Homecoming
Along the Dnieper at night, Danilo returns to the farm with his household and relatives. Katerina is scared, but her husband is not afraid of the sorcerer. He is afraid of the Poles, who may cut off their path to the Cossacks. All his thoughts are on this as they pass the old sorcerer's castle and then sail past the cemetery. Meanwhile, crosses are tottering in the cemetery. Scary dead people emerge from their graves. They stretch their bony hands towards the month.
Who is Katerina's father really?
Katerina soon told her husband her dream. She dreamed that her father was that terrible sorcerer. Danila does not like his father-in-law’s foreign habits; he suspects him of being an unchrist. However, we note, when describing the plot of the story, that her wife is most worried about the Poles at this time, about whom Gorobets again warns.
In the evening, Danilo goes on reconnaissance to the sorcerer’s castle. He climbs an oak tree, looks out the window and sees a room illuminated by something unknown. Horrible things are further described by Gogol (“Terrible Revenge”). Their summary is as follows. The father-in-law appears and begins to cast magic. Now his appearance changes, he turns into a sorcerer, dressed in Turkish attire. The father-in-law summons Katerina's soul. He demands that the girl love him and threatens her if she disobeys. However, Katerina’s soul refuses this. Danilo is shocked by what he saw. He returns to his home, wakes up his wife and tells her everything. The girl renounces her sorcerer father.
The sorcerer from the story by N.V. Gogol's "Terrible Revenge"
The sorcerer is one of the main characters in N.V. Gogol’s story “Terrible Revenge.” This artistic image embodies not only fairy-tale ideas, but also folk legends about the heroic struggle of the Cossacks for their national independence.
The sorcerer is Katerina’s own father. He lived in a foreign land for a long time and returned to Ukrainian lands only after his daughter got married and gave birth to a son. Even Katerina has no idea who her father really is. He says nothing about how and where he spent many years.
The sorcerer diligently hides his true appearance, but his speech and demeanor involuntarily give him away. After a mortal fight with Pan Danila, Katerina found the “strange sparkle in her eyes” of her own father unusual.
According to the concepts of a distant historical era, all Cossacks feel hostility towards Katerina’s father. He demonstratively refuses “Christian food,” which reveals him to be a follower of someone else’s faith. Pan Danilo calls him in his hearts “Turkish abbot.”
Katerina's husband accidentally learns about the secret of her father, who is an ominous Sorcerer. By summoning the soul of his own daughter and trying to take possession of her body, the Sorcerer commits a monstrous sin. At the same time, he conducts secret negotiations with the Poles, anticipating the enslavement of the Cossacks and the destruction of Orthodox churches.
Even a Sorcerer chained and imprisoned in a basement poses a huge danger. Taking advantage of Katerina's pity, he again finds himself free. The Sorcerer's crimes become more and more terrible and inhuman. Because of his betrayal, Pan Danilo dies in battle with the Poles. Witchcraft spells lead to the death of Katerina's son. The sorcerer takes on someone else's appearance, but, being recognized, kills his own daughter. The pinnacle of the Sorcerer's atrocities is the murder of the holy elder.
At the end of the story, a terrible revenge is carried out on the Sorcerer, the worse of which nothing can be. It turns out that the entire family of Katerina’s father was cursed a long time ago due to betrayal between siblings. Each representative of the family was a great sinner, but the Sorcerer was destined to surpass everyone in atrocities. It is his fault that all the ancestors cannot find peace in the earth and will forever gnaw his body as retribution.
The sorcerer represents the embodiment of the most terrible human sins: deception, betrayal of the homeland and faith, murder of innocents and relatives. For all these crimes, only painful, terrible revenge can be a just punishment.
The grief that befell Katerina
As expected, a large army of Poles attacks the farm. The Poles steal cattle and set fire to huts. Danilo fights bravely, but is overtaken by a bullet from a sorcerer who suddenly appeared. Gorobets, who came to the rescue, is unable to console Katerina. The Poles are defeated, a sorcerer sails along the Dnieper to the ruins of the castle. He casts spells in the dugout, and someone terrible appears at his call. Katerina lives with Gorobets, sees her old terrible dreams and fears for her son. The girl discovers when she wakes up that her child has died. The mind of the heroine created by Gogol ("Terrible Revenge") cannot withstand all this. The summary of the work continues with the girl becoming insane.
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The further fate of the sorcerer
An unexpected miracle appears behind Kyiv. The whole earth is illuminated, all its ends are visible. A huge horseman appears in the Carpathian Mountains. The sorcerer from Gogol's story runs in fear. He recognizes the rider as an uninvited giant who appeared during a divination. Nightmares haunt the sorcerer. He flees to the holy places of Kyiv and kills an old man there who refused to pray for him. Wherever the sorcerer goes, his path lies to the Carpathian Mountains. The rider suddenly opens his eyes. He is laughing. The sorcerer dies instantly. Already dead, he sees that all the dead from Galich, the Carpathians and Kyiv stretched out their bony hands to him. The horseman threw the sorcerer to them, and they sank their teeth into him.
Old song
Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich ends the story with an old song. It tells about King Stepan, who fought with the Turks, as well as about the Cossack brothers Ivan and Peter. Ivan caught the Turkish pasha and shared the king's reward with his brother. However, out of envy, Peter threw his brother into the abyss along with his baby son, and then took all the goods for himself. When Peter died, God allowed Ivan to choose execution for his brother. Ivan cursed his offspring, saying that a terrible villain would be in his brother’s last family. Ivan will appear on horseback from the hole when the time comes for the villain’s death. He will throw him into the abyss, and all his ancestors will come to gnaw at this villain. Only Peter will not be able to rise and will gnaw at himself in impotent anger. God was surprised at the cruelty of this execution, but agreed with Ivan.
This is how the work that Gogol created (“Terrible Revenge”) ends. We have outlined a brief summary of its main events. Let us now move on to the analysis of this story.
Terrible revenge summary
The story “Terrible Revenge” by Gogol was written in 1831. The work, rich in vivid folklore images, folk legends and beliefs, was included in the writer’s famous collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”. To better prepare for a literature lesson, we recommend reading the online summary of “Terrible Revenge” on our website.
The main characters are Danilo Burulbash - a young man, a brave Cossack. Katerina is Danila’s beloved wife, a beautiful and kind young woman. Katerina's father is a sorcerer, a cruel, treacherous old man. Other characters Esaul Gorobets is Burulbash’s sworn brother, a kind, brave Cossack. Ivan and Petro are siblings who destroyed their souls in the desire to take revenge on each other. Summary
Chapter 1 His sworn brother, Danilo Burulbash, came to celebrate the wedding of the son of Yesaul Gorobets with his beautiful wife Katerina and one-year-old son. The guests regretted that Katerina’s old father, who had recently returned from distant countries after a long absence, did not come with them - “he probably would have told a lot of wonderful things.” In the midst of the fun, the captain took the icons to bless the young people. At that moment, one of the guests turned into an ugly old man. No one doubted that it was a sorcerer.
Chapter 2 Late at night, Burulbash and his family were returning home. When his boat sailed past the cemetery, a terrible groan was heard, and a “dried up dead man” appeared from the ground, followed by another - even more terrible. Out of fear, “the rowers dropped their hats into the Dnieper.” Danilo calmed the Cossacks and his wife, and soon the boat left the terrible place behind. Chapter 3 The next morning, Danilo had a strong quarrel with Katerina’s father, who did not behave at all like a Christian and an honest Cossack. In the heat of a quarrel, the men grabbed their weapons, and the old man managed to wound his son-in-law in the arm. Katerina began to beg her husband to make peace with her father, and he reluctantly agreed for the sake of his son.
Chapter 4 Katerina told her husband a dream in which her father was the ugly sorcerer they saw at the wedding. Danilo had no doubt that the old man had “committed a lot of sins in a foreign land.” He followed Katerina's father as he secretly made his way into an abandoned black castle. Looking out the window, Danilo was dumbfounded: the old man, in the guise of a sorcerer, summoned Katerina’s soul and demanded her consent to their wedding.
Chapter 5 The next morning, Katerina told her husband her nightmare, but Danilo explained that everything really happened. In anger, the Cossack began to reproach himself for getting involved “with the Antichrist tribe.” Katerina cried bitterly - it was not her fault at all for who her father turned out to be. Burulbash softened and promised not to let anyone offend her.
Chapter 6 Danilo ordered the sorcerer to be chained and put in a basement, and his castle to be burned to the ground. Katerina’s father knew that his execution would take place the next day, but he could not get out of the dungeon, which in the past had been the cell of the holy schema-monk. Seeing Katerina, the old man began to beg to be released “for the sake of his unfortunate mother,” who died many years ago. He promised that he would spend the rest of his days in a monastery, where he would atone for his sins. Katerina believed the insidious sorcerer and set him free. Realizing what she had done, she fainted.
Chapter 7 Fearing her husband’s fierce temper, Katerina did not find the strength to admit that it was she who freed the sorcerer. Burulbash had no doubt that he escaped thanks to magic.
Chapter 8 “On the border road, in the tavern” the Poles were feasting with their priest. They drank, cursed, played cards and did all sorts of mischief. In their drunken conversations, they often mentioned the farm of the glorious Cossack Burulbash and his beautiful wife. Apparently, “this gang has not gathered for a good cause.”
Chapter 9 Danilo shared with his wife a premonition of imminent death. The Cossack Stetsko ran into the hut and reported the approach of the Poles. A terrible battle broke out, in which Danilo fell dead at the hands of the sorcerer. Captain Gorobets rode up to help, but it was already too late.
Chapter 10 In his dugout, the old sorcerer began to summon Katerina’s soul, but instead of it “someone’s wonderful face” appeared. The old man was seriously frightened and knocked over the pot of magic potion.
Chapter 11 Katerina and her son settled in the house of the captain, but even there her soul could not find the long-awaited peace. She again had a terrible dream in which the sorcerer threatened to kill her child if she did not become his wife. Katerina told captain about everything, and he and the Cossacks stood guard the whole next night. Waking up, Katerina saw her dead son in the cradle.
Chapter 12 A strange horseman appeared in the Carpathians - “a hero with inhuman growth” on a huge black horse. His eyes were sleepily closed, and a sleeping boy sat behind him. Having climbed the highest mountain, he stopped in thought, and dark clouds hid him from human eyes.
Chapter 13 After suffering, Katerina lost her mind. One day an unfamiliar man came to the captain, pretending to be an old friend of Burulbash. He said that he promised Danila to marry his wife if he died prematurely. Katerina recognized her father as a guest and rushed at him with a knife. The sorcerer snatched the weapon from her, swung it and “killed his crazy daughter,” after which he disappeared without a trace.
Chapter 14 An unprecedented miracle happened outside Kiev - “suddenly it became visible far to all corners of the world.” The gigantic rider on his horse also became visible. The old sorcerer recognized with horror the very face that he had seen during his divination. In insane fear, he went to the holy places.
Chapter 15 The sorcerer ran into the cave to the schema-monk and asked to pray for him. Seeing the bloodshot letters in his book, the holy elder refused to do so. In anger, the sorcerer killed him and rushed away. He tried to get as far as possible from the Carpathians, but all roads led him to the mysterious horseman. Seeing the sorcerer, the giant grabbed him, laughed loudly and threw him into a deep abyss. Immediately all the dead came running to sink their teeth into his body.
Chapter 16 In one town, a bandura player entertained onlookers with ancient stories. He said that in the old days there lived two brothers - Ivan and Petro, who shared equally both joy and sorrow. Once the king, who was at war with the Turks, promised a large reward to the one who captured the Turkish pasha. The brothers decided to try their luck and went in different directions. Fortune smiled on Ivan, and he honestly shared the reward with his brother. However, Petro “harbored revenge deep in his soul,” and, taking advantage of the opportunity, pushed Petro and his little son into the abyss, and he himself took possession of all the wealth. When Petro died, God called the souls of both brothers to himself, and suggested that Ivan inflict punishment on the traitor. He asked that all his brother’s descendants live in sin and “have no happiness on earth.” When the last one in Peter's family dies, all the ancestors will rise from their graves and begin to gnaw on his body. Petro himself “would have gnawed at himself, and his bones would have grown larger and larger the further.” God agreed with such terrible revenge, but also ordered Ivan to stand on the mountain forever and look at the torment of his brother and his descendants.
Conclusion In the work, the author emphasized that any evil inflicted on another person will certainly return as a boomerang, sooner or later. You will have to answer for every action you take.
After reading the short retelling of “Terrible Revenge,” we recommend reading the story in its full version.
Meaning of the work
Perhaps the most significant story for Gogol and Russian literature in general from the “Evenings” cycle is “Terrible Vengeance.” This is a historical story. Its action dates back to the 1st half of the 17th century, when Ukraine fought against Turkey and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for national independence. In particular, Danilo Burulbash, the hero of the work, recalls how he participated in military campaigns led by Hetman Konashevich. At the same time, this story also had a legendary-fantastic character. It touched upon the magical themes of the separation of the soul from the body, the execution of a villain in offspring, an apocalyptic horseman, etc.
Two epic levels of work, two traditions
Andrei Bely, a symbolist poet, at the beginning of the 20th century put forward the thesis that Katerina’s father and the sorcerer are not identical. This became the starting point for subsequent observations on the poetics of this story. In “Terrible Revenge,” it would seem that one can find 2 epic levels: legendary and real, in which there is a conflict between Katerina’s father and husband. On the second level, that is, in legend, there is the supernatural. At the same time, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol skillfully masks the boundary between them, so one world sometimes seems to be a natural continuation of the other. For the reader, the sorcerer is Katerina’s father. At the same time, he is the legendary projection of his father. Being in a quarrel with his son-in-law, he acquires more and more the features of a terrible sorcerer, since everything that does not correspond to the principles established in the patriarchal community is considered as the machinations of the devil. This story arose, like Gogol’s other works from “Evenings,” at the intersection of two traditions: national Ukrainian and Western romantic (mainly German). The author mixed features of folk tradition with elements of modern storytelling. In line with romanticism is the author’s personal attitude to what is happening in the work.
IV
Katerina tells her husband her dream: her father is that terrible sorcerer. In the evening, Danilo notices that a light is burning in one of the windows of the black castle. He goes to see what's going on there. Burulbash sees Katerina's father going down to the river. Danilo is watching him. The old man unties the boat and sails to the castle. Burulbash approaches the sorcerer's lair, but cannot get inside. Then Danilo climbs the oak tree and looks out the window.
He sees his father-in-law enter the room and turn into an ugly old man. The sorcerer summons Katerina's soul. She reproaches her father for killing her mother. The sorcerer demands that his daughter become his wife. The girl's soul refuses indignantly.
The discovery made by the Symbolists
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the symbolists discovered the autobiographicalism that Gogol’s works from “Evenings” and, in particular, “Terrible Vengeance” have. V.V. Rozanov for the first time saw the projection of the author himself in the figure of the sorcerer. Andrei Bely (his portrait is presented above) compared Nikolai Vasilyevich with a sorcerer who is running away from the “horseman in the Carpathians.” He likened the author’s love for Russia to the sorcerer’s love for Katerina from the story “Terrible Vengeance.” With this view, its main characters have a symbolic meaning, they are symbolic images.
