The paradoxes of the female character in the prose of N. A. Nekrasov and Ya. P. Polonsky of the 1840s-50s

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of women's paradoxicality, which is revealed on the material of the story of N. A. Nekrasov "The Life of Alexandra Ivanovna" (1841) and the story of Ya. P. Polonsky "The Tiflis Sakli" (1853). The aim of the study is to reveal the plot and characterological paradox as a means of characterizing the inhabitant of the capital city. In both works elements of romantic poetics and analytical techniques of the "natural school" are combined. With the help of a structural and comparative-typological method, both external and internal causes of the "fall" of the heroines of Nekrasov and Polonsky are revealed. The paradoxicality of the plot situation lies in the fact that Alexandra Ivanovna and Magdany have the opportunity to avoid deception and find a way out of the life impasse, but pride and attention to the external form prevent it. The difference between the works is that Nekrasov mostly refers to the social circumstances of the heroine's life, and Polonsky is interested in the spiritual and moral issues, the paradox is for him a way to show the complexity, the "secret" of the inner world of a woman.