ABOUT NON-RANDOM CHANCE IN THE COMEDY OF A.N. OSTROVSKY ‟TRUTH IS GOOD, BUT HAPPINESS IS BETTER”

With external simplicity Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy conceals the possibility of different interpretations. In this case we mean not free readings (which is especially characteristic of many modern directors), but those that are able to discover potential meanings that characterize the author’s vision of the world and man. One of these works is the comedy ‟Truth is good, but happiness is better” (1876). In the center of the article is a happy denouement of this comedy, which is an expression of the foundations of Ostrovsky’s worldview, his trust in life. The basis of the denouement is the case. It is closely correlated with the motif of apples that runs throughout the comedy and the most important comparison in the structure of the play is the one of a marriageable girl, who Polyxena is, with a juicy, ripe apple. The origins of the semantics of the apple image are usually associated with fairy tales, but the parallel with the proverb ‟The apple tree does not bloom all year round” is more precise. Its essence is to confirm natural life principles, as in Ostrovsky. At the same time, the natural principle is inseparably connected with the providential principle. All this allows us to say that the accidental denouement of the comedy is not accidental. It is the result of human aspirations, guided by natural and providential principles.