Female images in Russian literature. Cult female images in the literature of different countries The image of bad women in Russian literature

The BBC recently aired a series on Tolstoy's War and Peace. In the West, everything is like ours - there, too, the release of film (television) adaptation dramatically increases interest in the literary source. And now Lev Nikolaevich's masterpiece suddenly became one of the bestsellers, and along with it readers became interested in all Russian literature. On this wave, the popular literary site Literary Hub published the article "The 10 Russian Literary Heroines You Should Know". It seemed to me that this is an interesting side view of our classics and I translated the article for my blog. I spread it here too. Illustrations are taken from the original article.

Attention! There are spoilers in the text.

_______________________________________________________

We know that all happy heroines are equally happy, and every unhappy woman is unhappy in her own way. But the fact is that there are few happy characters in Russian literature. Russian heroines tend to complicate their lives. This is as it should be, because their beauty as literary characters largely stems from their ability to suffer, from their tragic destinies, from their "Russianness".

The most important thing to understand about Russian female characters: their fates are not stories of overcoming obstacles in order to achieve "and they lived happily ever after." Guardians of primordial Russian values, they know that there is more to life than happiness.

1. Tatiana Larina (A. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin")

In the beginning there was Tatiana. This is a kind of Eve of Russian literature. And not only because it is chronologically the first, but also because Pushkin occupies a special place in Russian hearts. Almost any Russian is able to recite the poetry of the father of Russian literature by heart (and after a few shots of vodka, many will do it). Pushkin's masterpiece, the poem "Eugene Onegin", is the story of not only Onegin, but also Tatiana, a young innocent girl from the provinces who falls in love with the main character. Unlike Onegin, who is shown as a cynical bon vivant spoiled by fashionable European values, Tatiana embodies the essence and purity of the mysterious Russian soul. Including a tendency towards self-sacrifice and a disregard for happiness, as shown by her famous rejection of the person she loves.

2. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina")

Unlike Pushkin's Tatyana, who resists the temptation to get along with Onegin, Anna Tolstoy abandons both her husband and son in order to flee with Vronsky. As a true dramatic heroine, Anna voluntarily makes the wrong choice, a choice she will have to pay for. Anna's sin and the source of her tragic fate is not that she left the child, but that selfishly indulging her sexual and romantic desires, she forgot the lesson of Tatiana's selflessness. If you see a light at the end of the tunnel, don't flatter yourself, it could be a train.

3. Sonya Marmeladova (FM Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Sonya appears as the antipode of Raskolnikov. A whore and a saint at the same time, Sonya accepts her existence as a path of martyrdom. Having learned about Raskolnikov's crime, she does not repulse him, on the contrary, she attracts him to herself in order to save his soul. The famous scene is characteristic here when they read the biblical story of the resurrection of Lazarus. Sonya is able to forgive Raskolnikov, since she believes that everyone is equal before God, and God forgives. For a repentant murderer, this is a godsend.

4. Natalia Rostova (Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace")

Natalia is everyone's dream: smart, cheerful, sincere. But if Pushkin's Tatyana is too good to be true, Natalia seems alive, real. Partly because Tolstoy added other qualities to her image: she is capricious, naive, flirtatious and, for the mores of the early 19th century, a little cocky. In War and Peace, Natalia begins as a charming teenager, exuding joy and vitality. Throughout the novel, she grows older, learns the lessons of life, tames her changeable heart, becomes wiser, her character acquires integrity. And this woman, which is generally uncharacteristic for Russian heroines, is still smiling after more than a thousand pages.

5. Irina Prozorova (A.P. Chekhov "Three Sisters")

At the beginning of Chekhov's play Three Sisters, Irina is the youngest and full of hope. Her older brother and sisters are whiny and capricious, they are tired of life in the provinces, and Irina's naive soul is filled with optimism. She dreams of returning to Moscow, where, in her opinion, she will find her true love and be happy. But, as the chance to move to Moscow evaporates, she increasingly realizes that she is stuck in the village and is losing her spark. Through Irina and her sisters, Chekhov shows us that life is just a series of sad moments, only occasionally interspersed with short bursts of joy. Like Irina, we waste our time on trifles, dreaming of a better future, but gradually we realize the insignificance of our existence.

6. Liza Kalitina (I. Turgenev "The Noble Nest")

In the novel "A Noble Nest" Turgenev created an example of a Russian heroine. Liza is young, naive, pure in heart. She is torn between two boyfriends: a young, handsome, cheerful officer and an old, sad, married man. Guess who she chose? Lisa's choice says a lot about the mysterious Russian soul. She is clearly going towards suffering. Lisa's choice shows that the pursuit of sadness and melancholy is no worse than any other option. At the end of the story, Lisa is disappointed in love and goes to a monastery, choosing the path of sacrifice and hardship. “Happiness is not for me,” she explains her act. "Even when I hoped for happiness, my heart was always heavy."

7. Margarita (M. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita")

Chronologically, the last on the list, Bulgakov's Margarita, is an extremely strange heroine. At the beginning of the novel, this is a woman unhappy in marriage, then she becomes the mistress and muse of the Master, in order to then turn into a witch flying on a broomstick. For the Master, Margarita is not only a source of inspiration. She becomes, like Sonya for Raskolnikov, his healer, lover, savior. When the Master is in trouble, Margarita turns to none other than Satan himself for help. Having concluded, like Faust, a contract with the Devil, she nevertheless reunites with her beloved, albeit not quite in this world.

8. Olga Semyonova (A.P. Chekhov "Darling")

In "Darling" Chekhov tells the story of Olga Semyonova, a loving and tender soul, a simple person who, as they say, lives with love. Olga becomes a widow early. Twice. When there is no one around whom she could love, she closes herself in the company of the cat. In a review of Darling, Tolstoy wrote that intending to ridicule a dim woman, Chekhov accidentally created a character that was very endearing to himself. Tolstoy went even further, he condemned Chekhov for an excessively harsh attitude towards Olga, urging her to judge her soul, not her intellect. According to Tolstoy, Olga embodies the ability of Russian women to love unconditionally, a virtue unknown to men.

9. Anna Sergeevna Odintsova (I. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons")

In the novel "Fathers and Sons" (often incorrectly translated "Fathers and Sons") Mrs. Odintsova is a lonely woman of mature age, and the sound of her surname in Russian also hints at loneliness. Odintsova is an atypical heroine who has become a kind of pioneer among female literary characters. Unlike other women in the novel, who follow the obligations imposed on them by society, Mrs. Odintsova is childless, she has no mother or husband (she is a widow). She stubbornly defends her independence, like Pushkin's Tatyana, refusing the only chance to find true love.

10. Nastasya Filippovna (FM Dostoevsky "The Idiot")

The heroine of The Idiot, Nastasya Filippovna, gives an idea of ​​how complex Dostoevsky is. Beauty makes her a victim. Orphaned in childhood, Nastasya becomes a kept woman and the mistress of an elderly man who picked her up. But every time she tries to break free from the clutches of her position and build her own destiny, she continues to feel humiliated. Feelings of guilt cast a fateful shadow over all of her decisions. By tradition, like many other Russian heroines, Nastasya has several options for fate, mainly associated with men. And in full accordance with tradition, she is not able to make the right choice. Surrendering to fate instead of fighting, the heroine drifts towards her tragic end.

_____________________________________________________

The author of this text is the writer and diplomat Guillermo Erades. He worked for some time in Russia, knows Russian literature well, is an admirer of Chekhov and the author of the book Back to Moscow. So this glance is not entirely an outsider. On the other hand, how to write about Russian literary heroines without knowing the Russian classics?

Guillermo doesn't explain his choice of characters. In my opinion, the absence of Princess Mary or “poor Liza” (which, by the way, was written earlier than Pushkin’s Tatyana) and Katerina Kabanova (from “The Groza” by Ostroskiy) is surprising. It seems to me that these Russian literary heroines are better known in our country than Liza Kalitina or Olga Semyonova. However, this is my subjective opinion. Who would you add to this list?

FEMALE IMAGES IN RUSSIAN CLASSICAL LITERATURE. Russian literature has always been distinguished by the depth of its ideological content, its relentless striving to resolve issues of the meaning of life, a humane attitude towards a person, and the truthfulness of its depiction. Russian writers strove to bring out the best features of our people in female characters. In no other national literature, we will not meet such beautiful and pure women, distinguished by their faithful and loving hearts, as well as their unique spiritual beauty. Only in Russian literature is so much attention paid to the depiction of the inner world and the complex experiences of the female soul. Since the 12th century, the image of a Russian woman-heroine, with a big heart, a fiery soul and a readiness for great unforgettable feats, passes through all our literature.

Suffice it to recall the captivating image of the ancient Russian woman Yaroslavna, full of beauty and lyricism. She is the embodiment of love and fidelity. Her grief in separation from Igor is combined with civil grief: Yaroslavna is experiencing the death of her husband's squad and, turning to the forces of nature, asks to help not only her "fret", but also all his soldiers. The author of the Lay was able to give the image of Yaroslavna extraordinary vitality and truthfulness. He was the first to create a beautiful image of a Russian woman.

A.S. Pushkin painted an unforgettable image of Tatiana Larina. Tatiana is a "Russian soul", the author emphasizes this throughout the novel. Her love for the Russian people, for patriarchal antiquity, for Russian nature runs through the entire work. Tatiana is "a deep, loving, passionate nature." Whole, sincere and simple, she "loves without art, obedient to the urge of feeling." She does not tell anyone about her love for Onegin, except for the nanny. But Tatyana combines deep love for Yevgeny with a sense of duty to her husband:

I love you (why dissemble?),

But I am given to another;

I will be faithful to him forever.

Tatiana is characterized by a serious attitude to life, to love and to her duty, she has a depth of feelings, a complex spiritual world. All these traits were brought up in her by a connection with the people and nature, which created a truly Russian woman, a man of great spiritual beauty.

Pushkin also created another, seemingly less vivid image - a modest Russian girl Masha Mironova ("The Captain's Daughter"). The author was also able to show a serious attitude to love, the depth of a feeling that she does not know how to express in beautiful words, but to which she remains faithful throughout her life. She is ready to do anything for a loved one. She is able to sacrifice herself to save Grinev's parents.

Another image full of beauty and tragedy is also unforgettable - Katerina in Ostrovsky's drama The Thunderstorm, which, according to Dobrolyubov, reflected the best character traits of the Russian people: spiritual nobility, striving for truth and freedom, readiness to fight and protest. Katerina is a “light ray in a dark kingdom”, an exceptional woman, a poetically dreamy nature. Having found herself in an atmosphere of hypocrisy and bigotry, having married an unloved person, she suffers deeply. But how brightly her feeling flares up when she meets in this "dark kingdom" a person who is close to her in his moods. Love for him becomes for Katerina the only meaning of life: for the sake of Boris, she is ready to overstep her notions of sin. The struggle between feeling and duty leads to the fact that Katerina publicly repents before her husband and, driven to despotism by Kabayhi, commits suicide. In the death of Katerina Dobrolyubov sees "a terrible challenge to the tyrannical force."

I.S.Turgenev was a great master in the creation of female images, a subtle connoisseur of the female soul and heart. He painted a whole gallery of portraits of amazing Russian women. Liza Kapitina stands in front of us - bright, clean, strict. A sense of duty, responsibility for her actions, deep religiosity bring her closer to the women of ancient Russia ("Noble Nest").

But Turgenev created images of "new" women - Elena Stakhova and Marianna. Elena is an "extraordinary girl", she is looking for "active good." She seeks to move out of the narrow confines of the family into the scope of social activities. But the conditions of Russian life at that time did not allow a woman to have such an activity. And Elena fell in love with Insarov, who devoted his whole life to the liberation of his homeland. He captivated her with the beauty of the feat in the struggle for the "common cause." After his death, Elena remains in Bulgaria, devoting her life to the holy cause - the liberation of the Bulgarian people from the Turkish yoke.

N.A.Nekrasov was a true singer of the Russian woman. Not a single poet, either before or after him, paid so much attention to the Russian woman. The port speaks with pain of the hard lot of the Russian peasant woman, that "the keys to women's happiness have been lost long ago." But no slavishly humiliated life can break her pride and self-esteem. Such is Daria in the poem "Frost, Red Nose". As a living image stands before us, pure in heart and bright.

With great love and warmth, Nekrasov writes about the Decembrist women who followed their husbands to Siberia. Trubetskaya and Volkonskaya are ready to share with them, who suffered for the happiness of the people, both hard labor and prison. They are not afraid of either disaster or deprivation.

Finally, the revolutionary democrat N. G. Chernyshevsky showed in the novel "What is to be done?" the image of a woman of modern times - Vera Pavlovna, resolute, energetic, independent. How passionately she rushes from the "basement" to "free air". Vera Pavlovna is truthful and honest to the end. She strives to make life easier for many people, to make it beautiful and extraordinary. Many women read the novel and tried to imitate Vera Pavlovna in their lives.

LN Tolstoy, opposing the ideology of common democrats, opposes the image of Vera Pavlovna with his ideal of a woman - Natasha Rostov. She is a gifted, cheerful and determined girl. She, like Tatyana Larina, is close to the people, to their life, loves their songs, rural nature. The patriotic upsurge that all strata of Russian society experienced when Napoleon's army entered Russia also swept over Natasha. At her insistence, carts for loading property were released for the wounded. But Natasha Rostova's ideal in life is a happy family.

The largest Russian writers in their works revealed in all their wealth the spiritual, moral and intellectual qualities of Russian women, purity, intelligence, heart full of love, striving for freedom, for struggle.

The role of a woman has always depended on the time in which she lived. The woman was both furniture in the house, and a servant in her own family, and a domineering mistress of her time and her destiny. And personally to me, as a girl, this topic is close and interesting. At sixteen, I want to find my place, to understand my destiny in this world, so that, looking at the goals set, I want to achieve them. Naturally, I was interested in how the role of women in society is represented in literature, how they understood her purpose, and how Russian writers answered this difficult question.

Our writers of the 19th century in their works often described the unequal position of the Russian woman. "You share! - Russian female share! It is hardly more difficult to find," exclaims Nekrasov. Chernyshevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and many others also wrote on this topic. First of all, the writers expressed their dreams, their hopes in heroines and compared them with the prejudices, passions and delusions of society throughout the country. I learned a lot about the personality of a woman, about her mission, place, role in the family and society. Literary works are a deep ocean in which you can dive in search of answers to the questions of the soul and heart. Lessons can truly be learned from these creations that are worth, and even necessary, to be applied in our daily life today. Even after so many years, the problems that the authors posed to readers in the 19th century are still relevant.

Russian literature has always been distinguished by the depth of its ideological content, its relentless striving to resolve issues of the meaning of life, a humane attitude towards a person, and the truthfulness of its depiction. Russian writers strove to bring out the best features of our people in female characters. Only in Russian literature is so much attention paid to the depiction of the inner world and the complex experiences of the female soul.

Different women, different fates, different images are presented on the pages of fiction, journalism, painting, sculpture, on the movie screen. In Russian folklore, a woman appears in the most diverse forms of a totem, an ancient pagan deity, often in the role of a warrior, avenger, bearer of evil and a good enchantress, the Mother of God, Tsar Maiden, sister, friend, rival, bride, etc. Her image can be beautiful and ugly, bewitching and repulsive. Folklore motives are known to have influenced all aspects of the development of literature, art and culture in general. Everyone who at least somehow touched on this issue speaks and writes about the ratio of evil and good principles in a woman.

One of the distinguishing features of Russian classical literature is the depth of its ideological content. In it, there is a tireless striving to resolve the question of the meaning of life, a humane attitude towards people, and the veracity of the image.

And also Russian writers in their works sought to find the image of the ideal Russian woman. They brought to light her best features that are inherent in our people. Few in the literature of the world can be found such beautiful and pure representatives of the fairer sex. They are distinguished by a loving and faithful heart and unique spiritual beauty.

Only in Russian literature so much attention is paid to the description of the inner world and the most complex experiences of the female soul. Through all the works one can see the image of a Russian woman who is a heroine, who has a big heart and a fiery soul, who is ready for exploits.

Russian soul Tatiana

One of the central images of a woman in Russian poetry is the unforgettable image of Tatiana Larina, created by A.S. Pushkin. Throughout the entire novel "Eugene Onegin" the author emphasizes that she is a "Russian soul." It shows how she loves the Russian people, Russian nature, patriarchal antiquity, her customs, traditions.

Tatiana appears before the reader as a person who is characterized by the depth of nature and passion of feelings. She is distinguished by such qualities as integrity, sincerity, simplicity. The poet writes that Tatiana loves "without art", she succumbs to the attraction of feelings.

She does not devote anyone to the secret of her love for Eugene, except for the nanny. But the depth of the feeling of love cannot outweigh the feelings of respect and duty towards the husband. She does not want to dissemble and informs Eugene that she loves him, but all her life she will be faithful to her lawful spouse.

In this novel, A.S. Pushkin gave the image of a Russian woman who takes life, love and duty very seriously. She is distinguished by the depth of feelings, the complexity of the spiritual world. The author makes it clear that these features are directly related to Russian nature, the Russian people, under whose influence a truly Russian woman, a person with a big and beautiful soul, was formed.

Modest Masha Mironova

In "The Captain's Daughter" A. Pushkin brought out the image of a modest Russian girl - Masha Mironova. It would seem that he is not outstanding at all. But if you look at it more closely, you can see both the depth of her feelings and her serious attitude to love. She cannot express them verbally, but she is faithful to them all her life. Masha shows her willingness to go to any lengths to save her beloved, to sacrifice herself for the sake of her parents' lives.

Peasant women and Decembrists

The images of Russian women by Nekrasov stand apart in Russian poetry. This wonderful poet is called their singer. Before and after that, none of the poets paid so much attention to them.

With genuine pain, Nikolai Alekseevich spoke about the difficult fates of Russian peasant women. He wrote that the keys to their female happiness are long lost. But, despite this, the slavish humiliated life did not break their inherent feelings of pride and self-esteem. Such is Daria, familiar to us from the poem "Frost Red Nose". The image of this Russian peasant woman is the image of a bright person, pure in heart and soul.

Great love and warmth is felt in Nekrasov's portrayal of Decembrist women who, without any doubt, followed their husbands to Siberia. Princesses Volkonskaya and Trubetskaya are ready to fully share with them all the hardships, calamities and privations, prison and hard labor.

Light Beam - Katerina

It is impossible not to note this image of a Russian woman, which is full of beauty and tragedy at the same time. This is Katerina from "The Thunderstorm" by N. A. Ostrovsky. According to N. A. Dobrolyubov, a number of the best features characteristic of the Russian people are reflected in it. We are talking about spiritual nobility, striving for freedom and truth, readiness for protest and struggle.

Everyone remembers that the critic called Katerina a ray of light that made its way through the dark realm of the suffocating patriarchal merchant world of Kabanikha and the Wild. This woman is characterized as exceptional, with a poetic, dreamy nature. Finding herself in an atmosphere of hypocrisy, hypocrisy, being married to an unloved, she experiences genuine deep suffering.

But when she meets in the "dark kingdom" with a person close to her in her moods, a romantic feeling flares up in her. Love becomes for the heroine the main and only meaning of her life. However, the sense of duty wins in her, and she repents to her husband. And although in the finale Katerina dies, throwing herself into the Volga, thereby she throws down "a challenge to the tyrannical force."

Expert I. S. Turgenev

Another great master in creating images of Russian women is I.S.Turgenev. He was a subtle connoisseur of the female soul and heart and brought out an amazing gallery of images. In The Noble Nest, a pure, bright and strict Liza Kalitina appears before the reader. With the women of Ancient Russia, she is brought together by such traits as a deep religious feeling, a sense of duty and responsibility for her actions.

However, the writer also depicts women of a new type. These are Elena Stakhova from the novel "On the Eve" and Marianna from Novi. So, Elena is trying to break out of the narrow family framework, plunge into the stormy stream of social activities. However, the living conditions that existed at that time did not give women such an opportunity. After the death of a loved one, Stakhova devotes his life to a holy cause. She participates in the liberation of the people of Bulgaria from the Turks.

Woman for family

One of the favorite and most elaborated images of a woman in Russian literature is the image of Natasha Rostova in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. The great writer contrasts it with the image of Vera Pavlovna by Chernyshevsky in the novel "What is to be done?" Disagreeing with the ideology of common democrats, Tolstoy paints the image of a woman, created not for social activities, but for the family.

Natasha is a resolute and cheerful girl, close to the people. It has thrift and practicality. When Napoleon entered Moscow, she, like many representatives of various strata of Russian society, experienced a genuine patriotic enthusiasm.

But the heroine's life ideals are not complex, they are in the family sphere and are clearly manifested at the end of the novel, when the reader sees Natasha surrounded by a happy family.

Thus, the greatest of Russian poets and writers managed to bring out a whole galaxy of beautiful images of Russian women, revealing in all their wealth all their qualities, which include intelligence, purity, striving for happiness, struggle, freedom.

Kalashnikova Irina

The image of a female heroine in literature.

Download:

Preview:

Gymnasium №107

Vyborgsky district

The image of a woman-heroine in literature.

Work completed:

Grade 10 student

Kalashnikova Irina

Address: Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Prospect

D.76, apt.91

Tel: 295-30-43

Teacher:

Lafirenko Larisa Ivanovna

St. Petersburg. 2012 r.

1. Introduction. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2-3
2. The image of a woman as a heroine in literature

1. Evaluation of the feats of the wives of the Decembrists on the example of the work of N.A. Nekrasov "Russian women" ..................... 4 - 14
2. Feats of women during the Great Patriotic War on the example of the story of B. Vasiliev "The dawns here are quiet ..." ... .15-17

1. Output. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .eighteen
2. List of used literature. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .19
3. Appendices ……………………………………………………… ....... 20-23

" Female feat for the sake of love "

Like right and left hand -

Your soul is close to my soul.

(Marina Tsvetaeva)

Relevance of the research topic -in Russian literature, you can find quite a few female names, whose exploits will forever be captured on the pages of many novels, poems and poems. Their exploits live in the hearts of each of us who cherish our national history.

Many poems, novels, and stories are dedicated to the Russian woman. They give her music, perform feats for her, make discoveries, shoot themselves. Because of her, they go crazy. They sing about her. In short, the earth rests on it. Women are especially impressive in Russian literature. The masters of the word, creating the images of their beloved heroines, expressed their philosophy of life. From my point of view, the role of women in society is great and irreplaceable. The epithet "captivating" is used to describe women in nineteenth-century literature, and it is true. A woman is a source of inspiration, courage and happiness. Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov wrote: "And we hate, and we love by chance, without sacrificing anything either to malice or love, and some kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, when the fire boils in the blood." Since the 12th century, the image of a Russian woman-heroine, with a big heart, a fiery soul and a readiness for great unforgettable feats, passes through all our literature.

My decision to investigate this topic was primarily influenced by my interest in the images of women in literature. Reading various works, I often had questions caused by my interest in the fate of Russian women. The second significant factor that strengthened my decision was the history lessons, where I came across historical references and notes that interested me.

While working on my research, I resorted not only to the original texts of the literary works of N. Nekrasov, B. Yosifova, B. Vasiliev, I used Internet resources, analyzing these works. Many of the materials influenced my opinion about some of the historical facts, and was also one of the factors that influenced my decision to use this topic.

Already from the first chronicle legends, it is known about the first Slavic women: Olga, Rogneda, Euphrosyne of Suzdal, Princess Evdokia, who are mentioned with great respect and reverence as active participants in the consolidation of the Russian Land, whose voice and word have passed through the thick of centuries. Their names can be ranked among those indicated in the classification in terms of stereotypes of female behavior, female attitude to life,female heroines... A hero, according to the definitions of the explanatory dictionary, is a person who has accomplished a feat of courage, valor, dedication, or someone who has somehow attracted admiring attention to himself, has become a role model.

Purpose of the study - disclose in full the whole the morality of the feats of women heroines on the example of literary works.

Research objects- the feat of the wives of the Decembrists, the feat of women during the Great Patriotic War.

Research hypothesis- an assumption was made that the act of a Russian woman is an example of selflessness, courage, firmness, for all her youth, tenderness, weakness of the sex. We will certainly find in these women something extraordinary that amazed and delighted their contemporaries.

Chapter I.

Captivating images! Hardly
In the history of some country
You have met something more beautiful.
Their names must not be forgotten!

(N. A. Nekrasov "Russian women")

For some reason, when it comes to women in Russia for the sake of love, they immediately remember the wives of the Decembrists who followed their husbands to hard labor in Siberia.

Ladies belonging to the noble class, who often received an aristocratic upbringing, eternally surrounded by numerous servants, abandoned cozy estates in order to live next to people close to them, regardless of any hardships, like commoners. For one and a half centuries, Russia has kept a bright memory of them.Their wives followed the "state criminals" to the icy depths of Siberia, to the country of scourges, slaves and bonds, and this was not only a feat of love, it was an act of protest against the Nikolaev regime, it was a demonstration of sympathy for the ideas of the Decembrists.

"Their case is not lost." - wrote V.I. Lenin on the Decembrists.

Love, Faith, Memory of the heart - all this is eternal beauty, human strength. And how strong this power is in the soul of a Russian person, a Russian woman capable of great self-sacrifice for the sake of a loved one. But the moral choice in each specific case presupposes the solution of the main life question: between a righteous (beneficial for moral health) and unrighteous (harmful) act, between "good" and "evil". The prevailing and sometimes unambiguous assessment of the “events of December 14” as an “uprising” or other protest action with positive (“progressive”) goals leads to the fact that its participants become “progressive noble revolutionaries” and not state criminals who have not encroached on only on the legal norms in force in the state, but also on the life of other people. In this system of values, the actions of the state authorities to punish them are viewed as unjust and cruel. Therefore, the tsarist decree equating the position of women leaving for Siberia with the position of the wives of state criminals and the prohibition to take with them children born before their fathers were sentenced is considered "inhuman." A look at the problem from a different angle allows us to see behind this decree the authorities' desire not to shift responsibility for the fate of their parents onto the shoulders of children, while retaining for them all the rights and dignity of the estate in which they were born.

In this aspect, the choice of the wives of the Decembrists who left for their husbands in Siberia was not the only one and can hardly be considered indisputable: in European Russia there are children for whom the loss of their parents, who deliberately left them, was a true personal tragedy. Thus, in essence, by choosing marriage, they consigned motherhood to oblivion.

Decembrist women were motivated not only by love for husbands, brothers, sons, but also by a high consciousness of social duty, the idea of ​​honor. An outstanding physician-therapist N.A.Belogolovy, a pupil of the Decembrists, spoke of them as "high types of Russian women with integrity in their moral strength." He saw in them "classic examples of selfless love, self-sacrifice and unusual energy, examples of which the country that raised them has the right to be proud of."

ON. Nekrasov, recreating in his poem "Russian Women" the life feat of Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskoy and Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, opened up new facets of the national female character. The original title of the work - "Decembrists" - was replaced by a new one that enlarged and expanded the content of the author's idea: "Russian women".

To the first publication of "Princess Trubetskoy" in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, the poet made a note, which said "that the selflessness expressed by them (the Decembrists) will forever remain evidence of the great spiritual forces inherent in a Russian woman, and is the direct property of poetry."

The main feature of the "Nekrasov Decembrists" is a high civic consciousness that determines the program of life behavior. Their courageous decision to follow their husbands into deaf Siberian exile is a feat not only in the name of love and compassion, but also in the name of justice.

The poem "Russian women" consists of two parts. The first of them is dedicated to Princess Trubetskoy, and the second to Princess Volkonskaya.

The author draws Princess Trubetskoy as if from the sidelines, describing the external difficulties encountered on her way. No wonder the central place in this part is occupied by a meeting with the governor, who is trying to intimidate the princess with the hardships awaiting her:

"Careful tough crackers

And life is locked up

Shame, horror, labor

A milestone ... "

But all his words about the burdens of the upcoming fate of the princess fade and lose their strength, overestimated by the courage and heroism of this woman, her readiness for any trials. Serving a higher goal and fulfilling one's duty for it is higher than personal:

“But I know: love for the homeland

My rival ... "

"No! Once decided

I will fulfill it to the end!

It's funny for me to tell you

How I love my father

How he loves. But the duty is different and higher and more holy,

Calling me ... "

“Having left the homeland, friends,

Beloved father,

Taking a vow in my soul

Execute to the end

My duty - I will not bring tears

To the damned prison -

I will save pride, pride in him,

I will give him strength! "

The narration in the second part of the poem is from the first person of Princess Volkonskaya. Thanks to this, you can more clearly understand the depth of the suffering experienced by the heroine. Everything here is like family memories, like a grandmother's story addressed to her grandchildren (subtitle - "Grandmother's Memories"). In this part, there is a dispute very similar to the conversation between the governor and Trubetskoy.

“-You are recklessly leaving everyone, why?

I am doing my duty, father. "

There are also lines here where you can see the destiny of the princess's fate:

“To share joy with him,

To share the prison with him

I owe it, so heaven wants! "

This is a socially significant act, this is a challenge to evil will, an open confrontation between the highest authorities, therefore, the moment of Volkonskaya's meeting with her husband is very clearly highlighted, where, first of all, she kisses his convict chains:

“I’m only now, in the fatal mine,

Hearing terrible sounds

Seeing the shackles on my husband,

I fully understood his torment,

And his strength .. and willingness to suffer!

I bowed to him involuntarily

Knees, and before you hug your husband,

I put the shackles to my lips! .. "

In working on the poem, Nekrasov relied on historical sources. It was important for him to highlight precisely the ideological and emotional content and artistic expressiveness of the recreated situations of episodes, statements of characters.

I used the notes of Princess Volkonskaya in my work. She wrote these letters to her children from Siberia, where she left after her husband. As an example, the first records of the princess's decision to follow her husband are given.

NOTES

My Misha, you are asking me to write down the stories with which I entertained you and Nellie in the days of your childhood, in a word, to write your memoirs. But before arrogating to yourself the right to write, you must be sure that you have the gift of storytelling, but I do not have it; besides, the description of our life in Siberia can be meaningful only for you, as a son of exile; I will write for you, for your sister and for Seryozha on the condition that these memories are not communicated to anyone except your children, when you have them, they will cuddle up to you, opening their eyes wide when telling about our hardships and sufferings, with which, however, we have become so accustomed to that we have managed to be cheerful and even happy in exile.
Here I will abbreviate what amused you so much when you were children: stories about the happy time I spent under my parents' roof, about my travels, about my share of joys and pleasures in this world. I will only say that in 1825 I married Prince Sergei Grigorievich Volkonsky, your father, the most worthy and noblest of people; my parents thought that they had provided me with a brilliant secular future. I was sad to part with them: as if through a wedding veil, I dimly saw the fate awaiting us. Soon after the wedding, I fell ill, and I was sent with my mother, my sister Sophia and my Englishwoman to Odessa for sea bathing. Sergei could not accompany us, as he had to stay with his division due to his official duties. Before the wedding, I hardly knew him. I stayed in Odessa all summer and thus only spent three months with him in the first year of our marriage; I had no idea of ​​the existence of a secret society of which he was a member. He was twenty years older than me, so I could not have confidence in me in such an important matter.

He came for me towards the end of autumn, took me to Uman, where his division was stationed, and left for Tulchin, the main apartment of the Second Army. A week later he returned in the middle of the night; he wakes me up, calls me: "Get up quickly"; I get up trembling with fear. My pregnancy was nearing its end, and this return, this noise frightened me. He began to light the fireplace and burn some papers. I helped him as best I could, asking what was the matter? "Pestel is arrested." - "For what?" No answer. All this mystery worried me. I saw that he was sad, worried. Finally, he announced to me that he had promised my father to take me to his village for the time of childbirth, and so we set off. He turned me over to the care of my mother and immediately left; immediately upon his return he was arrested and sent to Petersburg. Thus passed the first year of our marriage; he was still running out when Sergei was sitting under the gates of the fortress in the Alekseevsky ravelin.

The birth was very difficult, without a midwife (she arrived only the next day). My father demanded that I sit in an armchair, my mother, like an experienced mother of a family, wanted me to go to bed to avoid a cold, and then an argument begins, and I suffer; finally, the will of the man, as always, prevailed; I was placed in a large armchair, in which I was severely tormented without any medical assistance. Our doctor was absent, being with a patient 15 versts from us; some peasant woman came from our village, posing as a grandmother, but did not dare to approach me and, kneeling in the corner of the room, prayed for me. Finally, in the morning, the doctor arrived, and I gave birth to my little Nikolai, with whom I was later destined to part forever (Son Nikolai was born on January 2, 1826, died in February 1828.- Approx.). I had the strength to walk barefoot to the bed, which was not warm and seemed to me cold as ice; I was immediately thrown into a strong fever, and there was an inflammation of the brain, which kept me in bed for two months. When I came to, I asked about my husband; I was told that he was in Moldova, while he was already in prison and was going through all the moral tortures of interrogations. First, they brought him, as they did all the others, to the Emperor Nicholas, who attacked him, shaking his finger and scolding him for not wanting to betray any of his comrades. Later, when he continued to persist in this silence in front of the investigators, Chernyshev, the Minister of War, told him: "Ashamed, prince, ensigns show you more." However, all the conspirators were already known: the traitors Sherwood, Mayboroda and ... issued a list of the names of all members of the Secret Society, as a result of which the arrests began. I do not dare to recount the history of the events of that time: they are still too close to us and beyond my reach; others will do it, and the posterity will pronounce judgment on this impulse of pure and disinterested patriotism. Until now, the history of Russia presented examples of only palace conspiracies, the participants of which found personal benefit for themselves.

Finally, one day, collecting my thoughts, I said to myself: “This absence of my husband is unnatural, since I do not receive letters from him,” and I began to insistently demand that they tell me the truth. I was told that Sergei was arrested, as well as V. Davydov, Likharev and Poggio. I announced to my mother that I was leaving for Petersburg, where my father had already been. The next morning everything was ready for departure; when I had to get up, I suddenly felt a severe pain in my leg. I am sending for the woman who was then so fervently praying to God for me; she announces that it is an erysipelas, wraps my leg in a red cloth with chalk, and I set off with my kind sister and the child, whom I leave on the way with Countess Branitskaya, my father's aunt: she had good doctors; she lived as a wealthy and influential landowner.

It was April and it was completely muddy. I traveled day and night and finally came to my mother-in-law. It was in the full sense of the word a lady of the court. There was no one to give me good advice: Brother Alexander, who foresaw the outcome of the case, and my father, who feared him, completely bypassed me. Alexander acted so dexterously that I understood everything only much later, already in Siberia, where I learned from my friends that they constantly found my door locked when they came to me. He was afraid of their influence on me; and in spite of his precautions, however, I was the first to arrive with Katasha Trubetskoy in the Nerchinsk mines.

I was still very ill and extremely weak. I asked permission to visit my husband in the fortress. The Emperor, who took every opportunity to express his generosity (in matters of secondary importance), and who knew my poor health, ordered a doctor to accompany me, fearing any shock for me. Count Alexey Orlov himself took me to the fortress. As we approached this dirty prison, I looked up and, while opening the gates, I saw a room above the entrance with wide open windows and Mikhail Orlov in a dressing gown, with a pipe in his hands, watching with a smile at those entering.

We went to the commandant; they immediately brought my husband into custody. This meeting in front of strangers was very painful. We tried to give each other hope, but we did it without conviction. I did not dare to question him; all eyes were turned on us; we exchanged handkerchiefs. Returning home, I hastened to find out what he had conveyed to me, but I found only a few words of consolation, written on one corner of the handkerchief, and which could hardly be made out.

The mother-in-law asked me about her son, saying at the same time that she could not decide to go to him, since this meeting would have killed her, and left the next day with the Dowager Empress for Moscow, where preparations for the coronation had already begun. My sister-in-law, Sophia Volkonskaya, was to arrive soon; she accompanied the body of the late Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who was being taken to Petersburg. I was eager to meet this sister, whom my husband adored. I expected a lot from her arrival. My brother saw things differently; he began to instill in me fears about my child, assuring me that the investigation would last for a long time (which, however, was true), that I should personally make sure that my dear child was taken care of and that I would probably meet with the princess in road. Not suspecting anything, I decided to go with the idea of ​​bringing my son here. I went to Moscow to see my sister Orlova. My mother-in-law was already there as Oberhofmeister. She told me that Her Majesty was pleased to see me and that she took a great part in me. I thought that the empress wanted to talk to me about my husband, for in such important circumstances I understood participation in myself only insofar as it concerned my husband; instead they talk to me about my health, about my father's health, about the weather ...

After that, I immediately left. My brother arranged for me to leave with my sister-in-law, who, being aware of everything, could initiate me in the direction taken by the deed. I found my child pale and frail; he was inoculated with smallpox, he fell ill. I have not received any news; I received only the most meaningless letters, the rest were destroyed. I was looking forward to the minute of my departure; finally my brother brings me newspapers and announces that my husband has been sentenced. He was demoted simultaneously with his comrades at the glacis of the fortress. This is how it happened: on July 13, at dawn, they were all gathered and placed into categories on a glacis against five gallows. Sergei, as soon as he arrived, took off his military coat and threw it into the fire: he did not want to be ripped off him. Several bonfires were laid out and lit to destroy the uniforms and orders of the condemned; then they were all ordered to kneel, and the gendarmes came up and broke the saber over the head of each as a sign of demotion; it was done awkwardly: several of them had their heads hurt. Upon returning to prison, they began to receive not their ordinary food, but the position of convicts; they also received their clothes - a jacket and trousers of rough gray cloth.

This scene was followed by another, much heavier one. They brought five of those sentenced to death. Pestel, Sergei Muravyov, Ryleev, Bestuzhev-Riumin (Mikhail) and Kakhovsky were hanged, but with such terrible awkwardness that three of them fell off and were led back onto the scaffold. Sergei Muravyov did not want to be supported. Ryleev, who had returned the opportunity to speak, said: "I am happy that I am dying twice for my country." Their bodies were placed in two large boxes filled with quicklime and buried on Golodaev Island. The sentry was not allowed to the graves. I cannot stop at this scene: it upsets me, it hurts me to remember it. I do not presume to describe it in detail. General Chernyshev (later Count and Prince) pranced around the gallows, looking at the victims in a lorgnette and chuckling.

My husband was stripped of his title, fortune, and civil rights and sentenced to twelve years' hard labor and life in exile. On July 26, he was sent to Siberia with princes Trubetskoy and Obolensky, Davydov, Artamon Muravyov, brothers Borisov and Yakubovich. When I learned about this from my brother, I announced to him that I would follow my husband. My brother, who was supposed to go to Odessa, told me not to move until he returned, but the next day after his departure, I took my passport and left for Petersburg. My husband's family was angry with me for not answering their letters. I couldn't tell them that my brother was intercepting them. They told me taunts, but not a word about money. I also could not talk to them about what I had to endure from my father, who did not want to let me go. I pawned my diamonds, paid off some of my husband's debts and wrote a letter to the emperor asking permission to follow my husband. I especially relied on the sympathy that His Majesty showed to the wives of the exiled, and asked him to complete his favors by allowing me to leave. Here is his answer:

“I received, Princess, your letter dated the 15th of this month; I read in it with pleasure an expression of feelings of gratitude to me for the participation that I take in you; but in the name of this participation, I consider myself obliged to repeat here once again the warnings I have already expressed to you regarding what awaits you, as soon as you pass beyond Irkutsk. However, I leave it entirely to your discretion to choose the course of action that seems to you most appropriate to your present situation.

Benevolent to you
(signature) Nikolay "

“Russian women” and that says it all: about the proud consciousness of their dignity, their righteousness, and about the great power of love for the husband and respect for his work, about admiration for his suffering, about the unshakable decision.

As a result of the analysis of the work and historical materials, it can be concluded that the exploits of these women, even after many years, were not forgotten. These actions were exalted to an elevated religious level, women became folk heroes. And their feat will never be forgotten and erased from the memory of many generations for many more years.

Chapter II.

“And the one that says goodbye to the dear today -

Let her pain melt into strength.

We swear to children, we swear to graves,

That no one will force us to submit! "

(Anna Akhmatova)

The Great Patriotic War is a great misfortune, a misfortune for the country, for the entire Russian people. Many years have passed since then, but the events of those years are still alive in the memory, they are alive in many respects thanks to the stories of veterans and writers who devoted themselves and all their work to the truth about the war, the echoes of which are still alive today.
During the war, 87 women became Heroes of the Soviet Union. They are real Heroes and they canbe proud.
In the countries - participants of the Second World War, the position and conditions of women were certainly different. In the USSR and Germany, there were laws that easily allowed women to be called up for military service. In America and England, women fought on their own initiative.
In Germany, the Germans did not send their women to the front itself in hostilities. On the fronts, the Germans did not even have female nurses (only nurses).
The USSR, unlike Germany, brutally exploited women. For example, female pilots. Mostly women were sent on low-speed shelves, which for some unknown reason were called bombers. The female pilots of these bookcases were victims of the air war, since the chances of surviving the flight were very small for women.

It was, of course, violence against the female essence and violence against Soviet women.
According to statistics, during the war, more than 980,000 women were drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. These women participated in hostilities, they served in the air defense forces, drove bombers, were snipers, sappers and nurses. For example: after 1943, when the male reserve was exhausted, women were drafted in Germany, but they were drafted by about 10,000 people. But German women did not participate in hostilities, did not participate in hand-to-hand combat, did not clear the fields, did not fly in airplanes, and did not shoot at enemy bombers. German women worked as telecom operators, typists on trains, cartographers at headquarters. They never took part in hostilities. Only in the USSR they got used to the fact that a woman serves in the army shoulder to shoulder with men. It has become a monstrous reality.
Each person has his own idea of ​​war. For some, war is destruction, famine, bombing; for others, battles, exploits, heroes.
Boris Vasiliev sees the war quite differently in his story "The Dawns Here Are Quiet ...". This is a story about the feat of not just the Russian people, but about the feat of women; about how fragile creatures, which have long been attributed to the most diverse weaknesses, fought the Germans, reflecting enemy fire no worse than men. There are no exciting battle scenes, courageous heroes, but perhaps this is where the beauty lies.

In the story, the author draws before us five difficult women's destinies, several life lines that, perhaps, would never have crossed in ordinary life, if not for the war that united them into one whole, forcing them to be participants and victims of a colossal tragedy.
Five young girls are killed, but at the cost of their lives they stop the movement of the German landing. Moreover, the girls die in the midst of natural peace and silence. Everyday life and unnaturalness are what helps B. Vasiliev to prove that “war does not have a woman’s face,” that is, women and war are incompatible concepts. Women should not be allowed to die, because their purpose is to live and raise children, to give life, and not to take it away. But this whole peaceful life runs through the whole story, only emphasizing the horror of the war.

The heroine girls differ in character, they are completely different from each other. All characters are different, but the fate of these girls is the same - to die while performing a combat mission, having completed it in spite of everything, including common sense.

Liza Brichkina immediately attracts attention with her restraint, laconic speech and complaisance. "Ah, Liza-Lizaveta, you should study!" She never found her happiness, an orphanage girl, never matured, funny and childishly awkward.

Galya Chetvertak is childishly spontaneous, she is subject to fear and emotions. Her death was stupid, but we have no right to condemn her. She was too weak, too feminine and insecure, but a woman shouldn't be at war at all! Even if she did not accomplish a direct feat, “did not enter into a direct battle with the enemy, but she stubbornly walked forward and carried out the orders of the foreman.

Sonya Gurvich was a serious girl with "intelligent, discerning eyes." Romantic by nature, she lived in dreams, and like the rest of the girls, she got into anti-aircraft gunners quite by accident. Her death seems to be an accident, but it is associated with self-sacrifice. After all, when she fled towards her death, she was led by a natural spiritual movement to do something pleasant for the kind and caring foreman - to bring the pouch left behind.

Rita Osyanina was a strong-willed girl. But her death was also painful. She was badly wounded in the stomach, she had no strength left to escape and she put a bullet in her forehead.

The war did not spare the beautiful Zhenya Komilkova, a red-haired beauty with tremendous energy, unusually artistic, which helped her more than once in life and in battle. Looking at her, the admiring girls said: “Oh, Zhenya, we need you to go to the museum. Under glass on black velvet. " The general's daughter Zhenya shot at a shooting range, hunted wild boars with her father, drove a motorcycle, sang with a guitar and had affairs with lieutenants. She knew how to laugh just like that, just because she lives. That was until the war broke out. In front of Zhenya's eyes, her entire family was shot. The last to fall was the younger sister: she was specially finished off. My wife was then eighteen years old, she had the last year to live. And when her hour came, “the Germans wounded her blindly through the foliage, and she could hide, wait, or maybe leave. But she fired while lying down, no longer trying to run away, because strength went away along with the blood. And the Germans finished off her point-blank, and then looked at her for a long time and after her death a proud and beautiful face ... "

The war distorted the fate of many heroes: not only the girls died, but also the foreman of the Vaskov. He was the last to die, having survived the death of all his fighters, who died like real heroes, saving their homeland, Russia, all living things. He takes the death of the girls hard, feels his guilt:

“While the war is clear. And then when will the world be? Will it be clear why you had to die? Why did I not let these Fritzes go any further, why did I make such a decision? What to answer when asked: what is it you, men, could not protect our mothers from bullets? Why did you marry them with death, and yourself - whole? "

There are not so many books devoted to the topic of women in war, but those that are in the library of Russian and world literature are striking in their seriousness and globality. Reading Boris Vasiliev's story "The Dawns Here Are Quiet ...", you involuntarily put yourself in the shoes of those girls, you involuntarily think how I would behave if I found myself in such terrible circumstances. And you involuntarily understand that not very many people are capable of such heroism as the girls showed.

So, war is an unnatural phenomenon. It is doubly strange when women die, because it is then that "the thread leading to the future is cut off." But the future, fortunately, turns out to be not only eternal but also grateful. It is no coincidence that in the epilogue, a student who came to rest on Lake Legontovo wrote in a letter to a friend:

“It turns out that they fought here, old man. We fought when we were not in the world .. We found the grave ... And the dawns here are quiet, only today I saw it. And pure, pure, like tears ... "

The heroines of the story, young girls, were born for love and motherhood, and instead took up rifles and engaged in a non-feminine affair - war. Even this already consists of considerable heroism, because they all voluntarily went to the front. The origins of their heroism are in love for the Motherland. From here begins the path to feat.

Fiction is believed to be based on fiction. This is partly true, but Boris Vasiliev is a writer who went through the war, who knew firsthand about its horrors and was convinced from his own experience that the topic of women in war deserves no less attention than the topic of male heroism. The feat of the girls is not forgotten, the memory of them will be an eternal reminder that "the war has not a woman's face."

Conclusions.

In my work, I tried to look at the exploits of Russian women from the other side. I wanted to emphasize the special significance of female heroism through the analysis of literary works. I researched several historical reference books in search of answers to my questions about the heroism of Russian women in the 19th century. She also analyzed the reviews of well-known critics on the work of B. Vasiliev "The Dawns Here Are Quiet ...". With this work, I wanted to suggest that we have no right to divide heroism into male and female. As a result of my research, we can conclude that women fought on equal terms with everyone else with the injustice of the law and fought with enemies, defending their homeland.

The feats accomplished by the women I have chosen for example will never be forgotten in history. All of them were accomplished, first of all in the name of Love. Love for loved ones, love for the Motherland and your fellow citizens. Feats were also in the name of Honor and Valor. Thanks to these girls, the concept of these words has not lost its true meaning. And I would like to finish my work with the lines of the famous poet Alexei Khomyakov, which, it seems to me, reveal the whole essence of Russian heroism, and especially that of women.

“There is heroism in battle,
There is also a heroic deed in struggle.
The highest feat in patience
Love and supplication. "

Bibliography.

1. Forsh. Z.O. Loyal sons of Russia; Series of books "History of the Fatherland"; Memoirs, notes, letters; "Young Guard", Moscow 1988

1. Nekrasov N.K. Literary and Artistic Edition; “Poems. Poems. Memoirs of Contemporaries "; publishing house "Pravda"; Moscow; 1990.
2. Brigita Yosifova "The Decembrists" Publisher: "Progress" 1983
3. Vasiliev B. "And the dawns here are quiet ..." 1992
4. MN Zuev "History of Russia"; publishing house "Drofa", 2006

Internet resources

Portraits of Princess Volkonskaya

Fragments from the film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet ..."