Composition
The story “Easy Breathing” was written by I. Bunin in 1916. It is reflected philosophical motives life and death, the beautiful and the ugly, which were the focus of the writer’s attention. In this story, Bunin develops one of the leading problems for his work: love and death. In terms of artistic mastery, “Easy Breathing” is considered the pearl of Bunin’s prose.
The narrative moves in the opposite direction, from the present to the past, the beginning of the story is its ending. From the first lines, the author immerses the reader in the sad atmosphere of the cemetery, describes the grave of a beautiful girl, whose life was absurdly and terribly interrupted in the prime of her life: “In the cemetery, above its clay embankment, there stands a new cross made of oak, strong, heavy, smooth.
April, gray days; The monuments of the spacious county cemetery are still visible far away through the bare trees, and the cold wind rings and rings at the foot of the cross.
Embedded in the cross itself is a rather large, convex porcelain medallion, and in the medallion is a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes.
This is Olya Meshcherskaya.”
Bunin makes us feel sorrow at the sight of the grave of a fifteen-year-old girl, bright and beautiful, who died at the very beginning of spring. It was the spring of her life, and she was in it like an unblown bud of a beautiful flower in the future. But a fabulous summer will never come for her. Young life and beauty have disappeared, now eternity hangs over Olya: “the cold wind rings and rings,” without stopping, “like a porcelain wreath” on her grave.
The author introduces us to the life of the heroine of the story, high school student Olya Meshcherskaya, at fourteen and fifteen years old. Throughout her appearance one can see admiring surprise at the extraordinary changes that are happening to her. She quickly became prettier, turning into a girl, her soul was filled with energy and happiness. The heroine is stunned, she still doesn’t know what to do with herself, new and so beautiful, so she simply gives in to the impulses of youth and carefree fun. Nature presented her with an unexpected gift, making her light, cheerful, and happy. The author writes that the heroine was distinguished “in the last two years from the entire gymnasium by her grace, elegance, dexterity, and the clear sparkle of her eyes.” Life is delightfully seething in her, and she happily settles into her new beautiful appearance, trying out its possibilities.
I can’t help but remember the story “Violets,” written by Bunin’s friend and talented Russian prose writer A. I. Kuprin. It talentedly depicts the explosive awakening of the youth of seventh-grader cadet Dmitry Kazakov, who, due to surging feelings, cannot prepare for the exam, with tenderness collects violets outside the walls of the educational building. The young man does not understand what is happening to him, but out of happiness he is ready to embrace the whole world and fall in love with the first girl he meets.
Bunin's Olya Meshcherskaya is a kind, sincere and spontaneous person. With her happiness and positive energy, the girl charges everything around her and attracts people to her. Girls from junior classes the gymnasiums are running after her in a crowd, for them she is an ideal. The last winter of Olya’s life seemed to be so beautiful on purpose: “The winter was snowy, sunny, frosty, the sun set early behind the tall spruce forest of the snowy gymnasium garden, invariably fine, radiant, promising and tomorrow there will be frost and sun, a walk on Sobornaya Street; skating rink in the city garden, pink evening, music and this crowd gliding in all directions on the skating rink, in which Olya Meshcherskaya seemed the most carefree, the happiest.” But it only seemed so. This psychological detail points to the awakening of natural forces, characteristic of the youth of every person, when the mind is still asleep and does not control the feelings. Inexperienced, inexperienced Olya easily flies through life like a butterfly to a flame. And misfortune is already following in her wake. Bunin managed to fully convey the tragedy of this dizzying flight.
Freedom of judgment, absence of fear, manifestation of intense joy, demonstration of happiness are considered defiant behavior in society. Olya doesn’t understand how annoying she is to others. Beauty, as a rule, causes envy, misunderstanding, and does not know how to defend itself in a world where everything exceptional is persecuted.
Except main character The story features four more images, one way or another connected with the young schoolgirl. This is the head of the gymnasium, Olya’s class lady, Olya’s father’s acquaintance Alexey Mikhailovich Milyutin and a certain Cossack officer.
None of them treat the girl like a human being, they don’t even make an attempt to understand her inner world. The boss, out of duty, reproaches Meshcherskaya for her woman’s hairstyle and shoes. An elderly man, Milyutin took advantage of Olya’s inexperience and seduced her. Apparently, a casual admirer, a Cossack officer, mistook Meshcherskaya’s behavior for frivolity and licentiousness. He shoots a girl at a train station and kills her. A fifteen-year-old girl is far from a fatal temptress. She, a naive schoolgirl, shows him a piece of paper from her notebook-diary. Like a child, she does not know a way out of a love situation and tries to isolate herself from an annoying admirer with her own childish and confused notes, presenting them as a kind of document. How could you not understand this? But, having committed a crime, an ugly, plebeian-looking officer blames the girl he killed for everything.
Bunin understood love primarily only as passion that flared up suddenly. And passion is always destructive. Bunin's love walks next to death. The story “Easy Breathing” is no exception. This was the great writer’s concept of love. But Bunin claims: death is not omnipotent. Short but bright life Olya Meshcherskaya left a mark on many souls. “The little woman in mourning,” the cool lady Olya, often comes to the grave, remembering her “pale face in the coffin” and the conversation that she once unwittingly overheard. Olya told her friend that the main thing in a woman is “easy breathing”: “But I have it,” listen to how I inhale, “I really do?”
Does reason or feelings rule the world?
Reply to this difficult question Russian literature was of interest to many writers who tried to find the answer in their works. Both reason and feeling are two sides of life that must be united for the correct perception of this world. In society, a person cannot adhere to only one opinion, as this inevitably leads to death. A clear confirmation of this is Ivan Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” where the author decides not to give a name to the main character of the story. After reading this work, it becomes clear why the author uses this technique. Bunin shows that there are many people like his hero in any society.
The whole life of the character from Bunin’s story boils down to the fact that he was able to earn a lot of money, which in the end of the story does not bring him any happiness. Little is known about the hero himself: he has a family where there is no love, he is calculating, ugly-looking, and does not think about anything but money. Talking about his hero, about his journey, the author does not say a single word about what feelings his character experiences. The reader simply does not see the soul of the rich gentleman, does not see any of his emotions. In the foreground of a rich millionaire there is only calculation and common sense, that is, reason.
But is the hero happy? Rich and wealthy, the main character of Bunin's story, even when dying, does not experience the most important thing in his life. The gentleman from San Francisco could not be happy, he does not know the joy of the feelings that overwhelm his chest and does not know at all what happiness is. He is not even free, since he becomes a slave to enrichment and is always under the power of money. He has no real meaning in life; accordingly, he does not live, but exists. But are there people in this story who live in an emotional world and for whom feelings are the meaning of life? Yes, these are mountaineers who see nature and enjoy communicating with it. They are free, and this state causes them numerous emotions. Independent and free, they can simply be themselves, and this is the real meaning of life for these people.
According to the narrator, only the person who does not depend on material wealth, is not a hypocrite, and for whom feelings come first can be happy. Famous writer E. Remarque argued that reason is given to a person to understand that:
“You cannot live by reason alone. People live by feelings."
So what rules our world? A person needs to live in such a way that, guided by reason, he can experience the full range of feelings. And only then will a person, having achieved harmony, be happy, and his life will have deep meaning.
Difficult choice between head and heart
The most difficult choice can be considered a person’s choice between reason and feelings. Life often creates situations for us when we need to make a certain choice and it can only be made independently. This decision for each specific person at that moment will be the most correct. For this, it is enough to recall Ivan Bunin’s story “The Caucasus”. In it, the author shows that, sometimes, the feelings of one person can greatly affect the life of another person and even destroy them. The main character runs away with the man she loves. But her happiness leads to the death of her husband. The young woman does not even think that her husband also has feelings that he loves her. She, obeying her passion, destroys them life together, which leads to the death of a person who simply cannot live without it.
The fleeting infatuation of his wife, the betrayal of his beloved, knocks a man out of the ordinary course of life. Bunin gives detailed description his thoughts, which lead to him deciding to kill himself. A detailed description of the last hours of the hero’s life in the reader’s soul evokes a storm of emotions. Having made a terrible decision, he swam in the sea, shaved, changed into clean underwear, a jacket, had breakfast, and he did not deny himself pleasures: a bottle of champagne and coffee, a cigar. And only then did he return to his room, where on the sofa he shot himself in the head with two revolvers, without giving himself the slightest chance.
The author shows that the main character had no other way, since it is difficult to survive betrayal loved one, and it is impossible to live a life that now has no meaning, it has simply become empty and lonely. Having received his happiness and lost it, according to the author, he no longer has anything to live for. The pain for Bunin's hero is so strong that only death can relieve him of it. But, according to the narrator, only someone with a strong will and persistent determination can commit suicide. The reader feels compassion for the death of an officer due to his wife’s infidelity. But in a complex and difficult choice between the mind and the heart main character chooses feelings. There is no point in life without them for this person.
The world of feelings in the works of Bunin
The main character of the story " Dark alleys" - a landowner who one day seduces Nadezhda, a young peasant woman. But since the woman was no equal to him, he forgets about her with a light heart. And when many years have already passed, this landowner, who became a military man, comes to these places. He recognizes Nadya as the owner of one of the huts. Ivan Bunin shows all the subtleties of the characters’ internal experiences. Even their conversation does not contain so much information as there are feelings invested in their experiences. Each of them remembers those moments of youth when they were happy.
It turned out that Nadya lived alone all her life, remembering the love she had for the landowner. But she also cannot forgive him. And now this feeling of resentment prevents her from being happy. But the main character of the story is also unhappy, since his wife, whom Nikolai Alekseevich madly loved, cheated on him and left him. And this story of two lonely hearts does not end happy marriage. The author deprives his characters of happiness, since there is no longer passion. The theme of love in this work is the main one. The narrator showed that experiences, that is, feelings, are stronger than the mind.
Another example is Bunin’s story “Sunstroke”. In it, the author shows how strong love is in the life of any person. A touching and fleeting romance married woman and the lieutenant, who met by chance on the ship. The passion and love they experienced is similar sunstroke. One night spent together, and the rest of their lives, where they will never meet again - this is the basis of the plot. For some time the hero worries that his life, which has been blinded true love, again lost its meaning. But he tries to come to terms with this loss and continue to live, remembering the miracle that happened to him. But he does not have to experience such emotions, such intensity of feelings again.
Reason in the works of Bunin
A person does not live only in the emotional and sensory world, he has the right to choose between the heartfelt senses and the mind. And such a choice faces a person all his life. So what should you choose: reason or feelings? Everyone makes their own choice and then bears responsibility for it. And the consequences can be very different.
In Bunin's work "Clean Monday" the main character does not have a name. In the text, the author always uses the pronoun “she” when talking about the character. And the same interesting characteristic he gives his heroine without a name:
Strange.
Silent.
Unusual.
Alien to the entire surrounding world.
Not seeing and not perceiving this world around him, but looking, as it were, through it.
I was thinking about something all the time.
She looked as if she was trying to understand something in her thoughts.
She was often thoughtful.
She loved to visit old cemeteries, monasteries, and loved to go to church.
Her favorite pastimes were going to the theater and restaurants, and she also loved reading books.
She loves secular society.
Such a contradictory characterization was given by the author in the story. She often thinks about how much her closeness to the spiritual world will help her find peace of mind. The main character of Bunin's story could not find harmony in her soul, which was somehow disturbed. This affected her mind, which felt like it was torn apart. Trying to find something whole that can help her find harmony, she turns to God, hoping that serving him will help her.
The world around seems unreal and untenable to the young woman. Even love for a young man cannot keep her in this life. For the main character, love is not the meaning of life, but only some kind of addition to it. IN clean monday a girl without a name goes to a monastery. She knew that this world was not suitable for her life, and being the wife or bride of an earthly person was also not destined for her by fate. Therefore, she chooses to become the “eternal” bride of God. And she has her own path, where reason dominates over the world of feelings.
So, anyone living is faced with a choice. And this one difficult choice you need to do it yourself.
This story allows us to conclude that it belongs to the short story genre. The author managed to convey in a short form the life story of high school student Olya Meshcherskaya, but not only her. According to the definition of the genre, a short story in a unique, small, specific event must recreate the entire life of the hero, and through it, the life of society. Ivan Alekseevich, through modernism, creates a unique image of a girl who is still only dreaming of true love.
Not only Bunin wrote about this feeling (“Easy Breathing”). The analysis of love was carried out, perhaps, by all the great poets and writers, very different in character and worldview, therefore, many shades of this feeling are presented in Russian literature. When we open a work by another author, we always find something new. Bunin also has his own. In his works there are often tragic endings, ending with the death of one of the heroes, but it is more light than deeply tragic. We encounter a similar ending after finishing reading “Easy Breathing.”
First impression
At first glance, the events seem messy. The girl plays at love with an ugly officer, far from the circle to which the heroine belonged. In the story, the author uses the so-called “retroactive proof” technique, since even with such vulgar external events love remains something untouched and bright, does not touch everyday dirt. Arriving at Olya’s grave, class teacher asks herself how to combine all this with a pure look at “that terrible thing” that is now associated with the name of the schoolgirl. This question does not require an answer, which is present in the entire text of the work. They permeate Bunin's story "Easy Breathing".
The character of the main character
Olya Meshcherskaya seems to be the embodiment of youth, thirsty for love, a lively and dreamy heroine. Her image, contrary to the laws of public morality, captivates almost everyone, even junior classes. And even the guardian of morals, teacher Olya, who condemned her for growing up early, after the death of the heroine, comes to the cemetery to her grave every week, constantly thinks about her and at the same time even feels, “like all people devoted to a dream,” happy.
The peculiarity of the character of the main character of the story is that she longs for happiness and can find it even in such an ugly reality in which she had to find herself. Bunin uses “light breathing” as a metaphor for naturalness, vital energy. the so-called “ease of breathing” is invariably present in Olya, surrounding her with a special halo. People feel this and therefore are drawn to the girl, without even being able to explain why. She infects everyone with her joy.
Contrasts
Bunin's work "Easy Breathing" is built on contrasts. From the very first lines, a double feeling arises: a deserted, sad cemetery, a cold wind, a gray April day. And against this background - a portrait of a high school student with lively, joyful eyes - a photograph on the cross. Olya's whole life is also built on contrast. Cloudless childhood is contrasted with the tragic events that occurred in last year life of the heroine of the story "Easy Breathing". Ivan Bunin often emphasizes the contrast, the gap between the real and the apparent, the internal state and the external world.
Story plot
The plot of the work is quite simple. The happy young schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya first becomes the prey of her father's friend, an elderly sensualist, and then a living target for the aforementioned officer. Her death prompts a cool lady - a lonely woman - to “serve” her memory. However, the apparent simplicity of this plot is violated by a bright contrast: a heavy cross and lively, joyful eyes, which involuntarily makes the reader’s heart clench. The simplicity of the plot turned out to be deceptive, since the story “Easy Breathing” (Ivan Bunin) is not only about the fate of the girl, but also about the unfortunate fate cool lady, who is used to living someone else's life. Olya’s relationship with the officer is also interesting.
Relationship with the officer
In the plot of the story, the already mentioned officer kills Olya Meshcherskaya, involuntarily misled by her game. He did this because he was close to her, believed that she loved him, and could not survive the destruction of this illusion. Not every person can evoke such strong passion. This speaks of Olya’s bright personality, says Bunin (“Easy Breathing”). The act of the main character was cruel, but she, as you might guess, having a special character, stupefied the officer unintentionally. Olya Meshcherskaya was looking for a dream in her relationship with him, but she failed to find it.
Is Olya to blame?
Ivan Alekseevich believed that birth is not the beginning, and therefore death is not the end of the existence of the soul, the symbol of which is the definition used by Bunin - “light breathing.” Analysis of it in the text of the work allows us to conclude that this concept is souls. It does not disappear without a trace after death, but returns to its source. The work “Easy Breathing” is about this, and not just about Olya’s fate.
It is no coincidence that Ivan Bunin delays explaining the reasons for the heroine’s death. The question arises: “Maybe she is to blame for what happened?” After all, she is frivolous, flirts either with the high school student Shenshin, or, albeit unconsciously, with her father’s friend Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, who seduced her, then for some reason promises the officer to marry him. Why did she need all this? Bunin (“Easy Breathing”) analyzes the motives of the heroine’s actions. It gradually becomes clear that Olya is as beautiful as the elements. And just as immoral. She strives in everything to reach the depth, to the limit, to the innermost essence, and the opinion of others does not interest the heroine of the work “Easy Breathing”. Ivan Bunin wanted to tell us that in the actions of the schoolgirl there is no feeling of revenge, no meaningful vice, no firmness of decision, no pain of repentance. It turns out that the feeling of fullness of life can be destructive. Even the unconscious longing for her is tragic (like that of a classy lady). Therefore, every step, every detail of Olya’s life threatens disaster: pranks and curiosity can lead to serious consequences, to violence, and frivolous play with the feelings of other people can lead to murder. To such philosophical thought Bunin lets us down.
"Easy breath" of life
The essence of the heroine is that she lives, and not just plays a role in a play. This is also her fault. To be alive without following the rules of the game means to be doomed. The environment in which Meshcherskaya exists is completely devoid of a holistic, organic sense of beauty. Life here is subject to strict rules, violation of which leads to inevitable retribution. Therefore, Olya’s fate turns out to be tragic. Her death is natural, Bunin believes. “Light Breath,” however, did not die with the heroine, but dissolved in the air, filling it with itself. In the finale, the idea of the immortality of the soul sounds like this.
One of the most widely famous works I.A. Bunin is undoubtedly the story “Easy Breathing”. It can be assumed that the impetus for its writing was the writer’s trip to Capri, where during a walk the writer saw a tombstone with a medallion in a small cemetery. It depicted a very young and unusually beautiful girl with a happy expression on his face. The tragedy of this terrible contradiction, apparently, so struck the writer that he decided to “revive” the heroine on the pages of his prose.
The image of “light breathing” that organizes the entire story is taken from an old book, which the main character Olya Meshcherskaya reads, retelling to her friend an episode that particularly struck her. It says that a woman should be able to be beautiful and the most important thing about her is “easy breathing.” The heroine joyfully concludes that she has it and that only happiness awaits her in life. However, fate decrees otherwise.
The central character of this story is high school student Olya Meshcherskaya. She is famous for her beauty, sweet spontaneity, charming naturalness. “She was not afraid of anything - not ink stains on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that became bare when falling while running,” the author of the story lovingly writes about her. There is even something from Natasha Rostova in Olya - the same love of life, the same openness to the whole world. No one danced better than Olya, no one skated better, no one was looked after like that. This young creature with sparkling, lively eyes seemed created only for happiness.
But one Cossack officer, who sought intimacy with her and was refused, ends this young wonderful life with one shot.
This ending is too tragic, and sometimes I want to reproach the writer for such a painful ending. But let’s think about it: did the shot really kill the heroine? Maybe the officer only pulled the trigger, and the tragedy happened much earlier?
Indeed, reading the story, you wonder why, besides Olya, in this provincial town there is not a single person worthy of being depicted with the same admiration. The rest of the characters simply leave us indifferent, like Meshcherskaya’s friend, for example, or they cause disgust. This is Olya’s father’s friend, fifty-six-year-old Malyutin. The whole city seems to be saturated with a suffocating atmosphere of vulgarity, inertia and depravity. Indeed, how can you explain Olya’s behavior? Yes, she is charming, sweet, natural, but reading the scene where Meshcherskaya admits to the head of the gymnasium that she is already a woman, you can’t help but be embarrassed by such a terrible dual personality: on the one hand, Olya is perfection itself, on the other hand, she is just a girl who knew joy too early carnal pleasures. These contradictory images of the same heroine do not make it possible to understand her character unambiguously, and sometimes an almost hooligan thought comes to mind: isn’t Olya Nabokov’s Lola, introduced by Bunin into literature long before the author of “Lolita”?
In my opinion, the motives for the actions of the heroine of “Easy Breathing” are very difficult to evaluate from a logical point of view. They are irrational, “uterine”. Revealing the image of such an ambiguous heroine as Meshcherskaya, one should not be afraid to consider different and even opposing points of view. We said above that Olya’s fate and character are a product of the inert provincial environment where she grew up. Now, faced with the amazing inconsistency of the heroine, we can assume something completely different.
Bunin, as you know, although he is considered the last classic critical realism, still does not fully follow his principles of depicting reality. To say that Meshcherskaya is just a product of an environment that corrupts and kills young innocence means, in my opinion, to consider the story too straightforwardly, thereby impoverishing the original author’s intention. Correct society, and there will be no vices - this is what they said in the 19th century, but in the 20th they increasingly do not look for reasons, saying that the world is unknowable. Meshcherskaya is like that, and nothing more. As another argument, we can recall the stories of Bunin
about love, especially “Dark Alleys”, where the actions of the heroes are also very difficult to motivate. It’s as if they are controlled by some blind, unreasoning force, spontaneously giving people happiness and sorrow in half. In general, Bunin is characterized by just such a worldview. Let us recall the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” in which fate takes the hero’s life in the most unexpected way, without giving any explanation. In the light of these considerations, we can make a judgment about Olya that is opposite and to some extent counterbalances our first conclusions: the writer, in the image of a high school student unlike others, wanted to show the true nature of a woman who is completely at the mercy of blind, “uterine” instincts. The conviction that life disposes of us solely at its own discretion is best illustrated by the example of a young girl who experienced life too early and therefore died untimely.
Probably, it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of who Olya really is, what problems Bunin raises in this story, and it is hardly necessary. You can delve deeper into the image of the main character, better understand the specifics and problems of the story and try to reconcile the two opposing points of view outlined above by thinking about the title. “Light breathing”, which “dissipated forever in this cold wind”, is, in my opinion, a figurative expression of what is spiritual, truly human in a person. A charming and at the same time depraved schoolgirl, a stupid and evil officer who left her, a provincial town with all its ugliness - all this will remain on the sinful earth, and this spirit that lived in Ola Meshcherskaya will fly upward to again be embodied in something and remind us that, besides our vain and petty thoughts and deeds, there is something else in the world that is beyond our control. This, in my opinion, is the enduring significance of the outstanding story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.
arguments for an essay
Final essays on the topic “Reason and Feelings” on our website:
- Do you agree with M. Prishvin’s statement: “There are feelings that replenish and darken the mind, and there is a mind that cools the movement of feelings”?
- Do you agree with Ferdowsi’s statement “Let your mind guide your affairs. He will not allow your soul to be harmed”?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dedicated to the problem of reason and feeling huge amount literary works.
the main characters belong to two warring clans - the Montagues and the Capulets. Everything is against the feelings of young people, and the voice of reason advises everyone not to give in to the outbreak of love. But emotions turn out to be stronger, and even in death Romeo and Juliet did not want to part.
The main character's feelings take precedence over her mind. Having fallen in love with the young nobleman Erast and trusting him, Lisa forgets about her maiden honor. Karamzin writes about this fact with bitterness and reproaches the heroine, although he feels sorry for the kind, sincere girl with all his heart. But Karamzin also accuses Erast of recklessness; he directly says that reason (especially in a man!) should guide emotions. So, in response to thoughts young man that he will not use the girl’s trust for evil and will always remain only her brother, the author exclaims:
And indeed, the girl’s feelings were deceived: Erast, having lost at cards in order to somehow improve his financial situation, marries a rich widow, and Lisa commits suicide by drowning in the lake.
The main character's mind and feelings are in tragic discord
His heart burns with love for Sofya Famusova, it is for her sake that he returns to Moscow, but does not find reciprocal feelings in the girl. When the hero finds out that Sophia’s chosen one is Molchalin, her father’s secretary, he is unable to believe it.
exclaims Chatsky. The hero sees perfectly what Molchalin really is, sees what his true goals are. And this is promotion career ladder And material well-being. For the sake of this, Molchalin does not shun hypocrisy, nor servility to his superiors, nor meanness. It is precisely this kind of meanness on his part that courtship of the boss’s daughter becomes. Chatsky’s mind refuses to believe in Sophia’s love for Molchalin, because he remembers her as a teenager, when love broke out between them, he thinks that Sophia could not change over the years. But the reality turned out to be harsher than the dream. And so Chatsky, with all his intelligence, having a good understanding of people, realizing that Famusov and his guests will not understand and will not share either his ideas, opinions, or actions, does not hold back and speaks out in front of them, so to speak, “throwing pearls in front of them.” pigs." The hero's mind cannot contain the emotions overwhelming him. Chatsky’s whole behavior is so strange.” Famusov society”, that it accepts with relief the news of the hero’s madness.
we also observe a clash between reason and feeling. Pyotr Grinev, having learned that his beloved Masha Mironova is being forcibly held by Shvabrin, who wants to force the girl to marry him, contrary to the voice of reason, turns to Pugachev for help. The hero knows that this could threaten him with death, because communication with a state criminal was severely punished, but he does not give up on his plans and ultimately saves own life and honor and receives Masha as his lawful wife.
In another work
The theme of reason and feeling is also given an important place. After seven years of separation, Evgeny, seeing the transformed Tatiana, falls in love with her. And although the hero knows that she is married, he cannot help himself. Onegin realizes that many years ago he could not fully discern in young Tanya all the strength of her character and inner beauty. Now, feelings of love for the heroine obscure all reasonable evidence in Evgeny, he longs for mutual confessions. But in Tatiana, the voice of reason, speaking about the duty and honor of a married woman, takes precedence over emotions. Unlike Onegin, she finds the strength to resist the surging feelings and admits:
He is also repeatedly tested on his mind and feelings. But his mind always turns out to be higher than his emotions. So, we see how the hero struggled with sympathy for Princess Mary and admitted to himself that in another minute he was ready to fall at her feet and ask to become his wife. But... Pechorin does not give in to impulse, he knows that he is not meant for family life and doesn’t want to make the girl unhappy. We see the same struggle when Pechorin, having read farewell letter Vera, rushes in pursuit of her. But even here, the cold mind cools the hero’s ardor, and, no matter how painful it may be for him, he abandons the thought of reuniting with Vera.
Taras's youngest son, Andriy, having fallen in love with a Polish lady, betrays the Cossacks and goes to fight against them. He says to his beloved:
Andriy’s mind did not resist his feelings for long: all his thoughts about honor, about duty, about his family were burned by the fire of love, he even dies with the name of his beloved.
From another hero
Reason always takes precedence over emotions. Even having met a mysterious young stranger at the station (and here Gogol mentions a twenty-year-old youth who would forget everything in the world at the sight of such a young and charming creature), Chichikov does not give in to romantic thoughts. On the contrary, his reasoning is of a completely practical nature (as Gogol says about him, he is a man of a cautious and cool character): the hero thinks about who the girl’s father might be and what his income is, and that if he gives a dowry of two thousand thousand for the girl, then from it It will be a very tasty morsel.
feelings often take precedence over reason. She is natural, sincere, does not do anything on purpose, trying to find her own benefit in this or that matter. Yes, she is a “heroine of the heart,” but that’s exactly what Tolstoy thinks she should be real woman, this is precisely why he loves her, and after him, so do we. In this she is the opposite of her mother, and Sonya, and the little princess, and Helen Kuragina. We forgive her for betraying Andrei Bolkonsky, turned by the advances of Anatoly Kuragin. After all, we see how sincerely she later repents, realizing that it was an impulse, a momentary infatuation. But it is this incident that changes Natasha, makes her think about eternal values. Another time, the heroine, without hesitation, forces her mother to give the wounded soldiers the carts on which things were to be removed from their home in Moscow, which was awaiting Napoleon's invasion. In this “unreasonableness” of the heroine lies, according to Tolstoy, main meaning her being – kind, compassionate, loving.
Dmitry Gurov, a middle-aged, married man, while vacationing in Yalta, meets a young woman, Anna Sergeevna, with whom he unexpectedly falls in love. Falls in love for the first time in his life! He is discouraged by this, but this feeling changes the hero. He suddenly begins to notice how shallow and petty the life around him is, how petty and selfish people are. Gurov’s external life (family, work at a bank, dinners with friends in restaurants, playing cards in a club) turns out to be unreal, and real life- these are secret meetings with Anna Sergeevna in a hotel, their love. It is very difficult to reconcile these two lives, but the heroes are not yet able to find a reasonable solution to the problem, although it seems to them that it is about to come and a new, wonderful time will begin.
The heart of the main character
also at odds with his mind. He loves two women - his legal wife Tonya and Larisa Antipova. Loves in different ways, but equally strongly. He experiences his condition as a huge tragedy: torn between two families, the hero cannot find a solution until fate itself divorces him from his wife Tonya.