Interests of Agafya Pshenitsyna. Agafya Pshenitsyna. Agafya is not very smart

Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, nee Mukhoyarova, is a character in Ivan Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov”. The wife of the main character - Ilya Ilyich Oblomov - and the mother of his little son Andryusha.

The woman was the sister of the official-schemer Ivan Mukhoyarov. Before her marriage to Oblomov, Agafya was the widow of another official, which is why she bore the surname Pshenitsyn at the time of her meeting with Oblomov.

Characteristics of the heroine

Agafya Matveevna was hardworking and constantly tried to please her lover, and then her husband. She liked to repeat that “there is always work.” She did not allow herself to relax: “And it used to be that everything was boiling in her hands! From morning to evening she flies like that!”

The heroine sought to create comfort in the house and protect her loved one from unnecessary efforts. And first, my acquaintance and then my husband, Ilya Ilyich, appreciated Pshenitsyna’s hard work: “You are a wonderful housewife!”

However, Agafya was not distinguished by erudition and high intelligence. She barely knew how to read and write: “She only found it difficult because she had to write a lot... she signed crookedly, askew and large...” This can be explained by the fact that the woman did not like to read. Let us remember her negative answer to the question: “Are you reading anything?” In addition, she practically never went to the theater and was not interested in culture.

(Ilya Oblomov meets his future wife Agafya Matveevna)

The simplicity and ingenuousness of this woman is emphasized even by her surname from her first marriage - Pshenitsyna. Ilya Oblomov’s wife was trusting. She could sign a letter, completely “not suspecting what it is and why she is signing.”

Despite this, the lady tried to engage in a unique business - selling chickens. Apparently, enterprise still united her with her brother. Although Pshenitsyna, unlike him, worked honestly and got up early in the morning: “she goes to bed and no gun will wake her up before six o’clock.”

Like her second husband, Agafya Matveevna was a homebody and did not like moving. “We were born here, we lived here for a century, we must die here...” she used to say about her estate. Ilya Ilyich previously treated his native Oblomovka in approximately the same way. He could hardly force himself to go even to meet his friend Andrei Stolts.

Moreover, the author noted that it was Oblomov who truly fell in love with Pshenitsyna for the first time. Apparently, she did not experience such feelings for her late first husband and father of her two eldest children: “Without loving, she lived to be thirty years old, and then suddenly it seemed to come over her.”

The image of the heroine in the work

Agafya Matfeevna is a thirty-year-old impoverished aristocrat. I. A. Goncharov describes the heroine as follows: “She was very white and plump in face. She had almost no eyebrows at all... Her eyes were grayish-simple, like her whole facial expression; her hands were white, but hard, with large knots protruding outward blue veins."

Tough, worn-out hands emphasize the character’s love of work. Being plump means that the lady did not care about appearance. A simple Russian woman appeared before us. It was precisely this, caring and economical, not too smart, that attracted Oblomov.

(Agafya Petrovna, Ilya Oblomov and son Andrei, named after Andrei Stolts in the novel)

The image of Agafya Matveevna, it would seem, is absolutely positive. A caring wife, an affectionate mother, an excellent housewife and simply a kind and hardworking woman. However, the writer still emphasizes: her love turned out to be destructive for Ilya Oblomov. To avoid a second stroke (apoplexy), Pshenitsyna’s husband needed to move, get up from his favorite sofa. However, his wife did not allow him to make any efforts. She cared about the absolute comfort of her beloved man. And this was precisely what became the tragic mistake of a loving wife. The apoplexy struck again, and Ilya Ilyich still died.

However, the author still gives hope that Pshenitsyna realized her mistake. After all, it was not without reason that she gave her son to be raised by Ilyinskaya and Stolz. The mother wanted the child to see the example of other people and a different life. She wished that Andryusha, unlike his late father, would learn to leave his comfort zone and go towards his dream.

After all, Oblomov lost his once beloved Olga Ilyinskaya precisely because of his own laziness. And Ilya Ilyich himself realized this. Perhaps this is why his little son Andrei was the namesake of his active friend Stolz... Therefore, Pshenitsyna, entrusting the child to the friends of her late husband, did the right thing. She knew that he would approve of her decision...

Grade 10

Lessons No. 29.

Subject. Oblomov and Agafya Pshenitsyna. Problems of the novel "Oblomov".

Target :

• help students reveal the image of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna; find out how Agafya Matveevna’s love differs from Olga’s love;
• develop students’ speech and literary analysis skills;
• instill an interest in studying literature and history of their country, form cultural and aesthetic qualities of the individual.

Equipment: multimedia presentation.

DURING THE CLASSES.

I. Checking homework.

2.Draw up a plan for a comparative description of Oblomov and Stolz.

Plan.

1. Description of appearance.

2.Origin.

3.Upbringing and education.

4.Purposes of coming to St. Petersburg.

5.Lifestyle.

6. Ideal (norm) of life.

7. Test of love.

8.Result of life.

II. Learning new material.

1.Communication of the topic, purpose, lesson plan.

2. The teacher's word.

Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna personify Oblomov’s two ideas about love. In Olga he sees the ideal of a bride, a future wife, and an equal by birth. Agafya Matveevna is the subject of “lordly affection” - a woman of low origin, you don’t have to stand on ceremony with her (it’s not for nothing that Oblomov first of all notices her bodily attractiveness, bare neck and elbows).

In addition, Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna personified the peace that the hero so dreamed of. The meaning of Agafya Matveevna’s life lies in the desire to love and care for someone. She is an ideal housewife; she never sits idle for a minute. Silence, peace, delicious food - she creates all this for Oblomov. Agafya Matveevna became a caring nanny for him. Days passed measuredly and quietly in the house on Vyborgskaya, and Oblomov seemed happy, but deep down in his soul he continued to yearn for unfulfilled dreams, his creative powers, his “faithful heart” were dying in complete passivity.

3. The image of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna.

3.1. About heroin.

The widow of an official, left with two children, the sister of Ivan Matveevich Mukhoyarov, Tarantiev’s godfather. It is Tarantiev who settles Oblomov, who is forced to look for a new apartment, in Pshenitsyna’s house on the Vyborg side.

3.2. Psychological portrait of the heroine.

“She was about thirty. She was very white and full in the face, so that the blush, it seemed, could not break through her cheeks. She had almost no eyebrows at all, but in their place there were two slightly swollen, shiny stripes with sparse blond hair. The eyes are grayish-simple, like the whole facial expression; the hands are white, but hard, with large knots of blue veins protruding outward.”

Pshenitsyna is taciturn and is used to living without thinking about anything: “Her face took on a practical and caring expression, even dullness disappeared when she started talking about a subject familiar to her. To every question that did not relate to some goal positively known to her, she answered with a grin and silence.” And her grin was nothing more than a form that covered up ignorance of the subject: not knowing what she should do, accustomed to the fact that “brother” decides everything, Agafya Matveevna achieved perfection only in the skillful management of the house. Everything else passed by the undeveloped mind for years and decades.

3.3. Awakening the senses.

Gradually, as Oblomov realizes that he has nowhere else to strive, that it was here, in a house on the Vyborg side, that he found the desired structure of life for his native Oblomovka, a serious internal change occurs in the fate of Agafya Matveevna herself. In the constant work of mastering and maintaining the house, in the chores of the house, she finds the meaning of her existence. Something unknown to her before began to awaken in this woman: anxiety, glimpses of reflection. In other words, love, more and more deep, pure, sincere, unable to express itself in words, but manifested in what Pshenitsyna knows and can do well: in caring for Oblomov’s table and clothes, in prayers for his health, in sitting nights at the bedside of the sick Ilya Ilyich.

3.4. Pshenitsyna and Oblomov.

The heroine’s feeling, so normal, natural, disinterested, remained a secret for Oblomov, for those around her and for herself.

Oblomov “was getting closer to Agafya Matveevna - as if he was moving towards a fire, from which it becomes warmer and warmer, but which cannot be loved.” Pshenitsyna is the only absolutely unselfish and decisive person around Oblomov. Without delving into any complications, she does what is necessary at the moment: she pawns her own pearls and silver, is ready to borrow money from the relatives of her late husband, just so that Oblomov does not feel lacking in anything. When the intrigues of Mukhoyarov and Tarantiev reach their peak, Pshenitsyna decisively renounces both “brother” and “godfather”.

Having devoted herself to caring for Oblomov, Pshenitsyna lives as fully and variedly as she has never lived before, and her chosen one begins to feel as if in his native Oblomovka: “... he quietly and gradually fit into the simple and wide coffin of the rest of his existence, made with his own hands, like desert elders who, turning away from life, dig their own grave.”

4. Conclusions about Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna.

• Life.
  Target: there was no final goal, the goal of every day was to feed and put in order the clothes of the master and all the household.
  Perception: life for her has always been an environment where Agafya Matveena served everyone. And she loved it! And after Oblomov moved, everything additionally “... received a new, living meaning: the peace and convenience of Ilya Ilyich...”
  Principles: always be the goddess of the kitchen, develop the economy, “on which her pride and all her activities were concentrated!”
• Love. “It somehow fell on her by itself, and she walked right under a cloud, not backing away or running forward, but fell in love with Oblomov simply, as if she had caught a cold and had an incurable fever.” Even with Oblomov’s peculiar confession, she responds “without surprise, without embarrassment, without timidity, but standing straight and motionless, like a horse on which a collar is being put on.”
• Friendship. She didn't have anyone who could be called real friends.
• Relationships with others.Her entire social circle consisted of the shopkeeper, the butcher, the greengrocer and the kitchen assistants. These were her good friends. Everyone respected her as a very good housewife.
• I was most afraid“inconvenience” for the master (in the broad sense).

5. Agafya Matveevna after the death of Oblomov.

Pshenitsyna and Oblomov have a son. Understanding the difference between this child and the children from her first husband, Agafya Matveevna, after the death of Ilya Ilyich, meekly gives him up to be raised by the Stolts. Oblomov’s death brings a new color to Pshenitsyna’s existence - she is the widow of a landowner, a master, which her “brother” and his wife constantly reproach her for. And although Agafya Matveevna’s lifestyle has not changed in any way (she still serves the Mukhoyarov family), the thought constantly pulsates in her that “her life was lost and shone, that God put his soul into her life and took it out again... now she knew why she lived and that she did not live in vain... Rays, a quiet light from the seven years that flew by in an instant, spilled over her whole life, and she had nothing more to desire, nowhere to go.”

The unselfishness of this woman is made clear to Stolz at the end of the novel: she does not need his reports on the management of the estate, just as she does not need the income from Oblomovka, which Stolz put in order. The light of Agafya Matveevna’s life faded along with Ilya Ilyich.

6. Why did Oblomov give up love?

Oblomov gave up love, he chose peace: “peace suits me, although it’s boring, sleepy, but it’s familiar to me, but I can’t cope with storms!” The episode of Oblomov’s last explanation with Olga reflects Olga’s deep disappointment and pain: “I thought. That I will revive you, that you can still live for me, and you have already died a long time ago...” Olga realized with bitterness that “from him one could only expect a deep impression, passionate - lazy submission. Eternal harmony with every beat of its impulse, no movement of will, no activity.” After all the doubts and internal struggle, Oblomov again found himself “at the same point of impossibility of moving forward.” Love is ups and downs, contradictions and doubts, search, movement, life, rich, bright, changing. After all, developing this feeling requires an initial commitment, a duty that involves taking responsibility. Oblomov was afraid of this - the feeling of fear in Oblomov is constantly intensifying and suppresses all other feelings and desires in him. It was necessary to make decisions, act, change something. Oblomov turned out to be incapable of this. Why?

After searching and torment, never finding the strength and will to fight for his love, Oblomov returns to his previous state of peace and inertia, mental statics (returns to his “swamp”). And this state, according to the author, is similar to the “death of the soul,” which is emphasized by the winter landscape: snow falling in large flakes, turning everything into a white shroud. Agafya Matveevna again takes out her robe, symbolizing the “shell” of life.

III. Consolidation of what has been learned.

Problems of the novel "Oblomov".

In the novel, Goncharov raises questions about true friendship, love, humanism, the equality of women, true happiness, and condemns noble romanticism.

Goncharov called the novel “Oblomov” a “novel-monograph.” He had in mind his plan to writethe life story of one person,present a deep psychological study of one biography: “I had one artistic ideal: this is the image of an honest and kind, sympathetic nature, an extremely idealist, struggling all his life, seeking the truth, encountering lies at every step, being deceived and falling into apathy and impotence.” .

In the first part of the novel, the stillness of life, slumber, closed existence is not only a sign of the existence of Ilya Ilyich, it is the essence of life in Oblomovka. She is isolated from the whole world: “Neither strong passions nor brave undertakings worried the Oblomovites.” This life is full and harmonious in its own way: it is Russian nature, a fairy tale, the love and affection of a mother, Russian hospitality, the beauty of the holidays. These childhood impressions are an ideal for Oblomov, from the height of which he judges life. Therefore, he does not accept the “St. Petersburg life”; he is not attracted by either his career or the desire to get rich.

Oblomov’s visitors personify three life paths that Oblomov could have gone through: becoming a spoiled dude, like Volkov; head of the department, like Sudbinsky; a writer like Penkin. Oblomov goes into contemplative inaction, wanting to preserve “his human dignity and his peace.” The image of Zakhar determines the structure of the first part of the novel. Oblomov is unthinkable without a servant, and vice versa. Both of them are children of Oblomovka.

The second and third parts of the novel aretest of friendship and love. The action becomes dynamic. Oblomov's main antagonist is his friend Andrei Stolts. The image of Stolz is important for understanding the author's intention and for a deeper understanding of the main character. Goncharov intended to show Stolz as a figure preparing progressive changes in Russia. Unlike Oblomov, Stolz is an energetic, active person, confidence is felt in his speeches and actions, he stands firmly on his feet, believes in the energy and transformative power of man. He is constantly on the move (the novel talks about his moves: Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Crimea, Kyiv, Odessa, Belgium, England, France) - and in this he sees happiness. German hard work, prudence and punctuality are combined in Stolz with Russian dreaminess and gentleness (his father is German and his mother is Russian). However, in Stolz the mind still prevails over the heart; he subordinates even the most subtle feelings to control. He lacks humanity, which is Oblomov’s main property. Stolz's childhood and family life are only described. We don’t know what Stolz was happy about, what he was upset about, who his friends were, who his enemies were. Stolz, in contrast to Oblomov, makes his own way in life (he graduated brilliantly from the university, successfully serves, begins to run his own business, acquires a house and money). The portrait of Stolz contrasts with the portrait of Oblomov: “He is entirely made up of bones, muscles and nerves.” Oblomov is “fat beyond his years,” he has a “sleepy look.” However, Stolz’s image is more multidimensional than it seems at first glance. He sincerely loves Oblomov, speaks of Oblomov’s “honest” and “faithful” heart, “which cannot be bribed by anything.” It was Stolz who the author endowed with an understanding of the moral essence of Oblomov, and it was Stolz who told the “writer” the whole life story of Ilya Ilyich. And at the end of the novel, Stolz finds peace in family well-being, he comes to where Oblomov started and stopped. This “reflection” of images in each other can be considered as a process of combining extremes.

An important place in the novel is occupied by theme of love. Love, according to Goncharov, is one of the “main forces” of progress; the world is driven by love. The heroes are tested by love. Goncharov does not give a detailed portrait of Olga, but emphasizes that there was “no affectation, no coquetry, no lies, no tinsel, no intent.” For the first time, the outline of his ideal flashed before Oblomov. The breakup was natural, because Olga and Oblomov expected the impossible from each other. He is of selfless, reckless love, when you can sacrifice everything: “peace, word of mouth, respect.” It comes from his activity, will, energy. But Olga fell in love not with Oblomov, but with her dream. Oblomov also feels this when he writes her a letter. In the future, each of the heroes acquires a life that corresponds to his ideal. Olga marries Stolz, Oblomov finds the heartfelt love of Agafya Matveevna. In her house on the Vyborg side “he was now surrounded by such simple, kind, loving people who agreed with their existence to support his life, to help him not notice, not feel it.” The disappeared world of childhood, Oblomovka, appears again.

IV. Summing up the lesson.

V. Homework.

Write a letter on behalf of Oblomov “House on the Vyborg Side: Paradise Found.”

Introduction

In the novel “Oblomov,” Goncharov portrayed two contrasting and completely different female images – Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Pshenitsyna. And if Olga, from the very publication of the work, attracted critics with her active position, continuous self-development and inner beauty, then Agafya received unjustified condemnation from both contemporaries and the descendants of the writer. However, the image of Pshenitsyna in Oblomov has no less depth than the image of Ilyinskaya, because it was with her, according to the plot of the novel, that Ilya Ilyich found his long-awaited, albeit illusory, happiness.

The importance of Agafya in the system of characters in the novel is also indicated by the fact that the prototype of the heroine was Goncharov’s own mother, Avdotya Matveevna, who was just as kind, a believer, and with all her nature aimed at caring for the family. Pshenitsyna attracts with her truly Russian beauty: full elbows, curvaceous forms that could serve as a model for a painter or sculptor for a masterpiece, greyish-simple eyes and a bright blush on her full cheeks. She is like the ideal of a Russian peasant woman, straight out of artists’ paintings.

Peculiarities of the image of Agafya in “Oblomov”

The characterization of Pshenitsyna in the novel “Oblomov,” as well as the other characters, is ambiguous. On the one hand, the author portrays to readers a simple, uneducated woman whose interests are limited to housekeeping, cooking and communication with servants and food sellers. It’s as if she doesn’t have her own opinion, inner core and strong will - for Agafya, the opinion of her brother, and then Oblomov, replaces her own and she begins to live as a different person, completely devoting herself to him. To any question that concerned a sphere of life that was distant to her, the woman answered with a grin or silence - they were the accepted form for her, behind which Pshenitsyna covered up her ignorance and lack of education.

On the other hand, Agafya is portrayed by Goncharov as a kind of bright angel, protecting her lover from any adversity, grief and sorrow. Pshenitsyna is a wonderful housewife, a kind, modest, quiet and deeply religious woman, but not in the Christian, but in the truly Orthodox sense. For Agafya, the main happiness in life is Oblomov’s well-being, for which she continues to live, essentially sacrificing herself to another person, his ideals and ideas about happiness. But it is precisely this sacrifice and dedication of herself to another that is true happiness for the heroine, allowing her feminine nature to reveal itself and find the meaning of her life. It is noteworthy that of all the characters, only Pshenitsyna finds true, not illusory happiness, while neither Stolz with his calculations, nor Olga with her high demands on her lovers, nor the dreamy Oblomov find it or do not live it to the fullest. Goncharov seems to lead the reader to a paradox: smart, educated, successful people in society and career are inferior to a simple believing woman who lives with an all-encompassing feeling of love.

Is Pshenitsyna's love destructive?

The relationship between Oblomov and Pshenitsyna becomes for the hero after the break with Olga a safe haven, finding peace, tranquility and that “Oblomov” happiness that he had dreamed of for many years. Agafya surrounded him with care and love, unquestioningly fulfilling all his wishes and ready to do anything for her husband. Her love was based not on friendship or respect for Oblomov, but on his complete adoration, almost deification. The woman loved him not for something (as was the case in her relationship with Olga, who loved only certain traits in Oblomov, not accepting others), but simply for the fact that she could be close to her husband and feel his gratitude for her care.

According to literary critics, the nature of Pshenitsyna’s love can have different shades of definition depending on how the reader treats Oblomov and what he sees as the meaning of his life. If we consider Ilya Ilyich as a prototype of a true Russian person, that mythical “Emelya” who sits on the stove and waits for a breakthrough that can turn his life around, then, of course, Agafya’s love is a negative phenomenon in the hero’s life. The pacifying, pseudo-happy atmosphere of “Oblomovism” and inaction that reigns in Pshenitsyna’s house becomes the reason for the quick death of the hero, who refuses even to follow the doctor’s recommendations, plunging more and more into the illusory, wonderful world of dreams and half-asleep. However, Oblomov can also be considered as a typical person, an everyman, who is actually alien to the aspirations and need to constantly develop, inherent in Stolz and Olga, and is close to the usual family values, routine peace and well-being. In this case, Agafya is the very woman that Oblomov always dreamed of, and her love becomes a healing balm for the hero, exhausted after his relationship with Olga.

Conclusion

Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna in the novel “Oblomov” is the kindest and most Christian-loving character. Despite her simplicity and lack of education, a woman is the bearer of an infinitely tender, all-encompassing feeling that does not require anything in return, which has become the main meaning of her life. At the end of the work, the author does not make final conclusions about the image of Agafya, but it is obvious that for Goncharov she is an attractive and undeniably positive character, introduced into the novel to contrast with Oblomov, Stolz and Olga, who are constantly looking for something within themselves or in the world around them.

Work test

In the novel "" Goncharov creates two female images, which at one time influenced the main character - and his inner world - in completely different ways. Oblomov has feelings for both women, but they are completely different and dissimilar.

Olga Ilyinskaya is a woman who diligently tried to awaken vitality and activity in Oblomov. She made every effort to save the main character from laziness and constant apathy.

– bright and full of vital activity. She was smart and independent, proud and patient. She appears in Oblomov’s life, like a ray of light that can lead him out of the darkness.

The relationship between Olga and Ilya Ilyich began simply as friendly, but over time developed into love. The woman experiences feelings of love for Oblomov and he reciprocates her feelings. She is interested in the idea of ​​reviving Ilya Ilyich. For her sake, Oblomov does things that are crazy for his nature - he goes to theaters and museums, climbs a hill for his beloved. He forgets about his favorite robe and starts sorting through his clothes. The main character changes before our eyes.

Feelings of love and sympathy change Olga herself. Each time, new traits of her character are revealed to us. She acted at the behest of her heart, not paying attention to social principles and the rules of public etiquette.

In exchange for her activity, Olga demanded such vibrant activity from Oblomov. But Oblomov was afraid of this. He was unable to break his lazy inner core and the relationship between Olga and Ilya Ilyich ends in farewell.

Another female image was the person of Agafya Pshenitsyna. This image is completely opposite to Olga Ilyinskaya. Agafya is a wonderful housewife; her house is clean and tidy. But spiritually, the woman was not very developed. Agafya Pshenitsyna helped Oblomov run the household, she took care of Ilya Ilyich, did all the work for him, all his instructions. She was close to Oblomov in the nature of her life.

We see in her the image of a caring mother who is busy with the main character. Agafya Matveevna loved Oblomov, but hid her feelings inside. She gave the main character peace, tranquility and silence. This is exactly what he appreciated in such an economic woman.

After marrying Agafya Pshenitsyna, Oblomov’s spiritual development and active life activity again became dull and died inside the protagonist. With her care, the woman completely protected Oblomov from any activity.

Two female images were on the path of the main character. Olga wanted to revive and save Oblomov. But Agafya led his inner world to complete destruction.