The Miserly Knight is a story. The stingy knight
The young knight Albert is going to appear at the tournament and asks his servant Ivan to show his helmet. The helmet is pierced through in the last duel with the knight DeLorgue. It is impossible to put it on. The servant consoles Albert by the fact that he repaid DeLorgue in full, knocking him out of the saddle with a mighty blow, from which Albert's offender lay dead for a day and has hardly recovered until now. Albert says that the reason for his courage and strength was fury over the damaged helmet. The guilt of heroism is avarice. Albert complains about poverty, about the embarrassment that prevented him from removing the helmet from the defeated enemy, says that he needs a new dress, that he alone is forced to sit at the ducal table in armor, while other knights flaunt in satin and velvet. But there is no money for clothing and weapons, and Albert's father, the old baron, is a curmudgeon. There is no money to buy a new horse, and Albert's permanent creditor, the Jew Solomon, according to Ivan, refuses to continue to believe in debt without a mortgage. But the knight has nothing to pledge. The usurer does not give in to any persuasion, and even the argument that Albert's father is old, will soon die and leave his son all his huge fortune, does not convince the lender.
At this time, Solomon himself appears. Albert tries to beg for a loan from him, but Solomon, although gently, nevertheless decisively refuses to give money even on the knight's word of honor. Albert, upset, does not believe that his father can survive him, Solomon says that everything happens in life, that “our days are not numbered by us,” and the baron is strong and can live for another thirty years. In desperation, Albert says that in thirty years he will be fifty, and then he will hardly need money. Solomon objects that money is needed at any age, only "the young man is looking for quick servants in them", "the old man sees them as reliable friends." Albert claims that his father himself serves money, like an Algerian slave, "like a chain dog." He denies himself everything and lives worse than a beggar, and "gold lies quietly in chests for himself." Albert still hopes that someday it will serve him, Albert. Seeing Albert's despair and his readiness for anything, Solomon gives him hints to understand that the death of his father can be brought closer with the help of poison. At first, Albert does not understand these hints. But, having understood the matter, he wants to immediately hang Solomon at the gate of the castle. Solomon, realizing that the knight is not joking, wants to pay off, but Albert drives him out. Recovering himself, he intends to send a servant for the usurer to accept the offered money, but changes his mind, because it seems to him that they will smell like poison. He demands to serve wine, but it turns out that there is not a drop of wine in the house. Cursing such a life, Albert decides to seek justice for his father from the duke, who must force the old man to support his son, as befits a knight.
The Baron goes down to his basement, where he keeps chests of gold, so that he can pour a handful of coins into the sixth chest, which is not yet full. Looking at his treasures, he recalls the legend of the king, who ordered his soldiers to lay a handful of earth, and how, as a result, a giant hill grew from which the king could look huge spaces... The baron likens his treasures, collected bit by bit, to this hill, which makes him the ruler of the whole world. He recalls the story of each coin, behind which there are tears and grief of people, poverty and death. It seems to him that if all the tears, blood and sweat shed for this money now emerged from the bowels of the earth, then there would be a flood. He pours a handful of money into the chest, and then unlocks all the chests, puts lighted candles in front of them and admires the glitter of gold, feeling himself the ruler of a mighty power. But the thought that after his death the heir will come here and squander his wealth, infuriates the Baron and outrages. He believes that he has no right to this, that if he himself had accumulated these treasures by the hardest labor bit by bit, then surely he would not have thrown gold left and right.
In the palace, Albert complains to the duke about his father, and the duke promises to help the knight, to persuade the baron to support his son, as befits. He hopes to awaken paternal feelings in the baron, because the baron was a friend of his grandfather and played with the duke when he was still a child.
The baron approaches the palace, and the duke asks Albert to hide in the next room while he talks with his father. The baron appears, the duke greets him and tries to evoke in him the memories of his youth. He wants the baron to appear at court, but the baron is discouraged by old age and infirmity, but promises that in case of war he will have the strength to draw his sword for his duke. The duke asks why he does not see the baron's son at court, to which the baron replies that his son's gloomy disposition is an obstacle. The duke asks the baron to send his son to the palace and promises to teach him to have fun. He demands that the baron appoint to his son a maintenance befitting a knight. Gloomy, the baron says that his son is not worthy of the duke's care and attention, that “he is vicious,” and refuses to fulfill the duke's request. He says he is angry with his son for plotting paricide. The Duke threatens to bring Albert to justice for this. The Baron reports that his son intends to rob him. Hearing these slander, Albert bursts into the room and accuses his father of lying. The angry baron throws a glove to his son. With the words “Thank you. Here is the first gift of his father. ”Albert accepts the baron's challenge. This incident plunges the duke into amazement and anger, he takes away the baron's glove from Albert and drives his father and son away from him. At that moment, with the words about the keys on his lips, the baron dies, and the duke laments "a terrible century, terrible hearts."
In the tower.
Albert and Ivan
Albert
By all means at the tournament
I will appear. Show me the helmet, Ivan.
Ivan hands him a helmet.
Broken through, flawed. Impossible
Put it on. I need to get a new one.
What a blow! accursed Count Delorge!
Ivan
And you paid him back in order:
How you kicked him out of the stirrups,
He lay dead for a day - and hardly
Recovered.
Albert
And yet he is not at a loss;
His breastplate is intact Venetian,
And his chest: he is not worth a dime;
The other will not buy for himself.
Why didn't I take off my helmet right there!
And I would have taken it off, if I would not have been ashamed
I will also give a duke. Damned Count!
He'd better pierce my head.
And I need the dress. Last time
All the knights were sitting here in the atlas
Yes velvet; I was alone in armor
At the ducal table. Disagreed
I got to the tournament by accident.
Now what can I say? O poverty, poverty!
How she humiliates our hearts!
When Delorgue with his heavy spear
He punched my helmet and rode past,
And I spurred with an open head
My emir, rushed like a whirlwind
And threw the count twenty steps,
Like a little page; like all ladies
They got up from their seats when Clotilde herself,
Covering her face, she involuntarily screamed
And the heralds praised my blow, -
Then no one thought about the reason
And my courage and my wondrous strength!
I went mad for a damaged helmet,
What was the fault of heroism? - stinginess.
Yes! it is not difficult to get infected here
Under the roof alone with my father.
What is my poor Emir?
Ivan
He's all lame.
You cannot go on it yet.
Albert
Well, there’s nothing to do: I’ll buy Gnedoy.
Inexpensive and asking for it.
Ivan
Inexpensive, but we have no money.
Albert
What does the idler Solomon say?
Ivan
He says he can no longer
Lend to give you money without a mortgage.
Albert
Mortgage! and where can I get a mortgage, devil!
Ivan
I told you.
Albert
Ivan
Grunts and squeezes.
Albert
Would you tell him that my father
He is rich himself, like a Jew, that sooner or later
I inherit everything.
Ivan
I told.
Albert
Ivan
He squeezes and groans.
Albert
What a grief!
Ivan
He wanted to come himself.
Albert
Well, thank God.
I will not release it without ransom.
They knock on the door.
The Jew enters.
Your servant is low.
Albert
Ah, buddy!
Cursed Jew, venerable Solomon,
Perhaps here: so you, I hear,
You don’t believe in debt.
Ah, gracious knight,
I swear to you: I would be glad ... I really can't.
Where can I get the money? I was all ruined,
All the knights are assiduously helping.
Nobody pays. I wanted to ask you
Can't you give at least a part ...
Albert
Rogue!
Yes, if I had money,
Would I bother with you? Full,
Don't be stubborn, my dear Solomon;
Come on gold coins. Pour me a hundred
Until you were searched.
A hundred!
If I had a hundred ducats!
Albert
Listen:
Are you ashamed of your friends
Don't help out?
I swear…
Albert
Full, full.
Do you require a mortgage? what nonsense!
What will I give you as a bet? pigskin?
If I could lay something, long ago
I would have sold it. Or a knightly word
Are you not enough, dog?
Your word,
As long as you are alive, it means a lot.
All the chests of the Flemish rich
As a talisman, it will unlock you.
But if you pass it
To me, a poor Jew, and meanwhile
Die (God forbid), then
In my hands it will be like
The key to the thrown box in the sea.
Albert
Will my father outlive me?
How do you know? our days are not numbered by us;
The youth bloomed in the evening, and today he died,
And here are his four old men
Carried on hunched shoulders to the grave.
The Baron is healthy. God willing - ten, twenty years
And he will live twenty-five and thirty.
Albert
You're lying, Jew: yes in thirty years
I turn fifty, then the money
What are they useful to me?
Money? - money
Always, at any age, they are suitable for us;
But the young man is looking for nimble servants in them
And not regretting sends here and there.
The old man sees in them reliable friends
And protects them like the apple of an eye.
Albert
O! my father is not servants or friends
In them he sees, and the masters; and serves them himself.
And how does it serve? like an Algerian slave,
Like a chain dog. In an unheated kennel
Lives, drinks water, eats dry crusts,
He does not sleep all night, everything runs and barks.
And gold is calm in chests
Lies to itself. Shut up! someday
It will serve me, it will forget to lie.
Yes, at a baron's funeral
Will spill more money than tears.
God send you an inheritance soon.
And you can b ...
Albert
So, I thought that the remedy
There is such a thing ...
Albert
What remedy?
So -
I have a familiar old man,
Jew, poor pharmacist ...
Albert
Usurer
The same as you, or more honorable?
No, knight, Tobi's bargaining is different -
It makes up drops ... really, wonderful,
How do they work.
Albert
And what is in them to me?
Pour into a glass of water ... there will be three drops,
Neither taste nor color is noticeable in them;
And a man without a stomach ache,
Dies without nausea, without pain.
Albert
Your old man sells poison.
Yes -
And poison.
Albert
Well? borrow money in place
You will offer me two hundred bottles of poison,
For a bottle of gold. Is that so, or what?
You want to laugh at me -
No; I wanted ... maybe you ... I thought
That it is time for the Baron to die.
Albert
How! poison your father! and you dare to your son ...
Ivan! keep it. And you dare me! ..
Do you know, a Jewish soul,
Dog, snake! that I have you now
I'll hang it on the gate.
I'm sorry!
Sorry: I was joking.
Albert
Ivan, rope.
I ... I was joking. I brought you money.
Albert
The Jew leaves.
This is what it brings me to
Father's own stinginess! The Jew dared me
What can I offer! Give me a glass of wine
I'm trembling all over ... Ivan, but money
I need. Run after the damned Jew,
Take his gold pieces. Yes here
Bring me an inkwell. I'm a cheat
I'll give you a receipt. Don't bring me here
Judas of this ... Or no, wait,
His gold pieces will smell like poison,
As the pieces of silver of his ancestor ...
I asked for wine.
Ivan
We have wine -
Not a drop.
Albert
And what he sent me
As a gift from Spain Remon?
Ivan
In the evening I took down the last bottle
To the sick blacksmith.
Albert
Yes, I remember, I know ...
So give me some water. Damn life!
No, it's decided - I'll go look for councils
At the duke: let the father be forced
Keep me like a son, not like a mouse,
Born underground
Scene II
Basement.
Baron
How a young rake is waiting for a date
With some sly libertine
Or a fool who was deceived by him, so I
All day I waited for a minute when I get off
To my secret basement, to the faithful chests.
Happy day! can today i
To the sixth chest (the chest is still incomplete)
Pour in a handful of accumulated gold.
Not much, it seems, but little by little
Treasures are growing. I read somewhere
That the king once to his warriors
He ordered to demolish the earth by handfuls in a heap,
And the proud hill rose - and the king
I could look from above with joy
And the valley, covered with white tents,
And the sea where the ships fled.
So I, bringing a handful of the poor
I get used to my tribute here to the basement,
Raised my hill - and from its height
I can look at everything that is subject to me.
What is beyond my control? like some demon
From now on I can rule the world;
As soon as I want, palaces will be erected;
Into my magnificent gardens
The nymphs will come running in a frisky crowd;
And the muses will bring their tribute to me,
And a free genius will enslave me
And virtue and sleepless labor
They will humbly await my award.
I whistle, and obediently, timidly
Bloodied villainy creeps in
And he will lick my hand, and in my eyes
Look, in them is the sign of my reading will.
Everything is obedient to me, but I am to nothing;
I am above all desires; I'm calm;
I know my power: I've had enough
This consciousness ...
(Looks at his gold.)
It seems not a lot
And how many human worries
Deceptions, tears, prayers and curses
She's a heavyweight representative!
There is an old doubloon…. there he is. Today
The widow gave it to me, but before
With three children half a day in front of the window
She was on her knees howling.
It rained, and stopped, and went again,
The pretender did not touch; I could
Drive her away, but something whispered to me,
What a husband's debt she brought me
And he doesn't want to be in jail tomorrow.
And this one? Thibault brought this one to me -
Where could he get him, a sloth, a rogue?
Stole, of course; or maybe,
There on the big road, at night, in the grove ...
Yes! if all the tears, blood and sweat,
Spilled for everything that's stored here
From the depths of the earth, all suddenly emerged,
It would be a flood again - I drowned b
In my basements of the faithful. But it's time.
(He wants to open the chest.)
Every time I want a chest
My unlock, I fall into heat and awe.
Not fear (oh no! Who should I fear?
I have my sword with me: responsible for gold
Honest damask), but my heart is cramping me
Some kind of unknown feeling ...
Doctors assure us: there are people
They find pleasure in murder.
When I put the key in the lock, the same
I feel like I should feel
They, plunging a knife into the victim: nice
And scary together.
(Opens the chest.)
Here is my bliss!
(Pours money.)
Go, it is full of you to scour the world,
Serving the passions and needs of man.
Sleep here a sleep of strength and peace,
How the gods sleep in the deep skies ...
I want to arrange a feast for myself today:
Light a candle in front of every chest
And I will unlock them all, and I will become
Among them, look at the shining heaps.
(Lights the candles and unlocks the chests one by one.)
I reign! .. What a magical shine!
Obedient to me, my state is strong;
In her happiness, in her my honor and glory!
I reign ... but who follow me
Will you take over power over her? My heir!
Madman, young wasteer,
Libertines riotous interlocutor!
As soon as I die, he, he! come down here
Under these peaceful, mute arches
With a crowd of caress, greedy courtiers.
Having stolen the keys from my corpse,
He will open the chests with a laugh.
And my treasures will flow
In satin pockets.
He will break the sacred vessels
He will give the king's oil to drink -
He will squander ... And by what right?
Did I get it all for nothing,
Or jokingly as a player who
Rattling with bones and raking in piles?
Who knows how many bitter abstinence
Curbed passions, heavy thoughts,
Day cares, sleepless nights for me
Was it all worth it? Or the son will say
That my heart is overgrown with moss,
That I did not know desires, that I
And conscience never gnawed, conscience,
A clawed beast scraping a heart, a conscience,
An uninvited guest, a boring interlocutor,
The creditor is rude, this witch
From which the month and the grave fades
Are they embarrassed and deported the dead? ..
No, suffer your wealth first,
And then we'll see if the unfortunate one becomes
To waste what you have acquired with blood.
Oh, if I could from the gaze of the unworthy
I hide the basement! oh, if only from the grave
I could come, as a sentinel shadow
Sit on the chest and away from the living
Keep my treasures as it is now! ..
In a palace.
Albert
Believe me, sir, I endured for a long time
Shame of bitter poverty. If not an extreme
You would not have heard my complaint.
Duke
I believe, I believe: noble knight,
Such as you, the father will not blame
No extreme. There are few such depraved ones ...
Be calm: your father
I will advise you privately, without noise.
I'm waiting for him. We haven't seen each other for a long time.
He was a friend of my grandfather. I remember,
When I was still a child, he
He put me on his horse
And covered with his heavy helmet,
Like a bell.
(Looking out the window.)
Who is this?
Isn't he?
Albert
So, he, sir.
Duke
Come on
To that room. I will click you.
Albert leaves; enters the baron.
Baron,
I am glad to see you vigorous and healthy.
Baron
I am happy, sir, that I was able to
At your order to appear.
Duke
Long ago, Baron, we parted long ago.
You remember me?
Baron
Me, sir?
As I see you now. Oh you were
The child is playful. To me the late duke
Spoken: Philip (he called me
Always Philip), what do you say? but?
In twenty years, really, you and me,
We will be stupid in front of this guy ...
Before you, that is ...
Duke
We are now an acquaintance
Let's resume. You have forgotten my yard.
Baron
Old, sir, I am now: at court
What should I do? You are young; you love
Tournaments, holidays. And I'm on them
I'm no longer fit. God will give war, so I
I am ready, groaning, to climb up on my horse again;
The old sword still has strength
Expose your trembling hand for you.
Duke
Baron, we know your diligence;
You were a friend to your grandfather; my father
Respected you. And I've always considered
You are a loyal, brave knight - but we will sit down.
Do you, Baron, have children?
Baron
One son.
Duke
Why don't I see him with me?
You are bored with the yard, but it is decent
In his years and calling to be with us.
Baron
My son does not like a noisy, high life;
He has a wild and gloomy disposition -
He always wanders around the castle through the forests,
Like a young deer.
Duke
Not good
Him to be shy. We will immediately accustom
Its for fun, balls and tournaments.
Send it to me; assign to son
Decent maintenance ...
You frown, you are tired of the road,
May be?
Baron
Sire, I am not tired;
But you confused me. In front of you
I would not want to confess, but me
You are forcing me to say about my son
What I would like to hide from you.
He, sir, unfortunately, is not worthy
No favors, no your attention.
He spends his youth in a riot,
In the vices of the low ...
Duke
This is because
Baron, that he is alone. Privacy
And idleness ruins young people.
Send him to us: he will forget
Habits originated in the wilderness.
Baron
Forgive me, but really, sir,
I cannot agree to this ...
Duke
But why?
Baron
Fire the old man ...
Duke
I demand: reveal to me the reason
Your refusal.
Baron
On my son, I
Angry.
Duke
Baron
For an evil crime.
Duke
And what is it, tell me, is it?
Baron
Dismiss me, Duke ...
Duke
It is very strange,
Or are you ashamed of him?
Baron
Yes ... it's a shame ...
Duke
But what did he do?
Baron
He ... he me
I wanted to kill.
Duke
Kill! so I am on trial
I'll betray him like a black villain.
Baron
I won't prove it, even though I know
As if he longs for my death,
Although I know that he attempted
Me…
Duke
Baron
Steal.
Albert rushes into the room.
Albert
Baron, you are lying.
Duke
(to son)
How dare you? ..
Baron
Are you here! you, you dare me! ..
You could say such a word to your father! ..
I lie! and before our sovereign! ..
Me, me ... or am I not a knight?
Albert
Baron
And the thunder has not yet struck, dear God!
So rise up, and judge us with the sword!
(Throws down the glove, the son hastily picks it up.)
Albert
Thanks to. Here is my father's first gift.
Duke
What have I seen? what was before me?
The son accepted the old father's challenge!
What days did I put on myself
Chain of Dukes! Be silent: you, madman,
And you, tiger cub! full.
(To the son.)
Give it up;
Give me this glove
(takes it away).
Albert
Duke
So he dug into her claws! - monster!
Come: do not dare to my eyes
To be as long as I am on my own
I will not call you.
(Albert exits.)
You unfortunate old man
Are you not ashamed ...
Baron
Excuse me, sir….
I can't stand ... my knees
Weakened ... stuffy! .. stuffy! .. Where are the keys?
Keys, my keys! ...
Duke
He died. God!
Terrible age, terrible hearts!
Young Albert wants to come to the tournament, so he tells the servant Ivan to show his helmet. Unfortunately, the helmet is broken after a previous battle with DeLorge. Ivan tries to support the owner, telling him that Albert got even with the knight for damaging the helmet with a powerful blow that carried the enemy out of the saddle. The servant encourages the owner by the fact that after the blow, Delorge spent a day as if dead. Albert, in turn, says that the reason for the courage, heroism and a great blow was the fury that gripped him because of the broken helmet. And all the heroism is just stinginess.
Albert argues that his father is stingy and does not want to give money to his son. The young knight cannot allow you the velvet dresses he needs to sit at the duke's table. He alone has to be in society in armor, and this fact greatly upsets the hero.
Apart from dresses and a helmet, Albert has no money for a horse. His last hope- Jewish usurer Solomon. However, he, according to Ivan, does not want to lend money. After a while, Solomon himself comes.
The young knight tries to get money out of the Jew, but he stands his ground and refuses to lend without any collateral. Even an honest knightly word does not work on Solomon, he says that the baron can outlive his son. Realizing that the young man is in despair because of the relationship with his father and the lack of money, the usurer offers him the services of his friend, who can create poison without taste or smell. Albert is horrified at Solomon's plan and wants to hang him for such an idea. The usurer tries to pay off the knight with money that "stinks" of poison, so Albert cannot take it. After the departure of the Jew, the knight realizes that the only chance to get money from his father is to ask the duke to talk to the baron so that the latter can start providing own son.
At the same time, Baron Philip goes down to the basement to put the accumulated savings in his chests. He imagines that if every drop of blood and sweat that was shed for these riches suddenly appeared on the earth, then a terrible sweat would immediately begin. The Baron realizes that after his death, the heir will begin to burn this gold, and this leads him to anger and indignation. So that some boy could so easily scatter all that the baron collected bit by bit.
Albert asks to speak with his father so that he can share his gold. The Duke agrees and asks the knight to take refuge in the next room.
The baron comes and, when asked by the duke, to send Albert to the court under custody, refuses. He says that his son is vicious because he wanted to kill him. Hearing this, the duke claims that the baron's son will come to trial. Philip claims that his son wants to rob him. Albert, unable to bear what he heard, bursts into the room and claims that his father is lying.
The Baron throws a gauntlet to Albert, which the young knight accepts. The Duke cannot accept this and takes the glove from Albert, and chases him away. The next moment the baron dies, and his last words only about the keys to the chests.
The whole tragedy is caused by a conflict of interests between father and son: the first wants to preserve all the wealth that he collected long years and the second is to spend his father's savings and enjoy the delights of a luxurious life.
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« The stingy knight» analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, heroes, problems and other issues are disclosed in this article.
History of creation
"The Miserly Knight" was conceived in 1826 and finished in the autumn of Boldin in 1830. Published in 1836 in the Sovremennik magazine. Pushkin gave the play the subtitle "From Chenston's Tragicomedy". But the writer of the 18th century. Shenston (in the tradition of the 19th century, his name was written Chenston) there was no such play. Perhaps Pushkin referred to a foreign author so that his contemporaries would not suspect that the poet described his relationship with his father, who was known for his stinginess.
Theme and plot
Pushkin's play "The Covetous Knight" is the first work in a cycle of dramatic sketches, short plays, which were later named "Little Tragedies". Pushkin intended to reveal some side in each play human soul, an all-consuming passion (avarice in "The Miserly Knight"). Spiritual qualities, psychology are shown in sharp and unusual plots.
Heroes and characters
The Baron is rich but stingy. He has six chests full of gold, from which he does not take a dime. Money is not servants or friends for him, as for the usurer Solomon, but gentlemen. The Baron does not want to admit to himself that money has enslaved him. He believes that thanks to money sleeping peacefully in chests, everything is subject to him: love, inspiration, genius, virtue, labor, even villainy. The Baron is ready to kill anyone who encroaches on his wealth, even his own son, whom he challenges to a duel. The duel is hindered by the duke, but the very possibility of losing money kills the baron. The passion that the Baron possesses consumes him.
Solomon has a different attitude to money: it is a way to achieve a goal, to survive. But, like the baron, for the sake of enrichment, he does not disdain anything, offering Albert to poison his own father.
Albert is a worthy young knight, strong and brave, winning tournaments and enjoying the favor of the ladies. He is completely dependent on his father. The young man has nothing to buy a helmet and armor, a dress for a feast and a horse for a tournament, only out of despair he decides to complain to the duke.
Albert has excellent mental qualities, he is kind, gives the last bottle of wine to the sick blacksmith. But he is broken by circumstances and dreams of the time when gold will be inherited by him. When the usurer Solomon proposes to bring Albert to the pharmacist who sells poison in order to poison his father, the knight drives him out in disgrace. And soon Albert already accepts the baron's challenge to a duel, he is ready to fight to the death with his own father, who insulted his honor. The Duke calls Albert a monster for this act.
The duke in tragedy is a representative of authority who voluntarily took on this burden. The duke calls his age and the hearts of people terrible. Through the mouth of the Duke, Pushkin speaks about his time.
Problematic
In every small tragedy, Pushkin gazes intently at some vice. In The Covetous Knight, this pernicious passion is avarice: a change in the personality of a once worthy member of society under the influence of vice; the hero's submission to vice; vice as a cause of loss of dignity.
Conflict
The main conflict is external: between the stingy knight and his son, claiming his share. The Baron believes that wealth must be endured in order not to squander it. The Baron's goal is to preserve and increase, Albert's goal is to use and enjoy. The conflict is caused by the clash of these interests. It is aggravated by the participation of the duke, to whom the baron is forced to slander his son. The strength of the conflict is such that only the death of one of the parties can resolve it. Passion destroys the stingy knight, the reader can only guess about the fate of his wealth.
Composition
There are three scenes in the tragedy. From the first, the reader learns about the difficult financial situation Albert, associated with the stinginess of his father. The second scene is a monologue of a stingy knight, from which it is clear that passion has taken possession of him completely. In the third scene, a just duke intervenes in the conflict and involuntarily becomes the cause of the death of the hero possessed by passion. The culmination (the death of the baron) is adjacent to the denouement - the conclusion of the duke: "A terrible century, terrible hearts!"
genre
The Miserly Knight is a tragedy, that is dramatic work, wherein the main character dies. Small size Pushkin achieved his tragedies, excluding everything unimportant. Pushkin's goal is to show the psychology of a person obsessed with the passion of avarice. All "Little Tragedies" complement each other, creating a voluminous portrait of humanity in all the variety of vices.
Style and artistic identity
All "Little Tragedies" are intended not so much for reading as for staging: how a stingy knight looks theatrically in a dark basement among the gold flickering by the light of a candle! The dialogues of tragedies are dynamic, and the monologue of the stingy knight is a poetic masterpiece. The reader just sees how bloody villainy creeps into the basement and licks the hand of the stingy knight. The images of The Covetous Knight cannot be forgotten.
... (The other three are Mozart and Salieri, The Stone Guest, Feast in Time of Plague.)
Pushkin "The Covetous Knight", scene 1 - summary
Pushkin "The Covetous Knight", scene 2 - summary
Albert's father, the baron, meanwhile, goes down to the basement, where he keeps his gold in order to add a new handful of it to the sixth, still incomplete, chest. With a sinking heart, the avaricious knight looks around the accumulated wealth. Today he decides to "arrange a feast for himself": to unlock all the chests and admire them by candlelight. In a lengthy monologue, the Baron discusses the enormous power that money gives. With their help, you can erect luxurious palaces, invite beautiful young nymphs to magnificent gardens, enslave free genius and sleepless labor, put bloodied villainy at your service ... (See Monologue of the Covetous Knight.)
However, money is almost always generated by evil. The stingy knight confesses: he took many of the coins from the chests from the poor widows who had nothing to feed their children. Others, repaid as debt, may have been plundered in forests and on the highways. Inserting the key into the lock of the chest, the avaricious knight feels the same as people who “find pleasure in killing” feel when they stab the victim with a knife.
The stingy knight. Painting by K. Makovsky, 1890s
The baron's joy is overshadowed by only one thought: he himself is already old, and his son Albert is a wasteful and reveler. The father has been saving up wealth for many years, and the offspring is able to squander them in the blink of an eye. The avaricious knight bitterly complains that after death he cannot hide his basement from the “gaze of the unworthy”, come here from the grave and sit on the chests as a “sentinel shadow”.
Pushkin "The Covetous Knight", scene 3 - summary
Albert complains to the duke in the palace that his father has doomed him to dire need. The Duke promises to speak with the Baron about this.
A miserly knight arrives at the palace. Albert hides nearby for a while, and the duke says to the baron: his son is rarely shown at court. Perhaps the reason is that the young knight has nothing to buy good clothes, a horse and armor? The Duke asks the Baron to give his son a decent allowance.
The avaricious knight frowns in response and assures the duke that Albert is a dishonest man who is mired in vices and even tried to rob and kill his father. Albert, hearing this conversation, runs into the room and accuses the parent of lying. The stingy baron challenges his son to a duel, throwing him a glove. Albert picks it up readily.
Overwhelmed by the hatred of father and son for each other, the duke loudly reproaches them both. The stingy knight in excitement shouts that he is stuffy - and suddenly dies. At the last moment, he looks for the keys to the chests on himself. The tragedy ends with the Duke's phrase: "Awful age, terrible hearts!"