The work of the old woman. What is the story of Old Woman Izergil about: analysis of the work. Life path of Izergil

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Conflict between generations always seems natural and logical. Over time, people tend to abandon youthful maximalism and organize their lives in a more practical way. It is sometimes difficult for young people to imagine that the older generation was young and representatives of this generation were also related to impulses of love, passion, confusion and melancholy due to the lack of opportunity or lack of knowledge how to realize themselves in society.

Stories about passionate love from the lips of today's old men and women make us smile; it seems that people of this age can only have a feeling of deep sympathy, devoid of all thoughts and actions in the direction of lust.

Maxim Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil” is precisely about a man whose life is not devoid of either passion or changes in his personal life.

Appearance Izergil

Oddly enough, Izergil does not hesitate to talk about her past, in particular her love past - she is not embarrassed by any of the facts of her biography, although many of them could be challenged both from the point of view of law and from the point of view of morality.

The old woman's eventful life makes it possible for her to occupy a central place in the story.

The old woman’s life developed in such a way that she managed to visit many places and meet different people. At the time of the story, Izergil lives not far from Akkerman, on the Black Sea coast and is unlikely to change her place of residence - her age and physical condition will not allow her to do this.

Old age bent her once beautiful figure in half, her black eyes lost their color and often watered. The facial features became sharper - the hook-shaped nose became like the beak of an owl, the cheeks sunken, forming deep depressions on the face. His hair turned gray and his teeth fell out.

The skin became dry, wrinkles appeared on it, it seemed that now it would crumble into pieces and in front of us there would only be the skeleton of an old woman.

Despite such an unattractive appearance, Izergil is a favorite of young people. She knows a lot of fairy tales, legends and traditions - they arouse keen interest among young people. Sometimes the old woman tells something from her life - these stories sound no less interesting and bewitching. Her voice is specific, it cannot be called pleasant, it is more like a creaking - it seems that the old woman speaks “with her very bones.”

At night, Izergil often goes out to young people, her stories in the light of the moon are even more effective - in the moonlight her face takes on the features of mystery, pity for the quickly passing years is noticeable on it. This is not a feeling of remorse for what she has done, but a regret that her young years passed too quickly, and she did not have time to fully enjoy kisses and caresses, passion and youth.

Life path of Izergil

Izergil likes to communicate with young people. One day, a certain young man had the opportunity to find out the details of the old woman’s personal life. Despite the fact that, based on the number of participants, their conversation should have been in the nature of a dialogue, in reality this does not happen - the old woman’s speech takes up all the time, stories about her personal life and love affairs are intertwined with two legends - about Danko and about Larra. These legends harmoniously become the introduction and epilogue of the story - this is not an accident. Their content allows us to place a more significant emphasis on the details of the old woman’s life.

Izegil spent her youth on the banks of the Birlad in the city of Falchi. From the story we learn that she lived with her mother and their income consisted of the number of carpets sold and woven with their own hands. At that time, Izergil was very beautiful. She responded to compliments with a sunny smile. Her youth, cheerful disposition and, naturally, external data were not unnoticed by young people of different social positions and incomes - they admired her and fell in love with her. The girl was very emotional and very amorous.

At the age of 15 she fell in love for real. Her lover was a fisherman, originally from Moldova. Four days after they met, the girl gave herself to her lover. The young man fell madly in love with her and called her with him across the Danube, but Izergil’s ardor quickly dried up - the young fisherman no longer aroused either passion or interest in her. She refused his proposal and began dating a red-haired Hutsul, bringing a lot of grief and suffering to the fisherman. Over time, he fell in love with another girl, the lovers decided to go live in the Carpathians, but their dream did not come true. On the way, they decided to visit a Romanian friend, where they were captured and later hanged. The old woman no longer loved the fisherman, but what happened significantly stirred her consciousness. She burned down the house of the offender - she does not talk about this directly, claiming that the Romanian had many enemies, but she does not particularly deny her fate in the fire.

The girl's love with the Hutsul did not last long - she easily exchanges him for a rich, but middle-aged Turk. Izergil maintains contact with the Turk not for the sake of money, she is most likely driven by a sense of interest - she even lives in his harem for a week, being the ninth in a row. However, she quickly becomes bored with the company of women, and besides, she has a new love - the sixteen-year-old son of a Turk (Izergil herself was then about 30). The lovers decide to escape. They managed to carry out this action in full, but their further fate was not so rosy. The young man could not bear life on the run - he dies. Over time, she understands that the fate of the young Turk was predictable - it was a mistake to believe that such a young man could survive in difficult conditions, but the woman does not feel the pangs of remorse. Izergil recalls that at that time she was in her prime. Does his beloved feel grief or remorse from the knowledge that at her whim a young boy died? This can rather be called a slight regret; she is too cheerful to grieve for so long. She is also unfamiliar with the bitterness of losing children, so she does not realize the full gravity of her act.

New love completely smoothes out the negative memories of the young man’s death. This time the object of her love is a married Bulgarian. His wife (or girlfriend, time has erased this fact from Izergil’s memory) turned out to be quite decisive - she wounded her mistress in retaliation for her love affair with her beloved knife. For a long time this wound had to be healed, but this story also taught Izergil nothing. This time she runs away from the monastery where she received help, with a young monk - the brother of the nun treating her. On the way to Poland, Izergil fell out of love and abandoned this young man. The fact that she found herself in a foreign land does not frighten her - she agrees to the Jew’s offer to sell herself. And she does it quite successfully - for more than one gentleman the girl became a stumbling block. They fought and argued over her. One of the gentlemen even decided to shower her with gold, if only she would be his, but the proud girl rejects him - she is in love with another, and she does not strive for wealth. In this episode, Izergil shows herself to be unselfish and sincere - if she agreed to the offer, she would be able to give the money for the ransom to the Jew and return home. But the woman prefers the truth - pretending to be loved for selfish purposes seems unthinkable to her.

Her new lover was the gentleman “with the chopped up face.” Their love did not last long - he was presumably killed during a riot. Izergil, this version seems reliable - the master loved exploits too much. After the death of the master, the woman, despite the fact that the feelings of love were mutual, did not grieve for a long time - and fell in love with the Hungarian.

He was most likely killed by someone in love with her. Izergil sighs heavily: “No less people die from love than from the plague.” Such tragedy does not affect her and does not make her sad. In addition, at this time she was able to accumulate the required amount of money and redeem herself as a Jew, but she did not follow the plan and return home.

last love

By that time, Izergil’s age was close to 40 years. She was still attractive, although not as attractive as in her younger years. In Poland, she met a very charming and handsome nobleman, whose name was Arcadek. Pan sought her for a long time, but when he got what he wanted, he immediately abandoned her. This brought the woman a lot of suffering. For the first time in her entire life, she was in the place of her lovers - she was abandoned in the same way as she abandoned her lovers. Unfortunately, this time Izergil’s love fervor did not dry up so quickly. She sought love for a long time, but to no avail. A new tragedy for her was the news that Arcadek had been captured. This time Izergil did not become an indifferent observer of events - she decided to free her beloved. Her strength and courage were enough to kill the guard in cold blood, but instead of the expected gratitude and appreciation, the woman receives ridicule - her pride was injured, the woman did not tolerate such humiliation and left Arcadek.

The bitter imprint after this event remained on her soul for a long time. Izergil realizes that her beauty is disappearing without a trace - it’s time for her to settle down. Under Ackerman she “settles down” and even gets married. Her husband has already died a year ago.

Izergil has lived here for 30 years, we don’t know if she had children, it’s quite likely that she didn’t. Izergil now often comes out to young people. She does this not because she doesn’t feel lonely, but because she likes this kind of pastime. Young people also don’t mind the woman coming – they are very captivated by her stories.

What does Izergil teach us?

The first impression after reading this story is always ambiguous - at first glance, it seems that the author to some extent encourages such a dissolute, by our standards, lifestyle - Izergil does not learn lessons after another love (even if it ended tragically through her fault) and again rushes into the pool of passions and love. The woman's love has always been mutual, but as a result only her lovers receive punishment - most of them died tragically. Presumably, Gorky used this technique to convey to the reader that all our actions have an impact on the course of other people’s lives - we do not have the right to act recklessly, because for other people it can be disastrous. A significant series of such events directly or indirectly related to Izergil once again confirms this idea.

Izergil had every opportunity to realize her potential (whether she took advantage of this or not is another question), but the woman always made a choice, guided solely by her, to some extent, egocentric position. This does not mean that she had to live her whole life with one person and also weave carpets from morning to night - but the harshness of her actions is unforgivable. The question of choice is another problem of the story. What life position would be correct? Do you always have to do what they do to you? Izergil could live any way she wanted and would stop at any moment, but the desire to love and give love to others prevailed in her until old age.

I heard these stories near Akkerman, in Bessarabia, on the seashore.

One evening, having finished the day's grape harvest, the party of Moldovans with whom I worked went to the seashore, and I and the old woman Izergil remained under the thick shadow of the vines and, lying on the ground, were silent, watching how the silhouettes of those people who went to the sea.

They walked, sang and laughed; men - bronze, with lush, black mustaches and thick shoulder-length curls, in short jackets and wide trousers; women and girls are cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, also bronze. Their hair, silky and black, was loose, the wind, warm and light, played with it, and tinkled the coins woven into it. The wind flowed in a wide, even wave, but sometimes it seemed to jump over something invisible and, giving rise to a strong gust, blew the women’s hair into fantastic manes that billowed around their heads. This made women strange and fabulous. They moved further and further from us, and night and fantasy dressed them more and more beautifully.

Someone was playing the violin... the girl sang in a soft contralto voice, laughter was heard...

The air was saturated with the pungent smell of the sea and the rich fumes of the earth, which had been heavily moistened by rain shortly before evening. Even now, fragments of clouds wandered across the sky, lush, of strange shapes and colors, here soft, like puffs of smoke, gray and ash-blue, there sharp, like fragments of rocks, matte black or brown. Between them, dark blue patches of sky, decorated with golden specks of stars, sparkled tenderly. All this - sounds and smells, clouds and people - was strangely beautiful and sad, it seemed like the beginning of a wonderful fairy tale. And everything seemed to stop growing, dying; the noise of voices died away, receding, and degenerated into sad sighs.

- Why didn’t you go with them? – old woman Izergil asked, nodding her head.

Time had bent her in half, her once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched, as if the old woman was speaking with bones.

“I don’t want to,” I answered her.

- Uh!.. you Russians will be born old. Everyone is gloomy, like demons... Our girls are afraid of you... But you are young and strong...

The moon has risen. Her disk was large, blood-red, she seemed to have emerged from the depths of this steppe, which in its lifetime had absorbed so much human flesh and drunk blood, which is probably why it became so fat and generous. Lace shadows from the leaves fell on us, and the old woman and I were covered with them like a net. Over the steppe, to our left, the shadows of clouds, saturated with the blue radiance of the moon, floated, they became more transparent and lighter.

- Look, Larra is coming!

I looked where the old woman was pointing with her trembling hand with crooked fingers, and I saw: shadows were floating there, there were many of them, and one of them, darker and denser than the others, swam faster and lower than the sisters - she was falling from a piece of cloud that swam closer to the ground than others, and faster than them.

- There's no one there! - I said.

“You are more blind than me, old woman.” Look - there, dark, running through the steppe!

I looked again and again saw nothing but a shadow.

- It's a shadow! Why do you call her Larra?

- Because it’s him. He has now become like a shadow - it’s time! He lives for thousands of years, the sun dried his body, blood and bones, and the wind scattered them. This is what God can do to a man for pride!..

– Tell me how it was! - I asked the old woman, feeling ahead of me one of the glorious fairy tales written in the steppes. And she told me this fairy tale.

“Many thousands of years have passed since this happened. Far beyond the sea, at sunrise, there is a country of a large river, in that country every tree leaf and grass stem provides as much shade as a person needs to hide in it from the sun, which is brutally hot there.

That's how generous the land is in that country!

A powerful tribe of people lived there, they tended herds and spent their strength and courage hunting animals, feasted after the hunt, sang songs and played with the girls.

One day, during a feast, one of them, black-haired and tender as the night, was carried away by an eagle, descending from the sky. The arrows the men shot at him fell, pitiful, back to the ground. Then they went to look for the girl, but they didn’t find her. And they forgot about her, just as they forget about everything on earth.”

The old woman sighed and fell silent. Her creaky voice sounded as if all forgotten centuries were grumbling, embodied in her chest as shadows of memories. The sea quietly echoed the beginning of one of the ancient legends that may have been created on its shores.

“But twenty years later she herself came, exhausted, withered, and with her was a young man, handsome and strong, like she herself twenty years ago. And when they asked her where she was, she said that the eagle took her to the mountains and lived with her there as with his wife. Here is his son, but his father is no longer there; when he began to weaken, he rose high into the sky for the last time and, folding his wings, fell heavily from there onto the sharp ledges of the mountain, crashing to his death on them...

Everyone looked in surprise at the eagle’s son and saw that he was no better than them, only his eyes were cold and proud, like those of the king of birds. And they talked to him, and he answered if he wanted, or remained silent, and when the elders of the tribe came, he spoke to them as to his equals. This offended them, and they, calling him an unfeathered arrow with an unsharpened tip, told him that they were honored and obeyed by thousands like him, and thousands twice his age. And he, boldly looking at them, answered that there were no more people like him; and if everyone honors them, he does not want to do this. Oh!.. then they got really angry. They got angry and said:

- He has no place among us! Let him go wherever he wants.

He laughed and went where he wanted - to one beautiful girl who was looking at him intently; went to her and, approaching, hugged her. And she was the daughter of one of the elders who condemned him. And although he was handsome, she pushed him away because she was afraid of her father. She pushed him away and walked away, and he hit her and, when she fell, he stood with his foot on her chest, so that blood splashed from her mouth to the sky, the girl, sighing, writhed like a snake and died.

Everyone who saw this was seized with fear - this was the first time a woman had been killed like this in front of them. And for a long time everyone was silent, looking at her, who lay with her eyes open and her mouth bloody, and at him, who stood alone against everyone, next to her, and was proud - did not lower his head, as if calling punishment on her. Then, when they came to their senses, they grabbed him, tied him up and left him like that, finding that killing him right now was too simple and would not satisfy them.”

The night grew and grew stronger, filling with strange, quiet sounds. In the steppe, gophers whistled sadly, the glassy chirping of grasshoppers trembled in the leaves of the grapes, the foliage sighed and whispered, the full disk of the moon, previously blood-red, turned pale, moving away from the earth, turned pale and poured a bluish haze more and more abundantly onto the steppe...

“The Old Woman Izergil” by Maxim Gorky is an incredibly harmonious and beautiful work, although it belongs to the early, romantic period of the writer’s work. Gorky himself said more than once that he was unlikely to write anything more beautiful than this work, in which the author’s voice is closely intertwined with the voice of the main character-narrator.

The story is very easy to read, it flows like a song. In fact, these are three separate parables: the legend of the eagle’s son Larra, the life story of Izergil, and the story of Danko. But all these legends are connected by one common idea, which is the search for the meaning and value of human life, the unity and struggle of two opposing traits of human character: individualism and the desire for self-sacrifice. Antithesis, a technique that Gorky uses, is present in all three parts of the story. And if Larra is a “dark” character who does not even deserve to remain in human memory, and Danko is “light” and the memory of his feat will live forever in the hearts of people, then Izergil is a simple woman who is characterized by both self-love and the desire to sacrifice oneself for the sake of loved ones. And such, according to the author, are all people. Gorky, who wrote this work, is young and romantically inclined, and that is why he believes in the absence of “pure egoism.” Although, if you read carefully, you can see something else in the story, namely, quite realistic thoughts emerging in Gorky’s head about true freedom, which was lacking in his contemporary society. It is not for nothing that he paints a seemingly insignificant image of a “cautious man” who stepped on Danko’s extinct heart. Gorky believes that one, but very vivid example, is enough for young people to be inspired and begin to fight for their freedom.

A summary of Gorky's “Old Woman Izergil” can be read in just 5-10 minutes. This makes it possible to quickly familiarize yourself with the work in conditions of acute lack of time (for example, before an exam), but does not eliminate the need to still read it in full later.
Gorky's story "Old Woman Izergil" is compositionally structured in such a way that a connection is established between reality and legends. There are two of them in the work. They highlight completely opposite ideas about life. The summary of Gorky’s “Old Woman Izergil”, of course, will not allow you to fully experience this. But nevertheless, it can serve as good additional material before reading the work in full. The image of the old woman on whose behalf the story is told is quite contradictory. She only tells about herself what she remembers for the rest of her life. The events are also narrated on behalf of the author himself.

M. Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”: summary of Chapter I

Once the author had the opportunity to work in Bessarabia. When the Moldovans dispersed and only the ancient old woman Izergil remained, she told him a legend about how people were punished by God for pride. The event took place in a rich, distant country. During a general feast, the eagle suddenly carried away the girl. The search was unsuccessful and soon everyone forgot about her. But two decades later, exhausted, she returned home with her son from the eagle. The young man was very proud and behaved arrogantly even with the elders of the tribe. Having been refused by the daughter of one of them, Larra beats the girl, steps on her chest and she dies. It seems to the inhabitants of the tribe that no punishment is worthy of him. Even the mother does not want to stand up for her son. In the end, he was doomed to freedom and loneliness. Thunder sounded from the sky and Larra became immortal. Since then, he wandered the earth for so long that he already dreamed of dying. But no one touched him, and he couldn’t kill himself either. So Larra continues to wander around the world, waiting for death. And there is no place for him either among the living or among the dead.

A beautiful song comes from somewhere. Izergil, hearing her, smiles and remembers his youth. During the day she weaved carpets, and at night she ran to her loved ones. When she was 15 years old, she began dating a handsome sailor. But soon she got bored with the monotonous relationship, and a friend introduces her to a Hutsul. He was a cheerful, affectionate and ardent young man. Soon both the sailor and the Hutsul were executed. Then Izergil fell in love with a Turk and lived in a harem. True, the girl could not stand it for more than a week. She fled to Bulgaria with the 16-year-old son of a Turk, but he soon died, either from melancholy or from love. One woman became jealous of Izergil’s husband and stabbed her right in the chest. She was nursed by a Polish woman in a monastery. She had a monk brother, with whom Izergil later went to his homeland. After the first insult, she drowned him. It was not easy for her in Poland, since she did not know how to do anything and simply moved from one man to another. When she was 40 years old, she met a wonderful nobleman who quickly abandoned her. Izergil realized that she had grown old. Shlyakhtich went to war with the Russians. She went after him. Having learned that he is in captivity, Izergil saves him. In gratitude, the nobleman promises to love her always. Now Izergil pushes him away. After this, she finally gets married and has been living in Bessarabia for 30 years. A year ago, Izergil became a widow. Seeing the lights of a fire far in the steppe, she says that these are the sparks of Danko’s heart.

The woman immediately goes on to tell a story about cheerful, kind people who were driven by other tribes into the depths of the forest, where there was never sun and the stench of the swamp was reeking. People began to die one after another. They decide to leave the forest, but don't know which road to take. The brave guy Danko volunteered to help them. During the journey, a thunderstorm began. Everyone began to grumble at Danko and reproach him. He replied that he was leading them because he was the only one who dared to do so, and the rest were following him like a herd. People became completely furious and decided to kill Danko. Then, out of great love and pity for everyone, he tore his chest, took out his heart and raised it above his head. Lighting their way, Danko led the people of his tribe out of the forest. Seeing the space, he dies, but no one notices. Only one person accidentally stepped on the young man’s heart, it crumbled into sparks and went out. The old woman falls asleep immediately after the story, and the author continues to reflect on what he heard.

In the early romantic work "Old Woman Izergil" Maxim Gorky poetically reflects on humanity and freedom. The spirit of romanticism simply overflows this story. The author himself considered it one of his best works, built at the highest level. An analysis of Gorky's "Old Woman Izergil" will prove that the author, like many other writers, turned to the most pressing topic - the meaning of life.

Features of the story

M. Gorky's book "The Old Woman Izergil" was published in 1894. The story clearly shows the features of romanticism:

• the main character is opposed to the main characters;
• the hero is credited with qualities presented in superlatives;
• depiction of unusual landscapes (description of the sea, steppe).

It is known that Maxim Gorky traveled a lot around the country, collecting various legends and stories that lived in people’s memories. These are the legends he told in his work “The Old Woman Izergil”. This story deserves the most complete analysis. The reader sees the original book in front of him in the form of a story within a story. Its composition is distinguished by some features:

• contains three independent parts: the legend of Larra, the life quest of the old woman Izergil herself, the Legend of Danko;
• all parts are united by the internal idea and tone of the narrative;
• the contents of the first and third parts of the story are opposite to each other;
• the central part of the book is a story about Izergil’s life;
• The story is narrated from the perspective of the old woman.

An analysis of “The Old Woman Izergil” shows that the work has a basic concept: the opportunity to live without people for oneself (like Larra), to live next to people, but for one’s own benefit (like the old woman Izergil), to give one’s life for the sake of others (like Danko).

Proud and lonely Larra

In the first part, the old woman told about a young handsome guy Larra, whose father was a mountain eagle who once kidnapped the young man’s mother. The reader sees a proud, daring, selfish guy. With such a proud character, it was difficult for him to get along among other tribesmen. It was for these qualities that Larra paid dearly. One day he committed a terrible act - he killed the leader’s daughter, who rejected him. The community came up with a punishment for the young man - eternal exile and loneliness. At first it did not upset Larra in any way, but then it became simply unbearable. After some time, the hero understood the meaning of life, but it was too late: from suffering, he turned into a shadow, reminding people of his existence.

The search for the meaning of life of the old woman Izergil

Where does the analysis of “Old Woman Izergil” lead, namely its second part? The reader is immersed in the life story of the narrator herself. Izergil enjoyed success among men and did not deprive them of her love. She is a travel lover and has visited many corners of the world. She enjoyed playing with other people's feelings. To achieve her goal, she even committed murder once. If the heroine left someone, she never returned. She gave all of herself to love. In the end, Izergil understands that there is no need to look for love at the ends of the world, it is enough to lead a measured life with a loved one and children.

Danko's self-sacrifice

Gorky endowed his hero Danko with romantic traits. Analysis of "Old Woman Izergil" is impossible without this character. Handsome, strong and courageous, Danko was a real leader and knew how to lead people. He was distinguished by his love of freedom and selflessness. This helped him become the leader of his people and lead them out of the dark forest. It was not easy to go; angry people lost faith in their leader. Then Danko tore out his heart, which was burning with love for people, from his chest, and illuminated their path. In this way, he gave the people his warmth and kindness, emanating from a burning heart.

What did he get in return? As soon as people got out of the forest, they immediately forgot about the dying Danko. Someone even stepped on the leader’s fading heart. Only the night sparkles in the expanse of the steppe reminded people of Danko’s selfless act. In the image of this young man, readers see a real hero who saw the meaning of life in serving others.

What are the similarities and differences in the destinies of the heroes?

Ancient legends carry instructive conclusions, the old woman Izergil told them to the younger generation. Actions in legends take place in ancient times. The fate of the narrator herself is somewhat similar to the fates of Larra and Danko. Both had turbulent rebellious lives, both sought to become independent. The ideal of the old woman Izergil and Danko is love for others and self-sacrifice. They dedicate themselves to others.

Like Larra, Izergil forgets about people who become of little interest to her. She knows how to take, but she is also able to give. Larra only greedily took, without giving anything. What did the heroes come to in the end? Larra's behavior led him to loneliness that was impossible to bear. The old woman Izergil pestered random people and lived out her last years with them. The reader has something to think about and try to find the true path in life. Perhaps between Larra’s individualism and Danko’s altruism there will be an ideal point in the coordinate system.