Villain, victim and protector as rebellious neo-gothic heroes in "The fiery angel" by Valery Bryusov

The article reviews the system of characters in “The Fiery Angel” novel by Valery Bryusov as an example of a modernist game with a neo-gothic canon. The main characters of the novel combine the functions of different neo-gothic characters - the victim, the villain, the defender, which leads to the complication of both individual images and the entire artistic world of the novel. The paradox and unpredictability of Bryusov's heroes lies in the romantic and neo-romantic violation of the boundaries of the role, explained by the position of rebellion against social stereotypes.