Image of the "Cursed Wanderer" in A. S. Pushkin’s “The Gypsies”

The article analyzes the image of the “cursed wanderer” Aleko in his typological connection with Byron’s Cain. Such common motives as lack of inner peace, exile to the desert, secret sorrow, infernal influence on the hero, etc. are revealed. Comparing the two characters, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that despite the common motives, the images of the “cursed wanderer” in the works of Byron and Pushkin are essentially different. Unlike the “ruler of minds,” the Russian writer not only refrains from romanticizing passions, but also celebrates truly Christian ideals. These ideals are embodied in the text largely through the images of the “bird of God” and the wounded crane, to which Aleko is likened. Based on the intertextual connections of “The Gypsies” with A. N. Radishchev’s fable “Cranes”, the author of the study concludes that the non-condemnation of the sinner is the principal lesson that Pushkin wanted to impart using the image of his “homeless wanderer.” Certain provisions from the 19th-century criticism, specifically, the assessments of Aleko by V. G. Belinsky and V. N. Olin, are reviewed and reconsidered. As a result, the author concludes that in “The Gypsies” Pushkin debunks the titanism of the Byronic hero, transforming it into a motif of suffering loneliness of a passionate persona. At the same time, the motif of peace, which the old gypsy, representing the author’s will, wishes for the hero, dominates in the poem about Aleko. Thus, Pushkin once again remained faithful to his lyre and “called for mercy to the fallen.”