There are a lot of heroes in the poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia". Some of them pass by. They are mentioned in passing. For others, the author spared no space and time. They are presented in detail and comprehensively.
The image and characterization of Matrena Korchagina in the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” is one of such characters. Women's happiness - that's what the wanderers wanted to find in Matryona.
Biography of the main female character
Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina grew up in a family of simple peasants. When she meets the wanderers, she is only 38 years old, but for some reason she calls herself an "old woman". So quickly flies the life of a peasant woman. God gave the woman children - she has 5 sons. One (first-born) died. Why are only sons born? Probably, this is a belief in the appearance in Russia of a new generation of heroes, honest and strong like a mother.
According to Matryona, she was happy only in the father's family. They took care of her, guarded her sleep, did not force her to work. The girl appreciated the care of her relatives, answered them with kindness and labor. Songs at the wedding, lamentations over the bride and the crying of the girl herself are folklore that conveys the reality of life.
Things have changed in my husband's family. There were so many sufferings that not every woman could endure them. At night, Matrena shed tears, during the day she spread like grass, her head was lowered, anger hid in her heart, but accumulated. A woman understands that everyone lives like that. Philip treats Matryona well. But it is difficult to distinguish a good life from cruelty: he flogs his wife with a whip until she bleeds, goes to work, leaves her alone with her children in a hated family. The girl does not require much attention to herself: a silk scarf and sleigh rides return her to cheerful singing.
The vocation of a Russian peasant woman is to raise children. She becomes a real heroine, courageous and strong. Grief is on the heels. The first son - Demushka dies. Grandfather Savely could not save him. The authorities mock the mother. They torment the body of a child in front of her eyes, the pictures of horror remain in her memory for life. Another son gave a sheep to a hungry she-wolf. Matryona protected the boy, standing in his place for punishment. Mother's love is strong:
"To whom to endure, so mothers!".
Korchagina came to the defense of her husband. The pregnant woman went to the governor with a request not to take him into the soldiers.
The appearance of a woman
Nekrasov describes Matryona with love. He recognizes her beauty and amazing attractiveness. Some features for the modern reader are not characteristic of beauty, but this only confirms how attitudes towards appearance have changed over the centuries:
- "impressive" figure;
- "wide" back;
- "dense" body;
- Holmogory cow.
Most of the characteristics are a manifestation of the tenderness of the author. Beautiful dark hair with gray hair, large expressive eyes with the "richest" lush eyelashes, swarthy skin. Ruddy cheeks and clear eyes. What bright epithets are chosen by those around for Matryona:
- "written kralechka";
- "filling berry";
- "good ... comely";
- "white face".
- The woman is neat in her clothes: a white cotton shirt, a short embroidered sundress.
Matryona's character
The main character trait is diligence. Since childhood, Matrena loves work and does not hide from it. She knows how to put haystacks, ruffle flax, thresh on the barn. The woman's household is large, but she does not complain. She gives all the strength that she received from God to work.
Other features of the Russian beauty:
Frankness: telling the wanderers her fate, she does not embellish or hide anything.
Sincerity: a woman does not prevaricate, she opens her whole destiny from her youth, shares her experiences and "sinful" deeds.
Love of freedom: the desire to be free and free remains in the soul, but the rules of life change the character, make one be secretive.
Courage: often a woman has to become a "brash woman." She is punished, but "arrogance and obstinacy" remain.
Loyalty: the wife is devoted to her husband, in all situations strives to be honest and faithful.
Honesty: Matryona herself leads an honest life and teaches her sons to be like that. She asks them neither to steal nor to cheat.
Woman sincerely believes in God. She prays and comforts herself. It becomes easier for her in conversations with the Mother of God.
Happiness Matryona
Wanderers are sent to Korchagina because of the nickname - the governor's wife. Rarely could anyone from a simple peasant woman become famous in the district with such a title. But did the nickname bring true happiness? No. The people slandered her as a lucky woman, but this is only one case in the life of Matryona. Courage and perseverance returned her husband to the family, life became easier. The children no longer had to go to beg in the villages, but it is impossible to say that Korchagina is happy. Matrena understands this and tries to explain to the peasants: among ordinary Russian women there are no happy women, and cannot be. God Himself denied them this - he lost the keys to joy and will. Her wealth is lakes of tears. The tests were supposed to break the peasant woman, the soul was supposed to become callous. The poem is different. Matryona does not die either spiritually or physically. She continues to believe that there are keys to female happiness. She rejoices every day and admires men. She cannot be considered happy, but no one dares to call her unhappy either. She is a real Russian peasant woman, independent, beautiful and strong.
The next chapter written by Nekrasov - "Peasant Woman"- also seems to be a clear deviation from the scheme outlined in the Prologue: the wanderers are again trying to find a happy one among the peasants. As in other chapters, the opening plays an important role. He, as in the "Last Child", becomes the antithesis of further narration, allows you to discover all the new contradictions of "mysterious Russia". The chapter begins with a description of the ruined landowner's estate: after the reform, the owners abandoned the estate and the courtyards to the mercy of fate, and the courtyards ruin and break down a beautiful house, a once well-groomed garden and park. The funny and tragic sides of the life of the abandoned household are closely intertwined in the description. Yards are a special peasant type. Torn out of their familiar environment, they lose the skills of peasant life, and the main among them is the “noble habit of work”. Forgotten by the landowner and unable to feed themselves by labor, they live by plundering and selling the owner's belongings, heating the house, breaking arbors and chiselled balcony columns. But there are also genuinely dramatic moments in this description: for example, the story of a singer with a rare beautiful voice. The landlords took him out of Little Russia, they were going to send him to Italy, but they forgot, busy with their troubles.
Against the background of the tragicomic crowd of ragged and hungry courtyards, “whining domestics,” the “healthy, singing crowd of reapers and reapers,” returning from the field, seems even more “beautiful”. But even among these stately and beautiful people, Matrena Timofeevna, "famed" by the "governor" and "lucky". The story of her life, told by herself, is central to the story. Dedicating this chapter to a peasant woman, Nekrasov, I think, not only wanted to open the soul and heart of a Russian woman to the reader. The world of a woman is a family, and telling about herself, Matrena Timofeevna tells about those aspects of folk life that have so far been only indirectly touched upon in the poem. But it is they who determine the happiness and unhappiness of a woman: love, family, life.
Matrena Timofeevna does not recognize herself as happy, just as she does not recognize any of the women as happy. But she knew short-lived happiness in her life. The happiness of Matryona Timofeevna is a girl's will, parental love and care. Her girlish life was not carefree and easy: from childhood, from the age of seven, she performed peasant work:
I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
For father, for mother,
Like Christ in the bosom,
I lived, well done.<...>
And on the seventh for a burushka
I myself ran into the herd,
I wore my father for breakfast,
Grazed the ducklings.
Then mushrooms and berries,
Then: "Take a rake
Yes, hay!
So I got used to it...
And a good worker
And sing and dance the huntress
I was young.
“Happiness” she also calls the last days of a girl’s life, when her fate was decided, when she “bargained” with her future husband - argued with him, “bargained” her will in married life:
- You become, good fellow,
Straight against me<...>
Think, dare:
To live with me - do not repent,
And I don't cry with you...<...>
While we were trading
Must be what I think
Then there was happiness.
And hardly ever again!
Her married life is indeed full of tragic events: the death of a child, a cruel flogging, a punishment she voluntarily accepted in order to save her son, a threat to remain a soldier. At the same time, Nekrasov shows that the source of Matrena Timofeevna’s misfortunes is not only “strengthen”, the disenfranchised position of a serf woman, but also the disenfranchised position of the younger daughter-in-law in a large peasant family. The injustice that triumphs in large peasant families, the perception of a person primarily as a worker, the non-recognition of his desires, his "will" - all these problems are opened by the story-confession of Matryona Timofeevna. A loving wife and mother, she is doomed to an unhappy and powerless life: to please her husband's family and unfair reproaches of the elders in the family. That is why, even having freed herself from serfdom, having become free, she will grieve about the absence of a "volition", and hence happiness: "The keys to the happiness of a woman, / From our free will / Abandoned, lost / God Himself." And she speaks at the same time not only about herself, but about all women.
This disbelief in the possibility of a woman's happiness is shared by the author. It is no coincidence that Nekrasov excludes from the final text of the chapter the lines about how happily the difficult situation of Matryona Timofeevna in her husband's family changed after returning from the governor's wife: in the text there is no story either that she became a "big woman" in the house, or that she “conquered” the “grumpy, quarrelsome” family of her husband. Only lines remained that the husband's family, recognizing her participation in saving Philip from the soldiery, "bowed" to her and "obeyed" to her. But the chapter of the “Woman's Parable” ends, affirming the inevitability of bondage-misfortune for a woman even after the abolition of serfdom: “But to our female will / There are no and no keys!<...>/ Yes, they are unlikely to be found ... "
The researchers noted Nekrasov's idea: creating image of Matrena Timofeevna y, he aspired to the widest generalization: her fate becomes a symbol of the fate of every Russian woman. The author carefully, thoughtfully chooses the episodes of her life, “guiding” his heroine along the path that any Russian woman takes: a short carefree childhood, labor skills instilled from childhood, a girl’s will and a long powerless position of a married woman, a worker in the field and in the house. Matrena Timofeevna is going through all the possible dramatic and tragic situations that fall to the lot of a peasant woman: humiliation in her husband's family, beatings of her husband, death of a child, harassment by a manager, flogging and even - albeit not for long - the share of a soldier's wife. “The image of Matryona Timofeevna was created in this way,” writes N.N. Skatov, - that she seemed to have experienced everything and been in all the states that a Russian woman could be in. The folk songs and laments included in Matrena Timofeevna’s story, most often “replacing” her own words, her own story, further expand the narrative, allowing one to comprehend both the happiness and misfortune of one peasant woman as a story about the fate of a serf woman.
In general, the story of this woman depicts life according to God's laws, "divinely," as Nekrasov's heroes say:
<...>I endure and do not grumble!
All the power given by God
I believe in work
All in children love!
And the more terrible and unfair are the misfortunes and humiliations that have fallen to her lot. "<...>In me / There is no unbroken bone, / There is no unstretched vein, / There is no uncorrupted blood<...>"- this is not a complaint, but the true result of what Matryona Timofeevna experienced. The deep meaning of this life - love for children - is also affirmed by Nekrasov with the help of parallels from the natural world: the story of Dyomushka's death is preceded by a cry about a nightingale, whose chicks burned down on a tree lit by a thunderstorm. The chapter that tells about the punishment accepted in order to save another son - Philip from whipping, is called "The She-Wolf". And here the hungry she-wolf, ready to sacrifice her life for the cubs, appears as a parallel to the fate of a peasant woman who lay down under the rod to free her son from punishment.
The central place in the chapter "Peasant Woman" is occupied by the story of Savely, Holy Russian bogatyr. Why is Matryona Timofeevna entrusted with the story of the fate of the Russian peasant, the “hero of Holy Russia”, his life and death? It seems that this is largely because it is important for Nekrasov to show the “hero” Savely Korchagin not only in his opposition to Shalashnikov and the manager Vogel, but also in the family, in everyday life. “Grandfather” Savely, a pure and holy man, was needed by his large family as long as he had money: “As long as there was money, / They loved grandfather, groomed, / Now they spit in the eyes!” Savely's inner loneliness in the family enhances the drama of his fate and at the same time, like the fate of Matrena Timofeevna, gives the reader an opportunity to learn about the everyday life of the people.
But it is no less important that the “story within a story”, connecting two destinies, shows the relationship between two outstanding people, who for the author himself were the embodiment of an ideal folk type. It is the story of Matrena Timofeevna about Savely that makes it possible to emphasize what brought together different people in general: not only the disenfranchised position in the Korchagin family, but also the commonality of characters. Matrena Timofeevna, whose whole life is filled only with love, and Savely Korchagin, whom hard life has made “stone”, “fierce than the beast”, are similar in the main thing: their “angry heart”, their understanding of happiness as “will”, as spiritual independence.
Matrena Timofeevna does not accidentally consider Savely lucky. Her words about “grandfather”: “He was also lucky ...” is not a bitter irony, because in Savely’s life, full of suffering and trials, there was something that Matryona Timofeevna herself values \u200b\u200bhighest of all - moral dignity, spiritual freedom. Being a "slave" of the landowner according to the law, Savely did not know spiritual slavery.
Savely, according to Matryona Timofeevna, called his youth "prosperity", although he experienced many insults, humiliations, and punishments. Why does he consider the past "good times"? Yes, because, fenced off by “swampy swamps” and “dense forests” from their landowner Shalashnikov, the inhabitants of Korezhina felt free:
We were only concerned
Bears ... yes with bears
We got along easily.
With a knife and with a horn
I myself am scarier than the elk,
Along the reserved paths
I go: "My forest!" - I scream.
"Prosperity" was not overshadowed by the annual flogging, which Shalashnikov arranged for his peasants, knocking out quitrents with rods. But the peasants - "proud people", having endured the flogging and pretending to be beggars, they knew how to save their money and, in turn, "amused" over the master, who was unable to take the money:
Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He hesitated, thinking:
"Whatever you do, son of a dog,
And you won't knock out your whole soul,
leave something"<...>
But we lived as merchants ...
The “happiness” that Savely speaks of is, of course, illusory, it is a year of free life without a landowner and the ability to “endure”, endure during the spanking and keep the money earned. But other "happiness" to the peasant could not be released. And yet, Koryozhina soon lost even such “happiness”: “penal servitude” began for the peasants when Vogel was appointed manager: “I ruined it to the bone! / And he fought ... like Shalashnikov himself! /<...>/ The German has a dead grip: / Until he lets him go around the world, / Without leaving, he sucks!
Savely glorifies non-patience as such. Not everything can and should be endured by the peasant. Saveliy clearly distinguishes the ability to "underbear" and "endure". To not endure means to succumb to pain, not to bear the pain, and to submit morally to the landowner. To endure means to lose dignity and to accept humiliation and injustice. Both that and another - does the person "slave".
But Savely Korchagin, like no one else, understands the whole tragedy of eternal patience. With him, an extremely important thought enters the narrative: about the wasted strength of the peasant hero. Savely not only glorifies the Russian heroism, but also mourns for this hero, humiliated and mutilated:
And so we endured
That we are rich.
In that Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
The man is not a hero?
And his life is not military,
And death is not written for him
In battle - a hero!
The peasantry in his reflections appears as a fabulous hero, chained and humiliated. This hero is more than heaven and earth. A truly cosmic image appears in his words:
Hands twisted with chains
Legs forged with iron
Back ... dense forests
Passed on it - broke.
And the chest? Elijah the prophet
On it rattles-rides
On a chariot of fire...
The hero suffers everything!
The hero holds the sky, but this work costs him great torment: “For the time being, a terrible thrust / He lifted something, / Yes, he himself went into the ground up to his chest / With an effort! On his face / Not tears - blood flows! But is there any point in this great patience? It is no coincidence that Savely is disturbed by the thought of a life gone in vain, a gift of wasted strength: “I was lying on the stove; / Lie down, thinking: / Where are you, strength, gone? / What were you good for? / - Under rods, under sticks / She left for trifles! And these bitter words are not only the result of one's own life: they are sorrow for the ruined people's strength.
But the author's task is not only to show the tragedy of the Russian hero, whose strength and pride "went away over trifles." It is no coincidence that at the end of the story about Savely, the name of Susanin appears - a hero-peasant: the monument to Susanin in the center of Kostroma reminded Matryona Timofeevna of "grandfather". Saveliy's ability to maintain freedom of spirit, spiritual independence even in slavery, not to submit to the soul - this is also heroism. It is important to emphasize this feature of the comparison. As N.N. Skatov, the monument to Susanin in the story of Matryona Timofeevna does not look like a real one. “A real monument created by the sculptor V.M. Demut-Malinovsky, the researcher writes, turned out to be more of a monument to the tsar than to Ivan Susanin, who was depicted kneeling near a column with a bust of the tsar. Nekrasov not only kept silent about the fact that the peasant was on his knees. In comparison with the rebel Savely, the image of the Kostroma peasant Susanin received for the first time in Russian art a peculiar, essentially anti-monarchist interpretation. At the same time, the comparison with Ivan Susanin, the hero of Russian history, put the final touch on the monumental figure of the Korezh bogatyr, Holy Russian peasant Savely.
The journey of the seven wanderers of the poem "" leads them to one of the estates of the landowner, which is completely ruined. The owner himself is away, abroad, and the manager of these territories is dying. The peasants, who have been serving all their lives, and now they are free, do not know at all what to do and where to go. Therefore, they slowly begin to disassemble and distribute the master's goods. And such a sad state of affairs was repeatedly observed by peasant peasants during their tour of Russian lands.
The whining and despair of the yard peasants is replaced by the sound of a song that comes from the lips of the reapers. It is here that the wanderers meet Matrena Timofeevna.
Before us, a beautiful woman of Slavic appearance. With gorgeous hair, with big eyes, with lush eyelashes. She is dressed in a clean, white outfit and a short sundress.
The image of Matrena Timofeevna is not often found among the population. Fate "rewarded" her with many trials. Living in places where men very often went to the city, the woman was forced to take on her shoulders an unbearable burden. And carry it with confidence! Such work brought her up strong, proud and independent.
Part of the poem "Peasant Woman" is narrated in the first person. Literary critics notice that Matrena Timofeevna speaks not only about herself, but about the entire Russian people. Her speech flows in the form of a song. And this once again confirms the inseparability of the people and folklore.
In the first chapter, Nekrasov introduces the reader to the matchmaking ceremony, which uses the original texts of folk songs. Using the example of the marriage of Matrena Timofeevna, Nikolai Alekseevich tried to convey a description of the events that sooner or later took place in the life of any girl.
In the second chapter, the heroine very often uses, sings songs, the text of which was not invented by the author, but smoothly borrowed from the creator - from the people themselves. And, again, the fate of the heroine concerns not only her, but is nationwide.
And with such a constant comparison, Matrena Timofeevna does not cease to exist as a separate character, with her own customs and character. With the efforts made, the heroine nevertheless achieved the release of her husband. However, further recruitment awaits him, which greatly upset the woman.
In the image of Matrena Timofeevna, Nikolai Nekrasov was able to combine all the conditions and situations that an ordinary Russian woman could fall into, and boldly survive them.
He did not carry a heart in his chest,
Who did not shed tears over you!
ON THE. Nekrasov
In the work of N.A. Nekrasov, many works are devoted to a simple Russian woman. The fate of a Russian woman has always worried Nekrasov. In many of his poems and poems, he speaks of her plight. Starting with the early poem “On the Road” and ending with the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”, Nekrasov spoke about the “female share”, about the dedication of the Russian peasant woman, about her spiritual beauty. In the poem “In full swing the village suffering”, written shortly after the reform, a true reflection of the inhuman hard work of a young peasant mother is given:
Share you! - Russian woman's share!
Hardly harder to find...
Talking about the hard lot of the Russian peasant woman, Nekrasov often in her image embodied high ideas about the spiritual power of the Russian people, about its physical beauty:
There are women in Russian villages
With calm gravity of faces,
With beautiful strength in movements,
With a gait, with the eyes of queens.
In the works of Nekrasov, the image of a “majestic Slav” appears, pure in heart, bright in mind, strong in spirit. This is Daria from the poem "Frost, Red Nose", and a simple girl from the "Troika". This is Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina from the poem "Who in Russia should live well."
The image of Matrena Timofeevna, as it were, completes and unites the group of images of peasant women in Nekrasov's work. The poem recreates the type of “stately Slav”, a peasant woman of the Central Russian strip, endowed with restrained and strict beauty:
stubborn woman,
Wide and dense.
Thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray hair,
The eyes are large, stern,
Eyelashes are the richest
Stern and swarthy.
She, smart and strong, the poet entrusted to tell about his fate. “Peasant Woman” is the only part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”, all written in the first person. Trying to answer the question of the men-truth-seekers, can she call herself happy, Matrena Timofeevna tells the story of her life. The voice of Matrena Timofeevna is the voice of the people themselves. That is why she sings more often than tells, sang folk songs. “The Peasant Woman” is the most folklore part of the poem, it is almost entirely built on folk poetic images and motifs. The whole life story of Matrena Timofeevna is a chain of continuous misfortunes and suffering. No wonder she says about herself: “I have a downcast head, I carry an angry heart!” She is convinced: "It's not a matter of looking for a happy woman between women." Why? After all, there was love in the life of this woman, the joy of motherhood, the respect of others. But with her story, the heroine makes the peasants think about the question of whether this is enough for happiness and whether all those hardships and hardships that befall the Russian peasant woman will outweigh this cup:
Silent, invisible to me
The storm has passed,
Will you show her?
For me insults are mortal
Gone unpaid
And the whip passed over me!
Slowly and unhurriedly Matrena Timofeevna leads her story. She lived well and freely in her parents' house. But, having married Philip Korchagin, she ended up with a "maiden's will to hell": a superstitious mother-in-law, a drunkard father-in-law, an older sister-in-law, for whom her daughter-in-law had to work like a slave. With her husband, she, however, was lucky. But Philip only returned from work in the winter, and the rest of the time there was no one to intercede for her, except for grandfather Savely. A consolation for a peasant woman is her first-born Demushka. But due to Savely's oversight, the child dies. Matrena Timofeevna becomes a witness to the abuse of the body of her child (in order to find out the cause of death, the authorities perform an autopsy of the child's corpse). For a long time she cannot forgive Savely's "sin" that he overlooked her Demushka. But the trials of Matrena Timofeevna did not end there. Her second son Fedot is growing up, and misfortune befalls him. Her eight-year-old son is facing punishment for feeding someone else's sheep to a hungry she-wolf. Fedot took pity on her, he saw how hungry and unhappy she was, and the wolf cubs in her den were not fed:
Looking up, head up
In my eyes ... and howled suddenly!
In order to save her little son from the punishment that threatened him, Matryona herself lies under the rod instead of him.
But the most difficult trials fall on her lot in a lean year. Pregnant, with children, she herself is likened to a hungry she-wolf. A recruiting set deprives her of her last intercessor, her husband (he is taken out of turn):
...Hungry
Orphans are standing
In front of me... Unkindly
The family looks at them
They are noisy in the house
On the street pugnacious,
Gluttons at the table...
And they began to pinch them,
Bang on the head...
Shut up, soldier mother!
Matrena Timofeevna decides to ask the governor for intercession. She runs to the city, where she tries to get to the governor, and when the porter lets her into the house for a bribe, she throws herself at the feet of the governor Elena Alexandrovna:
How do I throw
At her feet: “Stand up!
Deception, not godly
Provider and parent
They take from children!
The governor took pity on Matryona Timofeyevna. The heroine returns home with her husband and newborn Liodorushka. This incident cemented her reputation as a lucky woman and the nickname "governor".
The further fate of Matryona Timofeevna is also full of troubles: one of the sons has already been taken to the soldiers, "they burned twice ... God anthrax ... visited three times." The "Baby Parable" sums up her tragic story:
Keys to female happiness
From our free will
abandoned, lost
God himself!
The life history of Matryona Timofeevna showed that the most difficult, unbearable conditions of life could not break a peasant woman. The harsh conditions of life honed a special female character, proud and independent, accustomed to relying on her own strength everywhere and in everything. Nekrasov endows his heroine not only with beauty, but with great spiritual strength. Not resignation to fate, not stupid patience, but pain and anger are expressed in the words with which she ends the story of her life:
For me insults are mortal
Gone unpaid...
Anger accumulates in the soul of a peasant woman, but faith remains in the intercession of the Mother of God, in the power of prayer. After praying, she goes to the city to the governor to seek the truth. Saved by her own spiritual strength and will to live. Nekrasov showed in the image of Matryona Timofeevna both a readiness for self-sacrifice when she stood up for her son, and strength of character when she does not bow to formidable bosses. The image of Matrena Timofeevna is, as it were, woven from folk poetry. Lyrical and wedding folk songs, lamentations have long told about the life of a peasant woman, and Nekrasov drew from this source, creating the image of his beloved heroine.
Written about the people and for the people, the poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia" is close to the works of oral folk art. The verse of the poem - Nekrasov's artistic discovery - perfectly conveyed the lively speech of the people, their songs, sayings, sayings, which absorbed centuries-old wisdom, sly humor, sadness and joy. The whole poem is a truly folk work, and this is its great significance.
In the work of N.A. Nekrasov, many works are devoted to a simple Russian woman. The fate of a Russian woman has always worried Nekrasov. In many of his poems and poems, he speaks of her plight. Starting with the early poem “On the Road” and ending with the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”, Nekrasov spoke about the “female share”, about the dedication of the Russian peasant woman, about her spiritual beauty. In the poem “In full swing the village suffering”, written shortly after the reform, a true reflection of the inhuman hard work of a young peasant mother is given:
Share you! - Russian woman's share!
Hardly harder to find...
Talking about the hard lot of the Russian peasant woman, Nekrasov often in her image embodied high ideas about the spiritual power of the Russian people, about its physical beauty:
There are women in Russian villages
With calm gravity of faces,
With beautiful strength in movements,
With a gait, with the eyes of queens.
In the works of Nekrasov, the image of a “majestic Slav” appears, pure in heart, bright in mind, strong in spirit. This is Daria from the poem "Frost, Red Nose", and a simple girl from the "Troika". This is Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina from the poem "Who in Russia should live well."
The image of Matrena Timofeevna, as it were, completes and unites the group of images of peasant women in Nekrasov's work. The poem recreates the type of the “dignified Slav”, a peasant woman of the Central Russian strip, endowed with restrained and strict beauty:
stubborn woman,
Wide and dense
Thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray hair
The eyes are large, stern,
Eyelashes are the richest
Stern and swarthy.
She, smart and strong, the poet entrusted to tell about his fate. “Peasant Woman” is the only part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”, all written in the first person. Trying to answer the question of the men-truth-seekers, can she call herself happy, Matrena Timofeevna tells the story of her life. The voice of Matrena Timofeevna is the voice of the people themselves. That is why she sings more often than talks, sings folk songs. "Peasant Woman" is the most folklore part of the poem, it is almost completely built on folk poetic images and motifs. The whole life story of Matrena Timofeevna is a chain of continuous misfortunes and suffering. No wonder she says about herself: “I have a downcast head, I carry an angry heart!” She is convinced: "It's not a matter of looking for a happy woman between women." Why? After all, there was love in the life of this woman, the joy of motherhood, the respect of others. But with her story, the heroine makes the peasants think about the question of whether this is enough for happiness and whether all those hardships and hardships that befall the Russian peasant woman will outweigh this cup:
Silent, invisible to me
The storm has passed,
Will you show her?
For me insults are mortal
Gone unpaid
And the whip passed over me!
Slowly and unhurriedly Matrena Timofeevna leads her story. She lived well and freely in her parents' house. But, having married Philip Korchagin, she ended up with a "maiden's will to hell": a superstitious mother-in-law, a drunkard father-in-law, an older sister-in-law, for whom her daughter-in-law had to work like a slave. With her husband, she, however, was lucky. But Philip only returned from work in the winter, and the rest of the time there was no one to intercede for her, except for grandfather Savely. A consolation for a peasant woman is her first-born Demushka. But due to Savely's oversight, the child dies. Matrena Timofeevna becomes a witness to the abuse of the body of her child (in order to find out the cause of death, the authorities perform an autopsy of the child's corpse). For a long time she cannot forgive Savely's "sin" that he overlooked her Demushka. But the trials of Matrena Timofeevna did not end there. Her second son Fedot is growing up, then misfortune happens to him. Her eight-year-old son is facing punishment for feeding someone else's sheep to a hungry she-wolf. Fedot took pity on her, he saw how hungry and unhappy she was, and the wolf cubs in her den were not fed:
Looking up, head up
In my eyes ... and howled suddenly!
In order to save her little son from the punishment that threatened him, Matryona herself lies under the rod instead of him.
But the most difficult trials fall on her lot in a lean year. Pregnant, with children, she herself is likened to a hungry she-wolf. A recruiting set deprives her of her last intercessor, her husband (he is taken out of turn):
… Hungry
Orphans are standing
In front of me ... Unkindly
The family looks at them
They are noisy in the house
On the street pugnacious,
Gluttons at the table...
And they began to pinch them,
Banging on the head...
Shut up, soldier mother!
Matrena Timofeevna decides to ask the governor for intercession. She runs to the city, where she tries to get to the governor, and when the porter lets her into the house for a bribe, she throws herself at the feet of the governor Elena Alexandrovna:
How do I throw
At her feet: “Stand up!
Deception, not godly
Provider and parent
They take from children!
The governor took pity on Matryona Timofeyevna. The heroine returns home with her husband and newborn Liodorushka. This incident cemented her reputation as a lucky woman and the nickname "governor".
The further fate of Matrena Timofeevna is also full of troubles: one of the sons has already been taken to the soldiers, “they burned twice ... God anthrax ... visited three times.” The "Baby Parable" sums up her tragic story:
Keys to female happiness
From our free will
abandoned, lost
God himself!
The life history of Matryona Timofeevna showed that the most difficult, unbearable conditions of life could not break a peasant woman. The harsh conditions of life honed a special female character, proud and independent, accustomed to relying on her own strength everywhere and in everything. Nekrasov endows his heroine not only with beauty, but with great spiritual strength. Not resignation to fate, not stupid patience, but pain and anger are expressed in the words with which she ends the story of her life:
For me insults are mortal
Gone unpaid...
Anger accumulates in the soul of a peasant woman, but faith remains in the intercession of the Mother of God, in the power of prayer. After praying, she goes to the city to the governor to seek the truth. Saved by her own spiritual strength and will to live. Nekrasov showed in the image of Matryona Timofeevna both a readiness for self-sacrifice when she stood up for her son, and strength of character when she does not bow to formidable bosses. The image of Matrena Timofeevna is, as it were, woven from folk poetry. Lyrical and wedding folk songs, lamentations have long told about the life of a peasant woman, and Nekrasov drew from this source, creating the image of his beloved heroine.
Written about the people and for the people, the poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia" is close to the works of oral folk art. The verse of the poem - Nekrasov's artistic discovery - perfectly conveyed the lively speech of the people, their songs, sayings, sayings, which absorbed centuries-old wisdom, sly humor, sadness and joy. The whole poem is a truly folk work, and this is its great significance.
