Could Stolz return Oblomov to active life? Why didn’t Olga Ilyinskaya manage to “resurrect” Oblomov? A hero opposite to Oblomov.

To understand Goncharov’s novel, it is necessary first of all to answer the question of what is the tragedy of Oblomov’s life. That is why this topic is often chosen for school essays. We’ll talk about how to complete the task correctly and not miss anything important in this article.

“What is the tragedy of Oblomov’s life?”: plan

Traditionally, any essay is written according to the following scheme: introduction, main part and conclusion. To make things easier, these parts are sometimes divided into paragraphs and given names. Let's try to make a plan for our work:

  • Introduction - a brief description of the hero and identification of the issues.
  • The hero's dreams, his view of the world.
  • Childhood years, life in Oblomovka.
  • Comparison of Oblomov with Stolz.
  • Conclusions.

Now we will describe each part in detail.

Introductory part

So, what is the tragedy of Oblomov’s life? The essay can begin with the fact that Ilya Ilyich is the main character of the novel. He is a complex and contradictory character, but this is not noticeable at first glance. The reader is presented with a lazy landowner who has lived in one place for many years and abandoned the family estate. Oblomov is still young - he is a little over 30, but he is apathetic, lazy and spoiled. My favorite pastime is lying on the couch and thinking about something.

On the other hand, he is kind, affectionate, gentle, simple-minded and trusting. He is not stupid, but he cannot achieve anything in life. What prevents him from realizing himself? The answer to this question lies in his childhood.

Beautiful Oblomovka

Let's try to understand what the tragedy of Oblomov's life is. Those traits that prevented Ilya Ilyich from doing something significant were instilled in childhood. He grew up surrounded by the care of nannies; no one prepared him for real life. Ilyusha quickly got used to the fact that others do everything for him, and he should live in peace and idleness. If the barich had a desire to do something, he was immediately calmed down and sent to sleep or eat.

The life of Oblomovka was motionless and closed; there were no goals for its inhabitants. On the other hand, it is also a model of harmonious existence; there is nature, mother’s love, Russian hospitality, and traditional holidays. For Oblomov, this world is ideal; he looks at life from the point of view of a resident of Oblomovka. That is why the “St. Petersburg desires” to get rich and make a career do not attract him.

Separation from the estate where he grew up became a real tragedy for little Ilya. He did not like studying at the boarding school, and it was no better in Moscow. When I went to St. Petersburg and entered the service, I left it after two years because I didn’t want to achieve anything and didn’t see the point in it.

Dreamer

Now in the essay “What is the tragedy of Oblomov’s life?” You can move on to a description of his St. Petersburg life. This is the time when Ilya Ilyich isolated himself from society and indulged in dreams. Nothing could force him to leave the house. Gradually, apathy destroyed all his spiritual needs, humane impulses and desires. All that was left was a sleepy mumble. Physical passivity develops into mental one.

What stopped Oblomov and prevented him from achieving success? The answer is quite simple. Ilya Ilyich did not want to lose his humanity, kindness and gentleness. And they would have to be sacrificed in order to achieve success in St. Petersburg. Only a heartless and callous person who thinks only of himself could make a career here. The running around and “trashy passions” of local society aroused disgust and contempt in him, he could not get over himself.

Ilya Ilyich received a very good education and in his youth he was passionate about progressive ideas; he wanted to serve his country. But all his positive aspirations and qualities were supplanted by laziness and lack of will. The worries, difficulties and worries of life frighten the hero, so he hides from them in his apartment. Even love could not bring him out of his stupor.

Oblomov lies on the sofa not only because the master can afford it, but also because this is the only way he can preserve his humanity and live in peace.

Stolz and Oblomov

We practically understood what the tragedy of Oblomov’s life was. This is his inability to act. But in the novel there is another person who is the complete opposite of the hero - Stolz, his childhood friend. He is constantly busy with something, active, purposeful, and successful in the world. These characters are often compared to highlight their character traits.

It is Stolz who manages to force Ilya Ilyich to act, bring him into the world, introduce him to his friends and Olga Sergeevna Ilyinskaya. For a while, Oblomov literally comes to life, he is carried away by new acquaintances and even falls in love. It seems that Stolz is about to change his friend’s fate, but everything turns out to be in vain. The attempt leads nowhere. He is unable to fix anything and give his friend a new life.

As soon as Oblomov is left to his own devices, he again hides from the whole world. Even his feelings for Ilyinskaya, who reciprocated his feelings, did not force him to get up from the couch and change anything.

After this, Oblomov’s life begins to gradually fade, he moves less and less. And in the end he dies of a stroke at a fairly young age. His life seems useless and aimless. He never left anything behind.

“What is the tragedy of Oblomov’s life?”: quotes

The text of the work contains phrases indicating the reason for the tragic fate of the main character. Some of them can be inserted into an essay. Let's list them here:

  • "Carefree sloth."
  • “I couldn’t comprehend my life, so I was bored and burdened by everything I had to do.”
  • Oblomov’s words about St. Petersburg life: “...running around, the eternal game of passions, especially greed, gossip, gossip, interrupting each other’s paths,... looking from head to toe; If you listen to what they’re talking about, your head will go spinning, you’ll go crazy.”
  • “This is a transparent, crystal soul” (Stolz about Oblomov).
  • “He lies here, does not poke around, maintaining his peace and his human dignity” (the author about the hero’s life in St. Petersburg).

Let's sum it up

Now we can say with confidence what kind of person Oblomov was. The essay can be concluded with a small conclusion that the main character is the personification of a typical Russian person. He is not stupid, full of virtue, selfless, his spiritual world is rich, his heart is full of noble aspirations - to help his loved ones, his country, to change everything for the better. But laziness and weak character prevent these impulses and aspirations from coming true. It was these two traits that gave Oblomov’s life tragedy, and they were “fed” in childhood. It is in this that Goncharov sees the reason that Russia lags behind Europe - let's not forget that Stolz is German by birth.

We hope that now you understand what the tragedy of Oblomov’s life is. This can be briefly explained this way: lack of ability to deal with any, even the most insignificant, obstacles. And the blame here rests entirely on the upbringing of little Ilyusha. It was Oblomovka who deprived him of his will.

The Frenchman Albert Camus once noted that the words “I love you” are equivalent to the words “you will never die.” The ancients considered love to be an invaluable gift of the gods, a feeling sent down from above. The great creators of words dedicated beautiful lines to love. The line of love can also be traced in the novel by I.A. Goncharov "Oblomov".

“Love - it comes in different forms,

There is a reflection on the ice,

It can be a persistent pain,

There is an apple tree in bloom.

It happens like a whirlwind and a flight,

It can be a chain and a prison... - wrote Olga Vysotskaya in a famous poem about love. For some, love brings joy and peace, and for others, grief and disappointment. This feeling can help you start a new life, or it can ruin you.

Love comes to our hero too. But could his beloved help him change, revive him for a new life? Why couldn’t Oblomov share his happiness with Olga Ilyinskaya and “resurrect”? Let's try to answer this question.

Before meeting Olga, his life resembles a motionless surface of water with muddy, muddy water. There is nothing in it that would make Ilya Oblomov get up from the couch and take any action. In his youth, he dreamed of the good of Russia, of a full active life. He had abilities. But this was in his native Oblomovka, where everyone cared about him and his comfort. Left alone with life, Oblomov loses his youthful enthusiasm. He gets bored of going to work and sitting there all day; receptions and receptions also do not attract him. He closed himself off, taking a liking to the sofa and communicating only with his servant Zakhar and Stolz, who occasionally came to him.

It was Stolz who provoked the meeting between Oblomov and Olga Ilyinskaya when he took the latter to a reception at Ilyinskaya’s house. Oblomov is impressed by a charming and sincere girl with a beautiful voice. She also showed interest in him. And Oblomov, noticing her, continues to think about Olga. It can be assumed that Ilya Ilyich is in love. He feels a desire to be liked, changes his life: “He is with Olga from morning to evening; he reads with her, sends flowers, walks along the lake, in the mountains...” His internal and external appearance changes, dreams and youthful aspirations flare up again. Alas! This did not last long. Habitual laziness returns to the hero again.

Why? Most likely, Olga Ilyinskaya’s feeling was not sincere and strong. And is this love on her part? After all, she looked at Oblomov as a friend who needed help and care. She rather tried to make him the embodiment of her own dream of an ideal person, encouraging him to action.

And our hero realized this when the first emotional outburst passed. He realizes that Olga “was ready to receive love, her heart was sensitively waiting for her, and he met by accident, got in by mistake...” Ilya Ilyich is sure that if someone else meets, more active, and Olga Ilyinskaya will renounce him and go after to others. He writes a farewell letter to his beloved and breaks off the relationship.

I think writing a letter is nothing more than a confirmation that Oblomov, despite his apparent laziness, is a sensitive and tactful person. He is able to understand the feelings of other people and understand them. And from this it follows that he is not as indifferent and lazy as he seems. But cowardice and self-doubt are characteristic of him. If Ilya Ilyich had been more decisive, he would have fought for the woman he loved. But he chose to refuse this, having decided in advance the outcome of the fight with an imaginary opponent.

Ilyinskaya failed to resurrect Ilya Oblomov precisely because of his character: soft, indecisive. On the one hand, fear, inaction and suspiciousness, lack of self-confidence prevented the hero from changing.

The romance with Ilyinskaya was doomed from the very beginning. Ilya Ilyich fell in love with her, but did she love him? They weren't right for each other. The rational and active Olga and the sybarite Oblomov could not be a family.

The heroes became friends in childhood, when Ilya’s parents were forced to send their son to study at the boarding school of the German Stolz. The teacher's son, Andrei, always looked after his friend and tried to influence his beliefs and his way of life. He helped Oblomov during his studies both at the boarding school and at the university, but after their paths went separately, they rarely met.

One day Andrei came to a friend’s rented apartment in St. Petersburg. They talked about life, about Oblomovka, and Andrei reproached his friend for inaction, told him about the need to change his life, to take care of business on the estate. Then Stolz invited Oblomov to “complete the ideal of life...”. Ilya Ilyich dreams out loud, talking about a pleasant pastime, which is an idyll of idleness. He never mentioned any activity, since work was not part of his plans. Even the wife should read a book out loud when he is relaxing on the sofa.

The lordly habits appear in everything in his dreams: all his desires are served by serfs, about whose work he has unrealistic ideas, drawing the idyll of their labor. During the day, Oblomov’s routine included a large place in eating; Ilya Ilyich had meals six times: in the house, on the veranda, in the birch grove, in the meadow, and again in the house in the evening. No activities except contemplation of nature, conversations on pleasant topics or relaxation while listening to music. And then Andrei began to convince Ilya to change the painted picture in order to return to an active life, not to fade away in his young years.

Until the next meeting, two years later, some changes took place. Stolz is still very active, he came to St. Petersburg “for two weeks on business, then went to the village, then to Kyiv...” He stopped by a friend’s name day, on Elijah’s day. At this time, Ilya Ilyich was already living in the apartment of the widow Agafya Pshenitsyna. He broke up with Olga, entrusted the affairs of the estate to Zaterty (a friend of the mistress’s brother), and now he is being robbed by fraudulent means by Tarantyev and his friend.

Stolz is upset by his friend’s affairs, reminds Oblomov of his words spoken in their last conversation, “Now or never!” Oblomov sadly admits that he did not succeed in reviving life, although there were attempts: “... I do not lie idly, ... I subscribe to two magazines and books...”. However, he broke up with the woman he loved because his laziness and inaction did not disappear even in the best time of his life, during the period of love. Stolz summarizes: “Please note that life and work itself is the goal of life...”. He calls on Ilya Ilyich to action for his own sake, so as not to perish completely: to go to the village, arrange everything there, “tinker with the peasants, get involved in their affairs, build, plant...”. Oblomov complains about his health, but Andrei tells him about the need to change his lifestyle, “so as not to die completely, not to be buried alive...”.

Stolz learns that Oblomov is being robbed by people who call themselves his friends. Andrei forced Oblomov to sign a power of attorney to manage the estate in his name and “announced to him that he was renting Oblomovka” temporarily, and then Oblomov “himself would come to the village and get used to the farm.”

There is a conversation between friends again about their attitude to life. Oblomov complains about life, which “touches him, there is no peace!” And Stolz urges him not to extinguish this fire of life, so that it is “constantly burning.” Ilya Ilyich objects to these words, saying that he does not have the same abilities and talents as Stolz, who is endowed with “wings.” Andrey has to remind his friend that he “lost his skills as a child”: “It started with the inability to put on stockings and ended with the inability to live.”

Roman I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov" permeates the pathos of social criticism. The collision of two heroes (Ilya Oblomov and Andrei Stolts), two opposing lifestyles can be viewed in a broad social sense.

Oblomov in this regard symbolizes the inert feudal nobility, which has flourished everywhere in the vastness of the Russian land. He spends most of his time on the couch. Any work does not attract him: he cannot even finish reading a book he has started for years. The author constantly emphasizes the gentleness both in the character of the hero and in everything that surrounds him.

The image of the sleeping Oblomov symbolizes the ruined mind, inertia and inertia of the Russian nobility. The hero harbors some abstract plans for reform, but with his immaturity, these plans are never destined to come true. Oblomov seems to be “quietly and gradually settling into the coffin of the rest of his existence, made with his own hands, like desert elders who, turning away from life, dig their own grave.”

Andrei Stolz (this is evidenced by the German origin of the hero) is an adherent of the active capitalist mentality that came to us from Europe. An active, economic rationalist breaks into the sluggish life of Oblomovka in order to shake up the existing way of life and revive Ilya Ilyich to a different existence. It is no coincidence that Stolz reminds Oblomov of his youthful dreams of going on a trip.

Andrey introduces Ilya Ilyich to Olga, hoping that love can change a friend. At some point, the heroine was able to awaken sparks of living life in her admirer. However, Oblomov and Olga are different people. And the heroine soon realized this. She exclaims: “I loved the future Oblomov! You are meek and honest, Ilya; you are gentle... like a dove; you hide your head under your wing - and don’t want anything more; you’re ready to coo under the roof all your life... but I’m not like that: this is not enough for me, I need something else, but I don’t know what!”

In the end, Olga chooses Stolz. This indicates that the future belongs to such active and enterprising people. “He was all made up of bones, muscles and nerves, like a blooded English horse,” writes I.A. Goncharov. Stolz's ideal is material wealth, comfort and well-being, which he achieves through his own labor: the hero lives by reason, and his inert friend lives by feelings and dreams.

Oblomov sees wonderful dreams, but this does not change anything in his real life. Looking at this, Stolz derives his own term denoting landowner idleness and inertia, leading to death - “Oblomovism.”

Why didn’t A. Stolz manage to change Oblomov’s lifestyle? The fact is that Ilya Ilyich is not just afraid of change: he also protected himself from the living and diverse world with a special philosophy of life in order to justify his inaction and laziness. Oblomov is soaring in the clouds of his own illusions, claiming that he has no empty desires and thoughts. He despises vanity and is proud that he can afford not to engage in trade, not to go to the office with a report or papers - to be above all the base problems of everyday life. Oblomov is satisfied with himself, so he does not strive to change. The hero refuses to grow up and understand that no miracle that suddenly descends on him will solve all the pressing problems either in the household or in his personal life.

However, gradually a belated insight still comes to Ilya Ilyich. He confesses to Stolz: “From the first minute, when I became conscious of myself, I felt that I was already fading away... Either I didn’t understand this life, or it’s no good, and I didn’t know anything better, I didn’t see anything, no one showed it to me.” ..." Although Oblomov has not changed, he at least belatedly admitted his mistakes. The trouble is that he did not see a life ideal in front of him, and due to the nature of his soul, he could not become like Stolz.