Genre features of the play “Guilty without Fault” by Alexander Ostrovsky

Abstract

The article is devoted to the features of the genre structure of the comedy “Guilty without Fault”, which includes elements of other dramatic (melodrama, tragedy) and epic genres. The subject of a detailed analysis was such features of the comedy as the successful ending of the play, comic characters. Melodramatic motifs and techniques are highlighted – hyperbolism, sharpness of feelings and emotions, confession, a motive for recognition. The author concludes that the play “Guilty without Fault” is close to melodrama, but it is not in its full sense, and the images of the heroes are devoid of conventionality and schematism. In this regard, special attention was paid to the images of Lyubov’ Otradina AKA Yelena Kruchinina and Grigoriy Neznamov. During the research, materials are drawn from letters addressed to the playwright as well as notes in which Alexander Ostrovsky expresses his position, attitude towards theatre and dramatic art. For that reason, the question of how the theatre theme, intimate to Alexander Ostrovsky, is realised in the play and how the meaning of the words “actor”, “actress”, “performer” is interpreted in the context of the play , is quite topical.