The image of Matryona Timofeevna, a Russian peasant woman, is surprisingly realistic and vivid. In it, the author combined all the qualities and traits characteristic of Russian women - representatives of this segment of the population. The fate of this heroine is in many ways similar to the fate of other peasant women in Rus'.
Years of living in one's own family
Matrena Timofeevna was born in big family. The first years of her life were truly happy. Matryona will then often remember the carefree time when she was surrounded by the care and love of her parents. However, peasant children grow up very quickly. As soon as the girl grew up, she began to help her parents in everything. The games were gradually forgotten, since there was less time left for them, and the hard work of the peasants came first. But still youth takes its toll, and the girl found it even after working day time for rest.
Life of Matryona Timofeevna in her husband's house
Matryona Timofeevna remembers her youth. This heroine was hardworking, pretty, and active. This is the image of Matryona Timofeevna in This peasant woman, which is not surprising, was looked at by many guys. But then a betrothed appears, and the girl’s parents give our heroine in marriage to him. The new situation means the end of freedom and free life Matryona Timofeevna. She will now live with someone else’s family, whose attitude towards this one is far from the best. Giving her daughter away in marriage, the mother worries about her fate and grieves for her. The parent understands perfectly all the upcoming hardships of life that are destined to befall her beloved Matryona. No one in someone else’s family will show any sympathy for the girl, and the husband himself will also never stand up for his wife.
Difficult relationship with husband and his relatives
Matryona Timofeevna shares her sad thoughts. He did not at all want to change his free life in home to an unfamiliar, alien family. This heroine understood from the first days of living in a new environment how difficult it would be for her now.
Relationships with sisters-in-law, mother-in-law and father-in-law were very difficult. Matryona in new family had to work hard without hearing kind words to your address. But even in this difficult life, the peasant woman had simple, simple joys: her husband gave her a silk scarf, a ride on a sleigh...
The relationship between the heroine we are interested in and her husband was not at all cloudless. At that time, the husband had the right to beat his wife if something in her behavior did not suit him. In this case, no one will take the girl’s side; on the contrary, in the husband’s family, all relatives will only be happy to see Matryona Timofeevna’s suffering.
Birth of first child
Life became difficult for this peasant woman after her marriage. Gray, monotonous, similar to each other, the days dragged on: quarrels, hard work, reproaches from relatives... But the peasant woman has angelic patience. She endures all the hardships without complaining. The event that turned her life upside down was the birth of a child. Through him, the image of Matryona Timofeevna is revealed more clearly. Now this woman is no longer so embittered because her love for the baby pleases and warms her.
Death of a baby
The peasant woman’s joy at the birth of her son did not last long. Working in the fields takes a lot of time and effort, and here you still have a baby in your arms. At first, this heroine took him into the field with her. But then her mother-in-law began to reproach her, since it was impossible to work with complete dedication with a child. And the poor woman was forced to leave her baby with grandfather Savely. One day this old man neglected and the child died.
Tragic events after the death of a baby
His death was for our heroine terrible tragedy. But peasants have to put up with the fact that their children often die. For Matryona, this death was a difficult ordeal because the child was the first-born. To all the troubles, the police, the policeman and the doctor come to the village, who accuse the peasant woman of killing the child in conspiracy with grandfather Savely, a former convict. Matryona Timofeevna begs not to perform the autopsy in order to bury the child without desecration of the body. But no one listens to the peasant woman. From what happened she almost
Mother stands up for her son
The death of a child and other hardships of peasant life are unable to break this woman. The image of Matryona Timofeevna is an example of perseverance and patience. Time passes, and every year she has children. And the peasant woman continues to live, do her hard work, raise children. The most important thing that a peasant woman possesses is love for children. Matryona Timofeevna, whose characteristics are presented in our article, is ready to do anything just to protect her children. This is evidenced by the episode when they wanted to punish Fedot, her son, for his offense. Matryona throws herself at the feet of a landowner passing by, so that he can help save the boy from punishment. He orders Fedot to be released and the “impudent woman” to be punished.
Matryona Timofeevna saves her husband from recruitment
Why does this peasant woman have to endure punishment? Only for the love for children that knows no bounds, for the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others. This readiness is manifested in the way Matryona Timofeevna rushes to the defense of her husband, who is awaiting recruiting. She manages to get to the governor’s wife and ask her for help. She frees Philip from recruitment.
Matryona Timofeevna is still a young girl, but she has already had to go through a lot. This is the death of a son, and beatings, and reproaches, and a time of hunger.
Can Matryona Timofeevna be called happy?
One cannot call the peasant woman that Matryona Timofeevna was happy. The characterization of this heroine is entirely based on the fight against misfortune. All the difficult trials and difficulties that befall her can lead a person not only to spiritual death, but also to physical death, breaking him. This is often what happens. Rarely happens long life peasant women. Often these women die in the prime of their years. The lines telling about the life of this heroine are not easy to read. But at the same time, one cannot help but admire this woman and her spiritual strength. After all, this heroine went through many different tests and at the same time was not broken, which Nekrasov shows us.
The image of Matryona Timofeevna is surprisingly harmonious. This woman at the same time appears patient, enduring, strong and caring, loving, gentle. She is forced to cope on her own with the troubles and difficulties that befall the family, and not expect help from anyone.
However, despite this, Matryona Timofeevna finds the strength to work, live, and continue to enjoy the modest joys that sometimes befall this woman. And even if she admits honestly that she cannot be called happy, this woman does not fall into the sin of despondency for a minute. In the struggle for survival, she manages to emerge victorious.
We briefly examined the image of Matryona Timofeevna. We can talk about this woman for a very long time. She is admirable. The third part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is dedicated to this woman. Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna, whose image was presented in our article, is described in the work in some detail. You can turn to Nekrasov’s poem and get to know this peasant woman better.
The next chapter written by Nekrasov is "Peasant Woman"- also seems to be a clear deviation from the scheme outlined in the “Prologue”: the wanderers are again trying to find a happy one among the peasants. As in other chapters, the beginning plays an important role. It, as in “The Last One,” becomes the antithesis of the subsequent narrative and allows one to discover new contradictions in “mysterious Rus'.” The chapter begins with a description of the ruined landowner's estate: after the reform, the owners abandoned the estate and the servants to the mercy of fate, and the servants ruined and destroyed beautiful house, once a well-kept garden and park. The funny and tragic aspects of the life of an abandoned servant are closely intertwined in the description. Household servants are a special peasant type. Torn out of their usual environment, they lose the skills of peasant life and the main one among them - the “noble habit of work.” Forgotten by the landowner and unable to feed themselves by labor, they live by stealing and selling the owner’s things, heating the house by breaking gazebos and turned balcony posts. But there are also truly dramatic moments in this description: for example, the story of a singer with a rare in a beautiful voice. The landowners took him out of Little Russia, were going to send him to Italy, but forgot, busy with their troubles.
Against the background of the tragicomic crowd of ragged and hungry courtyard servants, “whining servants,” the “healthy, singing crowd of reapers and reapers” returning from the field seems even more “beautiful.” But even among these stately and beautiful people stands out Matrena Timofeevna, “glorified” by the “governor” and the “lucky one”. The story of her life, as told by herself, occupies a central place in the narrative. Dedicating this chapter to a peasant woman, Nekrasov, it seems, not only wanted to open the soul and heart of a Russian woman to the reader. A woman’s world is a family, and when talking about herself, Matryona Timofeevna talks about those sides folk life, which have so far only been indirectly touched upon in the poem. But they are the ones who determine a woman’s happiness and unhappiness: love, family, everyday life.
Matryona Timofeevna does not recognize herself as happy, just as she does not recognize any of the women as happy. But she knew short-lived happiness in her life. Matryona Timofeevna’s happiness is a girl’s will, parental love and care. Her girlhood life was not carefree and easy: from childhood, from the age of seven, she performed peasant work:
I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
For father, for mother,
Like Christ in his bosom,
I lived, well done.<...>
And on the seventh for the beetroot
I myself ran into the herd,
I took my father to breakfast,
She was feeding the ducklings.
Then mushrooms and berries,
Then: “Get a rake
Yes, turn up the hay!”
So I got used to it...
And a good worker
And the sing-dance huntress
I was young.
She calls it “happiness” last days girl’s life, when her fate was being decided, when she “bargained” with her future husband - argued with him, “bargained” for her freedom in married life:
- Just stand there, good fellow,
Directly against me<...>
Think, dare:
To live with me - not to repent,
And I don’t have to cry with you...<...>
While we were haggling,
It must be so I think
Then there was happiness.
And hardly ever again!
Her married life is indeed full of tragic events: the death of a child, a severe flogging, a punishment she voluntarily accepted to save her son, the threat of remaining a soldier. At the same time, Nekrasov shows that the source of Matryona Timofeevna’s misfortunes is not only the “fortress”, the powerless position of a serf woman, but also the powerless position of the youngest daughter-in-law in a large peasant family. The injustice that triumphs in large peasant families, the perception of a person primarily as a worker, the non-recognition of his desires, his “will” - all these problems are revealed by the confessional story of Matryona Timofeevna. Loving wife and mother, she is doomed to an unhappy and powerless life: to please her husband’s family and the unfair reproaches of the elders in the family. That is why, even having freed herself from serfdom, having become free, she will grieve about the lack of a “will,” and therefore happiness: “The keys to women’s happiness, / From our free will, / Abandoned, lost / From God himself.” And she speaks not only about herself, but about all women.
This disbelief in the possibility of a woman’s happiness is shared by the author. It is no coincidence that Nekrasov excludes from the final text of the chapter the lines about how Matryona Timofeevna’s difficult position in her husband’s family happily changed after returning from the governor’s wife: in the text there is no story either that she became the “big lady” in the house, or that she “conquered” her husband’s “grumpy, abusive” family. All that remains are the lines that the husband’s family, having recognized her participation in saving Philip from the soldiery, “bowed” to her and “apologized” to her. But the chapter ends with a “Woman’s Parable”, asserting the inevitability of bondage-misfortune for a woman even after the abolition of serfdom: “And to our women’s will / There are still no keys!<...>/Yes, they are unlikely to be found...”
Researchers noted Nekrasov’s plan: creating image of Matryona Timofeevna y, he aimed for the widest generalization: her fate becomes a symbol of the fate of every Russian woman. The author carefully and thoughtfully selects episodes of her life, “leading” his heroine along the path that any Russian woman takes: a short carefree childhood, labor skills instilled from childhood, girlish will and a long-term powerless situation married woman, women workers in the field and in the house. Matrena Timofeevna experiences all possible dramatic and tragic situations that befall a peasant woman: humiliation in her husband’s family, beatings of her husband, the death of a child, the harassment of a manager, flogging, and even, albeit briefly, the share of a soldier. “The image of Matryona Timofeevna was created like this,” writes N.N. Skatov, “that she seemed to have experienced everything and been in all the states that a Russian woman could have been in.” Folk songs and laments included in Matryona Timofeevna’s story, most often “replacing” her own words, her own story, - further expand the narrative, allowing us to comprehend both the happiness and misfortune of one peasant woman as a story about the fate of a serf woman.
In general, the story of this woman depicts life according to God’s laws, “in a divine way,” as Nekrasov’s heroes say:
<...>I endure and do not complain!
All the power given by God,
I put it to work
All the love for the kids!
And the more terrible and unfair are the misfortunes and humiliations that befell her. "<...>In me / There is no unbroken bone, / There is no unstretched vein, / There is no unspoiled blood.<...>“This is not a complaint, but a true result of Matryona Timofeevna’s experience. The deep meaning of this life - love for children - is also affirmed by the Nekrasovs with the help of parallels from the natural world: the story of Dyomushka's death is preceded by a cry about a nightingale, whose chicks burned on a tree lit by a thunderstorm. The chapter telling about the punishment taken to save another son, Philip, from whipping, is called “The She-Wolf.” And here the hungry wolf, ready to sacrifice her life for the sake of the wolf cubs, appears as a parallel to the fate of the peasant woman who lay down under the rod to free her son from punishment.
The central place in the chapter “Peasant Woman” is occupied by the story of Saveliya, the Holy Russian hero. Why is Matryona Timofeevna entrusted with the story about the fate of the Russian peasant, the “hero of Holy Russia,” his life and death? It seems that this is largely because it is important for Nekrasov to show the “hero” Saveliy Korchagin not only in his confrontation with Shalashnikov and the manager Vogel, but also in the family, in everyday life. His large family needed “grandfather” Savely, a pure and holy man, while he had money: “As long as there was money, / They loved my grandfather, they cared for him, / Now they spit in his eyes!” Savely's inner loneliness in the family enhances the drama of his fate and at the same time, like the fate of Matryona Timofeevna, gives the reader the opportunity to learn about the everyday life of the people.
But it is no less important that the “story within a story,” connecting two destinies, shows the relationship between two extraordinary people, who for the author himself were the embodiment of the ideal folk type. It is Matryona Timofeevna’s story about Savelya that allows us to emphasize what brought us together in general different people: not only the powerless position in the Korchagin family, but also a commonality of characters. Matryona Timofeevna, whose whole life is filled only with love, and Saveliy Korchagin, whom hard life has made “stony”, “fierce than a beast”, are similar in the main thing: their “angry heart”, their understanding of happiness as a “will”, as spiritual independence.
It is no coincidence that Matryona Timofeevna considers Savely lucky. Her words about “grandfather”: “He was also lucky...” are not bitter irony, for in Savely’s life, full of suffering and trials, there was something that Matryona Timofeevna herself values above all else - moral dignity, spiritual freedom. Being a “slave” of the landowner by law, Savely did not know spiritual slavery.
Savely, according to Matryona Timofeevna, called his youth “prosperity,” although he experienced a lot of insults, humiliations, and punishments. Why does he consider the past to be “blessed times”? Yes, because, fenced off by “marsh swamps” and “dense forests” from their landowner Shalashnikov, the residents of Korezhina felt free:
We were only worried
Bears...yes with bears
We managed it easily.
With a knife and a spear
I myself am scarier than the elk,
Along protected paths
I go: “My forest!” - I shout.
“Prosperity” was not overshadowed by the annual flogging that Shalashnikov inflicted on his peasants, beating out rent with rods. But the peasants are “proud people,” having endured a flogging and pretending to be beggars, they knew how to keep their money and, in turn, “amused” the master who was unable to take the money:
Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He remained silent and thought:
“No matter how you take it, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out your whole soul,
Leave something"<...>
But we lived as merchants...
The “happiness” that Savely speaks of, which is, of course, illusory, is a year of free life without a landowner and the ability to “endure”, withstand the flogging and save the money earned. But the peasant could not be given any other “happiness”. And yet, Koryozhina soon lost even such “happiness”: “hard labor” began for the men when Vogel was appointed manager: “He ruined him to the bone!” / And he tore... like Shalashnikov himself!/<...>/ The German has a death grip: / Until he lets him go around the world, / Without leaving, he sucks!”
Savely does not glorify patience as such. Not everything a peasant can and should endure. Savely clearly distinguishes between the ability to “understand” and “tolerate.” To not endure means to succumb to pain, not to bear the pain and to morally submit to the landowner. To endure means to lose dignity and agree to humiliation and injustice. Both of these make a person a “slave”.
But Saveliy Korchagin, like no one else, understands the whole tragedy of eternal patience. With him, an extremely important thought enters the narrative: about the wasted strength of the peasant hero. Savely not only glorifies Russian heroism, but also mourns this hero, humiliated and mutilated:
That's why we endured
That we are heroes.
This is Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
The man is not a hero?
And his life is not a military one,
And death is not written for him
In battle - what a hero!
The peasantry in his thoughts appears as a fabulous hero, chained and humiliated. This hero is bigger than heaven and earth. A truly cosmic image appears in his words:
Hands are twisted in chains,
Feet forged with iron,
Back...dense forests
We walked along it - we broke down.
What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet
It rattles and rolls around
On a chariot of fire...
The hero endures everything!
The hero holds up the sky, but this work costs him great torment: “While he was under terrible pressure / He lifted it up, / Yes, he went into the ground up to his chest / With effort! There are no tears running down his face - blood is flowing!” However, is there any point in this great patience? It is no coincidence that Savely is disturbed by the thought of a life gone in vain, strength wasted in vain: “I was lying on the stove; / I lay there, thinking: / Where have you gone, strength? / What were you useful for? / - Under rods, under sticks / She left for little things!” And these bitter words are not only the result own life: this is grief for the ruined people's strength.
But the author’s task is not only to show the tragedy of the Russian hero, whose strength and pride “gone away in small ways.” It is no coincidence that at the end of the story about Savelia the name of Susanin, the peasant hero, appears: the monument to Susanin in the center of Kostroma reminded Matryona Timofeevna of “grandfather”. Saveliy’s ability to preserve freedom of spirit, spiritual independence even in slavery, and not submit to his soul, is also heroism. It is important to emphasize this feature of the comparison. As noted by N.N. Skatov, the monument to Susanin in Matryona Timofeevna’s story does not look like the real one. “A real monument created by sculptor V.M. Demut-Malinovsky, writes the researcher, turned out to be more of a monument to the Tsar than to Ivan Susanin, who was depicted kneeling near the column with the bust of the Tsar. Nekrasov not only kept silent about the fact that the man was on his knees. In comparison with the rebel Savely, the image of the Kostroma peasant Susanin received, for the first time in Russian art, a unique, essentially anti-monarchist interpretation. At the same time, comparison with the hero of Russian history Ivan Susanin put the finishing touch on the monumental figure of the Korezhsky hero, the Holy Russian peasant Savely.”
One of the works of Russian literature studied in Russian schools is Nikolai Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - perhaps the most famous in the writer’s work. Many studies have been devoted to the analysis of this poem and its main characters. And yet there is in it minor characters, which are by no means less interesting. For example, the peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna.
Nikolay Nekrasov
Before talking about the poem and its characters, we need to at least briefly dwell on the personality of the writer himself. The man, known to many primarily as the author of “Who Lives Well in Rus',” wrote many works during his life, and began to create at the age of eleven - from the moment he crossed the gymnasium threshold. While studying at the institute, he wrote poems to order - saving money to publish his first collection of poems. When published, the collection failed, and Nikolai Alekseevich decided to turn his attention to prose.
He wrote short stories and novellas, published several magazines (for example, Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski). IN last decade composed these things in my life satirical works, like the already repeatedly mentioned poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, “Contemporaries”, “Russian Women” and others. He was not afraid to expose the suffering of the Russian people, with whom he deeply sympathized, and wrote about their troubles and destinies.
“Who Lives Well in Rus'”: History of Creation
It is not known for certain when exactly Nekrasov began to create the poem that brought him enormous fame. It is believed that this happened around the beginning of the sixties of the nineteenth century, but long before writing the work, the writer began to make sketches - therefore there is no need to talk about the time of the conception of the poem. Despite the fact that the manuscript of its first part indicates 1865, some researchers are inclined to believe that this is the date of completion of the work, and not the date of its beginning.
Be that as it may, the prologue of the first part was published in Sovremennik at the very beginning of 1966, and for the next four years, the entire first part was published intermittently in the magazine. The poem was difficult to print due to disputes with censorship; however, the censorship “vetoed” many of Nekrasov’s other publications, and his activities in general.
Nikolai Alekseevich, relying on own experience and based on the experience of his fellow predecessors, he planned to create a huge epic work about the lives and destinies of various people belonging to the most diverse strata of society, to show their differentiation. At the same time, he definitely wanted to be read and heard common people- this determines the language of the poem and its composition - they are understandable and accessible to the most ordinary, lowest strata of the population.
According to the author's original plan, the work should have consisted of seven or eight parts. The travelers, having passed through their entire province, had to reach St. Petersburg itself, meeting there (in order of priority) with an official, a merchant, a minister and a tsar. This plan was not allowed to come true due to Nekrasov’s illness and death. However, the writer managed to create three more parts - in the early and mid-seventies. After Nikolai Alekseevich passed away, there were no instructions left in his papers on how to print what he wrote (although there is a version that Chukovsky found in Nekrasov’s documents a note that after “The Last One” comes “A Feast for the Whole World”) . The last part was published only three years after the death of the author - and then with censorship marks.
It all starts with the fact that seven simple village men met “on a high street.” We met and started talking among ourselves about our lives, joys and sorrows. They agreed that life is not at all fun for an ordinary peasant, but they couldn’t decide who had fun. Having expressed various options(from the landowner to the king), they decide to understand this issue, communicate with each of the people mentioned and find out the correct answer. Until then, I won’t take a step home.
Setting off on the journey with the found self-assembled tablecloth, they first meet a noble family led by a mad owner, and then - in the city of Klin - a peasant woman named Matryona Korchagina. The men were told about her that she was kind, and smart, and happy - which is the main thing, but it is precisely in the latter that Matryona Timofeevna dissuades unexpected guests.
Characters
The main characters of the poem are ordinary peasant men: Prov, Pakhom, Roman, Demyan, Luka, Ivan and Mitrodor. On their way, they managed to meet peasants like themselves (Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, Proshka, Sidor, Yakov, Gleb, Vlas and others) and landowners (Prince Utyatin, Fogel, Obolt-Obolduev and so on). Matryona Timofeevna is almost the only (and at the same time very important) female character works.
Matryona Timofeevna: characterization of the hero
Before talking about Matryona Korchagina, we need to remember that Nikolai Alekseevich was worried about the fate of the Russian woman throughout his entire life. Women in general - and peasant women even more so, because not only was she a powerless serf, she was also a slave to her husband and her sons. It was to this topic that Nekrasov sought to attract public attention - this is how the image of Matryona Timofeevna appeared, into whose mouth the writer put the main words: that “the keys to women’s happiness” were lost a long time ago.
Readers become acquainted with Matryona Korchagina in the third part of the poem. Traveling men are brought to her by word of mouth - they say, this woman is the happy one. The characteristics of Matryona Timofeevna are immediately evident in her friendliness towards strangers, in kindness. From her subsequent story about her life, it becomes clear that she is an amazingly resilient person, patiently and courageously enduring the blows of fate. The image of Matryona Timofeevna is given some heroism - and her children, whom she loves with an all-consuming maternal love, contribute a lot to this. She is, among other things, hardworking, honest, and patient.
Matryona Korchagina is a believer, she is humble, but at the same time decisive and courageous. She is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of others - and not just sacrifice, but even, if necessary, give her life. Thanks to her courage, Matryona saves her husband, who was recruited as a soldier, for which she receives universal respect. No other woman dares to do such things.
Appearance
The appearance of Matryona Timofeevna is described in the poem as follows: she is approximately thirty-eight years old, she is tall, “stately”, and of a dense build. The author calls her beautiful: big stern eyes, thick eyelashes, dark skin, early gray hair.
History of Matryona
The story of Matryona Timofeevna is told in the poem in the first person. She herself opens the veil of her soul to the men, who so passionately want to know whether she is happy and, if so, what her happiness is.
The life of Matryona Timofeevna could be called sweet only as a girl. Her parents loved her, she grew up “like God in her bosom.” But peasant women are married off early, so Matryona had to leave her father’s house while still, essentially, a teenager. And in her husband’s family they did not treat her very kindly: her father-in-law and mother-in-law did not like her, and her husband himself, who promised not to offend her, changed after the wedding - once he even raised his hand against her. The description of this episode once again emphasizes the patience of the image of Matryona Timofeevna: she knows that husbands beat their wives, and does not complain, but humbly accepts what happened. However, she respects her husband, perhaps even partially loves him - it’s not for nothing that she saves him from military service.
Even in a difficult married life, where she has many responsibilities, and unfair reproaches pour in like buckets, Matryona finds a reason for joy - and she also tells her listeners about this. Whether her husband arrived, brought a new handkerchief, or took her on a sled ride - everything causes her delight, and grievances are forgotten. And when the first child is born, true happiness comes to the heroine. The image of Matryona Timofeevna is the image of a real mother, who unconditionally loves her children and dissolves in them. It is all the more difficult for her to survive the loss when her tiny son dies due to an absurd accident.
By the age of thirty-eight, this peasant woman had to endure a lot in life. However, Nekrasov shows her not giving up to fate, strong-willed, which has stood against all odds. The spiritual strength of Matryona Korchagina seems truly incredible. She copes with all the misfortunes alone, because there is no one to feel sorry for her, no one to help her - her husband’s parents do not love her, her own parents live far away - and then she loses them too. The image of Matryona Timofeevna (who, by the way, according to some sources, was copied from one of the author’s acquaintances) evokes not only respect, but also admiration: she does not give in to despondency, finding the strength not only to live on, but also to enjoy life - albeit rarely .
What is the heroine's happiness?
Matryona herself does not consider herself happy, directly stating this to her guests. In her opinion, there are no lucky women among the “women” - their life is too hard, they suffer too many difficulties, sorrows and insults. Nevertheless, popular rumor speaks of Korchagina as a lucky woman. What is Matryona Timofeevna’s happiness? In her fortitude and perseverance: she steadfastly endured all the troubles that befell her, and did not complain, she sacrificed herself for the sake of people close to her. She raised five sons, despite constant humiliation and attacks, she did not become embittered, did not lose her self-esteem, and retained such qualities as kindness and love. She stayed strong man, A weak person, eternally dissatisfied with his life, cannot be happy by definition. This definitely has nothing to do with Matryona Timofeevna.
Criticism
The censorship viewed Nikolai Alekseevich’s works with hostility, but his colleagues responded more than favorably to his works. He was called a man close to the people - and therefore knew how and what to tell about this people. They wrote that he “can perform miracles” and that his material is “skillful and rich.” The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was called a new and original phenomenon in literature, and its author himself was called the only one who has the right to be called a poet.
- Nikolai Alekseevich studied poorly at school.
- He inherited a love of cards and hunting.
- He loved women and had many hobbies throughout his life.
This poem is truly a unique work in Russian literature, and Matryona is a synthesized image of a real Russian woman with a broad soul, one of those about whom they say “she will enter a burning hut and stop a galloping horse.”
Happy peasant woman Matryona
Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, nicknamed the Governor, from the village of Klin - main character the third part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov. This is how the men characterize her: “A Kholmogory cow, not a woman! Kinder and smoother - there is no woman.” To answer the question of whether she is happy, Matryona openly tells her life and sums it up: there were happy moments in her life (girlhood, matchmaking of the groom, saving her husband from unrighteous recruitment). She says: “I have not been trampled by feet, not tied with ropes, not stabbed with needles.” But can a woman who has been passed over be happy? a spiritual thunderstorm, the blood of the firstborn, mortal insults and the whip, but she hasn’t tasted the shame of the inexpiable? By irredeemable shame, Matryona means the harassment of the master's manager Sitnikov, who, fortunately for Matryona, died of cholera.
The keys to female happiness, according to the legend that Matryona was told by the old praying woman, were lost to God himself.
Portrait of Matryona Timofeevna
This thirty-eight-year-old stern woman, already considered an old woman, is beautiful in a peasant way: dignified, wide, dense, with large, stern eyes and rich eyelashes. Her hair is gray and her skin is dark. For her portrait, Nekrasov uses epithets. Matryona’s clothes testify to her hard work: a white shirt, a short sundress (to make it more convenient to work).
Matryona's girlhood
Matryona considers her childhood happy. Father woke her up early, but mother felt sorry for her. But peasant life is work from childhood. At the age of seven, Matryona was already running among the herd, bringing breakfast to her father, tending ducks, rowing hay. She liked this kind of life: work in the fields, a bathhouse, working at the spinning wheels with her friends, and sometimes singing and dancing.
Matryona's betrothed was a guy from the other side (forty miles away from her) - stove maker Philip Korchagin. Mother dissuaded Matryona: “It’s cold there, it’s hungry there.” Matryona submitted to fate.
Matryona's fate in someone else's family
Matryona sings the fate of a girl married into someone else’s family to her peasant listeners in folk songs. Life in Matryona’s husband’s family was like hell. She had to serve her eldest sister-in-law Martha, keep an eye on her father-in-law so that he wouldn’t go to the tavern, and endure the scolding of her mother-in-law. The husband advised Matryona to remain silent and endure. But we got along with him. Matryona admits that her husband hit her only once, and does not see anything shameful in this: it is inappropriate for a wife to consider her husband’s beatings.
But usually the husband stood up for Matryona, as in the year of famine, when the mother-in-law accused her daughter-in-law of hunger because she put on a clean shirt on Christmas (superstition).
Matryona-mother
Matryona has five sons, one has already been taken as a soldier. Twenty years ago, Matryona gave birth to her first child, a son, Dyomushka, with whom a misfortune happened. Nekrasov describes the misfortune using psychological parallelism. Just as the mother nightingale cries for her burnt chicks, which she did not save because she was not near the nest, so at the behest of her mother-in-law, Matryona left Dyomushka with her husband’s grandfather, a hundred-year-old Savelich, but he did not save him: the pigs ate the baby.
Matryona’s grief is aggravated by “unjust judges” who slander her that she was cohabiting with Savelich, that she killed the child in collusion with him, that she poisoned him.
For a peasant woman, life and death are one continuous process in which everything must be done according to ritual. For her, an autopsy is a reproach, a greater misfortune than death: “I don’t complain... that God took the baby away, but what hurts is why they scolded him.”
Matryona gave birth to three children in 3 years and was immersed in worries: “There is no time to think or be sad,” “eat when you have enough left, sleep when you are sick.”
A mother's love for her children is boundless; for the sake of her children, she is ready to resist God himself. She did not starve the babies on fasting days, as the pious pilgrim ordered, although she was afraid of God's punishment.
For the sake of her eldest son Fedot, Matryona suffered a lashing. Eight-year-old shepherd Fedot took pity on the hungry pup wolf, who howled as if she were crying. He gave her the already dead sheep, which he first fearlessly tore out of his mouth. When the headman decided to teach Fedot for the sheep, Matryona threw herself at the feet of the landowner, who ordered him to forgive the boy and teach the woman.
Matryona is a special peasant woman
Matryona, although obedient to her parents, relatives and husband, is capable of analyzing and choosing, and resisting public opinion.
Savely, a former convict, helps Matryona understand how to live in an unjust society. You need to bring offerings to your superiors, you should not seek the truth from God and the king: “God is high, the king is far away.” Savely says that you need to endure, because “you are a serf woman!”
Matryona the Governor
Matryona became famous among the peasants and achieved the respect of her husband’s relatives when she saved her husband from military service, although his older brother had already joined the recruits for his family.
Fearing a difficult future for herself and her fatherless children, who would be “pinched and beaten,” Matryona ran at night to ask for mercy from the governor. Taught by experience, Matryona gave two kopecks to the guard and a ruble to the doorman Makar Fedoseich for taking her to the governor on time.
The circumstances were favorable for Matryona. The peasant woman threw herself at the governor’s feet and told her her complaint: the breadwinner and parent were taken by deception, not in a godly manner. The governor's wife was kind to her, baptized the boy who was born right there with Liodorushka and saved Philip. For this good deed, Matryona orders everyone to glorify and thank Governor Elena Alexandrovna.
- Images of landowners in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
Characteristics of the hero
Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is a peasant woman. The third part of the poem is dedicated to this heroine.
M.T. — “A dignified woman, broad and dense, about 38 years old. Beautiful; hair streaked with gray, large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes, stern and dark.”
Among the people about M.T. goes the glory of the lucky one. She tells the wanderers who come to her about her life. Its narrative is told in the form of folk laments and songs. This emphasizes the typicality of M.T.’s fate. for all Russian peasant women: “It’s not a matter of looking for happiness among women.”
In the parental home of M.T. Life was good: she had a friendly, non-drinking family. But, having married Philip Korchagin, she ended up “by her maiden will in hell.” The youngest in her husband's family, she worked for everyone like a slave. The husband loved M.T., but often went to work and could not protect his wife. The heroine had one protector left - grandfather Savely, her husband’s grandfather. M.T. She has seen a lot of grief in her life: she endured the pestering of the manager, she survived the death of her first-born Demushka, who, due to Savely’s oversight, was killed by pigs. M.T. It was not possible to claim the son’s body and it was sent for an autopsy. Later, the heroine’s other son, 8-year-old Fedot, faced a terrible punishment for feeding someone else’s sheep to a hungry wolf. The mother, without hesitation, lay down under the rods instead of her son. But in a lean year, M.T., pregnant and with children, herself becomes like a hungry wolf. In addition, the last breadwinner is taken away from her family - her husband is chosen to become a soldier out of turn. In despair, M.T. runs into the city and throws himself at the feet of the governor. She helps the heroine and even becomes the godmother of M.T.’s born son. - Liodora. But an evil fate continued to haunt the heroine: one of her sons was taken into the army, “they were burned twice... God visited with anthrax... three times.” In “The Woman's Parable” M.T. sums up his sad story: “The keys to women’s happiness, From our free will, Abandoned, lost from God himself!”