Sometimes in our places such characters are set that, no matter how many years have passed since meeting with them, some of them will never be remembered without spiritual trepidation. Among these characters is the merchant's wife Katerina Lvovna Izmailova, who played out a once terrible drama, after which our nobles, from someone else's easy word began to call her Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district.
Katerina Lvovna was not born a beauty, but she was a very pleasant woman in appearance. She was only twenty-four years of age; She was short, but slender, with a neck as if carved from marble, round shoulders, a strong chest, a straight, thin nose, black, lively eyes, a high white forehead and black, almost blue-black hair. They gave her in marriage to our merchant Izmailov with Tuskari from the Kursk province, not out of love or any attraction, but because Izmailov was courting her, and she was a poor girl, and she did not have to sort out suitors. The Izmailovs' house was not the last in our city: they traded grain, kept a large mill in the district for rent, had a profitable garden near the city and a good house in the city. In general, the merchants were wealthy. Their family, moreover, was quite small: father-in-law Boris Timofeevich Izmailov, a man already in his eighties, had long been a widow; his son Zinovy Borisych, the husband of Katerina Lvovna, a man also in his fifties, and Katerina Lvovna herself, and nothing more. Katerina Lvovna had no children for the fifth year since she married Zinovy Borisych. Zinovy Borisych had no children even from his first wife, with whom he lived for twenty years before he was widowed and married Katerina Lvovna. He thought and hoped that God would give him, even from his second marriage, an heir to the merchant's name and capital; but again he had no luck in this and with Katerina Lvovna.
This childlessness distressed Zinovy Borisych very much, and not only Zinovy Borisych alone, but old Boris Timofeyitch, and even Katerina Lvovna herself, it was very sad. Since the unreasonable boredom in the locked merchant’s chamber with a high fence and lowered chain dogs more than once made the young merchant’s wife feel melancholy, reaching the point of stupor, and she would be glad, God knows how glad she would be to babysit the little girl; and she was tired of the other reproaches: “What was she going for and why was she getting married; why did she bind a man’s fate, non-native,” as if she really committed a crime against her husband, and before her father-in-law, and before all their honest merchant family.
With all the contentment and kindness, Katerina Lvovna's life in her mother-in-law's house was the most boring. She did not go to visit much, and even then, if she and her husband go along with her merchant class, it will not be a joy either. The people are all strict: they watch how she sits down, but how she passes, how she gets up; and Katerina Lvovna had an ardent character, and, living as a girl in poverty, she got used to simplicity and freedom: she would run with buckets to the river and swim in a shirt under the pier, or sprinkle sunflower husks through the gate of a passer-by; but here everything is different. The father-in-law and her husband would get up early, drink tea at six o'clock in the morning, and go about their business, and she alone wanders the elephants from room to room. Everywhere is clean, everywhere is quiet and empty, the lamps are shining in front of the images, and nowhere in the house is there a living sound, not a human voice.
Like, like, Katerina Lvovna walks through the empty rooms, begins to yawn out of boredom and climbs the stairs to her matrimonial bedchamber, arranged on a high small mezzanine. Here, too, she will sit, stare, how they hang hemp or pour grits at the barns, - she yawns again, she is glad: she will take a nap for an hour or two, and wake up - again the same Russian boredom, the boredom of a merchant's house, from which it is fun, they say, even hang yourself . Katerina Lvovna was not a huntress to read, and besides, there were no books in the house besides the Kyiv Patericon.
Katerina Lvovna lived a boring life in a rich mother-in-law's house for five whole years of her life with an unkind husband; but no one, as usual, paid her the slightest attention to this boredom.
Chapter Two
On the sixth spring of Katerina Lvovna's marriage, the mill dam broke through at the Izmailovs. At that time, as if on purpose, a lot of work was brought to the mill, and a huge gap arose: the water went under the lower bed of the idle cover, and it was not possible to capture it with a quick hand. Zinovy Borisych drove the people to the mill from the whole district, and he himself sat there incessantly; the affairs of the city were already managed by one old man, and Katerina Lvovna toiled at home for whole days all alone. At first she was even more bored without her husband, but then it even seemed better: she became freer alone. Her heart for him had never been especially laid, and without him at least one commander over her was less.
Once Katerina Lvovna was sitting on the tower under her little window, yawning and yawning, thinking of nothing in particular, and, at last, she was ashamed to yawn. And the weather outside is so wonderful: warm, light, cheerful, and through the green wooden lattice of the garden you can see how different birds fly from knot to knot through the trees.
“What am I really yawning? thought Katerina Lvovna. “Sam-well, at least I’ll get up in the yard and take a walk or go into the garden.”
Katerina Lvovna threw on an old damask coat and went out.
Out in the yard one breathes so brightly and strongly, and in the gallery by the barns there is such cheerful laughter.
- What are you so happy about? Katerina Lvovna asked her father-in-law clerks.
“But, mother Katerina Ilvovna, they hanged a live pig,” the old clerk answered her.
- What pig?
“But the pig Aksinya, who gave birth to a son, Vasily, didn’t invite us to the christening,” the young man said boldly and cheerfully with a bold, beautiful face framed by jet-black curls and a barely breaking beard.
At that moment, the fat mug of Aksinya, a ruddy-faced cook, peeped out of the flour caddy, which was hung on a weighted yoke.
“Damn, smooth devils,” the cook cursed, trying to grab hold of the iron yoke and get out of the swinging cady.
- Eight pounds before dinner, and the fir will eat hay, and the weights will be missing, - again the handsome fellow explained and, turning the cad, threw the cook onto the sack folded in the corner.
Baba, jokingly cursing, began to recover.
- Well, how much will I have? - Katerina Lvovna joked and, holding the ropes, stood on the board.
“Three poods, seven pounds,” answered the same handsome fellow Sergei, throwing a weight on the weight bench. - Curiosity!
– Why are you surprised?
- Yes, three pounds in you pulled, Katerina Ilvovna. You, I argue, must be carried all day in your arms - and then you won’t get tired, but only for pleasure you will feel it for yourself.
- Well, I'm not a man, or what? I suppose you’ll get tired too, ”said Katerina Lvovna, blushing slightly, weaned from such speeches, feeling a sudden surge of desire to talk and talk a lot of cheerful and playful words.
- Oh my God! I would bring it to Arabia happy, ”Sergey answered her to her remark.
“That’s not how you, well done, argue,” said the man who was sleeping. - What is this heaviness in us? Does our body pull? our body, dear man, means nothing in weight: our strength, strength pulls - not the body!
“Yes, I had a strong passion in girls,” said Katerina Lvovna, again unable to bear it. - Even a man did not overcome me.
“Come on, let me have a pen, if it’s true,” asked the handsome fellow.
Katerina Lvovna was embarrassed, but held out her hand.
- Oh, let the ring go: it hurts! cried Katerina Lvovna, when Sergei squeezed her hand in his hand, and with her free hand pushed him in the chest.
The good fellow released his mistress's hand and from her push flew off two steps to the side.
Current page: 1 (total book has 4 pages)
Nikolay Leskov
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Feature article
"Blushing to sing the first song."
Proverb
Chapter first
Sometimes in our places such characters are set that no matter how many years have passed since meeting with them, some of them will never be remembered without spiritual trepidation. Among these characters is the merchant's wife Katerina Lvovna Izmailova, who played a once terrible drama, after which our nobles, from someone's easy word, began to call her Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk district.
Katerina Lvovna was not born a beauty, but she was a very pleasant woman in appearance. She was only twenty-four years of age; She was short, but slender, with a neck as if carved from marble, round shoulders, a strong chest, a straight, thin nose, black, lively eyes, a high white forehead and black, almost blue-black hair. They gave her in marriage to our merchant Izmailov with Tuskari from the Kursk province, not out of love or any attraction, but because Izmailov was courting her, and she was a poor girl, and she did not have to sort out suitors. The Izmailovs' house was not the last in our city: they traded grain, kept a large mill in the district for rent, had a profitable garden near the city and a good house in the city. In general, the merchants were wealthy. Moreover, their family was quite small: father-in-law Boris Timofeevich Izmailov, a man already in his eighties, had long been a widow; his son Zinovy Borisych, the husband of Katerina Lvovna, a man also in his fifties, and Katerina Lvovna herself, and nothing more. Katerina Lvovna had no children for the fifth year since she married Zinovy Borisych. Zinovy Borisych had no children even from his first wife, with whom he lived for twenty years before he was widowed and married Katerina Lvovna. He thought and hoped that God would give him, even from his second marriage, an heir to the merchant's name and capital; but again he had no luck in this and with Katerina Lvovna.
This childlessness distressed Zinovy Borisych very much, and not only Zinovy Borisych alone, but old Boris Timofeyitch, and even Katerina Lvovna herself, was very sad. Since the unreasonable boredom in the locked merchant’s chamber with a high fence and lowered chain dogs more than once made the young merchant’s wife feel melancholy, reaching the point of stupor, and she would be glad, God knows how glad she would be to babysit the little girl; and the other - and she was tired of reproaches: “What did she go for and why did she get married; why did she bind a man’s fate, nerd, ”as if in fact she had committed a crime against her husband, and before her father-in-law, and before all their honest merchant family.
With all the contentment and kindness, Katerina Lvovna's life in her mother-in-law's house was the most boring. She did not go to visit much, and even then, if she and her husband go along with her merchant class, it will not be a joy either. The people are all strict: they watch how she sits down, but how she passes, how she gets up; and Katerina Lvovna had an ardent character, and, living as a girl in poverty, she got used to simplicity and freedom: she would run with buckets to the river and swim in a shirt under the pier, or sprinkle sunflower husks through the gate of a passer-by; but here everything is different. The father-in-law and her husband would get up early, drink tea at six o'clock in the morning, and go about their business, and she alone wanders the elephants from room to room. Everywhere is clean, everywhere is quiet and empty, the lamps are shining in front of the images, and nowhere in the house is there a living sound, not a human voice.
Like, like, Katerina Lvovna walks through the empty rooms, begins to yawn out of boredom and climbs the stairs to her matrimonial bedchamber, arranged on a high small mezzanine. Here, too, she will sit, stare, as they hang hemp or grains at the barns, pour them out - she will yawn again, she is glad: she will take a nap for an hour or two, and wake up - again the same Russian boredom, the boredom of a merchant's house, from which it is fun, they say, even strangle yourself. Katerina Lvovna was not a huntress to read, and besides, there were no books in the house, except for the Kyiv patericon.
Katerina Lvovna lived a boring life in a rich mother-in-law's house for five whole years of her life with an unkind husband; but no one, as usual, paid her the slightest attention to this boredom.
Chapter Two
On the sixth spring of Katerina Lvovna's marriage, the mill dam broke through at the Izmailovs. At that time, as if on purpose, a lot of work was brought to the mill, and a huge gap arose: the water went under the lower bed of the idle cover, and it was not possible to capture it with a quick hand. Zinovy Borisych drove the people to the mill from the whole district, and he himself sat there incessantly; the affairs of the city were already managed by one old man, and Katerina Lvovna toiled at home for whole days all alone. At first she was even more bored without her husband, but then it even seemed better: she became freer alone. Her heart for him had never been especially laid, and without him at least one commander over her was less.
Once Katerina Lvovna was sitting on the tower under her little window, yawning and yawning, thinking of nothing in particular, and she finally began to yawn ashamed. And outside the weather is so wonderful: warm, light, cheerful, and through the green wooden lattice of the garden you can see how various birds fly from knot to knot through the trees.
“What am I really yawning? thought Katerina Lvovna. “Sam-well, at least I’ll get up in the yard and take a walk or go into the garden.”
Katerina Lvovna threw on an old damask coat and went out.
Out in the yard one breathes so brightly and strongly, and in the gallery by the barns there is such cheerful laughter.
- What are you so happy about? Katerina Lvovna asked her father-in-law clerks.
“But, mother Katerina Ilvovna, they hanged a live pig,” the old clerk answered her.
- What pig?
“But the pig Aksinya, who gave birth to a son, Vasily, didn’t invite us to the christening,” the young man said boldly and cheerfully with a bold, beautiful face framed by jet-black curls and a barely breaking beard.
At that moment, the fat mug of Aksinya, a ruddy-faced cook, peeped out of the flour caddy, which was hung on a weighted yoke.
“Damn, smooth devils,” the cook cursed, trying to grab hold of the iron yoke and get out of the swinging cady.
“It pulls eight pounds before dinner, and the fir will eat hay, and the weights will be missing,” the handsome fellow explained again and, turning the cad, threw the cook onto a sack folded in the corner.
Baba, jokingly cursing, began to recover.
- Well, how much will I have? - Katerina Lvovna joked and, holding the ropes, stood on the board.
“Three poods, seven pounds,” answered the same handsome fellow Sergei, throwing a weight on the weight bench. - Curiosity!
- Why are you surprised?
- Yes, three pounds in you pulled, Katerina Ilvovna. You, I argue, must be carried all day in your arms - and then you won’t get tired, but only for pleasure you will feel it for yourself.
- Well, I'm not a man, or what? I suppose you’ll get tired too, ”said Katerina Lvovna, blushing slightly, weaned from such speeches, feeling a sudden surge of desire to talk and talk a lot of cheerful and playful words.
- Oh my God! I would bring it to Arabia happy, ”Sergey answered her to her remark.
“That’s not how you, well done, argue,” said the man who was sleeping. - What is this heaviness in us? Does our body pull? our body, dear man, means nothing in weight: our strength, strength pulls - not the body!
“Yes, I had a strong passion in girls,” said Katerina Lvovna, again unable to bear it. - Even a man did not overcome me.
“Come on, let me have a pen, if it’s true,” asked the handsome fellow.
Katerina Lvovna was embarrassed, but held out her hand.
- Oh, let the ring go: it hurts! cried Katerina Lvovna, when Sergei squeezed her hand in his hand, and with her free hand pushed him in the chest.
The good fellow released his mistress's hand and from her push flew off two steps to the side.
- N-yes, so you argue; that a woman, - the peasant was surprised.
- No, but let me take it like that, na-borkas, - Seryoga treated him, spreading his curls.
“Well, take it,” Katerina Lvovna answered, merrily, and lifted her elbows up.
Sergei embraced the young hostess and pressed her firm breasts against his red shirt. Katerina Lvovna only moved her shoulders, and Sergei lifted her up from the floor, held her in his arms, squeezed her, and quietly seated her on the overturned measure.
Katerina Lvovna did not even have time to dispose of her vaunted strength. Red, red, she corrected, sitting on the measurement, a fur coat that had fallen off her shoulder and quietly walked out of the barn, and Sergei valiantly coughed and shouted:
- Well, you boobies of the king of heaven! Rash, don't yawn, don't stop rowing; there will be vershoks, our surpluses.
It was like he didn't pay any attention to what was going on.
“Devichur, that accursed Seryozhka! - said the cook Aksinya, trailing after Katerina Lvovna. - The thief took everything - that growth, that face, that beauty. What kind of woman do you want, now he, the scoundrel, will flatter her, and flatter her, and bring her to sin. And what a fickle, scoundrel, fickle-fickle!
- And you, Aksinya ... that one, - the young mistress said, walking in front of her, - is your boy alive with you?
- Alive, mother, alive - what is he! Where they are not needed by someone, they are living with those.
“And where did you get it from?”
- Eee! so, gulevoi - after all, you live on the people - gulevoi.
- How long has he been with us, this fellow?
- Who is this? Sergei, right?
- It will be about a month. He served with the Kopchonovs before, so his master drove him away. - Aksinya lowered her voice and added: - They say that he was in love with his mistress ... After all, behold, his Treanathemic soul, how brave!
Chapter Three
Warm milky twilight hung over the city. Zinovy Borisych had not yet returned from the pond. Boris Timofeyich's father-in-law was also not at home: he went to an old friend's for a name day, and even ordered himself not to wait for dinner. Katerina Lvovna, having nothing better to do, called early, opened a little window on her tower, and, leaning against the jamb, peeled the sunflower seeds. People in the kitchen had supper and dispersed around the yard to sleep: some under the sheds, some to the barns, some to the high fragrant haylofts. Sergey came out of the kitchen later than everyone else. He walked around the yard, let loose the chained dogs, whistled, and, passing Katerina Lvovna's window, looked at her and bowed low to her.
“Hello,” Katerina Lvovna said to him quietly from her tower, and the yard fell silent like a desert.
- Madame! someone said two minutes later at the locked door of Katerina Lvovna.
- Who is this? asked Katerina Lvovna, frightened.
“Don’t be afraid to be afraid: it’s me, Sergei,” the clerk answered.
- What do you want, Sergei?
- I have a business for you, Katerina Ilvovna: I want to ask your grace for one small thing; let me come up for a minute.
Katerina Lvovna turned the key and let Sergei in.
- What do you want? she asked, going to the window herself.
- I came to you, Katerina Ilvovna, to ask if you have any book to read. Boredom is very overwhelming.
“I don’t have any books, Sergey, I don’t read them,” answered Katerina Lvovna.
- Such boredom, - Sergey complained.
- What do you miss!
- Pardon me, how not to get bored: I'm a young man, we live as if in some kind of monastery, and ahead you see only what, perhaps, to the grave should disappear in such loneliness. Even despair sometimes comes.
- Why aren't you getting married?
- It's easy to say, madam, to marry! Who is there to marry? I am an insignificant person; the master's daughter will not marry me, but we all live in poverty, Katerina Ilvovna, you yourself know, lack of education. How can they understand love properly! Here, if you please, see what theirs and the rich have a concept. Here you, one might say, to every other person who feels himself, would be a consolation only for him, and now you are kept by them like a canary in a cage.
“Yes, I’m bored,” Katerina Lvovna broke out.
- How not to be bored, madam, in such a life! Hosha even if you had an object from outside, as others do, it’s even impossible for you to see him.
- Well, it's you ... not quite. To me, when I would give birth to a child for myself, it would seem that it would be fun for me with him.
“Why, allow me to report to you, madam, after all, a child also happens from something, too, and not like that. Is there something now, having lived for so many years according to the owners and looking at such a woman's life according to the merchants, we also do not understand? The song is sung: “Without a sweet friend, sadness and longing have seized”, and this longing, I will tell you, Katerina Ilvovna, is so sensitive to my own heart, I can say, that I would take it, cut it with a damask knife from my chest and throw it to yours. legs. And it would be easier, a hundred times easier for me then ...
What are you telling me about your heart? It's useless to me. Go yourself...
“No, excuse me, madam,” said Sergei, trembling all over and taking a step towards Katerina Lvovna. - I know, I see and very much feel and understand that it’s not easier for you than mine in the world; Well, only now,” he said in one breath, “now all this is at this moment in your hands and in your power.
- What are you? what? Why did you come to me? I’ll throw myself out the window,” said Katerina Lvovna, feeling herself under the unbearable power of indescribable fear, and she grabbed the window sill with her hand.
- My life is incomparable! what do you jump on? - Sergei whispered cheekily and, tearing the young mistress away from the window, hugged her tightly.
- Oh! Oh! Let me go,” Katerina Lvovna groaned softly, weakening under Sergei’s hot kisses, while she herself involuntarily clung to his mighty figure.
Sergei picked up the hostess, like a child, in his arms and carried her into a dark corner.
Silence fell in the room, broken only by the measured ticking of Katerina Lvovna's pocket watch hanging over the head of Katerina Lvovna's bed; but that didn't stop anything.
“Go on,” said Katerina Lvovna half an hour later, not looking at Sergei and straightening her tousled hair in front of a small mirror.
“Why am I going to get out of here,” Sergei answered her in a happy voice.
- Father-in-law of the door prohibition.
- Oh, soul, soul! Yes, what kind of people did you know that they only have a door to a woman and the road? I don’t care about you, that there are doors everywhere from you, - the good fellow answered, pointing to the pillars supporting the gallery.
Chapter Four
Zinovy Borisych did not come home for another week, and all that week his wife walked with Sergei all night, until broad daylight.
During those nights in Zinovy Borisych's bedroom there was a lot of wine drunk from his father-in-law's cellar, and sweet sweets eaten, and lips kissed on sugar mistresses, and played with black curls on a soft headboard. But not all the road goes like a tablecloth, there are also breaks.
Boris Timofeich could not sleep: an old man in a motley chintz shirt wandered around the quiet house, went up to one window, went to another, looked, and the red shirt of the young man Sergei was quietly going down the pillar from under his daughter-in-law's window. Here's the news for you! Boris Timofeyich jumped out and grabbed the young man by the legs. He turned around to hit the owner with all his heart on the ear, and stopped, judging that the noise would come out.
“Tell me,” says Boris Timofeich, “where have you been, you kind of thief?”
“Wherever you were,” he says, “there I am, Boris Timofeich, sir, I’m no longer there,” answered Sergei.
- Did you spend the night with your daughter-in-law?
- About that, master, again I know where I spent the night; and you, Boris Timofeyich, you listen to my words: what happened, father, you can’t turn it back; don't put embarrassment on your merchant's house at the very least. Tell me what do you want from me now? What blessing do you want?
“I wish you, viper, to roll up five hundred lashes,” answered Boris Timofeich.
“My fault is your will,” agreed the good fellow. “Tell me where to follow you, and amuse yourself, drink my blood.”
Boris Timofeich took Sergei to his stone closet, and he whipped him with a whip until he himself was exhausted. Sergei did not give a single groan, but he ate half of the sleeve of his shirt with his teeth.
Boris Timofeich left Sergei in the pantry while his back, whipped into cast iron, healed; he slipped him an earthen jar of water, locked it with a large padlock, and sent for his son.
But for a hundred versts in Rus', country roads are still not quickly driven, and Katerina Lvovna, without Sergei, has become unbearable to go through an extra hour. She suddenly unfolded to the full extent of her awakened nature and became so resolute that it was impossible to appease her. She found out where Sergey was, talked to him through the iron door and rushed to look for the keys. “Let go, auntie, Sergei,” she came to her father-in-law.
The old man turned green. He did not expect such impudent impudence from a sinful, but always submissive daughter-in-law.
“What are you, so-and-so,” he began to shame Katerina Lvovna.
“Let me go,” he says, “I vouch for you with my conscience that there was nothing worse between us.
“It wasn’t bad,” he says, “it wasn’t! - and he grinds his teeth. What did you do with him at night? Did the husbands interrupt the pillows?
And she keeps pestering with her: let him go and let him go.
- And if so, - says Boris Timofeich, - then here's to you: your husband will come, we will pull you, an honest wife, with our own hands in the stable, and tomorrow I will send him, a scoundrel, to jail.
Boris Timofeich decided on that; but only this decision did not take place.
Chapter Five
Boris Timofeyitch ate mushrooms with slurry at night, and heartburn set in; suddenly seized him in the stomach; terrible vomiting rose, and by morning he was dead, and just as the rats died in his barns, for whom Katerina Lvovna is always her own. with my own hands prepared a special meal with a dangerous white powder entrusted to her keeping.
Katerina Lvovna rescued her Sergei from the old man's stone pantry and, without any backlash from human eyes, laid him down to rest from her father-in-law's beatings on her husband's bed; and the father-in-law, Boris Timofeyitch, without hesitation, was buried according to Christian law. It was a marvelous thing that no one knew anything: Boris Timofeyich died, and he died after eating mushrooms, as many people die after eating them. They buried Boris Timofeevich hastily, without even waiting for their son, because the time was warm outside, and the messenger did not find Zinovy Borisych at the mill. Tom accidentally came across a forest for a hundred versts more cheaply: he went to see it and did not explain to anyone where he went.
Having coped with this matter, Katerina Lvovna completely dispersed. At one time she was a woman of an intimidating dozen, but here it was impossible to guess what she had in mind for herself; plays a trump card, orders everything around the house, but Sergei does not let go of himself. Everyone in the yard was amazed at this, but Katerina Lvovna managed to find everyone with her generous hand, and all this wonder suddenly disappeared at once. “I went in,” they realized, “the hostess and Sergey have aligoria, and nothing more. “It’s her business, they say, and the answer will be hers.”
In the meantime, Sergei recovered, straightened up, and again a fine fellow, a fine fellow, a living gyrfalcon, went near Katerina Lvovna, and again their amiable life began again. But time rolled not for them alone: the offended husband Zinovy Borisych hurried home from a long absence.
Chapter Six
There was a scorching heat in the yard after dinner, and the nimble fly bothered us unbearably. Katerina Lvovna closed the window in the bedroom with shutters and hung it from the inside with a woolen shawl, and lay down with Sergey to rest on the high merchant's bed. Katerina Lvovna sleeps and does not sleep, but only in this way does she smear her, in such a way her face is covered with a fetter, and she breathes in such a hot and painful way. Katerina Lvovna feels that it is time for her to wake up; it's time to go to the garden to drink tea, but he can't get up. Finally the cook came up and knocked on the door: "The samovar," she says, "slows down under the apple tree." Katerina Lvovna forcibly threw herself over and caressed the cat. And the cat between her and Sergei rubs, so glorious, gray, tall and fat, fat ... and a mustache like that of a dues steward. Katerina Lvovna stirred in his fluffy fur, and he climbs up to her with a snout: he pokes his blunt muzzle into an elastic chest, and he himself sings such a quiet song, as if he were telling about love with it. “And why else did this cat come here? thinks Katerina Lvovna. - I put the cream on the window: without fail, he, the vile one, will spit it out from me. Drive him out,” she decided and wanted to grab the cat and throw it away, but he, like fog, passes her fingers just like that. “However, where did this cat come from? - Katerina Lvovna argues in a nightmare. “We never had a cat in our bedroom, but here you see what one got in!” She wanted to take the cat by hand again, but again he was gone. “Oh, what is it? That's enough, isn't it a cat? thought Katerina Lvovna. The shock suddenly took over her sleep, and completely drove the slumber away from her. Katerina Lvovna looked around the room - there was no cat, only handsome Sergei was lying and with his mighty hand pressed her chest to his hot face.
Katerina Lvovna got up, sat down on the bed, kissed and kissed Sergei, pardoned him, pardoned him, straightened the wrinkled feather-bed, and went into the garden to drink tea; and the sun has already completely fallen down, and a wonderful, magical evening is descending on the hotly warmed earth.
“I overslept,” Katerina Lvovna said to Aksinya, and sat down on the carpet under a blossoming apple tree to drink tea. - And what is it, Aksinyushka, mean? she tortured the cook, wiping her saucer herself with a tea towel.
- What, mother?
- Not like in a dream, but just in reality, the cat kept climbing towards me.
- And what are you?
- Right, the cat climbed.
Katerina Lvovna told how the cat climbed up to her.
"And why did you caress him?"
- Well, come on! I don't know why I caressed him.
- Wonderful, right! exclaimed the cook.
“I can’t be surprised myself.
- It's definitely like someone will hit you, or something, or something else will come out.
– Yes, what is it exactly?
- Well exactly what- no one, dear friend, can explain this to you exactly what, but only something will happen.
“For a month I saw everything in a dream, and then this cat,” continued Katerina Lvovna.
- The moon is a baby.
Katerina Lvovna blushed.
- Shouldn't we send Sergei here to your mercy? Aksinya asked her, asking for a confidante.
“Well, then,” answered Katerina Lvovna, “it’s true, go and send him: I’ll give him tea here.”
“That’s it, I’m saying send him,” Aksinya decided, and swayed like a duck to the garden gate.
Katerina Lvovna told Sergey about the cat.
“There is only one dream,” Sergei answered.
- Why did he, this dream, never exist before, Seryozha?
- Not much has happened before! I used to look at you with just a peephole and dry up, but now there! I own all your white body.
Sergey embraced Katerina Lvovna, turned her around in the air and, jokingly, threw her onto the fluffy carpet.
“Wow, my head is spinning,” Katerina Lvovna spoke up. - Seryozha! come here; sit here beside me,” she called, basking and stretching in a luxurious pose.
The good fellow, bending down, went under a low apple tree flooded with white flowers, and sat down on the carpet at Katerina Lvovna's feet.
- And you are after me, Seryozha?
- How not dry.
- How are you dry? Tell me about it.
- How can you tell about it? Is it possible to explain about this, how you dry? Yearned.
“Why didn’t I feel this, Seryozha, that you were killing yourself for me?” They say they feel it.
Sergei was silent.
- And why did you sing songs if you were bored with me? What? After all, I suppose I heard you sing in the gallery, - Katerina Lvovna continued to ask, caressing.
- Why did you sing songs? The mosquito has been singing all his life, but not with joy, ”Sergey answered dryly.
There was a pause. Katerina Lvovna was filled with the highest delight from these confessions of Sergei.
She wanted to talk, but Sergei sulked and remained silent.
“Look, Seryozha, what a paradise, what a paradise! exclaimed Katerina Lvovna, looking through the thick branches of a blossoming apple tree covering her at the clear blue sky, on which stood a full, fine moon.
The moonlight, breaking through the leaves and flowers of the apple tree, scattered in the most bizarre, bright spots over the face and whole figure of Katerina Lvovna, who was lying on her back; the air was quiet; only a gentle warm breeze slightly stirred the sleepy leaves and carried the delicate aroma of flowering herbs and trees. It breathed something languishing, conducive to laziness, to bliss and to dark desires.
Katerina Lvovna, receiving no answer, fell silent again and kept looking through the pale pink flowers of the apple tree at the sky. Sergei was also silent; only he was not interested in the sky. Grasping his knees with both hands, he gazed intently at his boots.
Golden night! Silence, light, aroma and beneficial, enlivening warmth. Far beyond the ravine, behind the garden, someone started a sonorous song; under the fence in the dense bird cherry tree, a nightingale clicked and chimed loudly; a sleepy quail wandered in a cage on a high pole, and a fat horse sighed languidly behind the stable wall, and a cheerful flock of dogs swept without any noise along the pasture behind the garden fence and disappeared into the ugly, black shadow of dilapidated, old salt shops.
Katerina Lvovna raised herself on her elbow and looked at the tall garden grass; and the grass still plays with the moonlight, crushing on the flowers and leaves of the trees. All of it was gilded by these whimsical, bright specks, and so they flicker on it, and they tremble like living fiery butterflies, or as if all the grass under the trees has taken on a moon net and walks from side to side.
- Oh, Seryozhka, what a charm! exclaimed Katerina Lvovna, looking around.
Sergei rolled his eyes indifferently.
- What are you, Seryozha, so unhappy? Or are you tired of my love?
- What an empty talk! Sergey answered dryly and, bending down, lazily kissed Katerina Lvovna.
“You are a traitor, Seryozha,” Katerina Lvovna was jealous, “inconsistent.”
“I don’t even take these words personally,” Sergei replied in a calm tone.
- Why are you kissing me like that?
Sergei remained silent.
“It’s only husbands and wives,” Katerina Lvovna continued, playing with his curls, “that’s how they beat dust from each other’s lips. Kiss me so that from this apple tree above us, a young flower falls to the ground. So, so, so, - Katerina Lvovna whispered, wrapping herself around her lover and kissing him with passionate enthusiasm.
“Listen, Seryozha, what can I tell you,” Katerina Lvovna began after a short time, “why is it all in one word they say about you that you are a traitor?
- Who wants to lie about me?
Well, people say.
- Maybe when he cheated on those who are completely unworthy.
- And why, fool, did you get in touch with the unworthy? you don't even need to have love with someone who doesn't stand.
- You speak! Nash this thing, too, how is it done by reasoning? One temptation works. You are quite simply with her, without any of these intentions, you have violated your commandment, and she is already hanging around your neck. That's love!
- Listen, Seryozha! I am there, as the others were, I don’t know any of this, and I don’t want to know about it either; well, but just how you yourself flattered me to this present love of ours and you yourself know that as much as I went for it with my desire, so much with your cunning, so if you, Seryozha, let me change, if yes, for someone else , for any other you will exchange, I am with you, my hearty friend, forgive me - I will not part alive.
Sergey started up.
“Believe me, Katerina Ilvovna! you are my clear light! he spoke. “Look for yourself what our business is with you. You notice so now that I am thoughtful today, and you will not judge how I should not be thoughtful. Maybe my whole heart sank in baked blood!
- Speak, speak, Seryozha, your grief.
- Yes, what can I say! Now, here's the first thing, God bless, your husband will run over, and you, Sergey Filipych, and go away, go to the backyard to the musicians and look from under the shed how Katerina Ilvovna's candle burns in the bedroom, and how downy she is. He breaks the bed, but with his legitimate Zinovy and Borisych, he fits into bed.
- It will not happen! Katerina Lvovna drawled gaily and waved her hand.
- How can this not happen! And I understand that even without this it is absolutely impossible for you. And I, too, Katerina Ilvovna, have my own heart and can see my torments.
“Yeah, well, you’re all about it.
Katerina Lvovna was pleased by this expression of Sergeyeva's jealousy, and, laughing, she again took up her kisses.
“And to reiterate,” Sergei continued, quietly freeing his head from Katerina Lvovna’s bare shoulders, “to reiterate, it must be said that my most insignificant state also makes, maybe more than once or ten times, to judge this way and that. If I were, so to speak, equal to you, if I were some kind of gentleman or merchant, I would be with you, Katerina Ilvovna, and never parted in my life. Well, and so you yourself judge what kind of person I am with you? Seeing now how they will take you by the white hands and lead you to the bedchamber, I must endure all this in my heart and, perhaps even for myself, through that for a whole century, become a contemptible person. Katerina Ilvovna! I'm not like other others, for whom it's all the same, anyhow he only gets joy from a woman. I feel what love is and how it sucks my heart like a black snake ...
“What are you telling me about all this?” Katerina Lvovna interrupted him.
She felt sorry for Sergei.
- Katerina Ilvovna! How about this not to interpret something? How not to interpret something? When, perhaps, everything has already been explained and painted by him, when, perhaps, not only at some long distance, but even tomorrow, there will be no spirit or groin left in this yard of Sergei?
- No, no, and don't talk about it, Seryozha! This will never happen, so that I am left without you, ”Katerina Lvovna reassured him with the same caresses. - If only he goes to the trouble ... either he or I will not live, and you will be with me.
"There's no way Katerina Ilvovna can follow that," answered Sergei, shaking his head mournfully and melancholy. “I am not happy with my life for this love. If I loved something that is worth no more than myself, I would be content with that. Should I have you with me in constant love? Is it some kind of honor for you - to be a mistress? I would like to be your husband in front of the holy eternal temple: so then, even though I always consider myself younger before you, I could still at least publicly rebuke everyone how much I deserve from my wife with my respect for her ...
Katerina Lvovna was bewildered by these words of Sergei, this jealousy of his, this desire to marry her - a desire that is always pleasing to a woman, despite the shortest relationship she had with a man before marriage. Katerina Lvovna was now ready for Sergei in the fire, in the water, in the dungeon and on the cross. He made her fall in love with him to the point that there was no measure of her devotion to him. She was mad with her happiness; her blood boiled, and she could no longer listen to anything. She quickly pressed her hand to Sergeyev's lips and, pressing his head to her breast, she spoke:
“Well, I already know how I will make you a merchant and live with you quite properly. Just do not sadden me in vain, while our cause has not yet come to us.
And again went kisses and caresses.
The old clerk, who was sleeping in the shed, began to hear, through a deep sleep, in the silence of the night, a whisper with a quiet laugh, as if where playful children were consulting how to laugh more maliciously at frail old age; then ringing and cheerful laughter, as if the lake mermaids were tickling someone. All this, splashing in moonlight and rolling on the soft carpet, Katerina Lvovna frolicked and played with her husband's young clerk. Rained down, poured down on them young White color from a curly apple tree, and even stopped pouring. And meanwhile the short summer night passed, the moon hid behind the steep roof of the high barns and looked askance at the earth, dimmer and dimmer; from the kitchen roof came a shrill duet of cats; then there was a spit, an angry snort, and after that, two or three cats, breaking off, rolled noisily along a bundle of boards placed against the roof.
Even if you have read the book in the original, do not think that this is the end of the preparation for the lesson. Alas, important, but small details from the work easily escape from memory, therefore summary by chapters - an indispensable tool for high-quality literary education. Enjoy reading!
Katerina Lvovna, a pretty girl from a poor family, is given in marriage to Zinovy Borisovich Izmailov, a wealthy widower whose family sells grains.
Katerina does not receive due attention from her husband, who, together with his father Boris Timofeevich, leaves daily from early morning to do business. The young girl is also upset by the childlessness of Zinovy Borisovich, she cannot put her efforts into raising a child and is forced to spend her days in boredom in a large merchant's house.
Chapter Two
Katerina Lvovna continues to drearily while away her time. On one of the spring days, the dam breaks, and Zinovy Borisovich and his father throw all their strength into repairing the mill. Katerina Lvovna is walking around the yard and notices the young clerk Sergei, who, along with other workers, are making fun of the cook.
Sergei invites Katerina to weigh herself on the scales and then, in a playful manner, tightly presses the merchant's wife to him. Katerina Lvovna is very embarrassed, the cook tells her that Sergei had recently entered the service of Zinovy Borisovich, before that he worked for neighboring merchants and allegedly had a love affair with the owner's wife.
Chapter Three
That evening, Katerina Lvovna's husband is late at the mill, while his father is leaving for the celebration of the name day. Sergey comes to Katerina's house with a request to lend him some book, but he changes the topic and immediately declares his love.
Katerina Lvovna is ready to fall unconscious, but Sergei picks her up and takes her to the bedroom ...
Chapter Four
Katerina Lvovna, after the ill-fated evening, continues to meet with Sergei. Every night he crawls through the window of the merchant's house, and then leaves in the same way. Zinovy Borisovich's father notices how Sergei climbs the gallery pole, grabs him and drags him into the pantry. Katerina Lvovna's father-in-law mercilessly whips the uninvited guest with a whip, closes him in the pantry and sends people for his son, who still has not returned from the mill.
Katerina Lvovna finds out about this case and begs Boris Timofeevich to let Sergei go. But he is adamant - he despises his son's unfaithful wife and threatens to flog Katerina and send her lover to prison.
Chapter Five
That same evening, Boris Timofeevich suffers from nausea after eating dinner, which Katerina Lvovna poisons in advance. The old man dies in agony from rat poison, and Katerina rescues her lover from the pantry.
The people sent for Zinovy Borisovich do not find him at the mill. Katerina Lvovna buries her father-in-law and becomes even closer to Sergei.
Chapter Six
Katerina has a dream: she sees a big gray cat rubbing between her and Sergei. Katerina tries to drive him away, but her attempts are in vain - a gray cat, like fog, passes through her fingers. Katerina wakes up and sees only Sergei lying next to her.
The merchant's wife spends all her free time with the young clerk, they confess their love to each other, Sergei expresses his fears: he is afraid that the merchant Zinovy Borisovich will soon arrive, and everything will collapse in an instant. Katerina assures Sergei that she knows how to make him a merchant himself, and that no husband can interfere with her in this.
Chapter Seven
Katerina again dreams of a gray cat, but this time instead of a cat's head she sees the head of her late father-in-law. Katerina wakes up screaming and hears dogs barking. She guesses that Zinovy Borisovich has returned, and he is about to be at the house.
Katerina Lvovna hides Sergei and, as if she had just woken up, is waiting for her husband. Zinoviy Borisovich complains about his buried father, he finds Sergey's belt and informs Katerina that he knows about her love affairs. She dares her husband in response, unexpectedly introduces Sergei into the room and kisses him tightly. The wounded husband in the heat of the moment beats Katerina Lvovna on the cheek.
Chapter Eight
A fierce struggle ensues: Katerina knocks her husband to the floor, and Sergei tries to strangle him. Zinovy Borisovich receives a heavy blow to the head and dies within a few moments.
Sergei is horrified by the sin he has committed, but helps the new mistress carefully hide the body of the murdered man in the cellar. Katerina wipes off the bloodstains and informs her lover that he has finally become a new merchant.
Chapter Nine
There is bewilderment in the merchant's court: where did Zinovy Borisovich disappear to? His search turns up nothing. Katerina Lvovna transfers her husband's capital to herself, but finds out that certain part property belongs to the nephew of Zinovy Borisovich - Fedor. Along with this news comes another - Katerina Lvovna is pregnant.
Fedor arrives at the estate with Boris Timofeevich's elderly cousin. Sergei is tormented by doubts, he is afraid of losing the money he got so easily.
Chapter Ten
Katerina Lvovna is not satisfied with this state of affairs, she is not ready to share what she has acquired with her young nephew Zinovy Borisovich. In connection with the pregnancy, Katerina is gaining weight, and unambiguous rumors about her relationship with Sergei begin to circulate in the city.
Meanwhile, Fedya gets chicken pox and his grandmother asks Katerina to look after the boy. Sergei and Katerina gather at Fyodor's room and, after exchanging glances, enter the patient.
Chapter Eleven
The boy, as if understanding his fate, is frightened by the people who entered. Katerina clamps Fyodor's mouth and orders Sergei to hold the boy lying in bed tightly. Katerina puts a pillow on Fyodor's face and presses it tightly. The boy is dying.
At this moment, the house is shaking from the strongest blows. Sergei in a fit of panic runs away, it seems to him that the deceased Zinovy \u200b\u200bcame for him. Katerina carefully puts Fyodor's head down and unlocks the door. A crowd of people runs into the house, almost sweeping Katerina off the threshold.
Chapter Twelve
People are returning from a church service, discussing rumors about the bailiff and the young widow. They see the light in the house of the merchant and peep out the window - there they observe the scene of the murder. Katerina and her accomplice are immediately seized and taken into custody.
Sergei repents and confesses to all the murders. People dig out the corpse of Zinovy Borisovich from the cellar, and the merchant's wife, along with her lover, go to hard labor. At the hospital, Katerina gives birth, but immediately abandons her child.
Chapter Thirteen
On the way to hard labor, Katerina Lvovna spends all her money to be allowed to walk next to her lover. Sergei is unhappy with this, he often scolds his passion, which greatly upsets her.
On the way, they join another group of convicts, among them - the soldier Fiona, as well as the young and nimble Sonetka.
Chapter Fourteen
Sergei without any hesitation takes care of Fiona. Katerina Lvovna finds her lover lying with a soldier's wife. She punches Sergei in the face and runs away.
Katerina suffers from such an attitude, and the next day she sees how Sergey is already communicating with Sonetka, which hurts her heart even more. Sergei asks for a meeting with Katerina, and it seems to her that everything is returning to its place. The lover complains of pain in his legs and begs Katerina for woolen stockings. She cannot refuse Sergey and gives them to him with great zeal.
Chapter fifteen
The next day, Katerina Lvovna sees Sonetka in the stockings that she gave Sergei as a present. Katerina spits in the face of the traitor, the whole stage laughs at the grief of the convict. At night, two men enter Katerina's barracks and beat a young girl with a rope. Katerina recognizes Sergei in one of them, but the next day she does not say a word to anyone. Sergey is impudent and laughs at his former lover.
At the Volga, convicts are taken to the ferry, where Sergei continues to mock Katerina: he asks to buy vodka, defiantly kisses Sonetka. Katerina Lvovna sees in the water the heads of people who died at her hands. She falls into a frenzied rage, grabs Sonetka and jumps overboard with her. The whole ferry is closely watching the restless waves: at one moment people see Sonetka pop up, but then Katerina appears from behind her and with a predatory movement drags the girl to the bottom.
Interesting? Save it on your wall! Summary of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
The essay begins with a description of the appearance main character Ekaterina Lvovna, who, due to circumstances, not out of love, but by calculation, married the merchant Izmailov. Her husband, Zinovy Borisovich, is much older than Katerina, and is higher in status than a girl.
The life of a merchant's wife was very boring. She and her husband lived with the father-in-law of Boris Timofeevich. She rarely traveled somewhere, and she did not feel comfortable on trips, as she was from a simple family, and she was expected to show good tone and manners. She could occupy herself with reading in her free time, but Ekaterina Lvovna did not like to read either.Husband, despite all efforts to extend the Izmailov merchant family, was apparently barren. He was married for the second time, Zinovy Borisovich lived with his previous wife for twenty years, until he became a widow. The fact that the heir did not work out was disappointed by everyone and the father-in-law, and the merchant Izmailov, and even Katerina Lvovna, for whom the child would be a salvation from boredom.
Everything went on like this for five years, until the clerk Sergei appeared on the Izmailov estate, who was notorious and there were already rumors about the seduction of a neighboring merchant's wife by him. Ekaterina Lvovna was not spoiled by male affection and attention, and therefore she quickly fell for the hook of the charming and outwardly attractive Sergei.
But their father-in-law quickly found out about their vicious connection, who, as a punishment, flogged the clerk with a whip, and sent the news of the unfaithful wife to his son, the merchant Izmailov. Ekaterina Lvovna, emboldened and insolent, began to ask her father-in-law to release her lover, from which he becomes confused, and promises to flog her daughter-in-law in the stable for arrogance and rebelliousness, and exile her lover to prison. But Boris Timofeevich could not bring all the threats to life, as he suddenly died. Beloved daughter-in-law had a hand in his death, pouring rat poison into food.Buried Boris Timofeevich very quickly, they did not wait for the arrival of his son, referring to the hot season.
After the death of her father-in-law, the clerk Sergey finally settled in the merchant's bedchamber, and in the morning Catherine began to notice a fat, impudent cat in her bedroom, which purred very loudly, and, as a human being, wanted to say something. She shared her observations with the cook Aksinya, who only marvels at what is happening. The next morning, a cat came to Katerina and began to rumble in a human voice that, as her conscience allows her to live in peace, after she killed him - Boris Timofeevich.
Then the time comes for the return of the owner - Zinovy \u200b\u200bBorisovich, and Sergey begins to be offended and show his jealousy to his mistress. That it cannot go on like this, Ekaterina Lvovna, flattered by such an attitude, reassures her beloved that the whole thing can be fixed. One of the nights, in the morning, the merchant Izmailov returns, hoping to find his wife with her lover and take him red-handed. But Ekaterina wakes up earlier and hides Sergei in the gallery. She meets her husband as if nothing had happened and sets the samovar herself. Zinovy Borisovich expresses his dissatisfaction and suspicions, and the faithful wife, plucking up impudence, brings her lover and begins to kiss him in front of her husband, for which she receives a slap in the face. In this confusion, Catherine rushes at her husband and begins to choke him, Sergei tries to help her. The merchant, on the other hand, fights back with all his might, realizing what the lovers have in mind, and attacks the clerk, biting his neck. Katerina hits the merchant in the temple with a heavy cast candlestick, and the already exhausted Zinovy Borisovich is finished off by the clerk.Sweeping all traces of the crime, the lovers bury the merchant's body in the cellar.
Ekaterina Lvovna and the clerk live for their own pleasure, and in the absence of the merchant Izmailov, they only shrug their shoulders. Despite the fact that at the mill they report that Zinovy Borisovich left home long ago. Catherine realizes that she is carrying a child under her heart, and announces to everyone about her position - that the Izmailovs are waiting for an heir. In the absence of a legitimate husband, she is allowed to conduct business. But then circumstances become clear that she is not the only heiress who claims to be a merchant, another successor appears - Fyodor Lyamin, who arrives with his elderly aunt, cousin of Boris Timofeevich.
This is how the merchant's wife and the clerk live, until Sergei overshadows Katya's future with the phrase that Fedor makes his life miserable. After that, Ekaterina Lvovna cannot find a place for herself, so the thought haunts her that how much she has suffered and endured, how much sin she has taken on her soul, and some boy, a child, without making any effort, claims her property.
So Fedya fell ill with chickenpox, and his aunt went to church for service, asking Katerina to look after the child. Taking advantage of the situation that the child was left alone, Sergei and Ekaterina calmly suffocate him with a pillow, hoping to refer to poor health and dubious medicines that ruined the boy's young body. But after the service, a crowd of people passed by the merchant's house, washing the bones of the merchant's wife, marveling at her arrogance and depravity. Seeing a light in one of the windows, they decided to see what the merchant's wife was doing at one o'clock at night, and became unwitting witnesses to Fedya's murder. Thus, lovers are caught red-handed, and the autopsy of little Fyodor Lyamin shows that death was due to strangulation.
During the investigation, Sergei confesses to everything. Catherine, however, resists, answering everything: “I don’t know and don’t know anything about this.” But after the clerk is guilty of the murder of the merchant Izmailov, the merchant also admits that she was an accomplice. And she motivates her actions by the fact that she did everything for Sergey, in the name of love.
As a punishment, they are sent to hard labor, and before that they are whipped. After giving birth to a child in the Ostroh hospital, Katerina refuses him, and the old sister of Boris Timofeevich takes the baby to raise the baby, who recognizes him as the merchant heir to Izmailov. This state of affairs suits Ekaterina Lvovna quite well.
For Katya, only one thing is important, that she remains close to her beloved Sergei, and in a merchant's house, or in hard labor, this is not a matter of principle. So they go to the place of hard labor, and all the way she bribes stage unders, so that they organize dates for her with her beloved. From which Sergey is angry, and asks his mistress to give this money to him, and not spend it so uselessly. IN Nizhny Novgorod two interesting women join their party - Fiona and a young seventeen-year-old blonde Sonetka.
Sergei, on the other hand, behaves very coldly towards Katerina and cheats on her with Fiona, who catches them hot. But Fiona refuses to have a relationship with Sergei, and he tries in every possible way to find favor with the young Sonetka.
Katerina tries to convince herself that she does not love Sergei at all, although she feels that she loves even more than before, but with all her appearance she makes it clear that she is offended. The same after a while, looking for a meeting with her. Katerina, bribes the underdog for the last seventeen kopecks, and winged rushes to her lover, who hugs and kisses her as before. Sergei complains of pain in his legs, and threatens to stay in the infirmary in Kazan, the former merchant's wife is afraid of parting with her beloved. But Sergey refers that woolen stockings would resolve the situation and ease his pain. Ekaterina gives him her woolen stockings, and in the morning she finds Sonetka in these stockings. A woman, consumed by resentment and jealousy, at the first stop comes up to Sergei and spits right in his face. The next night, when Katerina was sleeping, two men entered the women's barracks, one of whom held her tightly, and the other, counting fifty blows, whipped her with a thick rope.But Sergey does not stop there and continues to mock the former merchant's wife, then for show kissing Sonetka, then bantering with sharp phrases. Ekaterina Lvovna is running out of patience to endure insults and mockery from her beloved man, therefore, while crossing the Volga on a ferry, she grabs Sonetka by the legs and jumps overboard with her, thereby drowning herself and her rival.
The heroine of Leskov's story is clearly opposed by the author Katerina Kabanova from Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm. The heroine of Ostrovsky's brilliant drama does not merge with everyday life, her character is in sharp contrast with the prevailing everyday skills ... Based on the description of Katerina Izmailova's behavior, no one would under any circumstances determine which particular young merchant's wife is being told. The drawing of her image is a household template, but a template drawn with such thick paint that it turns into a kind of tragic popular print.
Both young merchant wives are burdened by "bondage", the frozen, predetermined way of life of the merchant family, both are passionate natures, going to the limit in their feelings. In both works, the love drama begins at the moment when the heroines are seized by a fatal, illegal passion. But if Katerina Ostrovsky perceives her love as a terrible sin, then something pagan, primitive, “decisive” wakes up in Katerina Leskova (it is no coincidence that her physical strength is mentioned: “the passion was strong in girls ... even a man did not overcome every one”). For Katerina Izmailova, there can be no opposition, even hard labor does not frighten her: “with him (with Sergei) her hard labor blooms with happiness.” Finally, the death of Katerina Izmailova in the Volga at the end of the story brings to mind the suicide of Katerina Kabanova. Critics also rethink the characterization of the Ostrov heroine " a ray of light in the dark kingdom", Given by Dobrolyubov:
“About Katerina Izmailova, one could say that she is not a ray of the sun falling into the darkness, but lightning generated by darkness itself and only more clearly emphasizing the impenetrable darkness of merchant life” (V. Gebel).
dramatizations
- plays:
- - staged by Lazar Petreiko
- 1970s - staged by A. Wiener
- - opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District" (in a later version - "Katerina Izmailova") by D. D. Shostakovich
- 1970s - musical drama "My Light, Katerina" by G. Bodykin
Performances in the theater
- - Studio Dikiy, Moscow, director Alexei Dikiy
- 1970s - reading performance by A. Vernova and A. Fedorinov (Moskontsert)
- - Prague youth theater "Rubin", director Zdeněk Potužil
- - Moscow Academic Theatre. Vl. Mayakovsky, in the role of Katerina - Natalya Gundareva
- - Yekaterinburg State Academic Drama Theater, staged by O. Bogaev, director Valery Pashnin, in the role of Katerina - Irina Ermolova
- - Moscow theater under the direction of O. Tabakov, director A. Mokhov
Screen adaptations
Literature
- Anninsky L. A. World celebrity from the Mtsensk district // Anninsky L. A. Leskovskoe necklace. M., 1986
- Guminsky V. Organic interaction (from "Lady Macbeth ..." to "Cathedrals") // In the world of Leskov. Digest of articles. M., 1983
Notes
Links
| Works Scarecrow Wasteland Journey with a nihilist Robber Rakushansky melamed Russian democrat in Poland Russian secret marriage Siberian pictures of the 18th century Synodal philosopher Descent into hell Just man Old genius Languor of the spirit Dull artist Figure Man on the clock Hall Sheramur Darner Yudol Poisonous | |
|---|---|
| legends and legends |
Ascalonian villain Bramadata and Radovan Mountain Leo of the elder Gerasim Left-handed Legends of the conscientious Danilo Leon the butler son Malanya - the head of a ram Innocent Prudentius Beautiful Aza The legend of Fedor the Christian and his friend Abram the Jew Skomorokh Pamphalon Christ visiting the peasant The Hour of the Will of God |
| Publicism | Bishops' Detours A Jew in Russia Diocesan Court Caricature Ideal Legendary Characters Trivia of Bishop's Life On Russian Icon Painting Russian Public Notes Senichkin Yad |
| Dramaturgy | Waster |
