White nights Dostoevsky characterization of a dreamer. Characteristics of the dreamer from the story "White Nights" by Dostoevsky

F.M. Dostoevsky wrote the story “White Nights” in the last months of the autumn of 1847; soon, already in 1848, the work was published by the magazine “Domestic Notes”.

Previously, the writer was already interested in the topic of “St. Petersburg dreamers”; in 1847, he wrote several feuilleton articles on this topic, which were included in the large feuilleton “Petersburg Chronicle”. But Dostoevsky published these articles almost anonymously, signing the feuilletons with the letters “F.M.” Later, critics established that part of the material from the feuilleton was included in the story “White Nights” - a description of the life of the heroes, their characteristics.

The story is dedicated to A.N. Pleshcheev, a friend of Dostoevsky's youth, and some critics argue that Pleshcheev became the prototype of the main character. Some, however, object that the image of the main character is the image of the young Dostoevsky himself, and it is no coincidence that the author narrates in the first person, hinting at autobiography.

Analysis of the work

Genre features, composition, content of the story

The writer accompanies the story with two subtitles: “A Sentimental Novel” and “From the Memoirs of a Dreamer.” Both subtitles indicate that the story belongs to a certain genre and literary movement. The first - directly, the second - indirectly, because the widespread method of presentation in sentimental literature is precisely diary entries, memories, retrospectives. The writer calls the story a novel, also based on sentimentalist views. For the same reasons main character The story has no name; the author simply calls him “The Dreamer.”

However, in terms of genre, “White Nights” is certainly not sentimentalism in pure form, rather, “sentimental naturalism”, because both the place and the characters are quite real, moreover, deeply social and belong to the category of “little people” glorified by Dostoevsky. But in the story “White Nights” there are traces of utopianism, because the heroes turned out to be too pure, too sterile, too honest in their feelings.

The epigraph to the story was I. Turgenev’s poem “Flower”, lyrical hero who picks a flower growing peacefully in the shade of the trees and pins it to his buttonhole. Turgenev reasons: beautiful flowers do not grow for momentary pleasure (read - people live), but man takes them with an imperious hand, plucks them and condemns them to imminent death(read - seduces, first loves and extols, then leaves). Dostoevsky somewhat reinterprets Turgenev’s statement, making it a question: « …Or was he created in order to stay at least for a moment in the neighborhood of your heart?” That is, Dostoevsky comes to the conclusion that sometimes touching love, walking along the edge of unfulfilled happiness is the whole of life, you can devote yourself to this single memory, as the Dreamer does.

Compositionally, the story consists of 5 chapters, 4 chapters are dedicated to nights in St. Petersburg, the last one is called “Morning”. The construction is symbolic: romantic nights are the stages of the protagonist’s successive falling in love with main character, stages of his development, and at the end he, morally perfect, stands on the threshold of his morning - epiphany. He has found love, but unrequited, therefore, on the morning of his insight, he gives up his love to another, gets rid of dreams and, experiencing a real feeling, does a real deed.

Morning simultaneously dispels empty hopes and breaks off a series of wonderful meetings; it becomes the beginning and end of the hero’s drama.

Plot of the story

Plot of the story: the young man on whose behalf the story is told came to St. Petersburg 8 years ago. It works, but free time looks at cityscapes and dreams. One day he saves a girl on the embankment who is being pursued by a drunk. The girl tells the Dreamer that she is waiting on the embankment for her lover, who was going to come for her exactly a year ago, having made an appointment for these days. The girl waits for him for several days, but he does not come, and despair begins to overcome her. The dreamer communicates with Nastenka, takes it upon himself to deliver the letter to her lover, and he himself falls in love with the girl. Nastenka also falls in love, and they are even planning to get married, when suddenly the former lover appears again and takes Nastenka away. A cold, dank St. Petersburg morning comes, and the Dreamer feels sobered and devastated.

Main characters

The main character of the story is the Dreamer - the author’s favorite image of a lonely person, completely isolated from outside world and living in vicious circle your dreams.

The Dreamer is a 26-year-old resident of St. Petersburg. He is educated, but poor, has certain prospects, but has no worldly desires. He serves somewhere, but does not get along with colleagues and others around him - for example, women. He is not interested in the everyday side of life, nor money, nor girls, he is constantly immersed in illusory romantic dreams and during periods of contact with the outside world he experiences a painful feeling of alienation to this world. He compares himself to a dirty kitten, not needed by anyone in the world and experiencing reciprocal resentment and enmity. However, he would not be irresponsible if they needed him - after all, people are not disgusting to him, he would be ready to help someone, he is capable of empathy.

The dreamer is a typical “little man” ( social status, inability to act, immobility, invisibility of existence) and “ extra person"(he feels himself like this, despising only himself for his uselessness).

The main character, the 17-year-old girl Nastenka, is contrasted with the Dreamer as an active, acting character. Despite the external fragility and naivety and young age, she is stronger than the Dreamer in the search for happiness. The writer uses many words with diminutive suffixes - “eyes”, “hands”, “pretty”, emphasizing the childishness and spontaneity of the image, its playfulness, restlessness, like a child. By the habits of a child, by the heart it is - real woman: skillfully uses the help of an adult man, but at the same time, having clearly recognized his sensitive and indecisive nature, stubbornly does not notice his feelings. At a critical moment, however, when it becomes clear that her lover has abandoned her, she quickly orients herself and finally notices these very feelings. At the moment of the appearance of a potential husband, he again looks at the Dreamer’s feelings as friendly participation. However, should we blame the girl for being fickle? In the end, she truly waited for her main happiness whole year, and there is no insincerity in the fact that she almost went over to the Dreamer - the life of a lonely, fragile girl in a large and hostile St. Petersburg is difficult and dangerous, she needs support and support.

Nastenka writes a letter to the Dreamer, in which she thanks him for participating in her story. Having received the letter, the Dreamer does not feel sad - he sincerely wishes happiness to the girl and, repeating the idea of ​​the epigraph, says that a whole minute of bliss with Nastenka is what is enough for a lifetime.

Dostoevsky's contemporaries saw in the story French utopian ideas, which they were all passionate about. The main thesis of the utopians of the 1840s was the desire for silent feat, sacrifice, and renunciation of love in favor of other people. Dostoevsky was deeply devoted to these ideas, which is why the type of love he describes is so ideal.

1. The history of the creation of the novel.
2. The image of the main character of the work.
3. Psychologism of the novel “White Nights”.

The novel “White Nights” by F. M. Dostoevsky was first published in 1848 in periodical"Domestic Notes". The writer dedicated his work to his friend from his youth, the poet A. N. Pleshcheev. Perhaps this man was also the prototype of the main character of the work, since it was at this time that he was thinking about his version of the story about the dreamer. According to many literary scholars, “White Nights” is one of the brightest and poetic works writer. Moreover, Dostoevsky himself wrote that “we are all more or less dreamers.” That is, to some extent, the novel is autobiographical, since Fyodor Mikhailovich, like his character, more than once recalled his “golden and inflamed dreams”: “Before, in my youthful fantasy, I sometimes liked to imagine myself as either Pericles, or Marius, or a Christian from from the time of Nero, now as a knight at a tournament, now as Edward Glyandening from the novel “The Monastery” by Walter Scott... And what I did not dream of in my youth...” The action of the work takes place in the poetic atmosphere of romantic lyrics, and this is also the image of the main characters of a young commoner official and a young girl. Each of them has pure soul. Everything that happens takes place against the backdrop of St. Petersburg canals during the White Nights.

The novel “White Nights” includes five parts, four of which describe the nights, and the last one describes the morning. The main character of the work, a young man, a dreamer, has lived in St. Petersburg for eight years, but has never been able to find friends. In one of summer days he went out for a walk, and suddenly it seemed to him that the whole city had gone to the dacha. Being a lonely person, the dreamer felt even more isolated from other people. This prompted him to take a walk outside the city. Returning late in the evening, the main character saw a young woman sobbing at the railing of the canal. Of course he is like a real man, and a romantic at that, couldn’t just pass by. He wanted to approach the girl, but she came to her senses and walked quickly along the embankment. Chance helped young man to get acquainted and talk with a stranger, the girl promised to tell her story the next night and asked her new friend not to fall in love with her under any circumstances. The unexpected meeting amazed the main character so much that the next day he arrived at the meeting place two hours earlier. The ardent young man was ready to sacrifice anything to protect Nastenka from harm if she threatened her new acquaintance. Finally, the protagonist's expectations were rewarded.

The young people got to know each other better, and the hero introduced himself as an eccentric dreamer who is both afraid and strives to communicate with others: “A dreamer - if you need a detailed definition of him - is not a person, but, you know, some kind of average creature.” kind. He sits down for the most part somewhere in an inaccessible corner, as if it were hiding in it even from daylight, and if it crawls into itself, it will grow to its corner like a snail...” IN evening time the main character loved to wander around the city and dream. Dreams gave meaning to his existence, and also filled him with joy: “He is now rich in his special life; somehow he suddenly became rich, and it was not in vain that the farewell ray of the fading sun sparkled so cheerfully in front of him and evoked a whole swarm of impressions from his warmed heart... Now “the goddess of fantasy”... She had already woven her golden base with a whimsical hand and went to develop before him the patterns of an unprecedented bizarre life...” The girl’s story could not help but touch the dreamer’s soul, especially since she experienced serious feelings, and the whole story was shrouded in an aura of romance. The young man began to calm Nastenka down and even agreed to give the letter to the people who would deliver it to the addressee. The new friends' next date was scheduled for the next night. During the third meeting, it seemed to the ardent young man for a moment that the girl loved him, she cared for him so tenderly, however noble heart could not suspect Nastenka of showing feelings. The dreamer quickly pulled himself together, realizing that “her care, her love... was nothing more than the joy of meeting someone else soon.”

The wait lasted for several hours. At first Nastenka was cheerful and even playful, but soon she became sad. No matter how much the dreamer reassured the girl, she became sadder and sadder. The main character so sincerely reassured his new girlfriend, that the thought came into her head: “I compared you both.” Why is he not you? Why is he not like you? He is worse than you, although I love him more than you.” The young people parted without waiting for Nastenka’s chosen one.

The girl’s words excited the dreamer so much that he could hardly wait until morning to find her house. He sincerely fell in love with the girl: “I was about to go into their alley, but I felt ashamed. And I returned without looking at their windows. Not two steps away from their house. I came home in such melancholy as I had never been in.” He suffered because there was nothing he could do about it. The fourth date was scheduled for nine o'clock in the evening, but when the dreamer arrived, the girl was already there. She hoped that a new acquaintance would bring her a letter from her lover, but when her expectations were not confirmed, the girl burst into tears. For Nastenka’s sake, the young man was ready to go to her chosen one and demand an answer from him, but the girl stopped him. Soon the dreamer could not help but confess his love to her. The unfortunate girl only asked if her new acquaintance could wait until her heart was freed from her old love. Of course, the dreamer was ready to wait as long as necessary. Young people immediately began to walk along the embankment and make plans for the future. They decided that the dreamer would immediately move into the girl’s house, where her grandmother was renting out the vacant mezzanine. Nastenka's mood was constantly changing; she could not forget her humiliation and rejected love. The young man tried his best to distract her.

Suddenly they met a man who looked intently at the girl and called her by name. Nastenka recognized her lover in him and rushed to him. The Dreamer did not dare to stop her. In the morning he received a letter in which the girl thanked him for his support and told him that she was marrying her chosen one. The dreamer suddenly saw his future, when he, fifteen years older, was still in the same room with the same faded walls and floors.

In his heartfelt novel, Fyodor Mikhailovich tried to comprehend the theme of St. Petersburg from a philosophical and historical point of view. He fully managed to reveal the image of a lonely intelligent man who feels like a stranger and in big city. In search of a way out of the current situation, “the main character plunged into himself, he escaped reality with the help of daydreaming.

In his work, Dostoevsky repeatedly addresses this topic. The reason for such dreaminess is revealed in the writer's subsequent works. The author viewed it as a consequence of “a break with the people of the vast majority of the educated class.” He conducts a serious psychological analysis human relations. Dostoevsky's dreamers longed for living life, they painfully sought a point of contact with it. Many literary scholars were confident that artistically“White Nights” is much more perfect than the previous works of Fyodor Mikhailovich.

Composition

The image of a dreamer is one of the central ones in the work of the young Dostoevsky. The image of the dreamer in the story “White Nights” is autobiographical: Dostoevsky himself stands behind him.

On the one hand, the author claims that ghostly life is a sin, it leads away from real reality, and on the other hand, he emphasizes creative value this sincere and pure life. “He is the artist of his own life and creates it for himself every hour according to his will.”

“I walked a lot and for a long time, so that I had already completely managed, as usual, to forget where I was, when suddenly I found myself at the outpost... It was as if I had suddenly found myself in Italy - so much did nature strike me, a half-sick city dweller who almost suffocated within the city walls... There is something inexplicably touching in our St. Petersburg nature, when

With the onset of spring, she will suddenly show all her power, all the powers given to her by heaven, she will become pubescent, discharged, adorned with flowers...”

In the dark corners of St. Petersburg, where the sun never peeks, the poor dreamer is hiding, always embarrassed, feeling guilty, with ridiculous manners, confused speech, reaching the point of self-destruction. The hero draws a self-portrait: a crumpled, filthy kitten, which, snorting, with resentment and at the same time hostility, looks at nature and even “at the handout from the master’s dinner” brought by the compassionate housekeeper.

“White Nights” is a story about the loneliness of a man who has not found himself in an unfair world, about failed happiness. The hero has no selfish motives. He is ready to sacrifice everything for another and strives to ensure Nastenka’s happiness, not for a minute thinking about the fact that Nastenka’s love for him is the only thing he can get from life. The dreamer's love for Nastenka is selfless, trusting and as pure as the white nights. This feeling saves the hero from the “sin” of dreaming and quenches his thirst real life. But his fate is sad. He's lonely again. However, there is no hopeless tragedy in the story. The dreamer blesses his beloved: “May your sky be clear, may your sweet smile be bright and serene, may you be blessed for the moment of bliss and happiness that you gave to another, lonely, grateful heart!”

This story is a kind of idyll. This is a utopia about what people could be if they showed their best feelings. It's more like a dream about someone else, beautiful life than a reflection of reality.

Other works on this work

The image of a dreamer is one of the central ones in the work of the young Dostoevsky. The image of the dreamer in the story “White Nights” is autobiographical: Dostoevsky himself stands behind him.

On the one hand, the author claims that ghostly life is a sin, it leads away from real reality, and on the other hand, he emphasizes the creative value of this sincere and pure life. “He is the artist of his own life and creates it for himself every hour according to his will.”

“I walked a lot and for a long time, so that I had already completely managed, as usual, to forget where I was, when suddenly I found myself at the outpost... It was as if I had suddenly found myself in Italy - so much did nature strike me, a half-sick city dweller who almost suffocated in the city walls... There is something inexplicably touching in our St. Petersburg nature, when, with the onset of spring, it suddenly shows all its power, all the powers given to it by heaven, becomes pubescent, discharged, adorned with flowers..."

In the dark corners of St. Petersburg, where the sun never shines, hides a poor dreamer, always embarrassed, feeling guilty, with ridiculous manners, stupid speech, reaching the point of self-destruction. The hero draws a self-portrait: a crumpled, filthy kitten, which, snorting, with resentment and at the same time hostility, looks at nature and even “at the handout from the master’s dinner” brought by the compassionate housekeeper.

“White Nights” is a story about the loneliness of a man who has not found himself in an unfair world, about failed happiness. The hero has no selfish motives. He is ready to sacrifice everything for another and strives to ensure Nastenka’s happiness, not for a minute thinking about the fact that Nastenka’s love for him is the only thing he can get from life. The dreamer's love for Nastenka is selfless, trusting and as pure as the white nights. This feeling saves the hero from the “sin” of dreaming and quenches the thirst for real life. But his fate is sad. He's lonely again. However, there is no hopeless tragedy in the story. The dreamer blesses his beloved: “May your sky be clear, may your sweet smile be bright and serene, may you be blessed for the moment of bliss and happiness that you gave to another, lonely, grateful heart!”

This story is a kind of idyll. This is a utopia about what people could be if they showed their best feelings. This is more a dream of a different, beautiful life than a reflection of reality.