Spring waters of Turgenev. Ivan Turgenev - spring waters

Gemma in the story "Spring Waters" - an Italian girl whom he fell in love with main character, Sanin. Gemma is an extraordinary beauty, as if descended from the canvases of the Renaissance masters. Her appearance embodied the ideal of harmony, which in the minds of the people of the Turgenev generation was associated precisely with Italy.

Beauty combines in Italian with innate artistry and the power of passion. The spirit of freedom also lives in it, equally opposed to both political despotism (Gemma is a “stubborn republican”) and measured and prudent bourgeoisism. The romantic nature of the heroine is manifested in the love story that makes up the first part of the story: the girl refuses her fiancé, the rich merchant Kluber, and falls in love with Sanin, who saved her brother and fought a duel for her honor. Gemma's love is surrounded by a halo of symbolic meaning: in it, according to Turgenev, the "last" secrets of life and beauty are revealed. All the more striking is Sanin's rejection of the happiness that has befallen him. The heroine is having a hard time with his betrayal. But then, as Sanin finds out, she embarks on the path of an ordinary (and, moreover, quite worthy) existence - she leaves for America, gets married and prospers.

Polozova Maria Nikolaevna- a woman who destroyed the love of Sanin and Gemma in Turgenev's story "Spring Waters". She is extremely selfish, often rude and coldly calculating, but for all that she is brightly outstanding. Polozova is a man of a new formation, the daughter of a wealthy illiterate peasant, who received a good education and having won a strong position in society, there is nothing in her from the psychology of an upstart: the heroine flaunts her plebeianism, although she despises the environment from which she came out, as well as her new environment.

She knows human weaknesses and knows how to use them. Its goal is complete freedom for itself and power over other people. The sensuality of Marya Nikolaevna Polozova is marked by a touch of a kind of demonism: she seeks to enslave men, destroying their faith in ideal love and the possibility of happiness. There are deep reasons for this in her own destiny. “Having suffered” from slavery, she makes others slaves; never in my life becoming an object true love she robs that kind of love more happy women. This is how she intrudes into the ideal romance of Gemma and Sanin. This is a kind of revenge on the whole world, which distinguished romantic heroes. But in Turgenev's story "Spring Waters" Polozova is not exalted; the halo of "half-beast and demigod" that surrounded her at climaxes eventually disappears, replaced by mere animal features ("A hawk that claws a captured bird has such eyes").

Sanin Dmitry Pavlovich- the main character of the story "Spring Waters" by Turgenev, a young Russian landowner who travels around Europe for his own entertainment. Suddenly, he becomes the protagonist of two diametrically opposed love stories. First, he experiences a high pure love for Gemma, and then, almost without any transition, a blind and base passion for Polozova, which manages to completely enslave him. Having fallen in love with Gemma, Sanin behaves like a noble person, becoming Polozova's slave - like a man without honor and conscience. He suffers, realizing the enormity of his betrayal, the baseness of all his behavior, but this does not change anything. The contrast is very sharp, the more significant is the fact that in both situations the behavior of the hero Turgenev explains the same reason - his weak will. The hero each time succumbs to the intervention of chance, obeys circumstances, feelings, the will of other people: whatever their impact, such is he (in a situation of ideal love, he is noble, in a situation of base passion, disgusting). In Sanin's weak will there is some resemblance to the psychology of Turgenev's "superfluous people." But the similarity only accentuates the difference. The weakness of the will, which determines the behavior of this hero, does not receive a specific social explanation (as happened in the stories about "superfluous people"). This enlarges the scale of generalization: the ability at any moment to move from noble idealism to unrestrained fall, immorality is interpreted by the author as a trait national character, an expression of "Russian essence".

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. IDEA AND THEMATIC CONTENT OF I.S. TURGENEV "SPRING WATER"

CHAPTER 2. IMAGES OF THE MAIN AND SECONDARY CHARACTERS IN THE STORY

2.2 Female images in the story

2.3 Minor characters

CONCLUSION

LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

In the late 1860s and the first half of the 1870s, Turgenev wrote a number of stories that belonged to the category of memories of the distant past (“The Brigadier”, “The Story of Lieutenant Ergunov”, “Unfortunate”, “Strange Story”, “Steppe King Lear”, “Knock, knock, knock”, “Spring waters”, “Punin and Baburin”, “Knocking”, etc.). Of these, the story "Spring Waters", the hero of which is another interesting addition to Turgenev's gallery of weak-willed people, became the most significant work of this period.

The story appeared in Vestnik Evropy in 1872 and was close in content to the stories Asya and First Love, written earlier: the same weak-willed, reflective hero, reminiscent of “superfluous people” (Sanin), the same Turgenev girl (Gemma ), experiencing the drama of unsuccessful love. Turgenev admitted that in his youth he “experienced and felt personally” the content of the story. But unlike their tragic endings, Spring Waters ends in a less dramatic plot. A deep and moving lyricism pervades the story.

In this work, Turgenev created images of the outgoing noble culture and new heroes of the era - commoners and democrats, images of selfless Russian women. And although the characters of the story are typical Turgenev's heroes, they still have interesting psychological features, recreated by the author with incredible skill, allowing the reader to penetrate into the depths of various human feelings, to experience them or remember them. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the figurative system of a short story with a small set of characters very carefully, relying on the text, without missing a single detail.

Therefore, the purpose of our course work is to study in detail the text of the story to characterize its figurative system.

Thus, the main and secondary characters of "Spring Waters" are the object of study.

The purpose, object and subject determine the following research objectives in our course work:

Consider the ideological and thematic content of the story;

Identify the main plot-figurative lines;

Consider the images of the main and secondary characters of the story, based on textual characteristics;

Make a conclusion about the artistic skill of Turgenev in the image of the heroes of "Spring Waters".

The theoretical significance of this work is determined by the fact that in criticism the story "Outer Waters" is mainly considered from the standpoint of problem-thematic analysis, and the line of Sanin - Jemma - Polozov is analyzed from the entire figurative system, in our work we have attempted a holistic figurative analysis of the work.

The practical significance of our work lies in the fact that the material presented in it can be used in the study of Turgenev's work as a whole, as well as for the preparation of special courses and optional courses, for example, "Tales of I.S. Turgenev about love (“Spring Waters”, “Asya”, “First Love”, etc.) or “Tales of Russian Writers of the Second Half of the 19th Century”, and when studying the general university course “History of Russian Literature of the 19th Century”.

CHAPTER 1. IDEA AND THEMATIC CONTENT OF THE STORY

I.S. TURGENEV "SPRING WATER"

The figurative system of a work directly depends on its ideological and thematic content: the author creates and develops characters in order to convey some idea to the reader, to make it “live”, “real”, “close” to the reader. The more successfully the images of the characters are created, the easier it is for the reader to perceive the thoughts of the author.

Therefore, before proceeding directly to the analysis of the images of the characters, we need to briefly consider the content of the story, in particular, why the author chose these and not other characters.

The ideological and artistic conception of this work determined the originality of the conflict and a special system, a special relationship of characters laid in its basis.

The conflict on which the story is built is a clash young man, not quite ordinary, not stupid, undoubtedly cultured, but indecisive, weak-willed, and a young girl, deep, strong in spirit, integral and strong-willed.

The central part of the plot is the origin, development and tragic ending of love. Turgenev's main attention, as a writer-psychologist, is directed to this side of the story, in the disclosure of these intimate experiences, and his artistic skill is manifested mainly.

There is also a link to a specific historical passage of time in the story. Thus, Sanin's meeting with Gemma dates back to 1840. In addition, Spring Waters contains a number of everyday details typical of the first half of the 19th century (Sanin is going to travel from Germany to Russia in a stagecoach, mail coach, etc.).

If we turn to the figurative system, it should immediately be noted that along with the main storyline - the love of Sanin and Gemma - additional storylines of the same personal order are given, but according to the principle of contrast with the main plot: the dramatic end of the story of Gemma's love for Sanin becomes clearer from comparison with side episodes concerning the history of Sanin and Polozova.

The main storyline in the story is revealed in the usual dramatic way for such works of Turgenev: first, a brief exposition is given, depicting the environment in which the characters must act, then the plot follows (the reader learns about the love of the hero and the heroine), then the action develops, sometimes meeting on the way obstacles, finally the moment comes highest voltage action (explanation of the characters), followed by a catastrophe, followed by an epilogue.

The main narrative unfolds as the memories of the 52-year-old nobleman and landowner Sanin about the events of 30 years ago that happened in his life when he traveled around Germany. Once, while passing through Frankfurt, Sanin went into a pastry shop, where he helped the young daughter of the hostess with her younger brother who had fainted. The family was imbued with sympathy for Sanin and, unexpectedly for himself, he spent several days with them. When he was on a walk with Gemma and her fiancé, one of the young German officers who were sitting at the next table in the tavern allowed himself to be rude and Sanin challenged him to a duel. The duel ended happily for both participants. However, this incident greatly shook the measured life of the girl. She refused the groom, who could not protect her dignity. Sanin suddenly realized that he fell in love with her. The love that engulfed them led Sanin to the idea of ​​marriage. Even Gemma's mother, who was horrified at first because of Gemma's break with her fiancé, gradually calmed down and began to make plans for their future life. To sell his estate and get money for life together, Sanin went to Weisbaden to the rich wife of his boarding comrade Polozov, whom he accidentally meets in Frankfurt. However, the rich and young Russian beauty Marya Nikolaevna, on her whim, lured Sanin and made him one of her lovers. Unable to resist the strong nature of Marya Nikolaevna, Sanin goes to Paris for her, but soon turns out to be unnecessary and returns in shame to Russia, where his life passes listlessly in the bustle of society. Only 30 years later, he accidentally finds a dried flower miraculously preserved, which caused that duel and was presented to him by Gemma. He rushes to Frankfurt, where he finds out that Gemma, two years after those events, got married and lives happily in New York with her husband and five children. Her daughter in the photograph looks like that young Italian girl, her mother, to whom Sanin once offered his hand and heart.

As we can see, the number of characters in the story is relatively small, so we can list them (as they appear in the text)

Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin - Russian landowner

Gemma - the daughter of the mistress of the confectionery

Emil - the son of the mistress of the confectionery

Pantaleone - old servant

Louise - maid

Leonora Roselli - mistress of the pastry shop

Carl Klüber - Gemma's fiancé

Baron Döngof - German officer, later - general

Von Richter - Baron Döngoff's second

Ippolit Sidorovich Polozov - Sanin's comrade at the boarding house

Marya Nikolaevna Polozova - Polozov's wife

Naturally, the heroes can be divided into main and secondary. The images of both will be considered by us in the second chapter of our work.

CHAPTER 2. IMAGES OF THE MAIN AND SECONDARY

CHARACTERS IN THE STORY

2.1 Sanin - the main character of "Spring Waters"

First, we note once again that the conflict in the story, and the selection of characteristic episodes, and the ratio of characters - everything obeys one main task of Turgenev: analysis of the psychology of the noble intelligentsia in the field of personal, intimate life. The reader sees how the main characters get to know each other, love each other, and then the main characters part ways, how other characters take part in the story of their love.

The protagonist of the story is Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin, at the beginning of the story we see him already 52 years old, recalling his youth, his love for the girl Jema and his unfinished happiness.

We immediately learn a lot about him, the author tells us everything without concealment: “Sanin passed the 22nd year, and he was in Frankfurt, on his way back from Italy to Russia. He was a man with a small fortune, but independent, almost without a family. After the death of a distant relative, he had several thousand rubles - and he decided to live them abroad, before entering the service, before the final laying on himself of that official collar, without which a secure existence became unthinkable for him. In the first part of the story, Turgenev shows the best that was in Sanin's character and what captivated Gemma in him. In two episodes (Sanin helps Gemma's brother, Emil, who has fallen into a deep faint, and then, defending Gemma's honor, fights in a duel with the German officer Döngoff), Sanin's traits such as nobility, directness, courage are revealed. The author describes the appearance of the protagonist: “Firstly, he was very, very good-looking. Stately, slender growth, pleasant, slightly vague features, affectionate bluish eyes, golden hair, whiteness and ruddiness of the skin - and most importantly: that ingenuously cheerful, trusting, frank, at first somewhat stupid expression, by which in former times one could immediately recognize children of sedate noble families, "father's" sons, good nobles, born and fattened in our free semi-steppe lands; a hesitant gait, a voice with a whisper, a smile like that of a child, as soon as you look at him ... finally, freshness, health - and softness, softness, softness - that's all Sanin for you. And secondly, he was not stupid and got something. He remained fresh, despite the trip abroad: the anxious feelings that overwhelmed the best part of the then youth were little known to him. artistic means, which Turgenev uses to convey intimate emotional experiences. Usually this is not a characteristic of the author, not the statements of the characters about themselves - for the most part these are external manifestations of their thoughts and feelings: facial expression, voice, posture, movements, manner of singing, performing favorite musical works, reading favorite poems. For example, the scene before Sanin's duel with an officer: “Only once thought came over him: he stumbled upon a young linden tree, broken, in all likelihood, by yesterday's squall. She was positively dying... all the leaves on her were dying. "What is this? an omen?" flashed through his mind; but he immediately whistled, jumped over that same linden tree, and walked along the path. Here the state of mind of the hero is conveyed through the landscape.

Naturally, the hero of the story is not unique among other Turgenev characters of this type. You can compare "Spring Waters", for example, with the novel "Smoke", where researchers note the proximity storylines and images: Irina - Litvinova - Tatyana and Polozova - Sanin - Gemma. Indeed, Turgenev in the story seemed to change the novel's ending: Sanin did not find the strength to abandon the role of a slave, as was the case with Litvinov, and followed Marya Nikolaevna everywhere. This change in the ending was not accidental and arbitrary, but was determined by the logic of the genre. Also, the genre updated the prevailing dominants in the development of the characters' characters. Sanin, in fact, like Litvinov, is given the opportunity to “build” himself: and he, outwardly weak-willed and spineless, surprised at himself, suddenly begins to do things, sacrifices himself for the sake of another - when he meets Gemma. But the story does not suffice with this quixotic trait, while in the novel it dominates, as in the case of Litvinov. In the “characterless” Litvinov, it is precisely the character and inner strength that are actualized, which is realized, among other things, in the idea of ​​social service. And Sanin turns out to be full of doubts and contempt for himself, he, like Hamlet, is “a sensual and voluptuous person” - it is Hamlet's passion that wins in him. He is also crushed by the general course of life, unable to resist it. Sanin's life revelation is in tune with the reflections of the heroes of many of the writer's stories. Its essence lies in the fact that the happiness of love is as tragically instantaneous as human life, but it is the only meaning and content of this life. Thus, the characters of the novel and the short story, who initially reveal the same properties of character, in different genres realize different dominant principles - either quixotic or Hamletian. The ambivalence of qualities is complemented by the dominance of one of them.

The story is prefaced by a quatrain from an old Russian romance:
merry years,
Happy Days -
Like spring waters
They rushed
Apparently, it will be about love, youth. Maybe in the form of memories? Yes indeed. "About one o'clock in the night he returned to his study. He sent out a servant who lit the candles, and throwing himself into an armchair near the fireplace, covered his face with both hands."
Well, apparently, “he” (from our point of view) lives well, no matter who he is: the servant lights the candles, he lit the fireplace for him. As it turns out later, he spent the evening with pleasant ladies, with educated men. In addition: some of the ladies were beautiful, almost all the men were smart and talented. He also sparkled in the conversation. Why is he now strangled by "aversion to life"?
And what is he (Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin) thinking about in the quiet of a cozy warm office? "About the vanity, uselessness, vulgar falsity of everything human." That's it, no more, no less!
He is 52 years old, he remembers all ages and sees no light. “Everywhere is the same eternal transfusion from empty to empty, the same pounding of water, the same half-conscientious, half-conscious self-deception ... - and then suddenly, just like snow on your head, old age will come - and with it ... the fear of death ... and bang into the abyss!" And before the end of weakness, suffering ...
To distract himself from unpleasant thoughts, he sat down to desk, began to rummage through his papers, in old women's letters, intending to burn this unnecessary rubbish. Suddenly he cried out weakly: in one of the boxes there was a box in which lay a small pomegranate cross.
He again sat down in an armchair by the fireplace - and again covered his face with his hands. "... And he remembered a lot, long past ... That's what he remembered ..."
In the summer of 1840 he was in Frankfurt, returning from Italy to Russia. After the death of a distant relative, he had several thousand rubles; he decided to live them abroad, and then do not serve.
At that time, tourists traveled in stagecoaches: there were still few railways. Sanin was to leave for Berlin that day.
Walking around the city, at six o'clock in the evening he went to the "Italian confectionery" to drink a glass of lemonade. There was no one in the first room, then a girl of 19 years old "with dark curls scattered over her bare shoulders, with bare arms outstretched forward" ran in from the next room. Seeing Sanin, the stranger grabbed his hand and led him along. "Hurry, hurry, here, save!" she said in a breathless voice. He had never seen such a beauty in his life.
In the next room lay on the sofa her brother, a boy of 14, pale, with blue lips. It was a sudden collapse. A tiny, shaggy old man with crooked legs hobbled into the room and said that he had sent for a doctor...
"- But Emil will die for now!" the girl exclaimed and held out her hands to Sanin, begging for help. He took off the boy's frock coat, unbuttoned his shirt, and, taking a brush, began to rub his chest and arms. At the same time, he glanced askance at the extraordinary beauty of the Italian. The nose is a little big, but "beautiful, aquiline fret", dark gray eyes, long dark curls ...
Finally, the boy woke up, soon a lady with silver-gray hair and a swarthy face appeared, as it turns out, the mother of Emil and his sister. At the same time the maid came with the doctor.
Fearing that now he was superfluous, Sanin went out, but the girl caught up with him and begged him to return in an hour "for a cup of chocolate." "- We owe you so much - you may have saved your brother - we want to thank you - mom wants. You must tell us who you are, you must rejoice with us ..."
An hour and a half later he showed up. All the inhabitants of the candy store seemed unspeakably happy. On the round table covered with a clean tablecloth stood a huge china coffee pot filled with fragrant chocolate; around the cup, carafes of syrup, biscuits, rolls. Candles burned in ancient silver chandeliers.
Sanina was put in easy chair forced to tell about themselves; in turn, the ladies let him in on the details of their lives. They are all Italians. Mother - a lady with silver-gray hair and a swarthy face "almost completely Germanized", since her late husband, an experienced confectioner, settled in Germany 25 years ago; daughter Gemma and son Emil "very good and obedient children"; a little old man named Pantaleone, it turns out, was once an opera singer, but now "in the Roselli family he was something between a friend of the house and a servant."
The mother of the family, Frau Lenore, imagined Russia like this: "eternal snow, everyone wears fur coats and all the military - but the hospitality is extraordinary! Sanin tried to give her and her daughter more accurate information." He even sang "Sarafan" and "On the pavement street", and then Pushkin's "I remember wonderful moment"to the music of Glinka, somehow accompanying himself on the piano. The ladies admired the ease and sonority of the Russian language, then they sang several Italian duets. Former singer Pantaleone also tried to perform something, some kind of "extraordinary grace", but failed. And then Emil suggested that the sister read to the guest "one of Maltz's comedies, which she reads so well."
Gemma read "quite like an actor," "using her facial expressions." Sanin admired her so much that he did not notice how the evening flew by and completely forgot that at half past ten his stagecoach departed. When the clock struck 10 in the evening, he jumped up as if stung. Late!
“Did you pay all the money, or did you just give a deposit?” Frau Lenore asked curiously.
- Everything! Sanin cried out with a sad grimace.
“Now you must stay in Frankfurt for several days,” Gemma told him, “where are you in a hurry ?!”
He knew that he would have to stay "because of the emptiness of his wallet" and ask a Berlin friend to send money.
"Stay, stay," Frau Lenore also said. "We will introduce you to Gemma's fiancé, Mr. Karl Klüber."
Sanin was slightly taken aback by this news.
And the next day, guests came to his hotel: Emil and with him a tall young man "with a handsome face" - Gemma's fiancé.
The groom said that he "wanted to express his respect and his gratitude to the foreigner, who rendered such an important service to the future relative, the brother of his bride."
Mr. Klüber hurried to his shop - "business first!" - and Emil still stayed with Sanin and told that his mother, under the influence of Mr. Klüber, wants to make a merchant out of him, while his vocation is theater.
Sanin was invited to his new friends for breakfast and stayed until the evening. Around Gemma, everything seemed pleasant and sweet. "Great charms lurk in the monotonously quiet and smooth course of life" ... With the onset of night, when he went home, the "image" of Gemma did not leave him. And the next day, in the morning, Emil appeared to him and announced that Herr Klüber, (who had invited everyone the day before for a pleasure ride), would now arrive with a carriage. A quarter of an hour later Kluber, Sanin and Emil drove up to the porch of the confectionery. Frau Lenore stayed at home because of a headache, but sent Gemma with them.
Let's go to Soden - a small town near Frankfurt. Sanin furtively watched Gemma and her fiancé. She behaved calmly and simply, but still somewhat more seriously than usual, and the groom "looked like a condescending mentor"; he also treated nature "with the same indulgence through which the usual bossy severity occasionally broke through."
Then lunch, coffee; nothing remarkable. But rather drunken officers were sitting at one of the neighboring tables, and suddenly one of them approached Gemma. He had already managed to visit Frankfurt and apparently knew her. “I drink to the health of the most beautiful coffee shop in the whole of Frankfurt, in the whole world (he “popped” the glass at once) - and in retribution I take this flower, plucked by her divine fingers!” At the same time, he took the rose that lay in front of her. At first she was frightened, then anger flashed in her eyes! Her gaze confused the drunk, who, muttering something, "went back to his own."
Herr Klüber, putting on his hat, said: "This is unheard of! Unheard of insolence!" and demanded an immediate settlement from the waiter. He also ordered the carriage to be laid down, since "decent people cannot travel here, because they are insulted!"
"Get up, Main Fraulein," Herr Klüber said with the same severity, "it's indecent for you to stay here. We'll settle down there, in the tavern!"
Hand in hand with Gemma, he marched majestically to the inn. Emil followed them.
Meanwhile, Sanin, as befits a nobleman, went up to the table where the officers were sitting and said in French to the offender: "You are an ill-mannered impudent one." He jumped up, and another officer, older, stopped him and asked Sanin, also in French, who he was to that girl.
Sanin, throwing his business card, declared that he was a stranger to the girl, but he could not indifferently see such impudence. He grabbed the rose he had taken from Gemma and left, having received the assurance that "tomorrow morning one of the officers of their regiment will have the honor to come to his apartment."
The groom pretended not to notice Sanin's act. Gemma didn't say anything either. And Emil was ready to throw himself on the neck of the hero or go with him to fight with the offenders.
Klüber ranted all the way: about the fact that they should not have listened to him when he offered to dine in a closed arbor, about morality and immorality, about decency and a sense of dignity ... Gradually, Gemma clearly became embarrassed for her fiancé. And Sanin secretly rejoiced at everything that happened, and at the end of the trip he handed her that same rose. She flushed and squeezed his hand.
This is how this love started.
In the morning a second appeared and said that his friend, Baron von Donhof, "would be satisfied with a slight apology." It wasn't there. Sanin replied that he did not intend to give either heavy or light apologies, and when the second left, he could not figure it out: “How did life suddenly spin like that? All the past, all the future suddenly faded away, disappeared - and only that I'm fighting with someone in Frankfurt for something."
Pantaleone unexpectedly appeared with a note from Gemma: she was worried and asked Sanin to come. Sanin promised and at the same time invited Pantaleone as a second: there were no other candidates. The old man, shaking his hand, pompously said: "- Noble young man! Great heart! .." and promised to give an answer soon. An hour later, he appeared very solemnly, handed Sanin his old business card, agreed, and said that "honor is above all!" etc.
Then the negotiations between the two seconds ... They worked out the conditions: "To shoot baron von Donhof and Mr. de Sanin tomorrow, at 10 o'clock in the morning ... at a distance of 20 steps. Old Pantaleone seemed to be younger; these events seemed to take him to that era when he stage "accepted and made challenges": operatic baritones "are known to be very cocky in their roles."
After spending the evening at the house of the Roselli family, Sanin went out late in the evening on the porch and walked along the street. “And how many of them poured out, these stars ... All of them glowed and swarmed, vying with each other, playing with beams.” Having caught up with the house in which the confectionery was located, he saw: a dark window opened and a female figure appeared in it. Gemma!
The surrounding nature seems to react sensitively to what is happening in the soul. Suddenly a gust of wind came up, "the earth seemed to tremble underfoot, the thin starlight trembled and streamed ..." And again silence. Sanin saw such a beauty "that his heart sank."
"- I wanted to give you this flower ... She threw him an already withered rose, which he won back the day before. And the window slammed shut."
He fell asleep only in the morning. "Instantly, like that whirlwind, love came upon him." A stupid duel ahead! "And suddenly he will be killed or maimed?"
Sanin and Pantaleone were the first to arrive in the woods where the duel was to take place. Then both officers appeared, accompanied by a doctor; "a bag of surgical instruments and bandages dangled over his left shoulder."
What are the apt characteristics of the participants.
Doctor. "It was evident that he was utterly used to such excursions ... each duel brought him 8 chervonets - 4 from each of the warring parties." Sanin, a romantic in love. "Pantaleone!" Sanin whispered to the old man, "if... if they kill me, anything can happen, get a piece of paper out of my side pocket - a flower is wrapped in it - give this piece of paper to signora Gemma. Do you hear? Do you promise?"
But Pantaleone hardly heard anything. By this time he had lost all theatrical pathos and at the decisive moment suddenly yelled:
"- A la-la-la ... What a wildness! Two such young men are fighting - why? What the hell? Go home!"
Sanin fired first and missed, the bullet "tinkled against a tree." Baron Denhof deliberately "fired to the side, into the air."
"Why did you fire into the air?" Sanin asked.
- It's none of your business.
- Will you shoot into the air for the second time? Sanin asked again.
- May be; Do not know".
Of course, Donhof felt that during dinner he behaved in the best way and didn't want to kill an innocent person. Still, he had no conscience, apparently.
"I refuse my shot," Sanin said and threw the pistol on the ground.
“And I don’t intend to continue the duel either,” Donhof exclaimed and also threw down his pistol ... "
Both shook hands. Then the second announced:
"Honor is satisfied - and the duel is over!"
Returning from the duel in the carriage, Sanin felt relieved in his soul and at the same time "was a little ashamed and ashamed ..." But Pantaleone again perked up and now behaved like "a victorious general returning from the field of a battle he won." Emil was waiting for them on the road. "- You are alive, you are not injured!"
They arrived at the hotel and there suddenly a woman came out of a dark corridor, "her face was covered with a veil." She immediately disappeared, but Sanin recognized Gemma "under the thick silk of a brown veil."
Then Madame Lenore appeared to Sanin: Gemma told her that she did not want to marry Mr. Klüber.
"- You acted like a noble person; but what an unfortunate set of circumstances!"
The circumstances were really gloomy, as usual largely due to social reasons.
"- I'm not talking about ... that it's a shame for us that this has never happened in the world for the bride to refuse the groom; but this is ruin for us ... We can no longer live on income from our store ... but Mr. Kluber very rich and will be even richer. And why should he be refused? Because he did not stand up for his bride? Suppose that this is not entirely good of him, but he is a stately man, he was not brought up at the university and, as a respectable merchant , had to despise the frivolous prank of an unknown officer. And what an insult it is ...! "
Frau Lenore had her own understanding of the situation.
"- And how will Mr. Kluber trade in the store if he fights with customers? This is completely incongruous! And now ... refuse? But how are we going to live?"
It turned out that the dish, which before only their confectionery prepared, now everyone began to do it, many competitors appeared.
Perhaps, not wanting it himself, Turgenev revealed the whole ins and outs of the then morals, relationships, suffering. The hard way, century after century, people go to a new understanding of life; or rather, to the one that arose at the dawn of human civilization, but still has by no means captured the mass consciousness because it is still intertwined with many erroneous and cruel ideas. People go the way of suffering, through trial and error... "Make everything smooth"... - called Christ. He talked about the social structure, and not about the terrain. And not about universal barracks equality of income, but about equality of opportunities to realize oneself; and about the level of mass spiritual development, probably.
The main moral law is the idea of ​​universal equality of opportunity. Without any privileges, advantages. When this idea is fully implemented, all people will be able to love each other. After all, there can be no true friendship, not only between the oppressor and the oppressed, but also between the privileged and those deprived of these privileges.
And now, it seems, almost the culmination of this, in its own way tragic, albeit ordinary story. Sanin must ask Gemma not to reject Mr. Klüber. Frau Lenore begs him about this.
"- She must believe you - you risked your life! .. You will prove to her that she will destroy both herself and all of us. You saved my son - save my daughter too! God himself sent you here ... I am ready to ask you on my knees …"
What should Sanya do?
"Frau Lenore, think why on earth I...
- Do you promise? Don't you want me to die right there, now, in front of you?"
How could he help them when there was nothing even to buy a return ticket? After all, they are, in essence, on the verge of death; The bakery doesn't feed them anymore.
"I'll do whatever you want!" he exclaimed. "I'll talk to Fraulein Gemma..."
He was in a terrible position! First, this duel ... If a more ruthless person were in the place of the baron, he could easily kill or maim. And now the situation is even worse.
"Here," he thought, "now life is spinning! And it's spinning so much that my head is spinning."
Sensations, impressions, unsaid, not quite conscious thoughts ... And above all this - the image of Gemma, that image that so indelibly crashed into his memory on that warm night, in a dark window, under the rays of swarming stars!
What to say to Gemma? Frau Lenore was waiting for him. "Go into the garden; she is there. Look, I'm counting on you!"
Gemma was sitting on a bench picking the ripest cherries from a large basket of cherries. He sat down next to me.
"You dueled today," said Gemma. Her eyes glowed with gratitude.
"- And all this because of me ... for me ... I will never forget this."
Here are just snippets of that conversation. At the same time, he saw "her thin, clean profile, and it seemed to him that he had never seen anything like it - and did not experience anything like what he felt at that moment. His soul flared up."
It was about Mr. Kluber.
"What advice would you give me...?" she asked after a while.
Her hands were trembling. He quietly laid his hand on those pale, trembling fingers.
“I will listen to you ... but what advice will you give me?”
He began to explain: “Your mother believes that to refuse Mr. Klüber only because he did not show special courage the third day ...
- Just because? Gemma said...
- What ... in general ... refuse ...
- But what is your opinion?
- My? - ... He felt something come up to him under the throat and took away his breath. "I suppose so too," he began with an effort...
Gemma straightened up.
- Too? You too?
- Yes ... that is ... - Sanin could not, resolutely could not add a single word.
She promised: "I'll tell my mother ... I'll think about it."
Frau Lenore appeared at the threshold of the door leading from the house to the garden.
"No, no, no, for God's sake don't say anything to her yet," Sanin said hastily, almost frightened.
At home, he mournfully and muffledly exclaimed: "I love her, I love her madly!"
Recklessly, carelessly, he rushed forward. “Now he didn’t reason about anything, didn’t think anything, didn’t calculate and didn’t foresee ...”
He immediately, "almost with a stroke of the pen," wrote a letter:
"Dear Gemma!
You know what advice I have taken upon myself to give you, you know what your mother wants and what she asked me to do, but what you do not know and what I am obliged to tell you now is that I love you, love you. with all the passion of a heart that fell in love for the first time! This fire broke out in me suddenly, but with such force that I cannot find words!! When your mother came to me and asked me - he was still smoldering in me - otherwise, as an honest person, I probably would have refused to fulfill her order ... The very confession that I am now making to you is the confession of an honest person. You must know who you are dealing with - there must be no misunderstanding between us. You see that I cannot give you any advice ... I love you, love, love - and I have nothing else - neither in my mind nor in my heart !!
Dm. Sanin".
It's already night. How to send a letter. It’s embarrassing through the waiter ... He left the hotel and suddenly met Emil, who gladly undertook to convey the letter and soon brought an answer.
"I beg you, I beg you - do not come to us all tomorrow, do not show yourself. I need this, I absolutely need it - and everything will be decided there. I know you will not refuse me, because ...
Gemma."
The whole next day, Sanin and Emil walked in the vicinity of Frankfurt, talking. All the time it seemed to Sanin that tomorrow would bring him unprecedented happiness! "His hour has finally come, the veil has been lifted..."
Returning to the hotel, he found a note, Gemma made an appointment for him the next day, in one of the gardens that surrounded Frankfurt, at 7 o'clock in the morning.
"I was alone that night in Frankfurt happy man…"
"Seven! The clock on the tower chimed." Let's skip all the details. There are so many of them everywhere. The experiences of a lover, the weather, the surrounding landscape ...
Gemma arrived shortly. She was wearing a gray mantilla and a small dark hat, in her hands was a small umbrella.
"You're not angry with me?" Sanin finally said. It was hard for Sanin to say anything more stupid than these words... he himself was aware of it...
Well, and so on. How much sincere, naive enthusiasm! How happy he is, how selflessly, selflessly in love!
"Trust me, trust me," he said.
And the reader no longer believes in this cloudless happy moment ... nor Sanin, who is infinitely honest, turned his whole soul inside out; nor the author, truthful and talented; nor Gemma, who recklessly rejected a very advantageous suitor; no, the reader does not believe that such a cloudless, complete happiness is possible in life. It can't be... "There is no happiness in the world...", even Pushkin asserted expertly. Something must happen. We are seized by some kind of sad alertness, we feel sorry for these young and beautiful lovers, so gullible, so recklessly honest. "- I fell in love with you from the very moment I saw you - but I did not immediately understand what you became for me! Besides, I heard that you were an engaged bride ..."
And then Gemma said that she had refused the groom!
"To himself?
- Himself. We have in the house. He came to us.
- Gemma! So you love me?
She turned to him.
- Otherwise... Would I have come here? she whispered, and both her hands fell on the bench.
Sanin seized these powerless, palms up hands, and pressed them to his eyes, to his lips ... Here it is, happiness, here is his radiant face!
Another whole page will be occupied by talk of happiness.
“Could I think,” continued Sanin, “could I think, driving up to Frankfurt, where I supposed to stay only a few hours, that I would find here the happiness of my whole life!
- All life? Right? asked Gemma.
- All life, forever and ever! Sanin exclaimed with a new impulse.
"If she had told him at that moment: "Throw yourself into the sea ..." - he would have already flown into the abyss.
Sanin had to go to Russia before the wedding to sell the estate. Frau Lenore was surprised: "So you will sell the peasants too?" (He had once expressed indignation at serfdom in a conversation.)
“I will try to sell my estate to a person whom I will know well,” he said, not without hesitation, “or perhaps the peasants themselves will want to pay off.
"That's the best," agreed Frau Lenore. “And then sell living people…”
In the garden after dinner, Gemma gave Sanin a pomegranate cross, but at the same time she reminded selflessly and modestly: "You must not consider yourself bound" ...
8
How to sell the estate as soon as possible? At the pinnacle of happiness, this practical question tormented Sanin. With the hope of coming up with something, he went out the next morning to take a walk, "ventilate" and unexpectedly met Ippolit Polozov, with whom he had once studied together in a boarding school.
Polozov's appearance is quite remarkable: fat, plump, small pig eyes with white eyelashes and eyebrows, a sour expression on his face. And the character matches the appearance. He was a sleepy phlegmatic, indifferent to everything except food. Sanin heard that his wife was beautiful and, in addition, very rich. And now, it turns out, for the second year they live in Wiesbaden, next door to Frankfurt; Polozov came for one day for shopping: his wife instructed, and today he is returning back.
The friends went to have breakfast together at one of the best hotels in Frankfurt, where Polozov occupied the best room.
And Sanin suddenly had an unexpected thought. If the wife of this sleepy phlegmatic is very rich - "they say she is the daughter of some farmer" - will she not buy the estate for "a fair price"?
“I don’t buy estates: there is no capital,” said the phlegmatic. - "Unless my wife will buy it. You talk to her." And even before that, he mentioned that he did not interfere in the affairs of his wife. "She's on her own ... well, I'm on my own."
Having learned that Sanin "started to marry", and the bride "without capital", he asked:
“So, love is very strong, isn’t it?
- You're so funny! Yes, strong.
- And for this you need money?
“Well, yes… yes, yes.”
In the end, Polozov promised to take his friend in his carriage to Wiesbaden.
Now everything depends on Mrs. Polozova. Would she be willing to help? How would that speed up the wedding!
Saying goodbye to Gemma, left alone with her for a moment, Sanin "fell at the feet of a dear girl."
“Are you mine?” she whispered, “will you be back soon?
- I'm yours ... I'll be back, - he repeated breathlessly.
"I'll be waiting for you, my dear!"
The hotel in Wiesbaden looked like a palace. Sanin took a cheaper room and, after resting, went to Polozov's. He sat "in a luxurious velvet armchair in the middle of a magnificent salon." Sanin wanted to speak, but suddenly "a young, beautiful lady in a white silk dress, with black lace, with diamonds on her arms and around her neck - Marya Nikolaevna Polozova herself" appeared suddenly.
"Yes, they really told me: this lady is anywhere!" Sanin thought. His soul was filled with Gemma, other women did not matter to him now.
“Mrs. Polozova quite clearly showed traces of her plebeian origin. Her forehead was low, her nose was somewhat fleshy and upturned” ... Well, the fact that her forehead is low still, apparently, does not mean anything: she is smart, it will soon become clear, and in she has a great charm, something powerful, daring, "not that Russian, not that gypsy" ... What about conscientiousness, humanity ... How is it with this? The environment could influence here, of course; and some old impressions... We'll see.
In the evening, a detailed conversation finally took place. She asked about marriage and about the estate.
"He's decidedly charming," she said, half thoughtfully, half absent-mindedly.
And when he promised to take inexpensive price for the estate, she declared: “- I will not accept any sacrifices from you. How? Instead of encouraging you ... Well, how should I put it better? .. noble feelings, or what? in my habits. When it happens, I don't spare people - just not in this manner."
"Oh, keep your eyes open with you!" Sanin thought at the same time.
Or maybe she just wants to show herself off. better side? Show off? But why would she?
Finally, she asked to be given "two days' time" and then she would immediately decide the issue. "After all, you are able to part with your bride for two days?"
But didn’t she try to charm him all the time somehow imperceptibly; gradually, insinuatingly, skillfully? Oh, isn't she slowly enticing Sanin? What for? Well, at least for the purpose of self-affirmation. He's a reckless romantic...
"If you please, come early tomorrow - do you hear?" she called after him.
At night Sanin wrote a letter to Gemma, took it to the post office in the morning and went for a walk in the park where the orchestra was playing. Suddenly the handle of the umbrella "knocked on his shoulder." Before him was the ubiquitous Marya Nikolaevna. Here at the resort, it is not known why, ("Am I not well?"), they forced her to drink some kind of water, after which she had to walk for an hour. She suggested that we go for a walk together.
"Well then, give me your hand. Don't be afraid: your bride isn't here - she won't see you."
As for her husband, he ate and slept a lot, but obviously did not claim her attention at all.
"- We will not talk about this purchase now; we will have a good talk about it after breakfast; and now you must tell me about yourself ... So that I know who I am dealing with. And after, if you want, I will tell you about myself I'll tell you."
He wanted to object, to evade, but she did not allow.
"I want to know not only what I'm buying, but who I'm buying from."
And an interesting long conversation took place. "Marya Nikolaevna listened very cleverly; besides, she herself seemed so frank that she unwittingly called others to frankness." And this long stay together, when she smelled of "quiet and burning temptation"! ..
On the same day, in the hotel, in the presence of Polozov, a business conversation took place about the purchase of the estate. It turned out that this lady has outstanding commercial and administrative abilities! "The whole ins and outs of the economy was well known to her; she carefully asked about everything, entered into everything; her every word hit the target ... "
“Well, all right!” Marya Nikolaevna finally decided. “Now I know your estate ... no worse than you. What price will you put per soul? We also agreed on a price.
Will she let him go tomorrow? Everything's been decided. Is she "driving up to him?" "Why is that? What does she want?.. Those grey, predatory eyes, those dimples on her cheeks, those serpentine braids"... He was no longer able to shake it all off, to throw it away from himself.
In the evening I had to go with her to the theater.
In 1840, the theater in Wiesbaden (like many others then and later) was characterized by "phrasing and miserable mediocrity", "diligent and vulgar routine".
It was unbearable to watch the antics of the actors. But behind the box there was a small room furnished with sofas, and Marya Nikolaevna invited Sanin there.
They are alone again, side by side. He is 22 and so is she. He is someone else's fiancé, and she, apparently, lures him. Caprice? Want to feel your power? "Take everything from life"?
“My father himself hardly knew how to read and write, but he gave us a good upbringing,” she confesses. "- Do not think, however, that I am very learned. Oh, my God, no - I am not learned, and I have no talents. I can hardly write ... right; I cannot read loudly; neither on the piano, nor draw, nor sewing - nothing! Here I am - all here! "
After all, Sanin understood that he was being deliberately lured? But at first I did not pay attention to it, in order to still wait for the solution of my issue. If he had simply insisted in a businesslike way on getting an answer, avoiding all this intimacy, then perhaps the capricious lady would have refused to buy the estate at all. Agreeing to give her a couple of days to think, he waited ... But now, alone, it began to seem to him that he was again seized by some kind of "child, from which he could not get rid of for the second day already." The conversation "in an undertone, almost in a whisper - and this irritated him and worried him even more ..."
How cleverly she manages the situation, how convincingly, skillfully she justifies herself!
“I’m telling you all this,” she continued, “firstly, in order not to listen to these fools (she pointed to the stage where at that moment an actress was howling instead of an actor ...), and secondly, in order to that I am indebted to you: yesterday you told me about yourself.
And finally, there was talk of her strange marriage.
"- Well - and you asked yourself, ... what could be the reason for such a strange ... act on the part of a woman who is not poor ... and not stupid ... and not bad?"
Yes, of course, and Sanin asked himself this question, and the reader is perplexed. This sleepy, inert phlegmatic of hers! Well, be she poor, weak, unsettled. On the contrary, he is poor and helpless! Let's listen to her. How does she herself explain all this?
"Do you want to know what I love the most?
"Freedom," Sanin prompted.
Marya Nikolaevna laid her hand on his arm.
“Yes, Dmitry Pavlovich,” she said, and her voice sounded something special, some kind of undoubted sincerity and importance, “freedom, above all and above all. And don't think that I boast about it - there is nothing laudable about it - only it is so, and always has been and will be so for me; until my death. As a child, I must have seen a lot of slavery and suffered from it.
Why does she even need this marriage? But secular society the middle of the 19th century ... She needed the social status of a married lady. Otherwise, who is she? Rich courtesan, lady of the demimonde? Or an old maid? How many prejudices, conventions. The husband was a sign, a screen in this case. He, in fact, also suited this role. He could eat, sleep, live in luxury, not interfere in anything, only sometimes carry out small assignments.
So that's why this strange marriage! She had planned everything in advance.
“Now you, perhaps, understand why I married Ippolit Sidorych; with him I am free, completely free, like air, like the wind ... And I knew this before the wedding ... "
What an active, active energy it still has. Mind, talent, beauty, reckless prowess ... She will not, like other heroines of Turgenev, sacrifice herself, she will break anyone, adapt to herself.
And she has adapted well to society, although she knows in her heart that all this is "not divine."
"- After all, they will not require me to report here - on this earth; and there (she raised her finger up) - well, let them dispose of it as they know."
Having talked "heart to heart" and thus preparing the ground, she then cautiously went on the offensive.
"- I ask myself, why are you telling me all this?" Sanin admitted.
Marya Nikolaevna moved slightly on the sofa.
- You ask yourself ... Are you so slow-witted? Or so humble?
And suddenly: "- I'm telling you all this, ... because I really like you; yes, don't be surprised, I'm not joking, because after meeting you it would be unpleasant for me to think that you will keep a bad memory of me ... or even not bad, it's all the same to me, but wrong. That's why I got you here, and I'm left alone with you, and I'm talking to you so frankly. Yes, yes, frankly. I'm not lying. And notice, Dmitri Pavlovich, I I know that you are in love with another, that you are going to marry her ... Do justice to my disinterestedness ...
She laughed, but her laughter suddenly broke off ... and in her eyes, in regular time so cheerful and bold, something like timidity flashed, even like sadness.
"A snake! ah, she's a snake!" Sanin thought meanwhile, "but what a beautiful snake."
Then they watched the play for some time, then talked again. At last Sanin started talking, even began arguing with her. She secretly rejoiced at this: "if he argues, then he concedes or concedes."
When the play ended, the dexterous lady "asked Sanin to throw a shawl over her and did not move while he wrapped her truly regal shoulders with a soft cloth."
Leaving the box, they suddenly met Donhof, who could hardly contain his rage. Apparently, he believed that he had some rights to this lady, but was immediately unceremoniously rejected by her.
"Do you know him very briefly?" Sanin asked.
- With him? With this boy? He's on my errands. Don't you worry!
- Yes, I'm not worried at all.
Marya Nikolaevna sighed.
- Ah, I know you're not worried. But listen - you know what: you're so sweet, you shouldn't refuse me one last request."
What was the request? Ride out of town. "Then we'll be back, we'll finish the job - and amen!"
How could I not believe when the decision is so close. One last day left.
"- Here's my hand, without a glove, right, business. Take it - and believe its shake. What kind of woman I am, I don't know; but I'm an honest person - and you can do business with me.
Sanin, without really realizing what he was doing, raised that hand to his lips. Marya Nikolaevna quietly received her, and suddenly fell silent - and was silent until the carriage stopped!
She began to leave ... What is it? Was it Sanin's imagination, or did he definitely feel some kind of quick and burning touch on his cheek?
- Till tomorrow! - Marya Nikolaevna whispered to him on the stairs ... "
He returned to his room. He was ashamed to think of Gemma. "But he reassured himself that tomorrow everything would be over forever and he would forever part with this eccentric lady - and forget all this nonsense! .."
The next day Marya Nikolaevna knocked impatiently on his door.
"Well? Are you ready?" a cheerful voice sounded.
He saw her on the threshold of the room. "With a train of a dark blue Amazon on her arm, with a small man's hat on coarsely braided curls, with a veil thrown back over her shoulder, with a defiant smile on her lips, in her eyes, on her whole face ..." She "quickly ran down the stairs." And he obediently ran after her. Gemma would look at her fiancé at that moment.
The horses were already standing in front of the porch.
And then ... then the whole walk, all the impressions, shades of moods in great detail. Everything lives and breathes. And the wind "flowed towards, rustled and whistled in the ears," and the horse reared up, and the consciousness of "free, impetuous movement forward" seized both.
"- Here," she began with a deep, blissful sigh, "this is the only thing worth living for. You managed to do what you wanted, which seemed impossible - well, use it, my soul, to the very edge!" throat across. - And how kind person then he feels himself!
At that time, a beggar old man made his way past them. She called out to
German “Nate, take it” and threw a heavy purse at his feet, and then, fleeing from gratitude, let her horse gallop: “After all, I didn’t do it for him, but for myself. How dare he thank me?”
Then she sent out the groom accompanying them, ordering him to sit in the tavern and wait.
“Well, now we are free birds!” exclaimed Marya Nikolaevna. “Where shall we go?.. Let's go there, to the mountains, to the mountains!”
They raced, jumped over ditches, fences, streams... Sanin looked into her face. “It seems that this soul wants to take possession of everything that it sees, earth, sky, sun and the very air, and it regrets only one thing: there are few dangers - they would have overcome them all!”
And the reader also admires her, no matter what. "Remote forces broke out," "the sedate and well-mannered land, trampled on by its violent revelry, is amazed."
To give the horses a rest, they rode at a walk.
"Am I really going to Paris the day after tomorrow?
- Yes ... really? Sanin picked it up.
- Are you in Frankfurt?
- I'm definitely going to Frankfurt.
- On what - with God! But today is ours…ours…ours!”
She kept him busy for a long time. She made a short stop, took off her hat and, standing next to him, braided long braids: "I need to put my hair in order"; and he "was bewitched", "trembled involuntarily, from head to toe."
Then they went somewhere deep into the forest. "She obviously knew where she was headed..."
Will he be able to return to Frankfurt now?
Finally, through the dark green of the spruce bushes, from under a canopy of gray rock, a wretched guardhouse looked at him, with a low door in the wicker wall "...
Four hours later they returned to the hotel. And on the same day, "Sanin stood in front of her in his room, as if lost, as lost ...
- Where are you going? she asked him. - To Paris - or to Frankfurt?
“I’m going to where you will be, and I’ll be with you until you drive me away,” he answered in despair and fell into the arms of his sovereign. ” Her look expressed the triumph of victory. eyes".
And everything disappeared. Again before us is a lonely, middle-aged bachelor sorting out old papers in the drawers of his desk.
"He remembered the crappy, tearful, deceitful, pitiful letter he had sent to Gemma, a letter left unanswered..."
Life in Paris, slavery, humiliation, then he was thrown out, "like worn out clothes." And now he could no longer understand why he left Gemma "for a woman whom he did not love at all?"...
Simply, apparently, the “animal man” who was sitting in it then turned out to be stronger than the spiritual one.
And now, 30 years later, he is back in Frankfurt. But there is neither the house where the confectionery was, nor the street; there was no trace left. New streets, built up with "huge solid houses, elegant villas" ... Here, no one even heard the name Roselli. The name of Kluber was known to the owner of the hotel, but it turns out that the once prosperous capitalist then went bankrupt and died in prison? Who would have thought!
And once, leafing through the local "address-calendar", Sanin suddenly stumbled upon the name of von Donhof. In the "gray-haired gentleman", a retired major, he immediately recognized his former enemy. He heard from a friend that Gemma was in America: she married a merchant and went to New York. Then Donhof went to this acquaintance, a local merchant, and brought the address of Gemma's husband, Mr. Jeremiah Slocom.
“By the way,” Donhof asked, lowering his voice, “what about that Russian lady who, remember, was staying in Wiesbaden then…?”
Alas, it turns out she died a long time ago.
On the same day he sent a letter to New York; asked "to please him with at least the briefest news about how she lives in this new world, where she has retired." He decided to wait for an answer in Frankfurt and lived in a hotel for six weeks, hardly leaving his room. I read "historical works" from morning to evening.
But will Gemma answer? Is she alive?
Letter came! It is as if from another life, from a magical old dream ... The address on the envelope was written in someone else's handwriting ... "He sank in his heart." But when he opened the package, he saw the signature: "Gemma! Tears welled up from his eyes: the mere fact that she signed with her name, without a surname - served him as a pledge of reconciliation, forgiveness!"
He learned that Gemma had been living for the 28th year quite happily "in contentment and abundance." She has four sons and an 18-year-old daughter, a fiancee. Frau Lenore died already in New York, and Pantaleone died before leaving Frankfurt. Emilio fought under the leadership of Garibaldi and died in Sicily.
The letter contained a photograph of the bride's daughter. "Gemma, living Gemma, young as he knew her 30 years ago! The same eyes, the same lips, the same type of whole face. On the back of the photo was:" My daughter, Marianne. "He immediately sent the bride a magnificent pearl a necklace in which a garnet cross was inserted.
Sanin is a wealthy man, "managed to amass a considerable fortune" in 30 years. And this is what he came to in the end: "It is heard that he is selling all his estates and is going to America."
In a letter sent to New York from Frankfurt, Sanin wrote about his "lonely and joyless life."
Why did this happen with all the selfless heroism of his nature? Marya Nikolaevna is to blame? Hardly. Just at the decisive moment, he could not fully understand the situation and obediently allowed himself to be manipulated, disposed of. Easily became a victim of circumstances, not trying to master them. How often does this happen - with individuals; sometimes with groups of people; sometimes even nationwide. "Don't make yourself an idol..."
And another hidden but important reason. Like a monster with sharp fangs in the dark depths - material and social inequality, the source of many life tragedies. Yes, material inequality, and related relationships of people.
After all, hoping to sell the estate, he did not dare to refuse to accompany the eccentric lady, to be alone for a long time with a beautiful and intelligent predator. He did not dare to provoke her displeasure. Everything would work out, maybe
to another, do not be this dependence. And she, perhaps, was so eager to command to a large extent because in her childhood "she had seen enough of slavery and suffered from it."
Yes, what to say. All these are people who have received some education, relatively free. They own noble estates, travel, belong to a privileged minority. The hero didn’t understand something, he didn’t manage to ... But the overwhelming majority were still dominated by a terrible mental underdevelopment, a misunderstanding of more elementary things; and even material and social inequality - much more blatant! There it is just right to recall not the lines from the touching romance, prefaced by the story, but the folk tragic "coachman's song". "The rich chose, but hateful, she will not see happy days." If you are poor, powerless, your beloved will be taken away, even if you are by nature even seven spans in your forehead.
Mankind, laughing and crying, shying forward and then back, slowly, painfully parted with its slave past.

He returned home at two o'clock in the morning tired and full of disgust for life. He was in his 52nd year, and he perceived his life as a calm, smooth sea, in the depths of which monsters lurked: "all worldly ailments, illnesses, sorrows, madness, poverty, blindness." Every minute he waited for one of them to turn over his fragile boat. The life of this rich but very lonely man was empty, worthless and disgusting. To distract from these thoughts, he began to sort through old papers, yellowed love letters and found among them a small octagonal box in which a small pomegranate cross was kept. He reminded Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin of the past.

In the summer of 1840, when Sanin was 22, he traveled around Europe, squandering a small inheritance from a distant relative. Returning home, he stopped in Frankfurt. The stagecoach departed for Berlin late, and Sanin decided to take a walk around the city. Finding himself on a small street, Dmitry went to the Giovanni Roselli Italian Confectionery to drink a glass of lemonade. No sooner had he entered the hall than a girl ran out of the next room and began to beg Sanin for help. It turned out that younger brother girls, a boy of fourteen named Emil, lost consciousness. Only the old servant Pantaleone was at home, and the girl was in a panic.

Sanin rubbed the boy with brushes, and he, to the joy of his sister, came to his senses. Saving Emil, Dmitry looked at the girl, marveling at her amazing classical beauty. At this time, a lady entered the room, accompanied by a doctor, for whom a maid was sent for. The lady was the mother of Emilio and the girl. She was so happy about the rescue of her son that she invited Sanin to dinner.

In the evening, Dmitry was greeted as a hero and savior. He learned that the mother of the family was called Leonora Roselli. Twenty years ago, she and her husband, Giovanni Battista Roselli, left Italy to open a patisserie in Frankfurt. The beauty's name was Gemma. And their faithful servant Pantaleone, a funny little old man, was an operatic tenor in the past. Another full member of the family was the poodle Tartaglia. To his dismay, Sanin learned that Gemma was engaged to Mr. Karl Klüber, head of a department in one of the large shops.

Sanin stayed with them until late and missed the stagecoach. He had little money left, and he asked for a loan from his Berlin friend. While waiting for a response letter, Dmitry was forced to stay in the city for several days. In the morning Emil visited Sanin, accompanied by Karl Klüber. This prominent and tall young man, irreproachable, handsome and pleasant in every respect, thanked Dmitry on behalf of his bride, invited him for a pleasure walk in Soden and left. Emil asked permission to stay and soon became friends with Sanin.

Dmitry spent the whole day at Roselli's, admiring the beauty of Gemma, and even managed to work as a salesman in a pastry shop. Sanin went to the hotel late in the evening, taking with him "the image of a young girl, now laughing, now thoughtful, now calm and even indifferent, but always attractive."

A few words should also be said about Sanya. He was a handsome and slender young man with slightly blurry features, blue eyes and golden hair, the offspring of a sedate noble family. Dmitry combined freshness, health and infinite soft temper.

In the morning there was a walk to Soden - a small picturesque town half an hour from Frankfurt, organized by Herr Klüber with true German pedantry. We dined at the best tavern in Soden. Gemma was bored with the walk. To unwind, she wanted to dine not in a secluded gazebo, which her pedantic fiancé had already ordered, but on a common terrace. A company of officers from the Mainz garrison was dining at the next table. One of them, being very drunk, approached Gemma, "slapped a glass" for her health and cheekily grabbed a rose lying near her plate.

This act offended the girl. Instead of interceding for the bride, Herr Kluber hastily paid and, loudly indignant, took her to the hotel. Sanin approached the officer, called him impudent, took away the rose and asked for a duel. Emil admired Dmitry's act, and Klyuber pretended not to notice anything. All the way back, Gemma listened to the self-confident ranting of the groom and in the end began to be ashamed of him.

The next morning Sanin was visited by the second of Baron von Donhof. Dmitry had no acquaintances in Frankfurt, and he had to invite Pantaleone as his seconds. He took up his duties with extraordinary zeal and destroyed in the bud all attempts to reconcile. It was decided to shoot with pistols from twenty paces.

Sanin spent the rest of the day at Gemma's. Late in the evening, when Dmitry was leaving the candy store, Gemma called him to the window and presented him with the same, already withered, rose. She awkwardly leaned over and leaned on Sanin's shoulders. At that moment, a hot whirlwind swept through the street, “like a flock of huge birds,” and the young man realized that he was in love.

The duel took place at ten o'clock in the morning. Baron von Donhof deliberately fired to the side, pleading guilty. The duelists shook hands and parted, but Sanin was ashamed for a long time - everything turned out very childishly. At the hotel, it turned out that Pantaleone had blabbed about the duel to Gemma.

In the afternoon, Sanina visited Frau Leone. Gemma wanted to break off the engagement, although the Roselli family was practically ruined, and only this marriage could save her. Frau Leone asked Dmitry to influence Gemma and persuade her not to refuse the groom. Sanin agreed, and even tried to talk to the girl, but persuasion backfired - Dmitry finally fell in love and realized that Gemma also loves him. After a secret meeting in the city garden and mutual recognition He had no choice but to propose to her.

Frau Leone greeted this news with tears, but after asking the new fiancé about his financial situation, she calmed down and reconciled herself. Sanin owned a small estate in the Tula province, which he had to urgently sell in order to invest in a confectionery. Dmitry already wanted to go to Russia, when he suddenly met his former classmate on the street. This fat fellow named Ippolit Sidorych Polozov was married to a very beautiful and rich woman from the merchant class. Sanin approached him with a request to buy the estate. Polozov replied that everything money matters his wife decides, and offered to take Sanin to her.

Saying goodbye to the bride, Dmitry went to Wiesbaden, where Mrs. Polozova was treated with waters. Marya Nikolaevna really turned out to be a beauty with heavy blond hair and somewhat vulgar features. She immediately began courting Sanin. It turned out that Polozov was a "convenient husband" who did not interfere in his wife's affairs and gave her complete freedom. They had no children, and all Polozov's interests converged on tasty, plentiful food and a luxurious life.

The couple made a bet. Ippolit Sidorych was sure that this time his wife would not achieve her goal - Sanin was very much in love. Unfortunately, Polozov lost, although his wife had to work hard. During the numerous dinners, walks and visits to the theater that Mrs. Polozova arranged for Sanin, he met von Donhof, the previous lover of the hostess. Dmitry cheated on his fiancee three days after arriving in Wiesbaden on a horseback ride arranged by Marya Nikolaevna.

Sanin had the conscience to confess to Gemma that he had been unfaithful. After that, he completely submitted to Polozova, became her slave and followed her until she drank him dry and threw him away like old rags. In memory of Gemma, Sanin had only a cross. He still did not understand why he left the girl, "so tenderly and passionately loved by him, for a woman whom he did not love at all."

After an evening of reminiscences, Sanin packed up and set off for Frankfurt in the middle of winter. He wanted to find Gemma and ask for forgiveness, but he could not even find the street where the candy store stood thirty years ago. In the Frankfurt address book, he came across the name of Major von Donhof. He told Sanin that Gemma was married and gave her address in New York. Dmitry sent her a letter and received a response. Gemma wrote that she was very happily married and grateful to Sanin for upsetting her first engagement. She gave birth to five children. Pantaleone and Frau Leone died, and Emilio died fighting for Garibaldi. The letter contained a photograph of Gemma's daughter, who looked very much like her mother. The girl was engaged. Sanin sent her "a pomegranate cross dressed in a magnificent pearl necklace" as a gift, and then he himself was planning to go to America.

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In this article we will consider the story "Spring Waters" (summary). Turgenev, the author of this work, is known for his excellent ability to describe human relationships. The fame of the writer is due precisely to the fact that Ivan Sergeevich noticed those feelings and emotions that are characteristic of all people, regardless of whether they lived in the 19th century or the 21st.

About the book

"Spring Waters" is a story written in 1872. This period is characterized by the writing of works based on memories of the past. For example, “Unfortunate”, “Knocking”, “Strange story”, etc. Of all these stories, the work “Spring Waters” is considered the most successful. And the main character has become a great addition to the gallery of Turgenev's weak-willed characters.

"Spring Waters": a summary

Turgenev describes his hero: he is 52 years old, he lived his life as if he were floating on a smooth, imperturbable sea surface, but grief, poverty and madness lurked in its depths. And all his life he was afraid that one of these underwater monsters would one day capsize his boat, disturb the peace. His life, though rich, was utterly empty and lonely.

Wishing to distract from these gloomy thoughts, he begins to sort through old papers. Among the documents, Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin finds a small box with a small cross inside. This item vividly evokes memories of the past.

sick child

Now the story "Spring Waters" takes the reader to the summer of 1840. Summary, Turgenev, according to research, agrees with this idea, describes the chance that Sanin once missed, the chance to change his life.

During these years, Sanin was 22 years old, and he traveled around Europe, descending a small inheritance inherited from a distant relative. On the way back to his homeland, he made a stop in Frankfurt. In the evening he was going to take a stagecoach to Berlin. The rest of the time, he decided to spend on a walk.

In a small street, he noticed Giovanni Roselli's Italian Patisserie and entered it. As soon as he entered, a girl ran up to him and asked for help. It turned out that the girl's younger brother, fourteen-year-old Emil, fainted. And in the house, except for the old servant Pantaleone, there was no one.

Sanin managed to bring the boy back to consciousness. Dmitry noticed the amazing beauty of the girl. Then the doctor entered the room, accompanied by a lady who turned out to be the mother of Emil and the girl. The mother was so happy that her child was saved that she invited Sanin to dinner.

An Evening at Roselli's

The work “Spring Waters” tells about first love. The story describes Dmitry's evening trip to visit, where he is greeted as a hero. Sanin learns the name of the mother of the family - Leonora Roselli. She left Italy with her husband Giovanni 20 years ago and moved to Frankfurt to open a patisserie here. Her daughter's name was Gemma. And Pantaleone, their old servant, was once an opera singer. The guest also learns about Gemma's engagement to the head of a large store, Karl Klüber.

However, Sanin was too carried away by communication, stayed up at a party and was late for his stagecoach. He had little money left, and he sent a letter to a Berlin friend asking for a loan. While waiting for an answer, Dmitry stayed in Frankfurt for a few days. The next day, Emil and Karl Klüber came to see Sanin. Gemma's fiance, a handsome and well-mannered young man, thanked Sanin for saving the boy and invited him to go with the Roselli family for a walk in Soden. On this, Karl left, and Emil remained, soon making friends with Dmitry.

Sanin spent another day with his new acquaintances, never taking his eyes off the beautiful Gemma.

Sanin

Turgenev's story tells about Sanin's youth. In those years, he was a tall, stately and slender young man. His features were a little blurry, he was a descendant of a noble family, and inherited golden hair from his ancestors. He was full of health and youthful freshness. However, he was very gentle.

Walk in Soden

The next day, the Roselli family and Sanin went to the small town of Soden, which is located half an hour from Frankfurt. The walk was organized by Herr Klüber with the pedantry inherent in all Germans. Turgenev's story describes the life of middle-class Europeans. The Rosellis went to dinner at the best tavern in Soden. But Gemma was bored with what was happening, and she wanted to dine on the common terrace, and not in a separate gazebo that her fiancé had ordered.

A company of officers was having lunch on the terrace. They were all very drunk, and one of them approached Gemma. He raised his glass to her health and took the rose that lay next to the girl's plate.

It was an insult to Gemma. However, Kluber did not intercede for the bride, but quickly paid and took the girl to the hotel. Dmitry boldly approached the officer, called him impudent, took the rose and challenged the offender to a duel. Kluber pretended not to notice what had happened, but Emil admired this act.

Duel

The next day, not thinking about love, Sanin talks with the second officer von Donhof. Dmitry himself did not even have acquaintances in Frankfurt, so he took the servant Pantaleone as his seconds. We decided to shoot from twenty paces with pistols.

Dimitri spent the rest of the day with Gemma. Before leaving, the girl gave him the same rose that he had taken from the officer. At that moment, Sanin realized that he had fallen in love.

The duel took place at 10 o'clock. Donhof fired into the air, thereby admitting that he was guilty. As a result, the duelists dispersed, shaking hands.

Gemma

The story about the love of Sanin and Gemma begins. Dimitri pays a visit to Frau Leone. It turns out that Gemma is going to break the engagement, but only this marriage will help save the financial situation of her entire family. The girl's mother asks Sanin to convince her. But the persuasion did not bring results. On the contrary, he realized that Gemma loved him too. After mutual confessions, Dmitry proposes to the girl.

Frau Leona resigned herself to her new fiancé, convinced that he had a fortune. Sanin had an estate in the Tula province, which should have been sold and the money invested in a confectionery. Unexpectedly, on the street, Sanin meets an old friend, Ippolit Polozov, who could buy his estate. But the friend replies to the request that all financial matters are in charge of his wife, attractive, but

Mrs. Polozova

The work "Spring Waters" tells how Dmitry, having said goodbye to his bride, leaves for Wiesbaden, where Marya Nikolaevna Polozova is treated with waters. She appears to be very beautiful woman with beautiful blond hair and slightly vulgar features. Sanin interested her at first sight. It turned out that Polozov gave his wife complete freedom and did not interfere in her affairs. He was more concerned with a life of prosperity and good food.

The Polozovs even made a bet on Sanin. Hippolyte was sure that his friend loved his bride too much, so he would not succumb to the charms of his wife. However, he lost, although it cost his wife a lot of work. Dmitry cheated on Gemma three days after arriving at the Polozovs.

Confession

Not perfect figures in "Spring Waters". Heroes appear ordinary people with their weaknesses and vices. Sanin was no exception, but upon his return he immediately confessed everything to Gemma. Immediately after that, he went on a trip with Polozova. He became the slave of this woman, and accompanied her until he got bored. And then she just threw him out of her life. The only thing left in memory of Gemma is the same cross that he found in the box. As the years passed, he did not understand why he left the girl, because he did not love anyone as much and tenderly as her.

Trying to bring back the past

The work “Spring Waters” is coming to an end (summary). Turgenev again returns to the aged Sanin. His hero, succumbing to surging memories, rushes to Frankfurt. Dmitry Pavlovich wanders the streets in search of a candy store, but cannot even remember the street where it was. In the address book, he finds the name of Major von Donhof. He said that Gemma got married and went to New York. He, after all, Sanin received the address of his beloved.

He writes a letter to her. Gemma sends a reply and thanks Sanin for breaking off the engagement, as it made her happier. She has a wonderful family - a beloved husband and five children. She says that her mother and Pantaleone died, and her brother died in the war. In addition, she attaches a photograph of her daughter to the letter, which is very similar to Gemma in her youth.

Sanin sends a pomegranate cross as a gift to his daughter Gemma. And later he is going to America.

"Spring Waters": analysis

It is best to start the analysis of the work from the first poetic lines taken by Turgenev from an old romance. It is in them that main topic of the whole work: "Jolly years, happy Days- they rushed like spring waters.

Turgenev tells about past dreams, lost opportunities and missed chances in his work. His hero, because of his softness, misses the only chance for happiness. And he is no longer able to correct his mistake, no matter how hard he tries.