St. Petersburg: The Myth and the City Explained in Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” and Gogol’s “Nevsky Prospect”

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St. Petersburg: The Myth and the City Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” and Gogol’s “Nevsky Prospect” allow a deeper view into the history and lifestyle of St. Petersburg. Both stories exhibit the ambivalence that exists in many aspects of St. Petersburg. “Nevsky Prospect” gives us a view of the city of St. Petersburg. The majority of the story takes place on Nevsky Prospect, which appears to be a central place in St. Petersburg. This location gives readers insight into the daily lives and different types of people of the city. Being the center of the commercial and cultural life of the city, it attracts people from different classes and countries. People from all walks of life convene there to go about their daily activities, and immigrants find themselves there for like reasons. A view of Nevsky Prospect becomes provides a window into a miniature version of St. Petersburg. The story opens with a larger picture of the life on Nevsky Prospect with all its richness and complexity. Then, in the second part, Gogol follows two characters who give readers insight into the detailed lives of the people who roam the city, enabling us to see the darkness behind the colorful picture painted in the first part. We experience the city in two ways: First as an onlooker, walking the streets and becoming familiar with the general city; then the view is shifted, and readers venture into its depths and watch how individuals lead their lives. In the opening the narrator gives a short summary of life on Nevsky Prospect, examining how life flows on Nevsky Prospect at different times of the day, the kinds of people who pass through at what time, how they dress depending on their professions and socio-economic statuses. This is the first way S... ... middle of paper ... ...s a gloomy place harboring mystery and misery. The main character, Evgeny, finds himself in the midst of a great flood. He was contemplating his future, his life with a woman named Parasha, when this flood interrupts his life. When it ceases, Evgeny makes his way through St. Petersburg finding vast amounts of destruction. Parasha’s home nowhere to be found, and people beginning to try and put the pieces back together. There is a great contrast between the grand city discussed in the introduction of the poem, and the ruin the strikes after the flood. As Evgeny begins to go mad, it raises questions of the meaning the poet is attempting to convey. Was he angered by the destruction of Russian traditions in the founding of the city of St. Petersburg, or was he in alignment with Peter the Great’s vision, seeing it as a necessary evil to advance Russia as a world power.

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