Passionate nature or sick soul

in Leskov’s essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District”.

Literature lesson in 10th grade.

Teacher Shulepova Irina Anatolyevna

Didactic purpose : to promote the formation of UUD in the process of understanding and comprehending the idea of ​​Leskov’s essay by means of activating students’ independent cognitive activity.

Lesson type : a lesson in learning new material and primary consolidation.

Planned results (content goals):

Subject :

Know the concept of “essay”;

Compare heroes of different works;

Evaluate the actions of the heroes;

Analyze the text of a work of fiction.

Metasubject:

Cognitive :

Find in text necessary information;

Analyze, compare, contrast, generalize, draw conclusions.

Communication :

Collaborate productively and communicate with peers when solving various educational tasks;

Formulate and express own opinion By lesson problem,

Adequately use speech means to solve various communicative tasks.

Regulatory :

Choose actions in accordance with the assigned tasks;

Correct your own answers.

Personal:

Develop meaning-making;

Form artistic taste;

Develop the ability to be independent educational activities;

To educate a creative reader, a sensitive listener;

Educate citizens moral qualities personality.

Teaching methods : reproductive, partially search.

Forms of organization of students’ cognitive activity : frontal, individual, group.

During the classes.

There is righteous happiness, and there is sinful happiness.

The righteous will not cross anyone,

and sinners will overcome everything .

Leskov "Non-Lethal Golovan".

Fear the man whose God is in heaven .

B.Shaw.

Lesson organization.

1.Opening speech by the teacher.

The essay “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” was first published in the magazine “Epoch” in 1865 under the title “Lady Macbeth of our District”. The story shows unbreakable connection capital with a love crime. This is one of the artistic peaks of Leskov’s work. The main content of N. S. Leskov’s essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is the theme of love, the theme of a tragic female fate.

2.Genre originality .

Define an essay.

Feature article - one of the varieties of the small form of epic literature - the story, which differs from its other form, the short story, in the absence of a single, acute and quickly resolved conflict and in the greater development of the descriptive image.

An essay is an artistic and journalistic genre that combines logical-rational and emotional-imaginative ways of reflecting reality to address certain aspects of the concept of a person or social life.

Essay literaturetouches not on the problems of the formation of the character of an individual in its conflicts with the established social environment, as is inherent in the short story (and novel), but on the problems of the civil and moral state of the “environment” (usually embodied in individual individuals) - “moral descriptive” problems; it has great cognitive diversity.Essay literatureusually combines features fiction and journalism.

3. Semantics of the name, its understanding.

The first part of the title refers us to Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth"

A pre-prepared student briefly tells the content of the tragedy.

Conclusion : Shakespeare made Macbeth the complete embodiment of political despotism and ambition. Lady Macbeth is much like her husband. But this royal woman's heart turned to stone. All her feelings are subordinated to ambition. Even her love is ambitious. She loves Macbeth because he is superior to all other people. What is important to her is not the joy that loving woman receives from the reciprocal feelings of a man, and his ability to elevate himself and at the same time her. She wants to be the wife of the first person in the state. Such love happens, it can be sincere and strong in its own way, but, of course, it is a perversion of true love.

What distinguishes her from Macbeth is her determination. Her ambition is truly a passion, blind, impatient and indomitable. She is an iron woman, a devil in beautiful form. If Macbeth's ambition is a passion fighting with his moral consciousness, then in it it is a mania that has destroyed all other feelings. She is completely devoid of moral concepts.

What is strange about the title of Leskov’s work?

(A collision of concepts from different stylistic layers: “Lady Macbeth” is an association with Shakespeare’s tragedy, a lady is a lady from high society, so we correlate the work with high content, sublime style. Mtsensk district (associations: Kukarsky district, Yaransky district) - the correlation of tragedy with a remote Russian province).

Conclusion by name : the author expands the scope of what is happening in the essay. No matter which social group belongs, what social status a person (woman) has, he is capable of experiencing both high and low feelings, desires, and aspirations. Both good and evil coexist equally in it.

4.Analysis of the essay.

Who main character? (Katerina Lvovna Izmailova)

We pose the problematic question of the lesson: “Who is Katerina Izmailova -passionate nature or sick soul?

What kind of character did she have?Katerina Izmailova? Confirm with text.

(“the character was ardent,” i.e. passionate, she was accustomed to simplicity and freedom)

(text – beginning, 1 paragraph)

Katerina Izmailova could achieve a lot both in life and in love.

Tell her marriage story. (Fictional retelling-monologue (the story of Katerina’s marriage) in the first person. (Chapter 1)).

Conclusion : in the life of Katerina Izmailova there is no love, only boredom, so she is looking for activities and entertainment on the side.

Is Katerina Izmailova to blame for this?

(both yes and no. Yes, because her life was not filled spiritually: Katerina Izmailova did not love her husband, did not have a favorite activity, did not pray, did not read. No, because her husband did not love her either)

And passion had to find its manifestation, her ardent nature had to “unfold to its full extent”

Where did her passion begin?

(from the meeting with Sergei, from how she was weighed: “Wonderful”)

The outlandish earthly heaviness means a monstrous, but still hidden force. And what does the little man say to this: “Is our body strong enough?”

How do you understand his words? (it is not the body that leaves traces on the earth, but the human soul in human memory).

What is Sergei like? How is he behaving?

(appearance: “with a daring, handsome face”

Aksinya about Sergei: “How brave!”

With Katerina Izmailova: “Sergei whispered cheekily”)

Conclusion : he knows what he is doing, you can feel in him not love, but calculation. It confirms

For what? (for money, power)

What is Katerina Izmailova like in love?

She expected something special from life - love. And a chance meeting kindled her soul so much that she asks her father-in-law for her lover. Having been refused, she poisoned her father-in-law.

Does she have any regrets, any movement of conscience?

(no, passion has captured her soul and is beyond the limits of betrayal) “She has gone mad with her happiness.” But happiness comes in different forms. Leskov has these words (see epigraph): “There is righteous happiness, and there is sinful happiness. The righteous will not step over anyone, but the sinful will step over everything.”

What is Katerina Izmailova going through?

(through God's commandments - do not commit adultery, do not kill.)

Having killed once, he kills again with ease. Talk about killing your husband (chapters 7–8).

According to the Bible, the law of marriage is: “Two are one flesh.” And Katerina Lvovna crushed this flesh with her own hands - calmly, even with sharp pride in her invincibility.

Remember the epigraph to the essay. How was he understood?

(This is just “singing the first song when you’re excited to sing”, “when you’re getting excited” - being embarrassed, not yet daring to take decisive actions, and then it will go on its own.)

And here Katerina Lvovna lives, “reigns,” even carries a child under her heart. Everything seemed to have happened according to the ideal (remember, I wanted to give birth to a baby “for fun”). This high ideal - motherhood - collides with another high Christian ideal - do not commit adultery, because the child is not from your husband - from your lover. Let us remember Katerina from Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm,” who, having violated this divine law, was no longer able to live in peace: she admitted to treason because her conscience did not allow her to step over sinful happiness.)

- Does Katerina Izmailova have a conscience? (Leskov’s heroine doesn’t have this, only her wonderful dreams are still disturbing.)

Tell about Katerina Lvovna’s dreams.

1st dream – chapter 6 (the cat is just a cat for now).

2nd dream – chapter 7 (a cat that looks like Boris Timofeevich, who was killed).

Conclusion: It turns out that it’s not so easy to “sing a song.”

Dreams are symbolic. Is it possible that conscience is awakening in the young merchant’s wife? (Not yet.)

Symbolic words also sound in the mouth of grandmother Fedya (chapter 10: “Work hard, Katerinushka...”) - read.

How did you understand? (amulets of the servant of God)

- How did Katerina work? (Killed Fedya.)

And before the next murder, “her own child turned for the first time under her heart, and her chest felt cold” (Chapter 10).

- Is it a coincidence that Leskov mentions this detail?

(Nature itself, feminine nature warns her against the planned crime. But no, she does not heed the voice of the soul, the baby’s light did not break through the darkness of the soul: “He who began evil will wallow in it” (Shakespeare).

Unlike the first two murders, retribution came immediately. How did it happen?

- Why do you think - right away?

(A pure, angelic, sinless soul was destroyed. A little sufferer, a youth pleasing to God; even the name is symbolic: “Fedor” translated from Greek means “God’s gift.”)

Take a closer look at the reproduction of I. Glazunov’s painting “Boy”. What did the artist emphasize?

(Big-eyed youth against the background of icons, a hand on his chest as a paraphrase of passions for the murdered Dmitry)

Katerina’s arrest is a reproach for what she did before God. But Katerina Izmailova never mentioned God. What is this? Maybe all the people in Mtsensk district are atheists? Confirm your thought with the text (chapter 12): “Our people are devout...”

The words about Katerina Izmailova sound like an antithesis: “I’ve become depleted...”

Conclusion : the highest moral law has been violated, the commandment of God - “thou shalt not kill”; for the highest value on earth is human life. That is why the depth of the moral decline of Katerina and Sergei is so great.

What does passion unleashed lead to?

(Freedom, which knows no moral restrictions, turns into its opposite. A passionate nature, finding itself in the grip of the “freedom” of crimes, is inevitably doomed to death.)

So, the earthly judgment, the human judgment, has been completed. Did he make a special impression on Katerina Lvovna? Confirm with the text (chapter 13).

(She still loves me.)

Tell us about the relationship between Katerina Izmailova and Sergei in hard labor.

Did hard labor change Leskov’s heroine?

(Yes, now this is not a cold-blooded killer, causing horror and amazement, but a rejected woman suffering from love.)

- Do you feel sorry for her? Why?

(She is a victim, an outcast, but she still loves, even stronger (chapter 14). The more reckless her love, the more frank and cynical is Sergei’s abuse of her and her feelings. The abyss of the moral decline of the former clerk is so terrible that they are even trying to reproach him seasoned convicts).

Bernard Shaw warned: “Fear the man whose God is in heaven.” How do you understand these words?

(God is conscience, an internal judge. There is no such God in the soul - man is terrible. Sergei remained like this. This was Katerina Lvovna before hard labor.)

The changes in Katerina will help to see the appeal to the symbolism of landscape scenes.

Independent work on landscape analysis (work on the text with a pencil, 3 minutes). (The table is filled in as work progresses.)

Questions on the board:

What color is most often found in descriptions of nature?

Find the image word that Leskov uses in this passage?

What is the symbolism of the landscape scene?

Option 1.
Text, ch. 6.
“Golden Night”, “Paradise”,
white color, young apple tree color, apple tree filled with white flowers.
Symbolism.
White color in nature is “paradise”. But blackness, dirt, darkness in the soul is “hell”.

Option 2.
Text, ch. 15.
“The most bleak picture”, “hell”,
dirt, darkness, gray sky, the wind moans.

Symbolism.
Dirt, darkness on the street is “hell”, but light in the soul is “heaven” (cleansing pain)

Conclusion : through physical pain a person comes to awareness, a feeling of the soul. Shakespeare in his tragedy said about Lady Macbeth: “She is sick not in body, but in soul.”

Katerina Izmailova has a sick soul. But the limit of her own suffering and torment awakens glimpses of moral consciousness in Leskov’s heroine, who previously knew neither guilt nor remorse.

The Volga makes us remember another Katerina - from Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm”. We feel that the end is approaching. But Katerina Kabanova dies herself, and Katerina Izmailova takes with her another soul - Sonetka. For a moment, Katerina Lvovna’s soul seemed to enter a ray of light and again plunged into darkness.

5.Result of the conversation-analysis.

I would like to quote L. Anninsky: “Terrible unpredictability is revealed in the souls of heroes. What kind of “Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky is there - this is not a ray of light, here a fountain of blood flows from the bottom of the soul: here “Anna Karenina” is foreshadowed - the vengeance of “demonic passion”. Here Dostoevsky’s problematics match – it was not for nothing that Dostoevsky published “Lady Macbeth...” in his magazine. You can’t fit Leskov’s heroine into any typology – a four-time murderer for love.”

How will you answer the question of the topic “Who is Katerina Izmailova -passionate nature or sick soul? Give your reasons.

6. Reflection .

What did you discover for yourself in this essay on classical Russian literature?

Homework: write a comparison essay between Katerina Kabanova and Katerina Izmailova.

Essays based on the work "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (Leskov N.S.)

Does the end always justify the means? (based on the story "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District" by N.S. Leskov)

Does the end always justify the means?

Katerina Lvovna Izmailova is a strong character, an extraordinary personality, a bourgeois woman trying to fight against the world of property that has enslaved her. Love turns her into a passionate, ardent nature.
Katerina did not see happiness in marriage. She spent her days in melancholy and loneliness, “from which it is fun, they say, even to hang yourself”; She had no friends or close acquaintances. Having lived with her husband for five whole years, fate never gave them children, while Katerina saw in the baby a remedy for constant melancholy and boredom.
“On the sixth spring of Katerina Lvovna’s marriage,” fate finally made the heroine happy, giving her the opportunity to experience the most tender and sublime feeling - love, which, unfortunately, turned out to be disastrous for Katerina.
On earth, many have loved and love, but for everyone love is something different, personal, mysterious. Some experience romantic love, while others experience passionate love. There are many more types of this wonderful feeling that can be distinguished, but Katerina loved as passionately and strongly as her ardent and hot nature allowed her. For the sake of her beloved, she was ready to do anything, make any sacrifice, and could commit a rash, even cruel act. The heroine managed to kill not only her husband and father-in-law, but also a small, defenseless child. The burning feeling not only destroyed fear, sympathy and pity in Katerina’s soul, but also gave rise to cruelty, extraordinary courage and cunning, as well as a great desire to fight for her love, resorting to any methods and means.
It seems to me that Sergei was also capable of anything, but not because he loved, but because the purpose of communicating with a bourgeois woman was to obtain some capital. Katerina attracted him as a woman who could provide a cheerful future life. His plan would have worked one hundred percent after the death of the heroine’s husband and father-in-law, but suddenly the nephew of the deceased husband, Fedya Lemin, appears. If earlier Sergei participated in crimes as an accomplice, a person who only helped, now he himself hints at the murder of an innocent baby, forcing Katerina to believe that Fedya is a real threat to receiving the money owed. It was said that “if it weren’t for this Fedya, she, Katerina Lvovna, would give birth to a child before nine months after her husband disappeared, she would get all her husband’s capital, and then there would be no end to their happiness.” Katerina, calculating and cold, listened to these statements, which acted like a witchcraft spell on her brain and psyche, and began to understand that this obstacle must be eliminated. These remarks sank deep into her mind and heart. She is ready to do everything (even without benefit or meaning) that Sergei says. Katya became a hostage of love, Seryozha's slave.
During interrogation, she openly admitted that it was she who committed the murders because of Sergei, “for him!”, because of love. This love did not extend to anyone other than the hero, which is why Katerina rejected her child: “her love for her father, like the love of many passionate women, did not transfer any part of it to the child.” She no longer needed anything or anyone; only kind words or a look could revive her to life.
Every day, on the way to hard labor, he became colder and more indifferent to Katerina. He began to pester the women around him on the trip. He had no hope for a quick release or a happy future life. He also did not achieve his goal: he did not see any money from Katya. All the efforts he made to achieve positive results were in vain. He openly met with Sonetka and deliberately insulted Katya on the ferry. Katerina, seeing how her beloved man flirts with another, begins to be jealous, and the jealousy of a passionate woman is destructive not only for the heroine, but also for the people around her. She went wild from Sergei’s cruel indifference; she could not accomplish anything other than suicide, since she was unable to survive or overcome such strong and passionate love in her soul. Loving Sergei, she did not harm him, she just decided to leave his life.
It seems to me that when she was dying, Katerina felt disappointment and grief in her soul, because her love turned out to be useless, unhappy, it did not bring good to people, it only destroyed several innocent people.

Two Catherines in Russian literature (based on the works of A.N. Ostrovsky “The Thunderstorm” and N.S. Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”)

A.N. Ostrovsky and N.S. Leskov are writers who “introduced” heroes from the merchant milieu into Russian literature. Before them, only nobles existed on the pages of works. Readers observed their lives, problems, ideological throwings, sympathized with them and worried about them.
Ostrovsky, and after him Leskov, showed that people from other, “lower” strata of society are also worthy of attention, sympathy, and consideration. They immersed the reader in the merchant environment, way of life and thoughts, merchant tradition. Moreover, these writers brought to the stage not just people of the merchant class. They asked the question female share, women's fate precisely in the merchant environment.
It is important that no one paid attention to this before; few people were interested in the inner world of women, their fate. And here entire works are devoted to this very issue! Ostrovsky and Leskov showed that merchant women are also capable of experiences, deep feelings, passions, that dramas and even tragedies occur in their destinies. And, most importantly, they can be helped if you just pay attention to these women.
So, the heroines of the drama A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" and the story by N.S. Leskova's "Lady Macbeth..." are women, two Katerinas - Katerina Kabanova and Katerina Izmailova. These heroines have a lot in common. Both of them are from merchant patriarchal families. Both are young, full of vitality and energy. Both were married to unloved husbands - according to merchant tradition.
Kabanova’s husband is young, but is completely under the thumb of his mother, who runs all affairs not only at home, but throughout the city. Tikhon cannot protect Katerina, who is constantly tormented by Kabanikha with reproaches and unfair accusations. And all because the daughter-in-law is radically different from traditional ideas about a merchant’s wife. Katerina wants to live out of love and conscience, and not for show, deceitfully and hypocritically, performing rituals that she does not understand (howling when seeing off her husband, for example).-
Katerina Izmailova also finds it very difficult to endure life in her husband’s house, mainly because the life of a woman in a merchant’s house is boring. What should a rich merchant's wife do? Katerina wanders from corner to corner in her big house, sleeps and suffers from idleness.
The heroine, like Katerina Kabanova, is tormented by unfair accusations. A silent reproach to the heroine is that she does not have children from her elderly husband, although the Izmailov family is eagerly awaiting heirs. It is worth noting that Katerina Kabanova has no children, and this also weighs on the heroine.
Writers emphasize that married life behind locked doors “strangles” heroines, destroys their potential, all the good that is in them. Both Izmailova and Kabanova tell with regret what they were like as girls - cheerful, full of joy of life, energy, happiness. And how unbearable it is for them to live in marriage.
Another roll call in the fate of the heroines was their “sin” - betrayal of their husband. But if Katerina Kabanova goes for it, tormented by remorse, knowing that she is committing a sin, then Katerina Izmailova does not even think about it. She is completely absorbed in her feelings for the clerk Sergei and is ready to do anything for him. This passionate nature completely surrendered to her feeling, which knows no boundaries: neither physical, nor moral, nor moral.
And this is the fundamental difference between Katerina Izmailova and Katerina Kabanova. She is also a passionate nature, thirsty for love, ready to do a lot for the sake of her loved one. But inside the heroine of “The Thunderstorm” there are strong moral foundations, a core that allows her to clearly distinguish where is Good and where is Evil. Therefore, having given herself over to a happy “sin,” Katerina already knows exactly what will follow—punishment. And, above all, the punishment is internal, her own. We remember that, unable to withstand the torment of conscience and the pressure of the environment, the heroine commits suicide - she throws herself into the Volga.
Katerina Izmailova dies differently - trying to drown her happier rival: “Katerina Lvovna was trembling. Her wandering gaze concentrated and became wild. Hands once or twice stretched out into space unknown where and fell again. Another minute - and she suddenly swayed all over, without taking her eyes off the dark wave, bent down, grabbed Sonetka by the legs and in one fell swoop threw her over the side of the ferry.”
The heroine understands that she will die along with another girl, but this does not stop her: why should she live if Sergei no longer loves her?
In her animal, godless love, Izmailova reaches the limit: on her conscience is the blood of three innocent people, including a child. This love and all the crimes devastate the heroine: “...for her there was neither light nor darkness, neither bad nor good, nor boredom, nor joy; She didn’t understand anything, didn’t love anyone and didn’t love herself.” She did not love Izmailov and her own child from the man she adored - she gave him away, not worrying at all about his fate, his future fate.
The fate of the heroines of both works are similar in one more way - both of them turned out to be betrayed by their loved ones. Boris Grigorievich, frightened by Dikiy, leaves, leaving Katerina Kabanova to the mercy of fate. It turns out he's just weak person. Sergei meanly mocks Katerina, realizing that he can get nothing more from her.
Two Katerinas... Two destinies... Two ruined lives... These heroines are similar in many ways, but their essence is still, in my opinion, different. Katerina Izmailova lived by passions, obeying only the call of her flesh. Katerina Kabanova thought about her soul; she had a strong moral foundation. And although she also succumbed to temptation, the story of her love and death is much closer to me, it evokes more sympathy and emotional response in me.

Are love and villainy incompatible things? (based on the story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by N.S. Leskov)

Are love and villainy incompatible things? (based on the story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by N.S. Leskov)

At the center of Leskov’s story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is the story of “fatal love” that ended tragically. This story is interesting and unusual in that it takes place in the Russian outback and its participants are completely simple people- the merchant's family and their clerk. However, the passions played out here are not at all “simple” - akin to Shakespeare’s. The ending of the whole story is also similar to Shakespearean tragedies - the death of the main character of the story.
It was she, the young merchant’s wife Katerina Lvovna, who, as it turned out, was ready to do anything for the sake of love. But she did not love her husband, the old merchant Izmailov, but his manager, the handsome young Sergei.
The author emphasizes that Katerina’s married life was not happy: the heroine lived in abundance, but her entire existence was saturated with boredom, because she lived with an unloved husband and could not even have children. This is why, it seems to me, Katerina Lvovna became so attached to the manager Sergei. She was young, she wanted to live life to the fullest, experience strong emotions. And Sergei, to some extent, gave her all this. Although we immediately understand that his feeling is only a passing hobby, a “cure for boredom” from which he also suffered.
With the appearance of Sergei, violent passions took possession of Katerina Lvovna’s soul, and she completely submitted to them. So, the heroine, without hesitation, poisoned her father-in-law Boris Timofeevich when he guessed about her affair with Sergei: “Boris Timofeevich ate mushrooms with gruel at night, and he began to have heartburn.” And after Boris Timofeevich’s funeral, in the absence of her husband, Katerina completely “broke up” - she did not hide her feelings for the clerk to anyone.
However, the husband was supposed to return soon, and Sergei began to feel sad and sad more and more often. Soon he opened up to Katerina - he dreams of being her legal husband, and not her lover. And the woman promised him: “Well, I already know how I will make you a merchant and live with you completely properly.”
And on the day of her husband’s arrival, she carried out her plan: “In one movement she threw Sergei away from her, quickly rushed at her husband and, before Zinovy ​​Borisych had time to jump to the window, grabbed him from behind with her thin fingers by the throat and, like a damp sheaf of hemp, threw him onto floor".
For the sake of fairness, it must be said that Katerina gave her husband a chance - first she found out his reaction to her affair with Sergei. But when I saw that Zinovy ​​Borisovich was not going to put up with his wife’s lover, she instantly made a decision. The heroine kills her husband, making Sergei an accomplice.
It seems that Katerina commits her crimes in some kind of insanity, as if captured by evil forces - her indifference to everyone except her lover is so terrible. She denies her dying husband the most sacred thing - communion before death: “To confess,” he said even more indistinctly, trembling and glancing sideways at the warm blood condensing under his hair.
“You’ll be good and so,” whispered Katerina Lvovna.”
But the list of the heroine’s crimes does not end there either - she goes to the end in her atrocities. At the instigation of Sergei Filipich, who truly became her “evil angel,” Katerina kills her husband’s little nephew, who owned part of the family capital.
However, inevitable punishment comes - the heroes are condemned to hard labor for their crimes. And it soon turns out that Sergei’s love for Katerina was largely based on her wealth. Now, when the heroine has lost everything, she has also lost Sergei’s affection - he sharply changed his attitude towards her, began to look at other women: “... sometimes even in her non-tearful eyes, tears of anger and frustration welled up in the darkness of night dates; but she endured everything, remained silent and wanted to deceive herself.”
And in an instant, Katerina’s heart could not stand it - she realized that Sergei had exchanged her for the beautiful Sonetka. Now the heroine, who had devoted herself entirely to her beloved, had nothing to lose: “Another minute - and she suddenly swayed all over, without taking her eyes off the dark wave, bent down, grabbed Sonetka by the legs and in one fell swoop threw her over the side of the ferry.”
This was the heroine’s last crime, which ended tragically for her - she drowned along with Sonetka, who was so hated by her: “at the same time, from another wave, Katerina Lvovna rose above the water almost waist-deep, rushed at Sonetka, like a strong pike at soft-feathered flesh, and both never showed up again.”
So, are love and villainy really that incompatible? The feeling of passion so captured the soul of Katerina - a passionate and temperamental nature - that she forgot about everything except her beloved. The heroine was ready to do anything and did everything to keep Sergei close, to make him happy. Perhaps this is generally female nature - to devote oneself to a beloved man, to forget about everything in the world except his interests.
However, we should not forget that Katerina Lvovna suffered a well-deserved punishment. This is not only the court of society, but also the court of supreme justice (the heroine experienced all the torments that her deceived husband experienced). In addition, until the very end, the woman was haunted by pangs of conscience - the people she killed constantly appeared.
Thus, Leskov shows us that the heroine’s love cannot serve as an excuse for her villainy, because true love, love from God, is incompatible with villainy.

Essay-reflection: “Crime. Who is guilty?" (Based on the works of “The Thunderstorm” by A.N. Ostrovsky and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by N.S. Leskov)

A crime is an atrocity. For every crime there is punishment. What pushes people to commit a crime, what motivates them? What are the motives? To commit a crime means to go against any moral foundations, moral principles of both society and the individual himself. Therefore, there is something much more powerful, something that prevails over a person.

Let's try to compare two heroines: Katerina Petrovna Kabanova A.N. Ostrovsky and Katerina Lvovna Izmailova N.S. Leskova.

In these works we see two heroines with the same name Katerina, which means “eternally pure.” This name is very suitable for one of them, Katerina Kabanova: she is naive, pure and immaculate. Ostrovsky portrayed her as a person who does not accept the world in which she lives. Rejection of the world is beyond her control, it comes from her very heart. Dobrolyubov called this world a “dark kingdom”, and Katerina a “ray of light” in it. Scary figures" dark kingdom"Ostrovsky contrasted the image of a woman with an ardent and pure heart. Katerina falls in love with a man who is by no means worthy of her Great love with which her heart is full. The feeling of love and the sense of duty are fighting in her. But the consciousness of her own sinfulness is unbearable for her, “her whole heart was torn” from constant internal struggle, and Katerina, seeing no other way out, rushes into the Volga.

The heroine of Leskov’s essay is completely different. It is difficult to call her pure and immaculate. Of course, when we first meet Katerina Izmailova, we consider her not typical of Russia at that time, especially considering that Leskov refers to a Shakespearean tragedy.

And only by looking closely at Izmailova, one can notice that she, like Ostrovsky’s Katerina, protests against the patriarchal way of life that stifles her. Leskov tried to create not a Russian version of Shakespeare’s villainess, but an image strong woman, “lost” in the “dark kingdom”.

In both works one can guess the real world of the Russian province mid-19th century. The similarity of some details allows us to see the fundamental difference between two heroines living in similar conditions.

Both Katerinas are merchants, their families have wealth. Both were born in a patriarchal world, in the “dark kingdom,” but their childhood and adolescence passed under the sign of “simplicity and freedom.” “...I lived... like a bird in the wild. My mother doted on me,... she didn’t force me to work; whatever I wanted, I did...” says Katerina Kabanova about her life as a girl. Katerina Izmailova also “had an ardent character, and, living as a girl in poverty, she got used to simplicity and freedom...” But, having complete freedom of action, how differently they disposed of it! “Sprinkle sunflower husks through the gate of a passing young man…” - that’s what Katerina Lvovna wanted. The soul of Katerina Kabanova demanded something completely different: “And to death I loved going to church! Surely, it used to be, I will enter heaven..., such a light column goes down from the dome, and in this column there is smoke, like clouds, and I see, it used to be , as if angels are flying and singing in this pillar...” Comparing the two heroines, we notice that the spiritual world of Katerina Kabanova is disproportionately richer.

Both heroines married without love. “No, how can I not love him! I feel sorry for him very much!” Kabanova says about Tikhon. But pity is not love. The fate of Katerina Lvovna is similar: “They gave her in marriage to... the merchant Izmailov... not out of love or any attraction, but because Izmailov was wooing her...” But if Ostrovsky’s heroine felt sorry for her husband and at least some feeling connected them, then Katerina Lvovna did not feel any feelings for her husband, and got married because of poverty.

Despite the atrocities committed by the heroine, her fate evokes pity and sympathy. Yes, this woman was cruel and merciless. Yes, no one gave her the right to control other people's lives. But we should not forget that all this was done by her in the name of love, for the sake of a person who, as it turned out, did not deserve such sacrifices at all. Thus, a banal melodrama about a bored merchant’s wife, under Leskov’s pen, grows into a tragic story of a woman yearning for love, motherhood, kind words and fidelity.

Human life has absolute value, therefore the villainy that takes it away is equally absolute. The guilt of the crimes committed by Katerina Izmailova lies primarily in herself, in her “animal” passion for Sergei; The guilt of Kabanova’s crime was initially inherent in the surrounding society, its environment.

Comparison of the heroine of the play “The Thunderstorm” by Katerina Kabanova and the heroine of the essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by Katerina Izmailova

“The Thunderstorm” and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” are two famous works of two great Russian writers. They were created around the same time (1859 and 1865). Even the main characters are both Katerinas. Leskov’s essay, however, can be considered a kind of polemic with Ostrovsky’s play. Let's try to compare the heroines of these works.
So, both heroines are young wives, married off not for love. They are both merchants and therefore have no financial problems. In their past there remains a carefree childhood and adolescence in parental home. Also, according to merchant tradition, house-building order reigns in their houses. Both have no children. The character of both Katerinas reveals ardor, passion, love leads them to self-forgetfulness, they both decided to sin. Their sad end is also the same - both committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river.
But the heroines also have many differences. So from Greek, the name Catherine means “pure, immaculate.” This definition fully characterizes Ekaterina Kabanova, she is “a ray of light in dark kingdom"of the city of Kalinov, her image and character do not change in any way during the action and are static. In relation to Ekaterina Izmailova, this characteristic is true only at the beginning of the essay; her image is dynamic, it develops, or even rather degrades as the story progresses. If we look at Izmailova’s patronymic and surname, this is what comes out: Ekaterina is “immaculate”, Lvovna is “animal, wild”, Izmailova - something foreign, non-native comes from this surname.
Both heroines decided to cheat on their husband, but if Katerina Kabanova blames herself and punishes herself for this, believes that she has done something terrible, then Katerina Izmailova takes this calmly and is ready to follow her sin into the abyss.
And this is the fundamental difference between Katerina Izmailova and Katerina Kabanova. Kabanova is passionate, ready to do a lot for the sake of her loved one. But inside the heroine of “The Thunderstorm” there are strong moral foundations, a core that allows her to clearly distinguish where is Good and where is Evil. Therefore, having given herself over to a happy “sin,” Katerina already knows for sure that punishment will follow. And, above all, the punishment is internal, her own. We remember that, unable to withstand the torments of conscience and the pressure of the environment, the heroine commits suicide - she throws herself into the Volga.
Ekaterina Kabanova, in order to save her love and not obey Kabanikha, takes a desperate step - suicide. At this moment she is pure, she washes away her sin in water.
Ekaterina Izmailova, for the sake of her love, decides to kill three people, including her own husband and a small, innocent boy. It’s as if a beast is awakening in her, she is ready to do anything in order to be with her lover. Yes, this is clearly visible in final scene, where Izmailova throws herself and her rival into the river.

These heroines are similar in many ways, but their essence is still, in my opinion, different. Katerina Izmailova lived by passions, obeying only the call of her flesh. Katerina Kabanova thought about her soul; she had a strong moral foundation. And although she also succumbed to temptation, the story of her love and death is much closer to me, it evokes more sympathy and emotional response in me.

The theme of love in N. Leskov's story "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk"

The main theme touched upon by N.S. Leskov in the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is the theme of love; love that has no boundaries, love for which they do everything, even murder.
The main character is the merchant's wife Katerina Lvovna Izmailova; The main character is clerk Sergei. The story consists of fifteen chapters.
In the first chapter, the reader learns that Katerina Lvovna is a young, twenty-four-year-old girl, quite sweet, although not beautiful. Before her marriage she was a cheerful laugher, but after the wedding her life changed. The merchant Izmailov was a strict widower of about fifty, he lived with his father Boris Timofeevich and his whole life consisted of trade. From time to time he leaves, and his young wife finds no place for herself. Boredom, the most uncontrollable one, pushes her to take a walk around the yard one day. Here she meets the clerk Sergei, an unusually handsome guy, about whom they say that the woman you want will be flattered and driven to sin.
One warm evening, Katerina Lvovna is sitting in her high room by the window, when she suddenly sees Sergei. Sergei bows to her and within a few moments finds himself at her door. The meaningless conversation ends at the bedside in a dark corner. Since then, Sergei begins to visit Katerina Lvovna at night, coming and going along the pillars that support the young woman’s gallery. However, one night his father-in-law Boris Timofeevich sees him - he punishes Sergei with whips, promising that with the arrival of his son, Katerina Lvovna will be pulled out in the stables, and Sergei will be sent to prison. But the next morning, the father-in-law, after eating mushrooms and gruel, gets heartburn, and a few hours later he dies, just like the rats died in the barn, for which only Katerina Lvovna had poison. Now the love of the owner’s wife and the clerk is flaring up more than ever, they already know about it in the yard, but they think like this: they say, this is her business, and she will have an answer.
In the chapter of N.S. Leskov’s story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, it is said that very often Katerina Lvovna has the same nightmare dream. It’s as if a huge cat is walking on her bed, purring, and then suddenly lies down between her and Sergei. Sometimes the cat talks to her: I’m no cat, Katerina Lvovna, I’m the famous merchant Boris Timofeevich. The only thing that makes me so bad now is that all my bones inside are cracked from my sister-in-law’s treat. A young woman looks at a cat, and it has the head of Boris Timofeevich, and instead of eyes there are circles of fire. That same night, her husband, Zinovy ​​Borisovich, returns home. Katerina Lvovna hides Sergei on a pole behind the gallery, throwing his shoes and clothes there. The husband who comes in asks to put the samovar on him, and then asks why the bed has been folded in two in his absence, and points to Sergei’s woolen belt, which he finds on the sheet. Katerina Lvovna calls Sergei in response, her husband is stunned by such impudence. Without thinking twice, the woman begins to strangle her husband, then hits him with a cast candlestick. When Zinovy ​​Borisovich falls, Sergei sits on him. Soon the merchant dies. The young housewife and Sergei bury him in the cellar.
Now Sergei begins to walk like a real master, and Katerina Lvovna conceives a child from him. However, their happiness turns out to be short-lived: it turns out that the merchant had a nephew, Fedya, who has more rights to the inheritance. Sergei convinces Katerina that because of Fedya, who has now moved in with them; lovers will not have happiness and power... They are planning to kill their nephew.
In the eleventh chapter, Katerina Lvovna carries out her plans, and, of course, not without the help of Sergei. The nephew is being smothered with a large pillow. But all this is seen by a curious person who at that moment looked through the gap between the shutters. A crowd instantly gathers and breaks into the house...
Both Sergei, who confessed to all the murders, and Katerina, are sent to hard labor. The child who is born shortly before is given to the husband's relative, since only this child remains the only heir.
IN final chapters the author tells about the misadventures of Katerina Lvovna in exile. Here Sergei completely abandons her, begins to openly cheat on her, but she continues to love him. From time to time he comes to her on a date, and during one of these meetings he asks Katerina Lvovna for stockings, since his feet allegedly hurt a lot. Katerina Lvovna gives away beautiful woolen stockings. The next morning, she sees them on the feet of Sonetka, a young girl and Sergei’s current girlfriend. The young woman understands that all her feelings for Sergei are meaningless and are not needed by him, and then she decides to do the last thing...
On one of the stormy days, convicts are transported by ferry across the Volga. Sergey, as has become customary in Lately, starts laughing at Katerina Lvovna again. She looks blankly, and then suddenly grabs Sonetka standing next to her and throws herself overboard. It is impossible to save them.
This concludes N.S. Leskov’s story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

How did I feel after reading “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by N.S. Leskova

The plot of the story is based on N.S. Leskov’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is a simple, everyday, but at the same time, full of tragedy story. She talks about the love of the merchant's wife Katerina Lvovna for her worker Sergei. This blind, destructive love-passion pushes a woman to the worst thing - murder.
First, the heroine decides to poison her father-in-law. Boris Timofeich found out about Katerina Lvovna’s relationship with Sergei and threatened to tell her husband about it.
One crime led to another. Rumors about his wife’s affair with Sergei reached Zinovy ​​Borisovich. He came home with many doubts in his heart and wanting to figure everything out. But Katerina Lvovna had long ago decided what to do. As soon as she meets her husband, the heroine takes Sergei out of the room and, without shame, admits that she and he are lovers. When the enraged Zinovy ​​Borisovich jumps up to “put in their place” his wife and Sergei, the heroine begins to strangle him. Together with their lover, they kill the merchant.
But the chain of bloody crimes does not end there. The heroes commit another, probably the most serious, murder - they strangle a little boy, the nephew of Zinovy ​​Borisovich, who was the heir to part of their family’s money.
At first glance, it seems that it was Katerina Lvovna who conceived and committed all these murders. Sergei was a passion, an outlet, and happiness for the heroine. It is not for nothing that Leskov emphasizes that before meeting him, the woman died of boredom and melancholy - after all, the life of a merchant’s wife was not very diverse. With Sergei, love and passion entered Katerina Lvovna’s life. And this was vital for the heroine, with her character and temperament. And everything she did, this woman did for the sake of Sergei, for the sake of the fact that he was with her.
Of course, in my opinion, the heroine’s feelings do not justify Katerina Lvovna’s crimes. She forgot all human laws, despised God for the sake of her passion. In this, the heroine became like animals that are guided only by instincts. Katerina Lvovna committed an unforgivable sin, fell very low, for which she paid with a broken heart, a distorted fate, and death.
But, I think that her lover, Sergei, fell much lower. If a woman is to some extent justified by a sincere, albeit carnal, feeling, then the hero acted prudently and soullessly from the very beginning. It was he who, manipulating Katerina Lvovna’s feelings, pushed the woman to commit all the murders, except, perhaps, the very first one. It was after him that Sergei realized that the heroine would do anything for him. And he decided to make the most of their connection. When there was nothing left to take from Katerina Lvovna (after her conviction), the hero abandoned her, carried away by a younger and more beautiful girl.
But, moreover, Sergei demonstrated his relationship with her to Katerina Sergeevna, trying to cause the woman more pain. In front of other prisoners, he insulted and humiliated his former mistress, literally “trampling her into the dirt.” This man behaved very unworthily, ultimately provoking the murder of Sonetka and the death of Katerina Lvovna.
Thus, after reading “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” I experienced a whole range of feelings - from pity for Katerina Lvovna and contempt for Sergei to admiration for the talent of the writer who managed to convey a truly Shakespearean tragedy that played out in the Russian province.

>Essays based on the work of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk district

The mystery of the female soul

What does a woman dream about? – A real mystery to this day. The female soul is so incomprehensible, and the soul of Ekaterina Lvovna, the main character of the essay, is no exception. What does she want, what motivates her and why does she not immediately show her character, characterized by assertiveness, passion and purposefulness. Apparently, it is love that changes people that way. It would seem that such a sublime and bright feeling should spiritualize a person, make him better, but in the case of the merchant’s wife, a terrible metamorphosis occurs, and she is driven by base and animal instincts.

So, plucking up courage, Katerina goes to her father-in-law with a request to let her lover go, and when he refuses, threatening her and shaming her, she poisons him without blinking an eye. Katerina’s mind is so clouded and her heart is engulfed in the fire of love that she does not notice how her chosen one is manipulating her. Then, inspired by Sergei’s ideas about their marriage, Katerina Lvovna decides to turn her beloved into a master, and for this, she cold-bloodedly kills her legal husband, the merchant Izmailov. Perhaps the most cruel act is the murder of a child - Fyodor Lyamin, a small heir claiming part of the capital of the Izmailov merchant family. It's amazing that Catherine, bearing under her heart new life, committed such atrocity. Even more amazing is the behavior and action of the merchant’s wife towards her child. After all, she dreamed so much about motherhood, and this child is the fruit of love with Seryozhechka, dear to her heart. Katerina, as if spellbound in passion for the clerk. She sees nothing, she has only one desire to be close to her beloved, even if it is a thorny path through the stage. Ekaterina Lvovna is blind in her love.

As you know, there is a time to scatter stones and a time to collect stones. So Katerina paid for her crimes in full, and if for Sergei the punishment is hard labor, then for a woman it is the betrayal of her lover, the exposure of his vile disguise. Even understanding the futility of sinful actions, and also that Sergei’s love is just a dummy, an empty phrase, main character I'm happy to continue being deceived. But everything has its limit - the beloved man begins to mock Katerina, showing attention to other women, mocking the merchant’s wife. Overcome by jealousy and consumed by the pain of betrayal, Katerina kills herself by drowning herself in the Volga, not forgetting to take her main rival Sonetka with her.

Katerina, like any woman, wants to love and be loved, but in her desire she violates all moral laws and God's laws. Seeing no obstacles, she goes ahead, literally over corpses, towards her goal - the love and attention of an unworthy man. Despite all the crimes and evil in her soul, she is only a performer, an instrument in the skillful hands of the executioner, who is her beloved Sergei.

N.S. Leskov is an artist of an unusually wide thematic range. In his works he creates a string of social types and human characters. Among them there are many strong natures, extraordinary personalities. This is the main character of N.S. Leskova’s essay “Lady Magbeth of Mtsensk District,” written in 1865, Katerina Lvovna Izmailova.

“Katerina Lvovna lived a boring life in her father-in-law’s rich house.” While still a young girl, she was married off, “but not out of love or any attraction, but because Zinovy ​​Borisych Izmailov (her husband) wooed her.” Katerina did not see happiness in marriage. She spent her days in melancholy and loneliness, “from which it is fun, they say, even to hang yourself”; She had no friends or close acquaintances. Having lived with her husband for five whole years, fate never gave them children, while Katerina saw in the baby a remedy for constant melancholy and boredom. She, like Zinovy ​​Borisych, wanted to nurse, caress and educate future heirs.

“On the sixth spring of Katerina’s marriage,” fate finally made the heroine happy, giving her the opportunity to experience the most tender and sublime feeling - love, which, unfortunately, turned out to be disastrous for Katerina.

On earth, many have loved and love, but for everyone love is something different, personal, mysterious. Some experience romantic love, while others experience passionate love. There are many more types of this wonderful feeling that can be distinguished, but Katerina loved as passionately and strongly as her ardent and hot nature allowed her. For the sake of her beloved, she was ready to do anything, make any sacrifice, and could commit a rash, even cruel act. The heroine managed to kill not only her husband and father-in-law, but also a small, defenseless child. The burning feeling not only destroyed fear, sympathy and pity in Katerina’s soul, but also gave rise to cruelty, extraordinary courage and cunning, as well as a great desire to fight for her love, resorting to any methods and means.

It seems to me that Sergei was also capable of anything, but not because he loved, but because the purpose of communicating with a bourgeois woman was to obtain some capital. Katerina attracted him as a woman who could provide the rest of her cheerful life. His plan would have worked one hundred percent after the death of the heroine’s husband and father-in-law, but suddenly the nephew of the deceased husband, Fedya Memin, appears. If earlier Sergei participated in crimes as an accomplice, a person who only helped, now he himself hints at the murder of an innocent baby, forcing Katerina to believe that Fedya is a real threat to receiving the money owed. It was said that “if it weren’t for this Fedya, she, Katerina Lvovna, would give birth to a child before nine months after her husband disappeared, she would get all her husband’s capital, and then there would be no end to their happiness.” Katerina, calculating and cold, listened to these statements, which acted like a witchcraft spell on her brain and psyche, and began to understand that this obstacle must be eliminated. These remarks sank deep into her mind and heart. She is ready to do everything (even without benefit or meaning) that Sergei says. Katya became a hostage of love, a slave of Seryozha, although social status she occupied a higher level than her beloved man.

During interrogation, in a confrontation, she openly admitted that it was she who committed the murders because of Sergei, “for him!”, because of love. This love did not extend to anyone other than the hero, and therefore Katerina rejected her child: “her love for her father, like the love of many passionate women, did not transfer any part of it to the child.” She no longer needed anything or anyone; only kind words or a look could revive her to life.

On the way to hard labor, Katerina tried to see him, “giving her the most needed quarter from her skinny wallet.” Sergei only reproached her for such an act. He argued that he himself could use the money, “it would be better if I gave it to him, it would be more useful.” Every day he became colder and more indifferent to Katerina. He began to pester the women around him on the trip. He had no hope for a quick release and a further happy life. He also did not achieve his goal: he did not see any money from Katya. All the efforts he made to achieve positive results were in vain.

By openly meeting with Sonetka and deliberately insulting Katya on the ferry, Sergei, it seems to me, was taking revenge on the heroine for the situation in which he found himself, as he thought, because of her. Katerina, seeing how her beloved man flirts with another, begins to be jealous, and the jealousy of a passionate woman is destructive not only for the heroine, but also for the people around her.

The bullying from Sergei and Sonetka was inaccessible to Katya’s mind; she could not understand their meaning, but they clearly and clearly acted on the woman’s nervous system and psyche. Images of the people she killed begin to appear before her. Katerina could not speak, think, understand anything: “her wandering gaze concentrated and became wild.” She went wild from Sergei’s cruel indifference; she could not accomplish anything other than suicide, since she was unable to survive or overcome such strong and passionate love in her soul. Katya probably believed that Sonetka had taken her lover away from her, so she easily managed to kill her too. Loving Sergei, she did not harm him, she just decided to leave his life.

It seems to me that when she was dying, Katerina felt disappointment and sadness in her soul, because her love turned out to be useless, unhappy, it did not bring good to people, it only destroyed several innocent people

The daughter of the common people, who also inherited the people's scope of passions, a girl from a poor family becomes a captive of a merchant's house, where there is neither the sound of the living, nor the voice of a person, but there is only a short stitch from the samovar to the bedchamber. The transformation of the bourgeois woman, languishing from boredom and excess energy, takes place when the district heartthrob pays attention to her.

Love scatters a starry sky over Katerina Lvovna, which she had never seen before from her mezzanine: Look, Seryozha, what a paradise, what a paradise! The heroine exclaims childishly and innocently into the golden night, looking through the thick branches of a blossoming apple tree covering her at the clear blue sky, on which stood a full fine month.

But it is no coincidence that in pictures of love the harmony is disrupted by the sudden intrusion of discord. Katerina Lvovna’s feelings cannot be free from the instincts of the possessive world and not fall under the influence of its laws. Love yearning for freedom turns into a predatory and destructive beginning.

Katerina Lvovna was now ready for Sergei through fire, water, prison and the cross. He made her fall in love with him to the point that there was no measure of devotion to him. She was distraught with her happiness; her blood was boiling, and she could no longer listen to anything...

And at the same time, Katerina Lvovna’s blind passion is immeasurably greater, more significant than self-interest, which gives shape to her fatal actions and class interests. No, her inner world not shocked by the court's decision, not excited by the birth of a child: for her there was neither light nor darkness, neither bad nor good, nor boredom, nor joy. My whole life was completely consumed by passion. When a party of prisoners sets out on the road and the heroine sees Sergei again, happiness blossoms with him in her convict life. What is the social height from which she fell into the convict world for her, if she loves and her beloved is nearby!

The class world gets at Katerina Lvovna on the washed-out transit routes. For a long time he prepared an executioner for her in the guise of a lover who had once beckoned her to happy fabulous Arabia. Admitting that he never loved Katerina Lvovna, Sergei is trying to take away the only thing that made up Izmailova’s life, the past of her love. And then a completely lifeless woman in the last heroic outburst human dignity takes revenge on his detractors and, dying, petrifies everyone around him. Katerina Lvovna was trembling. Her wandering gaze concentrated and became wild. Hands once or twice stretched out into space unknown where and fell again. Another minute and she suddenly swayed all over, without taking her eyes off the dark wave, bent down, grabbed Sonetka by the legs and in one fell swoop threw her over the side of the ferry. Everyone was petrified with amazement.

Leskov portrayed a strong and passionate nature, awakened by the illusion of happiness, but pursuing her goal through crimes. The writer proved that this path had no way out, but only a dead end awaited the heroine, and there could be no other way.

This wonderful work served as the basis for D. D. Shostakovich’s opera Katerina Izmailova, written in 1962. Which once again proves the extraordinary nature of N. S. Leskov’s work, who managed to find and convey the typical character traits of Katerina Lvovna, which were revealed so tragically and led the heroine to inevitable death.

Each writer in his work creates a world (which is usually called artistic), different not only from other artistic worlds, but also from the real world. Moreover, it has long been noticed that in different works The worlds of the same writer can also be different, varying depending on the characters of the characters depicted, on the complexity of the social or spiritual situation depicted by the author.

The above applies primarily to the work of such original and original writers as N.S.

The plots, characters, and themes of his works are so diverse that it is sometimes quite difficult to form an idea of ​​any artistic unity.

However, they have a lot in common, in particular: motives, tonality, character traits of the characters and main characters. Therefore, after reading several works by Leskov and opening the next one, you involuntarily tune in to a certain mood, imagine the situation, environment, atmosphere, immersed in which you discover an amazing and beautiful world in its originality.

Leskov’s world may seem strange and gloomy to an unprepared reader, because it is inhabited mainly by truth-seeking heroes, surrounded by ignorant fools, for whom the only goal is prosperity and peace of mind. However, thanks to the power of Leskov’s unique talent, life-affirming motives predominate in the depiction of heroes. Hence the feeling of inner beauty and harmony art world Leskov's heroes are surprisingly pure and noble, their speech is simple and at the same time beautiful, as they convey thoughts containing eternal truths about the power of good, the need for mercy and self-sacrifice. The inhabitants of Leskov's vast world are so real that the reader is convinced that they were copied from life. We have no doubt that the author actually met them during his many trips around Russia. But no matter how ordinary and simple these people are, they are all righteous, as Leskov himself defines them. People who rise above the line of simple morality are therefore holy to the Lord. The reader clearly understands the author’s goal to draw attention to the Russian people, their character and soul. Leskov manages to fully reveal the character of a Russian person with all his pros and cons.

What is especially striking when reading Leskov’s works is his heroes’ faith in God and boundless love for their homeland. These feelings are so sincere and strong that a person overwhelmed by them can overcome all the obstacles that stand in his way. In general, a Russian person is always ready to sacrifice everything and even his life in order to achieve his high and beautiful goal. Someone sacrifices themselves for the sake of faith, someone for the sake of the Fatherland, and Katerina Izmailova, the heroine of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, sacrificed everything in order to save her love, and when all the ways and means had been tried, and the way out of the current situation was still was not found, she threw herself into the river. This is similar to the ending of Ostrovsky's play, where Katerina Kabanova dies because of her love, and in this Leskov is similar.

But no matter how beautiful and pure of soul a Russian person is, he also has negative qualities, one of which is the tendency to drink. And Leskov denounces this vice in many of his works, the heroes of which understand that drinking is stupid and absurd, but they cannot help themselves. This is probably also a purely Russian feature of the behavior of letting go of one’s soul by drowning one’s grief in wine.

Growing up in the lap of nature, among beautiful landscapes, space and light, Leskov’s simple hero from the people strives for something sublime, for beauty and love. For each specific hero, this desire manifests itself in its own way: for Ivan Flyagin it is a love of horses, and for Mark Alexandrov it is an enthusiastic attitude towards art, towards an icon.

Leskov’s world is the world of Russian people, carefully created and preserved by them for themselves. All works were written by Leskov with such an understanding of even the most incomprehensible depths of the human psyche, with such love for the righteous and Russia, that the reader involuntarily becomes imbued with Leskov’s style of writing, begins to really think about the questions that once worried the writer and have not lost their relevance and in our time.

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