The story of Gogol “Taras Bulba” is a mixed work. On the one hand, it seems to sing the incredible power of the Russian spirit, on the other hand, it frightens the modern reader with descriptions of ancient atrocities. It remains only to thank fate for the fact that we did not have to live in that harsh time.
All the values of the Cossacks, their means of achieving the goal and way of life look today wildly utterly wild.
Bulba family meeting
The plot, probably, is still remembered from the school bench: the old Colonel Taras Bulba, having waited from the Kiev Academy for his two sons - the elder Ostap and the younger Andriy, goes with them to the Zaporizhzhya Sich, for his attitude to all these "primers and philosophies" skeptical. The old Cossack considers true science a hot fight and male fellowship.
His sons are both healthy, handsome young men of about twenty years old. They have different customs: Ostap's characteristic begins to become clear from the very first page. Having barely returned home, he enters into a fight with his own father, not allowing him to make fun of himself (the old “scrolls” seemed ridiculous to the old Bulba). We must pay tribute that the colonel did not get angry with his eldest son, but quite the opposite: he was delighted and wanted to fight with the younger one. But this one is stuck together from another test, and the father immediately prints: “Uh, you’re a mazunik, as I see!”
The personality of young Ostap
Gogol outlines the personalities of his heroes with few, but expressive phrases, and Ostap’s characterization is somewhat stingier than others. A man is a straightforward, faithful companion, never betraying his accomplices in Bursak's undertakings.
The eldest son of Taras is indifferent to learning - only the threat of twenty years to be in the monastery services, voiced by his father, forces him to take up science. And then it turns out that his abilities are no worse than those of others, but still Ostap almost never thinks of anything except “war and a revelry revel”.
At the same time, kindness is not alien to his heart (though, with reservations to the "severe and strong" disposition and the same era). The eldest son is sorry for the tears of the unfortunate mother, and he leaves the house, head down sadly.
Cherchez la femme
The second son of Bulba differs from the first-born: the comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andria are immediately offered to the attention of the reader. The younger brother is not so moody - he is more disposed to science, and to all sorts of feelings. Dreaming of feats of arms, he nonetheless thinks of many other things. It is interesting that Andriy showed leadership in the Academy, often being the ringleader of various leprosy, moreover, resourcefulness and liveliness of mind sometimes saved him from punishment. In this sense, Ostap’s characterization is the opposite: he didn’t aspire to leadership, he did not consider it necessary to justify himself. He took the well-deserved punishment in silence and meekly, which indicates the absence of cunning, and the presence of pride.
The main difference, about which Andriy and Ostap characterizes the attentive reader, is the place of a woman in the soul of each of them. If the older brother does not even think about it, the younger one knew the need for love early, as soon as he was eighteen.
The attitude of Taras Bulba to the weak half of humanity is more than contemptuous. “The Cossack is not about messing with the women,” is the peremptory characteristic of Taras. Ostap, apparently, his father managed to educate in the "right" spirit. He didn’t succeed with the younger one: while still studying, he meets the “beautiful Polish girl”, the daughter of the visiting governor, in Kiev, and falls in love with her mortally. This feeling will lead him to death.
Training in battle
Arriving in Sich, the elder Bulba immediately begins to incite the ataman of the cat to make a military campaign (so that the sons sniff the gunpowder). Having been refused, the old colonel bursts into an angry tirade, the meaning of which is that life without war is meaningless.
In the end, Taras is finally "lucky." In Kosh, there is a Kozak with the unkind news that the Poles are oppressing Orthodox people throughout Ukraine, and even the churches are now owned by Jews - in order to serve the service, one must pay the "Jews." Having killed some of the sons of Israel in the vicinity of Sich, the Cossacks go on a valiant campaign and come to the fortified city of Dubno, whose inhabitants are ready to fight to the last, but not surrender to the mercy of the Zaporozhye army. It cannot be said that this position is incorrect: the description of the feats of arms of the Cossacks does not suggest thoughts of mercy, where: wherever the brave warriors passed, they burned, killed, robbed and tortured - such, Gogol repeats, were the customs of that cruel time .
Reason and Passion
So, Dubno does not give up, but its inhabitants are in a difficult situation: there is no food in the city, the surrounding villages are looted, and the Cossacks settled in front of the walls, intending to hold a siege until hunger does what the weapons could not.
During the battles, it becomes completely clear what the eldest son of Taras is Ostap Bulba: the characteristic given to him by his father is the most flattering: “There will eventually be a good colonel, and even such that he will shut up the old man!” The eldest of the brothers, in spite of a rather young age (he is twenty-two), manifests himself as a person created to “carry out military affairs”. He is brave, cold-blooded, prudent in battle, able to sensibly assess his position and enemy forces. His thought is occupied with victory - and he finds a way to achieve the desired, even temporarily retreating.
Here, the difference between the brothers is finally determined: the characteristics of Andria and Ostap do not contradict what is already known about them, on the contrary - they are supplemented by new facts.
The youngest son of Taras sees in the battle "rabid bliss and rapture." He is not inclined to preliminary estimates or thoughts: this is nature, rather passionate and sensual, rather than calm and judicious. Sometimes, with the onslaught of desperate courage, he manages to accomplish the impossible, and then the father approves the son, nevertheless giving preference to the elder: “And this is a good ... warrior! Not Ostap, but kind, kind is also a warrior! ”
Betrayal of Andria
Under the besieged city, the Cossacks languish from boredom, drink, play tricks. The Zaporizhzhya discipline described by Gogol would horrify a military specialist: the entire camp is asleep, and only Andriy wanders the steppes with a constrained heart - not otherwise, he foresees his fate. And indeed: somebody’s ghostly figure is sneaking. Amazed, he recognizes the handmaid of his Kiev acquaintance: the Tatar, having chosen an underground passage from the besieged city, came to ask Andriy for bread for her little darling.
The behavior of the heroes during subsequent events is consistent with the personality of each of them. We can say that the characterization of Taras Bulba, Ostap, Andria is complete - it remains only to understand how spiritual qualities can determine fate.
The youngest member of the family, sensual and seeking pleasure, loses his head. Going to the beautiful Polish girl with bread, Andriy forgets his duty and his homeland. “My fatherland is you!” He says to his beloved, and remains in the besieged city, going over to the side of the enemy.
The news of the betrayal of the son, brought by the Jew Yankel, hurt Taras. Attempts to console him were in vain: the old colonel recalled that "the power of a weak woman is great ... that the nature of Andria is supple on this side."
Death of sons
Nevertheless, the recognition of filial weakness does not prompt Bulba to forgiveness - he is stubborn, cruel and ruthless in his principles: having lured the younger offspring into the forest during the battle, the father kills his son with the words that have long become winged: “I gave birth to you, I and you I’ll kill you! ”
Having lost one son, the father gives all his love and pride to another. Cruelly chopped up in battle, surviving by a miracle, he goes to Warsaw itself to try to rescue Ostap from captivity - but this, unfortunately, cannot be done. My father didn’t have a chance to see his son (not least because of the temper of Taras himself, who could not bear the insults of the guard whom Yankel, whom we knew, tried to bribe with flattering speeches and gold coins .
Having left hope, the old Bulba is present in the square where the prisoners are executed, and the characteristic of Ostap given earlier is again confirmed. Under torture, he does not utter a sound, so as not to give the “heretics” - Poles the pleasure of hearing moaning moans. His soul trembled only once, in the most cruel torment, and then, succumbing to weakness (probably the only time in his short life), Ostap shouted in mental anguish: “Father! Where are you! Do you hear ?! ” And Bulba standing among the onlookers answered his beloved son: “I hear!”.