Introduction

Olga Ilyinskaya in Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is the most striking and complex female character. Getting to know her as a young, only developing girl, the reader sees her gradual maturation and revelation as a woman, mother, and independent person. At the same time, a complete description of Olga’s image in the novel “Oblomov” is possible only when working with quotes from the novel that most succinctly convey the appearance and personality of the heroine:

“If she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony. The size of the head strictly corresponded to a somewhat tall stature; the size of the head corresponded to the oval and size of the face; all this, in turn, was in harmony with the shoulders, and the shoulders with the body...”

When meeting Olga, people always stopped for a moment “before this so strictly and thoughtfully, artistically created creature.”

Olga received a good upbringing and education, understands science and art, reads a lot and is in constant development, learning, achieving new and new goals. These features of hers were reflected in the girl’s appearance: “The lips are thin and mostly compressed: a sign of a thought constantly directed at something. The same presence of a speaking thought shone in the vigilant, always cheerful, unmissing gaze of dark, gray-blue eyes,” and unevenly spaced thin eyebrows created a small fold on the forehead “in which something seemed to say, as if a thought rested there.”

Everything about her spoke of her own dignity, inner strength and beauty: “Olga walked with her head tilted slightly forward, resting so slenderly and nobly on her thin, proud neck; she moved her whole body evenly, walking lightly, almost imperceptibly.”

Love for Oblomov

The image of Olga Ilyinskaya in “Oblomov” appears at the beginning of the novel as a still very young, little-knowing girl, looking at the world around her with wide open eyes and trying to understand it in all its manifestations. The turning point, which became for Olga a transition from childhood shyness and a certain embarrassment (as was the case when communicating with Stolz), was her love for Oblomov. The wonderful, strong, inspiring feeling that flared up between the lovers with lightning speed was doomed to parting, since Olga and Oblomov did not want to accept each other as they really are, cultivating in themselves a feeling for semi-ideal prototypes of real heroes.

For Ilyinskaya, love for Oblomov was not associated with those feminine tenderness, softness, acceptance and care that Oblomov expected from her, but with duty, the need to change the inner world of her lover, to make him a completely different person:

“She dreamed of how she would “order him to read the books” that Stolz left, then read newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, complete a plan for organizing the estate, get ready to go abroad - in a word, he would not fall asleep with her; she will show him a goal, make him love again everything that he has stopped loving.”

“And she will do all this miracle, so timid, silent, whom no one has listened to until now, who has not yet begun to live!”

Olga's love for Oblomov was based on the heroine's selfishness and ambitions. Moreover, her feelings for Ilya Ilyich can hardly be called true love - it was a fleeting love, a state of inspiration and ascent before a new peak that she wanted to achieve. For Ilyinskaya, Oblomov’s feelings were not really important; she wanted to make him her ideal, so that she could then be proud of the fruits of her labors and, perhaps, remind him later that he owed everything he had to Olga.

Olga and Stolz

The relationship between Olga and Stolz developed from a tender, reverent friendship, when Andrei Ivanovich was for the girl a teacher, mentor, an inspiring figure, distant and inaccessible in his own way: “When a question or bewilderment arose in her mind, she did not suddenly decide to believe him: he was too far ahead of her, too taller than her, so that her pride sometimes suffered from this immaturity, from the distance in their minds and years.”

The marriage to Stolz, who helped her recover after breaking up with Ilya Ilyich, was logical, since the characters are very similar in character, life guidelines and goals. Olga saw quiet, calm, endless happiness in her life together with Stolz:

“She experienced happiness and could not determine where the boundaries were, what it was.”

“She, too, walked alone, along an inconspicuous path, and he also met her at a crossroads, gave her his hand and led her out not into the brilliance of dazzling rays, but as if onto the flood of a wide river, to spacious fields and friendly smiling hills.”

Having lived together for several years in cloudless, endless happiness, seeing in each other those ideals that they had always dreamed of and those people who appeared in their dreams, the heroes began to seem to move away from each other. It became difficult for Stolz to reach out for the inquisitive Olga, constantly striving forward, and the woman “began to strictly notice herself and realized that she was embarrassed by this silence of life, its stopping at moments of happiness,” asking questions: “Is it really still necessary and possible to desire something?” ? Where should we go? Nowhere! There is no further road... Really, really, have you completed the circle of life? Is it really all here... everything....” The heroine begins to become disillusioned with family life, with a woman’s destiny and with the fate that was destined for her from birth, but continues to believe in her doubting husband and that their love will keep them together even in the most difficult hour:

“That unfading and undying love lay powerfully, like the force of life, on their faces - in a time of friendly sorrow, it shone in the slowly and silently exchanged glance of collective suffering, was heard in endless mutual patience against life’s torture, in restrained tears and muffled sobs.”

And although Goncharov does not describe in the novel how the further relationship between Olga and Stolz developed, one can briefly assume that after some time the woman either left her husband or lived the rest of her life unhappy, increasingly plunging into disappointment from the unattainability of those lofty goals about which I dreamed of in my youth.

Conclusion

The image of Olga Ilyinskaya in the novel “Oblomov” by Goncharov is a new, to some extent feminist type of Russian woman who does not want to close herself off from the world, limiting herself to the household and family. A brief description of Olga in the novel is a woman seeker, a woman innovator, for whom “routine” family happiness and “Oblomovism” were truly the most terrifying and frightening things that could lead to degradation and stagnation of her forward-oriented, cognitive personality. For the heroine, love was something secondary, stemming from friendship or inspiration, but not an original, leading feeling, and certainly not the meaning of life, as with Agafya Pshenitsyna.

The tragedy of Olga’s image lies in the fact that the society of the 19th century was not yet ready for the emergence of strong female personalities capable of changing the world on an equal basis with men, so she would still have been awaited by the same soporific, monotonous family happiness that the girl so feared.

Work test

Roman I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov" reveals the problem of social society of those times. In this work, the main characters were unable to deal with their own feelings, depriving themselves of the right to happiness. We will talk about one of these heroines with an unfortunate fate.

The image and characterization of Olga Ilyinskaya with quotes in the novel “Oblomov” will help to fully reveal her complex character and better understand this woman.

Olga's appearance

It seems difficult to call the young creature a beauty. The girl's appearance is far from ideals and generally accepted standards.

“Olga in the strict sense was not a beauty... But if she were turned into a statue, she would be a statue of grace and harmony.”

Being short, she managed to walk like a queen, with her head held high. There was a sense of character in the girl, of becoming. She didn't pretend to be better. She didn’t flirt, she didn’t ingratiate herself. She was as natural as possible in expressing emotions and feelings. Everything about her was real, without a drop of falsehood or lies.

“In a rare girl you will find such simplicity and natural freedom of look, word, action... no lies, no tinsel, no intent!”

Family

Olga was not raised by her parents, but by her aunt, who replaced her father and mother. The girl remembered her mother from a portrait hanging in the living room. She had no information about her father since he took her away from the estate at the age of five. Having become an orphan, the child was left to his own devices. The baby lacked support, care, and warm words. The aunt had no time for her. She was too immersed in social life, and she did not care about the suffering of her niece.

Education

Despite her eternal busyness, the aunt was able to find time for the education of her growing niece. Olga was not one of those people who was forced to sit down for lessons with a whip. She always strived to gain new knowledge, constantly developing and moving forward in this direction. Books were an outlet, and music served as a source of inspiration. In addition to playing the piano, she sang beautifully. Her voice, despite its soft sound, was strong.

“From this pure, strong girlish voice, the heart beat, the nerves trembled, the eyes sparkled and swam with tears...”

Character

Oddly enough, she loved solitude. Noisy companies, cheerful gatherings with friends are not about Olga. She did not strive to acquire new acquaintances, revealing her soul to strangers. Some thought she was too smart, others, on the contrary, stupid.

“Some considered her to be narrow-minded, since wise maxims did not come out of her tongue...”

Not very talkative, she preferred to live in her shell. In that imaginary little world where it was good and calm. External calm was strikingly different from the internal state of the soul. The girl always knew clearly what she wanted from life and tried to implement her plans.

“If she has any intention, then things will boil over...”

First love or meeting Oblomov

My first love came at the age of 20. The meeting was planned. Stolz brought Oblomov to Olga’s aunt’s house. Hearing Oblomov’s angelic voice, he realized that he was lost. The feeling turned out to be mutual. From that moment on, meetings became regular. The young people became interested in each other and began to think about living together.

How love changes a person

Love can change any person. Olga was no exception. It was as if wings had grown behind her back from the overwhelming feelings. Everything in her was seething and seething with the desire to turn the world upside down, changing it, making it better, cleaner. Olga's chosen one was from a different field. Understanding the emotions and ambitions of your beloved is too difficult a task. It was difficult for him to resist this volcano of passions, sweeping away everything in its path. He wanted to see in her a quiet, calm woman who completely devoted herself to home and family. Olga, on the contrary, wanted to shake up Ilya, change his inner world and usual way of life.

“She dreamed of how she would “order him to read the books” that Stolz left, then read newspapers every day and tell her the news, write letters to the village, complete a plan for organizing the estate, get ready to go abroad - in a word, he would not fall asleep with her; she will show him a goal, make him love again everything that he has stopped loving.”

First disappointment

Time passed, nothing changed. Everything remained in its place. Olga knew perfectly well what she was getting into by allowing the relationship to go too far. It was not in her rules to retreat. She continued to hope, sincerely believing that she could remake Oblomov, adapting a man ideal in all respects to her model, but sooner or later any patience comes to an end.

Gap

She's tired of fighting. The girl was gnawed by doubts whether she had made a mistake by deciding to connect her life with a weak-willed, weak person incapable of action. Sacrifice yourself all your life for love, why? She already spent too much time marking time, which was unusual for her. The time has come to move on, but apparently alone.

“I thought that I would revive you, that you could still live for me, but you died a very long time ago.”

This phrase became decisive before Olga put an end to her relationship that ended so early with the person she thought she loved.

Stolz: life vest or attempt number two

He was always for her, first of all, a close friend, a mentor. She shared everything that was going on in her soul. Stolz always found time to support, lend a shoulder, making it clear that he was always there, and she could rely on him in any situation. They had common interests. Life positions are similar. They could well become one whole, which is what Andrei was counting on. Olga decided to lick her emotional wounds after breaking up with Oblomov in Paris. In the city of love, where there is a place for hope and faith in the best. It was here that her meeting with Stolz took place.

Marriage. Trying to be happy.

Andrey surrounded me with attention and care. She enjoyed the courtship.

“The continuous, intelligent and passionate worship of a man like Stolz”

Restored injured, offended pride. She was grateful to him. Gradually my heart began to thaw. The woman felt that she was ready for a new relationship, that she was ripe for a family.

“She experienced happiness and could not determine where the boundaries were, what it was.”

Having become a wife, for the first time she was able to understand what it means to be loved and to love.

A few years later

The couple lived in a happy marriage for several years. It seemed to Olga that it was in Stolz:

“Not blindly, but with consciousness, and in him her ideal of male perfection was embodied.”

But everyday life became boring. The woman got bored. The uniform rhythm of gray everyday life was stifling, giving no outlet for the accumulated energy. Olga missed the vigorous activity that she led with Ilya. She tried to attribute her state of mind to fatigue and depression, but the situation did not improve, becoming increasingly tense. Andrei intuitively felt changes in mood, not understanding the true reason for his wife’s depressed state. Did they make a mistake, and the attempt to become happy failed, but why?

Conclusion

Who is to blame for what happens to us at this or that stage of life. Mostly we ourselves. In the modern world, Olga would not get bored and focus on problems. At that time, there were only a few women with a masculine character. They were not understood and not accepted in society. She alone could not have changed anything, and she herself was not ready to change, being selfish at heart. Family life was not for her. She had to accept the situation or let it go.

Olga Sergeevna Ilyinskaya is from a series of female portraits by Goncharov, a bright and memorable character. By bringing Olga closer to Oblomov, Goncharov set himself two tasks, each of which is important in itself. Firstly, the author in his work sought to show the sensations that the presence of a young, pretty woman awakens. Secondly, he wanted to present in as complete an outline as possible the female personality herself, capable of the moral re-creation of a man

Fallen, exhausted, but still retaining many human feelings.

Olga’s beneficial influence soon affected Oblomov: on the very first day of their acquaintance, Oblomov hated both the terrible disorder that reigned in his room and the sleepy lying on the sofa on which he clothed himself. Little by little, delving into the new life indicated by Olga, Oblomov submitted to his completely beloved woman, who recognized in him a pure heart, a clear, albeit inactive mind, and who sought to awaken his spiritual strength. He began not only to re-read books that had previously been lying around without any attention, but also to briefly convey their contents to the inquisitive Olga.

How did Olga manage to carry out such a revolution in Oblomov? To answer this question, you need to turn to Olga’s characteristics.

What kind of person was Olga Ilyinskaya? First of all, it is necessary to note the independence of her nature and the originality of her mind, which were a consequence of the fact that, having lost her parents early, she followed her own firm path. On this basis, Olga’s inquisitiveness developed, which amazed those people with whom her fate encountered. Seized by a burning need to know as much as possible, Olga realizes the superficiality of her education and speaks bitterly of the fact that women are not given an education. In these words of hers one can already feel a woman of a new time, striving to be equal to men in terms of education.

The ideological nature makes Olga similar to Turgenev’s female characters. Life for Olga is an obligation and a duty. On the basis of such an attitude towards life, her love for Oblomov grew, whom, not without the influence of Stoltz, she set out to save from the prospect of mentally sinking and plunging into the mire of a short-lived existence. Her break with Oblomov is also ideological, which she decided to do only when she was convinced that Oblomov could never be revived. In the same way, the dissatisfaction that at times gripped Olga’s soul after she got married flows from the same bright source: it is nothing more than a longing for an ideological cause that the prudent and judicious Stolz could not give her.

But disappointment will never lead Olga to laziness and apathy. For this she has a strong enough will. Olga is characterized by determination, which allows her to disregard any obstacles in order to revive her loved one to a new life. And the same willpower came to her aid when she saw that she could not revive Oblomov. She decided to break up with Oblomov and dealt with her heart, no matter how dearly it cost her, no matter how difficult it was to tear love out of her heart.

As mentioned earlier, Olga is a woman of new times. Goncharov quite clearly expressed the need for this type of woman that existed at that time.

Outline of the article “Characteristics of Olga Ilyinskaya”

Main part. Olga's character
a) Mind:
- independence,
- thoughtfulness,
- curiosity,
- ideological,
- a sublime outlook on life.

b) Heart:
- love for Oblomov,
- breaking up with him,
- dissatisfaction,
- disappointment.

c) Will:
- determination,
- hardness.

Conclusion. Olga is like a type of new woman.

Olga Sergeevna Ilyinskaya is one of the main heroines of the novel by I. A. Goncharov, Oblomov’s beloved, a bright and strong character. Ilyinskaya was not distinguished by her beauty, but she was quite graceful and harmonious. She had a sincere simplicity and naturalness that was rare. Nothing pretentious, no tinsel. The girl was orphaned early and lived in the house of her aunt, Marya Mikhailovna. It is unclear where and when Stolz met her, but it was he who decided to introduce Olga to his friend Oblomov. The author of the novel emphasized the rapid spiritual maturation of the heroine. Her personality growth occurred by leaps and bounds. Ilya Ilyich fell in love with her after hearing her beautifully sing an aria from Bellini’s opera. He became more and more immersed in this new feeling.

Olga was confident in herself and definitely wanted to change Oblomov, make him an active person. For this occasion, she even drew up a re-education plan. As Stolz wanted, positive changes really began to occur with his friend, and this was entirely the merit of Olga. She was very proud of this and began to transform herself too. However, the girl did not understand that this was more of a practical experience in re-education than sincere love. Moreover, Ilyinskaya’s soul and mind needed further development, and Oblomov changed slowly and reluctantly. Their relationship was doomed to break. Even after marrying Stolz, she does not stop looking for herself. Her deep soul needs something else, but she doesn’t know exactly what. As the author shows, Olga’s main purpose is the eternal desire for development and a spiritually rich life.