Distinctive features of the romantic images of Maxim Gorky. Is it possible to change your character traits
- The originality of the early romantic stories of M. Gorky ("Song of the Falcon", "Old woman Izergil").
- Romantic characters and their motivation in the stories "Makar Chudra", "Khan and his son".
Lesson objectives:
- Educational: to reveal the ideological content of M. Gorky's early romantic stories, to show by what means the author achieves artistic perfection in romantic works.
- Educational: promote the formation of a sense of beauty, help students "feel" the artistic word.
- Developing: develop the skills of logical thinking, analysis of such literary concepts as romanticism, romantic hero.
Lesson on the topic "The originality of M. Gorky's early romantic stories" ("Song of the Falcon", "Old woman Izergil")
Homework for the lesson:
a) Name the main features of romanticism as a literary movement.
b) What are the features of romanticism in M. Gorky's "Song of the Falcon"?
Works for Study and Review:
- "Song of the Falcon".
- "Old Isergil".
Lesson type: obtaining new knowledge with a stage of repetition.
The main method: heuristic conversation.
During the classes
1. Checking homework.
a) Exercise. Name the main features of romanticism as a literary movement.
Answer. Romanticism - special kind worldview; simultaneously - artistic direction... Romanticism arose as a kind of reaction to rationalism and the unmotivated optimism of classicism.
In his early works, Maxim Gorky appears as a romantic. Romanticism presupposes the assertion of an exceptional personality, acting one-on-one with the world, approaching reality from the standpoint of his ideal, making exceptional demands on others. The hero is head and shoulders above other people who are next to him, he rejects their society. This is the reason for the loneliness so typical for the romantic, which is most often thought of by him as a natural state, because people do not understand him and reject his ideal. Therefore, the romantic hero finds an equal beginning only in communication with the elements, with the world of nature, ocean, sea, mountains, coastal rocks.
Therefore, in romantic works, a landscape devoid of half-tones, based on bright colors, expressing the most indomitable essence of the element and its beauty and exclusivity, gains such great importance. The landscape is thus animated and, as it were, expresses the originality of the character of the hero.
For the romantic consciousness, the correlation of character with real life circumstances is almost unthinkable - this is how the most important feature of the romantic artistic world: the principle of romantic double world. The romantic, and therefore the ideal world of the hero opposes the real world, contradictory and far from the romantic ideal. The opposition of romance and reality, romance and the world around them is a fundamental feature of this literary movement.
Traits of romanticism:
- proclamation human personality, complex, deep;
- assertion of the inner infinity of human individuality;
- a look at life "through the prism of the heart";
- interest in everything exotic, strong, bright, sublime;
- gravitation towards fantasy, conventions of forms, mixing of the low and the high, the comic and the tragic, the ordinary and the unusual;
- a painful experience of discord with reality;
- rejection of the ordinary;
- the striving of the individual for absolute freedom, for spiritual perfection, an unattainable ideal, combined with an understanding of the imperfection of the world.
b) Exercise. What are the features of romanticism in M. Gorky's "Song of the Falcon"?
Answer. In the frame of "Song of the Falcon" there is a vivid image of the spiritualized nature. Nature is not only the background against which the action unfolds. The storyteller and the old man direct their thoughts to her, her secrets. The beauty of nature, its power is the embodiment of life. It is not by chance that in the introductory part there are motives of God, eternal movement, harmony and mystery.
The plot is based on the dispute between Sokol and Uzh about the meaning of life. The dialogue of the heroes shows the incompatibility of their life positions. This is an ideological conflict.
"Old Isergil" (stage of obtaining new knowledge - heuristic conversation)
Problematic question. What is the purpose of the three-part composition of the story?
The action of the legends described in the story "The Old Woman Izergil" takes place in chronologically indefinite deep antiquity - this is, as it were, the time that preceded the beginning of history, the era of primal creation. However, in the present there are traces directly related to that era - these are blue lights left over from the heart of Danko, the shadow of Larra, which Izergil sees.
a) The Legend of Larra.
What motivates Larra's character?
What understanding of freedom does he embody?
How are people depicted in the legend?
What is the meaning of Larra's punishment?
Output. Larra's exceptional individualism is due to the fact that he is the son of an eagle who embodies the ideal of strength and will. Pride and contempt for others are two principles that the image of Larra carries. The hero in splendid isolation confronts people and is not afraid of their judgment, because he does not accept it and despises the judges. They wanted to sentence him to death, but they sentenced him to immortality: “And they left, leaving him. He lay upside down and saw mighty eagles swimming in black dots high in the sky. There was so much melancholy in his eyes that he could have poisoned all the people of the world with it. So, since that time he was left alone. Free, waiting to die. And so he walks. He walks everywhere ... You see, he has already become like a shadow and will be like that forever! He does not understand any speech of people. None of their actions - nothing. And everything seeks, walks, walks ... he has no life, and death does not smile at him. And there is no place for him among people ... This is how the man was amazed for his pride! "
b ) The Legend of Danko.
The legend of Danko ends with the words: "That's where they come from, the blue sparks of the steppe that appear before the storm!" What sparks do you mean?
Perhaps the legend was told in order to explain where they come from "Blue sparks". Do you agree with this opinion?
What act would you call a heroic deed?
Who and in the name of what does the feat in the legend?
Is Danko's action reasonable or not?
What feelings did Danko's feat evoke in you?
There are words in the legend of Danko: "Only one careful person noticed this and, being afraid of something, stepped on the proud heart with his foot." What scared "Careful person"?
Output. Izergil bears in character the only beginning, which she considers the most valuable: she is sure that her life was subordinated to only one thing - love for people. Also, the only beginning, brought to the maximum extent, is carried by the heroes of the legends told by her. Danko embodies an extreme degree of self-sacrifice in the name of love for people, Larra - an extreme individualism.
v) The story of the old woman Izergil about her life.
- What role does the romantic landscape play in the legend?
In a romantic landscape, the heroine of the story appears before us - the old woman Izergil: “The wind flowed in a wide, even wave, but sometimes it seemed to jump over something invisible, and, giving birth to a strong gust, fluttering the women's hair into fantastic manes that billowed around their heads. It made women look weird and fabulous. They went farther and farther from us, and the night and fantasy dressed them more and more beautifully. "
It is in such a landscape - seaside, night, mysterious and beautiful - that the main characters can realize. Their consciousness, their character, its sometimes mysterious contradictions turn out to be the main subject of the image. Landscape was introduced to study the complex and contradictory characters of the heroes, their strengths and weaknesses.
How does Izergil assess the heroes of the legends she told?
“Do you see how much everything was in the old days? .. And now there is nothing like that - no deeds, no people, no fairy tales like in the camp ... Why? .. Come on, tell me! You will not tell ... What do you know? What do you all know young people? Ehe-heh! .. They would have looked in the old days vigilantly - there all the clues would be found ...<…>I see all kinds of people today, but there are no strong ones! Where are they? .. And the handsome men are becoming less and less. "
"In life ... there is always a place for exploits."
How does the life story of Izergil reveal her striving for the romantic ideal?
How does her portrait compare with the story of the search for high love?
Izergil is a deep old woman, in her portrait anti-aesthetic features are deliberately pumped up: “Time bent her in half, once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched like an old woman spoke with bones. "
What brings Izergil closer to Larra?
Izergil is sure that her life, filled with love, was completely different from the life of the individualist Larra, she cannot even imagine anything in common with him. Everything in the image of the old woman reminds the narrator of Larra - first of all, her individualism, taken to the extreme, almost approaching Larra's individualism, her antiquity, her stories about people who have long passed their circle of life.
Output. Creating the image of the main character, Gorky, by compositional means, gives her the opportunity to present both the romantic ideal, expressing the extreme degree of love for people (Danko), and the anti-ideal, which embodied individualism and contempt for others (Larra) brought to its apogee. The composition of the story is such that the two legends frame the narrative of her own life, which constitutes the ideological center of the narrative. Undoubtedly condemning Larra's individualism, Izergil thinks that her own life and destiny tend rather toward the Danko pole, which embodied the highest ideal of love and self-sacrifice. But the reader immediately pays attention to how easily she forgot her old love for the sake of a new one, how simply she left her once beloved people.
In everything - in the portrait, in the author's comments - we see a different point of view on the heroine. The romantic position, for all its beauty and sublimity, is denied by the autobiographical hero. He shows its futility and asserts the relevance of a more sober, realistic position.
Lesson on the topic "Romantic characters and their motivation in the stories" Makar Chudra "," Khan and his son "
Homework for the lesson:
a) Problematic question
Works for study:
- "Makar Chudra".
- "Khan and His Son."
Lesson type: obtaining and consolidating new knowledge.
The main method: heuristic conversation.
During the classes
"Makar Chudra" (heuristic conversation with the stage of checking homework)
How does Bitter create a romantic character?
Makar Chudra is depicted against the background of a romantic landscape: “A damp, cold wind blew from the sea, spreading across the steppe the brooding melody of the lapping waves and the rustle of coastal bushes. Occasionally his impulses brought with them shriveled, yellow leaves and threw them into the fire, fanning the flames; The darkness of the autumn night that surrounded us shuddered and, fearfully moving away, opened for a moment to the left - the endless steppe, to the right - the endless sea and right opposite me - the figure of Makar Chudra ... "
The landscape is animated, the sea and the steppe are boundless, they emphasize the boundlessness of the hero's freedom, his inability and unwillingness to exchange this freedom for anything. The position of the protagonist is outlined already in the exposition, Makar Chudra talks about a person, from his point of view, not free: “They are funny, those are your people. Huddled together and crush each other. And there are so many places on earth ... "; “Knows his will? Is the steppe width clear? Does the sea wave speak to his heart? He is a slave - as soon as he was born, he is a slave all his life, and that's it! "
What are life values heroes of the legend?
Loiko Zobar: “Was he afraid of anyone!”; "He did not have the cherished - you need his heart, he himself would have pulled it out of his chest and gave it to you, if only you felt good from him"; “With such a person you yourself become better” (words of Makar Chudra about Loiko); "…I am free man and I will live the way I want! ”; "She loves her will more than me, and I love her more than my will ..."
Radda: “I have never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. And I also love freedom! Here's the will, Loiko, I love more than you "
How does the legend reveal the worldview of Makar Chudra?
Homework implementation
Exercise. Problematic question... Why is the story telling about the story of Loiko and Radda named after the narrator - "Makar Chudra"?
Answer... The consciousness and character of Makar Chudra become the main subject of the image. For the sake of this hero, the story was written, and artistic means used by the author, he needs in order to show the hero in all its complexity and contradictions, to explain his strength and weakness. Makar Chudra is at the center of the story and gets the maximum opportunity for self-realization. The writer gives him the right to talk about himself, freely expressing his views. The legend told by him, possessing undoubted artistic independence, nevertheless serves primarily as a means of revealing the image of the protagonist, after whom the work is named.
What is the understanding of freedom by the heroes of the story?
What is the conflict underlying the legend?
How is it resolved?
Makar Chudra (like the old woman Izergil) bears in character the only beginning that he believes to be true: the maximalist striving for freedom. The same single beginning, brought to the maximum extent, is embodied by the heroes of the legend told by him. For Loiko Zobar true value too is freedom, openness and kindness. Radda is the highest, exclusive manifestation of pride, which even love cannot break.
Makar Chudra is absolutely sure that pride and love, two beautiful feelings brought by romantics to their highest expression, cannot be reconciled, for a compromise is unthinkable for romantic consciousness. The conflict between the feeling of love and the feeling of pride that the heroes experience can only be resolved by the death of both: a romantic can not sacrifice either love that knows no boundaries, or absolute pride.
Does the hero-narrator agree with them?
How is his position expressed?
The image of the narrator is very important in the work. The narrator expresses the author's point of view on the characters and the events taking place in the story. The author's attitude is admiration for the strength and beauty of the heroes of the story "Makar Chudra", a poetic, aesthetic perception of the world in the story "The Old Woman Izergil".
What is the meaning of the ending of the story?
At the end of the story, Makar Chudra skeptically listens to the narrator - an autobiographical hero. At the end of the work, the narrator sees how the handsome Loiko Zobar and Radda, the daughter of the old soldier Danila, "The night swirled smoothly and silently in the darkness, and the handsome Loiko could not catch up with the proud Radda." In the words of the narrator, the author's position is manifested - admiration for the beauty of the heroes and their uncompromisingness, the strength of their feelings, the understanding of the impossibility for the romantic consciousness of the futility of such an outcome of the case: after all, even after Loiko's death, in his pursuit he will not catch up with the proud Radda.
"Khan and His Son"(consolidation and testing of knowledge)
Exercise. Make a table based on knowledge of the text of the story of M. Gorky "Khan and his son".
Signs of romanticism in the story "Khan and His Son" |
Examples from text |
|
In the work there is a storyteller - a beggar Tatar, there are heroes of a legend told by a Tatar. The principle of romantic double world is observed. |
"There was Khan Mosolaim el Asvab in Crimea, and he had a son, Tolayk Algalla ..." |
|
The setting in which the action takes place is unusual. |
“... and around the narrator, on the stones - the ruins of the khan's palace destroyed by time - sat a group of Tatars in bright robes, skull-caps embroidered with gold” |
|
An exotic setting, the action of the legend was transferred to the times of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. |
"... the son of Algall will not drop the glory of the khanate, prowling like a wolf across the Russian steppes and always returning from there with rich booty, with new women, with new glory ..." |
|
Romantic landscape. |
“It was evening, the sun was quietly sinking into the sea; its red rays pierced the dark mass of greenery around the ruins, bright spots fell on the stones overgrown with moss, entangled with tenacious green ivy. The wind rustled in the compartment of old plane trees, their leaves rustled as if streams of water were flowing in the air invisible to the eye. |
|
An abundance of comparisons. |
women are "as beautiful as spring flowers"; |
|
Metaphors. |
"Caresses lived and burned"; |
|
eagle eyes, sultry caresses, echo of the son's voice |
||
Sublime speech of heroes. |
“Take my blood drop by drop per hour - I will die for you by twenty deaths!”; "The last joy of my life is this Russian girl" |
|
Impersonations. |
"... and the wind, shaking the trees, as if singing, rustled the trees ..."; |
|
The only beginning is in the position of the heroes. |
“You love her more than her and me” (father about son); |
|
"... a picture of the past, rich in the power of feelings, days arose before the audience." |
||
Your opinion about what you read. |
References
- VV Agenosov Russian literature of the twentieth century. Grade 11: Textbook for general education. Textbook. Establishments. - M., 2001.
- VV Agenosov Russian literature of the twentieth century. Grade 11: Lesson development. - M., 2000.
- Gorky M. Favorites. - M., 2002.
- Gorky M. Sobr. Op. in 30 volumes. T. 2. - M., 1949.
- Zolotareva V.I., Anikina S.M. Lesson development on literature. 7th grade. - M., 2005.
- Zolotareva V.I., Belomestnykh O.B., Korneeva M.S. Lesson development on literature. Grade 9. - M., 2002.
- Turyanskaya B.I., Komissarova E.V., Kholodkova L.A. Literature in grade 7: Lesson by lesson. - M., 1999.
- Turyanskaya B.I., Komissarova E.V. Literature in grade 8: Lesson by lesson. - M., 2001.
Composition
Proud disobedience to fate and daring love of freedom. Heroic character. The romantic hero strives for unrestrained freedom, without which there is no true happiness for him and which is dearer than life itself.
At an early stage of creativity, the writer turned to romanticism, thanks to which, he created a number of bright literary images... it literary direction allowed the writer not only to create an ideal image, but also to convey a romantic spirit: the proud Falcon dying in a deep gorge, the daredevil Danko, who lit the way for people with a torch of his heart, Radda with his beautiful voice - all these heroes of Gorky are united by the desire for freedom, they are not afraid even death itself. In Gorky's stories, only freedom is a real value for a person. For example, he tells the legend about the love of two young gypsies, which became stronger than the love of freedom. The ending of the poem is tragic - Loiko kills Rada in front of the entire camp and dies himself. Gorky draws just such a conclusion to the poem because neither Loiko nor Rada wanted to lose their freedom.
The heroes of the legends told by the Moldavian Izergil also strive for freedom. The heroes of the story "Old Woman Izergil" - Larra and Danko - are opposed to each other, but they also have common similarities. Strength of character, pride are emphasized in Lara. But good qualities turn into their opposite, because she despises people. Danko also strives for freedom, takes on a difficult mission - to get people out of the forest. He rips out his heart, thereby illuminating their path. The romantic heroes of Gorky have many positive, human qualities - love of freedom, as well as the ability to serve people
Lesson topic: M. Gorky "Old woman Izergil", "Makar Chudra". Romantic pathos of early creativityThe purpose of the lesson: continue acquaintance of students with the life and work of M. Gorky.
Lesson Objectives: show artistic identity early romantic works of the writer; to acquaint with the early romantic stories "The Old Woman Izergil", "Makar Chudra", "On Salt", "The Birth of a Man";
Develop analytical and imaginative thinking, memory, speech;
To foster humanism, respect for the human person; to form aesthetic taste, culture of reading.
During the classes
I ... Organizational stage
II ... Updating
1. Conversation
How can you explain the pseudonym that A.M. Peshkov, starting to publish his works?
Witness what historical events endXIX- the beginning XXcentury became Gorky? What was the attitude of the writer to these events?
2. "Literary pantry". Creative work by repetition of the learned "Catch a mistake" (critical thinking skills when solving tasks). Errors have crept into questions about literature, find them.
1. Dates of the life of the writers and the doctor A.P. Chekhov 1860-1904 - Yes
2. Trilogy of 1898 "Man in a Case", "Gooseberry", "About Love" brought fame to Leonid Andreev - No, A.P. Chekhov
3. Who is to blame (or what is to blame) for the fact that the young, full of strength and vitality Dmitry Startsev turns into Danko. - No, in Ionych, the environment is stuck, it is difficult to remain a man, even knowing what he should be.
4. Personality of Kuprin in the memoirs of contemporaries "Young, like a young Bacchus, quiet, slow, stocky, with a bull's neck and strong arms, muscular, pleasant" - Yes.
5. “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! " - these are lines from the story of I.A. Bunin "Easy Breathing". - No, from the story of A.I. Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet".
6. Critic Adamovich said about Bunin “With age he became more beautiful and, as it were, more thoroughbred. The gray hair suited him. Something dignified, Roman senatorial, appeared in his appearance. He was extremely smart. " Yes.
7. Olya Meshcherskaya main character story " Dark alleys". - No, "Light Breathing"
8. Maxim Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod, in the family of a cabinet-maker. - Yes
9. The creative path of L. Andreev began with the publication in September 1892 of the story “Makar Chudra” in the Tiflis newspaper “Kavkaz”. - No, M. Gorky
10. The early romantic stories of M. Gorky include "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil", "Song of the Falcon". Yes.
11. In the story "Judas Iscariot" three parts are clearly distinguished: the legend of Larra, the story of Izergil about his life and the legend of Danko. - No, in the story "The Old Woman Izergil".
12. Died in Finland in 1919 of a heart attack with deep longing for his homeland “There is no Russia. There is no creativity either ”Leonid Andreev. - Yes.
13.In 1933 he received Nobel prize the first Russian poet A.I. Kuprin. - No, I.A. Bunin.
14. “Son of an eagle and a woman. He had no tribe, no mother, no cattle, no wife, and he did not want that. ”Danko. - No, Larra.
15. Maxim Gorky, member of the Imperial Academy, chairman of the First All-Union Congress of Writers, awarded the Order of Lenin. - Yes.
III ... Formation of new concepts and methods of action.
3. The teacher's word
You and I know that creative way the writer began with the publication in September 1892 of the story “Makar Chudra” in the Tiflis newspaper “Kavkaz”. At the same time, a literary pseudonym appeared - Maxim Gorky. In 1895, the story "The Old Woman Izergil" was published. Gorky was immediately noticed, enthusiastic responses appeared in the press.
Gorky's early stories are romantic in nature.
Remember what romanticism is. What are the romantic traits of the stories you read?
Romanticism – an artistic method, a characteristic feature of which is the display and reproduction of life outside the real-concrete connections of a person with the surrounding reality, the image of an exceptional personality, often lonely and dissatisfied with the present, striving for a distant ideal and therefore in sharp conflict with society, with people.
At the center of the narrative in early works Gorky is usually a romantic hero - a proud, strong, freedom-loving, lonely person, the destroyer of the sleepy vegetation of the majority. About Loika Zobar, for example, it is said: "You yourself become better with such a person." The action takes place in an unusual, often exotic setting: in a gypsy camp, in communication with the elements, with the natural world: sea, mountains, coastal rocks. The action is often carried over to legendary times. (Let us recall the romantic works of Pushkin and Lermontov.)
Distinctive features romantic images of Gorky - proud disobedience to fate and daring love of freedom, integrity of nature and heroism of character. The romantic hero seeks To unrestrained freedom, without which there is no true happiness for him and which is often dearer to him than life itself.
Romantic stories embody the dream of beauty and the writer's observation of contradictions human soul... Makar Chudra says: “They are ridiculous, those your people. They huddled together and crush each other, and there are so many places on earth ... "Old woman Izergil almost echoes him:" And I see that people do not live, but everyone is trying on. "
For the romantic consciousness, the correlation of character with real life circumstances is almost inconceivable - this is how the most important feature of the romantic artistic world is formed: principle of romantic double world . The hero's ideal world is opposed to the real, contradictory and far from the romantic ideal. The confrontation between the romantic and the world around him is a fundamental feature of this literary movement.
Such are the characters of Gorky's early romantic stories. The old gypsy Makar Chudra appears before the reader in a romantic landscape.
Give examples to prove your words.
The hero is surrounded by "cold waves of wind", "the haze of the autumn night", which "shuddered and, fearfully moving away, opened for a moment on the left - the boundless steppe, on the right - the endless sea."
Let's pay attention to the animation of the landscape, to its breadth, which symbolizes the limitless freedom of the hero, his inability and unwillingness to exchange this freedom for anything.
The main character of the story “Old Woman Izergil” also appears in the romantic landscape: “The wind flowed in a wide, even wave, but sometimes it seemed to jump over something invisible and, giving rise to a strong gust, fluttered the women's hair into fantastic manes that billowed around their heads. It made women look weird and fabulous. They went farther and farther from us, and the night and fantasy dressed them more and more beautifully. "
Let's pay attention to the expanded metaphor of Gorky's style, to the bright sound painting.
It is in such a landscape - seaside, night, mysterious and beautiful - that Gorky's heroes can realize themselves.
What are the main character traits of the romantic heroes of Gorky?
Makar Chudra bears in character the only principle that he considers the most valuable: the maximalist striving for freedom.
A distinctive feature of Izergil is her confidence that her whole life was subordinated to love for people, but freedom was above all for her.
The heroes of the legends told by Makar Chudra and the old woman Izergil also embody the desire for freedom. Freedom, will is dearer to them than anything else in the world.
Radda is the highest, exceptional manifestation of pride, which even love for Loiko Zobar cannot break: “I have never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. And I also love freedom! Will, Loiko, I love more than you. " An insoluble contradiction between two principles in romantic character- love and pride - is thought by Makar Chudra as completely natural, and it can be resolved only by death.
The heroes of the legends of the old woman Izergil - Danko and Larra - also embody a single trait: Larra is an extreme individualism, Danko is an extreme degree of self-sacrifice in the name of love for people.
What is the motivation for the characters of the characters?
Danko, Radda, Zobar are in their essence, they are originally. Larra is the son of an eagle who embodies the ideal of strength and will. Let's pay attention to the singularity and sonority of the names of the heroes.
The legends take place in ancient times - it is as if the time preceding the beginning of history, the era of primitive creation. Therefore, in the present there are traces directly connected with that era - these are blue lights left from the heart of Danko, the shadow of Larra, which Izergil sees, the images of Radda and Loiko Zobar, woven before the gaze of the narrator in the darkness of the night.
What is the meaning of the opposition between Danko and Larra?
Larra is likened to a mighty beast: “He was dexterous, predatory, strong, cruel and did not meet people face to face”; "He had no tribe, no mother, no cattle, no wife, and he did not want any of this." Over the years, it turns out that this son of "an eagle and a woman" was deprived of his heart: "Larra wanted to thrust a knife into himself, but" the knife broke - it was as if they had hit a stone. " The punishment that befell him is terrible and natural - to be a shadow: "He does not understand either the speech of people or their actions - nothing." An antihuman essence is embodied in the image of Larra.
Danko carries in himself an inexhaustible love for those who are "like wolves" who surrounded him, "to make it easier for them to grab and kill Danko." One desire possessed him - to drive out from their consciousness the darkness, cruelty, fear of the dark forest, from where "something terrible, dark and cold was looking at those walking."
Danko's heart caught fire and burned to dispel not only the forest darkness, but also the spiritual one. The rescued people did not pay attention to the "proud heart" that had fallen nearby, and one "careful person noticed this and, fearing something, stepped on the proud heart with his foot."
What do you think the “cautious person” was afraid of?
Pay attention to the symbolic parallels: light and darkness, sun and swamp cold, fiery heart and stone flesh.
Selfless service to people is opposed to Larra's individualism and expresses the ideal of the writer himself.
IV ... Application. Formation of skills and abilities
4. Creative assignment for compliance in order to test the knowledge of the text of the story "The Old Woman Izergil"
“And this young man, an outcast, thrown out, laughed after the people who had thrown him, laughed, remaining alone, free, like his father. But his father was not a man. And this one was a man. " - Larra
“Young handsome man. The beautiful are always bold. He is the best of all, because in his eyes a lot of strength and living fire shone "- Danko
“Time bent her in half, once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched, as if the old woman spoke with bones "- Old woman Izergil
“He has already become like a shadow. He lives for thousands of years, the sun dried his body, blood and bones, and the wind sprayed them. This is what God can do to a man for pride! ... "- the legend of Larra
“But one day a thunderstorm struck over the forest, the trees whispered dully, menacingly. And then it became so dark in the forest, as if all the nights gathered in it at once, how many there were in the world ... "- the legend of Danko
“The old woman was dozing. I looked at her and thought: "How many more fairy tales and memories are left in her memory?" - Old Isergil
“Perhaps its beauty can be played on the violin, and even then for the one who knows this violin as he knows his soul”; "One tycoon saw her and was dumbfounded, sits and looks, trembling, as in a fireball." - Radda
“Her black eyes were dull. The moon lit up her dry, chapped lips, a pointed chin with gray hair on it, and a wrinkled nose curved like an owl's beak. There were black pits in the place of her cheeks, and in one of them lay a lock of ash-gray hair that was knocked out from under the red rag that was wrapped around her head. The skin on the face, neck and arms is all cut with wrinkles, and with every movement one could expect that this dry skin would tear all over, fall apart in pieces and a naked skeleton with dull black eyes would appear in front of me "- Izergil
“The mustache fell on the shoulders and mixed with the curls, the eyes, like clear stars, are burning, and the smile is the whole sun. With such a person, you yourself become better. And wise, like an old man, and well versed in everything, and understood Russian and Magyar letters. " - Loiko.
Dates of life: 1860-1904 = A.P. Chekhov
1870-1938 = A.I. Kuprin
1870-1953 = I.A. Bunin
1871-1919 = L.N. Andreev
1868-1936 = M. Gorky
5. Analytical conversation
Features of the composition of Gorky's romantic stories.
- Composition (construction artwork) is subordinated to one goal - to fully reveal the image of the protagonist, who is the spokesman for the author's idea.
How are the characters' images revealed in the composition?
The composition "Makara Chudra" and "Old Women Izergil" is a story within a story. This technique is often found in the literature.
Telling the legends of their people, the heroes of the stories express their ideas about people, about what they consider valuable and important in life. They seem to create a coordinate system by which one can judge about them.
Portrait characteristics play an important role in the composition. The portrait of Radda is given indirectly. We learn about her extraordinary beauty by the reaction of the people she amazed. “Perhaps its beauty can be played on the violin, and even then for the one who knows this violin as he knows his soul”; "One tycoon", "saw her and was dumbfounded." Proud Rudda rejected both the money and the offer to marry that tycoon: "If an eagle went to the crow's nest of her own free will, what would she become?" Pride and beauty are equal in this heroine.
But Loiko’s portrait is drawn in detail: “The mustache fell on his shoulders and mixed with curls, his eyes burn like clear stars, and a smile is a whole sun, by God! As if it was forged from one piece of iron together with a horse. " The image is not just romantic - it is fabulous.
Talking about the love of Radda and Loiko Zobar, Makar Chudra believes that this is the only way a real person should perceive life, the only way to preserve his own freedom. The conflict between love and pride is resolved by the death of both - none of them wanted to submit to their loved one.
The narrator's image is one of the most imperceptible, it usually remains in the shadows. But the look of this man, traveling across Russia, meeting with by different people, very important. The perceiving consciousness (in this case, the hero-narrator) is the most important subject of the image, the criterion for the author's assessment of reality, the means of expression author's position... The narrator's interested gaze selects the most bright heroes, the most significant, from his point of view, episodes and tells about them. This is the author's assessment - admiration for strength, beauty, poetry, pride.
These two legends seem to frame the story of the life of the old woman Izergil herself. Condemning Larra, the heroine thinks that her fate is closer to the Danko pole - she is also dedicated to love. But from the stories about herself, the heroine appears rather cruel: she easily forgot her old love for the sake of a new one, left her once beloved people. Her indifference is amazing.
What role does the portrait of old woman Izergil play in the composition?
The portrait of the heroine is controversial. From her stories, you can imagine how good she was in her youth.
But the portrait of the old woman is almost disgusting, anti-aesthetic features are deliberately pumped up: “Time bent her in half, once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched like an old woman spoke with bones. " Her mouth is toothless, her hands are trembling, and her fingers are crooked. “The moon lit up her dry, chapped lips, a pointed chin with gray hair on it, and a wrinkled nose curved like an owl's beak. In place of her cheeks there were black holes, and in one of them lay a lock of ash-gray hair, which had got out from under the red rag that was wrapped around her head. The skin on the face, neck and arms was cut with wrinkles, and with every movement of the old Izergil one could expect that this dry skin would tear all over, fall apart in pieces and a naked skeleton with dull black eyes would appear in front of me. "
The features of Larra's portrait, about which the old woman herself speaks, bring these heroes closer together: "He lives for thousands of years, the sun dried his body, blood and bones, and the wind sprayed them." The old woman's antiquity, her individualism, her stories about people who have gone through their life cycle and turned into the shadows, the old woman herself "without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire - also almost a shadow" remind the narrator Larr (remember that Larra also turned into shadow).
So, with the help of a portrait, the images of Izergil and Larra come closer, the essence of the heroes and the position of the author himself are revealed.
6. Detailed answer to the question
Students give a detailed answer to the question "Why did people not notice Danko's self-sacrifice in writing?"
7. Creative work on filling out the comparison chart
comparison table
Larra's imageDanko's image
Origin
son of an eagle and a woman
"One of the people"
Appearance
A twenty-year-old boy, handsome and strong.
The eyes are "cold proud, like the king of birds."
"Young handsome man", "a lot of strength and living fire shone in his eyes"
Attitude towards people
Arrogance, contempt: "he answered, if he wanted, or kept silent, and when the oldest tribes came, he spoke to them as to his equals"
Altruism: “He loved people and thought that maybe they would die without him. And so his heart flashed with the fire of a desire to save them, to lead them on an easy path. "
Deeds
The murder of the daughter of one of the elders, hit her and, when she fell, he stood with his foot on her chest, so that her blood spurted out of her mouth to the sky
Self-sacrifice: “He tore open his chest with his hands and tore his heart out of it and raised it high above his head. It blazed as brightly as the sun, and brighter than the sun, and the whole forest fell silent, illuminated by this torch. great love to people".
8. Viewing an excerpt from the film based on the stories "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil". "Tabor goes to heaven"
V ... Information stage about homework
1. The history of the creation of the play "At the Bottom" (messages by 3 people), pp. 262-266
3. Write out the catchphrases from the play "At the Bottom".
VI ... Reflection stage
The work of early Gorky should not be limited to romanticism: in the 1890s. he created both romantic and realistic in style works (among the latter, for example, the stories "Beggar", "Chelkash", "Konovalov" and many others). Nevertheless, it was the group of romantic stories that was perceived as a kind of visiting card of the young writer; it was they that testified to the arrival of a writer in literature who stood out sharply against the background of his predecessors.
First of all, the type of hero was new. Much in Gorky's heroes made one recall the romantic literary tradition. This is the brightness, the exclusivity of their characters, which distinguished them from those around them, and the drama of their relationship with the world of everyday reality, and the fundamental loneliness, rejection, and mystery for others. Gorky romantics make too strict demands on the world and the human environment, and in their behavior they are guided by principles that are “insane” from the point of view of “normal” people.
Two qualities are especially noticeable in Gorky's romantic heroes: pride and strength, forcing them to contradict fate, to boldly strive for unlimited freedom, even if one has to sacrifice life for the sake of freedom. It is the problem of freedom that becomes the central problem of the writer's early stories.
These are the stories "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil". In itself, the poeticization of freedom-loving is a trait that is quite traditional for the literature of romanticism. The appeal to conventional forms of legends was not fundamentally new for Russian literature. What is the meaning of the conflict in Gorky's early romantic stories, what are the specifically Gorky features of his artistic embodiment? The originality of the named stories lies in the fact that the source of the conflict in them is not the traditional confrontation between "good" and "evil", but the clash of two positive values. This is the conflict between freedom and love in Makar Chudra - a conflict that can only be resolved tragically. Rudda and Loiko Zobar, who love each other, value their freedom so much that they do not allow the thought of voluntary submission to a loved one.
Each of the heroes will never agree to be led: the only role worthy of these heroes is to dominate, even when it comes to mutual feeling. “Will, Loiko, I love more than you,” says Radda. The exclusiveness of the conflict lies in the complete equality of equally “proud” heroes. Unable to subdue his beloved, Loiko cannot at the same time give up on her. Therefore, he decides to kill - a wild, "insane" act, although he knows that by doing so he sacrifices pride and his own life.
The heroine of the story "The Old Woman Izergil" behaves in a similar way in the sphere of love: feelings of pity or even regret give way to the desire to remain independent. “I was happy ... never met afterwards with those whom I once loved,” she says to the interlocutor. “These are not good meetings, it’s like with the dead.” However, the heroes of this story are included not only and not so much in love conflicts: it deals with price, meaning and various options for freedom.
The first option is represented by the fate of Larra. This is another “proud” person (such a characterization in the mouth of the narrator is more praise than a negative assessment). The story of his "crime and punishment" receives an ambiguous interpretation: Izergil refrains from direct assessment, the tone of her story is epic calm. The verdict was entrusted to pass the nameless "wise man":
“- Wait! There is a punishment. This is a terrible punishment; you will not invent such a thing in a thousand years! The punishment for him is in himself! Let him go, let him be free. Here is his punishment! "
So, the individualistic freedom of Larra, not enlightened by reason, is the freedom of rejection, turning into its opposite - into the punishment of eternal loneliness. The opposite "mode" of freedom is revealed in the legend of Danko. His position "above the crowd", his proud exclusivity, and finally, his thirst for freedom, at first glance, he reminds Larra. However, the elements of similarity only emphasize the fundamental opposite direction of the two “freedoms”. Danko's freedom is the freedom to take responsibility for the collective, the freedom of selfless service to people, the ability to overcome the instincts of self-preservation and subordinate life to a consciously defined goal. The formula “in life there is always room for heroism” is the aphoristic definition of this freedom. True, the ending of the story about the fate of Danko is devoid of unambiguity: the people saved by the hero are certified by Izergil by no means complimentary. Admiring the daredevil Danko is complicated here by a note of tragedy.
The central place in the story is occupied by the story of Izergil herself. The framing legends about Larra and Danko are deliberately conventional: their action is devoid of specific chronological or spatial signs, attributed to indefinite deep antiquity. On the contrary, the story of Izergil unfolds against a more or less concrete historical background (in the course of the story, famous historical episodes are mentioned, real place names are used). However, this dose of reality does not change the principles of character disclosure - they remain romantic. The life story of the old woman Izergil is the story of meetings and partings. None of the heroes of her story deserves a detailed description - the metonymic principle dominates in the characterization of the characters (“part instead of the whole”, one expressive detail instead of a detailed portrait). Izergil is endowed with character traits that bring her closer to the heroes of legends: pride, rebellion, rebelliousness.
Like Danko, she lives among people, for the sake of love she is capable of a heroic deed. However, her image lacks the integrity that is present in the image of Danko. After all, the series of her love interests and the ease with which she part with them evokes associations with Danko's antipode - Larra. For Izergil herself (namely, she is the narrator), these contradictions are invisible, she is inclined to bring her life closer to the model of behavior that is the essence of the final legend. It is no coincidence that, starting with a story about Larra, her story rushes to the “pole” of Danko.
However, in addition to Izergil's point of view, the story also expresses another point of view, belonging to that young Russian who listens to Izergil, occasionally asking her questions. This character, stable in Gorky's early prose, sometimes referred to as "passing", is endowed with some autobiographical features. Age, range of interests, wandering in Russia bring him closer to the biographical Alexei Peshkov, therefore in literary criticism the term "autobiographical hero" is often used in relation to him. There is also another version of the terminological designation - "author-narrator". Any of these designations can be used, although from the point of view of terminological rigor, the concept of "narrator's image" is preferable.
Often, the analysis of Gorky's romantic stories boils down to talking about conventional romantic heroes. Indeed, the figures of Radda and Loiko Zobar, Larra and Danko are important for understanding Gorky's position. However, the content of his stories is broader: the romantic plots themselves are not independent, they are included in a more voluminous narrative construction. In both "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil" legends are presented as stories of old people who have seen life. The listener of these stories is the narrator. From a quantitative point of view, this image takes up little space in the texts of stories. But for understanding the author's position, its significance is very great.
Let's return to the analysis of the central plot of the story "The Old Woman Izergil". This segment of the narrative - the story of the heroine's life - is in a double frame. The inner frame is made up of the legends about Larra and Danko, told by Izergil herself. External - landscape fragments and portrait characteristics of the heroine, communicated to the reader by the narrator himself, and his short remarks. The outer frame determines the spatio-temporal coordinates of the "speech event" itself and shows the reaction of the narrator to the essence of what he has heard. Internal - gives an idea of the ethical standards of the world in which Izergil lives. While Izergil's story is directed towards the Danko pole, the narrator's avaricious statements make important adjustments to the reader's perception.
Those short remarks with which he occasionally interrupts the old woman's speech, at first glance, are of a purely official, formal nature: they either fill in the pauses, or contain harmless "clarifying" questions. But the very focus of the questions is indicative. The narrator asks about the fate of the “others”, the heroine’s life companions: “Where did the fisherman go?” or "Wait! .. And where is the little Turk?" Izergil is inclined to talk primarily about herself. Her additions provoked by the narrator indicate a lack of interest, even indifference to other people ("Boy? He died, boy. From homesickness or love ...").
It is even more important that in the portrait characterization of the heroine given by the narrator, traits are constantly fixed, associatively bringing her closer not only to Danko, but also to Larra. By the way, about the portraits. Note that both Izergil and the narrator are the "portraitists" in the story. The latter seems to deliberately use in his descriptions of the old woman certain signs with which she endowed the legendary heroes, as if "quoting" her.
The portrait of Izergil is given in the story in some detail (“time bent her in half, her black eyes were once dull and watery,” “the skin on her neck and arms was all cut with wrinkles,” etc.). The appearance of the legendary heroes is presented through the characteristics snatched out separately: Danko - "a young handsome man", "a lot of strength and living fire shone in his eyes", Larra - "a handsome and strong young man", "only his eyes were cold and proud."
The antithesis of legendary heroes is already set by the portrait; however, the appearance of the old woman combines the separate features of both. “I, like a sunbeam, was alive” - a clear parallel with Danko; “Dry, chapped lips”, “wrinkled nose, bent like an owl's beak”, “dry ... skin” - details that echo the features of Larra's appearance (“the sun dried his body, blood and bones”). Especially important is the “shadow” motive common in the description of Larra and the old woman Izergil: Larra, having become a shadow, “lives for thousands of years”; the old woman - "alive, but withered by time, without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire — she is also almost a shadow." Loneliness turns out to be the common fate of Larra and the old woman Izergil.
Thus, the narrator by no means idealizes his interlocutor (or, in another story, Makar Chudru's interlocutor). He shows that the consciousness of a "proud" person is anarchic, not enlightened by a clear idea of the price of freedom, and his very freedom of love can take on an individualistic character. That is why the final landscape sketch sets the reader up for concentrated thinking, for the counter activity of his consciousness. There is no straightforward optimism here, the heroism is muffled - the pathos that dominated the final legend: “It was quiet and dark in the steppe. The clouds were all creeping across the sky, slowly, boringly ... The sea rustled deafly and sadly. " The leading principle of Gorky's style is not spectacular external depiction, as it might seem if only "legends" were in the reader's field of vision. The inner dominant of his work is conceptuality, tension of thought, although this is a quality of style in early work somewhat "diluted" with stylized folklore imagery and attraction to external effects.
The appearance of the characters and the details of the landscape background in Gorky's early stories were created by means of romantic exaggeration: showiness, unusualness, "excessiveness" are the qualities of any Gorky image. The very appearance of the characters is depicted in large, expressive strokes. Gorky does not care about the figurative concreteness of the image. It is important for him to decorate, highlight, enlarge the hero, draw the reader's attention to him. Gorky's landscape is created in a similar way, filled with traditional symbolism, permeated with lyricism.
Its stable attributes are sea, clouds, moon, wind. The landscape is extremely conventional, it plays the role of a romantic scenery, a kind of headpiece: "... the dark blue patches of the sky, decorated with golden specks of stars, glittered affectionately." Therefore, by the way, contradictory but equally catchy characteristics can be given to the same object within the same description. So, for example, the initial description moonlit night in "Old Woman Izergil" contains in one paragraph conflicting color characteristics. At first, the "disc of the moon" is called "blood red", but soon the narrator notices that the floating clouds are saturated with the "blue glow of the moon."
The steppe and the sea are figurative signs of endless space that opens up to the narrator in his wanderings across Russia. Art space a concrete story is organized by correlating the boundless world and the “meeting place” of the narrator with the future storyteller (the vineyard in “Old Woman Izergil”, the campfire site in the story “Makar Chudra”). In a landscape painting, the words "strange", "fantastic" ("fantasy".), "Fabulous" ("fairy tale") are repeated many times. Fine fidelity gives way to subjective expressive characteristics. Their function is to present the “other”, “alien”, romantic world, to oppose it to the dull reality. Instead of clear outlines, silhouettes or "lace shadow" are given; lighting is based on the play of light and shadow.
The external musicality of speech is also felt in the stories: the flow of the phrase is unhurried and solemn, replete with a variety of rhythmic repetitions. The romantic “excessiveness” of the style is also manifested in the fact that nouns and verbs are entwined in stories with “garlands” of adjectives, adverbs, participles - with whole series of definitions. This style, by the way, was condemned by A.P. Chekhov, who in a friendly way advised the young writer: “... Cross out, where possible, the definitions of nouns and verbs. You have so many definitions that it is difficult for the reader to understand, and he gets tired. "
In Gorky's early works, “excessive” brilliance was closely associated with the young writer’s worldview, with his understanding of true life as a free play of unbridled forces, with a desire to introduce a new, life-affirming tonality into literature. In the future, M. Gorky's prose style evolved towards greater conciseness of descriptions, asceticism and accuracy. portrait characteristics, syntactic balance of the phrase.
Early romantic stories by M. Gorky
“I came into the world to disagree,” - these words of Gorky can be attributed to any of the heroes of his romantic works. Loiko Zobar, Radda, Makar Chudra, Danko, Larra, Izergil - they are all proud and independent, they are distinguished by personal originality, brightness of nature, exclusivity of passions. Gorky's romanticism was formed in an era that seemed not intended for romanticism - the nineties of the 19th century, but it is the writer's furious rebellion against the "leaden abominations of life" that gives rise to the concept of a man-activist, creator of his own destiny: Gorky's romantic heroes do not bow to circumstances, but overcome them. "We need feats, feats!" - wrote Gorky a few months before the creation of the story "The Old Woman Izergil" and embodied in his romantic works heroes capable of performing these feats, therefore works with a dramatic or even tragic ending reveal a bold, joyful look at the world of the young writer.
"Makar Chudra" (1892)
"Makar Chudra" is the first work that made Gorky famous. The heroes of this story - young gypsies Loiko Zobar and Radda - are exceptional in everything: in appearance, feelings, fate. The beauty of Radda cannot be conveyed in words, she “could be played on a violin, and even for someone who played this violin. As his soul, he knows. " Zobar has "eyes, like clear stars, are burning", "a smile is the whole sun, the mustache has fallen on his shoulders and mixed with curls." Makar Chudra cannot hide his admiration for the prowess, spiritual generosity, and inner strength of Zobar: “Damn me if I didn't love him already, before he said a word to me. He was a daring fellow! Was he afraid of anyone! You need his heart, he would have snatched it out of his chest and given it to you, if only it would have been good for you. With such a person, you yourself become better. Few, friend, such people! " Beauty in Gorky's romantic works becomes a moral criterion: he is right and worthy of admiration just because he is handsome.
To match Zobar and Rudd - and in her there is the same regal pride, contempt for human weakness, in whatever it is expressed. The large purse of the Moravian tycoon, with whom he wanted to seduce the proud gypsy, was only worthy of being casually thrown into the mud by Rudda. It is no coincidence that Radda compares herself to an eagle - independent, tall, soaring, lonely, because few people match her. “Look for the dove - those are more pliable,” her father Danila advises the magnate.
The basis of the romantic work is the conflict between the romantic hero and generally accepted values, in this case, in the souls of Zobar and Rudda, two passions collide - freedom and love as attachment, responsibility, submission. “And I can’t live without you, just as you can’t live without me ... I have never loved anyone, Loiko, I love you. And I also love freedom. Will, Loiko, I love more than you. " Gorky's heroes were faced with a choice that can be called tragic, since it cannot be made - all that remains is a denial of the very necessity of choice, that is, of life. "If two stones roll on each other, you cannot stand between them - they will mutilate." Pride and love cannot be reconciled, since compromise is unthinkable for the romantic mind.
Compositional framing plays a special role in Gorky's story. A romantic story centered on exceptional heroes and situations asserts a special system of values that does not fit into ordinary, everyday human life. The antithesis of the narrator and Makar Chudra, who told the legend about the love and death of the proud handsome gypsies, reveals the dual world characteristic of a romantic work - the inappropriateness, the opposition of the ordinary view of the world and the life philosophy of the romantic hero. Freedom, not shackled by any attachments - neither to a person, nor to a place, nor to work - this is the highest value in the eyes of Makar Chudra. “This is how you need to live: go, go - and that's it. Don't stay in one place for a long time - what's in it? Look how they run day and night, chasing each other around the earth, so you run away from thoughts about life, so as not to stop loving it. And when you think about it, you’ll stop loving life, it always happens that way ”.
"The old woman Izergil" (1895)
The system of images of the story "The Old Woman Izergil" is built on the principle of antithesis, which is typical for a romantic work. Larra and Danko are proud, beautiful, but already in the description of their appearance there is a detail that sharply distinguishes them: Danko had eyes in which "a lot of strength and living fire shone," and Larra's eyes were "cold and proud." Light and darkness, fire and shadow - this will distinguish not only the appearance of Larra and Danko, but also their attitude towards people, their fates, the memory of them. Danko has a fiery heart in his chest, Larra has a stone heart, Danko will live in blue steppe sparks even after death, and Larra, who lives forever, will turn into a shadow. Larra, besides herself, does not see anything. The son of the Eagle, a lonely predator, he despises the laws of people, lives by his own laws, obeys only his momentary desires. “The punishment of a man in himself” - that is why eternal lonely life became for Larra a punishment more terrible than death.
Burning is the ideal of life for another hero of this story - Danko. Danko saves those people who, from weakness, exhaustion and fear, were ready to kill him, those among whom there was one who stepped on a proud heart with his foot. It is not by chance that Gorky introduces this episode into the artistic fabric of the story: people were poisoned not only by the poisonous fumes of the swamp, but also by fear, they were accustomed to being slaves, it is very difficult to free oneself from this “inner slavery”, and even Danko's feat is not able to wrench out fear in an instant from human souls. People were afraid of everything: both the road back and the road forward, they blamed Danko for their weakness - a man endowed with “the courage of the West and", That is, the courage to be the first. "People began to reproach him for his inability to control them, they fell in anger and anger at Danko, the man who was walking in front of them." Danko gives his life to people, dreaming of awakening light in their souls.
The life of Izergil, the third heroine of the story, Gorky called "rebellious." This life was filled with impetuous movement and vivid feelings, extraordinary, courageous, strong people often turned out to be next to it - especially the red-haired Hutsul and the "man with a hacked face". She left the weak and vile without regret, even if she loved them: “I looked at him from above, and he was floundering there, in the water. I left then. And I never met him again” (about the nun), “Then I gave him a kick and would have hit him in the face, but he staggered back and jumped up ... Then I went too ”(about Arkadek).
Izergil was not afraid to sacrifice herself in the name of love, but at the end of her life she was left alone, "without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire - also almost a shadow." Izergil was absolutely free, she stayed with the man as long as she loved him, always parted without regret and even remembered little of the person with whom she had spent part of her life: “And where did the fisherman go? - Fisherman? And he ... here ... - Wait, where is the little Turk? - Boy? He died ... "Izergil put her freedom above attachment to man, calling it slavery:" I was never a slave, nobody's. "
Another romantic heroes of Gorky's stories can be called nature, which in its exclusivity is akin to Zobar, Radda, Danko, Izergil. Only where the expanse of the steppe and the free wind could Gorky's romantic heroes live. Nature in the story "Old Woman Izergil" becomes one of actors: it is a living being that takes part in people's lives. And just like among people, there is good and evil in nature. The Moldavian night, the description of which precedes the events of the first legend, creates an atmosphere of mystery. Before Larra appears, nature dresses in bloody tones, becomes alarming. In the legend about Danko, nature is hostile to people, but her evil energy was defeated by Danko's love: with his feat he overcame darkness not only in the souls of people, but also in nature: “The sun was shining here; the steppe sighed, the grass glittered in the diamonds of the rain and the river sparkled with gold. "
The exclusivity and colorfulness of characters, the desire for freedom and the ability to take decisive actions distinguish all the heroes of Gorky's romantic works. The words given by the writer to the old woman Izergil have already become an aphorism: "In life, you know, there is always a place for exploits." This reflects the concept of a person-doer who is capable of transforming the world. At the turn of the century, this concept turned out to be consonant with the time when many already felt the approach of global historical changes.