Dreams of Vera Pavlovna in the novel “What to do?” - meaning and meaning

First dream

Dreams of Vera Pavlovna in the novel “What to do?” appear starting from the twelfth chapter. It is then that the author describes the first of them.

At the beginning of her dream, Vera finds herself locked in the cellar. But suddenly she is freed and transported to the field, where ripe spikelets amaze with their bright yellow color. At the moment of transition, the heroine recovers: it was as if she had been paralyzed, but once free, her health improves dramatically, and her body begins to obey.

A girl, “her groom’s bride,” is talking to Vera. Through her image, Chernyshevsky reflected his love for people.

Vera goes for a walk around the city and along the way helps everyone who meets on her way, because a new acquaintance asked her to free girls from dark basements and treat them.

The first dream symbolizes the liberation of Vera from the society of people of a limited, old type of thinking. The images in it are an allegory and each of them has meaning:

1. The basement symbolizes the “dark kingdom”, in which the stuffy air is the lack of freedom, and darkness is ignorance.
2. The girl's parents are prisoners of medieval thinking and stereotypes. That’s why her mother teaches Vera to seduce rich men and talks about arranged marriage.

The idea that a woman was no longer good for anything was firmly ingrained in the heads of her parents. Therefore, leaving her home, Vera felt relieved: she now does not have to try to sell herself at a higher price. Previously, her life was filled with fear and anger due to the strong pressure of her mother. But once freed, she learns true love for humanity. The girl understands that there are other people on the planet who are reasonable and not spoiled. She meets such people everywhere on the streets of her dream and she becomes happy.

“Love for People” calls itself “the bride of Vera’s groom,” because it was Lopukhov who opened another world for the girl. The request to let all women go will push the heroine to open a sewing workshop.

Raskolnikov's dreams and Vera Pavlovna's dreams from the novel “What to do?

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Introduction:

Dostoevsky is rightfully considered a writer and psychologist. None of the authors, like him, can so accurately and clearly reveal all the spiritual human conflicts, experiences, aspirations and problems that are stored deep in the subconscious of each of us, and only such an artistic technique as revealing the personality of a character through his dream helps do.

Rodion Raskolnikov in the novel “Crime and Punishment” is so immersed in himself, in his thoughts, that he does not notice how his essence “splits” into two parts, reality merges with fantasies and reality becomes somehow distant and impossible.

Throughout the novel, Rodion Raskolnikov dreams several times. But since the hero experiences apathy, half-sleep - half-delirium, it is impossible to say with great certainty whether it was a dream or another delirium, or just a play of the imagination. But each dream in its own way is considered a key moment in the plot of the work. Without these dreams it is impossible to fully understand the hero’s state of mind.

Dreams not only represent an understanding of his life situation, but also foreshadow future changes in life. But the most significant for understanding Raskolnikov’s character and worldview, for understanding his actions, is the first dream - the dream about killing a horse. This episode helps to look into the soul of Raskolnikov the child, not yet disfigured by the terrible “idea”.

After long wanderings around St. Petersburg and thinking about the benefits of the death of the old pawnbroker, the main character falls asleep in the park after the “test”. As soon as sleep overwhelms Raskolnikov’s consciousness, we find ourselves in his small hometown, finding ourselves far from the bustle and oppressive yellowness of the houses of big cities. Everything around is green, bright, everything is the embodiment of faith in goodness, mercy and compassion for others, that is, the inner world of little Rodya is revealed to us, whose soul is filled with goodness and only positive qualities. The boy experiences “an unpleasant impression and even fear” as soon as he walks with his father past the city tavern, “trembling all over” just from the sounds coming from it and the sight of “drunk and scary faces wandering around.” And when later the hero himself remembers with warmth and love the poor city church and the old priest, then at that moment we see not a person who wants to commit murder, but a person who truly lives, loves life in any of its manifestations, rejoices in every day and believes that there is good

But the bright colors fade, the sky is clouded with black clouds, when we begin to read lines from a dream about beating a horse: “But the poor horse is in a bad way.” “She gasps, stops, twitches again, almost falls.” We see all this through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy who will forever remember the embodiment of cruelty. Raskolnikov the child at first looks at everything that is happening in horror, then rushes to protect the horse, but is too late: “The nag stretches out his muzzle, sighs heavily and dies.”

Immediately before the dream episode, Raskolnikov, walking along the boulevard, sees how a certain gentleman is trying to seduce a young girl, and then the hero decides to intercede for her, as he later tries to save the horse in his dream. But the incident he saw on the street convinces him even more of the correctness of the theory and the admissibility of “blood according to conscience,” and the beating of an animal once again reminds Raskolnikov of violence and cruelty in the world. He no longer sees any difference between an animal and a person. And this horse becomes the embodiment of the suffering of the insulted and humiliated.

In this dream we see a whole huge crowd, cruel and heartless. The only person who tries to stand up for the horse is an old man, but he alone cannot help the poor animal.

This dream is prophetic; it indicates to the hero the unsuccessful outcome of his planned business, because he alone cannot change the social system, no matter how much effort he makes.

There are still some positive qualities left in Raskolnikov; he hesitates in fulfilling his terrible plan. Having awakened, he turns to God and with his whole being renounces his crazy idea, but despite this, almost a day later he kills the old woman.

Reading the novel further, we cannot forget this first dream, and Dostoevsky constantly points to it. When Raskolnikov returns to his room, having hidden the stolen jewelry, he trembles like a horse, then he imagines that his landlady is being beaten on the stairs, and Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, dying, shouts: “They drove away the nag!”, the dyer who happened to turn up turns out to be Mikolka , the innkeeper Dushkin appears, who “lies like a horse.”

And the first dream itself is truly fantastic, largely because the features of Rodion’s invented terrible plan are reflected here.

Chernyshevsky’s novel “What to do?” It is distinguished by an unusual composition of plot construction. The author presents his own ideas and describes ideals through the character's dreams. The meaning and significance of Vera Pavlovna’s dreams are directly intertwined with the events of the work. However, they cannot be perceived directly, because each of them is an allegory.

Dreams of Vera Pavlovna in the novel “What to do?” appear starting from the twelfth chapter. It is then that the author describes the first of them.

At the beginning of her dream, Vera finds herself locked in the cellar. But suddenly she is freed and transported to the field, where ripe spikelets amaze with their bright yellow color. At the moment of transition, the heroine recovers: it was as if she had been paralyzed, but once free, her health improves dramatically, and her body begins to obey. A girl, “her groom’s bride,” is talking to Vera. Through her image, Chernyshevsky reflected his love for people. Vera goes for a walk around the city and along the way helps everyone who meets on her way, because a new acquaintance asked her to free girls from dark basements and treat them. The first dream symbolizes the liberation of Vera from the society of people of a limited, old type of thinking.

The images in it are an allegory and each of them has meaning:

• The basement symbolizes the “dark kingdom”, in which the stuffy air is the lack of freedom, and darkness is ignorance.
• The girl's parents are prisoners of medieval thinking and stereotypes.

That’s why her mother teaches Vera to seduce rich men and talks about arranged marriage. The idea that a woman was no longer good for anything was firmly ingrained in the heads of her parents. Therefore, leaving her home, Vera felt relieved: she now does not have to try to sell herself at a higher price. Previously, her life was filled with fear and anger due to the strong pressure of her mother. But once freed, she learns true love for humanity. The girl understands that there are other people on the planet who are reasonable and not spoiled. She meets such people everywhere on the streets of her dream and she becomes happy.

In her next dream, Vera saw Lopukhov, together with Mertsalov, walking across a field, where they discussed real and fantastic dirt. The first is filled with healthy and natural life, ears of corn sprout in it. And the second is only rottenness and falsehood, it is not fertile and there is no great meaning in it. During their conversation, the heroine notices her mother, poor and worried about feeding her family. But still, she noticed a barely noticeable smile on her face. The next moment the heroine dreams that she is sitting on the officer’s lap. This scene changes to one where Vera can't find a job. Her old friend, Love for People, explains that the girl needs to stop holding a grudge against her mother for her cruelty. Since Marya Aleekseevna devoted her entire life to bringing her family out of poverty, and therefore became angry with the world that she found herself in unbearably difficult conditions.

Conclusion

Dreams in the novel “What to do?” the meaning is symbolic. But they reveal the content of the heroine’s true thoughts and desires. The first two dreams reflect Vera’s relationship with those who belong to people of the old type of thinking. It’s easy to call them vulgar, but they turned into this because of the difficulties of life. And no matter how hard they try, they will never be able to break through to people. Honest work can give them a piece of bread and a roof over their heads, but it will not help improve their standard of living.

Second dream

In her next dream, Vera saw Lopukhov, together with Mertsalov, walking across a field, where they discussed real and fantastic dirt . The first is filled with healthy and natural life, ears of corn sprout in it. And the second is only rottenness and falsehood, it is not fertile and there is no great meaning in it. During their conversation, the heroine notices her mother, poor and worried about feeding her family. But still, she noticed a barely noticeable smile on her face.

The next moment the heroine dreams that she is sitting on the officer’s lap. This scene changes to one where Vera can't find a job. Her old friend, Love for People, explains that the girl needs to stop holding a grudge against her mother for her cruelty. Since Marya Aleekseevna devoted her entire life to bringing her family out of poverty, and therefore became angry with the world that she found herself in unbearably difficult conditions.

Dreams in the novel “What to do?” the meaning is symbolic. But they reveal the content of the heroine’s true thoughts and desires. The first two dreams reflect Vera’s relationship with those who belong to people of the old type of thinking. It’s easy to call them vulgar, but they turned into this because of the difficulties of life. And no matter how hard they try, they will never be able to break through to people. Honest work can give them a piece of bread and a roof over their heads, but it will not help improve their standard of living.

The real dirt is the world of people killed by poverty, who work all their lives and do good. They are still capable of reincarnating themselves into good, moral citizens. But for this they need a chance to start living, not surviving.

Fantastic dirt is a society of people happy with life, undeservedly enriched, who in fact do not bring any benefit. The nobles are worried only about small things, their souls are cramped and wretched. And such a social stratum in society was created artificially, and therefore there are no people in it with truly pure thoughts who are capable of developing.

With the help of these scenes, Nikolai Gavrilovich gives the reader a description of the picture of the social strata of Russian society - the poor and the rich.

According to Chernyshevsky, good soil is working life and it is correct. Only on it can spikelets of morality and morality grow. The fantastic is the absence of labor activity, parasitism.

Analysis of Pavlovna's faith dreams in the novel what to do

One of the compositional parts of Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” are the dreams of Vera Pavlovna. They are very important in the work. In fact, we can say that these dreams clarify a lot about the main plot of the novel. On the other hand, they are complete in themselves. After all, Chernyshevsky uses the technique of sleep to introduce into the text his philosophical reflections on the world and its structure. Let's take a closer look at the meaning of Vera Pavlovna's dreams, how they clarify the plot, and what the author says to readers through these dreams.

Vera Pavlovna is the main character of the novel “What is to be done?” Her fate was by no means simple. She was brought up in a diligent family, received a good education, but did not have the right to independently decide her fate. Her mother is trying to get her daughter married faster. That society was most proud of a rich groom and a good estate. This is exactly the kind of husband that the mother found for her obviously unhappy daughter. But everything turned out for the better when a certain student, a doctor with a future education, Dmitry Lopukhov, extended his hand to help Vera Pavlovna. He is trying to tear her out of this domestic care-confinement and get her a job as a governess. But, unfortunately, not everything turns out the way the young man intended. He has to use plan B: Lopukhov proposes to Verochka and thus saves her from future hell.

The day before, Vera Pavlovna had her first dream. In it she is unwell and is in the basement. Soon the shackles fall off her, and Verochka feels much better. She finds herself near a field, where an unfamiliar woman speaks to her - “love for people.” The stranger calls on her to help other, exactly the same imprisoned women. This dream was a harbinger that Vera Pavlovna would finally get out of the hopelessness of her home and gain freedom. In his first dream, Chernyshevsky lays the foundations of his utopia. This is a world where a woman is no longer someone’s property, not just a beautiful thing, but a real person. All that is needed for this is to give her freedom and show her the path to her dream. Vera Pavlovna leaves the prison of this cruel world. It is symbolic that she ends up on the field. This is the place where something new grows and matures every year. Being within the framework of the old world, she did not know people at all. She thought they were all cruel and cold. It turns out that besides them, there are others who can be loved.

In the second dream, Vera Pavlovna sees her husband Lopukhov and priest Mertsalov in a field. They are heatedly arguing about something and talking about two variations of the same dirt: real and fantastic. Men wonder why ears of corn grow in real mud, but not in fantasy mud. During a philosophical conversation, they come to the conclusion that it’s all about movement. If dirt moves, then it is capable of giving birth to something; if not, then, accordingly, it does not have such properties. Then they move on to memories of their distant past. Mertsalov speaks with sadness about his mother, who plowed the earth all her life in order to give something to her children. Vera Pavlovna also remembers her mother and understands that she tried no less. The main character forgives her for all her wrongdoings.

There are several interesting points in the second dream. Firstly, a symbolic conversation about real and fantastic dirt. What do they symbolize? The real dirt is the image of poor people. While they work on earth, they are worth something in this life. Such people contribute to the existence of this world. But the rich are fantastic dirt. They only waste what the poor create. As a result, they stand still and do not enrich society. They do not have the highest nobility - work. Chernyshevsky shows the second facet of his utopia. For him, the ideal world is a place where all people work and bring at least some benefit. It is interesting that Lenin fell in love with the ideas of the writer-philosopher Chernyshevsky so much that he tried to recreate this ideal society in the form of communism.

Another key point from Vera Pavlovna’s second dream is the image of her mother. She no longer holds a grudge against her mother for trying to marry her off without her consent. Verochka understands that her mother actually loves her, but she was also born and raised in such a society. This left its mark on her character and lifestyle.

The third dream helps Vera Pavlovna understand herself. She dreams that the famous singer Bosio brought a diary. Verochka understands that this thing belongs to her, although she has never kept a diary in her life. They leaf through and read some pages together. Many good words are said towards her husband. She sees that she respects this man, is very grateful to him, but, unfortunately, she does not have stronger feelings for him. Vera realizes that the time has come to tell herself the truth. She never loved her husband. He was her support and the main person in her life, but not her beloved. After all, Vera Pavlovna feels this deep feeling for Dmitry’s friend Alexander Kirsanov.

This dream influenced the further plot of the novel: Vera and Kirsanov united their destinies. What does Chernyshevsky mean by this? He sees an ideal world where people do not have to live together by force, in this he agrees with the Russian proverb. The third dream continues the ideas of the first, which end with a logical conclusion in Vera Pavlovna’s fourth dream.

Third dream

The third dream was short and short-lived. In it, the singer Bosio holds in Vera’s hands a diary, which does not exist in real life. And he begins to read it together with the main character. The pages of the diary tell them about the heroine’s love relationship with Lopukhov. Approaching the last page, the girl is afraid to look at it, but everything becomes clear. Vera realizes that she would like to, but is not able to love her husband. Vera Pavlovna appreciates and respects him, but there are no feelings between them - only friendship and habit. In reality, the girl loves Kirsanov .

Having analyzed the events of the dream and real life, one can see how in it Vera realizes what real, sincere feelings for a loved one are. And then she realizes that she can freely manage her life, despite the marriage. After all, the main thing is who the heart is drawn to. And if his tastes have changed, then he needs to follow it, and not observe ridiculous forms of decency for fear of being judged by society. This is one of the most important components of emancipation, which makes a woman the absolute master of her soul and body. And she herself has the right to decide who to be with.

Fourth dream

The last dream of Vera Pavlovna Chernyshevsky is described in the sixteenth chapter . He sees a variety of goddesses in the order of their appearance:

• pagan Astarte;
• ancient Greek Aphrodite;
• reflection of the Mother of God.

Among many goddesses, she is led by a beautiful woman, in whom Vera easily recognizes her own appearance - an uninhibited and free mistress of the new time. The next moment, the Garden of Eden appears before her eyes. It contains joyful voices of people, songs and poems. People there are free, equal, and work is voluntary. Nobody forces anyone to do anything in the garden. Wheat grows here and cattle graze.

In this dream, the author depicted the society of tomorrow . Everything in it is determined by the rule “liberty, equality and fraternity.” Each of the goddesses reflects the role and place of women in society, which changes over time. The first is an object of pleasure and admiration, and the last is a full member of society. Faith symbolizes an independent, intelligent woman who is equal to men. She is not humiliated or used by them.

Vera's dreams in the novel “What to do?” can be deciphered as a sequential display of the heroine’s liberation. All images are symbolic, but in the first one she, along with other girls, is freed from the basement, and after four dreams she becomes independent.

And so the whole society was to be renewed, and the ghosts of the past were to fade into oblivion. The author believed in a bright future where everyone would be free and equal. He even indulged in writing and describing this ideal world in Vera’s last dream.