"Moral Man" N. Nekrasov

ON THE. Nekrasov, as soon as he became a co-owner of the Sovremennik magazine, published his short and capacious work in the very first issue in 1847. It came out under the title "Moral Man" (Nekrasov). The history of the journal goes back to A.S. Pushkin.

Transformations of Sovremennik

When a new printed edition appeared in 1836, it appeared four times a year and was completely unprofitable, moreover, ruinous. By 1843 there was a perfect crisis. Its publisher, P.A. Pletnev, in 1846 finally "got rid of" him: he sold him to Nekrasov and Panaev.

And the magazine quickly became popular, because the best domestic writers, critics, and historians were involved in working with it. During this period, the poet, with a very deep share of satire, describes in his works his contemporary society: bribe-takers, careerists, swindlers. A striking example is the "Moral Man" (Nekrasov). The analysis of the poem, the behavior of its protagonist is the topic of our article.

satirical portrait

In four stanzas, ten lines each, the poet, as if from pieces of a mosaic, put together the image of his hero. This is a completely immoral type, which gave the name to the work - "Moral Man" (Nekrasov). We begin our analysis of the poem with the first stanza. It is absolutely impossible to live with such a boring, cowardly, perverse concept of morality, and proud of himself, a narcissistic type. His wife went on a date with a noble man, and the hero, remaining with "clean hands", "sneaked" to them with the police. He prudently declined the duel. And the wife died in anguish. The moralist "did no harm to anyone in his life." In this case, he took advantage of public ethics.

Second episode

A friend did not repay the debt to our hero in a timely manner. How is this situation described in the work "The Moral Man" (Nekrasov)? An analysis of the poem cannot avoid this fact: the protagonist sent a friend to prison, where the borrower died. The sensitive scoundrel wept after death, saying that he "did no harm to anyone in his life." He is absolutely convinced of this, since formally the civil code is on his side.

Third episode

Our "moral man" taught the serf peasant to be a wonderful cook. But the trouble is, he was carried away by reading and thinking. Can this be allowed? What did the protagonist of the work "Moral Man" (Nekrasov) do? An analysis of the poem cannot be carried out without an evaluation of this episode. The hero thought for a moment. He simply whipped a man who realized that he had his own dignity.

According to the "moral man", he is the master, and only he has the right to think - this is how the whole society argues, and no one will condemn him. After that, the serf could not live in humiliation and drowned himself. "Found foolishness," - commented on the death of the cook "paternally" acted scoundrel, who again repeats that "he did no harm to anyone in his life."

Last episode

His daughter fell in love with a simple teacher. Is connivance possible? She must be cursed for this and take advantage of the parent's right to dispose of the life and happiness of her daughter. A moral person, more precisely, a vile and nasty man in the street, quickly marries her to a rich old man: supposedly everyone does this, and he is no exception.

A year passes, and his child dies of longing and grief. But the "moral man" is fully convinced that he "did no harm to anyone in his life."

Artistic means of the author

How does Nekrasov build his poem (“The Moral Man”)? The verse is written mainly in iambic two-foot, which includes pyrrhic. The combination is complex, it has cross paragraphs and paired rhymes. But it is read easily, without tension, naturally, like breathing. In his work Nekrasov ("The Moral Man"), the verse consists of four numbered quatrains, each of which has ten stanzas.

The author does not use epithets, comparisons, metaphors, using colloquial speech, which he is the first to boldly introduce into poetry. This gives worldly flavor to all the actions of the protagonist. His style is democratic. Bitter irony permeates the entire poem, since the artistic method is realism. The same refrain is repeated in every quatrain, drawing the reader's attention to the disgusting caricature that appears before us as an immoral cowardly egoist.

"Moral Man" (Nekrasov): Theme and Idea of ​​the Poem

The theme of the work was that time. The poet exposes everyone who hides under the mask of good manners and morality and does evil. He debunks every so-called decent person, showing meanness in close-up, and speaks about it openly and without embellishment. The denunciation of a society consisting of petty people who consider themselves the pillars on which the state rests became the main idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe poem.

Morality and corresponding moral norms are the basis of civilization and humanity of any society. When morality and moral foundations collapse, society collapses and a person degrades, which we can also observe in our modern civilization, which is increasingly drowning in.

- this is following certain Spiritual (moral) Principles: the principles of Honor, Conscience, Duty, Justice, Love, etc. Morality is the essence of the true Dignity of Man. A truly Worthy Person is a person who cannot be disrespected; with all his manifestations, he inspires respect, reverence, approval, love.

- this is the one who implements these spiritual principles in his life and they are embodied in him in the lead of the relevant beliefs and personal qualities such as honor, honesty, etc.

To paraphrase, morality can be defined as follows. - this is the correspondence of ideas, beliefs, values, actions and all manifestations of a person to moral norms, universal values ​​(kindness, non-violence, honesty, respect, etc.), and ideally to all Spiritual Laws.

It is Morality that is an indicator of the degree of spirituality of Man and Society. What is Spirituality.

Morality and the morality (rules of conduct, etc.) it gives birth to were previously formed by Religion, commandments (Spiritual Laws in a religious interpretation), and are now largely destroyed. Of course, it must be revived and formed purposefully.

What is the basis of morality? What creates morality and what destroys it

The basis of morality is the distinction and, and the choice of the path of Good. About whether there is Good and Evil -. It is the understanding of what is Good, what is considered Worthy, and what is Bad, what is unworthy, shameful, unacceptable for a Human and determines moral standards.

It is precisely because of the lack of adequate ideas about Good and Evil in modern society that morality is in decline, people are afflicted with vices and ignorance, and society as a whole is rapidly decomposing.

There is also a delusion that Morality is a set of restrictions that encroach on a person's freedom, restrain and block the manifestation of his individuality. This is a huge nonsense! Morality provides a vector, path and conditions for upward movement, under which a person can grow, develop at the highest speed, be protected from vices, possible moral decay and degradation, and be invulnerable to evil. It was during the highest periods of the flowering of spirituality, when the moral standard was realized to the maximum extent in society, in the education of personnel, citizens, in culture, education, in the traditions of society, that great empires and states reached their highest level of development, civilization, culture, to which even many modern states still have to go and go.

Living according to strict morality,

My wife, covering her face with a veil,
In the evening she went to her lover;
I sneaked into his house with the police
And he convicted ... He called: I did not fight!
She went to bed and died
Tormented by shame and sadness...

I have never done harm to anyone in my life.

I had a daughter; fell in love with the teacher
And I wanted to run away with him in a rush.
I threatened her with a curse: resigned
And she married a gray-haired rich man.
Their house was shiny and full, like a bowl;
But Masha suddenly began to turn pale and go out
And a year later she died in consumption,
Having struck the whole house with deep sadness ...
Living according to strict morality,
I have never harmed anyone in my life...

I gave the peasant as a cook:
He succeeded; a good cook is a blessing!
But often left the yard
And the name of an indecent predilection
Had: loved to read and reason.
I, tired of threatening and scolding,
Paternally cut him with a canal,
He took it and drowned himself: he found nonsense!
Living according to strict morality,
I have never done harm to anyone in my life.

My friend didn't show me the loan on time.
I, hinting in a friendly way to him,
The law has given us to judge:
The law sentenced him to prison.
He died in it without paying the altyn,
But I'm not angry, even though there is a reason to be angry!
I forgave him the debt on the same date,
Honoring him with tears and sadness ...
Living according to strict morality,
I have never done harm to anyone in my life.

Analysis of the poem "Moral Man" by Nekrasov

N. Nekrasov became famous for his works in the genre of civil lyrics, the main motive of which was the denunciation of the main social vices. At the same time, the main theme for the poet was the protection of the lower strata of society. The vast majority of Nekrasov's poems are devoted to the peasantry. But sometimes he dwelled in detail on the description of the representatives of the ruling class. A vivid example is the poem "Moral Man".

The author describes the life and work of a certain "moral man" with a huge dose of sarcasm. In compositional terms, the poem consists of four separate parts devoted to the relationship of the protagonist with completely different people.

In the first part, the "moral man" learns about his wife's infidelity. He exposes her with the help of the police, but refuses to be challenged to a duel. A disgraced woman dies, unable to endure the suffering that has befallen her.

The next act of the protagonist is a trial with a friend who owed him. The debtor was sentenced to imprisonment, in which he died.

The "moral man" taught his serf peasant the art of cooking. “Unfortunately”, along with the new profession, the peasant acquired a craving for knowledge (“he loved to read and reason”). For this, the owner scolded him for a long time and, in the end, subjected him to corporal punishment. "Fool" drowned himself with grief.

The "peak" of the protagonist's morality is his treatment of his own daughter. The girl fell in love with a poor teacher, and a prudent father forced her to marry a more preferable "gray-haired rich man." "Happy" family life did not last long. The daughter began to quickly “turn pale and fade away” and died a year after the wedding.

Nekrasov does not blame his main character for anything. It leaves the verdict to the readers. The "moral man" himself is firmly convinced of his infallibility. He proves this with the help of a refrain repeated several times: "Living in accordance with strict morality, I have done no harm to anyone in my life."

The whole horror of the situation lies precisely in the fact that such a view was characteristic of the vast majority of the nobility. Nekrasov, of course, created a collective image of a scoundrel, but in general his actions do not contradict the so-called "strict morality." All victims received what they deserved. The wife cheated on her husband, the friend did not repay the debt, the peasant dared to contradict the owner, and the daughter got out of parental obedience. A "moral person" does not feel sorry for these sinners. He himself is "pure" before God. The only thing that confuses him is the "deep sadness" in the house after Masha's death.

"Moral Man" Nikolai Nekrasov

Living according to strict morality,

My wife, covering her face with a veil,
In the evening I went to my lover.
I sneaked into his house with the police
And he convicted ... He called - I did not fight!
She went to bed and died
Tormented by shame and sadness...

I have never done harm to anyone in my life.

My friend didn't show me the loan on time.
I, hinting in a friendly way to him,
The law left us to judge;
The law sentenced him to prison.
He died in it without paying the altyn,
But I'm not angry, even though there is a reason to be angry!
I forgave him the debt on the same date,
Honoring him with tears and sadness ...
Living according to strict morality,
I have never done harm to anyone in my life.

I gave the peasant as a cook,
He succeeded; a good cook is a blessing!
But often left the yard
And the name of an indecent predilection
Had: loved to read and reason.
I, tired of threatening and scolding,
Paternally cut him with a canal;
He took it and drowned himself, he found nonsense!
Living according to strict morality,
I have never done harm to anyone in my life.

I had a daughter; fell in love with the teacher
And I wanted to run away with him in a rush.
I threatened her with a curse: resigned
And she married a gray-haired rich man.
And the house was shining and full like a bowl;
But Masha suddenly began to turn pale and go out
And a year later she died in consumption,
Having struck the whole house with deep sadness ...
Living according to strict morality,
I have never harmed anyone in my life...

Analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Moral Man"

In the mid-forties, Nekrasov began to depict contemporary reality in his lyrics and fell in love with the main characters to bring out notorious scoundrels, telling their biographies in poems. The first such portrait is given in "Modern Ode" (1845). Her hero is a swindler and a careerist who shamelessly robs defenseless citizens and is ready to sacrifice the honor of his own daughter for promotion. In the same 1845, the poems “Officer” (about a bribe taker) and “Lullaby” (about a hereditary thief) were born. A couple of years later, Nikolai Alekseevich wrote "The Moral Man", thereby continuing the gallery of images of scoundrels. The protagonist of the work is a man who believes that he lives “according to strict morality” and does no harm to anyone.

The text is divided into four parts. Each stanza is a first-person story. In the opening ten lines, the character tells how he treated his own wife. His wife cheated on him, and he decided to take revenge. As a result, the disgraced woman fell ill from grief and died. In the second part, the hero talks about his daughter. The girl had the imprudence to fall in love with the teacher, even wanted to run away with him. Her father threatened her with a curse and forced her to marry a wealthy old man. The result - the unfortunate girl died of consumption. In the third stanza, we are talking about a peasant whom the hero of the poem helped to become a cook. The serf learned to cook well, but here's the catch - he became too addicted to reading, began to think and reason a lot. For educational purposes, a "moral person" carved him. The finale of the story - the cook drowned himself. In the fourth and final part, the character talks about a friend to whom he first lent money, and then put him in jail for debts. The borrower died there.

At the end of each stanza, two lines are repeated:
Living according to strict morality,
I have never done harm to anyone in my life.
The hero of the poem sincerely believes that his actions are completely justified, that there is nothing wrong with them. The logic of the character's thoughts is easy to understand: if the wife hadn't cheated, she wouldn't have had to die disgraced; a daughter would not fall in love with someone who is lower in social status, would live happily in an unequal marriage; the peasant would not have argued with the master, he would not have drowned himself; If a friend had paid his debt, he would not have ended up in jail. Nekrasov's "moral man" does not consider himself guilty of other people's troubles, but that's not what's scary. The scary thing is that society supports him and others like him.