About the product
The romantic story “Old Woman Izergil” by Maxim Gorky was written in 1894. The composition of the work is “a story within a story.” The narration is told on behalf of the author and the heroine of the story, the old woman Izergil. The three parts are subordinated to a general idea: reflection on the true value of human life, the meaning of life, and human freedom.
The story “Old Woman Izergil” is studied in the 11th grade literature course. To get acquainted with the works of Gorky’s early work, you can read a summary of “The Old Woman Izergil” chapter by chapter.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
The story “Old Woman Izergil,” written in 1894, dates back to the early period of the writer’s work. During this period, he acts as a romantic, and his romanticism combines both traditional and new artistic techniques. Gorky creates his own world, which lives according to special internal laws, different from the laws that existed for realists of the 19th century.
Compositionally, Gorky's work consists of 3 parts: the realistic story of the old woman Izergil is framed by two legends about Larra and Danko. This composition most fully reveals the idea of the entire narrative - longing for the heroic.
An important place in the old woman’s story about her life is occupied by the episode associated with the rescue of Arcadek, whom Izergil loves with all his heart.
From the previous story it is known that the main thing in the life of this heroine was love, and her heart chose special people, unlike others. Such was the fisherman from the Prut, and the red-haired Hutsul, and the Turk who looked like a “lord,” but most of all she remembered the poor nobleman Arcadek.
In relationships with this handsome nobleman, Izergil’s personality traits are most fully revealed. “I have never been anyone’s slave,” says the old woman. But this “proud demon” demanded complete obedience from her. For his love, he wanted to see her at his feet. It was difficult for proud Izergil to accept such an offer, because she “loved him, this devil,” loved his desire to command others, since she understood this sweet feeling of superiority over the world of other people. Their relationship is a vivid model of the confrontation between two selfish, freedom-loving personalities.
The originality of Izergil’s character was especially clearly manifested at the time of Arcadek’s liberation from Russian captivity. With incredible sophistication, she comes up with a plan to kidnap her lover. For Izergil, all means are good: “she dressed as a beggar, lame, and went, covering her face...”, she crawled on the ground, despising the danger of her own death, even when she felt the tip of a soldier’s bayonet on her throat. At such a moment, the sentry believes in Izergil’s lie, which plays on the filial feelings of the Russian soldier. She is so convincing in the role of a suffering mother that the soldier’s heart trembled.
The psychological state of the characters’ internal tension is conveyed through the “landscape of the soul.” “The wind howled and roared...”, “it rained.” Izergil begged the “stone soldier.” The antithesis shows the “cold word” of the sentry and Izergil’s burning desire to see and save Arcadek at all costs. And then the blind power of love overshadows all other feelings in Izergil’s soul, she “knocked the soldier to the ground” and “...squeezed his head deeper into the mud” until he suffocated.
The tension of the narrative reaches its climax at the moment when Arcadek promises Izergil to love her “in gratitude for... taking him away...”
The heroine's self-loving nature suffers. No one had ever insulted her like that before. She was loved for her beauty, for her unpredictability, for her ability to enjoy life, for her generosity in love, but love was never a payment.
The romantic nature of Izergil is emphasized by her behavior in this episode. Now Arcadek is a “lying dog,” and she pushes her away without regret, feeling boredom and laziness in her soul.
It should be noted that the episode of Arcadek’s release from captivity ends the series of Izergil’s love affairs. Her subsequent life has nothing to do with the heroine’s romantic past. She has lived in Dobruja for “about 3 decades.” And only her memory preserves vivid memories of her youth, rich in meetings with unusual people, full of “strength and fire.”
The philosophy of the old woman Izergil boils down to the fact that you need to live “more fun and better...”.
Summary
Chapter 1
The stories that the author tells his readers, he heard in Bessarabia, working together with the Moldovans in the grape harvest. One evening, having finished working, all the workers went to the sea, and only the author and an elderly woman named Izergil remained to rest in the shade of the grapes.
Evening came, shadows of clouds floated across the steppe, and Izergil, pointing to one of the shadows, called her Larra, and told the author an ancient legend.
In one country, where the land is generous and beautiful, a human tribe lived happily. People hunted, herded herds, rested, sang and had fun. One day during a feast, an eagle carried away one of the girls. She returned only twenty years later and brought with her a handsome and stately young man. It turned out that all the past years the stolen tribeswoman had lived with Eagle in the mountains, and the young man was Eagle’s son. When the Eagle began to grow old, he threw himself from a height onto the rocks and died, and the woman decided to return home.
The son of the king of birds did not differ in appearance from people, only “his eyes were cold and proud.” He spoke disrespectfully to the elders, and looked down on other people, saying that “there are no others like him.”
The elders got angry and ordered him to go wherever he wanted - he had no place in the tribe. The young man approached the daughter of one of them and hugged her. But she, fearing her father’s anger, pushed him 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 punishment is in himself” and simply released the young man.
The hero began to be called Larra - “outcast”. Larra lived for many years, living freely near the tribe: he stole cattle, stole girls. The arrows of people did not take him, covered with the “invisible veil of the highest punishment.” But one day Larra approached the tribe, making it clear to the people that he would not defend himself. One of the people guessed that Larra wanted to die - and no one began to attack him, not wanting to ease his fate.
Seeing that he would not die at the hands of people, the young 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 proud young man 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 2
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. One after another, images of the old woman Izergil’s beloved passed before him.
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 Izergil escaped from the harem “out of boredom” to Bulgaria. A little Pole monk, “funny and mean,” whom the heroine picked up and threw into the river for offensive 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 left Izergil (he was found in a field with a bullet through his head). Arcadek, a handsome nobleman rescued from captivity by the heroine, is the last love of forty-year-old Izergil.
The woman told her interlocutor about different moments of her “greedy life.” The time came when she realized it was time to start a family. Having left for Moldova, she got married and has been living here for about thirty years. By the time the author met her, her husband had been dead for about a year, and she lived with Moldovans - grape pickers. They need her, she feels good with them.
The woman finished her story. The interlocutors sat watching 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 3
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 into the depths of the old impenetrable forest, where there were swamps and eternal darkness. From the stench rising from the swamp, people who were accustomed to the expanses of the steppe died one after another.
Strong and brave, they could have gone to fight with enemies, “but they could not die in battle, because they had covenants, and if they had died, then the covenants would have disappeared from their lives.” People sat and thought about what to do, but from painful thoughts they weakened in spirit and fear settled in their hearts. They were ready to surrender to the enemy, but their comrade Danko “saved everyone alone.” Danko turned to the people, urging them to go through the forest, because somewhere the forest had to end. 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, people had less and less strength and faith in Danko. One day, during a severe thunderstorm, people despaired. But they could not admit their weakness; instead, they accused Danko of his inability to lead them out of the forest. Like wild animals, they were ready 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 the road with “the torch of great love for people.” Suddenly the forest ended - there was an expanse of steppe in front of the people. Danko looked with joy 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 cautious 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.
Briefly
The author worked in Bessarabia during the grape harvest together with the Moldovans. There he met the old woman Izergil, who loved to tell different stories to young people. First, she told the hero the legend of Larra.
Thousands of years ago, a tribe lived far beyond the sea. One day an eagle flew to them and kidnapped a beautiful girl. Twenty years later the girl returned with a son, whom she gave birth to from an eagle. He was very handsome and strong, but very proud and arrogant. The elders of the tribe decided that the young man had no place in their tribe. Wandering through the forests, Larra met a girl, the daughter of one of the tribe leaders, but she rejected him. Then the guy pushed her to the ground and pressed her chest with his foot. The girl died. The tribal council thought for a long time about what kind of execution Larra deserved, in the end they decided that the most terrible punishment for him would be to renounce the tribe. So the young man became completely alone, he could not die and kill himself, and Larra wanders to this day and cannot find peace for himself.
Then Izergil told the author about her life. She lived a very eventful life, visited different countries, including Poland, Bulgaria and the harem of Turkey, lived in a monastery, and was in Kabbalah with a Jew. She had many men. Someone loved her and showered her with gold, someone deceived her and took advantage of her. Old woman Izergil even saved one gentleman from captivity by killing a sentry. But she didn’t stay with anyone for long. The old woman's last husband died a year ago.
When night fell, the old woman asked her interlocutor if he saw lights in the steppe, and told another tale.
This is the legend about Danko. In ancient times, there lived a cheerful and cheerful tribe. They were surrounded by impenetrable forest on three sides, and steppe on the fourth. But warlike tribes came and drove these people from the steppe deep into the forest. Life there was very difficult for the ancient tribe; their wives and children were crying. Then the brave young man Danko raised his people and led them through the thicket of the forest to new lands. They wandered through the forest for a long time and the men of the tribe regretted listening to Danko and wanted to kill him. At that moment, the young man tore his heart out of his chest and, lighting the way, led his fellow tribesmen out of the forest. After that, Danko died, and someone stepped on his heart, his heart crumbled into many sparks. Since that time, blue lights can be seen in the steppes at night - particles of Danko’s heart.
