The story of the creation of the story The Captain's Daughter. The history of the creation of "The Captain's Daughter"

The most famous brainchild of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, "The Captain's Daughter", was completed in 1836. Then he was assigned the genre of historical novel. But few people know that before writing such a great work, there was a long preparation ahead, which required patience and multiple efforts.

In connection with the work on the story, Pushkin had a very bold thought. He takes on the mission to write a historical research article on the topic of Pugachev's uprising. Having barely received the long-awaited permission, the writer deeply and for a very long time studies archival materials, trying not to lose sight of anything. To consolidate what he started, he also goes to the place where there once was an uprising. Long conversations with eyewitnesses and walks around the neighborhood are bearing fruit. Already in 1834, he finally managed to put an end to it and show the world his wonderful result. It was this long and painstaking work that became one of the main factors in writing The Captain's Daughter.

But as you know, the initial idea for the plot arose from Alexander Sergeevich before he began to study “The History of Pugachev.” This happens during the period when he was still working on Dubrovsky. Work on the story continues for several years. As the process progresses, both the names of the characters and the idea as a whole change. If initially the writer imagined a businesslike officer as the main character, then after a while the vision of such a turn of events did not seem the most successful to Pushkin.

To give the effect of realism to his characters, the author carefully studied numerous historical materials about Pugachev’s accomplices. It is not surprising that the heroes have prototypes that previously existed. The way the author’s train of thought rapidly changes indicates to us a difficult period in his life. The confrontation between two classes in the political sphere has a very negative impact on a person’s state of mind. At such moments it is very difficult to tune in to inspiration, but also to find it. But even the turbulent situation in the country did not bother the great writer. Skillful techniques by contrasting one character with another help the work successfully pass all stages of censorship testing. The talent and effort that the writer so diligently put into the process itself were appreciated.

Option 2

The idea for this work came to Alexander Sergeevich at the beginning of 1833. At that time, he was still working on “Dubrovsky” and the historical essay “The History of Pugachev.” To better understand what was happening during the uprising, Pushkin travels through the Urals and the Volga region. There he spends a lot of time talking with eyewitnesses of those events. And it was thanks to this evidence that he was able to reproduce this historical event in more detail in his works.

Nowadays, there are 5 editions of The Captain's Daughter. From this we can conclude that the writer worked very carefully on the novel and tried to ensure that his work met the strict requirements imposed by the censorship of those times.

Unfortunately, the first version of the novel, presumably written at the end of the summer of 1833, has not survived. Work on it did not stop for the next three years. It is generally accepted that the work was completely completed on October 19, 1836.

A little about the characters. There is an opinion that the prototype of the main character could be several real-life personalities at the same time. Among them are Shvanvich and Vasharin. After all, the author conceived him as a young man of a noble family, who, under the pressure of circumstances, would take the side of the rebels. And the first one actually went over to the rebels. While Vasharin, after escaping from Pugachev’s captivity, joined General Mikhelson, an ardent fighter against Pugachevism. The main character first received the surname Bulanin, and then was renamed Grinev. The choice of surname also carries meaning. It is known that such a person actually belonged to the gang. After the riot he was acquitted.

Pushkin came up with a very interesting literary move - to divide the originally conceived image between two characters. As a result, one hero (Grinev) is one hundred percent positive, and the second (Shvabrin) is his complete opposite - petty and evil. Despite the fact that both young men belong to the same social class, the author contrasts them with each other. This is what gave the work a certain political urgency and helped overcome the censorship restrictions of those years.

An interesting fact is that Alexander Sergeevich had to cut out an entire chapter from the latest edition of the novel. Most likely, he took this step to please the censors. After all, in that chapter we were talking about the uprising in the settlement of Grinev. Fortunately, this part of “The Captain’s Daughter” was not lost; the poet carefully put the pages in a separate cover, wrote “Missed Chapter” on it and kept them in that form. It was published after the writer’s death on the pages of the Russian Archive magazine in 1880.

The work itself was first published on the pages of the Sovremennik magazine in 1836 in the fourth book. This issue of the publication was the last one published during Pushkin’s lifetime. According to censorship requirements, the work had to be published omitting some passages and without the writer’s signature.

Option 3

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin became known in Russian culture not only as a poet, but also as a magnificent prose writer, known for his prose works. One of them is the work "The Captain's Daughter", which also contains a detailed historical aspect.

As soon as Pushkin takes up his pen, he first of all studies the available historical sources and archives, he carefully collects various information, and also visits the two provinces from which Pugachev’s uprising began, which later became a real peasant or even civil war. The author personally visits all the places and battlefields in order to accurately and reliably describe what is happening. He examines the fortresses, makes sketches and saves them in a single archive in order to use them when writing his own work.

He also communicates with elderly people who were eyewitnesses to the events taking place. He carefully collects all the collected information, which he then uses in the story; he does this quite professionally and scrupulously. The collected material was quite multifaceted and made it possible to display different aspects of personalities that develop against the background of what is happening.

The events of the work begin in 1770, namely when a brutal confrontation broke out under the leadership of Pugachev, who decided to take power into his own hands and turn the tide of historical events. The author accurately describes the externally and internally of the steppe fortresses, which are built in order to protect the region from enemy attacks. He clearly describes the situation of the Cossacks, who are constantly dissatisfied with the authorities, which leads to the maturation of a rebellious spirit. One day he boils. And the real uprising begins.

The author describes with historical accuracy how the fortresses will be taken and how they will surrender during a fierce battle. The story about real people also becomes part of the story. He reveals their personalities, shows what motives motivated them during the struggle against the existing government system, why did they go over to Pugachev’s side? What motivated them? They wanted a better life for themselves and their loved ones, so they fought with all their might for happiness and the opportunity to live fully.

Pushkin pays special attention to the appearance and portrait of Pugachev, who is a fugitive Don Cossack. He is ready to gather a large number of rebels around him. The author shows that a man is ready to charm people with his external charisma and fight for people’s attention so that they will follow him. His authoritarian character and desire to promote his own idea does its job.

Thanks to the author's ingenious approach, he was able to subtly intertwine a real historical narrative with a fictional story. Not every author approached writing works with such precision and clarity that became the cultural heritage of an entire country, as well as world culture. “The Captain's Daughter” is a historical work worthy of attention.

Prototypes of the heroes of the Captain's Daughter:

Peter Grinev. He constantly strives for self-improvement and tries to improve himself by any means. Despite the lack of a systematic approach to education, his parents gave him excellent moral education. As soon as he breaks free, he cannot control himself, he is rude to the servant, but then his conscience forces him to apologize. He was taught to be friends, to show the best feelings and qualities, but at the same time, his father’s systematism forces him to constantly work and think only about his own interests.

Alexey Shvabrin. The main character is the direct opposite of Peter. He can show neither courage nor nobility. He even goes to serve Pugachev, because in this way he can satisfy his base motives. The author himself feels a certain contempt for him, which the reader sees between the lines.

Masha Mironova. Maria Mironova is the only girl and character who exactly follows the phrase “take care of your honor from a young age.” She is the daughter of the chief of the Belgorod fortress. Her courage and courage help her to be a brave girl, ready to fight for her own feelings and go to the empress if necessary. She is ready to even give her life to achieve her goal or preserve her best qualities for further struggle.

One surprising feature of the hero prototypes is that the personalities of Peter and Alexei are taken from the personality of one person. Shvanvich became the prototype for both. But at the same time, they are completely different heroes. Initially, the author conceived him as a hero who, for the sake of the title of nobleman, became Pugachev’s henchman on a voluntary basis.

But after a series of studies, Pushkin fixes his gaze on another historical figure - Basharin. Basharin was captured by Pugachev. He became the main prototype of the main character, brave and courageous, capable of fighting for his own worldviews and promoting them to the masses. The surname of the main character changed periodically, and the final version was Grinev.

Shvabrin simply becomes the opposite of the main character. The author contrasts every positive quality of his with every negative quality of Shvabrin. Thus, it constitutes yin and yang, against the background of which readers were able to evaluate from the outside and generally compare. Thus, the reader understands who is truly good and who is the embodiment of evil. But is evil always such? Or is it such only against the backdrop of good? And what can be considered good? And can the actions of Shvabrin and Srinev always be divided into black and white, or can actions never be classified into one category or another, and can only be assessed in comparison with the morality of another person nearby.

Masha Mironova is a mystery for the reader. Pushkin does not fully reveal where he got the image of a girl who is pleasant in appearance, but at the same time strong and courageous, ready to fight for her principles. On the one hand, some say that the prototype of her character is a Georgian guy who was captured.

He showed all the courage of character and dedication to get out of the situation in which he found himself. On the other hand, he talks about a girl he met at a ball. She was a rather modest and pleasant person; her appearance captivated the people around her, as did her charm.

Prototypes of heroes, interesting facts (history of writing)

Everyone says that the most boring days during the holidays are when it rains. But I don't agree with this. For me, the most boring day was the hottest one. When the stuffiness was unbearable

From mid-1832, A.S. Pushkin began work on the history of the uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev. The king gave the poet the opportunity to familiarize himself with secret materials about the uprising and the actions of the authorities to suppress it. Pushkin turns to unpublished documents from family archives and private collections. His “Archival Notebooks” contain copies of Pugachev’s personal decrees and letters, extracts from reports on military operations with Pugachev’s detachments.

In 1833, Pushkin decides to go to those places in the Volga and Urals regions where the uprising took place. He looks forward to meeting eyewitnesses of these events. Having received permission from Emperor Nicholas I, Pushkin leaves for Kazan. “I’ve been in Kazan since the fifth. Here I was busy with old people, contemporaries of my hero; I drove around the outskirts of the city, examined the battle sites, asked questions, wrote down notes, and was very pleased that it was not in vain that I visited this side,” he writes to his wife Natalya Nikolaevna on September 8. Next, the poet goes to Simbirsk and Orenburg, where he also visits the battle sites and meets with contemporaries of the events.

The “History of Pugachev”, written in Boldin in the fall of 1833, was formed from materials about the riot. This work of Pushkin was published in 1834 under the title “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion”, which was given to him by the emperor. But Pushkin conceived the idea of ​​a work of art about the Pugachev uprising of 1773–1775. It arose while working on Dubrovsky in 1832. The plan of the novel about a renegade nobleman who found himself in Pugachev’s camp changed several times. This is also explained by the fact that the topic that Pushkin addressed was ideologically and politically acute and complex. The poet could not help but think about the censorship obstacles that had to be overcome. Archival materials, stories of living Pugachevites, which he heard during a trip to the site of the uprising of 1773–1774, could be used with great caution.

According to the original plan, the hero of the novel was to be a nobleman who voluntarily went over to Pugachev’s side. His prototype was second lieutenant of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment Mikhail Shvanovich (in the plans of the novel Shvanvich), who “preferred a vile life to an honest death.” His name was mentioned in the document “On the death penalty for the traitor, rebel and impostor Pugachev and his accomplices.” Later, Pushkin chose the fate of another real participant in Pugachev’s events - Basharin. Basharin was captured by Pugachev, escaped from captivity and entered the service of one of the suppressors of the uprising, General Mikhelson. The name of the main character changed several times until Pushkin settled on the surname Grinev. In the government report on the liquidation of the Pugachev uprising and the punishment of Pugachev and his accomplices dated January 10, 1775, Grinev’s name was listed among those who were initially suspected of “communication with the villains,” but “as a result, turned out to be innocent” and were released from arrest. As a result, instead of one hero-nobleman in the novel, there were two: Grinev was contrasted with a nobleman-traitor, the “vile villain” Shvabrin, which could make it easier to carry the novel through censorship barriers.

Pushkin continued to work on this work in 1834. In 1836 he reworked it. October 19, 1836 is the date of completion of work on The Captain's Daughter. “The Captain’s Daughter” was published in the fourth issue of Pushkin’s Sovremennik at the end of December 1836, a little over a month before the poet’s death.

What is the genre of The Captain's Daughter? Pushkin wrote to the censor, handing over the manuscript: “The name of the girl Mironova is fictitious. My novel is based on legend...” Pushkin explained what a novel is: “In our time, by the word novel we mean a historical era developed in a fictional narrative.” That is, Pushkin considered his work a historical novel. And yet, “The Captain’s Daughter”, a small work, is more often called a story in literary criticism.

In the early 30s of the 19th century, after suppressing the bloody revolt of military settlers in Staraya Russa, Pushkin again turned to the “troubled” times of Russian history. The figure of the rebellious Pugachev now attracts and fascinates him more and more. Pushkin ultimately tackles this topic on two levels: as a professional historian in “The History of Pugachev” and as a writer in “The Captain’s Daughter.”

First, a historical work was created. Pushkin scrupulously collected facts and evidence for this work. He traveled to several provinces where Pugachev was still remembered, where people who knew him were still alive, where legends about him circulated from mouth to mouth. All this was recorded by the poet-historian and passed on to posterity with the strictest objectivity, punctuality and efficiency. And only then Pushkin turned to the artistic embodiment of the theme.

Pushkin was worried about the fate of his close Decembrist friends - Pushchin, Kuchelbecker, Ryleev and others. These were the best sons of Russia - the most noble, the most selfless. But why did both the noble revolts and the peasant revolts fail? Why, despite the rivers of blood shed, has the life order of Russia not changed for the better? And is it possible to outline other, more faithful paths to the prosperity of Russia?

Work on the story progressed with difficulty - six different plans for the story "The Captain's Daughter" were preserved in Pushkin's papers. And even the last of the plans has many differences with the work that we know. Three times Pushkin takes on the plot, the main character of which is Shvanvich - an officer, second lieutenant of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment, who went over to Pugachev's side. And he refuses the idea of ​​making a positive hero of a nobleman who went over to the rebel camp. This is due to deep reasons.

Pushkin did not sympathize with people like Shvanvich, and did not admire the peasant rebellion. “God forbid that we see a Russian rebellion - senseless and merciless,” says the main character of his novel. Pushkin thought the same. In 1831, he witnessed one of these riots, about which he wrote to his friend P. L. Vyazemsky: “You probably heard about the disturbances in Novgorod and Old Rus'. Horrors. More than a hundred generals, colonels and officers were massacred in the Novgorod settlements with with all the subtleties of malice... 15 doctors were killed... one general was quartered, the living were buried, etc. "1

Without softening the colors, Pushkin paints the bloody episodes of the Pugachev era both in his historical work and in his work of art. Can we say that the author condemns the Pugachev rebellion? Declares him a notorious villain?

First of all, he finds out the reasons for the Pugachevism. In his historical work, A.S. Pushkin showed that the harshness of the rebels was provoked by the injustice of local and government authorities. And on the pages of "The Captain's Daughter" a Bashkir appears - a participant in the riot of 1741. The pages associated with the description of this man cannot be read without shuddering.

And yet, the noble officer who went over to the side of the rebels does not become the main character of the novel. Some of Shvanvich's features are transferred to the negative hero Shvabrin, who is close to the type of romantic villain. (The similarity of their last names indicates their connection.) The search for the hero continues. In the writer's drafts, Basharin appears, an officer pardoned by Pugachev for his kind attitude towards the soldiers. Then the hero returns again to the government army and “distinguishes himself against Pugachev.” The hero's appearance is double: the transition to another camp and back to the first does not characterize him very flatteringly. The author refuses to transfer the hero to the rebels. Next is temporary. A new prototype hero appears. This is a living contemporary of Pushkin - Valuev, a nineteen-year-old young man, the groom of P. A. Vyazemsky’s daughter. But this plan was also rejected. Finally, a hero appears who will remain the main one in the final text of the novel - Grinev. This surname is taken from archival materials. Second Lieutenant A.M. Grinev was among those officers who were suspected of “communication with villains, but as a result of the investigation they turned out to be innocent.”

Grinev in the story by A. S. Pushkin became an eyewitness, witness and participant in the events. Together with him we will go through trials, mistakes and victories, discoveries and difficulties, through learning the truth, learning wisdom, love and mercy.

And now let’s turn to the time that A.S. Pushkin spoke about in his story “The Captain’s Daughter”.

So, the 17th century, the reign of Catherine II, née Sophia Frederica Augusta, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst (1729 - 1796). In August 1745, she married the heir to the Russian throne, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich. In June 1762, Catherine II took power, with the help of the guard, overthrowing Peter III from the throne, her husband who was killed, and the nobles who served in the guard and exerted this power were generously rewarded. Under Catherine, the queen's favorites became powerful nobles.

Catherine II the Great ascended the Russian throne at the age of 33 and ruled for almost the entire second half of the 18th century. This time began to be called the Catherine era. This characteristic is largely explained by Russia’s successes on the world stage and the solution of many internal political problems.

Under Catherine's reign, the territory of Russia expanded, especially in the southern and western directions. Russia conducted active foreign trade through the ports of the Baltic and Black Sea regions.

Strengthening the apparatus of power, spending on wars, maintaining and developing science, education and art required a lot of money. Treasury revenues increased 4 times in the second half of the 18th century, but expenses increased even more - 5 times.

Catherine II showed the intelligence and abilities of a major statesman. She was very educated. It had to develop a policy that would meet the country's development goals. This politician was called "enlightened absolutism."

In her state activities, the empress used the ideology of the Enlightenment, corresponded with Voltaire and his like-minded people, and discussed state affairs with them. She attached a great role to legislation, believing that laws are created “to educate citizens.” According to historians, the empress issued 12 laws per month during the years of her reign.

Already in the first manifesto after accession to the throne, Catherine unequivocally stated: “We intend to landowners on their estates

and preserve the possessions inviolably, and maintain the peasants in due obedience."

Nevertheless, not all nobles were supporters of her power, and in the story "The Captain's Daughter" Pushkin shows representatives of the "ancient" nobility, who at one time played an important role in Russian history, and in the era of "cynical favoritism" lost their former importance (representatives of this nobility are L.P. Grinev, Count Minikh, who remained loyal to Peter III).

In “My Genealogy” Pushkin wrote:

My grandfather, when the rebellion arose

In the middle of the Peterhof courtyard,

Like Minich, he remained faithful

The Fall of the Third Peter.

So, during the reign of Catherine II, two types of nobility appeared - the “old” nobility and the new nobility, and the position of the serfs at that time worsened even more: the peasants became beggary, they could be sold like cattle, like things. Newspapers were full of advertisements about the sale of serfs. Landowners, by decrees of the empress, received the right to punish guilty peasants without trial, send them to hard labor, and commit arbitrariness. Lack of rights and poverty pushed peasants into riots, which were brutally suppressed.

In such a situation, after the sudden and mysterious death of Peter III for the people, rumors spread that the emperor was alive, that someone else had been killed, and the tsar had been saved and was hiding, but he would appear before the people, return his rightful throne, punish both the queen and landowners, will give the peasants freedom and land. Faith in a good king has always lived among the people. And in 1773, on the distant banks of the Yaik River (later, by decree of the Empress, it was called the Ural), in the endless Orenburg steppes, among the Cossacks there was talk that Tsar Peter III had appeared. This was evidenced by his appeals, written in a language simple and understandable to the people. This man was Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (material about him - see lesson 4). The people followed him, the uprising covered a vast territory and lasted a year and a half. It was brutally suppressed, but the rebellion raged for a long time.

In 1833, A.S. Pushkin went to the places where the uprising raged 60 years ago. He visited Kazan, Orenburg, and Uralsk. The trip took several months. In addition, there was constant hard work with documents, meetings were held with many people who still remembered the time of Pugachev.

The work of Pushkin - the historian and author of "The Captain's Daughter" - was enormous. With his creative imagination, the great artist of words made up for what was sparsely stated in documents, what was left unsaid in memoirs. He reproduces a long-gone life, the characters of people, creates a fascinating plot in which each picture is a necessary link of a single whole.

"The Captain's Daughter" is at the same time a historical work, and a response to the writer's contemporary reality, and a spiritual testament for us - those who will live after him.

From mid-1832, A.S. Pushkin began work on the history of the uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev. The king gave the poet the opportunity to familiarize himself with secret materials about the uprising and the actions of the authorities to suppress it. Pushkin turns to unpublished documents from family archives and private collections. His “Archival Notebooks” contain copies of Pugachev’s personal decrees and letters, extracts from reports on military operations with Pugachev’s detachments.

In 1833, Pushkin decides to go to those places in the Volga and Urals regions where the uprising took place. He looks forward to meeting eyewitnesses of these events. Having received permission from Emperor Nicholas I, Pushkin leaves for Kazan. “I’ve been in Kazan since the fifth. Here I was busy with the old people, contemporaries of my hero; I traveled around the city, examined the battle sites, asked questions, wrote down and was very pleased that it was not in vain that I visited this side,” he writes to his wife Natalya Nikolaevna on September 8. Next, the poet goes to Simbirsk and Orenburg, where he also visits the battle sites and meets with contemporaries of the events.

From materials about the riot, “The History of Pugachev” was formed, written in Boldin in the fall of 1833. This work of Pushkin was published in 1834 under the title “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion”, which was given to him by the emperor. But Pushkin conceived the idea of ​​a work of art about the Pugachev uprising of 1773-1775. It arose during work on Dubrovsky in 1832. The plan of the novel about a renegade nobleman who found himself in Pugachev’s camp changed several times. This is also explained by the fact that the topic that Pushkin addressed was ideologically and politically acute and complex. The poet could not help but think about the censorship obstacles that had to be overcome. Archival materials, stories of living Pugachevites, which he heard during a trip to the site of the uprising of 1773-1774, could be used with great caution.

According to the original plan, the hero of the novel was to be a nobleman who voluntarily went over to Pugachev’s side. His prototype was second lieutenant of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment Mikhail Shvanovich (in the plans of the novel Shvanvich), who “preferred a vile life to an honest death.” His name was mentioned in the document “On the death penalty for the traitor, rebel and impostor Pugachev and his accomplices.” Later, Pushkin chose the fate of another real participant in Pugachev’s events - Basharin. Basharin was captured by Pugachev, escaped from captivity and entered the service of one of the suppressors of the uprising, General Mikhelson. The name of the main character changed several times until Pushkin settled on the surname Grinev. In the government report on the liquidation of the Pugachev uprising and the punishment of Pugachev and his accomplices dated January 10, 1775, Grinev’s name was listed among those who were initially suspected of “communication with the villains,” but “as a result, turned out to be innocent” and were released from arrest. As a result, instead of one hero-nobleman, there were two in the novel: Grinev was contrasted with a nobleman-traitor, the “vile villain” Shvabrin, which could have made it easier to carry the novel through censorship barriers.

Pushkin continued to work on this work in 1834. In 1836 he reworked it. October 19, 1836 is the date of completion of work on The Captain's Daughter. “The Captain’s Daughter” was published in the fourth issue of Pushkin’s Sovremennik at the end of December 1836, a little over a month before the poet’s death.

What is the genre of "The Captain's Daughter"? Pushkin wrote to the censor, handing over the manuscript to him: “The name of the girl Mironova is fictitious. My novel is based on legend...”. Pushkin explained what a novel is: “In our time, by the word novel we mean a historical era developed in a fictional narrative.” That is, Pushkin considered his work a historical novel. And yet "The Captain's Daughter" - a small work - is more often called a story in literary criticism.

Initially, Pushkin wanted to write a novel dedicated only to the Pugachev movement, but censorship was unlikely to let it through. Therefore, the main plot line of the story becomes the service of a young nobleman for the benefit of the fatherland and his love for the daughter of the captain of the Belogorod fortress. At the same time, another topic of Pugachevism that interested the author is given. A.S. Pushkin chooses the main character as the small landed nobleman Pyotr Andreevich Grinev because According to the author, he was a typical representative of the nobility of that time: he was raised by a tutor, did not excel in science, and was the only child surrounded by the care and love of his parents. Grinev grew up so carefree that even his father forgot how old his child was. In a conversation with Peter Grinev’s mother, the father suddenly asks: * “Avdotya Vasilyevna, how old is Petrushka?” * and having received the answer that his son “has turned seventeen,” he makes a firm decision to send his child to serve: “Good,” the father interrupted, “ "It's time for him to go into service. He's done running around the girls' rooms and climbing around the dovecote."

Despite such an easy childhood, Grinev was initially endowed with such wonderful qualities as an unmistakable moral sense, clearly manifested in moments of trials and twists of fate, nobility, he can ask for forgiveness even from a serf servant if he understands that he was wrong and harsh with a person who he is devoted to him, who loves him and who raised him, kindness, he can give a hare sheepskin coat to the first person he meets, only because he froze and led them to the village in terrible bad weather, honor and loyalty to himself in the conditions of a cruel and inhuman internecine war. Moreover, finding himself in a critical situation, Grinev rapidly grows spiritually and morally. He prefers death to the slightest deviation from the dictates of duty and honor, refuses the oath to Pugachev and any compromises with him. On the other hand, during the trial, again risking his life, he does not consider it possible to name the name of his sincerely beloved Masha Mironova, fearing that she will be subjected to a humiliating interrogation. Defending his right to happiness, Grinev commits a recklessly brave, desperate act. After all, the unauthorized trip he took to the “rebellious settlement” was doubly dangerous: he not only risked being captured by the Pugachevites, but he was putting his career, well-being, good name, and honor at stake. captain's daughter Pushkin

The social stereotype of thinking is still alien to the young noble officer. A hostile instinct and inner nobility told Grinev that he should treat rebels and rioters negatively; in real situations, he trusted more in personal impressions.

It is no coincidence that the author chose Peter Grinev as the narrator. Pushkin needed a witness who was directly involved in the events, who was personally acquainted with Pugachev and his entourage. Grinev cannot help but talk about Pugachev and his associates, since his life and happiness often depend on them. Let's remember the execution scene or the scene of Masha's liberation.

Grinev is an officer called by oath to pacify the riot, he is faithful to duty. And we see that Pyotr Grinev, indeed, did not lose his officer’s honor. He is kind, noble. To Pugachev’s offer to serve him faithfully, Grinev firmly refuses, since he swore allegiance to the Empress. Pushkin deliberately chose a nobleman as the narrator. Through the perception of Grinev A.S. Pushkin gives a positive characterization of Pugachev as a person, although he condemns the senselessness and bloodshed of the rebellion. Pyotr Grinev consistently tells us not only about bloody and cruel massacres, similar to the massacre in the Belogorsk fortress, but also about the just actions of Pugachev, about his broad soul, peasant ingenuity, and peculiar nobility...

Pugachev spared and had mercy on him three times. “The thought of him was inseparable in me from the thought of mercy,” says Grinev, “given to me by him in one of the terrible moments of his life, and of the deliverance of my bride...”

After the brutal suppression of the rebellious uprising of military settlers in Staraya Russa in the early 30s of the 19th century, Pushkin draws attention to the “troubled” times in the history of the fatherland. This is where the story of the creation of “The Captain's Daughter” begins. The image of the rebel Pugachev fascinates and attracts the poet’s attention. And this theme runs through two of Pushkin’s works at once: the historical work “The History of Pugachev” and “The Captain’s Daughter.” Both works are dedicated to the events of 1773-1775 under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev.

Initial stage: collecting information, creating “The History of Pugachev”

The history of the creation of “The Captain's Daughter” takes more than 3 years. Pushkin was the first to write the work “The History of Pugachev,” for which he carefully collected facts and evidence. He had to travel around several provinces in the Volga region and Orenburg region, where the uprising took place and witnesses to those events still lived. By decree of the tsar, the poet was given access to secret documents relating to the uprising and its suppression by the authorities. Family archives and private collections of documents constituted a significant part of the sources of information. Pushkin’s “Archival Notebooks” contain copies of personal decrees and letters from Emelyan Pugachev himself. The poet communicated with old people who knew Pugachev and passed on legends about him. The poet questioned, wrote down, and examined the battle sites. He carefully and punctually wrote down all the information he collected in the historical work “The History of Pugachev.” A short novel reveals to us one of the most exciting pages in Russian history - the period of Pugachevism. This work was called “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion” and was published in 1834. Only after creating a historical work, the poet began to write a literary work - “The Captain's Daughter”.

Prototypes of heroes, plotting a storyline

The novel is narrated from the perspective of a young officer Pyotr Grinev, who is serving in the Belogorsk fortress. Several times the author changed the plan of the work, structured the plot differently and renamed the characters. At the beginning, the hero of the work was thought to be a young nobleman who went over to Pugachev’s side. The poet studied the history of the nobleman Shvanvich, who voluntarily went over to the side of the rebels, and the officer Basharin, who was captured by Pugachev. Based on their real deeds, two characters were formed, one of whom was a nobleman who became a traitor, whose image required passing through the moral and censorship barriers of that time. We can say that Shvabrin’s prototype was officer Shvanovich. This name was mentioned in the royal decree “On punishing with death the traitor rebel and impostor Pugachev and his accomplices.” And the main character of “The Captain’s Daughter,” Grinev, was created by the author based on the true story of an officer taken into custody by the authorities. He was suspected of having connections with but later this was not confirmed, the officer was found not guilty and released.

Publication and history of the creation of Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter”

For Pushkin, covering such a sensitive political topic was not an easy task, as evidenced by the history of the creation of “The Captain’s Daughter”: numerous changes in the construction of the plan of the work, changes in the names of the characters and the storyline.

The story “The Captain's Daughter” was first mentioned in mid-1832. The work itself appeared in print in December 1836 in the Sovremennik magazine without the author’s signature. However, censorship prohibited the publication of a chapter about a peasant revolt in the village of Grineva, which the poet himself later called “The Missing Chapter.” For Pushkin, the creation of “The Captain’s Daughter” took the last years of his life; after the work was published, the poet tragically died in a duel.

Alexander Sergeevich had to put a lot of effort into creating the characters. He turned to unpublished documents, family archives, and ardently studied the history of the uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev. Pushkin visited many cities of the Volga region, including Kazan and Astrakhan, where the “exploits” of the rebel began. He even found relatives of the participants to more reliably study all the information. From the materials received, a historical work, “The History of Pugachev,” was compiled, which was used by him to create his own Pugachev for “The Captain’s Daughter.” I had to simultaneously think about censorship and a character who contradicted not only the moral and ethical values ​​of the time, but also raised political discussions. His renegade nobleman was initially supposed to take Pugachev’s side, but the plan changed many times during the process.

As a result, it was necessary to divide the character into two - “light” and “dark”, that is, the defender Grinev and the traitor Shvabrin. Shvabrin absorbed all the worst qualities, from betrayal to cowardice.

The world of the heroes of "The Captain's Daughter"

The poet managed to describe truly Russian qualities and character traits on the pages of the story. Pushkin very clearly and colorfully manages to convey the contrasting characters of people from the same class. In the work “Onegin” he vividly described the opposing types of nobility in the images of Tatiana and Onegin, and in “The Captain’s Daughter” he managed to show the contrasting characters of the types of the Russian peasantry: the prudent, loyal to the owners, prudent and prudent Savelich and the rebellious, frantic, rebellious Pugachev. In the story “The Captain's Daughter,” the characters are described very plausibly and expressively.

Nobleman Grinev

The main characters in our story deserve special attention. The hero of “The Captain's Daughter,” the young officer Grinev, on whose behalf the story is told, was brought up in ancient traditions. From an early age he was placed under the care of Savelich, whose influence only intensified after the expulsion of the Frenchman Beaupre from his teachers. Before he was born, Peter was registered as a sergeant, which determined his entire future.

Pyotr Alekseevich Grinev, the main character of The Captain's Daughter, was created in the image of a real person, information about whom Pushkin found in archival documents from the Pugachev era. Grinev's prototype is officer Basharin, who was captured by the rebels and escaped. The creation of the story “The Captain's Daughter” was accompanied by a change in the hero's surname. It changed several times (Bulanin, Valuev), until the author settled on Grinev. The image of the main character is associated with mercy, “family thought,” and free choice in difficult and harsh circumstances.

Describing through the lips of Grinev the terrible consequences of Pugachevism, Pushkin calls the rebellion senseless and merciless. Mountains of dead bodies, a bunch of people chained, whipped and hanged - these are the terrible consequences of the uprising. Seeing robbed and devastated villages, fires, and innocent victims, Grinev exclaims: “God forbid we see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless.”

Serf Savelich

The creation of the story “The Captain's Daughter” would have been impossible without the vivid image of a native of the people. Serf Savelich firmly believed that he was born only to serve his master. He could not imagine any other life. But his service to the masters is not servility, he is full of self-esteem and nobility.

Savelich is rich in inner selfless affection and self-sacrifice. He loves his young master like a father, takes care of him and suffers from unfair reproaches addressed to him. This old man suffers from loneliness, because he devoted his whole life to serving the masters.

Rebel Pugachev

The poet managed to convey another vivid image of the Russian character through Emelyan Pugachev. This hero of The Captain's Daughter is viewed by Pushkin from two different sides. One Pugachev is an intelligent, with great ingenuity and insightful man, whom we see as a simple person, described in his personal relationship with Grinev. He remembers the kindness shown to him and feels deep gratitude. Another Pugachev is a cruel and merciless executioner, sending people to the gallows and executing the middle-aged widow of Commandant Mironov. This side of Pugachev is disgusting, striking in its bloody cruelty.

The story “The Captain's Daughter” makes it clear that Pugachev is a reluctant villain. He was chosen for the role of “counselor” by the elders and was later betrayed by them. Pugachev himself believed that Russia was destined to be punished through his damnation. He understood that he was doomed, that he was only a leading role player in the rebellious elements. But at the same time, Pugachev is not a soulless puppet in the hands of the elders; he puts all his courage, perseverance and mental strength into the success of the uprising.

The antagonist of the main character is Shvabrin

The nobleman Shvabrin, the hero of The Captain's Daughter, is another real person, mentions of whom were found by Pushkin in archival documents. In contrast to the noble and honest Grinev, Shvabrin is a scoundrel with a dishonest soul. He easily goes over to Pugachev’s side as soon as he captured the Belgorod fortress. He tries to gain Masha's favor by force.

But at the same time, Shvabrin is far from stupid, he is a witty and entertaining conversationalist, who ended up serving in the Belgorod fortress for his love of duels. It is because of Shvabrin that Grinev comes under suspicion of treason and almost loses his life.

Captain's daughter Maria Mironova

The story “The Captain's Daughter” also tells about love in a difficult time of popular uprising. The main character of “The Captain's Daughter” is Maria Mironova, a dowry girl brought up on French novels, the daughter of the captain of the Belogorsk fortress. It is because of her that Grinev and Shvabrin fight a duel, although she cannot belong to either of them. Petrusha's parents forbade her to even think about marrying a dowry girl, and the scoundrel Shvabrin, who practically won the duel, has no place in the girl's heart.

She did not give in to him during the capture of the fortress, when he tried to force her favor. Masha contains all the best character traits of a Russian woman - innocence and purity of character, warmth, patience and readiness for self-sacrifice, fortitude and the ability not to betray her principles. In order to save Masha from the hands of Shvabrin, Grinev goes to Pugachev to ask him for the release of his beloved.

Description of events in the story

The description of events is based on the memoirs of a fifty-year-old nobleman Pyotr Alekseevich Grinev. They were written during the reign of Emperor Alexander and dedicated to the peasant uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev. As fate would have it, the young officer had to take an involuntary part in it.

Petrusha's childhood

The story of “The Captain’s Daughter” begins with Pyotr Andreevich’s ironic memories of his childhood. His father is a retired prime minister, his mother is the daughter of a poor nobleman. All eight of Petrusha's brothers and sisters died in childhood, and the hero himself was registered as a sergeant while still in his mother's womb. At the age of five, the eager Savelych is assigned to the boy, who is promoted to Petrusha’s uncle. Under his leadership, he learned Russian literacy and “could sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound dog.” Afterwards, the young master was assigned a Frenchman, Beaupre, as a teacher, whose teaching ended in shameful expulsion for drunkenness and spoiling of courtyard girls.

Young Petrusha lives a carefree life until the age of sixteen, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog. At the age of seventeen, the father decides to send the youngster to serve, but not in the Semenovsky regiment, but in the active army, so that he can smell gunpowder. This was a reason for disappointment for the young nobleman, who had hoped for a fun and carefree life in the capital.

Officer Grinev's service

On the way to Orenburg, the master and his servant find themselves in a strong snowstorm, and were completely lost when they met a black-bearded gypsy, who led them to the edge. On the way to housing, Pyotr Andreevich has a prophetic and terrible dream. Grateful Grinev gives his savior a hare sheepskin coat and treats him to a glass of wine. After mutual gratitude, the gypsies and Grinev part.

Arriving at the place, Peter was surprised to discover that the Belgorod fortress did not at all look like an impregnable bastion - it was just a cute small village behind a wooden fence. Instead of brave soldiers there are military invalids, and instead of formidable artillery there is an old cannon with old garbage stuffed into its muzzle.

The head of the fortress - an honest and kind officer Mironov - is not strong in education and is completely under the influence of his wife. The wife runs the fortress as if it were her own household. The Mironovs accept young Petrusha as their own, and he himself becomes attached to them and falls in love with their daughter Maria. The easy service encourages reading books and writing poetry.

At the beginning of his service, Pyotr Grinev feels a friendly sympathy for Lieutenant Shvabrin, who is close to him in education and occupation. But Shvabrin’s causticity, with which he criticized Grinev’s poems, served as a reason for a quarrel between them, and dirty hints towards Masha became a reason for a duel, during which Grinev was basely wounded by Shvabrin.

Maria takes care of the wounded Peter, and they confess their mutual feelings to each other. Peter writes a letter to his parents, asking for their blessing for his marriage. However, having learned that Maria does not have a dowry, the father forbids his son to even think about the girl.

Pugachev's rebellion

The creation of "The Captain's Daughter" is associated with a popular uprising. In the story, events developed as follows. A mute Bashkir with outrageous messages was caught in a fortress village. Residents fearfully await the attack of the rebel peasants led by Pugachev. And the rebel attack happened unexpectedly; at the very first military attack, the fortress surrendered its position. Residents came out to meet Pugachev with bread and salt, and they are led to the city square to swear allegiance to the new “sovereign.” The commandant and his wife die, refusing to swear allegiance to the impostor Pugachev. Grinev faces the gallows, but later Emelyan himself pardons him, recognizing in him the fellow traveler whom he saved in a snowstorm and received a hare’s fur coat as a gift from him.

Pugachev releases the officer, and he sets off for help in the direction of Orenburg. He wants to save sick Masha from captivity, whom the priest passes off as his niece. He is very worried about her safety, because Shvabrin, who went over to the side of the rebels, was appointed commandant. In Orenburg they did not take his reports seriously and refused to help. And soon the city itself found itself under a long siege. By chance, Grinev receives a letter from Masha asking for help, and he again heads to the fortress. There, with the help of Pugachev, he frees Masha, and he himself comes under suspicion of espionage at the suggestion of the same Shvabrin.

Final Analysis

The main text of the story is compiled from the notes of Pyotr Andreevich Grinev. Critics characterized the story “The Captain's Daughter” as follows: it is a historically important story. The era of Pugachevism is seen through the eyes of a nobleman who took an oath of allegiance to the empress and religiously followed his duty as an officer. And even in a difficult situation, among mountains of dead bodies and a sea of ​​​​people's blood, he did not break his word and preserved the honor of his uniform.

The popular uprising led by Pugachev is viewed in The Captain's Daughter as a national tragedy. Pushkin contrasts the people and the authorities.

Critics call the story “The Captain's Daughter” the pinnacle of Pushkin’s artistic prose. The work brought to life truly Russian characters and types. All of Pushkin’s poetry is permeated by a rebellious spirit, he transcends the boundaries of everyday life. And in the story, in the story of Pugachev’s rebellion, the poet glorifies freedom and rebellion. Russian classics gave the story “The Captain's Daughter” a positive review. Russian literature has added another masterpiece.

"The Captain's Daughter": genre affiliation

Can we consider that the story “The Captain's Daughter” belongs to the genre of a historical novel? After all, the poet himself believed that having covered an entire historical era in his work, he could consider it a novel. However, according to the volume accepted in literary criticism, the work is classified as a story. Few critics admit that “The Captain's Daughter” is a novel; more often it is called a story or story.

"The Captain's Daughter" in the theater and in productions

To date, many theatrical and film productions of the story “The Captain's Daughter” have been carried out. The most popular was Pavel Reznikov's feature film of the same name. The film was released in 1978 and is essentially a film performance. The roles of the main characters were given to well-known actors familiar to television viewers. The unusual nature of the acting is that no one gets used to the character, no one is given special makeup, and in general there is nothing that connects the actors and the book except the text. It is the text that creates the mood, makes the viewer feel, and the actors simply read it in their own voice. Despite the originality of the production of the story “The Captain's Daughter,” the film received amazing reviews. Many theaters still follow the principle of just reading Pushkin's text.

This, in general terms, is the story of the creation of the story “The Captain's Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin.

The novel “The Captain's Daughter,” published in the fourth book of the Sovremennik magazine for 1836, is Pushkin’s final work. The “farewell” novel grew out of Pushkin’s works on the history of Russia. From the beginning of the 1830s. Pushkin’s focus was the 18th century: the era of Peter I (work was underway on “The History of Peter”) and the largest event of the era of Catherine II - the peasant revolt of 1773-1774. From materials about the riot, the “History of Pugachev” was formed, written in Boldin in the fall of 1833 and published in 1834 under the title “History of the Pugachev Rebellion” (changed by Nicholas I).

Historical work gave the novel a factual basis and a general concept, but Pushkin’s path to “The Captain’s Daughter” was not easy. By 1832-1833 include draft plans and sketches of a future historical work. According to Pushkin’s original plan, the central figure in it was to be a nobleman, Lieutenant Shvanvich, who went over to Pugachev’s side and served him “with all diligence.” Pushkin found information about this nobleman who “preferred a vile life to an honest death” in one of the paragraphs of the official legal document - the “Sentences” of the Senate (it also said about second lieutenant A.M. Grinev, who was arrested on suspicion of “communication with villains,” but during the investigation he was found not guilty).

Studying the materials of the riot during a trip to Kazan and Orenburg in the summer of 1833. corrected the original plan. Pushkin came to the conclusion that the nobility - the only one of all classes - remained loyal to the government and did not support the rebellion. The fate of the renegade nobleman could not serve as the basis for broad artistic generalizations. Shvanvich would have turned into the same lone hero as Vladimir Dubrovsky, the “noble robber”, avenger for the desecrated honor of the family, in the unfinished novel “Dubrovsky” (1833).

Pushkin found a new hero - he was not an ally, but Pugachev’s captive Basharin, pardoned by the impostor at the request of the soldiers. A form of narration was also found - the hero’s memoirs addressed to his grandson (“My dear grandson Petrusha...” - this is how the rough draft of the introduction began). In the winter of 1834-1835. a new version of the work arose: historical and everyday material and a love plot appeared in it. In 1835-1836 The storylines and the names of the characters changed. Thus, the prototype of the future Grinev, Basharin became Valuev, then Bulanin (this surname remained in the “Missing Chapter”), and only at the last stage of his work Pushkin called the memoirist Grinev. His antipode Shvabrin, who retained some of the features of the traitorous nobleman Shvanvich, also appeared in the final edition. The manuscript was rewritten completely by Pushkin himself on October 19, 1836. At the end of October, after the novel was submitted to the censor, it received the title “The Captain's Daughter.”

While working on a historical novel, Pushkin relied on the creative experience of the English novelist Walter Scott (Nicholas I himself was among his many admirers in Russia) and the first Russian historical novelists M.N. Zagoskin, I.I. Lazhechnikov. “In our time, the word novel refers to a historical era developed in a fictional narrative” - this is how Pushkin defined the main genre feature of a novel on a historical theme. The choice of era, heroes, and especially the style of “fictional narrative” made “The Captain’s Daughter” not only the best among the novels of V. Scott’s Russian followers. According to Gogol, Pushkin wrote “a one-of-a-kind novel” - “in its sense of proportion, in its completeness, in its style and in its amazing skill in depicting types and characters in miniature...” Pushkin the artist became not only a rival, but also a “winner » Pushkin the historian. As the outstanding Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky noted, “The Captain’s Daughter” has “more history than “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion,” which seems like a long explanatory note to the novel.”

The breadth of issues takes The Captain's Daughter beyond the genre of historical novel. The historical material served as a starting point for Pushkin to create a multifaceted work. "The Captain's Daughter" is family chronicle Grinev (critic N.N. Strakhov noted: “The Captain’s Daughter is a story about how Pyotr Grinev married the daughter of Captain Mironov”), and biography novel the memoirist Pyotr Grinev himself, and education novel(the story of the development of the character of a noble “minor”), and a novel-parable (the fate of the heroes is an expanded moral maxim that became the epigraph to the novel: “Take care of your honor from a young age”).

Unlike other prose works (the unfinished "Arap of Peter the Great", "Tales of Belkin", "The Queen of Spades"), in the last novel Pushkin created, albeit by different means than in "Eugene Onegin", a "free" narrative, open in historical time, not limited by the scope of the plot and the meaning of what is depicted. The historical “field” of the novel is wider than the described historical events (1772-1775) and biographical facts (the youth of the hero - the author of the notes, 17-19 years old). Based, as the writer himself emphasized, “on legend,” “The Captain’s Daughter” became a novel about the historical life of Russia. (Pay attention to the abundance of historical facts mentioned in the novel - from the Time of Troubles (Grishka Otrepiev) to the “meek reign” of Alexander I.)

Problems of the novel, its genre and plot-compositional features are determined by the type of narration chosen by Pushkin and the very figure of the narrator. The novel is written in the first person. These are autobiographical notes (memoirs, memoirs) of the Russian nobleman Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, who is a fictitious figure. With the real-life A.M. Grinev, he is related only by his surname and the similarity of some situations: captivity by Pugachev and arrest on suspicion of treason. The notes do not have a specific addressee. Grinev’s memories of his youth are part of the family chronicle and at the same time his confession. Unable to tell the whole truth at trial, so as not to tarnish the honor of Masha Mironova, he addresses his confession story about the “strange incidents” of his life to his descendants.

The main text of the novel consists of Grinev’s “notes.” In the afterword, the “publisher” indicates the source of the “manuscript.” It came to him from Grinev’s grandson, who learned that the “publisher” was engaged in “work dating back to the times described by his grandfather.” “Publisher” is Pushkin’s literary “mask”; by “work” we mean “The History of Pugachev”. In addition, the novel has an end date: “Oct 19. 1836” is a kind of “autograph” of Pushkin (the novel was published anonymously in Sovremennik, without the author’s signature). The afterword also indicates the degree of participation of the “publisher” in the work on the allegedly received manuscript: he decided not to include it in his work, but to publish it “specially, having found a decent epigraph for each chapter and allowing himself to change some of his own names.” Epigraphs, therefore, have a special meaning: they not only indicate the theme of the chapter and determine its narrative tone. Epigraphs are signs of the author’s “presence” in the text of the novel. Each epigraph represents the author’s “image-summary” of the chapter.

The meaning of the afterword is that Pushkin, the creator of the novel, clearly separated himself from the fictional person - the author and main character of Grinev's notes and at the same time deliberately correlated fiction with reality. One of the most important artistic principles of Pushkin the historical novelist is stated: the reader is invited to perceive everything told by Grinev as a reliable and sincere “human document.” The writer puts Grinev’s fictional notes on a par with the authentic documents included in “The History of Pugachev.”

In The Captain's Daughter, both the story of the narrator's life and his human, moral character are equally important. Grinev is a witness and participant in historical events. The story about one’s own fate, as it were, “certifies” the authenticity and objectivity of one’s “evidence.” Grinev's point of view dominates the narrative. The era, the rebellion, Pugachev are seen through the eyes of a nobleman who swore allegiance to the empress, faithful to his oath and duty as an officer. For him, a peasant uprising is lawlessness, rebellion, “fire.” Grinev calls Pugachevtsev a “gang”, “robbers”, and Pugachev himself - an “impostor”, “tramp”, “villain”, “fugitive Cossack”. His understanding of what is happening does not change: both in his youth and in adulthood, he condemns the “Russian rebellion.”

To consider this a manifestation of only the hero’s class prejudices is a clear simplification, because it is not only the nobles who evaluate the Pugachevism as a bloody rebellion. The serf peasant Savelich, the priest Father Gerasim and his wife Akulina Pamfilovna also see the Pugachevites as rebels and villains. The criterion for the attitude of these heroes to rebellion is not abstract sociological concepts, but blood, violence and death. Their assessments of Pugachev and his comrades, the unflattering words they find for the rebels, reflect their personal, living impressions. “Pugachevism” for Grinev is not a formula that consolidated the official view of the rebels, but a real human shock. He saw a riot, which is why he writes with genuine horror: “God forbid that we see a Russian riot, senseless and merciless!”

This statement by Grinev causes a lot of controversy. Some researchers find in it a reflection of the point of view of Pushkin himself, others - a manifestation of the hero’s social blindness. Of course, this issue can only be resolved by going beyond the text, turning to Pushkin’s direct statements (in the 1830s, the poet was opposed to any violence). Everything said by the hero reflects the point of view of the hero himself. One should not identify his opinion with the views of Pushkin. The author's position in the novel was manifested in the choice of the hero-memoirist, in the selection of historical situations, in how the destinies of the heroes are correlated with historical events.

The Pugachev riot is shown in the novel as a national tragedy. This is a merciless civil war in which the rebels cannot win: Pugachev himself is well aware of his doom. The pacifiers of the rebellion do not consider themselves winners either (“We consoled ourselves in our inaction with the thought of a quick end to the boring and petty war with bandits and savages”). In this war there are only losers - Russian people fighting against the same Russian people.

In his novel, Pushkin contrasted not nobles and peasants, but people and power. For him, the people are not only Pugachev with his “gentlemen generals”, the “young Cossack” who hit Vasilisa Yegorovna on the head with a saber, the disfigured Bashkir, the crafty police officer Maksimych. The people are Captain Mironov, and Masha, and the priest, and Savelich, and the only serf of the Mironovs, Broadsword. The tragic boundary divides the novel's heroes precisely when they determine their attitude towards power. Catherine II and Pugachev are her symbols. “The people,” as the observant Grinev notes, relentlessly followed Pugachev and crowded around him. Some see Pugachev as a “people's king” who embodies their dream of a “miracle” - a strong, but wise and fair government, while others see him as a robber and murderer. Both are drawing closer in their desire for true power, humane and merciful. It was the “unjust”, stupid and cruel power, which separated itself from the people, that brought Russia to the edge of the abyss. It is not the “Turk” or the “Swede” that the poorly trained “soldiers” have to go to, not to defend the Fatherland, but to fight in a “strange war”, after which the native land turns into ashes (“the state of the entire vast region where the fire raged was terrible...").

Vasilisa Egorovna’s dying words - a cry for her hanged husband - can be seen as an accusation not only to the robber Pugachev, but also to the authorities: “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!” Grinev’s view of historical events largely reflects not a narrow class, but a universal point of view. Grinev looks at the “robbers” with disgust, but condemns the careless defenders of the Velogorsk fortress, and especially the “Orenburg commanders” who doomed the city to extinction. In everything that is happening, he sees a bloody revelry and orgy of violence, a true national disaster.

Grinev is a nobleman, bound to his class by vows of duty and honor, but he does not look at the world and people through class “glasses.” Grinev is, first of all, an honest and sincere person who tries to fully and truthfully convey everything he saw and heard. Much is recorded with protocol precision. Grinev is a brilliant spectator. He sees everything around him - the main participants in the events, the “extras,” and the details of the situation. Grinev not only conveys his impressions - he plastically recreates events. The hero's simple-minded, but by no means rustic and flat story reflects the highest level of skill of Pushkin as a narrator. The author of the novel needs Grinev not as a talking mannequin, a mouthpiece for his ideas. The narrator in “The Captain's Daughter” is a person with his own view of the world. He is able to see and capture in words what for another person may seem like a trifle unworthy of attention. Grinev vigilantly notices details, making them catch the eye (this is especially true for Pugachev). Grinev is a failed poet, although his poetic experiments were “fair,” but a wonderful prose writer. He lacks a poetic ear (see his poems “Destroying the thought of love ...” in the chapter “Duel”), but he looks at Myron with the gaze of a true artist.

Grinev trusts only his own impressions. Everything that he knows about by hearsay is specifically mentioned or omitted (see, for example, stories about the situation in the Orenburg province in the chapter “Pugachevism”, about the defeat of Pugachev in the chapter “Arrest”). This causes the gaps in the plot. “I have not witnessed everything that remains for me to notify the reader about...” - this is how the story about Masha’s trip to St. Petersburg begins. Grinev separates his “evidence” from “tradition,” “rumor,” and other people’s opinions.

Pushkin masterfully uses a feature of any memoir narrative: the distance that arises between the memoirist and the object of his memories. In Grinev’s notes, the memoirist himself is the focus, so we have before us, as it were, “two Grinevs”: Grinev, a seventeen-year-old youth, and Grinev, a fifty-year-old author of the notes. There is an important difference between them. Young Grinev absorbs diverse impressions, changes under the influence of circumstances, his character develops. Grinev the memoirist is a man who has lived his life. His beliefs and assessments of people are time-tested. He can look at everything that happened to him in his youth (in “my century”) from the height of his everyday experience and the morals of the new era. The innocence of young Grinev and the wisdom of Grinev the memoirist complement each other. But most importantly, it is Grinev the memoirist who reveals the meaning of what he experienced during the riot. Pay attention to the time frame of his notes. Only part of the “plot” of his life became the plot of the notes. The first chapters (from one to five) are an “overture” to the story of the Pugachev era. The most memorable thing in his life was the riot and Pugachev. Grinev's notes are interrupted when the story about “unexpected incidents” that influenced his whole life ends.

The ending of the novel remained “open”: the memoirist does not say anything about the subsequent events of his life - they no longer come into contact with history, fitting into the framework of the private life of a poor Simbirsk landowner. The only biographical detail of Grinev, which the “publisher” reports in the afterword, is the presence of the author of the “notes” at Pugachev’s execution. But the significance of this detail, perhaps, lies elsewhere: it “completes” the image of Pugachev. A few moments before the execution, the impostor recognized Grinev in a crowd of thousands and nodded to him - this testifies to the enormous strength of spirit, endurance, and awareness of his rightness inherent in Pugachev.

The biography of Grinev is the basis of the chronicle plot of the novel. The formation of the personality of a young nobleman is a continuous chain of tests of his honor and human decency. Having left home, he continually finds himself in situations of moral choice. At first, they are no different from those that happen in every person’s life (losing a hundred rubles to Zurin, a snowstorm, a love conflict). He is absolutely unprepared for life and must rely only on his moral sense. The memoirist ironically looks at his childhood and family upbringing, imagining himself as the narrow-minded Mitrofanushka, an arrogant nobleman. Self-irony is the look of an experienced person who realized that his family could not give him the most important thing - knowledge of life and people. The instruction of his stern father, received before leaving, limited his life experience.

The hero's moral potential was revealed during the riot. Already on the day of the capture of the Belogorsk fortress, he several times had to choose between honor and dishonor, and in fact between life and death. The most difficult situations in Grinev’s life arise when he is persuaded to compromise: after Pugachev “pardoned” Grinev, he had to kiss his hand, that is, in fact, recognize him as the tsar. In the chapter “The Uninvited Guest,” Pugachev himself arranges a “test of compromise,” trying to get a promise from Grinev to “at least not fight” against him. In all these cases, the hero, risking his life, shows firmness and intransigence. But the most important moral test was ahead. In Orenburg, having received Masha’s letter, Grinev had to make a decisive choice: a soldier’s duty demanded to obey the general’s decision, to remain in the besieged city - a duty of honor demanded to respond to Masha’s desperate call: “you are my only patron; intercede for poor me." Grinev the man defeated Grinev the soldier, who had sworn allegiance to the empress; he decided to leave Orenburg and then use Pugachev’s help.

Grinev understands honor as human dignity, an alloy of conscience and a person’s inner conviction that he is right. We see the same “human dimension” of honor and duty in his father, who, having learned about his son’s alleged betrayal, speaks of his ancestor who died for what he “considered sacred to his conscience.” The desire not to tarnish Masha’s honor was dictated by Grinev’s refusal to name her during the investigation (the very “idea of ​​entangling her name among the vile reports of villains” seemed “terrible” to him). Grinev emerged from all the trials with honor, retaining his human dignity.

All the main characters of the novel go through moral tests. Not only the defenders of the Belogorsk fortress, Masha Mironova, but also Pugachev and his associates have their own ideas about honor. For example, one of Pugachev’s “enars” Khlopush, in a dispute with Beloborodov, formulates the “code” of the robber’s honor as follows: “And this hand is guilty of the shed Christian blood. But I destroyed the enemy, not the guest; at a free crossroads and in a dark forest, not at home, sitting behind the stove; with a flail and a butt, and not with a woman’s slander.” Honor in Pushkin's novel became a measure of humanity and decency of all heroes. The attitude towards honor and duty separated Grinev and Shvabrin. Grinev’s sincerity, openness and honesty attracted Pugachev to him (“My sincerity struck Pugachev,” the memoirist notes).

Pushkin posed one of the most difficult questions in the novel - the question of the dependence of people's lives on the course of history. The memoirist constantly approaches the main “strangeness” of his life, but stops, speaking only about “strange incidents”, “a strange combination of circumstances”: “a children’s sheepskin coat, given to a tramp, saved me from the noose, and a drunkard, staggering around inns, besieged fortresses and shook the state! The fate of Grinev and the fate of other characters in the novel allow us to draw conclusions about how Pushkin understood man’s dependence on history.

Until the sixth chapter, Grinev’s life is the life of a private person, flowing outside of history. Only distant echoes of a terrible historical storm reach him (information about the disturbances of the Cossacks and “semi-savage peoples”). All the other heroes of the novel live outside of history. These are ordinary people for whom military service is as “common” as pickling mushrooms or writing love couplets (these are the inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress in the first chapters of the novel). A symbolic harbinger of menacing historical events was a snowstorm and a terrible dream seen by Grinev (chapter “Counselor”). During the Pugachev war, the secret meaning of what happened in this chapter was revealed.

History - a force beyond the control of people, a force hostile to them, commensurate with fate - destroyed life, which seemed unshakable, and pulled Grinev and all the inhabitants of the Belogorsk fortress into its whirlpool. She subjected the novel's heroes to severe tests, testing their will, courage, loyalty to duty and honor, and humanity. During the riot, Masha’s parents died, Ivan Ignatievich, who is connected with me.” But the heroes themselves had to show their best qualities in order to achieve their goal.

Pushkin showed the dark and light faces of history in the novel. It can destroy a person, but it can give his soul a “strong and good shock.” Historical trials reveal hidden volitional qualities in a person (Masha Mironova). Meanness and baseness make him a complete scoundrel (Shvabrin). History gives a chance to escape even in difficult trials to those who are honest, humane and merciful. Tough and capricious, historical reality does not exclude “miraculous” chance. It seems that history itself not only punishes and destroys, but also elevates people and is merciful to them.

This was especially clearly manifested in fate Masha Mironova. The main trials in Masha’s life, as in Grinev’s life, begin when rumors about an impostor reach the Belogorsk fortress. In an effort to protect their daughter from “Pugachevism,” the parents want to send her to a safe place. But fate again has its own way: Masha is forced to remain in a besieged fortress, amid the fire and horrors of a “senseless and merciless” rebellion. On the day of the capture of the fortress, misfortune befalls her - the terrible death of her parents. Masha remains an orphan. Her only defender, Grinev, miraculously escaped the gallows, goes to Orenburg, and she, sick and helpless, finds herself in the hands of the new commandant of the fortress, the traitor Shvabrin.

Poor, unfortunate Masha had to endure so much humiliation and suffering that any other girl, in her place, would hardly have been able to endure. Shvabrin kept her in a closet with bread and water, thus seeking consent to become his wife. In the novel, perhaps, there is no other hero who suffered more than her. Honest, smart and sincere, Masha categorically refuses to marry an unloved man, who also sided with the killers of her parents: “It would be easier for me to die than to become the wife of such a person as Alexey Ivanovich.”

Arriving at the Velogorsk fortress, Grinev and Pugachev found Masha sitting on the floor, “in a ragged peasant dress,” “with disheveled hair.” In front of the poor girl stood a jug of water covered with a slice of bread. At that moment the heroine saw Pugachev, who had come to free her, but this same man, who became her savior, deprived her of the most precious thing in life - her parents. She didn’t say a word, she just covered her face with both hands and, as the shocked Grinev recalls, “fell unconscious.” And again Shvabrin almost prevented the lovers: he nevertheless told Pugachev who Masha really was. But, showing generosity, the impostor forgave Grinev for his forced deception and even volunteered to be seated by his father at the wedding of Masha and Grinev.

It would seem that Masha’s fate began to develop happily from that moment on. Grinev sends her and Savelich to his estate. Now Masha needed to please her lover’s parent, and this task turned out to be not a difficult one - soon they “sincerely became attached” to the “dear captain’s daughter” and did not want any other bride for their son except Masha. Not far off was the goal of the lovers - a wedding and a happy family life. Soon the riot was suppressed and the impostor was caught.

But again, omnipotent fate is preparing a new and, perhaps, most difficult obstacle for Masha: Grinev is arrested and accused of treason. It seems to Masha that it was she who became the cause of the misfortunes of her beloved, who for her sake had to resort to the help of an impostor. During the investigation, explaining his behavior during the riot, Grinev himself did not name Masha, not wanting the name of the “captain’s daughter” to even indirectly appear in the treason case.

A turning point is coming in Masha’s fate: after all, the future of her lover and her own family happiness now depend only on her. She decided to go to the empress herself to ask for Grinev. This decision was not easy for the “coward” Masha. For the first time, she takes on such responsibility: this is responsibility not only for herself, but also for the future, for the honor of Pyotr Grinev and his family.

Masha's honesty and sincerity helped melt the cold heart of the majestic empress and gain forgiveness for Grinev. It was almost more difficult for Masha to achieve this than for Grineva to convince Pugachev of the need to help Masha herself, Shvabrin’s captive.

Masha Mironova was eventually able to overcome all obstacles and arrange her destiny, her happiness. The quiet and timid "captain's daughter" in the most difficult circumstances managed to cope not only with external obstacles. She overcame herself, feeling in her heart that honesty and moral purity are capable of crushing mistrust, injustice and betrayal, helping a person to gain the upper hand in his unequal confrontation with the formidable forces of history.

From under its mysterious covers, history seemed to bring Pugachev out, making him a symbolic figure, eerie in its reality and at the same time magical, almost fabulous. The prototype of Pushkin's Pugachev is a real historical figure, an impostor, the head of the rebels. The historicity of Pugachev is secured in the novel by a government order for his capture (see chapter “Pugachevism”), by genuine historical facts mentioned by Grinev.

But Pugachev in Pushkin’s novel is not identical to his historical prototype. The image of Pugachev is a complex alloy of historical, real-life, symbolic and folklore elements; it is an image-symbol, unfolding, like any symbolic image, in several, sometimes mutually exclusive, semantic planes. Pugachev is a character in the novel, a participant in the plot action. He is seen through the eyes of Grinev. As a character, he appears only when his life intersects with the life of the memoirist. Pugachev’s appearance is physically concrete, and his social status is also quite clear to the narrator: he is a Cossack, a “tramp,” the leader of a “gang of robbers.”

Despite his realism, Pugachev differs sharply from other heroes. With his appearance in the novel, an alarming, mysterious atmosphere arises. Both in the chapter “Counselor” and during the riot we see a man whose appearance is expressive, but deceptive. The inner, hidden in him seems more significant and mysterious than what is accessible to Grinev’s gaze. Pugachev's human appearance is complex and contradictory. It combines cruelty and generosity, cunning and directness, the desire to subjugate a person and the willingness to help him. Pugachev can frown menacingly, put on an “important look” and smile and wink good-naturedly.

Pugachev is unpredictable - he is a force of nature. The most important principle of creating the image of Pugachev is transformation, metamorphosis. He constantly reincarnates, as if escaping unambiguous definitions. His very position as a “werewolf” is already dual: he is a Cossack - a man with a true name, and an impostor who appropriated someone else’s - the name of the late Peter III (the name for Pugachev is the main attribute of power). In the plot of the novel, from a “tramp” he turns into a “great sovereign.” The features of a roguish Cossack, then the wisdom of a people's leader and commander appear in him. In some episodes (see the chapters “The Uninvited Guest”, “The Rebel Settlement” and “The Orphan”) metamorphoses follow one after another: the powerful and formidable “sovereign” turns into a sincere and merciful savior of “his nobility” and the “red maiden”; an impatient and quick to kill person - reasonable and reconciling (chapter “Rebel Settlement”). The motive for transformation came into the novel from folklore (myth and fairy tales).

Pugachev talks about the options for the development of his destiny: about a campaign against Moscow (“Give me time, or else I’ll go to Moscow”), about a possible triumph (“Perhaps it will succeed! Grishka Otrepiev reigned over Moscow after all”). Pleased with his military victories, he even plans to “compete” with the Prussian King Frederick himself. But none of these fate options came true.

Pugachev is a tragic figure. In life, he is as cramped as in a child’s bunny sheepskin coat given to him by Grinev (“My street is cramped; I have little will”). His power seems limitless, but he is aware of the tragedy of his fate - this is emphasized both in Pugachev’s favorite song (“Don’t make noise, mother green oak tree ...”), and in the Kalmyk fairy tale he told. Like any tragic hero, Pugachev appears in a heroic aura. Pardoning his opponents, he proudly rejects Grinev’s advice - “to resort to the mercy of the empress.” He is driven not by a feeling of exorbitant guilt, but by confidence in his indestructible rightness. He is the master of his own destiny and cannot accept what he generously gives to other people. Mercy for him is humiliating alms. The tragic fate of Pugachev is revealed in the folklore symbolism of songs and fairy tales.

Grinev is trying to understand the role of Pugachev in his fate, in the fate of Masha. The hare sheepskin coat and the well-known “debt is clear in payment” is too simple an explanation of everything that happened (the debt was paid, even with interest: Pugachev sent Grinev a sheepskin sheepskin coat, a horse and half a sum of money). The memoirist realizes that for some reason this person singled him out from the crowd, saved him, helped him, and arranged his personal happiness (“I can’t explain what I felt when parting with this terrible man, a monster, a villain for everyone except me.”) . A significant role was played by the feeling of human closeness that arose between them (“Why not tell the truth? At that moment, strong sympathy attracted me to him”). But Grinev sees a different, higher meaning in their relationship. Pugachev seems to him to be an exceptional person, sent by fate itself. Thoughts about fate accompany every plot twist, every change in Grinev’s life associated with Pugachev. As an enlightened person, the memoirist is not inclined to believe in prophecies and miracles. But Pugachev is a special case for him, he is the living embodiment of a miracle. Pugachev emerged from a snowstorm that almost killed Grinev, from a dream in which his father unexpectedly appeared in the guise of a counselor. Pugachev became his “counselor” in life; he combined common sense and the logic of a miracle - the logic of myth.

Pugachev is both real and fantastic, inaccessible to understanding. He is the link that connects the ordinary person Grinev with the world of the mysterious and enigmatic: with fate and history. With the appearance of Pugachev in the chapter “Attack,” Grinev feels a mysterious relationship between the new circumstances of his life and the omens he received earlier. Pugachev destroys the usual one-dimensionality of his life. The narrative of Grinev's fate ceases to be a linear movement from episode to episode, in which a new event simply joins the previous one. Compositional and semantic parallels arise in the novel. All of them are connected specifically with the figure of Pugachev (we note the most important parallels: Grinev’s meeting with Pugachev in the Belogorsk fortress - Masha’s meeting with Catherine II in St. Petersburg; the “trial” of Grinev in Berdskaya Sloboda - the trial in Kazan; the failed execution of Grinev - the execution of Pugachev, about which is stated in the afterword; defense of the Belogorsk fortress - defense of Orenburg).

The image of Pugachev is the central image of the novel, although Pugachev is not the main character. Pushkin’s thoughts about history and fate, about the relationship between a person’s private life and historical life are connected with it. The figure of Pugachev is comparable only with the figure of Peter I. Among the Russian historical figures of his era, Pushkin did not find a personality of such magnitude.

On the day when “The Captain’s Daughter” was completed, at a meeting with fellow lyceum students, the poet read his last poetic message to them: “It was time: our holiday is young...”. It sums up the era, about the beginning of which the memoirist Grinev enthusiastically wrote: “I cannot help but marvel at the rapid successes of enlightenment and the spread of the rules of philanthropy.” Pushkin also looked at his era with the gaze of an honest and caring “witness”:

Remember, O friends, from that time,
When our circle of fate was connected,
What, what were we witnesses to!
Games of the mysterious game,
Confused peoples rushed about;
And kings have risen and fallen;
And the blood of people is either glory or freedom,
Then pride stained the altars.

The majestic picture of European and Russian history of the first quarter of the 19th century, created in the message, is a kind of poetic “epilogue” to the novel about the senseless and merciless “Russian revolt”, which, according to Pushkin, should not have been repeated in Russia...