A problematic question on the hero of our time. "Hero of our time"

RESPONSE PLAN

1. Moral problems of the time.

2. The image of Pechorin is the plot-forming character of the novel and the embodiment of the moral problems of the time.

3. Moral degradation of Pechorin.

4. The tragedy of Pechorin is the tragedy of time.

5. Roman Lermontov - "the history of the human soul."

1. The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" (1837-1840) is the pinnacle of the writer's work. This is a socio-psychological novel, in which the main task of the author was to create the image of a contemporary person, the study of the human soul. The author was able to trace how the environment affects the formation of personality, to give a portrait of the entire generation of young people of that time. In the preface to the novel main character- Pechorin - is characterized as "a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation in their full development." The author, shifting part of the blame on society, on the environment and upbringing, at the same time does not relieve the hero of responsibility for his actions. Lermontov pointed to the "disease" of the century, the treatment of which is to overcome individualism, generated by unbelief, bringing deep suffering to Pechorin and destructive to those around him.

2. The plot-forming character of M. Yu. Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" is Pechorin. His image runs through the whole novel and connects all its parts. This is a romantic in character and behavior, by nature a person of exceptional abilities, an outstanding mind, strong will, high aspirations to social activities and an indestructible desire for freedom. Pechorin is not without good impulses. At the evening at the Ligovskys, he "felt sorry for Vera." AT last date with Mary, compassion seized him with such force that "another minute" - and he would "fell at her feet." Risking his life, he was the first to rush into the hut of the killer Vulich. Pechorin does not hide his sympathy for the oppressed. There can be no doubt about his sympathy for the Decembrists exiled to the Caucasus. After all, it is said about them in his diary that the wives of the Caucasian authorities "are accustomed ... to meet an ardent heart under a numbered button and an educated mind under a white cap." It is they he has in mind when he speaks of Werner's friends - "truly decent people."

But Pechorin's good aspirations did not develop. Unrestrained socio-political reaction that choked all living things, spiritual emptiness high society distorted and drowned out the possibilities of Pechorin, incredibly mutilated his moral character, terribly reduced his vital activity. That is why Belinsky called this novel "a cry of suffering" and "a sad thought." Pechorin realized that under the conditions of autocratic despotism, meaningful activity for the sake of the common good was impossible for him and his generation. This led to his characteristic unbridled skepticism and pessimism, the conviction that life is "boring and disgusting." Doubts devastated Pechorin to the point that he had only two convictions left: birth is misfortune, and death is inevitable. Divorced from the environment to which he belongs by birth and upbringing, denouncing her, he creates a cruel judgment on himself. Dissatisfied with his aimless life, passionately longing for an ideal, but not seeing, not finding it, Pechorin asks: “Why did I live? for what purpose was I born?

Morally crippled, Pechorin lost his good goals, turned into a cold, cruel, despotic egoist, frozen in proud loneliness, hated even by himself. According to Belinsky, "hungry for worries and storms", furiously chasing life, "looking for it everywhere", Pechorin manifests himself primarily as an evil force that brings people only suffering and misfortune. The "Napoleonic problem" is the central moral and psychological problem of Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time", it is a problem of extreme individualism and selfishness. A person who refuses to judge himself by the same laws by which he judges others loses moral guidelines loses the criteria of good and evil. Pechorin not only brings misfortune to others, but he himself is unhappy.

3. In the story "Bela" Pechorin appears as a ruthless and callous person. He kidnaps Bela, not thinking that he is tearing her out of her home. Such an act can only be justified strong love, but Pechorin does not test her. He says to Maxim Maksimych: "The love of a savage woman is little better than the love of a noble lady ... I'm bored with her." The hero is indifferent to the feelings of others. Bela, Kazbich, Azamat live in harmony with the environment, which Pechorin lacks. If we judge Pechorin by the story "Bela", then this is a monster that, without hesitation, sacrifices both the prince, and Azamat, and Kazbich, and Bela herself. But Lermontov makes the reader look at the hero from the other side, with his own eyes. And if in the story "Bela" the narration is conducted on behalf of Maxim Maksimych, then in "Taman" it goes to Pechorin himself. It is in this short story that a complete and clear psychological portrait of the hero appears. Pechorin is unusually attracted by the freedom that Yanko, the "undine", the blind boy personifies. They live in unity with the elements, with the sea, but outside the law. And Pechorin allows himself, out of curiosity, to interfere in the life of "honest smugglers", makes them flee, leaving the house and the blind boy. Pechorin is a stranger in this world too. He can't find a home anywhere.

The main disclosure of Pechorin's character occurs in the story "Princess Mary". The story about the events is led by the hero himself - this is his confession. Here we see not a simple narrative, but an analysis of the actions performed by the hero. Pechorin intervenes in the romance between Grushnitsky and Mary, destroys it, kills Grushnitsky in a duel, breaks Mary's heart, disrupts Vera's settled life. He writes about the attraction of "possessing the soul" of another person, but does not consider whether he has a right to this possession. Pechorin is alone in this society, and after Vera's departure and an explanation with Mary, nothing connects him with people of this circle. "Intense pride" - this is how he defined human happiness. He perceives the sufferings and joys of others “only in relation to himself” as food that supports his spiritual strength. For the sake of a capricious whim, without much thought, he tore Bela out of his native soil and destroyed her. He is deeply offended by Maxim Maksimych. For the sake of empty curiosity, he ruined the nest of "honest smugglers", violated Vera's family peace, grossly insulted Mary's love and dignity. The novel ends with the chapter "The Fatalist". In it, Pechorin reflects on faith and unbelief. Man, having lost God, has lost the main thing - moral guidelines, a system moral values, the idea of ​​spiritual equality. Having won the fight with the killer, Pechorin for the first time shows his ability to act for the common good. Thus, the author affirms the possibility of meaningful activity. Another moral law: respect for the world, for people begins with self-respect. A person who humiliates others does not respect himself. Triumphing over the weak, he feels strong. Pechorin, according to Dobrolyubov, not knowing where to go and put his strength, exhausts the heat of his soul into petty passions and insignificant deeds. “Evil begets evil; the first suffering gives the concept of the pleasure of torturing another,” he argues. “Sometimes I despise myself ... Isn’t that why I despise others too?” Pechorin constantly feels his moral inferiority, he "became a moral cripple." He says that "his soul is corrupted by the light", torn into two halves, the best of which "dried up, evaporated, died, while the other is alive at the service of everyone."

"Pechorin's Diary" is the confession of the protagonist. On its pages, Pechorin speaks about everything truly sincerely, but he is full of pessimism, since the vices and boredom developed by society push him to strange acts, and the natural inclinations of his soul remain unclaimed, do not find application in life, therefore, in the character of the hero there is duality. By Pechorin's own admission, two people live in it: one does things, and the other looks from the side and judges him.

4. The tragedy of the hero is that he does not see the reasons for his spiritual inferiority and accuses the world, people and time of his spiritual slavery. Treasuring his freedom, he says: “I am ready for all sacrifices except this one; twenty times my life, I will even put my honor on the line ... But I will not sell my freedom. But true freedom - spiritual freedom - he does not know. He is looking for her in solitude, in endless wanderings, in changing places, that is, only in external signs. But everywhere it turns out to be superfluous.

5. Lermontov in the novel pays special attention to the psychological world, the "history of the soul" not only of the protagonist, but also of all other characters. Lermontov, for the first time in Russian literature, endowed the characters of the novel with the ability of deep introspection. Conquering with psychological truth, he showed a vividly individual, historically specific hero with a clear motivation for his behavior.

Time of creation and first publication. Subject. The era of the 1830s and its reflection in the novel

The novel A Hero of Our Time was written in the late 1830s. The work was published in full in 1840 year.

Let's name the main Topics novel. it generation of the 1830s; " extra person»; Caucasus(nature, highlanders, Cossacks, Russian officers in the Caucasus, smugglers); secular society(“water society”).

The events of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" take place in the 1830s. As already noted, this was the time of the reaction that came after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising.

On the one hand, the results of the uprising revealed significant contradictions in the worldview of the opposition-minded nobility. The main contradiction was that the revolutionary educational ideas that underlay the ideology of the Decembrists did not find a response in Russia. Hence the disappointment of a significant part of the educated nobles in the very possibility of fruitful public service, pessimistic moods - up to complete disappointment in life.

On the other hand, a sharp limitation of opportunities for opposition activity caused an intensification of philosophical searches among the educated nobility.

In the image of Pechorin, in the problematics of the novel, the modern era of Lermontov was reflected - in its tragic contradictions and philosophical searches.

Issues

The main problem of the novel is time hero problem. Creating the image of Pechorin, Lermontov sought to capture the main character traits and worldview of his contemporary, a young educated nobleman who had lost the meaning of life. The reasons for the hero's pessimism, his loss of higher spiritual values, are explored by the writer in his work.

Comprehending the problem of the hero of time in his work, Lermontov simultaneously poses in the novel such social, philosophical and moral questions as action and inaction, the meaning of knowledge of the world, predestination and free will, faith and unbelief, good and evil, the meaning of life, man and nature.

Ideological orientation

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" features critical pathos. The writer expressed his position in the preface to the second edition of his work: “The Hero of Our Time, my gracious sirs, is like a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” As in "Duma", Lermontov denounces the vices of his contemporaries, their inability to serve lofty ideals. Meanwhile, the author does not set himself the task of approving any ways to overcome the spiritual crisis of his generation: “The disease is indicated, but God knows how to cure it!”

At the same time, in the work of Lermontov, some facets are guessed moral ideal author . it free life in harmony with nature(the ideal of the "natural man" is partly embodied in the images of mountaineers and "honest smugglers"); struggle(it is no coincidence that the desire for action is the main character trait of Pechorin); worthy service to the fatherland(a vivid example of such service is Maksim Maksimych); true love and friendship(feelings that Pechorin does not believe in and which, nevertheless, often become the subject of his sad reflections); finally, Faith in God, the loss of which was a real tragedy for Pechorin and the entire generation of the 1830s.

The creative method problem

"Hero of Our Time" workcritical realism with features of romanticism.

Lermontov's novel is distinguished by a deep historicism: the writer reflected here the era of the 1830s in its tragic contradictions and philosophical searches, created a bright type of hero of time. Lermontov wrote about the meaning of "a portrait ... composed of the vices of the whole ... generation", as already noted, in the preface to the second edition of the novel. In addition to Pechorin, other bright typical characters are also drawn in the novel - for example, Maxim Maksimych, Grushnitsky.

In addition, Lermontov's realism, as mentioned above, is characterized by a critical orientation.

Creating a realistic work, Lermontov relied on romantic traditions which appeared in the following.

Some romantic traits we find as the main character. Pechorin has extraordinary personal qualities- great willpower, indomitable thirst for struggle. In the character of Pechorin, even some demonic traits. This brings Pechorin closer to such romantic heroes Lermontov himself, as, for example, Demon, Arbenin. Pechorin lonely. He is in opposition to society. The past is not clear hero. We only know that this is a native of St. Petersburg society, from an aristocratic environment. At the same time, the "history" that caused Pechorin's departure to the Caucasus remains mysterious.

romantic traits similar to other characters in the novel. Among them are Bela, Kazbich, a smuggler girl, Vulich.

The traditions of romanticism were manifested in "discontinuity" of the composition novel. Violation of the chronological sequence in the presentation of events is a feature of many romantic works.

In "A Hero of Our Time" unusual, extraordinary situations, characteristic of adventurous novels and stories of the era of romanticism (the abduction of Bela, her tragic death; the story of smugglers; challenges to fate in the Fatalist).

Some have a romantic tinge. descriptions of nature in the novel: for example, the view from Gud-mountain ("Bela"), the night landscape and sea sketches in "Taman", the pictures of the Caucasus in "Princess Mary", the description of the starry sky in "The Fatalist".

Genre originality

Belinsky wrote about Lermontov's work that "this is not a collection of novels and stories, this is a novel in which there is one hero and one main idea, artistically developed." One cannot but agree with the critic that the integrity of A Hero of Our Time as a novel is determined by the image of the protagonist, the unity of ideological issues, and finally, the general orientation of the work towards revealing the inner world of the hero of time.

"Hero of Our Time" - novel social, which reflected the life of Russian society in the 1830s, recreated the appearance of the "superfluous person". This is a novel philosophical: the philosophical searches of the Lermontov generation are reflected here. Moreover, it is one of the first psychological novels in Russian literature, since in the center of the work, according to Belinsky, "an important modern question about the inner man." It is no coincidence that in the preface to Pechorin's Journal, the narrator points out the importance of studying the inner world of the individual: "The history of the human soul, even the smallest soul, is almost more curious and more useful than the history of an entire people." As is well known, the composition of the work is also subject to the task of studying the “human soul”.

When creating his novel, the writer relied on genre traditions contemporary literature. In the work of Lermontov, we find features of such genres as travel notes("Bela", "Maxim Maksimych", "Taman"), caucasian short story("Bela") robber's tale("Taman"), secular story, written in the form of a diary("Princess Mary"), philosophical novella("Fatalist").

Composition: the general construction of the work and the features of the narrative

As you know, the novels and stories that make up the novel are located not in chronological order. If the events described in the work are arranged in time, then first there should be “Taman” (Pechorin’s arrival in the North Caucasus), then “Princess Mary” (the hero’s life in Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk), “Bela” and “Fatalist” (Pechorin, while serving in the fortress, where he was sent, apparently as a punishment for a duel with Grushnitsky, he briefly leaves for the Cossack village, where the story with Vulich takes place), "Maxim Maksimych" (Pechorin in last time meets with his former boss and heads to Persia); finally, the preface to Pechorin's Journal, from which we learn about the death of the protagonist on the way from Persia.

AT "Bele" narrative opens wandering officer, in the image of which we guess features of Lermontov himself exiled to the Caucasus. Then it is replaced Maksim Maksimych, conveying the story of Pechorin and Bela, and the story of Maxim Maksimych is repeatedly interrupted by questions, remarks, and sometimes extensive monologues of a wandering officer. The narrator in "Bel" is also Kazbich(episode with Karagyoz).

In the essay "Maxim Maksimych" takes the word again itinerant officer. Next comes "Pechorin's Journal" where becomes a narrator already the hero himself. "Journal" is preceded by foreword written wandering officer.

This construction of the "Hero of Our Time" is determined by at least two factors. First, this tasks psychological analysis personality of the protagonist. Secondly, this philosophical problems works.

If we talk about the location of the first four stories ("Bela", "Maxim Maksimych", "Taman", "Princess Mary"), then it is obvious that it is subordinated to the task gradual disclosure of the inner world of the protagonist.

"AT "Bele" he is something mysterious face", - writes Belinsky. Maxim Maksimych, acting as a narrator, is not able to penetrate deeply into Pechorin's soul. At the same time, he accurately and in detail tells the reader about deeds hero. The only extensive monologue of Pechorin himself, placed in the story "Bela", sounds somewhat unnatural in the retelling of the old warrior.

In the essay "Maxim Maksimych" itinerant officer gives a lengthy psychological picture Pechorin.

The reader then opens "Pechorin's Journal" where the protagonist, in Belinsky's words, "is autobiographer". This is where it actually starts confession Pechorin. Meanwhile in the story "Taman" the hero speaks mostly about events much less about their own feelings and experiences. “The riddle from this only becomes more tempting, and the answer is not yet here,” writes Belinsky.

Finally, in "Princess Mary" Pechorin writes not only about events, not only about his actions. He reveals to the reader his inner world. “The fog is clearing, the riddle is being solved,” Belinsky notes.

At the same time, the task of psychological analysis alone cannot explain either “ fragmentation» compositions of the work, nor places in him story "The Fatalist", which, as you know, ends the novel.

Why is the "Fatalist" placed at the end of all the stories about Pechorin? This is explained philosophical problems Lermontov novel.

With all obviousness, it can be argued that the events of the "Hero of Our Time" do not reflect the smooth, even flow of life(as it was in "Eugene Onegin", where "time is calculated according to the calendar"). Caucasian adventures of Pechorin present chain of experiments on life; they are called not an objective necessity,but personal will a hero possessed by an insatiable thirst for action. The kidnapping of Bela, the duel with the smuggler girl, the intrigue with Princess Mary, the duel with Grushnitsky, the challenges to fate in the Fatalist unrelated in time, but they connected by the unity of the philosophical problems of the novel. These events lead the reader to understand main philosophical question set by Lermontov in "A Hero of Our Time": who rules the world, human will or fate? Pechorin constantly challenges fate, is constantly in a struggle with it. In The Fatalist, in the mortal struggles of man with fate described in this story, the problem of predestination and free will finds artistic completion This is where the novel ends.

In addition to the general construction of the work, the correlation of the individual stories that make it up, other important elements of the composition of Lermontov's novel are also significant, namely: character system,plot construction of each story, portrait, landscape, monologues Main character.

Speaking of storytelling features in the novel, it is necessary to note some features narrators.

Acting as narrator, Maksim Maksimych, a simple-minded, simple-hearted man, cannot penetrate Pechorin's secret thoughts, but he gives a strict moral assessment of the actions of the protagonist. He condemns him for kidnapping Bela. He cannot justify Pechorin's indifference to the fate of the girl. Pechorin's laughter after Bela's death terrifies Maxim Maksimych. Here we see the denunciation of Pechorin's individualism from a moral standpoint. common man reflecting popular point of view.

Wandering Officer, which reminds us of the author himself, in many ways close and Pechorin. No wonder the protagonist in the story "Taman" also calls himself "a wandering officer ... with a traveler on official business." The narrator and the hero are remarkably similar. Both are educated, both are engaged literary creativity- Write notes. They are good with people. The narrator was able to understand and convey to the reader the original character of Maxim Maksimych. He painted a psychological portrait of Pechorin, striking in depth. Pechorin, in turn, is well versed in the characters of people. He highly appreciates the intellectual and spiritual qualities of Dr. Werner. He understood the vulgar and vile nature of Grushnitsky. Pechorin draws wonderful portraits of these heroes. Both the narrator and the hero subtly feel the beauty of nature. Let's compare the description of the view from Gud-gody (the story "Bela") and the picture of the mountains opening from the window of Pechorin's house (the beginning of "Princess Mary").

Meanwhile, it is also important to name both psychological and moral features that sharply separate the narrator from the hero. The narrator seeks harmony and peace in the world around him.. He feels the silence and majesty of nature: "Everything was quiet in heaven and on earth, as in the heart of a person at the moment of morning prayer."

Pechorin can not long enjoy the beauty of nature. He seeks storms, battles.

In addition, Pechorin ready to get what he wants, no matter what the cost. He treats most of the people around him with contempt.

The wandering officer seems more soft-spoken person. He is attentive to other people, especially to his companion Maxim Maksimych.

Pechorin insults a former colleague coldness and indifference. It is common for a traveling officer respect for the common man. The narrator's democracy contrasts sharply with the aristocratic coldness, contempt for people, and individualism characteristic of Pechorin.

As we know, in the last years of Lermontov's life, his lyrical hero, from the stormy aspirations of his youth, began to incline more and more towards the ideal of harmony with the world. This was especially clearly manifested in such poems of the poet as “When the yellowing field is agitated ...” (1837), “I go out alone on the road ...” (1841).

The sympathy of the lyrical hero of Lermontov's late work for the people, for ordinary people, is evidenced by such works of the poet as "Borodino" (1837), "Song about ... the merchant Kalashnikov" (1837), "Motherland" (1841).

Pechorin in "A Hero of Our Time" closer to lyrical hero early Lermontov with his demonic hobbies. Wandering Officer reminds us lyrical hero of late Lermontov's works, reflecting the spiritual aspirations of the poet in the last years of his life.

Characters

Pechorin - the hero of a philosophical and psychological novel

Pechorin - the only main character Lermontov's work. In connection with his image, the most important philosophical problems of the work are comprehended; almost all elements of the composition are subordinated to the disclosure of his character, his inner world: the general arrangement of the stories, the system of characters, landscape sketches, psychological portrait.

Pechorin - young educated aristocrat, officer(ensign), secular person.

Past hero dont clear: it is only obvious that Pechorin, not of his own free will, ended up in the Caucasus; in the story "Princess Mary" there are hints of a certain story that happened to the hero in St. Petersburg.

As already noted, the most important philosophical problem of the novel is action and inaction. For Pechorin, as well as for the lyrical hero of the Duma, this problem is extremely acute. Indeed: Pechorin is a personality outstanding. Him strong character. Belinsky remarks: “This man has strength of mind and will power". The hero himself admits: "I feel immense strength in my soul".

By nature, Pechorin - rebel hero, which reminds us of the romantic heroes of Lermontov's poetry, for example, the Demon. Such a hero cannot grow old in inaction. However, Pechorin is not able to find a worthy use for his forces. He wastes them in fruitless struggle with life. Pechorin challenges God himself, constantly engaging in deadly duels with fate: he risks his life in a fight with honest smugglers (“Taman”), in a duel with Grushnitsky (“Princess Mary”), at the moment of capturing a Cossack killer (“Fatalist” ). Moreover, Pechorin's struggle with life brings suffering, misfortune, death. The hero feels like "an ax in the hands of fate." The only act of Pechorin that had a positive result was the capture of the criminal in the Fatalist.

To understand the personality of Pechorin, along with the problem of action and inaction, it is also important problem of knowledge, especially relevant in the light of tense philosophical quest among the educated nobility in the 1830s. Let us recall the poem "Duma", where Lermontov writes about his generation, doomed to fruitless knowledge of the world:

Under the burden of knowledge and doubt

Let's get back to the novel. Pechorin is an extraordinary person smart and apparently philosophically educated. This is evidenced, for example, by his reflections on ideas and passions in his diary entry dated June 3 in Princess Mary. And the hero analytic mind. He is seized not only by the desire for action, but also thirst for knowledge. Meanwhile, here, too, disappointment awaits him. In the story “Bela”, Pechorin confesses to Maxim Maksimych: “I began to read, study - science was also tired; I saw that neither fame nor happiness depends on them at all. It should be noted that Pechorin, like the lyrical hero of the Duma, has a negative attitude not to science as such, but specifically to “fruitless science”, to knowledge that does not find practical application.

At the same time, denying "fruitless science", Pechorin cannot get away from the intense work of thought. The hero is tormented by constant thoughts about himself, about his own life; his mind is corroding" reflection"(Belinsky). Pechorin is unable to distract himself from the painful analysis of his actions. The hero remarks about himself: “There are two people in me. One lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him. In this, Pechorin is also a hero of his time. He bears the burden of knowing his generation.

Thus, Pechorin not only action hero who performs deadly experiments on life, but also hero-philosopher doomed to fruitless knowledge of the world and nevertheless striving to find answers to the fundamental questions of human existence. One of those questions is: who rules the world, the will of man or divine predestination? As a result the problem of predestination and free will turns out central philosophical issue Lermontov novel. It is formulated by the nameless hero of the story “The Fatalist”: “And if there is definitely predestination, then why are we given will, reason?”

The problem of predestination and free will is closely related to both the problem of action and the problem of cognition. Indeed, is there any sense in free action, if everything is already predetermined from above? Is there any point in knowing the world if the human mind does not lead to the knowledge of the truth, which is given to the end to know only God? That is why the story "The Fatalist", in which the problem of predestination and free will is formulated, takes key place in the work, completing Lermontov's novel.

Let's recall the main episodes of "The Fatalist". Experiments on life, which are put in the story, testify in favor of predestination. Vulich, tempting fate, shoots himself, but remains alive: the gun misfires. Meanwhile, Pechorin “read the seal of death on his pale face, some strange imprint of inevitable fate,” and Vulich soon dies from the saber of a drunken Cossack. Then Pechorin, testing his own fate, breaks into the hut where the killer hid, and remains alive.

It cannot be said that Pechorin completely denies the existence of fate. Rather he does not want to recognize her power over him. He constantly defies fate. The hero claims: “I always go forward bolder when I don’t know what awaits me.”

The motive of the struggle with fate sounds especially bright in Pechorin’s monologue, which concludes “Princess Mary”: “Why did I not want to set foot on this path, opened to me by fate, where quiet joys and peace of mind awaited me? No, I would not get along with this share! I am like a sailor, 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.

Closely related to the problem of predestination and free will is the problem of faith and unbelief.

In The Fatalist, Pechorin writes with irony about "wise people" who thought that "celestial bodies take part" in their lives. At the same time, the hero recognizes the enormous willpower that gave the ancestors "confidence that the whole sky ... looks at them with participation." Faith in Providence gave the departed generations strength and courage. The faith of the ancestors is opposed by the unbelief of the generation of the 1830s.“And we, their pathetic descendants, wandering the earth without conviction and pride, we are no longer capable of great sacrifices either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness,” the hero notes. The loss of faith is the gravest mental illness that the Lermontov generation suffered from. This ailment to a large extent struck Pechorin.

The question of faith and unbelief is connected with problem of good and evil. Throwing down a challenge to God, Lermontov's hero inevitably casts doubt on those moral principles that are dictated by religion. First of all, we are talking about the Old Testament commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Pechorin allows himself to be killed. Adultery is conceived by him as a kind of life norm. As for the New Testament commandment of love, the hero even sneers at it: "I love enemies, although not in a Christian way." Loss of faith is inextricably linked with impoverishment of love. Losing the ability to love, Lermontov's hero inevitably gives himself to the service of evil.

Let us name two obvious reasons for Pechorin's mental hardening. One of them is in lack of warmth from people close to him during childhood. Pechorin discusses this in his monologue addressed to Princess Mary: “Everyone read on my face signs of bad properties that were not there, but they were assumed - 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 sullen, the other children were cheerful and talkative; I felt superior to them - I was placed below. I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world. Nobody understood me, and I learned to hate.”

Another reason for the hardening of Pechorin’s soul is in the hero’s initial predisposition to evil, in a certain demonic beginning lurking in the depths of his heart. As already noted, this feature makes Pechorin related to other Lermontov heroes of a demonic warehouse - with the Demon from poem of the same name and with Arbenin from Masquerade.

The loss of faith and the impoverishment of love in Pechorin's soul are inextricably linked with such character traits of the hero as extreme individualism and absolutization of personal freedom. “Twenty times my life, I will even put my honor at stake ... but I will not sell my freedom,” the hero writes in his diary (“Princess Mary”).

However, Pechorin trying to save the remnants of love in your own heart. He is ready to forgive the meanness of Grushnitsky if he abandons his plan and apologizes. After killing the enemy, Pechorin tries to catch up with Vera, seeking her sympathy. However, all these attempts to overcome their own egocentrism cannot save Lermontov's hero from spiritual emptiness.

Having lostfaith and love in my own heart, Pechorin inevitably loses and hope to the Good Providence about your own soul. Pessimism hero acquires absolute outlines. It is in this state of mind that Pechorin appears before the reader in conversations with Dr. Werner in Princess Mary. “I ... have another conviction - precisely that I had the misfortune to be born on one ugly evening,” Pechorin cynically jokes. The same mood of the hero is also present in the monologue addressed to Maxim Maksimych in "Bel". “There is only one way left for me: to travel ... maybe I’ll die somewhere on the road!” the hero exclaims.

I must say that Pechorin is well aware that he, like every person, must have true meaning life. The hero's problem is that he couldn't find it. Pechorin reflects on this in one of his monologues in the story “Princess Mary”: “I run through my memory of all my past and ask myself involuntarily: 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 appointment ... "

Not finding support for good deeds in the surrounding reality and accepting evil, Pechorin thereby signs sentence to your own soul. Pechorin's extreme individualism becomes the reason for his inner emptiness, loss them the meaning of life.

Pechorin cannot find peace of mind in unity with nature.

Human and nature- one of the main philosophical problems novel. The most important facet is connected with nature the ideal of Lermontov himself. This ideal is most vividly embodied in the reflections of the narrator, observing a picture of nature that opens from Good Mountain(the story “Bela”): “Everything was quiet in heaven and on earth, as in a person’s heart at the moment of morning prayer ... Some kind of gratifying feeling spread through all my veins, and it was somehow fun for me that I high above the world: the feeling is childish, I do not argue, but moving away from the conditions of society and approaching nature, we involuntarily become children; everything acquired falls away from the soul, and it becomes again such as it once was and, surely, will someday be again.

In the given lines it is guessed the ideal of the "natural man" living in harmony with nature. At the same time, the narrator is aware that this ideal in real life unfeasible. We see some features of a “natural person” in the characters of the highlanders, especially in Bel, “honest smugglers” from “Taman”. Meanwhile, the spiritual qualities of Kazbich and Azamat, the “undines” and Yanko are very far from ideal.

The ideal of the unity of man with nature is close to Pechorin. For example, the hero draws in Princess Mary a wonderful view of the mountains from the window of a house 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’’; Mashuk rises to the north, like a shaggy Persian hat ... "Further Pechorin reflects:" It's fun to live in such a land! Some kind of gratifying feeling is poured into 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 is there passion, desire, regret? Pechorin loves nature, admires its beauty, but at the same time he is well aware that he will never be able to return to the original, “childish” harmony with her. The hero finds unity with nature only at critical, turning points in his life. One of those moments is the morning before the duel.“I don’t remember a bluer and fresher morning! the hero exclaims. “I remember this time, more than ever before, I loved nature.” Alone with nature, Pechorin remains in another acute situation. Having killed Grushnitsky in a duel, trying in vain to catch up with Vera, having driven the horse, the hero "fell on the wet grass and, like a child, wept."

However similar meetings the hero with nature is only a moment in his life full of vain passions.

Consider some artistic means creating the image of the main character. Central to the novel is psychological picture Pechorin, which is given in the essay "Maxim Maksimych". A portrait is considered to be psychological if the details of the appearance allow the reader to penetrate the inner world of the hero. Such is the portrait of Pechorin. The narrator, describing Pechorin's appearance, draws attention to the following details. A strong build testifies to the endurance of the hero. “Dazzlingly clean linen” is a sign of a secular person. A small hand is a sign of aristocratic origin. When walking, Pechorin "did not wave his arms - a sure sign of a certain secrecy of character."

“There was something childish in his smile,” the narrator notes. Another quality of Pechorin was named: “Despite the light color of his hair, his mustache and eyebrows were black - a sign of breed in a person.”

The narrator pays special attention to Pechorin's eyes: “They did not laugh when he laughed! .. This is a sign of either an evil temper, or a deep constant sadness ... His look - short, but penetrating and heavy - left an unpleasant impression of an immodest question .. ."

Pechorin's portrait testifies to originality and at the same time inconsistency nature of the hero, about the complexity of his character.

In Lermontov's psychological novel, a special role is played by monologues the protagonist - both "internal", designed as entries in the diary ("journal"), and addressed to other characters in the novel. The monologues express Pechorin's innermost thoughts, feelings, experiences, his view of the most important philosophical problems that worried the generation of the 1830s.

The first such monologue is placed, as already noted, in the story "Bela". Pechorin tells Maxim Maksimych about the oddities of his “unfortunate character.” The hero bitterly admits that he often becomes “the cause of others’ misfortune,” but “he himself is no less unhappy.” Pechorin talks about the uselessness of knowledge, about his disappointment in love, about the fact that his soul is "spoiled by light." The monologue ends with the hero's thoughts about death. Largest number Pechorin's monologues we find in the stories "Princess Mary" and "The Fatalist". Some of them were mentioned above (about ideas and passions, about the meaning of life, about the duality of one's own personality, about the faith of the ancestors and the unbelief of the current generation). Some of the hero's monologues contain wonderful descriptions of nature(for example, the already mentioned view from the window of a house in Pyatigorsk).

Let's summarize. In the philosophical and psychological novel "A Hero of Our Time" Lermontov painted a realistic portrait of his contemporary - a man of extraordinary abilities, with a powerful will, indomitable energy and at the same time lost the meaning of life, faith in goodness, unable to direct his strength to good deeds and therefore doomed to spiritual death. Composition of the work, others artistic means(portrait, landscape, system of characters, Pechorin's monologues) allowed the author to show the hero in critical situations, convey his reflections on life, reveal the contradictions of his character and thus reveal the essential features of his personality.

Brief overview of minor characters

The character system, first, is the most important means of revealing the character of the protagonist, secondly, plays independent role. Each of the characters is a vivid type of modern life for Lermontov. The characters are endowed with individual, unique character traits.

Maksim Maksimych appears in Lermontov's novel as hero And How narrator. This, according to Belinsky, is "a type of old Caucasian campaigner." The hero received his rank of staff captain as a result of a long, full of adversity, service in the Caucasus.

Portrait Maksim Maksimych (novel "Bela") characterizes him as a simple Russian officer. “He seemed to be about fifty,” the narrator writes, “his swarthy complexion showed that he had long been familiar with the Transcaucasian sun, and his prematurely gray mustache did not match his firm gait and cheerful appearance.”

Maxim Maksimych, unlike Pechorin, cannot be called a secular person. it man of the people, "purely Russian type", according to Belinsky. The hero has neither European education nor refined aristocratic manners. Maxim Maksimych is not interested in the philosophical questions that concern Pechorin. As Belinsky writes, "Maxim Maksimych's mental outlook is very limited, but the reason for this limitation is not in his nature, but in his development."

Maxim Maksimych sees the meaning of his life in service to the fatherland.“For him to live means to serve,” the critic remarks. Although in his education, in his mental development, Maxim Maksimych is inferior to Pechorin, at the same time, according to Belinsky, "wonderful soul, heart of gold". “He somehow instinctively understands everything human and takes an ardent part in it,” the critic notes. The kind and broad soul of Maxim Maksimych is the opposite of Pechorin's individualistic nature. This opposition comes to light first of all in the story of Bela. Maxim Maksimych ardently sympathizes with Bela, grieving her death. For Pechorin, the tragic fate of Bela is nothing more than an unpleasant memory. The last meeting of the two heroes, described in the essay "Maxim Maksimych", is very indicative. Here, Maxim Maksimych's sincere affection for Pechorin and at the same time the indifference of the protagonist towards his former colleague were manifested.

So, kindness and sincere generosity of Maxim Maksimych, a wonderful person from the people, brightly set off the egoism, spiritual callousness of Pechorin.

In the story "Bela" the reader meets bright, memorable mountaineer images. it Kazbich, Azamat, Bela. Highlanders are distinguished proximity to nature indestructible love for freedom. In the images of Caucasians, to some extent, Lermontov's ideas about the "natural person" are embodied.

Kazbich appears in the story "Bela" not only as hero, but also like songwriter And How narrator. The freedom-loving spirit of Kazbich is manifested in his a song about a dashing horse, whom he values ​​​​above all beauties. The hero also owns horse story.Karagoz- kind hero's doppelgänger, a faithful companion of his life. Kazbich perceives his loss as the greatest tragedy. The song and the story of the hero give the narrative a romantic coloring.

At the same time, unlike romantic heroes, such as Mtsyri, Lermontov does not idealize Kazbich, and even more so Azamat. These are realistic characters. They are endowed with unsightly features. Azamat is capricious, self-willed, "terribly greedy" for money. He kidnaps his sister without much hesitation to trade her for a horse. Kazbich is cruel and vengeful. He kills Bela's father. As a result of an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Bela, he destroys her too.

Portrait of Kazbich testifies to his predatory disposition. “His face was the most robber; small, dry, broad-shouldered,” notes Maksim Maksimych.

Pechorin is brought together with the highlanders by strength of character, freedom-loving spirit, thirst for action. At the same time, Pechorin is far from them both in terms of his social position and development. The highlanders, who have integral characters, live according to the laws of nature and tribal customs, are opposed to Pechorin, cut off from the national soil, suffering from "reflection", unable to find peace of mind, the meaning of life.

If Kazbich and Azamat are depicted by Lermontov without any idealization, then in the image Bela we find some ideal traits characteristic of romantic heroes.

This is evidenced by portrait heroines. Bela is depicted in the work as a beautiful Circassian. “And for sure, she was good: tall, thin, her eyes are black, like those of a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul,” says Maxim Maksimych.

Belinsky notes in Bela a deep feminine nature, capable of a strong feeling.

However, it seems to Pechorin that "the love of a savage woman is little better than the love of a noble lady." Bela becomes an innocent victim of Pechorin's insatiable passion for life's pleasures. Unwittingly destroying Bela, Pechorin is not fully aware of his guilt. For him, the story with Bela is just a link in the chain of fruitless fights with life, with fate.

AT "Taman" operate "undine",Janko,blind boy,old woman, personifying the mysterious world of "honest smugglers", the world of free life, struggle and dangerous adventures.

The image most clearly outlined in the novel smuggler girls. Her magnetic appearance(“real mermaid”), decisive character, courage, courage evoke sympathy for the protagonist. Here is how Pechorin draws her portrait: “She was far from beautiful ... The extraordinary flexibility of her figure ... long blond hair ... and especially the correct nose - all this was charming for me.” However, "in her indirect views" the hero "read something wild and suspicious." Such is the appearance of the "undine" who almost drowned Pechorin. The appearance of the heroine in the story is accompanied by the picture of the "excited sea". Brightly characterizes the girl and her a song about a “free will”, about “white sailboats”, about a “violent little head”. The girl from "Taman" is a bright folk character. Speech her, consisting of proverbs, transmits craftiness and natural mind heroines (“Where the wind comes from, from there comes happiness”; “Where it is sung, there it is happy”; “Whoever baptized knows”).

For all the dissimilarity of the two heroes, Pechorin and the girl from Taman are brought together by the main thing: the brightness of nature, willpower, courage, courage, passion for adventure. It is no coincidence that the smuggler girl turns out to be a worthy opponent of the protagonist. Unlike other women in the novel, she is not influenced by Pechorin; she herself tries to charm him, and then destroy him.

Lermontov does not idealize your heroine. The smuggler girl, like her lover Yanko, turns out to be callous and cruel towards the old woman and the blind boy. The white sail, a symbol of freedom and struggle, coexists here with the prosaic details of the life of smugglers.

The events described in Taman are essential for understanding Pechorin's character. Having destroyed the life of "honest smugglers", the hero only for a moment quenched his insatiable thirst for struggle, gaining nothing in return.

The largest number of characters we find in the story "Princess Mary". Clearly defined character Grushnitsky. Belinsky called the image of this character "a truly artistic creation." According to the critic, "Grushnitsky is an ideal young man who flaunts his ideality." The vulgarity of Grushnitsky's nature was also reflected in his portrait characteristics. Grushnitsky strives to present himself as the hero of the novel, and his appearance confirms this. Here is how Pechorin describes Grushnitsky: “He is well-built, swarthy and black-haired ... He throws his head back when he speaks, and constantly twists his mustache with his left hand, because with his right he leans on a crutch.” The protagonist notes not only the details of Grushnitsky’s appearance (a thick soldier’s overcoat is a special kind of foppery), but also his manners (“he constantly twists his mustache with his left hand”), speech features (“he speaks quickly and pretentiously”).

The romantic image of Grushnitsky, his disappointment in life, his suffering - all this is just a mask behind which lies a vulgar and limited nature. In a clash with Pechorin, Grushnitsky shows meanness and meanness of soul.

Grushnitsky is a kind of "double" of Pechorin, parody of the main character. The originality of Pechorin's nature, his loneliness, his conflict with society, his spiritual split are received in the character of Grushnitsky cartoon refraction.

Grushnitsky is destined to play an important role in the love affair, constituting the plot basis of the story "Princess Mary". This is the role of the "unlucky lover". Comedy, in which this character becomes a member, ends tragically. Grushnitsky dies, becoming the victim of Pechorin's next "experiment" on life.

Prototype Werner is Dr. Mayer - a person close to the Decembrists (in the novel there is a hint of a circle of exiled Decembrists in Stavropol).

The portrait of the hero testifies to the originality of his personality: “Werner was small in stature, and thin, and weak, like a child; one leg was shorter than the other, like Byron's... the irregularities of his skull would have struck a phrenologist with a strange tangle of opposite tendencies. His small black eyes, always restless, tried to penetrate your thoughts. The outstanding character of Werner is also evidenced by his nickname - Mephistopheles.

Dr. Werner, according to Pechorin, "skeptic and materialist". These features of the doctor's worldview bring him closer to the main character of the novel, make him one of Pechorin's "twins". However, the doctor is "along with this a poet." Werner is distinguished by true humanity, compassion for people. “I once saw him cry over a dying soldier,” recalls Pechorin.

According to A.N. Sokolov, Dr. Werner is opposed to Pechorin both as an ignoble person - to an aristocrat, and as a man of labor - to an idle adventurer, and as a person of the heart - to a cold egoist. Werner cannot understand and accept the cruelty of the protagonist, who killed Grushnitsky in a duel. The doctor notes sadly in his note addressed to Pechorin: “There is no evidence against you, and you can sleep peacefully ... if you can ... Farewell ...”

Among episodic characters"Princess Mary" stands out dragoon captain– typical representative Russian officers of the Nikolaev era, combining vulgarity and rudeness, meanness and cowardice. He does everything possible to quarrel Pechorin with Grushnitsky, provokes a scandal and a duel. At the same time, he shows cowardice when Pechorin, seeking equal conditions for a duel with Grushnitsky, offers the captain to shoot on the same conditions.

A special place in the story "Princess Mary" is occupied by female characters. it Princess Ligovskaya, her daughter Princess Mary,Faith.

Both appearance and character are most clearly outlined. Princess Mary. The recurring portrait detail - "velvet eyes" - emphasizes the refinement and charm of the heroine. In the novel, the mind and education of the princess are noted: she read Byron in English, knows algebra.

important plot role plays in the story the story of Princess Mary's love for Pechorin. Lermontov psychologically accurately draws changes in the inner world of the heroine. At first, the writer conveys the irritation and hostility of the princess towards Pechorin, then - a feeling of curiosity, nascent love, then passion, and finally - bitter disappointment. It turns out that the image of the heroine plays an important compositional role in the novel. The love affair with her participation allowed the author to reveal more deeply the character, the inner world of not only Princess Mary, but also the main character, Pechorin.

Image Faith less bright than the image of Princess Mary. Belinsky writes about Vera: "This is more of a satire on a woman than a woman." Further, the critic notes: “Her relationship to Pechorin is like a riddle. Either she seems to you a deep woman, capable of boundless love and devotion, heroic self-sacrifice, then you see in her only weakness and nothing more ... There is something slavish in her adoration. Note the portrait characteristics of the heroine. The pallor of Vera's face is a manifestation of the heroine's morbidity, her weakness.

For Pechorin, Vera personifies the memory of former love rather than love in the present. The hero is not capable of a strong, deep feeling. The ambiguity of Pechorin's relationship with Vera is another evidence of the hero's life failure, his mental impurity. Hence the uncertainty of his feelings for Vera, and the consciousness of the meaninglessness of further close relations with her. “Chasing after lost happiness is useless and reckless,” the hero notes.

In the story "The Fatalist" another bright personality appears before the reader. This is a lieutenant Vulich, also a kind of "double" of Pechorin. The bright, colorful appearance of Vulich is evidence of the originality of his nature: “The appearance of Lieutenant Vulich fully corresponded to his character. Tall and swarthy complexion, black hair, black penetrating eyes, a large but regular nose, belonging to his nation, a sad and cold smile that always wandered on his lips - all this seemed to be coordinated in order to give him the appearance of a special being. , - writes Pechorin.

In "The Fatalist" Vulich and Pechorin alternately put "experiments" on life, try their luck. The fatalist Vulich shoots himself, but remains alive: it means that he was not destined to die at that moment. However, Pechorin reads "the seal of death on his pale face", and Vulich soon dies. Pechorin then tempts fate himself by disarming the drunken Cossack and remains alive.

Apparently, the meaning of the comparison of two heroes-doubles is as follows. Pechorin is ready at some point to agree with Vulich that fate rules over a person. But he cannot help but challenge fate: this is the essence of the personality of the protagonist.

In the story "The Fatalist" an episodic female character appears - a pretty girl Nastya, the daughter of an old constable, for whom Pechorin felt sympathy. Nastya, apparently, suffers from love for Pechorin. While Nastya was waiting for the hero at the gate, her "cute lips" turned blue from the cold. Pechorin, on the other hand, seems cold and indifferent. Universal questions excite the hero more than Nastya's feelings.

Questions and tasks

1. When was the novel "A Hero of Our Time" written? In what year was it first published?

2. Name the main themes of the work. What historical period do the events of the novel belong to? Briefly describe this historical period.

3. How can you determine the main problem of the novel? What social, philosophical and moral issues are associated with it?

4. Can it be argued that Lermontov defined the pathos of his novel as critical? What facets of the author's ideal are nevertheless affirmed in the work?

5. Why is A Hero of Our Time called a work of critical realism? Is there a touch of romanticism here?

6. Why is “A Hero of Our Time”, according to Belinsky, “not a collection of novels and short stories”, but a complete novel? Why can we say that Lermontov's work combines the features of a social, philosophical, psychological novel? What other literary genres, popular in the Lermontov era, can we find here?

7. In what sequence do the individual stories that make up the novel go? Which of these stories are included in Pechorin's Journal? On whose behalf is the story being told in each of the stories? On whose behalf was the preface to Pechorin's Journal written? How will the stories follow if they are arranged in chronological order?

8. What factors determine the overall structure of the novel? How is the character and inner world of Pechorin revealed from "Bela" to "Princess Mary"? Why exactly "The Fatalist" completes the novel?

9. Briefly describe the narrators in each of the stories. What aspects of Pechorin's personality does Maxim Maksimych help us to identify and which ones remain a "mystery"?

What are the similarities and differences in the personalities of the two narrators - the wandering officer and Pechorin himself, in their attitude to the world and to people? -

10. Determine the place of Pechorin in the work, the social status of the hero.

11. Name the philosophical problems that the author comprehends in connection with the image of Pechorin (action and inaction, knowledge, predestination and free will, faith and unbelief, good and evil, the meaning of life, man and nature).

12. How can you explain the connection between the loss of faith in goodness, extreme individualism and the pessimism of the protagonist? Can it be argued that Pechorin still understood that the true meaning of life exists? Why did the hero lose it?

13. What aspects of Pechorin's personality help to reveal the images of nature? Name the most striking landscape sketches in the novel that characterize the main character, comment on them.

14. Consider the psychological portrait of the hero. What details of the character's appearance allow us to judge his character, his inner world?

15. Name the most striking monologues of the main character and comment on them. How do these monologues reveal the philosophical views of the hero, his life principles?

16. What are the main functions of the secondary characters in the novel? Describe Maxim Maksimych as a storyteller and as a hero. In what way is he opposed to Pechorin?

17. Briefly describe the highlanders - Bela, Kazbich, Azamat. Which of these characters is also the narrator? What artistic means does Lermontov use when creating images of Caucasians?

18. Tell us about the heroes of Taman. Can it be argued that the writer idealizes "honest smugglers"? What character traits bring the "undine" closer to Pechorin? What artistic means does Lermontov use to create the image of a smuggler girl?

19. Why can Grushnitsky be called a parody of Pechorin? What role does Grushnitsky play in the plot of "Princess Mary"?

20. What features bring Pechorin and Dr. Werner together, what do they share? Give examples of details that characterize Dr. Werner.

21. Describe Princess Mary, her role in the plot, the artistic means of creating her image.

22. What aspects of Pechorin's personality are revealed in his attitude towards Vera?

23. What is the ideological and compositional role of the image of Lieutenant Vulich? What character traits of this character bring him closer to Pechorin? On what ideological issue do the opinions of Pechorin and Vulich fundamentally diverge? Who do you think is right in their argument?

24. Draw up a detailed plan-outline and prepare an oral report on the topic: "The artistic functions of the landscape in the light of the philosophical problems of the novel" A Hero of Our Time "".

25. Draw up a detailed plan-outline and prepare an oral report on the topic: “The skill of the portrait in the novel“ A Hero of Our Time ””.

26. Write an essay on the topic: "The contradictions of Pechorin's personality."

Theme and problems. The main theme of the novel is personality in the process of self-knowledge, research spiritual world person. This is the theme of all Lermontov's work as a whole. In the novel, she receives the most complete interpretation in revealing the image of its central character - the “hero of time”. Since the mid-1830s, Lermontov has been painfully looking for a hero who could embody the personality traits of a person of his generation. Pechorin becomes such for the writer. The author warns the reader against an unambiguous assessment of this extraordinary personality. In the preface to Pechorin's Journal, he writes: “Maybe some readers will want to know my opinion about Pechorin's character? My answer is the title of this book. “Yes, this is an evil irony!” they will say. - I do not know". Thus, the theme of the "hero of time", familiar to readers from Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin", acquires new features associated not only with another era, but with a special angle of its consideration in Lermontov's novel: the writer poses a problem, the solution of which, as it were, provides readers . As stated in the preface to the novel, the author "just had fun drawing modern man as he understands him and, to his misfortune and yours, met him too often. The ambiguity of the title of the novel, as well as the very character of the central character, immediately gave rise to controversy and various assessments, but fulfilled its main task: to focus on the problem of the individual, reflecting the main content of his era, his generation.

Thus, at the center of Lermontov's novel "The Hero of Our Time" is the problem of the individual, the "hero of the time", who, while absorbing all the contradictions of his era, is at the same time in deep conflict with society and the people around him. It determines the originality of the ideological and thematic content of the novel, and many other plot and thematic lines of the work are connected with it. The relationship between the individual and society is of interest to the writer both in socio-psychological and philosophical terms: he confronts the hero with the need to solve social problems, and universal, universal problems. The themes of freedom and predestination, love and friendship, happiness and fatal fate are organically woven into them. In "Bel" the hero seems to check on himself whether it is possible to bring the human of civilization and the "natural" closer together. natural man. At the same time, the theme of true and false romanticism also arises, which is realized through the clash of Pechorin - a true romantic - with those heroes who only have external attributes of romanticism: highlanders, smugglers, Grushnitsky, Werner. The theme of the relationship between an exceptional personality and an inert environment is considered in the history of the relationship between Pechorin and the “water society”. And the Pechorin-Maxim Maksimych line also introduces the theme of generations. The theme of true and false friendship is also associated with these characters, but to a greater extent it develops in "Princess Mary" through the relationship between Pechorin and Grushnitsky.

The theme of love occupies a large place in the novel - it is presented in almost all of its parts. Heroines who embody different types female characters, are called upon not only to show the different facets of this great feeling, but also to reveal Pechorin's attitude towards him, and at the same time to clarify his views on the most important moral and philosophical problems. The situation in which Pechorin finds himself in Taman makes him think about the question: why did fate put him in such a relationship with people that he unwittingly brings them only misfortunes? In "Princess Mary" Pechorin undertakes to resolve issues of internal contradictions, the human soul, contradictions between the heart and mind, feeling and deed, goal and means.

In The Fatalist, the central place is occupied by the philosophical problem of predestination and personal will, the ability of a person to influence the natural course of life. It is closely connected with the general moral and philosophical issues of the novel - the desire of the individual for self-knowledge, the search for the meaning of life. Within the framework of this problem, the novel considers whole line the toughest questions, which do not have unique solutions. What is the true meaning of life? What is good and evil? What is self-knowledge of a person, what role do passions, will, reason play in it? Is a person free in his actions, does he bear for them moral responsibility? Is there some kind of support outside the person himself, or does everything close on his personality? And if it exists, does a person have the right, no matter how strong his will, to play with life, fate, the soul of other people? Is he paying for it? The novel does not give an unambiguous answer to all these questions, but thanks to the formulation of such problems, it allows us to reveal the theme of personality in a comprehensive and multifaceted way.

Pechorin's reflections on these philosophical questions are found in all parts of the novel, especially those included in Pechorin's Journal, but most of all philosophical problems are characteristic of his last part - The Fatalist. This is an attempt to give a philosophical interpretation of Pechorin's character, to find the causes of the deep spiritual crisis of the entire generation represented in his person, and to raise the problem of individual freedom and the possibility of its actions. It acquired particular relevance in the era of "inaction", which Lermontov wrote about in the poem "Duma". In the novel, this problem gets further development, acquiring the character of philosophical reflection.

Thus, the chapter is brought to the fore in the novel. The main problem is the possibility of human action, taken in the most general terms and in its specific application to the social conditions of a given epoch. She determined the originality of the approach to the image of the central character and all other characters of the novel.

The system of characters in the novel "A Hero of Our Time"

No less important for understanding the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is the system of characters who, with different parties and illuminate the central character from different angles. They set off the character of the protagonist (by contrast and similarity), therefore they have important functions in the novel.

Let us consider in more detail the characters of the novel in the system of interaction with the main character Pechorin.

In the initial characterization of Kazbich, which Maxim Maksimych gives him, there is neither elation nor deliberate lowering: “He, you know, was not that peaceful, not that peaceful. There were many suspicions about him, although he was not involved in any pranks. Then such an everyday occupation of the highlander as the sale of rams is mentioned; his unsightly attire is spoken of, although attention is drawn to his passion for rich weapons and his horse. In the future, the image of Kazbich is revealed in sharp plot situations that show his active, strong-willed, impulsive nature. But Lermontov substantiates these inner qualities to a large extent realistically, connecting them with the customs and mores of the real life of the highlanders.

Bela is a Circassian princess, the daughter of a peaceful prince and the sister of young Azamat, who kidnaps her for Pechorin. in the name of Bela main character, the first story of the novel is named. The ingenuous Maxim Maksimych tells about Bel, but his perception is constantly corrected by the words of Pechorin, given in the story. Bela - mountain girl; it preserved the natural simplicity of feelings, the immediacy of love, a living desire for freedom, inner dignity. Insulted by the abduction, she withdrew, not responding to signs of attention from Pechorin. However, love awakens in her and, as a whole nature, Bela gives herself to her with all the power of passion. When Bela got bored with Pechorin, and he was fed up with the love of the “savage”, she resigns herself to her fate and dreams only of freedom, proudly saying: “I myself will leave, I am not his slave, I am a princess, a princely daughter!”. The traditional situation of a romantic poem - the "flight" of an intellectual hero into a "simple" society alien to him - is reversed by Lermontov: the uncivilized heroine is forcibly placed in an environment alien to her and experiences the influence of an intellectual hero. Love for a short time brings them happiness, but, in the end, ends with the death of the heroine.

The love story is built on contradictions: the ardent Pechorin is the indifferent Bela, the bored and chilled Pechorin is the passionately loving Bela. Thus, the difference in cultural and historical structures is equally catastrophic both for the intellectual hero, who finds himself in a “natural” society, native to the heroine, and for “ savage", transferred to a civilized society inhabited by an intellectual hero. Everywhere the clash of two dissimilar worlds ends either dramatically or tragically. A person endowed with a more developed consciousness imposes his will, but his victory turns into a moral defeat. In the end, he gives in to the integrity of a “simple” nature and is forced to admit his moral guilt. The healing of his sick soul, initially perceived as a rebirth, turns out to be imaginary and fundamentally impossible.

In creating images of the Circassians, the author departs from the romantic tradition of depicting them as "children of nature". Bela, Kazbich, Azamat are complex, contradictory characters. Drawing their pronounced universal qualities, the strength of passions, the integrity of nature, Lermontov also shows their limitations, due to the patriarchal underdevelopment of life. Their harmony with the environment, which Pechorin so lacks, is based on the strength of customs, foundations, and not on a developed consciousness, which is one of the reasons for its fragility in a collision with "civilization".

The images of the highlanders are in many ways opposed by the deeply realistic at its core. artistic type Maksim Maksimych, an elderly staff captain.

Maksim Maksimych has a heart of gold and a kind soul, he appreciates peace of mind and avoids adventures, duty is in the first place for him, but he does not repair with his subordinates and behaves in a friendly way. The commander and the boss take over in him in the war and only when the subordinates, in his opinion, commit bad deeds. Maxim Maksimych himself firmly believes in friendship and is ready to show respect and love to any person. His role as a character and narrator is to remove the halo of romantic exoticism from the image of the Caucasus and look at it through the eyes of a “simple” observer not endowed with special intelligence.

Deprived of personal introspection, as if not isolated from the "natural" world, Maxim Maksimych perceives Pechorin as a "strange" person. It is not clear to him why Pechorin is bored, but on the other hand he knows for sure that he acted badly and ignoblely with Bela. The cold meeting that Pechorin “rewarded” him after a long separation is even more stung by the pride of Maxim Maksimych. According to the concepts of the old staff captain, people who served together become almost family. Meanwhile, Pechorin did not at all want to offend Maxim Maksimych, he simply had nothing to talk about with a man whom he did not consider his friend.

Maxim Maksimych is an extremely capacious artistic image. On the one hand, this is a clearly defined concrete historical and social type, on the other hand, one of the indigenous national characters. In terms of its “independence and purely Russian spirit”, Belinsky put this image on a par with artistic images world literature. But the critic also paid attention to other aspects of Maxim Maksimych's character - inertia, the limitations of his mental horizons and views. Unlike Pechorin, Maxim Maksimych is almost devoid of personal self-awareness, a critical attitude to reality, which he accepts as it is, without reasoning, fulfilling his "duty". The character of Maxim Maksimych is not as harmonious and whole as it seems at first glance, he is unconsciously dramatic. On the one hand, this image is the embodiment of the best national qualities of the Russian people, and on the other hand, its historical limitations, the strength of centuries-old traditions.

Thanks to Maxim Maksimych, both strong and weak sides Pechorin's type - a break with the patriarchal-national consciousness, loneliness, loss of the young generation of intellectuals. But the staff captain himself also turns out to be lonely and doomed. His world is limited and devoid of complex harmony, and the integrity of the character is “secured” by the underdevelopment of a sense of personality. The meaning of the clash between Maxim Maksimych and Pechorin is not in the predominance and superiority of the personal principle over the patriarchal folk or the patriarchal folk over the personal, but in their dramatic break, in the desirability of rapprochement and movement towards agreement.

Much connects Pechorin and the staff captain in the novel, each in his own way highly appreciates the other, and at the same time they are antipodes. In both, much is close to the author, but none of them separately expresses fully Lermontov's ideal; moreover, something in each of them is unacceptable for the author (Pechorin's egoism, Maxim Maksimych's narrow-mindedness, etc.). The dramatic relations between the advanced Russian intelligentsia and the people, their unity and disunity, found a kind of embodiment of these principles in the novel. Both the Pechorin truth of a free, critically thinking individual, and the truth of Maxim Maksimych's direct, patriarchal-people's consciousness are far from completeness and harmonious integrity. For Lermontov, the fullness of truth is not in the predominance of one of them, but in their convergence. True, Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych are constantly being tested, tested by other positions in life, which are in a difficult state of mutual repulsion and rapprochement. The ability to see the relativity and at the same time the certainty of individual truths - to extract the highest truth from their collision evolving life- one of the main philosophical and ethical principles underlying the "Hero of Our Time".

Undine - Pechorin romantically called the smuggler girl. The hero intervenes in the simple life of "honest smugglers". He was attracted by the mysterious night circumstances: a blind boy and a girl were waiting for a boat with a smuggler Yanko. Pechorin was eager to find out what they were doing at night. The girl, it seemed, became interested in Pechorin herself and behaved ambiguously: “she was spinning around my apartment: singing and jumping did not stop for a minute.” Pechorin saw a "wonderfully tender look" and took it as ordinary female coquetry, i.e. in his imagination, the gaze of the “undine” was compared with the gaze of some secular beauty who agitated his feelings, and the hero felt the former impulses of passion in himself. To top it off, there was a “wet, fiery kiss”, an appointment and a declaration of love. The hero felt the danger, but still he was deceived: it was not love that caused demonstrative tenderness and ardor, but Pechorin's threat to inform the commandant. The girl was faithful to another, Yanko, and her cunning served only as a pretext for reprisals against Pechorin. Brave, naive, treacherous and dexterous, having lured Pechorin into the sea, she almost drowned him.

Pechorin's soul longs to find among the "honest smugglers" the fullness of life, beauty and happiness, which the hero lacks so much. And his deep sober mind realizes the impossibility of this. Pechorin understands the recklessness of his actions, the whole story with the "undine" and other smugglers from the very beginning. But this is the peculiarity of his character, that, despite the common sense inherent in him to the highest degree, he never completely obeys him - for him there is a higher prosperity in life than worldly well-being.

The constant fluctuation between the "real" and the "ideal" contained in its depths is felt in almost all the images of "Taman", but especially brightly - in the girl-smuggler. Pechorin's perception of it changes from bewitched surprise and admiration to emphasized prosaicness and everyday life. This is due to the character of the girl, built on transitions and contrasts. She is as changeable as her life, lawlessly free.

In "Taman" there is an image that is completely sustained in realistic colors. Its meaning is to create a real-everyday background of the story. The image of the batman Pechorin. This character appears at the most intensely romantic moments and with his real appearance holds back the romantic narrative. In addition, with his passivity, he sets off the restless nature of Pechorin. But the self-irony of the protagonist also causes a change in romantic and realistic plans, their subtle interpenetration.

Grushnitsky is a cadet posing as a demoted officer, first playing the role of the first lover in the love triangle (Grushnitsky-Meri-Pechorin), but then pushed back to the position of an unsuccessful rival. The finale is tragic: Grushnitsky is killed, Mary is immersed in the spiritual drama, and Pechorin is at a crossroads and does not triumph at all. In a sense, Grushnitsky is not only an anti-hero and antipode of Pechorin, but also his “distorting mirror”.

Grushnitsky is one of the most realistically objectified images. It depicts the type of romanticism not according to the internal warehouse, but according to the fashion. His self-isolation is emphasized by an organic inability for genuine spiritual communication. Grushnitsky is unintelligent and narcissistic, lives by fashionable ideas and habits (a mask of mysterious tragedy), is "inscribed" in the stereotypical behavior of "light"; finally, he is a weak nature that is easy to expose - which Pechorin does. Grushnitsky cannot accept defeat, he approaches a dubious company and with its help he intends to take revenge on the offenders. Although the closer Grushnitsky is to death, the less romantic coquetry is in him, although he defeats dependence on the dragoon captain and his gang, he is not able to completely overcome the conventions of secular etiquette and defeat pride.

A different type is represented by Dr. Werner, a friend of Pechorin, a man, in his opinion, remarkable for many reasons. Living and serving in a privileged environment, he is inwardly close to ordinary people. He is mocking and often surreptitiously mocks his rich patients, but Pechorin saw him cry over a dying soldier.

Werner is a peculiar variety of the “Pechorin” type, essential both for understanding the entire novel and for shading the image of Pechorin. Like Pechorin, Werner is a skeptic, an egoist and a "poet" who has studied "all the living strings of the human heart." He has a low opinion of humanity and the people of his time, but the ideal principle has not died out in him, he has not lost interest in the suffering of people, he vividly feels their decency and good inclinations. He has an inner, spiritual beauty, and he appreciates it in others.

Werner is short, thin and weak as a child; one leg was shorter than the other, like Byron's; in comparison with the body, his head seemed huge. In this respect, Werner is the antipode of Pechorin. Everything is disharmonious in him: a sense of beauty and bodily ugliness, ugliness. The apparent predominance of the spirit over the body gives an idea of ​​the unusualness, strangeness of the doctor, as well as the nickname: Russian, he wears German surname. Kind by nature, he earned the nickname Mephistopheles because he has critical vision and with an evil tongue, penetrating into the essence hidden behind a decent shell. Werner is endowed with the gift of reason and foresight. He, not yet knowing what kind of intrigue Pechorin was up to, already foresees that Grushnitsky will fall victim to his friend. The philosophical and metaphysical conversations of Pechorin and Werner resemble a verbal duel, where both opponents are worthy of each other.

But in the sphere of behavioral equality there is not and cannot be. Unlike Pechorin, Werner is a contemplative. He does not take a single step to change his fate and overcome skepticism, much less "passionate" than the skepticism of Pechorin, who treats with contempt not only the whole world, but also himself. Cold decency is Werner's "life rule". Further than this, the doctor's morality does not extend. He warns Pechorin about the rumors spread by Grushnitsky, about a conspiracy, about an impending crime (they will “forget” to put a bullet in Pechorin’s pistol during a duel), but he avoids and is afraid of personal responsibility: after Grushnitsky’s death, he steps aside, as if he had no indirect relationship, and silently places all the blame on Pechorin, without giving him a hand when visiting. (He regards the doctor's behavior as treason and moral cowardice).

Mary is the heroine of the story of the same name "Princess Mary". The name Mary is formed, as stated in the novel, in the English manner. The character of Princess Mary in the novel is described in detail and written out carefully. Mary in the novel is a suffering person: it is over her that Pechorin puts his cruel experiment of exposing Grushnitsky. This experience is not carried out for the sake of Mary, but she is drawn into it by Pechorin's game, since she had the misfortune to turn an interested look at the false romantic and the false hero. At the same time, the problem of love, real and imaginary, is connected with the image of Mary in the novel.

Mary is a secular girl, somewhat romantically inclined, not devoid of spiritual inquiries. There is a lot of naive-immature and external in her romanticism. The plot of the story is based on a love triangle. Getting rid of Grushnitsky's love, Mary falls in love with Pechorin, but both feelings turn out to be illusory. Grushnitsky's falling in love is nothing more than red tape, although he is sincerely convinced that he loves Mary. Pechorin's love is imaginary from the very beginning.

Mary's feeling, left without reciprocity, develops into its opposite - hatred, offended love. Her "double" love defeat is predetermined, because she lives in an artificial, conditional, fragile world, she is threatened not only by Pechorin, but also by the "water society". So, a certain fat lady feels touched by Mary, and her cavalier, a dragoon captain, undertakes to fulfill this. Pechorin destroys the plans and saves Mary from the captain's slander. In the same way, a minor episode at a dance (an invitation from a drunken gentleman in a tailcoat) betrays all the instability of Princess Mary's seemingly solid social and social position in society and in the world in general. Mary's trouble is that she, feeling the difference between a direct spiritual impulse and secular etiquette, does not distinguish a mask from a face.

Faith - society lady. She plays a prominent role in the plot of the story. On the one hand, thanks to Pechorin’s relationship with Vera and her thoughts, it is explained why Pechorin, “without trying”, is able to invincibly dominate woman's heart, and on the other hand, Vera represents a different, compared to Mary, type of secular woman. Faith is sick. Thus, in the novel, young Princess Mary and Vera are given as different poles of life - flourishing and fading.

New meeting Vera and Pechorin takes place against the backdrop of nature and in the homes of people of light who came to the waters. Here natural life and civilized life, tribal and social life collide. Verin's husband is a distant relative of Princess Ligovskaya, lame, rich and burdened with illnesses. Marrying him not out of love, she sacrificed herself for the sake of her son and values ​​\u200b\u200bits reputation - again, not because of herself. Persuading Pechorin to get acquainted with the Ligovskys in order to see him more often, Vera is unaware of the intrigue with Mary, the intended hero, and when she finds out, she is tormented by jealousy.

Pechorin's relationship with Vera serves as an occasion for the heroes to think about female logic, female nature, and the attractiveness of evil. At other times, Pechorin feels the power of the love of Vera, who again with carelessness entrusted herself to him, and he himself is ready to respond to her disinterested affection. It seems to him that Vera - " the only woman in the world", which he "would not be able to deceive". But for the most part, even hugging Vera and covering her face with kisses, he makes her suffer, believing that it is the evil that he caused Vera that is the reason for her love. Pechorin brought Vera not only suffering: always wanting to be loved and never reaching the fullness of love, he gives women an infinity of feeling, against which the love of “other men” seems petty, mundane and dull. Therefore, Vera is doomed to love Pechorin and suffer. Tragic, suffering and selfless love is her destiny.

Perhaps Vera hoped at first for family happiness with Pechorin. Pechorin, with his restless character, the search for a life goal, was less inclined to create a family hearth. Only after losing Vera, Pechorin realizes that it was she who carried in herself the love that he eagerly sought, and this love perished, for he exhausted Vera's soul without filling it with his feeling.

"Water society" is given by Lermontov in the most characteristic socio-psychological signs, fixing more details of customs and life than individual characteristics of character-types. The realistic tendency to create a life background echoes the romantic principles of depicting heroes opposed to society. But even in this case, expressive life details and concrete individual characteristics give characters and types a realistic credibility.

Vulich is a lieutenant whom Pechorin met in a Cossack village. Drawing a romantic-psychological portrait of a man with a supposedly unusual past, with deep passions carefully concealed under outward calmness, the author deepens this characterization of Vulich: “there was only one passion that he did not hide: the passion for the game. Passion for the game, failure, stubbornness with which he each time started all over again with the hope of winning, reveals in Vulich something akin to Pechorin, with his passionate game of both his own and someone else's life.

In the exposition of the story, along with a portrait of Vulich, a story is given about his card game at the beginning of a shootout and his retribution with a debt under bullets, which gives him a preliminary description as a person capable of selflessly getting carried away and at the same time able to control himself, cold-blooded and despising death.

The mystery and mystery of the image of Vulich are due not only to the real-life romantic character, but also to a complex philosophical problem - about the role of predestination in the fate of a person.

Vulich is reserved and desperately brave; a passionate player, for whom cards are only a symbol of a fatal game of a person with death, a game devoid of meaning and purpose. When a dispute arises among the officers about whether there is predestination, i.e. people are subject to some higher power that controls their destinies, or they themselves manage their lives, Vulich, unlike Pechorin, who recognizes predestination, volunteers to verify the truth of the thesis on himself. The gun is put to his forehead: a misfire that saves Vulich's life, as if serving as evidence in favor of fatalism (all the more so since Pechorin predicted Vulich's death precisely "today"). Vulich is a stranger to doubt. His life is as meaningless as his death is absurd and accidental. Pechorin's "fatalism" is simpler, more primitive and more banal, but it is based on real knowledge, which excludes "deception of feelings or a mistake of reason" - "nothing will happen worse than death - and you will not escape death!"

Thanks to a complex system of images, the image of the protagonist is shaded in a very versatile way. Against the background of the "water society" with its vulgarity, insignificance of interests, calculations, selfishness, intrigues, Pechorin acts as a noble, highly cultured person suffering from his social uselessness. In "Bel", Pechorin, who is bored and torn apart by internal contradictions, is opposed by Caucasians with their ardor, integrity, constancy. Meeting with Maxim Maksymych shows Pechorin in sharp contrast with an ordinary person of the same era. Pechorin's mental imbalance and social disorder stand out sharply in comparison with Dr. Werner, to whom skepticism, which brings him closer to the hero of the novel, does not prevent him from fulfilling his duty.

The secondary characters of the novel, playing a service role to the attitude of the protagonist, also have an independent meaning. Almost every one of them is a striking typical figure.

Thus, Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin is an outstanding person. The problem of morality is connected with the image of Pechorin in the novel. In all the short stories that Lermontov unites 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 Maksimych is disappointed in his friendship with him, Mary and Vera suffer, dies from his hand Grushnitsky, “honest smugglers” are forced to leave their home, a young officer Vulich dies. The hero of the novel himself realizes: “As an instrument of execution, I fell on the heads of doomed victims, often without malice, always without regret ...”. His whole life is a constant experiment, a game with fate, and Pechorin allows himself to risk not only his own life, but also the lives of those who are nearby. He is characterized by unbelief and individualism. Pechorin, in fact, considers himself a superman who has managed to rise above ordinary morality. However, he does not want either good or evil, but only wants to understand what it is. All this cannot but repel the reader. And Lermontov does not idealize his hero.

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 dichotomy? “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, a moral cripple. Pechorin is an egoist.

And yet Pechorin is a richly gifted nature. He has an analytical mind, his assessments of people and 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 is 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 "Demon". Indeed, in his appearance (especially at the beginning of the novel) there is something demonic, unsolved. A strong will and a thirst for activity were replaced by disappointment and impotence, and even high egoism gradually began to turn into petty selfishness. The features of a strong personality remain only in the image of a renegade, who, however, belongs to his generation.

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. The originality of the genre

The only completed novel by Lermontov was not originally conceived as an integral work. In "Notes of the Fatherland" for 1839, "Bela. From the notes of an officer about the Caucasus" and later "The Fatalist" were published with the note "that M.Yu. Lermontov will soon publish a collection of his stories, both printed and unprinted"; in 1840, "Taman" was printed there, followed by the release of two parts-volumes "A Hero of Our Time". A problematic aphoristic name was proposed by an experienced journalist A.A. Kraevsky instead of the original author's "One of the heroes of our century". "Collection of stories", united by the image of the protagonist, turned out to be the first socio-psychological and philosophical novel in Russian prose, in terms of genre, who also mastered numerous elements dramatic action, especially in the largest and most significant story - "Princess Mary".

"Hero of our time" - work critical realism with features of romanticism.

Lermontov's novel is distinguished by a deep historicism: the writer reflected here the era of the 1830s in its tragic contradictions and philosophical searches, created a bright type of hero of time. Russia in the 1830s, the gloomy post-Decembrist decade, is the time and the circumstances that shaped the character of Lermontov's contemporary. The surrounding reality, which completely excluded any manifestations of social activity, led to the self-deepening of the personality, the development of its self-consciousness. People spiritually and intellectually close to Lermontov lived a stormy, intense inner life, but huge internal forces could not be properly realized in their outer life, devoid of purpose. Lermontov captured this tragedy of his generation in Pechorin. The author wrote about the meaning of "a portrait ... composed of the vices of the whole ... generation", as already noted, in the preface to the second edition of the work. In addition to Pechorin, other bright typical characters are also drawn in the novel - for example, Maxim Maksimych, Grushnitsky.

Besides, realism Lermontov, as mentioned above, is distinguished by a critical orientation.

Creating a realistic work, the writer relied on romantic traditions which appeared in the following. Some romantic traits we find as the main character. Pechorin has extraordinary personal qualities - huge willpower, indomitable thirst for struggle. In his character, even some demonic traits. This brings Pechorin closer to such romantic heroes of Lermontov himself, such as, for example, Demon, Arbenin. Pechorin lonely. He is in opposition to society. The past is not clear hero. We only know that this is a native of St. Petersburg society, from an aristocratic environment. At the same time, the "history" that caused Pechorin's departure to the Caucasus remains mysterious. Romantic features are also characteristic of other characters in the novel. Among them are Bela, Kazbich, a smuggler girl, Vulich.

In "A Hero of Our Time" unusual, extraordinary situations, characteristic of adventurous novels and stories of the era of romanticism (the abduction of Bela, her tragic death; the story of smugglers; challenges to fate in the Fatalist). A variety of acute situations - from secular intrigue to the hero's meeting with "honest smugglers" that almost ended in death - put Pechorin before the need to solve serious moral and psychological problems; the most important of them, to a certain extent summing up the quest of the hero, whose thought is constantly tormented by anxiety, is the problem of fate, predestination. Act or obey? Answering this main question, Pechorin affirms the right of the individual to inner freedom: “I like to doubt everything: this disposition of the mind does not interfere with the decisiveness of character - on the contrary, as far as I am concerned, I always go forward more boldly when I don’t know what awaits me.”

Some have a romantic tinge. descriptions of nature in the novel: for example, the view from Good Mountain (“Bela”), the night landscape and sea sketches (“Taman”), pictures of the environs of Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk (“Princess Mary”), a description of the starry sky (“Fatalist”).

"Hero of Our Time" - novel social, which reflected the life of Russian society in the 1830s, recreated the appearance of the "superfluous person". This is a novel philosophical: the philosophical searches of the Lermontov generation are reflected here. Moreover, it is one of the first psychological novels in Russian literature, since in the center of the work, according to Belinsky, "an important modern question about the inner man." It is no coincidence that in the preface to Pechorin's Journal, the narrator points out the importance of studying the inner world of the individual: "The history of the human soul, even the smallest soul, is almost more curious and more useful than the history of an entire people." As is well known, the composition of the work is also subject to the task of studying the “human soul”.

Creating a novel, Lermontov relied on genre traditions contemporary literature. In this work we find features of such genres as travel notes("Bela", "Maxim Maksimych", "Taman"), caucasian short story("Bela") robber's tale("Taman"), secular story, written in the form of a diary("Princess Mary"), philosophical novella("Fatalist").

The artistic psychologism that defines the narrative style of Pechorin's Journal was formed not only under the influence of French prose of the 1830s; very significant was the impact of the tradition of autobiographical, diary prose, first of all, Byron's diaries, well known to Lermontov, with their special abstract philosophical language, aphoristic and epigrammatic style, a kind of combination of subjective-lyrical and objective-ironic narrative elements.

In the early work of Lermontov himself there are several sketches that can serve as an example of autobiographical prose; one of them, written under the impression of reading Byron's notes (“Another similarity in my life ...”), was included (with changes) in Pechorin's Journal (“Princess Mary”).

II. Issues

Let's name the main Topics novel. it generation of the 1830s; "an extra person"; Caucasus(nature, highlanders, Cossacks, Russian officers in the Caucasus, smugglers); secular society(“water society”).

The events of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" take place in the 1830s. As already noted, this was the time of the reaction that came after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. On the one hand, the results of the uprising revealed significant contradictions in the worldview of the opposition-minded nobility. The main contradiction was that the revolutionary educational ideas that underlay the ideology of the Decembrists did not find a response in Russia. Hence the disappointment of a significant part of the educated nobles in the very possibility of fruitful public service, pessimistic moods - up to complete disappointment in life. On the other hand, a sharp limitation of opportunities for opposition activity caused an intensification of philosophical searches among the educated nobility. In the image of Pechorin, in the problems of the novel, the modern era of Lermontov was reflected - in its tragic contradictions and philosophical searches.

The main problem of the novel is time hero problem. Creating the image of Pechorin, Lermontov sought to capture the main features of the character and worldview of his contemporary - a young educated nobleman who had lost the meaning of life. The reasons for the hero's pessimism, his loss of higher spiritual values, are explored by the writer in his work.

Comprehending the problem of the hero of time, Lermontov simultaneously raises such social, philosophical and moral questions as action and inaction, the meaning of knowledge of the world, predestination and free will, faith and unbelief, good and evil, the meaning of life, man and nature.

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" features critical pathos. The writer expressed his position in the preface to the second edition of the work: “The Hero of Our Time, my gracious sovereigns, is like a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” As in the Duma, Lermontov denounces the vices of his contemporaries, their inability to serve high ideals. Meanwhile, the author does not set himself the task of approving any ways to overcome the spiritual crisis of his generation: “The disease is indicated, but God knows how to cure it!”

At the same time, in the work of Lermontov, some facets are guessed moral ideal author . it free life in harmony with nature(the ideal of the "natural man" is partly embodied in the images of mountaineers and "honest smugglers"); struggle(it is no coincidence that the desire for action is the main character trait of Pechorin); worthy service to the fatherland(a vivid example of such service is Maksim Maksimych); true love and friendship(feelings that Pechorin does not believe in and which nevertheless often become the subject of his sad reflections); finally, Faith in God, the loss of which became a real tragedy for Pechorin and the entire generation of the 1830s.

One of the most important philosophical questions is the following: who rules the world, the will of man or divine predestination? As a result the problem of predestination and free will turns out central philosophical issue Lermontov novel. It is formulated by an unnamed officer in The Fatalist: “And if there is definitely predestination, then why are we given will, reason?”

The problem of predestination and free will is closely related to both the problem of action and the problem of cognition. That is why the story "The Fatalist", which formulates the problem of predestination and free will, occupies a key place in the work, completing Lermontov's novel. It cannot be said that Pechorin completely denies the existence of fate. Rather he does not want to recognize her power over him and constantly challenges her. The hero claims: “I always go forward bolder when I don’t know what awaits me.”

The motive of the struggle with fate sounds especially bright in Pechorin’s monologue, which concludes the story “Princess Mary”: “Why did I not want to set foot on this path, opened to me by fate, where quiet joys and peace of mind awaited me? No, I would not get along with this share! I am like a sailor, 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.

Closely related to the problem of predestination and free will is the problem of faith and unbelief.

In The Fatalist, Pechorin writes with irony about "wise people" who thought that "celestial bodies take part" in their lives. At the same time, the hero recognizes the enormous willpower that gave the ancestors "confidence that the whole sky ... looks at them with participation." Faith in Providence gave the departed generations strength and courage. The faith of the ancestors is opposed by the unbelief of the generation of the 1830s and - wider - new age people“And we, their pitiful descendants, wandering the earth without conviction and pride, we are no longer capable of great sacrifices either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness,” the hero notes. The loss of faith is the gravest mental illness that the Lermontov generation suffered from. This ailment to a large extent struck Pechorin.

The question of faith and unbelief is connected with problem of good and evil. Throwing down a challenge to God, Lermontov's hero inevitably casts doubt on those moral principles that are dictated by religion. First of all, we are talking about the Old Testament commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Pechorin allows himself to be killed. Adultery is conceived by him as a kind of life norm. As for the New Testament commandment of love, the hero even sneers at it: "I love enemies, although not in a Christian way." Loss of faith is inextricably linked with impoverishment of love. Losing the ability to love, Lermontov's hero inevitably gives himself to the service of evil.

III. Features of the plot and composition

G.V.N. both similar and unlike the traditional novel. It does not tell about an incident or an event with a plot and denouement that exhausts the action. Each story has its own plot. Closest to the traditional novel is the fourth story - "Princess Mary", however, its ending contradicts the Western European tradition and on the scale of the whole work is in no way a denouement, but implicitly motivates the situation of "Bela", placed in the general narrative in the first place. "Bela", "Taman", "Fatalist" abound in adventures, "Princess Mary" - intrigues: a short work, "A Hero of Our Time", unlike "Eugene Onegin", is oversaturated with action. It contains many conditional, strictly speaking, implausible, but just typical situations for novels. Maxim Maksimych has just told a random fellow traveler the story of Pechorin and Bela, and immediately they meet with Pechorin. In different stories, the heroes repeatedly eavesdrop and peep - without this there would be no story with smugglers, no exposure of the plot of the dragoon captain and Grushnitsky against Pechorin. The protagonist predicts his own death on the way, and so it happens. At the same time, "Maxim Maksimych" is almost devoid of action, it is primarily a psychological study. And all the various events are not valuable in themselves, but are aimed at revealing the character of the hero, revealing and explaining his tragic fate.

The same purpose is served by the compositional rearrangement of events in time. The action itself begins in the middle after the announcement of the death of the hero, which is highly unusual, and the previous events are described thanks to the journal after those that occurred later (however, the violation of the chronological sequence in the presentation of events is a feature of many romantic works). This intrigues the reader, makes him reflect on the riddle of Pechorin's personality, and explain to himself his "great oddities." But Lermontov did not need a consistent presentation of his biography. It is given in the form of a chain of life episodes, chronologically not following one after another. The sequence of short stories that make up the novel determines the reader's path to the hero, deeply thought out by the author. After an external, initial acquaintance, which occurs with the help of an outside observer, the reader, referring to the diary entries of the hero, forms his opinion about him already on the basis of his own story. The reader gradually, as it were, approaches the hero - from the general plan in "Bel" and "Maxim Maksimych" to detailed descriptions of "Pechorin's Journal", from the external image of the character to the image of the "inner" person. Belinsky considered the composition of A Hero of Our Time justified by the psychological content of the novel, parts of which are "arranged in accordance with internal necessity." “Despite its (the novel, - Ed.) episodic fragmentation, it cannot be read in the order in which the author himself placed it,” Belinsky wrote, “otherwise you will read two excellent stories and several excellent stories, but you will not know the novel ".

In the Journal of Pechorin, the characterization of the hero is based mainly on his own confessions, on his confession - this is evidence of the closeness of the Journal of Pechorin to the French confessional novel (B. Constant, A. de Musset). In the center of the "Journal of Pechorin", therefore, is the history of the "inner man", the history of his intellectual and spiritual life.

As the events are presented, as they are presented in the novel, Pechorin's bad deeds accumulate, but his guilt is less and less felt and his dignity more and more emerge. In "Bel" he, on his whim, commits, in essence, a series of crimes, although according to the concepts of the nobility and officers who participated in Caucasian war, they are not such, in "The Fatalist" Pechorin accomplishes a real feat, capturing a Cossack killer, whom they already wanted to "shoot" in fact in front of his mother, without giving him the opportunity to repent, even though he is "not a cursed Chechen, but an honest Christian" (Esaul's words).

Of course, the change of narrators plays an important role. Maxim Maksimych is too simple to understand Pechorin, he basically sets out external events. The great monologue of Pechorin about his past, transmitted by him, is conditionally (realistic poetics has not yet been developed) motivated: “So he spoke for a long time, and his words stuck in my memory, because for the first time I heard such things from a 25-year-old man, and, God willing, in the last ... "The writer, observing Pechorin with his own eyes, is a man of his circle, he sees and understands much more than the old Caucasian. But he is deprived of direct sympathy for Pechorin, the news of whose death he was "very pleased" with the opportunity to print a journal and "put his name over someone else's work." Let this be a joke, but on a very gloomy occasion. Finally, Pechorin himself fearlessly, without trying to justify anything, talks about himself, analyzes his thoughts and actions. In "Taman" events are still in the foreground, in "Princess Mary" experiences and reasoning are no less significant ("The fog is clearing, the riddle is solved," Belinsky notes), and in "The Fatalist" the very title of the story contains a philosophical problem. At the same time, the task of psychological analysis alone cannot explain either “ fragmentation» compositions of the work, nor places in him story "The Fatalist", which is known to end the novel.

Why is the "Fatalist" placed at the end of all the stories about Pechorin? This is explained philosophical problems Lermontov novel.

With all obviousness, it can be argued that the events of the "Hero of Our Time" do not reflect the smooth, even flow of life(as it was in "Eugene Onegin", where "time is calculated according to the calendar"). Caucasian adventures of Pechorin present chain of experiments on life; they are called not an objective necessity, but personal will a hero possessed by an insatiable thirst for action. The kidnapping of Bela, the duel with the smuggler girl, the intrigue with Princess Mary, the duel with Grushnitsky, the challenges to fate in the Fatalist unrelated in time, but they connected by the unity of the philosophical problems of the novel. These events lead the reader to understand main philosophical question set by Lermontov in "A Hero of Our Time": who rules the world, human will or fate? Pechorin constantly challenges fate, is constantly in a struggle with it. In The Fatalist, in the mortal struggles of the heroes with fate described in this story, the problem of predestination and free will finds artistic completion- this is where the novel ends.

But the most important thing, for the sake of which events are rearranged in time, is how Pechorin leaves the novel. We know that he "was exhausted" and died young. However, the novel ends with the only act of Pechorin that is worthy of him. We say goodbye not only to the "hero of the time", but also to a real hero who could have done wonderful deeds, had his fate been different. This is how he, according to Lermontov, should be remembered by the reader most of all. The compositional technique expresses the hidden optimism of the author, his faith in man.

The main questions posed by the author in the novel

Any work of art is always a lot of problems. The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov is no exception. The poet tries to answer timeless questions that concern people from era to era: what is the meaning of life for a person, happiness, good and evil, dignity and honor, what place does love and friendship take. The themes dictated by the time in which the author and his hero live are very important: the destiny of man, freedom of choice, individualism. All this defines the problematics of the "Hero of Our Time".

How can we, readers, determine the range of the main questions of a brilliant work, which of the characters will surely help us to identify them? Main character. In A Hero of Our Time, the problems of the novel are “highlighted” precisely in the character of Pechorin, simultaneously reflecting both the personality of Lermontov himself and his world outlook.

Philosophical problems in the novel "A Hero of Our Time"

"Why did I live? for what purpose was I born? - Pechorin asks this question and cannot find an answer. The vainness of existence burdens the hero, vegetation is not suitable young man who feels "in the soul of immense strength."

Trying to plunge into the fullness of life, Pechorin unwittingly becomes the culprit of the destruction of the destinies of various people. Bela dies, whose fate is broken for the sake of selfishness, the whim of Pechorin. Maksim Maksimych is offended mental callousness your friend. " Honest smugglers forced to hide, the fate of the old woman and the blind man is unknown. “Yes, and what do I care about human joys and misfortunes! ..” - and in this exclamation Pechorin's individualism becomes especially understandable. We, the readers, follow how inventively tempts Grigory Mary, having no serious intentions, how he acts in relation to Grushnitsky, how he enjoys undivided power over Vera ...

“I weigh, analyze my own passions and actions with strict curiosity, but without participation. There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him ... ”, - reading the lines of the magazine, we understand that individualism is a life program, the main driving force of Pechorin’s character, he is aware of what is happening . Longing for the “high purpose” that he could not “guess”, the protagonist of the novel analyzes his actions, deeds, moods. “I look at the sufferings and joys of others only in relation to myself, as food that supports my spiritual strength.”

The problematics of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" includes both the problem of the predestination of human destiny and the question of the origins of the individualism of the Lermontov generation. Where does Pechorin's individualism originate?

In the bet proposed by Lieutenant Vulich, the question was decided, "can a person arbitrarily dispose of his life." Pechorin, who claims that "there is no predestination," involuntarily changes his mind after the shot - too "the evidence was striking."

But he immediately stops himself in this faith, remembering that he has "the rule not to reject anything decisively and not to trust anything blindly." And later, tempting fate and endangering life, he sneers at human beliefs. And, as if challenging blind beliefs that deprive a person of freedom, true, inner freedom, he clearly indicates his true worldview: I know what awaits me…”

The meaning of life, the purpose of man, freedom of choice, individualism - these philosophical problems in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" were for the first time so clearly and accurately formulated by the poet, it is for this reason that Lermontov's work became the first philosophical novel of Russian literature of the 19th century.

The problem of happiness in "A Hero of Our Time"

Pechorin's whole life is in search of a clue to human happiness. With interest, he conducts a conversation with an undine singing his wonderful song, but the ease of relating to happiness is not for Pechorin. “Where it is sung, there one is happy”, “where it will not be better, it will be worse there, and again it is not far from bad to good”, - Gregory does not accept such a philosophy.

“What is happiness? Saturated pride,” he writes in the magazine. It would seem that the hero has everything to satiate his pride: they obey his will and love the people with whom fate brings. Faith loves faithfully, Mary is captivated by his charm and perseverance, is happy to be friends with Grigory Werner, Maxim Maksimych is attached to Pechorin, like a son.

Faced with completely different characters, Pechorin continuously tries to satiate his pride, but there is no happiness, instead of him time after time comes boredom and fatigue from life.

Among philosophical problems, the problem of happiness in A Hero of Our Time occupies an important place.

Moral problems in the novel "A Hero of Our Time"

not only philosophical, but also moral issues in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" are very significant. Lermontov writes “The History of the Human Soul”, therefore, on the pages of the work, we observe how Pechorin solves for himself the issues of good and evil, freedom of choice, responsibility, as he reflects on the possibility and place in his own life of love and friendship.

The love that Gregory longs for and strives for is incomprehensible to him. His love “brought happiness to no one”, because he loved “for his own pleasure”, simply absorbing the feelings and sufferings of people, not being saturated with them and giving nothing in return. Stories with Bela and Mary are a vivid confirmation of this.

Analyzing the ability for friendship, Pechorin concludes that he is “incapable of it either: of two friends, one is always the slave of the other,” he does not know how to be a slave, and considers managing others to be tedious work that requires deception. Having become a friend with Dr. Werner, Pechorin will never be able or will not want to let him into his inner world - he does not trust anyone.

In the soul of the protagonist, only fatigue, in his opinion, exhausted and "the heat of the soul, and the constancy of will necessary for real life; I entered this life, having already experienced it mentally, and I became bored and disgusted.

The modernity of the problems of the novel

We, the readers, do not accept much in the character of Pechorin, we simply cannot understand even more. It makes no sense to accuse the hero of selfishness and individualism, of wasting his life on empty passions and whims. Yes, the main character is like that, but is it an accident or the author's intention?

It is worth re-reading the preface of Lermontov himself to the novel, and finding the lines: “Enough people were fed with sweets ... bitter medicines, caustic truths are needed.” Pechorin is sincere in his skepticism, he does not put himself above everyone else, but genuinely suffers from the fact that he sees no way out, cannot find the ideal. He looked so deeply and explored his own soul that he does not feed on illusions, but courageously sees himself as he is. But without this, development and progress are impossible. Being a man of his time, he reflects the path that his generation had to take - to discard romantic illusions, insincere ideals, to learn a sober look at reality and himself, so that future generations can go further, seeing ideals and goals.

“You will tell me again that a person cannot be so bad, but I will tell you that if you believed the possibility of the existence of all tragic and romantic villains, why do you not believe in the reality of Pechorin? more truth than you would like?" Here it is, bitter medicine - Pechorin, whose worldview turns out to be a cleansing step into the future. The poet is right, morality wins from "caustic truths".

Philosophical and moral - these are the main problems raised in the "Hero of Our Time". They make us, readers, think about our own purpose in life, about the complex relationship between the world and man, they make this work alive, modern in any time and era.

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