«Little Tragedies» and «Boris Godunov» — the peaks of Russian drama of the first half of the 19th century. In 1825, while in exile in Mikhailovsky, Pushkin wrote the tragedy «Boris Godunov». «The study of Shakespeare, Karamzin, and our old chronicles gave me the idea to embody one of the most dramatic eras of modern history in dramatic forms,» — Pushkin wrote about the emergence of the plot idea, related to the Time of Troubles. After completing the work on the play, in which the main theme became the struggle for power and the Russian throne, the poet confessed in a letter to his friend P. A. Vyazemsky: «My tragedy is finished; I read it aloud, alone, and clapped my hands and shouted, well done Pushkin! well done, son of a bitch!». The cycle «Little Tragedies» was written in 1830 in Boldino; it is dedicated to human passions — which dominate all thoughts and feelings. Each main character is obsessed with such a passion — be it the pursuit of treasures, love, creativity, or the thirst for immortality. And each of them is a willing slave to their passion, who finds it insufficient to submit their personal existence to it — they want to subordinate the entire world to it.
