The cruel times of the oprichnina are known to us from history. IN fiction we also meet them, for example, in “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov” by M. Yu. Lermontov.

Arbitrariness and lawlessness were " business card» guardsmen. The common people were afraid of them, noble people avoided meeting with them. Lermontov very accurately managed to describe the atmosphere of the reign of Ivan the Terrible:

The red sun does not shine in the sky,

The blue clouds do not admire him:

Then he sits at a meal wearing a golden crown,

The formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich is sitting.

The king noticed that his faithful servant Kiribeevich was sad: he did not eat or drink. The king got angry, “... hit with a stick,

And half a quarter of the oak floor

He broke through the window with an iron…” The tsar found out that the faithful guardsman was in love with the beautiful Alena Dmitrievna, but did not tell Kiribeevich that she was the wife of the merchant Kalashnikov.

Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich advised:

“...Here, take the ring, you’re my yacht

Yes, take a pearl necklace...

...And the precious gifts went

You to your Alena Dmitrievna:

Celebrate your wedding as much as you love,

If you don’t fall in love, don’t be angry.”

Oprichnik Kiribeevich disgraced Alena Dmitrievna in front of her neighbors. He confessed his love, caressed, kissed, and tore off the Bukhara veil given by her husband. The merchant Kalashnikov was indignant and decided to punish the guardsman in a fist fight on the Moscow River in the presence of the Tsar. The merchant and his brothers called upon him to defend the honor of the family in the event of his death. The next day the barkers shouted:

“Oh, where are you, good fellows

Whoever beats whom, the king will reward him,

And whoever is beaten, God will forgive him!”

The crowd spread out in both directions, and the merchant Kalashnikov came out ready for a life-or-death battle. Kiribeevich turned pale when he heard his opponent’s name. The “heroic battle” began, and Kalashnikov won it. He defended his wife’s honor, for which he paid with his own head; by order of the tsar, he went to the chopping block for the deliberate murder of a “faithful servant.” From the royal point of view, Ivan Vasilyevich restored justice after the death of Kiribeevich and the execution of Kalashnikov.

Stately fellow Stepan Paramonovich, nicknamed Kalashnikov,

He lays out silk goods, he lures guests with an affectionate speech,
He is counting gold and silver... Now he hears hurried steps;
He turned around and looked - the power of the godfather! - A young wife stood in front of him,
She herself is pale, bare-haired, her eyes look dull like crazy;
The lips whisper incomprehensible words.
“Where are you, wife, have you been wandering around? In what courtyard, on the square,
Why are your clothes all torn? Well, you walked, you feasted,
Tea, with all the sons of the boyars!.. How can I lock you behind an iron castle,
Behind the oak door, bound so that you don’t see the light of God,
She didn’t defame my honest name...”
“My lord, red sun, either kill me or listen to me!
I'm not afraid of people's rumors, but I'm afraid of your disfavor.
I walked home from vespers but along the street alone.
And I thought I heard the snow crunching, I looked around and saw a man running.
And he grabbed my hand tightly and said to me in such a quiet whisper:
“Why are you scared, red beauty? I'm not some kind of thief, a forest murderer,
I am a servant of the king, the terrible king...”
“My poor head is spinning. And he began to kiss and caress me
And kissing, he kept saying: “Answer me what you need.”
My dear, precious! Do you want gold or pearls?
I will dress you up like a queen, everyone will envy you.
Just don’t let me die a sinful death: love me,
Hug me goodbye just once!”
“And he caressed me, kissed me; on the cheeks and now they burn,
His accursed kisses spread like living flames...
And the neighbors looked through the gate, laughing, pointing at us...
He dishonored, disgraced me, honest, immaculate me, -
And what will the evil neighbors say, and to whom will I show myself now?
Don't let me, your faithful wife, be desecrated by evil blasphemers!
Who else should I rely on besides you? Who will I ask for help?
In this world I am an orphan: my dear father is already in the damp earth,
My mother lies next to him. And my younger brother is a small child,
A small, foolish child..."
How the daring Moscow fighters converged and gathered
To Moscow - the river, to a fist fight.
And Stepan Paramonovich, a young merchant, a daring fighter, comes out,
Nicknamed Kalashnikov. First I bowed to the terrible king,
After the white Kremlin and the holy churches, and then to the entire Russian people.
His falcon eyes are burning, they are looking intently at the guardsman.
He contrived, prepared, gathered with all his strength
And he hit his hater right in the left temple from the entire shoulder.
And the young guardsman groaned slightly, swayed, and fell dead;
He fell on the cold snow like a pine tree,
It’s like a pine tree that has been chopped down to its resinous roots in a damp forest.
And seeing this, the king became angry and stamped on the ground.
And he frowned his black eyebrows. As the Orthodox Tsar said:
“Whether willingly or unwillingly, you killed Movo’s faithful servant,
Movo of the best fighter Kiribeevich?
“I will tell you, Orthodox Tsar: I killed him with my free will,
But for what, about what, I won’t tell you, I’ll only tell God alone.
Order me to be executed - and my guilty head will be put on the scaffold;
Do not leave only the little children, and the widow with your mercy...”
And they executed Stepan Kalashnikov with a cruel, shameful death;
And the mediocre little head, covered in blood, rolled onto the chopping block.
They buried him across the Moscow River, in an open field between three roads:
Between Tula, Ryazan, Vladimir, and a hill of earth they poured here,
And they put a maple cross here. And good people pass by:
An old man will pass by -
cross himself; the good fellow will pass - he will become poised,
If a girl passes by, she will become sad. And the guslar players will pass by and sing a song.
«»»»»»
Hey, you guys are daring,
Young guslars,
The voices are pouring!
Started red, finish red,
Give each one justice and honor.
Glory to the handsome boyar!
And glory to the beautiful boyar!
Glory to all the Christian people!

(M.Yu. Lermontov. “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsman and
the daring merchant Kalashnikov." Based on. Larisa Zaripova)

Price human life determined by what is considered the most important in it, what is of the greatest value. In the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov “Song about...

the daring merchant Kalashnikov” we meet with two dissimilar views on life, two completely different people. One of them is an honest and worthy, successful merchant and owner respected by his neighbors, a hard-working and faithful husband, Stepan Paramonovich Kalashnikov. The Tsar's favorite guardsman, Kiribeevich, fell in love with his young beautiful wife Alena Dmitrevna. This is a man of completely different principles. Thinking only about himself, he, without any remorse, is ready to ruin someone else’s life and happiness, destroy his family and bring shame on the head of his beloved.

And is it possible to talk about a sublime feeling here if Kiribeevich, having managed to waylay Alena Dmitrevna on the street in the evening, in front of all the chatty neighbors, offers her clothes and jewelry in exchange for her love?! However, a selfish boyfriend cannot get away with impudence and permissiveness.

Stepan Kalashnikov himself stands up for the honor and good name of his wife and his own family. Without hesitation, he is ready to challenge the offender to death, knowing in advance that if he wins, he will incur the wrath of the king himself. However, nothing can stop the brave merchant striving to defend justice. Hearing the name of his opponent and his accusations, Kiribeevich trembled and turned pale, but there was nowhere to go: once he came out, he had to fight. And the boastful guardsman lost this battle, struck by the mighty blow of Kalashnikov.

The merchant once again proved his honesty and decency by admitting to the king, enraged by the death of his beloved fighter, that he had deliberately killed Kiribeevich, but did not explain the reasons. With this noble act, he kept the oprichnik’s dishonest behavior a secret and protected his wife’s good name from gossip and omissions.

However, the king's decision was unequivocal. Kalashnikov ascended the scaffold proudly and with dignity, remaining in the memory of the people who knew him as an example of honor, nobility and deep decency: It will pass old man- he will cross himself, a fine fellow will pass - he will become poised, a girl will pass - he will become sad. M. Yu.

Lermontov often drew ideas for his works from oral folk art. At the age of twenty-two, he created the “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov”; its style is similar to a folk tale.

The merchant was famous for his strength and easily defeated Kiribeevich with a blow to the temple. This blow turned out to be fatal, which greatly angered the king. But when he asked Kalashnikov why he killed his servant, the merchant remained silent. He remained silent so as not to reveal his wife’s name to shame. And the king ordered his execution. So Lermontov, with great skill, turned an ordinary everyday situation into a love story full of drama.

Merchant Kalashnikov nobly defended the honor of his wife. Apart from him, Alena had no more defenders. Her father and mother died, her older brother went missing in a foreign country, and her younger brother was just a baby.

And only Stepan loved his wife so much that he gave up his life for her sake, just so as not to disgrace her good name a second time. He went up to the scaffold without fear, full of determination that he was dying for a just cause. After all, he placed honor and human dignity above all else. And even in the last seconds of his life, he thought not about himself, but about his family, ordering people to take care of their children. People were delighted with the merchant's courage and often visited his grave. “If an old man passes by, he will cross himself, a young man will pass by, and he will become poised; a girl will pass by, and he will become sad”—with these lines Lermontov expressed his attitude towards the action of the merchant Kalashnikov.

Thus, even having accepted death, the hero of the poem won a victory over dishonor, preventing his beloved woman from being disgraced. This is the act of a real man.

Russian history literature of the 19th century century. Part 2. 1840-1860 Prokofieva Natalya Nikolaevna

“Song about... merchant Kalashnikov” (1837)

The clash of past and present, characteristic of the poet, often found in the lyrics (“Borodino”, etc.), is also reflected in the poem “Song about ... the merchant Kalashnikov”, only in it the folk-epic meaning of the events and conflict is more emphasized. The folklore-epic basis of “Song...” imparts a uniqueness to the poem, which has no correspondence in his poetic work.

The reason for writing “The Song…” was, perhaps, a story that happened in St. Petersburg in 1836 and occupied the attention of society for some time. Lermontov was in St. Petersburg at that time, and it is logical to assume that the events of that time became known to him. Censor A.V. Nikitenko wrote in his “Diary” (April and May): “For Gogol’s comedy (“The Inspector General” - IN. K.) a tragedy in real life followed on stage: the official Pavlov killed or almost killed the actual state councilor Aprelev, and at that moment when he was returning from the church from the crown with his young wife. This, together with The Inspector General, occupies the entire city.” And further: “Amazing things! Petersburg, as far as is known, is not under martial law; Pavlov was ordered to be tried and convicted within twenty-four hours by a military court. He was tried and convicted.<…>The public terribly rebelled against Pavlov as a “vile murderer”....” But the story didn’t end there: “Meanwhile, this is what was discovered. Six years ago, Aprelev seduced Pavlov’s sister, had two children with her, and promised to marry her. Pavlov's brother demanded this from him in the name of honor, in the name of his offended family. But the matter dragged on, and Pavlov sent Aprelev a challenge to a duel. Instead of answering, Aprelev announced that he intended to marry, but not Pavlov’s sister, but another girl. Pavlov wrote a letter to the bride’s mother, in which he notified her that Aprelev was not free. The mother, a proud, arrogant aristocrat, responded to this that the girl Pavlova and her children could be satisfied with money. Pavlov wrote another letter to Aprelev on the eve of the wedding. “If you are so vile,” he wrote, “that you don’t want to deal with me in the usual way among decent people, then I will kill you at the crown.” Pavlov was exiled to the Caucasus as a soldier. Now the public took his side: “Another noble trait of his. During the trial, they demanded from him in the name of the sovereign that he reveal the reason for his extraordinary act. For this he was promised leniency. He answered:

“The reason for my action can only be understood and appreciated by God, who will judge between me and Aprelev.”

Thus, Lermontov found the plot of “The Song...” in modern times, seeing in Pavlov, who stood up for the honor of the family, features heroic personality. However, the poet processed the plot in a folk-epic spirit, transferring the events to the Russian Middle Ages. For this purpose, Lermontov used a wide range of folklore material, in particular historical songs about Ivan the Terrible, without resorting to any one specific source.

The folklore principle is sustained throughout the text of the “Song...” - in the tuning folk speech, in style, vocabulary, syntax, verse. The verse “Songs...” is rhymeless, four-beat with dactylic endings (“Only one of them, from the guardsmen. A daring fighter, a violent fellow...”). To the features folklore tradition also include interceptions and pickups that fasten the verse (repeats of the end of a line at the beginning of the next one). As in folk songs, Lermontov widely uses anaphors. Folk character The verse is also supported by the fact that Lermontov combines two words under one emphasis: the terrible king, the black thought, fell dead, as he said, by free will, etc.

In style folk song negative comparisons, beginnings (“The red sun does not shine in the sky. Blue clouds do not admire him…”, “His young wife does not meet him, the oak table is not covered with a white tablecloth”), synonymous or tautological repetitions with paired verbs, adjectives, adverbs or nouns (“And the wild winds roar and roar”, “It’s not a joke, it’s not a joke to make people laugh”, “I was angry with anger, I stomped on the ground”, “Answer me in truth, in conscience”, “sharpen-sharpen”, “dress-dress” ”, “fierce, shameful death”, “Trade freely, duty-free”, etc.). Towards the stylistics and tropics of Russian epic folklore Lermontov also addresses in those cases when he introduces constant epithets(horse - kind, saber - sharp, will - free, death - fierce), diminutive and affectionate words (darling, side, little one), short (old man) and full (with an ax sharpened, They stand at the gates at the planks) folk speech forms of adjectives, some forms of gerunds (playfully, feasting), verbs with double prefixes (thoughtful, spent), as well as “high” forms of combining a verb with a prefix (spoken) and specifically folk vocabulary (opposite, noneche, between, etc.).

The epic character of the “Song...” is also emphasized by the fact that it is sung by guslars - sung storytellers. They simultaneously compose and perform it. Therefore, the events in the song are covered not from the author’s perspective, but from epic folk poets. The guslars begin the “Song...”, end each chapter with a direct address to the listeners, and conclude the epic narrative. This is due to the fact that the author’s voice is not allowed into the “Song...” so as not to disrupt the spiritual unity of the depicted world, which the guslars carry with them.

At the same time, the speech unity (all characters speak folklore language) conflicts with the content of the “Song...”, with its plot.

On the one hand, the plot demonstrates the beginning of a split patriarchal world, generic and family life, on the other hand, the content and form of the “Song...” are contrasted with modernity and its artistic forms, just as the disappeared heroic-tragic past, expressed in a socially significant impersonal form, is contrasted with the heroless-tragic present, expressed in the lost, according to Lermontov in many poems public importance personal forms of lyric and lyric poetry. “Song...” contained modern artistic social meaning, therefore, the merchant Kalashnikov and the guardsman Kiribeevich can be considered as typical and at the same time complicated Lermontov hero-antagonists, embodying two conflicting principles - “conciliar”, patriarchal with a man of “simple” consciousness, playing the role of an avenger hero who fights and dies for his honor, and personal with the willful hero-individualist, rightly punished for violating honor, violating the “Christian law”, prevailing customs and norms of social behavior.

Introduction of this kind romantic heroes in the epic narrative significantly changed the character folk epic, which is unusual for depicting the everyday side of life. The epic “Song...” is influenced by the genre of everyday stories. If Kalashnikov is associated with the idea of ​​​​medieval Russian “knighthood”, the representative of which unexpectedly turns out to be a merchant, and not a boyar or nobleman, then with Kiribeevich, the “Song ...” includes the idea of ​​​​a romantic, demonic, egoistic and evil principle that destroys the integrity of the patriarchal world and which was generated by the despotism of royal power. As a result of this epic-romantic approach to history, the character retains both the features of the epic and the features of the lyrical-romantic property. It appears historically determined, since the psychology of the hero becomes derived from historical reality and at the same time romanticized: the antagonist heroes have the characteristics of typical romantic characters for Lermontov. Thus romantic conflict found in the Russian Middle Ages, and this indicates its universality and “eternity.” However, the romantic content is firmly inscribed in history, in the epic forms of folk poetry and folklore speech.

Finally, the address of “Song...” is the unheroic present time and generation. V. G. Belinsky wrote that the meaning of the poem “testifies to the state of the poet’s spirit, dissatisfied with modern reality and transported from it to the distant past, in order to look for life there, which he does not see in the present.” Kalashnikov’s behavior against this background is an effective example addressed to the modern generation.

Stepan Kalashnikov, as a hero of the medieval past, experiences the brunt of the “royal mercy”. He depends on historical circumstances that prompt him to challenge the offender. “The Song...” received the dignity of an epic work because Kalashnikov’s revenge has not only a personal motivation, but also a national, universally significant one. Kalashnikov rebels not against the existing social order, but against its violation. He is offended and does not agree with the violation of the usual foundations of life, defends universal and specific historical norms, sanctified by tradition and Christian law, established over centuries folk life. In this sense, his protest is associated with upholding the patriarchal structure, in which he feels protected. Kiribeevich and Grozny, violating age-old moral norms, violate universal human ethics, encroaching on personal freedom and honor. From this point of view, Kiribeevich looks like a willful individualist, Ivan the Terrible - a tyrant.

The patriarchal order provides Kalashnikov with human dignity; its collapse makes the hero vulnerable and brings him death. Barely patriarchal way of life cracks, Kalashnikov finds himself thrown out of life.

The hero lives at a time when there is no personality as such, since man did not think of himself separately from the social whole and did not oppose himself to it. This means that Kalashnikov did not and could not have had the concept of freedom in the European understanding of Lermontov’s time. A man of that time, as Lermontov wonderfully showed, was a servant of the Tsar and a servant of God. Kalashnikov, as a merchant, is personally free, but he does not need freedom from the Tsar, from God, from the way of life. The hero can only exist in a patriarchal, autocratic and hierarchically structured world, where he occupies a firm and lasting place.

Lermontov's insight into the uniqueness of the Middle Ages gives the poet the opportunity to take a new turn on the usual image of the avenger hero, who is deprived of selfish self-will, since his protest in in this case coincides with the popular point of view and finds support in it. Kalashnikov saw a public meaning in his personal insult: not only he, not only his family and his clan, but also the entire people with their truth and conscience were insulted.

To this we must add that the hero who defends traditional national foundations is a merchant, a representative of the class that, in the time of Lermontov, firmly preserved ancient national customs and patriarchal morals. It is the people and the merchant Kalashnikov who are faithful to the Christian law, the church and the customs and duties associated with them. Kiribeevich does not remember the Christian law, he is indifferent to religion, which has entered the flesh and blood of the people and the Kalashnikov family, becoming part of their household. And when Stepan Paramonovich says: “And I lived according to the law of the Lord,” he means folk orthodoxy, which became entrenched in church and home rituals and customs. The point is that the law as a legal instrument does not exist, but there is only Christian law, enshrined in the memory of the people. The guslars keep this memory.

For Lermontov, the era of Grozny is also important from the point of view of connections between people. The time of Ivan the Terrible (as well as modernity) is recognized as a period of disruption of tribal relations. Antagonism is visible between clans and families, and the boyar family is different from the merchant family. It is no coincidence that the “Song...” emphasizes that Kiribeevich is from the Malyutina family, Stepan Kalashnikov reproaches his wife: “You were already walking, you were feasting, Tea, with all the boyar sons!..” Ivan the Terrible asks the guardsman: “Or from your feet knocked down in a fist fight on the Moscow River by a merchant’s son?”

The social difference between Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich is significant for the artistic meaning of “Song...”: social relations distort the true nature of people, threaten their unity and harmony, oppose popular foundations and folk psychology, which has developed, as Lermontov utopianly portrayed, on the basis of a single tribal being of Russian nationality.

Kiribeevich, the bearer of personal arbitrariness that destroys tribal relations accepted and internalized by all the people, is opposed by Stepan Paramonovich Kalashnikov, defender folk customs and Christian law. Therefore, the romantic protest of an individual who goes one-on-one into battle against the trampled Christian law takes on a wide epic scope.

The fight between Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich takes place in full view of the entire people. An emotional expression of mortal combat and at the same time greatness moral idea, contained in it, serves as a description preceding the battle, conveying a sense of justice of the upcoming retribution.

The description preceding the execution of Kalashnikov has a completely different emotional flavor. It contains inner anxiety. The mournful hum of the bell is combined with the gloomy gaiety of the executioner.

In the face of Ivan the Terrible, Stepan Kalashnikov, in full view of all Moscow, its Kremlin and the churches of all Holy Rus', defends personal honor and people's truth. But while defending Christian law, he simultaneously violates it. The fact is that a fair, open battle with an enemy is a kind of national “knightly” duel, a “knightly” game in the Russian style. It involves measuring strength, dexterity, and luck when one person collides with another. There is no place for extraneous considerations - resentment, envy, self-interest, personal revenge. The fight between Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich is not an ordinary fist fight, but a deadly one. Stepan Paramonovich came out not only with the intention of standing up for the truth, but also to take revenge and even certainly kill the offender. If Kiribeevich, as a self-willed person, does not doubt Kalashnikov’s right to take revenge, then Christian law, alien to the selfish claims of the individual, does not provide for such a right. A funny fight cannot become a premeditated and premeditated murder. The form of an open and honest duel loses its nature and hides personal revenge, even if this revenge was justified by high considerations of protecting the people's truth and the “law of the Lord.”

The dual nature of the battle is determined by the duality of Kalashnikov’s behavior. On the one hand, he defends the law, punishing his offender and violator of national customs, on the other hand, he turns into an avenger and murderer. He does not appeal to the tsar, who, as the guardian of the Christian law, is obliged to restore justice and punish Kiribeevich, but arbitrarily carries out a personal trial (“And then I will go to the guardsman, I will fight to the death to the last strength ...”). There is no doubt that Kalashnikov’s crime - the deliberate murder of a person who insulted and disgraced him - is a high crime, revenge for insulted dignity and certain standards of community life by the people themselves. However, Stepan Paramonovich’s act puts him above the ancestral law he revered.

Kalashnikov’s behavior is also reprehensible in another respect: the “rules” of fights, while affirming the nobility of the fighters, categorically forbade striking the head and face. This meant that one must beware of accidental death and one must not encroach on a person’s dignity. The strikes should only target parts of the body from the neck to the waist. Kiribeevich hit Kalashnikov “in the middle of the chest,” i.e., without breaking the “rules,” Kalashnikov “hit his hater directly in the left temple from the entire shoulder.”

Having broken the law twice, Stepan Paramonovich bows his head before it.

In this regard, the attitude of Ivan the Terrible, the Guslyars and Lermontov towards Kalashnikov is very significant.

Scientific literature, as a rule, did not favor Ivan Vasilyevich, believing that the tsar was depicted as a despot and tyrant who brutally executed a brave merchant. However, there is no particular cruelty in the actions of Ivan the Terrible, if we take into account the harsh morals of the era, which are very far from humanistic moral and ethical standards. The Tsar is depicted in the poem as the keeper of the all-Russian Christian law, and by the will of fate he is entrusted with the highest secular power over the people. He firmly implements general regulations, and cannot be blamed for forgetting customs. He, as befits a king, “feasts to the glory of God, to his pleasure and joy.” He instructs Kiribeevich to get married according to the Russian rite. In the execution scene, Ivan the Terrible also strives to do justice. Having learned that Kalashnikov killed his beloved guardsman “of his own free will,” that is, deliberately and intentionally, the tsar, observing the Christian law (to a greater extent - the letter, not the spirit), is obliged to punish him for crime committed. At the same time, he appreciates the merchant’s straightforwardness and truthful words, promising to take care of his family.

Finally, he also arranges the execution of Kalashnikov according to customs. For some reason, many researchers tend to understand Ivan the Terrible’s mercy only as cruel irony. Meanwhile, if this is irony, it is “historical”. It cannot be assessed by applying the moral standards of the 19th century. or modern. If we follow the spirit of the era, then we must admit that Ivan Vasilyevich truly turns out to be both fair and merciful. Another thing is that such “mercy” looks evil, blasphemous and some kind of perverted mockery of the human person.

From the point of view of Ivan the Terrible, Kalashnikov should be executed “with a cruel, shameful execution,” because he challenged the Tsar, showed violence, “of his own free will,” not by chance, killing the Tsar’s favorite guardsman. The amusing battle did not provide for the punishment of the winner, but a royal reward:

Whoever beats whom, the king will reward him,

And whoever is beaten, God will forgive him!

Kalashnikov turned fist sport into murder. Confessing his desire to kill Kiribeevich, the merchant opposes himself as a person to the king:

And for what about what - I won’t tell you,

I will only tell God alone.

Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich unexpectedly become closer: one conceals the truth about Alena Dmitrievna from the tsar (the guslars equate Kiribeevich’s story with deception: “Oh, you goy, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich! Your crafty slave deceived you, He did not tell you the true truth...”), the other does not reveal of his true motives, does not at all repent of his deeds. However, the heroes at the same time diverge: Kiribeevich “deceives” for the sake of satisfying personal passion, Kalashnikov - for the sake of protecting the dignity of the family and his honor.

The fact is that the tsar does not reveal any special cruelty and ferocity towards Kalashnikov, which would go beyond historical era, the coverage of the execution episode in the words of the guslars is convincing. Their voice is the voice of the people, they sing on its behalf, they are its guardians historical memory. The Guslars do not condemn Ivan the Terrible (although they directly condemn Kiribeevich); they present the events in an epically neutral tone. They sympathize with Kalashnikov, understand his resentment, respect his courage, mourn his execution, remember him, but the merchant in their eyes is also “a mediocre little head.” “Violent winds roar and roar” over his grave. For the guslars, Kalashnikov’s personal revenge does not fit into the laws of the Christian world; it will fall out of it. In their last words, the guslars proclaim glory in honor of the entire Christian people, who act as the guardian of faith, national customs, rituals and morals.

For Lermontov, other meanings were also significant in “Song...”. Firstly, guslars are ancient poets who compose songs, drawing material from people's experience. Their songs are needed by the people, for whom the guslars sing. The “Orthodox people” “amused themselves” with the song he composed. Secondly, the unity of the medieval Christian world, while maintaining integrity, begins to shake: a person enters the arena of history who simultaneously protects and violates everyday moral norms, undermining social foundations. The consequence of this state is a gap between the people and the king. The people become the guardians of the patriarchal order, while the deep internal reasons for the actions of people, which are hidden and hidden from him, are inaccessible to the king. The tsar only formally observes the custom: he does not take revenge on Kalashnikov for the death of the guardsman, but involuntarily carries out reprisals, not knowing the whole truth. Because of this, justice and mercy become blind and soulless. The reason is that in the era of Ivan the Terrible, the guardsman stood between the tsar and the people, in modern times - the elite of the nobility, crowding around the throne. The collapse of direct and strong ties between the people and the king, within society, brings to the fore a person who either violates traditional institutions or takes revenge for their violation. In both cases, in past and present times, protest, rebellion and rebellion of the individual inevitably take on a dual character in content and form: legal and lawless, humane and inhumane, heroic and vengeful, national and selfish.

In "Song..." Lermontov took a significant step forward in artistic depiction history. The actions and psychology of the characters are determined by the environment, life circumstances, and everyday life. All this took “Song...” out of the circle romantic works regular type. And at the same time, romanticism is not removed from “Song...”. The historical environment exists as a conceivable antithesis of modernity and as a poetic fiction, idealizing the era of Ivan the Terrible, a patriarchal way of life, containing national ethical standards and motivating the hero’s protest. The dependence of the characters on the environment receives a romantic interpretation. This allows Lermontov to see the value of an individual in his community with the people as a whole. Kalashnikov is significant as a person because he shares popular ideas about Christian law and moral norms. In them he finds support for his actions and draws strength to repel evil. However, Kalashnikov, like other Lermontov heroes, is capable of resistance and death, but not of victory. This demonstrates the tragedy of the characters’ position in a hostile world, the power of which exceeds their physical and spiritual capabilities.

The artistic solution to the problems raised in “Song...” was reflected in Lermontov’s subsequent works.

In his poetic work, the poet is characterized by a certain contrast, combined with continuity. Thus, the next poem - “Tambov Treasurer” - in its origins (anecdote) is in no way connected with the “Song...”, based on historical legend and folklore material, however, what they have in common is an appeal to everyday life and a heroic plot in the “Song...” and parodied in “Tambov Treasury”. The poems “Mtsyri” and “The Fugitive” are dedicated to the fates of Caucasian youths, but one of them strives to return to his native environment in order to merge with it, while the other violates ancient customs and is expelled from mountain society. The poem “Demon” is opposed to “Fairy Tale for Children,” but they are connected by demonic characters who, however, live in different spheres. It seems that the poems are written according to the travesty principle: Lermontov reinterprets and partly parodies either the theme, or the characters, or the nature of the image.