", the heroine, who has a rather complex character, still does not lose hope in high ideals. She is not afraid to judge or discuss anyone, but at the same time be grateful to the heroes - the fighters. This can only bring honor to the hero who, together with the old woman, shares her beliefs.
The writer made the old woman the bearer of the beginning of the story. In the image of Izergil, the writer wanted to show the primacy of people’s behavior, and their enormous role in the formation of their characters and destinies. Izergil’s appearance, like her character, is very ambiguous; she only understood at an age how she should have lived. Now that she is many years old, she teaches life to young people. So that they don't make her mistakes. Having such great strength in her soul, she spent it on completely unnecessary things.
The old woman likes those people who understand what they are doing, who wish not only themselves, but also others happiness, prosperity and well-being. In many statements about the destinies of people, Izergil believes that a feat is a beautiful deed only if it is done for the benefit of people. She is convinced that in life you can always find a place for him. And if a person is ready for this feat, then he will be able to accomplish it under any circumstances. Her worldview and principles in life are not as categorical as those of the heroes from her legends, who are more suitable to real life.
The image of the old woman in the story performs several functions. The first of these is that the old woman is the main character who forms the plot of the story. Which are quite intricately intertwined into storylines. One is related to the plot of people. The second line is a depiction of the beautiful girl Izergil forty to fifty years ago, the third line is the legends of Larra and Danko. Naturally, the image of the old woman is associated with the legendary and real world. Perhaps Izergil looks like a witch from a fairy tale. It should be concluded that all these plot lines are united not only by the image of the old woman, but also by the autobiographical author.
The integrity of the story is achieved by the fact that the author shows the relevance of socio-philosophical problems for the time in which he lives. He is concerned about forms of social behavior. The role of the old woman in the story is not limited to the judge and narrator. Between her stories, she talks about her life and eventually becomes the face of interesting adventures. Remembering her many men, the old woman says that the main thing she had was love for people. She loves songs, freedom and beauty. But she is amorous, as soon as someone new appeared on the horizon, she immediately forgot about her old love.
Izergil, despite her fickle character, did not lose hope in spiritual ideals; she knew how to maintain courage and gratitude to the heroes - fighters. These traits make the autobiographical author respect the old woman.
Essay on the theme of Old Woman Izergil
After reading Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil”, many may encounter a feeling of ambiguity: pity and some condemnation for repeating mistakes that the main character causes make one think about the deep meaning of the work. Sometimes Izergil’s reckless, self-centered and thoughtless actions had a detrimental effect on all her loves, leaving the main character alone with her misfortune. The eternal question in the fate of Izergil and the right to choose who to be and who to love was always decided in favor of his own interests, thereby suppressing and crippling the fate of innocent people. Her desire for eternal passion and feelings killed her personal growth, development of potential and the opportunity to be something more than just an object of desire.
The main character of Maxim Gorky's story shows generations of all ages that the soul and desires do not age. At any age, there is passion, lust, and the desire to feel one’s own superiority. It is the image of Izergil at the age of 40, shrouded in emerging gray hair, the lack of former charm and the hardships of past years, that allow the reader to taste all the feelings of a woman. Not a trace remained of her sparkling look and smile, her nose took on a hooked shape, her back lowered Izergil to the ground every day, and that is why the heroine is more and more afraid of loneliness. Realizing her imperfection, the heroine plunges headlong into the pool and thereby ruins the lives of innocent people. All her love stories have radically different plots and different characters, but the ending of each is the same.
However, there is something still alluring about Izergil. Her faith in high ideals, bright feelings and fortitude of the people around her always led her to decent and bright people who gave all their feelings to an attractive and charming woman. The only question is how strong and desirable these moments were for the heroine herself. Her romances could last a week, or they could last half a year, but the whole essence and at the same time the absurdity of the situation was that Izergil had strong feelings for all her chosen ones, even if after the relationship she could, on her own, lead her beloved to death or endless suffering. Izergil spends the sunset of his life telling stories about his novels to people who have fallen in love with the controversial and sometimes strange old woman.
The self-created tragedy in love, which haunts Izergil throughout her life, destroys the destinies of other people, thereby forcing the reader to think about our own role in the existence of others.
M. Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”: description, characters, analysis of the work
Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil" is a legendary work written in 1894.
The ideological content of this story was fully consistent with the motifs that dominated the early romantic period of the writer’s work. The author, in his artistic search, tried to create a conceptual image of a person who is ready to make self-sacrifice for the sake of lofty humane goals. History of the creation of the work.
It is believed that the work was written in the fall of 1894. The date is based on a letter from V. G. Korolenko to a member of the editorial committee of Russkie Vedomosti.
The story was first published a year later in Samara Gazeta (issues 80, 86, 89). It is noteworthy that this work was one of the first in which the revolutionary romanticism of the writer, improved in literary form a little later, is especially clearly manifested.
Ideology.
The writer tried to awaken a person’s faith in the future, to set the audience in a positive mood. The philosophical reflections of the main characters were of a specific moral nature. The author operates with such basic concepts as truth, self-sacrifice and the thirst for freedom.
An important nuance: the old woman Izergil in the story is a rather contradictory image, but, nevertheless, filled with high ideals. The author, inspired by the idea of humanism, tried to demonstrate the strength of the human spirit and the depth of the soul. Despite all the hardships and hardships, despite the complexities of nature, the old woman Izergil retains faith in high ideals.
History of creation
The idea for the story came to Gorky on a trip to Bessarabia, which the writer undertook in 1891. The work was included in the writer’s series of romantic works, which analyze human essence and nature. Gorky compared the low and the sublime, without predetermining which of them would win a head start. Work on the work took four years. The first publication of “The Old Woman Izergil” took place in 1895. The story was published by Samara Gazeta.
Work on the essay fascinated Gorky. The result satisfied the author, since the problem he raised was illuminated. The author's view of man in the mechanism of social relations is reflected in this work. The writer recognized “Old Woman Izergil” as the best creation. When creating the image, Gorky deliberately embellished the narrative and characterization of the character in order to ignite in readers a desire for heroism and a craving for the sublime.
The book is distinguished by its short form. The genre is defined as a story, but the composition contains elements of a parable with moralistic overtones. There are few heroes in the story; there is a motive of edification. Speech is conducted from the character's point of view. Gorky believed that comparison with heroes capable of heroic deeds would allow the reader to become a better person, to strive for goodness and the best manifestations of the soul.
Maxim Gorky “Old Woman Izergil” - history of creation
Gorky’s journey through Bessarabia in 1891 was not in vain; it was here that the author came up with the idea for a story, which later complemented the romantic cycle of the writer’s works.
Maxim Gorky (1868-1936)
Gorky wanted to create a text that would reflect all the contradictions of the human being, the struggle between baseness and sublimity within him.
Maxim Gorky worked on this idea for 4 years, and eventually, in 1895, the story “Old Woman Izergil” was published.
It was published in Samara Gazeta and immediately received rave reviews from readers.
"Old Isergil"
The introduction to the story is a description of nature and atmosphere. The author communicates with an old woman named Izergil, who recalls her biography and best years. A woman tells her interlocutor two legends.
The first story says that a shadow appeared on Earth. It happened as follows. One day, an eagle stole a girl from a tribe of strong people and began to live with her as his wife. When death overtook him, the girl returned home not alone, but with her son. The story tells about the son of a girl and an eagle, who despised those around him and was arrogant. The elder's daughter attracted his attention, but the young man was refused. In anger, Larra killed his chosen one. After a while, it became clear that the hero was immortal. Years and travels exhausted the man physically, and he turned into a shadow.
The old woman's story sounds realistic. It is intertwined with stories from the busy life of an elderly woman. Her men could provoke condemnation from readers, but the old woman went through many trials and saw a lot. Such arguments balance the contradictions in the image. The energy of the heroine attracts the reader and listener of the story to her. In her youth she worked as a spinner, but was not content with such a life. Having run away with her lover, Izergil did not live with him for long and left for another man. In her life there were a Hutsul and a Russian, a soldier and a Pole, a young Turk and other heroes.
Old Isergil
She loved each man dearly, but she did not want to remember any of them. The woman perceives the issue of fidelity and betrayal innocently, saying that the main thing is that the person is open to her. And this is the most important thing in a relationship.
Danko's story occupies a central place in the story. The character evokes the admiration of the storyteller. A man from a tribe of strong people, like his relatives, suffered attacks from enemies who drove them into a swamp. On one side stood the attackers, and on the other was a dark forest. The tribe was wary of war and thought about agreeing to captivity. Danko's courage played a decisive role. He led the people with him through the dense forest, although at first his fellow tribesmen reproached him. Tearing open his chest, he tore out his burning heart, blazing with thirst to help his loved ones.
With his heart, Danko illuminated the path out of the forest and, emerging from it, died. No one noticed the victim. One of his fellow tribesmen accidentally stepped on the hero’s heart and trampled it into sparks. It is their lights that are visible in the steppe plain before a thunderstorm. The description of Danko’s act is a celebration of his courage and philanthropy. This part is the most important in the story.
The image of the old woman was created by the author for a reason. Old and frail, she gave the impression of incredible disrepair. It was difficult to guess her age. His appearance did not hint at him either. The woman’s voice seemed to creak, and wrinkles dotted the narrator’s entire face.
Gorky looked for something special in a person, reproaching the current generation for inertia and indifference. The writer was upset that everyone around him was looking for profit, that the heroism he glorified was forgotten. Izergil describes Russians as gloomy and overly serious people. The essence of this character is that Izergil acts as an intermediary between the author and the reader, broadcasting Gorky’s thoughts.
Illustration for the book “Old Woman Izergil”
The old woman's story is full of specific turns of phrase and differs from the style of the narrative with which the work begins. Conversational manner takes precedence over the harmony of speech. This makes the legends sound authentic and exciting. The old woman embodies vital energy, and her heroes represent human vices and virtues. Through her, Gorky conveys the idea of a full life, in which there are no restrictions or boundaries, idleness or passivity.
Summary of “Old Woman Izergil”
Main characters:
Old woman Izergil (old gypsy woman, narrator of three stories), Danko (brave young man, resident of the camp), Larra (young man, son of an eagle and a woman)
Author:
Gorky M. |
Publication date:
1894 |
Form of work:
story |
Genre:
legend |
Time of events:
XIX century |
Location:
Europe |
At school:
11th grade |
Age:
adults, teenagers |
Reading time:
up to 1 hour |
Screen adaptation:
cartoon (USSR, 1967, dir. Irina Gurvich)
Themes:
loyalty and betrayal, heroism, pride and humility, life and death, love, revenge and generosity, dream, loneliness, self-sacrifice, freedom, courage and cowardice, the meaning of life
First chapter
Illustration for the story
The author tells stories that he heard in Bessarabia, when he worked as a grape picker with the Moldovans. One evening, when all the workers went to the sea, only the author and an elderly woman remained under the grapes - old woman Izergil. She noticed one unusual shadow of a cloud in the steppe and named it Larra, and then told the story - the ancient legend about Larra.
A long time ago, in a wonderful and beautiful country, there lived a tribe of people. People tended flocks of sheep, went hunting, sang songs and had fun. One day, during a feast, an eagle flew in and carried away one of the girls. The girl returned only twenty years later and not alone - she brought with her a handsome young man. As it turned out, the girl had been living with the eagle in the mountains all this time, and the young man was their son!
The eagle grew old, threw itself from a height onto the rocks and died, and the woman and her son returned to their native tribe. The son of the king of birds looked no different from people, only his eyes were cold and proud. The young man spoke disrespectfully to the elders and looked down on everyone, saying: “There is no one else like him.”
The elders got angry and ordered the proud man to go wherever he wanted - he had no place in the tribe. Then the young man approached the daughter of one of them and hugged her. The girl, fearing her father's anger, pushed the young man away. The eagle's son hit the girl, she fell and died. The young man was grabbed and tied up. The tribesmen thought for a long time about what punishment to choose. After listening to the sage, people realized that the best punishment was in himself, and simply released the young man.
Since then, the eagle's son was nicknamed Larra - outcast. For many years, Larra lived freely near the tribe: he stole cattle, stole girls. The arrows of people did not take him, covered with the invisible veil of supreme punishment. But one day Larra approached the tribe, making it clear that he would not defend himself. People guessed that the eagle's son wanted to die. No one began to attack him, not wanting to make his fate easier. The unfortunate man wanted to kill himself with a knife, but it broke. The ground against which Larra was beating his head was moving away from under him. Having made sure that the eagle's son could not die, the people of the tribe rejoiced and left. Since then, left completely alone, the outcast wanders around the world, no longer understanding the language of people and not knowing what he is looking for. “He has no life, and death does not smile on him.”
This is how the man was punished for his exorbitant pride. Wonderful singing was heard from the shore to the interlocutors.
Chapter two
Illustration for the story
Old woman Izergil said that only those who are in love with life can sing so beautifully. She “had enough blood” to live to her age precisely because love was the essence of her life.
Izergil told the author about her youth. Before him passed one after another the images of the old woman Izergil’s loved ones: a fisherman from the Prut, the heroine’s first love, Hutsul, hanged by the authorities for robbery, a rich Turk, with whose sixteen-year-old son the woman ran away from the harem “out of boredom” to Bulgaria, a little Pole monk, “ funny and vile,” whom she picked up and threw into the river for insulting words, “a worthy gentleman with a hacked-up face,” who loved exploits (for his sake, Izergil refused the love of a man who showered her with gold coins), a Hungarian who was found in a field with a bullet through head, Arcadek, a handsome nobleman, rescued by the heroine from captivity and becoming her last strong love.
Feeling the approach of old age, Izergil decided to start a family and came here. Here, in Moldova, she got married and has been living for about thirty years. By the time the author met her, her husband was no longer alive. The old woman lives next to the beautiful and cheerful grape pickers. They remind her of her tumultuous youth.
The old woman finished her story. The interlocutors sat and watched the night steppe. In the distance blue lights like sparks were visible. Having asked whether the author saw them, Izergil said that these were sparks from “Danko’s burning heart”, and began to tell another ancient legend.
Chapter Three
Illustration for the story
In ancient times, proud, cheerful people who knew no fear lived in the steppe. Their camps were surrounded on three sides by wild forests. One day, foreign tribes came to the land of people and drove them deep into the old impenetrable forest, where there were swamps and eternal darkness. From the stench rising from the swamps, people accustomed to the expanses of the steppe died one after another. Strong and brave, they could go fight their enemies, but
they could not die in battles, because they had covenants, and if they died, then the covenants would disappear with them from life
People sat and thought about what to do. From painful thoughts they weakened in spirit, fear settled in their hearts. The tribe was already ready to submit to the enemies, but then the daredevil Danko stepped forward and “saved everyone alone.” Danko appealed to people to go through the forest - after all, it had to end somewhere. There was so much living fire in the young man’s eyes that people believed and went with him.
The path was long and difficult, so people had less and less strength and faith in Danko. One day, during a severe thunderstorm, people completely despaired. They did not want to admit their weakness and instead blamed Danko for his inability to lead them out of the forest. They were ready, like wild animals, to rush at him and kill him. The young man felt sorry for them, realizing that without him his fellow tribesmen would die. His heart burned with the desire to save people - after all, he loved them. Danko tore his heart out of his chest and raised it high above his head - it blazed brighter than the sun itself. The hero walked forward and forward, illuminating
“a torch of great love for people” along the way. Suddenly the forest ended - a steppe expanse opened up before the people. Danko looked joyfully at the free land and died. People did not pay attention to the death of the young man, nor did they see the heart that was still burning near the hero’s body. Only one person noticed the heart, and, fearing something, stepped on it with his foot. The proud heart, splashing sparks around, faded away. Since then, those blue lights that the author saw have appeared in the steppe.
Old woman Izergil finished the story.
Everything around became quiet, and it seemed to the author that even the steppe was enchanted by the nobility of the brave Danko, who did not expect a reward for his heart burned for the sake of people. How did you remember the content of “Old Woman Izergil”?
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- Task 1 of 7
1.
What did the author do in Bessarabia?
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How was the son of an eagle and a girl different from the people of his tribe?
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What did Larra do to the daughter of one of the elders?
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What does the name Larra mean, which the tribesmen named the young man?
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Who was the last love of old woman Izergil?
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Where did foreign tribes push the proud inhabitants of the steppes?
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What solution did Danko offer people?
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Quotes
The life of the old woman Izergil, approaching its logical conclusion, has become the one preferred by the younger generation, and such an existence disgusts Gorky. He compares those who prefer inaction to a shadow:
“And they are all just pale shadows, and the one they kissed sits next to me, alive, but dried up by time, without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire - also almost a shadow.”
Gorky puts covenants into the heroine’s monologue. From the lips of the old woman Izergil, parting words and comparisons come out of those who live life, drinking it with a full cup, and those who are on its side:
“Those who don’t know how to live would go to bed. Those to whom life is sweet, here they sing.”
“And I see that people don’t live, but everyone tries it on and puts their whole lives into it. And when they rob themselves, having wasted time, they will begin to cry at fate. What is fate here? Everyone is their own destiny!”
To the question: How many men did the old woman Izergil have? and what fate befell each of them? chevron specified by the author
the best answer is: It
seems that a young girl should be talking about beautiful and sensual love, but in the story it is a very old woman. Izergil is confident that her life, full of love, was not in vain. She professed what seemed to be the main value of life - love, but in Izergil’s fate love is, first of all, selfish pleasure, which incinerated this once beautiful woman and became a “plague” for her lovers. She was subordinate to this passion, but in love she was free and did not allow herself to be humiliated or even subjugated. She understood people perfectly, but she was looking only for love, and when love passed, the person seemed to die for her. She remembers only episodes of meetings with her lovers. In her youth she was very beautiful, but now, after many years, she looks like a terrible reminder of the transience of life. Izergil was fifteen years old when “a tall, flexible, black-moustached, cheerful man” appeared in their area. She saw him standing with one foot in the boat and the other on the shore. He was surprised by her beauty, and she fell in love with him. Four days later she became his. He was a fisherman from the Prut. Her mother found out about everything and beat her. The fisherman called Izergil with him to the Danube, but by that time she had already stopped loving him: “But I didn’t like him then - he only sings and kisses, nothing more! It was already boring! “Then a friend introduced her to a Hutsul. “He was red, all red, with mustache and curls! “He was sometimes affectionate and sad, and sometimes, like an animal, he roared and fought. She went to the Hutsul, and the fisherman grieved and cried for her for a long time. Then I found another one. Later they were both hanged: the fisherman and the Hutsul. They were captured from the Romanian; They took revenge on him: the farm was burned, and he became a beggar. The narrator guessed that Izergil did this, but to his question the old woman evasively answered that she was not the only one who wanted revenge. Those executed had friends. Izergil remembered how she loved the Turk. She was in his harem in Scuta-ri. I lived for a whole week, and then I got bored. The Turk had a sixteen-year-old son, and with him Izergil ran away from the harem to Bulgaria, and later went to Poland with the monk. When asked by her interlocutor what happened to the young Turkish boy with whom she ran away from the harem, Izergil replied that he died of homesickness or love. A Pole monk humiliated her, and she once threw him into the river. It was difficult for her in Poland. “Cold and deceitful people live there.” They hiss like snakes because they are deceitful. Then she fell into bondage to a Jew who trafficked her. Then she loved one gentleman with a chopped up face. He defended the Greeks, and in this fight his face was chopped off. Then there was a Magyar, later killed. And “her last game is gentry.” He was very handsome, and Izergil was already forty years old, old. She lived in Krakow, and she had everything: horses, gold, and servants... The master on his knees asked for her love, but, having achieved it, he immediately abandoned her. Then he fought with the Russians and was captured, and Izergil saved him by killing the sentry. Pan lied to Izergil that he would love her forever for this, but she pushed away the “lying dog.” Izergil came to Moldova, where she has lived for thirty years. She had a husband, but he died a year ago. She lives among young people who love her fairy tales. And the old woman looks at the young people and remembers what she has lived through.
“Old Woman Izergil” by Gorky M.Yu.
M. Gorky's story "" was written in 1895, the author himself admitted in a letter to A.P. Chekhov in that he considers it his most harmonious and beautiful work. A distinctive feature of the story is the presence of a hero-narrator in the narrative. This style is called “fantastic” and was often used by the writer to create the effect of authenticity of the events described.
At the very beginning of the work, a romantic picture of the sea and vineyards is drawn, against which a company of happy and cheerful people returning from work in the vineyards is described.
The mood of people is in harmony with the beauty of the world around them. Everything around is reminiscent of a fairy tale.
The old woman Izergil tells the hero several stories, two of which are opposed to each other in the structure of the story. This legend about Larra and the legend about Danko.
Larra is a fairy-tale young man born from an earthly woman and an eagle. He differs from ordinary people in that “his eyes were cold and proud, like those of the king of birds.” He refused to obey the elders in the tribe. The motive for the tragic denouement of the legend is already outlined by the bloody landscape, which anticipates the first appearance of Larra’s name in the story: “The moon has risen. Her disk was large, blood-red, she seemed to have emerged from the depths of this steppe, which in its lifetime had absorbed so much human flesh and drunk blood, which is probably why it became so fat and generous.” Larra was expelled from the human tribe for pride and selfishness. Before leaving, he killed the girl who pushed him away.
Behind the legend is worldly wisdom: the egoist himself voluntarily dooms himself to loneliness. God punished Larra with immortality, and he himself was tired of his loneliness: “There was so much melancholy in his eyes that one could poison all the people of the world with it.”
The second legend is dedicated to Danko, the man who led people out of captivity in impenetrable forests. To illuminate their path, the hero did not spare his own heart and tore it out of his chest.
The artistic space in the story is transformed according to the laws of the fairy tale genre: “And suddenly the forest parted before him, parted and remained behind, dense and silent, and Danko and all those people immediately plunged into a sea of sunlight and clean air, washed by rain.”
Seeing that he had saved people, Danko laughed proudly, but his pride had nothing in common with Larra’s pride: he fulfilled his cherished desire - he saved people at the cost of his own life, he accomplished a feat. Danko’s altruistic act and Larra’s selfishness are extremes. It is no coincidence that precisely between these legends there is a realistic story about the life of the old woman Izergil herself, about her youth, about how this golden time irrevocably passes. Izergil fell in love more than once and after the end of the love story she never met those she loved.
Looking at the old woman withered by life, it is difficult to believe that she was once a beautiful girl. Youth is gone and replaced by wisdom. It is no coincidence that aphorisms are so often found in Izergil’s speech: “To live, you must be able to do something,” “In life, you know, there is always room for exploits,” “Everyone is his own destiny!” With pain in his heart, Izergil realizes his old age. Remembering her whole life and comparing the past and present, she notes that there are fewer and fewer beautiful and strong people in the world.
The story ends, as it began, with a landscape, but it is no longer the romantic landscape that we see at the beginning, but sad and deserted: “It was quiet and dark in the steppe. The clouds kept crawling across the sky, slowly, boringly... The sea rustled dully and sadly.” This landscape correlates with the old age of Izergil. In the woman’s life there were joys, there were also betrayals: selfishness and altruism alternately took over in her destiny.
In one work, the writer combines realistic and romantic narrative styles. The story accumulates Gorky's ideas about the transience of human life, thoughts about the meaning of existence and the beauty of this world.
One of the most outstanding works of Maxim Gorky is his story “The Old Woman Izergil,” written by the author in 1894. In his romantic narrative, the writer used one of the most interesting techniques of literature - “a story consisting of a story.” The entire work, consisting of three parts, is a narrative that is told not only on behalf of the author, but also on behalf of the main character, the old woman Izergil. At the same time, the author does not retell her stories, but the narration is told in the first person.
Theme of love in “Old Woman Izergil”
The theme of love in M. Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil” is associated with various manifestations of human love. The work contains problems of love for life, love for oneself, love for people around, love for freedom.
First of all, Izergil’s love in his youth stands out. Love was the defining component of life for the main character. The feeling of love motivated Izergil to various actions.
Sincere love could make the proud and freedom-loving Izergil crawl like a snake after her lover. For the sake of love, which for the heroine was the meaning of life, Izergil could do anything, even murder.
The old woman associates herself with Danko, because she is driven by love for others. However, Izergil’s feeling was based on her own pleasures, and not on benefiting other people.
Still, the main thing for her in her youth was the love of another person for her. Love Izergil was selfish: when the heroine no longer felt anything for a person, she left him and never met again, since her pride did not allow her to do this.
At forty, Izergil gives up the endless search for love; she understands that happiness lies in serving people. Therefore, she tells the narrator that young people love her because she tells a lot to the younger generation.
The theme of love is also related to the love of life. Old woman Izergil, in a conversation with the narrator, says that she and the people living next to her are madly in love with life. This manifests itself in various adventures. The old woman condemns the narrator for not appreciating life and not taking advantage of all its opportunities, because then it will be too late.
The main characters of the story “Old Woman Izergil”
In the story “Old Woman Izergil”, three life stories are described on behalf of the main character, one of which is Izergil’s own story. If we consider the heroes of the story
, then they can be divided into main and secondary.
The main characters of the story are:
Minor characters
are fellow tribesmen of Larra and Danko, who were eyewitnesses to the events described by the old woman Izergil, and turned these stories into legends. And if in the first part Larra’s fellow tribesmen are described as wise and fair people, then the tribe in which Danko grew up are brave men who have lost heart and cannot find the strength to fight difficult circumstances.
Analysis of the work “Old Woman Izergil”
The genre of the work is a story, not a story, because it has three parts that are interconnected.
The literary movement is romanticism, glorifying an exceptional hero in unusual circumstances.
Why is the story called “Old Woman Izergil”? Because the main character in it is the old woman Izergil, and it is she who tells the author all three stories. Legends reveal the fate of Izergil, her ideals and life position.
The heroine turns out to be partly similar to Larra, because she highly values freedom, and partly similar to Danko, because she showed herself to be a brave woman.
The original book has only 20 pages, so read it in the form that Maxim Gorky left behind.
The main characters of the story Old Woman Izergil
A wonderful story written by the famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky is called “The Old Woman Izergil”. The main characters of this Gorky creation are unique people, pure, bright, selfless and ready to do anything for the sake of their cherished dream.
The narration is told in the first person. The author, who once, sitting by the shore, talked with the old woman Izergil, who lived a long life full of acquaintances and meetings. She, warming her old rattling bones in the sun, had something to tell the author about. And he listened and brought these wonderful stories to the readers.
Old Isergil
As for the old woman Izergil, she was a beautiful girl in her youth and youth. She was slim. But now it is absolutely impossible to see the former attractiveness in this little body. Izergil’s teeth fell out, her eyes faded, and the skin of her face, and her whole body, was covered with wrinkles. Describing the old woman Izergil, Maxim Gorky wants to convey the idea that time will not spare anyone: neither the beautiful nor the ugly. Sooner or later, each of us will grow old and in this shell it will be impossible to see the appearance we once had.
Despite the fact that the old woman was beautiful, which she has not been able to maintain to this day, she had incredible intelligence, cunning, and sociability. These qualities helped her to exist during her life, enjoying every moment spent on earth. It seems to me that a person with vast life experience like Izergil could easily understand and highlight for himself the meaning of existence on Earth.
The old woman told the author two stories, each of which has a romantic hero.
Larra
The hero of one of the stories is Larra. His mother is a simple woman and an eagle. Larra is handsome, strong, like no other person is strong. His eyes are cold, like a feathered one. The hero is free, arrogant, does not understand the value of life, and has no respect for older people.
Danko
The hero of another story is a young man named Danko. He was brave, handsome, and gave freedom to the people, putting his life and heart on the altar. He was chosen as a commander so that people could get out of places from which it is impossible to get out.
Danko lived for others and this is precisely his meaning of being. When the tribe stops trusting him, the hero is forced to rip open his chest and pull out his heart. Danko dies, but he glows blue, which cannot be said about Larra - a shadow.
The secondary characters include a fisherman from Prut, a Hutsul and a representative of the Turkish people. The fisherman was the one whom young Izergil liked, but then she stopped loving him, and he was executed for a crime committed in tandem with an acquaintance.
Minor characters of the work
The secondary characters of this work are a fisherman from the Prut, a Hutsul, a rich Turk, the son of a Turk, Arcadek.
Characteristics of the heroes of the story Old Woman Izergil
Every person has dreamed at least once in his life. It is not alien to people to imagine themselves as heroes, to look for something beautiful and higher in life. We all blindly believe in the beauty that our subconscious gives birth to, but in order to bring it to life, we need to make a lot of effort, otherwise our dreams and aspirations will remain just that. M. Gorky in his work “The Old Woman Izergil” pays great attention to this.
The main character of the legend about Larra is a young man born to an ordinary earthly girl, but his father is an eagle. Maybe that’s why Larra grew up to be a proud, arrogant and selfish person. He dreams of something heroic and lofty, but the young man’s narcissism becomes an obstacle to the fulfillment of his dream.
Trying to satisfy only his own needs, he harms other people. Society is not ready to accept a person who considers himself superior to all others. Larra faces disapproval from the tribe's elders, but this does not bother him at all. Such arrogance inevitably leads a person to tragedy, which is what happens to Larra, doomed to eternal wanderings and torment.
