Fable "Mirror and Monkey": analysis of the work

Many of us remember the lines from rhymed stories about different animals from childhood. The author of these works is Ivan Andreevich Krylov - the famous Russian fabulist, the glory of whose poems long ago went beyond his homeland. It's no secret that with the help of ridiculing the actions of animals, this author revealed various vices of people, for which he was often condemned by critics, and the fable "Mirror and Monkey" is just such a work. Let's take a closer look at this fascinating story and try to understand its meaning.

The summary of the work

The fable "Mirror and Monkey" has a fascinating plot, the action of which begins with the fact that the monkey accidentally sees himself in the mirror and stops his eyes on it. The poem very accurately describes all the emotions that she is experiencing at the same time: contempt and disgust, because the monkey does not know what she looks at herself. Along the way, pushing the bear next to him, the main character of the plot begins to share his thoughts with him about the person who looks at her from the reflection, calling it a wiggle and comparing it with his girlfriends, which the bear did not explain to the monkey that That side of her face looks at her, but only hinted at this fact, which was not understood by the monkey.

"Mirror and Monkey" - Krylov's fable, ridiculing vile people

Comparison of a person with a monkey is given in this work for a reason. The example of such an animal shows the behavior of vile people who notice the shortcomings of others, but do not want to see their own flaws. The main moral of the fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" is concentrated in the last lines of the work, and it is there that the exact analogy of the monkey with man is made. Krylov even indicated his name. This poem probably caused the worries of those people who like to collect gossip, because they literally compared to an ordinary monkey, and not to notice such an allegory can only a child.

The heavy meaning of the poems, which is not studied by schoolchildren

The most interesting is that in the disclosure of morality the author pointed out a direct situation - bribery, which has been spreading since the days of Krylov's life. The fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" was written by Ivan Andreevich, as they say, for the anger of the day, and therefore began to be actively discussed by the inhabitants of Russia immediately after publication.

To date, the rhymed stories of this author are studied by schoolchildren from grades 3-5, nevertheless their hidden meaning is not available to every student. That is why teachers prefer to focus their attention on a more simple interpretation of the semantic load, rather than go deeper. Ivan Krylov wonderfully combined in his fables an instructive meaning for children and a deep morality, which for the most part had an orientation toward power holders: impure officials and illiterate managers, among whom the author constantly revolved. The fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" became a kind of slap in the face of some of them.