Specify correct option answer:

1 . Which publisher's name appears in the title of the collection?

A) Tikhon Sidorenko;

B) Rudy Panko;

B) Levko Makogonenko;

D) Okhrim Golopupenko.

2. In which village does the story by N.V. take place? Gogol?

A) Dikanka;

B) Vasilyevka;

B) Makeevka;

D) Dobrinka.

3. What remedy artistic expression used in this fragment?

“A clear winter night has arrived. The stars looked. Month majestically got up On sky shine good people and the whole world, so that everyone can have fun praising Christ. ‹…› Not a single crowd of boys has yet appeared under the windows of the huts; for a month he only looked at them furtively, as if calling the dressed up girls to run out quickly into the crunchy snow.”

A) epithet;

B) personification;

B) metaphor;

D) comparison.

4. On the eve of what holiday does the story take place?

A) New Year;

B) Christmas;

B) Baptism;

D) Easter.

5. What were the names of the songs that boys and girls sang on Christmas Eve?

A) nursery rhymes;

B) jokes;

B) carols;

D) charades.

6. Which of the following characters are characters in the story by N.V. Gogol's "The Night Before Christmas"?

A) Cossack Kasyan Sverbyguz;

B) Solopiy Cherevik;

B) Ganna;

D) Cossack Tsybulya;

D) Odarka;

E) captain Gorobets.

7. Translate the words in the left column into Russian by matching them with the corresponding words from the right column.

8. What was the witch collecting late at night?

A) herbs;

B) stars;

B) coins;

D) flowers.

9. What did the devil hide in his pocket at the beginning of the story?

A) cradle;

B) handkerchief;

Per month;

D) scroll.

10. What did Vakula promise to give Oksana if only she would agree to marry him?

A) a scarf embroidered with gold threads;

B) booties worn by the empress;

C) a dress embroidered with precious stones;

D) silver mirror with emeralds.

11. Why did “the devil vow to take revenge on the blacksmith”?

A) Vakula depicted him in an unsightly form on the wall of the church;

B) Vakula deceived the devil;

B) Vakula hit the devil;

D) Vakula threatened him with a cypress cross.

12. Who did Vakula turn to for help finding the devil?

A) Serdyuk;

B) Panasyuk;

B) Patsyuk;

D) Danilyuk.

13. What did Vakula need to do to make the devil in his hands “become as quiet as a lamb”?

A) sing;

B) console;

B) be baptized;

D) threaten.

14. How did Vakula “thank” the devil?

A) gave three blows;

B) hugged goodbye;

B) gave a ruble;

D) invited me to visit.

15. What is the term for detailed description character's appearance?

“... The front is completely German: a narrow muzzle, constantly spinning and sniffing everything that comes across, ending, like our pigs, with a round snout, the legs were so thin that if Yareskovsky had such a head, he would have broken them in the first Cossack woman But behind him he was a real provincial attorney in uniform, because he had a tail hanging, so sharp and long, like today’s uniform coattails ... "

A) narration;

B) description;

B) portrait;

D) personification.

16. What means of expression is used in this sentence?

“A short-sighted person would even put wheels from a commissar’s britzka on his nose instead of glasses, and then he wouldn’t recognize what it was.”

A) hyperbole;

B) allegory;

B) epithet;

D) litotes.

17. What did the women say about Solokha?

A) she is hard-working;

B) she is a thief;

B) she is a liar;

D) she is a witch.

18. Tell me who Solokha didn’t hide in the bag?

A) damn;

B) clerk;

B) head;

D) Chub;

D) Vakula

19. What do the villagers think happened to Vakula?

A) got lost;

B) left forever;

B) drowned himself;

D) hanged himself.

20. To which city did Vakula go riding on the devil?

A) St. Petersburg;

B) Moscow;

B) Kyiv;

D) Paris.

21. Which of the following corresponds to how Vakula saw the city? (Several answer options are possible)

A) “I spent a month sneaking a peek into the windows”;

B) “the houses grew and seemed to rise from the ground”;

C) “the crunch of frost under the boot could be heard half a mile away”;

D) “four-story walls are piled up”;

D) “the carriages were flying”;

E) “how nice it is to hang around on a night like this between a bunch of laughing and singing girls and between the boys”;

G) “pedestrians crowded under the houses.”

22. Who did Vakula turn to for help when he arrived in the city?

A) to the Tatars;

B) to the Cossacks;

B) to Belarusians;

D) to the French.

23. Which historical character is presented in the story like this:

“A minute later, a rather stout man in a hetman’s uniform and yellow boots entered, accompanied by a whole retinue of majestic stature. His hair was disheveled, one eye was slightly crooked, his face depicted some kind of arrogant majesty, and in all his movements the habit of command was visible.”

A) M.I. Kutuzov;

B) A.V. Suvorov;

IN HELL. Menshikov;

D) G.A. Potemkin.

24. Please add, what compliment did Vakula give to the Empress?

“What should the legs be like? I think at least from pure ______________».

A) gold;

B) silver;

B) sugar;

D) porcelain.

25. How did Vakula paint the hut in which he and Oksana now lived?

A) painted portraits of him and Oksana;

B) painted local landscapes;

B) painted a portrait of the empress;

D) drew Cossacks on horses.

Despite the fact that his mother Solokha is a real witch, flying on a broomstick and dragging stars from the night sky, the young blacksmith is very devout. Main topics for your artistic creativity he draws from biblical stories. On the wall of the church Vakula depicted an episode Last Judgment, where sinners beat the devil, for which the main “hero” of the painted picture became terribly angry with him.

Vakula and Oksana

Vakula has long been passionately in love with the capricious, but most prominent girl in the village Oksana, the daughter of a wealthy Cossack Kornia Chuba. The restive girl is in no hurry to reciprocate the blacksmith’s feelings; she endlessly admires herself and ridicules the hot confessions of her admirer.

On the night before Christmas, when, due to the machinations of the devil and the witch, a blizzard was still raging in the pitch darkness, Vakula came to the house of his beloved. The girl laughs at the Cossack in love and does not want to get married. She demands slips from the queen's feet as proof of love. Vakula goes to his hut, where he grabs three heavy bags in which the devil, the head, the clerk and Chub, Oksana’s father, hid from each other. All four came to the witch Solokha to “stay”, but did not want to be seen. The blacksmith does not attach importance to the excessive weight of the bags, since the burden on his heart from Oksana’s hurtful words presses on him a hundred times more.

On the street, Vakula meets caroling children and Oksana. She again repeats her conditions - the queen’s shoes in exchange for her hand and heart. In despair, the blacksmith leaves all the bags, except the lightest one, on the road and runs away with the intention of drowning himself. The young people, deciding that there are gifts in the bags, take them with them to the village. Vakula, having cooled down a little and changed his mind about drowning himself, goes to the Cossack Patsyuk, who has long welcomed all kinds of evil spirits, to ask for advice. The blacksmith is sure that in the situation with the extraction of Catherine’s own slips, only evil spirits can help him. Patsyuk tells Vakula that the one he is looking for is behind his back. The brave blacksmith, grabbing the devil by the tail and riding him, promises to put a “cross” on the poor fellow if he does not deliver him to the queen’s reception. Having reached St. Petersburg, the travelers join the Cossacks and together with them are received by Her Majesty. The honest and simple-minded request of the boy in love melted the queen’s heart, and she gave him her slippers. Having rode the devil back home, Vakula rewards him with a whip and lets him go home.

Dikanka the next day stood on ears. People were talking about the good fellow Vakula, who had perished because of love. Oksana is hurt by these words, in fact, she has long reciprocated the blacksmith’s feelings and only girlish coquetry prevented the girl from opening up. She was completely saddened when Vakula did not come to the morning and lunch services, which he had never missed before. But the brave blacksmith simply overslept after a crazy night's journey and came to Oksana's home and wooed her with gifts in the late afternoon. Chub gives his consent to the marriage. Scared of never seeing Vakula again, Oksana was ready to marry him without any strings attached.

Quotes from Vakula

What do I care about my mother? you are my mother, and my father, and everything that is dear in the world. If the king called me and said: blacksmith Vakula, ask me for everything that is best in my kingdom, I will give it all to you. I will order you to make a gold forge, and you will begin to forge with silver hammers. I don’t want, I would say to the king, neither expensive stones, nor a gold forge, nor your entire kingdom: better give me my Oksana!

I think, and I can’t figure it out, where has my mind gone? She doesn't love me - well, God be with her! as if there is only one Oksana in the whole world. Thank God, there are many good girls in the village even without her. What about Oksana? she will never be a good housewife; She's just a master of dressing up. No, that's enough, it's time to stop fooling around.

But, my God, why is she so damn good? Her look, and her speech, and everything, well, it burns, it burns... No, I can’t overcome myself anymore! It's time to put an end to everything: lose your soul, I'll go drown myself in a hole, and remember my name.

On the wall to the side, as you enter the church, Vakula painted a devil in hell, so disgusting that everyone spat when they passed by; and the women, as soon as the child burst into tears in their arms, brought him to the picture and said: “It’s a big deal, it’s like it’s painted!” - and the child, holding back her tears, glanced sideways at the picture and huddled close to her mother’s chest...

...the poet entered the kingdom of the people as its complete ruler, but, imbued with its spirit, merging with it, he showed only his kinship with it, and not identity...
V. G. Belinsky

N.V. Gogol’s story “The Night Before Christmas” is similar to a folk fairy tale, in other words, the author actively uses fiction, fantasy and symbolism to characterize the world around him in an allegorical form.

The subject of the image in a fairy tale is unusual, terrible events (marriage to a frog, a journey to the afterlife); In “Night...” we find an agreement between the good Christian, the blacksmith Vakula, and the devil, the enemy of the human race. In a fairy tale, the action has an adventurous character, positive hero, overcoming difficult obstacles, he always achieves his goal (defeats Koshchei, gets rejuvenating apples); in “Night...” Vakula flew to St. Petersburg on Christmas night for the Tsar’s slippers ( an indispensable condition for his wedding with Oksana) and returned to Dikanka. Wonderful characters are often introduced into fairy tales who help the hero achieve his goal (wolf, horse, treasure sword, etc.); in “Night...” such an assistant to the main character becomes... damn.

Fiction in a fairy tale can resemble reality, or it can have a fantastic character. A remarkable feature of “Night...” is the interweaving of reality and fantasy, sometimes so close that it is impossible to separate one from the other. Here reality is explained through fiction. On Christmas night, a month disappeared from the sky over Dikanka and a snowstorm arose because the devil decided to harm the blacksmith. Vakula was going to go to Oksana to explain himself, but did not want to meet with Chub, whom he did not like. The devil specifically stole the month from the sky and put it in his little box so that Chub would stay at home. Fantasy, in turn, takes on real features in the scene when the devil, having stolen the month, flies to Solokha and begins to court her like an experienced ladies' gentleman. Or Vakula comes for advice to the village sorcerer Pot-bellied Molasses, and he eats the most ordinary dumplings in a fantastic way: with his gaze he tosses dumplings from one bowl to another, filled with sour cream, and then with the same magically sends them into his own mouth.

Reality and fantasy are intertwined in the image of the blacksmith Vakula. On the one hand, this is quite a real man, nothing human is alien to him: he passionately loves Oksana and suffers from her coquetry, he does not like Chub, he is a good blacksmith and a thorough owner. On the other hand, he is a positive hero of folk tales who has all the qualities necessary for this. The author endowed Vakula with physical strength (bending a horseshoe with his hands), courage (travels through the sky), perseverance (doesn’t give up courtship-red tape for Oksana), beauty (the queen really liked the Zaporozhye caftan), captivating directness in dealing with Oksana, Chub, Ekaterina. The image of Vakula combines the features of a folk hero (Ivan the peasant son) and an “ironic fool” (Ivanushka the fool, who in fact turns out to be the smartest among fairy-tale heroes). Next to Vakula, other worthy Cossacks are placed in the story (for example, the brave, sensible Cossacks).

Gogol preserves the ideological setting of any fairy tale - to show the struggle between good and evil forces and the inevitable victory of good. In accordance with this ideological task, all the heroes in the fairy tale are divided into good (personify Christian values) and evil (represent pagan images); in “Night...” Vakula is the most active representative of good forces, and his mother Solokha (a witch known throughout Dikanka) and the devil play the roles of fairy-tale villains. True, these villains are unable to seriously harm Vakula. Solokha is against her son’s marriage to Oksana, since she herself wants to marry Chub in order to take over his rich estate, but it is Vakula who ultimately receives the consent of the bride and her father. The devil, trying to interfere with Vakula, always gets into trouble and in the end he himself is under threat sign of the cross, helps the daring blacksmith get the royal slippers. The evil forces in the story are not at all scary; on the contrary, they are described with remarkable humorous skill.

The humor in “Night...”, among other things, smoothes the boundaries of the real and fantasy worlds. So, although the devil tried very hard to keep old Chub at home, the worthy villager, out of stubbornness, went to visit. The unclean one miscalculated, since no snowstorm can stop the Cossack when he intends to drink “saffron-distilled vodka.” Another example. What size should the bag be so that two such respectable Cossacks as the clerk and Chub can fit in it? What kind of strongman must Vakula be to lift this bag and another one in which Solokha hid Dikankovsky’s multi-pound head at once? However, Gogol describes all these absurdities completely seriously, which enhances the comedy of the situation.

In the story, Gogol repeats common fairy tale plot devices. Often the reason for the adventures of fairy-tale heroes is the search for the missing groom (“Finist-Clear Falcon”) or bride (“The Frog Princess”). Wayward Oksana does not appreciate Vakula’s love and is, in a sense, like a lost bride. The blacksmith wants to earn Oksana's love by giving her the royal slippers, for which he goes to distant Petersburg. As usually happens in fairy tales (for example, Ivan Tsarevich burns the skin of the frog princess), Vakula first chooses the wrong path to achieve his goal: in order to achieve Oksana’s love, he is ready to drown himself or make a deal with evil spirits. However, he manages to come to his senses in time, discarding sinful thoughts of suicide and selling his soul to the devil. Gogol uses the fairy-tale motif of wanderings (Tsarevich Ivan passes through the Copper, Silver and Golden Kingdoms): Vakula flies from Dikanka to St. Petersburg. Triple repetition of episodes - characteristic feature folk tales - is present in “Night...”, however, peripheral episodes are repeated: Solokha hides three of his fans (the head, the clerk and Chub) in bags, while the devil himself dives into a small bag. As a result, four gentlemen are distributed among three bags. Just as in many fairy tales a fair and kind king appears at the end, so in “Night...” Vakula gets to the Winter Palace, where the inexpressibly beautiful Queen Catherine, without any questions asked, fulfills the request of the simple-minded blacksmith and gives him happiness - golden slippers from her own wardrobe . Like most fairy tales, the story has a happy ending: good triumphs over evil, the devoted Vakula deserves the love of his chosen one.

So, Gogol’s story “The Night Before Christmas” has many features that make it similar to a fairy tale: exciting plot moves, the image of the main character, grouping of characters. However, “Night...” is not a folklore tale, but an author’s fairy tale, that is, a literary work that differs from folk tale visual techniques.

Firstly, Gogol’s fairy tale plot is overgrown with colorful descriptions, that is, the author seeks to poeticize nature and Cossack life in comparison with the laconic folk tale. These precise and witty descriptions slow down the action of the story, but increase the fascination of the story.

Secondly, the episodes of the story are structured in such a way as to add exciting tension to the story, and the outcome of each episode is unexpected and comical. So, Chub got lost in a snowstorm and returned home, just as the devil wanted. But, encountering Vakula at the door of his own hut, Chub became timid, and the blacksmith, not recognizing his future father-in-law, drove Chub out into the cold with strong pushes. When Solokha had already put her three important gentlemen into sacks, the last one arrived in time - the Cossack Sverbyguz. She did not dare to take him home, since it was impossible to find a bag that would fit such a portly man. Then “Solokha took him out into the garden to hear from him everything that he wanted to tell her.”

Thirdly, Gogol uses complex psychological motivations for the characters’ behavior (why the devil doesn’t love the blacksmith; how Oksana realized that she loved Vakula; why the old women considered Solokha a witch, etc.).

Despite all the differences between “Night...” and a folk tale, it should be recognized that this story is a truly folk work: Gogol reflected in it the people's life in its essential manifestations, reflected the spirit of the people, their wit, gaiety, their view of the world.

Listen to the piece ( audiobook) you can or

Lecture based on a work from the Bibigon TV channel (lecturer Dmitry Bak) watch

Video lessons:

• Video tutorial "N.V. Gogol. The history of the creation of the collection "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka". The plot of the story. Paintings folk life in the story "The Night Before Christmas". Landscape" view

• Video tutorial "Realistic and fantastic in the story “The Night Before Christmas”. Scenes of court life" watch

• Video tutorial "Realistic and fantastic in the story “The Night Before Christmas”. Theory of literature. Humor" watch

Screen adaptation stories:

• Soviet full-length color feature film-fairy tale, produced at the Moscow Film Studio named afterand M. Gorky in 1961 directed by Alexander Rowe, watch

Test based on the work "The Night Before Christmas" with answers:

1. What did the witch collect in her sleeve on the night before Christmas? (Stars.)

2. How did the witch and the devil get into the hut? (Through the pipe.)

3. Who stole the month and why? (The devil, to play a petty trick on the blacksmith Vakula: in the dark Chub - Oksana’s father will not leave the house, and the date will not take place.)

4. Why did the devil take revenge on the blacksmith? (The blacksmith painted a picture of the Last Judgment in the church, where the poor devil was beaten with whatever they could hit.)

5. How old was Oksana? (16-17 years old.)

6. What gift did the blacksmith prepare for Oksana? (Chest with iron frame and painting.)

7. What was the witch’s name, and who was she related to the blacksmith? (Solokha, the blacksmith’s mother.)

8. Why did Solokha prefer Chuba out of all her suitors? (Chub was rich, kept his household in order, although he was not young, he was still in good health, and most importantly, he was a widower.)

9. How did it happen that the blacksmith beat Chub, Oksana’s father, and kicked him out of own home? (The blacksmith was irritated that someone interfered with his conversation with Oksana; he did not recognize Chub (blizzard, dark), and he, embarrassed by the harshness of Vakula’s tone, decided that he was in someone else’s hut.)

10. What condition did Oksana set for the blacksmith when she agreed to marry him? (The blacksmith had to get her “the slippers that the queen herself wears.”)

11. What is caroling? (A festive ritual around Christmas: games, round dances, singing songs of praise and walking around the courtyards, for which the owners gave something tasty: lard, pies, honey, sausages.)

12. Who ended up in the sacks in Solokha’s hut? (Devil, head, Chub, clerk.)

13. Who is Pot-bellied Patsyuk, why did Vakula go to him for help? (Pot-bellied Patsyuk was once a Cossack, and was also known, by everyone’s opinion, to have evil spirits.)

14. Why was Pot-bellied Patsyuk valued and respected in the village? (For witchcraft.)

15. What did Pot-bellied Patsyuk say to Vakula? (“He who has the devil behind him doesn’t have to go far.”)

16.What did Pot-bellied Patsyuk eat during his conversation with Vakulai? (Dumplings, dumplings with sour cream.)

17. How can you tame the devil? (Sign of the Cross.)

24. What happened to Oksana when he disappeared? (Oksana was embarrassed, thought about it, remembered how handsome Vakula is, how devotedly he loves her, what a master he is, etc., and it ended with “by morning I fell in love with the blacksmith.”)

25. How did the blacksmith get married? (He brought Chuba a brand new hat and a beautiful belt, fell at his feet and said: “Have mercy, dad! Don’t be angry! Here’s a whip for you: hit as much as your heart desires... Give, dad, Oksana for me.”)

26. How did the blacksmith thank the devil? (Give the devil three blows with a twig.)

Tale by N.V. Gogol's "The Night Before Christmas" is part of the famous cycle "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", where fantasy is successfully intertwined with reality, and the fairy-tale with the fictional. The main character of the work is the young blacksmith Vakula, whom the author endows with many positive qualities.

The plot of the work illuminates the feelings of Vakula, who has long been in love with the beautiful Oksana, the daughter of the rich Cossack Chub. However, Oksana is unapproachable and proud. She does not accept Vakula’s love and, half jokingly, offers him a deal: if the blacksmith gets her the queen’s slippers, she will marry him. This condition and the mocking attitude of his beloved upset Vakula. At first he decides to drown himself in the ice hole, but then he pulls himself together and makes another decision: “What will be will be, you have to ask the devil himself for help!” And evil spirits really follow the boy: the devil himself hates him because the blacksmith painted a picture of a demon being shamed on the wall of the church. That is why the devil constantly messes with him: at the beginning of the story he steals the moon (so that the evil Chub, due to the terrible darkness, returns home ahead of time and finds the hated Vakula with Oksana), inclines the blacksmith to suicide, pushes him to various temptations.

However, Vakula deftly overcomes the machinations of the evil one. The blacksmith is not only a pious man, but also a savvy one. Immediately after a hint from the local healer Patsyuk, he realizes that he has a devil in his bag. The blacksmith is not afraid to directly threaten the demon and says that he will cross him if he does not fulfill all his demands. And the evil one has no choice but to take the young man to St. Petersburg to the queen and back.

How does a simple blacksmith manage to outwit the devil himself? The answer to this question is given by the author himself. In his collection, Gogol glorifies courage, fortitude, everyday cunning and piety. It was Vakula who remained faithful to God until the very end. Despite the devil’s exhortations and requests to let him go kindly, Vakula showed character and did it his way. At the end of the story, he whipped the evil one three times with a twig, and in addition, he drew the demon again, so disgustingly that all passers-by spat on him. This proves that the blacksmith is a man of courage and principle.

(Blacksmith Vakula from the film "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" 1961)

Vakula turns out to be more cunning evil spirits, because he does not follow his temptations, but acts according to his conscience. For example, the demon offered Vakula the hand and heart of the mocking Oksana in exchange for his soul. But the boy understands that one cannot expect anything good or good from the evil one, no matter what riches he promises. And the God-fearing Vakula would never have sold his soul, because selling his soul to the unclean means betraying himself and his faith.

The blacksmith can be called a collective positive image of the entire cycle of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” This is not only a dexterous, purposeful, selfless and deeply religious person, he is a person in whom enormous natural strength lies. A person who performs godly deeds, not for his own sake, but for the sake of others. Even the devil is not a rival for people like the blacksmith Vakula - kind, sincere people, strong in faith and spirit.