Characters of Russian fairy tales

Characters of Russian fairy tales, their content and system are determined by the genre variety of fairy tales (magic, about animals, everyday, novel, legendary, cumulative, anecdotal, etc.).

To understand the fairy-tale character it is necessary to take into account the functions and roles that he performs in the work. Constant functions determine the ratio of the reader and listener to the hero, who is perceived as positive or negative. From the point of view of a set of functions and their distribution, according to V.Ya. Proppa, seven main fairy-tale characters stand out: donor, assistant, princess and her father, sender, hero and false hero. However, the individual functions of the characters may not correspond to their basic semantic characteristics: positive fairy-tale characters commit bad deeds, and negative characters are able to do good deeds. Fairy-tale heroes are polyfunctional: each of them has several characteristics that are realized in accordance with the actions produced during the development of the plot. The hero has the ability to realize any function from the number available to achieve the goal before it. The role of the hero (donor, pest, rival, helper) allows him to embody the directly opposite functions. Evil Baba-Yaga (pest) can help a kind Ivan Tsarevich in fairy tales, built on the motive of searching and overcoming.

The characters of Russian fairy tales create a system based on the antonymic principle: the protagonist is opposed by his antagonists, and each of them has his assistants. To become a true hero of a fairy tale in the public consciousness, it is not necessary to be a bearer of high moral values. The winner is not the best, but the worst character who goes through all the tests, revealing remarkable abilities (the effect of the ugly duckling).

The name of the character reveals the main content of his image: Immortal, Beautiful, Besschastny, Besideal. Mythical characters (Baba Yaga, Leshiy, Vodyanaya, Rusalka) often harm the hero, but sometimes they help him. Positive characters fight evil, help the weak, the weak. Negative characters are evil, insidious, prone to deceit. They seek to destroy the positive hero and deprive him of the reward.

Favorite favorite characters are Ivan the Tsarevich and more often Ivan the Fool. In a fairy tale, where another reality is created, reflecting the people's ideas about what is proper or desirable, Ivan the fool with his defects and vices, all condemned and despised, behaves like a fool, does things that are contrary to practical meaning. But it is this kind of behavior that allows him to achieve his goal. Thus, the concept is realized that virtues (mind, diligence, strength) are not of decisive importance and are not the main things in life. A fool looks silly, he is pitiful, and therefore he is helped. With the help of magic objects and assistants, the Fool receives everything he did not have: he marries his chosen one, receives material rewards, universal respect.

Fairy-tale characters have a significant impact on the characters of written literature. In Russian literature there is a whole series of images that go back to fairy-tale characters, including Ivan the Fool. A typology of the fool's image is created in modern prose: these are clowns and buffoons, simpletons and holy fools, all those who are not of this world. The modern Fool is like his fairy progenitor, but his stupid behavior does not give the desired result, and the more active, the more crushing defeat.