SOLOMON (b. c. 990 BC - d. 933 BC) According to the Old Testament, the son of King David and the last king of the unified kingdom of Israel, who ruled from 965 to 928 BC . e. and built the famous First Temple in Jerusalem. The years of this man's reign were the period of the highest

MOGILEVSKY Solomon Grigorievich Born in 1885 in the family of a merchant. He studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. In 1904, he was arrested by the police for revolutionary activities. Released on bail, at the end of the same year he left for Geneva, where

A characteristic feature of the art of Russian classics is the fact that they not only give the reader new plots and stories, but also rethink ancient traditions and legends with him. The literary language, like the realities of life, is rapidly changing, and many myths seem to speak to us in a foreign dialect, although they were written by our ancestors. But they tell about the important and sore, therefore contemporary writers and poets try to convey to us the essence of the literature of past years in an accessible way, so that we understand its meaning and relevance. Alexander Kuprin made his outstanding contribution to this worthy of respect by writing the book Shulamith based on Old Testament parables.

Shulamith is the beloved of the wise and just King Solomon, the hero of many myths and legends. Legend has it that a girl, thanks to her meek disposition and good heart became the love of his life. However, the envious mistress of the ruler (by tradition he had a whole harem) sent her naive admirer to kill the happy couple. However, he managed only half to implement the insidious plan: the murderer killed only a woman who devotedly loved the king and shielded him with her body. Solomon took cruel revenge on the offenders and mourned his loss all his life. The description of Shulamith is preserved in myths:

A voice clear and pure, like this dewy morning, sings somewhere in the distance, behind the trees, ... and its unpretentious graceful charm evokes a quiet smile of tenderness in the eyes of the king;
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate under your curls;
Your eyes are deep, like the two lakes of Esevon at the gates of Batrabbim;
Your neck is straight and slender, like the tower of David!

Kuprin adds long red hair and a slender body to this portrait. By our standards, the heroine is still a child, she is 13 years old, but in those days it was enough to get married and even know the joy of motherhood.

Solomon himself is known for writing over 3,000 parables and 1,005 songs. “The word is a spark in the movement of the heart,” he said. The ruler also studied pagan books and teachings. Persecuted by death the sacrifice of children. “One breath for all… He who multiplies knowledge multiplies sorrow.” There were legends about "the inexhaustible power of the king's passion." His personal harem consisted of 700 wives, 300 concubines, not counting slaves and dancers. But, it is believed that, despite the abundance of beauties, Solomon loved only one single girl, the most simple and modest, of poor family- Shulamith. That is why Kuprin highlights her name against the background of the entire work and even puts it in the title in order to emphasize the importance of this image for the essence of the story. In this love story, all the poetic talent of A. I. Kuprin manifested itself. Portrait sketches filled with vivid and “tasty” comparisons will captivate the reader and transfer them to a very distant era (the action takes place in 480 after the exodus of Israel).

The characteristics of Solomon and his wisdom are given by the Bible. In the Old Testament, there is a beautiful parable about him about how two women came to the king to share a child. There was an error in the hospital. The child of one of them died, and the other is alive. Women began to argue, whose child is intact. To make the right decision, the king invited both to divide the baby in half. The first woman replied that it would be right and fair - “so don’t get it for anyone”, the second was numb in horror and asked to give the child to another, if only he was healthy. Thus, it became clear which of them is the true mother.

History of creation

The writer has been collecting material for his book for a long time. He rummaged through a bunch of ancient legends in order to realize not only the superficial, but also the allegorical meaning of the "Song of Songs" of King Shlom, an exquisite example of Jewish mythology. This is his main historical source. In a letter dated October 1, 1907 to Mr. Tikhonov, he writes:

Now I rummage through the Bible, Renan, Veselovsky and Pylyaev, because I am writing either a historical poem or a legend ... about the love of Solomon and Shulamith, the daughter of Nadavl, beautiful as Solomon's veils, like Kidar tents. What will come out is not visible, but a lot of bright passion, a naked body and other things are conceived.

Initially, the author planned to publish his work in St. Petersburg, in the anthology "Rosehip", but at the last moment he changed his mind and decided to publish the manuscript in the place where the one to whom "Shulamith" is dedicated worked. This is the writer and poet Ivan Bunin. Then he was the editor of the collections "Earth" - a series of Moscow literary almanacs. He was honored with initiation due to the fact that he himself was in Jerusalem and was also very fond of Old Testament mythology.

The story caused a sensation, many critics spoke out about it. Of course, their feelings were hurt by the subtle eroticism surrounding the sacred legend. The writer was not afraid of scandal and deliberately revealed the sensual side of love between a teenage girl and a 45-year-old man. Moralists and dogmatists fiercely attacked the seductive descriptions, but among the reviewers there were also those connoisseurs of art who defended the right of the artist to create without restrictions. For example, A. Vergezhinsky wrote:

Great impudence on the part of the artist to take the "Song of Songs" and tell it in his own words ... But A. Kuprin has the right to such impudence ...

Genre: short story or short story?

The author himself answered this question unambiguously, calling his creation a story. It is not surprising, because for a story the work is too voluminous and saturated with heroes, events, descriptions. The book could have claimed the title of a novel, but it fell short in terms of volume. However, the author did not intend to turn Shulamith into an epic giant on a grand scale. He had enough space within the story to realize his plan and convey his ideas to the reader. The excessive number of pages and the stretching of the story could only interfere with perception and vulgarize the subtext laid down by Kuprin.

What is this piece about?

Often King Solomon liked to retire to the vineyards. And one day, on one of these walks, he heard a girl singing. Tenderness and a smile caused her voice from the king. Appearance was to become singing. Red hair. Slender camp. Poppy flowers in hair, homemade berry necklace. This is exactly what Shulamith presents to the readers. Thanks to her sincerity, tenderness and purity, like a temple of the Parthenon, she conquered the wisest of the rulers.

One of Solomon's many wives, the Egyptian queen Hatis, passionately loved the king. Terrible and captivating rumors circulated about her: "Parents hid all the beautiful children from her eyes." Poisonous arrows of envy towards Shulamith pierced her wicked heart. Jealousy "vesuvius" kindled in the soul of Atis. Like Othello, she set out to kill the "object" of her suffering. Taking advantage of the love of Eliav (a young man who longed to be with the Egyptian queen), she convinced him to enter the palace at night and kill the happy couple.

On a tragic night, the king and his beloved admire the stars and talk about the transience of human existence: “Life is short, but time is endless, matter is immortal ... Darkness and darkness of those centuries pass, everything in the world repeats itself. We will repeat ourselves, my beloved. These will be the last words before Eliav pierces the girl with a sword. This night is the last in the life of the unfortunate young puppet. This is the essence of the story "Shulamith". Atys is waiting for exile, and Solomon - the eternal memory of his only love. In some places, this story resembles rather a tragedy with a “traditional Shakespearean ending”, but, in the aggregate, it has a special mood and a unique aftertaste. The lines that Solomon ordered to be written down after the loss of his beloved are included in the epigraph of the work:

Put me, like a seal, on your heart, like a seal, on your muscle: it is not strong, like death, love, cruel, like death, jealousy: its arrows are arrows of fire.

Main characters and their characteristics

Kuprin spared no time for a thorough description of the characters. For this, he studied such a number of ancient manuscripts. His characters are not only wise and virtuous, but also beautiful, seductive, desirable. As a master of style, the writer did not stint on lofty epithets and comparisons, therefore, in each of the following paragraphs, a separate place is given to the portrait of the characters.

1. Solomon- the son of King David, the third king of the Jews. The era of his reign is approximately 976-928 BC. e. This period of time is considered the period of the highest prosperity of the kingdom of Israel. His wisdom was legendary. One night God appeared to him in a dream and promised to fulfill any cherished desire. To this mercy, the king said: “Give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish what is good and what is evil.” The fame of its beauty spread for thousands of kilometers. Here description of Solomon, given by Kuprin: he is 45 years old, he has a pale face, his lips are a bright scarlet ribbon, wavy black hair, already in some places "gray hair shone, like the silver threads of mountain streams." Black beard and dark eyes "like the darkest agate". There was no person in the universe who could withstand his gaze: "Many women were ready to give their souls for just a smile." His hands are tender, white, like a girl's. It was believed that it was in his hands that a special energy was stored that healed headaches, convulsions, black melancholy and demonic possession. On his left hand, the king wore a gem of a blood-red asterisk, the inscription on which read: "ALL PASSES."
2. Shulamith- a beautiful slender red-haired maiden, corresponding to the canons of beauty of that time. She has delicate facial features, a deep passionate look, impeccable body proportions, which she erotically smears with myrrh, languishing in anticipation of passion. However, she was distinguished by timidity, and it was not even her appearance or sexuality that captivated the king. The characterization of the main character consists of her wise sayings, thought out beyond her years. In part, the girl does not fit into reality, she is so sublime and ideal, as if the ruler in love invented her. Her wisdom sometimes baffles the monarch himself. Inspired by poetic beauty, speeches are combined in her with the talent to love. Shulamith is really glad to deliver even the slightest pleasure to her patron. Happiness spreads like myrrh throughout her essence and captivates a man. She carefully prepares herself for a meeting with him. Her languor merges into anticipation of unearthly bliss. All this gamut of feelings is reflected in her gaze. Therefore, one can understand the one who loved her with all his heart, although he was fed up with female attention. The heroine is selfless, kind and sympathetic, in her the writer depicts true female virtue, the ideal of physical and spiritual beauty.
3. Hatis- Egyptian queen, wife of King Solomon. This is the antagonist Shulamith. A woman is vicious, her soul is saturated with malice and envy. Her passion for her husband is a manifestation of selfishness, because she is only embarrassed by the fact that he preferred someone else to her. Jealousy and pride do not allow her to come to terms with his choice. She shamelessly uses the love of an ardent young man to force him to kill a hated couple. Like Hermione and Medea, jealous heroines ancient Greek myths, Atis does not take into account moral principles and social laws, her anger overshadows the mind, and rage is mixed with love.
4. Eliav- A murderer hopelessly in love with an Egyptian queen. He agrees to sin out of desperation to captivate the heart of an autocratic proud beauty. However, he, like Orestes, is deceived. His tragedy is that he allowed his feelings to completely rule him.

Topic

• Love Theme in Kuprin's story "Shulamith" - the main one in the work. The author shows how much love is necessary for a person, how it helps him to live. Solomon was wise, ruled the country, but his outlet and favorite adviser was a 13-year-old girl. The sincerity of her feelings and the purity of her soul made her speeches no less meaningful and valuable than the parables of Solomon. However, the world-famous wisdom did not help the hero save his beloved: he did not foresee the envy that the favorite caused among wives and concubines. The tragedy is that love gives us the strength to live, but so often we don't have the strength to keep it from dying.
• Justice Theme. Of particular value to the story performed by Kuprin is the abundance of parables that the writer picked up for complete characteristics wisdom and generosity of Solomon. In them, the king shows true generosity towards his subjects. For example, here is one of the most famous parables: the brothers came to the king to share the inheritance. There were 3 brothers. Their father died. The issue of inheritance has become an edge. The prudent head of the family decided everything in advance. There is a hill behind the house, there, in a hole, a box with 3 compartments is buried. The upper compartment went to the eldest son - money. The second section was for the middle son, but there were only bones. The last box is for the younger one, the tree is his legacy. Angry middle and younger sons, appealed to Solomon in court. What was the decision of the king? “Your father was very wise. He bequeathed all his money to the elder, cattle and slaves to the middle one, and house and arable land to the younger one. The brothers reconciled, everyone was happy.
• The theme of immortality. Solomon and Shulamith, in their last moment of happiness, said that their feeling was imperishable. These words turned out to be prophecy. The girl died, but the memory of her remained to live in the heart and mind of her lover. Her feeling awakened in him new life, and he did many more glorious things, inspired by the time when they were together.
• Woe from Wit. Gaining experience, the king realized that wisdom brings him disappointment in people and the world around him. The mind mercilessly revealed to him the unsightly sides of the personality, the state, being, therefore, before meeting with his beloved, he suffered and was discouraged. Love healed the sage and gave him the strength to move on.
• Virtue. Shulamith captivated the king not with luxurious clothes and erotic forms, but with true spiritual riches, which became dearer to Solomon than glory and material values.

Problems

In the story "Shulamith" is concentrated mainly moral issues which reveals to people the true values ​​that can make a person happy. In contrast to them, Kuprin lists those vices that, on the contrary, prevent people from finding spiritual harmony.

• Envy. This vice causes a woman to despise her feelings and turn into anger. It was not love that spoke in her, but hatred. Atis did not achieve anything by her act, she only brought down the righteous punishment of the king on herself. She turned her happiness into nothing just so that others would not have it. In addition, she ruined the fate of a young man who was devoted to her. That is, indulgence in vice only worsened her situation, but did not help her in any way.
• Selfishness. Self-esteem Atis swelled from exorbitant self-admiration. The woman put herself above people, laws and feelings, therefore she encroached on the life of an innocent person, betrayed her beloved, sent a friend to death, and all because she imagined herself to be justice itself.
• Middle age crisis. Solomon's feelings before the fatal meeting with Shulamith can be understood by every person who has gone through disappointment associated with understanding the world around him, which comes in maturity. The world seems imperfect, people seem hypocritical, life seems meaningless. Wisdom and experience show all the gloomy colors of life, and satiety makes one doubt that the usual blessings are so important and pleasant. Only strong feeling can help such a person break out of melancholy and apathy.

Main thought

Other solutions are given in the work, as well as trials of Solomon's wisdom by the Queen of Sheba. This is the charm of Kuprin's text: in the interweaving of linguistic subtleties that immerse us at that time, in the presence of exceptional circumstances and places in the spirit of romanticism, in a selection of unusual parables and legends - and all this against the backdrop of a tragic love line. The main idea of ​​"Shulamith" is unhappy love, doomed to perish, but the same, the only one of its kind, resurrecting and transforming the soul. The heroine pulled Solomon out of the abyss of despondency and inspired him to search for joy in life, albeit imperfect under the prism of his wisdom. So the author teaches us that only a sincere, disinterested feeling helps our soul to see the true meaning of being and strive for virtue. The author discusses the exclusivity of strong emotions, their true value which many realize only after the loss. Solomon could not truly love anyone else, this was his first and last passion, which excited not only the flesh, but also the soul.

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“There are sixty queens and eighty concubines and maidens without number. But the only one is she, my dove...” “Song of Songs” by Solomon, ch. 6.8-10

Solomon, the tenth son of King David, was born in 1033 BC. Traditionally, he is considered the author of some books of the Tanakh, including the Song of Songs. This book is the 30th part of the Tanakh.

1 Kings states that Solomon composed 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). The name of Solomon is present not only in the title of the book, but is also repeatedly mentioned in the text. The narration is conducted, including on behalf of Solomon. The heroine of the book, the beauty Shulamith, directly addresses the hero by name.

Solomon ruled the Kingdom of Israel and Judah from 965-928. BC e. In the Tanakh, he is depicted as the greatest sage of all time, the hero of many legends. His name is translated into Russian as "peaceful", "blessed".

Already at the birth of Solomon, "the Lord loved him," and David appointed him heir to the throne, bypassing all the older sons. God, who appeared to the king in a dream and promised to fulfill his every desire, Solomon asks to grant him "an understanding heart to judge the people." And for the fact that he did not ask for any earthly blessings, God endows Solomon not only with wisdom, but also with unprecedented wealth and glory.

The throne of Solomon was decorated with golden lions, which came to life and subsequently did not allow any conqueror to sit on this throne. According to Jewish tradition, Solomon asked for the hand of Wisdom, the daughter of the King of Heaven, and received the whole world as a dowry. The wisdom of Solomon was sought by people, beasts and spirits. At the courts, Solomon read the thoughts of the litigants, and did not need witnesses. Animals, birds and fish appeared at the judgment of Solomon and did his will.

King Solomon owned a wonderful ring ("Solomon's seal"), with which he tamed the demons and subdued even their head Asmodeus. He later helped Solomon build the Temple. A fragment of the sacred stone from Orion was inserted into the frame of the ring.

The "Song of Songs" of King Solomon is essentially a hymn to the unity of the Human Principles. The book is built in the form of a dialogue between two loving hearts and reveals the meaning of this powerful creative force. It is interesting to note that the name Shulamith is female version the name of Solomon. Many modern names also have two options, for example: Valery and Valeria, Yan and Yana, Alexander and Alexandra, Eugene and Evgenia, etc.

The origins of such a polarity, of course, go back to the distant past, when a person was an androgynous whole, i.e. a person endowed with external signs of both sexes, combining both sexes, or devoid of any sexual characteristics.

Currently, the Song of Songs is most often interpreted as a collection of wedding songs without a single plot. However, it can also be interpreted as the love story of King Solomon and the girl Shulamith. This is a subtle lyrical opposition pure love Shulamith to the shepherd and the fate of women in the harem of King Solomon.

The main characters of "Song of Songs" - ordinary girl Shulamith and the wise Jewish King Solomon. The king is about forty-five years old. The fame of him, of his wisdom and beauty, of the splendor of his life, by this time had already spread far beyond the borders of the Israeli-Jewish kingdom.

Solomon is very rich and generous. So much so that silver in those days was valued no more than a simple stone. And for those who surrounded the king and took care of his peace, he spared nothing - the shields of five hundred of his bodyguards were covered with gold plates.

King Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and in addition, countless slaves and dancers. Among them were white-faced, and black-eyed, and tall, and stocky, and round, and slender - the king charmed everyone with his love.

The Almighty gave him such an inexhaustible power of passion, which ordinary people did not have. Well, in addition to all this, King Solomon shared his bed with the Queen of Sheba, the most beautiful and wise woman in the world. But most of all Solomon loved Shulamith, a poor girl who worked in his vineyards.

Tradition says that the king had marble skin, his lips were like a bright scarlet ribbon, his hair was black and wavy, and his hands were so tender, warm and beautiful that with one touch the king healed headaches, convulsions and black sadness.

The Lord of heaven made King Solomon able to understand the languages ​​of animals and birds. And more importantly, the king understood the essence of human actions, good and bad. That is why a great multitude of people came to him, asking for judgment, advice, help, resolution of the dispute. Such was King Solomon, and this is how the historians of those days described him.

Close to royal palace on the southern slope of the mountain was the royal vineyard. Solomon liked to retire there during the hours of great reflection. One day he was sitting alone on a simple wooden bench and was thinking about something that was only subject to his mind. Suddenly the tsar listened: somewhere nearby there was a sweet, clear and clear female voice, singing some kind of melody.

Soon a girl appeared before him. light tunic. Tying up the vines, she did not notice the king, and continued to sing charmingly. Meanwhile, her voice is increasingly mesmerizing Solomon. His ears enjoyed the singing of the girl.

Unexpectedly, the king stood up and said: “Charmer, show me your face!” The girl turned towards Solomon. Suddenly a gust of wind tightly covered her slender figure with a dress. And the king saw her all, as if naked under her clothes, all her beautiful and slender body, all her roundness and hollows.

The girl went up to the king and looked at him with delight. She saw how handsome and majestic he was, and froze with excitement. Solomon invited her to sit next to him on the bench and give her name. "Shulamith" - the girl answered. And then she added that she helps her brothers to protect and cultivate these royal vineyards.

And then the king of the Jews took Shulamith by the hand. A shiver of delight runs through her body. And when Solomon kissed the girl with a sweet kiss, she immediately realized that only he could be her lover, only he would she give her virginity.

Solomon introduced himself as the royal cook and arranges a date for the next night at the walls of Shulamith's house. On this day, Solomon was especially bright and joyful, and he did especially a lot of good when he sat on the throne in the courtroom.

Shulamith spent the whole day in voluptuous languor in anticipation of a nightly meeting with her lover. In the evening, she sold her only piece of jewelry to the jeweler - her festive earrings. With the proceeds, she bought myrrh (aromatic resin) from an incense seller.

Shulamith, a beautiful thirteen-year-old girl, wanted her body to smell of the sweetness of myrrh at the moment when her lover touched it. For a long time she lay on her bed, waiting, until she heard footsteps. When Shulamith looked out, there was no one near the house.

In fear and hope, the girl ran to the vineyards, where in the morning she met the one whom she managed to love with all her heart. When Sulomith ran to the vineyards, her happiness knew no bounds: Solomon was waiting for her and stretched out his hands to her.

Their lips merge in a kiss, and after a while the king asked: does she regret it? Shulamith, with a smile of embarrassment and happiness, answers him: “My brothers appointed me to guard the vineyard, but I did not save my vineyard”

That night, Solomon confesses to the girl that he is the king of the Jews. And in the morning Shulamith was brought to the palace. She was bathed in a pool of fragrant water, her beautiful body was dressed in the lightest Egyptian fabrics, and her hair was wrapped in pearls.

For seven days and six nights they enjoy love with each other. For seven days the face of the king illuminates joy. For seven days Solomoe showered his beloved Shulamith with jewels from head to toe. And at this time, in the temple of Isis, a great secret action is performed.

Once upon a time, the Mother of the gods, Isis, lost her husband, Osiris. The evil Seth stole it, hid it in a coffin, and then, when Isis found the body, he stole it again and, tearing it into fourteen parts, scattered it all over the world. Thirteen parts were found by the goddess Isis, except for one - the sacred phallus.

The priests lashed themselves with whips, tearing their skin and tearing their mouths in furious ecstasy, while one of them, a tall and thin old man, with a cry of delight, makes some kind of movement and throws a shapeless piece of meat at the feet of the goddess.

There is an instant silence. The sacrifice has been made. And Queen Astis, the high priestess of the temple, is planning a dirty deed at this time. Since the king cooled towards her, black hatred settled in her heart. And now, when she learned that the most beautiful Solomon spends days and nights with a certain Shulamith, Astiz conceived a black evil.

She called to her, the head of the royal guard Eliav. He has been passionate about her for a long time. And Astiz gives him a promise that she will give him her love if he kills Shulamith. Without a word, Eliav exits the temple.

He goes to Solomon's palace. There he hides at the door of the royal bedroom. But on this seventh night, Shulamith cannot fully surrender to her immeasurable all-absorbing feeling of love for Solomon. The fact is that the girl’s soul is gnawed by sadness. She confesses to her lover that she feels that her death is somewhere nearby.

Suddenly there is a rustle. Shulamith managed to jump up from the bed. But too late, she falls, pierced by the sword. Eliav runs away. However, King Solomon orders to seize him and kill him. On the same day, Solomon demands that Queen Astis be sent to Egypt, so as not to see her again in Judea. The king himself sits near the body of Sulamith until the deep evening shadows, and no one knows what thoughts visit him.