The theme of the female share in Nekrasov's poem “Who should live well in Rus'. The theme of the female share in Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Rus'"

Peculiar searches happy person dedicated to one of the best works N.A. Nekrasova - the poem "Who should live well in Rus'." The heroes of the poem travel across the Russian land. On their way they meet people of different classes: peasants, landowners, representatives of the clergy. A special place in the poem, in my opinion, is occupied by the meeting with the peasant woman Matrena Timofeevna. The author gives quite detailed description this character:

stubborn woman,

Wide and dense

Thirty eight years

Beautiful; gray hair,

The eyes are large, stern,

Eyelashes are the richest

Stern and swarthy.

This amazing woman She has gone through a lot in her life. Matrena Timofeevna began her story with the most early years life. She says how she was loved father's house. But the betrothed Philip Korchagin appeared in life, who took the heroine away from her home.

Songs play a special role in the chapter "Peasant Woman", because they form an important part of the life of the people and characterize it. The head is replete with elements folklore works. Here you can find songs, proverbs, sayings, cries, lamentations.

It was difficult for the heroine in a new family:

The family was big

Grumpy... I got it

From girlish holi to hell!

Husband went to work

Silence, endure advised:

Don't spit on hot

Iron - hiss.

But this was not the most difficult thing in the life of Matryona Timofeevna. She tells about the death of her youngest child. Here the author shows touching image a little bird who mourns her chicks who were burned during a thunderstorm. Nekrasov, in my opinion, painted such a picture of events in the life of a woman that allows the reader to feel and understand the tragedy of a peasant mother more deeply. In the life of Matrena Timofeevna, such situations arose more than once when this amazing woman from the people was ready for decisive action. So, for example, doctors begin the autopsy of Demushka, despite all the pleas and lamentations of the mother:

I thrashed and screamed:

Villains! Executioners!

Drop my tears

Not on land, not on water,

Not to the Lord's temple!

Fall right on your heart

My villain!

But no one takes into account the pain of the mother. Stanovoy even orders to tie her up.

Another time, the headman decides to punish Fedotushka, who took pity on the hungry she-wolf and began to “feed the sheep”:

Is the she-wolf so plaintively

She looked, howled ... Mother!

I threw her a sheep!

Barin decides to forgive little boy, but to punish the mother - "an impudent woman." In this episode, an important character trait of the heroine is manifested: with a feeling dignity she lays down under the rods, without stooping to a plea for forgiveness. She proudly endures the physical pain and shame of such punishment. Only Matryona Timofeevna cried out her grief to the river:

I went to the fast river

I chose a quiet place

At the willow bush.

I sat on a gray stone

She leaned her head on her hand,

Sobbed, orphan.

Despite all the difficulties of life, Matrena Timofeevna still does not give up, but fights to the end for her happiness. Suffice it to recall the episode when her husband was taken to the soldiers. She prays to Mother of God which gives her spiritual strength. The heroine even turns to the governor's wife, who helps Matryona Timofeevna in her grief.

After that, all the people begin to call this woman happy. It is simply amazing what the peasants consider happiness: not to be a soldier, to be able to endure and endure everything. And the heroine herself, having told the story of her life, nevertheless comes to the conclusion that there are no happy women among the peasant women:

It's not a matter - between the women

Happy looking!

Peasant life is difficult, there are many troubles and difficulties on their way. But as people who are deeply religious, loving and strong, they can go through life with their heads held high. Here the spiritual wealth of the Russian people is manifested. Matrena Timofeevna, in my opinion, is a generalized image, since she has all the main character traits characteristic of peasant women. And her fate is typical for people from the people.

I think that Nekrasov is an amazing poet, who perfectly feels the pain and suffering of an entire class, which in those days no one sought to reckon with, did not want to understand and help.

In his work he creates generalizing pictures folk life post-reform Russia and bitterly shows how hopeless the fate of the people is. The ruin of the landed estates led to an extreme degree of impoverishment peasant families: Our villages are poor, And in them there are sick peasants Yes, sad women, Nurses, drinkers, Slaves, pilgrims And eternal toilers ... In Russia, after the abolition of serfdom, a waste industry developed, 'most of the men went to work in the cities.

On the shoulders of the peasant woman lay not only the whole burden of labor on the ground, but also the responsibility for the fate of the family, for the upbringing of children. In the chapter "Peasant Woman" Nekrasov traces the typical story of a Russian woman. The personal fate of Matryona Timofeevna expands to all-Russian limits.

The heroine survived all the situations in which a Russian woman, a long-suffering mother, could find herself. The people call happy Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, although she herself does not agree with this opinion: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women.” She felt happy only before marriage: It fell out in the girls: We had a good, non-drinking family. The heroine had a happy, carefree early childhood, and from the age of five she began to get involved in feasible work: “she carried her father for breakfast, she grazed ducklings”, “turned hay”, etc. So I got used to the matter ... And a kind worker And sing and dance I was a huntress from a young age. Yes, happiness - got caught good husband. Matryona did not have to, like many other peasant women, live with the “hateful”, endure beatings to the point of blood.

Only once in their lives did Philip and Philip have an absurd quarrel in front of an unkind family, and the young woman had to experience humiliation: Philip Ilyich was angry ... Yes, slap me on the temple! Matryona lived with her husband in love and harmony. It was this harmony in the family that helped the heroine endure troubles and misfortunes.

Philip was a stove-maker, constantly leaving to work in St. Petersburg. Matryona was very upset by constant separation. all soch 2005 She had to adapt to a "grumpy" alien family: Whatever they tell me - I work, No matter how they scold - I keep quiet. young beautiful woman in the absence of a husband-intercessor, the master's manager persecuted. None of the relatives, except for the hundred-year-old grandfather Savely, the heroine did not find support.

From her harassment, "God had mercy": the manager suddenly died of cholera. But new trials awaited Matryona ahead: the fate of Demushka, the first-born, did not save her. That year there was a rich harvest of wheat.

No one spared breastfeeding mothers. And Matryona worked in the field from morning till night, and she was forced to leave her son with old Savely. He overlooked Demushka, happened. Matrona's torment was aggravated by the fact that she had to endure abuse of the body dead son. The powerless peasant woman was accused of the deliberate murder of her own son and in her presence an autopsy was performed: From a thin diaper they rolled out Demushka And began to torment and plast the white body. Then I didn’t see the light, - I rushed about and screamed ... Matryona Timofeevna was filled with endless forced labor and tireless care for children: Eat - when left From the elders and from the children, Sleep - when she is sick ...

The heroine was orphaned early, left without a "great defense". In the "breadless" she looked like a hungry she-wolf) '. Matryona almost became a victim of superstition. The mother-in-law "told the neighbors" that Matryona "call trouble." The husband saved the heroine, and another woman was "killed to death with stakes for the same thing."

This is how peasant women died in lean years. In her lifetime, Matryona also had to endure public humiliation: she lay down under the rods. So a courageous woman saved from her punishment little son. The shepherd boy could not take a sheep from a hungry mother wolf. In the chapter "A Difficult Year" he tells how the threat of becoming a soldier hung over Matryona.

At that time, a peasant in the royal service had to serve twenty-five years. His family was in danger of extinction. Nekrasov in bright colors shows what share was expected of a Russian soldier without her intercessor husband: How to live on your own? How to water, feed, raise children?

How to deal with misery? Where to take offense? The soldier has no one to wait for help from, her fate is unenviable, and sometimes tragic. Matryona, like other Russian women, had to face injustice, the corruption of the steward.

The eldest son has already been taken from the family to the army, but it is impossible to prove the rightness, since all the bosses are “gifted”. Matryona saved Philip from recruitment, she was lucky: the governor's wife turned out to be good woman and helped the peasant woman get the truth. Saving her husband Matrena Timofeevna from the army is a happy exception to the rule.

The heroine told the wanderers that fires and terrible epidemics did not pass her family, “mortal insults, unrequited” passed. She compares her life with the fate of a driven horse: We carried the horse's efforts; I took a walk, Like a gelding in a harrow! .. Nekrasov describes with great power of sympathy and compassion "a woman's share." His heart is wounded by the suffering of the unfortunate peasant women. Through the individual fate of Matrena Timofeevna, the author makes deep generalizations: Russian women live in constant work, the joys and sorrows of motherhood, in the struggle for a family, for a home. The theme of the female share in the poem merges with the theme of the homeland.

Nekrasov ardently believes that the spiritual strength of a Russian woman is indestructible, that she will achieve the true, and her golden heart will be freed from eternal slavery: In a moment of despondency, O motherland! I am thinking ahead. You are still destined to suffer a lot, But you will not die, I know.

The theme of the female share in Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Rus'"

The poem Who Lives Well in Rus' was written in 1863. Main character poems are people. Nekrasov describes the life, worries, fate of the peasants, their way of life and work, which was not easy. The author paid special attention to the life of ordinary Russian women, peasant women. Seven peasant peasants, who could not find happy men among the peasants, decided to look for happy women among them. "Not everything between men To look for a happy one, Let's touch the women!" Everywhere a woman needs to be in time: both in the field, and with the kids, and maintain the house. The topic is not easy female destiny runs through many of Nekrasov's works. The poet constantly emphasizes that a woman bears a double oppression: landlord and family. This oppression is revealed by a phrase from the poem: “And the women in Rus' three loops: white silk Second -- red silk And the third - silk black, choose any! Get into any!” Women's children die, sons are taken to the service, and daughters governesses. The most complete female share in the poem was shown on the example of Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina. The heroine had a happy, carefree early childhood, and from the age of five, initiation to feasible work began: “she wore breakfast to her father, grazed the ducklings”, “turned the hay”, etc. And such a life full of hard work is remembered by Matryona Timofeevna at her thirty-eight years as happiness. Because everything that awaited her after marriage was sheer suffering. No wonder the mother lamented when they came to woo her daughter. After the wedding, "I went to hell with a girl's holi." Her husband was kind. Matryona did not have to, like many other peasant women, live with the “hateful”, endure beatings. Matryona lived with her husband in love and harmony. This helped her endure troubles and misfortunes. Philip was a stove-maker, constantly leaving to work in St. Petersburg. Matryona was very upset by constant separation. She had to adapt to life in a strange family. Bullying by the husband's relatives, beatings, hard labor, terrible death beloved firstborn - that was only the beginning of her terrible, but, alas, such a common fate for a Russian peasant woman. After the death of the first-born, other children were born every year: “there is no time to think or grieve, God forbid to cope with the work and cross the forehead,” Matryona's parents died. Timofeevna submitted to everything: “first from bed, last to bed”, humiliated herself in front of her father-in-law with her mother-in-law, and only in one thing became rebellious: she stood up for the children, did not allow them to be offended. When the village lynched Fedot, who, working as a shepherd, failed to take the sheep from the she-wolf, his mother lay down under the rod for him. A young beautiful woman, in the absence of her husband-protector, was pursued by the master's manager. None of the relatives, except for the hundred-year-old grandfather Savely, the heroine did not find support. The character of Matrena Timofeevna is tempered precisely in ordeals. This is a smart, selfless, strong-willed, resolute woman. This is the image of a peasant woman not only strong spirit but also gifted and talented. Matrena's story about her life is a story about the fate of any peasant woman. Matrena Timofeevna went through all the trials that can only fall on a woman's lot. This mother-worker, proud, not broken, close and kindred in spirit became for grandfather Saveliy. But the wanderers came to her in vain in search of a happy man: "It's not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women." A hungry year fell to Matryona's lot, and then an even more terrible test: they took her husband out of turn into recruits. And again Matrena Timofeevna did not submit. The pregnant woman went on foot to the city to seek the truth and intercession from the governor. She achieved the truth, having received the intercession of the governor, who also herself baptized the child born before the time. Since then, Matrena Timofeevna "has been denounced as a lucky woman, nicknamed the governor's wife." Speaking of the bitter fate of women, Nekrasov never ceases to admire the amazing spiritual qualities of his heroines, their great willpower, self-esteem and pride. Such a woman "endures both hunger and cold." She is strict towards the lazy, towards the poor, but this does not mean that she does not have love, compassion for people. Suffice it to recall how Matrena Timofeevna forgives Savely the hero for his oversight, which led to the death of her firstborn. She appreciates the free spirit in him, folk wisdom, and even tells strangers about him, setting him as an example. The main advantage of the Russian Woman Nekrasov reads her ability to be a real, sensitive mother. Russian women live in constant work, the joys and sorrows of motherhood, in the struggle for a family, for a home. The theme of the female share in the poem merges with the theme of the homeland. The female characters of Nekrasov's heroines speak of strength, purity and incorruptibility common people. Those inhuman conditions of life point to the urgent need for changes in the order, style and way of life in the villages and cities of Russia at that time.

Let's not give the theme of the "women's lot" either gloomy or happy colors, we will abandon the apologetics and deconstruction of patriarchal myths, and will impartially look into the past. And it will quickly become clear that the notorious dense patriarchy is nothing more than a pseudo-historical projection of modern illiteracy.

Chronology of sacred images

women's place in ancient culture hardly anything can be said better than an analysis of the pagan pantheons. Official science identifies several male deities Eastern Slavs and only one female. True, there are some who believe that there were one or two more goddesses, as well as supporters of the complete patriarchy of the "Slavic Olympus", but their versions are too weakly supported by sources.

In any case, there is an idea of ​​men as those who are endowed with strength and power, this is compatible with the then military-democratic system of society. However, almost all magic was “assigned” to a woman, and the attributes of purely female occupations were symbols of prosperity, wealth and fertility: a spindle, threads, wool, patterns, a sickle, a ponyova, a tablecloth, dishes, etc. Remember when Ilya Muromets falls to the ground, defeated by Sokolnik, and after praying, he gets a “second wind”? This is very reminiscent of the Indian idea of ​​the female boundless energy of Shakti, without which any deity is powerless.

Since those times, a lot of holidays and rituals have been preserved in which men did not have the right to interfere, and if they caught their eye, they could even be killed with impunity. This special ritual space gives us an idea of ​​the cases of the inviolability of the female will. The early princely orders that have come down to us also state that if a girl is married against her will, if she suffers physically, the mother and father will be severely punished.

What does this say? Rather, that it is more convenient to consider the then situation of men and women not from the point of view of the role, but from the point of view of space - internal (home, forbidden rites) and external (travel, work on the street, protecting the family). This distinction will be a key point in gender relations up to the present day.

"I treated you like a brother..."

Archeology has rewarded us with amazing finds. Most likely in medieval Rus' and they did not think that birch bark letters could lie in the ground for almost a thousand years, preserving not only the text, but also feelings, details of the way of thinking.

No less famous is the "Order from Popadya to Priest", written at the end of the 14th century, which refers to some incident that received unwanted publicity, the message ends with the businesslike phrase "Take care of it." And the message “From Peter to Marya” contains a request to send a copy of the document on the purchase of the harvest. This means that women were not deprived of legal literacy either.

But the letter “From the Guest to Vasil” contains a complaint that the husband of the Guest appropriated her dowry, kicked out the woman, and got himself a new passion. Apparently, Vasil was the brother of the author, who was in his right to protect his sister from such a demarche.

By studying these written sources about morals in ancient Rus', we can conclude that the woman was a faithful assistant to her husband, who was not inferior to him in education and the ability to manage the household, had the right to protection from relatives. But, unfortunately, scientists note that this rise in culture and morality was temporary.

Sylvester woman

The word "Domostroy" evokes not the best associations and is often used as a symbol of dense patriarchal mores in Rus'.

There is a version that this book, written by the teacher of Ivan the Terrible, was intended to normalize family relationships in a troubled age. It is worth mentioning that in those days marriage was given out very early, and often, the husband became almost a father to his young wife. Accordingly, he was equally the head of everyone in his house and had the right to "teach" the whip, whom he considered necessary.

At the same time, the beating of household members with wooden and metal objects, in front of witnesses, was condemned, and most importantly, punishment without love and justice. The church was inclined to defend the rights of women when it came to open disrespect, and could even threaten negligent sons who do not show respect for their mother, referring to the fact that holy wives and the Mother of God, by the way, mean something.

Most likely, domestic violence has nothing to do with pagan survivals or Orthodoxy, but only with human aggression and irresponsibility.

Perhaps this also had its own catalyst - that same spatial separation, fear of an unknown force that women still owned, because husbands were strictly forbidden to be present during childbirth, it was undesirable to go into someone else's half of the hut, an unloved spouse could be poisoned or slandered, interfere this was extremely difficult. There were a lot of secrets in the family, which means that there was no complete trust.

In the ethnographic era

Old songs about female lobe, which today we can listen to in the public domain, are almost one hundred percent sad. They have a clear confrontation "husband" - "lover", where the husband is either an old man, or a tyrant, or killed, and the lover is right there. And, on the contrary, in one famous old song, a guy writes from prison to his parents and wife, who refuse him, and a secret girlfriend helps him out at a great cost. Girls' songs are mostly about unrequited love or observation from the side of the object of passion. In the Cossack environment, unloved wives were often drowned, begging to take their lives, at least not in front of children and neighbors, and this happened not only in songs, there are also official reports of informants about this.

Politeness and cunning were valued above beauty and wealth and were the key to success. If, for example, the bride was obliged to give the groom a whip, then why not weave this whip from silk or velvet? After all, if you figure out how not to violate the foundations of society, not to ruin each other's lives, and at the same time achieve your own goal, then you will become pleased with yourself and honored by people. Such cases are described in famous collections cherished fairy tales constituting a kind of Russian "Decameron".

All that has been said is about trying to move away from the template “The downtroddenness of a Russian woman - true or myth?” and turn to the present day. Limited, illiteracy, vulnerability in relation to the pre-revolutionary peasantry, after all, looks more natural than the same thing today. If now there is enough social advertising about domestic violence, and women's forums on the network, at times, are just scary to read from the grotesque reigning there, it seems that in the past it was even worse, however, this is a logical trap. We have only replaced the superstition about powerful female magic with the assertion that "every woman has a mystery" and this barrier, it seems, will never be completely overcome.

The Russian peasant woman became the heroine of many poems and poems by Nekrasov. In her image, Nekrasov showed a tall man moral qualities, he sings of her resilience in life trials pride, dignity, care for the family, children. Most complete female image was revealed by Nekrasov in the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" - this is the image of Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina.

The part “Peasant Woman” in the poem is the largest in volume, and it is written in the first person: Matrena Timofeevna herself tells about her fate. Matryona Timofeevna, according to her, was lucky as a girl:

I was lucky in the girls:

We had a good

Non-drinking family.

The family surrounded their beloved daughter with care and affection. In the seventh year, the peasant's daughter began to be taught to work: "she herself ... ran to the herd for a dumpling, brought breakfast to her father, grazed the ducklings." And this work was her joy. Matryona Timofeevna, having worked out in the field, will wash herself in the bathhouse and is ready to sing and dance:

And a good worker

And sing and dance the huntress

I was young.

But how few bright moments in her life! One of them is an engagement to his beloved Filippushka. Matryona did not sleep all night, thinking about the upcoming marriage: she was afraid of “bondage”. And yet love turned out to be stronger than fears of falling into slavery.

Then it was happiness

And hardly ever again!

And then, after marriage, she went “from a girl’s holi to hell.” Exhausting work, “mortal insults”, misfortunes with children, separation from her husband, who was illegally recruited, and many other hardships - such is the bitter life path Matryona Timofeevna. With pain she says about what is in her:

No broken bone

There is no stretched vein.

Her story reflected all the everyday hardships of a Russian peasant woman: the despotism of family relations, separation from her husband, eternal humiliation, the suffering of a mother who lost her son, material need: fires, loss of livestock, crop failure. Here is how Nekrasov describes the grief of a mother who lost her child:

I rolled around with a ball

I twisted like a worm

Called, woke Demushka -

Yes, it was too late to call! ..

The mind is ready to be clouded by a terrible misfortune. But a huge spiritual strength helps Matryona Timofeevna to survive. She sends angry curses to her enemies, the camp and the doctor, who torment the “white body” of her son: “Villains! Executioners!” Matrena Timofeevna wants to find “their justice”, but Savely dissuades her: “God is high, the tsar is far ... We cannot find the truth.” “Yes, why, grandfather?” - asks the unfortunate. “You are a serf woman!” - and this sounds like a final verdict.

And yet, when misfortune happens to her second son, she becomes “impudent”: she decisively knocks down the elder Silantius, saving Fedotushka from punishment, taking his rods on herself.

Matryona Timofeevna is ready to endure any trials, inhuman torments in order to defend her children, her husband from everyday troubles. What great willpower a woman must have to go alone into the frosty winter night for dozens of miles provincial city looking for the truth. Boundless is her love for her husband, which has withstood such a severe test. The governor, amazed by her selfless act, showed “great mercy”:

They sent a messenger to Klin,

The whole truth was brought -

Filipushka was rescued.

Self-esteem, which manifested itself in Matrena Timofeevna in her girlhood, helps her to go majestically through life. This feeling protects her from the impudent claims of Sitnikov, who seeks to make her his mistress. Anger against the enslavers thickens in a cloud in her soul, she herself speaks about her angry heart to the peasant truth-seekers.

However, these trials cannot break her spirit, she kept human dignity. True, before the force of circumstances created social structure the time when the “daughter-in-law in the house” was “the last, last slave”, “intimidated”, “cursed”, Matryona Timofeevna also had to put up with it. But she does not take for granted such family relationships that humiliate her, require unquestioning obedience and humility:

Walked with anger in my heart
And didn't say too much
Word to nobody.

The image of Matryona Timofeevna is given in the poem in dynamics, in development. So, for example, in the story with Demushka, at first, in a fit of despair, she is ready to endure everything:

And then I surrendered
I bowed at my feet...

But then the inexorability of the “unrighteous judges”, their cruelty, gives rise to a feeling of protest in her soul:

They don't have a soul in their chest
They have no conscience in their eyes
On the neck - no cross!

The character of the heroine is tempered precisely in these difficult trials. This is a woman of great mind and heart, selfless, strong-willed, resolute.

The chapter "Peasant Woman" is almost entirely built on folk poetic images and motifs. In the characterization of Matrena Timofeevna are widely used folklore genres: songs, laments, lamentations. With their help, the emotional impression is enhanced, they help to express pain and longing, to show more vividly how bitter the life of Matryona Timofeevna is.

Her speech contains a number of folklore features: repetitions (“creeping crawling”, “noise-running, “a tree burns and groans, chicks burn and groan”), permanent epithets(“violent head”, “white light”, “fierce grief”), synonymous expressions, words (“fertilized, lulled”, “how she zipped, how she growled”). When constructing sentences, he often uses exclamatory forms, appeals (“Oh, mother, where are you?”, “Oh, poor young woman!”, “The daughter-in-law is the last in the house, the last slave!”). There are many sayings and proverbs in her speech: “Do not spit on red-hot iron - it will hiss”, “The working horse eats straw, and the idle dance - oats”; often uses diminutive words: "mother", "pale", "pebble".

These features make Matryona Timofeevna's speech uniquely individual, give it special liveliness, concreteness, and emotionality. At the same time, the saturation with sayings, songs, laments testifies to the creative warehouse of her soul, wealth and strength of feeling. This is the image of a peasant woman not only strong in spirit, but also gifted and talented.

Matryona Timofeevna's story about her life is also a story about the fate of any peasant woman, a long-suffering Russian woman. And the part itself is not named after Matryona Timofeevna, but simply “Peasant Woman”. This emphasizes that the fate of Matrena Timofeevna is not at all an exception to the rule, but the fate of millions of the same Russian peasant women. The parable about “the keys to the happiness of women” also speaks of this. And Matryona Timofeevna concludes her thoughts with a bitter conclusion, turning to the wanderers: “You started not a business - look for a happy woman among the women!”