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Vera Pavlovna Rosalskaya

by Yelena Skarupo from Voronezh

My heroine’s name is Vera Pavlovna Rosalskaya. She is the main character in a story “What to do?” written by Chernyshevsky. She is a very unusual woman for Russia in the middle of XIX century. She believed in love and she could love. She was kind and extra honest. She was ambitious, but not greedy; brave, but not careless.

Vera was a very intelligent and erudite person. Talented clever students, musicians, artists always were guests at her home. There was progressive youth of that time. They propagated early socialism. They were patriots and the future of our fatherland was an important matter for them.

Vera was the first person who created an unusual atelier, where all workers were like sisters: they lived and worked together, studying at the same time; they shared meals, money equally; they shared griefs and joys of life, helping each other. Vera was like an idol for those girls, most of which were from poor families or had difficulties. The atelier was a start in life for them, a path to independence. Vera never took money more than necessary, she was ready to give everything for needy people. She was independent and free in soul, without prejudices. She was crazy a little bit because of putting absolute trust into a “bright future”.

After creating the second atelier she decided to become a doctor. And she reached that! She became one of the first female doctors in St. Petersburg. Vera also was one of the first women, who put an end to corset wearing. These moves were very bold for that time.

I admire Vera. She was a successful businesswoman, sympathetic friend, careful wife and mother. Unfortunately, this is a made-up character. It’s a person I would like to speak to.

Page created on 12/23/2009 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 12/23/2009 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

What is to be done? - by Nikolai Chernyshevsky