Tales of A. S. Pushkin are an example of how a common plot can become a masterpiece of a high literary language. The poet managed to convey in poetic form not only the characters of the heroes, but also a prerequisite for any such storytelling - a lesson, that is, what the fairy tale teaches. “About the Fisherman and the Fish” is a story about human greed. The tale "About Tsar Saltan" that evil and deceit are punishable, and good always triumphs. So in the plots of all the tales written by the poet.
Summary of the work
When teachers explain to schoolchildren what “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” (2nd grade) teaches, they rely on the plot of the work. This is correct, since children must understand what basic categories drive people's actions: good and evil, generosity and greed, betrayal and forgiveness, and many others. Tales help children understand them and make the right choice in favor of good.
In the tale of the Golden Fish, the plot begins with the fact that on the shores of the blue sea there lived, were an old man with an old woman. He fished, she spun yarn, but their shack is old and even a broken trough.
The old man was lucky to catch the Goldfish, who prayed to return it to the sea and even offered a mercy for itself.
The good fisherman let her go, but the old woman did not like her noble deed, so she demanded that he return to the sea and ask the fish for at least a trough. The old man did so. The fish gave what the old woman wanted, but she wanted more - a new hut, then to be a pillar noblewoman, then a free queen, until she decided to become the Mistress, who has the fish herself on the premises.
The wise fish complied with the old woman's requests until she demanded the impossible. So the old woman remained again with a broken trough.
Children, reading about the history of the old man, understand what the "Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" by Pushkin teaches. Power and wealth each time changed the old woman, making her all the more angry. Pupils make the correct conclusion that greed is punishable, and you can again be left with nothing.
The author himself invested a deeper meaning in his tale , especially when you consider what lies at its core.
The Tale of the Brothers Grimm
If we take as a basis the philosophical categories of what the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish teaches, the analysis should begin with the tale of the Brothers Grimm. It was with their story about a greedy old woman, who, starting to wish small, reached the point that she wanted to become a pope, was the poet familiar.
It seems that the plot of the instructive story is ordinary human greed, but if you pay attention to the symbolism embedded in it, what the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish Taught teaches takes on a completely different meaning. As it turned out, the Brothers Grimm, and behind them, Pushkin, are far from the first to use this topic.
Vedic wisdom
In the ancient Indian treatise of Matsya Purana, it is presented in the form of an allegory. For example, the old man in her is the real "I" of a person, his soul, which is at rest (nirvana). In Pushkin's fairy tale, the fisherman appears just like that before the readers. For 33 years he has been living with an old woman in a shack, fishing and everything suits him. Is this not a sign of enlightenment?
This is what the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish teaches: the true destiny of man is to be in harmony with your soul and surrounding reality. The old man coped well with the huge and tempting material world, which symbolizes the blue sea.
He throws a net with his desires into him and receives what he needs for his daily life. Another thing is the old woman.
Old woman
She personifies human egoism, which is never completely satisfied, and therefore does not know what happiness is. Selfishness wants to consume as much material wealth as possible. That is why, starting with a trough, the old woman soon wanted to rule over the fish itself.
If in the ancient treatise her image is a symbol of a person’s renunciation of his spiritual nature in favor of a false consciousness and the material world, then Pushkin has an evil egoistic principle that makes the old man (pure soul) indulge her whims.
The Russian poet very well describes the humility of the soul before egoism. Every time the old man goes to bow to the Goldfish with a new demand from the old woman. It is symbolic that the sea, which is a prototype of the vast material world, every time becomes more and more formidable. In this way, Pushkin showed how big the gap between a pure soul and its purpose is, when each time it plunges deeper and deeper into the abyss of material wealth.
Fish
In Vedic culture, a fish personifies God. She is no less powerful in the work of Pushkin. If you think about what the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish teaches, the answers will be obvious: a false egoistic shell cannot give a person happiness. To do this, he does not need material wealth, but the unity of the soul with God, which manifests itself in a harmonious state of peace and joy from being.
Three times a small fish comes to the old man to fulfill selfish desires, but, as it turned out, even a sea sorceress cannot fill a false shell.
The struggle of the spiritual and selfish beginnings
Many philosophical, religious, artistic and psychological books have been written about this struggle. Both principles - a pure soul (an old man in Pushkin's fairy tale) and selfishness (old woman) are fighting among themselves. The poet showed very well what humility and indulgence of selfish desires leads to.
His main character did not even try to resist the old woman, but each time dutifully went to the fish to bow with a new demand from her. Alexander Sergeyevich just showed what this connivance of his own egoism leads to, and what his false, insatiable needs end with.
Today, the phrase “stay with nothing” is used at the household level when people talk about human greed.
In philosophy, its meaning is much wider. It is not material wealth that makes people happy. The behavior of the old woman says this. As soon as she became a pillar noblewoman, she wanted to be the queen, and then more. She did not radiate happiness and contentment with the advent of new forms of power and wealth.
This is what the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish teaches: to remember the soul, that it is primary, and the material world is secondary and treacherous. Today, a person can be in power, and tomorrow will become poor and unknown, like an old woman from that ill-fated trough.
So the children's tale of the Russian poet conveys the depth of the eternal confrontation between the ego and the soul, which people knew about in ancient times.