It’s not a matter for women to look for something happy.
N. Nekrasov. Who lives well in Rus'?
A significant part of N.A.’s creativity Nekrasov is dedicated to the theme of the Russian people. The poet considered it his civic and human duty to raise the problem of the oppressed position of the peasantry, to illuminate the difficult, sad aspects of the life of the Russian people.
A large place among Nekrasov’s works is occupied by those that describe the difficult lot of a Russian woman, a Russian peasant woman. The poet believed that it is the woman who bears the most heavy cross, because an almost impossible task falls on her fragile shoulders - to preserve love, to raise children in the harsh Russian reality.
The theme of women’s fate also occupies an important place in Nekrasov’s main work, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The work is “populated” with quite a large number of female images, allowing the author to reveal it ideological plan. Thus, at the beginning of the poem, Nekrasov gives a generalized image of a Russian peasant woman. We see women dressed up for a “rural fair”: “The women are wearing red dresses, The girls are wearing braids with ribbons, They are floating in winches!” Among them there are fashionistas who are entertaining, and there are also envious women who prophesy a famine, the cause of which is that “women have begun to dress up in red calico...”
In more detail women's destinies depicted in the chapter “Drunken Night”. Here we are faced with the fate of a simple woman who works in the city for rich people: “You are their cook during the day. And their night is miserable...” We meet Daryushka, emaciated from backbreaking work; a woman starved for love; women whose homes are worse than hell: “And the younger son-in-law keeps taking the knife, He’s about to kill him, he’s going to kill him!”
And finally, the culmination of the “female theme” in the poem is the part “Peasant Woman”, the main character of which is Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina. This is a Russian peasant woman, whose fate is an illustration of the difficult female lot, but also of the unbending Russian character, the “treasury” of the Russian soul.
“The Peasant Woman” describes almost Korchagina’s entire life, from youth to adulthood. According to the author, the fate of Matryona Timofeevna is the generalized fate of the Russian peasant woman in general.
So, our acquaintance with the heroine begins with the rumor that spreads about her in the surrounding villages. People consider Matryona Timofeevna - the “governor” - happy, and wanderers set off on a journey to look at this “miracle”.
A beautiful Russian woman of about thirty-eight appears before them:
...hair with graying hair,
The eyes are large, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark.
Korchagina succumbs to the persuasion of the wanderers and openly tells the story of her life. We learn that the heroine considers childhood the happiest time of her life. And no wonder - “We had a good, non-drinking family,” in which everyone loved and cared for each other. However, soon the time came to get married. Although here the heroine was lucky - her husband, a “stranger,” loved Matryona. But, having got married, the heroine found herself “in captivity from the will” - in big family, where she, the youngest daughter-in-law, had to please everyone and not even count on a kind word.
Only with grandfather Savely Matryona could talk about everything, cry, ask for advice. But her grandfather, unwittingly, caused her terrible pain - he did not “look after” Matryona’s little son, “he fed Demidushka to the pigs.” And after this, the judges, investigating the case, accused Korchagina of intentional murder and did not allow the baby to be buried without an autopsy.
Nekrasov emphasizes the heroine’s helplessness and lack of rights; she can only follow Savely’s advice:
Be patient, multi-branched one!
Be patient, long-suffering one!
We can't find the truth.
These words became the refrain of the heroine’s entire life, who had to endure terrible hunger, illness, and insults from those in power. Only once did she “find the truth” - she “begged” her husband from governor Elena Alexandrovna, and saved Philip from an unfair soldiery. Perhaps that’s why, or maybe because she didn’t break down, didn’t lose the will to live, and they called Matryona happy.
However, she herself, without complaining about fate, does not consider herself happy. Matryona thinks that there cannot be happy women among women, because it is written in their nature to worry, suffer for loved ones, take on other people’s work, and so on:
Don't touch women, -
What a god! you pass with nothing
To the grave!
Thus, in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov generally showed the fate of a Russian woman, a Russian peasant woman. According to the author, her share is the heaviest. A woman has to suffer from a powerless position in the family and in society, worry about the fate of her children and loved ones, and work backbreakingly. However, even in such conditions, a Russian peasant woman knows how to preserve external and internal beauty, her soul - love for people, kindness, desire to live, give birth to children, and enjoy harmonious work.
Russian woman in the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
Share you! - Russian female share!
Hardly any more difficult to find.
N. A. Nekrasov
From an early age I fell in love with the poetry of N. A. Nekrasov. All his life he served "the great purposes of the century." His muse is the sister of the disadvantaged. Especially dear to me are the poems dedicated to the hopelessness of the lot of the Russian peasant woman. It seems to me that these are the best poems of the poet, speaking about the bitter, long-suffering fate of a working woman.
No wonder you wither before your time,
All-bearing Russian tribe
Long-suffering mother!
The image of a working woman, a “sufferer, a sad woman,” created by the poet, forever sinks into the soul. The peasant woman experienced not only social oppression, but also everyday oppression. This is how the poet writes about it in the poem “Frost, Red Nose”: Fate had three hard parts. And the first part is to marry a slave, the second is to be the mother of a slave’s son, and the third is to obey a slave until the grave,
In the gallery of remarkable female images, a special place is occupied by the image of Matryona Timofeevna, the heroine of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Popular rumor brings truth-seeking peasants to the village of Klin. Here they hope to meet a happy peasant woman. Matryona Timofeevna herself tells them about her difficult life. How much severe suffering befell this “happy” woman! But her entire appearance emanates such beauty and strength that one cannot help but admire her. As she reminds me of “the type of majestic Slavic woman” about whom the poet wrote with delight: She will not falter in trouble, she will save, she will stop a galloping horse, she will enter a burning hut! Natural beauty and physical strength to match her spiritual beauty. How quickly they flashed by happy years childhood and girlhood. Matryona Timofeevna, in her words, was lucky as a girl: I was lucky as a girl: We had a good, non-drinking family. The family surrounded their beloved daughter with care and affection. However, the time of serene childhood quickly passed. In her “seventh year,” says Matryona Timofeevna, “she ran after the beetle herself... among the herd, took it to her father for breakfast, and tended the ducklings.” She got so “accustomed” to the task that she spent the rest of her life breastfeeding tirelessly. But physical work did not bring Matryona Timofeevna any grief. The worst thing is spiritual slavery. Matryona Timofeevna, having worked in the field, washes herself in the bathhouse and is ready to sing and dance: And a good worker, And a huntress to sing and dance, I was from a young age. But how few bright moments there are in her life! One of them is an engagement to her beloved Philippushka. Matryona did not sleep all night, thinking about her upcoming marriage: she was afraid of “servitude.” And yet love turned out to be stronger than the fear of falling into slavery. And then, after marriage, she went “from her maiden will to hell.” “Exhausting work”, “mortal grievances”, severe misfortunes with children, separation from her husband, who was illegally recruited, and many other adversities - such is the bitter life path Matryona Timofeevna. She speaks with pain about what is in her:
There is no unbroken bone,
There is no unstretched vein.
I am amazed at the resilience, the courage with which this wonderful woman endured suffering without bowing her proud head. Your heart bleeds when you read the lines of the poem about the inconsolable grief of a mother who lost her first-born son Demushka: I rolled around like a club, I curled up like a worm, I called and woke up Demushka - But it was too late to call! . The mind is ready to be clouded by a terrible misfortune. But enormous spiritual strength helps Matryona Timofeevna to survive, return to life again and actively fight against all everyday adversities. She sends angry curses to her enemies, the guard and the doctor, who are tormenting the “white body” of her son: “Villains! Executioners!” Matryona Timofeevna wants to find justice for them, but her fellow villagers do not advise her to enter into a fight with them: “God is high, the king is far away... We won’t find the truth.” When a misfortune happens to her second son, she decisively knocks down the headman of Silantia, saving Fedotushka from punishment. Matryona Timofeevna is ready to withstand any test, inhuman torment, in order to defend her children and husband from everyday troubles. What enormous willpower a woman must have to go alone into the frosty winter night tens of miles to the provincial town in search of the truth. “I walked all night and didn’t meet a living soul,” Matryona Timofeevna tells the wanderers. Her love for her husband is boundless, having withstood such a severe test. The governor's wife, amazed by her selfless act, showed “great mercy”: They sent a messenger to Klin, They brought out the whole truth - they saved Philippushka. The sense of self-esteem that Matryona Timofeevna developed in her girlhood helps her move majestically through life. This feeling protects her from the arrogant claims of Sitnikov, who seeks to make her his mistress. Anger against her enslavers gathers like a cloud in her soul. She is ready to take revenge on them for her grievances, I wear my head down, I carry an angry heart! - she says. When grandfather Savely teaches his beloved granddaughter to endure, declaring that a man’s heroism lies in his endurance, Matryona Timofeevna remarks ironically: You’re joking, grandpa! - Such a mighty hero, Guy, will be eaten by mice! Huge inner strength, hatred of oppressors and the ability to protest are those wonderful qualities that distinguish Matryona Timofeevna. The image of Matryona Timofeevna is very close, understandable and dear to me. People like her testified to the heroic, indestructible strength hidden in people's soul.
The poet believes that People's Power, Mighty Power - A calm conscience - The truth is tenacious! Nekrasov is convinced of the powerful moral strength people. She believes that “the keys to women’s happiness,” “abandoned and lost from God himself,” will be found. This faith turned out to be prophetic. Our people, as the poet dreamed, have taken the “broad and clear” road of life. The poet was right when he argued that “the Russian people do not need limits.” Send a request indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of receiving a consultation.
Essay text:
In Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, the main character of the great poet’s work, the people, appears more fully and brightly than in other works. Here Nekrasov draws various types of peasants, comprehensively showing their life both in grief and in “happiness”.
One of the most striking in the poem is the image of Matryona Timofeevna, a typical Russian peasant woman, an image that embodies the traits of all the women of Mother Rus' with their difficult and sometimes tragic fate, but who managed to preserve their natural intelligence, kindness, and love for their neighbors.
The images of peasant women drawn by Nekrasov in works written before the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” are incomparable with the image of Matryona Timofeevna. If earlier the poet portrayed the peasant woman as patient, downtrodden ("You are all embodied fear, You are all the age-old languor"), submissive ("To the death of a slave to submit"), now he strives to show the emergence in a Russian woman of anger, protest against inhuman conditions, desire get rid of humility and submission.
Matryona Timofeevna appears before us in all her greatness: she is “stern and dark,” “a dignified woman, broad and dense, about thirty-eight years old.” Nekrasov describes the beauty of Matryona Timofeevna with warmth and love: “...gray hair, large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes...”
A peasant woman tells the wanderers the deeply moving story of her life. Her family “was good,” they didn’t drink, everyone loved her, cared for her and spoiled her. The girl grew up cheerful and hard-working, she loved nature, did not know trouble and sorrow.
But after Matryona’s marriage, fate turned away from her. Matryona’s path was difficult: her new family did not like her, everyone tried to offend her, overwhelm her with work, and her husband did not spoil her. But then she gave birth to a son, Demushka, who drove “all the anger from the soul” of the mother. Matryona calmed down: “No matter what they tell me, I work, no matter how much they scold me, I remain silent.”
But trouble doesn’t go alone. My beloved Demushka died, my parents and grandfather Savely, a man spiritually close to Matryona, died, and my husband was almost drafted into the army.
Matryona did not remain a soldier; pride awoke in her, anger and resentment at such injustice. With her own strength, the peasant woman achieved the return of her husband Philip, and did not submit to fate.
After a story about the most severe trials she endured in life, Matryona Timofeevna confesses to the wanderers: “I have a bowed head, I carry an angry heart...”
Matryona Timofeevna is a worthy granddaughter of grandfather Savely; in terms of courage and vitality, she is in no way inferior to him. She does not tolerate, but acts, seeks and finds a way out of the most difficult situations. The character of this woman is a new type in the depiction of the peasantry. And although not all vices have yet been exterminated, new character traits, previously not characteristic of the people, are already emerging here. The type of peasant rebel, fighter and patriot appears.
I believe that the image of Matryona Timofeevna deepens the understanding of life ordinary people, shows their development, initial fearlessness and courage combined with kindness, affection, and dedication.
The image of Matryona Timofeevna is in many ways a new type of Russian peasant woman.
The rights to the essay “The Image of a Russian Woman in N. A. Nekrasov’s Poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”” belong to its author. When quoting material, it is necessary to indicate a hyperlink to
It’s not a matter for women to look for something happy.
N. Nekrasov. Who lives well in Rus'?
A significant part of N.A.’s creativity Nekrasov is dedicated to the theme of the Russian people. The poet considered it his civic and human duty to raise the problem of the oppressed position of the peasantry, to illuminate the difficult, sad aspects of the life of the Russian people.
A large place among Nekrasov’s works is occupied by those that describe the difficult lot of a Russian woman, a Russian peasant woman. The poet believed that it is the woman who bears the heaviest cross, because an almost impossible task falls on her fragile shoulders - to preserve love, to raise children in the harsh Russian reality.
The theme of women’s fate also occupies an important place in Nekrasov’s main work, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The work is “populated” by a fairly large number of female images, allowing the author to reveal his ideological intent. Thus, at the beginning of the poem, Nekrasov gives a generalized image of a Russian peasant woman. We see women dressed up for a “rural fair”: “The women are wearing red dresses, The girls are wearing braids with ribbons, They are floating in winches!” Among them there are fashionistas who are entertaining, and there are also envious women who prophesy a famine, the cause of which is that “women have begun to dress up in red calico...”
Women's destinies are depicted in more detail in the chapter “Drunken Night”. Here we are faced with the fate of a simple woman who works in the city for rich people: “You are their cook during the day. And their night is miserable...” We meet Daryushka, emaciated from backbreaking work; a woman starved for love; women whose homes are worse than hell: “And the younger son-in-law keeps taking the knife, He’s about to kill him, he’s going to kill him!”
And finally, the culmination of the “female theme” in the poem is the part “Peasant Woman”, the main character of which is Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina. This is a Russian peasant woman, whose fate is an illustration of the difficult female lot, but also of the unbending Russian character, the “treasury” of the Russian soul.
“The Peasant Woman” describes almost Korchagina’s entire life, from youth to adulthood. According to the author, the fate of Matryona Timofeevna is the generalized fate of the Russian peasant woman in general.
So, our acquaintance with the heroine begins with the rumor that spreads about her in the surrounding villages. People consider Matryona Timofeevna - the “governor” - happy, and wanderers set off on a journey to look at this “miracle”.
A beautiful Russian woman of about thirty-eight appears before them:
...hair with graying hair,
The eyes are large, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark.
Korchagina succumbs to the persuasion of the wanderers and openly tells the story of her life. We learn that the heroine considers childhood the happiest time of her life. And no wonder - “We had a good, non-drinking family,” in which everyone loved and cared for each other. However, soon the time came to get married. Although here the heroine was lucky - her husband, a “stranger,” loved Matryona. But, having got married, the heroine found herself “in captivity from the will” - in a large family, where she, the youngest daughter-in-law, had to please everyone and not even count on a kind word.
Only with grandfather Savely Matryona could talk about everything, cry, ask for advice. But her grandfather, unwittingly, caused her terrible pain - he did not “look after” Matryona’s little son, “he fed Demidushka to the pigs.” And after this, the judges, investigating the case, accused Korchagina of intentional murder and did not allow the baby to be buried without an autopsy.
Nekrasov emphasizes the heroine’s helplessness and lack of rights; she can only follow Savely’s advice:
Be patient, multi-branched one!
Be patient, long-suffering one!
We can't find the truth.
These words became the refrain of the heroine’s entire life, who had to endure terrible hunger, illness, and insults from those in power. Only once did she “find the truth” - she “begged” her husband from governor Elena Alexandrovna, and saved Philip from an unfair soldiery. Perhaps that’s why, or maybe because she didn’t break down, didn’t lose the will to live, and they called Matryona happy.
However, she herself, without complaining about fate, does not consider herself happy. Matryona thinks that there cannot be happy women among women, because it is written in their nature to worry, suffer for loved ones, take on other people’s work, and so on:
Don't touch women, -
What a god! you pass with nothing
To the grave!
In support of this idea, the author cites a parable about the keys “to women’s happiness” that no one can find - even God himself forgot about their existence.
Thus, in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov generally showed the fate of a Russian woman, a Russian peasant woman. According to the author, her share is the heaviest. A woman has to suffer from a powerless position in the family and in society, worry about the fate of her children and loved ones, and work backbreakingly. However, even in such conditions, a Russian peasant woman knows how to preserve external and internal beauty, her soul - love for people, kindness, desire to live, give birth to children, and enjoy harmonious work.
The image of a Russian woman and her fate occupy a special place in Nekrasov’s poetry. A woman is always the main bearer of life, the embodiment of its fullness and diversity. In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the largest of all chapters, “The Peasant Woman,” is devoted to understanding the female lot. The image of Matryona Timofeevna embodied the features of all Russian women connected by the same fate. A woman’s lot is difficult and sometimes tragic, but, not bending under the blows of fate, the Russian woman remains the embodiment of wisdom, kindness and love.
Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is not young, and, probably, it is no coincidence that the poet inscribed her image in the most mature, most fertile time of nature - the time of harvest. After all, maturity implies summing up life's results, rethinking the years lived - a kind of harvesting.
What does Matryona Timofeevna reap? Nekrasov shows the Russian peasant woman in all her greatness:
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
About thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray streaked hair,
The eyes are big and strict
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark.
It was to her, the sensible and strong one, that the poet entrusted the story about the difficult lot of women. This part of the poem, the only one of all, is written in the first person. But the voice of a peasant woman is the voice of the entire people, who are accustomed to expressing their feelings in song. That’s why Matryona Timofeevna often doesn’t talk, but sings. The entire chapter is based by the poet on folk poetic images and motifs. We see traditional rituals of peasant matchmaking, wedding cries and lamentations. We hear folk songs and the personal fate of the heroine seems to be the fate of the entire Russian people. Matryona Timofeevna lived a hard life. Happy in her maidenhood, she sipped "goryushka", falling "from the maiden holiday to hell." Like all her contemporaries in new family Offenses, humiliation, and backbreaking work awaited her. These women had one joy - their children. So Demushka - “my handsome man drove away all the anger from my soul with an angelic smile.” But Demushka died and Matryona was orphaned. Other relatives also died, and my husband was under threat of being recruited. Matrena Timofeevna defended him and did not become a soldier:
Thanks to the governor
Elena Alexandrovna,
I'm so grateful to her
Like a mother!
From the moment the peasant woman begged for her happiness, they nicknamed her “governor” and “glorified her as a lucky woman.”
Raising children... Isn't it joy?
The men are perplexed: were they really looking for such happiness? But the courageous woman Matryona Timofeevna does not complain about her fate, adequately repelling all its blows. Isn't her happiness in her strength of character? After all, a weak person cannot be happy; he is always dissatisfied with his fate.
Nekrasov is one of the few writers who admires a woman not for her “sweet” weakness, femininity, but for the strength of character of a Russian woman, her resilience, and ability to defend her rightness. The image of Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is one of the most vivid and capacious images of the poem, personifying the fate of Russia itself.