In the first half of the eighteenth century, Ivan Kotlyarevsky specifically for the theater of the city of Poltava wrote the play Natalka Poltavka. This work was not the first attempt of the writers of that period to transfer stories from the life of ordinary villagers onto the stage, however it was the first in which it was possible to do this realistically.
Ivan Kotlyarevsky - author of Natalka Poltavka
The legendary Poltava was born in the family of clerk Peter Kotlyarevsky. When the boy grew up, he was sent to study at the local seminary, after which he tried himself in different professions. At first, Ivan followed in his father's footsteps and worked for almost four years as a clerk in Poltava. After he began to give private lessons to children from the families of the local nobility.
At the age of 27, Kotlyarevsky went to military service and took part in the siege of Ishmael. Having received the Order of St. Anne, he retired. Since 1810, the writer has been working as an overseer in an educational institution for children of impoverished noblemen.
Since 1816, he became director of the local free theater, for which he wrote Natalka Poltavka and The Sorcerer-Soldier. From 1827 to 1835 he was in charge of local charitable institutions. And in 1838, the writer died and was buried in his native Poltava.
All his life, Ivan Kotlyarevsky was fond of Ukrainian history, in particular the era of the Cossacks, as well as literature. Even during military service, the writer sent to try his hand at poetry. So, taking the “Aeneid” of the Roman poet Virgil as the basis, Kotlyarevsky wrote a parody of it in the ordinary spoken language of ordinary people. Thus, he not only created a literary masterpiece, but also began a new era in the history of the Ukrainian language.
The story of the play "Natalka Poltavka"
Having become the director of the free theater of the city of Poltava, Ivan Kotlyarevsky was faced with the problem of the absence of interesting plays for production that would meet the requirements of the audience of that time. Being well acquainted with the life, traditions and rites of the villagers, as well as having successful literary experience behind him ("Aeneid" glorified the author throughout the country, and also proved that the language of the common people can and should be used in literature), Kotlyarevsky decides to try own strength in writing plays.
At that time, in many theaters, the play by Alexander Shakhovsky “Cossack versifier” was staged, where the life and traditions of Ukrainian settlement were shown. Unfortunately, the author was new to this topic, and although his work was included in the repertoire of many theaters for another fifty years, the critics and enlightened intelligentsia of that time spoke negatively about the realism of “Cossack Poet”.
Like Shakhovsky, Ivan Kotlyarevsky took themes from folk songs as the basis of the plot of his play, in particular from Limervni, Brala Divon Lion and others. But, unlike his predecessor, he reliably described life, habits, and most importantly - the speech of his heroes. So, when the play “Natalka Poltavka” was first staged in 1819, the audience believed in acting on the stage, because it seemed that the events of the performance were taken directly from life and were happening somewhere nearby, in a neighboring house.
The plot of the play "Natalka Poltavka"
The author decided to tell in his work about a common problem faced by poor villagers who do not have enough land. To feed themselves, they are forced to marry by calculation, abandoning true love.
The main character of the play is a beautiful young girl Natalka. Once her father was a fairly wealthy man and even allowed himself to take Peter’s orphan to his house to help him with the housework. Natalka and Petro fell in love, learning about this, his father kicked the guy out of the house, and he soon died. Natalka was left to live alone with her mother Gorpina, and soon they completely went broke. After some time, a handsome bride makes a proposal to the beautiful girl - the fussy Tetervakovsky. Natalka categorically does not like him, however, yielding to the entreaties of her mother, she accepts his offer with tears. Suddenly, her beloved Petro returns to the village. Seeing the sincerity of love of young people, the driver refuses his rights to Natalka’s hand and blesses the lovers.
Natalka Poltavka's characteristic
The main character of the play is the simple girl Natalka, the daughter of Horpina Terpiliha.
She is the embodiment of the female ideal, not only in the days of Kotlyarevsky, but now. They talk well about Natalka Poltavka’s character, quotes from other heroes: “Gold is not a girl! to myself, a yak is laboring, a yak of handicrafts, who’s to herself, I’m keeping my mother’s hands on "; “To put all mothers to their daughters”.
Having lost a prosperous life after the death of her father, she, however, does not seek to regain wealth at any cost. Therefore, when her mother woos her for local "enviable" and wealthy suitors (clerk and clerk), Natalka refuses, because she loves her Peter and hopes for his return. Meanwhile, her lover is a poor wage worker who has neither land nor any other property, so that, having married him, Natalka is unlikely to improve her financial situation much. Despite this, she refuses rich applicants to her hand, and this demonstrates not only selflessness, but also fidelity in love.
In the text of the play there are several statements in which the characteristic of Natalka Poltavka is manifested. In response to Tetervakovsky’s flirting, she answered directly: “You have the proverb“ Know your horse with the horse, and you know the ox ”; shukay themselves, kindness, in the city panels ... ". That is, in spite of everything that happened to her, she does not seek to acquire a new social status, her fate is enough for her, if only the sweetheart was nearby, and the wealthy unloved by her is not needed.
The situation is complicated by the fact that Natalka does not know whether her beloved is alive and when he will return, but to live and need something now, so the beauty has to work very hard to feed herself and her mother. From the words of the girl herself, Natalka Poltavka’s characteristic arises: “I’m not a bagata, I’m simple, but I don’t bother to spin, sew and carry water.” That is, despite the fact that the girl grew up in a wealthy family, faced with poverty, she is not ashamed to work honestly to earn a living, and also does not look for easy ways.
Natalka devotedly loves the ever complaining mother, who, unlike her daughter, did not endure the ruin so persistently. Moreover, Gorpina is trying with all her might to return the welfare to their family. The only chance to do this is to successfully marry off her beautiful and clever daughter, and then the mother shows herself not from the best side. She perfectly understands that the gentlemen who marry to her Natalka have rather dubious merits and are not respected by the villagers. If you do not even consider that Natalka is in love with another, they will still make her daughter miserable. But this woman does not stop, she achieves her goal and by hook or by crook makes her daughter accept the offer of the local rich Tetervakovsky.
However, the return of Peter gives the girl strength - she rebels both against her mother and against the hated groom and fights for her love, even when her lover begins to hesitate and for her happiness is ready to renounce her and give everything she has earned over the years of overwork to her dowry.
In this episode of the play, the character of the main character changes dramatically, and she demonstrates previously unknown features - determination and incredible courage. The refusal of his promise to marry a driver may threaten the girl with serious troubles, up to prison, but this does not stop her. In the text there is such a quotation characteristic of Natalka Poltavka at this moment - she responds to all threats: “You can’t force me to force me.” The inexorability and firmness of the girl forced her unlucky groom to make a “beautiful gesture” and let the lovers get married.
The influence of the play on culture
The appearance of the play “Natalka Poltavka” became a major event in the history of Ukrainian theater and literature. In addition to the tremendous success of the audience, and after publication - and the readers, this work has influenced much more. With this play, the Ukrainian language and folk songs quite often begin to sound from the stage. Also, the successful experience of Kotlyarevsky served as a signal to other writers and poets of that era that it can be quite successfully written in the simple language of ordinary people. In addition, after Natalka Poltavka, it became fashionable among writers to describe the lifestyle of the village. Yes, and the lyrical plot of Natalka Poltavka, and the bright, convex characters of the characters inspired many.
For example, the founder of the Ukrainian amateur theater in Kolomyia, Ivan Ozarkevich, after the death of Kotlyarevsky, published his own play in Chernivtsi. And although the action of this work took place in Kolomyia, and the main character was called Annychka, the rest of the plot was an almost complete copy of Natalka Poltavka.
A little later, the famous Ukrainian composer N. Lysenko based on the play wrote the opera of the same name, which is now a classic.
With the advent of the movie, the work was filmed.
Many years have passed since the creation of the play Natalka Poltavka. And although much has changed during all this time, the problems faced by the heroes of this work remain relevant today. And now you can meet the narrow-minded, but wealthy bribe takers, dreaming of marrying good, but poor beauties. And while these girls choose love instead of marriage , our society has hope for the future.