Characteristics of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov very ambiguous. Goncharov created it complex and mysterious. Oblomov separates himself from outside world, fences himself off from him. Even his home bears little resemblance to habitation.
WITH early childhood he saw a similar example among his relatives, who also fenced themselves off from the outside world and protected it. It was not customary to work in his home. When he, as a child, played snowballs with peasant children, they then warmed him up for several days. In Oblomovka they were wary of everything new - even a letter that came from a neighbor, in which he asked for a beer recipe, was afraid to open for three days.
But Ilya Ilyich remembers his childhood with joy. He idolizes the nature of Oblomovka, although this is an ordinary village, not particularly remarkable. He's brought up rural nature. This nature instilled in him poetry and a love of beauty.
Ilya Ilyich does nothing, just complains about something all the time and engages in verbiage. He is lazy, does nothing himself and does not expect anything from others. He accepts life as it is and does not try to change anything in it.
When people come to him and tell him about their lives, he feels that in the bustle of life they forget that they are wasting their lives in vain... And he does not need to fuss, act, does not need to prove anything to anyone. Ilya Ilyich simply lives and enjoys life.
It's hard to imagine him in motion, he looks funny. At rest, lying on the sofa, it is natural. He looks at ease - this is his element, his nature.
Let's summarize what we read:
- Appearance of Ilya Oblomov. Ilya Ilyich is a young man, 33 years old, of good appearance, of average height, plump. The softness of his facial expression showed him to be a weak-willed and lazy person.
- Marital status. At the beginning of the novel, Oblomov is not married, he lives with his servant Zakhar. At the end of the novel he gets married and is happily married.
- Description of the home. Ilya lives in St. Petersburg in an apartment on Gorokhovaya Street. The apartment is neglected; the servant Zakhar, who is as lazy as the owner, rarely sneaks into it. A special place in the apartment is occupied by a sofa, on which Oblomov lies around the clock.
- Behavior and actions of the hero. Ilya Ilyich can hardly be called an active person. Only his friend Stolz manages to bring Oblomov out of his slumber. The main character is lying on the sofa and only dreams that he will soon get up from it and take care of business. He cannot even solve pressing problems. His estate has fallen into disrepair and is not bringing in any money, so Oblomov doesn’t even have money to pay the rent.
- The author's attitude towards the hero. Goncharov has sympathy for Oblomov, he considers him kind, sincere person. At the same time, he sympathizes with him: it is a pity that a young, capable, not stupid man has lost all interest in life.
- My attitude towards Ilya Oblomov. In my opinion, he is too lazy and weak-willed, and therefore cannot command respect. At times he just infuriates me, I want to go up and shake him. I don't like people who live their lives so mediocrely. Perhaps I react so strongly to this hero because I feel the same shortcomings in myself.
The novel “Oblomov” is one of the brightest works of Russian literature of the 19th century, which even today excites readers with the severity of the questions raised by the author. The book is interesting, first of all, because the problems of the novel are revealed through the method of antithesis. The contrast between the main characters in Oblomov makes it possible to emphasize the conflict between different worldviews and characters, and also to better reveal inner world each character.
The action of the work unfolds around the destinies of the four main characters of the book: Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, Andrei Ivanovich Stolts, Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Pshenitsyna (some researchers supplement this list with Zakhar, but in terms of importance in the narrative he is still considered secondary acting persons). Through men's and female characters In the novel, the author analyzes various aspects of a person’s social and personal life and reveals many “eternal” themes.
Characteristics of male characters
Ilya Oblomov And Andrey Stolts – main characters of "Oblomov" Goncharova. According to the plot of the novel, the men met back in school years and, having become friends, continued to support each other even after decades. Oblomov and Stolz are an example of a truly strong, reliable and fruitful friendship for both men. Ilya Ilyich saw in Andrei Ivanovich a person who is always ready and, most importantly, knows how to solve his problems with others, with the expenses and income of the estate. For Stolz, Oblomov was a pleasant conversationalist, whose company had a calming effect on Andrei Ivanovich and helped him return to peace of mind, which he often lost in the pursuit of new achievements.
In "Oblomov" the characters are presented as antipodes - completely different and in almost nothing similar heroes. This can be clearly seen in the depiction of the fates of Oblomov and Stolz. Ilya Ilyich grew up as a “greenhouse”, “room” child, who from an early age was taught a lordly lifestyle, laziness and an attitude towards new knowledge as something optional and unnecessary. Having graduated from school and university “for show,” Ilya Ilyich enters the service, where one of the first disappointments in life awaits him - at work he needs to fight for his place, constantly work and be better than others. However, the most unpleasant thing for Ilya Ilyich is that his colleagues remain unfamiliar people, and do not become for the man new family. Not accustomed to disappointments and blows, Oblomov, after the first failure at work, gives up and closes himself off from society, creating his own special world of the illusory Oblomovka.
Compared to the active, striving forward Stolz, Ilya Ilyich looks like a lazy, apathetic lump who simply does not want to do anything himself. Andrei Ivanovich's childhood and youth were filled with new impressions. Without suffering from excessive parental care, Stolz could leave home for several days, chose his own path forward, read a lot and was interested in almost everything. Andrei Ivanovich learned his love of knowledge from his mother, while his practical approach to everything, perseverance and ability to work - from his German father. After graduating from university, Stolz leaves his native estate, independently building his own destiny, earning material wealth and meeting the right people.
Interdependence of male images
The male images of heroes in the novel “Oblomov” are two ways of realizing a person in society, two leading principles that do not find a harmonious combination in any of the characters. On the other hand, Stolz and Oblomov complement each other perfectly, helping each other in finding the most important things to achieve true, not illusory, happiness. After all, Oblomov, in his dreams of rebuilding Oblomovka, appeared to be a man no less active and sociable than his friend, while Stolz throughout the novel continues to reach for the peace of mind that he found in Oblomov. As a result, unknowingly to himself, Andrei Ivanovich creates a kind of Oblomovka on his own estate after his marriage with Olga, gradually turning into a person attached to home and appreciating the monotonous, calm passage of time.
Despite the fact that the characterization of the heroes of “Oblomov” is built on an antithesis, neither Oblomov nor Stolz are Goncharov’s ideals, but rather are presented as an extreme manifestation of “Oblomov’s” and “progressive” characteristics in a person. The author showed that without the harmony of these two principles, a person will not feel complete and happy, and will not be able to realize himself both socially and spiritually.
Characteristics of female images
The main heroines of the novel “Oblomov” are also opposed to each other. Olga Ilyinskaya is a young lady from a wealthy family, from childhood she studied literacy, science and the art of singing, an active and purposeful girl who likes to choose her own destiny, without adjusting to her husband or loved ones. Olga is not at all like the meek, homely Agafya, ready to do anything for the sake of her loved one, capable of adapting to any lifestyle, as long as Oblomov is happy. Ilyinskaya was not ready to follow the desires of Ilya Ilyich, to become his ideal “Oblomov” woman, whose main area of activity would be household- that is, the framework prescribed by Domostroy.
Unlike the uneducated, simple, quiet - the true prototype of the Russian woman - Agafya, Olga is a completely new type of emancipated woman for Russian society, who does not agree to limit herself to four walls and cooking, but sees her destiny in continuous development, self-education and striving forward . However, the tragedy of Ilyinskaya’s fate lies in the fact that even after marrying the active, active Stolz, the girl still takes on the classic role of wife and mother for Russian society, which is not much different from the role described in Domostroy. The discrepancy between desires and the real future leads to Olga’s constant sadness, the feeling that she has not lived the life she dreamed of.
Conclusion
The main characters of the novel “Oblomov” are interesting, attractive personalities, whose stories and destinies allow us to better understand ideological meaning works. Using the example of male characters, the author analyzes the themes of human development, formation in society, the ability to set goals and achieve them, and using the example of female characters, he reveals the theme of love, devotion, and the ability to accept a person as he is.
Oblomov and Stolz are not only opposing characters, but also complementary ones, as are Olga and Agafya. By accepting or developing in themselves the features and qualities of the antipodean image, the heroes could become absolutely happy and harmonious, because it is in the lack of understanding of the path to true happiness that the tragedy of the characters in Oblomov lies. That is why their characteristics in Goncharov’s novel do not have an exclusively negative or positive connotation - the author does not lead the reader to ready-made conclusions, inviting him to choose the right path himself.
Work test
In St. Petersburg, on Gorokhovaya Street, on the same morning as always, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is lying in bed - a young man of about thirty-two, not burdening himself with any special activities. His lying down is a certain way of life, a kind of protest against established conventions, which is why Ilya Ilyich so ardently, philosophically and meaningfully objects to all attempts to get him off the couch. His servant, Zakhar, is the same, showing neither surprise nor displeasure - he is used to living the same way as his master: how he lives...
This morning, visitors come to Oblomov one after another: on the first of May, the whole St. Petersburg society gathers in Yekateringhof, so the friends are trying to push Ilya Ilyich away, to stir him up, forcing him to take part in the social holiday festivities. But neither Volkov, nor Sudbinsky, nor Penkin succeeds. With each of them, Oblomov tries to discuss his concerns - a letter from the headman from Oblomovka and the threatening move to another apartment; but no one cares about Ilya Ilyich’s worries.
But Mikhei Andreevich Tarantiev, Oblomov’s fellow countryman, “a man of a quick and cunning mind,” is ready to deal with the problems of the lazy master. Knowing that after the death of his parents, Oblomov remained the only heir of three hundred and fifty souls, Tarantyev is not at all opposed to settling down with a very tasty morsel, especially since he quite rightly suspects: the headman of Oblomov steals and lies much more than is required within reasonable limits. And Oblomov is waiting for his childhood friend, Andrei Stolts, who, in his opinion, is the only one who can help him understand his economic difficulties.
At first, when he arrived in St. Petersburg, Oblomov somehow tried to integrate into the life of the capital, but gradually he realized the futility of his efforts: no one needed him, and no one was close to him. So Ilya Ilyich lay down on his sofa... And so his unusually devoted servant Zakhar, who was in no way behind his master, lay down on his couch. He intuitively feels who can truly help his master, and who, like Mikhei Andreevich, only pretends to be Oblomov’s friend. But from a detailed showdown with mutual grievances, only a dream into which the master plunges, while Zakhar goes to gossip and relieve his soul with the neighboring servants, can save him.
Oblomov sees in a sweet dream his past, long-gone life in his native Oblomovka, where there is nothing wild, grandiose, where everything breathes calm and serene sleep. Here they only eat, sleep, discuss the news that comes to this region very late; life flows smoothly, flowing from autumn to winter, from spring to summer, to again complete its eternal circles. Here fairy tales are almost indistinguishable from real life, and dreams are a continuation of reality. Everything is peaceful, quiet, calm in this blessed land - no passions, no worries disturb the inhabitants of sleepy Oblomovka, among whom Ilya Ilyich spent his childhood. This dream could have lasted, it seems, for an eternity, if it had not been interrupted by the appearance of Oblomov’s long-awaited friend, Andrei Ivanovich Stoltz, whose arrival Zakhar joyfully announces to his master...
Part two
Andrei Stolts grew up in the village of Verkhlevo, which was once part of Oblomovka; here now his father serves as manager. Stolz developed into a personality, in many ways unusual, thanks to the double upbringing received from a strong-willed, strong, cold-blooded German father and a Russian mother, a sensitive woman who lost herself in the storms of life at the piano. The same age as Oblomov, he is the complete opposite of his friend: “he is constantly on the move: if society needs to send an agent to Belgium or England, they send him; need to write some project or adapt new idea to the point - they choose him. Meanwhile, he goes out into the world and reads; when he succeeds, God knows.”
The first thing Stolz starts with is pulling Oblomov out of bed and taking him to visit different houses. This is how it begins new life Ilya Ilyich.
Stolz seems to pour some of his ebullient energy into Oblomov, now Oblomov gets up in the morning and begins to write, read, take an interest in what is happening around him, and his acquaintances cannot be surprised: “Imagine, Oblomov has moved!” But Oblomov didn’t just move - his whole soul was shaken to the core: Ilya Ilyich fell in love. Stolz brought him into the Ilyinskys’ house, and in Oblomov a man, endowed by nature with unusually strong feelings, wakes up - listening to Olga sing, Ilya Ilyich experiences a genuine shock, he finally finally woke up. But for Olga and Stolz, who have planned a kind of experiment on the eternally dormant Ilya Ilyich, this is not enough - it is necessary to awaken him to rational activity.
Meanwhile, Zakhar found his happiness - having married Anisya, a simple and kind woman, he suddenly realized that dust, dirt, and cockroaches should be fought, and not put up with. For short time Anisya puts Ilya Ilyich's house in order, extending her power not only to the kitchen, as initially expected, but throughout the entire house.
But this general awakening did not last long: the very first obstacle, moving from the dacha to the city, gradually turned into that swamp that slowly but steadily sucks in Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, who is not adapted to making decisions, to taking the initiative. Long life in a dream it can’t end right away...
Olga, feeling her power over Oblomov, is unable to understand too much about him.
Part three
Having succumbed to Tarantiev’s intrigues at the moment when Stolz left St. Petersburg again, Oblomov moved to an apartment rented to him by Mikhei Andreevich, on the Vyborg side.
Unable to deal with life, unable to get rid of debts, unable to manage his estate and expose the swindlers around him, Oblomov ends up in the house of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, whose brother, Ivan Matveevich Mukhoyarov, is friends with Mikhei Andreevich, not inferior to him, but rather superior the latter with cunning and cunning. In Agafya Matveevna’s house, in front of Oblomov, at first imperceptibly, and then more and more clearly, the atmosphere of his native Oblomovka unfolds, what Ilya Ilyich treasures most in his soul.
Gradually, Oblomov’s entire household passes into the hands of Pshenitsyna. A simple, ingenuous woman, she begins to manage Oblomov’s house, cooking for him delicious dishes, establishing life, and again the soul of Ilya Ilyich plunges into a sweet sleep. Although occasionally the peace and serenity of this dream explodes with meetings with Olga Ilyinskaya, who is gradually becoming disillusioned with her chosen one. Rumors about the wedding of Oblomov and Olga Ilyinskaya are already scurrying between the servants of the two houses - having learned about this, Ilya Ilyich is horrified: nothing has been decided yet, in his opinion, and people are already moving from house to house conversations about what is most likely , that won't happen. “That’s all Andrei: he instilled love, like smallpox, in both of us. And what kind of life is this, all the excitement and anxiety! When will there be peaceful happiness, peace?” - Oblomov reflects, realizing that everything that is happening to him is nothing more than the last convulsions of a living soul, ready for the final, already continuous sleep.
Days pass by days, and now Olga, unable to bear it, comes to Ilya Ilyich on the Vyborg side. He comes to make sure that nothing will awaken Oblomov from his slow descent into final sleep. Meanwhile, Ivan Matveevich Mukhoyarov is taking over Oblomov’s estate affairs, entangling Ilya Ilyich so thoroughly and deeply in his clever machinations that the owner of blessed Oblomovka is unlikely to be able to get out of them. And at this moment Agafya Matveevna is also repairing Oblomov’s robe, which, it seemed, no one could fix. This becomes the last straw in the throes of Ilya Ilyich’s resistance - he falls ill with fever.
Part four
A year after Oblomov’s illness, life flowed along its measured course: the seasons changed, Agafya Matveevna prepared delicious dishes for the holidays, baked pies for Oblomov, brewed coffee for him with her own hands, celebrated Elijah’s Day with enthusiasm... And suddenly Agafya Matveevna realized that she had fallen in love master She became so devoted to him that at the moment when Andrei Stolts, who came to St. Petersburg on the Vyborg side, exposed Mukhoyarov’s dark deeds, Pshenitsyna renounced her brother, whom she had so revered and even feared until recently.
Having experienced disappointment in her first love, Olga Ilyinskaya gradually gets used to Stolz, realizing that her attitude towards him is much more than just friendship. And Olga agrees to Stolz’s proposal...
And a few years later, Stolz appears again on Vyborg side. He finds Ilya Ilyich, who has become “a complete and natural reflection and expression of ‹…› peace, contentment and serene silence. Looking and reflecting on his life and becoming more and more comfortable in it, he finally decided that he had nowhere else to go, nothing to look for...” Oblomov found his quiet happiness with Agafya Matveevna, who bore him a son, Andryusha. Stolz's arrival does not bother Oblomov: he asks his old friend just not to leave Andryusha...
And five years later, when Oblomov was no longer alive, Agafya Matveevna’s house fell into disrepair, and the wife of the bankrupt Mukhoyarov, Irina Panteleevna, began to play the first role in it. Andryusha was asked to be raised by the Stoltsy. Living in the memory of the late Oblomov, Agafya Matveevna focused all her feelings on her son: “she realized that she had lost and her life shone, that God put his soul into her life and took it out again; that the sun shone in her and darkened forever...” And high memory forever connected her with Andrei and Olga Stolts - “the memory of the soul of the deceased, clear as crystal.”
And faithful Zakhar is there, on the Vyborg side, where he lived with his master, now asking for alms...
Agafya Pshenitsyna
Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna is the widow of an official, Oblomov’s illegitimate wife. “She was about 30 years old. She was very white and plump in face. She had almost no eyebrows at all... Her eyes were grayish-simple, like her entire facial expression; the hands are white, but hard, with large knots of blue veins protruding outward.”
Before Oblomov, P. lived without thinking about anything. She was completely uneducated, even stupid. She was not interested in anything other than running the house. But in this she achieved perfection.
P. was in constant movement, realizing that “there is always work.” It was work that was the content and meaning of this heroine’s life. In many ways, it was P.’s activity that captivated Oblomov.
Gradually, with Oblomov settling in her house, important changes occur in P.’s nature. Anxieties, glimpses of reflection, and finally love awaken in her. Her heroine manifests herself in her own way, taking care of Oblomov’s clothes and table, praying for his health, and caring for the hero at night during his illness. “Her entire household... received a new, living meaning: the peace and comfort of Ilya Ilyich... She began to live in her own full and varied way.” P. is the only absolutely unselfish and decisive person around Oblomov. For his sake, she is ready to do anything: pawn jewelry, borrow money from her late husband’s relatives. When P. finds out about the machinations of her “brother” and godfather against Oblomov, she does not hesitate to break off all relations with them. P. and Oblomov have a son. Understanding his difference from the rest of his children, P., after Oblomov’s death, meekly gives him up to Stoltz to be raised. Having become a widow, P. realized that she had a meaning in life, she “knew why she lived and that she did not live in vain.” At the end of the novel, P.’s selflessness is manifested with renewed vigor: she does not need reports from Oblomov’s estate and income from it. The light of P.'s life faded along with Oblomov's life.
Zakhar
Zakhar is Oblomov's servant. This " old man, in a gray frock coat, with a hole under the arm... with a skull as bare as a knee and with immensely wide thick brown and gray sideburns..."
Z. is lazy and sloppy. Everything Z. touches breaks and breaks. He can serve food to Oblomov on dirty or broken dishes, he can serve food picked up from the floor, etc. He justifies this philosophically: everything that is done is pleasing to the Lord, and there is no point in fighting it. But Z.’s external looseness is deceptive. He cares about his master's goods and knows them inside out. Despite Tarantiev’s pressure, Z. does not give him any of the master’s clothes, confident that he will not return them. Z. is a servant of the old school, idolizing his master and his entire family. When Oblomov scolds the servant for likening him to other people living in the world, Z. feels guilty. Indeed, his master is special and the best. But, along with devotion to the owner, Z. is characterized by sophistication and depravity of morals. He loves to drink with friends, gossip with other servants, sometimes praising and then belittling his master. On occasion, Z. can pocket money for himself, change from a store, for example. Z.'s life is closely connected with Oblomov's life. The last two representatives of Oblomovka, each in their own way, sacredly keep her covenants in their souls. Even when Z. marries the cook Anisya, he tries not to allow her to see the master, but does everything for him himself, considering it his inviolable duty. Z.'s life ends with Oblomov's life. After his death, Z. is forced to leave Pshenitsyna’s house. He ends his life on the porch as a poor old man. This is how Stolz meets him and offers to take him to the village. But the faithful servant refuses: he cannot leave his master’s grave unattended.
Mikhei Tarantiev
Tarantyev Mikhey Andreevich is Oblomov’s fellow countryman. Where he came from and how he gained the trust of Ilya Ilyich is unknown. T. appears on the very first pages of the novel - “a man of about forty, belonging to a large breed, tall, voluminous in the shoulders and throughout the body, with large facial features, with a large head, with a strong, short neck, with large protruding eyes, thick lips . A quick glance at this man gave rise to the idea of something rude and unkempt.”
This type of bribe-taking official, a brute, ready to scold everyone in the world every minute, but at the last minute cowardly hiding from well-deserved reprisals, was not discovered in literature by Goncharov. It became widespread precisely after Goncharov, in the works of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin. T. is that “coming Ham” who gradually reigned throughout Russia and who grew into a formidable symbol in the image of Sukhovo-Kobylin’s Rasplyuev.
But T. has one more interesting feature. “The fact is that Tarantiev was a master only of talking; in words he decided everything clearly and easily, especially with regard to others; but as soon as it was necessary to move a finger, to get under way - in a word, to apply the theory he had created to the case and give it a practical move... he was a completely different person: here he was missing... "This trait, as is known, characterizes not only the rude and uncouth characters of the named writers, but to some extent " extra people" Like T., they also remained “theoreticians for life,” applying their abstract philosophy to places and places out of place. Such a theorist needs a number of practices that could bring his plans to life. T. finds himself a “godfather”, Ivan Matveevich Mukhoyarov, a morally unscrupulous man, ready for any meanness, who does not disdain anything in his thirst for accumulation.
At first, Oblomov believes that T. is able to help him with worries about the estate and in changing his apartment. Gradually, not without the influence of Olga Ilyinskaya and Andrei Stolts, Ilya Ilyich begins to understand what quagmire T. is trying to drag him into, slowly forcing Oblomov to sink to the very bottom of life. T.’s attitude towards Stolz is not so much the contempt of a Russian for a German, with whom T. rather hides behind him, but rather the fear of exposing the grandiose frauds that T. hopes to carry through to the end. It is important for him, with the help of trusted persons, to take Oblomovka into his hands, receiving interest from Ilya Ilyich’s income, and to confuse him himself properly by obtaining evidence of Oblomov’s connection with Pshenitsyna.
T. hates Stolz, calling him a “sleazy beast.” Out of fear that Stolz will nevertheless take Oblomov abroad or to Oblomovka, T., with the assistance of Mukhoyarov, is in a hurry to force Ilya Ilyich to sign a predatory contract for an apartment on the Vyborg side. This contract deprives Oblomov of the possibility of any action. Following this, T. persuades Mukhoyarov, “before there are no more boobies in Rus',” to marry Oblomov to a new manager of the estate, Isai Fomich Zatertoy, who is very successful in bribes and forgeries. T.’s next step is to put into practice (with the help of the same Mukhoyarov) the idea of Oblomov’s “debt”. As if offended by his sister’s honor, Mukhoyarov should accuse Ilya Ilyich of laying claim to the widow Pshenitsyna and sign a document for compensation for moral damage in the amount of ten thousand rubles. The paper is then rewritten in the name of Mukhoyarov, and the godfathers receive money from Oblomov.
After Stolz exposes these frauds, T. disappears from the pages of the novel. Only at the very end is he mentioned by Zakhar, who, when meeting Stolz near the cemetery on the Vyborg side, tells how much he had to endure after the death of Ilya Ilyich from Mukhoyarov and T., who wanted to exterminate him from the world. “Mikhei Andreich Tarantyev kept striving to kick you from behind as soon as you passed by: life was gone!” In this way, T. took revenge on Zakhar for the neglect shown by the servant in those times when T. came to Oblomov for lunch and asked for a shirt, a vest, or a tailcoat - naturally, without return. Every time Zakhar stood up to defend his master’s goods, growling like a dog at the uninvited guest and not hiding his feelings for the low man.
Oblomov
This is how the Main Character appears to the reader at the very beginning of the novel: “He was a man about thirty-two or three years old, of average height, pleasant appearance, with dark gray eyes, but with the absence of any definite idea, any concentration in his facial features... His movements even when he was alarmed, he was also restrained by gentleness and laziness, not without a kind of grace. All anxiety was resolved with a sigh and died away in apathy or dormancy. Ilya Ilyich’s lying down was not... a necessity... it was his normal state.” Oblomov's home costume - an oriental robe, as well as the life of Ilya Ilyich, described in detail by the author, complement the image of the hero and help to better understand his character. “On the walls, near the paintings, cobwebs, saturated with dust, were molded in the form of festoons; mirrors, instead of reflecting objects, could rather serve as tablets for writing down some notes on them in the dust for memory.”
A far from impartial character appears before us; it seems that laziness, passivity, and indifference are deeply rooted in him. But at the same time, against the background of his “friends”, deceitful, selfish, boastful people who paid him a visit at the very beginning of the novel, the reader gets to know positive qualities Oblomov: purity of thoughts, honesty, kindness, cordiality.
To more fully reveal Oblomov’s character, Goncharov contrasts him with other heroes of the novel, Andrei Stoltz and Olga Ilyinskaya.
Stolz is certainly the antipode of Oblomov. Every trait of his character is a sharp protest against the qualities of Ilya Ilyich. Stolz loves life - Oblomov often falls into apathy; Stolz has a thirst for activity - for Oblomov, the best activity is relaxing on the couch. The origins of this opposition are in the education of heroes.
The author makes you involuntarily compare the childhood of little Andrei with the childhood of Ilyusha. Unlike Stolz, who grew up under the tutelage of his father, independent, persistent in achieving his goals, thrifty, main character grew up as a child accustomed to having all his desires satisfied not as a result of his own efforts, but from the hard work of others. The village where Oblomov was brought up was, according to Dobrolyubov, the soil on which Oblomovism grew. Such an upbringing developed apathetic immobility in Ilya Ilyich and plunged him into the pitiful state of a moral slave. This is one of Oblomov’s tragedies touched upon in the novel - the young and active Ilyusha was infected from childhood with an “incurable disease”, Oblomovism - laziness generated by fear of change and fear of the future.
Stolz, in whom the author has infused the power capable of reviving the Oblomovs and destroying Oblomovism, considers it his duty to change his friend’s way of life.
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The surname Oblomov is meaningful (from the verb “to break off”, “to break”): Oblomov is broken by life, gives in to its difficulties and problems. Oblomov's name - Ilya Ilyich - is self-contained, because the inactive and fruitless way of existence of O.'s ancestors finds its final completion in him. Oblomov's son, Andrei, named after Stolz, should, according to Goncharov's plan, lay the foundation for a new type of progressive and moral figure in a resurgent Russia. The image of Oblomov has become a household word to denote laziness, lack of will and indifference to life. The type created by Goncharov, in addition, reveals features of pronounced asociality, passivity and escapism. It is generally accepted that the image of Oblomov is purely negative, but Oblomov is portrayed by Goncharov as sympathetic, sincere and morally pure: “at the basis of Oblomov’s nature lay a pure, bright and kind beginning, filled with deep sympathy for everything that is good and that only opened up and responded to the call of this a simple, uncomplicated, eternally trusting heart.” Oblomov’s portrait is also dual: “pleasant appearance” and “absence of any definite idea” in his face; softness of movement and grace, and at the same time the body “seemed too effeminate for a man.” Oblomov, as Stolz puts it, “has slept off his ailments”: “flattened beyond his years,” he has a “sleepy look,” “flabby cheeks,” and he is attacked by nervous fear: he is frightened by the surrounding silence.
Oblomov’s clothes are his robe, “oriental, very roomy, so Oblomov could wrap himself in it twice.” The robe becomes a symbol of Oblomov's laziness. Stolz and Olga Ilyinskaya strive to get Oblomov out of the robe, but when Oblomov finally gives up, abandons the struggle of life, flees from love for Ilyinskaya into sleep and habitual idleness, the robe again envelops his corpulent body. Another indispensable attribute of Oblomov’s laziness is the sofa on which Oblomov spends all his days from dawn to dusk in daydreaming, half-asleep and sleep. The furnishings of Oblomov’s apartment are evidence of decline, neglect of surrounding things, apathy and lack of will: “On the walls, near the paintings, a cobweb, saturated with dust, was molded in the form of festoons; mirrors, instead of reflecting objects, could serve rather as tablets for writing down on them, in the dust, some notes for memory. The carpets were stained. There was a forgotten towel on the sofa; On rare mornings there was not a plate with a salt shaker and a gnawed bone on the table that had not been cleared away from yesterday’s dinner, and there were no bread crumbs lying around.” (Compare with the description of Plyushkin’s room) Oblomov’s fate is a series of failures, disappointments and defeats in life: in childhood, he studied somehow, because he considered teaching “a punishment sent by heaven for our sins”; at the end of his education, “his head was a complex archive dead deeds, persons, eras, figures, religions”, “as if a library consisting of only scattered volumes on different parts knowledge"; Oblomov’s service was not a success, since he did not see the point in it and was timid in the presence of his superiors, when one day he accidentally sent the necessary paper instead of Astrakhan to Arkhangelsk, went to bed, and then resigned out of fright; Oblomov did not experience love, because “great troubles lead to rapprochement with women.” Later life Oblomov devoted himself to the plan for organizing the estate and managing the peasants, however, his ideas were limited to ardent dreams on the sofa, here Oblomov, like Manilov, indulged in “the pleasures of high thoughts”, was filled with contempt “for human vice, for lies, for slander, for the spilled in the world evil,” was fired up with “the desire to point out to a person his” Shv. But Oblomov’s impulses ended in a change of two or three positions on the sofa, sobering set in, and day after day Oblomov watched the sun go down behind the four-story house opposite his window.
Oblomov’s dream is a parodic and ironic idyll of the “golden age”, serene existence residents of Oblomovka, the way of life that shaped Oblomov’s character: sluggish, indecisive, passive, incapable of life’s challenges. Oblomovka is a blessed, quiet and happy land (“no robberies, no murders, no terrible accidents happened there”), far from both the capital and provincial cities (the nearest pier of the Volga is like Colchis or the Pillars of Hercules). The interests of the Oblomov family are focused on food, household chores and sleep (afternoon sleep is the “true likeness of death”, when the whole house, the whole village sleeps). Oblomov’s father “all day long knows only that he walks from corner to corner, with his hands behind his back, sniffing tobacco and blowing his nose, while mother moves from coffee to tea, from tea to dinner.” Nobody takes care of the housekeeping, the manager steals, the rotten gallery stands until it collapses, the bridge is laid only when the peasant falls from it into the ditch; The letter sent to Oblomovka is not opened for four days, fearing bad news. Oblomov the child is pampered, not allowed to take a step, his liveliness and playfulness are suppressed: the servants Vaska, Vanka, Zakharka do everything for Oblomov. He grew “like an exotic flower in a greenhouse. Those seeking manifestations of power turned inward and withered away.” Oblomov was brought up with laziness, lordship, and contempt for serf servants (Zakhar pulled on 14-year-old O.’s stockings, “and if anything seems wrong to him, he kicks Zakharka in the nose”), which laid the foundations of “Oblomovism” - idle and vicious lordly lifestyle. (See N.A. Dobrolyubov’s article “What is “Oblomovism”?”) Contrary to his upbringing, Oblomov has the ability to deeply penetrate into the essence of things, resulting from his natural observation. Oblomov, in a dispute with Stolz, rightly criticizes the internally fruitless activities of the nobles of his circle: the pursuit of rank, hypocrisy, vanity, gossip secular society, deceit, envy, anger, boredom. Essentially, such activity is akin to Oblomov’s idleness: it is just as vicious. In return, Oblomov proclaims his own ideal, however, this idyllic ideal is a renewed and transformed “Oblomovism” of the Oblomovites, a utopia that is impossible in reality: “hugging your wife by the waist, go deep with her into the endless dark alley dream, count moments of happiness like the beat of a pulse; listen to how the heart beats and stops; look for sympathy in nature..."
Goncharov subjects Oblomov to the test of love. As Dobrolyubov puts it, “the Russian man at the rendezvous” is a fiasco. Oblomov repeats in this sense the path of Onegin, Pechorin, Beltov, Rudin, Tentetnikov. Oblomov falls in love with Olga Ilyinskaya, an aesthetic nature akin to him (cf. the names of the lovers: Ilya Ilyich - Ilyinskaya). At first, under the influence of love, Oblomov gets out of his robe and begins to believe in the future, but worries about the reconstruction of the estate in connection with his marriage frighten him, he shifts responsibility from himself to Mukhoyarov and Zatertoy, swindlers and swindlers, avoids Olga (the flooded Neva serves as an insurmountable obstacle for dates with her), returns to a quiet life, a sofa and a robe, surrenders to the caring care of the owner of the apartment, Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, so that Olga Ilyinskaya rejects his timid, dependent, weak-willed nature as not meeting her ideal of a true personality: “You are meek, honest, Ilya, you are ready to coo under the roof all your life... but I’m not like that: this is not enough for me...” The language of love of Olga and Oblomov was flowers, nature, books; in the rapprochement of 0blomov with Agafya Matveevna main role the hostess’s “round elbows” play, “still with dimples” (N. Prutskov). Oblomov looks at Pshenitsyna with the same pleasure as “at a hot cheesecake.” Gradually Oblomov turns into a “lump of dough”.
Mukhoyarov and Tarantyev, taking advantage of Oblomov’s kindness, tolerance and inexperience, threatened him with a scandal and forced him to sign a false loan letter given to the widow Pshenitsyna so that the income from Oblomov’s estate would go into their pocket. Oblomov’s “dovish” nature, thus, contributes to the fact that deceivers of all stripes “flutter” around Oblomov. Stolz, as Oblomov’s good guardian angel, saves him from Mukhoyarov and Tarantiev and returns income from the estates. Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna takes care of Oblomov, feeds him tasty and plentiful food. Oblomov achieves his ideal, “albeit without poetry, without those rays with which his imagination once depicted the lordly, broad and carefree flow of life in native village, among the peasants, he quietly and gradually fit into a simple and wide coffin for the rest of his existence, made with his own hands...” Oblomov receives two apoplectic strokes and dies. The tragedy of Oblomov’s image is that “the struggle internal forces in himself” (Tseitlin) ends in defeat. Oblomov is unable to be reborn to a new life; the disastrous nature of “Oblomovism” destined him life path(Prutskov). Oblomov’s son, Andrei, given to be raised by Olga Ilyinskaya and Stolz, must combine the kindness, “dovelike kindness” of Oblomov and Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna and practicality, an active spirit, and an appeal to the high ideals of Stolz and Olga Ilyinskaya.