Problems to whom in Rus' to live well briefly. Analysis of the poem "Who in Rus' should live well" (Nekrasov)

Introduction

The people are liberated, but are the people happy? This question, formulated in the poem "Elegy", Nekrasov asked repeatedly. In his final work “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, the problem of happiness becomes the fundamental problem on which the plot of the poem is based.

Seven men from different villages (the names of these villages are Gorelovo, Neyolovo, etc. make it clear to the reader that they have never seen happiness) set off on a journey in search of happiness. In itself, the plot of searching for something is very common and is often found in fairy tales, as well as in hagiographic literature, which often described a long and dangerous journey to the Holy Land. As a result of such a search, the hero acquires a very valuable thing (remember the fabulous I-don't-know-what), or, in the case of pilgrims, grace. And what will the wanderers from Nekrasov's poem find? As you know, their search for a happy person will not be crowned with success - either because the author did not have time to finish his poem to the end, or because, due to their spiritual immaturity, they are still not ready to see for real happy person. To answer this question, let's look at how the problem of happiness is transformed in the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'".

Evolution of the concept of "happiness" in the minds of the main characters

"Peace, wealth, honor" - this formula of happiness, derived at the beginning of the poem by the priest, exhaustively describes the understanding of happiness not only for the priest. It conveys the original, superficial look at the happiness of wanderers. Peasants who have lived in poverty for many years cannot imagine happiness that would not be supported by material prosperity and universal respect. They form a list of possible lucky people according to their ideas: a priest, a boyar, a landowner, an official, a minister and a tsar. And, although Nekrasov did not have time to realize all his plans in the poem - the chapter where the wanderers would reach the king remained unwritten, but even two from this list - the priest and the landowner, turned out to be enough for the peasants to be disappointed in their initial view for luck.

The stories of the priest and the landowner, met by wanderers on the road, are quite similar to each other. In both, sadness sounds about the departed happy, satisfying times, when power and prosperity themselves went into their hands. Now, as shown in the poem, the landowners were taken away from everything that made up their usual way of life: land, obedient serfs, and in return they gave an unclear and even frightening covenant to work. And now the happiness that seemed unshakable dissipated like smoke, leaving only regrets in its place: "... the landowner sobbed."

After listening to these stories, the men leave their original plan - they begin to understand that real happiness lies in something else. On their way, they come across a peasant fair - a place where many peasants gather. The men decide to look for a happy one among them. The problematics of the poem “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” is changing - it becomes important for wanderers to find not just an abstract happy, but a happy among the common people.

But none of the recipes for happiness offered by people at the fair - neither the fabulous harvest of turnips, nor the opportunity to eat bread to the full, nor the magical power, nor even the miraculous accident that allowed them to stay alive - does not convince our wanderers. They develop an understanding that happiness cannot depend on material things and the simple preservation of life. This is confirmed by the life story of Yermila Girin, told in the same place, at the fair. Yermil tried to always do the right thing, and in any position - burgomaster, scribe, and then miller - he enjoyed the love of the people. To some extent, he serves as a harbinger of another hero, Grisha Dobrosklonov, who also devoted his whole life to the service of the people. But what was the gratitude for the actions of Yermila? You should not consider him happy - they say to the peasants - Yermil is in prison for standing up for the peasants during the riot ...

The image of happiness as freedom in the poem

A simple peasant woman, Matryona Timofeevna, offers wanderers to look at the problem of happiness from the other side. Having told them the story of her life, full of hardships and troubles - only then was she happy, as a child she lived with her parents, - she adds:

"The keys to female happiness,
From our free will,
Abandoned, lost…”

Happiness is compared with a thing unattainable for peasants for a long time - a free will, i.e. freedom. Matryona obeyed all her life: her husband, his unkind family, the evil will of the landowners who killed her eldest son and wished to flog the youngest, the injustice because of which her husband was taken to the soldiers. She gets some joy in life only when she decides to rebel against this injustice and goes to ask for her husband. That's when Matryona finds peace of mind:

"Okay, easy.
Clear in the heart"

And this definition of happiness as freedom, apparently, is to the liking of the peasants, because already in the next chapter they indicate the goal of their journey as follows:

“We are looking, Uncle Vlas,
unworn province,
Not gutted volost,
Izbytkova village "

It can be seen that here in the first place is no longer "excess" - prosperity, but "unwashed", a sign of freedom. The men realized that they would have prosperity after they got the opportunity to independently manage their lives. And here Nekrasov raises another important moral problem - the problem of servility in the minds of a Russian person. Indeed, at the time of the creation of the poem, freedom - a decree on the abolition of serfdom - the peasants already had. But they have yet to learn how to live as free people. It is not for nothing that in the chapter “Last Child” many of the Vakhlachans so easily agree to play the role of imaginary serfs - this role is profitable, and, what is there to hide, it is familiar, not making you think about the future. Freedom in words has already been obtained, but the peasants are still standing in front of the landowner, having taken off their hats, and he graciously allows them to sit down (chapter "The Landowner"). The author shows how dangerous such pretense is - Agap, allegedly flogged to please the old prince, really dies in the morning, unable to bear the shame:

"The man is raw, special,
The head is inflexible…

Conclusion

So, as we can see, in the poem “To whom it is good to live in Rus'”, the problem is quite complex and detailed and cannot be reduced in the final to a simple finding of a happy person. The main problem of the poem lies precisely in the fact that, as the journey of the peasants shows, the people are not yet ready to become happy, they do not see the right path. The consciousness of wanderers is gradually changing, and they become able to discern the essence of happiness behind its earthly components, but every person has to go through such a path. Therefore, instead of the lucky man at the end of the poem, the figure of the people's protector, Grisha Dobrosklonov, appears. He himself is not from the peasant, but from the clergy, which is why he so clearly sees the intangible component of happiness: free, educated, Rus' that has risen from centuries of slavery. Grisha is unlikely to be happy on his own: fate is preparing for him "consumption and Siberia." But he embodies in the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" the happiness of the people, which has yet to come. Together with the voice of Grisha, singing joyful songs about free Rus', the convinced voice of Nekrasov himself is heard: when the peasants are freed not only in words, but also inwardly, then each person will be happy separately.

The above thoughts about happiness in Nekrasov's poem will be useful to 10th grade students when preparing an essay on the topic “The problem of happiness in the poem “Who lives well in Rus'””.

Artwork test

In the center of Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" is an image of the life of post-reform Russia. Nekrasov worked on the poem for 20 years, collecting material for it "word by word". It unusually broadly embraces the folk life of Russia at that time. Nekrasov sought to portray in the poem representatives of all social strata - from a poor peasant to a king. But, unfortunately, the poem was never finished. This was prevented by the death of the author. The main question of the work is clearly posed already in the title of the poem - who in Rus' has a good life? This question is about happiness, well-being, about the human lot, fate. The thought of the painful fate of the peasant, of the peasant ruin runs through the whole poem. The position of the peasantry is clearly illustrated by the name of the places where the truth-telling peasants come from: Terpigorev district, Pustoporozhnaya volost, villages: Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo. Asking the question of finding a happy, prosperous person in Rus', the truth-seeking peasants set off on their way. They meet different people. The most memorable, original personalities are the peasant woman Matrena Timofeevna, the hero Savely, Ermil Girin, Agap Petrov, Yakim Nagoi. Despite the misfortunes that haunted them, they retained spiritual nobility, humanity, the ability to do good and self-sacrifice. Nekrasov's work is full of pictures of people's grief. The poet is very concerned about the fate of the peasant woman. Her share is shown by Nekrasov in the fate of Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina:

Matrena Timofeevna

stubborn woman,

Wide and dense

Thirty-eight years old.

Beautiful: gray hair,

The eyes are large, stern,

Eyelashes are the richest

Stern and swarthy

She has a white shirt on

Yes, the sundress is short,

Yes, a sickle over the shoulder ...

Matryona Timofeevna has to go through a lot: overwork, and hunger, and the humiliation of her husband's relatives, and the death of her first-born ... It is clear that all these trials changed Matryona Timofeevna. She says to herself like this: “I have a downcast head, I wear an angry heart ...”, and compares a woman’s fate with three loops of white, red and black silk. She concludes her reflections with a bitter conclusion: “You have not started a business - look for a happy woman among the women!” Speaking of the bitter fate of women, Nekrasov never ceases to admire the amazing spiritual qualities of a Russian woman, her will, self-esteem, pride, not crushed by the hardest conditions of life.

A special place in the poem is given to the image of the peasant Saveliy, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, “the hero of the homespun”, which personifies the gigantic strength and stamina of the people, the motivation of the rebellious spirit in him. In the episode of the revolt, when the peasants, led by Saveliy, who have been holding back their hatred for years, push the landowner Vogel into the pit, not only the strength of the people's anger, but also the long-suffering of the people, the lack of organization of their protest is shown with remarkable clarity. Saveliy is endowed with the features of the legendary heroes of Russian epics - heroes. About Savelia, Matrena Timofeevna tells the wanderers: “There was also a lucky man.” Saveliy's happiness lies in love of freedom, in understanding the need for an active struggle of the people, who can achieve a “free”, happy life only through active resistance and action.

Based on the moral ideals of the people, relying on the experience of the liberation struggle, the poet creates images of "new people" - people from the peasant environment, who became fighters for the happiness of the poor. Such is Yermil Girin. He earned honor and love with strict truth, intelligence and kindness. But the fate of Yermila was not always favorable and kind to him. He ended up in prison when the “Frightened province, Terpigorev district, Nedykhanyev district, the village of Stolbnyaki” rebelled. The suppressors of the rebellion, knowing that the people would listen to Yermila, called him to exhort the rebellious peasants. But Girin, being the defender of the peasants, does not call them to humility, for which he is punished.

In his work, the author shows not only strong-willed and strong peasants, but also those whose hearts could not resist the corrupting influence of slavery. In the chapter "Last Child" we see the lackey Ipat, who does not even want to hear about the will. He recalls his “prince”, and calls himself “the last slave”. Nekrasov gives Ipat a well-aimed and malicious assessment: “sensitive lackey”. We see the same slave in the image of Jacob the faithful, an exemplary serf:

Only Jacob had joy

Grooming the master, protecting, appeasing ...

All his life he forgave the master of insults, bullying, but when Mr. Polivanov handed over the nephew of his faithful servant to the soldiers, coveting his bride, Yakov could not stand it and took revenge on the master with his own death.

It turns out that even morally deformed slaves, driven to the extreme, are able to protest. The whole poem is imbued with a sense of the inevitable and imminent death of a system based on slavish obedience.

The approach of this death is especially clearly felt in the last part of the poem - “A Feast for the Whole World”. The author's hopes are associated with the image of an intellectual from the people of Grigory Dobrosklonov. Nekrasov did not have time to complete this part, but nevertheless the image of Grigory turned out to be holistic and strong. Grisha is a typical raznochinets, the son of a laborer and a half-destitute deacon. He chooses the path of conscious revolutionary struggle, which seems to him the only possible way for the people to gain freedom and happiness. Grisha's happiness lies in the struggle for a happy future for the people, for "every peasant to live freely and cheerfully in all of holy Rus'." In the image of Grigory Dobrosklonov, Nekrasov presented to readers the typical character traits of an advanced man of his time.

In his epic poem, Nekrasov puts the most important ethical issues: about the meaning of life, about conscience, about truth, about duty, about happiness. One of these problems follows directly from the question formulated in the title of the poem. What does it mean to "live well"? What is true happiness?

The heroes of the poem understand happiness in different ways. From the point of view of the priest, this is “peace, wealth, honor.” According to the landowner, happiness is an idle, well-fed, cheerful life, unlimited power. On the road leading to wealth, career, power, “a huge, greedy crowd goes to the temptation.” But the poet despises such happiness. It does not attract truth-seekers either. They see a different path, a different happiness. The happy life of the people for the poet is inseparable from the idea of ​​free labor. A man is happy when he is not bound by slavery.

After the reform of 1861, many were worried about such questions as whether the life of the people had changed in better side did he become happy? The answer to these questions was Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Rus'." Nekrasov devoted 14 years of his life to this poem, began work on it in 1863, but it was interrupted by his death.

The main problem of the poem is the problem of happiness, and Nekrasov saw its solution in the revolutionary struggle.

After the abolition of serfdom, many seekers of national happiness appeared. One of these are the seven wanderers. They left the villages: Zaplatova, Dyryavin, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neyolova, Poorozhayka in search of a Happy Man. Each of them knows that none of the common people can be happy. And what is the happiness of a simple peasant? B.Q. T okay pop, landowner or prince. But for these people, happiness lies in the fact that they live well, and the rest do not care.

Pop sees his happiness in wealth, peace, honor. He claims that in vain the wanderers consider him happy, he has neither wealth, nor peace, nor honor:

Go where you are called! ...

Laws, formerly strict

To the dissenters, softened.

And with them and priestly

Income mat came.

The landowner sees his happiness in unlimited power over the peasant. Utyatin is happy that everyone obeys him. None of them cares about the people's happiness, they regret that now they have less elasticity over the peasant than before.

For the common people, happiness consists in having a fruitful year, so that everyone is healthy and well-fed, they don’t even think about wealth. The soldier considers himself lucky because he was in twenty battles and survived. The old woman is happy in her own way: she had up to a thousand rep born on a small ridge. For a Belarusian peasant, happiness is in bread:

Filled with Gubonin

Give rye bread

I chew - I do not wait!

The wanderers listen to these peasants with bitterness, but ruthlessly drive away their beloved slave, Prince Peremetyev, who is happy that he is ill with a “noble disease” - gout, happy that:

With French best truffle

I licked the plates

Foreign drinks

Drinking from glasses...

After listening to everyone, they decided that they were pouring vodka in vain. Happiness is a man's

Leaky with patches

Humpbacked with calluses...

The happiness of a peasant consists of misfortunes, and they boast of them. Among the people there are such as Yermil Girin. His happiness lies in helping the people. In all his life he never took a single penny from a peasant. He is respected, loved by ordinary men for honesty, kindness, for not being indifferent to peasant grief. Grandfather Savely is happy that he has retained human dignity, Ermil Girin and grandfather Savely are worthy of respect.

In my opinion, happiness is when you are ready for anything for the happiness of others. This is how the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov arises in the poem, for whom the happiness of the people is his own happiness:

I don't need any silver

Neither. gold, and God forbid,

So that my countrymen

And every peasant

Lived freely and cheerfully

All over holy Rus'!

Love for a poor, sick mother develops in Grisha's soul into love for his homeland - Russia. At the age of fifteen, he decided for himself what he would do all his life, for whom he would live, what he would achieve.

In his poem, Nekrasov showed that the people are still far from happiness, but there are people who will always strive for it and achieve it, since their happiness is happiness for everyone.

SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS (Based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who should live well in Rus'”)

Happiness is a multifaceted concept, not amenable to any formulation. Everyone has it individual, like love, and everyone perceives it in their own way.

Happiness is small and big, fleeting and for life. Every day, hour, minute, a person can experience a tiny bit of happiness.

From time immemorial, people have been looking for a stable definition of happiness that is suitable for each person. People have always wanted to know the answers to all questions, they wanted to define everything, even if they understood in their hearts that this could not be done. Maybe this is their tragedy, but maybe not, because curiosity often gave positive results.

Over such concepts as happiness, love, fought many sages; writers, poets and just ordinary people, but the result was this: how many people - so many definitions.

But man, with his insatiable curiosity, was not satisfied with this arrangement of things: if a definition cannot be given, then happiness or a happy person must be found.

This search continues to this day and will continue.

We find confirmation of this in literature and life. Writers and poets can be called the most restless in search of happiness, unearthly love, the meaning of life.

In the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'," Nekrasov touched on the topic of happiness. And again, the main characters, the peasants, are faced with the multiplicity of happiness. Whomever they meet: be it a peasant or a serf, a priest or a landowner, a man or a woman, each of the heroes has his own happiness.

The author shows us two types of happiness: peasant and lordly. Peasant happiness is "leaky with patches, humpbacked with calluses." We are convinced of this from the stories of the heroes of the chapter "Happy"; the soldier's happiness is

What in twenty battles

I was, not killed!

....................................

Me and during peacetime

Walked neither full nor hungry,

And death did not give!

For faults

Great and small

Mercilessly I beat with sticks,

And at least feel it - it's alive!

The other one is that he is strong from birth (“he waved a hammer like a feather”).

And lordly happiness is radically different from peasant happiness: for landowners, merchants, nobles - people of high society - happiness consists of honor, wealth, peace.

And the main characters, as it were, Stand at the Crossroads, not knowing what definition of happiness is the most accurate, important. And to some extent it outweighs the lordly, because for them, who have lived their whole lives in poverty, who have known hunger, happiness is primarily a material side. They may not fully realize that a person can be happy regardless of whether he is poor or rich.

Very often there is no need to go anywhere for happiness, because a person is able to create it himself, for example, by doing a good deed. After all, happiness, in my opinion, is primarily a state of mind, therefore a kind, sympathetic person is always happier than an evil, selfish one.

And yet, people will seek happiness, for themselves or for others, it does not matter, because if you ever feel happy, you want these happy minutes or hours to never end.

The problem of happiness in the poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Who should live well in Rus'"

N.A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a work that embodies the primordial, “eternal” features of the Russian national character, touches on acute social problems that arose in Russia [before] after the abolition of serfdom. The poet does not accidentally address this topic, he is very worried about the fate of the country.

The problem of happiness is the main one in the poem. The author is extremely concerned about the following philosophical question: "The people are free, but are the people happy?" The heroes of the work, seven men, are trying to find the answer: "Who lives happily, freely in Rus'?" To understand who is truly happy, one should refer to the criteria for happiness, which are stated almost at the very beginning in the chapter "Pop": "Peace, wealth, honor." However, analyzing the poem, one can add to their list and affirm the main idea that true happiness lies in serving the people. This idea is embodied in the image of Grigory Dobrosklonov.

So, the problem of well-being criteria is solved in the episode of the meeting of men with the priest. However, Luke's opinion, which is that the happiest person is a clergyman, is refuted, since the priest has neither peace, nor honor, nor wealth.

The priest claims that there used to be profit from the landowners, but now he can only live on the means of poor peasants. He also has no respect. At the same time, the hero cannot live in peace, since the "coming" of the priests is "big": "sick, dying, born into the world." [It is important to say that] It is hard for a hero to see the suffering of the people, he cannot be happy when other people around are unhappy.

In addition, [from the point of view of the ideological content] the characters assumed that the landowner was also happy, however, referring to his image, it can be noted that he lacks honor. The reform of 1861 made life difficult for Obolt-Obolduev. Now he has no power over the peasants, who were the main component of his well-being and a means of lordly arbitrariness (“Whoever I want, I will have mercy, whoever I want, I will execute”). From all this it follows that the landowner is unhappy, since he has no one to manage, he has to do everything himself, while he cannot even distinguish between a "rye ear" and a "barley ear".

At the same time, wanderers are interested in finding a happy person from the common people. At the country fair, they offer food and vodka to those who are truly happy. However, no such people were found. Not a single person fits the criteria provided by the peasants earlier: either their happiness is fleeting, or according to the principle "it could be worse." So, the old woman considers herself happy because of the good harvest of turnips, to which the wanderers say to her: “Drink at home, old one, eat that turnip!” So is the hunter, who is glad that his comrades were bullied by bears, and his cheekbone was only twisted. All this, on the contrary, confirms the bad life of the Russian people, for whom any luck or everyday pettiness is already happiness.

Among other things, the heroes learn about Yermil Girin, who is famous for respect among the peasants. He represents the type of "people's intercessor", as a result of which at first he is considered among the lucky ones. However, after the characters find out that Yermila is in prison, which destroys the idea of ​​him as a lucky man.

Meanwhile, the men meet a woman, Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, whom the people themselves also consider happy. The heroine has both “honor”, ​​and “wealth”, and “honor”:

Not a woman! kinder

And more ironically - there is no woman.

However, Matryona Timofeevna herself recognizes in her life only one moment of happiness, when her future husband persuaded her to marry him:

While we were trading

Must be what I think

Then there was happiness...

And hardly ever again!

From this it follows that the joy of a woman is associated with a premonition of love, because after marriage her life turns into endless reproaches from her mother-in-law and father-in-law, hard work. She, like all other serf women, endures the humiliation and neglect of her husband's family, which is considered typical among the peasants, and the heroine also faces many difficulties in life. It is no coincidence that Matryona sums up her whole story, which is of a generalizing nature:

Keys to female happiness

From our free will

abandoned, lost

God himself!

Thus, it turns out that respect, prosperity and peace are not enough to be happy.

Then we will consider another character belonging to the type of a genuine happy person, Grigory Dobrosklonov. The hero represents the interests of the people, in his song he raises the topic of the future of Russia:

Rat rises -

innumerable,

The strength will affect her

Invincible!

The character represents the spiritual line of happiness, the essence of which is completely different from the ideas of men. The “great truth” expressed in Grisha Dobrosklonov’s song gives him such joy that he runs home, feeling “immense strength” in himself. The hero chooses the path of serving the people. His road will not be easy, but this is the happiness for the soul of the "people's protector", which lies not in his own well-being, but in unity with the whole people. From the point of view of composition and ideological content, this is the key idea in the work.

Thus, in N.A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who should live well in Russia”, there is no clear answer to the question of who is happy in the country, however, the author shows [, ] how men move from earthly ideas about happiness to the understanding that happiness - a spiritual category, and in order to acquire it, changes are necessary not only in the social, but also in the mental structure of every peasant.

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is one of the greatest Russian poets. The main theme of his works is the hard life of the simple Russian people, the peasants. In his poems and poems, he describes the heavy burden of the serfs. The poet worries about their fate and with all his heart wants to make it easier. Nikolai Alekseevich is trying to convey this idea to other people with the help of his works.

The poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" is also devoted to the theme of the peasantry, it raises the theme of people's happiness.

In the poem, Nekrasov paints a portrait of impoverished, dark, downtrodden Rus'. The abolition of serfdom did not change the situation in the country; corruption among high officials, drunkenness among peasants and other vices still flourishes. For the colorful description, the author uses a lot of speaking names of villages and surnames. The villages are called "Zaplatovo", "Dyryavino", "Razutovo" and so on, which once again emphasizes the destruction of the country. The main characters of the poem set off on a journey through impoverished and downtrodden Rus', trying to find a happy person.

Using the example of Matryona Timofeevna, the author examines the life of peasant women of that time. For her, happiness is a friendly family and voluntary marriage for love. Nose early childhood she had to share the difficult fate of the Russian peasants. She married not for love, tragically lost a child and suffered from long separations from her husband, who went to work. In Matryona Timofeevna, the author reflected all the problems and difficulties of the life of ordinary women of that time. Being the weakest and most unprotected segment of the population, even among the peasants, they could not always cope with the hardships of life. And even the abolition of serfdom had almost no effect on their situation.

Another significant image in the poem is Yermil Girin. For him, happiness is honor and respect gained by intelligence and kindness. He runs a mill where he works honestly, never cheating anyone. Also, being a literate person, he taught people to write. Thanks to his kindness, honesty and sincerity, Jirin has won the trust of people, he is respected and appreciated.

Fortunately, there are two possible routes. One of them is the way of personal enrichment. Fortunately, nobles and officials go this way. For them, wealth and power are the most important things in life. But I believe that this path cannot lead to true happiness, since it cannot be built on selfishness. Grigory Dobrosklonov chose a different path for himself - the path of intercession. He understands that this is a difficult, but beautiful and correct path, and this path will certainly lead him to happiness.

Nekrasov is the greatest Russian poet, singer of the people. When you read his wonderful poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, one gets the feeling that it is the peasants themselves who are talking about their problems, experiences and thoughts. The author very accurately described the state of the people during the period of the abolition of serfdom and the concept of happiness for this people. For each of them it is different, and they are slowly moving towards their own happiness.

Updated: 2017-03-15

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