First Love: Analysis of Major Characters
"First Love: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complex relationships and emotional dynamics surrounding young Vladimir Petrovich Voldemar as he navigates his first love during a summer at his family's estate. At sixteen, Vladimir becomes infatuated with Zinaida, a twenty-one-year-old woman entangled in a tumultuous affair with his father, Piotr Vassilich Voldemar. This revelation shatters Vladimir's romantic ideals and forces him to confront the harsh realities of adult relationships, including his father's domineering nature and Zinaida's manipulative charm. The narrative juxtaposes the innocence of youthful love with the destructive passions of adulthood, as seen through the lens of the older Vladimir, who reflects on these events with a mix of sympathy and regret. Other key characters include Princess Zasyekin, Zinaida's materialistic mother; various suitors vying for Zinaida's affection, such as the athletic Victor Byelovzorov and the insincere Count Malevsky; and the intellectual Lushin, who attempts to resist Zinaida's allure. Together, these characters illustrate the themes of love, power, and disillusionment that permeate the novella, offering readers insights into the nature of first love and its lasting impact.
First Love: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ivan Turgenev
First published: Pervaya lyubov, 1860 (English translation, 1884)
Genre: Novella
Locale: Moscow, a summer home near the Neskutchny gardens, and St. Petersburg
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: 1833
Vladimir Petrovich Voldemar (vlah-DIH-mihr pehTROH-vihch VOL-deh-mahr), the romantic sixteen-year-old protagonist and the thoughtful forty-year-old narrator. The youthful Vladimir meets Zinaida during the summer of his sixteenth year while staying with his family at their summer home. He immediately becomes infatuated with her and tries to live this first love according to the dictates of the romantic novels he has read. He dreams of winning Zinaida's love with acts of heroism and idealizes the object of his affection. He eventually discovers that his father has become Zinaida's domineering lover. Disillusioned and confused by this revelation, particularly by the vision of his father reprimanding Zinaida with a riding crop as though she were an unruly mount, the young Vladimir cannot comprehend the brutal passion his father and Zinaida share. As the novella's narrator, the middle-aged Vladimir is able in retrospect to sympathize with the lawless lovers, but it is obvious that he has never experienced such love.
Piotr Vassilich Voldemar (pyohtr vah-SIH-lihch), Vladimir's dashing father and Zinaida's lover. Known for his skill at breaking horses, Piotr Vassilich is equally adept at managing people. A complete believer in the power of will, Piotr feels constrained neither by the responsibilities of family nor by conventional codes of behavior. Without his idealistic son's knowledge, he initiates a brutally passionate affair with Zinaida. His single-minded pursuit of passion eventually consumes him, and on his deathbed he warns Vladimir against its destructive power.
Princess Zasyekin (zah-SYEH-kihn), the impoverished and widowed mother of Zinaida. Ugly and vulgar, she is a materialistic and quarrelsome opposite of her daughter. Princess Zasyekin shamelessly tries to use her daughter's beauty to repair her own diminished wealth and social standing.
Zinaida Alexandrovna Zasyekin (zih-nah-IH-dah ah-lehkSAN-drov-nah), the beautiful twenty-one-year-old daughter of the impoverished Princess Zasyekin. Part saint and part temptress, Zinaida shares characteristics with both Vladimir and his father. Like Piotr, she is a willful character. She mercilessly uses her beauty to humiliate her numerous suitors and seems to enjoy exercising her power over them. Like Vladimir, she is a romantic, and she secretly yearns to give herself completely to a domineering man. This fantasy becomes incarnate in Piotr, who establishes her as his mistress. She eventually marries a man named Dolsky and dies in childbirth just before the middle-aged Vladimir decides to see her again.
Maria Nikolaevna Voldemar (MAH-ryah nih-koh-LAHyehv-nah), Vladimir's long-suffering mother. Meek and passive, Maria Nikolaevna is unsuccessful in her feeble attempts to control her husband's wanton behavior.
Victor Yegorich Byelovzorov (yeh-GOH-rihch byeh-lohZOH-rov), a dashing young hussar. Handsome and athletic, Byelovzorov is the most persistent of Zinaida's suitors, repeatedly proposing marriage and announcing his willingness to sacrifice his life in her honor.
Count Malevsky (mah-LEHV-skee), a handsome, clever, and insincere nobleman who courts Zinaida. The anonymous letter he writes to Maria Nikolaevna describing Piotr's infidelity results in the Voldemars' early departure from their summer home. It also reveals Malevsky's essential cowardice.
Lushin (LEW-shihn), a cynical and intellectual doctor. The least fawning of Zinaida's admirers, Lushin tries unsuccessfully to insulate himself from the humiliations to which she subjects all her suitors. More than the others, he understands Zinaida, but like the others, he ultimately is unable to resist her charms.
Meidanov (MAY-dah-nov), a poet. Another of Zinaida's suitors, Meidanov demonstrates his love by composing lengthy poems dedicated to her.