"Eternal images" in world literature. An essay on the free theme “eternal images” in the world of literature An eternal image contains a work

It is customary to call eternal images of literary heroes who, as it were, step over the boundaries of a literary work or myth that gave birth to them, and receive an independent life, embodied in the works of other authors, centuries and cultures. Such are many biblical and gospel images (Cain and Abel, Judas), antique (Prometheus, Phaedra), modern European (Don Quixote, Faust, Hamlet). The Russian writer and philosopher D.S. Merezhkovsky successfully defined the content of the concept of “eternal images”: “There are images whose life is connected with the life of all mankind; they rise and grow with him… Don Juan, Faust, Hamlet – these images have become part of the human spirit, they live with it and will die only with it.”

What properties provide literary images with the quality of eternal? First of all, this is the irreducibility of the content of the image to the role that is assigned to it in a particular plot, and its openness to new interpretations. "Eternal images" should be to some extent "mysterious", "bottomless". They cannot be fully defined either by the social and everyday environment or by their psychological characteristics.

Like a myth, the eternal image is rooted in older, sometimes archaic layers of culture. Behind almost every image classified as eternal, there is a mythological, folklore or literary predecessor.

KARPMAN'S TRIANGLE: Executioner, Victim and Rescuer

There is a relationship triangle - the so-called Karpman Triangle, consisting of three vertices:

Savior

Persecutor (Tyrant, Executioner, Aggressor)

Victim

This triangle is also called magic, because once you get into it, so its roles begin to dictate to the participants the choices, reactions, feelings, perceptions, sequence of moves, and so on.

And most importantly, the participants freely "swim" in this triangle by roles.

The Victim very quickly turns into a Persecutor (Aggressor) for the former Savior, and the Savior very quickly becomes the Victim of the former Victim.

For example, there is someone suffering from something or someone (this "something" or "someone" is the Aggressor). And the sufferer (sufferer) is like, the Victim.

The victim quickly finds a Savior (or saviors) who (for various reasons) tries (or rather tries) to help the Victim.

Everything would be fine, but the Triangle is magical, and the Victim does not need to get rid of the Aggressor at all, and the Savior does not need the Victim to stop being a victim. Otherwise, she won't need it. What is the Savior without a sacrifice? The victim will be “cured”, “get rid of”, who is to be saved then?

It turns out that both the Savior and the Victim are interested (unconsciously, of course) in that in fact everything remains the same.

The victim must suffer, and the Savior must help.

Everyone is happy:

The victim receives his share of attention and care, and the Savior is proud of the role he plays in the life of the Victim.

The victim pays the Savior with recognition of his merits and role, and the Savior pays the Victim for this with attention, time, energy, feelings, etc.

So what? - you ask. Still happy!

No matter how!

The triangle doesn't stop there. The victim is not satisfied with what she receives. It begins to demand more and more and draw off the attention and energies of the Savior. The Savior tries (on a conscious level), but he fails. Of course, on an unconscious level, he is not interested in helping FINALLY, he is not a fool, to lose such a tasty process!

He does not succeed, his condition and self-esteem (self-esteem) decrease, he becomes ill, and the Victim continues to wait and demand attention and help.

Gradually and imperceptibly, the Savior becomes the Victim, and the former Victim becomes the Persecutor (Aggressor) for his former Savior. And the more the Savior invested in the one he saved, the more, by and large, he becomes more indebted to her. Expectations are rising, and he SHOULD fulfill them.

The former victim is increasingly dissatisfied with the Savior "who did not live up to her expectations". She is becoming more and more confused as to who the real aggressor is. For her, the former Savior is to blame for her troubles. Somehow imperceptibly, the transition takes place, and already almost consciously she is dissatisfied with the former benefactor, and she already blames him almost more than the one whom she previously considered her Aggressor.

The former savior becomes a deceiver and a new Aggressor for the former Victim, and the former Victim arranges a real hunt for the former Savior.

But that's not all.

The former idol is defeated and overthrown.

The victim is looking for new Saviors, because her number of Aggressors has increased - the former Savior did not live up to expectations, by and large, deceived her, and must be punished.

The former Savior, being already the Victim of his former Victim, exhausted in attempts (no, not to help, he now cares only about one thing - to be able to escape from the "victim") - begins (already as a true victim) to look for other saviors - both for himself and for his former victim. By the way, these can be different Saviors - for the former savior and the former victim.

The circle is expanding. Why is the triangle called magic, that:

1. Each participant is in all its corners (plays all the roles in the triangle);

2. The triangle is arranged in such a way that it involves more and more new members of the orgy.

The former Savior, used, is thrown away, it is exhausted, and can no longer be useful to the Victim, and the Victim sets off in search and pursuit of new Saviors (its future victims)

From the point of view of the Aggressor, there are also interesting things here.

The aggressor (the real aggressor, the one who considers himself an aggressor, a persecutor) usually does not know that the Victim is not really a victim. That she's not really defenseless, she just needs the role.

The Victim very quickly finds the Saviors, who "suddenly" appear on the path of the "Aggressor", and he very quickly becomes their Victim, and the Saviors turn into the Persecutors of the former Aggressor.

This was beautifully described by Eric Berne using the example of the fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood.

Hat - "Victim", wolf - "Aggressor", hunters - "Saviors".

But the tale ends with the ripped belly of the wolf.

An alcoholic is a victim of Alcohol. His wife is a Savior.

On the other hand, an alcoholic is an aggressor for his wife, and she is looking for a savior - a narcologist or a psychotherapist.

On the third hand, for an alcoholic, the wife is the Aggressor, and alcohol is his Savior from his wife.

The doctor quickly turns from a Savior into a Victim, as he promised to Save both his wife and the alcoholic, and even took money for it, and the alcoholic's wife becomes his Persecutor.

And the wife is looking for a new Savior.

And by the way, the wife finds a new offender (Aggressor) in the person of the doctor, because he offended and deceived her, and did not fulfill his promises by taking the money.

Therefore, the wife can start the Persecution of the former Savior (doctor), and now the Aggressor, finding new Saviors in the form of:

1. Media, judiciary

2. Girlfriends with whom you can wash the bones already and the doctor ("Oh, those doctors!")

3. A new doctor who, along with his wife, condemns the "incompetence" of the previous doctor.

Below are signs that you can recognize yourself when you find yourself in a triangle.

Feelings experienced by the participants of the events:

Victim:

Feeling helpless

hopelessness,

coercion and infliction

hopelessness

powerlessness

worthlessness

nobody needs

own wrongness,

confusion,

ambiguities,

confusion,

often wrong

own weakness and impotence in the situation

self pity

Savior:

Feeling sorry

desire to help

own superiority over the victim (over the one he wants to help)

more competence, more strength, intelligence, more access to resources, "he knows more about how to act"

condescension to someone who wants to help

a feeling of pleasant omnipotence and omnipotence in relation to a particular situation

confidence that can help

the conviction that he knows (or at least can find out) exactly how to do it

inability to refuse (it is inconvenient to refuse help, or leave a person without help)

compassion, a sharp, nagging feeling of empathy (note that this is a very important point: the Savior is associated with the Victim! This means that he will never be able to truly help her!)

responsibility for another.

Aggressor:

Feeling of self-righteousness

noble indignation and righteous anger

desire to punish the offender

desire to restore justice

hurt pride

the conviction that only he knows what is right

irritation with the victim, and even more so with the saviors, whom he perceives as an interfering factor (the saviors are mistaken, because only he knows what to do right now!)

the thrill of the hunt, the thrill of the chase.

The victim is suffering.

Savior - saves and comes to the rescue and rescue.

The aggressor punishes, persecutes, teaches (teach).

If you find yourself in this "magic" triangle, then know that you will have to visit all the "corners" of this triangle and try all its Roles.

Events in the triangle can take as long as you want - regardless of the conscious desires of their participants.

The alcoholic's wife does not want to suffer, the alcoholic does not want to be an alcoholic, and the doctor does not want to deceive the alcoholic's family. But everything is determined by the result.

Until at least someone jumps out of this damned triangle, the game can continue indefinitely.

How to jump out.

The advice usually given in manuals is to invert roles. That is, replace the roles with others:

The aggressor must become your teacher. The phrase that I say to my students: "Our enemies, and those who "hinder" us, are our best coaches and teachers)

Savior - Assistant or maximum - Guide (you can - a coach, like in a fitness club: you do, and the coach trains)

And the Victim is the Student.

These are very good tips.

If you find yourself in the role of the Victim - start learning.

If you have caught yourself in the role of the Savior - give up stupid thoughts that the one "who needs help" is weak and weak. By accepting his thoughts like that, you are doing him a disservice. You are doing something for him. You prevent him from learning on his own something important to him.

You can't do anything for another person. Your desire to help is a temptation, the victim is your tempter, and you, in fact, are a tempter and provocateur for the one you seek to help.

Let the person do it himself. Let him make mistakes, but it will be HIS mistakes. And he will not be able to accuse you of this when he tries to move into the role of your Persecutor. Man must go his own way.

The great psychotherapist Alexander Efimovich Alekseychik says:

"You can only help someone who is doing something."

And he continued, turning to the one who was helpless at that moment:

"What are you doing so that he (the one who helps) can help you?"

Great words!

In order to get help, you have to do something. You can only help in what they do. If you don't, you can't be helped.

Whatever you do, that's where you can get help.

If you are lying down, you can only be helped to lie down. If you are standing, you can only be helped to stand.

It is impossible to help a person who is lying down get up.

It is impossible to help a person to get up who does not even think about getting up.

It is impossible to help a person who only thinks to get up to get up.

It is impossible to help a person who only wants to get up to get up.

You can help a person who gets up to get up.

You can only help the person who is looking.

You can only help those who are walking.

What is this girl DOING that you are trying to help her with?

Are you trying to help her with what she does not do?

Does she expect you to do something she doesn't do herself?

So does she really need what she expects from you if she does not do it herself?

You can only help a person who gets up.

"Getting up" is making an effort to get up.

These efforts and specific and unambiguous actions are observable, they have specific and indistinct signs. They are easy to recognize and identify precisely for the signs that a person is trying to get up.

And one more thing, which I think is very important.

A person can be helped to stand up, but if he is not ready to stand (not ready that you will remove the support), he will fall again, and falling will be much more painful for him than if he continued to lie down.

What will a person do after being upright?

What is the person going to do after that?

What is he going to do with it?

Why does he need to get up?

How to jump out.

The most important thing is to understand what Role you entered the triangle.

Which corner of the triangle was the entrance to it for you.

This is very important and it is not covered in the manuals.

entry points.

Each of us has habitual or favorite roles-entrances to such magical triangles. And often in different contexts, each has its own inputs. A person at work may have a favorite entrance to the triangle - the Role of the Aggressor (well, he likes to restore justice or punish fools!), And at home, for example, a typical and favorite entrance is the Role of the Savior.

And each of us should know the "points of weakness" of our personality, which simply force us to enter into these our favorite Roles.

It is necessary to study the external decoys that lure us there.

For some, this is someone's misfortune or "helplessness", or a request for help, or an admiring look / voice:

"Oh great!"

"Only you can help me!"

"I'm lost without you!"

You, of course, recognized the Savior in white robes.

For others, it is someone's mistake, stupidity, injustice, incorrectness or dishonesty. And they bravely rush to restore justice and harmony, falling into a triangle on the role of the Aggressor.

For others, it may be a signal from the surrounding reality that she does not need you, or she is dangerous, or she is aggressive, or she is heartless (indifferent to you, your desires or troubles), or she is poor in resources just for you, right at the moment . They are lovers of being Victims.

Each of us has his own decoy, the lure of which is very difficult for us to withstand. We become like zombies, showing heartlessness and stupidity, zeal and recklessness, falling into helplessness and feeling our rightness or worthlessness.

The beginning of the transition from the role of the Savior to the role of the Victim - a feeling of guilt, a feeling of helplessness, a feeling of being forced and obligated to help and the impossibility of one's own refusal ("I am obliged to help!", "I have no right not to help!", "What will they think of me, how Will I look if I refuse to help?").

The beginning of the transition from the role of the Savior to the role of the Persecutor is the desire to punish the "bad", the desire to restore justice that is not aimed at you, a feeling of absolute self-righteousness and noble righteous indignation.

The beginning of the transition from the role of the Victim to the role of the Aggressor (persecutor) is a feeling of resentment and injustice done to you personally.

The beginning of the transition from the role of the Victim to the role of the Savior is the desire to help, pity for the former Aggressor or Savior.

The beginning of the transition from the role of the Aggressor to the role of the Victim is a sudden (or growing) feeling of helplessness and confusion.

The beginning of the transition from the role of the Aggressor to the role of the Savior is a feeling of guilt, a sense of responsibility FOR another person.

In fact:

It is VERY pleasant for the Savior to help and save, it is pleasant to stand out "in white clothes" among other people, especially in front of the victim. Narcissism, selfishness.

It is very pleasant for the victim to suffer ("like in a movie") and to be saved (to accept help), feel sorry for himself, earning future non-specific "happiness" by suffering. Masochism.

It is very pleasant for an aggressor to be a warrior, to punish and restore justice, to be the bearer of the standards and rules that he imposes on others, it is very pleasant to be in sparkling armor with a fiery sword, it is pleasant to feel your strength, invincibility and rightness. By and large, someone else's mistake and wrongness for him is a legitimate (legal and "safe") reason (permission, right) to commit violence and inflict pain on another with impunity. Sadism.

The Savior knows how...

The aggressor knows that it is impossible...

The victim wants, but cannot, but more often than not, he doesn’t want anything, because everything is enough ...

And another interesting way to diagnose. Diagnosis by the feelings of the observers/listeners

The observers' feelings may suggest the role played by the person telling you or sharing a problem with you.

When you read (listen to) the Savior (or watch him), your heart is filled with pride for him. Or - with laughter, what a fool has brought himself to with his desire to help others.

When you read texts written by the Aggressor, noble indignation seizes either towards those about whom the Aggressor writes, or towards the Aggressor himself.

And when you read the texts written by the Victim or listen to the Victim, you are seized by acute mental pain FOR THE VICTIMS, acute pity, a desire to help, powerful compassion.

And don't forget

that there are no Saviors, no Victims, no Aggressors. There are living people who can play different roles. And each person falls into the trap of different roles, and happens to be at all the vertices of this enchanted triangle, but still, each person has some inclinations towards one or another peak, a tendency to linger on one or another peak.

And it is important to remember that the point of entry into the triangle (that is, what involved a person in a pathological relationship) is most often the point at which a person lingers, and for which he "flew" into this triangle. But this is not always the case.

In addition, it is worth remembering that a person does not always occupy exactly the “peak” that he complains about.

"Victim" can be Aggressor (Hunter).

"Savior" can actually play, tragically and to death play the role of the Victim or the Aggressor.

In these pathological relationships, as in the famous Carroll's "Alice ...", everything is so confused, inverted and deceitful that IN EACH CASE, quite careful observation of all participants in this "triangular round dance" is required, including oneself too - even if you do not participate in this triangle.

The power of the magic of this triangle is such that any observer or listener begins to be drawn into this Bermuda triangle of pathological relationships and roles (c.)

"Eternal Images"- artistic images of works of world literature, in which the writer, on the basis of the life material of his time, managed to create a durable generalization applicable in the life of subsequent generations. These images acquire a nominal meaning and retain their artistic significance right up to our time.

So, in Prometheus, the features of a person who is ready to give his life for the good of the people are summarized; Antey embodies the inexhaustible power that an inextricable connection with his native land, with his people gives a person; in Faust - the indomitable desire of man to know the world. This determines the meaning of the images of Prometheus, Antey and Faust and the appeal to them by the leading representatives of social thought. The image of Prometheus, for example, was highly valued by K. Marx.

The image of Don Quixote, created by the famous Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes (XVI-XVII centuries), embodies a noble, but devoid of vital soil, daydreaming; Hamlet, the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy (XVI - early XVII century), is a common noun of a divided man, torn apart by contradictions. Tartuffe, Khlestakov, Plyushkin, Don Juan and similar images live for many years in the minds of a number of human generations, since they summarize the typical shortcomings of a person of the past, stable traits of a human character brought up by feudal and capitalist society.

"Eternal images" are created in a certain historical setting and only in connection with it can they be fully understood. They are "eternal", i.e., applicable in other eras, to the extent that the traits of human character generalized in these images are stable. In the works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, there are often references to such images for their application in a new historical situation (for example, the images of Prometheus, Don Quixote, etc.).

The history of literature knows many cases when the works of the writer were very popular during his life, but time passed, and they were forgotten almost forever. There are other examples: the writer was not recognized by his contemporaries, and the true value of his works was discovered by subsequent generations.

But there are very few works in literature, the significance of which cannot be overestimated, since they create images that excite every generation of people, images that inspire the creative searches of artists of different times. Such images are called "eternal", because they are carriers of traits that are always inherent in a person.

Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra lived out his life in poverty and loneliness, although during his lifetime he was known as the author of the talented, vivid novel Don Quixote. Neither the writer himself nor his contemporaries knew that several centuries would pass, and his heroes would not only not be forgotten, but would become “the most popular Spaniards”, and their compatriots would erect a monument to them. That they will come out of the novel and live their own independent life in the works of prose writers and playwrights, poets, artists, composers. Today it is even difficult to list how many works of art were created under the influence of the images of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza: they were addressed by Goya and Picasso, Massenet and Minkus.

The immortal book was born from the idea to write a parody and ridicule the romances of chivalry, so popular in Europe in the 16th century, when Cervantes lived and worked. But the writer's idea grew, and contemporary Spain came to life on the pages of the book, and the hero himself changed: from a parody knight, he grows into a funny and tragic figure. The conflict of the novel is both historically specific (it reflects the writer's contemporary Spain) and universal (because it exists in any country at all times). The essence of the conflict: the clash of ideal norms and ideas about reality with reality itself - not ideal, "earthly".

The image of Don Quixote has also become eternal thanks to its universality: always and everywhere there are noble idealists, defenders of goodness and justice, who defend their ideals, but are unable to realistically assess reality. There was even the concept of "quixotic". It combines the humanistic striving for the ideal, enthusiasm, disingenuousness, on the one hand, and naivety, eccentricity, adherence to dreams and illusions, on the other. The inner nobility of Don Quixote is combined with the comedy of her external manifestations (he is able to fall in love with a simple peasant girl, but he sees in her only a noble Beautiful lady.

The second important timeless image of the novel is the witty and earthy Sancho Panza. He is the exact opposite of Don Quixote, but the characters are inextricably linked, they are similar to each other in their hopes and disappointments. Cervantes shows with his heroes that reality without ideals is impossible, but they must be based on reality.

A completely different eternal image appears before us in Shakespeare's maagegedy "Hamlet". This is a deeply tragic image. Hamlet understands reality well, soberly evaluates everything that happens around him, firmly stands on the side of good against evil. But his tragedy lies in the fact that he cannot take decisive action and punish the evil. His indecision is not a manifestation of cowardice, he is a brave, outspoken person. His hesitation is the result of deep reflections on the nature of evil. Circumstances require him to kill his father's killer. He hesitates because he perceives this revenge as a manifestation of evil: murder will always remain murder, even when the villain is killed. The image of Hamlet is the image of a person who understands his responsibility in resolving the conflict between good and evil, who is on the side of good, but his internal moral laws do not allow him to take decisive action. It is no coincidence that this image acquired a special sound in the 20th century - the era of social upheaval, when each person solved the eternal "Hamlet question" for himself.

You can give a few more examples of "eternal" images: Faust, Mephistopheles, Othello, Romeo and Juliet - they all reveal the eternal human feelings and aspirations. And each reader learns from these images to understand not only the past, but also the present.

Eternal images

Eternal images

Mythological, biblical, folklore and literary characters who vividly expressed the moral and ideological content that is significant for all mankind and have been repeatedly embodied in the literature of different countries and eras (Prometheus, Odysseus, Cain, Faust, Mephistopheles, Hamlet, Don Juan, Don Quixote, etc. ). Each era and each writer put their own meaning into the interpretation of this or that eternal image, which is due to their multicoloredness and polysemy, the richness of the possibilities inherent in them (for example, Cain was interpreted both as an envious fratricide and as a brave god-fighter; Faust - as a magician and a miracle worker, as a lover of pleasures, as a scientist obsessed with a passion for knowledge, and as a seeker of the meaning of human life; Don Quixote - as a comic and tragic figure, etc.). Often in literature, characters are created-variations of eternal images, which are given to other nat. features, or they are placed in a different time (as a rule, closer to the author of the new work) and / or in an unusual situation (“Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky district” by I.S. Turgenev, " Antigone" by J. Anui), sometimes ironically reduced or parodied (the satirical story by N. Elin and V. Kashaev "The Mistake of Mephistopheles", 1981). Close to the eternal images and characters, whose names have become common nouns in the world and national. Literature: Tartuffe and Jourdain ("Tartuffe" and "The Philistine in the Nobility" J. B. Molière), Carmen (short story of the same name by P. Merimee), Molchalin (“Woe from Wit” A. S. . Griboyedov), Khlestakov, Plyushkin ("Inspector General" and "Dead Souls" N. V . Gogol) and etc.

Unlike archetype reflecting primarily the “genetic”, original features of the human psyche, eternal images are always a product of conscious activity, have their own “nationality”, time of occurrence and, therefore, reflect not only the specifics of the universal perception of the world, but also a certain historical and cultural experience, fixed in artistic form.

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

See what "eternal images" are in other dictionaries:

- (world, “universal”, “secular” images) they mean images of art that, in the perception of the subsequent reader or viewer, have lost their original everyday or historical significance and from ... ... Wikipedia

Literary characters, to whom the ultimate artistic generalization and spiritual depth impart universal, all-time significance (Prometheus, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Hamlet, Faust, Majnun) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Eternal images- ETERNAL IMAGES, mythological and literary characters, to whom the ultimate artistic generalization, symbolism and inexhaustibility of spiritual content impart a universal, timeless meaning (Prometheus, Abel and Cain, the Eternal Jew, Don ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Mythological and literary characters, to whom the ultimate artistic generalization, symbolism and inexhaustibility of spiritual content impart universal, universal significance (Prometheus, Abel and Cain, the Wandering Jew, Faust, Mephistopheles, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

eternal images- literary characters, to whom the ultimate artistic generalization and spiritual depth impart a universal, timeless meaning. Heading: artistic image Example: Hamlet, Prometheus, Don Juan, Faust, Don Quixote, Khlestakov Eternal images ... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

eternal images- artistic images that, having arisen in specific historical conditions, acquire such an obvious non-historical significance that subsequently, turning into peculiar symbols, the so-called supertypes, again and again appear in ... ... Dictionary of literary terms

Or, as idealistic criticism called them, world, "universal", "eternal" images. By them are meant images of art, which, in the perception of the subsequent reader or viewer, have lost their originally inherent domestic or historical ... Literary Encyclopedia

Prominent Soviet critic and literary critic. Genus. in the town of Chernikhov, Volyn province. in a wealthy Jewish family. From the age of 15 he participated in the Jewish labor movement, from 1905 in the "Bund". During the reaction period, he emigrated abroad, where he studied ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Isaak Markovich (1889) a prominent Soviet critic and literary critic. R. in mke Chernikhov, Volyn province. in a wealthy Jewish family. From the age of 15 he participated in the Jewish labor movement, from 1905 in the "Bund". During the reaction period, he emigrated abroad, where ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

IMAGE- artistic, a category of aesthetics that characterizes a special way of mastering and transforming reality, inherent only in art. O. is also called any phenomenon that is creatively recreated in a work of art (especially often ... ... Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Art. Eternal images of art. Mythology. Grade 5 Textbook. Vertical. Federal State Educational Standard, Danilova Galina Ivanovna. The textbook opens the author's line of G. I. Danilova on art. It introduces the most valuable heritage of mankind - the works of ancient and ancient Slavic mythology. Contains a large…
• Art. 6th grade. Eternal images of art. Bible. Textbook for general education. institutions. Federal State Educational Standard, Danilova Galina Ivanovna. The textbook introduces the most valuable asset of mankind - works of art created on biblical subjects. Contains extensive illustrative material that gives a visual…

Eternal images are literary characters that have received multiple incarnations in the literature of different countries and eras, which have become a kind of “signs” of culture: Prometheus, Phaedra, Don Juan, Hamlet, Don Quixote, Faust, etc. Traditionally, they include mythological and legendary characters, historical figures (Napoleon, Jeanne d'Arc), as well as biblical faces, and the eternal images are based on their literary display. Thus, the image of Antigone is associated primarily with Sophocles, and the Eternal Jew traces his literary history from the Great Chronicle (1250) by Matthew of Paris. Often the number of eternal images includes those characters whose names have become common nouns: Khlestakov, Plushkin, Manilov, Cain. The eternal image can become a means of typification and then it can appear impersonal ("Turgenev's girl"). There are also national variants, as if generalizing the national type: in Carmen they often want to see, first of all, Spain, and in the good soldier Schweik - the Czech Republic. Eternal images can be enlarged to a symbolic designation of an entire cultural and historical era.- both that gave rise to them, and later, rethinking them anew. In the image of Hamlet, sometimes they see the quintessence of a man of the late Renaissance, who realized the infinity of the world and his possibilities and was confused before this infinity. At the same time, the image of Hamlet is a cross-cutting characteristic of romantic culture (beginning with the essay by I.V. Goethe "Shakespeare and his Endlessness", 1813-16), representing Hamlet as a kind of Faust, artist, "damned poet", redeemer of the "creative » guilt of civilization. F. Freiligrat, who owns the words: “Hamlet is Germany” (“Hamlet”, 1844), meant primarily the political inaction of the Germans, but involuntarily pointed out the possibility of such a literary identification of a German, and in a broader sense, a Western European person.

One of the main creators of the tragic myth about a European-Faustian of the 19th century, who found himself in a “out of the rut” world, is O. Spengler (“The Decline of Europe”, 1918-22). An early and very relaxed version of this attitude can be found in I.S. Turgenev’s articles “Two words about Granovsky” (1855) and “Hamlet and Don Quixote” (1860), where the Russian scientist is indirectly identified with Faust, and also describes “two fundamental, opposite features of human nature”, two psychological types, symbolizing passive reflection and active action (“the spirit of the north” and “the spirit of the south man”). There is also an attempt to distinguish between eras with the help of eternal images, linking the 19th century. with the image of Hamlet, and in the 20th century - "large wholesale deaths" - with the characters of "Macbeth". In A. Akhmatova's poem "Wild honey smells of freedom ..." (1934), Pontius Pilate and Lady Macbeth turn out to be symbols of modernity. The enduring significance can serve as a source of humanistic optimism, characteristic of the early D.S. Merezhkovsky, who considered eternal images to be “companions of mankind”, inseparable from the “human spirit”, enriching more and more new generations (“Eternal Companions”, 1897). I.F. Annensky, the inevitability of the writer's creative collision with eternal images is depicted in tragic tones. For him, these are no longer “eternal companions”, but “problems are poisons”: “A theory arises, another, third; the symbol is replaced by the symbol, the answer laughs at the answer ... At times we begin to doubt even the existence of a problem ... Hamlet - the most poisonous of poetic problems - has gone through more than one century of development, has been at the stages of despair, and not only Goethe ”(Annensky I. Books reflections, Moscow, 1979). The use of eternal literary images involves recreating the traditional plot situation and endowing the character with features inherent in the original image. These parallels may be direct or hidden. Turgenev in "The Steppe King Lear" (1870) follows the outline of Shakespeare's tragedy, while N.S. Leskov in "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" (1865) prefers less obvious analogies (the phenomenon of Boris Timofeich poisoned by Katerina Lvovna in the form of a cat remotely Parodically recalls the visit to the feast of Macbeth, who was killed on his orders by Banquo). Although a considerable share of the author's and readers' efforts is spent on building and unraveling such analogies, the main thing here is not the ability to see a familiar image in an unexpected context, but the new understanding and explanation offered by the author. The very reference to the eternal images may also be indirect - they do not have to be named by the author: the connection of the images of Arbenin, Nina, Prince Zvezdich from "Masquerade" (1835-36) by M. Y. Lermontov with Shakespeare's Othello, Desdemona, Cassio is obvious, but must be finally established by the reader himself.

Turning to the Bible, the authors most often follow the canonical text, which cannot be changed even in detail, so that the author's will manifests itself primarily in the interpretation and addition of a particular episode and verse, and not only in a new interpretation of the image associated with it (T. Mann "Joseph and his brothers", 1933-43). Greater freedom is possible when using a mythological plot, although here, due to its rootedness in cultural consciousness, the author tries not to deviate from the traditional scheme, commenting on it in his own way (M. Tsvetaeva's tragedies "Ariadne", 1924, "Phaedra", 1927). The mention of eternal images can open up a distant perspective for the reader, which contains the entire history of their existence in literature - for example, all the Antigones, starting from Sophocles (442 BC), as well as the mythological, legendary and folklore past (from the Apocrypha, narrating about Simonevolkhva, to the folk book about Dr. Faust). In "The Twelve" (1918) by A. Blok, the gospel plan is set by a title that sets either a mystery or a parody, and further repetitions of this number, which do not allow one to forget about the twelve apostles, make the appearance of Christ in the final lines of the poem, if not expected, then naturally (in a similar way, M. Maeterlinck in "The Blind" (1891), having brought twelve characters onto the stage, makes the viewer liken them to the disciples of Christ).

The literary perspective can also be perceived ironically when the reference to it does not justify the reader's expectations. For example, M. Zoshchenko’s narrative “repels” from the eternal images given in the title, and thus plays up the discrepancy between the “low” subject and the declared “high”, “eternal” theme (“Apollo and Tamara”, 1923; “The Suffering of Young Werther ", 1933). Often the parodic aspect turns out to be dominant: the author strives not to continue the tradition, but to “expose” it, to sum up. "Devaluing" the eternal images, he tries to get rid of the need for a new return to them. Such is the function of the “Tale of the Schema Hussar” in “The Twelve Chairs” (1928) by I. Ilf and E. Petrov: in Tolstoy’s “Father Sergius” (1890-98), which they parody, the theme of the holy hermit is focused, traceable from hagiographic literature to G. Flaubert and F.M. Dostoevsky and presented by Ilf and Petrov as a set of plot stereotypes, stylistic and narrative clichés. The high semantic content of eternal images sometimes leads to the fact that they seem to the author to be self-sufficient, suitable for comparison almost without additional authorial efforts. However, taken out of context, they find themselves, as it were, in an airless space, and the result of their interaction remains not fully clarified, if not again parodic. Postmodern aesthetics suggests active conjugation of eternal images, commenting, canceling and calling each other to life (H. Borges), but their multiplicity and lack of hierarchy deprives them of their inherent exclusivity, turns them into purely game functions, so that they pass into a different quality.