Bazarov in the face of death is one of the most striking images created by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev in his famous work Fathers and Sons. This work became a landmark for the generation that grew up in the 60s of the XIX century. Many perceived this hero as an ideal, a role model.
Roman Turgenev
Bazarov appears in the face of death at the very end of this novel. His actions take place in 1859, on the eve of the peasant reform, which forever abolished serfdom in Russia. The main characters are Evgeny Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov. These are young people who come to visit the Maryino estate with their father and uncle Arkady. Bazarov develops a difficult and tense relationship with the older Kirsanovs, as a result of which he is forced to move out of them. Arkady, carried away by his comrade, goes after him. In a provincial town they find themselves in the company of progressive youth.
Later, at a dinner party at the governor's, they meet Odintsova, perhaps the main female character in the novel. Bazarov and Kirsanov go to her estate called Nikolskoe. Both of them are infatuated with this woman. Bazarov even confesses his love to her, but this only frightens Odintsova. Eugene is again forced to leave. This time again, together with Arkady, he goes to his parents. They love their son too much. Bazarov is soon frankly tired of this, so he returns to Maryino. There he has a new hobby - the girl's name is Fenechka. They kiss, and it turns out that Fenechka is the mother of Arkady's father's illegitimate son. All this leads to a duel between Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, Arkady's uncle.
Meanwhile, Arkady himself goes to Nikolskoye alone and stays with Odintsova. True, he is not fond of the mistress of the estate, but of her sister, Katya. Bazarov also comes to Nikolskoye. He explains with Odintsova, apologizes for his feelings.
The fate of the heroes
The novel ends with Bazarov, having said goodbye to his friend, leaving for his parents. He helps his father in a difficult task - the treatment of patients with typhus. During the operation, he accidentally cut himself during the autopsy of another deceased and contracted a fatal infection.
Before his death, he asks Odintsova to see him for the last time. The fate of the rest of the characters is as follows: the progressive Pavel Petrovich goes abroad, Nikolai Petrovich marries Fenechka, and Arkady Kirsanov marries her sister, Katya Odintsova.
Problems of the novel
In Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons", as a result of Bazarov, it turns out to be in the face of love and death. The author's decision to complete his work with the death of the protagonist says a lot about the intention that the creator had. Turgenev's Bazarov dies in the finale. Therefore, it is so important to understand why the author treated him this way, why the description of this death is so important for understanding the meaning of the whole work. A detailed study of the episode dedicated to the death of the central character helps to answer these questions. How does Bazarov find himself in the face of death? You can find a summary of the denouement of the novel in this article.
The image of Evgeny Bazarov
Describing the main character of his work, the author notes that Bazarov was the son of a doctor. When he grew up, he decided to continue the work of his father. The author himself characterizes him as an intelligent and cynical person. At the same time, somewhere inside, in the depths of his soul, he remains attentive, sensitive and kind.
Bazarov has a specific life position, which in subsequent years received a large number of adherents and supporters. Eugene denies any moral values of contemporary society, as well as morality and any ideals. Moreover, he does not recognize any art, he does not perceive love, which is sung by many poets, since he considers it to be pure physiology. At the same time, he does not recognize any authorities in life, believing that each person should focus only on himself, not following anyone.
Nihilism
Bazarov is a supporter of nihilism, but at the same time he differs from other young people who adhere to a similar philosophy, for example, from Kukshin or Sitnikov. For them, the denial of everything around is nothing more than a mask that helps to hide their own inadequacy and callous deep vulgarity.
Bazarov is not at all like them. He does not prevaricate at all, defending his views with his characteristic ardor. He believes that the main thing for which a person should live is work that benefits the whole society. At the same time, Eugene condescendingly treats most of those around him, even despises many of them, puts him below himself.
Meeting with Odintsova
This life philosophy of Bazarov, in the inviolability of which he was sure, changed radically after meeting with Odintsova. Bazarov truly falls in love for the first time, and after that he realizes how much his beliefs diverge from the truths of life.
The collapse of ideals
The main character of Turgenev's novel feels that love is not only physiology, but also a real, strong feeling. An epiphany sets in, which changes a lot in the hero's worldview. All his beliefs are crumbling, and after them his whole life loses its meaning. Turgenev could write about how this person eventually abandons his ideals, turning into an average person. Instead, he puts Bazarov in the face of death.
It is worth recognizing that the death of the hero happens stupidly and largely by accident. It becomes the result of a small cut that was obtained during the autopsy of the body of a person who died of typhus. However, death was not at all sudden. Knowing that he was ill, Bazarov was able to evaluate what had been done and realize the extent of what he would never accomplish. It is noteworthy how Bazarov behaves in the face of death. He doesn't look scared or confused. Instead, Eugene is strong, surprisingly calm and steadfast, almost unflappable. The reader begins at these moments to feel for him not pity, but sincere respect.
Bazarov's death
At the same time, the author does not let us forget that Bazarov is still an ordinary person who has various weaknesses. No one perceives his death indifferently, and therefore Eugene frankly worries. He constantly thinks about what he could still do, about the power that is in him, but has remained unspent.
At the same time, Bazarov remains ironic and cynical to the last in the face of death. Quote "Yes, go ahead, try to deny death. She denies you, and that's it!" it only confirms. Here, behind the irony of the hero, we can consider bitter regret about the passing minutes. In the last moments of his life, he longs for a meeting with his beloved woman, with whom he could not be together. Bazarov, in the face of death, asks Odintsova to come to him. She fulfills this wish.
On his deathbed, the protagonist softens to his parents, realizing that in reality they have always occupied an important place in his life, shaped his essence and worldview. Everyone would probably like to look like Bazarov in the face of death. He calmly analyzes everything done during his short but fruitful life, which he devoted to science, wanting to benefit his country. Death for the protagonist is not only the cessation of physical existence, but also a sign that Russia does not really need him. All his dreams to change something end in virtually nothing. The physical death of the protagonist is preceded by the death of his views. Together with Bazarov, his genius also dies, as well as his powerful character and sincere convictions.
Death test. This last test Bazarov also has to go through in parallel with his antagonist. Despite the successful outcome of the duel, Pavel Petrovich had long since died spiritually. Parting with Fenechka broke the last thread that tied him to life: “Illuminated by bright daylight, his beautiful emaciated head lay on a white pillow, like the head of a dead man ... Yes, he was a dead man.” His opponent also passes away.
Surprisingly persistent in the novel are references to an epidemic that spares no one and from which there is no escape. We learn that Fenechka's mother, Arina, "died of cholera." Immediately upon the arrival of Arkady and Bazarov at the Kirsanov estate, "the best days of the year came", "the weather was beautiful." “True, cholera was threatening again from afar,” the author remarks meaningfully, “but the inhabitants of *** ... the province managed to get used to her visits.” This time, cholera “pulled out” two peasants from Maryin. The landowner himself was in danger - "Pavel Petrovich had a rather strong seizure." And again, the news does not amaze, does not frighten, does not disturb Bazarov. The only thing that offends him as a doctor is the refusal to help: “Why didn’t he send for him?” Even when his own father wants to tell "a curious episode of the plague in Bessarabia" - Bazarov decisively interrupts the old man. The hero behaves as if cholera alone does not pose any danger to him. Meanwhile, epidemics have always been considered not only the greatest of earthly adversities, but also an expression of God's will. The favorite fable of the beloved Turgenev fabulist Krylov begins with the words: "The most severe scourge of heaven, nature's horror - the pestilence rages in the forests." But Bazarov is convinced that he is building his own destiny.
“Every person has his own destiny! - thought the writer. - Just as clouds are first formed from the vapors of the earth, rise from its depths, then separate, alienate from it and bring it, finally, grace or death, so around each of us is formed<…>a kind of element, which then has a destructive or saving effect on us<…>. To put it simply: everyone makes their own destiny and it makes everyone ... ”Bazarov understood that he was created for the“ bitter, tart, bean-like ”life of a public figure, perhaps a revolutionary agitator. He accepted this as his calling: “I want to mess with people, at least scold them, but mess with them”, “Give us others! we need to break others!” But what to do now, when the former ideas have been justifiably questioned, and science has not given an answer to all questions? What to teach, where to call?
In Rudin, the astute Lezhnev remarked which idol is most likely to “act on the youth”: “Give her conclusions, results, even if they are incorrect, but results!<…>Try to tell the youth that you cannot give them the full truth because you do not own it yourself.<…>, young people will not listen to you ...>. It's necessary that you yourself<…>believed that you possess the truth ... "But Bazarov no longer believes. He tried to find the truth in a conversation with a peasant, but nothing happened. Too condescendingly, lordly-arrogantly, the nihilist addresses the people with a request "to state their views on life." And the peasant plays along with the master, presenting himself as a stupid, submissive idiot. It turns out that it is not worth sacrificing your life for this. Only in a conversation with a friend does the peasant take his soul away, discussing the “pea jester”: “It is known, master; does he understand?
What remains is work. Help father in a tiny estate of several souls of peasants. One can imagine how small and insignificant all this must seem to him. Bazarov makes a mistake, also petty and insignificant - he forgets to burn a cut on his finger. A wound obtained from dissecting a decomposing corpse of a man. "A democrat to the marrow of his bones," Bazarov invaded the lives of the people boldly and self-confidently<…>, which turned against the "healer" himself. So is it possible to say that Bazarov's death is accidental?
“To die the way Bazarov died is the same as doing a great feat,” D.I. Pisarev. One cannot but agree with this observation. The death of Yevgeny Bazarov, in his bed, surrounded by relatives, is no less majestic and symbolic than the death of Rudin at the barricade. With complete human self-control, in a medically short way, the hero states: “... My case is lousy. I am infected, and in a few days you will bury me…” I had to be convinced of my human vulnerability: “Yes, go and try to deny death. She denies you, and that's it! “It doesn’t matter: I won’t wag my tail,” says Bazarov. Although "no one cares about this", the hero cannot afford to sink - until "he has not yet lost his memory<…>; he was still fighting.
The proximity of death for him does not mean the rejection of cherished ideas. Such as atheistic rejection of God's existence. When the religious Vasily Ivanovich, “down on his knees,” begs his son to make a confession and be cleansed of sins, he outwardly carelessly replies: “There is still nothing to hurry ...” He is afraid of offending his father with a direct refusal and only asks to postpone the ceremony: “After all, they also commune the memoryless … I'll wait". “When he was unctioned,” says Turgenev, “when the holy myrrh touched his chest, one of his eyes opened and, it seemed, at the sight of the priest<…>, censer, candles<…>something like a shudder of horror instantly reflected on the dead face.
It seems like a paradox, but death in many ways frees Bazarov, encourages him not to hide his real feelings anymore. Simply and calmly, he can now express his love for his parents: “Who is crying there? …Mother? Will she feed someone now with her amazing borscht? .. ”Affectionately bantering, he asks the grief-stricken Vasily Ivanovich to be a philosopher in these circumstances. Now you can not hide your love for Anna Sergeevna, ask her to come and take his last breath. It turns out that you can let simple human feelings into your life, but at the same time not “raw up”, but become spiritually stronger.
The dying Bazarov utters romantic words that express true feelings: “Blow on the dying lamp, and let it go out ...” For the hero, this is an expression of only love experiences. But the author sees more in these words. It is worth recalling that such a comparison comes to the lips of Rudin on the verge of death: “... It’s all over, and there is no oil in the lamp, and the lamp itself is broken, and the wick is about to finish smoking ...” Turgenev’s tragically cut short life is likened to a lamp, like in the old poem:
Blazed with a midnight lamp Before the shrine of goodness.
Bazarov, who is dying, is hurt by the thought of his uselessness, uselessness: “I thought: I won’t die, where! There is a task, because I am a giant! ”,“ Russia needs me ... no, apparently not needed! .. A shoemaker is needed, a tailor is needed, a butcher ..." Likening him to Rudin, Turgenev recalls their common literary “ancestor”, the same selfless wanderer Don- Quixote. In his speech “Hamlet and Don Quixote” (1860), the author lists the “generic features” of the Don Quixotes: “Don Quixote is an enthusiast, a servant of the idea, and therefore is covered with its radiance”, “He lives all outside of himself, for his brothers, for the extermination of evil, for counteracting forces hostile to humanity. It is easy to see that these qualities form the basis of Bazarov's character. According to the largest, "don Quixote" account, his life was not lived in vain. Let Don Quixotes seem funny. It is this kind of people, according to the writer, who move humanity forward: “If they are gone, let the book of history be closed forever: there will be nothing to read in it.”
The novel "Fathers and Sons" by I.S. Turgenev ends with the death of the main character. Understanding the reasons why the author ends his work in this way is possible through an analysis of the episode "Bazarov's death". "Fathers and Sons" is a novel in which the death of the protagonist is certainly not accidental. Perhaps such an ending speaks of the failure and convictions of this character. So, let's try to figure it out.
Who is Bazarov?
An analysis of the episode of Bazarov's death is impossible without understanding what this character is like. Thanks to what is told about Eugene in the novel, we imagine a smart, self-confident, cynical young man who denies generally accepted moral principles and ideals. He considers love to be "physiology", in his opinion, a person should not depend on anyone.
Subsequently, however, Turgenev reveals to us in his hero such qualities as sensitivity, kindness, and the ability for deep feelings.
Bazarov is a nihilist, that is, a person who denies all generally accepted values, including he does not share the enthusiasm of amateurs. In his opinion, only that which brings practical benefit is significant. Everything beautiful he considers meaningless. Eugene designates his main "work for the benefit of society." His task is "to live for the great goal of renewing the world."
Attitude towards others
An analysis of the episode of Bazarov's death in Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons" cannot be carried out without understanding how the relationship of the protagonist with the people who made up his social circle was built. It should be noted that Bazarov treated others with contempt, he put others lower than himself. This was manifested, for example, in the things he said to Arkady about himself and his relatives. Attachment, sympathy, tenderness - all these feelings Eugene considers unacceptable.
Lyubov Bazarova
An analysis of the episode of Bazarov's death requires mentioning that, with all his disdain for lofty feelings, he, ironically, falls in love. His love is unusually deep, as evidenced by the explanation with Anna Sergeevna Odintsova. Realizing that he is capable of such a feeling, Bazarov ceases to treat him as physiology. He begins to consider the existence of love possible. Such a change of views could not pass without a trace for Eugene, who lived with the ideas of nihilism. His former life is destroyed.
Bazarov's explanation of love is not just words, it is a recognition of his own defeat. Eugene's nihilistic theories are shattered.
Turgenev considers it inappropriate to end the novel with a change in the views of the protagonist, but decides to end the work with his death.
Bazarov's death - an accident?
So, in the finale of the novel, the main event is the death of Bazarov. Analysis of the episode requires remembering the reason why, according to the text of the work, the main character dies.
His life becomes impossible due to an unfortunate accident - a small cut that Bazarov received during the autopsy of the body of a peasant who died of typhus. Ironically, he, a doctor doing a useful job, cannot do anything to save his life. The realization that he was going to die gave the protagonist time to evaluate his accomplishments. Bazarov, aware of the inevitability of his death, is calm and strong, although, of course, being a young and energetic person, he regrets that there is so little left to live.
Bazarov's attitude to death and to himself
An analysis of the episode of Bazarov's death is impossible without a deeper understanding of how the hero relates to the proximity of his end and death in general.
Not a single person can calmly realize the approaching end of his life. Eugene, being a man, certainly strong and self-confident, is no exception. He regrets that he did not fulfill his main task. He understands the power of death and speaks of the approaching last minutes with bitter irony: "Yes, go ahead, try to deny death. It denies you, and that's it!"
So, the death of Bazarov is approaching. Analysis of the episode, which is one of the key ones in the novel, needs to understand how the character of the protagonist has changed. Eugene becomes kinder and more sentimental. He wants to meet his beloved, once again to say about his feelings. Bazarov is softer than before, treats his parents, now understanding their importance.
An analysis of the episode of Bazarov's death shows how lonely the protagonist of the work is. He does not have a close person to whom he could convey his beliefs, therefore, his views have no future.
Understanding True Values
In the face of death they change. Understanding what is really important in life comes.
An analysis of the episode “The Death of Bazarov” based on the novel by I. S. Turgenev requires an understanding of what values the protagonist now considers to be true.
The most important thing for him now is his parents, their love for him, as well as his feelings for Odintsova. He wants to say goodbye to her, and Anna, not afraid to get infected, comes to Evgeny. With her, Bazarov shares his innermost thoughts. He comes to the understanding that Russia does not need it at all, it needs those who do their usual work every day.
It is harder for Bazarov to come to terms with his death than for any other person, because he is an atheist and does not believe in life after death.
Turgenev ends his novel with the death of Bazarov. The principles by which the hero lived are destroyed. Bazarov did not have stronger, newer ideals. Turgenev notes that it was precisely the deep commitment to nihilism that killed the protagonist, which forced him to abandon the universal values that allow him to live in this world.
The illness and death of Bazarov seemed to be caused by an absurd accident - a deadly infection that accidentally entered the bloodstream. But in the works of Turgenev, this cannot be accidental.
The wound itself is an accident, but there is also a share of regularity in it, since during this period Bazarov lost his vital balance and became less attentive, more distracted in his work.
The pattern is also in the author's position, since Bazarov, who always challenged nature in general and human nature (love) in particular, had, according to Turgenev, to be avenged by nature. The law is cruel here. So he dies, infected with bacteria - natural organisms. Simply put, it dies by nature.
In addition, unlike Arkady, Bazarov was not suitable for "making a nest for himself." He is alone in his beliefs and lacks family potential. And this is a dead end for Turgenev.
And one more circumstance. Turgenev could feel the prematureness, the uselessness of the Bazarovs for contemporary Russia. If Bazarov looked unhappy on the last pages of the novel, then the reader would certainly feel sorry for him, and he deserves not pity, but respect. And it was in his death that he showed his best human traits, with the last phrase about the “dying lampada” finally coloring his image not only with courage, but also with bright romance, which, as it turned out, lived in the soul of a seemingly cynical nihilist. This, in the end, was the whole point of the novel.
By the way, if the hero dies, it is not at all necessary that the author denies him something, punishes him or takes revenge for something. Turgenev's best heroes always die, and from this his works are colored with a bright, optimistic tragedy.
Epilogue of the novel.
An epilogue can be called the last chapter of the novel, which briefly tells about the fate of the heroes after the death of Bazarov.
The future of the Kirsanovs turned out to be quite expected. The author writes especially sympathetically about the loneliness of Pavel Petrovich, as if the loss of Bazarov, a rival, completely deprived him of the meaning of life, the opportunity to at least apply his vitality to something.
The lines about Odintsova are significant. Turgenev with one phrase: "I married not for love, but for conviction" - completely debunks the heroine. And the last author's description already looks simply sarcastically destructive: "... they will live, perhaps, to happiness ... perhaps, to love." It is enough to understand at least a little Turgenev in order to guess that love and happiness are not “lived out”.
The most Turgenevian is the last paragraph of the novel - a description of the cemetery where Bazarov is buried. The reader has no doubt that he is the best in the novel. To prove this, the author merged the departed hero with nature into a single harmonious whole, reconciled him with life, with his parents, with death, and still managed to say about “the great calmness of indifferent nature ...”.
The novel "Fathers and Sons" in Russian criticism.
In accordance with the vectors of the struggle of social movements and literary views in the 60s, points of view on Turgenev's novel were also lined up.
The most positive assessments of the novel and the main character were given by D.I. Pisarev, who had already left Sovremennik at that time. But from the bowels of Sovremennik itself, negative criticism sounded. An article by M. Antonovich “Asmodeus of our time” was published here, in which the social significance and artistic value of the novel was denied, and Bazarov, called a talker, a cynic and a glutton, was interpreted as a pitiful slander on the younger generation of democrats. N.A. Dobrolyubov had already died by this time, and N.G. Chernyshevsky was arrested, and Antonovich, who rather primitively accepted the principles of “real criticism”, took the original author’s intention for the final artistic result.
Oddly enough, the liberal and conservative part of society perceived the novel more deeply and fairly. Even here, however, there are extreme judgments.
M. Katkov wrote in Russkiy Vestnik that Fathers and Sons is an anti-nihilistic novel, that the occupation of “new people” by the natural sciences is a frivolous and idle matter, that nihilism is a social disease that needs to be treated by strengthening protective conservative principles.
The most artistically adequate and profound interpretation of the novel belongs to F. M. Dostoevsky and N. Strakhov - the magazine "Vremya". Dostoevsky interpreted Bazarov as a “theorist” who was at odds with life, as a victim of his own dry and abstract theory, which crashed into life and brought suffering and torment (almost like Raskolnikov from his novel “Crime and Punishment”).
N. Strakhov noted that I.S. Turgenev "wrote a novel that was neither progressive nor retrograde, but, so to speak, everlasting." The critic saw that the author "stands for the eternal principles of human life," and Bazarov, who is "alienated from life," meanwhile, "lives deeply and strongly."
The point of view of Dostoevsky and Strakhov is quite consistent with the judgments of Turgenev himself in his article “On the“ Fathers and Sons ”, where Bazarov is called a tragic person.
