Introduction
Olga Ilyinskaya in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov" is the most striking and complex female character. Getting to know her as a young, just developing girl, the reader sees her gradual maturation and disclosure as a woman, mother, and independent person. At the same time, a complete characterization of the image of Olga in the novel "Oblomov" is possible only when working with quotations from the novel that most capably convey the appearance and personality of the heroine:
“If she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony. The size of the head strictly corresponded to a somewhat high growth, the oval and dimensions of the face corresponded to the size of the head; all this, in turn, was in harmony with the shoulders, the shoulders - with the camp ... ".
When meeting with Olga, people always stopped for a moment "before this so strictly and deliberately, artistically created creature."
Olga received a good upbringing and education, understands the sciences and art, reads a lot and is in constant development, knowledge, achievement of new and new goals. These features of hers were reflected in the appearance of the girl: “The lips are thin and mostly compressed: a sign of a thought constantly directed at something. The same presence of a speaking thought shone in the keen, always cheerful, piercing look of dark, gray-blue eyes, "and unevenly located thin eyebrows created a small crease on the forehead" in which something seemed to say, as if a thought rested there.
Everything in her spoke of her own dignity, inner strength and beauty: “Olga walked with her head tilted slightly forward, so gracefully, nobly resting on a thin, proud neck; moved smoothly with her whole body, stepping lightly, almost imperceptibly.Love for Oblomov
The image of Olga Ilyinskaya in Oblomov appears at the beginning of the novel as a still very young, little-knowing girl, looking at the world around her with wide open eyes and trying to cognize it in all its manifestations. The turning point, which became for Olga the transition from childish shyness and some embarrassment (as was the case when communicating with Stolz), was love for Oblomov. A wonderful, strong, inspiring feeling that flashed with lightning speed between lovers was doomed to parting, since Olga and Oblomov did not want to accept each other as they really are, cultivating a feeling for semi-ideal prototypes of real heroes.
For Ilyinskaya, love for Oblomov was not associated with the feminine tenderness, gentleness, acceptance and care that Oblomov expected from her, but with duty, the need to change the inner world of her lover, to make him a completely different person:
“She dreamed of how“ she would order him to read the books ”that Stoltz had left, then read the newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, finish the plan for arranging the estate, get ready to go abroad - in a word, he would not doze off with her; she will show him the goal, make him fall in love again with everything that he stopped loving.
“And all this miracle will be done by her, so timid, silent, whom no one has obeyed until now, who has not yet begun to live!”
Olga's love for Oblomov was based on the selfishness and ambitions of the heroine. Moreover, her feelings for Ilya Ilyich can hardly be called true love - it was a fleeting love, a state of inspiration and rise in front of a new peak that she wanted to reach. For Ilyinskaya, in fact, Oblomov’s feelings were not important, she wanted to make her ideal out of him, so that she could then be proud of the fruits of her labors and, perhaps, remind him later that everything he had was due to Olga.
Olga and Stolz
The relationship between Olga and Stolz developed from a tender, reverent friendship, when Andrei Ivanovich was a teacher, mentor, an inspiring figure for the girl, in his own way distant and inaccessible: “When a question, bewilderment was born in her mind, she did not suddenly decide to believe him: he was too far ahead of her, too taller than her, so that her pride sometimes suffered from this immaturity, from the distance in their minds and years.
Marriage with Stolz, who helped her recover after parting with Ilya Ilyich, was logical, since the characters are very similar in character, life orientations and goals. Quiet, calm, endless happiness was seen by Olga in her life together with Stolz:
“She experienced happiness and could not determine where the boundaries were, what it was.”
“She also walked alone, along an inconspicuous path, he also met her at the crossroads, gave her his hand and led her not into the brilliance of dazzling rays, but as if to the flood of a wide river, to spacious fields and friendly smiling hills”
Having lived together for several years in cloudless, endless happiness, seeing in each other those ideals that they always dreamed about and those people who appeared to them in their dreams, the heroes began to seem to move away from each other. It became hard for Stolz to reach out for the inquisitive, continuously striving forward Olga, and the woman “began to strictly notice herself and caught that she was embarrassed by this silence of life, her stop at moments of happiness,” asking questions: “Is it really necessary and possible to wish for something ? Where to go? Nowhere! There is no further road ... Really not, have you already completed the circle of life? Is it really all ... everything ... ". The heroine begins to be disappointed in family life, in women's destiny and in the fate that was prepared for her from birth, but continues to believe in her doubting husband and that their love will keep them together even in the most difficult hour:
“That unfading and indestructible love lay mightily, like the force of life, on their faces - in the time of friendly sorrow it shone in the slowly and silently exchanged look of cumulative suffering, was heard in endless mutual patience against life's torture, in restrained tears and muffled sobs.
And although Goncharov does not describe in the novel how the further relationship between Olga and Stolz developed, it can be briefly assumed that after some time the woman either left her husband or lived the rest of her life unhappy, more and more plunging into disappointment from the unattainability of those lofty goals, oh whom I dreamed of in my youth.
Conclusion
The image of Olga Ilyinskaya in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov" is a new, to some extent feminist type of Russian woman who does not want to close herself off from the world, limiting herself to housekeeping and family. A brief description of Olga in the novel is a woman-seeker, a woman-innovator, for whom “routine” family happiness and “Oblomovism” were really the most terrifying and frightening things that could lead to degradation and stagnation of her forward-looking, learning personality. For the heroine, love was something secondary, stemming from friendship or inspiration, but not an original, leading feeling, and even more so not the meaning of life, like Agafya Pshenitsyna.
The tragedy of Olga's image lies in the fact that the society of the 19th century was not yet ready for the emergence of strong female personalities capable of changing the world on an equal footing with men, so she would still have expected the very soporific, monotonous family happiness that the girl was so afraid of.
Artwork test
Roman I.A. Goncharov "Oblomov" reveals the problem of the social society of those times. In this work, the main characters could not deal with their own feelings, depriving themselves of the right to happiness. One of these heroines with an unfortunate fate will be discussed.
The image and characterization of Olga Ilyinskaya with quotes in the novel Oblomov will help to fully reveal her difficult character and better understand this woman.
Olga's appearance
It is difficult to call a young creature a beauty. The appearance of the girl is far from ideals and generally accepted standards.
"Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty ... But if she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony."
Being small in stature, she managed to walk like a queen, with her head held high. The girl felt the breed, to become. She wasn't pretending to be better. She didn't flirt, she didn't fawn. It was as natural as possible in the manifestation of emotions and feelings. Everything in her was real, without a drop of falsehood and lies.
“In a rare girl you will meet such simplicity and natural freedom of sight, word, deed ... no lies, no tinsel, no intent!”.
Family
Olga was raised not by her parents, but by an aunt who replaced her father and mother. The girl remembered her mother from a portrait that hung in the living room. About her father, since he took her away from the estate at the age of five, she had no information. Becoming an orphan, the child was left to himself. The baby lacked support, care, warm words. The aunt was not up to her. She was too immersed in secular life, and she did not care about the suffering of her niece.
Education
Despite the eternal employment, the aunt was able to set aside time for the education of the growing niece. Olga was not one of those who are forced to sit down for lessons with a whip. She has always strived to gain new knowledge, constantly developing and moving forward in this direction. Books were an outlet, and music served as a source of inspiration. In addition to playing the piano, she sang beautifully. Her voice, though soft, was strong.
“From this pure, strong girlish voice, my heart beat, my nerves trembled, my eyes sparkled and swam with tears ...”
Character
Oddly enough, she loved solitude. Noisy companies, fun gatherings with friends are not about Olga. She did not seek to acquire new acquaintances, revealing her soul to strangers. Someone considered her too smart, others, on the contrary, narrow-minded.
“Some considered her close-minded, because wise maxims did not break from her tongue ...”
Not distinguished by talkativeness, she preferred to live in her shell. In that invented little world where it was good and calm. External calmness was strikingly different from the internal state of the soul. The girl always clearly knew what she wanted from life and tried to implement her plans.
“If she has any intention, then the matter will boil ..”
First love or acquaintance with Oblomov
First love came at the age of 20. The meeting was planned. Stolz brought Oblomov to Olga's aunt's house. Hearing the angelic voice of Oblomov, he realized that he was gone. The feeling turned out to be mutual. Since then, the meetings have become regular. Young people became interested in each other and began to think about living together.
How love changes a person
Love can change any person. Olga was no exception. She seemed to have wings behind her back from the overwhelming feelings. Everything in her seethed and seethed with the desire to turn the world upside down, changing it, making it better, cleaner. Olga's chosen one was a different field. Understanding the emotions and ambitions of a lover is too difficult a task. It was difficult for him to resist this volcano of passions, sweeping away everything in its path. He wanted to see in her a quiet, calm woman who devoted herself completely to home and family. Olga, on the contrary, wanted to shake up Ilya, change his inner world and his usual way of life.
“She dreamed of how“ she would order him to read the books ”that Stoltz had left, then read the newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, finish the plan for arranging the estate, get ready to go abroad - in a word, he would not doze off with her; she will show him the goal, make him fall in love again with everything that he stopped loving.
First disappointment
Time passed, nothing changed. Everything remained in place. Olga knew perfectly well what she was doing, allowing the relationship to go too far. It was not in her nature to retreat. She continued to hope, sincerely believing that she could remake Oblomov, adjusting the ideal man in all respects to her model, but sooner or later any patience comes to an end.
Gap
She is tired of fighting. The girl was gnawed by doubts whether she had made a mistake by deciding to link her life with a weak-willed, weak person incapable of action. Sacrificing yourself all your life for love, why? She had already been treading water for too long, which was unusual for her. It's time to move on, but apparently alone.
"I thought that I would revive you, that you could still live for me - and you died a very long time ago."
This phrase became decisive before Olga put an end to her relationship with her beloved, as it seemed to her, ended so early.
Stolz: life jacket or attempt number two
He was always for her, first of all, a close friend, a mentor. She shared everything that was going on in her soul. Stolz always found time to support, lend a shoulder, making it clear that she was always there, and she could rely on him in any situation. They had common interests. Similar positions. They could well become one, which Andrey counted on. Licking emotional wounds after parting with Oblomov, Olga decided in Paris. In the city of love, where there is a place for hope, faith in the best. It was here that she met with Stolz.
Marriage. Trying to be happy.
Andrei surrounded with attention and care. She enjoyed courtship.
"Continuous, full of intelligence and passion worship of such a man as Stolz"
Restored injured, offended self-esteem. She was grateful to him. Gradually, the heart began to thaw. The woman felt that she was ready for a new relationship, that she was ripe for the family.
“She experienced happiness and could not determine where the boundaries were, what it was.”
Becoming a wife, for the first time she was able to understand what it means to be loved and to love.
A few years later
For several years the couple lived in a happy marriage. It seemed to Olga that it was in Stolz:
"Not blindly, but with consciousness, and her ideal of male perfection was embodied in him."
But life stuck. The woman is bored. The uniform rhythm of gray everyday life was stifling, not giving way to the accumulated energy. Olga lacked the hectic activities that she led with Ilya. She tried to attribute her state of mind to fatigue, depression, but the situation did not improve, heating up more and more. Andrei intuitively felt changes in mood, not understanding the true cause of his wife's depressed state. Did they make a mistake, and the attempt to become happy failed, but why?
Conclusion
Who is to blame for what happens to us at a particular stage of life. For the most part, we are ourselves. In the modern world, Olga would not be bored and not obsessed with problems. At that time, there were only a few women with a masculine character. They were not understood and not accepted in society. She alone would not have been able to change anything, but she herself was not ready to change, being selfish in her soul. Family life was not for her. She had to accept the situation or let go.
One of the female portraits in the novel is the image of Olga Sergeevna Ilyinskaya, Stolz's friend and Oblomov's lover. Ilya Ilyich cannot forget this woman for a long time, he painted her portrait in his memory. “Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty, that is, there was neither whiteness in her, nor the bright color of her cheeks and lips, and her eyes did not burn with rays of inner fire; there were no corals on the lips, no pearls in the mouth, no miniature hands, like those of a five-year-old child, with fingers in the form of grapes ... ”Goncharov, I.A. Oblomov. A novel in 4 parts. - M.: Fiction, 1984. - 493 p. - S. 202. Such a woman could not leave indifferent the main character, who had not been published for a long time.
Further, one can trace the view of I.A. Goncharov himself on the image of Olga: “Whoever met her, even absent-minded, stopped for a moment in front of this so strictly and deliberately, artistically created creature ... the nose formed a noticeably convex, graceful line; lips thin and for the most part compressed ... eyebrows gave a special beauty to the eyes ... these were two blond, fluffy, almost straight stripes that rarely lay symmetrically ... ”Ibid. - S. 202.
The motif of the statue can be traced here as well. Oblomov himself compares Olga with a statue of "grace and harmony." She “slightly tall stature strictly corresponded to the size of the head, the size of the head - the oval and the size of the face; all this, in turn, was in harmony with the shoulders, the shoulders - with the camp ... ". But the researchers notice that Olga is not a statue. There is another analogy for it - a machine.
As a statue, Ilyinskaya is certainly beautiful, but as a machine, it is functional. Oblomov's love seems to have curled the hero, but now the factory ends and the hero himself freezes. The hero's eyes no longer sparkle and burst into tears "from words, from sounds, from this pure, strong girlish voice", from which the heart beat so much before.
I.A. Goncharov gives a portrait of the heroine at different moments of her life. Here she sings “Her cheeks and ears flushed with excitement; sometimes, on her fresh face, a game of heart lightning suddenly flashed, a ray of such mature passion flared up, as if she was experiencing a distant future time of life with her heart, and suddenly this instant ray went out again, again her voice sounded fresh and silvery, "the author describes and" the awakening of the soul of the heroine ", when she understands Oblomov's feelings: "... her face was gradually filled with consciousness; a ray of thought, conjecture made its way into every line, and suddenly the whole face lit up with consciousness ... The sun also sometimes, coming out from behind a cloud, gradually illuminates one bush, another, the roof, and suddenly floods the whole landscape with light ... ". But a completely different Olga after a farewell conversation with Oblomov “she changed in her face: two pink spots disappeared, and her eyes dimmed ... she violently pulled a branch from a tree in passing, tore it off with her lips ...”. This shows all the disappointment, excitement and even annoyance of the heroine.
Olga Ilyinskaya is also changing during her acquaintance with Ilya Oblomov. If at first, before the recognition of Ilya Ilyich, she is light, always cheerful, lively, open and trusting, “dependent” of Stolz (he is her teacher), then after recognition and subsequent parting with the main character, she is also thoughtful, restrained, persistent, firm, confident, restrained. She is no longer just a windy girl, but a woman.
The writer singles out in Olga Ilyinskaya two important, in his opinion, personality traits that are so lacking in modern women, and therefore are especially valuable. These are words and movements. They are presented convincingly enough in the novel. This is the talent of I.A. Goncharova.
OBLOMOV
(Roman. 1859)
Ilinskaya Olga Sergeevna - one of the main characters of the novel, a bright and strong character. A possible prototype of I. is Elizaveta Tolstaya, Goncharov's only love, although some researchers reject this hypothesis. “Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty, that is, there was neither whiteness in her, nor the bright color of her cheeks and lips, and her eyes did not burn with rays of inner fire; there were no corals on the lips, no pearls in the mouth, no miniature hands, like those of a five-year-old child, with fingers in the form of grapes. But if she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.
From the time she was orphaned, I. lives in the house of her aunt Marya Mikhailovna. Goncharov emphasizes the rapid spiritual maturation of the heroine: she “as if she was listening to the course of life by leaps and bounds. And every hour of the slightest, barely noticeable experience, an incident that flies like a bird past the nose of a man, is grasped inexplicably quickly by a girl.
Andrey Ivanovich Stolz introduces I. and Oblomov. How, when and where Stolz and I. met is unknown, but the relationship connecting these characters is distinguished by sincere mutual attraction and trust. “... In a rare girl you will find such simplicity and natural freedom of sight, word, deed ... No affectation, no coquetry, no lies, no tinsel, no intent! On the other hand, almost only Stolz appreciated her, but she sat through more than one mazurka alone, not hiding her boredom ... Some considered her simple, short-sighted, shallow, because neither wise maxims about life, about love, nor quick ones fell from her tongue, unexpected and bold remarks, nor read or overheard judgments about music and literature ... "
Stolz brings Oblomov to I.'s house not by chance: knowing that she has an inquisitive mind and deep feelings, he hopes that with his spiritual inquiries I. will be able to awaken Oblomov - make him read, watch, learn more and more legibly.
Oblomov, in one of the very first meetings, was captured by her amazing voice - I. sings an aria from Bellini's opera "Norma", the famous "Casta diva", and "this destroyed Oblomov: he was exhausted", more and more plunging into a new feeling for himself.
I.'s literary predecessor is Tatyana Larina ("Eugene Onegin"). But as the heroine of a different historical time, I. is more confident in herself, her mind requires constant work. This was also noted by N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?”: “Olga, in her development, represents the highest ideal that a Russian artist can now evoke from the current Russian life ... There is something more in her than in Stolz, one can see a hint of a new Russian life; one can expect a word from her that will burn and dispel Oblomovism ... "
But this I. is not given in the novel, just as it is not given to dispel the phenomena of a different order, similar to her heroine Goncharov Vera from The Cliff. The character of Olga, fused simultaneously from strength and weakness, knowledge about life and the inability to bestow this knowledge on others, will be developed in Russian literature - in the heroines of A.P. Chekhov's dramaturgy - in particular, in Elena Andreevna and Sonya Voynitskaya from "Uncle Vanya".
The main property of I., inherent in many female characters in Russian literature of the last century, is not just love for a particular person, but an indispensable desire to change him, raise him to his ideal, re-educate him, instilling in him new concepts, new tastes. Oblomov turns out to be the most suitable object for this: “She dreamed of how“ she would order him to read the books ”that Stoltz left, then read the newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, finish the plan for the estate, get ready to go abroad, - in a word, he will not doze off with her; she will show him the goal, make him fall in love again with everything that he has stopped loving, and Stolz will not recognize him when he returns. And all this miracle will be done by her, so timid, silent, whom no one has obeyed until now, who has not yet begun to live! .. She even trembled with proud, joyful trembling; I considered it a lesson appointed from above.
Here you can compare her character with the character of Lisa Kalitina from I. S. Turgenev's novel "The Nest of Nobles", with Elena from his own "On the Eve". Re-education becomes the goal, the goal captivates so much that everything else is pushed aside, and the feeling of love gradually submits to teaching. Teaching, in a sense, enlarges and enriches love. It is precisely from this that the serious change occurs in I. that so struck Stolz when he met her abroad, where she, together with her aunt, arrived after the break with Oblomov.
I. immediately understands that in relations with Oblomov she plays the main role, she "in an instant weighed her power over him, and she liked this role of a guiding star, a ray of light that she would pour over a stagnant lake and be reflected in it." Life seems to wake up in I. along with the life of Oblomov. But in her this process takes place much more intensively than in Ilya Ilyich. I. seems to be testing on him his capabilities as a woman and a teacher at the same time. Her extraordinary mind and soul require more and more "complex" food.
It is no coincidence that at some point Obkomov sees Cordelia in her: all I.'s feelings are permeated by a simple, natural, like a Shakespearean heroine, pride, prompting to realize the treasures of one's soul as a happy and well-deserved given: “What I once called mine, that is no longer I’ll give it back, unless they take it away ... ”she says to Oblomov.
I.'s feeling for Oblomov is whole and harmonious: she simply loves, while Oblomov is constantly trying to find out the depth of this love, and therefore suffers, believing that I. “loves now, as she embroiders on the canvas: the pattern comes out quietly, lazily, she is even lazier unfolds it, admires it, then puts it down and forgets it. When Ilya Ilyich tells the heroine that she is smarter than him, I. replies: “No, simpler and bolder,” thereby expressing almost the defining line of their relationship.
I. hardly knows herself that the feeling she experiences is more reminiscent of a complex experiment than first love. She does not tell Oblomov that all matters on her estate have been settled, with only one goal - “... to follow to the end how love will make a revolution in his lazy soul, how oppression will finally fall from him, how he will not resist his loved ones happiness..." But, like any experiment on a living soul, this experiment cannot be crowned with success.
I. needs to see his chosen one on a pedestal, above himself, and this, according to the author's concept, is impossible. Even Stolz, whom I. marries after an unsuccessful affair with Oblomov, only temporarily stands higher than she, and Goncharov emphasizes this. By the end, it becomes clear that I. will outgrow her husband both in terms of the strength of feelings and the depth of reflection on life.
Realizing how far her ideals diverge from the ideals of Oblomov, who dreams of living according to the old way of his native Oblomovka, I. is forced to abandon further experiments. “I loved the future Oblomov! she says to Ilya Ilyich. - You are meek, honest, Ilya; you are gentle ... like a dove; you hide your head under your wing - and you want nothing more; you are ready to coo all your life under the roof ... yes, I’m not like that: this is not enough for me, I need something else, but I don’t know what! This “something” will not leave I.: even after surviving a break with Oblomov and happily marrying Stolz, she will not calm down. There will come a moment when Stolz will also have to explain to his wife, the mother of two children, the mysterious “something” that haunts her restless soul. "The deep abyss of her soul" does not frighten, but disturbs Stolz. In I., whom he knew almost as a girl, for whom he first felt friendship, and then love, he gradually discovers new and unexpected depths. It is difficult for Stolz to get used to them, because his happiness with I. seems to be largely problematic.
It happens that I. is overcome by fear: “She was afraid to fall into something similar to Oblomov's apathy. But no matter how hard she tried to get rid of these moments of periodic numbness, sleep of the soul, no, no, yes, the dream of happiness would first sneak up on her, the blue night would surround her and envelop her in drowsiness, then again there would come a thoughtful stop, as if the rest of life, and then embarrassment, fear , languor, some deaf sadness, some vague, foggy questions will be heard in a restless head.
These confusions are quite consistent with the final reflection of the author, which makes one think about the future of the heroine: “Olga did not know ... the logic of resignation to blind fate and did not understand women's passions and hobbies. Having once recognized the dignity and rights to herself in the chosen person, she believed in him and therefore loved, but stopped believing - stopped loving, as happened with Oblomov ... But now she believed in Andrei not blindly, but with consciousness, and in him her ideal of masculine perfection was embodied ... That is why she would not bear a drop in the dignity she recognized; any false note in his character or mind would produce a tremendous dissonance. The destroyed building of happiness would have buried her under the ruins, or, if her strength had still survived, she would have searched ... "
Ilyinskaya Olga Sergeevna is one of the main characters of the novel, a bright and strong character. A possible prototype of I. is Elizaveta Tolstaya, Goncharov's only love, although some researchers reject this hypothesis. “Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty, that is, there was neither whiteness in her, nor the bright color of her cheeks and lips, and her eyes did not burn with rays of inner fire; there were no corals on the lips, no pearls in the mouth, no miniature hands, like those of a five-year-old child, with fingers in the form of grapes. But if she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.
From the time she was orphaned, I. lives in the house of her aunt Marya Mikhailovna. Goncharov emphasizes the rapid spiritual maturation of the heroine: she “as if she was listening to the course of life by leaps and bounds. And every hour of the slightest, barely noticeable experience, an incident that flies like a bird past the nose of a man, is grasped inexplicably quickly by a girl.
Andrey Ivanovich Stolz introduces I. and Oblomov. How, when and where Stolz and I. met is unknown, but the relationship connecting these characters is distinguished by sincere mutual attraction and trust. “... In a rare girl you will find such simplicity and natural freedom of sight, word, deed ... No affectation, no coquetry, no lies, no tinsel, no intent! On the other hand, almost only Stolz appreciated her, but she sat through more than one mazurka alone, not hiding her boredom ... Some considered her simple, short-sighted, shallow, because neither wise maxims about life, about love, nor quick ones fell from her tongue, unexpected and bold remarks, nor read or overheard judgments about music and literature ... "
Stolz brings Oblomov to I.'s house not by chance: knowing that she has an inquisitive mind and deep feelings, he hopes that with his spiritual inquiries I. will be able to awaken Oblomov - make him read, watch, learn more and more legibly.
Oblomov, in one of the very first meetings, was captured by her amazing voice - I. sings an aria from Bellini's opera "Norma", the famous "Casta diva", and "this destroyed Oblomov: he was exhausted", more and more plunging into a new feeling for himself.
I.'s literary predecessor is Tatyana Larina ("Eugene Onegin"). But as the heroine of a different historical time, I. is more confident in herself, her mind requires constant work. This was also noted by N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?”: “Olga, in her development, represents the highest ideal that a Russian artist can now evoke from the current Russian life ... There is something more in her than in Stolz, one can see a hint of a new Russian life; one can expect a word from her that will burn and dispel Oblomovism ... "
But this I. is not given in the novel, just as it is not given to dispel the phenomena of a different order, similar to her heroine Goncharov Vera from The Cliff. The character of Olga, fused simultaneously from strength and weakness, knowledge about life and the inability to bestow this knowledge on others, will be developed in Russian literature - in the heroines of A.P. Chekhov's dramaturgy - in particular, in Elena Andreevna and Sonya Voynitskaya from "Uncle Vanya".
The main property of I., inherent in many female characters in Russian literature of the last century, is not just love for a particular person, but an indispensable desire to change him, raise him to his ideal, re-educate him, instilling in him new concepts, new tastes. Oblomov turns out to be the most suitable object for this: “She dreamed of how“ she would order him to read the books ”that Stoltz left, then read the newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, finish the plan for the estate, get ready to go abroad, - in a word, he will not doze off with her; she will show him the goal, make him fall in love again with everything that he has stopped loving, and Stolz will not recognize him when he returns. And all this miracle will be done by her, so timid, silent, whom no one has obeyed until now, who has not yet begun to live! .. She even trembled with proud, joyful trembling; I considered it a lesson appointed from above.
Here you can compare her character with the character of Lisa Kalitina from I. S. Turgenev's novel "The Nest of Nobles", with Elena from his own "On the Eve". Re-education becomes the goal, the goal captivates so much that everything else is pushed aside, and the feeling of love gradually submits to teaching. Teaching, in a sense, enlarges and enriches love. It is precisely from this that the serious change occurs in I. that so struck Stolz when he met her abroad, where she, together with her aunt, arrived after the break with Oblomov.
I. immediately understands that in relations with Oblomov she plays the main role, she "in an instant weighed her power over him, and she liked this role of a guiding star, a ray of light that she would pour over a stagnant lake and be reflected in it." Life seems to wake up in I. along with the life of Oblomov. But in her this process takes place much more intensively than in Ilya Ilyich. I. seems to be testing on him his capabilities as a woman and a teacher at the same time. Her extraordinary mind and soul require more and more "complex" food.
It is no coincidence that at some point Obkomov sees Cordelia in her: all I.'s feelings are permeated by a simple, natural, like a Shakespearean heroine, pride, prompting to realize the treasures of one's soul as a happy and well-deserved given: “What I once called mine, that is no longer I’ll give it back, unless they take it away ... ”she says to Oblomov.
I.'s feeling for Oblomov is whole and harmonious: she simply loves, while Oblomov is constantly trying to find out the depth of this love, and therefore suffers, believing that I. “loves now, as she embroiders on the canvas: the pattern comes out quietly, lazily, she is even lazier unfolds it, admires it, then puts it down and forgets it. When Ilya Ilyich tells the heroine that she is smarter than him, I. replies: “No, simpler and bolder,” thereby expressing almost the defining line of their relationship.
I. hardly knows herself that the feeling she experiences is more reminiscent of a complex experiment than first love. She does not tell Oblomov that all matters on her estate have been settled, with only one goal - “... to follow to the end how love will make a revolution in his lazy soul, how oppression will finally fall from him, how he will not resist his loved ones happiness..." But, like any experiment on a living soul, this experiment cannot be crowned with success.
I. needs to see his chosen one on a pedestal, above himself, and this, according to the author's concept, is impossible. Even Stolz, whom I. marries after an unsuccessful affair with Oblomov, only temporarily stands higher than she, and Goncharov emphasizes this. By the end, it becomes clear that I. will outgrow her husband both in terms of the strength of feelings and the depth of reflection on life.
Realizing how far her ideals diverge from the ideals of Oblomov, who dreams of living according to the old way of his native Oblomovka, I. is forced to abandon further experiments. “I loved the future Oblomov! she says to Ilya Ilyich. - You are meek, honest, Ilya; you are gentle ... like a dove; you hide your head under your wing - and you want nothing more; you are ready to coo all your life under the roof ... yes, I’m not like that: this is not enough for me, I need something else, but I don’t know what! This “something” will not leave I.: even after surviving a break with Oblomov and happily marrying Stolz, she will not calm down. There will come a moment when Stolz will also have to explain to his wife, the mother of two children, the mysterious “something” that haunts her restless soul. "The deep abyss of her soul" does not frighten, but disturbs Stolz. In I., whom he knew almost as a girl, for whom he first felt friendship, and then love, he gradually discovers new and unexpected depths. It is difficult for Stolz to get used to them, because his happiness with I. seems to be largely problematic.
It happens that I. is overcome by fear: “She was afraid to fall into something similar to Oblomov's apathy. But no matter how hard she tried to get rid of these moments of periodic numbness, sleep of the soul, no, no, yes, the dream of happiness would first sneak up on her, the blue night would surround her and envelop her in drowsiness, then again there would come a thoughtful stop, as if the rest of life, and then embarrassment, fear , languor, some deaf sadness, some vague, foggy questions will be heard in a restless head.
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