The Russian peasant woman became the heroine of many poems and poems by Nekrasov. In her image, Nekrasov showed a person of high moral qualities, he sings of her stamina in life's trials, pride, dignity, caring for her family and children. The female image was most fully revealed by Nekrasov in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - this is the image of Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina.
Part "Peasant" in the poem and the largest in volume, and it is written in the first person: Matrena Timofeevna herself tells about her fate. Matryona Timofeevna, according to her, was lucky as a girl:
I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
The family surrounded their beloved daughter with care and affection. In the seventh year, the peasant's daughter began to be taught to work: "she herself ... ran to the herd for a dumpling, brought breakfast to her father, grazed the ducklings." And this work was her joy. Matrena Timofeevna, having worked out in the field, will wash herself in the bathhouse and is ready to sing and dance:
And a good worker
And sing and dance the huntress
I was young.
But how few bright moments in her life! One of them is an engagement to his beloved Filippushka. Matryona did not sleep all night, thinking about the upcoming marriage: she was afraid of “bondage”. And yet love turned out to be stronger than fears of falling into slavery.
Then it was happiness
And hardly ever again!
And then, after marriage, she went “from a girl’s holi to hell.” Exhausting work, “mortal insults”, misfortunes with children, separation from her husband, who was illegally recruited, and many other hardships - such is the bitter life path of Matryona Timofeevna. With pain she says about what is in her:
No broken bone
There is no stretched vein.
Her story reflected all the everyday hardships of a Russian peasant woman: the despotism of family relations, separation from her husband, eternal humiliation, the suffering of a mother who lost her son, material need: fires, loss of livestock, crop failure. Here is how Nekrasov describes the grief of a mother who lost her child:
I rolled around with a ball
I twisted like a worm
Called, woke Demushka -
Yes, it was too late to call! ..
The mind is ready to be clouded by a terrible misfortune. But a huge spiritual strength helps Matryona Timofeevna to survive. She sends angry curses to her enemies, the camper and the doctor, who are tormenting the “white body” of her son: “Villains! Executioners!” Matrena Timofeevna wants to find “their justice”, but Savely dissuades her: “God is high, the tsar is far ... We cannot find the truth.” “Yes, why, grandfather?” - asks the unfortunate. “You are a serf woman!” - and this sounds like a final verdict.
And yet, when misfortune happens to her second son, she becomes “impudent”: she decisively knocks down the elder Silantius, saving Fedotushka from punishment, taking his rods on herself.
Matryona Timofeevna is ready to endure any trials, inhuman torments in order to defend her children, her husband from everyday troubles. What tremendous willpower a woman must have to go alone on a frosty winter night dozens of miles away to a provincial town in search of the truth. Boundless is her love for her husband, which has withstood such a severe test. The governor, amazed by her selfless act, showed “great mercy”:
They sent a messenger to Klin,
The whole truth was brought -
Filipushka was rescued.
Self-esteem, which manifested itself in Matrena Timofeevna in her girlhood, helps her to go majestically through life. This feeling protects her from the impudent claims of Sitnikov, who seeks to make her his mistress. Anger against the enslavers thickens in a cloud in her soul, she herself speaks about her angry heart to the peasant truth-seekers.
However, these trials cannot break her spirit, she retained her human dignity. True, in the face of the force of circumstances created by the social structure of that time, when the “daughter-in-law in the house” was “the last, last slave”, “intimidated”, “cursed”, Matryona Timofeevna also had to put up with it. But she does not take for granted such family relationships that humiliate her, require unquestioning obedience and humility:
Walked with anger in my heart
And didn't say too much
Word to nobody.
The image of Matrena Timofeevna is given in the poem in dynamics, in development. So, for example, in the story with Demushka, at first, in a fit of despair, she is ready to endure everything:
And then I surrendered
I bowed at my feet...
But then the inexorability of the “unrighteous judges”, their cruelty, gives rise to a feeling of protest in her soul:
They don't have a soul in their chest
They have no conscience in their eyes
On the neck - no cross!
The character of the heroine is tempered precisely in these difficult trials. This is a woman of great mind and heart, selfless, strong-willed, resolute.
The chapter "Peasant Woman" is almost entirely built on folk poetic images and motifs. In the characterization of Matrena Timofeevna, folklore genres are widely used: songs, lamentations, lamentations. With their help, the emotional impression is enhanced, they help to express pain and longing, to show more vividly how bitter the life of Matryona Timofeevna is.
In her speech, a number of folklore features are observed: repetitions (“creeping crawling”, “noise-running, “a tree burns and groans, chicks burn and groan”), constant epithets (“violent head”, “white light”, “fierce grief” ), synonymous expressions, words (“fertilized, dismissed”, “how she yawned, how she growled”). When constructing sentences, he often uses exclamatory forms, appeals (“Oh, mother, where are you?”, “Oh, poor young woman!”, “The daughter-in-law is the last in the house, the last slave!”). There are many sayings and proverbs in her speech: “Do not spit on red-hot iron - it will hiss”, “The working horse eats straw, and the idle dance - oats”; often uses diminutive words: "mother", "pale", "pebble".
These features make Matryona Timofeevna's speech uniquely individual, give it special liveliness, concreteness, and emotionality. At the same time, the saturation with sayings, songs, laments testifies to the creative warehouse of her soul, wealth and strength of feeling. This is the image of a peasant woman not only strong in spirit, but also gifted and talented.
Matryona Timofeevna's story about her life is also a story about the fate of any peasant woman, a long-suffering Russian woman. And the part itself is not named after Matryona Timofeevna, but simply “Peasant Woman”. This emphasizes that the fate of Matryona Timofeevna is not at all an exception to the rule, but the fate of millions of the same Russian peasant women. The parable about “the keys to the happiness of women” also speaks of this. And Matryona Timofeevna concludes her thoughts with a bitter conclusion, turning to the wanderers: “You started not a business - look for a happy woman among the women!”
"Do not toss and turn in the houses ... until they find out ... who lives happily, freely in Rus'?"). The men decide that until they find out who lives "fun, freely in Rus'", not to return home.
What folk motifs appear in the "Prologue"? slide 13.
Fantastic elements of Russian fairy tales: a chiffchaff bird that asks to let the chick go, and in return tells how to find a self-assembled tablecloth; self-assembly tablecloth.
number seven: 7 men.
Folk signs associated with peasant labor and life; puzzles; humanization of the natural world; stylistic manner of unhurried folklore narration, etc. .
Formula for the search for a happy. slide 14.
landowner
Official
Priest (pop)
Merchant
nobleman
Minister
Tsar
What do you think this formula means? Compositional idea or the level of national self-consciousness?
The level of national self-consciousness, i.e. its limitations - men understand happiness in a primitive way, reducing it to a well-fed life and wealth.
Group work.
Questions and tasks for discussing the chapter "Pop" Group 1
Each member of the group receives a task. Then fill in the pivot table. The person who will present the work of the group is elected.
2. In what formula does the priest collect the ideas of happiness that are vague for the wanderers themselves? Does he agree with the peasants?
3. Did the men find happiness in this chapter? Why does the pope consider himself unhappy? Is it so?
4. How is the position of the peasants depicted in the chapter? What troubles fall to their lot?
5. What words and expressions paint figurative pictures of the life of the priest and the peasants? What is the author's attitude towards them?
6. What folklore elements can be seen in the chapter?
Worksheet 1 group. (answer option)
question | quote | conclusion |
Is it possible to consider that the image of Rus' constantly accompanies the wanderings of peasants, is it a kind of "hero" of the poem? | Forests, floodplain meadows, Russian streams and rivers Good in spring! Our villages are poor, and the peasants in them are sick. | The chapter "Pop" begins with a landscape, the image of Rus' constantly accompanies the peasants. |
In what formula does the priest assemble vague notions of happiness for the wanderers themselves? Does he agree with the peasants? | Peace, wealth, honor | The priest does not agree with the peasants. He denies this formula of happiness |
Did the men find happiness in this chapter? Why does the pope consider himself unhappy? Is it so? | Well, here's your vaunted, Popov's life! Peace: “how a priest’s son gets a letter”, “the sick, dying, born into the world do not choose time”, “In winter, in severe frosts, and spring floods, go where you are called!” “There is no heart that endures death rattles, grave sobs, orphan sorrows without some trembling” Honor: “Who do you call the foal breed?” “About whom do you compose joker tales, and obscene songs, and all kinds of blasphemy?” To whom, like a gelding, Shout: "hoo-hoo" Wealth: in the past, when the gentlemen were rich and generously paid for service during births, christenings, weddings and funerals, priests lived well. “They multiplied and multiplied And they let us live ...” Now the time is not right - the offerings of the people to the priest are very modest: “... worldly hryvnias, Yes, pies on holidays, Yes, eggs, oh Saint” You won’t get rich with this. take, so there is nothing to live with" | Peace is a life without mental costs, without troublesome activities, although others need them. Honor is the desire for universal respect. Dreams of riches received as a gift. |
How is the position of the peasants depicted in the chapter? What troubles fall to their lot? | Our lands are meager, sands, swamps, mosses ... There is nowhere to go with bread! .. you will sell it for a mere trifle ... | The life of a peasant is joyless, bitter and hard. |
What words and expressions paint figurative pictures of the life of the priest and the peasants? What is the author's attitude towards them? | And if the earth-breadwinner gets rich with cheese ... The path is the road, the sun is the grandfather The sun is red Yes, women are sad, nurses, drinkers, slaves, pilgrims and eternal workers ... | Personifications Comparisons Vernacular Boundless pain for the people, sympathy, understanding, care The priest is close to the people, sympathizes with them, supports them in sorrow and in joy |
What folklore elements can be seen in the chapter? | Epithets Repetition Fairy-tale landscape Folk omens: send a cool rainbow ... | Folklore lines help to join the inner life, the soul of the people. |
Slide 16-17.
The word of the teacher (to the conclusion): in the second half of the 19th century, the problem of the clergy was one of the most urgent. Not receiving any permanent salary, the priest lived only on the offerings of the parishioners. Already from the moment they entered the religious schools, which were in extreme poverty, future priests experienced moral and physical suffering.
Questions and tasks for discussion of chapter 2
"Village fair" Slide 18-19
5. How did the folklore flavor of the poem reflect in the chapter?
Let's summarize the analysis of the chapter. What did Nekrasov show in these chapters? What is his attitude towards the Russian people? Name the dark and bright sides of the Russian soul according to Nekrasov. What means does the author use to portray his characters?
Conclusions. Nekrasov decided to depict a wide canvas of the life of the Russian people and its bulk - the Russian peasant of the post-reform era, to show the predatory nature of the peasant reform and the deterioration of the people's lot. But the main thing is to show the talent, will, stamina and optimism of the Russian peasant. By its style features and poetic intonations, the poem is close to the works of folklore. The composition of the poem is complicated, first of all, because its idea changed over time, the work remained unfinished. The dark sides are superstition, drunkenness, family despotism. The bright sides are talent, giftedness, the desire and ability to comprehend one's position, disagreement with the existing order. |
Do you agree with the formula of happiness formulated by the priest?
In one word, happiness is... slide 20.
Homework. Slide 21-22.
In the next lesson, we will find out what is revealed among the people to the truth-seekers.
1st group. Yakim Nagoi (part I, ch. 3).
2nd group. Ermil Girin (part I, ch. 4).
3rd group. Saveliy, Holy Russian hero (part III, ch. 3).
4th group. Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina (part III, ch. 4-8).
Message plan (Everyone receives).
1. What is the name of the hero? How old is he? What is its appearance?
2. What is its history? What troubles and hardships fell to his lot?
3. How does the hero talk about life, what does he accept and what he denies in the peasant way of life?
4. What moral qualities does the author give to the hero? How does he feel about him?
5. What is the hero's idea of happiness, of the paths that lead to it?
6. Why did the wanderers not recognize the hero as happy?
7. What is the meaning of the hero's speaking surname?
8. What is the semantic role of folklore elements in the chapters about the hero?
The content of the article
Origin and meaning
The female name Matrena is of Latin origin. It was formed from the word "matrona" and translated into Russian means "matrona", "respectable married woman", "respectable lady". The name is considered obsolete, therefore it is not popular among newborn girls.
Character traits
The name Matryona belongs to a balanced, calm, kind-hearted and patient woman with a phlegmatic, but very good character. Although she does not like conflict situations, she is always ready to defend her personal opinion. She can show a strong will and firmness, which, probably, no one expects from her. After all, her secret name hides a quiet and modest personality, not prone to action and leadership.
Sometimes Matrena resembles a viewer in a movie - she enjoys watching the ups and downs in the lives of friends and relatives, but does not take part in them on her own. Of course, in the depths of her soul, she sometimes would like to commit some unexpected, even adventurous act, but she perfectly understands that things will not go beyond dreams.
The representative of this name has strong moral and spiritual principles. She lives exactly following them. Depending on the moral and ethical attitudes, Matrena selects a circle of acquaintances and close friends, becoming a sensitive, attentive and sociable interlocutor, able to listen and understand, as well as possessing phenomenal intuition and the ability to delve deep into things. She is loved by everyone around, because unlike many others, the girl does not envy her comrades, does not take offense for no reason, does not take revenge, but simply communicates with them, sincerely experiences their ups and downs and perceives life as it is.
In some situations, Matryona, driven to despair, is despotic, expecting that "the world will bend" under her. In such cases, it exhibits activity and reaction rate unusual for it. If the situation that unsettles her drags on, the woman may well become depressed.
Hobbies and profession
The name Matryona belongs to a person who does not strive to reach career heights and does not want to be a leader. She diligently and diligently performs the tasks assigned to her. Because of its absolute calmness, it can be realized in those professions that are considered "boring" and unpromising - to become a librarian, archivist, art historian, specialist in the field of religion. She is also suitable for research activities, which require perseverance, calmness, a philosophical attitude to failures, as well as the pedagogical sphere and work with very young children.
Love and family
Matryona's sexual life is not too active - moral and moral principles do not allow a woman with this name to reach her full potential. But an experienced, skillful partner can make such a girl liberate herself and become a good, true, driven and somewhat romantic lover.
She quickly becomes attached to men, but for the time being does not feel a special need for marriage and a well-established life. Matrena intuitively feels that she will have to constantly adapt to her husband and children. If he nevertheless decides to part with freedom, then he chooses a calm, but possessing an inner core of a person who is ready to take on life, material and financial issues and even caring for children, although she herself can be an amazing mother. Of course, the girl takes part in all this, but she needs the very fact that someone is ready to share domestic problems with her.
The chapter "Last Child" switched the main attention of the truth-seekers to the people's environment. The search for peasant happiness (Izbytkovo village!) Naturally led the peasants to the "lucky" - "governor", the peasant woman Matryona Korchagina. What is the ideological and artistic meaning of the chapter "Peasant Woman"?
In the post-reform era, the peasant woman remained just as oppressed and deprived of rights as before 1861, and it was obviously an absurd undertaking to look for a happy woman among the peasant women. This is clear to Nekrasov. In the outline of the chapter, the “lucky” heroine says to the wanderers:
I think so,
What if between women
Are you looking for a happy
So you are just stupid.
But the author of “To whom it is good to live in Rus'”, artistically reproducing Russian reality, is forced to reckon with folk concepts and ideas, no matter how miserable and false they may be. He only reserves the copyright to dispel illusions, to form more correct views on the world, to bring up higher demands on life than those that gave rise to the legend of the happiness of the “governor”. However, the rumor flies from mouth to mouth, and the wanderers go to the village of Klin. The author gets the opportunity to oppose life to the legend.
The Peasant Woman begins with a prologue, which plays the role of an ideological overture to the chapter, prepares the reader for the perception of the image of the peasant woman of the village of Klin, the lucky Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina. The author draws a “thoughtfully and affectionately” noisy grain field, which was moistened “Not so much by warm dew, / Like sweat from a peasant’s face.” As the wanderers move, rye is replaced by flax, fields of peas and vegetables. The kids frolic (“children rush / Some with turnips, some with carrots”), and “women pull beets”. The colorful summer landscape is closely linked by Nekrasov with the theme of inspired peasant labor.
But then the wanderers approached the "unenviable" village of Klin. The joyful, colorful landscape is replaced by another, gloomy and dull:
Whatever the hut - with a backup,
Like a beggar with a crutch.
Comparison of "wretched houses" with skeletons and orphaned jackdaw nests on bare autumn trees further enhances the tragedy of the impression. The charms of rural nature and the beauty of creative peasant labor in the prologue of the chapter are contrasted with the picture of peasant poverty. By landscape contrast, the author makes the reader internally alert and distrustful of the message that one of the workers of this impoverished village is the true lucky woman.
From the village of Klin, the author leads the reader to an abandoned landowner's estate. The picture of its desolation is complemented by the images of numerous courtyards: hungry, weak, relaxed, like frightened Prussians (cockroaches) in the upper room, they crawled around the estate. This “whining household” is opposed by the people who, after a hard day (“the people in the fields are working”), return to the village with a song. Surrounded by this healthy work collective, outwardly almost not standing out from it (“Good way! And which Matryona Timofeevna?”), Making up part of it, appears in Matryona Korchagin's poem.
The portrait characterization of the heroine is very meaningful and poetically rich. The first idea of the appearance of Matryona is given by the replica of the peasants of the village of Nagotina:
Holmogory cow,
Not a woman! kinder
And there is no smoother woman.
The comparison - “a Kholmogory cow is not a woman” - speaks of the health, strength, stateliness of the heroine. It is the key to further characterization, it fully corresponds to the impression that Matryona Timofeevna makes on the truth-seeking peasants.
Her portrait is extremely concise, but it gives an idea of the strength of character, self-esteem (“a portly woman”), and moral purity and exactingness (“big, strict eyes”), and the hard life of the heroine (“hair with gray hair” in 38 years old), and that the storms of life did not break, but only hardened her (“severe and swarthy”). The harsh, natural beauty of a peasant woman is further emphasized by the poverty of clothing: a “short sundress”, and a white shirt that sets off the heroine’s skin color, swarthy from a tan. In Matryona's story, her whole life passes before the reader, and the author reveals the movement of this life, the dynamics of the depicted character through a change in the portrait characteristics of the heroine.
“Thoughtful”, “twisted”, Matryona recalls the years of her girlhood, youth; she, as it were, sees herself in the past from the outside and cannot but admire her former girlish beauty. Gradually, in her story (“Before Marriage”), a generalized portrait of a rural beauty, so well known in folk poetry, appears before the audience. Matrena's maiden name is "clear eyes", "white face", which is not afraid of the dirt of field work. “You’ll work in the field for a day,” says Matryona, and then, after washing in a “hot baenka,”
Again white, fresh,
For spinning with girlfriends
Eat until midnight!
In her native family, the girl blooms, “like a poppy flower”, she is a “good worker” and “sing-dance hunter”. But now comes the fatal hour of farewell to the girl's will... From the mere thought of the future, of the bitter life in "another God-given family" the bride's "white face fades". However, her blooming beauty, "handsomeness" is enough for several years of family life. No wonder the manager Abram Gordeich Sitnikov "boosts" Matryona:
You are a written kralechka
You are a hot berry!
But the years go by, bringing more and more troubles. For a long time, a severe swarthyness replaced a scarlet blush on Matrena's face, petrified with grief; "clear eyes" look at people strictly and severely; hunger and overwork carried away the "pregnancy and prettiness" accumulated in the years of girlhood. Emaciated, fierce by the struggle for life, she no longer resembles a "poppy color", but a hungry she-wolf:
She-wolf that Fedotova
I remembered - hungry,
Similar to kids
I was on it!
So socially, by the conditions of life and work (“Horse's attempts / We carried ...”), as well as psychologically (the death of the first-born, loneliness, the hostile attitude of the family) Nekrasov motivates changes in the appearance of the heroine, at the same time asserting a deep internal connection between images of a red-cheeked laughter woman from the chapter “Before marriage” and a graying, portly woman met by wanderers. Cheerfulness, spiritual clarity, inexhaustible energy, inherent in Matryona from her youth, help her survive in life, maintain the majesty of her posture and beauty.
In the process of working on the image of Matrena, Nekrasov did not immediately determine the age of the heroine. From variant to variant there was a process of “rejuvenation” by its author. To "rejuvenate" Matrena Timofeevna makes the author strive for life and artistic truthfulness. A woman in the village grew old early. An indication of the age of 60 and even 50 conflicted with the portrait of the heroine, the general definition of “beautiful” and such details as “big, strict eyes”, “richest eyelashes”. The latter option eliminated the discrepancy between the heroine's living conditions and her appearance. Matryona is 38 years old, her hair has already been touched by gray hair - evidence of a difficult life, but her beauty has not faded yet. The "rejuvenation" of the heroine was also dictated by the requirement of psychological certainty. 20 years have passed since the marriage and death of Matryona's first-born (if she is 38, not 60!) and the events of the chapters "She-Wolf", "Governor" and "Hard Year" are still quite fresh in her memory. That is why Matryona's speech sounds so emotional, so excited.
Matrena Timofeevna is not only beautiful, dignified, healthy. A smart, courageous woman with a rich, generous, poetic soul, she was created for happiness. And she was very lucky in some ways: a “good, non-drinking” native family (not everyone is like that!), marriage for love (how often did this happen?), prosperity (how not to envy?), patronage of the governor (what happiness! ). Is it any wonder that the legend of the "governor" went for a walk in the villages, that fellow villagers "denigrated" her, as Matryona herself says with bitter irony, a lucky woman.
And on the example of the fate of the "lucky" Nekrasov reveals the whole terrible drama of peasant life. The whole story of Matryona is a refutation of the legend about her happiness. From chapter to chapter the drama grows, leaving less room for naive illusions.
In the plot of the main stories of the chapter "Peasant Woman" ("Before Marriage", "Songs", "Demushka", "She-Wolf", "Hard Year", "Woman's Parable"), Nekrasov selected and concentrated the most ordinary, everyday and at the same time the most events characteristic of the life of a Russian peasant woman: work from an early age, simple girlish entertainment, matchmaking, marriage, humiliated position and difficult life in a strange family, family quarrels, beatings, the birth and death of children, caring for them, overwork, hunger in lean years , the bitter lot of a mother-soldier with many children. These events determine the circle of interests, the structure of thoughts and feelings of the peasant woman. They are remembered and presented by the narrator in their temporal sequence, which creates a feeling of simplicity and ingenuity, so inherent in the heroine herself. But for all the outward everydayness of events, the plot of the “Peasant Woman” is full of deep inner drama and social sharpness, which are due to the originality of the heroine herself, her ability to deeply feel, emotionally experience events, her moral purity and exactingness, her disobedience and courage.
Matryona not only acquaints the wanderers (and the reader!) with the history of her life, she “opens her whole soul” to them. The tale form, the narration in the first person, gives it a special liveliness, spontaneity, life-like persuasiveness, opens up great opportunities for revealing the innermost depths of the inner life of a peasant woman, hidden from the eyes of an outside observer.
Matrena Timofeevna tells about her hardships simply, with restraint, without exaggerating her colors. Out of inner delicacy, she even keeps silent about her husband's beatings, and only after the question of the wanderers: “It’s like you didn’t beat it?”, Embarrassed, she admits that there was such a thing. She is silent about her experiences after the death of her parents:
Heard dark nights
Heard violent winds
orphan sadness,
And you don't need to say...
Matrena says almost nothing about those moments when she was subjected to the shameful punishment of whips... But this restraint, in which the inner strength of the Russian peasant Korchagina is felt, only enhances the drama of her story. Excitedly, as if re-experiencing everything, Matryona Timofeevna tells about Philip's matchmaking, her thoughts and anxieties, the birth and death of her first child. Child mortality in the village was colossal, and with the oppressive poverty of the family, the death of a child was sometimes perceived with tears of relief: “God cleaned up”, “one mouth less!” Not so with Matryona. For 20 years, the pain of her mother's heart has not subsided. Even now she has not forgotten the charms of her firstborn:
How written was Demushka!
Beauty is taken from the sun...etc.
In the soul of Matrena Timofeevna, even after 20 years, anger boils against the “unrighteous judges” who sensed prey. That is why there is so much expression and tragic pathos in her curse to the "villainous executioners" ...
Matryona is first of all a woman, a mother who devoted herself entirely to caring for children. But, subjectively caused by maternal feelings, aimed at protecting children, her protest acquires a social coloring, family adversity pushes her onto the path of social protest. For her child and with God, Matryona will enter into an argument. She, a deeply religious woman, alone in the whole village did not obey the hypocrite wanderer, who forbade breastfeeding children on fast days:
If you endure, then mothers
I am a sinner before God
Not my child
Moods of anger, protest, sounded in the curse of Matryona to the “villain-executioners”, do not stall in the future, but manifest themselves in forms other than tears and angry cries: she pushed the headman away, tore Fedotushka, trembling like a leaf, out of his hands, silently lay down under the rod ("She-wolf"). But year after year more and more accumulates in the soul of a peasant woman, barely restrained pain and anger.
For me insults are mortal
Gone unpaid... —
Matrena admits, in whose mind, apparently, not without the influence of grandfather Saveliy (she runs into his gorenka in difficult moments of her life!), The thought of retribution, retribution is born. She cannot follow the advice of the proverb: "Keep your head down, humble heart."
I bow my head
I carry an angry heart! —
she paraphrases the proverb in relation to herself, and in these words is the result of the ideological development of the heroine. In the image of Matrena, Nekrasov generalized, typified the awakening of the people's consciousness, the mood of emerging social anger and protest, observed by him in the 60-70s.
The author constructs the plot of the chapter “Peasant Woman” in such a way that more and more difficulties arise on the life path of the heroine: family oppression, the death of a son, the death of parents, the “terrible year” of lack of bread, the threat of Philip’s recruitment, twice a fire, three times anthrax ... On the example of one fate, Nekrasov gives a vivid idea of the deeply tragic circumstances of the life of a peasant woman and the entire working peasantry in "liberated" Russia.
The compositional structure of the chapter (gradual escalation of dramatic situations) helps the reader to understand how the character of Matrena Timofeevna develops and strengthens in the struggle with life's difficulties. But for all the typical biography of Matryona Korchagina, there is something in it that distinguishes her from a number of others. After all, Matryona was denounced as a lucky woman, the whole district knows about her! The impression of unusualness, originality, vital uniqueness of fate and, most importantly, the originality of her nature is achieved by the introduction of the chapter "Governor". How not a lucky woman, whose son the governor herself baptized! There is something to marvel at the fellow villagers ... But even more surprising (already for the reader!) Is Matryona herself, who, not wanting to bow to fate, is sick, pregnant, runs at night to an unknown city, “reaches” the governor’s wife and saves her husband from recruitment . The plot situation of the chapter “Governor” reveals the strong-willed character, determination of the heroine, as well as her sensitive heart for goodness: the sympathetic attitude of the governor evokes in her a feeling of deep gratitude, in excess of which Matryona praises the kind lady Elena Alexandrovna.
However, Nekrasov is far from the idea that "the secret of people's contentment" lies in the lord's philanthropy. Even Matryona understands that philanthropy is powerless before the inhuman laws of the existing social order (“peasant / Orders are endless ...”) and ironically over her nickname “lucky”. While working on the chapter "The Governor", the author, obviously, sought to make the impact of the meeting with the governor's wife on the further fate of the heroine less significant. In the draft versions of the chapter, it was indicated that Matryona, thanks to the intercession of the governor's wife, happened to help out her fellow villagers, that she received gifts from her benefactor. In the final text, Nekrasov omitted these points.
Initially, the chapter about Matryona Korchagina was called "The Governor". Apparently, not wanting to attach too much importance to the episode with the governor's wife, Nekrasov gives the chapter a different, broadly generalizing name - "Peasant Woman", and the story about the meeting of Matryona with the governor's wife (it is needed to emphasize the unusual fate of the heroine) pushes back, makes the penultimate plot episode of the chapter. As the final chord of the confession of the peasant woman Korchagina, there is a bitter "woman's parable" about the lost "keys to women's happiness", a parable expressing the people's view of women's fate:
Keys to female happiness
From our free will
abandoned, lost
God himself!
To remember this full of hopelessness legend, told by a passing wanderer, Matryona is forced by the bitter experience of her own life.
And you - for happiness stuck your head!
It's a shame, well done! —
she throws with a reproach to the strangers.
The legend of the happiness of the peasant woman Korchagina has been dispelled. However, with the entire content of the chapter "Peasant Woman" Nekrasov tells the contemporary reader how and where to look for the lost keys. Not “keys to female happiness”... There are no such special, “female” keys for Nekrasov; from social oppression and lawlessness.
“To whom it is good to live in Rus'” is one of the most famous works of N.A. Nekrasov. In the poem, the writer managed to reflect all the hardships and torments that the Russian people endure. Characterization of heroes is especially significant in this context. “Who should live well in Rus'” is a work rich in bright, expressive and original characters, which we will consider in the article.
Prologue Meaning
A special role for understanding the work is played by the beginning of the poem "To whom in Rus' it is good to live." The prologue is reminiscent of a fairy-tale opening of the type "In a certain kingdom":
In what year - count
In what land - guess ...
Further, it is told about the peasants who came from different villages (Neelova, Zaplatova, etc.). All names and names are speaking, Nekrasov gives a clear description of places and heroes with them. In the prologue, the journey of men begins. This is where the fabulous elements in the text end, the reader is introduced to the real world.
List of heroes
All the heroes of the poem can be conditionally divided into four groups. The first group consists of the main characters who set off for happiness:
- Demyan;
- Novel;
- Prov;
- Groin;
- Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin;
- Luke.
Then come the landowners: Obolt-Obolduev; Glukhovskaya; Utyatin; Shalashnikov; Peremetiev.
Serfs and peasants met by travelers: Yakim Nagoi, Yegor Shutov, Ermil Girin, Sidor, Ipat, Vlas, Klim, Gleb, Yakov, Agap, Proshka, Savely, Matrena.
And heroes that do not belong to the main groups: Vogel, Altynnikov, Grisha.
Now consider the key characters of the poem.
Dobrosklonov Grisha
Grisha Dobrosklonov appears in the episode "A Feast for the Whole World", the entire epilogue of the work is devoted to this character. He himself is a seminarian, the son of a deacon from the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki. Grisha's family lives very poorly, only thanks to the generosity of the peasants it was possible to raise him and his brother Savva to their feet. Their mother, a laborer, died early from overwork. For Grisha, her image merged with the image of the homeland: "With love for the poor mother, love for all Vakhlachin."
Being still a fifteen-year-old child, Grisha Dobrosklonov decided to devote his life to helping the people. In the future, he wants to go to Moscow to study, but for now, together with his brother, he helps the peasants as best he can: he works with them, explains new laws, reads documents to them, writes letters for them. Grisha composes songs that reflect observations of the poverty and suffering of the people, discussions about the future of Russia. The appearance of this character enhances the lyricism of the poem. Nekrasov's attitude to his hero is unambiguously positive, the writer sees in him a revolutionary from the people who should become an example for the upper strata of society. Grisha voices the thoughts and position of Nekrasov himself, the solution of social and moral problems. N.A. is considered the prototype of this character. Dobrolyubova.
Ipat
Ipat is a “sensitive slave”, as Nekrasov calls him, and in this description one can hear the irony of the poet. This character also causes laughter among wanderers when they learn about his life. Ipat is a grotesque character, he became the embodiment of a faithful lackey, a lord's serf who remained faithful to his master even after the abolition of serfdom. He is proud and considers it a great blessing for himself how the master bathed him in the hole, harnessed him to the cart, saved him from death, to which he himself condemned. Such a character cannot even evoke sympathy from Nekrasov, only laughter and contempt can be heard from the poet.
Korchagina Matrena Timofeevna
The peasant woman Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina is the heroine to whom Nekrasov devoted the entire third part of the poem. Here is how the poet describes her: “A portly woman, about thirty-eight, wide and dense. Beautiful ... big eyes ... stern and swarthy. She has a white shirt on, and a short sundress. Travelers are led to the woman by her words. Matrena agrees to tell about her life if the men help in the harvest. The title of this chapter (“Peasant Woman”) emphasizes the typical fate of Korchagina for Russian women. And the words of the author “it’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women” emphasize the futility of the search for wanderers.
Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina was born into a non-drinking, good family, and she lived happily there. But after marriage, she ended up "in hell": her father-in-law is a drunkard, her mother-in-law is superstitious, she had to work for her sister-in-law without straightening her back. Matryona was still lucky with her husband: he only beat her once, but all the time, except for winter, he was at work. Therefore, there was no one to intercede for the woman, the only one who tried to protect her was grandfather Savely. The woman endures the harassment of Sitnikov, who has no control, because he is the master's manager. Matryona's only consolation is her first child, Dema, but due to Savely's oversight, he dies: the boy is eaten by pigs.
Time passes, Matrena has new children, parents and grandfather Savely die of old age. The lean years become the most difficult, when the whole family has to starve. When her husband, the last intercessor, is taken to the soldiers out of turn, she goes to the city. He finds the general's house and throws himself at the feet of his wife, asking to intercede. Thanks to the help of the general's wife, Matryona and her husband return home. It was after this incident that everyone considers her lucky. But in the future, only troubles await the woman: her eldest son is already in the soldiers. Nekrasov, summing up, says that the key to female happiness has long been lost.
Agap Petrov
Agap is an intractable and stupid peasant, according to the peasants who know him. And all because Petrov did not want to put up with voluntary slavery, to which fate pushed the peasants. The only thing that could calm him down was wine.
When he was caught carrying a log from the master's forest and accused of theft, he could not stand it and told the owner everything he thought about the real state of affairs and life in Russia. Klim Lavin, not wanting to punish Agap, staged a brutal reprisal against him. And then, wanting to console him, he gives him water. But humiliation and excessive drinking lead the hero to the fact that in the morning he dies. Such is the payment of the peasants for the right to openly express their thoughts and desire to be free.
Veretennikov Pavlush
Veretennikov was met by peasants in the village of Kuzminsky, at a fair, he is a collector of folklore. Nekrasov gives a poor description of his appearance and does not talk about his origin: "What kind of title, the men did not know." However, for some reason, everyone calls him a master. necessary in order for the image of Pavlusha to be generalized. Against the background of people, Veretennikov stands out for his anxiety about the fate of the Russian people. He is not an indifferent observer, as are the participants in the many inactive committees that Yakim Nagoi denounces. Nekrasov emphasizes the hero's kindness and responsiveness by the fact that his first appearance is already marked by a disinterested act: Pavlusha helps out a peasant who buys shoes for his granddaughter. Genuine concern for the people also disposes travelers to the "master".
The prototype of the image was the ethnographers-folklorists Pavel Rybnikov and Pavel Yakushkin, who participated in the democratic movement of the 60s of the XIX century. The surname belongs to the journalist P.F. Veretennikov, who visited rural fairs and published reports in Moskovskie Vedomosti.
Jacob
Jacob is a faithful serf, a former courtyard, he is described in a part of the poem called "A Feast for the Whole World." The hero was faithful to the owner, endured any punishment and performed meekly even the most difficult work. This continued until the master, who liked the bride of his nephew, sent him to the recruiting service. Yakov first started drinking, but nevertheless returned to the owner. However, the man wanted revenge. Once, when he was taking Polivanov (the gentleman) to his sister, Yakov turned off the road into the Devil's ravine, unharnessed his horse and hanged himself in front of the owner, wanting to leave him alone with his conscience all night. Similar cases of revenge were indeed common among the peasants. Nekrasov took the true story he heard from A.F. as the basis of his story. Horses.
Ermila Girin
The characterization of the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is impossible without a description of this character. It is Ermila that can be attributed to those lucky ones who were looking for travelers. A.D. became the prototype of the hero. Potanin, a peasant who manages the Orlov estate, famous for his unprecedented justice.
Jirin is revered among the peasants because of his honesty. For seven years he was burgomaster, but only once he allowed himself to abuse his power: he did not give his younger brother Mitriy to the recruits. But the unrighteous act tormented Yermila so much that he almost killed himself. The situation was saved by the intervention of the master, he restored justice, returned the peasant unfairly sent to recruits and sent Mitrius to serve, but he personally took care of him. Jirin then left the service and became a miller. When the mill that he rented was sold, Yermila won the auction, but he did not have money with him to pay the deposit. The peasant was rescued by the people: in half an hour, the peasants who remember the good collected a thousand rubles for him.
All of Girin's actions were driven by a desire for justice. Despite the fact that he lived in prosperity and had a considerable household, when a peasant revolt broke out, he did not stand aside, for which he ended up in prison.
Pop
Characterization continues. “Who in Rus' should live well” is a work rich in characters of different classes, characters and aspirations. Therefore, Nekrasov could not help but turn to the image of a clergyman. According to Luka, it is the priest who should "live cheerfully, freely in Rus'." And the first on their way, the seekers of happiness meet the village priest, who refutes the words of Luke. The priest has no happiness, wealth or peace. And getting an education is very difficult. The life of a clergyman is not at all sweet: he accompanies the dying on their last journey, blesses those who are born, and his soul aches for the suffering and tormented people.
But the people themselves do not particularly honor the priest. He and his family are constantly subject to superstition, anecdotes, obscene ridicule and songs. And all the wealth of the priests consisted of donations from parishioners, among whom were many landowners. But with the abolition, most of the rich flock dispersed around the world. In 1864, the clergy were also deprived of another source of income: the schismatics, by decree of the emperor, came under the care of the civil authorities. And with the pennies that the peasants bring, "it's hard to live."
Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev
Our characterization of the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is coming to an end, of course, we could not give a description of all the characters in the poem, but included the most important ones in the review. The last of their significant heroes was Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, a representative of the lordly class. He is round, pot-bellied, mustachioed, ruddy, stocky, he is sixty years old. One of the famous ancestors of Gavrila Afanasyevich is a Tatar who entertained the Empress with wild animals, stole from the treasury and plotted to set fire to Moscow. Obolt-Obolduev is proud of his ancestor. But he is sad because now he can no longer cash in on peasant labor, as before. The landowner covers up his sorrows with concern for the peasant and the fate of Russia.
This idle, ignorant and hypocritical person is convinced that the purpose of his estate is in one thing - "to live by the labor of others." Creating an image, Nekrasov does not skimp on shortcomings and endows his hero with cowardice. This feature is shown in a comic case when Obolt-Obolduev takes unarmed peasants for robbers and threatens them with a pistol. The peasants had to work hard to dissuade the former owner.
Conclusion
Thus, the poem by N. A. Nekrasov is full of a number of bright, original characters, designed from all sides to reflect the position of the people in Russia, the attitude of different classes and representatives of power towards them. It is thanks to such a number of descriptions of human destinies, often based on real stories, that the work leaves no one indifferent.