Still from the film “Poor Lisa” (2000)

In the outskirts of Moscow, not far from the Simonov Monastery, there once lived a young girl Lisa with her old mother. After the death of Liza’s father, a fairly wealthy villager, his wife and daughter became poor. The widow became weaker day by day and could not work. Liza alone, not sparing her tender youth and rare beauty, worked day and night - weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and berries in the summer and selling them in Moscow.

One spring, two years after her father’s death, Lisa came to Moscow with lilies of the valley. A young, well-dressed man met her on the street. Having learned that she was selling flowers, he offered her a ruble instead of five kopecks, saying that “beautiful lilies of the valley, plucked by the hands of a beautiful girl, are worth a ruble.” But Lisa refused the offered amount. He did not insist, but said that in the future he would always buy flowers from her and would like her to pick them only for him.

Arriving home, Lisa told her mother everything, and the next day she picked the best lilies of the valley and came to the city again, but this time she did not meet the young man. Throwing flowers into the river, she returned home with sadness in her soul. The next day in the evening the stranger himself came to her house. As soon as she saw him, Lisa rushed to her mother and excitedly told him who was coming to them. The old woman met the guest, and he seemed to her to be a very kind and pleasant person. Erast—that was the young man’s name—confirmed that he was going to buy flowers from Lisa in the future, and she didn’t have to go into town: he could stop by to see them himself.

Erast was a fairly wealthy nobleman, with a fair amount of intelligence and a naturally kind heart, but weak and flighty. He led an absent-minded life, thought only about his own pleasure, looked for it in secular amusements, and not finding it, he was bored and complained about fate. At the first meeting, Lisa’s immaculate beauty shocked him: it seemed to him that in her he found exactly what he had been looking for for a long time.

This was the beginning of their long dates. Every evening they saw each other either on the river bank, or in a birch grove, or under the shade of hundred-year-old oak trees. They hugged, but their hugs were pure and innocent.

Several weeks passed like this. It seemed that nothing could interfere with their happiness. But one evening Lisa came to a date sad. It turned out that the groom, the son of a rich peasant, was wooing her, and her mother wanted her to marry him. Erast, consoling Lisa, said that after his mother’s death he would take her to him and live with her inseparably. But Lisa reminded the young man that he could never be her husband: she was a peasant, and he was of a noble family. You offend me, said Erast, for your friend the most important thing is your soul, a sensitive, innocent soul, you will always be closest to my heart. Lisa threw herself into his arms - and at this hour her integrity was to perish.

The delusion passed in one minute, giving way to surprise and fear. Lisa cried saying goodbye to Erast.

Their dates continued, but how everything changed! Lisa was no longer an angel of purity for Erast; platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not be “proud of” and which were not new to him. Lisa noticed a change in him, and it saddened her.

Once during a date, Erast told Lisa that he was being drafted into the army; they will have to part for a while, but he promises to love her and hopes to never part with her upon his return. It is not difficult to imagine how hard it was for Lisa to be separated from her beloved. However, hope did not leave her, and every morning she woke up with the thought of Erast and their happiness upon his return.

About two months passed like this. One day Lisa went to Moscow and on one of the big streets she saw Erast passing by in a magnificent carriage, which stopped near a huge house. Erast came out and was about to go out onto the porch, when he suddenly felt himself in Lisa’s arms. He turned pale, then, without saying a word, led her into the office and locked the door. Circumstances have changed, he announced to the girl, he is engaged.

Before Lisa could come to her senses, he took her out of the office and told the servant to escort her out of the yard.

Finding herself on the street, Lisa walked wherever she looked, unable to believe what she heard. She left the city and wandered for a long time until she suddenly found herself on the shore of a deep pond, under the shadow of ancient oak trees, which several weeks before had been silent witnesses to her delight. This memory shocked Lisa, but after a few minutes she fell into deep thought. Seeing a neighbor's girl walking along the road, she called her, took all the money out of her pocket and gave it to her, asking her to tell her mother, kiss her and ask her to forgive her poor daughter. Then she threw herself into the water, and they could no longer save her.

Liza’s mother, having learned about the terrible death of her daughter, could not withstand the blow and died on the spot. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. He did not deceive Lisa when he told her that he was going to the army, but, instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost his entire fortune. He had to marry an elderly rich widow who had been in love with him for a long time. Having learned about Liza’s fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer. Now, perhaps, they have already reconciled.

Retold

The literary movement of sentimentalism came to Russia from France at the end of the 18th century and addressed mainly the problems of the human soul.

Karamzin's story "Poor Liza" tells about the love of a young nobleman

Erast and the peasant woman Liza. Lisa lives with her mother in the outskirts of Moscow. The girl sells flowers and here she meets Erast. Erast is a man “with a fair amount of intelligence and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and flighty.” His love for Lisa turned out to be fragile. Erast plays cards. In an effort to improve matters, he is going to marry a rich widow, so he leaves Lisa. Shocked by Erast's betrayal, Lisa throws herself into the pond in despair and drowns. This tragic end is largely predetermined by the class inequality of the heroes. Erast is a nobleman. Lisa is a peasant woman. Their marriage is impossible. But the ability to love and be happy do not always coincide. In the story, the author values ​​not nobility and wealth, but spiritual qualities, the ability to deeply feel.

Karamzin was a great humanist, a man with a subtle soul. He denied serfdom, not recognizing the power of people to control the lives of other people. Although the heroine of the story is not a serf girl, but a free peasant woman, nevertheless, the class wall between her and her lover is insurmountable. Even Lisa's love could not break this barrier.

Reading the story, I am completely on Lisa’s side, experiencing the delight of love and grieving over the death of the girl. Turning to the lofty theme of unrequited love, Karamzin understood and felt that the drama of human feelings cannot be explained only by social reasons. The image of Erast in this sense is very interesting, his character is contradictory; He has a gentle, poetic nature and is handsome, which is why Lisa fell in love with him. At the same time, Erast is selfish, weak-willed, and capable of deception; with cold cruelty he takes Lisa out of his house, but upon learning of her death, he could not be consoled and considered himself a murderer. The author emphasizes that no class superiority frees a person from responsibility for his actions.

Retelling plan

1. Lisa's life in her mother's house.
2. Lisa meets Erast.
3. A young man comes to Lisa’s house.
4. Experiences of the heroes.
5. Heroes begin to meet every day.
6. Erast deprives Lisa of her innocence, and his attitude towards her changes.
7. Lisa meets Erast in Moscow and learns that he is to marry a rich widow.
8. Lisa's suicide.
9. The death of the girl’s mother from grief. Erast's pangs of conscience.

Retelling

Lisa lived with her old mother in a hut near a birch grove. Her father was a fairly wealthy villager, but after his death, Lisa and her mother had to rent out the land. The rental income was very small, so Lisa knitted and embroidered bedspreads and napkins, and then sold them. In the summer she also picked flowers and berries and sold them in Moscow. Her mother only dreamed of giving her daughter away good man, then she could die in peace.

One day Lisa went into town with a bouquet of lilies of the valley. A young, well-dressed man approached her. Instead of five kopecks, he offered her a ruble, but Lisa did not take too much. Then the young man asked her not to sell flowers to anyone but him, to find out where she lived. Lisa really liked this young man. She told her mother about him, but the old woman asked her to be careful, since there are many evil people in the world who could harm the poor honest girl.

The next day, Lisa again went to Moscow with lilies of the valley, but that man did not appear. Then Lisa threw flowers into the river with the words: “No one can own you!”

The next day Lisa sat by the window and spinned. Looking out the window, she suddenly saw that young man again. He looked at her with adoration. He had such a kind face that Lisa’s mother could not think anything bad about him. He asked for milk, and while Lisa ran to the cellar, her mother told the stranger about her husband and his death. After this, the stranger asked that Lisa sell her work only to him, and then he would be able to come to them, and the girl would not have to leave her mother for a long time. In parting, the stranger said his name: Erast. After he left, Liza’s mother began to dream of such a husband for her daughter, only that he would turn out to be a simple man, and not as noble as their guest.

Erast was indeed a very rich young man, and at the same time kind, but weak and flighty. “He led an absent-minded life, thought only about his own pleasure, looked for it in secular amusements, but did not find it.” In Lisa he saw the embodiment of what he read about in novels and idylls. He decided to leave the big light for a while.

After meeting with him, Lisa did not sleep all night. The next day she went for a walk, saw a shepherd and began to dream that Erast was the same simple shepherd. If he were like that, he could walk up to her, take her hand and make her his wife. At that moment, the boat in which Erast was sitting moored to the shore. He approached Lisa and took her hand, kissed her and confessed his love. They began to meet every evening, but Lisa did not tell her mother anything. “All the brilliant amusements of the great world seemed insignificant to Erast in comparison with the pleasures with which the passionate friendship of an innocent soul nourished his heart.” He decided that he would live with Lisa like brother and sister, and would never use her love for evil. Several weeks passed like this.

One evening Lisa told Erast that her mother wanted to marry her to the son of a rich peasant. She does not agree to such a marriage, but only feels very sorry for her mother. “She threw herself into his arms - and at that hour her integrity had to perish.” Lisa did not understand her feelings, and Erast did not know what to tell her. Suddenly lightning flashed in the sky, and Lisa decided that this was a bad sign. Since then, their relationship has changed. “For Erast, Lisa was no longer that angel of purity that had previously inflamed his imagination and soul.” If before their feelings were something new for him, now he received what he had already had so many times. Now they didn't see each other every day. And then one day Erast said that he had to go to war, and if he did not do this, then his name would be covered with shame. Lisa cried, she even wanted to go with him, but then she remembered her old mother and stayed.

Two months later, Lisa went to Moscow and saw Erast there. She rushed to him, but he took her to his office and said that everything was over between them. He still loves her, but duty forces him to marry another woman. It turns out that Erast did not fight in the war, but played cards and lost almost all of his fortune. Now he needs to marry a rich old widow who has been in love with him for a long time. Lisa came to her senses only on the street. She decided that he kicked her out because now he loves someone else. With such thoughts, she left the city and found herself on the shore of the pond, where she had previously met her lover. There she met her friend, gave her the money and told her to take it to Lisa’s mother, and told her that she loved one person who betrayed her, and now she has no reason to live. With these words she rushed into the pond. When they came running from the village to pull her out, she was already dead.

The old woman could not bear such grief and also died.” Erast was not happy until the end of his life. When he learned about Lisa's fate, he decided that he was her killer. A year before his death, he met the narrator and told him this sad story.

Many remember N.M. Karamzin based on his historical works. But he also did a lot for literature. It was through his efforts that a sentimental novel was developed, which describes not just ordinary people, but their feelings, suffering, experiences. brought closer ordinary people and the rich as feeling, thinking and experiencing the same emotions and needs. At the time in which “Poor Liza” was written, namely in 1792, the liberation of the peasants was still far away, and their existence seemed something incomprehensible and wild. Sentimentalism brought them into full-fledged feeling heroes.

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History of creation

Important! He also introduced the fashion for little-known names - Erast and Elizabeth. Almost unused names quickly became household names that define a person’s character.

It was this seemingly simple and uncomplicated completely fictitious story of love and death that gave rise to a number of imitators. And the pond was even a place of pilgrimage for unhappy lovers.

It's easy to remember what the story is about. After all, its plot is not rich or full of twists and turns. The summary of the story allows you to find out the main events. Karamzin himself summary I would convey it like this:

1. Left without a father, Lisa began to help her impoverished mother by selling flowers and berries.
2. Erast, captivated by her beauty and freshness, invites her to sell the goods only to him and then asks her not to go out at all, but to give him the goods from home. This one is rich, but a flighty nobleman falls in love with Lisa. They begin to spend evenings alone.
3. Soon a wealthy neighbor wooed Lizaveta, but Erast consoles her, promising to marry himself. Intimacy occurs, and Erast loses interest in the girl he destroyed. Soon the young man leaves for work. Lizaveta is waiting and afraid. But by chance they meet on the street, and Lizaveta throws herself on his neck.
4. Erast reports that he is engaged to another, and orders the servant to give her money and take her out of the yard. Lizaveta, having handed over the money to her mother, throws herself into the pond. Her mother dies from a stroke.
5. Erast is ruined by losing at cards and is forced to marry a rich widow. He does not find happiness in life and blames himself.

Sell ​​flowers to the city

Main characters

It is clear that the characterization of one of the heroes of the story “Poor Liza” will be insufficient. They must be assessed together, in their influence on each other.

Despite the novelty and originality of the plot, the image of Erast in the story “Poor Liza” is not new, and the little-known name does not save it. Rich and bored nobleman, tired of accessible and cutesy beauties. He is looking for bright sensations and finds an innocent and pure girl. Her image surprises him, attracts him and even awakens love. But the very first intimacy turns the angel into an ordinary earthly girl. He immediately remembers that she is poor, uneducated, and her reputation is already ruined. He is running away from responsibility, from crime.

He runs into his usual hobbies - cards and festivities, which leads to ruin. But he doesn’t want to lose his habits and live the work life he loves. Erast sells his youth and freedom for the widow's wealth. Although a couple of months ago he tried to dissuade his beloved from a successful marriage.

Meeting his beloved after separation only tires him and interferes with him. He cynically throws money at her and forces the servant to take the unfortunate woman out. This gesture shows the depth of the fall and all its cruelty.

But the image of the main character of Karamzin’s story is distinguished by its freshness and novelty. She is poor, works for her mother's survival and is also gentle and beautiful. Its distinctive features are sensitivity and nationality. In Karamzin's story, poor Liza is a typical heroine from the village, poetic and with a tender heart. It is her feelings and emotions that replace her upbringing, morality and norms.

The author, generously endowing the poor girl with kindness and love, seems to emphasize that such women have natural, which does not require restrictions and teachings. She is ready to live for the sake of her loved ones, work and maintain joy.

Important! Life has already tested her strength, and she has passed the test with dignity. Behind her image, honest, beautiful, gentle, one forgets that she is a poor, uneducated peasant woman. That she works with her hands and trades with what God sent her. This should be remembered when the news about the ruin of Erast becomes known. Lisa is not afraid of poverty.

The scene describing how the poor girl died is complete despair and tragedy. Believer and loving girl It is undoubtedly clear that suicide is a terrible sin. She also understands that her mother will not live without her help. But the pain of betrayal and the realization that she is disgraced is too hard for her to experience. Lisa looked at life soberly and honestly told Erast that she was poor, that she was not a match for him, and that her mother had found her a worthy groom, albeit an unloved one.

But the young man convinced her of his love and committed an irreparable crime - he took her honor. What became an ordinary boring event for him turned out to be the end of the world and the beginning of a new life at the same time for poor Lisa. Her most tender and pure soul plunged into the mud, and a new meeting showed that her beloved assessed her action as promiscuity.

Important! The one who wrote the story “Poor Liza” realized that he was raising a whole layer of problems and, in particular, the topic of the responsibility of rich, bored noblemen to unfortunate poor girls, whose destinies and lives are broken from boredom, which later found its response in the works of Bunin and others.

Scene near the pond

Readers' reaction

The public greeted the story with ambiguity. The women felt compassion and made a pilgrimage to the pond, which became the last refuge of the unfortunate girl. Some male critics shamed the author and accused him of being overly sensitive, of copious tears that constantly flow, and of the picturesqueness of the characters.

In fact, behind the external cloying and tearfulness, the reproaches of which every critical article is full of, lies the true meaning, understood by attentive readers. The author confronts not only two characters, but two worlds:

• Sincere, sensitive, painfully naive peasantry with its touching and stupid, but real girls.
• Good-natured, enthusiastic, generous nobility with pampered and capricious men.

One is strengthened by the difficulties of life, while the other is broken and frightened by these same difficulties.

Genre of the work

Karamzin himself described his work as a sentimental fairy tale, but it received the status of a sentimental story, since it has heroes acting over a long period of time, a full-fledged plot, development and denouement. The characters do not live individual episodes, but a significant part of their lives.

Poor LISA. Nikolay Karamzin

Retelling Karamzin N. M. “Poor Liza”

Conclusion

So, the question: “Poor Liza” is a story or a short story was solved long ago and unambiguously. The book summary gives the exact answer.

Article menu:

The year 1792 was significant for Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. And this is not surprising, because it was at that time that a wonderful sentimental story called “Poor Lisa” came out of his pen, which brought recognition and fame to the author. At that time, the writer was only twenty-five years old, and he was taking his first steps in the literary field.

Describing the difficult fate of a defenseless people, raising the problem of inequality between the poor and the rich, Karamzin tries to reach people’s consciousness and draw attention to the fact that they cannot live like this. The writer narrates in the first person.

The main characters of the story

Lisa- a simple Russian peasant woman, kind girl, loving nature and enjoying every day - until she fell in love with a rich nobleman named Erast. Since then, her life has taken a sharp turn, which subsequently led to terrible tragedy.

Erast- a rich nobleman, a frivolous young man with a good imagination, but flighty. He thinks that he loves Lisa, but under the circumstances he leaves her, without thinking about the girl’s strong feelings caused by his betrayal. Becomes the reason for Lisa's suicide.

Old mother- a poor peasant woman, a widow who has lost her husband and is mourning him. A kind, simple, believing woman who loves her daughter immensely and wishes her happiness.

The splendor of nature, which the author contemplates

The outskirts of Moscow with its monasteries, church domes, bright green flowering meadows evoke delight and tenderness. But not only. Upon entering the monastery, the author’s soul begins to be overcome by bitter memories, and the sad history of the Fatherland appears before his mind’s eye. Most depressing of all is the incident that happened to one girl, poor Lisa, who ended her life tragically.

The beginning of Lisa's story

Why is this hut, located near the monastery wall, where the birch grove rustles, now empty? Why are there no windows, no doors, no roof? Why is everything so sad and gloomy? An inquisitive reader can get an answer to these questions by learning what happened here thirty years ago, when those around them could hear the ringing voice of a girl named Lisa. She lived with her mother in great poverty, because after the untimely death of her father, the land fell into disrepair. In addition, the desperate widow fell ill with grief, so Lisa had to do the household chores alone. Fortunately, the girl was hard-working: she worked tirelessly, weaving canvas, knitting stockings, picking berries and picking flowers. Having a kind and loving heart, Lisa tried her best to console her sick mother, but in her heart she was very worried about the death of her dearest person - her dad.

Lisa's nascent love

And then, two years later, he appeared - a young man named Erast, who completely captured the feelings of a young girl who wanted to love and be loved. And life began to sparkle with bright colors.

They met when Lisa came to Moscow to sell flowers. An unfamiliar buyer, seeing this beautiful girl, began to shower her with compliments and even, instead of five kopecks, offered a ruble for flowers.

But Lisa refused. She didn’t know that the very next day the young man would be standing under her window. “Hello, kind old lady,” he turned to the girl’s mother. “Do you have any fresh milk?” The stranger suggested that Lisa sell her works only to him, then there would be no need to be exposed to dangers in the city, being separated from her mother.
The old lady and Lisa happily agreed. Only one thing confused the girl: he is a gentleman, and she is a simple peasant woman.

A rich nobleman named Erast

Erast was a man with a kind heart, however, the author describes him as flighty, weak and frivolous. He lived only for his own pleasure and did not care about anything. In addition, he was a sentimental and very impressionable young man with a rich imagination. The relationship with Lisa was supposed to be a new milestone in his life, a new interest that would diversify his idle and boring life.

Lisa became sad. Love rushed over the girl like an avalanche, and where did the former carefreeness go? Now she often sighed and was encouraged only when she saw Erast. And he suddenly... confessed his love to her. Lisa's joy knew no bounds; she wanted their meetings to continue forever. "Will you always love me?" – the girl asked. And I received the answer: “Always!” She came home in a joyful mood. And in a fit of feeling, she began to admire the beauty of nature created by God. Mom supported her daughter.

The image of an old mother

Lisa's mother is portrayed by the author as a simple believing woman, loving God and admiring the beauty of His creation. “How good everything is with the Lord God! I’m sixty years old in the world, and I still can’t get enough of the works of the Lord, I can’t get enough of the clear sky, like a high tent, and the earth, which is covered with new grass and new flowers every year. The Heavenly King must love a person very much when he has removed the light here so well for him,” she says. This poor woman remained a widow, but still yearns for her dear, untimely departed husband, who was dearer to her than anything else in the world. After all, “peasant women also know how to love.”

The old lady's love for her daughter is very strong. She, like any mother, wants only the best for her.

Lisa and Erast: love is gaining strength

Since then they saw each other constantly - every evening. They hugged, but did not allow themselves anything vicious. Erast also talked with Lisa’s mother, who told the young man about her difficult life. But suddenly disaster struck.

Bitter changes in fate

Lisa had to tell Erast that she was being married off to someone else - the son of a rich peasant. But he was very upset, again swore his love to the girl - and finally, feelings prevailed over common sense: at that moment the girl lost her innocence. Since then, their dates have become different - Erast began to treat his beloved no longer as immaculate. Meetings took place less and less often, and finally the young man announced that he was going to war.

Last meeting with Lisa

Before the journey, Erast decided to say goodbye - and to his mother (who, by the way, did not know about his love relationships with his daughter), and with Lisa. The farewell was touching and bitter. After Erast left, Lisa “lost her senses and memory.”

Erast's betrayal

The girl was in despair for a long time. Only one thing consoled her restless soul: the hope of a meeting. One day she went to Moscow on business and suddenly saw a carriage in which Erast was sitting. Lisa rushed to her beloved, but in response she received only a cold confession that he was marrying someone else.

Lisa throws herself into the water

The girl could not withstand such shame, humiliation and betrayal. I no longer wanted to live at all. Suddenly Lisa saw an acquaintance, fifteen-year-old Anya, and, asking her to take money for her mother, she rushed into the water in front of the girl. They were never able to save her. The old mother, having learned about what happened to her beloved daughter, died immediately. Erast is greatly depressed by what happened and will forever reproach himself for the death of an innocent girl.

Class inequality is the cause of many problems in society

At that difficult time, the environment played the main role in choosing a bride or groom. The lower class - the peasants - could not unite with the rich nobles. Lisa clearly understands this already at their first meetings, when her heart trembles with love, but her mind insists on the impossibility of such a union. “But you can’t be my husband,” she says. And in despair he adds: “I am a peasant.” Still, the girl could not resist the impulse of violent feelings for the man whom she loved with all her heart (although at times she regrets that her fiancé is not a shepherdess). She either naively began to believe that later Erast would still take her as his wife, or simply for the time being chose not to think about the consequences of this kind of romantic dates. Be that as it may, Lisa’s reaction to the fact that the one she cannot live without is marrying another, a noblewoman from his circle, prompts her to a desperate act - suicide. She took a step into the abyss from which there is no way out. Youth and hopes are ruined. And Erast was left to live with an incessant feeling of guilt. This is how the story “Poor Liza” ended tragically. A reasonable reader will learn from it and draw the right conclusions.