The chapter "The Fatalist" completes Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time". At the same time, it is also the last in Pechorin's Journal. Chronologically, the events of this chapter take place after Pechorin visited Taman, Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk, after the episode with Bela, but before the hero's meeting with Maxim Maksimovich in Vladikavkaz. Why does Lermontov place the chapter "The Fatalist" at the end of the novel?
A peculiar core of the analyzed episode is a bet between Lieutenant Vulich and Pechorin. The main character served in one Cossack village, "the officers gathered at each other's place in turn, played cards in the evenings." On one of these evenings, the bet happened. Sitting up for a long game card game the officers talked about fate and predestination. Unexpectedly, Lieutenant Vulich offers to check whether "a person can arbitrarily dispose of his life, or whether everyone ... has a fateful minute in advance." No one, except Pechorin, enters into a bet. Vulich loaded the pistol, pulled the trigger and shot himself in the forehead... The pistol misfired. So the lieutenant proved that the already predetermined fate still exists.
The theme of predestination and a player who is trying his luck was developed before Lermontov by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (“Shot” and “ Queen of Spades"). And in the novel A Hero of Our Time, up to the chapter Fatalist, the theme of fate arose repeatedly. Maxim Maksimovich says about Pechorin in "Bel": "After all, there are, really, such people who have a life written, various unusual things must happen to them." In the chapter “Taman”, Pechorin asks himself: “And why did fate throw me into a peaceful circle honest smugglers? In "Princess Mary": "... fate somehow always led me to the denouement of other people's dramas ... what purpose did fate have for this?"
The main philosophical aspect of the novel is the struggle between personality and fate. In the chapter “The Fatalist”, Lermontov asks the most important, urgent question: to what extent is a person himself the builder of his life? The answer to this question will be able to explain to Pechorin his own soul and destiny, and will also reveal crucial moment- the author's decision of the image. We will understand who, according to Lermontov, Pechorin: the victim or the culprit?
The whole story is divided into three episodes: a bet with Vulich, Pechorin's reasoning about predestination and Vulich's death, as well as a capture scene. Let's see how Pechorin changes as the episodes progress. At the beginning, we learn that he does not believe in fate at all, and therefore agrees to the bet. But why does he allow himself to play with impunity not his own, but someone else's life? Grigory Alexandrovich manifests himself as a hopeless cynic: “Everyone dispersed, accusing me of selfishness, as if I had bet with a man who wanted to shoot himself, and without me he seemed unable to find a convenient opportunity!” Despite the fact that Vulich provided Pechorin with evidence of the existence of fate, the latter continues to doubt: “... it became funny to me when I remembered that there were once wise people who thought that the heavenly bodies were taking part in our insignificant disputes for a piece of land or for some some fictitious rights! ..” Another proof of the existence of fate for the hero was to be the death of Vulich. Indeed, during the bet, it seemed to Pechorin that he “read the seal of death on the pale face” of the lieutenant, and at 4 o’clock in the morning the officers brought the news that Vulich had been killed under strange circumstances: he had been hacked to death by a drunken Cossack. But even this circumstance did not convince Pechorin, he says that instinct prompted him "on ... the changed face is the seal of imminent death." Then Pechorin decides to try his luck himself and helps to capture the killer of Vulich, who has locked himself in an empty hut. He successfully captures the criminal, but is never convinced that his fate is destined from above: “After all this, how would it seem not to become a fatalist? ... how often do we mistake a deception of feelings or a mistake of reason for conviction.”
It is amazing how subtly and accurately Pechorin's last confession reveals another facet of his emotional tragedy. Pechorin admits to himself terrible vice: disbelief. And it's not just about religious faith, no. The hero does not believe in anything: neither in death, nor in love, nor in truth, nor in lies. “And we ... wandering the earth without conviction and pride, without pleasure and fear ... we are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness, because we know its impossibility, and indifferently we pass from doubt to doubt, as our ancestors rushed from one delusion to another, having, like them, neither hope, nor even that indefinite, although true pleasure that the soul meets in any struggle with people and fate. The worst thing is that Pechorin does not believe in life, and, therefore, does not love her. “In my early youth, I was a dreamer: I loved to caress alternately gloomy, then rosy images ... But what was left of this? - only fatigue ... I exhausted both the heat of the soul and the constancy of the will necessary for real life ... "
An amazing episode that reveals to us Lermontov's attitude to the fate of Pechorin is the capture scene. In fact, only here, at the end of the story and the entire novel, Grigory Alexandrovich performs an act that benefits people. This act, as the last ray of hope that Pechorin will again feel a taste for life, he will find his happiness in helping others, will use his composure in situations where a common person cannot control himself. “I like to doubt everything: this is the disposition of character - on the contrary, as far as it concerns me, I always go forward more boldly when I don’t know what awaits me.” But we learn all this only at the end of the novel, when we already know that there is no hope left, that Pechorin died without revealing his mighty talents. Here is the author's answer. Man is the master of his own destiny. And there is always a chance to take the reins into your own hands. The clue to the image of Pechorin is simple. Surprisingly, he, who does not believe in fate, always presented himself and his lack of demand in this life as the tricks of evil Fortune. But it's not. Lermontov, in the last chapter of his novel, answers us that Pechorin himself is to blame for his fate and this is a disease of time. It is this theme and this lesson that the classic taught us that make the novel A Hero of Our Time a book for all ages and for all times.
A strange, vague impression is produced by the final part of Pechorin's journal "The Fatalist". Without striving to completely unambiguously interpret its meaning, one can notice that here, too, the hero remains true to himself: unlike his comrades, who begged Vulich to give up the idea with a pistol and not tempt fate, Pechorin, by the very tone of his statement (“Listen,” I said, “or shoot yourself, or hang the gun back and let's go to bed") provokes the Serb to a terrible and dangerous experiment.Pechorin's reflections after the end of the events of the evening are remarkable: he realizes his guilt, seeing it as if through the eyes of his acquaintances, but subsequent thoughts are much more interesting. The ancestors believed that the stars in the sky were the lamps of the souls of the dead, and this belief "gave them confidence that the whole sky with its countless inhabitants was looking at them with participation, although mute, but unchanged! ..", and "we, their miserable descendants wandering the earth without conviction and pride, without pleasure and fear, except for that involuntary fear that squeezes the heart at the thought of the inevitable end, we are no longer capable of great sacrifices either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness, because we know its impossibility and indifferently we pass from doubt to doubt, as our ancestors rushed from one error to another, having, like them, neither hope, nor even that indefinite, albeit true pleasure that the soul meets in any struggle with people or with fate. ..." (Lermontov. S.584-585).
The illness of the hero is thus indicated. It consists in distrust that corrodes the soul, but Pechorin himself marvels at the strength of people who surrender to endless stars. So, we must believe and hope to someday find the real truth.
Fatalistic convictions were characteristic of a significant part of the progressive youth due to the inability to explain the events of the era of the "Napoleonic" wars and the defeat of the Decembrists; when many obstacles stood in the way, and above all - social and public, which in the minds of people in the 30s and 40s were often perceived as the impact of fate, fate. In the light of such ideas, human social activity turned out to be useless. Lermontov in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" tries to overcome fatalistic philosophy by portraying Pechorin as a man not only of "fate", but also of "will", that is, capable of solving his problems despite adverse social conditions. Artistically, this idea is embodied in the chapter "The Fatalist", where Pechorin predicts death for Lieutenant Vulich, guessing the signs of "rock" on his face. Indeed, returning home at night, Vulich was hacked to death by a drunken Cossack armed with a saber. The intervention of fate, although absurd, in the fate of a person seems to be fully confirmed here, especially since this case did not depend in any way on the “will” of the victim. But the next day, Pechorin had to doubt the truth of the prevailing ideas about the omnipotence of fate, predestination. Despite any evidence of the power of fate, before which the human will is powerless, Pechorin decides to try his luck and bravely rushes towards mortal danger, hoping to win the bet on life despite all evidence. Putting himself at risk, challenging "fate", Pechorin disarms a dangerous criminal thanks to personal courage. "Rock" was powerless against the brave man. Instead of certain death, Pechorin remains alive. The artistic collision of "The Fatalist" convinced that the struggle for happiness, human dignity and freedom is not only possible, but necessary. Pechorin himself did not reach the line of such a struggle.
Pechorin, intending to travel, says: "Maybe I'll die somewhere on the road!" We understand: behind these words there is a consciousness of complete hopelessness, the absolute incurability of a mental illness, but at the same time, Pechorin is physically healthy - there are no hints of illness. This gives the phrase he dropped a certain symbolic connotation - the assumption is likened to a predestination. Further, the narrator reports: "...Pechorin, returning from Persia, died." From what? How? Not said. The assumption came true: does it mean that he died because he wanted to die? The riddle of death crowns here the riddles of life. He dies, which is quite consistent with the internal logic of his character.
Let us summarize all of the above in this chapter of our work:
1. In the twentieth century, two opposing points of view remain regarding the understanding of Pechorin's personality: Pechorin is an antisocial nature and Pechorin as a true hero of the work and era; Pechorin is a demon who brings evil to people, sows evil around him, or a gifted person who does not find his place in life, suffering and tormented.
2. Soviet criticism believed that Pechorin was a victim of the public, the social environment.
3. Some modern researchers prove the general inhumanity of the character, regardless of social conditions associated with the wrong direction of their spiritual forces, mind and knowledge, which is confirmed by the following provisions.
4. Pechorin is not capable of friendship, selfishness is inherent in him, he has no real attachment to anyone; he seeks to bring every life situation that attracts him to a conflict.
5. Bela Pechorin forcibly pulls out of her natural environment and, with his egoism, leads her to death.
6. His soul is not able to sympathize with another soul, tune in unison with the mood of others. Free from friendship, which constrains its moral traces and connections, Pechorin repels the ingenuous kindness of Maxim Maksimych. The author again blames Pechorin for his selfish attitude towards others; in this situation, Maksim Maksimych turns out to be right.
7. Out of pure curiosity, the hero intervenes in the lives of smugglers and almost gets killed, because he was not ready for such a situation.
8. Pechorin destroys Mary's love, mercilessly kills Grushnitsky, accompanying all this with prudence and composure.
9. Pechorin's life convinces us that a person's free will turns into individualism. Where separate person decides the fate of other people according to his own arbitrariness, there is not and cannot be equality and true happiness.
Speaking about the work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, one cannot ignore his famous philosophical novel"Hero of our time". In his work, the writer tried to explore the psychological image of Grigory Pechorin, but Pechorin alone could not manage, since main character captures many destinies, after the touch of which they all either die or lose their meaning, interest and love for life.
Lermontov draws the life stages of the protagonist in his novel, starting with a chapter called "Bella", ending with an absolutely philosophical and thoughtful chapter, which concludes in its title main point all content. "Fatalist" last section Pechorin's diary. According to one of the critics, the absence of the last chapter of the novel would make the image of Pechorin incomplete. Why would the inner portrait of the protagonist be incomplete without this chapter?
Reading the novel by Mikhail Lermontov, we observe life cycle Grigory Pechorin. During his life, Pechorin left only suffering in people's memory, however, he himself was a terribly unhappy person. Contradictions and loneliness, born in his soul, swallowed him up, not giving life to sincere emotions and feelings. That is how, chapter by chapter, we recognized the main character, revealing new portions in his soul human vices. But the main point of the whole novel is the chapter "The Fatalist". It shows Pechorin's attitude to fate, it is in it that the phenomenon of predestination is called into question. Thus, the author does not remove responsibility from the hero for all his actions. writer, varying life situations, only guides Pechorin through them, exploring new facets of his soul. It is this chapter that affirms the truth of Pechorin's statements and the author's thoughts that the significance of a person's activity in his own destiny is very, very important. So, going against the fate of events and fate, Pechorin enters the hut, where the Cossack killer is raging, whom he rather quickly and skillfully disarmed. At this moment, the best qualities of the hero's nature appeared.
The final chapter of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" "The Fatalist" brings the main idea of the novel to its logical conclusion and full disclosure of the protagonist. Collective image, embedding as good qualities, and completely unforgivable, asserts its position in the last part of the work. The writer leaves open the question of fatalism, ending Pechorin's life on the way to Persia. It is in this chapter that the image of Grigory Pechorin is exhausted to the very end, completely absorbed philosophical reflections about fate, about the meaning of life and about the fact that the struggle of man for own life possible and necessary.
Of course, the final chapter of the novel is the most important section of Pechorin's diary. Only in it we reveal the last nooks and crannies of the soul of the protagonist, finding in him reflections on predestination, which certainly find their home in the soul of the writer himself.
The chapter begins with a story about the bet between Pechorin and Vulich. In this dispute, Vulich proves the existence of a destiny from above. He shoots himself with a loaded gun, but the misfire leaves him alive. What is it: a game of chance or fate? Pechorin is sure that it is fate. It is this confidence of his that contributes to the feeling that this incident is not the end, but only the beginning of the main, most likely, tragic events in life.
In a philosophical dispute between them, their life positions: Vulich, as a person connected with the East, believes in predestination, and Pechorin acts as a person-bearer of practical thinking: “... if there is definitely predestination, then why are we given will, reason? Why should we be held accountable for our actions?... Pechorin, who questions everything, does not agree with Vulich, the evidence provided by the officer is not enough for him, he must check himself and try his fate. Paradoxically, it is he who predicts imminent death Vulich, based only on the fact that "on the face of a man who is to die in a few hours, there is some kind of terrible imprint of the inevitability of fate."
However, the dispute agitated Pechorin, he thinks about it on the way home, but fate has prepared for him a sleepless night. Describing what is happening, the hero will note: "... apparently, it was written in heaven that this night I will not sleep."
This is how the episode begins: officers appear at his house, who bring him shocking news - Vulich has been killed. What a terrible predestination? Confused, because he foresaw this death, Pechorin goes to the hut in which the Cossack murderer Vulich locked himself. How amazed he is is evidenced by his inner reflections, the fragmentary nature of his phrases and thoughts. Approaching the hut, he sees "terrible turmoil." Lermontov psychologically accurately conveys his condition, the rest of the inhabitants of the village and the excited officers. The abundance of verbs (jumped out, outstripped, fled, howled, lamented) reflects the confusion and horror of all these people who learned about tragic death Vulich. They are so frightened that they cannot control themselves, confusion does not allow them to do anything. And Pechorin is already calm. His sharp mind notices the indecisive Cossacks, and the despair of women, and the madness in the eyes of the old mother of the locked-in killer. Everyone is aware of the need to “decide on something”, but no one dares to capture the crazy Cossack. Neither persuasion nor threats against him help. After all, the killer understands the hopelessness of his situation. To him, who has already done so serious crime, being in a highly excited state, has nothing to lose. Pechorin, peering through the window, immediately noted the Cossack's pallor, and his horror at the sight of blood, and his terribly rolling eyes, and his gestures when he clutched his head. He looked like a crazy person. He is ready to die, but probably will not surrender voluntarily, but most likely will shoot back if they try to grab him. The officers also understand this, so they offer to shoot the criminal. At this moment, Pechorin decides on a desperate act that struck him:
he wants, like Vulich, to try his luck. This idea, which seems strange and inexplicable, is actually very logical. She is the opportunity to try fate and find out if there is predestination from above. The events of the previous evening, the insane killer, the indecisiveness of the officers - all this forces Pechorin to make a very risky decision, i.e. to try alone and without weapons to seize an armed man, although driven into a corner, but very dangerous. Isn't it suicide? However, the hero takes this step. He defies his fate, his inner reflection, excitement "does not interfere with the decisiveness of the character", it even creates the feeling that he is delighted, having made a dangerous decision. “My heart was beating strongly,” writes Pechorin. He captures the Cossack, and at the same time remains alive. What is this:
incredible luck or fate? What saved the hero from a bullet flying over his very ear? What prevented the Cossack from picking up the saber lying next to him? Probably luck, or maybe fate.
One way or another, but the killer is captured, and Pechorin survived. All the officers congratulated him, and having returned to the fortress and told Maxim Maksimych about this, he again thinks about predestination. And how not to become a fatalist after everything that happened?! However, Pechorin not only is not convinced of the existence of predestination, but, on the contrary, comes to the conclusion that a person “always moves forward more boldly when he does not know what awaits him.”
This episode, like the whole story "The Fatalist", is Pechorin's diary, his confession, his thoughts about himself and his actions. Analyzing his actions in the scene of the capture of the murderous Cossack, Pechorin comes to the same conclusion as Lermontov in his poem "Duma": their generations are "miserable descendants wandering the earth without conviction and pride, without pleasure and fear." They are left to spend their lives on entertainment, drunkenness, this is a life without meaning and lofty ideas. And the way such educated people risk their lives aimlessly, thinking people, as Vulich and Pechorin, trying to prove false truths, once again confirms their "lack of demand by society." This " extra people”, This is their tragedy, and the episode where Pechorin plays with death proves this.
Tasks and tests on the topic "Pechorin's bet with Vulich. (Analysis of the chapter Fatalist of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov Hero of our time.)"
- Orthoepy - Important topics for repeating the exam in the Russian language
Lessons: 1 Assignments: 7
- Changing past tense verbs by gender and number - Verb as part of speech Grade 4
The theme of fate in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is one of the fundamental ones. This theme runs through all parts of the novel, starting with the story of Bel and ending with the part "The Fatalist". And this is not surprising, because in its prose work Lermontov continues his reflections, which he conveyed earlier in many poetic creations. In this vein, we can recall the terms from the poem "The Death of a Poet", in which the author sadly exclaimed:
The poet is dead! - slave of honor -
Fate's verdict has come true! -
The theme of fate in Lermontov's poems often appears in the form of Rock, which is evil for a person, which cannot be overcome, and often it is impossible to come to terms with it. The theme of fate in "A Hero of Our Time" is also considered by the author from a tragic point of view. Let us consider in more detail the author's concept of the theme of fate in the novel.
Understanding the theme of fate by Pechorin
In the image of the protagonist of the novel, we can see a deep attention to the theme of fate. Pechorin himself in his diary calls himself "an ax in the hands of fate." That is, the hero thus justifies himself and his unseemly deeds, believing that he, committing them, is something like an executioner or, more precisely, a conductor's baton in the hands of an experienced and all-powerful ruler.
Assigning such a fate to himself, the hero thereby achieves self-affirmation in society, believing that he, inflicting pain on others, only fairly punishes them for their misdeeds. Thus, Pechorin thinks of himself as a demigod, claiming more than a mere mortal man.
Such an understanding of his role by Pechorin brings us closer to the topic of the “superman”, which will become especially relevant for humanity 70 years after the publication of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov. However, the writer, ahead of his time, created for readers the image of such a “future superman”: a hero who is not ashamed of either his bad thoughts or his bad deeds and strives to replay his fate.
As we remember, it is the belief in fate and the desire to experience it that makes Pechorin commit immoral acts that are not even interesting to him: imagining himself to be “an ax in the hands of fate”, he begins to pursue Mary with his barbs, and then falls in love with her, laughs at Grushnitsky, that as a result, it leads to a duel fatal for the young man, advises Azamat - Bela's brother - to kidnap his sister for his own fun, etc.
At the same time, sometimes in the life of Pechorin there come such moments when the hero believes that the evil Rock completely defeats him. Here is how he talks about such life collisions:
“... Such was my fate from childhood. Everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings, which were not there; but they were supposed - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of slyness: I became secretive. I deeply felt good and evil; no one caressed me, everyone insulted me: I became vindictive; I was gloomy - other children are cheerful and talkative; I felt myself superior to them - I was placed below. I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world - no one understood me: and I learned to hate "
Thus, sometimes Pechorin tries to blame his bad deeds not on himself, but on his fate, believing that it is she who is the infrequent culprit of all the troubles that happened to him.
All Pechorin's experiences concerning the problem of fate are resolved in the last part of the novel, called "The Fatalist" (that is, a person who believes in fate). This part still remains a mystery to literary critics, because it characterizes not so much Pechorin himself as a fatalist, but helps to understand the life-meaning problems for the author of human existence.The story "The Fatalist" as a problem of the divinity of the theme of fate
It is in the story "The Fatalist" that the most important aspect the author's understanding of the theme of fate: namely, God or the devil controls the fate of man on earth. To solve this problem, Lermontov chooses the hero Vulich, who is even more fatalist than Pechorin. Vulich decided to test his fate by putting on the line the most precious thing - his life. He offered Pechorin a bet, according to which he shoots himself in the temple with a loaded pistol and sees whether his fate is to live or die (the fact is that pistols of that time misfired with a probability of one case in ten). Pechorin, looking into Vulich's eyes, tells him that he will die tonight. Vulich shoots himself in the temple, and the gun misfires. He goes to his home, and in the morning Pechorin finds out that he was right: Vulich died that same evening: he was hacked to death by a drunken Cossack with a saber.
According to literary critics, Lermontov, in his characteristic authorial manner, considers the problem of fate as bad joke devil over man. There is a well-known gospel parable about the demons that moved into the herd of pigs and forced them to rush down into the abyss. In the story "The Fatalist", the devilish desire to try fate comes to the mind of the fatalist Vulich. A demon, as it were, takes possession of him, forcing him to make a fatal bet. And the same demon leads to the fact that Vulich dies on the same night at the hands of a bitter drunkard and a brawler. It would seem that the forces of evil are triumphant: they showed people an example of their power. The evil Rock - Demon, already described by Lermontov in one of his poems, won. However, at the end of his story, the writer somewhat softens the tragic sound of the finale of the novel with the words of the kind Maxim Maksimovich that pistols often misfire, and this has nothing to do with the fact that some Cossack decided to make a fuss that evening.
Such an ending leaves room for Divine Providence, merciful and all-encompassing, and also leaves the reader the right to decide in his own way the collision that the author described in the last part of his novel.
Understanding the role of fate by the heroes of the novel
The fate of the heroes of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is, as a rule, tragic. Heroes strive for happiness, but they realize that they will not be able to possess it.
This novel has no happy people! Unhappy is the Circassian Bela, kidnapped by her brother and given to them by Pechorin for fun, unhappy is Mary Ligovskaya, the young princess whom Pechorin fell in love with himself in order to laugh at the feelings of a proud beautiful girl Finally, Vera is unhappy - a secular lady and a secret lover Pechorin, who is tormented by a secret passion and deeply suffers from the realization of the hopelessness of her situation. The ambitious and intelligent Dr. Werner cannot find joy in life; the ambitious young man Grushnitsky, who is in love with Mary, dies in a duel. And even the kindest Maxim Maksimovich cannot be called happy man. Of course, the hero does not torment himself with deep and tragic experiences, like Pechorin, however, he often experiences grief from the events of the world around him.
A special theme of the novel is the theme of the fate of a generation in A Hero of Our Time. This is also the most important theme for Lermontov's work. All his life the writer, poet and playwright tried to answer the question: what is his generation, what is his vocation, washed away life?
As a result, Lermontov comes to the sad conclusion that the fate of his generation is difficult, because the best people Russia - educated young representatives of the nobility - cannot find their place in life. They are restless and blame themselves and the external circumstances of life for this. Lermontov himself wrote about it this way:
“We are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness, because we know its impossibility and indifferently move from doubt to doubt”
In fact, the writer recreates the image lost generation in A Hero of Our Time. This generation does not know where to direct its vitality How to serve your Fatherland.
In the novel "A Hero of Our Time", the writer raises the life-meaning problems of the existence of mankind. He is concerned with the theme of fate, which he tries to consider both in a mystical and realistic way. This theme itself attracts the attention of readers, which makes the work more exciting and interesting. This material will be useful for 9th grade students when writing an essay on the topic “The theme of fate in the novel“ A Hero of Our Time ””.
Artwork test
