Vanina Vanini is a rich Italian princess. This girl has a fiery gaze and a passionate soul. Being an aristocrat by birth, she treats the young people of her circle with contempt because of their inability to do great things. But Vanina Vanini falls passionately in love with the young Carbonari Pietro Missirilli, a fighter against tyranny. The characters' characters are deliberately "romanticized". Both Missirilli and Vanina Vanini are inseparable from their time, and the originality of their personal situation is ultimately generated by the socio-political situation in Italy. There is a clash of two passions; Pietro and his beloved, even in love, find themselves on opposite sides of the “social barricade.” Missirilli, who dedicated himself to the revolutionary struggle, and the expressive, energetic Vanina Vanini are typically Stendhal heroes. In their passions they are romantically reckless, but their recklessness - despite all the similarity of external manifestations - has a different nature. Missirilli gives herself into the hands of the executioners out of a sense of duty based on boundless love for her homeland, and Vanina Vanini, almost without hesitation, betrays Pietro’s comrades in order to undividedly own the heart of her beloved and keep him near her. But in return she receives the burning hatred of her lover, who cannot forgive her for what she has done. Vanina Vanini is doomed not to understand her lover. Stendhal poetically and tragically showed how far the egoism that became a characteristic of that time had gone: the image of Vanin Vanini demonstrates this. It is not surprising that the work is named after the heroine, whose “opposition” to society ultimately turned out to be a pose when tested by the tragic events of the time. After breaking up with Pietro Vanina, Vanini quickly consoled herself by marrying someone else. Missirilli and Vanina Vanini are people of alien and hostile worlds.
Frederic Stendhal (1783 - 1842) - French writer, one of the founders of the French realistic novel of the 19th century. Stendhal considered psychological analysis to be the most important task of modern literature. In one aspect - in terms of the specifics of national psychology - he develops the characters and eventual conflict in the short story “Vanina Vanini” (1829). In Vanina Vanini, Stendhal turns to Italian themes, which have always been his passion and a kind of outlet.
Italy, which Stendhal loved from his youth, was perceived by him as a country of strong passions and beautiful art. The characters of Italians always particularly interested Stendhal. The Italian Chronicles reproduce different forms of passion. “Vanina Vanini,” included in them, depicts the fate of two different but strong natures. The writer combined what became the main feature of his novels: a political event (Venta Carbonari) and human character (Vanina Vanini).
This short story became, as it were, a prototype of Stendhal's novels. It outlines the conflicts of passion-love, passion-ambition (in Vanina’s soul). The love of freedom here fights with the love of a woman (in the soul of Pietro Missirilli). Stendhal invented true dignity, which cannot be marked by any order bought for money - this is a death sentence for a fighter for the freedom of his homeland.
Creating an almost romantic aura around the main character Pietro, Stendhal, as a realist, strictly determines the traits of his personality: passion is due to the fact that he is Italian, the author explains the hero’s nationality and the fact that after defeat he becomes religious and considers his love for Vanina a sin for which he punished by this defeat. It is the social determinism of character that convinces the hero - the beloved and the loving - to choose his homeland over the woman he loves. The patrician's daughter Vanina values love above all else. She is smart, above her environment in terms of spiritual needs. The heroine’s “non-secularism” explains the originality of her character. However, her originality is only enough to send 19 Carbonari to death in the name of her love. Each of the heroes of Stendhal's novel understands happiness in his own way and goes on the hunt for it in his own way.
Realistically determining bright characters, like those of the romantics, Stendhal builds the same complex plot, using surprises, exceptional events: escape from the fortress, the appearance of a mysterious stranger. However, the “grain” of the plot – the struggle of the Venta Carbonari and its death – was suggested to the writer by the very history of Italy in the 19th century. Thus, the trends of realism and romanticism are intertwined in the short story, but the realistic principle of socio-temporal determinism remains dominant.
In this work, Stendhal shows himself to be a master of the short story: he is concise in creating portraits (we guess about Vanina’s beauty from the fact that she attracted everyone’s attention at the ball, where the most beautiful women were, and her southern brightness is conveyed by indicating her sparkling eyes and hair, black , like a raven's wing). Stendhal confidently creates a novelistic intrigue full of sudden turns, and the unexpected novelistic ending, when the Carbonari wants to kill Vanina for the betrayal of which she is proud, and her marriage fit into a few lines and become that obligatory surprise prepared in a psychological novel by the internal logic of the characters.
Italy of the 19th century. An aristocrat falls in love with a passionate young revolutionary who has escaped from prison. Their feelings are mutual, but the young man has to make a choice between love and duty to his homeland.
On the spring evening of 182... the banker, Duke de B. gave a ball to which the most beautiful women of Rome were invited. Vanina Vanini, a black-haired girl with a fiery gaze, was proclaimed queen of the ball. The young prince Livio Savelli courted her all evening. Around midnight at the ball, news spread that a young carbonari had escaped from the fortress of the Holy Angel.
Prince Azdrubale Vanini was rich. Both of his sons joined the Jesuit order, went mad and died. The prince forgot them, and was angry with his only daughter Vanina because she rejected the most brilliant matches.
On the morning after the ball, Vanina noticed that her father had locked the door to the staircase that led to the rooms on the fourth floor of the palace, the windows of which overlooked the terrace. Vanina found a window in the attic opposite the terrace, and saw a wounded stranger in one of the rooms. Prince Azdrubale visited her every day, and then went to Countess Vitelleschi.
Vanina managed to get the key to the door that led to the terrace. In the absence of her father, she began to visit a stranger who called herself Clementine. She was seriously wounded in the shoulder and chest, she was getting worse every day, and Vanina decided to send for a surgeon devoted to the Vanini family. Clementine didn't want this. Finally, she had to admit that she was not a woman, but the Carbonari, Pietro Missirilli, who had escaped from prison. He fled, dressed in a woman's dress, was wounded, and hid in the garden of Countess Vitelleschi, from where he was secretly transported to Vanini's house.
Having learned about the deception, Vanina called the doctor. She herself entered Pietro’s room only a week later. Missirilli hid his feelings behind a mask of devoted friendship, and Vanina was afraid that he did not share her love. One evening she said that she loved him, and they surrendered to their feelings.
Four months have passed. Pietro's wounds healed and he decided to go to Romagna to avenge himself. In desperation, Vanina invited Pietro to marry her, but he refused, believing that his life belonged to his homeland. Then Vanina decided to go to Romagna after her lover and unite with him there forever. She hoped that between her and her homeland he would choose her.
In Romagna, at a meeting of the Venta, Pietro elected her head. Two days later Vanina arrived at her castle of San Nicolo. She brought with her 2,000 sequins, with which Pietro bought weapons. At this time, a conspiracy was being prepared, thanks to which Pietro would be crowned with glory. Vanina felt that Pietro was moving away from her. To keep her beloved, she betrayed the plot to the cardinal legate and persuaded Pietro to leave for San Nocolo for a few days. A few days later, Missirilli learned of the arrest of ten Carbonari and himself surrendered into the hands of the legate.
Meanwhile, Prince Vanini promised his daughter's hand to Prince Livio Savelli. Vanina agreed - Prince Livio was the nephew of Monsignor Catanza, the Roman governor and minister of police, using him, Vanina hoped to save Pietro. With Livio's help, she learned that Pietro was being held in the Fortress of the Holy Angel. She achieved the promotion of her confessor, Abbot Kari, who was the steward of this fortress.
The trial took place. The Carbonari were sentenced to death, which was later commuted to prison. Only for Missirilli the verdict remained unchanged. Having learned about this, Vanina entered Catanza's house at night and, with the help of threats, flattery and coquetry, persuaded him to leave Pietro alive. The Pope himself did not want to stain his hands with blood and signed the decree.
Soon Vanina learned that the Carbonari were being transported to the fortress of San Leone, and decided to see Missirilli at the stage in Cita Castellana. Abbot Kari, devoted to her, arranged a meeting in the prison chapel. On the date, Pietro returned Vanina’s word. He could only belong to his homeland. In a frenzy, Vanina admitted to Pietro that it was she who betrayed the plot to the legate. Petro rushed towards her to kill her with the chains in which he was shackled, but the jailer held him back. Completely destroyed, Vanina returned to Rome.
Stand's worldview was formed under the influence of the French Enlightenment. His first teacher was Rousseau. It was from him that, in his youth, the writer received admiration for naturalness, sensitivity and virtue. Helvetius had a great influence on St. Helvetius with his treatise “On the Mind”; he was close to the ideas of utilitarianism and sensationalism, the reduction of all human actions to the satisfaction of egoistic desires, to the search for happiness, the affirmation of passions as the main engine of personality and the mind as its main charm. Helvetius taught him to test his judgments with sensations and experience. The epic system of St., based on utilitarianism, at the same time turned out to be highly humanistic. He combines the idea of personal happiness with the happiness of others. The writer perceived society in constant and revolutionary development. He put tyranny on a par with religion. The state of social inequality, in his opinion, corrupted the privileged layers of society, depriving people from the 3rd estate of the opportunity to realize their talents. Interested in politics. At the center of Stendhal's aesthetics is man, human character. I am convinced that there are neither completely good nor completely bad people. It is important for him to notice and explore not only the established character itself, but also the ways and reasons for its formation. Describes his principle of reflecting reality, referring to the image of a mirror.
Stendhal, calling the new art romantic, essentially gives a program for realistic art. I am convinced that the ideal of beauty is historically determined and develops along with the development of society. Beauty for him does not exist without spirituality. Therefore, the specific “portraits” of the characters in his novels are not accidental, where at best the eyes are outlined, and the rest of the attention is paid to facial expression, to the description of character traits and spiritual needs of the individual. Stendhal's concept of spiritual beauty also includes energy, ambition, duty, will and the ability to experience passions. Satisfying passions - in a variety of areas - can make a person happy. Believing that passion controls a person, Stendhal explored the topic of love with particular care. Offers a classification: “passion-love” and “passion-ambition”. The first is true, the second was born of the hypocritical and ambitious 19th century. The first is experienced by Madame de Renal, the suffering of the second is known to Mathilde de La Mole. Julien's feelings for Madame de Renal are passion-love; he is connected with Matilda by passion-ambition. Stendhal's psychologism is built on the principle of correlating passions and reason, their struggle.
When depicting a person and the world around him, Stendhal considers it necessary to pay attention to details, but his details concern either the thinking process itself, or they are objects of the external world that suddenly surfaced in the mind and were recorded in a state of extreme excitement. Details and action are important, but these details and action are always correlated with reality, with one’s own life experience.
Novella “Vanina Vanini, or Some Details Concerning the Last Carbonari Venta Revealed in the Papal States” (1829). In the title itself, the writer combined what became the main feature of his novels: a political event (Venta Carbonari) and human character (Vanina Vanini). The short story outlines conflicts of passion-love, passion-ambition (in Vanini’s soul). The love of freedom here fights with the love of a woman (in Pietro’s soul); Stendhal depicted true dignity, which cannot be marked by any order bought for money - this is a death sentence for a fighter for the freedom of his homeland. Creating an almost romantic aura around the main character Pietro, Stendhal, as a realist, strictly determines the traits of his personality: the strangeness is due to the fact that he is Italian, the author explains the hero’s nationality and the fact that after defeat he becomes religious and considers his love for Vanina a sin, for which he is punished by this defeat. The social determinism of the character and beliefs of the hero forces him - the beloved and the loving - to prefer his homeland to the woman he loves. Vanina Vanini values her love above all else. In Stendhal's work, she is smart, above her environment in terms of spiritual needs. However, all her originality is only enough to send 19 Carbonari to death in the name of her love.
The short story intertwines the tendencies of realism and romanticism, but the realistic principle of socio-temporal determinism turns out to be dominant. In this work, Stendhal showed himself to be a master of the short story: he is concise in creating portraits, he confidently creates a novelistic intrigue full of sudden turns, and the unexpected ending, when the Carbonari wants to kill Vanina for the betrayal of which she is proud, and her marriage fit into a few lines and become that unexpectedness that is obligatory for the genre, prepared in a psychological novel by the internal logic of the characters.
In the 20s Stendhal creates several works that testify to the rapid development of the writer’s realistic talent. Among them, a special place is occupied by the short story “Vanina Vanini,” written in 1829. The hero of this short story was the Carbonari conspirator - one of those whom the writer had the opportunity to meet more than once during his time in Italy. This is a passionate story about love and death, about duty and personal happiness.
The son of a village doctor, Pietro Missirilli, is a fighter for the liberation of his homeland from foreign invaders. This is a whole, pure, uncompromising and heroic personality.
Vanina Vanini is a girl from a wealthy aristocratic family, educated and with a strong character. She is brave, energetic, willful and smart.
Stendhal was always attracted to strong and integral characters. The exclusivity of Pietro and Vanina, their obsession and passion outwardly bring the writer’s heroes closer to the heroes of the works of the romantics. The circumstances under which Stendhal’s heroes meet are also extraordinary and romantic. Vanina selflessly takes care of the wounded Pietro, who escaped from prison in women's clothing. Young people fall in love with each other, and Vanina firmly believes that no one and nothing can interfere with their happiness. Vanina is not able to appreciate the greatness of the sacrifices that Pietro is capable of making for the liberation of his homeland. She is quite perceptive and well understands the doom of the Carbonari struggle. Ready to make any sacrifice for the sake of her loved one, she protests with all her being against Pietro’s senseless, from her point of view, sacrifice. Thus, the happiness of two people who love each other, who understand the meaning of life differently, is tragically doomed. Therefore, their meeting initially foreshadows a fatal outcome. Material from the site
The emerging psychological and political collisions are the most dramatic moments of Stendhal's narrative. However, unlike the romantics, the writer focuses the readers' attention on the decisive importance of the environment in which his heroes grew up. Stendhal shows what an insurmountable wall arises between them on the basis of different social origins and different social ideas about duty, honor and homeland. Reliable psychological details clearly determine the behavior of the characters. Hoping to return her beloved, taken from her by a conspiracy of patriots and deliberately dooming herself to death, Vanina, without hesitation, without a shadow of embarrassment, commits betrayal in the name of love. And he suffers a moral defeat. Pietro's love for Vanina turns into burning hatred.
Compositionally clear, captivating with the sharpness of the plot, Stendhal’s tragically heroic short story “Vanina Vanini” is one of the recognized peaks of French short story writing of the 19th century.
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“Vanina Vanini”: analysis of the short story, main characters
Stendhal's interest in strong, unbending personalities, in whose souls there is a conflict between “red” and “black,” was also expressed in his works on the Italian theme. In parallel with “Red and Black,” at the end of the 20s, Stendhal turned to the artistic embodiment of the theme of “Italian passion.” By that time, he had already written the books “The History of Painting in Italy” and “Walks in Rome”. Already here Stendhal expresses his observations on the Italian character - observations that add up to a whole system. But it was all prose of a memoir, cultural, historical and journalistic nature. In 1829, Stendhal gave the first artistic sketch of the Italian character in the remarkable short story “Vanina Vanini.”
This short story is almost a one-of-a-kind work in terms of the dynamics of characters and plots. It’s as if every line contains an unusual, enormous energy of explosive force. Everything here is energetic and passionate to the limit - the character of the characters, the development of events, and the construction of phrases. All this is rushing towards a denouement with enormous acceleration, and, of course, this denouement is an explosion. Two equally powerful and passionate characters oppose each other here, but the passions that control them are different in their orientation.
The young commoner Pietro Missirilli is a man whose main passion is love for his oppressed homeland, therefore, a civic passion. He is the leader of the secret society of Carbonari - fighters for the liberation of Italy from Austrian rule.
The girl - Vanina Vanini - is an aristocrat, the daughter of one of the most noble patricians in Italy. Chance brought her to Pietro, and she fell in love with him. But she fell in love as uncompromisingly as Missirilli loves her homeland. These two Italian passions collide and neither will yield. When Missirilli is faced with the need to choose between love for Vanina and love for the Motherland, he does not hesitate to choose the second. When Vanina is faced with the need to choose between the dictates of love and the dictates of civic duty, she does not hesitate to choose the first. She, with full awareness of her right, betrays the Carbonari to the authorities, hoping that now Pietro will completely belong to her. But with an equally full consciousness of his right, Pietro rejects Vanina’s love when he learns of her betrayal and chooses death. Both passions remained true to themselves and exhausted themselves to the limit. Almost an outline of a classic tragedy - and at the same time, the problem of “duty and feeling” is not solved so clearly.
Undoubtedly, Stendhal's spiritual sympathy is on the side of Missirilli. But it is easy to notice that even in Vanin he admires precisely the strength and integrity of passion, regardless of its fatal and morally reprehensible consequences. Vanina also knows what she is getting into when she commits a vile betrayal. In the scene of her last meeting with Pietro in prison, she, telling him about all her fantastic efforts to rescue him and thereby trying to convince him of the power of her love, finally resorts to the last, most compelling argument from her point of view: “But all this is still so a little! I did more out of love for you.” And she told about her betrayal. You see, she perceives her fall as the ultimate sacrifice of love. And this, of course, is also logic - the logic of reckless, albeit selfish, albeit immoral, passion.
The short story “Vanina Vanini” was written by Stendhal while working on “The Red and the Black”. And both of these works - a big novel and a small short story - are united by the spirit of rebellion of the revolution. A short story, like a novel, even with a tragic outcome, does not leave a feeling of hopelessness; faith and heroic animation also soar over it.
Source: Karelsky A.V. Metamorphoses of Orpheus. Vol. 1: French literature of the 19th century. / M.: Russian state. humanist University, 1998
