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✪ M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" (meaningful analysis) | Lecture #34

✪ HERO of our time. Mikhail Lermontov

✪ Lermontov. The complexity of Pechorin in "A Hero of Our Time". Russian classics. Start

✪ "Hero of our time". History of creation. Composition | Russian Literature Grade 9 #30 | info lesson

✪ "Hero of our time" / Summary and parsing

Subtitles

Structure of the novel

The novel consists of several parts, the chronological order of which is broken. Such an arrangement serves special artistic tasks: in particular, at first Pechorin is shown through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, and only then we see him from the inside, according to entries from the diary.

• Foreword
• PART ONE
  • I. Bela
  • II. Maksim Maksimych
• Pechorin's Journal
  • Foreword
  • I. Taman
• PART TWO ( End of Pechorin's journal)
  • II. Princess Mary
  • III. Fatalist

Chronological order of chapters

1. Taman
2. Princess Mary
3. Fatalist
4. Maksim Maksimych
5. Preface to "Pechorin's Journal"

Five years pass between the events of Bela and Pechorin's meeting with Maxim Maksimych in front of the narrator in Maxim Maksimych.

Also, in some scientific publications, "Bela" and "Fatalist" change places.

Plot

"Bela"

It is a nested story: the narration is led by Maxim Maksimych, who tells his story to an unnamed officer who met him in the Caucasus. Pechorin, bored in the wilderness, begins his service by stealing someone else's horse (thanks to the help of Azamat) and kidnapping Bela, the beloved daughter of the local prince (also with the help of Azamat in exchange for Kazbich's horse), which causes a corresponding reaction from the highlanders. But Pechorin does not care about this. A careless act of a young officer is followed by a collapse of dramatic events: Azamat leaves the family forever, Bela and her father die at the hands of Kazbich.

"Maxim Maksimych"

This part is adjacent to "Bela", has no independent novelistic significance, but is entirely important for the composition of the novel. With Pechorin here the reader meets face to face for the only time. The meeting of old friends did not take place: it is rather a fleeting conversation with the desire of one of the interlocutors to finish it as soon as possible.

The narrative is built on the contrast of two opposite characters - Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych. The portrait is given through the eyes of the officer-narrator. In this chapter, an attempt is made to unravel the "inner" Pechorin through the external "talking" features.

"Taman"

The story does not tell about Pechorin's reflection, but shows him from an active, active side. Here Pechorin unexpectedly becomes a witness to gang activity. At first, he thinks that a man who sailed from the other side is risking his life for something really valuable, but in fact he is just a smuggler. Pechorin is very disappointed by this. But still, leaving, he does not regret that he visited this place.

The main meaning in final words hero: “And why did fate throw me into a peaceful circle honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calmness and, like a stone, I almost sank myself!”

"Princess Mary"

The story is written in the form of a diary. In terms of vital material, “Princess Mary” is closest to the so-called “secular story” of the 1830s, but Lermontov filled it with a different meaning.

The story begins with the arrival of Pechorin in Pyatigorsk to the healing waters, where he meets Princess Ligovskaya and her daughter, called Mary in the English manner. In addition, here he meets his ex love Faith and friend Grushnitsky. Junker Grushnitsky, a poseur and secret careerist, acts as a contrasting character to Pechorin.

During his stay in Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk, Pechorin falls in love with Princess Mary and quarrels with Grushnitsky. He kills Grushnitsky in a duel and refuses Princess Mary. On suspicion of a duel, he is again exiled, this time to a fortress. There he meets Maxim Maksimych.

"Fatalist"

The case takes place in the Cossack village, where Pechorin arrives. He sits at a party, the company plays cards. They soon get fed up with this and start a conversation about predestination and fatalism, which some believe in, some do not. A dispute ensues between Vulich and Pechorin: Pechorin says that he sees obvious death on Vulich's face. As a result of the dispute, Vulich takes a gun and shoots himself, but a misfire occurs. Everyone goes home. Soon Pechorin learns about the death of Vulich: he was hacked to death with a sword by a drunken Cossack. Then Pechorin decides to try his luck and catch the Cossack. He breaks into his house, the Cossack shoots, but by. Pechorin grabs the Cossack, comes to Maxim Maksimych and tells him everything.

Main actors

Pechorin

Pechorin is a Petersburger. A military man, both in his rank and in his soul. He comes to Pyatigorsk from the capital. His departure to the Caucasus is connected with "some adventures." He ends up in the fortress where the action of "Bela" takes place after a duel with Grushnitsky, at the age of twenty-three. There he is in the rank of ensign. He was probably transferred from the guard to the army infantry or army dragoons.

The meeting with Maxim Maksimych takes place five years after the story with Bela, when Pechorin is already 28.

The surname Pechorin, derived from the name of the river Pechora, has a semantic affinity with Onegin's surname. Pechorin is a natural successor to Onegin, but Lermontov goes further: as r. Pechora north of the river. Onega, and the character of Pechorin is more individualistic than the character of Onegin.

The image of Pechorin

The image of Pechorin is one of the artistic discoveries of Lermontov. The Pechorin type is truly epochal, and above all because it received a concentrated expression of the features of the post-Decembrist era, when on the surface "only losses were visible, a cruel reaction", while inside "great work was being done ... deaf and silent, but active and uninterrupted ..." (Herzen, VII, 209-211). Pechorin is an extraordinary and controversial personality. He can complain about the draft, and after a while, jump with a saber unsheathed at the enemy. The image of Pechorin in the chapter “Maxim Maksimych”: “He was of medium height; 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 ... ".

Publication

The novel appeared in print in parts from 1838. The first complete edition was published in

• "Bela" was written in the city. The first publication was in "Notes of the Fatherland", March, vol. 2, No. 3.
• The Fatalist was first published in " Domestic notes» in 1839, vol. 6, no. 11.
• "Taman" was first published in "Notes of the Fatherland" in 1840, vol. 8, no. 2.
• "Maxim Maksimych" first appeared in print in the 1st separate edition of the novel in Moscow.
• "Princess Mary" first appeared in the 1st edition of the novel.
• The "Preface" was written in St. Petersburg in the spring of 2009 and first appeared in the second edition of the novel.

Illustrations

The book has been illustrated many times. famous artists, including Mikhail Vrubel (1890-1891), Ilya Repin, Evgeny Lansere, Valentin Serov (1891), Leonid Feinberg, Mikhail Zichi () , Pyotr Boklevsky, Dementy Shmarinov (1941), Nikolai Dubovsky (1890) and Vladimir Bekhteev ( 1939).

Origins and predecessors

• Lermontov deliberately overcame the adventurous romantic tradition of novels on Caucasian theme, given by Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky .
• Alfred de Musset's novel Confessions of a Son of the Century was published in 1836 and also tells about the "illness", meaning "the vices of the generation".
• Rousseau tradition and the development of the motive of European love for the "savage". For example, Byron, as well as Pushkin's "Gypsies" and "Prisoner of the Caucasus".
• Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin", " Prisoner of the Caucasus», « Captain's daughter"and so on.

Related works by Lermontov

Geography of the novel

The action of the novel takes place in the Caucasus. The main place is Pyatigorsk. And also some heroes are in Kislovodsk.

Caucasian peoples in the novel

Lermontov, being an officer of the Russian army that fought in the Caucasus, was very familiar with both army life and with the life and customs of the local population. When writing the novel, this knowledge was widely used by the writer, the picture of life in the Caucasus in the 1830s was reproduced in great detail, both by describing the traditions of the local population and the relationship between Russians and Caucasians. Already at the beginning of Bela, Maxim Maksimych shows the characteristic look of a Russian officer on the local population, as on "Asian rogues who take money for vodka from those passing by." Kabardians and Chechens are defined by Maxim Maksimych as "robbers and naked, but desperate heads", while they are opposed to the Ossetians, whom the staff captain characterizes as "stupid people, incapable of any education, in which you will not even see a decent dagger on anyone" .

In more detail in "Bel" Lermontov dwells on the life of the Circassians, in fact, almost the entire chapter is devoted to this.

Screen adaptations

The image of a lonely, disappointed man at war with society runs through all of Lermontov's work. In the lyrics and in early poems this image is given in a romantic manner, outside the social environment and real life. In "A Hero of Our Time" the problem strong personality, which does not know peace and does not find application for its forces, is solved by realistic means of writing.
IN romantic works usually the reasons for the hero's disappointment were not revealed. The hero carried “fatal secrets” in his soul. Often, a person’s disappointment was explained by the collision of his dreams with reality. So, Mtsyri dreamed of a free life in his homeland, but was forced to languish in a gloomy monastery resembling a prison.
Following Pushkin, who gave examples of realistic works of art, Lermontov showed that the character of a person is influenced by social conditions, the environment in which he lives. It is no coincidence that Lermontov portrayed the “water society” of Pyatigorsk, forcing Pechorin to recall the life of St. Petersburg high-society salons. Pechorin was not born a moral cripple. Nature gave him a deep, sharp mind, and a sympathetic heart, And a strong will. He is capable of noble impulses and humane deeds.
After the tragic death of Bela, "Pechorin was unwell for a long time, he lost weight." In the history of the quarrel with Grushnitsky, the positive traits his character. Here he accidentally learns about the vile plan of the dragoon captain. “If Grushnitsky didn’t agree, I would throw myself on his neck,” Pechorin admits. Before a duel, he is the first to express his readiness to reconcile with the enemy. Moreover, he provides “all the benefits” to Grushnitsky, in whose soul “a spark of generosity could wake up, and then everything would work out for the better.”
Pechorin was deeply touched by the moral torments of Princess Mary. Genuine is his feeling for Vera, who alone understood him "completely with all ... petty weaknesses, bad passions." His hardened heart warmly and passionately responds to the spiritual movements of this woman. At the mere thought that he could lose her forever, Vera became for him “more precious than anything in the world, more precious than life, honor, happiness.” Like a madman, he rushes on a lathered horse after the departed Vera. When the driven horse “slammed into the ground”, Pechorin, who did not flinch at the muzzle of a pistol, “fell on the wet grass and, like a child, wept.”
Yes, Lermontov's hero is not alien to deep human affections. However, in all life's encounters, good, noble impulses eventually give way to cruelty. “Since I live and act,” Pechorin argues, “fate somehow always led me to the denouement of other people's dramas, as if without me no one could die or despair. I was the necessary face of the fifth act: involuntarily I played the pitiful role of an executioner or a traitor.
Pechorin is guided only by personal desires and aspirations, not at all considering the interests of the people around him. “My first pleasure is to subordinate everything that surrounds me to my will,” he says. In Pechorin, the word does not disagree with the deed. He really plays "the role of an ax in the hands of fate." Bela is ruined, the good Maksim Maksimych is offended, the peace of the "peaceful" smugglers is disturbed, Grushnitsky is killed, Mary's life is broken!
Who is to blame for the fact that the wonderful makings of Pechorin died? Why did he become a moral cripple? Lermontov answers this question with the whole course of the story. The society is to blame, the social conditions in which the hero was brought up and lived are to blame.
“My colorless youth flowed in the struggle with myself and the world,” he says, “my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart; they died there.”
“In my first youth ...,” Pechorin tells Maxim Maksimych, “I began to enjoy furiously all the pleasures that money can get, and, of course, these pleasures disgusted me.” Entering the big world, he fell in love with beauties, but his heart "remained empty"; took up the sciences, but soon realized that “neither fame nor happiness depend on them at all, because the most happy people- t ignorant, and fame is luck, and in order to achieve it, you just need to be dexterous. “Then I got bored,” Pechorin admits and comes to the conclusion: “... my soul is corrupted by light.” It is hard for a gifted person, like Onegin,
To look at life as a ritual And follow the orderly crowd To go, not sharing with it Neither common opinions nor passions.
Pechorin says more than once that in the society in which he lives, there is neither disinterested love, nor true friendship, nor fair, humane relations between people, no meaningful social activities.
Disappointed, doubting everything, morally suffering Lermontov's hero is drawn to nature, which calms him down, gives him true aesthetic pleasure. Landscape sketches in Pechorin's Journal help to understand the complex, rebellious nature of the protagonist of the novel. They reinforce the motif of Pechorin's loneliness, deep emptiness and at the same time indicate that in the depths of his consciousness there lives a dream of a wonderful life worthy of a person. Taking a close look at the mountains, Pechorin exclaims: “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 are there passions, desires, regrets?” The description of the morning in which Pechorin's duel with Grushnitsky took place is colored with deep lyricism. “I remember,” remarks Pechorin, “this time, more than ever before, I loved nature.”
Lermontov created a truthful, typical image, which reflected the essential features of a whole generation. In the preface to the novel, the author writes that Pechorin is “a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov passes sentence young generation 30's. “Watch what the heroes of our time are like!” he says throughout the book. They "are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the Good of mankind, or even for their own ... happiness." This is a rebuke the best people era, and a call for civic exploits.
Lermontov deeply and comprehensively revealed inner world of his hero, his psychology, conditioned by time and environment, told “the history of the human soul”. “Hero of our time” is a social psychological novel.

Essay on literature on the topic: Genre of the novel “A Hero of Our Time”

Other writings:

1. Lermontov wrote that the history of a person's life is sometimes more interesting than history the whole people. In the novel “A Hero of Our Time”, he showed moments in the life of a person who is superfluous for his era. This person is Pechorin, who, due to circumstances, becomes “ an extra person". The writer reveals the reasons Read More ......
2. I am like a man who yawns at a ball, who does not go to bed just because his carriage is not yet there. But the carriage is ready... M. Lermontov Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" creates a portrait of a typical representative of the 30-40s of the XIX century. Pechorin, Read More ......
3. It is not known what the greatest Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov could have created if he had lived at least a little more than fate took him. Indeed, at the age of twenty-five, he managed not only to create the image of a hero in his time, relying on Read More ......
4. As you know, love is one of the spheres in which a romantic hero is realized. The ability to sincere, given feelings is the most important feature romantic hero. In the novel “A Hero of Our Time”, Pechorin passes the “test” of love, but does not stand it: none of the Read More ......
5. Lermontov began writing the novel A Hero of Our Time in 1838. Two years later, it came out as a separate edition and immediately aroused fierce controversy. Indeed, in this work, Lermontov, with the life of Pechorin, a young man of the 30s, answers the most important question: why do people Read More ......
6. The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time” is the first Russian psychological novel. Therefore, it is not so much the development of the plot that is important in it, but the development of the character of the protagonist. I would like to note that the plot-compositional construction of the “Hero of Our Time” is original and harmonious. However, it Read More ......
7. The novel "A Hero of Our Time" is the first realistic novel in the history of Russian literature with a deep philosophical content. In the preface to the novel, Lermontov writes that his novel is a portrait of “not one person, but a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation in Read More ......
8. “I don’t know the language better than Lermontov’s,” wrote Chekhov. The language of the novel is notable for its precise use Read More ......

The image of a lonely, disappointed man at war with society runs through all of Lermontov's work. In the lyrics and in early poems this image is given in a romantic manner, outside the social environment and real life. In A Hero of Our Time, the problem of a strong personality who does not know peace and does not find use for his strength is solved by realistic means of writing.

In romantic works, the reasons for the hero's disappointment were usually not disclosed. The hero carried "fatal secrets" in his soul. Often, a person’s disappointment was explained by the collision of his dreams with reality. So, Mtsyri dreamed of a free life in his homeland, but was forced to languish in a gloomy monastery resembling a prison.

Following Pushkin, who gave examples of realistic works of art, Lermontov showed that a person's character is influenced by social conditions, the environment in which he lives. It is no coincidence that Lermontov portrayed the "water society" of Pyatigorsk, forcing Pechorin to recall the life of St. Petersburg high-society salons. Pechorin was not born a moral cripple. Nature gave him a deep, sharp mind, and a sympathetic heart, And a strong will. He is capable of noble impulses and humane deeds.

After the tragic death of Bela, "Pechorin was unwell for a long time, he lost weight." In the history of the quarrel with Grushnitsky, the positive qualities of his character stand out in particular relief. Here he accidentally learns about the vile plan of the dragoon captain. “If Grushnitsky didn’t agree, I would throw myself on his neck,” Pechorin admits. Before the duel, he is again the first to express his readiness to reconcile with the enemy. Moreover, he provides "all the benefits" to Grushnitsky, in whose soul "a spark of generosity could wake up, and then everything would work out for the better."

Pechorin was deeply touched by the moral torments of Princess Mary. Genuine is his feeling for Vera, who alone understood him "completely with all ... petty weaknesses, bad passions." His hardened heart warmly and passionately responds to the spiritual movements of this woman. At the mere thought that he could lose her forever, Vera became for him "more precious than anything in the world, more precious than life, honor, happiness." Like a madman, he rushes on a lathered horse after the departed Vera. When the driven horse "slammed into the ground", Pechorin, who did not flinch at gunpoint, "fell on the wet grass and cried like a child."

Yes, Lermontov's hero is not alien to deep human affections. However, in all life's encounters, good, noble impulses eventually give way to cruelty. “Since I live and act,” Pechorin argues, “fate somehow always led me to the denouement of other people's dramas, as if without me no one could die or despair. I was the necessary face of the fifth act: involuntarily I played the pitiful role of an executioner or a traitor.

Pechorin is guided only by personal desires and aspirations, not at all considering the interests of the people around him. “My first pleasure is to subordinate everything that surrounds me to my will,” he says. In Pechorin, the word does not disagree with the deed. He really plays "the role of an ax in the hands of fate." Bela is ruined, the good Maxim Maksimych is offended, the peace of "peaceful" smugglers is disturbed, Grushnitsky is killed, Mary's life is broken!

Who is to blame for the fact that the wonderful makings of Pechorin died? Why did he become a moral cripple? Lermontov answers this question with the whole course of the story. The society is to blame, the social conditions in which the hero was brought up and lived are to blame.

“My colorless youth flowed in the struggle with myself and the world,” he says, “my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart; they died there."

“In my first youth ...,” Pechorin tells Maxim Maksimych, “I began to enjoy furiously all the pleasures that money can get, and, of course, these pleasures disgusted me.” Entering the big world, he fell in love with beauties, but his heart "remained empty"; took up the sciences, but soon realized that "neither fame nor happiness depend on them at all, because the happiest people are ignoramuses, and fame is luck, and in order to achieve it, you just need to be clever." “Then I got bored,” Pechorin admits and comes to the conclusion: “... my soul is corrupted by light.” It is hard for a gifted person, like Onegin,

To look at life as a ritual And follow the orderly crowd To go, not sharing with it Neither common opinions nor passions.

Pechorin says more than once that in the society in which he lives, there is neither disinterested love, nor true friendship, nor fair, humane relations between people, nor meaningful social activities.

Disappointed, doubting everything, morally suffering Lermontov's hero is drawn to nature, which calms him down, gives him true aesthetic pleasure. Landscape sketches in Pechorin's Journal help to understand the complex, rebellious nature of the protagonist of the novel. They reinforce the motif of Pechorin's loneliness, deep emptiness and at the same time indicate that in the depths of his consciousness there lives a dream of a wonderful life worthy of a person. Taking a close look at the mountains, Pechorin exclaims: “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 are there passions, desires, regrets? The description of the morning in which Pechorin's duel with Grushnitsky took place is colored with deep lyricism. “I remember,” remarks Pechorin, “this time, more than ever before, I loved nature.”

Lermontov created a truthful, typical image, which reflected the essential features of a whole generation. In the preface to the novel, the author writes that Pechorin is "a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development." In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov passes judgment on the young generation of the 30s. "Admire what the heroes of our time are!" - he tells the whole content of the book. They "are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the Good of mankind, or even for their own ... happiness." This is both a reproach to the best people of the era, and a call for civic exploits.

Lermontov deeply and comprehensively revealed the inner world of his hero, his psychology, conditioned by time and environment, told "the history of the human soul." A Hero of Our Time is a socio-psychological novel.