- Essays
- On literature
- Nekrasov
- What is happiness in the understanding of Matryona Timofeevna in the poem Who Lives Well in Rus'?
The question here is that, in my opinion, for Matryona Timofeevna, happiness is in the absence of unhappiness. If only there were no big troubles, and her woman’s life (and women in general, especially peasant women) is hard. Constant work, almost every year children are born... Of course, you give everything to them, hungry and cold. There's a lot to do around the house and no time to sleep. And a young wife, when she comes to her husband’s house, as was previously the case, is worse than a slave. And if there is suddenly no intercessor, then everyone tries to offend (bosses, clergy, and neighbors).
And so it was, and even worse, with Matryona, although she was nicknamed the lucky one - “the governor.” And this is not even irony! She was just really lucky after much suffering. She threw herself at the feet of the real governor with a request to return her husband, who was illegally taken from his family into the army. And he was returned! Since then, Matryona has been praying only for this kind woman.
And so she remembers that she lived happily in her youth - with her parents, and when she got married... She didn’t even sit at the table, so as not to take away a piece from the children, and her mother-in-law told her that she was already full and was in a hurry to sleep. They had to send children to beg and take beatings for them. Such was her life of hard work and injustice that Matryona mentions two fires and anthrax, which she survived, just in passing. She experienced a particularly terrible shock when her first-born, Dyoma, died. Her husband's relatives told her to go to the field to work and leave the baby with their old grandfather. And the grandfather slept until the child was killed by pigs - horror. And it was even worse when the “police” arrived, and they began to accuse her of intentional murder. And it was even worse when a pathologist, whom she called an “unchrist,” began to cut up the murdered baby in her presence. What kind of happiness is there?!
But by the way, there was a happy moment when she prayed under the starry sky and asked the Mother of God for help.
But the pessimistic Matryona reproaches the wanderers that it is stupidity to seek happiness from women. She even cites a legend that the keys to that same female happiness were lost by G-d. The keys to happiness had already been found for slaves, but not yet for women. Here she apparently means freedom, because happiness is a personal matter, there is no universal key for everyone. But with freedom, of course, it is easier to find your happiness.
What is happiness for Matryona Timofeevna?
Happiness is different for everyone. Everyone has their own idea of happiness. And not only for women it is one thing, but for men it is different. No, even for each woman or man it is strictly individual.
In order to understand the definition of happiness, the wanderers in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” traveled a lot of lands and found out who is happy beyond measure in Rus'. Yes, they never found it, and it’s not difficult, given those times of the abolition of serfdom, the boyars, merchants and, of course, the kingdom.
So, while passing through the city of Klin. Having heard about the “happy governor’s wife,” they decided to visit her.
Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna appeared before them in all her “glory.” Seeing her, the seven wanderers expected to see a portly, ruddy woman from the highest circles of power. But no. Matryona Timofeevna turned out to be a simple peasant woman.
And she told them what simple female happiness was like.
But it turned out to be simple.
A hard-working, caring and teetotal husband. Healthy and cheerful children. This is the very small fraction that she needs, but she doesn’t need more.
But Matryona did not consider herself any less happy. Because after getting married, everything changed dramatically for her. The quarrelsome and grumpy mother-in-law did not give her a pass, mocked and reproached her for any reason. She is an extra mouth for her. Even her husband could not protect her.
Plus, a series of misfortunes befall Matryona’s family, one after another. The worst thing is that my son dies. Afterwards the husband is taken to war. Several fires occur, lynching is committed, where, defending her son, she is whipped with rods.
From everything she has experienced, Matryona Timofeevna’s health deteriorates, and for a complete “bouquet of happiness” she falls ill with anthrax.
So what about the happiness for which she is famous throughout the area? Matryona Timofeevna tries to survive the trials and misfortunes that befell her with great dignity. She did not give up for a minute, until the last she fights for her simple female happiness, for her family. This speaks of her fortitude inherent in a Russian woman. She managed to find both mental and physical strength in herself to save her family no matter what.
According to Nekrasov, in the work he makes it clear, using the example of Matryona Timofeevna, that only a free person can be considered a happy person. Therefore, he describes with special love the common people who, despite their difficult fate, oppose any slavery.
It's been a tough year. Governor's wife
Matryona Timofeevna’s endless patience and humble submission hide strength of character, determination and strong will. For the sake of the children, so that they do not become the downtrodden and defenseless sons of a soldier, she goes to save her husband from conscription. The governor's intervention seems like a wonderful gift of fate. But the main merit belongs to Matryona Timofeevna. The reward is the return of her husband, the respect of her family, and the status of the mistress of the house. But these awards cannot erase the torment experienced from the memory and heart. And new sorrows await the peasant woman: “... A grove of children... Is it a joy?.. / Five sons! Peasant / Orders are endless - / They’ve already taken one!”
The story about the fate of the peasant woman is full of bitterness. The fate of the “lucky girl” turns out to be a story of endless misfortunes. But let’s think again about why Matryona Korchagina is singled out and considered happy.
Let us ask ourselves: did fate manage to break the peasant woman? Did Matryona Timofeevna become a slave in the midst of universal slavery?
The author convincingly shows that the peasant woman is not broken by everyday storms. The harsh beauty of her mighty soul was tempered in them. Matryona Timofeevna is not a slave, but the mistress of her destiny. Its strength is manifested not in violent prowess, not in revelry, not in a brief heroic impulse, but in the everyday struggle with the hardships of life, in patient and persistent life-building.
Next to Matryona Timofeevna, even the “hero of the Holy Russian” grandfather Savely seems weak. The author's attitude towards this hero is ambivalent; it combines admiration and a sad smile. Savely’s heroism is not only useless, but unpromising. He is not given the power to influence the future, just as he is not given the power to save Dyomushka. The rebellious impulse of the Korezh men, who buried the German Vogel alive, does not solve the issues of Russian life, but is redeemed at too high a price. “To be intolerant is an abyss! / To endure is an abyss...” - grandfather knows this for sure, but he doesn’t know how to determine the limit of patience. With his awkward heroism, Savely is thrown out of worldly life, deprived of a place in it. Therefore, his strength turns into weakness. That’s why the old man reproaches himself:
Where have you gone, strength?
What were you useful for?
Under rods, under sticks
Left for little things!
And yet, against the backdrop of many peasant images, grandfather Savely stands out for his clarity and strength of mind, integrity of nature, and freedom of spirit. He, like Matryona Timofeevna, does not completely become a slave, he builds his own destiny.
So, using the example of these two characters, the author convinces us of the inexhaustible moral strength and resilience of the people, which serves as a guarantee of their future happiness.
Book materials used: Yu.V. Lebedev, A.N. Romanova. Literature. Grade 10. Lesson-based developments. — M.: 2014
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Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” contains as its key point the search by seven peasant men for people whose lives would be happy. One day they meet a certain peasant woman, Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, who tells them her sad life story.
Essay Happiness by Matryona Timofeevna
Russia is a large and great country, which is why Nekrasov created such a wonderful work in which he described the Russian people and the endless fields and distances of the country. In the poem, there are men on the road who decide to start a debate about who lives well in Rus'. Nikolai Alekseevich described the sad life of the people; even in the names of the villages one can feel the poverty of the Russian people. Men from the villages of Zaplatovo, Razutova, Neurozhaika, Znobishina decide to hit the road across the country in order to find a happy person.
They go all over the country and look for a person who can live well in Rus'. Quite a few people pass by them and each of them tells their own story, from which it is clear that life in Rus' is not so good. Then in one of the villages they meet women who advise them to go to Matryona Timofeevna, because by their standards she is happy and lives well.
The men find a beautiful woman with a little gray in her hair, she looks about thirty-eight. They start a conversation with Matryona Timofeevna and ask if she is really the happiest in Rus'. The woman thought about the question and began to tell the travelers her life story and what her happiness really was.
She grew up in a good family and was happy until she got married. The husband's family did not like the girl and forced her to work hard. The only one who protected her was grandfather Savely. My husband was constantly on business trips and came only in winter. So she lived in torment, in addition to all this Sitnikov molested her, and this continued until he died.
When her first child was born, Matryona gave all of herself to the child, and her joy knew no end, but a misfortune happened, grandfather Savely overlooked, and the baby was eaten by pigs. Matryona could not forgive Savely for a long time and could not forget her little son. Soon she had more children, and she devoted herself entirely to them. When she was pregnant with her third child, her husband was taken to war, and she went to the governor, where she begged to leave her husband with her and the children.
Then Matryona saves her son from the lashes when he feeds someone else's sheep to the she-wolf. She takes all the blame for her son Fedot.
After all these events, people in the village began to call her happy. Matryona Timofeevna herself says that her life is not sweet, but despite this she is really happy. Her happiness lies in the fact that she is a happy mother and wife. She fights for her happiness like a she-wolf and that is why she believes that happiness lies in love and understanding. Matryona withstood all the troubles, saved Fedot from the lashes, and her husband from the soldiery, and she still had the strength to give them love and create family comfort.
Why do people call Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna happy and does she consider herself...
“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the final work of N. A. Nekrasov, in which the poet wanted to present everything he knew about the people. That is why one of the main themes of Nekrasov’s work is so organically included in this work - the fate of the Russian woman. It is presented especially thoroughly in the chapter “Peasant Woman” from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” where the image of the wonderful Russian woman Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is depicted. It is to her that the inhabitants of the surrounding villages send wandering men who are planning to find someone “who lives a cheerful, free life in Rus'.” Why is this particular woman considered happy, and does the plot of this chapter confirm this opinion?
To answer the questions posed, it is necessary to determine the author’s position, since it is in accordance with it that the entire narrative is built. For Nekrasov, the Russian woman has always been the embodiment of the national character, the main bearer of the very foundations of the life of the people. That is why it was so important, in a poem about the people’s fate, to show what the position of a Russian woman is in contemporary Russia as a poet. After all, the happiness of a mother, wife, homemaker and eternal worker is the key to the well-being of any society at all times.
It is significant that in the poem we do not hear the author’s voice - it is Matryona Timofeevna’s own story about her fate. This form made it possible to achieve special sincerity and authenticity of the image. At the same time, a clear contrast arises in Korchagina’s assessment of her life with the opinion of the people around her. Only a fortunate coincidence of circumstances led to the fact that she and her unborn child did not die, and the governor’s wife miraculously becomes their patroness - the godmother of little Liodorushka.
But this happiness was gained through the entire previous life. It included difficult trials: the forced life of a daughter-in-law in her husband’s family, “mortal grievances,” the whip, endless work, hunger, and the worst thing—the death of a child. And the terrible thing is that this is so typical of the fate of the Russian peasant woman! It is not for nothing that this chapter contains a lot of songs with folklore images and motifs, and in the episode associated with the death of Demushka, the poet used the lamentations (funeral laments) of the famous storyteller Irina Fedosova. All this allows us to come to a general conclusion, which sounds especially bitter in the mouth of Matryona Timofeevna: “The keys to women’s happiness / From our free will / Abandoned, lost / From God himself!”
And yet the question of the happiness of a Russian woman is not so clear-cut. After all, numerous sorrows and troubles did not break her persistent spirit, did not undermine her inner strength and will to live. She managed to preserve her warmth and beauty, which were not lost even under the yoke of hard work and worries.
And even if the author, who so wonderfully painted the image of Matryona Timofeevna, wanted to emphasize the idea of “the suffering of the people,” the reader has the right to consider such a woman happy.
Happy from the village of Klin
The men heard about a woman who is popularly called happy, the “governor.” What happiness is in the understanding of Matryona Timofeevna and the people who called her that, the wanderers decided to find out.
The woman's fate was not much different from other Russian peasant women. A good life was only in my own family, with my father and mother. Marriage changes everything. The girl finds herself among people who see her as an extra mouth, someone who can be mocked.
Happiness is if the husband doesn’t drink and doesn’t beat for the sake of his own pleasure and out of anger at poverty. Matryona ended up in a family where the evil mother-in-law decided everything, but the joy was that the husband turned out to be kind and caring. But he lacked the courage and ability to protect the woman he loved. The hardworking girl learned to endure and enjoy small successes.
Troubles await the peasant woman: her son dies, she is whipped with rods for disobedience and wayward character, fires destroy houses, anthrax takes away her health. The woman remains strong, strong and confident in the future. She is not bent by adversity and hardships of fate. To save her family from hunger, Matryona goes to the governor. She asks to return her husband, who was recruited as a soldier. The governor's wife helps Korchagina; she feels sorry for the woman who is expecting a child, but thinks not about herself, but about the whole family. The breadwinner is returned. Matryona prays, asks God for good for a sympathetic woman. People give her the nickname “governor” for her courage.
Happiness, as peasants understand it, lies in courage and perseverance, which are not given to everyone. More often, peasant women are left alone, not knowing how to feed their children, and go begging or steal and rob on the roads.
“Who Lives Well in Rus'”: History of Creation
It is not known for certain when exactly Nekrasov began to create the poem that brought him enormous fame. It is believed that this happened around the beginning of the sixties of the nineteenth century, but long before writing the work, the writer began making sketches - so there is no need to talk about the time of the conception of the poem. Despite the fact that the manuscript of its first part indicates 1865, some researchers are inclined to believe that this is the date of completion of the work, and not the date of its beginning.
Be that as it may, the prologue of the first part was published in Sovremennik at the very beginning of 1966, and for the next four years, the entire first part was published intermittently in the magazine. The poem was difficult to print due to disputes with censorship; however, the censorship “vetoed” many of Nekrasov’s other publications, and his activities in general.
Nikolai Alekseevich, relying on his own experience and the experience of his fellow predecessors, planned to create a huge epic work about the lives and destinies of various people belonging to the most diverse strata of society, to show their differentiation. At the same time, he definitely wanted to be read and heard by the common people - this determines the language of the poem and its composition - they are understandable and accessible to the most ordinary, lowest strata of the population.
According to the author's original plan, the work should have consisted of seven or eight parts. The travelers, having passed through their entire province, had to reach St. Petersburg itself, meeting there (in order) with an official, a merchant, a minister and a tsar. This plan was not allowed to come true due to Nekrasov’s illness and death. However, the writer managed to create three more parts - in the early and mid-seventies. After Nikolai Alekseevich passed away, there were no instructions left in his papers on how to print what he wrote (although there is a version that Chukovsky found in Nekrasov’s documents a note that after “The Last One” comes “A Feast for the Whole World”) . The last part was published only three years after the death of the author - and then with censorship marks.
It all starts with the fact that seven simple village men met “on a high street.” We met and started talking among ourselves about our lives, joys and sorrows. They agreed that life is not at all fun for an ordinary peasant, but they couldn’t decide who had fun. Having expressed various options (from the landowner to the king), they decide to understand this issue, communicate with each of the people voiced and find out the correct answer. Until then, I won’t take a step home.
Setting off on the journey with the found self-assembled tablecloth, they first meet a noble family led by a mad owner, and then, in the city of Klin, a peasant woman named Matryona Korchagina. The men were told about her that she was kind, smart, and happy - which is the main thing, but it is precisely in the latter that Matryona Timofeevna dissuades unexpected guests.
