Women's images
The story of A. I. Kuprin “Duel” was first published in 1905. In it, the author showed all the shortcomings of officer life, which he himself knew firsthand. To the protagonist of the story, young lieutenant Romashov, he slightly gave autobiographical features. Reading the story, we see that it has several thematic lines at once. First of all, this is an officer environment. Then the military and barracks life of the soldiers and, finally, the personal relationships of people.
Living for many years in the officer environment, they became more pragmatic, tougher and callous. Kuprin openly refers to some officer wives as “dolls” and “dummies”. They are cutesy, they use cloying perfumes, they are ready to whiten their whole face with makeup, but their souls remain dark at the same time. Such, for example, is the mature married lady Raisa Peterson, who harasses the protagonist of the young second lieutenant with her harassment.
Tired of constant persecution, he refuses the woman and asks to be left alone. But Peterson is not happy with this arrangement. He learns that Romashov visits the Nikolaevs' house in the evenings and begins to suspect him of warm relations with Lieutenant Shurochka's wife. Then the annoyed woman begins to write anonymous letters to Nikolaev with a request to pay attention to the behavior of his wife. These anonymous letters subsequently become the cause of the breakdown of friendly relations between the two officers.
So the author shows that Raisa is a vulgar and insignificant nature, with the absence of any moral principles. Besides, she's not the only one in the garrison. There are also evil hypocritical gossips, the wife of Captain Telman and AI Migunov. As for Alexandra Petrovna Nikolaeva (Shurochka), her only author portrays her as more or less virtuous, reasonable and charming. She does not participate in regimental gossip and intrigue, she does not play vulgar games of seduction.
At the same time, she shows a little more to Romashov than just friendly relations. Shurochka is smart, talented and interesting. She knows how to win over a person, knows with whom and how to communicate, has a natural taste in choosing clothes. The author shows that her main task is to help her mediocre husband pass the exam at the academy and not lose face. For the sake of this stupid and mediocre person, she sacrifices Romashov. For this reason, all its merits at the end of the work are reduced to zero.
Nazansky also loved Shurochka even before Nikolaev, but she refused him. Since then, a strained relationship has developed between the two lieutenants. Thus, despite all its merits, the main character of the story is also not the best female image ever described by Kuprin. The character of this woman is truthful and realistic, but her prudence led to the death of her best friend.
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Nesterova I.A. The theme of love in Kuprin's story The duel // Encyclopedia of the Nesterovs
Analysis of the love line in the story "Duel".
Creativity A.I. Kuprin occupies a significant place in Russian literature. His talent was one of the most striking among the realists of the twentieth century. Proximity to the artistic principles of L.N. Tolstoy, combined with the intelligibility and fascination of Kuprin's writing, made him one of the most widely read writers of the early twentieth century.
Kuprin is a social writer par excellence. However, often the social background is intertwined with the theme of love. The love line in such cases enhances the social conflicts depicted in the work, gives them greater sharpness and brightness.
Kuprin is a singer of life and love. The duel is, first of all, a deeply realistic work with a clearly expressed social orientation. The horrifying picture of the decay of the Russian army, captured in the story, shocked the writer's contemporaries and at the same time explained the shameful defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.
The love theme in the Duel develops within the framework of the plot.
The story "Duel" tells how a young lieutenant, faced with an army environment, was spiritually broken and killed in a duel, or, more precisely, shot dead.
The love line of the work, as it were, enhances the social significance of the story and at the same time remains quite independent. Along with the dreams of a brilliant military career, of spiritual self-improvement lives in the soul of this naive young man and the dream of high and pure love.
In the story "Duel" Kuprin showed love, inevitably doomed to humiliation and death in a cruel, immoral, vulgar, depraved world. Revealing the social origins of a love tragedy, the author simultaneously expresses his dreams of pure high love and that the world into which she comes is worthy of this love.
The heroes of the works of A.I. Kuprin are "little people": soldiers, fishermen, telegraph operators, actors and circus performers. Unlike Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky and Chekhov, Kuprin's "little man" suddenly finds the strength in himself for spiritual growth, a protest against inhumanity and vulgarity. This is what is told in the story "Duel", created in 1905. She immediately attracted the attention of the public. The terrifying picture of the decay of the Russian army, captured in the story, shocked the writer's contemporaries and explained the reasons for the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.
Kuprin talks about how the young lieutenant Romashov, faced with the army environment, was spiritually broken and killed in a duel, or, more precisely, simply shot dead. The writer presented to the readers a story about the duel of a pure soul, high ideals with dirt, vulgarity, cruelty of army life.
Romashov arrived in the regiment six months before the dramatic events. He was "of medium height, thin, and although quite strong for his build, he was awkward because of his great shyness ...". The protagonist of the story dreams of a military career and spiritual growth: "... tomorrow morning I will sit down for books, prepare and enter the academy. I will cram like crazy ...". He subscribed to a newspaper and popular magazines, bought books, but army life, constant drinking, and cruelty stifled the impulse of the young man. In the officer environment there was no place for science, or for spirituality, or for friendship. The lawlessness surrounding Romashov, if not addictive, then does not give him the opportunity to live according to his convictions.
Romashov is a pure soul, dreaming of great love. He got caught in the net of the near-minded regimental lady Peterson, who was unfaithful to her loving husband. But gradually Romashov realizes his mistake. He becomes disgusted. This is evident from the following paragraph: "The letter smelled of familiar perfumes - Persian lilacs; drops of these perfumes dried up in yellow spots here and there on the paper, and under them many letters blurred in different directions. This sugary smell, together with the vulgarly playful tone of the letter, together with the red-haired, small, deceitful face that came up in his imagination, suddenly raised an intolerable disgust in Romashov. With malicious pleasure, he tore the letter in half, then folded and tore it into four parts, and again, and again, and when, finally, it became difficult for his hands to tear ", threw the scraps under the table, tightly clenching and baring his teeth. And yet Romashov at that moment, out of his habit, managed to think about himself picturesquely in the third person: "And he laughed with a bitter, contemptuous laugh." The young man feels all the falsity of this love story It is for this reason that he repels Peterson. However, later Romashov regrets that he deceived this “limited woman.” Here Kuprin shows the drama of the collision of ideal love and vulgarity and narrow-mindedness.
Against the background of general narrow-mindedness and vulgarity, the Nikolaev family stands out very strongly. In addition, Shurochka is a very attractive girl. She never sat idle. Shurochka did her best to help her husband enter the military academy, as she dreamed of breaking out of the vicious circle of army everyday life. This was the main similarity of the characters. Romashov dreamed that, after serving for three years, he would retire. Despite this, the writer warns the reader that Shurochka carries a danger to Romashov. According to Shurochka, a duel is a massacre, buffoonery, and hypocrisy. She believes that the Russians’ ideas about officer honor are distorted, and that is why they need fights: “then the amikoshonstvo, familiar snarling in the assembly, with the servants will come out by itself ... still not to hit, but to miss ... An officer must weigh every word. An officer is a model of correctness. And then, what kind of tenderness: fear of a shot! Your profession is to risk your life. " Among the other officers of the regiment, Shurochka speaks especially disapprovingly of Nazansky, the "unsleeping drunkard", at the table he also reproaches Romashov for his addiction to vodka.
The young man does not pay attention to her manifestations of cruelty. However, Kuprin again warns the reader that drama is coming. At a meeting with Nazansky, a conversation about love takes place, and he shows Romashov a letter from a woman who cruelly abandoned him. The lieutenant recognizes Shurochka's handwriting. Despite everything, the young man does not see the vulgarity and cruelty in Shurochka, which are clearly on display by Kuprin. She helps her husband enter the academy - it would seem noble, but in fact Shurochka wants a better life, and she actually doesn't give a damn about her husband. When Romashov decides to pour out his soul to her, she says that she does not want children. Disgust shines through in her look, tone - but Romashov does not notice the catch this time either. He is blind in his idealization of a worthless person. This brings him closer to a tragic end. There comes a moment when everyone turns away from Romashov. He cannot accept such orders in the regiment and tries to fight them. However, he is too kind and naive for a serious confrontation. The existing order eventually humiliates the spirit of Romashov. He has a desire to commit suicide. The only person he continues to believe is Shurochka. However, after she came to him at night to ask him not to shoot her husband, but to participate in a duel, all the ostentatious charm of Shurochka crumbled. She falls to the level of "regimental lady". Did Romashov understand this through the veil of delight? Probably yes, that's why he agreed to the duel. Life has driven him into a dead end; to him, as well as to one of the heroes of F.M. Dostoevsky has nowhere to go, no one to turn to. He does not have a single close person. He participates in a duel and dies.
A. I. Kuprin ends the story with a duel protocol, from which it is clear that Romashov did not use the right to shoot. Based on this, the conclusion about suicide arises. The hero did not want to live anymore.
In the story "Duel" A.I. Kuprin showed love inevitably doomed to destruction in a cruel immoral world. Revealing the origins of Romashov's tragedy, the author at the same time expresses her dreams of pure and high love, dreams that the world she comes to is worthy of her.
I never understood before the self-sufficiency of Olesya and her grandmother from Kuprin's story "Olesya". Smart Russian women live in the forest and they don't need anything else. Olesya is actually Alena, Olesya began to call her in Polesie, where her grandmother brought her granddaughter from Russia.
And so I re-read the story, and everything is clear there, I simply did not pay attention to it due to our Soviet darkness. Olesya is full of otherworldly power, and her mother was like that, and her grandmother is like that. Olesya is sure that this power is from the Devil. The hero of the story recognizes this power for her, but tries to rationally explain everything to her, talks about hypnosis, and scientific discoveries. He himself understands that Olesya owns some ancient techniques, part of some ancient knowledge. And he begins to persuade Olesya to go to church so that she understands that there is nothing in her from the dark forces.
Olesya knows the fate of her beloved, knows her own fate, but from some moment the will of her man becomes stronger than her will, she goes to church and a misfortune happens, but not metaphysical, but quite everyday, which leads to the end of a love affair.
The hero wanted to reconcile the irreconcilable.
So why are Olesya and grandmother so self-sufficient? And everything is simple, they have a power that is not in other people, they feel this power, it keeps them afloat.
But what sacrificial love Olesya!
And here is another heroine from Kuprin's story "The Duel" Shurochka, this is the blackest female image that I can only remember in Russian literature. And again, this one somehow flew by, because criticism wrote about the horrors of officer life, but the horror of the story is something else.
Shurochka, whom Kuprin writes out as an unusually charming woman, is, in fact, very attractive. But what does she do? She kills, almost in the literal sense of the word, two noble people, thirty-year-old Nazansky and a twenty-one-year-old boy, lieutenant Romashov.
Both are madly in love with her, she makes them fall in love with herself. But when Nazansky tries to start a new life, leaves the army, the ambitious Shurochka, striving for wealth and social life, does not follow him, she does not need a simple life. As a result, Nazansky returns to the service to be close to the woman he loves (she is married to another officer), gets drunk and goes crazy.
Dramatically and with Romashov, Shurochka flirts with him, starts an affair, but her husband is jealous, challenges Romashov to a duel. On the night before the fight, Shurochka comes to the boy Romashov, gives herself to him and says that her husband will shoot in the air, which Romashov should also do.
As a result, Shurochka's husband kills the boy on the spot, but Shurochka and her husband go to enter the General Staff Academy, i.e. her husband will act for the third time, and Shurochka has a chance for a secular life.
Here's to you! Associated with dark forces, Olesya is an example of sacrifice and nobility, and Shurochka is an example of the lowest creature that a woman can be. He uses his charms for the sake of a whim, out of boredom, in order to destroy men later.
Something in the image of Shurochka can be seen from Kuprin's first wife, it was with her that he lived when he wrote "Duel".
Grade 11. Lessons based on the novel by A. I. Kuprin "Duel" (1905)
The purpose of the lesson: to show the significance of Kuprin's story for society's awareness of the crisis of all Russian life; humanistic, anti-war pathos of the story.
Methodical methods: analytical conversation, commented reading.
During the classes
Teacher's word. The revolutionary era brought before all writers an urgent need to understand the historical fate of Russia, its people, and national culture. These global issues led to the creation of large "numerous" canvases. The writers comprehended the pace of the world in a contradictory time. This is how the stories "Duel", "Dry Valley" and "Village" by Bunin are written; "Judas Iscariot" by L. Andreev; "Movements", "Bear Cub" by Sergeev-Tsensky.
At first glance, the story (any of them) is simple in its content. But according to the author's generalizations, it is multi-layered, reminiscent of a "casket in a casket" that stores a jewel.
Tale " Duel" came out in May 1905, in the days of the defeat of the Russian fleet at Tsushima. The image of a backward, incapacitated army, decomposed officers, and downtrodden soldiers had an important socio-political meaning: it was the answer to the question about the causes of the Far Eastern catastrophe. With hard strokes, as if paying off the past, Kuprin draws the army, to which he gave the years of his youth.
This story can be defined as psychological and philosophical. Since "Fathers and Sons" there was no such work.
Story conversation:
What is the theme of the story? The main theme is the crisis of Russia, of all spheres of Russian life. The critical orientation of the story was noted by Gorky, classifying "Duel" as civil, revolutionary prose. The story had a wide resonance, brought Kuprin all-Russian fame, became the reason for controversy in the press about the fate of the Russian army. The problems of the army always reflect the general problems of society. In this sense, Kuprin's story is still relevant today.
Dedicating "Duel" in her first publication to Gorky, Kuprin wrote to him: "Now, finally, when everything is over, I can say that everything bold and violent in my story belongs to you. If you knew how much I learned from Vasya, how grateful I am to you for it.
What, in your opinion, in "Duel" can be defined as " bold and exuberant »? From the denial of petty rituals (holding hands at the seams and heels together in a conversation with superiors, pulling the sock down when marching, shouting “On the shoulder!”, Ch. 9, p. 336.), the main character of the “Duel” Romashov comes to the denial of what that in a rational societythere shouldn't be wars : « Maybe all this is some kind of common mistake, some kind of worldwide delusion, insanity? Is it natural to kill? “Let’s say tomorrow, let’s say, this very second this thought occurred to everyone: Russians, Germans, British, Japanese ... And now there is no more war, there are no officers and soldiers, everyone has gone home.” Romashov naively believes that in order to eliminate the war, it is necessary that all people suddenly see the light, declare in one voice:"I don't want to fight!" And dropped their weapons. « What courage ! - said admiringlyL. Tolstoy about Romashov. - And how did the censors let it through and why don’t the military protest?”
The preaching of peacemaking ideas provoked strong attacks in the fierce magazine campaign unleashed around the "Duel", and the military officials were especially indignant. The story was a major literary event that sounded topical.
What thematic lines can be identified in the story? There are several of them: the life of officers, combatant and barracks life of soldiers, relations between people. It turns out that not all people hold the same pacifist views as Romashov.
How does Kuprin draw images of officers? Kuprin knew the military environment very well from his many years of experience. The images of the officers are given accurately. Realistically, with ruthless authenticity. Almost all the officers in the "Duel" are nonentities, drunkards, stupid and cruel careerists and ignoramuses.
Moreover, they are confident in their class and moral superiority, they are contemptuous of civilians, who are called "hazel grouses", "shpaks", "shtafirks ". Even Pushkin for them "some kind of spat ". Among them, it is considered “youthfulness to scold or beat a civilian for no reason, put out a lit cigarette on his nose, put a top hat over his ears.” Arrogance based on nothing, perverted ideas about the "honor of the uniform" and honor in general, rudeness - a consequence of isolation, isolation from society, inactivity, stupefying drill. In ugly revels, drunkenness, absurd antics, some kind of blind, animal,senseless rebellion against mortal anguish and monotony. Officers are not used to thinking and reasoning, some seriously believe that in military service in general "not supposed to think "(N. Rostov visited similar thoughts).
Literary critic Yu. V. Babicheva writes: “The officers of the regiment have a single "typical" face with clear signs of caste limitation, senseless cruelty, cynicism, vulgarity and swagger. At the same time, in the course of the development of the plot, each officer, typical in his caste ugliness, at least for a moment is shown as he could have become if it were not for the destructive influence of the army. ».
Do you agree that the officers in the story "Duel" have a single "typical" face? If so, how does this unity manifest itself?The writer shows the officer environment in a vertical section: corporals, junior officers, senior officers, senior officers. "With the exception of a few ambitious and careerists, all officers served as a forced, unpleasant, disgusted corvee, yearning for it and not loving it. ". A scary pictureugly wholesale revelry " officers. 406, ch. 18 .
In addition to the common features common to most officers, each of them haspersonality traits, outlined so vividly and expressively that the image becomes almost symbolic:
A) Regimental commander Shulgovich, under his thunderous bourbon, hides his concern for the officers.
B) What can you say about the image of Osadchy? An ominous image of Osadchy. "He's a cruel man." - says Romashov about him. The cruelty of Osadchy was constantly experienced by the soldiers, who trembled from his thunderous voice and the inhuman force of blows. In the company of Osadchy, more often than in others, there were suicides of soldiers. The bestial, bloodthirsty Osadchy in disputes about the duel insists on the need for a fatal duel - “otherwise it will only be a stupid pity ... a comedy. At the picnic he makes a toastfor the joy of former wars, for the cheerful bloody cruelty ". In a bloody battle, he finds pleasure, he is intoxicated by the smell of blood, he is ready to chop, stab, shoot all his life - no matter who and for what (ch. 8, 14)
C) Tell us about your impressions of Captain Plum. « Even in the regiment, which, thanks to the conditions of wild provincial life, did not differ in a particularly humane direction, it was some kind of outlandish monument of this ferocious military antiquity. He did not read a single book, not a single newspaper, and despised everything that went beyond the limits of the order, charter and company. This is a sluggish, downcast man, he brutally, to the point of blood, beats the soldiers, but he is attentive "to soldier's needs: does not delay money, personally monitors the company's boiler "(Ch. 10, 337)
D) What is the difference between Captain Stelkovsky, commander of the 5th company? Perhaps only the image of Captain Stelkovsky - patient, cold-blooded, persistent - does not cause disgust, "soldiers truly loved: an example, perhaps the only one in the Russian army "(Ch. 15. 376 - 377). “In his company, they didn’t fight and didn’t even swear, although they weren’t particularly gentle, and yet the company, in terms of its magnificent appearance and training, was not inferior to any guards unit.” It is his company at the May review that causes tears from his corps commander.
D) Lieutenant colonel Rafalsky (Brem ) loves animals and devotes all his free and non-free time to collecting a rare domestic menagerie.352.
E) What are the distinguishing features of Bek-Agamalov ? He boasts of his ability to cut, says with regret that he probably won’t cut a man in half: “I’ll blow my head to hell, I know that, but so that it’s oblique ... no ”My father did it easily …» (« Yes, there were people in our time …”). With his evil eyes, his hooked nose and bared teeth, helooked like some kind of predatory, angry and proud bird" (ch.1)
8) Bestiality generally distinguishes many officers . During a scandal in a brothel, this bestial essence comes through especially brightly: in Bek-Agamalov's rolling eyes "naked round squirrels sparkled terribly, his head" was lowered low and menacingly", "an ominous yellow gleam lit up in the eyes ». “And at the same time, he bent his legs lower and lower, all cringed and absorbed his neck, like a beast ready to make a jump” . After this scandal, which ended in a fight and a challenge to a duel, "everyone dispersed, embarrassed, depressed, avoiding looking at each other. Everyone was afraid to read in other people's eyes their own horror, their slavish, guilty longing - the horror and longing of small, evil and dirty animals. » (Ch. 19).
9) Let us pay attention to the contrast of this description with the following description of the dawn "with clear, childlike skies and still cool air. Trees, damp, shrouded in barely visible ferry, silently woke up from their dark, mysterious night dreams ". Romashov feels "short, ugly, ugly and infinitely alien in the midst of this innocent charm of the morning, smiling half-awake ».
As the mouthpiece of Kuprin - Nazansky says,“all of them, even the best, most tender of them, wonderful fathers and attentive husbands, all of them in the service become base, cowardly, stupid little animals. You will ask why? Yes, precisely because none of them believe in the service and do not see the reasonable goal of this service ».
10) How are the "regimental ladies" depicted? Officers' wives are just as predatory and bloodthirsty as their husbands. Evil, stupid, ignorant, hypocritical. Regimental ladies are the personification of extreme squalor. Their everyday life is woven from gossip, a provincial game of secularism, boring and vulgar connections. The most repulsive image is Raisa Peterson, the wife of Captain Talman. Evil, stupid, depraved and vengeful. "Oh, how nasty she is!” Romashov thinks of her with disgust. "And from the thought of the former physical intimacy with this woman, he had such a feeling, as if he had not washed for several months and had not changed his linen ”(ch. 9).
Not better and the rest of the "ladies" . Even with outwardly charmingShurochka Nikolaeva the features of Osadchy, who seems to be unlike him, appear: she stands up for fights with a fatal outcome, says: “I would shoot these people like rabid dogs ". There is no truly feminine left in her: “I don't want a child. Fu, what a mess !" - she confesses to Romashov (ch. 14).
What role do images play? soldier? Depicted by the mass, motley in national composition, but gray in essence. The soldiers are completely powerless: officers take out their anger on them, beat them, crush their teeth, break their eardrums.
Kuprin gives and individualized images (there are about 20 of them in the story). A whole series of ordinary soldiers - in chapter 11:
A) poorly thinking, slow-witted Bondarenko ,
B) intimidated, stunned by shoutsArkhipov, which " does not understand and cannot memorize the simplest things »,
B) loser Khlebnikov. 340, 375, 348/2. His image is more detailed than others. Ruined, landless and impoverished Russian peasant,shaved into soldiers. Khlebnikov's soldier's lot is painful and pitiful. Corporal punishment and constant humiliation - that's his destiny. Sick and weak, with a facein cam ”, on which a dirty nose turned up absurdly stuck up, with eyes in which“froze stupid, submissive horror ", This soldier has become a general ridicule in the company and an object for mockery and abuse. He is driven to the idea of suicide, from which Romashov saves him, seeing in Khlebnikov his brother-man. Pitying Khlebnikov, Romashov says:Khlebnikov, are you sick? And I'm not feeling well, my dear... I don't understand anything of what's going on in the world. Everything is some wild, senseless, cruel nonsense! But you have to endure, my dear, you have to endure …» Khlebnikov, although he sees in Romashov a kind person who humanly relates to a simple soldier, but, first of all, he sees in himmaster . Cruelty, injustice, the absurdity of the way of life become obvious, but the hero sees no way out of this horror, except for patience.
G) educated, intelligent, independentFokin.
Depicting gray, impersonal, crushed « own ignorance, general slavery, bossy indifference, arbitrariness and violence » soldier, Kuprin evokes compassion in the reader for them, shows that in fact they are living people, and not faceless "cogs" of the military machine.
So Kuprin comes to another, very important topic – personality theme.
D. h. 1) Prepare messages based on the images of Romashov and Nazansky (in groups) (portrait characteristics, relationships with people, views, attitude to service, etc.)
2) Answer the questions:
How is the theme of love dealt with in the story?
What is the meaning of the title of the story?
Lesson 2
Subject: The metaphorical nature of the title of A. I. Kuprin's story "Duel".
The purpose of the lesson: analyze the images of the characters expressing the author's position in the story.
Methodical methods: students' messages, work on the text, analytical conversation.
Checking the house. tasks. The author's ideals are expressed by the heroes opposed to the main mass - Romashov and Nazansky. These heroes are represented by several students (in groups)
Characteristics of the image of Nazansky. The conversations between Romashov and Nazansky contain the essence of the story.
A) We learn about Nazansky from the conversation between the Nikolaevs and Romashov (ch. 4): This " inveterate person ", He " goes on vacation for one month due to domestic circumstances ... This means that he took a drink”; “Such officers are a disgrace to the regiment, an abomination!”
B) Chapter 5 contains a description of the meeting between Romashov and Nazansky. We see firstwhite figure and golden head "Nazansky, we hear his calm voice, we get acquainted with his dwelling:"288", ch. 5. All this, and even a direct look "thoughtful, beautiful blue eyes ”contradicts what the Nikolaevs said about him. Nazansky argues "about sublime matters ”, philosophizes, and this, from the point of view of others, is“nonsense, idle and absurd chatter ". He thinks about 289 ". This is for him" 290/1 ". He feels someone else's joy and someone else's sorrow, feelsinjustice exist with Troy, the aimlessness of your life , looking for and not finding a way out of the impasse . 431-432.
Description of the landscape , the mysterious night that opens from the window, according to hislofty words : « 290/2 ».
Nazansky's face seems to Romashov "beautiful and interesting ": golden hair, a high, clean forehead, a neck of a noble pattern, a massive and graceful head, similar to the head of one of the Greek heroes or sages, clear blue eyes, looking "lively, smart and meek ". True, this description of an almost ideal hero ends with a revelation: “291/1".
Dreaming about " future godlike life ”, Nazansky glorifies the power and beauty of the human mind, enthusiastically calls for respect for a person, enthusiastically talks about love - and at the same time expresses the views of the author himself: “293/1 ". Love according to Kuprin is a talent akin to a musical one. Kuprin will develop this theme later in the story "Garnet Bracelet", and much of what Nazansky said will go directly into the story.
IN) « 435 -underlined » (ch. 21 ). Preaches equality and happiness, sings of the human mind.
In the passionate speeches of Nazanskya lot of bile and anger , thoughts on the need to fight against "two-headed monster" - the tsarist autocracy andpolice regime in the country, forebodings of the inevitability of profound social upheavals : « 433/1 ". Believes in the next life.
He anti-military and the army in general condemns the brutal treatment of soldiers (ch.21, 430 - 432 ). Nazansky's accusatory speeches are full of open pathos. It's kind ofduel hero with a senseless and cruel system . Some statements of this hero, as Kuprin himself later said, “sound like a gramophone, but they are dear to the writer, who invested in Nazansky much that worried him.
D) What do you think, why was such a hero needed in the “Duel” next to Romashov? Nazansky asserts: there is only man, the complete freedom of man. Romashov embodies the principle of human lack of freedom. The door is not closed, you can go out. Romashov recalls that his mother tied him to the bed with the thinnest thread. She caused him mystical fear, although it was possible to break.
Characteristics of Romashov.
Lieutenant Romashov, the protagonist of The Duel, becomes infected with the moods and thoughts of Nazansky. This is a typical Kuprin image of a truth seeker and a humanist. Romashovgiven in perpetual motion , in the process of his inner change and spiritual growth. Kuprin reproducesnot all biography hero, and the most important moment in it, without a beginning, but with a tragic end.
Portrait the hero is outwardly expressive:260, ch. 1 ", sometimes unsophisticated. However, in the actions of Romashov one can feelinner strength coming from a sense of righteousness and justice. For example, he unexpectedly defends the Tatar Sharafutdinov, who does not understand Russian, from a colonel who insults him (Ch. 1,262-263 )
He stands up for the soldier Khlebnikov when a non-commissioned officer wants to beat him (ch.10, 340/1).
He even triumphs over the bestial Bek-Agamalov, when he almost hacked to death a woman from a brothel where the officers were drinking: “18 ch., 414" . Bek-Agamalov is grateful to Romashov for not letting him, who had gone berserk from drunkenness, kill a woman
In all these fights Romashov is at his best.
- What lifestyle does ? (bored, drunkenness, loneliness, is in connection with an unloved woman)
- There are plans ? Extensive in self-education, the study of languages, literature, art. But they remain only plans.
- What is he dreaming about? About a brilliant career, sees himself as an outstanding commander. His dreams are poetic, but they are wasted.267-269.
- Where does Romashov like to go? ? Meet trains at the station265. ch.2. His heart yearns for beauty. Wed Tolstoy ("Resurrection"), Nekrasov ("Troika"), Blok ("On the Railway",439) . Straight reminiscence ( echo, the influence of someone's creativity in a work of art). The railway is read as the theme of the distance, the theme of life's way out
Romashov is a romantic, subtle nature. Him "264 ". Attractive in the herosoftness of mind , kindness, congenital sense of justice . All this sharply distinguishes him from the rest of the officers of the regiment.
Painful, boring army situation in a provincial regiment. Senseless, sometimes idiotic military practice. His disappointments are painful.
- Why is Kuprin's hero young? Over blossoming youth is dominated by soul-deadening treasury. Choosing a young hero, Kuprin intensified the torment "nonsense, incomprehensibility ».
- What feeling does Romashov evoke in the reader? Deep sympathy.
Romashov has trend towards evolution . Moves towards the knowledge of life.Clash of man and officer first takes place in Romashov himself, in his soul and mind. This internal struggle gradually turns into an open one.duel with Nikolayev and with all the officers. pp. 312 (ch. 7), 348, 349, 419.
Romashov graduallyfreed from a false understanding of honor officer's uniform. The turning point was the hero's reflections on the position of the human person in society, his internal monologue in defense of human rights, dignity and freedom. Romashova "I was stunned and shocked by the unexpectedly bright consciousness of my individuality. and he rose in his own wayagainst depersonalization of a person in military service , in defense of the ordinary soldier. He is indignant at the regimental authorities, who maintain a state of enmity between soldiers and officers. But his impulses to protest are replaced by complete apathy and indifference, his soul is often overwhelmed by depression: “My life is gone!"
The feeling of absurdity, confusion, incomprehensibility of life depresses him. During a conversation with a sick, disfiguredKhlebnikov Romashov is experiencingdeep pity and compassion for him (ch. 16 ). He, brought up in the spirit of superiority over the mass of soldiers, indifference to the hard fate of a soldier, begins to understand that Khlebnikov and his comrades are depersonalized and crushed by their own ignorance, general slavery, arbitrariness and violence, that soldiers are also people who have the right to sympathy.402/1, 342 .
A. And Kuprin recalled that the scene at the railroad track made a great impression onGorky : « When I read the conversation between Lieutenant Romashov and the pitiful soldier Khlebnikov, Alexei Maksimovich was moved, and it was terrible to see this big man with wet eyes.
Unexpectedly for himself, he suddenly rebels against God himself, who allows evil and injustice (anotherduel perhaps the most important). « 402" . He withdrawn into himself, focused on his inner world , firmly decided to break with military service in order to start a new life:"403"; "404/1 ”- this is how Romashov defines for himself the worthy purpose of life.
A modest person grows spiritually, discovers the eternal values of being. Kuprin sees in the youth of the hero hope for the future transformation of the world. The service makes a repulsive impression on him precisely because of its unnaturalness and anti-humanity. However, Romashov does not have time to fulfill his dreams and dies as a result of betrayal.
4. Thoughts about the possibility of another life are combined in him with thoughts about love forShurochka Nikolaeva . Sweet, feminine Shurochka, with whom Nazansky is in love, is essentiallyguilty of the murder of Romashov to a duel. Greed, calculation, lust for power, duplicity , « some evil and proud force ", Shurochka's resourcefulness is not noticed by Romashov in love. She demands:You must shoot tomorrow ”- and Romashov agrees for her sake to a duel that could have been avoided.
Types of business people have already been created in Russian literature (Chichikov, Stolz). Shurochka is a business man in a skirt. She seeks to escape from the environment. The only way is for her husband to enter the academy, he seeks to leave for the capital from the petty-bourgeois province.280, 4 ch.
For the sake of winning his place in the world, he rejects Nazansky's passionate love, for the sake of preserving his husband's reputation and career, he sacrifices Romashov. Outwardly charming and smart, she appears disgusting in a conversation with Romashov on the eve of a duel.440/2.
Discussing the meaning of the story's title.
A) The title itself conveys the personal and social conflict underlying the plot.
plot aspect. P fights , which we have already talked about, is inevitable and naturallead to the denouement - to the last fight .
Final Feature . The duel between Romashov and Nikolaev is not described in the story. ABOUTthe death of Romashov report dry, official, soulless linesreport Staff Captain Dietz (ch.23, 443 ). The ending is perceived as tragic because Romashov's death is meaningless. This last chord is full of compassion. This duel, the death of the hero is a foregone conclusion:Romashov is too different from everyone, to survive in this society.
Mentioned several times in the storyduel , a painful, stuffy atmosphere is being forced. Chapter 19 describes how drunken officers are pullingfuneral tune, (in Vetkin's stupid eyes this motive causes tears), but pure soundsfuneral services suddenly interrupted "terrible, cynical swearing" Osadchy , 419. Offended Romashov is trying to reason with people. After that, a scandal is played out, which led to the fact that Romashov challenges Nikolaev to a duel, 420, 426.
B) The meaning of the name is in Romashov's duel with the evil that is in himself. This conflict is given as a philosophical one, the hero's comprehension of freedom and necessity.
C) The theme of the duel - a sign of reality itself, the disunity of people, the misunderstanding of one person by another.
G) Civilian - officers, 411-412. Caste officer prejudices.
D) officers and soldiers (humiliated, let's remember the Tatar, Romashov's orderly, finishing his coffee after him, finishing his dinners)
E) But the name is also metaphorical , symbolic meaning. Kuprin wrote:With all the strength of my soul, I hate the years of my childhood and youth, the years of the corps, the cadet school and service in the regiment. About everything. What I have experienced and seen, I must write. And with my novel I will challenge the royal army to a duel ". The name also has another, much larger social aspect. The story is Kuprin's duel with the whole army, with the whole system that kills the personality in a person and kills the person himself. In 1905, this story, of course, was taken by the revolutionary forces as a call to fight. But even almost a hundred years after the writing, the story remains a call for respect for the human person, for reconciliation and brotherly love.
5. So, traditions of Russian literature:
1) Kuprin's hero is closely connected with the concept of a superfluous person, Tolstoy's hero.
2) Subtle psychological drawing (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy). Like L. Tolstoy, he explores in depth the struggle of feelings, the contradictions of the awakening consciousness, their collapse. Romashov is close to Chekhov's characters. Kuprin's approach to his hero is akin to Chekhov's. An embarrassing, short-sighted and baggy lieutenant, thinking of himself in the 3rd person with the words of stilted novels, 375, 380. 387., evokes a mocking and compassionate attitude. This is how the figure of Petya Trofimov is illuminated.
3) Spontaneous democracy, sympathy for the little man. (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky)
4) Socio-philosophical definition of good and evil.
5) Orientation to some kind of doctrine. Tolstoy is looking for his "green stick". Kuprin does not know how to rebuild the world. His work contains the rejection of evil.
Agenosov's textbook, part 1, p. 26.
V. Lilin, With. 64 - reviews of the "Duel" by Gorky, L. Tolstoy.
A. I. Kuprin . Selected writings. Moscow, "Fiction", 1985
