Fairy tales by A. S. Pushkin are an example of how a simple story can become a masterpiece of high literary language. The poet managed to convey in poetic form not only the characters of the characters, but also a prerequisite for any such narrative - a lesson, that is, what a fairy tale teaches. "About the Fisherman and the Fish" is a story about human greed. The tale "About Tsar S altan" that evil and deceit are punishable, but good always wins. So in the plots of all fairy tales written by the poet.
Summary of the work
When teachers explain to schoolchildren what "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" (Grade 2) teaches, they rely on the plot of the work. This is right, because children need to understand what are the main categories that drive people's actions: good and evil, generosity and greed, betrayal and forgiveness, and many others. Fairy taleshelp children understand them and make the right choice in favor of good.
In the tale of the Golden Fish, the plot begins with the fact that on the shore of the blue sea there lived an old man and an old woman. He fished, she spun yarn, but their shack is old and even a broken trough.
The old man was lucky to catch a Goldfish, who begged to return it to the sea and even offered a ransom.
The good fisherman let her go, but the old woman did not like his noble act, so she demanded that he return to the sea and ask the fish for at least a trough. The old man did just that. Rybka gave what the old woman wished, but she wanted more - a new hut, then to be a pillared noblewoman, then a free queen, until she decided to become the Empress, who herself had the fish on parcels.
The wise fish fulfilled the requests of the old woman until she demanded the impossible. So the old woman was left with nothing again.
Children, reading about the history of the old man, understand what Pushkin's Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish teaches. Power and we alth each time changed the old woman, making her angrier. Schoolchildren make the correct conclusion that greed is punishable, and you can again be left with nothing.
The author himself put a deeper meaning into his fairy tale, especially considering what underlies it.
The Tale of the Brothers Grimm
If we take as a basis the philosophical categories of what "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" teaches, the analysis should begin with the tale of the Brothers Grimm. It was with their story of a greedy old woman who, starting to wish from little, came tobefore she wanted to become the Pope, the poet was familiar.
It seems that in the plot of the instructive story there is ordinary human greed, but if you pay attention to the symbolism inherent in it, what the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish teaches takes on a completely different meaning. As it turned out, the Brothers Grimm, followed by Pushkin, were far from being the first to use this theme.
Vedic wisdom
In the ancient Indian treatise Matsya Purana, it is presented in the form of an allegory. For example, the old man in it is the real “I” of a person, his soul, which is in a state of rest (nirvana). In Pushkin's fairy tale, the fisherman appears in this way before the readers. He has been living with an old woman in a shack for 33 years, he fishes and everything suits him. Is this not a sign of enlightenment?
This is what "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" teaches: the true destiny of a person is to be in harmony with his soul and the surrounding reality. The old man coped well with the vast and tempting material world, which is symbolized by the blue sea.
He throws a net with his desires into it and gets what he needs for his day. An old woman is another matter.
Old woman
She personifies human selfishness, which is never completely satisfied, which means that it does not know what happiness is. Egoism wants to consume as many material goods as possible. That is why, starting with the trough, the old woman soon wanted to rule over the fish itself.
If inIn an ancient treatise, her image is a symbol of a person’s renunciation of his spiritual nature in favor of a false consciousness and the material world, while Pushkin has an evil egoistic beginning that makes an old man (a pure soul) indulge her whims.
The Russian poet describes very well the submissiveness of the soul before selfishness. The old man every time goes to bow to the Golden Fish with a new demand from the old woman. It is symbolic that the sea, which is the prototype of the vast material world, becomes more and more formidable every time. By this, Pushkin showed how great the separation of a pure soul from its destiny, when each time it plunges deeper into the abyss of material we alth.
Fish
In Vedic culture, the fish personifies God. She is no less powerful in the work of Pushkin. If you think about what "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" teaches, the answers will be obvious: a false egoistic shell cannot give a person happiness. To do this, he needs not material goods, but the unity of the soul with God, which manifests itself in a harmonious state of peace and joy from being.
Three times a fish comes to the old man to fulfill selfish desires, but, as it turned out, even a sea sorceress cannot fill a false shell.
Struggle between spirituality and egoism
Many philosophical, religious, artistic and psychological books have been written about this struggle. Both principles - a pure soul (in Pushkin's fairy tale the old man) and selfishness (the old woman) are fighting each other. The poet has shown very wellwhich leads to submission and selfish indulgence.
His main character did not even try to resist the old woman, but each time dutifully went to the fish to bow with a new demand from her. Alexander Sergeevich just showed what such connivance with his own egoism leads to, and how his false, insatiable needs end.
Today, the phrase "to be left with nothing" is used at the household level when talking about human greed.
In philosophy, its meaning is much broader. It is not material things that make people happy. The behavior of the old woman speaks of this. Only she became a pillar noblewoman, as she wished to be a queen, and then more. She did not radiate happiness and contentment with the emergence of new types of power and we alth.
This is what "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" teaches: remember about the soul that it is primary, and the material world is secondary and insidious. Today a person can be in power, and tomorrow he will become poor and unknown, like an old woman with that ill-fated trough.
So the Russian poet's children's fairy tale conveys the depth of the eternal confrontation between the ego and the soul, which people knew about in ancient times.
