The article is devoted to the analysis of images, the consideration of motive system in Alexander Vampilov's comedy “The Eldest Son”, and the identification of new components of the artistic figurativeness and symbolism of the play. For the analysis, the authors use the synthesis of the fundamental methods and principles of scientific research, among which, first of all, intertextual, typological, motive-based, poetological and partly biographical ones in their interrelation and complementarity. In the course of the research, Vampilov's text intertextual relations with biblical texts, sacred books that historically incorporated universal principles and laws of human coexistence are ascertained; these intertextual relations are new and have not been previously considered within criticism and literary studies.