A young man of twenty-six years old is a petty official who has been living for eight years in St. Petersburg in the 1840s, in one of the apartment buildings along the Catherine Canal, in a room with cobwebs and smoky walls. After his service favorite hobby- walks around the city. He notices passers-by and houses, some of them become his “friends”. However, he has almost no acquaintances among people. He is poor and lonely. With sadness, he watches as the residents of St. Petersburg gather for their dacha. He has nowhere to go. Going out of the city, he enjoys the northern spring nature, which looks like a “sick and sick” girl, for one moment becoming “wonderfully beautiful.”
Returning home at ten in the evening, the hero sees a female figure at the canal grate and hears sobbing. Sympathy prompts him to make an acquaintance, but the girl timidly runs away. A drunk man tries to pester her, and only a “bough stick”, which ends up in the hero’s hand, saves the pretty stranger. They talk to each other. The young man admits that before he knew only “housewives,” but he never spoke to “women” and therefore is very timid. This calms down the fellow traveler. She listens to the story about the “novels” that the guide created in his dreams, about falling in love with ideal fictional images, about the hope of someday meeting in reality a girl worthy of love. But now she’s almost home and wants to say goodbye. The dreamer begs for a new meeting. The girl “needs to be here for herself,” and she does not mind the presence of a new acquaintance tomorrow at the same hour in the same place. Her condition is “friendship”, “but you can’t fall in love.” Like the Dreamer, she needs someone to trust, someone to ask for advice.
On their second meeting, they decide to listen to each other's "stories". The hero begins. It turns out that he is a “type”: in the “strange corners of St. Petersburg” live “neuter creatures” like him - “dreamers” - whose “life is a mixture of something purely fantastic, ardently ideal and at the same time dull prosaic and ordinary " They are afraid of the company of living people, as they spend long hours among “magical ghosts”, in “ecstatic dreams”, in imaginary “adventures”. “You speak as if you are reading a book,” Nastenka guesses the source of the plots and images of her interlocutor: the works of Hoffmann, Merimee, W. Scott, Pushkin. After intoxicating, “voluptuous” dreams, it can be painful to wake up in “loneliness”, in your “musty, unnecessary life.” The girl feels sorry for her friend, and he himself understands that “such a life is a crime and a sin.” After the “fantastic nights,” he already “has moments of sobering that are terrible.” “Dreams survive,” the soul wants “real life.” Nastenka promises the Dreamer that now they will be together. And here is her confession. She is an orphan. Lives with an old blind grandmother in a small house of her own. Until the age of fifteen I studied with a teacher, and two last year sits, “pinned” with a pin to the dress of her grandmother, who otherwise cannot keep track of her. A year ago they had a tenant, a young man of “pleasant appearance.” He gave his young mistress books by V. Scott, Pushkin and other authors. He invited them and their grandmother to the theater. I especially remember the opera " Barber of Seville" When he announced that he was leaving, the poor recluse decided on a desperate act: she gathered her things in a bundle, came to the tenant’s room, sat down and “cryed in three streams.” Fortunately, he understood everything, and most importantly, he managed to fall in love with Nastenka. But he was poor and without a “decent place”, and therefore could not get married right away. They agreed that exactly a year later, having returned from Moscow, where he hoped to “arrange his affairs,” the young man would wait for his bride on a bench near the canal at ten o’clock in the evening. A year has passed. He has been in St. Petersburg for three days already. He is not at the appointed place... Now the hero understands the reason for the girl’s tears on the evening of their acquaintance. Trying to help, he volunteers to deliver her letter for the groom, which he does the next day.
Because of the rain, the third meeting of the heroes occurs only through the night. Nastenka is afraid that the groom will not come again, and cannot hide her excitement from her friend. She dreams feverishly about the future. The hero is sad because he himself loves the girl. And yet, the Dreamer has enough selflessness to console and reassure the despondent Nastenka. Touched, the girl compares the groom with a new friend: “Why is he not you?.. He is worse than you, even though I love him more than you.” And he continues to dream: “Why aren’t we all like brothers and brothers? Why the most best person always seems to be hiding something from the other and is silent from him? Everyone looks like that, as if he is harsher than he really is...” Gratefully accepting the Dreamer’s sacrifice, Nastenka also shows concern for him: “you are getting better,” “you will fall in love...” “God grant you happiness with her.” !” In addition, now her friendship is with the hero forever.
And finally the fourth night. The girl finally felt abandoned “inhumanly” and “cruelly.” The dreamer again offers help: go to the offender and force him to “respect” Nastenka’s feelings. However, pride awakens in her: she no longer loves the deceiver and will try to forget him. The “barbaric” act of the tenant sets off moral beauty friend sitting next to him: “You wouldn’t do that? Wouldn’t you throw someone who would come to you on her own into the eyes of shameless mockery of her weak, stupid heart?” The dreamer no longer has the right to hide the truth that the girl has already guessed: “I love you, Nastenka!” He doesn’t want to “torment” her with his “selfishness” in a bitter moment, but what if his love turns out to be necessary? And indeed, the answer is: “I don’t love him, because I can only love what is generous, what understands me, what is noble...” If the Dreamer waits until the previous feelings completely subside, then the girl’s gratitude and love will go to him alone. Young people happily dream of a future together. At the moment of their farewell, the groom suddenly appears. Screaming and trembling, Nastenka breaks free from the hero’s hands and rushes towards him. Already, it would seem, the hope for happiness, for genuine life, that is coming true leaves the Dreamer. He silently looks after the lovers.
The next morning the hero receives from happy girl a letter asking for forgiveness for her unwitting deception and with gratitude for his love, which “cured” her “broken heart.” One of these days she is getting married. But her feelings are contradictory: “Oh God! If only I could love you both at once!” And yet the Dreamer must remain “eternally a friend, brother...”. Again he is alone in a suddenly “old” room. But even fifteen years later, he fondly remembers his short-lived love: “may you be blessed for the minute of bliss and happiness that you gave to another, lonely, grateful heart! A whole minute of bliss! Is this really not enough for even a person’s entire life?..”
The young man, the main character of the story, is timid, lonely, and lives in dreams. One St. Petersburg night he meets a crying girl. She lives with her blind grandmother, their days are not fun and monotonous. The tenant who rented the mezzanine from Nastya’s grandmother showed compassion and sympathy for the girl. Nastya is in love and is ready to leave with a young man. The guest explained that he must first arrange his affairs. In a year he will return, and the young people will be able to get married. Nastya is waiting for her lover, but the young man does not come to the promised meeting. Nastya decides to respond to the feelings of the main character, but suddenly meets her lover. She runs away from the dreamer by writing a letter of apology. Dreams of happiness did not come true, the dreamer is lonely again.
The main characters of Dostoevsky's White Nights are honest and selfless, they know how to feel and sympathize. The story teaches loyalty and kindness.
Summary of Dostovsky's White Nights by chapters
Night one
Main character The story has been living in St. Petersburg for about eight years, but he has neither friends nor good acquaintances. At the beginning of the story, he is sad for no reason. Walking around the city saves him. He knows many passers-by by sight, and even at home they have become his “friends.” Now the city is empty - many citizens have left for their dachas.
A young man after a country walk returns home to good location spirit. On the bank of the canal he sees a crying girl. Shyness and lack of experience communicating with women prevent him from talking to a stranger. He follows the girl, choosing words to introduce her. A drunk passerby accosts the young lady, and our hero drives the hooligan away. The girl agrees to have the defender escort her home. The hero of the story sees the charming beauty of a new acquaintance, confidentially tells her that he met a woman for the first time in his life, about his dream of meeting a young girl, worthy of love. A young man begs a stranger to meet. She agrees on the condition of friendship, not romantic feelings. A girl, like a young man, needs warm, brotherly advice.
Night two
The long-awaited meeting took place. Nastenka, that’s the girl’s name, reports that she lives with her blind grandmother. Their days pass monotonously and sadly: the old woman is busy knitting, and the girl reads aloud to her. The grandmother does not let her granddaughter leave her side; she pins her dress to hers. Nastya wants to hear the young man’s story about himself. Our hero calls himself a dreamy type, talks in detail about a lonely life filled with dreams. Fantasies constitute his main wealth. Returning from dreams to a musty and unnecessary life frightens the hero. He understands the futility and unnecessaryness of such an existence, talks about two evenings of real life spent together with Nastya. The girl was sympathetic to the young man’s story and encouraged him with words about friendship.
Nastenka's story.
Nastya lost her parents early and lives with her grandmother. They live in a small house, the mezzanine of which is rented out. About two years ago a new guest moved in. The tenant offered Nastya books to read. During rare meetings, he asked the girl about the books she had read, about her friends, and took her and her grandmother to the theater several times. Nastya fell in love with a young man, and when he was about to leave after a while, the girl opened up to him and told him that she was ready to leave. The man explained that he was very poor and could not afford to get married. In a year, the young man hopes to improve his affairs. Then he will return and propose to Nastenka. A few days ago, the young man returned to the city, but never came to the embankment, where the young people agreed to meet. The main character volunteers to deliver a letter to Nastya’s lover through mutual friends.
Night three
Nastya expects that her lover has received her letter and will come on a date. She dreams about the future, talks about her lover meeting her best friend. The main character is sad to realize that he loves a girl, but she sees him only as a friend. Nastya's lover does not appear. The girl is desperate. The dreamer reassures her, convinces her that the addressee has not yet received the letter. Tomorrow the young man will go for an answer and deliver news about him to the girl.
Night four
The next day turned out to be rainy. Despite the bad weather, our hero came to the embankment. Nastenka did not appear. He survived the day with difficulty and came to the meeting in the evening ahead of the appointed time. Nastya, having learned that there is no answer, sobs, and then declares that she no longer loves this evil deceiver. The dreamer decides to confess and tells the girl about his love. Nastenka is sure that she can fall in love with the young man. She offers him to move into the empty mezzanine of their house. The young people agree that he will move tomorrow. They talk about the future, make plans for life together.
At the moment of farewell, a man appears next to them. This is Nastya's beloved. She rushes towards him. The dreamer can only watch with bitterness the meeting of lovers.
Morning
The hero greets the next morning broken and depressed. He is delivered a letter from Nastenka, in which she asks the protagonist for forgiveness for his unwitting deception and thanks him for his love and participation.
Further life seems to the dreamer bleak and gloomy. The hero's soul is warmed by gratitude to Nastenka for giving him the opportunity to love and hope.
Picture or drawing White nights
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The main character of the work (the author does not name him) is a poor official of twenty-six years old. He has been living in St. Petersburg for eight years, but has never made any friends. IN free time a man walks around the city and indulges in daydreams, in which he sees himself as the hero of various romantic stories.
At the beginning of the story, the dreamer experiences causeless melancholy; it seems to him that everyone has abandoned him. He scolds the cook Matryona because the woman did not remove the cobwebs. The hero's apartment seems dull and cold to him.
The dreamer is used to walking around the city and meeting different people. But now everyone has gone to their dachas, and he wanders alone through the streets, not finding familiar faces. The hero is completely at a loss: everyone he met before seems to have disappeared.
True, outside the city his mood improves significantly. The dreamer rejoices at the spring renewal of nature, bows strangers. But such moments pass quickly. After a pleasant walk, you need to return to the dull, deserted city.
One late evening the hero returns home and on the bank of the canal meets a girl who is crying, leaning on the parapet. He wants to calm the stranger down, but does not dare approach her. Frightened by the man, the girl runs away. The hero follows, regretting that he cannot find a reason to meet. But then chance comes to his rescue: a drunk passer-by accosts the young lady. Our hero rushes to the rescue and drives away the bully.
The defender offers the stranger to take her home, to which she agrees. The dreamer takes a closer look at the girl's lovely features and her beautiful black hair. He admits that for the first time in his life he met a woman. The stranger is surprised, but believes her savior. The hero begs for a new date, and the girl agrees to meet tomorrow at the same place. However, the stranger puts forward a condition - this will not be a romantic date, the young man should not fall in love with her. The girl promises to tell her more about herself tomorrow and listen to the man’s story.
Night two
The dreamer is looking forward to a new date with great impatience. During the conversation, it turns out that the girl’s name is Nastenka. She lives with her grandmother, who has gone blind and does not let her go even one step. He even pins the girl's dress to his clothes. Fulfilling Nastenka’s wish, the hero talks in detail about how he spends all his free time in dreams. He understands the futility of such an existence, the futility of constantly dwelling in fantasies, while he passes by real life. A young man wants to find a kindred spirit, to help someone. But he has no one, his life is lonely and empty. Nastenka feels sorry for her new acquaintance and says that now he is not alone, they are friends. Then the girl tells her story.
Nastenka's story
Nastenka is now seventeen years old. She was orphaned as a child, and her grandmother raised her. Until the age of fifteen, she hired teachers for the girl, including a teacher French. One day, Nastenka, taking advantage of the fact that her grandmother had dozed off, pinned the dress of the deaf cook Fyokla to her clothes, and she ran away to her friend. Grandma woke up and began asking Fyokla something, thinking that she was talking to Nastenka. The cook saw that they were addressing her, but, naturally, she could not answer. She got scared, unfastened the pin and ran away. This is how the girl’s deception was revealed, for which the grandmother strongly scolded her granddaughter. After this incident, the old woman began to restrict the girl’s freedom even more.
Nastenka also said that they live in a small two-story house. On the ground floor there is her, grandmother and Fyokla, and the mezzanine is for rent. One day a visiting young man settled in it. The new tenant came to talk to his grandmother about renovations in his rooms, and the old woman asked Nastenka to bring the bills. The girl jumped up, forgetting that she was pinned with a pin. She felt ashamed in front of the young man. The tenant was also embarrassed and left immediately.
Two weeks later, the new guest told the girl that he had a lot of books. Nastenka can take them to read to her grandmother. The old woman agreed, provided that they were “moral books.” So Nastenka read the works of Pushkin and several novels by Walter Scott.
One day, a girl accidentally met a tenant on the stairs, and a conversation began between the young people. The guest asked Nastenka about the books she had read. A few days later he asked: isn’t it boring for the girl to sit with the old woman all the time? Does she have any friends? Nastenka said that her friend Masha moved to live in another city, but there are no more friends.
When the tenant invited Nastenka to the theater, the girl refused, afraid of her grandmother’s anger. The young man had no choice but to invite the old woman to the performance. This is how Nastenka first came to the theater to see The Barber of Seville. After this, the guest invited the old woman and her granddaughter to the theater several more times. Nastenka herself did not notice how she fell in love with the young man. She, however, was afraid that her love would not be reciprocated. And these fears began to come true.
Soon the tenant announced that he was leaving for Moscow on business. Nastenka was very upset by this news. For several days she could not find a place for herself and on the last night before leaving she decided on a desperate act. The girl gathered her things into a bundle and went up to the mezzanine.
The man clearly did not expect such a visit and was very depressed. Nastenka cried from shame and despair. Through tears she swore her love young man, assured that she no longer wanted to live with her grandmother and was ready to go to Moscow. The guest consoled the girl for a long time, explaining to her that he was too poor and could not get married now. But in the end he promised that he would return and offer her his hand and heart. The young people agreed: exactly one year later they would meet on the embankment at ten o’clock in the evening. In the place where the dreamer first met the tear-stained girl. Nastenka knew that her lover had been in the city for three days, but had not come on a date.
The dreamer volunteered to take a letter from the girl to his lover. Nastenka was very happy about this proposal. It turned out that the letter had already been written, and the girl herself wanted to ask the hero for such a favor. The news should have been taken to mutual acquaintances of Nastenka and her fiancé. Before leaving, the young man promised that he would visit them as soon as he arrived. If Nastenka wishes, she can leave a message there.
Night three
The hero took the letter to specified address. Nastenka really hoped that her beloved would respond to her message and come at the appointed time. She invited the dreamer to share the joy of this meeting and decided to introduce her lover to her new and only friend. In high spirits, Nastenka makes plans for her life. However, our hero begins to realize that he has already fallen in love with the girl. He becomes bitter because Nastenka perceives him only as a friend.
The wait turns out to be in vain - Nastenka’s beloved never came. The girl is very upset. The dreamer consoles her, convinces her that he has not yet received the letter and will definitely come tomorrow. These words calm Nastenka, she perked up a little. The girl asks her friend to go get the answer tomorrow. The hero, of course, agrees. However, the girl warns: if it rains tomorrow, she will not be able to come to the meeting and then they will see each other the day after tomorrow.
Night four
The next day it rained. Despite the bad weather, the dreamer still came to the appointed place. Nastenka, as expected, did not show up. The hero worried all day and could hardly wait for the next evening.
There was never a response to the letter. However, like his beloved Nastenka himself. Deciding that he would never come again, the girl became very upset and burst into tears. The dreamer consoles her in every possible way, but in vain. Nastenka announces that it's all over, she doesn't love this anymore evil man who cruelly deceived her.
After such words, the dreamer decides to confess his love to Nastenka. He expects the girl to drive him away - after all, the condition of their friendship has been violated. But Nastenka forgives the young man. She guessed about the dreamer's feelings. The girl assures that even if she doesn’t love him now, she will soon love him, since he is wonderful. And she hates her former lover. He rejected the girl and did not even deign to give her a conversation or a short note.
Nastenka invites the hero to move to their empty mezzanine, and the young man agrees to do this tomorrow. The dreamer and the girl dream of getting married and living with their grandmother, Fyokla and Matryona.
But at this time a young man approached the couple. Nastenka recognized her lover in him and rushed into his arms. The dreamer had no choice but to watch this touching meeting with bitterness.
Morning
The next morning was rainy. The hero felt very unwell, he was broken and depressed. Matryona brings a letter from Nastenka, in which the girl apologizes and thanks the dreamer for his help, love and participation. She writes that she is getting married in a week. Nastenka wants to introduce the hero to her fiancé so that they too become friends.
It seems to the dreamer that the world has darkened. The apartment, despite the absence of cobwebs, seems dirty and gloomy to him, and future life completely joyless. But the hero is still grateful to Nastenka for the short happiness of loving and hoping that she gave him.
Retelling plan
1. Meet a dreamer.
2. Meeting of a dreamer with a stranger (commencement).
3. Nastenka tells him her love story.
4. The dreamer falls in love with her. Nastenka assures that she loves him too (climax).
5. The young man with whom the girl was in love returns. She leaves with her beloved, leaving the narrator (denouement).
Retelling
Night one
The story is told from the perspective of a young man, a “dreamer.” He is not rich, has been living in St. Petersburg for eight years, rents a small room, works somewhere, but has almost no acquaintances: “But why do I need acquaintances? I already know the whole of St. Petersburg.” He is timid and exists in his own world, calling himself a dreamer. The young man loves to wander around the city. It seems to him that each house has its own face, he talks to each as if he were alive. Among them he had “favorites, short friends.”
One day at the beginning of summer, when he was somehow especially sad, he walked for a long time and finally found himself at the outpost: “Instantly I felt happy, and I stepped beyond the barrier, walked past sown fields and meadows, did not hear fatigue, but felt , that some burden is being lifted from my soul... It was as if I suddenly found myself in Italy - nature struck me so strongly, a half-sick city dweller who almost suffocated within the city walls.” Returning home late at night along the canal embankment, he saw a girl leaning on the railing and looking into the water. He heard her sobs, but did not dare approach. The stranger walked away, and then some not entirely sober gentleman began to pursue her. Seeing the girl’s fright, the dreamer drove the man away and volunteered to accompany her. She trustingly agreed.
Along the way they met and started talking. The young man was overcome with delight because he saw a beautiful girl next to him and was talking to her. He talked about himself, about his dreams, about the fact that he had never been closely acquainted with any woman, but had been in love many times. To the girl’s bewilderment, he answered who he was in love with: “Nobody, ideally, the one you dream about. I create entire novels in my dreams.” The girl, touched by his frankness, agreed to meet him the next day: “on the condition... don’t fall in love with me. I’m ready for friendship... but I can’t fall in love, please!” The dreamer “walked all night, could not decide to return home: “I was so happy...”
Night two
Having met the hero, the girl asked him to tell about himself: “What kind of person are you? Hurry up - start, tell your story.” But the young man had nothing to talk about, he “had no story,” he lived “completely alone, alone, completely alone...” The girl decided that they had something in common. She said that she lives with an old blind grandmother who does not let her go anywhere. One day, the grandmother pinned her dress to hers so that her granddaughter would be next to her all the time: “she’s been pinned for two years now.” The girl said that her name was Nastenka. The hero did not give his name, but introduced himself to her as a dreamer, a lonely, unsociable hermit, an eccentric, rich in “his own special life,” carried away in his fantasies to God knows where. He talked about himself so excitedly that Nastenka shared his excitement. She decided to openly tell the dreamer her story and ask for his advice.
Nastenka is seventeen years old, she was left an orphan at an early age: her parents died, and she was raised by her grandmother. Grandmother has her own small house. They occupy the first floor and rent out the mezzanine to residents. One of the guests, a young man of “pleasant appearance,” became close to Nastya, gave her his books to read, and invited her and her grandmother to the theater. The girl saw that he simply felt sorry for her, “and nothing more.” Unbeknownst to herself, she fell in love with him.
But a year ago he suddenly said that his business in St. Petersburg was finished, and he had to go to Moscow. Nastenka thought for a long time, was sad, “yes, finally, she made up her mind”: she gathered her things into a bundle and went up to the lodger. The young man understood everything by her appearance, he also loved her, but he could not marry now, since he was very poor. He swore that in exactly a year he would return and marry her. And now he is in St. Petersburg, but has not yet appeared at Nastenka’s. The girl could not hold back her sobs, which made the hero’s “heart turn over.”
The narrator offered his help to the girl: he was ready to find her beloved and give him a letter. It turned out that the letter had already been written by Nastenka. She handed it to the dreamer and gave him the address.
Night three
The dreamer recalled his next meeting with Nastenka, his hopes, his love for her. He “thought that she too...” The former guest did not appear. The girl “frowned, became shy and became cowardly.” “Then she suddenly became so tender, so timid” with the dreamer, admitted that she was grateful to him, that he was “the best person.” The dreamer felt terrible loneliness, he realized that Nastenka still loved another... He consoled her with the fact that her lover, obviously, had not yet received her letter.
Night four
Having met the dreamer, Nastenka impatiently asks if he brought the letter. But there was neither the letter nor Nastenka’s beloved. She began to sob: “I don’t know him, I don’t love him anymore, I will... for... him...” The dreamer decided to express what was “boiling in his heart”: “I love you... Because you were rejected, I felt so much love in my heart!” The girl replied: “I love him, but this will pass, it’s already passing... I hate him because he laughed at me... I finally love you myself! That’s why I love you because you are better than him, more noble,” and she cried bitterly.
The young people decided that they would get married, but for now the dreamer would move to his grandmother’s house and rent a mezzanine: “We both walked around in a daze, in a fog, as if we ourselves didn’t know what was happening to us.” Suddenly a young man walked by. Nastya suddenly stopped, recognizing him. He took a few steps: “Nastenka! Nastenka! It's you!" - and the girl fluttered towards him. Then she ran up to the dreamer, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply and passionately. “Then she rushed to him again and pulled him along with her.”
Morning
“My nights ended in the morning. It wasn't a good day. It was raining... my head hurt and I was dizzy..."
Matryona brought the dreamer a letter. It was from Nastenka. She wrote: “Oh, forgive me, forgive me! I deceived both you and myself. Thank you for this love. You will not leave us, you will forever be my friend, my brother... Next week I will marry him... he never forgot about me... forgive us, remember and love your Nastenka.”
The dreamer’s eyes were clouded with tears: “I don’t know why, I suddenly imagined that my room had grown old... everything had dimmed in my eyes... But so that I remember my offense, Nastenka! Oh, never, never! May your sky be clear, may you be blessed for the moment of bliss and happiness that you gave to another, lonely, grateful heart! My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is this really not enough, even for the rest of a person’s life?..”
Let's consider summary the story "White Nights" by Dostoevsky. The genre of this work was defined by the writer himself as a “sentimental novel.” However, in form "White Nights" is a story. It belongs to a cycle of novels and short stories that were created in St. Petersburg before Fyodor Mikhailovich was convicted in the Petrashevites case.
Composition of the story
The work “White Nights” by Dostoevsky consists of 5 chapters, which have the names: “Night 1”, “Night 2”, etc. The story describes 4 nights in total. The fifth chapter is called "Morning". This reflects the dynamics of the development of the plot in the work - from sleep to awakening.
First night
The hero of Dostoevsky's "White Nights" has lived in St. Petersburg for eight years. At the same time, he was unable to make a single acquaintance in the city. The hero is known to almost all of St. Petersburg. He knows many people by sight and sees them every day on the streets. The old man is one of these acquaintances. The hero meets him on the Fontanka in certain hour. If both are in good mood, they bow to each other. Houses are also familiar to the Dreamer. He even sometimes imagines that they are talking to him, just as the hero himself communicates with them with pleasure. He has favorites among his household, and he also has short friends. The dreamer has been tormented by anxiety for three days now. The reason is the fear of loneliness. The city was empty as residents went to their dachas. The dreamer is ready to go with them, but no one invited him, as if everyone had forgotten him, as if he was a complete stranger to them.
Returning after a walk at a late hour, the hero of Dostoevsky's story "White Nights" saw a girl on the embankment. She looked intently into the water of the canal. This girl was crying, and she walked past him on the sidewalk while the Dreamer tried to find words of comfort. He did not dare to follow her. Suddenly, not far from this stranger, there was a drunk gentleman who hurried after her. Then the hero rushed at him with a gnarled stick. He left the lady alone. The dreamer told her that he creates entire novels in his imagination. However, in fact, he has never even met women, because he is very timid. The girl replies that she even likes such modesty. The hero hopes to see her again and asks the girl to come to the embankment again the next night. She promises to be here at nine o’clock, but begs the hero not to fall in love with her and count only on friendship. The girl has a secret that she doesn’t want to tell. The dreamer feels so happy that he wanders around the city all night and cannot return home. This concludes the description of the first chapter of Dostoevsky’s work. The “White Nights,” a brief summary of which interests us, continues with the following events.
Second night
When meeting the Dreamer, the lady asks him to tell her his story. He replies that he has no history. The girl has a blind grandmother who will not let her go anywhere. After the girl got naughty 2 years ago, the grandmother sewed her dress to hers. Now the Dreamer’s interlocutor is forced to read aloud to the old woman and sit at home. The hero replies that he considers himself a dreamer, and only then remembers that he still does not know the name of his companion. The girl introduces herself as Nastenka. The dreamer tells her about his dreams. In his dreams, he lived to be 26 years old and even celebrates the “anniversary of his feelings.” Nastenka tells the hero the story of her life.
The girl's father and mother died very early, and so she stayed with her grandmother. One day, when this old woman fell asleep, Nastenka persuaded Fyokla, a deaf worker, to sit in her place, and she herself went to her friend. When the old woman woke up and asked about something, Thekla ran away, scared, because she could not understand what her grandmother was asking her about. One day a new tenant moved into the mezzanine of my grandmother's house. He began to supply Nastenka with books and invited her and the old woman to the theater to watch the play “The Barber of Seville.” The three of them visit the theater several more times after that. Then the tenant says that he must leave for Moscow. Nastenka is packing her things in secret from her grandmother, because she wants to go with him. The tenant says that he cannot marry the girl yet. But he will definitely come for her in a year, when he arranges his affairs. Now he has been in the city for three days, but still has not come to Nastenka. The dreamer invites her to write a letter to her beloved and promises to convey it through the girl’s friends. Nastenka gives him a letter that had been written and sealed a long time ago. The heroes say goodbye. The work "White Nights" by Dostoevsky continues in the next chapter.
Third night
On a stormy and cloudy day, the hero of the work realizes that Nastenka’s love for him was only the joy of a close meeting with another. The girl came to meet the hero an hour earlier, because she wanted to see her beloved and hoped that he would certainly come. However, he did not show up. The dreamer reassures the girl by making various assumptions: he might not have received the letter, perhaps he cannot come now, or he answered, but the letter will arrive a little later. The girl hopes to see her beloved the next day, but the feeling of annoyance does not leave her. Nastenka laments that her beloved is not at all like the Dreamer, who is so kind to her. This is how the next chapter of the work “White Nights” ends. The story continues with a description of the fourth night.
Fourth night
At 9 o'clock the next day the heroes were already on the embankment. But the man does not appear. The hero confesses his love to the girl, says that he understands her feelings for her beloved and treats them with respect. Nastenka replies that this man betrayed her, and therefore she will try with all her might to stop loving him. If the Dreamer can wait until the old feelings completely subside, then Nastenka’s love and gratitude will go to him. Young people joyfully dream of a future together.
Suddenly, at the moment of their farewell, the groom appears. Nastenka, trembling and screaming, breaks out of the Dreamer’s hands and rushes towards him. She disappears along with her lover. The Dreamer from the work “White Nights” looked after them for a long time... Dostoevsky describes in chapters how the internal state of the main characters changed, who seem to be making the transition from sleep to awakening in the story. This happens in the next chapter, which is called “Morning”.
Morning
On a rainy and dull day, Matryona, a worker, brought a letter from Nastenka to the Dreamer. The girl apologized and thanked him for his love. She promises to keep him in her memory forever, and also asks the Dreamer not to forget her. The hero re-read the letter several times, tears welling up in his eyes. The dreamer mentally thanks Nastenka for the minute of bliss and happiness that the girl gave him. One of these days Nastenka is getting married. However, the girl’s feelings are contradictory. She writes in the letter that she would like to "love you both." However, the Dreamer is forced to remain forever only a brother, a friend. He again found himself alone in a room that had suddenly become “old.” However, even after 15 years, the Dreamer remembers with tenderness his short-lived love.
A few facts about the work
So, we have described the event outline of the work that Dostoevsky created. "White Nights", a summary of which, of course, artistic features does not convey the story, it was written by Fyodor Mikhailovich in 1848. Today the work is included in school curriculum on literature along with other creations of this writer. The heroes in this story, as in other works of Fyodor Mikhailovich, are very interesting. Dostoevsky dedicated “White Nights” to A. N. Pleshcheev, a poet and friend of his youth.
Criticism
As for criticism, we note the following. The work "White Nights" (Dostoevsky) received positive reviews almost immediately after its first publication. The following responded to him: famous critics, like A.V. Druzhinin, S.S. Dudyshkin, A.A. Grigoriev, N.A. Dobrolyubov, E.V. Tur and others.