"Discuss the depiction of female characters in Pushkin and Lermontov".

“Discuss the depiction if female characters in Pushkin and Lermontov”

Background:

Both had very prominent female figures in their childhood. Whereas the male figures seem to be less important.
Pushkin: was primarily brought up by women; nursemaids, French tutors and governesses. His nanny, Arina Rodionovna, taught him Russian and also introduced him to the world of fairy tales and legends by her while staying on his father’s estate.
Lermontov: His parent’s four-year marriage was not a happy one, with his father more interested in drink and serf girls than his family. When his mother died in 1817, just three years after Lermontov was born, his grandmother fought for custody of her grandchild, as she strongly disliked her son-in-law. She cancelled a debt he held to her of twenty-five thousand rubles and also promised all her lands to her grandson on the condition that he gave up his right to custody. Therefore he only saw his father on holidays, and the figure of a grandfather was also missing as he had killed himself many years prior.

Although women have always played very important roles in their lives, these are not always good.
Pushkin’s wife was his eventual downfall. In 1829 he fell in love with Natalya Nikolayenva Goncharova, whom he married two years later. Although he had loved her, their marriage was an extremely unhappy one. She attended every ball and her social life led Pushkin into extreme debt. He was then killed defending her honor in a dual, when her brother-in-law insulted her.

'A hen is not a bird, a woman is not a man' (ie not a human being). This is a well-known Old Russian saying, and sums up the general feeling towards women in the times of these authors. Russia was a very traditional, male-dominated society, and women were certainly perceived, and treated as 'second-class citizens' throughout the history of this vast country.
In such systems women are perceived as Other, inferior, dangerous and threatening, although there are also positive opposites to these types. The common view was that women were mentally inferior, and so were morally superior. Women remain identified with the
world of feelings, whereas the world of ideas and intellectual fulfillment remained the male preserve.
From this society two types of woman emerged. There was the kind, caring, nurturing woman, who unfortunately had no sense at all, and there was the evil, sexual woman, who lived only to destroy the lives of men through her devious actions.

Pushkin’s female characters have often been described as the “most realized” and in most of his literature they seem to possess “a depth of insight and Psychological realism” that was lacking in his male figures.

Pushkin’s portrayal of woman can be said to be spilt into two poles, the ‘Helen’ and the ‘Mary, as in his poem Eugene Onegin. Her angelic nature, chastity and submissiveness characterize the ‘Mary’ type. Whereas the ‘Helen’ type is the beautiful kind of girl who only causes trouble for those unfortunate enough to fall in love with her. Many ...