Introduction
Olga Ilyinskaya in Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is the most striking and complex female character. Getting to know her as a young, only developing girl, the reader sees her gradual maturation and revelation as a woman, mother, and independent person. At the same time full characteristics the image of Olga in the novel “Oblomov” is possible only when working with quotes from the novel that most succinctly convey the appearance and personality of the heroine:
“If she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony. The size of the head strictly corresponded to a somewhat tall stature; the size of the head corresponded to the oval and size of the face; all this, in turn, was in harmony with the shoulders, and the shoulders with the body...”
When meeting Olga, people always stopped for a moment “before this so strictly and thoughtfully, artistically created creature.”
Olga received a good upbringing and education, understands science and art, reads a lot and is in constant development, learning, achieving new and new goals. These features of hers were reflected in the girl’s appearance: “Lips are thin and for the most part compressed: a sign of a thought continuously directed at something. The same presence of a speaking thought shone in the vigilant, always cheerful, unmissing gaze of dark, gray-blue eyes,” and unevenly spaced thin eyebrows created a small fold on the forehead “in which something seemed to say, as if a thought rested there.”
Everything about her spoke of her own dignity, inner strength and beauty: “Olga walked with her head tilted slightly forward, resting so slenderly and nobly on her thin, proud neck; she moved her whole body evenly, walking lightly, almost imperceptibly.”
Love for Oblomov
The image of Olga Ilyinskaya in “Oblomov” appears at the beginning of the novel as a still very young, little-knowing girl, looking at the world around her with wide open eyes and trying to understand it in all its manifestations. The turning point, which became for Olga a transition from childhood shyness and a certain embarrassment (as was the case when communicating with Stoltz), became love for Oblomov. The wonderful, strong, inspiring feeling that flared up between the lovers with lightning speed was doomed to parting, since Olga and Oblomov did not want to accept each other as they really are, cultivating in themselves a feeling for semi-ideal prototypes of real heroes.
For Ilyinskaya love to Oblomov was connected not with those feminine tenderness, softness, acceptance and care that Oblomov expected from her, but with duty, the need to change inner world beloved, make him a completely different person:
“She dreamed of how she would “order him to read the books” that Stolz left, then read newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, complete a plan for organizing the estate, get ready to go abroad - in a word, he would not fall asleep with her; she will show him a goal, make him love again everything that he has stopped loving.”
“And she will do all this miracle, so timid, silent, whom no one has listened to until now, who has not yet begun to live!”
Olga's love for Oblomov was based on the heroine's selfishness and ambitions. Moreover, her feelings for Ilya Ilyich are difficult to name true love- it was a fleeting love, a state of inspiration and rise before the new peak that she wanted to achieve. For Ilyinskaya, Oblomov’s feelings were not really important; she wanted to make him her ideal, so that she could then be proud of the fruits of her labors and, perhaps, remind him later that he owed everything he had to Olga.
Olga and Stolz
The relationship between Olga and Stolz developed from a tender, reverent friendship, when Andrei Ivanovich was for the girl a teacher, mentor, an inspiring figure, distant and inaccessible in his own way: “When a question or bewilderment arose in her mind, she did not suddenly decide to believe him: he was too far ahead of her, too taller than her, so that her pride sometimes suffered from this immaturity, from the distance in their minds and years.”
The marriage to Stolz, who helped her recover after breaking up with Ilya Ilyich, was logical, since the characters are very similar in character, life guidelines and goals. Olga saw quiet, calm, endless happiness in her life together with Stolz:
“She experienced happiness and could not determine where the boundaries were, what it was.”
“She, too, walked alone, along an imperceptible path, and he also met her at a crossroads, gave her his hand and led her out not into the brilliance of dazzling rays, but as if onto the flood of a wide river, to spacious fields and friendly smiling hills.”
Having lived together for several years in cloudless, endless happiness, seeing in each other those ideals that they had always dreamed of and those people who appeared in their dreams, the heroes began to seem to move away from each other. It became difficult for Stolz to reach out for the inquisitive Olga, constantly striving forward, and the woman “began to strictly notice herself and realized that she was embarrassed by this silence of life, its stopping at moments of happiness,” asking questions: “Is it really still necessary and possible to desire something?” ? Where should we go? Nowhere! There is no further road... Really, really, have you completed the circle of life? Is it really all here... everything....” The heroine begins to become disillusioned with family life, in a woman's destiny and in the fate that was destined for her from birth, but continues to believe in her doubting husband and that their love will keep them together even in the most difficult hour:
“That unfading and undying love lay powerfully, like the force of life, on their faces - in a time of friendly sorrow, it shone in the slowly and silently exchanged glance of collective suffering, was heard in endless mutual patience against life’s torture, in restrained tears and muffled sobs.”
And although Goncharov does not describe in the novel how things turned out further relations Olga and Stolz, we can briefly assume that after some time the woman either left her husband or lived the rest of her life unhappy, increasingly immersed in disappointment from the unattainability of those lofty goals that she dreamed of in her youth.
Conclusion
The image of Olga Ilyinskaya in the novel “Oblomov” by Goncharov is a new, to some extent feminist type of Russian woman who does not want to close herself off from the world, limiting herself to the household and family. Brief description Olga in the novel is a woman seeker, a woman innovator, for whom “routine” family happiness and “Oblomovism” were truly the most terrifying and frightening things that could lead to degradation and stagnation of her forward-oriented, learning personality. For the heroine, love was something secondary, stemming from friendship or inspiration, but not an original, leading feeling, and certainly not the meaning of life, as with Agafya Pshenitsyna.
The tragedy of Olga’s image lies in the fact that the society of the 19th century was not yet ready for the emergence of strong female personalities capable of changing the world on an equal basis with men, so she would still have been awaited by the same soporific, monotonous family happiness that the girl so feared.
Work test
OBLOMOV
(Novel. 1859)
Ilyinskaya Olga Sergeevna - one of the main heroines of the novel, bright and strong character. A possible prototype of I. is Elizaveta Tolstaya, Goncharov’s only love, although some researchers reject this hypothesis. “Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty, that is, there was no whiteness in her, no bright coloring of her cheeks and lips, and her eyes did not burn with rays of inner fire; there were no corals on the lips, no pearls in the mouth, no miniature hands like those of a five-year-old child with grape-shaped fingers. But if she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.”
Since the time she was orphaned, I. has been living in the house of her aunt Marya Mikhailovna. Goncharov emphasizes the heroine’s rapid spiritual maturation: she “as if she was following the course of life by leaps and bounds. And every hour of the slightest, barely noticeable experience, an incident that flashes like a bird past a man’s nose, is grasped inexplicably quickly by a girl.”
Andrei Ivanovich Stolts introduces I. and Oblomov. How, when and where Stolz and I. met is unknown, but the relationship connecting these characters is distinguished by sincere mutual attraction and trust. “...In a rare girl you will find such simplicity and natural freedom of look, word, action... No affectation, no coquetry, no lies, no tinsel, no intent! But almost only Stolz appreciated her, but she sat through more than one mazurka alone, not hiding her boredom... Some considered her simple, short-sighted, shallow, because neither wise maxims about life, about love, nor quick, unexpected and bold remarks, nor read or overheard judgments about music and literature..."
It is no coincidence that Stolz brings Oblomov to I.’s house: knowing that she has an inquisitive mind and deep feelings, he hopes that with her spiritual needs I. will be able to awaken Oblomov - will force him to read, watch, learn more and more legibly.
Oblomov captured her in one of the first meetings amazing voice- I. sings an aria from Bellini’s opera “Norma”, the famous “Casta diva”, and “this destroyed Oblomov: he was exhausted,” plunging more and more into a new feeling for himself.
I.’s literary predecessor is Tatyana Larina (“Eugene Onegin”). But as a heroine of a different historical time, I. is more confident in herself, her mind requires constant work. This was noted by N.A. Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?”: “Olga, in her development, represents the highest ideal that only a Russian artist can now evoke from present-day Russian life... There is more in her than in Stolz, one can see a hint of a new Russian life; One can expect from her a word that will burn and dispel Oblomovism...”
But this is not given to I. in the novel, just as it is not given to Goncharov’s similar heroine Vera from “The Precipice” to dispel phenomena of a different order. Olga’s character, fused simultaneously from strength and weakness, knowledge about life and the inability to bestow this knowledge on others, will be developed in Russian literature - in the heroines of A.P. Chekhov’s drama - in particular, in Elena Andreevna and Sonya Voinitskaya from “Uncle Vanya”.
The main quality of I., inherent in many female characters of Russian literature of the last century, is not just love for a specific person, but an indispensable desire to change him, raise him to his ideal, re-educate him, instilling in him new concepts, new tastes. Oblomov turns out to be the most suitable object for this: “She dreamed of how she would “order him to read the books” that Stolz left, then read newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, complete a plan for organizing the estate, get ready to go abroad, - in a word, he will not fall asleep with her; she will show him his goal, make him love again everything that he has stopped loving, and Stolz will not recognize him when he returns. And she will do all this miracle, so timid, silent, whom no one has listened to until now, who has not yet begun to live!.. She even trembled with proud, joyful trepidation; I considered this a lesson ordained from above.”
Here you can compare her character with the character of Liza Kalitina from the novel by I. S. Turgenev “ Noble nest", with Elena from his own "On the Eve". Re-education becomes the goal, the goal captivates so much that everything else is pushed aside, and the feeling of love gradually submits to the teaching. Teaching, in a sense, enlarges and enriches love. It is from this that the serious change occurs in I. that so amazed Stolz when he met her abroad, where she arrived with her aunt after breaking up with Oblomov.
I. immediately understands that in her relationship with Oblomov she has the main role, she “instantly weighed her power over him, and she liked this role of a guiding star, a ray of light that she would pour over a stagnant lake and be reflected in it.” Life seems to wake up in I. along with Oblomov’s life. But in her this process occurs much more intensively than in Ilya Ilyich. I. seems to be testing her capabilities as a woman and teacher at the same time. Her extraordinary mind and soul require more and more “complex” food.
It is no coincidence that at some point Obkomov sees Cordelia in her: all of I.’s feelings are permeated by a simple, natural, like a Shakespearean heroine, pride, prompting her to realize the treasures of her soul as a happy and well-deserved given: “What I once called mine is no longer I’ll give it back, maybe they’ll take it away...” she says to Oblomov.
I.’s feeling for Oblomov is whole and harmonious: she simply loves, while Oblomov is constantly trying to find out the depth of this love, which is why he suffers, believing that I. “loves now, like embroidering on canvas: the pattern comes out quietly, lazily, she is even lazier unfolds it, admires it, then puts it down and forgets.” When Ilya Ilyich tells the heroine that she is smarter than him, I. replies: “No, simpler and bolder,” thereby expressing almost the defining line of their relationship.
I. hardly knows that the feeling she experiences is more reminiscent of a complex experiment than first love. She does not tell Oblomov that all the affairs of her estate have been settled, with only one goal - “...to see to the end how love will make a revolution in his lazy soul, how the oppression will finally fall from him, how he will not resist his loved one happiness..." But, like any experiment on a living soul, this experiment cannot be crowned with success.
I. needs to see his chosen one on a pedestal, above himself, and this, according to the author’s concept, is impossible. Even Stolz, whom I. marries after an unsuccessful romance with Oblomov, only temporarily stands higher than her, and Goncharov emphasizes this. By the end, it becomes clear that I. will outgrow her husband both in the strength of her feelings and in the depth of her thoughts about life.
Realizing how far her ideals diverge from the ideals of Oblomov, who dreams of living according to the ancient way of life of his native Oblomovka, I. is forced to abandon further experiments. “I loved the future Oblomov! - she says to Ilya Ilyich. - You are meek and honest, Ilya; you are gentle... like a dove; you hide your head under your wing - and don’t want anything more; you’re ready to coo under the roof all your life... but I’m not like that: this is not enough for me, I need something else, but I don’t know what!” This “something” will not leave I.: even after surviving a break with Oblomov and happily marrying Stolz, she will not calm down. The moment will come when Stolz will be faced with the need to explain to his wife, mother of two children, the mysterious “something” that haunts her restless soul. “The deep abyss of her soul” does not frighten, but worries Stolz. In I., whom he knew almost as a girl, for whom he felt first friendship and then love, he gradually discovers new and unexpected depths. It is difficult for Stoltz to get used to them, therefore his happiness with I. seems problematic in many ways.
It happens that I. is overcome by fear: “She was afraid to fall into something similar to Oblomov’s apathy. But no matter how hard she tried to get rid of these moments of periodic torpor, the sleep of the soul, no, no, but first a dream of happiness would creep up on her, surround her with the blue night and envelop her in drowsiness, then again there would be a thoughtful stop, as if the rest of life, and then embarrassment, fear , languor, some kind of dull sadness, some vague, foggy questions will be heard in a restless head.”
These turmoil are fully consistent with the author’s final reflection, which makes us think about the future of the heroine: “Olga did not know... the logic of submission to blind fate and did not understand women’s passions and hobbies. Having once recognized the dignity and rights to herself in the chosen person, she believed in him and therefore loved, and if she stopped believing, she stopped loving, as happened with Oblomov... But now she believed in Andrei not blindly, but with consciousness, and in him her ideal of male perfection was embodied... That is why she would not tolerate a decrease in the merits she recognized by even a hair; any false note in his character or mind would produce stunning dissonance. The destroyed building of happiness would have buried her under the rubble, or, if her strength had still survived, she would have searched..."
This is the image of a girl in whose character, as Dobrolyubov notes, “heart and will” harmoniously merged. The combination in Olga’s appearance of such traits as a conscientious outlook on life, perseverance in the struggle for a set goal, an inquisitive mind, depth of feeling and femininity, indeed, makes her image one of the most harmonious, bright images of a girl in Russian XIX literature V. Goncharov lovingly paints a portrait of his heroine. Noting that Olga was not a beauty in the strict sense, he writes further: “But if she were turned into a statue, it would be a statue of grace and harmony.” Olga fell in love with Oblomov. Readers sometimes have a question: how could such an intelligent, serious girl fall in love with Oblomov, a slacker, a person incapable of life? We must not forget that Oblomov had a whole series positive qualities: he was smart, fairly educated, spoke French well and read books in English. Oblomov's laziness, which Olga knew about at first only from Stoltz's words, might seem to her a completely correctable flaw. Finally, Olga’s very love for Oblomov arose precisely on the basis of noble aspirations to re-educate Oblomov, to resurrect him for normal activities.
Oblomov is the first to confess his love to Olga. Somewhat later, Olga amends this confession: Oblomov is only in love, but she loves. Indeed, her feeling is deeper, more serious. Olga says: “For me, love is the same as... life, and life... is a duty, an obligation, therefore love is also a duty.” Love fills her life with new content, illuminates it with some new light. Life now seems deeper and more meaningful to Olga, as if she had read big book. When Olga realized that in her conscious attitude to life she was higher than her loved one, she firmly set herself the task of re-educating Oblomov. Olga liked the “role of a guiding star,” a “ray of light” for Oblomov. She called and “pushed him forward.” Her persistence temporarily overcomes Oblomov’s laziness. Olga forces him to read newspapers and books and tell her their contents, and takes Oblomov for walks around the outskirts of St. Petersburg, encouraging her companion to climb every hill. Oblomov complains: “Every day we walk ten miles.” At Olga’s request, he visits museums and shops, and at home writes business letters to the headman of the estate. Olga seeks from Oblomov both physical movement and mental work. She compares her role to that of a doctor saving a patient. The behavior of the weak-willed Oblomov causes her a lot of suffering. Seeing the indecisiveness of Oblomov’s actions, she sadly admits to him that she is “lost in thoughts” and that “her mind and hope are extinguished.” When Oblomov, hesitantly pushing aside the question of the wedding, tells Olga that “just another year” will pass and Olga will become his wife, Olga’s eyes open. She realized that her dream of re-educating Oblomov was shattered due to his invincible laziness. A break with Oblomov became inevitable for her. Olga tells the groom: “I loved the future Oblomov! You are meek, honest, Ilya, you are gentle as a dove, you hide your head under your wing - and you don’t want anything more, you are ready to coo under the roof all your life... but I’m not like that: this is not enough for me, I need something else, but I don’t know what!” The author explains further: “Having once recognized the dignity and rights to herself in the chosen person, she believed in him and therefore loved him, and if she stopped believing, she stopped loving, as happened with Oblomov.”
The breakup weakened the strength of both Oblomov and Olga: Oblomov fell ill with a fever, and the sick Olga was taken abroad by her aunt. In Paris, Olga met Stolz. Time softened the bitterness of her disappointment in Oblomov, and she became the wife of Stolz, a man who corresponded to her ideal husband. It would seem that now Olga could become a completely happy woman. Stolz created her a life full of comfort and tranquility. However, the serene peace with which Stolz surrounded her begins to confuse and torment her. Olga is not satisfied with a calm, serene personal life. Stolz is frightened by “rebellious questions,” i.e., what worried the thoughts of progressive public figures. And Olga is drawn precisely by “rebellious issues.” The thought of some other life, perhaps full of labor and hardship, was gradually ripening in her mind, and she was already mentally “measuring her strength” for the upcoming struggle. Dobrolyubov wrote: “Olga left Oblomov when she stopped believing in him, she will leave Stolz if she stops believing in him.”
His". Question about future fate Olga composed a theme that went beyond the plot of the novel. This topic therefore remained undeveloped. But Olga’s image is already clear to the reader. Dobrolyubov wrote: “Olga... represents the highest ideal that a Russian artist can now evoke from present-day Russian life... In her, more than in Stoltz, one can see a hint of a new Russian life; One can expect from her a word that will burn and dispel Oblomovism.” Olga is the type of Russian woman of that period of Russian life, when in Russia, under the influence of the growth of culture, women’s self-awareness began to awaken, when they felt their right to participate in social activities. Along with Turgenev's Natalya Lasunskaya ("Rudin") and Elena Stakhova ("On the Eve"), Olga Ilyinskaya belongs to the best, captivating images Russian woman, created by our writers in the 50s of the 19th century. A different type of woman was given by Goncharov in the person of Agafya Matveevna Wheat. Oblomov’s love for her grew mainly on the basis of Ilya Ilyich’s lordly habits. Pshenitsyna, a kind, modest woman, a wonderful housewife, a bourgeois social status, was in awe of Oblomov. For her, Oblomov was a being of the highest order, the ideal of a master. She was ready to become the slave of Ilya Ilyich and found joy and happiness in deep devotion to him. She, without hesitation, took the last things to the pawnshop, so that Ilya Ilyich would not need anything. The environment with which she surrounded Oblomov was somewhat reminiscent of Oblomovka. Here Ilya Ilyich found what was his life dream: the ideal of “inviolable peace of life.” Pshenitsyna could not rise to the consciousness that her love was bringing death to Oblomov, irrevocably burying all his impulses for activity. She loved simply, thoughtlessly, selflessly. This is a type of modest, selfless housewife, whose entire horizons were limited only to the world of family concerns and philistine well-being.
Olga Ilyinskaya and Pshenitsyna are as opposite as Oblomov and Stolz. In this arrangement female figures in the novel there is deep meaning. Clever Olga, with her ideological impulses and serious demands, and patriarchal-quiet Pshenitsyna, each in their own way, help reveal the idea of the novel, revealing the essence of Oblomovism.
Goncharov's novel is a wonderful example of the form of a novel; the characteristics of Oblomovism are exhaustively fully and deeply given. The choice of topic is an extremely important aspect creative process, since it is the theme that determines the social role of the work. Analysis of Oblomovism as a sad phenomenon serfdom and everyday life was undoubtedly an important and timely topic. But the topic alone is not enough to attract the attention of readers to the work. It is important to arrange and present the topic material so that the reader follows the development of the topic with interest and excitement and is captivated by the work. From this we can see the importance of the writer’s skill and the artistic form of the work: its plot, composition, depiction of images, language, etc. What features characterize art form Goncharov's novel?
The plot of the novel is simple and clear. It consists in depicting the struggle in Oblomov of two feelings: love for Olga and the imperious desire for peace and laziness. The latter wins. The simplicity and naturalness of the plot of the novel is very successfully revealed by Dobrolyubov, outlining the entire content of the novel in the following words: “In the first part, Oblomov lies on the sofa; in the second he goes to the Ilyinskys and falls in love with Olga, and she with him; in the third she sees that she was mistaken in Oblomov, and they part ways; in the fourth, she marries his friend Stolz, and he marries the mistress of the house where he rents an apartment. That's all." Indeed, the main content of the novel comes down to this. The action of the main part of the novel lasts about eight years and dates back to the 40s (1843-1851). The content of the entire novel, if we consider Oblomov’s “prehistory” (i.e., the 6th and 9th chapters of the first part of the novel) and the epilogue, covers a huge period of time - about 37 years. This is not only the story of the hero’s entire life, it is an entire era of Russian history. The content of the novel unfolds naturally, slowly and smoothly. Goncharov avoids artificial methods of entertainment and scenes designed for effect (mysterious meetings, extraordinary adventures, murders and suicides, etc.), which authors usually resort to romantic stories and 'adventurous novels in order to enhance the entertainment of the work.
/Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev (1840-1868). Oblomov. Roman I. A. Goncharova /
The third remarkable personality depicted in Mr. Goncharov’s novel is Olga Sergeevna Ilinskaya- represents the type of future woman, how she will subsequently be shaped by those ideas that in our time they are trying to introduce into female education. In this personality, which attracts one with inexpressible charm, but does not amaze with any sharply outstanding virtues, two properties are especially remarkable, casting an original flavor on all her actions, words and movements. These two properties are rare in modern women and therefore especially expensive in Olga; they are presented in Mr. Goncharov’s novel with such artistic fidelity that it is difficult not to believe them, it is difficult to accept Olga as an impossible ideal created by the poet’s creative imagination. Naturalness and presence of consciousness is what distinguishes Olga from ordinary women. From these two qualities flow truthfulness in words and deeds, the absence of coquetry, the desire for development, the ability to love simply and seriously, without tricks and tricks, the ability to sacrifice oneself to one’s feelings as much as is allowed not by the laws of etiquette, but by the voice of conscience and reason. The first two characters, which we mentioned above, are presented as already formed, and Mr. Goncharov only explains them to the reader, that is, shows the conditions under the influence of which they were formed; As for Olga’s character, it is formed before the reader’s eyes. The author first portrays her as almost a child, a girl gifted with a natural mind, who enjoyed some independence during her upbringing, but who did not experience any strong feeling, no excitement, unfamiliar with life, not accustomed to observing oneself, analyzing the movements of one’s own soul. During this period of Olga's life, we see in her a rich but untouched nature; she is not spoiled by the world, she does not know how to pretend, but she also did not have time to develop mental strength in herself, did not have time to develop convictions for herself; she acts according to impulses kind soul, but acts instinctively; she follows the friendly advice of a developed person, but does not always criticize this advice, is carried away by authority and sometimes mentally refers to her boarding school friends.<...>
Experience and calm reflection could gradually lead Olga out of this period of instinctive drives and actions; innate curiosity could lead her to further development through reading and serious study; but the author chose a different, accelerated path for her. Olga fell in love, her soul was excited, she learned about life, following the movements of her own feelings; the need to understand the state of her own soul forced her to change her mind a lot, and from this series of reflections and psychological observations she developed an independent view of her personality, her relationship with the people around her, the relationship between feeling and duty - in a word, on life in the broadest sense. G. Goncharov, depicting Olga’s character and analyzing her development, showed the educational influence of feelings in full force. He notices its occurrence, follows its development and dwells on each of its modifications in order to depict the influence that it has on the entire way of thinking of both characters. Olga fell in love accidentally, without prior preparation; she did not create an abstract ideal for herself, which many young ladies try to bring the men they know to life, she did not dream of love, although, of course, she knew about the existence of this feeling.
She lived calmly, not trying to artificially arouse love in herself, not trying to see the hero of her future novel in every new face. Love came to her unexpectedly, like any true feeling comes; this feeling imperceptibly crept into her soul and attracted her own attention when it had already received some development. When she noticed him, she began to think about it and measure her words and actions against her inner thoughts. This minute, when she became aware of the movements of her own soul, begins to new period in its development. Every woman experiences this moment, and the revolution that then takes place in her entire being and begins to reveal in her the presence of restrained feeling and concentrated thought, this revolution is especially fully and artistically depicted in Mr. Goncharov’s novel. For a woman like Olga, the feeling could not remain for long at the level of instinctive attraction; the desire to comprehend in her own eyes, to explain to herself everything that she encountered in life, awoke here with special force: a goal for feeling appeared, and a discussion of her beloved personality appeared; This discussion determined the very goal.
Olga realized that she was stronger than the person she loved, and decided to elevate him, breathe energy into him, give him strength to live. A meaningful feeling became a duty in her eyes, and with full conviction she began to sacrifice to this duty some external decency, the violation of which is sincerely and unfairly prosecuted by the suspicious court of the world. Olga grows along with her feelings; every scene that takes place between her and the person she loves adds new feature to her character, with each scene the graceful image of the girl becomes more familiar to the reader, is outlined brighter and stands out more strongly from the general background of the picture.
We have sufficiently defined Olga's character to know that there could be no coquetry in her relationship with her loved one: the desire to lure a man, to make him her admirer, without having any feelings for him, seemed to her unforgivable, unworthy of an honest woman. In her treatment of the man whom she subsequently fell in love with, at first soft, natural grace dominated; no calculated coquetry could have a stronger effect than this genuine, artlessly simple treatment, but the fact is that on Olga’s part there was no desire to make one or another impression . The femininity and grace that Mr. Goncharov knew how to put into her words and movements constitute an integral part of her nature and therefore have a particularly charming effect on the reader. This femininity, this grace becomes stronger and more charming as the feeling develops in the girl’s chest; playfulness and childish carelessness are replaced in her features by an expression of quiet, thoughtful, almost solemn happiness.
Life opens up before Olga, a world of thoughts and feelings about which she had no idea, and she moves forward, looking trustingly at her companion, but at the same time peering with timid curiosity at the sensations that crowd in her excited soul. The feeling grows; it becomes a need, a necessary condition of life, and yet here too, when the feeling reaches pathos, to the “sleepwalking of love,” in the words of Mr. Goncharov, and here Olga does not lose consciousness of her moral duty and knows how to maintain a calm, reasonable, critical view of life. your responsibilities, the personality of your loved one, your position and your actions in the future. The very strength of feeling gives her a clear view of things and maintains firmness in her. The fact is that feeling in such a pure and sublime nature does not descend to the level of passion, does not darken reason, does not lead to such actions that would later make one blush; such a feeling does not cease to be conscious, although sometimes it is so strong that it presses and threatens to destroy the body. It infuses energy into a girl’s soul, makes her break one or another law of etiquette; but this same feeling does not allow her to forget her real duty, protects her from infatuation, instills in her conscious respect for the purity of her own personality, which contains the guarantees of happiness for two people.
Meanwhile, Olga is experiencing a new phase of development: a sad moment of disappointment comes for her, and the mental suffering she experiences finally develops her character, gives her thoughts maturity, informs her life experience. Disappointment is often the fault of the person being disappointed. A man who creates for himself fantasy world, will certainly, sooner or later, collide with real life and hurt himself the more painfully, the higher the height to which his whimsical dream raised him. He who demands the impossible from life must be deceived in his hopes. Olga did not dream of impossible happiness: her hopes for the future were simple, her plans were feasible. She fell in love with an honest, intelligent and developed man, but weak, not used to living; She recognized his good and bad sides and decided to use every effort to warm him with the energy that she felt in herself. She thought that the power of love would revive him, instill in him a desire for activity and give him the opportunity to apply abilities to work that had fallen asleep from long inactivity.
Her goal was highly moral; it was instilled in her true feeling. It could be achieved: there was no evidence to doubt its success. Olga mistook an instant flash of feeling on the part of the person she loved for a real awakening of energy; she saw her power over him and hoped to lead him forward on the path of self-improvement. Could she not be carried away by her beautiful goal, could she not see quiet, rational happiness ahead of her? And suddenly she notices that the energy excited for a moment is extinguished, that the struggle she has undertaken is hopeless, that the charming power of sleepy calm is stronger than its life-giving influence. What was she supposed to do? such a case? Opinions will likely be divided. Whoever admires the impetuous beauty of an unconscious feeling, without thinking about its consequences, will say: she should have remained faithful to the first movement of her heart and given her life to the one whom she once loved. But whoever sees in a feeling a guarantee of future happiness will look at the matter differently: hopeless love, useless for oneself and for the beloved object, has no meaning in the eyes of such a person; the beauty of such a feeling cannot excuse its lack of meaning.
Olga had to conquer herself, break this feeling while there was still time: she had no right to ruin her life, to make a useless sacrifice. Love becomes illegal when reason does not approve of it; to drown out the voice of reason means to give free rein to passion, to animal instinct. Olga could not do this, and she had to suffer until the deceived feeling in her soul ached. She was saved in this case by the presence of consciousness, which we have already indicated above. The struggle of thought with the remnants of feeling, reinforced by fresh memories of past happiness, tempered Olga’s spiritual strength. IN short time she felt and changed her mind as much as does not happen to change her mind and change her mind during many years of quiet existence. She was finally prepared for life, and the past feelings she experienced and the suffering she experienced gave her the ability to understand and appreciate the true merits of a person; they gave her the strength to love as she could not love before. Only a remarkable personality could instill in her a feeling, and in this feeling there was no room for disappointment; The time for passion, the time for sleepwalking has passed irrevocably. Love could no longer sneak into the soul, eluding the analysis of the mind for a time. In Olga’s new feeling everything was definite, clear and firm. Olga previously lived with her mind, and her mind subjected everything to its analysis, presented new needs every day, sought satisfaction and food in everything that surrounded her.
Then Olga's development took only one more step forward. There is only a cursory indication of this step in Mr. Goncharov’s novel. The situation to which this new step led is not outlined. The fact is that Olga could not be completely satisfied either by quiet family happiness or by mental and aesthetic pleasures. Pleasures never satisfy a strong, rich nature, unable to fall asleep and lose energy: such a nature requires activity, work with a reasonable goal, and only creativity can to some extent calm this melancholy desire for something higher, unfamiliar - a desire that does not satisfy happy environment of everyday life. Before this state higher development Olga reached. How she satisfied the needs that awoke in her, the author does not tell us. But, recognizing in a woman the possibility and legitimacy of these highest aspirations, he obviously expresses his view on her purpose and on what is called in the community the emancipation of women. Olga’s whole life and personality constitute a living protest against a woman’s dependence. This protest, of course, was not the main goal of the author, because true creativity does not impose practical goals on himself; but the more naturally this protest arose, the less prepared it was, the more artistic truth it contained, the stronger its effect on public consciousness.
Here are the three main characters of Oblomov. The remaining groups of personalities that make up the background of the picture and stand in the background are outlined with amazing clarity. It is clear that the author did not neglect the little things for the main plot and, while painting a picture of Russian life, dwelled on every detail with conscientious love. The widow of Pshenitsyn, Zakhar, Tarantyev, Mukhoyarov, Anisya - all these are living people, all these are types that each of us has met in our lifetime.<...>
"Oblomov", in all likelihood, will constitute an era in the history of Russian literature; it reflects the life of Russian society in a certain period of its development. The names of Oblomov, Stolz, Olga will become household names. In a word, no matter how you look at Oblomov, whether as a whole or in separate parts, whether in relation to modern life or in terms of its absolute significance in the field of art, one way or another, it will always have to be said that this is a completely elegant, strictly thought out and poetically beautiful work.<...>The depiction of a pure, conscious feeling, the determination of its influence on a person’s personality and actions, the reproduction of the dominant disease of our time, Oblomovism, are the main motives of the novel. If we remember that every elegant work has an educational influence, if we remember that a truly elegant work is always moral, because it correctly and simply depicts real life, then we must admit that reading books like Oblomov should constitute a necessary condition for any rational education. Moreover, reading this novel can be especially useful for girls 3. This reading, incomparably better than an abstract treatise on female virtue, will explain to them the life and duties of a woman. One has only to think about Olga’s personality, trace her actions, and, probably, more than one fruitful thought will be added to her head, more than one warm feeling will be planted in her heart. So, we think that every educated Russian woman or girl should read Oblomov, just as she should read all the major works of our literature.
Olga Sergeevna Ilyinskaya - from the series women's portraits Goncharova, a bright and memorable nature. By bringing Olga closer to Oblomov, Goncharov set himself two tasks, each of which is important in itself. Firstly, the author in his work sought to show the sensations that the presence of a young, pretty woman awakens. Secondly, he wanted to present in as complete an outline as possible the female personality herself, capable of the moral re-creation of a man
Fallen, exhausted, but still retaining many human feelings.
Olga’s beneficial influence soon affected Oblomov: on the very first day of their acquaintance, Oblomov hated both the terrible disorder that reigned in his room and the sleepy lying on the sofa on which he clothed himself. Little by little, going into new life, indicated by Olga, Oblomov submitted to his completely beloved woman, who recognized in him a pure heart, a clear, albeit inactive mind, and who sought to awaken his spiritual strength. He began not only to re-read books that had previously been lying around without any attention, but also to briefly convey their contents to the inquisitive Olga.
How did Olga manage to carry out such a revolution in Oblomov? To answer this question, you need to turn to Olga’s characteristics.
What kind of person was Olga Ilyinskaya? First of all, it is necessary to note the independence of her nature and the originality of her mind, which were a consequence of the fact that, having lost her parents early, she followed her own firm path. On this basis, Olga’s inquisitiveness developed, which amazed those people with whom her fate encountered. Seized by a burning need to know as much as possible, Olga realizes the superficiality of her education and speaks bitterly of the fact that women are not given an education. In these words of hers one can already feel a woman of a new time, striving to be equal to men in terms of education.
The ideological nature of Olga’s nature makes her similar to Turgenev’s female characters. Life for Olga is an obligation and a duty. On the basis of such an attitude towards life, her love for Oblomov grew, whom, not without the influence of Stoltz, she set out to save from the prospect of mentally sinking and plunging into the mire of a short-lived existence. Her break with Oblomov is also ideological, which she decided to do only when she was convinced that Oblomov could never be revived. In the same way, the dissatisfaction that at times gripped Olga’s soul after she got married flows from the same bright source: it is nothing more than a longing for an ideological cause that the prudent and judicious Stolz could not give her.
But disappointment will never lead Olga to laziness and apathy. For this she has a strong enough will. Olga is characterized by determination, which allows her to disregard any obstacles in order to revive her loved one to a new life. And the same willpower came to her aid when she saw that she could not revive Oblomov. She decided to break up with Oblomov and dealt with her heart, no matter how dearly it cost her, no matter how difficult it was to tear love out of her heart.
As mentioned earlier, Olga is a woman of new times. Goncharov quite clearly expressed the need for this type of woman that existed at that time.
Outline of the article “Characteristics of Olga Ilyinskaya”
Main part. Olga's character
a) Mind:
- independence,
- thoughtfulness,
- curiosity,
- ideological,
- a sublime outlook on life.
b) Heart:
- love for Oblomov,
- breaking up with him,
- dissatisfaction,
- disappointment.
c) Will:
- determination,
- hardness.
Conclusion. Olga is like a type of new woman.
