How the inconsistency of Pechorin's character is manifested in behavior. "Hero of our time")

1. Pechorin in the perception of others.
2. How Pechorin himself evaluates himself.
3. Life internal and external.

I'm not for angels and heaven
Created by an almighty god;
But why do I live, suffering,
He knows more about it.
M. Yu. Lermontov

The name of the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" is of course not accidental. The author wanted to emphasize that the character of Pechorin is a kind of collective image generations of noble youth, peers of Lermontov: "The Hero of Our Time ... exactly, a portrait, but not one person: this is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development." The fate of a generation that thoughtlessly and senselessly squandered its strength and best moves soul, is one of significant topics in the work of Lermontov. For example, a ruthless characterization of a generation is given in the poem “Duma” (“I look sadly at our generation ...”). However, the difference lies in the fact that in the "Duma" Lermontov generalizes, speaks about the generation as a whole. In "A Hero of Our Time" we are talking about the fate of a particular person, a representative of his time and generation.

Appeal to the image of an outstanding and proud personality, whose outstanding abilities were not realized, is a continuation of the traditions of romanticism, primarily laid down in the work of J. Byron. At the same time, there is a strong gravitation towards realism in Lermontov's novel. “... There is more truth in him than you would like,” the author emphasizes, speaking about the character of his hero. Indeed, Lermontov does not embellish his hero and does not seek to denigrate him beyond measure. In order to achieve the most objective, impartial image of the personality traits of his hero, the author either shows Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, then introduces his own observations, then reveals to the reader the pages of the diary, in which Pechorin recorded not only events from his life, but also reflections that make it possible to compose an idea of the invisible movements of his soul.

The inconsistency of Pechorin's nature is noted by everyone who communicated with him at least for a short time or even simply watched him from the side. Maxim Maksimych, who was friendly with Pechorin, considered him a “glorious fellow”, is sincerely perplexed about his oddities: “After all, in the rain, in the cold, hunting all day; 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 for whole hours you won’t get a word, but sometimes, as soon as you start talking, you’ll tear your tummies with laughter ... ”

Lermontov writes about the secrecy of his hero and about the strangeness in his facial expressions: Pechorin's eyes "did not laugh when he laughed." The author notes that "this is a sign - or an evil disposition, or a deep constant sadness."

As a person prone to introspection, Pechorin is well aware of the inconsistency of his nature. In his diary, he notes, not without humor: "The presence of an enthusiast pours me with Epiphany cold, and I think frequent intercourse with a sluggish phlegmatic would make me a passionate dreamer." What is it - the desire to stand out from the crowd? Hardly ... - Pechorin already has a high enough opinion of himself to deal with such trifles. Quicker driving force here is the "spirit of doubt", the motive of influence of which is generally quite strong in the work of Lermontov. “I like to doubt everything: this disposition of the mind does not interfere with the decisiveness of the character - on the contrary, as far as I am concerned, I always go forward more boldly when I don’t know what awaits me,” Pechorin himself admits.

One of the most striking contradictions of Pechorin is manifested in his attitude towards love. More than once he writes in his diary about the desire to be loved. It must be admitted that he knows how to achieve this. However, Pechorin himself is not capable of a strong reciprocal feeling. Having won the ingenuous heart of Bela, he soon loses interest in her. And why did he so diligently seek Mary's love? Pechorin himself cannot really answer this question. Probably because he is pleased with the feeling of power over another person: “But there is an immense pleasure in the possession of a young, barely blossoming soul! .. I feel in myself this insatiable greed, absorbing everything that meets on the way; I look at the sufferings and joys of others only in relation to myself, as food that supports my spiritual strength.

Pechorin had a rather strong affection for Vera, but this is revealed at the moment when he realized that he would not see her again. However, he also loved Vera "as a source of joys, anxieties and sorrows that alternated mutually, without which life is boring and monotonous." For Vera herself, this love brought more mental anguish than joy, because Pechorin did not value her love or the love of other women enough to sacrifice something for them, to give up even the slightest of his habits.

So, Pechorin, on the one hand, dreams of being loved, believes that one strong attachment would be enough for him, and on the other hand, he realizes himself unsuitable for family life: “No, I would not get along with this share! I, like a sailor, born and raised on the deck of a robber brig: his soul got used to storms and battles, and, thrown ashore, he misses and languishes ... ".

Another contradiction of Pechorin's nature is the constant boredom and thirst for activity. Apparently, at its core, Pechorin is enough active personality: we see how he involves others in the whirlpool of events, provoked by him. “After all, there are, really, such people who are written in their family that various unusual things should happen to them!”, However, these adventures occur precisely thanks to active position the hero himself. But Pechorin's activities do not have a solid foundation: everything he does is aimed at combating boredom - and nothing more. And even this goal cannot be achieved by the hero of Lermontov. At best, he manages to drive away boredom for a while, but soon it returns: “In me the soul is corrupted by light, the imagination is restless, the 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 ... ". Not only that, the lack of a goal, an idle lifestyle contributed to the development of such negative qualities as cynicism, arrogance, disregard for the feelings of others.

But Pechorin is endowed with many advantages: sharp mind, insight, a peculiar sense of humor, willpower, courage, observation and charm. However, his life is devoid of inner meaning and joy: “I run through my memory of all my past and involuntarily ask myself: why did I live? for what purpose was I born?.. But, it’s true, it existed, and it’s true, I had a high appointment, because I feel immense powers in my soul ... But I didn’t guess this purpose, I was carried away by the lures of empty and ungrateful passions ; from their furnace I came out hard and cold as iron, but I lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations - best color life."

The contradiction in the character of Pechorin based on the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time"
Cruel times make cruel people. The proof of this is main character Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" by Grigory Pechorin, in which the author reproduced, in his words, "a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation in their full development." Pechorin is the image of a nobleman of the 30s, the era of the “gloomy decade”, the Nikolaev reaction that followed the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, when any free thought was persecuted and any living feeling. Pechorin is the bitter truth about the era of timelessness, in which all the best people of Russia, instead of directing their mind, energy and remarkable forces to achieve a lofty goal, they became "moral cripples", since they simply had no goal: time did not allow it to arise.
A product of his age, a cold egoist who only causes suffering to everyone - this was Pechorin, and meanwhile we see what a brilliant mind, extraordinary willpower, talent and energy this person has. Pechorin is an outstanding personality, one of the best people of his time, and what: refusing to serve society, in the possibility of which he completely lost faith, not finding an application for his strength, Lermontov's hero wastes his life aimlessly. Pechorin is too deep and original nature to become only a reflective intellectual. Distinguished by independence of mind and strength of character, he cannot stand vulgarity and routine and stands above the environment by far. He wants nothing - no ranks, no titles, no benefits - and he does nothing to succeed. By this alone he stands above his surroundings. And besides, his independence was the only possible form of expression of disagreement with the order of life. There is a protest hidden in this position. Pechorin should not be blamed for inaction, since it is from unwillingness to serve "the king and the fatherland." The tsar is a tyrant who does not tolerate the manifestation of thought and hates freedom, the fatherland is officials who are mired in slander, envy, careerism, idly spending time, pretending to care about the welfare of the fatherland, but in fact they are indifferent to it.
In his youth, Pechorin was overwhelmed with ideas, hobbies and aspirations. He was sure that he was born into the world for a reason, that he was destined for some important mission, that with his life he would make a significant contribution to the development of the fatherland. But very quickly this confidence passed, over the years dissipated and last hopes, and by the age of thirty there was "one fatigue, as after a night battle with a ghost, and a vague memory full of regrets ...". The hero lives without purpose, without hope, without love. His heart is empty and cold. Life is of no value, he despises it, as well as himself: “Perhaps, I’ll die somewhere on the road! Well? To die is to die. The loss to the world is small; Yes, and I’m pretty bored myself.” These words contain tragedy from a meaninglessly flowing life and bitterness from hopelessness.
Pechorin is smart, resourceful, insightful, but these qualities bring only misfortunes to the people with whom fate brings him together. He took from Kazbich the most precious thing he had - a horse, made Azamat a homeless abrek, he is guilty of the death of Bela and her father, he disturbed the peace in the soul of Maxim Maksimych, he disturbed peaceful life « honest smugglers". He is selfish, but he suffers from it himself. His behavior deserves condemnation, but one cannot but feel sympathy for him; in the society where he lives, the forces of his rich nature do not find real application. Pechorin seems either a cold egoist, or a deeply suffering person, deprived of a worthy life, the possibility of action, by some evil will. Discord with reality leads the hero to apathy.
Speaking about the tragedy of outstanding personalities, about the impossibility of finding a use for their strengths, the author also shows how detrimental their withdrawal into themselves, their distance from people is.
A strong will and a brilliant mind do not prevent Pechorin from becoming, as he himself puts it, a "moral cripple." By accepting such life principles, as individualism and selfishness, Lermontov's hero gradually lost all the best in his character. In the story "Maxim Maksimych" Pechorin is not at all the same as he was in the first stories, in the first days of his appearance in the Caucasus. Now he lacks attention and friendliness, he is possessed by indifference to everything, there is no former activity, desire for sincere impulses, readiness to discover in himself " endless springs love." His rich nature is completely empty.
Pechorin is a controversial personality. This is manifested in character, behavior, and attitude to life. He is a skeptic, a frustrated person who lives "out of curiosity", and yet he craves life and activity. And his attitude towards women - isn't the contradictory nature of his nature manifested here? He explains his attention to women only by the need for ambition, which “is nothing more than a thirst for power, and my first pleasure is to subordinate everything that surrounds me to my will: to arouse a feeling of love, devotion and fear for myself - isn’t this the first sign of and the greatest triumph of power?", at the same time, having received last letter from Vera, he, like a madman, strives to Pyatigorsk, says that she is “the most precious thing in the world for him,” dearer than life, honor, happiness! Having lost his horse, he even "fell on the wet grass and cried like a child."
Lermontov's hero is inherent in the highest degree of introspection. But it's painful for him. Since Pechorin made himself an object for observation, he almost lost the ability to surrender to direct feeling, to fully feel the joy of living life. Being subjected to analysis, the feeling weakens or goes out altogether. Pechorin himself admits that two people live in his soul: one does things, and the other judges him. This strict judgment on himself does not allow Pechorin to be content with little, deprives him of peace, does not allow him to come to terms with the life that is determined for him by social conditions.
“The tragedy of Pechorin,” wrote V. G. Belinsky, “first of all, is in the contradiction between the loftiness of nature and the pitifulness of actions.” Who is to blame for it? Pechorin himself answers this question as follows: “My soul is corrupted by light,” that is, the environment, the society in which he happened to live.

A Hero of Our Time is the first major socio-psychological novel in Russian literature. The main problem of the novel "Heroes of Our Time" was identified by M.Yu. Lermontov in the preface: he draws " modern man as he understands him", his hero is not a portrait of one person, but "a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation." In the image of Pechorin, the fundamental features of the post-Decembrist era were expressed, in which, according to Herzen, “only losses were visible on the surface”, while inside “ great work... deaf and silent, but active and uninterrupted.”

Pechorin himself, reflecting on his life, finds in it a lot in common with the fate of a whole generation: “We are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness, because we know its impossibility and indifferently move from doubt to doubt. ".

Pechorin, how evil spirit, brings suffering to everyone who meets on his way: Bela and her relatives, the family of "honest smugglers" Mary, Grushnitsky. At the same time, he is the strictest judge of himself. He calls himself a "moral cripple", more than once compares himself to an executioner. No one understands better than Pechorin how empty and meaningless his life is. Remembering the past before the duel, he cannot answer the question: “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? Life torments Pechorin: “I am like a man yawning at a ball who does not go to bed just because his carriage is not yet there.” But still alive soul Pechorin also manifests herself in shock at the death of Bela, in tears of despair when he realized that he had lost Faith forever, in the ability to surrender to the charm of nature even before a duel, in the ability to look at himself from the outside.

In Mary's confession, Pechorin accuses society of becoming a "moral cripple." Pechorin repeatedly speaks of his duality, of the contradiction between his human essence and existence. He confesses to Dr. Werner: “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him ...” To live for Pechorin, namely, this is the function of the first person - “to be always on the alert, to catch every look, meaning every word, guess intentions, destroy conspiracies, pretend to be deceived and suddenly overturn the whole huge and laborious building of cunning and plans with one push ... ".

Pechorin differs from the rest of the characters in the novel precisely in that

that he is concerned about questions of conscious human being- about the purpose and meaning of human life, about its purpose. He is worried that his only purpose is to destroy other people's hopes.

The image of Pechorin

(Based on the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time")

Sadly I look at our generation,

His future is either empty or dark.

M. Lermontov

"A Hero of Our Time" is a work created in the post-Decembrist era. The novel raises the question of the fate of an outstanding personality in an era of stagnation, of the hopelessness of the position of the best young people from the nobility. In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov embodied typical features inherent young generation that time. In the words of the author himself, “this is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” Pechorin is a strong, bright and at the same time controversial and tragic personality.

The rich forces of Pechorin cannot find any use for themselves. In his diary he writes: "Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? It’s true, it existed, and it’s true, I had a great destination, because I feel immense strength in my soul ... But I didn’t guess this destination, I was carried away by the lures of empty and ungrateful passions, I came out of their crucible hard and cold, like iron, but lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations, - best light life." Pechorin did not see the goal, did not find a use for himself. The old was alien to him, but the new was unknown. Having lost the meaning in life, the hero became hardened, became callous, selfish. This inconsistency of Pechorin is revealed in the novel, revealing, according to Lermontov's definition, the "disease" of the generation of his time.

The structure of the novel is unique. Lermontov deliberately broke the chronological sequence so that the reader's attention shifted from events to inner world heroes, to the world of feelings and experiences. The writer first makes it possible to find out the opinion of other people about Pechorin, and then what this young nobleman thinks about himself.

The character of Pechorin and all his behavior is extremely contradictory. This is clearly reflected already in his appearance, reflecting, according to Lermontov, the inner appearance of a person. Drawing a portrait of Pechorin, the author emphasizes the oddities of his hero. Pechorin's eyes "didn't laugh when he laughed". Gait “she was careless and lazy, but I noticed that he did not wave his arms - a sure sign of some secretiveness of character”. On the one hand, Pechorin has a "strong build", and on the other, "nervous weakness." Pechorin is about 30 years old, and "there is something childish in his smile."

Maxim Maksimych was also amazed at Pechorin's oddities: “In the rain, in the cold all day hunting; everyone will get 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 in my presence he went to the boar one on one ... ". The story with Bela also remains incomprehensible to Maxim Maksimych - Pechorin's indifference, it seemed, with such a strong recent love. Pechorin steals the girl he likes, not thinking about the actions that may follow this act. He sincerely believes that he is in love with "maiden of the mountains" that this love will become a saving bridge through which the hero will be able to move into a new life for him, full of meaning: “When I saw Bela in my house, when for the first time, holding her on my knees, kissed her black curls, I, a fool, thought that she was an angel sent to me by compassionate fate ...” But soon Grigory Alexandrovich realizes the futility of hopes: “I was wrong again: the love of a savage few better than love noble lady" he confesses to Maksim Maksimych.

While still young, Pechorin acutely feels his doom, which is probably why the fearless Pechorin is frightened by the sound of the shutters, although one hunted a wild boar, he is terribly afraid of a cold. Doom developed in Pechorin during the period of life in the capital. The result of complete disappointment in everything was "nervous weakness" ... Life in the Caucasus did not give him spiritual satisfaction, did not help him find the meaning of life. Pechorin lives without a goal, without hope, without love. He is tired of everything, the world has become boring, he despises even himself: “ Maybe I'll die somewhere on the road. Well, to die is to die. The loss to the world is small; Yes, and I’m pretty bored myself.”(What hopelessness emanates from these words, what tragedy is felt from a life wasted in vain.) He travels in the hope of somehow passing the century or finding his untimely end. To the question of Maxim Maksimych: "When will you be back?" - Pechorin made a sign with his hand, which could be translated as follows: hardly! And why?..” A bitter end to life.

The contradictions in Pechorin's nature also affect his attitude towards women. He himself explains his attention to women, his desire to achieve their love by the need of his ambition, which, according to his definition, “... is nothing else than a thirst for power, but my first pleasure, he says further, is to subordinate everything that surrounds me to my will: to arouse feelings of love, devotion and fear for myself - isn’t this the first sign and the greatest triumph of power?

But Pechorin is not such a heartless egoist. He is capable of emotional outbursts. This is evidenced by his attitude towards Vera. Having received her last letter, Pechorin, like a madman, jumped out onto the porch, jumped on his Circassian ... and set off at full speed, on the road to Pyatigorsk ... “With the possibility of losing her forever,” he writes, “Vera has become dearer to me than anything in the world, dearer than life, honor, happiness!” Left without a horse in the steppe, he "fell on the wet grass and cried like a child."

On the one hand, Pechorin is a skeptic, a disappointed person who lives "out of curiosity", on the other hand, he has a great thirst for life and activity. But the most terrible contradiction: "the immense forces of the soul" - and petty, unworthy deeds of Pechorin. According to Belinsky, “he is madly chasing life,” but it all comes down to petty and insignificant goals: to find out the secret of the smugglers, to make Princess Mary and Bela fall in love with themselves, to defeat Grushnitsky. So, in the hands of fate, Pechorin turns into a tool of evil: smugglers run away to another place, leaving an old woman and a poor blind boy to their fate; Bela's father dies and Bela herself; Azamat takes the path of crime; kills innocent people Kazbich; Grushnitsky dies; "broken" heart of Princess Mary; Maksim Maksimych is offended. Pechorin strives to “love the whole world” - and brings people only evil and misfortune. However, this does not make him happy, it is clear from the hero’s diary that we have a person with a suffering soul.

Pechorin is self-critical. He admits that there are two people in him: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him. Pechorin himself passes judgment on himself: “I was ready to love the whole world - no one understood me: and I learned to hate. My colorless youth passed in the struggle with myself and the world: my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart: they died there ... I became a moral cripple ... ". With a bitter feeling, he regards himself as « moral cripple ", which one "dried up, evaporated, died" the better half of the soul. Pechorin, not sparing himself, reveals the reasons for his egoism: “How many times have I played the role of an ax in the hands of fate! Like an instrument of execution, I fell on the heads of doomed victims… My love brought happiness to no one, because I did not sacrifice anything for those whom I loved…” Pechorin comprehends and condemns his actions. He fights not only with others, but above all with himself. But in this internal struggle the strength of Pechorin's personality is also enclosed, without it he would not have been such an extraordinary character, the struggle is the need of his nature.

Pechorin is a richly gifted, bright person. He rushes to action, constantly feeling the need to find a sphere of application for his forces, but he does not find it. And wherever he appears, he brings people one grief: Who is to blame for the fact that Pechorin has become an "extra person"? Pechorin himself answers this question as follows: "My soul is corrupted by the light", that is, the secular society, according to whose laws he lived and from which he could not escape. A product of society, Pechorin is at the same time a renegade, a seeker, devoid of soil, therefore he is not subject to either traditions or moral standards the environment from which it came out, and the one into which it enters. What he is looking for is not there. By placing the hero in different conditions, in different environments, Lermontov wants to show that they are alien to Pechorin, that he has no place in life, no matter what situation he finds himself in. He, like Lermontov's "Sail", is attracted to unusual anxieties and dangers, as he is full of effective energy. But the "wonderful world of anxieties and battles", to which another Lermontov hero Mtsyri aspired so much, does not lie in everyday life The "water society" where Pechorin ends up is not there. (chapter "Princess Mary")

Among the novel's many problems is the relationship between "natural" and "civilized" man. The contrast between Pechorin and the highlanders helps us understand some of his character traits. Highlanders (Bela, Kazbich) are whole natures, as if monolithic, and this is what attracts Pechorin. Unlike them, he is torn apart by passions and contradictions, although by the indomitability of his energy he looks like "children of nature."

Does Pechorin have a goal? Yes, he is looking for happiness, meaning "rich pride" by it. He probably means fame, that is, recognition by society of his value and the value of his actions. But his deeds are small, and his goals are accidental and insignificant.

So, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is an extremely controversial personality. We are repelled by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability to true love, to friendship, his individualism and selfishness. But we cannot but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, energetic. Pechorin captivates us with a thirst for life, a desire for the best, the ability to critically evaluate one's actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us because of the "pathetic actions", the waste of his strength, those actions by which he brings suffering to other people, but we see that he himself suffers deeply. Pechorin does not follow the beaten path of secular young people, he serves, but does not curry favor, but, unfortunately, becomes a natural link in the series " extra people". You can treat the hero of the novel differently, condemn him or pity the tormented by society human soul, but one cannot but admire the skill of the great Russian writer who gave us this image, psychological picture hero of his time.

The image of Pechorin

(Based on the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time")

Sadly I look at our generation,

His future is either empty or dark.

M. Lermontov

"A Hero of Our Time" is a work created in the post-Decembrist era. The novel raises the question of the fate of an outstanding personality in an era of stagnation, of the hopelessness of the position of the best young people from the nobility. In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov embodied the typical features inherent in the younger generation of that time. In the words of the author himself, “this is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” Pechorin is a strong, bright and at the same time controversial and tragic personality.

The rich forces of Pechorin cannot find any use for themselves. In his diary he writes: "Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? It’s true, it existed, and it’s true, I had a great destination, because I feel immense strength in my soul ... But I didn’t guess this destination, I was carried away by the lures of empty and ungrateful passions, I came out of their crucible hard and cold, like iron, but lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations - the best light of life. Pechorin did not see the goal, did not find a use for himself. The old was alien to him, but the new was unknown. Having lost the meaning in life, the hero became hardened, became callous, selfish. This inconsistency of Pechorin is revealed in the novel, revealing, according to Lermontov's definition, the "disease" of the generation of his time.

The structure of the novel is unique. Lermontov deliberately violated the chronological sequence so that the reader's attention shifted from the events to the inner world of the characters, to the world of feelings and experiences. The writer first makes it possible to find out the opinion of other people about Pechorin, and then what this young nobleman thinks about himself.

Maxim Maksimych was also amazed at Pechorin's oddities: “In the rain, in the cold all day hunting; everyone will get 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 in my presence he went to the boar one on one ... ". The story with Bela also remains incomprehensible to Maxim Maksimych - Pechorin's indifference, it seemed, with such a strong recent love. Pechorin steals the girl he likes, not thinking about the actions that may follow this act. He sincerely believes that he is in love with "maiden of the mountains" that this love will become a saving bridge through which the hero will be able to move into a new life for him, full of meaning: “When I saw Bela in my house, when for the first time, holding her on my knees, kissed her black curls, I, a fool, thought that she was an angel sent to me by compassionate fate ...” But soon Grigory Alexandrovich realizes the futility of hopes: “I was mistaken again: the love of a savage woman is little better than the love of a noble young lady” he confesses to Maksim Maksimych.

Pechorin is self-critical. He admits that there are two people in him: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him. Pechorin himself passes judgment on himself: “I was ready to love the whole world - no one understood me: and I learned to hate. My colorless youth passed in the struggle with myself and the world: my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart: they died there ... I became a moral cripple ... ". With a bitter feeling, he regards himself as "moral cripple", which one "dried up, evaporated, died" the better half of the soul. Pechorin, not sparing himself, reveals the reasons for his egoism: “How many times have I played the role of an ax in the hands of fate! Like an instrument of execution, I fell on the heads of doomed victims… My love brought happiness to no one, because I did not sacrifice anything for those whom I loved…” Pechorin comprehends and condemns his actions. He fights not only with others, but above all with himself. But this internal struggle also contains the strength of Pechorin's personality, without it he would not have been such an extraordinary character, the struggle is the need of his nature.

Pechorin is a richly gifted, bright person. He rushes to action, constantly feeling the need to find a sphere of application for his forces, but he does not find it. And wherever he appears, he brings people one grief: Who is to blame for the fact that Pechorin has become an "extra person"? Pechorin himself answers this question as follows: "My soul is corrupted by the light", that is, that secular society, according to whose laws he lived and from which he could not escape. A product of society, Pechorin is at the same time a renegade, a seeker, devoid of soil, therefore he is not subject to either the traditions or the moral norms of the environment from which he came out, and the one into which he falls. What he is looking for is not there. By placing the hero in different conditions, in different environments, Lermontov wants to show that they are alien to Pechorin, that he has no place in life, no matter what situation he finds himself in. He, like Lermontov's "Sail", is attracted to unusual anxieties and dangers, as he is full of effective energy. But the "wonderful world of anxieties and battles", which another Lermontov hero Mtsyri aspired to, does not lie in the everyday life of the "water society" where Pechorin ends up, he is not there. (chapter "Princess Mary")

So, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is an extremely controversial personality. We are repelled by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability to true love, to friendship, his individualism and egoism. But we cannot but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, energetic. Pechorin captivates us with a thirst for life, a desire for the best, the ability to critically evaluate one's actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us because of the "pathetic actions", the waste of his strength, those actions by which he brings suffering to other people, but we see that he himself suffers deeply. Pechorin does not follow the beaten path of secular young people, he serves, but does not curry favor, but, unfortunately, becomes a natural link in the ranks of "superfluous people". One can treat the hero of the novel in different ways, condemn him or pity the human soul tormented by society, but one cannot but admire the skill of the great Russian writer who gave us this image, a psychological portrait of the hero of his time.