Karamzin poor Liza description of the characters. Characteristics of the hero Liza, Poor Liza, Karamzin

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The incredibly sincere and emotional work of Karamzin does not leave anyone indifferent - in the story the author described the typical feelings of people in love, outlining a picture from the very beginning to the decline of the feelings of one of the beloved.

Philosophical overtones and psychological basis make this work look like a legend - a sad story based on real events.

Character characteristics

Karamzin's story does not differ in a significant list of heroes. There are only five of them:

  • Liza;
  • Lisa's mother;
  • Erast;
  • Annushka;
  • Author.

The image of Lisa is depicted in the best traditions of sentimentalism - she is a sweet and sincere girl, tender and impressionable: “pure. a joyful soul shone in her eyes.

The girl is somewhat similar to an angel - she is too innocent and virtuous: "beautiful in soul and body." It seems that she grew up in a different world, because she was able, despite all the difficulties of society and the era, to preserve goodness and humanity.

At the age of 15, Lisa was left without a father. Life with her mother was difficult financially, but easy psychologically - a friendly, trusting relationship was established between mother and daughter. Mother, being a compassionate woman, constantly worries about her beloved daughter, like all parents, she wishes her a better fate. The woman could not survive the loss of her daughter - the news of Lisa's death became fatal for her.

Erast is a nobleman by birth. He is smart and educated person. His life is typical for a young man of his age and class - dinner parties, balls, card games, theater, but this does not bring him much joy - he is rather tired of all the entertainment. Acquaintance with Lisa noticeably changes him and instead of boredom, he develops an aversion to the attributes of social life.

Lisa's harmonious life allowed him to consider other aspects of existence: "he thought with disgust about the contemptuous voluptuousness with which his feelings used to revel."
The image of Erast is not without positive qualities- he is a gentle and courteous person, but the selfish spoiledness of the young man did not allow him to become as harmonious as Liza.

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with which came out from the pen of the classic author N. Karamzin.

The image of Annushka in the story is fragmentary - we meet this character already at the end of the work: after learning about Erast's wedding, Lisa realizes that she cannot come to terms with this and does not realize her life without this person - the option to commit suicide seems to her one of the most acceptable. At this time, Liza notices Annushka, the neighbor's daughter, and instructs her to give the money to her mother. After that, Lisa rushes into the pond.

Criticism

Karamzin's story was repeatedly called a breakthrough of its time, the motif so typical of European literature was first transferred to the plane of Russian culture, which was already an innovation. The special interest of the public in the work was also caused by the introduction of a new direction - sentimentalism.

Literary critics and researchers highly appreciated Karamzin's story and noted that the author managed to recreate a "living" reality in front of the reader - the work was surprisingly realistic, devoid of artificial emotions and images.

Russian scientist, professor-philologist V.V. Sipovsky believed that Karamzin was the "Russian" Goethe - his living word contributed to a breakthrough in literature.

Karamzin, according to the scientist, provided readers reverse side medals, showing that a person’s life, even if he is just an invention of the author, does not always have to be filled with an idyll, sometimes it can have fatality and tragedy: “The Russian public, accustomed to comforting outcomes in the form of weddings in old novels, who believed that virtue is always rewarded, and vice is punished, for the first time in this story she met with the bitter truth of life.

A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, analyzing the significance of "Poor Lisa", focused on the European basis of the story both in terms of plot and in terms of sentimentalism, which had not yet spread to the territory of Russia, but was already widespread in Europe. “Everyone sighed until they fainted” - he gives such an assessment of the impact on the public to the work, and already quite ironically notes that after the release of “Poor Lisa”, everyone began to “drown in a puddle”.

G. A. Gukovsky also speaks of the same effect, noting that after reading “Poor Lisa”, crowds of young people began to appear near the Simonov Monastery and admire the surface of the lake, in which, according to Karamzin’s idea, the girl drowned.

In his opinion, nature in the story performs its own special function - it sets the reader up for a lyrical perception of reality. Poor Lisa not so much a real peasant woman as an ideal opera heroine, and her sad story should not revolt, but only create a lyrical mood.

V.N. Toporov argues that "Poor Liza" has become a significant work not only in Russian literature, but also in the work of Karamzin - it was this work that opened the era of a "breakthrough" both in the work of a literary figure and in the historical development of literature in general.

“Poor Lisa” is precisely the root from which the tree of Russian classical prose has grown, whose powerful crown sometimes hides the trunk and distracts from reflections on the historically so recent origins of the very phenomenon of Russian literature of the New Age.

Winged phrases from the story

I love those items that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!

Everyone is sentimental in one way or another. Some people show their sentimentalism from an early age, while others acquire this feeling after some time, having acquired sufficient life experience.



Special emotions that arise in a person during contact with objects of material or spiritual culture help to create the effect of catharsis - emotional relief.

Peasants know how to love!

Until a certain point, it was believed that the peasants were not emotionally and mentally similar to the aristocrats. The essence of this statement was not the lack of education of the peasants, but the conviction that the peasants, even if educated, would not be able to become similar in spiritual development on representatives of the aristocracy - they are not characterized by high manifestations of feelings, in fact, it turned out, based on this theory, that the peasants are guided solely by instincts, they are characterized by only the simplest emotions. Karamzin showed that this is not so. Serfs can show different feelings and emotions, and theories that they are several stages lower in their development are prejudices.

It is better to live by your own labors and take nothing for nothing.

This phrase reflects the moral principles of an honest person - if you have not earned a certain thing, then you have no right to claim it.

Old people are suspicious

In view of their age and life experience, old people try to protect young people from the mistakes of youth. Since often young people are in no hurry to share their problems and concerns with the older generation, the only way to find out about the upcoming problem is to analyze the behavior of the individual, and for this you need to be observant.

How good everything is with the Lord God! It is necessary that the King of Heaven loved a person very much when he so well removed the worldly light for him.

In the world of nature, everything is harmonious and aesthetically pleasing. A person with a sensual soul cannot but notice these subtleties and admire them. In spring and summer, the feeling of the beauty of nature is felt especially brightly - the nature that slept in winter comes back to life and pleases with its charm the world. Beings who have the opportunity to see all this beauty cannot be unloved by God, otherwise he would not have tried to create such a beautiful and harmonious world.

The fulfillment of all desires is the most dangerous temptation of love.

There is always love fervor between lovers, however, in the case when relations between people develop too quickly and there is an effect of permissiveness, the fervor quickly fades away - when everything is achieved, there is not a single secluded corner in the soul of a person where a dream or fantasy - there is no reason for dreams, if in this case the relationship does not go to another level (for example, marriage), then there is a fading of emotions and passion in relation to the object of one's passion and admiration.


Death for the fatherland is not terrible

A person is not conceivable without his “roots”, one way or another, each individual must be aware of himself not only as part of society, but also as part of the state. The improvement and problems of the state should be perceived by everyone as the problems of their own family, so death in the name of one's state is not inglorious.

Story test

1. How old was Liza when her father died?
A) 19
B)15
AT 10 O'CLOCK

2. Why did the family live in poverty after the death of their father?
A) could not pay rent for land
B) workers did not cultivate the land so well and the harvest decreased
C) the money was spent on the treatment of sister Liza

3. At what price did Liza sell lilies of the valley?
A) 5 kopecks
B) 5 rubles
B) 13 kopecks

4. Why didn't Liza sell flowers for 1 ruble?
a) It was too cheap
B) her conscience did not allow her
C) The ruble was spoiled

5. Why do Lisa and Erast meet at night?
A) Erast is busy all day
b) They can be slandered
C) Their meetings can cause a quarrel with Erast's bride

6. Why was Lisa afraid of a thunderstorm during one of their nightly meetings with Erast?
A) She was afraid that the thunder would strike her as a criminal.
B) Lisa was always afraid of thunderstorms.
C) The storm was very strong and the girl was afraid that her mother would wake up and find that Lisa was not at home.

7. Why didn't Erast refuse to go to war?
A) could not contradict the order
B) Lisa became disgusting to him
C) everyone would laugh at him and consider him a coward

8. Why is Erast not afraid to die in war?
a) He knows no fear
B) death for the Fatherland is not terrible
C) he has been dreaming of death for a long time

9. Why did Erast order Lisa to forget him?
A) he was tired of the girl
B) was afraid that everyone would laugh at him when they found out about their relationship with Lisa
C) he was engaged and the relationship with Lisa could harm his marriage.

10. What did Liza do with the money that Erast gave her?
A) returned Erast back
B) gave to the beggar standing under the church
C) gave it to the neighbor's daughter to give it to Lisa's mother.

11. How did Lisa's mother take her death?
A) killed Erast
B) drowned in grief
c) The news was so overwhelming for her that she died immediately

12. What do the peasants think when they hear the howling of the wind in the house where Liza lived with her mother?
A) it's Lisa's soul crying
B) tramps climbed into the house for the night
C) It is Erast who comes to yearn for his lost happiness.

Key:

B 2.b 3.a 4. b5.b 6.a 7.c 8.b 9.c 10.c. 11. At 12

Thus, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of Karamzin's story on the development of literature and culture. The images of his characters are actually endowed with typical qualities, but their depiction inner peace and a vivid description of the feelings of the characters creates a picture of realism and uniqueness.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is the largest historian of his time, as well as a writer of the era of sentimentalism.

Karamzin's work interested me, since he is such a versatile and amazing person that Russian people simply have to know about the activities of their compatriot. Karamzin was a poet, journalist, public figure and reformer of the Russian literary language.

He was born on December 1, 1766 in a noble family near Simbirsk, and therefore he received a good education. At first he studied in a private boarding school of his hometown, and later in Moscow in the boarding house of I. M. Shaden, after which he entered Moscow University. After serving a year after university in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, he devoted himself entirely to literature, and later to historical essays.

In 1792, "Poor Liza" was written, which was the first work of that time written in the genre of Russian prose.

"Poor Lisa" Plot

The narration of this story begins thirty years after the events. His memories take place in Moscow near the Simonov Monastery, where once a peasant girl Liza lived in a poor house with her mother. They lived in poverty, as their husband and father died long ago and there was no one to help. At the age of fifteen, Lisa had to weave canvases, knit stockings, and sell all sorts of things in Moscow. On one of those days, while selling lilies of the valley in Moscow, she met Erast. Erast bought her flowers and wanted to give a whole ruble for them, but the girl did not take such a large fee, but took only the real cost of a bunch of a few kopecks. This artlessness and simplicity of the grandfather interested Erast. A day later, he appeared under the windows of her hut. Soon, the young nobleman and the peasant girl began to meet often, confessed their love to each other. So a week passed. A week later, Lisa told Erast that her mother was forcing her to marry another, the one who had proposed to her. But for her it is unbearable, because she loves her Erast.

Since then, their love has become even stronger, and the girl, not knowing what she was doing, gave Erast her innocence. Since then, Erast's interest in Lisa began to gradually fade away, as happens with those who got what they wanted. She no longer captivated him as much, as she ceased to be a pure angel. Less and less he began to see her and, finally, said that he would not come to her for a while, as things military service they require it. Lisa believed him and said goodbye with tears.

After some time, the poor girl met a carriage with Erast in Moscow, but he coldly informed her that he was engaged to another and soon the wedding, gave Liza a hundred rubles of money and sent her home. He himself was forced to marry a rich old widow. Poor Liza could not endure her grief and threw herself into the river, where she immediately drowned. The mother, having learned about what happened to her daughter, also died of grief. The hut is empty.

On such a tragic note, this work ends. Nobody has happiness.

The heroes of this work are ordinary people. The peasant woman Lisa and her mother, the nobleman Erast, and the narrator, who tells about the unfolding events. The story is sad and even tragic.

So Lisa is a poor peasant woman fifteen years old. This is an honest girl who worked from dawn to dusk, earning a living for herself and her mother. With all her heart she fell in love with Erast. When he confessed his love to her, her heart and soul were given to him forever. She fulfilled all the desires of her lover, and therefore ceased to be interesting to him. The tragedy of this work is not only that the young nobleman defamed the girl, depriving her of innocence, but that he abandoned her in the end.

I think that even if Lisa had not lost her innocence at the moment when she found out that her beloved was engaged to another, she would have drowned herself anyway, since she could not imagine happiness with another.

Erast is a young nobleman. He has a good heart, and therefore stops near Liza for the first time. However, the character of the young man is windy, capable only of entertainment and revelry. Communication with a poor girl is interesting to him only at first, as a new extraordinary adventure in his life. At first, he perceives Lisa as a bright angel of purity. However, as soon as all the desires of the young man were satisfied, the halo of magic immediately flew off, and the girl became ordinary, like many others. Again, Erast became interested only in revelry and cards. The lost estate and the resulting debts were the result of his rampant lifestyle. Erast is also unhappy, as he is forced to marry an old widow only to get rid of debts.

The main character in this story is the narrator. No, this is not a story on behalf of Karamzin, this is a separate actor. It is his memoirs that we read. The narrator describes the beauty of Moscow very beautifully, especially the Simonov Monastery.

Since the work "Poor Lisa" is sentimental prose, we often read about how everyone takes turns crying from an overabundance of feelings. And the mother, and Liza, and even Erast are too sensitive heroes. However, despite such tearful pages, I really liked the work.

This work is recommended for study at school in the ninth grade. I believe that at this age it is the right time to study such works, since girls at this age should already think about their honor and have a correct judgment about it. Therefore, the story of Liza is, of course, tragic, but useful for young girls to read. After all, a girl must observe herself in purity and innocence.

Young men should also understand the dangers of a riotous lifestyle. After all, Erast drove himself into a debt hole. I had to work myself, like a real man, and not spend all my time on entertainment events.

I would like to compare this work with foreign work Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this work, the lovers are also young, like Erast and Lisa, and the ending of their story is also tragic. Here, however, Erast remains actually alive, but the feeling is that he, too, seemed to have died. After all, marrying an old woman is like burying yourself alive. So I feel sorry for poor Erast too. After all, he cannot be called a completely negative character. He has a kind, sympathetic heart, does not spare money for his beloved and is ready to buy every day all her knitted socks and all flowers sold. We must pay tribute to Lisa, who does not seek to take extra money from her lover. She takes exactly what she earns. So why are two lovers, who have a lot of virtues and positive qualities, waiting for such a difficult and tragic ending?! I believe that the frivolity and spinelessness of Erast is to blame. Liza's mother can also be blamed for such a finale, who, after the death of her father, gave up so much that the poor girl had to earn money for both of them herself. In addition, the mother saw Erast more than once and knew about the relationship between two young hearts, so she could warn her daughter about the possible expected consequences of the meetings of a man and a girl in private.

The main character of the story is a poor young peasant woman from a village near Moscow. Liza was left early without her father, who was the breadwinner of the family. After his death, he and his mother quickly became impoverished. Lisa's mother was a kind, sensitive old woman, but already unable to work. Therefore, Lisa took on any job and worked without sparing herself.

One of the heroes of the story, the old mother of the main character, Lisa. She is a kind, caring and sensitive woman who lives in a village near Moscow. After the death of her husband, who was the main breadwinner of the family, she and her daughter quickly became impoverished. Her health did not allow her to work hard, and she saw badly already.

Lisa's father

The episodic character was a wealthy and hardworking peasant who never drank alcohol. After his death, his wife and daughter quickly became destitute.

Shepherd

An episodic character, a young man who drove his flock past Lisa. Instead, Lisa represented her beloved Erast.

Servant of Erast

An episodic character, brought Lisa out of the yard after Erast told her that he was getting married.

elderly widow

An episodic character, a rich but elderly bride of Erast, whom he is forced to marry, as he lost his entire estate in cards.

Kind woman

An episodic character, a random woman who brought Lisa to her senses and helped her get up after she fainted after leaving Erast.

Anyuta

An episodic character, a fifteen-year-old girl, Lisa's neighbor, whom she accidentally met near the pond. Having given her the money and asked them to give it to her mother, as well as kiss her and explain that Lisa was betrayed and she can no longer live.

Many people remember N.M. Karamzin based on his historical works. But he also did a lot for literature. It was through his efforts that a sentimental novel was developed, which describes not just ordinary people, but their feelings, suffering, experiences. brought together ordinary people and the rich as feeling, thinking, and experiencing the same emotions and needs. At the time in which Poor Liza was written, namely in 1792, the emancipation of the peasants was still far away, and their existence seemed something incomprehensible and wild. Sentimentalism, however, brought them into full-fledged feeling heroes.

In contact with

History of creation

Important! He also introduced the fashion for little-known names - Erast and Elizabeth. Practically unused names quickly became common nouns, defining the character of a person.

It was this seemingly simple and uncomplicated completely fictional story of love and death that gave rise to a number of imitators. And the pond was even a place of pilgrimage for unfortunate lovers.

It's easy to remember what the story is about. After all, her story is not rich or vicissitudes. Annotation to the story allows you to find out the main events. Karamzin himself summary would pass like this:

  1. Left without a father, Lisa began to help her impoverished mother by selling flowers and berries.
  2. Erast, conquered by her beauty and freshness, offers her to sell the goods only to him and then asks her not to go out at all, but to give him the goods from home. This rich but windy nobleman falls in love with Lisa. They begin to spend evenings alone.
  3. Soon a wealthy neighbor woo Lizaveta, but Erast comforts her, promising to marry himself. There is closeness, and Erast loses interest in the girl he ruined. Soon the young man leaves for service. Lizaveta is waiting and afraid. But by chance they meet on the street, and Lizaveta throws herself on his neck.
  4. Erast announces that he is engaged to another, and orders the servant to give her money and take her out of the yard. Lizaveta, having handed over the money to her mother, rushes into the pond. Her mother dies from a stroke.
  5. Erast is ruined by losing at cards and forced to marry a wealthy widow. He does not find happiness in life and blames himself.

Selling flowers to the city

main characters

It is clear that the characterization of one of the heroes of the story "Poor Lisa" will be insufficient. They must be evaluated together, influencing each other.

Despite the novelty and originality of the plot, the image of Erast in the story "Poor Lisa" is not new, and a little-known name does not save either. Rich and bored nobleman tired of accessible and cutesy beauties. He is looking for bright sensations and finds an innocent and pure girl. Her image surprises him, attracts and even awakens love. But the very first closeness turns the angel into an ordinary earthly girl. He immediately remembers that she is poor, uneducated, and her reputation has already been ruined. He runs from responsibility, from crime.

He runs into his usual hobbies - cards and festivities, which leads to ruin. But he does not want to lose his habits and live with his beloved work life. Erast sells his youth and freedom for the wealth of a widow. Although a couple of months ago he dissuaded his beloved from a successful marriage.

Meeting with his beloved after separation only tires him, interferes. He cynically throws money at her and forces the servant to take the unfortunate woman out. This gesture shows the depth of the fall and all its cruelty.

But the image of the main character of Karamzin's story is fresh and new. She is poor, works for her mother's survival, and yet is gentle and beautiful. Its distinctive features are sensitivity and nationality. In Karamzin's story, poor Liza is a typical village heroine, poetic and with a tender heart. It is her feelings and emotions that replace her upbringing, morality and norms.

The author, generously endowing the poor girl with kindness and love, seems to emphasize that such women are inherent in natural that does not require restrictions and teachings. She is ready to live for her loved ones, to work and keep joy.

Important! Life has already tested her for strength, and she withstood the test with dignity. Behind her image, honest, beautiful, gentle, it is forgotten that she is a poor, uneducated peasant woman. That she works with her hands and sells what God has sent. This should be remembered when the news of the ruin of Erast becomes known. Lisa is not afraid of poverty.

The scene describing how the poor girl died is full of despair and tragedy. A believing and loving girl undoubtedly understands that suicide is a terrible sin. She also understands that her mother will not live without her help. But the pain of betrayal and the realization that she is disgraced is too hard for her to experience. Lisa took a sober look at life and honestly told Erast that she was poor, that she was not a match for him, and that her mother had found her a worthy groom, albeit an unloved one.

But the young man convinced her of his love and committed an irreparable crime - he took her honor. What for him was an ordinary boring event turned out to be the end of the world for poor Lisa and the beginning of a new life at the same time. Her most tender and pure soul plunged into the mud, and a new meeting showed that her beloved appreciated her deed as licentiousness.

Important! The one who wrote the story "Poor Lisa" realized that he was raising a whole layer of problems and in particular the theme of the responsibility of rich bored noblemen to unfortunate poor girls whose fates and lives are broken from boredom, which later found its response in the work of Bunin and others.

Scene near the pond

Reader reaction

The audience received the story ambiguously. Women sympathized and made a pilgrimage to the pond, which became the last refuge of the unfortunate girl. Some male critics shamed the author and accused him of excessive sensitivity, of abundant tears that flow constantly, of the picturesqueness of the characters.

In fact, behind the external cloying and tearfulness, in which every critical article is full of reproaches, lies the true meaning, understood by attentive readers. The author pushes not only two characters, but two worlds:

  • Sincere, sensitive, painfully naive peasantry with its touching and stupid, but real girls.
  • Good-natured, enthusiastic, generous nobility with pampered and capricious men.

One is hardened by the difficulties of life, the other is broken and frightened by the same difficulties.

Genre of the work

Karamzin himself described his work as a sentimental fairy tale, but it received the status of a sentimental story, since it has heroes acting for a long time, a full-fledged plot, development and denouement. Heroes live not in separate episodes, but a significant part of their lives.

Poor LISA. Nikolai Karamzin

Retelling Karamzin N. M. "Poor Lisa"

Output

So, the question: "Poor Liza" - is it a story or a story, was decided long ago and unambiguously. The summary of the book gives the exact answer.

N.M. Karamzin wrote an extremely touching and dramatic story about a simple and at the same time age-old situation: she loves, but he does not. But before answering the question of what is the characterization of Lisa from the story "Poor Lisa", you need to at least refresh the plot of the work at least a little.

Plot

Lisa is an orphan. Left without a father, she is forced to go to work: selling flowers in the city. The girl is very young and naive. On one of her “working days”, Liza saw a young man (Erast) in the city who bought flowers from her, paying 20 times more than they cost. Erast said at the same time that these hands should collect flowers only for him. However, he didn't show up the next day. Liza was upset (like all young girls, she was very greedy for compliments). But the next day, Erast himself visited Lisa at her home and even talked to her mother. The young man seemed very pleasant and polite to the old mother.

And so it went on for some time. Erast reveled in the virginity and purity of Lisa, and she (a peasant girl of the 19th century) was simply stunned by the courtship of a young handsome nobleman.

The turning point in the relationship came when Lisa spoke about her possible imminent marriage. She was upset and depressed, but Erast reassured her and painted her future and said that the sky above them would be in diamonds.

Liza cheered up a little - she believed Erast and, on a wave of relief, gave him her innocence. As expected, the nature of the meetings has changed. Now Erast again and again took possession of the girl, using her without a twinge of conscience for his own needs. Then both Liza and the relationship with her bored Erast, and he decided to escape from all this burden to the army, where he did not serve the Fatherland, but quickly squandered his fortune.

Returning from the army, Erast, of course, did not say a word to Lisa about this, she herself somehow saw him on the street in a carriage. She rushed to him, but after a not very pleasant conversation that happened between them, the former lover put Lisa out the door, slipping money.

Lisa, out of such grief, went and drowned herself in the pond. The old mother followed her in as soon as she learned about the death of her daughter, she immediately had a stroke, and she died.

Now we are ready to answer the question of what is the characteristic of Lisa from the story "Poor Liza".

Lisa's character

Lisa was actually a child, despite the fact that she had to go to work early as her father died. But she did not have time to learn how to live properly. The girl's inexperience attracted a young superficial nobleman who sees the goal of his life in pleasure. In this row is poor Liza with her admiration. Erast was very flattered by the attitude of such a young and such a fresh girl, and she was naive to the extreme. Took the attitude of a young rake at face value, and it was all a game of boredom really. Who knows, maybe even Liza secretly hoped for the position of a mistress over time. Of her other qualities of character, it is worth noting kindness and spontaneity.

Perhaps we have not described all the facets of the personality of the main character, but it seems that there is enough information here so that the characterization of Lisa from the story "Poor Lisa" is understandable and covers the very essence of her being.

Erast and its inner content

The second main character of the story - Erast - is a typical aesthetic and hedonist. He lives only to enjoy. He has a mind. He could be brilliantly educated, but instead, the young master just burns his life, and Lisa is entertainment for him. While she was pure and immaculate, the girl was interested in Erast, how the ornithologist was fascinated by the species of birds he had recently discovered, but when Lisa surrendered to Erast, she became the same as everyone else, which means that he got bored, and he, driven by a thirst for pleasure, moved on without really thinking about the consequences of his vile behavior.

Although the behavior of a young person becomes unethical only through the prism of certain moral values. If a person is unprincipled (which was Erast), then he cannot even feel the share of baseness that is contained in his actions.

A person who seeks only pleasure in life is superficial by definition. He is incapable of deep feelings. And, of course, he is an opportunist, which proves Erast's marriage for the sake of money with an already middle-aged widow.

The confrontation between Lisa and Erast as a struggle between light and shadow, good and evil

At first glance, it seems that Lisa and Erast are like day and night, or good and evil. Accordingly, the characterization of Lisa from the story "Poor Lisa" and the characterization of Erast are deliberately opposed by the author of the story, but this is not entirely true.

If the image of Liza is good, then neither the world nor people need such good. It is simply not viable. Nevertheless, on the whole, a well-written (albeit slightly sentimental) story "Poor Lisa". The characteristic of Lisa, which can exhaustively define her, is naivety, reaching the point of stupidity. But it's not her fault, because we are talking about a peasant girl of the 19th century.

Erast is also not evil in its purest form. For evil, strength of character is needed, and the young nobleman is not endowed with it, to his regret. Erast is just an infantile boy running from responsibility. It is completely empty and empty. His behavior is disgusting, but it is difficult to call him evil, and even more so the embodiment of evil. This is all that the story "Poor Lisa" revealed to us. Erast's characterization is more than exhaustive.