Romantic hero

Romantic hero- one of the artistic images of romanticism literature. Romantic - exceptional and often mysterious person, which usually resides in exceptional circumstances. Collision external events transferred to the inner world of the hero, in whose soul there is a struggle of contradictions. As a result of this reproduction of character, romanticism extremely highly raised the value of the individual, inexhaustible in its spiritual depths, revealing its unique inner world. Man in romantic works is also embodied through contrast, antithesis: on the one hand, he is understood as the crown of creation, and on the other, as a weak-willed toy in the hands of fate, forces unknown and beyond his control, playing with his feelings. Therefore, he often turns into a victim of his own passions.

Signs of a Romantic Hero

1. An exceptional hero in exceptional circumstances
2. Reality is actively being recreated in accordance with the ideal
3. Independence
4. The insolubility of the conflict between the hero and society
5. Abstract perception of time
6. Two or three distinct character traits

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See what “Romantic hero” is in other dictionaries:

romantic hero- see hero of the work + romanticism...

hero of the work- one of the main characters in a work of art (as opposed to a character); development of the hero's character and his relationships with others actors play a decisive role in the development of the plot and composition of the work, in revealing it... ... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus in literary studies

hero- 1. A person who has accomplished military or labor feats. Selfless, fearless, brilliant (obsolete), daring (obsolete poet.), valiant, glorious (obsolete), famous, famous, true, legendary, courageous, folk, real, ... ... Dictionary of epithets

Grushnitsky ("Hero of Our Time")- See also Junker. He's only been in the service for a year. He was in an active detachment and was wounded in the leg. Out of a special kind of dandyishness, he wears a thick soldier’s overcoat. He has a St. George's cross. He is well built, dark and black-haired; he looks like he can... Dictionary literary types

- - born on May 26, 1799 in Moscow, on Nemetskaya Street in Skvortsov’s house; died January 29, 1837 in St. Petersburg. On his father's side, Pushkin belonged to the ancient noble family, who, according to the legend of genealogies, came from a native “from ... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Pushkin A.S. Pushkin. Pushkin in the history of Russian literature. Pushkin studies. Bibliography. PUSHKIN Alexander Sergeevich (1799 1837) the greatest Russian poet. R. June 6 (according to the old style May 26) 1799. P.’s family came from a gradually impoverished old ... ... Literary encyclopedia

1. The hero of A.P. Sumarokov’s tragedy “Dimitri the Pretender” (1771). The historical prototype is False Dmitry I, also probably Yuri (Grigory) Otrepiev. In 1601, the Pretender appeared in Poland under the name of Dimitri, the son of Ivan IV the Terrible; in the summer of 1604 with... ... Literary heroes

The hero of A.S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” (1824; in the first edition, the spelling of the surname is Chadsky). Probable prototypes of the image are P.Ya. Chaadaev (1796 1856) and V.K. Kuchelbecker (1797 1846). The nature of the hero’s actions, his statements and relationships with... ... Literary heroes

- (French Jean Valejean) hero of V. Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables” (1862). One of the prototypes of the hero was the convict Pierre Morin, who in 1801 was sentenced to five years of hard labor for a stolen piece of bread. Only one person, the bishop of the city of Digne, Monsignor de... ... Literary heroes

Sunset Beach ... Wikipedia

Books

• M. Lermontov. Complete Works, M. Lermontov. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov is a younger contemporary of Pushkin and the second greatest figure after him in Russian poetry of the 19th century. In 2014, the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birth is celebrated. It was his destiny...

The concept of "romanticism" is often used as a synonym for the concept of "romance". This refers to the tendency to view the world through pink glasses and an active life position. Or they associate this concept with love and any actions for the sake of their loved one. But romanticism has several meanings. The article will discuss the narrower understanding that is used for the literary term, and the main character traits of the romantic hero.

Characteristic features of the style

Romanticism is a movement in literature that arose in Russia at the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th century. This style proclaims the cult of nature and natural human feelings. New characteristic features of romantic literature are freedom of expression, the value of individualism and the original character traits of the main character. Representatives of the movement abandoned rationalism and the primacy of the mind, which were characteristic of the Enlightenment, and put the emotional and spiritual aspects of man at the forefront.

In their works, the authors depict not the real world, which was too vulgar and base for them, but the inner universe of the character. And through the prism of his feelings and emotions, the outlines of real world, whose laws and thoughts he refuses to obey.

Main conflict

The central conflict of all works written in the era of romanticism is the conflict between the individual and society as a whole. Here main character goes against the established rules in his environment. Moreover, the motives for such behavior can be different - actions can either be for the benefit of society or have a selfish plan. In this case, as a rule, the hero loses this fight, and the work ends with his death.

A romantic is a special and in most cases very mysterious person who tries to resist the power of nature or society. At the same time, the conflict develops into internal struggle contradictions that occur in the soul of the main character. In other words, the central character is built on antitheses.

At least in this literary genre and the individuality of the protagonist is valued, but still literary scholars have identified which features of romantic heroes are the main ones. But, even despite the similarities, each character is unique in its own way, since they are only general criteria for identifying a style.

Ideals of society

The main feature the romantic hero is that he does not accept the generally known ideals of society. The main character has his own ideas about the values ​​of life, which he tries to defend. He seems to challenge the entire world around him, and not an individual person or group of people. Here we are talking about the ideological confrontation of one person against the whole world.

Moreover, in his rebellion, the main character chooses one of two extremes. Or these are unattainable, highly spiritual goals, and the character is trying to become equal to the Creator himself. In another case, the hero indulges in all sorts of sins, without feeling the extent of his moral fall into the abyss.

Bright personality

If one person is able to withstand the whole world, then it is as large-scale and complex as the whole world. The main character of romantic literature always stands out in society both externally and internally. In the soul of the character there is a constant conflict between the stereotypes already laid down by society and his own views and ideas.

Loneliness

One of the saddest traits of a romantic hero is his tragic loneliness. Since the character is opposed to the whole world, he remains completely alone. There is no person who would understand him. Therefore, he either himself flees from the society he hates, or he himself becomes an exile. Otherwise romantic hero wouldn't be like that anymore. Therefore, romantic writers focus all their attention on psychological portrait central character.

Either the past or the future

The traits of a romantic hero do not allow him to live in the present. The character is trying to find his ideals in the past, when religious feeling was strong in the hearts of people. Or he consoles himself with happy utopias that supposedly await him in the future. But in any case, the main character is not satisfied with the era of dull bourgeois reality.

Individualism

As already mentioned, the hallmark of the romantic hero is his individualism. But it’s not easy to be “different from others.” This is a fundamental difference from all the people who surround the main character. Moreover, if a character chooses a sinful path, then he realizes that he is different from others. And this difference is taken to the extreme - the cult of personality of the protagonist, where all actions have an exclusively selfish motive.

The era of romanticism in Russia

The founder of Russian romanticism is considered to be the poet Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. He creates several ballads and poems (“Ondine”, “The Sleeping Princess” and so on), in which there is a deep philosophical meaning and a desire for moral ideals. His works are imbued with his own experiences and reflections.

Then Zhukovsky was replaced by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. They leave the imprint of an ideological crisis on the public consciousness, which is impressed by the failure of the Decembrist uprising. For this reason, the creativity of these people is described as disappointment in real life and an attempt to escape into your fictional world, filled with beauty and harmony. The main characters of their works lose interest in earthly life and come into conflict with the outside world.

One of the features of romanticism is its appeal to the history of the people and their folklore. This is most clearly seen in the work “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov” and a cycle of poems and poems dedicated to the Caucasus. Lermontov perceived it as the homeland of free and proud people. They opposed a slave country that was under the rule of Nicholas I.

Early works Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin’s works are also imbued with the idea of ​​romanticism. An example would be “Eugene Onegin” or “The Queen of Spades”.

Romantic hero in Russian literature

Plan

Introduction

Chapter 1. Russian romantic poet Vladimir Lensky

Chapter 2.M.Yu. Lermontov - “Russian Byron”

2.1 Lermontov's poetry

Conclusion

Describing his hero, Pushkin says that Lensky was brought up reading Schiller and Goethe (one can assume that the young poet had good taste if he chose such great teachers) and was a capable poet:

And muses of sublime art,

Lucky, he was not ashamed:

He proudly preserved in his songs

Always high feelings

Gusts of a virgin dream

And the beauty of important simplicity.

He sang love, obedient to love,

And his song was clear,

Like the thoughts of a simple-minded maiden,

Like a baby's dream, like the moon

In the deserts of the serene sky.

Let us note that the concepts of “simplicity” and “clarity” in the poetry of the romantic Lensky do not coincide with the requirement of simplicity and clarity characteristic of the realist Pushkin. For Lensky, they come from ignorance of life, from aspiration to the world of dreams; they are generated by “poetic prejudices of the soul.” Pushkin the realist speaks of simplicity and clarity in poetry, meaning such qualities of realistic literature that are determined by a sober look at life, the desire to understand its patterns and find clear forms of its embodiment in artistic images.

Pushkin points out one feature of the character of Lensky the poet: to express his feelings bookishly and artificially. Here Lensky came to the grave of Olga’s father:

Returned to his penates,

Vladimir Lensky visited

Neighbor's humble monument,

And he dedicated his sigh to the ashes;

And my heart was sad for a long time.

“Poor Yorick,” he said sadly, “

He held me in his arms.

How often did I play as a child?

His Ochakov medal!

He read Olga for me,

He said: Will I wait for the day?

And, full of sincere sadness,

Vladimir immediately drew

His funeral madrigal.

Naturalness and mannerism in the expression of feelings were surprisingly organically combined. On the one hand, Lensky devotes a sigh to the ashes instead of just sighing; and on the other hand, he behaves completely naturally: “And my heart was sad for a long time.” And this is suddenly followed by a quote from Shakespeare (“Poor Yorick...”), which is perceived as another “dedication” of the sigh to Larin. And then again a completely natural memory of the deceased.

Another example. Eve of the duel. Before the fight Olga Lensky. Her simple-minded question: “Why did you disappear so early?” - disarmed the young man and dramatically changed his state of mind.

Jealousy and annoyance disappeared

Before this clarity of sight...

Very natural behavior of a loving and jealous young man, who “was ignorant at heart.” The transition from doubts about Olga’s feelings to hope for her reciprocal feelings gives new turn Lensky’s thoughts: he convinces himself that he must protect Olga from the “corrupter” Onegin.

And again thoughtful, sad

Before my dear Olga,

Vladimir has no power

Remind her of yesterday;

He thinks: “I will be her savior.”

I will not tolerate the corrupter

Fire and sighs and praises

He tempted the young heart;

So that the worm is despicable, poisonous

Sharpened a lily stalk;

To the two-morning flower

Withered still half-open.”

All this meant, friends:

I'm shooting with a friend.

The situation that led to a quarrel between two friends, as Lensky imagines it, is far from reality. In addition, being alone with his thoughts, the poet does not express them in ordinary words, but resorts to literary cliches (Onegin is a despicable, poisonous worm; Olga is a lily stalk, a two-morning flower), book words: savior, corrupter.

Pushkin also finds other techniques for depicting Lensky’s character. There is a slight irony here: the contrast between the excited state of the young man and Olga’s usual behavior upon meeting (“... as before, Olenka jumped from the porch to meet the poor singer); and a comic resolution of the severity of the situation by introducing a colloquial turn of phrase: “And silently he hung his nose”; and the author’s conclusion: “All this meant, friends: I’m shooting with a friend.” Pushkin translates the content of Lensky's monologue into ordinary, natural colloquial. The author's assessment of everything that is happening as absurdity has been introduced (a duel with a friend).

Lensky anticipates the tragic outcome of the fight for him. As the fateful hour approaches, the melancholy mood intensifies (“A heart full of melancholy sank within him; Saying goodbye to the young maiden, It seemed to be torn”). The first sentence of his elegy:

Where, where have you gone,

My spring golden days?

- a typically romantic motive of complaint about the early loss of youth.

The above examples indicate that Lensky was immediately conceived as a typical image of a Russian romantic poet at the turn of the 10-20s of the 19th century.

Lensky is depicted in only a few chapters of the novel, so analysis of this image makes it easier to discern that innovative feature of Pushkin’s realism, which is expressed in the ambiguity of the assessments given by the author to his heroes. In these assessments, in relation to the image of Lensky, sympathy, irony, sadness, joke, and sorrow are expressed. Considered separately, these assessments can lead to one-sided conclusions. Taken in conjunction, they help to more correctly understand the meaning of Lensky’s image and to more fully sense its vitality. There is no specificity in the image of the young poet. Further development Lensky, if he had remained alive, did not exclude the possibility of his transformation into a romantic poet of the Decembrist orientation (he could “be hanged like Ryleev”) under appropriate circumstances.

Chapter 2. M.Yu. Lermontov - “Russian Byron”

2.1 Lermontov's poetry

Lermontov's poetry is inextricably linked with his personality; it is, in the full sense, a poetic autobiography. The main features of Lermontov’s nature are unusually developed self-awareness, efficiency and depth moral world, courageous idealism of life's aspirations.

All these features were embodied in his works, from the earliest prose and poetic outpourings to mature poems and novels.

Even in his youthful “Tale” Lermontov glorified the will as perfect, irresistible spiritual energy: “to want means to hate, love, regret, rejoice, live”...

Hence his fiery requests for strong open feelings, indignation at petty and cowardly passions; hence his demonism, which developed amid forced loneliness and contempt for the surrounding society. But demonism is by no means a negative mood: “I need to love,” the poet confessed, and Belinsky guessed this trait after the first serious conversation with Lermontov: “I was pleased to see in his rational, chilled and embittered view of life and people the seeds of deep faith in the dignity of both. That's what I told him; he smiled and said: God willing.”

Lermontov's demonism is the highest level of idealism, the same as the dreams of people of the 18th century about an all-perfect natural man, about freedom and the virtues of the golden age; this is the poetry of Rousseau and Schiller.

Such an ideal is the most daring, irreconcilable denial of reality - and young Lermontov would like to throw off the “educated chain” and be transported to the idyllic kingdom of primitive humanity. Hence the fanatical adoration of nature, the passionate penetration of its beauty and power. And all these features cannot be associated with any external influence; they existed in Lermontov even before he met Byron and merged only into a more powerful and mature harmony when he recognized this truly for him kindred spirit.

In contrast to the disappointment of Chateaubriand's Rene, rooted solely in egoism and self-adoration, Lermontov's disappointment is a militant protest against “baseness and strangeness”, in the name of sincere feeling and courageous thought.

Before us is poetry not of disappointment, but of sadness and anger. All Lermontov's heroes - Demon, Izmail-Bey, Mtsyri, Arseny - are filled with these feelings. The most real of them - Pechorin - embodies the most apparently everyday disappointment; but this is a completely different person than the “Moscow Childe Harold” - Onegin. He has many negative traits: selfishness, pettiness, pride, often heartlessness, but next to them is a sincere attitude towards himself. “If I am the cause of the misfortune of others, then I myself am no less unhappy” - absolutely truthful words from his mouth. More than once he yearns for a failed life; on other soil, in another air, this strong organism would undoubtedly have found a more honorable cause than persecuting the Grushnitskys.

The great and the insignificant coexist side by side in him, and if it were necessary to distinguish between the two, the great would have to be attributed to the individual, and the insignificant to society...

Lermontov's creativity gradually descended from behind the clouds and from the Caucasus mountains. It stopped at creating very real types and became public and national. In Russian XIX literature century, there is not a single noble motive in which the untimely silenced voice of Lermontov is not heard: her sadness about the pitiful phenomena of Russian life is an echo of the life of a poet who sadly looked at his generation; in her indignation at the slavery of thought and the moral insignificance of her contemporaries, Lermontov’s demonic impulses are heard; her laughter at stupidity and vulgar comedy can already be heard in Pechorin’s destructive sarcasms against Grushnitsky.

2.2 Mtsyri as a romantic hero

The poem "Mtsyri" is the fruit of an active and intense creative work Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. Even in his youth, the poet’s imagination painted the image of a young man, on the threshold of death, delivering an angry, protesting speech to his listener - a senior monk. In the poem “Confession” (1830, the action takes place in Spain), the hero, imprisoned, proclaims the right to love, which is higher than monastic regulations. His fascination with the Caucasus, his desire to depict situations in which the hero’s courageous character can be revealed most fully, led Lermontov, at the height of his talent, to create the poem “Mtsyri” (1840), repeating many poems from the previous stages of work on the same image.

Before "Mtsyri" the poem "The Fugitive" was written. In it, Lermontov develops the theme of punishment for cowardice and betrayal. Brief story: a traitor to duty, forgetting about his homeland, Harun fled from the battlefield without taking revenge on his enemies for the death of his father and brothers. But neither a friend, nor a lover, nor a mother will accept the fugitive; even everyone will turn away from his corpse, and no one will take him to the cemetery. The poem called for heroism, for the fight for the freedom of the homeland. In the poem “Mtsyri” Lermontov develops the idea of ​​courage and protest inherent in “Confession” and the poem “The Fugitive”. In "Mtsyri" the poet almost completely excluded the love motif that played such a significant role in "Confession" (the love of the hero-monk for a nun). This motive was reflected only in a brief meeting between Mtsyri and a Georgian woman near a mountain stream.

The hero, defeating the involuntary impulse of the young heart, renounces personal happiness in the name of the ideal of freedom. The patriotic idea is combined in the poem with the theme of freedom, as in the works of the Decembrist poets. Lermontov does not share these concepts: love for the fatherland and thirst for will merge into one, but “fiery passion.” The monastery becomes a prison for Mtsyri, the cells seem stuffy to him, the walls seem gloomy and deaf, the monk guards seem cowardly and pitiful, and he himself becomes a slave and a prisoner. His desire to find out whether “we were born into this world for freedom or prison” is due to a passionate impulse for freedom. Short days to escape is his will. Only outside the monastery he lived, and did not vegetate. Only these days he calls bliss.

Mtsyri's freedom-loving patriotism is least of all like a dreamy love for his native beautiful landscapes and expensive graves, although the hero yearns for them too. It is precisely because he truly loves his homeland that he wants to fight for the freedom of his homeland. But at the same time, the poet with undoubted sympathy sings of the warlike dreams of the young man. The poem does not fully reveal the hero’s aspirations, but they are palpable in hints. Mtsyri remembers his father and acquaintances first of all as warriors; It’s no coincidence that he dreams of battles in which he... wins, it is not for nothing that his dreams draw him into the “wonderful world of worries and battles.” He is convinced that he could be “in the land of his fathers, not one of the last daredevils.” Although fate did not allow Mtsyri to experience the rapture of battle, with all his feelings he is a warrior. He was distinguished by his stern restraint even from his childhood. The young man, proud of this, says: “Do you remember, in my childhood I never knew tears.” He gives vent to tears only during his escape, because no one sees them.

The tragic loneliness in the monastery strengthened Mtsyri's will. It is no coincidence that he fled from the monastery on a stormy night: what frightened the fearful monks filled his heart with a feeling of brotherhood with the thunderstorm. Mtsyri's courage and fortitude are most clearly demonstrated in the battle with the leopard. He was not afraid of the grave, because he knew; returning to the monastery is a continuation of previous suffering. Tragic ending indicates that the approach of death does not weaken the spirit of the hero and the power of his freedom-loving patriotism. The old monk's admonitions do not make him repent. Even now he would “trade paradise and eternity” for a few minutes of life among his loved ones (poems that displeased the censorship). It was not his fault if he failed to join the ranks of the fighters for what he considered his sacred duty: the circumstances turned out to be insurmountable, and he “argued with fate” in vain. Defeated, he is not spiritually broken and remains in a positive way our literature, and his masculinity, integrity, heroism were a reproach to the fragmented hearts of fearful and inactive contemporaries from the noble society. The Caucasian landscape is introduced into the poem mainly as a means of revealing the image of the hero.

Despising his surroundings, Mtsyri feels only a kinship with nature. Imprisoned in a monastery, he compares himself to a pale, typical leaf growing between damp slabs. Having broken free, he, along with the sleepy flowers, raises his head when the east turns rich. A child of nature, he falls to the ground and learns how fairy tale hero, the mystery of bird songs, the mysteries of their prophetic chirping. He understands the dispute between the stream and the stones, the thought of separated rocks yearning to meet. His gaze is sharpened: he notices the shine of the snake’s scales and the shimmer of silver on the fur of the leopard, he sees the jagged teeth of distant mountains and a pale strip “between the dark sky and earth”, it seems to him that his “diligent gaze” could follow the flight of angels through the transparent blue of the sky . (The verse of the poem also corresponds to the character of the hero). Lermontov's poem continues the traditions of advanced romanticism; Mtsyri, full of fiery passions, gloomy and lonely, revealing his “soul” in a confessional story, is perceived as the hero of romantic poems.

However, Lermontov, who created “Mtsyri” in those years when the realistic novel “A Hero of Our Time” was also being created, introduces features into his work that are not present in his earlier poems. If the past of the heroes of “Confession” and “Boyar Orsha” remains completely unknown, and we do not know the social conditions that shaped their characters, then the lines about Mtsyri’s unhappy childhood and fatherland help to better understand the hero’s experiences and thoughts. The very form of confession, characteristic of romantic poems, is associated with the desire to reveal deeper - to “tell the soul.” This psychologism of the work and the detailing of the hero’s experiences are natural for the poet, who at the same time was creating a socio-psychological novel. An expressive combination of abundant metaphors romantic in nature in the confession itself (images of fire, fervor) with a realistically accurate and poetically sparse introduction. (“Once upon a time a Russian general ... “)

The romantic poem testified to the growth of realistic tendencies in Lermontov’s work. Lermontov entered Russian literature as a successor to the traditions of Pushkin and the Decembrist poets, and at the same time as a new link in the chain of development of national culture. According to Belinsky, he introduced his own “Lermontov element” into national literature. Briefly explaining what should be included in this definition, the critic noted the “original living thought” in his poems as the first characteristic feature of the poet’s creative heritage. Belinsky repeated: “Everything breathes with original and creative thought.”

Conclusion

A romantic hero, no matter who he is - a rebel, a loner, a dreamer or a noble romantic - is always an exceptional person, with indomitable passions, he is always internally strong. This person has a pathetic, appealing speech.

We looked at two romantic heroes: Vladimir Lensky A. Pushkin and Mtsyri M. Lermontov. They are typical romantic heroes of their time.

Romantics are characterized by confusion and confusion in front of the world around them, and the tragedy of the individual’s fate. Romantic poets deny reality; the idea of ​​two worlds was present in all works. In addition, the romantic artist never tried to accurately reproduce reality, because it was more important for him to express his attitude towards it, moreover, to create his own, fictional image of the world, often based on the principle of contrast with the surrounding life, in order to convey through this fiction, through contrast to the reader both his ideal and his rejection of the world he denies.

The Romantics sought to free the individual from superstitions and power, because for them every person is unique and unrepeatable, they opposed vulgarity and evil. They are characterized by the depiction of strong passions, spiritualized, and healing nature, which was also not realistic: the landscape in their works is either very bright, or, on the contrary, thickening the colors, it is devoid of halftones. So they tried to better convey the feelings of the characters. Here are the names of the best romantic writers in the world: Novalis, Jean Paul, Hoffmann, W. Wordsworth, W. Scott, J. Byron, V. Hugo, A. Lamartine, A. Miskevich, E. Poe, G. Melville and our Russian poets - M.Yu. Lermontov, F.I. Tyutchev, A.S. Pushkin.

In our country, romanticism appeared at the beginning of the 11th century. The development of romanticism occurred inseparably from the general movement of European romantic literature, but the work of our romantics has its own specifics, explained by the peculiarities of national history. In Russia important events, which had a huge impact on the entire course artistic development of our country, appeared Patriotic War 1812 and the Decembrist uprising in December 1825.

The restless, rebellious nature of the romantic movement at that time could not have been better suited to the atmosphere of national upsurge, the thirst for renewal and transformation of life that awakened in Russian society, and in particular the romantic poets.

Bibliography

1. Belinsky V.G. Articles about Lermontov. - M., 1986. - P.85 - 126.

2. Belskaya L.L. The motive of loneliness in Russian poetry: From Lermontov to Mayakovsky. - M.: Russian speech, 2001. - 163 p. .

3. Blagoy D.D. Lermontov and Pushkin: Life and work of M.Yu. Lermontov. - M., 1941. - P.23-83

4.Russian literature of the 19th century: Large educational reference book. M.: Bustard, 2004. - 692 p.

5. Nightingale N. I am Roman A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". - M.: Education, 2000. - 111 p.

6.Khalizev V.E. Theory of literature. - M., 2006. - 492 p.

7. Shevelev E. Restless genius. - St. Petersburg, 2003. - 183 p.

Solovey N.Ya Roman A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". – M., 2000. – 45 p. Belinsky V.G. Articles about Lermontov. – M., 1986. – P. 85 – 126

Russian literature of the 19th century: Large educational reference book. M.: Bustard, 2004. – P. 325

Who is a romantic hero and what is he like?

This is an individualist. A superman who lived through two stages: before colliding with reality; he lives in a “pink” state, he is possessed by the desire for achievement, to change the world. After a collision with reality; he continues to consider this world both vulgar and boring, but he becomes a skeptic, a pessimist. With a clear understanding that nothing can be changed, the desire for heroism degenerates into a desire for danger.

Every culture has its own romantic hero, but Byron gave the typical representation of the romantic hero in his work Childe Harold. He put on the mask of his hero (suggests that there is no distance between the hero and the author) and managed to correspond to the romantic canon.

All romantic works. The characteristic features are:

Firstly, in every romantic work there is no distance between the hero and the author.

Secondly, the author does not judge the hero, but even if something bad is said about him, the plot is structured in such a way that the hero is not to blame. The plot in a romantic work is usually romantic. Romantics also build a special relationship with nature; they like storms, thunderstorms, and disasters.

In Russia, romanticism arose seven years later than in Europe, since in the 19th century Russia was in some cultural isolation. We can talk about Russian imitation European romanticism. This was a special manifestation of romanticism; in Russian culture there was no opposition of man to the world and God. The version of Byron's romanticism was lived and felt in his work first by Pushkin, then by Lermontov. Pushkin had the gift of attention to people; the most romantic of his romantic poems is “The Bakhchisarai Fountain”. Pushkin felt and identified the most vulnerable place of a person’s romantic position: he wants everything only for himself.

Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri" also does not fully reflect the characteristic features of romanticism.

There are two romantic heroes in this poem, so if this and romantic poem, then it is very unique: firstly, the second hero is conveyed by the author through an epigraph; secondly, the author does not connect with Mtsyri, the hero solves the problem of self-will in his own way, and Lermontov throughout the entire poem only thinks about solving this problem. He does not judge his hero, but he does not justify him either, but he takes a certain position - understanding. It turns out that romanticism in Russian culture is transformed into reflection. It turns out romanticism from the point of view of realism.

We can say that Pushkin and Lermontov failed to become romantics (however, Lermontov once managed to comply with romantic laws - in the drama “Masquerade”). With their experiments, the poets showed that in England the position of an individualist could be fruitful, but in Russia it was not. Although Pushkin and Lermontov failed to become romantics, they opened the way for the development of realism. In 1825, the first realistic work was published: “Boris Godunov”, then “The Captain’s Daughter”, “Eugene Onegin”, “Hero of Our Time” and many others.

Despite the complexity of the ideological content of romanticism, its aesthetics as a whole opposed the aesthetics of classicism of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Romantics broke the centuries-old literary canons of classicism with its spirit of discipline and frozen grandeur. In the struggle for the liberation of art from petty regulation, the romantics defended the unrestricted freedom of the artist’s creative imagination.

Rejecting the restrictive rules of classicism, they insisted on mixing genres, justifying their demand by the fact that it corresponds true life nature, where beauty and ugliness, tragic and comic are mixed. Glorifying the natural movements of the human heart, the romantics, in contrast to the rationalistic demands of classicism, put forward a cult of feeling; the logically generalized characters of classicism were opposed by their extreme individualization.

The hero of romantic literature, with his exclusivity, with his heightened emotionality, was generated by the desire of the romantics to contrast prosaic reality with a bright, free personality. But if progressive romantics created images strong people with unbridled energy, with violent passions, people rebelling against the dilapidated laws of an unjust society, then conservative romantics cultivated the image of a “superfluous person”, coldly withdrawn in his loneliness, completely immersed in his experiences.

The desire to reveal the inner world of man, interest in the life of peoples, in their historical and national identity - all these strengths Romanticism foreshadowed the transition to realism. However, the achievements of the Romantics are inseparable from the limitations inherent in their method.

The laws of bourgeois society, misunderstood by the romantics, appeared in their minds in the form of irresistible forces playing with man, surrounding him with an atmosphere of mystery and fate. For many romantics, human psychology was shrouded in mysticism; it was dominated by moments of the irrational, unclear, and mysterious. The subjective-idealistic idea of ​​the world, of a lonely, self-contained personality opposed to this world, was the basis for a one-sided, non-specific image of a person.

Along with the actual ability to convey difficult life feelings and soul, we often find among romantics the desire to transform the diversity of human characters into abstract schemes of good and evil. Pathetic elation of intonation, a tendency toward exaggeration and dramatic effects sometimes led to stiltedness, which also made the art of the romantics conventional and abstract. These weaknesses were, to one degree or another, common to everyone, even the most major representatives romanticism.

The painful discord between the ideal and social reality is the basis of the romantic worldview and art. The affirmation of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the depiction of strong passions, spiritualized and healing nature among many romantics - the heroics of protest or national liberation, including revolutionary struggle, are adjacent to the motives of “world sorrow”, “world evil”, the night side of the soul, clothed in the forms of irony, grotesque, poetics of dual worlds.

Interest in the national past (often its idealization), traditions of folklore and culture of one’s own and other peoples, the desire to create a universal picture of the world (primarily history and literature), the idea of ​​art synthesis found expression in the ideology and practice of romanticism.

Romanticism in music developed in the 20s of the 19th century under the influence of the literature of romanticism and developed in close connection with it, with literature in general (appeal to synthetic genres, primarily opera, song, instrumental miniatures and musical programming). The appeal to the inner world of man, characteristic of romanticism, was expressed in the cult of the subjective, the craving for emotional intensity, which determined the primacy of music and lyrics in romanticism.

Musical romanticism manifested itself in many different branches associated with different national cultures and with different social movements. So, for example, there is a significant difference between the intimate, lyrical style of the German romantics and the “oratorical” civic pathos characteristic of creativity French composers. In turn, representatives of new national schools that emerged on the basis of a broad national liberation movement (Chopin, Moniuszko, Dvorak, Smetana, Grieg), as well as representatives of the Italian opera school, closely associated with the Risorgimento movement (Verdi, Bellini), in many ways differ from their contemporaries in Germany, Austria or France, in particular, in their tendency to preserve classical traditions.

And yet they are all marked by some common artistic principles, which allow us to talk about a single romantic system of thought.

By the beginning of the 19th century, fundamental studies of folklore, history, and ancient literature appeared; medieval legends, Gothic art, and Renaissance culture were resurrected. It was at this time that many national schools of a special type emerged in the compositional work of Europe, which were destined to significantly expand the boundaries of pan-European culture. Russian, which soon took, if not the first, then one of the first places in world cultural creativity (Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, the “Kuchkists”, Tchaikovsky), Polish (Chopin, Moniuszko), Czech (Smetana, Dvorak), Hungarian (Liszt), then Norwegian (Grieg), Spanish (Pedrel), Finnish (Sibelius), English (Elgar) - all of them, joining the general mainstream of European compositional creativity, in no way opposed themselves to the established ancient traditions. Arose new circle images expressing the unique national features of the national culture to which the composer belonged. The intonation structure of a work allows you to instantly recognize by ear whether you belong to a particular national school.

Beginning with Schubert and Weber, composers have involved the intonation patterns of the ancient, predominantly peasant folklore of their countries into the pan-European musical language. Schubert, as it were, cleared the German folk song of the varnish of the Austro-German opera, Weber introduced into the cosmopolitan intonation structure of the Singspiel of the 18th century the song turns of folk genres, in particular, the famous chorus of hunters in The Magic Shooter. Chopin's music, for all its salon elegance and strict adherence to the traditions of professional instrumental writing, including sonata-symphonic writing, is based on the unique modal coloring and rhythmic structure of Polish folklore. Mendelssohn widely relies on everyday German song, Grieg - on the original forms of Norwegian music-making, Mussorgsky - on the ancient modality of ancient Russian peasant modes.

The most striking phenomenon in the music of romanticism, especially clearly perceived when compared with the figurative sphere of classicism, is the dominance of the lyrical-psychological principle. Of course distinctive feature musical art in general is the refraction of any phenomenon through the sphere of feelings. Music of all eras is subject to this pattern. But the romantics surpassed all their predecessors in the importance of the lyrical principle in their music, in the strength and perfection in conveying the depths of a person’s inner world, the subtlest shades of mood.

The theme of love occupies a dominant place in it, because it is this state of mind that most comprehensively and fully reflects all the depths and nuances of the human psyche. But in highest degree It is characteristic that this theme is not limited to the motives of love in the literal sense of the word, but is identified with a wide range of phenomena. The purely lyrical experiences of the characters are revealed against the backdrop of a broad historical panorama (for example, in Musset). A person’s love for his home, for his fatherland, for his people runs like a through thread through the work of all romantic composers.

Huge space is allocated to musical works small and large forms to the image of nature, closely and inextricably intertwined with the theme of lyrical confession. Like images of love, the image of nature personifies the hero’s state of mind, so often colored by a feeling of disharmony with reality.

The theme of fantasy often competes with images of nature, which is probably generated by the desire to escape from the captivity of real life. Typical of the romantics was the search for a wonderful world sparkling with a wealth of colors, opposed to gray everyday life. It was during these years that literature was enriched with the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, the fairy tales of Andersen, and the ballads of Schiller and Mickiewicz. For composers of the romantic school, fairy-tale, fantastic images acquire a unique national coloring. Chopin's ballads are inspired by Mickiewicz's ballads, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz create works of a fantastic grotesque plan, symbolizing, as it were, the reverse side of faith, striving to reverse the ideas of fear of the forces of evil.

IN fine arts Romanticism manifested itself most clearly in painting and graphics, less expressively in sculpture and architecture. Prominent representatives of romanticism in the fine arts were E. Delacroix, T. Gericault, K. Friedrich. Eugene Delacroix is ​​considered the head of the French romantic painters. In his paintings, he expressed the spirit of love of freedom, active action (“Freedom Leading the People”), and passionately and temperamentally called for the manifestation of humanism. Gericault's everyday paintings are distinguished by their relevance, psychologism, and unprecedented expression. Friedrich's spiritual, melancholic landscapes (“Two Contemplating the Moon”) are again the same attempt of the romantics to penetrate into the human world, to show how a person lives and dreams in the sublunary world.

In Russia, romanticism began to appear first in portrait painting. In the first third of the 19th century, it largely lost contact with the dignitary aristocracy. Significant place Portraits of poets, artists, art patrons, and images of ordinary peasants began to occupy the space. This tendency was especially pronounced in the works of O.A. Kiprensky (1782 - 1836) and V.A. Tropinin (1776 - 1857).

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin strove for a lively, relaxed characterization of a person, expressed through his portrait. Portrait of a Son (1818), “A.S. Pushkin” (1827), “Self-Portrait” (1846) amaze not with their portrait resemblance to the originals, but with their unusually subtle insight into the inner world of a person. It was Tropinin who was the founder of the genre, somewhat idealized portrait of a man from the people (“The Lacemaker,” 1823).

At the beginning of the 19th century, Tver was a significant cultural center of Russia. All prominent people of Moscow attended literary evenings here. Here young Orest Kiprensky met A.S. Pushkin, whose portrait, painted later, became the pearl of world portrait art, and A.S. Pushkin dedicated poems to him, calling him “the favorite of light-winged fashion.” The portrait of Pushkin by O. Kiprensky is a living personification of the poetic genius. In the decisive turn of the head, in the energetically crossed arms on the chest, in the poet’s entire appearance, a feeling of independence and freedom is reflected. It was about him that Pushkin said: “I see myself as in a mirror, but this mirror flatters me.” Distinctive feature Kiprensky's portraits are that they show the spiritual charm and inner nobility of a person. The portrait of Davydov (1809) is also full of romantic mood.

Many portraits were painted by Kiprensky in Tver. Moreover, when he painted Ivan Petrovich Wulf, the Tver landowner, he looked with emotion at the girl standing in front of him, his granddaughter, the future Anna Petrovna Kern, to whom one of the most captivating lyrical works was dedicated - the poem by A.S. Pushkin “I remember wonderful moment.." Such associations of poets, artists, musicians became a manifestation of a new direction in art - romanticism.

The luminaries of Russian painting of this era were K.P. Bryullov (1799 -1852) and A.A. Ivanov (1806 - 1858).

Russian painter and draftsman K.P. Bryullov, while still a student at the Academy of Arts, mastered the incomparable skill of drawing. Sent to Italy, where his brother lived, to improve his art, Bryullov soon amazed St. Petersburg patrons and philanthropists with his paintings. The large canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii” was a huge success in Italy and then in Russia. The artist created an allegorical picture of death in it ancient world and offensive new era. The birth of a new life on the ruins of an old world crumbling into dust is the main idea of ​​Bryullov’s painting. The artist depicted a mass scene, the heroes of which are not individual people, but the people themselves.

Bryullov's best portraits constitute one of the most remarkable pages in the history of Russian and world art. His “Self-Portrait”, as well as portraits of A.N. Strugovshchikova, N.I. Kukolnik, I.A. Krylova, Ya.F. Yanenko, M Lanci are distinguished by their variety and richness of characteristics, the plastic power of the design, the variety and brilliance of the technique.

K.P. Bryullov introduced a stream of romanticism and vitality into the painting of Russian classicism. His Bathsheba (1832) is illuminated inner beauty, sensuality. Even Bryullov’s ceremonial portrait (“Horsewoman”) breathes with living human feelings, subtle psychologism and realistic tendencies, which is what distinguishes the movement in art called romanticism.

Which era in the history of art is closest to to modern man? The Middle Ages, the Renaissance - for a narrow circle of the elite, Baroque - is also a bit far away, classicism is perfect - but somehow too perfect, in life there is no such clear division into “three calms”... It’s better to keep quiet about modern times and modernity - this art only scares children (maybe it is true to the limit - but we are fed up with the “harsh truth of life” in reality). And if we choose an era, the art of which, on the one hand, is close and understandable, finds a living response in our soul, on the other hand, gives us refuge from everyday hardships, although it speaks of suffering - this is, perhaps, the 19th century, which has gone down in history like the era of romanticism. The art of this time gave rise to a special type of hero, called romantic.

The term “romantic hero” can immediately evoke the idea of ​​a lover, echoing such stable combinations as “ romantic relationship», « romantic story“- but this idea does not entirely correspond to reality. A romantic hero can be in love, but not necessarily (there are characters who correspond to this definition who were not in love - for example, Lermontov's Mtsyri has only a fleeting feeling for a graceful girl passing by, which does not become decisive in the fate of the hero) - and this is not the main thing in it... and what is the main thing?

To understand this, let us remember what romanticism was all about. It was born out of disappointment in the results of the Great french revolution: the new world, which arose on the ruins of the old, was far from the “kingdom of reason” predicted by the enlighteners - instead, the “power of the money bag” was established in the world, a world where everything is for sale. Creative personality, who has retained the ability for living human feeling, has no place in such a world, therefore a romantic hero is always a person who is not accepted by society, who has come into conflict with it. Such, for example, is Johannes Kreisler, the hero of several works by E.T.A. Hoffmann (it is no coincidence that at the very beginning of the presentation of the “biography” of the hero, the author mentions that Kreisler was dismissed from the post of bandmaster, refusing to write an opera based on the poems of the court poet). “Johannes rushed here and there, as if on an eternally stormy sea, carried away by his visions and dreams, and, apparently, searched in vain for that pier where he could finally find peace and clarity.”

However, the romantic hero is not destined to “find calm and clarity” - he is a stranger everywhere, he is extra person... remember who this is said about? That's right, Evgeny Onegin also belongs to the type of romantic hero, or more precisely, to one of its variants - “disappointed”. Such a hero is also called “Byronic”, since one of his first examples is Byron’s Childe Harold. Other examples of a disappointed hero are “Melmoth the Wanderer” by Charles Maturin, partly Edmond Dantes (“The Count of Monte Cristo”), as well as “The Vampire” by J. Polidori (dear fans of “Twilight”, “Dracula” and other similar creations, please know , that all this topic, dear to you, goes back precisely to the romantic story by J. Polidori!). Such a character is always dissatisfied with his environment, because he rises above him, being more educated and intelligent. For his loneliness, he takes revenge on the world of philistines (narrow-minded ordinary people) with contempt for social institutions and conventions - sometimes bringing this contempt to the point of demonstrativeness (for example, Lord Rothven in the mentioned story by J. Polidori never gives alms to people driven to poverty by misfortunes, but never refuses in a request for material assistance to those who need money to satisfy vicious desires).

Another type of romantic hero is the rebel. He also opposes himself to the world, but enters into open conflict with it, he - in the words of M. Lermontov - “asks for a storm.” A wonderful example of such a hero is Lermontov’s Demon.

The tragedy of the romantic hero is not so much in being rejected by society (in fact, he even strives for this), but in the fact that his efforts always turn out to be directed “to nowhere.” The existing world does not satisfy him - but there is no other world, and nothing fundamentally new can be created by simply overthrowing secular conventions. Therefore, the romantic hero is doomed either to die in a collision with a cruel world (Hoffmann’s Nathaniel), or to remain a “barren flower” who does not make anyone happy or even destroys the lives of those around him (Onegin, Pechorin).

That is why, over time, disappointment in the romantic hero became inevitable - in fact, we see it in “Eugene Onegin” by A.S. Pushkin, where the poet openly ironizes about romanticism. Actually, not only Onegin can be considered a romantic hero here, but also Lensky, who also seeks an ideal and dies in a collision with the cruelty of a world that is very far from romantic ideals... but Lensky already resembles a parody of a romantic hero: his “ideal” is narrow-minded and frivolous a district young lady, outwardly reminiscent of a stereotypical image from novels, and the reader, in essence, is inclined to agree with the author, who prophesies a completely “philistine” future for the hero, if he remains alive... M. Lermontov is no less merciless towards his Zoraim, the hero of the poem “Angel of Death” :

“He looked for perfection in people,

And he himself was no better than them.”

Perhaps, we find the finally degraded type of romantic hero in the opera “Peter Grimes” by the English composer B. Britten (1913-1976): the main character here is also opposed to the world of ordinary people in which he lives, is also in eternal conflict with the inhabitants of his hometown and in the end In the end he dies - but he is no different from his nearby neighbors, his ultimate dream is to earn more money to open a shop... such is the harsh sentence passed on the romantic hero of the 20th century! No matter how you rebel against society, you will still remain a part of it, you will still carry its “cast” within you, but you will not run away from yourself. This is probably fair, but...

I once conducted a survey on a website for women and girls: “Which opera character would you marry?” Lensky took the lead by a huge margin - this is perhaps the romantic hero closest to us, so close that we are ready not to notice the author’s irony towards him. Apparently, to this day, the image of the romantic hero - eternally lonely and rejected, misunderstood by the “world of well-fed faces” and always striving for an unattainable ideal - retains its attractiveness.