Psychological portrait of Pechorin. Hero in the assessment of the second narrator - a wandering officer

To the question of the psychological portrait of Pecherin. Help. nothing comes to mind ... thanks given by the author Vitaly Yatsyshyn the best answer is Psychological portrait of Pechorin (based on the novel by Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time")
The image of the "hero of time", which was embodied in the lyrical element of Lermontov's poetry, in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" (1839) is revealed not only psychologically. Lermontov's novel is his attempt to analyze the state of modern society, to explore that moral atmosphere in which the sprouts of a new life ripen. Pechorin, the hero of his time, differs from all other characters in the novel in that he is the only one who knows how to take on the full burden of responsibility to judge not only the society around him, but also to be critical of himself. Lermontov presents the reader with the opportunity to study various aspects of life in their relationship with the fate of an individual, and consider the fate of a person against the backdrop of socio-historical circumstances ...
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Answer from Millet[active]
lone knight

Answer from chevron[guru]
P. is smart and well educated. He feels in his soul great strength, which he wasted in vain. "In this futile struggle, I have exhausted both 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, like someone who reads a bad imitation of him long ago famous book The author expresses the inner qualities of the hero through his appearance. drama. The hero's inner turmoil was especially clearly reflected in his attitude towards women. He steals the young Circassian Bela from her parents' house, enjoys her love for some time, but then she bothers him. Bela dies. He long and methodically attracts the attention of Princess Mary ". He is driven only by the desire to completely possess someone else's soul. When the hero achieves her love, he says that he is not going to marry her. At Mineralnye Vody, P. meets Vera, a woman who has loved him for many years. We learn that he has spent all her soul. P. is sincerely carried away, but extremely quickly he becomes bored, and he abandons people like a flower plucked along the way. swarm. Finally realizing that no one and nothing can make up the meaning of his life, P. is waiting for death. He found her on the road, upon his return from Persia. Pechorin received a secular upbringing, at first chasing social entertainment, but then disappointment awaits him, attempts to do science and cooling towards it. He is bored, indifferent to the world and is deeply dissatisfied with his life. Pechorin is a deep character. "A sharp chilled mind" is combined with him, with a thirst for activity and with willpower. He feels immense strength in himself, but wastes them on trifles, on love adventures without doing anything useful. Pechorin makes the people around him unhappy. So he interferes in the life of smugglers, takes revenge on everyone indiscriminately, plays with the fate of Bela, the love of Vera. He defeats Grushnitsky in a duel and becomes a hero of the society he despises. He is higher environment smart, educated. But internally devastated, disappointed. He lives "out of curiosity", on the one hand, and on the other, he has an ineradicable thirst for life. The character of Pechorin is very contradictory. He says: "For a long time I have been living not with my heart, but with my head." At the same time, having received Vera's letter, Pechorin, like a madman, rushes to Pyatigorsk, hoping to see her at least once more. He painfully looks for a way out, thinks about the role of fate, seeks understanding among people of a different circle. And he does not find a sphere of activity, application of his forces. The complex aspects of the hero's mental life are of interest to the author. This helps us understand the ideological and spiritual life of Russian society in the 1930s. This was reflected in the skill of Lermontov, the creator of the first psychological novel. The tragedy of Pechorin is the tragedy of many of his contemporaries, who are similar to him in their way of thinking, in their position in society.

Answer from push through[active]
The central place in the story is occupied by the psychological portrait of Pechorin, which emphasizes the inconsistency in the external and internal world of the hero. In external contradictions the second narrator, more observant than Maxim Maksimych, sees a reflection of the contradictions of the inner character: “his slender, thin frame and broad shoulders proved a strong constitution, capable of enduring all difficulties nomadic life and climate change, not conquered by debauchery metropolitan life, nor spiritual storms”, “his dusty velvet frock coat, buttoned only on the two lower buttons, made it possible to discern the dazzling clean linen which exposed the habits of a decent person. “His gait was careless and lazy, but I noticed that he did not wave his arms, a sure sign of some secretiveness of character.” “When he sank down on the bench, his straight frame bent, as if he did not have a single bone in his back; the position of his whole body showed some kind of nervous weakness.” “At first glance at his face, I would not have given him more than 23 years, although after that I was ready to give him 30 ... Despite light color his hair, mustache and eyebrows were black, a sign of breed in a man, just like a black mane and a black tail on a white horse. “There was something childish about his smile... but his eyes didn't laugh when he laughed.” These descriptions provide some insight into inner world Pechorin. The narrator pays special attention to the eyes: “Because of the half-drooped eyelashes, they shone with some kind of phosphorescent brilliance ... it was a brilliance like the brilliance of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold, his gaze was short, but penetrating and heavy.”

In the novel A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov touches on the same problems that often sound in his lyrics: why can't smart and energetic people find a place for themselves in life, why do they "get old in inaction"? The novel consists of five parts: "Bela", "Maxim Maksimych", "Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist". Each of them is an independent work and at the same time is part of the novel. The central place in all the stories is occupied by the image of a young officer Pechorin. It is no coincidence that the action of the novel takes place in the Caucasus, where at that time people were exiled who were critical of the autocracy. As you know, Pushkin and Lermontov were exiled there. Pechorin belongs to this category of people. Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin, a young man of about twenty-five. In several places of the novel, the author gives a description of the appearance of the hero, indicating some of its features with character. For the first time, Pechorin appears in the novel before Maxim Maksimych in the fortress beyond the Terek ("Bela"): "He came to me in full uniform ... He was so thin, white, his uniform was so brand new." In "Maxim Maksimych" we learn that Pechorin was of medium height, slender; "... broad shoulders proved a strong build, able to endure all the difficulties of nomadic life and climate change ...". In Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin is a civilian, retired. Dressed in a velvet coat, dazzlingly clean linen. His gait was "sloppy and lazy". He did not wave his arms, which the author considers a sign of a secret character. Pechorin has blond hair, a mustache and eyebrows - black, a slightly upturned nose, white teeth, brown eyes. The eyes "...didn't laugh when he laughed." About the endurance of Pechorin, Maxim Maksimych explains that in the rain he could spend the whole day hunting. In "Maxim Maksimych" we learn that Pechorin was of medium height, slender; "... broad shoulders proved a strong build, able to endure all the difficulties of nomadic life and climate change ...". In Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin is a civilian, retired. Dressed in a velvet coat, dazzlingly clean linen. His gait was "sloppy and lazy". He did not wave his arms, which the author considers a sign of a secret character. Pechorin has blond hair, a mustache and eyebrows - black, a slightly upturned nose, white teeth, brown eyes. The eyes "...didn't laugh when he laughed." About the endurance of Pechorin, Maxim Maksimych explains that in the rain he could spend the whole day hunting.

Revealing the complex and controversial nature of Pechorin, the author shows us him in different life situations, in a clash with people of different social strata and nationalities: with smugglers, with mountaineers, with a young aristocratic girl, with representatives of noble youth and others actors. Before us appears the image of a lonely, disappointed person who is at enmity with secular society, although he himself is part of it.

In Lermontov's poems, the image of such a person is drawn in romantic tones; the poet did not reveal in his lyrics the reasons for the appearance of such a hero. And in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" Lermontov portrays Pechorin realistically. The writer is trying to show how a person's character is influenced by the environment in which he lives. Pechorin has a lot in common with Eugene Onegin from the novel of the same name in Pushkin's verse. However, Pechorin lives in a different time, he is a man of the thirties of the XIX century, and this man's disappointment in the society around him is stronger than that of Onegin.

Pechorin was born and raised in an aristocratic family. Nature endowed him with a sharp mind, a responsive heart and a strong will. But the best qualities of this person were not needed by society. “My best feelings, fearing ridicule,” says Pechorin, “I buried in the depths of my heart.” He fell in love and was loved; took up science, but soon realized that it does not give fame and happiness. And when he realized that in society there is neither selfless love, nor friendship, nor fair humane relations between people, he got bored.

Pechorin is looking for thrills, adventures. Mind and will help him overcome obstacles, but he realizes that his life is empty. And this increases in him a feeling of longing and disappointment. Pechorin is well versed in the psychology of people, therefore he easily wins the attention of women, but this does not bring him a feeling of happiness. He, like Onegin, “is not created for the bliss of family life. He cannot and does not want to live like the people of his circle.

In the story of Princess Mary, whom Pechorin fell in love with, subjugated to his will, he appears both as a “cruel tormentor” and as a deeply suffering person. Exhausted Mary arouses in him a feeling of compassion. “It became unbearable,” he recalls, “another minute, and I would have fallen at her feet.”

Lermontov created a true image of his young contemporary, which reflected the features of a whole generation. In the preface to the novel, he wrote that Pechorin is “a portrait made up of the vices of our generation, in their full development.”

The title of the novel contains the writer's irony over his generation and over the time in which it lives. Pechorin, of course, is not a hero in the literal sense of the word. His work cannot be called heroic. A person who could benefit people is wasting his energy on empty pursuits.

The author does not seek to condemn Pechorin, nor to make him better than he is. It should be noted that M. Yu. Lermontov with great skill revealed the psychology of his hero. Critic N. G. Chernyshevsky noted that “Lermontov was interested in the psychological process itself, its form, its laws, the dialectics of the soul ...” He highly appreciated the role of Lermontov in the development of the socio-psychological novel and L. N. Tolstoy.

18. N.V. Gogol about the specifics of the genre nature of his comedies. new type comedy hero and comic techniques for his embodiment (“The Government Inspector” + 1 comedy of your choice).

The place of the "Inspector General" in his work and the level of artistic generalization to which he aspired while working on the comedy, Gogol revealed in the "Author's Confession" (1847). The "thought" of comedy, he stressed, belongs to Pushkin. Following Pushkin's advice, the writer "decided to put together everything bad in Russia<...>and laugh at everything at once." Gogol defined a new quality of laughter: in "The Government Inspector" - this is "high" laughter, due to the height of the spiritual and practical task facing the author. The comedy was a test of strength before working on a grandiose epic about modern Russia. After the creation of The Inspector General, the writer felt "the need for a complete essay, where there would be more than one thing that should be laughed at. Thus, The Inspector General is a turning point in Gogol's creative development.

In The Theater Journey, Gogol draws attention to the fact that the playwright must find a situation that would affect all the characters, would include in its orbit the most important life concerns of all actors - otherwise the characters simply will not be able to realize themselves in a few hours of stage action, to discover their character . Therefore, a calm, “flat” course of life in a drama is impossible - a conflict, an explosion, a sharp clash of interests are necessary. In addition, there can be no "extra" heroes not included in the conflict. But what then is the situation that the playwright must find in order to include all the characters in its orbit and show their characters? In other words, what can form the basis of a dramatic conflict? Love affair? “But it seems it’s time to stop relying so far on this eternal plot,” says the second lover of the arts, and Gogol with him. “It’s worth looking closely around. Everything has changed long ago in the world. , to shine and outshine at all costs another, to avenge neglect, for ridicule. Do not rank, money capital, advantageous marriage now have more electricity than love? But, leaving at the heart of the conflict of the "Inspector" and the rank, and a profitable marriage, and money capital, Gogol nevertheless finds a different plot, which has much more "electricity": "But everything can tie up," the second art lover sums up, fear of expectation, the storm of the far-reaching law..."

It is precisely this - "the very horror, the fear of expectation, the storm of the law going far away" that seizes officials - that forms the dramatic situation of "The Government Inspector". The play begins with the very first phrase of the Governor: "I invited you, gentlemen, in order to inform you of the unpleasant news: the auditor is coming to visit us." From that moment on, fear begins to bind the characters and grows from line to line, from action to action. The ever-increasing fear that seizes the officials in The Inspector General forms many comic situations. The mayor, giving orders, confuses words; going to the imaginary auditor, instead of a hat, he wants to put on a paper case. The comedy of the first meeting of the Governor with Khlestakov is determined by the situation of mutual fright, which makes both carry a complete nonsense: "Do not destroy! Wife, small children ... do not make a person unhappy," Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky pleads, sincerely forgetting that the little ones - then he has no children. Not knowing what to justify himself, he sincerely, just like a frightened child, admits his own uncleanliness: “Out of inexperience, by God, out of inexperience. Insufficiency of the state ... If you please, judge for yourself: the state salary is not even enough for tea and sugar ".

Fear immediately unites the heroes. Having tied up the action of the comedy with just one phrase, Gogol resorts to the technique of compositional inversion: the exposition and the plot have changed places. Preparations of officials for the arrival of the auditor, their conversations about what needs to be done and to whom, become an exposition from which we learn about the state of affairs in the city. But the exposition reveals not only the shortcomings in the city (tell us in detail which ones). It shows the most important contradiction that exists in the minds of officials: between dirty hands and an absolutely clear conscience. All of them are sincerely sure that every smart person "has sins", because he does not like to "miss that which floats into his hands." Exactly the same" smart person"They hope to meet in the auditor as well. Therefore, all their aspirations are not aimed at hastily correcting "sins", but at taking only cosmetic measures that could enable the auditor to turn a blind eye to the true state of affairs in the city - of course, for a certain remuneration. sincerely believes that "there is no person who would not have some sins behind him. It is already so arranged by God himself, and the Voltairians speak against it in vain. Everyone agrees with this, and the only objection that he meets comes from Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin: “What do you think, Anton Antonovich, are sins? Sins to sins - discord. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but why bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter. "The objection concerns only the form, but not the essence. It is in this openness and sincerity that this contradiction is manifested - between the understanding of one's "sins" and an absolutely clear conscience. - but the passion for dog hunting is great ... "Going to Khlestakov, the Governor reminds the officials:" Yes, if they ask why the church was not built at a charitable institution, for which five years ago the amount was allocated, then do not forget to say that it began to be built but burned out. I submitted a report on this. And then, perhaps, someone, forgetting, will foolishly say that it never even started.

Just as the Governor does not feel guilty and acts not out of malice, but because it is customary, so do the other heroes of The Government Inspector. Postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin opens other people's letters solely out of curiosity: "... I love to know what's new in the world. I'll tell you that this is an interesting read. ... better than in Moskovskie Vedomosti!"

The judge tries to instruct him: "Look, you will get someday for this." Shpekin is sincerely perplexed: "Ah, fathers!" He didn't think he was wrong. Gogol comments on this image in the following way: "The postmaster is a simple-minded to the point of naivety, looking at life as a collection of interesting stories to pass the time, which he reads in printed letters. There is nothing left for an actor to do but to be as simple-hearted as possible."

Gogol, creating a portrait of society and showing the imperfection of a person deprived of moral law, finds a new type of dramatic conflict. It would be natural to expect that the playwright would take the path of introducing into the conflict an ideological hero, say, a true inspector who serves "the cause, not the persons", who professes true ideas about the appointment of a person and is able to expose the officials of the county town. So, for example, he built the conflict "Woe from Wit" A.S. Griboyedov, showing the failure of the Famus society, confronting him with the hero-ideologist, Chatsky, who expresses true understanding duty and honor. Gogol's innovation lies in the fact that he refuses the genre of comedy with a tall hero, relatively speaking, removes Chatsky from the play.

This determined a fundamentally new character of the dramatic conflict. In comedy there is neither a hero-ideologist, nor a conscious deceiver who leads everyone by the nose. The officials themselves are deceiving themselves, literally imposing the role of a significant person on Khlestakov, forcing him to play it. Heroes, courting Khlestakov in every possible way, rush to nowhere, in pursuit of emptiness, a mirage. It is this circumstance that compels Yu. Mann to speak of a "mirage intrigue" which turns into a situation of delusion in The Inspector General.

A mirage intrigue ensues when Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky appear with news of the auditor.

Dobchinsky’s words (“He! He doesn’t pay money and doesn’t go. Who would be if not him? And the road is registered in Saratov”), supported by Bobchinsky’s remarks (“He, he, by golly he ... Such an observant one: I looked at everything. I saw that Peter Ivanovich and I were eating salmon ... so he looked into our plates. I was filled with fear "), for a completely incomprehensible reason, they convince officials that Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov is hiding "damned incognito". When Khlestakov appears, the mirage seems to materialize. In the scene of the Gorodnichiy's first meeting with him, the comedy of which is based on a situation of mutual fright, the Gorodnichiy loses all doubts about this. And why? After all, everything does not speak in favor of Khlestakov, and even the Governor notices this: "But what a nondescript, short one, it seems, he would have crushed him with a fingernail." But he does not attach any importance to his observations, and only reading a letter to the "soul of Tryapichkin" will reveal the truth to him. The mirage intrigue lies in the transformation of Khlestakov into a significant person, into a statesman, that is, in filling a complete void with fictional content. Its development is due not only to the fear and illogical thinking of officials, but to certain qualities of Khlestakov himself. Khlestakov is not just stupid, but "ideally" stupid. After all, it does not immediately occur to him why he is so received in this city. "I love cordiality," he says, oversleeping after Gorodnichy's reception, "and I, I confess, like it better if they please me from a pure heart, and not out of interest." If the melting fear that obscures the mind is forced to take "icicle, rag", "helicopter dust" for the auditor. If it weren’t for Osip, who immediately inquires about another exit in the Gorodnichiy’s house, and then strongly advises the master to leave (“By God, it’s time already”), believing that they are still pleasing “out of interest”, then he simply could not understand that staying longer is dangerous. He was never able to understand who he was being mistaken for: in a letter to Tryapichkin, he assures that he was "according to his Petersburg physiognomy and costume" taken for the governor-general (and by no means for the auditor). Such innocence and unintentionality allow him not to deceive anyone: he simply plays the roles that officials impose on him. In a few minutes, in the scene of Khlestakov's lies (act three, scene VI), the mirage grows to incredible proportions. In a few minutes, in front of the eyes of officials, Khlestakov makes a dizzying career. His exaggerations are purely quantitative: "700 rubles worth of watermelon", "thirty-five thousand one couriers." Having received an imaginary opportunity to write something for himself from Paris, Khlestakov receives only ... soup in a saucepan, which arrived on a steamer directly from Paris. Such requests clearly characterize the poverty of nature. Being "on a friendly footing with Pushkin," he cannot come up with a topic for conversation with him ("Well, brother Pushkin?" - "Yes, brother," he used to answer, "that's how everything is somehow ..."). Due to Khlestakov’s unintentionality, it is difficult to catch him in a lie - he, lying, easily gets out of a difficult situation: “As you run up the stairs to your fourth floor, you will only say to the cook:“ On, Mavrushka, overcoat ... Well, I’m lying - I forgot that I live in the mezzanine. In "Remarks for gentlemen actors" Gogol writes that Khlestakov's speech is "jerky, and words fly out of his mouth quite unexpectedly" - even for himself. That is why he so easily corrects his lies - just not thinking about the plausibility.

Building a comedy on a situation of fear and self-deception of officials, Gogol, nevertheless, does not refuse a love affair, or rather, parodies it. But still, the ideological and compositional role of love intrigue lies elsewhere. With it, another mirage, as it were, materializes, comes close to the officials - the image of St. Petersburg, longed for, alluring. Thanks to imaginary matchmaking, it becomes almost a reality: the Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky family almost moves to St. Petersburg, Anna Andreevna dreams of a special "ambergris" in her room, the Governor tries on a sash over his shoulder. The materialized mirage of St. Petersburg is concretized in the naive reflections of the characters.

The image of Petersburg is introduced into the comedy in different ways. Khlestakov talks about his position in the city, lying, the image of the capital appears in his letter to the "soul of Tryapichkin", officials dream of him, Osip shares his memories of the city. In both cases, this is a city based on fear, a “fearful” city, only in one case is Khlestakov afraid of the state council, department, where, when he appears, “it’s just an earthquake, everything trembles and shakes like a leaf,” and in In another case, he himself is afraid of a confectioner who can drag him by the collar "about the pies eaten at the expense of the income of the English king." Petersburg and the Gorodnichiy think in the same way. The only hero who does not feel fear at the mention of Petersburg is Osip: he stands outside the bureaucratic hierarchy based on fear, and he has nothing to be afraid of.

And when both mirages, on the materialization of which the mirage intrigue is built, acquire an almost material embodiment (a thunderstorm with the auditor turns into an incredible win, the matchmaking took place, and the Governor is about to receive a new, Petersburg appointment), the whole building begins to fall apart: two imaginary denouements follow (departure Khlestakov and reading the letter) and then already - the true denouement, the "silent scene", which in a completely different light represents the meaning of the comedy. The importance Gogol attached to the "silent scene" is also evidenced by the fact that he defines its duration as one and a half minutes, and in "An Excerpt from a Letter ... to a Writer" he even speaks of two or three minutes of "petrification" of the characters. . According to the laws of the stage, one and a half, and even more so three minutes of immobility is an eternity. What is the ideological and compositional role of the "silent scene"?

One of the most important ideas of The Inspector General is the idea of ​​inevitable spiritual retribution, the judgment of which no person can escape. Therefore, the "silent scene" acquires a broad symbolic meaning, which is why it does not lend itself to any unambiguous interpretation. That is why the interpretation of the "silent scene" is so varied. It is interpreted as an artistically embodied image doomsday, before which a person cannot justify himself with references to the fact that every smart person "has sins"; draw analogies between the “silent scene” and Karl Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”, the meaning of which Gogol himself saw in the fact that the artist refers to the situation of a strong “crisis felt by the whole mass” using historical material. A similar crisis is experienced in the moment of shock by the characters of The Inspector General, like the heroes of Bryullov's painting, when "the whole group, which stopped at the moment of impact and expressed thousands of different feelings," is captured by the artist at the last moment of earthly existence. Already later, in 1846, in dramatic excerpts "The denouement of the Inspector General," Gogol offered a completely different interpretation of the "silent" scene. “Look closely at this city, which is shown in the play!” says the First comic actor. “Everyone agrees that there is no such city in all of Russia ... Well, what if this is our soulful city and he is sitting each of us?.. Whatever you say, but the auditor who is waiting for us at the door of the fob is terrible. As if you don’t know who this auditor is? Why pretend? This auditor is our awakened conscience, which will make us suddenly and at once look at everything eyes on ourselves. Nothing will hide before this auditor, because by the Nominal Supreme command he was sent and announced about him when it will not be possible to take a step back. Suddenly, such a monster will open before you, in you, that from horror a hair will rise. It is better to make an audit of everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it.

One way or another, but the appearance of a gendarme, announcing the arrival from St. Petersburg "at the nominal order" of the already real auditor, "strikes everyone like thunder," the author's remark says. "A sound of amazement unanimously emanates from the ladies' lips; the whole group, suddenly remains petrified."

Gogol believed that the power of laughter can be changed to better world and man in this world. That is why the laughter in "The Government Inspector" is predominantly satirical, aimed at denying the ridiculed vice. Satire, according to Gogol, is called upon to correct human vices, and this is its high social significance. Such an understanding of the role of laughter determines its focus not on a specific person, official, not on a specific county town, but on the vice itself. Gogol shows how terrible the fate of a person struck by him. This predetermines another feature of the funny in the play: the combination of the comic with the drama, which lies in the discrepancy between the original high destiny of a person and his unrealized, exhaustedness in the pursuit of life's mirages. The final monologue of Gorodnichiy and the imaginary courtship of Khlestakov are full of drama, but the tragic culmination, when the comic completely fades into the background, becomes a "silent scene". The artistic world of Gogol is inherent in the grotesque. Clarify your ideas about the grotesque. Grotesque, exaggeration, sharply violating real features, which turns out to be akin to fantastic. In this case, it is often not the phenomenon as a whole that is exaggerated, but some of its facets, which further violates the actual proportions, distorts the object. In The Inspector General, much is built on exaggeration: fantastically exaggerated, brought to the "ideal" not only Khlestakov's stupidity, but the universal, in essence, desire to appear at least a little higher than you really are. The situation of delusion is comically exaggerated. But the main thing in which Gogol's grotesque was realized was a mirage intrigue, highlighting in a fantastic glare the absurdity of human life in its pursuit of numerous mirages, when the best human forces are wasted in an effort to overtake the void, so brilliantly embodied by Khlestakov. The petrification of the "silent scene" emphasizes, grotesquely highlights the illusiveness, the mirage of goals, the achievement of which sometimes takes a lifetime.

Pechorin is an ambiguous personality

The image of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov is an ambiguous image. It cannot be called positive, but it is not negative either. Many of his actions are worthy of condemnation, but it is also important to understand the motives of his behavior before making an assessment. The author called Pechorin a hero of his time, not because he recommended to be equal to him, and not because he wanted to ridicule him. He just showed a portrait typical representative that generation - extra person”- so that everyone can see what the social structure that disfigures the personality leads to.

Qualities of Pechorin

Knowledge of people

Can such a quality of Pechorin as an understanding of the psychology of people, the motives of their actions, be called bad? Another thing is that he uses it for other purposes. Instead of doing good, helping others, he plays with them, and these games, as a rule, end tragically. This was the end of the story with the mountain girl Bela, whom Pechorin persuaded her brother to steal. Having achieved the love of a freedom-loving girl, he lost interest in her, and soon Bela fell victim to the vengeful Kazbich.

Playing with Princess Mary also did not lead to anything good. Pechorin's intervention in her relationship with Grushnitsky resulted in broken heart princesses and death at the duel of Grushnitsky.

Ability to analyze

Pechorin demonstrates a brilliant ability to analyze in a conversation with Dr. Werner (chapter "Princess Mary"). He absolutely logically calculates that Princess Ligovskaya was interested in him, and not her daughter Mary. “You have a great gift for thinking,” Werner notes. However, this gift again does not find a worthy application. Pechorin could possibly do scientific discoveries, but he became disillusioned with the study of science, because he saw that in his society no one needed knowledge.

Independence from the opinions of others

The description of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" gives many a reason to accuse him of mental callousness. It would seem that he acted badly towards his old friend Maxim Maksimych. Upon learning that his colleague, with whom they ate more than one pood of salt together, stopped in the same city, Pechorin did not rush to meet him. Maxim Maksimych was very upset and offended by him. However, Pechorin is to blame, in fact, only for not living up to the old man's expectations. "Am I not the same?" - he reminded, nevertheless embracing Maxim Maksimych in a friendly way. Indeed, Pechorin never tries to portray himself as someone he is not, just to please others. He prefers to be rather than seem, always honest in the manifestation of his feelings, and from this point of view, his behavior deserves all approval. He also does not care what others say about him - Pechorin always does as he sees fit. AT modern conditions such qualities would be invaluable and would help him quickly achieve his goal, to fully realize himself.

Bravery

Courage and fearlessness are character traits due to which one could say “Pechorin is the hero of our time” without any ambiguity. They also appear on the hunt (Maxim Maksimych witnessed how Pechorin “went on a boar one on one”), and in a duel (he was not afraid to shoot with Grushnitsky on conditions that were obviously losing for him), and in a situation where it was necessary to pacify the raging drunken Cossack (chapter "The Fatalist"). "... worse than death nothing will happen - and you will not escape death, ”Pechorin believes, and this conviction allows him to move forward more boldly. However, even the mortal danger he faced daily on Caucasian war, did not help him cope with boredom: he quickly got used to the buzz of Chechen bullets. It's obvious that military service was not his calling, and therefore brilliant abilities Pechorin in this area have not found further application. He decided to travel in the hope of finding a remedy for boredom "through storms and bad roads."

pride

Pechorin cannot be called conceited, greedy for praise, but he is proud enough. He is very hurt if a woman does not consider him the best and prefers another. And he strives by all means, by any means, to win her attention. This happened in the situation with Princess Mary, who at first liked Grushnitsky. From the analysis of Pechorin, which he himself does in his journal, it follows that it was important for him not so much to achieve the love of this girl as to recapture her from a competitor. “I also confess that an unpleasant, but familiar feeling ran lightly at that moment through my heart; this feeling - it was envy ... it is unlikely that there will be a young man who, having met a pretty woman who riveted his idle attention and suddenly clearly distinguishes another, who is equally unfamiliar to her, I say, there is hardly such a young man (of course, who lived in high society and accustomed to indulge his vanity), who would not be unpleasantly struck by this.

Pechorin loves to achieve victory in everything. He managed to switch Mary's interest to his own person, make the proud Bela his mistress, get a secret date from Vera, and outplay Grushnitsky in a duel. If he had a worthy job, this desire to be the first would allow him to achieve tremendous success. But he has to give vent to his leadership in such a strange and destructive way.

selfishness

In the essay on the topic “Pechorin - the hero of our time”, one cannot fail to mention such a trait of his character as selfishness. He does not really care about the feelings and fates of other people who have become hostages of his whims, for him only the satisfaction of his own needs matters. Pechorin did not even spare Vera - the only woman who he thought he truly loved. He put her reputation at risk by visiting her at night in the absence of her husband. A vivid illustration of his dismissive, selfish attitude is his beloved horse, driven by him, who did not manage to catch up with the carriage with the departed Vera. On the way to Essentuki, Pechorin saw that “instead of a saddle, two ravens were sitting on his back.” Moreover, Pechorin sometimes enjoys the suffering of others. He imagines how Mary, after his incomprehensible behavior, "will spend the night without sleep and will cry", and this thought gives him "immense pleasure". “There are moments when I understand the Vampire…” he admits.

Pechorin's behavior is the result of the influence of circumstances

But can this bad character trait be called innate? Is Pechorin flawed from the very beginning, or was the living conditions made him so? Here is what he himself told Princess Mary: “... such was my fate from childhood. Everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings, which were not there; but they were supposed - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of slyness: I became secretive ... I was ready to love the whole world - no one understood me: and I learned to hate ... I spoke the truth - they did not believe me: I began to deceive ... I became a moral cripple.

Being in an environment that does not match his inner essence, Pechorin is forced to break himself, to become what he is not in reality. That's where this internal inconsistency, which left an imprint on his appearance. The author of the novel draws a portrait of Pechorin: laughter with non-laughing eyes, a daring and at the same time indifferently calm look, a straight frame, limp, like a Balzac young lady, when he sat down on a bench, and other "inconsistencies".

Pechorin himself realizes that he makes an ambiguous impression: “Some revere me worse, others better than I really am ... Some will say: he was a kind fellow, others a bastard. Both will be false." But the truth is that under the influence of external circumstances, his personality has undergone such complex and ugly deformations that it is no longer possible to separate the bad from the good, the real from the false.

In the novel A Hero of Our Time, the image of Pechorin is a moral, psychological portrait of a whole generation. How many of its representatives, not finding a response in the surrounding “soul to wonderful impulses”, were forced to adapt, become the same as everyone around, or die. The author of the novel, Mikhail Lermontov, whose life ended tragically and prematurely, was one of them.

Artwork test

Speaking of Pechorin, one cannot fail to notice the similarity of this image with Eugene Onegin.
They both live on everything ready, enjoy all the benefits that the people have earned, and at the same time they are eternally unhappy. But their main difference is that Onegin is an eternally bored observer, and Pechorin is deeply suffering.
The hero of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" has impulsiveness, a desire to act, although he treats life philosophically. His thoughts may seem kind and compassionate, but this is deceptive, because there is nothing virtuous in his actions.
It is impossible to say unequivocally: positive Pechorin or negative. But that. that in his life there are no goals, as well as trailers and respect for others, involuntarily shows him not from the best side.
He cannot realize himself anywhere: he despises the world for hypocrisy, and ordinary people- for gullibility bordering on stupidity.
At the beginning of the work, in the part of "Bela", Pechorin, showing the "spirit of adventurism", succumbing to a burst of tenderness and other bright feelings ruins the lives of Azamat, Kazbich, Bela's father and, finally, Bela herself.
To exchange a girl for a stolen and beloved horse by Kazbich, in my opinion, is an act already unworthy of an officer. I do not think about the consequences, forgetting. that you cannot stand on someone else's grief of happiness, Gregory destroys and does not stop there. Having kidnapped Bela, he fell in love with the unfortunate girl, and then cooled down to her. He did not even hide his indifference, which once again indicates his selfish nature.
Bela's death was useful to Pechorin, and, probably, to herself too, because sooner or later Grigory would have left her and it would have been an even more tragic death.
It is from this that the image of Pechorin is not particularly positive: a cunning egoist who does not think about the consequences, besides, he does not even have the courage to admit to himself his crimes, justifying himself. And, of course, Grigory Aleksandrovich is very worried, but this does not justify him to some extent.
In the next chapter, Pechorin again showed himself on the bad side. Arrogant and dismissive attitude towards people who helped him and just treated him well, make Pkechorin in my eyes a moral monster, unable to sympathize, not having a sense of gratitude.
In the story "Taman" Gregory demonstrates his participation and indifference, but alas, so clumsily that he destroys everything again. After his "heroic" intervention, the blind child was left completely alone and useless.
Further, Grigory Alexandrovich also spoils everything in different situations, but always after his intervention or even just his presence, everything is broken, useless, dirty.
This man was able to do something nasty even to his beloved Vera, and again no thoughts and feelings could keep his evil nature.
And summing up the analysis of the image, we can say that this vividly described personality has nothing to justify his low deeds. Everything that he despised in people he himself had in abundance: both hypocrisy and stupidity.
Everything good in these people fades against the backdrop of arrogance, cruelty and recklessness. All the correct thoughts of Pechorin did not carry any good.
And in our time there are such people, and I avoid them, because there is little human in them and one cannot count on the kindness of the Pechorins.

Reply

• - Who introduces Pechorin to us in the chapter "Maxim Maksimych"?
• (The conditional author, "publisher" of Pechorin's diary continues the story.)
• - What did the wandering officer in the guise of Pechorin see?
• (The appearance of the hero is woven from contradictions. His portrait explains the character of Pechorin, testifies to his fatigue and coldness, to unspent forces. Observations convinced the narrator of the richness and complexity of the character of this person.

"... his slender, thin frame and broad shoulders proved a strong constitution, capable of enduring all the difficulties of a nomadic life ..."

"... he did not wave his arms - a sure sign of some secrecy of character ..."

"... he was sitting like a thirty-year-old coquette Balzakova sits on her downy armchairs after a tiring ball ..."

“…his skin had a kind of feminine tenderness…”

"... his mustache and eyebrows were black - a sign of breed in a person ..."

“…About the eyes, I have to say a few more words.

First, they didn't laugh when he laughed! Have you ever noticed such strangeness in some people? .. This is a sign - either an evil disposition, or a deep constant sadness.

"... had one of those original physiognomies that are especially liked by secular women ...".)

• - Lermontov creates a detailed psychological portrait, the first in Russian literature. A psychological portrait is a characterization of a hero, where the author presents external details in a certain sequence and immediately gives them a psychological and social interpretation. A psychological portrait, in contrast to verbal drawing, gives us an idea of ​​the inner essence of the hero.
• - What is the role of the portrait of Pechorin?
• (The portrait of the hero explains the character of the hero, his contradictions, testifies to the fatigue and coldness of Pechorin, the unspent forces of the hero. Observations convince the narrator of the richness and complexity of the character of this person. In this immersion in the world of his thoughts, the suppression of Pechorin's spirit is the key to understanding his alienation at a meeting with Maxim Maksimych.)
• - Can we talk about cruel attitude Pechorin to Maxim Maksimych?
• ("... he wanted to throw himself on Pechorin's neck, but he rather coldly, although with a friendly smile, extended his hand to him." But maybe he just didn't want someone to invade his inner world? "Do you remember our life- being in a fortress? A glorious country for hunting! .. After all, you were a passionate hunter to shoot ... And Bela? .. Pechorin turned a little pale and turned away ... "Pechorin does not run from Maxim Maksimych, he runs from his sad thoughts. what changed in the hero after leaving the fortress: his indifference to life intensified, he became more withdrawn.)
• - Do we understand the hero, because we considered the point of view of both Maxim Maksimych and the wandering officer?
• (The hero is certainly interesting. The more mysterious, the more interesting. Pechorin has a strong personality, he is endowed with charm, but there is something in him that worries the reader. He is both strong and weak, hardened and pampered. He is able to fight for love - and he quickly cools down, does not know how to love for a long time.