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Leskov). Analysis of the work “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (N. S. Leskov) Work of Leskov Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District

Leskov). Analysis of the work “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (N. S. Leskov) Work of Leskov Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District

This work. Speaking about the history of writing the story, we note that it is known from Leskov’s biography: the author himself was involved in criminal cases, and this suggests that the story of “Lady Macbeth” could well have been based on real events, because we are talking about crimes and concepts of morality. The work was written in 1864.

Genre, composition and main theme

Although this article has already noted that the work is a story, Nikolai Leskov himself defined the genre as an essay, since it contains elements of narrative real events and there is a backstory. Therefore, it would not be a mistake to call both an essay and a story a genre of work.

Since any classical work has certain problematics, analyzing “Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district", we also will not miss the mention of the problems raised by the author. And the main one is this moral problem, which the heroes of the work do not talk about, but this theme is clearly expressed if you follow the events and dialogues taking place. The analysis is provided to readers, because everyone can have their own understanding of morality, but there are certain standards, to deviate from which means to act immorally.

Another problem is the manifestation of love, or rather, consideration of what a passionate person is capable of. loving woman. What is the main theme of the work?

Of course, this is the theme of love. Intoxicated with feelings, but cold at the moment of committing the crime, Katerina shows by her example what she is ready for for the sake of her own happiness. Although we can't call her happy after everything she's done. That is why this is an essay - there is no assessment of the characters and characteristics of their personalities, but only terrible crimes are described, which can be assessed from the outside.

Basic images

Katerina. main character essay. She was not beautiful in appearance, but she was an attractive woman, charismatic. Single, living without children and husband. From the description of her life, we understand that she is not a potential criminal. And she is ready to enter into a relationship with the first person she meets who pays attention to her.
Sergey. A clerk who did not love Katerina, but played with her and her feelings.
The father-in-law who mocked Sergei. He was later killed by Katerina.
Fedya Lyamin. Son of a murdered husband a little boy. It was his murder that gave the heroine the idea that it was difficult for her to stop killing.

Important details of the analysis of "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk"

Of course, Lady Macbeth is a morally difficult work about the consequences of love for an eternally lonely woman. Each murder is described in detail. Love was not a rush of feelings in the life of the main character; she was withdrawn and boring, spent all her time at home and was idle. Katerina Lvovna understood that love is a certain characteristic of a person that everyone, including her, should have. But then she did not realize what such reasoning would lead her to.

Sergei, being her accomplice, hiding his father-in-law’s body together, committed crimes for the sake of profit. But Katerina was obsessed, she was unstoppable. After this murder, she felt like the mistress of the house, she gave orders to everyone, but at the same time Sergei was always with her. For the sake of him and their love, she was ready to do anything. Which she confirms by following his lead and not daring to say a word against him.

When Fedya arrived at their house, Sergei became the initiator of the murder. He convinced the woman that the boy was an obstacle to their family happiness. In his opinion, the boy will destroy their union. The image of Fedya is one of the most significant in the essay “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” which we are analyzing. Together with the boy, Catherine’s soul dies. She decides to brutally kill, even while pregnant.

Committing murder after murder, changes are noticeable in Sergei’s portrait, such as trembling lips, tremor of the chin and others, but Katerina remains completely soulless. But in the denouement of the essay, Katerina herself becomes a victim, and you even feel sorry for her. She no longer loves anyone, including herself.

The work caused a storm of condemnation and indignation. It didn't fit literary criteria and the political mood of the time. The image of Katerina was not recognized as a typical Russian female image.

In this article we presented to you brief analysis the story "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk", you will find more information on the topic by visiting our literary

Plot

The main character is a young merchant's wife, Katerina Lvovna Izmailova. Her husband is constantly at work and away. She is bored and lonely within the four walls of a big, rich house. The husband is barren, but together with his father he reproaches his wife. Katerina falls in love with a handsome young clerk, Sergei, gradually her infatuation turns into passion, the lovers spend the night together. She is ready to do anything for the sake of her sinful, criminal love, for the sake of her lover. And a series of murders begins: first, Katerina Lvovna poisons her father-in-law to save Sergei, whom his father-in-law locked in the cellar, then, together with Sergei, she kills her husband, and then smothers her young nephew Fedya with a pillow, who could challenge her rights to the inheritance. However, at this moment a crowd of idle men bursts in from the yard, one of whom looked out the window and saw the scene of the murder. The autopsy proves that Fedya died of suffocation; Sergei confesses everything after the priest’s words about the Last Judgment. Investigators find the corpse of Zinovy Borisovich buried in the basement. Murderers are brought to justice and, after being flogged, go to hard labor. Sergei instantly loses interest in Katerina as soon as she ceases to be a rich merchant. He is infatuated with another prisoner, cares for her in front of Katerina and laughs at her love. In the finale, Katerina grabs her rival Sonetka and drowns with her in the cold waters of the river.

Summary of the story “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”

Katerina Lvovna, “a very pleasant woman in appearance,” lives in the prosperous house of the merchant Izmailov with her widowed father-in-law Boris Timofeevich and her middle-aged husband Zinovy Borisovich. Katerina Lvovna has no children, and “with all the contentment,” her life “with an unkind husband” is the most boring. In the sixth year of marriage

Zinovy Borisovich leaves for the mill dam, leaving Katerina Lvovna “alone.” In the courtyard of her house, she competes with the daring worker Sergei, and from the cook Aksinya learns that this fellow has been serving with the Izmailovs for a month, and was expelled from his previous house for “love” with the mistress. In the evening, Sergei comes to Katerina Lvovna, complains of boredom, says that he loves her, and stays until the morning. But one night Boris Timofeevich notices Sergei’s red shirt coming down from his daughter-in-law’s window. The father-in-law threatens that he will tell Katerina Lvovna’s husband everything and send Sergei to prison. That same night, Katerina Lvovna poisons her father-in-law with white powder, reserved for rats, and continues the “aligoria” with Sergei.

Meanwhile, Sergei becomes dry with Katerina Lvovna, is jealous of her husband and talks about his insignificant condition, admitting that he would like to be her husband “before the saint, before the eternal temple.” In response, Katerina Lvovna promises to make him a merchant. Zinovy Borisovich returns home and accuses Katerina Lvovna of being “cupids.” Katerina Lvovna takes Sergei out and boldly kisses him in front of her husband. The lovers kill Zinovy Borisovich, and the corpse is buried in the cellar. Zinovy Borisovich is being searched for in vain, and Katerina Lvovna is “living on her own with Sergei, as a widow in freedom.”

Soon Zinovy Borisovich’s young nephew Fyodor Lyapin, whose money was in circulation with the late merchant, comes to live with Izmailova. Encouraged by Sergei, Katerina Lvovna plans to kill the God-fearing boy. On the night of the All-Night Vigil on the feast of the Entry, the boy remains in the house alone with his lovers and reads the Life of St. Theodore Stratilates. Sergei grabs Fedya, and Katerina Lvovna smothers him with a down pillow. But as soon as the boy dies, the house begins to shake from the blows, Sergei panics, sees the late Zinovy Borisovich, and only Katerina Lvovna understands that it is the people who are bursting in with a roar, having seen through the crack what is happening in the “sinful house”.

Sergei is taken to the unit, and at the first words of the priest about the Last Judgment, he confesses to the murder of Zinovy Borisovich and calls Katerina Lvovna an accomplice. Katerina Lvovna denies everything, but when confronted, she admits that she killed “for Sergei.” Murderers are punished with lashes and sentenced to hard labor. Sergei arouses sympathy, but Katerina Lvovna behaves stoically and even refuses to look at the born child. He, the only heir of the merchant, is sent to be raised. Katerina Lvovna thinks only about how to quickly get to the stage and see Sergei. But at this stage Sergei is unkind and secret meetings do not please him. Near Nizhny Novgorod, the prisoners are joined by the Moscow party, with whom come the free-spirited soldier Fiona and the seventeen-year-old Sonetka, about whom they say: “it curls around your hands, but doesn’t let you into your hands.”

Zinovy Borisovich leaves for the mill dam, leaving Katerina Lvovna “alone.” In the courtyard of her house, she competes with the daring worker Sergei, and from the cook Aksinya learns that this fellow has been serving with the Izmailovs for a month, and was expelled from his previous house for “love” with the mistress. In the evening, Sergei comes to Katerina Lvovna, complains of boredom, says that he loves her, and stays until the morning. But one night Boris Timofeevich notices Sergei’s red shirt coming down from his daughter-in-law’s window. The father-in-law threatens that he will tell Katerina Lvovna’s husband everything and send Sergei to prison. That same night, Katerina Lvovna poisons her father-in-law with white powder saved for rats and continues the “aligoria” with Sergei.

Soon Zinovy Borisovich’s young nephew Fyodor Lyapin, whose money was in circulation with the late merchant, comes to live with Izmailova. Encouraged by Sergei, Katerina Lvovna plans to kill the God-fearing boy. On the night of the All-Night Vigil on the Feast of the Entry, the boy remains in the house alone with his lovers and reads the Life of St. Theodore Stratilates. Sergei grabs Fedya, and Katerina Lvovna smothers him with a down pillow. But as soon as the boy dies, the house begins to shake from the blows, Sergei panics, sees the late Zinovy Borisovich, and only Katerina Lvovna understands that it is the people who are bursting in with a roar, having seen through the crack what is happening in the “sinful house”.

Sergei is taken to the unit, and at the first words of the priest about the Last Judgment, he confesses to the murder of Zinovy Borisovich and calls Katerina Lvovna an accomplice. Katerina Lvovna denies everything, but when confronted, she admits that she killed “for Sergei.” Murderers are punished with lashes and sentenced to hard labor. Sergei arouses sympathy, but Katerina Lvovna behaves stoically and even refuses to look at the born child. He, the only heir of the merchant, is sent to be raised. Katerina Lvovna thinks only about how to quickly get to the stage and see Sergei. But at this stage Sergei is unkind and secret meetings do not please him. Near Nizhny Novgorod, the prisoners are joined by the Moscow party, with which come the free-spirited soldier Fiona and seventeen-year-old Sonetka, about whom they say: “it curls around your hands, but is not given into your hands.”

Katerina Lvovna arranges another date with her lover, but finds the reliable Fiona in his arms and quarrels with Sergei. Having never made peace with Katerina Lvovna, Sergei begins to get “chepur” and flirt with Sonetka, who seems to “become tame.” Katerina Lvovna decides to leave her pride and make peace with Sergei, and during the date, Sergei complains of pain in his legs, and Katerina Lvovna gives him thick woolen stockings. The next day she notices these stockings on Sonetka and spits in Sergei’s eyes. At night, Sergei and his friend beat Katerina Lvovna while Sonetka giggles. Katerina Lvovna cries out grief on Fiona’s chest, the whole party, led by Sergei, mocks her, but Katerina Lvovna behaves with “wooden calm.” And when the party is transported by ferry to the other side of the river, Katerina Lvovna grabs Sonetka by the legs, throws herself overboard with her, and both drown.

We present to your attention summary“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” - an essay by N. Leskov, first published in 1864. At the beginning of the story, the author notes that sometimes you can meet such a character that even after a while you cannot remember without emotional excitement. These include the heroine of the work, who was given such a nickname after the tragic events that happened to her.

main character

Katerina Lvovna, the wife of the merchant Izmailov, was a pleasant woman of twenty-three years old. She was married to fifty-year-old but wealthy Zinovy Borisovich due to poverty. The old father-in-law, Boris Timofeevich, also lived in the new family. The husband was already married, but had no children - they had lived with Katerina Lvovna for five years.

The Izmailovs ran a mill, and the head of the family was rarely at home. His wife suffered from loneliness. She didn’t like to go out on a visit, since she was brought up in a simple family and was used to freedom, but here everyone watched her behavior. Reproaches for childlessness were also depressing. The future “Lady Macbeth” Leskova lived so sadly.

IN summary It should also be said that the father-in-law and husband got up early, drank tea and went about their business. And Katerina Lvovna wandered around the house and yawned. Even if he falls asleep for an hour, then after that he feels the same boredom that makes him want to hang himself. This continued until the dam broke. There was a lot of work at the mill, and Zinovy Borisovich did not appear at home for a long time. The wife was bored at first, but soon felt freer - she never loved her husband and did not feel affection for him. From that time on, changes began in the heroine's fate.

Acquaintance and love affair with the clerk: summary

“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” continues with a description of the meeting with Sergei. One day the owner decided to go out into the yard, where she heard laughter. It turned out that they had decided to weigh the cook Aksinya. The handsome young man cheerfully entered into the conversation. And then he fulfilled the hostess’s desire to find out her weight, saying: “Three pounds.” And he added that you can carry it in your arms all day and not get tired. The woman felt amusement and decided to continue the conversation, which ended with Sergei hugging her. The blushing mistress came out of the barn and asked Aksinya how long this fellow had been serving with them. It turned out that Sergei was driven away former owner for communication with his wife.

And one evening - the husband still did not return - the clerk knocked on Katerina Lvovna’s door. First he asked for a book, then he began to complain about boredom. Finally, he grew bolder and hugged the frightened hostess. From then on, Sergei spent all his nights in Katerina Lvovna’s bedroom.

First crime: summary

Leskov wrote “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” based on real events: the daughter-in-law poured boiling sealing wax into the old man’s ear, causing him to die.

Katerina Lvovna did not have to hide from her father-in-law for long. A week later, Boris Timofeevich saw through the window how someone was going down the pipe from his daughter-in-law’s window. Jumping out, he grabbed the clerk by the legs, whipped him thoroughly and locked him in the storeroom. Having learned about this, the daughter-in-law began to ask the old man to let Sergei go. However, after hearing the threats, she made a decision. By the morning, Boris Timofeevich was gone: the day before he had eaten mushrooms prepared by the hostess and was poisoned. And his death was the same as that of poisoned rats. The story with mushrooms was common, so the old man was buried without waiting for his son - he left the mill somewhere on business. The young mistress and her lover began to live peacefully again.

The path to happiness

One crime often leads to another. A brief summary of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” will tell you about this.

The next victim was Zinovy Borisovich. Having heard about his wife’s fornication (Katerina Lvovna did not hide her relationship with the clerk), he arrived at night, unnoticed by anyone. The young woman, who could no longer imagine life without her lover, made a second desperate decision. The owner was pushed towards him by Sergei, who repeated more than once that if he were a merchant, their relationship would become equal. On the night of his return, the deceived husband was brutally killed by his lovers and buried in a cellar.

Traces of blood in the house were washed away. The coachman who gave Zinovy Borisovich a ride that evening said that he took the merchant to the bridge - then he wanted to walk. As a result, they announced mysterious disappearance Izmailov, and his widow achieved the right to manage the property and was expecting a child.

Summary of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is a story about another crime. A few months later they learned that Izmailov had another heir - a minor nephew. And soon Boris Timofeevich’s cousin brought Fedya to a relative’s house. And again Sergei began to repeat that it was now necessary to divide the inheritance, and the decrease in capital would affect their happiness. And Katerina Lvovna, who was soon to become a mother herself, decided to commit another murder. But it was not possible to hide it.

The parishioners who had gathered for Vespers in the Izmailovskaya Church started talking about the hostess and her lover. The most curious saw a narrow crack in the window of the room where the sick boy lay, and decided to spy on what was happening there. This happened at the very moment when Sergei was holding Fedya, and Katerina Lvovna covered his face with a pillow. The whole neighborhood came running to the screams. And soon the clerk told about the murder of the merchant, who was immediately taken out of the cellar.

On the way to Siberia

The summary of the book “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” ends with a description of the last weeks of the heroine’s life. She left the born child as an heir to her husband's relative. She herself, along with Sergei, was flogged and sentenced to hard labor. But the woman was pleased by the very fact that her lover was in the same party as her. She gave small jewelry and money taken from the house to the guards and received short visits, although she began to notice that Sergei had lost interest in her. New acquaintances put an end to the relationship.

IN Nizhny Novgorod They were joined by a party from Moscow, which included man-hungry Fiona and young Sonetka. From the first, Katerina Lvovna caught Sergei during one of his dates. But the clerk began a serious relationship with Sonetka. It soon got to the point that Sergei began to openly mock Izmailova and declared that he had never loved her. And now that Katerina Lvovna is no longer a merchant’s wife, he doesn’t need her at all.

When the party was loaded onto the ferry, the heroine, distraught with grief and humiliation, grabbed her rival, who was standing next to her and laughing at her, by the leg and fell overboard. It was not possible to save the women: Katerina Lvovna did not give Sonetka the opportunity to swim to the hook lowered into the water and drowned along with her.

Nikolay Leskov

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

“When I started to sing the first song.”

Proverb

Chapter first

Sometimes in our places such characters are created that no matter how many years have passed since meeting them, you will never remember some of them without trembling. Among such characters is the merchant’s wife Katerina Lvovna Izmailova, who played out a once terrible drama, after which our nobles, from someone light words, they began to call her Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk district.

Katerina Lvovna was not born a beauty, but she was a very pleasant woman in appearance. She was only twenty-four years old; She was not tall, but slender, with a neck as if carved from marble, round shoulders, a strong chest, a straight, thin nose, black, lively eyes, a high white forehead and black, almost blue-black hair. They gave her in marriage to our merchant Izmailov from Tuskari from the Kursk province, not out of love or any attraction, but because Izmailov wooed her, and she was a poor girl, and she did not have to go through suitors. The Izmailovs’ house was not the last in our city: they traded in grain, kept a large rented mill in the district, had a profitable garden near the city and a good house in the city. In general, the merchants were wealthy. Moreover, their family was very small: father-in-law Boris Timofeich Izmailov, a man already about eighty years old, long widowed; his son Zinovy Borisych, Katerina Lvovna’s husband, also a man of over fifty years old, and Katerina Lvovna herself, and that’s all. Katerina Lvovna had no children for five years since she married Zinovy Borisych. Zinovy Borisych had no children from his first wife, with whom he lived for twenty years before he became a widower and married Katerina Lvovna. He thought and hoped that God would give him, at least from his second marriage, an heir to the merchant's name and capital; but again he was not lucky in this and with Katerina Lvovna.

This childlessness upset Zinovy Borisych a lot, and not just Zinovy Borisych alone, but also old Boris Timofeich, and even Katerina Lvovna herself was very sad about it. Once, excessive boredom in a locked merchant's mansion with a high fence and chained dogs more than once brought melancholy to the young merchant's wife, reaching the point of stupor, and she would be glad, God knows how glad she would be, to babysit the baby; and another - and she was tired of the reproaches: “Why did you go and why did you get married; Why did she tie a man’s fate, you fool,” as if she really had committed some kind of crime before her husband, and before her father-in-law, and before all their honest merchant family.

Despite all the contentment and goodness, Katerina Lvovna’s life in her father-in-law’s house was most boring. She didn’t go on many visits, and even if she went with her husband to join her merchant class, it wouldn’t be a joy either. The people are all strict: they watch how she sits down, how she walks, how she gets up; and Katerina Lvovna had an ardent character, and, living as a girl in poverty, she got used to simplicity and freedom: she would run with buckets to the river and swim in her shirt under the pier or sprinkle sunflower husks through the gate of a passing young man; but here everything is different. The father-in-law and her husband will get up early, drink tea at six o’clock in the morning, and go about their business, and she alone wanders from room to room. Everywhere is clean, everywhere is quiet and empty, lamps shine in front of the images, and nowhere in the house is there a living sound or human voice.

Katerina Lvovna walks and walks through the empty rooms, begins to yawn with boredom and climbs up the stairs to her marital bedchamber, built on a high small mezzanine. She’ll sit here, too, and watch how they hang hemp or grains in the barns and pour them in, and she’ll yawn again, and she’ll be happy: she’ll take a nap for an hour or two, and wake up—again the same Russian boredom, the boredom of a merchant’s house, which makes it fun, they say, even hang myself. Katerina Lvovna was not a keen reader, and besides the Kyiv patericon, there were no books in the house.

Katerina Lvovna lived a boring life in her rich father-in-law’s house for five whole years of her life with her unkind husband; but no one, as usual, paid the slightest attention to her boredom.

Chapter two

In the sixth spring of Katerina Lvovnina’s marriage, the Izmailovs’ mill dam burst. At that time, as if on purpose, a lot of work was brought to the mill, but a huge hole was created: the water went under the lower bed of the idle cover, and there was no way to grab it with a quick hand. Zinovy Borisych drove the people from the whole neighborhood to the mill and sat there incessantly; The city affairs were already managed by one old man, and Katerina Lvovna toiled at home all day long, alone. At first she was even more bored without her husband, but now it seemed even better: she became freer alone. Her heart had never been particularly fond of him, and without him there was at least one less commander over her.

One day Katerina Lvovna was sitting on her lookout under her window, yawning and yawning, not thinking about anything in particular, and she finally felt ashamed of yawning. And the weather outside is so wonderful: warm, light, cheerful, and through the green wooden lattice of the garden you can see different birds flitting through the trees from branch to branch.

“Why am I really gaping? – thought Katerina Lvovna. “Well, at least I’ll get up and walk around the yard or go into the garden.”

Katerina Lvovna threw on an old damask coat and went out.

It’s so bright and breathing in the yard, and there’s such cheerful laughter in the gallery near the barns.

-Why are you so happy? – Katerina Lvovna asked her mother-in-law’s clerks.

“But, Mother Katerina Ilvovna, they hanged a live pig,” the old clerk answered her.

- Which pig?

“But the pig Aksinya, who gave birth to a son, Vasily, did not invite us to the christening,” said the young man with a daring, handsome face, framed by jet-black curls and a barely visible beard, boldly and cheerfully.

At that moment the fat face of the rosy-cheeked cook Aksinya peeked out from the flour tub suspended from the weight yoke.

“Devils, smooth devils,” the cook cursed, trying to grab the iron rocker and crawl out of the swinging tub.

“It takes eight pounds until lunch, and if the fir eats the hay, there won’t be enough weights,” the handsome fellow explained again and, turning the tub, he threw the cook onto a pile piled in the corner.

Baba, cursing playfully, began to recover.

- Well, how much will I have? - Katerina Lvovna joked and, holding the ropes, stood on the board.

“Three pounds, seven pounds,” answered the same handsome fellow Sergei, throwing the weights onto the weighing bench. - Wonderful!

- Why are you marveling?

- 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 it as a pleasure for yourself.

- Well, I’m not a person, or what? “You’ll probably get tired too,” answered Katerina Lvovna, slightly blushing, unaccustomed to such speeches, feeling a sudden surge of desire to babble and utter cheerful and playful words.

- Oh my God! “I would bring the happy one to Arabia,” Sergei answered her to her remark.

“That’s not how you’re reasoning, good fellow,” said the peasant who was pouring out. -What is this heaviness in us? Does our body pull? Our body, dear man, means nothing when weighed down: our strength, the strength that pulls, is not the body!

“Yes, I had a strong passion for girls,” said Katerina Lvovna, again unable to resist. “Not even every man has overcome me.”

“Well, sir, allow me a pen, if this is true,” asked the handsome young man.

Katerina Lvovna was embarrassed, but extended her hand.

- Oh, let go of the ring: it hurts! - Katerina Lvovna screamed when Sergei squeezed her hand in his hand and pushed him in the chest with her free hand.

The young man let go of his owner’s hand and, at her push, flew two steps to the side.