Strong female characters in history and literature. Research work "Women's images in the literature of the XIX century"

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The situation changed radically in the second half of the nineteenth century, when, due to the growth of the revolutionary movement, many traditional views on the place of women in society changed. Writers of different views saw the role of women in life in different ways.

It is impossible to imagine world literature without the image of a woman. Even without being the main character of the work, she brings some special character to the story. Since the beginning of the world, men have admired the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity, idolized them and worshiped them. Already in the myths of ancient Greece, we meet the gentle beauty Aphrodite, the wise Athena, the insidious Hera. These female goddesses were recognized as equal to men, their advice was obeyed, they were trusted with the fate of the world, they were feared.

And at the same time, the woman has always been surrounded by mystery, her actions led to confusion and bewilderment. To delve into the psychology of a woman, to understand her is the same as solving one of the oldest mysteries of the Universe.

Russian writers have always given women a special place in their works. Everyone, of course, saw her in his own way, but for everyone she was a support, a hope, an object of admiration. I.S. Turgenev sang the image of a staunch, honest girl, capable of any sacrifice for the sake of love; ON THE. Nekrasov admired the image of a peasant woman who "stops a galloping horse, enters a burning hut"; for A.S. Pushkin, the main virtue of a woman was her marital fidelity.

For the first time, a bright female image in the center of the work appeared in Karamzin's "Poor Liza". Prior to this, female images, of course, were present in the works, but their inner world was not given enough attention. And it is natural that the female image first clearly manifested itself in sentimentalism, because sentimentalism is an image of feelings, and a woman is always full of emotions and she is characterized by a manifestation of feelings.

Russian literature has always been distinguished by the depth of its ideological content, the tireless desire to resolve issues of the meaning of life, a humane attitude towards a person, and the truthfulness of the image.

Russian writers strove to reveal in female images the best features inherent in our people. In no literature of the world we will meet such beautiful and pure women, distinguished by their faithful and loving hearts, as well as their unique spiritual beauty. Only in Russian literature is so much attention paid to the image of the inner world and the complex experiences of the female soul. Since the 12th century, the image of a Russian woman-heroine, with a big heart, a fiery soul and readiness for great unforgettable deeds, has been passing through all our literature. It is enough to recall the captivating image of the ancient Russian woman Yaroslavna, full of beauty and lyricism. She is the embodiment of love and loyalty. The author of the "Word" managed to give the image of Yaroslavna an unusual vitality and truthfulness, he was the first to create a beautiful image of a Russian woman.

A.S. Pushkin created an unforgettable image of Tatyana Larina. Tatyana is "Russian in soul", the author emphasizes this throughout the novel. Her love for the Russian people, for patriarchal antiquity, for Russian nature runs through the entire work. Tatyana is "a deep, loving, passionate nature." Tatyana is characterized by a serious attitude to life, to love and to her duty, she has a depth of experiences, a complex spiritual world. All these features were brought up in her by a connection with the Russian people and Russian nature, which created a truly Russian woman, a person of great spiritual beauty.

We must not forget another image of a woman, full of beauty and tragedy, the image of Katerina in Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm", which, according to Dobrolyubov, reflected the best character traits of the Russian people, spiritual nobility, the desire for truth and freedom, readiness for struggle and protest. Katerina is "a bright ray in a dark kingdom", an exceptional woman, a poetic and dreamy nature. The struggle between feeling and duty leads to the fact that Katerina publicly repents before her husband and, driven to despair by the despotism of Kabanikh, commits suicide. In the death of Katerina Dobrolyubov sees "a terrible challenge to self-foolish power."

I.S. was a great master in creating female images, a fine connoisseur of the female soul and heart. Turgenev. He painted a whole gallery of amazing Russian women.

The real singer of the Russian woman was N.A. Nekrasov. Not a single poet, either before Nekrasov or after him, paid so much attention to a Russian woman. The poet speaks with pain about the hard lot of the Russian peasant woman, about the fact that "the keys to the happiness of women have been lost for a long time." But no slavishly humble life can break the pride and self-esteem of the Russian peasant woman. Such is Daria in the poem "Frost, Red Nose". As if alive, the image of a Russian peasant woman rises before us, pure in heart and bright. Nekrasov writes with great love and warmth about the Decembrist women who followed their husbands to Siberia. Trubetskaya and Volkonskaya are ready to share hard labor and prison with their husbands who have suffered for the happiness of the people. They are not afraid of disaster or deprivation.

The great revolutionary democrat N.G. Chernyshevsky showed in the novel "What is to be done?" The image of a new woman, Vera Pavlovna, decisive, energetic, independent. How passionately she is torn from the "basement" to the "free air". Vera Pavlovna is truthful and honest to the end. She seeks to make life easier for so many people, to make it beautiful and extraordinary. That is why many women read the novel so much and strove to imitate Vera Pavlovna in their lives.

L.N. Tolstoy, speaking out against the ideology of the raznochintsev democrats, opposes the image of Vera Pavlovna with his ideal of a woman - Natasha Rostova from the novel "War and Peace". This is a gifted, cheerful and determined girl. She, like Tatyana Larina, is close to the people, to their life, loves their songs, rural nature.

The female image and its image have changed with the development of literature. In different areas of literature, it was different, but as literature developed, psychologism deepened; psychologically, the female image, like all images, became more complex and the inner world became more significant. If in medieval novels the ideal of a female image is a noble virtuous beauty and that's all, then in realism the ideal becomes more complicated, and the inner world of a woman takes on a significant role.

The female image is most clearly manifested in love, jealousy, passion; and, in order to more vividly express the ideal of the female image, the author often puts a woman in conditions where she fully shows her feelings, but, of course, not only to portray the ideal, although this also plays a role.

The feelings of a woman determine her inner world, and often, if the inner world of a woman is ideal for the author, he uses the woman as an indicator, i.e. her attitude to this or that hero corresponds to the attitude of the author.

Often, through the ideal of a woman in a novel, a person is "cleansed" and "born again", as, for example, in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment".

In Dostoevsky's novels we see many women. These women are different. The theme of the fate of a woman begins in Dostoevsky's work with "Poor People". Most often unsecured financially, and therefore defenseless. Many of Dostoevsky's women are humiliated. And women themselves are not always sensitive towards others, there are simply predatory, evil, heartless women. He does not ground them and does not idealize them. There are no happy women in Dostoevsky. But there are no happy men either. There are no happy families. Dostoevsky's works expose the difficult life of all those who are honest, kind, cordial.

The largest Russian writers in their works showed a number of wonderful images of Russian women, revealed in all their richness their spiritual, moral and intellectual qualities, purity, intelligence, a heart full of love, a desire for freedom, for struggle - these are the features characteristic of the image of a Russian woman in Russian classical literature.

What is femininity? Every person has heard this word at least once in their life, but not everyone understands its meaning in the full sense. Perhaps the best answer to this question sounds like this: femininity is the presence of “feminine” in a woman, a girl.

Literature, especially classical literature, is always distinguished by the depth of ideas and images of characters. And the female character, of course, simply cannot but be present, she is in any novel, in any story and in any story or work. And from century to century this image changes depending on the views and education of each subsequent generation, as well as on the author's intentions, his ideas.

So how were female images formed in world fiction? Let's consider this question in more detail.

From the classics of past centuries to the present - the formation of the female image in world literature

The rights, duties, behavior of women change from century to century. Previously - a hundred, two hundred years ago - the attitude towards a woman was unlike today's attitude, it went through many historical events and changes. Accordingly, the female image in literature has also changed.

The question of what femininity is, people asked themselves not so long ago - at the beginning of the 18th century, when Rousseau's book "Emil" was first published. It was in "Emil" that the "new femininity" was first spoken of, and the book was a great success largely due to this. After her, they started talking about women not in the same way as before - in a new way.

In Europe of those times, works like "Emil" found a lively response. Reasoning about women and femininity, of course, could not but leave an imprint on literature.

"He will stop a galloping horse, he will enter a burning hut!" Women in Russian classics

Russian literature differs from the rest of the classics in that the authors have always strived to pose important life questions to the characters and readers, to force them to look for ways to resolve them, to answer them, to describe the surrounding reality as realistically as possible. Well, this topic is disclosed in the works of Nekrasov.

Writers brought to the judgment of readers what accompanies humanity from century to century: human feelings.

And the female image in Russian classical literature is given special importance. Classical writers sought to portray the essence of women, complex female experiences as realistically as possible. He, the female image, has been passing through all Russian literature since the beginning of the 17th century - the image is strong, harmonious, hot and truthful.

Suffice it to recall "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", the main character Yaroslavna. This beautiful female image, filled with lyricism and beauty, perfectly illustrates the general image of a woman. Yaroslavna was the real embodiment of loyalty and love. Separated from her husband Igor, she is overcome by severe sadness, but at the same time she remembers her civic duty: Yaroslavna deeply mourns the death of Igor's squad. She desperately appeals to nature with an ardent request to help not only her “lada”, but also all of its heroes.

"But I am given to another; I will be faithful to him for a century"

Another incredible, memorable and magnificent image of a woman was recreated by A. S. Pushkin in the novel "Eugene Onegin" - the image of Tatyana Larina. She is literally in love with the Russian people, with Russian nature, with patriarchal antiquity, and this love of hers permeates the whole work through and through.

The great poet created the female image in the novel "Eugene Onegin" extremely simple and understandable, but catchy and unique. “The nature is deep, loving, passionate”, Tatyana appears before the reader as a real, lively and beautiful in her simplicity, a whole and formed personality.

Only the faithful nanny knows about her unrequited love for the rake Onegin - Tatyana does not share her feelings with anyone else. But in spite of everything, she respects marital relations: “But I am given to another; I will be faithful to him forever.

Tatyana Larina takes life and her duty quite seriously, although she does not love her husband, but Onegin. She has a complex spiritual world, very deep and strong feelings - all this has grown in her close connection with Russian nature and the Russian people. Tatyana prefers to suffer from her love, but not to violate moral principles.

Lisa Kalitina

I. S. Turgenev was also a master in creating inimitable female images. He created a host of beautiful women, among whom is the heroine of the "Nest of Nobles" Liza Kalitina - a pure, strict and noble girl. A deep sense of duty, responsibility, honesty and openness has been brought up in her - something that makes her look like the women of Ancient Russia.

The female images in the novel "The Nest of Nobles" amaze with their splendor and simplicity - light and deep, they make the reader vividly empathize with the characters.

Sholokhov era

The female images that were written by the pen of M. A. Sholokhov are no less original and beautiful. It can even be said that he created a whole era, a whole new world in which women play a far from secondary role.

Mikhail Alexandrovich wrote about the revolution, about the war, about betrayals and intrigues, about death and power. Is there a place for a woman among all this? Women's images in "Quiet Don" are very ambiguous. If some heroines are the main ones, then others at first glance do not play a significant role - but still, without them, without their destinies, characters and views, it is impossible to fully understand everything that the writer wanted to convey to the reader.

M. A. Sholokhov created and sometimes frankly contradictory female images. "Quiet Flows the Don" is a perfect proof of that.

Real and live

Vitality played a significant role in the success and popularity of The Quiet Flows the Don - the author very skillfully wove fiction with reality. And here it is worth noting that without truthful images this would not have happened. There are no unambiguously “bad” and unequivocally “good” characters in the novel, they are all the same as real people are - in some ways negative, in some ways positive.

It is also quite difficult to call female images in the novel "The Quiet Flows the Don" strictly positive or strictly negative. No, Sholokhov's girls are the most ordinary people: with their experiences, life experience, feelings and character. They can stumble, make a mistake, they, each in their own way, react to injustice or human cruelty.

"Quiet Don" is one of the most popular classical works precisely because of the real, living characters, including female images in the novel. Don-father shaped the character of not only the Cossacks, but also the desperate Cossacks.

Difficult Aksinya

The love line of "The Quiet Flows the Don" is based on one of the most striking and impressive female characters - Aksinya Astakhova. Her image in the novel is very contradictory. If people consider her a bad, fallen woman who has neither conscience nor honor, then for Gregory she is loving, tender, faithful, sincere, ready to do anything for him.

Aksinya is a girl with a difficult fate and difficult relationships with the world and people. She was still very young married to the Cossack Stepan, but this union did not bring her anything - neither happiness, nor love, nor children. Aksinya is incredibly beautiful, proud and stubborn, always and in everything she defends her interests, even in her "wrong" from the point of view of the public love for the lad Grigory. Her hallmark is honesty - instead of hiding the truth from everyone, she chose to openly show it and stand her ground to the end.

Such different fates, such complex fates

Each heroine of the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Quiet Flows the Don" has her own difficult fate, her own character. If you write an essay on it, female images should not be missed, because they make up an important part of it and make it what it is.

All heroines are different. If Aksinya described above is firm, honest and proud, then Daria is the opposite - sometimes harsh, intolerant, loving an easy life and not wanting to recognize any rules whatsoever. She does not want to obey - neither society nor its rules, she is not interested in household chores, family and everyday duties. Daria likes to take a walk, have fun, drink.

But Ilyinichna, the mother of Peter, Dunya and Grigory, is the real embodiment of the keeper of the hearth. At first glance, it may seem that her role in the novel is rather insignificant, but it was in this image that Sholokhov put all the versatility of the concept of "mother". Ilyinichna not only keeps the hearth, but also saves the family itself, maintains calmness, peace and mutual understanding.

Love for the enemy

The civil war claimed many lives and broke many destinies. Dunya Melekhova was no exception. She gave her heart to Mikhail Koshevoy, who was a friend of the family. In the war, he preferred to side with the Bolsheviks, and it was from his hand that the elder brother of Dunya Petro died. Gregory is forced to go on the run and hide from him. But neither this, nor even the mother's prohibition, could make Dunya stop loving Mikhail - because a real Cossack woman falls in love only once in her life and her love is always true and devoted. Mikhail Koshevoy, the culprit in the death of one of the family members, becomes her legal spouse.

Women's images of war in general are extremely ambiguous. You can feel sorry for or even love the enemy - the one who brought grief into the house. Incredible stamina and masculinity that is not inherent in a woman - this is what distinguishes female images in Russian classical literature.

Girl with hazel eyes

Lizaveta Mokhova is the daughter of the merchant Sergei Mokhov. Everyone perceives this girl differently. And if for someone Lisa is incredibly pretty and smart, then for others she makes the opposite impression: an unpleasant look and wet palms.

Lizaveta is raised by her stepmother, who does not particularly love her, and this somehow affects the girl. Yes, and the character of the stepmother is not sugar: nervous. Lisa communicates with the cook, and she is far from being a model of good manners and decency. As a result, Liza also becomes a rather dissolute and frivolous girl, and this radically changes her life.

The essay “Female Images in the Novel Quiet Flows the Don” must necessarily contain a description of the life of Elizaveta Mokhova. The author M.A. Sholokhov himself compares the girl with a wolfberry bush, showing her free and just as dangerous.

Fatal mistake

Deciding to go fishing with Mitka Korshunov, Lizaveta makes a fatal mistake. The guy, unable to resist, rapes her, and gossip instantly spreads through the village. Mitka wants to marry Lizaveta, but her father, Sergei Mokhov, sends her away to study. And the life of the girl goes, one might say, derailed. By the age of 21, Lisa becomes completely licentious and morally decomposed. She lives with a venereologist, and then, tired of him, she easily changes Timofey for the Cossack, offering him to live together. For those times when the action of the novel "Quiet Flows the Don" takes place, such behavior was considered unacceptable and was highly condemned by the public.

But Timothy Lizaveta also suffers for a relatively short time. She finds her charm in the frequent change of partners, and she does not feel sincere daughter love for her father. All she wants from him are gifts and money. To love, to be honest, open - not in the character of Lisa. It is characterized by completely different features, such as pride, envy, anger, rudeness. She considers only her opinion to be the only true one and does not attach importance to anything else.

Women in Russian literature have always had a special relationship, and until a certain time the main place in it was occupied by a man - a hero, with whom the problems posed by the authors were connected. Karamzin was one of the first to draw attention to the fate of poor Lisa, who, as it turned out, also knew how to love selflessly. And Pushkin portrayed Tatyana Larina, who knows how not only to love deeply, but also to give up her feelings when the fate of a loved one depends on it.

One can speak about the peculiar controversy between Chernyshevsky and Tolstoy on the example of the novels What Is to Be Done? and War and Peace.

Chernyshevsky, being a democratic revolutionary, advocated the equality of men and women, valued intelligence in a woman, saw and respected a person in her. Vera Pavlovna is free in her right to love the one she herself chooses. She works on an equal footing with men, does not depend materially on her husband. Her workshop is proof of her competence as an organizer and entrepreneur. Vera Pavlovna is in no way inferior to men: neither in the ability to think logically, nor in a sober assessment of the social situation in the country.

This was supposed to be a woman in the view of Chernyshevsky, and of all those who professed the ideas of revolutionary democracy.

But how many supporters of women's emancipation existed, there were just as many opponents of it, one of which was L. N. Tolstoy.

In the novel "Anna Karenina" the author also raised the problem of free love. But if Vera Pavlovna had no children, then Tolstoy showed a heroine who should think not only about her own happiness, but also about the well-being of her children. Anna's love for Vronsky had a negative impact on the fate of Seryozha and the newborn girl, who, according to the law, was considered Karenina, but was Vronsky's daughter. The act of the mother was a dark stain on the lives of children.

Tolstoy showed his ideal in the image of Natasha Rostova. For him, she was the real woman.

Throughout the novel, we follow how a little playful girl becomes a real mother, a loving wife, a homemaker.

From the very beginning, Tolstoy emphasizes that there is not an ounce of falsehood in Natasha, she feels unnaturalness and lies more acutely than anyone. By her appearance at a name day in a living room full of semi-official ladies, she breaks this atmosphere of pretense. All her actions are subject to feelings, not reason. She even sees people in her own way: Boris is gray, narrow, like a mantel clock, and Pierre is quadrangular, red-brown. For her, these characteristics are enough to understand who is who.

Natasha is called "living life" in the novel. With her energy, she inspires others to a new life. With support and understanding, the heroine practically saves her mother after the death of Petrusha. Prince Andrei, who managed to say goodbye to all the joys of life, when he saw Natasha, felt that not everything was lost for him. And after the betrothal, the whole world for Andrey was divided into two parts: one - she, where everything is light, the other - everything else, there is darkness. “What do I care what the sovereign says in the Council? Will I be any happier for this?” Bolkonsky says.

Natasha can be forgiven for being infatuated with Kuragin. This was the only time her intuition failed her. All her actions are subject to momentary impulses, which cannot always be explained. She did not understand Andrei's desire to postpone the wedding for a year. Natasha strove to live every second, and for her a year was equal to eternity.

Tolstoy endows his heroine with all the best qualities, moreover, she rarely evaluates her actions, more often relying on her inner moral sense.

Like all his favorite characters, the author sees Natasha Rostova as part of the people. He emphasizes this in the scene at his uncle's, when "the countess, brought up by a French immigrant," danced no worse than Agafya. This feeling of unity with the people, as well as true patriotism, pushes Natasha to give carts to the wounded when leaving Moscow, leaving almost all things in the city.

Even the highly spiritual Princess Marya, who at first did not love the pagan Natasha, understood her and accepted her as she was.

Natasha Rostova was not very smart, and this was not important for Tolstoy. “Now, when he (Pierre) told all this to Natasha, he experienced that rare pleasure that women give when listening to a man - not smart women who, listening, try to remember what they are told in order to enrich their mind and on occasion, retell the same; but the pleasure that real women give, gifted with the ability to choose and absorb into themselves all the best that is only in the manifestations of a man.

Natasha realized herself as a mother, a wife. Tolstoy emphasizes that she brought up all her children herself (an impossible thing for a noblewoman), but for the author this is absolutely natural.

Despite the diversity of female characters in Russian literature, they are united by the fact that around them they are trying to create harmony of feelings and peace for their loved ones.

Rereading Pushkin, Turgenev, Tolstoy, we experience again and again together with Tatiana Larina, Natalya Lasunskaya, Natasha Rostova. They show an example of pure love, devotion, fidelity, self-sacrifice. These images live in us, sometimes answering many of our questions, helping us not to make mistakes, to take the only right step. In these images, not only external beauty, but also the beauty of the soul, calling us to improve spiritually.

FEMALE IMAGES IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE (II version)

Russian writers have always given women a special place in their works. Everyone, of course, saw her in his own way, but for everyone she was a support, a hope, an object of admiration. Turgenev sang the image of a staunch, honest girl, capable of any sacrifice for the sake of love; Nekrasov admired the image of a peasant woman who “stops a galloping horse, enters a burning hut”; for Pushkin, the main virtue of a woman was her marital fidelity.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in the epic "War and Peace" created unforgettable images of Natasha Rostova, Princess Marya, Helen, Sonya. They are all different in their characters, outlook on life, attitude towards loved ones.

Natasha Rostova... This is a fragile, tender girl, but she has a strong character. It feels that closeness to the people, nature, origins, which the author appreciated so much. He admired Natasha's ability to feel someone else's grief, pain.

Loving, Natasha gives all of herself, a loved one replaces her - relatives and friends. Natasha is natural, with her charm, charm, she returns to Prince Andrei the desire to live.

A difficult test for her was the meeting with Anatole Kuragin. All her hopes are lost, her dreams are broken, Prince Andrei will never forgive betrayal, although she is simply confused in her feelings.

Some time after the death of Prince Andrei, Natasha realizes that she loves Pierre, and she is ashamed. She believes that she betrays the memory of her lover. But Natasha's feelings often prevail over her mind, and this is also her charm.

Another female image that caught my attention in the novel is Princess Marya. This heroine is internally so beautiful that her appearance does not matter. Her eyes radiated such a light that her face lost its ugliness.

Princess Mary sincerely believes in God, she believes that only He has the right to forgive and have mercy. She scolds herself for unkind thoughts, for disobedience to her father, and tries to see only the good in others. She is proud and noble, like her brother, but her pride does not offend, because kindness - an integral part of her nature - softens this sometimes unpleasant feeling to others.

In my opinion, the image of Maria Volkonskaya is the image of a guardian angel. She protects everyone for whom she feels even the slightest responsibility. Tolstoy believes that such a person as Princess Mary deserves much more than an alliance with Anatole Kuragin, who did not understand what treasure he had lost; however, he had very different moral values.

In the work “War and Peace”, the author, admiring the courage and resilience of the Russian people, extols Russian women. Princess Mary, who feels offended at the mere thought that the French will be on her estate; Natasha, who is ready to leave home in what she was, but to give all the wagons under the wounded.

But the author does not only admire the woman. Helen Bezukhova in the work is the personification of vice. She is beautiful, but her beauty does not attract, because inwardly she is simply ugly. She has no soul, she does not understand the suffering of another person. To give birth to a child from her husband is something terrible for her. She pays dearly for the fact that Boris chose her.

Helen causes only contempt and pity.

Tolstoy's attitude towards women is ambiguous. In the novel, he emphasizes that external beauty is not the main thing in a person. The spiritual world, inner beauty mean much more.

Kuprin also believes that appearances can be deceiving and a woman is able to use her attractiveness to achieve her goals.

Shurochka Nikolaeva from the story "Duel" is a complex person. She does not love her husband, but lives with him and forces him to study, because only he is able, having entered the academy, to pull her out of the backwater in which they live. She leaves the person she loves only because he is weaker than her, unable to give her what she wants. She, without any regret, stifles in herself the feeling that people have been waiting for all their lives. But she does not cause either respect for her strong will or admiration.

Shurochka uses Yuri Romashov because she knows about his love for her. She is so immoral that she is able to persuade Romashov not to shoot, knowing full well that he will die tomorrow. And all for his own sake, because he loves himself more than anyone else. Its main goal is to create the best living conditions for itself, while the methods do not matter. She steps over people and does not feel guilty.

The image of Shurochka does not attract, although she is beautiful, her business qualities are repulsive: she does not have true femininity, which, in my opinion, implies warmth, sincerity, sacrifice.

Both Tolstoy and Kuprin are unanimous in their opinion that a woman should remain a woman. Many writers transferred the character traits of their loved ones to the images of the main characters of the works. I think that is why the image of a woman in Russian literature is so striking in its brightness, eccentricity, and the power of spiritual experiences.

Beloved women have always served as a source of inspiration for men. Everyone has their own female ideal, but at all times the representatives of the stronger sex admired female devotion, the ability to sacrifice, and patience.

A true woman will forever remain inextricably linked with her family, children, and home.

And men will not stop being surprised at women's whims, looking for explanations for women's actions, fighting for women's love.

FEMALE IMAGES IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE (Variant III)

The female image and its image have changed with the development of literature. In different areas of literature, it was different, but as literature developed and psychologism deepened, the psychologically female image, like all images, became more complicated and the inner world became more significant. If in medieval novels the ideal of a female image is a noble virtuous beauty and that's all, then in realism the ideal becomes more complicated, and the inner world of a woman takes on a significant role.

Often, through the ideal of a woman in a novel, a person is “cleansed” and “born again”, as, for example, in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky.

The development of the ideal of the female image in Russian literature can be traced through the works of the 19th century.

In my essay, I want to consider the ideal of the female image of the 1st half of the 19th century, in Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" - Tatiana Larina and the ideal of the 2nd half of the 19th century, in L. N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" - Natasha Rostova .

What is Pushkin's ideal in general? Of course, this is the harmony of the human soul and just harmony. At the beginning of his work, Pushkin wrote the poem "The Beauty Who Sniffed Tobacco", which jokingly depicts the problem that confronts Pushkin in the future - the lack of harmony.

Of course, the ideal of the female image for Pushkin is, first of all, a harmonious woman, calm and close to nature. In the novel "Eugene Onegin" it is, of course, Tatyana Larina.

The ideal of Leo Tolstoy is a natural life and a person who lives a natural life. Natural life is life in all its manifestations, with all the natural feelings inherent in man - love, hatred, friendship. And of course, the ideal of the female image in the novel "War and Peace" is Natasha Rostova. She is natural, and this naturalness is contained in her from birth.

If you look at the appearance of Natasha and Tatyana, they will seem completely different.

Pushkin describes Tatyana like this.

So, she was called Tatyana.
Nor the beauty of his sister.
Nor the freshness of her ruddy.
She would not attract eyes.
Dika, sad, silent.
Like a forest doe is timid,
She is in her own family.

Seemed like a stranger girl.
She couldn't caress
To my father, not to my mother;
A child by herself, in a crowd of children
I didn't want to play or jump.
And often all day alone
She sat silently by the window.

The complete opposite of Tatyana is the lively, cheerful Natasha: “Black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but a lively girl ...” And Natasha’s relationship with her relatives is completely different: attention to her stern remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of her mother's mantilla and laughed (...), she fell on her mother and laughed so loudly and loudly that everyone, even the stiff guest, laughed against their will. Different families, characters, relationships, appearance... What can Tatyana and Natasha have in common?

But the most important thing is that both Tatiana and Natasha are both Russian souls. Tatyana spoke Russian poorly and wrote in Russian, read foreign literature, but still:

Tatyana (Russian soul),
Without knowing why
With her cold beauty
I loved the Russian winter.

About Natasha, Tolstoy writes: “Where, how, when she sucked into herself from that Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant, this spirit, where did she get these techniques that education should have supplanted long ago? But these spirit and methods were the same, inimitable, not studied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her. This Russian spirit is embedded in Natasha and Tatyana, and therefore they are harmonious.

Both Natasha and Tatiana yearn for love. And when Prince Andrei began to visit the Rostovs after the ball, it seemed to Natasha that “even when she first saw Prince Andrei in Otradnoye, she fell in love with him. She seemed to be frightened by this strange, unexpected happiness that the one whom she had chosen back then (she was firmly convinced of this) that he met her again, and, as it seems, is not indifferent to her. Tatyana has:

Tatyana listened with annoyance
Such gossip, but secretly
With inexplicable joy
Involuntarily thought about this:
And a thought arose in the heart;
The time has come, she fell in love. (...)
(...) For a long time heart yearning
It pressed her young breast;
The soul was waiting... for someone.
And waited... Eyes opened;
She said it's him!

Natasha wanted to be noticed, to be chosen to dance at the ball; and when Prince Andrei “chooses” her, Natasha decides that she herself chose him and fell in love with him at first sight. Natasha really wants it to be true love.

Tatyana also chooses Onegin purely intuitively: she saw him only once before she decided that she was in love.

Although both Natasha and Tatyana were waiting for "someone", but still, in my opinion, Natasha wanted to love and be loved, and Tatyana only wanted to love. And Natasha decides that she loves the one by whom she is already loved; and Tatyana, not knowing Onegin at all, not knowing his feelings, fell in love with him.

Natasha and Tatiana wanted to be happy, and of course they want to know what the future holds for them. Both girls tell fortunes at Christmas time; but neither Tatyana nor Natasha saw anything in the mirror when they were guessing, and both were afraid to guess in the bathhouse. Natasha is very surprised that she does not see anything in the mirror, but she believes that she is to blame. Tatyana tries all fortune-telling: one after another, but none of them portends her happiness. For Natasha, too, fortune-telling did not bode well. Of course, what Sonya invented while looking in the mirror seemed possible and true to Natasha. When a person loves, he naturally tries to find out what will happen, whether he will be happy; So are Natasha and Tatyana.

It is characteristic that when both heroines find themselves in almost the same situation, they behave differently. After Onegin, having rejected Tatyana's love, leaves, Tatyana cannot live as before:

And in the cruel loneliness
Her passion burns stronger
And about distant Onegin
Her heart speaks louder.

As for Natasha, at the time when Prince Andrei is leaving for his father, and Natasha decides that he has abandoned her, then: “The next day after this conversation, Natasha put on that old dress that she was especially aware of for delivering them in the morning gaiety, and in the morning she began her former way of life, from which she lagged behind after the ball. Of course, Natasha was worried and was waiting for Prince Andrei, but this state is not always typical for such a lively and cheerful Natasha.

Both girls are characterized by the fact that they love not an ideal at all, but a real person. Tatyana, when she, having spent many hours in Onegin's "cell", realized what he really was, she did not stop loving him. Natasha knew Pierre for quite a long time and quite well, but still she loved him, and not some kind of ideal.

It is interesting that Natasha, being married, does not take any place in secular society. And Tatyana, who could only stay in the village, becomes a real secular lady. And although they both remain harmonious in their souls, Natasha also lives happily. And Tatyana:

How Tatyana has changed!
How firmly she entered her role!
Like an oppressive dignity
Receptions soon accepted!
Who would dare to look for a tender girl
In this majestic, in this careless
Legislator Hall?

Natasha also changed, but became a woman completely opposite to Tatyana. Natasha disappeared into her family, and she simply did not have time for social events. It is possible that if Tatyana had found her happiness in the family, she would not have been so famous in society either.

In my opinion, the most vivid characterization of the heroines is the situation when they understand that they love one person, but are connected with another. So Tatyana, being married, meets Onegin; and when Onegin confesses his love to her, she says:

I love you (why lie?),
But I am given to another;
And I will be faithful to him forever.

As for Natasha, after her engagement to Prince Andrei, she meets Anatole Kuragin and decides that she is in love and succumbs to his persuasion to run away with him. Since Natasha is natural from birth, she cannot love one person and be the bride of another. For her, it is so natural that a person can love and stop loving.

For Tatyana, it is impossible to destroy the marriage, because this would destroy her spiritual harmony.

How similar are Natasha and Tatyana?

They are both harmonious, close to nature and love nature, they have a Russian soul, and they both wanted to love, and, of course, they are natural in their own way.

Tatyana cannot be as natural as Natasha, she has her own moral principles, the violation of which will lead to a violation of harmony in her soul.

For Natasha, it is right when she is happy, if she loves, then she should be with this person, and this is natural.

As a result, the ideals of the female image in Tolstoy and Pushkin are different, although they intersect.

For Tolstoy's ideal, finding one's place in life and living a natural life is very important, but for this all the harmony of the human soul is also needed.

Pushkin's ideal should be harmonious; the harmony of the soul is the main thing, and it is possible to live a natural life without the harmony of the soul (for example, the parents of Tatyana Larina).

The ideal of a female image ... How many of them have already been and will be. But ideals in works of genius are not repeated, they only intersect or are completely opposite.

FEMALE IMAGES IN THE WORKS OF A. S. PUSHKIN AND L. N. TOLSTOY

Russian women... When you hear these words, unusual images arise from the novels of A. S. Pushkin, I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy. And it is not at all necessary that they perform feats. The heroines of Pushkin, Turgenev, Tolstoy are unusually sweet and attractive. All of them are strong and remarkable for their spiritual qualities. They know how to love and hate in full force, without omissions. They are strong, whole individuals.

The image of Tatyana Larina, as the main character of the novel by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "Eugene Onegin", is the most perfect among the other female characters of the novel.

A great influence on Tatyana and the formation of her character was made by the impressions of her native nature and her closeness to the nanny Filipyevna. Parents and the society of local nobles, which surrounded the Larin family in the village, did not have a significant impact on her. Pushkin pays special attention to Tatyana's participation in Christmas divination, which was part of the Russian folk life of that time:

Tatyana believed the legends
Commonplace antiquity.
And dreams, and card fortune-telling,
And the predictions of the moon.

Tatyana not only understands Russian folk speech well, but she herself uses elements of vernacular in her speech: “I feel sick”, “What do I need?”

One should not deny the usual at that time and in that environment influences of an alien nature (French language, Western novels). But they also enrich Tatyana's personality, find echoes in her heart, and the French language gives her the opportunity to convey her feelings most strongly, which, it seems to me, corresponds to Pushkin's attitude to foreign culture as a culture that contributes to the enrichment of Russian. But it does not drown out the national basis, but reveals and makes it possible for the original Russian to open up. Perhaps that is why Pushkin emphasizes the national basis of the character of the heroine, the “Russian soul”. This is the basis of his love for her, which shines through throughout the story and does not allow a drop of irony on the part of the author.

In relation to Onegin, the main features of Tatiana's personality are revealed with the greatest completeness. She writes and sends a letter - a declaration of love. This is a bold step, completely unacceptable from the point of view of morality. But Tatyana is "an exceptional being." Having fallen in love with Onegin, she obeys only her own feelings. She speaks of her love immediately, without any tricks and decorations. It is impossible to find another beginning of the letter that would express with such immediacy what these words say:

I am writing to you - what more?
What else can I say?

In this letter, she reveals to Onegin all her “trusting soul”.

Unrequited love for Onegin, the duel and death of Lensky, the departure of Onegin - Tatyana deeply worries about all these events. A dreamy, enthusiastic girl turns into a woman seriously thinking about life.

In the last chapter of the novel, Tatyana is a secular woman, but inside she remains the same. And she rejects Onegin not because she does not love, but because she does not want to betray herself, her views, her high understanding of the word “fidelity”.

But along with such female images, there are others. To shade them, the authors show other women who are much inferior to them in moral and spiritual qualities.

The complete opposite of Tatyana is her sister Olga. Despite the same upbringing and the environment surrounding the Larin sisters, they grew up very different. Olga is careless and windy. And Onegin, a connoisseur of the female soul, gives her the following characterization:

Olga has no life in features.
Exactly the same as Vandy's Madonna...

She does not seem to notice Lensky's feelings. And even in the last hours before the duel, he dreams of Olga's loyalty. But he is greatly mistaken in the sincerity of her feelings for him. She quickly forgets him after meeting the young lancer she marries.

There are many more heroines in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". And for Tolstoy, inner and outer beauty is important in them.

Like Tatyana Larina, Natasha Rostova is a whole person. She is very far from intellectual life, she lives only by feelings, sometimes she makes mistakes, sometimes logic fails her. She is naive, she wants everyone to be happy, everyone was fine.

We don't even know if she's smart or not. But that doesn't matter. Tolstoy shows that her dignity is not in her mind, but in something else. Tolstoy pits her against Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov (his favorite characters) and both fall in love with her. And this is no coincidence.

Natasha is Tolstoy's ideal woman, she is a reflection of Pushkin's Tatyana. At the end of the novel, she becomes what Tolstoy wants her to be. And “female” is a praise for her, as it is a symbol of a caring mother. Went down - good. After all, according to Tolstoy, the vocation of a woman is family, children. Examples of the opposite are Anna Karenina, Helen Kuragina.

Helen is a secular beauty who grew up in society, unlike Tatyana, Natasha, Princess Mary. But it was the light that corrupted her, made her soulless. Tolstoy calls her entire family just that - “soulless breed”. There is nothing behind her attractive appearance. She only gets married because her husband has a lot of money. She is not interested in spiritual values, she does not admire the beauty of nature. Helen is an immoral and selfish woman.

Another thing is Princess Marya Volkonskaya. She is very ugly, she has a heavy step, but Tolstoy immediately draws our attention to her beautiful radiant eyes. And the eyes are the mirror of the soul. And the soul of Princess Marya is deep, primordially Russian, capable of sincere feelings. And this is what unites her with Natasha Rostova, with Tatyana Larina. Naturalness is important to them.

Tolstoy continues the traditions of Pushkin in revealing the human character in all its complexity, inconsistency and diversity.

In the images of his heroines, Tolstoy pays great attention to their portrait. He usually emphasizes some detail, a dash, persistently repeating it. And thanks to this, this face crashes into memory and is no longer forgotten.

It is also interesting that Helen almost always speaks only French, and Natasha and Marya resort to it only when they get into the atmosphere of high-society salons.

Smiles, glances, gestures and facial expressions perfectly convey the complex emotional experiences of Marya and Natasha, Helen's empty conversations.

As we can see, the favorite heroines of the works of A. S. Pushkin and L. N. Tolstoy are sincerely feeling, “nature is deep, loving, passionate.” It is impossible not to admire such women, it is impossible not to love them as sincerely as they love people, life, and the Fatherland.

TWO KATERINA (Katerina Izmailova and Katerina Kabanova)

Terrible morals in our city, sir.

A. N. Ostrovsky

The history of numerous interpretations of “Lady Macbeth...” by Leskov tends to constantly bring together the images of Katerina Izmailova and Katerina Kabanova from Ostrovsky's drama “Thunderstorm”. Moreover, this rapprochement takes place not on literary grounds, but in the context of the interpretation of the image of Katerina Dobrolyubov in his famous article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”. However, reading these works today, one hardly notices the similarities between these heroines. Of course, they are, but they are hardly significant. We enumerate:

First, their habitat. The gloomy merchant life of the Russian hinterland;

Secondly: the heroines have the same names. Both of them are Katherine;

Thirdly: each one is unfaithful to her merchant husband;

Fourthly: suicide of heroines;

Fifth: the geography of their death is the greatest and most Russian of the rivers - the Volga River.

And this ends not only the formal, but also the substantive similarity of both the heroines and the works as a whole. As for the portrait resemblance, here Ostrovsky says nothing about the appearance of his Katerina, allowing the reader and the viewer to imagine the image for themselves. We only know that she is very beautiful. The portrait of Izmailova was drawn by Leskov in sufficient detail. It stores a large number of infernal signs. Here and black hair, and dark eyes, and unusual, superhuman strength, with a graceful and fragile physique. Both of them do not love their husbands. But treason for Katerina from "Thunderstorm" is a moral crime, a deep personal drama. Izmailova is cheating on her husband out of boredom. Missed her for five years, decided to have some fun on the sixth. Ostrovsky lacks the main component of adultery - carnal, physiological passion. Katerina says to Boris: "If I had my own will, I would not go to you." Barbara understands this too. It is not for nothing that she coldly whispers after him: “I got it right!”

For Katerina Izmailova, unreasonable, Asian passion is the main content of the world. Katerina in "Thunderstorm" personifies the humility of a person, his involvement in the fatal movements of fate.

Izmailova herself draws the lines of life. And what a simple Russian person can do in his freedom, Leskov knows very well: “He (this man) unleashes all his bestial simplicity, begins to be stupid, to mock himself, over people, over feelings. Not particularly gentle and without that, he becomes purely angry. Katerina Kabanova cannot conceive of offending a living being. Her image is a bird flying to the Volga region. She is waiting for punishment and retribution for imaginary and real sins. Watching a thunderstorm, she says to her husband: “Tisha, I know who she will kill.” The image of imminent, inevitable death is always with her, and she always talks and thinks about this. She is a truly tragic figure in the drama.

Leskov Izmailov cannot even think of repentance. Her passion swept away any moral ideas and religious imperatives from her soul. To go put a samovar and kill a person - the actions are identical, and a mortal sin is an ordinary job. Katerina at Ostrovsky's is suffering. Her painful life seems to be weighed down by the original, original fall. And before her betrayal, she tests herself with deep metaphysical doubts. Here she shares her thoughts about death with Varvara. She is afraid not to die, she is afraid that "that death will find you with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts."

Her suicide is not a crime. She, like a bird from a New Testament parable, flew away to the beautiful, heavenly expanses of the Trans-Volga region. “Good for you, Katya!” - says Tikhon over the corpse of his wife. We will not find anything like this in the image of Izmailova. Where there is no depth of thought, there is no depth of feeling. After three atrocities, Katerina kills herself, not out of repentance, but for one more murder. Nothing Christian, nothing evangelical - no humility, no forgiveness.

And yet now, a century later, when the social stratum described by the authors has slipped into historical non-existence, the images of these women seem to be reflected in each other's rays. And the abyss hidden behind them does not seem so fatal, attracting the gaze of the modern reader and viewer.

THE THEME OF LOVE IN THE WORKS OF I. S. TURGENEV AND F. M. DOSTOYEVSKY

The theme of love in the novels of the second half of the 19th century is one of the leading ones: almost all authors touch on it in one way or another, but each one treats this problem in his own way. The difference in perceptions can be explained by the fact that each author, being first of all a person, met different manifestations of this feeling throughout his life. Here we can assume that F. M. Dostoevsky (the first author whose work we will consider), being a tragic personality, considers love from the standpoint of suffering: love for him is almost always associated with torment.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, as a great master psychologist, described people, their thoughts and experiences in a “vortex” flow; his characters are constantly in dynamic development. He chose the most tragic, the most significant moments. Hence the universal, universal problem of love, which his heroes are trying to solve. Rodion Raskolnikov, having committed the murder, "cut off" himself from people like scissors. Violation of one commandment (Thou shalt not kill) entailed ignoring all the others, therefore, he could not “love his neighbor as himself,” since he is special, he is the ruler.

According to Sonechka, this holy and righteous sinner, it is precisely the lack of love for one's neighbor (Raskolnikov calls humanity an “anthill”, “a trembling creature”) that is its fundamental cause of sin. This is the difference between them: his sin is a confirmation of his “exclusivity”, his greatness, his power over every louse (be it mother, Dunya, Sonya), her sin is a sacrifice in the name of love for her relatives: for her father- to a drunkard, to a consumptive stepmother, to her children, whom Sonya loves more than her pride, more than her pride, more than life, finally. His sin is the destruction of life, hers is the salvation of life.

At first, Raskolnikov hates Sonya, since he sees that he, the Lord and “God”, loves this little downtrodden creature, despite everything, loves and regrets (things are interconnected) - this fact deals a severe blow to his fictitious theory. Moreover, his mother’s love for him, his son, also, in spite of everything, “torments him”, Pulcheria Alexandrovna constantly makes sacrifices for the sake of “beloved Rodenka”.

Dunya's sacrifice is painful for him, her love for her brother is another step towards refutation, towards the collapse of his theory.

What is the attitude of the other heroes of Crime and Punishment to the problem of "love of one's neighbour". P. P. Luzhin, as a double of Raskolnikov, fully agrees with the provisions of the “man-god” theory. His opinion is clearly expressed in the following words: "Science says: love, first of all, yourself, for everything in the world is based on personal interest."

Another double - Svidrigailov, this "voluptuous spider", until the last moment, firmly believed in the absence of love at all. But the moment has come: a sudden love for Duna leads this personality devastated by voluptuousness to complete collapse; the result is death. Such is the relationship between Svidrigailov and Luzhin with the theme of love in the novel.

What is the final position of Raskolnikov? Much later, in hard labor, Rodion Romanovich will be freed from hatred for Sonya, he will appreciate her mercy for him, he will be able to understand all the sacrifices that were made for him and for all of them; he loves Sonya. He will perceive the pride that has filled many hearts as a terrible infection, he will regain God, and through him and through his sacrifice - love for all.

A truly universal, universal perception of love - this is the hallmark of Dostoevsky and his heroes.

Thus, speaking about the difference between the perception of love by Dostoevsky and Turgenev, one must first of all keep in mind the scale.

In the image of Bazarov, we can see all the same pride as in the image of Raskolnikov. But his views do not have such an absolute relationship with current events. He influences those around him, but his views do not lead to a specific disregard for moral and ethical laws. All action is not outside him: he commits crimes within himself. Hence his tragedy is not universal, but purely personal. This practically ends the differences (the differences are fundamental on this issue). Similarities remain: what are they?

Bazarov, like the hero of Crime and Punishment, had “a kind of theorist” - nihilistic views that were fashionable at that time. Like Raskolnikov, Eugene became proud, having invented the absence of any norms, any principles, firmly believing that he was right.

But, according to Turgenev, this is only a purely personal delusion: in other words, his views do not lead to any serious consequences for those around him.

He lives practically without violating the basic commandments. Nevertheless, when a meeting with Odintsova makes E.V. Bazarov believe in the existence of love, thereby admitting the incorrectness of his beliefs, Bazarov, according to the author, must die.

Here we can say about one more difference between the two classics - this time the differences lie in the fact that Dostoevsky, with his "dirt" and torment, gives way to his hero; at the same time, Turgenev, this poet, does not forgive his “beloved hero” for the elementary delusion of youth and denies the right to life. Hence Bazarov's love for Anna Sergeevna is only a step towards devastation and death.

In the tragedy of the finale, Bazarov is somewhat similar to Svidrigailov: both of them initially perceived love as voluptuousness. But there is also a huge difference between them: having understood the incorrectness of their ideas, one dies, and this is explained by all the terrible evil that he has committed, while the other is an absolutely normal person, and love could show him a new right path. But, according to Turgenev, the most natural outcome is to bury your hero in the grave, with all his experiences, with a storm of thoughts and doubts that has just been born.

From the foregoing, we can conclude: the main similarity in views on love is the depiction of it as a kind of means by which the author shows the delusions of the characters. The difference lies in the positions in which the characters are given: the moral quest of the murderer in Crime and Punishment and the moral quest of an absolutely normal person in Fathers and Sons.

THE MOTIVE OF UNFAIR LOVE IN THE RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE XIX CENTURY

One of the most important themes of many nineteenth-century novels is the theme of love. As a rule, it is the core of the entire work, around which all events take place. Love is the cause of various conflicts, the development of the storyline. It is feelings that govern events, life, the world; because of them, a person performs this or that action, and it does not matter whether it is love for oneself or another person. It happens that the hero commits a crime or commits some kind of immoral act, motivating his actions with passionate love and jealousy, but, as a rule, such feelings are false and destructive.

There is different love between different heroes, it cannot be said that it is one and the same, but it is possible to determine its main directions, which will be common.

Doomed love, tragic. This is extreme love. It captures either strong people or fallen ones. For example, Bazarov. He never thought about true love, but when he met Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, he realized what it was. Having fallen in love with her, he saw the world from a different perspective: everything that seemed insignificant turns out to be important and significant; life becomes something mysterious; nature attracts and is a particle of the person himself, lives inside him. From the very beginning it is clear that the love of Bazarov and Odintsova is doomed. These two passionate and strong natures cannot love each other, cannot create a family. Anna Sergeevna Odintsova understands this and partly because of this she refuses Bazarov, although she loves him no less than he loves her. Odintsova proves this by coming to his village when Bazarov is dying. If she didn't love him, why would she? And if so, then the news of his illness stirred the soul, and Bazarov is not indifferent to Anna Sergeevna. This love ends in nothing: Bazarov dies, and Anna Sergeevna Odintsova remains to live, as she lived before, but this is fatal love, because in part it destroys Bazarov. Another example of tragic love is the love of Sonya and Nikolai (“War and Peace”). Sonya was madly in love with Nikolai, but he constantly hesitated: either he thought he loved her, or not. This love was incomplete and could not be otherwise, since Sonya is a fallen woman, she is one of those people who are not able to start a family and are doomed to live “on the edge of someone else’s nest” (and so it happened). In fact, Nikolai never loved Sonya, he only wanted to love her, it was a deception. When real feelings awakened in him, he immediately understood this. Only when he saw Marya, Nikolai fell in love. He felt like never before with Sonya or anyone else. That's where true love was. Of course, Nikolai had some feelings for Sonya, but it was only pity and a memory of the old days. He knew that Sonya loved him and truly loved him and, understanding her, could not deal such a strong blow - to reject their friendship. Nikolai did everything to mitigate her misfortune, but Sonya was unhappy nonetheless. This love (of Nikolai and Sonya) caused unbearable pain to Sonya, ending not as she expected; and opened Nikolai's eyes, making it clear what are false and what are real feelings, and helped to understand himself.

The most tragic is the love of Katerina and Boris (“Thunderstorm”). She was doomed from the start. Katerina is a young girl, kind, naive, but with an unusually strong character. She did not have time to find out true love, as she was married to a rude, boring Tikhon. Katerina sought to know the world, she was absolutely interested in everything, so it is not surprising that she was immediately drawn to Boris. He was young, handsome. He was a man from another world, with other interests, new ideas. Boris and Katerina immediately noticed each other, as both stood out from the gray homogeneous mass of people in the city of Kalinov. The inhabitants of the city were boring, monotonous, they lived with old values, the laws of "Domostroy", false faith and depravity. Katerina was so eager to know true love and, only touching her, she died, this love ended before it could begin.

WHAT IS LOVE? (According to the works of Russian literature of the XIX century)

In the second half of the 19th century, many works of various genres were written in Russia: novels, short stories, and plays. In many (especially classical) works, love conflict plays an important role, “It was just such a time,” we might think. But no, this is not so - in fact, love and happiness are, one might say, “eternal” topics that worried people in ancient times, passed through the centuries and excite writers to this day. To the question “what is love?” It is impossible to answer unequivocally: everyone understands it in their own way. There are many points of view on this matter, and their amazing diversity can be traced on the example of only two works, for example, “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky and “Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev.

In "Crime and Punishment" one of the secondary characters is Svidrigailov - a scoundrel, a cheater, a vicious person who has committed many atrocities. He is the embodiment of voluptuousness. On the night before his suicide, pictures of the past appear to him. One of the memories is the corpse of a fourteen-year-old drowned girl: “she was only fourteen years old, but it was already a broken heart, and it ruined itself, offended by insult, horrified and surprised this young childish consciousness ... tearing out the last cry of despair, not heard, but brazenly abused in the dark night, in the darkness, in the cold, in the damp thaw, when the wind howled. Voluptuousness and lust - these are the feelings that overwhelmed Svidrigailov during the commission of violence. Can these feelings be called love? From the author's point of view, no. He believes that love is self-sacrifice, embodied in the image of Sonya, Dunya, mother - after all, it is important for the author to show not only the love of a woman and a man, but also the love of a mother for her son, brother for sister (sister for brother).

Dunya agrees to marry Luzhin for the sake of her brother, and the mother is well aware that she is sacrificing her daughter for her firstborn. Dunya hesitated for a long time before making a decision, but in the end she nevertheless decided: “... before deciding, Dunya did not sleep all night, and, believing that I was already sleeping, she got out of bed and walked back all night and forward across the room, finally knelt down and prayed long and fervently before the image, and in the morning she announced to me that she had made up her mind.

Sonya immediately, without hesitation, agrees to give all of herself, all her love to Raskolnikov, to sacrifice herself for the well-being of her beloved: “Come to me, I will put a cross on you, we will pray and go.” Sonya happily agrees to follow Raskolnikov anywhere, to accompany him everywhere. “He met her restless and painfully caring look on himself ...” - here is Sonin's love, all her dedication.

Another love that cannot be overlooked is the love of God, the echo of which passes through the whole work. We cannot imagine Sonya without her love for God, without her religion. “What would I be without God?” Sonya is perplexed. Indeed, religion is the only consolation for the "humiliated and offended" in their poverty, which is why moral purity is so important for them...

As for a different understanding of love, in order to see it, we will have to analyze another work - for example, “Fathers and Sons” by I. S. Turgenev. In this novel, the conflict between "fathers" and "children" covers all aspects of life, views, beliefs. The worldview of a person subconsciously guides his actions and feelings, and if for Arkady, by virtue of his principles, family happiness, a prosperous, calm life is possible, then for Bazarov it is not.

It is worth recalling the views of Turgenev himself about love and happiness. He believes that happiness is harmony, and other feelings, experiences, violent emotions, jealousy are disharmony, which means that where love is passion, there cannot be happiness.

Bazarov himself perfectly understands the dissimilarity of their natures with Arkady. He says to the young man: “You were not created for our bitter, tart, bean life ...” His comparison of Arkady with a jackdaw is very appropriate: “Here you are! - study! The jackdaw is the most respectable family bird. An example for you!”

Although Arkady is a “son” by age, his worldview is clearly paternal, and Bazarov’s nihilism is alien to him, feigned. The ideal of his love is the same as that of Nikolai Petrovich - harmonious relationships, calm and long love until old age.

Bazarov is a completely different person. He comes from a different social environment, he has a completely different system of views from Arkady, and his experiences are much deeper. His beliefs include the fact that love is “rubbish, unforgivable nonsense, and chivalrous feelings are ugliness, illness”, but he himself experiences an “animal” passion for Anna Odintsova, but she turns out to be a cold woman, and a painful period begins in Bazarov’s life: his postulates like “knock out a wedge with a wedge” (this is about women) turn out to be powerless, and he loses power over himself. His love - “a passion similar to malice and, perhaps, akin to it” - pours out for Bazarov into a genuine tragedy.

All these characters: Arkady, and Bazarov, and Sonya - differ from each other in their worldview, outlook on life, and their love is also different.

Love-passion of Bazarov and love-happiness of Katya and Arkady, love-self-sacrifice of Sonya, Dunya, mother - how many semantic shades are invested by the authors in a single word - love! What different feelings can sometimes be expressed in one word! Each character has his own perception of the world, his own ideals, which means that already on the basis of the subconscious, different people have different feelings. Probably, just as there were no two identical people in the world, love has never been repeated. And different writers, putting different meanings into this concept and depicting love in different forms, gradually approach one of the philosophical, “eternal” questions - stumbling blocks: “what is love? ”

THE THEME OF LOVE IN THE RUSSIAN NOVEL OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY (Based on the novels by I. A. Goncharov “Oblomov”, I. S. Turgenev “Fathers and Sons”, L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace”) (I version)

I loved you....

The theme of love is traditional for world literature, in particular, for Russian literature it is one of the “eternal” ethical problems of our world. They say all the time that it is impossible to answer questions about concepts that cannot be defined: about life and death, love and hate, envy, indifference, etc. But, probably, unsolvable questions and tasks have a strange charm: they are like a magnet, attract people, their thoughts; therefore, many artists tried to express in their work what is difficult to convey in words, music, paint on canvas, what every person vaguely feels, and love occupies a significant place in people's lives, in their world, and therefore in their creations .

In Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" the author creates several storylines related to the theme of love. But the most striking among them is the storyline of the love of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. There are many opinions about their relationship: someone says that Natasha did not love Prince Andrei, proving this by the fact that she cheated on him with Anatole Kuragin; someone says that Prince Andrei did not love Natasha, since he could not forgive her, and someone says that there are few examples of such high love in literature. And it seems to me that it was probably the strangest love that I read about in Russian literature at the end of the 19th century. I am sure that they were made for each other: how Natasha felt the night in Otradnoye (“After all, such a lovely night has never, never happened ... So I would squat down, grab myself under my knees ... and fly. ..”), this is how Prince Andrei saw the sky above Austerlitz (“... Everything is empty, everything is a lie, except for this endless sky ... there is nothing but silence, calm ...”); how Natasha was waiting for the arrival of Prince Andrei, so he wanted to return to her ... But on the other hand, what could have happened if they had got married? At the end of the novel, Natasha becomes a "female" - a woman who only cares about her family; before the war, Prince Andrei wanted to become a good master in his village of Bogucharovo; so maybe they would make a great couple. But then they would have lost the main thing that, in my opinion, was in them: their restless longing for something distant and strange, the search for spiritual happiness. For someone, the life of Pierre and Natasha after the wedding, the life of Olga Ilyinskaya and Andrei Stolz, etc., may be ideal - everything is very calm and measured, rare misunderstandings do not spoil relations; But wouldn't such a life become the second version of Oblomovism? Here is Oblomov lying on the sofa. His friend Stolz comes to him and introduces him to a charming girl, Olga Ilyinskaya, who sings so that Oblomov cries with happiness. Time passes, and Oblomov realizes that he is in love. What is he dreaming about? Rebuild the estate, sit under the trees in the garden, listen to the birds and see how Olga, surrounded by children, leaves the house and heads towards it... In my opinion, this is very similar to what Andrey Stoltz and Olga Ilyinskaya, Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova, Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya, Arkady and Katya in I. S. Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons". It seems that this is some kind of strange irony: Natasha, who was madly in love with Prince Andrei, Princess Marya, excited by romantic dreams before meeting with Anatole Kuragin, Nikolai Rostov, who committed a noble deed on the model of medieval knights (the departure of the princess from the estate) - all these strong and unusual personalities eventually come to the same thing - a happy family life in a remote estate. There is a similar storyline in I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” - Arkady’s love for Katya Odintsova. Meeting, hobbies of Arkady Anna Sergeevna, Katya's wonderful singing, wedding and ... life in the estate of Arkady. One could say that everything is back to square one. But in the novel “Fathers and Sons” there is another storyline - this is Bazarov’s love for Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, it seems to me, even more beautiful than the love of Prince Andrei and Natasha Rostova. At the beginning of the novel, Bazarov believes that “Rafael is not worth a damn”, denies art and poetry, thinks that “in this atom, in this mathematical point [he himself], blood circulates, thought works, wants something too ... What an outrage! What nonsense!” - Bazarov is a person who calmly denies everything. But he falls in love with Odintsova and tells her: “I love you stupidly, madly,” Turgenev shows how “passion beat strong and heavy in him - a passion similar to malice, and, perhaps, akin to it ...” However their fate did not work out, perhaps because they met too late, when Odintsova had already come to the conclusion that "calmness is still the best." The idea of a quiet life is present to varying degrees in many novels of Russian literature and in different storylines. This is not only Oblomov, who does not want to get up from his sofa, but also the Bergs and the Rostov family, where they do not like to deviate from traditions, and the Bolkonsky family, where life moves according to once established order. Because of his love for peace, unwillingness to quarrel with his son, Nikolai Petrovich did not immediately marry Fenechka (one of the secondary plot lines of the novel “Fathers and Sons”).

However, it would be wrong to associate the theme of love only with the relationship of men and women. The old Countess of Rostov and Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky love their children, and children love their parents (Arkady, Bazarov, Natasha, Princess Marya, etc.). There is also love for the motherland (Prince Andrei, Kutuzov), for nature (Natasha, Arkady, Nikolai Petrovich), etc. Probably, one cannot firmly say that someone loves someone, since only the author knew this for sure, to In addition, various feelings struggle in the complex characters of the heroes, and therefore it is only conditionally possible to say that this or that expression (words) is true in relation to any hero. In any case, I think that as long as people live, they will feel: love, rejoice, be sad, be indifferent - and they will always try to understand what is happening to them, and try to explain it in words, so the theme of feelings and love will always be present in art.

THE THEME OF LOVE IN THE RUSSIAN NOVEL OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY (Based on the novels by I. A. Goncharov “Oblomov”, I. S. Turgenev “Fathers and Sons”, L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace”) (II version)

From ancient times to the present day, nothing excites the minds of writers and poets like the theme of love. It is one of the key in all world fiction. However, despite the fact that in most books there is a love affair, each time the author finds some new twist on this topic, because love is still one of those concepts that a person cannot describe with a standard phrase or definition. As in a landscape, the lighting or the season changes and perception changes, so in the theme of love: a new writer appears, and with him other heroes, and the problem appears before him in a different guise.

In many works, the theme of love is closely connected with the basis of the plot and the conflict, it serves as a means of revealing the nature of the main characters.

In the novels of Russian classics of the second half of the 19th century, the love theme is not the main one, but at the same time it plays one of the important roles in the works. As one of the famous English writers A. Christie said already in the 20th century, “he who has never loved anyone has never lived”, and Russian prose writers, not yet knowing this phrase, but certainly understanding that there is love in the life of every person something that helps to most fully reveal his inner world and the main character traits, of course, could not help but refer to this topic.

In the works of the 19th century, echoes of the previous era of “romantic” love are heard: Oblomov can be called a romantic: a lilac branch, which a girl once picked while walking in the garden, becomes a symbol of their love with Olga. For all the time of their relationship, Oblomov mentally returns to this flower more than once in a conversation, and often he compares the moments of love that leave and never return with a faded lilac. The feelings of another couple - Arkady and Katya from "Fathers and Sons" can only be called romantic. There is no suffering or torment here, only pure, bright, serene love, which in the future will turn into the same pleasant and calm family life, with a bunch of kids, common dinners and big holidays with friends and relatives. They can be called an ideal family: the spouses live in mutual understanding and boundless love, about such a life the hero of another work, Oblomov, dreams of. His idealistic thoughts resonate with Nikolai Rostov's thoughts about his wife and marriage: “... a white hood, a wife behind a samovar, a wife's carriage, children ...” - these ideas about the future gave him pleasure. However, such pictures are not destined to come true (at least for those heroes who dream about it), they have no place in the real world. But the fact that there is no idyll, as Nikolai and Oblomov imagine it, does not mean that there is no happy family life in the world: each of these writers in his works paints pictures of an ideal married couple: Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova, Marya Volkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov , Stolz and Olga Ilyinskaya, Arkady and Katya. Harmony and mutual understanding, based on love and devotion, reign in these families.

But, of course, when reading these works, one cannot speak only about the happy side of love: there is suffering, and torment, and heavy passion, and unrequited love.

The theme of love suffering is most associated with the main character of "Fathers and Sons" Yevgeny Bazarov. His feeling is a heavy, all-consuming passion for a woman who is not able to love him, the thought of her does not leave Bazarov until his death, and until the last minutes love remains in him. He resists the feeling, because this is what Bazarov considers romance and nonsense, but he is unable to fight it.

Suffering brings not only unrequited love, but also the understanding that happiness with the person you love and love yourself is impossible. Sonechka has put her whole life on the map of love for Nikolai, but she is “an empty flower”, and she is not destined to start a family, the girl is poor, her happiness with Rostov is initially hindered by the countess, and later Nikolai meets a creature that was higher than Sonya and even himself - Marya Volkonskaya, falls in love with her and, realizing that we love her, marries. Sonya, of course, is very worried, her heart will always belong only to Nikolai Rostov, but she is unable to do anything.

But Natasha Rostova experiences grief incomparably greater in depth and significance: first, when, due to her passion for Kuragin, she broke up with Prince Andrei, the man whom she loved for the first time in her life, then, when she lost him for the second time due to the death of Bolkonsky. For the first time, her suffering is intensified by the fact that she realizes that she lost her fiancé only through her own fault; the break with Bolkonsky leads Natasha to a deep mental crisis. Natasha's life is a series of trials, after passing through which she came to her ideal - to family life, which is based on the same strong connection as her soul and body.

On the example of Rostova Tolstoy, one of the few writers, traces the development of love from childhood love and flirting to something solid, fundamental, eternal. Like Tolstoy, Goncharov draws the various stages of Olga Ilyinskaya's love, but the difference between these two heroines is that Natasha is able to really love more than once (and she has no doubt that this may not be normal), because the essence of her life is love - to Boris, mother, Andrey, brothers, Pierre, while Olga is tormented, thinking that her feeling for Oblomov was genuine, but if so, what does she feel for Stoltz? .. If Olga fell in love after Oblomov, then for many other heroes of Russian literature this feeling arises only once in a lifetime: for example, Marya Volkonskaya realized at first glance that Nikolai was the only one for her, and Anna Sergeevna Odintsova remains forever in Bazarov’s memory.

Important in revealing the theme of love is how people change under its influence, how they pass the “test of love”. In the psychological novel Oblomov by I. A. Goncharov, the influence of feelings on the protagonist could not be ignored. Olga wants to change her lover, pull him out of the "Oblomovism", not let him sink, she makes him do what was not typical of Oblomov before: get up early, walk, climb mountains, but he does not pass the test of love, nothing can change him, and Olga's hands drop, she knows that; there are sprouts of beauty in him, but he is mired in the usual “Oblomov way of life”.

Love is many-sided and multifaceted, beautiful in all its manifestations, but not many Russian writers of the second half of the 19th century were “researchers of love”, with the exception of Goncharov. Basically, the theme of love was presented as a material on the basis of which it is possible to build the character of the heroes, although, meanwhile, this does not prevent writers from revealing this topic from different angles and admiring the romantic feelings of the heroes and empathizing with their suffering.

MOTIVES OF KNIGHTS' SERVICE TO A WOMAN IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE (Option I)

First, I would like to explain the concept of “chivalry”. A knight is not necessarily a man in armor and with a sword, sitting on a horse and fighting monsters or enemies. A knight is a person who forgets himself in the name of something, a person disinterested and honest. Speaking of chivalrous service to a woman, we mean a person who is ready for self-sacrifice for her, the one and only.

The most striking example of this, in my opinion, would be Pavel Petrovich - the hero of the novel by I. S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons".

He was a hereditary nobleman, brilliantly educated, having, like many representatives of his social circle, high moral qualities. He had a brilliant career ahead of him, as he had extraordinary abilities. Nothing indicated failure. But he met Princess R., as the author called her. At first, she also treated him favorably, but then ... Princess R. broke Pavel Petrovich's heart, but he did not want to offend her or take revenge on her by word or deed. He, like a real knight, set off in pursuit of his beloved, sacrificing his career. Not every person is capable of this. Therefore, we can safely say that Pavel Petrovich is a representative of a remarkable galaxy of knights in Russian literature.

I would like to mention one more knight. Chatsky, the hero of A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit”, loved Sophia so much that I think he deserves this title. He sacrificed his feelings for the happiness of the woman he loved.

With this I would like to end my essay. Much can be written about chivalry, but it is not interesting to read a lot of the same, the only thing I would like to add is the wish that there were more knights, because over the centuries they disappear, as we see.

Of course, I do not want to say that they have disappeared altogether, but for some reason there are very few of them, although this is strange in connection with the peculiar mentality of the Russian nation. For Russians, it seems to me, chivalry should be in the blood. Russians should be the same knights and dreamers as Lensky, who madly loved Olga and sacrificed his life for her.

MOTIVES OF KNIGHTS' SERVICE TO A WOMAN IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE (II variant)

Russian literature is very diverse. And one of these varieties is the direction in which, whether a writer or a poet, touches on the themes of love and, in particular, the motives of chivalrous service to a woman.

Women are like flowers on ice. It is they who decorate it and the life of all on earth. For example, A. S. Pushkin met many women in his life and loved many, both good and bad. And many of his poems and poems are dedicated to his beloved. And everywhere he speaks of them with warmth and elevates their beauty, both external and internal. All of them are beautiful for him, they give him strength, energy, they, in most cases, are the source of his inspiration. It turns out that love is one of the main motives of chivalrous service to a woman. Love can change any person, and then he idolizes his chosen one, she will become an ideal for him, the meaning of life. Will this not entail a violent outburst of emotions, will this not inspire a man to dedicate poems or novels to his beloved? And no matter what the woman, love will still prevail over the consciousness of the person whose heart will submit to her. The Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov can serve as such an example. He fell in love many times, but very often his lovers did not reciprocate. Yes, he was very worried, but still this did not prevent him from dedicating his poems to them, written from a pure heart, albeit with pain in his chest. For some, love is destructive, while for others it is the salvation of the soul. Again and again, all this is confirmed in the works of famous Russian writers and poets.

One of the main motives is nobility. Often it manifests itself only after a person has fallen in love. This, of course, is good, but nobility should be shown in any cases. And it is not at all necessary to love a woman in order to treat her prudently. Some men cultivate this feeling in themselves from their youth, and it remains with them for the rest of their lives. Others don't recognize it at all. Consider an example. In Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" the protagonist acted nobly with Tatyana. He didn't take advantage of her feelings for him. He did not love Tatyana, but the feeling of nobility was in his blood, and he would never disrespect her. But in the case of Olga, he, of course, showed himself on the other side. And Lensky, Olga's admirer, could not resist, his pride was hurt, and he challenged Onegin to a duel. He acted nobly, trying to protect the honor of Olga from such a playboy as Onegin. Pushkin's views are somewhat similar to the views of his heroes. After all, he died only because rumors about his wife were spread. And his nobility did not allow him to keep silent and stay away. So nobility is also one of the motives of chivalrous service to a woman in Russian literature.

Hatred of a woman and at the same time admiration for her beauty is another motive. Take, for example, M. Yu. Lermontov. As I wrote, it was often rejected. And it was natural that in his soul a certain amount of hatred was born towards them. But, thanks to his admiration for them, he managed to overcome the barrier of malice and dedicated many of his poems to precisely those women, hatred for whom was mixed with admiration, perhaps, for their character, figure, face, soul, mind, or something else.

Respect for a woman, as a mother, as a keeper of the hearth, is also a motive.

Women have been and always will be the most beautiful and revered on earth, and men will always serve them like knights.

THE THEME OF A LITTLE MAN IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE XIX CENTURY

The theme of the little man is one of the traditional themes in Russian literature of the last two centuries. For the first time, this topic appeared in Russian literature in the 19th century (in “Poor Lisa” by Karamzin). As the reasons for this, one can probably name the fact that the image of a small person is characteristic, first of all, for realism, and this artistic method finally took shape only in the 19th century. However, this topic, in my opinion, could be relevant in any historical period, since, among other things, it involves a description of the relationship between man and power, and these relationships have existed since ancient times.

The next (after “Poor Lisa”) significant work on this topic can be considered “The Stationmaster” by A. S. Pushkin. Although for Pushkin this was hardly a typical theme.

One of the maximum manifestations of the theme of the little man was found in the work of N.V. Gogol, in particular in his story “The Overcoat”. Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin (the main character of the story) is one of the most typical little people. This is an official, "not that very remarkable." He, a titular adviser, is extremely poor, even for a decent overcoat he has to save up for a long time, denying himself everything. The overcoat obtained after such labors and torments is soon taken away from him on the street. It would seem that there is a law that will protect him. But it turns out that no one can and does not want to help the robbed official, even those who would simply have to do it. Akaky Akakievich is absolutely defenseless, he has no prospects in life - due to his low rank, he is completely dependent on his superiors, he will not be promoted (he is, after all, an “eternal titular adviser”).

Gogol calls Bashmachkin “one official”, and Bashmachkin serves in “one department”, and he is the most ordinary person. All this allows us to say that Akaky Akakievich is an ordinary little person, hundreds of other officials are in his position. This position of a servant of power characterizes the power itself in a corresponding way. The government is heartless and ruthless.

The same defenseless little man is shown by F. M. Dostoevsky in his novel Crime and Punishment.

Here, as in Gogol, an official, Marmeladov, is represented as a small man. This man is at the bottom. For drunkenness he was expelled from the service, and after that nothing could stop him. He drank everything he could drink, although he perfectly understood what he was bringing the family to. He says about himself: "I have an animal image."

Of course, he is most to blame for his situation, but it is also noteworthy that no one wants to help him, everyone laughs at him, only a few are ready to help him (for example, Raskolnikov, who gives the last money to the Marmeladov family). The small man is surrounded by a soulless crowd. “For this I drink, that in this drink I seek compassion and feelings ...”, says Marmeladov. “Sorry! why pity me!” - he exclaims and immediately admits: “There is nothing to feel sorry for me!”

But after all, his children are not to blame for the fact that they are beggars. And the society, which does not care, is probably also to blame. The chief is also to blame, to whom Katerina Ivanovna's appeals were addressed: “Your Excellency! Protect the orphans!” The entire ruling class is also to blame, because the carriage that crushed Marmeladov was “waited by some significant person,” and therefore this carriage was not detained.

Sonya, the daughter of Marmeladov, and the former student Raskolnikov also belong to the small people. But here it is important that these people retained human qualities in themselves - compassion, mercy, self-esteem (despite the downtroddenness of the Hundreds, the poverty of Raskolnikov). They are not yet broken, they are still able to fight for life. Dostoevsky and Gogol depict the social position of little people in approximately the same way, but Dostoevsky, unlike Gogol, also shows the inner world of these people.

The theme of the little man is also present in the works; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Take, for example, his fairy tale “Med-; after all, in the voivodeship.” All the characters here are given in a grotesque form, this is one of the features of the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin. In the tale under consideration there is a small, but very informative, episode concerning the theme of small people. Toptygin "Chizhik ate". I ate it just like that, for no reason, without understanding. And although the whole forest society immediately laughed at him, the very possibility of causeless harm by the boss to the little man is important.

Little people are also shown in the “History of a City”, and they are shown in a very peculiar way. Here they are typical inhabitants. Time passes, mayors change, but the townsfolk do not change. They remain the same gray mass, they are completely dependent, weak-willed and stupid. The mayors take the city of Foolov by storm, go on campaigns against it. But the people are used to it. They only want the mayors to praise them more often, call them “guys”, and make optimistic speeches. The organchik says: “I will not tolerate it! I will ruin!” And for the general public, this is normal. Then, the townsfolk understand that the “former scoundrel” Ugryum-Murcheev personifies the “end of everything”, but they silently climb to stop the river when he orders: “Drive! ”

A completely new type of little man is presented to the reader by A.P. Chekhov. Chekhov's little man has grown bigger, no longer so defenseless. This shows up in his stories. One of these stories is "The Man in the Case". Teacher Belikov can be attributed to the number of small people, it’s not in vain that he lives by the principle: “No matter what happens.” He is afraid of the authorities, although, of course, his fear is greatly exaggerated. But this little man “put a case” on the whole city, made the whole city live according to the same principle. It follows that a small person can have power over other small people.

This can be seen in two other stories "Unter Prishibey" and "Chameleon". The hero of the first of them - non-commissioned officer Prishibeev - keeps the whole neighborhood in fear, tries to force everyone not to turn on the lights in the evenings, not to sing songs. It's none of his business, but he can't be stopped. And he is also a small person, if he is brought to trial and even sentenced. In "Chameleon" the little man, the policeman, not only subdues, but also obeys, as a small man should.

Another feature of Chekhov's little people is the almost complete absence of positive qualities in many of them. In other words, the moral degradation of the personality is shown. Belikov is a boring, empty man, his fear borders on idiocy. Prishibeev is thuja and stubborn. Both of these heroes are socially dangerous, because for all their qualities they have moral power over people. The bailiff Ochumelov (the hero of Chameleon) is a little tyrant who humiliates those who depend on him. But before the authorities, he kowtows. This hero, unlike the two previous ones, has not only moral, but official power, and therefore is doubly dangerous.

Considering that all the considered works were written in different years of the 19th century, we can say that a small person still changes in time. For example, the dissimilarity of Bashmachkin and Belikov is obvious. It is also possible that this arises as a result of the authors' different vision of the problem, different ways of depicting it (for example, caustic satire in Saltykov-Shchedrin and obvious sympathy in Gogol).

Thus, in Russian literature of the 19th century, the theme of the little man is revealed by depicting the relationship of little people both with the authorities and with other people. At the same time, through the description of the situation of small people, the power standing over them can also be characterized. A small person can belong to different categories of the population. Not only the social status of little people can be shown, but also their inner world. Little people are often to blame for their misfortunes, because they do not try to fight.

PUSHKIN'S REMINISCENCES IN NV GOGOL'S POEM "DEAD SOULS".

The poem "Dead Souls" is the most significant creation of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Uniquely original and originals of the share, it is nevertheless associated with many literary traditions. This applies to both the content and the formal aspects of the work, in which everything is organically interconnected. "Dead Souls" was published after Pushkin's death, but the beginning of work on the book coincided with the close rapprochement of the writers. This could not but be reflected in Dead Souls, the plot of which, by Gogol's own admission, was presented to him by Pushkin. However, it is not only about personal contacts. B. V. Tomashevsky in his work “Pushkin’s Poetic Heritage” noted the influence of his artistic system, which all subsequent literature experienced “in general, and, perhaps, prose writers are more than poets.” Gogol, by virtue of his talent, was able to find his own way in literature, in many respects different from Pushkin's. This must be taken into account when analyzing Pushkin's reminiscences in Gogol's poem. The following questions are important here: what is the role of Pushkin's reminiscences in Dead Souls? what meaning do they have for Gogol? what is their meaning? The answers to these questions will help to better understand the peculiarity of Gogol's poem, to note some historical and literary patterns. The most general conclusion that can be drawn on the topic under consideration is the following: Gogol's reminiscences reflect Pushkin's influence on him. Our task is to understand the results of this influence. Under Pushkin's reminiscences in "Dead Souls" we will understand everything that leads to a comparison with Pushkin's work, reminds of him, as well as a direct echo of Pushkin's expressions. In other words, the question of Pushkin's reminiscences in Gogol is a question of connections between the original creative worlds of two Russian writers who were in a relationship of succession. In the light of the stated attitudes, let's take a closer look at Gogol's work itself.

First of all, we pay attention to the author's genre definition. We know that it was fundamental for Gogol. He emphasized this in his own cover for the first edition of the book. Why, then, is a work reminiscent of an adventure novel in form, and even saturated with a large number of satirical sketches, nevertheless called a poem? The meaning of this was correctly captured by V. G. Belinsky, noting the “predominance of subjectivity”, which, “penetrating and animating with itself the entire poem of Gogol, reaches a high lyrical pathos and embraces the soul of the reader with illuminating waves ...”. Before the reader of the poem, pictures of the provincial city, landowners' estates unfold, and behind them stands "all Russia", the Russian reality of that time. The emotional coloring of the narrative, which is manifested in the author's increased interest in what he depicts, the very subject of the image - the modern life of Russian life - lead us to compare the central work of Gogol with the central work of Pushkin. Both in "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin, and in "Dead Souls" by Gogol there are clearly expressed lyrical and epic beginnings. Both works are original in terms of genre. Pushkin originally intended to call his novel in verse a poem. (“I am writing a new poem now,” he wrote in a letter to Delvig in November 1823. A little later he wrote to A.I. Turgenev: “... I am writing a new poem at my leisure, Eugene Onegin, where I choke on bile.”) The final genre definition of "Eugene Onegin" reflected Pushkin's awareness of his artistic discovery: the transfer to poetry of the tendencies characteristic of prose. Gogol, on the contrary, transferred an excited lyrical note to prose. The aforementioned thematic and genre overlaps between “Eugene Onegin” and “Dead Souls” are supported by a large number of different kinds of reminiscences, which we are about to review.

One more preliminary note. We will consider the first volume of "Dead Souls" as an independent work, not forgetting its three-part plan, realized only partially.

A careful look at the text of "Dead Souls" reveals many analogies with Pushkin's novel. Here are the most notable ones. In both works, the same scheme is visible: the central character from the city finds himself in a rural area, the description / of his stay in which is given the main place. The end of the story, the hero comes in the same place where it begins. The hero returns to the clan, from which he then soon leaves, like Chatsky. Recall that Pushkin leaves his hero

In a minute, evil for him.

The main characters themselves are comparable. Both of them stand out against the background of the society surrounding them. Their characteristics are similar. Here is how the author says about Chichikov: “The visitor somehow knew how to find himself in everything and showed himself an experienced secular person. Whatever the conversation was about, he always knew how to support it ... ”Onegin, who had a happy talent

No compulsion to speak
Touch everything lightly
With a learned air of a connoisseur...

It is precisely “with the learned look of a connoisseur” that Chichikov talks about a horse farm, good dogs, judicial tricks, a game of billiards, virtue, making hot wine, about customs overseers and officials. For this, everyone declares him a “efficient”, “scientist”, “respectable and amiable” person, and so on. About Onegin

The world has decided.
That he is smart and very nice.

Further, Gogol reveals the "strange property of the hero." Pushkin's Onegin is a “strange companion”, an eccentric in the eyes of others. Along the way, one can note non-random correspondences between the names of the authors and their main characters: Pushkin - Onegin, Chichikov - Gogol. In two works, the motive of the protagonist's journey is important. However, if Onegin rides out of boredom, then Chichikov has no time to be bored. It is the parallelism of situations and images, given by reminiscences, that emphasizes significant differences. Let's explain it textually. Pushkin's reminiscences are clearly heard in the description of Chichikov's preparation for the governor's party, which "took more than two hours of time." The main semantic detail here - "such attentiveness to the toilet, which is not even seen everywhere" - goes back to Pushkin's poems:

It's three hours at least
Spent in front of the mirrors
And came out of the restroom
Like windy Venus...

Let us point to the continuation of the reminiscences: “Thus dressed, he rolled in his own carriage along endlessly wide streets, illuminated by skinny illumination from windows that flickered here and there. However, the governor's house was so lit up, even for a ball; a carriage with lanterns, two gendarmes in front of the entrance, postillion cries in the distance - in a word, everything is as it should be. The above quote is an echo of the verses of the XXVII stanza of the first chapter of “Eugene Onegin”:

We'd better hurry to the ball.
Where headlong in a pit carriage
My Onegin has already galloped.
Before the faded houses
Along a sleepy street in rows
Double carriage lights
Cheerful pour out light,
Dotted with bowls all around,
Glittering gorgeous house...

And tightness, and brilliance, and joy,
And I'll give you a thoughtful outfit.

Chichikov, having gone out into the hall, "had to close his eyes for a minute, because the glare from candles, lamps and ladies' dresses was terrible." Before us is a retelling of the first chapter of Onegin. But what kind of retelling, or rather, transcription, is this? If in Pushkin the image of the ball evokes enthusiastic memories, pouring out into inspired lines “I remember the sea before a thunderstorm ...”, etc., then Gogol in a similar place in the story gives a long comparison of “black tailcoats” with flies on sugar in the form of a digression. A similar ratio can be seen in almost all reminiscences.

Perfume in cut crystal;
Combs, steel files,
Straight scissors, curved
And brushes of thirty kinds
For both nails and teeth

are replaced by the second hero with soap (with which he rubs both cheeks for an extremely long time, “supporting them from the inside with his tongue”) and a towel (with which he wipes his face, “starting from behind his ears and snorting twice before in the very face of the tavern servant”). To top it off, he “plucked two hairs out of his nose” in front of a mirror. It is already difficult for us to imagine him “like the windy Venus”, “the second Chaadaev”. This is a completely new hero. Reminiscences show his continuity. If Onegin carries within himself “an ailment whose cause should have been found long ago,” then Gogol, as it were, tries to reveal this “ailment” more deeply in order to get rid of it later. The motif of the hardening of the human heart sounds in Dead Souls with increasing force.

The decline, reaching the parody, plays an important semantic role. It is curious to note that the “reduced” hero Chichikov is going to the evening in his own carriage, and the noble Onegin is in a pit carriage. Maybe Chichikov claims to be a “hero of his time”? Whether Gogol sees the evil irony in this is hard to say. One thing is clear, he caught the redistribution of positions in Russian life and reflected this redistribution. In his other work, “Theatrical tour after the presentation of a new comedy,” he speaks about this directly: “It is worth looking closely around. Everything changed a long time ago in the world... Don’t they now have more electricity, money capital, an advantageous marriage than love?” The fact that in Pushkin's novel was a kind of background - an ordinary noble-landlord environment - came to the fore in Gogol.

The landowners visited by Chichikov are in many ways reminiscent of the neighbors Larins, who came to Tatyana's name day. Instead of the “strange companion” of Pushkin, who was even on friendly terms with him (“I became friends with him at that time”), a “scoundrel” hero enters the scene. The author's element in "Dead Souls" is very reminiscent of the lyrical digressions of "Eugene Onegin". Gogol, just like Pushkin, continuously carries on a conversation with the reader, addressing him, commenting on events, giving characteristics, sharing his thoughts .. Recall, for example, the beginning of chapter six, where the author writes: in the summers of my childhood, which flashed irrevocably, it was fun for me to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time ... Oh, my youth! oh my freshness!” Do not echoes of Pushkin's poems sound in this passage?

In those days when in the gardens of the Lyceum
I blossomed serenely...

In "Dead Souls" elements of Pushkin's poetics are felt. Let us point out some literary devices characteristic of "Eugene Onegin". First of all, this is irony. Gogol's words have a direct and hidden meaning. Just like Pushkin, Gogol does not hide the conventions of his story. For example, he writes: “It is very doubtful that the hero chosen by us will be liked by the readers.” Pushkin:

I was already thinking about the shape of the plan
And I'll name the hero.

There is no long exposition, the action begins immediately (the characters move at the very first moment: Onegin “flies on the postal ones”, Chichikov drives in a cart at the gates of the hotel). Much in the characters is revealed only later (Onegin's office in the seventh chapter, Chichikov's biography in the eleventh). Pushkin's method of special enumeration appears in Gogol's descriptions. “Meanwhile, the britzka turned into more deserted streets ... Now the pavement ended, and the barrier, and the city behind ... And again, on both sides of the high road, versts, stationmasters, wells, carts, gray villages with samovars rested to write again , women and a brisk bearded master ... a song will drag on in the distance, pine tops in the fog, a bell ringing that disappears far away, crows like flies, and an endless horizon ... ”Compare:

Here on Tverskaya
The wagon rushes through the potholes.
Flickering past the booth, women,
Boys, benches, lanterns.
Palaces, gardens, monasteries,
Bukharians, sleighs, vegetable gardens,
Merchants, shacks, men.
Balconies, lions on the gates
And flocks of jackdaws on crosses.

The reminiscences noted above testify to Gogol's assimilation of Pushkin's creative experience.

B. V. Tomashevsky, in the work already mentioned, noted the possibility of the appearance of another kind of reminiscences from Pushkin - connected not with the laws of literary specificity, but with personal perception of impressions from Pushkin's speech, containing accurate and diverse characteristics. We would include the following textual rapprochement in this genus: “His appearance at the ball produced an extraordinary effect.”

Meanwhile, Onegin's appearance
The Larins produced
Everyone is very impressed.

From the point of view of Pushkin's reminiscences, the letter written by Chichikov is interesting. In general, it is perceived as a parody of Tatyana Onegin’s letter, but the words “leave forever the city where people in stuffy fences do not use the air” refer us to the poem “Gypsies”:

When would you imagine
Captivity stuffy cities!
There are people in heaps, behind the fence
Don't breathe the morning chill...

This reminiscence contains more than one Pushkin motif, but, touching upon various elements of Pushkin's world, it seems to create a generalized representation of it. In Gogol's situation, he seems vulgarized. Gogol, apparently, felt with the intuition of the artist what Belinsky expressed in a categorical form in 1835, declaring him the head of literature. Pushkin's time, one had to understand, has passed. Gogol's period in literature carried a completely different flavor. Pushkin's heroes in the new situation could not be taken seriously. Pushkin also did not pass by the problem of a new hero like Chichikov. Even before Gogol's character, Hermann was introduced in The Queen of Spades, for whom the passion for achieving wealth obscures everything human. "He has the profile of Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles." In the fourth chapter of Pushkin's story, we read about Hermann: “He was sitting at the window with folded arms and a menacing frown. In this position, he surprisingly resembled a portrait of Napoleon. In "Dead Souls" on the advice of officials "they found that Chichikov's face, if he turns around and becomes sideways, is very handy for a portrait of Napoleon." This extremely important reminiscence connects the image of Chichikov with the image of Hermann and helps to understand the essence of the first with the help of the second. The analogy between Hermann and Chichikov (who must also have the soul of Mephistopheles) is strengthened by the comparison (through Napoleon) with the Antichrist. Someone said that "Napoleon is the Antichrist and is kept on a stone chain... but after that he will break the chain and take possession of the whole world." So various reminiscences form a synthetic image of a new hero, based on the understanding of Pushkin's literary tradition. Another component of this tradition was difficultly rethought by Gogol in The Tale of Captain Kopeikin. Captain Kopeikin is forced to embark on the path of robbery by the most serious life circumstances. The situation is in many ways reminiscent of "Dubrovsky". The story, which had a complex creative history, in the original version contained a clear plot reminiscence from "Dubrovsky" in the finale; having accumulated money, Kopeikin goes abroad, from where he writes a letter to the sovereign with a request to forgive his accomplices. The parallel between Kopeikin (who is associated with Chichikov) and Dubrovsky is important for understanding the “robber” element in Chichikov. This element is complexly divided into romantically benevolent and criminally villainous sides. In The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, Pushkin's poems from The Bronze Horseman, dedicated to St. Petersburg, echoed in a peculiar way. “There is some kind of spitz in the air; bridges hang there like a devil, you can imagine, without any, that is, touch. What an amazing parody of Pushkin's magnificent anthem, which contains these words:

Bridges hung over the waters; and light
Admiralty needle.

In Pushkin's Petersburg story, a "little" man dies. In Gogol's inserted story, another "little" man finds the strength to endure. Pushkin's plot is more tragic, but along with its artlessness and simplicity, it retains a kind of sublime view of things. Gogol's world is completely different. Reminiscences emphasize this difference. However, in the main thing - in thinking about the future of Russia - the two great writers turn out to be in tune. “Isn’t it you, Rus, that brisk, unbeatable troika, rushing about?.. Eh, horses, horses, what kind of horses!., unanimously and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines. .. Russia, where are you going? Give an answer ".

And what a fire in this horse!
Where are you galloping, proud horse,
And where will you lower your hooves?
O mighty lord of Fate!
Are you not so above the abyss itself.
Raised Russia on its hind legs?

In conclusion, we note another Pushkin reminiscence when describing Chichikov’s arrival in Manilovka: “The view was enlivened by two women who ... walked up to their knees in the pond ... Even the very weather was very usefully served: the day was either clear or gloomy .. To complete the picture, there was no shortage of a rooster, a harbinger of changeable weather...” The elements of this landscape make us remember “Count Nulin”: ........

The turkeys screamed
Following the wet cock;
Three ducks splashed in a puddle;
A woman was walking through a dirty yard,
The weather got worse...

So Pushkin's reminiscences in Gogol's "Dead Souls" reflected his creative assimilation of Pushkin's artistic experience, which gave a tremendous impetus to the development of Russian literature.

“NEW PEOPLE” IN 19TH CENTURY LITERATURE

In the literature of 1850-1860, a whole series of novels appeared, which were called novels about “new people”.

What are the criteria for classifying a person as a “new people”? First of all, the emergence of "new people" is due to the political and historical situation of society. They are representatives of a new era, therefore, they have a new perception of time, space, new tasks, new relationships. Hence the prospect of development of these people in the future. So, in literature, “new people” “begin” with Turgenev’s novels Rudin (1856), On the Eve (1859), Fathers and Sons (1862).

At the turn of the 30-40s, after the defeat of the Decembrists, fermentation took place in Russian society. One part of him was seized by despair and pessimism, the other by scrupulous activity, expressed in attempts to continue the work of the Decembrists. Soon, social thought takes a more formalized direction - the direction of propaganda. It was this very idea of society that Turgenev expressed in Rudin's type. At first, the novel was called "Brilliant nature." In this case, “genius” means enlightenment, striving for truth (the task of this hero is, indeed, more moral than social), his task is to sow “reasonable, good, eternal”, and he does this with honor, but he lacks nature not strong enough to overcome obstacles.

Turgenev also touches upon such a painful issue for Russians as the choice of activity, activity that is fruitful and useful. Yes, each time has its own heroes and tasks. For the society of that time, Rudin's enthusiasts and propagandists were needed. But no matter how severely the descendants may accuse their fathers of “vulgarity and doctrinairism”, the Rudins are people of the moment, of a specific situation, they are rattles. But when a person grows up, then there is no need for rattles ...

The novel "On the Eve" (1859) is somewhat different, it can even be called "intermediate". This is the time between Rudin and Bazarov (again, a matter of time!). The title of the book speaks for itself. On the eve of ... what? .. Elena Stakhova is at the center of the novel. She is waiting for someone ... someone must fall in love ... Whom? Elena's internal state reflects the situation of the time, she embraces the whole of Russia. What does Russia need? Why did neither the Shubins nor the Bersenievs, seemingly worthy people, attract her attention? And this happened because they did not have enough active love for the Motherland, complete dedication to her. That is why he attracted Elena Insarov, who is fighting for the liberation of his land from Turkish oppression. Insarov's example is a classic example, a man for all time. After all, there is nothing new in it (for fail-safe service to the Motherland is not at all new!), but it was precisely this well-forgotten old that Russian society lacked...

In 1862, Turgenev's most controversial, sharpest novel, Fathers and Sons, was published. Of course, all three novels are political, dispute novels, dispute novels. But in the novel “Fathers and Sons” this is especially well noticed, for it manifests itself specifically in the “battles” between Bazarov and Kirsanov. “Battles” turn out to be so irreconcilable, because they represent the conflict of two eras - noble and raznochinskaya.

The acute political nature of the novel is also shown in the specific social conditionality of the “new man” type. Evgeny Bazarov is a nihilist, a collective type. Dobrolyubov, Preobrazhensky, and Pisarev were his prototypes.

It is also known that nihilism was very fashionable among the youth of the 50s and 60s of the XIX century. Of course, denial is the path to self-destruction. But what caused it, this is an unconditional denial of all living life, Bazarov gives a very good answer to this:

“And then we guessed that chatting, just chatting about our ulcers is not worth the trouble, that this only leads to vulgarity and doctrinairism; we saw that even our wise men, the so-called progressive people and accusers, are no good, that we are engaged in nonsense ... when it comes to daily bread ... ”So Bazarov was engaged in obtaining“ daily bread ”. No wonder he does not associate his profession with politics, but becomes a doctor and “messes with people”. In Rudin there was no efficiency, in Bazarov this efficiency appeared. That's why he's head and shoulders above everyone else in the novel. Because he found himself, raised himself, and did not live the life of an empty flower, like Pavel Petrovich, and even more so, he did not “see off day after day”, like Anna Sergeevna.

The question of time and space is posed in a new way. Bazarov says: "Let it (time) depend on me." Thus, this stern person turns to such a universal idea: “Everything depends on a person!”

The idea of space is shown through the inner liberation of the personality. After all, the freedom of the individual is, first of all, going beyond the framework of one's own “I”, and this can only happen when one gives oneself to something. Bazarov gives himself to the cause, to the Motherland (“Russia needs me ...”), to feeling.

He feels huge forces, but he cannot do something the way he wants. That's why he withdraws into himself, becomes bilious, irritated, sullen.

While working on this work, Turgenev gave great progress to this image and the novel acquired a philosophical meaning.

What was missing from this “iron man”? Lacked not only general education, Bazarov did not want to come to terms with life, did not want to accept it as it is. He did not recognize in himself human impulses. Here is his tragedy. He crashed against people - this is the tragedy of this image. But it is not for nothing that the novel has such a reconciling end, it is not for nothing that Yevgeny Bazarov's grave is holy. There was something natural and deeply sincere in his actions. This is what comes to Bazarov. The direction of nihilism has not justified itself in history. It formed the basis of socialism... The novel What Is To Be Done? N. G. Chernyshevsky.

If Turgenev created collective types generated by social cataclysms, showed their development in this society, then Chernyshevsky not only continued them, but also gave a detailed answer, creating a program work “What is to be done?”.

If Turgenev did not outline the background of Bazarov, then Chernyshevsky gave a complete story of the life of his heroes.

What distinguishes Chernyshevsky's "new people"?

First, they are Democrats-raznochintsy. And they, as you know, represent the period of bourgeois development of society. The nascent class creates its own new, creates a historical foundation, hence new relations, new perception. The theory of "reasonable egoism" was the expression of these historical and moral tasks.

Chernyshevsky creates two types of "new people". These are “special” people (Rakhmetov) and “ordinary” people (Vera Pavlovna, Lopukhov, Kirsanov). Thus, the author solves the problem of the reorganization of society. Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Rodalskaya rebuild it with creative, creative, harmonious work, through self-education and self-education. Rakhmetov - "revolutionary", although this path is shown vaguely. That is why the question of time immediately arises. That is why Rakhmetov is a man of the future, and Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna are people of the present. The "new people" Chernyshevsky in the first place the inner freedom of the individual. The "new people" create their own ethics, solve moral and psychological issues. Self-analysis (unlike Bazarov) is the main thing that distinguishes them. They believe that the power of the mind will bring up the “good and eternal” in a person. The author examines this issue in the formation of the hero from the initial forms of struggle against family despotism to preparation and “change of scenery”.

Chernyshevsky argues that a person should be a harmonious personality. So, for example, Vera Pavlovna (the issue of emancipation), being a wife, a mother, has the opportunity of social life, the opportunity to study, and most importantly, she has brought up in herself the desire to work.

“New people” Chernyshevsky “in a new way” and relate to each other, that is, the author says that these are quite normal relations, but in the conditions of that time they were considered special and new. The heroes of the novel treat each other with respect, delicately, even if they have to step over themselves. They are above their ego. And that "theory of rational egoism", which they created, is only a deep introspection. Their selfishness is public, not personal.

Rudin, Bazarov, Lopukhov, Kirsanovs. There were and no. Let each of them have their shortcomings, their theories, which time did not justify. But these people gave themselves to their Motherland, Russia, they cheered for it, they suffered, so they are “new people”.

Kalashnikova Irina

The image of a female heroine in literature.

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Gymnasium №107

Vyborgsky district

The image of a female heroine in literature.

Work completed:

10th grade student

Kalashnikova Irina

Address: Bolshoy-Sampsonievskiy pr-t

D.76, apt.91

Tel: 295-30-43

Teacher:

Lafirenko Larisa Ivanovna

St. Petersburg. 2012

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
The image of a woman - a heroine in literature

Evaluation of the exploits of the wives of the Decembrists on the example of the work of N.A. Nekrasov “Russian Women”…………………………4 - 14
The exploits of women during the Great Patriotic War on the example of B. Vasilyev's story “The dawns here are quiet ...” ... .15-17

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .eighteen
List of used literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Applications……………………………………………………….......20-23

" Women's feat for the sake of love"

Like right and left hand

Your soul is close to my soul.

(Marina Tsvetaeva)

Relevance of the research topic -in Russian literature you can find quite a few female names, whose exploits will forever be imprinted on the pages of many novels, poems and poems. Their exploits live in the heart of each of us, who cares about our national history.

A lot of poems, novels, stories are dedicated to the Russian woman. They give her music, for the sake of it they perform feats, make discoveries, shoot themselves. They go crazy because of her. They sing about her. In short, the earth rests on it. Women are especially impressively sung in Russian literature. Masters of the word, creating images of their favorite heroines, expressed their life philosophy. From my point of view, the role of women in society is great and irreplaceable. The epithet "captivating" is applied to the images of women in nineteenth century literature, and this is true. A woman is a source of inspiration, courage and happiness. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote: "And we hate, and we love by chance, without sacrificing anything to either anger or love, and some kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, when the fire boils in the blood." Since the 12th century, the image of a Russian woman-heroine, with a big heart, a fiery soul and readiness for great unforgettable deeds, has been passing through all our literature.

My decision to explore this topic was primarily influenced by the interest in the images of women in literature. While reading various works, I often had questions caused by interest in the fate of Russian women. The second significant factor that strengthened my decision was the history lessons, where I came across historical references and notes that interested me.

While working on my research, I resorted not only to the source texts of literary works by N. Nekrasov, B. Yosifova, B. Vasiliev, I used Internet resources, analyzing these works. Many of the materials influenced my opinion on some historical facts, and also became one of the factors that influenced my decision to use this topic.

Already from the first chronicle legends, it is known about the first Slavic women: Olga, Rogneda, Euphrosyne of Suzdal, Princess Evdokia, who are mentioned with great respect and reverence as active participants in the strengthening of the Russian Land, whose voice and word passed through the thickness of centuries. Their names can be ranked among those that are indicated in the classification in terms of stereotypes of female behavior, female attitude to life andfemale heroines. The hero, according to the definitions of the explanatory dictionary, is a person who has accomplished a feat of courage, valor, selflessness, or one who has attracted admiring attention to himself with something, has become a role model.

Purpose of the study - open in full all morality of the exploits of women-heroines on the example of literary works.

Objects of study- the feat of the Decembrist wives, the feat of women during the Great Patriotic War.

Research hypothesis- it was suggested that the act of a Russian woman is an example of selflessness, courage, firmness, with all her youth, tenderness, and weakness of the sex. We will certainly find in these women that extraordinary thing that amazed and delighted their contemporaries.

Chapter I

Captivating images! Hardly
In the history of any country
You have seen something more beautiful.
Their names must not be forgotten!

(N.A. Nekrasov "Russian Women")

For some reason, when it comes to women's feat for the sake of love in Russia, they immediately remember the wives of the Decembrists who followed their husbands to hard labor in Siberia.

Ladies belonging to the noble class, who often received an aristocratic upbringing, always surrounded by numerous servants, abandoned cozy estates in order to live next to people close to them, despite any hardships, like commoners. For a century and a half, Russia has kept a bright memory of them.Their wives followed the “state criminals” into the icy depths of Siberia, into the country of whips, slaves and fetters, and this was not only a feat of love, it was an act of protest against the Nikolaev regime, it was a demonstration of sympathy for the ideas of the Decembrists.

"Their cause is not lost." - wrote V.I. Lenin about the Decembrists.

Love, Faith, Memory of the heart - all this is eternal beauty, human strength. And how strong this power is in the soul of a Russian person, a Russian woman capable of great self-sacrifice for the sake of a loved one. But the moral choice in each specific case involves the solution of the main life question: between a righteous (beneficial for moral health) and an unrighteous (harmful) act, between “good” and “evil”. The prevailing, and sometimes unequivocal assessment of the "events of December 14" as an "uprising" or other protest action with positive ("progressive") goals leads to the fact that its participants become "advanced noble revolutionaries", and not state criminals who encroached not only on the legal norms in force in the state, but also on the lives of other people. In this system of values, the actions of the state power to punish them are seen as unfair and cruel. Therefore, the tsar's decree, equating the position of women leaving for Siberia with the position of the wives of state criminals and the prohibition to take with them children born before their fathers were sentenced, is regarded as "inhuman". A look at the problem from a different angle allows us to see behind this decree the desire of the authorities not to shift responsibility for the fate of their parents onto the shoulders of children, preserving for them all the rights and dignity of the estate in which they were born.

In this aspect, the choice of the wives of the Decembrists, who left for their husbands in Siberia, was not the only one and can hardly be considered indisputable: in European Russia there were children for whom the loss of their parents, who deliberately left them, was a genuine personal tragedy. Thus, in essence, by choosing marriage, they consigned motherhood to oblivion.

Decembrist women were driven not only by love for their husbands, brothers, and sons, but also by a high consciousness of social duty, an idea of honor. The outstanding therapist N.A. Belogolovy, a pupil of the Decembrists, spoke of them as "high and whole in their moral strength types of Russian women." He saw in them "classic examples of selfless love, self-sacrifice and unusual energy, examples of which the country that raised them has the right to be proud of."

ON THE. Nekrasov, recreating in his poem "Russian Women" the feat of life of Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskoy and Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, opened up new facets of the national female character. The original title of the work - "Decembrists" - was replaced by a new one, which enlarged and expanded the content of the author's intention: "Russian Women".

For the first publication of "Princess Trubetskoy" in the journal "Domestic Notes", the poet made a note, which said, "that the self-denial expressed by them (the Decembrists) will forever remain evidence of the great spiritual forces inherent in a Russian woman, and is a direct property of poetry"

The main feature of the "Nekrasov Decembrists" is a high civic consciousness, which determines the program of life behavior. Their bold decision to follow their husbands into a remote Siberian exile is a feat not only in the name of love and compassion, but also in the name of justice.

The poem "Russian Women" consists of two parts. The first of them is dedicated to Princess Trubetskoy, and the second - to Princess Volkonskaya.

The author draws Princess Trubetskaya as if from the outside, describing the external difficulties encountered on her way. No wonder the central place in this part is occupied by a meeting with the governor, who is trying to intimidate the princess with the hardships awaiting her:

"Cautious hard cracker

And life is locked up

Shame, horror, labor

Step by step…”

But all his words about the hardships of the future fate of the princess fade and lose their strength, overwhelmed by the courage and heroism of this woman, her readiness for any trials. Serving a higher goal and fulfilling one's duty for it is higher than personal:

“But I know: love for the motherland

My rival…”

"Not! What once decided -

I will complete it!

It's funny for me to tell you

How I love my father

How he loves. But the duty is different and higher and holy,

Calling me…”

“Leaving the homeland, friends,

beloved father,

Taking a vow in my soul

Fulfill to the end

My duty - I will not bring tears

To the damn prison

I will save pride-pride in him,

I will give him strength!

The narration in the second part of the poem is in the first person of Princess Volkonskaya. Thanks to this, one can more clearly understand the depth of suffering experienced by the heroine. Everything here is like family memories, like a grandmother's story addressed to her grandchildren (the subtitle is "Grandma's memories"). In this part there is a dispute very similar to the conversation between the governor and Trubetskoy.

“-You recklessly abandon everyone, for what?

I'm doing my duty, father."

There are also lines here where you can see the predestination of the fate of the princess:

"Share joy with him,

Share with him and prison

I have to, so it is heaven's will!

This is a socially significant act, it is a challenge to evil will, an open confrontation with the highest authority, therefore the moment of Volkonskaya's meeting with her husband is very clearly highlighted, where, first of all, she kisses his hard labor chains:

“I am only now, in the fatal mine,

Hearing terrible sounds

Seeing the fetters on my husband,

I fully understood his pain.

And his strength .. and willingness to suffer!

Involuntarily before him I bowed

On your knees, and before hugging your husband,

She put chains to her lips! .. "

In working on the poem, Nekrasov relied on historical sources. It was important for him to single out the ideological and emotional content and artistic expressiveness of the recreated situations of the episodes, the statements of the characters.

I used the notes of Princess Volkonskaya in my work. She wrote these letters to her children from Siberia, where she left after her husband. As an example, the first records about the decision of the princess to go after her husband are given.

NOTES

My Misha, you are asking me to write down the stories with which I entertained you and Nelly in the days of your childhood, in a word - to write your memoirs. But, before arrogating to yourself the right to write, you must be sure that you have the gift of narration, but I do not have it; besides, the description of our life in Siberia can only have meaning for you, as a son of exile; I will write for you, for your sister and for Seryozha, on the condition that these memories are not communicated to anyone except your children, when you have them, they will cuddle up to you, opening their eyes wide when they talk about our hardships and sufferings, with which, however, we have become so accustomed to that we have managed to be cheerful and even happy in exile.
I will here cut short what amused you so when you were children: stories of the happy time I spent under my parents' roof, of my travels, of my share of joys and pleasures in this world. I will only say that in 1825 I married Prince Sergei Grigoryevich Volkonsky, your father, the most worthy and noblest of people; my parents thought they had secured me a secularly brilliant future. I was sad to part with them: as if through a wedding veil, I vaguely saw the fate awaiting us. Soon after the wedding, I fell ill, and I was sent with my mother, with my sister Sophia and my Englishwoman to Odessa for sea bathing. Sergei could not accompany us, as he had to remain with his division due to official duties. Before we got married, I hardly knew him. I stayed in Odessa all summer and thus spent only three months with him in the first year of our marriage; I had no idea of the existence of a secret society of which he was a member. He was twenty years older than me, so I could not have confidence in me in such an important matter.

He came for me towards the end of autumn, took me to Uman, where his division was stationed, and left for Tulchin - the main headquarters of the second army. A week later he returned in the middle of the night; he wakes me up, calls: “Get up soon”; I get up, trembling with fear. My pregnancy was coming to an end, and this return, this noise, scared me. He began to kindle the fireplace and burn some papers. I helped him as best I could, asking what was the matter? "Pestel is arrested." - "For what?" No answer. All this mystery disturbed me. I saw that he was sad, preoccupied. Finally, he announced to me that he had promised my father to take me to his village for the time of childbirth, and so we set off. He handed me over to the care of my mother and immediately left; immediately upon his return he was arrested and sent to Petersburg. Thus passed the first year of our marriage; he was still running out when Sergei was sitting under the gates of the fortress in Alekseevsky ravelin.

The birth was very difficult, without a midwife (she arrived only the next day). My father demanded that I sit in an armchair, my mother, as an experienced mother of the family, wanted me to go to bed in order to avoid a cold, and now an argument begins, and I suffer; finally, the will of the man, as always, prevailed; I was placed in a large armchair, in which I suffered severely without any medical assistance. Our doctor was absent, being with the patient 15 versts from us; some peasant woman from our village came, posing as a grandmother, but did not dare to approach me and, kneeling in the corner of the room, prayed for me. Finally, in the morning, the doctor arrived, and I gave birth to my little Nikolai, with whom I was subsequently destined to part forever (Son Nikolai was born on January 2, 1826, died in February 1828.- Note). I had the strength to walk barefoot to the bed, which was not warm and seemed to me cold as ice; I was immediately thrown into a strong fever, and inflammation of the brain set in, which kept me in bed for two months. When I came to, I asked about my husband; I was told that he was in Moldavia, while he was already in custody and went through all the moral tortures of interrogations. First he was brought, as they were all the others, to Emperor Nicholas, who attacked him, shaking his finger and scolding him for not wanting to betray any of his comrades. Later, when he continued to persist in this silence in front of the investigators, Chernyshev, the Minister of War, told him: "Be ashamed, prince, the ensigns show more than you." However, all the conspirators were already known: the traitors Sherwood, Mayboroda and ... issued a list of the names of all members of the Secret Society, as a result of which the arrests began. I do not dare to recount the history of the events of this time: they are still too close to us and beyond my reach; others will do it, and posterity will pronounce judgment on this impulse of pure and disinterested patriotism. Until now, the history of Russia has provided examples of only palace conspiracies, the participants of which found personal benefit in this.

Finally, one day, after collecting my thoughts, I said to myself: “This absence of a husband is unnatural, since I do not receive letters from him,” and I began to urgently demand that they tell me the truth. I was told that Sergei had been arrested, as well as V. Davydov, Likharev and Poggio. I announced to my mother that I was leaving for St. Petersburg, where my father was already there. The next morning everything was ready for departure; When I had to get up, I suddenly felt a strong pain in my leg. I send for the woman who then so earnestly prayed to God for me; she announces that it is a mug, wraps my leg in red cloth with chalk, and I set off on my journey with my kind sister and child, whom I leave on the way with Countess Branitskaya, my father's aunt: she had good doctors; she lived as a wealthy and influential landowner.

It was April and it was a complete shambles. I traveled day and night and finally came to my mother-in-law. It was in the full sense of the word court lady. There was no one to give me good advice: brother Alexander, who foresaw the outcome of the case, and my father, who was afraid of him, completely bypassed me. Alexander acted so cleverly that I understood everything only much later, already in Siberia, where I learned from my friends that they constantly found my door locked when they came to me. He was afraid of their influence on me; and despite, however, his precautions, I was the first with Katasha Trubetskoy to arrive at the Nerchinsk mines.

I was still very sick and extremely weak. I begged permission to visit my husband in the fortress. The emperor, who took every opportunity to express his generosity (in matters of secondary importance), and who knew my poor state of health, ordered that a doctor accompany me, fearing for me any shock. Count Alexei Orlov himself took me to the fortress. When we were approaching this dirty prison, I looked up and, while the gates were being opened, I saw a room above the entrance with wide open windows and Mikhail Orlov in a dressing gown, with a pipe in his hands, watching the entrants with a smile.

We went to the commandant; they immediately brought my husband into custody. This meeting in front of strangers was very painful. We tried to reassure each other, but we did it without conviction. I didn't dare question him, all eyes were on us; we exchanged handkerchiefs. When I returned home, I hurried to find out what he had told me, but found only a few words of comfort written on one corner of the handkerchief, and which I could hardly make out.

The mother-in-law asked me about her son, saying that she could not decide to go to him, since this meeting would kill her, and the next day she left with the dowager empress for Moscow, where preparations for the coronation had already begun. My sister-in-law, Sofya Volkonskaya, was to arrive shortly; she accompanied the body of the late Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who was being taken to Petersburg. I eagerly desired to meet this sister whom my husband adored. I expected a lot from her arrival. My brother saw things differently; he began to inspire me with fears about my child, assuring me that the investigation would last a long time (which, incidentally, was fair), that I should personally verify the care of my dear child, and that I would probably meet the princess in road. Suspecting nothing, I decided to go with the idea of bringing my son here. I went to Moscow to see my sister Orlova. My mother-in-law was already there as an Obergofmeisterin. She told me that Her Majesty would like to see me and that she takes a great interest in me. I thought that the empress wanted to talk to me about my husband, because in such important circumstances I understood participation in myself only insofar as it concerned my husband; instead, they talk to me about my health, about the health of my father, about the weather ...

After that, I immediately left. My brother arranged for me to part with my sister-in-law, who, being aware of everything, could initiate me in the direction taken by the case. I found my child pale and frail; he was vaccinated with smallpox, he fell ill. I didn't receive any news; only the most empty letters were sent to me, the rest were destroyed. I looked forward to the moment of my departure; Finally, my brother brings me newspapers and announces that my husband has been sentenced. He was demoted at the same time as his comrades at the glacis of the fortress. This is how it happened: on July 13, at dawn, they were all collected and placed in categories on a glacis against five gallows. Sergei, as soon as he arrived, took off his military coat and threw it into the fire: he did not want to be torn off him. Several bonfires were laid out and lit to destroy the uniforms and orders of the condemned; then they were all ordered to kneel, and the gendarmes came up and broke the saber over each head as a sign of demotion; this was done awkwardly: several of them were injured in the head. Upon returning to prison, they began to receive not their ordinary food, but the position of convicts; they also received their clothes - a jacket and trousers of coarse gray cloth.

This scene was followed by another, much heavier one. Five people sentenced to death were brought in. Pestel, Sergei Muraviev, Ryleev, Bestuzhev-Ryumin (Mikhail) and Kakhovsky were hanged, but with such terrible awkwardness that three of them fell off and were again led to the scaffold. Sergei Muravyov did not want to be supported. Ryleev, who returned the opportunity to speak, said: "I am happy that I die twice for the fatherland." Their bodies were placed in two large boxes filled with quicklime and buried on Golodaev Island. The sentry did not allow to the graves. I cannot dwell on this scene: it upsets me, it hurts me to remember it. I do not undertake to describe it in detail. General Chernyshev (later count and prince) pranced around the gallows, looking at the victims in a lorgnette and chuckling.

My husband was stripped of his title, estate, and civil rights, and sentenced to twelve years' hard labor and life exile. On July 26, he was sent to Siberia with the princes Trubetskoy and Obolensky, Davydov, Artamon Muravyov, the brothers Borisov and Yakubovich. When I learned about this from my brother, I announced to him that I would follow my husband. My brother, who was supposed to go to Odessa, told me not to move until he returned, but the very next day after his departure, I took my passport and left for St. Petersburg. My husband's family was angry with me for not answering their letters. I couldn't tell them that my brother intercepted them. They told me taunts, but not a word about money. Nor could I talk to them about what I had to endure from my father, who did not want to let me go. I pawned my diamonds, paid off some of my husband's debts, and wrote a letter to the sovereign asking permission to follow my husband. I relied especially on the concern that his Majesty showed to the wives of the exiles, and asked him to complete his favors by allowing me to leave. Here is his answer:

“I have received, Princess, your letter dated the 15th of this month; I read in it with pleasure an expression of feelings of gratitude to me for the part that I take in you; but in the name of this participation, I also consider myself obliged to repeat here once again the warnings that I have already expressed to you regarding what awaits you, as soon as you pass beyond Irkutsk. However, I leave it entirely to your discretion to choose the course of action that seems to you the most appropriate for your present position.

favored to you
(signature) Nicholas »

"Russian women" and that says it all: about the proud consciousness of one's dignity, one's rightness, and about the great power of love for her husband and respect for his work, about admiration for his suffering, about the steadfastness of the decision.

As a result of the analysis of the work and historical materials, it can be concluded that the exploits of these women, even after many years, were not forgotten. These deeds were elevated to a sublimely religious level, women became folk heroes. And their feat will never be forgotten and erased from the memory of many generations for many more years.

Chapter II.

“And the one that today says goodbye to the dear, -

Let her melt her pain into strength.

We swear to children, we swear to graves,

That no one will force us to submit!

(Anna Akhmatova)

The Great Patriotic War is a great misfortune, the misfortune of the country, of the entire Russian people. Many years have passed since then, but the events of those years are still alive in the memory, they are alive largely thanks to the stories of veterans and writers who devoted themselves and all their work to the truth about the war, the echoes of which are alive to this day.
During the war, 87 women became Heroes of the Soviet Union. They are real Heroes and they canbe proud.
In the countries participating in the Second World War, the position and conditions of women were certainly different. In the USSR and Germany, there were laws that easily allowed women to be drafted into military service. In America and England, women fought on their own initiative.
In Germany, the Germans did not send their women to the front itself in the fighting. On the fronts, the Germans did not even have female nurses (only nurses).
The USSR, unlike Germany, brutally exploited women. For example, female pilots. Mostly women were sent on slow-moving whatnots, which for some unknown reason were called bombers. The female pilots of these whatnots were victims of the air war, as women had very little chance of surviving after the flight.

It was certainly violence against the female essence and violence against Soviet women.
According to statistics, more than 980,000 women were drafted into the Red Army during the war years. These women participated in the fighting, they served in the air defense forces, drove bombers, were snipers, sappers and nurses. For example: after 1943, when the male reserve was exhausted, women were called up in Germany, but they were called up by about 10,000 people. But German women did not take part in hostilities, did not participate in hand-to-hand combat, did not clear minefields, did not fly planes, and did not shoot at enemy bombers. The Germans worked as communications operators, typists on trains, and cartographers at headquarters. They have never been in combat. Only in the USSR they got used to the fact that a woman serves in the army shoulder to shoulder with men. It has become a terrible reality.
Everyone has their own idea of war. For some, war is destruction, famine, bombing; for others - battles, exploits, heroes.
Boris Vasiliev sees the war in a completely different way in his story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…”. This is a story about the feat not just of the Russian people, but about the feat of women; about how fragile creatures, to which the most diverse weaknesses have long been attributed, fought the Germans, repelling enemy fire no worse than men. There are no exciting battle scenes, courageous heroes, but perhaps this is where the beauty lies.

In the story, the author draws before us five difficult female destinies, several life lines that, perhaps, would never have crossed in ordinary life, if not for the war, which united them into one whole, forcing them to be participants and victims of a colossal tragedy.
Five young girls die, but at the cost of their lives they stop the movement of the German landing force. Moreover, the girls die among natural peace and silence. Everyday life and unnaturalness - this is what helps B. Vasiliev prove that "war has not a woman's face", that is, women and war are incompatible concepts. Women must not be allowed to die, because their purpose is to live and raise children, to give life, not to take it away. But all this peaceful life runs through the whole story, only emphasizing the horror of war.

The girls-heroines differ in characters, they are completely different from each other. All the characters are different, but the fate of these girls is the same - to die while performing a combat mission, having completed it against everything, including common sense.

Liza Brichkina immediately attracts attention with her restraint, reticence and complaisance. “Ah, Lisa-Lizaveta, you should study!” Never found her happiness, an orphanage girl, never matured, funny and childishly clumsy.

Galya Chetvertak is childlike, she is subject to fear and emotions. Her death was stupid, but we have no right to condemn her. She was too weak, too feminine and insecure, but a woman should not be at war at all! Although she did not accomplish a direct feat, “she did not enter into a direct battle with the enemy, but she stubbornly walked forward and carried out the orders of the foreman.

Sonya Gurvich was a serious girl, with "intelligent penetrating eyes." Romantic by nature, she lived in dreams, and like other girls, she got into anti-aircraft gunners quite by accident. Her death seems to be an accident, but it is connected with self-sacrifice. After all, when she ran towards her death, she was led by a natural spiritual movement to do something pleasant for the kind and caring foreman - to bring the left pouch.

Rita Osyanina was a strong-willed girl. But her death was also painful. She was severely wounded in the stomach, she had no strength left to run away, and she put a bullet in her forehead.

The war did not spare the beautiful Zhenya Komilkova, a red-haired beauty with great energy, unusually artistic, which helped her more than once both in life and in battle. Looking at her, the admiring girls said: “Oh, Zhenya, you need to go to the museum. Under glass on black velvet. The general's daughter Zhenya shot at a shooting range, hunted wild boars with her father, rode a motorcycle, sang with a guitar and had affairs with lieutenants. She knew how to laugh just like that, just because she lives. That was until the war came. In front of Zhenya, her entire family was shot. The last to fall was the younger sister: she was specially finished off. My wife was then eighteen years old, she had to live the last year. And when her hour came, “the Germans wounded her blindly through the foliage, and she could hide, wait, or maybe leave. But she fired while lying down, no longer trying to run away, because strength was leaving along with the blood. And the Germans finished her off at close range, and then looked at her for a long time and after death, a proud and beautiful face ... "

The war distorted the fate of many heroes: not only the girls died, but also the foreman Vaskov. He was the last to die, having survived the death of all his fighters, who died like real heroes, saving their homeland, Russia, all living things. He takes the death of the girls hard, feels guilty:

“While the war is understandable. And then when will there be peace? Will it be clear why you had to die? Why didn’t I let these Fritz go further, why did I make such a decision? What to answer when they ask: what is it that you, men, couldn’t protect our mothers from bullets? Why did you marry them with death, and you yourself are whole?

There are not so many books devoted to the topic of women in war, but those that are in the library of Russian and world literature are striking in their seriousness and globality. Reading Boris Vasiliev's story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…”, you involuntarily put yourself in the place of those girls, you involuntarily think how I would behave if I found myself in such terrible circumstances. And you involuntarily understand that not very many people are capable of such heroism as the girls showed.

So, war is an unnatural phenomenon. It is doubly strange when women die, because it is then that "the thread leading to the future breaks." But the future, fortunately, is not only eternal but also grateful. It is no coincidence that in the epilogue, a student who came to rest on Lake Legontovo wrote in a letter to a friend:

“Here, it turns out, they fought, old man. We fought when we were not in the world .. We found the grave ... And the dawns are quiet here, only today I saw it. And clean, clean, like tears ... "

The heroines of the story, young girls, were born for love and motherhood, but instead they picked up rifles and took up an unfeminine business - war. Even this already consists of considerable heroism, because all of them voluntarily went to the front. The origins of their heroism are in love for the Motherland. From here begins the path to achievement.

Fiction is considered to be based on fiction. This is partly true, but Boris Vasilyev is a writer who went through the war, who knew firsthand about its horrors and was convinced from his own experience that the theme of a woman in war deserves no less attention than the theme of male heroism. The feat of the girls is not forgotten, the memory of them will be an eternal reminder that "war does not have a woman's face."

Conclusions.

In my work, I tried to look at the exploits of Russian women from the other side. I wanted to emphasize the special significance of female heroism through the analysis of literary works. I researched several historical reference books, looking for answers to my questions about the heroism of Russian women in the 19th century. She also analyzed the reviews of well-known critics on the work of B. Vasiliev “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…”. With this work, I wanted to suggest that we have no right to divide heroism into male and female. As a result of my research, we can conclude that women fought on equal terms with everyone else against the injustice of the law and fought against enemies, defending their homeland.

The feats performed by the women I have chosen as an example will never be forgotten in history. All of them were accomplished, first of all in the name of Love. Love for close people, love for the Motherland and their fellow citizens. Feats were also in the name of Honor and Valor. Thanks to these girls, the concept of these words has not lost its true meanings. And I would like to complete my work with the lines of the famous poet Alexei Khomyakov, which, it seems to me, reveal the whole essence of Russian heroism, and especially female.

“There is a feat in battle,
There is a feat in the struggle.
The highest feat in patience
Love and prayer."

Bibliography.

Forsh. Z.O. Russia's faithful sons; A series of books "History of the Fatherland"; Memoirs, notes, letters; "Young Guard", Moscow 1988

Nekrasov N.K. Literary - Art edition; “Poems. Poems. Memoirs of contemporaries"; publishing house "Pravda"; Moscow; 1990
Brigita Yosifova "Decembrists" Publisher: "Progress" 1983
Vasiliev B. "The Dawns Here Are Quiet..." 1992
M.N. Zuev "History of Russia"; publishing house "Drofa", 2006

Internet resources

Portraits of Princess Volkonskaya

Fragments from the film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet..."

Literature

O. V. Barsukova

Introductory remarks

Cognition of personality in fiction

Along with scientific knowledge, there is a comprehension of a person in art, religion, etc. If science operates with concepts, then in art there are visual means for this. “The method of literature is the method of art; the method of psychology is the method of science. Our question is which approach is most adequate for the study of personality.

Works of art are unique and unrepeatable. They are the result of the author's creativity and inevitably reflect his personal position, subjective perception of the depicted or described phenomenon, his life experience. Of course, the priority in describing a person in art belongs to fiction.

The appeal of psychologists to works of fiction has a long tradition. Domestic and foreign scientists belonging to various trends and schools considered works of art as a source of psychological knowledge and illustrated their theories and typologies with characters from fiction.

One of the first developed psychoanalytic approach to the study of works of art, creativity and personality of writers. The emphasis is on the analysis of the unconscious in human life. These are the works of the classics of psychoanalysis (Z. Freud, S. Spielrein), individual (A. Adler) and analytical psychology (K. Jung), humanistic psychology (E. Fromm), etc. Thus, K. Jung believes that the subject of psychology in in this case is the process of artistic activity.

G. Allport, a well-known American psychologist, a specialist in the field of personality psychology, and a supporter of the idiographic (individual) approach, paid great attention to works of fiction as a source of psychological knowledge. In his article "Personality: a problem of science or art?" the scientist argues that personality as a part of mental life, existing in single and individual forms, can be the subject of literature and psychology. Noting the peculiarities of the literary and psychological approaches to the study of personality, G. Allport points out that none of them is better or worse than the other, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The main advantages of fiction are integrity in the description of character and interest in individuality. The advantage of psychology is the rigorous and demonstrative nature of its scientific methods.

Of great interest is the author's typology of personality in the context of E. Yu. Korzhova's life path. All types and subtypes of personality are considered by the author on the examples of characters from world fiction. This typology is based on the orientation of the personality - its life orientations and life position, which determine the features of the life path of the individual. Of interest is the author’s important, in our opinion, recommendation to psychologists who have turned to the analysis of works of art: “Particular attention should be paid to classical fiction, where you can often find intuitive insights of genius regarding human nature.”

In the works of fiction, a person appears in all his diverse manifestations - in the internal dialogue and communication with people, in impulsive actions and thoughtful actions.

“In a genuine work of art, the one-sidedness of a rational description of a person is removed while maintaining a cognitive attitude, a value attitude to the actions and deeds of heroes is clearly expressed, there is no moralizing, abstract truths and appeals; there is an image of human destiny, a description of the real conditions of life, a variety of life ties and relationships between people.

Thus, the integrity and versatility, due to the unity of the cognitive, evaluative, creative and communicative sides of the work, are the main features of the description of a person in fiction.

E. Yu. Korzhova notes that there are several ways to use fiction in psychological cognition.

A philological study in which a literary image is correlated with a certain philosophical or religious concept (M. M. Bakhtin).

Philosophical research, when a work of art is considered as a kind of figurative-artistic form of philosophical exploration of reality (S. G. Semenova).

"Scientific" direction (psychology and psychiatry), in which examples from fiction are used as illustrations of data obtained as a result of scientific analysis (K. Leonhard).

Psychological research (psychoanalysis, personality psychology) and the study of the personality of the writer, his works, psychobiographical analysis of writers (E. Yu. Korzhova).

General psychological research (general psychology, psychology of art), dedicated to the "translation" from the language of fiction into the language of science (L. S. Vygotsky, V. M. Allahverdov).

V. I. Slobodchikov and E. I. Isaev point to the existing division of writers:

Writers-philosophers - L. N. Tolstoy, G. Hesse and others.

Sociological writers - O. Balzac, E. Zola and others.

Writers-psychologists - F. M. Dostoevsky, F. Kafka and others.

On the other hand, K. Leonhard calls both F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy writers-psychologists. This division characterizes the features of the view of writers while maintaining the artistic image and creating the image of a person in all its diversity.

Features of the image of a woman in fiction

Analyzing the images of women in fiction, it should be remembered that these images are formed by the authors in a certain social context and their content reflects and is determined by everyday ideas about the desirability and adequacy of certain characteristics of a woman. In other words, the image of a woman in fiction depends on the political, social and psychological characteristics of a particular society in which the author lives and works and which is described in a work of art. The works of art present the image of a woman that is typical for a particular society, desirable and necessary, and reflects those features that are considered characteristic of a woman in a given society. Therefore, when analyzing this or that image of a woman, it is also necessary to take into account the characteristics and ideology of the social stratum to which the woman belongs.

On the other hand, an important feature of classical literature is the depiction of man in all his diversity. This allows us to discover a variety of female images. Let us turn to the manual E. Yu. Korzhova already mentioned above. The author, based on his personality typology, characterizes the following female images.

1. A person with a passive life position is Nana (E. Zola "Nana"), Olga Semenovna (A.P. Chekhov "Darling").

2. A person with an active life position - Stranger (S. Zweig "Letters from a Stranger"), Katerina Ivanovna (F. M. Dostoevsky "The Brothers Karamazov"), Anna Karenina (L. N. Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"), Carmen (P Merimee "Carmen").

3. A person striving to achieve equilibrium with the environment - Scarlett O "Hara (M. Mitchell "Gone with the Wind").

4. A person seeking to upset the balance with the environment - Tatyana Larina (A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"), Katerina (A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm").

5. Situational-holistic personality with an active life position - Olga Ivanovna (Chekhov A.P. "The Jumper").

6. Internally holistic personality - Sonya Marmeladova (F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"), Elena Stakhova (I. S. Turgenev "On the Eve").

3. What, in your opinion, determines the division of writers into "psychologists", "philosophers" and "sociologists"?

4. Give examples of the author's personality typology, illustrated by characters and situations from fiction. What is the peculiarity of the view on the analysis of the female image among representatives of various psychological trends?

Tasks for independent work

As an independent work (homework) on this topic, students are offered the following.

1. Make a list of domestic and foreign contemporary works of art, which present various female images, characters.

2. Make a typology of female images in works of a certain genre. For example, the images of women in fairy tales (wise, beautiful, insidious, etc.), in myths (mother, mistress, warrior, etc.).

3. Make a typology of female images in the works of writers of one historical period, a certain ideology. For example, the typology of women in the works of Soviet writers (woman-worker, woman-mother, woman-friend, etc.).

4. Based on the materials obtained during task 4, conduct a socio-psychological analysis of the rules governing the way of life of a woman. For example, the three Ks of a German woman are kitchen (kuche), church/church (kirche), children (kinder). For each rule, one or two examples from a work of art should be given.

5. L. N. Tolstoy considered Natasha Rostova, the heroine of his novel War and Peace, to be the ideal of a woman. Please, guess what considerations the author could take when characterizing his heroine in this way, give her a brief description as a loving woman, wife, mother.

6. Come up with and write down a plot for your own work of art of any genre and briefly describe the heroine (appearance, lifestyle, main character traits).

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15. Workshop on social psychology / Ed. I. S. Kletsina. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008. - 256 p.

16. Slobodchikov V.I., Isaev E.I. Fundamentals of psychological anthropology. Human Psychology: An Introduction to the Psychology of Subjectivity: Textbook for High Schools. - M.: School-Press, 1995. - 384 p.

Attachment 1

Personality: a problem of science or art?

G. Allport

(abbreviated)

There are two fundamental approaches to a detailed study of personality: literary and psychological.

None of them is "better" than the other: each has certain merits and ardent adherents. Too often, however, the proponents of one approach are scornful of the proponents of the other. This article is an attempt to reconcile them and in this way create a scientific-humanistic system for studying personality.

It is true that, compared to the giants of literature, the psychologists involved in portraying and explaining personality appear sterile and sometimes a little stupid. Only a pedant would prefer the raw set of facts that psychology offers for consideration of the individual mental life to the magnificent and unforgettable portraits that are created by famous writers, playwrights or biographers. Artists create; psychologists only collect. In one case - the unity of images, internal consistency even in the finest details. In another case, there is a pile of poorly consistent data.

One critic vividly presented the situation. As soon as psychology, he notes, touches on the human personality, it repeats only what literature has always said, but does it much less skillfully.

Whether this unflattering judgment is wholly correct, we shall soon see. For the moment it helps at least to draw attention to the significant fact that literature and psychology are in a sense rivals; they are two methods dealing with personality. The method of literature is the method of art; the method of psychology is the method of science. Our question is which approach is most adequate for the study of personality.

Generally speaking, almost all literary descriptions of characters (whether it is a written sketch, as in the case of Theophrastus, or fantasy, drama, or biography) proceed from the psychological assumption that each character has certain traits inherent in him, and that these traits can be shown through the description of characteristic episodes of life. In literature, a personality is never described in the way it sometimes happens in psychology, namely, with the help of sequential, unrelated special actions. A person is not a water ski, rushing in different directions on the surface of a reservoir, with its unexpected deviations that do not have an internal connection between them. A good writer will never make the mistake of confusing a person's personality with the "personality" of a water ski. Psychology often does this.

So the first lesson psychology has to learn from literature is something about the nature of the essential, enduring properties that make up the personality. It's a personality trait problem; Generally speaking, I am of the opinion that this problem has been treated more consistently in the literature than in psychology. More specifically, it seems to me that the concept of appropriate action and appropriate response, so clearly presented in the ancient sketches of Theophrastus, can serve as an excellent guide for the scientific study of personality, where patterns can be determined with greater accuracy and greater reliability than is done in the literature. Using the capabilities of the laboratory and controlled external observation, psychology will be able, much more accurately than literature, to establish for each individual a clear set of different life situations that are equivalent to him, as well as a clear set of answers that have the same meaning.

The next important lesson from literature concerns the inner content of her works. No one has ever asked authors to prove that the characters of Hamlet, Don Quixote, Anna Karenina are true and reliable. Great descriptions of characters, by virtue of their greatness, prove their truth. They know how to inspire confidence; they are even necessary. Each action in some subtle way seems to be both a reflection and a completion of one well-sculpted character. This internal logic of behavior is now defined as self-confrontation: one element of behavior supports another, so that the whole can be understood as a sequentially connected unity. Self-confrontation is only a method of validation used in the works of writers (with the possible exception of the work of biographers, who do have some need for external credibility of a statement). But the method of self-confrontation is hardly beginning to be applied in psychology.

Once, commenting on the description of the character made by Thackeray, G. Chesterton remarked: "She was drinking, but Thackeray did not know about it." Chesterton's causticity stems from the requirement that all good characters have internal consistency. If one set of facts about a person is given, then other relevant facts must follow. The descriptor must know exactly what the deepest motivational traits were in the case. For this most central and therefore the most unifying core of any personality, Wertheimer proposed the concept of a base, or root, from which all stems grow.

Of course, the problem is not always so simple. Not all personalities have basic integrity. Conflict, the ability to change, even the disintegration of personality are common phenomena. In many works of fiction, we see an exaggeration of the constancy, consistency of personality - more caricatures than characteristic images. Oversimplification is found in drama, fantasy and biographical descriptions. Confrontations seem to come too easily. Dickens' description of characters is a good example of oversimplification. They never have internal conflicts, they always remain what they are. They usually resist the hostile forces of the environment, but in themselves are completely constant and whole.

But if literature often errs because of its particular exaggeration of the unity of personality, then psychology, because of lack of interest and limited methods, generally fails to reveal or study that integrity and sequence of characters that really exist. The greatest shortcoming of the psychologist at present is his inability to prove the truth of what he knows. No worse than a literary artist, he knows that a person is a complex, well-combined and more or less stable mental structure, but he cannot prove it. He does not use, unlike writers, the obvious method of self-confrontation of facts. Instead of trying to outdo writers at this, he usually finds a safe haven in the thickets of statistical correlation.

So, psychology needs methods of self-confrontation - methods by which the inner unity of the personality can be determined.

The next important lesson for psychologists to learn from the literature is how to maintain an uninterrupted interest in a given individual over a long period of time.

The abstraction that the psychologist makes in measuring and explaining the non-existent "psyche-in-general" is an abstraction that writers never make. Writers are well aware that the psyche exists only in singular and special forms.

Here, of course, we encounter a fundamental disagreement between science and art. Science always deals with the general, art always deals with the special, the singular. But if this division is true, then what about the personality? Personality is never "general", it is always "individual". Should it then be given entirely to art? Well, psychology can't do anything about it? I am sure that very few psychologists will make this decision. However, it seems to me that the dilemma is inexorable. Either we must give up the individual, or we must learn from literature in detail, dwell on it more deeply, modify, as necessary, our conception of the scope of science in such a way as to give place to the single case more hospitably than before.

You may have noticed that the psychologists you know, despite their profession, are no better than others in understanding people. They are neither particularly perceptive nor always able to give advice on personality problems. This observation, if you have made it, is certainly correct. I will go further and say that because of their habits of over-abstraction and generalization, many psychologists are actually inferior to other people in their understanding of single lives.

When I say that in the interests of a proper science of personality, psychologists must study in detail, dwell more deeply on the individual case, it may seem that I am invading the realm of biographical descriptions, the clear purpose of which is to exhaustively describe one life in detail.

However, the biography is increasingly becoming strict, objective and even heartless. For this trend, psychology was no doubt more important. Biographies are becoming more and more like scientific dissections, done more for the purpose of understanding than for inspiration and noisy exclamations. Now there are psychological and psychoanalytic biographies and even medical and endocrinological biographies.

Psychological science has also influenced autobiography. There have been many attempts at objective self-description and self-explanation.

I have mentioned three lessons that psychologists can learn from the literature to improve their work. The first lesson is a concept about the nature of traits that is widely found in the literature. The second lesson concerns the method of self-confrontation that good literature always uses but psychology almost always avoids. The third lesson calls for a longer interest in one person over a longer period of time.

In presenting these three advantages of the literary method, I have said little about the distinctive merits of psychology. In conclusion, I must add at least a few words to praise my profession.

Psychology has a number of potential advantages over literature. It has a strict character, which compensates for the subjective dogmatism inherent in artistic descriptions. Sometimes literature goes into self-confrontation of facts too easily. For example, in our comparative study of the biographies of the same person, it was found that each version of his life seemed plausible enough, but only a small percentage of the events and interpretations given in one biography could be found in others. No one can know which portrait, if any, is the true one.

Good writers don't need the measure of consistency in observations and explanations that psychologists need. Biographers can give widely varying interpretations of life without discrediting the literary method, while psychology will be ridiculed if its experts cannot agree with each other.

The psychologist is very tired of the arbitrary metaphors of literature. Many metaphors are often grotesquely false, but they are rarely condemned. In literature, one can find, for example, that the obedience of a certain character is explained by the fact that "lackey blood flows in his veins", the ardor of another - by the fact that he has a hot head, and the intellectuality of the third - by "the height of his massive forehead." The psychologist would be torn to pieces if he allowed himself such fantastic statements about cause and effect.

The writer, furthermore, is permitted, and even encouraged to do so, to entertain and entertain readers. He can convey his own images, express his own passions. His success is measured by the reaction of readers, who often require only a slight recognition of themselves in the character or escape from their pressing worries. The psychologist, on the other hand, is never allowed to entertain the reader. Its success is measured by a stricter criterion than the delight of the reader.

When collecting material, the writer proceeds from his casual observations of life, passes over his data in silence, discards unpleasant facts of his own free will. The psychologist must be guided by the requirement of fidelity to the facts, all the facts; the psychologist is expected to be able to ensure that his facts come from a verifiable and controlled source. He must prove his conclusions step by step. His terminology is standardized and he is almost completely unable to use beautiful metaphors. These restrictions contribute to the reliability, verifiability of conclusions, reduce their bias and subjectivity.

I agree that personality psychologists are essentially trying to say what literature has always said, and they necessarily say it much less artistically. But about what they have advanced, albeit still a little, they are trying to speak more accurately and from the point of view of human progress - with greater benefit.

Personality is not a problem exclusively for science or exclusively for art, but it is a problem for both. Each approach has its merits, and both are needed for a comprehensive study of the wealth of the individual.

If in the interests of pedagogy it is expected that I end the article with some important advice, then it will be so. If you are a psychology student, read lots and lots of novels and character dramas and read biographies. If you are not a student of psychology, read them, but be interested in psychology papers as well.

Appendix 2

Sample List of Classic Fiction Works to Use in Class

1. G. H. Andersen "The Snow Queen".

2. S. Bronte "Jane Eyre".

3. M. A. Bulgakov "Master and Margarita".

4. N. V. Gogol "The Government Inspector", "Dead Souls".

5. F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment", "Uncle's Dream".

6. E. Zola "Nana".

7. M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time".

8. M. Mitchell "Gone with the Wind".

9. Guy de Maupassant "Dear friend".

10. A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm", "Dowry".

11. Ch. Perrot "Cinderella".

12. A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin".

13. W. Thackeray "Vanity Fair".

14. L. N. Tolstoy "Anna Karenina", "War and Peace".

15. I. S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons".

16. N. G. Chernyshevsky "What to do?".

17. A.P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard", "Three Sisters", "Darling", "The Jumper".

18. W. Shakespeare "Lady Macbeth", "King Lear".

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