DOI 10.52172/2587-6945_2022_19_1_134
Abstract
The author of the article analyzes the features of the embodiment of the artistic concept of happiness in the dramaturgy of A. N. Ostrovsky. From the very beginning of his creative career, the great playwright turned to the issues of felicity, the concept of happiness presented in his works can clarify the uniqueness of the national worldview and world attitude of the Russian people, explain the peculiarities of their social and everyday behaviour, characterize their aspirations and hopes, form an opinion about their ideals. The material for this study, in addition to dramatic works ("Don't live as you want", "A festive dream - before lunch", "Your dogs are biting, don't bother someone else!", "What you go for, you will find (Balzaminov's Marriage)", "Forest", "Truth is good, but happiness is better", "Snow Maiden"), is publicism and the epistolary legacy of the playwright. To a great extent, the views of the characters of A. N. Ostrovsky on happiness were formed by the patriarchal way of life, folklore ideas. Family happiness includes, according to popular ideals, a sense of duty, patience, loyalty, caring for each other in sickness and in health, responsibility for the spouse. Self-will, born of selfish instincts, leads to not only personal unhappiness but also to unhappiness of surrounding people. For the playwright himself, the phenomenon of happiness correlates with the phenomenon of creativity, with the high mission of theatrical art and the artist. In the works of A. N. Ostrovsky happiness appears in a wide variety of guises (happiness as wealth, happiness as order, happiness as virtues, happiness as success, happiness as love, happiness as mutual understanding, happiness as justice, happiness as creativity, happiness as well-being, happiness as satisfaction of desires), from the totality of which the national image of happiness is formed.
Keywords
A. N. Ostrovsky, phenomenology of happiness, dramaturgy, national ideal, merchant class.