The image of Famusov in the comedy “Woe from Wit” is the embodiment of representatives of the autocracy, reactionary militia. At the beginning of the 19th century there were a lot of such people, friends of Griboedov, Pushkin, and Decembrists spoke about them. The lordly environment negatively related to everything new, vehemently defended the old order. Famusov is not one person, but an entire class of ignoramuses for whom in life there is nothing more important than money.
Characteristic of the master
The rich’s commitment to the old regime and their resistance to newness in all manifestations of life is shown in the comedy “Woe from Wit”. Famusov is a major official, a landowner master. This is a very respected person in society, he communicates closely with noble nobles, titled persons visit his house. Pavel Afanasevich in his views is an Old Believer, an adherent of the feudal nobility.
Griboedov’s image of Famusov in the comedy “Woe from Wit” revealed from all sides. For those whom he considers equal to himself, the gentleman is a hospitable and hospitable owner, whose house is always open. Pavel Afanasevich is a resourceful and witty storyteller, a good-natured man who is not without a worldly mind. This is a loving father, ready to both scold and caress his daughter. To servants he is rude, grouchy, hot-tempered. As a boss, he is strict and exacting.
The cultural level of the landowner
The image of Famusov in the comedy “Woe from Wit” embodies the semi-enlightenment of the lordly estate. Pavel Afanasevich boasts that Moscow girls can’t connect two words together, that his office is full of nothing relatives. Famusov’s speech speaks for itself, it has a rich vocabulary, in which popular expressions predominate, and foreign words come across.
But the master is not able to express complex emotional experiences or talk about science, which indicates his low cultural level. This is an ordinary Russian landowner who prefers to communicate in everyday language.
Manner of communication
The rules of behavior in society are also affected in the comedy “Woe from Wit”. The image of Famusov is the embodiment of all Russian landowners, accustomed to humiliate and insult the weak and poor, flatter before those whom they are afraid of or who benefit from them. Pavel Afanasevich communicates with a petty official on “you” and only in an arrogant tone. With influential people, he speaks ingratiatingly, adds the particle “c” to the words. A certain speech style makes the image of Famusov in the comedy “Woe from Wit” realistic and truthful, because that is how the whole Moscow nobility spoke.
Griboedov set himself the goal of exposing feudal society, showing where their domination leads Russia, and he succeeded. The contemporaries of the writer, having read the comedy, learned the events and facts that took place right before their eyes. Griboedov did not embellish anything, but realistically portrayed the nobility of the early 19th century. Famusov and others like him actively opposed enlightenment and culture, refusing spiritual and
social progress. For Russia, such an elite is a step backward. This was well understood by both Griboedov and his contemporaries.