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Karamzin's story "Poor Liza" became a key work of its time. The introduction of sentimentalism into the work and the presence of many topics and problems allowed the 25-year-old author to become extremely popular and famous. Readers were absorbed in the images of the main characters of the story - the story about the events of their lives became an occasion to rethink the features humanistic theory.
Writing history
In most cases, unusual works of literature have unusual stories of creation, however, if Poor Lisa had such a story, then it was not provided to the public and was lost somewhere in the wilds of history. It is known that the story was written as an experiment at the dacha of Peter Beketov, which was located not far from the Simonov Monastery.
Data on the publication of the story are also rather scarce. For the first time "Poor Liza" was published in the "Moscow Journal" in 1792. At that time, N. Karamzin himself was its editor, and 4 years later the story was published as a separate book.
Heroes of the story
Lisa is the main character of the story. The girl belongs to the peasant class. After her father's death, she lives with her mother and earns money selling knitwear and flowers in the city.
Erasmus - the main character story. The young man possesses gentle character, he is not able to defend his position in life, which makes both himself and Liza, who is in love with him, unhappy.
Lisa's mother is a peasant by birth. She loves her daughter and wants the girl to live her future life without difficulties and sorrows.
We propose to trace which N. Karamzin wrote.
The plot of the story
The story takes place in the vicinity of Moscow. A young girl Lisa lost her father. Because of this, her family, consisting of her and her mother, gradually began to grow poorer - her mother was constantly ill and therefore could not fully work. The main labor force the family was represented by Lisa - the girl actively weaved carpets, knitted stockings for sale, and also collected and sold flowers. Once a young aristocrat, Erasmus, approached the girl, he fell in love with the girl and therefore decided to buy flowers from Lisa every day.
However, the next day Erasmus did not come. The distressed Lisa returns home, but fate presents the girl with a new gift - Erasmus comes to Lisa's home and says that he can come for flowers himself.
From this moment begins new stage in the life of a girl - she is completely captivated by love. However, in spite of everything, this love adheres to the framework of platonic love. Erasmus is captivated by the girl's spiritual purity. Unfortunately, this utopia did not last long. Mother decides to marry Lisa - a rich peasant decided to get married to Lisa. Erasmus, despite his love and admiration for the girl, cannot claim her hand - social norms strictly regulate their relationship. Erasmus belongs to the nobles, and Liza belongs to simple peasants, so their marriage is a priori impossible. Lisa in the evening comes on a date with Erast as usual and tells the young man about the upcoming event in the hope of support.
The romantic and devoted Erast decides to take Lisa to his house, but the girl chills his ardor, noting that in this case he will not be her husband. This evening the girl is deprived of her integrity.
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After that, the relationship between Lisa and Erasmus was no longer the same - the image of a virgin and holy girl faded away in the eyes of Erasmus. The young man starts military service, and the lovers part. Lisa sincerely believes that their relationship will retain its former fervor, but the girl is in for a huge disappointment: Erasmus is addicted to playing cards and does not become a successful player - marriage with a rich old woman helps him to avoid poverty, but does not bring happiness. Lisa, having learned about the wedding, committed suicide (drowned in the river), and Erasmus forever acquired a sense of guilt for her death.
The reality of the events described
The peculiarities of the artistic construction of the plot and the description of the background of the work suggest the reality of the events taking place and the literary reminiscence of Karamzin. After the publication of the story among young people, the surroundings of the Simonov Monastery, near which, based on the story of Karamzin, Liza lived, began to enjoy particular popularity. Readers also took a liking to the pond, presumably in which the girl drowned, and even nicely renamed it "Lizin". However, there is no information about the real basis of the story, it is believed that its heroes, as well as the plot, were the fruit of the author's imagination.
Subject
The story as a genre does not imply the presence huge amount topics. Karamzin fully complies with this requirement and is limited in fact to only two topics.
Peasant life theme
Using the example of Liza's family, the reader can become widely acquainted with the peculiarities of the life of the peasants. Readers are presented with a non-generalized image. From the story you can learn about the details of the life of the peasants, their everyday and not only everyday difficulties.
Peasants are people too
In literature, you can often find the image of the peasants as a generalized, deprived individual qualities.
Karamzin shows that the peasants, despite their ignorance and lack of involvement in art, are not devoid of intelligence, wisdom, or moral character.
Lisa is a girl who can support a conversation, of course, these are not topics about innovations in the field of science or art, but her speech is built logically, and her content makes her associate the girl as an intelligent and talented interlocutor.
Problematic
The problem of finding happiness
Every person wants to be happy. Lisa and Erasmus are also no exception. The platonic love that arose between young people made them realize how it is to be happy and at the same time how it is to be deeply unhappy. The author in the story raises an important question: is it always possible to become happy and what is needed for this.
The problem of social inequality
One way or another, but our real life subject to some unspoken rules and social stereotypes. Most of them arose on the principle of social distribution into layers or castes. It is this moment that Karamzin sharply personifies in the work - Erasmus by his origin is an aristocrat, a nobleman, and Liza is a poor girl, a peasant woman. A marriage between an aristocrat and a peasant woman was unthinkable.
Fidelity in a relationship
When you read the story, you understand that such sublime relations between young people, if they were transferred to the plane of real time, would not exist forever - sooner or later, the love ardor between Erasmus and Lisa would fade away - further development the position of the public hindered, and the resulting stable uncertainty provoked the degradation of romance.
Guided by the opportunity material improvement his position, Erasmus decides to marry a rich widow, although he himself gave Lisa a promise to always love her. While the girl is truly waiting for the return of her lover - Erasmus cruelly betrays her feelings and hopes.
The problem of urban orientation
Another one global problem, which found its reflection in the story of Karamzin - a comparison of the city and the village. In the understanding of urban residents, the city is the engine of progress, newfangled trends and education. The village is always presented as something backward in its development. Residents of the village, respectively, are also backward in all senses of the word.
Villagers also note differences between urban and rural residents. In their concept, the city is the engine of evil and danger, while the village is a safe place that preserves the moral character of the nation.
Idea
The main idea of the story is to denounce sensuality, morality and the influence of the emerging emotions on the fate of a person. Karamzin brings readers to the concept: empathy is an important part of life. You shouldn't deliberately give up compassion and humanity.
Karamzin argues that a person's morality is a factor that does not depend on class and position in society. Very often people with aristocratic titles are lower in their moral development than ordinary peasants.
Direction in culture and literature
The story "Poor Liza" is indicated by the peculiarities of the direction in literature - sentimentalism successfully embodied in the work, which was successfully embodied in the image of Liza's father, who, according to Karamzin's description, was an ideal person within his social cell.
Lisa's mother also possesses multiple traits of sentimentalism - she experiences significant mental anguish after her husband leaves, she is sincerely worried about her daughter's fate.
The main body of sentimentalism falls on the image of Liza. She is depicted as a sensual person who is so absorbed in her emotions that she is unable to be guided by critical thinking - after meeting Erasmus. Lisa is so absorbed in new romantic experiences that besides these feelings she does not take seriously any others - the girl is not able to sensibly assess her life situation, she is little worried about the experiences of the mother and her love.
Instead of love for her mother (which was previously inherent in Lisa), now the girl's thoughts are occupied by love for Erasmus, which reaches a critical egoistic climax - Lisa perceives the tragic events in her relationship with a young man as an irrevocable tragedy of her entire life. The girl is not trying to find " the golden mean”Between sensual and logical - she completely surrenders to emotions.
Thus, the story of Karamzin "Poor Liza" became a breakthrough of its time. For the first time, readers were provided with the image of the heroes, as close as possible to life. Characters do not have a clear division into positive and negative. In each character, you can find positive and negative qualities. The work found a display of the main social themes and problems that in their essence are philosophical problems outside of time - their relevance is not regulated by the framework of chronology.
Analysis of the story "Poor Liza" by Karamzin: essence, meaning, idea and thought of the story
5 (100%) 1 voteComposition
Words and tastes contrary to
And contrary to desires
On us from a faded line
Suddenly it breathes with charm.
That a thing is strange in our day
For us, it is by no means a secret.
But there is dignity in it:
She's sentimental!
Lines from the first performance "Poor Liza",
libretto by Yuri Ryashentsev
In the era of Byron, Schiller and Goethe, on the eve of the French Revolution, in the heat of feelings characteristic of those years for Europe, but with the ceremoniality and splendor of the Baroque still preserved, the leading directions in literature were sensual and sensitive romanticism and sentimentalism. If the emergence of romanticism in Russia was due to translations of the works of these poets, and later it was developed by their own Russian writings, then sentimentalism became popular thanks to the works of Russian writers, one of which is "Poor Liza" by Karamzin.
In the words of Karamzin himself, the story "Poor Liza" is "a very simple tale." The story about the fate of the heroine begins with a description of Moscow and the author's admission that he often comes to the "deserted monastery" where Liza is buried, and "hears the dull groan of times, absorbed by the abyss of the past." With this technique, the author indicates his presence in the story, showing that any value judgment in the text is his personal opinion. The coexistence of the author and his hero in the same narrative space was not familiar to Russian literature before Karamzin. The title of the story is built on the connection own name heroine with an epithet characterizing the sympathetic attitude of the narrator towards her, who at the same time constantly repeats that he has no power to change the course of events ("Ah! Why am I writing not a novel, but a sad story?").
Liza, forced to work hard to feed her old mother, one day comes to Moscow with lilies of the valley and meets a young man on the street who expresses a desire to always buy lilies of the valley from Liza and finds out where she lives. The next day, Lisa is waiting for a new acquaintance, Erast, to appear, not selling his lilies of the valley to anyone, but he comes only the next day to Lisa's house. The next day, Erast tells Lisa that he loves her, but asks to keep their feelings secret from her mother. For a long time "their embrace was pure and innocent," and Erast "all the brilliant fun of the great world" seems "insignificant in comparison with the pleasures with which the passionate friendship of an innocent soul nourished his heart." However, soon the son of a rich peasant from a neighboring village wooed Lisa. Erast objects to their wedding, and says that, despite the difference between them, for him in Lisa "the most important thing is the soul, the sensitive and innocent soul." Their dates continue, but now Erast "could no longer be content with being alone innocent caresses." "He wanted more, more, and finally, he could not desire anything ... Platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not be proud of and which were no longer new to him." After a while, Erast informs Lisa that his regiment is going on a military campaign. He says goodbye, gives Lisa's mother money. Two months later, Liza, having come to Moscow, sees Erast, follows his carriage to a huge mansion, where Erast, freeing himself from Lisa's embrace, says that he still loves her, but the circumstances have changed: on the campaign he lost almost all of his estate, and is now forced to marry a rich widow. Erast gives Lisa one hundred rubles and asks the servant to accompany the girl from the yard. Liza, reaching the pond, under the shade of those oak trees, which only "a few weeks before had witnessed her enthusiasm," meets the neighbor's daughter, gives her money and asks to tell her mother with the words that she loved a man, and he cheated on her. Then he throws himself into the water. The neighbor's daughter calls for help, Lisa is pulled out, but too late. Liza was buried near the pond, Liza's mother died of grief. Erast until the end of his life "could not be comforted and considered himself a murderer." The author met him a year before his death, and learned the whole story from him.
The story made a complete revolution in the public consciousness of the 18th century. For the first time in the history of Russian prose, Karamzin turned to a heroine endowed with emphatically ordinary features. His words "and the peasant women know how to love" became winged. Unsurprisingly, the story was very popular. In the lists of nobility, many Erasts appear at once - a name that was previously infrequent. The pond, located under the walls of the Simonov Monastery (the monastery of the XIV century, preserved on the territory of the Dynamo plant on Leninskaya Sloboda Street, 26), was called Lisin Pond, but thanks to Karamzin's story it was popularly renamed Lizin and became a place of constant pilgrimage. According to eyewitnesses, the bark of the trees around the pond was cut with inscriptions, both serious ("In these streams poor Liza died her days; / If you are sensitive, passer-by, sigh"), and satirical, hostile to the heroine and the author ("Erastov bride. / Drown yourself, girls, there is enough room in the pond ").
"Poor Liza" became one of the heights of Russian sentimentalism. It is in her that the refined psychologism of Russian fiction, recognized throughout the world, is born. The artistic discovery of Karamzin was of great importance - the creation of a special emotional atmosphere corresponding to the theme of the work. The picture of pure first love is drawn very touchingly: “Now I think,” says Liza to Erast, “that without you life is not life, but sadness and boredom. The bright month is dark without your eyes; the nightingale singing is boring without your voice ... ”Sensuality - the highest value of sentimentalism - pushes the heroes into each other's arms, gives them a moment of happiness. The main characters are also characteristically drawn: chaste, naive, joyfully trusting people, Liza appears to be a beautiful shepherdess, least of all like a peasant woman, rather like a sweet secular young lady brought up on sentimental novels; Erast, despite the dishonorable act, reproaches himself for him for the rest of his life.
In addition to sentimentalism, Karamzin gave Russia a new name. The name Elisabeth is translated as "worshiping God." In biblical texts, this is the name of the wife of the high priest Aaron and the mother of John the Baptist. Later, the literary heroine Eloise, Abelard's friend, appears. After it, the name is associated with love theme: the story of the "noble maiden" Julie d "Entage, who fell in love with her modest teacher Saint-Pré, Jean-Jacques Rousseau calls" Julia, or New Héloise "(1761). Until the early 80s of the 18th century, the name" Lisa "almost did not occur in Russian literature.Choosing this name for his heroine, Karamzin broke the strict canon of European literature of the 17th-18th centuries, in which the image of Lisa, Lisette was associated primarily with comedy and with the image of a maid servant, who is usually quite frivolous and understands everything at once The gap between the name and its usual meaning meant going beyond the framework of classicism, weakened the connections between the name and its bearer in a literary work. a significant conquest of Karamzin on the way to the "psychologism" of Russian prose.
Many readers were struck by the author's insolence in the style of presentation. One of the critics from Novikov's circle, which once included Karamzin himself, wrote: "I do not know if Mr. Karamzin made an era in the history of the Russian language: but if he did, it is very bad." Further, the author of these lines writes that in "Poor Liza" "bad manners are called good manners"
The plot of "Poor Liza" is maximally generalized and condensed. Possible lines of development are only outlined, often the text is replaced by dots and dashes, which become its "significant minus". The image of Liza is also only outlined, each feature of her character is a theme for the story, but not yet the story itself.
Karamzin was one of the first to introduce the opposition of town and village into Russian literature. In world folklore and myth, heroes are often able to actively act only in the space allotted to them and are completely powerless outside of it. In accordance with this tradition, in Karamzin's story, a village man - a man of nature - turns out to be defenseless, falling into an urban space, where laws differ from those of nature. No wonder Liza's mother tells her: "My heart is always out of place when you go to town."
The central feature of Liza's character is sensitivity - this is how they defined the main merit of Karamzin's stories, meaning the ability to sympathize, to reveal “the most tender feelings” in the “bends of the heart”, as well as the ability to enjoy the contemplation of one's own emotions. Liza trusts the movements of her heart, lives with “tender passions”. Ultimately, it is ardor and fervor that lead her to death, but she is morally justified. Karamzin's consistent thought that it is natural for a mentally rich, sensitive person to do good deeds removes the need for normative morality.
Many people perceive the novel as a confrontation between honesty and frivolity, kindness and negativity, poverty and wealth. In fact, everything is more complicated: this is a clash of characters: strong - and accustomed to go with the flow. The novel emphasizes that Erast is a young man "with a fair mind and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and windy." It was Erast, who, from the point of view of the lysin social stratum, is the "darling of fate", was constantly bored and "complained about his fate." Erast is represented by an egoist who thinks that he is ready to change for the sake of a new life, but as soon as he gets bored, he, without looking back, changes his life again, without thinking about the fate of those whom he abandoned. In other words, he thinks only about his own pleasure, and his desire to live, not burdened by the rules of civilization, in the bosom of nature, is caused only by reading idyllic novels and an oversaturation of secular life.
In this light, falling in love with Lisa is only a necessary addition to the idyllic picture being created - it is not for nothing that Erast calls her his shepherdess. After reading novels in which "all people carelessly walked along the rays, bathed in clean springs, kissed like turtle doves, rested under roses and myrtles," he decided that "he found in Liza what his heart had been looking for for a long time." Therefore, he dreams that he will "live with Liza, like a brother and sister, I will not use her love for evil and I will always be happy!"
At the same time, Erast, being, as the author emphasizes, “kind by nature,” cannot just leave: he is trying to find a compromise with his conscience, and his decision comes down to paying off. The first time he gives money to Lisa's mother, when he does not want to meet with Lisa anymore and goes on a campaign with the regiment; the second time - when Lisa finds him in the city and he informs her about his upcoming marriage.
The story "Rich Liza" in Russian literature opens the theme of the "little man", although the social aspect in relation to Liza and Erast is somewhat muted.
The story caused many frank imitations: 1801. AE Izmailov "Poor Masha", I. Svechinsky "Seduced Henrietta", 1803. "Unhappy Margarita". At the same time, the theme of "Poor Lisa" can be traced in many works of high artistic value, and it plays a variety of roles in them. So, Pushkin, moving to realism in prose and wanting to emphasize both his rejection of sentimentalism and its irrelevance for contemporary Russia, took the plot of Poor Lisa and turned the "sad story" into a story with a happy ending, "The Young Lady - Peasant Woman" ... Nevertheless, in the same Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" the line of Liza's further life is visible: the fate that would await her if she had not committed suicide. An echo of the theme of the sentimental work is also heard in the novel "Sunday" written in the spirit of realism by L.T. Tolstoy. Seduced by Nekhlyudov, Katyusha Maslova decides to throw herself under the train.
Thus, the plot that existed in literature before and became popular after, was transferred to Russian soil, acquiring a special national flavor and becoming the basis for the development of Russian sentimentalism. Russian psychological, portrait prose and contributed to the gradual departure of Russian literature from the norms of classicism to more modern literary currents.
Other compositions on this work
"Poor Liza" Karamzin as a sentimental story The image of Liza in the story "Poor Liza" by N. M. Karamzin The image of Liza in the story "Poor Liza" by N. M. Karamzin The story of N. M. Karamzin "Poor Liza" through the eyes of a modern reader Review of the work of N. M. Karamzin "Poor Liza" Characteristics of Liza and Erast (based on the story "Poor Liza" by N. M. Karamzin) Traits of sentimentalism in the story "Poor Liza" The role of landscape in the story "Poor Liza" by N. M. Karamzin NM Karamzin "Poor Liza". The characters of the main characters. The main idea of the story. The story of N. M. Karamzin "Poor Liza" as an example of a sentimental workWords and tastes contrary to
And contrary to desires
On us from a faded line
Suddenly it breathes with charm.
That a thing is strange in our day
For us, it is by no means a secret.
But there is dignity in it:
She's sentimental!
Lines from the first performance "Poor Liza",
libretto by Yuri Ryashentsev
In the era of Byron, Schiller and Goethe, on the eve of the French Revolution, in the heat of feelings characteristic of those years for Europe, but with the ceremoniality and splendor of the Baroque still preserved, the leading directions in literature were sensual and sensitive romanticism and sentimentalism. If the emergence of romanticism in Russia was due to translations of the works of these poets, and later it was developed by their own Russian writings, then sentimentalism became popular thanks to the works of Russian writers, one of which is "Poor Liza" by Karamzin.
In the words of Karamzin himself, the story "Poor Liza" is "a very simple tale." The story about the fate of the heroine begins with a description of Moscow and the author's admission that he often comes to the "deserted monastery" where Liza is buried, and "hears the dull groan of times, absorbed by the abyss of the past." With this technique, the author indicates his presence in the story, showing that any value judgment in the text is his personal opinion. The coexistence of the author and his hero in the same narrative space was not familiar to Russian literature before Karamzin. The title of the story is built on the combination of the heroine's own name with an epithet characterizing the sympathetic attitude of the narrator towards her, who constantly repeats that he has no power to change the course of events ("Ah! Why am I writing not a novel, but a sad story?").
Liza, forced to work hard to feed her old mother, one day comes to Moscow with lilies of the valley and meets a young man on the street who expresses a desire to always buy lilies of the valley from Liza and finds out where she lives. The next day, Lisa is waiting for a new acquaintance, Erast, to appear, not selling his lilies of the valley to anyone, but he comes only the next day to Lisa's house. The next day, Erast tells Lisa that he loves her, but asks to keep their feelings secret from her mother. For a long time "their embrace was pure and innocent," and Erast "all the brilliant fun of the great world" seems "insignificant in comparison with the pleasures with which the passionate friendship of an innocent soul nourished his heart." However, soon the son of a rich peasant from a neighboring village wooed Lisa. Erast objects to their wedding, and says that, despite the difference between them, for him in Lisa "the most important thing is the soul, the sensitive and innocent soul." Their dates continue, but now Erast "could no longer be content with being alone innocent caresses." "He wanted more, more, and finally, he could not desire anything ... Platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not be proud of and which were no longer new to him." After a while, Erast informs Lisa that his regiment is going on a military campaign. He says goodbye, gives Lisa's mother money. Two months later, Liza, having come to Moscow, sees Erast, follows his carriage to a huge mansion, where Erast, freeing himself from Lisa's embrace, says that he still loves her, but the circumstances have changed: on the campaign he lost almost all of his estate, and is now forced to marry a rich widow. Erast gives Lisa one hundred rubles and asks the servant to accompany the girl from the yard. Liza, reaching the pond, under the shade of those oak trees, which only "a few weeks before had witnessed her enthusiasm," meets the neighbor's daughter, gives her money and asks to tell her mother with the words that she loved a man, and he cheated on her. Then he throws himself into the water. The neighbor's daughter calls for help, Lisa is pulled out, but too late. Liza was buried near the pond, Liza's mother died of grief. Erast until the end of his life "could not be comforted and considered himself a murderer." The author met him a year before his death, and learned the whole story from him.
The story made a complete revolution in the public consciousness of the 18th century. For the first time in the history of Russian prose, Karamzin turned to a heroine endowed with emphatically ordinary features. His words "and the peasant women know how to love" became winged. Unsurprisingly, the story was very popular. In the lists of nobility, many Erasts appear at once - a name that was previously infrequent. The pond, located under the walls of the Simonov Monastery (the monastery of the XIV century, preserved on the territory of the Dynamo plant on Leninskaya Sloboda Street, 26), was called Lisin Pond, but thanks to Karamzin's story it was popularly renamed Lizin and became a place of constant pilgrimage. According to eyewitnesses, the bark of the trees around the pond was cut with inscriptions, both serious ("In these streams poor Liza died her days; / If you are sensitive, passer-by, sigh"), and satirical, hostile to the heroine and the author ("Erastov bride. / Drown yourself, girls, there is enough room in the pond ").
"Poor Liza" became one of the heights of Russian sentimentalism. It is in her that the refined psychologism of Russian fiction, recognized throughout the world, is born. The artistic discovery of Karamzin was of great importance - the creation of a special emotional atmosphere corresponding to the theme of the work. The picture of pure first love is drawn very touchingly: “Now I think,” says Lisa to Erast, “that without you life is not life, but sadness and boredom. The bright month is dark without your eyes; a nightingale singing is boring without your voice ... ”Sensuality - the highest value of sentimentalism - pushes the heroes into each other's arms, gives them a moment of happiness. The main characters are also characteristically drawn: chaste, naive, joyfully trusting people, Liza appears to be a beautiful shepherdess, least of all like a peasant woman, rather like a sweet secular young lady brought up on sentimental novels; Erast, despite the dishonorable act, reproaches himself for him for the rest of his life.
In addition to sentimentalism, Karamzin gave Russia a new name. The name Elisabeth is translated as "worshiping God." In biblical texts, this is the name of the wife of the high priest Aaron and the mother of John the Baptist. Later, the literary heroine Eloise, Abelard's friend, appears. After her, the name is associated with a love theme: the story of the "noble maiden" Julie d "Entage, who fell in love with her modest teacher Saint-Pré, Jean-Jacques Rousseau calls" Julia, or New Heloise "(1761). century the name "Liza" was almost never found in Russian literature.Choosing this name for his heroine, Karamzin broke the strict canon of European literature of the 17th - 18th centuries, in which the image of Liza, Lisette was associated primarily with comedy and with the image of a maid servant, which is usually quite frivolous and perfectly understands everything connected with a love intrigue. The gap between the name and its usual meaning meant going beyond the framework of classicism, weakened the connection between the name and its bearer in a literary work. a new one appears: character - behavior, which was a significant achievement of Karamzin on the way to the "psychologism" of Russian prose.
Many readers were struck by the author's insolence in the style of presentation. One of the critics from Novikov's circle, which once included Karamzin himself, wrote: "I do not know if Mr. Karamzin made an era in the history of the Russian language: but if he did, it is very bad." Further, the author of these lines writes that in "Poor Liza" "bad manners are called good manners"
The plot of "Poor Liza" is maximally generalized and condensed. Possible lines of development are only outlined, often the text is replaced by dots and dashes, which become its "significant minus". The image of Liza is also only outlined, each trait of her character is a theme for the story, but not the story itself.
Karamzin was one of the first to introduce the opposition of town and village into Russian literature. In world folklore and myth, heroes are often able to actively act only in the space allotted to them and are completely powerless outside of it. In accordance with this tradition, in Karamzin's story, a village man - a man of nature - turns out to be defenseless, falling into an urban space, where laws differ from those of nature. No wonder Liza's mother tells her: "My heart is always out of place when you go to town."
The central feature of Liza's character is sensitivity - this is how they defined the main merit of Karamzin's stories, meaning the ability to sympathize, to reveal “the most tender feelings” in the “bends of the heart”, as well as the ability to enjoy the contemplation of one's own emotions. Liza trusts the movements of her heart, lives with “tender passions”. Ultimately, it is ardor and fervor that lead her to death, but she is morally justified. Karamzin's consistent thought that it is natural for a mentally rich, sensitive person to do good deeds removes the need for normative morality.
Many people perceive the novel as a confrontation between honesty and frivolity, kindness and negativity, poverty and wealth. In fact, everything is more complicated: this is a clash of characters: strong - and accustomed to go with the flow. The novel emphasizes that Erast is a young man "with a fair mind and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and windy." It was Erast, who, from the point of view of the lysin social stratum, is the "darling of fate", was constantly bored and "complained about his fate." Erast is represented by an egoist who thinks that he is ready to change for the sake of a new life, but as soon as he gets bored, he, without looking back, changes his life again, without thinking about the fate of those whom he abandoned. In other words, he thinks only about his own pleasure, and his desire to live, not burdened by the rules of civilization, in the bosom of nature, is caused only by reading idyllic novels and an oversaturation of secular life.
In this light, falling in love with Liza is only a necessary addition to the idyllic picture being created - it is not for nothing that Erast calls her his shepherdess. After reading novels in which "all people carelessly walked along the rays, bathed in clean springs, kissed like turtle doves, rested under roses and myrtles," he decided that "he found in Liza what his heart had been looking for for a long time." Therefore, he dreams that he will "live with Liza, like a brother and sister, I will not use her love for evil and I will always be happy!"
At the same time, Erast, being, as the author emphasizes, “kind by nature,” cannot just leave: he is trying to find a compromise with his conscience, and his decision comes down to paying off. The first time he gives money to Lisa's mother, when he does not want to meet with Lisa anymore and goes on a campaign with the regiment; the second time - when Lisa finds him in the city and he informs her about his upcoming marriage.
The story "Rich Liza" in Russian literature opens the theme of the "little man", although the social aspect in relation to Liza and Erast is somewhat muted.
The story caused many frank imitations: 1801. AE Izmailov "Poor Masha", I. Svechinsky "Seduced Henrietta", 1803. "Unhappy Margarita". At the same time, the theme of "Poor Lisa" can be traced in many works of high artistic value, and it plays a variety of roles in them. So, Pushkin, moving to realism in prose and wanting to emphasize both his rejection of sentimentalism and its irrelevance for contemporary Russia, took the plot of Poor Lisa and turned the "sad story" into a story with a happy ending, "The Young Lady - Peasant Woman" ... Nevertheless, in the same Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" the line of Liza's further life is visible: the fate that would await her if she had not committed suicide. An echo of the theme of the sentimental work is also heard in the novel "Sunday" written in the spirit of realism by L.T. Tolstoy. Seduced by Nekhlyudov, Katyusha Maslova decides to throw herself under the train.
Thus, the plot that existed in literature before and became popular after, was transferred to Russian soil, acquiring a special national flavor and becoming the basis for the development of Russian sentimentalism. Russian psychological, portrait prose and contributed to the gradual departure of Russian literature from the norms of classicism to more modern literary currents.
Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the outskirts of this city as well as I do, because no one is in the field more often than mine, no one else wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - wherever they look - through meadows and groves. , over hills and plains. Every summer I find new nice places or in old new beauties. But the most pleasant thing for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of Si ... new monastery rise. Standing on this mountain, you see on the right side almost all of Moscow, this terrible bulk of houses and churches, which appears to the eyes in the form of a majestic amphitheater: a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays glow on countless golden domes, on countless crosses that ascend to the sky! Below, fat, densely green flowering meadows are spread, and behind them, on yellow sands, flows a bright river, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the steering wheel of heavy plows that float from the most fertile countries Russian Empire and endow greedy Moscow with bread. On the other side of the river is an oak grove, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of the trees, sing simple, depressing songs and thus shorten the summer days, so uniform for them. Further, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; still further, almost on the edge of the horizon, the Vorobyovy Hills are blue. On the left side one can see vast fields covered with bread, woods, three or four villages and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace. I often come to this place and almost always meet spring there; I come there and grieve with nature on the gloomy days of autumn. The winds howl terribly in the walls of the deserted monastery, between the coffins overgrown tall grass, and in the dark passages of the cells. There, leaning on the ruins of grave stones, I listen to the dull groan of the times, swallowed up by the abyss of the past - a groan from which my heart trembles and trembles. Sometimes I go into the cells and imagine those who lived in them - sad pictures! Here I see a gray-haired old man kneeling before the crucifixion and praying for the speedy resolution of his earthly bonds, for all pleasures have disappeared for him in life, all his feelings have died, except for the feeling of illness and weakness. There a young monk - with a pale face, with a languid gaze - looks out into the field through the bars of the window, sees cheerful birds floating freely in the sea of air, sees - and sheds bitter tears from his eyes. He languishes, withers, dries - and the dull ringing of the bell announces to me his untimely death. Sometimes at the gates of the temple I look at the image of miracles that happened in this monastery, where fish fall from the sky to saturate the inhabitants of the monastery, besieged by numerous enemies; here the image of the Mother of God causes the enemies to flee. All this renews in my memory the history of our fatherland - the sad history of those times when the fierce Tatars and Lithuanians devastated the environs of the Russian capital with fire and sword and when unhappy Moscow, like a defenseless widow, was expecting help from one god in its cruel calamities. But more often than not what attracts me to the walls of Si ... the new monastery is the memory of the deplorable fate of Liza, poor Liza. Oh! I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow! Seventy fathoms from the monastery wall, near a birch grove, in the middle of a green meadow, stands an empty hut, without doors, without endings, without a floor; the roof rotted and collapsed long ago. In this hut, thirty years before this, lived a beautiful, amiable Liza with an old woman, her mother. Lizin's father was a fairly well-to-do peasant, because he loved work, plowed the land well and always led a sober life. But soon after his death, his wife and daughter were impoverished. The lazy hand of the mercenary worked the field poorly, and bread ceased to be born well. They were forced to give their land for rent, and for very little money. Moreover, the poor widow, almost incessantly shedding tears over the death of her husband - for even peasant women know how to love! - day by day she became weak and could not work at all. Liza alone - who remained after her father of fifteen years - Liza alone, not sparing her tender youth, not sparing her rare beauty, worked day and night - weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and taking berries in the summer and selling them in Moscow. A sensitive, kind old woman, seeing her daughter's tirelessness, often pressed her to a weakly beating heart, called her divine mercy, a nurse, the joy of her old age, and prayed to God to reward her for everything she did for her mother. “God gave me hands to work,” said Liza, “you nursed me with your breast and followed me when I was a child; now it's my turn to walk on you. Just stop crushing, stop crying: our tears will not revive priests. " But often tender Liza could not hold back her own tears - ah! she remembered that she had a father and that he was gone, but in order to calm her mother she tried to hide the sadness of her heart and to seem calm and cheerful. “In the next world, dear Liza,” answered the woeful old woman, “in the next world I will stop crying. There, they say, all will be merry; I will surely be happy when I see your father. Only now I don't want to die - what will happen to you without me? Who should I leave you to? No, God forbid, first to attach you to the place! Maybe soon it will be found good person... Then, blessing you, my dear children, I will cross myself and lie quietly in the damp earth. " Two years have passed since the death of Lizin's father. The meadows were covered with flowers, and Liza came to Moscow with lilies of the valley. A young, well-dressed, pleasant-looking man met her on the street. She showed him the flowers and blushed. "Are you selling them, girl?" He asked with a smile. “For sale,” she replied. - "What do you want?" - "Five cents". “It's too cheap. Here's a ruble for you. " - Liza was surprised, dared to look at the young man, - blushed even more and, looking down at the ground, told him that she would not take the ruble. - "For what?" - "I don't need too much." - “I think that beautiful lilies of the valley, plucked by the hands of a beautiful girl, are worth a ruble. When you don’t take it, here’s five kopecks for you. I would like to always buy flowers from you: I would like you to pick them just for me. " - Liza gave the flowers, took five kopecks, bowed and wanted to go, but the stranger stopped her on her hand. - "Where are you going, girl?" - "Home". - "Where is your house?" - Lisa said where she lives, said and went. The young man did not want to restrain her, perhaps for the one that the passers-by began to stop and, looking at them, smiled slyly. Liza, having come home, told her mother what had happened to her. “You did well not to take the ruble. Maybe it was some bad person ... "-" Oh no, mother! I don’t think so. He has such a kind face, such a voice ... "-" However, Liza, it is better to feed on your own labors and not take anything for free. You don't know yet, my friend, how evil people can offend the poor girl! My heart is always out of place when you go to town; I always put a candle in front of the image and pray to the Lord God that he will save you from any misfortune and misfortune. " - Liza had tears in her eyes; she kissed her mother. The next day Liza picked up the best lilies of the valley and again went with them into the city. Her eyes quietly searched for something. Many wanted to buy flowers from her, but she replied that they were not for sale, and looked in one direction or another. Evening came, it was necessary to return home, and the flowers were thrown into the Moskva River. "Nobody owns you!" - said Liza, feeling a kind of sadness in her heart. - The next evening she was sitting under the window, spinning and singing plaintive songs in a low voice, but suddenly she jumped up and shouted: "Ah! .." The young stranger was standing under the window. "What happened to you?" - Asked the frightened mother, who was sitting next to her. - "Nothing, mother, answered Liza in a timid voice, - I just saw him." - "Whom?" - "The gentleman who bought the flowers from me." The old woman looked out the window. The young man bowed to her so politely, with such a pleasant air that she could think of him nothing but good. “Hello, kind old lady! - he said. - I am very tired; do you have fresh milk? " Serving Liza, without waiting for an answer from her mother - perhaps because she knew him in advance - she ran to the cellar - brought a clean jug covered with a clean wooden circle - grabbed a glass, washed it, wiped it with a white towel, poured it and served out the window, but she herself looked at the ground. The stranger drank - and the nectar from Hebe's hands could not have seemed more delicious to him. Everyone will guess that after that he thanked Liza and thanked not so much with his words as with his eyes. Meanwhile, the good-natured old woman managed to tell him about her grief and consolation - about the death of her husband and about the lovely qualities of her daughter, about her hard work and tenderness, and so on. and so on. He listened to her attentively, but his eyes were there - is it necessary to say where? And Liza, timid Liza, glanced from time to time at the young man; but not so quickly the lightning glitters and disappears in the cloud, as quickly her blue eyes turned to the ground, meeting his gaze. “I would like,” he said to his mother, “that your daughter would not sell her work to anyone but me. Thus, she will not need to often go to the city, and you will not be forced to part with her. From time to time I myself can come to you. " - Here in the eyes of the Lizins flashed joy, which she vainly wanted to hide; her cheeks glowed like dawn on a clear summer evening; she looked at her left sleeve and pinched it with her right hand. The old woman eagerly accepted this proposal, not suspecting any evil intention in it, and assured the stranger that the linen woven by Lisa and the stockings knitted by Lisa were superbly good and worn longer than any others. - It was getting dark, and the young man was about to go. "But how can we call you, kind, gentle master?" The old woman asked. “My name is Erastom,” he replied. "Erastom," Liza said quietly, "Erastom!" She repeated this name five times, as if trying to harden it. - Erast said goodbye to them and went. Liza followed him with her eyes, while her mother sat in thought and, taking her daughter by the hand, said to her: “Oh, Liza! How good and kind he is! If only your fiancé was like that! Lizin's whole heart fluttered. "Mother! Mother! How can this be? He is a master, but among the peasants ... ”- Liza did not finish her speech. Now the reader should know that this young man, this Erast was a fairly wealthy nobleman, with a fair mind and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and windy. He led an absent-minded life, thought only of his own pleasure, looked for it in worldly amusements, but often did not find it: he was bored and complained about his fate. The beauty of Lisa at the first meeting made an impression in his heart. He read novels, idylls, had a rather vivid imagination and often moved mentally in those times (former or not), in which, according to the poets, all people carelessly walked through the meadows, bathed in clean springs, kissed like turtle doves, rested under with roses and myrtles and in happy idleness they saw off all their days. It seemed to him that he had found in Liza what his heart had been looking for for a long time. “Nature calls me into her arms, to her pure joys,” he thought, and decided - at least for a while - to leave the big light. Let's turn to Lisa. Night fell - the mother blessed her daughter and wished her a gentle sleep, but this time her wish was not fulfilled: Liza slept very badly. The new guest of her soul, the image of the Erastov, seemed so vividly to her that almost every minute she woke up, woke up and sighed. Even before the sunny ascent, Liza got up, went down to the bank of the Moskva River, sat down on the grass and, puffed up, looked at the white fogs that stirred in the air and, rising up, left shiny drops on the green cover of nature. Silence reigned everywhere. But soon the rising luminary of the day awakened the whole creation: the groves, the bushes revived, the birds fluttered and sang, the flowers raised their heads to be nourished by the life-giving rays of light. But Liza was still giddy. Ah, Lisa, Lisa! What happened to you? Until now, waking up with the birds, you rejoiced with them in the morning, and a pure, joyful soul shone in your eyes, like the sun shines in drops of heavenly dew; but now you are brooding, and the general joy of nature is alien to your heart. “Meanwhile, a young shepherd drove the flock along the river bank, playing the flute. Liza fixed her gaze on him and thought: “If the one who now occupies my thoughts was born a simple peasant, a shepherd, and if he were now driving his flock past me: ah! I would bow to him with a smile and say kindly: “Hello, dear shepherd boy! Where are you driving your flock? And here grows green grass for your sheep, and here flowers shine, from which you can weave a wreath for your hat. " He would look at me with an air of affection - he would, perhaps, take my hand ... Dream! " The shepherd, playing the flute, passed by and with his motley flock disappeared behind a nearby hill. Suddenly Liza heard the sound of oars - she looked at the river and saw a boat, and in the boat - Erast. All the veins in her were hammered, and, of course, not from fear. She got up, wanted to go, but could not. Erast jumped ashore, went up to Liza and - her dream was partly fulfilled: for he looked at her with an air of affection, took her hand ... And Liza, Liza stood with downcast eyes, with fiery cheeks, with a trembling heart - she could not take her hands away from him - could not turn away when he approached her with his pink lips ... Ah! He kissed her, kissed her with such fervor that the whole universe seemed to her on fire burning! “Dear Liza! - said Erast. - Dear Liza! I love you, ”and these words echoed in the depths of her soul, like heavenly, delightful music; she hardly dared to believe her ears and ... But I throw down the brush. I will only say that at this moment of delight Liza's timidity disappeared - Erast learned that he is loved, loved with a passionate new, pure, open heart. They sat on the grass, and so that there was not much space left between them, they looked into each other's eyes, said to each other: "Love me!", And two hours seemed to them in an instant. Finally Lisa remembered that her mother might worry about her. It was necessary to part. “Ah, Erast! - she said. "Will you always love me?" - "Always, dear Lisa, always!" - he answered. - "And you can give me an oath in this?" - "I can, dear Liza, I can!" - "No! I don't need an oath. I believe you, Erast, I believe. Can you deceive poor Liza? After all, this cannot be? " - "You can't, you can't, dear Liza!" - "How happy I am, and how happy my mother will be when she finds out that you love me!" - “Oh no, Liza! She doesn't need to say anything. " - "For what?" “Old people are suspicious. She will imagine something bad. " - "It is impossible to become." “However, I ask you not to tell her a word about it.” - "Good: I must obey you, although I would not like to hide anything from her." - They said goodbye, kissed for the last time and promised to see each other every day either on the banks of the rock, or in a birch grove, or somewhere near Lisa's hut, just right, they will certainly see each other. Liza went, but her eyes a hundred times turned to Erast, who was still standing on the shore and looking after her. Liza returned to her hut in a completely different disposition from which she had left. Her face and all her movements showed heartfelt joy. "He loves me!" - she thought and admired this thought. “Ah, mother! - said Liza to her mother, who had just woken up. - Ah, mother! What a wonderful morning! How fun it all is in the field! Never have larks sang so well, never the sun shone so brightly, never flowers smelled so nice! " - The old woman, leaning on her hook, went out into the meadow to enjoy the morning, which Lisa described with such lovely colors. It, in fact, struck her as extremely pleasant; the amiable daughter, with her merriment, amused all nature for her. “Ah, Liza! She said. - How well everything is with the Lord God! I am in my sixties, but I still can't look at the deeds of the Lord, I can't look at clear sky like a high tent, and like a land that every year is covered with new grass and new flowers. It is necessary that the king of heaven be very fond of a person when he so well removed the light of this place for him. Ah, Lisa! Who would want to die if sometimes there was no grief for us? .. Apparently, it is so necessary. Perhaps we would have forgotten our souls if tears had never dripped from our eyes. " And Liza thought: “Ah! I would rather forget my soul than my dear friend! " After that, Erast and Liza, fearing not to keep their word, saw each other every evening (when Liza's mother went to bed) either on the banks of the river, or in a birch grove, but most often under the shade of hundred-year-old oaks (fathoms eighty from the hut) - oak trees , overshadowing a deep, clean pond, fossilized in ancient times. There, the often quiet moon, through the green branches, streaked Liza's blond hair with its rays, with which marshmallows and the hand of a dear friend played; often these rays illuminated in the eyes of tender Liza a brilliant tear of love, always drained by Erast's kiss. They hugged - but the chaste, bashful Cynthia did not hide from them behind a cloud: their embrace was pure and immaculate. “When you, - said Lisa to Erast, - when you say to me: 'I love you, my friend!', When you press me to your heart and look at me with sweet eyes, ah! then it happens to me so good, so good that I forget myself, forget everything except - Erast. Wonderful! It's wonderful, my friend, that without knowing you, I could live peacefully and cheerfully! Now I don't understand this, now I think that without you life is not life, but sadness and boredom. The bright month is dark without your eyes; the singing nightingale is boring without your voice; without your breath the breeze is unpleasant to me. - Erast admired his shepherdess - so he called Liza - and, seeing how much she loved him, seemed more amiable to himself. All the brilliant fun of the big world seemed to him insignificant in comparison with the pleasures that passionate friendship an innocent soul nourished his heart. He thought with disgust of the contemptuous sensuality with which his senses had previously reveled. "I will live with Liza like brother and sister," he thought, "I will not use her love for evil and I will always be happy!" - Reckless young man! Do you know your heart? Can you always be responsible for your movements? Is reason always the king of your feelings? Lisa demanded that Erast often visit her mother. “I love her,” she said, “and I want her well, but it seems to me that seeing you is a great prosperity for everyone.” The old woman really was always happy when she saw him. She loved to talk to him about her late husband and tell him about the days of her youth, about how she first met her dear Ivan, how he fell in love with her and in what love, in what agreement he lived with her. "Oh! We could never look at each other - until the very hour when cruel death knocked his legs down. He died in my arms! " - Erast listened to her with genuine pleasure. He bought Liza's work from her and always wanted to pay ten times the price she charged, but the old woman never took too much. Several weeks passed in this way. One evening Erast waited a long time for his Lisa. At last she came, but she was so sad that he was frightened; her eyes were red with tears. “Lisa, Lisa! What happened to you? " - “Ah, Erast! I cried!" - "About what? What?" “I have to tell you everything. A groom, the son of a rich peasant from a neighboring village, is wooing me; Mother wants me to marry him. " - "And you agree?" - "Cruel! Can you ask about this? Yes, I am sorry for mother; she cries and says that I do not want her peace of mind, that she will suffer at death if she does not marry me in front of her. Oh! Mother does not know that I have such a dear friend! " - Erast kissed Liza, said that her happiness is dearer to him than anything in the world, that after her mother's death he would take her to him and live with her inseparably, in the village and in the dense forests, as in paradise. - "However, you cannot be my husband!" - said Liza with a soft sigh. - "Why then?" - "I am a peasant woman." - “You offend me. The most important thing for your friend is the soul, the sensitive, innocent soul - and Lisa will always be the closest to my heart. " She threw herself into his arms - and in this hour purity must perish! - Erast felt an extraordinary excitement in his blood - never Liza seemed so charming to him - never her caresses touched him so much - never her kisses were so fiery - she knew nothing, suspected nothing, was afraid of anything - the darkness of the evening fed desires - not a single star shone in the sky - no ray could illuminate delusion. - Erast feels a thrill in himself - Liza also, not knowing why - not knowing what is happening to her ... Ah, Liza, Liza! Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence? The delusion passed in one minute. Leela did not understand her feelings, was surprised and asked. Erast was silent - looking for words and did not find them. “Oh, I'm afraid,” Liza said, “I'm afraid of what happened to us! It seemed to me that I was dying, that my soul ... No, I cannot say that! .. Are you silent, Erast? Are you sighing? .. My God! What?" - Meanwhile lightning flashed and thunder struck. Liza trembled all over. “Erast, Erast! - she said. - I'm scared! I'm afraid the thunder will kill me like a criminal! " The storm was roaring menacingly, rain was pouring from black clouds - it seemed that nature was complaining about Liza's lost innocence. - Erast tried to calm Liza and escorted her to the hut. Tears rolled from her eyes as she said goodbye to him. “Ah, Erast! Assure me that we will continue to be happy! " - "We will, Liza, we will!" - he answered. - “God forbid! I must not believe your words: I love you! Only in my heart ... But full! Sorry! Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll see you. " Their meetings continued; but how everything has changed! Erast could no longer be content to be only the innocent caresses of his Lisa - only her love filled with eyes - one touch of the hand, one kiss, one pure embrace. He wished for more, more, and, finally, could not desire anything - and whoever knows his heart, who has contemplated the quality of his most tender pleasures, will, of course, agree with me that fulfillment of all desire is the most dangerous temptation of love. For Erast, Liza was no longer this angel of purity, which had previously inflamed his imagination and delighted his soul. Platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not to be proud and which were no longer new to him. As for Liza, she, completely surrendering to him, only lived and breathed to them, in everything, like a lamb, obeyed his will and in his pleasure laid her happiness. She saw a change in him and often told him: "Before you were more cheerful, before we were calmer and happier, and before I was not so afraid of losing your love!" “Sometimes, saying goodbye to her, he would say to her:“ Tomorrow, Liza, I cannot see you: I have met an important matter, ”and each time Liza sighed at these words. Finally, for five days in a row she did not see him and was in the greatest anxiety; on the sixth he came with a sad face and said to her: “Dear Liza! I must say goodbye to you for a while. You know that we have a war, I am in the service, my regiment is going on a campaign. " - Liza turned pale and almost fainted. Erast caressed her, said that he would always love dear Liza and hoped, upon his return, never to part with her. For a long time she was silent, then burst into bitter tears, grabbed his hand and, looking at him with all the tenderness of love, asked: "You can't stay?" “I can,” he answered, “but only with the greatest disgrace, with the greatest stain for my honor. Everyone will despise me; everyone will abhor me as a coward, as an unworthy son of the fatherland. " “Oh, when it’s like that,” said Liza, “then go, go where God commands! But you can be killed. " - "Death for the fatherland is not terrible, dear Liza." - "I will die as soon as you are gone." “But why think about it? I hope to stay alive, I hope to return to you, my friend. " - “God forbid! God forbid! Every day, every hour I will pray for that. Oh, why can't I read or write! You would notify me about everything that happens to you, and I would write to you - about my tears! " - “No, take care of yourself, Liza, take care for your friend. I don’t want you to cry without me. ” - "Cruel person! You think to deprive me of this joy too! No! After parting with you, unless then will I stop crying when my heart dries up. " - "Think about a pleasant moment in which we will see you again." - “I will, I will think about her! Oh, if only she came sooner! My dear, dear Erast! Remember, remember your poor Liza, who loves you more than herself! " But I cannot describe everything they said on this occasion. The next day was supposed to be the last meeting. Erast wanted to say goodbye to Liza's mother, who could not help crying when she heard that affectionate, handsome gentleman her must go to war. He forced her to take some money from him, saying: "I do not want Lisa to sell her work in my absence, which, by agreement, belongs to me." - The old woman showered him with blessings. “God grant,” she said, “that you return to us safely and that I see you again in this life! Perhaps my Liza by that time will find herself a groom for her thoughts. How I would thank God if you would come to our wedding! When Lisa will have children, know, master, that you must baptize them! Oh! I would really like to live to see this! " - Liza stood beside her mother and did not dare to look at her. The reader can easily imagine what she felt at that moment. But what did she feel when Erast, embracing her and for the last time, pressing her to his heart for the last time, said: "Forgive me, Liza!" What a touching picture! The morning dawn, like a scarlet sea, spread across the eastern sky. Erast stood under the branches of a tall oak tree, holding in his arms his pale, languid, sorrowful friend, who, saying goodbye to him, said goodbye to her soul. The whole nature was silent. Lisa sobbed - Erast cried - left her - she fell - knelt down, raised her hands to the sky and looked at Erast, who was receding - further - further - and finally disappeared - the sun shone, and Liza, abandoned, poor, lost her feelings and memory ... She came to her senses - and the light seemed to her dull and sad. All the pleasures of nature were hidden for her along with the dear to her heart. "Oh! She thought. - Why did I stay in this desert? What is keeping me from flying after dear Erast? War is not terrible for me; scary where my friend is not. I want to live with him, I want to die with him, or by my death to save his precious life. Wait, wait, dear! I'm flying to you!" - She already wanted to run after Erast, but the thought: "I have a mother!" - stopped her. Liza sighed and, bowing her head, walked with quiet steps to her hut. - From this hour on, her days were days of longing and sorrow, which had to be hidden from her tender mother: how much more did her heart suffer! Then it was only relieved when Liza, secluded in the thickness of the forest, could freely shed tears and groan about the separation from her sweetheart. Often the sad turtledove combined her plaintive voice with her moaning. But sometimes - although very rarely - a golden ray of hope, a ray of consolation, illuminated the darkness of her sorrow. “When he comes back to me, how happy I will be! How everything will change! " - from this thought her gaze cleared up, the roses on her cheeks were refreshed, and Liza smiled like a May morning after a stormy night. - In this way, about two months have passed. One day Liza had to go to Moscow, then to buy rose water, with which her mother treated her eyes. On one of the big streets she met a magnificent carriage, and in this carriage she saw - Erast. "Oh!" - Liza shouted and rushed to him, but the carriage passed by and turned into the yard. Erast went out and was about to go to the porch of a huge house, when he suddenly felt himself in Lisa's arms. He turned pale - then, without answering a word to her exclamations, he took her hand, led her into his office, locked the door and said to her: “Liza! Circumstances have changed; I am engaged to marry; you must leave me alone and for your own peace of mind forget me. I loved you and now I love you, that is, I wish you all the best. Here is a hundred rubles - take them, - he put the money in her pocket, - let me kiss you one last time - and go home. " - Before Liza could come to her senses, he took her out of the office and said to the servant: "Show this girl out of the yard." My heart is bleeding at this very minute. I forget the man in Erast - I am ready to curse him - but my tongue does not move - I look at the sky, and a tear rolls down my face. Oh! Why am I writing not a novel, but a sad story? So, Erast tricked Lisa by telling her that he was going to the army? - No, he really was in the army, but instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost almost all of his estate. Peace was soon concluded, and Erast returned to Moscow, burdened with debts. He had only one way to improve his circumstances - to marry an elderly rich widow who had long been in love with him. He decided on that and moved to live with her in the house, devoting a sincere sigh to his Lisa. But can all this justify him? Lisa found herself on the street and in a position that no pen can describe. “Did he, did he kick me out? Does he love another? I am lost! " - these are her thoughts, her feelings! A severe faint interrupted them for a while. One kind woman who was walking down the street stopped over Liza, who was lying on the ground, and tried to bring her into memory. The unhappy woman opened her eyes - got up with the help of this kind woman, - thanked her and went without knowing where. “I can't live,” Liza thought, “I can't! .. Oh, if the sky had fallen on me! If the land swallowed up the poor! .. No! the sky does not fall; the earth does not shake! Woe is me!" - She left the city and suddenly saw herself on the bank of a deep pond, under the shade of ancient oaks, which for several weeks before had been silent witnesses of her raptures. This memory shook her soul; the most terrible anguish of the heart was shown on her face. But after a few minutes she plunged into some thoughtfulness - she looked around her, saw the daughter of her neighbor (a fifteen-year-old girl) walking along the road, - she called her, took ten imperials out of her pocket and, handing it to her, said: “Dear Anyuta, dear friend! Take this money to mother - they are not stolen - tell her that Liza is to blame against her, that I concealed from her my love for one cruel man - to E ... Why know his name? - Say that he cheated on me, - ask her to forgive me, - God will be her helper, - kiss her hand as I kiss yours now, - say that poor Liza ordered to kiss her, - say that I ... "Then she threw herself into the water. Anyuta screamed, cried, but could not save her, ran to the village - people gathered and pulled Liza out, but she was already dead. Thus, she died her beautiful life in body and soul. When we there, in a new life, see you, I recognize you, gentle Liza! She was buried near a pond, under a gloomy oak tree, and a wooden cross was placed on her grave. Here I often sit in thought, leaning on Lizin's container of ashes; a pond flows in my eyes; leaves rustle over me. Liza's mother heard about terrible death her daughter, and her blood grew cold with terror - her eyes closed forever. - The hut is empty. The wind howls in it, and the superstitious villagers, hearing this noise at night, say: "There is a dead man moaning: there is poor Liza moaning!" Erast was unhappy for the rest of his life. Having learned about the fate of Lizina, he could not be comforted and considered himself a murderer. I met him a year before his death. He himself told me this story and led me to Lisa's grave. - Now, maybe they have already reconciled!"Poor Liza" (1792), which is based on the educational idea of the extra-class value of the human person, is rightly recognized as the best story of Karamzin. The problematic of the story is of a social and moral character: the peasant woman Liza is opposed by the nobleman Erast. The characters are revealed in the attitude of the heroes to love. Liza's feelings are distinguished by depth, constancy, unselfishness: she perfectly understands that she is not destined to be the wife of Erast. Twice throughout the story, she talks about this. Lisa loves Erast selflessly, without thinking about the consequences of her passion. This feeling cannot be hindered by any selfish calculations. During one of the dates, Lisa informs Erast that the son of a rich peasant from a neighboring village is wooing her and that her mother really wants this marriage.
Erast is depicted in the story not as a treacherous deceiver-seducer. Such a decision social problem it would be too rude and straightforward. He was, according to Karamzin, "a rather rich nobleman" with a "naturally kind" heart, "but weak and windy ... He led an absent-minded life, thinking only about his pleasure ...". Thus, the whole, selfless character of the peasant woman is contrasted with the character of a kind, but spoiled by an idle life of a gentleman, who is not able to think about the consequences of his actions. The intention to seduce a gullible girl was not part of his plans. At first he thought about "pure joys", intended to "live with Liza as a brother and sister." But Erast did not know his character well and overestimated his moral strength too much. Soon, according to Karamzin, he “could no longer be content with being ... pure embrace alone. He wanted more, more and, finally, he could not desire anything. " There comes satiety and a desire to get rid of the boring connection.
It should be noted that the image of Erast is accompanied by a very prosaic leitmotif - money, which in sentimental literature has always evoked a condemnatory attitude towards itself. Sentimental writers express true sincere help in selfless deeds. Let us recall how resolutely Radishchev's Anyuta rejects the hundred rubles offered to her. The blind singer in the chapter "Wedge" behaves in exactly the same way, refusing the "rublevik" and accepting only a neckerchief from the traveler.
Erast, at the very first meeting with Lisa, seeks to amaze her imagination with his generosity, offering a whole ruble for lilies of the valley instead of five kopecks. Lisa decisively refuses this money, which causes full approval of her mother. Erast, wishing to win over the girl's mother, asks only him to sell her products and always seeks to pay ten times more, but "the old woman never took too much." Liza, loving Erast, refuses a prosperous peasant who has wooed her. Erast, for the sake of money, marries a rich elderly widow. At the last meeting with Lisa, Erast tries to buy off her with "ten imperials". This scene is perceived as blasphemy, as an outrage over Liza's love: on one side of the scales - all life, thoughts, hopes, on the other - “ten imperials”. A hundred years later, Leo Tolstoy will repeat it in his novel Resurrection.
For Lisa, the loss of Erast is tantamount to the loss of life. Further existence becomes meaningless, and she lays hands on herself. The tragic ending of the story testified to the creative courage of Karamzin, who did not want to reduce the significance of the socio-ethical problem put forward by him by a successful outcome. Where a big, strong feeling came into conflict with the foundations of the feudal world, there could be no idyll.
For the sake of maximum plausibility, Karamzin linked the plot of his story with specific places in the then Moscow region. Liza's house is located on the banks of the Moskva River, not far from the Simonov Monastery. Meetings of Liza and Erast take place near Simonov Pond, which after the release of the story was named "Lizin's Pond". All these realities made an overwhelming impression on the readers. The surroundings of the Simonov Monastery have become a place of pilgrimage for numerous admirers of the writer.
In the story "Poor Liza" Karamzin showed himself to be a great psychologist. He was able to masterfully reveal the inner world of his heroes, first of all, their love experiences. Before Karamzin, the experiences of the heroes were declared in the heroes' monologues. The latter refers primarily to epistolary works. Karamzin found more subtle, more complex artistic means that help the reader, as it were, guess what feelings his characters are experiencing through their external manifestations. The lyrical content of the story is reflected in its style. In a number of cases, Karamzin's prose becomes rhythmic, approaching poetic speech. This is how Liza's love confessions to Erast sound like: “Without your eyes, the bright month is dark, // without your voice the singing nightingale is boring; // without your breath the breeze is not pleasant to me. "
