Bazarov is a hero of a new type. Characteristics of Bazarov in the novel “Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev in quotes: a description of the personality and character of Evgeny Bazarov
" He sternly and passionately denies everything that the “fathers” worshiped, i.e. older generation He is a democrat by birth and views, an enemy of aristocracy, an enemy of the nobility, although he will not idealize the peasant either. He generally denies all idealism, metaphysics and the existence of “principles” - he reduces everything to physiology, to physical life: “there are no principles at all,” he says, “but there are sensations.” Extreme materialism of the 18th century. Holbach and La Mettrie seem to have been resurrected from new strength in the speeches of this Russian student.
Fathers and Sons. Feature Film based on the novel by I. S. Turgenev. 1958
Standing firm on my own extreme point point of view, Bazarov denies everything except experimental (based on experiments) science. So he resolutely rejects Love, like some ideal feeling:
“He called love in the ideal sense nonsense, unforgivable foolishness, considered chivalric feelings to be something like ugliness or disease, and more than once expressed his surprise at why they weren’t put in the yellow house of Togenburg, with all the “minnesingers and troubadours.”
He calls the love of children for their parents, the feeling of friendship, patriotism and religion “nonsense”, “rottenness”, “romanticism”... He speaks of “art” with ridicule; He calls the works of Pushkin “nonsense” and treats Raphael and music with contempt. “Nature is not a temple, and man is a worker in it,” he says decisively. His democracy is expressed in the fact that, standing on his materialistic, equalizing point of view, he denies any inequality in life - for him there is no difference not only between “nobles” and “men”, he does not even recognize the existence of “great people" and "heroes":
“All people,” he declares, “are similar to each other, both in body and soul: each of us has a brain, spleen, heart, and lungs designed in the same way,” and the so-called moral qualities the same for everyone; small modifications mean nothing. One human specimen is enough to judge all others. People are trees in the forest: not a single botanist will study every single birch tree...”
This crude, extremely simplified generalization is, of course, completely wrong, but it perfectly explains to us the state of the soul of a Russian person who wants to “swiftly” deal with all the remnants of antiquity, indifferently, dark and light, which survived until the 1860s. Nihilists like Bazarov reasoned like this: “before us there were bad and good people, abuses occurred and there were people who denounced evil, who, like Rudin, spoke pompous speeches about serving humanity - but life still flowed on as before, dark, hopeless... Isn’t it better to destroy everything, to “clear the place” (Bazarov’s words) for a "new life". What it would be like, neither Bazarov nor his like-minded people thought - they considered it their duty to “destroy the old,” exhausted, faded, decrepit, and then come what may.”
In these thoughts in the speeches one can feel the despair that grew in the souls of several Russian generations, who were confused in the fatal “vicious circle”: the self-awareness of the intelligentsia became clearer, good and evil were defined, but the struggle in the name of “good” turned out to be fruitless... And so, in the face of the nihilist Bazarov Russian society even comes to such extreme “pessimism” that he refuses to believe in the fruitfulness of the reforms (“the very freedom that the government is worrying about is unlikely to benefit us,” says Bazarov). Only “knowledge” alone, according to Bazarov, will save us and our people.
What does Bazarov do for such “salvation”? - He is only bilious and evil speaks– mocks, insults others: he does not serve people with his knowledge and avoids them. It is unlikely that in the fact that he advised Arkady to give his father some kind of brochure on natural science to read, one can see his serious “service” to his idea - the need to spread sober knowledge among the peoples! Thus, in front of you, in the person of the hero of the novel, is not “ public figure", and some, again, " extra person“- the same Rudin, only embittered, a pessimist-individualist, whose bold “word” replaces “deed”. He himself sometimes notices the instability of his worldview and forces himself to be consistent: that’s why he calls himself “self-deluded.”
But he does not always cope with contradictions - they break through the strong shackles of his will - and then, behind his evil and bold words, an unhappy person is visible... Denying “principles”, he nevertheless says: “we act by virtue of what we recognize as useful - that is, in other words, it recognizes the “principle of utility.” Mockingly referring to “love”, assuring everyone that he looks at “love” only “from a physiological point of view”, he falls in love with Odintsova so much that he is unable to tear his feelings out of his heart - even before his death he wants to see her . In his relations with his elderly parents, through his feigned disdain for them, his tender, touching love... Most characteristic of all is Bazarov’s parting with his friend, Kirsanov, he says goodbye to him, cold and indifferent. “And you have no other words for me?” - Arkady asks sadly... Bazarov is embarrassed by this direct question, and an exclamation escapes him: “Yes, Arkady, I have other words, but I won’t express them, because this is romanticism - it means being upset!”
At the beginning of the novel, Bazarov is presented as a perky, arrogant person who believes in his bold “words” - but life proves to him the lies of these words, proves to him that he is mistaken. He strains all his strength to defend his ideas - he does not spare himself, he is ready to give up personal happiness, sacrifice the happiness of loved ones: “if you decide to mow down everything, go ahead and kick yourself!” - he says proudly... But at the end of the novel he is presented as a man exhausted by the persistent struggle that he waged with himself.
The uselessness of this sacrifice, since it was offered to a “false god,” is its tragedy, its “quixoticism.” And he, apparently, is aware of this himself - and in the second half of the novel he is presented as a pessimist, a disappointed, spiritually tormented person. Bazarov is especially burdened by the consciousness that there is something essential missing in his bleak philosophy... But he still did not understand that his whole trouble was not that there was no altruism in him, that he was alone among “living” people and nobody not needed, not connected with anything, neither with the past, nor with the present, nor with the future - in a word, “an extra person”...
“I think,” he says to Arkady, “I’m lying here, under a haystack. The narrow place that I occupy is so tiny in comparison with the rest of the space where I am not, and where no one cares about me; and the part of time that I manage to live is so insignificant before eternity, where I was not and will not be... And in this atom, at this mathematical point, the blood circulates, the brain works, it also wants something... What the ugliness! What nonsense!”
Thus, in the person of his hero, Turgenev portrayed a strong man, but lost. The novelist revealed fundamental errors in his worldview, and found discord in his soul: Bazarov’s “words” turned out to be “feigned,” and he himself was “self-deluded”... So, through the mouth of Turgenev, the man of the 1840s judged, in the person of Bazarov , alien to him from the generation of youth of the 1860s for the extremes of its worldly philosophy. He pays tribute to this strong and honest generation, but he is not seduced by this strength, sees the futility of its reasoning and regrets that it is directed incorrectly.
Roman I.S. Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" is a work that accurately reflects the essence of the era. The noble class was becoming a thing of the past; it was supplanted by the various intelligentsia. The conflict between two generations is depicted on the pages of the novel using the example of the Kirsanov family and the nihilist Bazarov.
The image and characteristics of Evgeny Bazarov will become Starting point, which will help you better understand the idea of the novel by I.S. Turgenev.
Turgenev's plan
In Evgeny Bazarov I.S. Turgenev embodied the image young representative a recently emerging trend in society, nihilism. The prototype of the main character of the novel “Fathers and Sons” was the district doctor whom Turgenev met while traveling around railway. In this man Ivan Sergeevich saw great inner strength, his socio-political views struck the writer. Turgenev hatches the idea of creating a new work and recalls this meeting with the young doctor.First meeting
The reader first meets Bazarov at the post station, he arrives together with his comrade and follower, Arkady Kirsanov. His appearance immediately attracts him increased attention:"Long and thin (face), with wide forehead, flat at the top, pointed nose at the bottom, large greenish eyes and drooping sand-colored sideburns, it was enlivened by a calm smile and expressed self-confidence and intelligence.”
Bazarov's manner of communication with the people around him is slightly cheeky. Without pretending to luxury, he agrees to give up his comfort and sets off after the Kirsanovs on a tarantass.
Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich
Bazarov’s meeting with Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov symbolizes the very clash of two generations, liberals and democrats. He is very sarcastic about everything that goes beyond his views, but at the same time he is a simple person and independent of other people's opinions. Denying love, art and beauty, he gives preference to real work. Put into his mouth famous phrase:“A decent chemist is twenty times more useful than any poet...”
Entering into a debate with Pavel Petrovich about the role of art and science in human life, he firmly defends and argues for his position. The elder Kirsanov and Bazarov become irreconcilable opponents. Evgeniy does not understand Pavel Petrovich’s desire for beauty and convenience; he is much closer to the work of ordinary courtyard people. After a duel in which he wounds Uncle Arkady, Bazarov treats Kirsanov’s wound and leaves Maryino forever.
Test of love
To show how wrong Bazarov was in his absolute denial of everything beautiful, the author puts him through a test of feelings. Having met Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, Evgeny realizes that in front of him unique woman, a perfect example. Over time, love for her flares up in his soul, but Odintsova is frightened by Bazarov’s passion. Anna Sergeevna gives him a stern rebuke. It affects him like a blow from a whip. Realizing that love is still strong feeling, and even he is susceptible to it, he suffers internally and goes home to his parents.Bazarov and parents
Evgeny Bazarov's relationship with his parents is very cool. He loves his old people, but their lifestyle makes him mortally sad. He always strives to leave his home somewhere. His mother is a little afraid of him and tries not to bother him with her questions. The father is immensely proud of his son, claiming that there is no other person like him on earth:I.S. Turgenev had amazing intuition. The genius of the writer lies in the fact that he knew how to listen sensitively to Russian life and find in it the sprouts of the new, the most relevant. So in the late 50s and early 60s he saw in Russia new type a hero who replaced the hero-nobleman.
The image of Bazarov is a new hero of Russian literature
The first hero in the gallery of such images in the writer’s work was Evgeny Bazarov.
The hero-nobleman is replaced by the hero-commoner
I.S. Turgenev wrote in the article “About “Fathers and Sons”:
In that wonderful person(prototype of Bazarov) was embodied... a barely born, still fermenting principle, which later received the name of nihilism. The impression this personality made on me was very strong and at the same time not entirely clear.
Bazarov's childhood
We know very little about the hero’s childhood. We learn that his grandfather was a serf
"My grandfather plowed the land"
the hero proudly declares.
His parents' marriage was not based on love. But, reading the portraits of Arina Vlasyevna and Vasily Ivanovich, we understand that they respect each other, madly love their Evgeniy, therefore we can assume that everything that was necessary to give their son an education, to raise him, Bazarov’s parents did.
The hero's father is a former regimental doctor. Evgeniy is studying medicine at the university, which means Vasily Ivanovich also had some influence on this. In general, Turgenev talks a lot and willingly about the past of other heroes, but we know little about the past of this character. Maybe because it is not the past that determines the essence of the hero, but the present. We know that he is studying at the university, but all the characters in the novel, even the hero’s opponents, are aware that medicine will not be the subject of his future outstanding activity.
Bazarov - commoner
And that, perhaps, says it all. He is a self-made man. He is a man of action. It’s not for nothing that Turgenev writes about spending time in Maryino:
“Arkady was sybaritizing, Bazarov was working.”
Evgeniy is first of all very strong man. This new strength all the characters in the novel feel. His strength is manifested in all his actions: in unhappy love, in categorical statements, in attitude towards other people and, of course, in death. No wonder he wrote:
“To die the way Bazarov died means to accomplish a great feat.”
The image of Evgeny Bazarov as a man of action
He is kind in his own way. Let us at least remember the scene of the first meeting of the hero and Arkady with Fenechka. She, the mother, first of all notes how calmly the child walked into Evgeniy’s arms. Children really feel the essence of a person. He is a doctor. And this essence of the doctor is manifested in everything in his image:
- in relation to the inhabitants of Maryino,
- in how he helps Pavel Petrovich, wounded in a duel,
- The fact is that he dies, having become infected during the autopsy of a typhoid corpse.
Evgeny is proud. His relationship with Madame Odintsova, after the explanation, evokes respect for him. He can be touching with his parents, it is about them that he thinks about before his death (respecting their attitude towards religion, he asks Odintsova to console Arina Vlasyevna). He, who rejects all feelings, is capable of great love. He, who rejects all moral standards, essentially lives by high moral laws. But in everything where and how the hero manifests himself, his commitment to the theory of nihilism is reflected.
Bazarov is a nihilist
Therefore, Turgenev is extremely interested in the ideas that his character preaches. Bazarov calls himself a nihilist, that is, a person who does not recognize anything. In the novel, he preaches the ideas of the positivists of the mid-nineteenth century, who proclaimed the primacy of practice over speculation. One can feel the influence of the aesthetic concept in Evgeniy’s attitude to art
(“Beautiful is what is useful”).
The hero rejects, first of all, what is not amenable to experimental research.
There are no feelings, there is physiology. There is no love, but there is physical attraction. There is no “mysterious look”, there is a lens, a cornea, light refraction... and that’s all.
For Bazarov, practice is the criterion of truth
Practice is for him the criterion of truth. Experiment - the only way nature studies. At the same time, art and beauty turn out to be unnecessary concepts. The practicality of the position in the image of Bazarov is expressed in his words:
“Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it.”
Evgeny Bazarov as a man of ideas
This is why it is interesting to both the writer and the reader. But his ideas are fruitless, their basis is destruction, this is where the hero sees his purpose (“to clear the place,” which recalls the words of the Russian translation of “The International” - “to the ground”). The position of the main character of the novel is unacceptable for Turgenev.
Bazarov's strength of character is evident in his death scenes
The strength of character of Bazarov the man is manifested in the death scenes. First of all, death is something that cannot be denied. So eternal nature argues with human theories. Secondly, in death Eugene becomes a person, sensitive, gentle, poetic, courageous. The phrase he said before his death is noteworthy:
“Russia needs me... No, apparently, I don’t.”
This is how the hero himself answers eternal question Russian reality and Russian literature - the question of the hero of the time. In the epilogue of the novel, Turgenev, describing Bazarov’s grave, speaks of the eternity of nature and the vanity of human life.
Our presentation
Evgeny Bazarov is central character Ivan Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons". The work begins with the fact that Bazarov, together with his friend Arkady, arrive at the Kirsanovs’ estate, where Arkady’s father and uncle live. Who was Bazarov? Let's look at the characteristics of Evgeny Bazarov.
Bazarov's background, education and views
Evgeny Bazarov’s father was a doctor, and in the future his son was also involved in treating people. He had to go through a harsh school, then followed by university, during which he had to live in poverty. Bazarov liked to get carried away different objects, so he had a good understanding of geology, botany, and agricultural technology. It should be noted that Evgeniy Bazarov is always happy to help with treatment. Educated person, hence a certain pride in oneself.
What did Bazarov look like externally? Many were even somewhat repelled by his appearance - tall, in an old raincoat and with long hair. It was not for nothing that Ivan Turgenev also emphasized the sharpness of his mind, describing the skull and facial expression, which clearly indicated a self-confident warehouse.
The characteristic of Evgeny Bazarov is that he is a nihilist, and literally denies everything, and is proud of his views. Bazarov talks about love as an unnecessary feeling, he is not interested in art, he also does not admire nature, but calls it a workshop where a person is a worker. In general, if we talk about radical nobles, Bazarov’s views are very different and clearly not typical.
Conclusions about the characteristics of Evgeny Bazarov
There are many difficulties on the path of Evgeny Bazarov, and he is also tested by love. Having met Odintsova, main character He is convinced that love does not exist, and therefore he is indifferent to women. However, feelings flare up very quickly, this is especially evident after Bazarov stays for some time at Odintsova’s estate. She captivates him and even pushes him to take bold actions, for example, an explanation.
So, although Bazarov is a convinced nihilist, the first life situation breaks him, and having experienced deep feelings, he is already at a dead end - what to do next? Or, for example, the story of the duel - he denies the concept of honor, but agrees to fight a duel. Bazarov does not believe in nobility, but during the fight he behaves like noble man. The question arises: was Bazarov really a nihilist?
