Literary portrait of Pechorin. Portrait characteristic of Pechorin

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" became a continuation of the theme of "superfluous people". This theme became central in A. S. Pushkin's novel in verse "Eugene Onegin". Herzen named Pechorin younger brother Onegin. In the preface to the novel, the author shows the attitude towards his hero. Like Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin" ("I'm always glad to see the difference between Onegin and me"), Lermontov ridiculed attempts to equate the novel's author and its protagonist.

Lermontov did not consider Pechorin goodie from which to take an example. The author emphasized that in the image of Pechorin, a portrait is given not of one person, but artistic type, which absorbed the features of a whole generation of young people at the beginning of the century. In Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time, a young man is shown suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself a painful question: “Why did I live. For what purpose was I born?” He has not the slightest inclination to follow the beaten path of secular young men. Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not served. Pechorin does not study music, does not study philosophy or military affairs. But we cannot but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, energetic. We are repelled by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability to true love, to friendship, his individualism and selfishness.

But Pechorin captivates us with a thirst for life, a desire for the best, the ability to critically evaluate our actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us by the “pathetic actions”, the waste of his strength, by the actions by which he brings suffering to other people. But we see that he himself suffers deeply. The character of Pechorin is complex and contradictory. The hero of the novel says about himself: “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him…”. What are the reasons for this duality? ”I told the truth - they did not believe me: I began to deceive; knowing well the light and springs of society, I became skilled in the science of life ... ”- admits Pechorin. He learned to be secretive, vindictive, bilious, ambitious, became, in his words, moral cripple. Pechorin is an egoist. Belinsky also called Pushkin's Onegin "a suffering egoist" and "an unwitting egoist." The same can be said about Pechorin. Pechorin is characterized by disappointment in life, pessimism. He experiences a constant split spirit. In the socio-political conditions of the 30s of the 19th century, Pechorin cannot find a use for himself. He is wasted on petty adventures, exposes his forehead to Chechen bullets, seeks oblivion in love. But all this is just a search for some way out, just an attempt to unwind.

He is haunted by boredom and the consciousness that such a life is not worth living. Throughout the novel, Pechorin shows himself as a person who is accustomed to looking at “the suffering, joys of others only in relation to himself” - as “food” that supports his spiritual strength, it is on this path that he seeks consolation from the boredom that haunts him, tries to fill the emptiness of your existence. And yet Pechorin is a richly gifted nature. He has an analytical mind, his assessments of people and their actions are very accurate; he has a critical attitude not only to others, but also to himself. His diary is nothing but self-disclosure. He is endowed with a warm heart, able to feel deeply (Bela's death, a date with Vera) and experience a lot, although he tries to hide emotional experiences under the guise of indifference.

Indifference, callousness - a mask of self-defense. Pechorin is still a strong-willed, strong, active person, “life forces” are dormant in his chest, he is capable of action. But all his actions carry not a positive, but a negative charge, all his activities are aimed not at creation, but at destruction. In this, Pechorin is similar to the hero of the poem "The Demon". Indeed, in his appearance (especially at the beginning of the novel) there is something demonic, unsolved. In all the short stories that Lermontov combined in the novel, Pechorin appears before us as the destroyer of the lives and destinies of other people: because of him, the Circassian Bela is deprived of shelter and dies, Maxim Maksimovich is disappointed in friendship, Mary and Vera suffer, Grushnitsky dies from his hand, forced to leave native home"honest smugglers", the young officer Vulich dies. Belinsky saw in Pechorin's character "a transitional state of mind in which for a person everything old has been destroyed, but there is still no new, and in which a person is only the possibility of something real in the future and a perfect ghost in the present."

Pechorin was of medium height, slender, strong build. Quite a decent man, thirty years old. Despite his strong physique, he had "a small aristocratic hand." His gait was careless and lazy. He had a secret character. “His skin had a kind of feminine tenderness; blond hair, curly by nature, so picturesquely outlined his pale, noble forehead, on which, only after a long observation, traces of wrinkles could be noticed. Despite the light color of his hair, his mustache and beard were black.

he had a slightly upturned nose, dazzling white teeth, and brown eyes. His eyes did not laugh when he laughed. Their brilliance was like that of "smooth steel", dazzling and cold. He was not very bad and had one of those "original physiognomies, which are especially liked by secular women." Pechorin - " inner man". His personality is dominated by the romantic complex inherent in the heroes of Lermontov, dissatisfaction with reality, high anxiety and a hidden desire for a better life. Poeticizing these qualities of Pechorin, his sharp critical thought, rebellious will and ability to fight, revealing his tragically forced loneliness, Lermontov also notes sharply negative, frank manifestations of Pechorin's individualism, without separating them from the personality of the hero as a whole. Pechorin's selfish individualism is clearly expressed in the novel.

The moral failure of Pechorin's behavior in relation to Bela, to Mary and to Maxim Maksimovich. Lermontov singles out the destructive processes taking place in Pechorin: his melancholy, fruitless throwing, crushing of interests. Comparing the "hero" of the Pechorin era with those who could not at all claim this title - with the "natural person" Bela and with " common man"Maxim Maksimovich, deprived of Pechorin's intellect and his vigilance, we see not only intellectual superiority, but also spiritual trouble and incompleteness of the main character. Pechorin's personality in its egoistic manifestations, arising primarily from the conditions of the era, is not exempt from its individual responsibility, the court of conscience.

Pechorin treats people cruelly. So, for example: first he kidnaps Bela and tries to please her. But when Bela falls in love with Pechorin, he leaves her. Even after the death of Bela, he does not change his face and laughs in response to the consolation of Maxim Maksimovich.

After a long separation, a cold meeting with Maxim Maksimovich, who considers Pechorin his best friend, and is very upset by such an attitude towards himself.

With Princess Mary, he does almost the same - the same as with Bela. Just to have fun, he starts courting Mary. Seeing this, Grushnitsky challenges Pechorin to a duel, they shoot, and Pechorin kills Grushnitsky. After that, Mary confesses her love to Pechorin and asks to stay, but he coldly says: “I don’t love you.”

And the judgment, leading to retribution, is carried out on Pechorin, in which evil, breaking away in many respects from its “good” sources, destroys not only what it is directed at, but also his own personality, noble by nature and therefore unable to withstand its inner evil. Retribution falls on Pechorin from the people.

“There are two people in me: one lives in full
sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him;

"Hero of our time" is the first psychological novel in Russian literature, work. I found the most interesting main character novel - Pechorin, and I would like to focus on him. As for the other characters in the novel, all of them, it seems to me, only help to fully reveal the character of the protagonist.

The novel consists of five stories, each of which represents a stage in revealing the image of the protagonist. The desire to reveal inner world Pechorin was reflected in the composition of the novel. It begins, as it were, from the middle and is consistently brought to the end of Pechorin's life. Thus, the reader knows in advance that Pechorin's life is doomed to failure. I think that no one will doubt that it is Pechorin who is the hero of the time.

Pechorin is a typical young man of the 30s of the 19th century, educated, handsome and quite rich, dissatisfied with life and not seeing an opportunity for himself to be happy. Pechorin, unlike Pushkin's Onegin, does not go with the flow, but seeks his own path in life, he "chases life furiously" and constantly argues with fate. He gets bored very quickly: new places, friends, women and hobbies are forgotten by him very quickly.

Lermontov gives very detailed description Pechorin's appearance, which allows you to reveal his character more deeply. This allows the reader to seem to see the hero in front of him, to look into his cold eyes that never laugh. His dark eyebrows and mustache with blond hair speak of originality and unusualness.
Pechorin is constantly on the road: he is going somewhere, looking for something. Lermontov constantly places his hero in different environments: either to the fortress, where he meets Maxim Maksimych and Bela, then to the environment of the "water society", then to the smugglers' shack. Even Pechorin dies on the way.

How to treat Lermontov to his hero? According to the author, Pechorin is "a portrait made up of the vices of his generation." The hero causes my blue-eyed sympathy, despite the fact that I do not like in him such qualities as selfishness, pride and disdain for others.

Pechorin, finding no other way out for his thirst for activity, plays with the fate of people, but this brings him neither joy nor happiness. Wherever Pechorin appears, he brings grief to people. He kills his friend Grushnitsky in a duel that happened because of stupidity. When he was exiled to the fortress for a duel, he meets Bela, the daughter of the local prince. Pechorin persuades her brother to kidnap his sister in exchange for a stolen horse. . He sincerely wanted to make Bela happy, but he simply cannot experience lasting feelings. They are replaced by boredom - his eternal enemy.

Having achieved the girl's love, he cools off towards her and actually becomes the culprit of her death. The situation is approximately the same with Princess Mary, whom, for the sake of entertainment, he makes her fall in love with him, knowing in advance that he does not need her. Because of him, Vera does not know happiness. He himself says: “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...”

Maxim Maksimych is also offended by him because he was cold when meeting him after a long separation. Maxim Maksimych is a very devoted person and he sincerely considered Pechorin his friend.

The hero reaches out to people, but he does not find understanding in them. These people were far away in their spiritual development from him, they did not seek in life what he sought. .The trouble with Pechorin is that his independent self-consciousness and will turns into something more. He does not listen to anyone's opinion, he sees and accepts only his "I". Pechorin is bored with life, he is constantly looking for the thrill of sensations, does not find it and suffers from it. He is willing to risk everything to fulfill his own whim.

From the very beginning, Pechorin appears to readers as " a strange man". This is how the good-natured Maksim Maksimych says about him: “He was a nice fellow, I dare to assure you; only a little strange ... Yes, sir, he was very strange. The strangeness in the external and internal appearance of Pechorin is also emphasized by other characters in the novel. I think this is what attracts women in Pechorin. He is unusual, cheerful, handsome and also rich - the dream of any girl.

To understand the soul of the hero, how much he deserves reproach or worthy of sympathy, you need to carefully re-read this novel more than once. He has a lot good qualities. Firstly, Pechorin is a smart and educated person. . While judging others, he is also critical of himself. In his notes, he admits to such properties of his soul that no one knows about. Secondly, the fact that he has a poetic nature, subtly feeling nature, also has in favor of the hero. “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?..”

Secondly, Pechorin is a brave and courageous person, which manifested itself during the duel. Despite his selfishness, he knows how to truly love: he has quite sincere feelings for Vera. Contrary to his own statements, Pechorin can love, but his love is very complex. So, feeling for Vera with new force awakens when there is a danger of forever losing that the only woman who understood him. “With the opportunity to lose her forever, Vera became dearer to me than anything in the world - dearer than life, honor, happiness!” Pechorin admits. Even having lost Faith, he realized that the last ray of light in his life had gone out. But even after that, Pechorin did not break. He continued to consider himself the master of his fate, he wanted to take it into his hands, and this is noticeable in the final part of the novel - "The Fatalist".
Thirdly, nature gave him both a deep, sharp mind and a kind, sympathetic heart. He is capable of noble impulses and humane deeds. Who is to blame for the fact that all these qualities of Pechorin died? It seems to me that the society in which the hero was brought up and lived is to blame.

Pechorin himself said more than once that in the society in which he lives, there is neither disinterested love, nor true friendship, nor fair, humane relations between people. That is why Pechorin turned out to be a stranger to Maxim Maksimych.

Pechorin's personality is ambiguous and can be perceived from different points of view, cause hostility or sympathy. I think the main feature of his character is the inconsistency between feeling, thought and deed, opposition to circumstances and fate. His energy is poured into empty action, and actions are most often selfish and cruel. So it happened with Bela, whom he became interested in, kidnapped, and then began to be weary of her. With Maxim Maksimych, with whom he maintained warm relations as long as it was needed. With Mary, whom he forced to fall in love with himself out of pure selfishness. With Grushnitsky, whom he killed as if he had done something ordinary.

Lermontov focuses on the psychological disclosure of the image of his hero, raises the question of the moral responsibility of a person for choosing a life path and for his actions. In my opinion, no one before Lermontov in Russian literature gave such a description of the human psyche.

). As its very title shows, Lermontov depicted in this work typical an image that characterizes his contemporary generation. We know how low the poet valued this generation ("I look sadly ..."), - he takes the same point of view in his novel. In the "preface" Lermontov says that his hero is "a portrait made up of the vices" of the people of that time "in their full development." [Cm. See also the articles Image of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time", Pechorin and Women.]

However, Lermontov is in a hurry to say that, speaking about the shortcomings of his time, he does not undertake to read morals to his contemporaries - he simply draws a "story of the soul" " modern man as he understands him and, to his misfortune and the misfortune of others, met him too often. It will also be that the disease is indicated, but God knows how to cure it!

Lermontov. Hero of our time. Bela, Maxim Maksimych, Taman. Feature Film

So, the author does not idealize his hero: just as Pushkin executes his Aleko, in The Gypsies, so Lermontov in his Pechorin lowers the image of a disappointed Byronist from a pedestal, an image that was once close to his heart.

Pechorin speaks about himself more than once in his notes and in conversations. He tells how disappointments haunted him since childhood:

“Everyone read on my face the signs of bad qualities that were not there; but they were supposed - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of slyness: I became secretive. I deeply felt good and evil; no one caressed me, everyone insulted me: I became vindictive; I was gloomy - other children are cheerful and talkative; I felt superior to them—I was placed inferior. I became envious. 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 light; my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart; they died there. I told the truth - they did not believe me: I began to deceive; knowing well the light and springs of society, I became skilled in the science of life and saw how others without art were happy, enjoying the gift of those benefits that I so tirelessly sought. And then despair was born in my chest - not the despair that is cured at the muzzle of a pistol, but cold, powerless despair, hidden behind courtesy and a good-natured smile. I became a moral cripple."

He became a "moral cripple" because he was "mutilated" by people; they not understood him when he was a child, when he became a youth and an adult ... They forced his soul duality,- and he began to live two halves of life - one ostentatious, for people, the other - for himself.

“I have an unhappy character,” says Pechorin. “Whether my upbringing created me this way, whether God created me this way, I don’t know.”

Lermontov. Hero of our time. Princess Mary. Feature film, 1955

Insulted by the vulgarity and distrust of people, Pechorin withdrew into himself; he despises people and cannot live by their interests - he experienced everything: like Onegin, he enjoyed both the vain joys of the world and the love of numerous admirers. He also studied books, looked for strong impressions in the war, but admitted that all this was nonsense, and “under Chechen bullets” is as boring as reading books. He thought to fill his life with love for Bela, but, like Aleko was mistaken in Zemfira , - so he did not manage to live one life with a primitive woman, unspoiled by culture.

“I am a fool or a villain, I do not know; but it is true that I am also very pitiful,” he says, “perhaps more than she: 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; I have only one remedy: to travel.

In these words, an outstanding person is depicted in full size, with strong soul, but without the ability to apply their abilities to anything. Life is petty and insignificant, but there are many forces in his soul; their meaning is unclear, since there is nowhere to attach them. Pechorin is the same Demon, who was confused by his wide, free wings and dressed him in an army uniform. If the moods of the Demon expressed the main features of Lermontov's soul - his inner world, then in the image of Pechorin he portrayed himself in the sphere of that vulgar reality that crushed him like lead to the earth, to people ... No wonder Lermontov-Pechorin is drawn to the stars - more than once he admires the night sky - it is not for nothing that only free nature is dear to him here on earth ...

“Thin, white,” but strongly built, dressed like a “dandy”, with all the manners of an aristocrat, with well-groomed hands, he made a strange impression: strength was combined in him with some kind of nervous weakness. On his pale noble forehead there are traces of premature wrinkles. His beautiful eyes "didn't laugh when he laughed." “This is a sign of either an evil temper, or a deep, constant sadness.” In these eyes “there was no reflection of the heat of the soul, or the playful imagination, it was a brilliance, like the brilliance of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold; his gaze is short, but penetrating and heavy. In this description, Lermontov borrowed some features from his own appearance.

With contempt for people and their opinions, Pechorin, however, always, out of habit, broke down. Lermontov says that even he "sat, as Balzakova sits a thirty-year-old coquette on her feather chairs, after a tiring ball."

Having taught himself not to respect others, not to reckon with the world of others, he sacrifices the whole world to his own. selfishness. When Maxim Maksimych tries to offend Pechorin's conscience with careful allusions to the immorality of Bela's abduction, Pechorin calmly answers with the question: "Yes, when do I like her?" Without regret, he “executes” Grushnitsky not so much for his meanness, but because he, Grushnitsky, dared to try to fool him, Pechorin! .. Ego was outraged. To make fun of Grushnitsky (“without fools it would be very boring in the world!”), He captivates Princess Mary; a cold egoist, he, for the sake of his desire to "have fun", brings a whole drama into Mary's heart. He ruins the reputation of Vera and her family happiness all out of the same boundless selfishness.

“What do I care about human joys and misfortunes!” he exclaims. But not one cold indifference causes these words in him. Although he says that “sad is funny, funny is sad, but, in general, in truth, we are rather indifferent to everything except ourselves” - this is just a phrase: Pechorin is not indifferent to people - he takes revenge, evil and merciless.

He recognizes his "minor weaknesses and bad passions." He is ready to explain his power over women by the fact that "evil is attractive." He himself finds in his soul “a bad but invincible feeling,” and he explains this feeling to us in the words:

“There is an immense pleasure in the possession of a young, barely blossoming soul! She is like a flower, whose best fragrance evaporates towards the first ray of the sun, it must be picked at this moment and, after breathing it to the full, throw it along the road: maybe someone will pick it up!

He himself is aware of the presence of almost all the “seven deadly sins” in himself: he has an “insatiable greed”, which absorbs everything, which looks at the suffering and joys of others only as food that supports spiritual strength. He has a mad ambition, a thirst for power. "Happiness" - he sees in "saturated pride." “Evil begets evil: the first suffering gives an idea of ​​the pleasure of torturing another,” says Princess Mary and, half jokingly, half seriously, tells him that he is “worse than a murderer.” He himself admits that "there are moments" when he understands "Vampire". All this indicates that Pechorin does not have perfect "indifference" to people. Like the "Demon", he has a large supply of malice - and he can do this evil either "indifferently", or with passion (the feelings of the Demon at the sight of an angel).

“I love enemies,” says Pechorin, “although not in a Christian way. They amuse me, excite my blood. To be always on guard, to catch every glance, the meaning of every word, to guess the intention, to destroy conspiracies, to pretend to be deceived, and suddenly, with one push, overturn the whole huge and laborious edifice of cunning and designs - that's what I call life».

Of course, this is again a “phrase”: not all of Pechorin’s life was spent on such a struggle with vulgar people, in him there is a better world, which often makes him condemn himself. At times he is “sad,” realizing that he is playing “the miserable role of an executioner, or a traitor.” He despises himself,” he is burdened by the emptiness of his soul.

"Why did I live? for what purpose was I born?.. And, it is true, it existed, and, it is true, it was a high purpose for me, because I feel immense powers in my soul. But I did not guess this destination - I was carried away by the lures of passions, empty and ungrateful; from their furnace I came out hard and cold as iron, but I lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations - best color life. And since then, 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, often without malice, always without regret. My love did not bring happiness to anyone, because I did not sacrifice anything for those whom I loved; I loved for myself, for my own pleasure; I satisfied the strange need of the heart, greedily devouring their feelings, their tenderness, their joys and sufferings - and could never get enough. The result is "double hunger and despair."

“I am like a sailor,” he says, born and raised on the deck of a robber brig: his soul has become accustomed to storms and battles, and, thrown ashore, he is bored and languishing, no matter how beckoning his shady grove, no matter how the peaceful sun shines on him ; he walks all day long on the coastal sand, listens to the monotonous murmur of the oncoming waves and peers into the misty distance: will not there, on the pale line separating the blue abyss from the gray clouds, the desired sail. (Compare Lermontov's poem " Sail»).

He is weary of life, ready to die and not afraid of death, and if he does not agree to commit suicide, it is only because he still “lives out of curiosity”, in search of a soul that would understand him: “maybe I will die tomorrow! And there will not be a single creature left on earth who would understand me completely!”

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Man 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 standards? These and similar questions often become the main ones for young people who actively comprehend the world and the human essence. Youthful maximalism demands to give to these problematic issues clear answers, but it is not always possible to give an answer.

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

"A Hero of Our Time" is a work imbued with the spirit of the era. The characterization of Pechorin, the central figure in Mikhail Lermontov's novel, makes it possible to better understand the atmosphere of the 1830s, the time when the work was written. "A Hero of Our Time" is not in vain recognized by critics as the most mature and large-scale in philosophical sense novels by Mikhail Lermontov.

Of great importance for understanding the novel is the historical context. 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 unsettled many young people: 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.

Origin of Pechorin

Basically, in the novel, one hero is singled out, who is in a central way in the story. It seems that this principle was rejected by Lermontov - based on the events told to the reader, the main character is Grigory Alexandrovich 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 repeatedly emphasized that in his novel the main character is Pechorin, this corresponds to the main goal of the story - to talk about typical people of the generation, to point out their vices and mistakes.

Lermontov gives rather scarce information about childhood, upbringing conditions and the influence of parents on the process of forming Pechorin's positions and preferences. A few fragments of it past life lift this veil - we learn that Grigory Alexandrovich was born in St. Petersburg. His parents, according to existing orders, tried to give their son a proper education, but young Pechorin did not feel a burden for the sciences, they “quickly got bored” with him and he decided to devote himself to military service. Perhaps such an act is not connected with the emerging 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 deeds and character traits, because the military was loved already for what they are. In society it was difficult to find representatives who did not have a military rank - military service was considered honorary and everyone wanted to "try on" honor and glory along with the uniform.

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

Characteristics of the actions and deeds of Pechorin

The reader gets his first impressions of the protagonist of Lermontov's novel by meeting Maxim Maksimych. The man served with Pechorin in the Caucasus, in the fortress. It was the story of a girl named Bela. Pechorin did badly with Bela: out of boredom, while 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 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 die. Pechorin remembers the girl, regrets Bela, the past resonates in the hero’s soul with bitterness, but does not cause repentance in Pechorin. While Bela was alive, Gregory told his friend that he still loves the girl, feels gratitude for her, but boredom remains the same, and it is boredom that decides everything.

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

The love of a wild Caucasian beauty or a noblewoman does not matter to Pechorin. The next time, for the experiment, the hero chooses an aristocrat - Princess Mary. The handsome Grigory plays with the girl, evoking love for him in Mary's soul, but then 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, wanting to understand himself. In the end, even the diary bothers Pechorin: any activity ends in boredom. Grigory Alexandrovich does not bring anything to the end, not enduring 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 Maxim Maksimych. The man has 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 the diaries turn out to be unnecessary waste paper. In this secular disinterest of Pechorin is the peculiarity and value of the hero Lermontov.

Pechorin has one important feature- sincerity towards yourself. The actions of the hero arouse antipathy and even condemnation in the reader, but one thing must be admitted: Pechorin is open and honest, and the touch of vice is from weakness of will and the inability to resist the influence of society.

Pechorin and Onegin

Already 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 among themselves. Both characters are related by similar traits of character, 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.

The 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 - located in the modern Arkhangelsk region and more calm. 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 himself 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. J. Baynov in his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" created a unique image endowed with a desire for active search its purpose, 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 others. Or one who, based on his knowledge and understanding of worldly truths, is higher in the development of the others and, as a result, he is not accepted by society. Such characters become the cause of suffering for the female representatives who fell in love with them.

Grigory Alexandrovich 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 such a combination.

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

Forces young man they go not in search of a goal, not to realize themselves, but on adventures. Sometimes, literary critics compare the images of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Grigory Pechorin: Onegin is characterized by boredom, and Pechorin - suffering.

After the Decembrists were exiled, progressive trends and trends also succumbed to persecution. For Pechorin, a progressive-minded person, this meant the onset of a period of stagnation. Onegin has every opportunity to speak on the side people's cause but refrains from doing so. Pechorin, having a desire to reform society, is deprived of such an opportunity. Grigory Alexandrovich ruins the wealth of spiritual forces for trifles: he hurts 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 adults did not believe in the boy's words.

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

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

The character of Grigory Alexandrovich is accompanied by actions, behavior, decisions that more fully reveal the personality of the character. Pechorin is also evaluated by other heroes of Lermontov's novel, for example, Maxim Maksimych, who notices the inconsistency 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 the hero looks no more than 23 years old. The hero laughs, but at the same time sadness is visible in Pechorin's eyes. 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 benefit of mankind, is of no value to 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 the Hemingway generation is considered lost, so the Lermontov generation is considered lost, superfluous, restless. These young people are subject to boredom, which turns into a vice in the context of the development of their society.

Appearance and age of Pechorin

At the time the story begins, 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: average height, strong athletic body. He was a man with pleasant features. As the author notes, he had a "unique face", one that women are madly in love with. Blond, naturally curly hair, a “slightly upturned” nose, snow-white teeth and a sweetly childish smile - all this favorably complements his appearance.

His brown eyes seemed to have a life of their own—they never laughed when their owner laughed. Lermontov names two reasons for this phenomenon - either we have a person of an evil disposition, or one who is in a state of deep depression. Which explanation (or both at once) is applicable to the hero Lermontov does not give a direct answer - the reader will have to analyze these facts for himself.

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

The heavy, unpleasant look finally lubricates 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, not a face 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.

Being in the Caucasus, Pechorin easily leaves his usual outfit in the closet and puts on the national Circassian male attire. Many note that this clothing makes him look like a true Kabardian - sometimes people who belonged to this nationality do not look so impressive. Pechorin is more like a Kabardian than the Kabardians themselves. But even in these clothes he is a dandy - the length of the fur, the trim, the color and size of the clothes - everything is 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 (he 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 shown to them by women pleasantly flattered Grigory Alexandrovich, but soon he was able to study the behavioral patterns of all women and therefore communication with the ladies became boring and predictable for him. He is alien to the impulses of creating his own family, and as soon as it comes to hints about the wedding, his ardor for the girl instantly disappears.

Pechorin is not diligent - science and reading make him even more depressed than secular society. A rare exception in this regard is given to the works of Walter Scott.

When Savor became too painful for him, and travel, literary activity and science did not bring the desired result, Pechorin decides to start 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 was a hero folk epic, then its constant epithet the word would be "weird". All the characters find in him something unusual, different from other people. This fact has nothing to do with habits, mental or psychological development- here the point is precisely in the ability to express one's emotions, to adhere to one and the same position - sometimes Grigory Alexandrovich is very contradictory.

He likes to bring pain and suffering to others, he is aware of 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 with 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 Alexandrovich becomes the cause of destruction life paths of many people. By his grace, a blind boy and an old woman remain abandoned to their fate (an episode with 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 either his own life, or the fate of other people.

Thus, the image of Pechorin is contradictory and ambiguous. On the one hand, it is easy to find positive features character, but on the other hand, callousness and selfishness confidently reduce all his positive achievements to "no" - Grigory Alexandrovich destroys his own fate and the fate of those around him with his recklessness. He is a destructive force that is difficult to resist.

Psychological portrait of Grigory Pechorin

Lermontov helps to present the character traits of the character by referring to the appearance and habits of the hero. For example, Pechorin is distinguished by a lazy and careless gait, but at the same time, the hero’s gestures do not indicate that Pechorin is a secretive person. The forehead of the young man was marred by wrinkles, and when Grigory Alexandrovich sat, it seemed that the hero was tired. When Pechorin's lips laughed, his eyes remained motionless, sad.

Pechorin's fatigue was manifested in the fact that the hero's passion did not linger for a long time on 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 trait called fatality. The young man is not afraid to go to the wild boar, looking for adventure and risk, as if trying his luck.

The contradictions in Pechorin's characterization are manifested in the fact that, with the courage described above, the hero is frightened by the slightest crackling 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 predestination 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 by saving people from a Cossack killer.

Grigory Pechorin from the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time”: characteristics, image, description, portrait

Portrait as a way to create an image. Analysis of the portrait characteristics of Pechorin in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time".

You can start by outlining how to create an image. It is no coincidence that the portrait immediately follows the plot. This is a very important and effective technique.

Portrait in literature as one of the main ways to create an image is always used. But it can be recreated in different ways:

1. a portrait of passport signs will take when the appearance is transmitted sequentially, line by line (Turgenev, Nekrasov "Troika");
2. a portrait with an interpretation, when the author, reporting some detail of appearance, immediately reports what character trait, personality, this detail represents (Lermontov); most often it is a complete and integral portrait (all in one place, maximum complete description appearance),
3. a portrait with a dominant, when few are communicated and persistently emphasized characteristics appearance (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, romance). Such a portrait is often fragmented and scattered.

By the time of presentation, the portrait can be anticipatory (Bazarov), at the moment of acquaintance (Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov), late (Pechorin, Raskolnikov).

By volume - complete or fragmentary.

In place - whole or fragmented.

Facial features: special attention to the eyes, mouth.

Figure (height, build)

Facial expression - special attention - smile

Gesticulation

Dressing style

When meeting a hero, we always wait for a description of him, but in Lermontov's novel, the first mention of the hero's appearance is given casually by Maxim Maksimych, and he himself detailed portrait will appear much later. This is, as it were, a compositional repetition of the structure of the novel itself - a gradual approach to the hero.

In the novel "A Hero of Our Time" exclusively great importance has a portrait of Pechorin, drawn by an observant author travel notes. The narrator is not Lermontov. Although many characteristics are the same. But we cannot say here that the portrait was given by Lermontov. This portrait precedes Pechorin's Journal and prepares the reader's perception, explaining a lot in the complex and contradictory nature of Pechorin, with whom, according to the story of Maxim Maksimych, he is already familiar. But Maxim Maksimych, loving Pechorin, does not understand much about him, so the portrait (the first psycho-physiological portrait of the hero in Russian literature) is given through the eyes of the narrator - a person of the same circle as Pechorin, one upbringing, one (or at least similar) system of values, one (or comparable) depth of nature, perception of the world ..

The main thing in the portrait of Pechorin is the display not of the internal state, but of the essence of the personality.

Lermontov frankly admires the hero (later in the Journal, Pechorin will also admire himself), and at the beginning the masculinity of his beauty is emphasized: “broad shoulders”, “strong build”. Then more feminine traits appear - an exit to the inconsistency of nature: “a small aristocratic hand”, “thinness of pale fingers”, “feminine tenderness of the skin” and finally a comparison with the “Balzac thirty-year-old coquette”.

The contrasts continue:

gloves "deliberately sewn" to the hand - and soiled;

the gait is "careless and lazy, but ... a sure sign of a secret character";

"the ability to endure all difficulties nomadic life- and "nervous weakness";

age at first glance - 23, at the second - 30;

"childish smile" - and traces of wrinkles;

blond hair with black eyebrows and mustache.

The last, according to Lermontov, “a sign of breed in a person”, by analogy with horses, is the remark of a cavalryman. But in this context, “breed” is a sign of aristocratism, or, in general, a sign of belonging to some different from others in better side group. And all other contrasts are also signs of a special breed, only in a different context. What kind of people is this - Pechorin's eyes explain

The main, according to Lermontov, "strangeness" - "he did not laugh when he laughed." The narrator's hypotheses are "an evil temper or deep permanent sadness". What the reader so far knows about Pechorin suggests both. “Phosphoric brilliance, .. similar to the brilliance of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold” - the comparison does not shake with originality, this is a reference to Byron, and other heroes of Lermontov's eyes were compared with a dagger and other melee weapons. But here, because Pechorin's eyes "shine" "because of half-lowered eyelashes", in combination with a penetrating, heavy and calm look, there is a feeling of a huge unostentatious depth and scale of this person. The scale surpasses the author's hypotheses: anger, sadness, spiritual heat, playing imagination. Further, the author can apologize as much as he likes that "the appearance of him would have made a completely different impression on another" - an application for an exceptional nature has been given.