A. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter": description, characters, analysis of the work

History of creation. One of the motives for writing “The Captain’s Daughter” was the fascination of Pushkin and his contemporaries with the novels of Walter Scott. This Scottish writer was the founder of the classic historical novel, in which the main characters are fictional characters, and their lives unfold against the backdrop of a specific historical era.

In this case, such an era was the years of the Peasant War under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev. Pushkin thoroughly studied the history of the Pugachev uprising, which he reflected in his “History of Pugachev”; this historical work was based not only on the study of the few remaining documents, but also on the stories of contemporaries of the events.

According to critics, “The Captain's Daughter” was, as it were, a logical continuation of this historical work, which had something that the outwardly dry academic narrative of the book lacked.

Plot. The hero of the story is Pyotr Grinev, an old officer who writes memoirs about his turbulent youth. The story is told on his behalf. The hero talks about his childhood, his parents, and how at the age of 16 his strict officer father sent him to the army. He was sent to serve in the Belogorsk fortress - a poor and dull place, inhabited by old soldiers of the Pavlovian era.

On the way to his place of duty, Grinev met an unknown Cossack, who, as it later turned out, turned out to be Pugachev himself; At that time he was not yet the leader of the rebel peasants. Pugachev accompanied him to the inn, and in gratitude Grinev gave him his sheepskin coat.

In the fortress, Grinev fell in love with the captain's daughter Masha. His colleague, Shvabrin, fell in love with her. They challenge each other to a duel, and Shvabrin wounds Grinev. Grinev's father learned about these events, who flatly refused to give permission for the marriage if Grinev decided to get married. Subsequently, a peasant war breaks out.

Yesterday's simple Cossack Pugachev is the leader of the rebels. His militia successfully captures fortresses, including besieging Belogorskaya. Pugachev executes the nobles, and lures ordinary people into his army. Grinev was also subject to execution, but unexpectedly Pugachev recognized him as the one who had helped him on the way to the fortress. He gives Grinev life and offers to go to him, but he refuses. Shvabrin goes over to the side of the rebels.

Meanwhile, Grinev goes to Orenburg, besieged by the Pugachevites, and fights there against them. He receives a letter from Masha, who remained in the fortress due to illness, and learns from it that Shvabrin is forcing her to marry him. Without asking permission from his superiors, Grinev goes to the fortress and, with the help of Pugachev, rescues Masha. Shvabrin, however, subsequently denounces Grinev, and he is arrested. He is sentenced to death, which is replaced with eternal exile. A few years later, Masha goes to Catherine II to beg her for mercy for Grinev.

Heroes. Pyotr Grinev, Alexey Shvabrin, Maria Mironova, Emelyan Pugachev, Arkhip Savelich.

Subject. Patriotism, honor, devotion and love.

Issues. The novel “The Captain's Daughter” is dedicated to a grandiose event in Russian history - the Pugachev uprising. Pushkin himself characterized it as nothing less than “a Russian revolt, senseless and merciless.” However, Pugachev appears in the novel rather as a positive character. He is friends with the main character and helps him save his beloved, saving her from a forced marriage to a state traitor.

Pugachev has his own truth in this war: he fights for justice; attacking fortresses, he kills only aristocratic officers, and does not touch ordinary people, only inviting them to come over to his side. Researching the history of the Pugachev rebellion, Pushkin probably drew attention to the fact that the uprising was generated primarily by corruption and injustice on the part of the tsarist government, and after the defeat of the rebels, all information about the Pugachevites was carefully destroyed by order of Catherine: they burned documents, renamed geographical objects, prohibited -or mention this event, including in the press.

Against the backdrop of a historical peasant war, the love story of the main characters unfolds. For the sake of love, Grinev is ready to do anything: he fights in a duel. He leaves his place of duty without permission, and even in the midst of hostilities. And love becomes the only source of justice: the aristocratic royal army brutally deals with the Cossacks and peasants, and in addition arrests Grinev, having listened to the denunciation of the traitor Shvabrin; and only Masha manages to achieve justice and “reach out” to the empress herself.

Genre- a story describing historical events.

Pushkin is the founder of one of the greatest literatures in the world, the founder of Russian realism with its advanced, democratic, humanistic traditions. He created the classical Russian literary language. According to N.V. Gogol, “at the name of Pushkin, the thought of a Russian national poet immediately dawns on me. In it, Russian nature, Russian soul, Russian language, Russian character were reflected in the same purity, in such purified beauty as the surrounding bodies are reflected on the convex surface of optical glass.”

The variety of developed genres and styles, the lightness, grace and accuracy of verse, the relief and strength of characters, “enlightened humanism”, the universality of poetic thinking and the very personality of Pushkin predetermined his paramount importance in Russian literature: Pushkin raised it to the world level.

In the novel in verse, “Eugene Onegin” recreated the lifestyle and spiritual and moral ideals of his contemporary, a native of the capital’s nobility. In this novel and in many other works, Pushkin addresses the problem of individualism, the boundaries of freedom, posed in “Gypsies.”

Pushkin was the first to identify many of the leading problems of Russian literature of the 19th century. “Little Tragedies” raises issues of love, friendship, creative vocation, meaning and justification of existence, death and immortality. In “Andrei Chenier”, “The Prophet”, the problems of the unity of poetry and freedom, poetry and politics, poetry and modernity are raised. The lack of a solid social status determined such motifs in Pushkin’s work as loneliness, the meaninglessness of existence, human defenselessness in the face of nature, fate, despotism (“Anchar”, “Road Complaints”, “A Vain Gift, an Accidental Gift”). Hence the motives of hope and saving love (“Memory”, “I loved you.”, “Premonition”).

But still, the most important issue in Pushkin’s work is the question of complex, fraught with catastrophe, relations between power, the nobility and the people, the state and the individual, the role of the individual in history (the tragedy “Boris Godunov”, the poems “Poltava”, “The Bronze Horseman”) .

The most important, determining Pushkin’s position in prose, was the historical novel “The Captain’s Daughter,” written in the form of memoirs.

The idea for The Captain's Daughter arose when Pushkin began working on The History of Pugachev. It turned out that there is no point in inventing unprecedented plots, endowing paper heroes with fatal passions, when real Russian history is a living treasure trove of plots and heroes. Pushkin discovered the events of sixty years ago, just as Columbus discovered America. Events and people appeared before him that you couldn’t read about and couldn’t make up out of your head.

Pushkin's interest in the 18th century was constant and unquenchable. It was in this century that the Russian nobility was forged, and with it the entire Russian society. Everything that was dear and hateful, scary and funny to the poet in Russia had its roots in the “grandfather’s” century. Therefore, he turns to a new genre of historical novel. In Western European literature, this genre was already being diligently developed, and Pushkin highly valued the novels of Walter Scott. But Pushkin would not have been Pushkin if he had blindly followed models, even the best. He took the idea of ​​the novel as a genre in which private fate is shown through history, and history through private fate: “In our time, by the word “novel” we mean a historical era developed on a fictional narrative.” But Pushkin avoided “romantic ideas”: excessive entertainment at the expense of the truth of the story and the truth of the characters, crackling efficiency, plot twists in order to intrigue the reader. “The Captain's Daughter” is strict, artless and outwardly more reminiscent of a document than a work of art.

In 1833, Pushkin went to the Volga and the Orenburg steppes to collect materials for the historical work he had planned - “The History of Pugachev.” At the same time, the idea of ​​a future novel is maturing. At first, Pushkin wanted to make the main character an officer who went over to Pugachev’s side. But what he learned, read in the archives and heard from eyewitnesses, strengthened him in the idea that such an act for a nobleman was completely atypical. There were no Dubrovskys in Pugachev’s army. The Pugachev rebellion precisely marked the gap between two Russias - noble and peasant. In a note addressed to Nicholas I, Pushkin wrote: “All the black people were for Pugachev. The clergy were kind to him. Only the nobility was openly on the side of the government.”

But The Captain's Daughter is a novel, not a historical study. The story in “The Captain's Daughter” is about small human destinies intertwined with the history of the people and the country.

Pushkin chose the title for his novel only in the fall of 1836. In any case, the name “The Captain's Daughter” appeared for the first time, as far as the surviving papers allow us to judge, in October 1836, when the writer sent the novel to the censor; Until this time, when mentioning “The Captain’s Daughter” in his letters, Pushkin called his story simply a novel.

In The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin wanted, first of all, to show how the fate of the characters in the story turned out, caught in the cycle of historical upheavals. That is why, unlike other characters, whose characters are presented in the story without any changes, as a certain given (be it Pugachev, Grinev the father, Savelich, Captain Mironov and some others), Grinev the son and the captain’s daughter are shown in development characters in the process of developing their personality.

The work was published in 1836. Its appearance meant the birth of the Russian novel. The Russian novel is a whole chapter in the book of world literature. And Pushkin began this chapter. The novel did not immediately receive universal recognition; but the further time passed, the more undeniable the opinion about the artistic perfection of Pushkin’s historical novel became. But how many different ideological and artistic perfections were found in him! Over the past centuries, "The Captain's Daughter" has become an integral part of Russian culture, not only in itself, but also for the role that it was destined to play in the intense literary and social struggle of subsequent eras. “The Captain’s Daughter” became for Russian prose what Homer’s poems were for the Greeks. “Compared to The Captain’s Daughter, all our novels and stories,” wrote N.V. Gogol, “seem like cloying rubbish. For the first time, true Russian characters appeared: a simple commandant of the fortress, a captain’s wife, a lieutenant; the fortress itself with a single cannon, the confusion of time and the simple greatness of ordinary people, everything is not only the very truth, but even, as it were, better than it.” Belinsky compared both Pushkin novels and assessed their characters: “The Captain’s Daughter” is something like “Onegin” in prose. The poet depicts in it the mores of Russian society during the reign of Catherine, which determined the inviolable moral ideals that Pushkin accepts and affirms.

You can survive many troubles and hardships, but you cannot come to terms with the decay of morality. Loss of honor is a decline in moral principles, which is always followed by punishment. The concept of honor is brought up in a person from childhood. Thus, using the example of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin’s novel “The Captain’s Daughter,” it is clearly visible how this happens in life and what results it leads to.

Take care of your honor from a young age. The proverb, taken by Pushkin as an epigraph to the entire novel, 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 main character of the novel.

The epigraph to the novel “The Captain's Daughter” is an abbreviated version of the proverb: “Take care of your dress again.” Grinev the father recalls this proverb in full when admonishing his son going into the army: “Take care of your dress again, but take care of your honor from a young age,” according to the author’s wishes, not by chance.

Because the problem of moral education of a young man of his time deeply worried Pushkin; it confronted the writer with particular poignancy after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, which in Pushkin’s mind was perceived as a tragic denouement in the life path of his best contemporaries. The accession of Nicholas I led to a sharp change in the moral “climate” of noble society, to the 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 and to show the continuity between them. He perceives fidelity to educational ideals and high moral standards as the only salvation from official government morality, which was intensively instilled in the years of the post-December reaction. Pushkin contrasts representatives of the “new nobility” with people who are morally whole, not affected by the thirst for ranks, orders and profit. And the epigraph allows us to reveal to what extent this or that hero from “The Captain’s Daughter” embodies the ideals of honor and high moral standards.

Pushkin reveals different facets of the ideal of honor through the mouths of different heroes:

Ivan Kuzmich was an uneducated and simple man, but the most honest and kind (author-storyteller);

The best and most lasting changes come from improving morals, without any violent upheaval (author-narrator);

Ivan Kuzmich was the most straightforward and truthful person (author-storyteller);

But aren’t husband and wife one spirit and one flesh (Vasilisa Egorovna);

They are ready to cut themselves and sacrifice not only their lives, but also their conscience and well-being (Masha Mironova with condemnation);

It is our duty to defend the fortress until our last breath. There is nothing to say about this (Petr Grinev);

Duty demanded that I appear where my service could still be useful to the fatherland in the present difficult circumstances. (Petr Grinev);

Well, kids, today let’s stand up for Mother Empress and prove to the whole world that we are brave people and jurors! (Ivan Kuzmich);

Baba (Vasilisa Egorovna) is not a timid ten (Ivan Kuzmich);

Vasilisa Egorovna the very brave lady (Shvabrin);

Welcome; honor and place, you are welcome (Pugachev);

He (Grinev) accosted the impostor not out of ignorance and gullibility, but as an immoral and harmful scoundrel (the empress).

For the first time, Pushkin refers to the epigraph in the introduction to “The Captain’s Daughter,” which was not included in the final text (Peter Grinev’s letter to his grandson):

“My dear grandson Petrusha!

I often told you some incidents of my life, and I noticed that you always listened to me with attention, despite what happened to me, maybe retelling one thing for the hundredth time. I never answered some questions, promising to satisfy your curiosity over time. Now I have decided to fulfill my promise. - I begin my notes for you, or better yet, a sincere confession, with full confidence that my confessions will serve to your benefit. You know that, despite your pranks, I still believe that you will be of use, and I consider the main proof of this to be the similarity of your youth with mine. Of course, your father never caused me such grief as your parents suffered from you. - But you were born not like him, but like your grandfather, and, in my opinion, this is not a problem. You will see that, lured by the ardor of my passions into many delusions, finding myself several times in the most difficult circumstances, I finally emerged, and, thank God, lived to an old age, having earned the respect of my neighbors and good friends. I prophesy the same to you, dear Petrusha, if you preserve in your heart two wonderful qualities that I noticed in you: kindness and nobility.”

The main character of the novel, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, has been brought up since childhood in an environment of high everyday morality. In Grinev, the kind, loving heart of his mother seemed to be combined with honesty, directness, courage - qualities that are inherent in his father. According to Pushkin, the nobility was divided into two different layers - the old independent nobility with unshakable moral principles and the new nobility, which rose to prominence in the 18th century, in an era of stormy palace coups and favoritism. All of Pushkin’s sympathies were on the side of the old noble families, who, as the writer believed, were not affected by the corrupting influence of court life and remained faithful to ancient customs and traditions. It was in this environment that Pushkin found his hero - Grinev the father; The moral character of this man, unselfish and principled, who refused to serve the empress, determined the scale of moral assessments in “The Captain’s Daughter.” Andrei Petrovich Grinev has a negative attitude towards easy but dishonest ways to make a career at court. That is why he did not want to send his son Petrusha to serve in St. Petersburg, in the guard: “What will he learn by serving in St. Petersburg? Wander and hang out? - Andrei Petrovich says to his wife. “No, let him serve in the army, let him pull the strap, let him smell gunpowder, let him be a soldier, not a chamaton.” In his parting words to his son, Grinev especially emphasizes the need to maintain honor: “Serve faithfully to whom you swear allegiance, obey your superiors; Don’t chase their affection; don’t ask for service; don’t talk yourself out of serving and remember the proverb: take care of your dress again, but take care of your honor from a young age.” This parting word from his father stays with Grinev for the rest of his life and helps Petrushi not to stray from the right path.

Peter Grinev knows that his father is responsible for him and therefore, relying on him, unquestioningly obeys his father’s instructions, even at the moment when Andrei Petrovich refused to bless the marriage of Peter and Masha Mironova: “. Not only do I not intend to give you either my blessing or my consent. " But after the death of Masha’s parents, the Grinev couple joyfully accepted Masha: “They saw the grace of God in the fact that they had the opportunity to shelter and caress a poor orphan. Soon they became sincerely attached to her, because it was impossible to recognize her and not love her.” The love of Pyotr Grinev and Masha “no longer seemed like an empty whim to the priest; and mother only wanted her Petrusha to marry the captain’s sweet daughter.”

Conclusion: thanks to the epigraph, in the person of Andrei Petrovich Grinev, the character traits of the Russian nobleman are revealed: loyalty to parental duty, loyalty to religious Christian ideals, generosity, kindness and nobility.

Since childhood, Grinev has been greatly influenced by his faithful servant, but at the same time also by his friend, the serf Savelich. Savelich considers it his duty to serve Petrusha and be devoted to him from beginning to end. His devotion to his masters is far from slavish: “The ladder of perfection rises upward, a string of titanic images, and below lurks the vile, but undoubtedly genuine Savelich. A zealous slave, “not a flatterer,” faithful to his masters, proud of them, but capable of telling them to their faces, with servile rudeness, which the masters will forgive, and words of truth, always directed to the master’s, and not to his own interest. After all, that’s why the gentlemen forgive the rudeness of the old slave Savelich, because it is all for the master’s benefit.” Savelich’s loyalty to the Grinev family is deeply human, it has the character of a long-term family attachment of an old man, for whom Andrei Petrovich and Avdotya Vasilievna are “father” and “mother”, and their power, given by God, is indestructible: “And you deign to write that you will exile me herd pigs, and that’s your boyar’s will. For this I bow slavishly. Your faithful servant Arkhip Savelyev.”

During Petrusha's childhood, Savelich not only teaches him to write and judge the merits of a greyhound dog, but he also gives Grinev important advice that helped Peter in the future. With these words, for example, an old servant educates his ward Pyotr Grinev, who got drunk for the first time and behaved unsightly: “It seems that neither the father nor the grandfather were drunkards; there’s nothing to say about mother.” Thus, Grinev’s father and his faithful servant Savelich raised Peter from childhood to be a nobleman who did not consider it possible to change his oath and go over to the side of his enemies for his own good.

The first time, Pyotr Grinev acted honorably, returning the gambling debt, although in that situation Savelich tried to persuade him to evade payment. But nobility prevailed. It would seem like such a small thing, but it’s with these little things that everything begins.

A man of honor, in my opinion, is always kind and selfless in his interactions with others. For example, Pyotr Grinev, despite Savelich’s dissatisfaction, thanked the tramp for his service by giving him a hare sheepskin coat. This act saved both of their lives in the future. This episode seems to say that fate itself protects a person who lives by honor. But, of course, it’s not a matter of fate, but simply there are more people on earth who remember good than evil, which means that a noble person has a better chance of everyday happiness.

If it were not for Savelich’s intervention at the time of trial and oath, Grinev would have been hanged. Grinev himself spoke about this scene: “Suddenly I heard a cry: “Wait, you damned ones!” Wait!” The executioners stopped. I look: Savelich is lying at Pugachev’s feet. “Dear father! - said the poor guy - what do you want in the death of the master’s child? Let him go; They will give you a ransom for it; and for the sake of example and fear, order them to hang even me as an old man!” Pugachev gave a sign, and they immediately untied me and left me.” In this episode, Savelich accomplished a real feat. He always fussed and cared about his “master,” and Grinev did not take this into account, as if this was how everything should be, and yet Savelich saved his life for the second time. This is what it meant for Savelich to be truly devoted and to observe his duty.

Conclusion: thanks to the ideological and semantic load of the epigraph, the character traits of the serf Savelich are revealed: devotion to the owners, loyalty to religious and Christian ideals, responsibility for his own and his pupil’s actions.

Other facets of the honor and dignity of a nobleman are revealed by Pushkin in the person of the Mironov couple, whom Grinev met in the Belogorsk fortress, where he served. “Unsung heroes and heroines, Captain Mironov and his wife, serve as a justification for faith in the good meaning of life, to which is attached the measure not of external beauty, but of goodness and honor, or, better to say, good and honest have one common root. While reverently before the shrine of beauty, goodness is also seen. ". The Mironovs’ concept of honor and duty does not go beyond the scope of the charter, but you can always rely on such people. They are right in their own way: honor and duty in their understanding are above all.

Mironov is characterized by a sense of loyalty to duty, word, oath. He is not capable of treason and betrayal for the sake of his own well-being - he will accept death, but will not change, will not renounce his service: “Captain Mironov, related not only in rank, but also in spirit to Staff Captain Maxim Maksimych and Captain Tushin, in the completeness and integrity of his worldview best embodies this modest greatness, this highest heroism of simplicity. Not to mention his own tragic end, to what height does he elevate himself when, during Pugachev’s attack on the Belogorsk fortress, he speaks to the timid garrison these simple, these great words: “Why are you, kids, standing there? To die like this, to die, is a service!” (Aikhenvald Yu. Pushkin. 2nd edition, significantly expanded, M., 1916, p. 152). His courage, loyalty to duty and oath, his moral value and deep humanity are traits of a true Russian character. The image of Captain Mironov opens in Russian literature a gallery of ordinary military people who received the rank of officer for military merits, among whom we meet Staff Captain Maxim Maksimych (“Hero of Our Time”) and Captain Tushin (“War and Peace”).

Conclusion: thanks to the epigraph, the character traits of the commandant of the Belogorsk fortress, Captain Mironov, are revealed: loyalty to military and parental duty, nobility, kindness, generosity and loyalty to religious-Christian ideals, decency and purity of soul.

Vasilisa Egorovna is a representative of the small impoverished nobility: “In the middle of a clean room, decorated in the old-fashioned way, sat an old woman in a padded jacket with a scarf on her head, declaring herself the mistress of Captain Mironov.” It is no coincidence that the captain’s character traits are revealed thanks to Grinev, who was brought up on the principles of loyalty to honor and duty.

Vasilisa Egorovna received everyone “easily and cordially, not forgetting to object to the captain of the fortress: “I should sit at home and pray to God.” He mentions his civic feat casually: “20 years ago we were transferred here from the regiment.” Each of her actions corresponds to the will of God: “Lord, my God,” “Lord, Master, what have we lived to!” Vasilisa Egorovna, being the wife of a military man (“we’ve been in the service for forty years and, thank God, we’ve seen enough”), is ready to fulfill military duty after Ivan Kuzmich. Showing true courage, Vasilisa Yegorovna remains in the fortress during the siege of Pugachev: “Don’t ask me in a dream: I won’t go. There is no reason for me to part with you in my old age and look for a lonely grave on a strange side. Live together, die together." These words are like a hymn to her devotion to her husband, to her military duty, and to her empress.

The more terrible the execution scene, the more helpless Vasilisa Yegorovna turns out to be in the face of the robbers: “At that moment a woman’s scream was heard. Several robbers dragged Vasilisa Yegorovna onto the porch, disheveled and stripped naked.” In the face of death, she laments not about herself, but about her unfortunate husband: “Villains! What did you do to him? You are my light, Ivan Kuzmich, you brave little soldier! Neither Prussian bayonets nor Turkish bullets touched you; You didn’t lay down your belly in a fair fight, but perished from an escaped convict!” Dying, like a true defender of the Fatherland, from the saber of a young Cossack, “she fell dead on the steps of the porch.” Vasilisa Egorovna remained true to her ideals to the last: honor and duty.

Conclusion: thanks to the epigraph, the character traits of Vasilisa Egorovna are revealed: loyalty to the honor and duty of a wife and mother, heroism, simplicity, piety, kindness, responsibility for family and friends.

In the person of young Masha Mironova, the daughter of Captain Mironov, Pushkin shows a manifestation of the honor and dignity of female nature.

". Where is Masha?” Then a girl of about eighteen came in, chubby, ruddy, with light brown hair combed smoothly behind her ears, which were on fire.” The external portrait of Masha Mironova is unremarkable. Pushkin seems to deliberately emphasize its ordinariness, depriving it of any individual characteristics; She is not particularly beautiful and does not shine with intelligence. The heroine is the obedient daughter of her parents, accustomed from childhood to the unshakable norms of patriarchal morality. As the narrative unfolds, the best sides of her extraordinary nature emerge more and more clearly - straightforwardness, loyalty, honor and duty, the ability to endure sudden losses and everyday hardships with dignity. The tenacity of the captain's daughter's character manifests itself with particular force at the end of the novel, in her decision to come to the aid of her loved one in trouble.

In trouble, Masha discovered such spiritual depths that no one could have imagined at the beginning of the story in a young girl who blushed every time at the mere mention of her name. It would seem that Masha is so weak. But, deciding that she will never marry the vile Shvabrin in her life, she gathers courage and for the sake of her lover goes all the way to the empress herself to defend her love. These are her principles that she will not compromise: “Masha Mironova is a beautiful, unpretentious image of a simple Russian girl, an “honest daughter of an honest father,” who, in difficult life trials, managed to show real fortitude, courage and heroic readiness to fight to the end, appealing to a higher power and justice" (Reizov B.G. The Works of Walter Scott. M. -L., "Fiction", 1965, p. 39).

Conclusion: thanks to the epigraph, the character traits of Masha Mironova are revealed: modesty, nobility, spiritual purity, loyalty to religious Christian ideals, selflessness.

The key figure in the novel is Pyotr Grinev. The author allows him to talk about the trials that befell not only his lot, but also the lot of other heroes. The author traces his life path - the path of spiritual and moral formation of a nobleman who reaches the degree of spiritual morality in accordance with the formula of the epigraph. Peter combines the facets of the character of other heroes: loyalty to military duty and the nobility of his father, Masha’s simplicity and ease of communication, the courage and bravery of the Mironovs, the thirst for justice and sincerity of Pugachev.

Grinev cannot allow unfair lies against Masha and challenges Shvabrin to a duel: “You are lying, you bastard! You lie in the most shameless way." Peter does not care about his own life and refuses to swear allegiance to Pugachev. After all, having sworn allegiance to Pugachev, the killer of Masha’s parents, Petrusha became an accomplice in the crime. To kiss the hand of an impostor meant to betray all life's ideals - to betray honor. It was better to die, but to die a hero.

At dinner, a verbal duel breaks out between Pugachev and Grinev. But unexpectedly for Peter himself, a warrior awakens in Grinev the child. He stands up for his ideals with dignity: “I was not able to recognize a tramp as a sovereign: it seemed to me unforgivable cowardice.”

Peter loves Masha Mironova, and his love is so strong that he asks Pugachev himself to free her from the fortress, whose commander is now Shvabrin. After Masha’s release, Pugachev wants to marry them, but Grinev refuses him, since this act contradicts his life concepts: “Just don’t demand what is contrary to my honor and Christian conscience.”

After the capture of Pugachev during the execution, Peter with deep bitterness and annoyance regrets such an unheroic death of the man who spared him and rescued Masha from the hands of the vile Shvabrin: “Emelya, Emelya! Why didn’t you stumble on a bayonet or turn under buckshot? You couldn’t think of anything better.”

It would seem that a connection with the rebellious ataman would become fatal for Grinev. He is actually arrested based on a denunciation. He faces the death penalty, but Grinev decides, for reasons of honor, not to name his beloved, otherwise Masha would be brought to trial: “I wanted to continue as I began, and explain my connection with Marya Ivanovna as sincerely as everything else. But suddenly I felt an irresistible disgust. It occurred to me that if I named her, the commission would demand her to answer; and the idea of ​​entangling her name among the vile reports of villains and bringing her herself into a confrontation with them - this terrible thought struck me so much that I hesitated and became confused.” If he had told the whole truth about such a situation, he would probably have been acquitted. But at the very last moment, justice triumphed.

Masha asks a lady close to the Empress to pardon Grinev. The lady takes the poor girl at her word. This fact suggests that in a society where the majority of people live according to honor and justice, it is always easier to triumph. The lady turns out to be the empress herself, and the fate of her beloved Masha is decided for the better.

Grinev remains a man of honor to the end. His character reflects various facets of the manifestation of honor and dignity, previously discovered in other heroes.

Peter proved himself worthily from the very beginning of the novel in all the trials that befell him. In all his actions, he was guided by his convictions, followed the laws of officer honor and remained faithful to the military oath: “Finally (and I still remember this moment with self-satisfaction) a sense of duty triumphed in me over human weakness.” Grinev at such an early age (17 years old) is an example of serving the ideals of honor and duty.

Conclusion: thanks to the ideological and semantic load of the epigraph, the character traits of the young Russian officer Pyotr Grinev were revealed: loyalty to military duty, honor and his life ideals, generosity, courage, fearlessness, a sense of justice, decency and nobility.

Shvabrin is the complete opposite of Grinev. He is a selfish and ungrateful person. For the sake of his personal goals, Shvabrin is ready to commit any dishonorable act. This shows up in everything. Shvabrin, as it later turned out, wooed Masha, but was refused. Even during the fight, Shvabrin did not hesitate to take advantage of a dishonorable situation to strike. The duel almost ended with the death of Grinev due to Shvabrin’s meanness, if not for Savelich. Having recovered, Grinev learned that it was Shvabrin, once his best friend, who wrote a denunciation against him to Grinev’s father. No wonder they say: “Never talk bad about yourself, your friends will tell you everything themselves.” Naturally, this aroused in Peter hatred of his enemy. Shvabrin was always a “stone” in Grinev’s path. However, fate did not deprive Shvabrin of its attention for his sins. He got what he deserved: he will join Pugachev, and he will be condemned as a traitor.

Shvabrin was filled with indifference and contempt for the common people and honest, petty service people, for Captain Mironov, who was fulfilling his duty and morally standing above Shvabrin. The sense of honor in Shvabrin is very poorly developed. Shvabrin, as one would expect, went over to Pugachev’s side, but did not do so out of ideological convictions: he hoped to save his life, hoped to make a career with him if Pugachev was successful, and most importantly, he wanted, having dealt with his enemy, to forcibly marry Masha who didn't love him.

Shvabrin simply tried to forget about such important concepts for a Russian officer as duty to the fatherland, honor, and loyalty to the oath. Perhaps, deep down in his soul, he knew that such noble feelings existed, but they were alien to him. In extreme situations, he, first of all, wanted to survive, even through humiliation and betrayal: “Shvabrin fell to his knees. At that moment, contempt drowned out all feelings of hatred and anger in me. I looked with disgust at the nobleman lying at the feet of the runaway Cossack.”

External culture has little influence on the development of a person’s personality and character. After all, Shvabrin was more educated than Grinev. He read French novels and was an intelligent conversationalist. Shvabrin even got Grinev addicted to reading. Apparently, the family in which a person is raised is of decisive importance. And this once again proves that Grinev was educated in the spirit of the best noble traditions.

In the life of every person there is an intersection of two roads, and at the crossroads there is a stone with the inscription: “If you walk through life with honor, you will die. If you go against honor, you will live.” It was in front of this stone that the inhabitants of the fortress stood, including Grinev and Shvabrin. During the Pugachev rebellion, the moral qualities of some of the novel's heroes and the baseness of the feelings of others were especially evident.

Conclusion: thanks to the ideological and semantic load of the epigraph, the characteristics of Shvabrin’s character were revealed: rudeness, cruelty, cynicism, betrayal, cowardice, ability to violence and cowardice.

No less significant, but problematic is the figure of Pugachev. Pushkin has an ambivalent attitude towards Pugachev and therefore shows him from different sides: he is either a counselor to whom the kind Grinev gives a bunny sheepskin coat, or an impostor posing as Emperor Peter III, or a criminal imprisoned in an iron cage. From these scattered pictures, the author creates the image of the leader of a popular uprising, a man of violent temperament and strong will, torn apart by internal contradictions.

Pugachev showed generosity towards the young officer Grinev not only out of gratitude for the old favor. Pugachev and Grinev were even for a long time: Pugachev gave Grinev a ride home, and in gratitude he gave him a sheepskin coat. Pugachev equally appreciated Grinev as a man of honor. The leader of the popular uprising himself set noble goals: the liberation of serfs and the struggle for their personal independence. Therefore, Pugachev was not alien to the concepts of honor.

During a conversation between Grinev and Pugachev, a disagreement arises. And suddenly a man wakes up in Pugachev the robber. He begins to understand Petrusha: “But he’s right! He is a man of honor. It doesn’t matter that he’s still young, and most importantly, he doesn’t evaluate life like a child!” It was at this stage that Pugachev and Grinev found a common language. Their souls seemed to merge into a single whole and mutually enriched.

Grinev's morality aroused respect and trust from Pugachev. The chieftain told the officer a parable he had heard from an old Kalmyk woman, in which it was said that it was better to drink blood once than to eat carrion for three hundred years. Of course, the fairy eagle and the raven argued, solving a purely human problem. Discussing this fairy tale, Pugachev and Grinev express their position in life. Wanting to show the magnitude of Pugachev’s personality, Pushkin said with the words: “Pugachev looked at me in surprise and did not answer anything” - as if making it clear to the reader that the leader of the uprising knew how to listen to judgments that ran counter to his own ideas, that he was struck by the humanity of moral principles Grineva.

Pugachev has no choice, he cannot live otherwise, for him rebellion is the meaning of life, for Grinev: “. to live by murder and robbery means, for me, to peck at carrion.” The heroes do not agree on the definition of the basis of life and, nevertheless, are friendly to each other. After their conversation, Pugachev plunges into deep thoughts. Therefore, deep down, Pugachev had noble roots.

When Pugachev freed Masha Mironova, he invited Grinev to get married right away, and he himself wanted to be his imprisoned father. However, Grinev politely refused, and Pugachev managed to understand him and let him go. This episode reveals the amazing humanity of Pugachev’s morality. Having learned that two young people loved each other, he sought to promote their happiness. Do you like it? Then get together, get married, be happy: “Take your beauty; take her wherever you want, and God give you love and advice!”

Shvabrin, too, was powerless in implementing his insidious and selfish plans. Pugachev not only did not support him, but also clearly made it clear that he was dishonest and therefore not a competitor to Grinev. Through his actions, Pugachev became a kind of “manifestation” of the true nature of the characters, the worst traits of Shvabrin and the best of Grinev.

Conclusion: thanks to the epigraph, the features of the contradictory character of the leader of the peasant uprising Emelyan Pugachev are revealed: on the one hand, this is generosity, loyalty to one’s ideals, breadth of soul, nobility and justice; on the other hand, brutality, cruelty and mercilessness.

With the help of the epigraph, manifestations of morality and immorality of the heroes of the novel “The Captain's Daughter” are revealed, which is reflected in the table.

CONCLUSION

The key figure in the novel is Grinev. Using the example of his character, with the help of an epigraph, the author showed the manifestation of the most different facets of honor and dignity. The antipode to Grinev is Shvabrin, devoid of the principles of honor and dignity. No less significant, but problematic, is the figure of Pugachev, whose actions reflected both moral and immoral manifestations of character, which was the reason for Pushkin’s ambiguous attitude towards Pugachev. The Grinev and Mironov couple, Masha and Savelich make up the group of the author’s favorite heroes. Thanks to the epigraph to the novel, Pushkin asserts his own idea of ​​honor and dignity.

In the 30s, Pushkin turned to the Troubled Times of the 18th century. to the Pugachev uprising (1773 - 1774). The writer studied the documents, and in 1833 he made a trip to the places where the uprising raged 60 years ago. He visited Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Simbirsk, Orenburg, Uralsk, Berdskaya Sloboda - the capital of Pugachev. For several months, Pushkin read new documents and met with people who remembered Pugachev. The writer completed his research with the creation of a historical essay “The History of Pugachev.”

The Emperor, who was the poet’s personal censor, found Pushkin’s work interesting, but he made 23 amendments and proposed calling it “The History of Pugachev’s Rebellion.” Pushkin agreed with the amendment: “...The royal name, we admit, is more accurate,” he said.

In 1834, “History...” was published. And in 1836, the story “The Captain's Daughter” was published, which we will analyze.

Both works are written on the same historical material. But if in “History...” such a concept as “Pugachevism” is explored, then in “The Captain’s Daughter” the focus is on the fate of people caught in the whirlpool of a bloody rebellion.

Having conceived a work about Pugachev’s times, Alexander Sergeevich wanted to make the main character an officer who went over to Pugachev’s side. But after studying documents and eyewitness accounts, I realized that such an act was atypical for nobles.

The gap between the two Russias

Pugachev's rebellion essentially marked the gap between two Russias - noble and peasant (people's). Each of them had its own truth.

The people's camp was headed by Pugachev, who called himself Tsar Peter III. In the story “The Captain's Daughter” by Pushkin, it is depicted that he, as befits a “tsar,” lives in a “palace” - a simple peasant hut, only covered with gold paper. His surroundings are also “royal” - “gentlemen enarals”, who in fact were simple men and Cossacks. On top of peasant sheepskin coats they have blue ribbons (blue ribbons indicated receipt of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called - the highest order of the Russian Empire). This whole masquerade said better than any words that “sovereign” Pugachev himself and his “enars” are not at all who they say they are.

The people's king is merciless towards the nobles. With extraordinary ease (“waved a white handkerchief”) he sends them to the gallows. This is exactly how he dealt with Captain Mironov. But at the same time, Pugachev considers it his duty to protect (like every king in a folk tale) the weak and offended. He even takes Masha Mironova, the daughter of his enemy, under his protection...

And Pugachev himself and his entire rebellious camp are flesh of the flesh of the people. This was especially evident in their speeches and songs. Pugachev’s speech is peppered with proverbs, sayings, and popular expressions: “execute like that, execute like that, favor like that,” “go to all four directions,” “a debt is worth paying,” “I’ll have mercy on you this time.”

The Pugachevites are opposed by the noble camp. In the story these are “old people” - the Grinevs, Mironovs, Savelich, inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress. Pushkin describes them with sympathy and sympathy.

And so a conflict broke out between these social strata... In the struggle that they are waging, there is no room left for personal kindness - it is swallowed up by class hatred.

The destinies of the heroes, composition "The Captain's Daughter"

Against the backdrop of the bloody events of the peasant war, the fates of ordinary people - the Grinevs and Mironovs - are revealed. And above all, young Petrusha Grinev. The maturation of this carefree boy is happening rapidly.

The trials and misadventures that befall the hero make up the plot of the story. Exhibition of the work- information about the Grinevs. We learn that Petrusha is from the provincial nobles, he received his education from Beaupre, a hairdresser from France, and his upbringing from the eager Savelich, and until the age of seventeen he chased pigeons. And then his father sends him to serve in the army. On the way to his place of duty, fate brings Grinev together with a runaway Cossack, who later turns out to be Pugachev. Meeting him - action sequence. And then comes his development: Pyotr Grinev came to the Belogorsk fortress and fell in love with the daughter of the commandant of the fortress, Mironov. The capture of the Belogorsk fortress by the Pugachevites and the execution of officers is the climax of the plot. Here each of the heroes shows himself in his true light. One of the officers - Shvabrin - turned out to be a traitor. Grinev was pardoned by Pugachev, who remembered that at their first meeting Peter gave him a hare sheepskin coat, saving him from the winter cold. In this situation, Pugachev, of course, deviates from his rules and acts according to his heart. Despite Emelyan’s mercy, Grinev refuses to go over to the side of the rebels, which indicates his inner strength and steadfastness of moral principles.

Peter lives by the law of folk wisdom, inspired by his father: “Take care of your honor from a young age.” The young officer twice refuses the offers of his savior, but Pugachev, showing generosity, saves Masha Mironova from Shvabrin’s persecution and releases him with Grinev.

It would seem that this is the end of all horrors - the heroes are saved. But it was not there. Life, displaced by a phenomenon as terrible in its power and mercilessness as a popular revolt, cannot quickly return to its previous framework. Therefore, Grinev had to go through another terrible test - arrest and accusation in association with Pugachev.

He could justify himself, but his honor and dignity do not allow him to mention the name of Masha Mironova in this story. Protecting her from possible suspicions, Grinev practically admits himself guilty without guilt.

Peter saves the honor and life of Masha Mironova. She also saves him when she turns to Empress Catherine II with a request to pardon Grinev. The mirror nature of the actions of Pyotr Grinev and Masha Mironova speaks of the commonality of their moral principles. Despite the terrible upheavals in society, they remained unshakable.

The queen has mercy on Grinev. That is, she, like Pugachev once did, acts not according to the law, but according to her heart.

The denouement of the plot and the completion of the story- the family happiness of Pyotr Andreevich Grinev and Maria Ivanovna Mironova and the execution of Pugachev. With this ending, Pushkin expressed his belief in the saving power of truth, mercy and love in a “cruel age,” both for the individual and for society as a whole.

“The Captain's Daughter” has the right to be called one of the precious pearls in the necklace of masterpieces of prose that came from the pen of Pushkin. It’s as if an ancient tragedy is unfolding before us against the backdrop of the erupting Vesuvius, and this is not at all a pompous exaggeration. The background against which the story takes place is tragic and menacing: the bloody orgy of the peasant-Cossack uprising of 1773-1775, under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev, the mutual bitterness of the parties committing everyday atrocities and the tender, trembling note of love, fidelity and devotion, stubbornly making its way through everything the cruelty of this time. Readable easily and in one breath, the story of the genius of Russian literature will never lose its relevance and the attractive power of a great book.

Among the works of Alexander Pushkin, this story about the dramatic events of Russian history certainly occupies a worthy place. And the reason for this is that the storyline develops against the backdrop of historical events that shook the very foundations of society. And the 18th century (in which the action takes place), simply oversaturated with such processes, was a very recent past for Pushkin. We are talking about the peasant war of 1773-1775, led and led by the Cossack Emelyan Pugachev.

Written in the form of memoirs, the genre work can, however, be classified as a historical story. It has fourteen chapters (each with its own title), opening with the epigraph “Take care of honor from a young age,” which is the moral core of Pushkin’s plan in this work.

The plot of the story is a story about the origin, family history and early years of the life of Pyotr Grinev. Pushkin is critical in his description of the Grinev family: for example, the father, Andrei Petrovich Grinev. is a typical example of a Russian landowner of the 18th and 19th centuries - lack of good education and tyranny. Accordingly, Peter did not receive a decent education, being destined for military service, which did not imply academic breadth of knowledge.

And yet, Pushkin is attracted to this simple, but decent and sensitive noble offspring. During the development of the plot, we will repeatedly be convinced of his innate nobility, loyalty to his word and duty. With the same measure of sympathy and warmth, Pushkin painted the images of the family members of Captain Mironov, the commandant of the fortress. A simple and sincere man, Captain Mironov (and, alas, his wife), nevertheless, in the face of death, displays qualities that make him a tragic and heroic figure.

And the daughter of the Mironovs, Masha, shows strength of character, courage and nobility of the highest standard, proving that she is worthy of her parents.

Pushkin's narrative is not complete without a scoundrel - Lieutenant Shvabrin, the usual type of guards officer - a gambler, a libertine, a duelist. Finding himself in the Orenburg wilderness, he most likely became even more embittered. This is confirmed by his relationship with Grinev, who sympathized with Shvabrin and, nevertheless, received dirty gossip about Masha and was wounded in a duel. And the subsequent transition to Pugachev’s side makes Pushkin completely disgusted with this character of his.

At the same time, the image of Pugachev in the story cannot be reduced to any one denominator. Of course, this is caused primarily by censorship and class restrictions: from the point of view of the authorities and the nobility, Pugachev is a villain. But the power of Ataman’s personality, his generosity and wisdom cannot but charm Pushkin, who reveals, albeit in passing and partially, the causes of the uprising. What attracts Pushkin’s story, even after more than two centuries, is the understanding that this is not an uprising of cattle that needs to be hanged and drowned, but a reaction to inhuman conditions of existence. A reaction that united such different and seemingly alien representatives of social groups as peasants crushed by extortion and free Cossacks, Afanasy Sokolov, better known as the legendary Khlopusha, a faithful comrade-in-arms of Pugachev, and by origin a Novgorod peasant, who by 1774 had gone through all circles of hell, disfigured by brands burned on the face and torn out nostrils and mutilated Bashkirs from the Ural wilds and many, many others who came to Pugachev.

After the epigraph and the beginning of the plot, Pushkin clearly shows double climax: first-capture of the fortress and execution of the commandant with his wife and second— Masha’s trip to the Empress of St. Petersburg.

These events are followed by a denouement: the pardon of Grinev and his presence at the execution of Emelyan. After which the story ends with an epilogue.

To complete the analysis, here is a brief summary of the story:

Chapter 1. Sergeant of the Guard

The story begins with the story of Pyotr Grinev’s family: his father, Andrei Petrovich, retired with the rank of private major; there were nine children in the family, but no one survived except Peter. Even before birth, the boy was enrolled as a sergeant in the Semenovsky Guards Regiment. The boy is raised by “uncle” Savelich, their serf stirrup, under whose guidance the boy masters the basics of literacy and learns to “judge the merits of a greyhound dog.” In order to teach “languages ​​and all sciences,” the father hires the Frenchman Beaupre, a French drunkard. After some time, the Frenchman is kicked out, after which it is decided to send his son to serve as a real nobleman. But instead of St. Petersburg, to Petya’s disappointment, he will serve in one of the Ural fortresses. On the way to Orenburg, Petya spends the night at a hotel in Simbirsk, where he meets the hussar captain Ivan Zurin. The hussar talks him into playing billiards, gets him drunk and easily wins 100 rubles from him. Ignoring Savelich’s hysteria, young Grinev gives Zurin the money, out of stubbornness and self-affirmation.

Chapter 2. Explorer

On the way, in the steppe, Peter gets into a storm. The travelers fall into panic, but a stranger emerges from the wall of the snowy wind, joking and teasing the travelers, shows them the way and leads them to the inn, where he talks to the owner on a hairdryer, which reveals him to be a dashing man. In the morning, Grinev leaves, thanking the guide with a hare sheepskin coat, and in Orenburg he meets with General Andrei Karlovich, his father’s colleague, and goes, on his orders, to the border Belogorsk fortress, about forty kilometers from Orenburg.

Chapter 3. Fortress

The fortress, which turned out to be a small village in the middle of the Kazakh steppes, is commanded by Commandant Mironov, whose family Peter meets. Grinev is captivated by Lieutenant Shvabrin, who was expelled from the Guards regiment in St. Petersburg for a duel, with his daring.

Chapter 4. Duel

Very soon, in the absence of other girls, Grinev falls in love with the daughter of Commandant Mironov, Masha. Shvabrin, angrily jealous, slanderes Masha, which is why the enraged Grinev challenges Shvabrin to a duel, where he is wounded.

Chapter 5. Love

Grinev’s young body easily copes with the injury and he recovers. Understanding Shvabrin’s motives, Grinev does not hold a grudge against him in his heart. Petya proposes marriage to Masha and receives the girl’s consent. After which he, in euphoria, writes to his father, asking for blessings. The father, having learned about the duel, about the life of his son, his, as he believes, excessive independence, gets angry and refuses the blessing, once again confirming his primitive tyranny.

Chapter 6. Pugachevism

Along the way, tension begins to build in the narrative: the commandant receives information from Orenburg about the “rebellion” of Emelyan Pugachev and orders all officers in the fortress to prepare for a siege. Rebel scouts are active around the fortress. One of them, a mute Bashkir, is captured, but cannot be interrogated. Frightened for the fate of his child, Commandant Mironov tries to send Masha from the fortress to her relatives.

Chapter 7. Attack

However, the plan to save the daughter is disrupted as the fortress is surrounded by rebels. The commandant, anticipating the sad outcome of the battle, says goodbye to the family, ordering at least to dress Masha as a peasant in order to save her life. After capturing the fortress, the Pugachevites execute the commandant and his wife and intend to hang Grinev, but the devoted Savelich, amusing Pugachev, saved the life of the young master.

Chapter 8. Uninvited Guest

Pugachev, thanks to Savelich’s reminder, recognizes in Grinev the donor of the “rabbit sheepskin coat.” Peter does not recognize the leader of the rebels as a guide until his uncle reminds him. Pugachev tries to persuade Grinev to serve him, but he resolutely refuses. This makes a strong impression on Pugachev and he promises to let Grinev go.

Chapter 9. Separation

The next morning, Grinev sets off with an oral message from Pugachev to the generals in Orenburg. Savelich's attempt to obtain compensation for damages from Pugachev ended with threats from the “tsar”. Grinev leaves in a gloomy mood, because Shvabrin became the commandant of the fortress from Pugachev.

Chapter 10. Siege of the city

Arriving in Orenburg, Grinev conveys to the general everything he knows about Pugachev and then comes to the military council. Grinev calls for a more decisive crackdown on the rebels, but this ardor irritates the generals. The so-called “bribery tactics” predominate. They agree to wait, sitting on the defensive. Soon Orenburg finds itself under siege. During one of the reconnaissance missions in the outskirts of Orenburg, Grinev receives a letter from Masha. It is permeated with despair. Shvabrin forces her to marry. Grinev begs the general to give him Cossacks and soldiers to recapture Masha from Shvabrin, but is refused and begins to look for a way out of the situation.

Chapter 11. Rebel settlement

Having not come up with anything better, Grinev secretly leaves Orenburg and goes to the Belogorsk fortress. In the vicinity of the fortress, Peter and Savelich are captured by the rebels and are taken to Pugachev. Having learned the essence of the matter, that Grinev came to save the bride from Shvabrin, Pugachev takes part in the fate of the young people. Petya naively tries to persuade Pugachev to surrender. To which Pugachev recalls a parable about an eagle that eats fresh meat and a raven that eats carrion, hinting that he is an eagle.

Chapter 12. Orphan

Arriving at the Belogorsk fortress, Pugachev orders Shvabrin to show him Masha. Shvabrin obeys and then Pugachev finds out that he actually held Masha as a prisoner. The chieftain lets the girl go with Peter, turning a blind eye to Grinev’s lies regarding Masha’s origins.

Chapter 13. Arrest

On the way back from the fortress, the young people are stopped by soldiers from the guard post. Fortunately for Petit, the boss turned out to be Captain Zurin. Ivan Zurin dissuades Grinev from returning to Orenburg and keeps him with him, sending his bride to the Grinev family estate. Left alone, Peter and the hussars marched against the Pugachevites. During the hussars' pursuit of the rebels, Grinev sees the devastation and ruin caused by the peasant war. Suddenly, one day, Zurin receives an order to arrest Grinev and send him to Kazan.

Chapter 14. Court

Officials of the Investigative Commission sitting in Kazan greeted Grinev’s explanations with contemptuous disbelief. The judges found Peter guilty of friendship with the “imposter Emelka.” Moreover, the main witness for the prosecution was Shvabrin, who was also arrested, and slandered Peter with false fabrications. Grinev is sentenced to hard labor. In desperation, the Captain's daughter Masha Mironova decides to go to St. Petersburg and beg for justice from Empress Catherine II. In Tsarskoe Selo, in one of the parks, Masha meets an unfamiliar lady, to whom she tells her story. The lady consoles Masha and promises to convey it to the Empress. Later, Masha realizes that it was Catherine II herself when she arrives at the palace and sees the empress. Grinev was pardoned. The narrative, conducted on behalf of Grinev, ends with Pushkin’s afterword, where he first describes the release by personal order of Catherine, and then Grinev’s presence in January 1775 at the execution of Pugachev, who nodded to Peter before putting his head under the executioner’s ax...

Missing chapter

It tells about Grinev's (aka Bulanin) visit to his father's house, located not far from the village where his parents and fiancee lived. With the commander's permission, he swam across the Volga and sneaked into the village. Here Grinev learns that his parents are locked in the barn. Grinev frees them, but at this time Savelich brings news of a group of Pugachevites under the command of Shvabrin entering the village. Grinev locks himself in the barn. Shvabrin orders it to be set on fire, which drives the Grinev father and son out of hiding. The Grinevs are captured, but at this time the hussars, brought by Savelich, who slipped past the besiegers, burst into the village. Peter receives a blessing for marriage and returns to the regiment. Then he learns about Pugachev’s capture and returns to his village. Grinev is almost happy, but an unclear threat almost physically poisons this feeling.

Analysis of the story by A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter"

In terms of the significance of the theme, the breadth of reality, and artistic perfection, the historical story “The Captain's Daughter” is a masterpiece, the pinnacle achievement of Pushkin the realist. This is the last of his major works, completed by him just over three months before his death.

“The Captain's Daughter” is devoted to the development of an extremely important theme for this time - the peasant uprising, the peasant war.

Studying the history of Pugachev's uprising made it possible for Pushkin to accurately and truthfully talk about the events that he depicts in the story.

Andrei Petrovich Grinev had a negative attitude towards easy but dishonest ways to make a career at court. That’s why he didn’t want to send his son Petrusha to serve in St. Petersburg, in the guard: “What will he learn by serving in St. Petersburg? Wander and hang out? - Andrei Petrovich says to his wife. “No, let him serve in the army, let him pull the strap, let him smell gunpowder, let him be a soldier, not a shamaton,” that is, a slacker, a slacker, an empty person.

Grinev the father is not without negative traits inherent in him as a representative of his time. Let us remember his harsh treatment of his loving and uncomplaining wife, Petrusha’s mother, his harsh reprisal against the French teacher, and especially the outrageously rude tone of his letter to Savelich: “Shame on you, old dog... I hate you, old dog! I’ll send the pigs to graze...” In this episode we have before us a typical nobleman-serf owner.

But Grinev the father also has positive qualities: honesty, straightforwardness, strength of character. These traits evoke the reader’s involuntary and natural sympathy for this stern, strict person towards himself and others.

The character of the young sixteen-year-old boy Pyotr Andreevich Grinev is wonderfully shown by Pushkin in his movement and development under the influence of the life conditions in which he is placed.

At first, Petrusha is a careless and frivolous landowner's son, a slacker urchin, almost like Fonvizin's Mitrofanushka, dreaming of an easy life full of all sorts of pleasures as a metropolitan guards officer.

In Petrusha Grinev, the kind, loving heart of his mother seemed to be combined with honesty, straightforwardness, courage - qualities that are inherent in his father. Grinev the father strengthened these qualities in his firm parting words: “Serve faithfully to whom you swear allegiance; obey your superiors; Don’t chase their affection; don’t ask for service; don’t talk yourself out of serving and remember the proverb: take care of your dress again, but take care of your honor from a young age.”

Petrusha’s kindness was manifested in a generous gift to a “little man” unknown to him, who showed the way during a snowstorm and who later played a decisive role in his entire future fate. And how, risking everything, he rushed to the rescue of the captured Savelich. The depth of Petrusha Grinev’s nature was reflected in the great and pure feeling that arose in him throughout his life for Masha Mironova.

By his behavior in the Belogorsk fortress and later, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev proved his loyalty to his father’s covenants and did not betray what he considered his duty and his honor.

The good traits and inclinations inherent in the nature of Grinev the son were strengthened, tempered and finally triumphed under the influence of that harsh school of life to which his father sent him, sending him instead of Petersburg and the guard to the remote steppe outskirts. The major historical events of which he became a participant did not allow him, after great personal grief - his father’s refusal to give permission to marry Masha Mironova - to lose heart and despair; they gave his soul a “strong and good shock.”

The complete opposite of the honest and straightforward Grinev is his rival Alexey Ivanovich Shvabrin. The author does not deprive Shvabrin of well-known positive traits. He is educated, smart, observant, sharp-tongued, and an interesting conversationalist. But for the sake of his personal goals, Shvabrin is ready to commit any dishonorable act. He slanderes Masha Mironova; casually casts a shadow on her mother. He inflicts a treacherous blow on Petrusha Grinev in a duel and, in addition, writes a false denunciation of him to Grinev’s father. Shvabrin goes over to Pugachev’s side not out of ideological convictions: he expects to save his life, hopes to make a career with him if Pugachev succeeds, and most importantly, he wants, having dealt with his rival, to forcefully marry a girl who is not his loves.

The rank-and-file officers, closely connected with the mass of soldiers, included the crooked garrison lieutenant Ivan Ignatievich, and Captain Mironov himself, who was not even a nobleman by birth, “who became an officer from the children of soldiers.”

Both the captain, his wife Vasilisa Yegorovna, and the crooked lieutenant were uneducated people, with a very limited outlook, which did not give them any opportunity to understand the events taking place - the reasons and goals of the popular uprising. They were not without the usual shortcomings of that time. Let us at least remember the peculiar “justice” of the energetic captain: “Sort out Prokhorov and Ustinya, who is right and who is wrong. Punish both of them."

But at the same time, these were simple and kind people, devoted to their duty, ready, like Grinev the father, to fearlessly die for what they considered “their shrine.” conscience."

With special sympathy and warmth, Pushkin creates the image of the captain's daughter, Masha Mironova. Beneath the tenderness of her appearance, she conceals perseverance and strength, revealed in her sincere love for Grinev, in her decisive resistance to Shvabrin, in whose power she found herself completely, and finally, in her brave trip to the Empress herself in St. Petersburg in order to save her fiancé.

The author very truthfully shows the image of the serf peasant, Uncle Grinev-Savelich. His devotion to his masters is far from slavish. Let us remember his words in a letter to Father Grinev in response to the latter’s rude and unfair reproaches: “. I am not an old dog, but your faithful servant, I obey my master’s orders and have always served you diligently and lived to see my gray hair.”

In the letter, Savelich himself calls himself a “slave,” as was customary then when serfs addressed their masters, but the tone of his letter is imbued with a sense of great human dignity. The inner nobility and spiritual richness of his nature are fully revealed in the completely disinterested and deeply human affection of a poor, lonely old man for his pet.

In the 30s, Pushkin intensively studied the history of Pugachev. The author’s image of the leader of the uprising in “The Captain’s Daughter” differs sharply from previous images of Pugachev.

The image of the leader of the popular revolt is given by Pushkin without any embellishment, in all its harsh, sometimes cruel, reality. Pugachev, in his portrayal of the writer, is distinguished by his exceptional “sharpness” - clarity of mind, free and rebellious spirit, heroic composure and daring, and eagle-like breadth of nature. Let us remember the fairy tale he told Grinev about the eagle and the raven, the meaning of which is that a moment of free and bright life is better than many years of vegetation. Let us remember the folk song, Pugachev’s favorite song, “Don’t make noise, mother green oak tree,” which he and his comrades sing in chorus. Let us remember the words of Pugachev: “To execute is to execute, to be pardoned is to be pardoned: this is my custom.”

Pushkin himself called “The Captain's Daughter” a story. Indeed, it is small in volume. But within these tight frameworks the author has placed enormous vital content. Among the characters in The Captain's Daughter, there is not a single random person who appears and disappears.

The end of the story seems to return us to its beginning. In the last chapter we are again in the noble nest of the Grinevs. Before us again is the same estate setting, Grinev the father with the same “Court Calendar” in his hands; next to him is his wife, Petrusha’s mother. This parallelism of beginning and end, which gives the composition of the story harmony and completeness, is emphasized by the similarity of the text of the corresponding places.

In the first chapter: “One autumn, mother was making honey jam in the living room... Father was reading the Court Calendar by the window.”

In the last chapter: “One evening the priest was sitting on the sofa, turning over the sheets of the Court Calendar... Mother was silently knitting a woolen sweatshirt.” But the author adds new touches. Father Grinev flips through his calendar absentmindedly; “... his thoughts were far away, and reading did not produce its usual effect on him.” This time the mother does not make honey jam, but knits a woolen sweatshirt, of course for Petrusha, exiled to “the remote region of Siberia for eternal settlement” - the talkative Avdotya Vasilievna knitted “silently... and tears occasionally fell on her work.” The family idyll gave way to a difficult family drama.

A remarkable aspect of The Captain's Daughter is the language in which it is written. Pushkin endows each character in the story with a special manner of language that corresponds to his mental outlook, his level of development, his social status, and his character. Therefore, from the speeches of the characters, from their remarks and statements, unusually convex and living human images appear before the readers, in which various characteristic aspects of Russian life of that time are summarized.

“Compared to The Captain’s Daughter,” N.V. Gogol admiringly noted, “all our novels and stories seem like cloying rubbish. Purity and artlessness have risen to such a high level in her that reality itself seems artificial and caricatured before her...”

Pushkin’s greatest art as a realist writer lies in this modern artlessness, high artistic simplicity.