• Category: Collection of essays grades 5-11

The story of N. M. Karamzin “ Poor Lisa"was one of the first sentimental works of Russian literature of the 18th century. Its plot is very simple - the weak-willed, although kind, nobleman Erast falls in love with the poor peasant girl Lisa. Their love ends tragically: the young man quickly forgets about his beloved, planning to marry a rich bride, and Lisa dies by throwing herself into the water. But the main thing in the story is not the plot, but the feelings that it was supposed to awaken in the reader. Therefore, the main character of the story is the narrator, who talks with sadness and sympathy about the fate of the poor girl. The image of a sentimental narrator became a discovery in Russian literature, since previously the narrator remained “behind the scenes” and was neutral in relation to the events described. “Poor Lisa” is characterized by short or extended lyrical digressions; at every dramatic turn of the plot we hear the author’s voice: “my heart is bleeding...”, “a tear is rolling down my face.”

It was extremely important for the sentimentalist writer to appeal to social issues. He does not accuse Erast of Lisa’s death: the young nobleman is as unhappy as a peasant girl. But, and this is especially important, Karamzin was perhaps the first in Russian literature to inspire “ living soul" as a representative of the lower class. “And peasant women know how to love” - this phrase from the story became popular in Russian culture for a long time. This is where another tradition of Russian literature begins: sympathy for the common man, his joys and troubles, protection of the weak, oppressed and voiceless - this is the main moral task of artists of the word.

“Poor Liza” immediately became extremely popular in Russian society. Humane feelings, the ability to sympathize and be sensitive turned out to be very consonant with the trends of the time, when literature moved from civil themes, characteristic of the Enlightenment, to the topic of personal, private life of a person and the main object of its attention became inner world an individual.

Karamzin made another discovery in literature. With “Poor Lisa,” such a concept as psychologism appeared, that is, the writer’s ability to vividly and touchingly depict the inner world of a person, his experiences, desires, aspirations. In this sense, Karamzin prepared the ground for writers of the 19th century century.

>Essays based on the work Poor Lisa

Characters of the main characters. The main idea of ​​the story

The story “Poor Liza” was written by N. M. Karamzin at the end of the 18th century and became one of the first sentimental works in Russian literature. The plot of the work is quite simple and understandable. In it, a weak-willed, but kind by nature nobleman falls in love with a poor peasant woman. Their love awaits a tragic ending. Erast, having lost, marries a rich widow, and Lisa, unable to bear the grief, throws herself into the waters of a deep pond and dies.

However, the most important thing in this story is not the plot, but the feelings that it awakens in the reader. The narrator himself deserves special attention. He conveys the story of a poor village girl with sadness and understanding. In Russian literature, the image of an empathetic narrator has become a revelation. With every dramatic turn of events, you can hear “his heart bleeds” and “tears roll down his cheeks.”

The writer’s attitude towards the main character is also new. He does not blame Erast himself for the death of Lisa, but shows the social factors that served as the impetus. So, for example, Erast was influenced by the “big” city, which made him corrupt. And Lisa was simple and naive in a rustic way. The author shows that not a single Lisa fell victim to circumstances; Erast is also deeply unhappy and carries a feeling of guilt throughout his life.

For the first time in the history of Russian literature, the writer touches the “living soul” in representatives of the lower class. He notes that “And peasant women know how to love.” This phrase remained popular for a long time. We can say that Karamzin laid the foundation for the tradition of sympathy for the common man. Thus, his story became extremely popular in society. She, first of all, appeals to human humanity and the ability to sympathize.

The story “Poor Liza” appeared just at the turn of centuries and a change in styles. It reflects the transition from the civic theme, which was so popular during the Enlightenment, to the personal theme. The main object of attention was precisely the inner world of man. Thus, the author introduced such a new trend as psychologism, which manifested itself in the ability to vividly convey the inner world of the characters along with their feelings.

When a person wants to hear the most concise review of a work, he asks about its main ideological content. Since N.M. Karamzin is on our agenda, the topic will sound like this: “Poor Liza”: the main idea and its variations,” because everyone also knows well that main idea usually not one in a work - there are usually several main author's messages.

So let's begin.

Plot

The events here will not be discussed in detail, it is simply worth reminding the reader that this extremely dramatic story is about a poor, naive girl named Lisa and a rich, handsome but unscrupulous young man named Erast.

First, he shows her that he loves her, that he is pleased with her purity and innocence, then, when Erast gets his way, he leaves the girl under various pretexts.

Lisa gets upset, finds a deep pond and takes her own life.

N.M. Karamzin wants to convince the reader that young Erast also suffered and lived his life without happiness, but for some reason it’s hard to believe. If life teaches anything, it is that unscrupulous and selfish people live much better than those who have at least some moral principles and beliefs. The work “Poor Liza”, the main idea hidden in it, does not lead the reader to this kind of understanding, which is a pity.

"Love is evil..."

And we know who uses it. But seriously, evil is only when “one loves, and the other allows himself to be loved” (La Rochefoucauld). Reciprocal love is beautiful, but it is, as a rule, everyday and ends in a happy marriage and children. Who wants to read about this? Either it’s tragic, as in the work “Poor Liza,” the main idea of ​​which is in our field of vision.

How fresh is the story told by Karamzin?

The story of poor Lisa is eternal. There will always be stupid and naive girls and voluptuous boys who want to seduce these girls. Now in certain circles it is fashionable to say about any classic that it is a warning - a “warning novel”, a “warning story”, etc. If we can say that the essay “Poor Liza” (its main idea) is warning, then it is empty, because girls will one way or another get caught in the net of callous, soulless guys. Why? 'Cause young women will always want 'big and pure love", and this desire will lead them through the labyrinth of suffering.

Is there an antidote to an unfortunate fate?

Of course, yes, and there is only one thing - training the mind, education. If Lisa were cynical, smart, educated (besides, she was also beautiful, like an angel), would she need such an empty and meaningless person as Erast? The answer is no. Of course, the reflection presented at this point is not the main idea of ​​the work “Poor Liza,” but when one reads it, such a conclusion suggests itself.

Lisa was due to the fact that she was taught from an early age: “Your destiny is to live on your knees and not contradict the masters.” Unfortunately, they could not teach it any other way in those days (18th century). So, let’s dwell on the fact that the main idea of ​​the story “Poor Lisa” is “the love of evil.” In turn, we hope that modern girls Lisa's story still serves as a cautionary tale.

The work of N. M. Karamzin is connected primarily with the emergence in Russian literature of such a trend as sentimentalism. Before that, classicism reigned in it with its clear design and didactic moral teachings. Karamzin opens up a sensual world, filled with various emotions and personal experiences of the heroes. He admitted that he considered a special sensitivity of the heart - sentimentality - to be a necessary quality of a writer. Karamzin showed himself to be a brilliant writer; his works still arouse genuine interest. Let us dwell on one of them - the story “Poor Liza,” which is currently included in the compulsory school curriculum.

It is believed that Karamzin decided on such a literary experiment, inspired by the stories of European literature, which he became acquainted with during his travels through European countries. But the writer understood: in order to arouse the interest and compassion of the Russian reader, it is necessary to find something that will evoke a response in his soul. Therefore, in addition to describing the feelings of the main characters, Karamzin describes nature in detail. He uses the surroundings around the Simonov Monastery as his main background. Oak forests, light rivers, a pond - the author tries to capture what brings him pleasure away from the bustle of the city, and fills the landscapes with a special meaning.

Thanks to this approach, the story seems very reliable. Researcher V.N. Toporov noted:

“For the first time in Russian literature, literary prose created such an image of authentic life, which was perceived as stronger, sharper and more convincing than life itself.”

Readers could visit the places described in the work and feel the atmosphere for themselves. Not far from the monastery there was a pond - the same one where the main character tragically committed suicide. Subsequently, it received the name “Lizin Pond”.

Karamzin was not only a poet and prose writer, but also an excellent translator. Thanks to him, Russian readers became acquainted with the works of W. Shakespeare, G. Lessing and other outstanding European literary figures. One of Karamzin’s most interesting creations is considered to be “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” written under the impression of a trip to Europe and published in 1791-1792. It is here that the author begins to introduce the features of sentimentalism, thanks to which he became a famous writer. The writer's talent was revealed with each of his works. A landmark event in Russian prose was the publication of the story “Poor Liza,” followed by another work, “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter.”

The result creative path Karamzin becomes an encyclopedic work “History of the Russian State,” which describes the events of our country from antiquity to the beginning of the Time of Troubles. Much of what is written in these twelve volumes was found in the archives by the writer himself and was first published thanks to him.

Genre and direction

“Poor Liza” belongs to the genre of the story - a prose work, which is based on a chain of logically and chronologically connected episodes. Some call “Poor Liza” a story, which is incorrect, since usually one storyline and it is not as large in volume as this book.

Karamzin writes his story, moving away from the canons of classicism and using the techniques of sentimentalism. Sentimentalism is a movement in the literature of the 18th century when the focus is not on reason, but on sensitivity. The hero of sentimentalism is more developed and individual, so he resonates in the reader’s soul. The poet P. A. Vyazemsky called this movement “an elegant depiction of the basic and everyday.”

The main features of sentimentalism in the story “Poor Liza”:

• Emotionality: the reader understands what the characters feel through the description of emotions;
• The role of nature: in addition, for a deeper study of the characters, Karamzin uses the natural world (“Often the sad turtle dove combined her plaintive voice with her moaning”);
• Hyperbola: Lisa’s suffering sometimes seems excessive, they are very exaggerated (“...Liza, secluded in the density of the forest, could freely shed tears and moan about separation from her beloved”);
• Author's image: the lyrical hero, who is presented in the story by a first-person narrator, describes his emotions as small lyrical digressions(“a tear is rolling down my face”, “my heart is bleeding...”).

However, not everyone has an affinity with nature. characters works, but only Lisa and the narrator himself. The author endows them with this ability, focusing on the fact that they are capable of real feelings.

Meaning of the name

The title "Poor Lisa" can be interpreted in several ways. First of all, Karamzin, adding to the title evaluative word, makes us understand his attitude towards the heroine. He feels sorry for the girl, and he hopes that the reader will also sympathize with her.

But do not forget that “poor” can also mean “beggar”, and financial situation Lisa was the reason why Erast did not want to connect his future life with her.

The essence

The plot, which currently seems quite primitive, created a furor in the Russian public at the end of the 18th century. The story depicts tragic fate poor Lisa.

The peasant girl Lisa is forced to work hard to provide for herself and her mother after the death of her father, who was a “prosperous villager.” She collects lilies of the valley in the forests and sells them in Moscow. There she is noticed by a handsome young nobleman, Erast, who falls in love with her, and these feelings seem to last forever.

They spend a lot of time together, but at some point Lisa ceases to interest the hero. At first, Erast saw in her an angel who was so strikingly different from the pompous young ladies of his circle; but after the girl gives herself young man, she loses her attractiveness for him. Erast begins to refuse to meet her, and then completely says that he needs to leave with the regiment going on a campaign. Lisa asks him to stay, but he replies that refusing to serve means dishonor and shame for him. The girl understandably agrees, and she has to come to terms with the inevitable separation. She is very sad, but tries to hold on so as not to disturb her mother again.

One day Lisa went to Moscow to get medicine and saw her lover there. She was happy to meet him, but he said that he was now engaged and they could not be together. It turns out that instead of valiantly serving in the army, Erast became interested in playing cards and lost his entire fortune. He is unable to pay off his debts, so he decides to marry an elderly rich widow who has been in love with him for a long time. Lisa cannot survive his betrayal. After he threw her out of the door, the girl asks her friend to give her mother an apology and money, and she throws herself into the pond. They don't have time to save her. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life and blamed himself for the death of his beloved. The many-wise Litrekon sympathizes with this loss, and offers you summary stories for reader's diary and review (here).

Conflict

The main conflict of the story “Poor Lisa” can be called psychological. It lies in the characters’ attitude to love and money. Liza, who knows how to love sincerely and strongly, becomes strongly attached to Erast. She lives by her feeling, giving herself completely to it. Lisa is not interested in her lover’s financial situation; she does not take his money when he tries to pay for the lilies of the valley an amount several times higher than the stated price. At the same time, Erast is enjoying temporary connection with a girl who at first seemed interesting to him. But then he gets bored with her and he leaves. Having lost all the money, Erast makes a deal with his conscience - he woos a rich widow for her fortune, which he needs to pay off his debts.

Lisa understood from the very beginning that she would not have a happy life with Erast. She said several times that he would never be her husband, because he was a nobleman. But this did not stop the heroine from plunging deeper and deeper into this relationship. Erast, it seemed, was ready to do anything for Lisa. But his feelings have not stood the test of time. The young man acts meanly, because he did not even tell his beloved that he had returned.

It turns out that the conflict of the work is built on such a device as antithesis (contrast). The characters in the story cannot be divided into strictly positive and strictly negative, as is customary in classicism. In sentimentalism, a clash of views is realized through the discrepancy between the feelings and principles of one hero and the feelings and principles of another hero. A social conflict is also noticeable: Karamzin, obeying the democratic trends of Europe, takes the side of the natural and sensitive peasants, not spoiled by luxury, and condemns the nobles, spoiled by the environment. In other famous examples of sentimental works (Schiller, Lessing), the truth also turns out to be on the side common man, and a noble gentleman shows meanness, but often repents of it.

The main characters and their characteristics

The images of the heroes in the story “Poor Liza” contribute to the most complete disclosure of social and love conflict:

• Lisa- the main character of the story. Due to the death of her father, she has to become the head of the family, now consisting only of her and her mother, and take care of the household. The girl takes on any job, she is very hardworking and flexible. Lisa is distinguished by sensitivity and kindness. She takes care of her mother, who, by the way, does nothing but grieve for her dead husband. But her daughter supports her and never reproaches her. For Lisa, the feelings she experiences are at the forefront of her life. Strong love to Erast leads to tragedy - the heroine throws herself into a pond and drowns. She even does this out of emotion - immediately after a painful separation from her lover. But until the last moment she does not forget about her mother and gives her friend money and a message to the old woman. Lisa seems wise, she understands that there is no future for her and Erast. However, she gives herself to the young man without thinking about the consequences. In addition, love blinds her so much that she is not able to appreciate the changes in her chosen one, although she notices them.
• At the beginning of the story Erast described as a wealthy and carefree nobleman. He is very spoiled and weak-willed, but at the same time he seems to be a dreamer inspired by novels. He is not a negative character. Who knows, maybe he read the same European works on the basis of which Karamzin based the plot of the story, and therefore decided on such a love relationship. Flighty and frivolous, Erast to some extent cares about Lisa and her mother. At the first separation, he left them enough money so that Lisa did not need to sell the lilies of the valley. During the last meeting, he gives the girl one hundred rubles, which in those days was a very large sum. It seems as if the hero wants to pay off ex-lover, however, Erast is sure that money is very necessary for a happy life. Of course, he treats poor Liza disgustingly, and probably nothing can justify him. Although Karamzin does not directly blame him and writes that he, too, was unhappy until the end of his days. It is Erast who tells the sad story to the narrator.
• Lisa's mother was a kind woman. She could not cope with the loss of her husband and actually abdicated responsibility for the future of her daughter, whom she still loves very much. And so she spends many years yearning for her husband. This situation is very characteristic of sentimentalism. Perhaps Lisa completely surrenders to the relationship, seeing her mother as an example. She asks her mother for advice, introduces Erast to her and supports her lamentations. Upon learning of her daughter's death, the widow immediately dies.
• Nature also becomes one of the characters in the story. However, in “Poor Liza” nature is passive: she observes the development of the characters’ relationships, reflecting their feelings, but does not act in any way. For example, after the heroine’s fall from grace, a thunderstorm begins, that is, “nature” foreshadows trouble, but she did not interfere with it.

Topics and issues

In the story “Poor Liza” we are presented with a rich theme:

• Perception of the world through the prism of feelings. The author describes the heroine's feelings in detail, making her more lively and understandable to the reader. Lisa's mood often coincides with the weather and the world around her. When she is happy, she notices how good it is around her. When she feels lost, the environment in which she is located corresponds to her state. The landscape in sentimentalism plays an independent role, like a chorus in an ancient theater.
• Love is the main theme of the work. Romantic line the plot is in this work basic. Using the example of a love drama, Karamzin reveals characters and problems. Love is the most strong feeling becomes both a blessing and a calvary for Lisa.
• Social inequality. Lisa, being a poor peasant woman, falls in love with a wealthy nobleman. They cannot be together because they are from different walks of life, which is not ready to accept such a union. Therefore, Lisa does not build castles in the air regarding their future together, although she dreams about it. She even imagined what would have happened if Erast had been a peasant like her.
• City - village. This contrast is often found in art. In this work, the city - Moscow - becomes a haven of temptation that drags Erast away. The countryside is filled with purity and beauty, where you can find peace. And the people there are different - more sincere and innocent. That is why the young nobleman pays attention to Lisa. He is fed up with the bustle of the city and is ready to enjoy the marvelous natural landscapes. In the city, nature is not realized as a reflection of feelings, unlike in the village, where each landscape meant some kind of emotion of the characters.

Issues in the story “Poor Liza”:

• Conscience. Until the end of his days, Erast could not forgive himself for the death of Lisa and suffered until his death. Thus, his irresponsible actions and cruel words turned into grief primarily for him.
• Moral. The young nobleman is clearly condemned by the narrator, who wonders if anything can justify Erast? The actions of Lisa’s chosen one throughout the work are frivolous and prosaic. But the main character is also not sinless: she gives herself to a man with whom, as she herself admits, she has no future. Both Erast and Lisa ruin their lives without giving themselves a full account of their actions.
• Inner world. Heroines like Lisa and her mother build their entire world around one person. Usually such people are not very educated and developed, which is not surprising for peasant women. And therefore, Lisa devotes all her experiences and sensual nature to Erast, real and unreal, close and distant.
• Social inequality. Could Erast take Lisa as his wife? No, but he didn't count on it. He, like Lisa, understood that this was impossible in the society in which they lived, so he said that he wanted to live with her as with a sister. Erast becomes a hostage to the way of life in which he was born and raised; to some extent, he is also a victim. But the young man is weak-willed and weak-willed, he seems to be floating with the flow. Lisa, even though she has no education or fortune, turns out to be spiritually superior to her lover.
• Poverty. The lack of means to survive forces a young girl to work tirelessly. Erast, who at the beginning of the work was a wealthy nobleman, quickly loses money and gets into debt. The beggarly position of the young man forces him to propose to an elderly but rich widow. Erast has nowhere and no one to expect help from, and he has to survive in such an ignoble way.

Main idea

The idea that was innovative in Russian literature was that the lower classes, just like the higher ones, could feel. Peasants can show emotions just like nobles, or even more deeply. The phrase “Even peasant women know how to love” became the key phrase for the audience, who read the story with delight. Karamzin calls for being more humane towards each other, regardless of class. Erast's selfishness destroyed Lisa, her mother, and himself.

The meaning of the story is a call to humanism, because people are equal, none of them is to blame for being born without a silver spoon in their mouth. Meanwhile, it is the silver spoon that becomes the measure of a person’s value. If Lisa were noble and rich, she and Erast would have a happy married life, but the way society is fixated on titles and money turns love into tragedy. Karamzin's contemporaries so enthusiastically accepted the story about feelings because there were no feelings in their lives, since all marriages were dictated by financial necessity or senile lust, but not by love.

Language

Karamzin takes the first steps in transforming the literary Russian language. He removes Old Church Slavonicisms and church vocabulary from the heroes’ speech, making the heroes’ conversations simpler and more understandable. However, the writer misses one point: the speech of a provincial peasant woman and a nobleman from a large city is the same. That is, in literature there have not yet been strong differences between peasant dialect and aristocratic conversations, although they were felt in life.

In the story “Poor Liza” Karamzin uses the following means of expression:

• Simile (“her cheeks glowed like the dawn on a clear summer evening”).
• Metaphors (" new guest her soul", "angel of purity").
• Epithets (“white mists”, “green cover”, “life-giving rays”, “motley herd”, “gloomy oak”, “terrible death”, “pale, languid, sorrowful friend”, “scarlet sea”, “touching picture” "eastern sky")
• The composition is to some extent circular, because the story begins and ends with a description of oak trees and a pond.
• Antithesis and hyperbole - they ideologically permeate the entire work.
• Personification (“groves and bushes came to life”, “flowers raised their heads”, “the wind howled”, “the darkness fed desires”).
• Phraseologisms (“the heart bleeds”, “love was hidden”, “the blood grew cold with horror”, “came to its senses”, “inflame the imagination”).
• Adjectives in the superlative degree (“the most terrible”, “the most dangerous”, “the greatest”, “the most tender”).
• Anaphora (“Erast felt an extraordinary excitement in his blood... Erast feels awe in himself...”, “Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence?”).
• Lexical repetition (“God willing! God willing! Every day, every hour I will pray for this,” “Before you were more cheerful, before we were calmer and happier, and before I was not so afraid of losing your love!”).
• Polyunion (“They said goodbye, kissed last time and they promised to see each other every day in the evening, either on the river bank, or in a birch grove, or somewhere near Liza’s hut, just to be sure, they’ll definitely see each other”).
• Rhetorical question (“What happened to you?”, “Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence?”).
• Rhetorical appeal (“Oh, Lisa, Lisa!”).
• Gradation (“He languishes, withers, dries up - and the sad ringing of a bell announces to me his untimely death”).

Criticism

It was not only the audience who reacted with great favor to the story “Poor Liza.” Most critics spoke about Karamzin’s innovation and emphasized the peculiarity of “Poor Liza.” They noted not only the new sensitivity and sentimentality for the Russian reader, but also the sad end that the heroine chose for herself - suicide. Writer V.V. Sipovsky wrote that the Russian public for the first time met with the “bitter truth of life”, and not with a happy ending, as was the case before.

The critic V.N. Toporov called Karamzin’s work the “root” from which the “tree of Russian classical prose” grew. He believed that many of A. S. Pushkin’s works (“The Queen of Spades”, “The Peasant Young Lady”, “ Captain's daughter") were written precisely thanks to “learning the lessons of Karamzin’s story.”

However, the Soviet literary critic G. A. Gukovsky wrote that if in such European stories anti-feudal thought prevailed, showing the consequences of class inequality, then Karamzin seemed to say that one can be happy in serfdom.

“The humanity of democratic sentimentalism, which demanded freedom for every person, turned into the formula “even peasant women know how to love,” the researcher wrote.

This is a fair remark, since Karamzin really did not want the abolition of serfdom. He believed that it was necessary to regulate the arbitrariness of landowners and monitor their actions in relation to the peasants.

However, the author's personal views do not in any way detract from his merits. Karamzin called on the aristocracy to be more humane and responsive. His contribution to Russian culture is difficult to overestimate. The writer’s works still arouse interest from researchers and the general public, because he really showed life in its diversity.

The story “Poor Liza,” which became an example of sentimental prose, was published by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin in 1792 in the Moscow Journal publication. It is worth noting Karamzin as an honored reformer of the Russian language and one of the most highly educated Russians of his time - this is an important aspect that allows us to further evaluate the success of the story. Firstly, the development of Russian literature was of a “catch-up” nature, since it lagged behind European literature by about 90-100 years. While sentimental novels were being written and read in the West, clumsy classical odes and dramas were still being composed in Russia. Karamzin’s progressiveness as a writer consisted in “bringing” sentimental genres from Europe to his homeland and developing a style and language for the further writing of such works.

Secondly, the assimilation of literature by the public at the end of the 18th century was such that at first they wrote for society how to live, and then society began to live according to what was written. That is, before the sentimental story, people read mainly hagiographic or church literature, where there were no living characters or living speech, and the heroes of the sentimental story - such as Lisa - gave secular young ladies a real life scenario, a guide to feelings.

The history of the story

Karamzin brought the story about poor Liza from his many trips - from 1789 to 1790 he visited Germany, England, France, Switzerland (England is considered the birthplace of sentimentalism), and upon his return he published a new revolutionary story in his own magazine.

“Poor Liza” is not an original work, since Karamzin adapted its plot for Russian soil, taking it from European literature. We are not talking about a specific work and plagiarism - there were many such European stories. In addition, the author created an atmosphere of amazing authenticity by depicting himself as one of the heroes of the story and masterfully describing the setting of events.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, soon after returning from the trip, the writer lived in a dacha near the Simonov Monastery, in a picturesque, calm place. The situation described by the author is real - readers recognized both the surroundings of the monastery and the “Lizin Pond”, and this contributed to the fact that the plot was perceived as reliable, and the characters as real people.

Analysis of the work

Plot of the story

The plot of the story is love and, as the author admits, extremely simple. The peasant girl Lisa (her father was a wealthy peasant, but after his death the farm is in decline and the girl has to earn money by selling handicrafts and flowers) lives in the lap of nature with her old mother. In a city that seems huge and alien to her, she meets a young nobleman, Erast. Young people fall in love - Erast out of boredom, inspired by pleasures and a noble lifestyle, and Liza - for the first time, with all the simplicity, ardor and naturalness " natural man" Erast takes advantage of the girl’s gullibility and takes possession of her, after which, naturally, he begins to be burdened by the girl’s company. The nobleman leaves for war, where he loses his entire fortune at cards. The way out is to marry a rich widow. Lisa finds out about this and commits suicide by throwing herself into a pond, not far from the Simonov Monastery. The author, who was told this story, cannot remember poor Lisa without holy tears of regret.

Karamzin, for the first time among Russian writers, unleashed the conflict of a work with the death of the heroine - as, most likely, it would have happened in reality.

Of course, despite the progressiveness of Karamzin’s story, his heroes differ significantly from real people, they are idealized and embellished. This is especially true for peasants - Lisa does not look like a peasant woman. Hardly hard work would have contributed to her remaining “sensitive and kind”, it is unlikely that she would conduct internal dialogues with herself in an elegant style, and she would hardly be able to carry on a conversation with a nobleman. Nevertheless, this is the first thesis of the story - “even peasant women know how to love.”

Main characters

Lisa

The central heroine of the story, Lisa, is the embodiment of sensitivity, ardor and ardor. Her intelligence, kindness and tenderness, the author emphasizes, are from nature. Having met Erast, she begins to dream not that he, like a handsome prince, will take her into his world, but that he would be a simple peasant or shepherd - this would equalize them and allow them to be together.

Erast differs from Lisa not only in social terms, but also in character. Perhaps, the author says, he was spoiled by the world - he leads a typical life for an officer and a nobleman - he seeks pleasure and, having found it, grows cold towards life. Erast is both smart and kind, but weak, incapable of action - such a hero also appears in Russian literature for the first time, a type of “aristocrat disillusioned with life.” At first, Erast is sincere in his impulse of love - he does not lie when he tells Lisa about love, and it turns out that he is also a victim of circumstances. He does not stand the test of love, does not resolve the situation “like a man,” but experiences sincere torment after what happened. After all, it was he who allegedly told the author the story about poor Lisa and led him to Lisa’s grave.

Erast predetermined the appearance in Russian literature of a number of heroes of the type “ extra people» - weak and incapable of making key decisions.

Karamzin uses " speaking names" In the case of Lisa, the choice of name turned out to be a “double bottom.” The point is that classical literature provided for typification techniques, and the name Lisa was supposed to mean a playful, flirtatious, frivolous character. This name could have been given to a laughing maid - a cunning comedy character, prone to love adventures, and by no means innocent. By choosing such a name for his heroine, Karamzin destroyed the classical typification and created a new one. He built a new relationship between the name, character and actions of the hero and outlined the path to psychologism in literature.

The name Erast was also not chosen by chance. It means “lovely” from Greek. His fatal charm and the need for new impressions lured and destroyed the unfortunate girl. But Erast will reproach himself for the rest of his life.

Constantly reminding the reader of his reaction to what is happening (“I remember with sadness...”, “tears are rolling down my face, reader...”), the author organizes the narrative so that it acquires lyricism and sensitivity.

Quotes

“Mother! Mother! How can this happen? He is a gentleman, but among the peasants...”. Lisa.

“Nature calls me into its arms, to its pure joys,” he thought and decided, at least for a while, to leave the big world.”.

“I can’t live,” thought Lisa, “I can’t!.. Oh, if the sky would fall on me! If the earth would swallow up the poor woman!.. No! the sky doesn’t fall; the earth doesn’t shake! Woe to me.” Lisa.

"Now maybe they have already reconciled!" Author

Theme, conflict of the story

Karamzin's story touches on several topics:

• The theme of the idealization of the peasant environment, the ideality of life in nature. Main character- a child of nature, and therefore by default she cannot be evil, immoral, insensitive. The girl embodies simplicity and innocence due to the fact that she is from a peasant family, where eternal moral values ​​are kept.
• Theme of love and betrayal. The author glorifies the beauty of sincere feelings and talks with sorrow about the doom of love, not supported by reason.
• The theme is the contrast between countryside and city. The city turns out to be evil, a great evil force capable of breaking a pure being from nature (Lisa’s mother intuitively senses this evil force and prays for her daughter every time she goes to the city to sell flowers or berries).
• Theme "little man". Social inequality, the author is sure (and this is an obvious glimpse of realism) does not lead to happiness for lovers from different backgrounds. This kind of love is doomed.

The main conflict of the story is social, because it is because of the gap between wealth and poverty that the love of the heroes, and then the heroine, perishes. The author extols sensitivity as the highest human value, asserts the cult of feelings as opposed to the cult of reason.