The conflict in The Bronze Horseman is summarized. Conflict in The Bronze Horseman: Another Russian Rebellion

In the thirties, all works of A. S. Pushkin were under double censorship. The poet has developed final opinion about Nicholas I: “There is a lot of the ensign in him, and a little of Peter the Great.” Pushkin is convinced that the “ensign” is not able to imitate Peter I, therefore there is no longer a need to idealize the image of Peter.

In 1833, the poet turns to the poem “ Bronze Horseman" In it he declares the sacrifices on which the progressive cause was built.

The conflict is based on the clash between the glorious monarch and the pitiful, but in his own right, Eugene.

Pushkin outlines the conclusion: the very nature of the autocratic state, and not the cruel character of the tsar, is the reason that the interests of the common man have to be neglected.

The work, which is small in volume, is distinguished by its thoughtfulness and harmonious composition. The exhibition depicts the era of Peter. The poet gives historical justification for the monarch’s plan:

Here on new waves
All the flags will visit us,
And we’ll record it in the open air.

More in the poem the king is like actor doesn't appear. He “erected an immortal monument to himself” - St. Petersburg, the apotheosis of which the entire second part sounds like. The first is devoted to a description of the flood that befell the city on November 7, 1824. The king himself is powerless in the face of the elements:

To the balcony
He came out sad and confused
And he said: “With God's element.
Kings cannot control.” He sat down
And in the Duma with sorrowful eyes
I looked at the evil disaster.

Evgeniy, a small worker of St. Petersburg, a descendant of a once noble but impoverished noble family, “cannot cope” with the Neva.

Before us is a poor man who has not remembered his “deceased relatives” for a long time. He knows that only through labor can he “give himself both independence and honor,” he understands “that God could add intelligence and money to him.” Evgeny doesn’t ask much from fate:

“Perhaps a year or two will pass -
I'll get a place. Parashe
I will entrust our family
And raising children..."

The hero's ideal of life is simple and modest, like himself. However, the flood takes away the only happiness from life, Parasha. Evgeniy is looking for the culprit of the tragic fate. The victorious Bronze Horseman (monument to Peter I by Falcone) personifies the one who caused the poor man’s misfortune. Mad Eugene shouts to the Tsar with insolence:

“Welcome, miraculous builder! -
He whispered, trembling angrily, -
Already for you!..”

This episode is the culmination of the poem. It is noteworthy that the Bronze Horseman comes into conflict not only with our hero. "Finnish waves" are disturbing " last sleep Petra." Both the elements and the grief-stricken man are inherent common features, in which - the meaninglessness of the uprising against the cause of Peter. It is interesting that the epithet “mad” is often used by Pushkin to describe Evgeniy. The poet apparently wants to show that both the rebellion of nature and the rebellion of man are vain and useless. The “brazen riot” of the Neva crashed against the granite of Peter’s brainchild. Petersburg remained unshakable. The poet seems to call on the forces of nature to submit to the will of man:

Enmity and ancient captivity
Let the Finnish waves forget
And they will not be vain malice
Disturb Peter's eternal sleep!

Evgeniy’s protest is also meaningless. However, the poet poses another problem - the problem of just rebellion, the right of a poor person to happiness. His rage is insane because it is unfair. The hero hates the work of Peter, opposes his actions, which the poet glorifies in the introduction.

The scene of Eugene's flight, when a revived horseman pursues him, confirms the injustice of the rebellion. About

No matter how deeply science comprehends the personality and activities of Peter, no matter how impressive art creates his image, it is natural for every reader to want to compose own opinion, look into the face of the “strange monarch” with your own eyes...

The poem “The Bronze Horseman” completes the theme of Peter I in the work of A. S. Pushkin. The majestic appearance of the Tsar-Transformer is depicted in the very first, sometimes solemn, lines of the poem: On the shore of the desert waves He stood, the thoughts of the great ones flowing, And he looked into the distance. Tsar-transformer...

The poem The Bronze Horseman, authored by A.S. Pushkin, is written in poetic form.

The poem essentially has two main characters: the young man Eugene and the monument - the Bronze Horseman. The poem begins with an introduction that says... The essence of knfl m/d state. authorities and private individuals. The poem "The Bronze Horseman" was written in 1833. In it, Pushkin, in a generalized figurative form, contrasts two forces - the state, personified in Peter I (and then in

symbolic image

The reforms of Peter I in Russian history were a deep and comprehensive revolution that could not be accomplished easily and painlessly. The tsar demanded that the people devote all their strength to achieve the goals he had outlined, and this caused grumbling and discontent. The same ambiguous attitude was towards Peter’s favorite brainchild - St. Petersburg. The city personified both the greatness of Russia and the slavery of its people. On the one hand, it was a beautiful city with palaces, monuments and golden domes, but at the same time, St. Petersburg shocked with its poverty, misery and the highest mortality rate in Russia.

Another misfortune of St. Petersburg was the terrible floods that destroyed houses and claimed human lives. While building a city on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, in a swamp, Peter did not care at all about the future residents of his capital. St. Petersburg was built “to spite the arrogant neighbor” and nature. And the elements seemed to take revenge on people for their deeds. In “The Bronze Horseman” Pushkin describes one of the most terrible floods, which occurred in 1824 and caused terrible destruction:

Siege! attack! evil waves,

Like thieves, they climb into windows. Chelny

From the run the windows are smashed by the stern.

Trays under a wet veil,

Wrecks of huts, logs, roofs,

Stock trade goods,

The belongings of pale poverty,

Bridges demolished by thunderstorms,

Coffins from a washed-out cemetery

Floating through the streets!

The poem has two main characters: Peter I, who personifies the state, and the poor official Eugene. He is a descendant of a noble but impoverished family. This is a hardworking young man who wants to create his own happiness with his own hands. He has a bride whom he loves and on whom, having received a good place, wants to get married:

Perhaps a year or two will pass -

I will entrust our family

And raising children...

And we will live, and so on until the grave

We'll both get there hand in hand

And our grandchildren will bury us...

But his dreams are not destined to come true, since Parasha and her mother die during a flood. Eugene himself goes crazy, unable to bear the mental turmoil. Mad, he wanders around the city and one day finds himself near the monument to Peter I. This is the Bronze Horseman. And it becomes clear to Eugene who was responsible for the death of his bride, his broken life and happiness. He challenges: “Good, miraculous builder! “He whispered, trembling angrily, “Too bad for you!” And suddenly it seems to the madman that the formidable king leaves the rock and gallops after him to punish him for his insolence:

And all night long the poor madman,

Wherever you turn your feet,

Behind him is the Bronze Horseman everywhere

He galloped with a heavy stomp.

After this scary night Evgeniy tried to avoid this place, and if he passed by, “he took off his worn cap and did not raise his embarrassed eyes.” In other words, he was completely destroyed and crushed by the state, the personification of which was Peter I.

The poem ends with the death of Eugene: he was found dead near the collapsed house of Parasha. Eugene is one of the unwitting victims of Peter’s case, and the Tsar is the indirect culprit of the hero’s death. Pushkin sympathizes with Eugene, he calls him unfortunate, poor, but the ending of the poem is a hymn to statehood, a hymn to Peter I - the most powerful of the Russian autocrats, the founder new capital, bringing Russia closer to the West.

Pushkin was always attracted by the figure of Peter I, he dedicated many of his works to him, and the opinions of critics about whose side Pushkin was on differed. Some believed that the poet substantiated the right of the state to dispose of a person’s life, and took the side of Peter, because he understood the need and benefits of his transformations. Others consider Evgeniy's sacrifice unjustified. It seems to me that Pushkin, for the first time in Russian literature, showed all the tragedy and intractability of the conflict between the state and the individual.

The first result of the conflict is Eugene's insanity. But is this madness? Perhaps we can say that there are truths full meaning which the weak cannot withstand human mind. Great Emperor, like a watchdog chasing the smallest of his subjects, is a funny and terrible figure at the same time. Therefore, Eugene’s laughter is understandable, but his mental illness is also understandable: he came face to face with the state itself, with its copper, merciless face.

So, the conflict between the individual and the state: is it resolved in the poem? Yes and no. Of course, Eugene dies, the person who directly opposed the state in the form of the Bronze Horseman dies. The revolt is suppressed, but the image of the elements that runs through the entire poem remains a disturbing warning. The destruction in the city is enormous. The number of victims is high. Nothing can withstand the elements of flooding. The Bronze Horseman himself stands, washed by muddy waves. He, too, is powerless to stop their onslaught. All this suggests that any violence inevitably entails retribution. In a strong-willed, violent manner, Peter established among wildlife a city that will now forever be subject to attacks from the elements. And who knows whether Eugene, who was so in vain and casually destroyed, will not become a small drop of anger, the gigantic wave of which will one day sweep away the copper idol?

A state that endlessly suppresses its subjects in the name of its goals is impossible. They, the subjects, are more important and primary than the state itself. Figuratively speaking, the Finnish waves will forget “their enmity and their ancient captivity” when Evgenia, to be happy with her Parasha, does not need anyone’s permission. Otherwise, the element of popular revolt, no less terrible than the element of flood, will carry out its judgment, without distinguishing between right and wrong. This, in my opinion, is the essence of the conflict between man and the state.

There are a number of differing opinions as to what the main idea of ​​the poem “The Bronze Horseman” is. V. G. Belinsky, who argued that the main idea The poem lies in the triumph of “the general over the particular,” with the author’s obvious sympathy for “the suffering of this particular,” obviously, he was right. A. S. Pushkin sings the anthem to the capital of the Russian state:

I love you, Petra's creation,

I love your strict, slender appearance,

Neva sovereign current,

Its coastal granite,

Your fences have a cast iron pattern...

“Pompously, proudly” the city rose “from the darkness of the forests and swamps of blat” and became the heart of a mighty state:

Show off, city Petrov, and stand

Unshakable, like Russia.

Composition

Pushkin's creativity is comprehensive and multifaceted. No wonder V. G. Belinsky said about this poet: “Pushkin is our everything.” In his works, this great Russian poet touched on almost all the problems that worried not only the man of his time, but also captivated the minds of all mankind at all times.

One of these issues was the question of the relationship between the individual and the state, as well as the ensuing problem “ little man" It is known that it was Pushkin who seriously developed this problem, which was later “picked up” by both N.V. Gogol and F.M. Dostoevsky.

Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" reveals an eternal conflict - the contradiction between the interests of the individual and the state. And Pushkin believed that this conflict was inevitable, at least in Russia. It is impossible to govern the state and take into account the interests of every “little person”. Moreover, Russia is a semi-Asian country, where despotism and tyranny have reigned since ancient times. And this was in the order of things, it was taken for granted by both the people and the rulers.

Without a doubt, Pushkin in “The Bronze Horseman” pays tribute to the power and talent of Peter I. This tsar “made” Russia in many ways and contributed to its prosperity. On the poor and wild banks of a small river, Peter built a grandiose city, one of the most beautiful in the world. St. Petersburg became a symbol of a new, enlightened and strong power:

Now there

Along busy shores

Slender communities crowd together

Palaces and towers; ships

A crowd from all over the world

They strive for rich marinas...

The poet loves St. Petersburg with all his soul. For him, this is his homeland, the capital, the personification of the country. He wishes this city eternal prosperity. But the following words are important and interesting: lyrical hero: “May the defeated element make peace with you...”

After these “introductory” lines, the main part of the poem begins, in which the main conflict works. The hero of the poem, Eugene, is a simple resident of the capital, one of many. His life is filled with pressing everyday concerns: how to feed himself, where to get money. The hero wonders why some are given everything, while others are given nothing. After all, these “others” do not shine at all with either intelligence or hard work, but for them “life is much easier.” Here the theme of the “little man” and his insignificant position in society begins to develop. He is forced to endure injustices and blows of fate only because he was born “small”.

Among other things, we learn that Eugene has plans for the future. He is going to marry a simple girl like him, Parasha. Beloved Evgenia and her mother live on the banks of the Neva in a small house. The hero dreams of starting a family, having children, he dreams that in old age his grandchildren will take care of them.

But Evgeniy’s dreams were not destined to come true. A terrible flood interfered with his plans. It destroyed almost the entire city, but it also destroyed the hero’s life, killed and destroyed his soul. The rising waters of the Neva destroyed Parasha's house and killed the girl herself and her mother. What was left for poor Eugene? It is interesting that the entire poem is accompanied by the definition - “poor”. This epithet speaks of the author’s attitude towards his hero - an ordinary resident, to the common man, with whom he sympathizes with all his heart.

From the shocks he experienced, Evgeniy went crazy. He could not find peace anywhere. The hero kept walking and walking around the city, as if looking for someone to blame for what happened to his loved ones. And in an instant he realized who was responsible for all the grief that had befallen him. It was an “idol with an outstretched hand,” a monument to Peter. Eugene’s crazy mind began to blame everything on the tsar and his incarnation - the monument.

It was Peter, according to Eugene, who built this city on the banks of the river, in places that are regularly flooded. But the king did not think about it. He thought about the greatness of the entire country, about his own greatness and power. He was least concerned about the difficulties that could arise for ordinary residents of St. Petersburg.

Only in delirium is a hero capable of protest. He threatens the monument: “Too bad for you!” But then it began to seem to the insane Eugene that the monument was chasing him, running after him through the streets of the city. All the hero’s protest, his courage immediately disappeared. After that, he began to walk past the monument, without raising his eyes and embarrassedly crumpling his cap in his hands: he dared to rebel against the king!

As a result, the hero dies:

At the threshold

They found my madman,

And then his cold corpse

Buried for God's sake.

Of course, only in the head of a crazy hero could such visions arise. But in the poem they acquire deep meaning, are filled with bitter philosophical reflections poet. Flood is likened here to any transformations and reforms. They are similar to the elements, because, like them, they do not take into account the interests of ordinary people at all. It is not for nothing that St. Petersburg was built on the bones of its builders. Pushkin is full of sympathy for “little” people. He shows reverse side reforms, transformations, thinks about the price of the country's greatness. Symbolic in the poem is the image of a king who has come to terms with the elements, reassuring himself that “Tsars cannot cope with God’s elements.” Indifferent to the grief of an individual person and the same simple people, like himself:

The streets are already free

With your cold insensibility

People were walking.

Unfortunately, the poet's conclusions are sad. The conflict between the individual and the state is inevitable, insoluble, and its outcome has long been known.

Other works on this work

Conflict between the individual and the state. Russia, it seems, is the only state whose history knows the existence of two capitals at once - Moscow and St. Petersburg. Officially, the title of capital was, of course, in different time only one city, but in terms of its power and significance for the state, the second could rightly be called by this honorable name. In this they are twins, but there is a significant difference: Moscow is an old city, it grew out of ancient Slavic settlements, and the first mention of it (that is, its appearance in chronicles, which does not mean its birth at this time - it happened much earlier ) date back to 1147. Petersburg is the creation of the hands of Peter I, it was erected by the will of the emperor, it cannot in any way be called spontaneously appeared, Petersburg is a “synthetic” city. Further, its names are not of Russian origin and sound unusual to Russian ears, unlike Moscow, whose name is somehow connected with Ancient Russia. Petersburg was built on a geographically inconvenient and even dangerous place for the population (the city was often subject to natural disasters - floods); however, on a national scale, its location was much more advantageous: the proximity of neighboring developed countries, the shore of the Gulf of Finland, the opportunity to “open a window to Europe” - all this contributed to the strengthening of Russia in the international arena. Nevertheless, for many Russian people, St. Petersburg remained a “non-Russian”, cold city, the personification of evil, the brainchild of Satan (who, accordingly, was Peter I). Any human tragedy within its borders, she could seem like a victim to this merciless monster - St. Petersburg.

Among the Russian classics, the city became somewhat akin to a living creature that could control human lives. Works with this image are also present in writers of the XIX V. - Gogol, Dostoevsky, and even among the symbolists belonging to the 20th century - Merezhkovsky, A. Bely. The image of “living” Petersburg is also found in Pushkin - in the poem “The Bronze Horseman”. In general, this image here is ambiguous: it is both a symbol of the entire era of Peter I, and simply a city suffering a flood, and a huge monument to its founder, and the personification of the entire state.

On November 7, 1824, a flood occurred in St. Petersburg. Many residents died. Main character In the poem, Eugene mentally connected the raging elements that brought him misfortune with the city itself where it happened, and the city with its founder Peter I. Thus, drawing a parallel, he placed all the blame on the emperor. The flood turned into a tragedy for him: although he himself escaped the sad fate, his bride Parasha was not saved. The house where she lived was washed away, as if it had never existed. Evgeny goes crazy from despair.

These are the main events of the poem, which, not coincidentally, has the subtitle “The Petersburg Tale.” Having carefully read the work, we see Eugene in two roles. Firstly, he is a specific hero, with his own experiences and biography, to which Pushkin does not pay much attention, but still one fact related to his family history takes place: Pushkin hints that Evgeny may belong to the previously famous , but to an impoverished family:

We don't need his nickname.

Although in times gone by

Perhaps it shone

And under the pen of Karamzin

In native legends it sounded;

But now with light and rumor

It's forgotten.

Only this fact sets him apart from the general mass of the population of St. Petersburg. In general, Evgeniy is every resident of the city; his life is like two drops of water similar to the lives of others. That is why we only know about him that he “serves somewhere,” is poor, but full of strength and desire to work, dreams of marrying Parasha and living a long, quiet life:

It will pass, perhaps, one or two -

I'll get a place - Parashe

I will entrust our farm

And raising children...

And we will live, and so on until the grave

We'll both get there hand in hand

And our grandchildren will bury us...

The dream is the most ordinary one. Therefore, Evgeny, with all his independent features and biographical facts, should be classified as a class of so-called “little” people.

Nevertheless, he is a separate representative of this group of people, and it is in this capacity that he is opposed to the stormy elements - the Neva, which overflowed its banks. This river in Pushkin is to some extent correlated with the state: it also controls human lives.

Basically, Pushkin’s depiction of St. Petersburg is built on contrast: at the beginning of the poem, “the city of Petrov” is seen as a “window to Europe,” a formidable personification of the power of the state, its “strict, slender appearance” inspires awe; during a flood, the northern capital is no less formidable, but already helpless: the Neva, part of itself, is tearing the city apart from the inside, breaking out of its granite shackles. Petersburg, at the beginning of the work creating the impression of being somewhat mythical and even mysterious city, subsequently reveals its essence, the river lifts all the dirt from its bottom and carries “coffins from a washed-out cemetery” through the streets. After the flood, the “sovereign” city reveals another side of itself - indifference, coldness towards its residents. In the image of St. Petersburg, both “evil children” appear, throwing stones at the mad Eugene, and coachmen, lashing him with whips.

The state has enormous power, and its symbol is the statue of Peter I. On horseback, the Bronze Horseman climbs onto a block of stone and extends his hand, protecting the city and at the same time asserting his power and authority. Against the backdrop of such power, people seem like puppets. Indeed, Pushkin presents Petersburg in such a way that the reader becomes clear: in this city a person is not an independent person, but only a doll controlled “from above” (by the city). And in such a situation, only the insane Eugene has the courage to “threaten” the mighty ruler, even if he turns to the Bronze Horseman. Although he is out of his mind, for him the statue is alive, so in this situation, dissatisfaction expressed to the monument is tantamount to an accusation thrown in the face of the emperor.

“Welcome, miraculous builder! -

He whispered, trembling angrily, -

Already for you!..”

But the power of influence of the state on the minds is great, and even the insane Eugene seems as if the Bronze Horseman is tearing off his pedestal and rushing after him in order to punish him for his insolence.

Such a conflict cannot end with a determination of which of them is Evgeniy (one of characteristic representatives“little” people” or the Bronze Horseman (in the person of whom is represented government) - will be the winner, and who will be the loser. There is fundamentally no answer to such a question, which is what Pushkin shows: the chase ends in nothing, it is meaningless and ineffective. By this the poet wanted to say that the confrontation between man and power will never stop; he repeatedly developed this theme in other works. His point of view is this: the conflict will exist, each side is confident that it is right, but at the same time, both of them are mistaken in their own way, pursuing only their own benefit. Man and power are interconnected, and this connection is sometimes tragic. The legendary “He” mentioned in the Preface is the personification of the state and cares only about state interests, about the fate of Russia; undoubtedly, this is important, but this is like a bird’s eye view, which does not take into account the simple, everyday interests of all people and each individual. At first glance, the state stronger than man, his authority is unshakable (after his “threat” Eugene, passing by the monument, shrinks with fear every time), but in the example of Peter 1, who failed to bind people with an “iron bridle” (or rather, his statues), it is clearly visible how a person , with the power of his heart and memory, evokes the terrible but powerless anger of the “idol.”