How does Pechorin appear in the story of M. Grigory Pechorin from the novel M
In the novel "A Hero of Our Time" M.Yu. Lermontov created the image of his contemporary, "a portrait made up of the vices of the whole ... generation."
The protagonist of the novel is the nobleman Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin, the character is extremely complex and contradictory, further paradoxical. The inconsistency, "strangeness" of Pechorin is masterfully noticed already in the very portrait of the hero. “At first glance at his face, I would not have given him more than twenty-three years, although after that I was ready to give him thirty,” the narrator notes. He describes the strong physique of Pechorin and at the same time immediately notes the "nervous weakness" of his body. A strange contrast is provided by the childish smile of the hero and his cold, metallic look. Pechorin's eyes "did not laugh when he laughed ... This is a sign - either of an evil disposition, or of deep constant sadness," the narrator notes. The look of the hero seems impudent to the passing officer, producing "an unpleasant impression of an indiscreet question" and at the same time this look is "indifferently calm."
Maxim Maksimovich also mentions Pechorin’s “oddities”: “He was a nice guy, I dare to assure you; just a little weird. After all, for example, in the rain, in the cold all day hunting; everyone will be cold, tired - but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, the wind smells, he assures that he has caught a cold; the shutter will knock, he will shudder and turn pale; and with me he went to the boar one on one; it happened that you couldn’t get a word for whole hours, but as soon as you start talking, you’ll tear your tummies with laughter ... "
What is behind this "strangeness" of the hero? What is he really like? Let's try to analyze this character.
Pechorin is a Russian nobleman, one of those whose "youth has passed in the world." However, soon secular pleasures "disgusted" him. Science, reading books, self-education - all these activities also very quickly revealed their meaninglessness and uselessness in life. Pechorin realized that the position of a person in society, respect and honor are not determined by his true merits - education and virtue, but depend on wealth and connections. So, the ideal order of the world was violated in his mind at the very beginning of his life. This led to Pechorin's disappointment, his boredom, contempt for an aristocratic society.
Disappointment gave rise to aggression in him towards others. And all his positive qualities - courage, determination, willpower, determination, energy, activity, enterprise, insight and ability to understand people - the hero "turned into his opposite", using them "on the path of evil." I would especially like to dwell on one of the traits of Grigory Alexandrovich.
Pechorin is very active, energetic, in his soul there are "immense forces." But what does he use his energy for? He kidnaps Bela, kills Grushnitsky, starts a senseless, cruel affair with Princess Mary.
Moreover, Pechorin is well aware that he brings suffering to other people. He is inclined to explain his behavior by upbringing, social environment, "the originality of his divine nature", fate, which invariably led him to "the denouement of other people's dramas" - anything, but not a manifestation of his personal, free will. The hero seems to take no responsibility for his actions.
At the same time, he is always active, active, he consistently brings his plans to life. Critics have repeatedly noted a certain unity of Pechorin's behavior, the unity of introspection and action. Yes, and the hero himself refuses from blind faith in predestination in the story "The Fatalist".
Let's try to analyze the psychology and behavior of Pechorin, referring to his philosophy of life. Happiness for him is only satisfied ambition, “saturated pride”, the main passion is to subjugate the will of others. Grigory Alexandrovich's life is "boring and disgusting", he considers the feelings of others "only in relation to himself", as food that supports his spiritual strength. By themselves, these feelings do not bother him. “What do I care about human joys and misfortunes ...” - this is the leitmotif of the image of Pechorin.
The behavior of Lermontov's hero is based on egocentrism, which, according to D.N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, gave rise to excessive impressionability in Pechorin, emotionally painful susceptibility to all the phenomena of life, the actions of others. The researcher notices that Grigory Alexandrovich is not able to forget his past feelings, including the most bitter, joyless ones. They also own his soul, like real feelings. Hence in Pechorin the inability to forgive, the impossibility of an objective assessment of the situation.
However, it seems that the feelings of the hero are very selective in action. According to A.I. Revyakin, "Pechorin is not devoid of good impulses." At the evening at the Ligovskys, he took pity on Vera. During the last date with Mary, he feels compassion, ready to throw himself at her feet. During a duel with Grushnitsky, he is ready to forgive his enemy if he confesses his own meanness.
However, the good impulses of Grigory Alexandrovich always remain only "impulses". And Pechorin always brings his "villainy" to its logical conclusion: he kills Grushnitsky, destroys Bela, makes Princess Mary suffer. The hero's impulses for good remain only his personal feelings, which never turn into actions and about which other people actually know nothing.
The unity of thought and action is preserved in Pechorin's behavior only in relation to his "villainy" - here, apparently, there are no feelings of the hero (Pechorin is not a villain by nature), here he acts, guided only by reason, reason. And vice versa, we observe in the hero's mind a tragic gap between feeling and action. Where the mind is not present, Pechorin is "powerless" - the sphere of feelings is closed to him. This is what determines the hero's emotional immobility, his "petrification". Hence the impossibility of love for him, his failure in friendship. Hence, I think, the impossibility of repentance for Pechorin.
Belinsky believed that the spiritual image of Pechorin was disfigured by secular life, that he himself suffers from his unbelief, and “Pechorin’s soul is not stony soil, but the earth dried up from the heat of a fiery life: let suffering loosen it and irrigate the blessed rain, and it will grow out of itself lush, luxurious flowers of heavenly love ... ". However, the very "suffering" of Pechorin is precisely impossible for him. And this is the “spiritual impotence” of the hero.
Of course, one of the reasons for such a depiction of the image by the writer is a certain loyalty to the traditions of Lermontov romanticism. Pechorin is a romantic hero, opposed to the outside world. Hence his demonism and loneliness among people. As a romantic hero, Pechorin largely reflects the worldview of the poet himself, his gloomy moods, dreary thoughts, skepticism and sarcasm, and a secretive nature. It is characteristic that Pushkin's Onegin nevertheless acquires a fullness of feelings and a lively flow of life in love for Tatyana. Pechorin dies, returning from Persia. And this is the whole Lermontov.
The image of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time", written by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov in 1838-1840, is a completely new type of protagonist.
Who is Pechorin
The protagonist of the novel is a young man, a representative of high society.
Grigory Alexandrovich is educated and smart, bold, resolute, knows how to impress, especially on ladies, and ... is tired of life.
A rich and not the happiest life experience leads him to disappointment and loss of interest in anything.
Everything in life becomes boring to the hero: earthly pleasures, high society, love of beauties, science - everything, in his opinion, happens according to the same patterns, monotonous and empty.
The hero is definitely a skeptic, but it cannot be said that feelings are alien to him. Grigory Alexandrovich has arrogance and pride (although he is self-critical), he has affection for his only comrade, Dr. Werner, and he also enjoys manipulating people and their suffering as a result.
For everyone around the hero is incomprehensible, and therefore he is often called strange. Pechorin repeatedly confirms the inconsistency of his character.
This inconsistency is born from the struggle of the mind and feelings within him, the most striking example of which is his love for the Faith, which Gregory realizes too late. So, let's look at this hero in action through a brief description of the chapters.
Characteristics of Pechorin by chapters in the novel
In the first chapter of Bel, the story is told on behalf of Pechorin's old friend, officer Maxim Maksimych.
In this part, the hero manifests himself as an immoral person who plays with the fate of others. Pechorin seduces and kidnaps the daughter of a local prince, simultaneously stealing a horse from Kazbich, who is in love with her.
After some time, Bela gets bored with Pechorin, the young man breaks the girl's heart. At the end of the chapter, Kazbich kills her out of revenge, and Azamat, who helps Pechorin in crimes, is forever expelled from the family. Grigory Alexandrovich himself only continues his journey, not feeling guilty for what happened.
The narration of the subsequent chapter "Maxim Maksimych" is led by a certain staff captain. Being familiar with Maxim Maksimych, the narrator accidentally witnesses his meeting with Pechorin. And again the hero shows his indifference: the young man is completely cold towards his old comrade, whom he has not seen for many years.
"Taman" is the third story in the novel, which is already a note in the diary of Pechorin himself. In it, by the will of fate, a young man becomes a witness to smuggling activities. The girl involved in the crime flirted with Pechorin to "remove" him.
In the episode of the attempt to drown Pechorin, we see his desperate struggle for life, which is still dear to him. However, in this chapter, the hero is still indifferent to people and their destinies, which this time are spoiled by his involuntary intervention.
In the chapter "Princess Mary" the main character is revealed in more detail and versatile. We see such qualities as deceit and prudence in building plans to seduce Princess Mary and a duel with Grushnitsky.
Pechorin plays with their lives for his own pleasure, breaking them: Mary remains an unhappy girl with a broken heart, and Grushnitsky dies in a duel.
Gregory is cold towards all people in this secular society, except for his old acquaintance Vera.
Once they had a fleeting romance, but when they meet again, their feelings take on a second life. Gregory and Vera meet secretly, but her husband, having learned about the presence of a lover, decides to take her away from the city. This event makes the young man realize that Vera is the love of his life.
Gregory rushes after him, but it turns out to be too late. In this episode, the main character is revealed from a completely new side: no matter how cold and cynical the young man is, he is also a person, even this strong feeling cannot bypass him.
In the last part of the Fatalist, the hero is shown to have lost the slightest interest in life and even seek his own death. In the episode of the dispute with the Cossacks over the cards, the reader sees a certain mystical connection between Pechorin and fate: Grigory had foreseen events in people's lives before, but this time he foresaw the death of Lieutenant Vulich.
There is a certain impression that the young man has already known everything in this life, which he now does not feel sorry for. Gregory pronounces the following words about himself: “And maybe I will die tomorrow! ... and there will not be a single creature left on earth who would understand me perfectly.
Description of Pechorin's appearance
Grigory Alexandrovich has a rather attractive appearance. The hero has a slender, strong physique with an average height.
Gregory has blond hair, delicate pale aristocratic skin, but a dark mustache and eyebrows. The young man dressed in fashion, looked well-groomed, but walked carelessly and lazily.
Of the many quotes describing his appearance, the most expressive is about his eyes, which “did not laugh when he laughed!<…>This is a sign - or an evil disposition, or a deep constant sadness.
His gaze always remained calm, only sometimes expressing a certain challenge, impudence.
How old is Pechorin
At the time of the action in the chapter "Princess Mary" he is about twenty-five years old. Gregory dies at the age of about thirty years, that is, still young.
The origin and social status of Pechorin
The main character of the novel is of noble origin, was born and raised in St. Petersburg.
Throughout his life, Gregory belonged to the upper strata of society, since he was a hereditary wealthy landowner.
Throughout the work, the reader can observe that the hero is a soldier and bears the military rank of ensign.
Pechorin's childhood
Having learned about the childhood of the protagonist, his life path becomes clear. As a little boy, the best aspirations of his soul were suppressed in him: firstly, this was required by an aristocratic upbringing, and secondly, they did not understand him, the hero was lonely from childhood.
More details about how the evolution of a kind boy into an immoral social unit took place is shown in the table with a quote from Pechorin himself:
Pechorin's upbringing
Grigory Alexandrovich received an exclusively secular upbringing.
The young man speaks fluent French, dances, knows how to stay in society, but he has not read many books, and he will soon get tired of the world.
Parents did not play a big role in his life.
In his youth, the hero went into all serious trouble: he spent a lot of money on entertainment and pleasure, but this disappointed him.
Education Pechorin
Little is known about the education of the protagonist of the novel. The reader is given to understand that he was fond of the sciences for some time, but he also lost interest in them, they do not bring happiness. After that, Gregory took up military affairs, which were popular in society, which also soon bored him.
The death of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time"
The reader learns about the death of the hero from the preface to his diary. The cause of death remains undisclosed. It is only known that this happened to him on the way from Persia, when he was about thirty years old.
Conclusion
In this work, we briefly examined the image of the main character of the novel "A Hero of Our Time". The character and attitude to the life of the hero remain incomprehensible to the reader until the episode when Pechorin talks about his childhood.
The reason that the hero became a "moral cripple" is education, the damage from which affected not only his life, but also the fate of the people whom he hurt.
However, no matter how hard-hearted a person is, he cannot escape true love. Unfortunately, Pechorin realizes it too late. This disappointment turns into the loss of the last hope for a normal life and the happiness of the hero.
The image was created by M. Yu. Lermontov to show the loss of moral guidelines of the generation of the 30s of the nineteenth century.
Pechorin is an ambiguous personality
The image of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov is an ambiguous image. It cannot be called positive, but it is not negative either. Many of his actions are worthy of condemnation, but it is also important to understand the motives of his behavior before making an assessment. The author called Pechorin a hero of his time, not because he recommended to be equal to him, and not because he wanted to ridicule him. He simply showed a portrait of a typical representative of that generation - an "extra person" - so that everyone could see what the social structure that disfigures the personality leads to.
Qualities of Pechorin
Knowledge of people
Can such a quality of Pechorin as an understanding of the psychology of people, the motives of their actions, be called bad? Another thing is that he uses it for other purposes. Instead of doing good, helping others, he plays with them, and these games, as a rule, end tragically. This was the end of the story with the mountain girl Bela, whom Pechorin persuaded her brother to steal. Having achieved the love of a freedom-loving girl, he lost interest in her, and soon Bela fell victim to the vengeful Kazbich.
Playing with Princess Mary also did not lead to anything good. Pechorin's intervention in her relationship with Grushnitsky resulted in a broken heart of the princess and death in a duel by Grushnitsky.
Ability to analyze
Pechorin demonstrates a brilliant ability to analyze in a conversation with Dr. Werner (chapter "Princess Mary"). He absolutely logically calculates that Princess Ligovskaya was interested in him, and not her daughter Mary. “You have a great gift for thinking,” Werner notes. However, this gift again does not find a worthy application. Pechorin, perhaps, could make scientific discoveries, but he was disappointed in the study of sciences, because he saw that no one needed knowledge in his society.
Independence from the opinions of others
The description of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" gives many a reason to accuse him of spiritual callousness. It would seem that he acted badly towards his old friend Maxim Maksimych. Upon learning that his colleague, with whom they ate more than one pood of salt together, stopped in the same city, Pechorin did not rush to meet him. Maksim Maksimych was very upset and offended by him. However, Pechorin is to blame, in fact, only for not living up to the old man's expectations. "Am I not the same?" - he reminded, nevertheless embracing Maxim Maksimych in a friendly way. Indeed, Pechorin never tries to portray himself as someone he is not, just to please others. He prefers to be rather than seem, always honest in the manifestation of his feelings, and from this point of view, his behavior deserves all approval. He also does not care what others say about him - Pechorin always does as he sees fit. In modern conditions, such qualities would be invaluable and would help him quickly achieve his goal, to fully realize himself.
Bravery
Courage and fearlessness are character traits due to which one could say “Pechorin is the hero of our time” without any ambiguity. They also appear on the hunt (Maxim Maksimych witnessed how Pechorin “went on a boar one on one”), and in a duel (he was not afraid to shoot with Grushnitsky on conditions that were obviously losing for him), and in a situation where it was necessary to pacify the raging drunken Cossack (chapter "Fatalist"). “... nothing will happen worse than death - and you can’t escape death,” Pechorin believes, and this conviction allows him to move forward more boldly. However, even the mortal danger that he faced daily in the Caucasian War did not help him cope with boredom: he quickly got used to the buzz of Chechen bullets. Obviously, military service was not his vocation, and therefore Pechorin's brilliant abilities in this area did not find further application. He decided to travel in the hope of finding a remedy for boredom "through storms and bad roads."
pride
Pechorin cannot be called conceited, greedy for praise, but he is proud enough. He is very hurt if a woman does not consider him the best and prefers another. And he strives by all means, by any means, to win her attention. This happened in the situation with Princess Mary, who at first liked Grushnitsky. From the analysis of Pechorin, which he himself does in his journal, it follows that it was important for him not so much to achieve the love of this girl as to recapture her from a competitor. “I also confess that an unpleasant, but familiar feeling ran lightly at that moment through my heart; this feeling - it was envy ... it is unlikely that there will be a young man who, having met a pretty woman who riveted his idle attention and suddenly clearly distinguishes another, who is equally unfamiliar to her, I say, there is hardly such a young man (of course, who lived in high society and accustomed to indulge his vanity), who would not be unpleasantly struck by this.
Pechorin loves to achieve victory in everything. He managed to switch Mary's interest to his own person, make the proud Bela his mistress, get a secret date from Vera, and outplay Grushnitsky in a duel. If he had a worthy cause, this desire to be the first would allow him to achieve tremendous success. But he has to give vent to his leadership in such a strange and destructive way.
selfishness
In the essay on the topic “Pechorin - the hero of our time”, one cannot fail to mention such a trait of his character as selfishness. He does not really care about the feelings and fates of other people who have become hostages of his whims, for him only the satisfaction of his own needs matters. Pechorin did not even spare Vera, the only woman whom he believed he really loved. He put her reputation at risk by visiting her at night in the absence of her husband. A vivid illustration of his dismissive, selfish attitude is his beloved horse, driven by him, who did not manage to catch up with the carriage with the departed Vera. On the way to Essentuki, Pechorin saw that “instead of a saddle, two ravens were sitting on his back.” Moreover, Pechorin sometimes enjoys the suffering of others. He imagines how Mary, after his incomprehensible behavior, "will spend the night without sleep and will cry", and this thought gives him "immense pleasure". “There are moments when I understand the Vampire…” he admits.
Pechorin's behavior is the result of the influence of circumstances
But can this bad character trait be called innate? Is Pechorin flawed from the very beginning, or was the living conditions made him so? Here is what he himself told Princess Mary: “... such was my fate from childhood. Everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings, which were not there; but they were supposed - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of slyness: I became secretive ... I was ready to love the whole world - no one understood me: and I learned to hate ... I spoke the truth - they did not believe me: I began to deceive ... I became a moral cripple.
Finding himself in an environment that does not correspond to his inner essence, Pechorin is forced to break himself, to become what he is not in reality. This is where this internal inconsistency comes from, which left its mark on his appearance. The author of the novel draws a portrait of Pechorin: laughter with non-laughing eyes, a daring and at the same time indifferently calm look, a straight frame, limp, like a Balzac young lady, when he sat down on a bench, and other "inconsistencies".
Pechorin himself realizes that he makes an ambiguous impression: “Some revere me worse, others better than I really am ... Some will say: he was a kind fellow, others a bastard. Both will be false." But the truth is that under the influence of external circumstances, his personality has undergone such complex and ugly deformations that it is no longer possible to separate the bad from the good, the real from the false.
In the novel A Hero of Our Time, the image of Pechorin is a moral, psychological portrait of a whole generation. How many of its representatives, having not found a response in the surrounding “soul to wonderful impulses”, were forced to adapt, become the same as everyone around, or die. The author of the novel, Mikhail Lermontov, whose life ended tragically and prematurely, was one of them.
Artwork test
Probably one of the most interesting characters in Russian literature is Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. The image of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov is ambiguous, paradoxical, amazing, multifaceted. He cannot be called a negative character, just like a positive one. Pechorin's actions can be long and persistently discussed, condemned, surprised by them, but the most important thing is to understand what is behind them, what reasons and motives prompted the hero to lead in this way.
Lermontov calls the novel “A Hero of Our Time” not because he encourages the younger generation to take an example from Pechorin, not because he is the ideal of a person, but because he wanted to show readers a portrait of a typical nineteenth century youth. Lermontov painted an "extra person", crippled, emaciated, apathetic.
Grigory Pechorin is a young man, educated, handsome and quite rich. However, he is unhappy and tries to find himself in the world. Pechorin resists society, a boring way of life, a series of monotonous gray days - he is looking for his own way in life, desperately wants to live, constantly arguing with fate. Pechorin fights for his happiness, his benefits, but he, like Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, quickly gets bored with entertainment, ladies, secular society, balls and dances. He is bored with life, and every time he again tries to find something for himself that will make him live happily, in harmony with himself and the world around him.
Pechorin is on the road all the time. He is looking for new places, new acquaintances, gets involved in new conflicts, but nothing gives him real sincere pleasure: everything torments him and pulls him with his boredom and routine. Therefore, Grigory Alexandrovich often plays with the fate of people, as if an experienced puppeteer is pulling the strings of puppets. He does not care about the lives of other people, their feelings, experiences. Moreover, it gives him great pleasure to fall in love with a young innocent girl, and then leave her, pretending that there was nothing between them.
The main character was ready to open up to people, but society did not accept him. Pechorin turned out to be persecuted by those around him: he did not find his place in life, he did not make friends, because he believed that between friends one is always the slave of the other, he did not marry.
Pechorin's personality is ambiguous; it can cause mixed feelings in readers. Controversy is the main character trait of Pechorin. Sometimes the logic of his actions is not clear. Do not forget that Grigory Pechorin is a moral portrait of a whole generation, this is a truly authentic image of many young people of the nineteenth century. Such people had to either adapt in society and live unnoticed, quietly, calmly living out the rest of their lives, or die proudly, defending their "truth", which Pechorin ultimately chose.
Almost everyone who wrote about Lermontov's novel mentions its special playful nature, which is associated with experiments and experiments conducted by Pechorin. The author (probably, this is his own idea of life) encourages the hero of the novel to perceive real life in its natural course of life in the form of a theatrical game, a stage, in the form of a performance. Pechorin, chasing funny adventures that should dispel boredom and amuse him, is the author of the play, the director who always puts on comedies, but in the fifth acts they inevitably turn into tragedies. The world is built, from his point of view, like a drama - there is a plot, a climax and a denouement. Unlike the author-playwright, Pechorin does not know how the play will end, just as the other participants in the performance do not know this, although they do not suspect that they are playing certain roles, that they are artists. In this sense, the characters of the novel (the novel involves the participation of many individualized persons) are not equal to the hero. The director fails to equalize the protagonist and the involuntary "actors", to open the same opportunities for them, while maintaining the purity of the experiment: the "artists" go on stage only as extras, Pechorin turns out to be the author, director, and actor of the play. He writes and sets it for himself. At the same time, he behaves differently with different people: with Maxim Maksimych - friendly and somewhat arrogant, with Vera - lovingly and mockingly, with Princess Mary - appearing to be a demon and condescendingly, with Grushnitsky - ironically, with Werner - coldly, rationally, friendly up to a certain limit and rather harshly, with an “undine” - interested and wary.
His general attitude towards all the characters is due to two principles: firstly, no one should be allowed into the secret of the secret, into his inner world, for no one should his soul be opened wide open; secondly, a person is interesting for Pechorin insofar as he acts as his antagonist or enemy. Faith, which he loves, he devotes the fewest pages in his diary. This happens because Vera loves the hero, and he knows about it. She won't change and always will. On this score, Pechorin is absolutely calm. Pechorin (his soul is the soul of a disappointed romantic, no matter how cynic and skeptic he may present himself), people are interested only when there is no peace between him and the characters, there is no agreement, when there is an external or internal struggle. Tranquility brings death to the soul, unrest, anxiety, threats, intrigues give it life. This, of course, contains not only the strong, but also the weakness of Pechorin. He knows harmony as a state of consciousness, as a state of mind and as behavior in the world only speculatively, theoretically and dreamily, but by no means practically. In practice, harmony for him is a synonym for stagnation, although in his dreams he interprets the word "harmony" differently - as a moment of merging with nature, overcoming contradictions in life and in his soul. As soon as calmness, harmony and peace sets in, everything becomes uninteresting to him. This also applies to himself: outside the battle in the soul and in reality, he is ordinary. His destiny is to look for storms, to look for battles that feed the life of the soul and can never satisfy the insatiable thirst for reflection and action.
Due to the fact that Pechorin is a director and actor on the stage of life, the question inevitably arises about the sincerity of his behavior and words about himself. The opinions of the researchers strongly differed. As for the recorded confessions to himself, the question is, why lie if Pechorin is the only reader and if his diary is not intended for publication? The narrator in the "Preface to Pechorin's Journal" has no doubt that Pechorin wrote sincerely ("I was convinced of sincerity"). The situation is different with Pechorin's oral statements. Some believe, referring to the words of Pechorin (“I thought for a minute and then said, taking on a deeply moved look”), that in the famous monologue (“Yes! That was my fate since childhood”) Pechorin acts and pretends. Others believe that Pechorin is quite frank. Since Pechorin is an actor on the stage of life, he must put on a mask and must play sincerely and convincingly. The “deeply touched look” “adopted” by him does not mean that Pechorin is lying. On the one hand, acting sincerely, the actor speaks not for himself, but for the character, so he cannot be accused of lying. On the contrary, no one would have believed the actor if he had not stepped into his role. But the actor, as a rule, plays the role of an alien and fictional person. Pechorin, putting on various masks, plays himself. Pechorin the actor plays Pechorin the man and Pechorin the officer. Under each of the masks he himself is hidden, but not a single mask exhausts him. Character and actor merge only partially. With Princess Mary Pechorin plays a demonic personality, with Werner he is a doctor to whom he advises: “Try to look at me as a patient obsessed with a disease that is still unknown to you - then your curiosity will be aroused to the highest degree: you can now do several important physiological things on me. observations… Isn’t the expectation of a violent death already a real illness?” So he wants the doctor to see him as a patient and play the part of the doctor. But even before that, he put himself in the place of the patient and, as a doctor, began to observe himself. In other words, he plays two roles at once - the patient who is sick, and the doctor who observes the disease and analyzes the symptoms. However, in playing the role of a patient, he is pursuing the goal of impressing Werner ("The thought startled the doctor, and he cheered"). Observation and analytical frankness in the game of the patient and the doctor are combined with cunning and tricks that allow one or another character to be placed in their favor. At the same time, the hero sincerely admits this every time and does not try to hide his pretense. Pechorin's acting does not interfere with sincerity, but it shakes and deepens the meaning of his speeches and behavior.
It is easy to see that Pechorin is woven from contradictions. He is a hero whose spiritual needs are limitless, boundless and absolute. His strength is immense, his thirst for life is insatiable, his desires too. And all these needs of nature are not Nozdrevskaya bravado, not Manilovian daydreaming and not Khlestakov's vulgar boasting. Pechorin sets a goal for himself and achieves it, straining all the forces of the soul. Then he ruthlessly analyzes his actions and fearlessly judges himself. Individuality is measured by immensity. The hero correlates his fate with infinity and wants to solve the fundamental mysteries of life. Free thought leads him to knowledge of the world and self-knowledge. These properties are usually endowed precisely with heroic natures, who do not stop in front of obstacles and are eager to realize their innermost desires or plans. But in the title "hero of our time" there is, of course, an admixture of irony, as Lermontov himself hinted at. It turns out that the hero can look and looks like an anti-hero. In the same way, he seems extraordinary and ordinary, an exceptional person and a simple army officer in the Caucasian service. Unlike the ordinary Onegin, a kind fellow who knows nothing about his inner rich potential forces, Pechorin feels and recognizes them, but life lives, like Onegin, usually. The result and meaning of adventures each time turn out to be below expectations and completely lose their halo of extraordinaryness. Finally, he is noblely modest and feels "sometimes" sincere contempt for himself and always - for "others", for the "aristocratic herd" and for the human race in general. There is no doubt that Pechorin is a poetic, artistic and creative person, but in many episodes he is a cynic, insolent, snob. And it is impossible to decide what constitutes the grain of the personality: the wealth of the soul or its evil sides - cynicism and arrogance, what is a mask, whether it is consciously put on the face and whether the mask has become a face.
To understand where are the sources of disappointment, cynicism and contempt that Pechorin carries in himself as a curse of fate, the hints scattered in the novel about the hero’s past help.
In the story “Bela”, Pechorin explains his character to Maxim Maksimych in response to his reproaches: “Listen, Maxim Maksimych,” he answered, “I have an unhappy character; Whether my upbringing made me that way, whether God created me that way, I don’t know; I only know that if I am the cause of the unhappiness of others, then I myself am no less unhappy; Of course, this is a bad consolation for them - only the fact is that this is so.
At first glance, Pechorin seems to be a worthless person, spoiled by light. In fact, his disappointment in pleasures, in the "big world" and "secular" love, even in the sciences, does him credit. The natural, natural soul of Pechorin, not yet processed by family and secular education, contained high, pure, one might even assume ideal romantic ideas about life. In real life, Pechorin's ideal romantic ideas crashed, and he got tired of everything and got bored. So, Pechorin admits, “in my soul is spoiled by light, my imagination is restless, my heart is insatiable; everything is not enough for me: I get used to sadness just as easily as to pleasure, and my life becomes emptier day by day ... ". Pechorin did not expect that bright romantic hopes upon entering the social circle would come true and come true, but his soul retained purity of feelings, ardent imagination, insatiable desires. They are not satisfied. The precious impulses of the soul need to be embodied in noble actions and good deeds. This nourishes and restores the mental and spiritual strength spent on achieving them. However, the soul does not receive a positive response, and it has nothing to eat. It is fading, exhausted, empty and dead. Here the contradiction characteristic of the Pechorin (and Lermontov) type begins to clear up: on the one hand, immense mental and spiritual strength, a thirst for boundless desires (“everything is not enough for me”), on the other, a feeling of complete emptiness of the same heart. D. S. Mirsky compared the devastated soul of Pechorin with an extinct volcano, but it should be added that inside the volcano everything boils and bubbles, on the surface it is really deserted and dead.
In the future, Pechorin unfolds a similar picture of his upbringing in front of Princess Mary.
In the story “The Fatalist”, where he does not need to either justify himself to Maxim Maksimych or arouse the compassion of Princess Mary, he thinks to himself: “... I have exhausted both the heat of the soul and the constancy of the will necessary for real life; I entered this life, having already experienced it mentally, and I became bored and disgusted, like someone who reads a bad imitation of a book he has known for a long time.
Each statement by Pechorin does not establish a rigid relationship between education, bad character traits, developed imagination, on the one hand, and life's fate, on the other. The reasons that determine the fate of Pechorin still remain unclear. All three of Pechorin's statements, interpreting these reasons in different ways, only complement each other, but do not line up in one logical line.
Romanticism, as you know, assumed a dual world: a collision of the ideal and real worlds. The main reason for Pechorin's disappointment lies, on the one hand, in the fact that the ideal content of romanticism is empty dreams. Hence the merciless criticism and cruel, to the point of cynicism, persecution of any ideal idea or judgment (comparisons of a woman with a horse, a mockery of Grushnitsky's romantic attire and recitation, etc.). On the other hand, mental and spiritual impotence made Pechorin weak in the face of imperfect reality, as the romantics correctly claimed. The perniciousness of romanticism, speculatively assimilated and abstractly experienced ahead of time, lies in the fact that a person does not meet life fully armed, fresh and youthful of his natural forces. It cannot fight on equal terms with hostile reality and is doomed to defeat in advance. When entering into life, it is better not to know romantic ideas than to learn and worship them in youth. A secondary encounter with life gives rise to a feeling of satiety, fatigue, melancholy and boredom.
Thus, romanticism is subjected to decisive doubt in its good for the individual and its development. The current generation, Pechorin reflects, has lost its foothold: it does not believe in predestination and considers it a delusion of the mind, but it is incapable of great sacrifices, of exploits for the glory of mankind and even for the sake of its own happiness, knowing about its impossibility. “And we…,” continues the hero, “indifferently move from doubt to doubt…” without any hope and without experiencing any pleasure. Doubt, which signifies and ensures the life of the soul, becomes the enemy of the soul and the enemy of life, destroying their fullness. But the reverse thesis is also valid: doubt arose when the soul awakened to an independent and conscious life. Paradoxical as it may seem, life has given birth to its enemy. No matter how much Pechorin wants to get rid of romanticism - ideal or demonic - he is forced in his reasoning to turn to him as the starting point of his thoughts.
These discussions end with considerations about ideas and passions. Ideas have content and form. Their form is action. The content is passions, which are nothing but ideas in their first development. Passions are short-lived: they belong to youth and at this tender age usually break out. In maturity, they do not disappear, but acquire fullness and go into the depths of the soul. All these reflections are a theoretical justification for egocentrism, but without a demonic flavor. Pechorin's conclusion is as follows: only by plunging into the contemplation of itself and imbued with itself, the soul will be able to understand the justice of God, that is, the meaning of being. One's own soul is the only subject of interest for a mature and wise person who has achieved philosophical calm. Or in other words: one who has reached maturity and wisdom understands that the only worthy subject of interest for a person is his own soul. Only this can provide him with philosophical peace of mind and establish agreement with the world. Evaluation of the motives and actions of the soul, as well as of all being, belongs exclusively to it. This is the act of self-knowledge, the highest triumph of the self-conscious subject. However, is this conclusion final, the last word of Pechorin the thinker?
In the story The Fatalist, Pechorin argued that doubt dries up the soul, that the movement from doubt to doubt exhausts the will and is generally detrimental to a person of his time. But here he is, a few hours later, called to pacify the drunken Cossack who hacked Vulich. The prudent Pechorin, who took precautions so as not to become an accidental and vain victim of a raging Cossack, boldly rushes at him and, with the help of the bursting Cossacks, ties up the killer. Being aware of his motives and actions, Pechorin cannot decide whether he believes in predestination or is an opponent of fatalism: “After all this, how would it seem not to become a fatalist? But who knows for sure whether he is convinced of something or not? .. And how often do we take for belief a deception of feelings or a mistake of reason! .. ”The hero is at a crossroads - he cannot but agree with the Muslim belief,“ in heaven," nor reject it.
Therefore, the disappointed and demonic Pechorin is not yet Pechorin in the full extent of his nature. Lermontov reveals other sides to us in his hero. Pechorin's soul has not yet cooled down, has not faded away and has not died: he is poetically, without any cynicism, ideal or vulgar romanticism, to perceive nature, enjoy beauty and love. There are moments when Pechorin is peculiar and dear to the poetic in romanticism, cleansed of rhetoric and declarativeness, of vulgarity and naivety. Here is how Pechorin describes his arrival in Pyatigorsk: “I have a wonderful view from three sides. To the west, the five-headed Beshtu turns blue, like “the last cloud of a scattered storm”, to the north, Mashuk rises like a shaggy Persian hat, and covers this entire part of the sky; it is more fun to look to the east: down below, in front of me, a clean, brand new town is full of colors; healing springs rustle, a multilingual crowd rustles, - and there, further, mountains are piled up like an amphitheater, bluer and foggier, and on the edge of the horizon stretches a silver chain of snowy peaks, starting with Kazbek and ending with the two-headed Elbrus. It's fun to live in such a land! A kind of comforting feeling flows through all my veins. The air is pure and fresh, like the kiss of a child; the sun is bright, the sky is blue - what would seem more? – why are there passions, desires, regrets?”
It is hard to believe that this was written by a person disappointed in life, prudent in experiments, coldly ironic towards those around him. Pechorin settled on the highest place so that he, a romantic poet in his soul, was closer to heaven. It is not without reason that a thunderstorm and clouds are mentioned here, to which his soul is related. He chose an apartment in order to enjoy the entire vast realm of nature 94 .
In the same vein, the description of his feelings before the duel with Grushnitsky is sustained, where Pechorin opens his soul and admits that he loves nature passionately and indestructibly: “I don’t remember a deeper and fresher morning! The sun barely emerged from behind the green peaks, and the merging of the first warmth of its rays with the dying coolness of the night inspired a kind of sweet languor on all the senses. The joyful ray of the young day had not yet penetrated the gorge: it gilded only the tops of the cliffs hanging on both sides above us; thick-leaved bushes growing in their deep cracks showered us with silver rain at the slightest breath of wind. I remember - this time, more than ever before, I loved nature. How curiously I peered into every dewdrop fluttering on a wide grape leaf and reflecting millions of rainbow rays! how greedily my gaze tried to penetrate the smoky distance! There the path kept getting narrower, the cliffs bluer and more terrifying, and finally they seemed to converge like an impenetrable wall. In this description, one feels such love for life, for every dewdrop, for every leaf, which seems to look forward to merging with it and complete harmony.
There is, however, one more indisputable proof that Pechorin, as others have painted him and as he sees himself in his reflections, does not reduce either anti-romanticism or a secular Demon.
Having received a letter from Vera with a notice of an urgent departure, the hero “ran like crazy onto the porch, jumped on his Circassian, who was led around the yard, and set off at full speed on the road to Pyatigorsk.” Now Pechorin was not chasing adventures, now there was no need for experiments, intrigues, - then the heart spoke, and a clear understanding came that the only love was dying: “With the opportunity to lose her forever, Vera became dearer to me than anything in the world, dearer than life, honor, happiness! At these moments, soberly thinking and clearly, not without aphoristic grace, expounding his thoughts, Pechorin is confused by his overwhelming feelings (“one minute, one more minute to see her, say goodbye, shake her hand ...”) and unable to express them (“I prayed , cursed, cried, laughed ... no, nothing will express my anxiety, despair! ..”).
Here, a cold and skillful experimenter on other people's destinies turned out to be defenseless in front of his own sad fate - the hero is brought out bitterly crying, not trying to hold back tears and sobs. Here the mask of an egocentrist is removed from him, and for a moment his other, perhaps real, true face is revealed. For the first time, Pechorin did not think about himself, but thought about Vera, for the first time he put someone else's personality above his own. He was not ashamed of his tears (“However, I am pleased that I can cry!”), and this was his moral, spiritual victory over himself.
Born before the term, he leaves before the term, instantly living two lives - speculative and real. The search for truth undertaken by Pechorin did not lead to success, but the path he followed became the main one - this is the path of a free thinking person who hopes for his own natural forces and believes that doubt will lead him to the discovery of the true destiny of man and the meaning of being. At the same time, Pechorin's murderous individualism, fused with his face, according to Lermontov, had no life prospects. Lermontov everywhere makes it feel that Pechorin does not value life, that he is not averse to dying in order to get rid of the contradictions of consciousness that bring him suffering and torment. A secret hope lives in his soul that only death is the only way out for him. The hero not only breaks other people's destinies, but - most importantly - kills himself. His life is spent on nothing, goes into the void. He wastes his life force in vain, achieving nothing. The thirst for life does not cancel the desire for death, the desire for death does not destroy the feeling of life.
Considering the strengths and weaknesses, the "light" and "dark sides" of Pechorin, one cannot say that they are balanced, but they are mutually conditioned, inseparable from each other and capable of flowing one into another.
Lermontov created the first psychological novel in Russia in line with emerging and victorious realism, in which the process of self-knowledge of the hero played a significant role. In the course of introspection, Pechorin tests for strength all spiritual values that are the inner property of a person. Such values in literature have always been considered love, friendship, nature, beauty.
Pechorin’s analysis and introspection concerns three types of love: for a girl who grew up in a conditionally natural mountain environment (Bela), for a mysterious romantic “mermaid” living near the free sea element (“undine”) and for an urban girl of “light” (Princess Mary) . Each time love does not give true pleasure and ends dramatically or tragically. Pechorin is again disappointed and bored. A love game often creates a danger for Pechorin that threatens his life. It outgrows the limits of a love game and becomes a game of life and death. This is what happens in Bel, where Pechorin can expect an attack from both Azamat and Kazbich. In "Taman" "undine" almost drowned the hero, in "Princess Mary" the hero shot with Grushnitsky. In the story "The Fatalist" he tests his ability to act. It is easier for him to sacrifice life than freedom, and in such a way that his sacrifice turns out to be optional, but perfect for the satisfaction of pride and ambition.
Embarking on another love adventure, Pechorin each time thinks that it will turn out to be new and unusual, refresh his feelings and enrich his mind. He sincerely surrenders to a new attraction, but at the same time he turns on the mind, which destroys the immediate feeling. Pechorin's skepticism sometimes becomes absolute: it is not love that matters, not the truth and authenticity of feelings, but power over a woman. Love for him is not a union or a duel of equals, but the subordination of another person to his will. And therefore, from each love adventure, the hero endures the same feelings - boredom and longing, reality opens up to him with the same banal, trivial - sides.
In the same way, he is incapable of friendship, because he cannot give up part of his freedom, which would mean for him to become a "slave." With Werner, he maintains a distance in a relationship. Maxim Maksimych also makes himself feel his sidelines, avoiding friendly embraces.
The insignificance of the results and their repetition forms a spiritual circle in which the hero is closed, hence the idea of death grows as the best outcome from a vicious and bewitched, as if predetermined, circulation. As a result, Pechorin feels infinitely unhappy and deceived by fate. He courageously bears his cross, not reconciling with it, and making more and more attempts to change his fate, to give a deep and serious meaning to his stay in the world. This intransigence of Pechorin with himself, with his share, testifies to the restlessness and significance of his personality.
The novel tells about the hero's new attempt to find food for the soul - he goes to the East. His developed critical consciousness was not completed and did not acquire harmonic wholeness. Lermontov makes it clear that Pechorin, like the people of that time, from whose features the portrait of the hero is composed, is not yet able to overcome the state of spiritual crossroads. Traveling to exotic, unknown countries will not bring anything new, because the hero cannot escape from himself. In the history of the soul of a noble intellectual in the first half of the 19th century. duality was initially concluded: the consciousness of the individual felt free will as an immutable value, but took painful forms. The personality opposed itself to the environment and faced such external circumstances that gave rise to a boring repetition of norms of behavior, similar situations and responses to them that could lead to despair, make life meaningless, dry up the mind and feelings, replace the direct perception of the world with cold and rational. To Pechorin's credit, he is looking for positive content in life, he believes that it exists and only it has not been revealed to him, he resists negative life experience.
Using the method “from the contrary”, it is possible to imagine the scale of Pechorin’s personality and guess in him the hidden and implied, but not manifested positive content, which is equal to his frank thoughts and visible actions.
