Karamzin's story “Poor Liza” is a vivid example of psychological prose. Most often, due to their more mobile emotionality and openness of feelings, the main characters in Karamzin’s stories were representatives of the fair sex. At the same time, the author tried to consider the characters of people belonging to different classes. Karamzin’s best story is rightly recognized as “Poor Liza” (1792), which is based on the educational thought about the extra-class value of the human personality. The problems of the story are of a social and moral nature: the peasant woman Liza is opposed to the nobleman Erast. The characters are revealed in the heroes' attitude to love. Lisa’s feelings are distinguished by their depth, constancy, and selflessness: she understands perfectly well that she is not destined to be Erast’s wife.
It should be noted that the image of Erast is accompanied by a very prosaic leitmotif - money, which sentimental literature always caused a condemnatory attitude towards themselves. True, sincere help is expressed by sentimentalist writers in selfless actions.
Even more convincing evidence of the revolution accomplished by Karamzin’s story in literature and the reader’s consciousness was the fact that literary plot The story was perceived by the Russian reader as a life-like and real plot, and its characters as real people.
The story “Poor Liza” is written on a classic sentimentalist plot about the love of representatives of different classes: its heroes - the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Liza - cannot be happy not only for moral reasons, but also for social conditions life. The deep social root of the plot is embodied in Karamzin’s story at its most external level, as a moral conflict between the “beautiful soul and body” of Lisa and Erast - “a rather rich nobleman with a fair mind and kind hearted, kind by nature, but weak and flighty.” And, of course, one of the reasons for the shock produced by Karamzin’s story in literature and the reader’s consciousness was that Karamzin was the first of the Russian writers who addressed the theme of unequal love, who decided to resolve his story in the way that such a conflict would most likely have been resolved in real conditions Russian life: the death of the heroine.
However, the innovations of Karamzin’s literary style do not end there. Myself figurative structure The stories, the manner of narration and the angle from which the author forces his readers to look at the plot he is narrating are marked with the stamp of vivid literary innovation. The story “Poor Liza” begins with a kind of musical introduction - a description of the surroundings of the Simonov Monastery, associated in the associative memory of the author-narrator with “the memory of the deplorable fate of Liza, poor Liza.”
Before the development of the plot begins, in the emotionally rich landscape the themes of the main characters of the story are clearly indicated - the theme of Erast, whose image is inextricably linked with the “terrible bulk of houses” of “greedy” Moscow, shining with the “golden domes”, the theme of Lisa, coupled with an inextricably associative connection with beautiful life natural nature, described using the epithets “blooming”, “light”, “light”, and the theme of the author, whose space is not physical or geographical, but spiritual and emotional in nature: the author acts as a historian, chronicler of the lives of his heroes and keeper of the memory of them.
With the voice of the author, the theme enters into the private plot of the story great history fatherland - and the story of one soul and love turns out to be equal to it. This comparison of two completely different and previously thought to be incomparable contexts - historical and private - makes the story "Poor Liza" fundamental literary fact, on the basis of which a Russian socio-psychological novel would subsequently emerge.
The description of the life of nature extends extensively to all figurative system the story, introducing an additional aspect of the psychologization of the narrative and expanding its anthropological field by paralleling the life of the soul and the life of nature. The entire love story of Lisa and Erast is immersed in the picture of the life of nature, constantly changing according to the stages of development of the love feeling.
Narrative techniques that color the story in the tones of living human emotion and place the moral accents of the plot in an impeccably artistic way, without the slightest sign of direct declarative assessment, force us to take a closer look at the image of the narrator, the author-narrator, whose direct speech tells the story of poor Lisa, which he once heard from Erast . The image of the author-narrator, included in the figurative structure of the story as its full-fledged hero and acting (speaking) person.
In the story “Poor Liza” Karamzin showed himself to be a great psychologist. He managed to masterfully reveal inner world their heroes, primarily their love experiences.
39. “Bornholm Island” N.M. Karamzin.
“The Island of Bornholm”, by general recognition, is one of Karamzin’s most perfect creations, reflecting the turning point of his ideological and literary evolution, is in some respects a historical and literary mystery.
created during the period of intense quest of Karamzin, a writer and philosopher, when his worldview was experiencing a crisis under the influence of revolutions. motives of “The Island of Bornholm” and having similar style features with Gothic literature.
Bornholm Island " - a pre-romantic story work: permeates the Philosophy of despair and fatalism
The narration is told in the first person.
The hero of the work is a young man who talks about his travels through foreign lands. We do not know his name or age. We only know that England was the final limit of his journey, and that he decides to return to Russia. During the voyage, the wind changed and, waiting for a favorable time, they had to stop near the town of Grevzenda. There our hero meets the unfortunate young man who sings about the island of Borntholm and about his unhappy love, which is condemned by the laws. The next stop was on the Danish island of Bornholm, where the hero visits gothic castle which all the residents avoid, there he finds out terrible secret couple in love.
The story is based on the theme of the criminal love of brother and sister, an obvious violation of the reasonable boundaries of love passion. The song of the "unfortunate man from Gravesend" talks about moral laws, the basis of which is reason, the hero obeys only feelings.
The beloved suffers, languishes in prison, having long ago realized her guilt.
The owner of the castle is the father of criminal lovers, plays the role of judge and executioner, he is forced to punish his own children, defending virtue. and his situation is no less tragic.
The story creates an atmosphere of mystery and horror. The island of Bornholm is gloomy and terrible, and the mysterious castle is even more terrible; The fate of the young prisoner is terrible, but more terrible, according to the author, is the offense that brought her to prison. It is so scary that the author does not dare to tell the reader about it. The transfer of events to a Gothic castle has an artistic explanation, since enlighteners considered the Middle Ages to be an era of rampant irrational passions. Thereby. The “delusion” of the heroes of the story is associated with the dark ghosts of middle-class claims.
Plot plan The story goes into another, broader, socio-political one. Events develop in Western Europe. They are timed to coincide with the beginning of the revolution in France. There is an unambiguous hint of this in the work. Thus, to the elder’s request to inform about “incidents of the world,” the traveler replies: “The light of science... is spreading more and more, but human blood still flows on the earth, the tears of the unfortunate are shed, they praise the name of virtue and argue about the essence. Thus, the story is built on the principle of correlating destructive love passions with equally destructive social passions. The first is given close-up, the second serves as a distant background for it. But it is public political events 1793 brought to life a gloomy, tragic story about people who blindly trusted the voice of passion and paid cruelly for their reckless love.
Karamzin saw the very beginning of the crisis caused by revolutionary events in France and remains in an educational position: he still believes in the ability of reason to control passions. Portraying dark, frantic heroes, he, unlike the romantics, does not merge with them, but looks at them from the outside with a mixed feeling of horror and compassion.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin became the most prominent representative in Russian literature of a new literary trend - sentimentalism, popular in Western Europe in late XVIII century. The story “Poor Liza,” created in 1792, revealed the main features of this trend. Sentimentalism proclaimed primary attention to privacy people, to their feelings, in equally characteristic of people from all classes. Karamzin tells us the story of the unhappy love of a simple peasant girl Liza and a nobleman Erast, in order to prove that “peasant women also know how to love.” Lisa is the ideal of the “natural person” advocated by the sentimentalists. She is not only “beautiful in soul and body,” but she is also capable of sincerely loving a person who is not entirely worthy of her love. Erast, although superior to his beloved in education, nobility and wealth, turns out to be spiritually smaller than her. He is unable to rise above class prejudices and marry Lisa. Erast has a “fair mind” and a “kind heart,” but at the same time he is “weak and flighty.” Having lost at cards, he is forced to marry a rich widow and leave Lisa, which is why she committed suicide. However, sincere human feelings did not die in Erast and, as the author assures us, “Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. Having learned about Lizina’s fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer.”
For Karamzin, the village becomes a center of natural moral purity, and the city - a source of debauchery, a source of temptations that can destroy this purity. The writer's heroes, in full accordance with the precepts of sentimentalism, suffer almost all the time, constantly expressing their feelings with abundantly shed tears. As the author himself admitted: “I love those objects that make me shed tears of tender sorrow.” Karamzin is not ashamed of tears and encourages readers to do the same. As he describes in detail the experiences of Lisa, left behind by Erast, who had gone into the army: “From that hour, her days were days
melancholy and sorrow, which had to be hidden from the tender mother: all the more did her heart suffer! Then it only became easier when Lisa, secluded in the depths of the forest, could freely shed tears and moan about separation from her beloved. Often the sad dove combined her plaintive voice with her moaning.” Karamzin forces Liza to hide her suffering from her old mother, but at the same time he is deeply convinced that it is very important to give a person the opportunity to openly express his grief, to his heart’s content, in order to ease the soul. The author examines the essentially social conflict of the story through a philosophical and ethical prism. Erast sincerely would like to overcome class barriers on the path of his idyllic love with Lisa. However, the heroine takes a much more sober look at the state of things, realizing that Erast “cannot be her husband.” The narrator is already quite sincerely worried about his characters, worried in the sense that it is as if he lives with them. It is no coincidence that at the moment when Erast leaves Lisa, the author’s heartfelt confession follows: “My heart is bleeding at this very moment. I forget the man in Erast - I’m ready to curse him - but my tongue does not move - I look at the sky, and a tear rolls down my face.” Not only the author himself got along with Erast and Lisa, but also thousands of his contemporaries - readers of the story. This was facilitated by good recognition not only of the circumstances, but also of the place of action. Karamzin quite accurately depicted in “Poor Liza” the surroundings of the Moscow Simonov Monastery, and the name “Lizin’s Pond” was firmly attached to the pond located there. Moreover: some unfortunate young ladies even drowned themselves here, following the example main character stories. Liza herself became a model that people sought to imitate in love, though not peasant women who had not read Karamzin’s story, but girls from the nobility and other wealthy classes. The hitherto rare name Erast became very popular among noble families. “Poor Liza” and sentimentalism were very much in keeping with the spirit of the times.
It is characteristic that in Karamzin’s works, Liza and her mother, although they are stated to be peasant women, speak the same language as the nobleman Erast and the author himself. The writer, like Western European sentimentalists, did not yet know the speech distinction of heroes representing classes of society that were opposite in terms of their conditions of existence. All the characters in the story speak Russian literary language, close to the real one. spoken language that circle of educated noble youth to which Karamzin belonged. Also, peasant life in the story is far from genuine folk life. Rather, it is inspired by ideas about “ natural man", the symbols of which were shepherds and shepherdesses. Therefore, for example, the writer introduces an episode of Lisa’s meeting with a young shepherd who “was driving his flock along the river bank, playing the pipe.” This meeting makes the heroine dream that her beloved Erast would be “a simple peasant, a shepherd,” which would make their happy union possible. The writer, after all, was mainly concerned with truthfulness in the depiction of feelings, and not with the details of folk life that was unfamiliar to him.
Having established sentimentalism in Russian literature with his story, Karamzin took a significant step in terms of its democratization, abandoning the strict, but far from living life, schemes of classicism. The author of “Poor Liza” not only sought to write “as they say,” freeing literary language from Church Slavonic archaisms and boldly introducing into it new words borrowed from European languages. For the first time, he abandoned the division of heroes into purely positive and purely negative, showing a complex combination of good and bad traits in the character of Erast. Thus, Karamzin took a step in the direction in which he moved the development of literature in mid-19th century realism, which replaced sentimentalism and romanticism.
N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” was one of the first sentimental works of Russian literature XVIII century.
Sentimentalism proclaimed primary attention to the private life of people, to their feelings, which were equally characteristic of people from all classes. . Karamzin tells us the story of the unhappy love of a simple peasant girl Liza and a nobleman Erast, in order to prove that “peasant women also know how to love.”
Lisa is the ideal of nature. She is not only “beautiful in soul and body,” but she is also capable of sincerely loving a person who is not entirely worthy of her love. Erast, although he certainly surpasses his beloved in education, nobility and material condition, turns out to be spiritually smaller than her. He also has intelligence and a kind heart, but is a weak and flighty person. He is unable to rise above class prejudices and marry Lisa. Having lost at cards, he is forced to marry a rich widow and leave Lisa, which is why she committed suicide. However, sincere human feelings did not die in Erast and, as the author assures us, “Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. Having learned about Lizina’s fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer.”
For Karamzin, the village becomes a center of natural moral purity, and the city becomes a source of temptations that can destroy this purity. The writer's heroes, in full accordance with the precepts of sentimentalism, suffer almost all the time, constantly expressing their feelings with abundantly shed tears. Karamzin is not ashamed of tears and encourages readers to do the same. He describes in detail the experiences of Lisa, left behind by Erast, who had gone into the army; we can follow how she suffers: “From that hour, her days were days of melancholy and sorrow, which had to be hidden from her tender mother: the more her heart suffered! Then it only became easier when Lisa, secluded in the depths of the forest, could freely shed tears and moan about separation from her beloved. Often the sad dove combined her plaintive voice with her moaning.”
Characteristic for a writer lyrical digressions, at every dramatic turn of the plot we hear the author’s voice: “my heart is bleeding...”, “a tear is rolling down my face.” It was essential for the sentimentalist writer to appeal to social issues. He does not blame Erast for the death of Lisa: the young nobleman is as unhappy as the peasant woman. The important thing is that Karamzin is perhaps the first in Russian literature to discover the “living soul” in representatives of the lower class. This is where Russian begins: to show sympathy for ordinary people. It can also be noted that the title of the work itself carries special symbolism, where, on the one hand, Lisa’s financial situation is indicated, and on the other, the well-being of her soul, which leads to philosophical reflection.
The writer turned to an even more interesting tradition of Russian literature - to poetics speaking name. He was able to emphasize the discrepancy between the external and internal in the images of the heroes of the story. Lisa, meek and quiet, surpasses Erast in the ability to love and live by love. She does things. requiring determination and willpower, contradicting the laws of morality, religious and moral norms of behavior.
The philosophy adopted by Karamzin made Nature one of the main characters of the story. Not all heroes in the story have the right to intimate communication with the world of Nature, but only Lisa and the Narrator.
In “Poor Liza” N. M. Karamzin gave one of the first examples of sentimental style in Russian literature, which was focused on colloquial speech educated part of the nobility. He assumed elegance and simplicity of style, a specific selection of “euphonious” and “not spoiling the taste” words and expressions, rhythmic organization prose, bringing it closer to poetic speech. In the story “Poor Liza” Karamzin showed himself to be a great psychologist. He managed to masterfully reveal the inner world of his characters, primarily their love experiences.
Not only the author himself got along with Erast and Lisa, but also thousands of his contemporaries - readers of the story. This was facilitated by good recognition not only of the circumstances, but also of the place of action. Karamzin quite accurately depicted in “Poor Liza” the surroundings of the Moscow Simonov Monastery, and the name “Lizin’s Pond” was firmly attached to the pond located there. " Moreover: some unfortunate young ladies even drowned themselves here, following the example of the main character of the story. Lisa became a model that people sought to imitate in love, not by peasant women, however, but by girls from the nobility and other wealthy classes. The rare name Erast became very popular among noble families. “Poor Liza” and sentimentalism responded to the spirit of the times.
Having established sentimentalism in Russian literature with his story, Karamzin took a significant step in terms of its democratization, abandoning the strict, but far from living life, schemes of classicism.
Is poor Lisa ideal?
Who doesn’t know the sad story about the poor young peasant woman Liza, who committed suicide because of her unhappy love for the young master Erast, who first seduced her and then abandoned her to marry an elderly and rich widow? From school we are told that a poor good village girl was deceived and rejected by a bad rich gentleman-rake, thereby driving her to suicide. And all of us, readers, since the time of N.M. Karamzin to this day, we cry in chorus about her unfortunate fate, without thinking about the real reason what happened and understanding everything almost like a child. The entire understanding of this story is neatly laid out on two shelves: “He” and “She”: he is a gentleman, she is a peasant woman; he lives in “greedy” Moscow, she lives in the village, near a birch grove; he is rich, she is poor; his halo is money, hers is light; he is spoiled, she is pure; he is idle, she is a worker; he is bad, she is good; therefore, he left her, and she loved him. That's all! Like two and two!
It should be noted that the author himself greatly contributed to such a downright caricatured reader’s interpretation, openly idealizing the heroine (“Thus she died her life beautiful soul and body") and blaming the hero (“I forget the man in Erast - I’m ready to curse him... can all this justify him?”). However, blaming Karamzin for this would be the height of injustice on our part. Time and culture itself are to blame for this. After all, the story was created in 1792, when world (and Russian too!) literature was experiencing a peculiar “ adolescence", and teenagers, as you know, tend to see the world in black and white. In the 17th century, classicism dominated throughout Europe - a very naive literary direction, which divided all heroes into “positive” and “negative”; positivity consisted in the ability to subordinate feelings to reason, and its bearers were great heroes. Soon this system became obsolete, and was replaced by another - sentimentalism. Sentimentalism turned out to be as naive as its predecessor. He also divided people into “bad” and “good”, but he professed different, diametrically opposed values. If for classicism main value was public good, then for sentimentalism - a separate personality; if for classicism the criterion of positivity was the ability to subordinate feelings to duty and reason, then for sentimentalism it was the ability to feel deeply; if in classicism the bearers of “goodness” were prominent figures, then in sentimentalism - simple people(mostly peasants who grew up in the countryside, in nature, and not spoiled by the luxury of big, noisy cities); finally, if classicist writers had as their goal “educating” the reader, then sentimentalist writers had the goal of “knocking a tear out of him.” It must be said that Nikolai Mikhailovich coped with this task so excellently that all his contemporaries mourned the heroine he had imagined as if they were their own, and the pampered young ladies, tired of idleness and traumatized by unhappy love, wanting to be like her, drowned themselves in the pond en masse, not sparing their young lives... Such a sentimental frenzy reigned in the 18th century...
Okay, oddities of the era. But isn’t it a shame for you and me, people of the 21st century who are familiar with the achievements of psychology and philosophy, to sob just as inconsolably and thoughtlessly over the fate of poor Lisa, like our distant ancestors (and teach this to our children)?! It's a shame, my friends, it's a shame! Therefore, I propose to remove the sentimental tears and try to look deeper into the souls of the heroes, then, in order to find out the real reason for their tragedy, and at the same time think about whether it is as ideal from an objective point of view as the author described it and as we are accustomed to consider it?
Undoubtedly, Karamzin would not have been Karamzin if he had not significantly “outgrown” naive sentimentalism. If his work had been purely sentimental, it would have died along with its era and would have been buried long ago in the ruins of oblivion, like, say, “Letters of Ernest and Doravra.” But no! “Poor Liza” moves our hearts just as it did centuries ago. Why?
First of all, Karamzin does not at all think of making his Erast completely bad. On the contrary, he is a man with “a fair amount of intelligence and a good heart.” And he loved Lisa sincerely, they “fearing not to keep their word, saw each other every evening.” Then why couldn't they be happy? Why did love end in tragedy? The answer of literary scholars to this question is stunningly naive: because Erast is a landowner, and Liza is a peasant woman! In fact, the words of the heroine are repeated: “However, you cannot be my husband!.. I am a peasant woman.” Of course, different social environment heroes cannot be completely discounted, but not in it main reason their breakup. Then what?
To answer this question, it’s time to remember the Greek theory of triune love between a man and a woman. It consists of three stages: the lowest – physical attraction (Eros); the higher one is spiritual love, or passion (Filio), about which we talk and know so much and which poets sing of as fire and a great element; and, finally, the highest, platonic, spiritual love (Agape), which is much less “hot” than Philyo, but much more perfect than it. Agape outgrows the actual relationship between man and woman and sees in its object no longer a person of the opposite sex, but loved one; it is built on respect, spiritual intimacy, self-sacrifice and patience. Unlike Philyo, her object is not a fictional ideal, but a real man with all the shortcomings and weaknesses, but still close. If Filio is completely egocentric, and her center is the “I” of the lover (Her theses: I love you, I suffer without you, the whole world is for us, you love me - I feel good; the main thing is our happiness), then Agape is based on self-sacrifice, and its center is the “You” of the beloved, it is devoid of verbosity, and its main thesis is this: “Be happy even if not with me, and I am happy because you are happy.” This is the pinnacle of Love. After all, according to the Apostle Paul, true love“he is long-suffering, merciful, does not envy, does not seek his own, forgives and never ceases.” Here the saint speaks specifically about Agape, which, unlike Filio, is always merciful and devoid of cruelty. If Filio and Eros leave with youth, then Agape is not afraid of age, illness, separation, troubles, or time, for it is based on the kinship and closeness of souls. If Filio is characterized by madness, in the fit of which a person is capable of anything, then Agape is characterized by the mind of the heart, which helps to rise above one’s passions for the benefit of a loved one.
True happiness can only exist when all three hypostases of love are in harmony, which is not possible without a strict hierarchy. The head of everything should be spiritual love; without it, spiritual love loses all its beauty and all its meaning, becoming only an alarming, deceitful dream that must certainly end. In turn, physical love, not illuminated by the light of spiritual and spiritual love, becomes an ugly sin that destroys human personality. Agape and Eros are in a kind of struggle, and depending on which of them turns out to be stronger, one can judge the authenticity of feelings. There is a pattern: the stronger the spiritual love, the weaker the carnal one - and vice versa. Therefore, whether we like it or not, an unambiguous conclusion arises: the basis of true Love is chastity and abstinence.
If we transfer this system to the plane of relations between our heroes, everything will immediately fall into place. And it will become clear why Erast decided to commit such a strange act - to suddenly leave for the war, which was coming to an end, and lose his entire fortune at cards. Let us recall once again the love story of Erast and Lisa.
So, they first met at the market, where he was buying lilies of the valley from her. What arose between them was what is commonly called “love at first sight.” This, by the way, is quite natural for beautiful young people.
But now there is a rapprochement. Tired of his depraved and idle life, filled to overflowing with entertainment and dissolute ladies, but deep down being a wonderful and pure young man, Erast found in Lisa “what his heart had long been looking for,” that is, innocence, chastity, spiritual beauty and sincerity - in the words of the poet Nekrasov, “the original clarity of the soul.” Spiritual love arises between the heroes, which becomes a powerful, cleansing force for him: “All the brilliant fun big world seemed insignificant to him... With disgust he thought about the sobering voluptuousness with which his feelings had previously reveled.” The young man discovered something he had never suspected before - platonic Agape love, based on spiritual intimacy and purity. The passion connecting them was entirely subordinated to this higher love. Karamzin brilliantly described their relationship as “passionate friendship.” This means that the heroes were not just a man and a woman in love with each other, but also, above all, close friends; it was genuine wonderful union two noble souls.
But this idyll collapsed overnight when, fearing to lose each other (that day a rich peasant unsuccessfully wooed Lisa), the heroes committed a sin. And although “the delusion passed in one minute,” it had the most serious consequences. After all, “Erast could no longer be satisfied with just the innocent caresses of his Lisa - just her glances filled with love - just one touch of a hand, one kiss, just one pure embrace. He wanted more... and... he could no longer wish for anything, - and... the fulfillment of all desires is the most dangerous temptation of love.” The place of the perfect, meek Agape was taken by the predatory Eros, and the heroes were connected only by passion and carnal intimacy, and such relationships cannot last forever. Where has spiritual love gone? Everything is very simple. Indeed, due to his depraved lifestyle, Erast’s ability to love was pretty much worn out, and women for him were just beautiful toys, like for Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin:
He no longer fell in love with beauties,
And somehow I was dragging my feet,
They will refuse - I was instantly consoled,
They will change - I was glad to relax.
And he truly fell in love with Lisa because she had a “sensitive, innocent soul,” and having lost her innocence, her beloved girl “was no longer for Erast that angel of purity that had previously inflamed his imagination and delighted his soul. Platonic love gave way to feelings of which he could no longer be proud and which were no longer new to him.” It’s easy to imagine how disappointed in love this young man was, whose story of true love turned out to be so short-lived and fragile! His feelings can be expressed by the famous cynical phrase seasoned womanizers: “And you’re just like everyone else!” Thus, having recklessly surrendered to her beloved, Lisa, without realizing it, pushed him away from herself. Let us remember Akhmatova’s lines: “There is a cherished trait in the closeness of people... those who strive for it are mad, and those who have achieved it are struck with melancholy.” Having lost faith in true love and not knowing where to go from immense melancholy, the hero desperately runs away from his annoying lover and from himself. Runs after a new ghost - honor. He imagines himself as a valiant defender of the fatherland and goes to war. But, having a “heart... weak and flighty,” he loses his entire fortune at cards (important: playing cards is a desperate challenge to fate, a person who is disappointed in the life!) and easily decides to enter into a marriage of convenience (after all true love no longer exists for him!!!) with a rich, elderly widow. And with the same ease and amazing cruelty he rejects Liza, who came to his Moscow house, coldly informing her that he was “engaged to get married,” putting 100 rubles in her pocket, and driving her away. However, the relationship between Erast and Lisa actually ended not on this day, but on the very evening of their fall. Both of them are equally to blame for this and are unhappy because of it. Being a great connoisseur human soul, Karamzin, using the example of Erast and Liza, shows the horror of intemperance and debauchery that can corrupt the most pure souls and destroy the most beautiful love. In our time of raging vice, this topic acquires particular relevance and urgency.
So, we figured out the real reason for the tragedy of the heroes. Now let’s answer the question posed in the title of this work: “Is poor Lisa ideal?” If until now I agreed with the author on everything, now I am entering into a tough debate with him and answering this question categorically in the negative. What kind of positivity can we talk about the heroine if, once - rashly - having entered into a carnal relationship with her lover, she drowned out the voice of conscience within herself and began to chronically commit adultery with him, openly proud of it?! You will object: she loved Erast! Did you love? No! She just felt an egoistic passion for him (Filio), built on the principle “You for me, I for you.” As soon as Erast chose her over another, she became indignant: “He, he kicked me out? Does he love someone else? I died! If her feeling were genuine, Lisa would be glad that her beloved was alive, would find the strength to forgive him for his betrayal and would wish him happiness even with another. After all, true Love consists of the ability to be happy happiness a loved one, without demanding reciprocity and without seeing him as your property. But no! The girl is completely deprived of the ability to truly love and is not at all capable of self-denial and self-sacrifice for the sake of her beloved, unlike, say, Margarita, Faust’s beloved *,
or from his noble namesake, Liza Kalitina, Lavretsky’s failed bride**.
But perhaps the ruthless egoist Erast is not worthy of such high feelings? But it’s completely unforgivable how Lisa, having cowardly committed suicide, treated her loving mother, who was not to blame for anything! You will say that she was in a state of passion. But is it? Let's re-read this episode. “...she plunged into some thoughtfulness” (note: thoughtfulness!!), “called... her neighbor’s daughter, took ten imperials out of her pocket and, handing them to her, said: “... take this money to mother... tell her that Lisa is against her it’s my fault that I hid from her my love for one cruel man... Say that he cheated on me, - ask her to forgive me, - God will be her Helper... say that poor Lisa ordered to kiss her, - say that I... " Then she threw herself into the water.” Look how reminiscent this is of what Erast did to her! The same weak-willed “washing of hands” and shifting one’s blame (Erast – to circumstances, Liza – to betrayal “ cruel person"); the same, almost mocking, wish for happiness to an abandoned loved one (Erast, abandoning her, also said: “I wish you all the best”); the same Judas kiss (he also kissed Liza before driving her away!) and the same pathetic attempt to pay off his beloved and loving person one hundred rubles; and, finally, the same involuntary murder of him (as we remember, Lisa’s mother, unable to survive the death of her daughter, died of grief)! Thus, Erast and Lisa - with all the apparent differences - reveal a stunning similarity: both of them can be noble and both can show love, but as long as it is good for them, because both heroes are weak egoists, capable of putting even life of a loved one. A vicious chain is formed: Erast loves Lisa, but he loves his wealth even more and is ready to give up for it. loving girl- and, in the end, destroy her; Lisa loves her mother, but she loves herself even more and, seeking oblivion in death (for the sake of own comfort!), forgets about her and, committing suicide, kills her, not finding the strength to live at least for the sake of this one thing loved one! Of course, she would not have praised her if she had learned about her unhappy relationship with Erast, but really? mother's heart would not forgive this guilt?! But the guilt that the girl brought upon herself by suicide is incomparably greater, and she deserves neither justification nor forgiveness.
Both heroes are unhappy, but if this tragedy led Erast to repentance, then Liza, with a dirty conscience and an embittered soul, departed into a far from serene eternity, from which there is no way out... And this makes her fate even more terrible.
Love is the most serious test for a person. She either awakens in him all the virtues or all the vices. The heroine failed this exam. At first she appeared before us as an exemplary daughter, a chaste girl, a God-fearing Christian and a tender lover, but the very first test (the betrayal of her beloved) crushed all these virtues in her and turned her into a vicious, weak and cruel egoist who forgot both her mother and God for her sake. false passion. In no case should we idealize it the way we are used to.
“Poor Lisa” - indeed sad story, but not at all about love, but about its absence; this is a cry for the spirit swallowed up in the flesh and for the wheat wonderful feelings, ruined by the tares of destructive passions.
*Margarita is the heroine of the tragedy “Faust” by the German writer I.V. Goethe (Hereinafter - Author's note).
**Liza Kalitina is the heroine of I. S. Turgenev’s novel “The Noble Nest.”
