Why does Nekrasov call Yakov an “exemplary and faithful” slave?
Why did the conflict between the landowner and the peasant arise and how was it resolved?
(In the story close up two images are shown - Mr. Polivanov and his faithful servant Yakov. The landowner is “greedy”, “stingy”, “cruel”.
In the teeth of an approximate slave
Jacob the faithful
As he walked, he blew with his heel.
About Yakov “the faithful,” the slave of the landowner Polivanov, it is said this way:
People of servile rank -
Real dogs Sometimes:
The heavier the punishment,
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
Yakov appeared like this from his youth,
Yakov had only joy:
To groom, protect, please the master...
Before us is a voluntary slave, a peasant, slavishly devoted to his master, who has lost his human dignity. But even this creature cannot bear the insult inflicted on him by Polivanov, so cruel is the landowner’s arbitrariness. By depicting the master Polivanov and the serf Yakov in their direct confrontation, the author shows that the conflict existing between the landowner and the peasant cannot be resolved “peacefully”, in good conscience:
No matter how much my uncle asked for his nephew,
The rival's master became a recruit.
The reader learns that the peasants take revenge on the master when the slave Yakov “fooled” and “drank the dead woman”:
...It’s awkward without Yakov,
whoever serves is a fool, a scoundrel!
Anger has been boiling for a long time in everyone,
Fortunately, there is a case: be rude, take it out!
Yakov came up with a terrible, cruel revenge: he committed suicide in front of the landowner. Jacob's protest made the landowner realize his sin:
The master returned home, lamenting:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!)
"About two great sinners"
Why did the elder decide to tell his secret to the master?
(The legend talks about the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Kudeyar, who committed grave sins, had his conscience awakened, he repented, and God showed him the way to salvation:
Elder in prayer vigil
A certain saint appeared
Rek: “Not without God’s providence
You chose an age-old oak tree,
With the same knife that he robbed,
Cut it with the same hand!”
He told his secret in teaching to a sinner.)
What does the sir's answer indicate?
(The moral influence turns out to be in vain. The master’s conscience remained deaf to the calls of the elder. In turn, the noble master addresses the following teaching:
You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves do I destroy?
I torment, torture and hang,
I wish I could see how I sleep!
These words provoke the elder’s furious anger, and he kills Pan Glukhovsky.)
What prompted the repentant robber to do this act?
(The anger in the soul of the sinner is born of sympathy for those peasants who endured the cruel bullying of Pan Glukhovsky.)
In this legend, as in the story about Jacob, the theme of cruel mockery of the peasants again sounds. But a different solution, a way out, is offered. If Yakov does not want to “get his hands dirty with murder,” then the elder kills Pan Glukhovsky. And it is for murder, reprisal against the tyrant, the oppressor of the people, that he receives forgiveness of sins:
Just now pan bloody
He fell head first on the saddle.
A huge tree collapsed,
The echo shook the whole forest.
The tree collapsed and rolled down
The monk is off the burden of sins!
In what ideological meaning legends?
(The repentant sinner found his salvation by taking the path of intercession for the people. Reprisal against the tyrant is affirmed as the only possible way to resolve the irreconcilable conflict of the people with the oppressors. The legend asserts the moral right of the people to deal with their enemies: Kudeyar is forgiven all sins for the murder of the cruel oppressor of the people. )
"Peasant Sins"
Who are the heroes of the story? How is this story different from the first stories?
(Before us again are the same heroes - the master and the peasant. But, unlike the first two stories, here the master committed good deed:
From chains to freedom
Eight thousand souls are released!
And a man from the people - the peasant elder Gleb - betrayed his fellow countrymen, ruined eight thousand souls of the peasants. After the death of the admiral, his distant relative:
I told him everything, judged him
Mountains of gold, gave up his freedom...
Gleb - he was greedy - is tempted:
The will is burned!
The theme of the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor is heard again, but it already poses the problem of peasant sin. Elder Gleb, out of greed and for his own benefit, doomed his fellow countrymen to the torment of slavery and became the culprit of the people's grief.)
The sin of betraying the people's interests within the peasantry itself turns out to be the greatest sin. The people will not achieve “freedom”, but will “toil forever” as long as there are traitors in their midst and a patient attitude towards them:
Oh man! man! you are the sinner of all,
And for that you will suffer forever!
The story of the “branded” convict, murderer and “hero of the Holy Russian” Savely is naturally continued by the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World", originally titled “Who is the greatest sinner of all. - Who is the holiest of all. - The Legend of Serfdom." The analysis of the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” is particularly difficult, and it is associated with the absence of a canonical text. Prepared for the December issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski and banned by censorship, the chapter was thoroughly redone by Nekrasov for the next issue of the magazine, but was not published during the writer’s lifetime. In an effort to restore the text that had suffered from the censor's scissors or was corrected by the poet himself, who submitted to the will of the censor, the publishers of the poem included lines from different editions - the draft manuscript, the text prepared for typesetting and prohibited, as well as the text redone by the author after the censor's ban. And this combination of lines from different editions certainly changes the meaning of the images and the pathos of the chapter.
The author himself pointed out the plot connection between “The Feast” and “The Last One.” Central event chapter - “a feast for the whole world”, arranged by the Vakhlaks after the death of Prince Utyatin. Not knowing that what they received as a reward for their “gum” was not meadows, but a lawsuit with their heirs, they rejoice in their new life. “Without corvée... without taxes... / Without a stick... is it true, Lord?” - these thoughts of Vlas convey the general mood of the Vakhlaks:
In everyone's chest
A new feeling was playing,
It was as if she was carrying them out
Mighty Wave
From the bottom of a bottomless abyss
To the light, where the endless
A feast is prepared for them!
The word “feast” in the chapter has several meanings: it is a “remembrance for the fortresses,” a holiday that the Vakhlak men organized when they learned that the old prince had died. This is, according to N.N.’s definition. Skatov, “a spiritual feast, the awakening of peasants to a new life.” “Feast” is also a metaphor for the “Vakhlat” understanding of life as an eternal holiday - one of the peasant illusions, which will very soon be shattered by life itself. "Feast", according to popular beliefs, is a symbol happy life: It is with a “feast” that many Russian fairy tales end. But, unlike fairy tales, the “feast” of the Vakhlaks in Nekrasov’s poem does not mean the end of the trials. It is no coincidence that from the very beginning of the chapter the author warns that the peasants will soon face a long legal battle over the meadows.
LEGENDS ABOUT SERFORMITY AND THEIR ROLE IN THE NARRATOR
The chapter is made up of the conversations and disputes of the peasants, the legends they tell, the songs they sing. Remembering the past, various “occasions” and legends about serfdom, songs born by herself tragic life, the Vakhlaks seem to relive long centuries of slavery in one night. But the author’s task is not only to show how keenly the peasants remember everything they experienced, how deeply slavery affected their souls. Listening to stories about the past, the Vakhlaks gradually change themselves: sympathy or painful silence after the next story increasingly turns into argument. For the first time, the peasants are asking the question: on whose conscience is the great sin - slavery. “The Russian people are gathering their strength / And learning to be citizens” - these words from Grisha Dobrosklonov’s song very accurately convey what is happening before the reader’s eyes, the Vahlaks’ passionate search for the truth, difficult work souls.
Let us note this feature of the narrative: the author describes each narrator in detail, gives a clear idea of both his character and his fate. He is equally attentive to the men’s reaction to the story. Taking each story to heart, empathizing with the characters or condemning them, the men express their innermost thoughts. The combination of three points of view: the author’s, the narrator’s and the listeners allows us to understand Nekrasov’s task: he strives not only to reveal to the reader popular opinion about the most important questions of life: what is sin and what is holiness, but also to show that this opinion can change, become more complicated, approach true essence phenomena.
The movement of the listeners towards the truth is clearly visible from their attitude to the story “About Yakov the faithful - an exemplary slave.” It is known that Nekrasov did not agree with the censor’s demand to exclude it from the chapter, even under the threat of arresting the magazine book where the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” was placed. "<...>Throw out the story of Jacob<...>I can’t - the poem will lose its meaning,” he asserted in one of his letters. The story of Yakov - an “opportunity” that “cannot be more wonderful”, is told by the former servant of Baron Sineguzin (as the Vakhlaks of Tizenhausen call it). He himself suffered a lot from the mistress’s eccentricities, a servant who “jumped into arable farming from the start,” “a martyr running up,” i.e. a man who came to Vakhlachin and suffered a lot in his life, he tells the story of the footman Yakov. The narrator characterizes master Yakov as a “man of low birth” who bought the estate with bribes. He is stingy and cruel - not only towards serfs, but also towards loved ones. Yakov got the most from him, but
People of servile rank -
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment,
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
The limit to Yakov’s patience came only when the master sent his beloved nephew to serve as a soldier. The servant took revenge on the master: he took him to the Devil's Ravine and hanged himself in front of his eyes. The death of a faithful servant, the night spent by a helpless master in a ravine, made him realize for the first time the sinfulness of his life:
The master returned home, lamenting:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!
The last words of the “opportunity” undoubtedly express the opinion of the former servant: “You, master, will be an exemplary slave, / Remember the faithful Jacob until the day of judgment!” But for the author, the essence of this story is not only to show the ingratitude of the masters, driving faithful servants to suicide, i.e. remind us of the “great sin of the Lord.” There is another meaning in this story: Nekrasov again writes about the boundless patience of “slaves”, whose affection cannot be justified moral qualities their owner. It is interesting that, after listening to this story, some men feel sorry for both Yakov and the master (“What an execution he took!”), others only for Yakov. “Great is the noble sin!” - the sedate Vlas will say, agreeing with the narrator. But at the same time this story changed the way the men thought: new topic entered their conversation new question Now they are occupied: who is the greatest sinner of all. The dispute will force a new understanding of the story about Jacob: returning later to this story, the listeners will not only feel sorry for Jacob, but also condemn him, they will talk not only about the “great sin of the nobility,” but also about the sin of “the unfortunate Jacob.” And then, not without the help of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they will point out the true culprit: “it’s all the fault of the ‘strength’:
The snake will give birth to baby snakes,
And the support is the sins of the landowner,
The sin of Jacob the unfortunate<...>
No support - no landowner,
Bringing it to a loop
A diligent slave,
No support - no yard,
By avenging suicide
To your villain!
But in order to come to this idea, to accept it, the Vakhlaks had to listen to other, no less sad stories about serfdom, understand them, and realize the deep meaning of the legends. It is characteristic that the story of the faithful slave and the ungrateful master is followed by the story of two great sinners - the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. She has two narrators. The pilgrim-pagan Ionushka Lyapushkin heard it from the Solovetsky monk Father Pitirim. Thanks to such storytellers, the legend is perceived as a parable - that’s what Nekrasov himself called it. This is not just an “opportunity” that “cannot be more wonderful,” but a story filled with deep wisdom that has a universal meaning.
Two destinies are contrasted and compared in this legend-parable: the fate of the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Both of them are great sinners, both are murderers. Kudeyar is a “villain”, a “man-beast” who killed many innocent people - “you can’t count a whole army.” “A lot of cruel, terrible things” are also known about Pan Glukhovsky: he kills his slaves, not considering it a sin. Researchers rightly point out that the lord’s surname is symbolic: he is “deaf to the suffering of the people.” The lawless robber and the lawful owner of serf souls are equal in their atrocities. But a miracle happens to Kudeyar: “suddenly the Lord awakened the conscience of the fierce robber.” Kudeyar struggled with the pangs of conscience for a long time, and yet “the villain’s conscience overpowered him.” However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not atone for his guilt. And then he had a vision: to cut off the centuries-old oak with that knife “that he robbed”: “As soon as the tree collapses, / The chains of sin will fall.” For many years They go through hard work: but the oak collapsed only when the monk kills Pan Glukhovsky, who boasts that he “has not longed for a long time” salvation, does not feel the pangs of conscience.
How to understand the meaning of this legend? Researchers see here a call for a peasant revolution, “to deal with the oppressors”: the chains of sin will fall from the men when they put an end to their tormentors. But Glukhovsky is not just an “oppressor,” and it is not a serf or a peasant who kills him (Nekrasov, by the way, removed all references to Kudeyar’s peasant past from the text), but a monk. Glukhovsky is a great sinner not only because “he destroys slaves, torments, tortures and hangs”, but also because he does not recognize the mockery of serfs and even the murder of peasants as a sin, he is deprived of the pangs of conscience, “has long been longing” for salvation, i.e. e. does not believe in God and God’s judgment - and this is truly a mortal, great sin. The monk, who atoned for his sins by killing an unrepentant sinner, appears in the parable as an instrument of God's wrath. One of the researchers accurately noted that the monk at the moment of murder is “a passive figure, he is controlled by other forces, which is emphasized by the “passive” verbs: “became”, “felt.” But most importantly, his desire to raise a knife against Glukhovsky is called a “miracle,” which directly indicates divine intervention.
The idea of the inevitability of a higher, God’s judgment over unrepentant criminals, with whom the landowners who did not admit their sin, who killed or tortured their legally owned serfs, are equated, was also affirmed by the final words of the parable: “Glory to the omnipresent Creator / Today and forever and ever!” Nekrasov was forced to change these final words after the chapter was banned by the censor. New ending: “Let us pray to the Lord God: / Have mercy on us, dark slaves!” - sounds less strong - this is a call to God's mercy, an expectation of mercy, and not an unwavering belief in quick judgment, although the thought of God as the supreme judge remains. The poet “consciously violates church norms for the sake, as it seems to him, of restoring the “Christian” norm and Christian truth, which does not differ from human truth. This is how murder is justified in the legend, which is given the significance of a Christian feat.”
The story of two great sinners is included in the section “Wanderers and Pilgrims.” As the researchers noted, Nekrasov attached special meaning this section: there are five options. The section itself reveals another side of the grandiose picture created by Nekrasov folk life. Truly, the Russian people are many-sided and contradictory; the soul of the Russian people is complex, dark, and often incomprehensible: they are easy to deceive, easy to pity. Entire villages went “begging in the fall.” But the poor people gave to the false sufferers: “In the people’s conscience / The decision was fixed / That there is more misfortune here than lies<...>" Talking about wanderers and pilgrims wandering the roads of Russia, the author also reveals the “front side” of this phenomenon: among the wanderers one can meet those who are “all saints” - ascetics and helpers of the people. They remind us of the true purpose of man - “to live like a god.” What is “holiness” in the understanding of the people? This is the life of Fomushka:
A board and a stone to the head,
And food is only bread.
“Old Believer Kropilnikov,” the “obstinate prophet,” the old man, “whose whole life / Now the will, now the prison,” also lives “divinely.” Living according to the laws of God, he “reproaches the laity with godlessness,” “calls them into the dense forests to save themselves,” and does not retreat from the authorities, preaching God’s truth. The townswoman Efrosinyushka also appears as a truly saint:
Like God's messenger,
The old lady appears
In cholera years;
Buries, heals, messes around
With the sick. Almost praying
Peasant women look at her...
The attitude of the peasants towards wanderers and their stories reveals not only the compassion of the Russian man, his understanding of holiness as life “in a divine way”, but also the responsiveness of the Russian soul to the heroic, holy, sublime, the need of the Russian man for stories about great deeds. The author describes only the peasants' perception of one story: the heroic death of the Athonite monks who took part in the Greek uprising against the Turks. Telling how shocked all members of a large peasant family - from young to old - are by this heroic tragedy, the author utters words about the soul of the people - good soil, waiting only for the sower, about the “broad path” of the Russian people:
Who has seen how he listens
Your visiting wanderers
Peasant family
He will understand that no matter what work,
Nor eternal care,
Not the yoke of slavery for a long time,
Not the pub itself
More to the Russian people
No limits set:
There is a wide path before him.
The story of peasant sin, told by Ignatius Prokhorov, fell on this “good soil.” Ignatius Prokhorov was already familiar to readers: he was first mentioned in the chapter “The Last One.” A former vakhlak who became a “rich St. Petersburg resident,” he did not take part in the “stupid comedy.” A peasant by birth, he knows firsthand about all the hardships of the peasant’s lot and at the same time looks at peasant life from the outside: many things, after living in St. Petersburg, are clearer and clearer to him. It's no coincidence that former peasant and the story of the peasant sin is entrusted - the right of trial over the peasant himself. The story of the elder Gleb, who burned the will, according to which eight thousand souls received freedom, is compared by the narrator with the betrayal of Judas: he betrayed the most dear, the most sacred - freedom.
This story crowns the stories of the past. Author special attention pays attention to the perception of this story: several times Ignatius tried to start this story, but the very idea that a man could be the biggest sinner caused protest from the Vakhlaks, especially Klim Lavin. Ignatius was not allowed to tell his story. But the debate about “who is the worst sinner of all” and the legends they heard about serfdom prepared the souls of the Vakhlaks for the story of peasant sin. Having listened to Ignatius, the crowd of men responds not with silence, as in the story of two great sinners, nor with sympathy, as in the story of Jacob. When Ignatius Prokhorov ends the story with the words:
God forgives everything, but Judas sin
It doesn't say goodbye.
Oh man! man! you are the sinner of all,
And for that you will suffer forever! -
the crowd of men “jumped to their feet, / A sigh was heard, / “So here it is, the peasant’s sin!” Truly a terrible sin!” / Indeed: we will forever suffer<...>" The story and these words of Ignatius Prokhorov made a grave impression on the Vakhlaks, because each of the listeners begins to think about his guilt, to himself, to his participation in the “stupid comedy”, applies these words. As if by magic, the expressions on the peasants’ faces and their behavior change:
The poor have fallen again
To the bottom of a bottomless abyss,
Quiet, humbled<...>
Of course, it is important to answer the question: does the author agree with the opinion of his hero? It is interesting that Ignatius’s opponent is not only the cunning and greedy Klim Lavin, but also Grisha Dobrosklonov. The main thing he inspires in the Vakhlaks is “that they are not the ones responsible / For Gleb the accursed, / Strengthen everything with fault!” This idea is undoubtedly close to Nekrasov, who showed how “strong the habit” of slavery is over the peasant, how slavery breaks human soul. But it is no coincidence that the author makes this story the final one among the legends about serfdom: recognizing oneself not only as a victim, but also as responsible for “lacking,” to use Nekrasov’s word, leads to purification, to awakening, to a new life. The motive of a clear conscience - recognized responsibility for the past and present, repentance - is one of the most important in the poem. In the final song for the chapter “Rus”, it is “a calm conscience”, along with “tenacious truth”, that is recognized as the source of “people’s strength”, “mighty strength”. It is important to note that in the works of the Russian righteous, which seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov should have known, the condition for the “return of bliss” to the life of humanity was considered “contrition in the hearts human lives, contrary to God, and the planting of a new, holy and God-pleasing life.” The clear conscience of the people, their golden heart, “tenacious truth”, which evokes readiness for sacrifice, are affirmed as the source of the people’s strength, and therefore their happy future.
ABOUT THE EXEMPLARY SLAVE - YAKOV VERNY
There was a gentleman of low birth,
He bought a village with bribes,
He lived in it continuously for thirty-three years,
He took liberties, reveled, drank bitter things.
Greedy, stingy, did not make friends with the nobles,
I only went to see my sister for tea;
Even with relatives, not only with peasants,
Mr. Polivanov was cruel;
Having married my daughter, my husband
He flogged them and drove them both away naked,
In the teeth of an exemplary slave,
Jacob the faithful
Walking around he hit with his heel.
People of servile rank -
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment,
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
Yakov appeared like this from his youth,
Yakov had only joy:
To groom, protect, please the master
Yes, rock my little nephew.
So they both lived to old age.
The master's legs began to wither,
I went for treatment, but my legs didn’t come back to life...
Full of partying, playing around and singing!
The eyes are clear
The cheeks are red
Plump hands are as white as sugar,
Yes, there are shackles on my feet!
The landowner lies quietly under his robe,
He curses his bitter fate,
Yakov with his master: friend and brother
The master is calling faithful Yakov.
The two of us whiled away the winter and summer,
They played cards more
We went to see my sister to relieve boredom
Twelve versts in good days.
Yakov himself will carry him out and lay him down,
He himself will take the long distance to his sister,
He will help you get to the old lady yourself,
So they lived happily - for the time being...
Jacob's nephew, Grisha, grew up
At the master’s feet: “I want to get married!”
- "Who is the bride?" - "The bride is Arisha."
The master answers: “I’ll drive it into the coffin!”
He thought to himself, looking at Arisha:
“If only God could move his legs!”
No matter how much my uncle asked for his nephew,
The rival's master became a recruit.
I seriously offended the exemplary slave,
Jacob the faithful
Master, the slave has fooled me!
I'm dead drunk... It's awkward without Yakov,
Whoever serves is a fool, a scoundrel!
Anger has been boiling in everyone for a long time,
Fortunately, there is a case: be rude, take it out!
The master either asks or swears like a dog,
So two weeks passed.
Suddenly his faithful servant returns...
The first thing is to bow to the ground.
It’s a pity for him, you see, he’s become legless:
Who will be able to comply with it?
“Just do not remember cruel deeds;
I will carry my cross to the grave!”
Again the landowner lies under his robe,
Again Yakov sits at his feet,
Again the landowner calls him brother.
"Why are you frowning, Yasha?" - "Muddy!"
A lot of fungi were strung on threads,
We played cards, drank some tea,
Pour cherries and raspberries into drinks
And they gathered to have some fun with their sister.
The landowner smokes, lies carefree,
I'm glad to see the clear sun and greenery.
Yakov is gloomy, speaks reluctantly,
Jacob's reins are trembling,
Gets baptized. “Forget me, evil spirit!”
Whispers, “scatter!” (his enemy was stirring up),
They're going... To the right is a wooded slum,
Its name has been since ancient times: Devil's Ravine;
Yakov turned and drove down the ravine,
The master was taken aback: “Where are you going, where are you going?”
Yakov doesn't say a word. We passed at a pace
Several miles; not the road - trouble!
Pits, dead wood; running along the ravine
Spring waters, trees rustle...
The horses began to stand - and not a step further,
Pine trees stick out like a wall in front of them.
Yakov, without looking at the poor master,
He began to unharness the horses,
Faithful to Yash, trembling, pale,
The landowner then began to beg.
Yakov listened to the promises - and rudely,
He laughed evilly: “I found the murderer!
I will dirty my hands with murder,
No, it’s not for you to die!”
Yakov jumped onto a tall pine tree,
The reins at the top strengthened it,
He crossed himself, looked at the sun,
He put his head in a noose and lowered his legs!..
What passions of God! hanging
Yakov is swinging rhythmically over the master.
The master rushes about, sobs, screams,
One echo responds!
Stretching his head, his voice strained
Master - the screams are in vain!
The Devil's Ravine is wrapped in a shroud,
At night the dew is heavy there,
You can't see Zgi! only owls scurry about,
Spreading its wings on the ground,
You can hear the horses chewing leaves,
Quietly ringing the bells.
It’s like a cast iron fits - they burn
Someone's two round, bright eyes,
Some birds are flying noisily,
I hear they settled nearby.
The raven croaked alone above Yakov.
Chu! There were up to a hundred of them!
The gentleman hooted and threatened with a crutch!
What passions of God!
The master lay in the ravine all night,
Drive away birds and wolves with groans,
In the morning the hunter saw him.
The master returned home, lamenting:
"I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!"
You, master, will be an exemplary slave,
Jacob the faithful
Remember until judgment day!
“Sins, sins,” was heard
From all sides. - It’s a pity for Yakov,
Yes, it’s creepy for the master too, -
What a punishment he received!”
- “Sorry!..” They also heard
Two or three stories are scary
And they argued heatedly
About who is the worst sinner of all.
One said: innkeepers,
Another said: landowners,
And the third is men.
It was Ignatius Prokhorov,
Carrying out transportation
Sedate and prosperous
The man is not an empty talker.
He saw all sorts of species,
Traveled all over the province
Both along and across.
You should listen to him
However, the Vakhlaks
They got so angry, they didn’t let me
Say a word to Ignatius,
Especially Klim Yakovlev
He swaggered: “You’re a fool!..”
- “You should have listened first...”
- "You're a fool..."
- “And that’s all you,
I see, fools! -
Suddenly inserted a rude word
Eremin, merchant brother,
Buying from peasants
Anything, bast shoes,
Whether it's veal or lingonberries,
And most importantly - a master
Be on the lookout for opportunities
When were the taxes collected?
And the Vakhlatsky property
Was put under the hammer.-
They started an argument,
But they didn’t miss the point!
Who is the worst sinner of all? think!"
- “Well, who? Speak!”
- "We know who: robbers!"
And Klim answered him:
"You were not serfs,
There was a great drop,
Not your bald spot!
I've filled my purse: I'm imagining
There are robbers everywhere for him;
Robbery is a special article,
Robbery has nothing to do with it!”
- "Robber for robber"
Interceded!" - Prasol said,
And Lavin - jump to him!
"Pray!" - and put some prasol in your teeth.
"Say goodbye to your bellies!"
And spray in Avalanche's teeth.
"Oh, fight! Well done!"
The peasants parted
Nobody encouraged
Nobody separated.
Blows rained down like hail:
"I'll kill you! Write to your parents!"
- “I’ll kill you! Call the priest!”
It ended with Prasol
Klim squeezed his hand like a hoop,
The other grabbed his hair
And he bent with the word “bow”
Merchant at his feet.
“Well, that’s it!” said Prasol.
Klim released the offender,
The offender sat on a log,
Wide checkered scarf
He wiped himself off and said:
“I took yours! Isn’t it amazing?
He doesn’t reap, he doesn’t plow, he wanders around
According to the Konovalsky position.
How can you not work up your energy?"
(The peasants laughed.)
- “Wouldn’t you like it yet?”
Klim said cheerfully.
"You thought not? Let's try!"
The merchant carefully removed the scent
And he spat in his hands.
"Open the lips of sin
The turn has come: listen!
And so I will reconcile you!" -
Suddenly Ionushka exclaimed,
Listening silently all evening,
Sighing and being baptized,
Humble praying mantis.
The merchant was glad; Klim Yakovlev
He kept silent. Sit down,
There was silence.
While traveling around the country, seven men meet many people with different destinies. Some talk about themselves, while walkers learn about others from the stories that people they meet share with them.
The image and characteristics of Yakov in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” appear in a separate part - the tale “About the exemplary slave, Yakov the Verny.” The plot is taken from real life, it causes controversy, different conclusions from readers and listeners. The author gives everyone the opportunity to evaluate the story and formulate their own opinion.
The Origins of the Jacob Story
N.A. Nekrasov was looking for data on serfdom. He studied historical documents, communicated and collected material for the poem. Lawyer A.F. Koni told him the story of a landowner who committed atrocities and made fun of serfs himself and with the help of a cruel coachman. It is difficult to say which of the two people was more merciless. The coachman's name was Malyuta Skuratov. Both real person negative and unpleasant. The brilliant poet approached history in his own way. He showed how he can change human psychology serfdom. Slavery led Jacob to death, although his fate could have ended completely differently. It’s easy to draw parallels even with the heroes of the poem: Yakov and Savely (buried the evil German alive), Yakov and the men (went to look for the truth), Yakov and the rebellious peasants. In Nekrasov, the landowner is cruel, and the slave is kind. Quality does not help a man become happy, but makes him weak-willed and weak.
Polivanov
The landowner is cruel and greedy. The poet speaks sparingly about him, but the reader understands the image of Polivanov. The village was acquired by the landowner with money from bribes. The author has no desire to call it the usual name. This is a “village”, something humiliating is felt in an estate without a name. The owner is cruel not only with the peasants who were given to him to manage. He deals with people close to him in his own way: he married his daughter, flogged her husband and kicked her out without a livelihood - “naked.” Polivanov’s leg disease does not change. He still hopes to get up and continue his abuse. The landowner sends the guy to become a soldier, hoping that he will get the bride.
Faithful slave Yakov
Particular cynicism sounds in the words of the poet when he shows the attitude of the landowner-owner to the faithful servant. Polivanov likes to humiliate Yakov. He hits the guy in the teeth with his heel. He hits slowly, casually, just for fun. Unlike real character– Malyuta Skuratova, your faithful servant is kind and compassionate. He is comparable to a dog who serves his master and forgets that he is a man. The author’s words about their fate sound offensive: gentlemen become dearer to them after heavy punishments. The attentive reader sees how a lonely person becomes attached in his soul to cruelty. Yakov not only cares about his owner, he loves his nephew Grisha. It is love that makes him bolder. He decides to ask Polivanov for a loved one, but receives a cruel refusal, ridicule and another mockery, similar to a kick in the foot. The serf decides to take revenge. But what could it be? Yakov is incapable of acting against those whom he loves all his life. He decides only to act against himself. Yakov hanged himself in front of the landowner.
Special Riot
Jacob's death scene is the subject of much controversy. Suicide in Rus' is a great sin, but there is no feeling of condemnation towards the peasant as if he were a hanged man. The author sparingly pronounces the phrase about the death of the slave. But the picture of the horror that Polivanov experienced is vivid and emotional:
"Devil's Ravine";
“Wrapped in a shroud”;
“You can’t see anything.”
Owls fly over the landowner, beating their wings, trying to get to him. The crows flock to prey. Someone's eyes glow in the darkness. The conscience awakens and the martyr realizes his sin, but it is too late. Perhaps Nekrasov is leaving him alive so that Polivanov understands who he lost and offended. Wanderers and simple listeners of history react to the riot-execution in different ways. Many people feel sorry for Yakov. Someone sympathizes with the master. Others understand that there is no point in feeling sorry for the masters, their memory is short, another slave will appear, and everything will start all over again.
The ideological meaning of stories about sinners (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)
It is not dull obedience—Friendly strength is needed. There are three chapters in the poem by N. A. Nekrasov: “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful”, “About two great sinners”, “Peasant sin” - united by the theme of sin. The author himself considered these parts of the work very important and vigorously objected to the censor’s banning of the story “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful.” This is what Nekrasov wrote to the head of the press department V.V. Grigoriev: “... made some sacrifices to the censor Lebedev, excluding a soldier and two songs, but I cannot throw out the story about Yakov, which he demanded under the threat of arresting the book - the poem will lose its meaning."
This chapter shows two images - Mr. Polivanov and his faithful servant Yakov. The landowner was “greedy, stingy... he was... cruel to the peasants...”. Despite this, Yakov “had only... joy: to groom, take care of, please the master,” and without seeing any gratitude from the owner (“In the teeth of the exemplary slave, the faithful Yakov, I blew with my heel as I walked.” ). Yakov forgave his master everything:
People of servile rank
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment,
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
The only thing he couldn’t stand was when the master gave his nephew as a recruit, seeing him as a rival. The author shows that the conflict that exists between the landowner and the peasant cannot be resolved peacefully:
No matter how much my uncle asked for his nephew,
The rival's master became a recruit.
The landowner's arbitrariness is so cruel that even Yakov, slavishly devoted to his master, having lost his human dignity, decides to take revenge. Revenge is cruel, terrible:
Yakov jumped onto a tall pine tree,
The reins at the top strengthened it,
He crossed himself, looked at the sun,
He put his head in a noose and lowered his legs!..
Yakov did not “dirty his hands with murder,” but committed suicide in front of the disarmed master. Such a protest made the landowner realize his sin:
The master returned home, lamenting:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!
The chapter “About Two Great Sinners” talks about two sinners: the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Kudeyar was the leader of twelve robbers, together they “shed a lot of blood of honest Christians.” But “suddenly the Lord awakened the Conscience of the fierce robber.”
Hearing the pleas for forgiveness, God showed the way to salvation: with the knife with which he killed, cut off the centuries-old oak tree. Years later, Pan Glukhovsky meets Kudeyar at this oak tree. Having heard the old man's story,“Mr. grinned:
Rescue
I haven't had tea for a long time,
In the world I honor only a woman,
Gold, honor and wine.
You need to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves do I destroy?
I torment, torture and hang,
I wish I could see how I sleep!
The hermit, overcome with anger, kills the master. What made the robber, who repented of his previous murders, take up the knife again? His anger was born of sympathy for the peasants of Pan Glukhovsky, who are forced to endure the bullying of their owner. The theme of cruel treatment of peasants is heard again. But the solution to this problem is different. Having killed the master, Kudeyar receives forgiveness:
Just now pan bloody
I fell my head on the saddle,
A huge tree collapsed,
The echo shook the whole forest.
A tree fell and a moose rolled over
The monk is off the burden of sins!..
The repentant sinner found his salvation by taking the path of intercession for the people.
The hero of the story “Peasant Sins” is the same: the master (“ammiral-widower”) and the peasant (his servant, Gleb). But here the master already committed a good deed before his death, signing a free document for all his peasants:
“From chain-links to freedom
Eight thousand souls are being released!”
But Gleb, seduced by the promises of an heir, “ruined” eight thousand souls of peasants: he allowed the will to be burned.
This chapter discusses the topic of peasant sin. Headman Gleb, for his own benefit, betrays his own fellow countrymen, dooming them to slavery:
For decades, until recently
Eight thousand souls were secured by the villain,
With family, with tribe; what a lot of people!
What a lot of people! Drop a stone into the water!
And this sin - the sin of betraying the interests of the people among the peasants themselves - turns out to be the most serious. The author shows that there will be no “freedom”, the people will “toil forever” as long as there are traitors among them and as long as the peasants tolerate them:
Oh man! Man! You are the most sinful of all
And for that you will suffer forever!
N. A. Nekrasov, trying to answer the question of how to throw off the chains of slavery and oppression, turns to Orthodox religion, attributing completely different features to Christian ethics than the official church. The author does not call to forgive enemies, to live in fear and obedience, but blesses the great anger of man, born of compassion and sympathy for the oppressed. Having examined the internal unity of all three chapters, one can see central problem poems: the peasants' path to freedom and happiness. These chapters contain main idea, which the author wanted to convey to the reader: it is necessary to fight for freedom and rights.