Among the works of I.A. Goncharova's "Cliff", "Frigate" Pallas ", " Ordinary History "and" Oblomov "last novel occupies a special place and is the most famous.
Briefly about the novel
Goncharov had the idea of ​​a new work back in 1847, but the reader had to wait another 10 years for the appearance of this novel, which was entirely published in 1859 and brought great success to the author. A feature of this work is that for the first time in Russian literature, Ivan Andreevich examined the life of a person from birth to death. The hero himself, his life is the main theme of the work, therefore it is named after his last name - "Oblomov". It belongs to the category of "speakers", because its carrier, the "decrepit birth", reminds us of the famous epic hero Ilya Muromets, who was 33 years old on the stove (when we met Oblomov, he was also about 32-33 years old). However, the epic hero, after getting up from the stove, did many great things, and Ilya Ilyich remained lying on the couch. Goncharov uses a repetition of the name and patronymic, as if emphasizing that life goes on in an established circle, the son repeats the fate of his father.
Love in the novel "Oblomov", as in many other domestic novels, is one of the main topics. Here, as in many works, she is the driving force of the spiritual development of heroes. Let's analyze Oblomov’s love in detail in the novel Oblomov.
Love for Olga
We begin our discussion with the relationship between Ilya Ilyich and Olga. Love in the life of Oblomov, a brief description of the relationship between the characters that we present to you in this article, can be divided into two parts: Ilya Ilyich’s feelings for Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Matveevna.
Olga was the first lover of the protagonist. Feelings for Olga bring him happiness, revive, at the same time making him suffer, because with the departure of love Oblomov’s desire to live disappears.
A bright feeling for Olga comes to the hero suddenly and completely absorbs him. It ignites his passive soul, for which such strong shocks were new. Oblomov used to bury all his feelings somewhere deep in the subconscious, and love awakens them, revives him to a new life.
Never thinking that he can fall in love with a girl like Olga, a hero with his romantic and bright soul passionately falls in love with her.
Is it true love
Olga manages to change the character of Ilya Ilyich - to knock out boredom and laziness from him. For the sake of his beloved, he is ready to change: to give up afternoon sleep, lunch, read books. However, this does not mean that Ilya Ilyich really wanted this. Oblomovism is characteristic of the hero, its integral part.
In a dream, as you know, desires and motives hidden in the subconscious are revealed. Turning to the chapter "Oblomov’s Dream", we see what this hero really needs. His companion should be a quiet domestic girl, but not Olga, striving for self-development and an active life. And Oblomov writes to her that “I love her” is not true, but future love. And indeed, Olga loves not the one in front of her, but the one he will become, defeating her apathy and laziness. Noting this, the hero warns Olga, writes that they need to leave and not meet again. However, as Ilya Ilyich predicted in his letter ("you will be annoyed and ashamed of your mistake"), the heroine cheated on Oblomov, falling in love with Andrei Stolz. Does this mean that her love was only an introduction to a future romance, an expectation of true happiness? After all, she is disinterested, pure, selfless. Olga believes that she really loves Oblomov.
Love Olga
At first, this heroine, who does not enjoy much attention among the gentlemen, seems to us an adult child. However, it was she who was able to pull Oblomov out of the pool of his inaction, at least temporarily returning to life. Stolz was the first to notice her. He joked, laughed, entertained the girl, advised the right books, in general, did not let him get bored. She was really interesting to him, but Andrei remained only a teacher and a mentor. Oblomov, on the other hand, was attracted to her voice and the fold above the forehead, in which, in his expression, “stubbornness nests”. Olga, on the other hand, loves the mind in Ilya Ilyich, although crushed by “all sorts of rubbish” and falling asleep in idleness, as well as a clean, faithful heart. Arrogant and bright, she dreamed about what would make the hero read newspapers, books, tell the news, open up a real life and not let her doze off again. Oblomov fell in love when Olga sang Casta Diva at his first reception at the Ilyinsky. A kind of symbol of their love was the branch of lilacs mentioned several times on the pages of the novel, either on Olga’s embroidery during a meeting in the park, sometimes abandoned by the heroine and picked up by Ilya Ilyich.
The end of the novel
But this love in Oblomov’s novel was frightening for him, Oblomovism turns out to be stronger than such high and sincere feelings. She absorbs the desire to create and act - such an improper image for Oblomov, and lovers are forced to end their relationship without stopping loving each other. The love of Olga and Oblomov from the very beginning was doomed. Olga Ilyinskaya and Ilya Ilyich understood family happiness, love, the meaning of life in different ways. If for a hero the relationship between a man and a woman is passion, a disease, then for Olga it is a duty. Oblomov loved her sincerely and deeply, gave her all himself, idolized her. In the feelings of the heroine, a consistent calculation was noticeable. She took Oblomov’s life into her own hands, agreeing with Stolz. Despite her youth, she managed to discern in him a good soul, an open heart, "pigeon tenderness." At the same time, Olga liked the realization that she, an inexperienced young girl, would revive a person like Oblomov to life. The gap between them is inevitable and natural: they are too dissimilar natures. This Oblomov love story was thus completed. The thirst for a sleepy, serene state was more expensive than romantic happiness. Oblomov sees the ideal of existence in the following: "a person is sleeping serenely."
New sweetheart
With her departure, the protagonist does not find how to occupy the void that has formed in the soul, and again all day long lies idle and sleeps on his beloved sofa in St. Petersburg, in the house of mistress Agafya Pshenitsyna. She attracted the hero with full bare elbows, neck and thrift. The new lover was hardworking, but she did not differ in mind ("she looked at him stupidly and was silent"), but she perfectly cooked and kept order.
New Oblomovka
Having accustomed to the measured and unhurried pace of life of this mistress, over time Ilya Ilyich will humble the impulses of his heart and will begin to be content with being small again . All his desires, as well as before meeting with Olga, will be limited to food, sleep, empty rare conversations with the business-like Agafya Matveevna. She is contrasted with the writer Olga: a faithful kind wife, an excellent mistress, but there is no soul height in her. Ilya Ilyich, plunging into the unpretentious semi-village life in the house of this mistress, as if he had fallen into the former Oblomovka. Slowly and lazily dying in his soul, he falls in love with Pshenitsyn.
Lyubov Pshenitsyna
And what about Agafya Matveevna herself? Is that her love? No, she is faithful, selfless. In her feeling, the heroine is ready to drown, give all the fruits of her labors, all her strength to Oblomov. For his sake, she sold some of her jewelry, gold chains and jewelry, when Tarantyev cunningly forced Ilya Ilyich to pay him a large sum of ten thousand a month. One gets the impression that Agafya Matveevna’s entire previous life passed in anticipation of the appearance of a person who can be taken care of as a son, whom you can loyally and selflessly love. The protagonist of the work is precisely this: he is gentle, kind - it touches the female heart, accustomed to ignorance and rudeness of men; he is lazy - this allows you to take care of him and take care of him like a child.
Before Oblomov, Pshenitsyna did not live, but existed without thinking about anything. She was uneducated, even dumb. She was not interested in anything other than housekeeping. However, in this she achieved true perfection. Agafya was constantly on the move, realizing that work is always there. It was the meaning and content of the whole life of the heroine. Pshenitsyna owed this very activity to captivating Ilya Ilyich. Gradually, after the beloved settled in her house, significant changes occur in the nature of this woman. Love Oblomov in the novel "Oblomov" contributes to the spiritual exaltation of the heroine. Gleams of reflection, anxiety and, finally, love awaken in her. She expresses her in her own way, caring for Ilya during an illness, taking care of a table and clothes, praying for his health.
New feelings
This love in the life of Oblomov did not have the passion and sensuality that were present in relations with Olga. However, it was precisely such feelings that fully corresponded to Oblomovism. It was this heroine who repaired her beloved “oriental dressing gown,” which Oblomov refused, falling in love with Olga.
If Ilyinsky contributed to the spiritual development of Ilya Ilyich, then Pshenitsyna made his life more relaxed and carefree without informing him of problems with money. He received care from her, Olga wanted his development, wanted him to communicate with people, appear in the light, understand politics and discuss the news. The hero could not, and did not want to, do everything that Olga wanted, and therefore surrendered. And Agafya Matveevna created a new Oblomovka in St. Petersburg, caring for him and protecting him. Such love in Oblomov’s novel for Pshenitsyna completely satisfied his needs. Just as in the home of Ilya Ilyich, on the Vyborg side, the knock was heard all the time.
Opinion of Andrei Stolz
Andrei Shtolts, a friend of Oblomov, this love in the life of Oblomov is incomprehensible. He was an active person, he was alien to the order of Oblomovka, her lazy home comfort, and even more so a woman who was coarsened in her midst. Olga Ilyinskaya is Stolz’s ideal, romantic, subtle, wise. There is not a trace of coquetry in it. Andrey offers Olga a hand and a heart - and she agrees. His feelings were disinterested and pure, he does not seek any benefit, despite the fact that he is a restless "businessman".
Ilya Ilyich about the life of Stolz
In turn, Ilya Ilyich does not understand the life of Andrei Stolz. The title character of the work continues the gallery of "extra people" opened by M.Yu. Lermontov and A.S. Pushkin. He avoids secular society, does not serve, leads an aimless life. Ilya Ilyich does not see any sense in violent activity, because he does not consider it a true manifestation of the essence of man. He did not want a bureaucratic career mired in papers, he also denied the high society, where everything was false, memorized, hypocritical, there was neither free thought nor sincere feelings.
The marriage of Stolz and Olga
While the relationship between Oblomov and Pshenitsyna is close to life, natural, it should be noted that the marriage of Stolz and Olga is utopian. In this sense, Oblomov is, oddly enough, closer to reality than such a seemingly obvious realist Stolz. Andrei and his beloved live in the Crimea, in their house they find a place for both the things necessary for work and romantic trinkets. Even in love, they are surrounded by a perfect balance: passion subsided after marriage, but did not die out.
The inner world of Olga
However, Stoltz does not suspect at all what riches Olga's exalted soul conceals. She outgrew it spiritually, because she did not strive stubbornly for one specific goal, but saw different paths and independently chose which path to take. Choosing Stolz, she wanted to find an equal husband or even a life partner, trying to subjugate her with her strength. At first, Ilyinskaya really finds happiness in his face, but as they get to know each other better, she begins to realize that in such a life there is nothing special, that it is exactly the same as everyone else. Stolz lives exclusively with reason, not interested in anything but deeds.
Footprint in Olga’s soul
The love of Olga and Oblomov left a huge mark in the heart of the heroine. She strove to love and understand Oblomov’s life, since for her life is love and love is a duty, but she failed to do this. After marriage, Ilyinskaya senses in her life some features of Oblomov’s former idyll, and this observation alarms the heroine, she does not want to live like that. However, the love of Stolz and Olga is the feelings of two developing people who help each other in everything, and they must certainly find a way out to continue the search for their own path.
The inner world of Ilya Ilyich
In order to characterize the protagonist as a whole, as well as love in the life of Oblomov, quotes from the text can be given different. The following is especially interesting: "What fuss is here! And outside everything is so quiet, calm!". Andrei and Olga believe that if you lie calmly on the couch, and do not run like crazy in life, then you are certainly lazy and do not think about anything. However, in Oblomov’s soul there were such battles that Ilyinskaya could not imagine. He thought about such complex issues, his thoughts went so far that Stolz would go crazy. Ilya did not need a wife who was temper tantrums; she herself did not know what she wanted. At heart, he was looking for a companion, whom not only Ilya Ilyich would love, but who, for her part, accepted him as he was, without trying to remake. Such is the ideal love in the life of Oblomov.
So it turns out that the hero loved Olga sincerely, since no one else loved and couldn’t love, and she wanted to heal him, after which, when he was on the same "level" with her, to love. And Ilyinskaya cruelly paid for it when Oblomov died, she realized that she loved him exactly the way he is, with all the obvious flaws.
The role of love in the life of a hero
The role of love in Oblomov’s life, therefore, was very great. She, according to the author, is the most important driving force, without which neither the spiritual development of people nor their happiness is possible. According to I.A. Goncharov, love in the life of Oblomov was an important stage in his internal formation, so she was assigned so much place in the development of the novel.