Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766-1826) greatly influenced the development of Russian literature, transforming the Russian language, freeing it from complex Latin constructions and Slavisms, bringing it closer to lively human speech.
Features of sentimentalism
The writer's creativity fosters feelings, calls for good and mercy. Thus, a new direction in Russian literature was born - sentimentalism, which assigned the main role to the inner world of man.
Perhaps today the work "Poor Lisa" seems somewhat distant from life, and the feelings of the heroes are unnatural. However, it should be remembered that Karamzin worked in the genre of sentimentalism. And the work "Poor Lisa", written in 1792, served as a source of inspiration for the following Russian writers, being an excellent example of this genre. Sentimentalism is characterized by acute conflicts, often leading to the death of the hero, and Poor Lisa is no exception. The girl’s death is shocking and compels empathy for many generations of readers.
New name
In addition to the new genre, Karamzin gave our country a new name, made it popular. Translated, Elizabeth means "worshiping God." That was the name of the mother of John the Baptist, the wife of the high priest Aaron. This name was practically not found among Russian writers until the 80s of the 18th century. It is worth noting that in European literature this name was often associated with the image of a maid, a maid, usually frivolous and flirtatious, and was used mainly in comedies. The image of Lisa in the novel "Poor Liza" (for a summary of the work, read below), however, does not follow this tradition. Tearing the usual framework of the meaning of the word, Karamzin also broke with classicism and its well-established definitions.
The image of Lisa in the novel "Poor Liza" played an important role in the development of Russian literature in general, so I would like to dwell on it in more detail. You will see that it was a strong nature, not at all what European authors used to portray it. We propose to consider the image of Lisa in the story "Poor Lisa" with quotes and a summary of the work.
Actors, plot
But first, we indicate the other characters in the story and briefly describe its main events. In addition to the peasant woman Lisa, the main characters include: her mother, Erast and the narrator. The plot of the work is generally not new: a man seduces a young girl, and then throws her. However, this story had its own characteristics. The author described a situation typical of 18th-century Russia: a nobleman, landowner, knowing his impunity and using it, seduces a peasant woman, a young girl. What is striking in this story is that at that time in this situation society did not at all try to condemn the landowner, and the truth was in any case on his side.
Already in the title, the author’s attitude to his heroine is guessed: he calls Lisa poor.
The first meeting with the heroine
The story begins with a description of Moscow, where some events later take place, as well as the Simonov Monastery, in the vicinity of which the heroine was subsequently buried.
For the first time on the pages of a work, the author describes us to Lisa through the eyes of a narrator. Speaking of her, he uses many epithets ("amiable", "beautiful", etc.), so it may even occur to the reader that the narrator loved Lisa. However, the ending of the story gives a clear understanding that he simply pities her. It should be noted that in this story the narrator expresses the attitude of the author himself to his heroine. Why does Karamzin love and pity Lisa?
Lisa's Past
We turn to the past of the heroine and describe the image of Lisa in the short story “Poor Lisa”. This girl, a peasant by birth, lives in a poor hut with her old mother. When our heroine was 15 years old, her father, a “prosperous villager,” died, and after his death the family became impoverished and had to give land for rent for a very small fee. Due to poor health, her mother was not able to work, and Liza had to work very hard to somehow feed herself and her mother. The girl was engaged in various crafts - she knitted stockings, weaved canvases, in the spring she collected and sold flowers in Moscow, and in the summer - berries. We still don’t personally know Lisa, but we already understand that she is selfless, ready to make sacrifices for the sake of loved ones, hardworking.
Lisa's character
As the plot develops, the character of the main character, the image of Lisa in the novel "Poor Lisa" by N. M. Karamzin, is also revealed. Poor Lisa is a very attractive heroine. We understand that this is a pure and deep soul with a receptive and soft heart. Lisa often was sad because of her father’s death, but she tried not to show it to her mother and tried to seem “calm and fun”. The girl by nature is timid and shy. When she first met Erast, she "showed him the flowers - and turned red."
Such is the image of Lisa in the novel "Poor Lisa". The plan of this image is complemented by another detail. It should be noted and the honesty of the heroine. When Erast wanted to buy flowers from her and offered a ruble instead of five cents, she said she did not want too much. Lisa is naive, sometimes to the extreme: she immediately tells where she lives to a complete stranger.
The main character's speech
Analyzing this, we can say that in this the image of Lisa in the story "Poor Lisa" was not worked out carefully enough: her speech is sometimes not the same as that of a peasant woman, but like that of a girl from high society. It is clear that an uneducated simple girl simply could not express herself like that. Despite this, the image of Lisa in the story "Poor Lisa" by Karamzin is considered the first image of a woman from the lower class in Russian literature. The image of a girl from the people in the 18th century was very progressive and atypical, especially as the heroine of a love story. Karamzin put deep meaning into Lisa’s image in the novel “Poor Lisa”: there are no estates before God and love, all people are equal, “and the peasant women know how to love.”
Later, A. S. Pushkin in his work "The Young Lady-Peasant Woman" continued this theme, but it was Karamzin who first introduced it into literature.
New attitude to woman
Another innovation of the writer was the attitude towards a woman. After all, in the 18th century she was considered lower than a man, she did not have freedom. The woman could not love whoever she wanted; the parents were looking for the chosen one for her daughter. Of course, in such a situation it was rarely possible to meet happy couples. Those who tried to love against the wishes of their parents were shamed in the eyes of society, such love was considered immoral. The image of Lisa in the novel “Poor Lisa” by N. M. Karamzin clearly shows this. Later, other writers, in particular Ostrovsky, are developing the topic.
Lisa's crime was that she dared to fall in love contrary to public opinion. And the Russian peasant women always knew how to love passionately, fieryly and forever. Refusing to marry a wealthy peasant son from a neighboring village, Lisa completely surrendered to her lover.
Betrayal of Erast
But Erast turned out to be a scoundrel, abandoning Lisa. The heroine only by chance finds out about his betrayal. Having gone to Moscow to buy rose water, she accidentally collides on the street with his carriage. Lisa rushes to her, but the carriage drives past her and stops at the courtyard of a large house. The heroine runs up, hugs her lover, but he calmly reports that he will marry (as it turns out later, he married a rich widow to improve his position, since on the campaign he lost almost all his money in cards) and asks to leave him alone, trying buy off Lisa with money. And Karamzin does not justify his hero, but openly condemns him. Erast will be punished for his betrayal: he is destined to be unhappy for the rest of his life and blame himself for Liza's death. At the end of the work, he dies.
Continuing to analyze the image of Lisa in the story “Poor Liza” by Karamzin, we should note one more important detail - she loved Erast, but at the same time did not forget about her mother, and it was her care that stopped Lisa from trying to go to war for her lover . Although the heroine was very worried about Erast, she was afraid that he would be killed in the war. After all, Lisa could not even write messages to her lover, because she simply could not do it.
The death of a poor girl
Lisa's suicide is a very important episode in revealing her character. After all, this girl seemed to be the embodiment of Christian virtues. How could such a pure soul decide on such a grave sin? The heroine decides to drown, rushing into the water. But you can not blame Lisa - grief deprived her of her last strength, and the heroine simply could not stand it. Even before her death, she does not forget about her mother: going to the pond to drown herself, she transfers a hundred rubles to a neighbor's girl with a request to give them to her mother and say that her daughter loved the man, and he cheated on her. The writer, although he does not justify the suicide of the heroine, nevertheless forgives Lisa. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin believes that, despite the severity of the crime, Lisa’s soul will go to heaven.
The meaning of the story
Many 19th-century writers (Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Ostrovsky, Goncharov, Tolstoy) drew inspiration from this image and created many vivid female characters, as pure and selfless as the image of Lisa in the novel "Poor Lisa".
In this story, the author touched on important topics of the imperfection of society and the shortcomings of human nature. We cannot fix something on our own, it remains only to accept this as a fact, and it is pointless to condemn and reproach someone. There is no villain in the work; there is only a man belonging to the secular circle, acting according to generally accepted opinions. Erast had a kind heart by nature, but the “artificial” upbringing and education he received spoiled his character. The writer sympathizes with him, since in this situation one should not blame the man, but the manners of the era and society under which the hero lived.
Immediately after its publication (in 1792), the work aroused great interest, which did not weaken for several decades. Even frank imitations appeared, for example, “Seduced Henrietta” by Svechinsky (1803), “Poor Masha” by Izmailov (1801).
The image of Lisa in the story "Poor Lisa", the summary of which you just examined, has long been remembered by readers. And now Karamzin’s work is not forgotten, because humanistic ideas are always relevant.