The formidable Khan Giray sits in his palace, angry and sad. Why is Giray saddened, what is he thinking about? He does not think about the war with Russia, he is not afraid of the machinations of enemies, and his wives are faithful to him, they are guarded by a devoted and evil eunuch. The sad Giray goes to the abode of his wives, where the slaves sing a song in praise of the beautiful Zarema, the beauty of the harem. But Zarema herself, pale and sad, does not listen to praise and is sad because Girey has stopped loving her; he fell in love with young Maria, a recent inhabitant of the harem, who came here from her native Poland, where she was an adornment of her parents' house and an enviable bride for many rich nobles who were looking for her hand.

The Tatar hordes that rushed to Poland ravaged the house of Mary's father, and she herself became Giray's slave. In captivity, Mary withers and finds comfort only in prayer in front of the icon of the Blessed Virgin, in which an unquenchable lamp is burning. And even Giray himself spares her peace and does not disturb her loneliness.

The sweet Crimean night comes, the palace calms down, the harem sleeps, but only one of Giray's wives does not sleep. She gets up and sneaks past the sleeping eunuch. So she opens the door and finds herself in a room where a lamp is burning before the face of the Most Pure Virgin and unbroken silence reigns. Something long forgotten stirred in Zarema's chest. She sees the sleeping princess and kneels before her in supplication. Awakened Maria asks Zarema why she was here as a late guest. Zarema tells her his sad story. She does not remember how she ended up in Giray's palace, but she enjoyed his love undividedly until Maria appeared in the harem. Zarema begs Maria to return Giray's heart to her, his betrayal will kill her. She threatens Maria...

Having poured out her confessions, Zarema disappears, leaving Maria in confusion and in dreams of death, which is dearer to her than the fate of Giray's concubine.

Maria's wishes came true, and she died, but Giray did not return to Zarema. He left the palace and again indulged in the pleasures of war, but Giray cannot forget the beautiful Maria in battles. The harem is abandoned and forgotten by Girey, and Zarema is thrown into the abyss of water by the guards of the harem on the same night that Maria died.

Returning to Bakhchisaray after a disastrous raid on the villages of Russia, Giray erected a fountain in memory of Mary, which the young maidens of Taurida, having learned this sad legend, called the fountain of tears.

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Please note that the summary of the poem The Fountain of Bakhchisaray does not reflect the full picture of the events and characterization of the characters. We recommend you to read the full version of the poem.

The Crimean Khan Girey appears to readers at the beginning of the work, immersed in his love experiences. On the first pages of the poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai" Pushkin tells that the ruler and the commander who was successful in the past were no longer interested in the military affairs of his state. All the thoughts of the khan were at that moment occupied by the new concubine of the harem, who was captured by his army during the military campaign against Poland.

New inhabitant of the harem

The poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" by Pushkin, a summary of which is given in this article, continues with a description of the life of concubines in the Khan's palace. On the one hand, their existence is serene, and takes place in unhurried entertainment, which are games and swimming in the pool.

On the other hand, their fate is rather bleak, as the guardian of the harem, the eunuch, is constantly watching them. He eavesdrops on the conversations of women, in order to report everything suspicious to his master, the khan.

Even at night, he sometimes listens to what the concubines say in their sleep. About this hero of the work in the summary of the "Fountain of Bakhchisaray" it must be said that this is a devoted servant of the Crimean ruler. The words of the ruler are more important to him than the commandments given to him by his religion.

new harem star

Considering the summary of the "Fountain of Bakhchisaray", it should be said that the living conditions of the new concubine were strikingly different from those of other women. Maria, that was the name of this beloved ruler, was placed in a separate room. She was allowed to pray in front of the icons that were in her chambers. The eunuch had no access to her. Accordingly, the supervision of this resident of the Khan's palace was much softer than for the other wives of the ruler. In the poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray", a brief summary of which is given here, it is not for nothing that the description of the life of other concubines is given before the story of Mary's life in the Khan's palace. These parts of the work contrast with each other.

Biography of Mary

The author gives the following information about this heroine of the poem. She was the daughter of a Polish prince who was killed during the attack of the Crimean Tatars on her country. The girl spent her early years in her father's house, not knowing any worries. Her parent catered to every whim of his child. Now, having been captured, the Polish princess spent most of her time in fervent prayers. She only dreamed that her life would end as quickly as possible.

Khan's beloved wife

Zarema, that was the name of the woman whom the ruler favored more than all the others living in his harem. This proud Georgian woman at night, when the eunuch fell into a sound sleep, crept to the chambers of Mary. The door of the Khan's new concubine was open. Zarema entered the room and found the young Polish woman sleeping. In this episode of the poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray", a summary of which is presented in this article, some information about the life of Zarema before she got to the Khan's palace is given. The favorite wife of the ruler states these facts to the young girl herself when she wakes up. Zarema says that she clearly remembers her life in her homeland, the traditions and customs of her people.

But she completely forgot how she got into the Khan's palace. The Georgian woman says that since she found herself in the possessions of the Crimean ruler, her whole life has been completely devoted only to him.

He is the only reason for her existence. Therefore, Zarema fervently begged Maria to return her beloved man, who, from the moment the girl appeared in the harem, had forgotten his beloved wife. The Georgian woman ends this speech with a threat to deal with the new concubine with a dagger if she does not return the former Khan Giray to her.

The sad fate of Mary

At this time, tragic events occurred in his harem. Maria is killed by a jealous Zarema. Her fate was no easier than the fate of the poor girl. She was captured by the servants of the harem and drowned in a mountain river.

The end of the summary of the "Fountain of Bakhchisarai"

Returning home, Khan Girey erected a fountain in memory of his failed love. He was crowned with both a Muslim crescent and a Christian cross. This sculpture was dubbed by local girls as the "Fountain of Tears".

The afterword is the author's memoirs about his stay in the Crimea and his visit to the Khan's Palace.

According to him, during this excursion he constantly imagined a certain girl. Who she was, Zarema or Maria, he did not make out. The book ends with a picturesque description of the southern nature of Crimea. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin confesses his love for these places and local history.

In Bakhchisarai, the formidable Khan Girey is angry and sad. He drives away the servile yard. What occupies the thoughts of Khan Giray? Not trips to Russia and Poland, not bloody revenge, not fear of a conspiracy in the army, highlanders or Genoa, and not suspicions of treason in the harem.

Giray's wives do not know betrayal. They are like flowers behind the glass of a greenhouse, they live as if in a dungeon. They are surrounded by boredom, laziness. The days of wives are monotonous: they change clothes, play, talk or walk to the sound of water. So their life passes, love fades away.

Zhen is guarded vigilantly by an evil eunuch. He fulfills the will of the khan, never loving himself, endures ridicule and hatred. He does not believe in any tricks of a woman's temper.

The eunuch is always with their wives: both during their bathing, indifferent to their charms, and during the girls' sleep, he overhears their whispers.

Sad and thoughtful Giray goes to the harem. Wives at the fountain watch the fish, dropping gold earrings to the bottom. The concubines carry sherbet and sing a Tatar song: the most blessed is not the one who saw Mecca in old age, who died in battle on the banks of the Danube, but the one who cherishes Zarema.

Nothing is sweet for the Georgian Zarema: Girey has fallen out of love with her. There is no wife in the harem more beautiful than Zarema, more passionate, but Giray betrayed Zarema for the sake of the Polish Princess Maria.

Maria was the joy of her father, a beauty with a quiet disposition. Many sought her hand, but she fell in love with no one. The Tatars came to Poland like fire on a field, Maria's father was in the grave, and her daughter was in captivity.

In the palace of Bakhchisaray, Maria "weeps and is sad." For her, the khan softens the laws of the harem, the watchman of the royal wives does not enter her. Maria lives in seclusion with her concubine. In her dwelling, in front of the face of the Virgin Mary, a lampada burns day and night, the captive yearns for her homeland.

The magical oriental night has come. Everyone in the harem fell asleep, even the eunuch, although his sleep is disturbing. Only Zarema does not sleep. She walks past the sleeping eunuch into Mary's room. Lampada, kivot, cross awaken in her vague memories. Zarema is on her knees praying to the sleeping Maria. Maria wakes up and Zarema tells her his story. She does not remember how she got into the harem, but there she flourished, and the khan, returning from the war, chose her. Zarema was happy until Maria appeared. Zarema demands Giray to be given to her, threatening with a dagger.

Zarema leaves. Mary is in despair. She does not understand how one can dream of such a disgrace as being a captive wife. Mary dreams of death in the "desert of the world".

Mary soon died. Who knows what caused her death? Giray left his palace for the sake of the war, but his heart has not remained the same: he mourns for the deceased.

Among the forgotten wives of Giray there is no Zarema. She was drowned that night when the princess died: “Whatever the fault, The punishment was terrible!”

Returning with victories, the khan erected a fountain in memory of Mary. The water in it is constantly dripping, as if a mother is crying for her son who died in the war. The fountain of tears - that's what the maidens called it, having recognized the legend.

The lyrical hero visited Bakhchisarai. He examined the chambers, gardens, the cemetery of khans, fountains. Everywhere he was pursued by the shadow of the maiden, Mary or Zarema. This image reminded the lyrical hero of the one whom he yearns for in exile and whom he tries to forget.

The lyrical hero hopes for a speedy return to the magical Tauride region.

• "Fountain of Bakhchisaray", analysis of Pushkin's poem
• "The Captain's Daughter", a summary of the chapters of Pushkin's story
• "Boris Godunov", analysis of the tragedy by Alexander Pushkin
• "Gypsies", analysis of the poem by Alexander Pushkin
• "Cloud", analysis of the poem by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin

Darren Aronofsky's film "The Fountain" also belongs to the category of films that offer the viewer a certain myth, symbolically explaining the structure of the world as a whole and the place of a person in it.

The protagonist of the film goes from the denial of death and the desire to avoid it - to its acceptance.

The conflict that plays out on the screen can be understood as a conflict between two types of attitudes towards death: the main character understands death as a disease that needs to be overcome, and his wife understands death as a stage in life itself. But if we dig deeper, we will find more interesting things.

plot

Let's reveal the plot of the film and provide it with the necessary comments. Some of the plot details I got from a comic book that was originally written by Darren Aronofsky.

The protagonist, a scientist named Thomas Creo, is preoccupied with developing a cancer vaccine to cure his wife, Izzy. Izzy has come to terms with the fact that she will have to die, as she understands death as a moment of rebirth into a new life. She draws this confidence from a myth that is said to belong to the Mayan people. She tells Tom about Xibalba, the nebula around a dying star where the souls of the dead are reborn.

Izzy writes a book in which she describes in allegorical form what is happening to her and her husband. In the book, she portrays herself as Queen Isabella of Spain, a growing cancerous tumor as an Inquisitor robbing the queen of her lands, and her husband as a conquistador in her service.

The scientist Tom's desire to defeat cancer is shown in the book as the conquistador's desire to kill the Inquisitor. But the queen forbids him to do this and directs his energy to search for the Tree of Life.

The priest's story about the tree of life matches Izzy's story about Xibalba.

The queen, before releasing Thomas, takes a promise from him die for Spain, and she, in turn, promises him to become his Eve, after he finds the source of eternal life. She gives him a ring as collateral.

Here I want to draw your attention to the peculiarities of the relationship between Izzy and Tom. In the book, i.e. in Izzy's fantasy, she appears as the Queen, and her husband is in her service. The image of the queen, from a psychological point of view, is an expression of the Mother archetype. And as the Queen of Spain, Isabella personifies the motherland. Therefore, we can assume that Tom and Izzy as spouses are dominated by a mother-son relationship.

Let me explain what this means. The psyche of any adult man contains the archetypes of father, brother, husband and son, and the psyche of a woman contains paired archetypes of mother, sister, wife and daughter. These archetypes give rise to the corresponding subpersonalities, behavior patterns in both men and women. Thus, a man can treat a woman like a father to a daughter, like a brother to a sister, like a husband to a wife, and like a son to a mother. Whether or not he is actually related to her. The same can be said about a woman. With each specific person, one of these types of relationship will be predominant. If, as we said, a man treats his wife like a mother, this does not mean that she looks like his own mother, this means that in her presence he feels like a child.

Tom the scientist, instead of spending her last days with his wife, spends all his time in the laboratory, where he loses the ring. This episode makes us understand that he lost touch with Izzy because he went the wrong way.

Shortly before his death, Izzy tells Tom another part of his legend - about the First Father, whose death caused the world to arise, and about the continuation of the life of the dead in other living beings. She instructs Tom to finish the last, twelfth chapter of the book, which should describe the events that occurred after the conquistador finds the Tree of Life.

I would venture to guess that Izzy, resigned to death, actually knows what is going to happen there: Tom's death. But she can't write about it, because. Tom is not mentally ready for this yet.

After the death of his wife, Tom finds a way to prolong life and cure diseases. These wonderful properties were discovered by a certain tree from Central America.

Tom plants the seed of this tree on his wife's grave. The tree that grows from this seed becomes the reincarnation of Izzy for Tom, according to the story she once told him.

Tom eats from this tree, thanks to which his life is extended. But the tree itself can die over time, so Tom goes to Xibalba in the expectation that the energy of the star's explosion will revive the tree and they will be able to live on.

So, Monk Tom flies with the tree in the sphere towards Xibalba. This storyline follows Tom the Conquistador's path to the Tree of Life.

Our hypothesis that Izzy is Tom's symbolic mother here finds its next confirmation. The Izzy Tree is Tom's source of life, from which he feeds. And the source of life is the maternal aspect of the feminine. Therefore, psychologically, Tom is dependent on Izzy like a child from his mother, which means that we are faced with a situation where a man has not overcome his infantilism, has not broken away from his mother, and his beloved for him acts primarily as a mother.

Izzy appears to Tom in visions and demands to finish the book. But Tom stubbornly refuses to do this and continues to go his own way, i.e. wants to resurrect the tree from the star.

Tom is addicted to Izzy, but he's also trying to get away from her. And Izzy persuades him to die in order to absorb him and thus unite with him.

The tree dies before Tom can reach Xibalba. This parallels the episode where Izzy dies before Tom can find the cure.

Tom understands that he can no longer run away from death and agrees to accept it (because he no longer has the means to maintain life). He flies out of the sphere towards Xibalba and all further events form the content of the last, 12th chapter of Izzy's book.

The priest guarding the path to the Tree sees the future instead of the conquistador - he sees the First Father, who sacrificed himself for the birth of the world.

The conquistador goes to the Tree (This episode corresponds to the departure of Tom the Monk to Xibalba) and dies, becoming part of it. The ring that Tom lost 500 years ago is returned to him, a sign that he has reconnected with Izzy and is on the right track.

The star explodes and Tom dies, dissolving in a stream of energy that revives the tree again. That is, in the death of Tom the Conquistador and Tom the Monk, there is an unambiguous correspondence: both of them became part of the Tree of Life.

The revived tree becomes the new Tree of Life for the newly created world. Tom became the First Father, "Adam", who sacrificed himself to create the world, and Izzy became his "Eve".

Can we say that Tom and Izzy have achieved eternal life? Unlikely. They will live forever, but not as individuals, but as the nature that swallowed them up, forever dying and forever reborn in a new form. In The Fountain, eternal life is equated with eternal death.

The ending of the film cannot be explained without involving the doctrine of reincarnation. It is only from this point of view that the change in past events becomes understandable, when Izzy calls Tom for a walk, and he, as if remembering something (obviously from a past life), unexpectedly agrees, and thus, in this incarnation, he does “right” - those. quits research and stays with his wife.

conclusions

At the heart of our culture lies the myth of the hero's deed.

We are already accustomed to the fact that in any story the hero must fight the dragon (in one form or another) and get the treasure (or free the captive). Times change, but the essence of the story about the hero remains the same: the hero must get out of his comfort zone, overcome difficulties and become different, gain new experience.

The Fountain film does not live up to our expectations in this respect.

Does the hero of the movie fight a dragon? It seems to be fighting: Tom is trying to defeat illness and death, and even finds a cure. Yes, but no one needs his feat.

Does the hero find treasure? Tom reaches it: finds the Tree of Life, Xibalba. But the treasure absorbs it!

Does the hero rescue the captive? He would be glad to save her, but she herself does not want it! The prisoner voluntarily surrenders to the dragon, and, moreover, she encourages the hero to do the same! The hero courageously resists for 500 years while flying in space, but then still gives up.

What is wrong with this story? That the hero dies for the dragon's life.

The mythical ouroboros dragon, personifying the meaningless element of life, its endless self-generation and self-devouring, appears to Thomas either under the guise of a treasure, or under the guise of a captive who needs to be freed, and eventually absorbs him.

Ouroboros has both male and female features at the same time, since it generates itself and kills itself. Therefore, the ouroboros is a union of the archetypes of the Great Mother and Terrible Father.

The terrible father in the film is presented in the form of the Inquisitor. The image of the father usually symbolizes certain collective values. Therefore, Tom, saving his wife, must go against obsolete principles.

But in The Fountain, the main focus is on the hero's struggle with the Great Mother who absorbs him.

The great mother appears to Tom in the form of Izzy herself, or rather, in the form of Queen Isabella. She constantly calls Tom to connect with her, to dissolve in the boundless element of the feminine.

The feminine in relation to the masculine acts as instinctive and unconscious in relation to the spiritual and conscious. Tom's resistance, his "disbelief" in the myth that Izzy offers him, is the conscious resistance to being swallowed up by the unconscious. This is the desire for individuation, isolation, separation from the Great Mother.

Features of mythology

Pay attention to the detail that is now of paramount importance. In Mayan mythology, the universe is divided into three parts - the sky, the earth and the underworld, which is called Xibalba and translates as "a place of fear." In the Fontana myth, Xibalba is transferred to heaven and the hero allegedly makes a spiritual ascent.

But if we return everything to its place, then we will find the hidden meaning of this story. The hero does not ascend to heaven at all, but descends into the world of the dead, where he must fight the dragon and free the captive. This motif is repeated in many myths.

Parallels between the story of the Fountain and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which the Great Mother is represented in the form of Persephone, immediately become obvious. The only difference is that Orpheus managed to get out of the realm of the dead, although he did not manage to save his wife, and Thomas Creo remained in it.

An example of a more fortunate hero is found in the myth of Perseus, who succeeded in defeating the Great Mother in the form of the Gorgon Medusa and freeing Andromeda.

The myth of the hero

The myth of the hero in symbolic form contains the stages of the development of consciousness.

He shows how consciousness, "I", ego, is separated from the realm of unconscious instincts, which corresponds to the Great Mother archetype. The Great Mother is the element of unconscious natural life, which, on the one hand, gives rise to consciousness, and on the other hand, tries to absorb it.

The struggle of the hero with the dragon is the struggle for separation from the Great Mother, the struggle of the spiritual with the natural, the struggle of the individual for his independence. This struggle takes place both at the level of all mankind and in the personal development of each individual, when the child is psychologically separated from his parents.

Outcome

Not every culture and not every individual can do this. Fountain is a film about such a failed feat, about a defeated hero and an unsaved captive.

Crimean Khan Girey sits thoughtfully in his halls. He is tormented by some persistent thought. Giray goes to his harem, where his wives, changing their magnificent dresses, spend time under the supervision of eunuchs. The slaves of the harem sing a song in praise of the beloved wife of the khan, Zarema. But the beautiful Georgian Zarema herself is not happy with this song. She drooped her head like a palm tree crumpled by a thunderstorm, for Girey fell out of love with her for the sake of the Polish princess Maria recently brought to the harem.

Pushkin. Bakhchisarai fountain. audiobook

Maria grew up in her native country among girlish amusements, delighting her gray-haired father with her beauty at feasts among nobles and the rich. Crowds of nobles sought her hand. But the darkness of the Tatars poured into Poland from the Crimea and ruined the castle of Mary's father, who died fighting with them. She herself was taken to the Khan's palace in Bakhchisarai, where she now sheds inconsolable tears, remembering the happy days of the past. Mary's sorrow is so strong that Giray himself does not dare to break the seclusion of the captive who charmed him.

The night is coming. The Khan's capital Bakhchisaray falls into a dream in the middle of the southern bliss. Girey's palace also falls asleep. Only Zarema does not sleep. Rising quietly, she inaudibly passes by the dozing eunuch and goes to Mary. Kneeling before her, Zarema asks the young Polish woman to take pity on her. Zarema tells how she had long since become the Khan's favorite concubine, and since then both of them "breathed happiness in uninterrupted rapture." But Giray changed when Maria was brought to the harem. Zarema begs her to return her lover. Having reached a frenzy, she suddenly changes her tone and says that if Maria does not fulfill her request, then let her remember: in her Caucasian homeland, Zarema learned to wield a dagger!

Zarema leaves. Meek Mary does not know what to do. Pushkin speaks muffled about further events. He only mentions that Maria soon died suddenly, and on the night of her death, the guards of the palace, by order of the khan, drowned Zarema. Girey, in desperate anguish, led the Tatar hordes on a campaign in the Caucasus. Having saturated his revenge with murder and devastation, he returned to Tauris, where "in memory of the sorrowful Mary he erected a marble fountain" in a secluded corner of the palace. Here, never ceasing, the water murmurs. The young maidens of that country call the gloomy monument a fountain of tears.

Pushkin writes that he, many years after all this, visited the Bakhchisaray palace and fountain. The predatory Tatar khanate had already ceased to exist after joining Russia. There was no harem, no Girey. But the legend of the fountain made a strong impression on the poet. While wandering around the palace, he imagined the shadow of a maiden flying behind him, and he did not know who it was: the vengeful Zarema or the tender Maria...

On our website you can read the full text and analysis of the poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray".