''The Poor Bride'' (russian: Бедная невеста, Romanized as Bednaya nevesta) is a play by
Alexander Ostrovsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Остро́вский; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 origina ...
, written in 1851 and first published in the No.4,
1852
Events
January–March
* January 14 – President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic.
* January 15 – Nine men representing various Jewish charitable organizations come tog ...
issue of ''
Moskvityanin
''Moskvityanin'' (Москвитянин, "The Muscovite") was a monthly literary review published by Mikhail Pogodin in Moscow between 1841 and 1856., , , , It was the mouthpiece of the Official Nationality theory espoused by Count Sergey Uvarov ...
'' magazine. It was his first play to be staged at the
Maly Theatre The Maly Theatre, or Mali Theatre, may refer to one of several different theatres:
* The Maly Theatre (Moscow), also known as The State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia, in Moscow (founded in 1756 and given its own building in 1824)
* The Maly Thea ...
, where it premiered on 20 August 1853.
Background
''The Poor Bride'', his second large play, caused Ostrovsky much trouble. Later he wrote: "I've had an iron-like creative prowess when I was learning how to write, but still, after having worked for a year and a half on ''The Poor Bride'' (my second one) I came to detest it so much I didn't want to see it on stage. I agreed to stage it only responding to the continuous actors' requests, two years after it was finished." The plot has been changed thrice.
The target of Ostrovsky's satire was Saint Petersburg's 'romantic poseurs'. Merich (Zorich in the rough version) was "a parody on
Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
's heroes, Grushnitsky, trying to act Pechorin," according to the scholar Vladimir Lakshin. His name came from Lermontov's Meri (with a typically Lermontov-like surname ending, like in Vulich, Zvezdich or Kazbich). In one of the play's versions Marya Andreyevna was holding Lermontov's book in hand. "The charisma of a disappointed
romantic hero
The Romantic hero is a literary archetype referring to a character that rejects established norms and conventions, has been rejected by society, and has themselves at the center of their own existence. The Romantic hero is often the protagonist in ...
which became a cliché in the Russian literature of the 1840s was waiting for a literary backlash," Lakshin wrote.
Another biographer, S.V. Maksimov, insisted the play's characters were portraits of the real people who surrounded the author, rather than mere schemes. The Nezabudkins had similarities with the Korsh family (three brothers and five sisters were all known in the artistic circles), Benevolensky's prototype was professor Krylov, one of the Korsh sisters' husband and the main reason for Ostrovsky's leaving the university (who failed the latter at the exam, allegedly waiting for a bribe). The liaison between Khorkov and Marya Andreyevna served as a parallel to the unhappy relations between one of the Korsh sisters, Antonina, and
Apollon Grigoryev
Apollon Aleksandrovich Grigoryev (russian: Аполло́н Алекса́ндрович Григо́рьев, p=ɐpɐˈlon ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪf, a=Apollon Alyeksandrovich Grigor'yev.ru.vorb.oga; 20 July 1822 – 7 Octob ...
, according to Lakshin. For V.A. Grigoriev (Apollon's grandson), though, Marya Andreyevna looked more like Zinaida Korsh whom the author himself fancied. The singer, folklorist and later senior state official
Terty Filippov was a prototype for the Milashin character. "Benevolensky, Dobrotvorsky and Merich were all the real people Ostrovsky was meeting in the Korsh's house, or elsewhere. But in reality there was no such marriage as the one described in the play," V.A.Grigoryev argued.
History
Ostrovsky first mentioned ''The Poor Bride'' in a letter to
Mikhail Pogodin
Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (russian: Михаи́л Петро́вич Пого́дин; , Moscow, Moscow) was a Russian Imperial historian and journalist who, jointly with Nikolay Ustryalov, dominated the national historiography between the death ...
in the summer of 1850. On October 31 that year he recited fragments of it in his editor's home. In the summer of 1851 the play was finished but the author continued to make changes to the text. On November 3 he informed Pogodin: "The comedy is lagging behind a bit for I've heard
Pisemsky's comedy
'The Hyppochondriac''and found it necessary to embellish my own a bit so as not to blush for it."
In December the play was submitted to censors. On 19 February the permission for the magazine publication was received and the play appeared in the February issue of ''Moskvityanin''. In 1859 ''The Poor Bride'' was re-issued as part of ''The Works by A.N.Ostrovsky'' in two volumes (published by Count
Grigory Kushelev-Bezborodko
Count Grigory Alexandrovich Kushelev-Bezborodko (russian: Григорий Александрович Кушелев-Безбородко, 1 February 1832, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia, – 13 May 1870, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia) was ...
), again after harsh authorial editing. This version of the text is considered to be the final one and it was in this form that the play would be reproduced in numerous collections and anthologies in the years to come.
It took half a year for censors to give the permission for the stage production. In September 1852 ''The Poor Bride'' was pronounced eligible for the Maly Theatre stage, much to the credit of censor Gederstern who interpreted it as romantic drama and ignored its social undercurrents. Two roles, those of Dunya and Pasha, though, had to be cancelled and re-appeared in the text only in October 1861. Angered by the cuts, Ostrovsky asked Verstovsky to delay the production of the ''Bride'' and wait for his next play, ''
Stay in Your Own Sled'', which he was working upon.
''The Poor Bride'' was premièred in Maly Theater on August 20, 1853, with
Agrafena Saburova as Nezabudkina,
Ekaterina Vasilyeva (Marya Andreyevna),
Nikolai Cherkasov (Merich),
Sergey Vasilyev (Milashin),
Sergey Shumsky
Sergey Vasilyevich Chesnokov (russian: Сергей Васильевич Чесноков; 19 October 1820, in Moscow, Imperial Russia – 18 February 1878, in Moscow, Imperial Russia) was a Russian stage actor better known under his stage name, Se ...
(Dobrotvorsky),
Prov Sadovsky
Prov Sadovsky was the stage name of Prov Mikhailovich Yermilov (1818-1872), a Russian actor who founded the famous Sadovsky theatrical family, which was regarded as the foremost interpreters of the plays by Aleksandr Ostrovsky in the Malyi Theatr ...
(Benevolensky),
Kornely Poltavtsev (Khorkov) and
Sophia Akimova (Khorkova). On October 12, 1863, the play was performed in the
Alexandrinsky Theatre
The Alexandrinsky Theatre (russian: Александринский театр) or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial trou ...
, as a benefit for actress Maria Chitau (Maria Andreyevna). The permission for the play to be performed at the Russian public theatres came only on 3 May 1893, the characters of Dunya and Pasha again excised.
Reception
On March 20, 1852, Aleksey Pisemsky wrote to Ostrovsky: "I've read the comedy of yours with the greatest of pleasure and found it not just equal but even superior to ''
It's a Family Affair-We'll Settle It Ourselves''. Its humour is more subtle and soulful while the characters are so vivid they even visit me in dreams."
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...
opined that the play failed to meet the expectations which were too high after the ''Family Affair'', but found "its general colour very true" and "the second act beautiful from the first word to the last." In 1879, re-issuing his article, Turgenev revised his initial assessment and called the play "one of this dramatist's best".
Nikolai Chernyshevsky
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky ( – ) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism. He was t ...
found the play "very good" even if lacking "the sense of revelation" which had been brought by the ''Family Affair''.
[Chernyshevsky, N.G. Poverty is no Vice, Sovremennik, 1854, V.]
The comprehensive analysis of the play was provided by
Nikolai Dobrolyubov
Nikolay Alexandrovich Dobrolyubov ( rus, Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Добролю́бов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ dəbrɐˈlʲubəf, a=Nikolay Alyeksandrovich Dobrolyubov.ru.vorb.oga; 5 February Old_Style_a ...
in his 1859 essay. Having described in full the difficult situation Marya Andreyevna, the "poor bride", found herself in, the critic poised the question: "What this hapless creature suffers all these insults for, what keeps her in this mire?" - and gave the answer: "It is obvious, what: she is a poor bride, she has nothing to do other than sit there waiting or go seeking for the right kind of fiancée... Modern liberals scorn this, but one would like to know - what is there left in our society to do for a young girl who fails to marry?" According to Dobrolyubov, in his play Ostrovsky gave "the direct answer" to the most important question of the day: "why in our families a woman finds herself in a slave-like situation and why does samodurstvo
etty tyrannyhits her particularly hard."
External links
English Translation of the play by John Laurence Seymour and George Rapall Noyes (1933)(archive.org)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poor Bride
1852 plays
Plays by Alexander Ostrovsky