Funeral rite in the structure of the works of M.Y. Lermontov

Yukhnova Irina Sergeevna Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Russian Literature, National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia, Nizhegorodskaya oblast', g. Nizhnii Novgorod, pr. Gagarina, 23 yuhnova1@mail.ru Other publications by this author

M. Azadovsky began his famous article "Lermontov's Folklorism" with a characteristic phrase: "The question of Lermontov's attitude to folk poetry and the place that folk poetry occupies in his work has long attracted the attention of researchers. Already the first biographer and researcher of Lermontov, P. Viskovatov, repeatedly addressed this topic ..." ^{[1, p. 227]} - and thereby designated its status as a significant and urgent problem of Lermontov studies, and then showed how the angle of its research changed in different epochs. Thus, the "old literary criticism" was focused on biographical moments explaining Lermontov's "craving for folk poetry" ^{[1, p. 227]}. M. Azadovsky calls the article by P. Vladimirova a milestone, who "established the cycle of Lermontov's folklore works, identified the main range of sources, raised the question of Lermontov's folklore style and its proximity to the style of folk poetry" ^{[1, p. 227]}. He considers it a merit of Soviet Lermontov studies (the article was written and published in 1941) that Lermontov's perception of folk poetry was introduced into the circle of Decembrist ideas. This approach made it possible to link the poet's artistic search with the literary practice of K.F. Ryleev, A.I. Odoevsky, P. Katenin. M. Azadovsky illustrates this connection, in particular, by the way Lermontov presents the "robber" theme, the theme of Novgorod and the struggle with the Tatars for the liberation of the motherland – that is, the "theme of national heroics" ^{[1, p. 229]}. M. Azadovsky himself deeply revealed Lermontov's involvement in discussions about the true nationality (discussions are not direct, but indirect, since the poet has never publicly and systematically expressed his views, he has no detailed theoretical arguments about literature, history, or the political situation of Russia). The researcher revealed through indirect sources the poet's attitude to the ideas of the Slavophiles, found arguments confirming the testimony of A.P. Elagina about Lermontov's acquaintance with P. Kireevsky, proved that their correspondence dialogue developed through the mediation of S.A. M. Azadovsky also found out that it was S.A. Rayevsky, who was engaged in collecting activities, published articles about folklore in the Olonets press, paid serious attention to Lermontov's attitude to folk poetry.

It is worth noting that at present the essence of Lermontov folklore is a far from inexhaustible topic. And the new era has outlined its approaches to understanding it ^{[2; 3; 4; 5; 6]}.

Of course, research is continuing related to the identification of folklore sources from which Lermontov could draw certain plots and images. The search for folklore pretexts of the poet's "Caucasian" works (first of all, the poems "Demon" ^[7], "Izmail Bey", the fairy tale "Ashik-Kerib" ^[8]), as well as the comprehension of the folk poetic tradition in the "Song about the Merchant Kalashnikov", the search for possible prototypes of the poem are still relevant ^[9]. At the same time, in recent years there have been other directions of search, and they are connected with Scottish and Scandinavian folklore. In particular, considerations are expressed about what could have inspired the image of the "wife of the north" – a mysterious ruler whose gaze was considered deadly, so only northern poets could look at her ^{[10, pp. 273-283]}, and the early "Scottish poems" are considered as an unassembled cycle.

The mythopoetic approach has also powerfully declared itself. One of the first categories of "myth" and "archetype" when studying Lermontov's works was used by L.A. Khodanen ^[11], which allowed her to show how archaic layers of national consciousness appear in the poet's artistic creativity. L.A. Khodanen reveals the peculiarities of the transformation of myth into the structure of a literary work, shows that such a technique creates an "opportunity the transformation of everything momentary, empirically or historically real in the world and man into a reflection and reproduction of eternal prototypes" ^{[12, pp.135-136]}.

In this regard, it is extremely interesting to trace how the rite functions in the structure of Lermontov's works: what place it occupies in the plot; how it is introduced; how it is recreated; which rites most often appear in Lermontov's works and why. This question is important because the myth and the rite are interconnected, "the myth is realized ... mainly in the rite. The rite is mythological" ^{[13, p. 4]}. This relationship was once shown by O. Freudenberg ^[14]. The essence of the rite is often defined as a "staging of a myth", when something that has an existential meaning for the national consciousness is lived over and over again.

In Lermontov's works, funeral and wedding rites most often appear, there are also competitions of braves (fist fighting in the Russian tradition, in the Caucasian – a competition of horsemen), the situation of the archaic rite of worship of the earth is recreated.

In the center of this article will be the funeral rite as, perhaps, the most frequent in Lermontov, which, of course, is explained biographically: the poet lost his mother early. Childhood half-forgotten memories, reinforced by the loss of his father in adolescence, determined how this rite is recreated in his works. It is most often introduced into the text as childhood memories – the memories of a child who first encountered death and realized its reality, and at the same time the finiteness of life. The death of a loved one radically changes the life of the hero, deprives him of the most valuable – family, parental love, maternal affection, becomes the event that destroys his future, makes him an orphan, causes the marginalization of fate: Vadim turns into a beggar living at a monastery; Sasha does not lose his home, but is doomed to loneliness and inner alienation from people; in the passage "I want to tell you ...", the early death of his mother and, as a consequence, the lack of parental affection and love leads to the formation of cruelty and moral promiscuity in Arbenin, and therefore the disease that changes the psychological structure of his personality is perceived by him as healing.

The funeral rite in "Vadim" is included in the work as a memory of the hero – that is, it is depicted as his inner life. This memory is spontaneous, unmotivated: "And God knows why at that moment he remembered his youth, and his father, and his native house, and the high swing, and the pond planted with branches... everything, everything... and his father presented himself to his imagination, such as he returned from Moscow, having lost his business... and forced to sell everything he had left in order to pay the solicitors and the court. – And then he saw him lying on a hard bed in the house of a poor neighbor... I seemed to hear his heavy breathing and the words: take revenge, my son, on the monster... so that none of his family would be happy with the stolen piece... and Vadim remembered his funeral: an uninhabited coffin, placed on a cart, swayed with every push; he walked forward with the image... the sexton and the priest were behind; they were singing in a trembling voice...and passersby took off their hats...here they began to lower into the grave, the rope creaked, the dust rose..." (highlighted by me - I.Yu.) ^{[15, vol. 4, p. 22]}.

What happens in the family (the loss of the family home, the illness and death of the father) is emotionally difficult to experience and even after a while causes the same, if not a stronger feeling, because it is aggravated by hatred of the landowner Palitsyn – the source of family troubles, and a thirst for revenge. The time distance also determines how this memory proceeds: Vadim is a child, stunned by what is happening, internally not included in the ritual, detached from it, devoid of emotions; he is, as it were, outside the event, his actions are mechanistic. The hero sees both the ritual and himself in it from the outside as a "picture": here he receives the father's testament, and then carries the icon in front of the coffin, participates in the funeral rite.

Since events are distant in time, they are recreated as flashes of memories, when memory stores individual details, little things that do not add up to a continuous sequence, a complete picture.

There is no grandeur and solemnity in the ceremony – on the contrary, memory has recorded small and unsightly details: an untidy coffin, a discordant procession in front of which a child carries an image, singing, annoying sounds…

Similarly, the funeral rite is recreated in the poem "Sashka". The episode of the mother's funeral in it is also given in the form of a memory and is introduced with the words: "He remembered ...". The same details were imprinted in my memory: a wooden coffin, singing, "black pop", a book, a crying father…

In this episode, the reaction of the child is important – the death of the mother causes him a completely natural feeling of fear and confusion, and therefore such a reaction arises – "he began to cry loudly and scream" ^{[15, vol. 2, p. 378]}. Lermontov psychologically accurately conveys the perception of a child when his first encounter with death occurs: this is emotional detachment, tears, fear of the incomprehensible. However, unlike "Vadim", this episode ends with an ironic final pointe: the sculptural gesture of the father ("covering the whole forehead // with a large handkerchief, the father stood in silence") ^{[15, vol. 2, p. 378]}, expressing extreme grief, is immediately disavowed by a remark and an action that reveals only an external following the ritual: "... the father, having argued with him a little, // Ordered him to be flogged ... (of course, out of grief)" ^{[15, vol. 2, p. 378]}. And such a finale is possible because in the finale there is an "alien" assessment - the assessment of the narrator, not the hero.

The funeral rite is also included in the story "Bela". It also has the glow of a memory on it. But the rite here is depicted differently and has its own specifics.

Talking about Bela's death, Maxim Maksimych correlates two reactions to her: his own and Pechorin's. The staff captain acts in accordance with the rules of his national and religious tradition, realizing at the same time that Bela is not a Christian. But it is the actions, the desire to observe the ritual that give him the strength to survive the grief. Maxim Maksimych's behavior demonstrates an organic respect for death, which is based on the belief in the immortality of the soul and the afterlife. Thus, it is not the form that is important for him in the rite, but the essence. That is why Bela's grave becomes for him, if not sacred, then a landmark, a memorable place.

Maxim Maksimych himself "adapts" the funeral rite to the circumstances: he refuses the cross, because Bela is not a Christian, buries her at the place by the river where she was abducted by Kazbich. In fact, Maxim Maksimych returns Bela to his native land, nature, through a funeral rite.

Pechorin has a different reaction. He is not included in the action, does not participate in any way in the organization of the funeral. As Maxim Maksimych recalls, "I took Pechorin out of the room, and we went to the rampart; for a long time we walked up and down side by side, without saying a word, with his hands bent behind his back; his face did not express anything special, and I felt annoyed: I would have died of grief in his place. – Finally he sat down on the ground, in the shade, and began to draw something with a stick in the sand. You know, more for decency's sake, I wanted to comfort him, I started talking; he raised his head and laughed..." ^{[15, vol. 4, pp. 323-324]}. This episode has been repeatedly commented on by researchers, and, of course, first of all, the reasons and nature of Pechorin's laughter were explained. Most often it is interpreted as laughter expressing a state of existential despair and horror, as a "tragic outcome of the "history of the soul", as a sign of the incurable and spiritual death of the protagonist" ^{[16, p. 295]}. However, S.V. Savinkov and E.V. Sokolova drew attention to the action that Maxim Maksimych's memory recorded – drawing with a stick in the sand – and suggested that "Pechorin's behavior in this episode is a kind of iconic repetition of Christ's behavior: "... Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them attention" [JOHN 8:6]" ^{[17, p. 58]}. According to the researchers, "turning to the gospel context allows us to see in Pechorin a parody of Christ" ^{[17, p. 60]}, since "the writings that Jesus draws on earth <...> are signs of the establishment of the new testament. But Pechorin's signature should be erased, and this is an expression of the absolute hopelessness that has befallen him" ^{[17, pp. 60-61]}. The death of Bela is a kind of sacrifice to the "idea of unpunished and irresponsible self–will", the destruction of the centuries-old world order of the highlanders, but no other is being built in its place ^{[17, p. 60]}.

In the "Demon", as well as in the "Hero of Our Time", the funeral rite is associated with the death of a mountain woman. The common thing in the image of the ceremony is that both heroines are young, graceful and beautiful, went through a love temptation that caused their death. In both cases, the funeral ceremony is preceded by a wedding: Pechorin sees Bela for the first time at the wedding, it is there that the first communicative contact between them takes place, and the initiator of the communication turns out to be Bela; the demon sees Tamara dancing when preparations for her wedding are underway in Gudala's house. The deep connection between the two rites – wedding and funeral – is typical of the folk tradition and is based on the fact that both the funeral and the wedding are perceived as a transition to a new state ^{[18; 19; 20]}. In the wedding ceremony, there is a "conditional death of the participant of the action, followed by rebirth, renewal, entry into a new life cycle. The same idea underlies the funeral rite, but in it the conditional dying is replaced by the real one" ^{[21, p. 76]}. However, in the fate of both heroines, the traditional wedding ceremony does not happen – Bela is kidnapped, Tamara's dead groom is brought to the wedding feast by his horse, but both heroines go through a love temptation, the consequence of which is their death.

However, in the "Demon" the funeral rite has a different meaning than in the "Bel" – it acquires its mythological ritual essence. This is facilitated by the special organization of space. L.A. Khodanen identified two significant loci in the poem that acquire symbolic meaning – a house (in the first part) and a temple (in the second) ^{[22, p. 66]}. Let us add that there is a third sphere in the poem – the "space of the blue ether": eternity, space. And this three-phase ascent is fundamentally important. When Tamara retires to a monastery, she dies for the house. Dying physically, she finds eternal life – an Angel carries her soul to God. This movement into eternal life, into the limits above the world, reflects the funeral rite, which is recreated in more detail in the poem than in other works of Lermontov: the poet gives a detailed description of the dead Tamara, the funeral train, the burial place. And this last path acquires a symbolic meaning, since it represents a difficult, three-day ascent to the temple erected by Tamara's ancestor on the top of the mountain. This is how its mythological, archaic basis emerges in the funeral rite. And this is the case in Lermontov's work when death turns into birth, but in another – not earthly existence. That is why the "living" beauty of the dead Tamara is emphasized ("and nothing in her face // hinted at the end ..." ^{[15, vol. 2, p. 535]}. Researchers who compared versions of the poem noticed that Lermontov's descriptions of the portrait of the dead heroine from edition to edition increase internal dynamics: a "golden" ray sliding across the face, flowers "pouring their fragrance", a "strange smile" flashing on the lips, ... ^{[15, vol. 2, pp. 534-537]}. This leads to the idea of death as birth, when the funeral rite becomes both the completion of earthly existence, and the ascent of the soul, its return to the limits from which it was once brought to earth by an Angel.

Lermontov also includes the funeral rite and its elements in his dramatic works, which is due to their tragic denouements: in "The Spaniards" Emilia dies, Fernando burns at the stake of the Inquisition; the drama "People and Passions" ends with the death of the main character; in "Two Brothers", the father of the Radins dies in the finale.

In "The Spaniards" there is an episode with the undertakers (they take Emilia's body away for burial), which clearly goes back to Shakespeare's Hamlet: one of the undertakers utters philosophical maxims about death ("Is not everything equal to the deceased, in brocade // Or in canvas he will be eaten by a worm?.." ^{[15, vol. 3, p. 161]}), perceiving her, though with compassion, but calmly. It is characteristic that he conducts a kind of dialogue with the deceased: "Peace to your soul, maiden!" ^{[15, vol. 3, p. 161]}; "Here is your wedding bed, / Beauty!" ^{[15, vol. 3, p. 162]}, actualizing the same parallel "wedding – funeral", which we noted above. The wedding and funeral are brought together in the final episode of the drama "The Strange Man" – they have become the topic of social gossip: guests at Count N.'s house discuss Zagorskina's upcoming wedding and Arbenin's funeral. The background of the final scene of the "Masquerade" is Nina's funeral. Here Lermontov confronts two attitudes to death: the secular crowd and Arbenin. Visitors at the heroine's coffin demonstrate indifference to death, hypocrisy, external adherence to the rite. They discuss the decoration, gossip about possible causes of death. It is worth noting that this technique is typical of Lermontov's dramaturgy: showing the course of life after the death of the hero, the poet seems to fix its immutability, death does not become a cathartic event ^{[23, p. 103]}. The image of the dead Nina has a different effect on Arbenin: "... silently / / I looked at her mute corpse for a whole hour, // And my heart was full, full / / With inexpressible longing. // In the features of calmness and childish carelessness. // The eternal smile quietly blossomed, // When eternity opened before her, // And there her soul read her fate" ^{[15, vol. 3, p. 478]}. Here, just as in the poem "The Demon", death is seen by Arbenin as a birth for a new life, as a departure into eternity.

Thus, the funeral rite is the most frequent in Lermontov, which is explained by biographical reasons. It is found in works of different genres, and this has influenced the ways in which it is represented. In prose, it is most often given in the form of a memory, while Lermontov is psychologically reliable, takes into account the peculiarities of memory. Lermontov's funeral rite is associated with a female character, the funeral rite is often preceded by a wedding ceremony. The death of the heroine is interpreted as a return to her native land ("Bela") or the acquisition of eternal life.