Option 1.
1. Determine the genre of the work “The Enchanted Wanderer”:
A. novel;
B. tragedy;
V. story;
G. story.
2. “The Enchanted Wanderer” is a work composed of individual episodes. How are the parts combined into a single work?
V. heroine (Pear);
G. wandering hero.
3. Determine the nature of the narrative in the work “The Enchanted Wanderer”:
A. objective - narrative;
B. memoirs;
V. fantastic, in the first person;
D. third person.
4. The main idea of the work “The Enchanted Wanderer” is as follows:
A. a Russian person can handle everything;
B. Russian people always strive for danger;
V. only in extreme situations does a person reveal himself;
D. Russian people cope with all troubles alone.
5. Which character from the work can be called “the enchanted wanderer”:
A. Gypsy Grusha;
B. prince;
V. Ivan Flyagin;
G. Savakiria.
6. Which epic hero does he compare with?
A. with Alyosha Popovich;
B. with Dobrynya Nikitich;
V. with Ilya Muromets;
G. with Saveliy - the hero of Starorussky.
7. What was Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin’s name in childhood:
A. Ishmael;
B. Monomakh;
V. Golovan;
G. Cossack.
8. What reward did the main character ask for for saving the count’s family:
A. money;
B. liberation from serfdom;
V. horse;
G. accordion.
9. Why did he flee to the steppe from the city:
A. in search of adventure;
B. following his beloved;
V. was captured;
G. because of the murder of Savakirei.
10. How they kept the main character in the steppe:
A. rich gifts;
B. the most beautiful girl was given as a wife;
V. was kept in a hole in stocks;
G. “bristled” the heels.
11. How long was I. Flyagin in captivity:
B. 3 months;
12. killed the gypsy Grusha:
A. because of jealousy;
B. trying to save her from the sin of murder;
V. because of unrequited love;
G. it happened by accident.
13. How did the main character’s wanderings end:
A. returned to his homeland to his landowner;
B. started his own family;
V. became a monk;
G. is going to go to war.
Creativity test
Option 2.
1. What genre of ancient Russian literature is the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” close to?
A. Apocrypha
B. Walking
B. Life
G. Teaching
2. What is Ivan Flyagin’s middle name:
A. Larionich
B. Severyanych
V. Stepanych
G. Maksimych
3. Which epic hero does he compare with:
A. Dobrynya Nikitich
B. Ilya Muromets
V. Nikita Kozhemyaka
G. Alyosha Popovich
4. What Ivan Flyagin asked for the salvation of the count’s family:
A. Freedom
B. Money
V. Garmon
G. Horse
5. After parting with the gypsy, Flyagin started working:
A. Doctor
B. Horse breeder
V. Nanny
G. Shepherd
6. fled to the steppe:
A. Hid from Khan Dzhangar
B. In search of a new life
B. Because of the murder of Sawakirei
G. Following my beloved
7. How much time did the hero spend in the steppe:
A. Ten years
B. Three years
V. Month
G. One year
8. How Ivan Flyagin was held in the steppe:
A. Kept in stocks in a pit
B. Heels bristled
B. They gave the most beautiful girl as a wife
D. Rich gifts
9. killed Grusha:
A. Because of unrequited love
B. It happened by accident
B. So that Grusha does not return to the prince
D. To save her soul from sin - murder
10. After the murder:
A. Joined the recruits
B. Ended up in prison
V. Went to a monastery
G. Fled to the steppe
11. How did the main character’s wanderings end:
A. Started his own family
B. Took monastic vows
V. Returned to his homeland
G. Going to war
12. What does not apply to the biography of Ivan Flyagin:
A. Nanny for a master's child
B. Actor in a booth
IN. Soldier
G. Serf blacksmith
13. Which name does not belong to the main character:
A. Golovan
B. Petr Serdyukov
IN. father Ishmael
G. brother Diomede
Option 1
1. story
2. wandering hero
3. fantastic, first person.
4. Russian people can handle everything
5. Ivan Flyagina
6. with Ilya Muromets
7. Golovan
8. accordion.
9. because of the murder of Sawakirei
10. Heels bristled.
11. 10 years
12. trying to save her from the sin of murder
13. is going to go to war
Option 2
ANSWERS: 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9B, 10A, 11B, 12D, 13G
Ivan Flyagin, the main character of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer,” is a man who, on his life’s journey, met many people, good and bad. Someone brought him joy, someone caused him pain, but Grusha brought our hero incredible joy with her existence and immeasurable pain with her dislike.
Pear is a young gypsy whose beauty will captivate any man. Her mystery, the shine of her hair, the subtleties of her habits are her undoubted trump cards. One of the main advantages of Grusha is also her black eyes. Ivan appreciates Pear for all her qualities, he equates her to the ideal. Her artistry will captivate him again and again, her voice sounds to him not just like honey in his ears, but like the first and most beloved voice in his life. Pear is our hero’s first true love.
Grusha herself serves the prince, who once bought her because he, like Ivan, was in love with an incredibly charming and seductive gypsy. True, his love for Grusha subsided over time, and he even intended to kick her out of the house. Pear, in turn, loved the prince sincerely, to the depths of her soul and forever. The prince plans to marry her to Ivan, who dotes on her, but this kills her both literally and figuratively. She says that she will cease to consider herself a worthy woman if she is married to someone she doesn’t love, if the prince is not around. She was very jealous of the prince for other girls, which expresses her immense affection and love for one and only man.
The girl's life ends with her asking Ivan, if he really loves her, to take her life. She says that if he does not kill her now with a knife in the heart, then she will become the most shameful woman, which indicates her honor. For Ivan, this is not just painful, it is a trauma and a wound for the rest of his life. He does not pierce her heart, but throws her off a steep slope into the river, and the girl’s life ends.
Pear is a real treasure for a man; her facial features and character not only charm young people, they attract, beckon and entice. Only Grusha herself is devoted to one man, without whom she cannot imagine her life. She causes great pain to Ivan, whom she considers a good guy, but does not love. Ivan fulfilled her request, and after her death he gave all the money to the monastery, atonement for his sin and Grusha’s sinful soul.
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The work belongs to the writer’s philosophical lyrical prose and, as its main theme, examines the issue of the decline of morality and personality degradation, describing the cruel reality.
The image of Ivan Flyagin, despite its apparent simplicity and simplicity, is ambiguous and complex. Leskov, learning the secrets of the Russian character, seeks the origins of holiness in the deeds of a sinner, portrays a truth-seeker who has committed many unrighteous acts, but through suffering, comes to repentance and faith.
We first meet the hero on a ship sailing to Valaam. He was a black man of heroic stature, fifty-three years old, dark-skinned, with thick, graying hair, a beard and mustache. After talking with his fellow travelers, he told the story of his wanderings. He was a serf, his mother died, and his father served as a coachman for the master.
He spent his entire childhood at the stables and learned to understand horses well. As a teenager, he is assigned to be a horse rider, to help manage six horses. Once, when the horses rushed, he almost died saving the count’s family, and as a reward he asked for an accordion, which speaks of his selflessness and innocence. Once, Ivan whipped a monk who had dozed off in a cart and was blocking the road, and he fell under the wheels and died. Ivan dreamed of this monk and told him that he was a child prayed for and promised to God, and therefore should go to a monastery. This prophecy haunted him all his life.
More than once he looked into the eyes of death, but neither earth nor water took him. Many trials befell him. Having escaped with the gypsies from the count's estate, he will wander for many years. He would endure ten years of captivity among the Gentiles, after escaping he would work as a coneser for the prince, then he would go as a recruit to the Caucasus, where he would fight for more than fifteen years, and become an officer and Knight of St. George. After returning, I had the opportunity to work as an information officer in an address office and as an actor in a booth. In the end, he goes to the monastery.
Ivan did not have the chance to lead a settled life, to find a home and family. He is "an inspired vagabond with an infant soul." He is not characterized by Christian humility, because he cannot put up with evil and injustice, but he is a deeply religious person. But he feels that his purpose is not just faith in God, church services are boring for him, he dreams of serving with faith for the fatherland. He has an independent, honest and open nature. Ivan considers himself a terrible sinner, because he is involved in the deaths of three people, suffers and repents; although the monk died due to his negligence, the Tatar accepted death in a fair fight, and pushed Grushenka off a cliff into the river, swearing to her that he would do this, saving her from a shameful fate. Having entered a monastery, he wanders as a pilgrim to holy places, atonement for his sins, and becomes a righteous man.
Essay about Ivan Flyagin
“The Enchanted Wanderer” is a story by Nikolai Leskov, published by him in 1837. The main attention in the story is given to Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin, whose life is described in detail by the author. Leskov was able to present in his story a new image, which has no analogues in Russian literature.
Why did Leskov create the image of an “enchanted wanderer” in his hero? He perceives the world around him as a true miracle. As the main character, he does not have a specific dream in life, which for him is endless. This person always moves forward along the path of life and sees every new challenge as a challenge from fate.
It should be noted that Leskov’s character took on his appearance from the legendary Ilya Muromets. Flyagin has a gigantic stature, a dark face and a truly heroic physique. At first glance, he is not even fifty years old. Ivan Severyanovich cannot sit in one place throughout the entire story. You might think that he is not inclined to trust anyone. But the main character later refutes this. And the salvation of Count K. is proof of this. This is exactly what Flyagin did with the prince and a young girl named Grusha.
You can add to the characteristics of this person the fact that he is completely devoted to higher powers, for which he received his protection from them. Flyagin is not vulnerable to death. Death overtook him many times, but he could not die. He thinks that the earth does not want to accept him for the terrible sins that he committed. The hero believes that it was his fault that many murders occurred. Ivan Severyanovich has his own morality in life, but he always remains honest with himself and the other characters in the story. Sometimes he is too simple and naive, good-natured to the core and open to everyone in his soul, but when evil comes, which he has to deal with, he can even be cruel.
The main driving force of his actions is no small force from nature. And this forces Flyagin to do reckless things. In his youth, Ivan was not very worried about this, but later he realizes that he is responsible for this. The author of the work does not hesitate to mention that his character is a man with enormous internal and physical strength. This lies in his ability in any situation to do what is necessary and what is right. Ivan Flyagin is in complete harmony with those around him and, like a true hero, is always ready to help.
In conclusion, we can say that all the features of the Russian national character are evident in the image of this man. But that doesn't mean he's flawless. He is more prone to inconsistency. In some places he is smart and quick-witted, and in others he is the opposite. He can do crazy things, but at the same time he is drawn to do good deeds. So, we can say with confidence: Ivan Severyanovich is the personification of the broad Russian personality, its infinity.
Details
In the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Flyagin has the main role.
His image appears before us in the form of a strong Ilya Muromets. Even at the beginning of the story, the Author compares him with this knight. He was tall, of strong build with a dark complexion.
Our main character was born in the name of a count, his father and mother were serfs and... Mom died while giving birth to Ivan. And my father worked in a stable. The boy spent all his time with horses. And when he more or less grew up, he was put to work with his dad. Once they were taking the count near the temple. And one priest began to daydream. And Vanya hit him with a whip.
When Ivan was taking the Duke to Voronezh, a large cliff appeared in front of them. . Ivan managed to slow down, but he himself fell into it. But he inexplicably survived. The Duke, of course, thanked him. And instead of going to the monastery, Ivan chose an accordion, which he never knew how to play.
Soon Flyagin was sent to crush stone for garden paths. But he got tired of everyone laughing at him and decided to run away and hang himself. As soon as he hung in the noose, someone cut the rope. It turned out to be a gypsy, who then suggested that Ivan steal. And so that he would not betray him, he ordered the horses to be stolen from the stables of the count for whom Ivan served. Ivan did it. And when they sold these horses, he received only one ruble. In the end, he went to surrender to the police. This speaks to his next quality - honesty. Even though he went to steal horses, he still confessed later.
Soon Ivan got a job with the master, his wife left him for a military man and abandoned her infant daughter. And Flyagin nursed this girl. This shows his love for children.
One day, Ivan and the master’s little daughter went to the shore of the bay; the girl had sore legs and the doctor said that they should be buried in the squeak. But her mother saw the girl on the shore. She asked Ivan to give her the child, but he did not agree. Then the cavalry husband of this young lady appeared and wanted to pay money to give them the child, but he received nothing except a hand job under the eye. The uhlan did not raise any money, and this pleased Ivan. Flyagin at first did not want to give up the child, but when he saw the girl’s mother stretching out her hands to her, he still took pity. Suddenly a gentleman with a pistol appeared on the beach and Ivan had to leave with the cavalryman and the girl’s mother.
After they arrived in the city, the uhlan said that he could not keep serfs who had escaped. I gave him money and let him go. At that moment I felt very sorry for Ivan. He had nowhere to go. He wanted to go and surrender to the police. But I decided to go have some tea and bagels. Later I saw how Khan Dzhangar and the king were selling a mare, and people were fighting for her. After this, a cavalryman entered the battle, but Ivan went to fight in his place. This speaks of his positive quality - bravery. But the fact that he whipped the Tatar with a whip speaks of his mercilessness. They wanted to take him to prison, but the Tatars took pity on Ivan and took him in with them.
Ivan lived with them for ten years, was a doctor, but when he wanted to run away, the Tatars caught him, cut his heels and put cut horsehair there. Initially, it was very painful for him to walk. And so Ivan lived in this horde for many years. He had two wives and many children. Once the khan ordered him to cure his wife and let Ivan into his yurt, after which he had two more wives.
Once the priests came to the Tatars, they wanted them to accept Christianity, but the Tatars refused. And after some time, the main character of the story found one dead priest in the field, but never found the second. The next time unknown people came to them, they were in bright clothes. These people wanted to buy horses. One evening they set off fireworks and all the horses ran away, and the Tatars, in turn, ran to catch them. Ivan understood what scared the horses and Tatars, and repeated the same thing. One fine day he found earth that corrodes the skin. And he came up with this plan: to pretend to be sick and when the earth corroded his feet, horsehair came out, and pus along with it. Then our hero decided to set off the last fireworks and left.
After some time, Ivan went to the Caspian Sea, and then came to Astrakhan. I earned money there and drank it away. When he woke up he was in prison. From prison he was sent to his native estate. But Father Ilya refused to accept his confession, since he had lived in sin among the Tatars for a very long time. The count, who began to pray to God after the death of his wife, refused to have non-communion servants, gave him his passport and let him go.
When he left the estate, Ivan came to the market. I saw a gypsy trying to sell a bad horse to a simple peasant. Since Ivan was offended by the gypsies, he helped the peasant. Afterwards, he began to walk around the bazaars and help the peasants, advising which horses they could buy and which they could not. Soon he became the king of gypsies and profiteers.
Once the prince asked to tell him the secret of how he chooses horses. Ivan began to teach him, but the prince did not understand anything, then he invited Ivan to work with him. And they became friends with the prince. In order not to spend extra money, Ivan left it to the prince. But one day the prince went to the market and ordered that a mare be sent there, which Ivan really liked; he wanted to drink it hot, but there was no one to leave the money with. Then he went to the tavern to drink tea, and saw a man there who was drinking and not getting drunk. Then Ivan asked to teach him this way too. Then the man told him to drink glass after glass but make passes with his hands before each one, so Ivan learned to drink and not get drunk and kept checking to see if he had all the money in his bosom. By evening, the friends quarreled.
They were kicked out of the tavern, then the beggar led Ivan to a “guest place” where there were only gypsies. And then Ivan sees a gypsy woman who was singing songs, they called her Grusha. Then Ivan gave her all his savings.
When he sobered up, he admitted to the prince that he had spent his entire treasury on one gypsy woman. After which he fell ill with alcoholic psychosis. When Ivan recovered, he learned that the prince had spent all his money to ransom Grusha from the crowd. She fell in love with the prince very much, and he began to be burdened by her, taking advantage of her lack of education. Ivan, in turn, felt very sorry for her.
One day the gypsy woman suspected that the prince had a mistress and sent Ivan to the city to find out. He went to the prince’s former mistress and found out that he wanted to marry Grusha to Ivan. When Flyagin returned from the market, he saw that Grusha was nowhere to be found. Then he found a gypsy woman on the shore, it turned out that the prince locked her in a house in the forest, guarded by girls, and she ran away from them. She asked to kill the prince's bride, otherwise she would become "the most shameful woman." Ivan could not stand it and threw her off the cliff.
Then Ivan ran away and began to wander around the world until Grusha appeared to him and showed him the right path, on which he met two old people. These old men made Ivan new documents according to which he was Pyotr Serdyukov.
Then he asked me to go to the Caucasus and served there for more than fifteen years. Then he was ordained an officer and sent into retirement. In St. Petersburg, he worked as a “registration officer” and earned little because he received the letter “fita”, and there were very few surnames with this letter. And he decided to leave this job. They didn’t hire him as a coachman and he had to go work as an actor. There he is, pretending to be a demon.
The others asked him if the demon pretending to be a gypsy was bothering him? He overcame the demon with prayer, but little devils began to brainwash him. Because of them, Ivan killed the monastery's cow. For this and other sins he was locked in a cellar, and there he read newspapers and began to prophesy. Then they took him into the forest and put him in a hut, and locked him there. Then they called a doctor to him and he could not understand the prophet Ivan or the crazy one. And the doctor told him to let him out.
He ended up on the ship making his way to a church service. At this point, the passengers did not ask him anything else.
The image of Ivan Flyagin in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” was at one time honest and correct, and at another time cunning and merciless. I liked Ivan Flyagin because it seems to me that he has more good qualities than bad.
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The main character of the tale is a soldier. He is brave, determined and visionary, and also wants to have a good life. He agrees to help the old woman, without fear climbing into the hollow, where evil dogs await him.
Fate... An incomprehensible force that presents us with incredibly difficult challenges throughout our lives. Finding the will in yourself to overcome them or giving up, succumbing to temptation and floating with alluring ease along the river of life - this is the main choice, this is the basis of the human path.
Definitely the work of N.S. Leskov's "The Enchanted Wanderer" is a tale about the fate of a simple peasant Ivan Flyagin. His life path is mysterious, often filled with mysterious events and trials.
The positive and negative traits of the Russian national character were embodied in the image of Ivan.
Ivan Flyagin is like the heroes of epics going through various trials. Flyagin is as strong as the ancient Russian heroes, he handles horses just as skillfully, and even scolds the horse in a fairy-tale manner.
The narrator also emphasizes the portrait resemblance between the peasant and the hero: “he was a hero in the full sense of the word,” as well as “typical, simple-minded, kind.” The hero, who is characterized by the “frankness of a simple soul”, is distinguished by childish innocence, and subtly senses the beauty of nature. However, at the same time, he is rather callous: he does not understand why the listeners to whom he tells about the competition to the death with the “Tatar” are horrified. Ivan’s cruelty is manifested in his “revenge” on the cat, the limitations of his consciousness are visible in his attitude towards his own children: Flyagin does not recognize them as his own because they are unbaptized. Antagonistic traits coexist in this hero: senseless cruelty - kindness reaching the point of self-sacrifice; impulsiveness, hot temper - patience; susceptibility to temptation - an intuitive sense of truth, uncompromisingness in defending it.
The author shows the process of displacing base, animal instincts from the hero’s soul with high moral values: traveling across vast Rus', Ivan Severyanych moves from his own egoism to understanding the needs of other people and the willingness to suffer for them.
One of the most striking and turning points in the work was a terrible test of feeling.
The feeling of beauty given to Ivan from birth, developing, gradually ceases to be only an internal experience - it is enriched by a feeling of ardent attachment to the object of admiration. The starting point for the development of these feelings is the fatal meeting of Flyagin with the gypsy Grusha. This meeting is preceded by an extreme degree of spiritual emptiness, expressed in meaningless and wild binges, which is why the wanderer surrenders to the feeling without a trace.
The acquaintance takes place in a tavern. One cannot help but admire the skill of the writer, who painted an image that can truly be considered the most vivid and metaphorical in this story. More than once, wonderful things are said about the “beauty, nature, perfection” of a girl. But she has an unusual beauty. It’s not for nothing that Leskov repeatedly compares her to a “bright snake” - dangerous, untamed, but terribly beautiful. And that snake’s eyes are speaking - alive, intoxicating: “black, burning with fire,” with long eyelashes, the flap of which is like “the movement of bird wings.” And her fingers are “like wasps, crawling and rumbling.”
It is not without reason that both animals, to which the gypsy is likened, are mortally dangerous precisely because of their bites, which in an allegorical sense are Grushenka’s delightful singing. Her voice “hurts”, “drives you crazy”, “then it’s tormenting, it just takes the soul out of the body, and then suddenly, as soon as it’s enough, in a completely different way, and it’s as if it immediately puts your heart back in again.”
She seems ideal to him externally, but her inner beauty is not hidden from Flyagin’s eyes. And this indomitable beauty takes away Ivan’s freedom and reason.
Leskovsky’s hero, who has long been captivated by the beauty of the horse, suddenly discovers new horizons of beauty: the beauty of a woman, talent, the beauty of the human soul. The experienced charm of Grusha makes it possible for Ivan’s soul to reveal itself to the fullest. He was able to understand another person, feel someone else's suffering, and show brotherly selfless love and devotion.
But the events unfold into a tragic story of a woman’s fate, forced to love unrequitedly. At first, the gypsy is overwhelmed by a mutual romantic feeling for the prince. But Flyagin’s love is certainly stronger and more significant. The hero's feelings are so deep, and in love itself there is so much self-denial that the superiority of this high feeling over the fussy passion of the prince becomes completely obvious. And it’s true: soon his feelings cool down - he insults and leaves the gypsy for a lady of noble birth.
And Pear is a subtle nature that is inseparable from the world around her and strives to live in harmony with it. Along with the destruction of the surrounding harmony, the destruction of her personality also occurs. Because of her experiences, Grushenka lost her former beauty, lightness of character, and turned into an possessed shadow. Her fate in some way intersects with the fate of Bela from the novel “A Hero of Our Time”.
And, abandoned by the prince, she finds only in his servant, Ivan, genuine spiritual, friendly participation. For a gypsy, dishonor is a more terrible sin than death, so she cannot live peacefully after such a betrayal, and sees a way out of her situation only in death.
Leskov emphasizes that a woman is just a toy in the hands of men, in the hands of society, relatives who sold the girl to the prince without even thinking about her future fate. What remains for her, left by everyone, alone with her jealousy and burning hatred of her rival and the awareness of her own hopelessness? Death is the only way out for the heroine, because she, due to her hot gypsy blood, cannot “calm down with humility” and “forgive for the sake of past moments of happiness.”
Therefore, having met Ivan, seeing a kindred spirit in him, she asks him: “I no longer have the strength to live like this and suffer, seeing his betrayal and abuse of me... Stab me once with a knife against my heart.”
Pear cannot decide to commit suicide. She is a Christian, so she knows that she will commit a great sin. In addition, the heroine is afraid of committing an even greater sin: “If I live another day, I’ll kill him and her, and if I feel sorry for them, I’ll kill myself... I’ll kill my darling.”
“You alone loved me, my dear dear friend,” she said to Flyagin before her death. This was not the love of a man for a woman, but the Christian love of a brother for a sister, full of selfless compassion.
Having deeply felt Grusha’s grief, Flyagin kills her in order to save her from a grave sin: suicide and the murder of the child that she carried under her heart, the murder of the treacherous prince and his young wife. Thus, he took upon himself the most terrible mortal sin. However, the death of the gypsy, one way or another, remains suicide, and Ivan Severyanovich is tormented by one thought: “The soul that is now lost is a sinner, and it is my duty to suffer for it and to rescue it from hell.”
Let us remember the story of the “drinking priest” who prayed for the salvation of the souls of suicidal sinners. What is her connection to this story? For Ivan Severyanovich, the conviction of intercession for such unfortunate sinners as Grushenka is important. That is, Flyagin’s very first story is an eloquent sign that the hero will remember his love all his life.
But it is noteworthy that the hero could not stab the girl in the heart, and therefore pushed her off the cliff into the river. Perhaps he wanted to ease her fate by doing so. Or maybe he didn't have the guts to actually commit murder. But another version is more interesting. In Christianity, the shedding of blood is a symbol of judgment, atonement for sins. Ivan’s reluctance to shed blood is an indicator of his spiritual development: if at the very beginning his young and rough soul was ready to bring justice to the cat that had offended the chicks, then in this episode his soul showed its maturity, its moral wealth. The river can act as a symbol of spiritual cleansing. River water is sacred in biblical mythology: it is used to baptize people at the first initiation, wash away sins, cleanse the body and soul, and relieve fatigue - physical and mental. The fall of Pear into the river in a symbolic sense means her spiritual healing.
The life of N. S. Leskov was difficult and painful. Misunderstood and unappreciated by his contemporaries, he received blows from right-wing critics as not being loyal enough and from the left, the same N.A. Nekrasov, who could not help but see the depth of the writer’s talent, but did not publish it in his Sovremennik. And Leskov, the wizard of words, weaved patterns of Russian speech and lowered his heroes into those abysses in which Dostoevsky’s heroes painfully existed, and then raised them to heaven, where the world of Leo Tolstoy was.
He paved a path in our prose that connected these two geniuses. This is especially noticeable when you dive into the structure of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer.” Ivan Flyagin, whose characteristics will be presented below, either descends into the underworld, or soars to the heights of the spirit.
Hero's appearance
Leskov presents the enchanted wanderer as a typical Russian hero. He is enormous in stature, and the long black cassock and high cap on his head make him even larger.
Ivan is dark-skinned, over 50. His hair is thick, but streaked with lead grey. In stature and power, he resembles Ilya Muromets, the good-natured hero from Russian epics. This is what Ivan Flyagin looks like, whose characterization will reveal the connection between the external and the internal, his wanderings and the dynamics of his development.
Childhood and first murder
He grew up in a stable and knew the temperament of every horse, knew how to cope with the most restive horse, and this requires not only physical strength, but strength of spirit, which the horse will feel and even recognize in a child as its owner. And a strong personality grew up, who was morally somewhat undeveloped. The author tells in detail what Ivan Flyagin was like at that time. His characterization is given in the episode when he, just like that, from the fullness of his strength, which he had nowhere to use, playfully killed an innocent monk. There was just a swing of the whip, with which the eleven-year-old boy hit the monk, and the horses bolted, and the monk, falling, immediately died without repentance.
But the soul of the murdered man appeared to the boy and promised that he would die many times, but would still become a monk without perishing on the roads of life.
Rescue of the noble family
And right there next to Leskov, like stringing beads, tells a story about the exact opposite case, when, again without thinking about anything, Ivan Flyagin saves the lives of his masters. His characteristics are courage and daring, which the fool does not even think about, but again simply acts without any thought.
God led the child, and he saved him from certain death in a deep abyss. These are the abysses into which Leskov immediately throws his character. But from a young age he is completely unselfish. Ivan Flyagin asked for an accordion for his feat. The characteristics of his subsequent actions, for example, refusing a lot of money for the ransom of a girl with whom he was forced to babysit, will show that he never seeks benefits for himself.
Second murder and escape
Quite calmly, in a fair fight, he killed (and it was a dispute over who would beat whom with a whip), as if it was supposed to be, the Tatar Ivan Flyagin. The characteristics of this act show that 23-year-old young Ivan has not matured enough to evaluate his own actions, but is ready to accept any, even immoral, rules of the game that are offered to him.
And as a result, he is hiding from justice among the Tatars. But in the end, he is in captivity, in a Tatar prison. Ivan will spend ten years with his “non-religious saviors” and will yearn for his homeland until he runs away. And he will be driven by determination, endurance and willpower.
Test of love
On his life's journey, Ivan will meet a beautiful singer, the gypsy Grushenka. She is so beautiful in appearance that Ivan is breathtaking from her beauty, but her spiritual world is also rich.
The girl, feeling that Flyagin will understand her, tells her simple, eternal girlish grief: her beloved played with her and abandoned her. But she cannot live without him and is afraid that she will either kill him along with his new lover, or commit suicide. Both frighten her - this is not Christian. And Grusha asks Ivan to take the sin on his soul - to kill it. Ivan was embarrassed and did not dare at first, but then pity for the girl’s unrequited torment outweighed all his doubts. The strength of her suffering led to Ivan Flyagin pushing Grusha into the abyss. The characteristic of this act is the special side of humanity. Killing is scary, and Christ’s commandment says: “Thou shalt not kill.” But Ivan, transgressing through her, reaches the highest level of self-sacrifice - he sacrifices his immortal soul to save the girl’s soul. While he is alive, he hopes to atone for this sin.
Becoming a soldier
And here again chance confronts Ivan with someone else’s grief. Under a false name, Ivan Severyanych Flyagin goes to war, to certain death. The characteristics of this episode in his life are a continuation of the previous one: compassion and sacrifice lead him to this act. What is higher than everything? To die for the fatherland, for the people. But fate is protecting him - Ivan has not yet passed all the tests that she is going to send him.
What is the meaning of life?
A wanderer, a wanderer, a wanderer, Ivan is a seeker of truth. For him, the main thing is to find the meaning of life associated with poetry. The image and characterization of Ivan Flyagin in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” enable the author to embody the dreaminess characteristic of the people themselves. Ivan conveys the spirit of seeking truth. Ivan Flyagin is a wretched man who has experienced so much in his life that it would be enough for several people. He takes upon his soul countless sufferings, which take him to a new, higher spiritual orbit, in which life and poetry are united.
Characteristics of Ivan Flyagin as a storyteller
Flyagin-Leskov's tale is deliberately slowed down, as in an epic, thoughtful song. But when the forces of events and characters gradually accumulate, it becomes dynamic and impetuous. In the episode of bridling a horse that even the Englishman Rarey cannot handle, the method of storytelling is dynamic and sharp. Descriptions of horses are given in such a way that folk songs and epics are recalled. The horse in chapter 6 is compared to a bird that does not fly by its own strength.
The image is extremely poetic and closes with Gogol’s bird-troika. This prose should be read declamatory, slow, like a prose poem. And there are many such poems. What is the episode at the end of the 7th chapter worth, when the tormented wanderer prays so that the snow under his knees melts, and where the tears fell, grass appears in the morning. This is said by a lyrical poet - a passion-bearer. This and other miniatures have the right to a separate existence. But those inserted by Leskov into the larger narrative give it the necessary coloring, an enriching reflection.
Characteristic plan of Ivan Flyagin
When writing an essay, you can be guided by this brief plan:
- Introduction - an enchanted wanderer.
- Character's appearance.
- Wandering.
- Amulet for life.
- "Sinfulness" of Ivan.
- Immeasurable heroic forces.
- Hero's traits.
In conclusion, it should be said that N.S. Leskov himself walked the earth as an enchanted traveler, although he saw life in all its multilayeredness. The poetry of life was revealed to N. S. Leskov in contemplation and reflection, in the word. Perhaps the key to “The Enchanted Wanderer” is F. Tyutchev’s poem “The Lord send your joy...”. Re-read and ponder the pilgrim's path.
The epithet “enchanted” increases the feeling of poetry in the figure of the traveler. Enchanted, captivating, bewitched, driven crazy, conquered - the range of this spiritual quality is great. For the writer, the enchanted wanderer was a characteristic figure of a person to whom one could entrust part of one’s dreams, making him the spokesman for the cherished thoughts and aspirations of the people.