Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a story - artistic analysis. Leskov Nikolay Semyonovich

The image of Lady Macbeth is well known in world literature. N.S. transferred the Shakespearean character to Russian soil. Leskov. His work “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is popular to this day and has had many dramatizations and film adaptations.

“Lady Macbeth of Our County” - under this title the work first appeared in print in the magazine “Epoch”. Work on the first edition of the essay lasted about a year, from 1864 to 1865. The essay received its final title in 1867 after significant copyright edits.

It was assumed that this story would open a series of works about the characters of Russian women: landowner, noblewoman, midwife, but for a number of reasons the plan was not realized. “Lady Macbeth” is based on the plot of the widely circulated popular print “About a Merchant’s Wife and a Clerk.”

Genre, direction

The author's definition of the genre is essay. Perhaps Leskov with this designation emphasizes the realism and authenticity of the narrative, since this prose genre, as a rule, is based on facts from real life and is documentary. It is no coincidence that the first name of the county is ours; after all, this is how every reader could imagine this picture in his own village. In addition, it is the essay that is characteristic of the direction of realism, which was popular in Russian literature of that time.

From the point of view of literary criticism, “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is a story, as indicated by the complex, eventful plot and composition of the work.

Leskov’s essay has many similarities with Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm,” written 5 years before “The Lady...” The fate of the merchant’s wife worried both authors, and each of them offers his own version of the development of events.

The essence

The main events unfold in a merchant family. Katerina Izmailova, while her husband is away on business, starts an affair with the clerk Sergei. The father-in-law tried to stop debauchery in his own home, but paid for it with his life. The husband who returned home also received a “warm welcome.” Having gotten rid of the interference, Sergei and Katerina enjoy their happiness. Soon their nephew Fedya comes to stay with them. He can lay claim to Katerina's inheritance, so the lovers decide to kill the boy. The scene of strangulation is seen by passersby coming from the church.

The main characters and their characteristics

1. Katerina Izmailova- a very complex image. Despite her countless crimes, she cannot be considered an exclusively negative character. Analyzing the character of the main character, one cannot ignore the unfair accusations of her infertility, the contemptuous attitude of her father-in-law and husband. All the atrocities were committed by Katerina for the sake of love; only in her did she see salvation from that nightmarish life, which was filled only with cowardice and boredom. This is a passionate, strong and gifted nature, which, unfortunately, was revealed only in crime. At the same time, we can note the intelligence, cruelty and unscrupulousness of a woman who raised her hand even to a child.
2. Clerk Sergei, an experienced “girl,” cunning and greedy. He knows his strengths and is familiar with women's weaknesses. It was not difficult for him to seduce the rich mistress, and then cleverly manipulate her, just to take ownership of the estate. He loves only himself, and only takes advantage of women's attention. Even in hard labor, he looks for amorous adventures and buys them at the cost of his mistress’s sacrifice, begging her for what is valued in prison.
3. Husband (Zinovy ​​Borisovich) and father-in-law of Katerina (Boris Timofeevich)- typical representatives of the merchant class, callous and rude inhabitants who are only busy getting rich. Their harsh moral principles rest only on their reluctance to share their goods with anyone. The husband does not value his wife, he simply does not want to give away his property. And his father is also indifferent to the family, but he does not want unflattering rumors to circulate in the area.
4. Sonetka. A cunning, resourceful and flirtatious convict who is not averse to having fun even in hard labor. She has frivolity in common with Sergei, because she has never had firm and strong attachments.

Themes

• Love - the main theme of the story. It is this feeling that pushes Katerina to commit monstrous murders. At the same time, love becomes the meaning of life for her, while for Sergei it is just fun. The writer shows how passion can not elevate, but humiliate a person, plunge him into the abyss of vice. People often idealize feelings, but the danger of these illusions cannot be ignored. Love cannot always be an excuse for a criminal, a liar and a murderer.
• Family. Obviously, Katerina did not marry Zinovy ​​Borisovich out of love. Over the years of family life, proper mutual respect and harmony did not arise between the spouses. Katerina heard only reproaches addressed to her; she was called a “non-relative.” The arranged marriage ended tragically. Leskov showed what the neglect of interpersonal relationships within the family leads to.
• Revenge. For the order of that time, Boris Timofeevich quite rightly punishes the lustful clerk, but what is Katerina’s reaction? In response to the bullying of her lover, Katerina poisons her father-in-law with a lethal dose of poison. The desire for revenge drives the rejected woman in the episode at the crossing, when the current convict pounces on the homewrecker Sonetka.

Problems

1. Boredom. This feeling arises in heroes for a number of reasons. One of them is lack of spirituality. Katerina Izmailova did not like to read, and there were practically no books in the house. Under the pretext of asking for a book, Sergei sneaks in to the hostess on the first night. The desire to bring some variety to a monotonous life becomes one of the main motives for betrayal.
2. Loneliness. Katerina Lvovna spent most of her days completely alone. The husband had his own affairs, only occasionally he took her with him, going to visit his colleagues. There is also no need to talk about love and mutual understanding between Zinovy ​​and Katerina. This situation was aggravated by the absence of children, which also saddened the main character. Perhaps, if her family had given her more attention, affection, and participation, then she would not have responded to her loved ones with betrayal.
3. Self-interest. This problem is clearly depicted in the image of Sergei. He masked his selfish goals with love, trying to evoke pity and sympathy from Katerina. As we learn from the text, the careless clerk already had the sad experience of courting a merchant’s wife. Apparently, in the case of Katerina, he already knew how to behave and what mistakes not to make.
4. Immorality. Despite their ostentatious religiosity, the heroes stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Treason, murder, attempt on the life of a child - all this fits into the head of an ordinary merchant's wife and her accomplice. It is obvious that the life and customs of the merchant province corrupt people secretly, because they are ready to commit sin so that no one finds out about it. Despite the strict patriarchal foundations that reign in society, the heroes easily commit crimes, and their conscience does not torment them. Moral issues open before us the abyss of personal decline.

the main idea

With his work, Leskov warns of the tragedy that an ossified patriarchal way of life and the lack of love and spirituality in the family can lead to. Why did the author choose the merchant environment? There was a very large percentage of illiteracy in this class; merchants followed centuries-old traditions that could not fit into the modern world. The main idea of ​​the work is to point out the catastrophic consequences of lack of culture and cowardice. The lack of internal morality allows the heroes to commit monstrous crimes, which can only be atone for by their own death.

The heroine’s actions have their own meaning - she rebels against conventions and boundaries that prevent her from living. The cup of her patience is full, but she doesn’t know how or with what to draw it out. Ignorance is aggravated by debauchery. And so the very idea of ​​protest turns out to be vulgarized. If at first we empathize with a lonely woman who is not respected and insulted in her family, then in the end we see a completely decomposed person who has no way back. Leskov calls on people to be more selective in their choice of means, otherwise the goal is lost, but the sin remains.

What does it teach?

“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” teaches one main folk wisdom: you cannot build your happiness on someone else’s misfortune. Secrets will be revealed, and you will have to answer for what you have done. Relationships created at the expense of other people's lives end in betrayal. Even the child, the fruit of this sinful love, becomes of no use to anyone. Although it used to seem that if Katerina had children, she could be quite happy.

The work shows that an immoral life ends in tragedy. The main character is overcome by despair: she is forced to admit that all the crimes committed were in vain. Before her death, Katerina Lvovna tries to pray, but in vain.

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Lesson 10. Topic:N.S. Leskov "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk"

Target:

problem analysis of the story

comparative analysis of the heroines of Leskov’s story and Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”

mastering the concept of literary polemics

During the classes:

I love literature as a medium that

gives me the opportunity express everything that I

I think it's true and for good...

N.S.Leskov

I. Updating knowledge

Are you familiar with the wordcontroversy? literary controversy?

(Students will remember the articles by Dobrolyubov and Pisarev on Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm.” The result of the conversation is a table reflecting the starting point of critics’ approach to A.N. Ostrovsky’s play—the question of the driving force of the Russian revolution—and the positions taken by Dobrolyubov and Pisarev in the dispute.

Teacher's word : N.S. Leskov was a passionate person. And in nothing, perhaps, was this passion more evident than in the literary polemics that he waged (more precisely, into which he threw himself) from his first steps in literature. “Without knowing Russia, do not undertake to start revolutions in it,” Leskov said to his contemporaries Herzen and Chernyshevsky. “Without knowing Russia, don’t presume to judge the Russian national character,” Leskov said to his contemporaries Ostrovsky, Pomyalovsky, and Pisemsky.

A challenge to modern playwrights and novelists was the words about what kind of love there is in Russia: “... Love is not yours, not brainy, our Russian, convict, splintered love, about which these hellishly painful songs are sung, for which they are strangled and cut.” ("Nowhere"). And in “Lady Macbeth...”, in a direct polemic with Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm,” this love is shown and, most importantly, the original Russian female character.

II. Understanding the name

What is strange about the title of Leskov’s essay? (A clash of concepts from different stylistic layers: “Lady Macbeth” is Shakespeare’s tragedy, Mtsensk district is a remote Russian province)

Genre? –(Feature article) - Why?(It is important for the author to convince the reader that everything described actually happened)

III. Problem analysis of the story

Artistic retelling - monologue "The story of the marriage of Katerina Izmailova" (chapter I)

From the image of Katerina Izmailova we constantly turn to the image of Katerina Kabanova, the comparison results are recorded in the table

nature

songs

simplicity and freedom

Find the key word in Chapter I.(Boredom)

Boredom was the cause of passion. Scene from ch. 3 - reading.

We compare the date scene with “The Thunderstorm” and record our observations in the table.

nature, songs

afraid of sin

dark corner

boredom, yawning

not afraid of anything

“Unbearable” for Katerina for her awakened love-passion, which easily overcomes any obstacles, everything is simple. And Leskov persistently emphasizes the bestial, demonic nature in his heroine, as if echoing the words of the king from Shakespeare’s tragedy: “I dare everything that a man dares, and only a beast is capable of more.” Confirm with text the author’s mention of the animal principle (chapter 5, chapter 8, chapter 15).

Chapter 5. “And by morning he [Boris Timofeevich] died, and just like the rats died in his barns.

Chapter 8 “...Zinovy ​​Borisovich...rushed terribly..., like an animal, he bit his [Sergei] throat with his teeth.

Chapter 15. “Katerina Lvovna rushed at Sonetka like a strong pike at soft flesh, and neither of them showed up again.”

Katerina Lvovna knew the happiness of loving and being loved. “There is righteous happiness, and there is sinful happiness. The righteous will not step over anyone, but the sinful will step over everything” (Leskov “The Immortal Golovan”). What is Katerina going through?

"Death of Father-in-Law" - retelling

"The Death of a Husband" - expressive reading by role

Compare the behavior of Sergei and Katerina during the murder.(“Sergei’s lips trembled, and he himself had a fever. Katerina Lvovna’s lips were only cold,” ch. 8.)

According to the Bible, the law of marriage is “Two are one flesh.” And Katerina Lvovna crushed this flesh with her own hands - calmly, even with impudent pride in her invincibility.

And yet dreams are symbolic. How symbolic are the words in the mouth of Grandma Fedya: “Work hard, Katerinushka, you, mother, are a heavy person yourself, you yourself are waiting for God’s judgment, work hard.”

Decipher these words.

How did Katerina work? (Committed another murder)

How does nature, feminine nature warn her against her plans? (Chapter 10, “Katerina Lvovna suddenly turned pale, her own child turned under her heart for the first time, and there was a cold feeling in her chest”)

Who is the initiator of this murder?(Sergey)

What does the name Fedor mean?(God's gift)

The angelic soul is destroyed, and therefore retribution comes immediately (chap. 11)

There are two forces - two fatal forces,

We have been at their fingertips all our lives.

From lullabies to the grave, -

One is death, the other is human judgment.

Human judgment, earthly judgment, has been completed. Did he make a special impression on Katerina Lvovna? (chapter 13)(No, only one thing is important to her - her beloved is nearby)

Did hard labor change the heroine?(She suffers, but repentance never comes to her)

Is our attitude towards heroine changing?(Yes, we feel sorry for her)

B. Shaw warned: “Fear the man whose God is in heaven.” How do you understand these words?

Work in groups. Episode analysis.

Find keywords, decipher symbolism.

White color

young apple blossom

Dirt

darkness gray sky

the wind moans

PARADISE - in nature

HELL all around

In the shower - ?

There is a cleansing pain in the soul

How does Leskov show the awakening of guilt in Katerina? (Chapter 15, “And suddenly from one broken shaft the blue head of Boris Timofeevich appears, from another the husband looked out and swayed, hugging Fedya with his head down. Katerina Lvovna wants to remember the prayer and moves her gums, and her lips whisper: “how you and I walked, sat through the long autumn nights, sent people away from the world with a cruel death”)

Volga immediately makes me remember another Katerina - from "The Thunderstorm". Identify the differences in the tragic outcome of the heroines’ destinies.

Sonnetka

Monologue - impulse to freedom

repentance

changed life in Kalinov

pulled the body out of the water

tragic ending

Suicide and revenge at the same time

didn't change anything

didn't pull it out

People like Katerina Izmailova will follow their passion to the end. Here is Russian dirt, and Russian soul, here are the deepest beginnings of the Russian national character.

IV. Return to the concept of "controversy"

So, “Lady Macbeth...” is the central link in the dispute between Leskov and Ostrovsky. Is Leskov not a participant in the literary dispute between Dobrolyubov and Pisarev? (Return to the diagram created at the beginning of the lesson)

Neither Dobrolyubov nor Pisarev imagined what would happen when the very bottom “broke off their chains” and unfolded to the full breadth of their awakened nature. It will be scary. What will come is not the apotheosis of freedom, but a chain of sinister atrocities. Both prophecy and warning. This is how Leskov looks into the twentieth century.

V. Let's summarize.

Let's return to the image of Katerina Izmailova. Who is she? Write it down (passionate nature, sick soul, etc.)

VI. Homework

For all: Miniature essay (optional): “Katerina Izmailova or Katerina Kabanova: who is closer to me?” or “What I felt after reading “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”

A story about the remarkable Russian character and the disastrous consequences of unbridled passion, the first story of a female serial killer in Russian literature.

comments: Varvara Babitskaya

What is this book about?

A bored young merchant Katerina Izmailova, whose violent nature finds no use in the quiet empty rooms of a merchant's house, begins an affair with the pretty clerk Sergei and, for the sake of this love, commits terrible crimes with amazing composure. By calling “Lady Macbeth...” an essay, Leskov seems to be abandoning fiction for the truth of life, creating the illusion of documentary. In fact, “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is more than a sketch from life: it is an action-packed short story, a tragedy, an anthropological study and an everyday story imbued with comedy.

Nikolai Leskov. 1864

When was it written?

The author's dating is “November 26. Kyiv.” Leskov worked on “Lady Macbeth...” in the fall of 1864, while visiting his brother in an apartment at Kiev University: he wrote at night, locking himself in a room in a student punishment cell. He later recalled: “But when I wrote my Lady Macbeth, under the influence of tense nerves and loneliness I almost reached the point of delirium. At times I felt unbearably creepy, my hair stood on end, I froze at the slightest rustle, which I myself made by moving my leg or turning my neck. These were difficult moments that I will never forget. Since then I have avoided describing such horror" 1 How Leskov worked on “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.” Sat. articles for the production of the opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by the Leningrad State Academic Maly Theater. L., 1934. ⁠ .

It was assumed that “Lady Macbeth...” would mark the beginning of a whole series of essays “exclusively of typical female characters of our (Oka and part of the Volga) area”; In total, Leskov intended to write such essays about representatives of different classes twelve 2 ⁠ - “each in volume from one to two sheets, eight from folk and merchant life and four from noble life. After “Lady Macbeth” (merchant) comes “Graziella” (noblewoman), then “Majorsha Polivodova” (old-world landowner), then “Fevronya Rokhovna” (peasant schismatic) and “Granny Flea” (midwife).” But this cycle was never realized.

The gloomy coloring of the story reflected the difficult mental state of Leskov, who at that time was practically subjected to literary ostracism.

On May 28, 1862, fires broke out in the center of St. Petersburg in the Apraksin and Shchukin courtyards, and markets were burning. In an atmosphere of panic, rumors blamed nihilistic students for the arson. Leskov made an editorial in the Northern Bee, where he called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation and name the culprits in order to stop rumors. The progressive public perceived this text as a direct denunciation; a scandal broke out and "Northern Bee" Pro-government newspaper published in St. Petersburg from 1825 to 1864. Founded by Thaddeus Bulgarin. At first, the newspaper adhered to democratic views (it published the works of Alexander Pushkin and Kondraty Ryleev), but after the Decembrist uprising it sharply changed its political course: it fought against progressive magazines like Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski, and published denunciations. Bulgarin himself wrote in almost all sections of the newspaper. In the 1860s, the new publisher of the Northern Bee, Pavel Usov, tried to make the newspaper more liberal, but was forced to close the publication due to the low number of subscribers. ⁠ sent the unsuccessful correspondent on a long business trip abroad: Lithuania, Austrian Poland, the Czech Republic, Paris. In this semi-exile, the irritated Leskov writes the novel “Nowhere,” an evil caricature of nihilists, and upon his return in 1864, he publishes it in "Library for reading" The first large-circulation magazine in Russia, published monthly from 1834 to 1865 in St. Petersburg. The publisher of the magazine was bookseller Alexander Smirdin, and the editor was writer Osip Senkovsky. The “Library” was intended mainly for provincial readers; in the capital it was criticized for its protectiveness and superficiality of judgment. By the late 1840s, the magazine's popularity began to decline. In 1856, critic Alexander Druzhinin was called to replace Senkovsky, who worked in the magazine for four years. ⁠ under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky, thereby radically worsening his nascent literary reputation: “Nowhere” is the fault of my modest fame and the abyss of the most serious insults for me. My opponents wrote and are still ready to repeat that this novel was written to order III Division The third department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was the police department, which dealt with political affairs. It was created in 1826, after the Decembrist uprising, and was headed by Alexander Benkendorf. In 1880, Division III was abolished, and the affairs of the department were transferred to the Police Department, formed under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. ⁠ ».

How is it written?

Like an action-packed novella. The density of the action, the twisted plot, where corpses are piled up and in each chapter a new twist that does not give the reader a break, will become Leskov’s patented technique, because of which, in the eyes of many critics who valued ideas and trends in artistic prose, Leskov for a long time remained a vulgar “anecdotist” " “Lady Macbeth...” looks almost like a comic book or, without anachronisms, like a popular print—Leskov consciously relied on this tradition.

In “Lady Macbeth...” the “excessiveness”, pretentiousness, “linguistic foolishness” for which Leskov’s contemporary critics reproached him in connection with “Lefty” are not yet striking. In other words, the famous Leskovsky tale is not very evident in the early essay, but its roots are visible.

“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” in our current understanding is a story, but the author’s genre definition is an essay. At that time, artistic things were also called essays, but this word is inextricably linked in the minds of the 19th century reader with the definition of “physiological,” with journalism, journalism, and non-fiction. Leskov insisted that he knew the people not first-hand, like democratic writers, but up close and personal and showed them what they are. From this author’s attitude grows the famous Leskov tale - according to Boris’s definition Eikhenbaum 3 Eikhenbaum B. M. Leskov and modern prose // Eikhenbaum B. M. About literature: Works of different years. M.: Soviet writer, 1987. ⁠ , “a form of narrative prose that, in its vocabulary, syntax and selection of intonations, reveals a focus on the narrator’s oral speech.” Hence the lively and different, depending on class and psychology, speech of the heroes. The author's own intonation is dispassionate, Leskov writes a report on criminal events, without giving moral assessments - unless allowing himself an ironic remark or giving free rein to lyricism in a poetic love scene. “This is a very powerful study of a woman's criminal passion and the hilarious, cynical callousness of her lover. A cold, merciless light pours on everything that happens and everything is told with a strong “naturalistic” objectivity" 4 Mirsky D. S. Leskov // Mirsky D. S. History of Russian literature from ancient times to 1925 / Trans. from English R. Zernova. London: Overseas Publications Interchange Ltd, 1992. ⁠ .

What influenced her?

First of all, “Macbeth” itself: Leskov definitely knew Shakespeare’s play - the four-volume “Complete Collection of Dramatic Works...” of Shakespeare, published in 1865-1868 by Nikolai Gerbel and Nikolai Nekrasov, is still kept in Leskov’s library in Orel; plays, including Macbeth, are dotted with many Leskovian litter 5 Afonin L. N. Books from the Leskov library in the State Museum of I. S. Turgenev // Literary heritage. Volume 87. M.: Nauka, 1977. ⁠ . And although “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” was written a year before the release of the first volume of this publication, “Macbeth” in the Russian translation by Andrei Kroneberg was published in 1846 - this translation was widely known.

The life of a merchant was well known to Leskov due to his mixed origin: his father was a modest official who received personal nobility by rank, his mother was from a wealthy landowner family, his paternal grandfather was a priest, his maternal grandmother was a merchant. As his early biographer wrote: “From early childhood he was under the influence of all these four classes, and in the person of the courtyard people and nannies he was still under the strong influence of the fifth, peasant class: his nanny was a Moscow soldier, his brother’s nanny, whose stories he listened to, — serf" 6 Sementkovsky R. Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. Full collection op., 2nd ed. In 12 volumes. T. I. St. Petersburg: Edition of A. F. Marx, 1897. P. IX-X. ⁠ . As Maxim Gorky believed, “Leskov is a writer with the deepest roots among the people, he is completely untouched by any foreign influences" 7 Gebel V. A. N. S. Leskov. In the creative laboratory. M.: Soviet writer, 1945. ⁠ .

In artistic terms, Leskov, who forces the heroes to speak in a folk language that is unique to them, undoubtedly learned from Gogol. Leskov himself said about his literary sympathies: “When I had the opportunity to read I. S. Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter” for the first time, I trembled all over from the truth of the ideas and immediately understood: what is called art. Everything else, except for another Ostrovsky, seemed to me to be artificial and incorrect.”

With an interest in popular print, in folklore, in anecdote and all kinds of mysticism, expressed in “Lady Macbeth...”, the writer must 8 Gebel V. A. N. S. Leskov. In the creative laboratory. M.: Soviet writer, 1945. ⁠ also to now less famous fiction writers - ethnographers, philologists and Slavophiles: Nicholas Nikolai Vasilyevich Uspensky (1837-1889) - writer, cousin of the writer Gleb Uspensky. He worked for the Sovremennik magazine, was friends with Nekrasov and Chernyshevsky, and shared revolutionary democratic views. After a conflict with the editors of Sovremennik and leaving the magazine, he worked as a teacher, and from time to time published his stories and novellas in Otechestvennye zapiski and Vestnik Evropy. After the death of his wife, Uspensky wandered, performed street concerts, drank a lot and eventually committed suicide. ⁠ And Gleb Uspensky Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky (1843-1902) - writer. He was published in Tolstoy's pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana, Sovremennik, and spent most of his career working in Otechestvennye Zapiski. He was the author of essays about the urban poor, workers, peasants, in particular the essays “Morals of Rasteryaeva Street” and the cycle of stories “Ruin”. In the 1870s he went abroad, where he became close to the populists. Towards the end of his life, Uspensky suffered from nervous disorders and spent the last ten years in a hospital for the mentally ill. ⁠ , Alexander Veltman Alexander Fomich Veltman (1800-1870) - writer, linguist, archaeologist. He served in Bessarabia for twelve years, was a military topographer, and took part in the Russian-Turkish War of 1828. After retirement, he took up literature - Veltman was one of the first to use the technique of time travel in novels. He studied ancient Russian literature and translated “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The last years of his life he served as director of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. ⁠ , to Vladimir Dahl Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (1801-1872) - writer, ethnographer. He served as a military doctor, an official on special assignments for the Governor-General of the Orenburg Territory, and participated in the Khiva campaign of 1839. Since the 1840s, he was engaged in literature and ethnography - he published collections of stories and proverbs. For most of his life he worked on the “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language,” for which he was awarded the Lomonosov Prize and the title of academician. ⁠ , Melnikov-Pechersky Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (pseudonym - Pechersky; 1818-1883) - writer, ethnographer. He served as a history teacher in Nizhny Novgorod. In the early 1840s, he became friends with Vladimir Dal and entered the service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Melnikov was considered one of the main experts on the Old Believers; he published “Letters on Schism” in magazines, in which he advocated giving schismatics full rights. Author of the books “In the Forests” and “On the Mountains,” novels about the life of the Trans-Volga Old Believer merchants. ⁠ .

Unlike Katerina Izmailova, who did not read patericons, Leskov constantly relied on hagiographic and patristic literature. Finally, he wrote his first essays under the fresh impression of serving in the criminal chamber and from investigative journalism.

Lubok “Cat of Kazan, mind of Astrakhan, mind of Siberian...” Russia, XVIII century

Lubok “Strands, my spinner.” Russia, around 1850

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

In No. 1 of "Epoch" - the magazine of the Dostoevsky brothers - for 1865. The essay received its final title only in the 1867 edition of “Tales, Sketches and Stories by M. Stebnitsky,” for which the magazine version was heavily revised. For the essay, Leskov asked Dostoevsky for 65 rubles per sheet and “for each essay, one hundred bound reprints” (author’s copies), but he never received the fee, although he reminded the publisher about this more than once. As a result, Dostoevsky issued a promissory note to Leskov, which the distressed writer, however, never presented for collection out of delicacy, knowing that Dostoevsky himself found himself in difficult financial circumstances.

Fedor Dostoevsky. 1872 Photo by Wilhelm Lauffert. Leskov's story was first published in Epoch, the magazine of the Dostoevsky brothers

"Epoch" magazine for February 1865

Mikhail Dostoevsky. 1860s.

How was she received?

By the time of the release of Lady Macbeth... Leskov was actually declared persona non grata in Russian literature because of the novel Nowhere. Almost simultaneously with Leskov’s essay in "Russian Word" A monthly magazine published from 1859 to 1866 in St. Petersburg. Founded by Count Grigory Kushelev-Bezborodko. With the arrival of editor Grigory Blagosvetlov and critic Dmitry Pisarev at Russkoe Slovo, the moderate-liberal literary magazine turned into a radical socio-political publication. The magazine's popularity was largely due to Pisarev's scathing articles. “Russian Word” was closed simultaneously with “Sovremennik”, after Karakozov’s assassination attempt on Alexander II. ⁠ Dmitry Pisarev’s article “A Walk through the Gardens of Russian Literature” appeared - from the cell of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the revolutionary critic angrily asked: “1) Is there now in Russia - besides the Russian Messenger - at least one magazine that would dare to print anything on its pages coming from the pen of Mr. Stebnitsky and signed with his last name? 2) Is there at least one honest writer in Russia who will be so careless and indifferent to his reputation that he will agree to work in a magazine that adorns itself with stories and novels by Mr. Stebnitsky? 9 Pisarev D.I. A walk through the gardens of Russian literature // Pisarev D.I. Literary criticism in 3 volumes. T. 2. Articles of 1864-1865. L.: Artist. lit., 1981. ⁠

Democratic criticism of the 1860s, in principle, refused to evaluate Leskov’s work from an artistic point of view. Reviews of “Lady Macbeth...” did not appear either in 1865, when the magazine was published, or in 1867, when the essay was reprinted in the collection “Tales, Sketches and Stories of M. Stebnitsky,” or in 1873, when this publication was repeated. Not in the 1890s, shortly before the writer’s death, when his “Complete Works” in 12 volumes was published by the publishing house Alexey Suvorin ⁠ and brought Leskov belated recognition from readers. Not in the 1900s, when the essay was published Adolf Marx Adolf Fedorovich Marx (1838-1904) - book publisher. At the age of 21, he moved from Poland to Russia, at first he taught foreign languages ​​and served as a clerk. In 1870 he founded the mass weekly magazine Niva, and in 1896 - his own printing house, where, among other things, he published collections of Russian and foreign classics. After Marx's death, the publishing house turned into a joint-stock company, most of the shares of which were bought by publisher Ivan Sytin. ⁠ in the appendix to "Niva" A mass weekly magazine published from 1869 to 1918 by the St. Petersburg publishing house of Adolf Marx. The magazine was aimed at family reading. Since 1894, free supplements began to be published for Niva, among which collections of Russian and foreign writers were published. Thanks to the low subscription price and high-quality content, the publication became a great success among readers - in 1894, the annual circulation of Niva reached 170 thousand copies. ⁠ . The only critical response is found in Saltykov-Shchedrin’s devastating article about “The Stories of M. Stebnitsky”, and it sounds like this: “...In the story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” the author talks about one woman - Fiona and says that she never refused anyone to a man, and then adds: “Such women are very highly valued in robber gangs, in prison parties and social-democratic communes.” All these additions about revolutionaries tearing off everyone’s noses, about Baba Fiona and about nihilistic officials without any connection are scattered here and there in Mr. Stebnitsky’s book and serve only as proof that the author has some special kind of seizures..." 10 Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Stories, essays and stories by M. Stebnitsky // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 9. M.: Khudozh. lit., 1970. ⁠

"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." Directed by Roman Balayan. 1989

Boris Kustodiev. Illustration for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. 1923

“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” over time was not only appreciated, but also became one of Leskov’s most famous works, along with “Lefty” and “The Enchanted Wanderer,” both in Russia and in the West. The return to the reader of “Lady Macbeth...” began with a brochure, which in 1928 was published in thirty thousand copies by the Red Proletarian printing house in the “Cheap Library of Classics” series; in the preface, the story of Katerina Izmailova was interpreted as “a desperate protest of a strong female personality against the stuffy prison of a Russian merchant house.” In 1930, Leningrad Writers Publishing House A publishing house founded on the initiative of Leningrad writers in 1927. It published books by Konstantin Fedin, Marietta Shaginyan, Vsevolod Ivanov, Mikhail Koltsov, Boris Eikhenbaum. In 1934, the publishing house merged with the Moscow Writers' Association, and on this basis the publishing house "Soviet Writer" arose. ⁠ publishes “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” with illustrations by Boris Kustodiev (already deceased by that time). After this, “Lady Macbeth...” was republished continuously in the USSR.

However, we note that Kustodiev created his illustrations back in 1922-1923; Katerina Izmailova also had other admirers in the 1920s. So, in 1927, the constructivist poet Nikolay Ushakov Nikolai Petrovich Ushakov (1899-1973) - poet, writer, translator. He spent most of his life in Kyiv, writing poetry, feuilletons, film scripts, and articles about literature. He became famous thanks to the poetry collection “Spring of the Republic”, published in 1927. He translated works of Ukrainian poets and writers into Russian - Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, Mikhail Kotsyubinsky. ⁠ wrote the poem "Lady Macbeth", a bloody story of a forester with an epigraph from Leskov, which cannot but be quoted:

You are alive, without a doubt
but why did they bring you?
into a sleepy heap
fears,
shadows,
furniture?

And also the finale:

That's not a forest at the gate,
lady, -
I don’t want to hide, -
then behind us,
lady,
rides
mounted police.

In 1930, after reading Leskov’s essay republished in Leningrad and especially inspired by Kustodiev’s illustrations, Dmitry Shostakovich decided to write an opera based on the plot of “Lady Macbeth...”. After its premiere in 1934, the opera was a wild success not only in the USSR (however, it was removed from the repertoire in January 1936, when the famous article in Pravda - “Confusion instead of music”) was published, but also in the USA and Europe, ensuring the long popularity of Leskov's heroine in the West. The first translation of the essay - German - was published in 1921 in Munich; by the 1970s, “Lady Macbeth...” had already been translated into all the world's major languages.

The first film adaptation of the essay, which has not survived, was the silent film directed by Alexander Arkatov “Katerina the Murderer” (1916). It was followed, among others, by “The Siberian Lady Macbeth” (1962) by Andrzej Wajda, “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (1989) by Roman Balayan starring Natalya Andreichenko and Alexander Abdulov, and “Moscow Evenings” by Valery Todorovsky (1994), which moved the action to modernity, and the British film “Lady Macbeth” (2016), where director William Allroyd transplanted Leskov’s plot onto Victorian soil.

The literary influence of “Lady Macbeth...” is difficult to separate from Leskov’s line in Russian prose as a whole, but, for example, the researcher found an unexpected trace of it in Nabokov’s “Lolita,” where, in his opinion, the love scene in the garden under a blossoming apple tree echoes: “The Net shadows and bunnies, blurry reality, there is clearly from “Lady Macbeth..." 11 ⁠ , and this is much more significant than the self-evident analogy of Sonnetka and nymphet.”

Lady Macbeth. Directed by William Oldroyd. 2016

"Katerina Izmailova" Directed by Mikhail Shapiro. 1966

"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." Directed by Roman Balayan. 1989

"Moscow Nights". Director Valery Todorovsky. 1994

Is the essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” based on real events?

Rather, on observations of real life, which Leskov owed to his unusually varied career for a writer. Orphaned at the age of 18, Leskov was forced to earn his own living and since then served in the Oryol Criminal Chamber, in the recruitment department of the Kiev Treasury Chamber, in the office of the Kiev Governor General, in a private shipping company, in the management of estates, in the ministries of public education and government property. Working in the commercial firm of his relative, the Russified Englishman Alexander Schcott, Leskov traveled on business to almost the entire European part of Russia. “To this matter,” said the writer, “I owe my literary creativity. Here I received the entire stock of knowledge of the people and the country.” The statistical, economic, and everyday observations accumulated in those years were later sufficient for decades of literary comprehension. The writer himself called “Essays on the distillery industry (Penza province)”, published in 1861, the beginning of his literary activity. "Domestic Notes" Literary magazine published in St. Petersburg from 1818 to 1884. Founded by writer Pavel Svinin. In 1839, the magazine was transferred to Andrei Kraevsky, and the critical department was headed by Vissarion Belinsky. Lermontov, Herzen, Turgenev, Sollogub were published in Otechestvennye zapiski. After some of the employees left for Sovremennik, Kraevsky in 1868 transferred the magazine to Nekrasov. After the death of the latter, Saltykov-Shchedrin headed the publication. In the 1860s, Leskov, Garshin, and Mamin-Sibiryak published in it. The magazine was closed by order of the chief censor and former employee of the publication, Evgeniy Feoktistov. ⁠ .

Katerina Izmailova did not have a direct prototype, but Leskov’s childhood memory was preserved, which could have suggested the plot to him: “Once an old neighbor who had lived for seventy years and went on a summer day to rest under a blackcurrant bush, an impatient daughter-in-law poured boiling sealing wax into his ear... I remember how they buried him... His ear fell off... Then on Ilyinka (on the square) “the executioner tormented her.” She was young and everyone was surprised what she was like white..." 12 Leskov A. N. Life of Nikolai Leskov: According to his personal, family and non-family records and memories: In 2 volumes. T. 1. M.: Khudozh. lit., 1984. P. 474. ⁠ - a trace of this impression can be seen in the description of “Katerina Lvovna’s naked white back” during the execution.

Another possible source of inspiration can be seen in a much later letter from Leskov, which deals with the plot of the story Alexey Suvorin Alexey Sergeevich Suvorin (1834-1912) - writer, playwright, publisher. He gained fame thanks to his Sunday feuilletons published in the St. Petersburg Gazette. In 1876, he bought the newspaper “New Time”, and soon founded his own bookstore and printing house, in which he published the reference books “Russian Calendar”, “All Russia”, and the “Cheap Library” series of books. Among Suvorin’s famous dramas are “Tatiana Repina”, “Medea”, “Dmitry the Pretender and Princess Ksenia”. ⁠ “A tragedy over trifles”: a landowner, having unwittingly committed a crime, is forced to become the mistress of a lackey - her accomplice, who blackmails her. Leskov, praising the story, adds that it could be improved: “She could tell in three lines how she gave herself to a footman for the first time...<…>She developed something like a previously unknown passion for perfume... she kept wiping her hands (like Lady Macbeth) so that she would not smell of his disgusting touch.<…>In the Oryol province there was something of this kind. The lady fell into the hands of her coachman and went crazy, constantly wiping herself with perfume so that she “didn’t smell like horse sweat.”<…>Suvorin's lackey is not felt enough by the reader - his tyranny over the victim is almost not represented, and therefore there is no compassion for this woman, which the author certainly should have tried call..." 13 ⁠ . In this letter from 1885, it is difficult not to hear an echo of Leskov’s own essay, and he must have known the incident that occurred in Orel from his youth.

Mtsensk. Early 20th century

What is in Katerina Lvovna from Lady Macbeth?

“Sometimes in our places such characters are created that no matter how many years have passed since meeting them, you will never remember some of them without trepidation” - this is how Leskov begins the story about the merchant’s wife Katerina Lvovna Izmailova, whom “our nobles, from someone’s light word, they began to call... Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" This nickname, which gives the title to the essay, sounds like an oxymoron - the author further emphasizes the ironic sound, attributing the expression not to himself, but to the impressionable public. Here it should be noted that Shakespeare’s names were in circulation in an ironic context: there was, for example, Dmitry Lensky’s vaudeville operetta “Hamlet Sidorovich and Ophelia Kuzminishna” (1873), Pyotr Karatygin’s parody vaudeville “Othello on the Sands, or the St. Petersburg Arab” (1847 ) and Ivan Turgenev’s story “Hamlet of Shchigrovsky District” (1849).

But despite the author’s ridicule, which constantly breaks through in the essay, by the end of it, the comparison of the county merchant’s wife with the ancient Scottish queen proves its seriousness, legitimacy, and even leaves the reader in doubt - which of the two is more terrible.

It is believed that the idea for the plot could have been given to Leskov by an incident from his childhood in Orel, where a young merchant’s wife killed her father-in-law by pouring molten sealing wax into his ear while he was sleeping in the garden. As Maya notes Kucherskaya 14 Kucherskaya M.A. About some features of the architectonics of Leskov’s essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” // International scientific collection “Leskoviana. Creativity of N. S. Leskov.” T. 2. Orel: (b.i.), 2009. ⁠ , this exotic method of murder “resembles the scene of the murder of Hamlet’s father from Shakespeare’s play, and perhaps it was this detail that prompted Leskov to the idea of ​​comparing his heroine with Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, indicating that quite Shakespearean passions could play out in Mtsensk district.”

Again the same Russian boredom, the boredom of a merchant's house, which makes it fun, they say, even to hang yourself

Nikolay Leskov

Leskov took from Shakespeare not only the heroine’s common name. Here is the general plot - the first murder inevitably entails others, and blind passion (lust for power or lust) launches an unstoppable process of mental corruption, leading to death. Here is a fantastic Shakespearean setting with ghosts personifying a bad conscience, which in Leskov turns into a fat cat: “You are very smart, Katerina Lvovna, arguing that I am not a cat at all, but I am the eminent merchant Boris Timofeich. The only thing that has made me worse now is that all my intestines are cracked inside from my sister-in-law’s treat.”

A careful comparison of the works reveals many textual similarities in them.

For example, the scene in which the crime of Katerina and Sergei is revealed seems to be composed entirely of Shakespearean allusions. “The walls of the quiet house, which had hidden so many crimes, shook from deafening blows: the windows rattled, the floors shook, the chains of hanging lamps trembled and wandered along the walls like fantastic shadows.<…>It seemed as if some unearthly forces were shaking the sinful house to its foundations” - compare with Shakespeare’s description of the night when he was killed Duncan 15 Here and below, Shakespearean quotations are given from the translation by Andrei Kroneberg, probably the most famous by Leskov. ⁠ :

It was a stormy night; above our bedroom
The pipe was blown away; rushed through the air
A sad cry and death wheezing;
A terrible voice predicted war,
Fire and turmoil. Eagle owl, faithful companion
Unfortunate times, shouted all night.
The earth is said to have trembled.

But Sergei rushes to run as fast as he can in superstitious horror, cracking his forehead on the door: “Zinovy ​​Borisych, Zinovy ​​Borisych! - he muttered, flying headfirst down the stairs and dragging Katerina Lvovna, who had been knocked down, with him.<…>He flew over us with an iron sheet.” Katerina Lvovna answers with her usual composure: “Fool! get up, you fool! This creepy clownery, worthy of Charlie Chaplin, is a variation on the theme of the feast, where the ghost of Banquo appears to Macbeth, and the lady calls on her husband to come to his senses.

At the same time, however, Leskov makes a curious gender shift in the characters of his heroes. If Macbeth, a capable student, once taught by his wife, subsequently floods Scotland with blood without her participation, then Sergei throughout his criminal career is entirely led by Katerina Lvovna, who “turns into a hybrid of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and her lover becomes a murder weapon: “ Katerina Lvovna bent down and squeezed Sergeyev’s hands, which were lying on her husband’s, with her hands. throat" 16 ⁠ . Katerina Lvovna is driven to kill the boy Fedya by perverse self-pity: “Why should I really lose my capital through him? I suffered so much, I accepted so much sin on my soul.” Macbeth is guided by the same logic, forced to commit more and more murders so that the first does not turn out to be “senseless” and his throne is not inherited by other people’s children: “So for the descendants of Banquo / I have desecrated my soul?”

Lady Macbeth remarks that she would have stabbed Duncan herself, “If he / In his dreams had not looked so much like his father.” Katerina Izmailova, sending her father-in-law to the forefathers (“This is a kind of tyrannicide, which can also be considered as parricide" 17 Zheri K. Sensuality and crime in “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by N. S. Leskova // Russian literature. 2004. No. 1. P. 102-110. ⁠ ), does not hesitate: “She suddenly turned around to the full breadth of her awakened nature and became so determined that it was impossible to calm her down.” Lady Macbeth, equally determined at first, goes crazy and, in her delirium, cannot wipe imaginary blood stains from her hands. It’s not the same with Katerina Lvovna, routinely washing the floorboards from a samovar: “the stain was washed out without any trace.”

It is she, like Macbeth, who cannot say “Amen,” who “wants to remember the prayer and moves her lips, and her lips whisper: “how you and I walked, sat through the long autumn nights, sent people away from the world with a cruel death.” But unlike Lady Macbeth, who committed suicide due to remorse, Izmailova does not know repentance, and uses suicide as an opportunity to take her rival with her. So Leskov, comically reducing Shakespearean images, at the same time forces his heroine to surpass the prototype in everything, turning her into the mistress of her fate.

The county merchant's wife not only stands on a par with Shakespeare's tragic heroine - she is more Lady Macbeth than Lady Macbeth herself.

Nikolai Mylnikov. Portrait of Nadezhda Ivanovna Soboleva. 1830s. Yaroslavl Art Museum

Merchant's wife. Photographer William Carrick. From the series “Russian types”. 1850–70s

How is the women's issue reflected in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk?

The sixties of the 19th century, when “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” appeared, was a time of heated discussion of women’s emancipation, including sexual emancipation - as Irina Paperno writes, “Women’s emancipation” was understood as freedom in general, and freedom in personal relationships (emotional emancipation and the destruction of the foundations of traditional marriage) was identified with social liberation humanity" 18 Paperno I. Semiotics of behavior: Nikolai Chernyshevsky - a man of the era of realism. M.: New Literary Review, 1996. P. 55. ⁠ .

Leskov devoted several articles to the women's issue in 1861: his position was ambivalent. On the one hand, Leskov liberally argued that the refusal to recognize a woman’s equal rights with a man is absurd and only leads to “the constant violation by women of many social laws by anarchic" 19 Leskov N. S. Russian women and emancipation // Russian speech. No. 344, 346. June 1 and 8. ⁠ , and defended women's education, the right to earn a decent living and follow their calling. On the other hand, he denied the very existence of the “women’s issue” - in a bad marriage, men and women suffer equally, but the remedy for this is the Christian ideal of the family, and emancipation should not be confused with debauchery: “We are not talking about forgetting responsibilities, daring and opportunity in the name of the principle of emancipation, leaving your husband and even children, but about the emancipation of education and work for the benefit of the family and society" 20 Leskov N.S. Women’s specialists // Literary library. 1867. September; December. ⁠ . Glorifying the “good family woman,” the good wife and mother, he added that debauchery “under all the names, no matter what may be invented for it, is still debauchery, not freedom.”

In this context, “Lady Macbeth...” sounds like a sermon by a conservative moralist about the tragic consequences of forgetting the boundaries of what is permitted. Katerina Lvovna, not inclined to education, nor to work, nor to religion, deprived, as it turns out, even of the maternal instinct, “violates social laws in an anarchic way,” and this begins, as usual, with debauchery. As researcher Catherine Zhery writes: “The criminal plot of the story is acutely polemical in relation to the model of possible resolution of family conflicts, which was then proposed by Chernyshevsky. In the image of Katerina Lvovna one can see the writer’s lively reaction to the image of Vera Pavlovna in the novel “What do?" 21 Zheri K. Sensuality and crime in “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by N. S. Leskova // Russian literature. 2004. No. 1. P. 102-110. ⁠ .

Eh, soul, soul! What kind of people did you know that the only way to a woman was for them?

Nikolay Leskov

This point of view, however, is not confirmed by Leskov himself in his review of Chernyshevsky’s novel. Attacking nihilists - slackers and phrase-mongers, "freaks of Russian civilization" and "trashy pollen" 22 Leskov N.S. Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky in his novel “What to do?” // Leskov N. S. Collected works in 11 volumes. T. 10. M.: GIHL, 1957. P. 487-489. ⁠ , Leskov sees an alternative to them precisely in Chernyshevsky’s heroes, who “work until they sweat, but not out of the sole desire for personal profit” and at the same time “come together according to their own attraction, without any nasty monetary calculations: they love each other for a while, but then, how it happens, in one of these two hearts a new attachment is kindled, and the vow is changed. In all there is unselfishness, respect for mutual natural rights, a quiet, faithful course on one’s own path.” This is quite far from the posture of a reactionary guardian, who sees in liberal ideas only a sermon of gross sin.

Russian classics of the 19th century did not recommend that women freely express their sexuality. Carnal urges inevitably end in disaster: because of passion, Larisa Ogudalova was shot and Ostrovsky’s Katerina Kabanova drowned, Dostoevsky’s Nastasya Filippovna was stabbed to death, Goncharov in a novel on the same theme makes a cliff a symbol of willful passion, there is nothing to say about Anna Karenina. It seems that "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" was written in the same tradition. And he even takes the moralizing thought to the limit: Katerina Izmailova’s passion is of an exclusively carnal nature, a demonic inspiration in its purest form, not covered up by romantic illusions, devoid of idealization (even Sergei’s sadistic mockery does not put an end to it), it is the opposite of the ideal of the family and excludes motherhood.

Sexuality is shown in Leskov’s essay as an element, a dark and chthonic force. In a love scene under a blooming apple tree, Katerina Lvovna seems to dissolve in the moonlight: “These whimsical, light spots are gilded all over her, and they flicker and flutter on her, like living fiery butterflies, or as if all the grass under the trees has taken on the moonlight.” net and walks from side to side”; and those around her can hear her mermaid laughter. This image is echoed in the finale, where the heroine rises waist-deep from the water to rush at her rival “like a strong pike” - or like a mermaid. In this erotic scene, superstitious fear is combined with admiration - as Zhery notes, the entire artistic system of the essay “violates the strict tradition of self-censorship in depicting the sensual side of love that has long existed in Russian literature”; the criminal story becomes throughout the text “a study of sexuality in its purest form.” form" 23 McLean. N. S. Leskov, the Man and his Art. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, 1977. P. 147. Cited. according to K. Zheri. ⁠ . Whatever opinion Leskov held about free love at different periods of his life, the talent of the artist was stronger than the principles of the publicist.

Boris Kustodiev. Illustration for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. 1923

"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." Directed by Roman Balayan. 1989

Does Leskov justify his heroine?

Lev Anninsky notes the “terrible unpredictability” in the souls of Leskov’s heroes: “What kind of Ostrovsky’s “Thunderstorm” is there - here is not a ray of light, here is a fountain of blood gushing from the bottom of the soul; here “Anna Karenina” is foreshadowed - the vengeance of demonic passion; here Dostoevsky’s problematics match - it was not for nothing that Dostoevsky published “Lady Macbeth...” in his magazine. You can’t fit Leskov’s four-time murderer for love into any “character typology.” Katerina Lvovna and her Sergei not only did not fit into the literary typology of characters of the 1860s, but directly contradicted it. Two hardworking, pious merchants, and then an innocent child, are strangled for their own benefit by two traditionally positive heroes - people from the people: a Russian woman, ready to sacrifice everything for her love, “our recognized conscience, our last justification,” and the clerk Sergei, reminding Nekrasov's "gardener". This allusion in Anninsky seems justified: in Nekrasov’s ballad, the noble daughter, like the merchant’s wife Izmailova, comes to admire the curly-haired worker; a playful struggle ensues - “It darkened in the eyes, my soul trembled, / I gave, but did not give, a golden ring...”, developing into love joys. Katerina’s romance with Sergei began in the same way: “No, let me take it like this, the hairstyles,” said Seryoga, throwing out his curls. “Well, get on with it,” answered Katerina Lvovna, cheerfully, and raised her elbows up.”

Like Nekrasov's gardener, Sergei is caught when he sneaks out of his master's garden at dawn, and is then sent to hard labor. Even the description of Katerina Lvovna - “She was not tall, but slender, her neck was as if carved from marble, her shoulders were round, her chest was strong, her nose was straight, thin, her eyes were black, lively, her high white forehead and black, almost blue-black hair” - as if predicted by Nekrasov: “Chernobrova, stately, as white as sugar!.. / It became creepy, I didn’t finish my song.”

Another parallel to Leskov’s plot is Vsevolod Krestovsky’s ballad “Vanka the Keymaker,” which became a folk song. “Those nights, in Zinovy ​​Borisych’s bedroom, a lot of wine was drunk from his mother-in-law’s cellar, and sweet treats were eaten, and the hostess’s sugary lips were kissed, and black curls were played on the soft headboard” - as if a paraphrase of the ballad:

There was a lot of drinking there
May you be reproached
And he lived in the red
And loving kisses!
On the bed, at the mercy of the princess,
We have it there
And for the breast, the breast of a swan,
It was enough more than once!

In Krestovsky, the young princess and Vanya the key keeper die, like Romeo and Juliet, while in Nekrasov, the noble daughter is the unwitting culprit of the hero’s misfortune. The heroine Leskova herself is evil incarnate - and at the same time a victim, and her beloved turns from a victim of class differences into a tempter, an accomplice, and then an executioner. Leskov seems to be saying: look what living life looks like in comparison with ideological and literary schemes, there are no pure victims and villains, unambiguous roles, the human soul is in darkness. A naturalistic description of the crime in all its cynical efficiency is combined with sympathy for the heroine.

The moral death of Katerina Lvovna occurs seemingly gradually: she kills her father-in-law, standing up for her beloved Sergei, who was beaten and locked up by him; husband - in self-defense, in response to the humiliating threat, gritting his teeth: “E-them! I can’t stand it.” But this is a trick: in fact, Zinovy ​​Borisovich had already “steamed his master’s darling” with tea poisoned by her, his fate was decided, no matter how he behaved. Finally, Katerina Lvovna kills the boy because of Sergei's greed; It is characteristic that this last - not at all excusable - murder was omitted in his opera by Shostakovich, who decided to make Katerina a rebel and a victim.

Ilya Glazunov. Katerina Lvovna Izmailova. Illustration for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. 1973

Ilya Glazunov. Clerk. Illustration for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. 1973

How and why does Lady Macbeth layer different narrative styles?

“A writer’s voice training lies in the ability to master the voice and language of his character and not stray from altos to basses. ...My priests speak spiritually, the nihilists speak nihilistically, the peasants speak like peasants, upstarts from them and buffoons speak with tricks, etc.,” Leskov said, according to his memoirs contemporary 24 Quote by: Eikhenbaum B. “Excessive” writer (To the 100th anniversary of the birth of N. Leskov) // Eikhenbaum B. About prose. L.: Artist. lit., 1969. pp. 327-345. ⁠ . “On my own behalf, I speak the language of ancient fairy tales and church folk in purely literary speech.” In "Lady Macbeth..." the narrator's speech - literary, neutral - serves as a frame for the characteristic speech of the characters. The author shows his own face only in the last part of the essay, which tells about the fate of Katerina Lvovna and Sergei after the arrest: Leskov himself never observed these realities, but his publisher, Dostoevsky, the author of Notes from the House of the Dead, confirmed that the description is plausible. The writer accompanies the “most sad picture” of the convict stage with a psychological remark: “...Whoever is not flattered by the thought of death in this sad situation, but frightened, should try to drown out these howling voices with something even more ugly. A simple person understands this very well: he sometimes unleashes his bestial simplicity, begins to act stupidly, mocks himself, people, and feelings. Not particularly gentle anyway, he becomes extremely angry.” The publicist breaks through in the fiction writer - after all, “Lady Macbeth...” is one of Leskov’s first artistic essays, the polemical lining there is close to the surface: it is no coincidence that Saltykov-Shchedrin only responds to these author’s remarks in the last part in his response, ignoring the plot and style. Here Leskov indirectly polemicizes with the idealistic ideas of contemporary revolutionary-democratic criticism about the “common man.” Leskov liked to emphasize that, unlike the people-loving writers of the 60s, the common people know first-hand, and therefore laid claim to the special authenticity of his everyday life: even if his heroes were fictional, they were copied from life.

How you and I walked, spent long autumn nights, sent people away from the world with a cruel death

Nikolay Leskov

For example, Sergei is a “girlfriend” who was expelled from his previous place of service for having an affair with his mistress: “The thief took everything - in height, in face, in beauty, and will flatter you and lead you to sin. And what about fickle, scoundrel, very fickle, fickle!” This is a petty, vulgar character, and his love speeches are an example of lackey chic: “The song is sung: “without a dear friend, sadness and melancholy were overcome,” and this melancholy, I will report to you, Katerina Ilvovna, in my own heart, I can say, is so sensitive that I would take it, cut it out of my chest with a damask knife and throw it at your feet.” Here another servant-killer comes to mind, brought out by Dostoevsky twenty years later - Pavel Smerdyakov with his couplets and claims: “Can a Russian peasant have feelings against an educated person?” - Wed Sergei: “It’s all about poverty, Katerina Ilvovna, as you yourself know, lack of education. How can they understand anything about love properly!” At the same time, the speech of the “educated” Sergei is distorted and illiterate: “Why should I go away from here?”

Katerina Lvovna, as we know, is of simple origin, but she speaks correctly and without pretense. After all, Katerina Izmailova is “a character... that you cannot remember without trepidation”; By the time of Leskov, Russian literature could not yet imagine a tragic heroine who said “tapericha.” The cute clerk and the tragic heroine seem to be taken from different artistic systems.

Leskov imitates reality, but still follows the principle of “shaking, but not mixing”—he appoints different heroes responsible for different layers of existence.

"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." Directed by Roman Balayan. 1989

Boris Kustodiev. Illustration for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. 1923

Does “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” look like popular print?

From the ideological wars that overshadowed Leskov’s literary debut and created an artistically dead-end situation, the writer, fortunately, found a practical way out, which made him Leskov: after the directly journalistic and not particularly valuable literary novels “Nowhere” and “On Knives” “he begins to create for Russia an iconostasis of its saints and righteous people” - rather than making fun of worthless people, he decides to offer inspiring images. However, as I wrote Alexander Amfiteatrov Alexander Valentinovich Amfitheatrov (1862-1938) - literary and theater critic, publicist. He was an opera singer, but then left his opera career and took up journalism. In 1899, together with journalist Vlas Doroshevich, he opened the Rossiya newspaper. Three years later, the newspaper was closed for satire on the royal family, and Amphiteatrov himself ended up in exile. Upon returning from exile, he emigrated. He returned to Russia shortly before the revolution, but in 1921 he again went abroad, where he collaborated with emigrant publications. Author of dozens of novels, stories, plays and collections of stories. ⁠ , “in order to become an artist of positive ideals, Leskov was a man who was too newly converted”: having renounced his former Social Democratic sympathies, attacked them and suffered defeat, Leskov rushed to look among the people not for mummers, but for genuine the righteous 25 Gorky M. N. S. Leskov // Gorky M. Collected works: in 30 volumes. T. 24. M.: GIHL, 1953. ⁠ . However, his school of reporting, knowledge of the subject, and simply a sense of humor came into conflict with this task, from which the reader endlessly benefited: Leskov’s “righteous men” (the most striking example) are always at least ambivalent and therefore interesting. “In his didactic stories one can always notice the same feature as in moralizing children's books or in novels from the first centuries of Christianity: bad boys, contrary to the wishes of the author, are written much more lively and interesting than good-natured ones, and pagans attract attention much more Christian" 26 Amphiteatrov A.V. Collected works of Al. Amphitheater. T. 22. Rulers of thoughts. St. Petersburg: Education, 1914-1916. ⁠ .

A wonderful illustration of this idea is “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. Katerina Izmailova is written as a direct antipode to the heroine of another Leskov essay, “The Life of a Woman,” published two years earlier.

The plot there is very similar: the peasant girl Nastya is forcibly given into a despotic merchant family; She finds her only outlet in love for her singing neighbor Stepan, the story ends tragically - the lovers go through the stages, Nastya goes crazy and dies. The collision is essentially the same: illegal passion sweeps away a person like a typhoon, leaving corpses in its wake. Only Nastya is a righteous woman and a victim, and Katerina is a sinner and a murderer. This difference is resolved primarily stylistically: “The love dialogues of Nastya and Stepan were structured like a folk song broken into replicas. The love dialogues of Katerina Lvovna and Sergei are perceived as ironically stylized inscriptions for popular prints. The whole movement of this love situation is, as it were, a template condensed to the point of horror - a young merchant’s wife deceives her old husband with her clerk. Not just templates results" 27 ⁠ .

Boris Timofeich died, and he died after eating mushrooms, as many die after eating them.

Nikolay Leskov

In “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” the hagiographic motif is reversed - Maya Kucherskaya, among others, writes that it is to this semantic layer that the episode of the murder of Fedi Lyamin refers. The sick boy reads in the patericon (which Katerina Lvovna, as we remember, did not even pick up) the life of his saint, the martyr Theodore Stratelates, and admires how he pleased God. The event takes place during the all-night vigil, on the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple; According to the Gospel, the Virgin Mary, already carrying Christ in her womb, meets Elizabeth, who is also carrying the future John the Baptist: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41). Katerina Izmailova also feels how “her own child turned under her heart for the first time, and there was a cold feeling in her chest” - but this does not soften her heart, but rather strengthens her determination to quickly make the boy Fedya a martyr, so that her own heir will receive capital for the sake of Sergei's pleasures.

“The drawing of her image is an everyday template, but a template drawn with such thick paint that it turns into a kind of tragic splint" 28 Gromov P., Eikhenbaum B. N. S. Leskov (Essay on creativity) // N. S. Leskov. Collected works: in 11 volumes. M.: GIHL, 1956. ⁠ . And the tragic popular print is, in essence, an icon. In Russian culture, the sublime hagiographic genre and the mass, entertaining genre of lubok are closer to each other than it might seem - just remember the traditional hagiographic icons, on which the face of the saint is actually framed by a comic strip depicting the most striking episodes of his biography. The story of Katerina Lvovna is an anti-life, the story of a strong and passionate nature, over which demonic temptation prevailed. A saint becomes a saint through victory over passions; in a sense, ultimate sin and holiness are two manifestations of the same great force, which will later unfold in all its colors in Dostoevsky: “And I am Karamazov.” Leskov’s Katerina Izmailova is not just a criminal, no matter how lowly and casually the essayist Leskov presents her story, she is a martyr who mistook the Antichrist for Christ: “I was ready for Sergei into fire, into water, into prison and to the cross.” Let us remember how Leskov describes her - she was not a beauty, but she was bright and pretty: “Straight, thin nose, black, lively eyes, white high forehead and black, even blue-black hair.” A portrait convenient for depiction in a bright and primitively graphic popular print story like “A Funny Tale about a Merchant’s Wife and a Clerk.” But you can also describe the iconographic face.

In reality, Katerina Izmailova is devoid of both class prejudices and self-interest, and her fatal actions are given shape by passion alone. Sergei has class and selfish motives, and he alone is important to her - however, socialist criticism needed to read into the essay the conflict between the brave and strong people’s nature and the musty merchant environment.

As literary critic Valentin Gebel put it, “one could say about Katerina Izmailova that she is not a ray of sunshine falling into the darkness, but lightning generated by the darkness itself and only more clearly emphasizing the impenetrable darkness of merchant life.”

She wanted passion to be brought to her not in the form of russula, but with piquant, spicy seasoning, with suffering and sacrifice

Nikolay Leskov

An unbiased reading of the essay, however, does not show an impenetrable darkness in the merchant life described by Leskov. Although the husband and father-in-law reproach Katerina Lvovna for infertility (obviously, unfairly: Zinovy ​​Borisovich had no children in his first marriage, and from Sergei Katerina Lvovna immediately became pregnant), but, as follows from the text, they do not oppress her in any way. This is not at all the tyrant merchant Dikoy or the widow Kabanikha from “The Thunderstorm”, who “gives money to the poor, but completely eats up her family.” Both Leskov merchants are hardworking, pious people; at dawn, after drinking tea, they go on business until late at night. They, of course, also limit the freedom of the young merchant's wife, but they do not eat.

Both Katerinas are nostalgic about the free life as girls, but their memories look exactly the opposite. Here is Katerina Kabanova: “I used to get up early; If it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring some water with me, and that’s it, I’ll water all the flowers in the house.<…>And we’ll come from church, sit down to do some kind of work, more like gold velvet, and the wanderers will begin to tell us: where they were, what they saw, different lives, or sing poetry.<…>And sometimes, girl, I’d get up at night - we also had lamps burning everywhere - and somewhere in a corner I’d pray until the morning.” And here is Izmailova: “I wish I could run to the river with buckets and swim in my shirt under the pier or sprinkle sunflower husks through the gate of a passing young man; but here everything is different.” Katerina Lvovna, even before meeting Sergei, understands freedom precisely as the free expression of sexuality - the young clerk simply releases the genie from the bottle - “as if demons had broken loose.” Unlike Katerina Kabanova, she has nothing to occupy herself with: she’s not a hunter, she doesn’t think of doing needlework, and she doesn’t go to church.

In an 1867 article “Russian Drama Theater in St. Petersburg,” Leskov wrote: “There is no doubt that self-interest, baseness, hard-heartedness and lust, like all other vices of humanity, are as old as humanity itself is old”; only the forms of their manifestation, according to Leskov, differ depending on the time and class: if in a decent society vices are made up, then among people “simple, soiled, uncontrolled,” slavish submission to bad passions manifests itself “in forms so crude and uncomplicated that it is difficult to recognize there is almost no need for any special observation. All the vices of these people walk naked, just as our forefathers walked.” It was not the environment that made Katerina Lvovna vicious, but the environment made her a convenient, visual object for the study of vice.

Stanislav Zhukovsky. Interior with a samovar. 1914 Private collection

Why did Stalin hate Shostakovich's opera?

In 1930, inspired by the first Leningrad edition of Lady Macbeth... with illustrations by the late Kustodiev after a long break, young Dmitry Shostakovich took Leskov’s plot for his second opera. The 24-year-old composer was already the author of three symphonies, two ballets, the opera “The Nose” (based on Gogol), music for films and plays; he gained fame as an innovator and hope of Russian music. They were waiting for his “Lady Macbeth...”: as soon as Shostakovich finished the score, the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater and the Moscow Musical Theater named after V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko began production. Both premieres in January 1934 received thunderous applause and enthusiastic press; The opera was also staged at the Bolshoi Theater and was triumphantly presented many times in Europe and America.

Shostakovich defined the genre of his opera as “tragedy-satire,” and Katerina Izmailova is responsible for tragedy and only tragedy, and everyone else is responsible for satire. In other words, the composer completely justified Katerina Lvovna, for which, in particular, he excluded the murder of a child from the libretto. After one of the first productions, one of the spectators noticed that the opera should have been called not “Lady Macbeth...”, but “Juliet...” or “Desdemona of Mtsensk”, - the composer agreed with this, who, on the advice of Nemirovich-Danchenko, gave the opera new name - “Katerina Izmailova”. The demonic woman with blood on her hands turned into a victim of passion.

As Solomon Volkov writes, Boris Kustodiev, “in addition to “legitimate” illustrations... also drew numerous erotic variations on the theme of “Lady Macbeth,” which were not intended for publication. After his death, fearing searches, the family hastened to destroy these drawings.” Volkov suggests that Shostakovich saw those sketches, and this influenced the clearly erotic nature of his operas 30 Volkov S. Stalin and Shostakovich: the case of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” // Znamya. 2004. No. 8. ⁠ .

The composer was not horrified by the violence of passion, but glorified it. Sergei Eisenstein told his students in 1933 about Shostakovich’s opera: “In music, the ‘biological’ love line is drawn with utmost vividness.” Sergei Prokofiev in private conversations characterized it even more harshly: “This swinish music - waves of lust just keep going, just keep going!” The embodiment of evil in “Katerina Izmailova” was no longer the heroine, but “something grandiose and at the same time disgustingly real, relief, everyday, felt almost physiologically: crowd" 31 Anninsky L. A. World celebrity from Mtsensk // Anninsky L. A. Leskovsky necklace. M.: Book, 1986. ⁠ .

But this, let me tell you, madam, is that a child can also get sick from something.

Nikolay Leskov

Soviet criticism for the time being praised the opera, finding in it an ideological correspondence to the era: “Leskov in his story drags through old morality and argues as humanist; we need the eyes and ears of a Soviet composer to do what Leskov could not do—to see and show the true killer behind the heroine’s external crimes—the autocratic system.” Shostakovich himself said that he swapped the places of executioners and victims: after all, Leskov’s husband, father-in-law, kind people, and the autocracy do nothing terrible to Katerina Lvovna, and in fact are almost absent altogether - in the beautiful silence and emptiness of the merchant’s house, she depicted alone with her demons.

In 1936, an editorial article “Confusion Instead of Music” appeared in Pravda, in which an anonymous author (many contemporaries believed that it was Stalin himself) destroyed Shostakovich’s opera - with this article, a campaign against formalism and persecution of the composer began in the USSR.

“It is known that Stalin was enraged by sexual scenes in literature, theater and cinema,” writes Volkov. And indeed, overt eroticism is one of the main points of accusation in “Tumult”: “The music quacks, hoots, puffs, gasps in order to depict love scenes as naturally as possible. And “love” is smeared throughout the opera in the most vulgar form” - it is no better that, in order to depict passion, the composer borrows “nervous, convulsive, epileptic music” from bourgeois Western jazz.

There is also an ideological reproach there: “Everyone is presented monotonously, in animal guise - both merchants and people. The predatory merchant woman, who gained wealth and power through murder, is presented as some kind of “victim” of bourgeois society.” Here the modern reader is likely to get confused, since the opera was just praised along ideological lines. However, Pyotr Pospelov assumes 32 Pospelov P. “I would like to hope that...” To the 60th anniversary of the article “Confusion instead of music” // https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/126083 ⁠ that Shostakovich, regardless of the nature of his work, was chosen for a demonstrative flogging simply because of his visibility and reputation as an innovator.

“Confusion instead of music” became an unprecedented phenomenon in its own way: “It was not so much the genre of the article itself—a hybrid of artistic criticism and party-government resolution—that was new, but rather the transpersonal, objective status of the editorial publication of the main newspaper of the country.<…>What was also new was that the object of criticism was not ideological harmfulness... it was the artistic qualities of the work, its aesthetics, that were discussed.” The main newspaper of the country expressed the official state point of view on art, and the only acceptable art was socialist realism, in which there was no place for the “crude naturalism” and formalistic aesthetics of Shostakovich’s opera. From now on, art was presented with the aesthetic demands of simplicity, naturalness, accessibility, and propaganda intensity - much less Shostakovich: for starters, “Lady Macbeth...” by Leskov himself would not fit these criteria.

Full list of references

Open lesson on literature

(Comparative analysis of the essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and the drama “The Thunderstorm”).

The tragedy of two Catherines

MAOU secondary school No. 46, Ulan-Ude

Lesson objectives:

Educational: teach schoolchildren to compare images of heroes; compose monologue answers; teach children to find an artistic detail in the text and explain its role; To introduce students to the literary concept of symbol and its meaning in a literary text.

Developmental: develop comparative analysis skills in schoolchildren; develop monologue speech of students;

Educational: to cultivate in schoolchildren a sense of empathy for humans, love, compassion.

Lesson type: combined

Equipment: terminology cards (in which concepts, terms with examples are given); texts of works; cards with individual tasks; table.

Preliminary homework.

Students are divided into groups

2. First group (weak students). Find the answer to the question "The position of women in society of that time." Give a brief description of the works.

3. Second group of students. Follow the image of Ekaterina Kabanova through the text (portrait, social status, dreams, love)

4. Third group of students. Trace through the text the image of Ekaterina Izmailova (portrait, social status, dreams, love, actions).

5. Follow the descriptions of nature and interior through the texts and identify the main color scheme. Why does the author use this color in his works?

6. In the work "Lady Macbeth..." find a description of dreams. Reveal their role in thin. text.

During the classes

1. Org. moment. Setting a goal.

- Pay attention to the topic of the lesson. What is tragedy, how do you understand this word?

(This is misfortune, grief, sadness)

- Let's turn to the explanatory dictionary.

Tragedy - severe shock, experience, misfortune of a personal or public nature.

- Does a person always experience emotional experiences only in misfortune?

(no, a person can worry, worry, experiencing different feelings: love, compassion).

- In the works of Leskov and Ostrovsky, what feeling comes to the fore?(feeling of love)

- If a person loves, then what is the tragedy of the soul?

- We have come across another word that requires interpretation - this is the word soul. What do you understand by this word? If you are at a loss, turn to the terminology card for help and formulate an answer.

Students choose one from several formulations or compose an answer based on these terms. The wording will be written down in a notebook.

Soul - this is a special immaterial immortal force; the inner world of a person, his self-awareness.

- During the lesson we will try to compare the two heroes and answer the question posed. At the previous lesson, each group received its own task, we discuss the groups’ answers, compare them, and write down the conclusions. As the lesson progresses, everyone fills out the table to make it easier to draw conclusions.

Teacher's word

Love - great joy and a heavy cross, revelations and mystery, great suffering and the greatest happiness, and most importantly, that only through love, the female soul lives and is preserved, and to this day mysterious and enigmatic. The love of a Russian woman has always been warmed by a deep religious feeling, raising her attitude towards her beloved, towards her family to a special spiritual height.

- Remember the role of women in the social environment. Give historical information about the creation of two works ( A group of historians begins work)

Historical reference.

19th century Russian literature gave the world a whole galaxy of poets, writers and playwrights. Among them, creativity stands out, the name of which constitutes an entire era in Russian. dramaturgy and a name whose works bear the stamp of the deepest psychologism and tragedy. The essay "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" was first published in the magazine "Epoch" in 1865. - 6 years after the publication of Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm”. The essay shows the inextricable connection between capital and crime. This is a tragic story of the rebellion of a woman's soul against the deadening environment of merchant life. Both Ostrovsky and Leskov, in their own way, raise the problems of the female soul, female passion.

It should be remembered that a woman in Russia was not an independent social unit. Her social status was first determined by her father and then by her husband. Divorce was practically impossible, with rare exceptions - with the permission of the Tsar or the Synod. In Russia, a woman had three ways to determine her social profile. status: become a maid of honor, get married, enter a monastery. Both Catherines did not belong to high society, so they could not become ladies-in-waiting. The choice was only between marriage and monasticism. Both Catherines were married, that is, they were the guardians of the family hearth.

3. Problem analysis of works. Understanding the titles of works.

- What is unusual about the titles of the works?

(“Thunderstorm” is not just a natural phenomenon, but a social upheaval, a clash between new trends and old traditions).

In the essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” there is a clash of different stylistic layers: “Lady Macbeth” is an association with Shakespeare’s tragedy; “Mtsensk district” is an association of tragedy with a remote Russian province - the author expands the scale of what is happening.

- Let’s remember the beginning of the two works, determine what are their similarities and differences? Let's define social heroine status.

There are two groups of researchers ( Based on the drama "The Thunderstorm" and the essay "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" ).

Both Katerinas belong to the same social and everyday structure. Both live in a world that is stifling for them, both are trying to get out of it by violating these ways and foundations. But the beginning of the works is different.

Group No. 2 Group No. 3

Conclusion: The internal space in the drama is not closed, it is wide and free. In Leskov’s essay, the space is closed by “fence”, “dogs”, “chains”, “boredom”.

- Songs play an important role. What songs are sung around Katerina? Who sings them?

- Remember the marriage story of both heroines, their dreams. How is love born? What pushes them towards Boris and Sergei, since from the very beginning Boris and Sergei are unworthy of these women?

Literary retelling based on text. The story of marriage and the birth of love. (1-2 students).

Conclusion:

- Who can sum it up? Don't forget to fill out the table.

Both Katerinas live without love, without affection, without understanding, but Katerina Kabanrva is “married off,” and Katerina Lvovna was poor and did not have to “sort out” suitors. Both heroines dream, but they dream about different things: one about prayer, about God, “about wings,” she is sublime; the other is about swimming and jokes. Both heroines commit sin for the sake of love, violate the biblical commandment, both dream of freedom. Their love is also different: Katya Kabanova’s is pure, bright, sublime, always chaste, poetic; a feeling of selflessness, recklessness. Her love is a gift from God. The love of Katerina Izmailova is a passion, painful, invincible, and transgresses everything.

- A sin is being committed for which there must be retribution. What does love mean for these women? What feelings do they experience?

Teamwork of students.

Conclusion:

- What different things did we see? What is the tragedy?

in her holiness, her conscience, which are not suitable for the world in which she lives. Even Boris calls her Katya, which means “always clean” in Greek. God for Katya is conscience. Sergei calls Katerina Izmailova “Katerina Ilvovna” - officially, aloofly, with a degree of disdain. Its tragedy is that passion and freedom have outgrown the limits of betrayal. As Leskov writes: “She suddenly unfolded to the full breadth of her awakened nature and became so determined that it was impossible to calm her down...”. “She’s completely gone. She’s ready to go through fire, water, prison and the cross for Sergei. She’s mad with her happiness.” Katerina Lvovna forgot about God, for the sake of her happiness she will step over anyone.

- What expressions and words does Leskov use most often when describing Katerina Lvovna?

The author in the work, when describing the life of Katerina Lvovna, most often uses the word “sweet” - sweet sweets, sugar lips, sweet speeches. The repetition of the same word is not accidental; the author seems to emphasize life for the sake of pleasure, but does not think about Katerina’s soul.

- For the sake of her love, Katerina Lvovna committed many crimes. Each group, find descriptions of crimes, read them, answer the questions on your card.

1. Leskov describes the death of Boris Timofeevich, who stood in Katerina’s path: “He ate... mushrooms with gruel at night... and by morning he died, and just like the rats died in his barns, for which Katerina Lvovna did it with her own hands. prepared special dishes with white powder..." About the death of a person easily, in cold blood. This is scary.

2. The cold-blooded murder of Zinovy ​​Borisych , They killed him like an animal, grabbing him by the throat.

- Does conscience awaken in the soul of a young merchant’s wife?

(Not yet, only wonderful dreams are disturbing).

- Dreams in works are always symbolic and play an important role in works. Refer to the terminology cards, read and write down the concept together with an example symbol, symbolism.

- Group 4 prepared a story about Katerina Lvovna’s dreams. We listen and add.

Group 4 students tell dreams. Their role in thin. text.

The first dream - chapter 6 (the cat that fawns)

Second dream - chapter 7 (a cat that looks like the murdered Boris Timofeevich)

Dreams are symbolic. They seem to warn, warn the heroine about retribution for her sins. In dreams, a cat is “a flattering friend.” Dreams warn that Sergei will betray her.

- How did human retribution come, not yet divine?

Katerina Lvovna killed little Fedor for the sake of herself, her child, Sergei, and most probably for money.

- Katerina Lvovna violated the highest moral law - she killed a child... it is no coincidence that Leskov gives the name “Fedor” - from the Greek. "God's gift". It was no coincidence that her own child began to stir under her heart at that very moment. Retribution came immediately. The earthly judgment has taken place.

Group work of the class.

- Did hard labor change Katerina? How does Leskov show the awakening of feelings of guilt? What a bad thing. did the author use the detail?

At the beginning, hard labor does not affect Katerina. She saw Sergei, and with him the hard labor blooms with happiness. She still loves him, even abandoning her child. But now this is a woman rejected from love, Sergei openly mocks her, cheats on her, spends her money. Catherine finally begins to see the light only when Sergei’s meanness goes beyond boundaries. She will see her latest new stockings on her mistress’s feet.

Conclusion.

A passionate nature that finds itself in the grip of freedom of crime is doomed to destruction. But the moral decline of the clerk is even worse.

- The last chapter again symbolically shows the awakening of the heroine’s guilt. Read the episode.

" And suddenly, from one broken shaft, the blue head of Boris Timofeevich appears, from another, a husband looked out and swayed, hugging Fedya with his head drooping... "

And so she rushes at Sonetka, like a strong pike at a soft-feathered roach, and drowns in the Volga. She rushes at the culprit that Sergei has lost interest in her, but no hand is raised against him.

- Pay attention to the last comparison. Katerina Lvovna is a strong pike, you feel something predatory, strong, irreversible. This is how the fate of Katerina Lvovna ends. Pay attention to one more detail of the text, Katerina Lvovna is drowning in the Volga, where we met?( In Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm" ).

Control.

- Let's compare the tables and summarize. What is the tragedy of the two Catherines? What manifestation of love did we see? What moral values ​​and ideals?

The female soul is in many ways incomprehensible, mysterious, mysterious. Love can be very different: one is pure, immaculate, sublime. Another love is a passion that ruins everything around, strong, painful. The tragedy of Katerina Kabanova is that such a bright, pure soul is not suitable for the world in which she lives. The tragedy of Katerina Izmailova lies largely in the crimes she commits in the name of destructive love, and largely in the fact that she has forgotten all the moral laws and commandments of the church. No one can say what kind of life to build, how to love; everyone makes their own choice. Literature only tells us, the readers.

Katerina Lvovna, a young girl from a poor family, married a wealthy widowed merchant, much older than her, Zinovy ​​Borisych Izmailov. The Izmailovs traded in grain and kept a large mill in the district. Their town house was very nice. Katerina Lvovna and her husband had no children. The three of them lived with their old father-in-law Boris Timofeich. Despite all the contentment and goodness, Katerina Lvovna’s life in a locked merchant’s house with a high fence was most boring. The husband and father-in-law left in the morning to do business, and the young fair-haired beauty walked alone around the house, among the icons and lamps - and could not even look after the child due to childlessness.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 2 – summary

Once in the spring, a mill dam belonging to the Izmailovs burst. Zinovy ​​Borisych was constantly at work repairing the mill, and Katerina Lvovna was yawning alone in her mezzanine. Walking around the yard out of boredom, she heard cheerful laughter near the barns and saw young clerks making fun of the unmarried, rosy-cheeked cook Aksinya. A handsome fellow, Sergei, who had recently hired himself to the Izmailovs, called Katerina Lvovna to weigh herself on the scales. With playful sayings, he invited her to wrestle, and when the hostess, amused, raised her elbows, he grabbed her and pressed her tightly to him for a moment.

Katerina Lvovna came out of the barn, flushed. Aksinya told her: This Sergei had previously served with neighboring merchants and there, they say, he was in love with the owner’s wife.

Leskov. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk district. Audiobook

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 3 – summary

Katerina Lvovna’s husband still did not return from the mill, and father-in-law Boris Timofeich went to an old friend’s name day one evening. In the warm twilight, a young beauty was sitting on the mezzanine by the window, and Sergei came out of the courtyard kitchen. He bowed, and then suddenly asked permission to go to her: “I have one thing for you.”

She let him in. Sergei first asked if she had a book to read, and then suddenly said: I miss you so much, Katerina Lvovna, that I’m ready to cut my heart out of my chest with a damask knife and throw it at your feet. Katerina Lvovna felt dizzy, and Sergei grabbed her, lifted her from the floor and carried her to the bed...

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 4 – summary

Katerina Lvovna began to play with Sergei every night while her husband was away. And one day his father-in-law Boris Timofeich saw him descending the gallery pillar from his daughter-in-law's window.

He grabbed Sergei by the legs. To avoid a lot of noise, Sergei Boris Timofeevich allowed himself to be taken to the storeroom. There the old man lashed him with a whip until he was exhausted, and then he locked him up and sent for his son.

However, the road to the mill was not close, and the next morning Katerina Lvovna found out what happened to Sergei. She demanded that her father-in-law release her lover. Boris Timofeich, in response, began to disgrace his daughter-in-law, promised to tear her out at the stables upon his son’s arrival, and threatened to send her seducer to prison the next day.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 5 – summary

But that same evening Boris Timofeevich ate mushrooms and gruel at night - and he started vomiting horribly. By morning the old man died - just like the rats died in his barns, for which Katerina Lvovna always prepared poison with her own hands.

The messenger did not find Zinovy ​​Borisych at the mill - he had already gone a hundred miles away to buy timber. And his wife released Sergei from prison and put him to rest on her husband’s bed. Boris Timofeich was buried hastily, without waiting for his son. All the workers were amazed: that Katerina Lvovna had gone so wild, without hiding from anyone, playing as a trump card and not letting Sergei go.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 6 – summary

One day after dinner, Katerina Lvovna had a dream: as if a fat gray cat, with a mustache like a quitrent bailiff, was rubbing between her and Sergei. He purrs an affectionate song, as if he is talking about love. She wanted to kick him out, but the cat, like fog, passed her fingers. The beauty woke up - there was no cat, only handsome Sergei pressed her breast to his hot face with his hand.

Katerina Lvovna and Sergei went to drink tea under a blooming apple tree. She asked if he had been hot for her before. Sergei, with a sad look, began to say that he would not part with her all his life. But soon Zinovy ​​Borisych will return - and he will have to watch with longing as he leads Katerina Lvovna by the white hands into his bedchamber.

Pressing Sergei’s head to her chest, Katerina Lvovna said: “I already know how I will make you a merchant and live with you completely properly.”

Illustration for N. Leskov’s essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District.” Artist N. Kuzmin

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 7 – summary

They went to bed at night with Sergei, and Katerina Lvovna again dreamed of the same cat. Only his head now turned out to be that of his father-in-law, Boris Timofeevich. He purred that he had come from the cemetery on purpose to see how she and Sergei were warming her husband’s bed.

The young wife screamed with good obscenities. I woke up and heard: as if someone had climbed over the gate into the yard. The dogs rushed and then went silent. Katerina Lvovna guessed: it was Zinovy ​​Borisych who had returned.

She quickly woke up Sergei. He climbed out the window, but Katerina Lvovna told him not to go down the pole, but to wait under the window, on the gallery.

Zinovy ​​Borisych quietly approached her door and first waited, listening. Then he knocked. Katerina Lvovna let him in as if she had just woken up.

Zinovy ​​Borisych looked gloomily. He sat down and began to ask: how did you bury your little aunt? How did you spend your time?

“Daddy’s dead,” answered Katerina Lvovna, and as if running after a samovar, she quietly whispered to Sergei: “Don’t yawn!” She entered the room again, and her husband was holding Sergei’s belt in his hands, which was lying on the feather bed. He began to reprimand her that he had heard about all her amorous affairs. But Katerina Lvovna began to boldly answer him - and suddenly she led him into Sergei’s room by the sleeve, kissing him boldly. Zinovy ​​Borisych slapped her in the face.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 8 – summary

Katerina Lvovna rushed at her husband and threw him to the floor with strong hands. Sergei pressed both hands of the owner to the floor with his knees. Zinovy ​​Borisych broke free and, like an animal, bit Sergei by the throat with his teeth, but groaned and dropped his head: his wife hit him on the temple with a heavy candlestick. Losing consciousness, Zinovy ​​Borisych asked the priest to confess, and Sergei, at a sign from his mistress, began to strangle him.

Five minutes later it was all over. Sergei carried the corpse of Zinovy ​​Borisych into the cellar. Katerina Lvovna used a washcloth to wipe away the blood stains from her husband’s head, which had been broken by a candlestick. “Well, now you are a merchant,” she said, placing her white hands on the shoulders of Sergei, who was suffering from a fever.

Sergei buried the murdered man in the cellar, so that it was impossible to find him.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 9 – summary

Everyone wondered why Zinovy ​​Borisych did not return for so long. The coachman said that he was taking him to the city, but about three miles before him the merchant got down and continued on foot. The search that began did not reveal anything.

Meanwhile, Katerina Lvovna lived with Sergei, recording her husband’s capital on herself. It was soon discovered that she was pregnant.

But something else was also learned: most of the money from Zinovy ​​Borisych’s turnover belonged to his young nephew, Fyodor Lyamin. And soon an old woman arrived - Boris Timofeich’s cousin with this nephew Fyodor.

Sergei, seeing the newcomers, turned pale and began to say: “Now, Katerina Ilvovna, all our business with you is dust. The capital will go to the division.” She reassured: will it not be enough for us? But Sergei convinced: out of my love for you, I would like, Katerina Ilvovna, to see you as a real lady. But with a decrease in capital, this may not happen - and in front of human eyes, vile and envious, it will hurt terribly...

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 10 – summary

Katerina Lvovna began to think: why should I really lose my capital through Fedya? “I accepted so much sin on my soul, and without any hassle he came and took it from me.”

Meanwhile, she began to gain weight from pregnancy, and the gossip in the city about her and Sergei intensified.

And the boy Fedya Lyamin, who did not even think that he had crossed the road for others, fell ill with chickenpox and fell ill. His grandmother once went to church for vespers, ordering Katerina Lvovna to look after her grandson.

Fedya, lying on the bed, read the lives of the saints. Katerina Lvovna and Sergei met in another room. At first they were silent, and then Katerina asked, as if inadvertently: should we go see Fedya? he's alone there...

"One?" – Sergei asked, looking from under his brows. They looked at each other. "Let's go to!" – Katerina Lvovna said impulsively. Sergei took off his boots and followed her.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 11 – summary

The sick boy shuddered and lowered his book when Katerina Lvovna entered. “Oh, I was scared, aunty,” he said, smiling anxiously. “It was as if someone was following you here.” The floorboard behind the door suddenly creaked, and Fedya screamed furiously when he saw pale, barefoot Sergei enter. Katerina Lvovna covered the child’s mouth and shouted to Sergei: “Come on, hold it straight so that it doesn’t fight!”

Sergei grabbed the boy’s legs, and his mistress threw a down pillow on Fedya’s face and leaned on it with her strong, elastic breasts.

“It’s over,” she said after about four minutes of deathly silence. But just as she wanted to move away from the bed with her lifeless body, the house was shaken by thunderclaps on the windows and door. Sergei trembled and started to run. It seemed to him that the dead Zinovy ​​Borisych had burst into the house.

Katerina Lvovna retained more composure. Having laid Fedya's dead head in the most natural sleeping position on the pillows, she ran to open the door. A crowd of people burst into the house.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 12 – summary

This is what happened. People poured past the Izmailovs' house from a church service and chattered about the young merchant widow and her cupids with the clerk Seryozha. Seeing the light between the shutters, two young guys lifted the third one up to see what was going on there. This third one suddenly shouted: they are strangling someone here, they are strangling them! – and desperately pounded on the window with his hands.

The people who came running began to beat on the doors and shutters. Having burst into the house, everyone saw dead Fedya.

Sergei and Katerina Lvovna were taken into custody. She calmly denied everything, but Sergei immediately burst into tears and confessed to two murders. On his instructions, they dug up the corpse of Zinovy ​​Borisych. Both criminals were sentenced to hard labor, flogged on the market square, and Sergei was also given three convict brands on his face. In the prison hospital, Katerina Lvovna gave birth to a child, but immediately turned away from him, indifferently saying: “Well, he’s completely gone.”

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 13 – summary

The party, which included Sergei and Katerina Lvovna, set out for the place of hard labor. Before even reaching Nizhny, Katerina Lvovna gave away all her meager money to the prison guards so that they would allow her to walk next to Sergei and stand with him, hugging him, for an hour on a dark night in the cold prison corridor. Only Sergei became very unkind to her and often scolded her: why did she give her quarters to the under, and not to him - even if there was no extra date. Katerina Lvovna sometimes bit her lips until they bled at his words.

In Nizhny, their party united with another one, where there were two women: the lazy, pliable soldier Fiona and the seventeen-year-old fresh blonde Sonetka. Fiona began to give her love to first one and then another prisoner along the way. Sonnetka had taste, did not throw herself away, and in passion made a choice.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 14 – summary

Sergei began, openly, to seek Fiona’s favor. Soon Katerina Lvovna found them lying next to each other in the corridor. Having torn the scarf from Fiona’s face, she hit Sergei in the face with its ends to the sound of friendly laughter from the men’s cell and ran away. Until the morning she told herself: “I don’t love him,” but she felt that she loved him even more passionately. The next day Sergei said to her on the road: “You, Katerina Ilvovna, are now a small merchant’s wife: so don’t show off, do me a favor. We don’t sell goat horns.”

Soon he began to flirt with little white Sonnetka, and she accepted his game favorably. Katerina Lvovna could not find a place, but suddenly one day Sergei approached her with a guilty look and asked her to go out on a date with him at night.

She slipped the last 17 kopecks to the under. Sergei began to hug her, as before, and then complained: my legs hurt to death, I want to go to the infirmary in Kazan.

Katerina Lvovna’s heart sank at the thought that she would move on from Kazan without him. But Sergei said: if only I had woolen stockings, it would be better. Katerina Lvovna had stockings in her purse. Running into the cell, she pulled them out and happily gave them to Sergei.

Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, chapter 15 – summary

Going out on the road the next day, Katerina Lvovna suddenly saw Sonetka standing in those very stockings of hers. Her vision became blurred. At the first rest stop, she approached Sergei and spat right in his eyes. The prisoners and especially Sonetka burst into laughter.

The next night, when Katerina Lvovna was sleeping on the bunk, two people entered the women's barracks. One jumped on her back and grabbed her hands tightly, while the other began to whip her on the back with all his might with a thick rope. He counted out 50 beats out loud, and it was easy to recognize Sergei in his voice. Both men then quickly disappeared, and Sonnetka giggled not far away. Katerina Lvovna sobbed for the rest of the night, but in the morning she went out to roll call with stony calm.

The stage stretched across cold mud under a gray, overcast sky. “What, merchant’s wife? Are all your ranks in good health?” – Sergei impudently asked Katerina Lvovna and in front of her he hugged and kissed Sonetka. Katerina Lvovna walked as if lifeless.

The wide Volga appeared. The prisoners began to be taken onto the ferry. Someone knew that you could buy vodka on this ferry. “Merchant’s wife,” Sergei turned to Katerina Lvovna again, “come on, out of old friendship, treat me to some vodka. Remember our former love, how you and I, my joy, walked, escorted your relatives without priests and without clerks to eternal peace.”

Katerina Lvovna looked at the waves with a motionless gaze and moved her lips. Suddenly, from one of the shafts, the blue head of Boris Timofeich appeared to her; the husband looked out from the other, hugging Fedya with his head drooping. Katerina Lvovna trembled, her gaze became wild. Swaying, she unexpectedly grabbed Sonetka by the legs and threw her over the side of the ferry.

Everyone fussed and shouted. The two women initially disappeared into the waves. Then Sonetka appeared from the next shaft, raising her arms. But from another wave Katerina Lvovna rose high, rushed at Sonetka like a strong pike at a raft, and neither of them showed up again.

Katerina Lvovna in Leskov's story bears the nickname of the villainess