There are times when you need to quickly familiarize yourself with a book, but there is no time to read. For such cases, there is a brief retelling (brief). "The Captain's Daughter" is a story from the school curriculum, which certainly deserves attention, at least in a brief retelling.
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Before you get acquainted with the story "The Captain's Daughter" in abbreviation, you need to get acquainted with the main characters.
The Captain's Daughter tells about several months in the life of Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, a hereditary nobleman. He is doing military service in the Belogorod fortress during the peasant unrest led by Emelyan Pugachev. Pyotr Grinev himself tells this story with the help of entries in his diary.
Even before birth, Pyotr Grinev's father enlisted in the ranks of sergeants of the Semyonovsky regiment, since he himself was a retired officer.
At the age of five, he assigned his son a personal servant named Arkhip Savelich. His task was to bring him up to be a real gentleman. Arkhip Savelyich taught little Peter a lot, for example, to understand the breeds of hunting dogs, Russian literacy and much more.
Four years later, the father sends sixteen-year-old Peter to serve his good friend in Orenburg. Servant Savelich rides with Peter. In Simbirsk, Grinev meets a man named Zurin. He teaches Peter how to play billiards. Having drunk, Grinev loses one hundred rubles to the military man.
Grinev and Savelich got lost on the way to their duty station, but a passer-by showed them the way to the inn. There Peter examines the guide- He looks about forty years old, he has a black beard, a strong physique, and in general he looks like a robber. Having entered into a conversation with the owner of the inn, they discussed something in a foreign language.
The escort is practically undressed, and therefore Grinev decides to give him a rabbit sheepskin coat. The sheepskin coat was so small for him that it literally burst at the seams, but despite this, he was glad of the gift and promised never to forget this good deed. A day later, young Peter, having arrived in Orenburg, introduces himself to the general, who sends him to the Belgorod fortress to serve under Captain Mironov. Not without the help of Father Peter, of course.
Grinev arrives at the Belgorod fortress, which is a village surrounded by a high wall and one cannon. Captain Mironov, under whose leadership Peter came to serve, was a gray-haired old man, and two officers and about a hundred soldiers serve under him. One of the officers is the one-eyed old lieutenant Ivan Ignatich, the second is called Alexei Shvabrin - he was exiled to this place as punishment for the duel.
With Aleksey Shvabrin, the newly arrived Peter met the same evening. Shvabrin told about each of the captain's family: his wife Vasilisa Yegorovna and their daughter Masha. Vasilisa commands both her husband and the entire garrison. And daughter Masha is a very cowardly girl. Later, Grinev himself gets acquainted with Vasilisa and Masha, and also with constable Maksimych . He is very scared of that the upcoming service will be boring and therefore very long.
Grinev liked the fortress, despite Maksimych's worries. The soldiers here are treated without much strictness, despite the fact that the captain at least occasionally arranges exercises, but they still cannot distinguish “left” and “right”. In the house of Captain Mironov, Pyotr Grinev becomes almost a member of the family, and also falls in love with his daughter Masha.
In one of the outbursts of feelings, Grinev devotes poetry to Masha and reads them to the only one in the castle who understands poetry - Shvabrin. Shvabrin, in a very rude manner, makes fun of his feelings and says that the earrings are it's a more useful gift. Grinev is offended by this too harsh criticism in his direction, and he calls him a liar in response, and Alexei, emotionally challenging him to a duel.
An excited Peter wants to call Ivan Ignatich as a second, but the old man believes that such a showdown is too much. After dinner, Peter tells Shvabrin that Ivan Ignatich did not agree to be a second. Shvabrin proposes to hold a duel without seconds.
Having met in the early morning, they did not have time to find out the relationship in a duel, because they were immediately tied up and taken under arrest by soldiers under the command of a lieutenant. Vasilisa Yegorovna forces them to pretend that they have reconciled, and after that they are released from custody. From Masha, Peter learns that the whole point is that Alexei had already received a refusal from her, which is why he behaved so aggressively.
This did not cool their ardor, and they meet the next day by the river to bring the matter to an end. Peter had already almost defeated the officer in a fair fight, but was distracted by the call. It was Savelich. Turning to a familiar voice, Grinev is wounded in the chest area.
The wound turned out to be so serious that Peter woke up only on the fourth day. Shvabrin decides to make peace with Peter, they apologize to each other. Taking advantage of the moment that Masha is caring for the sick Peter, he confesses his love to her and receives reciprocity in return.
In love and inspired Grinev writes a letter home asking for blessings for the wedding. In response, a strict letter comes with a refusal and the sad news of the death of his mother. Peter thinks that his mother died when she found out about the duel, and suspects Savelich of the denunciation.
The offended servant shows Peter the proof: a letter from his father, where he scolds and scolds him because he did not tell about the injury. After a while, suspicions bring Peter to the conclusion that Shvabrin did this in order to interfere with his happiness and Masha and disrupt the wedding. Upon learning that her parents do not give blessings, Maria refuses to marry.
In October 1773 very quickly rumor is spreading about the Pugachev rebellion, despite the fact that Mironov tried to keep it a secret. The captain decides to send Maksimych to reconnaissance. Maksimych returns two days later and reports that among the Cossacks an unrest of great strength is rising.
At the same time, Maksimych was informed that he went over to the side of Pugachev and incited the Cossacks to revolt. Maksimych is arrested, and in his place they put the person who denounced him - the baptized Kalmyk Yulai.
Further events pass very quickly: constable Maksimych escapes from custody, one of Pugachev's people is taken prisoner, but he cannot be asked about anything, because he does not have a language. The neighboring fortress is captured, and very soon the rebels will be under the walls of this fortress. Vasilisa and her daughter go to Orenburg.
The next morning, a bunch of fresh news reaches Grinev: the Cossacks left the fortress, capturing Yulai; Masha did not have time to reach Orenburg and the road was blocked. By order of the captain, the rioters' sentinels are shot from a cannon.
Soon the main army of Pugachev appears, led by Emelyan himself, smartly dressed in a red caftan and riding a white horse. Four traitorous Cossacks offer to surrender, recognizing Pugachev as ruler. They throw Yulai's head over the fence, which falls at Mironov's feet. Mironov gives the order to shoot, and one of the negotiators is killed, the rest manage to escape.
The fortress begins to be stormed, and Mironov says goodbye to his family and gives his blessing to Masha. Vasilisa leads her terrified daughter away. The commandant fires one cannon, gives the order to open the gate, and then rushes into battle.
The soldiers are in no hurry to run after the commander, and the attackers manage to break into the fortress. Grinev is taken prisoner. A large gallows is being built on the square. A crowd gathers around, many greet the rioters with joy. The impostor, sitting on an armchair in the commandant's house, takes oaths from the prisoners. Ignatich and Mironov are hanged for refusing to take the oath.
The queue reaches Grinev, and he notices among the rebels Shvabrin. When Peter is escorted to the gallows to be executed, Savelich unexpectedly falls at Pugachev's feet. Somehow he manages to beg pardon for Grinev. When Vasilisa was taken out of the house, she, seeing her dead husband, emotionally calls Pugachev - "a runaway convict." She is immediately killed for it.
Peter began to look for Masha. The news was disappointing - she lies unconscious with the priest's wife, who tells everyone that this is her seriously ill relative. Peter returns to the old ransacked apartment and learns from Savelich how he managed to persuade Pugachev to let Peter go.
Pugachev is the same passer-by whom they met when they got lost and presented a rabbit coat. Pugachev invites Peter to the commandant's house, and he eats there with the rebels at the same table.
During dinner, he manages to overhear how the military council is making plans to go to Orenburg. After dinner, Grinev and Pugachev have a conversation where Pugachev again demands to take the oath. Peter again refuses him, arguing that he is an officer and the orders of his commanders are the law for him. Such honesty is to the liking of Pugachev, and he again releases Peter.
On the morning before Pugachev's departure, Savelyich comes up to him and brings the things that were taken from Grinev during his capture. At the very end of the list is a hare sheepskin coat. Pugachev gets angry and throws out a sheet of paper with this list. Leaving, he leaves Shvabrin as commandant.
Grinev rushes to the priest's wife to find out how Masha's health is, but very disappointing news awaits him - she is delirious and in a fever. He can't take her away, but he can't stay either. So he has to leave her temporarily.
Worried, Grinev and Savelich walk at a slow pace to Orenburg. Suddenly, unexpectedly, they are overtaken by the former constable Maksimych, who is riding a Bashkir horse. It turned out that it was Pugachev who said to give the officer a horse and a sheepskin coat. Peter gratefully accepts this gift.
Arriving in Orenburg, Peter reports to the general about everything that was in the fortress. At the council, they decide not to attack, but only to defend themselves. After some time, the siege of Orenburg by Pugachev's army begins. Thanks to a fast horse and luck, Grinev remains safe and sound.
In one of these sorties, he intersects with Maksimych. Maksimych gives him a letter from Masha, which says that Shvabrin kidnapped her and forcibly forces her to marry him. Grinev runs to the general and asks for a company of soldiers to liberate the Belgorod fortress, but the general refuses him.
Grinev and Savelyich decide to flee from Orenburg and without any problems go towards the Bermuda settlement, which was occupied by Pugachev's people. After waiting for the night, they decide to go around the settlement in the dark, but they are caught by a detachment of sentinels. He miraculously manages to escape, but Savelich, unfortunately, does not.
Therefore, Peter returns for him and is subsequently captured. Pugachev finds out why he fled from Orenburg. Peter informs him about the tricks of Shvabrin. Pugachev begins to get angry and threatens to hang him.
Pugachev's adviser does not believe in Grinev's story, claiming that Peter is a spy. Suddenly, a second adviser named Khlopusha begins to intercede for Peter. They almost start a fight, but the impostor calms them down. Pugachev decides to take the wedding of Peter and Masha into his own hands.
When Pugachev arrived to the Belgorod fortress, he began to demand to show the girl who was kidnapped by Shvabrin. He brings Pugachev and Grinev to the room where Masha is sitting on the floor.
Pugachev, having decided to look into the situation, asks Masha why her husband is beating her. Masha indignantly exclaims that she will never become his wife. Pugachev is very disappointed in Shvabrin and tells him to let the young couple go immediately.
Masha with Peter go on the road. When they enter the town, where there should be a large detachment of Pugachev’s, they see that the town has already been liberated. They want to arrest Grinev, he enters the officer's room and sees his old acquaintance, Zurin, at the head.
He remains in Zurin's detachment, and sends Masha and Savelich to his parents. Soon the siege was lifted from Orenburg, and the news comes of the victory and the end of the war, as the impostor is captured. While Peter was going home, Zurin received an order for his arrest.
In the Court, Pyotr Grinev is accused of treason and espionage. Witness - Shvabrin. In order not to involve Masha in this matter, Peter does not justify himself in any way, and they want to hang him. Empress Catherine, taking pity on his elderly father, changes the execution to serving a life sentence in a Siberian settlement. Masha decides that she will wallow at the feet of the empress, begging to have mercy on him.
Having gone to St. Petersburg, she stops at an inn and finds out that the hostess is the niece of the furnace stoker in the palace. She helps Masha to get into the garden of Tsarskoye Selo, where she meets a lady who promises to help her. After a while, a carriage arrives from the palace for Masha. Entering Catherine's chambers, she is surprised to see the woman she was talking to in the garden. She announces to her that Grinev is acquitted. read our article.
It was a short summary. "The Captain's Daughter" is a rather interesting story from the school curriculum. A summary of the chapters is needed for.
Orenburg and fights against Pugachev, but one day he receives a letter from Masha, who remained in the Belogorsk fortress due to illness. From the letter, he learns that Shvabrin wants to forcefully marry her. Grinev leaves the service without permission, arrives at the Belogorsk fortress and, with the help of Pugachev, saves Masha. Later, on Shvabrin's denunciation, he was arrested by government troops. While Grinev is in prison, Masha goes to Tsarskoye Selo to Catherine II and begs for forgiveness for her fiancé, saying that he was slandered. Grinev is released and he goes to his parents' house. Later, the young play a wedding.The Captain's Daughter belongs to the range of works with which Russian writers of the 1830s responded to the success of the translated novels of Walter Scott. Pushkin planned to write a historical novel back in the 1820s (see Peter the Great's Moor). The first of the historical novels on the Russian theme saw the light of "Yuri Miloslavsky" by M. N. Zagoskin (1829). Grinev's meeting with the counselor, according to Pushkin scholars, goes back to a similar scene in Zagoskin's novel.
The idea of a story about the Pugachev era matured during Pushkin's work on a historical chronicle - "History of the Pugachev rebellion". In search of materials for his work, Pushkin traveled to the Southern Urals, where he talked with eyewitnesses of the terrible events of the 1770s. According to P. V. Annenkov, “the compressed and only outwardly dry presentation, adopted by him in the History, seemed to find an addition in his exemplary novel, which has the warmth and charm of historical notes”, in the novel, “which represented the other side of the subject - the side of the mores and customs of the era.
The Captain's Daughter was written casually, among the works on Pugachevism, but there is more history in it than in The History of the Pugachev Rebellion, which seems like a long explanatory footnote to the novel.
In the summer of 1832, Pushkin intended to make Mikhail Shvanvich (1749-1802), an officer who had gone over to Pugachev’s side, the hero of the novel, uniting him with his father, who was expelled from the life campaign after he cut Alexei Orlov’s cheek with his broadsword in a tavern quarrel. Probably, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe work about a nobleman who succumbed to robbers due to personal resentment was eventually embodied in the novel "Dubrovsky", the action of which was transferred to the modern era.
Later, Pushkin gave the narrative the form of a memoir, and made a nobleman who remained faithful to his duty, despite the temptation to go over to the side of the rebels, as the narrator and main character. The historical figure of Shvanvich, thus, split into the images of Grinev and his antagonist - the "frankly conditional" villain Shvabrin.
The scene of Masha's meeting with the Empress in Tsarskoe Selo was obviously suggested by a historical anecdote about the mercy of Joseph II to the "daughter of one captain". The non-standard, “homely” image of Catherine, drawn in the story, is based on the engraving by N. Utkin from the famous portrait of Borovikovsky (performed, however, much later than the events depicted in the story).
Many of the plot points of The Captain's Daughter echo the novels of Walter Scott, as pointed out, in particular, by N. Chernyshevsky. In Savelich, Belinsky also saw the "Russian Caleb". The comic episode with Savelich's score to Pugachev has an analogue in The Adventures of Nigel (1822). In the Tsarskoe Selo scene, “the daughter of Captain Mironov is placed in the same position as the heroine of the Edinburgh Dungeon” (1818), A. D. Galakhov pointed out at the time.
Both the detailed system of epigraphs from "old songs" and the design of the narrative with an afterword by a fictitious publisher go back to Scott's novels.
The Captain's Daughter was published a month before the death of the author in the journal Sovremennik, which he published, under the guise of notes by the late Pyotr Grinev. From this and subsequent editions of the novel, for censorship reasons, a chapter about the peasant riot in the village of Grineva was released, which was preserved in a draft manuscript. Until 1838, no printed reviews of the story followed, but Gogol in January 1837 noted that it "produced a general effect." A. I. Turgenev wrote on January 9, 1837 to K. Ya. Bulgakov:
Pushkin successfully transferred the motifs traditional for the Walterscottites to Russian soil: “No more than one-fifth of the average novel by Walter Scott. The manner of the story is concise, precise, economical, although more spacious and unhurried than in Pushkin's stories, ”notes D. Mirsky. In his opinion, "The Captain's Daughter" more than other works of Pushkin influenced the formation of realism in Russian literature - it is "realism, economical in funds, restrainedly humorous, devoid of any pressure."
Discussing the style of the story, N. Grech wrote in 1840 that Pushkin "with amazing skill was able to capture and express the character and tone of the middle of the 18th century." Don’t subscribe Pushkin to the story - “and you really might think that it was actually written by some old man who was an eyewitness and hero of the events described, the story is so naive and artless,” F. Dostoevsky agreed with him. An enthusiastic review was left about the novel by N. V. Gogol:
Foreign critics are far from being as unanimous in their enthusiasm for The Captain's Daughter as the Russians. In particular, a harsh review of the work is attributed to the Irish writer James Joyce:
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The story has been filmed many times, including abroad:
Operas based on The Captain's Daughter were composed by Caesar Cui (1909), Sigismund Katz (1941), Dmitry Tolstoy (1976) and Mikhail Kollontai (1995-1998). In 2003, the premiere of the ballet The Captain's Daughter took place, the music for which was written by Tikhon Khrennikov.
At the glow of the first fire that broke out on September 2, from different roads, with different feelings, the fleeing and leaving residents and the retreating troops looked.
That night the Rostov train stopped at Mytishchi, twenty versts from Moscow. On September 1, they left so late, the road was so cluttered with wagons and troops, so many things were forgotten, for which people were sent, that that night it was decided to spend the night five miles beyond Moscow. The next morning we set off late, and again there were so many stops that we only reached Bolshiye Mytishchi. At ten o'clock, the Rostovs and the wounded who were traveling with them all settled in the yards and huts of a large village. The people, the coachmen of the Rostovs and the batmen of the wounded, having removed the gentlemen, had supper, fed the horses, and went out onto the porch.
In a neighboring hut, Raevsky's wounded adjutant lay, with a broken hand, and the terrible pain that he felt made him moan plaintively, without ceasing, and these moans sounded terribly in the autumn darkness of the night. On the first night, this adjutant spent the night in the same courtyard where the Rostovs stood. The countess said that she could not close her eyes from this groan, and in Mytishchi she moved to the worst hut only in order to be away from this wounded man.
One of the people in the darkness of the night, from behind the high body of the carriage standing at the entrance, noticed another small glow of the fire. One glow had already been visible for a long time, and everyone knew that it was the Little Mytishchi burning, lit by the Mamon Cossacks.
“But this, brothers, is another fire,” said the batman.
Everyone turned their attention to the glow.
- Why, they said, Mamonov Cossacks lit Maly Mytishchi.
- They are! No, this is not Mytishchi, it is far away.
“Look, it’s definitely in Moscow.
Two of the men stepped off the porch, went behind the carriage, and sat down on the footboard.
- It's left! Well, Mytishchi is over there, and this is completely on the other side.
Several people joined the first.
- Look, it's blazing, - said one, - this, gentlemen, is a fire in Moscow: either in Sushchevskaya or in Rogozhskaya.
Nobody responded to this remark. And for a long time all these people silently looked at the distant flames of a new fire.
The old man, the count's valet (as he was called), Danilo Terentyich, went up to the crowd and called out to Mishka.
- You didn’t see anything, slut ... The count will ask, but there is no one; go get your dress.
- Yes, I just ran for water, - said Mishka.
- And what do you think, Danilo Terentyich, it's like a glow in Moscow? one of the footmen said.
Danilo Terentyich made no answer, and again everyone was silent for a long time. The glow spread and swayed further and further.
“God have mercy! .. wind and dry land ...” the voice said again.
- Look how it went. Oh my God! you can see the jackdaws. Lord, have mercy on us sinners!
- They'll put it out.
- Who to put out then? came the voice of Danila Terentyich, who had been silent until now. His voice was calm and slow. “Moscow is indeed, brothers,” he said, “she is the mother of the squirrel…” His voice broke off, and he suddenly let out an old sob. And as if everyone was just waiting for this in order to understand the meaning that this visible glow had for them. There were sighs, words of prayer, and the sobbing of the old count's valet.
The valet, returning, reported to the count that Moscow was on fire. The count put on his dressing-gown and went out to have a look. Sonya, who had not yet undressed, and Madame Schoss came out with him. Natasha and the countess were alone in the room. (Petya was no longer with the family; he went ahead with his regiment, marching to Trinity.)
The Countess wept when she heard the news of the fire in Moscow. Natasha, pale, with fixed eyes, sitting under the icons on the bench (in the very place where she sat down when she arrived), did not pay any attention to her father's words. She listened to the incessant groan of the adjutant, heard through three houses.
- Oh, what a horror! - said, come back from the yard, cold and frightened Sonya. - I think all of Moscow will burn, a terrible glow! Natasha, look now, you can see it from the window from here, ”she said to her sister, apparently wanting to entertain her with something. But Natasha looked at her, as if not understanding what she was being asked, and again stared with her eyes at the corner of the stove. Natasha has been in this state of tetanus since this morning, from the very time that Sonya, to the surprise and annoyance of the countess, for no reason at all, found it necessary to announce to Natasha about the wound of Prince Andrei and about his presence with them on the train. The countess was angry with Sonya, as she rarely got angry. Sonya cried and asked for forgiveness, and now, as if trying to make amends for her guilt, she did not stop caring for her sister.
“Look, Natasha, how terribly it burns,” said Sonya.
- What is on fire? Natasha asked. – Oh, yes, Moscow.
And as if in order not to offend Sonya by her refusal and to get rid of her, she moved her head to the window, looked so that she obviously could not see anything, and again sat down in her former position.
- Didn't you see it?
“No, really, I saw it,” she said in a pleading voice.
Both the countess and Sonya understood that Moscow, the fire of Moscow, whatever it was, of course, could not matter to Natasha.
The count again went behind the partition and lay down. The countess went up to Natasha, touched her head with her upturned hand, as she did when her daughter was sick, then touched her forehead with her lips, as if to find out if there was a fever, and kissed her.
- You are cold. You're all trembling. You should go to bed,” she said.
- Lie down? Yes, okay, I'll go to bed. I'm going to bed now, - said Natasha.
Since Natasha was told this morning that Prince Andrei was seriously wounded and was traveling with them, she only in the first minute asked a lot about where? as? is he dangerously injured? and can she see him? But after she was told that she was not allowed to see him, that he was seriously injured, but that his life was not in danger, she obviously did not believe what she was told, but convinced that no matter how much she said, she would be answer the same thing, stopped asking and talking. All the way, with big eyes, which the countess knew so well and whose expression the countess was so afraid of, Natasha sat motionless in the corner of the carriage and was now sitting in the same way on the bench on which she sat down. She was thinking about something, something she was deciding or had already decided in her mind now - the countess knew this, but what it was, she did not know, and this frightened and tormented her.
- Natasha, undress, my dear, lie down on my bed. (Only the countess alone was made a bed on the bed; m me Schoss and both young ladies had to sleep on the floor in the hay.)
“No, mom, I’ll lie down here on the floor,” Natasha said angrily, went to the window and opened it. The groan of the adjutant was heard more distinctly from the open window. She stuck her head out into the damp night air, and the countess saw her thin shoulders tremble with sobs and beat against the frame. Natasha knew that it was not Prince Andrei who was moaning. She knew that Prince Andrei was lying in the same connection where they were, in another hut across the passage; but this terrible unceasing groan made her sob. The Countess exchanged glances with Sonya.
"Lie down, my dear, lie down, my friend," said the countess, lightly touching Natasha's shoulder with her hand. - Well, go to bed.
“Ah, yes ... I’ll lie down now, now,” said Natasha, hastily undressing and tearing off the strings of her skirts. Throwing off her dress and putting on a jacket, she tucked her legs up, sat down on the bed prepared on the floor and, throwing her short, thin braid over her shoulder, began to weave it. Thin long habitual fingers quickly, deftly took apart, weaved, tied a braid. Natasha's head, with a habitual gesture, turned first to one side, then to the other, but her eyes, feverishly open, fixedly stared straight ahead. When the night costume was over, Natasha quietly sank down on a sheet spread on hay from the edge of the door.
“Natasha, lie down in the middle,” said Sonya.
“No, I’m here,” Natasha said. "Go to bed," she added with annoyance. And she buried her face in the pillow.
The countess, m me Schoss, and Sonya hurriedly undressed and lay down. One lamp was left in the room. But in the yard it was bright from the fire of Maly Mytishchi, two miles away, and the drunken cries of the people were buzzing in the tavern, which was broken by the Mamon Cossacks, on the warp, in the street, and the incessant groan of the adjutant was heard all the time.
For a long time Natasha listened to the internal and external sounds that reached her, and did not move. At first she heard her mother's prayer and sighs, the creaking of her bed under her, the familiar whistling snore of m me Schoss, Sonya's quiet breathing. Then the Countess called Natasha. Natasha did not answer her.
“He seems to be sleeping, mother,” Sonya answered quietly. The Countess, after a pause, called again, but no one answered her.
Soon after, Natasha heard her mother's even breathing. Natasha did not move, despite the fact that her small bare foot, knocked out from under the covers, shivered on the bare floor.
As if celebrating the victory over everyone, a cricket screamed in the crack. The rooster crowed far away, relatives responded. In the tavern, the screams died down, only the same stand of the adjutant was heard. Natasha got up.
- Sonya? are you sleeping? Mother? she whispered. Nobody answered. Natasha slowly and cautiously got up, crossed herself and carefully stepped with her narrow and flexible bare foot on the dirty cold floor. The floorboard creaked. She, quickly moving her feet, ran like a kitten a few steps and took hold of the cold bracket of the door.
It seemed to her that something heavy, evenly striking, was knocking on all the walls of the hut: it was beating her heart, which was dying from fear, from horror and love, bursting.
She opened the door, stepped over the threshold and stepped onto the damp, cold earth of the porch. The chill that gripped her refreshed her. She felt the sleeping man with her bare foot, stepped over him and opened the door to the hut where Prince Andrei lay. It was dark in this hut. In the back corner, by the bed, on which something was lying, on a bench stood a tallow candle burnt with a large mushroom.
In the morning, Natasha, when she was told about the wound and the presence of Prince Andrei, decided that she should see him. She didn't know what it was for, but she knew that the date would be painful, and she was even more convinced that it was necessary.
All day she lived only in the hope that at night she would see him. But now that the moment had come, she was terrified of what she would see. How was he mutilated? What was left of him? Was he like that, what was that unceasing groan of the adjutant? Yes, he was. He was in her imagination the personification of that terrible moan. When she saw an indistinct mass in the corner and took his knees raised under the covers by his shoulders, she imagined some kind of terrible body and stopped in horror. But an irresistible force pulled her forward. She cautiously took one step, then another, and found herself in the middle of a small cluttered hut. In the hut, under the images, another person was lying on benches (it was Timokhin), and two more people were lying on the floor (they were a doctor and a valet).
The valet got up and whispered something. Timokhin, suffering from pain in his wounded leg, did not sleep and looked with all his eyes at the strange appearance of a girl in a poor shirt, jacket and eternal cap. The sleepy and frightened words of the valet; "What do you want, why?" - they only made Natasha come up to the one that lay in the corner as soon as possible. As terrifying as this body was, it must have been visible to her. She passed the valet: the burning mushroom of the candle fell off, and she clearly saw Prince Andrei lying on the blanket with outstretched arms, just as she had always seen him.
He was the same as always; but the inflamed complexion of his face, the brilliant eyes fixed enthusiastically on her, and especially the tender childish neck protruding from the laid back collar of his shirt, gave him a special, innocent, childish look, which, however, she had never seen in Prince Andrei. She walked over to him and, with a quick, lithe, youthful movement, knelt down.
The Captain's Daughter is a coming-of-age novel. This is the story of the growing up of Pyotr Grinev, who from a "green" young man reincarnates into a responsible man, having gone through severe life trials. He happened to take a direct part in the Pugachev uprising, and all his principles were thoroughly tested. He passed it, retaining his dignity and remaining true to his oath. The narration is in the form of memoirs, and the hero himself sums up the results of life from the height of his own experience.
Many readers think that The Captain's Daughter is just a story, but they are mistaken: a work of such volume cannot belong to small prose. Whether this is a story or a novel is an open question.
The writer himself lived at a time when only those multi-volume works that were comparable in volume to Anna Karenina, for example, or to The Noble Nest, were classified as full-fledged major epic genres, so he no doubt called his creation a story. In Soviet literary criticism, it was also considered so.
However, the work has all the hallmarks of a novel: the action covers a long period of time in the life of the characters, in the book there are many minor characters described in detail and not directly related to the main storyline, throughout the story the characters undergo spiritual evolution. In addition, the author shows all the stages of Grinev's growing up, which also clearly indicates the genre. That is, we have before us a typical historical novel, since the writer, while working on it, took as a basis the facts from the past and the scientific research that he undertook to understand the phenomenon of the peasant war and convey it to posterity in the form of objective knowledge.
But the riddles did not end there, it remains to be decided what direction stands at the origins of the work "The Captain's Daughter": realism or romanticism? Pushkin's colleagues, in particular Gogol and Odoevsky, argued that his book, more than anyone else, influenced the development of realism in Russia. However, romanticism is supported by the fact that historical material is taken as the basis, and the reader's attention is focused on the controversial and tragic personality of the rebel Pugachev - exactly the same as a romantic hero. Therefore, both answers will be correct, because after the successful literary discovery of the sun of Russian poetry, Russia was overwhelmed by the fashion for prose, moreover, realistic.
In part, Pushkin was inspired to create The Captain's Daughter by Walter Scott, a master of the historical novel. His works began to be translated, and the Russian public was delighted with adventurous plots and mysterious immersion in another era. Then the writer was just working on the chronicle of the uprising, a scientific work dedicated to the peasant revolt of Pugachev. He has accumulated a lot of useful material for the implementation of the artistic intention to reveal to the reader a storehouse of eventful Russian history.
At first, he planned to describe precisely the betrayal of a Russian nobleman, and not a moral feat. The author wanted to focus on the personality of Emelyan Pugachev, and at the same time show the motives of the officer who violated the oath and joined the rebellion. The prototype would be Mikhail Shvanvich, a real-life person who, out of fear for his fate, was at the office of the rebel, and then also testified against him. However, for censorship reasons, the book could hardly have been published, so the writer had to step on the throat of his own song and depict a more patriotic plot, especially since he had enough historical examples of valor. But a negative example fit to create the image of Shvabrin.
The book was published a month before the death of the author in his own journal Sovremennik, published on behalf of Grinev. Many noted that the trowel's style of narration of that time was conveyed by the writer, so many readers were confused and did not understand who the true creator of the memoirs was. By the way, censorship nevertheless took its toll, removing from public access the chapter on the peasant revolt in the Simbirsk province, where Peter himself comes from.
The work, oddly enough, is not titled in honor of Grinev or Pugachev, so you can’t immediately say what it is about. The novel is called "The Captain's Daughter" in honor of Maria Mirova, the main character of the book. Pushkin, thus, pays tribute to the courage of the girl, which no one expected from her. She dared to ask the Empress herself for the traitor! And she begged for forgiveness for her savior.
In addition, this story is also called so because Marya was the driving force behind the story. Out of love for her, the young man always chose a feat. Until she occupied all his thoughts, he was pathetic: he did not want to serve, he lost large sums in cards, he behaved arrogantly with a servant. As soon as a sincere feeling awakened in him courage, nobility and courage, the reader did not recognize Petrusha: he turned from a minor into a responsible and brave man, to whom patriotism and awareness of his own “I” came through strong emotions addressed to a woman.
The events in the work took place during the reign of Catherine II. The historical phenomenon in the novel "The Captain's Daughter" is called "Pugachevism" (this phenomenon was studied by Pushkin). This is Yemelyan Pugachev's rebellion against the tsarist government. It took place in the 18th century. The described actions take place in the Belgorod fortress, where the rebel went, gaining strength to storm the capital.
The Peasant War of 1773-1775 unfolded in the southeast of the Russian Empire. It was attended by serfs and factory peasants, representatives of national minorities (Kyrgyz, Bashkirs) and Ural Cossacks. All of them were outraged by the predatory policy of the ruling elite and the increasing enslavement of the common people. People who did not agree with the fate of the slaves fled to the outskirts of the country and formed armed gangs with the aim of robbery. The fugitive "souls" were already outside the law, so they had no choice. The author reflects on their tragic fate, portraying the leader of the uprising, not devoid of virtue and laudable character traits.
But Catherine II demonstrates a strong temper and remarkable cruelty. The empress, according to historians, was indeed a strong-willed nature, but she was not averse to tyranny and other delights of absolute power. Her policy strengthened the nobility, granting him all sorts of privileges, but the common people were forced to bear the burden of these benefits. The royal court lived in grand style, and not noble people starved, endured violence and the humiliation of a slave position, lost, sold under the hammer. Naturally, social tension only grew, and Catherine did not enjoy the love of the people. A foreign woman was involved in a conspiracy and, with the help of the military, overthrew her husband, the legitimate ruler of Russia. The serfs, beaten and squeezed in the grip of injustice, believed that the murdered Peter the Third was preparing a decree on their release, and his wife killed him for it. Emelyan Pugachev, a Don Cossack, took advantage of superstition and rumors, declaring himself the surviving tsar. He spurred the discontent of the armed Cossacks, whose petitions no one listened to, and inspired the peasants, tortured by arbitrariness and corvée, to revolt.
We get acquainted with Petrusha, an undergrowth, who can only "sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound male." All his aspirations are in the "dust-free service" in St. Petersburg. However, we see that the father has a huge influence on the young man. He teaches his son to serve the fatherland, to preserve the traditions of the family, not to attach great importance to awards. Having received such a strict upbringing, the young man goes to serve. What is told in his “tale of bitter torment” is the plot outline of the work. The fact is that we learn all this from the lips of the venerable old nobleman, what Peter became.
There, far from his father's home, the hero goes through a harsh school of life: first, he plays cards and offends his faithful servant, experiencing pangs of conscience. Later, he falls in love with Maria Mironova and risks his life in a duel with Shvabrin, defending the honor of his beloved. The father, having learned about the cause of the fight, refuses to bless the marriage with the dowry. After the capture of the Belogorsk fortress, Peter remains true to his oath, and nobility grants him the indulgence of Pugachev: he respects the choice of the young man and does not touch him. The rebel's decision was influenced by the kindness of the prisoner: once on the road he gave the Cossack a short fur coat and treated him very kindly. A simple man appreciated the mercy of the master and returned the favor with a favor. Pushkin confronts them more than once, and the nobleman is always rescued by his directness and generosity.
His trials did not end there: life put him before a choice between saving his beloved and serving, the good name of an officer. Then the hero chooses love and disobeys the order of the boss, freeing his beloved on his own from the hands of Shvabrin. Alexey forced the girl to marry him. Pugachev again shows respect for the daredevil and releases the captive. However, the autocratic power does not forgive free will, and Grinev is arrested. Fortunately, Masha managed to beg Catherine II for a pardon. This is what is said in the novel The Captain's Daughter, which ended with a happy ending: young people marry with the blessing they have received. But now the leader of the uprising is sentenced to quartering.
The main characters of the novel are Pyotr Grinev, Maria Mironova, Emelyan Pugachev, Arkhip Savelyev, Alesya Shvabrin and Catherine II. The characters are so numerous that their description would take more than one article, so we neglect them.
Pushkin in the novel "The Captain's Daughter" gives a detailed description of the characters, giving the reader the opportunity to figure out his own likes and dislikes. There is no author's assessment of what is happening in the book, because one of the characters acts as a memoirist.
Main problems
Any power is hostile to the common man, whether it be the imperial crown or fighting leaders. It always provides for the suppression of the individual and a strict regime that is contrary to human nature. “God forbid to see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless,” Pushkin sums up. This is the main idea of the work. Therefore, serving the fatherland and the king are not the same thing. Grinev honestly fulfilled his duty, but he could not leave his beloved in the hands of a villain, and his, in fact, heroic actions are regarded by the empress as a betrayal. If Peter had not done this, he would have already been served, became a weak-willed slave of a system to which human life is alien. Therefore, mere mortals, who are not allowed to change the course of history, need to maneuver between orders and their moral principles, otherwise the mistake will cost too much.
Beliefs determine a person's actions: Grinev was brought up by a decent nobleman and behaved accordingly, but Shvabrin did not pass the test, his life values were limited to the desire to win at any cost. Pushkin's idea is also felt in this - to show how to preserve honor if temptations frolic from all sides. According to the author, it is necessary to instill in boys and girls from childhood an understanding of morality and true nobility, which is expressed not in the panache of dress, but in worthy behavior.
A person's maturation is inevitably connected with trials that determine his moral maturity. They should not be feared, they should be overcome courageously and with dignity. This is also the main idea of the novel "The Captain's Daughter". If Peter had remained a “connoisseur of greyhound cables” and an official in St. Petersburg, then his life would have been ordinary and, most likely, he would not have understood anything about it. But the adventures that his stern father pushed him to quickly raised a man in a young man who understood a lot about military affairs, love and the people around him.
The novel has a pronounced edifying tone. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin calls on people to cherish their honor from a young age and not to succumb to the temptations to turn off the honest path onto a crooked path. A minute advantage is not worth the loss of a good name, this statement is illustrated by a love triangle, where the main character chooses the worthy and virtuous Peter, and not the cunning and resourceful Alexei. One sin inevitably leads to another, and the string of falls ends in complete collapse.
Also in The Captain's Daughter there is a message to love faithfully and not give up on your dreams, no matter what happens. Marya is a dowry, and any marriage proposal should have been a great success in her case. However, she rejects Alexei over and over again, although she risks being left with nothing. Peter's engagement was denied, and he would hardly have gone against his parent's blessing. But the girl dismissed all rational arguments and remained faithful to Grinev, even when there was no reason for hope. The same was true of her lover. For constancy, both heroes were rewarded by fate.
V. F. Odoevsky in a letter to Pushkin expressed his admiration for the story, he especially liked Savelich and Pugachev - they are "masterfully drawn." However, he considered the image of Shvabrin unviable: he was not ardent and stupid enough to take the side of the rebels and believe in their success. In addition, he demanded marriage from the girl, although he could use her at any moment, since she was only a prisoner: “Masha has been in his power for so long, but he does not use these minutes.”
P. A. Katerinin calls the historical novel “natural, alluring and smart”, noting its similarity with “Eugene Onegin”.
V. A. Sollogub highly appreciated the restraint and logic of the narrative, rejoicing that Pushkin "overcame himself" and did not indulge in lengthy descriptions and "impulses". He commented on the style of the work as follows: “he calmly distributed all parts of his story in due proportion, approved his style with dignity, calmness and conciseness of history and conveyed a historical episode in a simple but harmonious language.” The critic believes that a writer has never been so exalted in the value of his books.
N.V. Gogol said that The Captain's Daughter was much better than anything that had been published earlier in the world of prose. He said that reality itself seems like a caricature compared to what the writer portrayed.
V. G. Belinsky was more restrained in his praises and singled out only secondary characters, the description of which is “a miracle of perfection”. The primary characters did not make any impression on him: “The insignificant, colorless character of the hero of the story and his beloved Marya Ivanovna and the melodramatic character of Shvabrin, although they belong to the sharp shortcomings of the story, however, do not prevent it from being one of the remarkable works of Russian literature.” P. I. Tchaikovsky also spoke about the spinelessness of Masha Mironova, who refused to write an opera based on this novel.
A. M. Skabichevsky also analyzed the work, speaking of the book with unfailing respect: "... historical impartiality, the complete absence of any patriotic glorifications and sober realism you see ... in Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter." He, unlike Bellinsky, praised the image of the protagonist and noted his exceptional truthfulness and typical features for the depicted era.
Conflicting characteristics were given by the critic N.N. Strakhov and the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky. The first criticized Pushkin for the fact that his historical story has nothing to do with history, but is a chronicle of the fictional Grinev family. The second, on the contrary, spoke of the book's exceptional historicism and that even the author's research says less about Pugachevism than a historical work.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!« Captain's daughter"- a historical novel (or story) by Alexander Pushkin, which takes place during the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev. First published without indicating the name of the author in the 4th book of the Sovremennik magazine, which went on sale in the last decade of 1836.
In his declining years, the landowner Pyotr Andreevich Grinev narrates the turbulent events of his youth. He spent his childhood on his parents' estate in the Simbirsk province, until at the age of 16 his strict father, a retired officer, ordered him to be sent to serve in the army: “It’s enough for him to run around girls’ rooms and climb dovecotes.”
By the will of fate, on the way to the place of service, the young officer meets with Emelyan Pugachev, who was then just a runaway, unknown Cossack. During a snowstorm, he agrees to accompany Grinev with his old servant Savelich to the inn. As a sign of gratitude for the service, Peter gives him his hare sheepskin coat.
Arriving at the service in the border fortress Belogorsk, Peter falls in love with the daughter of the commandant of the fortress, Masha Mironova. Grinev's colleague, officer Alexei Shvabrin, whom he met already in the fortress, also turns out to be indifferent to the captain's daughter and challenges Peter to a duel, during which he wounds Grinev. The duel becomes known to Peter's father, who refuses to bless the marriage with the dowry.
Meanwhile, Pugachevshchina flares up, which Pushkin himself described as "Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless". Pugachev advances with his army and captures fortresses in the Orenburg steppe. He executes the nobles, and calls the Cossacks into his army. Masha's parents die at the hands of rebels; Shvabrin swears allegiance to Pugachev, but Grinev refuses. Savelich saves him from certain execution, turning to Pugachev. He recognizes the person who helped him in the winter, and gives him life.
Grinev does not agree to the offer to join Pugachev's army. He leaves for Orenburg besieged by the rebels and fights against Pugachev, but one day he receives a letter from Masha, who remained in the Belogorsk fortress due to illness. From the letter, he learns that Shvabrin wants to forcefully marry her. Grinev leaves the service without permission, arrives at the Belogorsk fortress and, with the help of Pugachev, saves Masha. Later, on Shvabrin's denunciation, he was arrested by government troops. Grinev is sentenced to execution, replaced by exile in Siberia for an eternal settlement. After that, Masha goes to Tsarskoye Selo to Catherine II and begs for forgiveness for the groom, telling everything she knew and noting that P. A. Grinev could not justify himself before the court just because he did not want to involve her.
The Captain's Daughter is one of the works with which Russian writers of the 1830s responded to the success of Walter Scott's translated novels. Pushkin planned to write a historical novel back in the 1820s (see Peter the Great's Moor). The first of the historical novels on the Russian theme saw the light of "Yuri Miloslavsky" by M. N. Zagoskin (1829). Grinev's meeting with the counselor, according to Pushkin scholars, goes back to a similar scene in Zagoskin's novel.
The idea of a story about the Pugachev era matured during Pushkin's work on a historical chronicle - "History of the Pugachev rebellion". In search of materials for his work, Pushkin traveled to the Southern Urals, where he talked with eyewitnesses of the terrible events of the 1770s. According to P. V. Annenkov, “the compressed and only outwardly dry presentation, adopted by him in the History, seemed to find an addition in his exemplary novel, which has the warmth and charm of historical notes”, in the novel, “which represented the other side of the subject - the side of the mores and customs of the era.
The Captain's Daughter was written casually, among the works on Pugachevism, but there is more history in it than in The History of the Pugachev Rebellion, which seems like a long explanatory footnote to the novel.
In the summer of 1832, Pushkin intended to make the hero of the novel an officer who went over to the side of Pugachev, Mikhail Shvanvich (1749-1802), uniting him with his father, who was expelled from the life campaign after he cut the cheek of Alexei Orlov with a broadsword in a tavern quarrel. Probably, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe work about a nobleman who succumbed to robbers due to personal resentment was eventually embodied in the novel "Dubrovsky", the action of which was transferred to the modern era.
Catherine II on the engraving by N. Utkin
Later, Pushkin gave the narrative the form of a memoir, and made a nobleman who remained faithful to his duty, despite the temptation to go over to the side of the rebels, as the narrator and main character. The historical figure of Shvanvich, thus, split into the images of Grinev and his antagonist - the "frankly conditional" villain Shvabrin.
The scene of Masha's meeting with the Empress in Tsarskoe Selo was obviously suggested by a historical anecdote about the mercy of Joseph II to the "daughter of one captain". The non-standard, “homely” image of Catherine, drawn in the story, is based on the engraving by N. Utkin from the famous portrait of Borovikovsky (performed, however, much later than the events depicted in the story).
Many of the plot points of The Captain's Daughter echo the novels of Walter Scott, as pointed out, in particular, by N. Chernyshevsky. In Savelich, Belinsky also saw the "Russian Caleb". The comic episode with Savelich's score to Pugachev has an analogue in The Adventures of Nigel (1822). In the Tsarskoe Selo scene, “the daughter of Captain Mironov is placed in the same position as the heroine of the Edinburgh Dungeon” (1818), A. D. Galakhov pointed out at the time.
Publication and first reviews
The Captain's Daughter was published a month before the death of the author in the journal Sovremennik, which he published, under the guise of notes by the late Pyotr Grinev. From this and subsequent editions of the novel, for censorship reasons, a chapter about the peasant riot in the village of Grineva was released, which was preserved in a draft manuscript. Until 1838, no printed reviews of the story followed, but Gogol in January 1837 noted that it "produced a general effect." A. I. Turgenev wrote on January 9, 1837 to K. Ya. Bulgakov:
Pushkin's story ... became so famous here that Barant, not jokingly, suggested that the author, in my presence, translate it into French with his help, but how will he express the originality of this style, this era, these Old Russian characters and this girlish Russian charm - which are outlined in the whole story? The main charm is in the story, and it is difficult to retell the story in another language. Pushkin successfully transferred the motifs traditional for the Walterscottites to Russian soil: “No more than one-fifth of the average novel by Walter Scott. The manner of the story is concise, precise, economical, although more spacious and unhurried than in Pushkin's stories, ”notes D. Mirsky. In his opinion, "The Captain's Daughter" more than other works of Pushkin influenced the formation of realism in Russian literature - it is "realism, economical in funds, restrainedly humorous, devoid of any pressure."
Discussing the style of the story, N. Grech wrote in 1840 that Pushkin "with amazing skill was able to capture and express the character and tone of the middle of the 18th century." Don’t subscribe Pushkin to the story - “and you really might think that it was actually written by some old man who was an eyewitness and hero of the events described, the story is so naive and artless,” F. Dostoevsky agreed with him. An enthusiastic review was left about the novel by N. V. Gogol:
Decidedly the best Russian work of the narrative kind. Compared to The Captain's Daughter, all of our novels and short stories seem like sugary slobs.<...>For the first time, truly Russian characters appeared: a simple commandant of the fortress, a captain, a lieutenant; the fortress itself with a single cannon, the stupidity of time and the simple grandeur of ordinary people. Foreign critics are far from being as unanimous in their enthusiasm for The Captain's Daughter as the Russians. In particular, a harsh review of the work is attributed to the Irish writer James Joyce:
There is not an ounce of intelligence in this story. Not bad for its time, but nowadays people are much more complicated. I can’t understand how one can get carried away with such primitive products - fairy tales that could amuse someone in childhood, about fighters, villains, valiant heroes and horses galloping across the steppes with a beautiful girl of seventeen years old hidden in a corner, who is just waiting that she will be rescued at the right moment. Characters
- Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, a 17-year-old undergrowth, while still in the womb recorded in the guards of the Semyonovsky regiment; during the events described in the story - ensign. It is he who leads the story for his descendants during the reign of Alexander I, sprinkling the story with old-fashioned maxims. The draft version contained an indication that Grinev died in 1817. According to Belinsky, this is "an insignificant, insensitive character", which the author needs as a relatively impartial witness to Pugachev's actions. However, according to Yu. M. Lotman, in Petr Andreevich Grinev “there is something that attracts the sympathy of the author and readers to him: he does not fit into the framework of the noble ethics of his time, he is too human for this”: 276 .
- colorful figure Emeliana Pugacheva, in which M. Tsvetaeva saw the "single character" of the story, somewhat obscures Grinev. P. I. Tchaikovsky for a long time hatched the idea of an opera based on The Captain's Daughter, but abandoned it because of fears that the censorship "would find it difficult to miss such a stage performance, from which the viewer leaves completely fascinated by Pugachev," because he was taken from Pushkin "in essence of a surprisingly sympathetic villain.
- Alexey Ivanovich Shvabrin, Grinev's antagonist, is "a young officer of short stature with a swarthy and remarkably ugly face" and hair that is "black as pitch." By the time Grinev appeared in the fortress, he had already been transferred from the guard for a duel for five years. He is reputed to be a freethinker, knows French, understands literature, but at the decisive moment changes his oath and goes over to the side of the rebels. In essence, a purely romantic scoundrel (according to Mirsky, this is generally “the only scoundrel in Pushkin”).
- Maria Ivanovna Mironova, "a girl of about eighteen, chubby, ruddy, with light blond hair, combed smoothly behind her ears"; the daughter of the commandant of the fortress, who gave the name to the whole story. "Dress simply and cute." To save his beloved, he travels to the capital and throws himself at the feet of the queen. According to Prince Vyazemsky, the image of Masha falls on the story with a “pleasant and bright shade” - as a kind of variation on the theme of Tatyana Larina. At the same time, Tchaikovsky complains: "Maria Ivanovna is not interesting and characteristic enough, because she is an impeccably kind and honest girl and nothing more." “The empty place of any first love,” echoes him Marina Tsvetaeva.
- Arkhip Savelich, stirrup Grinevs, from the age of five assigned to Peter as an uncle. Treats a 17-year-old officer like a minor, remembering the order to "look after the child." "A faithful serf", but devoid of moral servility - directly expressing uncomfortable thoughts in the face of both the master and Pugachev. The image of a selfless servant is usually attributed to the most successful in the story. In his naive worries about the hare sheepskin coat, traces of the type
