Many readers know the poet Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov as the author of piercing poems, the theme of which is loneliness.
He also belongs to the idea of expressing "strange love" for his Fatherland, which in the second half of the 19th century. became a true tradition of poetry. But the work of this poet is much wider. He is known as a wonderful playwright, and the novel “Hero of Our Time” is considered the peak of his prose.
History of creation
Mikhail Yuryevich began writing his work in 1836. A striking example for him was Pushkin, who showed his contemporary in the famous poem "Eugene Onegin."
According to the idea of Lermontov, the main character is a guard officer Pechorin. Mikhail Yuryevich decided to portray him as one of the representatives of metropolitan life. But in 1837 Lermontov, who wrote the poem Death of a Poet, was arrested and deported to the Caucasus. After this link, he no longer wanted to return to his plan.
The period of the creation of the novel is from 1837 to 1840. The work consists of a number of novels. The sequence in which they were written is not known for certain. There are only assumptions that the very first came from the pen of the author "Taman", and after - "Bela", "Fatalist" and "Maxim Maksimych". At first, the novels were conceived in the form of separate fragments from the officer’s notes. However, after they became a whole chain of works related by common characters.
Theme of the novel
What does the analysis of the “Hero of our time” tell us? About the situation that developed in society during the period of the 30s – 40s of the 19th century, which is commonly called “inter-time”. The fact is that during these years there was a rapid process of changing ideals. The people were prompted by the uprising of the Decembrists. The defeat of the attempt to overthrow the authorities spoke of the fallacy of revolutionary beliefs. Society became disillusioned with the ideals put forward by the Decembrists, but had not yet formulated other goals. All this led to the fact that young people living in that period, including Lermontov himself, belonged to the “lost generation”, which is at a crossroads in life.
The creation was originally named by the author "One of the heroes of the beginning of the century." According to many contemporaries, in this version there was a controversy with the novel by Alfred Musset, the French writer who created Confession of the Son of the Century. However, the direction of the thoughts of the Russian writer was completely different. He did not create at all the type of “child of the century”, but an integral personality endowed with heroic features and entering into an unequal struggle with the surrounding reality. That is why the word "hero" in the title of the novel is more than appropriate. However, in general, the name is ironic. But he falls on the word "ours." Moreover, the author focuses on the entire era, and not at all on one person. In his “Preface” to the work of Lermontov himself gives an interpretation of its name. He points out that the protagonist of the story is a portrait made up of the vices of the entire generation of that time, which embodied the features characteristic of the consciousness of people who lived in the 30s of the 19th century.
Plot
Analysis of the work “A Hero of Our Time” convincingly proves the unusual nature of the whole story. There is no exposure in the plot of the novel. This leads to the fact that the reader does not know anything about the life of Pechorin before he arrived in the Caucasus. The author does not talk about the parents of his main character, about the conditions of his upbringing, about his education and about the reasons for his arrival in these places.
What else unusual can be revealed in the analysis of the work “Hero of Our Time”? In the plot created by Lermontov, there is no complication. It could be, for example, a description of Pechorin’s arrival at the duty station. The entire action is presented as a series of episodes. Each of them concerns the life of the protagonist. There are also five climaxes in the novel. After all, their number is associated with the number of stories.
But the denouement in the novel is. She serves as a message that, upon returning from Persia, Pechorin died. Thus, when analyzing the plot in the work “Hero of Our Time”, it can be argued that it consists only of climaxes and outcomes. But that is not all. Unusual in the novel is the fact that each of the stories included in it has its own finished plot. This can be traced on the example of Taman. The story begins with a night scene, which is its plot. Pechorin accidentally saw a meeting of smugglers in it. The exposition of the story is a description of the town of Taman, as well as the house where the officer received a temporary stand, and the inhabitants of this housing.
The climactic scene describes a night date during which the hero nearly drowned. And what about the denouement? The analysis of the “Hero of our time” suggests that it comes at the end of an unsuccessful date. This is a scene in which a smuggler girl sailed away with her lover, Yanko. They brought large knots with them. Later it turned out that they had stolen goods from Pechorin. The story ends with a kind of epilogue containing the reasoning of the protagonist about his unfortunate fate and about the ability to destroy everything that is around.
Novel composition
The analysis of the “Hero of our time” indicates to us not only the unusual plot. The composition of the work also has an unusual construction. She is circular in the novel. Its author begins with the story “Bela” and ends with “The Fatalist”. The time of both the one and the other story dates back to the period when the protagonist served in a distant Caucasian fortress. Moreover, in the stories located at the beginning and at the end of the novel, there are two main characters. The first of them is Pechorin himself, and the second is Maxim Maximovich.
What else can the analysis of the “Hero of our time” tell us? When studying a work, readers understand that the author arranged all five of the stories included in it in a rather strange way, violating the time sequence. Judging by some hints in the novel and taking into account the logic of the development of events, it is possible to say with a high degree of probability that the first of the stories should be “Princess Mary”, followed by “Bela”, and then “Fatalist” and "Maxim Maximovich."
Literary scholars who analyzed the “Hero of our time” M. Yu. Lermontov, could not decide on the place in this chain of the story “Taman”. According to some researchers, this story should be the first, opening the adventures of Pechorin, while others believe that this story can be anywhere in the created series. The latter point of view is explained by the absence of any information or allusions to events that occurred in other stories.
The author himself arranged the story as follows: the first is Bela, followed by Maxim Maksimych, then Taman and Princess Mary, and the novel Fatalist completes. Why did Lermontov choose this particular sequence? The fact is that it was not the chronology that was important to the writer, but the disclosure of Pechorin's character traits. And it is precisely this arrangement of chapters that made it best to solve this problem.
Bela
Even a brief analysis of the “Hero of our time” confirms the fact that Lermontov reveals the character of Pechorin gradually. In the very first story of his novel, he introduces the reader to his main character through the story of Maxim Maksimych. This person is very kind and honest, but very limited and insufficiently educated, which does not allow him to understand Pechorin. In this regard, conducting an analysis of the head of the “Bel” “Hero of our time”, the main character can be judged as an extreme egoist. Maxim Maksimych believes that the young man himself sets the rules of conduct for himself. He believes that he only at his whim became the fault of Bela’s death and helped Azamat steal the horse from Kazbich. And this is in clear contradiction with the officer’s code of honor.
What else does the analysis of “Bela” (“Hero of Our Time”) say about Pechorin’s character? Despite the commission by the officer of such unsightly acts, Maxim Maksimych notes the inconsistency of his behavior. On the one hand, the young man, he said, very quickly became indifferent to Bela, but on the other, he was very worried about her death. It was also noted by Maxim Maksimych that Grigory Alexandrovich was not afraid to go against the boar on the hunt, but he turned pale when he heard the creak of the door, etc. Such incomprehensible contradictions can leave the impression of Pechorin not as an extraordinary villain and egoist, but as a person with an interesting and complex character.
The author intrigues the reader with the main character from the first story. He is happy to follow events and characters, as if shading the features of the nature of Gregory.
What is Pechorin’s character, what can be said briefly about him when analyzing the work “Hero of Our Time” already from the first chapter? On the one hand, this Russian officer is brave and strong. People around him are subordinate to his charm. But here other traits of character are indisputably traced. Pechorin is too busy with himself. This leads to the fact that he breaks the lives of other people. This is confirmed, for example, by his fleeting whim, because of which he literally pulls out Bela from her native element. He also forces Azamat to become a traitor to his own family and deprives Kazbich of his dearest.
At this stage of the work, the reader does not understand the motives that guide Pechorin.
"Maxim Maksimych"
Judging by the analysis of the work “Hero of Our Time” by Lermontov, the following story gives us a more complete picture of Pechorin’s character. In the story "Maxim Maksimych" about Gregory, the reader learns from a young officer, the author of travel notes. This technique was not chosen by Lermontov by chance. If in the previous story a person of a lower social status and having significant differences in views spoke about Pechorin, then the second story comes from the mouth of a young officer. But he is not able to explain the motives of the actions of Gregory.
Nameless traveler makes a psychological portrait of Pechorin. And again, even with a brief analysis of the “Hero of our time”, we are faced with a rather contradictory nature. The image of Pechorin was created by Lermontov in the form of an incomprehensible interweaving of strength and weakness. The protagonist has a strong physique and a sudden “nervous weakness of the camp”, dirty gloves and dazzling underwear, skin tenderness and wrinkle marks. According to the narrator, the most important thing in the appearance of Pechorin are his eyes. After all, they did not laugh when Gregory laughed. His gaze remained calm and indifferent.
Pechorin’s behavior at a meeting with Maxim Maksimych is simply discouraging. When analyzing Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time”, it becomes obvious that Grigory was able to observe all the rules of communication with his old acquaintance. However, he leads the conversation in cold tones, gives monosyllabic answers and yawns forcibly. All this suggests that this meeting is a burden for the protagonist. He does not want to remember the past. Selfishness and indifference of a young man injure Maxim Maksimych. In addition, they are unpleasant to the narrator. Repels similar behavior and the reader.
After the story that happened to Bela, Pechorin “missed”. Now he is going to Persia. However, the protagonist is again strange and incomprehensible to the reader, who is deeply immersed in his thoughts and pushes a person attached to him from the recent past. The question immediately arises: "Is anything dear to him in this world?"
"Taman"
From the analysis of the “Hero of Our Time”, it becomes clear from chapters that the last three stories are grouped into a separate diary, which in the days of Lermontov was called a magazine. From these stories about Pechorin and his thoughts, the reader learns from the mouth of the hero himself.
So, if you carefully study the story "Taman" of the "Hero of our time", an analysis of the character of the hero will indicate his very active nature. Gregory is able, out of simple curiosity, without even thinking for a moment about the impending consequences, to intervene in the life of strangers for him. In the story with him there are various dangerous situations from which the hero happily gets out. So, not being able to swim, Gregory goes on a date in a boat, managing to throw a girl into the water at a critical moment.
At the end of his story about what happened to him in Taman, the hero is still not very happy about the happy ending. But he sadly noted the fact that in this town, as elsewhere, only destruction and misfortune take place around it. The experience that Gregory gained in Taman is bitter enough for him. That is why he is trying to replace the feelings that arose in him with alienation and indifference to people who were fleetingly in his fate. The result of the aspirations and searches of the author of the magazine is the phrase "Is it really about the disasters and human joys?"
Princess Mary
In this story, the author continues to trace the character of his hero. To his already familiar features, namely, contempt for the rules of honor and selfishness existing in society, the talent to subjugate people and fall in love with women, while causing hatred among the gentlemen, Lermontov added one more.
It becomes apparent in an extreme situation - the night before a duel. Gregory quite allowed the thought that the next morning he could be killed. That is why he tried to summarize the peculiar result of life. A question arises in his head why he was born into the world and for what he lived. And here, when analyzing “Princess Mary” from “The Hero of Our Time”, readers see a person suffering from loneliness and his own worthlessness, realizing that there is hardly anyone who will cry when he learns about his death.
"Fatalist"
Throughout his novel, the author showed his hero through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, described him with the help of a storyteller, and after getting to know the pages of the magazine, it seems that we have completely studied the “history of the human soul”. Can the final chapter of the work add any new touches to the image of Pechorin?
When analyzing the Fatalist (“Hero of Our Time”), it becomes obvious that Grigory and Lieutenant Vulich, with whom he bet, are very similar to each other. Both Lermontov’s characters are closed, they can easily subjugate people to themselves, besides, both are concerned about the fate of fate. However, in this chapter, the author leaves behind those episodes in which Pechorin manifests his already well-known egoism to the reader, evident in a heartless bet with Wulich. At the same time, Lermontov in all details describes the bloodless and highly successful capture of the tipsy Cossack, who boldly and decisively carried out Pechorin.
By this, the author seeks to prove that his protagonist can perform not only selfish acts. He is capable of active good. This allows the reader to see a representative of that generation from a completely unexpected angle.
Conclusion
Analysis of the work “Hero of Our Time” written by M.Yu. Lermontov, allows the reader to delve deeper into the "history of the human soul", as well as understand the extraordinary image and character of Pechorin. Immediately there is an occasion to think about the eternal questions of being.
At one time, Russian readers accepted this novel with a bang. The work delighted and amazed, excited and did not leave anyone indifferent. After all, Lermontov, vividly and realistically showing the image of Pechorin, raised the burning problems of the generation of “lost time”. The author’s work contains almost all elements of a literary work. This is prose and philosophical reflection, a lyrical novel and a novel. And with this series of stories, Mikhail Yurievich does not condemn his hero at all, who is inclined to make mistakes. The object of condemnation is an insignificant and empty time that does not have any values and ideals, as well as an entire generation of people who lived at that time.