The speech characteristic of the heroes of the play by M. Gorky “Children of the Sun. Speech characteristic

Stage, theatrical art is built on man and on the word, and in comedy and drama the word has a much more weighty and impressive meaning than in the novel, in the story.
M. Gorky

Gorky's statement in the epigraph indicates his attitude to the language dramatic works. Comparing the writer's work on the novel and the play, Gorky noted that, “when composing a novel, the writer uses two tricks: dialogue and description. The playwright uses only dialogue. He, so to speak, works with a bare word ... ".
Indeed, in any work of art (except for a dramatic one) you can find a portrait description of the characters and their characters, landscape sketches and various discussions of the author on a particular topic. In the dramatic work there is nothing but replicas of the characters and short author's remarks. But the remarks serve only to explain the situation to the reader or actor, therefore the main semantic load of the work is contained in the monologues and dialogues of the characters. It is from them that we can make a portrait of heroes, learn about their characters and actions, understand the author’s attitude to his heroes and to the events underlying the work, that is, to reveal the main ideological content of the play.
Gorky said that, starting to write, he first of all sees a person, his thoughts, his speech. And in confirmation of this, Gorky talked about how the idea of \u200b\u200bwriting the play “Children of the Sun” arose. This play was written under the influence of a statement by the young talented physicist Lebedev: “Chemistry is the key to the secrets of life”.
What are speech features   of this play? What sound did the phrase Gorky hear in the play? How does the speech of the characters reveal their characters and even create their portraits?
The play "Children of the Sun" begins with a dialogue between Protasov and Roman. And already from the first two replicas you can get an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat types are in front of us.
“Listen, janitor!” Protasov addresses Roman. This appeal and the following remark of the novel “What?” Clearly shows not only the intelligence of the protagonist, but also his isolation from life, and the inability to build his speech in accordance with the situation. We see a similar picture in the final scene. Here the tension of action does not correspond to the speech of Protasov. Protasov excitedly turns to Yegor after he nearly killed him: "You ... are terribly stupid, my sir."
Speech of other characters of the play is also characteristic. Speech of Antonovna, Rome, Melania, Tropinin and Nazar stands out especially.
Antonovna’s speech is full of vernaculars: “you do”, “let the fumes go away”, “I will open the door”; simple but accurate comparisons: “Sugar nibbles like turnips”, “Samovar drank out, just like a horse”.
Melania, trying to win Protasov’s heart, tries to understand the meaning of science, but because of her illiteracy she is constantly confused in terms. “I do not understand the formulas,” she says in despair to Protasov.
A maid of Rome, whose dream is to marry a rich man, tries to say “in a masterly manner”: “what-s”, “not stupid-s”, “good-s”. “Whistles like a snake,” Protasov says of her.
A former officer, a drunken drunkard, Tropinin, trying to demonstrate his “noble” origin, expresses himself floridly, distorting the French words: “sapsapoge”, “for happiness is wrong ...”, “fighting voyage”, “goodbye”.
Speech is even more complicated for the wealthy merchant Nazar, who strives by the complexity of speech to somehow rise to the level of the intelligentsia. “So I wanted to expand Russian industry ... for what I think to put a factory to blow beer bottles ...”
Literary critics note that the characteristic features of the language of Gorky's dramatic works are aphorism, peculiar metaphors, and original punctuation.
How is this feature manifested in the play “Children of the Sun”? The play, which grew out of aphorism, is full of “winged” words and expressions.
What is the role of aphorisms in Gorky's plays? Aphorisms in the play play a dual role. First of all, they serve to characterize the characters. Aphorisms put in place the main opposing groups of heroes: on the one hand - representatives of the people, on the other - the intelligentsia. Characters from the people of Antonovna, Yegor are characterized by aphorisms that express folk wisdom. For example, Yegor tells Protasov: “A bearded nanny is not a decree”, wanting to emphasize that Pavel should have his own point of view on relations between people. The aphorisms of Antonovna, a man who has lived a long life, often take the form of proverbs, sayings. Expressing her view on the attitude of Pavel to Elena, she grumbles: “There is no attention to the woman ... it’s obvious that I’ve eaten a sire, a cup on the floor”. Her dissatisfaction with the young servant also takes the form of a saying: “Now everyone strives at the bar, and habits are like creatures.”
The closest to folk aphorisms are Chepurny, who occupies a special position in the circle of characters in the play. Certainly referring to the intelligentsia, Chepurnaya is more closely connected with the people, often communicates with him, knows his temper, and he speaks popular language. Therefore, in his speech aphorisms of philosophical content, characteristic of the intellectual environment, are intertwined with worldly truths.
In conversations with Lisa, he expresses his philosophy, based both on reflection, theory, and on everyday experience. Therefore, in his speech the aphorism “People are rude and cruel. This is their nature ”is adjacent to the statements:“ Artisans - they are all drunkards. ”
The aphorisms of Protasov, Lisa, Volgin look completely different.
Liza's philosophical aphorisms are figurative and poetic. "There,
where blood is shed, flowers will never grow ... only hatred grows there. ”
In Protasov’s speech, aphorisms, philosophical in content, often look like excerpts from scientific books. For example: “Only in the field of the mind is a man free, only then is he a man when he is intelligent, and if he is intelligent, he is honest. Good is created by reason, without consciousness there is no good. ”
A distinctive feature of Gorky’s drama is the use of leitmotifs.
In early works, the problem of man was especially acute. This problem is central to the Children of the Sun. Therefore, in this play, as in other early works, the leitmotif is the word “man”. This word can be traced in the replicas of various characters. It arises in the speech of Protasov, trying to reason with Yegor: “A man should not, cannot beat.” Chepurnaya picks up a person’s topic: “People are animals, they are rude and dirty.” Egor asks Protasov: “Am I a man or not? Why does everyone offend me? ”“ The servant is also a man, ”Fiasa says.
Elena tells Vanin: “A man must act in such a way that there is less evil on earth.”
“I will also be a man!” Exclaims Melania in hope.
The anthem to man sounds in Protasov’s monologue at the end of the second act: “The time will come, of us, people, of all people, a magnificent, harmonious organism will come to life - humanity!”
The word “man” in its own way echoes the play with metaphors and comparisons. “Whistles like a snake”, “Look, what a beast”, “In her eyes the cunning light of the beast lit up”; “Cow wanted algae,” “Why does this horse, a new maid, not clean the table?”; "Habits - like a creature."
In the above examples, the names of animals serve to figuratively designate some traits of a person's character. A comparison of philosophical aphorisms about a person with these metaphors reveals, as it seems to me, Gorky’s idea that a person is still very far from perfect, from the role that nature has been assigned to him. In individual acts, a person is likened to an animal, an animal, and sometimes surpasses it in cruelty and rudeness. The theme of man and animals is generally characteristic of Gorky's early works.
In order to be convinced of this, it is enough to reread such works as “Song of the Petrel”, “Song of the Falcon”, “About the Chezhar who lied, and the Woodpecker - a lover of truth”, in which birds and animals act like people . And in the story “Chelkash” the main character is constantly being compared with either a bird of prey or a wolf.
There is another interesting feature of the play. This is punctuation. When reading a play, a dash arrangement and a very large number of dots are immediately evident. “Yes, you - threaten ... I’m supposed to give you”, or “Well, it will be, old woman!” Is Elena at home? ”, Or“ But - understand: I don’t need to boil at all. ” And such unusual phrases can be found on every page.
At first glance, it might seem that such an unusual arrangement of dashes is needed in order to help the actor in the performance of his role. But let us take a closer look not only at the plays, but also at other works by Gorky. The novel “Mother” has a no less peculiar arrangement of dashes: “Everyone loves close, but - in a big heart and the distant - close!” Or “Well, that’s nothing you can do.” What is the meaning of such an arrangement of dashes?
It seems to me that the dash serves the writer in order to divide the phrase into two equal parts. Usually a phrase has such a structure when the stress falls on its end, and the beginning remains unstressed. In Gorky, it seems to me that both parts of the phrase are under dash under stress. This gives some elusive weight, even the heaviness of speech.
As for the ellipsis, its role is also to divide phrases into separate parts. When reading the play, we feel like the characters think over each word before pronouncing it. Behind this one can guess the slowness and thoroughness of the Volga character of Gorky.
So, after analyzing the text of the play “Children of the Sun”, we can conclude that she shares the same features as the whole Gorky’s drama as a whole: aphorism, leitmotifs, accurate images in metaphors, and punctuation features.

   Two ways to create speech characteristics >>

Speech characteristics of the hero. The image of the hero of an artwork is composed of many factors - this is character, appearance, profession, hobbies, circle of acquaintances, and attitude to oneself and others. One of the main ones is the character’s speech, which fully reveals and inner world, and lifestyle. The image of the adventurer Ostap Bender is inseparable from his aphoristic, teeming speech. The paradox of Lord Henry’s statements in “Portrait of Dorian Gray” is a reflection of his mind, originality, education, and cynicism. Among modern writers, Boris Akunin can be attributed to masters of speech characteristics. The first chapter of the novel “F.M.”, written on behalf of the criminal, contrasts sharply with the refined literary style that the reader of the Fandorin cycle is used to. Theory of literature.

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