Woe from Wit

Main Ideas

• Critique of early 19th-century society through the depiction of its vices and flaws
• Exposure of the emptiness and hypocrisy of the aristocracy
• Contrast between the honesty and straightforwardness of the main character, Alexander Chatsky, and the superficiality and deceit surrounding him
• Depiction of a society's folly in rejecting new ideas and progress as represented by Chatsky
• Reflection on the concept of 'woe from wit' as the suffering of an intelligent person in a world of misunderstanding and narrow-mindedness