"Hero of our time", Pechorin: characteristic. Why is Pechorin a “hero of the time”?

“The Hero of Our Time” is the last major work of Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov, which was published fully in the year of his death. However, taking into account the whole logic of the development of the writer’s genius, it can be assumed that if his life had not been cut off so early, this would be only the beginning. Lermontov promised to grow into the largest Russian prose writer, since nothing equal to this work then existed in Russian literature.

Preface Changing the Perception of a Work

Lermontov began to think about prose in the late thirties. In the forties, the first edition of The Hero of Our Time was published, and a year later the second. They were distinguished by a preface, which Mikhail Yurievich added in the second version. In it, he expressed several important thoughts. First of all, all suspicions about the author’s identification with the character of the work that Lermontov wrote are called “Hero of Our Time”. "Pechorin is not me!" - says Mikhail Yuryevich. He emphasizes that he writes the novel not about himself, but about the hero of his time.

The second comment, contained in the preface, also shifted many emphasis on the perception of the work. Lermontov mentions the naivety of the public, which is always waiting for direct conclusions or morality. Who is the "hero of our time"? Pechorin or someone else? Here Mikhail Yuryevich openly scoffs at those who at the end of the work hopes to see answers to their questions.

"Hero of our time". Analysis of Pechorin and his understanding of the meaning of life

In this work, Lermontov makes an attempt - consistent, clear and very large-scale - to answer the question of what type of personality, character is the carrier of the key properties of time. And how are such qualities motivated by external conditions? Why is Pechorin a “hero of our time” and why does he live in this particular period?

The work contains a very complex meaning. The fact is that the “hero of our time” Pechorin is not so much motivated by external conditions as, on the contrary, he opposes them. The novel has a minimum of facts, references to history, to the large state scale of events.

The character seems to exist separately from the events taking place at this time. And he lives a very strange life. It is not clear what he is striving for. Does he make a career, does he want to get another rank, to meet true love. There are no answers to these questions.

The image of the main character created by others

How is Pechorin different from other images of the hero of our time ? The characterization of the personality of this character shows him as a person constantly contradicting himself. Nevertheless, the reader still understands his logic, and even what kind of person he is, in principle. Difficulties in the character of the main character, this elusive “hero of the time,” correspond to the complexity of looking at him.

Mikhail Yurievich creates a very complex system that combines different storytellers and witnesses who describe the events. As a result, the reader does not come close to answering his questions, but as if, on the contrary, is moving away from them.

There are descriptions of the events seen by Maxim Maximovich, an officer quite innocent. He lives next to Pechorin and treats him with deep sympathy, but does not see him as the person he really is. A complex, controversial image of the main character is presented throughout the novel through the eyes of various heroes, including himself.

A lonely and deep personality

Not only the main, but also quite complex character of the work “The Hero of Our Time” - Pechorin. The characterization of his personality is created with the help of the people around him. And when they analyze this person from the side, sometimes their opinions do not coincide with his own point of view. Since, for example, Maxim notices much more in him than he does. Observes those properties that he himself is not visible.

And this happens with every person who, as the character of the novel “Hero of Our Time” Pechorin, is deepened in himself. He has almost no friends, with the exception of Dr. Werner. And it is very important that just the outside observer can see the main thing in this person, her best qualities.

The mystery of the character of the main character

What is constantly engaged in the main character of the work “Hero of Our Time” Pechorin? He is obsessed with the constant search for himself. And in most cases, they turn out to be a search for love, passion, truly intimate, cordial, friendly relations with a woman.

Alone with himself, this is a very strange person. Any of his actions gives rise to opposition. Any action turns out to be not the result that he expected. He is like a director who builds his life and sees himself constantly from the outside. And all this for a person is painful and destructive. After all, it is unnatural to constantly think about yourself.

The author’s special idea in the work

Mikhail Yurievich is absolutely original. Based on familiar literary schemes, he offers the reader something completely unusual. Each event in the novel is seen from different points of view, and not one is dominant.

To understand Lermontov’s work, it is necessary to arrange the novels included in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” in a sequence of real events. Mikhail Yurievich builds his own author's chronology, different from the reality of what is happening. This sets a special artistic logic for the development of the concept of the image of a “hero of our time” - a person who embodies the essence of that period.

What else is characteristic of the work “Hero of Our Time”? Pechorin’s quotes, present throughout the novel, are filled with deep meaning and reveal the essence of the character’s character. Not being able to use his energy and talent outside, to direct his aspirations to some external object, he closes them on himself. And every time he appears as the executioner of those people whom he loves.

The key to the character of the protagonist

The reason why Pechorin is the “hero of our time” is analyzed by the reader throughout the entire work, but the philosophical key to his image is found in the novel “The Fatalist”. It is no coincidence that she encompasses the whole novel. Here lies the belief that fate cannot be contradicted; everything is predetermined in advance. And the predictions in the story come true in a strange way. And at the same time, Pechorin, every time, being confident in the fatality of the events, opposes them.

This is a person who intervenes in events, tries to change them, being at the same time convinced that this is an absolutely useless activity. A completely incomprehensible personality, each act of which guarantees the opposite result, and the desire for activity contains as a result impotence.

The invisible presence of the author in the novel

Thanks to the novel, contemporaries could rethink situations, facts, and details of everyday life. For example, a duel with Grushnitsky, which is of great importance in the context of the work. A similar duel for the nineteenth century is a significant attribute of the noble life. And it is very important to rethink the dueling code, which is given in the novel "Hero of Our Time".

This wonderful work was written a year before the death of the poet, but involuntarily it seems that it describes the history of the upcoming duel. The author himself is invisibly present in the image of the hero, but he endowed Grushnitsky with traits of character and appearance of Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov.

The novel "Hero of our time" was the beginning of a whole literary tradition. Without this work and those artistic discoveries that Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov came to, there would probably have been no better novels by Turgenev or Tolstoy. It is this work that begins a new era in Russian literature, where prose and especially the genre of the novel dominate.