What is the conflict in the poem The Bronze Horseman. Power and man in the poem “The Bronze Horseman” by A.S. Pushkin The theme of power in the poem The Bronze Horseman

Poem " Bronze Horseman"Written by A. S. Pushkin in 1833. It reflected a contemporary event for Pushkin - the flood of 1824. In the poem there is no traditional division of heroes into main and secondary ones, and next to the heroic theme of Peter there is another theme - the theme of “little people”, the urban poor, their joys and sufferings. This mixture of characters contains an important ideological meaning: fate ordinary person assessed from a historical perspective.

Peter I is the hero of the poem. This is the sovereign-transformer, he symbolizes new Russia. In the poem, his image and the image of the Bronze Horseman coincide. The rearing horse is ready to carry its proud rider across the dark waters of the rebellious Neva. This image conveys the character of the reformer king and his reforms. Peter I does not raise his horse on its hind legs, but the whole of Russia. In his impulse, he forgets about everything, he looks only far ahead and does not notice what is here, next to him.

And next to the Great King are ordinary mortal people who, by his will and desire, became hostages of the elements. Another hero of the poem is Eugene, a petty official from an impoverished noble family. His life is simple and uncomplicated. Only simple everyday joys brighten up the days of his life, where each next day is similar to the previous one. And there is only one dream, one bright spot in the series of these days - his beloved Parasha, who lives on Vasilyevsky Island in a small house with her mother. But the flood of 1824 destroys not only houses and embankments, the raging elements destroy Eugene’s dream world. A terrible flood finds the hero on the banks of the Neva. To protect himself from the streams of water that wash away everything in its path, Evgeniy looks for a high place and does not remember how he ends up in the square next to the monument to Peter I. Now they are side by side and together they are equally equal in the face of the forces of raging water. Eugene watches what is happening with horror and delight; probably, the creator of the great city could have experienced the same feelings. The water gradually subsides, and Evgeny’s first thoughts are about Parasha, he strives to the other side, to the island to a cute house. But horror seizes the hero at the sight of the picture of destruction - there is no small house on the shore, the water did not spare it, it was washed away, the water took both Parasha and her mother.

Grief and despair are replaced by bitterness. Not remembering himself, Eugene returns to the place where he waited out the flood, that is, to the monument to Peter. But now completely different feelings fill the hero’s soul. He was almost mad with grief. Only the pain of loss and the horror of what he experienced live in him. He is looking for the culprit of what happened. He looks up and sees the Great Peter above him, proud and strong. And Eugene suddenly realizes that it is the tsar who is to blame for everything that happened. Terrible words of accusation and threats escape from the hero’s lips, and he addresses these words to the king.

The clash of two unequal forces is presented by Pushkin in the poem: on the one hand, the forces of nature. And akin to these elemental forces is the power of the Tsar, who managed to subjugate all of Russia, forcing other countries and states to reckon with Russia. On the other hand, the power of feelings " little man", who has nothing in life, or even if there is something - a beloved, hope for simple, ordinary human happiness - then it can all be destroyed in an instant by the forces of nature or an autocrat, because no one will ever think about a simple person.

Compared to Peter's grandiose plans and ideas, Eugene's dreams are insignificant. But Pushkin is far from the idea that his hero is wretched and spiritually poor. On the contrary, the desire for personal happiness is quite natural and logical. In Pushkin’s portrayal, Evgeny is honest, striving for independence, he dreams of “providing himself with both independence and honor.” Moreover, it should be noted that Evgeniy is a thinking person. He understands that the culprit in the death of his happiness is the “idol on a bronze horse.”

After the flood, Eugene’s attitude towards Peter changes, and the very image of the Great Transformer also changes:

He is terrible in the surrounding darkness!

What a thought on the brow!

What power is hidden in it!..

Eugene sees before him a terrible, menacing, merciless king. The statue seems to come to life. Eugene rebels against the Bronze Horseman, who now personifies the stronghold of autocratic power:

Already for you!

The Bronze Horseman and Eugene embody the tragic contradictions of history, in which state and personal interests coexist in opposition.

Ticket No. 12 1 question “The Thunderstorm” Ostrovsky’s most decisive work

After Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” was published and staged, contemporaries saw in it a call for renewal of life, for freedom, since it was written in 1860, when everyone was waiting for the abolition of serfdom in the country.
At the center of the play is a socio-political conflict: the conflict between the masters of life, representatives of the “dark kingdom”, and their victims.
Against the backdrop of a beautiful landscape, the unbearable life of ordinary people is depicted. But the picture of nature begins to gradually change: the sky is covered with clouds, thunderclaps are heard. A thunderstorm is approaching, but does this phenomenon only occur in nature? No. So what did the author mean by a thunderstorm?
There is a deep meaning hidden in this name. For the first time this word flashed in the scene of farewell to Tikhon. He says: “...For two weeks there will be no thunderstorm over me.” Tikhon wants to get rid of the feeling of fear and dependence, at least for a while. In the work, a thunderstorm means fear and liberation from it. This is fear instilled by tyrants - fear of retribution for sins. “A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment,” teaches Dikoy Kuligina. The power of this fear extends to many of the characters in the drama and does not even pass by Katerina. Katerina is religious and considers it a sin that she fell in love with Boris. “I didn’t know that you were so afraid of thunderstorms,” Varvara tells her. “How, girl, not to be afraid! - Katerina answers. - Everyone should be afraid. It’s not so scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly catch you as you are, with all your sins...” Only the self-taught mechanic Kuligin was not afraid of a thunderstorm, he saw in it a majestic and beautiful spectacle, but not at all dangerous for a person who can easily calm its destructive power with the help of a simple lightning rod pole. Addressing the crowd, overwhelmed with superstitious horror, Kuligin says: “Well, what are you afraid of, pray tell. Now every grass, every flower is rejoicing, but we are hiding, afraid, as if some misfortune is coming! Eh, people. I’m not afraid.”
If in nature a thunderstorm has already begun, then in life its approach is visible from subsequent events. The “dark kingdom” is undermined by Kuligin’s reason and common sense; Katerina expresses her protest: although her actions are unconscious, she does not want to come to terms with the painful living conditions and decides her own fate: she rushes into the Volga. In all this lies the main meaning of the realistic symbol, the symbol of a thunderstorm. However, it is ambiguous. There is something elemental and natural in Katerina’s love for Boris, just like in a thunderstorm. However, unlike a thunderstorm, love brings joy; however, this is not the case with Katerina, if only because she is a married woman. But Katerina is not afraid of this love, just as Kuligin is not afraid of thunderstorms. She says to Boris: “...If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” The storm is hidden in the very character of the heroine; she herself says that even in childhood, offended by someone, she ran away from home and sailed alone in a boat along the Volga.
The play was perceived by contemporaries as a sharp denunciation of the existing order in the country. Dobrolyubov said this about Ostrovsky’s drama: “..."The Thunderstorm" is, without a doubt, Ostrovsky's most decisive work... There is something refreshing and encouraging in "The Thunderstorm". This “something” is, in our opinion, the background of the play, indicated by us and revealing the precariousness and the near end of tyranny...”
Both the playwright himself and his contemporaries believed in this.

At all times, the relationship between the individual and the authorities has worried people. Sophocles was one of the first to raise the topic of conflict between the individual and the state in literature back in the 5th century BC. This conflict was inevitable, this problem remained relevant in the 19th century, during the time of Pushkin, and it is still relevant to this day.

In the works of Pushkin special place occupied by the Poem “The Bronze Horseman”. This peculiarity lies in the fact that the current reader can see in it predictions that have come true in contemporary history. The conflict between the state and the individual still occurs today. As before, the individual risks his freedom and life, and the state, its authority.

The poem begins with a wonderful picture of St. Petersburg, presented to the reader as “midnight lands of beauty and wonder.” Petersburg appears completely different to us in the poem “The Bronze Horseman,” written by Pushkin in 1833. This is the capital of a strong European state, brilliant, rich, magnificent, but cold and hostile for the “little man”. The sight of an incredible city, which, by human will, stood “on the banks of the Neva” is amazing. It seems that it is full of harmony and high, almost divine, meaning. Nevertheless, it was built by people who carried out human will. This man, to whose will millions are obedient, who embodied the idea of ​​the state, is Peter. Undoubtedly, Pushkin treats Peter as a great man. That is why, in the first lines of the poem, he appears as such. Having squeezed out the meager nature, dressed the banks of the Neva in granite, creating a city that has never existed before, it is truly majestic. But Peter here is also a creator, and therefore a man. Peter stands on the shore “full of great thoughts.” Thoughts, thoughts are another feature of his human appearance.

So, in the first part of the poem we see the dual image of Peter. On the one hand, he is the personification of the state, almost God, creating with his sovereign will fairytale city from scratch, on the other - a person, a creator. But, having once appeared like this at the beginning of the poem, Peter will later be completely different.

At the time when the action of the poem takes place, Peter’s human essence already becomes the property of history. What remains is the copper Peter - an idol, an object of worship, a symbol of sovereignty. The very material of the monument - copper - speaks volumes. This is the material of bells and coins. Religion and the church as the pillars of the state, finance, without which it is unthinkable, are all united in copper. Resonant, but dull and green-tinged metal, very suitable for a “state horseman”.

Unlike him, Evgeny is a living person. He is the complete antithesis of Peter in everything else. Evgeniy did not build cities; he can be called a philistine. He “does not remember his kinship,” although his surname, as the author clarifies, is one of the noble ones. Evgeniy's plans are simple:

"Well, I'm young and healthy,

Ready to work day and night,

I’ll arrange something for myself

Shelter humble and simple

And in it I will calm Parasha...”

To explain the essence of the conflict in the poem, it is necessary to talk about its third main character, the elements. Peter's force of will, which created the city, was not only a creative act, but also an act of violence. And this violence, having changed in a historical perspective, now, in the time of Eugene, returns in the form of a riot of elements. You can even see the opposite contrast between the images of Peter and the elements. Just as motionless, although majestic, Peter is, so unbridled and mobile is the element. An element that, ultimately, he himself gave birth to. Thus, Peter, as a generalized image, is opposed by the elements, and specifically by Eugene. It would seem, how can an insignificant man in the street even be compared with the bulk of a copper giant?

To explain this, it is necessary to see the development of the images of Eugene and Peter, which occurred at the time of their direct collision. Having long ceased to be a man, Peter is now a copper statue. But his metamorphoses do not stop there. A beautiful, magnificent horseman discovers the ability to become something that most resembles watchdog. After all, it is in this capacity that he chases Eugene around the city. Evgeniy is also changing. From an indifferent philistine he turns into a frightened philistine (the riot of the elements!), and then desperate courage comes to him, allowing him to shout: “Already for you!” This is how two personalities meet in a conflict (for now Evgeniy is also a personality), each going their own way to it.

The first result of the conflict is Eugene's insanity. But is this madness? Perhaps we can say that there are truths full meaning which the weak human mind cannot bear. Great Emperor, like a watchdog chasing the smallest of his subjects, is a funny and terrible figure at the same time. Therefore, Eugene’s laughter is understandable, but his mental illness is also understandable: he came face to face with the state itself, with its copper, merciless face.

So, the conflict between the individual and the state: is it resolved in the poem? Yes and no. Of course, Eugene dies, the person who directly opposed the state in the form of the Bronze Horseman dies. The revolt is suppressed, but the image of the elements that runs through the entire poem remains a disturbing warning. The destruction in the city is enormous. The number of victims is high. Nothing can withstand the elements of flooding. The Bronze Horseman himself stands, washed by muddy waves. He, too, is powerless to stop their onslaught. All this suggests that any violence inevitably entails retribution. In a strong-willed, violent manner, Peter established among wildlife a city that will now forever be subject to attacks from the elements. And who knows whether Eugene, who was so in vain and casually destroyed, will not become a small drop of anger, the gigantic wave of which will one day sweep away the copper idol?

A state that endlessly suppresses its subjects in the name of its goals is impossible. They, the subjects, are more important and primary than the state itself. Figuratively speaking, the Finnish waves will forget their “enmity and their ancient captivity” when Evgenia, to be happy with her Parasha, does not need anyone’s permission. Otherwise it's a disaster popular revolt, no less terrible than the flood, will carry out its judgment without distinguishing between right and wrong. This, in my opinion, is the essence of the conflict between man and the state.

There are a number of differing opinions as to what the main idea of ​​the poem “The Bronze Horseman” is. V. G. Belinsky, who argued that the main idea of ​​the poem is the triumph of “the general over the particular,” with the author’s obvious sympathy for “the suffering of this particular,” was obviously right. A.S. Pushkin sings the anthem to the capital of the Russian state:

I love you, Petra's creation,

I love your strict, slender appearance,

Neva sovereign current,

Its coastal granite,

Your fences have a cast iron pattern...

“Pompously, proudly” the city rose “from the darkness of the forests and swamps of blat” and became the heart of a mighty state:

Show off, city Petrov, and stand

Unshakable, like Russia.

>Essays on the work The Bronze Horseman

People and power

In his poem “The Bronze Horseman,” Alexander Pushkin, for the first time in Russian literature, contrasted the state, personified in the image of Peter I, and a person with his personal interests and experiences. It was written during the Boldino autumn, namely in 1833. This was one of the most fruitful periods in the poet’s work. At the center of the poem is the conflict between a petty official from the poor class and the “Bronze Horseman” on Senate Square, personifying Peter the Great.

Already in the introduction we are introduced to the image of a motionless, majestic statue facing the raging Neva. In the second part, the statue comes to life and pursues Eugene, distraught with grief. How did this happen? Due to a natural disaster, the poor official lost faith in life and hope for any future. The Neva destroyed one half of St. Petersburg and took with it the lives of many people. Among the victims was the hero’s beloved, with whom he connected all his dreams of a strong family.

For this natural disaster, he angrily blames Peter the Great, who ordered the construction of St. Petersburg on a swampy area. Evgeny himself lives on the outskirts of the city and considers himself to be of the poor class. Despite the fact that his ancestors once belonged to a noble family, he chose a bourgeois lifestyle. Therefore, the author notes that he himself is partly to blame for his fate. He, as an individual representative of a large state, also bears responsibility for the well-being of Russia.

Therefore, his rebellion is shown as senseless and punishable. Out of grief, it begins to seem to Eugene that the statue has come to life and is chasing him around the city with a heavy tread, and anger sparkles in the eyes of the revived Peter I. After that case main character When passing by Senate Square, he invariably takes off his hat and lowers his eyes guiltily. Thus, we see that in A.S. Pushkin’s poem there are two truths and both are reliable in their own way. The poet, as a representative of the people, is close to Eugene’s pain.

At the same time, he admires the great deeds of the reformer king, who transformed the country and made it a powerful power. Therefore, it is fair to say that there is true depth, humanity and hard truth in this poem.

Composition

If the term “masterpieces of Pushkin’s creativity” is acceptable, then the poem “The Bronze Horseman” undoubtedly belongs to their number. Historical, philosophical, lyrical motifs merged into a single artistic alloy. And the “St. Petersburg story,” as Pushkin defined it by genre, acquired those features of scale that make it possible to classify “The Bronze Horseman” as an “eternal,” priceless monument of poetry that has not been fully solved.

At the center of the poem is the personality of Peter I, the great transformer, whose activities constantly interested the poet, because Peter’s era is one of the major turns in the history of Russia.

The poem “The Bronze Horseman” is Pushkin’s grandiose philosophical reflection on the progressive course of history. The introduction is compositionally contrasted with two parts in which the plot of the “St. Petersburg story” unfolds. It gives a majestic image of Peter the transformer, carrying out the great national work that many generations have dreamed of - the strengthening of the Russian state on the shores of the Baltic Sea:

From here we will threaten the Swede,

The city will be founded here

To spite an arrogant neighbor

Nature destined us here

Open a window to Europe...

Peter appears here both as the conqueror of nature itself, its elements, and as the embodiment of the victory of culture and civilization over the savagery and backwardness that for centuries reigned “on the shores of desert waves” before him.

Pushkin composed a poetic hymn to the mighty power of the mind, will and creative work of a person capable of such a miracle as the construction of a great and beautiful city, a symbol of a new, transformed Russia, from the “darkness of forests” and “topi blat”.

This is an example of a man who, it seemed, could predict the turn in the course of history and turn Russia into its new direction, could, it turns out, become the “master of fate” not only of his own, but of all of Russia:

O mighty lord of fate!

Aren't you above the abyss?

At a height, in the grip of an iron...

Raised Russia on its hind legs?

Yes, Peter raised Russia on its hind legs, but also on the rack at the same time. Autocrat and tyrant. A man of power, corrupted by this power, using it for great and low. great person, humiliating the dignity of other people. Herzen wrote: “Peter I is the most complete type of the era or the executioner genius called to life, for whom the state was everything and the person was nothing, he began our hard labor of history, which lasted a century and a half and achieved colossal results.” These words can be used as an epigraph to The Bronze Horseman.

...A hundred years pass, Peter’s brilliant plan has been realized. The appearance of St. Petersburg - “Peter's creation” - Pushkin paints with a feeling of pride and admiration. The lyrical part of the introduction ends with a hymn to Peter and his cause, the inviolability of which is the guarantee of the dignity and greatness of Russia renewed by him:

Show off, city Petrov, and stand

Unshakable, like Russia.

But the sublime pathos of the introduction gives way to the sad story of the subsequent chapters. What did Peter's reforms lead to? Has it become better for an ordinary, poor person? Pushkin tells the life story of a poor official Evgeniy, who is tenderly in love with Parasha.

Eugene’s dreams of family happiness and personal independence are quite legitimate, but, alas, they are not destined to come true. The spontaneous disturbance of nature, opposed to the reasonable will of Peter, brings death to both Parasha and all the poor people.

Pushkin transfers the clash between the elements and the rational activity of Peter to the social and philosophical plane. Eugene is no longer opposed by Peter the reformer, but by the autocratic order that is personified in the bronze statue (“an idol on a bronze horse”). Eugene feels the power of Peter’s despotism, which appeared to him in the image of the Bronze Horseman, a “proud idol.” And he bravely challenges him: “Already you! ..." But the rebellion of a desperate loner is meaningless. Having barely challenged his idol, Evgeniy, horrified by his own audacity, runs away. Broken, crushed, he ends his days pitifully.

But what about the proud horseman, “the ruler of half the world”? All the tension, the whole climax of the poem is in the eerie, mystical picture that followed Eugene’s challenge.

He runs and hears behind him

It's like thunder

Heavy ringing galloping

Along the shaken pavement.

And, illuminated by the pale moon,

Stretching out your hand on high,

The Bronze Horseman rushes after him

On a loud galloping horse.

It turns out that the pitiful cry of the poor madman was enough for the proud idol to lose peace and begin to pursue his victim with satanic zeal.

The poem can be assessed in different ways. In it many saw the chanting of a strong state power who has the right to neglect the fate of an individual for the sake of the common good. But there is something else in Pushkin’s poem - a hymn to humanism, sympathy for the “little man” who rebelled against the “fatal will.”

The will of Peter, the inconsistency of his actions, is the point of symbolic conjugation of all the plot components of the story about the poor St. Petersburg official - natural, fantastic, historical, mysteriously connected with the fate of post-Petrine Russia.

The greatness of Peter, the progressiveness of his actions turn into the death of a poor man who has the right to happiness. The conflict between the state and the individual is inevitable. The individual always suffers defeat when his interests come into conflict with the autocratic order. Harmony between the individual and the state cannot be achieved on the basis of an unjust social order. This idea of ​​Pushkin is confirmed by all tragic story our country.

Other works on this work

One of the main issues of creativity of A.S. Pushkin was the question of the relationship between the individual and the state, as well as the ensuing problem of the “little man”. It is known that it was Pushkin who seriously developed this problem, which was later “picked up” by N.V. Gogol, and F.M. Dostoevsky.

Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman” reveals the eternal conflict - the contradiction between the interests of the individual and the state. Pushkin believed that this conflict was inevitable, at least in Russia. It is impossible to govern the state and take into account the interests of every “little person”. Moreover, Russia is a semi-Asian country, where despotism and tyranny reigned since ancient times, which was taken for granted by both the people and the rulers.
The poem has a subtitle - “The Petersburg Tale”, followed by a preface emphasizing the reality of everything described: “The incident described in this story is based on the truth. Details of the flood are taken from magazines of the time. The curious can consult the news compiled by V. N. Berkh.”

In the introduction to the poem, a majestic image of Peter I is created, who glorified his name with many deeds. Without a doubt, Pushkin pays tribute to the power and talent of Peter. This tsar “made” Russia in many ways and contributed to its prosperity. On the poor and wild banks of a small river, Peter built a grandiose city, one of the most beautiful in the world. St. Petersburg became a symbol of a new, enlightened and strong power:

...there now

Along busy shores
Slender communities crowd together
Palaces and towers; ships
A crowd from all over the world
They strive for rich marinas...
The poet loves St. Petersburg with all his soul. For him, this is his homeland, the capital, the personification of the country. He wishes this city eternal prosperity. But the following words of the lyrical hero are important and interesting: “May the defeated element make peace with you...”

The hero of the poem, Eugene, is a simple resident of the capital, one of many. His life is narrated in the first part of the work. Evgeniy’s life is filled with pressing everyday concerns: how to feed himself, where to get money. The hero wonders why some are given everything, while others are given nothing. After all, these “others” do not shine at all with either intelligence or hard work, and for them “life is much easier.” Here the theme of the “little man” and his insignificant position in society begins to develop. He is forced to endure injustices and blows of fate only because he was born “small”.

Among other things, we learn that Eugene has plans for the future. He is going to marry a simple girl like him, Parasha. Beloved Evgenia and her mother live on the banks of the Neva in a small house. The hero dreams of starting a family, having children, he dreams that in old age his grandchildren will take care of them.

But Evgeniy’s dreams were not destined to come true. A terrible flood interfered with his plans. It destroyed almost the entire city, but it also destroyed the hero’s life, killed and destroyed his soul. The rising waters of the Neva destroyed Parasha's house and killed the girl herself and her mother. What was left for poor Eugene? It is interesting that the entire poem is accompanied by the definition - “poor”. This epithet speaks of the author’s attitude towards his hero - an ordinary resident, a simple person, with whom he sympathizes with all his heart.

The poem “The Bronze Horseman” was written by Pushkin in 1833. It combines two themes: personality and people and the theme of the “little man”.

The poem has a subtitle - “The Petersburg Tale”. He points to the same two themes: historical and majestic, and also the theme of the common man.
This is followed by the preface: “The incident described in this story is based on truth. Details of the flood are taken from magazines of the time. The curious can consult the news compiled by V. N. Berkh.”

In the introduction to the poem, a majestic image of Peter I is created, who glorified his name with many glorious deeds. “From the darkness of the forests” and “topi blat” he creates a beautiful city. St. Petersburg was the personification of the power and glory of Russia. “To spite an arrogant neighbor” Peter I strengthened Russian state on the shores of the Baltic Sea, etc. Even after a hundred years, St. Petersburg is beautiful and majestic. According to the poet, it is the best city on earth. The introduction ends with a hymn to Peter and Petersburg:

Show off, city Petrov, and stand
Invincible, like Russia.

The main part of the poem tells about life contemporary to Pushkin. St. Petersburg is still as beautiful as it was under Peter. But the poet also sees another image of the capital. This city marks a sharp boundary between " strongmen of the world this" and ordinary residents. St. Petersburg is a city of contrasts, where “little people” live and suffer.

One of these people is Evgeniy, the hero of the work. It is described in the first part of the poem. This is an “ordinary man.” He is a descendant of a glorious and ancient family, but now an ordinary Russian man in the street. Evgeniy is an ordinary minor employee. He receives a tiny salary and dreams of rising to the rank of “shtetl.” In addition, the hero also has personal plans: to find quiet family happiness with the girl Parasha, who is as poor as the hero himself. She lives with her mother in a “dilapidated house” on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. But a terrible flood begins, destroying everything in its path. It destroys houses, deprives people of shelter, warmth and even life:

Trays under a wet veil,
Wrecks of huts, logs, roofs,
Stock trade goods,
The belongings of pale poverty,
Bridges demolished by thunderstorms,
Coffins from a washed-out cemetery
Floating through the streets!

Evgeny is worried about his Parasha. Their dilapidated house should be washed away by the waves of the Neva first. At the end of the first part, the hero seems to see this disaster. And above everything, calmly and majestically, rises the monument to Peter.

The second part of the poem depicts the consequences of the flood. For Evgeny they are scary. The hero loses everything: his beloved girl, shelter, hopes for happiness. The distraught Eugene considers the Bronze Horseman, a double of Peter himself, to be the culprit of his tragedy. In his frustrated imagination, the Bronze Horseman is a “proud idol”, “by whose fateful will the city was founded here”, who “raised Russia on its hind legs with an iron bridle”, “he is terrible.”

Memories of the tragedy on the flooded Petrovskaya Square turn Evgeny, filled with hatred and indignation, into a rebel:

And, clenching my teeth, clenching my fingers,
As if possessed by black power,
“Welcome, miraculous builder! -
He whispered, trembling angrily, -
Already for you!..”

But Eugene’s rebellion is just a flash, completely meaningless. The fight with the Bronze Horseman is insane and hopeless: until the morning he pursues the unfortunate Eugene through the streets and squares of St. Petersburg.

As a result, Evgeniy dies next to the destroyed house of Parasha:
At the threshold
They found my madman,
And then his cold corpse
Buried for God's sake.
Problems of the poem by A. S. Pushkin “The Bronze Horseman”
The transformer appears before us at the moment when he accepts the most important thing for all subsequent Russian history decision: “The city will be founded here...”.
The author contrasts the monumental figure of the king with the image of harsh and wild nature. The picture against the backdrop of which the figure of the king appears before us is bleak (a lonely boat, mossy and marshy banks, wretched huts of the “Chukhons”). Before Peter’s gaze is a wide-spread river rushing into the distance; There is a forest around, “unknown to the rays of the hidden sun in the fog.” But the ruler's gaze is directed to the future. Russia must establish itself on the shores of the Baltic; this is necessary for the country’s prosperity:

All the flags will visit us,
And we’ll record it in the open air.
A hundred years passed, and Peter’s great dream came true:
...young city,
There is beauty and wonder in full countries,
From the darkness of the forests, from the swamps of blat
He ascended magnificently, proudly...

pronounces an enthusiastic hymn to the creation of Peter, confesses his love for the “young city”, before whose splendor “old Moscow faded.” However, the poet's attitude towards Peter was contradictory. If in “Stanzas” Pushkin sees in the activities of the tsar a model of public service to the Fatherland, then later, in “Notes on Russian History of the 18th Century,” he points out the cruelty of this monarch and the autocratic nature of power during his reign.
This contradiction would trouble Pushkin during his work on the poem “The Bronze Horseman.” Peter the autocrat is presented not in any specific acts, but in the symbolic image of the Bronze Horseman as the personification of inhuman statehood. Even in those lines where Pushkin seems to glorify the work of Peter, an intonation of alarm can already be heard:

Powerful lord of fate!
Aren't you above the very abyss,
At the height, with an iron bridle
Raised Russia on its hind legs?

The image of a shining, lively, lush city is replaced in the first part of the poem by a picture of a terrible, destructive flood, expressive images of a raging element over which man has no control. The element sweeps away everything in its path, carrying away in streams of water fragments of buildings and destroyed bridges, “belongings of pale poverty” and even coffins “from a washed-out cemetery.” The image of indomitable natural forces appears here as a symbol of a “senseless and merciless” popular revolt. Among those whose lives were destroyed by the flood is Eugene, whose peaceful concerns the author speaks of at the beginning of the first part of the poem. Evgeny is an “ordinary man”: he has neither money nor rank, “serves somewhere” and dreams of setting up a “humble and simple shelter” for himself in order to marry the girl he loves and go through life’s journey with her:

And we will live like this until the grave,
We'll both get there hand in hand...

The poem does not indicate the hero's surname or his age; nothing is said about Eugene's past, his appearance, or character traits. Having deprived Evgeny of his individual characteristics, the author turns him into an ordinary, faceless person from the crowd. However, in an extreme, critical situation, Evgeny seems to awaken from sleep and sheds the guise of a “nonentity”. In a world of raging elements, an idyll is impossible. Parasha dies in a flood, and the hero finds himself faced with terrible questions: what is human life? Isn’t she just an empty dream, “the mockery of heaven over earth”?

Eugene's confused mind cannot withstand the "terrible shocks." He goes crazy, leaves his home and wanders around the city in tattered and shabby clothes, indifferent to everything except the “noise of internal anxiety” that fills him. Like an ancient prophet who has reached the unrighteousness of the world, Eugene is fenced off from people and despised by them. The similarity between Pushkin's hero and the prophet becomes especially clear when Eugene, in his madness, suddenly begins to see the light and unleashes his anger on the “proud idol.”

Throughout the entire poem, through its entire figurative structure, there is a duality of faces, pictures and meanings: two Peters (Peter living, thinking, “powerful lord of fate” and his transformation Bronze Horseman, a frozen statue), two Eugenes (petty official, downtrodden, humiliated by power , and a madman who raised his hand against the “miraculous builder”), two Neva (the decoration of the city, the “sovereign flow” and the main threat to the lives of people and the city), two Petersburgs (“Peter’s creation”, “young city” and the city of corners and basements of the poor , killer city). This duality of the figurative structure contains not only the main compositional, but also the main philosophical thought of Pushkin: the Thought about man, his self-worth.

“The Bronze Horseman” is both a heroic poem about the creative activity of Peter I, and a tragic story about a poor St. Petersburg official, a victim of “historical necessity” (it is no coincidence that the author gave the poem a meaningful subtitle: “The Petersburg Tale”).
Poetics

Pushkin himself defined the genre of The Bronze Horseman with the term "Petersburg story", in this case, “The Bronze Horseman” is the beginning of a new and very popular genre in Russian literature, later represented by N.V. Gogol’s “Petersburg Tales”, the works of the authors of the “natural school” (collection “Physiology of Petersburg”), and the works of Dostoevsky (“ Poor People", "Double", "White Nights", etc.), Blok, A. Bely, etc. But in the collected works of Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman", as a rule, is published in the section of poems, in this case it last poem Pushkin. In both cases, “The Bronze Horseman” is a landmark work that requires special attention.

In terms of genre, “The Bronze Horseman” is close to “small tragedies” - an oxymoron in the title, a similar motif of a statue coming to life, the theme of man’s rebellion against history itself.

Fantasy and symbolic imagery. The fantasy in “The Bronze Horseman” has a realistic motivation - it is a figment of the imagination of the sick Eugene. “Like any realistically motivated fiction, it has a symbolic, completely logically indefinable meaning, suggested, however, by the symbolism of the Falconet monument to Peter itself,” that is, the rider is the king, the horse is his people and state, the snake at his feet is the machinations of the atrocities that hindered Peter . The symbolic imagery of the monument influenced the story about it: in “The Bronze Horseman”, for example, the flood does not mean itself, of course, but some raging element.

What does a giant care about the death of the unknown?

The poem “The Bronze Horseman” was written in Boldin in the fall of 1833. This “Petersburg story” was not completely authorized by Nicholas I for publication, and only the beginning of it was published by Pushkin in the “Library for Reading”, under the title: “Petersburg. An excerpt from the poem” . What didn’t the king like? Pushkin’s portrayal of his great-grandfather, the dubiousness of the main idea and the word “idol” in relation to the emperor. But it is not for nothing that the poet calls Peter “an idol”; he defends this word, then even tries to change it, but abandons the corrections without bringing them to completion.