Erast was a rich young nobleman, satiated and tired of life. He had good inclinations and tried his best to be honest; at least he understood what he was doing sincerely and what he was not doing. We can say that wealth spoiled him, because he was used to not denying himself anything. Likewise, when he became infatuated with a poor girl from a Moscow suburb, he made every effort to win her and her mother's affections.
He did not understand himself well and believed that sentimental falling in love with a poor girl, so beautiful and unspoiled, would help him get away from boredom and an empty, emasculated life in the capital. He read foreign sentimental stories and fantasized about a quiet pastoral love for a peasant girl. For a while, he was quite happy with this game and reveled in it, especially since Lisa responded to his advances with all the fervor of first love. But time passed, and the game began to tire Erast, he was not ready to give up his wealth, and besides, his began to be haunted by financial failures. Knowing full well that he was acting basely, he came up with a story about going to war, and he himself married a rich woman in order to improve his condition. The fact that he made his life choice between money and heartfelt happiness quite deliberately and understood what he was doing is shown by his reaction to Lisa’s suicide. An attempt to persuade her and pay off turned out to be hopeless, and Erast remained unhappy for the rest of his life, because he was not an evil and cynical person, he simply did not have the mental strength to go with Lisa to the end and completely change his life.
The story “Poor Liza” is a work of sentimentalism, because it is built on revealing the characteristics of the human soul, attention to a person’s personality; the heroes of the story are ordinary people, peasant women and a nobleman; the author shows great attention to nature, spiritualizes it; the language of the story approaches the spoken language of the educated society of that time.
1. Literary movement “sentimentalism”. 2. Features of the plot of the work. 3. The image of the main character. 4. The image of the “villain” Erast. In the literature of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries, the literary movement “sentimentalism” was very popular....
Literature of this direction really influenced reading people both in Europe and in Russia. The heroes of the works became objects of worship, they were sympathized with as real people, they were imitated both in behavior and in clothing, they strived to get to those places...
As in previous years, with a small knapsack on his back, Karamzin went off for whole days to wander without a goal or plan through the lovely forests and fields of the Moscow region, which came close to the white-stone outposts. He was especially attracted by the surroundings of the old monastery, which...
The literary movement of sentimentalism came to Russia from France at the end of the 18th century and addressed mainly the problems of the human soul. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” tells about the love of the young nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Liza. Lisa lives...
Erast is a young nobleman leading a frivolous social life. Tired of her, he tries to “change the situation” and becomes interested in Lisa. At first it seems to him that he loves the girl “with the love of a brother.” But soon this feeling develops into passion, which quickly passes....
Lisa and Erast are the central characters of N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Lisa”. The story of their relationship is the engine of the plot of the entire work.
Meet the heroes
Lisa met Erast on the street after the girl was picking flowers for sale. The young man offered Lisa a whole ruble, although the price of flowers was five kopecks. The girl said that she would not take too much from him, so she took the allotted five kopecks. In response to this, Erast told Lisa that he wanted her to now pick flowers just for him. The next day, Erast was waiting for Lisa at her house.
Relationship between Lisa and Erast
Having met Lisa's mother, Erast went home, and poor Lisa's heart was already filled with love for him. Erast also thought about Lisa, believing that it was in her that he found what he had been looking for for so long.
The next morning, Lisa met Erast, and they confessed their love to each other. Erast told the girl that he would always love her. Lisa wanted her mother, from whom the girl never had secrets or secrets, to know everything about their relationship, but Erast dissuaded her.
Now the heroes saw each other every evening and spent a wonderful time with each other. However, everything changed after one day “the integrity of Lisa” was to perish. For Erast, the girl was no longer the “angel of purity” who had previously delighted his soul. Lisa felt more and more love for Erast.
The lovers stopped seeing each other every day. On the sixth day of separation, Erast met with Lisa to tell her that he was going to war. Erast, telling the girl that he would always love her, promised to return soon. Poor Lisa was left alone. For two months the heroes were far from each other.
One day Lisa saw Erast on the street. The girl rushed to her lover, but learned from him that he was going to marry another woman.
Realizing that Erast had betrayed her, Lisa threw herself into the river, and no one could save her. Until the end of his days, Erast considered himself a murderer and was truly unhappy.
Comparative characteristics
To understand the reasons for the tragic love between the heroes, it is necessary to reveal the images of the central characters. A comparative description of Lisa and Erast allows us to see their similar and different character traits.
Erast is a rich nobleman, Lisa is a poor peasant woman. Already here are the main reasons for the tragic ending of the relationship between the characters. Erast led an absent-minded social life, sought pleasure and was bored. Lisa worked constantly to feed herself and her mother. The heroine herself understood that their paths could not connect; Lisa dreamed that Erast would be a simple peasant or shepherd.
The narrator notes that Erast had a kind heart, this shows similarities with Lisa. However, Erast's heart was kind, but flighty. Erast's love for Lisa did not last long, and the girl could no longer forget her lover. After meeting with Lisa, Erast decided to leave the “big world”, but the narrator notes that only for a while. This already suggests that Erast did not take his relationship with Lisa seriously. Initially, he wanted their relationship to be like that of brother and sister. Lisa completely surrendered to her love for Erast.
Erast was a rich young nobleman, satiated and tired of life. He had good inclinations and tried his best to be honest; at least he understood what he was doing sincerely and what he was not doing. We can say that wealth spoiled him, because he was used to not denying himself anything. Likewise, when he became infatuated with a poor girl from a Moscow suburb, he made every effort to win her and her mother's affections.
He did not understand himself well and believed that sentimental falling in love with a poor girl, so beautiful and unspoiled, would help him get away from boredom and an empty, emasculated life in the capital. He read foreign sentimental stories and fantasized about a quiet pastoral love for a peasant girl. For some time he was quite happy with this game and reveled in it, especially since Lisa responded to his advances with all the fervor of first love.
But time passed, and the game began to tire Erast, he was not ready to give up his wealth, and besides, financial failures began to haunt him. Knowing full well that he was acting basely, he came up with a story about going to war, and he himself married a rich woman in order to improve his condition. The fact that he made his life choice between money and heartfelt happiness quite deliberately and understood what he was doing is shown by his reaction to Lisa’s suicide. An attempt to persuade her and pay off turned out to be hopeless, and Erast remained unhappy for the rest of his life, because he was not an evil and cynical person, he simply did not have the mental strength to go with Lisa to the end and completely change his life.
The story "Poor Liza" is a work of sentimentalism, because it is built on revealing the characteristics of the human soul, attention to the personality of a person; the heroes of the story are ordinary people, peasant women and a nobleman; the author shows great attention to nature, spiritualizes it; the language of the story approaches the spoken language of the educated society of that time.
Characteristics of Erast.
Sentimentalism is one of the most significant literary trends of the 18th century in Russia, the brightest representative
which became N.M. Karamzin. Sentimentalist writers showed interest in depicting ordinary people and ordinary human feelings.
As Karamzin himself puts it, the story “Poor Liza” is “a rather uncomplicated fairy tale.” The plot of the story is simple. This is the love story of a poor peasant girl Lisa and a rich young nobleman Erast.
Erast is a secular young man “with a fair mind and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and flighty.” Social life and secular
he was tired of pleasures. He was constantly bored and “complained about his fate.” Erast “read idyll novels” and dreamed of
that happy time when people, not burdened by the conventions and rules of civilizations, lived carefree
in the lap of nature. Thinking only about his own pleasure, he “looked for it in amusements.”
With the advent of love in his life, everything changes. Erast falls in love with the pure “daughter of nature” - the peasant woman Lisa. He decided that he “found in Lisa what his heart had been looking for for a long time.”
Sensuality is the highest value of sentimentalism
- pushes the heroes into each other’s arms, giving them a moment of happiness. Painting
pure first love is depicted in the story very touchingly. Erast admires his “shepherdess.” “All the brilliant amusements of the great world seemed insignificant to him in comparison with the pleasures with which the passionate friendship of an innocent soul nourished his heart.” But when Lisa gives herself to him, the jaded young man begins to cool in his feelings for her.
In vain does Lisa hope to regain her lost happiness. Erast goes on a military campaign, loses everything he has at cards
fortune and eventually marries a rich widow.
And Liza, deceived in her best hopes and feelings, forgets her soul” - she throws herself into the pond near the Si...nova Monastery. Erast
is also punished for his decision to leave Lisa: he will forever reproach himself for her death. “He could not be consoled and revered himself
murderer." Their meeting, “reconciliation” is possible only in heaven.
Of course, the gap between a rich nobleman and a poor villager
very great, but Liza in the story least of all resembles a peasant woman, rather like a sweet society young lady, brought up in
sentimental novels.
There were many works similar to this story. For example: “Queen of Spades”, “Station Warden”, “Young Lady - Peasant”. These are works by A.S. Pushkin; “Sunday” L.T. Tolstoy. But it is in this story that the refined psychologism of Russian artistic prose, recognized throughout the world, originates.
END
ESSAY WRITTEN BY I. S. GLOTOV AT “5”
The central character of N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza,” Erast, is an ambiguous image. Its brief description allows us to talk about a combination of negative and positive features. The main characteristic is that Erast has a kind, but at the same time, windy heart.
Ambiguity of the image
The central character of the story “Poor Liza” cannot be assessed unambiguously. Erast has both positive and negative character traits, which allow us to talk about the realistic description of the image. To write an essay “Characteristics of Erast”, you need to consider both the dark and light sides of the character.
Negative traits
A “windy” heart is one of the most important characteristics of Erast. His lifestyle was structured in such a way that he strove for various hobbies and pleasures. Having met Lisa, Erast treats the girl cruelly, deceiving her for his own purposes. Erast is unfair to Lisa, whom he hurts. The changeable mood and inability to appreciate what is, suggests that the love between Erast and Lisa was doomed to tragedy from the very beginning. The lovers had different views on life, so Erast became bored with Lisa too quickly. Being a nobleman by birth, Erast builds a relationship with a simple peasant woman. The hero thinks that he can take responsibility for his choice, but he is mistaken. Frivolity and inability to take responsibility are the main negative traits of Erast. N.M. Karamzin demonstrates that the desire to achieve a high position in society overcomes a sincere feeling of love. For the sake of material well-being, Erast deceives Lisa, causing her pain.
Positive features
Erast is capable of rebirth. This is exactly what happens to him when he meets Lisa on his life's path. The narrator, who is personally acquainted with Erast, notes that he by nature had a kind heart. Erast sincerely falls in love with the girl and strives to be with her everywhere and always. He is not even afraid of the fact that they belong to different classes. The hero hurts his beloved unknowingly. It is not Erast’s fault that his feelings for Lisa have cooled. The hero began to understand that their relationship would lead nowhere. Therefore, the narrator does not blame Erast for falling out of love with Lisa. The narrator cannot say that Erast is to blame for the tragic relationship between the heroes; he cannot be cursed for what happened.
Erast is not a negative character, since he has the ability to feel and experience. When Erast learns about Lisa's suicide, he feels guilty. Until the end of his life, he feels involved in the death of a beautiful girl.