"A Hero of Our Time" is the central work of M. Lermontov. Pechorin is the hero of the first psychological novel in prose, which shows from the inside the life of the heart and the hard work of the mind of modern man. The complexity of the character of the protagonist - Grigory Pechorin - is historically determined, just as his tragic fate, the confrontation of his feelings, is historically determined. If there is no place in the reality defined for him, he is “superfluous” in it. Hence the inconsistency between “the depth of nature and the pitifulness of actions”, since the debilitating feeling of emptiness, boredom and indifference pushes him to any collision with life, to any adventure. Any danger for him is a bait, he boldly goes to meet it. However, this does not cure him of boredom.
The historical reality and typicality of Pechorin is beyond doubt, but can historical reality alone explain Pechorin's constant boredom? Probably not. The main psychological "nerve" of the hero's character, the main internal spring of his motives and actions, his boredom is individualism. Indeed, throughout the novel, Pechorin reveals himself to us as a person who is accustomed to looking "at the suffering and joys of others only in relation to himself" and as "food" that supports his "spiritual strength." It is on this path that he seeks oblivion from the boredom that haunts him, it is with this “food” that he tries to fill the oppressive emptiness of his existence.
Pechorin himself admits that there are two people in him: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him. We can clarify: one of the two people coexisting in Pechorin creates high ideals in his soul, the other is a skeptic, trying to denigrate them. And under the influence of this second Pechorin is revising his lofty ideas about glory and happiness. And then glory seems to him luck, and it seems that in order to achieve it, you only need to be dexterous, and he begins to see happiness in saturated pride.
He goes through life, essentially sacrificing nothing for others - even for those he loves. He loves only "for himself", "for his own pleasure." But it is precisely individualism, precisely this psychological dominant of Pechorin's character, that makes his boredom inescapable. Indeed, in order to feel involved in the world, life, one must acquire the ability to feel a kindred soul in the “other”. Wrong upbringing and life in a secular society did not allow the hero to rise to such a perception of life.
Maxim Maksimych, with all his bewilderment from an unexpected confession, understands this with the instinct of a kind person, sympathizing with Pechorin, whose life "is becoming emptier day by day" and who "left only one means: to travel." Life is so burdensome to him that death seems to be a deliverance.
1. The problem of personality in the novel.
2. Features of creation time.
3. The tragedy of Pechorin.
4. The author's attitude to the hero.
“A hero of our time,” my gracious sirs, is like a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait composed of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.
M. Yu. Lermontov
"A Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov is the first prose, socio-psychological and philosophical novel in Russian literature. And the central place in it is occupied by the problem of personality. The novel solves the same topical problem that was posed in The Duma: why do smart and energetic people not find application for their remarkable abilities and “wither without a fight” at the very beginning of their career? Lermontov answers this question with the life story of Pechorin, a young man belonging to the generation of the 30s of the 19th century.
Unlike Onegin A. S. Pushkin, who, having become disillusioned with life, plunges into an idle, tedious environment, Pechorin is constantly in the thick of things. In the disturbing conditions in the Caucasus, caused by the war with the highlanders, the active nature of the hero is comprehensively revealed. The author brings Pechorin to people of different nationalities, professions, beliefs. While reading the novel, I followed the events with intense attention, trying to understand the mysterious and contradictory nature of the hero.
Pechorin is in many ways akin to the people of the Caucasus. Like the highlanders, he is determined and brave. The goal set by him is achieved by any means at all costs. “Such was the man, God knows,” says Maksim Maksimych about him. But Pechorin's goals are shallow, often meaningless and always selfish. The hero is often overcome by boredom and complete indifference to others. Indifference to people, disappointment affects his attitude towards them. Pechorin says: “... I am not capable of friendship: of two friends, one is always the slave of the other, although often neither of them admits this to himself; I can’t be a slave, and in this case commanding is tedious work, because you have to deceive along with it ... ”
In the story "Maxim Maksimych" Pechorin's tragedy opens for the first time. He and Maxim Maksimych are people of different worlds. Pechorin's cruelty towards the old man is an outward manifestation of his character, under which lies bitter doom and loneliness. But where does this premature spiritual fatigue and, as a result, deep disappointment in life come from?
The main features of the time when Lermontov's novel was being created were very well revealed by A. I. Herzen. According to him, these years “were terrible ... people were seized by deep despair and general despondency. High society, with vile and low zeal, hastened to renounce all human feelings, all humane thoughts ... ". There was a transition period. The ideals of the past were destroyed, and the new ideals had not yet had time to form. And in Pechorin, according to the principle of contrast, the writer reflects exactly what is called in simple language "spleen" and "doubt"".
Pechorin is bored in the company of petty envious people and insignificant intriguers, devoid of noble aspirations and elementary decency. An aversion to the people among whom he is forced to live is ripening in his soul. The freedom-loving ideas adopted by Pechorin in his early youth from the Decembrists made him irreconcilable in relation to reality. But the Nikolaev reaction, which came after the defeat of the Decembrists, not only deprived him of the opportunity to act in the spirit of freedom-loving ideas, but also cast doubt on these ideas. And the ugly upbringing and life in a secular society did not allow him to rise to a correct understanding of life. Pechorin himself admits to Maxim Maksimych that his "soul is corrupted by light." Pechorin's egoism is the result of the influence of secular society, to which he belongs from birth.
In my opinion, Pechorin is an active, deep, gifted nature. His tragedy lies in the clear understanding of the lurking contradictions "between the depth of nature and the pitifulness of actions." Feeling his own uselessness and uselessness of his life, Pechorin says: “My colorless youth passed in the struggle with myself and the light; Fearing ridicule, I buried my best qualities in the depths of my heart: they died there ... knowing well the light and springs of life ... I became a moral cripple. His thoughts evoke sympathy and compassion: "Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? ... But it was true that it existed, and it was true that I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul ...".
In the story with Mary, as in other dramatic episodes of the novel, Pechorin is both a cruel tormentor and a deeply suffering person. He is characterized by living impulses of the heart and genuine humanity.
The author's attitude to Pechorin is ambiguous. Lermontov condemns the individualism of Pechorin, who does not take into account how his behavior will affect the people who meet on his way. But at the same time, Lermontov's words about Pechorin ("this is a portrait made up of the vices of the entire generation, in their full development") are not the final condemnation of the hero.
Pechorin appears in the novel as a representative of the noble youth who entered life after the defeat of the Decembrists. And like many of his peers, he spent all his strength to satisfy his pride, to satisfy his ambition, but he did not find happiness. Each step of Pechorin proves that the fullness of life, freedom of self-discovery is impossible without the fullness of life, feelings, without true love in the person himself for the world around him, for people. Interpersonal communication is interrupted if a person's communication goes only in one direction: towards you, but not away from you. And Pechorin is not destined to understand the inner voice of human nature and follow him to where he could finally find the truth of human existence.
"Indifference - paralysis of the soul, premature death" - said the great writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. This is undeniable. An indifferent person does not live, but exists, because indifference eats a person from the inside, makes him callous and indifferent to the world around him, takes away the craving for life.
Many writers and poets revealed the theme of indifference in their works, for example, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov in the novel "A Hero of Our Time".
The protagonist of the work - Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin - is an officer of the Russian imperial army, a person with a high status in society, he is charismatic, handsome and smart, appears as an "extra" person. He is indifferent to the people around him, he does not understand the society in which he is located, he is indifferent to his surroundings. He is not inspired by the values of society, he does not pursue wealth. Pechorin is also an egoist and an individualist. He puts himself above others and cannot trust people.
Pechorin indifferently destroys the lives of other people in an attempt to build his own. For example, Bela: he spoiled the fate of a young girl without experiencing happiness. As soon as he achieved his goal, made the girl fall in love with him, she became boring to him. Or an old woman and a blind boy. Because of Pechorin, they lost their income, and therefore their means of subsistence. Pechorin is a very contradictory nature: he condemns himself for all the evil, but continues to do it. The only thing the protagonist cares about is his personal desires. Pechorin does not live, he exists - and all this is precisely because of his indifference.
I think that people should not be indifferent to each other and the world around them. A person who is indifferent to the world around him will never live a full life.
Updated: 2017-12-03
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The image of Pechorin based on the novel by Mikhail Lermontov 8220 A hero of our time 8221
Belinsky saw in Pechorin’s character “a transitional state of the spirit, in which for a person everything old has been destroyed, but there is still no new, and in which a person is only the possibility of something real in the future and a perfect ghost in the present.”
The novel "A Hero of Our Time" became a continuation of the theme of "superfluous people". This theme became central in the novel in verse by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". Herzen called Pechorin Onegin's younger brother. In the preface to the novel, the author shows his attitude towards his hero.
Like Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin" ("I'm always glad to see the difference between Onegin and me"), Lermontov ridiculed attempts to equate the novel's author and its protagonist. Lermontov did not consider Pechorin a positive hero, from whom one should take an example.
The novel shows a young man suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself a painful question: “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? He has not the slightest inclination to follow the well-trodden path of secular young men. Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not served. Does not study music, does not study philosophy or military affairs. But we cannot but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, energetic. We are repelled by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability to true love, to friendship, his individualism and egoism. But Pechorin captivates us with a thirst for life, a desire for the best, the ability to critically evaluate our actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us by the "pathetic actions", the waste of his strength, by the actions by which he brings suffering to other people. But we see that he himself suffers deeply.
The character of Pechorin is complex and contradictory. The hero of the novel says about himself: “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him…”. What are the reasons for this dichotomy? “I spoke 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. Belinsky also called Pushkin's Onegin "a suffering egoist" and "an unwilling egoist." The same can be said about Pechorin. Pechorin is characterized by disappointment in life, pessimism. He experiences a constant split spirit. In the socio-political conditions of the 30s of the 19th century, Pechorin cannot find a use for himself. He is wasted on petty adventures, exposes his forehead to Chechen bullets, seeks oblivion in love. But all this is just a search for some way out, just an attempt to unwind. He is haunted by boredom and the consciousness that such a life is not worth living.
Throughout the novel, Pechorin shows himself as a person who is accustomed to looking at “the suffering, joys of others only in relation to himself” - as “food” that supports his spiritual strength, it is on this path that he seeks consolation from the boredom that haunts him, tries to fill the emptiness of your existence. And yet Pechorin is a richly gifted nature. He has an analytical mind, his assessments of people and their actions are very accurate; he has a critical attitude not only to others, but also to himself. His diary is nothing but self-disclosure.
He is endowed with a warm heart, able to feel deeply (Bela's death, a date with Vera) and experience a lot, although he tries to hide emotional experiences under the guise of indifference. Indifference, callousness - a mask of self-defense.
Pechorin is still a strong-willed, strong, active person, “life forces” are dormant in his chest, he is capable of action. But all his actions carry not a positive, but a negative charge, all his activities are aimed not at creation, but at destruction. In this Pechorin is similar to the hero of the poem "Demon". Indeed, in his appearance (especially at the beginning of the novel) there is something demonic, unsolved. In all the short stories that Lermontov combined in the novel, Pechorin appears before us as the destroyer of the lives and destinies of other people: because of him, the Circassian Bela is deprived of shelter and dies, Maxim Maksimovich is disappointed in friendship, Mary and Vera suffer, Grushnitsky dies from his hand, “honest smugglers” are forced to leave their home, a young officer Vulich dies.
The image of Pechorin is the image of a complex, restless person who has not found himself; a person with great potential, but not able, nevertheless, to realize it. Lermontov himself emphasized that in the image of Pechorin, a portrait was given not of one person, but of an artistic type that absorbed the features of a whole generation of young people at the beginning of the century.
The novel "A Hero of Our Time" became a continuation of the theme of "superfluous people". This theme became central in A. S. Pushkin's novel in verse "Eugene Onegin". Herzen called Pechorin Onegin's younger brother. In the preface to the novel, the author shows his attitude towards his hero. Like Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin" ("I'm always glad to see the difference between Onegin and me"), Lermontov ridiculed attempts to equate the novel's author and its protagonist. Lermontov did not consider Pechorin a positive hero, from whom one should take an example. The author emphasized that in the image of Pechorin, a portrait is given not of one person, but of an artistic type that has absorbed the features of a whole generation of young people at the beginning of the century.
In Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time, a young man is shown suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself the painful question: "Why did I live? For what purpose was I born?" He does not have the slightest inclination to follow the beaten path of secular young people. Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not served. Pechorin does not study music, does not study philosophy or military affairs. But we cannot but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, energetic. We are repelled by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability to true love, to friendship, his individualism and egoism. But Pechorin captivates us with a thirst for life, a desire for the best, the ability to critically evaluate our actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us by the “pathetic actions”, the waste of his strength, by the actions by which he brings suffering to other people.
But we see that he himself suffers deeply. The character of Pechorin is complex and contradictory. The hero of the novel says about himself: "There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him ...". What are the reasons for this split? ”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. Belinsky also called Pushkin's Onegin "a suffering egoist" and "an unwitting egoist." The same can be said about Pechorin. Pechorin is characterized by disappointment in life, pessimism. He experiences a constant split spirit. In the socio-political conditions of the 30s of the 19th century, Pechorin cannot find a use for himself. He is wasted on petty adventures, exposes his forehead to Chechen bullets, seeks oblivion in love. But all this is just a search for some way out, just an attempt to unwind. He is haunted by boredom and the consciousness that such a life is not worth living. Throughout the novel, Pechorin shows himself as a person who is accustomed to looking at "the suffering, joys of others only in relation to himself" - as "food" that supports his spiritual strength, it is on this path that he seeks consolation from the boredom that haunts him, tries to fill the emptiness of your existence. And yet Pechorin is a richly gifted nature. He has an analytical mind, his assessments of people and their actions are very accurate; he has a critical attitude not only to others, but also to himself. His diary is nothing but self-disclosure. He is endowed with a warm heart, able to feel deeply (Bela's death, a date with Vera) and experience a lot, although he tries to hide emotional experiences under the guise of indifference. Indifference, callousness - a mask of self-defense. Pechorin is still a strong-willed, strong, active person, “life forces” are dormant in his chest, he is capable of action. But all his actions carry not a positive, but a negative charge, all his activities are aimed not at creation, but at destruction. In this, Pechorin is similar to the hero of the poem "The Demon".
Indeed, in his appearance (especially at the beginning of the novel) there is something demonic, unsolved. In all the stories that Lermontov combined in the novel, Pechorin appears before us as the destroyer of the lives and destinies of other people: because of him, the Circassian Bela is deprived of shelter and dies, Maxim Maksimovich is disappointed in friendship, Mary and Vera suffer, Grushnitsky dies from his hand, forced leave the home of "honest smugglers", a young officer Vulich dies. Belinsky saw in Pechorin's character "a transitional state of the spirit, in which for a person everything old has been destroyed, but there is still no new, and in which a person is only the possibility of something real in the future and a perfect ghost in the present."
Lermontov began writing the novel A Hero of Our Time in 1838. Two years later, the novel was published as a separate edition. Unlike his previous creations, Lermontov, creating the “Hero of Our Time”, no longer imagined life, but painted it as it really was. "A Hero of Our Time" is a novel about Russia, about the fate and tragedy of a Russian person.
Of course, the main role in the novel is the role of Pechorin. From the description of Maxim Maksimovich, we learn about Pechorin this: “He was so new. He was a nice fellow, I dare to assure you; just a little weird. After all, for example, in the rain, in the cold all day hunting; everyone will get cold, tired - but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, the wind smells, he assures that he has caught a cold; the shutter will knock, he will shudder and turn pale; and with me he went to the boar one on one; it used to be that you couldn’t get a word for whole hours, but sometimes, as soon as you start talking, you’ll break your bellies with laughter ... Yes, with great oddities, and, must be, a rich man: how many different expensive little things he had ... " From here we learn about the duality of Pechorin's character, about his oddities. A little later we already see his portrait.
Pechorin was of medium height, slender, strong build. Quite a decent man, thirty years old. Despite his strong physique, he had "a small aristocratic hand." His gait was careless and lazy. He had a secret character. “His skin had a kind of feminine tenderness; blond hair, curly by nature, so picturesquely outlined his pale, noble forehead, on which, only after a long observation, traces of wrinkles could be noticed. Despite the light color of his hair, his mustache and beard were black. He had a slightly upturned nose, dazzling white teeth, and brown eyes. His eyes did not laugh when he laughed. Their brilliance was like that of "smooth steel", dazzling and cold. He was not very bad and had one of those "original physiognomies, which are especially liked by secular women."
Pechorin - "inner man". His personality is dominated by the romantic complex inherent in Lermontov's heroes, dissatisfaction with reality, high anxiety and a hidden desire for a better life. Poeticizing these qualities of Pechorin, his sharp critical thought, rebellious will and ability to fight, revealing his tragically forced loneliness, Lermontov also notes sharply negative, frank manifestations of Pechorin's individualism, without separating them from the personality of the hero as a whole. Pechorin's selfish individualism is clearly expressed in the novel. The moral failure of Pechorin's behavior in relation to Bela, to Mary and to Maxim Maksimovich. Lermontov singles out the destructive processes taking place in Pechorin: his melancholy, fruitless throwing, crushing of interests. Comparing the "hero" of the era of Pechorin with those who could not at all claim this title - with the "natural person" Bela and with the "simple person" Maxim Maksimovich, devoid of Pechorin's intellect and his vigilance, we see not only intellectual superiority, but also spiritual trouble and incompleteness of the main character. Pechorin's personality in its egoistic manifestations, arising primarily from the conditions of the era, is not exempt from its individual responsibility, the court of conscience.
Pechorin treats people cruelly. So, for example: first he kidnaps Bela and tries to please her. But when Bela falls in love with Pechorin, he leaves her. Even after the death of Bela, he does not change his face and laughs in response to the consolation of Maxim Maksimovich.
After a long separation, a cold meeting with Maxim Maksimovich, who considers Pechorin his best friend, and is very upset by this attitude towards himself.
With Princess Mary, he does almost the same - the same as with Bela. Just to have fun, he starts courting Mary. Seeing this, Grushnitsky challenges Pechorin to a duel, they shoot, and Pechorin kills Grushnitsky. After that, Mary confesses her love to Pechorin and asks to stay, but he coldly says: “I don’t love you.”
And the judgment, leading to retribution, is carried out on Pechorin, in which evil, breaking away in many respects from its “good” sources, destroys not only what it is directed at, but also his own personality, noble by nature and therefore unable to withstand its inner evil. Retribution falls on Pechorin from the people.
Need to download an essay? Click and save - "Pechorin's egoistic individualism. And the finished essay appeared in the bookmarks.Grigory Pechorin is the real “hero of our time” (and of any other), because the questions raised by the author are beyond any era. They were, are and will always arise as long as the human race is alive. What are the problems of the work "A Hero of Our Time"? We read and understand.
moral issues
Any work and fiction as a whole are designed not only to deliver an aesthetic experience, pleasure to the reader, but also to raise questions that are present in every person, to which we either do not have an unambiguous answer, or which we have never thought about at all. M.Yu. Lermontov is, one might say, an innovator of his era. He is the creator of the first novel in Russian literature with a deep philosophical content. “Why did I live, for what purpose was I born?” - this is the main question that the author asks himself and all of us through the mouth of the main character - Pechorin. It hears not only the questions “why”, “what for”, “for what”, but also other problems. The “hero of our time” is trying to understand who he is, what he consists of, what virtues and vices, whether love and friendship can save him from inevitable darkness ...
Philosophical reflections
We continue to talk on the topic "Hero of our time." The problems the novel raises are actually serious. What is Pechorin? Before us is a young man of twenty-five years old, an officer, an aristocrat, who stands out against the background of his contemporaries with his originality, sharp mind, subtle intuition, courage, endurance, and tremendous willpower. It would seem that these are all the components of a happy future. Such people are loved, adored and idolized. All doors are open to them. So it was, but it didn't happen. Why?
Every person has advantages and disadvantages. In everyone there is an irreconcilable struggle between good and evil. And it's natural. It is laid down by nature and God. But besides all this, there is also emptiness. It must be filled with either light or darkness, depending on which path we choose. Or it begins to grow and fill with itself every freed corner of the soul. This is exactly what happened to Pechorin. No matter what he undertook, no matter how far away he went, no matter whom his fate brought him together, this gaping emptiness, viscous meaninglessness, futility and aimlessness of existence followed him in everything.
M.Yu. Lermontov, "A Hero of Our Time": Problems of Love and Friendship
His active soul throughout the novel is looking for dangers, heroic deeds, sincere love and friendship. "Who seeks will always find". She also finds, but in an amazing, simply incomprehensible way, she destroys the creative principle inherent in these things. His love did not bring happiness to any of the women. He could not surrender to this feeling, he was not able to give at all, only to take, and even then superficially. In his soul, as if in a bottomless abyss, both vivid feelings and suffering disappeared without a trace. He did not get enough of them, and he did not try to get enough of them. He didn't care. The tragic stories with Bela and Mary are a perfect confirmation of this.
The same thing happens in Pechorin's friendship with Dr. Werner. Believing that the relationship between two comrades should be reduced to only one thing: one is a slave, and the other is his master, he did not want to be either a slave or one who rules and rules. Both are boring and stupid. But simply, without any “buts”, it is impossible to let another into your world. Vicious circle.
Fatalism - the cause of the problem?
"A Hero of Our Time" is a novel not only about the questions of the meaning of life directly posed by the author. In the last story - "The Fatalist" - another topic emerges that haunts neither the main character nor all of humanity. Is the fate of a person predetermined, or is each new step along the road of life a personal choice? Pechorin is bold and prefers to solve this issue, like other problems. The "hero of our time", Pechorin, independently, from his own experience, checks the truth of this or that judgment. And here, unexpectedly, the fatalist turns to the reader with the other side of his essence. He disarms the drunken Cossack, who has already killed Vulich and is dangerous to those around him. He takes a deliberate risk, but for the first time not far-fetched, not out of "empty passions" and not in order to dispel boredom. And here the author does not give a definite answer. He, like his hero, believes that predestination, if it really exists, works miracles with a person, it makes him more active, bolder. And on the other hand, it turns a person - a higher creature, into a toy in the hands of fate, and this can neither offend nor humiliate.
In this article, we have covered the main problems. "A Hero of Our Time" is a book beyond all time, after reading which, everyone will surely find answers to their questions, which, perhaps, have not been considered today.
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 futility of existence burdens the hero, vegetating is not suitable for a young man who feels "immense forces in his soul."
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. Maxim Maksimych is offended by the callousness of his friend. "Honest smugglers" are 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 precisely 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 problems 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, that he wasted 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 at any time and era.
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What philosophical problems are posed in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time"
In the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" raises various philosophical questions.
First, the problem of interaction between man and nature. As always, Lermontov's nature here is a good, fertile beginning, it is healing for the hero's tormented soul. Pechorin in the novel is able to subtly feel and understand nature. Let's remember how he admires the summer morning before the duel. In his diary, he lovingly describes the landscape that opens from the windows of his apartment in Pyatigorsk.
At the same time, the hero is a man of "culture", "civilization", and in this sense he is opposed to "natural" people - mountaineers, Bela, Azamat; smugglers and undines. Thus, the author covers this conflict in the traditional literary way.
Another problem that is acute in the novel is the problem of the meaning of life. Pechorin in Lermontov painfully tries to guess his own destiny. A man of strong will and great opportunities, he strives for an active life. Dissatisfied with his aimless existence, passionately longing for an ideal, but not finding it, he asks: “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? ... And, it is true, it existed, and, it is true, I had a high purpose, because I feel immense powers in my soul; but I did not guess the destination, I was carried away by the lures of empty and ungrateful passions; from their furnace I came out hard and cold as iron, but I have lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations, the best color of life. "Born for a high purpose", he is forced to live in languid inactivity or waste his strength on deeds unworthy of a real person. Instead of active, meaningful activity, Pechorin is busy with secular intrigues.
Great importance is attached in the novel to the concepts of "happiness", "friendship", "love". The author reveals to us the view of his hero on these categories. However, Pechorin understands these concepts distortedly. Happiness, according to him, is "saturated pride." He perceives the sufferings and joys of others “only in relation to himself” as food that supports his spiritual strength. Pechorin's life is "boring and disgusting." Doubts devastated him to the point that he had only two convictions left: birth is a misfortune, and death is inevitable. The feeling of love and the need for friendship in the representation of Pechorin have long lost their value. “Of two friends, one is always the slave of the other,” he says. Love for the hero is satisfied ambition, "sweet food ... pride." “To arouse in oneself a feeling of love, devotion and fear - is this not the first sign and triumph of power?” Pechorin writes in his diary. So, simple human feelings and relationships - love, friendship - are inaccessible to the hero.
Many philosophical problems are covered by the author in Pechorin's diary. Here Lermontov uses epithets (“immense pleasure”, “sweet food”, “frantic impulses”), metaphors (“the soul, suffering and enjoying, gives a strict account of itself”, “my heart turns to stone”), rhetorical questions ( “Sometimes I despise myself… isn’t that why I despise others too?”).
The most important philosophical problem of the novel is the problem of fate, fate and free will of man. This topic is devoted to the story that ends the novel - "The Fatalist". On the example of the history of Vulich, we see the significance of fate, fate, dominating a person. But Pechorin, having disarmed the murderer of Vulich, here, by his own example, asserts the significance of a person's personal will.
This philosophical story is of great ideological and compositional significance. Finishing the novel on this note, M.Yu. Lermontov gives it a life-affirming, optimistic sound (the hero, who died on the way from Persia, here defeats fate itself). At the same time, there is an underlying authorial motive here - a call for a person to an active, active life. And this is the author's position of M.Yu. Lermontov.
Arguments for the final essay in the areas: "Indifference and responsiveness", "Purpose and means". M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time". Part 3 Indifference and responsiveness.
Why is indifference dangerous?
Indifference is a feeling that can manifest itself not only in relation to other people, but also to life in general. , the central character of the novel "A Hero of Our Time", is shown by M.Yu. Lermontov as a person who does not see the joys of life. He is bored all the time, he quickly loses interest in people and places, so the main goal of his life is the search for "adventure". His life is an endless attempt to feel at least something. According to the well-known literary critic Belinsky, Pechorin "is furiously chasing life, looking for it everywhere." His indifference reaches the point of absurdity, turning into indifference to himself. According to Pechorin himself, his life "is becoming emptier day by day." He sacrifices his life in vain, embarks on adventures that do no good to anyone. On the example of this hero, one can see that indifference spreads in the soul of a person, like a dangerous disease. It leads to sad consequences and broken destinies of both those around and the most indifferent person. An indifferent person cannot be happy, because his heart is not capable of loving people.
Purpose and means.
What means can not be used to achieve the goal?
Sometimes, in order to achieve their goals, people forget about the means that they choose on the way to what they want. So, one of the characters in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" Azamat wanted to get a horse that belonged to Kazbich. He was ready to offer everything that he had and what he did not own. The desire to get Karagoz won over all the feelings that were in him. Azamat, in order to achieve his goal, betrayed his family: he sold his sister to get what he wanted, fled from home, fearing punishment. His betrayal resulted in the death of his father and sister. Azamat, despite the consequences, destroyed everything that was dear to him in order to get what he so passionately desired. On his example, you can see that not all means are good for achieving the goal.
The ratio of ends and means.
The ratio of goals and means can be found on the pages of M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time". Trying to achieve the goal, people sometimes do not understand that not all means will help them in this. One of the characters in the novel A Hero of Our Time, Grushnitsky, longed to be recognized. He sincerely believed that the position and money would help him in this. In the service, he was looking for a promotion, believing that this would solve his problems, attract the girl he was in love with. His dreams were not destined to come true, because true respect and recognition are not connected with money. The girl he sought preferred another, because love has nothing to do with social recognition and status.
What are false goals??
When a person sets false goals for himself, their achievement does not bring satisfaction. The central character of the novel A Hero of Our Time, Pechorin, set himself various goals all his life, hoping that their achievement would bring him joy. He falls in love with the women he likes. Using all means, he wins their hearts, but later loses interest. So, becoming interested in Bela, he decides to steal her, and then achieve the location of a wild Circassian. However, having reached the goal, Pechorin begins to get bored, her love does not bring him happiness. In the chapter "Taman" he meets a strange girl and a blind boy who are involved in smuggling. In an effort to find out their secret, he does not sleep for days and watches them. His excitement is fueled by a sense of danger, but on the way to achieving the goal, he changes people's lives. Being exposed, the girl is forced to flee and leave the blind boy and the elderly woman to fend for themselves. Pechorin does not set himself true goals, he only strives to dispel boredom, which not only leads him to disappointment, but also breaks the fate of people who are on his way.
