Nekrasov Russian women Princess Trubetskaya summary. Nekrasov's poem “Russian women. Happy youth of Volkonskaya

Nekrasov Nikolay Alekseevich
The work “Russian Women”

Princess Trubetskoy
On a winter night in 1826, Princess Ekaterina Trubetskoy follows her Decembrist husband to Siberia. The old count, Ekaterina Ivanovna's father, with tears, places the bear's cavity in the cart, which should take his daughter away from home forever. The princess mentally says goodbye not only to her family, but also to her native Petersburg, which she loved more than all the cities she had seen, in which her youth was spent happily. After her husband's arrest, Petersburg became a fatal city for her.

/> Despite the fact that at each station the princess generously rewards the Yam servants, the journey to Tyumen takes twenty days. On the way, she recalls her childhood, carefree youth, balls in her father’s house, which attracted the entire fashionable world. These memories are replaced by pictures of a honeymoon trip to Italy, walks and conversations with my beloved husband.
Impressions from the road make a difficult contrast with her happy memories: in reality the princess sees the kingdom of beggars and slaves. In Siberia, three hundred miles away, you come across one miserable town, the inhabitants of which are sitting at home due to the terrible frost. “Why, damned country, did Ermak find you?” - Trubetskoy thinks in despair. She understands that she is doomed to end her days in Siberia, and recalls the events that preceded her journey: the Decembrist uprising, a meeting with her arrested husband. Horror freezes her heart when she hears the piercing moan of a hungry wolf, the roar of the wind along the banks of the Yenisei, the hysterical song of a foreigner, and realizes that she may not reach her goal.
However, after two months of travel, having parted with her ill companion, Trubetskoy still arrives in Irkutsk. The Irkutsk governor, from whom she asks for horses to Nerchinsk, hypocritically assures her of his complete devotion, remembers the princess’s father, under whom he served for seven years. He persuades the princess to return, appealing to her daughterly feelings, but she refuses, reminding her of the sanctity of marital duty. The governor frightens Trubetskoy with the horrors of Siberia, where “people are rare without a stigma, and they are callous in soul.” He explains that she will have to live not with her husband, but in a common barracks, among convicts, but the princess repeats that she wants to share all the horrors of her husband’s life and die next to him. The governor demands that the princess sign a renunciation of all her rights - she, without hesitation, agrees to find herself in the position of a poor commoner.
Having kept Trubetskoy in Nerchinsk for a week, the governor declares that he cannot give her horses: she must continue on foot, with an escort, along with convicts. But, hearing her answer: “I’m coming! I don't care!" - the old general with tears refuses to tyrannize the princess any longer. He assures that he did this on the personal order of the king, and orders the horses to be harnessed.
Princess M. N. Volkonskaya
Wanting to leave her grandchildren memories of her life, the old princess Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya writes the story of her life.
She was born near Kiev, on the quiet estate of her father, the hero of the war with Napoleon, General Raevsky. Masha was the darling of the family, she learned everything a young noblewoman needed, and after school she sang carefree in the garden. The old General Raevsky wrote memoirs, read magazines and gave balls, which were attended by his former comrades. The queen of the ball was always Masha - a blue-eyed, black-haired beauty with a thick blush and proud gait. The girl easily captivated the hearts of the hussars and lancers who stood with regiments near the Raevsky estate, but none of them touched her heart.
As soon as Masha turned eighteen years old, her father found her a groom - a hero of the War of 1812, wounded near Leipzig, General Sergei Volkonsky, beloved by the sovereign. The girl was embarrassed by the fact that the groom was much older than her and she did not know him at all. But the father sternly said: “You will be happy with him!” – and she did not dare to object. The wedding took place two weeks later. Masha rarely saw her husband after the wedding: he was constantly on business trips, and even from Odessa, where he finally went to rest with his pregnant wife, Prince Volkonsky was unexpectedly forced to take Masha to his father. The departure was alarming: the Volkonskys left at night, burning some papers beforehand. Volkonsky no longer had the opportunity to see his wife and first-born son under his own roof.
The birth was difficult; Masha could not recover for two months. Soon after her recovery, she realized that her family were hiding her husband’s fate from her. Masha learned that Prince Volkonsky was a conspirator and was preparing the overthrow of the authorities only from the verdict - and immediately decided that she would follow her husband to Siberia. Her decision was only strengthened after a meeting with her husband in the gloomy hall of the Peter and Paul Fortress, when she saw the quiet sadness in the eyes of her Sergei and felt how much she loved him.
All efforts to mitigate Volkonsky’s fate were in vain; he was sent to Siberia. But in order to follow him, Masha had to withstand the resistance of her entire family. The father begged her to take pity on the unfortunate child and parents, and think calmly about her own future. After spending the night in prayer, without sleep, Masha realized that until now she had never had to think: her father made all the decisions for her, and when she walked down the aisle at eighteen, she “didn’t think much either.” Now the image of her husband, exhausted by prison, constantly stood before her, awakening previously unknown passions in her soul. She experienced a cruel feeling of her own powerlessness, the torment of separation - and her heart told her the only solution. Leaving the child without hope of ever seeing him, Maria Volkonskaya understood: it was better to go to the grave alive than to deprive her husband of consolation, and then for this incur the contempt of her son. She believes that old General Raevsky, who led his sons out to face bullets during the war, will understand her decision.
Soon Maria Nikolaevna received a letter from the Tsar, in which he politely admired her determination, gave permission to leave for her husband and hinted that return was hopeless. Having prepared for the journey at three days, Volkonskaya spent her last night at her son’s cradle.
Saying goodbye, her father, under the threat of a curse, ordered her to return in a year.
Staying in Moscow for three days with her sister Zinaida, Princess Volkonskaya became the “heroine of the day,” she was admired by poets, artists, and all the nobility of Moscow. At the farewell party she met with Pushkin, whom she had known since she was a girl. In those early years they met in Gurzuf, and Pushkin even seemed in love with Masha Raevskaya - although who was he not in love with then! Afterwards he dedicated wonderful lines to her in Onegin. Now, when they met on the eve of Maria Nikolaevna’s departure to Siberia, Pushkin was sad and depressed, but he admired Volkonskaya’s feat and gave his blessing.
On the way, the princess met convoys, crowds of praying mantises, government wagons, and recruits; I observed the usual scenes of station fights. Having left Kazan after the first halt, she found herself caught in a snowstorm and spent the night in the foresters' lodge, the door of which was pressed down by stones - from bears. In Nerchinsk, Volkonskaya, to her joy, caught up with Princess Trubetskoy and learned from her that their husbands were being held in Blagodatsk. On the way there, the coachman told the women that he was taking prisoners to work, that they were joking, making each other laugh - they obviously felt at ease.
While waiting for permission to meet with her husband, Maria Nikolaevna found out where prisoners were taken to work and went to the mine. The sentry gave in to the woman's sobs and let her into the mine. Fate took care of her: past the pits and failures she ran to the mine, where the Decembrists, among other convicts, worked. Trubetskoy was the first to see her, then Artamon Muravyov, the Borisovs, and Prince Obolensky ran up; Tears were streaming down their faces. Finally, the princess saw her husband - and at the sound of a sweet voice, at the sight of the shackles on his hands, she realized how much he had suffered. Kneeling down, she put the shackles to her lips - and the entire mine froze, sharing in holy silence the grief and happiness of the meeting with the Volkonskys.
The officer who was waiting for Volkonskaya cursed her in Russian, and her husband said after her in French: “See you, Masha, in prison!”
© T. A. Sotnikova

(No Ratings Yet)

  1. Hans Christian Andersen Work “The Ugly Duckling” The Ugly Duckling is a fairy-tale image that embodies the author’s ideas about the fate and purpose of a genius: despite all circumstances, he will definitely achieve recognition and glory....
  2. Heinrich Heine Work “Grenadiers” Two grenadiers wandered to France from Russian captivity, And both became despondent in spirit when they reached German soil. They - they hear - will have to see their native country in shame....
  3. Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Story by A.P. Chekhov “Anna on the Neck” “After the wedding there was not even a light snack.” An 18-year-old girl, Anya, married a 52-year-old official, Modest Alekseich. After the wedding they...
  4. Averchenko Arkady Timofeevich Work “The Blind” The Royal Garden was open at that time of day, and the young writer AVE entered there, wandered along the paths and sat down on the bench on which he was already sitting...
  5. Theodore Dreiser Work “An American Tragedy” The events that Theodore Dreiser narrates in the novel “An American Tragedy” unfold in America. The main character of the novel is Clyde Griffiths, a young man striving for wealth, fame,...
  6. Blaise Pascal Work “Thoughts” “Let a man know what he is worth. Let him love himself, for he is capable of good,” “let him despise himself, for the capacity for good remains in vain in him.”...
  7. Hans Christian Andersen Work “The Little Mermaid” The Little Mermaid is a fairy-tale image created on the basis of popular belief, creatively reworked by Andersen. Popular belief said that the mermaid acquired an immortal soul thanks to the faithful love of a person. By...
  8. Henry James Work “Daisy Miller” A young American Winterbourne, who has lived in Europe for many years and has become unaccustomed to American customs, comes to the small Swiss town of Vevey to see his aunt. At the hotel...
  9. Ryunosuke Akutagawa Work “In the Thicket” The story of the Japanese writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke is considered the best story ever written in the world. Several people talk about the murder that took place, all in different ways, and it is difficult for the reader...
  10. Maxim Gorky Work “The Case of Evseika” The little boy Evseika was fishing on the seashore. He fell asleep out of boredom and fell into the water. He wasn't afraid. He dived and reached the bottom. Looks around -...
  11. Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Work “Rose and Cross” The action takes place in the 13th century. in France, Languedoc and Brittany, where the Albigensian uprising flares up, against whom the pope organizes a crusade. The army called...
  12. Sinyavsky Andrey Donatovich Work “Lyubimov” The fairy tale tells about a strange story that happened to the ordinary Lyubimov man in the street Lenya Tikhomirov. Until then, in Lyubimovo, located under Mokra Gora, there were no wonderful...
  13. August Strindberg The work “Freken Julia” The action takes place in Sweden, in the count’s estate in the kitchen on the night of Ivan Kupala, when, according to folk tradition, those celebrating this religious and magical holiday are temporarily cancelled...
  14. Camilo José Cela Work “The Beehive” The action takes place in 1942 and is centered around a small cafe in one of the Madrid neighborhoods. There are about one hundred and sixty characters in the book, they appear and, barely...
  15. Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich Work “Bachelor” Characters (short list). Mikhailo Ivanovich Moshkin, 50 years old. lively, busy, good-natured. Pyotr Ilyich Vilitsky, 23 years old. an indecisive, weak, proud person. Rodion Karlovich von Fonck,...
  16. Korolenko Vladimir Galaktionovich The work “Wonderful” by Morozova is the main character, a political prisoner. In the center of the narrative of this early work of the writer is the story of the guard-gendarme Gavrilov about the girl “politician” (political prisoner) Morozova, whom he accompanied into exile....
  17. Schiller Friedrich Johann Work “Polykartov's Ring” He stood high on the roof And bowed his rich eye on Samos With proud joy. “How generously the gods have rewarded me! How happy am I among the kings!”...
  18. Zakrutkin Vitaly Aleksandrovich Work “Mother of Man” The Great Patriotic War is the most difficult of all the trials that have ever befallen our people. Responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, the bitterness of the first defeats, hatred for...
  19. Platonov Andrey Platonovich The work “Fro” Peru of the wonderful Russian writer Andrei Platonov owns many works, including Fro. The main character of the work is a twenty-year-old girl Frosya, the daughter of a railway worker. Her husband left...
  20. Vasiliev Boris Lvovich Work “The Death of the Goddesses” The main character of Boris Vasiliev’s story “The Death of the Goddesses” is Nadenka, the wife of the director of a large plant. Her life is full of serene happiness, but only until...

On a winter night in 1826, Princess Ekaterina Trubetskoy follows her Decembrist husband to Siberia. The old count, Ekaterina Ivanovna's father, with tears, places the bear's cavity in the cart, which should take his daughter away from home forever. The princess mentally says goodbye not only to her family, but also to her native Petersburg, which she loved more than all the cities she had seen, in which her youth was spent happily. After her husband's arrest, Petersburg became a fatal city for her.

Despite the fact that at each station the princess generously rewards the Yam servants, the journey to Tyumen takes twenty days. On the way, she recalls her childhood, carefree youth, balls in her father’s house, which attracted the entire fashionable world. These memories are replaced by pictures of a honeymoon trip to Italy, walks and conversations with my beloved husband.

Impressions on the road make a difficult contrast with her happy memories: in reality, the princess sees the kingdom of beggars and slaves. In Siberia, three hundred miles away, you come across one miserable town, the inhabitants of which are sitting at home due to the terrible frost. “Why, damned country, did Ermak find you?” - Trubetskoy thinks in despair. She understands that she is doomed to end her days in Siberia, and recalls the events that preceded her journey: the Decembrist uprising, a meeting with her arrested husband. Horror freezes her heart when she hears the piercing groan of a hungry wolf, the roar of the wind along the banks of the Yenisei, the hysterical song of a foreigner, and realizes that she may not reach her goal.

However, after two months of travel, having parted with her ill companion, Trubetskoy still arrives in Irkutsk. The Irkutsk governor, from whom she asks for horses to Nerchinsk, hypocritically assures her of his complete devotion, recalls the princess’s father, under whom he served for seven years. He persuades the princess to return, appealing to her daughter’s feelings, but she refuses, reminding her of the sanctity of marital duty. The governor frightens Trubetskoy with the horrors of Siberia, where “people are rare without a stigma, and they are callous in soul.” He explains that she will have to live not with her husband, but in a common barracks, among convicts, but the princess repeats that she wants to share all the horrors of her husband’s life and die next to him. The governor demands that the princess sign a renunciation of all her rights - she, without hesitation, agrees to find herself in the position of a poor commoner.

Having kept Trubetskoy in Nerchinsk for a week, the governor declares that he cannot give her horses: she must continue on foot, with an escort, along with convicts. But, hearing her answer: “I’m coming! I don't care!" - the old general with tears refuses to tyrannize the princess any longer. He assures that he did this on the personal order of the king, and orders the horses to be harnessed.

Princess Volkonskaya

Wanting to leave her grandchildren memories of her life, the old princess Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya writes the story of her life.

She was born near Kiev, on the quiet estate of her father, the hero of the war with Napoleon, General Raevsky. Masha was the darling of the family, she learned everything a young noblewoman needed, and after school she sang carefree in the garden. The old General Raevsky wrote memoirs, read magazines and gave balls, which were attended by his former comrades. The queen of the ball was always Masha - a blue-eyed, black-haired beauty with a thick blush and proud gait. The girl easily captivated the hearts of the hussars and lancers who stood with regiments near the Raevsky estate, but none of them touched her heart.

As soon as Masha turned eighteen, her father found her a groom - a hero of the War of 1812, wounded near Leipzig, General Sergei Volkonsky, beloved by the sovereign. The girl was embarrassed by the fact that the groom was much older than her and she did not know him at all. But the father sternly said: “You will be happy with him!” - and she did not dare to object. The wedding took place two weeks later. Masha rarely saw her husband after the wedding: he was constantly on business trips, and even from Odessa, where he finally went to rest with his pregnant wife, Prince Volkonsky was unexpectedly forced to take Masha to his father. The departure was alarming: the Volkonskys left at night, burning some papers beforehand. Volkonsky had the opportunity to see his wife and first-born son no longer under his own roof...

The birth was difficult; Masha could not recover for two months. Soon after her recovery, she realized that her family were hiding her husband’s fate from her. Masha learned that Prince Volkonsky was a conspirator and was preparing the overthrow of the authorities only from the verdict - and immediately decided that she would follow her husband to Siberia. Her decision was only strengthened after a meeting with her husband in the gloomy hall of the Peter and Paul Fortress, when she saw the quiet sadness in the eyes of her Sergei and felt how much she loved him.

All efforts to mitigate Volkonsky’s fate were in vain; he was sent to Siberia. But in order to follow him, Masha had to withstand the resistance of her entire family. The father begged her to take pity on the unfortunate child and parents, and think calmly about her own future. After spending the night in prayer, without sleep, Masha realized that until now she had never had to think: her father made all the decisions for her, and when she walked down the aisle at eighteen, she “didn’t think much either.” Now the image of her husband, exhausted by prison, constantly stood before her, awakening previously unknown passions in her soul. She experienced a cruel feeling of her own powerlessness, the torment of separation - and her heart told her the only solution. Leaving the child without hope of ever seeing him, Maria Volkonskaya understood: it was better to lie alive in the grave than to deprive her husband of comfort, and then incur the contempt of her son for this. She believes that the old General Raevsky, who led his sons out under bullets during the war, will understand her decision.

Soon Maria Nikolaevna received a letter from the tsar, in which he politely admired her determination, gave permission to leave for her husband and hinted that return was hopeless. Having prepared for the journey at three days, Volkonskaya spent her last night at her son’s cradle.

Saying goodbye, her father, under the threat of a curse, ordered her to return in a year.

Staying in Moscow for three days with her sister Zinaida, Princess Volkonskaya became the “heroine of the day”; she was admired by poets, artists, and all the nobility of Moscow. At the farewell party she met with Pushkin, whom she had known since she was a girl. In those early years they met in Gurzuf, and Pushkin even seemed to be in love with Masha Raevskaya - although who was he not in love with then! Afterwards he dedicated wonderful lines to her in Onegin. Now, when they met on the eve of Maria Nikolaevna’s departure to Siberia, Pushkin was sad and depressed, but he admired Volkonskaya’s feat and gave his blessing.

On the way, the princess met convoys, crowds of praying mantises, government wagons, and recruits; I observed the usual scenes of station fights. Having left Kazan after the first halt, she found herself in a snowstorm and spent the night in the foresters' lodge, the door of which was pressed down by stones - from bears. In Nerchinsk, Volkonskaya, to her joy, caught up with Princess Trubetskoy and learned from her that their husbands were being held in Blagodatsk. On the way there, the coachman told the women that he took prisoners to work, that they joked, made each other laugh - they obviously felt at ease.

While waiting for permission to meet with her husband, Maria Nikolaevna found out where prisoners were taken to work and went to the mine. The sentry gave in to the woman's sobs and let her into the mine. Fate took care of her: past the pits and failures she ran to the mine, where the Decembrists, among other convicts, worked. Trubetskoy was the first to see her, then Artamon Muravyov, the Borisovs, and Prince Obolensky ran up; Tears were streaming down their faces. Finally, the princess saw her husband - and at the sound of a sweet voice, at the sight of the shackles on his hands, she realized how much he had suffered. Kneeling down, she put the shackles to her lips - and the entire mine froze, sharing in holy silence the grief and happiness of the meeting with the Volkonskys.

The officer who was waiting for Volkonskaya cursed her in Russian, and her husband said after her in French: “See you, Masha, in prison!”

Retold

Princess Trubetskoy

It was late at night in 1826. Catherine decides to go into exile with her Decembrist husband in distant Siberia. Her father was an old count, he sends his daughter away from home with tears, because she is leaving forever. It is very difficult for Ekaterina Trubetskoy to say goodbye not only to her loved ones and family, but also to her beloved city of St. Petersburg, and despite the fact that she has seen a large number of different cities, this city has become the most important in her life. But also, after her husband was arrested, he became the most fatal for her.

The princess generously gifts the servants at all stations, but still the journey takes her a very long period of time, almost a whole month. All the way, Catherine recalled her childhood and adolescence, it was a magical time, as she went to balls with her father, the count. All these memories were replaced by pictures from their honeymoon trip through the most beautiful country of Italy, where she walked with her beloved husband.

The whole road provided a strong contrast between her happy memories from her life and the upcoming trials that awaited her in Siberia. In this remote place, after a while, you come across a small, poor town, in which the residents do not leave their houses, since it is very cold outside. Ekaterina Trubetskaya is in despair.

Now she realized that she was doomed to spend her whole life here, and she was overwhelmed by the events that happened before this entire journey, before the uprising and goodbye after her husband’s arrest. She is terrified by the howl of a wolf near the river bank, her blood freezes in her veins from the fact that she may not even reach her destination.

But still, after several months of travel, after she buried her companion, she reaches the city of Irkutsk. She asks for horses to the city of Nerchinsk, from the local governor, he pretends to be devoted to her, since he knows her father well, because he served with him for seven long years. He asks Trubetskoy to return home to her father, but she says that this is her marital duty. He tries to scare Catherine, says that she will live in the barracks, side by side with the convicts, but she is persistent. Catherine explains that she wants to share with her husband all the horrors of life in hard labor and take her last breath next to her beloved.

The Irkutsk governor hands her a document renouncing all rights, hoping that she will refuse, but Trubetskoy gives her consent about the poor commoner.

The princess spends a week in Nerchinsk, as a result, the governor does not give her horses, and she wants to follow on foot under escort along with the prisoners.

The general bends over and, with tears, harnesses the team of horses.

Princess Volkonskaya

Maria Volkonskaya wants future generations to be able to remember her, and writes a letter about her life. She was born near the city of Kyiv, on the small estate of her father, who was listed as a hero of the war with France. She was born under the name Raevskaya. Everyone in the family loved her very much, she studied well, comprehending all the knowledge that was necessary for a noble person. After training, she loved to walk and sing in the garden. General Raevsky wrote a lot about battles, loved to read newspapers and collected balls. Maria was always the center of attention. A beautiful girl with blue eyes, jet-black hair, a bright blush and a proud character. She had long won the hearts of all the men who visited her father, but her heart was untouched.

When Maria turned eighteen, she was found a promising husband who had proven himself well in the Patriotic War. During this war, half of Leipzig, Volkonsky was wounded. She was a little embarrassed only by the fact that he was somewhat older than her, and she did not know him at all. But she had no right to resist her father’s will. The wedding took place within half a month. Maria rarely found her husband at home, since he was at work almost all the time. One day they went to Odessa on vacation. The princess was pregnant. But before they had time to settle down, their husband was taken to work. They left in a hurry, and before leaving, they burned a lot of documents. Volkonsky saw his son already under arrest.

Volkonskaya had a difficult birth and recovered for a long time after that. After some time, Maria realized that her relatives were hiding something from her. She learns that her husband was a Decembrist and wanted to overthrow the government. Volkonskaya decides to go to Siberia for him. She was once again convinced of her decision after she was allowed to see him in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

She asked that Volkonsky’s punishment be commuted, but she failed. The whole family resisted Maria's departure. The father asked to take pity on the very young child and think about his future life. But after Volkonskaya spends the night in prayer, she realizes that until that day she had not made a single decision on her own.

But Masha could not bear the images that awaited her husband. Her heart tells her only one solution. She leaves the child, knowing that she will never be able to see him again, realizing that it is easier for her to die than to leave her husband. She believes that General Raevsky will still be able to understand her decision.

Masha receives a message from the Tsar, in which he explains that she will never be able to return and admires her decision. He also allows her to leave her home and follow her husband. In three days, she collects all the necessary things, sings her last lullaby at the baby’s crib and says goodbye to her family.

Her father, threatening, asks her to return home next year. She stays with her sister in the capital for several days. Maria Volkonskaya's decision was admired by everyone around her.

On the day of the farewell evening, she meets with Pushkin, whom she has known since her youth. At that time they saw each other in the city of Gurzuf. At that time he was even in love with the beautiful Raevskaya. Later, he was able to give her a few lines in his work “Eugene Onegin”. When Pushkin left for Siberia, he was deeply saddened and depressed, but he was extremely admired by the action of this young and beautiful woman and therefore gave her his blessing.

On the road, the princess saw a lot. After leaving the city of Kazan, where she spent several days, she finds herself in a severe snowstorm. After spending the night with a forester in a lodge where even the door was simply covered with a stone, she went to the city of Nerchinsk. In this city, Maria Nikolaevna catches up with Princess Trubetskoy, she tells her that their spouses are in the city of Blagodatsk. On the way to the appointed place, the coachman told the woman that he takes prisoners to work, and that prisoners, just like free people, still know how to joke and laugh

While Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya was waiting for permission to meet her husband, she finds out exactly where her beloved works and begins to get ready for the mines. The guard, briefly resisting the tears of the sweet woman, gives in to her and gives her a pass to the mines. Volkonskaya miraculously bypasses all the gaps and pits and gets to the mine itself, where her husband, along with all the other convict prisoners, works.

Trubetskoy notices her, and later Muravyov, Borisov and Obolensky catch up with him. There were tears of joy on their faces.


Soon Princess Volkonskaya notices her husband in the crowd. Looking at his chains, she understands how much suffering he has already had to endure. Volkonskaya drops to her knees and puts his bonds to her lips. The mine freezes in absolute silence. Maria is taken away, but within a second her husband shouts in French that they can see each other in prison.

Princess Trubetskoy

On a winter night in 1826, Princess Ekaterina Trubetskoy follows her Decembrist husband to Siberia. The old count, Ekaterina Ivanovna's father, with tears, places the bear's cavity in the cart, which should take his daughter away from home forever. The princess mentally says goodbye not only to her family, but also to her native Petersburg, which she loved more than all the cities she had seen, in which her youth was spent happily. After her husband's arrest, Petersburg became a fatal city for her.

Despite the fact that at each station the princess generously rewards the Yam servants, the journey to Tyumen takes twenty days. On the way, she recalls her childhood, carefree youth, balls in her father’s house, which attracted the entire fashionable world. These memories are replaced by pictures of a honeymoon trip to Italy, walks and conversations with my beloved husband.

Impressions from the road make a difficult contrast with her happy memories: in reality the princess sees the kingdom of beggars and slaves. In Siberia, three hundred miles away, you come across one miserable town, the inhabitants of which are sitting at home due to the terrible frost. “Why, damned country, did Ermak find you?” - Trubetskoy thinks in despair. She understands that she is doomed to end her days in Siberia, and recalls the events that preceded her journey: the Decembrist uprising, a meeting with her arrested husband. Horror freezes her heart when she hears the piercing moan of a hungry wolf, the roar of the wind along the banks of the Yenisei, the hysterical song of a foreigner, and realizes that she may not reach her goal.

However, after two months of travel, having parted with her ill companion, Trubetskoy still arrives in Irkutsk. The Irkutsk governor, from whom she asks for horses to Nerchinsk, hypocritically assures her of his complete devotion, remembers the princess’s father, under whom he served for seven years. He persuades the princess to return, appealing to her daughterly feelings, but she refuses, reminding her of the sanctity of marital duty. The governor frightens Trubetskoy with the horrors of Siberia, where “people are rare without a stigma, and they are callous in soul.” He explains that she will have to live not with her husband, but in a common barracks, among convicts, but the princess repeats that she wants to share all the horrors of her husband’s life and die next to him. The governor demands that the princess sign a renunciation of all her rights - she, without hesitation, agrees to find herself in the position of a poor commoner.

Having kept Trubetskoy in Nerchinsk for a week, the governor declares that he cannot give her horses: she must continue on foot, with an escort, along with convicts. But, hearing her answer: “I’m coming! I don't care!" - the old general with tears refuses to tyrannize the princess any longer. He assures that he did this on the personal order of the king, and orders the horses to be harnessed.

Princess Volkonskaya

Wanting to leave her grandchildren memories of her life, the old princess Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya writes the story of her life.

She was born near Kiev, on the quiet estate of her father, the hero of the war with Napoleon, General Raevsky. Masha was the darling of the family, she learned everything a young noblewoman needed, and after school she sang carefree in the garden. The old General Raevsky wrote memoirs, read magazines and gave balls, which were attended by his former comrades. The queen of the ball was always Masha - a blue-eyed, black-haired beauty with a thick blush and proud gait. The girl easily captivated the hearts of the hussars and lancers who stood with regiments near the Raevsky estate, but none of them touched her heart.

As soon as Masha turned eighteen years old, her father found her a groom - a hero of the War of 1812, wounded near Leipzig, General Sergei Volkonsky, beloved by the sovereign. The girl was embarrassed by the fact that the groom was much older than her and she did not know him at all. But the father sternly said: “You will be happy with him!” - and she did not dare to object. The wedding took place two weeks later. Masha rarely saw her husband after the wedding: he was constantly on business trips, and even from Odessa, where he finally went to rest with his pregnant wife, Prince Volkonsky was unexpectedly forced to take Masha to his father. The departure was alarming: the Volkonskys left at night, burning some papers beforehand. Volkonsky had the opportunity to see his wife and first-born son no longer under his own roof...

The birth was difficult; Masha could not recover for two months. Soon after her recovery, she realized that her family were hiding her husband’s fate from her. Masha learned that Prince Volkonsky was a conspirator and was preparing the overthrow of the authorities only from the verdict - and immediately decided that she would follow her husband to Siberia. Her decision was only strengthened after a meeting with her husband in the gloomy hall of the Peter and Paul Fortress, when she saw the quiet sadness in the eyes of her Sergei and felt how much she loved him.

All efforts to mitigate Volkonsky’s fate were in vain; he was sent to Siberia. But in order to follow him, Masha had to withstand the resistance of her entire family. The father begged her to take pity on the unfortunate child and parents, and think calmly about her own future. After spending the night in prayer, without sleep, Masha realized that until now she had never had to think: her father made all the decisions for her, and when she walked down the aisle at eighteen, she “didn’t think much either.” Now the image of her husband, exhausted by prison, constantly stood before her, awakening previously unknown passions in her soul. She experienced a cruel feeling of her own powerlessness, the torment of separation - and her heart told her the only solution. Leaving the child without hope of ever seeing him, Maria Volkonskaya understood: it was better to go to the grave alive than to deprive her husband of consolation, and then for this incur the contempt of her son. She believes that old General Raevsky, who led his sons out to face bullets during the war, will understand her decision.

Soon Maria Nikolaevna received a letter from the Tsar, in which he politely admired her determination, gave permission to leave for her husband and hinted that return was hopeless. Having prepared for the journey at three days, Volkonskaya spent her last night at her son’s cradle.

Saying goodbye, her father, under the threat of a curse, ordered her to return in a year.

Staying in Moscow for three days with her sister Zinaida, Princess Volkonskaya became the “heroine of the day”; she was admired by poets, artists, and all the nobility of Moscow. At the farewell party she met with Pushkin, whom she had known since she was a girl. In those early years they met in Gurzuf, and Pushkin even seemed in love with Masha Raevskaya - although who was he not in love with then! Afterwards he dedicated wonderful lines to her in Onegin. Now, when they met on the eve of Maria Nikolaevna’s departure to Siberia, Pushkin was sad and depressed, but he admired Volkonskaya’s feat and gave his blessing.

On the way, the princess met convoys, crowds of praying mantises, government wagons, and recruits; I observed the usual scenes of station fights. Having left Kazan after the first halt, she found herself in a snowstorm and spent the night in the foresters' lodge, the door of which was pressed down by stones - from bears. In Nerchinsk, Volkonskaya, to her joy, caught up with Princess Trubetskoy and learned from her that their husbands were being held in Blagodatsk. On the way there, the coachman told the women that he took prisoners to work, that they joked, made each other laugh - they obviously felt at ease.

While waiting for permission to meet with her husband, Maria Nikolaevna found out where prisoners were taken to work and went to the mine. The sentry gave in to the woman's sobs and let her into the mine. Fate took care of her: past the pits and failures she ran to the mine, where the Decembrists, among other convicts, worked. Trubetskoy was the first to see her, then Artamon Muravyov, the Borisovs, and Prince Obolensky ran up; Tears were streaming down their faces. Finally, the princess saw her husband - and at the sound of a sweet voice, at the sight of the shackles on his hands, she realized how much he had suffered. Kneeling down, she put the shackles to her lips - and the entire mine froze, sharing the grief and happiness of the meeting with the Volkonskys in holy silence.

The officer who was waiting for Volkonskaya cursed her in Russian, and her husband said after her in French: “See you, Masha, in prison!”

Summary of “Russian Women” by Nekrasov

Other essays on the topic:

  1. A short story about Seijuro from Himeji In a large, noisy harbor on the seashore, where rich overseas ships are always moored,...
  2. There is a terrible grief in the peasant hut: the owner and breadwinner Prokl Sevastyanich has died. A mother brings a coffin for her son, a father goes to the cemetery...
  3. Morozko My stepmother lives with her own daughter and stepdaughter. The old woman decides to drive her stepdaughter out of the yard and orders her husband to take the girl...
  4. Wise Answers A soldier comes home from service, having served twenty-five years. Everyone asks him about the king, and he and...
  5. Princess Trubetskaya in N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Russian Women” N. A. Nekrasov was one of the first to address the theme of the Decembrists. IN...
  6. Little fox-sister and the wolf Baba makes a pie in the hut and puts it on the windowsill so that it bakes in the sun, because...
  7. The boy Sasha looks at the portrait of a young general - this is his grandfather, whom he has never seen. To all questions about...
  8. The action begins in July 1942 with the retreat near Oskol. The Germans approached Voronezh, and from the newly dug defensive...
  9. Part 1. Jubilees and triumphants “There have been worse times, / But there were no mean ones,” the author reads about the 70s. XIX...
  10. One day, seven men—recent serfs, but now temporarily in bondage “from adjacent villages—Zaplatov, Dyryavina, Razutov,...
  11. In a family of steppe landowners, daughter Sasha grows like a wildflower. Her parents are nice old men, honest in their cordiality, “flattery...
  12. Son Vanya asks his father, the general, who built the railway. The general attributes its construction to Count Peter Andreevich Kleinmichel. Narrator...
  13. Two dramas by A. N. Ostrovsky are devoted to the same problem - the position of women in Russian society. Fates pass before us...
  14. In many of her works, Marko Vovchok showed the hard, servile life of female serfs. The story “The Institute” was no exception, where the writer copied...

In the winter of 1826, at night, Princess Ekaterina Trubetskoy followed her Decembrist husband to Siberia. Her father, the old count, saw off his daughter:

The Count himself adjusted the pillows,

I laid the bear's cavity at my feet,

While praying, the icon hung in the right corner

And - he began to sob... Princess-daughter...

Going somewhere this night...

It is difficult for the princess to leave her father, but her duty requires that she be with her husband.

My path is long, my path is hard,

My fate is terrible

But I covered my chest with steel...

Be proud - I am your daughter!

The princess says goodbye not only to her family, but also to her native Petersburg, which she loved more than all the cities she had seen, in which her youth was spent happily. After the arrest of her husband, Petersburg became a fatal city for a woman.

Forgive me too, my native land,

Sorry, unfortunate land!

And you... oh fatal city,

Nest of kings... goodbye!

Who has seen London and Paris,

Venice and Rome

You won’t seduce him with shine,

But you were loved by me...

She curses the Tsar, the executioner of the Decembrists, with whom she danced at the ball. Having said goodbye to her father and her beloved city, Trubetskoy, together with her father’s secretary, goes to Siberia to pick up her husband. The path ahead of her is difficult. Despite the fact that the princess generously rewards the coachmen at each station, the journey to Tyumen takes “twenty days.”

On the way, the woman recalls her childhood, carefree youth, balls in her father’s house, which attracted the entire fashionable world:

Forward! The soul is full of melancholy

The road is getting more and more difficult

But dreams are peaceful and light -

She dreamed of her youth.

Wealth, shine! High house on the banks of the Neva,

The staircase is covered with carpet,

There are lions in front of the entrance...

... The child dances and jumps,

Without thinking about anything,

And playful childhood flies by jokingly... Then Another time, another ball She dreams: in front of her stands a handsome young man,

He whispers something to her...

These memories are replaced by pictures of a honeymoon trip to Italy, walks and conversations with my beloved husband.

The princess's dreams, in contrast to her travel impressions, are light and joyful. Then pictures of her country pass before her.

In a dream, Princess Trubetskoy feels, and in reality sees the kingdom of slaves and beggars:

... A stern gentleman And a pitiful toiler with a bowed head...

As the first one got used to rule,

How the second one slaves!

... Chu, a sad ringing is heard ahead - a shackled ringing!

“Hey, coachman, wait!”

Then the party of exiles is coming...

The sight of exiles in shackles turns out to be difficult for the princess. She imagines her husband, who walked the same path a little earlier. Every day the frost gets stronger, and the path becomes more deserted.

In Siberia, three hundred miles away, you come across one miserable town, the inhabitants of which are sitting at home due to the terrible frost:

But where are the people? Quiet everywhere

You can't even hear the dogs.

The frost drove everyone under the roof,

They drink tea out of boredom.

A soldier passed, a cart passed,

The chimes are striking somewhere.

The windows froze... a light flickered in one...

Cathedral... on the outskirts of the prison...

“Why, damned country, //Did Ermak find you?..” - Trubetskoy thinks in despair. People are being driven to Siberia in search of gold:

It lies along river beds,

It's at the bottom of the swamps.

Mining on the river is difficult,

The swamps are terrible in the heat,

But it's worse, worse in the mine,

Deep underground!..

The princess understands that she is doomed to end her days in Siberia, and recalls the events that preceded her journey: the Decembrist uprising, a meeting with her arrested husband. Horror freezes her heart when she hears the piercing howl of a hungry wolf, the roar of the wind along the banks of the Yenisei, the hysterical song of a foreigner and realizes that she may not reach her goal. It is freezing like the princess has never experienced before, and she no longer has the strength to endure it. Horror took over her mind. Unable to overcome the cold, the sleeping princess dreamed of the south:

“Yes, this is the south! yes, this is the south!

(Sings her a good dream.)

My beloved friend is with you again,

He’s free again!..”

Two months passed on the road. Trubetskoy had to part with her secretary - he fell ill near Irkutsk, the princess waited for him for two days and went further. In Irkutsk she was met by the governor. At the request of the princess to give her horses to Nerchinsk, the Irkutsk governor tries to dissuade her from further travel. He assures her of his devotion , recalls Trubetskoy’s father, under whose command he served for seven years. The governor appeals to Trubetskoy’s daughter’s feelings, persuading her to come back. Trubetskoy refuses:

No! that once it was decided -

I will complete it to the end!

It's funny for me to tell you,

How I love my father

How he loves. But the duty is different

And higher and holy,

Calling me. My tormentor!

Let's get some horses!

The governor is trying to scare the princess with the horrors of Siberia, where “people are rare without a stigma, //And those are callous in soul.” He explains that she will have to live not with her husband, but in a common barracks, among convicts, but the princess repeats that she wants to share all the horrors of her husband’s life and die next to him. The governor demands that the princess sign a renunciation of all her rights - she, without hesitation, agrees to find herself in the position of a poor commoner. To all the governor’s admonitions, the princess has one answer:

Having accepted a vow in my soul to fulfill my duty to the end, I will not bring tears to the damned prison -

I will save the pride, the pride in him,

I will give him strength!

Contempt for our executioners,

The consciousness of being right will be our true support.

Trubetskoy talks about St. Petersburg. These are bitter and angry lines:

And before there was heaven on earth,

And now this paradise

With your caring hand

Nikolai cleared it.

There people are rotting alive -

walking coffins,

Men are a bunch of Judases,

And women are slaves.

Having kept Trubetskoy in Nerchinsk for a week, the governor declared that he could not give her horses: she must continue on foot, with an escort, along with convicts. But, hearing her answer: “I’m coming! I don’t care!..” - the old general with tears refuses to tyrannize the princess. He assures that he did this on the personal order of the king, and orders the horses to be harnessed:

I tried to scare you with shame, horror, labor of the staged path.

You weren't scared!

And even if I couldn’t hold my head on my shoulders,

I can't, I don't want to Tyrannize you anymore...

I'll get you there in three days...