The story of N.S. Leskov, “the enchanted wanderer”, “the Russian man can cope with everything”, a methodological development in literature (grade 10) on the topic. Ivan Flyagin - characterization of the image of the story “The Enchanted Wanderer The Enchanted Wanderer, the Hero’s Journey”
The image of Ivan Flyagin, despite its apparent simplicity and simplicity, is ambiguous and complex. Leskov, learning the secrets of the Russian character, seeks the origins of holiness in the deeds of a sinner, portrays a truth-seeker who has committed many unrighteous acts, but through suffering, comes to repentance and faith.
We first meet the hero on a ship sailing to Valaam. He was a monk of heroic stature, fifty-three years old, dark-skinned, with thick, graying hair, a beard and mustache. After talking with his fellow travelers, he told the story of his wanderings. He was a serf, his mother died, and his father served as a coachman for the master.
He spent his entire childhood at the stables and learned to understand horses well. As a teenager, he is assigned to be a horse rider, to help manage six horses. Once, when the horses rushed, he almost died saving the count’s family, and as a reward he asked for an accordion, which speaks of his selflessness and innocence. Once, Ivan whipped a monk who had dozed off in a cart and was blocking the road, and he fell under the wheels and died. Ivan dreamed of this monk and told him that he was a child prayed for and promised to God, and therefore should go to a monastery. This prophecy haunted him all his life.
More than once he looked into the eyes of death, but neither earth nor water took him. Many trials befell him. Having escaped with the gypsies from the count's estate, he will wander for many years. He would endure ten years of captivity among the Gentiles, after escaping he would work as a military commander for the prince, then he would go as a recruit to the Caucasus, where he would fight for more than fifteen years, and become an officer and Knight of St. George. After returning, I had the opportunity to work as a clerk in an address office and as an actor in a booth. In the end, he goes to the monastery.
Ivan did not have the chance to lead a settled life, to find a home and family. He is "an inspired vagabond with an infant soul." He is not characterized by Christian humility, because he cannot put up with evil and injustice, but he is a deeply religious person. But he feels that his purpose is not just faith in God, church services are boring for him, he dreams of serving with faith for the fatherland. He has an independent, honest and open nature. Ivan considers himself a terrible sinner, because he is involved in the deaths of three people, suffers and repents; although the monk died due to his negligence, the Tatar accepted death in a fair fight, and pushed Grushenka off a cliff into the river, swearing to her that he would do this, saving her from a shameful fate. Having entered a monastery, he wanders as a pilgrim to holy places, atonement for his sins, and becomes a righteous man.
Essay about Ivan Flyagin
“The Enchanted Wanderer” is a story by Nikolai Leskov, published by him in 1837. The main attention in the story is given to Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin, whose life is described in detail by the author. Leskov was able to present a new image in his story, which has no analogues in Russian literature.
Why did Leskov create the image of an “enchanted wanderer” in his hero? He perceives the world like a true miracle. As the main thing actor, he does not have a specific dream in life, which for him is endless. This person always moves forward along the path of life and sees every new challenge as a challenge from fate.
It should be noted that Leskov’s character took on his appearance from the legendary Ilya Muromets. Flyagin has a gigantic stature, a dark face and a truly heroic physique. At first glance, he is not even fifty years old. Ivan Severyanovich cannot sit in one place throughout the entire story. You might think that he is not inclined to trust anyone. But main character later refutes this. And the salvation of Count K. is proof of this. This is exactly what Flyagin did with the prince and a young girl named Grusha.
You can add to the characteristics of this person the fact that he is completely devoted to higher powers, for which he received his protection from them. Flyagin is not vulnerable to death. Death overtook him many times, but he could not die. He thinks that the earth does not want to accept him for the terrible sins that he committed. The hero believes that it was his fault that many murders occurred. Ivan Severyanovich has his own morality in life, but he always remains honest with himself and the other characters in the story. Sometimes he is too simple and naive, good-natured to the core and open to everyone in his soul, but when evil comes, which he has to deal with, he can even be cruel.
The main driving force of his actions is no small force from nature. And this forces Flyagin to do reckless things. In his youth, Ivan was not very worried about this, but later he realizes that he is responsible for this. The author of the work does not hesitate to mention that his character is a man with enormous internal and physical strength. This lies in his ability in any situation to do what is necessary and what is right. Ivan Flyagin is in complete harmony with those around him and, like a true hero, is always ready to help.
In conclusion, we can say that all the features of the Russian national character in the image of this man on his face. But that doesn't mean he's flawless. He is more prone to inconsistency. In some places he is smart and quick-witted, and in others he is the opposite. He can do crazy things, but at the same time he is drawn to do good deeds. So, we can say with confidence: Ivan Severyanovich is the personification of the broad Russian personality, its infinity.
Details
In the story "The Enchanted Wanderer" Ivan Flyagin has the main role.
His image appears before us in the form of a strong Ilya Muromets. Even at the beginning of the story, the Author compares him with this knight. He was tall, of strong build with a dark complexion.
Our main character born in the name of a count, his father and mother were serfs and... Mom died while giving birth to Ivan. And my father worked in a stable. The boy spent all his time with horses. And when he more or less grew up, he was put to work with his dad. Once they were taking the count near the temple. And one priest began to daydream. And Vanya hit him with a whip.
When Ivan was taking the Duke to Voronezh, a large cliff appeared in front of them. . Ivan managed to slow down, but he himself fell into it. But he inexplicably survived. The Duke, of course, thanked him. And instead of going to the monastery, Ivan chose an accordion, which he never knew how to play.
Soon Flyagin was sent to crush stone for garden paths. But he got tired of everyone laughing at him and decided to run away and hang himself. As soon as he hung in the noose, someone cut the rope. It turned out to be a gypsy, who then suggested that Ivan steal. And so that he would not betray him, he ordered the horses to be stolen from the stables of the count for whom Ivan served. Ivan did it. And when they sold these horses, he received only one ruble. In the end, he went to surrender to the police. This speaks to his next quality - honesty. Even though he went to steal horses, he still confessed later.
Soon Ivan got a job with the master, his wife left him for a military man and abandoned her infant daughter. And Flyagin nursed this girl. This shows his love for children.
One day, Ivan and the master’s little daughter went to the shore of the bay; the girl had sore legs and the doctor said that they should be buried in the squeak. But her mother saw the girl on the shore. She asked Ivan to give her the child, but he did not agree. Then the cavalry husband of this young lady appeared and wanted to pay money to give them the child, but he received nothing except a hand job under the eye. The uhlan did not raise any money, and this pleased Ivan. Flyagin at first did not want to give up the child, but when he saw the girl’s mother stretching out her hands to her, he still took pity. Suddenly a gentleman with a pistol appeared on the beach and Ivan had to leave with the cavalryman and the girl’s mother.
After they arrived in the city, the uhlan said that he could not keep serfs who had escaped. I gave him money and let him go. At that moment I felt very sorry for Ivan. He had nowhere to go. He wanted to go and surrender to the police. But I decided to go have some tea and bagels. Later I saw how Khan Dzhangar and the king were selling a mare, and people were fighting for her. After this, a cavalryman entered the battle, but Ivan went to fight in his place. This speaks of his positive quality - bravery. But the fact that he whipped the Tatar with a whip speaks of his mercilessness. They wanted to take him to prison, but the Tatars took pity on Ivan and took him in with them.
Ivan lived with them for ten years, was a doctor, but when he wanted to run away, the Tatars caught him, cut his heels and put cut horsehair there. Initially, it was very painful for him to walk. And so Ivan lived in this horde for many years. He had two wives and many children. Once the khan ordered him to cure his wife and let Ivan into his yurt, after which he had two more wives.
Once the priests came to the Tatars, they wanted them to accept Christianity, but the Tatars refused. And after some time, the main character of the story found one dead priest in the field, but never found the second. The next time they came to unknown people, they were in bright clothes. These people wanted to buy horses. One evening they set off fireworks and all the horses ran away, and the Tatars, in turn, ran to catch them. Ivan understood what scared the horses and Tatars, and repeated the same thing. One fine day he found earth that corrodes the skin. And he came up with this plan: to pretend to be sick and when the earth corroded his feet, horsehair came out, and pus along with it. Then our hero decided to set off the last fireworks and left.
After some time, Ivan went to the Caspian Sea, and then came to Astrakhan. I earned money there and drank it away. When he woke up he was in prison. From prison he was sent to his native estate. But Father Ilya refused to accept his confession, since he had lived in sin among the Tatars for a very long time. The count, who began to pray to God after the death of his wife, refused to have non-communion servants, gave him his passport and let him go.
When he left the estate, Ivan came to the market. I saw a gypsy trying to sell a bad horse to a simple peasant. Since Ivan was offended by the gypsies, he helped the peasant. Afterwards, he began to walk around the bazaars and help the peasants, advising which horses they could buy and which they could not. Soon he became the king of gypsies and profiteers.
Once the prince asked to tell him the secret of how he chooses horses. Ivan began to teach him, but the prince did not understand anything, then he invited Ivan to work with him. And they became friends with the prince. In order not to spend extra money, Ivan left it to the prince. But one day the prince went to the market and ordered that a mare be sent there, which Ivan really liked; he wanted to drink it hot, but there was no one to leave the money with. Then he went to a tavern to drink tea, and saw a man there who was drinking and not getting drunk. Then Ivan asked to teach him this way too. Then the man told him to drink glass after glass but make passes with his hands before each one, so Ivan learned to drink and not get drunk and kept checking to see if he had all the money in his bosom. By evening, the friends quarreled.
They were kicked out of the tavern, then the beggar led Ivan to a “guest place” where there were only gypsies. And then Ivan sees a gypsy woman who was singing songs, they called her Grusha. Then Ivan gave her all his savings.
When he sobered up, he admitted to the prince that he had spent his entire treasury on one gypsy woman. After which he fell ill with alcoholic psychosis. When Ivan recovered, he learned that the prince had spent all his money to ransom Grusha from the crowd. She fell in love with the prince very much, and he began to be burdened by her, taking advantage of her lack of education. Ivan, in turn, felt very sorry for her.
One day the gypsy woman suspected that the prince had a mistress and sent Ivan to the city to find out. He went to ex-lover the prince and found out that he wanted to marry Grusha to Ivan. When Flyagin returned from the market, he saw that Grusha was nowhere to be found. Then he found a gypsy woman on the shore, it turned out that the prince locked her in a house in the forest, guarded by girls, and she ran away from them. She asked to kill the prince’s bride, otherwise she would become “the most shameful woman.” Ivan could not stand it and threw her off the cliff.
Then Ivan ran away and began to wander around the world until Grusha appeared to him and showed him the right path, on which he met two old people. These old men made Ivan new documents according to which he was Pyotr Serdyukov.
Then he asked me to go to the Caucasus and served there for more than fifteen years. Then he was ordained an officer and sent into retirement. In St. Petersburg, he worked as a “registration officer” and earned little because he received the letter “fita”, and there were very few surnames with this letter. And he decided to leave this job. They didn’t hire him as a coachman and he had to go work as an actor. There he is, pretending to be a demon.
The others asked him if the demon pretending to be a gypsy was bothering him? He overcame the demon with prayer, but little devils began to brainwash him. Because of them, Ivan killed the monastery's cow. For this and other sins he was locked in a cellar, and there he read newspapers and began to prophesy. Then they took him into the forest and put him in a hut, and locked him there. Then they called a doctor to him and he could not understand the prophet Ivan or the crazy one. And the doctor told him to let him out.
He found himself on the ship making his way to a church service. At this point, the passengers did not ask him anything else.
The image of Ivan Flyagin in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer” was at one time honest and correct, and at another time cunning and merciless. I liked Ivan Flyagin because it seems to me that he has more good qualities than bad.
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All episodes of the story are united by the image of the main character - Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin, shown as a giant of physical and moral power. “He was a man of enormous stature, with a dark, open face and thick hair. wavy hair lead-colored: its gray cast was so strange. He was dressed in a novice cassock with a wide monastic belt and a high black cloth cap... This new companion of ours... looked like he could be over fifty years old; but he was in the full sense of the word a hero, and, moreover, a typical, simple-minded, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of grandfather Ilya Muromets in the beautiful painting by Vereshchagin and in the poem of Count A.K. Tolstoy. It seemed that he would not walk around in a cassock, but would sit on his “forelock” and ride in bast shoes through the forest and lazily smell how “the dark forest smells of resin and strawberries.” The hero performs feats of arms, saves people, and goes through the temptation of love. He knows from his own bitter experience serfdom, knows what it is to escape from a fierce master or soldier. Flyagin’s actions reveal such traits as boundless courage, courage, pride, stubbornness, breadth of nature, kindness, patience, artistry, etc. The author creates a complex, multifaceted character, positive at its core, but far from ideal and not at all unambiguous. The main feature of Flyagin is the “frankness of a simple soul.” The narrator likens him to God's baby, to whom God sometimes reveals his plans, hidden from others. The hero is characterized by a childish naivety of perception of life, innocence, sincerity, and selflessness. He is very talented. First of all, in the business that he was involved in as a boy, becoming a postilion for his master. When it came to horses, he “received a special talent from his nature.” His talent is associated with a heightened sense of beauty. Ivan Flyagin has a keen sense of feminine beauty, the beauty of nature, words, art - song, dance. His speech is striking in its poetry when he describes what he admires. Like any national hero, Ivan Severyanovich passionately loves his homeland. This is manifested in a painful longing for his native places, when he is in captivity in the Tatar steppes, and in the desire to take part in the coming war and die for native land. Flyagin’s last dialogue with the audience sounds solemn. Warmth and subtlety of feeling in a hero coexist with rudeness, pugnacity, drunkenness, and narrow-mindedness. Sometimes he shows callousness and indifference: he beats a Tatar to death in a duel, does not consider unbaptized children as his own and leaves them without regret. Kindness and responsiveness to someone else's grief coexist in him with senseless cruelty: he gives the child to his tearfully pleading mother, depriving himself of shelter and food, but at the same time, out of self-indulgence, he kills a sleeping monk.
Flyagin's daring and freedom of feelings know no bounds (fight with a Tatar, relationship with Sgrushenka). He gives himself over to feelings recklessly and recklessly. Emotional impulses, over which he has no control, constantly break his destiny. But when the spirit of confrontation fades away in him, he very easily submits to the influence of others. The hero's sense of human dignity is in conflict with the consciousness of the serf. But all the same, a pure and noble soul is felt in Ivan Severyanovich.
The hero's first name, patronymic and last name turn out to be significant. The name Ivan, which appears so often in fairy tales, brings him closer to both Ivan the Fool and Ivan the Tsarevich, who go through various trials. In his trials, Ivan Flyagin matures spiritually and becomes morally cleansed. The patronymic Severyanovich translated from Latin means “severe” and reflects a certain side of his character. The surname indicates, on the one hand, a penchant for a wild lifestyle, but, on the other hand, it recalls the biblical image of a person as a vessel, and a righteous person as a pure vessel of God. Suffering from the consciousness of his own imperfection, he goes, without bending, towards the feat, striving for heroic service to his homeland, feeling the divine blessing above him. And this movement, moral transformation constitutes the inner storyline stories. The hero believes and searches. His life path is the path of knowing God and realizing oneself in God.
Ivan Flyagin personifies the Russian national character with all its dark and light sides, the people's view of the world. It embodies the enormous and untapped potential of people's power. His morality is natural, folk morality. Flyagin's figure acquires a symbolic scale, embodying the breadth, boundlessness, and openness of the Russian soul to the world. The depth and complexity of Ivan Flyagin’s character helps to comprehend a variety of artistic techniques, used by the author. The main means of creating the image of a hero is speech, which reflects his worldview, character, social status etc. Flyagin’s speech is simple, full of vernacular and dialecticisms, there are few metaphors, comparisons, epithets in it, but they are bright and accurate. The hero's speech style is connected with the people's worldview. The image of the hero is also revealed through his attitude towards other characters about whom he himself talks. The character's personality is revealed in the tone of the narrative and in the choice of artistic means. The landscape also helps to feel the peculiarities of the character’s perception of the world. The hero’s story about life in the steppe conveys his emotional state, longing for his native place: “No, I want to go home... I was feeling homesick. Especially in the evenings, or even when the weather is good in the middle of the day, it’s hot, the camp is quiet, all the Tatars from the heat fall on the tents... A sultry look, cruel; there is no space; grass riot; the feather grass is white, fluffy, like a silver sea, agitated, and the smell carries on the breeze: it smells like a sheep, and the sun pours down, burns, and the steppe, as if a painful life, has no end in sight, and here there is no bottom to the depth of melancholy... You see for yourself you know where, and suddenly in front of you, no matter how you take it, there is a monastery or a temple, and you remember the baptized land and cry.”
The image of the wanderer Ivan Flyagin summarizes the remarkable features of energetic, naturally talented people, inspired by boundless love for people. It depicts a man of the people in the intricacies of his difficult fate, not broken, even though “he had been dying all his life and could not die.”
The kind and simple-minded Russian giant is the main character and central figure of the story. This man with a childlike soul is distinguished by irrepressible fortitude and heroic mischief. He acts at the behest of duty, often on the inspiration of feeling and in a random outburst of passion. However, all his actions, even the strangest ones, are invariably born from his inherent love for humanity. He strives for truth and beauty through mistakes and bitter repentance, he seeks love and generously gives love to people. When Flyagin sees a person in mortal danger, he simply rushes to his aid. Just as a boy, he saves the count and countess from death, but he almost dies. He also goes instead of the old woman’s son to the Caucasus for fifteen years. Behind the external rudeness and cruelty, hidden in Ivan Severyanych is the enormous kindness characteristic of the Russian people. We recognize this trait in him when he becomes a nanny. He became truly attached to the girl he was courting. He is caring and gentle in his dealings with her.
“The Enchanted Wanderer” is a type of “Russian wanderer” (in the words of Dostoevsky). This is a Russian nature, requiring development, striving for spiritual perfection. He searches and cannot find himself. Each new refuge of Flyagin is another discovery of life, and not just a change in one activity or another. The broad soul of the wanderer gets along with absolutely everyone - be it wild Kyrgyz or strict Orthodox monks; he is so flexible that he agrees to live according to the laws of those who accepted him: according to Tatar custom, he fights to the death with Savarikei, according to Muslim custom, has several wives, takes for granted the cruel “operation” that the Tatars performed on him ; In the monastery, he not only does not complain about the fact that, as punishment, he was locked in a dark cellar for the whole summer, but he even knows how to find joy in this: “Here you can hear the church bells, and your comrades have visited.” But despite such an accommodating nature, he does not stay anywhere for long. He does not need to humble himself and want to work in his native field. He is already humble and with his peasant rank he is faced with the need to work. But he has no peace. In life he is not a participant, but only a wanderer. He is so open to life that it carries him, and he follows its flow with wise humility. But this is not a consequence of mental weakness and passivity, but a complete acceptance of one’s fate. Often Flyagin is not aware of his actions, intuitively relying on the wisdom of life, trusting it in everything. And the higher power, before which he is open and honest, rewards him for this and protects him.
Ivan Severyanich Flyagin lives primarily not with his mind, but with his heart, and therefore the course of life imperiously carries him along, which is why the circumstances in which he finds himself are so varied.
Flyagin reacts sharply to insult and injustice. As soon as the count's German manager punished him for his offense with humiliating work, Ivan Severyanych, risking his own life, fled from his native place. Subsequently, he recalls it this way: “They tore me terribly cruelly, I couldn’t even get up... but that would have been nothing to me, but the last condemnation to stand on my knees and beat bags... it was already tormenting me... I just ran out of patience...” The most terrible and unbearable for common man It turns out it's not corporal punishment, but an insult to feelings self-esteem. out of despair, he runs away from them and goes “to the robbers.”
In “The Enchanted Wanderer”, for the first time in Leskov’s work, the theme of folk heroism is fully developed. the collective semi-fairy-tale image of Ivan Flyagin appears before us in all his greatness, nobility of his soul, fearlessness and beauty and merges with the image of the heroic people. Ivan Severyanich’s desire to go to war is the desire to suffer one for all. love for the Motherland, for God, and Christian desire save Flyagin from death during his nine years of life among the Tatars. During all this time he was never able to get used to the steppes. He says: “No, sir, I want to go home... I feel sad.” What a great feeling is contained in his simple story about loneliness in Tatar captivity: “...There is no bottom to the depths of melancholy... You look, you don’t know where, and suddenly, no matter how much a monastery or a temple appears in front of you, you remember the baptized land and cry.” From Ivan Severyanovich’s story about himself it is clear that the most difficult of the varied experiences he experienced life situations there were precisely those who most bound his will, doomed him to immobility.
The Orthodox faith is strong in Ivan Flyagin. In the middle of the night in captivity, he “crawled out slowly behind the headquarters... and began to pray... so praying that even the snow under his knees would melt and where the tears fell, you could see the grass in the morning.”
Flyagin is an unusually gifted person; nothing is impossible for him. The secret of his strength, invulnerability and amazing gift - to always feel joy - lies in the fact that he always acts as circumstances require. He is in harmony with the world when the world is harmonious, and he is ready to fight evil when it stands in his way.
At the end of the story, we understand that, having arrived at the monastery, Ivan Flyagin does not calm down. He foresees war and is going to go there. He says: “I really want to die for the people.” These words reflect the main quality of the Russian person - the willingness to suffer for others, to die for the Motherland. Describing Flyagin’s life, Leskov makes him wander, meet different people and entire nations. Leskov claims that such beauty of the soul is characteristic only of the Russian person and only the Russian person can demonstrate it so fully and widely.
The image of Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin is the only “through” image that connects all the episodes of the story. As already noted, it has genre-forming features, because his “biography” goes back to works with strict normative schemes, namely the lives of saints and adventure novels. The author brings Ivan Severyanovich closer not only to the heroes of lives and adventure novels, but also to epic heroes. This is how the narrator describes Flyagin’s appearance: “This new companion of ours looked like he could have been over fifty years old; but he was in the full sense of the word a hero, and, moreover, a typical, simple-minded, kind Russian hero, reminiscent of grandfather Ilya Muromets in Vereshchegin’s wonderful painting and in the poem by Count A.K. Tolstoy.4 It seemed that he would not walk in a cassock, but would sit on his “forelock” and ride in bast shoes through the forest and lazily smell how “the dark forest smells of resin and strawberries.” Flyagin's character is multifaceted. Its main feature is the “frankness of a simple soul.” The narrator likens Flyagin to “babies,” to whom God sometimes reveals his plans, hidden from the “reasonable.” The author paraphrases the gospel sayings of Christ: “... Jesus said: “... I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes”” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 25). Christ allegorically calls people with a pure heart wise and reasonable.
Flyagin is distinguished by his childish naivety and simplicity. Demons in his ideas resemble a large family, in which there are both adults and mischievous demon children. He believes in magical power amulet - “a tight belt from the holy brave prince Vsevolod-Gabriel from Novgorod.” Flyagin understands the experiences of tamed horses. He subtly senses the beauty of nature.
But, at the same time, the soul of the enchanted wanderer is also characterized by some callousness and limitations (from the point of view of an educated, civilized person). Ivan Severyanovich coldly beats a Tatar to death in a duel and cannot understand why the story of this torture horrifies his listeners. Ivan brutally deals with the Countess's maid's cat, who strangled his beloved pigeons. He does not consider unbaptized children from Tatar wives in Ryn-Sands to be his own and leaves without a shadow of doubt and regret.
Natural kindness coexists in Flyagin’s soul with senseless, aimless cruelty. So, he, serving as a nanny for a young child and violating the will of his father, his master, gives the child to Ivan’s tearfully begging mother and her lover, although he knows that this act will deprive him of faithful food and force him to wander again in search of food and shelter . And he, in adolescence, out of self-indulgence, whips a sleeping monk to death.
Flyagin is reckless in his daring: just like that, disinterestedly, he enters into a competition with the Tatar Savakirei, promising an officer he knows to give a prize - a horse. He completely surrenders to the passions that take possession of him, embarking on a drunken spree. Struck by the beauty and singing of the gypsy Grusha, without hesitation, he gives her the huge sum of government money entrusted to him.
Flyagin’s nature is both unshakably firm (he sacredly professes the principle: “I will not give my honor to anyone”) and willful, pliable, open to the influence of others and even suggestion. Ivan easily assimilates the Tatars’ ideas about the justification of a mortal duel with whips. Hitherto not feeling the bewitching beauty of a woman, he - as if under the influence of conversations with a degenerate gentleman-magnetizer and the eaten "magic" sugar - "mentor" - finds himself enchanted by his first meeting with Grusha.
Flyagin’s wanderings, wanderings, and peculiar “quests” carry a “worldly” overtones. Even in the monastery he performs the same service as in the world - coachman. This motive is significant: Flyagin, changing professions and services, remains himself. He begins his difficult journey as a postilion, a rider of a horse in a harness, and in old age returns to the duties of a coachman.
The service of Leskov’s hero “with horses” is not accidental; it has an implicit, hidden symbolism. Flyagin’s changeable fate is like the fast running of a horse, and the “two-stranded” hero himself, who has withstood and endured many hardships in his lifetime, resembles a strong “Bityutsky” horse. Both Flyagin’s temper and independence are, as it were, compared with the proud horse’s temper, which the “enchanted wanderer” told about in the first chapter of Leskov’s work. The taming of horses by Flyagin correlates with the stories of ancient authors (Plutarach and others) about Alexander the Great, who pacified and tamed the horse Bucephalus.
And like the hero of epics who goes out to measure his strength “in an open field,” Flyagin is correlated with open, free space: with the road (the wanderings of Ivan Severyanovich), with the steppe (ten-year life in the Tatar Ryn-sands), with lake and sea space (meeting the narrator with Flyagin on a ship sailing on Lake Ladoga, a pilgrim’s pilgrimage to Solovki). The hero wanders, moves in a wide, open space, which is not a geographical concept, but a value category. Space is a visible image of life itself, sending disasters and trials towards the hero-traveler.
In his wanderings and travels, Leskov’s character reaches the limits, the extreme points of the Russian land: he lives in the Kazakh steppe, fights against the mountaineers in the Caucasus, goes to the Solovetsky shrines on the White Sea. Flyagin finds himself on the northern, southern, and southeastern “borders” of European Russia. Ivan Severyanovich did not visit only the western border of Russia. However, Leskov’s capital may symbolically designate precisely the western point of Russian space. (Such a perception of St. Petersburg was characteristic of Russian literature of the 18th century and was recreated in Pushkin's " Bronze Horseman"). The spatial "scope" of Flyagin's travels is significant: it symbolizes5 the breadth, boundlessness, openness of the Russian people's soul to the world.6 But the breadth of the nature of Flyagin - the "Russian hero" - is not at all equivalent to righteousness. Leskov repeatedly created images of Russian righteous people in his works, people of exceptional moral purity, noble and kind to the point of selflessness (“Odnodum”, “ Non-lethal Golovan", "Cadet Monastery", etc.). However, Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin is not like that. He seems to personify the Russian folk character with all its dark and light sides and the people's view of the world.
The name Ivan Flyagin is significant. He is similar to the fairy-tale Ivan the Fool and Ivan the Tsarevich, going through various trials. During these trials, Ivan is cured and freed from his “stupidity” and moral callousness. But the moral ideals and norms of Leskov’s enchanted wanderer do not coincide with moral principles his civilized interlocutors and the author himself. Flyagin's morality is a natural, “common” morality.
It is no coincidence that the patronymic of Leskov’s hero is Severyanovich (severus - in Latin: stern). The surname speaks, on the one hand, of a former penchant for drinking and carousing, on the other hand, it seems to recall the biblical image of a person as a vessel, and a righteous person as a pure vessel of God.
Life path Flyagina partly represents atonement for his sins: the “youthful” murder of a monk, as well as the murder of Grushenka, abandoned by her lover-prince, committed at her request. The dark, egoistic, “animal” force characteristic of Ivan in his youth gradually becomes enlightened and filled with moral self-awareness. In his declining years, Ivan Severyanovich is ready to “die for the people,” for others. But the enchanted wanderer still does not renounce many actions that are reprehensible for educated, “civilized” listeners, not finding anything bad in them.
This is not only limited, but also the integrity of the character of the protagonist, devoid of contradictions, internal struggle and introspection,7 which, like the motive of the predetermination of his fate, brings Leskov’s story closer to the classical, ancient heroic epic. B.S. Dykhanova characterizes Flyagin’s ideas about his fate in the following way: “According to the hero’s conviction, his destiny is that he is a “prayed” and “promised” son, is obliged to devote his life to serving God, and the monastery should, it would seem, be perceived as the inevitable end of the road , finding a true calling. Listeners repeatedly ask the question of whether predestination has been fulfilled or not, but each time Flyagin avoids a direct answer.
“Why are you saying this... as if you’re not really saying it?
- - Yes, because how can I say for sure when I can’t even embrace all my vast flowing vitality?
- - What is this from?
- “Because, sir, I did a lot of things not even of my own free will.”
Despite the apparent inconsistency of Flyagin’s answers, he is amazingly accurate here. “The audacity of calling” is inseparable from one’s own will, one’s own choice, and the interaction of a person’s will with life circumstances independent of it gives rise to that living contradiction, which can only be explained by preserving it. In order to understand what his calling is, Flyagin has to tell his life “from the very beginning.”8 Flyagin’s life is bizarre, “mosaic”, it seems to fall apart into several independent “biographies”: the hero changes his occupation many times, finally, he is twice deprived of his own name (by becoming a soldier instead of a peasant recruit, then by taking monasticism). Ivan Severyanovich can imagine the unity, the integrity of his life, only by recounting it all, from his very birth. This predetermination of the hero’s fate, in subordination and “bewitchment” by some force ruling over him, “not by his own will”, which Flyagin is driven by, is the meaning of the title of the story.
N.S. Leskov never lost faith in the Russian people, in his ability to overcome all disasters. The writer imagined and saw in the usual turmoil, even “wildness,” of simple Russian life some bright beginnings. This was clearly manifested in “The Enchanted Wanderer,” a story about Ivan Flyagin, the son of a serf peasant woman and a coachman. What is so unusual about the fate and life path of this hero?
Many researchers call Flyagin “a truth-seeker of the Russian land.” In principle, this is a fair definition, but not precise enough. What truth is Flyagin looking for? Can he seek the truth given his impulsiveness and lack of education?
Apparently, Flyagin is a special type, a kind of “nugget”. He is, of course, a seeker, but not of truth as such, but of beauty, the meaning of life. Ivan is a “prayerful” son, that is, a son begged from God. From birth, he is characterized by restlessness, an eternal desire (through failures and “breakdowns”) for a bright, energetically full, “flowery” existence. Hence the “fall” of this hero and, ultimately, the enlightenment of the spirit, the rejection of obscene things.
Fate seemed to be testing Flyagin on the strength of the sense of goodness inherent in him and common sense. You will “perish many times and never perish once” - it was predicted to him back in his adolescence. And so it happened. The hero's whole life is a chain of misadventures, the cause of which was often himself, his thirst for the extraordinary, the play of internal forces that did not find useful use.
Thus, even as a child, Flyagin turned out to be an indirect culprit in a “road” accident, as a result of which the monk died. As an adult, the hero did not avoid adventurous situations (combat with the Tatars near Penza). Because of this, Ivan Severyanovich had to hide in steppe settlements for more than ten years, where he had horsehair implanted in his heel, and he could not walk normally. Many times Flyagin was a victim of gullibility and a destructive passion for the “green snake”... But all the misadventures not only did not weaken his craving for life and perfection, but also strengthened it. Hence the hero’s wanderings, the constant search for something that would satisfy the “spiritual thirst”, the craving for simplicity and the extraordinary. All this explains the accent word in the title of the story - “enchanted”.
The charm of life and beauty is revealed with unusual force in the tavern scene. A fairly drunk Ivan Flyagin gives all his master’s money (five thousand rubles) for a gypsy spell to the beautiful Grushenka: he “swept all his “swans”, that is, large banknotes, under her feet during the dance. In the excitement of the dance, the hero’s soul was inflamed: “Didn’t you, damned one, make both the earth and the sky?” The words are blasphemous and, at the same time, deeply sincere and powerful. “Cursed” in Ivan’s mouth sounds like a description of everything that is beautiful on earth...
In the depths of the hero’s soul, sparks of life, hope, if possible, atonement for “sins”, and his acquisition of truth always shone brightly. And Flyagin found this truth, at least for himself, in relation to the situation in which he found himself after all his wanderings and deprivations. Having no family, permanent place of residence, or specific activities, the hero constantly strives for the better, tries to unravel the “meaning” of life. In the end, he ends up in a monastery, hoping to stop the “restlessness” of his soul there and find the truly beautiful. In this sense, Flyagin reminds us of a “future son” who, after many misadventures, comes to the monastery in order to atone for his “sins” there.
But, once in the monastery, Ivan did not get rid of the torment of his conscience (for the death of Grushenka, for the death of the Tatar monk). He kept imagining that Satan was pursuing him. It was decided to put Flyagin in a “cellar” so that there, through prayers and asceticism, liberation from obsession would come. And so it happened. But at the same time, something else happened: the hero’s incredibly important insight. It was sent down to him to see and understand what others - alas! – has not been given to this day. Since then, our hero was filled with “fear for his Russian people and began to pray... everything about his homeland... and for his people.”
The meaning of the wanderings, the entire life path of Ivan Flyagin, his foresight of the misfortune looming over the people and the fatherland, the foresight that he carried within himself over many years of “misadventure”, usually refers to the purely poetic element of the story. This is seen as fantastic, “wonderful” and therefore seemingly insignificant. But that's not true. Through the lips of Flyagin, Leskov not directly, but in a figurative, “prophetic” form, warned in the 70s of the 19th century: “there is destruction near us.” And the spiritual heroism of Ivan Flyagin is that with all his bitter, but highly dramatic fate, he convinces us: we must act “intelligibly,” with responsibility, with devotion to faith, without throwing away honor and concern for others. The time has come to pose the question this way - the only way! Otherwise – “all-destructiveness”.
The thorny life path of the protagonist, the hardships he suffered, seem to be crowned by this “truth of life” to which he strived. Flyagin needed her just like all people.
Leskov's story, published in 1873, presents the unusual image of Ivan Flyagin, a Russian wanderer, whose life story is given by himself in the manner of an oral folk tale in a colloquial but surprisingly poetic language.
At the same time, the presentation of the events of the hero’s life, his biography, resembles the canons of the hagiography genre.
The image and characteristics of Ivan Flyagin in the story “The Enchanted Wanderer”
In the work, the image of the main character, although outwardly unpretentious and simple, is ambiguous and complex. The author, studying the deep layers of the Russian soul, seeks holiness in the actions of a sinner, shows an impatient lover of truth who makes many mistakes, but, suffering and comprehending what he has done, comes to the path of repentance and true faith.
Key words that reveal the image of Ivan Flyagin: a deeply religious person, a selfless and simple-minded nature, independence and openness, self-esteem, exceptional physical and spiritual strength, an expert in his field.
Portrait, characteristics and description of the main character
He was remarkable in appearance: heroic in stature, dark-skinned, with thick, curly hair streaked with gray, a gray mustache curled like a hussar, dressed in monastic robes. The author compares his appearance with the simple-minded, kind Russian hero Ilya Muromets from Vereshchagin’s painting. The hero was in his fifty-third year, and in the world his name was Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin.
Ivan's life path
We first meet the hero on a ship sailing along Lake Ladoga to Valaam. Talking with fellow travelers, he tells the story of his difficult life. The brief but frank confession of this handsome monk captivates the listeners.
By origin, the hero belonged to the serf rank, his mother died early, and his father served as a coachman at the stable, where the boy was assigned. Once he saved the count's family from death, risking his life. Miraculously surviving, the boy asks for a harmonica as a reward.
Once, for fun, Ivan whipped a monk who was dozing off in a cart so that he wouldn’t block the road, and he fell asleep under the wheels and died. This monk appeared to him in a dream and announced to Ivan that for his mother he was not only a long-awaited and prayed-for son, but also promised to God, therefore he needed to go to a monastery.
All his life this prophecy haunted him in unexpected situations. More than once he looked into the eyes of death, but neither earth nor water took him.
For mocking a cat that ate his pigeons, he was given a severe punishment: to crush stones for garden paths. Unable to bear the bullying and hardships, he decides to commit suicide. But a gypsy saves his life by persuading him to steal horses and leave with him to live a free life. And Ivan decided to do this, it was so painful for him. The gypsy deceived and cheated, and Ivan, having straightened out false documents for himself pectoral cross, goes into service as a nanny for a gentleman whose wife has abandoned him.
There the hero became attached to the girl, fed goat milk, on the advice of the doctor, he began to carry her to the shore of the estuary and bury her sore legs in the sand. The inconsolable mother found the child, and, telling Ivan her story, began to beg him to give her her daughter. But Ivan was relentless, reproaching her for violating her Christian duty. When her partner offers the hero a thousand rubles, he, saying that he never sold himself, spits on the money with disgust, throws it at the soldier’s feet and fights with him. But, seeing the owner running with a pistol, he himself gives up the child and runs away with the one he had just beaten.
Left without documents and money, he again finds himself in trouble. At the horse auction he sees how the Tatars fight for horses, hitting each other with whips, and he also wants to try his hand. In a duel for a horse that was his for only a minute, he survived, but his opponent dies. The Tatars hide him and take him away with them, saving him from the police. So Flyagin is captured by the Gentiles, but a plan to escape is brewing in his mind and one day he manages to carry out his plan.
Returning to his homeland, he helps men buy horses at fairs. And then, thanks to rumor, the prince takes him into his service. Life has come calm and well-fed, only sometimes out of melancholy he breaks into sprees. And in the last exit, fate brings him together with the gypsy Grushenka, who conquered him, and Flyagin, as if spellbound, threw all the money he had at her feet. The prince, having learned about Pear, being carried away by her beauty and singing, brings her to the estate.
Ivan sincerely became attached to this extraordinary girl and looked after her. But when the impoverished prince decided to leave his annoying beloved for the sake of a profitable marriage, Ivan, pitying Grusha, distraught with grief and jealousy, who begged to save her from her shameful fate, pushes her off a cliff into the river.
Tormented by what he had done, seeking his own destruction, he leaves instead of another recruit to fight in the Caucasus, where he stayed for more than fifteen years. For faithful service and courage he was awarded the Cross of St. George and awarded the rank of officer. Having received a letter of recommendation from the colonel, he gets a job in the capital as a clerk at the address desk, but the work is not for him: boring, without money. But they no longer hire him as a coachman; his noble position does not allow his riders to scold or hit him. He settled down in a booth, where they did not disdain his nobility, to play a demon. But he didn’t stay there either; he got into a fight, protecting the young actress from harassment.
Again, left without shelter and food, he decided to go to the monastery. Having taken the name Ishmael, he fulfilled his obedience in the monastery stable, which he was very pleased with, because he did not need to attend all the services in the church. But his believing soul toils that it is not for him to serve in the temple, he cannot even light a candle properly, he will drop the entire candlestick. And he also killed a cow, accidentally mistaking him for a demon.
More than once he accepted punishment for his negligence. And he began to prophesy war in order to stand up for the fatherland with faith. Tired of this wonderful monk, the abbot sends him on a pilgrimage to Solovki. On his way to a pilgrimage, the enchanted wanderer meets his grateful listeners, to whom he told about the stages of his life’s journey.
Professions in the life of Ivan Flyagin
As a child, a boy is assigned to be a horseman to help control six horses, sitting on one of the first ones. After escaping from the count's estate with the gypsies, she serves as a nanny. In captivity among the Tatars he treats people and horses. Returning from captivity, he helps choose horses at fairs, then works as a horseman in the service of the prince.
After Grushenka’s death, he leaves for the Caucasus under an assumed name, where he serves as a soldier for fifteen years and is promoted to officer for his bravery. Returning from the war, he gets a job as a clerk in an address office. I tried to become a coachman, but they didn’t take me because officer rank. Due to lack of money, he becomes an actor, but is kicked out for fighting. And then he goes to the monastery.
Why is Flyagin called a wanderer?
Ivan wandered all his life; he never had the opportunity to lead a sedentary life, find a family and a home.
He is an “inspired vagabond” with an infant soul, whom no one is chasing, he himself runs in search of happiness.
But all his wanderings were aimless; only by going to a monastery did he become a pilgrim, going on pilgrimages to holy places.
What ridiculous things does Flyagin do?
All his actions are dictated by spiritual impulses. Without thinking, he often does ridiculous things. Then he runs away with the officer with whom he first fought, without giving up the child. Then, when he imagines demons, he throws off candles in the church, and accidentally kills a cow in his sleep.
How long did Flyagin spend in captivity?
Ivan falls into a long ten-year captivity among the steppe nomads-Tatars. To prevent him from running away, horse bristles are sewn into his cut heels, thus making him crippled. But they call him a friend and give him wives to look after him.
But he toils that he is not married, that his children are unbaptized, and is eager to return to his homeland. Having seized the moment when only old people, women and children remained on the migration, he runs away.
Can Ivan Flyagin be called a righteous man?
Ivan himself considers himself a terrible sinner and repents for the lives he ruined. But the deaths he caused were without malicious intent: the monk died accidentally, due to his own negligence, the Tatar died in a fair fight, Grushenka was saved from a terrible fate at her request. Will repentance be given to the prince who crippled other people's destinies, to Grushenka's father who sold his daughter, to the Tatars who killed the missionaries?
Ivan is strong in his faith in moral principles, but he is not given Christian humility, and it is difficult to put up with injustice.
He is fascinated by life, but having resisted temptations and endured the trials of fate, he finds peace in righteous faith and service. By atoning for his sins, he becomes righteous.
“The Enchanted Wanderer” is a story by Leskov, created in the 2nd half of the 19th century. In the center of the work is an image of the life of a simple Russian peasant named Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin. Researchers agree that the image of Ivan Flyagin absorbed the main features of the Russian folk character.
Leskov's story presents a completely new type of hero, incomparable with any other in Russian literature. He has so organically merged with the elements of life that he is not afraid to get entangled in it.
Flyagin - "enchanted wanderer"
The author called Ivan Severyanich Flyagin “an enchanted wanderer.” This hero is “fascinated” by life itself, its fairy tale, its magic. That is why there are no limits for him. The hero perceives the world in which he lives as a real miracle. For him, it is endless, as is his journey in this world. Ivan Flyagin does not have any specific goal in life; for him it is inexhaustible. This hero perceives each new refuge as another discovery on his path, and not just as a change of occupation.
Hero's appearance
The author notes that his character has a physical resemblance to Ilya Muromets, the legendary hero of epics. Ivan Severyanovich is distinguished by his enormous height. He has an open, dark face. The hair of this hero is thick, wavy, and lead-colored (his gray hair was cast in this unusual color). Flyagin wears a novice's cassock with a monastic belt, as well as a high black cloth cap. In appearance, the hero can be given a little over fifty years. However, as Leskov notes, he was a hero in the full sense of the word. This is a kind, simple-minded Russian hero.
Frequent changes of places, motive of escape
Despite his easy-going nature, Ivan Severyanovich does not stay anywhere for a long time. It may seem to the reader that the hero is fickle, frivolous, unfaithful both to himself and to others. Is this why Flyagin wanders around the world and cannot find refuge for himself? No, that's not true. The hero has repeatedly proven his loyalty and devotion. For example, he saved Count K.’s family from imminent death. In the same way, the hero Ivan Flyagin showed himself in his relations with Grusha and the prince. The frequent change of places and the motive for the escape of this hero are not explained by the fact that he is dissatisfied with life. On the contrary, he longs to drink it to the full. Ivan Severyanovich is so open to life that it seems to carry him, and the hero only follows its flow with wise humility. However, this should not be understood as a manifestation of passivity and mental weakness. This submission is an unconditional acceptance of fate. The image of Ivan Flyagin is characterized by the fact that the hero is often not aware of his own actions. He relies on intuition, on the wisdom of life, which he trusts in everything.
Invulnerability to death
It can be supplemented by the fact that the hero is honest and open to a higher power, and she rewards and protects him for this. Ivan is invulnerable to death, he is always ready for it. He somehow miraculously manages to save himself from death when he holds the horses on the edge of the abyss. Then the gypsy takes Ivan Flyagin out of the noose. Next, the hero wins a duel with the Tatar, after which he escapes from captivity. During the war, Ivan Severyanovich escapes bullets. He says about himself that he died all his life, but could not die. The hero explains this by his great sins. He believes that neither the water nor the earth want to accept him. On the conscience of Ivan Severyanovich is the death of the monk, the gypsy Grusha and the Tatar. The hero easily abandons his children born from Tatar wives. Ivan Severyanovich is also “tempted by demons.”
"Sins" by Ivan Severyanych
None of the “sinful” actions are the product of hatred, thirst for personal gain or lies. The monk died in an accident. Ivan pinned Savakirei to death in a fair fight. As for the story with Pear, the hero acted according to the dictates of his conscience. He understood that he was committing a crime, murder. Ivan Flyagin realized that the death of this girl was inevitable, so he decided to take the sin upon himself. At the same time, Ivan Severyanovich decides to beg God’s forgiveness in the future. Unhappy Pear tells him that he will still live and pray to God for both her and his soul. She herself asks to kill her so as not to commit suicide.
Naivety and cruelty
Ivan Flyagin has his own morals, his own religion, but in life this hero always remains honest both with himself and with other people. Talking about the events of his life, Ivan Severyanovich does not hide anything. The soul of this hero is open both to random fellow travelers and to God. Ivan Severyanovich is simple and naive as a baby, but during the fight against evil and injustice he can be very decisive and sometimes cruel. For example, he cuts off the tail of the master's cat, punishing her for torturing the bird. For this, Ivan Flyagin himself was severely punished. The hero wants to “die for the people,” and he decides to go to war instead of one young man with whom his parents cannot part.
Natural power of Flyagin
The hero's enormous natural strength is the reason for his actions. This energy prompts Ivan Flyagin to be reckless. The hero accidentally kills a monk who fell asleep on a cart of hay. This happens in excitement, while driving fast. In his youth, Ivan Severyanovich is not very burdened by this sin, but over the years the hero begins to feel that he will someday have to atone for it.
Despite this incident, we see that Flyagin’s speed, agility and heroic strength are not always a destructive force. While still just a child, this hero travels to Voronezh with the Count and Countess. During the trip, the cart almost falls into the abyss.
The boy saves the owners by stopping the horses, but he himself barely manages to avoid death after falling from a cliff.
The courage and patriotism of the hero
Ivan Flyagin also demonstrates courage during the duel with the Tatar. Once again, because of his reckless daring, the hero finds himself captured by the Tatars. Ivan Severyanovich yearns for his homeland while in captivity. Thus, the characteristics of Ivan Flyagin can be supplemented by his patriotism and love for his homeland.
The secret of Flyagin's optimism
Flyagin is a man endowed with remarkable physical and spiritual strength. This is exactly how Leskov portrays him. Ivan Flyagin is a man for whom nothing is impossible. The secret of his constant optimism, invulnerability and strength lies in the fact that the hero in any, even the most difficult situation, acts exactly as the situation requires. The life of Ivan Flyagin is also interesting because he is in harmony with those around him and is ready at any time to fight the hard times that come his way.
Traits of national character in the image of Flyagin
Leskov reveals to readers the qualities of the national by creating the image of Ivan Flyagin, the “enchanted hero.” This character cannot be called flawless. Rather, it is characterized by inconsistency. A hero can be both kind and merciless. In some situations he is primitive, in others he is cunning. Flyagin can be daring and poetic. Sometimes he does crazy things, but he also does good things to people. The image of Ivan Flyagin is the personification of the breadth of Russian nature, its immensity.
