A summary of Krechinsky's wedding. The work "Krechinsky's wedding" in a brief retelling of the Production in the Russian Federation

Sukhovo-Kobylin A.V.

For several months now, the landowner Pyotr Konstantinovich Muromsky, having entrusted the village economy to the manager, lives with his daughter Lidochka and her elderly aunt Anna Antonovna Atueva in Moscow. He has vast lands in the Yaroslavl province and as many as one and a half thousand serf souls - a serious condition.

Of course, the twenty-year-old girl Lidochka is a “tidbit” for Moscow dandies-grooms. But her aunt does not understand this. She believes that Lida should be shown to the world, inviting guests to the house: “you won’t give a girl in marriage without expenses.” But suddenly it turns out that no expenses are needed anymore.

Lidochka secretly confesses to her aunt that she already has a fiancé! Yesterday at the ball she danced a mazurka with Mikhail Vasilyevich Krechinsky. And he - oh, my God is right! - proposed to her. But what's annoying - there is no time to think! The answer must be given immediately. “Michel” leaves Moscow not today tomorrow and wants to know before his departure - “yes” or “no”.

How to be? After all, daddy will not give a blessing in haste. He must know the future son-in-law well. And what is this Krechinsky - a highly mysterious figure. He has been going to Muromsky's house for the whole winter, but little is known about him, although enough for his aunt and niece to be crazy about him. He is under forty. Staten, handsome. Fluffy sideburns. Dancing smartly. He speaks excellent French. He has the most extensive circle of acquaintances in high society! It seems that there is an estate somewhere in the Simbirsk province ... And what aristocratic manners he has! What charming gallantry! What an exquisite taste in everything - after all, that's how charmingly he "wrought" Lidochkin's solitaire (large diamond), that is, he set it at the jeweler's in a pin made according to his own model ...

But Muromsky cannot be caught by such talk. What is the state of Krechinsky? How much land he has, how many souls - no one knows. But they say that he wanders around the clubs, plays cards and has "debts". And here is another young man, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nelkin, an old "friend of the house", all in full view. Modest, even shy. Doesn't take cards. True, she dances poorly and does not shine with manners. But on the other hand, he is a neighbor - his estate is next to him, "furrow to furrow." And he is also here, in Moscow, and also visits Muromsky's house: he is silently in love with Lidochka. Muromsky reads him as a husband to his "kralechka" and "spoiler".

However, through the efforts of the aunt and Krechinsky himself, the matter is settled in such a way that Muromsky on the same day blesses his daughter for marriage with a “wonderful man”, to whom “princes and counts are friends”. Nelkin is in despair. No, he will not allow this wedding to take place! He knows something about the "sins" of Krechinsky. But now he "knows all the ins and outs" and even then he will present this "wit" and "reckless driver" to the old man in the true light.

And there is a "underground" thing. And what a! Krechinsky does not just play cards - he is a "terrible player." He raves about the game. And Lidochka with her dowry is only a jackpot for him, with which he can enter into a big game. “I have a thousand and five hundred souls in my hands,” he reflects, “and this is one and a half million, and two hundred thousand of the purest capital. After all, this amount can win two million! and win, win for sure.

Yes, but this jackpot still needs to be obtained. The blessing of a parent is only a shaky luck wrested from fate thanks to an inspired bluff. The bluff must be sustained to the end! But how, how?! Krechinsky's position is catastrophic. He got involved with the riffraff, petty card swindler Ivan Antonovich Rasplyuev, whose impure and insignificant winnings barely support his existence. The apartment where he lives with this miserable rogue is constantly besieged by creditors. There is no money even for a cab! And then that vile merchant Shchebnev appears, demands that he issue a card debt this very minute, threatens to write down his name in the club in a shameful debt "book", that is, to denounce him to the whole city as bankrupt! And this is at the very moment when Krechinsky “gets a million in his hand” ... Yes, on the one hand, a million, and on the other, some two or three thousand are needed to distribute debts, pay bills and hastily - in three days to arrange a wedding. Without these small bets, the whole game will collapse! What is there! - it is already collapsing: Shchebnev agrees to wait only until the evening, creditors outside the door are menacingly raging.

However, there is still hope. Krechinsky sends Rasplyuev to moneylenders, ordering him to borrow money from them at any interest. They will give it, they will certainly give it, because they know Krechinsky: they will return it in full. But Rasplyuev comes with bad news. The usurers can no longer trust Krechinsky: “It must be smelled!..” They demand a reliable pledge. And what is left of the poor player! Nothing but a gold watch worth seventy-five rubles. Its end! The game is lost!

And it is here, in a moment of complete hopelessness, that a brilliant idea dawns on Krechinsky. However, neither Rasplyuev nor the servant Fyodor can yet appreciate her brilliance. They even believe that Krechinsky has lost his mind. And indeed, he seems to be out of his mind. He takes out a penny pin from the bureau, the same one that he used as a model, "turning" Lidochka's tapeworm, looks at it with enthusiastic amazement and exclaims: "Bravo!. Hurrah! Found... What did you find? Some kind of "trinket". The stone in the pin is strass, made of lead glass!

Without explaining anything, Krechinsky tells Rasplyuev to pawn a gold watch and use the proceeds to buy a luxurious bouquet of flowers, “so that everything is made of white camellias.” Meanwhile, he himself sits down to compose a letter to Lidochka. He fills him with tenderness, passion, dreams of family happiness - "the devil knows what nonsense." And, as if by the way, he asks her to send him a tapeworm with a messenger - he made a bet on its size with a certain Prince Belsky.

As soon as Rasplyuev appears, Krechinsky sends him with flowers and a note to Lidochka, explaining to him that he must get a tapeworm from her and bring the thing "in the most accurate manner." Rasplyuev understood everything - Krechinsky intends to steal the diamond and run away from the city with it. But no! Krechinsky is not a thief, he still values his honor and is not going to run anywhere. Against. While Rasplyuev is fulfilling his instructions, he orders Fyodor to prepare an apartment for a magnificent reception of the Muromsky family. The “decisive moment” is coming - will Rasplyuev bring a tapeworm or not?

Brought! "Victoria! The Rubicon has been crossed! Krechinsky takes both pins - fake and genuine - and rushes with them to the shop of the usurer Nikanor Savich Bek. Asking for money on bail, he presents the usurer with a genuine pin - "the one just moved, and his mouth gaped." The thing is the most valuable, worth ten thousand! Beck is ready to give four. Krechinsky is bargaining - asking for seven. Beck doesn't give up. And then Krechinsky takes the pin: he will go to another usurer ... No, no, why - to another ... Beck gives six! Krechinsky agrees. However, he requires that the pin be placed in a separate box and sealed. At that moment, when Beck leaves for the box, Krechinsky replaces the genuine pin with a fake one. Beck calmly puts it in the box - after all, the diamond has already been checked both under a magnifying glass and on the scales. It is done! Game won!

Krechinsky returns home with money and a tapeworm. Debts were paid, bills paid, expensive clothes bought, servants in black coats and white waistcoats hired, a proper dinner ordered. There is a reception of the bride and her family. Dust thrown into the eyes, gold dust, diamond! All perfectly!

But suddenly Nelkin appears at Krechinsky's apartment. Here it is, revelation! Nelkin has already found out everything: oh, God! with whom did the most venerable Peter Konstantinovich contact! Yes, these are crooks, gamblers, thieves !! After all, they stole a tapeworm from Lidochka... What's the bet?! what Prince Belsky?! Krechinsky does not have a tapeworm - he pawned it to the usurer Beck! .. Everyone is embarrassed, everyone is horrified. Everyone except Krechinsky, for at this moment he is at the height of his inspiration - his bluff takes on special impressiveness. Magnificently depicting the noblest man, whose honor is offended by an insidious slander, he takes from Muromsky a promise to “drive out” the offender by the neck if the tapeworm is immediately presented for public viewing. The old man is forced to make such a promise. Krechinsky, with solemn indignation, presents the diamond! Nelkin is disgraced. His bit card Muromsky himself points him to the door. But this is not enough for Krechinsky. Success must be secured. Now the skillful gambler is feigning a different feeling: he is shocked that the family would so easily believe the vile gossip about their future son-in-law, husband!! Oh no! now he cannot be Lidochka's husband. He returns her heart to her, and Muromsky his blessing. The whole family begs for his forgiveness. Well, he's ready to forgive. But on one condition: the wedding must be played tomorrow, in order to put an end to all gossip and rumors! Everyone happily agrees. Now the game is truly won!

It remains only to gain time, that is, to send dear guests out as soon as possible. Nelkin will not calm down. He could be here any minute with Beck, a fake pin, and allegations of fraud. We need to be in time ... The guests have already risen and moved towards the exit. But no! The doorbell is ringing ... knocking, breaking. Nelkin did it! He showed up with Beck, and with a pin, and with the police! Only for a moment Krechinsky loses his temper; ordering not to unlock the door, he grabs the handle of the chair and threatens to “blow his head” to anyone who moves! But this is no longer a game - this is robbery! But Krechinsky is still a player, "not devoid of genuine nobility." In the next moment, Krechinsky “throws the arm of the chair into the corner” and already, as a true player, admits his defeat with an exclamation characteristic of a card player: “It fell off !!!” Now he shines "Vladimir road" and "ace of diamonds on his back." But what is it?! Lidochka saves "Michel" from the sad road to Siberia and the prison clothes. "Here's a pin... which should be pledged," she says to the pawnbroker, "take it... it was a mistake!" For this, the whole family, "running away from shame", leaves the player's apartment.

Of course, the twenty-year-old girl Lidochka is a “tidbit” for Moscow dandy grooms. But her aunt does not understand this. She believes that Lida should be shown to the world, inviting guests to the house: “you won’t give a girl in marriage without expenses.” But suddenly it turns out that no expenses are needed anymore.

But Muromsky cannot be caught by such talk. What is the state of Krechinsky? How much land he has, how many souls - no one knows. But they say that he wanders around the clubs, plays cards and has "debts". And here is another young man, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nelysin, an old "friend of the house", all in full view. Modest, even shy. Doesn't take cards. True, she dances poorly and does not shine with manners. But on the other hand, he is a neighbor - his estate is next to him, "furrow to furrow." And he is also here, in Moscow, and also visits Muromsky's house: he is silently in love with Lidochka. Muromsky reads him as a husband to his "kralechka" and "spoiler".

However, through the efforts of the aunt and Krechinsky himself, the matter is settled in such a way that Muromsky on the same day blesses his daughter for marriage with a “wonderful man”, to whom “princes and counts are friends”. Ne-lkin is in despair. No, he will not allow this wedding to take place! He knows something about the "sins" of Krechinsky. But now he “knows all the ins and outs” and even then he will present this “wit” and “reckless driver” to the old man in the true light.

Yes, but this jackpot still needs to be obtained. The blessing of a parent is only a shaky luck wrested from fate thanks to an inspired bluff. The bluff must be sustained to the end! But how, how?! Krechinsky's position is catastrophic. He got involved with the riffraff, petty card swindler Ivan Antonovich Rasplyuev, whose impure and insignificant winnings barely support his existence. The apartment where he lives with this miserable rogue is constantly besieged by creditors. There is no money even for a cab! And then that vile merchant Shchebnev appears, demands that he issue a card debt this very minute, threatens to write down his name in the club in a shameful debt "book", that is, to denounce him to the whole city as bankrupt! And this is at the very moment when Krechinsky “gets a million in his hand” ... Yes, on the one hand, a million, and on the other, some two or three thousand are needed to distribute debts, pay bills and hastily - in three days - arrange a wedding. Without these small bets, the whole game will collapse! What is there! - it is already collapsing: Shchebnev agrees to wait only until the evening, creditors outside the door are menacingly raging.

And it is here, in a moment of complete hopelessness, that a brilliant idea dawns on Krechinsky. However, neither Rasplyuev nor the servant Fyodor can yet appreciate her brilliance. They even believe that Krechinsky has lost his mind. And indeed, he seems to be out of his mind. He takes out a penny pin from the bureau, the same one that he used as a model, "turning" Lidochka's tapeworm, looks at it with enthusiastic amazement and exclaims: "Bravo!. Hurrah! found…” What did you find? Some kind of "trinket". The stone in the pin is strass, made of lead glass!

Brought! "Victoria! The Rubicon has been crossed! Krechinsky takes both pins - fake and genuine - and rushes with them to the shop of the usurer Nikanor Savich Bek. Asking for money on bail, he presents the usurer with a genuine pin - "the one just moved, and his mouth gaped." The thing is the most valuable, worth ten thousand! Beck is ready to give four. Krechinsky is bargaining - asking for seven. Beck doesn't give up. And then Krechinsky takes the pin: he will go to another usurer ... No, no, why - to another ... Beck gives six! Krechinsky agrees. However, he requires to put the pin in a separate box and seal it. At that moment, when Beck leaves for the box, Krechinsky replaces the genuine pin with a fake one. Beck calmly puts it in the box - after all, the diamond has already been checked both under a magnifying glass and on the scales. It is done! Game won!

But suddenly Nelkin appears at Krechinsky's apartment. Here it is, revelation! Nelkin has already found out everything: oh, God! with whom did the most venerable Peter Konstantinovich contact! Yes, these are crooks, gamblers, thieves !! After all, they stole a tapeworm from Lida... What's the bet?! what Prince Belsky?! Krechinsky does not have a tapeworm - he pawned it to the usurer Beck! .. Everyone is embarrassed, everyone is horrified. Everyone except Krechinsky, because at that moment he is at the height of his inspiration - his bluff takes on special impressiveness. Magnificently depicting the noblest man, whose honor is offended by an insidious slander, he takes from Muromsky a promise to “drive out” the offender by the neck if the tapeworm is immediately presented for public viewing. The old man is forced to make such a promise. Krechinsky, with solemn indignation, presents the diamond! Nelkin is disgraced. His bit card Muromsky himself points him to the door. But this is not enough for Krechinsky. Success must be secured. Now the skillful gambler is feigning a different feeling: he is shocked that the family would so easily believe the vile gossip about their future son-in-law, husband!! Oh no! now he cannot be Lidochka's husband. He returns her heart to her, and Muromsky his blessing. The whole family begs for his forgiveness. Well, he's ready to forgive. But on one condition: the wedding must be played tomorrow, in order to put an end to all gossip and rumors! Everyone happily agrees. Now the game is truly won!

It remains only to gain time, that is, to send dear guests out as soon as possible. Nelkin will not calm down. He could be here any minute with Beck, a fake pin, and allegations of fraud. We need to be in time ... The guests have already risen, moved to the exit. But no! The doorbell is ringing ... knocking, breaking. Nelkin did it! He showed up with Beck, and with a pin, and with the police! Only for a moment Krechinsky loses his temper; ordering not to unlock the door, he grabs the handle of the chair and threatens to “blow his head” to anyone who moves! But this is no longer a game - this is robbery! But Krechinsky is still a player, "not devoid of genuine nobility." In the next moment, Krechinsky “throws the arm of the chair into the corner” and already, as a true player, admits his defeat with an exclamation characteristic of a card player: “It fell off !!!” Now he shines "Vladimir road" and "ace of diamonds on his back." But what is it?! Lidochka saves "Michel" from the sad road to Siberia and the prison clothes. “Here is a pin… which should be pledged,” she says to the pawnbroker, “take it… it was a mistake!” For this, the whole family, "running away from shame", leaves the player's apartment.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Wedding Krechinsky"- a comedy in three acts by Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin, written in 1854. The release of the work was preceded by a drama: the author, accused of the murder of his common-law wife, created separate fragments of the play in prison. The comedy is the first part of a playwright trilogy, which also includes the plays The Case and The Death of Tarelkin. The first publication was the Sovremennik magazine (1856, v. 57, No. 5).

History of creation

In the autumn of 1850, not far from the Presnenskaya outpost, the body of the Frenchwoman Louise Simon-Demanche, the common-law wife of Sukhovo-Kobylin, was found. At first, the servants of the murdered woman were under suspicion; later the "case of Sukhovo-Kobylin" appeared. The investigation went on for seven years; over the years, the writer was twice under arrest and completely changed his lifestyle. According to the literary critic Natalya Staroselskaya, Alexander Vasilyevich "fell into a situation that cannot be overcome in principle": wherever he was, a trail of gossip and gossip stretched behind him. Forced to close himself from secular society, to reduce the number of friends to a minimum, Sukhovo-Kobylin rethought his views on life. An entry appeared in his diary:

Work on the comedy began in the summer of 1852. Researchers agree that the theme was prompted by Sukhovo-Kobylin's life itself: he was well aware of Moscow and provincial customs. However, there are discrepancies in the question of which events formed the basis of the plot. According to one version, the writer heard the story of the failed marriage in his sister's house from one of the guests; according to another, he learned about it from the Yaroslavl landowners, who told each other about the "cheating tricks" of a local resident named Krysinsky.

In May 1854 the playwright was rearrested; six months spent in prison were spent on finalizing Krechinsky's Wedding. Subsequently, the author recalled this time and his self-control with some surprise:

After the release, which took place in November 1854, a period of new difficulties began in the life of Sukhovo-Kobylin: censorship refused to accept the finished play, a red cross was “put on the manuscript in the presence of the author”. While the playwright was engaged in rewriting individual scenes and polishing episodes, his comedy "went on the lists in Moscow." Approval was obtained only in August 1855; the censor who dealt with "Krechinsky's Wedding" noted in the verdict that "the language of this play is very rude, and although the author softened the most harsh passages according to the comments of the censor, nevertheless, the whole work bears the stamp of common people." The mark “Permitted” on the report of the censor was put by the manager of the Third Department Leonty Dubelt himself.

Characters

Pyotr Konstantinovich Muromsky - wealthy Yaroslavl landowner.
Lidochka - his daughter.
Anna Antonovna Atueva - her aunt.
Vladimir Dmitrievich Nelkin - a landowner, a close neighbor of the Muromskys; in love with Linda.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Krechinsky - a prominent man under forty, a contender for the hand and heart of Lidochka.
Ivan Antonovich Rasplyuev - neighbor and friend of Krechinsky.
Nikanor Savic Bek - usurer.
Shchebnev - merchant.
Fedor - Krechinsky's valet.
Policeman, servants, porter.

Plot

Act one

The action begins in the house of the landowner Muromsky. The owner, suffering from the forced separation from his native village, has been having noisy conversations since morning with Anna Antonovna Atueva, the aunt of his daughter Lidochka. The dispute revolves around the potential suitors of a twenty-year-old girl. Muromsky praises the landowner Vladimir Dmitrievich Nelkin, a serious man and indifferent to secular entertainment. But another suitor of Lidochka - Mikhail Vasilyevich Krechinsky - is reputed to be a lover of clubs, games and women, and therefore does not arouse sympathy from Pyotr Konstantinovich.

Soon Krechinsky appears in the house, who, knowing the characters of its inhabitants, easily finds a common language with the owners. He gives Muromsky a bull-calf, brought, according to Mikhail Vasilyevich, from his Simbirsk estate; along the way, Krechinsky says that he dreams of moving to the village and living there with a kind, complaisant wife until his death. But he admits to Atueva that he is not interested in rural life - it is much more important to bring a secular gloss to the Moscow house of Muromsky. Having promised his touched aunt that this house would be "the first in the city," Krechinsky asks for Lidochka's hand in marriage.

Left alone with himself, Mikhail Vasilievich thinks aloud that if his idea comes true, he will gain a huge fortune. Muromsky and Nelkin are against its implementation. But as a support, you can use Lidochka, who does not hide her love for Krechinsky, her aunt and the Simbirsk bull. Vladimir Dmitrievich, who happened to be nearby, hears these arguments; he decides to find out what kind of scam the rival is up to.

Action two

Fyodor, Krechinsky's valet, is cleaning Krechinsky's apartment, along the way recalling how in the old days, when his master had a lot of money, Mikhail Vasilyevich constantly arranged high society drinking parties with the participation of noble people. Now, having squandered everything, including his own estate, Krechinsky has nothing but debts; of all his friends, only his neighbor Rasplyuev remained, who also has nothing to his name.

It is with Rasplyuev that Krechinsky shares his plans: by marrying Lidia of Murom, he receives one and a half thousand souls and two hundred thousand net capital. Putting his newly acquired wealth on the line, he can win another two million. The only obstacle to the implementation of this idea is the lack of three thousand rubles: the money is urgently needed for the upcoming wedding expenses. Then creditors begin to visit Krechinsky's apartment: a cab driver, a laundress, a wood merchant. The owner is especially worried about the visit of the merchant Shchebnev: he demands to return the card debt, promising, in case of refusal, to enter the name of the defaulter in a special booklet and transfer it to the club, of which Mikhail Vasilyevich is a regular.

The way out is suggested by a pin with rhinestones found in the bureau. Remembering that Lidochka has exactly the same, only framed with diamonds, Mikhail Vasilievich writes a letter to the bride asking him to send jewelry. After Rasplyuev, sent on an errand, returns from the Muromskys, Krechinsky puts two identical-looking pins in his wallet and goes to the usurer Beck. Returning with wads of money, he asks Rasplyuev to pay off creditors and announces that in the evening, when the Muromskys and Atueva come to visit him, the borrowed pin should be returned to Lidia Petrovna.

Act Three

During a dinner taking place at Krechinsky's, Nelkin appears in the apartment, who informs the audience that the owner of the house is a thief and a cheater: he begged an expensive pin from the bride and pawned it to the usurer. Noise rises; Mikhail Vasilievich takes the decoration out of the bureau, gives it to Lidochka, and then points to the opponent at the door. Pyotr Konstantinovich, realizing that Krechinsky is offended, and his daughter is upset, apologizes to his future son-in-law for his former distrust; At the suggestion of the groom, they decide to play the wedding the next day.

The owner and guests are already peacefully parting when a policeman enters the apartment, accompanied by the pawnbroker Beck. He screams that Krechinsky committed a forgery during the deal and handed him a fake pin. Realizing that Mikhail Vasilyevich is in danger of going to prison, Lidochka gives Beck her precious jewelry and, with tears in her eyes, explains that the substitution happened as a result of a mistake. The girl then leaves the apartment sobbing; Muromsky and Atueva run after her “out of shame”.

stage fate

Even before the second arrest, Sukhovo-Kobylin managed to transfer his play to the troupe of the Maly Theater. There was a distribution of roles, the artists began rehearsals. In the autumn of 1855, the author, who was released from prison, joined the production process; An entry appeared in his diary:

In the morning I went to rehearsal. Sadovsky<Расплюев>and Shchepkin<Муромский>excellent... A strange sensation is produced by the first rehearsal for the author - this is his birth... His child came to life, looked at the light and gave the first cry. Shchepkin kissed me in inner admiration.

The author himself composed the text of the invitation cards, followed the creation of the poster. On the eve of the premiere, he wrote in his diary that " it is strange and vague to see my name on the huge poster of the beneficiary" Sergei Shumsky. The premiere took place at the end of November 1855 and was considered a success; after the performance, the performers of the main roles congratulated the author, who during all three acts, trying not to catch the eye of the audience, was sitting in the box. The only thing that upset Sukhovo-Kobylin that day was the absence of mother Maria Ivanovna from the theater. Telling her about his success, Alexander Vasilyevich noted that there was a full house in the hall, despite the fact that the price of a ticket to the box reached seventy silver rubles. For the next performance, as Sukhovo-Kobylin reported in the same letter, there were no more empty seats in the hall. Separately, he mentioned the reaction of the audience, who tried to applaud the author on stage: “But I didn’t come out. They are not worthy of me bowing before them.

Seven months later, in May 1856, residents of St. Petersburg also got acquainted with the "Wedding of Krechinsky". In the performance of the Alexandrinsky Theater, Krechinsky was played by Vasily Samoilov, who combined the “external gloss” of his hero with “bad manners”. According to researchers, Sukhovo-Kobylin liked the interpretation of this role on the St. Petersburg stage more than on the Moscow stage, where Krechinsky-Shumsky "was too elegant."

Reviews and reviews

The first review of the comedy appeared in the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper two months before the premiere. The author of a note published on September 22, 1855, said that he happened to be present at the reading of "Krechinsky's Wedding", and congratulated Russian literature "on a wonderful acquisition":

On the eve of the premiere, Moskovskie Vedomosti again turned to Krechinsky's Wedding, making an announcement of the upcoming performance on the pages of the newspaper. The name of the journalist who appreciated the gift of Sukhovo-Kobylin was not published; according to literary scholars, the writer Yevgeny Feoktistov was behind these notes.

The review of the performance itself, published after the premiere, abounded in secular details: the author reported on the numerous "carriages and carriages" that "in the evening, hurried one after another to the entrance of the Maly Theater", about the bustle near the box office and the lively communication of the audience gathered in the hall" A real analysis of the performance appeared only three weeks later: the author of the publication, Fyodor Korsh, noted that the work of Sukhovo-Kobylin was called a comedy in vain - in terms of its genre, it “has rather a tragic character.” Poetess Evdokia Rostopchina also mentioned the same thing in an interview with the playwright , who admitted that the overall impression after watching her was heavy.

Heroes and prototypes

Literary critic Natalya Staroselskaya in her book Sukhovo-Kobylin mentions one of the publications (1903), according to which both the plot of the play and the image of Krechinsky were suggested to the author by life. We are talking about a high-profile story in which a certain Krysinsky participated, "posing as a count, and therefore having access to the best St. Petersburg society." After the exposure, it turned out that in fact the false count was a servant of one noble person. Sukhovo-Kobylin met Krysinsky in Yaroslavl; from conversations with him, he received a lot of dramatic material, which was later used in comedy.

According to another version, owned by the theater critic Konstantin Lazarevich Rudnitsky, the prototype of Krechinsky was the representative of the “golden youth” Nikolai Pavlovich Golokhvastov, whose appearance and lifestyle ( “Balls, dinners, performances followed one another, his house was packed in the morning with hunters until a good breakfast, wine connoisseurs, dancing youth, interesting Frenchmen, guards officers”) are almost literally reproduced in the second act of Sukhovo-Kobylin's play.

The image of Krechinsky, according to Lydia Lotman, is "complex and versatile." On the one hand, this is a practical swindler, a master of intrigue and manipulation. On the other hand, a “remarkable personality”, who is not alien to high aspirations and the authenticity of feelings. It is the excitement of life, the "breadth of nature", manifested both at the card table and in relations with the ladies, that become the cause of his bankruptcy. Passion, which is the basis of Krechinsky's character, prompted Sukhovo-Kobylin to create one of the versions of the play, according to which the hero commits suicide in the finale; this revision was later rejected.

According to some sources, Sukhovo-Kobylin could have been prompted to create the image of Rasplyuev by his acquaintance with the Yaroslavl resident Yevsey Krylov - "a billiard player and cheater". If Krechinsky, despite the hardships and lack of money, still carries a certain charisma, then his neighbor and friend looks like a man who has reached the last line of moral decline. How important accuracy was to Sukhovo-Kobylin when portraying this character is evidenced by the remarks of the playwright made to the performer of the role of Rasplyuev, Prov Mikhailovich Sadovsky: according to the author of the play, the actor needed to shift the emphasis so that on the stage there was “not a boorish drunkard, but a burned-out landlord."

Lidochka's father, Pyotr Konstantinovich Muromsky, is a representative of the "provincial local nobility", which finds it difficult to fit into the world of the pompous Moscow nobility. At his core, he is a soulful old man; desires and requests of the daughter for him the law. The chic and pathos of the Moscow beau monde are alien to him, and in this he differs from Atueva, who strives to match secular fashion. However, the author's sympathy for Muromsky does not prevent the playwright from emphasizing that in many of his actions this character is the bearer of "limitation and provinciality." The same applies to his daughter: Lidochka almost to the end of the comedy remains a rustic girl, with an erased personality. Her awakening occurs only in the final scene, when the viewer discovers that the sweet and naive heroine has a noble and strong character.

Lidochkin's boyfriend Nelkin resembles his rival Krechinsky with the inconsistency of nature. He is truly in love with a girl, sincerely strives to be useful to her father. But the throwing of this character, the desire to peep, eavesdrop, find out and bring to light does not make anyone happy.

Heroes speech. Dialogues

The language of each of the heroes of the comedy has "stylistic nuances and intonations" inherent in representatives of a particular social circle. So, Muromsky, who spent a significant part of his life in the countryside and communicated with the peasants for a long time, was used to talking simply, without frills. Sukhovo-Kobylin, emphasizing the proximity of this character to the earth, includes sayings, sayings and common expressions in his remarks. Atueva, on the contrary, tries to imitate the speech of the upper class, but she fails to get rid of the usual words - this is manifested in such phrases as “Here, yesterday procured him an invitation from the princess - stole to the ball."
Krechinsky, whose manner of communication so admires Atueva, was once close to secular society; hence his ability to use "salon style" in a conversation with Lidochkin's aunt. At the same time, communicating with Muromsky, the hero is able to easily hide the sophistication of speech - in dialogues with a potential father-in-law, Mikhail Vasilyevich tries to prove himself as a native of the people's environment. Finally, left alone with himself, Krechinsky talks about the future wedding like a player: “card game terms and slang expressions” appear in his lexicon.

The dialogues in the play are another opportunity to fully reveal the characters' characters. According to Lidia Lotman, the conversation between Krechinsky and Muromsky (the first act) turns into meaningless communication, because Mikhail Vasilyevich, imitating the language of Pyotr Konstantinovich, “like an echo” reproduces the words spoken by the landowner. On the other hand, the “meeting” in Krechinsky’s apartment (second act), in which, in addition to the owner, Rasplyuev participates, is, on the one hand, a contact of accomplices who understand each other perfectly; on the other hand, a demonstration of the “wall” that Mikhail Vasilyevich, who leads the duet, is building between himself and a friend.

Genre of the work

There is no consensus among literary critics regarding the genre of the play "Krechinsky's Wedding". So, Lydia Lotman is convinced that Sukhovo-Kobylin's play is a social comedy, because "socially typical heroes" act in it, placed in a "socially typical situation". According to the compilers of the "Literary Encyclopedia", the play "in its formal features" is close to the French comedy; in confirmation, the authors of the publication cite the words of Sukhovo-Kobylin, who said that while working on his first work, he constantly "recalled Parisian theaters, vaudeville, Buffet". The publicist D. Mirsky saw in the play the features of a "purely picaresque comedy":

Theatrical performances

Productions in the Russian Empire

Premiere - November 28 (December 10, new style) 1855 at the Maly Theater, benefit performance by S. V. Shumsky (Muromsky - M. S. Shchepkin, Lidochka - A. A. Voronova, Atueva - N. V. Rykalova, Nelkin - S. V. Vasiliev, Rasplyuev - P. M. Sadovsky, Beck - I. E. Turchaninov, Shchebnev - N. M. Nikiforov, Fedor - V. A. Dmitrevsky).

May 7, 1856 - at the Alexandrinsky Theater, benefit performance by F. A. Burdin (Muromsky - P. I. Grigoriev, Lidochka - Vladimirova, Atueva - P. K. Gromova, Nelkin - A. M. Maksimov, Krechinsky - V. V. Samoilov, Rasplyuev - Burdin, later - A.E. Martynov).
Maly Theatre, 1859 (Krechinsky - Miloslavsky (as guest performer); 1871 (Lidochka - M. N. Ermolova); 1899, benefit performance by V. A. Maksheev (Muromsky - K. N. Rybakov, Lidochka - A. P. Domasheva, Atueva - G. N. Fedotova, Nelkin - I. A. Ryzhov, Krechinsky - A. I. Yuzhin, Rasplyuev - V. A. Maksheev).
Alexandrinsky Theatre, 1872 (Krechinsky - I. I. Monakhov, Rasplyuev - P. V. Vasiliev); 1880 (Muromsky - P. M. Svobodin, Atueva - E. N. Zhuleva, Krechinsky - I. P. Kiselevsky, Rasplyuev - V. N. Davydov), 1894 (Rasplyuev - P. M. Medvedev), 1902 (Muromsky - K. A. Varlamov, Krechinsky - V. P. Dalmatov), 1910 (Krechinsky - R. B. Apollonsky), 1917 (dir. V. E. Meyerhold and Lavrentiev, Krechinsky - Yu. V. Korvin-Krukovsky, Yu. M. Yuriev, Rasplyuev - V.N. Davydov).

"Krechinsky's Wedding" was staged at the Korsh Theater (1889, 1895, 1911) and others. The play was staged on many major provincial stages (Voronezh, Kazan, Kyiv, Nizhny Novgorod, Odessa, Kharkov, etc.). The permanent Russian theater in Riga ended its first season (1883/1884) with Krechinsky's Wedding, performed by the troupe led by E. V. Lavrov. The roles of Krechinsky and Rasplyuev were popular in the touring repertoire (for example, Rasplyuev - V.N. Andreev-Burlak). In May 1900, in Yaroslavl, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Russian theater, Krechinsky's Wedding was given with artists from the Alexandrinsky Theater - K. A. Varlamov (Muromsky), Rykalova (Atuev), A. P. Lensky (Krechinsky), V N. Davydova (Rasplyuev) and others.

Productions in the USSR

Branch of the Maly Theater (Safonov Theatre) - 1924 (Atueva - E. D. Turchaninova, A. A. Yablochkina, Krechinsky - M. F. Lenin, Rasplyuev - V. N. Davydov); 1926 (Krechinsky - M. F. Lenin, later - Yu. M. Yuriev, Rybnikov, Rasplyuev - St. Kuznetsov); 1940 (dir. L. Volkov, artist M. S. Varpekh, Muromsky - Khlebnikov, Atueva - Ryzhova, Rasplyuev - N. Yakovlev).
1933, Theatre. Meyerhold (premier in Leningrad, dir. Meyerhold, artist Shestakov; Atueva - Tyapkina, Krechinsky - Yuryev, Rasplyuev - Ilyinsky).
Other theaters: Samara (1933), Leningrad Academic Drama Theater (1936, Atueva - Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaya, Krechinsky - Yuryev, Rasplyuev - B. A. Gorin-Goryainov), Gorky T-r (1938, dir. Sobolshchikov-Samarin), Central Theater of Transport in Moscow (1940, 1950); Baku Russian tr (1940), Theatre. Griboedov (1944, director and performer of the role of Krechinsky - Smiranin, Muromsky - Myufke), Leningrad Comedy Theater (1944, dir. Hansel, Nelkin - B. Smirnov, Krechinsky - Hansel, Letsky, Rasplyuev - Krovitsky, Zlobin), Theater. Mardzhanishvili (1948, dir. Zhuruli, Krechinsky - Kobakhidze, Rasplyuev - Godziashvili), Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater (1948, Murom - Larikov, Lidochka - Kibardina, Nikitina, Atueva - E. Granovskaya, Krechinsky - A. Zhukov, Rasplyuev - Sofronov) , Theatre. Moscow City Council (1949, directed and performed, the role of Rasplyuev - Vanin, artist M. Vinogradov; Muromsky - Geraga, Atueva - Wikland, Krechinsky - Nazvanov), Kuibyshev Theater (1951), Theater. Pushkin, Moscow (1951, director and performer of the role of Rasplyuev - Vanin); Theatre. Zankovetskaya, Lvov (1953, director and performer of the role of Muromsky - Romanitsky, Atuev - Lubart, Krechinsky - Guy, Rasplyuev - Kozachkovsky).

Productions in the Russian Federation

- Novosibirsk Globus Theatre, director Marina Glukhovskaya, the premiere took place on March 4, 2005.
- Irkutsk Regional Musical Theater named after N. M. Zagursky, director I. Myakisheva, the premiere took place on October 6, 2012.

Foreign productions

- Russian embassy in Constantinople.
- Theater "Renaissance", Paris.
- Braille Theatre, Romania.

Screen adaptations

"The Wedding of Krechinsky", a film-performance of the Moscow Drama Theater named after A. S. Pushkin, 1953. Director - Alexey Zolotnitsky Operators - Boris Monastyrsky, Leonid Dultsev. Composer - Vissarion Shebalin. Mikhail Nazvanov - Krechinsky, Pavel Tarasov - Rasplyuev, Marina Kuznetsova (Aprikosova) - Lidochka, Olga Viklandt - Atueva.
"Krechinsky's Wedding", a musical television film based on the play, 1974. Director - Vladimir Vorobyov. Screenwriters - Vladimir Vorobyov and Kim Ryzhov. Composer - Alexander Kolker. Viktor Kostetsky - Krechinsky, Alla Semak - Lidochka, Lev Petropavlovsky - Muromsky, Zoya Vinogradova - Atueva, Boris Smolkin - Rasplyuev.
"Krechinsky's Wedding", teleplay by the Moscow Maly Theatre, 1975 Directed by Maria Muat, Leonid Kheifets. Operator - Lev Bunin. Vladimir Kenigson - Krechinsky, Igor Ilyinsky - Rasplyuev, Dmitry Pavlov - Muromsky, Tatyana Eremeeva - Atueva, Victoria Lepko - Lidochka.
"Joker", 2002. Director - Mikhail Kozakov. Mikhail Efremov - Krechinsky, Anatoly Ravikovich - Rasplyuev, Viktor Bortsov - Muromsky, Elena Podkaminskaya - Lidochka, Olga Ostroumova - Atueva.

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Notes

, from. 488-489.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
, from. 488.
, from. 87-88.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
, from. 490.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
, from. 490-491.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
B. Warneke. History of the Russian theater of the XVII-XVIII centuries. - M., L.: Art, 1939. - S. 328-329.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
Staroselskaya N. D.. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
, from. 495-496.
, from. 91.
, from. 496.
, from. 494.
, from. 494-495.
, from. 498.
, from. 499.
, from. 493.
Mirsky D.S.. - London: Overseas Publications Interchange Ltd, 1992. - S. 383.

Literature

Staroselskaya N. D. Sukhovo-Kobylin. - M .: Young Guard, 2003. - 321 p. - (Life of remarkable people). - ISBN 5-235-02566-0.
Lotman L. M. Sukhovo-Kobylin // . - M., L.: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1956. - T. XVIII. - S. 487-509.
Goldener W. Sukhovo-Kobylin // . - M .: Fiction, 1939. - T. 11. - S. 122-128.
Tunimanov V. Krechinsky and Rasplyuev // Sukhovo-Kobylin A.V. Krechinsky's wedding. - L .: Children's literature, 1983. - S. 86-95. - 96 p. - (School library).
A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin: a bibliographic index of literature about the life and work of the writer, the productions of the trilogy / [Comp. E. K. Sokolinsky]. - St. Petersburg: Hyperion, 2001. - 163, p. - ISBN 5-89332-046-8.

An excerpt characterizing Krechinsky's wedding

“Teach me what to do, how to improve myself forever, forever, how to deal with my life…” she thought.
The deacon went out to the pulpit, straightened out his long hair from under his surplice, with his thumb wide apart, and, placing a cross on his chest, loudly and solemnly began to read the words of the prayer:
“Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”
“Peace, all together, without distinction of class, without enmity, and united by brotherly love, we will pray,” thought Natasha.
- About the peace from above and about the salvation of our souls!
“About the world of angels and souls of all incorporeal beings that live above us,” Natasha prayed.
When they prayed for the army, she remembered her brother and Denisov. When they prayed for sailors and travelers, she remembered Prince Andrei and prayed for him, and prayed that God would forgive her the evil that she had done to him. When they prayed for those who love us, she prayed for her family, for her father, mother, Sonya, for the first time now realizing all her guilt before them and feeling all the strength of her love for them. When we prayed for those who hate us, she invented enemies and haters for herself in order to pray for them. She counted creditors and all those who dealt with her father as enemies, and every time she thought of enemies and haters, she remembered Anatole, who had done her so much evil, and although he was not a hater, she joyfully prayed for him as for enemy. Only during prayer did she feel able to clearly and calmly remember both Prince Andrei and Anatole, as people for whom her feelings were destroyed in comparison with her feeling of fear and reverence for God. When they prayed for the royal family and for the Synod, she bowed especially low and crossed herself, telling herself that if she does not understand, she cannot doubt and still loves the ruling Synod and prays for it.
Having finished the litany, the deacon crossed the orarion around his chest and said:
“Let us commit ourselves and our lives to Christ our God.”
“We will betray ourselves to God,” Natasha repeated in her soul. My God, I commit myself to your will, she thought. - I don’t want anything, I don’t want; teach me what to do, where to use my will! Yes, take me, take me! - Natasha said with touching impatience in her soul, without crossing herself, lowering her thin hands and as if expecting that an invisible force would take her and save her from herself, from her regrets, desires, reproaches, hopes and vices.
The Countess several times during the service looked back at the tender, with shining eyes, face of her daughter and prayed to God that he would help her.
Unexpectedly, in the middle and not in the order of the service, which Natasha knew well, the deacon brought out a stool, the same one on which kneeling prayers were read on Trinity Day, and placed it in front of the royal doors. The priest came out in his purple velvet skufi, straightened his hair, and with an effort knelt down. They all did the same and looked at each other in bewilderment. It was a prayer just received from the Synod, a prayer for the salvation of Russia from enemy invasion.
“Lord God of strength, God of our salvation,” the priest began in that clear, unpompous and meek voice, which only spiritual Slavic readers read and which has such an irresistible effect on the Russian heart. - Lord God of strength, God of our salvation! Look now in mercy and generosity on your humble people, and hear philanthropicly, and have mercy, and have mercy on us. Behold the enemy, confuse your land and want to lay the whole world empty, rise up on us; these people of iniquity have gathered, to destroy your property, destroy your honest Jerusalem, your beloved Russia: defile your temples, dig up altars and desecrate our shrine. How long, Lord, how long will sinners boast? How long do you use to have legal power?
Lord Lord! Hear us praying to you: strengthen with your strength the most pious, most autocratic great sovereign of our Emperor Alexander Pavlovich; remember his righteousness and meekness, reward him according to his goodness, which is what keeps us, your beloved Israel. Bless his advice, undertakings and deeds; establish with your almighty right hand his kingdom and give him victory over the enemy, as Moses against Amalek, Gideon against Midian and David against Goliath. Save his army; put the bow of copper on the muscles that have taken up arms in your name, and gird them with strength for battle. Take up arms and a shield, and rise up to help us, let them be ashamed and put to shame who think evil to us, let them be before the faithful army, like dust before the face of the wind, and let your strong angel insult and drive them; let a net come to them, but they will not know, and catch them, but hide them, let them embrace them; let them fall under the feet of your servants, and let them be trampled under our howl. God! it will not fail you to save in many and in small; thou art a god, let no man prevail against thee.
God our fathers! Remember your bounty and mercy, even from the ages: do not reject us from your face, disdain our unworthiness below, but have mercy on us according to your great mercy and, according to the multitude of your bounties, despise our iniquities and sins. Create a pure heart in us, and renew a right spirit in our womb; Strengthen us all with faith in you, affirm with hope, inspire with true love for each other, arm with unanimity for the righteous defense of obsession, even if you gave us and our father, so that the rod of the wicked does not ascend to the lot of the sanctified.
Lord our God, we believe in him and trust in him, do not disgrace us from the hope of your mercy and create a sign for good, as if they see those who hate us and our Orthodox faith, and they will be put to shame and perish; and may all countries be taken away, for the name of you is the Lord, and we are your people. Show us, O Lord, now give us your mercy and your salvation; rejoice in the hearts of your servants about your mercy; strike our enemies, and crush them under the feet of your faithful soon. You are the intercession, help and victory of those who hope in you, and we send glory to you, father and son and holy spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen".
In the state of spiritual openness in which Natasha was, this prayer had a strong effect on her. She listened to every word about the victory of Moses against Amalek, and Gideon against Midian, and David against Goliath, and about the destruction of your Jerusalem, and asked God with that tenderness and softness with which her heart was overflowing; but she did not understand well what she was asking God for in that prayer. She wholeheartedly participated in the petition for a right spirit, for strengthening the heart with faith, hope, and for inspiring them with love. But she could not pray for the trampling of her enemies under her feet, when, a few minutes before, she only wished to have more of them, to love them, to pray for them. But she, too, could not doubt the correctness of the kneeling prayer read. She felt in her soul a reverent and tremulous horror before the punishment that befell people for their sins, and especially for her sins, and asked God to forgive them all and her and give them all and her peace and happiness in life. . And it seemed to her that God heard her prayer.

From the day Pierre, leaving the Rostovs and remembering Natasha's grateful look, looked at the comet standing in the sky, and felt that something new had opened up for him, the question of the futility and madness of everything earthly, which had always tormented him, ceased to present itself to him. This terrible question: why? for what? - which previously presented itself to him in the middle of every lesson, was now replaced for him not by another question and not by an answer to the former question, but by presenting it. Whether he heard, and whether he himself carried on insignificant conversations, whether he read, or found out about the meanness and senselessness of human beings, he was not horrified, as before; he did not ask himself why people were busy when everything was so brief and unknown, but he remembered her in the form in which he saw her for the last time, and all his doubts disappeared, not because she answered the questions that presented themselves to him , but because the idea of her instantly transferred him to another, bright area of mental activity, in which there could be no right or wrong, to the area of \u200b\u200bbeauty and love, for which it was worth living. Whatever the abomination of life seemed to him, he said to himself:
“Well, even if such and such robbed the state and the king, and the state and the king pay him honors; and yesterday she smiled at me and asked me to come, and I love her, and no one will ever know this, ”he thought.
Pierre still went to society, drank just as much and led the same idle and absent-minded life, because, in addition to those hours that he spent with the Rostovs, he had to spend the rest of the time, and the habits and acquaintances he made in Moscow , irresistibly attracted him to the life that captured him. But lately, when more and more disturbing rumors came from the theater of war, and when Natasha's health began to improve and she ceased to arouse in him the former feeling of thrifty pity, he began to be seized by more and more incomprehensible restlessness. He felt that the situation he was in could not last long, that a catastrophe was coming that was to change his whole life, and he looked impatiently for signs of this approaching catastrophe in everything. One of the Masonic brothers revealed to Pierre the following prophecy, derived from the Apocalypse of John the Evangelist, concerning Napoleon.
In the Apocalypse, chapter thirteen, verse eighteen, it is said: “Here is wisdom; whoever has a mind, let him honor the number of the beast: for the number of man is and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
And the same chapter in verse five: “And the mouth was given to him saying great and blasphemous; and a region was given to him to create four months - ten two months.
French letters, like the Hebrew number in the image, according to which the first ten letters are units, and the other tens, have the following meaning:
a b c d e f g h i k.. l..m..n..o..p..q..r..s..t.. u…v w.. x.. y.. z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160
Having written the words L "empereur Napoleon [Emperor Napoleon] in this alphabet, it turns out that the sum of these numbers is 666 and that therefore Napoleon is the beast predicted in the Apocalypse. In addition, writing the words quarante deux in the same alphabet [ forty-two], that is, the limit that was set for the beast to speak great and blasphemous, the sum of these numbers, depicting quarante deux, is again equal to 666 ti, from which it follows that the limit of Napoleon's power came in 1812, in which the French emperor passed 42 This prediction greatly struck Pierre, and he often asked himself the question of what exactly would put the limit on the power of the beast, that is, Napoleon, and, on the basis of the same images of words in numbers and calculations, tried to find an answer to the question that occupied him. Pierre wrote in answer to this question: L "empereur Alexandre? La nation Russe? [Emperor Alexander? Russian people?] He counted the letters, but the sum of the numbers came out much more or less than 666 ti. Once, doing these calculations, he wrote his name - Comte Pierre Besouhoff; The sum of the numbers didn't go far either. He, having changed the spelling, putting z instead of s, added de, added article le, and still did not get the desired result. Then it occurred to him that if the answer to the question he was looking for consisted in his name, then his nationality would certainly be named in the answer. He wrote Le Russe Besuhoff and, counting the numbers, got 671. Only 5 was extra; 5 means “e”, the very “e” that was dropped in the article before the word L "empereur. Having discarded the "e" in the same way, although incorrectly, Pierre received the desired answer; L "Russe Besuhof, equal to 666 ti. The discovery thrilled him. How, by what connection he was connected with that great event which was foretold in the Apocalypse, he did not know; but he did not for a moment doubt this connection. His love for Rostova, the Antichrist, the invasion of Napoleon, the comet, 666, l "empereur Napoleon and l" Russe Besuhof - all this together should have matured, erupted and taken him out of that enchanted, insignificant world of Moscow habits in which he felt himself captive, and lead him to a great feat and great happiness.
On the eve of the Sunday on which the prayer was read, Pierre promised the Rostovs to bring them from Count Rostopchin, with whom he was well acquainted, both an appeal to Russia and the latest news from the army. In the morning, having called on Count Rostopchin, Pierre found a courier from the army who had just arrived at his place.
The courier was one of the Moscow ballroom dancers familiar to Pierre.
"For God's sake, can't you relieve me?" - said the courier, - I have a bag full of letters to my parents.
Among these letters was a letter from Nikolai Rostov to his father. Pierre took this letter. In addition, Count Rostopchin gave Pierre the sovereign's appeal to Moscow, just printed, the last orders for the army and his last poster. After reviewing the orders for the army, Pierre found in one of them, between the news of the wounded, killed and awarded, the name of Nikolai Rostov, awarded George 4th degree for his bravery in the Ostrovnensky case, and in the same order the appointment of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky commander of the Jaeger regiment. Although he did not want to remind the Rostovs of Bolkonsky, Pierre could not refrain from wishing to please them with the news of his son's award and, leaving the appeal, poster and other orders with him, in order to bring them to dinner himself, sent a printed order and a letter to Rostov.
A conversation with Count Rostopchin, his tone of concern and haste, a meeting with a courier who carelessly talked about how bad things were going in the army, rumors about spies found in Moscow, about a paper circulating around Moscow, which says that Napoleon promises to to be in both Russian capitals, the conversation about the expected arrival of the sovereign tomorrow - all this with renewed vigor aroused in Pierre that feeling of excitement and expectation that had not left him since the appearance of the comet, and especially since the beginning of the war.
Pierre had long had the idea to enter the military service, and he would have fulfilled it if he had not interfered, firstly, his belonging to that Masonic society with which he was bound by oath and which preached eternal peace and the abolition of war, and, in secondly, the fact that, looking at a large number of Muscovites who put on uniforms and preached patriotism, for some reason it was ashamed to take such a step. The main reason why he did not fulfill his intention to enter the military service was the vague idea that he was l "Russe Besuhof, having the meaning of the animal number 666, that his participation in the great cause of the position of the limit of power to the beast, speaking great and blasphemous, it is predetermined from eternity and that therefore he should not undertake anything and wait for what should be done.

At the Rostovs', as always on Sundays, some close acquaintances dined.
Pierre arrived earlier to find them alone.
Pierre has grown so fat this year that he would have been ugly if he had not been so large in stature, large in limbs and had not been so strong that, obviously, he easily wore his thickness.
He, puffing and muttering something to himself, entered the stairs. The coachman no longer asked him whether to wait. He knew that when the count was at the Rostovs, it would be before twelve o'clock. The Rostovs' lackeys joyfully rushed to take off his cloak and take his stick and hat. Pierre, out of club habit, left both his stick and his hat in the hall.
The first face he saw of the Rostovs was Natasha. Even before he saw her, he, taking off his cloak in the hall, heard her. She sang solfeji in the hall. He realized that she had not sung since her illness, and therefore the sound of her voice surprised and delighted him. He quietly opened the door and saw Natasha in her lilac dress, in which she was at mass, walking around the room and singing. She was walking backwards towards him when he opened the door, but when she turned sharply and saw his fat, astonished face, she blushed and quickly went up to him.
“I want to try singing again,” she said. “It’s still a job,” she added, as if apologizing.
- And fine.
- I'm glad you've come! I am so happy today! she said with that former animation, which Pierre had not seen in her for a long time. - You know, Nicolas received the George Cross. I'm so proud of him.
- Well, I sent the order. Well, I don’t want to disturb you,” he added, and wanted to go into the drawing room.
Natasha stopped him.
- Count, what is it, bad, that I sing? she said, blushing, but without taking her eyes off her, looking inquiringly at Pierre.
- No ... why? On the contrary... But why do you ask me?
“I don’t know myself,” Natasha answered quickly, “but I wouldn’t want to do anything that you don’t like. I believe in everything. You don’t know how important you are to grinding and how much you have done for me! .. - She spoke quickly and without noticing how Pierre blushed at these words. - I saw in the same order he, Bolkonsky (quickly, she uttered this word in a whisper), he is in Russia and is serving again. What do you think,” she said quickly, apparently in a hurry to speak, because she was afraid for her strength, “will he ever forgive me?” Will he not have an evil feeling against me? How do you think? How do you think?
“I think…” said Pierre. - He has nothing to forgive ... If I were in his place ... - According to the connection of memories, Pierre was instantly transported by imagination to the time when, consoling her, he told her that if he were not him, but the best person in the world and free , then he would ask for her hand on his knees, and the same feeling of pity, tenderness, love seized him, and the same words were on his lips. But she didn't give him time to say them.
- Yes, you - you, - she said, pronouncing this word you with delight, - is another matter. Kinder, more generous, better than you, I do not know a person, and cannot be. If you were not there then, and even now, I don’t know what would have happened to me, because ... - Tears suddenly poured into her eyes; she turned, raised the notes to her eyes, began to sing, and went back to walking around the hall.
At the same time, Petya ran out of the living room.
Petya was now a handsome, ruddy fifteen-year-old boy with thick, red lips, like Natasha. He was preparing for the university, but lately, with his comrade Obolensky, he secretly decided that he would go to the hussars.
Petya ran out to his namesake to talk about the case.
He asked him to find out if he would be accepted into the hussars.
Pierre walked around the living room, not listening to Petya.
Petya tugged at his hand to draw his attention to himself.
- Well, what's my business, Pyotr Kirilych. For God's sake! One hope for you, - said Petya.
“Oh yes, your business. In the hussars then? I'll say, I'll say. I'll tell you everything.
- Well, mon cher, well, did you get the manifesto? asked the old count. - And the countess was at the mass at the Razumovskys, she heard a new prayer. Very good, she says.
“Got it,” Pierre answered. - Tomorrow the sovereign will be ... An extraordinary meeting of the nobility and, they say, ten thousand a set. Yes, congratulations.
- Yes, yes, thank God. Well, what about the army?
Ours retreated again. Near Smolensk already, they say, - answered Pierre.
- My God, my God! the count said. - Where is the manifesto?
- Appeal! Oh yes! Pierre began looking in his pockets for papers and could not find them. Continuing to pat his pockets, he kissed the hand of the countess as she entered and looked around uneasily, obviously expecting Natasha, who did not sing anymore, but did not come into the drawing room either.
“By God, I don’t know where I’ve got him,” he said.
“Well, he will always lose everything,” said the countess. Natasha entered with a softened, agitated face and sat down, silently looking at Pierre. As soon as she entered the room, Pierre's face, previously cloudy, shone, and he, continuing to look for papers, looked at her several times.
- By God, I'll move out, I forgot at home. Certainly…
Well, you'll be late for dinner.
- Oh, and the coachman left.
But Sonya, who went into the hall to look for the papers, found them in Pierre's hat, where he carefully put them behind the lining. Pierre wanted to read.
“No, after dinner,” said the old count, apparently foreseeing great pleasure in this reading.
At dinner, at which they drank champagne for the health of the new Knight of St. George, Shinshin told the city news about the illness of the old Georgian princess, that Metivier had disappeared from Moscow, and that some German had been brought to Rostopchin and announced to him that it was champignon (as Count Rastopchin himself said), and how Count Rostopchin ordered the champignon to be released, telling the people that it was not a champignon, but just an old German mushroom.
“They grab, they grab,” said the count, “I tell the countess even so that she speaks less French.” Now is not the time.
– Have you heard? Shinshin said. - Prince Golitsyn took a Russian teacher, he studies in Russian - il commence a devenir dangereux de parler francais dans les rues. [It becomes dangerous to speak French on the streets.]
- Well, Count Pyotr Kirilych, how will they gather the militia, and you will have to get on a horse? said the old count, turning to Pierre.
Pierre was silent and thoughtful throughout this dinner. He, as if not understanding, looked at the count at this appeal.
“Yes, yes, to the war,” he said, “no!” What a warrior I am! And yet, everything is so strange, so strange! Yes, I don't understand myself. I do not know, I am so far from military tastes, but in these times no one can answer for himself.
After dinner, the count sat quietly in an armchair and with a serious face asked Sonya, who was famous for her skill in reading, to read.
– “To the capital of our capital, Moscow.
The enemy entered with great forces into the borders of Russia. He is going to ruin our dear fatherland, ”Sonya diligently read in her thin voice. The Count, closing his eyes, listened, sighing impetuously in some places.
Natasha sat stretched out, searchingly and directly looking first at her father, then at Pierre.
Pierre felt her eyes on him and tried not to look back. The countess shook her head disapprovingly and angrily at every solemn expression of the manifesto. She saw in all these words only that the dangers threatening her son would not end soon. Shinshin, folding his mouth into a mocking smile, obviously prepared to mock at what would be the first to be mocked: at Sonya's reading, at what the count would say, even at the very appeal, if no better excuse presented itself.
Having read about the dangers threatening Russia, about the hopes placed by the sovereign on Moscow, and especially on the famous nobility, Sonya, with a trembling voice, which came mainly from the attention with which she was listened to, read the last words: “We ourselves will not hesitate to stand among our people in this capital and in other states of our places for conference and leadership of all our militias, both now blocking the path of the enemy, and again arranged to defeat it, wherever it appears. May the destruction into which he imagines to cast us down upon his head turn, and may Europe, liberated from slavery, glorify the name of Russia!
- That's it! cried the count, opening his wet eyes and halting several times from snuffling, as if a flask of strong acetic salt was being brought to his nose. “Just tell me, sir, we will sacrifice everything and regret nothing.”
Shinshin had not yet had time to tell the joke he had prepared on the count's patriotism, when Natasha jumped up from her seat and ran up to her father.
- What a charm, this dad! she said, kissing him, and she again looked at Pierre with that unconscious coquetry that returned to her along with her animation.
- That's so patriotic! Shinshin said.
“Not a patriot at all, but simply ...” Natasha answered offendedly. Everything is funny to you, but this is not a joke at all ...
- What jokes! repeated the Count. - Just say the word, we will all go ... We are not some kind of Germans ...
“Did you notice,” said Pierre, “that he said: “for a meeting.”
“Well, whatever it is…
At this time, Petya, whom no one paid any attention to, went up to his father and, all red, in a breaking voice, now rough, now thin, said:
“Well, now, papa, I will say decisively - and mother too, as you wish, - I will say decisively that you let me go into military service, because I can’t ... that’s all ...
The countess raised her eyes to heaven in horror, clasped her hands and angrily turned to her husband.
- That's the deal! - she said.
But the count recovered from his excitement at the same moment.
“Well, well,” he said. "Here's another warrior!" Leave the nonsense: you need to study.
“It’s not nonsense, daddy. Obolensky Fedya is younger than me and also goes, and most importantly, anyway, I can’t learn anything now, when ... - Petya stopped, blushed to a sweat and said the same: - when the fatherland is in danger.
- Full, full, nonsense ...
“But you yourself said that we would sacrifice everything.
“Petya, I’m telling you, shut up,” the count shouted, looking back at his wife, who, turning pale, looked with fixed eyes at her younger son.
- I'm telling you. So Pyotr Kirillovich will say ...
- I'm telling you - it's nonsense, the milk has not dried up yet, but he wants to serve in the military! Well, well, I'm telling you, - and the count, taking the papers with him, probably to read it again in the study before resting, left the room.
- Pyotr Kirillovich, well, let's go for a smoke ...
Pierre was confused and indecisive. Natasha's unusually brilliant and lively eyes incessantly, more than affectionately addressed to him, brought him to this state.
- No, I think I'm going home ...
- Like home, but you wanted to have an evening with us ... And then they rarely began to visit. And this one is mine ... - the count said good-naturedly, pointing to Natasha, - it’s only cheerful with you ...
“Yes, I forgot ... I definitely need to go home ... Things ...” Pierre said hastily.
“Well, goodbye,” said the count, leaving the room completely.
- Why are you leaving? Why are you upset? Why? .. - Natasha asked Pierre, defiantly looking into his eyes.
"Because I love you! he wanted to say, but he did not say it, blushed to tears and lowered his eyes.
“Because it’s better for me to visit you less often ... Because ... no, I just have business to do.”
- From what? no, tell me, - Natasha began decisively and suddenly fell silent. They both looked at each other in fear and embarrassment. He tried to smile, but could not: his smile expressed suffering, and he silently kissed her hand and went out.
Pierre decided not to visit the Rostovs with himself anymore.

Petya, after receiving a decisive refusal, went to his room and there, locking himself away from everyone, wept bitterly. Everyone did as if they had not noticed anything when he came to tea silent and gloomy, with tearful eyes.
The next day the Emperor arrived. Several of the Rostovs' servants asked to go and see the tsar. That morning, Petya spent a long time dressing, combing his hair and arranging his collars like the big ones. He frowned in front of the mirror, made gestures, shrugged his shoulders, and finally, without telling anyone, put on his cap and left the house from the back porch, trying not to be noticed. Petya decided to go straight to the place where the sovereign was, and directly explain to some chamberlain (it seemed to Petya that the sovereign was always surrounded by chamberlains) that he, Count Rostov, despite his youth, wants to serve the fatherland, that youth cannot be an obstacle for devotion and that he is ready ... Petya, while he was getting ready, prepared many beautiful words that he would say to the chamberlain.
Petya counted on the success of his presentation to the sovereign precisely because he was a child (Petya even thought how surprised everyone would be at his youth), and at the same time, in the arrangement of his collars, in his hairstyle and in a sedate, slow gait, he wanted to present himself as an old man. But the farther he went, the more he entertained himself with the people arriving and arriving at the Kremlin, the more he forgot to observe the degree and slowness characteristic of adults. Approaching the Kremlin, he already began to take care that he was not pushed, and resolutely, with a menacing look, put his elbows on his sides. But at the Trinity Gates, despite all his determination, people who probably did not know for what patriotic purpose he was going to the Kremlin pressed him against the wall so that he had to submit and stop, while at the gate with a buzzing under the arches the sound of carriages passing by. Near Petya stood a woman with a footman, two merchants and a retired soldier. After standing for some time at the gate, Petya, without waiting for all the carriages to pass, wanted to move on before the others and began to work decisively with his elbows; but the woman standing opposite him, on whom he first directed his elbows, angrily shouted at him:
- What, barchuk, pushing, you see - everyone is standing. Why climb then!
“That’s how everyone will climb,” said the footman, and, also beginning to work with his elbows, squeezed Petya into the stinking corner of the gate.
Petya wiped off the sweat that covered his face with his hands and straightened his collars, soaked with sweat, which he arranged as well as the big ones at home.
Petya felt that he had an unpresentable appearance, and was afraid that if he presented himself to the chamberlains like that, he would not be allowed to see the sovereign. But there was no way to recover and go to another place because of the tightness. One of the passing generals was an acquaintance of the Rostovs. Petya wanted to ask for his help, but considered that it would be contrary to courage. When all the carriages had passed, the crowd poured in and carried Petya out to the square, which was all occupied by people. Not only in the area, but on the slopes, on the roofs, there were people everywhere. As soon as Petya found himself on the square, he clearly heard the sounds of bells and joyful folk talk that filled the entire Kremlin.
At one time it was more spacious on the square, but suddenly all the heads opened, everything rushed somewhere forward. Petya was squeezed so that he could not breathe, and everyone shouted: “Hurrah! hooray! hurrah! Petya stood on his tiptoes, pushed, pinched, but could see nothing but the people around him.
On all faces there was one common expression of tenderness and delight. One merchant's wife, who was standing near Petya, was sobbing, and tears flowed from her eyes.
- Father, angel, father! she said, wiping her tears with her finger.
- Hooray! shouted from all sides. For a minute the crowd stood in one place; but then she rushed forward again.
Petya, not remembering himself, clenching his teeth and brutally rolling his eyes, rushed forward, working with his elbows and shouting "Hurray!", as if he was ready to kill himself and everyone at that moment, but exactly the same brutal faces climbed from his sides with the same cries of "Hurrah!".
"So that's what a sovereign is! thought Petya. – No, I can’t apply to him myself, it’s too bold! but at that moment the crowd staggered back (from the front the policemen were pushing those who had advanced too close to the procession; the sovereign was passing from the palace to the Assumption Cathedral), and Petya unexpectedly received such a blow to the ribs in the side and was so crushed that suddenly everything became dim in his eyes and he lost consciousness. When he came to his senses, some clergyman, with a tuft of graying hair behind him, in a shabby blue cassock, probably a sexton, held him under the arm with one hand, and guarded him from the oncoming crowd with the other.
- Barchonka crushed! - said the deacon. - Well, so! .. easier ... crushed, crushed!
The sovereign went to the Assumption Cathedral. The crowd leveled off again, and the deacon led Petya, pale and not breathing, to the Tsar Cannon. Several people took pity on Petya, and suddenly the whole crowd turned to him, and there was already a stampede around him. Those who stood closer served him, unbuttoned his frock coat, seated cannons on a dais and reproached someone - those who crushed him.

Krechinsky's wedding

Of course, the twenty-year-old girl Lidochka is a "tidbit" for Moscow dandies-grooms. But her aunt does not understand this. She believes that Lida should be shown to the world, inviting guests to the house: "You can't marry a girl without expenses." But suddenly it turns out that no expenses are needed anymore.

Lidochka secretly confesses to her aunt that she already has a fiancé! Yesterday at the ball she danced a mazurka with Mikhail Vasilyevich Krechinsky. And he - oh, my God is right! - proposed to her. But what's annoying - there is no time to think! The answer must be given immediately. "Michel" leaves Moscow not today tomorrow and wants to know before his departure - "yes" or "no".

But Muromsky cannot be caught by such talk. What is the state of Krechinsky? How much land he has, how many souls - no one knows. But they say that he wanders around the clubs, plays cards and has "debts". And here is another young man, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nelysin, an old "friend of the house", all in full view. Modest, even shy. Doesn't take cards. True, she dances poorly and does not shine with manners. But on the other hand, he is a neighbor - his estate is side by side, "furrow to furrow." And he is also here, in Moscow, and also visits Muromsky's house: he is silently in love with Lidochka. Muromsky reads him as a husband to his "kralechka" and "spoiler".

However, through the efforts of the aunt and Krechinsky himself, the matter is settled in such a way that Muromsky on the same day blesses his daughter for marriage with a "wonderful man" to whom "princes and counts are friends." Ne-lkin is in despair. No, he will not allow this wedding to take place! He knows something about the "sins" of Krechinsky. But now he "knows all the ins and outs" and even then he will present this "wit" and "reckless driver" to the old man in the true light.

And there is a "underground" thing. And what a! Krechinsky does not just play cards - he is a "terrible player". He raves about the game. And Lidochka with her dowry is only a jackpot for him, with which he can enter into a big game. “I have fifteen hundred souls in my hands,” he reflects, “and this is one and a half million, and two hundred thousand of the purest capital. After all, you can win two million for this amount! And I will win, I will win for sure.”

Yes, but this jackpot still needs to be obtained. The blessing of a parent is only a shaky luck wrested from fate thanks to an inspired bluff. The bluff must be sustained to the end! But how, how?! Krechinsky's position is catastrophic. He got involved with the "rogue", petty card cheat Ivan Antonovich Rasplyuev, whose impure and insignificant winnings barely support his existence. The apartment where he lives with this miserable rogue is constantly besieged by creditors. There is no money even for a cab! And then there is that despicable merchant Shchebnev, demanding that he issue a card debt this very minute, threatening to write down his name in the club today in a shameful debt "book", that is, to denounce him to the whole city as bankrupt! And this is at the very moment when Krechinsky "gets a million in his hand" ... Yes, on the one hand, a million, and on the other, some two or three thousand are needed to pay off debts, pay bills and hastily - at three days to arrange a wedding. Without these small bets, the whole game will collapse! What is there! - it is already collapsing: Shchebnev agrees to wait only until the evening, creditors outside the door are menacingly raging.

However, there is still hope. Krechinsky sends Rasplyuev to moneylenders, ordering him to borrow money from them at any interest. They will give it, they will certainly give it, because they know Krechinsky: they will return it in full. But Rasplyuev comes with bad news. The usurers can no longer trust Krechinsky: "It must be smelled!.." They demand a reliable pledge. And what is left of the poor player! Nothing but a gold watch worth seventy-five rubles. Its end! The game is lost!

And it is here, in a moment of complete hopelessness, that a brilliant idea dawns on Krechinsky. However, neither Rasplyuev nor the servant Fyodor can yet appreciate her brilliance. They even believe that Krechinsky has lost his mind. And indeed, he seems to be out of his mind. He takes out a penny pin from the bureau, the same one that he used as a model, "working" Lidochkin's tapeworm, looks at it with enthusiastic amazement and exclaims: "Bravo!. Hurrah! Found ..." What did he find? Some kind of "trinket". The stone in the pin is strass, made of lead glass!

Without explaining anything, Krechinsky tells Rasplyuev to pawn a gold watch and use the proceeds to buy a luxurious bouquet of flowers, "so that everything is made of white camellias." Meanwhile, he himself sits down to compose a letter to Lidochka. He fills him with tenderness, passion, dreams of family happiness - "the devil knows what nonsense." And, as if by the way, he asks her to send him a tapeworm with a messenger - he made a bet on its size with a certain Prince Belsky.

As soon as Rasplyuev appears, Krechinsky sends him with flowers and a note to Lidochka, explaining to him that he must get a tapeworm from her and bring the thing "in the most accurate way." Rasplyuev understood everything - Krechinsky intends to steal the diamond and run away from the city with it. But no! Krechinsky is not a thief, he still values his honor and is not going to run anywhere. Against. While Rasplyuev is fulfilling his instructions, he orders Fyodor to prepare an apartment for a magnificent reception of the Muromsky family. The "decisive moment" is coming - will Rasplyuev bring a tapeworm or not?

Brought! "Victoria! The Rubicon has been crossed!" Krechinsky takes both pins - fake and genuine - and rushes with them to the shop of the usurer Nikanor Savich Bek. Asking for money on bail, he presents the usurer with a genuine pin - "the one just stirred, and his mouth gaped." The thing is the most valuable, worth ten thousand! Beck is ready to give four. Krechinsky is bargaining - asking for seven. Beck doesn't give up. And then Krechinsky takes the pin: he will go to another usurer ... No, no, why - to another ... Beck gives six! Krechinsky agrees. However, he requires to put the pin in a separate box and seal it. At that moment, when Beck leaves for the box, Krechinsky replaces the genuine pin with a fake one. Beck calmly puts it in the box - after all, the diamond has already been checked both under a magnifying glass and on the scales. It is done! Game won!

But suddenly Nelkin appears at Krechinsky's apartment. Here it is, revelation! Nelkin has already found out everything: oh, God! with whom did the most venerable Peter Konstantinovich contact! Yes, these are crooks, gamblers, thieves !! After all, they stole a tapeworm from Lidochka... What's the bet?! what Prince Belsky?! Krechinsky does not have a tapeworm - he pawned it to the usurer Beck! .. Everyone is embarrassed, everyone is horrified. Everyone except Krechinsky, for at this moment he is at the height of his inspiration - his bluff takes on special impressiveness. Magnificently depicting the noblest man, whose honor is offended by an insidious slander, he takes from Muromsky a promise to "drive out" the offender by the neck if the tapeworm is immediately presented for public viewing. The old man is forced to make such a promise. Krechinsky, with solemn indignation, presents the diamond! Nelkin is disgraced. His bit card Muromsky himself points him to the door. But this is not enough for Krechinsky. Success must be secured. Now the skillful gambler is feigning a different feeling: he is shocked that the family would so easily believe the vile gossip about their future son-in-law, husband!! Oh no! now he cannot be Lidochka's husband. He returns her heart to her, and Muromsky his blessing. The whole family begs for his forgiveness. Well, he's ready to forgive. But on one condition: the wedding must be played tomorrow, in order to put an end to all gossip and rumors! Everyone happily agrees. Now the game is truly won!

It remains only to gain time, that is, to send dear guests out as soon as possible. Nelkin will not calm down. He could be here any minute with Beck, a fake pin, and allegations of fraud. We need to be in time ... The guests have already risen and moved towards the exit. But no! The doorbell is ringing ... knocking, breaking. Nelkin did it! He showed up with Beck, and with a pin, and with the police! Only for a moment Krechinsky loses his temper; ordering not to unlock the door, he grabs the handle of the chair and threatens to "blow his head" to anyone who moves! But this is no longer a game - this is robbery! But Krechinsky is still a player, "not devoid of genuine nobility." In the next moment, Krechinsky "throws the arm of the chair into the corner" and already, as a true player, admits his defeat with an exclamation characteristic of a card player: "Failed!!!" Now "Vladimir road" and "ace of diamonds on his back" shine for him. But what is it?! Lidochka saves "Michel" from the sad road to Siberia and the prison clothes. "Here's a pin... which should be pledged," she says to the pawnbroker, "take it... it was a mistake!" For this, the whole family, "running away from shame", leaves the player's apartment.

Alexander Vasilievich Sukhovo-Kobylin

Krechinsky's wedding. Plays

Krechinsky's wedding

CHARACTERS

Pyotr Konstantinych Muromsky is a wealthy Yaroslavl landowner, a village dweller, a man of about sixty years old.

Lidochka is his daughter.

Anna Antonovna Atueva is her aunt, an elderly woman.

Vladimir Dmitrich Nelkin - a landowner, a close neighbor of the Muromskys, a young man who served in the military. Wears a mustache.

Mikhail Vasilyich Krechinsky - a prominent man, a correct and remarkable physiognomy, thick sideburns; does not wear a mustache; under forty years old.

Ivan Antonych Rasplyuev - a small but plump little man; under fifty years old.

Nikanor Savic Bek is a usurer.

Shchebnev is a merchant.

Fedor is Krechinsky's valet.

Tishka is a porter in the Muromskys' house.

Police officer.

The action takes place in Moscow.

STEP ONE

Morning. Living room in the Muromskys' house. Directly opposite the viewer is a large door leading to the front staircase; to the right is the door to the chambers of Muromsky, to the left - to the chambers of Atueva and Lidochka. There is tea on the table by the sofa.

PHENOMENON I

Atueva ( leaves the left door, looks around the room and opens the door to the front staircase). Tishka! hey Tishka!

Tishka ( behind the scenes). Now-s. ( He enters in livery, with a wide yellow band, unkempt and somewhat drunk.)

Atueva ( looking at him for a long time). What a face!..

Silence.

Why didn't you scratch your head?

Tishka. No way, Anna Antonovna, I scratched.

Atuev. And didn’t wash your faces? ..

Tishka. No way, washed; as is soap. As they deigned to order to wash, so always mine.

Atuev. Did the German bring a bell?

Tishka. Brought, ma'am; he brought it.

Atuev. Come here and bring the ladder.

Tishka carries a bell and a ladder.

Well, now listen. Why, you are stupid: you will not understand anything.

Tishka. Pardon me, madam, why not understand? I understand everything of your mercy.

Atuev. If a lady arrives, you call twice.

Tishka. I'm listening, sir.

Atuev. If sir, strike once.

Tishka. I'm listening, sir.

Atuev. If so, some lady or woman - do not call.

Tishka. May with.

Atuev. If a shopkeeper or a merchant, do not call either.

Tishka. And this, Anna Antonovna, is possible.

Atuev. Understood?

Tishka. I understood, ma'am, I very much understood... But you won't order me to report?

Atuev. How not to report? be sure to report.

Tishka. So first order the ringing to be done, and then to report?

Atuev. Such a fool! Here's a fool! Well, how can you, stupid face, to first call, and then report!

Tishka. I'm listening, sir.

Atuev. Well, go get it.

Tishka with hammer and bell

climbs the stairs.

Stop... so!

Tishka ( pointing a nail with a bell). So, sir?

Atuev. Higher.

Tishka ( rising still). So, sir?

Atuev. Higher, I tell you.

Tishka ( raises his hand up). So, sir?

Atueva ( hastily). Stop, stop… where?.. lower!

Tishka ( puts his hand down). So, sir?

Atueva ( gets angry). Now higher! Below!! Above!!! Below!! Oh my God! And, what are you, a fool, do not understand the Russian language? ..

Tishka. Pardon me, how not to understand!.. I understand, sir, I very much, madam, I understand.

Atueva ( impatiently). What are you talking about?..

Tishka ( removes the bell completely from its place and turns to Atueva). I, madam, on the account, as you deign to say that I do not understand, then I, madam, very, very understand.

Atuev. Well, will you kill or not?

Tishka. How, mother, please order.

Atueva ( loses patience). Aaaa-ah, my God! .. Yes, there is no patience here! you are drunk!!!

Tishka. Have mercy. I only report, madam, that you deign to say that I do not understand, but I very much, madam, understand your grace.

Atueva ( folded hands). BUT! You, robber, are you joking with me, or what? .. Well, you deliberately climbed in there to carry on conversations? Beat!..

Tishka. Where is your grace...

Atueva ( goes completely berserk and stamps his foot). Hit it, robber, hit it wherever you want... well, wait, wait, you drunken bottle, give me time: it won't go unnoticed for you.

Tishka ( immediately sets a nail in the first place that comes across and beats it with all his urine). I understand ... I really ... Mother ... lady ... that, that, that ... uuuh !!! ( Rolls down the stairs; she falls .)

Noise. The servants run.

Atueva ( screaming). My God! .. Fathers! .. He will break his neck.

Tishka ( on his feet, smiling). No, no, please.

Servants hold up a ladder

and arrange a bell.

PHENOMENON II

The same Muromsky, in a dressing gown, with a pipe, appears from the door to the right.

Murom. What's this? what are you doing?

Atuev. We do nothing. Here Tishka is drunk again.

Murom. Drunk?

Atuev. Yes! Your will, Pyotr Konstantinovich: after all, he drank himself in circles.

Tishka. Have mercy, Father Pyotr Konstantinovich! They say: drunk. Why am I drunk? When I was drunk, where would I fall off such a colossus and get back on my feet?

Murom ( looks at him and shakes his head). Returned, returned you? .. Went, idiot, to your place.

Tishka comes out with extreme caution;

the servants carry the stairs.

PHENOMENON III

Muromsky and Atueva.

Murom ( looking after the departing Tishka). Of course, drunk ... What's the fuss you have?

Atuev. The bell was hung.

Murom ( with anxiety). Another bell? Where? what's happened?.. ( Seeing the hanging bell.) What is it? here? in the living room!..

Atuev. Yes.

Murom. Yes, well, here to sound the alarm? ..

Atuev. It's like that everywhere.

Murom. Yes, pardon me, because this is stupidity! after all, this is the devil knows what it is! .. Ah, what can I say! .. ( Walks.) There is no human meaning here ... After all, every time you bite your tongue! ..

Atuev. And, completeness, father, invent trifles! Why bite your tongue here?.. Please leave me alone: I know better than you how to build a house.

Silence. Muromsky walks around the room.

Atueva is drinking tea.

Pyotr Konstantinovich! We'll have to give a party.

Murom ( stopping against Atueva). Party? what party? What party are you talking about?

Atuev. Usually about what. It's like you don't know! well, balik, or something ... that's how it was the other day.

Murom. Why, you told me that there would be the last one, there would be no more.

Atuev. It is impossible, Pyotr Konstantinovich, absolutely impossible: decency, the world require it.

Murom. Your sugar is good - the world demands! Is it demanding something from me?.. Enough of you, madam, fuss! What are you crazy about?

Atuev. Am I out of my mind?..

Murom. Yes! They dragged me out to Moscow, started undertakings, balls and balls, all kinds of waste of money, acquaintance ... fuss, clatter! .. My house was put upside down; my Cossack Petrushka - he was a good boy - dressed forty. Here is this fool Tishka, a shoemaker, they made him a porter, they put some kind of cape on him; here ( points to the bell) the bells were hung, such a ringing goes all over the house! ..

Atuev. Of course, the call. I'm telling you, sir: it's the same with all people...

Murom. Mother! after all, people have a lot of foolishness - you won’t learn everything! .. Well, what did you instruct here! ( points to a vase of cards) what mug? what good are you collecting?

Atuev. This?.. Business cards.

Murom ( shaking his head). A complete list of chatterboxes, chatterboxes ...

Atuev. Business cards?

Murom. Idlers, all-world vagabonds, people who, like some Bukharians, wander from house to house day and day and carry all sorts of rubbish, but not on boots, but on their tongues.

Atuev. Are they secular people?

Murom. Yes!

Atuev. Ha, ha, ha! and laughter and sorrow!

Murom. Not! grief.

Atuev. Well, what are you, Pyotr Konstantinovich, judge and judge: you don’t know the world, do you?

Murom. And I don't want to know!

Atuev. After all, you spent a whole century in Streshnevo.

Murom. Stuck, ma'am, stuck. Don't you complain; you give me balls for my hanging around.

Atuev. This, sir, is your duty.

Murom. Give balls?

Atuev. Your duty.

Murom. Give balls?!!

Atuev. You have a fiancee daughter!

Murom. Call people. ( Waving his hands.) Here! Here! .. And they, the benefactors, will run over, eat, drink and laugh at us! ..

Atuev. So it's better to interpret with men?

Murom. Better. When you talk to a peasant, either it’s good for me, or for him, but it’s a different matter for both. Who benefits from your call?

Atuev. It is impossible to live everything for the good.

Murom. It is impossible?.. It is necessary!

Atuev. We are not beggars.

Murom. So we will be beggars ... ( Waving hand.) Why talk to you!