Griboedov, Aleksandr Sergeevich | Gerald Janecek (essay date fall 1977)
Gerald Janecek (essay date fall 1977)
SOURCE: Janecek, Gerald. “A Defense of Sof'ja in Woe from Wit.” Slavic and East European Journal 21, no. 3 (fall 1977): 318-31.
[In the following essay, Janecek asserts that many critics neither appreciate the complexity of Sofia's character nor how the ambiguity associated with her enhances Woe from Wit.]
“Sof'ja is unclearly drawn. …”
A. S. Puškin
Critiques of Woe from Wit (Gore ot uma) usually center on Čackij. Mirsky's attitude is, in this respect, typical: “Chatsky is the principal thing in the play. He is its imaginative and emotional focus, its yeast and its zest.” But Mirsky precedes this with a remark on Sof'ja which is not typical and which highlights a feature of the play that is peculiar, if not paradoxical:
Sophia is not a type, but she is a person. She is a rare phenomenon in classical comedy:...
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