The Bronze Horseman Analysis

The concept of freedom constantly rings throughout the texts of Alexander Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman and Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat. These stories are both key elements of Russian literature and Russian history. During 19th century Russia, there was a prominent distinction that many peasants and people of lower class didn’t have the rights that the bourgeoisie potentially possessed. There are also freedoms that do reign on the main characters of these pieces as they go along in their respective plots. Points of freedom resonate with the protagonists as well as a dissolution of freedom that is constantly referenced throughout the stories, respectively. Both of these pieces contain moments of limited and exuberated freedoms that are portrayed

Petersburg, a prosperous Russian port that was established by Peter the Great following the conclusion of the Great Northern War, where Russia obtained land from the falling Swedish Empire. This area was an opportunity for the Russians, as Peter saw a great city located on the Baltic Sea, with access available to the Atlantic Ocean and the rest of Europe. There was now a freedom to expand the empire and the power that Russia could and would soon possess. This piece of historical significance is referenced in introduction of The Bronze Horseman. Peter the Great is standing at the edge of the River Neva. The city was now free and able to reside on its own, with the people who inhibit the city given St. Petersburg different characteristics of a typical Russian city. Evgenii is the main character of this story who is witnessing the river become very vibrant and becoming rougher through the storm. “The river is tossing and turning like a sick man in his troubled bed” (2. 5-6). A sick man lying in his bed doesn’t have a lot of freedom by his side, just like the main character was about to experience. This storm will soon set a precept of the way the story goes and the violent nature that is occurring. Evgenii was in love with a women and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He thought