We recommend reading it. “Truth and beauty have always been the main thing in human life...” Philosophical issues in the story by A.P.

An important place in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is occupied by the image of Tatyana Larina - Pushkin’s “sweet ideal”. It was in her person that the poet embodied the best feminine qualities that he noticed in life. It seems to me that the image of Tatiana embodies the ideal of truthfulness and spiritual beauty.

For Pushkin, it is very important that the heroine is “Russian in soul.” What makes her like this, and what traits of her character are close to Pushkin? What Russian person doesn’t love nature and the Russian beauty winter! The poet emphasizes the heroine’s closeness to nature in her portrait:

Dick, sad, silent,

Like a forest deer, timid...

Tatyana likes to watch the sunrise, wander through the forests, enjoy the silence and harmony of nature, and relax in its bosom. It is no coincidence that the heroine does not want to leave the estate and contrasts the “hateful life” of high society in St. Petersburg with her native, rural places close to her heart, and vast open spaces.

Tatyana Pushkin gives a purely Russian name, unconventional for noble heroines, with which “the memory of antiquity is inseparable.” After all, the heroine is the embodiment of national character. It is closely connected with people's life through spiritual ties.

The best personality traits of Tatyana are rooted in folk soil. Raised by a simple peasant woman, just like Pushkin himself, Tatyana received from Filipyevna all the folk wisdom, comprehended the concepts of good and evil, duty. Knowledge of folklore, fairy tales, rituals, folk traditions, “sweet legends of common folk antiquity,” Russian dreams serves as proof of this.

Pushkin is always happy to emphasize Tatyana’s individuality, her difference from empty girls. The heroine's feelings are full of sincerity and purity. She knows neither mannered affectation, nor sly coquetry, nor sentimental sensitivity - all that was characteristic of most of her peers. She fell in love with Onegin “not in jest,” seriously, for the rest of her life. Her naively pure, touching and sincere letter breathes with deep feeling, it is full of sublime simplicity. The reverent words of her declaration of love for Evgeniy are so similar to the confessions of Pushkin himself!

And finally, Pushkin admires the natural intelligence of his heroine. Tatyana’s intellectual development helps her in St. Petersburg to understand and internally reject the “hateful tinsel of life”, to preserve her
strong moral character. And the world sees a strong-willed nature in her and realizes her superiority. But, although Tatyana hides her feelings under the mask of a society lady, Pushkin still sees her suffering. Tatyana wants to run to the village, but she can’t. The heroine is not capable of cheating on the person she married. No matter who he is, she will never hurt him. This once again proves her spiritual superiority over those around her, her fidelity and devotion to her husband.

In the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin created a new literary type, which has no analogues in Russian literature.

According to Belinsky, “he was the first to poetically reproduce, in the person of Tatyana, a Russian woman.”

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“...Truth and beauty... have always been the main thing in human life and on earth in general...” (A. P. Chekhov) (based on Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”)

“...Truth and beauty... have always been the main thing in human life and on earth in general...” (A. P. Chekhov)

An important place in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is occupied by the image of Tatyana Larina - Pushkin’s “sweet ideal”. It was in her person that the poet embodied the best feminine qualities that he noticed in life.

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“Truth and beauty have always been the main thing in human life...” : philosophical problems of the story by A.P. Chekhov's "Student". The meaning of gospel themes and images in the work.

What kind of whiner am I? What kind of “pessimist” am I?
After all, of my things, my favorite story is “The Student”...
A.P. Chekhov.

Target: disclosure of philosophical issues and the meaning of gospel themes and images in A.P. Chekhov’s story “Student”.

Tasks:

• determine the functions of the landscape in the story;
• consider the character system;
• reveal the meaning of the gospel plot as the philosophical and compositional core of the story;
• identify the relevance of the problems of the story “Student”.

Students should be able to:

• perform textual analysis of a work of a small genre form;
• reveal the meaning of gospel themes and images in the work;
• identify the relevance of the philosophical issues of a work of classical literature.

Equipment: texts of A.P. Chekhov's story “Student”, audio recordings of music by Albinoni, V.-A. Mozart (excerpt from “Requiem”), V. Butusov’s song “I dreamed that Christ was risen...”, A. Me’s book “Son of Man”, printouts with quotes by V.-A. Mozart, Saadi, A.S. Pushkina, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.A. Blok.

PROGRESS OF THE LESSON

Call

Teacher's opening speech.

In the last lesson, we described the main features of A.P.’s prose. Chekhov, whose work became a kind of final page in the development of Russian classics of the 19th century. You know that he dreamed of writing a novel, but he went down in the history of our literature as a master of the small genre. Please remember what is unique about Chekhov’s solution to the moral and philosophical problems that worried his great contemporaries - N.S. Leskova, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.

(On the pages of Chekhov’s works there is no detailed presentation of his philosophical views and lengthy philosophical monologues and dialogues of the characters (as, for example, in Tolstoy and Dostoevsky). The philosophical problems of his works seem to “grow” out of everyday realities).

Right! We will encounter a similar phenomenon in the story “The Student,” which we have to study today. We chose the story “The Student” for study, not least because Chekhov himself considered it one of the best in his work. This is evidenced by the writer’s own confession, taken as an epigraph to the lesson.

SLIDE 2

For the title of the topic of the lesson, lines from the story itself were taken: “Truth and beauty have always been the main thing in human life...” Philosophical problems of the story by A.P. Chekhov's "Student". The meaning of gospel themes and images in the work.”

SLIDE 3Now look at slide 3, where there are several pictures and texts at once.CNow I will comment on the content of the slide, and you, based on the topic of the lesson and the content of the slide, formulate the main questions that we will answer during the lesson.

So, the slide presents, Firstly, words by A.P. Chekhov, taken by us as an epigraph. According to the memoirs of Ivan Bunin, in response to accusations of pessimism and the absence of strong-willed heroes capable of action, A.P. Chekhov replied: “What kind of whiner am I? What kind of “pessimist” am I? After all, of my things, my favorite story is “Student” ... ".

Secondly , you see a photo of the painting “The Denial of the Apostle Peter” by the Danish artist Karl Bloch, who lived in the 19th century and below are the words from chapter 26 of the Gospelfrom Matthew, which this picture illustrates:“A little later those standing there came up and said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for your speech also convicts you.” Then he began to swear and swear that he did not know This Man. And suddenly the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. And going out, he wept bitterly.” These words are also quoted by the hero of the story “Student”.

Finally , the most unexpected images and texts - a photo of the album “Wings” (1995) by the group “Nautilus Pompilius” and V. Butusov, as well as the beginning of the song “I dreamed that Christ was risen, And alive, like me and you.”

So, I repeat: based on the topic of the lesson and the content of the slide, formulate the main questions that we have to answer during the lesson.

Possible student answers.

1) why exactly the story “Student” by A.P. Did you call Chekhov your favorite? 2) what philosophical problems did he raise here? 3) what role does the gospel story about the denial of the Apostle Peter play in revealing this issue? 4) finally, how is the story “The Student,” written at the end of the 19th century, connected with us living in the 21st century? what is its relevance?

Thank you!

SLIDE 4. So, the purpose of our lesson– starting from the particular – from specific everyday situations depicted by A.P. Chekhov in the story “The Student” - to determine its main philosophical issues, revealing the meaning of the Gospel story about the denial of the Apostle Peter in the structure of the work.

Comprehension

Let us turn to the text of the story, which opens with a description of the landscape : “The weather was good and calm at first. The blackbirds were screaming, and in the swamps nearby something living was humming plaintively, looked like it was blowing into an empty bottle. One woodcock held out, and a shot was fired at him in the spring air booming and fun. But when It got dark in the forest, a cold piercing wind blew inopportunely from the east, everything fell silent. Ice needles stretched across the puddles, and the forest became uncomfortable, deaf and unsociable.. It smelled like winter."

What character does this landscape have, on what principle is it built?

(The landscape that opens the story is internally contrasting; its description is built on the collision of two principles, two elements).

What forcescollide, enter into a fight?

(Good and evil, cold and heat, light and darkness collide. The fragile harmony of a quiet spring evening is disrupted by the intervention of the forces of evil, which temporarily gain victory).

On what day do the events of the story take place?(The action takes place on Good Friday, the eve of Easter).

What is significant about this day? SLIDE 5.

(In the life of Orthodox believers, this is the only day of its kind in terms of its degree of tragedy - the day when e given and before A whether torment, they crucified the Savior - Jesus Christ. The peculiarity of church services on this day, filled with special sorrow for the crucified Savior, is such that Christians should spend most of their time in church - only there and only in this way, praying and mourning with the whole parish, the whole Orthodox world, can one overcome the evil and death that are gaining exceptional strength on this terrible day).

Who is the main character of the story, Ivan, by origin, lifestyle, upbringing and education? SLIDE 6, 7

(The main character of the story is Ivan Velikopolsky, a student at the Theological Academy, the son of a sexton, i.e. he belongs to the clergy, is closely connected with the foundations of church life and should be perfectly aware of the essence of the events of Good Friday...)

So what? How he behaves on this day and how his actions can be assessed? SLIDE 6, 7

“Ivan Velikopolsky, a student at the Theological Academy, the son of a sexton, returning home from work, walked all the time along a path through a flooded meadow. His fingers were numb and his face was hot from the wind.

(Ivan returns home not from church, but from the forest, not from cathedral services and prayers (in which he is simply obliged to participate), but from hunting... By his action - going hunting - he renounces both Christ and his brothers - Christians ).

What is Ivan’s state of mind and what might motivate it?

“It seemed to him that this the sudden onset of cold disrupted the order and harmony in everything, which is terrible for nature itself, and therefore the evening darkness thickened faster than necessary. It was deserted and somehow especially gloomy all around.. Only in the widows' gardens near the river did the fire glow; far all around and where the village was, about four miles away, everything was completely buried in the cold evening darkness.”.

(He feels hard, sad, uncomfortable, he is depressed and overwhelmed by a gloomy mood, because, apparently, the voice of conscience does not give him peace... He feels that he acted immorally...)

SLIDE 8

Let's read what the hero is thinking about? What is the essence of these thoughts? Let us note that his thoughts move from the particular (everyday) to the general (global, eternal):“The student remembered that when he left home, his mother, sitting on the floor in the hallway, barefoot, was cleaning the samovar, and his father was lying on the stove and coughing; On the occasion of Good Friday, nothing was cooked at home, and I was painfully hungry. And now, shivering from the cold, the student thought that exactly the same wind blew under Rurik, and under Ivan the Terrible, and under Peter, and that under them there was exactly the same severe poverty, hunger, the same leaky thatched roofs, ignorance, melancholy, the same desert all around, darkness, a feeling of oppression - all these horrors were, are and will be, and because another thousand years will pass, life will not get better. And he didn’t want to go home.” SLIDE 9

(The student reflects on the loneliness and defenselessness of man in the face of darkness and cold, and the hero is convinced that evil is ineradicable, eternal, omnipresent. There is no justice and goodness in the world - this discovery literally freezes his heart. Ivan’s thoughts are surprisingly reminiscent of the thoughts of another student - Rodion Raskolnikov).

However, in the ocean of cold darkness, the light of a fire began to dawn. This fire is visible from afar.SLIDE 10

A. Fet “A fire blazes in the forest with the bright sun...”At one of the lessons dedicated to the poetry of A.A. Fet, we analyzed his poem “A fire burns with the bright sun in the forest...” and talked about how significant and multifaceted the images of a fire, a burning candle, and light in a window are in literature. The fire should warm and enlighten the soul of a tired and confused person... Will a miracle happen? Let's go up to the fire together with Ivan and look into the faces of the women.

SLIDE 10 ...THE FIRE WAS GLOWING IN THE WIDOW'S VEDGED...

By what principle do the portrait characteristics of the widow Vasilisa and her daughter Lukerya correlate? " The gardens were called widow's gardens because they were maintained by two widows, mother and daughter. The fire burned hotly, with a crackling sound, illuminating the plowed ground all around. The widow Vasilisa, a tall, plump old woman in a man's sheepskin coat, stood nearby and thoughtfully looked at the fire; her daughter Lukerya, small, pockmarked, with a stupid face, was sitting on the ground and washing the cauldron and spoons... Vasilisa, an experienced woman, who once served the masters as a mother, and then as a nanny, expressed herself delicately, and did not leave her face all the time a soft, sedate smile; her daughter Lukerya, a village woman, beaten down by her husband, only squinted at the student and was silent, and her expression was strange, like that of a deaf-mute.” .

(In describing the appearance of two women, the author uses the same principle of contrast, but behind the external opposition there is a deep internal unity of these images, due to a certain common spiritual basis: both women are Orthodox believers and literally understand Ivan at a glance, remembering the Apostle Peter).

What gospel story and in connection with what did Ivan remember??

SLIDE 11Denial of the Apostle Peter

“In exactly the same way, on a cold night, the Apostle Peter warmed himself by the fire,” said the student, stretching out his hands to the fire. “So it was cold then too.” Oh, what a terrible night it was, grandma! An extremely dull, long night!”

(He remembered the story of the denial of the Apostle Peter, apparently because, consciously or unconsciously, he identifies himself with Peter. This story corresponds to his state of mind and behavior).

“He looked around at the darkness, shook his head convulsively and asked:

– Probably, you were at the twelve gospels?

“It was,” Vasilisa answered.

– If you remember, during the Last Supper Peter said to Jesus: “With you I am ready to go to prison and to death.” And the Lord answered this: “I tell you, Peter, today the rooster will not crow until you deny three times that you do not know me.” After the supper, Jesus was mortally sad in the garden and prayed, and poor Peter was weary in soul, weakened, his eyelids became heavy, and he could not overcome sleep. Slept. Then, you heard, Judas kissed Jesus that same night and handed him over to his tormentors. They led him bound to the high priest and beat him, and Peter, exhausted, tormented by melancholy and anxiety, you know, not getting enough sleep, sensing that something terrible was about to happen on earth, followed after... He passionately, madly loved Jesus , and now I saw from afar how they beat him..."

SLIDES 12,13 READING THE 12 GOSPELS

A student asks about the 12 Gospels, and the women understand perfectly well what he is talking about. On Maundy Thursday - the eve of Good Friday - 12 passages selected from the 4 Gospels are read, which tell about the last hours of the Savior's earthly life. Let us turn to the pages of the book by priest Alexander Men “Son of Man” and read an excerpt from chapter 16 “Night in Gethsemane”. It tells the story of the Savior’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He loved to retire to prayer. The Lord prayed fervently even on the eve of his suffering on the cross.

Let's listen to the reading of excerpts about these events . Appendix 1 .

SLIDES 14-21

SLIDE 21 Kiss of Judas. Ilya Glazunov.

Let's return to the text of Chekhov's “Student”, to the episode that talks about Peter’s renunciation. A beloved student three times renounces the teacher whom he loves “passionately, without memory...”

SLIDE 22 Denial of the Apostle Peter

“They came to the high priest,” he continued, “they began to interrogate Jesus, and meanwhile the workers lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard, because it was cold, and warmed themselves. Peter stood with them near the fire and also warmed himself, just like I am now. One woman, seeing him, said: “And this one was with Jesus,” that is, that he, too, should be brought in for questioning. And all the workers who were near the fire must have looked at him suspiciously and sternly, because he became embarrassed and said: “I don’t know him.” A little later, again someone recognized him as one of Jesus’ disciples and said: “And you are one of them.” But he again denied. And for the third time someone turned to him: “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden today?” He denied for the third time. And after this time, the rooster immediately crowed, and Peter, looking at Jesus from afar, remembered the words that he had said to him at the supper... He remembered, woke up, left the yard and wept bitterly and bitterly. The Gospel says: “And he went out, weeping bitterly.” I imagine: a quiet, quiet, dark, dark garden, and in the silence you can barely hear muffled sobs... The student sighed and thought.”

What is the reaction of women to the retelling of an episode well known to them?

“Continuing to smile, Vasilisa suddenly sobbed, large, abundant tears flowed down her cheeks, and she shaded her face from the fire with her sleeve, as if ashamed of her tears, and Lukerya, looking motionless at the student, blushed, and her expression became heavy , tense, like a person who is holding back severe pain." (Vasilisa cries, and Lukerya’s face is distorted in pain).

How do Ivan and the women treat Peter?

(Events that happened 19 centuries ago are perceived by them as today. This is not a Christian myth or legend, as it is now fashionable to say. For believers, true Christians, Peter is by no means a fictional character, but a real person - alive, sinful, worthy of compassion. This is the same neighbor whom Jesus commanded to love. Chekhov’s heroines live in complete agreement with the teachings of Christ. Vasilisa cries with Peter, as if sympathizing with his fate, sympathizing with his grief, sharing his moral torment and repentance).

SLIDE 23

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy - M.M. Dunaev– spoke about the heroes of Chekhov’s story: “Women listening to the student undoubtedly experience what is being told in their souls, and thereby empathize with his mental anguish. And the student realized that through this experience an invisible unity of souls in Christ takes place, which alone can resist sin and despondency... Experiencing the betrayal of the Apostle Peter as one’s own helps the student to cleanse his soul - and to understand life differently.” SLIDE 24(quotes from I.N. Sukhikh and G.M. Friedlander).

Let's turn to the text and find confirmation of the words professors M. M. Dunaeva:

“Now the student was thinking about Vasilisa: if she cried, then it means that everything that happened on that terrible night with Peter has something to do with her...

He looked back. A lone fire blinked calmly in the darkness, and no people were visible near it. The student again thought that if Vasilisa cried and her daughter was embarrassed, then, obviously, what he had just talked about, which happened nineteen centuries ago, has something to do with the present - with both women and, probably, with this deserted village, to himself, to all people. If the old woman began to cry, it was not because he knew how to tell a touching story, but because Peter was close to her, and because she was interested with all her being in what was happening in Peter’s soul.”

SLIDE 25 Album gr. "Nautilus Pompilius" "WINGS" (1995)

101 years after the appearance of Chekhov's "Student", the group “Nautilus Pompilius” released the album “Wings” (1995), which included the song “I dreamed that Christ was risen...” Let's listen to the song based on the verses of Ilya Kormiltsev and think about how the experiences of its hero are similar to the experiences of Chekhov's heroes? Appendix 2 .

While the song is playing, SLIDES 26-29

Song message sounds“I dreamed that Christ was risen...” Appendix 2.

Thanks for the message! I hope everyone felt the inner similarity between the experiences of Chekhov’s student and the hero of the song by V. Butusov. However, there is undoubtedly a significant difference, especially regarding the ending of these two works.

SLIDE 30What mood will the ending of the story have?

“And when he crossed the river on a ferry and then, climbing the mountain, looked at his native village and to the west, where the cold crimson dawn shone in a narrow strip, he thought that the truth and beauty that guided human life there in the garden and in the courtyard of the high priest, continued continuously to this day and, apparently, always constituted the main thing in human life and in general on earth; and the feeling of youth, health, strength - he was only 22 years old - and the inexpressibly sweet expectation of happiness, unknown, mysterious happiness took possession of him little by little, and life seemed to him delightful, wonderful and full of high meaning.”

How and why did Ivan’s mood change? What truth did he discover for himself?

SLIDE 31

Let's read:“And joy suddenly stirred in his soul, and he even stopped for a minute to catch his breath. The past, he thought, is connected with the present by an unbroken chain of events that flow from one another. And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of this chain: he touched one end, and the other trembled.

(Communication with simple Russian women, sparks of their warmth, faith and understanding warmed the soul of the student, who realized that he was not alone. The world, which seemed “orphaned” and “empty” to him (like Butusov’s hero), suddenly acquired harmony, a feeling appeared involvement and unity with other people. Suddenly, another important and wise thought dawned on him: that everything in life is connected, nothing disappears without a trace, everything has its own deep meaning, and this connection of times is based on faith, goodness and love, which can win. death and evil).

SLIDES 32-33

Reflection

At this stage of the lesson, the teacher’s final word is heard, observations and knowledge obtained during the discussion of the story and viewing an excerpt from the film “The Apostle Peter” are summarized and systematized, these observations and knowledge are assessed, and the information received is understood and assimilated. The result should be that each student fills out “double diaries” . SLIDES 35-36

Final words from the teacher.

SLIDE 34. I’ll quote a literary criticGeorgy MikhailovichFriedlander:“The story told by Chekhov’s hero is a story about a village man like them, a simple fisherman... Just like Chekhov’s student and his listeners, the Evangelical Peter knew well the cold, homelessness, material deprivation, he warmed himself by a simple fire with others poor people. ... in a moment of unexpected testing, Peter could not cope with fear for himself and his life, he was afraid - and this forced him to renounce his Teacher. But a man of great weakness, Peter, according to the testimony of the Gospel, became a man of great strength, he overcame fear and courageously preached the word of the Teacher.” To these words I will add that the Apostle Peter, after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, began to courageously preach the Christian faith, despite the persecution of the persecutors and enemies of Christianity. He was subsequently crucified, like Christ.

SLIDE 34.

So, at the end of the story, the hero moves to his native village, home; from the emptiness of renunciation and loneliness to your neighbors, from darkness and cold to the dawn. The light of dawn symbolizes the beginning of a new stage in the life of a young student of the Theological Academy: the triumph of light over darkness, faith over unbelief and despondency, eternal memory over indifference and unconsciousness.Firelight "in the widows' gardens" warmed and enlightened his soul.

SLIDES 37-38.

To summarize, let us once again emphasize what philosophical problems did Chekhov address here? What is his story “The Student” about - this amazing pearl of philosophical prose of the 19th century?

(This story is about life and the search for its meaning, about good and evil, about human strength and weakness, about betrayal and repentance, about time (about the connection between the present and the past), about the fate of Christianity, about Russia, about you and me...)

And all this in a few pages. It was the Gospel episode about the Apostle Peter, which forms the core of “The Student,” that helped Chekhov solve a whole range of philosophical problems.

I think we managed to understand why Chekhov called this story his favorite, I hope you fell in love with this work too. This is what Russian classics mean! Rays diverge from it in all directions - to the past, present, future.

Filling out “double diaries”. Appendix 3 .

Now look at the slide and the printouts: you are offered a selection of quotes from prominent representatives of world culture. Using the “Double Diary” technique, reveal the meaning of these quotes and express your opinion, which of them and why can be taken as an epigraph to our lesson on the story “Student”?

References.

1. Zvinyatskovsky V.Ya. I start with Chekhov // Russian language and literature in secondary schools. 1990. No. 1. P. 6-12.
2. Sukhikh V.N. Human life: Chekhov's version // Chekhov A.P. Stories from the life of my friends. – St. Petersburg, 1994.
3. Friedlander G.M. Poetics of Russian realism. – L., 1971. P. 135-137.
4. Kharitonova O.N. Philosophical problem of A.P. Chekhov’s “Student” at a literature lesson in the 10th grade // Literature at school. 1993. No. 6. P.51-54.

Composition

The years of youth, which Nekrasov once called “the celebration of life,” comparatively rarely attract the attention of Chekhov the artist, but in any case less often than, for example, Russian writers of the first half of the 19th century. “Now you can’t take a hero under 30-35 years old,” said Chekhov, contrasting his heroes with 20-year-old Pechorin and Onegin.

One of the most interesting young heroes created by Chekhov is student Ivan Velikopolsky in the story “Student”. And this writer considered the story his best, “most finished” thing. Apparently, in “The Student,” the author valued the idea of ​​eternal spiritual values ​​that bring together people not only of very different social status and cultural levels, but also of eras separated from each other by many centuries. This idea is expressed in the story laconically and expressively.

On the cold evening of Good Friday, Ivan Velikopolsky, a theological seminary student, warming himself by the fire, told two peasant widows, mother and daughter, the Gospel episode that preceded the description of the “passion of the Lord.” At the Last Supper, the Apostle Peter, a disciple and comrade-in-arms of Christ, as the Gospel story says, swore allegiance to his teaching, readiness to go with him to death, but he responded with the phrase: “I tell you, Peter, if he doesn’t sing any loops today, there is a rooster, how will you deny three times that you don’t know me.” Further in the Gospel it is said that on the night when Christ was interrogated and beaten, Peter actually denied him three times.

But as soon as the rooster crowed, he remembered the words of the teacher and sobbed bitterly, repenting of his betrayal. The student’s story excited both peasant women. At the words that Peter’s muffled sobs could be heard in the silence of the dark garden, the eldest sobbed and “shaded her face from the fire with her sleeve,” as if ashamed of her tears, and the younger’s gaze became intense, “like that of a person who is holding back severe pain.”

This reaction from the listeners, in turn, excited the student himself. If at the beginning of the story he walked through a dark meadow to the fire in a gloomy mood and thought that life would never “get better,” now a moment of insight has come for him. He suddenly felt a connection between the tears of the old woman who was now sitting in front of him and what happened, according to the Gospel tradition, nineteen centuries ago. And I thought that truth and beauty, “apparently, have always been the main thing in human life and on earth in general.” In this apotheosis of truth and beauty “in general on earth” there is some special, festive mood; I involuntarily remember that Holy Week is coming to an end,” and the same people, sheltered from the bad weather by the fire, will meet on Easter days. And at the same time, it is absolutely indisputable that the specificity of the gospel legend, which the writer addresses in this story, is subordinated to a broad universal idea; most of all in this work we value the artist’s thought about the kinship of human souls, that a person can find himself and his place in life through understanding other people's suffering, in communicating with other people.

Finding the meaning of life, as we will see, will remain the dream of Chekhov's best heroes in the later years of their lives. But how often, already in youth, this dream begins to fade and signs of the future immersion of the individual in the atmosphere of vulgar existence appear. Trying to understand Chekhov's heroes who find themselves in circumstances similar to those just cited, you need to delve into the psychological motives that guide the heroes. And if you delve into it, then behind the sometimes external inaction, behind the reluctance of such heroes to practically resist circumstances hostile to them, one will discover such a force of internal human resistance to the current state of affairs that is worth an open struggle. Behind the outward submission of Chekhov's heroes to fate, one can often hear a restrained protest, their suffering reminds that at all times man does not live “by bread alone” and not by the comforts of everyday life (even if this everyday life is understood broadly, including inclusion in culture and progress), but also a very important need - the desire for spiritual purity and a truly moral life.

The inner life of a person develops in close communication with the outside world. Chekhov always takes this dependence into account; for him it determines the entire appearance of the hero - both the individual character of the person and his spiritual needs. But for the most part there is no peaceful coexistence between the opposites in the souls of Chekhov's heroes. If a person submits to the force of circumstances and his ability to resist gradually fades away, then he ultimately loses everything truly human that was characteristic of him. This mortification of the human soul is the most terrible retribution that life repays for opportunism.

The official Nikolai Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan, a kind and meek man, loved rural nature (“Gooseberry”). But the longing for the village gradually turned into an obsession - to buy a “estate” with gooseberries. He dreamed: “You sit on the balcony, drink tea, and your ducks are swimming on the pond, it smells so good, and... and the gooseberries are growing.” Her youth was wasted to achieve this goal; the life of her wife, whom Nikolai Ivanovich married for money to buy an estate, was sacrificed to her.

(he was no longer capable of love, because all feelings had died out in him, except one - the desire to become a landowner). And here is the result - this is no longer “the former timid poor official, but a real landowner, gentleman.” He has changed in appearance - “he has grown old, plump, flabby; cheeks, nose and lips stretched forward, and at any moment he would grunt into the blanket.” He also changed internally - he became quarrelsome, arrogant and spoke importantly, like a minister.

Nikolai Ivanovich’s spiritual callousness is all the more striking because he was by nature a kind, gentle person, and at first his longing for the village could even seem poetic and arouse sympathy in the reader: sitting for years in the government chamber, he longed for freedom, for fresh air, dreaming of the village silence... The measure of a person’s mental impoverishment is determined, in particular, by his attitude to the past - Nikolai Ivanovich, having settled in the estate, forgets that his father was a soldier, and his grandfather was a peasant, and boasts about the nobility: “we, nobles,” “I’m like a nobleman "

Not only Nikolai Ivanovich looks like a pig, but also his dog, which is too lazy to bark, and the bare-legged fat cook. He eats gooseberries from his plot, sour and hard, saying: “Oh, how delicious! Try it! The new farmer became indifferent to the suffering of others and to public interests. This selfishness and indifference, withdrawal into the world of one’s “I”, the desire to limit everything to three arshins of land is condemned by Chekhov.

The name of Chekhov stands alone in Russian literature. With all his work, the writer fought against vulgarity and philistinism. Chekhov's best heroes are intelligent, thinking people whose souls suffer in search of harmony and goodness in life. Anton Pavlovich calls in each of his stories to search for the meaning of life, spiritual purity, lofty goals, compassion: “Don’t calm down, don’t let yourself be lulled to sleep!.., don’t get tired of doing good... There is no happiness and there shouldn’t be, but if there is meaning in life or goal, then the meaning and purpose of this is not at all in our happiness, but in something more reasonable and greater. Do good!”

The American Erskine Caldwell speaks with admiration about the great Russian writer: “Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was and will undoubtedly remain for all times, as long as the art of words exists, one of the greatest writers in the world. His creations are a monument erected to his genius, and, moreover, imperishable.” An interesting statement by the French writer Andre Maurois: “With his theater and his stories, Chekhov shows us the path to a purer life.” In the works of the Russian writer, Maurois sees a call to light - pure.

Hating the old world - the world of vulgarity and philistinism - Chekhov foreshadowed a new Russia, predicted a free and happy life.

earth" (A.P. Chekhov)

“... I love my dear Tatyana so much.”A. S. Pushkin.

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In the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin paints a picture of the life of different groups of noble society in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, their way of life and morals, and the life of peasants.

The main theme of the novel is the progressive personality and his attitude towards noble society. This theme is revealed by Pushkin in the images of Onegin, Lensky, Tatyana - representatives of the progressive noble intelligentsia.

The image of Tatyana Larina is all the more significant in the novel because it expresses the lofty ideals of Pushkin. Starting from Chapter III, Tatyana, along with Onegin, becomes the main character in the novel.

The very name Tatiana, not sanctified by literary tradition, perceived as common, is associated with “memories of antiquity or maidenhood.” Pushkin paints the image of Tatyana with great warmth, embodying in her the best features of a Russian woman. In his novel, Pushkin wanted to show an ordinary Russian girl. Pushkin emphasizes the absence of extraordinary, out-of-the-ordinary features in Tatyana. But the heroine is at the same time surprisingly poetic and attractive.

Tatyana is brought up on an estate in the Larin family, faithful to the “habits of dear old times.” Tatyana's character is formed under the influence of a nanny, whose prototype was the poet's nanny Arina Rodionovna. Tatyana grew up as a lonely, unkind girl. She did not like to play with her friends, she was immersed in her feelings and experiences. She early tried to understand the world around her, but did not find answers to her questions from her elders. And then she turned to the books that she believed completely:

“She liked novels early on, They replaced everything for her, She fell in love with the deceptions of both Richardson and Rousseau.”

The life around her did little to satisfy her demanding soul. In books she saw interesting people whom she dreamed of seeing and meeting in life. Communicating with the courtyard girls and listening to the stories of the nanny, Tatyana becomes acquainted with folk poetry and is imbued with love. Closeness to the people, to nature develops in Tatyana her moral qualities: spiritual simplicity, sincerity, artlessness. Tatyana is smart, original, original. She is naturally gifted

“With a rebellious imagination.

Alive in mind and will,

And wayward head

And with a fiery and tender heart.”

With her intelligence and unique nature, she stands out among the landowners and secular society; she understands the vulgarity, idleness, and emptiness of life in human society. She dreams of a person who would bring high content into her life, who would be like the heroes of her favorite novels. This is how Onegin seemed to her - a secular young man who came from St. Petersburg, intelligent and noble. Tatyana, with all sincerity and simplicity, falls in love with Onegin: “... everything is full of him; the sweet maiden keeps repeating about him with magical power.” She decides to write a love letter to Onegin. His sharp refusal is a complete surprise for the girl. Tatyana ceases to understand Onegin and his actions:

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“She is penetrated to the depths of her soul: she cannot understand him in any way...”

Tatyana is in a hopeless situation: she cannot stop loving Onegin and at the same time she is convinced that he is not worthy of her love.

Onegin did not understand the full strength of her feelings, did not unravel her nature, since he valued “freedom and peace” above all else, and was single and selfish. Love brings Tatiana nothing but suffering. But her moral rules are firm and constant. In St. Petersburg, she becomes a princess and gains universal respect and admiration in the “high society.” During this time she changes a lot. “An indifferent princess, an impregnable tower of the luxurious, royal Neva,” Pushkin depicts it in the last chapter. But she's still lovely. Obviously, this charm was not in her external beauty, but in her spiritual nobility, simplicity, intelligence, and richness of spiritual content. But even in “high society” she is lonely. And here she does not find what her soul strives for. She expresses her attitude to life in words addressed to Onegin, who returned to the capital after wandering around Russia:

“... Now I’m glad to give All this rags of a masquerade, All this glitter, and noise, and fumes For a shelf of books, for a wild garden, For our poor home...”

In the scene of Tatyana's last meeting with Onegin, her spiritual qualities are revealed even more deeply: moral impeccability, loyalty to duty, determination, truthfulness. She rejects Onegin's love, remembering that the basis of feelings for her is selfishness, egoism.

Tatyana Larina opens a gallery of beautiful images of a Russian woman, morally impeccable, seeking deep meaning in life. Such is Olga Ilyinskaya in Oblomov, the heroine of Turgenev’s novels, the wives of the Decembrists, sung in many poems.

32. “The human must always and inevitably triumph...” (M.S.

Saltykov-Shchedrin)

In the novel “Crime and Punishment,” Rodion Raskolnikov committed murder, erasing himself from the people as we understand it. A man cannot kill a man. Will humanity never return to Raskolnikov again? No, the human in him triumphed. It triumphed thanks to Sonechka Marmeladova.

Sonya touched Raskolnikov with something. Even when Marmeladov in the tavern spoke about her sacrifice to save small children from hunger.

On the most difficult, difficult days for Raskolnikov, he went to Sonya. It is in her soul, humiliated by circumstances and beautiful in its essence, that Rodion seeks peace. Raskolnikov is also attracted to Sonya by a certain common destinies (“murderer and harlot”). And the already conscious feeling that a person cannot be alone. This unnatural state must be overcome, because without communication a person ceases to be a person. Someone should always be there - to understand, help, feel sorry. In this sense, Raskolnikov sees salvation in Sonya’s participation in him.

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By putting his theory into practice, Raskolnikov separated himself from other people; he himself could not tolerate communication with anyone. Most of all - with the closest and dearest - mother, sister. But when alienation reaches its peak, a passionate craving for warmth, understanding, and compassion is born. In the relationship between Raskolnikov and Sonya, and later Raskolnikov and the convicts, a very important turn in the soul takes place from suffering to compassion, from selfish self-absorption to the ability to love the unfortunate.

Sonya, with her characteristic kindness, feels that Raskolnikov needs her because he is “terribly, infinitely unhappy.” And she gradually brings him back to life.

At first, in relation to Sonya, Raskolnikov has an impulse that is not devoid of egoism. It is to her that he pours out his pain: “He called for one thing, he came for one thing: don’t leave me. Won't you leave me, Sonya?" “...Why are you hugging me? Because I couldn’t bear it myself and came to blame it on someone else: suffer too, it will be easier for me!” Rodion knows that Sonya will follow him to hard labor and help him. There is some selfishness in this. But still, a shift in Raskolnikov’s experiences is obvious. There is a vague need to atone for one's guilt. Raskolnikov begins to look for the origins of his erroneous views and actions. He ponders why he could not kill himself, but turned himself in. But Raskolnikov cannot answer this question. Dostoevsky answers for him: “Raskolnikov could not understand that even then, when he stood over the river, perhaps he had a presentiment in himself and in his convictions of a deep lie. He did not understand that this premonition could be a harbinger of a future turning point in his life, his future resurrection, a future new outlook on life.”

For Raskolnikov, punishment by his own conscience is worse than hard labor. However, these torments do not bring Raskolnikov peace: Raskolnikov withdraws into her. But he has a choice, an opportunity to overcome his internal spiritual split, to find the basis of a different existence, to move from self-punishment to acceptance of the world, to break out of the narrow boundaries of his own “I”.

Gradually, already in hard labor, Raskolnikov understands that Sonya, with her religiosity, kindness, mercy, and heart open to people, is becoming part of his existence. The logical conclusion of this discovery is the request to bring the Gospel. Raskolnikov wants to accept Sonya’s faith not out of conviction, not because he has such a need, but because the deep trust in Sonya, the gratitude that has arisen in him, force him to look at the world through her eyes.

Raskolnikov understands God a little differently than Sonya. He comes to the conclusion that God is the embodiment of humanity, the ability to serve the unfortunate and fallen. Therefore, now Raskolnikov is trying to do what Sonya did for him - he helps convicts, convicts, outcasts, who, like him from Sonya, expect help from him. And this gives the first glimpse of happiness and spiritual purification to Raskolnikov.

Dostoevsky leads Raskolnikov at the end of the novel to the idea of ​​the need to live a real, not an invented life, to assert oneself not through misanthropic ideas, but through love and kindness, through serving people. At the end of the novel, Raskolnikov gradually seems to recover from the disease of “Bonapartism”; he woke up from delirium and began to live a real life.

But the path to a new life is not easy, since Raskolnikov will not get a new life for nothing, “it must still be bought dearly, paid for with a great future feat...” Raskolnikov’s path to understanding the meaning of life is complex and painful. From a crime that is expiated by terrible suffering, to attention, compassion and love for the very people whom Rodion Raskolnikov wanted to despise and consider beneath himself.

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33. The social significance of a writer lies precisely in shedding a ray of light on all kinds of moral and mental troubles...” (M. S. Saltykov-Shchedrin)

The small, but very capacious and vital stories of A.P. Chekhov are not always easy to understand if you do not remember the life position of the writer, who is strict, first of all, with himself. Everyone knows his statement: “Everything in a person should be beautiful: clothes, soul, and thoughts.” Less well known is another of his sayings: “You must be mentally clear, morally pure and physically tidy.” And it is this, in the words of M. Gorky, the ardent “desire to see people simple, beautiful and harmonious” that explains Chekhov’s irreconcilability to all kinds of squalor, vulgarity, moral and mental limitations.

In fact, what’s wrong, it seems, in the fact that a person wants to earn more money, like Dr. Startsev? What’s special if he wanted to simultaneously serve in the zemstvo and have a large practice in the city? But, reading the story “Ionych,” we understand how money can gradually, imperceptibly, displace a person’s living soul, and the desire to live calmly and carefree can make him morally and physically inferior.

Dmitry Ionovich Startsev - the hero of the story "Ionych" - was appointed as a doctor at the zemstvo hospital, in Dyalizh not far from the provincial town of S. This is a young man with ideals and desires for something high. In S. he meets the Turkins family, “the most educated and talented in the city.” Ivan Petrovich Turkin played in amateur performances, showed tricks, and joked. Vera Iosifovna wrote novels and stories for herself and read them to guests. Their daughter Ekaterina Ivanovna, a young, pretty girl, whose family name was Kotik, played the piano. When Dmitry Ionych first visited the Turkins, he was fascinated. He fell in love with Kitty. This feeling was “the only joy and the last” in Ionych’s life. For the sake of his love, he is ready, it would seem, to do a lot. But when Kitty refused him, he suffered for only three days, and then everything went as before. Remembering his courtship and lofty reasoning (“Oh, how little those who have never loved know!”), he only lazily said: “How much trouble, however!”

Physical obesity comes to Startsev unnoticed. He stops walking, suffers from shortness of breath, and likes to snack. “Four years have passed. Startsev already had a lot of practice in the city. He gained weight, grew fat and was reluctant to walk, as he suffered from shortness of breath.” Moral obesity is also creeping up. Previously, Ionych was distinguished by the ardent movements of his soul and ardor of feelings from the residents of the city of S. They irritated him “with their conversations, views on life and even their appearance.” He knew from experience that you can play cards with ordinary people, have a snack and talk only about the most ordinary things. And if you start talking, for example, “about politics or science,” then the average person becomes confused or “gets into such a philosophy, stupid and evil, that all that remains is to wave your hand and move away. But gradually Startsev got used to such a life and got involved in it. And if he didn’t want to talk, he kept silent more, for which he received the nickname “the pompous Pole.” At the end of the story, we see that he spends every evening in the club, plays vint, has a snack and occasionally intervenes in the conversation:

What are you talking about? A? Whom?

When Kotik became convinced that she had mediocre abilities, she lived only in hope of Startsev’s love. But Ionych was no longer the young man who could come on a date at night to the cemetery. “And now he liked her, he liked her very much, but there was something missing in her or something was superfluous, but something was already preventing him from feeling as before... he didn’t like something in the past when he almost married her. He remembered his love, the dreams and hopes that excited him four years ago, and he felt embarrassed.” He became too lazy and degraded spiritually and morally to love and have a family. He

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He only thinks: “It’s good that I didn’t get married then.”

The doctor’s main pastime, which he became involved in unnoticed, little by little, was “taking pieces of paper out of his pockets in the evenings,” and then, when there was too much money, looking at houses intended for auction. Greed overcame him. But he himself could not explain why he needed so much money alone, even if he did not attend theaters and concerts.

Startsev himself knows that he is “getting old, getting fat, declining,” but he has neither the desire nor the will to fight the philistine. The doctors now simply call him Ionych. The journey of life is completed.

Why did Dmitry Ionych Startsev turn from a hot young man into an obese, greedy and loud-mouthed Ionych? Yes, the environment is to blame. Life is monotonous, boring, “passes dully, without impressions, without thoughts.” But the author leads us to the idea that, first of all, the doctor himself is to blame, who lost all the best that was in him, exchanged living feelings for a well-fed, self-satisfied existence.

34. “The main knot of our life, its entire future core and meaning for purposeful people is tied in the very early years...” (A. I. Solzhenitsyn)

The character of every person is formed in childhood. Upbringing, living conditions, and the environment in which the child grew up have a very big influence. This leaves some imprint and then makes itself felt throughout life. We all “come from childhood”, each of us has our own upbringing.

In I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” we are shown two educational systems: Oblomovka, in which Ilya Ilyich Oblomov spent his happy, serene childhood, and the upbringing of Andrei Ivanovich Stolts, Ilyusha’s good friend. I would like to dwell in more detail on Stolz’s childhood.

Stolz's upbringing was mainly done by his father. He tried to instill in his son respect for knowledge, the habit of thinking and studying. He instilled in his son economic tenacity and the need for constant activity. As a child, he taught his son to earn his own living. Let us remember that his father usually took money from him and gave it only for necessary things. Often the father treated his son cruelly. So, he kicked him out of the house for unlearned lessons. Together with his father, Stolz ran the household and learned to understand various things. From childhood, Stolz’s father taught him to work: “Work is the image, content, element and purpose of life, at least mine,” Stolz would later say.

Stolz received a good education. Father took Andrei's acquisition of deep knowledge very seriously. Andrei sat with his father at the geographical map, analyzed biblical verses and summed up the illiterate accounts of peasants, townspeople and factory workers, and with his mother he read sacred history and taught Krylov’s fables.

At the age of 14-15, he independently traveled on errands from his father to the city and it never happened that he forgot something, changed it, overlooked it, or made a mistake. We can say that Stolz received a correct, rational upbringing.

Reading about Stolz’s upbringing, the question arises: does Andrei’s father love him? I think that he loves and raises him in his own way, in German. This is probably how Stolz’s father was raised by his father.

The most intense scene in the novel is Stolz's farewell to his father. This scene amazes us. Father and son - two dear people - say goodbye forever, they know that this is forever. But the father did not shed a tear, nothing moved in him. Only an almost hysterical “goodbye.” Didn’t he really feel sorry for his son who was going into the unknown? I think he

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I wanted to hug my son, kiss him and maybe even cry. But the father could not do this. Then the entire system of his upbringing would collapse.

His father's harsh upbringing strengthened Stolz's character. Thanks to this upbringing, something really came out of him; he achieved a lot thanks to serious hardening in life.

Many critics accused I. A. Goncharov of being spiritually poor.

N.A. Dobrolyubov saw in him only a bourgeois businessman - an entrepreneur. A.P. Chekhov called Stolz “a purged beast.”

It seems to me that the critics are right after all. The kind of upbringing that Stolz received made him like some kind of machine: he almost never worries or worries. He lives strictly according to plan, his life is scheduled minute by minute. There are no surprises or interesting moments in Stolz's life. His life is like an exact schedule of train departure times, and he himself is a train that runs correctly on schedule, although very good, but still artificial. His ideal is the achievement of material wealth, comfort, and personal well-being.

Stolz turned out to be too ideal, but there is no such thing as ideal in life.

35. “Honor cannot be taken away, it can be lost... (A. P. Chekhov) (Based on the story by A. S. Pushkin

"The Captain's Daughter")

The historical story “The Captain's Daughter” occupies a special place in the work of A. S. Pushkin. It tells the story of a peasant uprising, the leader of which was Emelyan Pugachev. The plot is based on a brutal clash between two opposing worlds: the world of the nobility and the world of the peasantry. Against the background of these events, the story is told about the love of the young nobleman Pyotr Andreevich Grinev for the daughter of the commandant of the Belogorsk fortress, Masha Mironova. The central problem of the work is the problem of honor, as evidenced by the epigraph: “Take care of honor from a young age.” In relation to this problem, the images of the heroes of this story are revealed. All the heroes of the story demonstrate this quality in different ways.

The honor of an officer was not an empty phrase for the nobles of the 18th century, especially for the patriarchal nobility, shown in the person of Grinev, the senior and commandant of the Belogorsk fortress, Captain Mironov. The captain prefers to die than to swear allegiance to the impostor. Andrei Petrovich Grinev, an old guard officer, considers the concept of honor from the position of an officer of government troops. He believes that an officer’s duty is to “smell gunpowder,” so he sends his son to serve not in St. Petersburg, but in a remote province.

The central character of the story, Petrusha Grinev, also lives by honor. For the first time, Grinev acts according to honor, returning the gambling debt, although Savelich was against it. Not repaying a debt means tarnishing your honor. Finding himself more than once in the hands of Pugachev, accepting his help and patronage, Pyotr Grinev does not violate the military oath. Even in cases where this may threaten his life, the hero never betrays himself and the people who depend on him.

Another act of honor is challenging Shvabrin to a duel. Grinev had to stand up for the honor of his beloved girl, although he himself suffered from this decision.

Shvabrin is the opposite hero to Grinev. He, like Grinev, was an officer and swore an oath to the empress. But for his own benefit, out of fear for his life, Shvabrin joined Pugachev’s uprising. Having sacrificed his noble honor, Shvabrin joined the ranks of the rebels, although the goals of the uprising were completely alien to him. He's deep

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despises the people, fears and hates Pugachev. By going over to the side of the rebels, he goes against himself, first of all, and against honor.

And his act towards Masha Mironova is a completely dishonest act. Having achieved neither Masha’s love nor affection, Shvabrin locks her up and drives her almost to madness. This is what a person who knows nothing about honor can do. And if it were not for Pugachev’s help, it is not known what would have happened to the poor girl. When Shvabrin is exposed, he does everything to interfere with the happiness of Pyotr Andreevich and the poor girl, and subsequently, “repenting” before the state, betrays Grinev, giving false testimony against him in court.

And Pugachev himself is not alien to the concept of honor. It was this quality that Pugachev was able to appreciate in Grinev. Pugachev appreciates this sense of honor in Grinev, who, even in the face of death, continues to behave with dignity, speaks the truth and does not deviate from the oath given once and for all. For this, Pugachev respects Grinev and patronizes him. It is solely through the efforts of Pugachev that Masha and Grinev find each other. Subsequently, Grinev saw in the impostor a man of honor.

During the riot, the qualities of all its participants were very clearly demonstrated. We see the concept of honor in the example of the constable, the “generals” of Pugachev and the entire people. They all, without hesitation, go over to Pugachev’s side, because the power is now in his hands. For these people there is no concept of honor. The sergeant either serves the commandant, or Pugachev, or helps Masha and Grinev; he would gladly serve someone else, if that someone were found.

“The generals,” according to Pugachev, “at the first failure... will ransom their neck with my head.” The people, as soon as Pugachev’s people occupied the Belogorsk fortress, express complete submission to Pugachev, collecting money that Pugachev throws at them. For them there is no concept of honor, but only the concept of force, or rather, the threat of force, which can take their life. Therefore, the action of Captain Ivan Kuzmich Mironov is a real feat. He understands honor as a true officer who has sworn allegiance to the empress. He fearlessly defends the Belogorsk fortress, even without good weapons. After the surrender of the fortress, he refuses to recognize the “runaway Cossack woman” as the emperor, for which he takes his life. Ivan Ignatich does the same, repeating the words of the commandant of the fortress: “You are not my sovereign, you are a thief and an impostor, listen, you!” For which he paid with his life.

So, the problem of honor and duty is central to the historical story “The Captain's Daughter.” Each of the heroes acts in accordance with their understanding of these high qualities.

1. Image of Marya Bolkonskaya.
2. Image of Natasha Rostova.
3. The embodiment of the moral ideal of L. N. Tolstoy.

The epic novel of the great Russian writer L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” allows us, among other things, to evaluate the life position of the author himself. The author's attitude to certain issues is manifested through his depiction of characters. Tolstoy creates a whole gallery of images, each of which is very interesting and reliable. I would like to dedicate my essay to two heroines of the novel - Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova.

L.N. Tolstoy himself treats these heroines with deep sympathy. Natasha is his ideal woman; Princess Marya is perceived by the writer with no less love and admiration. The image of Princess Marya is closely connected with love for the whole world, with sympathy, with sadness about the imperfections of the world. Princess Marya is above the everyday bustle, she is not interested in banal problems. It is paradoxical that both Marya and Natasha are ugly in appearance. They are contrasted in the novel with the brilliant society beauty Helen. She is charming in appearance, but her inner world and moral qualities are far from perfect. Helen does not arouse the sympathy of either the author or the readers. The situation is completely different with Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova. The look of Princess Marya deserves special attention. Her “big, deep” eyes are full of love and compassion. The writer says that “rays of warm light come out of them in sheaves.” Marya's external ugliness is not important, her inner world is beautiful. The girl sincerely believes in God and wants to love everyone around her the way “Christ loved humanity.” Of course, Marya is the person they say “not of this world.” She is far from reality, her inner world is amazing and complex. She desires to be “perfect, like our heavenly Father.”

In the person of Princess Marya, the writer shows a surprisingly pure, extraordinary woman. She is not like those around her, she is more interested in the inner world than in everything external. Marya strives to improve her soul, wants to renounce everything worldly. She finds solace in religion, her relationship with her family is difficult. The oppressive father treats her harshly, which gives Marya the opportunity to dive even deeper into her inner experiences. Those around her treat Marya with some pity. Her complex nature and external ugliness are the reason for this. The true beauty of a girl remains unnoticed by others. Only after meeting the Rostovs did Marya change. Now external and internal beauty are in harmony, the girl is transformed. Considerable credit for this belongs to Natasha Rostova. She herself is the personification of sincerity, love of life, beauty. Natasha's external ugliness does not play any role. Everyone treats her with love and sympathy. Natasha is a harmonious person, there are no contradictions in her. It gives others the opportunity to see that true harmony is possible even in an imperfect world. Natasha Rostova is kind, sweet, and her presence is pleasant for a variety of people.

Natasha loves the whole world and herself as part of this world. She herself admires herself like a child: “What a charm this Natasha is.” The girl has a rich inner world, no less developed and complex than Marya Bolkonskaya. Her distinctive features: delicacy, sensitivity, readiness to help. She is not distinguished by her intelligence, but she has a much more important quality: spiritual wisdom, which can only be found in extraordinary people. The image of Natasha is the embodiment of tenderness, sincerity, and beauty. Natasha Rostova demonstrates a clear readiness to help: she gives carts to the wounded, despite the fact that she had to leave her things. Natasha does not have prudence, she has little interest in her own well-being. The girl selflessly takes care of Prince Andrei. In general, Natasha’s readiness to sacrifice herself is especially clearly manifested in the epilogue. Tolstoy argues that a woman’s place is in the family. Now Natasha no longer pays any attention to her appearance. She doesn’t care about outfits, the beauty of her figure and hairstyles. Natasha thinks and worries only about her children. Even a slight illness in a child becomes a difficult ordeal for her. Again we see that Natasha is not characterized by falsehood and the desire to embellish reality. The harsh truth of life turns out to be more important for her than anything feigned or unnatural, for example, the need to follow secular rules and meet the external requirements of high society. In this context, Natasha’s beauty manifests itself differently: not in the external, but in the internal. Her care for her family and her willingness to give all of herself to her children speaks volumes. The happiness of motherhood is an enduring value for a woman. And other attributes of external well-being cannot compare with this value.

Marya and Natasha were born for motherhood. They pass on the best to their children. This again shows their greatness. After all, the beautiful Helen refuses the happiness of being a mother and dies, useless to anyone. The Kuragin family ends here. And Marya and Natasha will live on in their descendants.

The images of Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova are the embodiment of the moral ideal of L. N. Tolstoy. These two heroines are not alike, but nevertheless, their qualities are perceived as positive. “Truth and beauty” in this context is the ability to love the world and one’s neighbor, which is characteristic of Marya and Natasha. Indeed, the images of these two heroines seem to embody all the main female qualities that are the main thing in life: love, empathy, sensitivity, tenderness, kindness, readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of one’s neighbor, sincerity, purity. Without these qualities, human life would turn into a difficult ordeal. And even though civilization changes, eternal values ​​remain unchanged.