The great civilization of the ancient Greeks left humanity a rich historical and cultural heritage. She gave the world unsurpassed masterpieces of art, including literature (myths and poems). Have you ever wondered how many modern words and expressions have Greek roots, and what they mean?
Phraseologisms from the myths of Ancient Greece
A phraseological unit is an established phrase that can only be understood in its entirety. A special type of phraseological units are verbal figures of speech originating from the ancient era. These expressions take their origins from mythology and. The essence of ancient Greek phraseological units can be understood if you understand their origin from a certain myth. Such “catchphrases” can be safely inserted into the topic of conversation, wanting to emphasize feelings and attitudes towards an object or phenomenon.
Phraseologisms of Ancient Greece: examples
"Achilles' heel
" Means a vulnerable, weak point. Thetis dipped her son Achilles into the miraculous waves of the Styx so that the boy would become invulnerable. However, while bathing, she held her son’s body by the heel, which made Achilles’s most vulnerable point his heel. In the future, it was Paris who mortally wounded him in the heel.
« Ariadne's thread
“- something that helps you get out of a difficult situation. This expression comes from the myth of Theseus. The hero had to enter into battle with the Cretan monster - the Minotaur and get out of the labyrinth. The daughter of the king of Crete, Ariadne, gives him a guiding ball, which helped the guy escape from the terrible house of the Minotaur.
« Gordian knot
“- this phrase is used when they want to indicate a solution to a complicated problem in a simple way. The Phrygians, when electing a ruler, turned to the oracle. He told them to wait for the first person to pass in the direction of the Temple of Zeus with a cart. Gordius became king, and he placed his cart within the walls of the temple, tying it with a reliable, intricate knot. The oracle prophesied that the one who untied the Gordian plexus would be the ruler of Asia. , without thinking for a long time, cut the knot with his sword.
« Medusa's Gaze
“- this is what they say when a person creates an unpleasant, bad atmosphere when communicating with him. According to legend, there were three sisters - Gorgons. They looked disgusting: snakes moved on their heads instead of hair, and copper hooves rested on the ground instead of legs. The most terrible of them was the Gorgon Medusa. From her gaze people turned to stone. The hero Perseus managed to outwit the monster in battle. He took a mirror shield so he could avoid looking at the monster while watching it in the reflection. Perseus managed to cut off the Gorgon's head, after which he hung it on his shield.
In works of art we can often encounter very specific phraseological units - expressions whose meaning is hidden in legends And ancient myths. Without excellent orientation in this field of knowledge, it is almost impossible to answer the question of what made him famous. Procrustes' bed, For what Ariadne threads and what passion they had Danaids To… barrel?
A distinctive feature of phraseological units that come from myths is their extreme cohesion with the history of the myth itself.
The expression " Danaid barrel"came to us with the meaning "with completely useless and endless work" Behind the phraseological unit is myth about the fifty daughters of the Libyan king Danaus. Danae's daughters were named after their father - Danaids. They became famous for the fact that... at the request of their father killed their husbands on their wedding night, for which they were doomed to forever fill a bottomless barrel in the underworld of Hades. True, there is a mystery here too: after all, the killers were 49 daughters of the king, why then does the phraseological unit “defame” everyone 50 girls?
Pillars of Hercules, surprisingly, have nothing in common with “morning” healthy porridge. Pillar of Hercules called in the highest, extreme degree of manifestation of something. Originally this name was two rocks on opposite shores of the Strait of Gibraltar. According to ancient legend, the pillars were placed by Hercules at the edge of the world as memory of the hero's wanderings across Europe and Africa.
When they talk about a constantly threatening danger literally hanging over someone, we remember the expression “ Sword of Damocles" The ancient Greek legend about Syracusan tyrant Dionysius the Elder, who, in order to teach a lesson to one of his associates, an envious Damocles, came up with a very “entertaining” way. During the feast, Dionysius placed Damocles in his place, hanging it over his head. a sharp sword as a symbol of the dangers that await the tyrant. An excellent way for those who are trying to experience any situation in their own skin.
Torments of Tantalus one who suffers experiences suffering from the awareness of the proximity of the desired goal and the impossibility of achieving it. In ancient times 
river myth Tantalum- Phrygian king - for insulting the gods he was cruel to themko nakadhan: Tantalum was doomed to experience the pangs of thirst and hunger, although water and luxurious fruits were next to him.
Ariadne's thread- This way out of a difficult situation; Ariadne's thread is often called guiding thread. The history of the expression leads us to the myth of the Minotaur, which once every ten years he demanded a kind of tribute from the inhabitants of the island of Crete - 14 beautiful girls and boys who served the monster as lunch. There were brave men who tried to free the people from the terrible offering to the Minotaur, but they all died in labyrinth- the abode of the monster. Only Theseus was able to kill the Minotaur and get out of the labyrinth. His guiding thread was the donated Ariadna- daughter of King Minos - a thread that helped the hero return home safe and sound.
Procrustean bed- This a standard to which I artificially, forcibly adjust something t. This expression is based on the cruel ancient Greek myth of the robber Procrustes, which tortured victims by cutting off their legs or, conversely, stretching them so that the sufferers could exactly “fit” on the robber’s bed.
Promethean fire, i.e. undying desire to achieve high, noble goals, forever captured the feat of the mythological ancient Greek hero, 
which stole fire from the divine Olympus and brought it to people.
Apple of discord points to the reason for the quarrel. There is an expression from ancient Greek the myth about the quarrel between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite about which of them is the most beautiful: the insidious apple was planted on the women and contained the inscription “To the Fairest,” which was indecently insulting to the two ladies.
Augean stables called a polluted, neglected place, extreme disorder in affairs. Associated with these fetid stables is one of the exploits of the legendary Hercules. The myth says that the hero volunteered to clear the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, in one day. It would have been fine, but the stables had not been cleaned for 30 years! Hercules nevertheless found a way out of this situation by sending him to the stables waters of the stormy river Alpheus.
Achilles heel called weak, most vulnerable place. The reason for this is the myth about Achilles's bathing in the miraculous waters of the River Styx: the mother, wanting to make her son invulnerable, washed him in the river, while holding the heel. This fatal accident became the cause of the hero’s death: he was struck at this very unfortunate heel.
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Phraseologisms from the myths of Ancient Greece
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The sword of Damocles is a constantly threatening danger hanging over someone despite apparent well-being. According to ancient Greek legend, the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius I the Elder (late 5th-4th centuries BC) offered the throne to his favorite Damocles for one day, who considered Dionysius the happiest of mortals. In the midst of the fun at the feast, Damocles suddenly saw a naked sword above his head, hanging on a horsehair, and realized the illusory nature of well-being.
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The origin of zoomorphism white crow is interesting. As you know, black sheep are people who stand out sharply from the background of the team with their behavior, appearance or life position. Nature often makes mistakes and mistakes, which modern science interprets as failures in the genetic code or mutations. It is for this reason that sometimes there are individual individuals whose color is unusual for animals of this species. The most common examples are perhaps white rabbits and mice. From time to time information comes in that white foxes, fish and even toads have been spotted here and there. The reason for this phenomenon is the absence of the pigment responsible for color in the hair and skin. Such deviations were called a special term - albinism. Accordingly, animals suffering from this disease are albinos. And it is very rare to find an albino crow. The ancient Roman poet Juvenal, using this fact, uttered his famous pearl: “A slave can become king, captives can wait for triumph. Only the lucky one of such a rare white crow...” So the authorship of the phrase so widely used now belongs to a Roman who lived 2000 years ago. By the way, this expression has an eastern analogue - “white elephant”. Albinism is extremely rare among elephants, so in Southeast Asia, white-skinned elephants are considered sacred animals
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REST ON YOUR LAURELS. The expression comes from the name of a simple laurel tree. According to Greek legend, the nymph Daphne, fleeing from Apollo, turned into a laurel tree. Since then, this plant has become the tree of Apollo, the god of poetry and the arts. They began to crown the winners with laurel branches and laurel wreaths. “Reaping laurels” means winning success. “Resting on your laurels” means stopping striving for further success and resting on what has already been achieved.
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THEMIDA THEMIDA. ~ Libra of Themis - a symbol of justice. ~ Temple (altar) of Themis - court. - [The case] occupied us at the trial so much that we did not expect to be free for the holiday, and therefore I only came home to eat and sleep, and spent all the days and part of the nights at the altar of Themis. Leskov. ~ Servants (priests, sons) of Themis are judges. - They finally reached the square where the government offices were located... From the windows of the second and third floors... the incorruptible heads of the priests of Themis poked out. Gogol. - Here the names of artists and performers were mixed up with each other - with the names of the sons of Themis and Mars. V. Krestovsky.
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The Apple of Discord Peleus and Thetis, the parents of the hero of the Trojan War Achilles, forgot to invite the goddess of discord Eris to their wedding. Eris was very offended and secretly threw a golden apple onto the table at which gods and mortals were feasting; on it was written: “To the most beautiful.” A terrible dispute arose between three goddesses: the wife of Zeus - Hero, Athena - the maiden, goddess of wisdom, and the beautiful goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. “The young man Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, was chosen as judge between them. Paris awarded the apple to the goddess of beauty. Grateful Aphrodite helped Paris kidnap the wife of the Greek king Menelaus, the beautiful Helen. To take revenge for such an insult, the Greeks went to war against Troy. As you can see, the apple of Eris actually led to discord. The memory of this remains the expression “apple of discord,” meaning any cause of disputes and strife. They also sometimes say “apple of Eris”, “apple of Paris”. You can often hear the words “throw a bone of discord between several people.” The meaning of this is completely clear.
About Achilles' heel, the bone of discord, the Augean stables and Ariadne's threads.
Most popular expressions have an ancient and interesting history. The origin of phraseological units, which go back to the era of Antiquity, are presented in the Cognitive section.
Augean stables
The myths of Ancient Greece tell us about the character Augeas, who was so unlucky that he could not bring order to his estates. For many years, the careless owner of numerous stables was unable to put his territory in order. Everyone around knew that Elis was the world center of disorder and chaos. Hercules managed to clear the wretched sheds of rubbish. The Alpheus River helped the legendary hero in a difficult matter. Its raging waters passed through the walls of the stables broken by Hercules, which instantly washed away all the impurities. Since then, the expression “Augean stables” has meant difficult circumstances, problematic and confusing, complete chaos in business. A dirty and cluttered room is also denoted by this phraseology.
The cleaning of the stables of Augeas is called the sixth labor of Hercules.
Achilles heel
The prophets destined for the ancient Greek hero Achilles a complex, tragic fate. He was faced with a choice: a calm, long, but inglorious life or heroic death at the very dawn of his strength during the Trojan War. Having heard a terrible legend, the concerned mother decided to make her son invulnerable. She bathed Achilles in the underground river Styx, the waters of which were considered sacred and could protect him from any harm. After the ritual, the hero gained invisible protection from any misfortunes. The only unprotected place on his body was the heel, by which the mother held the child when she dipped her into the river. The origin of the phraseological unit is associated with Achilles’ enemy Paris, who managed to direct an arrow at the heel, the weakest point of the fearless warrior. It was she who killed our hero. Thus, when talking about a person’s vulnerable spot, the popular expression “Achilles’ heel” is often mentioned.
“The Dying Achilles”, Ernst Herter, 1884, Corfu.
Apple of discord
We heard the story about a fruit that quarreled three powerful Goddesses back in school from the myths of Ancient Greece. The conflict between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite arose over a golden apple with the engraving “most beautiful”. This item was planted by the Goddess of Discord, Eris, who was offended by the lack of an invitation to the banquet. Not deciding which of the three contenders was the most beautiful, the Goddesses turned to Paris, the son of the King of Troy, who acted as a judge in a difficult dispute. He chose Aphrodite. As a token of gratitude, the Goddess of Love helped the hero get Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, which was the beginning of the Trojan War. Since that time, the cause of the conflict or a certain subject of dispute has been called a bone of contention. Phraseologism is often used to indicate a reason for a quarrel.
Painting by Jacob Jordaens "The Golden Apple of Rador", 1633
Ariadne's thread
The ancient Greek legend about Ariadne's love for Theseus explains to us the origin of this expression. On the island of Crete, ruled by the girl’s father Minos, in a dark cave with a labyrinth, lived the monster Minotaur. Every year, the inhabitants of the island were forced to give 7 young maidens and 7 young boys to be devoured by the monster. Theseus, who decided to put an end to the lawlessness of the Minotaur, was given a ball of thread by the lover Ariadne. The gift from Minos' daughter helped the brave man escape from the labyrinth and defeat the villain. Ariadne's thread became a salvation not only for Theseus, but also for all the islanders. When talking about a certain opportunity, a guiding thread that helps solve a difficult, confusing situation, this phrase is often used.
Phraseologisms from ancient Greek myths Phraseologism “The Work of Sisyphus” meaning - page No. 1/2
Nature. Borrowing in the 16th century from lat. language, where natura “nature” is suf. derived from natum “born” (from nascor “born”). Wed. nature.
“boat, shuttle”, Ukrainian kayuk. Borrowed from Tat., Tur., Crimean-Tat., Kazakh.
Scylla and Charybdis - in ancient Greek mythology, two monsters that lived on both sides of the narrow sea strait between Italy and Sicily and killed passing sailors. Scylla, who had six heads, grabbed oarsmen from passing ships, and Charybdis, who sucked water into herself from a great distance, swallowed the ship along with it.
Skilla (ancient Greek Σκύλλα, in Latin transliteration Scylla, lat. Scylla) and Charybdis (ancient Greek Χάρυβδις, the transcription of Charybdis is acceptable) are sea monsters from ancient Greek mythology.
Charybdis in the ancient Greek epic is a personified representation of the all-consuming abyss of the sea (etymologically, Charybdis means “whirlpool,” although there are other interpretations of this word). In the Odyssey, Charybdis is depicted as a sea deity (ancient Greek δία Χάρυβδις), living in a strait under a rock within an arrow's flight from another rock, which served as Scylla's seat.
The comparison of Skilla with Charybdis led to the formation of a proverb equivalent to the Russian “out of the frying pan and into the fire”:
Phraseologisms from ancient Greek myths
Phraseologism “Sisyphean labor” meaning
An ancient Greek myth tells of the cunning and treacherous Corinthian king Sisyphus, who deceived the gods several times in order to prolong his luxurious life on earth.
The angry Zeus sentenced him to eternal torment in hell for this: Sisyphus had to roll a huge stone up a high mountain, which at the top suddenly broke out of his hands and rolled down. And it all started all over again...
The expression of Sisyphean labor came to mean hard, exhausting, useless work.
Phraseologism “Apple of discord” meaning
According to ancient Greek myth, one day the goddess of discord, Eris, was not invited to a feast. Bearing a grudge, Eris decided to take revenge on the gods. She took the golden apple, on which was written “most beautiful,” and quietly threw it between the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athena. The goddesses argued over which of them should own it. Each considered herself the most beautiful. The son of the Trojan king Paris, who was invited to be a judge, gave the apple to Aphrodite, and in gratitude she helped him kidnap the wife of the Spartan king Helen. Because of this, the Trojan War broke out.
The expression apple of discord has turned into a phraseological unit denoting the cause of a quarrel or enmity
MEDUSA'S LOOK
If a person is unpleasant to communicate with and is not liked by others, then they are often said to have the look of Medusa.
Medusa Gorgon is a monster with snakes writhing on her head, and instead of feet there were copper hooves. If a person looked at her, he immediately turned into stone.
Perseus managed to defeat the monster. To kill Medusa, the hero had to show remarkable ingenuity: during the battle he used a shiny shield in which the Gorgon was reflected - so Perseus never looked at the monster. Then he cut off the head of the defeated Medusa and attached it to the shield. As it turned out, her gaze could still turn all living things into stone.
BARREL DANAID
A barrel of Danaids is meaningless, useless work.
As the ancient Greek legend says, a long time ago, King Danaus sat on the Libyan throne, who had fifty beautiful daughters. And the gods gave the Egyptian king of Egypt fifty sons, whom he planned to marry with the daughters of Danaus. But the Libyan king opposed the will of Egypt and fled with his daughters. In the Greek city of Argos, the sons overtook Danaus and forced his daughters to marry them. But Danaus did not want to put up with such an outcome and persuaded his daughters to kill the spouses after the wedding feast. All but one of the sisters fulfilled their father’s command. The beautiful Hypermnestra sincerely fell in love with the handsome Lynceus and could not take his life.
The crime committed by the Danaids angered the Gods, and they cruelly punished the offenders. In the terrible Tartarus, a terrible curse awaited them - the sisters are forever doomed to pour water into a bottomless barrel, trying to fill it.
ATTICA SALT
Attic salt - (book) - elegant joke, refined wit.
The reverse is a tracing paper from Lat. sal Atticus. The expression is attributed to the ancient Roman writer and orator Cicero (106 - 43 BC). In an effort to popularize Greek culture in Rome, Cicero devoted significant space in his writings to the theory of oratory developed by the Greeks. He especially singled out the inhabitants of Attica, famous for their eloquence. “They were all... sprinkled with the salt of wit...” wrote Cicero.
PROMETHEAN FIRE
Promethean fire - (book) the spirit of nobility, courage, unquenchable desire to achieve high goals.
The expression comes from ancient Greek mythology. One of the Titans, Prometheus, stole fire from the gods and taught people how to use it. An angry Zeus ordered Hephaestus to chain the titan to a rock, where an eagle flew every day to peck Prometheus’ liver. The hero Hercules freed Prometheus.
ARIADNE'S THREAD
Ariadne's thread means a way out of any difficult, confusing situation. The expression originated from the ancient Greek myth of the Golden Fleece, when Ariadne gave her lover a ball of thread so that he could find a way out of the labyrinth. Here you can download or listen to the MYTH "Theseus's Journey to Crete" - the source of the phraseological unit Ariadne's thread.
OLYMPIAN CALM
Olympic calm - imperturbable calm.
Olympus is a mountain in Greece where, as the Greek myths tell, the gods lived. For Sophocles, Aristotle, Virgil and other authors, Olympus is the firmament inhabited by the gods. The Olympians are immortal gods, always maintaining the majestic solemnity of their appearance and imperturbable calm of spirit.
TSAR! REMEMBER THE GREEKS
Tsar! Remember the Greeks. 1. Reminder of an urgent matter. 2. A reminder of the need for revenge.
The king of Persia (522-4X6 BC) Darius I ordered his slave to repeat these words loudly to him three times a day, every time Darius sat down at the table. As the ancient Greek historian Herodotus reports, this ruler thereby showed that he had not forgotten how the Greeks (Athenians and Ionians) captured and burned the Persian city of Sardis, and that he would certainly take revenge when possible.
PANDORA'S BOX
Pandora's Box. Allegorically - “a source of misfortune, trouble.” The phraseological unit is associated with the myth of Pandora, who received from the god Zeus a closed box filled with all earthly disasters and misfortunes. Curious Pandora opened the box and human misfortunes flew out.
PROCRUSTEAN BED
Procrustean bed. An allegorical expression is “a model given in advance, according to which something needs to be prepared.” One of the Greek myths tells about the robber Procrustes (torturer). He caught passers-by and forced them under his bed: if the person was longer, his legs were cut off, if he was shorter, they were stretched out.
GOLDEN FLEECE
Golden Fleece - gold, wealth that people strive to acquire.
Ancient Greek myths say that the hero Jason went to Colchis (the eastern coast of the Black Sea) to mine the golden fleece (golden wool of a ram), which was guarded by a dragon and bulls that spewed flames from their mouths. Jason built the ship "Argo" (fast), after which the participants in this, according to legend, the first long-distance voyage of antiquity were called Argonauts. With the help of the sorceress Medea, Jason, having overcome all obstacles, successfully took possession of the Golden Fleece. The first to expound this myth was the poet Pindar (518-442 BC).
RETURN TO YOUR PENATES
Return to your home - return under your native roof.
What does penates mean and why do they come back to them? The ancient Romans believed in kind, cozy gods who lived in every house and guarded it, kind of brownies. They were called penates, they were revered, they treated them to food from their table, and when leaving for a foreign land, they tried to take small images of them with them.
Remember "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin:
Returned to his penates,
Vladimir Lensky visited
The neighbor's monument is modest.
TWO-FACED JANUS
In Roman mythology, Janus - the god of time, entrances and exits - was depicted with two faces. One face, a young one, was turned forward to the future. Another, senile, - back to the past. In modern language it is used as a synonym for an insincere, two-faced person, a double-dealer.
GREEK GIFT
The gifts of the Danaans are insidious gifts brought with a treacherous purpose.
An expression from the Iliad: in the legend, the Greeks took Troy by building a huge wooden horse and giving it to the Trojans. A squad of warriors was hidden inside the horse.
PENELOPE'S FABRIC
Penelope's fabric is about sophisticated cunning.
Penelope, the wife of Odysseus (the hero of Homer's poem "The Odyssey"), promised to make a choice from among the suitors who annoyed her after she finished weaving a bedspread for her old father-in-law Laertes. But every night she unraveled everything she managed to do during the day. When her cunning was revealed, Odysseus returned and killed all the applicants for his wife’s hand in a fierce battle.
GOLDEN AGE
In ancient times, people believed that a long time ago, at the dawn of time, a wonderful golden age reigned on earth, when humanity enjoyed peace and serenity - people did not know what fear, wars, laws, crimes, hunger were.
And although these naive beliefs have long since sunk into oblivion, the golden age phraseology is still alive - this is what we call the best time, the heyday of something.
Here you can listen to or download the MYTH "FIVE CENTURIES"
CORNUCOPIA
The cornucopia is an endless source of prosperity and wealth.
An ancient Greek myth tells that the cruel god Kronos did not want to have children, because he was afraid that they would take away his power. Therefore, his wife gave birth to Zeus in secret, entrusting the nymphs to look after him. Zeus was fed with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. One day she caught herself on a tree and broke off her horn. The nymph filled it with fruits and gave it to Zeus. Zeus gave the horn to the nymphs who raised him, promising that whatever they desired would appear from it.
So the expression cornucopia became a symbol of prosperity and wealth.
Here you can listen to or download the MYTH "THE BIRTH OF ZEUS"
BONDS OF HYMENEUS
The bond of Hymen is the mutual obligations that living together imposes on spouses, or, simply, matrimony itself, marriage.
Bonds are fetters, something that binds a person or binds one living creature to another. There are many words of this root: “prisoner”, “knot”, “bridle”, “burden”, etc. Thus, we are talking about something like “bundles” or “chains”, but in Ancient Greece Hymen was the name of the god marriage, patron of weddings.
Evgeny Onegin in the novel by A. S. Pushkin says to Tatyana Larina:
You judge what kind of roses
Hymen will prepare for us... -
when it comes to their possible marriage.
Here you can download or listen to the MYTH "HYMENEUS"
TANTALUM FLOUR
Tantalum's torment, the torment of Tantalus - suffering from the consciousness of the proximity of the desired goal and the impossibility of achieving it. Here you can listen or download MYTH "TANTALUM"
AUGEAN STABLES
AUGEAN STABLES - a dirty place, a neglected business, a mess.
GORDIAN KNOT
Cutting the Gordian knot means boldly and energetically solving a difficult matter.
I CARRY EVERYTHING WITH ME
Everything that a person carries with him is his inner wealth, knowledge and intelligence.
PANIC FEAR (HORROR)
Panic fear is intense fear. Here you can listen or download the myth "PAN"
PLANT OF CHAMPIONSHIP
The palm is a symbol of victory, almost the same as a laurel wreath.
RIDING PEGASUS
Ride Pegasus - become a poet, speak in poetry
UNDER THE AEGIS
To be under the auspices - to enjoy someone's patronage, to be protected.
SWORD OF DAMOCLES
The sword of Damocles is a constant threat.
HOMERIC LAUGHTER (LAUGHTER)
Homeric laughter is uncontrollable laughter.
PILLARS OF HERCULES (PILLARS)
To say “reached the pillars of Hercules” means reached the extreme limit.
MENTOR TONE
“Mentor tone” - a mentoring, arrogant tone.
In Greek mythology, the Augean stables are the vast stables of Augeas, the king of Elis, which were not cleaned for many years. They were cleansed in one day by Hercules: he directed a river through the stables, the waters of which carried away all the manure.
2. Ariadne's thread is what helps to find a way out of a difficult situation.
The expression originated from the Greek myths about the hero Theseus, who killed the Minotaur. The Athenians were obliged, at the request of the Cretan king Minos, to send seven young men and seven girls to Crete every year to be devoured by the Minotaur, who lived in a labyrinth built for him, from which no one could escape. Theseus was helped to accomplish this dangerous feat by the daughter of the Cretan king, Ariadne, who fell in love with him. Secretly from her father, she gave him a sharp sword and a ball of thread. When Theseus and the young men and girls doomed to be torn to pieces were taken into the labyrinth, Theseus tied the end of a thread at the entrance and walked through the intricate passages, gradually unwinding the ball. Having killed the Minotaur, Theseus found the way back from the labyrinth along a thread and brought out all the doomed.
3. Achilles' heel is a weak spot.
In Greek mythology, Achilles (Achilles) is one of the strongest and bravest heroes. He is sung in Homer's Iliad. Achilles' mother, the sea goddess Thetis, dipped him into the sacred river Styx to make her son's body invulnerable. While dipping, she held him by the heel, which was not touched by the water, so the heel remained Achilles’s only vulnerable spot, where he was mortally wounded by Paris’s arrow.
4. Barrel Danaid - endless labor, fruitless work.
The Danaids are the fifty daughters of the king of Libya, Danaus, with whom his brother Egypt, the king of Egypt, was at enmity. The fifty sons of Egypt, pursuing Danaus, who fled from Libya to Argolis, forced the fugitive to give them his fifty daughters as wives. On their very first wedding night, the Danaids, at the request of their father, killed their husbands. Only one of them decided to disobey her father. For the crime committed, forty-nine Danaids were, after their death, condemned by the gods to forever fill a bottomless barrel with water in the underworld of Hades.
5. The Age of Astraea is a happy time, time.
Astraea is the goddess of justice. The time when she was on earth was a happy, “golden age.” She left the earth in the Iron Age and since then, under the name of Virgo, she has been shining in the constellation of the Zodiac.
6. Hercules. Herculean labor (feat). Pillars of Hercules (pillars).
Hercules (Hercules) is a hero of Greek myths, gifted with extraordinary physical strength. He performed the famous twelve labors. On the opposite shores of Europe and Africa, near the Strait of Gibraltar, he erected the “Pillars of Hercules (Pillars)”. This is how the rocks of Gibraltar and Jebel Musa were called in the ancient world. These pillars were considered the “edge of the world,” beyond which there is no way. Therefore, the expression “to reach the pillars of Hercules” began to be used in the meaning: to reach the limit of something, to the extreme point. The expression “Herculean labor, feat” is used when talking about any task that requires extraordinary effort.
7. Hercules at the crossroads. Applies to a person who finds it difficult to choose between two solutions.
The expression originated from the speech of the Greek sophist Prodicus. In this speech, Prodicus told an allegory he had composed about the young man Hercules (Hercules), who sat at a crossroads and reflected on the path of life that he had to choose. Two women approached him: Effeminacy, who painted him a life full of pleasures and luxury, and Virtue, who showed him the difficult path to glory.
8. Bonds (chains) Hymenia - marriage, matrimony.
In ancient Greece, the word “hymen” meant both a wedding song and the deity of marriage, sanctified by religion and law, in contrast to Eros, the god of free love.
9. Sword of Damocles - impending, threatening danger.
The expression originated from an ancient Greek legend told by Cicero in his essay “Tusculan Conversations”. Damocles, one of the close associates of the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius the Elder, began to enviously speak of him as the happiest of people. Dionysius, in order to teach the envious man a lesson, put him in his place. During the feast, Damocles saw a sharp sword hanging above his head from a horsehair. Dionysius explained that this is an emblem of the dangers to which he, as a ruler, is constantly exposed, despite his seemingly happy life.
10. Gifts of the Danaans - “insidious” gifts that bring with them death for those who receive them.
A Trojan horse is a secret, insidious plan (hence the Trojan virus (Trojan)).
The expressions originate from Greek tales of the Trojan War. The Danaans (Greeks), after a long and unsuccessful siege of Troy, resorted to cunning: they built a huge wooden horse, left it at the walls of Troy, and themselves pretended to sail away from the shore of the Troas. Priest Laocoon, seeing this horse and knowing the tricks of the Danaans, exclaimed: “Whatever it is, I am afraid of the Danaans, even those who bring gifts!” But the Trojans, not listening to the warnings of Laocoon and the prophetess Cassandra, dragged the horse into the city. At night, the Danaans, hiding inside the horse, came out, killed the guards, opened the city gates, let in their comrades who had returned on ships, and thus took possession of Troy.
11. Two-faced Janus is a two-faced person.
Janus is the god of every beginning and end, entrances and exits (janua - door). He was depicted with two faces facing in opposite directions: the young one - forward, to the future, the old one - back, to the past.
12. Golden Fleece - gold, wealth that people strive to acquire.
Argonauts are brave sailors and adventurers.
Jason went to Colchis (the eastern coast of the Black Sea) to mine the golden fleece (golden wool of a ram), which was guarded by a dragon and bulls that spewed flames from their mouths. Jason built the ship “Argo”, after which the participants in this, according to legend, the first long-distance voyage of antiquity were called the Argonauts. With the help of the sorceress Medea, Jason, having overcome all obstacles, successfully took possession of the Golden Fleece.
13. Sink into oblivion - disappear forever, be forgotten.
Lethe is the river of oblivion in Hades, the underworld. Upon arrival in the underworld, the souls of the dead drank water from it and forgot their entire past life. The name of the river became a symbol of oblivion.
14. Between Scylla and Charybdis - in a difficult situation, when danger threatens from two sides.
According to the legends of the ancient Greeks, two monsters lived on the coastal rocks on both sides of the strait: Scylla and Charybdis, who devoured sailors.
15. The torments of Tantalus - suffering due to unsatisfied desires.
Tantalus, king of Phrygia (also called king of Lydia), was the favorite of the gods, who often invited him to their feasts. But, proud of his position, he offended the gods, for which he was severely punished. According to Homer (“Odyssey”, II, 582-592), his punishment was that, thrown into Tartarus (hell), he forever experiences the unbearable pangs of thirst and hunger. He stands up to his neck in water, but the water recedes from him as soon as he lowers his head to drink. Branches with luxurious fruits hang over him, but as soon as he stretches out his hands to them, the branches deviate.
16. A narcissist is a person who loves only himself.
Narcissus is a handsome young man, the son of the river god Cephisus and the nymph Leiriope. One day Narcissus, who had never loved anyone, bent over a stream and, seeing his face in it, fell in love with himself and died of melancholy. His body turned into a flower.
17. Nectar and ambrosia - an unusually tasty drink, an exquisite dish.
In Greek mythology, nectar is a drink, ambrosia (ambrosia) is the food of the gods, giving them immortality.
18. Olympians are arrogant, inaccessible people.
Olympic bliss is the highest degree of bliss.
Olympic calm - calm, undisturbed by anything.
Olympic greatness is solemnity with manners.
Olympus is a mountain in Greece, where, as told in Greek myths, the immortal gods lived.
19. Panic fear is a sudden, strong fear that causes confusion.
It arose from the myths about Pan, the god of forests and fields. According to myths, Pan brings sudden and unaccountable terror to people, especially to travelers in remote and secluded places, as well as to troops who flee from this. This is where the word “panic” comes from.
20. Pygmalion and Galatea - about passionate love without reciprocity.
The myth about the famous sculptor Pygmalion says that he openly expressed his contempt for women. The goddess Aphrodite, angered by this, forced him to fall in love with the statue of the young girl Galatea, which he himself created, and doomed him to the torment of unrequited love. Pygmalion's passion, however, turned out to be so strong that it breathed life into the statue. The revived Galatea became his wife.
21. Promethean fire is a sacred fire burning in the human soul; unquenchable desire to achieve high goals.
Prometheus is one of the Titans. He stole fire from the sky and taught people how to use it, which undermined faith in the power of the gods. For this, the angry Zeus ordered Hephaestus (the god of fire and blacksmithing) to chain Prometheus to a rock. The eagle that flew in every day tore at the liver of the chained titan.
22. Penelope’s work is a never-ending job (wife’s fidelity).
The expression originated from Homer's Odyssey. Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, remained faithful to him during his many years of separation, despite the advances of her suitors. She said that she was postponing a new marriage until the day when she finished weaving a coffin cover for her father-in-law, the elder Laertes. She spent the whole day weaving, and at night she unraveled everything she had woven during the day and set to work again.
23. Sphinx riddle - something unsolvable.
The Sphinx is a monster with the face and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird, who lived on a rock near Thebes. The Sphinx lay in wait for travelers and asked them riddles. He killed those who failed to solve them. When the Theban king Oedipus solved the riddles given to him, the monster took his own life.
24. Sisyphean labor is endless, ethereal (useless) work.
The Corinthian king Sisyphus, for insulting the gods, was sentenced by Zeus to eternal torment in Hades: he had to roll a huge stone up a mountain, which, having reached the top, rolled down again.
25. Circe is a dangerous beauty, an insidious seductress.
Circe (Latin form; Greek Kirke) - according to Homer, an insidious sorceress. With the help of a magic drink, she turned Odysseus's companions into pigs. Odysseus, to whom Hermes gave a magical plant, defeated her spell, and she invited him to share her love. Having forced Circe to swear that she was not plotting anything bad against him and would return his companions to human form, Odysseus bowed to her proposal.
26. An apple of discord is the cause of a dispute, enmity.
The goddess of discord, Eris, rolled a golden apple with the inscription: “To the most beautiful” between the guests at the wedding feast. Among the guests were the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, who argued about which of them should receive the apple. Their dispute was resolved by Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, by awarding the apple to Aphrodite. In gratitude, Aphrodite helped Paris kidnap Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, which caused the Trojan War.
27. Pandora's Box is a source of misfortune, great disasters.
Once upon a time, people lived without knowing any misfortunes, illnesses or old age, until Prometheus stole fire from the gods. For this, an angry Zeus sent a beautiful woman to earth - Pandora. She received from Zeus a casket in which all human misfortunes were locked. Spurred on by curiosity, Pandora opened the casket and scattered all the misfortunes.
28. Golden shower - big money or easily obtained wealth.
This image arose from the Greek myth of Zeus, who, captivated by the beauty of Danae, the daughter of the Argive king Acrisius, appeared to her in the form of golden rain, after which her son Perseus was born.
29. Cyclops - one-eyed
Cyclops are one-eyed giant blacksmiths, strongmen, cannibals, cruel and rude, living in caves on the tops of mountains, engaged in cattle breeding. The Cyclopes were credited with building gigantic structures.
WORKS
A.S. Pushkin
PROPHET
We are tormented by spiritual thirst,
In the dark desert I dragged myself, -
And the six-winged seraph
He appeared to me at a crossroads.
With fingers as light as a dream
He touched my eyes.
The prophetic eyes have opened,
Like a frightened eagle.
He touched my ears,
And they were filled with noise and ringing:
And I heard the sky tremble,
And the heavenly flight of angels,
And the reptile of the sea underwater,
And the valley of the vine is vegetated.
And he came to my lips,
And my sinner tore out my tongue,
And idle and crafty,
And the sting of the wise snake
My frozen lips
He put it with his bloody right hand.
And he cut my chest with a sword,
And he took out my trembling heart,
And coal blazing with fire,
I pushed the hole into my chest.
I lay like a corpse in the desert,
And God’s voice called to me:
"Rise up, prophet, and see and listen,
Be fulfilled by my will,
And, bypassing the seas and lands,
Burn the hearts of people with the verb."
Notes
* Prophet (p. 149). In the image of the prophet, as in “Imitations of the Koran” (see above), Pushkin understood the poet. The picture depicted by Pushkin, in several small details, goes back to the VI chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Bible (six-winged Seraphim with a burning coal in his hand).
The poem was originally part of a cycle of four poems, entitled “The Prophet,” with anti-government content, dedicated to the events of December 14. M.P. Pogodin explained to P.A. Vyazemsky in a letter dated March 29, 1837: “He wrote “The Prophet” while traveling to Moscow in 1826. There should be four poems, the first one has just been published (“We are tormented by spiritual thirst, etc.”) "("Links", VI, 1936, p. 153). The remaining three poems were destroyed and did not reach us.
The version of the first verse of the “Prophet” - “We are tormented by great sorrow”, available in Pushkin’s recording, apparently refers to the original edition of the famous text.
Six-winged seraph- In Christian mythology, seraphim were angels who were especially close to God and glorified him.
Finger- finger
Zenitsa- Pupil, eye.
Opened up– opened
Prophetic- Foreseeing the future, prophetic
Gorny(flight) - Located in the heights.
Vegetation– growth
Right hand- right hand, sometimes even a hand
Vizhd- Look
Listen up- Listen to someone or something, pay attention to someone or something.
Theme of the poem:
The poem was written in 1826. This multidimensional poetic work belongs to a series of poems, the key themes of which are the problem of the poet’s spiritual realization and the problem of the essence of poetry.
Composition and plot:
In the compositional aspect, it seems possible to divide the text into three equal parts. The first characterizes the place and time of the action (it consists of four verses). To some extent, the initial formula of the poem echoes the opening part of Dante's Divine Comedy. The “six-winged seraphim,” an angel especially close to the throne of God and glorifying it, indicates immersion in the Old Testament space; he is a hero “at a crossroads,” which also emphasizes the sacredness and universality of the issues under consideration. According to the Old Testament ideas described in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, one of the seraphim cleanses the prophet’s lips by touching them with a hot coal, which he takes with tongs from the sacred altar, thereby preparing him for the fulfillment of the mission of ministry. The theme of fire receives large-scale development in the poem at the compositional and lexical-semantic levels; the internal form of the word “seraphim” (translated from Hebrew as “fiery”, “flaming”) also actualizes the concept: in the word one can distinguish the producing root srp “to burn”, “to burn”, “to scorch”. The second part of the poem takes twenty lines and is dedicated to the transformation of a person into a Prophet. Its unity and internal correlation are actualized by a special mechanism of poetic expressiveness: a complex sound anaphora with “and”. The final part consists of six lines and expresses the idea of prophetic ministry; in it, the voice of God, calling out to the lyrical hero, sums up the completed reincarnation. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter with periodic significant interruptions in the form of spondees and pyrrhics, with paired, cross and span rhymes with masculine and feminine rhymes; at the rhythmic-metric level, the key idea of the poem is also reflected.
Lermontov "Duma"
I look sadly at our generation!
His future is either empty or dark,
Meanwhile, under the burden of knowledge and doubt,
It will grow old in inactivity.
We are rich, barely out of the cradle,
By the mistakes of our fathers and their late minds,
And life already torments us, like a smooth path without a goal,
Like a feast at someone else's holiday.
Shamefully indifferent to good and evil,
At the beginning of the race we wither without a fight;
In the face of danger they are shamefully cowardly
And before the authorities - despicable slaves.
So skinny fruit, ripe before its time,
It pleases neither our taste nor our eyes,
Hanging between the flowers, an orphaned alien,
And the hour of their beauty is the hour of his fall!
We have dried up the mind with fruitless science,
I feel envious from my neighbors and friends
Passions ridiculed by disbelief.
We barely touched the cup of pleasure,
But we did not save our youthful strength;
From every joy, fearing satiety,
We have extracted the best juice forever.
Dreams of poetry, creation of art
Our minds are not moved by sweet delight;
We greedily cherish the remainder of the feeling in our chests -
Buried by stinginess and useless treasure.
And we hate and we love by chance,
Without sacrificing anything, neither anger nor love,
And some secret cold reigns in the soul,
When fire boils in the blood.
And the luxurious amusements of our ancestors are boring to us,
Their conscientious, childish depravity;
And we rush to the grave without happiness and without glory,
Looking back mockingly.
We will pass over the world without noise or trace,
Not the genius of the work begun.
And our ashes, with the severity of a judge and a citizen,
A descendant will insult with a contemptuous verse,
The bitter mockery of a deceived son
Over the wasted father.
The poem “Duma” in its genre is the same elegy-satire as “Death of a Poet”. Only the satire here is directed not at court society, but at the bulk of the noble intelligentsia of the 30s.
The main theme of the poem is human social behavior. The topic is revealed in Lermontov’s Characteristics of the Generation of the 30s. This generation, which grew up in conditions of gloomy reaction, is not at all the same as it was in the 10-20s, not the generation of the “fathers,” i.e., the Decembrists. The socio-political struggle of the Decembrists is considered by them as a “mistake” (“We are rich, barely from the cradle, by the mistakes of our fathers...”). The new generation has withdrawn from participation in public life and delved into the pursuit of “sterile science”; it is not bothered by questions of good and evil; it shows “shameful cowardice in the face of danger” and is “despicable slaves in front of power.” Neither poetry nor art says anything to these people. Their fate is bleak:
Crowd gloomy and soon forgotten
We will pass over the world without noise or trace,
Without giving up the centuries a single fertile thought,
Not the genius of the work begun.
Such a harsh assessment by Lermontov of his contemporaries was dictated by his social views as a progressive poet. For him, who as a young man declared: “So life is boring when there is no struggle,” an indifferent attitude towards the evil reigning in life is especially unacceptable. Indifference to public life is the spiritual death of a person.
Severely condemning his generation for this indifference, for its retreat from the socio-political struggle, Lermontov seems to be calling him to moral renewal, to awakening from spiritual hibernation. Lermontov, acting as an accuser, in this echoes Ryleev, who with the same denunciation addressed his contemporaries evading political struggle in the poem “Citizen.”
How fair and accurate was the characterization of the generation of the 30s given by Lermontov in the Duma is best shown by the testimonies of his contemporaries, Belinsky and Herzen, who deeply felt the horror of their era. Belinsky wrote about “Duma”: “These poems were written in blood; they came out of the depths of an offended spirit. This is a cry, this is a groan of a person for whom the absence of inner life is an evil, a thousand times more terrible than physical death!
apathy, inner emptiness and will not respond to him with a cry, with his groan? And Herzen spoke about this era: “Will future people understand, will they appreciate all the horror, all the tragic side of our existence?.. Will they understand... why we don’t raise our hands to great work, why in a moment of delight we don’t forget the melancholy?”
Griboyedov "Woe from Wit"
“Woe from Wit” - a comedy in verse by A. S. Griboyedov - a work that made its creator a classic of Russian literature. It combines elements of classicism and romanticism and realism, which were new to the early 19th century.
The comedy “Woe from Wit” - a satire on the aristocratic Moscow society of the first half of the 19th century - is one of the peaks of Russian drama and poetry; actually completed “comedy in verse” as a genre. The aphoristic style contributed to the fact that she “went into quotations.”
Text history:
Around 1816, Griboyedov, having returned from abroad, found himself in St. Petersburg at one of the social evenings and was amazed at how the entire public admired everything foreign. That evening she showered attention and care on a talkative Frenchman; Griboyedov could not stand it and made a fiery incriminating speech. While he was speaking, someone from the audience declared that Griboedov was crazy, and thus spread the rumor throughout St. Petersburg. Griboedov, in order to take revenge on secular society, decided to write a comedy on this occasion.
Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
“The Thunderstorm” - a play in five acts by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky
History of creation
The play was begun by Alexander Ostrovsky in July and completed on October 9, 1859. The manuscript is stored in the Russian State Library.
The writing of the play “The Thunderstorm” is also associated with the writer’s personal drama. In the manuscript of the play, next to Katerina’s famous monologue: “And what dreams I had, Varenka, what dreams! Or golden temples, or some extraordinary gardens, and everyone is singing invisible voices...”, there is Ostrovsky’s entry: “I heard from L.P. about the same dream...”. L.P. is the actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, with whom the young playwright had a very difficult personal relationship: both had families. The actress's husband was the artist of the Maly Theater I. M. Nikulin. And Alexander Nikolaevich also had a family: he lived in a civil marriage with the commoner Agafya Ivanovna, with whom he had common children (all of them died as children). Ostrovsky lived with Agafya Ivanovna for almost twenty years.
It was Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya who served as the prototype for the image of the heroine of the play, Katerina, and she also became the first performer of the role.
Alexander Golovin. Bank of the Volga. 1916 Sketches of the scenery for A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm”
In 1848, Alexander Ostrovsky went with his family to Kostroma, to the Shchelykovo estate. The natural beauty of the Volga region struck the playwright, and then he thought about the play. For a long time it was believed that the plot of the drama “The Thunderstorm” was taken by Ostrovsky from the life of the Kostroma merchants. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kostroma residents could accurately indicate the place of Katerina’s suicide.
In his play, Ostrovsky raises the problem of the turning point in social life that occurred in the 1850s, the problem of changing social foundations.
The names of the characters in the play are endowed with symbolism: Kabanova is an overweight woman with a difficult character; Kuligin is a “kuliga”, a swamp, some of its features and name are similar to the name of the inventor Kulibin; the name Katerina means “pure”; opposed to her is Varvara - “barbarian”.
In the play “The Thunderstorm,” the writer characterized the state of provincial society in Russia on the eve of reforms. The playwright examines such issues as the position of women in the family, the modernity of “Domostroy”, the awakening in a person of a sense of personality and self-worth, the relationship between the “old”, oppressive, and the “young”, voiceless.
The main idea of “The Thunderstorm” is that a strong, gifted and courageous person with natural aspirations and desires cannot live happily in a society where “cruel morals” prevail, where “Domostroy” reigns, where everything is based on fear, deception and submission .
The name “Thunderstorm” can be viewed from several perspectives. A thunderstorm is a natural phenomenon, and nature plays an important role in the composition of the play. So, it complements the action, emphasizes the main idea, the essence of what is happening. For example, a beautiful night landscape corresponds to a date between Katerina and Boris. The vastness of the Volga emphasizes Katerina’s dreams of freedom; a picture of cruel nature is revealed when describing the suicide of the main character. Then nature contributes to the development of action, pushes events, as it were, stimulates the development and resolution of the conflict. Thus, in the thunderstorm scene, the elements prompt Katerina to publicly repent.
So, the title “The Thunderstorm” emphasizes the main idea of the play: the self-esteem awakening in people; the desire for freedom and independence begins to threaten the existence of the old order.
The world of Kabanikha and the Wild One is coming to an end, because a “ray of light” has appeared in the “dark kingdom” - Katerina - a woman who cannot put up with the oppressive atmosphere reigning in the family and in the city. Her protest was expressed in her love for Boris, in her unauthorized death. Katerina preferred death to existence in a world where she was “sick of everything.” She is the first lightning of the storm that will soon break out in society. Clouds have been gathering over the “old” world for a long time. Domostroy has lost its original meaning. Kabanikha and Dikoy use his ideas only to justify their tyranny and tyranny. They were unable to convey to their children true faith in the inviolability of their rules of life. Young people live according to the laws of their fathers as long as they can achieve a compromise through deception. When oppression becomes unbearable, when deception only partially saves, then protest begins to awaken in a person, it develops and is capable of breaking out at any moment.
Katerina's suicide awakened the man in Tikhon. He saw that there is always a way out of this situation, and he, the most weak-willed of all the characters described by Ostrovsky, who unquestioningly obeyed his mother all his life, blames her for the death of his wife in public. If Tikhon is already able to declare his protest, then the “dark kingdom” really does not have long to exist.
The thunderstorm is also a symbol of renewal. In nature, after a thunderstorm, the air is fresh and clean. In society, after the storm that began with Katerina’s protest, there will also be a renewal: the oppressive and subjugating orders will probably be replaced by a society of freedom and independence.
But a thunderstorm occurs not only in nature, but also in Katerina’s soul. She committed a sin and repents of it. Two feelings are fighting in her: fear of Kabanikha and fear that “death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins...” In the end, religiosity and fear of retribution for sin prevail, and Katerina publicly admits to what she has done sin. None of the residents of Kalinov can understand her: these people, like Katerina, do not have a rich spiritual world and high moral values; they do not feel remorse, because their morality is that everything is “sewn and covered.” However, recognition does not bring relief to Katerina. As long as she believes in Boris's love, she is able to live. But, realizing that Boris is no better than Tikhon, that she is still alone in this world, where she is “sick of everything,” she finds no other way out but to throw herself into the Volga. Katerina broke religious law for the sake of freedom. The thunderstorm ends with renewal in her soul. The young woman was completely freed from the shackles of the Kalinov world and religion.
Thus, the thunderstorm occurring in the soul of the main character turns into a thunderstorm in society itself, and the whole action takes place against the backdrop of the elements.
Using the image of a thunderstorm, Ostrovsky showed that a society that has become obsolete, based on deception, and the old order, depriving a person of the opportunity to express the highest feelings, are doomed to destruction. This is as natural as the purification of nature through a thunderstorm. Thus, Ostrovsky expressed the hope that renewal in society would come as soon as possible.
Goncharov "Oblomov"
History of creation
The novel was conceived in 1847 and was written over 10 years. In 1849, the chapter “Oblomov’s Dream” was published as an independent work in the almanac “Literary Collection with Illustrations” at Sovremennik.
Work on the novel proceeded slowly; at the end of the 40s, Goncharov wrote to the publisher A. A. Kraevsky:
“Having read what was written carefully, I saw that all this had gone to the extreme, that I had taken up the subject in the wrong way, that one thing needed to be changed, another should be released<...>The thing is being developed in my head slowly and heavily.”
The entire novel “Oblomov” was first published only in 1859 in the first four issues of the journal “Otechestvennye zapiski”. The beginning of work on the novel dates back to an earlier period. In 1849, one of the central chapters of “Oblomov” was published - “Oblomov’s Dream”, which the author himself called “the overture of the entire novel.” The author asks the question: what is “Oblomovism” - a “golden age” or death, stagnation? In “The Dream...” the motifs of staticity and immobility, stagnation prevail, but at the same time one can feel the author’s sympathy, good-natured humor, and not just satirical negation. As Goncharov later claimed, in 1849 the plan for the novel “Oblomov” was ready and the draft version of its first part was completed. “Soon,” wrote Goncharov, “after the publication of Ordinary History in 1847 in Sovremennik, I already had Oblomov’s plan ready in my mind.” In the summer of 1849, when “Oblomov’s Dream” was ready, Goncharov made a trip to his homeland, to Simbirsk, whose life retained the imprint of patriarchal antiquity. In this small town, the writer saw many examples of the “sleep” that the inhabitants of his fictional Oblomovka slept. Work on the novel was interrupted due to Goncharov's trip around the world on the frigate Pallada. Only in the summer of 1857, after the publication of the travel essays “Frigate “Pallada””, Goncharov continued work on “Oblomov”. In the summer of 1857, he went to the resort of Marienbad, where within a few weeks he completed three parts of the novel. In August of the same year, Goncharov began working on the last, fourth, part of the novel, the final chapters of which were written in 1858. However, while preparing the novel for publication, Goncharov rewrote Oblomov in 1858, adding new scenes, and made some cuts. Having completed work on the novel, Goncharov said: “I wrote my life and what grows into it.”
Goncharov admitted that the idea of Oblomov was influenced by Belinsky’s ideas. The most important circumstance that influenced the concept of the work is considered to be Belinsky’s speech on Goncharov’s first novel, “An Ordinary Story.” The image of Oblomov also contains autobiographical features. By Goncharov’s own admission, he himself was a sybarite, he loved serene peace, which gives rise to creativity.
Published in 1859, the novel was hailed as a major social event. The Pravda newspaper, in an article dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Goncharov’s birth, wrote: “Oblomov appeared in an era of public excitement, several years before the peasant reform, and was perceived as a call to fight against inertia and stagnation.” Immediately after its publication, the novel became the subject of discussion in criticism and among writers.
I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is one of the most popular classic works. Since the critic Pisarev declared upon the release of the novel that it “in all likelihood will constitute an era in the history of Russian literature,” and prophesied a common noun for the types introduced in it, there is not a single literate Russian who does not know at least approximately that such Oblomovism. The novel was lucky: a month after its appearance, it found not just an intelligent reviewer, but also a serious interpreter in the person of Dobrolyubov; Moreover, the author himself, far from the views and especially the practice of revolutionary democracy, and also an extremely jealous and suspicious person, completely agreed with Dobrolyubov’s article “What is Oblomovism?”
“The impression that this novel made in Russia by its appearance cannot be described,” recalled Prince P. Kropotkin forty years later. “All of educated Russia read “Oblomov” and discussed Oblomovism.
The study of Oblomovism in all its manifestations made Goncharov’s novel immortal. The main character is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, a hereditary nobleman, a smart, intelligent young man who received a good education and dreamed in his youth of selfless service to Russia. Goncharov gives the following description of his appearance: “He was a man of average height, pleasant appearance, with dark gray eyes, but with the absence of any definite idea.” By character, Ilya Ilyich is honest, kind and meek. His childhood friend, Andrei Stolts, says about him: “This is a crystal, transparent soul.” But all these positive character traits are contrasted with such qualities as lack of will and laziness.
To understand the reasons for the emergence of such a phenomenon as Oblomovism, you need to remember “Oblomov’s Dream”. In it, Ilya Ilyich sees his parents, his family estate and its entire way of life. It was a way of life that did not change for decades; everything seemed to have frozen, fallen asleep in this estate; life went slowly, measuredly, lazily and sleepily. Nothing disturbed Oblomov’s life. When describing the life of a landowner’s estate, Goncharov often uses the words “silence”, “stagnation”, “peace”, “sleep”, “silence”. They very accurately convey the very atmosphere of the house, where life proceeded without change and excitement from breakfast to lunch, from afternoon nap to evening tea, from dinner - again until the morning, where the most memorable event was how Luka Savelich unsuccessfully slid down a hill in winter on a sled and hurt his forehead. We can say that the life of the Oblomovites was defined by one word - “stagnation”, it was the typical existence of a Russian provincial landowner’s estate, and Goncharov did not invent it: he himself grew up in such a family.
And little Ilyusha Oblomov was brought up by the very atmosphere of this house, the very life of Oblomovka. As N.A. Dobrolyubov very precisely defined in the article “What is Oblomovism?”, Ilya Ilyich was brought up not just as a nobleman, but as a Russian gentleman who “doesn’t need to fuss every day, doesn’t need to work for the sake of his daily bread.” Ilya Oblomov should be considered as a unique result of the upbringing of many generations of Oblomovs, as a product of the “petrified kingdom” of Russian life itself. This upbringing and this way of life killed everything living, everything immediate, accustoming a person to sleepy idleness; Moreover, they had the same effect on both the master and the servant. In this sense, the image of Oblomov’s servant, Zakhara, is very important. Ilya Ilyich says, turning to him: “Yes, brother, you are an even greater Oblomov than I am!” This is a very accurate remark; Zakhar is like “Oblomov squared”: all the worst qualities of Oblomov are brought to caricature proportions by Zakhar.
Oblomov’s life is devoid of aspirations for any changes; on the contrary, most of all he values solitude and peace. Oblomov gradually breaks ties, first with the service, and then with the entire outside world, with society. A robe, shoes and a sofa are what contribute to the young man’s immersion in complete apathy. Goncharov makes it clear to us that this man is dying morally by describing Oblomov’s life: “A cobweb, saturated with dust, was clinging to the glass; mirrors... could serve as tablets for writing notes on them in the dust for memory”; “Lying with Ilya Ilyich was his normal state.”
Dobrolyubov, and after him other critics, were amazed at the skill of the writer, who structured the novel in such a way that nothing seems to happen in it, and there is no external movement at all, or rather, the usual “romantic” dynamics, but unremitting interest remains. The fact is that under the outer inactivity of the hero, under the leisurely and detailed descriptions, intense internal action lurks. Its driving force turns out to be Oblomov’s stubborn struggle with the life that surrounds him, flowing in from all sides - a struggle that is outwardly inconspicuous, sometimes almost invisible, but that is no less fierce.
On the contrary, bitterness only increases due to the fact that vain, in some of its manifestations, life moves slowly and steadily, crushing everything that is hostile and hostile to it: progress crushes Oblomovism, which is represented in the novel by all kinds of inertia.
The meek Ilya Ilyich desperately and to the end fights off the invasion of life, from its great demands, from labor and from the small pricks of the “malice of the day.” Being wrong in his resistance to civic duty, he sometimes turns out to be higher and more right than the vain claims of the then existence. And, without throwing off his robe, without leaving Oblomov’s famous sofa, he sometimes delivers well-aimed blows to the enemy who burst into him and disturbed his peace.
Goncharov introduces the reader into the atmosphere of this struggle from the very beginning, immediately outlining the contradictions of the passive, although in its own way, militant position of the hero. “Oh, my God! Life touches you, it reaches you everywhere,” Oblomov yearns.
The morning visits to the hero, with which the novel begins, are a whole gallery of types, characteristic masks; some of them then no longer appear in the novel. Here is an empty dandy, a careerist official, and an accusatory writer. The masks are different, but the essence is the same: empty vanity, deceptive activity. It is precisely thanks to the “bringing out” of such “heterogeneous individuals” that the idea about the illusory intensity of the existence of “business” people, the fullness of their lives, becomes fuller and more expressive.
It is no wonder that Oblomov is far from the interests of practical life, is burdened by its demands, and is not able to protect even his own interests. When, taking advantage of his gullibility, the swindler and blackmailer asks Oblomov about the state of his affairs, Oblomov gives an answer that is stunning in its frankness. “Listen...Listen,” he repeated deliberately, almost in a whisper, “I don’t know what corvée is, what rural labor is, what a poor man means, what a rich man means; I don’t know what a quarter of rye or oats means, what it costs, in what month, and what they sow and reap, how and when they sell it; I don’t know whether I’m rich or poor, whether I’ll be full in a year or whether I’ll be a beggar - I don’t know anything! - he concluded with despondency...” This detail is noteworthy - Oblomov makes his confession “almost in a whisper.” Perhaps for the first time, all the tragedy and helplessness of his situation appeared before him. And despite this awareness, Oblomov’s death is inevitable.
Goncharov is stern and adamant in analyzing the fate of his hero, although the writer does not gloss over his good qualities. “It started with the inability to put on stockings and ended with the inability to live.”
Oblomovism is not only Ilya Ilyich Oblomov himself. This is the fortress Oblomovka, where the hero began his life and was raised; this is “Vyborg Oblomovka” in the house of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, where Oblomov ended his inglorious career; this is the serf Zakhar, with his slavish devotion to the master, and a host of swindlers, crooks, hunters of other people's pie (Tarantyev, Ivan Matveevich, Zaterty), scurrying around Oblomov and his gratuitous income. The serf system, which gave rise to such phenomena, spoke with all its content in Goncharov’s novel, was doomed to destruction, its destruction became an urgent requirement of the era.
She could not awaken Oblomov’s interest in life and the love of the beautiful girl, Olga Ilyinskaya. “The Poem of Love” with its passions, ups and downs seems to the hero “a very difficult school of life.” Oblomov is afraid of those high qualities of the soul that he must possess in order to become worthy of a girl’s love. Olga, trying in vain to save her lover, asks him: “What ruined you? There is no name for this evil...” - “There is... Oblomovism,” answers Ilya Ilyich. Oblomov is much more satisfied with another version of the relationship. He finds his “ideal” in the person of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsa, who, without demanding anything from the object of her love, tries to indulge him in everything.
But why does one of the best people in the novel, morally pure, honest, kind, warm-hearted Oblomov, die morally? What is the cause of this tragedy? Goncharov, condemning Oblomov’s lifestyle, his laziness, lack of will, inability to carry out practical activities, sees the reasons that gave rise to the phenomenon of Oblomovism in the conditions of Russian local life, which allowed the landowner not to worry about his daily bread. According to Dobrolyubov, “Oblomov is not a stupid, apathetic nature, without aspirations and feelings, but a person who is also looking for something in his life, thinking about something. But the vile habit of receiving satisfaction of his desires not from his own efforts, but from others, developed in him an apathetic immobility and plunged him into the pitiful state of a moral slave.” This is the essence of Oblomov’s tragedy.
But condemning Oblomov’s laziness and apathy, Goncharov has an ambivalent attitude towards another hero, Andrei Stolts, who would seem ideally positive, and does not consider his path of personality development more suitable for Russia. Unlike Oblomov, a warm-hearted man, the author describes Stolz to us as a kind of mechanism. His ideal, which nothing prevented from being realized, is the achievement of material wealth, comfort, and personal well-being. A.P. Chekhov wrote about him: “Stolz does not inspire me with any confidence. The author says that he is a magnificent fellow, but I don’t believe him... He is half composed, three-quarters stilted.”
Perhaps the origins of the tragedies of both heroes lie in their upbringing. The reason for Stolz’s unnaturalness is his “correct”, rational, burgher upbringing.
The Oblomovs are the keepers of ancient traditions. This Oblomov utopia about man coexisting harmoniously with nature was passed down from generation to generation. But the author shows the backwardness of patriarchy, the almost fabulous impossibility of such an existence in his contemporary world. Oblomov's dream collapses under the pressure of civilization.
In his rebuke to Zakhar about the lifestyle of “others,” Oblomov looks almost like the personification of the typical psychology of a slave owner, confident in his right to do nothing and only consume the goods of life. But Zakhar, crushed by the master’s “pathetic” words, left, and Oblomov, alone with himself, is already seriously comparing himself with “others” and thinking completely the opposite of what he was explaining with pathos to the old guy. And the “painful consciousness” of the truth almost leads him to that terrible word, which, “like a brand, imprinted his life and the true values of the spirit. Oblomov hid so diligently from life that secret pure gold turns into obvious evil for those who depend on it . Touching in his slavish devotion, but completely corrupted, exhausted by idleness, Zakhar dies. The remaining three hundred Zakhars, invisible in the novel, suffer, ruined by swindlers and “honest figures.”
Life like a dream and a dream like death - this is the fate of the main character of the novel.
Oblomov’s “pigeon soul” resolutely denies the world of false activity, hostile to man, life, nature - first of all, the world of active bourgeois affairs, the world of all predation and meanness. But this soul itself, as Goncharov shows, in its weakness acts as an element hostile to life. In this contradiction lies the real immortality of Oblomov’s tragic image.
Dobrolyubov showed with all his might the typicality of Oblomov not only for conservative, but also for liberal Russia. According to the correct remark of P. A. Kropotkin, “Oblomov’s type is not at all limited to the borders of Russia alone: ... Oblomovism exists on both continents and at all latitudes.” This was also recognized by Western European critics. The translator of Goncharov’s works into Danish, P. Ganzen, wrote to him: “Not only at Aduev and Raisky, but even in Oblomov, I found so many things familiar and old, so much dear. Yes, there is nothing to hide, and in our dear Denmark there is a lot of Oblomovism.
The concept of “Oblomovism” has become a common noun to denote all kinds of inertia, inertia and stagnation.
