Saveliy Korchagin characteristics. Essay “People's Defenders” in the poem N

What needs to be done to make everyone happy? - he asked himself. The poet believed that to resolve these issues, people are needed who are able to join the fight and lead others. He showed such characters in the images of Yakim Nagogo, Ermila Girin, Savely Korchagin, Grisha Dobrosklonov. In Yakima, Nagom is a kind of folk truth-teller. He lives a miserable life, like all the peasantry, but is distinguished by his rebellious disposition. Yakim is ready to stand up for his rights. This is what he says about the people:

Every peasant

Soul, like a black cloud,

Angry, menacing - and it should be

Thunder will roar from there,

It's raining bloody rains.

Ermila Girin is a man whom the people themselves chose as mayor, recognizing his justice. While still a clerk, Ermila gained authority among the people for the fact that

He will advise

And he will make inquiries;

Where there is enough strength, it will help out,

Doesn't ask for gratitude

And if you give it, he won’t take it!

But Yermila was also guilty: he shielded his younger brother from recruiting, but the people forgave him for his sincere repentance. Only Ermila’s conscience was not at peace: he left the mayor’s office and hired a mill. And again the people fell in love with him for his goodness, for his even attitude towards the landowner and the poor, for his kindness.

The “gray-haired priest” characterizes Ermila this way:

He had everything he needed

For happiness and tranquility,

And money and honor,

An enviable, true honor,

Not bought with money,

Not with fear: with the strict truth.

With intelligence and kindness.

From the priest’s statement it is clear that Girin achieved honor through “strict truth”, “intelligence and kindness”. He is concerned about the attitude of the people towards him, but Ermila himself judges himself even more strictly. He strives to alleviate the situation of the peasants, to help them financially, although he himself was not yet ready for a revolutionary action. Girin is already satisfied that his conscience is clear, that he makes the lives of others at least a little easier.

Savely the hero represents a different type of Russian peasant. He is the embodiment of strength and courage. Despite the rods and hard labor, he did not accept his fate. “Branded, but not a slave,” he says about himself. embodies the best traits of the Russian character: love for the homeland and people, hatred of oppressors, self-esteem. His favorite word - “push” - helps to see in him a person who knows how to cheer up his comrades, rally them, and captivate them. Savely is one of those who stood up well for the “patrimony.” Together with the men, he executes the hated manager, the German Vogel. People like Savely will not stand by at the time of peasant unrest.

The most conscious of " people's intercessors"is Grisha Dobrosklonov.

He devotes his entire life to the struggle, lives among the people, knows their needs, and is educated. The future of Russia, the poet believes, belongs to people like Grisha Dobrosklonov, for whom “I prepared a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.” The songs of Grisha Dobrosklonov reflect his thoughts about life’s ideals, his hopes for a bright future:

Share of the people

His happiness

Light and freedom

First of all.

In a moment of despondency, O Motherland!

My thoughts fly forward.

You are still destined to suffer a lot,

But you won't die, I know.

Saved in slavery

Free heart -

Gold, gold

People's heart!

The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov helps to understand that truly happy is the one on whose side the truth is, on whom the people hope, who chooses an honest path for himself, being a “people's defender.” The theme of popular intercession is widely represented in the poem. Intercessor is one of Nekrasov’s key words. A people's defender is one who not only pities and sympathizes with the peasants, but also serves the people, expresses their interests, confirming this with actions and deeds. The image of such a person is not the only one in the poem. His features were refracted in Ermil Girin, Savelia, Grisha Dobrosklonov, and partly in Yakima Nagy

So, Girin acted as a real defender of worldly interests: he defended the mill, which everyone needed. He sincerely, with pure thoughts, turned to the people for help, and people collected money for him, completely trusting him and not sparing their last penny. Then he settled accounts with everyone. His honesty and selflessness are evidenced by the fact that he did not appropriate the “extra ruble” that he had left, but, not finding the owner, gave the money to the blind.

How did Girin win the honor and respect of almost the entire district? The short answer: only the truth. People were drawn to him even when Yermil held the positions of clerk and mayor. He was “loved by all the people” because one could always turn to him for help and advice, and Yermil never demanded a reward

Where there is enough strength, it will help out,

Doesn't ask for gratitude

And give - but he won’t take!

Only once did a case occur when the hero, as they say, “became his soul”: Girin “excluded” his brother from recruitment, instead of whom another person had to become a soldier. The realization that he acted dishonestly, unfairly, leads Girin almost to suicide. And only repentance in front of all the people frees him from the torment of conscience. The story about Ermil Girin suddenly ends, and we learn that he nevertheless suffered for the people’s cause, he was sent to prison.

One more thing should be noted folk hero- Yakima Nagogo It would seem that there is nothing unusual in his fate: when he lived in St. Petersburg, because of a lawsuit with a merchant he went to prison. Then he returned to his homeland and became a plowman. It is better than Nekrasov himself to imagine this image, which has become a generalized image of the Russian peasant:

The chest is sunken, as if depressed

Stomach; at the eyes, at the mouth of the Bend,

like cracks on dry ground...

But in the eyes of people, Yakim was a special person: during the fire, he rushed to save not money, but pictures that he lovingly collected for his son and looked at them in fascination. Having talked about this unique folk “collector,” Nekrasov opened a page in the life of a peasant, in which not only work and “drinking” could be the main ones

The image of the people's intercessor was vividly embodied in Savely, the Holy Russian hero. Already in this very definition there is a special meaning: heroes in epics have always been intercessors of the Russian land. Saveliy has powerful physical strength. But Nekrasov showed that his heroism is not only based on this - Savely is characterized by will, patience, perseverance, and self-esteem. This hero is a rebel, he is capable of protest. However, his “intercession” was expressed not only in the fact that he saved Korezhina from the German, who had tortured the peasants with extortions. Savely is also a kind of folk philosopher and ascetic. His religiosity and ability to repent are symbols of high national morality. Saveliy’s main prayer is for the people:

For all the suffering, Russian

Peasantry I pray!

Grisha Dobrosklonov in the poem is also a people's intercessor. Even as a child, he was imbued with acute pity and love for all the “Vahlachina”. Although Nekrasov does not say directly, it seems that “intercession” will be effective, Dobrosklonov will actually be able to change the lives of the people. The road is open in front of Grisha, along which they walk

Only strong souls

Loving,

To fight, to work

For the bypassed

For the oppressed.

This hero is marked with the “seal of God’s gift.” According to Nekrasov, he is capable of suffering and sacrificing his life for the people.

Thus, the people's intercessor in the poem is presented as a person of exceptional destiny. This is an ascetic, that is, one who brings action, and a righteous man. He necessarily comes from the people, he is familiar to the smallest detail with the life of peasants. The person who was chosen as an “intercessor” is smart, conscientious, and spiritual inner work is constantly happening in him. And most importantly, he is able to understand all the complexity and inconsistency of the peasant’s soul and live a pure and simple life together with his people.

The plot of the poem.
The theme of people's intercession.
Heroes are “intercessors”.
Grisha Dobrosklonov as a “conscious defender.”

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov entered Russian poetry as the “people's sad man.” Folk theme became one of the central ones in his work. But the poet was never a simple writer of everyday life; as an artist, he was primarily concerned with the drama of the people. The theme of the “people's protector” is also heard in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the author himself appeared as the people’s “intercessor,” who not only expressed his attitude towards the people by the fact of creating this work, but was able to understand their soul and truly reveal their character. What is the real happiness of a person in Russia? What needs to be done to make everyone happy? - he asked himself. The poet believed that to resolve these issues, people are needed who are able to join the fight and lead others. The theme of popular intercession is widely represented in the poem. Intercessor is one of the key words in the work. The people's intercessor is one who not only pities and sympathizes with the peasants, but serves the people, expresses their interests, confirming this with actions and deeds. Such characters are shown in the images of Yakim Nagogo, Ermila Girin, Savely Korchagin, Grisha Dobrosklonov.

In Yakima, Nagom presents the peculiar character of the people's truth-seeker. He lives a miserable life, like all the peasantry, but is distinguished by his rebellious disposition. Yakim is ready to stand up for his rights. This is what he says about the people:

Every peasant has a Soul that is like a black cloud, Angry, menacing - and it would be necessary for Thunder to thunder from there, to rain bloody rains.

Ermila Girin is a man whom the people themselves chose as mayor, recognizing his justice. While still a clerk, Ermila gained authority among the people for the fact that:

...they will advise
And he will make inquiries;
Where there is enough strength, it will help out,
Doesn't ask for gratitude
And if you give it, he won’t take it!

But Yermila was also guilty: he shielded his younger brother from recruiting, but the people forgave him for his sincere repentance. Only Ermila’s conscience was not at peace: he left the mayor’s office and hired a mill. And again the people fell in love with him for his good treatment, for his even attitude towards the landowner and the poor, for his kindness. The “gray-haired priest” characterizes Ermila this way:

He had everything he needed for happiness and peace, And money, and honor, Enviable, true honor, Not bought either by money or fear: by strict truth. With intelligence and kindness.

From the priest’s statement it is clear that Girin achieved honor through “strict truth”, “intelligence and kindness”. He is concerned about the attitude of the people towards him, but Ermila himself judges himself even more strictly. He strives to alleviate the situation of the peasants, to help them financially, although he himself is not yet ready for a revolutionary action. Girin is already satisfied that his conscience is clear, that he makes the lives of others at least a little easier.

Savely the hero represents a different type of Russian peasant. He is the embodiment of strength and courage. Despite the rods and hard labor, he did not accept his fate. “Branded, but not a slave,” he says about himself. Savely embodies the best traits of the Russian character: love for the homeland and people, hatred of oppressors, self-esteem. His favorite word - “push” - helps to see in him a person who knows how to cheer up his comrades, rally them, and captivate them. Savely is one of those who stood up well for the “patrimony.” Together with the men, he executes the hated manager, the German Vogel. People like Savely will not stand by at the time of peasant unrest.

The most conscientious of the “people’s defenders” is Grisha Dobrosklonov. He devotes his whole life to the struggle, lives among the people, knows their needs. The future of Russia, the poet believes, belongs to people like Grisha Dobrosklonov, for whom “fate was preparing a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.” The songs of Grisha Dobrosklonov reflect his thoughts about life’s ideals, his hopes for a bright future:

The people's share, their happiness, light and freedom, first of all.

The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov helps to understand that truly happy is the one on whose side the truth is, on whom the people rely, who chooses an honest path for himself, being a “people's defender.” The poem shows Grisha's difficult childhood and tells about his father and mother.

Gregory's reflections on the fate of the people testify to the liveliest compassion that makes Grisha choose such a difficult path for himself. The image of Grisha is closely connected with revolutionary democratic ideas that began to appear in society in the middle of the 19th century. Nekrasov created his hero, focusing on the fate of N. A. Dobrolyubov. Grigory Dobrosklonov is a type of commoner revolutionary. He was born into the family of a poor sexton, and from childhood he felt all the disasters characteristic of the life of the common people. Grigory received an education and, being an intelligent and enthusiastic person, cannot remain indifferent to the current situation in the country. Grigory understands perfectly well that for Russia there is now only one way out - radical changes in the social system. The common people can no longer be the same dumb community of slaves that meekly tolerates all the antics of their masters.

The image of Grigory Dobrosklonov in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” inspires hope in the moral and political revival of Rus', in a change in the consciousness of the ordinary Russian people.

Veretennikov Pavlusha - a collector of folklore who met men - seekers of happiness - at a rural fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. This character is given a very sparse external description (“He was good at acting out, / Wore a red shirt, / A cloth undergirl, / Grease boots...”), little is known about his origin (“What kind of rank, / The men didn’t know, / However, they called him “master”). Due to such uncertainty, V.’s image acquires a generalizing character. His keen interest in the fate of the peasants distinguishes V. from among indifferent observers of the life of the people (figures of various statistical committees), eloquently exposed in the monologue of Yakim Nagogo. V.’s first appearance in the text is accompanied by a selfless act: he helps out the peasant Vavila by buying shoes for his granddaughter. In addition, he is ready to listen to other people's opinions. So, although he blames the Russian people for drunkenness, he is convinced of the inevitability of this evil: after listening to Yakim, he himself offers him a drink (“Veretennikov / He brought two scales to Yakim”). Seeing the genuine attention from the reasonable master, and “the peasants open up / to the gentleman’s liking.” Among the alleged prototypes of V. are folklorists and ethnographers Pavel Yakushkin and Pavel Rybnikov, figures of the democratic movement of the 1860s. The character probably owes his surname to the journalist P.F. Veretennikov, who visited the Nizhny Novgorod fair for several years in a row and published reports about it in Moskovskie Vedomosti.

Vlas- headman of the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki. “Serving under a strict master, / Bearing the burden on his conscience / An involuntary participant / in his cruelties.” After the abolition of serfdom, V. renounced the post of pseudo-burgomaster, but accepted actual responsibility for the fate of the community: “Vlas was the kindest soul, / He was rooting for the entire Vakhlachin - / Not for one family.” When the hope for the Last One flashed with the death free life “without corvee... without taxes... Without sticks...” is replaced for the peasants by a new concern (litigation with the heirs for the flood meadows), V. becomes an intercessor for the peasants, “lives in Moscow... was in St. Petersburg ... / But there’s no point!” Along with his youth, V. lost his optimism, is afraid of new things, and is always gloomy. But his daily life is rich in unnoticed things. good deeds, for example, in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World”, at his initiative, the peasants collect money for the soldier Ovsyanikov. V.'s image is devoid of external specificity: for Nekrasov, he is primarily a representative of the peasantry. His difficult fate (“Not so much in Belokamennaya / On the pavement passed, / As in the soul of a peasant / Offenses passed ...”) is the fate of the entire Russian people.

Girin Ermil Ilyich (Ermila) - one of the most likely candidates for the title of lucky. The real prototype of this character is the peasant A.D. Potanin (1797-1853), who managed by proxy the estate of Countess Orlova, which was called Odoevshchina (after the surnames of the former owners - the Odoevsky princes), and the peasants were baptized into Adovshchina. Potanin became famous for his extraordinary justice. Nekrasovsky G. became known to his fellow villagers for his honesty even in those five years that he served as a clerk in the office (“A bad conscience is necessary - / A peasant should extort a penny from a peasant”). Under the old Prince Yurlov, he was fired, but then, under the young Prince, he was unanimously elected mayor of Adovshchina. During the seven years of his “reign” G. only once betrayed his soul: “... from the recruiting / He shielded his younger brother Mitri.” But repentance for this offense almost led him to suicide. Only thanks to the intervention of a strong gentleman was it possible to restore justice, and instead of Nenila Vlasyevna’s son, Mitriy went to serve, and “the prince himself takes care of him.” G. quit his job, rented the mill “and it became more powerful than ever / Loved by all the people.” When they decided to sell the mill, G. won the auction, but he did not have the money with him to make a deposit. And then “a miracle happened”: G. was rescued by the peasants to whom he turned for help, and in half an hour he managed to collect a thousand rubles in the market square.

G. is driven not by mercantile interest, but by a rebellious spirit: “The mill is not dear to me, / The resentment is great.” And although “he had everything he needed / For happiness: peace, / And money, and honor,” at the moment when the peasants start talking about him (chapter “Happy”), G., in connection with the peasant uprising, is in prison. The speech of the narrator, a gray-haired priest, from whom it becomes known about the arrest of the hero, is unexpectedly interrupted by outside interference, and later he himself refuses to continue the story. But behind this omission one can easily guess both the reason for the riot and G.’s refusal to help in pacifying it.

Gleb- peasant, “great sinner.” According to the legend told in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World”, the “ammiral-widower”, participant in the battle “at Achakov” (possibly Count A.V. Orlov-Chesmensky), granted by the empress with eight thousand souls, dying, entrusted to the elder G. his will (free for these peasants). The hero was tempted by the money promised to him and burned the will. Men tend to regard this “Judas” sin as the most serious sin ever committed, and because of it they will have to “suffer forever.” Only Grisha Dobrosklonov manages to convince the peasants “that they are not responsible / For Gleb the accursed, / It’s all their fault: strengthen yourself!”

Dobrosklonov Grisha - a character who appears in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World”; the epilogue of the poem is entirely dedicated to him. “Gregory / Has a thin, pale face / And thin, curly hair / With a tinge of redness.” He is a seminarian, the son of the parish sexton Trifon from the village of Bolshiye Vakhlaki. Their family lives in extreme poverty, only the generosity of Vlas the godfather and other men helped put Grisha and his brother Savva on their feet. Their mother Domna, “an unrequited farmhand / For everyone who helped her in any way / on a rainy day,” died early, leaving a terrible “Salty” song as a reminder of herself. In D.’s mind, her image is inseparable from the image of her homeland: “In the boy’s heart / With love for his poor mother / Love for all the Vakhlachina / Merged.” Already at the age of fifteen he was determined to devote his life to the people. “I don’t need silver, / Nor gold, but God grant, / So that my fellow countrymen / And every peasant / May live freely and cheerfully / Throughout all holy Rus'!” He is going to Moscow to study, while in the meantime he and his brother help the peasants as best they can: they write letters for them, explain the “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom,” work and rest “with the peasantry on an equal basis.” Observations on the life of the surrounding poor, reflections on the fate of Russia and its people are clothed in poetic form, D.'s songs are known and loved by the peasants. With his appearance in the poem, the lyrical principle intensifies, the author’s direct assessment invades the narrative. D. is marked with the “seal of the gift of God”; a revolutionary propagandist from among the people, he should, according to Nekrasov, serve as an example for the progressive intelligentsia. In his mouth the author puts his beliefs, his own version of the answer to social and moral issues posed in the poem. The image of the hero gives the poem compositional completeness. Real prototype could be N.A. Dobrolyubov.

Elena Alexandrovna - governor's wife, merciful lady, Matryona's savior. “She was kind, she was smart, / Beautiful, healthy, / But God did not give children.” She sheltered a peasant woman after a premature birth, became the child’s godmother, “all the time with Liodorushka / Was worn around like her own.” Thanks to her intercession, it was possible to rescue Philip from the recruiting camp. Matryona praises her benefactor to the skies, and criticism (O. F. Miller) rightly notes echoes of the sentimentalism of the Karamzin period in the image of the governor.

Ipat- a grotesque image of a faithful serf, a lord's lackey, who remained faithful to the owner even after the abolition of serfdom. I. boasts that the landowner “harnessed him with his own hand / into a cart,” bathed him in an ice hole, saved him from the cold death to which he himself had previously doomed. He perceives all this as great blessings. I. causes healthy laughter among wanderers.

Korchagina Matrena Timofeevna - a peasant woman, the third part of the poem is entirely devoted to her life story. “Matryona Timofeevna / A dignified woman, / Broad and dense, / About thirty-eight years old. / Beautiful; gray hair, / Large, stern eyes, / Rich eyelashes, / Severe and dark. / She’s wearing a white shirt, / And a short sundress, / And a sickle over her shoulder.” The fame of the lucky woman brings strangers to her. M. agrees to “lay out her soul” when the men promise to help her in the harvest: the suffering is in full swing. M.'s fate was largely suggested to Nekrasov by the autobiography of the Olonets screamer I. A. Fedoseeva, published in the 1st volume of “Lamentations of the Northern Territory” collected by E. V. Barsov (1872). The narrative is based on her laments, as well as other folklore materials, including “Songs collected by P. N. Rybnikov” (1861). The abundance of folklore sources, often included practically unchanged in the text of “The Peasant Woman,” and the very title of this part of the poem emphasize the typicality of M.’s fate: this is the usual fate of a Russian woman, convincingly indicating that the wanderers “started / Not a matter between women / / Look for a happy one.” IN parental home, in a good, non-drinking family, M. lived happily. But, having married Philip Korchagin, a stove maker, she ended up “by her maiden will in hell”: a superstitious mother-in-law, a drunken father-in-law, an older sister-in-law, for whom the daughter-in-law must work like a slave. However, she was lucky with her husband: only once did it come to beatings. But Philip only returns home from work in the winter, and the rest of the time there is no one to intercede for M. except grandfather Savely, father-in-law. She has to endure the harassment of Sitnikov, the master's manager, which stopped only with his death. For the peasant woman, her first-born De-mushka becomes a consolation in all troubles, but due to Savely’s oversight, the child dies: he is eaten by pigs. An unjust trial is being carried out on a grief-stricken mother. Having not thought of giving a bribe to her boss in time, she witnesses the violation of her child’s body.

For a long time, K. cannot forgive Savely for his irreparable mistake. Over time, the peasant woman has new children, “there is no time / Neither to think nor to be sad.” The heroine's parents, Savely, die. Her eight-year-old son Fedot faces punishment for feeding someone else's sheep to a wolf, and his mother lies under the rod in his place. But the most difficult trials befall her in a lean year. Pregnant, with children, she herself is likened to a hungry wolf. The recruitment deprives her of her last protector, her husband (he is taken out of turn). In delirium they draw pictures of her scary pictures the life of a soldier, soldiers' children. She leaves the house and runs to the city, where she tries to get to the governor, and when the doorman lets her into the house for a bribe, she throws herself at the feet of the governor Elena Alexandrovna. With her husband and newborn Liodorushka, the heroine returns home, this incident secured her reputation as a lucky woman and the nickname “governor”. Further fate it is also full of troubles: one of the sons has already been taken into the army, “They were burned twice... God visited with anthrax... three times.” The “Woman’s Parable” sums up her tragic story: “The keys to women’s happiness, / From our free will / Abandoned, lost / From God himself!” Some of the critics (V.G. Avseenko, V.P. Burenin, N.F. Pavlov) met “The Peasant Woman” with hostility; Nekrasov was accused of implausible exaggerations, false, fake populism. However, even ill-wishers noted some successful episodes. There were also reviews of this chapter as the best part of the poem.

Kudeyar-ataman - “great sinner”, the hero of the legend told by God’s wanderer Jonushka in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World.” The fierce robber unexpectedly repented of his crimes. Neither a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher nor a hermitage brings peace to his soul. The saint who appeared to K. promises him that he will earn forgiveness when he cuts down a century-old oak tree “with the same knife that he robbed.” Years of futile efforts raised doubts in the heart of the old man about the possibility of completing the task. However, “the tree collapsed, the burden of sins rolled off the monk,” when the hermit, in a fit of furious anger, killed Pan Glukhovsky, who was passing by, boasting of his calm conscience: “Salvation / I haven’t been drinking for a long time, / In the world I honor only woman, / Gold, honor and wine... How many slaves I destroy, / I torture, torture and hang, / And if only I could see how I’m sleeping!” The legend about K. was borrowed by Nekrasov from folklore tradition, but the image of Pan Glukhovsky is quite realistic. Among the possible prototypes is the landowner Glukhovsky from the Smolensk province, who spotted his serf, according to a note in Herzen’s “Bell” dated October 1, 1859.

Nagoy Yakim- “In the village of Bosovo / Yakim Nagoy lives, / He works until he’s dead, / He drinks until he’s half to death!” - this is how the character defines himself. In the poem, he is entrusted to speak out in defense of the people on behalf of the people. The image has deep folklore roots: the hero’s speech is replete with paraphrased proverbs, riddles, in addition, formulas similar to those that characterize his appearance (“The hand is tree bark, / And the hair is sand”) are repeatedly found, for example, in folk spiritual verse "About Yegoriy Khorobry." Nekrasov reinterprets the popular idea of the inseparability of man and nature, emphasizing the unity of the worker with the earth: “He lives and tinkers with the plow, / And death will come to Yakimushka” - / As a lump of earth falls off, / What has dried on the plow ... near the eyes, near the mouth / Bends like cracks / On dry ground<...>the neck is brown, / Like a layer cut off by a plow, / A brick face.”

The character’s biography is not entirely typical for a peasant, it is rich in events: “Yakim, a wretched old man, / Once lived in St. Petersburg, / But he ended up in prison: / He decided to compete with a merchant! / Like a piece of velcro, / He returned to his homeland / And took up the plow.” During the fire, he lost most of his property, since the first thing he did was rush to save the pictures that he bought for his son (“And he himself, no less than the boy / Loved to look at them”). However, even in the new house, the hero returns to the old ways and buys new pictures. Countless adversities only strengthen his firm position in life. In Chapter III of the first part (“Drunken Night”) N. pronounces a monologue, where his beliefs are formulated extremely clearly: hard labor, the results of which go to three shareholders (God, the Tsar and the Master), and sometimes are completely destroyed by fire; disasters, poverty - all this justifies peasant drunkenness, and it is not worth measuring the peasant “by the master’s standard.” This point of view on the problem of popular drunkenness, widely discussed in journalism in the 1860s, is close to the revolutionary democratic one (according to N. G. Chernyshevsky and N. A. Dobrolyubov, drunkenness is a consequence of poverty). It is no coincidence that this monologue was subsequently used by the populists in their propaganda activities, and was repeatedly rewritten and reprinted separately from the rest of the text of the poem.

Obolt-Obolduev Gavrila Afanasyevich - “The gentleman is round, / Mustachioed, pot-bellied, / With a cigar in his mouth... ruddy, / Stately, stocky, / Sixty years old... Well done, / Hungarian with Brandenburs, / Wide trousers.” Among O.'s eminent ancestors are a Tatar who amused the empress with wild animals, and an embezzler who plotted the arson of Moscow. The hero is proud of his family tree. Previously, the master “smoked... God’s heaven, / Wore the royal livery, / Wasted the people’s treasury / And thought to live like this forever,” but with the abolition of serfdom, “the great chain broke, / It broke and sprang apart: / One end hit the master, / For others, it’s a man!” With nostalgia, the landowner recalls the lost benefits, explaining along the way that he is sad not for himself, but for his motherland.

A hypocritical, idle, ignorant despot, who sees the purpose of his class in “the ancient name, / The dignity of the nobility / To support with hunting, / With feasts, with all kinds of luxury / And to live by the labor of others.” On top of that, O. is also a coward: he mistakes unarmed men for robbers, and they do not soon manage to persuade him to hide the pistol. The comic effect is enhanced by the fact that accusations against oneself come from the lips of the landowner himself.

Ovsyanikov- soldier. “...He was fragile on his legs, / Tall and skinny to the extreme; / He was wearing a frock coat with medals / Hanging like on a pole. / You can’t say that he had a kind / face, especially / When he drove the old one - / Damn the devil! The mouth will snarl, / The eyes are like coals!” With his orphan niece Ustinyushka, O. traveled around the villages, earning a living from the district committee, when the instrument became damaged, he composed new sayings and performed them, playing along with himself on spoons. O.'s songs are based on folklore sayings and raesh poems recorded by Nekrasov in 1843-1848. while working on “The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikovaya. The lyrics of these songs sketch out life path soldier: the war near Sevastopol, where he was crippled, a negligent medical examination, where the old man’s wounds were rejected: “Second-rate! / According to them, the pension”, subsequent poverty (“Come on, with George - around the world, around the world”). In connection with the image of O., a topic that is relevant both for Nekrasov and for later Russian literature arises railway. The cast iron in the soldier’s perception is an animated monster: “It snorts in the peasant’s face, / Crushes, maims, tumbles, / Soon the entire Russian people / Will sweep cleaner than a broom!” Klim Lavin explains that the soldier cannot get to the St. Petersburg “Committee for the Wounded” for justice: the tariff on the Moscow-Petersburg road has increased and made it inaccessible to the people. The peasants, the heroes of the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World,” are trying to help the soldier and together collect only “rubles.”

Petrov Agap- “rude, unyielding,” according to Vlas, a man. P. did not want to put up with voluntary slavery; they calmed him down only with the help of wine. Caught by the Last One in the act of a crime (carrying a log from the master’s forest), he broke down and explained his real situation to the master in the most impartial terms. Klim Lavin staged a brutal reprisal against P., getting him drunk instead of flogging him. But from the humiliation suffered and excessive intoxication, the hero dies by the morning of the next day. Such a terrible price is paid by peasants for a voluntary, albeit temporary, renunciation of freedom.

Polivanov- “...a gentleman of low birth”, however small funds did not in the least interfere with the manifestation of his despotic nature. He is characterized by the whole range of vices of a typical serf owner: greed, stinginess, cruelty (“with relatives, not only with peasants”), voluptuousness. By old age, the master’s legs were paralyzed: “The eyes are clear, / The cheeks are red, / The plump arms are as white as sugar, / And there are shackles on the legs!” In this trouble, Yakov became his only support, “friend and brother,” but the master repaid him with black ingratitude for his faithful service. The terrible revenge of the slave, the night that P. had to spend in the ravine, “driving away the groans of birds and wolves,” force the master to repent (“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!”), but the narrator believes that he will not be forgiven: “You will You, master, are an exemplary slave, / Faithful Jacob, / Remember until the day of judgment!

Pop- according to Luke’s assumption, the priest “lives cheerfully, / At ease in Rus'.” The village priest, who was the first to meet the wanderers on the way, refutes this assumption: he has no peace, no wealth, no happiness. With what difficulty “the priest’s son gets a letter,” Nekrasov himself wrote in the poetic play “Rejected” (1859). In the poem, this theme will appear again in connection with the image of seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov. The priest’s career is restless: “The sick, the dying, / Born into the world / They do not choose time,” no habit will protect from compassion for the dying and orphans, “every time it gets wet, / The soul gets sick.” Pop enjoys dubious honor among the peasantry: folk superstitions are associated with him, he and his family are constant characters in obscene jokes and songs. The priest's wealth was previously due to the generosity of parishioners and landowners, who, with the abolition of serfdom, left their estates and scattered, “like the Jewish tribe... Across distant foreign lands / And across native Rus'.” With the transfer of the schismatics to the supervision of civil authorities in 1864, the local clergy lost another serious source of income, and it was difficult to live on “kopecks” from peasant labor.

Savely- the Holy Russian hero, “with a huge gray mane, / Tea, not cut for twenty years, / With a huge beard, / Grandfather looked like a bear.” Once in a fight with a bear, he injured his back, and in his old age it bent. S’s native village, Korezhina, is located in the wilderness, and therefore the peasants live relatively freely (“The zemstvo police / Haven’t come to us for a year”), although they endure the atrocities of the landowner. The heroism of the Russian peasant lies in patience, but there is a limit to any patience. S. ends up in Siberia for burying a hated German manager alive. Twenty years of hard labor, an unsuccessful attempt to escape, twenty years of settlement did not shake the rebellious spirit in the hero. Having returned home after the amnesty, he lives with the family of his son, Matryona’s father-in-law. Despite his venerable age (according to revision tales, his grandfather is a hundred years old), he leads an independent life: “He didn’t like families, / didn’t let them into his corner.” When they reproach him for his convict past, he cheerfully replies: “Branded, but not a slave!” Tempered by harsh trades and human cruelty, S.’s petrified heart could only be melted by Dema’s great-grandson. An accident makes the grandfather the culprit of Demushka's death. His grief is inconsolable, he goes to repentance at the Sand Monastery, tries to beg for forgiveness from the “angry mother.” Having lived one hundred and seven years, before his death he pronounces a terrible sentence on the Russian peasantry: “For men there are three roads: / Tavern, prison and penal servitude, / And for women in Rus' / Three nooses... Climb into any one.” The image of S, in addition to folklore, has social and polemical roots. O. I. Komissarov, who saved Alexander II from the assassination attempt on April 4, 1866, was a Kostroma resident, a fellow countryman of I. Susanin. Monarchists saw this parallel as proof of the thesis about the love of the Russian people for kings. To refute this point of view, Nekrasov settled the rebel S in the Kostroma province, the original patrimony of the Romanovs, and Matryona catches the similarity between him and the monument to Susanin.

Trophim (Trifon) - “a man with shortness of breath, / Relaxed, thin / (Sharp nose, like a dead one, / Thin arms like a rake, / Long legs like knitting needles, / Not a man - a mosquito).” A former bricklayer, a born strongman. Yielding to the contractor’s provocation, he “carried one at the extreme / Fourteen pounds” to the second floor and broke himself. One of the most vivid and terrible images in the poem. In the chapter “Happy,” T. boasts of the happiness that allowed him to get from St. Petersburg to his homeland alive, unlike many other “feverish, feverish workers” who were thrown out of the carriage when they began to rave.

Utyatin (Last One) - "thin! / Like winter hares, / All white... Nose with a beak like a hawk, / Gray mustache, long / And - different eyes: / One healthy one glows, / And the left one is cloudy, cloudy, / Like a tin penny! Having “exorbitant wealth, / An important rank, a noble family,” U. does not believe in the abolition of serfdom. As a result of an argument with the governor, he becomes paralyzed. “It was not self-interest, / But arrogance cut him off.” The prince's sons are afraid that he will deprive them of their inheritance in favor of their side daughters, and they persuade the peasants to pretend to be serfs again. The peasant world allowed “the dismissed master to show off / During the remaining hours.” On the day of the arrival of wanderers - seekers of happiness - in the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki, the Last One finally dies, then the peasants arrange a “feast for the whole world.” The image of U. has a grotesque character. The absurd orders of the tyrant master will make the peasants laugh.

Shalashnikov- landowner, former owner of Korezhina, military man. Taking advantage of the distance from provincial town, where the landowner stood with his regiment, the Korezhin peasants did not pay quitrent. Sh. decided to extract the quitrent by force, tore the peasants so much that “the brains were already shaking / In their little heads.” Savely remembers the landowner as an unsurpassed master: “He knew how to flog! / He tanned my skin so well that it lasts for a hundred years.” He died near Varna, his death put an end to the relative prosperity of the peasants.

Yakov- “about the exemplary slave - Yakov the faithful”, a former servant tells in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World”. “People of servile rank - / Real dogs sometimes: / The more severe the punishment, / The dearer the gentlemen are to them.” So was Ya. until Mr. Polivanov, having coveted his nephew’s bride, sold him as a recruit. The exemplary slave took to drinking, but returned two weeks later, taking pity on the helpless master. However, his enemy was already “torturing him.” Ya takes Polivanov to visit his sister, halfway turns into the Devil's Ravine, unharnesses the horses and, contrary to the master's fears, does not kill him, but hangs himself, leaving the owner alone with his conscience for the whole night. This method of revenge (“carrying dry misfortune” - hanging yourself in the possessions of the offender in order to make him suffer for the rest of his life) was indeed known, especially among the eastern peoples. Nekrasov, creating the image of Ya., turns to the story that A.F. Koni told him (who, in turn, heard it from the watchman of the volost government), and only slightly modifies it. This tragedy is another illustration of the destructiveness of serfdom. Through the mouth of Grisha Dobrosklonov, Nekrasov summarizes: “No support - no landowner, / Drives a zealous slave to the noose, / No support - no servant, / Taking revenge / on his villain by suicide.”

The theme of the “people's protector” runs through the entire work of N. A. Nekrasov, it also sounds in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Many writers and poets have tried to answer the question “What to do?” Nekrasov also looked for an answer to this in his work. What to strive for in life? What is the real happiness of a person in Russia? What needs to be done to make everyone happy? - he asked himself. The poet believed that to resolve these issues, people are needed who are able to join the fight and lead others. He showed such characters in the images of Yakim Nagogo, Ermila Girin, Savely Korchagin, Grisha Dobrosklonov. In Yakima, Nagom presents the peculiar character of the people's truth-seeker. He lives a miserable life, like all the peasantry, but is distinguished by his rebellious disposition. Yakim is ready to stand up for his rights. This is what he says about the people:

Every peasant

Soul, like a black cloud,

Angry, menacing - and it should be

Thunder will roar from there,

It's raining bloody rains.

Ermila Girin is a man whom the people themselves chose as mayor, recognizing his justice. While still a clerk, Ermila gained authority among the people for the fact that

...he will advise

And he will make inquiries;

Where there is enough strength, it will help out,

Doesn't ask for gratitude

And if you give it, he won’t take it!

But Yermila was also guilty: he shielded his younger brother from recruiting, but the people forgave him for his sincere repentance. Only Ermila’s conscience was not at peace: he left the mayor’s office and hired a mill. And again the people fell in love with him for his good treatment, for his even attitude towards the landowner and the poor, for his kindness.

The “gray-haired priest” characterizes Ermila this way:

He had everything he needed

For happiness and tranquility,

And money and honor,

An enviable, true honor,

Not bought with money,

Not with fear: with the strict truth.

With intelligence and kindness.

Savely the hero represents a different type of Russian peasant. He is the embodiment of strength and courage. Despite the rods and hard labor, he did not accept his fate. “Branded, but not a slave,” he says about himself. Savely embodies the best traits of the Russian character: love for the homeland and people, hatred of oppressors, self-esteem. His favorite word - “push” - helps to see in him a person who knows how to cheer up his comrades, rally them, and captivate them. Savely is one of those who stood up well for the “patrimony.” Together with the men, he executes the hated manager, the German Vogel. People like Savely will not stand by at the time of peasant unrest.

The most conscientious of the “people’s defenders” is Grisha Dobrosklonov. He devotes his entire life to the struggle, lives among the people, knows their needs, and is educated. The future of Russia, the poet believes, belongs to people like Grisha Dobrosklonov, for whom “fate was preparing a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.” The songs of Grisha Dobrosklonov reflect his thoughts about life’s ideals, his hopes for a bright future:

Share of the people

His happiness

Light and freedom

First of all.

In a moment of despondency, O Motherland!

My thoughts fly forward.

You are still destined to suffer a lot,

But you won't die, I know.

Saved in slavery

Free heart -

Gold, gold

People's heart!

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov entered Russian poetry as the “people's sad man.” The folk poem became one of the central ones in his work. But the poet was never a simple writer of everyday life; as an artist, he was primarily concerned with the drama of the people.

In the poem “who lives well in Rus',” the author himself appeared as the people’s “intercessor,” who not only expressed his attitude towards the people by the fact of creating this work, but was able to understand their soul and truly reveal their character. The theme of popular intercession is widely represented in the poem. Intercessor is one of his keywords. The people's intercessor is one who not only pities and sympathizes with the peasants, but serves the people, expresses their interests, confirming this with actions and deeds. I think that the image of such a person is not the only one in the poem. His features were refracted in Ermil Girin, Savely, Grisha Dobrosklonov, and partly in Yakima Nagy.

Thus, Girin acted as a real defender of worldly interests: he defended the mill, which was needed by everyone. He sincerely, with pure thoughts, turned to the people for help, and people raised money for him, completely trusting him and not sparing their last penny. Then Yermil settled accounts with everyone. His honesty and selflessness are evidenced by the fact that he did not appropriate the “extra ruble” that he had left for himself, but, not finding the owner, gave the money to the blind. How did Girin win the honor and respect of almost the entire district? The answer is short: only “the truth.” People were drawn to him, and when Yermil held the positions of clerk and mayor, He was “loved by all the people” because it was always possible to reach him.

seek help and advice. And Yermil never demanded a reward:

“Where there is enough strength, it will help,

Doesn't ask for gratitude

And he won’t take it!”

There was only one case when the hero, as they say, “became his soul”, Girin “excluded” his brother from recruiting, instead of whom another person had to become a soldier. The realization that he acted dishonestly, unfairly, leads Girin almost to suicide. And only repentance in front of all the people frees him from the pangs of conscience. The story about Ermil Girin suddenly ends, and we learn that he nevertheless suffered for the people's cause, he was sent to prison. It is impossible not to mention another national hero - Yakim Nagogo. It would seem that there is nothing unusual in his fate:

Once he lived in St. Petersburg, because of a lawsuit with a merchant he went to prison. Then he returned to his homeland and became a plowman. It is better than Nekrasov himself to imagine this image, which has become a generalized image of the Russian peasant:

“The chest is sunken, like a distant

Stomach; at the eyes, at the mouth

Bends like cracks

On dry ground;..."

But in the eyes of people, Yakim was a special person: during the fire, he rushed to save not money, but pictures that he lovingly collected for his son and looked at them in fascination. Talking about this unique folk “collector,” Nekrasov also opens a page in the life of a peasant, in which not only work and “drinking” could

be in charge. The image of the people's intercessor was vividly embodied in Savely, the Holy Russian hero. Already in this very definition there is a meaning: heroes in epics have always been intercessors of the Russian land. Sa

Poet-citizen, poet of the revolutionary struggle, N.A. Nekrasov, who wrote poems of amazing power and feeling about his comrades Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky, Pisarev, could not help but turn in his work to a new image for Russian literature - the image of the people's intercessor.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” shows that forces are maturing among the people that are capable of defending the honor and dignity of people of low rank. The poet represents several characters of people who are ready to join the fight for the humiliated and insulted Russian people, who are in bondage. Among them are Saveliy, the Holy Russian hero, the people's truth-lover Yakim Nagoy, famous for his “strict truth, intelligence and kindness,” Yermil Girin, who knows “to whom he will give his whole life and for whom he will die,” Grisha Dobrosklonov.

Nekrasov depicts Savely the hero as one of those who stood well for the “patrimonial estate,” seeing in him the embodiment of people’s strength and courage. Neither the rod nor the hard labor reconciled him to his fate. “Branded, but not a slave,” he says about himself. It combines such qualities as self-esteem and hatred of oppressors, remarkable strength and love of freedom, love of nature and perseverance. Reading the lines dedicated to Savely, we understand that only the truly strong and courageous can be so patient and generous as to endure the suffering that befell them.

That's why we endured

That we are heroes.

This is Russian heroism.

Do you think, Matryonushka,

The man is not a hero?

And his life is not a military one,

And death is not written for him

In battle - what a hero!

Talking about national heroes peasant kingdom of homespun Rus', Nekrasov finds amazing, truly epic comparisons:

.. .Hands are twisted with chains,

Feet forged with iron,

Back...dense forests

We walked along it - we broke down...

...And it bends, but does not break,

Doesn't break, doesn't fall...

Isn't he a hero?

The favorite word of the people's avenger Savely - naddai - helps to see in him a person capable of not only encouraging, but, most importantly, uniting, captivating and leading. This word will determine the fate of the proud hero. Recalling his youth, the old man Savely talks about how for eighteen years the peasants endured the tyranny of a cruel German manager, in whose power their whole life was actually in their power. Constant bullying on his part could not but arouse people's indignation. And one day they could not stand it and killed a German.

Tavern... a prison in Bui-gorod,

There I learned to read and write,

So far they have decided on us.

The solution has been reached: hard labor

And whip first...

...And life was not easy.

Twenty years of strict hard labor,

The settlement has been around for twenty years...”

Next to Savely in the poem stands another majestic image of a Russian peasant - the village righteous man Yermil Girin. The very appearance in the world of slavery and unbridled tyranny of people like him serves for Nekrasov as the basis for faith in the future victory of the people and the source of the cheerful feeling that permeates the poem:

People's power

Mighty force -

Conscience is calm,

The truth is alive!

Not through struggle, like Savely, but through labor and skill, Er-mil Girin wants to change the fate of the eternally oppressed. Literate, he becomes a clerk, and then, thanks to his humane attitude towards people, he is elected mayor. Honest, decent, smart, one day Girin, saving his brother from recruitment, commits an unfair act. And the sin he has taken upon his soul gives him no peace.

Doesn't drink, doesn't eat; that's how it ended

What's in the stall with the rope

His father found him.

“Ever since Vlasyevna’s son

I didn't put it in the queue

I hate the white light!

The image of Ermila Girin, who refused his position, is tragic, but cannot fail to evoke respect for his nobility, honesty, and compassion for people. The people around Girina appreciate him for this. And as the episode with the purchase of the mill shows, the people are ready to come to his aid at the right moment, to return kindness for kindness. The situation described by Nekrasov may not be the most typical, but it allows the poet to say that great strength is hidden in the unity and mutual assistance of the common people.

Yakim Nagoy is another man whom the wanderers met in their search for happiness in Rus'. It would seem which of him is the defender:

The chest is sunken; like a depressed Belly; at the eyes, at the mouth Bends like cracks in the dried earth;

And he himself looks like Mother Earth: his neck is brown,

Like a layer cut off by a plow,

Brick face

Hand - tree bark,

And the hair is sand.

The very first lines say about him:

He works himself to death

He drinks until he's half dead.

But there is a line in it that allows him to be ranked among the people’s intercessors: Yakim Nagoy protects the people’s soul. Exhausted, having lost strength and health, during a fire he saves not the accumulated thirty-five rubles, but the pictures hanging on the wall in the hut, the only joy of his miserable and gray existence. Pictures are a symbol of something beautiful that lurks in the tormented people's soul, the case allows the poet to tell the reader about the spiritual beauty inherent in the working people, which, as we know, will “save the world.”

And yet, the future of Russia, Nekrasov is sure, lies with people like Grisha Dobrosklonov: literate, most conscientious people from the people who dedicated their lives to the fight for the people. The image of seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, for whom “fate was preparing a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia,” reflected not only the poet’s hopes for a bright future, but also his life ideals. To be in the din, where “it’s hard to breathe, where grief is heard,” is Dobrosklonov’s life goal. His songs do not even sound like a call to fight for liberation, but rather a statement that the struggle has already begun:

The army rises -

Countless!

The strength in her will affect

Indestructible!

This image, according to the poet, contained the only possible answer to the question posed in the poem about the possibility of happiness in Russia at that time. Nekrasov considered truly happy only selfless fighters for the people's good, those who, like Grisha Dobrosklonov, heard “immense strength in their chest,” whose ears were delighted by the “radiant sounds of the noble hymn” - “the embodiment of people’s happiness.”

As we see, both the hero of the poem and its author are full of faith that a person’s happiness lies in revolutionary service to the people. A faith based, as history has shown, on rather utopian ideas of that time, when people firmly believed that the Russian people would gather their strength and learn to be citizens.