THE TRANSFIGURATION POWER OF PRAYER (POETIC NOVEL BY V. A. ZHUKOVSKY CAPTAIN BОPP, 1843)

Abstract

In his story V. A. Zhukovsky reviews the power of faith that can change people. A protagonist of the poetic story Bopp is the captain of the ship, an evil and depraved person, an off ender and a blasphemer, hated by his crew that are ready to kill him. The main character gets a possibility of salvation through the gospel of repentance and a prayer. Inner transfi guration occurred to the captain became possible due to his sophisticated internal spiritual work, the power of aspiration to God, his self refl ection and total devotion to God. This way is seen by the author as the only possible, but the main thing here is the fact that it is possible. The culmination of the story is the image of the crucified Christ that the captain sees. Since then the hero is not afraid to die, because it becomes clear that he has been forgiven. In the story, on the one hand, the death of a man is presented, but on the other hand it is not death that becomes important, but a new mind that enables the hero to fi nd peace. For Zhukovsky mortal (temporal) life is a time for preparation for eternal life. The story gives hope to everyone and admits the possibility of salvation.

Keywords

• story
• didactism
• confession
• prayer
• dialogue
• genre
• vision transfi guration