Katerina Lvovna
Girl 24 years old. She is attractive in appearance, but is not considered a beauty. Short, slender, with dark hair and eyes. It has a special character that everyone remembers with trepidation. She becomes the wife of the merchant Izmailov, who is much older than her and higher in position. She marries not because she loves him, but most likely out of convenience. The author hints that she cannot choose someone else, since she is homeless.
She lives with her husband in her father-in-law's house, where she is bored. She does not diversify her leisure time with reading, since there is no library in the merchant’s house, and she herself does not want it. There are no children at the beginning of the story; in the 6th year of her marriage, a young clerk appears, to whom she pays attention. She submits to his persuasion, is obsessed with feelings for him and does everything he asks. Involved in the murder of three innocent people, including a child. She gives birth to a child, but refuses him, because she sees that he can interfere with her happiness with Sergei.
At the end of the story he commits suicide.
Quote
-Why are you so happy?
History of creation
The genre of the work is a story, although Leskov himself, at the time of writing it, defined it as an essay. In January 1865 it was first published in The Age magazine under the title "The Lady Macbeth of Our County." The final title of the story appeared only in 1867 after significant revision of the original version of the text.
Leskov planned to create a series of stories about the characters of Russian women. "Lady Macbeth..." opened it, and other stories were to follow.
However, the magazine “Epoch”, in which they were supposed to be published, soon closed, so they never saw the light of day.
Sergey
One of the main characters, serves as a clerk in Izmailov's merchant house. Outwardly pleasant and charming, he has black hair, a daring and beautiful face. Before starting work for Izmailov, he was caught having an affair with a neighboring merchant's wife. He quickly seduces Catherine, using flattering speeches and playing on her pride, vanity, and boredom. Sergei, unlike Catherine, is motivated only by selfish feelings. He plays with the feelings of a woman in love with him, gets everything he wants. On the way to his goal, he does not disdain anything, he is ready to kill even a little boy. Cold-blooded, through subtle manipulations he made not only himself a murderer, but also the woman who was in love with him.
He has no sense of honor; when he falls under investigation, he easily calls Catherine his accomplice, betrays her at the stage, mocks her and her feelings, rejects her and provokes her to commit suicide.
Quote
- Why, you’ve got three pounds in you, Katerina Ilvovna. I reason like this, you have to be carried in your arms all day long - and you won’t get tired, but you will only feel pleasure from it.
Summary
The author begins his story with the words: “Sometimes in our places such characters are created that, no matter how many years have passed since meeting them, one cannot remember them without trepidation...”
At the center of events is Katerina Lvovna Izmailova - a young merchant’s wife, who is 24 years old , not a beauty, but of a pleasant appearance.
She married her 50-year-old husband Zinovy Borisych not out of love, but because she was poor and did not have to choose suitors. A summary of “Lady Macbeth...” helps to learn the heroine’s life story.
Chapters one to five
Katerina Lvovna’s husband was often away, and she was bored at home, did not like to read books, so she wandered around the rooms. Her old father-in-law Boris Timofeich also lived in the house. The couple were childless. Katerina thought that if she had a child, she would have a more fun life in the world.
One day, the Izmailovs’ mill dam burst, which is why Zinovy Borisych left for a long time. Out of boredom, Katerina went out into the courtyard where the servants were having fun. She jokingly measured her strength with the handsome young clerk Sergei, who said that she should be carried in her arms. During a playful struggle, he hugged her. When she walked back to the house, the cook Aksinya told her how fickle Sergei was, but he was capable of driving any woman to sin. It was rumored that when he served other gentlemen, he had an affair with his mistress.
One fine evening, Katerina Lvovna was alone : her husband still had not returned, and her father-in-law had left for his name day. At this time, Sergei came to her under a plausible pretext. He easily charmed her with his speeches. In the end, she gave in under the pressure of his passionate confessions.
Since then, all week, while her husband was not at home, Katerina walked with Sergei . But one day his father-in-law saw him climbing out of the window of the hostess’s bedroom. He caught him, took him to the storeroom and gave him five hundred lashes, and then sent him to the mill for his son. Katerina begged the old man for a long time to let Sergei go, but he firmly decided to punish his daughter-in-law and send her lover to prison.
However, the next morning the father-in-law died in terrible agony. Katerina Lvovna poisoned him by adding poison to his mushrooms, which she herself used to poison rats in barns. Since Zinovy Borisych left to buy timber, the messenger was unable to deliver him news.
Old man Izmailov was buried. Katerina became bolder, put Sergei on the marital bed and treated him, not hiding her connection with him.
Sixth to tenth parts
During her midday nap, Katerina Lvovna dreamed of a strange large cat, which she tried to caress or drive away, but it passed through her fingers like fog. After that, she and Sergei relaxed in the garden, but he was not at all cheerful, jealous of her owner, who would soon return. Flattered by his jealousy and words that under different conditions he would have married her, the woman decided to sort things out with her husband.
Another time, Katerina again dreamed of a cat, but this time it had the head of her late father-in-law, which made her scream. Soon she heard Zinovy Borisych secretly sneak into the yard. She told Sergei to hide under the window and wait.
The husband already knew everything about the adventures of his unfaithful wife, so when he entered, he tried to convict her of treason, but his words only provoked her. She called Sergei over and kissed him in front of her husband, for which he slapped her in the face.
At the same moment, the woman rushed at Zinovy Borisych. The lovers threw him to the floor, Katerina hit him in the temple with a cast candlestick, and then they strangled him. They carried him to the cellar, carefully hid the corpse, and washed away the traces of blood.
After some time, everyone noticed the disappearance of the merchant Izmailov . They decided that he had sunk into thin air. Katerina Lvovna took over his affairs. It also became known that she was pregnant.
She hoped that she would now live in abundance and with her loved one at her side, but it suddenly turned out that most of Izmailov’s capital belonged to his little nephew Feda Lyamin. Soon an old woman came to them - the cousin of the deceased, as well as Fedya himself.
Sergei whispered to Katerina more than once that he did not want her to lose her capital and position because of the little heir. This thought stuck in her head. And then the boy played in the puddles and soon became seriously ill.
At first she looked after him with her grandmother, but one day, when the old woman went to church for an all-night vigil, the lovers decided to bring their terrible plan to life.
Finale of the work
Katerina and Sergei surrounded little Fedya and strangled him. At this time, the sinful house seemed to tremble all over from loud knocks and roars.
It turned out that people were walking past the house after the all-night vigil, they started talking about the merchant Izmailikha and about the rumors that were circulating about her, they were surprised that she was not in church today, and one person made his way into the courtyard of her house and noticed through the window that there was someone there. then they choke.
Sergei, frightened, confessed to the murders, and the body of the merchant Izmailov was also found. Katerina Lvovna initially denied it, but when she learned that her lover had confessed, she also did not deny anything. A sentence was passed: to be punished with whips in the city's market square and sent to hard labor.
In the prison hospital, Katerina gave birth and abandoned her child, who became the only heir to the Izmailovs’ fortune. He was given to be raised by an old woman who had previously babysat Fedya.
On the way to hard labor, Katerina gave away her few savings to the guards, just to see Sergei, but he was irritated by her caresses. The party of convicts they were in was soon joined by another one. There were two interesting women there: the soldier Fiona, simple and good-natured, and the blonde Sonetka, nimble but inaccessible.
One day Katerina found Sergei in the arms of Fiona . However, she was not the threat: he soon began to gain the attention of Sonetka. He pretended to be sick, and Katerina, feeling sorry for him, gave him her woolen stockings.
In the morning she saw that her stockings were showing off on Sonetka. She realized that Sergei had betrayed her again. He began to cruelly mock her, and when she slapped him in the face, he took revenge on her at night by sending prisoners to her, who slashed her back with whips. The next day, Sergei continued the mockery and openly kissed Sonetka. While crossing on the ferry, Katerina saw in the waves images of the people she had killed. Suddenly, having made up her mind, she grabbed Sonetka and rushed overboard the ferry with her. They both never surfaced.
Leskov “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” briefly
Summary of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for a reader's diary:
The young merchant Izmailova Katerina Lvovna is lonely and sad in a half-empty house, while her husband always spends time at work. She falls in love with the young and handsome clerk Sergei. Falling in love develops into love. The two secretly spend the night together, and now Katerina is ready to do anything for him.
On the way to her happiness, she and Sergei commit a series of murders: father-in-law, husband, nephew. The murders were proven in court and the lovers suffered their punishment at hard labor. Sergei's interest faded, because Catherine was no longer rich. Now he became interested in Sonetka. At the end of the essay, Catherine grabs Sergei’s new lover and drowns with her in the icy waters of the river.
Nikolai Leskov in his essay raises the topic of love. It is that love that has no boundaries, for the sake of which people can commit even the most horrific acts.
Characteristics of heroes
The work has two main characters. Their description and characteristics:
- Katerina Lvovna Izmailova is short, slender, with round shoulders and a strong chest, with black eyes and blue-black hair. She had an ardent character and a freedom-loving disposition: before marriage, living in poverty, she was accustomed to simplicity and freedom, and was not a timid person. Having fallen in love with Sergei, she was ready to do anything for his sake, including committing a crime.
- Sergei is a young clerk, a handsome tall fellow and a real seducer, capable of easily charming any woman with beautiful speeches. Fickle, and if at first the mistress seemed to him forbidden fruit, he gradually lost interest in her. A selfish, selfish and dishonest person.
There are not very many secondary characters. But each of them is important for the development of the plot:
- Zinovy Borisych is a wealthy merchant of over fifty years old, Katerina’s husband;
- Boris Timofeich - Katerina's father-in-law, a long-widowed 80-year-old man, strict and unyielding;
- Fedya Lyamin is a little boy, the merchant’s nephew and the only legal heir to the merchant’s fortune;
- Fiona is a soldier, a prisoner, a luxurious woman, tall, with a thick black braid and languid gaze, of a gentle and lazy disposition, reliable;
- Sonnetka is a 17-year-old “dark-faced” blonde with dimples on her cheeks and golden curls, capricious, tasteful, flirting, but not giving in to anyone.
The author of “Lady Macbeth...” adheres to a neutral position in the work: he does not condemn or approve of the actions of the heroes, setting out dry facts. The characters do not have real prototypes, but they are collective images.
