The life story of Pavel Petrovich, fathers and sons. Characteristics of Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov: a sophisticated aristocrat

Main conflict The novel “Fathers and Sons” is a clash of two camps, two completely different philosophies of life. The children's camp is represented by the image of Bazarov. The author makes Pavel Kirsanov his obvious opponent, but the image of Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov, although he belongs to the old generation, is opposed to both of the above-mentioned heroes. Very delicate and subtle by nature, Nikolai Kirsanov loves everything beautiful that he sees in life. His habits, feelings, thoughts, all of this is directed against his brother’s arrogance and Bazarov’s crude ideology.

Biography of Nikolai Kirsanov - a typical phenomenon of the past

Nikolai Kirsanov in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is a special character. His image embodied all the best from the aristocracy and it is for him that the author shows his most open sympathies. He appears from the first lines of the work and does not disappear until the end of the entire story.

His appearance is unremarkable: a gray-haired gentleman, about forty years old, slightly hunched over and plump. Such a typical village landowner mediocre. His biography is also typical for his time. The small Kirsanov family lived on the estate, the father was a military general, the mother took care of the house. Like his older brother, Pavel, he dreamed of a military career, but it didn’t work out.

He studied at the University of St. Petersburg, then returned to his parents. After the death of his parents, he married a beautiful girl who became a good wife. They lived in love and harmony, raising their only son. When Arkady was 10 years old, Kirsanov’s wife died. He devoted himself entirely to his son and the household.
The author endowed Kirsanov with many positive features: He is well brought up and educated. Kindness and delicacy, sincere affection for loved ones are the most natural feelings for him. He doesn’t understand how you can do without love, how to live without believing in anything.

Kirsanov Nikolai Petrovich, father of Arkady Kirsanov, loves music, poetry, and appreciates everything beautiful in life. Bazarov laughs at these feelings. However, the author does not think music lessons the hero is something funny and worthless. On the contrary, he talks about the benefits of poetry and music. Nikolai Petrovich embodies everything best features Russian nobility, which, sadly enough, are also becoming a thing of the past. They are replaced by Bazarov's nihilism, his judgments about the meaninglessness of principles and the empty life led by the aristocracy.

Daydreaming and sentimentality are common feelings for Kirsanov. They characterize him positively, unlike Bazarov, who considers a dream to be nonsense and a whim. For Kirsanov Sr., these features of his nature are components, this is a familiar state of mind.

The author considers Nikolai Kirsanov one of his favorite heroes. By his side Eternal values life: family, love, nobility and kindness. The characteristics of Kirsanov are the characteristics of a person who lives in harmony with himself. His personality is completely harmonious. This image evokes the sympathy of not only the author, but also the readers of the novel from its beginning to the end of the development of the action.

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Life is full of paradoxes; you can easily find many such examples. One of them is the diametrical opposite in character and life principles the closest, in related senses, people.

Very often, brothers and sisters differ radically from each other, which causes sincere bewilderment. A similar situation was described by I. Turgenev in the novel “Fathers and Sons.”

The place of the image of Nikolai Kirsanov in the novel and his relationship with his brother

Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov is one of the main characters of the novel. He is not an active figure in the events described, but his importance and participation in the conflict is difficult to overestimate. Compared to other characters, Turgenev deprives Nikolai Petrovich of activity - the character appears at key moments, and his image is composed mainly of fragments and hints from the author, but at the same time one cannot fail to note the influence of Nikolai Petrovich on the outcome of the conflict and the strong influence of this very conflict on the life of Kirsanov.

Ivan Turgenev closely connects his character with the image of Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, his older brother. All descriptions and events of Nikolai Petrovich’s life path are compared with certain events or qualities of his brother’s character. In other words, we can say that Nikolai Petrovich’s whole life passes in comparison with the life and personality of his brother.

Childhood and youth of Nikolai Kirsanov

The tendency to compare and contrast the personalities of brothers begins in childhood. In the descriptions, the reader notices that the image of the older brother is contradictory to the image of the younger one.

First of all, this is expressed in the readiness to follow in the footsteps of the father. Peter Kirsanov was a hereditary nobleman by birth, but their family did not have much influence. The situation was corrected by merits in the region military service- his authority increased significantly, and in the rural wilderness where their family estate was located, he became an irreplaceable and extremely respected person.

Based on this turn of events, the fate of the boys was predetermined - they also had to begin military service. For the eldest son, this was a feasible task - he had a tough and strong character. The younger one was a completely different person - soft and impressionable, he was not at all suitable for a military career. To all this was added a certain timidity and cowardice: he “not only was not distinguished by courage, but even earned the nickname of a coward.” The resulting leg injury, which left the boy lame for the rest of his life, saved Nikolai Kirsanov from a heavy burden. The parents had no choice but to send their son to university. “My father waved his hand at him and let him go in civilian clothes...”
In “1835 Nikolai Petrovich left the university as a candidate.”

Nikolai Kirsanov and Masha Prepolovenskaya

The troubles associated with Nikolai were not limited to physical injury. Soon the parents were shocked by another unpleasant news about their youngest son. This time the reason was love - their Nikolai was head over heels in love with the daughter of “official Prepolovensky” Masha. Turgenev does not go into details of the case, but states the fact that the parents were extremely dissatisfied with their son’s choice, they believed that the girl was unworthy to be Nikolai’s wife.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the “characteristics of Pavel Kirsanov”

The tense situation was defused by the death of the parents - authoritarianism in relation to Nikolai was excluded, and there were no longer any obstacles to the marriage of lovers. After waiting right time for mourning, the young people got married. The parents' fears about the inconsistency and error of marriage with Masha were in vain. “The couple lived very well and quietly: they almost never separated.” Family life Kirsanova was like a utopia, but this fairy tale was unexpectedly interrupted - Masha dies after ten years of married life. Nikolai Petrovich has only memories of her and little son Arkady.

Appearance of Nikolai Petrovich

“Nikolai Petrovich limped, had small, pleasant, but somewhat sad features, small black eyes and soft, thin hair.”

Turgenev pays little attention to describing the appearance of his heroes, especially in cases where the wardrobe does not become an object constant attention character. Nikolai Petrovich belongs to the second category of characters - he is indifferent to fashion trends, and values ​​convenience in clothes. He doesn't spend long time, like his older brother at the toilet and treats the state of his suit with a certain degree of indifference, but at the same time does not let it go.

Relations between Nikolai Petrovich and Arkady

It was in Arcadia that Nikolai Petrovich found solace and meaning in life after the loss of his wife. Despite all his gentle character and the enormous grief that suddenly surged, Kirsanov understands that he cannot allow himself to be covered by a wave of blues - in this case, he will lose absolutely everything and, after that, he will hardly be able to change the situation.

In relation to Arkady, Nikolai Petrovich does not hesitate to show the most tender feelings; the rigidity and pragmatism that were common among fathers are alien to him. He can tenderly hug his son, languish in anticipation of his arrival and be incredibly bored. In a word, the behavior of Kirsanov the father is more similar to the behavior of the mother than the father. This state of affairs does not bother either father or son.

Arkady is also very attached to his father, he considers him a good and kind person. Arkady often speaks well of his father: “father is a kind fellow, you are the kindest and clever man in the world".

Life after wife's death

After the loss of his wife, Kirsanov finally moved to the village and took up the affairs of the Maryino estate. Their family estate was “a good estate of two hundred souls, or, as he puts it since he separated himself from the peasants and started a “farm,” two thousand dessiatines of land.”

Unfortunately, the gentleness of character and lack of practicality do not allow Nikolai Petrovich to organize things on the estate “life was not going very well in Maryino, and poor Nikolai Petrovich had a bad time. The chores on the farm grew every day - joyless, senseless chores.”

Thanks to Nikolai Petrovich’s hard work, things don’t look completely terrible - the estate is somehow staying afloat. Pavel Petrovich believes that the main reason why things went downhill is his brother’s impracticality: “My brother is not very practical,” he reasoned with himself, “he is being deceived.”

Romance in the life of Nikolai Kirsanov

Nikolai Petrovich has always been an impressionable and romantic person. Most young people have this commitment, but over time, under the influence life difficulties, romanticism is replaced by pragmatism. This did not happen in relation to Nikolai Petrovich - he retains a romantic attitude until the end of his days. The main array of events in the novel falls on Nikolai Petrovich’s age limit of 44 years.

The preservation of romanticism was partly affected by its country life. “He loved to dream; village life developed this ability in him.”

Nikolai Petrovich did not give up his music studies, and although his musical skills were far from ideal, he still does not neglect playing the piano and cello - he experiences catharsis.

The next way to get peace of mind for Kirsanov it becomes reading books. Pushkin's poems were especially popular with him. Often, while admiring nature, a wide variety of poems came to his mind and he replayed the familiar text in his head with pleasure.

Nikolai Petrovich and Fenya

Undoubtedly, the death of his wife was a huge loss in Kirsanov’s life. The image of Masha became key and ideal for him. Sometimes he became nostalgic and dreamed about old times when he was happy with his wife. He sincerely wanted Masha to come to life and he could again feel her warmth next to him. Whatever the significant loss, time gradually replaced it in Kirsanov’s life, 10 years after the death of his wife, a light appeared new love.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the “image of Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov” in I. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.”

This time the object of tender feelings was a girl of ignoble origin - Fenya. She moved with her mother to Kirsanov’s estate after Nikolai Petrovich offered the woman service on his estate. At that time, Fenya was a little girl. Time passed, and from the little girl she turned out to be a very attractive and pious woman. Kirsanov falls in love with her, and after the death of her mother begins an affair. This relationship does not become a passing hobby in Kirsanov’s life - he has love for the girl, and this feeling is mutual. Kirsanov is in no hurry to get married - he is worried about possible condemnation from the aristocracy, but he lives with Fenya as his legal wife. Under the influence of Pavel Petrovich’s request, the wedding nevertheless took place.

Nikolay Kirsanov and Evgeny Bazarov

The appearance of Arkady’s friend, the nihilist doctor Yevgeny Bazarov, could not go unnoticed in the life of Nikolai Kirsanov.

Life positions Nikolai Petrovich and Evgeniy are too different. Evgeny is a specific person, he likes to provoke people into conflict, but, despite all the disagreements, Nikolai Petrovich does not enter into an argument or discussion. Kirsanov gently asks Bazarov about his position, but at the slightest hint of a discussion, he stops the discussion. This behavior of Kirsanov is associated with the desire to please his son. Arkady is delighted with his new friend, and his father does not want to become a stumbling block between them. On the other hand, Nikolai Petrovich realizes that his time has come to “swallow the bitter pill” of the new time - new orders have arrived and old people like him are not able to succeed in the course of their development.

The third reason that hinders discussion is Kirsanov’s dislike of conflicts and disputes.

Thus, Nikolai Kirsanov has a calm temperament; he is not characterized by harsh judgments or actions. He's romantic and emotional person- incapable of meanness and deceit. Distinctive feature Nikolai Petrovich is a sense of tact and delicacy. Overall he is positive and a kind person, endowed with wisdom and the ability to deeply analyze the situation.

Characteristics of Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov in the novel “Fathers and Sons”: description of appearance and character in quotes

As Pavel Kirsanov

Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov- a character in the novel by I. S. Turgenev “Fathers and Sons”. He is Bazarov’s main opponent in the novel, the main opponent in his ideological disputes.

Life story

Pavel Petrovich was brought up in the page corps. Having become an officer, he enjoyed great success in the world: Kirsanov was self-confident, mocking and “amusingly bilious.” Women liked him, easily had affairs, and aroused the envy of men. At twenty-eight he was already a captain, waiting for him brilliant career. However, everything suddenly changed: a woman appeared in the St. Petersburg world who became fatal for Kirsanov.

Pavel Petrovich fell passionately in love with Princess R., who was known in the world as a frivolous coquette. However, love did not bring Kirsanov happiness: having initially reciprocated his feelings, Princess R. soon lost interest in him. However, this obstacle did not stop the hero. For many years he tried to maintain this relationship; for many years this withering, debilitating passion did not give him peace.

Painfully attached to Princess R., Kirsanov could never understand her; he was struck by her strangeness, imbalance, something “cherished and inaccessible” in her soul, where no one could penetrate. After tender meetings, he felt only “tearing and bitter disappointment” in his heart. Having parted with Princess R., Kirsanov tried to live his old, familiar life, which he, however, failed. He grew old, turned grey, and no longer thought about novels. Soon Pavel Petrovich and his brother settled in Maryino. At the end of his life he moved to Dresden, where he lived out his life alone.

Characteristics of the hero

Kirsanov is characterized by the following words: he is intellectual, principled, insightful, noble and admires the British, has a strong-willed character (although his high liberal principles about freedom and equality remain in words, in terms of the strength of his character he is truly a worthy rival of Bazarov).

Literature

• E. V. Amelina, Preparing for the literature exam - Onyx 21st century, 2005. - 0 p. ISBN 5-329-01102-7

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See what “Kirsanov, Pavel Petrovich (character)” is in other dictionaries: Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov Creator: I. S. Turgenev Works: “Fathers and Sons” Gender: male nationality

: Russian Family: brother... Wikipedia

A character in I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.” He is Bazarov’s main opponent in the novel, the main opponent in his ideological disputes. Life story Pavel Petrovich was brought up in the page corps. Having become an officer, he enjoyed great success in ... Wikipedia For Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, as well as for Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, detail in his works is very important. One such detail is the story about the life of Princess R. It seems that nothing meaningful story
First, I will describe the appearance and character of Princess R. The princess was known as a frivolous coquette, she loved to dance a lot, laugh, joke with young people, and at night she rushed around the room in tears for a long time. But with the arrival of a new day, she again turned into a society lady, again went out for walks, chatted with everyone and rushed towards all the entertainment. She was very well built, her golden heavy braid fell below her knees, but she couldn’t be called a beauty, only her eyes, gray and deep, in which her beauty was hidden. inner world, stood out on her face.
The love story of Pavel Petrovich and Princess R. echoes the history tragic love Turgenev to Polina Viardot. The portraits of these women are very similar. Pauline Viardot, like Princess R., constantly traveled abroad, led a cheerful, strange life(She was famous singer). Polina Viardot alternately moved Turgenev away and then brought Turgenev closer to her. After long separations, their love flared up again, only to later go out.
Pavel Petrovich, like Turgenev himself, after breaking up with Princess R., could not get rid of thoughts about this woman. He was tormented, jealous, strove for her everywhere, until she decided to go abroad. But this did not stop him; he resigned and followed the princess. Like Pauline Viardot, the princess constantly gave new hope Kirsanov. In Baden, she and Pavel Petrovich reconnected, but a month later it was all over. Princess R. left the town and avoided meeting with her ex-lover. Kirsanov, like Turgenev, met many women on his life path, but he carried the memory of this woman and love for her throughout his life.
There is one mystery in this story that is believed to have multiple solutions. Pavel Petrovich gives his beloved a ring with a sphinx carved on a stone and says that the sphinx is her. After the death of Princess R., he receives back an envelope with this ring. She drew a cross-shaped line across the stone with the sphinx and told him to tell him that the cross was the answer.
The first version of the solution to this riddle is that Princess R. put an end to their relationship and thereby wanted to show that she never loved Kirsanov. The second version is that the cross is the beginning of a new life, and by this Princess R. hinted to Pavel Petrovich that he should forget her and start new life, try to find love after her death.
The story of Pavel Petrovich and Princess R. can be compared with the myth of Oedipus. This myth tells about the sphinx, a half-woman, half-lion, who asked riddles to all travelers, and if they did not solve them, she ate them. Found only person, Oedipus, who was able to solve all her riddles. She could not survive such grief and threw herself off the cliff. It can be assumed that Princess R. is the sphinx, and Pavel Petrovich is Oedipus. But only Kirsanov could not solve the mystery of his beloved and paid for it by losing her forever.
The tragic love story of Pavel Petrovich plays very big role in the work. She spiritually brings together the main characters, Pavel Kirsanov and Bazarov, people whose ideas about the meaning of life, about fate common people very different and whose disputes formed the basis of Turgenev’s work.

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The writing of the novel "Fathers and Sons" coincided with the most important reforms of the 19th century, namely the abolition of serfdom. The century was famous for the development of industry and natural sciences, the expansion of communications with Europe. In Russia, the ideas of Westernism began to be accepted. The "fathers" adhered to the old views. The younger generation, the “children,” welcomed the abolition of serfdom and the reforms.

Bazarov, a nihilist, represents “new people”, and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov is considered to be his opponent, because it is they who conduct polemics on various topics - about nihilism, aristocracy, practical benefits, and so on. However, Pavel Petrovich turns out to be an untenable opponent for Bazarov. All the words of Pavel Petrovich are just “words”, since they are not supported by any action. His entire previous life was a straight path of continuous success, given to him by birthright (from childhood he was unusually handsome, self-confident, women liked him very much, studied in the corps of pages, at the age of 27 he was already a captain, a brilliant career awaited him), but the first But the difficulty (unrequited love for Princess R.) made Pavel Petrovich incapable of anything: he resigned, persecuted her, was expelled, lived a colorless, fruitless and fast life for ten years, and spends the rest of his life with his brother in the village. He has no convictions; instead, he has principles that boil down to maintaining external decency and trying to appear like a gentleman. Form without content - this is the essence of Pavel Petrovich (this is clearly manifested in the description of his office, in the fact that, as a symbol of Russia, he keeps an ashtray in the shape of a “peasant’s bast shoe” on the table).

Pavel Petrovich is only interested in the external side of things - he talks about Schiller, Goethe, although he is unlikely to have read them, his judgments are arrogant and superficial. But the same can be said about Bazarov: the same predilection for “external effects” (sideburns, robe, swagger), the same lack of harmony with the outside world. D.I. Pisarev calls Pavel Petrovich “Pechorin of small sizes.” Bazarov is the same Pavel Petrovich, exactly the opposite.

Turgenev shows that nothing can be built on the denial of everything, including philosophy, because life consists of affirmation, not negation. Thus, we see that Bazarov’s real opponent is Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov, although he does not enter into verbal disputes. He understands perfectly well that his arguments will not be convincing either for Bazarov or for his brother.

Nikolai Petrovich simply lives according to his heart and conscience (having broken his leg in his youth, which prevented him from doing military career, he does not become despondent, does not become embittered at the whole world, but studies at the university, then gets married, lives with his wife for ten years in love and harmony, which passed “like a dream”; after the death of his wife, he devotes himself to raising and educating his son; then life sends him love for a simple girl Fenechka, for a newborn child).

That hard-won knowledge, that “homegrown truth” that Nikolai Petrovich learned in a harmonious existence, in unity with nature, in poetry and love, can only be understood by a developed soul, which neither the “district aristocrat” nor the “leader of the nihilists” have. . Only the son Arkady is able to understand this, who, in the end, comes to the conclusion that Bazarov’s ideas are untenable. Life itself puts everything in its place, sweeps away everything unnatural: Bazarov dies, having known love, softening his negativism; Pavel Petrovich went abroad (where he belongs); Arkady marries Katya, lives on his father's estate, raises it from desolation and poverty; Nikolai Petrovich - marries Fenechka, becomes a peace mediator and works hard.