Ostrovsky's drama "Dowry" shows readers the tragedy of Larisa Ogudalova, who became a weak-willed toy in the hands of those around her. Larisa Ogudalova, like Katerina Kabanova, the main character of another Ostrovsky drama, also becomes a victim. However, Larisa initially has different qualities than Katerina, who grew up in a patriarchal environment. The drama "Dowry" was written in 1879. At this time, capitalist relations had already been established in Russia. This means that patriarchal foundations are gradually losing their relevance.
Larisa Ogudalova received a good education. She is refined in a European way. Larisa dreams of love. The girl has a warm heart. She cannot allow her life to be connected with an unloved person. But Larisa’s desire for love coincides with her dream and beautiful life. Larisa is poor, but in order to become happy, she also needs wealth.
Larisa is surrounded by petty, ignoble people. The brilliant master Paratov perceives Larisa only as a beautiful thing. This imposing, narcissistic man seems to the girl the embodiment of the ideal. But in fact, Paratov has neither nobility nor kindness. He is selfish, petty, cruel, calculating.
However, Karandyshev, who is initially not perceived as a worthy match for Larisa, is not much different from him. Larisa is young and inexperienced. She does not have the strong character to withstand the circumstances. It’s as if she’s playing by someone else’s rules, becoming a toy in someone else’s hands. Even Larisa's mother perceives her daughter only as a commodity. She is ready to sacrifice Larisa’s beauty and youth, since this makes it possible to gain material benefits and strengthen social status Ogudalovs.
Everyone who surrounds Larisa thinks of her exclusively as a thing, an object of entertainment. It is no coincidence that she is being played toss. All best qualities Larisa, her soul, her feelings are of no interest to anyone. People only think about her external beauty. After all, this is what makes it such an attractive toy.
Karandyshev tells Larisa: “They don’t look at you as a woman, as a person... they look at you as a thing.” Ogudalova herself agrees with this: “A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, I am not a person...” In my opinion, the main tragedy of the girl lies precisely in the fact that Larisa has a warm heart. If she had been cold-blooded, calculating, cunning, Larisa, with her external data and ability to present herself, would have managed to get a very good job in life. However, the heroine’s ardor, emotionality, and openness make her suffer more from the role assigned to her. Larisa’s love and feelings are of no interest to anyone, she is needed solely for entertainment. At the end of the drama, the girl ends up crushed and destroyed. This leads to the fact that the desperate Larisa even agrees to accept Knurov’s conditions.
The tragic ending of "The Dowry" is a salvation for the heroine, a deliverance from humiliation. Now she belongs to no one. Death seems to be a blessing for Larisa. After all, humiliated, unhappy, she sees no point in later life. The act of Sergei Sergeevich Paratov makes the girl realize the terrible fact that the ending of her life will inevitably be tragic. Yes, now someone besides Sergei Paratov still needs her, but years will pass, her youth will fade and Larisa will simply be thrown away by one of her rich owners, like a worn-out and unnecessary thing.
The drama "Dowry" again makes us think about the place of a woman in the world. If in the play “The Thunderstorm” Katerina became a victim of the Domostroevsky way of life, then Larisa is a victim of new, capitalist relations. It is noteworthy that the rules by which society lives are changing. And the woman still remains a powerless creature. Katerina Kabanova finds the strength to protest. After all, her suicide is a clear protest against the reality4 in which the heroine had to live. Larisa does not have the courage to even attempt to protest. She remains a toy in the hands of circumstances until the very end. Perhaps the reason for this is the upbringing that Larisa Ogudalova received. If we turn again to the image of Katerina from “The Thunderstorm,” we can recall that this girl grew up in an atmosphere parental love and guardianship. Therefore, she was very sensitive to her current powerless situation. As for the heroine of the drama "Dowry", here, apparently, Larisa was initially prepared by her mother specifically for the role of a commodity, a toy. Hence the girl’s passivity, lack of desire to fight, to defend her rights.
Larisa's fate is regrettable. But at the same time, you can’t help but wonder why the heroine, who has an ardent heart and passionately desires to love, does not find another outlet for her passions. After all, she, who received a Europeanized upbringing, could have guessed that her lover sees in her only entertainment. However, Larisa was raised in such an atmosphere that the opportunity to profitably sell herself, her beauty and talent seemed quite acceptable. It is no coincidence that Larisa’s mother is depicted as very selfish. It’s sad that from all of Larisa’s circle there is no one who would not be so indifferent and cruel to the fate of the young girl.
Ostrovsky "Dowry" - essay "The tragic fate of Larisa in the "dark kingdom" (based on the play "Dowry" by A. N. Ostrovsky)"
The heroes of Ostrovsky's plays most often become women. Of course, these women are extraordinary and extraordinary individuals. Suffice it to recall the heroine of the drama “The Thunderstorm” Katerina. She is so emotional and impressionable that she stands apart from the other characters in the play. Katerina's fate is somewhat similar to the fate of Ostrovsky's other heroine. IN in this case We are talking about the play “Dowry”.
Larisa Ogudalova had to experience the indifference and cruelty of those around her, to endure love drama, and as a result she dies, just like the heroine of “The Thunderstorm”. But despite the apparent similarity, Larisa Ogudalova has a completely different character than Katerina Kabanova. The girl received an excellent education. She is smart, sophisticated, educated, dreams of beautiful love, but initially her life turns out completely differently. She is homeless. Larisa's mother is very selfish. She sells the beauty and youth of her daughters. Larisa’s older sisters have already been “settled in” thanks to the care of their resourceful parent, but, unfortunately, their lives are developing very, very tragically.
Larisa Ogudalova falls in love with the “brilliant master” Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. She sincerely considers him the ideal man. The master has a fortune, he fully corresponds to the idea of a noble and educated person. His inner essence is revealed later. Larisa is young and inexperienced, so she falls into Paratov’s trap and ruins herself. She doesn't have strong character and becomes a toy in the hands of others. It comes to the point where the girl is being played toss. Those around her consider her a thing, an expensive and beautiful amusement, but her sublime soul, beauty and talent turn out to be unimportant. Karandyshev tells Larisa: “They don’t look at you as a woman, as a person... they look at you as a thing.”
She herself agrees with this: “A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, I am not a person...”
Larisa has a passionate heart, she is sincere and emotional. She generously gives her love, but what does she get in return? For her loved one, Larisa is just another form of entertainment and fun. Out of despair, she even agrees to accept Knurov’s conditions.
Death is a kind of salvation for Larisa, a spiritual salvation, of course. Such a tragic ending saves her from the difficult choice she is trying to make, saves her from moral ruin and falling into the abyss called depravity.
The heroes of Ostrovsky's plays most often become women. Of course, these women are extraordinary and extraordinary individuals. Suffice it to recall the heroine of the drama Katerina. She is so emotional and impressionable that she stands apart from the other characters in the play. Katerina's fate is somewhat similar to the fate of Ostrovsky's other heroine. In this case we are talking about a play.
Larisa Ogudalova had to experience the indifference and cruelty of those around her, survive a love drama, and as a result she dies, just like the heroine of the Thunderstorm. But despite the apparent similarity, Larisa Ogudalova has a completely different character than Katerina Kabanova. The girl received an excellent education. She is smart, sophisticated, educated, dreams of beautiful love, but initially her life turns out completely differently. She is homeless. Larisa's mother is very selfish. She sells the beauty and youth of her daughters. Larisa's older sisters have already settled in thanks to the care of their resourceful parent, but, unfortunately, their lives are developing very, very tragically.
Larisa Ogudalova falls in love with the brilliant gentleman Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. She sincerely considers him the ideal man. The master has a fortune, he fully corresponds to the idea of a noble and educated person. His inner essence is revealed later. Larisa is young and inexperienced, so she falls into Paratov’s trap and ruins herself. She does not have a strong character and becomes a toy in the hands of others. It comes to the point where the girl is being played toss. Those around her consider her a thing, an expensive and beautiful amusement, but her sublime soul, beauty and talent turn out to be unimportant. Karandyshev says to Larisa: They don’t look at you as a woman, as a person... they look at you as a thing.
She herself agrees with this: A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, I am not a person….
Larisa has an ardent heart, she is sincere and emotional. She generously gives her love, but what does she get in return? For her loved one, Larisa is just another entertainment, amusement. Out of despair, she even agrees to accept Knurov’s conditions.
Death is a kind of salvation for Larisa, a spiritual salvation, of course. Such a tragic ending saves her from the difficult choice that she is trying to make, saves her from moral death and falling into the abyss called depravity.
A. N. Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1960, on the eve of the revolutionary situation in Russia. The work reflected the impressions of the writer’s trip along the Volga in the summer of 1856. But not any specific Volga city and not any specific persons are depicted in “The Thunderstorm”. He reworked all his observations on the life of the Volga region and turned them into deeply typical paintings Russian life.
The drama genre is characterized by the fact that it is based on the conflict between an individual and the surrounding society. In “The Thunderstorm” this person is Katerina Kabanova.
Katerina personifies the moral purity, spiritual beauty of a Russian woman, her desire for will, for freedom, her ability not only to endure, but also to defend her rights, her human dignity. According to Dobrolyubov, she “did not kill human nature in herself.”
Katerina – Russian national character. First of all, this is reflected by Ostrovsky, who owned all the wealth in perfection vernacular, in the heroine’s speech. When she speaks, it seems like she is singing. In the speech of Katerina, associated with the common people, brought up on their oral poetry, colloquial vocabulary predominates, characterized by high poetry, imagery, and emotionality. The reader feels musicality and melodiousness; Katya’s speech reminds folk songs. The language of the Ostrovskaya heroine is characterized by repetitions (“on a good grade”, “people are disgusting to me, and the house is disgusting to me, and the walls are disgusting!”), an abundance of affectionate and diminutive words (“sun”, “voditsa”, “grave”). , comparison (“she didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild,” “someone speaks kindly to me, like a dove coos”). Longing for Boris, at the moment of greatest tension of spiritual strength, Katerina expresses her feelings in language folk poetry, exclaiming: “Violent winds, transfer my sadness and melancholy to him!”
The naturalness, sincerity, and simplicity of the island heroine is striking. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she answers Varvara, who says that you can’t live in their house without deception. Let's take a look at Katerina's religiosity. This is not Kabanikha’s hypocrisy, but a childish, genuine faith in God. She often visits church and does it with pleasure and delight (“And to death I loved going to church! Surely, it happened, I will enter heaven”), loves to talk about pilgrims (“Our house was full of pilgrims and praying mantises”), Katerina's dreams about “golden temples.”
The love of the island heroine is not without reason. Firstly, the need for love makes itself felt: after all, it is unlikely that her husband Tikhon, under the influence of “mama,” showed his love for his wife very often. Secondly, the feelings of the wife and woman are offended. Thirdly, the mortal melancholy of a monotonous life strangles Katerina. And finally, the fourth reason is the desire for freedom, space: after all, love is one of the manifestations of freedom. Katerina is fighting with herself, and this is the tragedy of her situation, but in the end she internally justifies herself. Committing suicide, committing, from the point of view of the church, a terrible sin, she thinks not about the salvation of her soul, but about the love that was revealed to her. "My friend! My joy! Goodbye!" - these are Katerina’s last words.
Another one characteristic The island heroine is “a mature demand for the right and spaciousness of life arising from the depths of the whole organism,” the desire for freedom and spiritual emancipation. To Varvara’s words: “Where will you go? You’re a husband’s wife,” Katerina replies: “Eh, Varya, you don’t know my character! Of course, God forbid this happens! And if I get tired of it here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, I won’t do this, even if you cut me!” It is not for nothing that the image of a bird, a symbol of will, is repeatedly repeated in the play. From here permanent epithet"free Bird". Katerina, remembering how she lived before her marriage, compares herself to a bird in the wild. “Why don’t people fly like birds,” she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.” But the free bird ended up in an iron cage. And she struggles and yearns in captivity.
The integrity and decisiveness of Katerina’s character was expressed in the fact that she refused to obey the rules of the Kabanikha house and preferred death to life in captivity. And this was not a manifestation of weakness, but of spiritual strength and courage, ardent hatred of oppression and despotism.
So, the main thing actor drama "The Thunderstorm" comes into conflict with environment. In the fourth act, in the scene of repentance, the denouement seems to be coming. Everything is against Katerina in this scene: the “thunderstorm of God”, and the cursing half-crazed “lady with two lackeys”, and ancient painting on a dilapidated wall, depicting “fiery Gehenna.” The poor girl was almost driven crazy by all these signs of a passing, but tenacious old world, and she repents of her sin in a semi-delirious state of darkness. She herself later admits to Boris that “she was not free in herself,” “she didn’t remember herself.” If the drama “The Thunderstorm” ended with this scene, then it would show the invincibility of the “dark kingdom”: after all, at the end of the fourth act he triumphs: “What a son! Wherever the will leads!”
But the drama ends with a moral victory over external forces, which fettered Katerina’s freedom, and over the dark ideas that fettered her will and mind. And her decision to die, rather than remain a slave, expresses, according to Dobrolyubov, “the need of the emerging movement of Russian life.”
The drama by A. N. Ostrovsky "Dowry" is a wonderful play late period writer's creativity. It was conceived in 1874, completed in 1878 and staged in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the same year. M. Ermolova, M. Savina, and later V. Komissarzhevskaya - best actors capital theaters- took on the role of Larisa Ogudalova. What captivated them so much with this wonderful heroine?
Larisa Ogudalova is distinguished by her truthfulness, sincerity, and directness of character, thereby reminiscent of Katerina from “The Thunderstorm.” According to Vozhevaty, Larisa Dmitrievna “has no cunning.” What brings her closer to the heroine of “The Thunderstorm” is her high poetry. Larisa is attracted by the Trans-Volga distance, the forests beyond the river, beckoned by the beauty itself - the Volga with its spaciousness. “There is no earthly, this worldly thing,” notes Knurov. And in fact: she all seems to be raised above the dirt of reality, above the vulgarity and baseness of life. In the depths of her soul, like a bird that she herself resembles, beats the dream of a beautiful and noble, honest and quiet life, Translated from Greek, Larisa means “seagull”, and this is no coincidence.
Shouldn't I prefer my mother's lifestyle? Kharita Ignatievna, left a widow with three daughters, is constantly cunning and cunning, flattering and ingratiating, begging from the rich and accepting their handouts. She set up a real noisy “gypsy camp” in her house to create the appearance of beauty and splendor of life. And all this in order to trade in human goods under the cover of this tinsel. She has already ruined two daughters, now it’s her turn to sell the third. But Larisa cannot accept her mother’s lifestyle; it is alien to her. The mother tells her daughter to smile, but she wants to cry. And she asks her groom to tear her out of this “bazaar” surrounding her, where there is a lot of “all sorts of rabble,” and to take her further away, beyond the Volga.
However, Larisa is a dowryless, poor, moneyless bride. She has to put up with it. In addition, she herself managed to become infected with a craving for external brilliance. Larisa lacks integrity of character, her mental life is quite contradictory. Not only does she not want to see the vulgarity and cynicism of the people around her, but for quite a long time she cannot discern it. All this distinguishes her from Katerina. Refusing her mother's lifestyle, she exists among vulgar admirers.
Larisa Ogudalova had to experience the indifference and cruelty of those around her, survive a love drama, and as a result she dies, just like the heroine of “The Thunderstorm”. But despite the apparent similarity, Larisa Ogudalova has a completely different character than Katerina Kabanova. The girl received an excellent education, she is smart, sophisticated, educated, dreams of beautiful love, but initially her life turns out completely differently. She is homeless. Larisa's mother is very selfish. She sells the beauty and youth of her daughters.
First, an old man with gout appeared in the house. Larisa clearly doesn't want this unequal marriage, but “you had to be nice: mummy orders.” Then the rich manager of some prince came running, always drunk. Larisa has no time for him, but in the house they accept him: “her position is unenviable.” Then a certain cashier “appeared”, showering Kharita Ignatievna with money. This one fought off everyone, but didn’t show off for long. Circumstances here helped the bride: he was arrested in their house with a scandal.
Larisa Ogudalova falls in love with the “brilliant master” Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. She sincerely considers him the ideal man. The master has a fortune, he fully corresponds to the idea of a noble and educated person. His inner essence is revealed later. Larisa is young and inexperienced, so she falls into Paratov’s trap and ruins herself. She does not have a strong character and becomes a toy in the hands of others. It comes to the point where the girl is being played toss. Those around her consider her a thing, an expensive and beautiful amusement, but her sublime soul, beauty and talent turn out to be unimportant. Karandyshev tells Larisa: “They don’t look at you as a woman, as a person... they look at you as a thing.”
She herself agrees with this: “A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, I am not a person...”.
Larisa has a passionate heart, she is sincere and emotional. She generously gives her love, but what does she get in return? For her loved one, Larisa is just another form of entertainment and fun. Out of despair, she even agrees to accept Knurov’s conditions.
Death is a kind of salvation for Larisa, a spiritual salvation, of course. Such a tragic ending saves her from the difficult choice that she is trying to make, saves her from moral death and falling into the abyss called depravity.
The only way out that Larisa finds is leaving this world. Larisa first wanted to commit suicide herself. She approached the cliff and looked down, but unlike Katerina, she did not have enough determination and strength to accomplish her plan. However, Larisa's death is predetermined and prepared by the entire play. Suddenly a shot is heard from the pier (this is what Larisa is scared of). Then the ax in Karandyshev’s hands is mentioned. He calls certain death a fall from a cliff. Larisa talks about Paratov’s “indifferent shot” at the coin she was holding in her hands. She herself thinks that here on any branch “you can hang yourself,” but on the Volga “it’s easy to drown yourself everywhere.” Robinson has a premonition of a possible murder. Finally, Larisa dreams: “If only someone would kill me now?”
The death of the heroine becomes inevitable, and it comes. In a mad fit of ownership, performing a great deed for her, Karandyshev kills her. This is the last and involuntary choice of the homeless woman. This is how the tragedy ends main character Ostrovsky's plays.
"Dowry" is a drama about the catastrophe of personality in an inhuman world. This work is about the tragedy of an ordinary Russian woman, a homeless woman with a warm, loving heart.
Larisa Ogudalova - heroine of the romance
Ostrovsky play female national
Larisa Ogudalova is an image no less famous than Katerina Kabanova, and causes no less controversy. The main question remains the question of the strength of Larisa’s morality and the meaning of her last words. Ostrovsky created a truly contradictory image; in this part of the work we will try to find the answer to the question of what is the true strength of Larisa Ogudalova’s character, and why she, so unlike the spiritually pure Katerina, also remains the embodiment of female tragedy.
The modern understanding of this image is largely based on the perception of the film famous film“Cruel Romance”, we will not argue about the correspondence of the director’s version and the author’s intention, but it seems to us that the title of the film very accurately reflects the style of the play. A-priory, cruel romance- this is an urban love ballad, filled with exaggerated tragic pathos, sentimental, but not giving a feeling of catharsis, this tragic pathos is inherent in all the main characters of the play, except Larisa herself, who soars like a seagull - the bird that gave the root of her name - above spiritually shallow people. "Dowry" is a play about everyday life and morals, but it does not have the breakthrough that we find in "The Thunderstorm." The death of Larisa is not a given given by Larisa herself, but the result of the instant choice of the heroine, who before last moment is in captivity of her own illusions, which is why her death is not suicide, but Karandyshev’s shot. Lotman, in the article “Ostrovsky and Russian drama of his time,” evaluates the tragedy of Larisa Ogudalova, the heroine: “ modern woman, feeling like an individual, independently accepting important life decisions, is faced with the cruel laws of society and can neither reconcile with them nor oppose them with new ideals. Under the spell strong man, a bright personality, she does not immediately realize that his charm is inseparable from the power that wealth gives him, and from the merciless cruelty of the “capital collector.” Larisa’s death is a tragic way out of the insoluble moral contradictions of the time.”
The play “The Dowry” was written in the late 70s of the 19th century, during the triumph of the nouveau riche - wealthy merchants, when people were increasingly influenced by money, which overshadowed true values. The tragic consequences of this were reflected in the fate of the main character of the drama. Larisa is a soft, pure girl, but she was brought up in the best European traditions- she was taught what a European girl is supposed to have: good manners and musical education. But Larisa does not understand the true meaning of this education, which is only a beautiful frame for a valuable thing. Her mother, who has already successfully “placed” two daughters, none of whom have found happiness, also predicts for Larisa a successful marriage with a wealthy man. The elder Ogudalova does not act for the benefit of her daughter; in this world of profit, the tragedy begins with the fact that the mother tries to sell her daughter at a higher price, for her own benefit.
Larisa is deprived mother's love, she is deprived of love in general, like Katerina, and her heart demands that this lack of love be filled. Here she is closer to the image of Tatyana Larina, whose soul was waiting for “someone,” but unlike Tatyana, whose story ends with a marriage, albeit with an unloved, but with a person respected by her and society who loves Tatyana, Larisa does not receive the love she deserves from his chosen one Paratov, nor from his fiancé Karandyshev.
Larisa, a naive young girl, cannot believe that in the society where, according to her mother’s will, she must move, everything is determined by money. “She embodies the traditions of noble upbringing, and her character reveals a sharp contradiction between the desire for external splendor, for the ostentatious nobility of life and the deeper, internal properties of her nature - seriousness, truthfulness and a thirst for genuine and sincere relationships. Such a contradiction was then a phenomenon encountered in the lives of the best representatives of the privileged strata of society.” In her mind, of course, she knows everything perfectly well, the fate of her sisters is clear proof of this, but her soul just can’t accept it. It’s amazing how such a pure and love-hungry girl who strives for authenticity grew up in this family. sublime feeling, and, as it seems to her, she finds him in the person of the “brilliant master” Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. A woman of an ardent heart, Larisa is looking for love, there is no calculation or vulgarity in her: “After all, in Larisa Dmitrievna there is no earthly, this worldly thing,” notes Knurov. She is looking for sublimely beautiful love, gracefully beautiful life. Larisa is blindly confident that Paratov loves her as sincerely and recklessly as she loves him, and this is her tragedy. Katerina and Larisa are united by the fact that they are both capable of endowing their chosen one with non-existent spiritual beauty, but if Katerina knows about her mistake, although she hides this knowledge, then Larisa does not see that it is only in her world that Paratov has the features ideal person who is capable of love.
“But Larisa’s chosen one, not possessing the business acumen of the merchants Knurov and Vozhevatov, has already managed to fully assimilate their morality; it is no coincidence that he confesses to Knurov: “I, Mokiy Parmenych, have nothing cherished; If I find a profit, I’ll sell everything, anything.” Larisa draws her lover to herself and Karandyshev: “You yourself mean something, you are good, fair man; but from comparison with Sergei Sergeich you lose everything... Sergei Sergeich... is the ideal of a man.” We cannot accurately determine Larisa Ogudalova’s reading range, but we can assume that she was brought up on romantic stories, and from there she took her ideal, the embodiment of which Paratova sees: the ideal of masculinity, courage, valor and honor. Larisa is not able to look critically at this man: the episode with the Caucasian officer, when Paratov, in order to demonstrate his composure and accuracy, shot at the target that she was holding in her hand, she perceives as proof of his “ideality”, so similar to “ideality” romantic heroes. Although in fact this episode speaks only of bragging and pride, for the sake of which Sergei Sergeich, without hesitation, risks his own and others’ lives.
In fact " ideal man"Sergei Sergeich is a coward, and a coward of the lowest kind, because he is afraid of being left without capital, and therefore marries rich woman, and his “outburst of passion” for Larisa is just a game with Karandyshev, to whom Paratov “points out the place” in such an immoral way, was perfectly aware of everything and accurately calculated his actions. Larisa for him is a beautiful thing, a toy, which was suddenly taken away by some insignificant Karandyshev. The heroine of the play compromises herself by leaving with Paratov, but she is not yet aware of her sin; only after a conversation with Sergei Sergeevich, she understands that her love was an illusion built by herself. Larisa is enchanted and lives in an enchanted world, which is destroyed as the play progresses. She does not have the same moral strength as Katerina, that spirit of insight that allowed the heroine of “The Thunderstorm” to anticipate her tragic ending, she is disappointed not in the world, but for now only in her lover. She still believes that the world around her, although cruel, is at least not much like the romantic world that she so persistently built.
Throughout the play, Larisa does not grow spiritually, she begins to see spiritually, her eyes open, but internal growth, as such, does not occur, but the reason for this is not at all the lack of a spiritual principle in Larisa, there is no such force in Larisa that is capable of breaking so firmly the established power of money, she is only able to leave this world into a fictional world created by her imagination, but she does not have the strength to fight. Ultimately, the girl, broken by the betrayal of her lover, to whom “the falsity of the ideal is revealed, in the name of which she was ready to make any sacrifice,” and before whom “in all its ugliness the position to which she is doomed is revealed - the role of an expensive thing,” decides to become kept woman, to try again to build some kind of “cocoon” around, with the help of Knurov’s money, to build, if not beautiful love, then at least a beautiful life. You can blame Larisa for the lack of spirituality, because such a decision is immoral, and she herself says that “gold shone before her,” but this decision is a decision made in complete despair, and in her mind it is tantamount to the desire to die. She understands that spiritual death awaits her and hesitates between the death of the body and the death of the soul. What leads to a tragic outcome is Larisa’s realization that everyone around her views her as an expensive, beautiful thing that can be bought. She utters bitter words: “A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, not a person... Every thing must have an owner, I will go to the owner.” Feeling like a thing, Larisa for a moment gives up all her spiritual qualities, but they manifest themselves: a girl cannot become a simple kept woman, a toy for whom she does not feel love, and who does not feel love herself.
When Larisa first talks about suicide, she only provokes Paratov to make a decision, as it seemed to Larisa, favorable for her: “For unfortunate people there is a lot of space in God’s world: here is the garden, here is the Volga. Here you can hang yourself on every branch, on the Volga - choose any place. It’s easy to drown yourself anywhere if you have the desire and the strength,” she is not yet seriously thinking about suicide. The words about the Volga and the garden are intended to rather frighten her lover, but Knurov invites her to become a kept woman, emphasizing with meaning: “It’s impossible for me to do little,” thoughts of death become real. Larisa reflects: “Giving up on life is not at all as easy as I thought. So I have no strength! How unhappy I am! But there are people for whom this is easy... Oh, what am I!... but nothing is nice to me, and I have no reason to live! Why am I hesitant? What keeps me above this abyss? What's stopping you? Oh, no, no... Not Knurov, luxury, brilliance... no, no... I owe it to the vanity... Debauchery... oh, no... I just don’t have the determination. Pathetic weakness: to live, at least somehow, but to live... When you can’t live and don’t need to. How pitiful and unhappy I am... If only someone would kill me now... How good it is to die... There is nothing to reproach myself with yet. Or get sick and die... Yes, I think I’ll get sick. How bad I feel!.. I’ll be sick for a long time, you’ll calm down, you’ll come to terms with everything, you’ll forgive everyone and you’ll die... Oh, how bad, how dizzy.”
Even the prospect of a beautiful life does not console Larisa; she utters the word “debauchery,” which means she realizes the enormity of the prospect proposed by Knurov, which means the spiritual element is strong in her. Until the moment of epiphany, Larisa lived with love, which in her was stronger than the concepts of morality and morality, especially since such concepts were not a priority in her upbringing; now, she feels within herself a moral law, not associated with religion, like Katerina’s, but associated with her understanding of the “ideal,” which, as it turns out, is inseparable from the moral.
When Karandyshev tells the bride that Knurov and Vozhevatov played a toss on her, a tragic breakdown occurs in Larisa’s soul, she will no longer be able to build illusions around herself - real world turned out to be stronger than her imagination, she will no longer be able to live in this world. Karandyshev, for whom his wife, a member of the circle of local millionaires, was supposed to become a means of overcoming own complex inferiority, helps Larisa, without realizing it, to fulfill her innermost desire: “If only someone would kill me now...” - saves her, allows her to leave without tainting her soul and body with debauchery, without making her own beauty a commodity. A minute before her death, she shows true nobility, saving her killer from trial, convincing Paratov, Knurov, Vozhevatov, the true culprits of her death, who crowded around her, that she committed suicide. Although it is possible to interpret her words differently: I want to believe in the fantastic idea that Larisa, with the power of her soul, can still influence the world, and it is her determination, and not Karandyshev’s shot, that allows her to die... “It’s me myself... No one is guilty, no one... It’s me.”
“Paratov frantically shouts to the singing gypsies: “Tell them to shut up! Tell him to shut up!” - but the dying Larisa has the strength to ironically challenge Paratov’s order: “No, no, why!.. Let them have fun, some have fun, some have fun... I don’t want to disturb anyone. Live, live everything! You need to live, but I need... to die. I don't complain about anyone, I don't take offense at anyone... y'all good people...” her life ends with a deeply sincere confession: “I love you all... all of you,” - her world triumphs, yet she was able, through pain, through disappointment, to gain such spiritual strength, to ascend to such a peak that with all her heart she gave the world of cruelty and profit forgiveness and a kiss.
Larisa ultimately turned out to be as strong as Katerina, although she did not change anything in the world, but she was able to forgive the world. The bird girl eventually finds a grave in the same Volga, that is, she becomes free. The true strength of Larisa Ogudalova's character lies in her ability to love and forgive, in her dedication, in her naive faith in the world. What other heroine is also capable of blindly believing in love in a world where power belongs to money? Isn’t this girl strong, who, just before her death, in a few short hours, experiences disappointment in love, in the world, in herself, but can die by blowing a kiss to the world? The world will not change, the gypsy choir sings, and Larisa does not demand to interrupt the fun of this “celebration of life”, she simply leaves, leaves with a pure soul and with a pure heart, not clouded by hatred. I think this is her true strength.