The theme of the female share in the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'

The image of a Russian woman and her fate occupy a special place in Nekrasov’s poetry. A woman is always the main bearer of life, the embodiment of its fullness and diversity. In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the largest of all chapters, “The Peasant Woman,” is devoted to understanding the female lot. The image of Matryona Timofeevna embodied the features of all Russian women connected by the same fate. A woman’s lot is difficult and sometimes tragic, but, not bending under the blows of fate, the Russian woman remains the embodiment of wisdom, kindness and love.

Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is not young, and, probably, it is no coincidence that the poet inscribed her image in the most mature, most fertile time of nature - the time of harvest. After all, maturity implies summing up life's results, rethinking the years lived - a kind of harvesting.

What does Matryona Timofeevna reap? Nekrasov shows the Russian peasant woman in all her greatness:

dignified woman,

Wide and dense

About thirty-eight years old.

Beautiful; gray streaked hair,

The eyes are big and strict

The richest eyelashes,

Severe and dark.

It was to her, the sensible and strong one, that the poet entrusted the story about the difficult lot of women. This part of the poem, the only one of all, is written in the first person. But the voice of a peasant woman is the voice of the entire people, who are accustomed to expressing their feelings in song. That’s why Matryona Timofeevna often doesn’t talk, but sings. The entire chapter is based by the poet on folk poetic images and motifs. We see traditional rituals of peasant matchmaking, wedding cries and lamentations. We hear folk songs and the personal fate of the heroine seems to be the fate of the entire Russian people. Matryona Timofeevna lived a hard life. Happy in her maidenhood, she sipped "goryushka", falling "from the maiden holiday to hell." Like all her contemporaries, resentment, humiliation, and backbreaking work awaited her in her new family. These women had one joy - their children. So Demushka - “my handsome man drove away all the anger from my soul with an angelic smile.” But Demushka died and Matryona was orphaned. Other relatives also died, and my husband was under threat of being recruited. Matrena Timofeevna defended him and did not become a soldier:

Thanks to the governor

Elena Alexandrovna,

I'm so grateful to her

Like a mother!

From the moment the peasant woman begged for her happiness, they nicknamed her “governor” and “glorified her as a lucky woman.”

Raising children... Isn't it joy?

The men are perplexed: were they really looking for such happiness? But the courageous woman Matryona Timofeevna does not complain about her fate, adequately repelling all its blows. Isn't her happiness in her strength of character? After all, a weak person cannot be happy; he is always dissatisfied with his fate.

Nekrasov is one of the few writers who admires a woman not for her “sweet” weakness, femininity, but for the strength of character of a Russian woman, her resilience, and ability to defend her rightness. The image of Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is one of the most vivid and capacious images of the poem, personifying the fate of Russia itself.

ON THE. Nekrasov occupies an important place in the literary history of our country. The poet and writer in his works showed the real reality of how the Russian people live. Nekrasov described the life of people with all the details, thanks to which the reader can draw a conclusion about what kind of suffering the Russian people had to go through.

The poet truly loved his homeland and its inhabitants. He was especially concerned about the lives of peasants and women. Devotion and compassion for the Russian man gave rise to Nekrasov’s concern for the fate of the entire country. But he believed in a bright future and in mitigating the circumstances of every peasant.

The Russian people experienced the abolition of serfdom in 1861. People are liberated, but are they happy? This question worried N.A more than anyone else. Nekrasova. In the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, seven men from different villages travel through peasant environs in search of people's happiness. But as their journey progresses, it becomes clear that there are no happy people among the peasants. The life of the Russian people is extremely difficult even after liberation from serfdom. The names of the villages even speak about this: Dyryavino, Razutovo, Neelovo, Neurozhaika, Gorelovo. The names of the songs also speak about the difficult peasant life: “Hungry”, “Salty”, etc.

The Wanderers, and with them the reader, become acquainted with the lives of many individual heroes. For example, the life of the peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna is very difficult. Her life is one of hard work, long hunger, separation from her husband and even the death of a child. Matryona believes that there is no female happiness in Rus'.

Simple peasant people see happiness in simple things. For some, happiness is to withstand all the blows of fate, for others it is in a good harvest. The reader can conclude that the happiness of the people lies in the illusions of a good life, and by itself they endure their miserable and difficult existence.

The hero of the poem, Grisha Dobrosklonov, stands out among all the other peasants. He is a simple person from the people who managed to understand his purpose. The meaning of his life is the intercession of the Russian people. And with the appearance of this hero in the plot, two roads leading to happiness can be distinguished. The first path is personal enrichment. It is suitable for nobles and officials. The second path is the path of intercession, difficult but correct, which can lead the people to true happiness. Grisha Dobrosklonov chose him.

In terms of his beliefs, this hero is close to the author himself. Nekrasov believes that serving for the benefit of humiliated, offended people is the most important task of a poet and any self-respecting person. Nekrasov is the instigator of the Russian people, working in the name of justice and the good life of ordinary hard-working people. And, in his opinion, it is thanks to such beliefs that hope is instilled in the bright future of the Russian people.

In the morning we are used to seeing a huge number of people rushing to work or school, and the fact that approximately half of these people are women does not cause us the least bit of surprise. In the evenings, you can see happy dads picking up their children from kindergarten, as well as groups of lonely women who are in a state of not the first sobriety, waiting for them in empty apartments with broken electrical appliances, which they themselves will fix. But we understand that this was not always the case, because back in the century before last, things were completely different.

One of the most ardent fighters for peasant freedom, N.A. Nekrasov very colorfully and plausibly describes the fate of a certain peasant woman, Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, which is a generalization of the life of a Russian peasant woman in general. The people called her happy, but is this really so? To answer this question, the reader is given the opportunity to follow almost Matryona’s entire life, from childhood to adulthood.

We are greeted by “a dignified woman, broad and dense, thirty-eighth tall” (and most importantly, “with a sickle over her shoulder”) and begins her story, starting from childhood. Subsequently, we learn that this was precisely the happiest time in her life. The heroine was lucky with her family: “We had a good, non-drinking family.” She was raised with care and affection, but at the same time taught to work: “I myself ran with the herd, took my father for breakfast, and tended ducklings.” And in general, the entire chapter “before marriage” is written in rosy tones and contains extremely pleasing plots. Moreover, the fact that her life will soon deteriorate is no secret to anyone: “In someone else’s family, sleep is short! They'll go to bed late! They’ll come to wake you up before the sun, they’ll stock up on a basket, they’ll throw a crust on the bottom: flatten it and get a full basket!..” Thus, Nekrasov, once again emphasizing the power of patience and humility of the Russian people, draws his attention to the fact that everyone understood perfectly well order of things and resignedly submitted to it. Further, the author shows us that even if you give the peasant woman a happy childhood and a love marriage, her fate will still be saturated with hopelessness and endless litigation. Having gotten married, our Matryona finds herself in a completely unfamiliar environment, and since the world peasants are quite harsh, then the rules there are quite specific for modern people. Firstly, the female hierarchy: “"The family was huge, grumpy... I got caught

Happy maiden holiday to hell!”, where the only thing you can do is, again, to show patience, the cup of which cannot be overflowing. Secondly, this is the need to “save face,” which is very difficult, especially when you are a newly arrived woman in an unfamiliar village. It is quite logical that every step you take will be looked at so askance and distrustfully that any desire to do anything will gradually disappear, and the absence of the above-mentioned desire leads to isolation and, consequently, to loneliness. What could be worse than loneliness?

Soon, all internal suffering is resolved by the birth of a son: “The handsome man drove away all the anger from my soul with an angelic smile, like the spring sun drives snow away from the fields... I didn’t worry, no matter what they tell me, I work, no matter how much they scold me, I remain silent.” But here, too, the cruelty and unpredictability of the peasant world without rights in relation to an even more powerless woman makes itself felt. The death of her firstborn, the meaning of her life, came from the man she loves. Such things are doubly difficult to endure.

Subsequent events are also not distinguished by their fabulousness: the threat of losing a husband, the threat of becoming defamed, falling under pagan beliefs, etc. Obviously, such things are completely sobering. The now dormant determination awakens in Matryona Timofeevna; humility remains, but it is already on a par with struggle. This trait, inherent in a peasant woman, is noted by Nekrasov with pride and admiration.

Having achieved what she fought for, and without betraying her moral principles, Matryona Timofeevna can certainly be called happy, but you need to understand that this “happiness” was hard-earned. Yes, now they respect her and listen to her advice, she has a loving family, a stable income and a household. Now let’s remember what she had to endure for all this: endure humiliation, do hard work, lose two loved ones, succumb to moral pressure, constantly sacrifice herself and endure again, while maintaining exorbitant inner strength and determination.

So is it possible to call Matryona a lucky woman, and are there any truly happy peasant women? My answer is no. They can endlessly be called strong, determined, rational, fighting and humble, pure, enduring, but never happy.

The hero of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N.A. Nekrasov chose not just one person, but the entire Russian people, the entire numerous “peasant kingdom”, “homespun Rus'”. A poem with such a wide coverage of depictions of all social strata of Russia had never before appeared in Russian literature.

Nekrasov started it in 1863, shortly after the “liberation” of the peasants. The poet understood very well that, in essence, there was no liberation, that the peasantry still remained under the yoke of the landowners and that, in addition, “... in place of the serfs’ networks, people came up with many others.”

However, Nekrasov never once made the enslaved people the subject of insulting pity; I realized that his task as an artist is not to mourn and lament, but to join the people himself, to make his work their true voice, their cry and groan, the embodiment of people's thoughts and feelings. The poet wanted to make the “peasant eyes” his own and learn to look with them at every phenomenon of the reality of that time.

At first glance, the people's life depicted in the poem seems very sad. The very names of the villages - “Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo, Neurozhaika, etc.” - speak of the joyless existence of their inhabitants. And although one of the chapters depicts the happy village people and even bears the title “Happy”, in fact it reveals the drama of the characters’ situation: before us are people tortured by poverty, sick, hungry.

Thus, after reading the first chapters of “Who Lives Well in Rus',” you begin to think that the only answer to the question of the title of Nekrasov’s work can be given: every person has a hard life, especially the “liberated” peasants, about whose happiness it is said:

Hey, man's happiness!

Leaky with patches,

Humpbacked with calluses,

Go home!

However, what do wanderers mean by happiness? “Peace, wealth, honor”?

With the appearance of Yakim Nagogo, an inspired defender of the honor of the working people, the criterion of wealth is called into question: during a fire, this hero saves “pictures”, forgetting about the “rubles” accumulated throughout his difficult life. Yakim proves that noble honor has nothing in common with peasant labor honor.

Another character in the poem, Yermil Girin, with his whole life, refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It would seem that Girin, the village righteous man, has everything “that is needed for happiness”: “peace, money, and honor.” But at a critical moment in his life, he sacrifices this “happiness” for the sake of the people’s truth.

The question involuntarily arises: does this mean happiness lies in something else?

As they search for the happy in the people's world, a new hero appears before the wanderers - Savely, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, a man of enormous mental and physical strength, a powerful representative of those layers of the peasantry who no longer wanted to endure oppression. To put up with the tyranny of the landowners. In a critical situation, he is capable of uttering a decisive “give it up!”, under which the peasants bury the hated German manager alive.

Savely justifies his rebellion with peasant philosophy: “To not endure is an abyss, to endure is an abyss.” However, he is not the only such hero in Rus':

Do you think, Matryonushka,

Is the man not a hero?

... Hands are twisted with chains,

Feet forged with iron,

Back...dense forests,

We walked along it and broke down...

... It doesn’t bend, it doesn’t break,

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

Isn't dinner a hero?

After reading the chapter “Drunk Night”, we recognize the Russian peasant in fun, and, although drunkenness is an undeniable vice, we are involuntarily proud of the drunken soul of the Russian man:

A little charm went through my veins,

And the kind one laughed

Peasant soul!

True, it would be more gratifying if “the good peasant soul laughed” without “vodka”! However, without this it was difficult to withstand the hardships of peasant existence. And therefore, rather than a condemnation, a call for understanding sounds in this part of the poem.

Particular mention should be made of the problem of female happiness in Nekrasov’s work.

The poet not only saw the difficult lot of the working Russian woman, but also glorified the “type of majestic Slavic woman,” mourned her fate, was proud of her beauty and enormous moral strength. And yet, the people's poet is primarily attracted by the drama of women's fate. Therefore, Nekrasov’s appeal to female beauty serves to expose the gloomy social reality, to reveal the theme of peasant oppression.

The poet, like his wandering heroes, is in the grip of a painful impression from the sad story of his heroine’s life. He sees in her an innocently suffering and deeply offended person. However, despite the suffering, Matryona Timofeevna remains “in slavery, her saved heart is free.” She does not tolerate humiliation without complaint, responds to any injustice with immediate action, seeks and finds a way out of the most tragic situations, proudly declaring herself: “I have a bowed head, I carry an angry heart.” And this is the real happiness of the heroine, because she managed to maintain a “calm conscience, a tenacious truth.”

The poem also shows a massive, collective image of the people. So, in the chapter “A feast for the whole world,” people celebrate a “fume for the support.” Everyone gets involved in the celebration, and folk songs of liberation are heard. These songs at the spiritual feast of the people are far from unambiguous, contradictory and colorful. Here the poem resembles a peasant gathering, a worldly dialogue. However, this unity, the awareness of their communal strength among Russian peasants cannot leave the reader indifferent.

Fate had in store for him

The path is glorious, the name is loud

People's Defender,

Consumption and Siberia.

However, it is this hero in Nekrasov who is the owner of the highest happiness. This is where the real answer to the question posed by Nekrasov lies: truly happy are those selfless fighters for the people's good who, like Grisha, see the purpose of their lives in serving the people. Dobrosklonov’s happiness also lies in the fact that he determined his life path:

Gregory already knew for sure

To whom will he give his whole life?

However, it is difficult to agree that Grisha Dobrosklonov is the only happy one in the poem. Are Saveliy, Yakim Nagoy, Ermil Girin, Matryona Timofeevna unhappy? In my opinion, a person feels happy even when he lives honestly, acts fairly, and his soul is calm with this justice and honesty, when his “heart is free.”

For example, if we evaluate Matryona Timofeevna’s life path from the point of view of troubles and adversities, then how can Grigory Dobrosklonov, who was destined for hard labor, be happy? And Savely probably would not have agreed to live his life differently, with different beliefs. Does this mean he is satisfied with the life he has lived, happy?

One can argue with this statement by objecting that Matryona herself does not consider herself happy, that the wanderers did not find someone “who lives well in Rus'.” But the criteria for happiness can be different, and everyone can have their own understanding of this word... But our wanderers really didn’t find a person who has a good life!

I think you can be happy at heart, but not live well - it all depends on which “formula of happiness” you apply to assessing reality.

Introduction

“The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” Nekrasov asked this question, formulated in the poem “Elegy,” more than once. In his final work, “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the problem of happiness becomes the fundamental problem on which the plot of the poem is based.

Seven men from different villages (the names of these villages - Gorelovo, Neelovo, etc. make it clear to the reader that they have never seen happiness in them) set off on a journey in search of happiness. The plot of searching for something in itself is very common and is often found in fairy tales, as well as in hagiographic literature, where a long and dangerous journey to the Holy Land was often described. As a result of such a search, the hero acquires a very valuable thing (remember the fairy-tale I-don’t-know-what), or, in the case of pilgrims, grace. What will the wanderers find from Nekrasov’s poem? As you know, their search for happiness will not be crowned with success - either because the author did not have time to finish his poem, or because, due to their spiritual immaturity, they are still not ready to see a truly happy person. To answer this question, let’s look at how the problem of happiness is transformed in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

Evolution of the concept of “happiness” in the minds of the main characters

“Peace, wealth, honor” - this formula of happiness, derived at the beginning of the poem by the priest, exhaustively describes the understanding of happiness not only for the priest. It conveys the original, superficial view of the happiness of wanderers. Peasants who have lived in poverty for many years cannot imagine happiness that is not supported by material wealth and universal respect. They form a list of possible lucky ones according to their ideas: priest, boyar, landowner, official, minister and tsar. And, although Nekrasov did not have time to realize all his plans in the poem - the chapter where the wanderers would reach the tsar remained unwritten, but already two from this list - the priest and the landowner, were enough for the men to be disappointed in their initial view for luck.

The stories of the priest and the landowner, met by wanderers on the road, are quite similar to each other. Both sound sadness about the past happy, satisfying times, when power and prosperity themselves fell into their hands. Now, as shown in the poem, the landowners were taken away everything that made up their usual way of life: land, obedient slaves, and in return they were given an unclear and even frightening covenant to work. And so the happiness that seemed unshakable disappeared like smoke, leaving only regrets in its place: “... the landowner began to cry.”

After listening to these stories, the men abandon their original plan - they begin to understand that real happiness lies in something else. On their way they come across a peasant fair - a place where many peasants gather. The men decide to look for the happy one among them. The problematic of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” changes - it becomes important for wanderers to find not just an abstract happy person, but a happy one among the common people.

But none of the recipes for happiness proposed by people at the fair - neither the fabulous turnip harvest, nor the opportunity to eat enough bread, nor magical power, nor even a miraculous accident that allowed us to stay alive - convinces our wanderers. They develop an understanding that happiness cannot depend on material things and the simple preservation of life. This is confirmed by the life story of Ermil Girin, told there at the fair. Yermil always tried to act truthfully, and in any position - burgomaster, scribe, and then miller - he enjoyed the love of the people. To some extent, he serves as a harbinger of another hero, Grisha Dobrosklonov, who also devoted his whole life to serving the people. But what kind of gratitude was there for Yermil’s actions? They shouldn’t consider him happy, they tell the men, Yermil is in prison because he stood up for the peasants during the riot...

The image of happiness as freedom in the poem

A simple peasant woman, Matryona Timofeevna, offers wanderers a look at the problem of happiness from the other side. Having told them the story of her life, full of hardships and troubles - only then was she happy, as a child she lived with her parents - she adds:

"The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will,
Abandoned, lost..."

Happiness is compared to a thing unattainable for a long time for peasants - free will, i.e. freedom. Matryona obeyed all her life: to her husband, his unkind family, the evil will of the landowners who killed her eldest son and wanted to flog the younger one, injustice, because of which her husband was taken into the army. She receives some kind of joy in life only when she decides to rebel against this injustice and goes to ask for her husband. This is when Matryona finds peace of mind:

"Okay, easy,
Clear in my heart"

And this definition of happiness as freedom, apparently, is to the liking of the men, because already in the next chapter they indicate the goal of their journey as follows:

“We are looking, Uncle Vlas,
Unflogged province,
Ungutted parish,
Izbytkova village"

It is clear that here the first place is no longer given to “excess” - wealth, but to “purity”, a sign of freedom. The men realized that they would have wealth after they had the opportunity to manage their own lives. And here Nekrasov raises another important moral problem - the problem of servility in the minds of Russian people. Indeed, at the time of the creation of the poem, the peasants already had freedom - the decree on the abolition of serfdom. But they have yet to learn to live as free people. It is not for nothing that in the chapter “The Last One” many of the Vakhlachans so easily agree to play the role of imaginary serfs - this role is profitable, and, what is there to hide, habitual, not forcing one to think about the future. Freedom of speech has already been obtained, but the men still stand in front of the landowner, taking off their hats, and he graciously allows them to sit down (chapter “Landowner”). The author shows how dangerous such pretense is - Agap, supposedly flogged to please the old prince, actually dies in the morning, unable to bear the shame:

“The man is raw, special,
The head is unbowed”...

Conclusion

So, as we see, in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” the problems are quite complex and detailed and cannot be reduced in the end to simply finding a happy person. The main problem of the poem is precisely that, as the wandering of the men shows, the people are not yet ready to become happy, they do not see the right path. The consciousness of wanderers gradually changes, and they become able to discern the essence of happiness beyond its earthly components, but every person has to go through this path. Therefore, instead of the lucky one, at the end of the poem the figure of the people's intercessor, Grisha Dobrosklonov, appears. He himself is not from the peasant class, but from the clergy, which is why he so clearly sees the intangible component of happiness: a free, educated Rus' that has recovered from centuries of slavery. Grisha is unlikely to be happy on his own: fate is preparing for him “consumption and Siberia.” But he embodies in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” the people's happiness, which is yet to come. Along with the voice of Grisha, singing joyful songs about free Rus', one can hear the convinced voice of Nekrasov himself: when the peasants are freed not only verbally, but also internally, then each individual person will be happy.

The given thoughts about happiness in Nekrasov’s poem will be useful to 10th grade students when preparing an essay on the topic “The problem of happiness in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”.”

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