The plot and main characters of Oblomov. Analysis of the work “Oblomov” (I

Year: 1859 Genre: novel

Main characters: Ilya Oblomov, Olga, Andrey Stolts

1859 Russia. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” was published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. The work talks about Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, his servant Zakhara and their life in St. Petersburg. Ilya Ilyich practically does not get up from the sofa and his main attributes are a spacious robe, soft slippers and a sofa. The author also introduces us to Stolz, Oblomov’s best friend and his aptipod. There is also a love plot... The ending of the novel is tragic - Oblomov dies, but “Oblomovism” lives on.

the main idea The novel “Oblomov” is that Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, for the first time in Russian literature, draws the reader’s attention to such a negative and destructive concept as “Oblomovism”. It is this phenomenon that causes degradation of both the individual and the entire society as a whole. This can be seen in the ideological concept of the novel.

The reader gets acquainted with the main character of the story - Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. He is 32 years old. He lives with his servant Zakhar on Gorokhovaya Street in St. Petersburg. His days are like one another like twins. Usually Ilya Oblomov lies in bed. “Doing nothing” is the main trait of the main character. His servant does not resist this way of life. Everything suits him.

A new day comes and Volkov, Penkin, Sudbinsky come one after another to visit Ilya Ilyich. Their goal is to disrupt the regular course of the sloth’s life. Oblomov, in turn, tells them about his problems, but the guests are not interested in these matters.
Oblomov has a friend - Andrei Stolts. And only he alone can help Ilya Ilyich sort things out.
In the meantime, the hero lies on the sofa. He dreams of his native village - Oblomovka, where he is a small and curious boy, and life is carefree and calm. But the dream is interrupted by the arrival of Stolz.

Then the story begins about Andrei Stolts, his childhood and youth. It turns out that they are the same age as Oblomov, but in every way they are antipodes. Stolz has German roots and, because of this, he was formed early as a person. He is active and constantly moving. Andrei even makes attempts to stir up Oblomov: take him on a visit, introduce him to different people. Stoltz succeeds because Oblomov leaves the couch and tries to lead an active lifestyle.

One fine day, fate brings Oblomov together with Olga Ilyinskaya. He falls in love... But Olga is a very active person and she absolutely does not like much of Oblomov’s way of life.

Stolz needs to leave on business. It was during this period of time that Ilya Ilyich fell under the influence of Tarantiev and moved to the Vyborg side. Oblomov again plunges into the maelstrom of problems. It is unbearably difficult for him to deal with things. And then one day he meets Agafya Pshenitsyna. It is so cozy that the hero feels as if he has returned to his native Oblomovka.

Unnoticed, Pshenitsyna takes matters into her hands. Then Ilya Ilyich again returns to a state of slumber and bliss. Often he gets a shake-up - these are meetings with Olga Ilyinskaya. Oblomov hears talk about the upcoming wedding of Olga and Stolz. But... Oblomov is only indignant, but does not take decisive action against it.

Almost a year passes. Oblomov has been sick all this time. Pshenitsyna runs the household with a firm hand. Tender feelings even appeared between her and Oblomov. Their life is returning to a calm direction. Finally, the wedding of Olga and Stolz took place.

Several more years pass. Stolz visits his old friend and sees that nothing has changed in his life. Oblomov doesn’t care. The only thing he asks Andrei to do is take care of Oblomov’s son. After some time, Oblomov dies. Agafya Pshenitsyna completely devotes herself to her son.

The novel ends with the meaningful words: “Reason... what a reason! Oblomovism!

Picture or drawing of Oblomov

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The plot and composition of Oblomov's novel

Goncharov's novel "Oblomov" is strictly and clearly subordinated to the division of the Russian calendar into four seasons. The composition of Goncharov’s masterpiece speaks about this. The events taking place there begin in the spring of May 1st. Summer brings the most stormy action - the love of Oblomov and Olga. And winter ends with the first snow.

This composition of the novel, included in the annual cycle, brings all the plot lines to a smooth completion. One gets the impression that the structure of the novel was borrowed by Goncharov himself directly from his native nature. Oblomov's life - from his love to his dinner menu - is included in this organic order and is reflected in the natural annual cycle, finding a scale for comparison in the calendar.

The sophisticated, original structure of Goncharov’s novel is characteristic of Russian poetics in its unusualness. Russian classics, not burdened by ancient traditions, often ignored ready-made genre forms, preferring to create them anew each time, for their own special purposes. Both novels in verse and poems in prose appeared from an overabundance of content that required an original system of presentation.

"Oblomov" is no exception. It could be called a special prose drama. Theatrical convention (seven guests come to the couch potato Oblomov in one day) in Goncharov is combined with detailed everyday life writing, a rhetorical outline of morals is combined with a stage-rapid, often absurd conversational element. By the way, speaking of language, we can assume that the image of Oblomov was born from the Russian predilection for indefinite particles. He is the living embodiment of all these “something, something, something.”

The frontal, condensed, accelerated image of Oblomov in the first part of the novel, in fact, exhausts the theme of “Oblomovism”. The hero's whole life - both external and internal, his past ("Oblomov's Dream") and future - seems to be already being revealed in this part. However, the very fact of the existence of the other three parts suggests that a superficial reading of the book only allows us to detect Oblomovism in it, but not Oblomov - a type, not an image.

By provocatively suggesting conclusions about Oblomov to us at the beginning of the book, the author is actually masking his incomparably more complex point of view on the hero. Deep into the fabric of the novel, Goncharov implanted the contradictory voice of the narrator, which destroys the unambiguous interpretation of the novel.

On the last page of the book we learn that Stolz tells the whole story of Oblomov: “And he (Stoltz - Author) told him (the narrator - Author) what is written here.” This story was recorded by a listener of Stolz, in whom it is easy to recognize Goncharov himself: “A writer, plump, with an apathetic face, thoughtful, as if sleepy eyes.”

These two voices - the reasoning, pedantic tone of Stolz and the mocking but sympathetic tone of the author himself - accompany Oblomov throughout his entire journey, preventing the novel from becoming a flat sketch of morals. The complexly intertwined intonations do not contrast, but complement each other: the first does not deny the second. Because of this structure of the author’s speech, the book becomes multi-layered. As is usually the case in a Russian novel, a metaphysical theme emerges behind the social plane.

In Oblomov, all words that do not belong to the characters should be read not directly, as preliminary criticism of the novel, but as an artistically depicted word. Only then will the phenomenal duality of Oblomov, a hero who goes far beyond the contours of the plot, be revealed.

Oblomov seems funny only when he is on the move, for example, in the company of Stolz. But in the eyes of the widow Pshenitsyna, who is in love with him, Oblomov again turns into a statue: “He will sit down, cross his legs, rest his head on his hand - he does all this so freely, calmly and beautifully... he is all so good, so pure, he can do nothing and doesn't."

And in the eyes of Oblomov himself, his then-beloved Olga freezes in beautiful stillness: “If she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.”

The first part of the novel “Oblomov” is essentially an exposition that has expanded into a quarter of the book, where “the author arranges a parade of minor characters, each of whom is described according to the recipes of the then fashionable natural school. This gallery of types, popular in the middle of the last century, is needed insofar as he needs to show that for the sake of their ridiculous activities, Oblomov should not get up from the couch. All these insignificant figures, with their vanity, compromise the life around him in Oblomov’s eyes. He, the motionless center of the plot, immediately stands out with mysterious significance among these non-character types.”

The author’s explanation is epically detailed and deeply convincing: “Oblomovism” as a system is in the morals and concepts of life, which is based on the unpaid labor of serfs and imbued with the ideals of idleness, eternal peace and carefreeness. “Those who sought manifestations of power sank and withered” among them in a fatal way. Thus, in the new work, “Oblomovism” acquired clear sociological concreteness. And class-estate clarity (especially in the chapter “Oblomov’s Dream”) made it possible to directly compare the death of the owner of three hundred serfs with the existing serfdom, which distorts man and paralyzes his will. Dobrolyubov in his famous article “What is Oblomovism?” called Oblomov “our indigenous, folk type, from which none of our serious artists could get rid of.” The critic saw in him a modern noble liberal, completing the literary image of a “superfluous man” with a complete failure to face the “real thing” - a decisive struggle against the autocratic-serf system - the way of life in Russia.

Still from the film “A few days in the life of I.I. Oblomov" (1979)

Part one

In St. Petersburg, on Gorokhovaya Street, on the same morning as always, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is lying in bed - a young man of about thirty-two, not burdening himself with any special activities. His lying down is a certain way of life, a kind of protest against established conventions, which is why Ilya Ilyich so ardently, philosophically and meaningfully objects to all attempts to get him off the couch. His servant, Zakhar, is the same, showing neither surprise nor displeasure - he is used to living the same way as his master: how he lives...

This morning, visitors come to Oblomov one after another: on the first of May, the whole St. Petersburg society gathers in Yekateringhof, so the friends are trying to push Ilya Ilyich away, to stir him up, forcing him to take part in the social holiday festivities. But neither Volkov, nor Sudbinsky, nor Penkin succeeds. With each of them, Oblomov tries to discuss his concerns - a letter from the headman from Oblomovka and the threatening move to another apartment; but no one cares about Ilya Ilyich’s worries.

But Mikhei Andreevich Tarantiev, Oblomov’s fellow countryman, “a man of a quick and cunning mind,” is ready to deal with the problems of the lazy master. Knowing that after the death of his parents, Oblomov remained the only heir of three hundred and fifty souls, Tarantyev is not at all opposed to settling down with a very tasty morsel, especially since he quite rightly suspects: the headman of Oblomov steals and lies much more than is required within reasonable limits. And Oblomov is waiting for his childhood friend, Andrei Stolts, who, in his opinion, is the only one who can help him understand his economic difficulties.

At first, when he arrived in St. Petersburg, Oblomov somehow tried to integrate into the life of the capital, but gradually he realized the futility of his efforts: no one needed him, and no one was close to him. So Ilya Ilyich lay down on his sofa... And so his unusually devoted servant Zakhar, who was in no way behind his master, lay down on his couch. He intuitively feels who can truly help his master, and who, like Mikhei Andreevich, only pretends to be Oblomov’s friend. But from a detailed showdown with mutual grievances, only a dream into which the master plunges, while Zakhar goes to gossip and relieve his soul with the neighboring servants, can save him.

Oblomov sees in a sweet dream his past, long-gone life in his native Oblomovka, where there is nothing wild, grandiose, where everything breathes calm and serene sleep. Here they only eat, sleep, discuss the news that comes to this region very late; life flows smoothly, flowing from autumn to winter, from spring to summer, to again complete its eternal circles. Here fairy tales are almost indistinguishable from real life, and dreams are a continuation of reality. Everything is peaceful, quiet, calm in this blessed land - no passions, no worries disturb the inhabitants of sleepy Oblomovka, among whom Ilya Ilyich spent his childhood. This dream could have lasted, it seems, for an eternity, if it had not been interrupted by the appearance of Oblomov’s long-awaited friend, Andrei Ivanovich Stoltz, whose arrival Zakhar joyfully announces to his master...

Part two

Andrei Stolts grew up in the village of Verkhlevo, which was once part of Oblomovka; here now his father serves as manager. Stolz developed into a personality, in many ways unusual, thanks to the double upbringing received from a strong-willed, strong, cold-blooded German father and a Russian mother, a sensitive woman who lost herself in the storms of life at the piano. The same age as Oblomov, he is the complete opposite of his friend: “he is constantly on the move: if society needs to send an agent to Belgium or England, they send him; you need to write some project or adapt a new idea to business - they choose it. Meanwhile, he goes out into the world and reads; when he succeeds, God knows.”

The first thing Stolz starts with is pulling Oblomov out of bed and taking him to visit different houses. Thus begins the new life of Ilya Ilyich.

Stolz seems to pour some of his ebullient energy into Oblomov, now Oblomov gets up in the morning and begins to write, read, take an interest in what is happening around him, and his acquaintances cannot be surprised: “Imagine, Oblomov has moved!” But Oblomov didn’t just move - his whole soul was shaken to the core: Ilya Ilyich fell in love. Stolz brought him into the Ilyinskys’ house, and in Oblomov a man, endowed by nature with unusually strong feelings, wakes up - listening to Olga sing, Ilya Ilyich experiences a genuine shock, he finally finally woke up. But for Olga and Stolz, who have planned a kind of experiment on the eternally dormant Ilya Ilyich, this is not enough - it is necessary to awaken him to rational activity.

Meanwhile, Zakhar found his happiness - having married Anisya, a simple and kind woman, he suddenly realized that dust, dirt, and cockroaches should be fought, and not put up with. In a short time, Anisya puts Ilya Ilyich’s house in order, extending her power not only to the kitchen, as initially expected, but throughout the entire house.

But this general awakening did not last long: the very first obstacle, moving from the dacha to the city, gradually turned into that swamp that slowly but steadily sucks in Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, who is not adapted to making decisions, to taking the initiative. A long life in a dream cannot end immediately...

Olga, feeling her power over Oblomov, is unable to understand too much about him.

Part three

Having succumbed to Tarantiev’s intrigues at the moment when Stolz left St. Petersburg again, Oblomov moved to an apartment rented to him by Mikhei Andreevich, on the Vyborg side.

Unable to deal with life, unable to get rid of debts, unable to manage his estate and expose the swindlers around him, Oblomov ends up in the house of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, whose brother, Ivan Matveevich Mukhoyarov, is friends with Mikhei Andreevich, not inferior to him, but rather superior the latter with cunning and cunning. In Agafya Matveevna’s house, in front of Oblomov, at first imperceptibly, and then more and more clearly, the atmosphere of his native Oblomovka unfolds, what Ilya Ilyich treasures most in his soul.

Gradually, Oblomov’s entire household passes into the hands of Pshenitsyna. A simple, ingenuous woman, she begins to manage Oblomov’s house, preparing him delicious dishes, organizing his life, and again the soul of Ilya Ilyich plunges into a sweet sleep. Although occasionally the peace and serenity of this dream explodes with meetings with Olga Ilyinskaya, who is gradually becoming disillusioned with her chosen one. Rumors about the wedding of Oblomov and Olga Ilyinskaya are already scurrying between the servants of the two houses - having learned about this, Ilya Ilyich is horrified: nothing has been decided yet, in his opinion, and people are already moving from house to house conversations about what is most likely , that won't happen. “That’s all Andrei: he instilled love, like smallpox, in both of us. And what kind of life is this, all the excitement and anxiety! When will there be peaceful happiness, peace?” - Oblomov reflects, realizing that everything that is happening to him is nothing more than the last convulsions of a living soul, ready for the final, already continuous sleep.

Days pass by days, and now Olga, unable to bear it, comes to Ilya Ilyich on the Vyborg side. He comes to make sure that nothing will awaken Oblomov from his slow descent into final sleep. Meanwhile, Ivan Matveyevich Mukhoyarov is taking over Oblomov’s estate affairs, entangling Ilya Ilyich so thoroughly and deeply in his clever machinations that the owner of blessed Oblomovka is unlikely to be able to get out of them. And at this moment Agafya Matveevna is also repairing Oblomov’s robe, which, it seemed, no one could fix. This becomes the last straw in the throes of Ilya Ilyich’s resistance - he falls ill with fever.

Part four

A year after Oblomov’s illness, life flowed along its measured course: the seasons changed, Agafya Matveevna prepared delicious dishes for the holidays, baked pies for Oblomov, brewed coffee for him with her own hands, celebrated Elijah’s Day with enthusiasm... And suddenly Agafya Matveevna realized that she had fallen in love master She became so devoted to him that at the moment when Andrei Stolts, who came to St. Petersburg on the Vyborg side, exposed Mukhoyarov’s dark deeds, Pshenitsyna renounced her brother, whom she had so revered and even feared until recently.

Having experienced disappointment in her first love, Olga Ilyinskaya gradually gets used to Stolz, realizing that her relationship with him is much more than just friendship. And Olga agrees to Stolz’s proposal...

And a few years later, Stolz reappears on the Vyborg side. He finds Ilya Ilyich, who has become “a complete and natural reflection and expression of ‹…› peace, contentment and serene silence. Looking and reflecting on his life and becoming more and more comfortable in it, he finally decided that he had nowhere else to go, nothing to look for...” Oblomov found his quiet happiness with Agafya Matveevna, who bore him a son, Andryusha. Stolz's arrival does not bother Oblomov: he asks his old friend just not to leave Andryusha...

And five years later, when Oblomov was no longer there, Agafya Matveevna’s house fell into disrepair, and the wife of the bankrupt Mukhoyarov, Irina Panteleevna, began to play the first role in it. Andryusha was asked to be raised by the Stoltsy. Living in the memory of the late Oblomov, Agafya Matveevna focused all her feelings on her son: “she realized that she had lost and her life shone, that God put his soul into her life and took it out again; that the sun shone in her and darkened forever...” And high memory forever connected her with Andrei and Olga Stolts - “the memory of the soul of the deceased, clear as crystal.”

And faithful Zakhar is there, on the Vyborg side, where he lived with his master, now asking for alms...

Retold

Initially, the plot of “Oblomov” was apparently conceived as a generalized biography of an inactive, apathetic, receding landowner class using a separate example. The author's position in relation to serfdom should have been reflected in a detailed story about the life of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, who thoughtlessly spent day after day in his country estate. In accordance with this idea, the first volume of Oblomov was written, which mostly tells about the childhood of Ilya Ilyich. When writing the next three parts of the work, Goncharov’s attitude towards it changes. Firstly, the author takes his hero to an urban setting and through him shows his attitude towards metropolitan society. Secondly, the storyline becomes more complicated. The latter should be discussed separately. This method of testing love, however, is found not only in Goncharov.

By showing how this or that hero behaves when falling in love, the author will be able to discover many new facets in the soul of his characters that would not appear under any other circumstances. At the same time, the author is given the opportunity to present his hero from one side or another, depending on his attitude towards the latter. Based on the outcome of the love plot, one can also judge the author’s position regarding the character.

The analysis of the work, of course, must begin with the first part, despite the fact that the beginning and development of the main plot occurs in the next three. At first, through the conversations of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, the author characterizes him as a friendly and hospitable person and at the same time possessing extraordinary drowsiness and laziness. And then, to explain the origins of his character, Goncharov introduces the hero’s dream, where he shows his childhood. Thus, the composition of the work is not disrupted.

The story about the idyllic region where Oblomov was born and raised begins with one of the main and, in my opinion, the most interesting moments of this part of the novel. The nature of the Oblomovsky region is described here.

Its serenity and plainness are, of course, noticeably exaggerated and sometimes even border on something fabulous, due to the general atmosphere of the estate. However, interestingly, from Goncharov’s own comments made here, one can judge that this landscape largely reflects his view of nature. From this passage we see that Lermontov’s descriptions of formidable elements are alien to the author. In his idyllic location, “there are no dense forests—nothing grand, wild or gloomy.” And it’s not surprising, because Goncharov’s composition in relation to them is quite definite: the sea “brings only sadness” to him, and “mountains and abysses... are formidable, terrible, like the claws and teeth of a wild beast released and directed at him...”. But in the “peaceful corner” he outlined for Oblomov, even “the sky... is like a parent’s reliable roof.” “The sun there shines brightly and hotly around noon and then moves away... as if reluctantly...” And “the mountains... are just models of those terrible mountains.” And all the nature there “represents a series of... cheerful, smiling landscapes...”.

The very idea conveyed here is not new: idle landowners, the basis of whose life is the question of what to choose for lunch, and peasants working day after day for the benefit of their masters. What is interesting is not this, but how Goncharov reflects his attitude towards this way of life. Here, as in everything in Oblomovka, the colors seem to be muted. This is how the life of the peasants is described here: “Happy people lived, thinking that it should not be otherwise and, perhaps, confident that everyone else lived in exactly the same way and that living differently was a sin...” I think that the author resorted to this style, because, having reflected his position in relation to the problem of serfdom, he should not have disturbed the atmosphere of general drowsiness, so important for the main character. After all, whatever Goncharov’s attitude towards the landowners, it seems to me that deep down in his soul he sympathizes and sympathizes with Oblomov. The same general apathy that surrounded Ilya Ilyich in childhood could partly justify him.

Here for the first time Goncharov mentions Stolz. The author's position in relation to him in the future is clear. He will have to become a generalized image of an advanced person, including strength of character, a flexible mind, a constant thirst for action, in other words, reflect the complete opposite of Oblomov. Accordingly, the author makes the conditions of upbringing that shape his future character completely different than in Oblomovka.

Now, moving on to the three main parts of the novel, it must be said that the main storyline here is the relationship between Olga Ilyinskaya and Ilya Ilyich Olomov. However, first we need to consider how the author’s position regarding Oblomov and Stolz was reflected in their comparison. In this case, considering the development of the love line between Olga, Oblomov and Stolz, we can once again emphasize one or another view of the author on the personalities of these two characters.

The author, like the reader, undoubtedly likes Stolz, endowed with only the most correct and necessary character traits, but at the same time, like most of us, Goncharov feels a feeling of sympathy for Ilya Ilyich. This position of the author in relation to his heroes was reflected not only in their destinies, but even in their portraits. This is how he describes Oblomov: “He was a man about thirty-two or three years old, of average height, pleasant appearance, with dark gray eyes, but with the absence of any definite idea, any concentration in his facial features.” And here is Stolz’s description: “He is all made up of bones, muscles and nerves, like a blooded English horse... His complexion is dark and there is no blush; the eyes are at least a little greenish, but expressive.” One cannot help but arouse sympathy with the softness and dreaminess of his nature reflected on his face, while the other delights with his firmness and determination, readable in his entire appearance.

The author's attitude towards them was also expressed through the mutual characteristics of the heroes. And here we need to talk about the strange friendship between these two diametrically opposed people. It’s unlikely that it’s just a matter of childhood affection that once united them. But what then connects them? If Oblomov’s friendship can be explained by the need for a strong, business-like person who would always come to the aid of his indecisive and drowsy nature, then how can we explain Stolz’s attachment to Oblomov? I think that this question can be answered in the words of Andrei himself: “This is a crystal, transparent soul; there are few such people; they are rare; these are pearls in the crowd!

Analysis of the plot of the novel “Oblomov”