When reading works of art, we first of all pay attention to its main characters. All of them have clear characteristics in literary theory. We will find out which ones exactly from this article.

The word "image" in Russian literary criticism has several meanings.

Firstly, all art is figurative, i.e. reality is recreated by the artist with the help of images. In the image, the general, generic is revealed through the individual, transformed. In this sense, we can say: the image of the Motherland, the image of nature, the image of man, i.e. depiction in artistic form of the Motherland, nature, man.

Secondly, at the linguistic level of the work, the image is identical to the concept of “trope”. In this case, we are talking about metaphor, comparison, hyperbole, etc., i.e. about figurative means of poetic language. If you imagine the figurative structure of the work, then the first figurative layer is the image-details. From them grows a second figurative layer, consisting of actions, events, moods, i.e. everything that unfolds dynamically in time. The third layer is images of characters and circumstances, heroes who find themselves in conflicts. From the images of the third layer it is formed complete image fate and peace, i.e. concept of being.

The image of a hero is an artistic generalization of human properties, character traits in the individual appearance of the hero. A hero can inspire admiration or repel, commit actions, act. An image is an artistic category. You cannot, for example, say: “I despise the image of Molchalin.” One can despise the silent type, but his image as an artistic phenomenon evokes admiration for the skill of Griboyedov. Sometimes, instead of the concept of “image,” the concept of “character” is used.

The concept of "character" is broader than the concept of "image". A character is any character in a work. You can't say "lyrical hero" instead lyrical character". A lyrical hero is an image of a hero in a lyrical work, whose experiences, feelings, thoughts reflect the author’s worldview. This is an artistic “double” of the author-poet, who has his own inner world, his own destiny. The lyrical hero is not an autobiographical image, although he reflects personal experiences and attitudes to different aspects of the life of the author himself. The lyrical hero embodies the spiritual world of the author and his contemporaries. The lyrical hero of A. S. Pushkin is a harmonious, spiritually rich personality who believes in love, friendship, and is optimistic in his outlook on life. Another lyrical hero of M. Yu. Lermontov. This is the “son of suffering”, disappointed in reality, lonely, romantically yearning for will and freedom and tragically not finding them. Characters, like heroes, can be major or minor, but when applied to episodic characters, only the term “character” is used.

Often a character is understood as a minor person who does not influence events, while a literary hero is a multi-faceted character who is important for expressing the idea of ​​a work. You can come across the judgment that a hero is only that character who carries positive principles and is an exponent of the author’s ideal (Chatsky, Tatyana Larina, Bolkonsky, Katerina). The statement that negative satirical characters (Plyushkin, Judushka Golovlev, Kabanikha) are not heroes is incorrect. Here two concepts are mixed - the hero as a character and the heroic as a way of human behavior.

The satirical hero of a work is a character, a character against whom the edge of satire is directed. Naturally, such a hero is unlikely to be capable of heroic deeds, i.e. is not a hero in the behavioral sense of the word. IN creative process creating images of heroes, some of them embody the most characteristic features of a given time and environment. Such an image is called a literary type.

A literary type is a generalized image of human individuality, the most possible, characteristic of a certain social environment at a certain time. The literary type reflects the laws of social development. It combines two sides: the individual (single) and the general. Typical (and this is important to remember) does not mean average; a type always concentrates in itself everything that is most striking, characteristic of an entire group of people - social, national, age, etc. Types have been created in the literature goodies(Tatiana Larina, Chatsky), “extra people” (Eugene Onegin, Pechorin), Turgenev girls. In aesthetically perfect works, each type is a character.

Character is human individuality, consisting of certain spiritual, moral, mental traits. This is the unity of an emotional reaction, temperament, will and a type of behavior determined by the socio-historical situation and time (era). Character consists of diverse traits and qualities, but this is not a random combination of them. Each character has a main, dominant feature, which gives living unity to the entire variety of qualities and properties. The character in a work can be static, already formed and manifested in actions. But most often character is presented in change, in development, in evolution. A pattern emerges in the development of character. The logic of character development sometimes conflicts with the author’s intention (even A.S. Pushkin complained to Pushchin that Tatyana got married without his “knowledge”). Obeying this logic, the author cannot always turn the hero’s fate the way he wants.

Character(with gr. - literal line) - this is a set of psychological properties that make up the image of a literary character.

Individual details of the image, manifested in action, behavior, in certain circumstances, create a multifaceted world of the hero.

The concept of “character” refers to the category of content of a work. It is appropriate to use this term when an analysis of the idea of ​​a work is given and its pathos is determined. In the broad sense of this term all images and heroes of any text inevitably have a typical character.

In antiquity, long before the emergence of a special science about man (anthropology, ethics, physiognomy), main theme literature was the involvement of man in the sphere of uncompromising laws of fate. In the epic, the hero is still entirely dependent on the deity: he cannot act independently; he, in the words of B. Snell, “may be a character, but not yet a personality.” The hero has the same qualities as the gods, but he is a victim of those properties of which he is the bearer. This explains the designation of character with a mask in the ancient theater.

IN modern literature character is a personality structure formed by individual and typological traits and manifested in behavioral characteristics and distinctive properties of nature.

In antiquity, on the contrary, character is a “stamp”, a “frozen mask”.

Literary type - an image of human individuality, the most possible, typical for a particular society.

The concept of “literary type” first appears in Hegel’s Aesthetics .

In literary theory, “type” and “character” are close, but not interchangeable.;

"Character" in to a greater extent reveals typical personality traits, its psychological properties, A " type" is a generalization of certain social phenomena associated with typical features.

For example, Maxim Maksimych is a typical Russian soldier, “just a decent person,” as L.N. Tolstoy said about him, while Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is a type of “suffering egoist,” the embodiment of “the vices of an entire generation in their full development.” The concept of “typing” includes the process of creating a holistic picture of the world and is the basis of the creative process. Recognizing typification as an internal need and a law of art, writers realize that the typical is not a copy of reality, but an artistic generalization. In Moliere, Harpagon and Tartuffe are typical characters, but these are not social, but psychological types, illustrating neglect of moral requirements. If we want to call someone a miser or a hypocrite, we use these proper names as common nouns. The strict hierarchy of genres of classicism also gives rise to the normalization of literary types. Social conflicts appear in the work reflected in the souls of the heroes.

The division of characters into positive and negative in classic aesthetics is natural. There should be no intermediate types, since art is charged with the task of correcting vices and glorifying virtues ideal person. Psychology « little man“was outlined by Pushkin in “The Station Warden” (“Belkin’s Tale”) in all the evidence of his social existence. An equally significant aspect of the topic is the analysis of dramatic family relationships.

Pushkin’s concept becomes the source of subsequent literary generalizations, predetermines the plots of Gogol (“The Overcoat”), Dostoevsky (Poor People) and Tolstoy about “unhappy families,” conflict situations where “each family is unhappy in its own way.” The “little man” becomes the dominant type in the “natural school.” L.M. Lotman wrote that “the man appeared to the writers” natural school"a cast of a social form that distorts human nature." Further evolution The literary type of the “little man” is associated with a shift in emphasis, in the words of M. M. Bakhtin, “from the environment to the person.” Already in early work“Poor People” F. M. Dostoevsky focuses on spiritual world hero, although dependence on social circumstances still determines the misfortunes of Makar Devushkin. Dobrolyubov in his article “Downtrodden People” noted: “In Dostoevsky’s works we find one common feature, more or less noticeable in everything he wrote: this is pain about a person who admits that he is unable or, finally, does not even have the right to be a person.” a real, complete, independent person, in himself.”

The novel “Poor People” combines two views on the “little man” - Pushkin’s and Gogol’s; Makar Devushkin, after reading both stories, comes to the conclusion that “we are all Samson Vyrins.” This recognition points to a dramatic discovery - the tragedy is predetermined, there is no way to fight circumstances that are insurmountable. Dostoevsky’s famous phrase: “We all came out of Gogol’s “Overcoat”” - implies not so much apprenticeship as the continuation and development of the theme of mercy, immeasurable love for a person rejected by society. The world of Akakiy Akakievich is confined to the dream of an overcoat, the world of Makar Devushkin is caring for Varenka. Dostoevsky represents the type of dreamer who is content with little, and all his actions are dictated by the fear of losing the modest gift of fate. Thematic similarity is found between “Poor People” and the story “White Nights”, the hero of which gives himself a derogatory description: “A dreamer is not a person, but, you know, some kind of creature of the neuter kind. For the most part, he settles somewhere in an inaccessible corner, as if he were hiding there even from daylight.”

Dostoevsky revises the famous type of romantic hero who immerses himself in the world perfect dream, despising reality. Dostoevsky's heroes doomedly preach humility in life, which leads them to death. Another twist on the theme of the little man is associated with the writer’s interest in the topic of drunkenness as an allegory of rebellion against public morality. In the novel “Crime and Punishment,” this type of vice is viewed not as a consequence of social evil, but as a manifestation of selfishness and weakness. Oblivion in drunkenness does not save a person who has “nowhere else to go”; it destroys the destinies of loved ones: Sonya Marmeladova is forced to go to the panel, Katerina Ivanovna goes crazy, and, if not for chance, her children would have faced inevitable death. Chekhov does not express compassion for the “little man,” but shows the real “smallness” of his soul. The story “The Death of an Official” examines the problem of the voluntariness of social obligations undertaken by a person. It is resolved in a grotesque manner. Chervyakov dies not as a “humiliated and insulted” person, but as an official who has lost his natural appearance out of fear. Chekhov proved with all his creativity that a person should not conform his potentialities to the limits allowed by society. The spiritual needs of the individual must triumph over vulgarity and insignificance: “A person needs not three arshins of land, but the entire globe.” The isolation of “case life,” the writer insists, is harmful. The story “The Man in a Case” creates a frightening image of Belikov, an apologist for protective morality. His entire behavior is permeated with the fear that “something might not happen.” The writer exaggerates the image of a defender of social morality; a black suit, glasses, galoshes, and an umbrella are expressive details of the image that create an expressive portrait of a frightening social phenomenon. Belikov's death may seem to bring deliverance to people who fear the zealous guardian of morality, but an optimistic solution to a tragic collision is alien to Chekhov. The writer sadly admits that hopes to correct people who differ from Belikov in their lifestyle, but not in their inner self-awareness, are vain. At the end of the story, a symbolic emphasis is placed to make sure that protective ideas remain alive. The scene of Belikov's funeral is framed by the image of rain, and all those present open their umbrellas; this is read as the inescapability of what the fearful teacher actually stood for.

Character (actor)- in prose or dramatic work artistic image a person (sometimes fantastic creatures, animals or objects), who is both the subject of the action and the object of the author’s research.

In a literary work there are usually characters of different levels and varying degrees of participation in the development of events.

Hero. Central character, the main one for the development of action is called hero literary work. Characters who enter into ideological or everyday conflict with each other are the most important in character system. In a literary work, the relationship and role of the main, secondary, episodic characters(as well as off-stage characters in dramatic work) are determined by the author's intention.

The role that authors assign to their hero is evidenced by the so-called “character” titles of literary works (for example, “Taras Bulba” by N.V. Gogol, “Heinrich von Oftendinger” by Novalis) . This, however, does not mean that in works entitled with the name of one character, there is necessarily one main character. Thus, V.G. Belinsky considered Tatyana an equal main character in A.S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin,” and F.M. Dostoevsky considered her image even more significant than the image of Onegin. The title can introduce not one, but several characters, which, as a rule, emphasizes their equal importance for the author.

Character- a personality type formed by individual traits. The set of psychological properties that make up the image of a literary character is called character. Incarnation in a hero, a character of a certain life character.

Literary type – a character that carries a broad generalization. In other words, a literary type is a character in whose character the universal human traits inherent in many people prevail over personal, individual traits.

Sometimes the writer’s focus is on a whole group of characters, as, for example, in “family” epic novels: “The Forsyte Saga” by J. Galsworthy, “Buddenbrooks” by T. Mann. In the 19th–20th centuries. begins to be of particular interest to writers collective character as a certain psychological type, which sometimes also manifests itself in the titles of works (“Pompadours and Pompadours” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “The Humiliated and Insulted” by F.M. Dostoevsky). Typification is a means of artistic generalization.

Prototype- a specific person who served the writer as the basis for creating a generalized image-character in a work of art.

Portrait as an integral part of the character structure, one of the important components of the work, organically fused with the composition of the text and the author’s idea. Types of portrait (detailed, psychological, satirical, ironic, etc.).

Portrait– one of the means of creating an image: depicting the appearance of the hero of a literary work as a way of characterizing him. A portrait may include a description of the appearance (face, eyes, human figure), actions and states of the hero (the so-called dynamic portrait, which depicts facial expressions, eyes, facial expressions, gestures, posture), as well as features formed by the environment or that are a reflection of the character’s individuality: clothes , manners, hairstyles, etc. A special type of description - psychological portrait– allows the author to reveal the character, inner world and emotional experiences of the hero. For example, the portrait of Pechorin in the novel “Hero of Our Time” by M.Yu. Lermontov, portraits of heroes of novels and stories by F.M. Dostoevsky are psychological.

An artistic image is a specificity of art, which is created through typification and individualization.

Typification is the knowledge of reality and its analysis, as a result of which the selection and generalization of life material is carried out, its systematization, the identification of what is significant, the discovery of essential tendencies of the universe and folk-national forms of life.

Individualization is the embodiment of human characters and their unique identity, the artist’s personal vision of public and private existence, contradictions and conflicts of time, concrete sensory exploration of the non-human world and the objective world through artistic means. words.

The character is all the figures in the work, but excluding the lyrics.

Type (imprint, shape, sample) is highest manifestation character, and character (imprint, distinctive feature) is the universal presence of a person in complex works. Character can grow from type, but type cannot grow from character.

The hero is a complex, multifaceted person. He is an exponent of plot action that reveals the content of works of literature, cinema, and theater. The author, who is directly present as a hero, is called a lyrical hero (epic, lyric). The literary hero opposes the literary character, who acts as a contrast to the hero, and is a participant in the plot

A prototype is a specific historical or contemporary personality of the author, who served as the starting point for creating the image. The prototype replaced the problem of the relationship between art and a real analysis of the writer’s personal likes and dislikes. The value of researching a prototype depends on the nature of the prototype itself.

• - a generalized artistic image, the most possible, characteristic of a certain social environment. A type is a character that contains a social generalization. For example, the type of “superfluous person” in Russian literature, with all its diversity (Chatsky, Onegin, Pechorin, Oblomov), had common features: education, dissatisfaction real life, the desire for justice, the inability to realize oneself in society, the ability to have strong feelings, etc. Every time gives birth to its own types of heroes. To replace " extra person“The type of “new people” has arrived. This, for example, is the nihilist Bazarov.

Prototype- a prototype, a specific historical or contemporary personality of the author, who served as the starting point for creating the image.

Character - the image of a person in a literary work, which combines the general, repetitive and individual, unique. The author's view of the world and man is revealed through character. The principles and techniques for creating character differ depending on tragic, satirical and other ways of depicting life, from literary kind work and genre. It is necessary to distinguish literary character from character in life. When creating a character, a writer can also reflect the traits of a real, historical person. But he inevitably uses fiction, “invents” the prototype, even if his hero is a historical figure. "Character" and "character" - concepts are not identical. Literature is focused on creating characters, which often cause controversy and are perceived ambiguously by critics and readers. Therefore, in the same character one can see different characters(the image of Bazarov from Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons”). In addition, in the system of images of a literary work, there are, as a rule, much more characters than characters. Not every character is a character; some characters only serve a plot role. As a rule, the secondary characters of the work are not characters.

Literary hero is an image of a person in literature. Also in this sense, the concepts “actor” and “character” are used. Often, only the more important characters (characters) are called literary heroes.

Literary heroes are usually divided into positive and negative, but this division is very arbitrary.

Often in literature there was a process of formalization of the character of heroes, when they turned into a “type” of some vice, passion, etc. The creation of such “types” was especially characteristic of classicism, with the image of a person playing a auxiliary role in relation to a certain advantage, disadvantage, or inclination.

A special place in a row literary heroes are occupied by genuine persons introduced into a fictional context - for example, historical characters novels.

Lyrical hero - the image of the poet, the lyrical “I”. Inner world the lyrical hero is revealed not through actions and events, but through specific state of mind, through the experience of a certain life situation. A lyric poem is a specific and individual manifestation of the character of the lyrical hero. The image of the lyrical hero is revealed most fully throughout the poet’s work. So, in some lyrical works Pushkin (“In the depths of the Siberian ores...”, “Anchar”, “Prophet”, “Desire for Glory”, “I Love You...” and others) express different states of the lyrical hero, but taken together they give us quite a holistic view of it.

The image of the lyrical hero should not be identified with the personality of the poet, just as the experiences of the lyrical hero should not be perceived as the thoughts and feelings of the author himself. The image of a lyrical hero is created by the poet in the same way as an artistic image in works of other genres, through the selection of life material, typification, and artistic invention.

Character - protagonist of a work of art. As a rule, the character takes an active part in the development of the action, but the author or one of the literary heroes can also talk about him. There are main and secondary characters. In some works the focus is on one character (for example, in Lermontov’s “Hero of Our Time”), in others the writer’s attention is drawn to a whole series characters (“War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy).

Artistic image- a universal category of artistic creativity, a form of interpretation and exploration of the world from the position of a certain aesthetic ideal, through the creation of aesthetically affecting objects. Any phenomenon creatively recreated in a work of art is also called an artistic image. An artistic image is an image of art that is created by the author of a work of art in order to most fully reveal the described phenomenon of reality. At the same time, the meaning of an artistic image is revealed only in a certain communicative situation, and the final result of such communication depends on the personality, goals and even the mood of the person encountering it, as well as on the specific

Type

The concept of "literary type" first appears in Hegel's Aesthetics. In literary theory, “type” and “character” are close, but not interchangeable; "character" reveals more typical features personality, its psychological properties, and “type” is a generalization of certain social phenomena and is associated with typical traits. For example, Maxim Maksimych is a typical Russian soldier, “just a decent person,” as L.N. Tolstoy said about him, while Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is a type of “suffering egoist,” the embodiment of “the vices of an entire generation in their full development.”

Concept "typing" includes the process of creating a holistic picture of the world and is the basis of the creative process. Recognizing typification as an internal need and a law of art, writers realize that the typical is not a copy of reality, but an artistic generalization.

In Moliere, Harpagon and Tartuffe are typical characters, but these are not social, but psychological types, illustrating neglect of moral requirements.

If we want to call someone a miser or a hypocrite, we use these proper names as common nouns.

V. G. Belinsky in the article “On the Russian story and the stories of Mr. Gogol” defines the typifying features of a literary hero: “Don’t say: here is a man with a huge soul, with ardent passions, with an extensive mind, but a limited reason, who loves so madly his wife, who is ready to strangle her with his hands at the slightest suspicion of infidelity - say more simply and briefly: here is Othello!.. Don’t say: here is an official who is vile by conviction, malicious with good intentions, criminal in good faith - say: here is Famusov!

The schematism of classic images is associated with the intentional intention of the authors, using the example of a particular character, to illustrate ethical and aesthetic principles. That is why the image, reduced to a theoretical premise, is marked by maximum typicality. However, an image that bears any one dominant feature, while winning in typicality, often loses in artistry.

The aesthetics of classicism are based on the principles of rationalism. Classicists claim a view of work of art as a creation consciously created, rationally organized, logically provable. Having put forward the principle of “imitation of nature,” classicists consider compliance with known rules and restrictions to be an indispensable condition. The goal of art is the artistic transformation of nature, the transformation of nature into a beautiful and ennobled aesthetic reality.

The strict hierarchy of genres of classicism also gives rise to the normalization of literary types. Social conflicts appear in the work reflected in the souls of the heroes. The division of characters into positive and negative in classic aesthetics is natural. There should be no intermediate types, since art is charged with the task of correcting vices and glorifying the virtues of an ideal person.

Playwrights of the era of classicism turn to Aristotle, who argued that tragedy “seeks to depict the best people than existing ones." The heroes of classic plays are forced to struggle with circumstances that, as in the tragedy of antiquity, cannot be prevented. In the classic version of the conflict, the resolution of the tragic situation now depends not on fate, but on the titanic will of the hero, personifying the ideal of the author.

According to the poetics of the genre, the heroes of the tragedy could be mythological characters, monarchs, generals, persons who determined by their will the fate of many people and even an entire nation. It is they who embody the main requirement - to sacrifice selfish interests in the name of the common good. As a rule, the content of character in a tragedy comes down to one essential trait. It determined the moral and psychological appearance of the hero. Thus, in the tragedies of Sumarokov, Kiy ("Khorev"), Mstislav ("Mstislav") are depicted by the playwright only as monarchs who violated their duty to their subjects; Khorev, Truvor, Vysheslav are like heroes who know how to control their feelings and subordinate them to the dictates of duty. Character in classicism is not depicted on its own, but is given in relation to the opposite property. The conflict between duty and feeling, caused by a dramatic combination of circumstances, made the characters of the heroes of the tragedies similar, and sometimes indistinguishable.

In the works of classicism, especially in comedy, the main character trait of the hero is fixed in his behavior and in his name. For example, the image of Pravdin cannot show at least any flaw, and Svinin cannot show the slightest dignity. Vice or virtue take a specific figurative form in Fonvizin’s comedies: the prude Zhekhvat, the braggart Verkholet.

In the literature of sentimentalism, the emphasis is transferred from the environment to the person, to the sphere of his spiritual life. Preference is given to characters in which “sensitivity” predominates. Sentimentality, according to G. Pospelov’s definition, “is a more complex state, caused mainly by the ideological understanding of a certain inconsistency in the social characters of people. Sensitivity is a personal psychological phenomenon, sentimentality has a general cognitive meaning.” Sentimentality of experience is the ability to realize the external insignificance of other people’s lives, and sometimes in one’s own own life something intrinsically significant. This feeling requires the hero’s mental reflection (emotional contemplation, the ability of introspection). A striking example of a sentimental character is Werther Goethe. The title of the novel is symptomatic - “The Sorrows of Young Werther.” In Goethe's work, suffering is perceived not as a chain of unfortunate events, but as a spiritual experience that can cleanse the hero's soul and ennoble his feelings. The author did not idealize his hero. At the end of work on the novel, Goethe wrote that he portrayed “a young man immersed in extravagant dreams” who “perishes ... as a result of unhappy passions.”

After a century of “thinking” (as Voltaire called the Age of Enlightenment), authors and readers felt that thought, a logically proven idea does not exhaust the potential of the individual: you can put forward a spectacular idea for improving the world, but this is not enough to correct a vicious world. The era of romanticism is coming. In its content, art reflects the rebellious spirit of man. The romantic theory of genius crystallizes in literature. “Genius and villainy are two incompatible things” - this phrase from Pushkin defines the main types of characters in romanticism. Poets discovered the unusual complexity, depth of the spiritual world of man, the inner infinity of the individual.

Intense interest in strong feelings and secret movements of the soul, in the mysterious side of the universe, gives rise to an exceptionally intense psychologism of images. The craving for the intuitive encourages writers to imagine heroes in extreme situations and to persistently comprehend the hidden sides of nature. The romantic hero lives by imagination, not reality. Special psychological types are emerging: rebels who oppose a high ideal to a triumphant reality; philistines ("just good people", living surrounded by everyday life and content with their position. Novalis wrote that this type of people "is not capable of rebellion, will never escape from the kingdom of vulgarity"); villains who tempt a person with omnipotence and omniscience; musicians (gifted people who are able to penetrate the world ideas). Many heroes of romanticism become literary myths, symbolizing the thirst for knowledge (Faust), uncompromising devotion (Quasimodo) or absolute evil (Cain). the authors deliberately weaken the fact of a person’s dependence on circumstances caused by social conflicts. The lack of motivation of character is explained by his predetermination and self-sufficiency. “One, but fiery passion” guides the actions of the heroes.

At the center of romantic aesthetics is a creative subject, a genius who rethinks reality, or a villain who is convinced of the infallibility of his vision of reality. Romanticism professes the cult of individualism, emphasizing not the universal, but the exclusive.

The basis of the literary characterology of realism is the social type. The psychological discoveries of romanticism are reinforced in realism by broad social and historical analysis, ideological motivation for the hero’s behavior. The character, as a rule, is determined by circumstances and environment.

In Russian realistic literature types of literary heroes are emerging that have common characterological features, their behavior is determined by similar circumstances, and the disclosure of the image in the text is based on traditional plot collisions and motives. The most striking were the “extra man,” “little man,” and “simple man.”

The literary type of the “superfluous man” arose as a rethinking of the phenomenon of the chosenness of the romantic hero. The name of the type came into general use after I. S. Turgenev wrote the story “The Diary of an Extra Man.” Previously in the literature there was a concept " strange man". This was how the character of the hero was determined, capable of abandoning the "norms public life". Lermontov gives this name to one of his dramas. Interest in "history human soul"in the works of A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, A. I. Herzen, I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov, he defined the specific characterology of the “superfluous person” type. This is an extraordinary personality, which is reflected in his appearance, and in actions; the character is tragically aware of the unfulfillment of his own strengths, deception by fate and unwillingness to change anything. The lack of specific goals becomes the reason for the hero’s flight from circumstances requiring decisive actions.

Question: “Why did I live, for what purpose was I born?” remains open. A hero of this type is characterized by a contemptuous attitude towards the world, which is explained by knowledge of human weaknesses. A sense of moral superiority and deep skepticism characterizes the egocentric personality (“we regard everyone as zeros and ourselves as ones”), which contradictorily combines rich intellectual abilities and aversion to “hard work.” Reflection, constant dissatisfaction with oneself and the world, loneliness are explained by the hero’s refusal of sincere friendship, reluctance to lose “hateful freedom”; the desire to share your spiritual experience with someone collides with the conviction that “it is impossible to love forever - for a while it is not worth the effort.” The sad result: spiritual or physical death, not heroic, but senseless death.

The evolution of the image of the “superfluous man” reveals the futility of this literary type, which has already been noted by critics mid-19th V. D.I. Pisarev talks about Onegin’s doom. I. A. Goncharov writes about the weakness of the natures of Pechorin and Onegin. A.V. Druzhinin points to the gradual transformation of the “superfluous person” into the “hospital type”. New “heroes of the century” are emerging, capable of overcoming the weaknesses of their predecessors. The inconsistency of “superfluous people” was shown by Turgenev (Rudin and Lavretsky), Goncharov (Oblomov and Raisky), Chekhov (Laevsky and Ivanov).

The concept of “little man” appears in literature before the type of hero itself takes shape. He was born in the era of sentimentalism. At first, this concept designated representatives of the third estate, who began to interest writers due to the democratization of literature. Many “turned over” stories have appeared, where main character acted as a rogue or a victim. G. I. Chulkov's story "The Pretty Cook" based on Russian material represents the plot of D. Defoe's novel "Mole Flanders", and the adventures of the adventurer attract the reader no less than Sumarokov's tragedies. Gradually, the rogue heroes are replaced by the suffering heroes of sentimentalism.

N. M. Karamzin in “Poor Liza” embodied the main thesis of sentimentalism about the extra-class value of a person - “even peasant women know how to love.” The classical scheme, which extremely expressively reveals the character of the “little man” in the works of sentimentalism, is practically unchanged: the idyllic pictures of the life of “natural people” are disrupted by the invasion of representatives of a vicious civilization.

A new impetus will be given to the indicated type by realistic literature. “Belkin’s Tales” by Pushkin, “The Overcoat” by Gogol, “Poor People” by Dostoevsky, Chekhov’s stories will present the type of “little man” in a multifaceted way, artistically formulate the characterological features of the literary type: ordinary appearance, age from thirty to fifty years; limited existential possibilities; the wretchedness of material existence; the hero’s conflict with a high-ranking official or offender; the collapse of a lifelong dream; spontaneous rebellion of the character; tragic outcome.

Of course, the discovery of the “little man” type belongs to Pushkin. M. M. Bakhtin noted that Belinsky “overlooked” Samson Vyrin and did not make him the main source of the “little man” theme. The explanation for this may be the successful resolution of the conflict. Dunya is happy, despite logic social relations. Samson Vyrin assumed that his daughter would have to take revenge on the streets, but she quite happily married Minsky. Pushkin deliberately moves away from depicting the social arguments of the tragedy of the unfortunate official, creating a utopian picture of relations between representatives of different social strata. Be that as it may, the psychology of the “little man” was outlined by Pushkin in all the evidence of his social existence. An equally significant aspect of the topic is the analysis of dramatic family relationships. Pushkin's concept becomes the source of subsequent literary generalizations, predetermines the stories of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy about “unhappy families”, conflict situations where “each family is unhappy in its own way.”

The "little man" becomes the dominant type in the "natural school". L. M. Lotman wrote that “man appeared to the writers of the “natural school” as a cast of a social form that distorts human nature.”

The further evolution of the literary type of the “little man” is associated with a shift in emphasis, according to M. M. Bakhtin, “from Wednesday per person.” Already in the early work “Poor People,” F. M. Dostoevsky focuses his main attention on the spiritual world of the hero, although dependence on social circumstances still determines the misfortunes of Makar Devushkin. Dobrolyubov, in his article “Downtrodden People,” noted: “In Dostoevsky’s works we find one common feature, more or less noticeable in everything he wrote: this is pain about a person who recognizes himself as unable or, finally, not even entitled to be a human being.” real, complete, an independent person, on their own."

The novel "Poor People" combines two views on the "little man" - Pushkin's and Gogol's; Makar Devushkin, after reading both stories, comes to the conclusion that “we are all Samson Vyrins.” This recognition points to a dramatic discovery - the tragedy is predetermined, there is no way to fight circumstances that are insurmountable. Dostoevsky’s famous phrase: “We all came out of Gogol’s “Overcoat”” - implies not so much apprenticeship as the continuation and development of the theme of mercy, immeasurable love for a person rejected by society.

The world of Akakiy Akakievich is confined to the dream of an overcoat, the world of Makar Devushkin is caring for Varenka. Dostoevsky represents a type of dreamer who is content with little, and all his actions are dictated by the fear of losing the modest gift of fate. Thematic similarity is found between “Poor People” and the story “White Nights”, the hero of which gives himself a derogatory description: “A dreamer is not a person, but, you know, some kind of creature of the neuter kind. He mostly settles somewhere in an inaccessible corner, as if hidden in it even from daylight." Dostoevsky reconsiders the well-known type of romantic hero, who plunges into the world of an ideal dream, despising reality. Dostoevsky's heroes doomedly preach humility in life, which leads them to death.

Another twist on the theme of the little man is associated with the writer’s interest in the topic of drunkenness as an allegory of rebellion against public morality. In the novel "Crime and Punishment" this type of vice is not considered as a consequence social evil, but as a manifestation of selfishness and weakness. Oblivion in drunkenness does not save a person who has “nowhere else to go”; it destroys the destinies of loved ones: Sonya Marmeladova is forced to go to the panel, Katerina Ivanovna goes crazy, and, if not for chance, her children would have faced inevitable death.

Chekhov does not express compassion for the “little man,” but shows the real “smallness” of his soul. The story “The Death of an Official” examines the problem of the voluntariness of social obligations undertaken by a person. It is resolved in a grotesque manner. Chervyakov dies not as a “humiliated and insulted” person, but as an official who, out of fear, has lost his natural character.

Chekhov proved with all his creativity that a person should not conform his potentialities to the limits allowed by society. The spiritual needs of the individual must triumph over vulgarity and insignificance: “A person needs not three arshins of land, but the entire globe.” The isolation of “case life,” the writer insists, is harmful.

In the story "The Man in a Case" a frightening image of Belikov, an apologist for protective morality, is created. His entire behavior is permeated with the fear that “something might not happen.” The writer exaggerates the image of a defender of social morality; a black suit, glasses, galoshes, and an umbrella are expressive details of the image that create an expressive portrait of a frightening social phenomenon. Belikov's death may seem to bring relief to people who fear the zealous guardian of morality, but an optimistic solution to a tragic collision is alien to Chekhov. The writer sadly admits that hopes to correct people who differ from Belikov in their lifestyle, but not in their inner self-awareness, are vain. At the end of the story, a symbolic emphasis is placed to make sure that protective ideas remain alive. The scene of Belikov’s funeral is framed in the image of rain, and everyone present opens their umbrellas; this is read as the inevitability of what the fearful teacher actually stood for.

F. Sologub, M. Bulgakov will present in their satirical works already a terrifying type of “petty demon”, where “triumphant vulgarity” will be brought to the level of an image-symbol.

IN modern literary criticism, along with traditional social literary types of realism, attention is paid to psychological types that are not carriers of any ideology, but are important for characterizing the depicted era.

The source of the “common man” type was sentimentalism with its concept of the extra-class value of a person. IN romantic literature"simple man" personifies "immaculate nature." Circassian woman from Pushkin (" Caucasian prisoner"), Georgian in Lermontov ("Mtsyri") embody the ideas of harmony of the world and man, which the rebellious hero lost in his soul. In realistic literature, the image of the "common man" reflects the idea of ​​​​an ordered life based on the laws of patriarchal existence.

N. Strakhov called Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter" a family chronicle. Pushkin does not idealize “simple Russian families” who keep “the habits of deep antiquity.” The author also shows the serf character traits of Andrei Petrovich Grinev, and does not hide the cruelty of Captain Mironov, who is ready to torture the Bashkir. But the focus of the author’s attention is completely different: in the world of the Grinevs and Mironovs, he finds, first of all, what Gogol clearly outlined when speaking about “The Captain’s Daughter”: “Simple greatness ordinary people"These people are attentive to each other, live according to their conscience, and are true to their sense of duty. They do not crave majestic achievements or personal glory, but are able to act decisively and boldly in extreme circumstances. These Pushkin characters are attractive and strong because they live in the world of Russian traditions and customs, which are basically folk.

From this series of Pushkin's heroes threads stretch to a great variety of characters in subsequent Russian literature. These are Lermontov's Maxim Maksimych, Gogol's old-world landowners, L.N. Tolstoy's Rostovs, Leskov's "righteous people". This type of literary hero is called differently in literary criticism. Since it is impossible to identify clear social criteria, it is rather psychological type: these images are not carriers of the main idea of ​​the text; the author’s full attention is not focused on them. An exception is Gogol's story "Old World Landowners". V. E. Khalizev calls characters of this kind “supertypes.” Similar images, according to the researcher, were present in different artistic aesthetics. V. E. Khalizev calls a complex of stable qualities: “This is, first of all, a person’s rootedness in close reality with its joys and sorrows, with communication skills and everyday affairs. Life appears as the maintenance of a certain order and harmony - both in the soul of this particular person, and around him."

A. Grigoriev called such heroes “humble” and contrasted them with “predatory”, “proud and passionate” characters. Then the concepts of “ordinary person” and “eccentric” appear. M. Bakhtin ranked them among " social and everyday heroes" who are not endowed with an ideological connotation. The type of "common man" cannot exhaust its capabilities, since it is a reflection of the world ordinary person, but it will constantly transform depending on the priorities of aesthetic theories. Thus, in the literature of existentialism this main image was the artist’s challenge to the inhuman world. The heroes of Camus, Kafka, Sartre lose their names, merging with the crowd of indifferent people, becoming “strangers” to others and to themselves.

Type this a generalized artistic image that embodies the typical features inherent in a certain social environment; a number of literary characters connected by common social characteristics, characteristic of works of Russian literature.

The difference between type and character

The type of literary character, in contrast to character, represents not only the individual characteristics of the hero, but also a generalization of the established qualities of a specific category of persons. A number of characters of the same type are not identical in character; they are united by social trends. A character's personality is often a variation of a single literary type. Writers usually continue to develop and improve the type of hero they founded or discover new types.

Examples and origins of literary types

The names of the types come from literary origins or the names of their discoverers:

• "extra person" type– the combination became entrenched in literary theory after the publication of I. S. Turgenev’s story “The Diary of an Extra Man” (1850);
• type "lady of Balzac age"– a summary description of heroines, which came into use after the appearance of Honore de Balzac’s novel “A Thirty-Year-Old Woman” (1842);
• "double" type– the term began to be used after the publication of the story “Double. Petersburg poem" (1846) by F. M. Dostoevsky;
• "Turgenev girl" type– generalized image female characters from the works of I. S. Turgenev of the 50-80s of the 19th century;
• "tyrant" type- a characteristic hero of A. N. Ostrovsky’s plays (“The Thunderstorm”, “Dowry”, “At Someone Else’s Feast a Hangover”);
• tramp type- a typical image of Gorky’s stories (“Konovalov”, “Twenty Six and One”, “The Orlov Spouses”).

"Little man" type

Under the influence of realism in the 20-30s of the 19th century, the type of little man appeared in Russian literature. "Little Man" is a character of low origin and social status, which, unlike the rebellious romantic heroes, does not have superpowers, but is a sincere and kind person. By forming and cultivating the image of a little man, writers sought to democratize literature and evoke attention and humanity to to the common man, which deserves a location.

The type of little person was discovered by A. S. Pushkin in the person of the main character of the story “ Stationmaster"(1831) and revealed it in subsequent works ("The Bronze Horseman"; 1837). The tradition of the literary type was continued in N.V. Gogol’s stories “Notes of a Madman” (1835), “The Overcoat” (1842). The theme of the fragile commoner is also present in the works of A. P. Chekhov, F. M. Dostoevsky, Gorky, M. A. Bulgakov and others.

Type "extra person"

“The Extra Man” is a hero typical of Russian literature of the 40-50s of the 19th century, who embodies the type of desperate Russian nobleman.

The type of superfluous person is an intellectual from the highest circles, oppressed by insoluble problems. life issues and the foundations of power. A typical hero opposes society, gets carried away by festivities, which is due to his fatigue, passivity and loss of the meaning of life.

The earliest and classic representatives of the “superfluous person” type are the main characters of the works of A. S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”, A. S. Griboyedov “Woe from Wit”, M. Yu. Lermontov “Hero of Our Time” - Onegin, Chatsky, Pechorin - in which disappointment is combined with the traits of a Byronic hero of the era of romanticism.

New person type

In the 50-60s of the 19th century, the “superfluous man” in Russian literature was replaced by the type of new man associated with changes in Russian socio-political orders.

Hero type " new person“Differentiated by insight, vigorous activity, propaganda position, strong-willed character.

Images of new people are vividly presented in the novels by I. S. Turgenev “Rudin” (1856), “On the Eve” (1860), as well as “Fathers and Sons” (1862), the main character of which is Evgeny Bazarov - an uncompromising nihilist.

Meaning of type in literature

Types go back to the concept of personality literary trends, the peculiarity of which is revealed through characteristic social signs. Thus, the correlation of a literary hero with a specific type determines the essence of personality.

The word type comes from Greek typos, which means imprint, sample.