The work "Notes from the Underground" was written by Dostoevsky in 1864. The author of the notes is the hero of the underground.
The protagonist of the work
This is a collegiate assessor who has recently been releasedretired after having received a small inheritance. The hero of the work "Notes from the Underground" is 40 years old. He lives on the edge of St. Petersburg, in a "trashy" room. This hero is also psychologically underground: he is almost always the only one, indulging in "dreaming", whose images and motives were taken from books. The nameless hero, moreover, explores his own soul and consciousness, while showing courage and an extraordinary mind. The purpose of such a confession is to find out whether it is possible to be completely frank at least with yourself without being afraid of the truth.
The philosophy of the protagonist
The hero believes that in the 60s of the 19th century, intelligentman is simply doomed to be "characterless." The destiny of limited, stupid people is a different activity, which is considered the norm, while an enhanced consciousness is regarded as a disease. The mind makes the protagonist rebel against the laws of nature discovered by modern science. Their “stone wall” is “undoubtedly” only for a “stupid” person. Obviously reconcile the underground hero does not agree. He feels "guilty" for the fact that the world order is imperfect, and this causes him suffering. Science is lying that only a person can be reduced to reason, "according to the plate is calculated." The "manifestation of a lifetime" is a "wish." He defends, contrary to all the "scientific" conclusions about human well-being and human nature, the right to add to "positive prudence" "vulgar stupidity" to prove to ourselves that people are not "piano keys" on which the laws of nature themselves play.
The hero who wrote the notes from the underground,pines for capable of satisfying his “breadth” ideal. This is not a career, not a pleasure, not even a “crystal palace” that the socialists are building, since it takes away from man the main thing - his own desire. The hero is protesting against the identification of knowledge and good, not subject to doubt of faith in the progress of civilization and science. The civilization in us "does not soften", but only develops, in his opinion, "the versatility of sensations," therefore, pleasure is found in humiliation and in someone else's blood ... happiness, prosperity, order, but also suffering, destruction, chaos. "Crystal Palace", discarding these negative sides, as an ideal is untenable, as it deprives the freedom of choice. It is better therefore the "conscious inertia", the modern "hen house", the underground.
The life of the hero when he served in the office
However, it has happened that longing for realitydrove out of the corner. The hero, who wrote the notes from the underground, described in detail one of these attempts. He still served in the office in 24 years old and despised and hated, being terribly “touchy”, “suspicious” and “proud”, of his colleagues, but at the same time he was afraid of them. The hero considered himself a "slave" and "coward", like any "decent" and "developed" person. With intensive reading, he replaced communication with people, and at night in "dark places" he "perverted."
The episode in the tavern
Watching the game of billiards, he blockedaccidentally once in a tavern to one of the road officers. Strong and tall, he moved silently the "emaciated" and "low" hero to another place. Then he wanted to start a "literary", "correct" quarrel, but only "fought away in embarrassment", fearing that he would not be taken seriously. The hero after this episode dreamed of revenge for several years, tried many times when meeting on Nevsky not to turn first. When in the end they faced their shoulders, the officer did not even pay attention to it, but the hero of the work was delighted, because he did not give up a single step, maintaining his dignity, and put himself publicly on an equal social footing with the officer. All these observations of the hero himself describes in the work of its author, Dostoevsky F.
"Notes from the Underground": lunch with former classmates
Occasionally, the underground man felt the needsocieties that only individual acquaintances satisfied: Simonov, a former schoolmate, and Setochkin, the head of the church. During his visit to Simonov, he learns that a dinner is being prepared in honor of a fellow practitioner and "part of the lot" with the others. The “underground” is already haunted by the fear of possible humiliation and resentment long before this dinner, because the reality does not obey the laws of literature and hardly real people will fulfill the roles prescribed by them in the imagination of one dreamer: they will be able to recognize and love the main character for mental superiority. He is trying to insult and offend his comrades at dinner. Those simply cease to notice him in response. At the other extreme falls underground - public self-deprecation. Then fellow soldiers go to a brothel without him. For "literary" now he is obliged to take revenge on these people for the shame suffered, so he goes for all. However, they have already gone into rooms. Hero offer Lisa.
Episode in a brothel
Next Dostoevsky ("Notes from the Underground")describes the following events. After "debauchery", "rude and shameless," the hero talks to the girl. She is 20. In St. Petersburg, she recently, and she herself - a bourgeois come from Riga. He decides, having guessed the sensitivity in the girl, to recoup on her: draws picturesque pictures of the future prostitute, after which - family happiness, which is inaccessible to her. The effect is achieved: to the convulsions and sobs brings the girl aversion to his life. "Savior", leaving, leaves her address. However, through the "literary" shame in him shame for the "rogue" and pity for Lisa. He likes to spend the main character of the work “Notes from the Underground” analyze his own actions.
Lisa comes to the hero
The girl comes in 3 days.The hero, whom Dostoevsky describes ("Notes from the Underground"), "is disgustingly confused." He reveals to her cynically the motives of her behavior, but he unexpectedly encounters sympathy and love on her part. He is touched, admitting that he cannot be kind. However, being soon ashamed of weakness, he takes hold of the vengeful Liza and shoves 5 rubles into her hand for full celebration. The girl, leaving, leaves money unnoticed.
Final of the piece
The hero confesses that he wrote his memoriesshame. However, he only brought to the extreme that the rest and half did not dare to bring. The hero was able to abandon the goals of society, seeming to him vulgar, however, and the underground - this is "moral corruption". "Living Life", deep relationships with other people inspire fear in him. So ends the work "Notes from the Underground", a brief content of which we have described.
This story today after reading no onewill leave you indifferent. However, immediately after the publication of "Notes from the Underground" in 1864, very few reviews were received, although representatives of the revolutionary-democratic camp immediately became interested in them. The only direct response to the work was Shchedrin's parody, which included in his review, entitled Literary Trivia, the paglet “Swifts”. In it, ridiculing the participants of the magazine "Epoch" in a satirical form, he portrayed under the guise of the fourth swift of the "writer of the sad" Dostoevsky. To this story, the interest of critics has awakened already after the novel Crime and Punishment was published, that is, two years later. It developed a lot of what was outlined in the "Notes".
