НЕОТЪЕМЛЕМЫЙ ЭЛЕМЕНТ ТВОРЧЕСТВА М. Ю. ЛЕРМОНТОВА: КОНЬ

Lermontov frequently depicted horses both in his literary works and in pictures. But unlike Tolstoy (in "Kholstomer") or Pushkin (in the "Songs of the West Slavs"), Lermontov neither described the situation from horses' point of view, nor elaborated on the process of their death. His narrations do not express excessive emotions. But his horses are his and his characters' "friends" or "kindred spirits". In works by Lermontov they keep a definite and delicate distance from people. We analyze this distance and the contrast it creates between a man and a horse both in life and death. Describing the moment of human beings' death, the author gives much attention to the movement of the soul. In his poems we often find phrases like "although his soul has left his body, his last thought hasn't had time to". As for horses, rather than their souls, the author stresses their self-sacrificing work, the final effort that leads to their heroic death. Presence or absence of soul movement depiction is what contrasts the moment of death of people and that of horses. But after the soul has left a human body, the latter becomes "a thing", and in this quality is comparable to the cadavers of animals, including horses. This "thing-ness" allows for the symbolic and plot-structuring functions of the image of a dead horse. A living horse is associated with freedom, happiness and other positive concepts. In Lermontov's works it can be compared to (and traded for) a woman. Used in that way by characters of Caucasian origin, the horse serves as an element of socio-cultural background and shows their uncritical attitude to their cultural postulates. When a Russian aristocrat behaves in the same way, his actions testify to his critical attitude towards cultures he encounters.