“Woe from Wit” is a truly brilliant work that forever made its author a great classic of Russian literature. This satirical play literally immediately broke into catchphrases, quotations and expressions even when it was not yet so well known to the general public. Griboyedov very truthfully depicted the life of the Moscow nobility and accurately described the characters of the heroes inherent in the people of that century. And most importantly, he gave so much wisdom and magnificent satire that now, for almost two centuries, we have been learning from all this to know the world of our ancestors.

"Woe from Wit". Comedy A.S. Griboyedov

The main characters of the work “Woe from Wit” very clearly show that in the secular society of the beginning of the 19th century a split formed between the young, progressive generation with progressive views, represented in the image of Chatsky, and the obsessed conservatives of the old generation in the image of Famusov. “Woe from Wit” is a comedy where these two main characters are shown very brightly and colorfully, and each of them is principled and adamant in his truth. However, there are also minor comedy characters who also bring their own colors to the plot. They can be divided into three types: "Famusovs", those who claim to be "Famusovs", and "Famusovs-losers".

Zagoretsky, Woe from Wit. Characteristics of this hero

Among the invited guests in Famusov's house in the third act, Anton Antonovich Zagoretsky appears - "a clever socialite", who represents the type "Famusovs are losers." He has no ranks and titles, everyone considers him a "notorious swindler and rogue", "a liar, a gambler and a thief."

Revealing the theme "Zagoretsky," Woe from Wit. Characteristics”, we can say that in Famusov’s society he defined for himself the role of a universal saint and servant, who is always looking for an opportunity to please with his behavior and flattery and, even better, with unexpected gifts, therefore, this always causes great sympathy and approval from the whole environment . For example, he got two “Arapchenkos” for the guest Khlestova at the fair or, most likely, swindled them into cards and Sofya got a ticket to the theater when no one could do it.

Unflattering hero

The character Gorich also constantly speaks unflatteringly about Zagoretsky, but he believes that although everyone scolds him, they are willingly accepted everywhere. This hero really enters into all decent houses of the capital. The image of Zagoretsky is a collective image of a noble society, which gradually began to rot and look extremely immoral. It is always more convenient for this character to lie something than to remember the truth. He really is so used to lying that no one pays any attention to his lies.

Zagoretsky, like Repetilov, has a special place in the comedy Woe from Wit. Although critics attribute them to, they are not his defenders. However, it is with their tacit consent that the fate of other people can be decided.

Role in society

Returning to the topic “Zagoretsky, “Woe from Wit”. Characteristics”, let’s even express the opinion that Zagoretsky is a person who is “close to a political detective” by nature. And this is not at all accidental. This idea is suggested by Zagoretsky’s quotes, which say that if he had received the position of censor, he would first of all “lean” on fables, where eternal ridicule reigns over lions and eagles: “Although animals, but still kings.”

Zagoretsky quickly and with "heat" conducts conversations, he loves to exaggerate everything and any rumor can be inflated to incredible proportions. And he does not react angrily to harsh statements about his person, but simply reduces them to an ordinary joke.

Gorich once again talks about him: "the original, obese, but without the slightest malice."

Griboedov assigns him the role of a person who spreads false rumors about Chatsky. Zagoretsky still did not really understand who he was talking about, but different versions of madness were already born in his head. Khlestova said about Chatsky that, they say, he drank a lot of "very large bottles", Zagoretsky adds that he drank "barrels of forties."

off-stage images

Zagoretsky is one of the off-stage characters and an innovative device of the playwright Griboyedov. Such heroes reveal the picture of the "past century" even more widely and outline its values ​​and ideals. The role of off-stage characters is that they help to better understand and reveal the behavior of the main characters and the entire Famus society. It is the figure of Zagoretsky that shows the immoral behavior of the noble society. By the way, we also learn from Gorich that Zagoretsky is an informer. Yes, and Chatsky immediately receives a warning from Gorich that it is better not to speak frankly in his presence.

In conclusion, the topic "Zagoretsky," Woe from Wit. Characteristics ”it is important to note that the status of a nobleman in Russia was protected by this very fact, and if he followed traditions and customs, he had good prospects for making a successful career and enriching himself due to this. The main thing is not to be such losers and crazy saints as Zagoretsky, who knows everything about everyone and follows the precepts of his father "to please everyone without exception."

Each of the characters in the play performs its artistic function. Episodic characters set off and complement the features of the main characters. Off-stage characters, although they do not act directly, play an important role: they testify to the fact that Chatsky is confronted by a powerful and effective reactionary force. All the heroes, taken together, create a vivid, full-blooded picture of the Moscow noble society. At the ball at Famusov's, people who make up the elite of noble Moscow gather. They are many-sided, but they all have common features: feudal views, ignorance, servility, greed. Episodic characters appear in comedy, replacing each other. Consider them in the order in which they are depicted in the comedy. The first guests at the ball are the Gorichs. This is a typical Moscow married couple. Chatsky knew Platon Mikhailovich before the latter's marriage. He was a cheerful, lively person, but after marrying Natalya Dmitrievna, he changed a lot: he fell under the heel of his wife, became "a husband-boy, a husband-servant." Natalya Dmitrievna does not even let her husband “open her mouth”: she answers Chatsky’s questions for him, speaks to him in an orderly tone: “Listen once, dear, fasten up quickly.” Gorich perfectly understands his position and has already come to terms with it. He bitterly says to Chatsky: "Now, brother, I'm not the one." In general, the motive of the husband's subordination to his wife runs through the whole work. Griboyedov draws a parallel between Platon Mikhailovich and Silent Other. The husband of Natalya Dmitrievna says: “There is still an occupation: / On the flute I repeat a duet / A-molny.” With this phrase, the author refers the reader to the beginning of the comedy, when Molchalin and Sophia play a duet on the piano and flute behind the scenes. Sofya prefers Molchalin, although she could have chosen Skalozub or Chatsky. Molchalin earned her love by being "an enemy of insolence." Sofya was brought up in the Famus spirit, and she needs the same husband as Gorich - “husband-boy”, “husband-servant”. The footman Petrusha hardly speaks in the comedy; And he obeys. However, Lizanka says about him: “But how not to fall in love with the barman Petrusha?” Petrusha knows how to obey, and this also pleases him: Lizanka fell in love with him. The Tugoukhovsky family also comes to the ball. The princess is very concerned about finding suitors for her daughters. The reader understands this almost from her first words. As soon as she sees Chatsky in learning that he is not married, she sends her husband, the same “husband-boy”, “husband-servant”, to invite a potential groom to her. But as soon as she finds out that Chatsky is not rich and he does not have a high rank, she “shouts with all her might”: “Prince, prince! Back!" The figure of Princess Tugoukhovskaya helps to better understand the character of Famusov. Pavel Afanasyevich wants to marry his daughter to a rich, powerful person, prominent in society. Princess Tugou-khovskaya pursues the same selfish goals. Through the figure of the princess, Griboyedov emphasizes such traits in Famusov's character as self-interest and servility. In the Famus society, grooms are chosen for rich brides according to this principle: * Be inferior, but if there are two thousand family souls, * He is the groom, and also “Who is poor is not a match for you.” Countess Hryumina appears at the ball. This is Khryumna-granddaughter, embittered at the whole world around her, with her half-deaf grandmother. Khryumina-granddaughter cannot find a worthy groom and therefore is dissatisfied with everything that happens around her. As soon as she arrives at the ball, she regrets that she arrived too early. Leaving the ball, the Countess-granddaughter speaks of him like this: “Well, the ball! .. And there is no one to talk to, and no one to dance with!” She is angry that at the ball she did not meet anyone to marry. Khryumina, the granddaughter, shows her admiration for everything foreign, and reveals her predilection for "fashion shops." She often uses French words, even saying a few whole phrases in French, which no one else does in comedy. In her face, Griboedov ridicules another characteristic feature of the nobility of that time: admiration for everything foreign. Chatsky, in his monologue, talks about the "Frenchman from Bordeaux", who feels like a "little king" in Russia, although he left his country "with fear and tears." This Frenchman not only did not meet “barbarians” in Russia, but also heard his native language everywhere, saw that the ladies wear the same dresses as in France. With the help of the image of a “Frenchman from Bordeaux”, Griboedov shows that the society of the nobility imitates French customs and customs so much that it is impossible to distinguish Russian nobles from the French - they have become “Frenchized”. Zagoretsky is more than other episodic heroes "involved" in comedy. This is perhaps the most vicious person present at Famusov's ball. Everyone frankly speaks about him: "A notorious swindler, a rogue", "He is a liar, a gambler, a thief." But, despite such a devastating characterization, he is accepted in the world, the doors of the Famusov house are open for him, even Khlestova said a kind word about him: “God bless him! Zagoretsky pays off with his helpfulness, he tells Sofya that no one would have served her like that, that he “knocked everyone down”, getting tickets for the performance, confesses that he “already kidnapped by force”. This phrase reveals the meanness of Zagoretsky's character. He will do everything to serve the right person at the right time. When the old woman Khlestova wanted "from him and the door to lock," he served her by giving a little black boy, whom he, apparently, got in some dishonest way, thereby endearing her to him. The characteristic feature of one of the main characters of the comedy - Molchalin - coincides with the main property of Gorodetsky's character. Molchalin says: “My father bequeathed to me: First, to please all people without exception.” Chatsky expresses his opinion about Molchalin: "Zagoretsky did not die in him." Indeed, Griboyedov shows Zagoretsky as a "notorious swindler", "liar", "rogue", in order to more clearly reveal the same baseness of the soul in Molchalin - the future Zagoretsky. The sixty-year-old lady Khlestova also comes to the ball. This is a serf-owner, imperious and self-willed, according to Goncharov, "a remnant of the Catherine's age." In the image of Khlestova, Griboyedov reveals the cruelty of serfdom, in which people are treated like dogs. Khlestova takes with her to the ball "a girl and a dog". For her, a serf is like a dog. She asks Sophia: "Tell them to feed already, my friend" - and immediately forgets about them. In the comedy, there is invisibly another character who treats people subject to him like dogs. Chatsky tells about him, calling him "Nestor of noble villains." This man changed his faithful servants, who saved his life and honor, for hunting dogs. The image of "Nestor" also testifies to how cruelly people in power treat those who are subordinate to them. In a conversation with Sofia, Chatsky mentions several people with whom he was familiar before leaving abroad. He recalls a man who lives at the expense of his artists ("he is fat, his artists are skinny"), only having fun. Chatsky says about him: “It is written on the forehead:“ Theater and masquerade ”. He remembered this "Theatre and Masquerade" because at some ball he hid a man in a "more secret room" so that he "clicked the nightingale." Then Chatsky tells about a man who drove children, “torn away” from their parents, to the “fortress ballet”, and “made all of Moscow marvel at their beauty”, and then sold them one by one. So Griboedov reveals social inequality, in which children can be separated from their parents. Another acquaintance of Chatsky "settled in the academic committee" and "shoutingly" protested against education. This character reveals the ignorance and lack of education of the Famus society. The very last, to the "Hat analysis", Repetnlov is at the ball. This character in the image of Griboyedov is a person who vulgarizes and discredits the ideas of the time, he, with his “secret union” and “secret meetings on Thursdays”, where they only “make noise” and “drink champagne to kill”, acts as a good-for-nothing person , a talker for whom all advanced ideas are nothing more than a fashion fad. Re-pe'shlov calls Chatsky some people who are authoritative in the "secret union", but the reader understands that all these people cannot bring real renewal to society: one is distinguished by the fact that he "speaks through his teeth", the other - by the fact that that he sings, two more are simply “wonderful guys”, and Ippolit Markelych Udushyev is a “genius”, because he wrote in the magazine “an excerpt, a look and something”. In the image of Repetilov, Griboyedov makes fun of random people in the circles of progressive society. There are many other representatives of the Famus society at the ball. Griboedov did not even give them full names. Such, for example, are gentlemen N. and B. The author does not say anything about them, but they participate in the spread of gossip about Chatsky's madness. Mister ^. does not believe it, but he is interested in what others say about it. Sophia knew this whole mechanism very well, and as soon as she said a few words to the two "masters", the entire Famus society spoke in a loud voice about Chatsky's madness. In the images of these petty gossips, Griboedov shows what the nobility is engaged in: spreading gossip and rumors.

Well, didn't I say that we are one and the same field of berries.

F.M.Dostoevsky

“From Menander, the Alexandrian drama, Plautus and to Cervantes, Shakespeare and - through Dostoevsky - the novels of the twentieth century, there is a tendency to supply heroes with a double satellite, and sometimes with a whole bunch - a paradigm of satellites,” noted Yu.M. Lotman.

The paradigm of twins is also revealed in the comedy Woe from Wit. A kind of double of Alexander Andreevich Chatsky is Platon Mikhailovich Gorich, "an old friend." But Gorich is not current- "Moscow resident and married", and last, whom Chatsky "knew in the regiment." Thus, Gorich is temporal double Chatsky.

Pushing Chatsky away from herself, Sophia, paradoxically as it may sound, saves him from the fate of Gorich. The probability of Chatsky turning into Gorich is extremely small, but still acceptable: a former hussar of the Davydov type, a possible Moscow commandant, turns into a landowner, which he himself is quite surprised, but has already reconciled with: “Yes, brother, now it’s not like that”, “now, brother , I'm not the one", "eh! brother, it was a glorious life then. No less than his old friend, this transformation in just a year (“Didn’t I know you last year, in the regiment?”) Chatsky was also surprised, seeing the embodied ideal of a Moscow husband - a husband-boy, a husband-servant, reduced to the position room dog. “My husband is a lovely husband…”, says Natalya Dmitrievna about her husband, taking him to the balls, to which he is “deadly reluctant”. “Your Spitz is a lovely Spitz…”, says Molchalin about the dog that Khlestova takes with her to the ball “out of boredom”. Later, A.S. Pushkin will connect both the husband, the dog, and the lover in one row:

At Pelageya Nikolaevna
All the same friend Monsieur Finmush,
And the same spitz, and the same husband ...

The “brother” addressed to Chatsky is an indicator of not only etiquette-friendly, but also spiritual closeness, a community that connected these people in the past. The current Gorich, repeating from boredom on the flute “a-mole duet, which he repeated five years ago”, is closer to Molchalin, who has been playing the flute for three years ...

Is the sound of the flute a kind of signal for the transformation of Gorich into the second Molchalin?

Invented by Sofia Molchalin and Molchalin, who actually exists, are completely different people. To become a double of Gorich - a husband-boy, a husband-servant - can be smart, timid, shy, timid, ready to “forget himself for others” ... But such Molchalin is a myth, a phantom that lives only in Sophia's imagination. The real Molchalin, whose goal is to reach "to the known levels", will never go for it. In addition, in Molchalin there is no true nobility and deep decency inherent in Gorich. So, having become a toy in the hands of a woman, Platon Mikhailovich does not stoop to reproaches, only occasionally escapes from him:

Mother Natasha, I doze off at the balls,
Before them, a mortal reluctant,
But I do not resist, your worker,
I'm on duty late at night
You are pleased, no matter how sad,
I start to dance on command.

Being in the position of a charming Spitz husband, nicknamed Poposh, Gorich is well aware of his position and resigns himself to it for the time being.

If Chatsky, seeing his possible future in Gorich, is able to avoid it: I can become like that, but I won’t be like that, then it is extremely difficult to avoid a collision with his next double in the closed space of Famusov’s house.

It is in this limited space that Chatsky collides with Repetilov - his last true spatial double.

“By the way, what is Repetilov? It has 2, 3, 10 characters, ”said A.S. Pushkin.

The parody of Repetilov's image is a well-known fact in literary criticism. A parodic double, not mentioned anywhere before, suddenly appears in front of Chatsky, when he is already ready to leave. Repetilov's appeal: “A cordial friend! Dear friend! Mon cher! ”, - is replaced by a diminutive “brother” (cf. the appeal of Gorich). Confirming the peculiar closeness of these people, the appeal "brother" Griboedov puts into the mouth of Chatsky. But “parody is the creation of a debunking double, this is the same“ world inside out ”. Therefore, parody is ambivalent.

From the first words of Repetilov, Chatsky recognizes himself in him - the morning Chatsky, hot, passionate, in love and unrestrained in speeches (chatty?). The cold, caustic and caustic remarks of Sophia, which restrain, cool and insult the impulse of Chatsky, now, in communication with Repetilov, become the property of Chatsky himself.

The playwright is harsh and cruel towards his hero: he not only mercilessly and impartially reminds Chatsky of his morning mistakes, he makes him relive the situation of the sudden appearance of a not very welcome and not particularly expected guest, putting Chatsky in Sophia's place.

Repetilov is Chatsky's nightmare, his embodied, albeit imaginary, madness. He not only declares his love to Chatsky (“You don’t love me, it’s natural ...”), as Chatsky did earlier (“Not in the hair of love! How good they are!”), But also embodies Chatsky’s remarks:

A little light - already on your feet! And I'm at your feet...
I'm forty-five hours eyes do not squint,
More than seven hundred miles swept - wind, storm;
And all lost, and fell how many times….
(hereinafter it is highlighted by me - S.T.).

REPETILOV (runs in from the porch, at the very entrance falls on all legs and hastily recovering).

Ugh! I blundered. Ah, my creator!
Let me rub my eyes; from where? Buddy!..
………………………………………………
as if I knew, I'm in a hurry here,
Grab it, I hit it with my foot on the threshold,
And stretched out to the fullest growth .

Just as Chatsky sometimes does not notice that no one is listening or hearing him, so Repetilov does not notice that Chatsky is being replaced by Skalozub, who in turn is being replaced by Zagoretsky:

Slightly out of sight one, look there is no other.
There was Chatsky, suddenly disappeared, then Skalozub.

Just as Sophia's cooling remarks have little effect on Chatsky, so Chatsky's ironic remarks do not touch Repetilov. Practically neither one nor the other simply does not hear them.

Just as Chatsky doesn’t care who to deliver the next sermon to - Sofya, Famusov, Skalozub, etc., so Repetilov’s interlocutor as a whole is not very important. The monologues of Chatsky and Repetilov stop only with the disappearance of the interlocutor, even a passive listener - Famusov plugging his ears - suits Chatsky, like Repetilov - a constantly changing listener.

In Repetilov's remarks, as in a crooked mirror, Chatsky's thoughts about duty, service, ranks are reflected and distorted ... Chatsky's illusory lofty dreams and ideals are profaned by Repetilov and become a nightmarish reality.

Now let us one,
Of the young people there is an enemy of searches,
Not demanding any places or promotions.
In the sciences, he will stick the mind, hungry for knowledge.
Or in his soul God himself will excite heat
To the high creative arts
and beautiful -
They immediately: robbery! fire!
And they will be known as a dreamer! dangerous!! -

Chatsky says passionately, unaware of the presence of " hot dozen heads”, for which the English Club becomes a stronghold of free-thinking and liberty, of which Famusov is an “old and faithful member”, and the composition of vaudeville is the only and worthy pastime of the members of the Secret Union.

Like at one time the whole accusatory monologue of Chatsky “And who are the judges?” Colonel Skalozub reduced to his favorite uniform and to the First Army, so Repetilov reduced the whole conversation with Chatsky to vaudeville.

Zagoretsky

What do you think about Chatsky?

Repetilov

He is not stupid.
Now we collided, there are all sorts of turuses.
And a practical conversation turned to vaudeville.
Yes, vaudeville is a thing, but everything else is gil.
He and I ... we ... have the same tastes.

The lightness, vaudeville character of Repetilov is found in his sudden appearance, accompanied by a fall, in the manner of communication, a tendency to exaggeration. Less obvious is the vaudeville nature of the protagonist. Yu.N. Tynyanov noted: “The center of comedy is in the comic position of Chatsky himself, and here comedy is a means of tragedy, and comedy is a type of tragedy.” Repetilov makes Chatsky's position not tragic, but vaudeville. It is noteworthy that after the departure of Repetilov, as sudden as his appearance, the plot of the comedy "Woe from Wit" is saturated with vaudeville episodes, and the image of Chatsky acquires vaudeville features.

But the danger of Repetilov is not only that he materializes and vulgarizes the ideas of Chatsky, not only that he repeats, lives him, but that he amazingly, paradoxically connects the incompatible: Chatsky, probably the future Decembrist, Skalozub, Nikolaev campaigner (Skalozub will become a general already under Nicholas I), and Zagoretsky, the future informer of the III department (“beware with him: endure much”).

Even the dramatic intensity of Chatsky's final line:

Get out of Moscow! I don't come here anymore.
I'm running, I won't look back, I'll go looking around the world,
Where there is a corner for the offended feeling! ..
Carriage for me, carriage! -

decreases and weakens because earlier these words are pronounced by Repetilov, who leaves Famusov’s house earlier than Chatsky:

Where is the path to go now?
And things are about to dawn.
Come on, put me in the carriage,
Take it somewhere.

“The mythologeme of duality, which goes back to twin myths, in the context of Christian culture is associated with the idea of ​​a diabolical imitation of the noble power of the creator…”, notes V.I. Tyupa.

“What a future lies ahead for everyone, the catastrophic figure of Repetilov testifies,” wrote Yu.N. Tynyanov.

This is where we will end.

Literature

1. Bakhtin M.M. Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. Ed. 4th. – M.: Sov. Russia, 1979.
2. Griboedov A.S. "Woe from Wit". Comedy. dramatic scenes. - L .: Art, 1987.
3. Lotman Yu.M. Inside the thinking worlds. Man - text - semiosphere - history. - M .: "Languages ​​of Russian culture", 1996.
4. Pushkin A.S. Complete works in 10 volumes. Ed. 3. T. Kh. - M.: Nauka, 1966.
5. Tynyanov Yu.N. Death of Vazir-Mukhtar: A novel. The plot of "Woe from Wit". – M.: Sov. Russia, 1981.
6. Tyupa V.I. Analytics of Art (Introduction to Literary Analysis). – M.: Labyrinth, Russian State University for the Humanities, 2001.

The brightest representatives of the ladies among the actors of the comedy are Khlestova and Natalya Dmitrievna Gorich, and among the off-stage - Tatyana Yuryevna. They convincingly confirm the validity of Famusov's words. Khlestova is an important, influential, intelligent Moscow lady. She speaks briefly, categorically. Her speech is harsh and unceremonious, her remarks are scathing: “He is a liar, a gambler, a thief,” she aptly characterizes, for example, Zagoretsky; “After all, your father is crazy,” she says to Sophia. Khlestava is fluent in her native language. Her language is colorful and bright, it lacks foreign words and expressions, but there are many Russianisms and folk words and expressions: the hour is broken, there is no strength, incurable - at least drop it; maybe, tea, you see, really. in the speeches of Khlestova one can hear the voice of an imperious lady-serf, a prominent person in Famus society.

Khlestova's image, a respected and influential old woman, is complemented by an off-stage image of the “famous” Tatyana Yuryevna, who has “officials and officials, all her friends and all relatives”, and therefore she has great influence in the service world. A silent man building a career obsequiously courts such influential ladies as Khlestova and speaks of Tatyana Yuryevna as a representative of the highest power.

Natalya Dmitrievna Gorich- A young woman who has recently married. Her power does not yet extend to the service world, but in her family she completely subjugated her husband, making him "a husband-boy, a husband-servant, of wife's pages", depriving him of any activity and independence with false concern for his health.

Platon Gorich is another character in "Woe from Wit" by A.S. Griboyedov.
Also not at the time of the story, but in being. A year before the events described in the play in Famusov's house. During the last meeting between Gorich and Chatsky, which the latter mentions at the ball. That is, if the action of the play is November 1823, then the picture shows Gorich in November 1822.
What can we say about him from the words of the characters in the play? Little is revealed, but also something that theater directors do not take into account at all.

In the action of the play, he appears before us as a miserable henpecked man, obeying his young wife in everything and only sighing in response.
But it wasn't always like that! Just a year ago, Chatsky saw him as a dashing officer, hardened, dexterous and despising danger!
The people in the play are generally not stereotyped at all, which is what is remarkable; except perhaps with one exception - Molchalin.
And Goric? Before us is a bright and ambiguous character, only for the sake of wanting to fit into Moscow society, enduring the boredom of family life. For six months now, he has been tolerating her, or a little more. But… how will this patience end??
Platon Mikhailovich is strong both morally and physically. Even the name Griboedov was chosen speaking: in Greek, “plateau” is a shoulder, “platon” is broad-shouldered, broad-shouldered (I ask you not to quote Mayakovsky).
Gorich is rougher than Skalozub, even though he is deliberately rude. In terms of behavior, Gorich is sharper and more uncompromising than Chatsky himself. So, Zagoretsky, Platon Mikhailovich, already at the meeting, sends away almost with his last words and gives him an extremely unflattering characterization in front of his friend. Gossip about Chatsky does not accept, throwing in the face of the crowd: "Who was the first to divulge?" So Repetilov eventually agreed with the "opinion of the public", and Gorich remained with his "doubt".
He is silent only in front of his Muscovite wife, being her husband in Moscow, he remains his own. But with such a character, it will not be enough for a long time. Oh, not enough!!
Platon Gorich is somewhat older than Alexander Chatsky, although this circumstance does not prevent them from being bosom buddies. Gorich is retired, which does not surprise anyone, apparently, in terms of seniority, in contrast to the same Chatsky. Platon Mikhailovich is considered a candidate for the commandant of Moscow (!), And this circumstance will also be a prerequisite for seeing him not as a boy, but as a husband.
Most likely, he is not 23-25 ​​years old, but slightly over 30, i.e. he is, in fact, the same age as Sergei Skalozub.
But who are these Gorichi? What kind of family?
We can assert that Griboyedov could not but hear this surname during his military service in the Caucasus.
Because Gorichi is a branch of the princely family of Ossetian-Digorians Begidovs, who lived in Balkaria from ancient times, but moved to Dagestan, to Kizlyar, half a century ago. Where they were baptized into Orthodoxy, and being "mountain princes", they received a new surname for themselves.
About them http://kumukia.ru/article-9207.html and http://reftrend.ru/296897.html
In what troops did a guy from Kizlyar with Alano-Slavic-Balkarian roots serve? In the Cossacks - the most likely. Chatsky mentions their common "noisy camp" five years ago, i.e. year in 1818. And we may well not be talking about a regimental camp, but about a divisional, or even an all-army one, where nothing interfered with communication between the Cossacks and the uhlans.
Colonel Skalozub began his service in 1809, which means that Gorich devoted himself to the army at about the same time. And that the Cossack from Kizlyar did not participate in the Persian (1804-1813) or Turkish (1806-1812) wars is unlikely. Therefore, on the St. George ribbon he has an award of 1810, a cross for the capture of the fortress of Bazardzhik (now the regional center of Dobrich in Bulgaria).

On the left, under the pantalère-pantalier of the fox, is the Kulm Cross, a Prussian award from the time of the Napoleonic campaigns for the battle of Kulm in 1813.

In the picture, Platon Mikhailovich is in the form of a chief officer of the Ataman Cossack regiment. The uniform is blue with a blue edging and stripes. Shoulder straps, sash, sewing on cuffs and collar are white.
Powder flask made of elk horn - according to the Polish tradition.

At the bottom, the family sign - an open palm - is copied from a pennant on the family coat of arms of the Gorich-Begidovs.

On the head of a burk is a Balkar everyday hat. With the beginning of the Caucasian War, elements of mountain fashion appeared in the Russian army slowly but surely. And her first guides were just local or half-breeds. Secondly, the month of November is still cool. Thirdly, the meeting with Chatsky took place, most likely, just in the Caucasus. As we know from the play, Alexander Andreevich recently stayed there on the waters, and Platon Mikhailovich could either be seconded or be at the location of the regiment. Fourthly, it is necessary to somehow emphasize the dashing, which Chatsky spoke about not by chance. Burke on Gorich's head is a quite appropriate thing, although he looks more like a Cossack from the time of the Civil in it. But, nevertheless, - Burke!
Checker Caucasian, one of the first in the Russian army. On a harness, blade up. The scabbard is not up to the crosshairs, but up to the apple. Black handle made of violet wood (logwood, in Spanish "bloody"). When processed outdoors, its bright red wood turns purple, and then blackens. Smells like violets.))
Gorich meets an old friend with a bottle of aged Chateau Lafite Rothschild. Here's the expensive one:

Original taken from