Folk heroes are a special category of persons and characters who are especially loved and popular among ordinary people, whose memory, as you know, provides them with immortal glory. They can be fictional, semi-legendary, as well as real historical figures, whose actions and lives become the object of folklore.
General characteristics
Folk heroes are outstanding personalities in all respects. On the one hand, they are recognized and honored for specific merits, on the other hand, there are those among them who have not done anything outstanding, but nevertheless entered the people's memory as carriers of certain national traits, which makes them especially recognizable. Therefore, many subconsciously perceive them as the embodiment of the spirit of any country or nation. Historical figures for their exploits for a long time become the main characters of folklore, songs, legends, legends. But it often happens the other way around: the characters of literary works turn out to be so colorful that they go beyond the limits of the artistic world and begin to live an independent life already as folk heroes.
Robin Hood
The identity of this person has not yet been established. According to the literary tradition laid down by W. Scott, thisa man lived in 12th century England, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart. However, most historians agree that he was born in the 14th century. The reason for his popularity is probably known to everyone: he took we alth from we althy people and gave it to the poor. According to legend, the famous Sherwood Forest was his place of residence, where the hero hid along with his "forest team".
Nothing is known for certain about his origin: according to some versions, Robin Hood was a simple peasant, some say about his noble roots, even the clan to which he could belong is called: Huntington. About the noble robber in his homeland there is a whole cycle of ballads, songs, legends. He repeatedly became the protagonist of works of art ("Ivanhoe"), his adventures were repeatedly filmed in different ways.
William Tell
Folk heroes are often semi-legendary personalities. Such, for example, is V. Tell, who, according to legend, was a simple peasant. He became famous for his exploits during the Austrian rule in the Swiss lands. Most likely, this person or his prototype came from the mountainous canton of Uri, whose inhabitants expressed especially violent dissatisfaction with foreign domination. The feat of this hero is that he refused to bow to the cap of the governor, which was hung in the main square. As a test, he was ordered to shoot an apple on his own son's head. He successfully passed this test, but later admittedthat if he had not hit, he would have killed the governor with the other hand. Subsequently, an armed confrontation began between the canton and the Austrians, as a result of which he defeated the enemy. This plot formed the basis of the opera of the same name by D. Rossini and the drama by F. Schiller.
Joan of Arc
The image of the national hero is preserved for a long time in the memory of several generations. Often they were historical figures. Joan of Arc is certainly one of the most famous and revered heroines. She came from a simple peasant family, and during the years of the Hundred Years War, the French troops under her command won a number of major victories. It is with her name that the memory of these distant events is associated. She was subsequently canonized.
Address of Siberia and commander
In our country, not only warriors, but also travelers often became characters in songs, legends, legends. Ermak Timofeevich, the conqueror of Siberia, is a vivid example of this. This man became famous for having mastered distant lands beyond the Urals, which earned him real fame. Indeed, in the 16th century, the annexation of such a vast territory was an important step in the formation and strengthening of the unified Russian state. His victories, successful campaigns and tragic death literally shocked his contemporaries, who passed on to their generation the love for the brave ataman. Ermak Timofeevich is famous not only for the development, but also for the annexation of the Trans-Ural lands. The conqueror of Siberia has firmly entered the people's memory. And this is thanks to the fact thathis travels became a real landmark event of his time.
Another historical person who has received universal recognition is Kutuzov, a folk hero who, like no other, enjoyed the love and respect of ordinary soldiers. He very subtly felt the mood of the Russian people during the war with Napoleon and, skillfully using it in battles, eventually led the army to victory.
Ivan Susanin
Some folk heroes of Russia are also historical figures. These include a simple peasant, who, according to some assumptions, was a serf of the Shestov nobles, or a clerk in their estate, or a headman. In the estate of these landowners, Mikhail Fedorovich took refuge for some time in the year of the Time of Troubles. When the Poles came to kill him, Susanin, with the help of his son-in-law, warned the future king of the danger, and he himself led the enemies into impassable terrain, for which he accepted a terrible death from them. This man is still known to every inhabitant of our country, his image inspired the composer M. Glinka to create the opera "A Life for the Tsar", which still does not leave the stage.
Miguel Hidalgo
Folk heroes from different countries are also known outside their homelands. The Mexican Catholic priest who called on the people to fight against Spanish rule is still known in history. At the beginning of the 19th century, he raised the rebels to fight. Despite the successful actions of the revolutionaries, he was arrested and shot in 1811. Howeverten years later, Mexico gained independence.
Giuseppe Garibaldi and Ulysses Grant
The first prominent politician of the Italian struggle for independence and unification became a kind of personification of the national struggle of the people. He participated in the battles against the Austrian authorities in the late 1840s, but the first stage of the uprising ended unsuccessfully. About a decade later, the confrontation resumed, and this time it ended with the unification of disparate Italian lands into a single state.
U. Grant is known as a talented commander and leader of the troops of the North during the Civil War in the states. He was a simple peasant, received a military education, but later led the rebel volunteer detachments in Illinois. Volunteers from the Missouri area began to flock to him. He is known for achieving his goal at any cost, sacrificing literally everything for victory and not taking into account the possible dire consequences of defeat. This tactic paid off and earned him immense popularity among Americans.
Epic heroes
These include persons who lived during the period of Ancient Russia. First of all, they include, of course, the famous heroes, defenders of Russian outposts, who defended the land from enemy invasions. The names of Ilya Muromets and his faithful comrades Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich are known to any schoolchild in our country. In addition to them, such a character as Nikita Kozhemyaka is also very popular. The peculiarity of the legends about him is that in themit is shown how this hero, even before the exploits, possessed heroic strength. According to the plot of fairy tales, he saved the princess by defeating the snake, and plowed a huge furrow on it, which went down in history under the name "Serpent Shafts".
Faces of war
A prominent place in this series is occupied by child heroes who, at a very young age, became famous for their exploits against the invaders. One of them is Valya Kotik, a partisan boy, who, probably, every Soviet schoolboy knew about. He was born in Ukraine and, as a schoolboy, took an active part in the partisan movement. At first he was connected, and then he participated in real battles. One of the most significant actions was to undermine the telephone cable that connected the local enemy units with Hitler's headquarters in the Polish capital. In addition, he participated in undermining enemy railway echelons. To him belongs the merit of saving the partisan detachment, when he sounded the alarm in time, so that the fighters were able to repulse the invaders. The boy was mortally wounded a year before the end of the war and was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Children-heroes entered the memory of the people due to the fact that they performed feats that seemed completely inappropriate for their young age. Lenya Golikov was born in the Novgorod region. At the beginning of the war, he immediately joined the partisan detachment. He became a brigade scout, participated in more than two dozen operations. The boy blew up enemy vehicles. Once, thanks to his actions, valuable plans for minefields were in the hands of the partisans,reports. He tragically died in 1943, when the detachment was surrounded, from which only six managed to escape. For his services, the young pioneer also received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
It often happened that literary characters became popular. Of the characters in children's works, Malchish-Kibalchish should be named first of all. He acted during the civil war. His image was created by the writer A. Gaidar so successfully that he gained great popularity among the people.
But perhaps the character of V. Tvardovsky's poem got the greatest fame. Vasily Terkin, a folk hero, turned out to be very convincing and believable, since the author wrote him off from a simple Russian soldier, which explains his popularity.
