Love in the life of Ilya Oblomov
…In the world of evil, stupidity, uncertainty and doubt called existence, there is one thing that is still worth living for and which is undoubtedly as strong as can be measured: this is love.
For the essay, I chose the topic “Love in Oblomov’s life.”
I believe that every person, regardless of his personal preferences, is looking for this strange feeling - love. Love is an extraordinary force that can resurrect a person’s dead soul. She can easily change your life, both for the better and for the worse. “Love is a game in which one always cheats” - this is how he reasoned French writer O. Balzac.
Love can push you to crime or madness, but with its help you can accomplish something wonderful and beautiful. "Love stronger than death and fear of death. Only by her, only by love does life hold and move" - I.S. Turgenev. Love always comes suddenly. It bursts into life and turns it upside down. "All ages are submissive to love."
Doesn't matter; that you are young or have already learned and experienced a lot. Love is a wonderful feeling, a real miracle of life. And in many works of literature, writers reflected it in the lives of their heroes. So Goncharov is trying to objectively reveal in his hero the question: “what is love in Oblomov’s life?”
Oblomov first fell in love when he was over thirty years old. It was love for Olga Ilyinskaya. They met with the assistance of Stolz, who brought Oblomov to Olga Ilyinskaya’s house. Olga immediately attracted the attention of Ilya Ilyich, who said that there was “no affectation, no intent, no lies, no tinsel, no intent in her. If she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.” In addition, Olga's intelligence was clearly visible. Oblomov was shocked by Olga’s singing, into which she poured her whole soul. Oblomov perceives everything with his heart, not his mind, he simply could not remain indifferent.
He fell in love with this girl, and love took first place in his life. Olga also fell in love with Oblomov. At first she wanted to wake him up, force him to lead an active life. But unbeknownst to herself, she fell in love with Ilya Ilyich. I fell in love because I saw behind the external laziness and immobility Oblomov’s pure soul, his kind heart. Olga is also attracted by Oblomov’s childish spontaneity, gentleness, and sensitivity. Their love is incredibly romantic.
This is summer, a dacha, a park, an alley, lilac winds, a kiss. Romantic love cannot have a happy ending; it breaks down in reality. But there is something strange about their love. Maybe it’s all because Olga and Ilya are completely different people, their ideas about life do not converge too much. Oblomov imagines his future in a quiet family life, walks in the garden, pleasant conversations over a cup of tea, meeting guests.
For Olga, life is a continuous movement forward. Olga has vital energy, which is perhaps why she manages to force Oblomov to throw off his robe, even if not forever. With her, Oblomov catches up with everything that he missed during his “sleep”; he reads books, newspapers, communicates with people, and is gradually drawn into public life.
In his novel, Goncharov well reveals the secret of Oblomov’s love for Olga. Olga loved Oblomov because she wanted to love, but how could she understand her feelings if she did not have a more experienced friend nearby. So she mistook sympathy for love. Olga does not want to marry Oblomov until he improves matters. Oblomov cannot do this. He delays his date with Olga, fearing the opinions of others. And therefore it is impossible to say which of them is to blame.
However, Ilya Ilyich fell in love with Olga seriously - this was the whole cruelty of the drama that happened between them. In the farewell scene, Olga cruelly reproaches Ilya Ilyich, she is selfish, but she speaks the truth, and the truth is not always pleasant to us. “I’m punished, I relied too much on my own strength - that’s where I was wrong, and not that you can still live for me - and you’ve already died a long time ago.” “I can’t stand - my legs are trembling. Now I won’t do anything, not even a step, I won’t even go to the Summer Garden; it’s all useless, you died!”
Olga loved the “future” Oblomov, whom she and Stolz created. Oblomov could not become like that, and a gap between them is inevitable. Each of them has their own life. And the love that Oblomov felt for Olga, of course, is difficult to forget, but life itself is gradually returning to its normal course. After some time, Oblomov meets another woman who loves him with selfless, sacrificial love, and takes all care of him - this is the widow Agafya Matveevna.
I keep asking myself the question: “What role does love play in Oblomov’s life?” Remembering her image, we can say with confidence that she is the living embodiment of his ideal. She attracts Oblomov with her continuous activity. She has some kind of Russian beauty. Agafya Matveevna, unlike Olga, does not shine with a special mind and does not know how to sing “Casta Diva” so wonderfully, but, having fallen in love with Oblomov once, she is ready to give him her whole life. Perhaps she was attracted by the fact that Oblomov was a real gentleman, maybe she guessed gentleness and kindness.
Agafya Matveevna loves Oblomov because he has a “free gait,” his speech is pleasant, his face is beautiful, and because Oblomov is simply kind to her. Agafya Matveevna much easier than Olga, but only with this woman does Oblomov find his human happiness. In the house on Vyborg side Agafya Matveevna takes upon herself all the household chores of Ilya Ilyich.
For Ilya Ilyich, this was the fulfillment of his dream. He begins to live the way he likes: lying on the sofa, eating, drinking, sleeping has become much more pleasant and comfortable than always “spinning” in the service, like Sudbinsky, chasing after women, like a dandy. Volkov, than to write accusatory articles like Penkin. His life flowed calmly, without external worries and worries, “It was as if an invisible hand had planted him, like a precious plant, in the shade from the heat, under a shelter from the rain, and was caring for and nurturing him.”
In essence, we can say that the house on the Vyborg side is the same Oblomovka. The robe was repaired again, mended, washed and placed in its rightful place, that is, on the master Ilya Ilyich. The trusty eye of the housewife looked after the fish so that, God forbid, it would not be overcooked; the greens in the salad were the freshest. The dust has been swept away from the mirror and chairs. The room was always clean with a fresh morning smell.
Perhaps a person with such lofty thoughts that “wandered” in Oblomov’s head will suddenly agree with the life of the Vyborg side? What could make the master fall in love with a simple woman, the widow of a college assessor, who knew nothing but how to make the life of her loved one very comfortable? However, there is one explanation for this circumstance. And I will try to solve this mystery.
It seems to me that after Ilya Ilyich broke up with Olga Ilyinskaya, Ilya Oblomov’s heart broke into pieces that could no longer, having come together, give rise to high feelings, dreams and desires. But it would be unfair to say that Oblomov died for all noble and great purposes, burying himself alive on the Vyborg side.
It’s just that all the time, when someone forced him to remember the tradition he had experienced, his broken heart ached and ached, so every time his high aspirations were overgrown with weeds, the lonely branches of wormwood waved over once forgotten and never again remembered dreams.
Everything seemed to be overgrown, flooded, and covered with the patina of time. Only one thing remained untouched in Ilya, pure and clear, as it had been for many years. This miracle was Oblomov’s soul, not dusty and transparent, like a crystal vessel with living water inside.
Love in Oblomov’s life was both tragic and beautiful. The tragedy lies in his break with Olga Ilyinskaya, which led him to inner experiences. And it’s beautiful because he finally found happiness with Agafya Matveevna, but his happiness lies in peace and humility. As a result of their love, little Andryushka is born, whom Stolz takes into his upbringing, and, probably, will make him the “future” Oblomov.
References
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The theme of love is central to Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov.” Most of the work is dedicated to her. After all, it is love that can “turn around” a person’s life and make him reconsider his views on many things. Could love change the main character of the novel?
On the one hand, love affects even such a lazy and apathetic Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, raised in a rich noble family with a patriarchal life.
The hero falls in love at the age of thirty-two or three with a young girl, Ilyinskaya Olga Sergeevna, when she sings “Casta diva”: “How deeply you feel the music!.. No, I feel... not music... but... love!” This feeling seemed to take possession of him: “...he gets up at seven o’clock, reads, carries books somewhere. There is no sleep, no fatigue, no boredom on his face. Even colors appeared on him, there was a sparkle in his eyes, something like courage or, at least, self-confidence. You can’t see the robe on him.” Ilya's life changes beyond recognition. The lovers loved the image of each other that they wanted to see: “...your real “love” is not true love, and the future is only an unconscious need to love..."
On the other hand, after breaking up with Olga Sergeevna, he still returns to his old way of life and finds true happiness with Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna.
Love, of course, changed Ilya Ilyich for a while, but in the end it was not able to defeat the main disease - “Oblomovism”.
Updated: 2016-09-09
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Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” tells the story of the fate of the “superfluous” man Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, a dreamy, reflective character living in a world of his own illusions. The work is interesting for its versatility, ambiguity of judgments, bright images and the breadth of issues covered by the author. Special attention requires the theme of love in “Oblomov”, revealed by Goncharov with different angles using the example of the relationships between the main characters.
Oblomov and Olga - love as unattainable
The central love story in Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is the relationship between Oblomov and Olga. At first glance, the characters have many similar traits - they are both dreamy, romantic, see beauty in every manifestation of nature and subtly feel every moment. However, if Olga is directed to to the outside world and lives for today, then Oblomov, even despite the seeming way out of stagnation, continues to exist in his familiar, comfortable world of illusions. Their love is a poetic, sublime love, to some extent even Christian, but from the very beginning doomed to break.
Duty and love
For Olga, duty remained the leading factor in her feelings, a certain practicality even in such an irrational feeling as love. The girl was not ready to accept the bumpkin Oblomov as he was, continuing to pull him out of the “swamp of Oblomovism” - “she liked this role guiding star, a ray of light that it will pour over the stagnant lake and be reflected in it.” Many researchers compare Olga with the image of a bright angel-savior who helps a person change his life for the better. However, the girl did not take into account that she fell in love not with the real Oblomov - an inert, apathetic, lack of initiative and at the same time already fully accomplished man, but with a certain image of a sweet, quiet, good-natured dreamer, which Stolz inspired her. Through the pink veil of love, the girl did not understand that all her attempts to change her lover were in vain. Realization comes to Olga only when Oblomov, having learned that the time has come to announce their relationship to the public, pushes back the wedding date for another year. The girl finally saw that her love - everything she did for Ilya Ilyich was useless and Oblomov did not want to change and move forward even for the sake of his beloved.
Love and the world of illusions
Oblomov's first love in the novel "Oblomov" could have become a new step forward for the hero and taken him out of the vicious circle of "Oblomovism", but it happened to the hero too late, when even for the sake of a high, bright feeling he did not want to give up his usual life and - most importantly – from one’s own dreams and illusions. The love of Olga and Oblomov - beautiful story gentle, high feelings, which arises against the backdrop of spring nature - a fragile lilac branch becomes a symbol of their relationship. Romanticism and poetry of lovers' feelings sooner or later had to move to new level- the level of everyday life, that very “Oblomovism”.
Nevertheless, for Oblomov, Olga remained a beautiful, bright angel, far from family life - a kind of prototype of a beautiful lady of medieval knights, admiring and inspiring heroic deeds (changing oneself), but always distant and inaccessible. That is why Oblomov is pushing back the date of their wedding in every possible way. He, without realizing it, is afraid that the spring flair of their feelings will dissipate, and they will understand that they did not love each other, but idealized images. This is what happens when parting - Oblomov agrees with Olga’s words that he will not be able to change and live a new day, constantly changing and striving forward.
The love of Olga and Oblomov was a spontaneous feeling, independent of the heroes. Even the fact that it began in the spring and ended in the fall indicated the transience of this feeling, its dying along with nature - and just as spring comes to replace winter, so to replace the heroes’ suffering about lost, but illusory love, comes a new, no less important feeling.
Oblomov and Pshenitsyna - love as adoration
Agafya Pshenitsyna, the owner of the apartment in which Oblomov lived at that time, helps Oblomov recover from mental shock. A quiet, calm, economic woman becomes for Oblomov the ideal of that feminine principle, which he gleaned from childhood memories in Oblomovka and, perhaps, compared with his mother. It is Agafya who creates around Ilya Ilyich the atmosphere of the long-awaited and desired “Oblomovism”, calm, half-asleep family happiness, peace and creation, as if frozen in place and interrupted only by those very “Oblomov” rituals - meals and holidays.
Pshenitsyna treats Ilya Ilyich with adoration, she is ready to do anything for the sake of her husband, for the sake of his mental comfort and peace of mind - even contrary to the doctor’s instructions about the need to follow a diet, Agafya continued to prepare Oblomov his favorite dishes, as if further fencing him off from real problems and enveloping him in sleepiness web of “Oblomovism”. Depicting Pshenitsyna’s care, the author reveals such a problem of love as excessive adoration, leading to the unconscious “killing” of the object of love - both mentally and physically.
Stolz and Olga - love as friendship
Particular attention to the analysis of the theme of love in the novel “Oblomov” by Goncharov requires the history of the relationship between Olga and Stolz - two old friends who understood each other well and for a long time, admired each other and had similar views on the world. It is not surprising that after breaking up with Oblomov, Olga finds solace in her relationship with Stolz. Andrei Ivanovich is the complete opposite of Oblomov - a man who embodied a girl’s dreams of an ideal lover, with whom every new day can be made different from the previous one, who does not need to be pulled along with her and whom she will admire for the rest of her life. However, having married Stolz, the girl often yearns for what she found in Oblomov and what is not in Andrei Ivanovich - dreaminess and poetry, so important for Olga. Their relationship remains the tender love of two friends who understand each other perfectly, but do not give each other a complete feeling of happiness.
"Oblomov" as a novel about love
In the novel “Oblomov,” Goncharov reveals different, to some extent opposite, incarnations of love - based on friendship, adoration, and even his own fantasies. Thin author's analysis contrasting, but complementary images of love, allows not only the author to reveal unexpected sides of the characters, but also helps the reader to better understand the essence of this great feeling both in a brilliant novel and in his own life.
Description of Oblomov’s love story for Olga, Oblomov’s adoration for Pshenitsyna and love relationship other characters will be useful to 10th grade students when writing an essay on the topic “The Theme of Love in Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov”.”
Work test
The theme of love is central to Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov.” Most of the work is dedicated to her. After all, it is love that can “turn around” a person’s life and make him reconsider his views on many things. Could love change the main character of the novel?
On the one hand, love affects even such a lazy and apathetic Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, raised in a rich noble family with a patriarchal life.
The hero falls in love at the age of thirty-two or three with a young girl, Ilyinskaya
Olga Sergeevna, when she sings “Casta diva”: “How deeply you feel the music!.. No, I feel... not music... but... love!” This feeling seemed to take possession of him: “...he gets up at seven o’clock, reads, carries books somewhere. There is no sleep, no fatigue, no boredom on his face. Even colors appeared on him, there was a sparkle in his eyes, something like courage or, at the very least, self-confidence. You can’t see the robe on him.” Ilya's life changes beyond recognition. The lovers loved the image of each other that they wanted to see: “...your present “love” is not real love, but future love, it is only an unconscious need to love...”
on the other hand, after breaking up with Olga Sergeevna, he still returns to his previous way of life and finds true happiness with Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna.
Love, of course, changed Ilya Ilyich for a while, but in the end it was not able to defeat the main disease - “Oblomovism”.
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In the novel “Oblomov” I. A. Goncharov would not have been able to reveal the image of his hero with such depth if he had not led Oblomov through the test of love. After all, this feeling gives a person the opportunity to show his best qualities, open the most hidden corners of his soul, become happy and give joy to another person. This is exactly the kind of love - uplifting, motivating to action, promising a happy future - that happened in the life of the main character of the book.
The feeling that arose almost suddenly for such an extraordinary personality as Olga Ilyinskaya seemed to awaken Oblomov: “For a long time he had not felt such vigor, such strength that seemed to have all risen from the bottom of his soul, ready for a feat.” A comfortable robe has been forgotten, “he hasn’t had dinner and for two weeks now he doesn’t know what it means to lie down during the day,” “there’s no sleep, no fatigue, no boredom on his face.” Olomov’s romantic, dreamy nature revels in love; hours spent without Olga seem empty and meaningless. But Ilya Ilyich, brought up on fairy tales about the beautiful Militrisa Kirbityevna, is inclined to idealize his beloved. But for Oblomov, the ideal is always just a dream. Olga is loved by him like a dream, he is quite happy with the anticipation of happiness. Olga, despite the feelings she experiences, maintains sobriety of mind: “she did not give in to daydreaming, did not submit to the sudden fluttering of leaves, night visions...”. She explains all the emotional unrest in one word: “Nerves!”
Having sacrificed his usual way of life to love, parting with his inertia and laziness, Oblomov tries to match the active, active Olga, without noticing the persistence with which Ilyinskaya strives to follow Stolz’s orders “to keep an eye on him, to prevent him from sitting at home.” But her infatuation with Oblomov began with a dream of how “she would show him a goal,” bring him back to life, make him act, “live.” Having taken upon herself such a responsible mission, she, like Pygmalion, who fell in love with Galatea, which he had revived, became imbued with love for that Oblomov, who stood at the end of the difficult and long journey updates. But one can hardly blame Olga for prudence. After all, in her attitude towards Ilya Ilyich there was no pretense or falsehood. Ilyinskaya sincerely believed in the life-giving power of love, just as Oblomov himself wanted to believe in it.
However, what was Oblomov’s life like, centered on love? She just duplicated Olga’s life. He carried out instructions for his beloved, accompanied her on walks and trips, but at the same time did not even try to take the initiative. All his efforts can only be characterized by negative sentences: he doesn’t sleep after lunch, doesn’t lie mindlessly on the sofa, doesn’t wear an old robe, doesn’t quarrel with Zakhar. He does not strive for more; Olga calls for independent activity. — trip to Oblomovka, construction of a new house, search new apartment in St. Petersburg they lead him into depression and confusion. Beautiful romantic love turns into arranging everyday life, solving pressing problems - all that without which further happiness is impossible. The feeling loses its novelty and brightness, becomes more and more ordinary, and “imposes strict responsibilities.” The dreams of a romantic are ready to turn into reality and immediately begin to “fade, lose their rainbow colors.”
But this was not the only reason for the separation of the heroes. Oblomov intuitively guessed the state of mind of Olga, a young girl thirsty for love. This can be judged from the lines of his letter: “...your present love is not real love, but future love; this is only an “unconscious need to love...” Il-inskaya does not agree with him, defending her convictions about the timeliness of her love, about her right to happiness with him, with Oblomov. But, how can we be convinced of Later, the letter turned out to be prophetic. Olga did not have the strength or skills to become Pygmalion for her Galatea - Oblomov. But throughout her life she carried bright memories of him for the fact that “he is a crystal, transparent soul” and “not a single one.” false note his heart did not emit, no dirt stuck to it.”
Mental shock, the loss of all hopes for the future, associated with the collapse of his love for Olga, plunge Oblomov into a state of “mute indifference” that characterizes his life on the naked Vyborg side, echoing the life of Ilya Ilyich on Gorokhovaya Street. The same robe, the same hearty lunches and dinners, the same inactivity. And the worries of the landlady, Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsa, bring back memories of the distant Oblomovka, which has turned into a dream. The same peace, the same abundance, and there is no need to strive for anything. The relationship with Agafya Matveevna smoothly, without love and passion, turned into a marital one. Financial troubles were resolved with the help of Stolz, and Oblomov’s life rolled along a smooth track: “And here, as in Oblomovka, he managed to get rid of life cheaply, bargain with it and insure himself undisturbed peace.”