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Who is Erast in the work poor. Essay “Characteristics of Erast (Karamzin, story “Poor Liza”)

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Erast is the hero of the story, a young officer, a nobleman. He seduces a poor peasant girl, Lisa, who lives in one of the villages near Moscow with her old mother. Soon platonic love turns into sensual love, and then cooling follows, which E. explains by the need to go to war. “No, he really was in the army, but instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost almost all his estate.” To improve matters, E. marries an elderly rich widow and tries to “pay off” Lisa with one hundred rubles. Unable to survive what happened, Lisa drowns herself in a pond. The story of their relationship is a story of Lisa's gradual movement from the natural, natural world
into the world of E. Under the influence of E. Liza loses that spiritual integrity, which Karamzin lays as the basis for the psychological opposition of his heroes. However, E., in turn, “shifts” towards Lisa: he becomes more sensitive and pays for the unseemly act he has committed not with external deprivations (illness, poverty, etc.), but with the pangs of repentance - that is, with internal, mental suffering: “Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. Having learned about Lizina’s fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer...”
Before Karamzin, the plot automatically determined the type of hero, choosing him from a small but clearly classified nomenclature of characters (similar to the set of masks in the Italian commedia dell'arte). In a traditional plot about the seduction of a poor virgin girl, E. would be an unambiguous, “one-color” villain, another incarnation of Mephistopheles. Karamzin violates the reader’s expectations: both the situation as a whole and the image of E. himself are much more complex than the literary type to which the hero belongs.
The author forgives the repentant E. Public opinion also justified him, as evidenced by sharp increase the number of Erasts in the noble “lists” after the publication of “Poor Liza”: children would never be called by the name of a “negative” hero. Many literary characters are increasingly receiving this “exotic” name.
E. begins a long series of heroes in Russian literature, main feature who are weak and unadapted to life and for whom the label of an extra person has been assigned for a long time in literary criticism.

Karamzin's story " Poor Lisa"is one of the most famous works of the Romantic era. The tragedy of the story does not leave readers of any age indifferent, and the relevance of the topic is obvious today. The central character of the work is Erast - he is both the source of all troubles and the embodiment of the author's thought.

Erast is a representative of the typical young nobility. It is full of romance and love, full of illusions and hopes for the future. It seems to him that he is able to break established traditions and will be able to go against his family and friends for the sake of his love. However, in reality he turns out to be much weaker than he imagines himself, and gives in under the pressure of the first difficulties in life. It is impossible to overestimate the role of Erast in the plot, since it is his character, his internal traits that determine the plot and make any other ending simply impossible.

Characteristics of the hero

The main features of the hero are quite contradictory; the author does not portray him as an exclusively insidious seducer and an unprincipled man. TO negative traits Erast can be attributed to his frivolity and inability to keep his own word. The author also sharply condemns his self-deception: when he goes to war, he justifies his coldness towards the girl, but even here he does not show himself, but only plays cards and has fun with friends. Erast does not have the willpower to overcome life's difficulties and chooses the simplest path: instead of working hard, he simply marries a rich elderly widow, without thinking about the consequences for others. One more sharp negative quality Erast - his conviction that money can help a girl’s wounded heart.

However, there is something in this man positive features. First of all, it is sincerity. He really loved Lisa, although he could not admit to cooling his own passion. He sincerely believes that the two of them can overcome social barriers and all the difficulties of inequality. By offering Lisa money, he is also convinced that it can benefit her. There is virtually no malice, deception or deceit in his actions. That is why it is impossible to perceive Erast only as a negative character. The ending also shows that his positive traits, his conscience and his compassion are “alive”: for the rest of his life he will suffer because of the evil to which he has become guilty. Such psychological picture quite complex and multifaceted, it actually determines the entire plot. In general, the author himself characterizes the character as a hero who is not bad, but spoiled by outdated orders and noble life.

The image of the hero in the work

In Karamzin’s work, Erast becomes the embodiment of two important themes at once, embedded by the author in the plot itself and in its hidden meaning. First of all, through the actions of the romantic hero, the contradiction between natural feelings and artificially created laws, including social ones, is expressed. Erast is almost entirely created from these contradictions, and his fate becomes a demonstration of why the laws of man, and not the laws of nature, most often win. Thirst takes over Erast financial well-being and social recognition, he has to relegate the natural impulses of his own soul to the background. The result is deep mental suffering that comes from the unnaturalness of such relationships between people.

What is important is that through the image of Erast Karamzin expresses his own position towards such representatives of the nobility. On the one hand, he condemns them morally, condemns them to the torment of conscience and does not allow them to calmly come to terms with own weaknesses. On the other hand, aesthetically the author justifies the hero, showing that he is not the culprit of the current circumstances, but rather their hostage. This position was noted not only by literary critics, but also by compatriots. Immediately after the publication of the story, the name Erast became extremely popular among people of the upper class.

The role of Erast is very important in the history of Russian romanticism as a whole. He became the first central character, who embodied the image of the so-called “extra person.” After that, similar characters appeared in most authors, but Karmazin is considered the founder of this trend.

N.M. Karamzin wrote an extremely touching and dramatic story about a simple and at the same time eternal situation: she loves, but he does not. But before answering the question about what is the characteristic of Lisa from the story “Poor Lisa”, you need to at least, at least refresh your memory a little about the plot of the work.

Plot

Lisa is an orphan. Left without a father, she is forced to go to work: selling flowers in the city. The girl is very young and naive. On one of her “working days” Lisa saw in the city young man(Erast), who bought flowers from her, paying 20 times more than they were worth. Erast said at the same time that these hands should pick flowers only for him. However, the next day he did not show up. Lisa was upset (like all young girls, she was very susceptible to compliments). But the next day, Erast himself visited Lisa at her home and even talked to her mother. The young man seemed very pleasant and polite to the old mother.

Things went on like this for some time. Erast reveled in Lisa’s virginity and purity, and she (a peasant girl of the 19th century) was simply stunned by the advances of a handsome young nobleman.

The turning point in the relationship came when Lisa spoke about her possible imminent marriage. She was upset and depressed, but Erast calmed her down and painted her future and said that the sky above them would be filled with diamonds.

Lisa cheered up a little - she believed Erast and, in a wave of relief, gave him her innocence. As one might expect, the nature of the meetings has changed. Now Erast again and again took possession of the girl, now without a twinge of conscience using her for his needs. Then Erast got bored with Lisa and his relationship with her, and he decided to run away from all this hardship into the army, where he did not serve the Fatherland, but quickly squandered his fortune.

Returning from the army, Erast, of course, did not say a word to Lisa about this; she herself once saw him on the street in a carriage. She rushed to him, but after a not very pleasant conversation that happened between them, ex-lover threw Lisa out the door, putting money in her.

Out of such grief, Lisa went and drowned herself in the pond. The old mother followed her in. As soon as she learned about the death of her daughter, she immediately had a stroke and died.

Now we are ready to answer the question of what is the characteristic of Lisa from the story “Poor Lisa”.

Lisa's character

Lisa was practically a child, even though she had to go to work early because her father died. But she did not have time to learn life properly. The girl’s inexperience attracted the young superficial nobleman, who saw the purpose of his life in pleasure. Poor Liza with her admiration is also in this row. Erast was very flattered by the attitude of such a young and such a fresh girl, but she was naive to the extreme. She took the attitude of the young rake at face value, and this was all a game out of boredom, in fact. Who knows, maybe even Lisa secretly hoped for the lady’s position over time. Among her other character qualities, it is worth noting kindness and spontaneity.

We may not have described all facets of the main character’s personality, but it seems there is enough information here for the characterization of Lisa from the story “Poor Lisa” to be understandable and capturing the very essence of her being.

Erast and its internal content

Second main thing actor story - Erast is a typical esthetician and hedonist. He lives only to enjoy. He has intelligence. He could have been brilliantly educated, but instead the young master is simply wasting his life, and Lisa is entertainment for him. While she was pure and immaculate, the girl interested Erast, how the ornithologist was captivated by the species of birds he had recently discovered, but when Lisa surrendered to Erast, she became the same as everyone else, which means he became bored, and he, driven by a thirst for pleasure, moved on , without really thinking about the consequences of his vile behavior.

Although the behavior of a young man becomes unethical only through the prism of certain moral values. If a person is unprincipled (as Erast was), then he cannot even feel the share of baseness that is contained in his actions.

A person who seeks only pleasure in life is superficial by definition. He is not capable of deep feelings. And, of course, he is an opportunist, as evidenced by Erast’s marriage for money with an already middle-aged widow.

The confrontation between Lisa and Erast is like a struggle between light and shadow, good and evil

At first glance, it seems that Lisa and Erast are like day and night or good and evil. Accordingly, the characterization of Lisa from the story “Poor Lisa” and the characterization of Erast are deliberately contrasted by the author of the story, but this is not entirely true.

If the image of Lisa is good, then neither the world nor people need such goodness. It's simply not viable. Nevertheless, in general, the story “Poor Liza” is well written (if a little sentimental). The characteristic of Lisa that can exhaustively define her is naivety, reaching the point of stupidity. But it's not her fault, because we're talking about about a peasant girl of the 19th century.

Erast is also not evil pure form. Evil requires strength of character, and the young nobleman is not endowed with it, unfortunately. Erast is just an infantile boy running away from responsibility. It is completely empty and meaningless. His behavior is disgusting, but it is difficult to call him evil, much less the embodiment of evil. This is all that the story “Poor Lisa” revealed to us. The description of Erast is more than exhaustive.

Erast is a young nobleman leading a frivolous social life. Tired of her, he tries to “change the situation” and becomes interested in Lisa. At first it seems to him that he loves the girl “with the love of a brother.” But soon this feeling develops into passion, which quickly passes. Largely to get rid of Lisa, Erast goes to war. There he spends his time playing cards. Having completely lost, Erast marries an elderly widow. Karamzin associates the image of Erast with the destructive power of the city, corrupting and destroying the “natural” person.

Erast is the hero of the story, a young officer, a nobleman. He seduces a poor peasant girl, Lisa, who lives in one of the villages near Moscow with her old mother. Soon platonic love turns into sensual love, and then cooling follows: which E. explains by the need to go to war. “No, he really was in the army, but instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost almost all his property.” To improve matters, E. marries an elderly rich widow and tries to “pay off” Lisa with one hundred rubles. Unable to survive what happened, Lisa drowns herself in a pond.

The history of their relationship is the story of Lisa’s gradual movement from the natural world to the world of E. Under the influence of E. Lisa loses that spiritual integrity, which Karamzin lays as the basis for the psychological opposition of his heroes. However, E., in turn, “shifts” towards Lisa: he becomes more sensitive and pays for the unseemly act he has committed not with external deprivations (illness, poverty, etc.), but with the pangs of repentance - that is, with internal, mental suffering: “Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. Having learned about Lizina’s fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer...”

Before Karamzin, the plot automatically determined the type of hero, choosing him from a small but clearly classified nomenclature of characters (similar to the set of masks in the Italian commedia dell'arte). In a traditional plot about the seduction of a poor virgin girl, E. would be an unambiguous, “one-color” villain, another incarnation of Mephistopheles. Karamzin violates the reader’s expectations: both the situation as a whole and the image of E. himself are much more complex than the literary type to which the hero belongs.

E. is not a “cunning seducer”; he is sincere in his oaths, sincere in his deception. E. is as much the culprit of the tragedy as he is the victim of his “ardent imagination.” Therefore, the author does not consider himself to have the right to pass judgment on E. He stands on a par with his hero - because he converges with him at the “point” of sensitivity. (It is not for nothing that the author acts in the story as a “reteller” of the story that E. told him: “...I met him a year before his death. He himself told me this story and led me to Lisa’s grave...” )

The author forgives the repentant E. Public opinion also acquitted him, as evidenced by the sharp increase in the number of Erasts in the noble “lists” after the publication of “Poor Liza”: children would never be called by the name of a “negative” hero. Many literary characters are increasingly receiving this “exotic” name.

E. begins a long series of heroes in Russian literature, the main feature of which is weakness and inability to adapt to life, and for whom in literary criticism the label of an extra person has been assigned for a long time.

Erast was a rich young nobleman, satiated and tired of life. He had good inclinations and tried his best to be honest; at least he understood what he was doing sincerely and what he was not doing. We can say that wealth spoiled him, because he was used to not denying himself anything. Likewise, when he became infatuated with a poor girl from a Moscow suburb, he made every effort to win her and her mother's affections.

He did not understand himself well and believed that sentimental falling in love with a poor girl, so beautiful and unspoiled, would help him get away from boredom and an empty, emasculated life in the capital. He read foreign sentimental stories and fantasized about a quiet pastoral love for a peasant girl. For some time he was quite happy with this game and reveled in it, especially since Lisa responded to his advances with all the fervor of first love.

But time passed, and the game began to tire Erast, he was not ready to give up his wealth, and besides, financial failures began to haunt him. Knowing full well that he was acting meanly, he came up with a story about going to war, and he himself married rich woman to improve your condition. The fact that he made his life choice between money and heartfelt happiness quite deliberately and understood what he was doing is shown by his reaction to Lisa’s suicide. An attempt to persuade her and pay off turned out to be hopeless, and Erast remained unhappy for the rest of his life, because he was not an evil and cynical person, he just didn’t have enough mental strength go with Lisa to the end and completely change your life.

The story "Poor Liza" is a work of sentimentalism, because it is built on revealing the characteristics of the human soul, attention to the personality of a person; heroes of the story - simple people, peasant women and noblemen; the author shows great attention to nature, spiritualizes it; the language of the story approaches spoken language educated society of that time.

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