Summary: offended and offended. “Humiliated and Insulted”: heroes of Dostoevsky’s novel (detailed description)

Year of writing:

1861

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Description of the work:

The novel The Humiliated and Insulted was written by Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1861. This was the first major novel written by Dostoevsky after returning from exile. Perhaps this is why the work was received with restraint by critics, but at the same time there were positive reviews about it. The main events described in the novel take place in St. Petersburg.

Read the summary of the novel Humiliated and Insulted.

Ivan Petrovich, a twenty-four-year-old aspiring writer, in search of new apartment meets a strange old man with a dog on a St. Petersburg street. Impossibly thin, in rags, he has a habit of sitting for hours in Miller's pastry shop near Voznesensky Prospekt, warming himself by the stove and staring with a deathly, unseeing gaze at one of the visitors. On this March evening, one of them is indignant at the “impoliteness” of the poor man. He leaves in fear and dies nearby on the sidewalk. Arriving at the stranger's home, Ivan Petrovich finds out his name - Smith - and decides to move into his empty home under the very roof apartment building,

An orphan since childhood, Ivan Petrovich grew up in the family of Nikolai Sergeevich Ikhmenev, a small nobleman of an old family, managing the rich estate of Prince Pyotr Alexandrovich Valkovsky. Friendship and love connected him with the Ikhmenevs’ daughter Natasha, three years younger than him. As a young man, the hero went to St. Petersburg, to the university, and saw “his people” only five years later, when they moved to the capital because of a quarrel with Valkovsky. The latter showed friendship and trust to his manager for many years, to the point that he sent his then nineteen-year-old son Alyosha to be “educated” by him. Believing rumors about the Ikhmenevs’ desire to marry the young prince to their daughter, Valkovsky, in retaliation, accused the kind, honest and naive old man of theft and started a lawsuit.

Ivan Petrovich is almost a daily guest at the Ikhmenevs’, where he is again welcomed as family. It was here that he read his first novel, which had just been published and was extremely successful. The love between him and Natasha is growing stronger, there is already talk of a wedding, with which, however, they decide to wait one year until the groom’s literary position is strengthened.

The “wonderful” time passes when Alyosha begins to visit the Ikhmenevs. Valkovsky, who has his own plans for his son’s future, repeats the accusation of pimping and forbids the latter to see Natasha. The offended Ikhmenev, however, does not suspect the love of his daughter and the young prince until she leaves her parental home for her lover.

The lovers rent an apartment and want to get married soon. Their relationship is complicated by Alyosha's unusual character. This handsome, graceful secular youth is a real child in terms of naivety, selflessness, simplicity, sincerity, but also selfishness, frivolity, irresponsibility, and spinelessness. Loving Natasha immensely, he does not try to provide for her financially, often leaves her alone, and prolongs the painful state of his mistress for her. The carried away, weak-willed Alyosha succumbs to the influence of his father, who wants to marry him to a rich woman. To do this, it is necessary to separate his son from Natasha, and the prince denies the young man financial support. This is a serious test for the young couple. But Natasha is ready to live modestly and work. In addition, the bride found by the prince for Alyosha, Katya, is a beautiful girl, pure and naive, like her intended groom. It is impossible not to be carried away by her, and the new love, according to the calculations of the intelligent and insightful prince, will soon displace the old one from the unstable heart of his son. And Katya herself already loves Alyosha, not knowing that he is not free.

From the very beginning, Natasha is clear about her lover: “if I am not with him always, constantly, every moment, he will stop loving me, forget me and leave me.” She loves “like crazy”, “it’s not good”, she “even the torment from him is happiness.” A stronger nature, she strives to dominate and “torment until it hurts” - “and that’s why<…>hastened to surrender<…>sacrifice first." Natasha continues to love Ivan Petrovich - as a sincere and reliable friend, a support, a “heart of gold” that selflessly bestows her with care and warmth. "The three of us will live together."

Former apartment Smith is visited by his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Nellie. Struck by her isolation, wildness and beggarly appearance, Ivan Petrovich finds out the conditions of her life: Nellie’s mother recently died of consumption, and the girl fell into the hands of a cruel pimp. Thinking about ways to save Nellie, the hero runs into an old school friend Masloboev on the street, a private detective, with the help of whom he snatches the girl from a depraved den and settles her in his apartment. Nellie is seriously ill, and most importantly, misfortune and human malice have made her distrustful and painfully proud. She accepts care for herself with suspicion, slowly thaws, but finally becomes passionately attached to her savior. He is even jealous of Natasha, whose fate her older friend is so preoccupied with.

It's been six months since the latter left her inconsolable parents. The father suffers silently and proudly, shedding tears over the portrait of his daughter at night, and condemning and almost cursing her during the day. The mother takes her soul away in conversations about her with Ivan Petrovich, who reports all the news. They are disappointing. Alyosha is getting closer and closer to Katya, not showing up at Natasha’s for several days. She thinks about breaking up: “He can’t marry me; he is unable to go against his father.” It’s hard “when he himself, the first, forgets” her near another - that’s why Natasha wants to get ahead of the “traitor.” However, Alyosha announces to Katya that their marriage is impossible because of his love for Natasha and his obligations to her. The generosity of the “bride,” who approved of his “nobility” and showed concern for the situation of his “happy” rival, delights Alyosha. Prince Valkovsky, concerned about his son’s “firmness,” makes a new “move.” Having come to Natasha and Alyosha, he gives feigned consent to their marriage, hoping that the calmed conscience of the young man will no longer be an obstacle to his growing love for Katya. Alyosha is “delighted” with his father’s action; Ivan Petrovich, based on a number of signs, notices that the prince does not care about his son’s happiness. Natasha also quickly unravels the “game” of Valkovsky, whose plan, however, is quite successful. During a heated conversation, she exposes him in front of Alyosha. The pretender decides to act differently: he asks to be friends with Ivan Petrovich.

The latter is surprised to learn that the prince is using Masloboev’s services on some matter related to Nelly and her deceased mother. Using innuendo and hints, the classmate introduces the hero to his essence: many years ago, Valkovsky “got into” an enterprise with the English breeder Smith. Wanting to take possession of his money “for free,” he seduced and took abroad an idealist passionately in love with him, Smith’s daughter, who gave it to him. A bankrupt old man cursed his daughter. Soon the swindler abandoned the girl, with whom, apparently, he was nevertheless forced to marry, with little Nelly in his arms, without any means of livelihood. After long wanderings, the terminally ill mother returned with Nellie to St. Petersburg in the hope that the girl’s father would take part in her fate. In desperation, she more than once tried to write to her scoundrel husband, overcoming pride and contempt. Valkovsky himself, cherishing plans for a new profitable marriage, was afraid of documents about the legal marriage, possibly kept by Nellie’s mother. Masloboev was hired to search for them.

Valkovsky takes the hero to Katya’s for the evening, where Alyosha is also present. Natasha’s friend can be convinced of the futility of her hopes for Alyosha’s love: Natasha’s “groom” cannot tear himself away from Katya’s company. Then Ivan Petrovich and the prince go to dinner at a restaurant. During the conversation, Valkovsky drops his mask: he arrogantly disparages Ikhmenev’s gullibility and nobility, cynically rants about Natasha’s feminine virtues, reveals his mercantile plans for Alyosha and Katya, laughs at Ivan Petrovich’s feelings for Natasha and offers him money for marrying her. This is a strong, but absolutely immoral person, whose credo is “love yourself” and use others to your advantage. The prince is especially amused by playing on the sublime feelings of his victims. He himself values ​​only money and rough pleasures. He wants the hero to prepare Natasha for the imminent separation from Alyosha (he must go to the village with Katya) without “scenes, pastorals and Schillerism.” His goal is to remain a loving and noble father in the eyes of his son “for the most convenient subsequent acquisition of Katya’s money.”

Far from his father’s plans, Alyosha is torn between two girls, no longer knowing which one he loves more. However, Katya is more of a match for him by nature. Before leaving, the rivals meet and decide Alyosha’s fate without his participation: Natasha painfully yields to Katya her lover, “without character” and childishly “narrow-minded” in mind. In a strange way, “this is what she loved most about him,” and now Katya loves the same thing.

Valkovsky offers the abandoned Natasha money for an affair with the depraved old man Count. Ivan Petrovich, who arrived in time, beats and rudely drives out the offender. Natasha must return to her parents' house. But how can one convince old man Ikhmenev to forgive his beloved daughter, who has disgraced him? In addition to other grievances, the prince has just won a lawsuit and is robbing the unfortunate father of his entire small fortune.

The Ikhmenevs had long been planning to take in an orphan girl. The choice fell on Nellie. But she refused to live with “cruel” people like her grandfather Smith, who never forgave her mother during her lifetime. By begging Nellie to tell Ikhmenev the story of her mother, Ivan Petrovich hopes to soften the old man’s heart. His plan succeeds: the family is reunited, and Nellie soon becomes “the idol of the whole house” and responds to “universal love” for herself.

On warm June evenings, Ivan Petrovich, Masloboev and the doctor often gather in the hospitable house of the Ikhmenevs on Vasilyevsky Island. Separation is coming: the old man has received a position in Perm. Natasha is sad about what she experienced. Darkens family happiness and Nelly has a serious heart disease, from which the poor thing soon dies. Before her death, the legitimate daughter of Prince Valkovsky does not forgive, contrary to the gospel commandment, her traitor father, but, on the contrary, curses him. Natasha, dejected by the future separation from Ivan Petrovich, regrets that she ruined their possible happiness together.

These notes were compiled by the hero a year after the events described. Now he is alone, in the hospital and it seems that he will die soon.

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Every self-respecting person should know the works of the great Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. If you absolutely don’t have enough time to fully read all the books, read “The Humiliated and Insulted” first. Summary(Part 1 and subsequent ones will be discussed in this review) will tell you about the difficult history of two families and teach you to recognize good and evil, sincerity and lies, love and false feelings.

The main characters of the novel

Fyodor Dostoevsky introduces Ivan Petrovich into the narrative, a writer who completes his story towards the end of the work. He started keeping a diary not because of a good life: as a child, his parents left him an orphan, and the boy was brought up in the house of Nikolai Sergeevich Ikhmenev. He had a good, but impoverished family, lost his estate, but soon became the owner of a small village and married Anna Andreevna Shumilova. In subsequent chapters, the family faces troubles. The reader understands that the title of the work was not chosen by chance, and it is the Ikhmenevs who are humiliated and insulted.

The summary tells that Prince Pyotr Alexandrovich Valkovsky and his son Alyosha began to visit the old people. Ikhmenev soon became the manager, but after the conflict his family was forced to go to St. Petersburg again. The daughter of Nikolai Sergeevich and Anna Andreeva, Natasha, was a stumbling block between Alyosha and the writer Ivan. Subsequent events of this love triangle will be described in the book “Humiliated and Offended.” A summary of parts and chapters will convey the complexity of the relationship between the two families.

Minor characters of the novel and their role

The action begins in a German confectionery shop, where old man Smith and his dog Azorka are heading. In the room, he irritates those present with his many hours of pastime, but he is no longer destined to return here... Azorka suddenly dies of old age or hunger, after which the old man hurried to the exit and also unexpectedly died.

Become eyewitnesses to the actions of the novel “Humiliated and Insulted”: a chapter-by-chapter summary will tell you how important it is to remain in this cruel world a good man what the main character Ivan was like. Smith tells him his address, and soon the young man moves into his apartment, where he meets the old man’s granddaughter, Elena. Anna Trifonovna Bubnova, the owner of this orphan girl, often beats her and humiliates her. Philip Philipovich Masloboev is Vanya's school friend, to whom he tells the story about Smith.

Princess Katerina Fedorovna Filimonova becomes first Alyosha's friend, and then his bride, thereby destroying his relationship with Natasha. The heroine appears infrequently in the novel, but the reader immediately becomes clear that under the mask of this rich woman hides a naive child.

Contents of part 1 “Humiliated and Insulted” (brief)

Reviews of this novel range from enthusiastically positive to disapproving, but in order to appreciate the writer’s idea, you need to delve into the era of the 19th century and understand the complexity of the relationships between the main characters.

On the first pages of his book, Dostoevsky introduces the reader to the life of Ivan Petrovich, the Ikhmenev and Valkovsky family. The prince sends his son Alyosha to the house of Nikolai Sergeevich for educational purposes, and there young man An affair begins with Natasha. All this happened during the absence of Ivan, who went to study in St. Petersburg. Upon his return, the young writer realizes that Natasha is his destiny. Ivan proposes to her, which the girl accepts, but the old people are in no hurry to get married, and this mistake becomes fatal... Soon Natasha leaves for Alyosha, who later turned out to be a scoundrel.

Unhappy Ivan moves into Smith's apartment and meets his granddaughter Elena there. Alyosha and Natasha lived in a poor apartment on Fontanka. The girl was often sad and was sure that the groom would leave her for Katerina Fedorovna, the young lady whom Prince Valkovsky chose as his son’s wife. Natasha talked about all her secrets with Ivan, who often visited her.

Prince Valkovsky wants to become related to Katerina Filimonova, but at the same time he understands that only Natasha will bring real happiness to his son. Ivan sees Elena more often and witnesses how cruelly the old woman Bubnova treats her: after the beating, the girl begins to have seizures. It's hard to believe that such cruel women to this day they live on earth, but a description of such atrocities is given in the book “The Humiliated and Insulted.” Summary, fortunately, does not convey all the horror of the fourth chapter of the second part.

The young man decides to take the girl away, hires her a doctor, buys her good clothes, but she was eager to work and was ready to go back to the old tyrant. The poor thing begins to look after her savior herself and asks from now on to call her Nellie - that was the name of her foreign mother.

Approaching Natasha's apartment on Fontanka, Ivan noticed Prince Valkovsky's stroller, with whom they then entered the house together. The girl was alone and said that Alyosha had not appeared for several days, but as soon as she started talking, he suddenly returned from Katerina Filimonova. Natasha flushed, deciding that the prince was only trying to seem kind, but in fact he longed for this rich young lady to be his son’s bride...

Alyosha swore to Ikhmeneva of eternal love and that he treats Katya only as a sister. But the girl did not believe it and asked Ivan to visit the countess. It is easy to guess that fate played a cruel joke on the Ikhmenev family, and it is they who are humiliated and insulted. Short description subsequent events reveal this idea. Soon the prince received an offer to visit the countess. Gradually, the reader learns that Katerina is in love with Ivan, and he hardly loves Natasha anymore. The drunken prince at the evening revealed a different side: he admitted his selfish intentions and announced his desire to marry his son and the countess.

Now Ivan’s soul hurts for two girls: Natasha and Nellie. The second one became naughty and made fun of her doctor. The unfortunate woman was diagnosed with a heart defect, and even medications are not able to prolong her life. Nellie could not live peacefully with Ivan, so she ran away, leaving a note. The doctor, who at first seemed like her friend, refused to take her in, and the girl did not want to stay with the Ikhmenevs.

What follows is the climax of the novel “Humiliated and Insulted” - a summary of subsequent chapters reveals the vile essence of the entire Valkovsky family. Alyosha declares that he loves Katerina Filimonova, but is in a hurry to get married to Natasha, because he cannot imagine life without her. But their happiness is hampered by the conflict of their fathers, so Ikhmenev deprives his daughter of parental blessing and curses her. However, the wedding of Alyosha and Natasha never took place, and the winner in this battle was the prince, who married his son to the countess. The old Ikhmenevs found another happiness: they forgave their daughter and began to raise Nellie as their own.

Epilogue

Nelly continued to live in the house of the old Ikhmenevs, and soon became completely accustomed to them, and Ivan finished his story, which he had been working on for so long. Philip Masloboev often visited the family and did not stand aside when he learned about tragic fate girls. He secretly tells Ivan that Nellie is in fact not an orphan at all, but the daughter of Prince Valkovsky - this is the turning point in the book “The Humiliated and Insulted.” It turned out that the girl knew everything, but was silent... She is living out her last days in agony. Before her death, Nelly gives Ivan a cross with an amulet, where her mother’s message to Valkovsky was kept.

The story of the fall and resurrection of the main character

First love is always the most sincere, passionate and entails severe consequences- Alyosha was probably the first for Natasha, so she left her father’s house for his sake. She executed herself by deciding to give up everything and become a slave to this “adult child,” an eternal player and favorite of women. Because of the Valkovskys, the Ikhmenevs are not only unhappy, but also humiliated and insulted.

The summary further tells that Alyosha, without a twinge of conscience, complained to Katerina that Natasha was not sacrificing anything for him... Was it really not enough for him to leave the girl from her parents’ home? Nikolai Ikhmenev forbade saying his daughter’s name, and he stole her portrait from his wife in order to admire, remember, and suffer in secret from everyone... Natasha caused a lot of suffering to the elderly, but she cannot be blamed for what she did - actions were done for the sake of love, and this is the main justification . At the end of the fourth part, the father forgives his daughter and falls to his knees in front of her. The Ikhmenevs, humiliated and insulted, are nevertheless reunited, and for them this is true happiness.

The role of the heroine Nellie in the concept of the book

The tragedy of the novel is enhanced by the description of the difficult fate of a girl with a heart defect, who, as it seems at first glance, became a participant in the action by accident. The illegitimate Nelly, who lost her mother as a child, is doomed to hate humanity for the rest of her life, which caused her so much pain. She endures all the beatings, humiliation and herself refuses happiness - this little creature doesn’t know what it means to be happy, perhaps that’s why she can’t live with people who, like her, are humiliated and insulted.

The summary reveals the true history of her family: once Smith cursed and kicked out his daughter, who fled with her lover, who turned out to be Valkovsky. It is Nellie who returns harmony and understanding to the Ikhmenev family. Nikolai Sergeevich realizes the sinfulness of his act and throws himself at Natasha’s feet asking her to forgive him. Thus, poor Nelly sacrificed herself for the sins of her mother, vile father and for the happiness of the Ikhmenev family.

History of creation

The book “Humiliated and Insulted” was published in 1861 in the magazine “Time” and was republished twice during Dostoevsky’s lifetime. In Russia, they were wary of writers returning from exile, so the brilliant novel was not greeted with enthusiasm, although critics responded positively to it (in particular, V. G. Belinsky).

The work was filmed three times: in 1915 by a troupe of artists from the Solovtsov Theater, and in 1976 the play was staged by E. Velikhanov. In 1991, a film directed by A. Eshpai was shot; in 2005, a musical was made to the music of A. Zhurbin. To understand the idea of ​​the novel, it is important not only to watch the production on the screen, but also to read “The Humiliated and Insulted” (summary).

Hugo and his novel "Les Miserables"

The theme of the humiliated and insulted has remained relevant in world literature for many centuries. Main character works by Victor Hugo - Jean Valjac - spent almost 20 years in hard labor for petty theft, and upon being released, opens his own factory and becomes mayor. He does all this under a false name, but the authorities become aware of the whole truth: the poor fellow is again deprived of his freedom, but this time he escapes. Jean is raising Cosette, the daughter of an unfortunate woman who died of consumption. The girl's lover took part in the republican uprising and was convicted, but Valjak saves him and blesses the young people. The next year he dies in poverty in the arms of Cosette and her husband. "Les Miserables" is the story of a sinner who became a great righteous man. Thus, works on the theme “Humiliated and Insulted” are available not only from Fyodor Dostoevsky, but also from Victor Hugo.

A young man named Ivan Petrovich, trying his hand at literary creativity, is trying to find an apartment for himself in St. Petersburg and meets a very strange old man, who outwardly seems like an ordinary beggar, but at the same time different from these disadvantaged people. This old man actually dies in front of Ivan, and the young man finds out that he bore the surname Smith, after which he decides to live for some time in that home in apartment building, which was previously occupied by the deceased.

As fate would have it, Ivan was left an orphan early on; he spent his childhood and adolescence in the family of a certain Ikhmenev, a poor but decent and honest nobleman who served for many years as an estate manager for Prince Valkovsky. From the early age he was in the most friendly and trusting relationship with Natasha, Ikhmenev’s daughter; in his youth, this friendship grew into love on the part of Ivan. However, he had to leave to study in St. Petersburg, and he again meets the family where his childhood years passed only after five years.

Ivan Petrovich becomes aware that the Ikhmenevs were forced to move to the capital due to a conflict with Prince Valkovsky. The prince completely trusted his manager for many years; he even placed his son Alexei, who at that time was barely nineteen years old, in his family for a certain period of time. But then Valkovsky believed the gossip that Ikhmenev intended to marry the young prince to his daughter Natalya, and brought a case against the impeccably honest man in court, accusing him of theft.

Ivan constantly visits the Ikhmenevs, all family members treat him attentively and warmly. The young writer reads to them his first novel, which has already been published and is successfully selling to the public. The mutual feeling between him and Natasha Ikhmeneva intensifies, speech it's already underway about marriage, but the lovers still decide to wait at least a year, when Ivan Petrovich’s success on the literary path becomes more thorough and lasting. However, everything begins to collapse when the young prince Alexei Valkovsky begins to come to visit the Ikhmenevs. His father categorically forbids his son to meet with Natasha; he has completely different plans for Alyosha’s future fate. But the girl, who fell madly in love with the young prince, leaves her parents and begins to live with her lover in rented apartment, waiting for a legal marriage.

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However, relations with young Valkovsky turn out to be very difficult and painful for Natasha. Internally, Alexey still remains a child, he is sincere, simple-minded, kind, but at the same time frivolous, devoid of any sense of responsibility, and completely unable to cope with even the most basic difficulties in life. The young man loves Natalya, but does not think about the need to provide for her, often leaves the girl alone, the painful and shameful position of her mistress drags on for a long time, Alyosha is in no hurry to get married.

The weak-willed young man soon, unbeknownst to himself, begins to follow the lead of his father, who has already found a much more suitable match for him. In order to force his son to part with Natasha, the prince stops supporting his son financially. However, the girl tells her lover that she is not afraid of lack of money, she is ready to live as modestly as she likes and work hard so as not to be separated from her lover.

The new bride that the elderly Prince Valkovsky chooses for Alexei is a pure, kind, gentle girl; his father has no doubt that Alyosha will soon fall in love with Catherine and forget Natalya. Katya, not knowing anything about the fact that young Valkovsky already has a mistress, from the very first meetings feels a sincere affection for him and is ready to marry him as soon as possible.

Natasha perfectly understands how unstable and weak in character her loved one is. The girl feels that she will certainly lose Alyosha if she is not constantly with him, she gives herself to him without hesitation, although she realizes that such relationships are by no means welcome in society and she is actually depriving herself and her family of their former good name. Natasha is truly friendly towards Ivan and highly values ​​his devotion; she also does not want to be separated from him and completely trusts this young man.

A teenage girl, Nelly, the granddaughter of the recently deceased Smith, appears in the apartment where Ivan Petrovich lives. The aspiring writer is simply shocked by her wretched, beggarly appearance and extremely withdrawn, savage behavior, a little later he finds out that the girl’s mother recently passed away due to consumption, and the orphan ended up in the hands of some dishonest pimp. With the help of his old friend, private detective Masloboev, Ivan removes Nellie from the stash and places him with him, deciding to help her get back on her feet. But the girl is not only seriously ill, she is full of distrust and anger towards people, she does not understand why Ivan cares about her so much, and is very wary of him. However, after a while, Nellie calms down a little, becomes attached to the writer and even begins to be jealous of him for Natalya, seeing his constant worry about this girl.

Natasha has not lived with her parents for about six months. The father does not want to hear his daughter’s name, although he cries at night in front of her portrait. Ivan Petrovich reports all the news about the girl to Ikhmenev and his wife, but he cannot tell anything comforting. Alexey spends more and more time with Katya, having almost stopped showing up at Natasha’s. The girl is inclined to finally break up with him, no matter how painful it may be for her, but she intends to take such a step before young Valkovsky himself leaves her.

But Alyosha decides to have a frank conversation with Ekaterina; he explains to the girl that he cannot marry her, since he already loves Natasha and has serious obligations to her. Katya fully approves of his nobility and wishes him happiness with his rival, but Alexei’s father is not going to give up and comes up with a new cunning plan.

Arriving to visit his son and Natalya, he pretends that he will no longer oppose their marriage. Naive Alyosha is sincerely happy with his father’s action, but Natasha and Ivan Petrovich understand perfectly well that the elderly prince is playing his own game and is only deceiving the young man. At the same time, Ivan becomes aware that Valkovsky is using Masloboev’s services in a case concerning the girl Nelly and her late mother.

It turns out that many years ago the prince had general enterprise with Smith, an English breeder. In order to take possession of his funds, Valkovsky seduced his daughter and took the girl abroad; as a result, he actually received Smith’s money, and the old Englishman, who remained a beggar, cursed his daughter and refused to ever meet with her.

From the marriage of Valkovsky and Smith's daughter, Nellie was born, and the cunning prince soon abandoned the unfortunate woman to the mercy of fate. After many years of wandering and suffering, Smith’s daughter, already terminally ill, came with Nellie to St. Petersburg, but never decided to write to her unscrupulous husband about the desperate situation she and her child were in. Valkovsky was afraid that his wife would present documents about their marriage and thus prevent him from marrying profitably again, so he hired detective Masloboev to search for these papers.

During the next evening at the house of Ekaterina’s parents, Ivan sees with bitterness that Alyosha is unable to tear himself away from Katya, he understands that Natasha has absolutely nothing to hope for. After this, he has dinner in a restaurant with the elderly Valkovsky, and he openly laughs at Natalya and her father, talks about his purely mercantile plans for his son and Catherine, he even decides to offer the young writer money so that he will marry Natasha and get rid of this Alexei's girls.

Alyosha knows nothing about what his father has planned, however, the spineless young man no longer understands which of the girls he loves more, he is in a state of painful doubt, and Natalya and Ekaterina, having met without young Valkovsky, decide his future themselves . Natasha gives up her beloved young man to her rival, experiencing the deepest mental pain, but the unfortunate girl understands that with Katya he will become happier in all respects. After this, all she can do is return to her parents, but old Ikhmenev does not want to see the daughter who disgraced their family, although he never stopped loving her.

Natasha's father and his wife decide to take Nellie in, the girl at first fears that these people will be as cruel as her grandfather Smith, who never forgave her deceased mother, but then she responds to the kindness and attention of the Ikhmenevs, becoming everyone’s favorite in the house. However, the orphan soon dies of a serious heart disease, having cursed her father before his death, whom she rightly considers a dishonest and vile man.

Natasha, having finally made peace with her father, is going to leave with her parents for Perm, where old Ikhmenev managed to get a place for service. Before separation, Ivan understands how much the girl regrets that she herself refused the opportunity to be happy with him, because everything could have turned out completely differently. The young writer recalls the whole story a year after these events; now he is also seriously ill and feels that he does not have long to live.

Ivan Petrovich, a twenty-four-year-old aspiring writer, while looking for a new apartment, meets a strange old man with a dog on a St. Petersburg street. Impossibly thin, in rags, he has a habit of sitting for hours in Miller's pastry shop near Voznesensky Prospekt, warming himself by the stove and staring with a deathly, unseeing gaze at one of the visitors. On this March evening, one of them is indignant at the “impoliteness” of the poor man. He leaves in fear and dies nearby on the sidewalk. Arriving at the stranger's home, Ivan Petrovich finds out his name - Smith - and decides to move into his empty home under the very roof of an apartment building.

An orphan since childhood, Ivan Petrovich grew up in the family of Nikolai Sergeevich Ikhmenev, a small nobleman of an old family, managing the rich estate of Prince Pyotr Alexandrovich Valkovsky. Friendship and love connected him with the Ikhmenevs’ daughter Natasha, three years younger than him. As a young man, the hero went to St. Petersburg, to the university, and saw “his people” only five years later, when they moved to the capital because of a quarrel with Valkovsky. The latter showed friendship and trust to his manager for many years, to the point that he sent his then nineteen-year-old son Alyosha to be “educated” by him. Believing rumors about the Ikhmenevs’ desire to marry the young prince to their daughter, Valkovsky, in retaliation, accused the kind, honest and naive old man of theft and started a lawsuit.

Ivan Petrovich is almost a daily guest at the Ikhmenevs’, where he is again welcomed as family. It was here that he read his first novel, which had just been published and was extremely successful. The love between him and Natasha is growing stronger, there is already talk of a wedding, with which, however, they decide to wait one year until the groom’s literary position is strengthened.

The “wonderful” time passes when Alyosha begins to visit the Ikhmenevs. Valkovsky, who has his own plans for his son’s future, repeats the accusation of pimping and forbids the latter to see Natasha. The offended Ikhmenev, however, does not suspect the love of his daughter and the young prince until she leaves her parental home for her lover.

The lovers rent an apartment and want to get married soon. Their relationship is complicated by Alyosha's unusual character. This handsome, graceful secular youth is a real child in terms of naivety, selflessness, simplicity, sincerity, but also selfishness, frivolity, irresponsibility, and spinelessness. Loving Natasha immensely, he does not try to provide for her financially, often leaves her alone, and prolongs the painful state of his mistress for her. The carried away, weak-willed Alyosha succumbs to the influence of his father, who wants to marry him to a rich woman. To do this, it is necessary to separate his son from Natasha, and the prince denies the young man financial support. This is a serious test for the young couple. But Natasha is ready to live modestly and work. In addition, the bride found by the prince for Alyosha, Katya, is a beautiful girl, pure and naive, like her intended groom. It is impossible not to be carried away by her, and the new love, according to the calculations of the intelligent and insightful prince, will soon displace the old one from the unstable heart of his son. And Katya herself already loves Alyosha, not knowing that he is not free.

From the very beginning, her lover is clear to Natasha: “if I am not with him always, constantly, every moment, he will stop loving me, forget me and leave me.” She loves “like crazy”, “it’s not good”, she “even the torment from him is happiness.” A stronger nature, she strives to dominate and “torment until it hurts” - “and that’s why<…>hastened to surrender<…>sacrifice first." Natasha continues to love Ivan Petrovich - as a sincere and reliable friend, a support, a “heart of gold” that selflessly bestows her with care and warmth. "The three of us will live together."

Smith's former apartment is visited by his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Nellie. Struck by her isolation, wildness and beggarly appearance, Ivan Petrovich finds out the conditions of her life: Nellie’s mother recently died of consumption, and the girl fell into the hands of a cruel pimp. Thinking about ways to save Nellie, the hero runs into an old school friend Masloboev on the street, a private detective, with the help of whom he snatches the girl from a depraved den and settles her in his apartment. Nellie is seriously ill, and most importantly, misfortune and human malice have made her distrustful and painfully proud. She accepts care for herself with suspicion, slowly thaws, but finally becomes passionately attached to her savior. He is even jealous of Natasha, whose fate her older friend is so preoccupied with.

It's been six months since the latter left her inconsolable parents. The father suffers silently and proudly, shedding tears over the portrait of his daughter at night, and condemning and almost cursing her during the day. The mother takes her soul away in conversations about her with Ivan Petrovich, who reports all the news. They are disappointing. Alyosha is getting closer and closer to Katya, not showing up at Natasha’s for several days. She thinks about breaking up: “He can’t marry me; he is unable to go against his father.” It’s hard “when he himself, the first, forgets” her near another - that’s why Natasha wants

even ahead of the “traitor”. However, Alyosha announces to Katya that their marriage is impossible because of his love for Natasha and his obligations to her. The generosity of the “bride,” who approved of his “nobility” and showed concern for the situation of his “happy” rival, delights Alyosha. Prince Valkovsky, concerned about his son’s “firmness,” makes a new “move.” Having come to Natasha and Alyosha, he gives feigned consent to their marriage, hoping that the calmed conscience of the young man will no longer be an obstacle to his growing love for Katya. Alyosha is “delighted” with his father’s action; Ivan Petrovich, based on a number of signs, notices that the prince does not care about his son’s happiness. Natasha also quickly unravels the “game” of Valkovsky, whose plan, however, is quite successful. During a heated conversation, she exposes him in front of Alyosha. The pretender decides to act differently: he asks to be friends with Ivan Petrovich.

The latter is surprised to learn that the prince is using Masloboev’s services on some matter related to Nelly and her deceased mother. Using innuendo and hints, the classmate introduces the hero to his essence: many years ago, Valkovsky “got into” an enterprise with the English breeder Smith. Wanting to take possession of his money “for free,” he seduced and took abroad an idealist passionately in love with him, Smith’s daughter, who gave it to him. A bankrupt old man cursed his daughter. Soon the swindler abandoned the girl, with whom, apparently, he was nevertheless forced to marry, with little Nelly in his arms, without any means of livelihood. After long wanderings, the terminally ill mother returned with Nellie to St. Petersburg in the hope that the girl’s father would take part in her fate. In desperation, she more than once tried to write to her scoundrel husband, overcoming pride and contempt. Valkovsky himself, cherishing plans for a new profitable marriage, was afraid of documents about the legal marriage, possibly kept by Nellie’s mother. Masloboev was hired to search for them.

Valkovsky takes the hero to Katya’s for the evening, where Alyosha is also present. Natasha’s friend can be convinced of the futility of her hopes for Alyosha’s love: Natasha’s “groom” cannot tear himself away from Katya’s company. Then Ivan Petrovich and the prince go to dinner at a restaurant. During the conversation, Valkovsky drops his mask: he arrogantly disparages Ikhmenev’s gullibility and nobility, cynically rants about Natasha’s feminine virtues, reveals his mercantile plans for Alyosha and Katya, laughs at Ivan Petrovich’s feelings for Natasha and offers him money for marrying her. This is a strong, but absolutely immoral person, whose credo is “love yourself” and use others to your advantage. The prince is especially amused by playing on the sublime feelings of his victims. He himself values ​​only money and rough pleasures. He wants the hero to prepare Natasha for the imminent separation from Alyosha (he must go to the village with Katya) without “scenes, pastorals and Schillerism.” His goal is to remain a loving and noble father in the eyes of his son “for the most convenient acquisition of Katya’s money in the future.”

Far from his father’s plans, Alyosha is torn between two girls, no longer knowing which one he loves more. However, Katya is more of a match for him by nature. Before leaving, the rivals meet and decide Alyosha’s fate without his participation: Natasha painfully yields to Katya her lover, “without character” and childishly “narrow-minded” in mind. In a strange way, “this is what she loved most about him,” and now Katya loves the same thing.

Valkovsky offers the abandoned Natasha money for an affair with the depraved old man Count. Ivan Petrovich, who arrived in time, beats and rudely drives out the offender. Natasha must return to her parents' house. But how can one convince old man Ikhmenev to forgive his beloved daughter, who has disgraced him? In addition to other grievances, the prince has just won a lawsuit and is robbing the unfortunate father of his entire small fortune.

The Ikhmenevs had long been planning to take in an orphan girl. The choice fell on Nellie. But she refused to live with “cruel” people like her grandfather Smith, who never forgave her mother during her lifetime. BEGGING Nellie to tell Ikhmenev the story of her mother, Ivan Petrovich hopes to soften the old man’s heart. His plan succeeds: the family is reunited, and Nellie soon becomes “the idol of the whole house” and responds to “universal love” for herself.

On warm June evenings, Ivan Petrovich, Masloboev and the doctor often gather in the hospitable house of the Ikhmenevs on Vasilyevsky Island. Separation is coming: the old man has received a position in Perm. Natasha is sad about what she experienced. Nelly's family happiness is also overshadowed by a serious heart disease, from which the poor thing soon dies. Before her death, the legitimate daughter of Prince Valkovsky does not forgive, contrary to the gospel commandment, her traitor father, but, on the contrary, curses him. Natasha, dejected by the future separation from Ivan Petrovich, regrets that she ruined their possible happiness together.

These notes were compiled by the hero a year after the events described. Now he is alone, in the hospital and it seems that he will die soon.

Humiliated and Offended
Summary of the novel
Ivan Petrovich, a twenty-four-year-old aspiring writer, while looking for a new apartment, meets a strange old man with a dog on a St. Petersburg street. Impossibly thin, in rags, he has a habit of sitting for hours in Miller's pastry shop near Voznesensky Prospekt, warming himself by the stove and staring with a deathly, unseeing gaze at one of the visitors. On this March evening, one of them is indignant at the “impoliteness” of the poor man. He leaves in fear and dies nearby on the sidewalk. Arriving at the stranger's home, Ivan Petrovich finds out his name - Smith - and decides to move into his empty home under the very roof of an apartment building,
An orphan since childhood, Ivan Petrovich grew up in the family of Nikolai Sergeevich Ikhmenev, a small nobleman of an old family, managing the rich estate of Prince Pyotr Alexandrovich Valkovsky. Friendship and love connected him with the Ikhmenevs’ daughter Natasha, three years younger than him. As a young man, the hero went to St. Petersburg, to the university, and saw “his people” only five years later, when they moved to the capital because of a quarrel with Valkovsky. The latter showed friendship and trust to his manager for many years, to the point that he sent his then nineteen-year-old son Alyosha to be “educated” by him. Believing rumors about the Ikhmenevs’ desire to marry the young prince to their daughter, Valkovsky, in retaliation, accused the kind, honest and naive old man of theft and started a lawsuit.
Ivan Petrovich is almost a daily guest at the Ikhmenevs’, where he is again welcomed as family. It was here that he read his first novel, which had just been published and was extremely successful. The love between him and Natasha is growing stronger, there is already talk of a wedding, with which, however, they decide to wait one year until the groom’s literary position is strengthened.
The “wonderful” time passes when Alyosha begins to visit the Ikhmenevs. Valkovsky, who has his own plans for his son’s future, repeats the accusation of pimping and forbids the latter to see Natasha. The offended Ikhmenev, however, does not suspect the love of his daughter and the young prince until she leaves her parental home for her lover.
The lovers rent an apartment and want to get married soon. Their relationship is complicated by Alyosha's unusual character. This handsome, graceful secular youth is a real child in terms of naivety, selflessness, simplicity, sincerity, but also selfishness, frivolity, irresponsibility, and spinelessness. Loving Natasha immensely, he does not try to provide for her financially, often leaves her alone, and prolongs the painful state of his mistress for her. The carried away, weak-willed Alyosha succumbs to the influence of his father, who wants to marry him to a rich woman. To do this, it is necessary to separate his son from Natasha, and the prince denies the young man financial support. This is a serious test for the young couple. But Natasha is ready to live modestly and work. In addition, the bride found by the prince for Alyosha, Katya, is a beautiful girl, pure and naive, like her intended groom. It is impossible not to be carried away by her, and the new love, according to the calculations of the intelligent and insightful prince, will soon displace the old one from the unstable heart of his son. And Katya herself already loves Alyosha, not knowing that he is not free.
From the very beginning, Natasha is clear about her lover: “if I am not with him always, constantly, every moment, he will stop loving me, forget me and leave me.” She loves “like crazy”, “it’s not good”, she “even the torment from him is happiness.” A stronger nature, she strives to dominate and “torture until it hurts” - “and that is why she hastened to be the first to be sacrificed.” Natasha continues to love Ivan Petrovich - as a sincere and reliable friend, support, “heart of gold”, selflessly bestowing her with care and warmth. “The three of us will live together.”
Smith's former apartment is visited by his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Nellie. Struck by her isolation, wildness and beggarly appearance, Ivan Petrovich finds out the conditions of her life: Nellie’s mother recently died of consumption, and the girl fell into the hands of a cruel pimp. Thinking about ways to save Nellie, the hero runs into an old school friend Masloboev on the street, a private detective, with the help of whom he snatches the girl from a depraved den and settles her in his apartment. Nellie is seriously ill, and most importantly, misfortune and human malice have made her distrustful and painfully proud. She accepts care for herself with suspicion, slowly thaws, but finally becomes passionately attached to her savior. He is even jealous of Natasha, whose fate her older friend is so preoccupied with.
It's been six months since the latter left her inconsolable parents. The father suffers silently and proudly, shedding tears over the portrait of his daughter at night, and condemning and almost cursing her during the day. The mother takes her soul away in conversations about her with Ivan Petrovich, who reports all the news. They are disappointing. Alyosha is getting closer and closer to Katya, not showing up at Natasha’s for several days. She thinks about breaking up: “He can’t marry me; he cannot go against his father.” It’s hard “when he himself, the first, forgets” her near another - that’s why Natasha wants to get ahead of the “traitor.” However, Alyosha announces to Katya that their marriage is impossible because of his love for Natasha and his obligations to her. The generosity of the “bride”, who approved of his “nobility” and showed concern for the situation of his “happy” rival, delights Alyosha. Prince Valkovsky, concerned about his son’s “firmness,” takes a new “move.” Having come to Natasha and Alyosha, he gives feigned consent to their marriage, hoping that the calmed conscience of the young man will no longer be an obstacle to his growing love for Katya. Alyosha is “delighted” with his father’s action; Ivan Petrovich, based on a number of signs, notices that the prince does not care about his son’s happiness. Natasha also quickly unravels Valkovsky’s “game,” whose plan, however, is quite successful. During a heated conversation, she exposes him in front of Alyosha. The pretender decides to act differently: he asks to be friends with Ivan Petrovich.
The latter is surprised to learn that the prince is using Masloboev’s services on some matter related to Nelly and her deceased mother. Using innuendo and hints, the classmate introduces the hero to his essence: many years ago, Valkovsky “got into” an enterprise with the English breeder Smith. Wanting to take possession of his money “for free,” he seduced and took abroad an idealist passionately in love with him, Smith’s daughter, who gave it to him. A bankrupt old man cursed his daughter. Soon the swindler abandoned the girl, with whom, apparently, he was nevertheless forced to marry, with little Nelly in his arms, without any means of livelihood. After long wanderings, the terminally ill mother returned with Nellie to St. Petersburg in the hope that the girl’s father would take part in her fate. In desperation, she more than once tried to write to her scoundrel husband, overcoming pride and contempt. Valkovsky himself, cherishing plans for a new profitable marriage, was afraid of documents about the legal marriage, possibly kept by Nellie’s mother. Masloboev was hired to search for them.
Valkovsky takes the hero to Katya’s for the evening, where Alyosha is also present. Natasha’s friend can be convinced of the futility of her hopes for Alyosha’s love: Natasha’s “groom” cannot tear himself away from Katya’s company. Then Ivan Petrovich and the prince go to dinner at a restaurant. During the conversation, Valkovsky drops his mask: he arrogantly disparages Ikhmenev’s gullibility and nobility, cynically rants about Natasha’s feminine virtues, reveals his mercantile plans for Alyosha and Katya, laughs at Ivan Petrovich’s feelings for Natasha and offers him money for marrying her. This is a strong, but absolutely immoral person, whose credo is “love yourself” and use others to your advantage. The prince is especially amused by playing on the sublime feelings of his victims. He himself values ​​only money and rough pleasures. He wants the hero to prepare Natasha for the imminent separation from Alyosha (he must go to the village with Katya) without “scenes, pastorals and Schillerism.” His goal is to remain a loving and noble father in the eyes of his son “for the most convenient subsequent acquisition of Katya’s money.”
Far from his father’s plans, Alyosha is torn between two girls, no longer knowing which one he loves more. However, Katya is more of a match for him by nature. Before leaving, the rivals meet and decide Alyosha’s fate without his participation: Natasha painfully yields to Katya her lover, “without character” and childishly “narrow-minded” in mind. In a strange way, “this is what she loved most about him,” and now Katya loves the same thing.
Valkovsky offers the abandoned Natasha money for an affair with the depraved old man Count. Ivan Petrovich, who arrived in time, beats and rudely drives out the offender. Natasha must return to her parents' house. But how can one convince old man Ikhmenev to forgive his beloved daughter, who has disgraced him? In addition to other grievances, the prince has just won a lawsuit and is robbing the unfortunate father of his entire small fortune.
The Ikhmenevs had long been planning to take in an orphan girl. The choice fell on Nellie. But she refused to live with “cruel” people like her grandfather Smith, who never forgave her mother during her lifetime. BEGGING Nellie to tell Ikhmenev the story of her mother, Ivan Petrovich hopes to soften the old man’s heart. His plan succeeds: the family is reunited, and Nellie soon becomes “the idol of the whole house” and responds to “universal love” for herself.
On warm June evenings, Ivan Petrovich, Masloboev and the doctor often gather in the hospitable house of the Ikhmenevs on Vasilyevsky Island. Separation is coming: the old man has received a position in Perm. Natasha is sad about what she experienced. Nelly's family happiness is also overshadowed by a serious heart disease, from which the poor thing soon dies. Before her death, the legitimate daughter of Prince Valkovsky does not forgive, contrary to the gospel commandment, her traitor father, but, on the contrary, curses him. Natasha, dejected by the future separation from Ivan Petrovich, regrets that she ruined their possible happiness together.
These notes were compiled by the hero a year after the events described. Now he is alone, in the hospital and it seems that he will die soon.

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