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 - also a bit far away, classicism is perfect - but somehow too perfect, in life such a clear division into “three calms” does not exist... 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. Romantic hero may be in love, but not necessarily (there are characters that 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 no... what's the main thing?
To understand this, let us remember what romanticism was all about. It was generated by 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 definitively degraded type of romantic hero in opera English composer B. Britten (1913-1976) “Peter Grimes”: main character here, too, he is opposed to the world of ordinary people in which he lives, he is also in eternal conflict with the inhabitants of his hometown and ultimately dies - but he is no different from his nearby neighbors, his ultimate dream is to make money more money to open a shop... such is the harsh sentence handed down to 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.
Definitions of the term "romantic hero"
Romantic hero- one of artistic images literature of romanticism.
● Existence « two worlds»: the world of the ideal, dreams and the world of reality. This leads romantic artists into a mood of despair and hopelessness, " world sorrow».
● Appeal to folk stories, folklore, interest in the historical past, search for historical consciousness.
To learn more about the theory of romanticism, use the presentation on this topic.
Typology of the romantic hero
Word cloud illustrating key character traits romantic hero
Typically, the types of romantic heroes can be represented as national, or else universal.
For example:
● Oddball Hero- ridiculous and ridiculous in the eyes of ordinary people and passers-by
● Lone Hero– rejected by society, aware of his alienness to the world
● "Byronic Hero"- an extra person, a “son of the century,” suffers from the contradictions of his own nature
● Hero-demonic personality– challenges the world, sometimes even God, a person doomed to be at odds with society
● A hero is a man of the people- rejected by society
The cloud is based on articles "The Romantic Hero in Western European Literature" from the Online Library of the Lyceum Publishing House. The main aspects are visually presented romantic in nature. Thus, the romantic hero appears as a person striving to search for the world of the romantic ideal. This is an exceptional personality, challenging the world around him, thirsting for a moral revolution. Such a person contradicts everyday life and dreams of spiritual perfection.
Analysis of the characters of different German authors
The romantic hero and society are opposing forces, as they represent two different concepts: spirituality and mediocrity. For Novalis, as an innovator, the romantic hero is an eternal wanderer in search of his great ideal and striving for self-improvement, in Hölderlin - lonely recluse And child of nature, deifying Love, and Hoffmann, with his intertwining with realism and romantic irony, has several secularized comical eccentric, capable of that no less, to childish delight and simple-minded faith in miracles. One way or another, all the characters are connected by the desire to indulge in feelings, while putting aside a cold mind. Exactly Love awakens the best in heroes, it opens their eyes to beautiful, truly important things, love transforms a romantic hero, encourages creativity, in it he finds the very embodiment of a dream. " Love is the main thing"- wrote Schilling.
The main traits of a romantic character that unite heroes literary works at different stages are displayed in a mental map.
The English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley said this about romanticism, fatally comparing it with clouds: “I know no permanence, I am always changing my appearance, but I will never die..”
“Poets of the Silver Age” - Mayakovsky entered the school of painting, sculpture and architecture. V. Ya. Bryusov (1873 – 1924). D. D. Burliuk. Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev was born on April 15, 1886. Acmeists. O. E. Mandelstam. From 1900-1907 Mandelstam studied at the Tenishevsky Commercial School. O. E. Mandelstam (1891 – 1938). Acmeism. V. V. Mayakovsky.
“About front-line poets” - From the first days of the war, Kulchitsky was in the army. Simonov gained fame even before the war as a poet and playwright. Sergei Sergeevich Orlov (1921-1977). In 1944, Jalil was executed by Moabit executioners. Surkov's poem "beats in cramped stove fire" was written in 1941. Simonov’s poem “Wait for Me,” written during the war, became widely known.
“On Poetry” - Indian Summer has arrived - Days of farewell warmth. Your wonderful sunshine plays with our river. And at dawn the cherry glue hardens in the form of a clot. And all around were azure flowers, spreading spicy waves... A journey along a poetic path. The idea ended badly - An old rope broke... The face of a birch tree is under a wedding veil and transparent.
“Romanticism in literature” - Lesson - lecture. Lermontov Mikhail Yurievich 1814-1841. Romanticism in Russian literature, late 18th and early 19th centuries. The theme is "humiliated and insulted." Philosophical tale. The romantic personality is a passionate personality. Historical novel; "Mtsyri". Passion. Walter Scott 1771-1832. The reasons for the emergence of romanticism.
“On Romanticism” - Larra. A.S. Pushkin. The Eternal Jew. Sacrifice yourself to save others. "The Legend of the Eternal Jew." Compositional features stories. "The Legend of Moses". M. Gorky. Which of the heroes is close to Old Woman Izergil: Danko or Larra? If you do nothing, nothing will happen to you. The basis of the romanticism style is the depiction of the inner world of man.
“Poets about nature” - Alexander Yesenin (father) and Tatyana Titova (mother). BLOK Alexander Alexandrovich (1880, St. Petersburg - 1921, Petrograd) - poet. A.A. Block. Russian writers of the 20th century native nature. Creative work. Landscape lyrics. Artistic and expressive means. S.A. Yesenin. The boy's grandmother knew many songs, fairy tales and ditties.
There are a total of 13 presentations in the topic
The word "romanticism" is sometimes used as a synonym for the concept of "romance". For example, when talking about youthful romanticism, they mean a tendency towards an idealistic, optimistic view of life, activity life position. Here we will talk about the second, cultural and literary meaning of the term “romanticism”.
Romanticism- last " big style"in the history of art, that is last direction, who has demonstrated himself in all areas of spiritual activity and artistic creativity: V fine arts, music, literature. Its emergence was preceded by two centuries of the unconditional dominance of rationalism in art. The literary embodiment of rationalism is classicism, it has accumulated significant aesthetic fatigue, and external event The French Revolution accelerated the change of literary eras. Romanticism is a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment, but it does not reject classicism recklessly, out of a single spirit of contradiction. The relationship between romantics and educators is the relationship between different generations in a family, when children refute the values of their fathers, without themselves realizing to what extent they are a product of their father’s upbringing.
Romanticism - highest point in the development of humanistic art, begun during the Renaissance, when man was proclaimed the measure of all things. The youth before whose eyes the drama unfolded French Revolution, experienced all its ups and downs, oscillating between delight, enthusiasm for the fall of the monarchy and horror at the execution of King Louis XVI and the Jacobin Terror. The revolution showed the utopianism of the Enlightenment ideal of reason as a natural basis human existence, exposed the unpredictability of history. Contemporaries recoiled from its violent methods, from the magnificent demagoguery of the leaders of the revolution, from France, which under Napoleon turned into an enslaver of peoples. Disappointment with the results of the French Revolution called into question the ideology of the Enlightenment that gave birth to it, and in the art of the post-revolutionary era - in romanticism - there was a complete change in ideological and aesthetic guidelines.
To replace the materialism and rationalism of the Enlightenment as philosophical basis creativity comes subjective idealism; socio-political issues, which occupied a central place in educational literature, are replaced by interest in the individual, taken outside the system public relations, because this traditional system collapsed, and on its ruins the outlines of a new, capitalist system only began to appear.
For romantics, the world is a mystery, a riddle, which can only be understood by the revelation of art. Fantasy, banished by the Enlightenment, returns to romantic literature, and the fantastic among the romantics embodies the idea of the fundamental unknowability of the world. They experience the world of romance like children - with all their senses, through play, they look at it through the prism of the heart, through the prism of the subjective emotions of the individual, and this perceiving consciousness is equal to everything else. to the outside world. Romantics exalt the individual and put him on a pedestal.
A romantic hero is always an exceptional nature, unlike the people around him; he is proud of his exclusivity, although it becomes the cause of his misfortunes, his incomprehensibility. The romantic hero challenges the world around him; he is in conflict not with individual people, not with socio-historical circumstances, but with the world as a whole, with the entire universe. Since a single personality is equal in size to the whole world, it must be as large-scale and complex as the whole world. Romantics therefore focus on depicting the spiritual, psychological life heroes, and inner world The romantic hero is entirely composed of contradictions. Romantic consciousness, in rebellion against everyday life, rushes to extremes: only heroes romantic works They strive for spiritual heights, become like the creator himself in their search for perfection, others in despair give themselves over to evil, not knowing the extent of the depth of moral decline. Some romantics look for an ideal in the past, especially in the Middle Ages, when direct religious feeling was still alive, others - in the utopias of the future. One way or another, the starting point of romantic consciousness is the rejection of dull bourgeois modernity, the affirmation of the place of art not just as entertainment, relaxation after working day dedicated to making money, but as an urgent spiritual need of man and society. The protest of the romantics against the self-interest of the “Iron Age” is expressed in the poem by E. A. Baratynsky “The Last Poet” (1835):
The age moves on its iron path, There is self-interest in the hearts, and the common dream is hour by hour more clearly and shamelessly occupied with the urgent and useful. In the light of enlightenment, Poetry's childhood dreams have disappeared, And generations are not concerned about it, Devoted to industrial concerns.
That's why the favorite hero romantic literature becomes an artist in in a broad sense words - writer, poet, painter and especially musician, because music, which directly affects the soul, was considered by the romantics to be the highest of the arts. Romanticism gave rise to new ideas about the tasks and forms of existence of literature, which we generally adhere to to this day. In terms of content, art henceforth becomes a rebellion against alienation and the transformation of a person, great in his calling, into a private individual. For the romantics, art became the prototype of creative work and pleasure, and the artist and the image of the romantic hero became the prototype of that integral, harmonious person who has no limit either on earth or in space. Romantic “escape from reality,” escape into the world of dreams, the world of the ideal, is the return to man of the consciousness of that true fullness of being, that calling that was taken from him by bourgeois society.
The most important achievements of romanticism were the discovery of the categories of historicism and nationality, as well as the development of the theory of romantic irony by the German theorist Friedrich Schlegel (1775-1854). He was a member of the earliest circle of German romantics - the Jena School, and his main work— “Fragments” (1797-1798). Here Schlegel expresses the idea that the era of a completely new art has arrived, which will not be aimed at repeating the ideal of antiquity, not at achieving perfection, but the meaning of its existence will lie in continuous search, in development: “Romantic poetry can never be completed, it is always in the making." For the first time, the criterion of perfection for Schlegel is not the degree of approximation to ancient models, but the degree of intensity of creation, not beauty, but aesthetic energy. Schlegel put forward the idea of universal art as the only perfect instrument for cognition and transformation of the world; he considered the artist to be the deputy of God, the creator on earth. But already the early romantics understood that such a high idea of art and the artist is utopian, that the artist is essentially just a person, and therefore any of his judgments are relative, and not absolute. The category of romantic irony is an awareness of the contradiction between romantic ideal and reality.
According to Friedrich Schlegel, romantic irony is the highest of liberties, the extreme degree of freedom, a captivating series of contradictions, a skillfully organized disorder. The artist must take an ironic position not only in relation to the world, but in relation to himself, to his creative process and to his work. That is, in the category of romantic irony, the artist voluntarily and openly admits his powerlessness in realizing the ideal. The difference between romantic irony and traditional irony is that in irony the artist makes fun of what lies outside him, and in romantic irony he makes fun of himself. In this category, a romantic break with reality takes revenge, romantic irony arises from the inability to solve the world's riddle, from the recognition of the limits of the embodiment of the ideal, from the emphasis on playful nature artistic creativity. Romantic irony turned out to be the most important discovery of romantic aesthetics.
The development of romanticism in different national literatures followed different paths. It depended on the cultural situation in specific countries, and not always those writers who were preferred by readers at home turned out to be significant on a pan-European scale. Yes, in history English literature Romanticism is embodied primarily by the Lake School poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but for European romanticism the most important figure among English romantics there was Byron.
The word ROMANTICISM.
NOVEL - love relationship between man and woman.
ROMANTIC - one who has a sublime, emotional attitude towards something.
ROMANCE - small musical composition for voice accompanied by instrument,
written on poems of lyrical content.
During the conversation, the teacher asks the question: “How are the meanings of these three words similar?” The term ROMANTICISM, the meaning of which you will learn in today's lesson, is also directly related to the concept of feeling.
Different eras - different criteria human assessments.
Society has always been important to the criterion by which a person could be assessed. Each era put forward different evaluation criteria. For example, ancient era considered a person from the point of view of his appearance, physical beauty: just remember that the sculptures of that time depict naked, physically developed people. External beauty has been replaced by spiritual beauty
The society of the 18th century was convinced that a person's strength lies in his mind. The world was created by God, and man's task is to intelligently improve this world. Thus, humanity entered the Age of Enlightenment. However, fanatical admiration for the power of reason, of course, could not exist for long: convictions are convictions, and in better side practically nothing changes. Quite the contrary: such ideas led to revolutionary upheavals and bloodshed (for example, under the slogan “In the name of reason!” there was a revolution in France), and by the end of the 18th century. There was a wave of disappointment in the power of the mind. The need for an alternative to it became obvious. This alternative has been found. What is opposed to reason in a person? Feelings.
As we have already said, it is with the concept of feeling that the term ROMANTICISM is associated. ROMANTICISM is a trend in culture that affirms the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative personality, the cult of nature, feelings and the natural in man.
Now the artist, turning to the connoisseur of beauty, appealed, first of all, to his feelings, and not to the mind, guided not by sober mental reflections, but by the dictates of the heart.
Dual world (antithesis)
First, let's remember the concept of ANTITHESIS. Find the antithesis in the following passages:
1. I am a king, I am a slave, I am a worm, I am a god.
2. They got together. Water and stone, Poetry and prose, ice and fire are not so different from each other...
3. Bright thoughts rise in my torn heart, And bright thoughts fall, burned by dark fire.
4. Today I triumph soberly, tomorrow I cry and sing.
5. You are a prose writer - I am a poet
you are rich - I am very poor.
Antithesis (from the Greek antithesis - opposition) - a comparison of sharply contrasting or opposing concepts and images to enhance the impression.
Suggested Answers:
1. king - slave worm - god
2. water - stone poetry - prose ice - fire
3. light - dark
4. today - tomorrow I triumph - I cry and sing
5. prose writer - poet rich - poor
What antithesis determined the transition from the previous era to the era of romanticism? MIND - FEELINGS. For understanding of ROMANTICism, the key concept is FEELING, which is opposed to REASON. An antithesis arises, which is reflected in the artist’s attitude towards the world around him. Reasonable reality does not find a response in the soul of a romantic: real world unfair, cruel, terrible. Looking for best artist dreams of going beyond reality: it is there, outside of existing life, that he has the opportunity to achieve perfection, a dream, an ideal.
This is how the DUAL WORLD characteristic of romanticism arises: “here” and “there”. The despised “here” is a modern romantic reality, where evil and injustice triumph. “There” is a certain poetic reality, which the romantic contrasts with real reality.
The question arises: where to find this “there”, this ideal world? Romantics find it both in their own soul and in other world, and in the life of uncivilized peoples, and in history. The reader is given this “there” through the prism of the artist’s view. But can romance filtered through the soul be everyday, prosaic? In no case! It, emphasizing the break with the prose of life, will certainly be very unusual, sometimes even unexpected for the reader.
Key Traits of a Romantic Hero
Rejection and denial of reality determined the specifics of the romantic hero. It is fundamentally new hero, the like of him was never known before
literature. He is in a hostile relationship with the surrounding society and is opposed to it. This is an extraordinary person, restless, most often lonely and with tragic fate. The romantic hero is the embodiment of romantic rebellion against reality. The romantic hero in the flesh is the English poet George Noel Gordon Byron (1788-1824).
Answer the questions yourself:
1. How does a romantic relate to reality?
Suggested answer: A romantic does not accept reality, he runs away from it.
2. Where is the romantic heading?
Suggested answer: a romantic strives for a dream, for an ideal, for perfection.
3. How are events, landscape, people depicted?
Suggested answer: events, landscape, people are depicted unusually, unexpectedly.
4. Where can a romantic find an ideal?
Suggested answer: the romantic finds his ideal in his own soul, in the other world, in the life of uncivilized peoples.
5. What becomes a cult for a romantic? Suggested answer: the romantic strives for freedom.
6. What is the meaning of life for a romantic?
Suggested answer: The meaning of life for a romantic is in rebellion against reality, in achievement, in gaining freedom.
7. How does fate test romance?
Suggested answer: Fate offers romance exceptional, tragic circumstances.