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The Captain's Daughter
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Themes
The Struggle Between Duty and Personal Desire
A core conflict in The Captain’s Daughter is the struggle between duty and personal desire. This conflict is most closely associated with the protagonist Pyotr Grinyov as he matures and comes to terms with making his own way in the world. Pyotr vacillates between the pole of his duty as a captain in the Russian imperial army and his personal desire for the eponymous captain’s daughter, Maria Ivanovna, and the choices he makes shape his growth and development.
At the opening of the novella, Pyotr is only 16 years old and “determined to kick over the traces and show that I was no longer a child” (10). In this immature mindset, Pyotr recklessly pursues his personal desires regardless of the consequences. On his first night away from home, Pyotr drinks to excess and gambles away 100 rubles. He rudely upbraids his serf, Savelich, who initially refuses to pay the gambling debt. However, even in this early episode Pyotr experiences a moment of growth. While driving away from the inn, Pyotr realizes, “I could not help admitting that I had behaved foolishly at the Simbirsk inn, and I felt guilty before Savelich” (11). This is an indication that, despite youthful mistakes, Pyotr is open to reflection, growth, change, and accepting his personal responsibility, as shown in his apology to Savelich.
Upon meeting Maria Ivanovna, Pyotr acts similarly recklessly. His desire for her leads him into an ill-advised duel with his nemesis Shvabrin. In the moments before that duel, the “the old lieutenant” (28) Ivan Ignatich models dutiful behavior for Pyotr, reminding him that it is foolish to pursue his personal desires in this way and informing him that “the only part I can play in this business is to go to the commandant as my duty requires” (28). However, Pyotr fails to heed his warning, with calamitous results.
After this experience and when faced with Pugachov’s rebels, Pyotr resolves to fulfill his duty as a captain even if it means temporarily sacrificing his personal desire, Maria. In this way, he represents the honor and dignity in fulfilling his military duty as expressed by the captain: “[W]e must stand firm for our dear mother the Empress and show the whole world that we are brave men and true” (50). He reflects this belief when he refuses to recognize Pugachov as Czar Peter III. He writes that he “remember[s] the moment with pride—the sense of duty in me got the better of my human weakness” (60). This line confirms the novella’s overall treatment of the theme that equates personal desire with “human weakness.”
Ultimately, Pyotr succumbs to this “human weakness” when he deserts his post to rescue Maria. However, the results of this decision point to the complexity and nuance in how the struggle between personal desire and duty in The Captain’s Daughter is treated, in part because of how it intersects with Romantic Love as a Force of Salvation. Pyotr’s decision to pursue his personal desire and rescue Maria is rewarded by the narrative in that it reinforces their bond and he is able to marry the object of his desire. Later, however, he is punished for this decision in that it results in his arrest for going absent without leave. This arrest is particularly difficult for Pyotr’s father, who laments the “shame on our name!” (99) that results. This nuance suggests that regardless of which poles one chooses, the most honorable thing is to accept the consequences of that decision.
The Clash of Social Classes
The Captain’s Daughter is set during the Pugachov Rebellion of 1773-1775, a literal clash of social classes as the serfs and indigenous groups banded together under Pugachov’s leadership to revolt against the increasingly repressive regime of Catherine the Great. The monarchy and officer corps of the Russian imperial army was made up of noblemen like Pyotr who sat at the top of the Russian social hierarchy, treated the serfs like slaves, and may not have even spoken Russian, having been educated in French. This overarching social conflict is reflected in miniature in various interactions between the characters in the text of different social classes, most notably between Pyotr and Savelich and Pyotr and Pugachov.
Savelich is Pyotr’s father’s serf and head huntsman who essentially raised Pyotr from the age of five onward. During this period of his life, Pyotr socialized closely with the serfs. He notes, for example, he enjoyed “playing leapfrog with the sons of the house serfs” (5) as a child. This early socialization helped Pyotr cultivate empathy for the serfs, one which comes to bear as a young man. Pyotr comes into conflict with Savelich when Savelich refuses to pay Pyotr’s gambling debts. Savelich attempts to exercise his authority as an older man, stating “say what you will, master, but I shan’t give him the money” (9). Pyotr is able to override this objection by clarifying their relationship in bald terms: “I am your master, and you are my servant […] I advise you not to try to be clever but to do as you’re told” (9). However, after this interaction, Pyotr tempers his position, apologizes for his harshness toward his serf, and “promise[s] from then on not to spend so much as a kopek without his consent” (11). This moderating impulse reflects the liberalism of Pyotr—and, by extension, Alexander Pushkin—toward the serfs. While Pyotr feels the hierarchy of master and servant is natural, he nevertheless feels it is important to treat one’s servants well.
It is this nuanced, liberal view that leads to Pyotr’s varied reactions toward Pugachov. Pyotr rejects Pugachov’s demands that Pyotr humble himself to the rebel leader because it offends his sense of the natural order of things, that the nobleman, himself, is above the serf, Pugachov. Even under threat of death, Pyotr refuses to concede to this, writing, “I would have preferred the most terrible deaths to such a humiliation” (53). Nevertheless, Pyotr comes to cultivate admiration for Pugachov, which is a reflection of the empathy he has for the serfs. He tells Pugachov, “I trusted myself not only to his mercy but also to his readiness to help others” (80), and the two part as “friends.” Pyotr recognizes Pugachov’s good qualities even as his own lot as a nobleman is to fight against Pugachov and his rebels. Although Pugachov is ultimately punished by the narrative (and history) with execution for his rebellion, The Captain’s Daughter takes a largely compassionate stance toward the serfs and their strife. As the translator Robert Chandler writes in his Introduction, the work “allows us a glimpse of how life might be if we could learn to give and to forgive, if we could learn to enter one another’s worlds” (xvi).
Romantic Love as a Force of Salvation
The central love story in The Captain’s Daughter between Pyotr and Maria is used to illustrate the theme of romantic love as a force of salvation. The pair overcome obstacles—most notably class differences, a rival suitor, and legal proceedings—by affirming their love for one another. Their love leads to their salvation in the form of their freedom from captivity.
The first hurdle the pair have to overcome is their class differences. When Pyotr first meets Maria, Maria’s mother is blunt about their poverty. She states, “[W]hat does she have for a dowry? […] she’ll remain an old maid till kingdom come” (23). Pyotr, on the other hand, comes from a very wealthy family: His father “had 300 serfs” (23). (As translator Robert Chandler notes, “most landowners in European Russia owned fewer than sixty serfs” [119]). This discrepancy leads to Pyotr’s father’s immediate and harsh refusal to permit him to marry Maria. He writes, “not only have I no intention of giving you either my blessing or my consent, but I also intend to take you in hand and punish you for your pranks” (35). This leads to the temporary rupture of Maria and Pyotr’s relationship. This conflict is ultimately resolved when Pyotr’s parents realize “it was impossible to know [Maria] and not to love her” (98). This is a fairy-tale resolution to a highly idealized romantic relationship.
The couple’s love for one another leads them to save each other. This narrative structure is closely associated with the tropes of chivalric romance as described in the Analysis for Chapters 1-3. Pyotr imagines himself “as her knight” (50). When he learns that Maria is being held captive by the villainous Shvabrin, he immediately resolves to rescue her. He appeals to the German general for assistance, stating “the happiness of my whole life is at stake” (71) and protests that “I’d sooner die […] than yield her to Shvabrin” (72). He resolves to rescue her himself in a brave (or quixotic) quest. With Pugachov’s assistance, he succeeds and liberates Maria.
As a result of his decision to leave his post without leave, as well as his close association with Pugachov, Pyotr is arrested. When challenged by the committee to give an explanation of why he left his post, Pyotr declines to “lin[k] her name with base slanders” or “dra[g] her into a personal confrontation with the evil people who spread them” (97). As a result, he is sentenced to exile in Siberia. When Maria realizes what has occurred, she “never stop[s] thinking about what she could do to save me” (99). Maria then travels to the court to petition Empress Catherine the Great for clemency for Pyotr. The Empress is seemingly so moved by Maria and Pyotr’s devotion to one another that she grants Maria’s wish. Thus, Maria is instrumental to Pyotr’s liberation. Their mutual love and affection, and the actions they take to constantly reunite with one another, ultimately lead to their salvation.
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