- Essays
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- Kuprin
- The theme of love in Kuprin's works
A. I. Kuprin burst into Russian prose of the early twentieth century in the most striking way. His work is attractive primarily because of its multifaceted depth and interest in the human essence. This literary figure can be called the ultimate democrat. He is interested in people who would never interest a person who is not deep, indifferent to the world around him. He treats them with warmth. In Kuprin's works, a series of very different heroes unfolds before the reader - these are wandering actors, musicians, military men, sailors, fishermen, officials and literary figures. The writer analyzes their inner worlds and creates incredibly clear and vivid images. Often his characters have the opportunity to reveal themselves in the area in which people most often show themselves - this is the area of love feelings.
Love in the work of this author is absolutely not a meaningless, black passion, but a bright feeling, which in many of the author’s works is the center of the Universe for the heroes. For example, the story “The Duel” reflects the existence and life of Russian officers at the beginning of the twentieth century. The reader, on the same level as the author, studies the spiritual world of Lieutenant Romashov, who is the main character of the work. He lives in a provincial military town. The hero's life is boring, monotonous and devoid of interest in the spiritual. The everyday life of officers is occupied by the fact that they are constantly preparing for a military review, undergoing rigorous drills during the day, and in the evening they drink, play cards and have vulgar affairs with married ladies. The main character is remarkable among the rest of his ability to have a real true feeling. His feelings for Shurochka are true love. It is thanks to her that the strengths of the main character can appear. But this love turns out to be unhappy. Shurochka turned out to be a cruel and calculating woman who married for convenience and sent a man who was ready to sacrifice himself for her to certain death. Romashov dies, and for his wife this means the opening of all paths. For the murdered lover, this mere physical death is for the good of love.
But in another work by Kuprin, called “Garnet Bracelet,” the heroes are faced with the fact that they cannot love each other because of the class difference. The author expresses sympathy for his heroes. The main characters are Vera Nikolaevna Sheynaya - a rich socialite and a petty official named Zheltkov, who is madly in love with this woman. Now for the hero, the desire for a beautiful lady is the meaning of his life. He desperately wants to be with her, but he, too, is destined to die, like Romashov. It’s a pity that the men in the circle in which Vera is found cannot love as much as Zheltkov. The hero does not find a place for himself in this world.
But in the work “Olesya” the cruel world kills genuine and sincere feelings.
Kuprin was able to adequately and vividly reveal the theme of love. His wonderful works are proof of this.
Other works: ← Garnet bracelet - Heroes of the story ↑ Kuprin Review of Olesya’s work →
Essay: The talent of love in the works of A.I. Kuprina
(511 words) Love is one of the greatest feelings, which has been sung by writers of all eras. Regardless of whether love brings true happiness to a person, whether it is mutual or unrequited, it fills his life with meaning. The art of love is not given to everyone. Alexander Kuprin eloquently writes about this in his works “Olesya” and “Garnet Bracelet”.
Kuprin introduces us to the heroes of the story “Olesya”, gradually revealing their characters. And it turns out that a simple uneducated girl from a remote village is more capable of sublime love than her lover, the nobleman Ivan Timofeevich. Olesya charmed the master with her beauty and unusual thinking, her own judgments about life. Ivan Timofeevich attracted her, first of all, with his kindness and intelligence. However, in love, both of these characters manifest themselves differently. Olesya is a child of nature, she is lively and spontaneous, natural in her feelings. It is she who turns out to be ready for sincere and sacrificial love. Not wanting to spoil the life of an educated master, she offers to go with him just like that, out of love, and not as a bride. Olesya's love is all-consuming, passionate and not afraid of obstacles.
Ivan Timofeevich is not capable of such an exciting feeling: he is colder, Kuprin even calls his heart “lazy.” Ivan Timofeevich is constrained by social prejudices; he cannot imagine Olesya as a worthy wife, comparing her with the educated wives of his colleagues. Undoubtedly, Ivan is a kind person, even capable of selfless acts (he appeases the police officer who threatened Manuilikha and Olesya with eviction). But he is weak, and therefore allows tragedy to happen, without even making an attempt to find Olesya. He easily gives up his love, content with only the memory. And only bright red beads remind him of the generous love of a commoner.
Kuprin also talks about sacrificial love in the story “Garnet Bracelet”. Here a strong feeling is inherent in a man - a little man, telegraph operator Georgy Zheltkov, who is in love with the noblewoman Vera Sheina. George perceives his love as a gift from God, not resisting it at all, but feeling grateful for the very ability to love, albeit unrequitedly.
The author paints the image of Vera Nikolaevna with cold colors, noting her pride and independence, the English aristocracy inherited from her mother, the impassivity of her heart. Not having the talent to love a man, Vera is still able to appreciate the feeling of the petty official Zheltkov who is in love with her. Anonymous messages from a secret admirer received a response from Vera only once. But Zheltkov continued to write letters to her and thanked fate for meeting her. One day, as a sign of devoted love, he gives her the most precious thing he had - a garnet bracelet that once belonged to his mother. After a visit from Vera’s husband and brother, but mainly because of her request to end “this story,” the young man decided to die, believing that there was nothing holding him in this world anymore, he was only annoying his beloved. Even in his suicide letter, he does not reproach Vera for anything, he places her on a pedestal, exclaiming: “Hallowed be thy name!”
Zheltkov was a simple, modest person, but in his heart there was a huge talent for love, which, unfortunately, was inaccessible to the heroine of the story, Vera Nikolaevna. Only after the death of George, Vera was able to truly appreciate the strength of his feelings and realize that the great love that everyone dreams of passed her by. All that was left for her to remember was a garnet bracelet and the memory of a devoted admirer.
Kuprin's stories can be called a hymn to love, real love, the kind that happens “once every thousand years.” For the sake of such love you can do anything, for the sake of it it is worth living.
Author: Ella Stern
Essay on the topic “The theme of love in Kuprin’s prose”
The writer, who tries to adhere to true realism in his stories and novels and describe the real life and real emotions of ordinary people, managed to convey the full power of love in such a way as to make any of the readers think about a similar feeling.
Heroes in love in Kuprin's prose works are always absolutely selfless, ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of a person truly dear to them. For many of Alexander Ivanovich’s characters, it is love that becomes the tragedy of their entire existence, which happens, in particular, in the story “Olesya”.
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The main character of this story, a young and pure girl, believes that “you can’t run away from fate,” no matter how strong a person’s feelings and his desire to connect his path with the path of the one he happened to love. Ivan Timofeevich, who fell in love with Olesya, even before meeting her, had heard a lot from residents of a remote, remote region about a certain grandmother who mastered the art of witchcraft and lived with her granddaughter in the forest. One day a man happens to get lost in the thicket, and after long wanderings he discovers the hut of a sorceress, as a result of which he meets Olesya.
A simple girl, devoid of any education and secular manners, makes a completely unexpected impression on Ivan Timofeevich. She does not hide anything from her interlocutor, being unconditionally sincere, moreover, Olesya is able to predict future events to a certain extent.
A heartfelt feeling and mutual attraction arises in the hearts of both, however, both the representative of the stronger sex and the young woman feel how much everything around is opposed to them being together. Olesya foresees an inevitable separation, but continues to love recklessly, albeit without any hope for a happy future. The girl is unable to give up her pure feeling, the first in her life, she remains above the limited crowd surrounding her and its pseudo-moral concepts.
Olesya decides to come to the temple, believing that she has every right to offer a prayer to the Lord with all her heart, but for her everything ends very sadly. Ruthless villagers brutally beat the witch's granddaughter, believing that she, too, is engaged in illegal, “demonic” activities and should not be in the church. Olesya, unable to contain her strong resentment and anger, promises those around her that they will “remember this” and “cry their fill.” It was at this moment that a major hailstorm began, and the peasants had no doubt that this disaster was sent to them by Olesya’s grandmother and the girl herself.
An elderly woman and her granddaughter are forced to flee away from the fury of an uncontrollable crowd. Ivan Timofeevich does not even have time to say goodbye to his beloved. From now on, the man will have to live with constant longing for Olesya and with a feeling of guilt due to the fact that he was unable to show his love for her completely, to protect her from ignorant and evil people, because otherwise, as it seems to him, he and his beloved could spend many wonderful years together.
The same theme, dedicated to unhappy, unrequited, but surprisingly bright love, can be seen in Kuprin’s famous story “The Garnet Bracelet”. The main character of this work is a certain Zheltkov, a minor official, an unremarkable person who fell in love with a society lady Vera Sheina. From year to year, he does not stop writing her tender letters, imbued with the deepest feeling, although he understands that he cannot hope for anything.
Moreover, Zheltkov’s passion turns into an object of constant ridicule and bullying by the entire family of his beloved. The garnet bracelet that he sends as a gift to his beloved causes a sharply negative reaction from both Vera’s husband and her brother. Only General Anosov notices to Sheina that, perhaps, on her life’s path there arose “exactly the kind of love” that any representative of the fair sex dreams of, but which men have long been “not capable of.” Zheltkov is unable to stop loving Vera, realizing the futility of this feeling; all-consuming love ultimately simply destroys him.
In the finale, the suffering of a man in love forces even Sheina’s husband to feel respect for him, and the princess herself, apparently, realizes that true, bright, great love has passed her by. The phrase in the official’s letter that “Your name” must be “hallowed” in the future emphasizes the tragedy of his feeling, which was the meaning of his existence.
Despite the sad ending of this work, when reading it, it becomes clear how much higher, purer and more worthy in all respects true love can make any, even the most ordinary person. In many of his works, Kuprin convincingly shows how such a feeling changes people, forcing them to completely sacrifice themselves and their own interests for the sake of the one they loved selflessly, and readers involuntarily become imbued with the greatness of love and at the same time the enormous mental pain that it certainly brings to the characters of this author.
