In 1831, Gogol wrote the novel Terrible Revenge. A summary of the work is given in this article. This creation of the famous author is included in his short story collection āEvenings on a Farm near Dikankaā. Reading this work, it can be noted that it has much in common with the plot of Gogolās mystical novel āViyā: the key figures of the stories are fabulous creatures from ancient folk legends.
N.V. Gogol. "Terrible revenge" (summary). Introduction
Yesaul Gorobets celebrated his sonās wedding in Kiev. There were many guests on it. Among the visitors was his brother Danil Burulbash named with his beautiful wife Katerina, who was considered an orphan. Her mother died, and her father disappeared. When miraculous icons were brought out of the house to bless the young, it turned out that there was a sorcerer among the guests. He betrayed himself by fearing holy images and disappeared.
N.V. Gogol. "Terrible revenge" (summary). Development of events
After the wedding, Danila returned with his young wife home. The people said that his father Katerina is an evil sorcerer who sold his soul to the devil. He recently showed up in their family. Well done his father-in-law did not like him, quarrels broke out between them often. There were rumors around the farm that as soon as Katerinaās father showed up, strange things began to happen here: either the crosses in the cemetery are swinging, or the dead are rising from the graves that their moans are heard at midnight. Not far from the village stood the sorcerer's ancestral castle, where he once lived. Curiosity took Danila, and he decided to go into this lair of the devil in order to see with his own eyes what was happening there. In the evening, climbing a tall oak tree, he sees a fellow, that a light is on in the
old castle , that his father-in-law enters there and begins to enchant. The sorcerer changes in appearance and evokes the soul of Katerinaās daughter, persuading her to love him. Seeing all this, Danila returns home and talks about everything Katerina. She, in turn, renounces her father. In the morning, the son-in-law accuses his father-in-law of friendship with the Poles, who attacked his Homeland, but not in witchcraft. For this, Katerinaās father is put in prison. The
death penalty awaits him
. He asks his daughter to forgive him and set him free. Katerina. Having taken pity on his father, he opens the bars and releases the sorcerer to freedom. Meanwhile, Danila goes to war with the Poles and dies there. The bullet of a sorcerer overtook him. Inconsolable Katerina, who learned about the death of her husband. She is terribly worried about the life of her little son. But he was killed by an evil sorcerer, having sent evil spells. Waking up in the middle of the night, the woman finds the child in her bed dead.
From sorrow she
goes crazy. Since then, the inhabitants of the farm began to see a vision, as if a giant horseman on a black horse rides among the Carpathian mountains. The eyes of the hero are closed, in his hands he holds a baby. And poor Katerina is looking for a father to kill him for all the misfortunes that he caused her. One day a wanderer appears to her, persuading her to become his wife. In it she recognizes the sorcerer and rushes at him with a knife. But the father manages to kill his daughter.
N.V. Gogol "Terrible revenge" (summary). Ending
The sorcerer flees from these places where a vision appeared with the rider. He clearly knows who this giant is, and why he appeared here. The old man runs to the old schemnik to atone for his sins. But he refuses to do this, and the sorcerer kills him. Now, where this son of the devil would go, the road leads him to the Carpathians, where his rider with a baby is waiting. There is no way for him to hide from this giant. The rider opened his eyes and laughed. The sorcerer died at that hour and fell into the abyss, where the dead thrust their teeth into him so that he would suffer. This past of antiquity ends with a song performed by an old bandura-player in the town of Glukhov. It tells the story of two brothers Peter and Ivan. Ivan once excelled in the war, for which he was generously awarded. Despite the fact that he shared with his brother, Peter envied him and decided to kill him. He pushed Ivan with his young son into the abyss, and took his good to himself.
When the good brother found himself in the kingdom of heaven, God allowed his soul to choose the punishment for his killer. Ivan cursed all the descendants of a blood relative and predicted to him that the last of his kind would be a terrible villain. The soul of the deceased will appear from the other world and will cast the terrible sinner into the abyss, where all his dead ancestors will gnaw at him. Peter wants to take revenge on his brother, but will not be able to rise from the earth. The Lord was surprised at such a terrible punishment, but commanded that this be so.
So Gogol twisted the plot. āTerrible revengeā (a summary of the story is given in this article) is one of the less popular works of the master. It is not studied at school in literature lessons. But for us, this story is of folklore interest. It is based on real ancient folk traditions. Not in vain in the first edition of the work was provided with the subtitle "Old times." That is how N.V. Gogol characterized him. āTerrible revengeā is a story written over a century and a half ago. But even now we are reading it with trepidation and interest.