What new things have I discovered in the image of a dreamer? "White Nights" main characters

Dreamer - main character novel "White Nights", narrator. There is a lot of autobiography in the image. Perhaps one of the prototypes is the poet A. N. Pleshcheev (1825 - 1893), some motives of his lyrics are reinterpreted in the hero’s confession. We compare it with Gogol’s Piskarev from the story “Nevsky Prospekt” and many heroes of Western and Russian romantic writers. He is twenty-six years old. He is impressionable, sentimental, sympathetic and kind. He has been living in St. Petersburg for eight years, he has no friends or acquaintances. The Dreamer’s only friend is St. Petersburg with its streets and houses, each of which “seems to run ahead of me into the street, looks at me through all the windows and almost says: “Hello; How is your health?

Although at the beginning of the work we find the hero in some melancholy, nevertheless he describes not her, but his happy states, and that is why the image of the hero, unlike most other works of Dostoevsky, is permeated with a bright and light spring feeling. In the rapture of finding an interlocutor and listener - Nastenka - the Dreamer talks about himself so pathetically and literaryly that she even interrupts him, asking him to tell the story, “somehow it’s not so wonderful.” Dreaming is characterized by the hero and the author not only positively. The hero, despite all his rapture, understands that “such a life is a crime and a sin.” He dreams of a real, authentic life, the way ordinary people live - “living in reality” and which is more full-blooded and rich than any ethereal dreams. Meeting Nastenka and falling in love with her opens his soul towards real living life. It's like he's waking up from a long sleep. Having parted with Nastenka, the Dreamer does not cherish his resentment, but only feels gratitude to her “for a minute of bliss and happiness.”

Nastenka - main character novel "White Nights" by Dostoevsky. She is seventeen years old. "Pretty brunette", perky and full of life, simple-minded and insightful. Orphan. She meets the Dreamer on a St. Petersburg street (he saves her from being pursued by an unknown gentleman), listens to his confession, and feels sorry for him. Having become friends with him, she also tells him her life story. She lives with her grandmother, who forces her to be with her all the time. This addiction torments the heroine. Having fallen in love with the lodger, Nastenka decides to leave with him, but he - due to his poverty and instability - cannot marry her yet, but promises that as soon as his circumstances change, he will come for her. Nastenka knows that now this man is again in St. Petersburg, but nevertheless does not make himself known. The dreamer generously helps the heroine write a letter to her lover. They are waiting for an answer, but there is no response. Disappointed Nastenka realizes that now she has no closer and more devoted friend than the Dreamer, and decides to throw in her lot with him. However, her lover unexpectedly appears, and the happy heroine leaves with him, leaving the Dreamer in his former loneliness.

The author himself called this work a “sentimental novel,” telling the story on behalf of the hero himself, young man with a wide and rich inner world, prone to daydreaming and an idealistic perception of the life around him.

The young man is ready to give his sincere love and devotion to any person he meets on the streets of St. Petersburg, although those around him do not even suspect his existence. He rejoices in someone else's positive mood, seeing that other people are "cheerful", at the same time he "mopes" if they suddenly become "foggy".

The guy also has the most tender feelings even for those present in his Everyday life inanimate things, claiming that he is familiar with “houses.” In his opinion, they seem to be interested in the dreamer’s health and his fate; the young man lives in a world of his own fantasies, creating a personal perception of the world and a special reality in his imagination.

One evening, a young Petersburger accidentally meets an ordinary girl on the street, in whom he sees an amazing, “beautiful stranger.” In addition, he has the opportunity to protect her from the unceremonious advances of a certain man, and the young poet immediately falls in love with this creature, or rather, with the image that he invents for himself. According to him, he has more than once experienced ardent feelings for the “ideal” that “dreams in dreams.”

At the same time, a naive romantic is distinguished not only by his tendency to constantly immerse himself in his dreams, he is also a man of action. Having fallen in love with a girl named Nastenka at first sight, although the young man does not know her at all, he immediately tries to come to her aid in everything, including achieving happiness with a person to whom his new acquaintance is not indifferent. He understands that the day when Nastenka connects her fate with another will be a real tragedy for him, and this catastrophe really happens to a simple-minded dreamer who hardly knows real life.

The girl actually decides to leave him, although she had previously promised to become his eternal companion. In her last letter, Nastenka fervently asks “not to leave her,” claiming that at “this minute” she sincerely loves the young resident of St. Petersburg, and promising to “earn” a reciprocal cordial disposition on his part.

Many critics believe that this hero F.M. Dostoevsky simply could not fully realize himself and his truly rich nature in his first real relationship with a representative of the opposite sex. But for a person who perceives the world from such a romantic, idealistic and at the same time sad point of view, love, most likely, could only be a very beautiful, piercing, but unhappy feeling.

The young man calls himself a “dreamer” who has very little “real life.” However, it is unlikely that he would be able to descend to reality from his sublime world, which exists in his imagination, and begin to think and feel the same way as ordinary men do.

For modern readers, this character may seem too detached from the real, living world; his impracticality and reluctance to at least try to fight for his beloved can cause obvious irritation. But when studying this story, the question involuntarily arises whether such people actually exist, whether they still exist today. The final lines of the work about “a whole minute of bliss,” which, according to the main character, will be enough for “the whole human life,” cannot leave anyone indifferent; the strange and naive dreamer inevitably evokes sympathy, sympathy, and even admiration for his exclusivity and difference from others.

“White Nights” characteristics of the Dreamer

Dreamer is a 26-year-old young man. Lives mainly by his own fantasies, in real life rarely looks out. One day he went out of nothing to do to wander around the city, but became so carried away by the walk that he went out of town. There he enjoyed the free natural air. When the hero was returning home late in the evening, he met a young thin girl who for some reason was crying.

The young man did not dare to speak to her right away. Meanwhile, she crossed to the other side of the street. The hero saw that a drunk was about to accost her there. The dreamer heroically saved the girl from trouble. True, there was no assault: it turned out that only the presence of a young man next to a beautiful stranger was enough.

The hero overcomes his embarrassment and accompanies the girl home. Along the way he tells her about himself, about his poverty, fantasies, secret hopes. Then the young people reach their destination and say goodbye, agreeing to meet tomorrow. At this point in the work “White Nights” the characterization of Nastenka is not at all clear to the reader. One thing is clear: this is a young and, apparently, unhappy girl.

Characteristics of Nastenka “White Nights”

Nastya has not left her grandmother’s side in the morning or afternoon for two years now. She almost went blind, and for some unreported offense, a relative literally attached the girl to herself so that she would not do anything else. Nastya is an orphan, her parents died, and she stayed with her grandmother. They have two rooms in the house: they live in one, and the grandmother rents the other - this is their only source of existence, except for the old woman’s pension.

And then a tenant came to see them - a young man. As a result of one awkward episode, he realized that Nastya was fastened to her grandmother with a pin. He took pity on the girl, began giving her books and taking her to the theater. She, of course, fell in love with the benefactor, opened up to him, but he said that he could not marry her yet, since he did not have enough money at the moment for such a responsible step, and he needed to go to Moscow for a year in the near future. If during this time Nastya’s feelings for him do not change, then he will come in exactly a year and marry her.

On the same day when the heroes met, a year or a little more had passed since the agreement, but the young man did not appear at the appointed place, although he was already in the city, which the girl knew well. The reason for Nastenka's tears is revealed to the dreamer.

Nastenka is not too smart, but not too stupid either. She has a taste for literature, or rather, she loves stories. She came across the groom by chance, but she grabbed him like a straw to escape from the blind grandmother. Probably, as a conscientious girl, she was also tormented by guilt due to the fact that she did not love her elderly relative too much. And, nevertheless, she was on the verge of despair and, perhaps, madness when the groom did not appear, because he personified the way out of life’s captivity.

The dreamer wants to help the girl and invites her to compose a letter for her betrothed, and he will take it to the right place. Surprisingly, the necessary letter has already been written by the girl, and the hero is given clear instructions to whom exactly it should be given. It cannot be said that Nastya deliberately manipulates the dreamer, exploiting his love; she does it involuntarily and innocently.

The meeting ends with Nastya and the dreamer singing songs. It’s clear why she’s happy, but he, apparently, hopes to serve her and get reciprocal feelings from the girl and, anticipating this event, sings.

At the third meeting, we learn that the girl’s friend does not respond to the letter sent. The dreamer realized that his chances of reciprocity were rapidly approaching zero. The girl tries to somehow console him and reassure him of her friendly disposition. Naturally, this does not make it any easier for the dreamer.

On the fourth night, the girl was already desperate, and the Dreamer confessed his love. They say all sorts of “sweets” to each other, and Nastenka is ready to forget the groom who betrayed her, but then he appears in person, and Nastya, having forgotten about her dreamer friend, rushes into the arms of her old love.

The next day she writes a letter to the dreamer, in which she says that everything is fine with her, and that she and her lover will soon get married. The main character can only remember the events that happened under the pale light of the white nights and feel sad.

“White Nights” quotation xCharacteristics of Nastenka

“...now I’m seventeen...” (Nastenka about her age)

“... clever girl: this never interferes with beauty...” (Dreamer about Nastenka)

“...I also don’t have anyone with whom I could say a word, who I could ask for advice...” (Nastenka about herself)

“...yesterday I acted like a child, like a girl, and, of course, it turned out that it was all my fault kind heart..." (Nastenka about herself)

“...I am a dreamer myself!<…>Well, you start dreaming, but then you change your mind - well, I’m just marrying a Chinese prince...” (Nastenka about herself)

“...I’m a simple girl, I didn’t study much, although my grandmother hired a teacher for me...” (Nastenka about herself)”

...behind her childish laughter..."

“... Nastenka, who listened to me, opening her smart eyes, will laugh with all her childish, uncontrollably cheerful laughter...”

Composition

The image of a dreamer is one of the central ones in the work of the young Dostoevsky. The image of the dreamer in the story “White Nights” is autobiographical: Dostoevsky himself stands behind him.

On the one hand, the author claims that ghostly life is a sin, it leads away from real reality, and on the other hand, he emphasizes the creative value of this sincere and pure life. “He is the artist of his own life and creates it for himself every hour according to his will.”

“I walked a lot and for a long time, so that I had already completely managed, as usual, to forget where I was, when suddenly I found myself at the outpost... It was as if I had suddenly found myself in Italy - so much did nature strike me, a half-sick city dweller who almost suffocated within the city walls... There is something inexplicably touching in our St. Petersburg nature, when

With the onset of spring, she will suddenly show all her power, all the powers given to her by heaven, she will become pubescent, discharged, adorned with flowers...”

In the dark corners of St. Petersburg, where the sun never shines, hides a poor dreamer, always embarrassed, feeling guilty, with ridiculous manners, stupid speech, reaching the point of self-destruction. The hero draws a self-portrait: a crumpled, dirty kitten, which, snorting, looks with resentment and at the same time enmity at nature and even at “the handout from the master’s dinner” brought by the compassionate housekeeper.

“White Nights” is a story about the loneliness of a man who has not found himself in an unfair world, about failed happiness. The hero has no selfish motives. He is ready to sacrifice everything for another and strives to ensure Nastenka’s happiness, not for a minute thinking about the fact that Nastenka’s love for him is the only thing he can get from life. The dreamer's love for Nastenka is selfless, trusting and as pure as the white nights. This feeling saves the hero from the “sin” of dreaming and quenches his thirst real life. But his fate is sad. He's lonely again. However, there is no hopeless tragedy in the story. The dreamer blesses his beloved: “May your sky be clear, may your sweet smile be bright and serene, may you be blessed for the moment of bliss and happiness that you gave to another, lonely, grateful heart!”

This story is a kind of idyll. This is a utopia about what people could be if they showed their best feelings. It's more like a dream about someone else, beautiful life than a reflection of reality.

Other works on this work

Dostoevsky's story "White Nights" tells the story of two young people suffering from unrequited love. The main characters of “White Nights” are the dreamer and Nastenka, who met during the White Nights of St. Petersburg and began to meet in a friendly manner. The dreamer fell in love with a girl, and Nastenka tells him about her love for another person. The dreamer silently loves the girl, dreaming of her love. The writer’s work is written in the genre of sentimentalism and naturalism; in “White Nights” the heroes are social, they belong to a cohort of little people who depend on reasons and circumstances.

Characteristics of the heroes of “White Nights”

Main characters

Minor characters

This list gives short description characters and characteristics of heroes from F. M. Dostoevsky’s story “White Nights”, which can be used to write an essay in literature lessons.

Work test