gives you, stupid, to wash?

- Yes, and how many days I go unwashed!

- So, are you going to grow champignons on your face? - Said Sadovsky, and with this word he left and the actor took away.

He remembered the landowner that he had four general acquaintances nearby; thinks: “What is it I’m laying out all the grandpatience and grandpasiance! I'll try to play a bullet or two with the five generals! "

No sooner said than done: I wrote invitations, set the day and sent letters to the address. The generals were real, but hungry, and therefore very soon arrived. They arrived - and cannot wonder why the landowner has such clean air.

“And that's why,” the landowner boasts, “because God, by my prayer, cleared all my possessions from the peasant!

In the lesson, you will get acquainted with the theme of exposing serfdom in the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, using the example of the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner". You will consider its genre features and highlight the main satirical techniques for creating the image of a landowner.

That is why M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin turned to this genre. His fairy tales are a separate, independent stage of his work, about the appearance of which S.-Sch. reasoned like this: “I owe the habit of writing allegorically ... to the censorship department. It tormented Russian literature to such an extent, as if it had vowed to wipe it off the face of the earth. But literature persisted in the desire to live and therefore resorted to deceitful means ... "

Their political tales S.-Sch. writes from 1883 to 1886. In them, the writer truthfully reflected the life of Russia, in which despotic and omnipotent landowners destroy hardworking peasants. A striking example is the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner", which is written in a very sarcastic and witty manner.

Analysis of the tale of S.-Sch. "Wild landowner"

In this tale, the landowner dreamed of getting rid of the "servile spirit" in his possessions. Finally, all the men "miraculously" disappear. At first, the landlord enjoys the clean air, but then the economy falls into decay, and the landowner himself has become completely wild, sank, turned into an animal.

Reading the work "The Wild Landowner", we immediately refer it to the genre of a fairy tale:

1. Fabulous opening: "In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner."
2. The middle "fabulous" formulas: "How much, how little time has passed"; "No sooner said than done…".
3. Fantastic elements: “suddenly a chaffy whirlwind rose up and, like a black cloud, peasant trousers flashed through the air”; talking bear, "a swarm of men."
4. Hyperbole (exaggeration): "And the earth, and water, and air - all of him (the landowner) has become!"; “He thinks what kind of cows he will breed, that there is no skin, no meat, but all one milk, all milk!”.

The presence of fairy-tale elements does not prevent one from understanding the full depth of the conflict touched upon by the author in this work. This conflict is realistic and acutely social. It is connected with the political situation in Russia after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. The peasants were still largely dependent on the landowner. Here is how S.-Sch. their life: “He [the landowner] cut them down so that there is nowhere to stick his nose out: wherever they look - everything is forbidden, but not allowed, but not yours! The cattle will go out to drink - the landowner shouts: "My water!" And earth, and water, and air - everything became him! The peasant did not light up Luchina in the light, the rod was gone, how to sweep the hut. "

The landowner can be called cruel, greedy, despotic. This attitude of the landowner to the peasants was not unique. It is no coincidence that the newspaper "Vesti" is mentioned in the tale, which is read by the landowner. It is her materials that he takes as a basis, as a guide to action: "The landowner will look in the newspaper" Vesti ", as in this case should be done, and read it."

The newspaper Vest was the organ of a part of the nobility dissatisfied with the peasant reform. Many nobles saw a mistake in the fact that the legislature chose a system of peasant self-government, instead of leaving administrative power in the hands of the landlords. They believed that as a result of this, the ruin of the landlords was taking place. By the way, this newspaper was published first weekly, and then daily with a circulation of 4,000 copies.

And so the landowner reads a newspaper and worries, "that the peasant does not decrease every day, but everything comes, - he sees and fears:" Well, how will he come to me with all the good? "

So, from the very beginning, we begin to perceive the image of the landowner as collective, which contains the typical features of this class.

The name of a hereditary Russian nobleman is by no means Russian - prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev. Before us is one of the methods of allegory: speaking surname... This Turkic surname did not arise by chance. Only the Horde yoke can be compared with the yoke of a serf, only the enemy will come up with the idea to "reduce" the population, to destroy the Russian breadwinner.

When reading a fairy tale, the most often used by the author is striking epithet:stupid landowner... But if in Russian folk tales Ivanushka the Fool is not at all a fool, then the landowner in S.-Sch. really stupid. After all, he does not understand the obvious: his whole life depends on the peasants. Let's see what life has become of a landowner without a hard worker:

1. Can't really accept guests.
2. He cannot serve himself (neither wash, nor dress, nor cook food).

As a result, the house and economy fell into disrepair. But, despite all this, the stupid landowner continues to stand his ground, so to speak, "the firmness of the soul" in himself develops. And he dreams of how he will live without the peasants: "He thinks what kind of cars he will write out of England, so that everything is ferry and ferry, and that there is no servile spirit at all."

Rice. 2. Illustration ()

If earlier he “had a soft, white and crumbly body” and “lived and looked out into the light,” now he is unrecognizable: “All of him, from head to toe, was overgrown with hair, like the ancient Esau, and his nails became, like iron. He had stopped blowing his nose long ago, and he walked more and more on all fours ... He even lost the ability to pronounce articulate sounds and acquired a special triumphant click, a middle between whistling, hissing and barking. But I haven't got a tail yet. "

We see the complete physical and spiritual savagery of man: “He will go out to his park, in which he once did not live his body loose, white, crumbly like a cat, in an instant, he would climb to the very top of the tree and guard from there. It will come running, a hare, stand on its hind legs and listen to see if there is any danger, - and he is already there. As if an arrow would jump off a tree, cling to its prey, tear it apart with nails, and so on with all the entrails, even with the skin, and eat it. "

In this way, the main idea of ​​the tale was that the landowner cannot and cannot live without the peasant. In addition, the author wanted to show the importance of the peasantry in the economy of all of Russia. After all, the disappearance of the peasants in the landlord's possessions led to sad consequences throughout the province. The captain-police officer comes to the landowner. He is very concerned that « you cannot buy a piece of meat or a pound of bread at the bazaar. " “The bosses were worried and gathered a council. They decided: to catch the peasant and put him in, but to the stupid landowner, who is the instigator of all the turmoil, to instill in the most delicate way, so that he stops his fanfare and does not obstruct the receipt of taxes by the treasury. "

The tale ends with the fact that the wild landowner was caught, restored to his human appearance and forced to lead the old way of life. And what about the peasants?

“As if on purpose, at that time a swarm of peasants flew through the provincial town and showered the entire market square. Now this grace has been caught, put in a lash and sent to the district. ”It is no accident that the peasants are shown through metaphor "swarm of men". The reader immediately has an association with a swarm of bees. And as you know, the bee is a symbol of the worker. Of course, this is a grotesque image, but the bitter truth is expressed in a fantastic form. The muzhiks are likened to wordless creatures who live a herd life. Shchedrin sincerely complains that the people are too patient, downtrodden and dark.

Contemporaries S.-Sch. highly appreciated the satirical gift. For example, Sofya Kovalevskaya wrote: “His name will remain in history not only as the name of the greatest pamphleteer Russia has ever known, but also as the name of a great citizen who gave no mercy or rest to the oppressors of thought. Shchedrin really lived only for his own time, but how well Goethe said: "He who lived for his time, he lived for all times."

Literary theory

In fairy tales, Shchedrin showed himself to be a brilliant artist. He showed himself to be a master Aesopian language, with the help of which he was able to convey to the reader a sharp political thought.

The expression is associated with the name of the legendary Greek fabulist Aesop, who, according to legend, lived in the 6th century BC. Aesop, being a slave, could not speak about many things freely, openly. He was forced to resort to an allegorical (allegorical) fable form of expressing his thoughts. Hence, any ability to speak or express one's thoughts allegorically, in parables, allegories, received the name of the Aesopian language.

Satire (Latin satira) is a comic manifestation in art, which is a poetic denunciation of phenomena using various comic means: sarcasm, irony, hyperbole, grotesque, allegory, parody, etc.

1. Didactic materials on literature grade 7. Author - V.Ya. Korovina - 2008
2. Homework on literature for grade 7 (Korovin). Author - Tishchenko O.A. - year 2012
3. Literature lessons in grade 7. Author - N.E. Kuteinikova - year 2009
4. Literature textbook grade 7. Part 1. Author - V.Ya. Korovina. - year 2012
5. Literature textbook grade 7. Part 2. Author - V.Ya. Korovina. - year 2009
6. Textbook-reader on literature grade 7. Authors: Ladygin M.B., Zaitseva O.N. - year 2012
7. Textbook-reader on literature grade 7. Part 1. Author - T.F. Kurdyumova. - 2011
8. Phono-restomacy on literature for the 7th grade to the textbook by Korovina.

1. FEB: Dictionary of literary terms ().
2. Dictionaries. Literary terms and concepts ().
3. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language ().
4. S.-Sch. Wild landowner ().
5. S.-Sch. Biography ().

1. Compare the fairy tales "The Wild Landowner" and "The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals." What unites them?
2. Read the tale of S.-Sch. (optional). Find features of the fairy tale genre in the text. Determine the topic, idea, conflict. Give examples of satire, irony.
3. Think about the relevance of S.-Sch.'s fairy tales?

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin

Wild landowner

In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, lived and looked out into the world rejoicing. He had enough of everything: peasants, bread, cattle, land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper "Vest" and his body was soft, white and crumbly.

Only this landowner once prayed to God:

God! I am pleased with everything from you, I have been awarded with everything! Only one thing is intolerable to my heart: there is too much of a peasant in our kingdom!

But God knew that the landowner was stupid and did not heed his petition.

The landowner sees that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but that everything is coming, - he sees and fears: "Well, how will he come to me with all the good?"

The landowner will look in the newspaper "Vest", as in this case should be done, and read: "Try!"

Only one word is written, - says the stupid landowner, - but this is a golden word!

And he began to try, and not that somehow, but everything according to the rule. Whether a peasant chicken will wander into the master's oats - now, according to the rule, into the soup; Whether a peasant firewood is going to cut it in secret in the master's forest - now these are the same firewood for the master's yard, and from the chopper, according to the rule, a fine.

More I now act on them with these fines! - says the landowner to his neighbors, - because for them it is clearer.

The peasants see: although they are a stupid landowner, he has been given great intelligence. He shortened them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: wherever they look - everything is impossible, but not allowed, but not yours! The cattle will come out to drink - the landowner shouts: "My water!" And earth, and water, and air - everything became him! The peasant did not light up Luchina in the light, the rod was gone, how could he sweep the hut. So the peasants prayed with the whole world to the Lord God:

God! It is easier for us to be abyss with children and small ones, than to languish like that all our lives!

The merciful God heard an orphan's tearful prayer, and there was no peasant in the entire space of the possessions of the stupid landowner. Where did the peasant go - no one noticed, but only the people saw it, when suddenly a chaffy whirlwind rose and, like a black cloud, the mundane trousers of peasants swept through the air. The landowner came out onto the balcony, pulled his nose and senses: pure, pure air in all his possessions has become. Naturally, I was satisfied. Thinks: "Now I will pamper my white body, the body is white, friable, crumbly!"

And he began to live and live, and began to think how he could comfort his soul.

“I’ll start, he thinks, a theater at my place! I'll write to the actor Sadovsky: come, they say, dear friend! and bring the actors with you! "

The actor Sadovsky listened to him: he himself came and brought the actor. He only sees that the landlord's house is empty and that there is no one to put up a theater and raise the curtain.

Where are you going to take your peasants? - Sadovsky asks the landowner.

But God, by my prayer, cleared all my possessions from the peasant!

However, brother, you stupid landowner! Who gives you, stupid, to wash?

Yes, and how many days I go unwashed!

So, are you going to grow champignons on your face? - Said Sadovsky, and with this word he left and the actor took away.

He remembered the landowner that he had four general acquaintances nearby; thinks: “What is it I’m laying out all the grandpatience and grandpasiance! I'll try to play a bullet or two with the five generals! "

No sooner said than done: I wrote invitations, set the day and sent letters to the address. The generals were real, but hungry, and therefore very soon arrived. They arrived - and cannot wonder why the landowner has such clean air.

And that is why, - the landowner boasts, - that God, by my prayer, cleared all my possessions from the peasant!

Oh, how good it is! - the generals praise the landowner, - so now you will not have this servile smell at all?

Not at all, - the landowner answers.

They played a bullet, played another; the generals feel that their hour has come to drink vodka, they become uneasy, look around.

You, gentlemen, generals, must have felt like a bite to eat? the landowner asks.

It would not be bad, sir landowner!

He got up from the table, went to the cupboard and took out a candy cane and a printed gingerbread for each person.

What is this? the generals ask, staring at him.

And here, have a snack, what God sent!

Yes, we would have beef! beef to us!

Well, I have no beef about you, gentlemen, generals, because since God saved me from the peasant, the stove in the kitchen has been unheated!

The generals got angry with him, so that even their teeth began to chatter.

Why, you’re eating something yourself, don’t you? - they pounced on him.

I eat some raw materials, but I still have gingerbread as long as I have it ...

However, brother, you are a stupid landowner! - said the generals and, without finishing the bullets, scattered to their homes.

The landowner sees that another time he is being honored as a fool, and he was about to think, but since at that time a deck of cards caught his eye, he waved his hand at everything and began to lay out the grand patience.

Let's see, - he says, - gentlemen liberals, who will prevail over whom! I will prove to you what true firmness of soul can do!

He spreads out the "lady's whim" and thinks: "If it comes out three times in a row, therefore, we must not look." And as luck would have it, no matter how many times he spreads it out - everything comes out for him, everything comes out! There was not even any doubt left in him.

If, - he says, - fortune itself indicates, therefore, one must remain firm to the end. And now, as long as it's enough to lay out the grandpasiance, I'll go and work!

And so he walks, walks from room to room, then sits down and sits down. And everything thinks. He thinks what kind of cars he will write from England, so that everything is by ferry and ferry, and the servile spirit so that there is not at all. He thinks what kind of orchard he will plant: “Here there will be pears, plums; here - peaches, here - walnuts! " He looks out the window - but everything is there, as he planned, everything is exactly the same! Pear trees, peach trees, apricot trees are breaking, at the behest of a pike, under the load of fruits, and he only knows the fruit with machines and puts it in his mouth! He thinks what kind of cows he will breed, that there is no skin, no meat, but all one milk, all milk! He thinks what kind of strawberries he will plant, all double and triple, five berries per pound, and how much he will sell these strawberries in Moscow. Finally, he gets tired of thinking, he goes to the mirror to look - and there is already dust on top of it ...

Senka! - he will suddenly shout, forgetting himself, but then he will catch himself and say, - well, let it stand for the time being! and I will prove to these liberals what the firmness of the soul can do!

He will blink in such a manner, while it gets dark - and sleep!