Reading Pushkin's story: a brief retelling of The Peasant Young Lady. Main characters: "Belkin's Tale". Characteristics of the main characters What is the name of the main character, the peasant young lady
A person’s character is not determined at birth; it develops on the basis of natural data under the influence of the environment and society, manifesting itself especially clearly at turning points in life.
Pushkin does not give evaluative definitions to the characters of Berestov and Muromsky, Alexei and Liza.
A confidently outlined life story of the characters, laconic lines of portraits, brief and succinct speech characteristics, including improperly direct speech, the very behavior of the characters in the current situation - all these are artistic means of creating characters in the story.
In fact, the time limits of the action of “The Young Lady-Peasant Woman” are defined. This is two to three months, starting from Nastya’s visit to the chef’s wife and to the recognition scene. However, the boundaries are pushed back when we restore the biographies of Muromsky and Berestov and, looking ahead, we see how two estates, two families merge into one - one rich, the other noble, and old men babysitting their grandchildren.
Ivan Petrovich Berestov
in his youth he served in the guard. Under Catherine II, service in the guard was a privilege for wealthy noble families. The guards have always been the empress's support. It is no coincidence that Berestov retired at the beginning of 1797, when, after the death of Catherine II, Paul I, who imposed Prussian orders in Russia, came to the throne. A young, ardent guardsman, Berestov, like most Russian people, does not want to obey Paul I, and his protest against the new order is expressed by his resignation. Berestov was about 30 years old at that time, that is, he was born around 1767.
In 1801, Alexander I became emperor. Serfdom seemed unshakable. The nobility enjoyed all the privileges. The nobles understood that manufactories and factories were a profitable business, so the number of industrial enterprises in Russia increased significantly. Having become the sole owner of the estate, Berestov was not satisfied with his parents’ house, but decided to build his own, according to his own plan (he had something to compare with - he served in St. Petersburg!). The money invested in the construction of the factory was quickly returned, and income tripled. Serfs did not have to be paid like hired workers. Berestov became one of the richest landowners in the province, sent his son, who had grown up by that time, to study in the capitals, and then to the university (the University of Göttingen was the most popular among Russian students), he himself received guests, took care of horses and dogs, did not read anything, except for the Senate Gazette, and recorded the expenses himself.
Out of affection for everything homemade, Russian - or out of economy bordering on stinginess, he wore a frock coat made of homemade cloth, but on weekdays he wore a corduroy jacket. It seemed that he was a hospitable host, but for the treat the neighbors paid him with loud praises about his household management, agreed that he was the smartest man, did not interfere with his narcissism, feigned humility, and then went to tell Muromsky about Berestov and were amused by Grigory Ivanovich’s rage.
Of course, Berestov was a good host. Russian people said about such people: “The arrogance is noble, but the mind is peasant.” (V.I. Dal). He knew the value of work and time, he knew the value of money, and therefore could not understand Muromsky’s extravagance. Self-confidence allowed Ivan Petrovich to feel at home everywhere. He was used to people around him listening to him, and he didn’t think much about people’s moods.
In the first place in Berestov’s value chain was wealth and property. He does not miss an opportunity to emphasize his wealth: to travel three miles, he harnesses six horses; stubborn Alexei, who does not want to marry Liza Muromskaya, is threatened with deprivation of his inheritance. He looks at his son’s marriage as a profitable deal: “Grigory Ivanovich was a close relative of Count Pronsky, a noble and strong man; The count could be very useful to Alexei...”
From the image of Berestov there are only a few steps to the image of Kirila Petrovich Troekurov. The main, most prominent, prominent character trait of both is self-love.
If we conditionally divide the story, like a play, into five acts, then in the first two acts we see an allegedly pronounced conflict between Berestov and Muromsky.
Grigory Ivanovich Muromsky
was a close relative of Count Pronsky and had a significant fortune. Perhaps he was born in Moscow and, if he visited his estate as a child, he visited it extremely rarely. It was precisely these people, who did not know the value of labor and the time spent on work, who had no idea how bread would be born, who carelessly squandered their fortune in the capitals, lost at cards, and held balls (remember Eugene Onegin’s father). Muromsky served, but probably not for long (“the old men remembered the old times and the anecdotes of their service”). Perhaps he traveled abroad, where he became infected with Anglomania, that is, he became a passionate supporter of everything English.
In Moscow, his daughter was born and grew up. After the death of his wife, Muromsky left with his daughter to his village. His “pranks” - the English garden, the costumes of English jockeys on grooms, the maintenance of “Madame Miss Jackson”, who “received ... two thousand rubles and died of boredom in this barbaric Russia,” all this turned into new debts, moreover, the peasants of the estate pledged by Grigory Ivanovich to the Guardian Council had to pay interest on the amount that the landowner had successfully spent. The peasants went bankrupt, and the neighbors admired how Muromsky loved and pampered his daughter, whom he left without an inheritance, in fact with only debts (“... all her mother’s diamonds, not yet pawned, shone on her fingers, neck and ears” ). Moreover, he never tried to penetrate her inner world. He interpreted all actions that were incomprehensible to him in a way convenient for himself: after Lisa’s first early walk, he talks about “the principles of human longevity, gleaned from English magazines”; after dressing Lisa for dinner, he asks her a question and, without waiting for an answer, advises his daughter to use whitewash.
Just as Berestov does not see and does not understand his son, so Muromsky sees in Liza only the prankster and minx Betsy. But if Berestov is like Krylov’s hardworking Ant, then his neighbor glides through life like a Moth. This slippage, the habit of avoiding serious solutions to problems, carelessness and irresponsibility are also manifested in his speech. (“Are you crazy?” the father objected. “How long ago have you become so shy, or do you have a hereditary hatred of them, like a novel’s heroine?”)
We see the same thoughts of Muromsky about Lisa’s marriage: “...after the death of Ivan Petrovich, all his estate will pass into the hands of Alexei Ivanovich; that in this case Alexey Ivanovich will be one of the richest landowners of that province and that there is no reason for him not to marry Liza.” Muromsky's thought about of death neighbor contributed to the transformation of acquaintance into friendship!
Just as easily as he approaches financial matters, Muromsky treats matters of the heart: “... if Alexey is with me every day, then Betsy will have to fall in love with him. This is par for the course. Time will sort everything out." Grigory Ivanovich wants to get rid of his daughter as quickly as possible, because the heaviest burden is the burden of responsibility.
Pushkin himself, thanks to the narrator - Belkin, does not give a direct assessment of the life of an “educated European”; only once with sober eyes - the eyes of Alexei - do we see Muromsky simply as a “narcissistic Anglomaniac”, and Berestov as a “calculating landowner”.
So, the life positions of Berestov and Muromsky are built on the same platform - on pride. It was this, and not the “timidity of the short filly,” that became the reason for the cessation of the “ancient and deeply rooted” enmity. Was there any hostility? It could not be ancient, Muromsky did not live in Priluchin for so long, and the neighbors portrayed its depth, zealous in conveying the words of one landowner to another.
The author parodies the theme of the enmity of fathers, popular thanks to W. Shakespeare, which is why he uses so many words suddenly, unexpectedly, hatred, enemy and the promising “suddenly found himself within pistol shot distance.” But the enmity is inflated by the neighbors and bursts like a soap bubble at the very first meeting of the two landowners.
It should be noted that in “Dubrovsky” the conflict is already real, it is based on the independence of one neighbor and the lust for power of another neighbor.
Berestov and Muromsky are two typical representatives of the nobility of the early 19th century, their images will be continued in the heroes of I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy, I. A. Goncharov and I. A. Bunin.
Alexey Berestov.
In the 19th century, the relative speed of the passage of time intensified even more, and long before I. S. Turgenev, A. S. Pushkin outlined the theme of the conflict between fathers and children. Ivan Petrovich Berestov, reading the Senate Gazette on his estate, has no idea what the life of a university student is filled with. The father is a monolithic figure, frozen in his habits. In Alexey we can distinguish and highlight several subpersonalities, each of which lives its own life, as it were, at the same time they form a single whole.
Alexey the Hussar. His father does not allow him to serve in the military, but Alexey grows a mustache just in case. “Alexey was really great. It would really be a pity if his slender figure was never pulled together by a military uniform and if, instead of showing off on a horse, he spent his youth bent over office papers.”
Alexey is a mysterious melancholic, brought new fashion from the capitals to the provinces. “He was the first to appear before them, gloomy and disappointed, the first to tell them about lost joys and about his faded youth; Moreover, he wore a black ring with the image of a death’s head.”
How similar:
Lensky was sincere in his songs. Alexey chose this role for himself only when it seemed necessary to him: “He decided that cold absent-mindedness was, in any case, the most decent thing.”
Alexey the master.“Amazingly good,” Nastya says about him, “handsome, one might say. Slender, tall, blush all over his cheek...” With peasant women and courtyard girls, he is “used to not standing on ceremony” and behaves not like a gentleman, but like a spoiled barchuk.
Alexey-son knows well the disposition of his father, who if he “gets into his head, then, in the words of Taras Skotinin, you can’t knock him out with a nail,” therefore, in a conversation with his father, he takes the pose of a respectful son and prefers to look obedient to his father’s will until he They don’t take you alive.
Alexey the Göttingener. In Germany, at the University of Göttingen, the flower of the Russian nobility was studying at that time. There they talked about philosophy, about freedom and enlightenment of the people, read progressive literature, and thought about duty and honor. Alexey, starting to teach Akulina to read and write, was surprised: “Yes, our learning proceeds faster than according to the Lancastrian system.” The Bell-Lancaster system of peer education, when older successful students (monitors) under the guidance of a teacher taught classes to other students, became known in Russia since 1818.
This system was considered progressive, and it was used by the Decembrists to spread literacy among soldiers. Alexei's acquaintance with this system speaks of his connection with the advanced, educated nobility.
For the third lesson, Alexey brings Akulina “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter” by N. M. Karamzin. This is a historical idyll in a sentimental-romantic spirit - a story about two lovers, whose lives are inextricably linked with the fate of the state. The books of N.M. Karamzin were hardly kept in the library of old Berestov. Karamzin was an entire era of Russian literature, an idol of young poets. The idea of his work was “to elevate the rank of man in our fatherland” (“Once upon a time there was a good king”).
Alexey (the main character of “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter” is also Alexey) and Lisa read about the movements of the human heart. Lisa may have already been familiar with the book and thought a lot about it, because her comments “truly” amaze Alexey.
The subtext of the story is the connection between the relationship between Alexei and Akulina with the plot of “Poor Liza” by Karamzin, where the nobleman Erast seduces the pure-hearted peasant woman Liza. At some moments, Erast strives to go beyond the feudal morality of the society around him. Alexey finds satisfaction in the fact that his relationship with Akulina does not look like seduction, that he has never broken his word, that he is engaged in educating his beloved: “Akulina apparently got used to the best way of speaking, and her mind noticeably developed and formed.”
Alexey is still free to take on any of his roles. Not a single mask had yet grown on him, he “...was a kind and ardent fellow and had a pure heart, capable of feeling the pleasures of innocence.”
Alexei appears before us sincerely and amazed after his father’s words about marriage. The state of shock passes, and during several subsequent remarks, Alexey begins to choose a role, an option of behavior. He has not yet completely left the image of an obedient son and cannot motivate his refusal, but in his room, reflecting “on the limits of parental power,” he makes an attempt to understand his feelings and decides to explain himself to Muromsky and marry a peasant woman. And the feeling of satisfaction that brings him is not so much the idea as the very fact of making a decision. But the decision to marry a peasant woman is not subject to a life test, since the peasant woman turns out to be imaginary. The conflict with the father also loses its basis.
Why does Pushkin the psychologist give us a string of Alexei’s subpersonalities? Alexey is a hussar, a fashionable melancholic, a young gentleman, an obedient son, a kind fellow, an educated Göttingener. To this list we can also add the potentially present image of an official, a person in the civil service, about whom we know that he will not “jump headlong.”
Aleksey potentially contains the beginnings of all the paths that the Russian nobility will follow in the future. Pushkin leaves the ending of the story open: we do not know which road Alexey will take. We can safely say that “The Peasant Young Lady” is in fact a story filled with epoch-making life content. By placing this story at the end of the entire cycle of “Belkin’s Tales,” Pushkin seems to be asking a question to Russian society: where will we go? What will we be like? What kind of life will we make?
Few contemporaries understood the depth of the story, and the answer to Pushkin’s questions was the history of Russia.
Image Lisa Muromskaya
has always attracted researchers. Attention was paid to the number of masks being replaced: Lisa, Betsy, Akulina.
A masquerade is a place where everyone can show their essence without fear of being recognized. People participate in masquerade in order to have the opportunity to be themselves, if the circumstances of everyday life do not provide the opportunity to realize their human essence.
Throughout the story, Alexey does not change his appearance, but appears to us in different guises. Lisa, changing masks, does not betray the main idea - the idea of \u200b\u200btrusting and tender - female - love.
Lisa - noblewoman, but there is no aristocratic arrogance in her, as in Marya Kirilovna Troekurova. She talks with Nastya with pleasure, enters into the affairs and concerns of the village girls, knows how to speak the local dialect and does not consider it shameful for herself to wear a thick shirt and a blue Chinese sundress.
Lisa is an orphan. Her mother will not help her with advice. The father, having hired Miss Jackson, believes that he did everything for her upbringing. Miss Jackson, in turn, does not bother her with her instructions. Thus, her life, like a river, flows whimsically and freely, not driven into the granite banks of secular conventions. She is a local young lady, but she does not blindly follow the fashion of metropolitan magazines. The county news was too simple and vain; they could not occupy all of Lisa’s leisure time.
And Lisa read quite thoughtfully.
Among N. M. Karamzin’s stories, “Poor Liza” was the most popular. Pushkin's Liza knows this story quite well and completely agrees with the idea that “even peasant women know how to love.” Thinking about deceived love and the melodramatic death of poor Liza, Liza Muromskaya wants to establish justice, “to see the Tugilov landowner at the feet of the daughter of the Priluchinsky blacksmith.” It was important that a woman triumph over a man, it was important that unshakable class prejudices crumble to dust before love. “...The ways to please a man depend on fashion, on momentary opinion, but in women they are based on feelings and nature, which are eternal,” wrote A. S. Pushkin in “A Novel in Letters.”
Perhaps the issue of fidelity in love is especially painful for a man. As a girl in the capital, Lisa saw a lot that she was able to comprehend when left alone with herself in Priluchina.
For Lisa, Alexei’s loyalty to the peasant woman Akulina was very significant. She was smart, she saw life as real, without powder and languid passion, and she wanted a man for her husband who would love her and remain faithful to her.
The first change of clothes was caused by natural female curiosity. Dressing up is a favorite technique in the comedy tradition. But curiosity is also the main feature of a provincial girl. The second change of clothes was necessary to maintain the existing relationship. Thoughts about the morality of her meetings with Alexey worried her, but not for long: youth and love triumphed, Alexey and Akulina were quite happy that day.
Nowadays, at the beginning of the 21st century, the ability to be happy is very rare. The reason for this is increased anxiety, uncertainty about the future, resulting in a constant state of aggression. Aggression is incompatible with the state of happiness, that is, acceptance of the world as it is, awareness of oneself as a part of this world. Happiness is integrity, harmony with oneself and the world. Few people know this condition now. It was available to Lisa and Alexey.
In conversations with Alexei, Lisa honestly tries to play the role of a peasant woman. She speaks the local dialect, but uses expressions that were characteristic only of the speech of people of the noble class, sometimes she speaks as, in the opinion of N.M. Karamzin, a peasant woman should speak. “I don’t need an oath,” the imaginary Akulina repeats after poor Liza, Karamzin’s heroine. And just like Karamzin’s Liza, Akulina complains about her illiteracy.
Contemporaries of A. S. Pushkin, who knew well the then few works of Russian literature, perfectly heard the author’s hidden ironic polemic with sentimentalists regarding how the people should be portrayed.
N.M. Karamzin’s Liza says to Erast: “Oh, why can’t I read or write! You would notify me about everything that happens to you, and I would write to you about my tears!”
A. S. Pushkin’s Lisa is real and concrete: “However,” she said with a sigh, “even though the young lady may be funny, I’m still an illiterate fool in front of her.”
In the cycle of “Belkin’s Tales” A.S. Pushkin more than once addresses the issue of women’s right to an independent choice of life path. In the time of Pushkin, there was no opportunity for a woman to get an education; only men were accepted into universities, although women had already proven that they were not to occupy their minds. Princess E.R. Dashkova, Catherine II and even Pushkin’s heroine Liza amazes the Göttingener Alexei with the subtlety of her remarks!
Men dominated in literature and art. The appearance of a woman in public office was virtually impossible, and being an entrepreneur... It was unthinkable!
The young lady had only one path, approved by society: to get married and become a mother.
The wedding of Lisa and Alexei, decided in advance by their fathers, turned out to be desirable for the children - a rare coincidence.
In “The Peasant Young Lady,” in the subtle parody, in the fascinating masquerade, in the dynamics of the scenes, plots are hidden that could become the beginning of tragedies. If the enmity of the fathers had been ineradicable, the fathers would not have made peace, a story would have arisen based on the great tragedy of W. Shakespeare, similar in plot to “Dubrovsky.” If young people did not have strong feelings for each other and their fathers would marry them by force, then plots similar to “Anna Karenina” by L.N. Tolstoy would arise. If Alexey turned out to be a seducer like Erast, and Akulina really was a peasant woman, then collisions similar to L. N. Tolstoy’s “Resurrection” would arise.
A. S. Pushkin masterfully completes the story, but the happy ending does not remove the question posed by N. M. Karamzin. From now on—and forever—Russian writers write about the Russian woman, whose soul is based on love.
Another Pushkin Liza (“Novel in Letters”) writes to her friend about a mutual friend: “Let him embroider new patterns on the old canvas and present to us in a small frame a picture of the world and the people he knows so well.” Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in “The Young Peasant Lady” embroidered new patterns on the old canvas and in a small frame presented a picture of the great world and the people whom he knew and loved so well.
>Characteristics of heroes
Characteristics of the main characters
Alexey Ivanovich Berestov is the main character of the story, the son of the noble landowner Ivan Petrovich Berestov, a friend of Akulina (Liza). After graduating from university, Alexey returned to his native village, to the Tugilovo estate. His father did not allow him to enter military service, so the young man remained to live as a “master” in the village.
Ivan Petrovich Berestov is a landowner in Tugilov, Alexei’s father, and a neighbor of the Anglomaniac Muromsky. Berestov, a widowed landowner, knows how to manage his own household and considers himself very smart, although he has only read the Senate Gazette. His neighbors respect him, they say that he is a smart landowner, but they consider him a little proud and arrogant.
Elizaveta Grigorievna Muromskaya (Betsy) is the main character of the story, the daughter of the Anglomaniac landowner Grigory Ivanovich Muromsky, Alexei’s beloved. Lisa is only seventeen years old. She is naturally endowed with a dark and pleasant face and lively black eyes. She was orphaned early and raised by her father, a wealthy landowner.
Grigory Ivanovich Muromsky is one of the main characters of the story, Elizabeth’s father, Berestov’s neighbor and enemy. Muromsky was widowed early and raised his only daughter Lisa, whom he called Betsy in English. Being a wealthy landowner and owner of an estate in Priluchin, he loved to squander his fortune left and right, spoiled his daughter and ran the household in the English manner, for which he was known in the area as an Anglomaniac landowner.
A minor character, Liza Muromskaya's maid and confidant in her secret affairs. She is always at the hostess's service and is ready to carry out any of her instructions. By nature, Nastya is efficient, businesslike, but a little flighty.
Miss Jackson
An Englishwoman, a woman of forty, Lisa's teacher. She didn’t like it in Russia, but a salary of 2,000 rubles kept her with the Muromskys. When Lisa put on make-up so that Alexey wouldn’t recognize her when he visited their house, she stole antimony and whitewash from Miss Jackson’s chest of drawers. Then she repented, and the Englishwoman forgave her.
- The main characters in this work are several characters. First of all, this is the young lady herself Lisa, dressing up as a peasant woman to meet the neighbor's son of a landowner. The girl was only seventeen years old and like all girls, she was a little spoiled, playful and loved to play pranks.
- The second main character is the subject of her love languor, Alexei, a young man who has graduated from university and wants to go into military service. His father, a successful business executive, conservative, owner of the estate, Ivan Petrovich Berestov. Lisa's father, Grigory Ivanovich Muromsky, is an Anglomaniac and lover of innovation.
Enemy neighbors
The widower Berestov lives on one estate. He has a house built according to his plans, a factory and lands that bring in a constant income. He considers himself a smart person, often receives guests, but is known among his neighbors as a proud man. The only master with whom he does not get along is Grigory Ivanovich Muromsky, who settled in the village after squandering most of his fortune.
On his estate, he arranged everything in the English way. He even hired an English madam for his daughter. But he has no income, and even gets into new debts. These two neighbors speak extremely negatively about each other, criticizing their opponent’s lifestyle.
Alexey's arrival
After studying at the university, his son Alexey came to Berestov’s village. He was an attractive, slender young man who did not want to spend all his days doing paperwork. His appearance became a big event in the lives of bored local young ladies.
Many girls looked at him, but he did not show any special sympathy for anyone. From his apparent gloominess, an invented unhappy love story, the young ladies were greatly impressed and lost their heads.
Lisa's interest
If everyone had already seen the young master, then Liza, Muromsky’s daughter, went crazy with curiosity. She had heard rumors about him, but it was not possible for a girl whose father was strongly at enmity with his father to see Alexei. But Nastya, Lisa’s personal maid, her confidante and friend, went to a nearby estate for her name day with the local cook.
In the evening, she enthusiastically told her young lady her impressions of her meeting with Alexei. According to her, the master was cheerful, but a spoiler who loved to chase girls. Lisa wanted to see him, and she figured out how to do this so as not to seem intrusive or flighty.
First meeting
Having purchased suitable material, Lisa, with the help of Nastya, sewed peasant clothes for herself and even straightened her bast shoes. Early in the morning, after changing clothes, she ran across the field to the neighboring estate. In the grove she encountered a young gentleman who had gone out to hunt.
She pretended to be Akulina, the daughter of the blacksmith Vasily. Her inaccessibility and severity won over Alexei, who was accustomed to not stand on ceremony with village women. And Lisa diligently played the role of an illiterate peasant woman, but with a sense of her own dignity.
The master liked her so much that he wanted to visit her father, Vasily. Frightened of being exposed, Lisa-Akulina promised to meet with the master again.
Secret dates
The next morning, they met again, although before that Lisa was tormented by doubts about the correctness and morality of such an act. But Alexei was already obsessed with thoughts only of the beautiful Akulina, so unlike other peasant women.
Tormented by her conscience, she wanted to stop their dates, but the master managed to dissuade her, promising to never look for her in the village. After two months of such secret meetings, both were already madly in love, without thinking about the future.
On the verge of exposure
It so happened that having met by chance on a walk, Berestov helped Muromsky, who had fallen from the saddle to the ground. He invited his neighbor to visit, followed by a return visit. Having learned that the Berestovs would come to them for lunch, Lisa came up with a way to avoid detection.
She put on fluffed, fake curls, whitened and darkened her face, put on a lot of jewelry and an absurd outfit, and spoke coyly and flirtatiously. The trick was a success, and Alexey left their house with full confidence that his Akulina was much better than this unnatural dandy, young lady Liza.
Denouement
Lisa-Akulina asked Alexey to teach her to read and write. Apparently, having quickly learned the alphabet, she was already able to correspond with him, leaving notes in the hollow of an oak tree. And their parents became such strong friends that they agreed to marry their children, having their own reasons for this.
Having learned about his imminent marriage and his father’s intention to deprive him of his inheritance if he decided to oppose this, Alexei realized how much he loved Akulina. He was even capable of becoming a beggar for her sake and living as a peasant labor. He went to the Muromskys to urge them to prudence.
The owner was not at home, but in the living room he saw his Akulina, sitting by the window in a young lady’s dress. When he kissed her hands, Muromsky saw them, realizing that the matter had worked out.
In this article we will look at the most famous cycle of A. S. Pushkin - “Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin.” Let's talk in particular detail about the images of the main characters and their significance for understanding the entire work.
About the product
“The Stories of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin” (the main characters will be discussed below) were written by Pushkin in 1830 in the village of Bolshoye Boldino. The cycle included 5 stories, starting with “The Shot” and ending with “The Peasant Young Lady.”
The cycle begins with the preface “From the Publisher,” the writing of which dates back to October-November 1830. The entire work was first published in 1831.
The main character (“Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin”)
Strictly speaking, it is impossible to identify one main character in all the stories, since each story has its own. However, there is a character who directly or indirectly unites these stories - this is Ivan Petrovich Belkin himself.
He is the narrator character, the landowner of the village of Goryukhin. The reader knows that he was born in 1789, his father was a second major. He was taught by the village sexton and through him the hero became addicted to writing. From 1815 to 1823 Belkin served in the Jaeger regiment. He died of fever in 1828, before the publication of “his” stories.
Pushkin creates this hero using the following set of literary techniques: we learn Belkin’s life story from a letter from a certain “respectable husband”, to whom the publisher was sent by the closest relative of the deceased Trafilin, Maria Alekseevna; The characterization of the hero also includes an epigraph to the entire cycle - words to mother about her son Mitrofanushka from the comedy “The Minor” by Fonvizin.
Silvio
Pushkin's main characters are very different from each other. “Belkin’s Tales” in this regard are simply replete with dissimilar and original heroes. The clearest example is Silvio, the main character of the story “The Shot”. He is 35 years old, a dueling officer who is obsessed with revenge.
Colonel I.L.P. tells Belkin about him, he is the narrator and the story is told on his behalf. First, the colonel describes his personal impressions of meeting Silvio, then retells the episode from the words of Count R. This method of narration gives the reader the opportunity to see the main character through the eyes of different people. Despite the fact that the points of view are different, the perception of Silvio itself does not change much. Its immutability is specially emphasized by Pushkin, as is the desire to appear strange and dual.
Silvio deliberately tries to confuse his actions and disrupts his motives. But the more he does this, the simpler his character becomes. It is no coincidence that Pushkin also emphasizes the hero’s love for novels. This is where his frantic desire for revenge comes from. And the fact that in the end Silvio shoots not at the enemy, but at the painting, does not change the overall situation at all. The hero remains a restless romantic who no longer has a place in life.
Marya Gavrilovna
Maria Gavrilovna is the main character of Belkin's story "Blizzard". This story was told to Belkin by the girl K.I.T.
The main character is a 17-year-old pale and slender girl, the daughter of the landowner of the village of Nenaradov Gavrila Gavrilovich R. Maria Gavrilovna is endowed with a romantic imagination, that is, she perceives life like a literary work. She is a typical lover of French novels and Russian ballads, which have recently appeared in literature.
The main characters of Belkin's story "Blizzard", however, like the heroes of other stories and the narrator himself, are infected with a romantic worldview. They constantly try to stage an affair in life, but invariably fail.
So, Maria Gavrilovna is planning something romantic out of her love. Her parents don't like the army ensign she has chosen. Then the heroine decides to secretly marry him. After this, she sees how the parents will be angry at first, but then forgive and call the children to them. But something goes wrong. And the next day after the escape, the heroine finds herself in her own bed, after which she falls ill.
Life makes its own adjustments to romantic dreams. A snowstorm leads Vladimir astray. And the girl marries an unknown man. Only in the finale does it become clear who he is. However, Pushkin shows very clearly how unviable romantic dreams turn out to be.
Adrian Prokhorov
Prokhorov is the main character of Belkin's story "The Undertaker". He serves as an undertaker in Moscow. His story is told by clerk B.V. Adriyan is a gloomy character, nothing makes him happy, not even the fulfillment of his lifelong dream - moving his family from Basmannaya to their house on Nikitskaya. But this is not surprising, because Prokhorov is tormented by an almost Hamletian question - to be or not to be, the merchant Tryukhina, who is dying. And if she dies, will they send for him or not, because his new home is very far from the place where the dying woman lives.
In this story, Pushkin's voice is heard most strongly. We hear Pushkin's ridicule in the description of the life and thoughts of the main character. And it soon becomes clear that Adrian’s sadness and gloom are not in the fact that he constantly sees death, but in the fact that he reduces everything in his life to one thing - whether he will benefit from it or not. So, rain for him is only a source of ruin, and a person is a potential client. The horror that comes from sleep, where former “clients” come to him, helps him to be reborn. Waking up from a nightmare, he realizes that he can now rejoice.
Samson Vyrin
Samson Vyrin is completely different from the other main characters (“Belkin’s Tale”). In his description we do not hear Pushkin's ridicule and irony. This is an unfortunate man, a stationmaster, an official of the last class, a real martyr. He has a daughter, Dunya, whom a passing hussar took with him to St. Petersburg.
The story of what happened to Vyrin is told by titular councilor A.G.N. “The Station Agent” is the key story in the cycle, which is confirmed by the mention of this in the preface. In addition, Vyrin is the most complex of all the characters in the work.
The plot of the stationmaster's life is very simple. After the death of his wife, worries about the house and household fall on Dunya's shoulders. A passing hussar, Minsky, struck by the girl’s beauty, fakes his illness in order to stay longer in Vyrin’s house, and then takes her daughter away. The father goes to pick up his daughter, but it has no result. Minsky first tries to give Vyrin money, and after Dunya appears and faints, he kicks him out. The abandoned father drinks himself alone and dies. Dunya comes to his grave to cry in a gilded carriage.
Berestov Alexey Ivanovich
The characters in “The Peasant Young Lady” are subject to romantic dreams, like almost all the main characters. "Belkin's Tale" is a rather ironic work in this regard. The only exception is the story of the stationmaster.
So, Alexey Berestov comes to his native village of Tugilovo. Here he falls in love with Lisa Muromskaya, who lives next door. The hero's father, a Russophile and the owner of a cloth factory, cannot stand his neighbor Muromsky, a passionate Anglomaniac. Alexey himself also strives for everything European and behaves like a dandy. Pushkin comically describes the enmity of neighbors, clearly making references to the War of the Scarlet and White Roses and to the enmity of the Capulets and Montagues.
Nevertheless, despite Alexei’s Englishness, under his pallor “a healthy blush appears,” which completely describes his character. Beneath the feigned romanticism lies a truly Russian man.
Lisa Muromskaya
Lisa is the 17-year-old daughter of an Anglomaniac gentleman who squandered all his fortune in the capital, which is why she now lives in the village without leaving anywhere. Pushkin makes a district young lady out of his heroine. “Belkin's Tales” (the main characters we have considered) are populated by heroes who will later turn into literary types. So, Liza is the prototype of the district young lady, and Samson Vyrin is the prototype of the little man.
Lisa's knowledge about the life of light is drawn from books, however, her feelings are fresh and her experiences are acute. In addition, the girl is endowed with a strong and clear character. Despite her English upbringing, she feels Russian. It is Lisa who finds a way out of the conflict - children of warring parents cannot get to know each other and communicate. The girl dresses up as a peasant, which allows her to see Alexei. The reader sees that Lisa's character is much stronger than that of her lover. It is thanks to her that they end up together at the end of the story.
conclusions
Thus, Pushkin shows the reader an incredible variety of characters. Its main characters are amazing and different from each other. “Belkin’s Tales” was precisely why it was such a great success. The work was in many ways ahead of its time and has many innovative elements.
The story of A. S. Pushkin “The Young Lady - a Peasant Woman” completes the cycle of works called “the stories of I. P. Belkin”. The main characters of the story are master Ivan Petrovich, his son Alexey, master Muromsky, his daughter Lisa (Betsy), governess Madame Jacqueline and maid Nastya. The action takes place in “one of our remote provinces.” Barin Berestov, who lives in the village, consoles himself with household chores. He is loved and respected, although he is considered proud. The only thing he doesn't get along with is Grigory Muromsky, his closest neighbor. Muromsky once lived in Moscow, but then, having squandered most of his estate, he left for the village. Here he planted an English garden, dressed the grooms as “English jockeys,” cultivated the fields “according to the English method,” and called his daughter not Lisa, but Betsy. It was this “Anglomania” that most disgusted Berestov, and he spoke unflatteringly about Muromsky. Muromsky, having learned about this, called Berestov a bear, and became his sworn enemy. Soon Berestov's son arrived in the village. He had recently graduated from university and intended to “enter military service,” but since his father was against it, the young man decided to “live as a master for the time being.” Alexey - that was the name of the young man, he was very handsome, and soon the young ladies in the province “went crazy about him.” The daughter of an Anglomaniac at the Murom Ball had heard a lot about Alexei, and she really wanted to get to know him better. Lisa had a maid, Nastya, a young girl, “as flighty as her young lady,” but Lisa loved her very much and “opened all her plans to her.” One day Nastya told her young lady that in the near future she would go to visit the Berestovs in Tugilovo, because “the cook’s wife was the birthday girl and invited her to have dinner.” Hearing this, Lisa asked Nastya to look at Alexei Berestov, “in order to tell later what kind of person he is.” She had been looking forward to Nastya all day. When Nastya returned, she spoke at length and in detail about the name day, and only then about Alexei. According to her, he was very “good-looking,” the only problem was that “he likes to chase girls too much...” After listening to Nastya, Lisa sadly tells her that “I would really like to see him.” In response, the maid invites the young lady to take a walk one morning in the forest where Alexei often “goes hunting with a gun.” But Liza, being a smart girl, understands that two reasons are preventing a simple acquaintance - a quarrel between their fathers, and the fact that Alexey may think that Liza is “chasing him.” Then Lisa decides to dress up as a peasant. The next day, all the girls cut out new clothes for her. In the evening, Lisa tried on the new clothes, and then for some time she learned from Nastya to speak the peasant dialect. ... The night passed. At dawn, Liza, already dressed as a peasant woman, did not run, but almost flew towards the grove. She took a box with her, supposedly for mushrooms. Closer to the forest, she changed her running to a quiet step, and then completely fell into thought. The barking of a dog brought her back from her dreamland. Lisa got scared and screamed, but Alexey came up to calm her down. She got to talking. Lisa called herself Akulina, the daughter of the blacksmith Vasily. The young master really liked the young peasant woman, and they agreed to meet the next day. All night Alexey thought about “his dark acquaintance,” and as soon as morning came, he ran to the meeting place. Soon their dates began to repeat almost every day. At this time, reconciliation occurred between Ivan Berestov and Grigory Muromsky. And the thing was this: Muromsky’s horse, frightened by the ravine, threw off its rider.