General characteristics of the story poor Lisa. Analysis of the story "Poor Lisa" by Karamzin

Today in the lesson we will talk about the story of N.M. Karamzin " Poor Lisa”, learn the details of its creation, historical context, determine what the author's innovation is, analyze the characters of the heroes of the story, and also consider moral questions raised by the writer.

It must be said that the publication of this story was accompanied by extraordinary success, even excitement among the Russian readership, which is not surprising, because the first Russian book appeared, the heroes of which could be empathized with just as much as “The Sufferings of young Werther» Goethe or Jean-Jacques Rousseau's New Eloise. We can say that Russian literature began to become on the same level with European. The enthusiasm and popularity were such that even a pilgrimage to the place of events described in the book began. As you remember, the case takes place not far from the Simonov Monastery, the place was called "Lizin's pond". This place is becoming so popular that some evil-speaking people even compose epigrams:

Drowned here
Erast's bride...
Get drunk girls
There's plenty of room in the pond!

Well, can you do
Godless and worse?
Fall in love with a tomboy
And drown in a puddle.

All this contributed to the unusual popularity of the story among Russian readers.

Naturally, the popularity of the story was given not only by the dramatic plot, but also by the fact that it was all artistically unusual.

So before Karamzin, no one had ever written in Russia. Moreover, the unusualness began already with the exposition, with a description of the place where the action of the story would take place.

“Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the surroundings of this city as well as I do, because no one more often than me is in the field, no one more than me wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - where the eyes look - through the meadows and groves, hills and plains. Every summer I find new pleasant places or new beauties in old ones. But most pleasant for me is the place on which the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Si ... New Monastery rise.(Fig. 3) .

Rice. 3. Lithography of the Simonov Monastery ()

Here, too, there is unusualness: on the one hand, Karamzin accurately describes and designates the place of action - the Simonov Monastery, on the other hand, this encryption creates a certain mystery, understatement, which is very much in line with the spirit of the story. The main thing is the installation on the non-fiction of events, on documentary. It is no coincidence that the narrator will say that he learned about these events from the hero himself, from Erast, who told him about this shortly before his death. It was this feeling that everything happened nearby, that one could be a witness to these events, intrigued the reader and gave the story a special meaning and a special character.

Rice. 4. Erast and Lisa ("Poor Lisa" in a modern production) ()

It is curious that this private, uncomplicated story of two young people (the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Lisa (Fig. 4)) turns out to be inscribed in a very wide historical and geographical context.

“But the most pleasant for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Si ... new monastery rise. Standing on this mountain, you see on right side almost all of Moscow, this terrible mass of houses and churches, which appears to the eyes in the form of a majestic amphitheater»

Word amphitheater Karamzin singles out, and this is probably no coincidence, because the scene becomes a kind of arena where events unfold, open to the eyes of everyone (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Moscow, XVIII century ()

“A magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays blaze on countless golden domes, on countless crosses, ascending to the sky! Below are fat, densely green flowering meadows, and behind them, on yellow sands, a bright river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the helm of heavy plows that float from the most fruitful countries. Russian Empire and endow greedy Moscow with bread"(Fig. 6) .

Rice. 6. View from Sparrow Hills ()

On the other side of the river is visible Oak Grove, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of the trees, sing summer days, so uniform for them. Farther away, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; still farther, almost at the edge of the horizon, the Sparrow Hills turn blue. On the left side, you can see vast fields covered with bread, forests, three or four villages, and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace.

Curiously, why does Karamzin frame private history with this panorama? It turns out that this history is becoming a part of human life, a part of Russian history and geography. All this gave the events described in the story a generalizing character. But, giving a general hint at this world history and this extensive biography, Karamzin nevertheless shows that private history, history individual people, not famous, simple, attracts him much more strongly. 10 years will pass, and Karamzin will become a professional historian and begin to work on his "History of the Russian State", written in 1803-1826 (Fig. 7).

Rice. 7. Cover of the book by N. M. Karamzin "History of the Russian State" ()

But while the focus of his literary attention is history ordinary people- peasant women Lisa and nobleman Erast.

Perhaps the main artistic discovery of Karamzin in "Poor Liza" is the image of the narrator, the narrator. We are talking on behalf of a person who is interested in the fate of his heroes, a person who is not indifferent to them, who sympathizes with other people's misfortunes. That is, Karamzin creates the image of the narrator in full accordance with the laws of sentimentalism. And now this is becoming unprecedented, this is the first time in Russian literature.

Sentimentalism- this is a worldview and a tendency of thinking aimed at identifying, strengthening, emphasizing the emotional side of life.

In full accordance with Karamzin's intention, the narrator does not accidentally say: “I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!”

The description in the exposition of the fallen Simonov Monastery, with its collapsed cells, as well as the collapsing hut in which Liza and her mother lived, introduce the theme of death into the story from the very beginning, creates that gloomy tone that will accompany the story. And at the very beginning of the story, one of the main themes and favorite ideas of the figures of the Enlightenment sounds - the idea of ​​the extra-class value of a person. And it sounds weird. When the narrator talks about the story of Lisa's mother, about early death her husband, Liza's father, he will say that she could not be consoled for a long time, and will utter the famous phrase: "... for even peasant women know how to love".

Now this phrase has become almost catchy, and we often do not correlate it with the original source, although in Karamzin's story it appears in a very important historical, artistic and cultural context. It turns out that the feelings of common people, peasants are no different from the feelings of noble people, nobles, peasant women and peasants are capable of subtle and tender feelings. This discovery of the extra-class value of a person was made by the figures of the Enlightenment and becomes one of the leitmotifs of Karamzin's story. And not only in this place: Liza will tell Erast that there can be nothing between them, since she is a peasant woman. But Erast will begin to console her and will say that he does not need any other happiness in life, except for Lisa's love. It turns out, indeed, the feelings of ordinary people can be as subtle and refined as the feelings of people of noble birth.

At the beginning of the story, another very important topic will sound. We see that in the exposition of his work, Karamzin concentrates all the main themes and motives. This is the theme of money and its destructive power. At the first date of Lisa and Erast, the guy will want to give her a ruble instead of the five kopecks requested by Lisa for a bouquet of lilies of the valley, but the girl will refuse. Subsequently, as if paying off Liza, from her love, Erast will give her ten imperials - one hundred rubles. Naturally, Liza will automatically take this money, and then she will try through her neighbor, a peasant girl Dunya, to transfer it to her mother, but this money will also be of no use to her mother. She will not be able to use them, because upon the news of Lisa's death, she herself will die. And we see that, indeed, money is the one destructive force that brings misfortune to people. Enough to remember sad story Erast himself. For what reason did he refuse Lisa? Leading a frivolous life and losing at cards, he was forced to marry a wealthy elderly widow, that is, he, too, is actually sold for money. And this incompatibility of money as an achievement of civilizations with the natural life of people is demonstrated by Karamzin in Poor Lisa.

With a fairly traditional literary plot- a story about how a young rake-nobleman seduces a commoner - Karamzin nevertheless solves it not quite traditionally. It has long been noticed by researchers that Erast is not at all such a traditional example of an insidious seducer, he really loves Lisa. He is a man with a good mind and heart, but weak and windy. And it is this frivolity that destroys him. And destroys him, like Lisa, too strong sensitivity. And here lies one of the main paradoxes of Karamzin's story. On the one hand, he is a preacher of sensitivity as a way of moral improvement of people, and on the other hand, he also shows how excessive sensitivity can bring detrimental consequences. But Karamzin is not a moralist, he does not call to condemn Lisa and Erast, he calls on us to sympathize with them sad fate.

Just as unusual and innovative Karamzin uses landscapes in his story. The landscape for him ceases to be just a scene of action and a background. The landscape becomes a kind of landscape of the soul. What happens in nature often reflects what happens in the soul of the characters. And nature seems to respond to the characters on their feelings. For example, let's remember a beautiful spring morning when Erast first sails along the river in a boat to Liza's house, and vice versa, a gloomy, starless night, accompanied by a storm and thunder, when the heroes fall into sin (Fig. 8). Thus, the landscape became active too. artistic power, which was also an artistic discovery of Karamzin.

Rice. 8. Illustration for the story "Poor Lisa" ()

But the main artistic discovery is the image of the narrator himself. All events are presented not objectively and dispassionately, but through his emotional reaction. It is he who turns out to be a genuine and sensitive hero, because he is able to experience the misfortunes of others as his own. He mourns his too sensitive heroes, but at the same time remains true to the ideals of sentimentalism and a faithful adherent of the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bsensibility as a way to achieve social harmony.

Bibliography

1. Korovina V.Ya., Zhuravlev V.P., Korovin V.I. Literature. Grade 9 Moscow: Enlightenment, 2008.
2. Ladygin M.B., Esin A.B., Nefyodova N.A. Literature. Grade 9 Moscow: Bustard, 2011.
3. Chertov V.F., Trubina L.A., Antipova A.M. Literature. Grade 9 M.: Education, 2012.

1. Internet portal "Lit-helper" ()
2. Internet portal "fb.ru" ()
3. Internet portal "KlassReferat" ()

Homework

1. Read the story "Poor Liza".
2. Describe the main characters of the story "Poor Liza".
3. Tell us, what is Karamzin's innovation in the story "Poor Liza".

Karamzin's story "Poor Liza" tells about the love of the young nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Lisa. Lisa lives with her mother in the vicinity of Moscow. The girl sells flowers and here she meets Erast. Erast is a man "with a fair mind and good heart, kind by nature, but weak and windy.

His love for Lisa was not strong. Erast plays cards.

In an effort to improve things, he is going to marry a rich widow, so he leaves Lisa. Shocked by Erast's betrayal, Liza throws herself into a pond in despair and drowns. This tragic end largely predetermined by the class inequality of heroes.

Erast is a nobleman. Lisa is a peasant. Their marriage is impossible. But the ability to love and be happy do not always coincide.

In the story, the author values ​​not nobility and wealth, but spiritual qualities, the ability to deep feeling. Karamzin was a great humanist, a man with a subtle soul. He denied serfdom, not recognizing the power of people to dispose of the lives of other people. Although the heroine of the story is not a serf girl, but a free peasant woman, nevertheless, the class wall between her and her lover is insurmountable.

Even Lisa's love could not destroy this barrier. Reading the story, I am completely on the side of Lisa, I experience the delight of love and mourn over the death of the girl. Turning to high topic unrequited love, Karamzin understood and felt that the drama human feelings just can't explain social reasons. The image of Erast in this sense is very interesting, his character is contradictory; has a gentle poetic nature, handsome, for which Lisa fell in love with him.

At the same time, Erast is selfish, weak-willed, capable of deception; with cold cruelty, he takes Lisa out of his house, but, having learned about her death, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer. The author emphasizes that no class superiority exempts a person from responsibility for his actions. The state of a young, chaste and naive girlhood with a joyful trust in life, merged with bright colors, is psychologically authentically represented. sunny day, blooming nature. Then an alarming period of bewilderment overflows before a new, unfamiliar feeling to her after meeting with Erast.

It is replaced by a touching picture of pure first love, happy and spiritually inspired. But when poor Liza surrenders to Erast, the pure delights of the girl are overshadowed by the consciousness of something lawless that interfered with her love. And on this new state of mind nature responds in its own way: “Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Lisa trembled all over: “Erast, Erast!

She said. - I'm scared! I am afraid that the thunder will kill me as a criminal!” The anxiety is not in vain: the satiated young nobleman begins to cool in his feelings for Lisa.

And in her soul, the fear of losing a loved one is replaced by hope for the opportunity to return the lost happiness. Here Erast leaves Lisa for a long time, setting off on a military campaign, where he loses all his fortune at cards, and upon his return decides to fix things by marrying a rich widow.

Having learned about this from the lips of Erast himself, Lisa falls into despair. deceived into best hopes and feelings, the girl rushes into the pond near the Simonov Monastery - the place of her happy dates with Erast.

In the character of Erast, Karamzin anticipates the type of disappointed person common in new Russian literature. By nature, Erast is kind, but weak and windy. Public life and secular pleasures are tired of him, he misses and complains about his fate. Under the influence of sentimental novels, which Erast read a lot, he dreams of happy times when people, not burdened by the conventions and rules of civilization, lived carelessly and amicably in the bosom of nature. Disappointed in the world, in the people of his circle, Erast is looking for new experiences. The meeting with Liza satisfies his dreams of a harmonious life away from society, in the natural simplicity of manners and customs. But he soon gets tired of the shepherd's idyll.

The motives of the story associated with Erast will sound in different variations in our literature - in Pushkin's "Gypsies", in L. N. Tolstoy's late drama "The Living Corpse" and the novel "Resurrection". And the fate of Lisa will respond in " stationmaster Pushkin, in Dostoevsky's Poor People.

In essence, "Poor Lisa" opens a key domestic literature subject " little man". Is it true, social aspect in the relationship between Lisa and Erast, he is muted: Karamzin is most concerned in the story with proof that "peasant women know how to love."

But precisely because of this, Karamzin lacks social flavor in the depiction of Liza's character. This is perhaps the most weak point story, for Lisa is least of all like a peasant woman, and more like a sweet society young lady of the Karamzin era, brought up on sensitive sentimental novels.

Nowadays, such a writer's approach to depicting people from the people seems naive and unartistic. But Karamzin's contemporaries, who had not yet read either Krylov, or Pushkin, or Gogol, not only did not feel this falsehood, but admired the artistic truth of the story to tears. The pond at the Simonov Monastery became a place of pilgrimage for admirers of Karamzin's talent and was named "Lizin's Pond". Sentimental couples met here on a date, people with sensitive and broken hearts. So, one of the secular wits wrote the following announcement on this occasion: Here Erast's bride threw herself into the water, - Drown yourself, girls, there is enough space in the pond! And the monks simply stopped these pilgrimages: they surrounded the pond with a fence and hung out an inscription that this pond was not called Lizin at all.

All this now cannot but evoke a smile at the naivety and innocence of people of a time far removed from us. But upon mature reflection, one cannot but agree that “tied” to a peasant woman and expressed in a somewhat archaic, outdated literary language the story of girlish love from its inception to the catastrophe is conveyed by Karamzin with psychological certainty, the grain of which already contains both the future Turgenev, the singer of "first love" and a subtle connoisseur of a girl's heart, and Leo Tolstoy with penetration into the mental process with its forms and laws. Recognized throughout the world, the sophisticated psychologism of the Russian fiction is foreseen, is born in Karamzin's seemingly naive and even inept story.

In the outskirts of Moscow, not far from the Simonov Monastery, once a young girl Liza lived with her old mother. After the death of Lisa's father, a rather prosperous peasant, his wife and daughter became impoverished. The widow grew weaker day by day and could not work. Only Lisa, not sparing her tender youth and rare beauty, worked day and night - weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and selling berries in the summer in Moscow.

One spring, two years after her father's death, Liza came to Moscow with lilies of the valley. young, good dressed man met her on the street. Upon learning that she was selling flowers, he offered her a ruble instead of five kopecks, saying that “beautiful lilies of the valley, plucked by hands beautiful girl, cost a ruble. But Lisa refused the offered amount. He did not insist, but said that from now on he would always buy flowers from her and would like her to pick them only for him.

Arriving home, Liza told her mother everything, and the next day she picked up the best lilies of the valley and again came to the city, but young man did not meet this time. Throwing flowers into the river, she returned home with sadness in her soul. The next evening, a stranger himself came to her house. As soon as she saw him, Liza rushed to her mother and excitedly announced who was coming to them. The old woman met the guest, and he seemed to her a very kind and pleasant person. Erast - that was the name of the young man - confirmed that he was going to buy flowers from Lisa in the future, and she did not have to go to the city: he himself could call on them.

Erast was a rather wealthy nobleman, with a fair mind and a naturally kind heart, but weak and windy. He led a distracted life, thinking only about his own pleasure, looking for it in secular amusements, and not finding it, he got bored and complained about his fate. The immaculate beauty of Liza at the first meeting shocked him: it seemed to him that in her he found exactly what he had been looking for for a long time.

This was the start of their long relationship. Every evening they saw each other either on the banks of the river, or in a birch grove, or under the shade of hundred-year-old oaks. They embraced, but their embrace was pure and innocent.

So several weeks passed. It seemed that nothing could interfere with their happiness. But one evening Lisa came to the meeting sad. It turned out that the groom, the son of a rich peasant, was wooing her, and the mother wanted her to marry him. Erast, comforting Lisa, said that after the death of his mother, he would take her to him and would live with her inseparably. But Lisa reminded the young man that he could never be her husband: she was a peasant woman, and he noble family. You offend me, said Erast, for your friend, your soul is most important, sensitive, innocent soul, you will always be closest to my heart. Liza threw herself into his arms - and in this hour, purity was to perish.

The delusion passed in one minute, giving way to surprise and fear. Liza cried, saying goodbye to Erast.

Their dates continued, but how everything had changed! Liza was no longer an angel of purity for Erast; platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not be "proud of" and which were not new to him. Liza noticed a change in him, and it saddened her.

Once, during a date, Erast told Lisa that he was being drafted into the army; they will have to part for a while, but he promises to love her and hopes to never part with her upon his return. It is not difficult to imagine how hard Liza felt the separation from her beloved. However, hope did not leave her, and every morning she woke up with the thought of Erast and their happiness upon his return.

So it took about two months. Once Lisa went to Moscow and on one of the big streets she saw Erast passing by in a magnificent carriage, which stopped near a huge house. Erast went out and was about to go to the porch, when he suddenly felt himself in Liza's arms. He turned pale, then, without saying a word, led her into the study and locked the door. Circumstances have changed, he announced to the girl, he is engaged.

Before Lisa could come to her senses, he led her out of the study and told the servant to escort her out of the yard.

Finding herself on the street, Liza went aimlessly, unable to believe what she heard. She left the city and wandered for a long time, until suddenly she found herself on the shore of a deep pond, under the shade of ancient oaks, which, a few weeks before, had been silent witnesses of her delights. This memory shocked Lisa, but after a few minutes she fell into deep thought. Seeing a neighbor girl walking along the road, she called her, took all the money out of her pocket and gave it to her, asking her to give it to her mother, kiss her and ask her to forgive the poor daughter. Then she threw herself into the water, and they could not save her.

Liza's mother, having learned about the terrible death of her daughter, could not stand the blow and died on the spot. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. He did not deceive Lisa when he told her that he was going to the army, but instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost all his fortune. He had to marry an elderly rich widow who had been in love with him for a long time. Upon learning of Liza's fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer. Now, perhaps, they have already reconciled.

The story "Poor Lisa", which became an example of sentimental prose, was published by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin in 1792 in the publication "Moscow Journal". It is worth noting Karamzin as an honored reformer of the Russian language and one of the most highly educated Russians of his time - this is an important aspect that allows us to evaluate the success of the story in the future. Firstly, the development of Russian literature had a "catching up" character, since it lagged behind European literature by about 90-100 years. While in the West they wrote and read with might and main sentimental novels, in Russia they still put together clumsy classical odes and dramas. The progressiveness of Karamzin as a writer was to "bring" from Europe to his homeland sentimental genres and develop a style and language for further writing such works.

Secondly, the assimilation of literature of the late 18th century by the public was such that at first they wrote for society how to live, and then society began to live according to what was written. That is, before the sentimental story, people read mostly hagiographic or church literature, where there were no living characters or lively speech, and the heroes of the sentimental story - such as Lisa - gave secular young ladies a real scenario of life, a guide of feelings.

Karamzin brought a story about poor Lisa from his many trips - from 1789 to 1790 he visited Germany, England, France, Switzerland (England is considered the birthplace of sentimentalism), and upon his return he published a new revolutionary story in his own journal.

"Poor Lisa" - no original work, since Karamzin adapted his plot for Russian soil, taking it from European literature. It's not about specific work and plagiarism - there were many such European stories. In addition, the author created an atmosphere of amazing authenticity by drawing himself as one of the heroes of the story and masterfully describing the situation of events.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, shortly after returning from a trip, the writer lived in a dacha not far from the Simonov Monastery, in a picturesque, calm place. The situation described by the author is real - the readers recognized both the surroundings of the monastery and the "lizine pond", and this contributed to the fact that the plot was perceived as reliable, and the characters - as real people.

Analysis of the work

The plot of the story

The plot of the story is love and, according to the author, utterly simple. The peasant girl Lisa (her father was a prosperous peasant, but after his death the farm is in decline and the girl has to earn money by selling needlework and flowers) lives in the bosom of nature with her old mother. In a city that seems huge and alien to her, she meets a young nobleman, Erast. Young people fall in love - Erast out of boredom inspired by pleasures and in a noble manner life, and Liza - for the first time, with all the simple, ardor and naturalness of a "natural person". Erast takes advantage of the girl's gullibility and takes possession of her, after which, naturally, he begins to be weary of the girl's company. The nobleman leaves for the war, where he loses his entire fortune in cards. The way out is to marry a rich widow. Lisa finds out about this and commits suicide by throwing herself into a pond, not far from the Simonov Monastery. The author who has been told this story cannot remember poor Liza without holy tears of regret.

For the first time among Russian writers, Karamzin unleashed the conflict of a work by the death of the heroine - as, most likely, it would have been in reality.

Of course, despite the progressiveness of Karamzin's story, his characters differ significantly from real people, they are idealized and embellished. This is especially true of the peasants - Lisa does not look like a peasant woman. It is unlikely that hard work would have contributed to the fact that she remained "sensitive and kind", it is unlikely that she led herself internal dialogues graceful style, and she could hardly keep up a conversation with a nobleman. Nevertheless, this is the first thesis of the story - "and peasant women know how to love."

Main characters

Lisa

The central heroine of the story, Liza, is the embodiment of sensitivity, ardor and ardor. Her mind, kindness and tenderness, the author emphasizes, are from nature. Having met Erast, she begins to dream not that he, like a handsome prince, will take her to his world, but that he should be a simple peasant or shepherd - this would equalize them and allow them to be together.

Erast differs from Lisa not only in social sign but also in character. Perhaps, the author says, he was spoiled by the world - he leads a typical lifestyle for an officer and a nobleman - he seeks pleasures and, having found them, cools to life. Erast is both smart and kind, but weak, incapable of action - such a hero also appears in Russian literature for the first time, a type of "disappointed aristocrat's life." At first, Erast is sincere in his love impulse - he does not lie when he tells Lisa about love, and it turns out that he is also a victim of circumstances. He does not stand the test of love, does not resolve the situation "like a man", but feels sincere torment after what happened. After all, it was he who allegedly told the author the story of poor Lisa and led him to Liza's grave.

Erast predetermined the appearance in Russian literature of a number of heroes of the type " extra people- weak and incapable of key decisions.

Karamzin uses " talking names". In the case of Liza, the choice of the name turned out to be "double-sided." The fact is that classic literature provided for typing techniques, and the name Lisa was supposed to mean a playful, flirtatious, frivolous character. Such a name could have a laughing maid - a cunning comedy character, prone to love adventures, by no means innocent. Having chosen such a name for his heroine, Karamzin destroyed the classical typification and created a new one. He built a new relationship between the name, character and actions of the hero and outlined the path to psychologism in literature.

The name Erast was also not chosen by chance. It means "beautiful" in Greek. His fatal charm, the need for novelty of impressions lured and ruined the unfortunate girl. But Erast will reproach himself for the rest of his life.

Constantly reminding the reader of his reaction to what is happening (“I remember with sadness ...”, “tears are rolling down my face, reader ....”), the author organizes the narrative in such a way that it acquires lyricism and sensitivity.

Theme, conflict of the story

Karamzin's story touches on several themes:

• The theme of the idealization of the peasant environment, the ideality of life in nature. main character- a child of nature, and therefore, by default, it cannot be evil, immoral, insensitive. The girl embodies simplicity and innocence due to the fact that she is from peasant family where eternal moral values ​​are kept.
• The theme of love and betrayal. The author sings of the beauty of sincere feelings and sadly talks about the doom of love, not supported by reason.
• The theme of the opposition of the village and the city. The city turns out to be evil, a great evil force capable of breaking a pure creature from nature (Lisa's mother intuitively feels this evil force and prays for her daughter every time she goes to the city to sell flowers or berries).
• The theme of the "little man". Social inequality, the author is sure (and this is an obvious glimpse of realism) does not lead to the happiness of lovers from different layers. Such love is doomed.

The main conflict of the story is social, because it is precisely because of the gap between wealth and poverty that the love of the heroes dies, and then the heroine. The author exalts sensitivity as the highest value of a person, affirms the cult of feelings as opposed to the cult of reason.

XVIII century, which glorified many remarkable people, including the writer Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. By the end of this century, he publishes his most famous creation- the story "Poor Liza". It was it that brought him great fame and great popularity among readers. The book is based on two characters: poor girl Liza and the nobleman Erast, who appear in the course of the story in their attitude towards love.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin made a huge contribution to the cultural development of the fatherland at the end of the 18th century. After numerous trips to Germany, England, France and Switzerland, the prose writer returns to Russia, and while relaxing at the dacha of the famous traveler Pyotr Ivanovich Beketov, in the 1790s he takes on a new literary experiment. The local surroundings near the Simonov Monastery greatly influenced the idea of ​​the work "Poor Lisa", which he hatched during his travels. Nature was of great importance for Karamzin, he truly loved it and often changed the bustle of the city for forests and fields, where he read his favorite books and immersed himself in thought.

Genre and direction

"Poor Liza" is the first Russian psychological story that contains a moral disagreement between people of different classes. Liza's feelings are clear and understandable to the reader: for a simple bourgeois, happiness is love, so she loves blindly and naively. Erast's feelings, on the contrary, are more confused, because he himself cannot understand them in any way. At first, the young man wants to simply fall in love just like in the novels he read, but it soon becomes clear that he is not able to live love. City life, full of luxury and passion, had a huge impact on the hero, and he discovers a carnal attraction that completely destroys spiritual love.

Karamzin is an innovator, he can rightfully be called the founder of Russian sentimentalism. Readers took the work admiringly, since the society has already for a long time wished for something like this. The audience was exhausted by the moralizing of the classic direction, the basis of which is the worship of reason and duty. Sentimentalism, on the other hand, demonstrates the emotional experiences, feelings and emotions of the characters.

About what?

According to the writer, this story is “a rather uncomplicated fairy tale.” Indeed, the plot of the work is simple to genius. It begins and ends with an outline of the area of ​​the Simonov Monastery, which evokes in the memory of the narrator thoughts about the tragic turn in the fate of poor Lisa. This is a love story of a poor provincial woman and a wealthy young man from the privileged class. The acquaintance of the lovers began with the fact that Lisa was selling lilies of the valley collected in the forest, and Erast, wanting to start a conversation with the girl he liked, decided to buy flowers from her. He was subdued natural beauty and Lisa's kindness, and they started dating. However, soon the young man was fed up with the charm of his passion and found a more profitable party. The heroine, unable to withstand the blow, drowned herself. Her lover regretted it all his life.

Their images are ambiguous, first of all, the world of a simple natural person, unspoiled by city fuss and greed, is revealed. Karamzin described everything in such detail and picturesquely that readers believed in this story and fell in love with his heroine.

Main characters and their characteristics

1. The main character of the story is Lisa, a poor village girl. IN early age she lost her father and was forced to become a breadwinner for her family, accepting any job. The hardworking provincial is very naive and sensitive, she sees in people only good traits and lives with his emotions, following the call of his heart. She takes care of her mother day and night. And even when the heroine decides on a fatal act, she still does not forget about her family and leaves her money. Main Talent Lisa is a gift to love, because for the sake of her loved ones she is ready to do anything.
2. Lisa's mother is a kind and wise old woman. She experienced the death of her husband Ivan very hard, as she devotedly loved him and lived happily with him for many years. Her only consolation was her daughter, whom she sought to marry to a worthy and wealthy man. The character of the heroine is internally solid, but a little bookish and idealized.
3. Erast is a wealthy nobleman. He leads wild image life, thinking only about fun. He is smart, but very fickle, spoiled and weak-willed. Without thinking about the fact that Lisa is from a different class, he fell in love with her, but still he cannot overcome all the difficulties of this unequal love. Erast cannot be named villain because he admits his guilt. He read and was inspired by novels, was dreamy, looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Therefore it real love and did not survive the test.

Subject

• The main theme in sentimental literature are sincere feelings a man in the face of indifference real world. Karamzin was one of the first to decide to write about spiritual happiness and suffering. common people. He reflected in his work the transition from civic theme, which was extended in the Enlightenment, to the personal one, in which the main subject of interest is spiritual world individual. Thus, the author, having described in depth the inner world of the characters together with their feelings and experiences, began to develop such literary device like psychology.
• Theme of love. Love in "Poor Liza" is a test that tests the heroes for strength and loyalty to their word. Liza completely surrendered to this feeling, her author exalts and idealizes for this ability. She is the embodiment of the feminine ideal, the one that completely dissolves in the adoration of her beloved and is faithful to him until last breath. But Erast could not stand the test and turned out to be cowardly and pathetic person, incapable of self-giving in the name of something more important than material wealth.
• Contrasting city and countryside. The author prefers countryside, it is there that natural, sincere and good people who know no temptation. But in big cities they acquire vices: envy, greed, selfishness. Erast's position in society was more precious than love, he was fed up with it, because he was not able to experience a strong and deep feeling. Lisa, on the other hand, could not live after this betrayal: if love died, she follows her, because without her she cannot imagine her future.

Problem

Karamzin in the work "Poor Liza" touches on various problems: social and moral. The problematic of the story is based on opposition. The main characters differ both in quality of life and in character. Liza is a pure, honest and naive girl from the lower class, and Erast is a spoiled, weak-willed, young man belonging to the nobility who thinks only about his own pleasures. Lisa, having fallen in love with him, cannot go a single day without thinking about him, while Erast, on the contrary, began to move away as soon as he got what he wanted from her.

The result of such fleeting moments of happiness for Lisa and Erast is the death of a girl, after which the young man cannot stop blaming himself for this tragedy and remains unhappy until the end of his life. The author showed how class inequality led to an unhappy ending and served as a reason for the tragedy, as well as the responsibility a person bears for those who trusted him.

the main idea

The plot is not the most important thing in this story. Emotions and feelings awakening while reading deserve more attention. The narrator himself plays a huge role, because he tells about the life of a poor rural girl with sadness and sympathy. For Russian literature, the image of an empathic narrator who knows how to empathize emotional state heroes, turned out to be a revelation. Any dramatic moment makes his heart bleed, as well as sincerely shed tears. Thus, main idea The story "Poor Lisa" is that one should not be afraid of one's feelings, love, worry, sympathize with the full breast. Only then can a person overcome immorality, cruelty and selfishness in himself. The author starts with himself, because he, a nobleman, describes the sins of his own class, and gives sympathy to a simple village girl, urging people of his position to become more humane. The inhabitants of poor huts sometimes outshine the gentlemen from old estates with their virtue. This is the main idea of ​​Karamzin.

The attitude of the author to the protagonist of the story also became an innovation in Russian literature. So Karamzin does not blame Erast, when Lisa dies, he demonstrates social conditions which led to the tragic event. Big city influenced the young man, destroying in him moral principles and making him corrupt. Liza, on the other hand, grew up in the village, her naivety and simplicity played with her bad joke. The writer also demonstrates that not only Liza, but also Erast was subjected to the hardships of fate, becoming a victim of sad circumstances. The hero experiences guilt throughout his life, never becoming truly happy.

What does it teach?

The reader has the opportunity to learn something from the mistakes of others. The clash of love and selfishness is a hot topic, since anyone at least once in their life has experienced unrequited feelings, or experienced betrayal loved one. Analyzing Karamzin's story, we learn important life lessons, become more humane and more responsive to each other. The creations of the era of sentimentalism have a single property: they help people to enrich themselves spiritually, and also bring up the best humane and moral qualities in us.

The story "Poor Lisa" has gained popularity among readers. This work teaches a person to be more responsive to other people, as well as the ability to sympathize.

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