Class Conflict In “Poor Liza” and “The Station Master” Anonymous College

One of the distinguishing features of Russia in the 19th century was its rigid class hierarchy, which dominated all aspects of Russian life, but most importantly the way that those from different classes related to one another; the upper class viewed those under them as their natural inferiors. This is reflected in the literature of the era, specifically Karamzin's "Poor Liza", as well as Pushkin's "The Station Master". Each of these stories describes a powerful upper class man entering into a romance with a beautiful lower class woman and has much to reveal about class conflict.

In "Poor Liza", Karamzin describes the story of Liza, a naive young peasant who falls in love with Erast, an equally naive wealthy nobleman who views her as a representative of the Romantic ideals that he admires. Despite knowing that he and Liza could never actually marry due to their different stations in life, Erast still courts Liza, saying to himself "I am going to live with Liza as a brother with his sister". This wilful ignorance presents itself further when Liza gets betrothed to a local peasant, Erast begs her not to marry him, and ends up having sex with her; in Russia's mysoginstic society, this essentially ruins the marriageability of a...