The main problems of the story are the captain's daughter. Literature test "Captain's daughter". "Captain's daughter" problems: honor and duty, education

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.

History of creation

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 meaning of the name

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.

Historical basis

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.

What is the piece about?

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.

Main characters and their characteristics

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.

- nobleman, officer, protagonist. He received a strict upbringing in the house of his father, a retired military man. He is only 16 years old, but his parents felt that he was ready for service. He is poorly educated, does not particularly aspire to anything, and does not in any way resemble the ideal man. Going on a journey, the young man bears little resemblance to a soldier: good-natured, gullible, unstable to temptations and unaware of life. He is spoiled, because at first he loses a significant amount in cards and does not understand why Savelich (his servant) reacts emotionally to this. He does not know the value of money, but he shows arrogance and rudeness towards a devoted servant. However, innate conscientiousness does not allow him to continue to continue to be carried away by garrison pity. Soon he falls seriously in love with the daughter of the captain of the fortress, and from that moment begins his growing up: he becomes brave, courageous and courageous. For example, in a duel with Shvabrin, the young man fought honestly and boldly, unlike his opponent. Further, we see an ardent and passionate lover in his face, and after a while he is ready to risk his life for the sake of honor, refusing to swear allegiance to Pugachev. This act betrays in him a highly moral and firm person in his convictions. Later, he will show valor more than once, fighting the enemy, but when the fate of his beloved is at stake, he will neglect caution and set off to save her. This betrays the depth of feeling in him. Even in captivity, Peter does not blame the woman and is ready to accept unfair punishment, if only everything was fine with her. In addition, it is impossible not to note the self-criticism and maturity of judgments inherent in Grinev in old age.
Marya Mironova- the daughter of the captain of the fortress, the main character. She is 18 years old. Masha's appearance is described in detail: "... Then a girl of about eighteen entered, chubby, ruddy, with light blond hair, combed smoothly behind her ears, which she was on fire ...". In addition, it is mentioned that she is the owner of an "angelic" voice and a kind heart. Her family is poor, owns only one serf, so she cannot claim marriage with Peter (who has 300 souls). But the young charmer is distinguished by prudence, sensitivity and generosity, because she sincerely worries about the fate of her lover. Naturalness and gullibility make the heroine an easy prey for the wicked Shvabrin, who tries to woo her with meanness. But Marya is cautious and not stupid, therefore she easily recognizes falsehood and depravity in Alexei and avoids him. She is also characterized by loyalty and courage: the girl does not betray her beloved and bravely travels to an unfamiliar city in order to achieve an audience with the empress herself.
Pugachev in the novel "The Captain's Daughter" appears before readers in two guises: a brave and noble person, able to appreciate devotion and honor, and a cruel tyrant who without restraint arranges executions and reprisals. We understand that the rebel's message is noble, he wants to defend the rights of ordinary people. However, the way he fights lawlessness does not justify him in any way. Although we sympathize with Pugachev - decisive, courageous, intelligent - his cruelty makes us doubt the correctness of his path. In the episode of the first meeting, we see a smart and cunning governor, in a dialogue with Grinev - an unfortunate person who knows that he is doomed. The Kalmyk tale told by Pugachev reveals his attitude to life: he wants to live it freely, albeit fleetingly. It is impossible not to note his personal qualities: he is a leader, the first among equals. He is obeyed unconditionally, and this corrupts his nature. For example, the scenes of the capture of the fortress demonstrate the cruelty of Pugachev's power, such despotism is unlikely to lead to freedom (the death of the Mironovs, the abduction of Masha, destruction). Image idea: Pugachev is naturally endowed with a heightened sense of justice, intelligence and talent, but he does not pass the test of war and unlimited power: the people's choice has become the same tyrant as the empress, against whom he rebelled.
Catherine II. A sweet woman in a house dress turns into an adamant ruler when she listens to a request for a traitor. Masha Mironova, at Catherine's reception, tries to talk about Peter's extenuating circumstances, but the Empress does not want to hear reasonable arguments and evidence, she is only interested in her own opinion. She condemned the "traitor" without trial, which is very significant for autocratic power. That is, its monarchy is hardly better than Pugachev's.
Alexey Shvabrin- Officer. Peter and Alexey, it would seem, are similar in their social status and age, but circumstances separate them on opposite sides of the barricades. After the very first test, Shvabrin, unlike Grinev, makes a moral fall, and the faster the plot develops, the more obvious that Alexei is a vile and cowardly person who achieves everything in life with cunning and meanness. The features of his character are manifested in the course of a love conflict: he wins Masha's favor with hypocrisy, secretly slandering her and her family. The capture of the fortress finally puts everything in its place: he was ready for betrayal (he found a peasant dress, cut his hair), and Grinev would rather prefer death to breaking the oath. The final disappointment in him comes when the hero tries to force and blackmail the girl to marry him.
Savelich (Arkhip Saveliev)- elderly servant He is kind, caring and devoted to the young master. It is his resourcefulness that helps Peter avoid reprisals. Risking his life, the peasant comes to the defense of the master and speaks with Pugachev himself. He is distinguished by thriftiness, a sober lifestyle, stubbornness and a tendency to read notations. He is distrustful, likes to grumble, argue and bargain. Knows the value of money and saves it for the owner.

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.

Theme of the story

The themes of moral choice, decency, and dignity come to the fore in the work. Grinev demonstrates high moral values, and Shvabrin lacks them, and we see the influence of these circumstances on their destinies. So Pushkin shows that moral superiority always gives a person an advantage, even though he disdains cunning, which would lead him to the goal faster. Despite the fact that Alesei used all his resourcefulness, the victory still remained with Peter: Maria remained with him like a good name.
Honor and dishonor. Each hero faced a choice between honor and dishonor, and everyone made it differently: Maria preferred devotion to a profitable marriage (Peter's father initially did not consent to marriage, so she risked remaining an old maid, driving Alexei away), Grinev decided more than once in favor of moral duty, even when it was a matter of life and death, but Shvabrin always chose profit, shame was not terrible for him. We discussed this issue in detail in the essay "".
The theme of education. An example of the protagonist will help to understand what a good family upbringing means, that is, what dishonorable people lack, and how this affects their lives. Shvabrin's childhood passed us by, but we can say with confidence that he did not receive the most important spiritual foundations on which nobility is built.
The main themes include love: the union of Peter and Mary is an ideal for loving hearts. The hero and heroine throughout the novel defended their right to live together, even against the will of their parents. They were able to prove that they deserve each other: Grinev repeatedly stood up for the girl, and she saved him from execution. The theme of love is revealed with the sensitivity inherent in Pushkin: young people swear an oath to each other eternal devotion, even if fate never brings them together again. And they fulfill their obligations.
Examples from "The Captain's Daughter" will be useful for the topics "man and state", "power and man". They illustrate the violent nature of power, which cannot but be cruel by definition.

Main problems

The problem of power. Pushkin argues which government is better and why: anarchic, spontaneous Pugachevism or Catherine's monarchy? Obviously, the peasants preferred the first to the second, risking their own lives. The nobles, on the contrary, defended the order that was convenient for them. Social contradictions divided the united people into two opposing camps, and each, it turns out, has its own truth and its own charter. Historical issues also include questions about the justice of the rebellion, the moral assessment of its leader, the legality of the actions of the empress, etc.
The problem of man and history. What role do historical events play in the fate of a person? Obviously, the rebellion put Peter in a difficult position: he was forced to test his character for strength. Surrounded by enemies, he did not change his convictions and risked openly not taking their side. He was threatened with certain death, but he preferred honor to life, and kept both. Pugachevism is the dark side of history, with the help of which Pushkin shaded the fate of the characters. This is evidenced even by the title of the novel "The Captain's Daughter": the author named it after a fictional heroine, and not Pugachev or Ekaterina.
The problem of growing up and educating a person. What must a person go through to become an adult? Thanks to the Pugachev rebellion, the young man matured early and became a real warrior, but the price of such evolution can be called too expensive.
The problem of moral choice. In the work there are antagonist heroes Shvabrin and Grinev, who behave differently. One chooses betrayal for his own good, the other puts honor above personal interests. Why is their behavior so different? What influenced their moral development? The author comes to the conclusion that the problem of immorality can be solved only individually: if morality is respected in the family, then all its representatives will follow the duty, and if not, then the person will not stand the test and will only crawl and cheat, and not protect honor.
The problem of honor and duty. The hero sees his destiny in the service of the Empress, but in reality it turns out that she is not worth much in the eyes of Catherine. Yes, and duty, if you look at it, is very doubtful: while the people were rebelling against arbitrariness, the army helped to suppress it, and the question of honor to participate in this violent act is very doubtful.
One of the main problems of the work "The Captain's Daughter" is social inequality. It was it that stood between the citizens of one country and directed them against each other. Pugachev rebelled against him and, seeing Grinev's friendly gesture, spared him: he hated not the nobles, but their arrogance towards the people who fed the entire state.

The meaning of the work

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.

What does it teach?

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.

Criticism

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.

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"The Captain's Daughter" is a historical work. And history, as you know, can be addressed in different ways.

It can be assumed that only costumes, technical means, fashion, interior and objects change in history, while the psychology of people remains unchanged. This is what Lion Feuchtwanger thought (Fig. 2), and in his historical novels, which take place either at the beginning of the Christian era or in the 18th century, he wrote about his contemporaries.

Rice. 2. Lion Feuchtwanger ()

You can go into history, as in emigration. The present time is so boring and bad that turning to history becomes a kind of outlet, an attempt to take a breath of fresh air. Perhaps this largely explains Lermontov's "Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich" (Fig. 3). Remember the famous lines from Borodin:

Yes, there were people in our time.

Once people were strong, brave, bright. Now "it's sad to look at our generation."

Rice. 3. M.Yu. Lermontov ()

There is a completely conscious desire to find parallels in the past with the present. In 30-40 years. In the twentieth century, in Soviet literature and in Soviet cinema, an appeal to the time of Ivan the Terrible and Peter I was extremely popular. It is clear that this appeal contained (not openly expressed, but caught) an order to justify Stalin's despotism, Stalin's terror. In this sense, the appeal to Ivan IV and Peter I was completely transparent.

The Captain's Daughter was published in the 4th volume of the Sovremennik magazine for 1836. See what the first publication of Pushkin's novel looked like (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. The first publication of "The Captain's Daughter" ()

“You must have heard about the indignations of Novgorod and old Russia. Horror. More than a hundred generals, colonels and officers were slaughtered in Novgorod settlements with all the subtleties of malice. The rebels flogged them, beat them on the cheeks, mocked them, plundered their houses, raped their wives. Fifteen healers killed. He escaped alone with the help of the sick lying in the infirmary. Having killed all the chiefs, the rebels chose others for themselves.

Rice. 5. P.A. Vyazemsky ()

This is just one single private manifestation of Pushkin's interest in the people and in the popular revolt, which generally distinguishes the 30s. our first poet.

Back in 1825, Pushkin was interested in Stepan Razin. In the early 30s. Pushkin receives permission to work in the archives. February 17, 1832 M.M. Speransky sent Pushkin a gift from Nicholas I - "The Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire". In the 20th volume of this collection, the verdict on the death penalty for the traitor-rebel and impostor Pugachev and his accomplices was reprinted with the addition of an announcement about the forgiven criminal.

Among the names of active participants in the disturbances was the name of Mikhail Shvanvich. In the final version of the story, this historical character turned into Shvabrin. Initially, Pushkin was interested in the figure of a nobleman who goes over to the side of the insurgent peasants. Initially, it was supposed to be a character similar to Dubrovsky's. But the more Pushkin knew about this (and in 1833 Pushkin had already familiarized himself with the materials on the secret expedition of the military collegium), the clearer it became to him that this plan could not be realized. Look at the quote from Pushkin's remarks about the rebellion, written for Nicholas I (Fig. 6):

“All the black people were for Pugachev. Only the nobility was openly on the side of the government. Their benefits were too opposite."

Rice. 6. Nicholas I ()

A nobleman could go over to the side of the insurgent, rebellious peasantry only as Shvabrin - a traitor, a traitor, a man without honor. Such a major change in the idea of the novel occurred in the course of work. Moreover, in the course of work on The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin writes Dubrovsky, The History of the Pugachevsky Rebellion, prints it (with the help of Emperor Nicholas I). And only in 1836 the volume of Sovremennik was published already with a work of art - with The Captain's Daughter.

A rough introduction to the novel, written in 1833, looks like this:

“My dear friend Petrusha, I often told you some incidents of my life and noticed that you always listened to me with attention, despite the fact that it happened to me, perhaps for the hundredth time, to retell one thing. Some questions I never answered you, promising to satisfy your curiosity in time. But I did not dare to fulfill my promise. I begin my notes for you, or rather a sincere confession, with the full assurance that my confessions will serve your benefit. Of course, your father did not cause me such grief as your parents suffered from you. He always behaved decently and good-naturedly. And it would be better if you were like him.

Further it is said that Petrusha is like his grandfather, not very obedient and not very good-natured in his youth. But that's not what matters. And not even that this introduction largely coincides with the introduction to the published notes of Alexander Ilyich Bibikov, one of the commanders-in-chief of the troops that pacified the Pugachev rebellion. Here, the same thing is important for Pushkin as in the 1835 poem “I visited again” - the presence of a connection between three generations. As in a poem: here he is in the possessions of his grandfather; here he is; and the poem ends with a reference to the grandchildren:

“... I will not see your mighty late age,

When you outgrow my pets

And you will block their noisy head.

But let my grandson…”

This connection between generations, something that Lermontov was clearly deprived of, is extremely important for Pushkin. That's why the father is so important. In fact, this is where the novel begins:

“Who is his father? - asked in the epigraph - My father Andrei Petrovich Grinev ".

At the end of 1820s. Pushkin refers to the figure of Peter. The question of who can show Russia the way, who can signify the right move of the country, for Pushkin, especially after the defeat of the Decembrists, was extremely relevant. And Peter is a hero who embodies not his own will (the willful heroes Mazepa and Karl are forgotten by history), but an objective will, the will of history.

In The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin chooses a milestone, a turning point. This is a peasant uprising, the Pugachev rebellion (Fig. 8). This is a problem of the people and the nobility, their relations. Pushkin shows two worlds, two ways. Everyone has their own truth. The nobility has its own truth, Catherine, the legitimate ruler, has her own truth. And there is, as Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman wrote in his wonderful article, the peasant tsar and the rebel peasants have their own truth. These two worlds, each of which has its own poetry, its own law, its own right, are at enmity. This is very important for Pushkin, because the "History of the Pugachev Rebellion" (and this is precisely the historical research that Pushkin was doing in parallel with work on the "Captain's Daughter") became a warning to the tsar, to the nobles: the people are a formidable force, and God forbid again a civil war, a war between the two main classes of Russia.

Rice. 8. Pugachev rebellion ()

The English wizard, sorcerer (as he was called) Walter Scott (Fig. 9) gained pan-European fame during his lifetime with his historical novels.

Rice. 9. Walter Scott ()

The first trace, influence or careful reading of Walter Scott is Pushkin's unfinished novel Peter the Great's Arap, where a historical figure is shown in private life.

For a historical novel by Walter Scott, it is important that fictitious people are in the foreground, and historical ones are in the background. From the very beginning, it is important to emphasize that Walter Scott and Pushkin have a fundamentally different interest or method.

Walter Scott is extremely fond of descriptions: castles, costumes, dishes - all the details of a bygone era. Moreover, he likes to give such a small historical sketch at the beginning of the novel or in the middle: what was happening at that time in Scotland, in England (religious wars, rivalry between kings, etc.). Pushkin practically does not have this. For example, the 14th chapter "Judgment":

“Then they took me to prison and left me alone in a cramped and dark kennel, with bare walls and a window blocked by an iron grate.”

Tolstoy, after reading The Captain's Daughter, will say:

"Take Pushkin Goals Somehow."

Compared with the interest in details (Tolstoy believed that contemporary literature is distinguished by an interest in details), Pushkin's stories are really bare. It is always an action, not a description. Very few epithets, very few landscapes, interiors:

"I entered a fairly large hall."

One can imagine how another writer would describe this courtroom.

Against this background, exceptions are always very noticeable:

“I entered a clean room, decorated in the old fashioned way. In the corner stood a cupboard with dishes, on the wall hung an officer's diploma behind a framed glass. Around him were lubok pictures depicting the capture of Kosterin and Ochakov. So is the choice of the bride and the burial of the cat.”

This is a quote from Chapter III. Both the pictures and the plots of these pictures are very important here. All this has already become the subject of separate works and separate studies.

Consider one more example of a frankly unused occasion for descriptions. Do you remember that Masha Mironova stops at the last station before St. Petersburg, Sofia station (in fact, even at that time, in 1774, this postal station did not exist). And the wife of the stationmaster tells Masha everything about Catherine: at what time did the empress usually wake up; ate coffee; strolled; what nobles were at that time with her; that she deigned to speak yesterday at her table; who received in the evening. In a word, Anna Vlasovna's conversation was worth several pages of historical notes and would be precious for posterity. But Pushkin deliberately does not write them.

In the novels of Walter Scott there are some features that, it would seem, completely coincide with Pushkin's moves, techniques in The Captain's Daughter. For example, in "Ivanhoe" the Black Knight (unknown, unrecognized) turns out to be King Richard the Lionheart. And in The Captain's Daughter, both Pugachev and Ekaterina appear at first unrecognized. Just as in Walter Scott's Quentin Dorward, the humble citizen turns out to be King Louis. And in the novel "Rob Roy" and in the novel "Waverley" the old resolute fathers of the heroes act, reminiscent of Andrei Petrovich Grinev in some way.

The novel "Rob Roy" is a note received from a third party. The basis of The Captain's Daughter is Grinev's notes, handed over by one of his grandsons to the publisher, since the publisher is interested in the era described in these notes.

In the second chapter of the novel "Waverley", the main character Edward, promoted to officer, says goodbye to his family and goes to the regiment. Uncle's parting words are clearly close to the words of old Grinev (i.e., to the epigraph of the entire novel):

As far as duty and honor permit, avoiding danger, they warn against friendship with gamblers and libertines.

In the eleventh chapter, the hostess intervenes in a quarrel between young people. It looks like this:

“How by your grace you kill each other,” she exclaimed, boldly rushing between opponents and deftly covering their weapons with her plaid, “and blacken the reputation of a good widow when there are enough free places in the country for a duel.”

Remember how Vasilisa Yegorovna orders the swords to be taken away from Shvabrin and Grinev and locked in a closet.

These are far from all the coincidences and echoes of the Pushkin novel and the novels of Walter Scott. There were even articles called "Pushkin's Plagiarisms", "Where Pushkin Got His Own". The meaning of such a comparison is that the genius takes its toll where it sees. It's not about the details, it's not about the details. It's about the architecture, how it's put together, how it works. To see the general plan when there is nothing accidental.

Pushkin destroyed almost all drafts of The Captain's Daughter. Nevertheless, we can see some options from the first publication, to see how Pushkin works on the text, how he removes what at first seems to him, obviously, successful, how he enters what he had not seen before. Then we will understand that it is not a matter of intersections, not of roll calls. These roll calls are important, as they are signals: remember how Walter Scott has it in this novel, but it will be different for me.

The second most important quality in The Captain's Daughter is hidden in the very text of this novel: Grinev talks about his family notes. This is a family chronicle.

Initially, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev addressed his grandson Petrusha. The "Captain's Daughter" was preceded by an introduction, where Petrusha Grinev, who had already grown old, told his grandson how useful it was to read his confession - his notes. Pushkin is not interested in historical descriptions, but in historical characters. The siege of Orenburg is mentioned, witnessed by Grinev (he defended, defended Orenburg), which belongs to history, and not to family notes.

The History of the Pugachev Rebellion was published in 1835 and consisted of two parts. The first is text with notes. The second part is the documentary materials used by Pushkin and which he decided to publish in his research.

From the point of view of the completeness of the use of the material, modern historians consider Pushkin's work irreproachable. Pushkin traveled to the Orenburg province, to those places that were captured by the Pugachev rebellion. A question arises, which is still being discussed, disputed, on which there is no consensus and, probably, never will be: what is Pushkin's attitude to what he depicted in the "History of the Pugachev Rebellion"? This is very convincingly written in the book by Georgy Alexandrovich Lesskis (Fig. 10), which is called "Pushkin's Way to Literature" (1993). Lessis writes:

“How can we understand the position of the author? Pushkin avoided any kind of direct judgments. First of all - the vocabulary to which he resorts, describing this or that phenomenon. It turns out that when Pushkin talks about government troops, he uses the wordsdetachment, battalion, Column. When he talks about Pugachev's troops, he uses words likegang, crowd. He calls Pugachev either by his last name, orCossack, Don Cossack. From himself, he always calls himimpostor. BUTPeterIIIorsovereignonly in quotes.

Lesskis goes on to say that for the second time Pushkin refers to the theme of the Time of Troubles - unrest(for the first time - in "Boris Godunov"). And in Russian history, Georgy Alexandrovich believes, despotism and anarchy constantly alternate. Their anarchy again grows despotism, which, with the growth of contradictions between the ruler and the people, ends, turns, breaks off with turmoil, anarchy, and reappears.

Rice. 10. G.A. Lesskis () The phrase from the letter of Alexander Ilyich Bibikov to Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin is very important:

“Pugachev is not important. What matters is the general indignation.”

They understood that it was not about Pugachev himself. Pushkin, even in The History of the Pugachev Rebellion, says:

"Only the leader was missing - the leader was found."

That is, Pugachev does not mean anything by himself, he is needed only as a name in order for this already overdue indignation to take place. Speaking of Pugachev, Pushkin most often uses the word the villain. Pushkin himself never calls the Pugachev uprising an uprising - a revolt, a rebellion, an indignation. It's very interesting how he uses the word treason. The Cossacks who took part in the rebellion are all traitors, because they were supposed to serve the empress, but Pushkin speaks of treason only in relation to the nobles who went over to the side of the rebels.

And in The Captain's Daughter,- continues Georgy Alexandrovich, - Pushkin uses the same words (gang, rebellion, rebellion, rebels, crowd) as in the History of the Pugachev rebellion. The only thing is that Pugachev is written differently.

Quote from Georgy Aleksandrovich Lesskis:

"Pugachev in The Captain's Daughter is not a real person, but an artistic image of a Russian robber."

There is another interesting passage from the final chapters of The Captain's Daughter. Grinev says:

“I will not describe our campaign and the end of the war. I'll say it briefly."

This rejection of the descriptive part is peculiar to Pushkin's prose and only to it. You won't find anything like it in any of his contemporaries.

Pushkin is extremely interested in the role of personality in history. Even in Boris Godunov, contemporaries were surprised to note that the title character Boris appears in only nine scenes out of twenty-three. His antagonist, False Dmitry, and even less so. The question arises: who is the main character? In the same way, in The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin, depicting the Pugachev rebellion, bringing Pugachev to the fore, and in the last chapter Catherine, focuses primarily on the inner world of Petrusha Grinev and his relationship with Masha Mironova.

It turns out that history is not created by leaders and kings, as it was commonly thought, but we are ordinary participants, people living private lives.

“When Pushkin started working on The Captain's Daughter, he was interested in such a plot: a nobleman becomes a participant, and sometimes even the leader of a gang of robbers, a popular revolt. This plot was at "Dubrovsky". But the deeper Pushkin dealt with his topic, the more he got acquainted with archival materials, the more he questioned the participants, survivors, witnesses of the events of 60 years ago, the clearer it became to him that the relationship between the nobles and the people could not be different. They were hostile. Pushkin shows the atrocities on both sides: the atrocities of the government troops and the atrocities of the Pugachevites.

There is an extremely important point here. It turns out that if you act formally, according to social logic, according to the logic of class, according to the logic of war, then Pugachev (Fig. 11) should hang Grinev, as his assistant Beloborodov advises:

“He does not recognize you as a sovereign, does not ask you for help. Better yet, order them to take him to the office and light the fire. He must have been sent to us."

Rice. 11. Emelyan Pugachev ()

Pugachev is not acting for any formal benefit. He is able to be merciful, he saves Masha Mironova and lets her and Grinev go home. The same with Ekaterina (Fig. 12): formally, Grinev is a criminal. He must be punished. Ekaterina listens to Masha Mironova (by the way, Masha comes to ask not for justice, but for mercy) and forgives.

Rice. 12. Catherine II ()

That is, there is a cruel logic of social, social, class relations - the logic of war. And there is something that is above this logic. First of all, it is mercy.

Look at the quote by Yu.M. Lotman (Fig. 13):

“For Pushkin in The Captain's Daughter, the right path is not to move from the camp of modernity to another, but to rise above the cruel century, while retaining humanity, human dignity and respect for the living life of other people. This is the true path to the people for him.

Rice. 13. Yu.M. Lotman ()

The problem of honor is already visible in the epigraph to the whole novel:

"Keep honor from a young age."

The whole novel is the formation of Grinev, this is an endless chain of trials in which Grinev remains true to honor.

Bibliography

Korovina V.Ya. etc. Literature. 8th grade. Textbook in 2 hours - 8th ed. - M.: Education, 2009.
Merkin G.S. Literature. 8th grade. Tutorial in 2 parts. - 9th ed. - M.: 2013.
Kritarova Zh.N. Analysis of works of Russian literature. 8th grade. - 2nd ed., corrected. - M.: 2014.

lit-helper.com().
Pushkin.niv.ru ().
Hrono.ru ().

Homework

Name the historical works of A.S. Pushkin. What is the role of history in the story "The Captain's Daughter"?
Draw parallels between the work of Pushkin and the novels of Walter Scott. What do the works of these writers have in common, and how do they radically differ?
How does Pushkin raise the problem of humanity in The Captain's Daughter?

The history of the creation of the work "The Captain's Daughter"

The topic of popular uprisings led by Razin and Pugachev interested Pushkin as early as 1824, shortly after his arrival in Mikhailovskoye. In the first half of November 1824, in a letter to his brother Leo, he asked to send him "The Life of Emelka Pugachev" (Pushkin, vol. 13, p. 119). Pushkin had in mind the book "False Peter III, or Life, character and atrocities of the rebel Emelka Pugachev" (Moscow, 1809). In the next letter to his brother, Pushkin writes: “Ah! Oh my god, I almost forgot! Here is your task: historical, dry news about Senka Razin, the only poetic person in Russian history ”(Pushkin, vol. 13, p. 121). In Mikhailovsky, Pushkin processed folk songs about Razin.
The poet's interest in the topic was also due to the fact that the second half of the 1820s was marked by a wave of peasant indignations, the unrest did not bypass the Pskov region, where Pushkin lived until the autumn of 1826 and where he repeatedly visited later. The peasant unrest of the late 1820s created an alarming situation.
On September 17, 1832, Pushkin left for Moscow, where P.V. Nashchokin told him about the trial of the Belarusian nobleman Ostrovsky; this story formed the basis of the story "Dubrovsky"; the idea of a story about a Pugachev nobleman was temporarily abandoned - Pushkin returned to it at the end of January 1833. During these years, the poet actively collected historical material for a future book: he worked in the archives, visited places associated with the Pugachev uprising. As a result, a book about Pugachev was created simultaneously with The Captain's Daughter. Work on The History of Pugachev helped Pushkin to realize his artistic vision: The Captain's Daughter was roughly finished on July 23, 1836. Pushkin, not entirely satisfied with the original version, rewrote the book. On October 19, The Captain's Daughter was rewritten to the end, and on October 24 it was sent to the censor. Pushkin asked the censor, PA. Korsakov, not to disclose the secret of his authorship, intending to publish the story anonymously. The Captain's Daughter appeared on December 22, 1836 in the fourth issue of the Sovremennik magazine.

Genus, genre, creative method

Pushkin probably chose the title for his work only in the autumn of 1836, when the manuscript was sent by the writer to the censors; Until that time, when referring to The Captain's Daughter in his letters, Pushkin called his story simply a novel. To this day, there is no consensus on the definition of the genre of The Captain's Daughter. The work is called both a novel, and a story, and a family chronicle. As mentioned above, the poet himself considered his work a novel. Later, researchers came to the conclusion that "The Captain's Daughter" is a story. In form, these are memoirs - notes by old Grinev, in which he recalls a story that happened in his youth - a family chronicle intertwined with historical events. So, the genre of The Captain's Daughter can be defined as a historical novel in memoir form. It is no coincidence that Pushkin turned to the memoir form. Firstly, the memoirs gave the work the color of the era; secondly, they helped to avoid censorship difficulties.
Documentary is obvious in the work, its heroes are real-life people: Catherine II, Pugachev, his associates Khlopusha and Beloborodoe. At the same time, historical events are refracted through the fate of fictional characters. A love affair appears. Artistic fiction, the complexity of the composition and the construction of characters make it possible to attribute Pushkin's work to the genre of the novel.
The Captain's Daughter is a realistic work, although not without some features of romanticism. The realism of the novel lies in the objective depiction of historical events associated with the Pugachev uprising, depicting the realities of life and life of the nobility, ordinary Russian people, serfs. Romantic traits appear in episodes related to the love line of the novel. The plot itself is romantic.

Subject of the analyzed work

There are two main problems in The Captain's Daughter. These are socio-historical and moral problems. Pushkin wanted, first of all, to show how the fate of the heroes of the story developed, who fell into the cycle of historical upheavals. The problem of the people and the problem of the Russian national character come to the fore. The problem of the people is embodied through the ratio of the images of Pugachev and Savelich, through the depiction of the characters of the inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress.
The proverb, taken by Pushkin as an epigraph to the whole story, draws the reader's attention to the ideological and moral content of the work: one of the most important problems of The Captain's Daughter is the problem of moral education, the formation of the personality of Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, the protagonist of the story. The epigraph is an abbreviated version of the Russian proverb: "Take care of the dress again, and honor from youth." Grinev the father recalls this proverb in full, admonishing his son, who is leaving for the army. The problem of honor and duty is revealed through the opposition of Grinev and Shvabrin. Different facets of this problem are reflected in the images of Captain Mironov, Vasilisa Yegorovna, Masha Mironova and other characters.
The problem of the moral education of a young man of his time deeply worried Pushkin; with particular acuteness, she stood before the writer after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, which in Pushkin's mind was perceived as a tragic denouement of the life path of his best contemporaries. The accession of Nicholas I led to a sharp change in the moral "climate" of the noble society, to oblivion of the educational traditions of the 18th century. Under these conditions, Pushkin felt an urgent need to compare the moral experience of different generations, to show the continuity between them. Pushkin contrasts the representatives of the "new nobility" with people who are morally whole, not affected by the thirst for ranks, orders and profit.
One of the most important moral problems of the novel - the personality at the turning points of history - remains relevant today. The writer raised the question: is it possible to preserve honor and dignity in the struggle of opposing social forces? And he answered it at a high artistic level. Maybe!

A well-known researcher of creativity A.S. Pushkin Yu.M. Lotman wrote: “The entire artistic fabric of The Captain's Daughter is clearly divided into two ideological and stylistic layers, subordinate to the image of the worlds - noble and peasant. It would be an unacceptable simplification, preventing penetration into Pushkin’s true intention, to consider that the noble world is depicted in the story only satirically, and the peasant world only sympathetically, as well as to assert that everything poetic in the noble camp belongs, according to Pushkin, not specifically to the noble, but nationwide beginning.
In the author's ambiguous attitude to the uprising and Pugachev himself, as well as to Grinev and other characters, the ideological orientation of the novel is laid down. Pushkin could not have a positive attitude towards the cruelty of the rebellion ("God forbid to see the Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless!"), although he understood that the people's desire for freedom and freedom is manifested in the uprising. Pugachev, for all his cruelty, in the image of Pushkin is sympathetic. He is shown as a man of wide soul, not devoid of mercy. In the storyline of love between Grinev and Masha Mironova, the author presented the ideal of selfless love.

Main heroes

N.V. Gogol wrote that in The Captain's Daughter “truly Russian characters appeared for the first time: a simple commandant of a fortress, a captain, a lieutenant; the fortress itself with a single cannon, the stupidity of time and the simple grandeur of ordinary people, everything is not only the very truth, but even, as it were, better than it.
The system of characters in the work is based on the presence or absence of the spiritual victorious principle in a person. Thus, the principle of confrontation between good, light, love, truth and evil, darkness, hatred, lies is reflected in the novel in the contrasting distribution of the main characters. Grinev and Marya Ivanovna are in the same circle; in the other, Pugachev and Shvabrin.
The central figure in the novel is Pugachev. All the storylines of Pushkin's work converge to him. Pugachev in the image of Pushkin is a talented leader of a spontaneous popular movement, he embodies a bright national character. He can be both cruel and scary, and fair and grateful. His attitude towards Grinev and Masha Mironova is indicative. The elements of the popular movement captured Pugachev, the motives of his actions are embedded in the morality of the Kalmyk fairy tale, which he tells Grinev: “... rather than eat carrion for three hundred years, it’s better to drink living blood once, and then what God will give!”
In comparison with Pugachev, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev is a fictional character. The name of Grinev (in the draft version he was called Bu-lanin) was not chosen by chance. In government documents relating to the Pugachev rebellion, Grinev's name was listed among those who were at first under suspicion and then acquitted. Coming from an impoverished noble family, Petrusha Grinev at the beginning of the story is a vivid example of an undergrowth, treated kindly and loved by his family. The circumstances of military service contribute to the maturation of Grinev, in the future he appears as a decent person, capable of bold deeds.
“The name of the girl Mironova,” Pushkin wrote on October 25, 1836, to the PA censor Korsakov, “is fictitious. My novel is based on a legend, which I once heard, that one of the officers who betrayed his duty and joined the Pugachev gangs was pardoned by the Empress at the request of her elderly father, who threw himself at her feet. The novel, as you will see, has gone far from the truth. Having settled on the title "The Captain's Daughter", Pushkin emphasized the importance of the image of Marya Ivanovna Mironova in the novel. The captain's daughter is depicted as something bright, young and pure. Behind this appearance shines through the heavenly purity of the soul. The main content of her inner world is complete trust in God. Throughout the entire novel, there is never even a hint of not only a rebellion, but also a doubt about the correctness or justice of what is happening. So, this is most clearly manifested in Masha's refusal to marry a loved one against the will of his parents: “Your relatives do not want me in their family. Be in everything the will of the Lord! God knows better than we what we need. There is nothing to do, Pyotr Andreevich; at least be happy..." Masha combined the best qualities of the Russian national character - faith, the ability for sincere self-sacrificing love. She is a vivid, memorable image, Pushkin's "sweet ideal".
In search of a hero for historical narrative, Pushkin turned his attention to the figure of Shvanvich, a nobleman who served Pugachev; in the final version of the story, this historical person, with a significant change in the motives for his transition to the side of Pugachev, turned into Shvabrin. This character has absorbed all sorts of negative characteristics, the main of which is presented in the definition of Vasilisa Egorovna, given by her when reprimanding Grinev for the fight: “Peter Andreevich! I didn't expect this from you. How are you not ashamed? Good Alexei Ivanovich: he was discharged from the guards for murder, and he does not believe in the Lord God; and what are you? are you going there?" The captain accurately pointed out the essence of the confrontation between Shvabrin and Grinev: the godlessness of the first, which dictates all the meanness of his behavior, and the faith of the second, which is the basis of worthy behavior and good deeds. His feeling for the captain's daughter is a passion that revealed in him all the worst properties and traits: ignobleness, meanness of nature, bitterness.

The place of secondary characters in the system of images

An analysis of the work shows that the relatives and friends of Grinev and Masha play an important role in the system of characters. This is Andrei Petrovich Grinev, the father of the protagonist. A representative of the ancient nobility, a man of high moral principles. It is he who sends his son to the army to "sniff the gunpowder". Next to him in life is his wife and mother Peter - Avdotya Vasilievna. She is the epitome of kindness and motherly love. The serf Savelich (Arkhip Savelyev) can rightfully be attributed to the Grinev family. He is a caring uncle, Peter's teacher, who selflessly accompanies the pupil in all his adventures. Savelich showed particular courage in the scene of the execution of the defenders of the Belogorsk fortress. The image of Savelich reflected a typical image of the upbringing that was given at that time to the sons of landowners who lived in their villages.
Captain Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, commandant of the Belogorsk Fortress, is an honest and kind man. He bravely fights against the rebels, protecting the fortress, and with it his family. Captain Mironov fulfilled his soldier's duty with honor, giving his life for the fatherland. The fate of the captain was shared by his wife Vasilisa Yegorovna, hospitable and power-hungry, cordial and courageous.
Some characters in the novel have historical prototypes. This is primarily Pugachev and Catherine II. Then Pugachev's associates: Corporal Beloborodoe, Afanasy Sokolov (Khlopusha).

Plot and composition

The plot of The Captain's Daughter is based on the fate of the young officer Pyotr Grinev, who managed to remain kind and humane in difficult historical circumstances. The love story of the relationship between Grinev and Masha Mironova, the daughter of the commandant of the Belogorsk fortress, takes place during the Pugachev uprising (1773-1774). Pugachev is the link of all storylines of the novel.
There are fourteen chapters in The Captain's Daughter. The whole novel and each chapter is preceded by an epigraph, there are seventeen of them in the novel. In the epigraphs, the reader's attention is focused on the most important episodes, the author's position is determined. The epigraph to the whole novel: "Take care of honor from a young age" - defines the main moral problem of the whole work - the problem of honor and dignity. The events are presented in memoir form on behalf of the aged Pyotr Grinev. At the end of the last chapter, the narration is conducted by the "publisher", behind whom Pushkin himself is hiding. The final words of the "publisher" are the epilogue of The Captain's Daughter.
The first two chapters are an exposition of the story and introduce readers to the main characters - the bearers of the ideals of the noble and peasant worlds. The story about Grinev's family and upbringing, riddled with irony, plunges us into the world of the old local nobility. The description of the life of the Grinevs resurrects the atmosphere of that noble culture that gave rise to the cult of duty, honor and humanity. Petrush was brought up by deep ties with family roots, reverence for family traditions. The description of the life of the Mironov family in the Belogorsk fortress in the first three chapters of the main part of the narrative is permeated with the same atmosphere: "Fortress", "Duel", "Love".
The seven chapters of the main part, which tell about life in the Belogorsk fortress, are important for the development of the love storyline. The plot of this line is Petrusha's acquaintance with Masha Mironova, in a collision because of her, Grinev and Shvabrin develop an action, and a declaration of love between the wounded Grinev and Masha is the culmination of the development of their relationship. However, the heroes' romance comes to a standstill after a letter from Grinev's father, who refuses his son's consent to marriage. The events that prepared the way out of the love impasse are narrated in the chapter “Pugachevshchina”.
In the plot construction of the novel, both the love line and historical events are clearly indicated, which are closely intertwined. The chosen plot and compositional structure of the work allows Pushkin to most fully reveal the personality of Pugachev, comprehend the popular uprising, using the example of Grinev and Masha, to turn to the basic moral values of the Russian national character.

Artistic originality of the work

One of the general principles of Russian prose before Pushkin was its rapprochement with poetry. Pushkin refused such a rapprochement. Pushkin's prose is distinguished by brevity and plot-compositional clarity. In recent years, the poet was worried about a certain number of problems: the role of the individual in history, the relationship between the nobility and the people, the problem of the old and new nobility. The literature that preceded Pushkin created a certain, often one-linear type of hero, in which some one passion dominated. Pushkin rejects such a hero and creates his own. Pushkin's hero is, first of all, a living person with all his passions; moreover, Pushkin defiantly refuses the romantic hero. He introduces the average person as the main character into the artistic world, which makes it possible to reveal the special, typical features of a particular era, situation. At the same time, Pushkin deliberately slows down the development of the plot, using a complicated composition, the image of the narrator, and other artistic devices.

So, in The Captain's Daughter, a "publisher" appears, who, on behalf of the author, expresses his attitude to what is happening. The author's position is indicated by various techniques: parallelism in the development of storylines, composition, system of images, titles of chapters, selection of epigraphs and inserted elements, mirror comparison of episodes, verbal portrait of the characters of the novel.
Important for Pushkin was the question of the style and language of a prose work. In the note “On the reasons that slowed down the progress of our literature,” he wrote: “Our prose has not yet been processed so little that even in simple correspondence we are forced to create turns of words to explain the most ordinary concepts ...” Thus, Pushkin was faced with the task of creating a new prose language. Pushkin himself defined the distinctive properties of such a language in the note “On Prose”: “Accuracy and brevity are the first virtues of prose. It requires thoughts and thoughts - without them, brilliant expressions are of no use. Such was the prose of Pushkin himself. Simple two-part sentences, without complex syntactic formations, a negligible number of metaphors and precise epithets - such is the style of Pushkin's prose. Here is an excerpt from The Captain's Daughter, typical of Pushkin's prose: “Pugachev has left. For a long time I looked at the white steppe, along which his troika was rushing. The people dispersed. Shvabrin disappeared. I returned to the priest's house. Everything was ready for our departure; I didn't want to delay any longer." Pushkin's prose was accepted by his contemporaries without much interest, but Gogol, Dostoevsky and Turgenev grew out of it in the further development.
The peasant way of life in the novel is covered with special poetry: songs, fairy tales, legends permeate the whole atmosphere of the story about the people. The text contains a burlak song and a Kalmyk folk tale, in which Pugachev explains his philosophy of life to Grinev.
An important place in the novel is occupied by proverbs, which reflect the originality of folk thought. Researchers have repeatedly paid attention to the role of proverbs and riddles in the characterization of Pugachev. But other characters from the people also speak proverbs. Savelyich writes in a reply to the master: "... be a good fellow, do not reproach: a horse with four legs, but stumbles."

Meaning

The Captain's Daughter is Pushkin's final work both in the genre of fiction and in all his work. And indeed, in this work, many topics, problems, and ideas that have been exciting Pushkin for many years have come together; means and ways of their artistic embodiment; basic principles of the creative method; author's assessment and ideological position on the key concepts of human existence and the world.
Being a historical novel, including real concrete historical material (events, historical persons), The Captain's Daughter contains in a concentrated form the formulation and solution of socio-historical, psychological, moral and religious issues. The novel was ambiguously received by Pushkin's contemporaries and played a decisive role in the further development of Russian literary prose.
One of the first reviews written after the publication of The Captain's Daughter belongs to V.F. Odoevsky and is dated approximately December 26 of the same year. “You know everything that I think about you and feel for you,” Odoevsky writes to Pushkin, “but here is criticism not in artistic, but in reading terms: Pugachev attacks the fortress too soon after he is first spoken about; the increase in rumors is not quite extended - the reader does not have time to be afraid for the inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress, when it has already been taken. Apparently, Odoevsky was struck by the brevity of the narrative, the unexpectedness and speed of the plot twists, the compositional dynamism, which, as a rule, were not characteristic of historical works of that time. Odoevsky praised the image of Savelich, calling him "the most tragic face." Pugachev, from his point of view, is “wonderful; it is masterfully drawn. Shvabrin is sketched beautifully, but only sketched; it is difficult for the reader's teeth to chew through his transition from a guard officer to Pugachev's accomplices.<...>Shvabrin is too smart and subtle to believe in the possibility of Pugachev's success, and is displeased with passion to decide on such a thing out of love for Masha. Masha has been in his power for so long, but he does not use these minutes. For the time being Shvabrin has a lot of moral and miraculous things for me; Maybe when I read it for the third time, I'll understand better. The sympathetic positive characteristics of The Captain's Daughter, which belong to V.K. Kuchelbecker, P.A. Katenin, P.A. Vyazemsky, A.I. Turgenev.
“... This whole story “The Captain's Daughter” is a miracle of art. Don’t subscribe to it Pushkin, 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, so that in this miracle of art art seems to have disappeared, lost , it came to nature ... "- wrote F.M. Dostoevsky.
What is the Captain's Daughter? Everyone knows that this is one of the most precious assets of our literature. By the simplicity and purity of its poetry, this work is equally accessible, equally attractive to adults and children. On The Captain's Daughter (just like on S. Aksakov's Family Chronicle) Russian children educate their mind and their feelings, because teachers, without any extraneous instructions, find that there is no book in our literature more understandable and entertaining and at the same time, so serious in content and high in creativity,” N.N. expressed his opinion. Strakhov.
The later response of the writer V.A. adjoins the reviews of Pushkin’s literary associates. Sollogub: “There is a work by Pushkin, little appreciated, little noticed, but in which, however, he expressed all his knowledge, all his artistic convictions. This is the story of the Pugachev rebellion. In the hands of Pushkin, on the one hand, there were dry documents, the topic was ready. On the other hand, pictures of a daring robber life, Russian former life, the Volga expanse, steppe nature could not help but smile at his imagination. Here the didactic and lyrical poet had an inexhaustible source for descriptions, for impulses. But Pushkin overcame himself. He did not allow himself to deviate from the connection of historical events, did not utter an extra word - he calmly distributed all the parts of his story in due proportion, approved his style with the dignity, calmness and laconicism of history and conveyed a historical episode in a simple but harmonious language. In this work it is impossible not to see how the artist could control his talent, but it was also impossible for the poet to keep the excess of his personal feelings, and they poured out in the Captain's daughter, they gave her color, fidelity, charm, completeness, to which Pushkin had never exalted in the integrity of his works.

It is interesting

The problems posed by Pushkin in The Captain's Daughter remained unresolved. This is what attracts more than one generation of artists and musicians to the novel. Based on the work of Pushkin, a picture was painted by V.G. Perov "Pugachevshchina" (1879). The illustrations of The Captain's Daughter by M.V. Nesterov (“The Siege”, “Pugachev freeing Masha from the claims of Shvabrin”, etc.) and watercolors by SV. Ivanova. In 1904, AN illustrated The Captain's Daughter. Be-nua. The scenes of Pugachev's trial in the Belogorsk fortress were interpreted by different artists, among which are famous names: AN. Benois (1920), A.F. Pakhomov (1944), M.S. , AAPlastov, S.V. Ivanov (1960s). In 1938, N.V. worked on illustrations for the novel. Favorsky. In a series of 36 watercolors for The Captain's Daughter, SV. Gerasimov, the image of Pugachev is given in development. A mysterious figure in an inn, a multi-figure spread, a court in the Belogorsk fortress - the center of the artistic solution of the work of AS. Pushkin and a series of watercolors. One of the contemporary illustrators of Pushkin's novel is DA Shmarinov (1979).
More than 1000 composers turned to the poet's work; about 500 Pushkin's compositions (poetry, prose, drama) formed the basis of more than 3,000 musical works. The story "The Captain's Daughter" served as the basis for the creation of operas by CA Cui and SA Katz, V.I. Rebikov, opera designs by M.P. Mussorgsky and P.I. Tchaikovsky, ballet N.N. Tcherepnin, music for films and theatrical performances by G.N. Dudkevich, V.A. Dekhterev, V.N. Kryukova, S.S. Prokofiev, T.N. Khrennikov.
(According to the book "Pushkin in Music" - M., 1974)

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