Conflict between characters and internal conflict in literary works. Conflict and its psychological analysis on the example of a work of literature: subject, parties, interaction strategy, description of the conflict by stages and phases Examples of conflict

In literature? How does it manifest itself? Is it always possible to notice it even to an inexperienced reader? Conflicts in literary works are a necessary and necessary phenomenon for the development of a storyline. Not a single one can do without it. quality book, capable of claiming the title of timeless classics. Another thing is that we are not always able to see an obvious contradiction in the views of the described character, to deeply examine the system of his values ​​and inner beliefs.

Sometimes it is difficult to understand true literary masterpieces. This lesson requires colossal mental stress, as well as a desire to understand the characters, the system of images built by the author. So what is conflict in literature? Let's try to figure it out.

Definition of the concept

In most cases, people intuitively understand what it is about when it comes to talking about a certain ideological clash in a particular book. Conflict in literature is a confrontation between the characters of the heroes and external reality. The struggle in the fictional world can last for a long time and necessarily leads to a change in the way the hero looks at the surrounding reality. Such tension can form within the character himself and be directed towards his own personality. The development of such a move happens very often. And then they talk about an internal conflict, that is, a struggle with oneself.

Conflicts in Russian literature

Domestic classics deserve special attention. Below are examples of conflicts in literature, taken from Russian works. To many, they will turn out to be familiar from the time of the school curriculum. What books should you pay attention to?

Anna Karenina

The greatest monument of Russian literature, which does not lose its relevance today. Almost everyone knows the plot of Anna Karenina. But not every person can immediately determine what the main feelings of the heroine are. Thinking about what a conflict in literature is, you can recall this wonderful work.

In Anna Karenina, a twofold conflict is shown. It is he who does not allow the main character to come to her senses and look differently at the circumstances. own life... In the foreground, an external conflict is depicted: society's rejection of relations on the side. It is he who alienates the heroine from people (friends and acquaintances), with whom it was so easy to interact before. But besides him, there is still an internal conflict: Anna is literally crushed by this unbearable burden that she has to bear. She suffers from separation from her son Serezha, she has no right to take the child with her to new life with Vronsky. All these experiences create a strong tension in the heroine's soul, from which she cannot free herself.

"Oblomov"

Another unforgettable work of the Russian classical literature, which is worthy of talking about it. "Oblomov" shows the solitary life of a landowner who at one time decided to give up his service in the department and devote his life to solitude. The character itself is quite interesting. He does not want to live according to the pattern imposed by society, and at the same time he does not find the strength to fight. Being inactive and apathetic undermines it even more from the inside. The hero's conflict with the outside world is manifested in the fact that he sees no reason to live like most people: to go to the service every day, to perform actions that are meaningless in his opinion.

A passive lifestyle is his defensive reaction against an incomprehensible world around him. The book shows the conflict of an ideological plan, since it is based on understanding the essence and meaning of human existence. Ilya Ilyich does not feel the strength to change his life.

"Moron"

This work is one of the most famous by FM Dostoevsky. The Idiot depicts ideological conflict... Prince Myshkin is very different from the society in which he has to be. He is laconic, has extreme sensitivity, which is why he is acutely worried about any events.

The rest of the characters opposed him with their behavior and outlook on life. Prince Myshkin's values ​​are based on the Christian understanding of good and evil, on his desire to help people.

Conflicts in foreign literature

Foreign classics are no less entertaining than domestic ones. Conflicts in foreign literature sometimes they are presented on such a wide scale that one can only admire these masterfully written works. What examples can be given here?

"Romeo and Juliet"

A unique play by William Shakespeare, which every self-respecting person must get acquainted with at one time. The book shows a love conflict that gradually turns into tragedy. The two families - the Montagues and the Capulets - have been at war with each other for many years.

Romeo and Juliet resist the pressure of their parents, trying to defend their right to love and happiness.

"Steppenwolf"

This is one of the most memorable novels by Hermann Hesse. The main character- Harry Haller - cut off from society. He chose for himself the life of an impregnable and proud loner, because he cannot find a suitable place for himself in it. The character calls himself a "steppe wolf" who accidentally wandered into the city to the people. Haller's ideological conflict lies in the impossibility of accepting the rules and attitudes of society. The surrounding reality appears to him as a picture devoid of meaning.

Thus, when answering the question of what is a conflict in literature, one should definitely take into account the inner world of the protagonist. The worldview of one character is very often contrasted with the surrounding society.

Test work on conflict management

Analysis of the conflict from the work of A. Vampilov "Date"

Object of conflict : social needs.

Item : the need for love, friendship, self-affirmation.

Conflict type:

1) by the number of characters - double;

2) by duration - short-term;

3) by volume - portional;

4) by the ratio of statuses - horizontal;

5) by the nature of the manifestation - emotional;

6) by field of activity - household;

7) by the nature of the grounds for entering the conflict - true downtime;

8) by the type of social relations - interpersonal;

Causes of the conflict: the opportunity to satisfy the needs actualized by the parties to the conflict, which are its subject matter, motivates their desire to get on a date by all means. Social attitudes and values ​​of the participants contribute to the emergence of conflict and the increase in its emotional tension, because both young men consider it unacceptable to be late for a date. In addition, each of the participants wants to assert themselves without yielding to the other. This, as well as the personal characteristics of the conflicting parties, which are one of the causes of the conflict, determines the choice of non-constructive strategies for conducting the conflict by both parties.

Objective components of the conflict

Participants:

main: a student and a girl who are late for a date;

initiator: student

other participants: a shoemaker who heightens emotional stress.

Psychological components of the conflict

Motive of the parties: Meeting the need for love, friendship, respect (the motive for affiliation), self-affirmation.

Goals: Be in time for a date, assert yourself, not yielding to the antagonist.

Behavior strategies of the parties to the conflict: rivalry, avoidance.

The dynamics of the conflict

The conflict situation as a stage of the conflict in this case has not been identified, the interaction of the parties to the conflict begins immediately with a collision, that is, with an incident.

Incident: objectively unfocused - the shoemaker urgently repairs the student's shoes, because he is late and at this time the girl who has just broken her heel asks the guy to let her out of line.

Student: trying to defend his interests, the guy expresses indignation and disagreement with the traditions of giving in to women. Declares that he does not like her.

Young woman: tries to avoid conflict, but at the same time achieve his goal. Applies a manipulation technique (appeals to the opponent's personality, seeks to evoke compassion).

Escalation of the conflict: at first transition from latent to active confrontation, all opportunities for compromise are missed. Participants exchange barbs and sarcastic statements, seek support from a third person (shoemaker).

Conflict resolution: due to the receipt of new information about the opponent, the devaluation of the object and subject of the conflict occurs. We can assume two options for the development of this conflict. First: the girl and the boy will completely exclude the possibility of further development of any relationship (constructive or destructive), because the girl will not allow this boy to make attempts to resume communication, and the boy, most likely, will not dare to take persistent actions after such a "presentation." Second: in the process of the conflict between young people, mutual personal hostility arose, therefore, in the event of a situation of repeated communication, a new latent or open conflict may flare up on the basis of personal hostility.

Alexander Vampilov, "Favorites". M., Consent, 1999

OCR Bychkov M.N. mailto: [email protected]

May day. Quiet city street. In the shade of a two-story house sits a shoemaker, the last of the single handicraftsmen. This is a bearded, handsome old man with the makings of intelligence, sober, in a good mood. Before him is a stool, tools - everything is in exemplary order. A young man in a gray jacket and trousers narrowed in a workshop approaches him.

STUDENT. Hello!

SHOEMAKER. Good day!

STUDENT. Do you feel unemployed?

SHOEMAKER. I'm hiding from the heat. There is no such luxurious ventilation in my shoes ...

STUDENT (sitting down on a stool and taking off his shoes). An unfortunate accident. The habit of walking without looking at your feet ... These boots must live at all costs.

SHOEMAKER. You mean: no matter what it costs you? (Examines the boots.) The operation is risky ...

SHOEMAKER. How many?

STUDENT. Ten. And that is out of compassion for the unemployed surgeons.

SHOEMAKER. Thirty rubles. Out of sympathy for the urban order.

STUDENT. Only ten.

SHOEMAKER. Then give your boots powders - three times a day ... And then, it seems to me, I repaired these boots for someone else.

STUDENT. But, but!

SHOEMAKER. Sewing on, knocking down, putting heels on - thirty rubles!

STUDENT. Well, okay ... The arithmetic mean between ten and thirty is twenty rubles. Fix it, to hell with you! But the condition is: as soon as possible. Delay is deadly.

SHOEMAKER. Well, come on. I was brought up in the old way.

STUDENT. Something seems to me that you, dad, are sitting in a strange place.

BOOTMAN (going to work). Why is it on someone else's? The place is mine. Where else to sit for a sixty-five-year-old pensioner, languishing with the boredom of life? The sun is shining here, people are walking ... Look, girls, girls, they sew, they sew!

A girl passing by, cropped and fashionably dressed, suddenly screams and crouches down on the sidewalk.

GIRL (despairingly). Heel! (Looks around.) Shoemaker! How fortunate!

BOOTBALL (courtesy). Very good!

GIRL (coming up, glancing at the clock). The heel came off, please sew it on.

STUDENT. You see, the master is busy.

YOUNG WOMAN. But I hope you give in. I don't have time.

STUDENT. I also have no time.

YOUNG WOMAN. But get into position.

BOOTMAN (to the girl). Allow your model ...

STUDENT. In no case! I am late.

YOUNG WOMAN. You have no right ... The Master agrees.

STUDENT. But I disagree. Sit down ... that is, you have to stand.

YOUNG WOMAN. Thank you ... Understand, they are waiting for me ...

STUDENT. I'm very happy for you ... (Looks at his watch.) Hurry up, patriarch.

GIRL (looks at her watch, nervous). I'm not talking about nobility, but elementary politeness, decency ...

STUDENT. The one to whom you are in a hurry will be polite and helpful with you. He, and no one else. I don't see any point in this. It's another matter if I liked you ...

YOUNG WOMAN. You know! You, you ... (Nervous, wringing his hands. Quietly.) Well, well ... I beg you, you understand, please ... I even confess to you ... I can't be late. Fate is decided, happiness depends on these minutes ...

STUDENT. Do not be nervous. My happiness, perhaps, also depends on this nail. Why do you think that your happiness is better than mine? (To the shoemaker.) Tell me, patriarch, how old are you? You've probably already noticed that the relationship between the sexes is made up of prejudices and delusions. Because some fool a thousand years ago took the habit of strumming the guitar under the windows of a capricious person, putting his hand to his heart and so on, I must now yield to every woman in everything. And, mind you, women no longer wait for the manifestation of sensitivity, languidly rolling their eyes, but demand, shout and threaten with court. Do not give up your seats on the bus - and you will be called an ignoramus, a boor and whoever. (Looks at his watch.) Let's say you are. You pester me with an absurd demand: "Give me your happiness!" Why on earth! I can’t, I don’t have the opportunity to be sensitive and gentle with all the girls who fix the shoes of private owners. Do not be nervous. A feudal lord with a guitar awaits you. I suppose he will like you even without a heel. Hurry - twist ropes out of it, bend it into a ram's horn. But what have I got to do with it?

GIRL (to the shoemaker). Nail this young man's tongue.

STUDENT. You will have nothing to pay for it. (Looks at his watch.) Hurry up, patriarch! One minute left!

SHOEMAKER. Children, can you go that far from the start?

YOUNG WOMAN. There is no beginning for such impudent people.

STUDENT. You are being rude before our eyes ...

GIRL (flashing). No, it's you - boor! (To the shoemaker.) How many minutes walk to the Krylov monument?

STUDENT (horrified). Krylov?

SHOEMAKER. Five, no more.

GIRL (looks at her watch). I was late! (Sobbing). You ... you are the most arrogant boor ...

STUDENT (turning pale). Are you ... are you Lilya? ..

GIRL (nervously). What! So it's you ... Ha ha ha! Wonderful! Ha ha ha! ... Goodbye! Don't you dare call. (He leaves quickly.)

SHOEMAKER. What's the matter? Put on your shoes, run after her ...

BOOTBALL (blushing with curiosity). What's the matter?

STUDENT (shouts). What's the matter! What's the matter! The fact is that the date took place. First date! For three months I drank in this voice, I was afraid of breathing into the telephone receiver. Almost confessed his love! idolized ... Proud and mysterious. Barely begged for a date ...

SHOEMAKER. Hehe ... The feudal lord breaks the strings ...

STUDENT. Shut up, old pirate! Damn put you here! Private shops are allowed.

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We are in Everyday life we meet constantly. Political, industrial, family and other types of social conflicts of various scales and levels, sometimes taking away from people great amount physical, moral and emotional forces, overwhelm our spiritually-practical world - whether we want it or not.

It often happens like this: we strive to avoid certain conflicts, remove them, “defuse” or, at least, soften their effect - but in vain! The emergence, development and resolution of conflicts depends not only on us: in every clash of opposites, at least two parties participate, fight, expressing different, or even mutually exclusive interests, pursuing goals that contradict each other, performing multidirectional and sometimes hostile actions. In conflict, the struggle between the new and the old, the progressive and the reactionary, the social and the antisocial, finds its expression; contradictions of life principles and positions of people, social and individual consciousness, morality, etc.

The same thing happens in the literature. The development of the plot, the collision and interaction of characters taking place in continuously changing circumstances, the actions of the characters, that is, in other words, the entire dynamics of the content of a literary work is based on artistic conflicts, which are ultimately a reflection and generalization of social conflicts of reality. Without the artist's understanding of actual, burning, socially significant conflicts, the true art of the word does not exist.

An artistic conflict, or artistic collision (from Latin collisio - collision), is the confrontation of multidirectional forces acting in a literary work - social, natural, political, moral, philosophical, - which receives an ideological and aesthetic embodiment in the artistic structure of a work as opposition (opposition) of characters circumstances, individual characters - or different sides of the same character - to each other, the artistic ideas of the work themselves (if they carry ideologically polar principles).

The artistic fabric of a literary work at all its levels is permeated with conflict: speech characteristics, the actions of the characters, the ratio of their characters, artistic time and space, the plot-compositional construction of the narrative contain conflicting pairs of images connected with each other and constituting a kind of "grid" of attractions and repulsions - the structural backbone of the work.

In the epic novel "War and Peace", the Kuragin family (together with the Scherer, Drubetskoy, etc.) is the embodiment high society- a world organically alien to both Bezukhov, Bolkonsky and Rostov. For all the differences in the representatives of these three noble families beloved by the author, pompous formality, court intrigues, hypocrisy, falsehood, self-interest, spiritual emptiness, etc., flourishing at the imperial court, are equally hostile to them. Therefore, the relations of Pierre and Helene, Natasha and Anatole, Prince Andrei and Ippolit Kuragin, etc., are so dramatic, fraught with insoluble conflicts.

In a different semantic plane, a latent conflict unfolds in the novel between the wise people's commander Kutuzov and the vain Alexander I, who took the war for a parade of a special kind. However, it is no coincidence that Kutuzov loves and distinguishes Andrei Bolkonsky among the officers subordinate to him, and the Emperor Alexander does not hide his antipathy towards him. At the same time, Alexander (as in his time Napoleon) not accidentally "notices" Helene Bezukhova, honoring her to dance at a ball on the day of the invasion of Napoleon's troops into Russia. Thus, tracing the chains of connections, "couplings" between the characters of Tolstoy's work, we observe how all of them - with varying degrees of evidence - are grouped around two semantic "poles" of the epic, which form the main conflict of the work - the people, the engine of history, and the tsar, "Slave of history". In the author's philosophical and journalistic digressions, this highest conflict of the work is formulated with purely Tolstoy's categoricality and directness. Obviously, in terms of the degree of ideological significance and universality, in its place in the artistic and aesthetic whole of the epic novel, this conflict is comparable only with the military conflict depicted in the work, which was the core of all events Patriotic War 1812 All the rest, private conflicts that reveal the plot and plot of the novel (Pierre - Dolokhov, Prince Andrey - Natasha, Kutuzov - Napoleon, Russian speech - French, etc.), are subordinate to the main conflict of the work and constitute a certain hierarchy of artistic conflicts ...

Each literary work develops its own, special multi-level system of artistic conflicts, ultimately expressing the author's ideological and aesthetic concept. In this sense, the artistic interpretation of social conflicts is more capacious and meaningful than their scientific or publicistic reflection.

V " Captain's daughter»Pushkin, the conflict between Grinev and Shvabrin over the love of Masha Mironova, which forms the visible basis of the romance story itself, recedes into the background before the socio-historical conflict - the Pugachev uprising. The main problem of Pushkin’s novel, in which both conflicts are refracted in a peculiar way, is the dilemma of two ideas about honor (the epigraph of the work is “Take care of honor from your youth”): on the one hand, the narrow framework of class-class honor (for example, noble, officer's oath of allegiance) ; on the other hand, the universal values ​​of decency, kindness, humanism (fidelity to the word, trust in a person, gratitude for the good, the desire to help in trouble, etc.). Shvabrin is dishonorable even from the point of view of the noble code; Grinev tosses between two concepts of honor, one of which is imputed to his duty, the other is dictated by natural feeling; Pugachev turns out to be above the feeling of class hatred for a nobleman, which would seem completely natural, and meets the highest requirements of human honesty and nobility, surpassing in this respect the narrator himself - Pyotr Andreyevich Grinev.

The writer is not obliged to present to the reader, ready-made, the future historical resolution of the images he depicts. social conflicts... Often, such a resolution of socio-historical conflicts reflected in a literary work is seen by the reader in a semantic context that is unexpected for the writer. If the reader acts as literary critic, he can define both the conflict and the way of resolving it much more accurately and far-sightedly than the artist himself. So, N.A. “tyranny” reigns supreme, the ominous apotheosis of which is autocracy, and where even the slightest protest is a “ray of light”.

The most important function of the plot is the detection of life contradictions, that is, conflicts (in Hegel's terminology - collisions).

Conflict- the confrontation of the contradiction, either between characters, or between characters and circumstances, or within the character, underlying the action. If we are dealing with a small epic form, then the action develops on the basis of one single conflict. In works of a large volume, the number of conflicts increases.

Conflict- the rod around which everything revolves. The plot least of all resembles a solid, continuous line connecting the beginning and the end of the event series.

Stages of conflict development- main plot elements:

Exposition - setting - development of action - culmination - denouement

Exposition(lat. - presentation, explanation) - a description of the events preceding the set.

Main functions: Acquaintance of the reader with the action; Performance actors; An image of the situation before the conflict.

Tie- an event or a group of events directly leading to a conflict situation. It can grow out of exposure.

Action development- the entire system of sequential deployment of that part of the event plan, from the beginning to the denouement, which governs the conflict. It can be calm or unexpected turns (twists and turns).

Climax- the moment of the highest tension of the conflict is of decisive importance for its resolution. Then the development of the action turns to the denouement.

The number of climaxes can be large. It depends on the storylines.

Interchange- an event that resolves the conflict. Most often, the ending and the denouement coincide. In the case of an open final, the denouement may retreat. The denouement, as a rule, is juxtaposed with the tie, echoes it with a kind of parallelism, completing a certain compositional circle.

Conflict classification:

Solvable (limited works)

Unsolvable (eternal, universal contradictions)

Types of conflicts:

a) human and nature;

b) person and society;

v) man and culture

Ways to implement the conflict in different kinds literary works:

Often the conflict is fully embodied and exhausts itself in the course of the events depicted. It arises against the background of a conflict-free situation, becomes aggravated and resolved, as it were, in front of the readers' eyes. This is the case in many adventure and detective novels. This is the case in most of the literary works of the Renaissance: in the short stories of Boccaccio, comedies and some of the tragedies of Shakespeare. For example, Othello's emotional drama is entirely focused on the period of time when Iago was weaving his devilish intrigue. The malicious intent of the envious person is the main and only cause of the protagonist's suffering. The conflict of the tragedy "Othello", for all its depth and tension, is transient and local.

But it also happens otherwise. In a number of epic and dramatic works, events unfold against a constant background of conflict. The contradictions to which the writer draws attention exist here both before the beginning of the events depicted, and in the process of their course, and after their completion. What happened in the lives of the heroes acts as a kind of addition to the already existing contradictions. These can be both resolvable and insoluble conflicts (Dostoevsky's "The Idiot", Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard") Persistently conflicting positions are inherent in almost most of the subjects of realistic literature of the XIX-XX centuries.

1. The rivalry between Chatsky and Molchalin.
2. The relationship of Princess Mary, Pechorin and Grushnitsky.
3. Collision between Pavel Kirsanov and Evgeny Bazarov.

It is possible to speak of love rivalry in relation to many works of Russian literature only with a great deal of convention. In fact, we can not say that Onegin and Lensky competed because of Olga? That is, to Lensky, of course, it seemed like that, but from the outside it is perfectly clear that Onegin is not at all interested in the favor of the charming and slightly windy Olga. Let us dwell on several works in more detail.

In the comedy of A. S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit", at least, we find the most necessary conditions for a love rivalry between the two heroes. Both Chatsky and Molchalin, for one reason or another, are interested in Sophia's attention and disposition. Another thing is that the reasons for this interest among the gentlemen are different. Chatsky and Sophia have known each other since childhood; it is easy to guess that they experienced mutual childhood affection, which grew into youthful love. True, Sophia forgot about this hobby, choosing her father's secretary Molchalin as the object of her adoration. But Chatsky not only has not forgotten his former love, but also cherishes the hope of former reciprocity. This hope very quickly dissipates, but Chatsky, by all means, wants to find out who Sophia's chosen one is.

Molchalin, on whom, by a strange whim of fate, the benevolent gaze of the daughter of his patron rested, does not at all feel any romantic feelings for Sofya Pavlovna. Nevertheless, he humbly and conscientiously portrays a devoted lover. What for? This is a big calculation for Molchalin. Wanting to reach certain heights, moving up the career ladder, he tries to please everyone who already occupies a significant position in society. And Sophia is the daughter of his immediate superior, whom she "feeds and gives water, and sometimes she will give her a rank," according to Liza's apt remarks, Sophia's maid.

So, in the comedy of Griboyedov, it seems that there are the necessary prerequisites for the rivalry of the heroes over the girl. But where is it, is this rivalry? Yes, Chatsky wants to know who his lucky rival is. Sophia let it slip, but Chatsky, having talked with the subject of her hobby personally, comes to the conclusion that the "liar laughed" at him. Can a subject “with such feelings, with such a soul”, who believes that a person who does not have a high rank, is obliged to assent to high-ranking persons, not daring to have his own opinion, can be loved? Yes, he sees in women only possible patrons in promotion!

Chatsky tries to show Sophia the insignificance of Molchalin. But after all, Chatsky attacks everyone, therefore Sophia is inclined to regard his attacks against Molchalin simply as manifestations of a quarrelsome nature. Note: Chatsky does absolutely nothing to show his person in a more or less favorable light in front of his girlfriend. That is, he demonstratively does not compete with Molchalin, ostentatious modesty and helpfulness immensely touching and delighting the dreamy Sophia. Chatsky is much more than love affairs, he is busy exposing the vices of society. When everyone pounces on him with remarkable unanimity, picking up the phrase launched by Sophia about Chatsky's madness, and the taciturn essence is revealed in all its double-minded beauty, Chatsky proudly leaves the game. “Carriage to me, carriage!” He exclaims theatrically and majestically leaves the stage. But let's turn to another work. In M. Yu. Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time, Grushnitsky and Pechorin even shoot themselves over a girl! Isn't it a love rivalry? In addition, the heroes made repeated attempts to win the sympathy of the young Princess Mary - only with varying degrees of success. At first she was interested in Grushnitsky, but quickly got bored. As for Pechorin, at first Mary felt hostile prejudice towards him, but the efforts of an experienced heartthrob were not in vain, and the girl fell in love with him. Angry Grushnitsky slanders the princess; Pechorin, as befits a noble man, defends the honor of the girl. This is how the situation described in the novel looks like. But in fact, neither Grushnitsky nor Pechorin cares about Mary. Grushnitsky suffers from strangled pride, he needs to pour out his anger. In addition, he envies Pechorin's successes. And he turned the princess's head without any far-reaching plans. Circumstances developed in such a way that, as a decent person, he had no right to silently swallow Grushnitsky's dirty lies. Pechorin risks his life without hesitation, but he does not intend to connect his life with Mary. His conflict with Grushnitsky is a clash of characters, not a love rivalry.

Finally, let us dwell on one more example of the so-called love rivalry in Russian literature. In Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons, a duel also takes place. Both of its members are partial to the same woman. Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov did not in any way reveal his feelings for Fenechka, the beloved of his brother Nikolai. But Evgeny Bazarov, a friend of Arkady, the son of Nikolai Petrovich, feeling attracted to this woman, started an ambiguous conversation with her, hinting that he liked her, and then boldly kissed her. Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, who happened to be a witness of this scene, challenged him to a duel. He did this not so much out of concern for the happiness of his brother, but in an outburst of his own jealousy. However, how comically arranged this duel! If in Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" the duel of heroes has the appropriate flavor of a battle for life and not death, then in Turgenev's "Fathers and Children" it turns into almost a comic scene: behind a tree the valet Peter, acting as a second, crumples. This second during the duel trembled like an aspen leaf, and then, at the end of the duel, contrary to Pavel Petrovich's order, he alarmed Nikolai Petrovich with an unexpected message, although all that was required was to run after the carriage in which the wounded Pavel Petrovich could be brought home.

But, in addition to the farcical design of this duel, the question arises: what was the purpose of the duel? Pavel Petrovich was looking for a way to expel his rival from his brother's estate under a plausible pretext. He achieved this goal. But for both rivals, there could be no question of Fenichka's reciprocity, because she loved only Nikolai Petrovich and was not at all going to cheat on him.