Some for some reason believe that the year the poem "The Bronze Horseman" was written was 1830. An analysis of biographical information allows us to unequivocally state that Pushkin created it in 1833. This is one of the most perfect and bright works of Alexander Sergeyevich. The author in this poem convincingly showed all the inconsistency and complexity of the crucial era of Russian history. It must be emphasized that the poem "The Bronze Horseman" occupies a special place in the work of Alexander Sergeyevich. The poet in it tried to solve the problem of the relationship between the state and the personality that has been relevant at all times. This topic has always been at the center of the author’s spiritual quest.
Features of the genre
According to the tradition that has developed for a long time, a poem is a work that has a lyrical or narrative character. If initially it was rather a historical creation, then for some time poems began to acquire more and more romantic coloring. This was due to the tradition of a chivalrous novel, popular in the Middle Ages. Even later, moral and philosophical, personal issues are highlighted. Lyric-dramatic aspects begin to intensify. At the same time, the central heroes or one character (this is typical for the work of romantic writers) is drawn in the poem as independent individuals. They cease to be snatched by the author from the historical stream. Now these are not just blurry figures, as before.
The image of a little man in Russian literature
A small person in Russian literature is one of the cross-cutting themes. Many writers and poets of the 19th century turned to her. A.S. Pushkin touched her one of the first in his novel "Station Warden". Gogol, Chekhov, Dostoevsky and many others became the successors of this topic.
What is the image of a little man in Russian literature? This person is socially small. He is at one of the lowest levels of the social hierarchy. In addition, the world of his claims and spiritual life is extremely poor, narrow, filled with many prohibitions. Philosophical and historical problems do not exist for this hero. He is in a closed and narrow world of his vital interests.
Eugene is a small man
Consider now the image of a little man in the poem "The Bronze Horseman". Eugene, her hero, is a product of the so-called St. Petersburg period of Russian history. He can be called a little man, since the meaning of Eugene’s life is to find philistine well-being: family, a good place, home. The circle of family worries is limited to the existence of this hero. Characteristic of his non-involvement in his past, as he does not yearn for forgotten antiquity, not for the rest of relatives. These features of Eugene for Pushkin are unacceptable. It is thanks to them that this character is an image of a little man in the poem "The Bronze Horseman". Alexander Sergeevich intentionally does not give a detailed description of this hero. He doesn’t even have a surname, which suggests that in his place you can put any other person. The figure of Eugene reflected the fate of many such people, whose life fell on the St. Petersburg period of history. However, the image of a little man in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" is not static, it is transformed in the course of the narrative. We will talk about this below.
The look of Peter and Eugene
Eugene in the flood scene sits with his hands clasped with a cross (as seen in parallel with Napoleon), but without a hat. Behind him is the Bronze Horseman. These two figures are looking in the same direction. Nevertheless, Peter's view is different from that of Eugene. With the king, he was sent back centuries. Peter does not care about the fate of ordinary people, since he solves mainly historical problems. Eugene, representing the image of a little man in the poem "The Bronze Horseman", looks at the house of his beloved.
The main difference between Peter and Eugene
The following main difference can be revealed by comparing the bronze Peter with this hero. The image of Eugene in the poem by A. S. Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman" is characterized by the fact that this character has a heart and soul, he has the ability to feel, knows how to worry about the fate of the person whom he loves. It can be called the antipode of Peter, this idol on a bronze horse. Eugene is able to suffer, dream, grieve. That is, despite the fact that Peter reflects on the fate of the whole state, that is, he is concerned about the improvement of the lives of all people, in an abstract sense (including Eugene, who should become a resident of St. Petersburg in the future), in the eyes of the reader, Eugene, and not the king, becomes more attractive . It is he who awakens living participation in us.
The flood in the fate of Eugene
For Eugene, the flood that happened in St. Petersburg turns into a tragedy. It makes of this nondescript person a real Hero. Eugene is going crazy. This, of course, brings him closer to the characters of romantic works, since insanity is a popular trait of a romantic hero. Eugene wanders through the streets of a city hostile to him, but in his ears there is a rebellious noise of the winds and the Neva. It is this noise, together with the noise in his own soul, that awakens in Eugene what was the main sign of a person for Pushkin - memory. The hero brings to the Senate Square exactly the memory of the flood. Here he meets with bronze Peter for the second time. Pushkin perfectly described what a tragically beautiful moment it was in the life of a humble poor official. His thoughts suddenly cleared up. The hero understood the reason for both his own misfortunes and all the troubles of the city. Eugene recognized their culprit, the man by whose fateful will the city was founded. In him suddenly hatred was born of this half-world holder. Eugene passionately wanted to take revenge on him. The hero raises a riot. He threatens Peter, going up to him: "Oh, you!" We will conduct a brief analysis of the riot scene in the poem "The Bronze Horseman", which will allow us to discover new features in the image of Eugene.
Protest
The inevitability and naturalness of protest is born thanks to the spiritual evolution of the hero. His transformation was shown artistically convincingly. The protest raises Eugene to a new life, tragic, high, which is fraught with the inevitable near death. He threatens the king with future retribution. The autocrat is frightened by this threat, because he realizes the enormous power hidden in this little man, a protester, who raised a rebellion.
At that moment, when Eugene suddenly becomes clear, he turns into a Man in his connection with the race. It should be noted that in this passage the hero is never named by name. This makes him somewhat faceless, one of many. Pushkin describes the confrontation representing the autocratic power of the formidable tsar and a man who is endowed with memory, has a heart. The promise of retaliation and a direct threat are heard in the whisper of a visionary hero. For them, the revived statue, “inflamed” with anger, punishes this “poor madman”.
Madness Eugene
The reader understands that Eugene’s protest is single, moreover, he pronounces it in a whisper. However, the hero must be punished. It is also symbolic that Eugene is defined as a madman. According to Pushkin, madness is an unequal debate. From the standpoint of common sense, the appearance of one person against powerful state power is the real madness. But it is "holy," because silent humility brings death.
The Bronze Horseman is a philosophical and social poem. Pushkin shows that only protest can save a person from a moral decline in the context of the ongoing violence. Alexander Sergeyevich emphasizes that resistance, an attempt to be outraged, to cast a vote will always be a better solution than obedience to a cruel fate.