"I look sadly at our generation!..."
M.Yu. Lermontov, "Duma"

The teacher read an excerpt from the novel "A Hero of Our Time" and invited the students to discuss in writing how Pechorin was characterized by reflections on the eve of the duel with Grushnitsky. This form of work is called a presentation with elements of an essay. Even those who have not read the novel can cope with the task, because the above passage characterizes the hero very well and gives students the opportunity to express their opinion.

So, the conditions for all students of the 10th grade were equal.
Here are two works written by girls of the same age:

* * *
... Pechorin's reflections on the eve of the duel aroused in me sympathy for the hero. I liked him! Pechorin, in his opinion, has already lived his life, he has nothing more to do in this world, he is bored with everything. On that fateful night, the hero said goodbye to life. He thought that his lucky star, who had always helped him, would leave him this time. After all, it was not for nothing that Grushnitsky chose to shoot from six steps! He thought he was smarter than Pechorin. But I don't agree with that!
Our hero was a man of mystery. If he loved, he did it for himself. He enjoyed what he loved, not what he was loved. It seems that Pechorin was looking for such a woman that she was able to understand him, but, alas, he did not find it! Why are there women, people did not understand him at all! Pechorin became hard and cold to the charms of life. He was sorry that he was not understood. And it's a shame that he himself did not understand his special purpose. But it was...
Pechorin seemed to be superfluous, a stranger, or what?
I think that Lermontov, having written this novel, wanted people to understand him. Our hero is very similar to Lermontov. They have similar fates! And Lermontov was simply born at the wrong time! The wrong people surrounded him. And he decided to reflect all this in the novel. The author endowed Pechorin with his destiny, his life, his character. Lermontov, like Pechorin, considered himself a special person. If Pechorin lived in our time, I would fall in love with him. He is a romantic hero! (no spelling or punctuation errors)

* * *
The hero of our time Grushnitsky is the protagonist of the novel. Grushnitsky has not been able to sleep for two nights now, he keeps thinking about the duel, he does not want to die, he wants to live. But Pechorin killed him - Grushnitsky, he fell to the floor like an ax, he fell without casualties. They killed him reluctantly, but Pechorin was brave, he was not afraid of death, because in the duel he was the leader, he fought to the last, he wanted to live, he thought only about victory, and Grushnitsky was a weak man, during the duel he thought about whether he should to live, because life does not mean anything to him at all, he thinks about those fatal (in the original cancerous) six steps, wants to take them, but is afraid, although he understands that he does not want to live, that there is no point in life. People are angry, some laugh, others cry, and so on in turn.
Pechorin is not afraid of anything, he thinks about not fulfilling the role of an ax, so as not to fall on the floor. He does not want to be a victim in a duel, he understands that there is nowhere to go, he will have to fight. (spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected, with them reading the text becomes almost impossible).

Why is this happening? Of course, how many heads, so many minds, but then how to sow "reasonable, good, eternal" into empty gyrus? How can you teach another girl something?! She is already an adult, physically mature person, but her mind is childish! What is the phrase: "People are evil, some laugh, others cry, and so on in turn."!
You can talk about an individual approach to students, about special teaching methods, about differentiated tasks, but in this case you can’t expect a result.
Heredity, disease, environment, living conditions - what made the brain of this girl an amorphous mass?
How to make sure that this student does not disappear in life, so that she finds her place in it? Who should take care of this - family, school, friends?

In the photo - illustration by M. Vrubel "Duel of Pechorin and Grushnitsky"
All Vrubel's illustrations for Lermontov's works on the site vrubel-lermontov.ru/ illustration/demon9.php

Reviews

"How to make sure that this student does not disappear in life, so that she finds her place in it? Who should take care of this - family, school, friends?"
Do you care? Is it true? What about her? Why is she like this? In fact, she just doesn't need it. And she is definitely happy. Continuing the dialogue about "trees" I am writing to you.
Sincerely,

It's all the same to me, Tanechka, and she is probably happy even without great Russian literature. Here is her young husband, the child is happiness, simple, earthly, real. Why does she need Pechorin with his neurasthenia? It will confuse you, it will throw a thought into your head - what if it’s not how I live, what if I don’t have happiness? What can we say about Raskolnikov with his terrible theory? But if a girl goes to 11th grade, she will have to overcome "Crime and Punishment"! It's not far from a nervous breakdown! :-)

Yes, indeed)))
There is nothing to worry about, let her just be happy, this also has its own philosophy. What an ironic remark you made, lovely. Subtly so, compassionately even.
Smiled, thanks.

We know more than one description of the duel - and the night before the duel - in Russian literature: Pushkin in "The Shot", "The Captain's Daughter" and "Eugene Onegin"; Tolstoy in "War and Peace", Turgenev in "Fathers and Sons" ... And the writer always reports on the thoughts and feelings before the duel of only one of the heroes: in "Shot" it is Silvio, in "The Captain's Daughter" Grinev, in "War and the world" - Pierre, in "Fathers and Sons" - Bazarov. One could say that the author always conveys the state of the protagonist, but in "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin does not talk about Onegin, but about Lensky: * Arriving home, pistols * He examined. * Then he put them * Again in a box, and undressed * By candlelight, Schiller opened ... * .. Vladimir closes the book, * Takes a pen; his poems * Are full of love nonsense. .. This is how Grushnitsky could have behaved on the night before the duel, if he had not turned into a nonentity. That Grushnitsky, who wore a soldier's overcoat and made romantic speeches, could read Schiller and write poetry ... But that Grushnitsky would actually be preparing to shoot himself, to risk his life. And this Grushnitsky, who accepted Pechorin’s challenge, is deceiving, he has nothing to fear, there is no need to worry about his life: only his pistol will be loaded ... We don’t know if his conscience tormented him on the night before the duel. He will appear before us, ready to fire. (Lermontov does not talk about Grushnitsky. But he forces Pechorin to write down in detail what he thought and felt: “Ah! Mr. Grushnitsky! Your hoax will not work for you ... we will switch roles: now I will have to look for signs of secret fear on your pale face. Why did you yourself appoint these fatal six steps? Do you think that I will turn my forehead to you without a dispute ... but we will cast lots! .. and then ... then ... what if echo luck outweighs? if my star finally betrays me? Pechorin is not the first once he asks himself these questions: why am I living, “what was the purpose of ... fate?” - but he had never asked himself about this so tragically seriously, with such solemnity: my strength is immense ... ”These adjectives after nouns give his words an elevated romantic coloring; he would laugh at such words if someone else uttered them ... Once he already wrote about himself that“ unwittingly ... played the miserable role of an executioner or a traitor,” now he repeats, in essence, the same thing: “... how many times have I played the role of an ax in the hands of fate! Like an instrument of execution, I fell on the heads of doomed victims, often without malice, always without regret ... ”Pechorin was not given such an understanding; he "loved for himself, for his own pleasure ... and could never get enough." Therefore, on the night before the duel, he is alone, "and not a single creature will remain on earth that would understand" him if he is killed. He draws a terrible conclusion: “After this, is life worth living? and all you live - out of curiosity; expecting something new… Ridiculous and annoying!” Pechorin's diary ends on the night before the duel. The last entry was made a month and a half later, in fortress N. “Maxim Maksimych went hunting ... gray clouds covered the mountains to the sole; the sun looks like a yellow spot through the fog. It's cold, the wind whistles and shakes the shutters. Boring". Still not knowing about the details of the duel, we have already learned the main thing: Pechorin is alive. He is in the fortress - why could he get here, if not for the tragic outcome of the duel? We already guess: Grushnitsky is killed. But Pechorin does not report this, he mentally returns to the night before the duel: / it is small to die; it was impossible: I have not yet drained | the cup of suffering and now I feel that I still have a long time to live. On the night before the duel, he “did not sleep for a minute”, could not write, “then sat down and opened the novel by Walter Scott ... it was The Scottish Puritans; he “read at first with an effort, then he forgot, carried away by magical fiction ...” But as soon as dawn broke and his nerves calmed down, he again submits to the worst in his character: “I looked in the mirror; a dull pallor covered my face, which kept traces of painful insomnia; but the eyes, although surrounded by a brown shadow, shone proudly and inexorably. I was pleased with myself." This is how Grushnitsky might have argued; it is important for him to make an impression - but we already know: for Pechorin .. the ostentatious, external side of life is not indifferent - it is distressing, but Pechorin is incorrigible: he not only cannot fight the worst in himself, but does not want to. Werner is excited about the upcoming fight. Pechorin speaks to him calmly and mockingly; even to his second, his friend, he does not reveal "secret anxiety"; as always, he is cold and smart, prone to unexpected conclusions and comparisons: “Try to look at me as a patient obsessed with a disease that is still unknown to you ...”, “Waiting for a violent death is not a real disease already?” But all this joy, greedy enjoyment of life, delight, exclamations - all this is hidden from prying eyes. Werner, who is riding nearby, cannot imagine what Pechorin is thinking about: * “We drove in silence. * - Did you write your will? Werner suddenly asked. * - No. * - And if you are killed? * - The heirs will be found themselves. * - Don't you have friends to whom you would like to send your last farewell? .. *I shook my head. What Pechorin says to Werner is both true and not true. He really "survived from those years when they die, saying the name of their beloved and bequeathing to a friend a piece of pomaded or unoiled hair." We remember: he is twenty-five years old - he is still very young in age. But we cannot imagine him saying “the name of his beloved” before his death; such behavior is more suitable for Grushnitsky. It's not about age, but about the mental burden that Pechorin carries, in that early mental fatigue that ages him before time. “He has no illusions, he does not believe in people, words or feelings: “Thinking about the near and possible death, I think about myself alone; others don't even do that." Before the duel, he even forgot about Vera; he does not need any of the women who loved him now, in moments of complete spiritual loneliness. Starting his confession, he said: “Do you want, Doctor… that I reveal my soul to you?” He does not deceive, he really reveals his soul to Werner. But the fact is that the soul of a person is not something immovable, its state changes, a person can look at life differently in the morning and in the evening of the same day. The alarm rose. A Cossack rode up from the fortress. Everyone was looking for Circassians in all the bushes. Nobody was found.
June 16th
In the morning at the well there was only talk about the night attack of the Circassians. Pechorin, having met Vera's husband, who had just returned from Pyatigorsk, had breakfast in a restaurant. Vera's husband was very worried. They were sitting near the door leading to the corner room, where there were about ten young people, among others Grushnitsky. Fate gave Pechorin one more chance to eavesdrop on a conversation that was supposed to decide his fate. Grushnitsky did not see Pechorin, there could be no intent in his speeches, and this only increased his guilt in the eyes of Pechorin. According to Grushnitsky, someone told him that yesterday at ten o'clock in the evening someone crept into the house of the Litovskys. The princess was at the performance, and the princess was at home. Pechorin was afraid that Vera's husband would suddenly guess something, but this did not happen. Meanwhile, according to Grushnitsky, their company went to the garden just like that, to scare the guest. We stayed until two o'clock. Suddenly someone comes down from the balcony. Grushnitsky is sure that the night visitor was with the princess, for sure, and then he rushed into the bushes, and then Grushnitsky fired at him. Grushnitsky is ready to name his lover. It was Pechorin. At that moment, raising his eyes, he met the eyes of Pechorin, who was standing in the doorway. Pechorin demands that he immediately renounce his words. The indifference of a woman to the brilliant virtues of Grushnitsky, in his opinion, does not deserve such terrible revenge. Supporting his words, Grushnitsky loses the right to the name of a noble person and risks his life. Grushnitsky was in great agitation, but the struggle of conscience with pride was short-lived. The captain intervened, to whom Pechorin offered to be a second. Having promised to send his second today, Pechorin went out. He went straight to Werner and told him everything - his relationship with Vera and the princess, an overheard conversation, from which he learned about the intention of these gentlemen to fool Pechorin. But now it was no time for jokes. The doctor agreed to become Pechorin's second. They negotiated secret terms. Werner returned an hour later and said that the duel was supposed to be in a remote gorge, the distance was six paces. The doctor has a suspicion that they have somewhat changed their plan and are going to load only Grushnitsky's pistol. Pechorin replied that he would not succumb to them, but so far this is his secret.
At night, Pechorin thinks about his life, about the appointment, which, apparently, he did not guess, his love did not bring happiness to anyone, because he did not sacrifice anything for the one he loved. He loved only for himself, for his own pleasure.
The continuation of Pechorin's diary dates back to the time of his stay in the fortress N5 Maxim Maksimych went hunting, bored, the sun peeps through the gray clouds with a yellow spot. Pechorin rereads the last page: funny! He thought about dying, but it was not meant to be. The cup of suffering is not drained yet. It seems to Pechorin that he has a long life ahead of him.
All night before the fight, Pechorin did not sleep, he was tormented by anxiety. On the table lay Walter Scott's The Scottish Puritans, and he sat down and began to read, at first with effort, then with a fascination with magical fiction.
It finally dawned. Pechorin looked in the mirror and was pleased with himself: his face was pale, but his eyes, although in dark circles, shone proudly and inexorably. After the Narzan bath, he was fresh and cheerful, as if he were going to a ball. Dr. Werner appeared in a very funny, huge shaggy hat.
I don't remember a bluer and fresher morning! The sun barely peeked out from behind the green peaks... I remember this time, more than ever before, I loved nature.” Werner asks if Pechorin wrote a will. No, I haven’t written, there is no one to write to and nothing about. But here are the opponents. “We have been expecting you for a long time,” said the dragoon captain with an ironic smile. “I (took out my watch and showed it to him.” He apologized. Grushnitsky raised his eyes to 1echorin, his gaze expressed an internal struggle. The conditions of the apology are clarified. Both sides refuse to apologize. Pechorin puts forward his condition: since the rivals decided to fight to the death, everything must be done so that it remains a secret and the seconds do not have to bear responsibility. Over there, on top of a sheer cliff, there is a narrow platform, thirty fathoms will be from there. Below are sharp stones. If the duelists stand on the edges of the platform, even a slight wound will be fatal. Offered by the opposite side six steps are quite consistent with this, aren't they? under normal conditions, he could just wound Pechorin, but now he had to either shoot into the air or become an assassin. aly. The site depicted an almost regular triangle. Six steps were measured from the prominent corner. We decided that if the person standing on the very corner avoids being shot, the opponents will switch places.
“I decided to give all the benefits to Grushnitsky; I wanted to experience it; a spark of generosity could wake up in his soul, and then everything would work out (would be for the better. "But this did not happen. There was one more thing - that he would shoot into the air. One thing could prevent this: the thought that Pechorin would demand a secondary duel. The doctor pulls Pechorin - in his opinion, it's time to reveal the conspiracy. Pechorin is against. Opponents take their places. "Grushnitsky ... began to raise the pistol. His knees were trembling. He aimed right at my forehead ... An inexplicable rage boiled in my chest. "But Grushnitsky suddenly lowered the pistol and, pale as a sheet, turned to the second: "I can't." "Coward!" answered the captain. A shot rang out. "A bullet grazed my knee. I involuntarily took a few steps forward."
The captain, confident that no one knows about anything, pretends to say goodbye to Grushnitsky. “I looked into his face for several minutes, trying to notice at least a slight trace of remorse. But I thought he was holding back a smile.”
Pechorin called Werner: “Doctor, these gentlemen, probably in a hurry, forgot to put a bullet in my pistol: I ask you to load it again - and well!” The captain tried to object, but Pechorin offered to shoot with him especially on the same terms ... Grushnitsky stood with his head on his chest, embarrassed and gloomy. “Grushnitsky! - I said, - there is still time; give up your slander, and I will forgive you everything... remember - we were once friends...” “Shoot! - he answered, - I despise myself, but I hate you. If you don't kill me, I'll stab you around the corner at night. There is no place for us on earth together...”

Pechorin fired. When the smoke cleared, Grushnitsky was not on the site. Going down the path, Pechorin noticed ... the bloodied corpse of Grushnitsky. He involuntarily closed his eyes. He had a stone in his heart, and he rode for a long time through the gorge. At home, two notes were waiting for him: the first - from Werner - that everything was arranged. The note ended with the word "Goodbye." In the second, Vera reported that they were breaking up forever. Vera wrote further that in the morning her husband told about Pechorin's quarrel with Grushnitsky. Her face changed so much that he seemed to suspect something. She confessed her love to Pechorin to her husband. The husband was very rude and went to pawn the carriage. Vera wholeheartedly hopes that Pechorin survived. “Isn't it true that you don't love Mary? You won't marry her? Listen, you have to make this sacrifice for me: I have lost everything in the world for you...”
Pechorin jumped out onto the porch, jumped on his Circassian and set off at full speed on the road to Pyatigorsk. He drove the horse, tried to walk - his legs buckled, he fell on the wet grass and cried like a child. Returning to Kislovodsk at five o'clock in the morning, he flung himself on his bed and fell asleep after Waterloo after Napoleon's sleep.
He woke up in the evening and sat by the window, exposing his chest to the fresh mountain wind. The gloomy doctor entered. Contrary to custom, he did not extend his hand to Pechorin. He said that the princess was ill with a nervous breakdown. The princess says that Pechorin shot for her daughter. "The doctor came to warn Pechorin. Maybe they will not see each other again, Pechorin will be sent somewhere. It was felt that at parting the doctor really wanted to shake hands with Pechorin, but he did not make the slightest response movement He went out.
The next morning, having received an order from the higher authorities to go to the fortress N. Pechorin went to the princess to say goodbye. It turned out that she had a serious conversation with him. She knows that Pechorin protected her daughter from slander and shot for her. The daughter confessed to her that she loves Pechorin. The princess agrees to their marriage. What is holding him back? Pechorin asked permission to speak with Mary alone. The princess was against it, but, on reflection, agreed. Mary entered: “her large eyes, full of inexplicable sadness, seemed to be looking in mine for something like hope; her pale lips tried in vain to smile...” “Princess,” I said, “do you know that I laughed at you?... You must despise me... Consequently, you cannot love me... You see, I'm low before you. Isn't it true, even if you loved me, you despise me from this moment? .. "" I hate you, "she said.
An hour later, a courier troika raced Pechorin from Kislovodsk. In serf boredom, he often thinks about why he is not attracted by a quiet life.
III Fatalist
Pechorin writes that somehow it happened to him to live for two weeks in a Cossack village; an infantry battalion stood nearby. In the evening, the officers gathered at each other's houses to play cards in turn.
Once, having thrown the cards, they sat up talking. Contrary to usual, the conversation was entertaining. Here, they say that Muslims believe that the fate of man is written in heaven; some Christians also believe this.
They began to tell various unusual cases. “All this is nonsense,” someone said, “...and if there is definitely predestination, then why are we given will, reason? why should we give an account of our actions?”
The officer who had previously been sitting in the corner of the room came up to the table and surveyed everyone with a calm and solemn glance. This man was a Serb - lieutenant Vulich. He was brave, spoke little, but sharply, did not confide his secrets to anyone, almost did not drink wine, did not drag after young Cossack women. He had only one passion - cards. On this occasion, they even told an interesting story.
Vulich suggested that instead of arguing in vain, try for yourself whether a person can arbitrarily dispose of his life, or whether each of us has a fateful minute in advance ... They bet that Vulich himself will do this. He took at random from the wall one of the pistols of different calibers and loaded it. “I gazed into his eyes; but he met my searching gaze with a calm and motionless gaze, and his pale lips smiled ... it seemed to me that I read the seal of death on his pale face. Many old warriors talk about this... “You will die today!” Pechorin told him. “Maybe yes, maybe no,” he replied. Noisy conversations began about the bet and the gun ... "Listen," I said, "either shoot yourself, or hang the gun back in its original place, and let's go to sleep." Vulich ordered everyone not to move and shot himself in the forehead ... a misfire. He cocked the hammer again and fired at the cap hanging over the window. There was a shot. Vulich won the bet. “... I don’t understand now why it seemed to me that you must certainly die today ...” Pechorin said to Vulich.
Everyone went home. Pechorin walked and thought with a laugh about his distant ancestors, confident that the luminaries of heaven were taking part in their insignificant disputes for a piece of land and some fictitious rights! But the stars keep on shining, and their hopes and passions have long been extinguished with them,...
The incident of the evening made a deep impression on Pechorin. Suddenly he came across something soft lying on the road. It was a pig cut in half with a saber. Two Cossacks ran out of the lane. One of them asked if Pechorin had seen a drunk who was chasing a pig with a saber. He is very dangerous when drunk.
Early in the morning there was a knock on the window. It turned out that Vulich had been killed. He was attacked by that drunken Cossack, about whom they spoke. Before his death, Vulich said only two words: “He is right!” - “I understood: I predicted involuntarily

DUEL IN M.YU. LERMONTOV "HERO OF OUR TIME"

Grushnitsky before the duel could read books, write love poems, if he had not turned into a nonentity. That Grushnitsky, who wore a soldier's overcoat and made romantic speeches, could read Schiller and write poetry ... But that Grushnitsky would actually be ready to shoot himself, to risk his life. And this Grushnitsky, who accepted Pechorin's challenge, is deceiving, he has nothing to fear, nothing to worry about for his life: only his pistol will be loaded ... Whether his conscience tormented him on the night before the duel, we do not know. He will appear before us, ready to fire.

Lermontov does not talk about Grushnitsky. But he forces Pechorin to write down in detail what he thought and felt: “Ah! Mr. Grushnitsky! Your hoax will not succeed ... we will switch roles: now I will have to look for signs of secret fear on your pale face. Why do you yourself appointed these fatal six steps? Do you think that I will turn my forehead to you without a dispute ... but we will cast lots! ... and then ... then ... what if his happiness outweighs? if my star finally betrays me ?.."

So, Pechorin's first feeling is the same as Grushnitsky's: a desire for revenge. "Let's switch roles", "the hoax will fail" - that's what he cares about; he is driven by rather petty motives; he, in essence, continues his game with Grushnitsky, and nothing more; he brought it to its logical conclusion. But this end is dangerous; life is at stake and, above all, his, Pechorin, life!

"Well? To die like this is to die: a small loss for the world; and I myself am quite bored..."

I run through my memory of all my past and involuntarily ask myself: why did I live? for what purpose was I born?

Pechorin more than once referred to fate, which takes care that he is not bored and sends him Grushnitsky for entertainment, brings him together with Vera in the Caucasus, uses him as an executioner or an ax - but he is not such a person to submit fate he himself directs his life, he manages himself and other people.

He "loved for himself, for his own pleasure ... and could never get enough." Therefore, on the night before the duel, he is alone, "and not a single creature will remain on earth that would understand him" if he is killed. He draws a terrible conclusion: "After this, is it worth the trouble to live? But you still live - out of curiosity; you expect something new ... Ridiculous and annoying!"

Pechorin's diary ends on the night before the duel. The last entry was made a month and a half later, in fortress N. "Maxim Maksimych went hunting ... gray clouds covered the mountains to the soles; the sun seems to be a yellow spot through the fog. It's cold, the wind whistles and shakes the hundred. It's boring."

How different this dreary landscape is from the one with which Pechorin's diary opened: "branches of blossoming cherries", bright motley colors; "the air is fresh and clean, like the kiss of a child"; there the mountains turned blue, their peaks were like a silver chain - here they are covered with gray clouds; there the wind strewed the table with white petals - here it "whistles and shakes the shutters"; there it was "fun to live" - ​​here it was "boring"!

Still not knowing about the details of the duel, we already know the main thing: Pechorin is alive. He is in the fortress - what could he have come here for, if not the tragic outcome of the duel? We already guess: Grushnitsky is killed. But Pechorin does not say this right away, he mentally returns to the night before the duel: "I thought of dying; it was impossible: I have not yet drained the cup of suffering and now I feel that I still have a long time to live."

On the night before the duel, he "did not sleep for a minute", could not write, "then sat down and opened the novel by Walter Scott ... it was The Scottish Puritans"; he "read at first with effort, then forgot, carried away by magical fiction. .."

But as soon as it dawned, and his nerves calmed down, he again submits to the worst in his character: “I looked in the mirror; a dull pallor covered my face, which kept traces of painful insomnia; but my eyes, although surrounded by a brown shadow, shone proudly and inexorably. I was satisfied , yourself".

Everything that tormented and secretly disturbed him at night is forgotten. He prepares for the duel soberly and calmly: "... having ordered the horses to be saddled... he got dressed and ran to the bath... he came out of the bath fresh and cheerful, as if he was going to a ball."

Werner (Pechorin's second) is excited about the upcoming fight. Pechorin speaks to him calmly and mockingly; even to his second, his friend, he does not reveal "secret restlessness"; as always, he is cold and smart, prone to unexpected conclusions and comparisons: "Try to look at me as a patient obsessed with a disease that is still unknown to you ...", "Waiting for a violent death, isn't it already a real disease?"

Alone with himself, he is again the same as on the first day of his stay in Pyatigorsk: a natural, life-loving person. This is how he sees nature on the way to the duel site:

“I don’t remember a bluer and fresher morning! The sun barely emerged from behind the green peaks, and the merging of the first warmth of its rays with the dying coolness of the night inspired some kind of sweet languor . The joyful has not penetrated into the gorge yet a ray of a young day..."

Everything that he sees on the way to the place of the duel pleases, amuses, revives him, and he is not ashamed to admit it: "I remember - this time, more than ever before, I loved nature. How curiously I peered into every dewdrop that fluttered on a wide grape leaf and reflected millions of rainbow rays! how greedily my gaze tried to penetrate the smoky distance!

But all this joy, greedy enjoyment of life, delight, exclamations - all this is hidden from prying eyes. Werner, who is riding nearby, cannot imagine what Pechorin is thinking about:

"We drove in silence.

Have you written your will? asked Werner suddenly.

What if you are killed?

The heirs will find themselves.

Do you really have no friends to whom you would like to send your last forgiveness? ..

I shook my head."

Before the duel, he even forgot about Vera; he does not need any of the women who loved him now, in moments of complete spiritual loneliness. Starting his confession, he said: "Do you want, doctor... that I reveal my soul to you?" He does not deceive, he really reveals his soul to Werner. But the fact is that the soul of a person is not something immovable, its state changes, a person can look at life differently in the morning and in the evening of the same day.

In "Eugene Onegin" all the participants in the duel were serious. Lensky seethed with "impatient enmity"; Onegin, inwardly tormented, understood, however, that he did not have the courage to refuse a duel; Onegin's second, Guillot's lackey, was frightened; Lensky's second, Zaretsky, "a classic and a pedant in duels," enjoyed the ritual of preparing for a duel "according to the strict rules of art, according to all the legends of antiquity." Zaretsky is disgusting, hateful to us, but even he begins to look almost like a noble knight, if we compare him with Grushnitsky's second, the captain of the dragoons. Lermontov's contempt for this man is so great that he did not even give him a name: enough of his rank!

The duel in "Princess Mary" is unlike any duel known to us from Russian literature. Pierre Bezukhov shot with Dolokhov, Grinev with Shvabrin, and even Bazarov with Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov - without deceit. A duel is a terrible, tragic way of resolving disputes, and its only merit is that it presupposes absolute honesty on both sides. Any tricks during a duel covered with indelible shame the one who tried to cheat.

The duel in "Princess Mary" is unlike any duel known to us, because it is based on a dishonest conspiracy of a dragoon captain.

Of course, the dragoon captain does not even think that this duel could end tragically for Grushnitsky: he himself loaded his pistol and did not load Pechorin's pistol. But, probably, he does not even think about the possibility of Pechorin's death. Assuring Grushnitsky that Pechorin would certainly chicken out, the dragoon captain himself believed this. He has one goal: to have fun, present Pechorin as a coward and thereby disgrace him. Remorse of conscience is unknown to him, the laws of honor too.

Everything that happens before the duel reveals the complete irresponsibility and stupid self-confidence of the dragoon captain. He is convinced that events will go according to his plan. But they unfold differently and, like any self-satisfied person, having lost power over events, the captain is lost and powerless.

However, when Pechorin and Werner joined their opponents, the dragoon captain was still sure that he was directing the comedy.

We've been expecting you for a long time,' said the dragoon captain with an ironic smile.

I took out my watch and showed it to him.

He apologized, saying his watch was running out."

While waiting for Pechorin, the captain, apparently, had already told his friends that Pechorin was scared, he would not come - such an outcome of the case would have completely satisfied him. But Pechorin arrived. Now, according to the laws of behavior in duels, the seconds were supposed to start with an attempt at reconciliation. The dragoon captain broke this law, Werner did it.

“It seems to me,” he said, “that, having shown both of you a readiness to fight, and having thereby paid the debt to the conditions of honor, you could, gentlemen, explain yourself and end this matter amicably.

I'm ready," Pechorin said.

"The captain winked at Grushnitsky"... The role of the captain in a duel is much more dangerous than it might seem. He not only came up with and carried out a conspiracy. He personifies the very public opinion that will expose Grushnitsky to ridicule and contempt if he refuses to duel.

Throughout the scene leading up to the duel, the dragoon captain continues to play his dangerous role. Then he "winked at Grushnitsky", trying to convince him that Pechorin was a coward - and therefore ready for reconciliation. That "took him by the arm and took him aside; they whispered for a long time ..."

If Pechorin had actually become cowardly, this would have been a salvation for Grushnitsky: his pride would have been satisfied, and he could not have fired at an unarmed man. Grushnitsky knows Pechorin well enough to understand: he does not admit that he was at Mary's last night, he will not refuse the assertion that Grushnitsky slandered. And yet, like any weak person who finds himself in a difficult situation, he is waiting for a miracle: suddenly something will happen, save, help out ...

The miracle doesn't happen. Pechorin is ready to abandon the duel - provided that Grushnitsky publicly renounces his slander. To this the weak man replies: "We will shoot ourselves."

This is how Grushnitsky signs his sentence. He does not know that Pechorin is aware of the plot of the dragoon captain, and does not think that he is endangering his life. But he knows that with three words: "We will shoot ourselves" - cut off his way to honest people. From now on, he is a dishonorable person.

Pechorin once again tries to appeal to Grushnitsky's conscience: he recalls that one of the opponents "will certainly be killed." Grushnitsky replies: "I wish it were you..."

"But I'm so sure of the opposite ...", - says Pechorin, deliberately burdening Grushnitsky's conscience.

If Pechorin had spoken to Grushnitsky in private, he could have achieved repentance or a refusal to duel. That inner, inaudible conversation that goes on between opponents could take place; Pechorin's words reach Grushnitsky: "there was some kind of uneasiness in his eyes," "he became embarrassed, blushed" - but this conversation did not take place because of the dragoon captain.

Pechorin is passionately immersed in what he calls life. He is fascinated by intrigue, conspiracy, the intricacies of the whole thing ... The dragoon captain set up his net, hoping to catch Pechorin. Pechorin discovered the ends of this network and took them into his own hands; he tightens the net more and more, and the dragoon captain and Grushnitsky do not notice this. The conditions of the duel, worked out the day before, are cruel: shoot at six paces. Pechorin insists on even more severe conditions: he chooses a narrow platform on top of a sheer cliff and demands that each of the opponents stand on the very edge of the platform: "in this way, even a slight wound will be fatal ... The one who will be wounded, will surely fly down and shatter into smithereens..."

Still, Pechorin is a very courageous person. After all, he is in mortal danger and at the same time knows how to control himself in such a way that he still has time to see the tops of the mountains, which "crowded ... like an innumerable herd, and Elborus in the south," and the golden fog ... Only going to the edge of the platform and looking down, he involuntarily betrays his excitement: “... it seemed dark and cold down there, as in a coffin; mossy teeth rocks thrown down by a thunderstorm and time were waiting for their prey" .

He admits this only to himself. Outwardly, he is so calm that Werner had to feel his pulse - and only then could he notice signs of excitement in him.

Having risen to the platform, the opponents "decided that the one who had to meet the enemy fire first would stand at the very corner, with his back to the abyss; if he was not killed, then the opponents would change places." Pechorin does not say who this proposal belonged to, but we can easily guess: one more condition that makes the duel hopelessly cruel is put forward by him.

A month and a half after the duel, Pechorin frankly admits in his diary that he deliberately put Grushnitsky before a choice: kill an unarmed man or dishonor himself. Understands Pechorin and more; in Grushnitsky's soul "vanity and weakness of character should have triumphed!.."

Pechorin's behavior can hardly be called completely noble, because he always has double, contradictory aspirations: on the one hand, he seems to be preoccupied with the fate of Grushnitsky, wants to force him to abandon the dishonest act, but, on the other hand, Pechorin is most concerned about his own conscience, from which he pays off in advance in case the irreparable happens and Grushnitsky turns from a conspirator into a victim.

It fell to Grushnitsky to shoot first. And Pechorin continues to experiment; he says to his opponent: "... if you do not kill me, then I will not miss! - I give you my word of honor." This phrase again has a double purpose: once again to test Grushnitsky and once again to calm his conscience, so that later, if Grushnitsky is killed, say to himself: I am clean, I warned ...

Grushnitsky, of course, does not guess about this second meaning of Pechorin's words; he has another concern. Exhausted by conscience, "he blushed; he was ashamed to kill an unarmed man ... but how to confess to such a vile intent? .."

That's when Grushnitsky becomes sorry: why did Pechorin and the dragoon captain confuse him so much? Why should he pay such a high price for pride and selfishness - how many people live in this world, possessing the worst shortcomings, and do not find themselves in such a tragic dead end as Grushnitsky!

We forgot about Werner. And he's here. He knows everything that Pechorin knows, but Werner cannot understand his plan. First of all, he does not have the courage of Pechorin, cannot comprehend Pechorin's determination to stand at gunpoint. In addition, he does not understand the main thing: why? For what purpose does Pechorin risk his life?

"It's time," whispered ... the doctor ... Look, he's already loading ... if you don't say anything, then I myself ... "

Werner's reaction is natural: he seeks to prevent tragedy. After all, Pechorin is primarily exposed to danger, because Grushnitsky will be the first to shoot!

"Not for anything in the world, doctor!.. What business is it of yours? Maybe I want to be killed..."

In response to such a statement by Pechorin, he says:

"Oh! this is different! .. just don't complain about me in the next world."

Every person - and a doctor in particular - has no right to allow either murder or suicide. A duel is another matter; they had their own laws, in our modern view, monstrous, barbaric; but Werner, of course, could not and should not interfere with a fair duel. In the same case that we see, he acts unworthily: he evades the necessary intervention - from what motives? So far, we understand one thing: Pecho-rin turned out to be stronger here too. Werner submitted to his will in the same way that everyone else submits.

And so Pechorin "stood at the corner of the site, firmly resting his left foot on a stone and leaning forward a little, so that in case of a slight wound he would not tip back." Grushnitsky began to raise his pistol...

“Suddenly he lowered the muzzle of his pistol and, turning as pale as a sheet, turned to his second.

Coward! replied the captain.

The shot rang out."

Again - the dragoon captain! For the third time, Grushnitsky was ready to succumb to the voice of conscience - or, perhaps, to the will of Pechorin, which he feels, which he is accustomed to obey - he was ready to abandon the dishonest plan. And for the third time, the dragoon captain was stronger. Whatever Pechorin's motives, here on the site, he represents honesty, and the dragoon captain - meanness. Evil turned out to be stronger, the shot rang out.

The weak man was aiming at Pechorin's forehead. But his weakness is such that, having decided on a dirty deed, he does not have the strength to bring it to the end. Raising the pistol for the second time, he fired, no longer aiming, the bullet scratched Pechorin's knee, he managed to retreat from the edge of the platform.

Be that as it may, he continues to play his comedy and behaves so disgustingly that you involuntarily begin to understand Pechorin: barely holding back from laughter, he says goodbye to Grushnitsky: “Hug me ... we won’t see each other again! .. Don’t be afraid ... everything nonsense in the world! .. "When Pechorin tries to appeal to Grushnitsky's conscience for the last time, the dragoon captain intervenes again: "Mr. Pechorin! .. you are not here to confess, let me tell you ..."

But it seems to me that at this moment the words of the dragoon captain no longer matter. Conscience no longer torments Grushnitsky; he, perhaps, keenly regrets that he did not kill Pechorin; Grushnitsky is crushed, destroyed by mocking contempt, he only wants one thing: for everything to end soon, Pechorin's shot rang out - a misfire, and to be left alone with the consciousness that the plot had failed, Pechorin won, and he, Grushnitsky, was disgraced.

And at that moment Pechorin finishes him off: "Doctor, these gentlemen, probably in a hurry, forgot to put a bullet in my pistol: I ask you to load it again, and well!"

Only now it becomes clear to Grushnitsky; Pechorin knew everything! He knew when he offered to give up slander. Knew, standing at the muzzle of a gun. And just now, when he advised Grushnitsky to "pray to God," he asked if his conscience was saying anything - he also knew!

The dragoon captain is trying to continue his line: shouting, protesting, insisting. Grushnitsky doesn't care anymore. "Confused and gloomy," he does not look at the captain's signs.

At the first minute, he probably cannot even realize what Pechorin's statement brings him; he experiences only a feeling of hopeless shame. Later he will understand: Pechorin's words mean not only shame, but also death.

There is nothing unexpected in the behavior of the dragoon captain: he was so bold and even arrogant until there was danger! But as soon as Pechorin suggested that he "shoot on the same conditions," he " hesitated," and when he saw a loaded pistol in Pechorin's hands, he "spit and stamped his foot."

The captain immediately understands what it means for Grushnitsky a loaded pistol in the hands of Pechorin, and speaks of this with rude frankness: "... stab yourself like a fly ..." He leaves the one who until recently was called his "true friend", in a moment of mortal danger and dares only to "mutter" words of protest.

What was left for him to do? Of course, shoot with Pechorin on the same terms. He started the whole business; now that the plot has been revealed, it is the captain who must bear responsibility for it. But he avoids responsibility.

Pechorin is trying for the last time to prevent the tragedy:

"Grushnitsky," I said, "there's still time. Give up your slander, and I'll forgive you everything; you didn't manage to fool me, and my pride is satisfied—remember, we were once friends."

But Grushnitsky just cannot bear this: Pechorin's calm, benevolent tone humiliates him even more - again Pechorin won, took over; he is noble, and Grushnitsky...

“His face flushed, his eyes sparkled.

Shoot! he answered. “I despise myself, but I hate you. If you don't kill me, I'll stab you around the corner at night. There is no place for us on earth...

Finita la comedia! I said to the doctor.

He did not answer and turned away in horror.

Comedy turned tragedy. But don't you think that Werner behaves no better than the dragoon captain? At first, he did not keep Pechorin when he became under a bullet. Now that the murder had been committed, the doctor had turned away from responsibility.