The bitter old woman Izergil history of creation. The image and characteristics of the old woman Izergil in the story "Old woman Izergil" M
In the 90s of the XIX century, there was a sharp acceleration of the capitalist development of the country. Millions of people, primarily peasants, find themselves landless, destitute, cut off from their homes. This process was painful, but it led to a change in the way of life of the population.
Gorky felt this breakdown of the usual foundations and the intensity of man's spiritual life caused by them more sharply than his contemporaries. He embodied his idea of \u200b\u200ba new worldview emerging in the folk environment in his romantic works. This is the story "The Old Woman Izergil", the analysis of which we will conduct.
In this work, romantic legends are organically fused with contemporary folk life for Gorky. A life rich in events, passions, rebellious disagreement with the destined, with the principles of moderation and accuracy, distinguishes the main character of the story.
Her life is full of heroism, an indomitable striving for freedom. Before her eyes, soldiers of revolutionary Poland fought and died for their freedom, she knew and loved "one worthy gentleman with a hacked face" - a Pole who "fought for the Greeks," she condemned the Russians who went to beat the Magyars. " Izergil may have witnessed the bloody suppression of the revolution in Hungary by the troops of Nicholas I. Finally, the old woman tells how she herself helped the insurgent Poles escape from captivity.
Match the stories of her life and the legends that she tells the passing one. Unlike Makar Chudra's “were”, where in the romantic coverage were given, albeit unusual, but still real facts of reality, Izergil's stories about Larra and Danko stand out as truly fabulous.
The exaggeration of the fact in “were” by Makar Chudra did not go beyond the boundaries of the possible. This, in particular, is indicated by the fact that the narrator could prove himself to be a witness to the drama played out between Loiko and Radda. The legends of the old woman Izergil are a different matter. Exaggeration here clearly goes beyond reality, and in this case we should no longer speak about romantic illumination of reality, but about fabulousness, which is expressed primarily in the narration of events of a fantastic nature.
The first of the legends told by Izergil tells about the tragic fate of the son of a woman and an eagle - Larra.
The image of Larra ("The Old Woman Izergil")
This young man, unfamiliar with the laws of the tribe where his mother was from, and accustomed to consider himself the best, comes into conflict with the tribe, which demanded that he respect its laws and customs. But Larra himself wants to command, everywhere and in everything recognizing only his desire, his will, his right to be strong. And therefore he refuses to obey this demand, and as a result of a tragic collision with people, he was condemned by them to eternal loneliness. The fairness of such a court, according to Izergil, was confirmed by heaven itself. This is what pride can bring a man, and this is how God and people can punish a proud man! She wants to say.
Both the passing one and the author himself, of course, could not accept either Larra's egoism or individualism. The criticism rightly noted that the image of Larra Gorky polemicized with the philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, who preached the contempt of the superman for the crowd, the people, the right of a "strong personality" to crime, violence, lack of jurisdiction, etc. However, if you try to delve deeper into the essence of the image of the tragic Larra's conflict with the people of the tribe, then the question of the controversy will appear in all its complexity. The writer disputed not only the reactionary ideas of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, but also many inert popular notions about life, about the hero, which the old woman Izergil follows.
Condemning Larra, Izergil concludes that he was amazed for his pride. Naturally, the writer was not inclined to unconditionally agree with the condemnation of a person for pride. After all, pride in the character of a character could be combined with his love of freedom, respect for the rights to freedom of others. Polemising with Izergil, the writer (and with him passing by) seemed to want to say: Larra was amazed not for pride in general, but for the pride of an individualist and an egoist.
The old woman Izergil did not understand the essence of Larra's character, condemning him for pride (for pride in general!). And if we take into account the fact that pride was inherent in herself, then the words of the author, said by him about the old woman, will become quite understandable: “And it became, for some reason, terribly sorry for her. She led the end of the story in such a lofty, threatening tone, and yet in this tone a fearful, slavish note sounded. " After all, having understood the reasons for Larra's tragedy in her own way and condemning him for striving to be independent, proud, she condemned herself. It is natural to ask: why did this happen? The answer to this is given by the story of Izergil's life following the legend, which the old woman tells to the passing one.
The image of the old woman Izergil
The criticism has already spoken in sufficient detail about the love of Gorky's heroine for freedom, her ability to “sacrifice herself”. But this is not the whole truth, oddly enough, with all the love for independence, freedom, with all the condemnation of the person passing away from people, Izergil herself was selfish in her spirit and was internally little connected with the people among whom she lived ...
She is always attracted to strong, heroic natures, her sympathies are entirely on the side of these freedom fighters. But, being herself proud, beautiful and strong, she appreciates other people, first of all, for these qualities. The same political ideals for which her loved ones fought were much less interested in her. This, I think, can explain the fact that Izergil could fall in love not only with the "worthy Pan" who fought against the "Turkish tyranny" for the freedom of the Greeks, but also with the tyrannical rich Turk.
The ideal of the life of the Gorky heroine was free love, which she puts above all else. And with those who tried to infringe on her rights in this, Izergil dealt decisively and harshly. So it was with the "little Pole", who told her a "proud, hurtful word", for which the angry woman threw him off the bridge into the river, so it was with Pan Arkadek, whom she "gave ... a kick and would hit him in the face, but he recoiled, "- because he wanted to love Izergil in gratitude for deliverance from captivity.
However, Izergil herself turned out to be selfish in her love. Her kisses often brought people suffering, led them to death. But Izergil looks at this as something ordinary, of little interest to her, every now and then forgetting to finish the sad story of the fate of his former lover to the passing one. And it is understandable, for in love she "only wants will for herself."
Unlike legends, the story of Izergil's life is quite real, but it is given in a romantic light. Like Makar Chudra, an old woman does not skimp on praising herself and her time. She, like Chudra (only to a greater extent), exaggerates the fact. This is also served by the sublime rhetorical style of Izergil's narration with many aphorisms and lyrical and philosophical digressions, for example, a discussion about life and exploits, and a colorful description of her beloved, and silence - for the time being - about the negative that was in them.
In the whole story, and especially where Izergil herself speaks directly - and she speaks mostly alone - the elevated "philosophical" style of narration prevails.
Izergil wants to show herself as an example to follow, but her character is very contradictory. In this sense, the end of her story about her life is very indicative: “And now I have been living here for about three decades ... I had a husband, a Moldovan; died a year from that time. And I live here! I live alone ... No, not alone, but with those over there. "
This reservation is by no means accidental. She once again speaks of the deep contradictions in the character of the heroine, her individualism and selfishness.
Nevertheless, the passing one, wanting to be sure of this, asks the old woman to tell the legend already known to him about the burning heart of Danko. “I heard, - says a passing person, - something earlier about the origin of these sparks (from the burning heart of Danko), but I wanted to hear how old Izergil would tell about it”.
The image of Danko ("The Old Woman Izergil")
Danko is portrayed as an old woman strong, courageous, but standing, as it were, outside the team, the crowd. He looks down on his fellow tribesmen. All this, if you continue to follow the narrator, to some extent allows you to bring Danko closer to the character of another legend - Larra. As for the difference in their fates, it could again be explained by the fact that in the legend about Larra the collective was portrayed as a "mighty tribe of people", in the legend about Danko the collective of the tribe turned out to be somehow weak, helpless in the misfortune that befell him : everyone “wanted to go to the enemy and give him their will as a gift, and no one, frightened of death, was afraid of a slave life ...”. But then, says Izergil, "Danko appeared and saved everyone alone." This "appeared" is very characteristic of her understanding of the hero. Danko definitely came from somewhere, although further Izergil explains: "Danko is one of those people ..." And then - not people who, doubting the ability of a heroic tribesman to lead them out of the darkness of forests and swamps, like animals, pounced on him , not people, but it was he - Danko "saved all alone."
The whole legend about Danko, as presented by Izergil, is sustained in one tone. For the sake of saving people, the hero sacrifices himself and dies, "without asking them for anything as a reward for himself."
But, of course, it would be wrong, based on the assessment given by Izergil, to consider Danko an individualist or a person who is contradictory in nature. The content of the legend gives grounds to speak of Danko as an integral heroic personality, loyal to the interests of his people, living with the people by the same thoughts. Attention is drawn to the fact that the tribe without hesitation chose Danko as the leader of the campaign, on which the fate of everyone depended. And not by his beauty, as the old woman Izergil believes, but by his courage and determination, Danko made people believe in him and in themselves. "I have the courage to lead, that's why I led you!" - he says to the people of the tribe. Through the harsh and condemning tone of the old woman Izergil's narration, a living folk tale involuntarily breaks through about a man who gave his life for the people, and about the people, together with him, going to the kingdom of light and freedom.
Functions of romantic legends
The images of romantic legends are significant in and of themselves. But Gorky needs them, first of all, to characterize the attitude of a real person. The admiration with which Izergil tells about exploits, selflessness, love of freedom, selflessness and activity, and the indignation that permeates her attitude to inglorious vegetation, selfishness, slavery, testifies to her own desire for freedom, shows what is in her soul a person lives with a thirst for something new, beautiful, that this person does not feel like a passive victim of circumstances.
The romantic attitude of the heroes is manifested not only in what they tell, but also in the way they tell. From the standpoint of the ideal, they view the world as a ratio of only two categories: the sublime and the low. However, they are not inclined to objective perception and presentation of facts. Going to exaggeration, to the extreme, they defend what they think is beautiful, and in the same way, going to the extreme, to exaggeration, they deny what appears to be ugly. Therefore, the images of the legends are marked with the stamp of poetic convention, singularity and one-sidedness: each embodies one kind of beginning in its exclusive expression. So, Larra is a symbol of selfishness, raised to such an extreme degree that the hero is able to kill a girl who neglected his desire. He is opposed to Danko, a hero who is the embodiment of love for people, a love so selfless that she makes him sacrifice his life. This concludes the analysis of the story "The Old Woman Izergil".
The main character of Maxim Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil", the narrator of stories-legends about her life and the life of her people. She is very old at the moment. Her hair is gray, her hands and face are wrinkled, her eyes hardly see.
As a child, she lived with her mother and had to work hard. Being a very mobile person, she had to sit still and weave carpets, which was torture for her. But when she grew up, she began a very hectic life. At the age of 15, she fell in love with a fisherman, to whom she ran to kiss at night, then left him, and began to meet with a hutsul. Both the fisherman and the hutsul were then hanged, as they were doing something criminal. Then Izergil was thrown into the harem of a Turk, from where she fled a week later to Bulgaria with his sixteen-year-old son. The Turk soon died, and one Bulgarian stabbed her due to jealousy and Izergil spent a long time undergoing treatment in a monastery, from where she later left with a Pole monk to Poland. The Pole was bad, so she soon threw him off the cliff. Then the old woman had to sell the body for several years.
When she was about 40 years old, she lived in Krakow and was already rich, even had her own servants. At this time, Izergil met her last love, a gentleman. When he sought her, he was affectionate, but as he achieved, he began to laugh at her. But she still loved him, and when he was captured near Warsaw, she saved him. But after being saved, realizing that he was a deceitful person, she left him. After that, she decided to settle down and start a settled life. She got married, and has been living in this place ever since, only her husband died.
Fragment of illustration by S. A. Sorin
Very briefly
An old Romanian woman recalls her stormy youth and tells two legends: about the son of an eagle, doomed to eternal loneliness for pride, and about a young man who sacrificed himself to save his native tribe.
The chapter titles are conditional and do not correspond to the original. The story is told on behalf of the narrator, whose name is not mentioned in the story. The memories of the old woman Izergil are presented on her behalf.
The narrator met the old woman Izergil when he was picking grapes in Bessarabia. One evening, while resting on the seashore, he was talking to her. Suddenly the old woman pointed to the shadow of a low-floating cloud, named him Larra and told "one of the glorious fairy tales laid out in the steppes."
The Legend of Larra
Many thousands of years ago, a tribe of hunters and farmers lived in the "country of the big river". Once one of the girls of this tribe was carried away by a huge eagle. They searched for the girl for a long time, did not find and forgot about her, and twenty years later she returned with an adult son, whom she gave birth to from an eagle. The eagle itself, sensing the approach of old age, committed suicide - fell from a great height onto sharp rocks.
The eagle's son was a handsome guy with cold, proud eyes. He respected no one, and treated the elders as equals. The elders did not want to accept the guy into their tribe, but this only made him laugh.
He went up to a beautiful girl and hugged her, but she pushed him away because she was the daughter of one of the elders and was afraid of her father's anger. Then the eagle's son killed the girl. They tied him up and began to invent "an execution worthy of a crime."
One sage asked why he killed the girl, and the eagle's son replied that he wanted her, and she pushed him away. After a long conversation, the elders realized that the guy "considers himself the first on earth and, besides himself, does not see anything." He did not want to love anyone and wanted to take what he wanted.
For everything that a person takes, he pays with himself: with his mind and strength, sometimes with his life.
The elders realized that the eagle's son was dooming himself to terrible loneliness, they decided that this would be the most severe punishment for him, and they let him go.
The son of an eagle was named Larra - an outcast. Since then, he lived "free as a bird", came to the tribe and abducted cattle and women. They shot at him, but they could not kill him, because Larra's body was covered by the "invisible veil of the highest punishment."
This is how Larra lived for many decades. Once he approached people and did not defend himself. People realized that Larra wants to die, and retreated, not wanting to ease his fate. He stabbed himself in the chest with a knife, but the knife broke, he tried to smash his head on the ground, but the ground pulled away from him, and people realized that Larra could not die. Since then, he wanders across the steppe in the form of an ethereal shadow, punished for his great pride.
Memories of old woman Izergil
The old woman Izergil dozed off, and the narrator sat on the shore, listening to the sound of the waves and the distant songs of the grape pickers.
Suddenly waking up, the old woman Izergil began to remember those whom she loved in her long life.
She lived with her mother in Romania on the banks of the river, weaving carpets. At fifteen, she fell in love with a young fisherman. He tried to persuade Izergil to leave with him, but by that time she was already tired of the fisherman - "she only sings and kisses, nothing more."
Having abandoned the fisherman, Izergil fell in love with a hutsul - a cheerful, red-haired Carpathian fellow from a robber gang. The fisherman could not forget Izergil and also joined the Hutsuls. So they were hanged together - both the fisherman and the hutsul, and Izergil went to watch the execution.
Then Izergil met an important and wealthy Turk, lived for a whole week in his harem, then missed and fled with his son, a dark-haired, flexible boy much younger than her, to Bulgaria. There she was stabbed in the chest by a certain Bulgarian, either for the groom, or for her husband - Izergil no longer remembers.
Izergil came out in a convent. The Polish nun who looked after her had a brother in a nearby monastery. With him, Izergil fled to Poland, and the young Turk died of an excess of carnal love and homesickness.
The Pole was "funny and sneaky", he could hit with words like a whip. Once he greatly offended Izergil. She took him in her arms, threw him into the river and left.
Never met after with those whom she once loved. These are not good meetings, all the same, as it were, with the dead.
People in Poland turned out to be “cold and deceitful,” Izergil found it difficult to live among them. In the city of Bochnia, a Jew bought it, "he bought it not for himself, but to trade." Izergil agreed, wanting to earn money and return home. The "rich gentlemen" went to her to feast, they showered her with gold.
Izergil loved many, and most of all the handsome nobleman Arkadek. He was young, and Izergil had already lived for four decades. Then Izergil parted with a Jew and lived in Krakow, she was rich - a big house, servants. Arkadek sought it for a long time, and having achieved it, he abandoned it. Then he went to fight the Russians and was captured.
Izergil, pretending to be a beggar, killed the sentry and managed to rescue her beloved Arkadek from Russian captivity. He promised to love her, but Izergil did not stay with him - she did not want to be loved out of gratitude.
After that, Izergil left for Bessarabia and stayed there. Her Moldovan husband died, and now the old woman lives among young grape pickers, telling them her tales.
A thundercloud was pouring in from the sea, and blue sparks began to appear in the steppe. Seeing them, Izergil told the narrator the legend of Danko.
The Legend of Danko
In the old days, a tribe of strong and courageous people lived between the steppe and the impenetrable forest. Once stronger tribes appeared from the steppe and drove these people deep into the forest, where the air was poisoned by the poisonous fumes of the swamps.
People began to get sick and die. It was necessary to leave the forest, but behind were strong enemies, and in front of the road was blocked by swamps and giant trees, creating a "ring of strong darkness" around the people.
People could not return to the steppe and fight to the death, because they had covenants that should not disappear.
Nothing - neither work, nor women, exhaust the bodies and souls of people in the same way that melancholy thoughts exhaust them.
Heavy thoughts have created fear in the hearts of people. The cowardly words sounded louder and louder about the need to return to the steppe and become the slaves of the strongest.
And then the young handsome Danko volunteered to lead the tribe out of the forest. People believed and followed him. Their path was difficult, people died in the swamps and every step was given to them with difficulty. Soon, the exhausted tribesmen began to grumble at Danko.
Once a thunderstorm began, impenetrable darkness fell on the forest, and the tribe fell in spirit. People were ashamed to admit their own powerlessness, and they began to reproach Danko for the inability to control them.
Tired and angry people began to judge Danko, he also replied that his fellow tribesmen themselves could not keep their strength for a long way and just walked like a flock of sheep. Then people wanted to kill Danko, and there was no kindness or nobility in their faces. Out of pity for his fellow tribesmen, Danko's heart flashed with a fire of desire to help them, and the rays of this mighty fire sparkled in his eyes.
Seeing how Danko's eyes were burning, people decided that he was furious, became alert and began to surround him in order to seize and kill. Danko understood their intention and felt bitter for him, and his heart flared up even brighter. He “tore apart his chest with his hands,” tore out the flaming heart, raised it high above his head and led the enchanted people forward, illuminating their path.
Finally, the forest parted and the tribe saw a wide steppe, and Danko laughed happily and died. His heart was still burning next to his body. Some cautious person saw this and, frightened of something, "stepped on a proud heart with his foot." It crumbled into sparks and died away.
Sometimes blue sparks appear in the steppe before a thunderstorm. These are the remains of Danko's burning heart.
Having finished the story, the old woman Izergil dozed off, and the narrator looked at her withered body and wondered how many more "beautiful and strong legends" she knew. Covering the old woman with rags, the narrator lay down beside him and gazed for a long time at the cloudy sky, while the sea rustled “deafly and sadly” nearby.
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The conflict between generations always looks natural and logical. Over time, people tend to abandon youthful maximalism, organize their lives in a more practical way. It is sometimes difficult for young people to imagine that the older generation was young and the representatives of this generation were also related to outbursts of love, passion, confusion and melancholy due to the lack of opportunity or not knowing how to realize themselves in society.
The stories of passionate love from the lips of today's old men and women make us smile, it seems that people of this age can only have a feeling of deep sympathy, devoid of all thoughts and actions in the direction of lust.
Maxim Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil" is just about a man whose life is not devoid of either passion or changes in his personal life.
Izergil's appearance
Oddly enough, Izergil is not shy about talking about her past, in particular her love past - she is not embarrassed by any of the facts of her biography, although many of them could be challenged both from the point of view of law and from the point of view of morality.
The eventful life of the old woman gives her the opportunity to take center stage in the story.
The old woman's life developed in such a way that she managed to visit many places and meet different people. At the time of the narration, Izergil lives not far from Ackerman, on the Black Sea coast and is unlikely to change her place of residence - her age and physical condition will not make it possible to do this.
Old age bent her once beautiful figure in half, black eyes lost their color and often watery. Facial features sharpened - the hooked nose looked like an owl's beak, the cheeks sunken, forming deep depressions on the face. Hair turned gray and teeth fell out.
The skin became dry, wrinkles appeared on it, it seemed that now, here it would crumble into pieces and in front of us there would be only the skeleton of an old woman.
Despite such an unattractive appearance, Izergil is a favorite of young people. She knows many fairy tales, legends and legends - they arouse a keen interest in young people. Sometimes the old woman tells something from her life - these stories sound no less interesting and bewitching. Her voice is specific, it cannot be called pleasant, it is more like a creak - it seems that the old woman speaks "with the bones themselves."
At night, Izergil often goes out to young people, her stories in the light of the moon are even more effective - in the moonlight her face takes on the features of mystery, pity about the quickly past years is noticeable on it. This is not a feeling of remorse for what she had done, but regret that her young years passed too quickly, and she did not have time to fully enjoy kisses and caresses, passion and youth.
Life path Izergil
Izergil likes to communicate with young people. Once a certain young man had the opportunity to find out the details of the old woman's personal life. Despite the fact that, according to the number of participants, their conversation should have been in the nature of a dialogue, in reality this does not happen - the old woman's speech is all the time, stories about her personal life and romance novels are intertwined with two legends - about Danko and about Larra. These legends harmoniously become the introduction and epilogue of the story - this is not an accident. Their content allows for a more significant emphasis on the details of the old woman's life.
Izegil spent her youth on the banks of the Byrlad in the city of Falchi. From the story we learn that she lived with her mother and their earnings consisted of the number of carpets sold and woven with their own hands. At that time, Izergil was very beautiful. She answered compliments with a sunny smile. Her youth, cheerful disposition and, naturally, external data were not unnoticed by young people of different positions in society and wealth - they admired her and fell in love with her. The girl was very emotional and very amorous.
At the age of 15, she fell in love for real. Her lover was a fisherman from Moldova. Four days after they met, the girl gave herself up to her lover. The young man fell in love with her to the point of unconsciousness and called with him across the Danube, but Izergil's ardor quickly dried up - the young fisherman no longer aroused her either passion or interest. She refused his offer and began dating the red-haired hutsul, bringing a lot of grief and suffering to the fisherman. Over time, he fell in love with another girl, the lovers decided to go to live in the Carpathians, but their dream did not come true. On the way, they decided to visit a familiar Romanian, where they were seized and later hanged. The old woman no longer liked the fisherman, but what happened greatly stirred her consciousness. She burned down the house of the offender - she does not speak about this in plain text, claiming that the Romanian had many enemies, but she does not particularly reject her own fate in the fire.
The girl's love with the Hutsul turned out to be not long - she easily changes him to a rich, but middle-aged Turk. Izergil keeps in touch with the Turk not for the sake of money, she is most likely driven by a sense of interest - she even lives in his harem for a week, being there the ninth in a row. However, the company of women quickly bores her, and besides, she has a new love - the sixteen-year-old son of a Turk (Izergil herself was then about 30). The lovers decide to escape. They managed to carry out this action in full, but their further fate was not so rosy. Life on the run was too much for a young man - he was dying. Over time, she realizes that the fate of a young Turk was predictable - it was a mistake to believe that such a young man could survive in difficult conditions, but the woman does not feel the torment of repentance. Izergil recalls that at that time she was in her prime. Does his beloved feel grief or remorse at the realization that a young boy died on her whim? Rather, it can be called a slight regret, she is too cheerful to grieve for so long. The bitterness of the loss of children is also not familiar to her, so she does not see the consciousness of the full gravity of her act.
New love smoothes out the finally negative memories of the death of the young man. This time the object of her love is a married Bulgarian. His wife (or girlfriend, time erased this fact from Izergil's memory) turned out to be quite decisive - she injured her mistress in revenge for her love affair with her beloved knife. For a long time this wound had to be healed, but this story did not teach Izergil anything. This time, she escapes from the monastery where she was helped, with a young monk - the brother of the nun who treats her. On the way to Poland, Izergil fell out of love and left this young man. The fact that she found herself in a foreign land does not scare her - she agrees to the Jew's offer to trade herself. And she does it quite successfully - the girl has become a stumbling block not for one gentleman. They fought and argued over her. One of the lords even decided to shower her with gold, if only she was his, but the proud girl rejects him - she is in love with another, and she does not aspire to wealth. In this episode, Izergil shows herself disinterested and sincere - if she agreed to the offer, she could give the money for the ransom of the Jew and return home. But a woman prefers the truth - pretending to be loved for selfish purposes seems inconceivable to her.
Her new lover was a man with a hacked face. Their love did not last long - presumably he was killed during a riot. Izergil, this version seems to be reliable - Pan loved exploits too much. After the death of Pan, the woman, despite the fact that the feelings of love were mutual, did not grieve for a long time - and fell in love with a Hungarian.
He was most likely killed by someone in love with her. Izergil sighs heavily: "People die from love no less than from the plague." Such tragedy does not affect her and does not make her blues. In addition, at this time, she was able to accumulate the proper amount of money and redeem herself as a Jew, but, following the plan and returning home, she did not.
last love
By that time, Izergil's age was close to 40 years. She was still attractive, although not nearly as attractive as when she was younger. In Poland, she met a very charming and handsome gentleman named Arkadek. Pan sought her for a long time, but when he got what he wanted, he immediately dropped it. This caused the woman a lot of suffering. For the first time in her entire life, she visited the place of her lovers - she was just as abandoned as she threw lovers at her. Unfortunately, this time the love ardor of Izergil did not dry out so quickly. She long sought love, but it was all to no avail. A new tragedy for her was the news that Arkadek was captured. This time, Izergil did not become an indifferent observer of events - she decided to free her beloved. Her strength and courage were enough to calmly kill the guard, but instead of the expected gratitude and gratitude, the woman receives ridicule - her pride was infringed, the woman did not tolerate such humiliation and left Arkadek.
A bitter trace after this event was on her soul for a long time. Izergil realizes that her beauty disappears without a trace - it's time for her to settle down. Under Ackerman, she "settles" and even gets married. Her husband died a year ago.
Izergil has lived here for 30 years, we do not know if she had children, it is likely not. Izergil now often goes out to young people. She does this not so as not to feel lonely, but because she likes such a pastime. Young people also do not mind a woman coming - they are very fascinated by her stories.
What Izergil teaches us
The first impression, after reading this story, is always ambiguous - at first glance, it seems that the author to some extent encourages such a dissolute, by our standards, way of life - Izergil cannot bear lessons after another fall in love (even if it ended tragically through her fault) and again rushes into the maelstrom of passions and love. A woman's love has always been mutual, but as a result, only her beloved are punished - most of them died tragically. Presumably, Gorky used this technique to convey to the reader that all our actions have an impact on the course of the life of other people - we have no right to act recklessly, because for other people it can be destructive. A significant series of such events directly or indirectly associated with Izergil once again confirms this idea.
Izergil had every opportunity to realize her potential (whether she took advantage of this or not - that's another question), but a woman always made a choice, guided exclusively by her, to some extent, egocentric position. This does not mean that she had to live her whole life with one person and weave carpets in the same way from morning to night - but the harshness of her actions is unforgivable. Choice is another story problem. What position in life will be correct? Do you always have to do what they do to you? Izergil could live as she liked and would stop at any moment, but the desire to love and give love to others prevailed in her until old age.
Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil" is a legendary work written in 1894. The ideological nature of this story fully corresponded to the motives dominating in the early romantic period of the writer's work. In his artistic quest, the author tried to create a conceptual image of a person who is ready to make self-sacrifice for the sake of lofty humane goals.
The history of the creation of the work.
It is believed that the work was written in the fall of 1894. The date is based on a letter from V. G. Korolenko to a member of the editorial committee of Russkiye Vedomosti.
The story was first published a year later in the Samarskaya Gazeta (numbers 80, 86, 89). It is noteworthy that this work was one of the first, where the revolutionary romanticism of the writer, improved in literary form a little later, is especially clearly manifested.
Ideological.
The writer tried to awaken a person's faith in the future, to tune the audience in a positive way. The philosophical reflections of the protagonists were of a concrete moral character. The author operates with such basic concepts as truth, self-sacrifice and thirst for freedom.
An important nuance: the old woman Izergil in the story is a rather contradictory image, but, nevertheless, full of high ideals. The author, inspired by the idea of \u200b\u200bhumanism, tried to demonstrate the strength of the human spirit and the depth of the soul. Despite all the hardships and hardships, despite the complexities of nature, the old woman Izergil maintains faith in high ideals.
In fact, Izergil is the personification of the author's principle. She also repeatedly emphasizes the primacy of human actions and their greatest role in shaping destiny.
Analysis of the work
Plot
The story is told by an old woman named Izergil. The first is the story of the proud Larra.
One day a young girl is kidnapped by an eagle. The tribesmen have been looking for her for a long time, but never find her. After 20 years, she herself returns to the tribe with her son. He is handsome, bold and strong, with a proud and cold gaze.
In the tribe, the young man behaved haughtily and rudely, showing contempt for even the oldest and most respected people. For this, his fellow tribesmen got angry and drove him out, dooming him to eternal loneliness.
Larra has been living alone for a long time. From time to time he steals cattle and girls from former tribesmen. A rejected man rarely shows up. One day he came too close to the tribe. The most impatient men rushed to meet him.
Coming close, they saw that Larra was holding a knife and was trying to kill himself with it. However, the blade did not even damage the man's skin. It became clear that the man suffers from loneliness and dreams of death. Nobody began to kill him. Since then, the shadow of a handsome young man with the gaze of an eagle, who cannot wait for his death, has been wandering around the world.
About the life of an old woman
An old woman talks about herself. Once she was extraordinarily beautiful, loved life and enjoyed it. She fell in love at the age of 15, but did not experience all the joys of love. Unhappy relationships followed one another.
However, no union brought those touching and special moments. When the woman turned 40, she came to Moldova. Here she got married and lived for the last 30 years. Now she is a widow who can only remember the past.
As soon as night falls, mysterious lights appear in the steppe. These are sparks from the heart of Danko, about which the old woman begins to talk.
Once upon a time, a tribe lived in the forest, which was expelled by the conquerors, forcing them to live near the swamps. Life was hard, and many members of the community began to die. In order not to submit to the terrible conquerors, it was decided to look for a way out of the forest. Brave and courageous Danko decided to lead the tribe.
The difficult path was exhausting, but there was no hope for a quick solution to the problem. Nobody wanted to admit their guilt, so everyone decided to accuse the young leader of his ignorance.
However, Danko was so eager to help these people that he felt heat and fire in his chest. Suddenly he tore out his heart and held it above his head like a torch. It lit the way.
People hastened to leave the forest and found themselves among the fertile steppes. And the young leader fell dead to the ground.
Someone came to Danko's heart and stepped on him. The dark night was lit up by sparks that can still be seen. The story ends, the old woman falls asleep.
Description of the main characters
Larra is a proud individualist with an exorbitant self-love. He is the child of an eagle and an ordinary woman, therefore he does not just consider himself better than the others, but opposes his “I” to the whole society. A half-man, being in a society of people, strives for freedom. However, having received the desired independence from everything and everyone, she experiences bitterness and disappointment.
Loneliness is the most terrible punishment, much more terrible than death. In the void around oneself, everything around itself is devalued. The author tries to convey the idea that before demanding anything from others, you must first do something useful for others. A real hero is one who does not put himself above others, but one who can sacrifice himself for the good of a lofty idea, performing complex missions that are important for the whole people.
Such a hero is Danko. This courageous and courageous man, despite his youth and inexperience, is ready to lead his tribe through the dense forests on a dark night in search of a bright future. In order to help his fellow tribesmen, Danko sacrifices his own heart, performing the greatest feat. He dies, but gains the freedom that Larra only dreams of.
A special character is the old woman Izergil. This lady tells not only about two men with radically different destinies, but shares with the reader interesting stories from her own life. A woman all her life longed for love, but gravitated towards freedom. By the way, for the sake of her beloved, Izergil, like Danko, was capable of much.
Composition
The compositional structure of the story "The Old Woman Izergil" is rather complex. The work consists of three episodes:
- The Legend of Larra;
- A woman's story about her life and love affairs;
- The Legend of Danko.
The first and third episodes tell about people whose philosophy of life, morality and actions of which are fundamentally opposite. Another interesting feature: the story is led by two people at once. The first narrator is the old woman herself, the second is an unknown author who gives an assessment of everything that happens.
Conclusion
M. Gorkikh in many of his novels tried to reveal the key aspects of human morality, thinking about the main qualities of a typical hero: love of freedom, courage, fortitude, courage, a unique combination of nobility and love for humanity. Often the author "set off" one or another of his thoughts, using the description of nature.
In the story "Old Woman Izergil", the description of the landscapes allows to show the beauty, sublimity and singularity of the world, as well as the person himself, as an integral part of the universe. Gorky's romanticism is expressed here in a special way: touching and naive, serious and passionate. The craving for beauty is associated with the realities of modern life, and the selflessness of heroism always calls for a heroic deed.
