Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, a poet and prose writer, is often compared to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Is this comparison a coincidence? Not at all, these two lights marked the golden age of Russian poetry with their creativity. Both of them were worried about the question: "Who are they: the heroes of our time?" A brief analysis, you must admit, will not be able to answer this conceptual question, in which the classics tried to thoroughly understand.

Unfortunately, the life of these talented people was cut short by a bullet early. Fate? Both of them were representatives of their time, divided into two parts: before and after. Besides, as you know, critics compare Pushkin's Onegin and Lermontov's Pechorin, presenting readers with a comparative analysis of the characters. "A Hero of Our Time", however, was written after

The image of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin

Analysis of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" clearly defines its main character, which forms the entire composition of the book. Mikhail Yuryevich portrayed in him an educated young nobleman of the post-Decembrist era - a person stricken by unbelief - who does not carry good in himself, does not believe in anything, his eyes do not burn with happiness. Fate carries Pechorin, like water an autumn leaf, along a disastrous trajectory. He stubbornly "chases ... life", looks for it "everywhere." However, his noble notion of honor is more likely associated with selfishness, but not with decency.

Pechorin would be glad to gain faith by going to the Caucasus - to fight. He has a natural spiritual strength. Belinsky, characterizing this hero, writes that he is no longer young, but he has not yet acquired a mature attitude towards life. He rushes from one adventure to another, painfully wanting to find an "inner core", but he does not succeed. There are always dramas going on around him, people are dying. And he rushes on like the Eternal Jew, Agasfer. If for Pushkin's the key word is "boredom", then for understanding the image of Lermontov's Pechorin the key word is "suffering".

Composition of the novel

Initially, the plot of the novel brings the author, an officer sent to serve in the Caucasus, together with a veteran who has passed and now a quartermaster Maksim Maksimovich. Wise with life, scorched in battles, this man, worthy of all respect, is the first, according to Lermontov's plan, to start analyzing the heroes. The hero of our time is his acquaintance. The author of the novel (on whose behalf the narration is being conducted), Maxim Maksimovich, tells the story of a "glorious fellow" twenty-five-year-old ensign Grigory Alekseevich Pechorin, a former colleague of the narrator. Bela's narrative follows first.

Pechorin, having resorted to the help of the brother of the highland princess Azamat, steals this girl from her father. Then she bored him, tempted in women. With Azamat, he pays off with the hot horse of the horseman Kazbich, who, angry, kills the poor girl. The scam develops into a tragedy.

Maksim Maksimovich, remembering the past, became agitated and handed over to his interlocutor the travel diary left by Pechorin. The following chapters of the novel represent individual episodes of Pechorin's life.

The novel "Taman" brings Pechorin together with smugglers: a flexible, like a cat, a girl, a pseudo-blind boy and a "smuggler" sailor Yanko. Lermontov presented here a romantic and artistically complete analysis of the heroes. "A Hero of Our Time" introduces us to a simple smuggling trade: Yanko crosses the sea with a load, and a girl sells beads, brocade, ribbons. Fearing that Gregory will reveal them to the police, the girl first tries to drown him, throwing him off the boat. But when she fails, she and Yanko swim away. The boy, on the other hand, remains beggarly without a livelihood.

The next fragment of the diary is the story "Princess Mary". Bored Pechorin is being treated after being wounded in Pyatigorsk. Here he is friends with the cadet Grushnitsky, Dr. Werner. Bored, Gregory finds the object of sympathy - Princess Mary. She is resting here with her mother - Princess Ligovskaya. But the unexpected happens - Pechorin's long-standing sympathy comes to Pyatigorsk, the married lady Vera, together with her aging husband. Vera and Gregory decide to meet on a date. They succeed in doing this, because, fortunately, the whole city is on the show of a visiting magician.

But the cadet Grushnitsky, wishing to compromise both Pechorin and Princess Mary, believing that it was she who would be on a date, is following the main character of the novel, having enlisted the company of a dragoon officer. Without catching anyone, the cadets and dragoons spread gossip. Pechorin "according to noble concepts" calls Grushnitsky to a duel, where he kills him by shooting the second.

Lermontov's analysis introduces us to pseudo-decency in the officer environment and frustrates Grushnitsky's dastardly plan. Initially, the pistol handed to Pechorin was unloaded. In addition, having chosen the condition - to shoot from six steps, the cadet was sure that he would shoot Grigory Alexandrovich. But excitement prevented him. By the way, Pechorin offered his opponent to save his life, but he began to demand a shot.

Verin's husband guesses what the matter is, and leaves Pyatigorsk with his wife. And Princess Ligovskaya blesses him to marry Mary, but Pechorin does not even think about marriage.

The action-packed novel "Fatalist" brings Pechorin together with Lieutenant Vulich in the company of other officers. He is confident in his luck and on a bet, fueled by a philosophical dispute and wine, plays "hussar roulette." Moreover, the pistol does not fire. However, Pechorin claims that he has already noticed the "sign of death" on the lieutenant's face. He really dies senselessly, returning to his post.

Output

Where did the Pechorins come from in 19th century Russia? Where has the idealism of youth gone?

The answer is simple. The 30s marked the era of fear, the era of suppression of all progressive III (political) gendarme police department. Born by the fear of Nicholas I of the possibility of a remake of the Decembrist uprising, it “reported on all matters”, was engaged in censorship, perlustration, and possessed the broadest powers.

Hopes for the development of the political system of society have become seditious. The dreamers were called "troublemakers." Active people aroused suspicion, meetings - repression. The time has come for denunciations and arrests. People began to be afraid to have friends, to trust them with their thoughts and dreams. They became individualists and, in the Pechorin style, painfully tried to gain faith in themselves.

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A person is always driven by the desire to know his destiny. Should you go with the flow or resist it? What position in society will be correct, should all actions comply with moral norms? These and similar questions often become the main ones for young people who actively comprehend the world and the human essence. Youthful maximalism requires clear answers to these problematic questions, but it is not always possible to give an answer.

It is about such a seeker of answers that M.Yu. Lermontov in his novel A Hero of Our Time. It should be noted that with writing prose, Mikhail Yuryevich was always on the "you" and his same position remained until the end of his life - all the novels in prose he started were never finished. Lermontov had the courage to bring the case with the "Hero" to a logical conclusion. This is probably why the composition, manner of presentation of material and style of narration look rather unusual against the background of other novels.

A Hero of Our Time is a work imbued with the spirit of the era. The characterization of Pechorin, the central figure of Mikhail Lermontov's novel, makes it possible to better understand the atmosphere of the 1830s, the time when the work was written. It is not for nothing that the “Hero of Our Time” is recognized by critics as the most mature and large-scale in the philosophical sense of Mikhail Lermontov's novels.

The historical context is of great importance for understanding the novel. In the 1830s, Russian history was reactive. In 1825, the Decembrist uprising took place, and the following years contributed to the development of a mood of loss. The Nikolaev reaction knocked many young people off track: young people did not know which vector of behavior and life to choose, how to make life meaningful.

This was the reason for the emergence of restless personalities, superfluous people.

The origin of Pechorin

Basically in the novel, one character is highlighted, which is the central character in the narrative. One gets the impression that this principle was rejected by Lermontov - based on the events told to the reader, the main character is Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin - a young man, an officer. However, the style of narration gives the right to doubt - the position in the text of Maxim Maksimovich is also quite weighty.

In fact, this is a delusion - Mikhail Yuryevich has repeatedly emphasized that in his novel the main character is Pechorin, this corresponds to the main purpose of the narrative - to tell about typical people of the generation, to point out their vices and mistakes.

Lermontov gives rather scant information about childhood, the conditions of upbringing and the influence of parents on the process of forming Pechorin's positions and preferences. Several fragments of his past life slightly open this veil - we learn that Grigory Alexandrovich was born in St. Petersburg. His parents, according to the existing order, tried to give their son a proper education, but the young Pechorin did not feel a burden to the sciences, they "quickly bored him" and he decided to devote himself to military service. Perhaps such an act is not connected with the arisen interest in military affairs, but with the special disposition of society towards military people. The uniform made it possible to brighten up even the most unattractive actions and character traits, because the military was already loved for what they are. In society, it was difficult to find representatives who did not have a military rank - military service was considered honorable and everyone wanted to “try on” honor and glory along with the uniform.

As it turned out, military affairs did not bring the proper satisfaction and Pechorin quickly became disillusioned with it. Grigory Alexandrovich was sent to the Caucasus, as he was involved in a duel. The events that happened to the young man in this area form the basis of Lermontov's novel.

Characteristics of the actions and deeds of Pechorin

The reader gets the first impressions of the main character of Lermontov's novel when he meets Maxim Maksimych. The man served with Pechorin in the Caucasus, in a fortress. It was the story of a girl named Bela. Pechorin acted badly with Bela: out of boredom, having fun, the young man stole a Circassian girl. Bela is a beauty, at first cold with Pechorin. Gradually, the young man kindles a flame of love for him in Bela's heart, but as soon as the Circassian woman fell in love with Pechorin, he immediately lost interest in her.

Pechorin destroys the fate of other people, makes others suffer, but remains indifferent to the consequences of his actions. Bela and the girl's father are killed. Pechorin remembers the girl, regrets Bela, the past echoes in the hero's soul with bitterness, but does not cause remorse in Pechorin. While Bela was alive, Grigory told his comrade that he still loved the girl, felt gratitude to her, but boredom remained the same, and it was boredom that decided everything.

An attempt to find satisfaction, happiness pushes the young man to experiments, which the hero puts on living people. Psychological games, meanwhile, turn out to be useless: the same emptiness remains in the hero's soul. The same motives accompany Pechorin's exposure of the "honest smugglers": the hero's act does not bring good results, only leaving the blind boy and old woman on the brink of survival.

The love of a wild Caucasian beauty or a noblewoman - it does not matter for Pechorin. The next time for the experiment, the hero chooses an aristocrat - Princess Mary. Handsome Gregory plays with a girl, causing Mary to love him in her soul, but after that he leaves the princess, breaking her heart.

The reader learns about the situation with Princess Mary and the smugglers from the diary that the main character started, wishing to understand himself. In the end, even the diary bothers Pechorin: any activity ends with boredom. Grigory Alexandrovich does not bring anything to the end, unable to endure the suffering from the loss of interest in the subject of his former passion. Pechorin's notes accumulate in a suitcase, which falls into the hands of Maksim Maksimych. The man experiences a strange affection for Pechorin, perceiving the young man as a friend. Maxim Maksimych keeps Grigory's notebooks and diaries, hoping to give the suitcase to a friend. But the young man is indifferent to fame, fame, Pechorin does not want to publish notes, so diaries turn out to be unnecessary waste paper. In this secular disinterest of Pechorin is the peculiarity and value of the hero of Lermontov.

Pechorin has one important feature - sincerity towards himself. The hero's actions evoke antipathy and even condemnation in the reader, but one thing needs to be recognized: Pechorin is open and honest, and a touch of vice comes from weak will and the inability to resist the influence of society.

Pechorin and Onegin

After the first publications of Lermontov's novel, both readers and literary critics began to compare Pechorin from Lermontov's novel and Onegin from Pushkin's work. Both heroes have in common similar character traits, certain actions. As the researchers note, both Pechorin and Onegin were named according to the same principle. The names of the heroes are based on the name of the river - Onega and Pechora, respectively. But the symbolism does not end there.

Pechora is a river in the northern part of Russia (the modern Komi Republic and the Nanets Autonomous Okrug), by its nature it is a typical mountain river. Onega is located in the modern Arkhangelsk region and is quieter. The nature of the flow has a relationship with the characters of the heroes named after them. Pechorin's life is full of doubts and active searches for his place in society, he, like a seething stream, sweeps away everything without a trace in his path. Onegin is deprived of such a scale of destructive power, complexity and inability to realize oneself cause in him a state of dull melancholy.

Byronism and the "extra man"

In order to holistically perceive the image of Pechorin, to understand his character, motives and actions, it is necessary to have knowledge about the Byronic and superfluous hero.

The first concept came to Russian literature from England. Dzh.Bynov in his poem "Childe-Harold's Pilgrimage" created a unique image endowed with the desire to actively search for their destiny, the characteristics of egocentrism, dissatisfaction and desire for change.

The second is a phenomenon that arose in Russian literature itself and denotes a person who was ahead of his time and therefore alien and incomprehensible to those around him. Or one who, based on his knowledge and understanding of everyday truths, is higher in the development of others and, as a result, he is not accepted by society. Such characters become the cause of suffering for female representatives who love them.

Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is a classic representative of romanticism, who combined the concepts of Byronism and the superfluous person. Despondency, boredom and spleen are the product of this combination.

Mikhail Lermontov considered the history of the life of an individual more interesting than the history of the people. Circumstances make Pechorin a "superfluous person". The hero is talented and intelligent, but the tragedy of Grigory Alexandrovich consists in the absence of a goal, in the inability to adapt himself, his talents to this world, in the general restlessness of the personality. In this, Pechorin's personality is an example of a typical decadent.

The strength of a young man is spent not on the search for a goal, not on the realization of oneself, but on adventure. Sometimes, literary critics compare the images of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Grigory Pechorin: Onegin is bored, and Pechorin is suffering.

After the Decembrists were exiled, progressive trends and tendencies also succumbed to persecution. For Pechorin, a progressive-minded person, this meant the onset of a period of stagnation. Onegin has every opportunity to take the side of the people's cause, but refrains from doing so. Pechorin, having a desire to reform society, is deprived of such an opportunity. The wealth of spiritual forces Grigory Alexandrovich ruins on trifles: he hurts the girls, Vera and Princess Mary suffer because of the hero, Bela dies ...

Pechorin was ruined by society and circumstances. The hero keeps a diary, where he notes that, as a child, he spoke only the truth, but the adults did not believe in the boy's words.

Then Gregory became disillusioned with life and former ideals: a lie took the place of truth. As a young man, Pechorin sincerely loved the world. Society laughed at him and this love - Gregory's kindness turned into malice.

The secular environment, literature quickly bored the hero. Hobbies were replaced by other passions. Only travel can save you from boredom and disappointment. Mikhail Lermontov unfolds on the pages of the novel the whole evolution of the personality of the protagonist: the characteristic of Pechorin is revealed to the reader by all the central episodes of the formation of the hero's personality.

The character of Grigory Alexandrovich is accompanied by actions, behavior, decisions that more fully reveal the personality traits of the character. Pechorin is also evaluated by other heroes of Lermontov's novel, for example, Maxim Maksimych, who notices the contradictory nature of Grigory. Pechorin is a strong, strong-bodied young man, but sometimes the hero is overcome by a strange physical weakness. Grigory Alexandrovich turned 30 years old, but the hero's face is full of childish features, and in appearance the hero is no more than 23 years old. The hero laughs, but at the same time sadness can be seen in Pechorin's eyes. The opinions about Pechorin, expressed by different characters in the novel, allow readers to look at the hero, respectively, from different positions.

The death of Pechorin expresses the idea of ​​Mikhail Lermontov: a person who has not found a goal remains superfluous, unnecessary for the environment. Such a person cannot serve for the good of mankind, does not represent value for society and the fatherland.

In A Hero of Our Time, the writer described the entire generation of his contemporaries - young people who have lost the purpose and meaning of life. Just as Hemingway's generation is considered lost, so Lermontov's generation is considered lost, superfluous, restless. These young people are prone to boredom, which turns into a vice in the context of the development of the local society.

Pechorin's appearance and age

At the time of the beginning of the story, Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin is 25 years old. He looks very good, well-groomed, so in some moments it seems that he is much younger than he really is. There was nothing unusual about his height and build: medium height, strong athletic build. He was a man with pleasant features. As the author notes, he had a "unique face", one that women are madly in love with. Light, naturally curly hair, a "slightly upturned" nose, snow-white teeth and a cute childish smile - all this complements his appearance.

His eyes, brown in color, seemed to live a separate life - they never laughed when their owner laughed. Lermontov names two reasons for this phenomenon - either we have an evil disposition in front of us, or in a state of deep depression. What kind of explanation (or both at once) are applicable to the hero Lermontov does not give a direct answer - the reader will have to analyze these facts themselves.

The expression on his face is also incapable of expressing any emotion. Pechorin does not restrain himself - he simply lacks the ability to empathize.

The heavy, unpleasant look finally smears this look.

As you can see, Grigory Alexandrovich looks like a porcelain doll - his cute face with childish features seems to be a frozen mask, and not the face of a real person.

Pechorin's clothes are always neat and clean - this is one of those principles that Grigory Alexandrovich follows impeccably - an aristocrat cannot be an untidy slob.

While in the Caucasus, Pechorin easily leaves his usual outfit in the closet and puts on the national male Circassian attire. Many people note that these clothes make him look like a true Kabardian - sometimes people belonging to this nationality do not look so impressive. Pechorin looks more like a Kabardin than the Kabardians themselves. But even in these clothes he is a dandy - the length of the fur, the decoration, the color and size of the clothes - everything was chosen with extraordinary care.

Characteristics of character traits

Pechorin is a classic representative of the aristocracy. He himself comes from a noble family, who received a decent upbringing and education (knows French, dances well). All his life he lived in abundance, this fact allowed him to start his journey of searching for his destiny and such an occupation that would not let him get bored.

At first, the attention given to him by women pleasantly flattered Grigory Alexandrovich, but soon he was able to study the types of behavior of all women and therefore communication with the ladies became boring and predictable for him. The impulses to create his own family are alien to him, and as soon as it comes to hints about a wedding, his ardor for the girl instantly disappears.

Pechorin is not assiduous - science and reading catch up with him even more than secular society, blues. A rare exception in this regard is provided by the works of Walter Scott.

When secular life became too painful for him, and travel, literary activity and science did not bring the desired result, Pechorin decides to start a military career. He, as is customary among the aristocracy, serves in the Petersburg Guard. But even here he does not stay long - participation in a duel dramatically changes his life - for this offense he is exiled to serve in the Caucasus.

If Pechorin were a hero of the folk epic, then the word "strange" would be his constant epithet. All heroes find in him something unusual, different from other people. This fact is not related to habits, mental or psychological development - here it is just about the ability to express your emotions, adhere to the same position - sometimes Grigory Aleksandrovich is very contradictory.

He likes to bring pain and suffering to others, he realizes this and understands that such behavior does not paint not only him specifically, but also any person. And yet he does not try to restrain himself. Pechorin, compares himself to a vampire - the realization that someone will spend the night in mental anguish is incredibly flattering to him.

Pechorin is persistent and stubborn, this creates many problems for him, because of this he often finds himself in not the most pleasant situations, but here courage and determination come to his rescue.

Grigory Aleksandrovich becomes the cause of the destruction of the life paths of many people. By his grace, the blind boy and the old woman remain abandoned to their fate (the episode with the smugglers), Vulich, Bella and her father die, Pechorin's friend dies in a duel at the hands of Pechorin himself, Azamat becomes a criminal. This list can still be replenished with many names of people whom the main character insulted, became a reason for resentment and depression. Does Pechorin know and understand the full severity of the consequences of his actions? Quite, but this fact does not bother him - he does not value his life either, not that the fate of other people.

Thus, the image of Pechorin is contradictory and ambiguous. On the one hand, one can easily find positive character traits in him, but on the other hand, callousness and selfishness confidently reduce all his positive achievements to nothing - Grigory Aleksandrovich destroys his own fate and the fate of the people around him with his recklessness. He is a destructive force that is difficult to resist.

Psychological portrait of Grigory Pechorin

The appeal to the appearance and habits of the hero helps Lermontov to represent the character traits of the character. For example, Pechorin is distinguished by a lazy and careless gait, but at the same time the hero's gestures do not mean that Pechorin is a secretive person. The young man's forehead was spoiled with wrinkles, and when Grigory Alexandrovich was sitting, the impression was created that the hero was tired. When Pechorin's lips laughed, his eyes remained motionless, sad.

Pechorin's fatigue manifested itself in the fact that the hero's passion did not linger for a long time in any object or person. Grigory Alexandrovich said that in life he is guided not by the dictates of the heart, but by the orders of the head. This is coldness, rationality, periodically interrupted by a short-term riot of feelings. Pechorin is characterized by a feature called fatality. The young man is not afraid to go to the wild boar, looking for adventure and risk, as if tempting fate.

The contradictions in Pechorin's characterization are manifested in the fact that with the courage described above, the hero is frightened by the slightest crackle of window shutters or the sound of rain. Pechorin is a fatalist, but at the same time convinced of the importance of human willpower. There is a certain predetermination in life, expressed at least in the fact that a person will not escape death, so why then are they afraid to die? In the end, Pechorin wants to help society, to be useful, saving people from a Cossack killer.

In the Russian classical literature of the "golden" and "silver" ages, characters stand out who deserve the honorary title - "heroes of our time." The image of Pechorin, masterfully depicted by M. Yu. Lermontov, is worthy of one of them.

Heroes of the time, who are they?

A national cultural tradition has become the creation, within the framework of a certain historical era, of a character expressing the most advanced thoughts and aspirations hovering in society. Only the most discerning talents, who caught the germs of the new in the midst of everyday life, could only portray such a thinking person, aimed at the future. The first creator of such an image was A.S. Pushkin. His Eugene Onegin - an aristocrat tired of social life, is gradually turning from a "man of society" into a real person. In contrast, Lermontov's hero, ensign Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin, appears already at the beginning of the novel as an established personality. And the entire content of the book comes down to a painful (throughout the entire narrative) search for your life path.

The uniqueness of the image of Pechorin

The characters of Pushkin and Lermontov, in their inner essence, are an expression of the self-consciousness of the most advanced part of Russian society - the educated aristocracy. They are undoubtedly the heroes of their time - the beginning of the 19th century. The image of Pechorin is much broader than what Lermontov himself put into him. He became the first protagonist of a psychological novel in Russian literature. Moreover, the creative method, first tested by Lermontov, found its continuation among the next generations of writers. FM Dostoevsky called the author of The Hero of Our Time his teacher.

Many literary critics correlate the image of Pechorin with the image of Lermontov himself. It is in this aspect that it is considered in this article.

Autobiographical traits embedded by Lermontov in the main character of the novel

Indeed, there are common biographical features between the author and the character: military service, participation in hostilities. By the way, colleagues spoke of Mikhail Yuryevich as a decisive and brave man in battle. In the battle on the Valerik River, which is 30 km from the modern city of Grozny, he, with the first ranks of brave men, stormed the battle formation of the naib Akhberdil Muhammad. Like his literary hero, Lermontov took part in the Caucasian War not of his own free will, but because of disgrace. Like Pechorin's, the death of the great Russian poet turned out to be absurd, accidental and timeless.

Why did Mikhail Yuryevich assert that it is the image of Pechorin that is the hero of our time? The answer is obvious. Real thinking individuals were uncomfortable during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, known for suppressing the Decembrist uprising, curtailing all freedoms and achieving the omnipotence of the gendarme apparatus. What else was going on in those days?

The logical order of the chapters of the novel

It was the tragedy of a whole generation of young people who wanted to "dedicate their souls to the Fatherland with beautiful impulses." Russia during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I lost its ideals. Painfully and tensely, on the pages of the novel, a young man who longs for freedom is looking for his relevance and does not find it. This is how the image of Pechorin appears before the reader. "A Hero of Our Time" is a novel that consistently reveals the evolution of the soul of the main character.

The work consists of five parts, which are not interconnected in chronological order. Each chapter is a separate story. Lermontov does not stoop to a banal statement, his task is an order of magnitude more difficult: he tells about the changes in the hero's inner world.

Chronologically, the sequence of events in which the image of Pechorin created by the classic is involved should be briefly described, starting with his military service in the Caucasus in a combat detachment.

Then the hero, being wounded, undergoes treatment in Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk. Here his duel with Grushnitsky takes place, which ended with the death of the latter.

As punishment, the disgraced officer is sent to serve in the fortress, where he meets an acquaintance from the service in the combat detachment of Staff Captain Maxim Maksimovich. From the Pechorin fortress, on business, he first finds himself in a Cossack village. Then he briefly travels to St. Petersburg, after which he follows to Persia through the Caucasus.

Returning to Russia from an overseas trip, the main character of the work dies.

The composition of the novel is such that the reader first gets to know Pechorin from the story of Maxim Maksimovich, who reveres him, and then from the diary of Grigory Alexandrovich himself.

Lermontov filled the image of Pechorin with the problems of his time with the utmost power. Briefly, his "frantic race for life", his attempts to change his destiny can be expressed by Shakespeare's "to be or not to be." After all, Pechorin is extremely sincere in his searches and is ready to sacrifice everything to achieve his goal.

Bela's story. Egocentrism of Pechorin

The logic of the evolution of the soul of Pechorin determined the chronological order of the parts included in the work. The novel begins with the story "Bela". The image of Pechorin appears in him as a youthful hot, real maximalist. "A Hero of Our Time" reveals to the reader an officer who despises secular conventions and wants to find real happiness in love with the free mountainous woman Bela.

However, unfortunately, what happened was just an outburst of passion. Bela soon bores the young man. He does not know how to be responsible for other people. He wants to be realized as a person only himself, while he treats people who meet on the path of life as a consumer, considering only his own interest to be the absolute dominant.

Therefore, leaving the bored mountain woman, he did not even think about the mortal danger that threatened the girl, according to the laws of those places, from the cruel Kazbich. Also, Lermontov's hero did not burden himself with reflections on the fate of the beauty's brother, Azamat, who had previously helped him steal Bela, and then forced to leave his family and become an outcast.

Neglecting friendship. The story "Maxim Maksimovich"

The image of Pechorin does not differ further in its spiritual warmth. “A Hero of Our Time” tells the story of the next part of the novel - “Maxim Maksimovich”, about how the frivolous and fixated on his problems Pechorin offends his friendly former colleague with inattention.

Despite the preliminary agreement, their meeting did not take place, to the latter's deepest disappointment. The image of Pechorin in this part of the story is distinguished by the lack of obligation and frivolity in relation to other people.

"Taman". Investigation romance

In the third part of the work, entitled "Taman", the author introduces to the reader another, matured protagonist.

Its activity is purposeful and obvious. Pechorin in the system of male images of Lermontov's work undoubtedly stands out among the officers. Despite the average height, he is strong, agile, energetic. There is charisma and a thirst for activity in him. He quickly finds his bearings and makes the right decisions. The hero of Lermontov, by the will of fate, settles in the house of the accomplices of the smugglers and soon reveals the scheme of their simple trade. However, the investigation does not bring him inner satisfaction.

Moreover, he sympathizes with the smugglers who are involved in this illegal fishing just to have a livelihood. The seaman Danko is charismatic, going for goods at sea on a fragile boat, and his loving young girlfriend is desperate. And yet this couple shows generosity, providing everything necessary for life for a blind boy and a helpless old woman. Frightened by the prospect of criminal liability, the criminals float away. The reader does not understand how the boy and the old woman will continue to live.

Gregory later even calls them honest smugglers and regrets that he voluntarily got involved in this private investigation.

"Princess Mary". Lermontov's utmost candor

Pechorin is distinguished by the acquired worldly experience and charisma in the system of male images of the story "Princess Mary". He finally forges a friendly relationship with Dr. Werner. They were brought together by common personal traits: discernment and skepticism, similar views of the selfishness of those around them, who are primarily occupied with their own personal interests.
In friendship, according to Gregory, both comrades should be equal, avoid domination.

At first, the hero became close to the cadet Grushnitsky, who later received the officer's rank. Their communication, however, did not develop into friendship. On the contrary, it ended in tragedy. Why did it happen? Let's try to answer.

Psychological self-portrait of Lermontov

Pechorin occupies a special place in the system of images created by Lermontov. Moreover, the author confesses to the whole world through the lips of this hero. If we discard the legend (life story) invented by the author, we get a subtle psychological self-portrait of Mikhail Yuryevich. The poet, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, was truly sincere only in a narrow circle of people who were close in spirit. Therefore, his hero, like the classic himself, is sincerely disappointed with the falsity and deceit of the majority of those around him. At first it seems to the reader that the cadet Grushnitsky is also not satisfied with the order prevailing in society. As a matter of fact, it was on the basis of reasoning about this annoying circumstance that the young man met Pechorin. However, the shrewd hero soon realizes that the life position of this young man is a solid posture, that this officer is mentally empty and fake. Gregory becomes offended, he does not accept hypocrisy and lies.

He decides to click on Grushnitsky's nose. His idea, however, is not entirely harmless. The hero, taking advantage of the cadet's predisposition to Princess Ligovskaya, himself meets her and takes the girl away from his former comrade. True, at the same time, Pechorin himself goes to the moral costs in relation to Princess Mary, because he falls in love with her, not wanting further development of relations.

Could Pechorin have foreseen that Grushnitsky, the obedient slave of the puppet notions of honor that reign in high society, would challenge him to a duel? Gregory did not want such an outcome of events. Moreover, he gave his counterpart the right to fire the first shot, thereby offering him an alternative to stop this madness. However, Grushnitsky fired. Pechorin had no options but to shoot in earnest. As a result, the cadet was killed.

Lermontov - hostage to the plot of his book?

How is the image of the hero invented by him connected with the fate of the author of the work? Pechorin can be easily compared with Lermontov, because in this episode he, as it were, anticipated the tragic death of his creator himself. The fatal duel in Pyatigorsk began with the instigation of the poet Martynov. Like his most beloved literary character, created earlier, Mikhail Yuryevich could not bear the falsity. Himself showing courage in battle, he could not stand Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov, who falsely pretended to be a hero in the company of ladies on vacation. Lermontov began to urge the retired major ... As you know, their duel ended in the death of the poet.

Let's return, however, to the story "Princess Mary". While building her composition, Lermontov generously endowed the image of Pechorin with the features of his own personality. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky wrote that it was in this work that for the first time in Russian literature was sounded an aching psychologism that took the soul.

Perhaps that is why the story was written by the author in the form of the diary entries of the hero, who is being treated “on the waters”.

Why does The Fatalist end the novel?

Disgraced after a lethal duel, the protagonist follows to Persia. On the way, he finds himself in a Cossack village, where he spends his leisure time in the officers' society for cards and wine. The military communicate with each other, recalling combat episodes. Ensign Pechorin, deeply disappointed in Russian society, but believing in fate, is hard to surprise with anything. However, such a case does occur.

Lieutenant Vulich finds himself in the same society with him, who does not believe in anything at all. Pechorin, having experience of fighting, with some kind of inner instinct determines that this officer will soon face death. Vulich does not believe in this and, trying to prove it, plays one round of "hussar roulette" with himself. A loaded pistol raised to his temple misfires. However, when all the officers disperse to the quarters, the returning Vulich is completely pointlessly killed by a drunken Cossack with a saber.

Is it a coincidence that the image of Pechorin in the novel is presented by the broadcaster? Contemporaries of the author of the book noted the deep mysticism of the latter. They mention the classic's heavy gaze: if Lermontov looked at a man's back, he would certainly turn around. He amused himself with this property of his. For this, society ladies hated him. It is a known fact: Mikhail Yuryevich, during his only meeting with Belinsky, influenced the critic so much that he, who had been ironic about him, began to support him everywhere and unconditionally. Psychics would call it a trance.

Mikhail was the last in the Lermontov family. All his closest ancestors died prematurely, and the death of the classic finally cut off the family tree. The poet's contemporaries also recalled the unusual storm that broke out in a calm sky after Martynov's fatal shot in Pyatigorsk. And 166 years later (in numerology this is the number of the universe), in the spring of 2007, lightning of another storm split and burned a pine tree growing at the site of the duel.

Psychologists note the ambivalence of Lermontov's personality (a paradoxical connection between angelic and demonic principles). His ideal is the former monk Mtsyri, who has thrown away humility and defeated the leopard. His Pushkin perishes with a thirst for revenge and being in pride ("drooping his proud head"), while the real one departs with humility, having taken Christian vows.

Grigory Pechorin, like Lermontov himself, is obsessed with pride. Although he did not pass the tests either by love or friendship, he achieved what prevails over human feelings. He could not change the world, but he changed himself. Fate was revealed to him. Further life search is meaningless, respectively, and the development of the novel's plot is predictable: the main character suddenly and illogically dies. Was Lermontov himself striving for such a fate? Who knows. They write that before the fatal duel he was surprisingly calm ...

Conclusion

Mikhail Yurievich in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" created a contradictory and vivid psychological image of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin. The classic endowed his beloved hero with his own creative spiritual makeup, restlessness, nihilism, rejection of lies and hypocrisy. Thanks to this idea of ​​the author, a new genre appeared in Russian literature - the psychological novel.

The peculiarity of all the classics is that their compositions often turn out to be deeper than the original intentions. Perhaps that is why more and more heroes of our time are trying to understand and comprehend the image of Pechorin.

And analysis] - a story about Pechorin, a representative of a whole generation of Russian people. [Cm. See also articles: Characteristics of Pechorin with quotes, Appearance of Pechorin, Description of Pechorin in the story "Maxim Maksimych".]

In another story, which is part of the "Hero of Our Time", "Bela" [see. its full text and a summary], Pechorin kidnaps the daughter of the Caucasian prince, the beautiful savage Bela and takes her to the fortress beyond the Terek. Bela is chaste and proud. Pechorin does not like her, but he is bored, and his resistance amuses him. As with Princess Mary, so with Bela, he makes an experiment: to conquer this self-willed and pure creature for himself. Only his means are now simpler: to defeat the poor savage, a rude affection, threats and gifts are enough. Bela is conquered: she loves passionately, forgetting honor, her native village, and free life. But the experiment is over, and Pechorin leaves her. Fortunately, the stray bullet of the highlander robber shortens her ruined life. Good captain Maksim Maksimych [see. The image of Maxim Maksimych], under whose command Pechorin serves, wanted to console him; he "raised his head and laughed." “I got a frost on my skin,” says Maksim Maksimych.

The stories "Taman" [see. full text and summary] and "Fatalist" [see. full text and summary] do not add anything new to the characteristics of Pechorin. The first describes his strange adventure with a smuggling girl who lured him into a boat and tried to drown him; the second tells the story of Lieutenant Vulich, who wished to experience the power of fate: he shoots himself with a pistol, and he misfires, but on the same night a drunken Cossack on the street kills him with a saber.

In the image of Pechorin, the Russian "disease of the century" was revealed by Lermontov in all its sinister depths. A strong personality, power-hungry and icy, strong-willed and inactive, reached the point of self-decomposition. The whole way has been covered. The romantic beautiful demon turned out to be debunked.

A short essay on literature on the theme "A Hero of Our Time: the Image of Grigory Pechorin in the Composition of the Novel" with quotations from the text for the 9th grade. Pechorin in the system of images: how does he compare with other characters?

A Hero of Our Time is one of the first Russian psychological novels. Appearing in print, he immediately made a public outcry. The main task of the novel is to reveal the soul of the protagonist, Grigory Pechorin, in relations with various personalities, in acute conflict situations. This is the reason for the special composition of the novel: it is not chronological accuracy that is important here, but the recognition of the character by the readers.

Grigory Pechorin is a Russian officer serving in the Caucasus. He represents the image of a "superfluous person": lonely, misunderstood, not finding his own way, and therefore unhappy.

The character is revealed gradually, his features are not on the surface. That is why at first we see the hero with “alien” eyes: his colleague Maksim Maksimych and the narrator-traveler, from the external image we pass to the secrets of the soul. Pechorin is not deprived of his appearance: he is not puppetly handsome, but interesting ("... he was generally very good-looking and had one of those original physiognomies that women of society especially like ..."), the facial features are correct. Everything - from hands to hair color - expresses the hero's thoroughbredness and aristocracy ("Despite the light color of his hair, his mustache and eyebrows were black - a sign of the breed in a person, just like the black mane and black tail of a white horse ..." and " ... his soiled gloves seemed to be deliberately sewn on his small aristocratic hand, and when he took off one glove, I was surprised at the thinness of his pale fingers ”). The eyes immediately reflect Pechorin's personality: they never laugh, they have a steel shine, an attentive, studying look.

In the presentation of Maxim Maksimych, the main character appears as a cold, calculating person who destroys other people's lives at his own whim. So he stole the beautiful Bela from his native aul, fell in love with himself, then she got bored, he began to neglect his previously beloved girl. As a result, Bela died, and Pechorin did not shed a single tear. Of course, we understand that the difference between the characters of the simple-hearted Maxim Maksimych and the restrained Pechorin, who suffered silently and deeply, plays a role here. After all, as we learn later, Bela was the last thread connecting the hero with the world, his last hope.

In "Pechorin's Journal" we are transported into the thoughts of the hero, we see everything through the prism of his perception. In "Taman" we see the adventurous beginning of Pechorin's character. His thirst for adventure and desire to overcome boredom overrides even his keen mind and observation, which is why he sets off with a mysterious girl, wittily named by him Undine, on a night walk. Pechorin almost dies, because he finds out that he got to the smugglers. The hero stirred up a nest of criminals, destroyed a long-term way of life. For the first time, the motive of fatality sounds.

"Princess Mary" is the most ambitious part of the novel. Several incarnations of the hero are shown here. Pechorin is a friend in relations with Dr. Werner (the protagonist does not believe in friendship, therefore he distances himself from Werner, despite his internally friendly attitude). Pechorin is a rival in a conflict with Grushnitsky (the protagonist values ​​honor, does not allow himself to be laughed at, he is immeasurably stronger and higher than the enemy, but also ruthless). Pechorin is a conqueror of hearts in a relationship with Princess Mary (he decided to seduce the girl in order to annoy Grushnitsky, amuses and laughs at her, soon imbued with sympathy for the heroine, but cannot lose his freedom and ruin Mary's life with his presence). Pechorin is passionately loving in relations with Vera (it is in front of her that he does not play a role, she knows and understands him for a long time, the loss of Vera is the main and most serious shock in the hero's life). In all his guises, Pechorin is an "ax of fate", he left a tragic mark in the life of every hero (and he cut off Grushnitsky's life altogether).

The Fatalist is the most philosophical chapter of the novel, in which the hero asks the eternal questions of fate, predestination, his place in the world. It is the latter that he does not find. His large-scale personality does not find real meaning in his entire life, he needs great accomplishments, and all around him is routine. Awareness of his own uselessness leads Pechorin to his own death in the future, he has no reason to live.

The protagonist of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" really reflected the era: this generation is lost, disappointed, its best representatives have died out, not finding their way. A personality like Pechorin is rare. He really charms and can lead him, his nobility, subtle mind, observation - these are the qualities that readers should learn.

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