N. V. Gogol. "Taras Bulba". Comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andria

The heroic struggle of the enslaved Ukrainian people is still fascinating. We learn about it from numerous Cossack thoughts, songs, historical studies and literary works. One of the best prose works praising patriotism and devotion to his work is the "Taras Bulba" by NV Gogol. Comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andria, the main characters of the book, we will submit in our article.

The plot of the story

"Taras Bulba" is a fantastic story, and its heroes are fictitious. Although the plot was borrowed by Gogol from life. Ostap and Andriy are brothers who were divided by war, but they had their prototypes. Grigory Ilyich Miklukha, a relative of a certain Emelyan, studied with the writer. He had two other brothers, one of whom betrayed his homeland, falling in love with the polka, and the other was killed trying to lead to the traitor's father. Also, the prototype of the ataman Taras can be considered and Ivan Gaunt, who, according to legend, killed two sons from the Polish-wife. But this story is fictional, since Ivan was married to a Russian.

In the story Taras Bulba will become a father who equally loves his children, but duty to his homeland is above all for him. You can only sympathize with the parent, who sees how his descendant betrays everything for which he fought, then, for which he then burned at the stake. Having survived his children, he also dies, but without fear and without regret.

Younger Andriy

Before giving the comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andria, you should tell about each character separately. Andrii was the youngest son of Taras, he is twenty years old, tall and strong. However, the old Cossack sees that the son is embarrassed, like a child, calls him a "mazunchik." He craves battle with the Tatars, quick-tempered, emotional, sensitive. He studied willingly, was skeptical and inventive. He also had a gentle, handsome face and longed for love.

It is not necessary to assert that he swept aside without hesitation to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was tormented, thinking about what to choose: a beloved woman who reciprocated, but demanded to give up her past, or her homeland, Zaporozhskaya Sich, brother and father. In the end, youth and passion took their, Andrii gave vent to feelings.

Senior Ostap

Ostap was the cardinal antithesis of his brother already in the seminary. He also had a mighty body, an outstanding physical strength and a healthy face. But he had a solid character, he is straightforward, attentive, observant, intelligent, cold-blooded, stubborn, honest. I did not want to study, I tried several times to escape from the seminary, and only the threat of my father not to let him on Sich forced him to graduate. Purposeful and sustained, Ostap appreciated the feeling of comradeship above all else and did not imagine his life without Cossack freedom, a war with the invaders.

The Cossacks immediately appreciated the character of Ostap and predicted a good fate for him. The writer compares the eldest son of Taras with a lion, who is able to be a chicken ataman. In the future, we see that Ostap has justified the trust of both his comrades and his father.

Comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andria

Inhabitants of the Sich fell in love with the sons of Bulba almost immediately. They were young and hot, eager to fight and not hiding from danger. However, their characters were fully revealed only during the tests. One of them honorably withstood them, and the other did what no one expected of him. How did the brothers behave after the event that changed their whole life? Ostap's attitude towards Andriy deteriorated sharply, and Taras himself gave the order to trap and released his son a bullet in the forehead.

He tried to save Ostap, he was going to buy out, but saw only the cruel execution of the eldest son, who bravely held himself under torture. Hardly restraining the pain of loss, the old Taras collects Cossacks on a campaign and cruelly avenges the Poles. Dying, he does not think about himself, but tells his comrades how to be saved. Thus, we see that the eldest son lived, and died, like his father, in the fight against the invaders. And the younger one threw everything away, choosing a beauty from the enemy camp.

Instead of an afterword

Comparative characteristics of Ostap and Andria help to look at history from the other side. After all, the feelings and experiences of the heroes of the story took place in life. Love and betrayal, friendship and devotion, rejection and cowardice go side by side. Ostap and Andriy are enemies not by their own will, but by the dictates of fate, although they were blacksmiths of their own lives.

And let the critics reproach Gogol, that he admired the Cossacks excessively, exaggerated his services, departed from real facts, drew the image of the brutish Polish gentry and greedy Jews, he really sincerely admired the spirit and body of the Cossacks of Zaporozhye.

The story is really complicated, full of contradictions and philosophy, joy and tragedy. And it is literally full of good phrases, witty expressions, folk wisdom. It is written in a melodic language, and through the lines is read the love of the native land. And with all his work the author tries to convey to his readers his conviction of a happy tomorrow, which will surely come.