Mozart by A. S. Pushkin and Prince Myshkin by F. M. Dostoevsky: Problem of Double Encoding

Abstract

The problem of double encoding of the characters’ images is considered: Mozart (“Mozart and Salieri” by A. S. Pushkin) and Prince Myshkin (“The Idiot” by F. M. Dostoevsky). The novelty of the research lies in the authors’ attempt to move from an empirical level of understanding the problem to a theoretical one. The methodological basis of the study becomes a semiotic approach to the analysis of literary texts. It is noted that it is the principles of semiotics that make it possible to put the accumulated baggage of empirical knowledge at the basis of a concept that points to the reasons for the double encoding of the characters’ images. The purpose of the article is to explain why Mozart and Prince Myshkin realize the image of the ideal person not in the sphere of functioning of the sacred code of culture, but in the sphere of profane culture, where each sacred image corresponds to a symbol related to sacred reality and transforming it. The comparison of the characters of Mozart and Prince Myshkin is based on the commonality of sacred motifs, supplemented by autobiographical, literary, and mythopoetic material. It is argued that these additions indicate the interaction in the consciousness of the writers in creating these images of the sacred, or biblical, code of culture with the profane. It is concluded that Mozart and Prince Myshkin are images created on the basis of double encoding and implying double interpretation.