Chernyshevsky "What is to be done?": plot and analysis of the novel. Meaning "What to do?" in the history of literature and the revolutionary movement The meaning of the novel what to do 3 5 sentences

His novel "What to do?" the famous Russian writer Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky created during the period when he was imprisoned in one of the cells Peter and Paul Fortress. The time of writing the novel is from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863, that is, the work, which became a masterpiece of Russian literature, was created in just three and a half months. Starting from January 1863 and until the moment of the author's final stay in custody, he handed over the manuscript in parts to the commission that dealt with the writer's case. Here the work was censored, which was approved. Soon the novel was published in the 3rd, as well as 4th and 5th issues of the Sovremennik magazine for 1863. For such an oversight, the censor Beketov lost his position. This was followed by bans on all three issues of the magazine. However, it was already too late. Chernyshevsky's work was distributed throughout the country with the help of "samizdat".

And only in 1905, during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the ban was lifted. Already in 1906, the book "What to do?" published in a separate edition.

Who are the new heroes?

The reaction to Chernyshevsky's work was mixed. Readers, based on their opinion, were divided into two opposing camps. Some of them believed that the novel is devoid of artistry. The latter fully supported the author.

However, it is worth remembering that before Chernyshevsky, writers created images of " extra people". A striking example of such heroes are Pechorin, Oblomov and Onegin, who, despite their differences, are similar in their "smart uselessness". These people, "pygmies of deed and titans of words", were bifurcated natures, suffering from a constant discord between will and consciousness, deed and thought. In addition, their feature served as moral exhaustion.

This is not how Chernyshevsky presents his heroes. He created images of "new people" who know what they need to desire, and are also able to carry out their own plans. Their thought goes along with the deed. Their consciousness and will are not at odds with each other. Heroes of Chernyshevsky's novel "What to do?" presented as bearers of new morality and creators of new interpersonal relations. They deserve the main attention of the author. No wonder even a summary of the chapters of "What to do?" allows us to see that by the end of the second of them, the author "lets go of the stage" such representatives of the old world - Marya Alekseevna, Storeshnikova, Serge, Julie and some others.

The main problem of the essay

Even the very brief content of “What to do?” gives an idea of ​​the issues that the author raises in his book. And they are the following:

- The need for a socio-political renewal of society, which is possible through a revolution. Due to censorship, Chernyshevsky did not expand on this topic in more detail. He gave it in the form of half-hints when describing the life of one of the main characters - Rakhmetov, as well as in the 6th chapter.

- Psychological and moral problems. Chernyshevsky argues that a person, using the power of his mind, is able to create in himself new moral qualities set by him. At the same time, the author develops this process, describing it from the smallest, in the form of a struggle against despotism in the family, to the most ambitious, which found expression in the revolution.

- Problems of family morality and women's emancipation. The author reveals this topic in the first three dreams of Vera, in the history of her family, as well as in the relations of young people and the imaginary suicide of Lopukhov.

- Dreams of light and wonderful life which will come with the creation of a socialist society in the future. Chernyshevsky illuminates this topic thanks to the fourth dream of Vera Pavlovna. The reader sees here also the facilitated work, which became possible thanks to the development of technical means.

The main pathos of the novel is the propaganda of the idea of ​​transforming the world by making a revolution, as well as its expectation and preparation for this event. the best minds. At the same time, the idea is expressed of active participation in the upcoming events.

What was Chernyshevsky's main goal? He dreamed of developing and implementing latest technique allowing the revolutionary education of the masses. His work was supposed to be a kind of textbook, with the help of which every thinking person would begin to form a new worldview.

The entire content of the novel "What to do?" Chernyshevsky is divided into six chapters. Moreover, each of them, except for the last one, is further subdivided into small chapters. In order to emphasize the particular importance of the final events, the author speaks of them separately. To do this, in the content of the novel "What to do?" Chernyshevsky included a one-page chapter titled "Change of scenery".

The beginning of the story

Consider the summary of Chernyshevsky's novel "What is to be done?". Its plot begins with a found note, which was left in one of the rooms of the hotel in St. Petersburg by a strange guest. It happened in 1823, on July 11. The note says that soon its author will be heard on one of the bridges of St. Petersburg - Liteiny. At the same time, the man asked not to look for the guilty. The incident happened the same night. A man shot himself on Liteiny Bridge. The perforated cap that belonged to him was fished out of the water.

The following is a summary of the novel "What to do?" introduces us to a young lady. On the morning when the event described above happened, she is in a dacha located on Kamenny Island. The lady is sewing, singing a bold and lively French ditty, which speaks of a working people whose liberation will require a change of consciousness. This woman's name is Vera Pavlovna. At this moment, the maid brings the lady a letter, after reading which she begins to sob, covering her face with her hands. The young man who entered the room makes attempts to calm her down. However, the woman is inconsolable. She repels young man. At the same time, she says: “His blood is on you! You are in the blood! I'm the only one to blame..."

What was said in the letter that Vera Pavlovna received? We can learn about this from the presented brief content "What to do?". In his message, the writer indicated that he was leaving the stage.

The appearance of Lopukhov

What further do we learn from the summary of Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done? After the events described, a story follows, telling about Vera Pavlovna, about her life, as well as about the reasons that led to such a sad outcome.

The author says that his heroine was born in St. Petersburg. This is where she grew up. The lady's father - Pavel Konstantinovich Vozalsky - was the manager of the house. The mother was engaged in the fact that she gave money on bail. The main goal of Marya Alekseevna (mother of Vera Pavlovna) was the profitable marriage of her daughter. And she did her best to resolve this issue. The evil and narrow-minded Marya Alekseevna invites a music teacher to her daughter. Buys Vera beautiful clothes, goes to the theater with her. Soon on a swarthy beautiful girl pays attention to the owner's son - officer Storeshnikov. The young man decides to seduce Vera.

Marya Alekseevna hopes to force Storeshnikov to marry her daughter. To do this, she requires Faith to favor the young man. However, the girl perfectly understands the true intentions of her boyfriend and in every possible way refuses signs of attention. Somehow she even manages to mislead her mother. She pretends to be supportive of the womanizer. But sooner or later the deception will be revealed. This makes the position of Vera Pavlovna in the house simply unbearable. However, everything suddenly resolved, and at the same time in the most unexpected way.

Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov appeared in the house. This graduate medical student was invited by Vera's parents to join her brother Fedya as a teacher. At first, young people were very wary of each other. However, then their communication began to flow in conversations about music and books, as well as about a fair direction of thought.

Time has passed. Vera and Dmitry felt sympathy for each other. Lopukhov learns about the plight of the girl and makes attempts to help her. He is looking for a governess job for Verochka. Such work would allow the girl to live separately from her parents.

However, all Lopukhov's efforts were unsuccessful. He could not find such owners who would agree to take in a girl who had run away from home. Then the young man in love takes another step. He leaves his studies and starts translating a textbook and private lessons. This allows him to start getting sufficient funds. At the same time, Dmitry makes an offer to Vera.

First dream

Vera has her first dream. In it, she sees herself emerging from a dark and damp basement and meeting an amazing beauty who calls herself love for people. Vera talks to her and promises to let girls out of such basements who are locked in them, as she was locked.

family well-being

Young people live in a rented apartment, and everything is going well for them. However, the landlady notices oddities in their relationship. Verochka and Dmitry only call each other "darling" and "darling", they sleep in separate rooms, entering them only after knocking, etc. All this is surprising to an outsider. Vera tries to explain to the woman that this is a completely normal relationship between spouses. After all, this is the only way to not get bored with each other.

The young wife runs the household, gives private lessons, reads books. Soon she opens her own sewing workshop, in which the girls are self-employed, but receive part of the income as co-owners.

Second dream

What else do we learn from the summary of Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done? In the course of the plot, the author introduces us to the second dream of Vera Pavlovna. In it, she sees a field with ears of corn growing on it. There is also dirt here. And one of them is fantastic, and the second is real.

Real dirt means taking care of what is most needed in life. It was precisely this that Marya Alekseevna was constantly burdened with. On this, ears can be grown. Fantastic dirt is a concern for the unnecessary and superfluous. On such soil, ears of corn will never grow.

The emergence of a new hero

The author shows Kirsanov as a strong-willed and courageous person, capable not only of a decisive act, but also of subtle feelings. Alexander spends time with Vera when Dmitry is busy. Together with his friend's wife, he goes to the opera. However, soon, without explaining any reasons, Kirsanov stops coming to the Lopukhovs, which greatly offends them. What was the real reason for this? Kirsanov's falling in love with a friend's wife.

The young man reappeared in the house when Dmitry fell ill to cure him and help Vera with care. And here the woman realizes that she is in love with Alexander, which is why she is completely confused.

third dream

From the summary of the work "What to do?" we learn that Vera Pavlovna is having a third dream. In it, she reads the pages of her diary with the help of some unknown woman. From it, she learns that she feels only gratitude for her husband. However, at the same time, Vera needs a gentle and quiet feeling, which she does not have for Dmitry.

Solution

The situation in which three decent and smart people, at first glance seems unsolvable. But Lopukhov finds a way out. He shoots himself on the Liteiny Bridge. On the day that Vera Pavlovna received this news, Rakhmetov came to see her. This old acquaintance of Lopukhov and Kirsanov, who is called "a special person."

Acquaintance with Rakhmetov

In the summary of the novel “What to do”, the “special person” Rakhmetov is presented by the author as a “higher nature”, which Kirsanov helped to awaken in his time by familiarizing himself with the necessary books. The young man comes from a wealthy family. He sold his estate, and distributed the money he received for it to fellows. Now Rakhmetov adheres to a harsh lifestyle. In part, this was prompted by his unwillingness to have what he does not have. common man. In addition, Rakhmetov set as his goal the education own character. For example, to test his physical abilities, he decides to sleep on nails. In addition, he does not drink wine and does not make acquaintances with women. In order to get closer to the people, Rakhmetov even walked with barge haulers along the Volga.

What else is said about this hero in Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done? Summary makes it clear that Rakhmetov's entire life consists of sacraments that are clearly revolutionary. A young man has many things to do, but they are not all personal. He travels around Europe, but at the same time in three years he is going to Russia, where he will certainly need to be.

It was Rakhmetov who came to Vera Pavlovna after receiving a note from Lopukhov. After his persuasion, she calmed down and even became cheerful. Rakhmetov explains that Vera Pavlovna and Lopukhov had very different tempers. That is why the woman reached out to Kirsanov. Soon Vera Pavlovna left for Novgorod. There she married Kirsanov.

The dissimilarity between the characters of Verochka and Lopukhov is also mentioned in a letter that soon arrived from Berlin. In this message, a medical student who allegedly knew Lopukhov well conveyed Dmitry's words that he began to feel much better after the separation of the spouses, as he always sought solitude. Namely, the sociable Vera Pavlovna did not allow him to do this.

The life of the Kirsanovs

What does the novel What to Do next tell its reader about? Nikolai Chernyshevsky? The summary of the work makes it possible to understand that the love affairs of the young couple settled well to the common pleasure. The lifestyle of the Kirsanovs is not much different from that of the Lopukhov family.

Alexander works hard. As for Vera Pavlovna, she takes baths, eats cream and is already engaged in two sewing workshops. In the house, as before, there are neutral and common rooms. However, the woman notices that her new husband does not just allow her to lead a lifestyle she likes. He is interested in her affairs and is ready to help in Hard time. In addition, the husband perfectly understands her desire to master some urgent occupation and begins to help her in the study of medicine.

fourth dream

Getting acquainted briefly with Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done?, we proceed to continue the plot. It tells us about the fourth dream of Vera Pavlovna, in which she sees amazing nature and pictures from the life of women of different millennia.

At first, the image of a slave appears before her. This woman obeys her master. After that, in a dream, Vera sees the Athenians. They begin to bow to the woman, but at the same time they do not recognize her as their equal. Then the following image appears. This is a beautiful lady, for whom the knight is ready to fight in the tournament. However, his love immediately passes after the lady becomes his wife. Then, instead of the face of the goddess, Vera Pavlovna sees her own. It does not differ in perfect features, but at the same time it is illuminated by the radiance of love. And here comes the woman who was in the first dream. She explains to Vera the meaning of equality and shows pictures of citizens future Russia. They all live in a house built of crystal, cast iron and aluminium. In the morning these people work, and in the evening they begin to have fun. The woman explains that this future must be loved and should be strived for.

Completion of the story

How does the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What is to be done?” End with. The author tells his reader that guests often come to the Kirsanovs' house. The Beaumont family soon appears among them. When meeting with Charles Beaumont, Kirsanov recognizes him as Lopukhov. The two families become so close to each other that they decide to continue living in the same house.

On July 11, 1856, a note left by a strange guest is found in the room of one of the large St. Petersburg hotels. The note says that its author will soon be heard on the Liteiny Bridge and that no one should be suspected. The circumstances are clarified very soon: at night, a man is shooting at Liteiny Bridge. His shot cap is fished out of the water.

On the same morning, a young lady sits and sews in a dacha on Kamenny Island, singing a lively and bold French song about working people who will be set free by knowledge. Her name is Vera Pavlovna. The maid brings her a letter, after reading which Vera Pavlovna sobs, covering her face with her hands. The young man who entered tries to calm her down, but Vera Pavlovna is inconsolable. She pushes the young man away with the words: “You are in the blood! You have his blood on you! It’s not your fault - I’m alone ... ”The letter received by Vera Pavlovna says that the person who writes it leaves the stage because he loves“ both of you ”too much ...

The tragic denouement is preceded by the life story of Vera Pavlovna. Her childhood was spent in Petersburg, in high-rise building on Gorokhovaya, between Sadovaya and Semyonovsky bridge. Her father, Pavel Konstantinovich Rozalsky, is the manager of the house, her mother gives money on bail. The only concern of the mother, Marya Alekseevna, in relation to Verochka: to marry her as soon as possible to a rich man. near and evil woman does everything possible for this: he invites a music teacher to his daughter, dresses her up and even takes her to the theater. Soon the beautiful swarthy girl is noticed by the master's son, officer Storeshnikov, and immediately decides to seduce her. Hoping to force Storeshnikov to marry, Marya Alekseevna demands that her daughter be favorable to him, while Verochka refuses this in every possible way, understanding the true intentions of the womanizer. She manages to somehow deceive her mother, pretending that she is luring her boyfriend, but this cannot last long. Vera's position in the house becomes completely unbearable. It is resolved in an unexpected way.

A teacher, a graduate medical student, Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, was invited to Verochka's brother Fedya. At first, young people are wary of each other, but then they begin to talk about books, about music, about a fair way of thinking, and soon they feel affection for each other. Having learned about the plight of the girl, Lopukhov tries to help her. He is looking for a governess position for her, which would give Verochka the opportunity to live separately from her parents. But the search turns out to be unsuccessful: no one wants to take responsibility for the fate of the girl if she runs away from home. Then the student in love finds another way out: shortly before the end of the course, in order to have enough money, he leaves his studies and, taking up private lessons and translating a geography textbook, makes an offer to Verochka. At this time, Verochka has her first dream: she sees herself released from a damp and dark basement and talking with an amazing beauty who calls herself love for people. Verochka promises the beauty that she will always let other girls out of the cellars, locked up just like she was locked up.

Young people rent an apartment, and their life is going well. True, their relationship seems strange to the landlady: "cute" and "cute" sleep in different rooms, enter each other only after knocking, do not show each other undressed, etc. Verochka hardly manages to explain to the hostess that they should be a relationship between spouses if they do not want to annoy each other.

Vera Pavlovna reads books, gives private lessons, and runs the household. Soon she starts her own enterprise - a sewing workshop. The girls work in the workshop self-employed, but are its co-owners and receive their share of the income, like Vera Pavlovna. They not only work together, but spend together free time: go on picnics, talk. In her second dream, Vera Pavlovna sees a field on which ears of corn grow. She also sees dirt on this field - or rather, two dirt: fantastic and real. The real dirt is taking care of the most necessary things (such that Vera Pavlovna's mother was always burdened), and ears of corn can grow out of it. Fantastic dirt - caring for the superfluous and unnecessary; nothing worthwhile grows out of it.

The Lopukhov spouses often have Dmitry Sergeevich's best friend, his former classmate and spiritually close person to him - Alexander Matveevich Kirsanov. Both of them "chest, without connections, without acquaintances, made their way." Kirsanov is a strong-willed, courageous person, capable of both a decisive act and a subtle feeling. He brightens up the loneliness of Vera Pavlovna with conversations, when Lopukhov is busy, he takes her to the Opera, which they both love. However, soon, without explaining the reasons, Kirsanov ceases to visit his friend, which greatly offends both him and Vera Pavlovna. They do not know true reason his "cooling": Kirsanov is in love with a friend's wife. He reappears in the house only when Lopukhov falls ill: Kirsanov is a doctor, he treats Lopukhov and helps Vera Pavlovna take care of him. Vera Pavlovna is in complete turmoil: she feels that she is in love with her husband's friend. She has a third dream. In this dream, Vera Pavlovna, with the help of some unknown woman, reads the pages of her own diary, which says that she feels gratitude for her husband, and not that quiet, tender feeling, the need for which is so great in her.

The situation in which three smart and decent "new people" have fallen into seems insoluble. Finally, Lopukhov finds a way out - a shot on the Liteiny Bridge. On the day this news was received, an old acquaintance of Kirsanov and Lopukhov, Rakhmetov, "a special person" comes to Vera Pavlovna. The “higher nature” was awakened in him at one time by Kirsanov, who introduced the student Rakhmetov to books “that need to be read.” Coming from a wealthy family, Rakhmetov sold the estate, distributed money to his fellows and now leads a harsh lifestyle: partly because he considers it impossible for himself to have what a simple person does not have, partly out of a desire to educate his character. So, one day he decides to sleep on nails to test his physical abilities. He doesn't drink wine, he doesn't touch women. Rakhmetov is often called Nikitushka Lomov - for the fact that he walked along the Volga with barge haulers in order to get closer to the people and gain love and respect ordinary people. Rakhmetov's life is shrouded in a veil of mystery of a clearly revolutionary persuasion. He has a lot to do, but none of it is his personal business. He travels around Europe, intending to return to Russia in three years, when he "needs" to be there. This "very rare specimen" is different from just "honest and good people"by what is" the engine of engines, the salt of the salt of the earth.

Rakhmetov brings Vera Pavlovna a note from Lopukhov, after reading which she becomes calm and even cheerful. In addition, Rakhmetov explains to Vera Pavlovna that the dissimilarity of her character with the character of Lopukhov was too great, which is why she reached out to Kirsanov. Having calmed down after a conversation with Rakhmetov, Vera Pavlovna leaves for Novgorod, where she marries Kirsanov a few weeks later.

The dissimilarity between the characters of Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna is also mentioned in a letter that she soon receives from Berlin. he had a penchant for solitude, which was in no way possible during his life with the sociable Vera Pavlovna. Thus, love affairs are arranged to the general pleasure. The Kirsanov family has approximately the same lifestyle as the Lopukhov family before. Alexander Matveyevich works hard, Vera Pavlovna eats cream, takes baths and is engaged in sewing workshops: she now has two of them. Similarly, there are neutral and non-neutral rooms in the house, and spouses can enter non-neutral rooms only after knocking. But Vera Pavlovna notices that Kirsanov not only allows her to lead the lifestyle that she likes, and is not only ready to lend a shoulder to her in difficult times, but is also keenly interested in her life. He understands her desire to engage in some business, "which cannot be postponed." With the help of Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna begins to study medicine.

Soon she has a fourth dream. Nature in this dream "pours aroma and song, love and bliss into the chest." The poet, whose forehead and thought are illuminated by inspiration, sings a song about the meaning of history. Before Vera Pavlovna are pictures of the life of women in different millennia. First, the slave woman obeys her master among the tents of the nomads, then the Athenians worship the woman, still not recognizing her as their equal. Then the image of a beautiful lady arises, for the sake of which a knight fights in a tournament. But he loves her only until she becomes his wife, that is, a slave. Then Vera Pavlovna sees her own face instead of the face of the goddess. Its features are far from perfect, but it is illuminated by the radiance of love. The great woman, familiar to her from her first dream, explains to Vera Pavlovna what is the meaning of women's equality and freedom. This woman also shows Vera Pavlovna pictures of the future: citizens New Russia live in a beautiful house made of cast iron, crystal and aluminum. In the morning they work, in the evening they have fun, and "whoever has not worked out enough, he has not prepared the nerve to feel the fullness of fun." The guidebook explains to Vera Pavlovna that this future should be loved, that one should work for it and transfer from it to the present everything that can be transferred.

The Kirsanovs have a lot of young people, like-minded people: “This type has recently appeared and is quickly spreading.” All these people are decent, hardworking, having unshakable life principles and possessing "cold-blooded practicality." The Beaumont family soon appears among them. Ekaterina Vasilievna Beaumont, nee Polozova, was one of the richest brides in St. Petersburg. Kirsanov once helped her smart advice: with his help, Polozova figured out that the person she was in love with was not worthy of her. Then Ekaterina Vasilievna marries a man who calls himself an agent of an English firm, Charles Beaumont. He speaks excellent Russian - because he allegedly lived in Russia until the age of twenty. His romance with Polozova develops calmly: both of them are people who "do not rage for no reason." When Beaumont meets Kirsanov, it becomes clear that this person is Lopukhov. The Kirsanov and Beaumont families feel such a spiritual closeness that they soon settle in the same house, receive guests together. Ekaterina Vasilievna also arranges a sewing workshop, and the circle of “new people” is thus becoming wider and wider.

retold

History of creation

Chernyshevsky himself called these people a type that "has recently come into being and is rapidly growing", is a product and a sign of the times.

These heroes have a special revolutionary morality, which is based on the enlightenment theory of the 18th century, the so-called "theory of rational egoism." This theory is that a person can be happy if his personal interests coincide with the public.

Vera Pavlovna - main character novel. Her prototypes are Chernyshevsky's wife Olga Sokratovna and Marya Alexandrovna Bokova-Sechenova, who fictitiously married her teacher, and then became the wife of the physiologist Sechenov.

Vera Pavlovna managed to escape from the circumstances that had surrounded her since childhood. Her character was tempered in a family where her father was indifferent to her, and for her mother she was just a profitable commodity.

Vera is as enterprising as her mother, thanks to which she manages to create sewing workshops that give good profit. Vera Pavlovna is smart and educated, balanced and kind to both her husband and girls. She is not a prude, not hypocritical and smart. Chernyshevsky admires Vera Pavlovna's desire to break outdated moral principles.

Chernyshevsky emphasizes the similarities between Lopukhov and Kirsanov. Both doctors, engaged in science, both from poor families and have achieved everything hard work. For the sake of helping an unfamiliar girl, Lopukhov abandons his scientific career. He is more rational than Kirsanov. This is evidenced by the intention of imaginary suicide. But Kirsanov is capable of any sacrifice for the sake of friendship and love, avoids communication with a friend and lover in order to forget her. Kirsanov is more sensitive and charismatic. Rakhmetov believes him, embarking on the path of improvement.

But main character novel (not according to the plot, but according to the idea) - not just " new person”, but the “special person” is the revolutionary Rakhmetov. He generally refuses egoism as such, from happiness for himself. A revolutionary must sacrifice himself, give his life for those he loves, live like the rest of the people.

By origin he is an aristocrat, but he broke with the past. Rakhmetov earned as a simple carpenter, barge hauler. He had the nickname "Nikitushka Lomov", like a barge haul hero. Rakhmetov invested all his funds in the cause of the revolution. He led the most ascetic life. If new people are called Chernyshevsky the salt of the earth, then revolutionaries like Rakhmetov are “the color of the best people, engine engines, salt of the salt of the earth". The image of Rakhmetov is covered with a halo of mystery and innuendo, since Chernyshevsky could not say everything directly.

Rakhmetov had several prototypes. One of them is the landowner Bakhmetev, who transferred almost all of his fortune to Herzen in London for the cause of Russian propaganda. The image of Rakhmetov is collective.

The image of Rakhmetov is far from ideal. Chernyshevsky warns readers against admiring such heroes, because their service is unrequited.

Stylistic features

Chernyshevsky widely uses two means artistic expressiveness- allegory and silence. Vera Pavlovna's dreams are full of allegories. The dark basement in the first dream is an allegory of women's lack of freedom. The bride of Lopukhov is great love to people, the dirt real and fantastic from the second dream - the circumstances in which the poor and the rich live. The huge glass house in the last dream is an allegory of the communist happy future, which, according to Chernyshevsky, will definitely come and bring joy to everyone without exception. Silence is associated with censorship prohibitions. But some mystery of images or storylines does not spoil the pleasure of reading in the least: "I know more about Rakhmetov than I say." The meaning of the finale of the novel, which is interpreted in different ways, the image of a lady in mourning, remains vague. All songs and toasts of a cheerful picnic are allegorical.

In the last tiny chapter, "A Change of Scenery," the lady is no longer in mourning, but in smart clothes. In a young man of about 30, the released Rakhmetov is guessed. This chapter depicts the future, albeit not far off.

The novel "What to do? "Was written in record time, less than 4 months, and published in the spring issues of the Sovremennik magazine for 1863. He appeared at the height of the controversy that unfolded around the novel by I. S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". Chernyshevsky conceived his work, which has a very significant subtitle “From stories about new people”, as a direct answer to Turgenev on behalf of “ younger generation". Simultaneously in the novel “What to do? Chernyshevsky's aesthetic theory found its real embodiment. Therefore, we can assume that a work of art was created, which was supposed to serve as a kind of tool for "remaking" reality.

“I am a scientist... I am one of those thinkers who adhere to a scientific point of view,” Chernyshevsky once remarked. From this point of view, a "scientist" and not an artist, he offered in his novel a model of an ideal living arrangement. It is as if he does not bother to search for an original plot, but almost directly borrows it from George Sand. Although, under the pen of Chernyshevsky, the events in the novel acquired sufficient intricacy.

A certain metropolitan young lady does not want to marry a rich man and is ready to go against the will of her mother. From a hated marriage, the girl is saved by the medical student Lopukhov, the teacher of her younger brother. But he saves her in a rather original way: first he “develops her”, letting him read the appropriate books, and then he is combined with her in a fictitious marriage. At the heart of them life together- freedom, equality and independence of the spouses, manifested in everything: in the way of the house, in housekeeping, in the activities of the spouses. So, Lopukhov serves as a manager at the factory, and Vera Pavlovna creates a sewing workshop “on shares” with workers and arranges a housing commune for them. Here the plot takes a sharp turn: the main character falls in love with best friend her husband, physician Kirsanov. Kirsanov, in turn, "rescues" the prostitute Nastya Kryukova, who soon dies of consumption. Realizing that he stands in the way of two loving people, Lopukhov "leaves the stage." All "obstacles" are removed, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna are legally married. As the action develops, it becomes clear that Lopukhov's suicide was imaginary, the hero went to America, and in the end he appears again, but already under the name of Beaumont. Returning to Russia, he marries a wealthy noblewoman, Katya Polozova, whom Kirsanov saved from death. Two happy couples turn on common household and continue to live in perfect harmony with each other.

However, readers were attracted in the novel not by the original vicissitudes of the plot or any other artistic merit: they saw something else in it - a specific program of their activity. If democratically minded youth accepted the novel as a guide to action, then official circles saw it as a threat to the existing social order. The censor who evaluated the novel after its publication (you can write about how it was published separate novel) wrote: "... what a perversion of the idea of ​​marriage ... destroys both the idea of ​​the family and the foundations of citizenship, both are directly contrary to the fundamental principles of religion, morality and social order." However, the censor did not notice the main thing: the author did not destroy as much as created new model behavior, a new model of the economy, a new model of life.

Talking about the arrangement of Vera Pavlovna's workshops, he embodied a completely different relationship between the owner and workers, who are equal in their rights. In Chernyshevsky's description, life in the workshop and in the commune with her looks so attractive that similar communities immediately arose in St. Petersburg. They did not last long: their members were not ready to arrange their lives on new moral principles, which, by the way, are also mentioned a lot in the work. These "new beginnings" can be interpreted as a new morality of new people, as a new faith. Their life, thoughts and feelings, their relations with each other strongly do not coincide with those forms that have developed in the "old world" and are generated by inequality, the lack of "reasonable" principles in social and family relations. And new people - Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna, Mertsalovs - strive to overcome these old forms and build their lives differently. It is based on work, respect for each other's freedom and feelings, true equality between a man and a woman, that is, what, according to the author, is natural for human nature, because it is reasonable.

In the book, under the pen of Chernyshevsky, the famous theory of “reasonable egoism” is born, the theory of the benefit that a person derives for himself by doing good deeds. But this theory is accessible only to "developed natures", which is why so much space is devoted to "development" in the novel, i.e. education, formation new personality, in the terminology of Chernyshevsky - "out of the basement." And the attentive reader will see the ways of this "exit". Follow them and you will become a different person, and another world will open to you. And if you engage in self-education, then new horizons will open for you and you will repeat the path of Rakhmetov, you will become a special person. Here is a secret, albeit utopian, program that has found its embodiment in a literary text.

Chernyshevsky believed that the path to a bright and beautiful future lay through the revolution. So, to the question posed in the title of the novel: “What to do?”, The reader received an extremely direct and clear answer: “Transfer to a new faith, become a new person, transform the world around him, “make a revolution”. This idea was embodied in the novel, as one of Dostoevsky's heroes would later say, "seductively clear."

A bright, beautiful future is achievable and close, so close that the main character Vera Pavlovna even dreams of it. “How will people live? ”- Vera Pavlovna thinks, and the “bright bride” opens up tempting prospects for her. So, the reader is in a society of the future, where labor “on the hunt” reigns, where labor is pleasure, where a person is in harmony with the world, with himself, with other people, with nature. But this is only the second part of the dream, and the first is a kind of journey "through" the history of mankind. But everywhere the eyes of Vera Pavlovna see pictures of love. It turns out that this dream is not only about the future, but also about love. Once again, social and moral issues are connected in the novel.

For the first time in a separate book famous work Chernyshevsky - the novel "What to do?" - published in 1867 in Geneva. The initiators of the publication of the book were Russian emigrants, in Russia the novel had by that time been banned by censorship. In 1863, the work was still published in the Sovremennik magazine, but those issues where its individual chapters were printed were soon banned. Summary of "What to do?" Chernyshevsky, the youth of those years passed on to each other by word of mouth, and the novel itself - in handwritten copies, so the work made an indelible impression on them.

Is it possible to do something

The author wrote his sensational novel in the winter of 1862-1863, while in the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The dates of writing are December 14-April 4. From January 1863, censors began to work with individual chapters of the manuscript, but, seeing in the plot only love line, authorize the novel for publication. Soon deep meaning works reach the officials tsarist Russia, the censor is removed from office, but the deed is done - a rare youth circle of those years did not discuss the summary of "What is to be done?". Chernyshevsky, with his work, wanted not only to tell the Russians about the "new people", but also to arouse in them a desire to imitate them. And his bold appeal echoed in the hearts of many of the author's contemporaries.

The youth late XIX century Chernyshevsky's ideas turned into his own life. stories of numerous noble deeds of those years began to appear so often that for some time they became almost commonplace Everyday life. Many have suddenly realized that they are capable of an Act.

Having a question and a clear answer to it

The main idea of ​​the work, and it is twice revolutionary in its essence, is the freedom of the individual, regardless of gender. That is why the main character of the novel is a woman, since at that time the supremacy of women did not go beyond their own living room. Looking back at the life of her mother and close acquaintances, Vera Pavlovna early realizes the absolute mistake of inaction, and decides that her life will be based on work: honest, useful, giving the opportunity to exist with dignity. Hence morality - the freedom of the individual comes from the freedom to perform actions that correspond to both thoughts and possibilities. This is what Chernyshevsky tried to express through the life of Vera Pavlovna. "What to do?" draws readers chapter by chapter colorful picture phased construction real life". Here Vera Pavlovna leaves her mother and decides to open her own business, now she realizes that only equality between all members of her artel will correspond to her ideals of freedom, now her absolute happiness with Kirsanov depends on Lopukhov’s personal happiness. associated with high moral principles- this is the whole of Chernyshevsky.

Characterization of the author's personality through his characters

Both writers and readers, as well as omniscient critics, have an opinion that the main characters of the work are a kind of literary copies of their creators. Even if not exact copies, then very close in spirit to the author. Narration of the novel "What to do?" is conducted in the first person, and the author - acting character. He enters into a conversation with other characters, even argues with them and, like a "voice-over", explains to both the characters and the readers many moments that are incomprehensible to them.

At the same time, the author conveys to the reader doubts about his writing abilities, says that “even he speaks the language poorly,” and certainly there is not a drop of “artistic talent” in him. But for the reader, his doubts are unconvincing, this is also refuted by the novel that Chernyshevsky himself created, What Is To Be Done? Vera Pavlovna and the rest of the characters are so accurately and versatilely written out, endowed with such unique individual qualities that an author who does not have true talent would be unable to create.

New but so different

The heroes of Chernyshevsky, these positive "new people", according to the author, from the category of unreal, non-existent, one fine time should by themselves firmly enter our lives. Enter, dissolve in the crowd of ordinary people, push them out, regenerate someone, convince someone, completely push the rest - unyielding - from the general mass, ridding society of them, like a field from weeds. An artistic utopia, which Chernyshevsky himself was clearly aware of and tried to define through the name, is “What is to be done?”. A special person, according to his deep conviction, is able to radically change the world around him, but how to do this, he must determine for himself.

Chernyshevsky created his novel in opposition to Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons", his "new people" are not at all like the cynical and irritating nihilist Bazarov. The cardinality of these images is in the fulfillment of their main task: the hero of Turgenev wanted around him to “clear a place”, that is, to destroy, from everything old that had outlived its own, while Chernyshevsky’s characters tried more to build something, to create, before destroying.

The formation of the "new man" in the middle of the XIX century

These two works of great Russian writers have become for readers and the near-literary public the second half of XIX centuries, a kind of beacon - a ray of light in dark kingdom. Both Chernyshevsky and Turgenev loudly declared the existence of a "new man", his need to form a special mood in society, capable of implementing cardinal changes in the country.

If you reread and translate the summary of “What to do?” Chernyshevsky into the plane of revolutionary ideas that deeply struck the minds of a separate part of the population of those years, then many of the allegorical features of the work will become easily explainable. The image of the "bride of her suitors", seen by Vera Pavlovna in her second dream, is nothing but the "Revolution" - this is precisely the conclusion made by those who lived in different years writers who have studied and analyzed the novel from all sides. Allegoricalness marks the rest of the images about which the story is told in the novel, regardless of whether they are animated or not.

A little about the theory of reasonable egoism

The desire for change, not only for yourself, not only for your loved ones, but for everyone else, runs like a red thread through the entire novel. This is completely different from the theory of calculating one's own benefit, which Turgenev reveals in Fathers and Sons. In many respects, Chernyshevsky agrees with his fellow writer, believing that any person not only can, but must reasonably calculate and determine his individual way to your own happiness. But at the same time, he says that he can only enjoy being surrounded by the same happy people. This is the fundamental difference between the plots of the two novels: in Chernyshevsky, the heroes forge well-being for everyone, in Turgenev, Bazarov creates his own happiness without regard to others. The closer we are through his novel Chernyshevsky.

“What is to be done?”, the analysis of which we give in our review, is, as a result, much closer to the reader of Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.

Briefly about the plot

As the reader, who has never picked up Chernyshevsky's novel, has already been able to determine, the main character of the work is Vera Pavlovna. Through her life, the formation of her personality, her relationships with others, including men, the author reveals main idea of his novel. Summary of "What to do?" Chernyshevsky without listing the characteristics of the main characters and the details of their lives can be conveyed in a few sentences.

Vera Rozalskaya (aka Vera Pavlovna) lives in a fairly wealthy family, but everyone in home disgusts her: both her mother with her dubious activities, and acquaintances who think one thing, but say and do something completely different. Having decided to leave her parents, our heroine tries to find a job, but only with Dmitry Lopukhov, who is close to her in spirit, gives the girl the freedom and the lifestyle that she dreams of. Vera Pavlovna creates a sewing workshop with equal rights to her income for all seamstresses - a rather progressive undertaking for that time. Even her suddenly flared love for her husband's close friend Alexander Kirsanov, which she became convinced of while caring for the sick Lopukhov together with Kirsanov, does not deprive her of sanity and nobility: she does not leave her husband, she does not leave the workshop. Seeing the mutual love of his wife and close friend, Lopukhov, staging suicide, releases Vera Pavlovna from any obligations to him. Vera Pavlovna and Kirsanov get married and are quite happy with it, and a few years later Lopukhov appears again in their lives. But only under a different name and with a new wife. Both families settle in the neighborhood, spend quite a lot of time together and are quite satisfied with the circumstances that have developed in this way.

Existence determines consciousness?

The formation of the personality of Vera Pavlovna is far from the regularity of the character traits of those of her peers who grew up and were brought up in conditions similar to hers. Despite her youth, lack of experience and connections, the heroine clearly knows what she wants in life. Successfully marrying and becoming an ordinary mother of a family is not for her, especially since by the age of 14 the girl knew and understood a lot. She sewed beautifully and provided the whole family with clothes, at the age of 16 she began to earn money by giving private piano lessons. The desire of the mother to marry her meets with a firm refusal and creates her own business - a sewing workshop. About broken stereotypes, about bold deeds strong character work "What to do?". Chernyshevsky, in his own way, explains the well-established assertion that consciousness determines the being in which a person is. He determines, but only in the way he decides for himself - either following a path not chosen by him, or he finds his own. Vera Pavlovna left the path prepared for her by her mother and the environment in which she lived, and created her own path.

Between realms of dreams and reality

Finding your path does not mean finding it and following it. There is a huge gap between dreams and their realization. Someone does not dare to jump over it, and someone gathers all his will into a fist and takes a decisive step. This is how Chernyshevsky answers the problem raised in his novel What Is To Be Done? The analysis of the stages of the formation of the personality of Vera Pavlovna, instead of the reader, is carried out by the author himself. He leads him through the embodiment of the heroine of her dreams of her own freedom in reality thanks to vigorous activity. Let it be difficult, but direct and quite passable path. And according to him, Chernyshevsky not only guides his heroine, but also allows her to achieve what she wants, letting the reader understand that only activity can achieve the cherished goal. Unfortunately, the author emphasizes that not everyone chooses this path. Not every.

Reflection of reality through dreams

In pretty unusual shape wrote his novel What Is to Be Done? Chernyshevsky. Vera's dreams - there are four of them in the novel - reveal the depth and originality of those thoughts that evoke in her real events. In her first dream, she sees herself freed from the basement. This is a kind of symbolism of leaving her own home, where she was destined for an unacceptable fate for her. Through the idea of ​​freeing girls like her, Vera Pavlovna creates her own workshop, in which each seamstress receives an equal share of her total income.

The second and third dreams explain to the reader through real and fantastic dirt, reading Verochka's diary (which, by the way, she never kept), what thoughts about the existence of various people seize the heroine at different periods of her life, what she thinks about her second marriage and about the very necessity of this marriage. Explanation through dreams is a convenient form of presentation of the work, which Chernyshevsky chose. "What to do?" - content of the novel , reflected through dreams, characters of the main actors in dreams is a worthy example of Chernyshevsky's application of this new form.

Ideals of a Bright Future, or Vera Pavlovna's Fourth Dream

If the first three dreams of the heroine reflected her attitude to the fait accompli, then her fourth dream is dreams of the future. It suffices to recall it in more detail. So, Vera Pavlovna dreams of a completely different world, improbable and beautiful. She sees many happy people living in a wonderful house: luxurious, spacious, surrounded by amazing views, decorated with gushing fountains. In it, no one feels disadvantaged, for everyone there is one common joy, one common well-being, everyone is equal in it.

Such are the dreams of Vera Pavlovna, and Chernyshevsky would like to see reality like this (“What is to be done?”). Dreams, and they, as we remember, about the relationship between reality and the world of dreams, reveal not so much spiritual world heroines, as much as the author of the novel. And his full awareness of the impossibility of creating such a reality, a utopia that will not come true, but for which it is still necessary to live and work. And this is also the fourth dream of Vera Pavlovna.

Utopia and its predictable ending

As everyone knows, your main work- novel "What to do?" - Nikolai Chernyshevsky wrote while in prison. Deprived of family, society, freedom, seeing reality in the dungeons in a completely new way, dreaming of a different reality, the writer put it on paper, not believing in its implementation. Chernyshevsky had no doubt that the "new people" were capable of changing the world. But the fact that not everyone will stand under the power of circumstances, and not everyone will be worthy a better life He understood that too.

How does the novel end? The idyllic coexistence of two congenial families: the Kirsanovs and the Lopukhovs-Beaumonts. Small world, created by active people full of nobility of thoughts and deeds. Are there many such happy communities around? No! Is this not an answer to Chernyshevsky's dreams of the future? Those who want to create their own prosperous and happy world will create it, those who do not want to will go with the flow.