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An essay on the topic: “A Hero of Our Time” as a socio-psychological novel by M.Yu. Lermontov

An essay on the topic: “A Hero of Our Time” as a socio-psychological novel by M.Yu. Lermontov

29.06.2020

17.3. Why the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" is called socio-psychological in criticism? (Based on the novel "A Hero of Our Time")

"A Hero of Our Time" is the first socio-psychological novel in Russian literature. It is also full of genre originality. So, in the main character, Pechorin, the features of a romantic hero are manifested, although the generally recognized literary direction of the "Hero of Our Time" is realism.

The novel combines multiple features of realism, such as a conscious separation of oneself from the hero, the desire for maximum objectivity of the narrative, with a rich description of the hero's inner world, which is typical of romanticism. However, many literary critics emphasized that both Lermontov and Pushkin and Gogol differed from the romantics in that for them the inner world of the individual serves for research, and not for the author's self-expression.

In the preface to the novel, Lermontov compares himself to a doctor who diagnoses modern society. As an example, he considers Pechorin. The protagonist is a typical representative of his time. He is endowed with the features of a man of his era and his social circle. It is characterized by coldness, rebelliousness, passion of nature and opposition to society.

What else allows us to attribute the novel to socio-psychological? Definitely a feature of the composition. Its specificity is manifested in the fact that the chapters are not arranged in chronological order. Thus, the author wanted to gradually reveal to us the character and essence of the protagonist. First, Pechorin is shown to us through the prism of other heroes ("Bela", "Maxim Maksimych"). According to Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin was "a nice fellow ... only a little strange." Further, the narrator finds "Pechorin's journal", where the personality of the character is revealed already from his side. In these notes, the author finds many interesting situations that the main character managed to visit. With each story, we plunge deeper into the "essence of the soul" of Pechorin. In each chapter we see many actions of Grigory Alexandrovich, which he tries to analyze on his own. And as a result, we find a reasonable explanation for them. Yes, oddly enough, all his actions, no matter how terrible and inhuman they may be, are logically justified. To test Pechorin, Lermontov confronts him with "ordinary" people. It would seem that only Pechorin stands out in the novel for his cruelty. But no, all his entourage also possess cruelty: Bela, who did not notice the attachment of the staff captain, Mary, who rejected Grushnitsky, who was in love with her, smugglers, who left the poor, blind boy to the mercy of fate. This is how Lermontov wanted to portray the cruel generation of people, one of the brightest representatives of which is Pechorin.

Thus, the novel can reasonably be attributed to the socio-psychological, because in it the author examines the inner world of a person, analyzes his actions and gives them an explanation.

Effective preparation for the exam (all subjects) -

"A Hero of Our Time" is a work born in the post-Decembrist era. The heroic attempt of the advanced nobles to change the social system in Russia turned out to be a tragedy for them. The years that followed this event were a difficult period in Russian history: a cruel reaction, political oppression. But, in spite of everything, thought during this period worked hard. All the energy accumulated in Russian society and potentially capable of turning into action was switched over to the sphere of intellectual life. The educated part of the people strove to develop a broad view of the world, to comprehend the world in all its complexity.
In "A Hero of Our Time" Lermontov deliberately violates the chronological sequence, thereby forcing the reader to shift his attention from the plot to the inner world of the characters, to their intellectual life. For this reason, the work is considered the first "analytical novel" in Russia (B. Eikhenbaum), the first Russian socio-psychological novel.
The main goal set by the author is to deeply reveal the complex nature of his contemporary, to show the problem of the fate of a strong-willed and gifted personality in an era of timelessness. It is no coincidence that V. G. Belinsky called Lermontov's work "a sad thought about our time." B. Eikhenbaum noted that "the subject of Lermontov's artistic study is ... a person endowed with heroic features and entering into a struggle with his age." And this is true: Lermontov's hero is initially unusual, "strange", and all the events in which he participates are just as amazing, extraordinary. The author is not interested in an ordinary hero, to whom the reader is accustomed, but in a powerful and titanic personality - the “hero of the century”.
However, the author was no less interested in another problem - the definition of the features of "our century". Lermontov characterizes it as an era in which smart, educated people are doomed to a fruitless and worthless life, since historical reality cannot give vent to their passions and impulses. These are "superfluous people" who are ahead of the era in which they are destined to live. From this, they, not understood by their contemporaries, unable to find a common language with them, are condemned to loneliness.
The hero of the time, the representative of his era in the novel is Pechorin - a strong and strong-willed personality. The young man soon becomes convinced that in this society a person cannot achieve either happiness or fame. Life depreciated in his eyes, he was seized by melancholy and boredom - the faithful companions of disappointment. Pechorin is suffocating in the stuffy atmosphere of the Nikolaev regime, he just says: "In my soul is spoiled by light." Pechorin is always looking for people who could oppose him in some way, understand him. The hero tries to put people on an equal footing with himself, but as a result, he only once again becomes convinced that he is in many ways superior to them. There is no rival worthy of Pechorin - this makes him bored. In addition, testing people, the hero sees all their meanness, pettiness, inability to noble deeds. This depresses him even more. The rebellious soul of Pechorin refuses joys and tranquility. The hero is too full of passions and thoughts, too free to be content with little and not demand big events and sensations from the world. He is a man who has not found a high goal for himself. It is high, because such personalities are not attracted by ordinary worldly joys.
Gifted by nature, endowed with a deep mind, the ability to analyze, with a strong character and steel will, he has some, according to the author, strangeness: his eyes "did not laugh when he laughed." This "strangeness" is another proof of how deeply Pechorin has lost faith in all the seductions of the world, how hopeless he sees his life prospects.
Striving for the fullness of life, dreaming of an ideal, Pechorin, meanwhile, spends his life fruitlessly. The hero is forced to state with bitterness: “My colorless youth passed in the struggle with myself and the world; my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart: they died there.
Pechorin is always on the lookout. He is everywhere looking for the ideal of nobility, purity, spiritual beauty. And he is mistaken and disappointed, believing at first that this ideal is Bela. It turns out that this girl is not able to rise above the reckless love for Pechorin, and this quickly cools the feelings of the hero. Pechorin is an egoist, one cannot but agree with this, but “our time” made him so, which is not able to satisfy his searching, deeply feeling nature.
Relations between Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych do not add up: the characters are too dissimilar to each other. These two people in the novel represent two sides, two layers of Russian life: Russia of the people, uneducated, and Russia of the nobility. That's why they don't understand each other, that's why they can't make friends. Between them there is not and cannot be a real feeling of affection: the limitedness of one and the sophistication of the other exclude such a relationship. The richness of Pechorin's nature, the strength of his character against the backdrop of the scoundrel and scoundrel Grushnitsky, is even more clearly manifested.
All the events taking place with Pechorin clearly demonstrate the fatal course of life, and their disparate nature only emphasizes the power of circumstances that do not depend on the personal will of the hero. All situations confirm certain general laws of life. All Pechorin's encounters with people are accidental, but each case convinces him of the laws of those concepts of life that his previous experience gave him.
The novel fully reveals the psychological portrait of Pechorin and reflects the socio-political conditions that form the "hero of the time". This Lermontov work anticipated the psychological novels of Dostoevsky, and Pechorin continued a number of "superfluous people" in Russian literature. Despite the duality of my attitude towards Pechorin (both an egoist and a noble), one cannot but pay tribute to the skill of Lermontov, who was able to portray a contradictory personality so psychologically subtly.

A Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov as a socio-psychological novel
The 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, LermontovLermontov acted as a successor to the traditions of Russian literature. As the heir to A. S. Pushkin, he belonged to the number of Russian leaders awakened by cannon shots on Senate Square. That is why, according to Herzen, "Lermontov could not find salvation in lyricism, a courageous, sad thought comes through in his poetry" and prose, we add. times (this was in 1840). Readers reacted to this work ambiguously. The highest government circles and writers close to them responded extremely negatively to the novel. Critics wrote that "A Hero of Our Time" is poorly stylized as a Western European novel, in which the author describes "in an exaggerated form the despicable character" of the protagonist, Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin. Critics also wrote that Lermontov portrayed himself in the novel. Having learned about these remarks, the poet wrote a preface to the second edition, in which he caustically ridiculed the attempts of critics to equate the author and Pechorin. He also wrote that "The Hero of Our Time" is a portrait of the entire generation of young people of that time. Lermontov published his novel in parts in the journal "Domestic Notes", and then published it in its entirety. Belinsky really liked this work, and he was the first to say that this is not a collection of novels and short stories, but a single novel that you will understand only when you have read all the parts. The short stories are arranged in such a way that they gradually "bring" Pechorin closer to the reader: first, a story about him by Maxim Maksimych ("Bela") is given, then he is seen through the eyes of the narrator ("Maxim Maksimych"), and finally in the "magazine" (diary) he is offered " confession". The events are not presented in chronological order, which is also part of the artistic concept. The author strives to reveal the character and inner world of the hero with the greatest objectivity and depth. Therefore, in each story, he places Pechorin in a different environment, shows him in different circumstances, in collisions with people of a different Ttsihichical warehouse. All the visual means of the novel are subject to the disclosure of the character of the hero: portrait, landscape, speech of the heroes. The story "Princess Mary" can be called the main one in the novel, because here the features of "A Hero of Our Time" as a psychological novel are best manifested. In this story, Pechorin talks about himself, reveals his soul, and it is not without reason that in the preface to Pechorin's Journal it is said that here the "history of the human soul" will appear before our eyes. In Pechorin's diary, we find his sincere confession, in which he reveals his feelings and thoughts, mercilessly scourging his inherent weaknesses and vices. Here are given both the clue to his character and the explanation of his actions. On the sleepless night before the duel, Pechorin sums up his life; “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born?... perhaps I had a high purpose, because I feel immense forces in my soul... But I did not guess this purpose, I was carried away by the baits of empty and ignoble passions; from the crucible I came out of them as hard and cold as iron, but I have lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations - the best color of life. "Pechorin has a very complex character: we cannot but condemn him for his attitude towards Bela, towards Mary, towards Maxim Maksimych, but at the same time we sympathize with the time when he ridicules the aristocratic "water society". In addition, it is immediately clear that Pechorin is head and shoulders above those around him: he is smart, brave, energetic, educated. But he is not capable of true love or friendship, although he himself critically evaluates his life. Pechorin himself said that two people live in it, and when one does something, the other condemns him. the absence of a life goal - all this is characteristic of Pechorin. In the novel, his ideas about love are consistently analyzed. friendship. Pechorin, as it were, is tested in different situations: in love with a "wild woman" ("Bela"), in romantic love ("Taman"), in friendship with peers (Grushnitsky), in friendship with Maxim Maksimych. But in all situations, he was in the role of a destroyer. And the reason for this is not in Pechorin's "viciousness", but in the very socio-psychological climate of society. which dooms people to a tragic mutual misunderstanding. The author does not judge his hero, and even more so does not expose, but analyzes. Pechorin judges himself. Noting the social orientation of the novel, Chernyshevsky wrote: "Lermontov ... understands and presents his Pechorin as an example of what the best, strongest, noblest people become under the influence of the social situation of their circle." Lermontov is not limited to sketching a "water society", he expands the idea of the environment typical of Pechorin by showing the officer society in the story "The Fatalist" and individual statements of the hero. Empty, insignificant, hypocritical - this is how the noble society appears in Pechorin's stories. In this environment, everything sincere perishes ("I told the truth - they did not believe me," says Pechorin Mary); in this society they laugh at the best human feelings. The story "Bela" mentions a Moscow lady who claimed that "Byron was nothing more than a drunkard." This phrase is enough to make sure of the ignorance of the arrogant representative of the world. Lermontov comes to the conclusion and convinces us readers that such a society cannot produce real heroes from its midst, that what is truly heroic and beautiful in life is beyond this circle. And even if there are special people in this environment, with great opportunities, secular society destroys them. Reality did not give Pechorn the opportunity to act, deprived his life of purpose and meaning, and the hero constantly feels his uselessness. Raising the question of the tragic fate of outstanding people and the impossibility for them to find application for their forces in the conditions of the thirties, Lermontov at the same time showed the perniciousness of withdrawing into himself, closing in "proud loneliness." Departure from people devastates even an outstanding nature, and the individualism and selfishness that appear as a result of this bring deep suffering not only to the hero himself, but to everyone he encounters. M. Yu. Lermontov, having portrayed, in the words of Belinsky, "the inner man", turned out to be in the description of Pechorin both a deep psychologist and a realist artist who "objectified modern society and its representatives."

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The whole novel was perceived as a deeply realistic work. Lermontov himself emphasized precisely this nature of his novel, opposing his hero to "romantic villains" and noting that there is "more truth" in him. The realism of Lermontov's idea is reinforced by the ironic interpretation of the lofty romantic Grushnitsky. The very word "romantic", which occurs several times in the text of the novel, is always used by the author with an ironic tinge.

The realism of Lermontov's novel differs from Pushkin's, it has its own characteristics. Lermontov focuses the reader's attention on the psyche of the characters, on their internal struggle. The genre also leaves its mark on the composition of the work - that is why Lermontov violated the chronology of events in order to deeply reveal the inner world of Pechorin. Therefore, Pechorin is first shown to us as Maxim Maksimych saw him, whose outlook predetermined the incomplete disclosure of the hero's appearance ("Bela"). Then the author briefly tells us about Pechorin (“Maxim Maksimych”). After this, the narration is already being conducted on behalf of Pechorin himself.

First, he writes down in his diary the adventure that happened to him in Taman. Only then does the image, which intrigues us more and more with each story, becomes understandable (“Princess Mary”). The last of the stories brings clarifying touches to the strong-willed image of the character ("Fatalist"). In this chapter, Lermontov discusses the existence of a predestination of a person's fate.

After the events of December 14, this problem worried many representatives of the Russian intelligentsia as a question of socio-political struggle or passive submission to circumstances. Lermontov in "The Fatalist" uniquely substantiates the belief that "a person must be active, proud, strong, courageous in struggle and danger, not subject to and rebellious circumstances." "This is a position of defiance, intransigence, relentless denial." As a result, The Fatalist not only more clearly reveals the strong-willed character of Pechorin, but also more clearly defines the progressive meaning of the entire novel.

This original composition is in connection with the basic principles of revealing the character of the hero. Lermontov deliberately confines himself to the most meager data about Pechorin's past. Everyday painting also turns out to be almost completely eliminated: Pechorin says very little about the conditions of his life, the objects around him, and his habits. This manner of depiction differs significantly from the one to which Pushkin taught readers.

All attention is focused on the inner world of the character. Even a portrait sketch of him, for all its thoroughness, does not so much strive to give a complete image of the hero's appearance, but through this appearance to show the contradictions of his inner world.
Portrait characteristics given from the face of the hero differ in great depth. The description of the appearance, the play of the eyes, and the characteristic movements of Mary Lithuanian are distinguished by a special richness and diversity. As if anticipating the portraiture of L. Tolstoy, Lermontov, through his hero, shows the inner world of the poor princess, who tries to hide her love with feigned coldness.

The entire central part of the novel, Pechorin's Diary, is characterized by a particularly in-depth psychological analysis.
The novel is the first time in the history of Russian literature so deeply its personality. His experiences are qualified with "the severity of a judge and a citizen." A single stream of sensations is decomposed into its component parts: “I still try to explain to myself what kind of feelings were seething then in my chest: it was the annoyance of offended pride, and contempt, and malice.”

The habit of introspection is complemented by the skills of constant observation of others. All Pechorin's interactions with other characters in the novel are only psychological experiments that amuse the hero with their complexity.

Roman M.Yu. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" is considered the first Russian socio-psychological and philosophical novel. In connection with the desire of the author to reveal the "history of the human soul," Lermontov's novel turned out to be rich in deep psychological analysis. The author explores the "soul" not only of the protagonist, but also of all other characters. Lermontov's psychologism is specific in that it acts not as a form of self-expression of the writer, but as an object of artistic representation. The external appearance of the hero, and his customs, and his actions, and his feelings are also analyzed. Lermontov is attentive to the shades of experiences, the state of a person, his gestures and postures. The author's style can be called psychological-analytical.

Pechorin's introspection is very deep, every state of mind is written out in detail and in detail, his own behavior and psychological reasons, motives and intentions of actions are analyzed. Pechorin admits to Dr. Werner: “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him ...” Behind the visible in the work, the essential is revealed, behind the external - the internal. Psychologism serves here as a way of discovering and cognizing what, at first perception, seems mysterious, mysterious and strange. An important place in the novel, where the action takes place at different geographical points (by the sea, in the mountains, in the steppe, in the Cossack village), is occupied by the landscape. The perception of nature in the work helps to reveal the inner world of the hero, his condition, his susceptibility to beauty. “I remember,” Pechorin writes in his journal, “this time, more than ever before, I loved nature.” The hero of the novel is close to nature with all its diversity, and it affects his inner world. Pechorin is convinced that the soul depends on nature and its forces. The landscape of each part of the novel is subject to the idea that is realized in it. So, in "Bela" Caucasian nature is depicted (rocks, cliffs, Aragva, snowy peaks of mountains), which is opposed to northern nature and a disharmoniously arranged society.

Beautiful and majestic nature contrasts with the petty, unchanging interests of people and their suffering. The restless, capricious element of the sea contributes to the romanticism in which the smugglers from the chapter "Taman" appear before us. The morning landscape, filled with freshness, including golden clouds, is the exposition of the chapter "Maxim Maksimych". Nature in "Princess Mary" becomes a psychological means of revealing Pechorin's character. Before the duel - in contrast - the radiance of sunlight is introduced, and after the duel the sun will seem dim to the hero, and its rays no longer warm. In The Fatalist, the cold light of shining stars on a dark blue vault leads Pechorin to philosophical reflections on predestination and fate.

In general, this work is a socio-psychological and philosophical novel, akin to a travel novel, close to travel notes. The psychological novel genre required the creation of a new novel structure and a special psychological plot, where Lermontov separated the author from the hero and arranged the stories in a special sequence. "Bela" is a work that combines a travel essay and a short story about the love of a European for a savage.

"Maxim Maksimych" is a story with a central episode given in close-up.

"Taman" is a synthesis of a short story and a travel essay with an unexpected ending.

"Princess Mary" is a "secular story" of a psychological nature with a diary of the hero and a satirical sketch of the mores of the "water society".

"The Fatalist" is a philosophical story combined with a "mystical story" about a fatal shot and a "mysterious incident".

But all these genre forms, separate narratives became for Lermontov parts of a single whole - the study of the spiritual world of the modern hero, whose personality and fate unite the entire narrative. Pechorin's backstory is deliberately excluded, which gives his biography a touch of mystery.

It is interesting to know what is the second person in Pechorin, thinking and condemning, first of all, himself. Pechorin's Journal reveals the character of the hero, as it were, "from the inside", it reveals the motives of his strange deeds, his attitude towards himself, self-esteem.

For Lermontov, not only the actions of a person were always important, but their motivation, which for one reason or another could not be realized.

Pechorin compares favorably with other characters in that he is concerned about questions of conscious human existence - about the purpose and meaning of human life, about his purpose. He is worried that his only purpose is to destroy other people's hopes. Even he is indifferent to his own life. Only curiosity, the expectation of something new excites him.

However, asserting his human dignity, Pechorin is actively acting, resisting circumstances throughout the novel. Pechorin judges and executes himself, and this right is emphasized by the composition in which the last narrator is Pechorin. Everything important that was hidden from the people around him, who lived next to him, who loved him, was conveyed by Pechorin himself.

With the creation of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" Lermontov made a huge contribution to the development of Russian literature, continuing Pushkin's realistic traditions. Like his great predecessor, Lermontov generalized in the image of Pechorin the typical features of the younger generation of his era, creating a vivid image of a man of the 30s of the XIX century. The main problem of the novel was the fate of an outstanding human personality in an era of stagnation, the hopelessness of the situation of gifted, intelligent, educated young nobles.

The main idea of Lermontov's novel is connected with its central image - Pechorin; everything is subordinated to the task of a comprehensive and deep disclosure of the character of this hero. Belinsky very accurately noticed the originality of the description by the author of Pechorin. Lermontov, but in the words of the critic, portrayed the "inner man", speaking as a deep psychologist and realist artist. This means that Lermontov, for the first time in Russian literature, used psychological analysis as a means to reveal the character of the hero, his inner world. Deep penetration into the psychology of Pechorin helps to better understand the severity of the social problems posed in the novel. This gave Belinsky reason to call Lermontov "the solver of important contemporary issues."

The unusual composition of the novel draws attention. It consists of separate works in which there is not a single plot, no permanent characters, not a single narrator. These five stories are united only by the image of the main character - Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin. They are located in such a way that the chronology of the hero's life is clearly violated. In this case, it was important for the author to show Pechorin in different situations in communication with a variety of people, to choose the most important, significant episodes of his life for description. In each story, the author places his hero in a new environment, where he encounters people of a different social status and mentality: highlanders, smugglers, officers, noble "water society". And each time Pechorin opens up to the reader from a new side, revealing new facets of character.

Recall that in the first story "Bela" we are introduced to Pechorin by a man who served with Grigory Alexandrovich in the fortress and was an involuntary witness to the story of Bela's abduction. The elderly officer is sincerely attached to Pechorin, takes his actions to heart. He draws attention to the external oddities of the character of the "thin ensign" and cannot understand how a person who easily endures both rain and cold, who went one on one against a wild boar, can shudder and turn pale from the accidental knock of a shutter. In the story with Bela, the character of Pechorin seems unusual and mysterious. The old officer cannot comprehend the motives of his behavior, as he is unable to comprehend the depths of his experiences.

The next meeting with the hero takes place in the story "Maxim Maksimych", where we see him through the eyes of the narrator. He no longer acts as the hero of some story, utters a few meaningless phrases, but we have the opportunity to look closely at the bright, original appearance of Pechorin. The sharp, penetrating look of the author notes the contradictions of his appearance: a combination of blond hair and black mustaches and eyebrows, broad shoulders and pale thin fingers. The attention of the narrator is captured by his gaze, the strangeness of which is manifested in the fact that his eyes did not laugh when he laughed. "This is a sign of either an evil disposition, or a deep constant sadness," the author notes, revealing the complexity and inconsistency of the hero's character.

Pechorin's diary, which combines the last three stories of the novel, helps to understand this extraordinary nature. The hero writes about himself sincerely and fearlessly, not being afraid to expose his weaknesses and vices. In the preface to Pechorin's Journal, the author notes that the history of the human soul is almost more useful and no more interesting than the history of a whole people. In the first story "Taman", which tells about the hero's accidental encounter with "peaceful smugglers", the complexities and contradictions of Pechorin's nature seem to be relegated to the background. We see an energetic, courageous, resolute person who is full of interest in the people around him, craves action, tries to unravel the mystery of the people with whom his fate accidentally confronts. But the ending of the story is banal. Pechorin's curiosity destroyed the well-established life of "honest smugglers", dooming a blind boy and an old woman to a beggarly existence. Pechorin himself writes with regret in his diary: "Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calmness." In these words, pain and sadness are heard from the realization that all Pechorin's actions are petty and insignificant, devoid of a lofty goal, do not correspond to the rich possibilities of his nature.

The originality, originality of Pechorin's personality, in my opinion, is most clearly manifested in the story "Princess Mary". It is enough to read his well-aimed, accurate characteristics given to representatives of the noble "water society" of Pyatigorsk, his original judgments, amazing landscape sketches, to understand that he stands out from the people around him with the strength and independence of character, deep analytical mind, high culture, erudition, developed aesthetic feeling. Pechorin's speech is full of aphorisms and paradoxes. For example, he writes: "After all, nothing worse than death will happen - and death cannot be avoided."

But what does Pechorin waste his spiritual wealth, his immense strength on? For love affairs, intrigues, skirmishes with Grushnitsky and dragoon captains. Yes, he always comes out the winner, as in the story with Grushnitsky and Mary. But this does not bring him any joy or satisfaction. Pechorin feels and understands the discrepancy between his actions and high, noble aspirations. This leads the hero to a split personality. He focuses on his own actions and experiences. Nowhere in his diary will we find even a mention of his homeland, people, political problems of modern reality. Pechorin is only interested in his own inner world. Constant attempts to understand the motives of his actions, eternal merciless introspection, constant doubts lead to the fact that he loses the ability to simply live, feel joy, fullness and strength of feeling. From himself he made an object for observation. He is no longer able to experience excitement, because, as soon as he feels it, he immediately begins to think that he is still capable of worrying. This means that a merciless analysis of one's own thoughts and actions kills the immediacy of perception of life in Pechorin, plunges him into a painful contradiction with himself.

Pechorin is completely alone in the novel, since he himself repels those who are able to love and understand him. But still, some entries in his diary say that he needs a loved one, that he is tired of being alone. Lermontov's novel leads to the conclusion that the tragic discord in the hero's soul is caused by the fact that the rich forces of his soul did not find a worthy application, that the life of this original, extraordinary nature was wasted and completely devastated.

Thus, the story of Pechorin's soul helps to better understand the tragedy of the fate of the young generation of the 30s of the 19th century, makes you think about the causes of this "disease of the century" and try to find a way out of the moral impasse into which the reaction led Russia.

The hero of our time is several frames nested in one large frame, which consists in the title of the novel and the unity of the characters.

V. Belinsky Every literary hero (if we are talking about great literature) is always the favorite creation of his author. Any writer puts a piece of his soul, his views, beliefs, ideals into his hero. And each literary hero invariably bears the features of his era and his environment: he lives in accordance with his own kind or "breaks out" from the generally accepted patterns of social behavior. So, in Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" a young man of the 20s lives and acts: smart, educated, belonging to the highest aristocracy, but dissatisfied with the existing reality, who spent the best years of his life on a meaningless and aimless existence. The appearance of such a hero caused a whole storm of passions in society and literary circles of the twenties. Before they had time to subside, a new hero was born, but already the hero of the thirties of the XIX century - Grigory Pechorin from the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time".

Why are disputes about Onegin and Pechorin still very topical, although the way of life is currently completely different. Everything else: ideals, goals, thoughts, dreams. In my opinion, the answer to this question is very simple: the meaning of human existence excites everyone, regardless of what time we live, what we think and dream about.

The central part of the novel, Pechorin's Diary, is characterized by a particularly in-depth psychological analysis. For the first time in Russian literature, such a merciless exposure by the hero of his personality appears. The hero's experiences are analyzed by him with "the severity of a judge and a citizen." Pechorin says: "I still try to explain to myself what kind of feelings boil in my chest." The habit of introspection is complemented by the skills of constant observation of others. In essence, all Pechorin's relationships with people are a kind of psychological experiments that interest the hero in their complexity and entertain them with luck for a while. Such is the story with Bela, the story of the victory over Mary. Similar was the psychological "game" with Grushnitsky, whom Pechorin fools, declaring that Mary is not indifferent to him, in order to later prove his deplorable mistake. Pechorin argues that "ambition is nothing but a thirst for power, and happiness is just pompous pride."

If A.S. Pushkin is considered to be the creator of the first realistic novel in verse about modernity, while Lermontov is the author of the first socio-psychological novel in prose. His novel is distinguished by the depth of analysis of the psychological perception of the world. Depicting his era, Lermontov subjects it to a deep critical analysis, not succumbing to any illusions and seductions. Lermontov shows all the weakest sides of his generation: coldness of hearts, selfishness, futility of activity.

The realism of A Hero of Our Time differs in many respects from the realism of Pushkin's novel. Pushing aside everyday elements, the life story of the heroes, Lermontov focuses on their inner world, revealing in detail the motives that prompted this or that hero to do something. The author depicts all sorts of overflows of feelings with such depth, penetration and detail, which the literature of his time did not yet know.

The rebellious nature of Pechorin refuses joys and peace of mind. This hero is always "asking for storms". His nature is too rich in passions and thoughts, too free to be content with little and not demand great feelings, events, sensations from the world. Self-analysis is necessary for a modern person in order to correctly correlate his destiny and destiny with real life, in order to understand his place in this world. Lack of conviction is a real tragedy for the hero and his generation. In Pechorin's Diary, a lively, complex, rich, analytical work of the mind opens. This proves to us not only that the main character is a typical figure, but also that there are young people in Russia who are tragically lonely. Pechorin ranks himself among the miserable descendants who wander the earth without conviction. He says: "We are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the good of mankind, or even for our own happiness." The same idea is repeated by Lermontov in the poem "Duma":

We are rich, barely from the cradle,

The mistakes of the fathers and their late mind,

And life is already tormenting us, like a smooth path without a goal,

Like a feast at someone else's holiday.

Every truly Russian person becomes uneasy at the thought that M.Yu. Lermontov died so early. Solving the moral problem of the purpose of life, the main character of his work, Grigory Pechorin, could not find an application for his abilities. “Why did I live? For what purpose I was born ... But, it’s true, I had a high appointment, since I feel immense forces in my soul,” he writes. It is in this dissatisfaction with oneself that the origins of Pechorin's attitude towards the people around him lie. He is indifferent to their experiences, therefore, without hesitation, he distorts other people's destinies. Pushkin wrote about such young people: "There are millions of two-legged creatures, for them there is one name."

Using Pushkin's words, one can say about Pechorin that in his views on life "the age is reflected, and modern man is depicted quite correctly, with his immoral soul, selfish and dry." This is how Lermontov saw his generation.

Composition

The main idea of Lermontov's novel is connected with its central image Pechorin; everything is subordinated to the task of a comprehensive and deep disclosure of the character of this hero. Belinsky very accurately noticed the originality of the description by the author of Pechorin. Lermontov, but in the words of the critic, portrayed the "inner man", speaking as a deep psychologist and realist artist. This means that Lermontov, for the first time in Russian literature, used psychological analysis as a means to reveal the character of the hero, his inner world. Deep penetration into the psychology of Pechorin helps to better understand the severity of the social problems posed in the novel. This gave Belinsky reason to call Lermontov "the solver of important contemporary issues."

The unusual composition of the novel draws attention. It consists of separate works in which there is not a single plot, no permanent characters, not a single narrator. These five stories are united only by the image of the main character Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. They are located in such a way that the chronology of the hero's life is clearly violated. In this case, it was important for the author to show Pechorin in different situations in communication with a variety of people, to choose the most important, significant episodes of his life for description. In each story, the author places his hero in a new environment, where he encounters people of a different social status and mentality: highlanders, smugglers, officers, noble "water society". And each time Pechorin opens up to the reader from a new side, revealing new facets of character.

"A Hero of Our Time" by M.Yu. Lermontov as a psychological novel

The novel by M.Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time” is the first “analytical” novel in Russian literature, in the center of which is not a person’s biography, but his personality, that is, spiritual and mental life as a process. This artistic psychologism can be considered a consequence of the era, since the time when Lermontov lived was a time of deep social upheaval and disappointment caused by the failed Decembrist uprising and the era of reactions that followed it. Lermontov emphasizes that the time of heroic figures has passed, a person seeks to withdraw into his own world and plunges into introspection. And since introspection becomes a sign of the times, then literature should also turn to the consideration of the inner world of people.

In the preface to the novel, the main character - Pechorin - is characterized as "a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation in their full development." Thus, the author was able to trace how the environment affects the formation of personality, to give a portrait of the entire generation of young people of that time. But the author does not relieve the hero of responsibility for his actions. Lermontov pointed to the “disease” of the century, the treatment of which is to overcome individualism, struck by unbelief, bringing deep suffering to Pechorin and destructive to those around him. Everything in the novel is subordinated to the main task - to show the state of the hero's soul as deeply and in detail as possible. The chronology of his life is broken, but the chronology of the narrative is strictly built. We comprehend the world of the hero from the initial characterization that Maxim Maksimovich gives through the author's characterization to the confession in Pechorin's Journal.

Pechorin is a romantic in character and behavior, a man of exceptional abilities, an outstanding mind, strong will, high aspirations for social activities and an indestructible desire for freedom. 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 a self-disclosure “I have two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him,” says Pechorin. What are the reasons for this split, he himself answers: “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 ... ". So he learned to be secretive, vindictive, bilious, ambitious, he became, in his words, a moral cripple.

But Pechorin is not devoid of good impulses, endowed with a warm heart capable of deeply feeling (for example: Bela's death, a meeting with Vera and the last meeting with Mary). Risking his life, he is the first to rush into the hut of the killer Vulich. Pechorin does not hide his sympathy for the oppressed, it is about the Decembrists exiled to the Caucasus that he says that “an ardent heart is hidden under a numbered button and an educated mind is hidden under a white cap,” but Pechorin’s trouble is that he hides spiritual impulses under a mask of indifference. This is self-defense. He is a strong man, but all his forces carry not a positive, but a negative charge. All activities are aimed not at creation, but at destruction. The spiritual emptiness of high society, the socio-political reaction distorted and drowned out the possibilities of Pechorin. That is why Belinsky called the novel "a cry of suffering" and "a sad thought."

Almost all the secondary characters of the work become victims of the hero. Because of him, Bela loses her home and dies, Maxim Maksimovich is disappointed in friendship, Mary and Vera suffer, Grushnitsky dies at his hands, smugglers are forced to leave their home. Indirectly, he is guilty of the death of Vulich. Grushnitsky helps the author to save Pechorin from the ridicule of readers and parodies, because he is his reflection in a crooked mirror.

Pechorin realized that under the conditions of autocracy, meaningful activity in the name of the common good is impossible. This led to his characteristic skepticism and pessimism, the conviction that "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. Dissatisfied with his aimless life, longing for an ideal, but not seeing it, Pechorin asks: “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born?

The "Napoleonic problem" is the central moral and psychological problem of the novel, it is a problem of extreme individualism and egoism. A person who refuses to judge himself according to the same laws by which he judges others loses moral guidelines, loses the criteria of good and evil.

Saturated pride - this is how Pechorin defines human happiness. He perceives the suffering and joy of others as food that supports his spiritual strength. In the chapter "The Fatalist" Pechorin reflects on faith and unbelief. Man, having lost God, has lost the main thing - the system of moral values, morality, the idea of spiritual equality. Respect for the world and people begins with self-respect, humiliating others, he elevates himself; triumphing over others, he feels stronger. Evil begets evil. The first suffering gives the concept of the pleasure of torturing another, Pechorin himself argues. The tragedy of Pechorin is that he accuses the world, people and time of his spiritual slavery and does not see the reasons for the inferiority of his soul. He does not know the true freedom, he is looking for it in solitude, in wanderings. That is, in external signs, so it turns out to be superfluous everywhere.

Lermontov, conquering with psychological truth, vividly showed a historically specific hero with a clear motivation for his behavior. It seems to me that he was the first in Russian literature to be able to accurately reveal all the contradictions, complexities and the whole depth of the human soul.

"A Hero of Our Time" by M. Lermontov as a psychological novel

The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" (1841) is considered the first Russian socio-psychological and philosophical novel.

The main character of this work is Grigory Pechorin, in whose image Lermontov summarized the typical features of a young nobleman of his time.

Penetration into the character of the protagonist, into the motives of his behavior, into the very mental warehouse of his personality allows a deeper understanding of the acuteness of the social problems posed by the author in the novel.

Pechorin is a man of outstanding mind and strong will, possessing exceptional abilities. He rises above the people of his circle thanks to his versatile education and erudition. He sees the disadvantage of his generation in his inability "to make great sacrifices for the good of mankind."

But the good aspirations of the hero did not develop. The emptiness and soullessness of contemporary society stifled the possibilities of the hero, disfigured his moral character. Belinsky called Lermontov's novel "a cry of suffering" and "a sad thought" about that time.

Being an intelligent person, Pechorin understands that no useful activity is possible in the conditions in which he has to live. This led to his skepticism and pessimism. Deprived of good goals, he turned into a cold, cruel egoist. He perceives the sufferings and joys of others only when they concern him. It brings troubles and misfortunes to the people around. So, for example, for the sake of a momentary whim, Pechorin pulled Bela out of his usual environment. Without hesitation, he offended Maxim Maksimych. For the sake of empty curiosity, he violated the usual way of life of "honest smugglers." He took Vera's peace and offended Mary's dignity.

Pechorin, not knowing where to go and put his strength, squanders them on petty and insignificant deeds. The position and fate of the hero are tragic, his trouble lies in the fact that he is not satisfied with either the surrounding reality or his inherent individualism, Lermontov pays special attention to the psychological world, to the “history of the soul” of the protagonist and all other actors. What Pushkin outlined in Eugene Onegin, Lermontov developed into a system of complexly detailed socio-psychological characteristics. For the first time in Russian literature, he endowed characters with the ability for deep introspection.

Lermontov shows Pechorin from different points of view, gradually bringing him closer to the reader, telling the story on behalf of Maxim Maksimych, the "publisher" and, finally, through the diary of Grigory Alexandrovich himself. In each narrative episode, a new side of the spiritual image of the hero of the novel is revealed to us. Lermontov, introducing new heroes, as if compares them with Pechorin and shows their attitude towards him.

Drawing Pechorin in military service, Lermontov contrasted him with Maxim Maksimych, a simple staff captain closely associated with the soldier's environment. He is a kind and honest man who devoted his whole life to serving the Fatherland. He has a wonderful soul and a heart of gold. Maxim Maksimych is sincerely attached to the main character, takes his actions to heart. He draws attention to the external oddities of Pechorin's character and cannot understand the motives for his behavior.

What is valuable and dear to Maxim Maksimych: loyalty, devotion in friendship, mutual assistance, military duty - all this means nothing to the cold and indifferent Pechorin. The war for Pechorin was a cure for boredom. He wanted to tickle his nerves, to test his character, and not to protect the interests of the state. That's why they didn't become friends.

But Grushnitsky personifies the disappointment in the outside world that was then fashionable in society. It would seem that he suffers just as much as Pechorin. But it soon becomes clear that he only seeks to produce an effect: he wears “a special kind of foppery, a thick soldier’s overcoat”, “he has ready-made pompous phrases for all occasions”, he speaks in a “tragic voice”. Pechorin understood the true content of Grushnitsky without a romantic mask. He is a careerist (“Oh epaulettes, epaulettes! your stars, guiding stars ...”), a stupid person, because he does not understand the true attitude of Princess Mary, the irony of Pechorin, his funny appearance. The meanness, selfishness and cowardice of Grushnitsky manifested itself in the story of the conspiracy against Pechorin and in the behavior in the duel.

However, the introspection that corrodes Pechorin is also characteristic of Grushnitsky. This led to a difficult struggle with himself in the last minutes of his life, which manifested itself in confusion, depression, and finally, in direct recognition of his wrongness in relation to Pechorin. He passes away with the words: "I despise myself."

If Grushnitsky contrasts with the main character, then Dr. Werner is close to him in many ways. He is the only person in the novel with whom Pechorin can seriously talk, from whom he does not hide his emptiness. In it, he recognizes both kindness, and intelligence, and taste, and decency, Werner, like Pechorin, is a skeptic and materialist. Both of them are educated, insightful, they know life and people, they sneer at the "water society" with undisguised mockery. For a critical mind and a penchant for introspection, young people called Werner Mephistopheles - the spirit of doubt and denial.

Werner “acts”, that is, he heals the sick, he has many friends, while Pechorin believes that in friendship one person is always the slave of another. The image of Werner sets off the essential aspects of Pechorin's personality.

Lermontov also succeeded in the female images in the novel. These are the images of the savage Bela, the loving and deeply suffering Vera, the smart and attractive Mary. Of all the women, Pechorin chooses only Vera - the only person who understood his suffering, the inconsistency of his character. “No one can be as truly unhappy as you, because no one tries so hard to convince himself otherwise,” Vera says.

Mary fell in love with Pechorin, but did not understand his rebellious and contradictory soul. Here Pechorin is both a cruel tormentor and a deeply suffering person. Mary (as well as Bela) for the protagonist is another obstacle, test, challenge. “I have never become a slave to the woman I love; on the contrary, I have always gained invincible power over their will and heart ... ”Having won their love, Pechorin again becomes cold and indifferent. “The love of a savage woman is little better than the love of a noble lady,” he says coldly.

The mastery of the external characteristics, embodying the inner essence of the image, is manifested with particular force in the portrait of Pechorin. The appearance of the protagonist is drawn with such psychological depth that Russian literature has not yet known. The phosphorescent-dazzling, but cold gleam of his eyes, a penetrating and heavy look, a noble forehead with traces of wrinkles crossing it, pale, thin fingers - all these external signs testify to the psychological complexity and inconsistency of Pechorin's nature. Pechorin's eyes do not laugh when he laughs. This is a sign of either an evil disposition, or deep permanent sadness. His indifferently calm look, in which "there was no reflection of the heat of the soul," speaks of disappointment, inner emptiness and indifference to others.

Speaking about the psychological side of "A Hero of Our Time", one cannot fail to mention the importance of landscape sketches in it. Their role is different. Often the landscape serves to depict the state of the heroes. The restless element of the sea undoubtedly enhances the charm of the smugglers ("Taman"). The picture of an unsettling and gloomy nature that precedes Pechorin's first meeting with Vera portends their future misfortune.

The description of the psychological originality of Pechorin and other heroes of the novel is skillfully completed by the original construction of the work. The plot of "A Hero of Our Time" is built in the form of independent short stories, united by the personality of Pechorin and the unity of thought.

A variety of unusual events, a motley collection of faces reveal various facets of the character of the protagonist of the novel. The writer breaks the chronological sequence in order to increase the intensity of the development of the action, to strengthen the impression of the tragedy of the image of Pechorin and to show his hackneyed possibilities more clearly. In each chapter, the author places his hero in a new environment: he confronts the highlanders, smugglers, officers, and the noble “water society”. And each time Pechorin opens up to the reader with a new facet of his character.

Pechorin is shown as a brave and energetic person, he stands out among the people around him with his deep analytical mind, culture and erudition. But the hero wastes his strength on useless adventures and intrigues. In the words of the hero, pain and sadness are heard because his actions are too small and bring misfortune to people. In his diary, the hero boldly talks about his weaknesses and vices. So, for example, Pechorin writes with regret that he violated the peaceful course of life of “honest smugglers”, depriving the old woman and the blind boy of a piece of bread. Nowhere in the diary do we find serious reflections on the fate of the motherland or people. The hero is busy only with his inner world. He is trying to figure out the motives for his actions. This introspection plunges Pechorin into a painful discord with himself.

Pechorin's main problem is that he sees no way out of this situation.

"A Hero of Our Time" is a complex work associated with the genres of travel novel, confession, and essay. But in its leading trend it is a socio-psychological and philosophical novel. The story of Pechorin's soul helps to better understand the tragedy of the fate of the young generation of the 30s of the XIX century, to think about the meaning of life. A person is a whole world, and understanding the mysteries and secrets of his soul is a necessary condition for finding harmony in the relationships of people in this world.

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" can be called the first psychological novel, because the image of Pechorin - a typical image of a person in the 1830s - is revealed both from the outside and from the inside, psychological side.

M. Yu. Lermontov raised the question of why exactly such heroes appeared in those years, why their life was bleak, who is to blame for the tragic fate of a whole generation. The novel was created in the era of government reaction after the Decembrist Uprising.

Depicting the hero, the author followed the truth of life, he showed the “disease” of the century not in direct accusatory speeches against the Nikolaev regime, but in artistic images, and, above all, through the depiction of the fate and life of Pechorin. Yes, Lermontov was a subtle psychologist, a connoisseur of human souls. In the preface to the novel, he writes that his novel is "a portrait composed of the vices of our entire generation in their full development", and not a portrait of one person.

Lermontov's novel differs from other works of the same genre in that it does not have a single plot, it is characterized by "episodic fragmentation". All "episodes" are connected by the image of one hero - Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. All stories are not in chronological order. Why did Lermontov need to resort to such a composition?

First of all, in order to reveal the character of his hero with the greatest objectivity and completeness, his goal is “to reveal the history of one soul, even the smallest one”, “to tell about the dreams, deeds and adventures” of the hero. The author presents us with a hero in various circumstances, confronts him with different people, and in each story one or another trait of Pechorin's character is revealed.

Pechorin is an outstanding person, with an original character, a gifted nature. He differs from others in his deep analytical mind. His speech is full of aphorisms, resolute and specific: "Evil breeds evil", "Without fools it would be very boring in the world." And yet Pechorin does not find application for his outstanding abilities.

He is looking for an application for his strength, he wants to find a job for himself, creating conditions for struggle: For him, "life is boring when there is no struggle." However, whatever he does, it brings trouble and suffering to the people around him.

Where Pechorin is, destruction. According to Maxim Maksimych, he is a person with whom “various extraordinary things” must happen: “... he caused me trouble, don’t be remembered by that! After all, there really are such people who are written in their family that various unusual things must happen to them!

Pechorin, by his own admission, invariably plays "the role of an ax in the hands of fate", but his self-criticism does not bring any relief either to him or to the people who encounter him, who turned out to be toys in his hands. He caused the death of Bela, destroyed the life of "peaceful smugglers", won Mary's love and abandoned her, loved Vera, but did not make her happy, offended Maxim Maksimych with inattention.

Pechorin is a moral cripple. His activity is fruitless, Pechorin is deeply unhappy. Even such positive and valuable qualities and aspects of his character as willpower, courage, resourcefulness, determination do not bring joy to the hero, since he does not have a lofty goal to achieve which they are needed.

Pechorin is an individualist and egoist. He lives for himself without sacrificing anything for others. Pechorin is not capable of love and friendship. But it is impossible to call Pechorin simply an egoist, he, according to the definition of V. G. Belinsky, is a “suffering egoist”. “... This is not selfishness,” writes the critic. - Egoism does not suffer, does not blame itself ... "Pechorin is the hero of his time, the time of search and doubt, and this could not but affect his character.

His heart and mind are at odds with each other, he criticizes and analyzes himself: “I brought out only a few ideas from the storm of life - and not a single feeling. I have long been living not with my heart, but with my head. I weigh, analyze my own passions and actions with severe 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, ”says Pechorin.

He has no moral principles in the usual sense for us, no social ideals. “Of two friends, one is always the slave of the other,” he says. Hence his inability to true friendship. An egoist and indifferent person, Pechorin looks at "the suffering and joys of others only in relation to himself."

He does not believe in fate, but creates it himself, both in relation to others and in relation to himself. In the hero's diary, one can often find words about boredom, readiness to die, although a huge thirst for life lurks in his soul.

On the eve of the duel, Pechorin asks himself: “... why did I live? For what purpose was I born? This eternal question sooner or later every person asks himself and can not always find the answer right away.

Pechorin is a victim of a society where gifted individuals suffocate, so Lermontov does not condemn his hero, suggesting that he do it himself.

Pechorin judges not only himself, but also his generation: “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 an inevitable end, we are no longer capable of great sacrifices, neither for the good of mankind, nor even for our own happiness, therefore we know its impossibility and indifferently pass from doubt to doubt, as our ancestors rushed from one error to another, having, like them, neither hope, nor even that indefinite, although and the true pleasure that the soul meets in any struggle with people or fate ... "

The Hero of Your Time is the first realistic socio-psychological novel. According to N. G. Chernyshevsky, the character of Pechorin is “developed and outlined” in this novel.

The image of Pechorin is indeed a portrait of the entire generation of the 1930s. The novel is still relevant today, as it makes you think about the meaning of life.