THE EXCESSIVE INGENUITY OF CHATSKI. THE ABSENCE OF THE CHARACTER FROM “HERE“ AND “NOW”

Abstract

The present paper addresses the topic of social typification and the nature of the so-called Griboedov’s characters. The main conflict in Alexander Sergeevich Griboedov’s comedy Woe from Wit consists in the clash between the individual and society. The aim of the research is to rationalize the psychological absence of the central character in the play – Alexander Andreevich Chatsky, as an escape from reality as it is in the image of “Famus Moscow”. He is surrounded by many characters, but is absent from their spiritless space. Griboyedov's goal is not to ridicule the vices and eccentricities of a character, but to create a comedy that exposes the secular society as a whole. This is a new type of public comedy, and its central character is a representative of a new progressive beginning. The environment with which the hero struggles is not only incapable of understanding him: it is unable to take him seriously.