Not only Russia is rich in criminal talents. In all countries there are people who believe that an honest life is not what Mother Nature created them for. Let's talk about the rogue today. Who is this? Quite an interesting character for our article!
Meaning
An explanatory dictionary is indispensable in the linguistic search for truth, and it tells us that the word in question has two meanings:
- Cunning and clever deceiver, a swindler with a professional status in this business.
- A person who loves to be cunning, cunning. Meaning is colloquial.
In the first sense, "rogue" is a professional trickster, no matter how he is called. Several images pop up in memory at once, for example, Count Cagliostro, Ostap Bender, Benya Krik, Chichikov, Khlestakov, Woland's retinue. Of course, there were real scammers who did not become heroes of fiction. But we don't want to advertise them, let's talk about synonyms.
Substitute words
We partially touched on the topic of synonyms when we defined the word "rogue". In this it is possiblebe sure if you re-read the above. But for convenience, let's bring all the already used and some new ones into a single list:
- swindler;
- beast;
- beetle;
- crook;
- scam;
- fox;
- fraudster;
- deceiver;
- swindler;
- scoundrel;
- rogue;
- sly;
- quack;
- rogue.
As we can see, there are many types of deceit, but there are also many synonyms for the concept of "dark deeds". And that's not all. We have selected those that are used most often. The reader, as usual, is free to add something of his own to this list. We will not object. Let's move on to the most interesting - examples in literature and cinema.
Ostap Bender, Woland and his retinue
Already have become almost synonymous with the definition of "rogue", "dodger" and the hero Ostap Bender. But so much has been said and written about the great combinator that it probably makes no sense to write something else. Moreover, people know the books of Ilf and Petrov almost by heart.
But there is one curious connection that Dmitry Bykov emphasized in his lectures - the influence of Ilf and Petrov on the work of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. It is clear that The Master and Margarita is even similar in tone to The 12 Chairs (meaning, of course, the “Soviet” chapters). But something else is more interesting: in the novel about Margarita, not only Koroviev and Behemoth are rogues, what to look for. Ryukhin, Aloisy Mogarych, Styopa Likhodeev - they are all rogues and swindlers.
Woland and his retinue become serious only during the ball. And before thattime, endless fun continues non-stop. Another thing is that Woland's humor is mostly black and evil. But the spirit of evil is not alien to nobility. It seems that life is joking with a person in the same tone as Woland with Soviet citizens: as soon as a person thinks that he is the owner of all the gifts of the world, the next second he finds himself on the street in just underpants, and that's still good.
So it is with life: it puts more and more new tasks in front of a person so that he can cope with them. Shakespeare once wrote that the world is a theater, and the people in it are actors, but if there is a performance, then there must be a spectator, right? And he should be interested. That is why life harasses us, exposing its picaresque character.
Top 10 scam movies
Once upon a time, in one old Soviet film, which the reader can easily recognize now, it was said that in 20 years there would be no theater, no cinema, no books, there would be one continuous television. Fortunately, this did not happen. Cinema and books are still two equal forces, and television, on the contrary, surrenders to the power of the Internet. According to recent data, some YouTube channels have overtaken the state ones in popularity. The character of the famous film clearly did not take into account the intervention of high technologies, which they had no idea about at that time. This is all to the fact that the tastes of moviegoers should also be satisfied. Not everyone can be to taste book classics. So, the list of films about rogues-swindlers:
- Route 60 (2002).
- Code of a Thief (2009).
- "Illusionist"(2006).
- "Illusion of Deception" (2013).
- "Dirty Scoundrels" (1988).
- "Wag" (1997).
- How to Steal a Million (1966).
- Ripley's Game (2002).
- "Cards, Money, Two Smoking Barrels" (1998).
- "Snatch" (2000).
Here are films even about how the state cheats, leading its citizens by the nose ("Knavery"). The rest of the films are connected only with the theme of deception. There are, of course, entire sagas about scammers, like Ocean's Friends or Mission: Impossible. But we think the reader will look at them without us. The list contains those films that could already be thoroughly forgotten by the general public.
Someone perceives films better, someone books. The main thing is to study, learn new things every day, so as not to let the brain relax. The latter also needs loads and training. Today, the minimum has been fulfilled: we have learned the meaning of the word "rogue".
