The content of the story is very short
The main character, Ivan Timofeevich, arrived for six months in a remote village on the edge of Polesie on military business. He is an aspiring writer; two of his stories have been published. At first the hero was bored, but soon everything changed. One day, while hunting, Ivan Timofeevich got lost in the forest, ended up in the swamps and with difficulty found his way to a dilapidated house. The old witch Manuilikha lived here with her granddaughter Olesya.
The young master noted the original beauty of the forest maiden and her free manner. Olesya interested him, and the gentleman came to the “hut on chicken legs” another time. Ivan asks Olesya to tell his fortune, but it turns out that she has already thrown cards at him. To the guest’s questions, the girl replied that love would not bring him happiness.
And she added that the lady of the club suit would love him, but through him she would experience shame. The master doubts the predictions and does not believe in the magical abilities of Olesya and her grandmother. The young sorceress actually showed what she can do. Meetings of heroes became regular.
The local police officer demanded that both women vacate the house as soon as possible and leave these places. Ivan Timofeevich takes care of them, gives the policeman a wonderful gun, and he leaves the women alone for a while. But for some reason, alienation appeared in Olesya’s relationship with Ivan. The hero fell ill and did not go to the forest for a long time. When they meet again, the girl reveals her love to him, and it is mutual.
The time to leave has arrived. Ivan invites Olesya to marry him and leave these places. The girl knows that this will not happen, she knows their different destinies and tries to convince her beloved to abandon his intention. To please him, she overcame her fear and came to church on Trinity Sunday.
Ivan was informed that in the village after mass, peasant women beat a witch, she broke free and threatened them with trouble. The hero rushes into the forest and finds Olesya unconscious in the hut. Grandma blames him for what happened. Meanwhile, the girl woke up and told her lover about the need to break up. In parting, she whispered about her regret that she would not have a child with him.
At night a thunderstorm with hail broke out and destroyed the crops. The peasants saw this as the tricks of witches and gathered to deal with them; a threat loomed over the hero (his connection with Olesya was not a secret). Ivan galloped into the forest to warn the women, but there was no one there, only a string of red beads remained on the window frame as a memory of Olesya’s love.
Analysis of “Olesya” by Kuprin: a love story with deep implications
There are works that are not only possible, but also necessary to read and comprehend, analyze, and pass through oneself. One of them is the story “Olesya,” written back in 1898. Here is an analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya”. It should be noted right away that abstruse terms like “life-creating pathos characteristic of art” and “artistic vigilance” should probably be left to professional literary critics.
Analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya” from the perspective of an interested reader
The action of the story takes place in Polesie, and the backdrop of this tragic love story is luxurious nature. The main characters of the work are a simple girl Olesya, who lives in the forest with her grandmother, and an educated gentleman Ivan Timofeevich, who ended up in this area to gain new impressions that he needs for creativity.
These people, so different, seem to be attracted to each other like a magnet. At the same time, Ivan Timofeevich, in fact, finds entertainment for himself, which helps brighten up the melancholy in a remote village. Of course, one can, after analyzing Kuprin’s “Olesya,” decide that the master had certain feelings for Olesya. But it was hardly true love. Passion, love, fascination with the beauty and unusualness of a girl - yes, but nothing more. This can be understood from the fact that it occurred to Ivan Timofeevich to tell Olesya that a woman simply must believe in God. It turns out that he did not understand the girl herself at all and did not realize the power of her love. It was not given to this man to understand that Olesya, who believed that she belonged to the devil, in fact, most likely, was much closer to God than those enthusiastic fools who devoted time to gossip, envy and intrigue, and then feignedly sincerely exalted prayers in church.
Even the most in-depth analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya” allows us to notice that the writer showed in the image of the forest witch his ideal of a woman, which was extremely rare to find in his time. And in our era, things are no better!
Therefore, the main thing you need to pay attention to is the sincerity of Olesya’s feelings, her desire to live up to the ideals of her loved one, her self-esteem, foresight, and ability to be selfless. Indeed, the girl rejoices at the fleeting happiness, realizing that she and Ivan are not a couple. And, having become his wife, she will become an object of ridicule. In this case, again, her lover will also be ostracized. Olesya does not want to allow this, so she prefers to leave, keeping her love in her heart and leaving Ivan with memories that will bring much more good than her consent to marry him.
The story “Olesya” (Kuprin): analysis from the point of view of usefulness
Everyone who has read this book will form their own opinion about it. But it’s not for nothing that Kuprin called the story “Olesya” one of the works dearest to his heart! And it is completely justified that this masterpiece is included in the school curriculum. Perhaps, after reading the book, modern youth, who are growing up in a world of cynicism and material values, will think about it. After all, the opinions of others are not the most important thing in the world. But honor, dignity and the ability to love in spite of everything are the most valuable things that can be!
Characters of A. I. Kuprin’s story “Olesya” and their characteristics
The genre of the story involves a small number of heroes and minor characters. The work has two main characters, three minor ones and one episodic character.
Main characters
Ivan Timofeevich is an aspiring writer, a young nobleman (panych), and the story is told on his behalf. On duty, he came to the Little Russian wilderness. An intelligent man, he does not like the expressions of slavish devotion of the peasants, and does not take the witchcraft of the local witch seriously.
As an educated person, Ivan Timofeevich tries to give a scientific explanation for her supernatural abilities, but to no avail. According to fortune telling, the hero is a kind man, but weak, and his kindness is not heartfelt, but his heart is lazy, cold, he will not truly love anyone.
Olesya is a 24-year-old girl who lives in the forest with her grandmother, a witch, and she herself also masters the art of witchcraft. She is very beautiful, kind, smart, cannot read, but her speech is correct, like a young lady. She is noble and decent, which is evident both in her manner at the table and in her love. The girl has a strong character: in a relationship with a man, she takes everything upon herself, freeing her lover from caring about her.
Olesya is proud of her mysterious gift and at the same time burdened by it. Sometimes the horror of the other world freezes in her eyes. The girl knows that the ability to cast a spell was given to her from him (the evil one). This generational curse is passed down through the female line.
There are no icons in Olesya’s shack, she and her grandmother don’t go to church, and the beauty isn’t getting married, because she has to get married in church. However, having fallen in love, the girl is ready to change. For the sake of her beloved, she goes to church, but encounters misunderstanding, ridicule and cruelty from local peasant women who beat her.
Minor characters
Yarmola is a forest worker, a temporary “servant, cook and hunting companion” of Ivan Timofeevich. This character is a poacher, a drunkard, indifferent to his family, who are starving. He is considered the poorest and laziest man in the village, but he knows the forest perfectly, the habits of animals, appears silently from the thickets and disappears into them just like that.
Yarmola suddenly showed a passionate desire to master literacy in the interests of his native village: to be able to sign on government paper. The master's efforts in enlightenment led to nothing, only the mechanical writing of the surname somehow yielded to him. The hero showed unexpected adherence to principles in relation to Ivan Timofeevich’s acquaintance with the witches in the swamp: at first he condemned, and then completely distanced himself from the master to whom he became attached.
Manuilikha is Olesya’s grandmother and is considered an old witch in the village. Over the years, her witchcraft power has diminished, the old woman collects herbs, heals, and sometimes tells fortunes. She is given the ability to see the fate of people. Once upon a time, Manuilikha was kicked out of the village, blaming the death of the child of one woman whom the witch threatened.
The old witch is a mysterious character. How Manuilikha ended up in these places is unknown. From her conversation it is only clear that she comes from Amchensk (Mtsensk, Oryol province). Her granddaughter’s competent speech comes from her. Olesya said that her grandmother knows a lot and has seen a lot.
Evpsikhy Afrikanovich is a local police officer, a police officer, the owner of a monstrous body that occupies two seats. The character is known for his weakness for drinking. He keeps order in the village and surrounding areas. He himself is a spiritual person.
Apparently, that’s why Manuilikha and Olesya haunt him with their non-attendance to church and sorcery. The constable told them that within twenty-four hours they should vacate the shack belonging to the landowner.
Evpsikhy Afrikanovich's integrity wavered in front of two bottles of stark and an old gun received as a gift from Ivan Timofeevich.
Episodic hero
Nikita Nazarych Mishchenko is an office worker on a neighboring estate, a former non-commissioned officer. He told Ivan Timofeevich about Olesya’s coming to church and her beating by local residents.
Summary
In the first chapter of the story, the master came to a village in the Volyn province called Perebrod for six months. Here he entertained himself with hunting, treated local residents and tried to teach his woodsman to read and write. Yarmola told him about the witch Manuilikha and her granddaughter Olesya, who were kicked out of the village for witchcraft. Ivan Timofeevich became interested in this story and asked the forest worker to introduce him to the strange family. Yarmola became very angry and refused to help, because he was afraid of the witch.
Further, in a brief retelling of “Olesya,” the narrator, while hunting, came across an old hut in the forest, where he met the witch. He begged her to tell his fortune in exchange for money. Later, a beautiful girl entered the hut, showed him the way home and invited him to come see them again.
After the snow melted, the master again went to the forest hut. Olesya greeted him cordially, invited him in and told him that she had told him fortunes with cards. According to her scenario, great love awaits Ivan, but he will bring his dark-haired beloved a lot of grief, shame and sadness. He was surprised by such words, because he did not believe that he could cause so much trouble to someone.
After dinner, the girl accompanied the master home, spoke to his cut hand and conjured him to stumble at every step. From that day on, the gentleman became a frequent guest in her house, which old Manuilikha did not like. When talking about a wedding in church, the girl said that her soul had long been sold to the devil. Later, Olesya informed Ivan that the policeman demanded that they leave the village. The master was able to buy their freedom at the cost of his gun - he gave it to Evpsychy Afrikanovich.
Relations between the young people became tense, and Ivan fell ill with a fever for six days. After recovery, he again visited the hut, where Olesya confessed her love to him. The master reciprocated her feelings and the first kiss took place. A month later, it was time to leave; the gentleman invited the girl to become his wife. She made an appointment for him in church, but she herself refused the marriage.
In the temple, local women attacked Olesya; they threw stones at her, insulted her, and tried to smear her with tar. The girl broke out of the crowd and made a threatening speech, promising to take revenge on her offenders. In the forest house, Ivan found her unconscious. As soon as she came to her senses, she announced her desire to separate - she and her grandmother needed to leave. The narrator returned home, and the next day, after a severe thunderstorm, he again went to his beloved. But the hut was empty, it was in disarray. The only memento he found was a string of cheap red beads. And so ended the short-lived love with the young witch.
Summary of the story “Olesya” by chapters
A summary of the work in chapters will help you trace the course of events and form a holistic picture of the story.
Chapter 1
Ivan Timofeevich arrived in a village in the Volyn province on official business. The aspiring writer was interested in getting to know the customs of the local residents and making some observations for his literary experiments. To his disappointment, the villagers were extremely uncommunicative. The peasants only threw themselves at the gentleman’s feet and tried to kiss his hands - a legacy of Polish serfdom.
After re-reading all the books, he began hunting, accompanied by his servant, the woodsman Yarmola. The bad weather forced them to sit within four walls and languish with boredom. For entertainment, Ivan Timofeevich began to use local carbolic acid and iodine, but quickly abandoned this activity due to its uselessness. Equally useless was his attempt to teach Yarmola to read and write. Meaningful reading was inaccessible to the peasant; with difficulty he mastered the graphic representation of the letters of his surname.
Chapter 2
On a snowy winter evening, Yarmola unexpectedly started talking and told about the affairs of five years ago, when the witch Manuilikha lived in the village with her granddaughter. They were newcomers: either Katsaps or gypsies. The locals found out that the old woman was casting a spell. This was decided because the child of a woman who did not give Manuilikha money died. The death of the child was considered her revenge.
The boys drove the witch and her granddaughter out of the village and destroyed their house. The old woman barely escaped the massacre. Since then, the grandmother and granddaughter have been living in the forest. The narrator became interested in this story, he intends to visit the witch in the forest and asks Yarmola to take him to her. The forest worker does not like this idea, and he flatly refuses.
Chapter 3
Soon, while hunting, chasing a hare, Ivan Timofeevich got lost. He found himself in a swamp, took a long time to get out of it and saw a hut on stilts. Hoping that this was the forester’s dwelling, he went inside and saw an old woman with the appearance of a bull-yaga. There is no doubt, he ended up with Manuilikha. The old woman wanted to quickly get rid of the uninvited guest, but he offered her money for fortune telling.
Main characters
Ivan Timofeevich | Narrator, young master. Due to his work, he was forced to stay in Polesie for about six months. Out of boredom, he tried to heal the people, teach his servant Yarmol to read and write, and go hunting. One day, getting lost while hunting, he ends up in Manuilikha’s house, and she tells fortunes for him. There he meets her beautiful granddaughter Olesya. Ivan and Olesya see each other every day, talk about various phenomena, argue. The master stands up for the women in front of the police officer (who wants to evict the witch and her granddaughter from the house) and gives him his gun. After a serious illness and Ivan’s absence, the young people confess their love to each other. |
Yarmola | The forest worker serves the master and entertains him when a strong blizzard prevents him from going outside. The master learns from Yarmola that a witch lives in the forest not far from their village. Yarmola is superstitious and narrow-minded; he, like the rest of the villagers, believes in omens and scary stories. After the young master begins to visit the witch, Yarmola moves away from him, talks about sin, and is ashamed in front of people that his acquaintance knows “evil spirits.” |
Olesya | Granddaughter of Manuilikha, a beautiful young girl about 20-25 years old. She grew up in the forest with her grandmother, but despite this she is smart, her speech is literate and lively. An inquisitive, kind, slightly naive girl. She has a gift for which her soul was sold to the devil: she sees those who will die a “filthy” death, predicts the future, can instill fear, and stop bleeding. He tells and demonstrates his skills to the master. Despite her love for Ivan, she understands that she is not made for a family. For Ivan's sake she goes to church, where she is beaten by local residents. When parting with her beloved, she regrets that she will not have a child. She believes in fate. |
Manuilikha | An old woman, she is considered a witch, a sorceress. She and her granddaughter have the gift of predicting the future, suffer from their fate, and are forced to hide from people. The witch knows people, she has a wealth of life experience. Once in her youth she threatened a woman, after a while her child fell ill and died. The witch was beaten and kicked out of the village, after which she lived in the forest all her life. He heals with herbs, charms diseases, tells fortunes for money. He sees his fate and the fate of his granddaughter in advance, which is why he gets angry and grumbles at Ivan. |
Analysis of the work
“Olesya” is the writer’s first original work, which fully depicts life in the Little Russian wilderness of the late 19th century. The reader sees the squalor of the village way of life, the darkness of the people's consciousness, bribery of local authorities, drunken revelry on holy holidays.
The writer ironically describes how the city dweller’s attempts to get along with the peasants and the “local intelligentsia” fail. The insurmountable misunderstanding between the intellectual and the people is manifested in the experiments of treating peasants and the hero’s enlightenment of the forest worker Yarmola.
In the story, the darkness of ignorance and evil is opposed by nature in all its beauty. The author, in search of an ideal person, turned to the image of a girl, far from civilization, raised in the forest. She meets a man from a world unfamiliar to her, and love breaks out between them. It is through this feeling that human souls are most fully expressed. An urban intellectual and a forest beauty, original, talented, strong, smart, generous in her own way. The comparison of the two heroes and their worlds runs through the entire story.
Kuprin tests his contemporary, an intellectual, with love. And next to him, a kind man, but weak, with a “lazy heart,” the “child of nature” Olesya looks much higher in the nobility and integrity of her nature. If in front of Yarmola and the peasants the visiting gentleman looks kind and noble, then against the background of Olesya the personality of the city gentleman is not always plausible. The timidity of his feelings, timidity, “petty apprehension,” and indecision are manifested.
Kuprin does not skimp on describing the beauty and personal merits of the girl. She is selfless, simple-minded, decisive. Olesya loves recklessly, nobly, selfishness is alien to her. Ivan Timofeevich, although he calls her to be his wife, is bound by conventions and does not fully imagine Olesya as his wife in city life. She understands this with her sensitive soul, and therefore, loving him, she resolutely does not accept the offer. They are too different and their roads are different.
The author emphasizes the originality of Olesya by her ability to perform witchcraft, calling them, together with the hero, the wisdom of a thousand years of experience, a strange knowledge that is ahead of science. However, this knowledge does not bring the girl joy, only a proud consciousness of strength. According to the teachings of the Church, sorcery is given to a person by the spirits of darkness. Therefore, science is powerless to explain anything here. Olesya correctly understands the source of her abilities.
Love prompts the girl to enter under the arches of the temple - the climax of the story. But here the peasants, who consider themselves Christians, treat her mercilessly and commit savage violence. The anger and spiritual dullness of these people, who grew up among the same nature as Olesya, suggests the mystery of the development of the heroine’s personality, which remained unknown to the reader and the author.
The image of a forest beauty inspired Kuprin for a long time in his creative searches and thoughts about ways to develop a real personality.
Genre and direction
Direction
At the turn of the epoch, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, in the fine arts and literature, modernism came into conflict with realism. Alexander Kuprin firmly remained in the position of realism, and the work “Olesya” certainly belongs to the realistic direction, although the main character is depicted in a romantic vein.
Genre
Genre: story. Signs of the genre: small volume, limited number of characters in comparison with the novel; The plot is chronicle (develops sequentially over time, event by event).
Problems and meanings
Problems of the work
- Ignorance and spiritual callousness of the peasants. Due to their illiteracy, they are ready to see in any event and natural phenomenon the machinations of sorcerers. People are aggressive and intolerant towards those who live differently from them, and are ready for cruel reprisals.
- Psychological barrier between the common people and the intelligentsia. Everyone has their own world and their own understanding of it. The hero’s attempts to teach an adult man to read and write led nowhere. Obviously, only the education of peasant children can lead to the elimination of the gap between the people and the intelligentsia.
- For the most part, the formal religiosity of the people. The peasants go to church, as required by law, but they do not understand the spirit of Christianity, which is again due to their illiteracy and inability to read spiritual books. And do they listen to sermons? In church they talk to each other during the liturgy, and on Holy Trinity Day they get outrageously drunk.
The girl-witch, who, having overcome her fear, entered the church for the first time, is faced with the hatred and cruelty of the “Orthodox”. And if they were real Christians, they would treat her kindly, because Heaven rejoices when a lost sheep comes to the temple of God.
Meaning
The idea of the work: a person living in harmony with nature is morally more perfect than a civilized person. Distance from an ignorant society obsessed with herd feelings is also favorable for personal development. However, there is a contradiction in this idea: man is a social being, and living alone all his life is psychologically very difficult for him.
Conclusion and conclusions
The romantic heroine Olesya, the granddaughter of a sorceress, in her spiritual beauty is contrasted with all the characters in the story: both the main character, the educated Ivan Timofeevich, and the dark peasant masses.
The image of a forest girl is Kuprin’s attempt to portray the ideal of a person against the background of far-fetched problems of the civilized world and an immoral society. A world alien to Olesya comes into contact with her in the person of the educated Ivan Timofeevich and destroys her life. The writer shows that a person bound by conventions himself kills the beautiful in his spiritual blindness.
Olesya Analysis of Kuprin's story
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The story of Oles Kuprin
Analysis of the story “Olesya” by Kuprin.
A spring fairy tale that has become the drama of life—that’s exactly what I want to say about A.I. Kuprin’s story “Olesya.” In fact, on the one hand, there is a charming heroine, reminiscent of a fairy-tale forest maiden, the unusual circumstances of her fate, inspired beautiful nature, and on the other hand, the down-to-earth, primitive, aggressive in their manifestations and cruel inhabitants of the Polesie village, “kind, but weak” and a rather ordinary Ivan Timofeevich, by chance a participant in this dramatic story.
The conflict between fairy tales and reality is inevitable, and it will focus primarily not on the visiting guest of Polesie, Ivan Timofeevich, but on the local resident Olesya, who dared to stand out from the ordinary, limited world. Is a fairy tale capable of living in the harsh real world, of standing in a duel with reality? These questions will become the starting point for the analysis of A.I. Kuprin’s story “Olesya”.
Can Kuprin's story be called a realistic work?
“Olesya” has all the signs of a realistic work: the Polesie peasants, their morals, and way of life are truthfully described, convincing portraits are given of the forest worker Yarmola, the police officer Evpsikhy Afrikanovich, the old Manuilikha. Even Olesya is devoid of idealization and is perceived as a living, real, not a book heroine.
And yet, is there anything unusual in the story?
Only the fate of Olesya, her forced isolation from the world of people and the love story described in the story can be called unusual. The hero himself more than once calls it a fairy tale - “magical”, “enchanting”, “charming”.
Why?
As soon as he heard from Yarmola about the “witchers,” Ivan Timofeevich began to expect something extraordinary, and his expectations were not in vain: he met an amazing girl who first struck him with her originality, the richness of her inner world, and then endowed him with a deep feeling of selfless love. It is the love, unexpectedly found by the hero in the deep Polesie forest, that seems to him a “charming fairy tale.”
So, in Kuprin’s work, the harsh, sometimes unsightly reality and the fairy tale born in the souls of the heroes, a beautiful fairy tale of love, collide. It’s as if two rivers are flowing inside Kuprin’s story: either they run side by side, then suddenly they unexpectedly merge, turning into one mighty river, then they diverge again. One of them originates in the human soul, and its innermost current is not open to everyone; the other has its source in reality itself - and everything is in plain sight. At first glance, they are independent, but in fact they are tightly connected to each other.
Find a description of Olesya's appearance. What does the author pay special attention to?
“There was nothing about her like the local “girls”... My stranger, a tall brunette of about twenty to twenty-five years old, carried herself easily and slenderly. A spacious white shirt wrapped freely and beautifully around her young, healthy breasts. The original beauty of her face, once seen, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even after getting used to it, to describe it. His charm lay in those large, shiny, dark eyes, to which the thin eyebrows, broken in the middle, gave an elusive hint of slyness, power and naivety; in the dark-pink tone of the skin, in the willful curve of the lips, of which the lower, somewhat fuller, protruded forward with a decisive and capricious look.” The author emphasizes the originality of her beauty, under which one can discern her independent, strong and willful character. What is Olesya’s charm?
Here is an example of one of these works: “A pensive dark-haired girl stands at the edge of the forest, hugging the golden trunk of a pine tree with her hand and pressing her cheek to it. It seems that she is whispering something to the “attentive” tree: who else should tell her her secret, which makes her cheeks glow and her heart pound, as if a caught bird is beating under her shirt? .. The beauty’s big eyes are dreamily directed into the distance, as if she is waiting for someone, peering into a deserted country road along which businesslike, important rooks walk. There is an unusual silence in the air, promising a wonderful fairy tale. The young fir trees froze behind Olesya’s back, tall fresh grasses gently clung to her feet, and quiet wildflowers bowed their heads. Even the light pinkish-purple clouds slowed down their rapid flight, admiring the beautiful girl from above. It seems that all nature froze along with her in anticipation of happiness...”
What, in spite of everything, attracted her attention to this man?
Ivan Timofeevich is not like those around him: he knows a lot, subtly senses the beauty of nature, is delicate and well-mannered, sincere and kind; he showed real interest in the girl's personality, not just her beauty. Olesya meets such a person for the first time in her life. One must think that he should make a strong impression on her, who grew up in the thicket of the Polesie forest, and arouse her keen interest. And it is not surprising that the hero notices that every time “she rejoices” at his arrival and perks up, expecting interesting communication.
What happens to the heroine? Why did her attitude towards Ivan Timofeevich change?
She feels the birth of love in her heart and is afraid of it, because intuition tells her that this love will bring her suffering and pain, that Ivan Timofeevich is not capable of great feelings and actions. The girl tries to fight with herself, to move away from her lover, and this gives rise to alienation in the relationship of young people. Only the hero’s unexpected illness and his long absence force Olesya to make a bold decision.
Why, despite her premonition, did she not overcome love? How does this characterize her?
Love turned out to be stronger than the fear of misfortune, and it defeated it.
Why does Olesya then refuse Ivan Timofeevich’s proposal? Is she doing the right thing?
Olesya understands: their life values and ideas of happiness are too different, not to mention social differences. She knows that Ivan Timofeevich “will not love anyone ... with his heart,” and therefore his feeling cannot be durable, the passionate words of her lover touch her, but she continues to “stand her ground”: “You are young, free,” she tells him. “Would I really have the courage to tie you hand and foot?” After all, you will hate me then, you will curse that day and hour when I agreed to marry you.
Why did Olesya decide to go to church?
The girl wanted to do “something very, very nice” for her beloved. It seems to her that her coming to church will make him happy, because for his sake she will step on her own fear, reject the curse of her family and somehow join the faith: after all, “Vanechka” convinces her that God accepts everyone, that He is merciful.
How did this coming to church turn out for Olesya and why?
The women of Perebrod caught the poor girl and tried to smear her with tar, which was “the greatest, indelible shame.” For the rabid crowd, Olesya was, first of all, a witch from whom only trouble could be expected, and her appearance in the church was regarded as a challenge or even sacrilege.
She is a pagan who holds the secrets of nature and worships it. She is from the same family of witches, sorceresses, and mermaids with whom the peasants “fought” on Mermaid Week on the eve of Trinity. Therefore, in their opinion, her coming to church is a crime.
Note that everything happens on the feast of the Holy Trinity - the day when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, who strengthened them in their faith and gave them the power to preach the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity. The next Spiritual Day, Mother Earth’s “name day” was celebrated.
Is it a coincidence that the story's climax occurs on Trinity Sunday?
Olesya’s attempt to join faith precisely on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit is deeply symbolic (he should help her turn to God), but she does this out of earthly motives - out of love for Ivan Timofeevich, out of a desire to do something “pleasant” for him. And this attempt is doomed. Although according to Christian ideas, any sinner is given the opportunity to repent and mourn their sins. The Perebrod peasants, who consider themselves believers, deny Olesya such an opportunity. And they not only refuse, but also punish her for trying to join the faith. Who is more of a pagan - the “witch” Olesya, who leaves Perebrod so as not to lead more people into sin, or the peasants who are ready to tear a girl to pieces just because she crossed the threshold of the church, and who threaten Ivan Timofeevich for his love for the “witcher” ?,
It is noteworthy that the “pagan” Olesya does not hold a grudge against her offenders and does not complain about God. And the peasants are aggressive and irreconcilable. “Now the whole community is rebelling,” Yarmola tells Ivan Timofeevich. “In the morning, everyone got drunk again and is screaming... And, sir, they are shouting bad things about you.” And his words sound like an echo of Olesya’s story about the death of the horse thief Yashka: “... the men caught Yakov when he wanted to bring the horses... They beat him all night... We have an evil people here, merciless...”
It is no coincidence that the culmination of the story occurs at Trinity: it is intended to show us the inevitability of the collision of Love and Hate, Good and Evil, Heavenly and Earthly. The naive fairy tale of love, which Olesya brought to the temple with an open heart and pure soul, was trampled by a rude crowd, unable to comprehend the commandments of Love and Forgiveness. But Olesya is rewarded with a great gift - the ability to love, forgive and renounce her happiness for the sake of others. She abandons her beloved forest, breaks up with Ivan Timofeevich, telling him: “I think about you most of all, my dear. <... > I’m not afraid for myself, I’m afraid for you, my dear.” Olesya is grateful to her lover for the happy days, she does not reproach him for the trouble that happened to her - she accepts everything as it is.
Could Ivan Timofeevich have prevented the disaster? Why didn't he do this?
It was within his power. Indeed, in Olesya’s question about the church it was impossible not to feel an inevitable danger, especially since Ivan Timofeevich already knows the attitude of the Perebrod peasants towards the “witchers”. A sensitive heart should have foreseen trouble. It seemed to feel her: “Suddenly a sudden horror of foreboding gripped me. I uncontrollably wanted to run after Olesya, catch up with her and ask, beg, even demand, if necessary, that she not go to church.” But he “restrained his unexpected impulse.” He did not have enough depth of feeling to prevent events. If he had done this, the disaster probably would not have happened.
Why do you think the happiness of these people did not work out?
The fairy tale lives in Olesya’s soul, she is part of the forest fairy tale with its wonderful herbs and trees, animals and birds, the hut on chicken legs and Grandma Yaga. She is able to give the hero a magical gift - love, to give all of herself without reserve. And her fairy tale is not fictional, but real - it’s a fairy tale.
Ivan Timofeevich dreams of poetic legends and creates his fairy tale according to bookish, artificial canons: he looks around for the unusual, finds echoes of folklore, literature, and art in everything.
Note that Olesya constantly sacrifices herself, her interests, her beliefs, and risks her life for the sake of her loved one. Ivan Timofeevich does not sacrifice anything, he only accepts the sacrifice. Olesya thinks only about her lover, his interests and happiness - Ivan Timofeevich thinks more about himself. He does not know how to completely surrender to another person and his feelings for him; he does not have internal freedom from prejudices and circumstances. And therefore his fairy tale is not destined to become a reality. He is left with only “a string of cheap red beads, known in Polesie as “corals” - the only thing” that reminds “of Olesya and her tender, generous love”...
3.1 / 5. 8
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Criticism
Contemporaries of A. I. Kuprin perceived the story “Olesya” differently.
Thus, Chekhov and Bunin, supporters of harsh realism, reacted coolly to Olesya.
Chekhov described the story as “naive romance.”
At the same time, M. Gorky assessed this piece as “imbued with the mood of youth,” appreciating its spontaneity, which will no longer be present in mature work.
Professor Konstantin Barkhin called the story an amazing story about Polesie, about a loving and generous “witch” girl. Barkhin compared individual pages to “a piece of music—a forest symphony.”
The history of the creation of the story. Hero prototypes
The story was first published in 1898 in the newspaper “Kievlyanin”. A separate edition was published in 1905. This work is not devoid of autobiography. The hero of the story, like Kuprin himself, is a writer, an aspiring writer. Alexander Ivanovich also lived in Polesie for six months. While staying in that wilderness, he once got into a conversation with the landowner Poroshin, and he told the writer how he had an affair with a real local witch. The landowner's name was Ivan Timofeevich. Kuprin gave his name to the main character.
Analysis 3
The story “Olesya” is one of the very first and most beloved works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. The idea of creating “Olesya” did not come to Kuprin by chance. Once, the writer was visiting a landowner, who told him a story about his relationship with a certain mysterious witch. The creator, most likely, was indifferent to the verisimilitude of the events that happened to the landowner, but the idea arose in him to create a story about tragic love and about his own ideal of a pure and sincere person.
The work begins with the fact that the main character, a young gentleman named Ivan Timofeevich, comes on business to the small village of Perebrod, on the outskirts of Polesie. Kuprin does not want to describe everything in detail of his visit, preferring to describe Polesie itself and its nature, life and way of life. It's winter outside: thaws give way to snowstorms. Life in the village seems to have come to a standstill, which seems unusual to Ivan, who is accustomed to the bustle of a large city. The residents of the village seem to have remained far in the past, continuing to believe in legends and superstitions, fearing both technological innovations and sorcerers and wizards.
While walking around the outskirts of Perebrod, the main character accidentally enters the swamps. In this secluded place, he finds the home of the local witch-herbalist Manuilikha and her granddaughter Olesya. Feelings flare up between the young people almost immediately, but being the granddaughter of a witch, Olesya has the gift of premonition and immediately sees that by throwing in her lot with the young master, she will doom herself to death.
But despite all this, love turns out to be stronger. Ivan Timofeevich persuades Olesya to go with him to the city and marry him, although he himself doubts whether secular society will accept his pure and overly sincere beloved. Olesya is more decisive. For the sake of her love, she takes serious risks and loses everything. As a result, the girl and her grandmother have to flee the village without even saying goodbye to Ivan.
Despite the simplicity of the plot, Kuprin's story is much deeper than it seems at first glance. In addition to the story of tragic love, the work raises many other serious issues. First of all, it is self-sacrifice in the name of a loved one. Olesya fled from Ivan not only because she herself was in danger. She ran away from him because she loved him so much that, realizing that he would never be happy with her, she sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of Ivan's well-being. Even in the work, Kuprin decides to show the reader all the cruelty of a society that sharply does not accept anyone who does not at least slightly correspond to its standards and demands. After all, the villagers kicked out Olesya and Manuilikha not for their “witchcraft,” which did not bring any trouble to anyone. They drove them away because they were afraid of them because they could not understand and accept their “strangeness,” which, in essence, was only sincerity, honesty and naturalness.
Theater productions
The theatrical premiere of Kuprin's work is always a great event for the audience. In modern theatrical life, the production of “Olesya” at the Et Cetera theater is unique, the director of which G. Polishchuk sees in the story a mystical love story that “burns souls.” The director's goal is not only to show the beauty of loving relationships, but also to push the viewer to think about faith.
The main theme in the production of “Olesya” by director O. Nevmerzhitskaya (O. Tabakov Theater) is different - a feeling of guilt and cowardice.
