(328 words) The image of the captain’s daughter, which many classics wrote about, can traditionally evoke the following associations among readers: a windy and frivolous young woman, a mischievous, not devoid of coquetry, with pleasure using all the advantages of her position. But the main character of the work of A. S. Pushkin is not at all like that. She is not a daring character, she does not seek to please everyone and everyone.
She is only eighteen years old, she wears a smooth hairstyle. Mary has a round face and rosy cheeks. It is unlikely that any of the modern readers would choose her as a role model. Parents raised their daughter in severity, but always cared for her. Life in the Belogorsk fortress proceeded slowly. The captain and his wife Vasilisa Egorovna perceived the service as a second life. They were simple, warm-hearted, honest, and at the same time strong in spirit. Masha was mainly in the company of her parents. Being a girl of "marriageable age", she had no dowry. But the money was not decisive for her.
The captain’s daughter was distinguished by sensitivity, but at the same time endurance, strength of character. She could fight for her love. True, even Petrusha Grinev did not immediately discern an interesting person in Mary. Only later did he find out that she refused the enviable groom Alexei Shvabrin, because she did not want to enter into a marriage of convenience. Masha also had the courage to tell her lover about her feelings and restraint: since Grinev’s parents did not approve of their marriage, she tried to distance herself from him. Only when the family of Peter accepts Marya, lovers play a wedding. Before that, Masha was abducted by Shvabrin. How much did the poor girl have to endure! But she was not broken by the rude treatment of the failed groom. Moreover, having learned that her Petrusha is in danger, it would seem that the tender and reverent captain's daughter decides to go to the Empress herself!
It seems to me that Masha Mironova is a collective image of both a strong and vulnerable woman, who then were many in Russia. Yes, these ladies can lose their senses after firing a gun. But they can also show a steel will, inflexibility when it comes to the lives of their closest and dearest people. It is no accident that the empress listens to the supplicant with such sympathy. She sees that true love, the love of a woman, will overcome any obstacles.
