The novel The Captain's Daughter, published in the fourth book of the Sovremennik magazine in 1836, is Pushkin's final work. The "farewell" novel grew out of Pushkin's works on the history of Russia. From the beginning of the 1830s. Pushkin focused on the 18th century: the era of Peter I (work was underway on the "History of Peter") and the largest event of the era of Catherine II - the peasant revolt of 1773-1774. From the materials about the rebellion, the "History of Pugachev" was formed, written in Boldin in the autumn of 1833 and published in 1834 under the title "History of the Pugachev rebellion" (changed by Nicholas I).
Historical work gave the novel a factual basis and a general concept, but Pushkin's path to The Captain's Daughter was not easy. By 1832-1833 include draft plans and sketches of a future historical work. According to Pushkin's original plan, the nobleman, lieutenant Shvanvich, who went over to Pugachev's side and served him "with all diligence" was to become the central figure in it. Information about this nobleman, who “preferred a heinous life to an honest death”, Pushkin found in one of the paragraphs of the official legal document - the “Sentences” of the Senate (there was also said about Lieutenant A.M. Grinev, who was arrested on suspicion “in a message from villains”, but was found not guilty during the investigation).
The study of materials of the rebellion during a trip to Kazan and Orenburg in the summer of 1833. corrected the original idea. Pushkin came to the conclusion that the nobility - the only one of all classes - remained loyal to the government and did not support the rebellion. The fate of a renegade nobleman could not serve as a basis for broad artistic generalizations. Shvanvich would have turned into the same lone hero as Vladimir Dubrovsky, the “noble robber”, avenger for the desecrated honor of the family, in the unfinished novel Dubrovsky (1833).
Pushkin found a new hero - he was not an ally, but Pugachev's captive Basharin, pardoned by an impostor at the request of the soldiers. A form of narration was also found - the hero's memoirs addressed to his grandson ("My dear grandson Petrusha ..." - this is how the rough draft of the introduction began). In the winter of 1834-1835 a new version of the work appeared: historical and everyday material and a love plot appeared in it. In 1835-1836. the storylines, the names of the characters changed. So, the prototype of the future Grinev, Basharin, became Valuev, then Bulanin (this surname remained in the “Missed Chapter”), and only at the last stage of the work did Pushkin name the memoirist Grinev. His antipode Shvabrin, who retained some features of the traitorous nobleman Shvanvich, also appeared in the final edition. The manuscript was rewritten by Pushkin himself on October 19, 1836. At the end of October, after the novel had been submitted to censorship, it received the title The Captain's Daughter.
Working on a historical novel, Pushkin relied on the creative experience of the English novelist Walter Scott (Nicholas I himself was among his numerous admirers in Russia) and the first Russian historical novelists M.N. Zagoskin, I.I. Lazhechnikov. “In our time, the word novel is understood as a historical era developed in a fictional narrative” - this is how Pushkin defined the main genre feature of a novel on a historical theme. The choice of era, characters, and especially the style of "fictional narration" made "The Captain's Daughter" not only the best among the novels of Russian followers of V. Scott. According to Gogol, Pushkin wrote "a one-of-a-kind novel" - "by a sense of proportion, by completeness, by style and by amazing skill in describing types and characters in miniature ..." Pushkin the artist became not only a rival, but also "a winner » Pushkin the historian. As the prominent Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky noted, there is “more history in The Captain’s Daughter than in The History of the Pugachev Riot, which seems like a long explanatory note to the novel.”
The breadth of the problematics takes The Captain's Daughter beyond the boundaries of the historical novel genre. The material of history served as a starting point for Pushkin to create a multifaceted work. "The Captain's Daughter" is family chronicle Grinev (critic N.N. Strakhov noted: “The Captain’s Daughter is a story about how Pyotr Grinev married the daughter of Captain Mironov”), and biography novel the memoirist Pyotr Grinev himself, and parenting romance(the history of the formation of the character of the noble "undergrowth"), and a novel-parable (the fate of the heroes is a detailed moral maxim, which became the epigraph to the novel: "Take care of honor from a young age").
Unlike other prose works (the unfinished "Arap Peter the Great", "Belkin's Tales", "The Queen of Spades"), in the last novel Pushkin created, albeit by different means than in "Eugene Onegin", a "free" narrative, open in historical time, not limited by the scope of the plot and the meaning of the depicted. The historical "field" of the novel is wider than the described historical events (1772-1775) and biographical facts (the youth of the hero - the author of the notes, 17-19 years old). Founded, as the writer himself emphasized, "on a legend," The Captain's Daughter became a novel about the historical life of Russia. (Pay attention to the abundance of historical facts mentioned in the novel - from the Time of Troubles (Grishka Otrepiev) to the "mild reign" of Alexander I.)
The problems of the novel, its genre and plot-compositional features due to the type of narration chosen by Pushkin and the very figure of the narrator. The novel is written in the first person. These are autobiographical notes (memoirs, memoirs) of the Russian nobleman Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, who is a fictional figure. With the real A.M. Grinev, he is related only by the surname and the similarity of some situations: the capture by Pugachev and the arrest on suspicion of treason. Notes do not have a specific addressee. Grinev's memories of his youth are part of the family chronicle and at the same time his confession. Unable to tell the whole truth at the trial, so as not to tarnish the honor of Masha Mironova, he addresses the story-confession about the "strange incidents" of his life to his descendants.
The main text of the novel consists of Grinev's "notes". In the afterword, "publisher" refers to the source of the "manuscript". She came to him from Grinev's grandson, who learned that the "publisher" was engaged in "labor related to the times described by his grandfather." "Publisher" is a literary "mask" of Pushkin, by "labor" is meant the "History of Pugachev". In addition, the end date is marked in the novel: “19 Oct. 1836" - a kind of "autograph" of Pushkin (the novel was published in Sovremennik anonymously, without the author's signature). The afterword also indicates the degree of participation of the “publisher” in the work on the allegedly received manuscript: he decided not to include it in his work, but to publish it “specially, finding a decent epigraph for each chapter and allowing himself to change some of his own names.” Epigraphs thus have a special meaning: they not only indicate the theme of the chapter and determine its narrative tone. Epigraphs are signs of the author's "presence" in the text of the novel. Each epigraph is the author's "image-outline" of the chapter.
The meaning of the afterword is that Pushkin, the creator of the novel, clearly separated himself from the fictitious person - the author and protagonist of Grinev's notes, and at the same time deliberately correlated fiction with reality. One of the most important artistic principles of Pushkin as a historical novelist is declared: the reader is invited to perceive everything told by Grinev as a reliable and sincere "human document". The writer puts the fictitious notes of Grinev on a par with the original documents included in the "History of Pugachev".
In The Captain's Daughter, the story of the narrator's life and his human, moral character are equally important. Grinev is a witness and participant in historical events. The story about his own fate, as it were, "certifies" the authenticity and objectivity of his "evidence". Grinev's point of view dominates the narrative. The era, the rebellion, Pugachev are seen through the eyes of a nobleman who swore allegiance to the Empress, an officer faithful to his oath and duty. Peasant uprising for him - lawlessness, rebellion, "fire". Grinev calls the Pugachevites "a gang", "robbers", and Pugachev himself - "an impostor", "a vagabond", "villain", "a fugitive Cossack". His understanding of what is happening does not change: both in his youth and in adulthood, he condemns the "Russian rebellion."
To consider this a manifestation of only the class prejudices of the hero is an obvious simplification, because not only the nobles evaluate the Pugachevshchina as a bloody rebellion. The serf Savelyich, the priest Father Gerasim and his wife Akulina Pamfilovna also see rebels and villains in the Pugachevites. The criterion for the attitude of these heroes to rebellion is not abstract sociological concepts, but blood, violence and death. In their assessments of Pugachev and his associates, in the unflattering words that they find for the rebels, their personal, vivid impressions are reflected. "Pugachevshchina" and for Grinev is not a formula that fixed the official view of the rebels, but a real human shock. He saw the rebellion, and therefore writes with genuine horror: “God forbid to see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless!”
This statement by Grinev causes a lot of controversy. Some researchers find in it a reflection of the point of view of Pushkin himself, others - a manifestation of the social blindness of the hero. Of course, this issue can be resolved only by going beyond the text, by referring to Pushkin's direct statements (in the 1830s the poet was an opponent of any violence). Everything said by the hero reflects the point of view of the hero himself. One should not identify his opinion with the views of Pushkin. The author's position in the novel was manifested in the choice of a hero-memoirist, in the selection of historical situations, in how the fates of the characters are correlated with historical events.
The Pugachev rebellion is shown in the novel as a national tragedy. This is a merciless civil war in which the rebels cannot win: Pugachev himself is well aware of his doom. The pacifiers of the rebellion do not consider themselves winners either (“We consoled ourselves in our inaction with the thought of an early end to the boring and petty war with robbers and savages”). In this war there are only losers - Russian people fighting against the same Russian people.
Pushkin contrasted in his novel not nobles and peasants, but people and power. For him, the people are not only Pugachev with his "gentlemen generals", the "young Cossack" who hit Vasilisa Yegorovna on the head with a saber, the disfigured Bashkir, the crafty constable Maksimych. The people are Captain Mironov, and Masha, and the priests, and Savelich, and the only serf of the Mironov Broadsword. The tragic boundary separates the heroes of the novel precisely when they determine their attitude to power. Catherine II and Pugachev are her symbols. “The people,” as the observant Grinev notes, relentlessly followed Pugachev, crowded around him. Some see Pugachev as a "people's tsar", embodying their dream of a "miracle" - strong, but wise and just power, others - a robber and murderer. Both those and others draw closer in their desire for true power, humane and merciful. It was the “unrighteous”, stupid and cruel power, which separated itself from the people, that brought Russia to the edge of the abyss. It is not for the “Turk” or “Swede” that somehow trained “soldiers” have to go, not to defend the Fatherland, but to fight in a “strange war”, after which the native land turns into ashes (“the state of the entire vast region where the fire raged was terrible...").
The dying words of Vasilisa Yegorovna - crying for her husband who was hanged - can be considered as an accusation not only to the robber Pugachev, but also to the authorities: “Neither Prussian bayonets nor Turkish bullets touched you; not in a fair fight did you lay down your stomach, but perished from a runaway convict! Grinev's view of historical events to a greater extent reflects not a narrow class, but a universal point of view. Grinev looks with disgust at the "robbers", but also condemns the careless defenders of the Velogorsk fortress, and especially the "Orenburg commanders" who doomed the city to extinction. In everything that happens, he sees a bloody revelry and an orgy of violence, a genuine national disaster.
Grinev is a nobleman, bound to his estate by vows of duty and honor, but he looks at the world and people not through class “glasses”. Grinev is, first of all, an honest and sincere person, trying to fully and truthfully convey everything that he saw and heard. Much is recorded with protocol accuracy. Grinev is a brilliant spectator. He sees everything around - and the main participants in the events, and "extras", and the details of the situation. Grinev does not just convey his impressions - he plastically recreates events. The simple-hearted, but by no means simple and flat story of the hero reflects the highest level of Pushkin's skill as a narrator. Grinev is needed by the author of the novel not as a talking mannequin, a mouthpiece of his ideas. The narrator in The Captain's Daughter is a person with his own view of the world. He is able to see and capture in a word what for another person may seem like a trifle, unworthy of attention. Grinev vigilantly notices the details, forcing them to catch a large eye (this is especially true for Pugachev). Grinev is a failed poet, although his poetic experiments were "fair", but a wonderful prose writer. He lacks a poetic ear (see his poems “Lovely Destroying Thought ...” in the chapter “Duel”), but he looks at myron with the eyes of a true artist.
Grinev trusts only his own impressions. Everything he knows about by hearsay is specially specified or omitted (see, for example, the stories about the situation in the Orenburg province in the chapter "Pugachevshchina", about the defeat of Pugachev in the chapter "Arrest"). This is the reason for the breaks in the plot. “I have not witnessed everything that remains for me to inform the reader about ...” - this is how the story of Masha's trip to St. Petersburg begins. Grinev separates his "evidence" from "tradition", "rumor" and other people's opinions.
Pushkin masterfully uses the peculiarity of any memoir narrative: the distance that arises between the memoirist and the object of his memories. In Grinev's notes, the memoirist himself is in the center of attention, so we have, as it were, “two Grinevs”: Grinev, a seventeen-year-old youth, and Grinev, a fifty-year-old author of the notes. There is an important difference between them. Young Grinev absorbs diverse impressions, changes under the influence of circumstances, his character develops. Grinev the memoirist is a man who has lived his life. His beliefs and assessments of people are time-tested. He can look at everything that happened to him in his youth (in "my age"), from the height of his worldly experience and the mores of the new era. The innocence of young Grinev and the wisdom of Grinev the memoirist complement each other. But most importantly, it is Grinev, the memoirist, who discovers the significance of what he experienced during the riot. Pay attention to the time frame of his notes. Only part of the "plot" of his life became the plot of the notes. The first chapters (from one to five) are an "overture" to the story of the Pugachev region. The most memorable in his life is the rebellion and Pugachev. Grinev's notes are interrupted when the story of "unexpected incidents" that influenced his whole life ends.
The ending of the novel remained “open”: the memoirist does not tell anything about the subsequent events of his life - they no longer touch history, fitting into the private life of a poor Simbirsk landowner. The only biographical detail of Grinev, which the "publisher" reports in the afterword, is the presence of the author of the "notes" at the execution of Pugachev. But the significance of this detail, perhaps, lies elsewhere: it "finishes" the image of Pugachev. A few moments before the execution, the impostor recognized Grinev in a crowd of thousands, nodded to him - this testifies to the enormous strength of mind, endurance, and awareness of his rightness inherent in Pugachev.
Grinev's biography is the basis of the chronicle plot of the novel. The formation of the personality of a young nobleman is a continuous chain of tests of his honor and human decency. Having left home, he now and then finds himself in situations of moral choice. At first, they are no different from those that happen in the life of every person (losing a hundred rubles to Zurin, a snowstorm, a love conflict). He is absolutely unprepared for life and must rely only on a moral sense. The memoirist looks ironically at his childhood and family upbringing, presenting himself as a dim-witted Mitrofanushka, an arrogant noble undergrowth. Self-irony is the look of an experienced person who realized that the family could not give him the main thing - knowledge of life and people. The instruction of a stern father, received before his departure, limited his life experience.
The moral potential of the hero was revealed during the rebellion. Already on the day of the capture of the Belogorsk fortress, he several times had to choose between honor and dishonor, and in fact between life and death. The most difficult situations in Grinev's life arise when he is persuaded to compromise: after Pugachev "pardoned" Grinev, he had to kiss his hand, that is, in fact, recognize him as a king. In the chapter "The Uninvited Guest", Pugachev himself arranges a "test of compromise", trying to get a promise from Grinev "at least not to fight" against him. In all these cases, the hero, risking his life, shows firmness and intransigence. But the most important moral test was ahead. In Orenburg, having received Masha's letter, Grinev had to make a decisive choice: a soldier's duty demanded to obey the general's decision, to remain in the besieged city - a duty of honor required him to respond to Masha's desperate call: “you are my only patron; intercede for me poor.” Grinev the man defeated Grinev the soldier, who swore allegiance to the empress, he decided to leave Orenburg and then use Pugachev's help.
Grinev understands honor as human dignity, an alloy of conscience and a person’s inner conviction that he is right. We see the same “human dimension” of honor and duty in his father, who, having learned about the alleged betrayal of his son, speaks of an ancestor who died because he “revered his conscience as a shrine.” The desire not to tarnish Masha's honor was dictated by Grinev's refusal to name her during the investigation (the very "thought to confuse her name between the vile tales of villains" seemed to him "terrible"). From all the tests, Grinev came out with honor, retaining the dignity of a person.
All the main characters of the novel go through moral tests. Not only the defenders of the Belogorsk fortress, Masha Mironova, but also Pugachev and his associates have their own ideas of honor. For example, one of Pugachev’s “Enarals” Khlopush, in a dispute with Beloborodov, formulates the robber’s “code” of honor in the following way: “And this hand is guilty of shed Christian blood. But I destroyed the enemy, not the guest; at a free crossroads and in a dark forest, not at home, sitting at the stove; with a flail and a butt, and not with a woman's slander. Honor has become in Pushkin's novel a measure of the humanity and decency of all the characters. The attitude to honor and duty divorced Grinev and Shvabrin. Grinev's sincerity, openness and honesty attracted Pugachev to him (“My sincerity struck Pugachev,” notes the memoirist).
Pushkin posed one of the most difficult questions in the novel - the question of the dependence of people's lives on the course of history. The memoirist all the time approaches the main "strangeness" of his life, but stops, speaking only of "strange incidents", "a strange chain of circumstances": fortresses and shook the state!” The fate of Grinev and the fate of other heroes of the novel allow us to draw conclusions about how Pushkin understood the dependence of man on history.
Until the sixth chapter, Grinev's life is the life of a private person, flowing outside of history. Only distant echoes of a terrible historical storm reach him (information about the indignations of the Cossacks and "half-savage peoples"). All the other heroes of the novel also live outside of history. These are ordinary people for whom military service is as “usual” as pickling mushrooms or composing love couplets (such are the inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress in the first chapters of the novel). The snowstorm and the terrible dream seen by Grinev (chapter "The Counselor") became a symbolic harbinger of formidable historical events. During the Pugachevshchina, the secret meaning of what happened in this chapter was revealed.
History - not subject to people, a force hostile to them, commensurate with fate - destroyed life, which seemed unshakable, dragged Grinev and all the inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress into its whirlpool. She subjected the heroes of the novel to severe tests, testing their will, courage, loyalty to duty and honor, humanity. During the riot, Masha's parents, Ivan Ignatievich, are killed, he is connected with me. But the heroes themselves had to show their best qualities in order to reach their goal.
Pushkin showed in the novel the dark and bright faces of history. It can destroy a person, but it can give his soul a “strong and good shock.” In historical trials, hidden volitional qualities appear in a person (Masha Mironova). Meanness and baseness make him a complete scoundrel (Shvabrin). History gives a chance to be saved even in difficult trials to those who are honest, humane and merciful. Rigid and capricious, historical reality does not exclude a "wonderful" accident. It seems that history itself not only punishes and destroys, but also elevates people, is merciful to them.
This was especially evident in the fate Masha Mironova. The main trials in Masha's life, as well as in the life of Grinev, begin when a rumor about an impostor reaches the Belogorsk fortress. In an effort to protect their daughter from "Pugachevism", the parents want to send her to a safe place. But fate again decides in its own way: Masha is forced to stay in a besieged fortress, amid the fire and horrors of a "senseless and merciless" rebellion. On the day the fortress is taken, misfortune befalls her - the terrible death of her parents. Masha remains an orphan. Her only defender, Grinev, having miraculously escaped the gallows, goes to Orenburg, and she, sick and helpless, ends up in the hands of the new commandant of the fortress, the traitor Shvabrin.
Poor, unfortunate Masha had to endure as much humiliation and suffering as any other girl, being in her place, could hardly have survived. Shvabrin kept her in a closet with bread and water, thus seeking consent to become his wife. In the novel, perhaps, there is no other hero who would suffer more than her. Honest, smart and sincere, Masha categorically refuses to marry an unloved person who, moreover, took the side of the murderers of her parents: "It would be easier for me to die than to become the wife of such a person as Alexei Ivanovich."
Arriving at the Velogorsk fortress, Grinev and Pugachev found Masha sitting on the floor, "in a peasant's tattered dress", "with disheveled hair." In front of the poor girl stood a jug of water, covered with a slice of bread. At that moment, the heroine saw Pugachev, who had come to free her, but this same man, who became her savior, deprived her of the most precious thing in life - her parents. She did not utter a word, only covered her face with both hands and, as the shocked Grinev recalls, "fell unconscious." And again, Shvabrin almost interfered with the lovers: he nevertheless told Pugachev who Masha really was. But, having shown generosity, the impostor forgave Grinev for the forced deceit and even volunteered to be imprisoned by his father at the wedding of Masha and Grinev.
It would seem that the fate of Masha from that moment began to take shape happily. Grinev sends her with Savelich to his estate. Now Masha needed to please the parent of her lover, and this task turned out to be not difficult - they soon "sincerely attached" to the "dear captain's daughter" and did not want any other bride for their son, except for Masha. Not far off was the goal of the lovers - a wedding and a happy family life. Soon the rebellion was crushed, and the impostor was caught.
But again, almighty fate prepares Masha for a new and, perhaps, the most difficult obstacle: Grinev is arrested and accused of treason. It seems to Masha that it was she who caused the misfortunes of her beloved, who, for her sake, had to resort to the help of an impostor. During the investigation, explaining his behavior during the riot, Grinev himself does not name Masha, not wanting the name of the "captain's daughter" to even indirectly appear in the case of treason.
There comes a turning point in the fate of Masha: after all, the future of her lover and her own family happiness now depend only on her. She decided to go to the Empress herself to ask for Grinev. It was not easy for the “coward” Masha to make this decision. For the first time, she takes on such responsibility: it is already responsibility not only for herself, but also for the future, for the honor of Pyotr Grinev and his family.
Masha's honesty and sincerity helped melt the cold heart of the majestic Empress and get forgiveness for Grinev. It was almost more difficult for Masha to achieve this than it was for Grinev to convince Pugachev of the need to help Masha herself, Shvabrin's captive.
Masha Mironova in the end was able to overcome all obstacles and arrange her fate, her happiness. The quiet and timid "captain's daughter" in the most difficult circumstances managed to cope not only with external obstacles. She overcame herself, feeling in her heart that honesty and moral purity are able to crush distrust, injustice and betrayal, help a person to gain the upper hand in his unequal confrontation with the formidable forces of history.
History, as it were, brought Pugachev out from under its mysterious veils, making him a symbolic figure, eerie in its reality and at the same time magical, almost fabulous. The prototype of Pushkin's Pugachev is a real historical person, an impostor, the head of the rebels. The historicity of Pugachev is enshrined in the novel by a government order to capture him (see the chapter "Pugachevshchina"), by genuine historical facts that are mentioned by Grinev.
But Pugachev in Pushkin's novel is not identical to his historical prototype. The image of Pugachev is a complex alloy of historical, real-everyday, symbolic and folklore elements, it is an image-symbol that unfolds, like any symbolic image, in several, sometimes mutually exclusive, semantic planes. Pugachev is a character in the novel, a participant in the plot action. He is seen through the eyes of Grinev. As a character, he appears only when his life intersects with the life of a memoirist. The appearance of Pugachev is physically concrete, the narrator is quite clear about his social status: he is a Cossack, a "tramp", the leader of a "gang of robbers".
Despite his realism, Pugachev is very different from other heroes. With his appearance in the novel, an alarming, mysterious atmosphere arises. Both in the chapter "The Leader" and during the riot, we have before us a man whose appearance is expressive, but deceptive. The inner, hidden seems to be more significant and more mysterious in him than what is available to Grinev's gaze. The human face of Pugachev is complex and contradictory. Cruelty and generosity, cunning and directness, a desire to subdue a person and a willingness to help him coexist in him. Pugachev can frown menacingly, put on an “important air” and smile, wink good-naturedly.
Pugachev is unpredictable - he is an elemental man. The most important principle of creating the image of Pugachev is transformation, metamorphosis. He constantly reincarnates, as if escaping from unambiguous definitions. His very position as a “werewolf” man is already dual: he is a Cossack - a man with a real name, and an impostor who appropriated someone else's - the name of the late Peter III (the name for Pugachev is the main attribute of power). In the plot of the novel, he turns from a “tramp” into a “great sovereign”. The features of a roguish Cossack, then the wisdom of a people's leader and commander, appear in him. In some episodes (see the chapters "The Uninvited Guest", "The Rebellious Settlement" and "The Orphan") metamorphoses follow one after another: the imperious and formidable "sovereign" turns into a sincere and merciful savior of "his nobility" and the "red maiden"; impatient and quick to punish a person - reasonable and reconciling (chapter "Rebellious Sloboda"). The motive of transformation came to the novel from folklore (myth and fairy tale).
Pugachev talks about the options for the development of his fate: about a campaign against Moscow (“Give me time, or else, how will I go to Moscow”), about a possible triumph (“Perhaps I will succeed! Grishka Otrepyev, after all, reigned over Moscow”). Satisfied with his military victories, he even suggests "competing" with the Prussian King Frederick himself. But none of these fates came true.
Pugachev is a tragic figure. In life, he is as cramped as in the children's hare sheepskin coat, donated by Grinev ("My street is cramped; I have little will"). His power seems limitless, but he is aware of the tragedy of his fate - this is emphasized both in Pugachev's favorite song ("Don't make noise, mother green oak tree ..."), and in the Kalmyk fairy tale he told. Like any tragic hero, Pugachev appears in a heroic halo. Pardoning his opponents, he proudly rejects Grinev's advice - "to resort to the mercy of the empress." He is driven not by a feeling of exorbitant guilt, but by confidence in invincible rightness. He is the master of his own destiny and cannot accept what he generously gives to other people. Mercy for him is humiliating charity. The tragic fate of Pugachev is revealed in the folklore symbolism of the song and fairy tale.
Grinev is trying to understand the role of Pugachev in his fate, in the fate of Masha. The hare sheepskin coat and the well-known “debt is red in payment” is an overly simple explanation of everything that happened (the debt was paid, even with interest: Pugachev sent Grinev a sheepskin coat, a horse and half a dozen money). The memoirist realizes that for some reason this man singled him out from the crowd, saved, helped, arranged his personal happiness (“I can’t explain what I felt when parting with this terrible man, a monster, a villain for everyone except me alone”) . A significant role was played by the feeling of human closeness that arose between them (“Why not tell the truth? At that moment, strong sympathy drew me to him”). But Grinev sees another, higher meaning in their relationship. Pugachev seems to him an exceptional man, sent by fate itself. Thoughts about fate accompany every turn of the plot, every change in Grinev's life associated with Pugachev. As an enlightened person, the memoirist is not inclined to believe in prophecies and miracles. But Pugachev is a special case for him, he is the living embodiment of a miracle. Pugachev arose from a snowstorm that almost killed Grinev, from a dream in which his father suddenly appeared in the guise of a counselor. Pugachev became his "leader" in life, he combined common sense and the logic of a miracle - the logic of a myth.
Pugachev is both real and fantastic, incomprehensible. He is the link that connected the ordinary man Grinev with the world of the mysterious and enigmatic: with fate and history. With the appearance of Pugachev in the chapter "Attack" Grinev feels a mysterious relationship between the new circumstances of his life and the omens he received earlier. Pugachev destroys the habitual one-dimensionality of his life. The story of Grinev's fate ceases to be a linear movement from episode to episode, in which a new event simply joins the previous one. Compositional and semantic parallels appear in the novel. All of them are connected precisely with the figure of Pugachev (we note the most important parallels: the meeting of Grinev with Pugachev in the Belogorsk fortress - the meeting of Masha with Catherine II in St. which is said in the afterword; the defense of the Belogorsk fortress - the defense of Orenburg).
The image of Pugachev is the central image of the novel, although Pugachev is not the main character. It is associated with Pushkin's reflections on history and fate, on the relationship between a person's private life and historical life. The figure of Pugachev is commensurate only with the figure of Peter I. Among the Russian historical figures of his era, Pushkin did not find a personality of such magnitude.
On the day when the "Captain's Daughter" was completed, at a meeting with fellow lyceum students, the poet read his last poetic message to them: "It was time: our holiday is young ...". It summed up the era, about the beginning of which the memoirist Grinev enthusiastically wrote: "I cannot but marvel at the rapid success of enlightenment and the spread of the rules of philanthropy." Pushkin also looked at his era with the eyes of an honest and caring "witness":
Remember, O friends, from that time
When our circle of fate was connected
What, what were we witnesses!
The games of the mysterious game,
Confused peoples rushed about;
And kings rose and fell;
And the blood of people either glory or freedom,
That pride crimsoned the altars.
The majestic picture of European and Russian history of the first quarter of the 19th century, created in the message, is a kind of poetic "epilogue" to the novel about the senseless and merciless "Russian rebellion", which, according to Pushkin, should not have been repeated in Russia...
History of creation. One of the motives for writing The Captain's Daughter was the fascination of Pushkin and his contemporaries with the novels of Walter Scott. This Scottish writer was the founder of the classic historical novel, in which the main characters are fictional characters, and their lives unfold against the background of a certain historical era.
In this case, such an era was the years of the Peasants' War under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev. Pushkin thoroughly studied the history of the Pugachev uprising, which he reflected in his History of Pugachev; this historical work was based not only on the study of the few remaining documents, but also on the accounts of contemporaries of events.
According to critics, "The Captain's Daughter" was, as it were, a natural continuation of this historical work, which had something that was lacking in the seemingly dry academic narrative of the book.
Plot. The hero of the story is Pyotr Grinev, an old officer who writes memoirs about his turbulent youth. The story is told in his name. The hero talks about his childhood, his parents, about how, at the age of 16, his strict officer father sent him to the army. He was sent to serve in the Belogorsk fortress - a poor and dull place, inhabited by old soldiers of the Pavlovian era.
On the way to the place of service, Grinev met with an unknown Cossack, who, as it turned out later, turned out to be Pugachev himself; then he was not yet the leader of the rebellious peasants. Pugachev escorted him to the inn, and in gratitude Grinev gave him his sheepskin coat.
In the fortress, Grinev fell in love with the captain's daughter Masha. His colleague, Shvabrin, fell in love with her. They challenge each other to a duel, and Shvabrin wounds Grinev. Grinev's father found out about these events, who flatly refused to give permission for marriage if Grinev decides to marry. Subsequently, a peasant war breaks out.
Yesterday's simple Cossack Pugachev is the leader of the rebels. His militia successfully captures fortresses, including besieging Belogorskaya. Pugachev executes the nobles, and lures ordinary people into his army. Grinev was also subject to execution, but unexpectedly Pugachev recognized in him the one who helped him on the way to the fortress. He gives Grinev life and offers to go to him, but he refuses. Shvabrin goes over to the side of the rebels.
Meanwhile, Grinev goes to Orenburg, besieged by the Pugachevites, and fights against them there. He receives a letter from Masha, who has remained in the fortress due to illness, and learns from it that Shvabrin is forcibly forcing her to marry him. Without asking permission from his superiors, Grinev goes to the fortress and, with the help of Pugachev, rescues Masha. Shvabrin, however, subsequently informs on Grinev, and he is arrested. He is sentenced to death, which is replaced with eternal exile. A few years later, Masha goes to Catherine II to beg her pardon for Grinev.
Heroes. Pyotr Grinev, Alexey Shvabrin, Maria Mironova, Emelyan Pugachev, Arkhip Savelich.
Topic. Patriotism, honor, devotion and love.
Issues. The novel "The Captain's Daughter" is dedicated to a grandiose event in Russian history - the Pugachev uprising. Pushkin himself described it as "a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless." However, Pugachev appears in the novel rather as a positive character. He is friends with the main character and helps him save his beloved, saving her from forced marriage to a traitor.
Pugachev has his own truth in this war: he fights for justice; attacking fortresses, he kills only aristocratic officers, and does not touch ordinary people, only invites them to go over to his side. Exploring the history of the Pugachev rebellion, Pushkin probably drew attention to the fact that the uprising was generated primarily by corruption and injustice on the part of the tsarist government, and after the defeat of the rebels, all information about the Pugachevites was carefully destroyed by order of Catherine: they burned documents, renamed geographical objects, forbade that -or mention this event, including in the press.
Against the background of the historical peasant war, the love story of the main characters unfolds. For the sake of love, Grinev is ready for anything: he shoots himself in a duel. Without permission, he leaves the place of service, and even in the midst of hostilities. And love becomes the only source of justice: the aristocratic tsarist army brutally cracks down on the Cossacks and peasants, and in addition arrests Grinev, listening to the denunciation of the traitor Shvabrin; and only one Masha manages to achieve justice and "get through" to the Empress herself.
Genre- a story describing historical events.
The Captain's Daughter is a historical novel written in the form of a memoir. In this novel, the author painted a picture of a spontaneous peasant revolt. Why Pushkin turns to history. Pugachev uprising? The fact is that for a long time this topic was considered taboo, uncomfortable, and historians practically did not deal with it, and if they did, they covered it one-sidedly.
Pushkin showed great interest in the theme of the peasant uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev, but at first he was faced with an almost complete lack of materials. Then he himself goes to the Orenburg region, questions the eyewitnesses and participants who are still alive, and spends a long time in the archives. In fact, Pushkin became the first historian to objectively reflect the events of this harsh era. After all, the historical treatise "History of the Pugachev Rebellion" was perceived by Pushkin's contemporaries as a scientific work.
If “History of the Pugachev Rebellion” is a historical work, then “The Captain's Daughter” is written in a completely different genre. This is a historical novel. The main principle that Pushkin uses in his work is the principle of historicism, since the main storyline was the development of real historical events. Fictional heroes, their fates are closely intertwined with historical figures. In each episode of The Captain's Daughter, one can draw a parallel between the fate of individuals and the fate of the people as a whole /
The form of memoirs chosen by the author speaks of his historical vigilance. In the 18th century, it was really possible to describe “Pugachevism” in a similar way in memoirs, for grandchildren. It is no coincidence that the author chose Pyotr Grinev as a memoirist. Pushkin needed a witness who was directly involved in the events, who would be personally acquainted with Pugachev and his entourage.
Pushkin deliberately chose a nobleman for this. As a nobleman by his social origin and an officer sworn to pacify the rebellion, he is faithful to his duty. And we see that Pyotr Grinev really did not drop his officer's honor. He is kind, noble. To Pugachev’s offer to serve him faithfully, Grinev replies with a firm refusal, since he swore allegiance to the empress. But he also rejects the uprising “as a senseless and merciless rebellion”, bloodshed. Pyotr Grinev consistently tells us not only about the bloody and cruel massacres, similar to the massacre in the Belogorsk fortress, but also about the just deeds of Pugachev, about his broad soul, peasant ingenuity, and peculiar nobility. Three times Pyotr Grinev tempted fate, and three times Pugachev spared and pardoned him. “The thought of him was inseparable in me with the thought of mercy,” says Grinev, “given to me by him in one of the terrible minutes of his life, and of the deliverance of my bride ...”
The image of Grinev is given in dynamics: Grinev is a young man, a minor, and Grinev is an old man. There is some difference in belief between them. The old man not only describes, but also evaluates the young man. Grinev ironically talks about his childhood; when describing the episode of flight from the besieged Orenburg, an intonation arises that justifies the reckless act of the hero. The chosen form of narration allows the hero to look at himself from the outside. It was an amazing artistic find.
Emelyan Pugachev also occupies a significant place in the story. His character is revealed gradually in the course of events. The first meeting takes place in the chapter “Counselor”, the next time it is the leader of the rebels. Further, he appears as a generous, just person. This is especially evident in the scene of Masha's liberation. Pugachev punishes Shvabrin and releases Grinev with his bride, saying: “Execute, execute like this, favor, favor like that.”
In conclusion, I would like to dwell on one more invisible hero of this wonderful story, on the image of the author himself, who, with his secret presence, is constantly watching the events and actions of the heroes. Having chosen Grinev as the narrator, Pushkin does not hide behind him. The position of the writer is very clear. First, it is obvious that Grinev expresses the author's thoughts about the uprising. Pushkin prefers reforms to revolution: “God forbid to see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless!” Secondly, Pushkin selects situations in which Grinev behaves according to the author's wishes. The very fact of choosing a narrator to convey historical events is a great merit of the writer. This is the originality of the story "The Captain's Daughter". Pushkin managed to convey to us many interesting facts from the history of the Pugachev uprising.
Reviews
The story is well described. On a 5-point scale, I would rate it at 4 points. There are some mistakes that don’t really stand out, but I still see these mistakes. Well, I would also make this analysis shorter so that the children can understand everything that is said here and remember all.
P.s.: this is my opinion and I want you not to judge my comment too much.
A.S. Pushkin conceived the story "The Captain's Daughter" when he was working on "The History of Pugachev". Initially, the author assumed that the main character of the work would be a young nobleman who went over to the side of the rebellious robbers. In the course of work, the idea changed. The final version of the story was written in 1836 (a few months before the death of A.S. Pushkin) and published in Sovremennik without indicating the author.
To create the effect of documentary Pushkin in the epilogue to the story said that he got the notes from the hands of his grandson Pyotr Grinev, the author only supplemented the narrative with epigraphs.
By Pushkin's definition, The Captain's Daughter is a historical story. However, many critics interpret the work as a novel, more precisely, a novel is a family chronicle. The narrative is built on behalf of the main character of the story - Peter Grinev.
The work begins with a description of how the hero, being 17 years old, goes to serve in the Belogorsk fortress.
In the center of the story is the Pugachev uprising, depicted with detailed authenticity. Massacres, brutal reprisals, the breadth of events - everything is reflected in the story.
It cannot be said that Pushkin clearly takes any of the opposing sides. Robbery and mockery of people do not find excuses in the author's ideas. Pushkin is trying to convey the idea that there are no winners in this war. Pugachev clearly understands the hopelessness of the uprising, the officers, for human reasons, refuse to fight with them.
Pugachev's rebellion, senseless and merciless, is presented as a national tragedy. The inaction of the authorities also finds condemnation of the author. It was because of the connivance of the superiors that the Belogorsk fortress fell, and Orenburg found itself in a long-term siege.
Emelyan Pugachev is the only real historical person in the story. The image is endowed with complex and contradictory features, it is unpredictable, formidable and domineering. At the same time, he can be a merry fellow and a rogue. His decisions are harsh and lightning fast, but nobility, wisdom and prudence are not alien to him. Pugachev is the central figure of the story, all the main events unfold around him and the fate of the protagonist is decided.
Pyotr Grinev at the beginning of the story appears as an eccentric teenager, not a deep mind and superficial education. The level of his development is comparable to Mitrofanushka. However, the meeting with Emelyan Pugachev had an impact on his whole life, fate prepared for him serious trials, after passing which the hero acquires nobility of soul, dignity, honor. All this brought up a real man in him.
Masha is Peter's beloved. She spent her whole life in the fortress, by the nature of kindness and naivety. Overnight, she loses her parents, finds herself at the mercy of enemies, suffers a serious illness. This girl, who seemed like a coward to her parents, showed amazing endurance. It was thanks to her perseverance and perseverance that Petya Grinev survived. As soon as she decided to seek pardon from the Empress, neither the mother nor the father of the hero dared to do so.
"The Captain's Daughter" is a historical novel (in some sources - a story) written by A.S. Pushkin. The author tells us about the origin and development of a great and strong feeling between a young noble officer and the daughter of the commandant of the fortress. All this happens against the backdrop of the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev and creates additional obstacles and difficulties in life for the lovers.
The novel is written in the form of a memoir. Such an interweaving of historical and family chronicles gives it additional charm and charm, and also makes you believe in the reality of everything that happens.
In the mid-1830s, translated novels were gaining popularity in Russia. Society ladies were read by Walter Scott. Domestic writers, and among them Alexander Sergeevich, could not stand aside and responded with their own works, among which were The Captain's Daughter.
Researchers of Pushkin's work claim that at first he worked on a historical chronicle, wanting to tell readers about the course of the Pugachev rebellion. Approaching the matter responsibly and wanting to be truthful, the author met with the direct participants in those events, having specially left for the South Urals.
Pushkin doubted for a long time who to make the main character of his work. First, he settled on Mikhail Shvanvich, an officer who, during the uprising, went over to the side of Pugachev. What made Alexander Sergeevich abandon such a plan is unknown, but as a result he turned to the format of memoirs, and put an officer-nobleman at the center of the novel. At the same time, the main character had every chance to go over to the side of Pugachev, but the duty to the Fatherland turned out to be higher. Shvanvich turned from a positive character into a negative Shvabrin.
For the first time, the novel appeared before the audience in the Sovremennik magazine in the last issue of 1836, and Pushkin's authorship was not mentioned there. It was said that these notes were written by the late Pyotr Grinev. However, in this novel, for reasons of censorship, an article about the peasants' revolt on the estate of Grinev himself was not published. The lack of authorship led to the absence of any printed reviews, however, many noted the "overall effect" that The Captain's Daughter had on those who read the novel. A month after publication, the real author of the novel died in a duel.
The work is written in the form of memoirs - the landowner Pyotr Grinev talks about the times of his youth, when his father ordered him to be sent to serve in the army (albeit under the supervision of Uncle Savelich). On the road, one meeting happens to them, which radically influenced their future fate and the fate of Russia - Pyotr Grinev meets Emelyan Pugachev.
Having reached his destination (and it turned out to be the Belogorsk fortress), Grinev immediately falls in love with the commandant's daughter. However, he has a rival - officer Shvabrin. A duel takes place between young people, as a result of which Grinev is wounded. His father, having learned about this, does not give his consent to marry the girl.
All this is happening against the background of the developing Pugachev rebellion. When it comes to the fortress, Pugachev's accomplices first take the life of Masha's parents, after which they offer Shvabrin and Grinev to swear allegiance to Emelyan. Shvabrin agrees, but Grinev, for reasons of honor, does not. His life is saved by Savelich, who reminds Pugachev of their chance meeting.
Grinev fights against Pugachev, but this does not prevent him from calling the latter as an ally to save Masha, who turned out to be Shvabrin's hostage. On the denunciation of a rival, Grinev ends up in prison, and now Masha is doing everything to save him. A chance meeting with the Empress helps the girl achieve the release of her lover. To the delight of all the ladies, the case ends with the wedding of the young in Grinev's parental home.
As already mentioned, the background for the love story was a great historical event - the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev.
There are several main characters in the novel. Among them:
Peter Grinev, who at the time of the story was only 17 years old. According to the literary critic Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky, this character was needed for an impartial assessment of the behavior of another character - Emelyan Pugachev.
Aleksey Shvabrin is a young officer serving in the fortress. A freethinker, smart and educated (it is mentioned in the story that he knows French and understands literature). Literary critic Dmitry Mirsky called Shvabrin a "purely romantic scoundrel" because of his betrayal of the oath and defection to the rebels. However, since the image is written in a shallow way, it is difficult to say about the reasons that prompted him to such an act. Obviously, Pushkin's sympathies were not on Shvabrin's side.
At the time of the story, Mary was only 18 years old. A real Russian beauty, at the same time simple and sweet. Capable of an act - in order to save her beloved, she goes to the capital to meet with the Empress. According to Vyazemsky, she decorates the novel in the same way that Tatyana Larina decorated Eugene Onegin. But Tchaikovsky, who at one time wanted to stage an opera based on this work, complained that it did not have enough character, but only kindness and honesty. Marina Tsvetaeva was of the same opinion.
From the age of five he was assigned to Grinev as an uncle, the Russian analogue of a tutor. The only one who communicates with a 17-year-old officer like a small child. Pushkin calls him a "faithful serf", but Savelich allows himself to express uncomfortable thoughts to both the master and his ward.
Pugachev - according to many critics, the brightest main figure in the work due to his coloring. Marina Tsvetaeva once claimed that Pugachev obscures the colorless and faded Grinev. In Pushkin, Pugachev looks like a sort of charming villain.
“I lived underage, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys. Meanwhile, I was sixteen years old. Here my fate changed.Grinev.
“How strange men are! For one word, which they would surely forget about in a week, they are ready to cut themselves and sacrifice not only their lives, but also their conscience.Masha Mironova.
“Are you afraid, admit it, when my fellows threw a rope around your neck? I have tea, the sky seemed like a sheepskin ... " Pugachev.
"God forbid to see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless." Grinev.
Colleagues of Alexander Sergeevich, to whom he personally read the novel, made small remarks about non-observance of historical facts, while generally speaking positively about the novel. Prince VF Odoevsky, for example, noted that the images of Savelich and Pugachev were written out carefully and thought out to the smallest detail, but the image of Shvabrin was not finalized, and therefore it would be difficult for readers to understand the motives for his transition.
Literary critic Nikolai Strakhov noted that such a combination of family (partly love) and historical chronicles is typical for the works of Walter Scott, the answer to the popularity of which among the Russian nobility, in fact, was Pushkin's work.
Another Russian literary critic Dmitry Mirsky highly appreciated The Captain's Daughter, emphasizing the manner of narration - concise, accurate, economical, at the same time spacious and unhurried. His opinion was that this work played one of the main roles in the development of the genre of realism in Russian literature.
A few years after the publication of the work, the Russian writer and publisher Nikolai Grech admired how the author managed to express the character and tone of the time he tells about. The story turned out to be so realistic that one could really think that the author was an eyewitness of these events. Fyodor Dostoevsky and Nikolai Gogol also periodically left rave reviews about this work.
According to Dmitry Mirsky, The Captain's Daughter can be considered the only full-fledged novel written by Alexander Sergeevich and published during his lifetime. Let us agree with the critic - everything is present in the novel in order to be successful: a romantic line that ended in marriage is a delight for beautiful ladies; a historical line that tells about such a complex and controversial historical event as the Pugachev uprising will be more interesting to men; clearly written main characters and set guidelines regarding the place of honor and dignity in the life of an officer. All this explains the popularity of the novel in the past and compels our contemporaries to read it today.
