A. N. Ostrovsky in 1849 wrote a play in four acts "Our people - we will be numbered." Interestingly, the working titles of the comedy were "Bankrupt" and "Insolvent Debtor." The literary work belongs to the genre of realism and makes fun of the merchants of Moscow of their time, in which deception flourished, for the sake of profit, and the absolute impoverishment of spiritual values.
Before proceeding to the description of the summary of the play "Our people - we will be numbered", you should familiarize yourself with the acting characters who are involved in it.
Podkhalyuzin Lazar Elizarych - woo Lipochka and later becomes her husband, works as a bailiff for Bolshov. A calculating and selfish person who is ready to resort to any deception for profit.
Lipochka (Olympiada Samsonovna Bolshova) is Bolshov's daughter, who managed to get some education and with all her might strives for a high society life.
Bolshov Samson Silych - Lipochka's father, a merchant. A characteristic phrase that accurately describes the hero: "If they get into their heads, nothing will knock them out."
Agrafena Kondratyevna - Bolshov's wife and Lipochka's mother.
Rispozhensky Sysoy Psyich is a solicitor.
Ustinya Naumovna is a matchmaker.
Action one (12 phenomena)
Sitting by the window, Lipochka is discussing dancing. It can be seen that she is proud of the received baggage of thematic knowledge, consisting of twenty lessons. But she is overcome by doubts that the year and a half that have passed since then may embarrass her in front of her future spouse. She carefully tries to recall the once memorized movements.
Agrafena Kondratyevna does not like her daughter's occupation. And the girl begins to resent the "disgusting concepts" of her parents, for which she often has to blush.
For Lipochka, they cannot find a chosen one in any way, and she is very upset by this fact. After all, "all the friends have been with their husbands for a long time, and I am like an orphan!" She even declares in the heat of her mother's temper that she can secretly marry any hussar who turns up under her arm.
A matchmaker comes, and Lipochka and her mother ask her about the groom. Ustinya Naumovna grumbles that in this situation "you will not soon figure out" how to resolve the issue. After all, Samson Silych demands a rich, his mother - a merchant and a "salary" and "baptized his forehead, so that in the old way", and the bride herself dreams of a noble one.
Olympiada Samsonovna does not want her husband to come from a merchant class, like her father. Her argument boils down to the fact that "merchants have no ambitions." The matchmaker confidentially informs Lipochka's mother that she has in mind a "diamond" groom, a "nobleman" of noble blood.
The owner of the family talks to the solicitor about his business. He is heavily indebted to creditors and Rispozhensky persuades to rewrite the property to "strangers", meaning the clerk, and to mortgage or sell the shops. Samson Silych likes the candidacy of a man, whom he characterizes with the phrase "a fellow with a concept and a capital". Sysoy Psoich stipulates the terms of the transaction, according to which it is necessary, after the mortgage on the house, to write a "register" at 25 kopecks per ruble. And only then you can go to the creditors.
Lazar Elizarych arrives with the news. According to the "government announcements" it turns out that many respected merchants were in fact bankrupt. He persuades Bolshov to accept his help in order to get out of a difficult situation. He promises Podkhalyuzin "a share of the profit." The bailiff assures the owner that he owes him his whole life, because Samson Silych hired him as a boy.
Second act (ten phenomena)
Podkhalyuzin is overcome with gloomy thoughts that after the owner's bankruptcy he will go "to trade in dust in the aisle." Suddenly he realizes that without a dowry, no one will marry Lipochka, and she is an educated young lady and an enviable party for him.
Sysoy Psoich informs Lazar Elizarych that Bolshov promised the solicitor a raccoon coat and a thousand rubles for the deal. The bailiff immediately understands how to turn things around favorably. He promises Rispozhensky two thousand for changing plans.
The newly baked groom persuades the matchmaker to refuse the applicant for Lipochka's hand that she found. They solve the problem of the ignoble origin of Podkhalyuzin by the fact that "Olympiada herself is not a noblewoman." Lazarus sums up: "Well, you see, it is much more appropriate for her to be a merchant." The contract is sealed by the promise of a sable fur coat and two thousand rubles to the matchmaker.
Lazar Yelizarych assures Lipochka's father that it is necessary to "attach for the time being and for the time being Alimpiyada Samsonovna for a good person." He reports the news that the "noble groom" changed his mind because of the state of affairs of Bolshov. An assurance of great and ardent love is used. The merchant decides the case in favor of the bailiff and promises that Lipochka "will go for whomever I command."
Act three (eight phenomena)
Lipochka's parents are waiting for the “noble” groom promised by the matchmaker. But Ustinya Naumovna says that he is indecisive. Bolshov tells his daughter his decision - he himself will find a groom.
Lazar Elizarych comes to visit the Bolshovs, and Samson Silych announces to the family that he has chosen Podkhalyuzin to be his daughter's fiancé. Lipochka declares that she does not want to go "for such an opposite." And the father decisively asserts that his decision is not subject to doubt, assuring: "I will, and you will marry the janitor." Podkhalyuzin tries to calm his newfound mother-in-law by saying that he respects her and is ready to brighten up his old age.
Finding herself alone with Lazar, Lipochka calls her counterpart "an uneducated fool" and refuses to become his wife. He, in turn, assures the bride that all the noble ones have turned away from her, and all the property of the Bolshov family has already been transferred to him. Olympiada is surprised by Podkhalyuzin's phrase: "We, thank God, have more money than some noble." The groom assures his chosen one that in the future she will walk only in silks, ride Oryol horses, and he will "walk in a tailcoat and cut in fashion."
After some deliberation, Olympiada Samsonovna asks Lazar Elizarych to take her away from here. She is outraged that “mama has seven Fridays in the week”, and “the old man is not drunk, he is so silent, but as drunk, he will beat him down, so look it up,” summing up: “What is all this abrasive young lady to endure ?! … The groom promises to move into his own house. Lipochka is pleased and declares: "We will run everything according to fashion, and they will do whatever they want."
Podkhalyuzin informs everyone present about Lipochka's consent to marry him. The father of the family gives him the house and the shops as a dowry, plus promises to “count something else out of the available money”. The only thing he asks his son-in-law for is "to feed them with the old woman, and pay the creditors ten kopecks from the ruble." Lazar promises: "Our people - we will be numbered!"
Act four (five phenomena)
The new house of the Podkhalyuzins. Furnished living room, where Olympiada Samsonovna is in a fashionable silk blouse. The couple are discussing new purchases and their upcoming trip to Sokolniki. The wife pronounces the phrase in bad French, which makes her husband very happy.
Ustinya Naumovna comes to visit the Podkhalyuzins. Olympiada Samsonovna begins to show her her new outfits, and she asks Lazar Elizarych to give the promised fee. Podkhalyuzin says: “You never know what I promised! I promised to jump from Ivan the Great if I marry Alimpiyada Samsonovna. So jump? " The matchmaker promises to "send them all over Moscow."
The next visitors of the Podkhalyuzins are the father-in-law with the mother-in-law. Bolshov complains that he has fallen into a hole in debt, and that a soldier accompanies him through the streets. The daughter intervenes in the conversation with a remark: "Well, darling, they are sitting better than you and me."
Samson Silych recalls the debt to creditors "at 25 kopecks per ruble."The son-in-law refers to the lack of money and speaks of “10 kopecks per ruble”. The Olympiad also supports her husband. Bolshov complains that he will be sent to Siberia. Agrafena Kondratyevna scolds Lazar, but Olympiada interrupts her with the phrase: "A day will not pass so as not to bark at someone." The Bolshovs, in frustrated feelings, leave the Podkhalyuzins.
Lazarus' next visitor is the solicitor. Podkhalyuzin gives him 5 rubles instead of the promised two thousand. His logic is implacable - "nothing owes for fraud." Rispozhensky leaves with the words of a promise "to spread ill fame and to send him to Siberia."
Final scene. Podkhalyuzin addresses the spectators sitting in the hall: “You don’t believe him, it’s he who said, sir - this is all lying. None of this happened. He must have dreamed this in his dream. But we are opening a shop, you are welcome! If you send a small child, we won't be able to hold it in an onion”.
Conclusion
In the famous comedy A. N. Ostrovsky "Our people - we will count" very colorfully shows the spiritual impoverishment of the merchant class, as well as the contradiction between the older and younger generations. On the one hand, the father is not at all interested in his daughter's opinion about her fiancé, however, she, together with Podkhalyuzin, does not lag behind the parent in her inclination to scams and deceptions, repaying him in the same coin.
