Poet Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov is known to many readers as the author of piercing poems, the theme of which is loneliness.
He also owns the idea of expressing "strange love" for his Fatherland, which in the second half of the 19th century. became a real tradition of poetry. But the work of this poet is much wider. He is known as an excellent playwright, and the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is considered the pinnacle of his prose.
History of Creation
Mikhail Yuryevich began writing his work in 1836. A vivid example for him was Pushkin, who showed his contemporary in the famous poem "Eugene Onegin".
According to Lermontov's idea, the main character is a Guards officer Pechorin. Mikhail Yuryevich decided to portray him as one of the representatives of metropolitan life. But in 1837 Lermontov, who wrote the poem "The Death of a Poet", was arrested and exiled to the Caucasus. After this link, he no longer wished to return to his plan.
The period of creation of the novel is from 1837 to 1840. The work consists of a number of stories. In what sequence they were written is not known for certain. There are only suggestions that the very firstcame out from under the pen of the author "Taman", and after - "Bela", "Fatalist" and "Maxim Maksimych". At first, the stories were conceived in the form of separate fragments from the officer's notes. However, after they became a whole chain of works connected by common characters.
The theme of the novel
What does the analysis of "A Hero of Our Time" tell us? About the situation that developed in society in the period of the 30s - 40s of the 19th century, which is commonly called "between times". The fact is that during these years there was a turbulent process of changing ideals. The uprising of the Decembrists pushed people to this. The defeat of the attempt to overthrow the government spoke of the fallacy of revolutionary convictions. Society was disappointed in the ideals put forward by the Decembrists, but has not yet formed other goals. All this led to the fact that the young people who lived at that time, including Lermontov himself, belonged to the "lost generation" at a crossroads in life.
The creation was originally called 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 The Confession of the Son of the Century. However, the direction of thought of the Russian writer was quite different. He created not at all the type of "child of the century", but a whole 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 has an ironic connotation. But it falls on the word "our". At the same time, the author focuses on the entire era, and not at all on one person. In his Preface toLermontov himself gives an interpretation of its title to the work. He points out that the protagonist of the story is a portrait composed of the vices of the entire generation of that time, in which the features characteristic of the consciousness of people who lived in the 30s of the 19th century were embodied.
Storyline
Analysis of the work "A Hero of Our Time" convincingly proves the unusual nature of the whole story. There is no exposition in the plot of the novel. This leads to the fact that the reader does not know anything about Pechorin's life before he came to the Caucasus. The author does not talk about the parents of his main character, about the conditions of his upbringing, about the education he received and about the reasons for his arrival in these places.
What else can be revealed when analyzing the work "A Hero of Our Time"? In the plot created by Lermontov, there is no plot. It could be, for example, a description of Pechorin's arrival at his duty station. All the action is presented in the form of 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 related to the number of stories.
But there is a denouement in the novel. She is the message that when returning from Persia, Pechorin died. Thus, conducting an analysis of the plot in the work “A Hero of Our Time”, it can be argued that it consists only of climaxes and denouement. But that's not all. Unusual in the novel is the fact that each of the stories included in it has its own complete plot. You can trace this on the example of "Taman". The story begins with a night scene, which is its plot. In it, Pechorin accidentally saw a meeting of smugglers. The exposition of the story is a description of the town of Taman itself, as well as the house where the officer received a temporary quarter, and the inhabitants of this housing.
The climactic scene describes a date night during which the hero nearly drowned. And what about the disconnect? The ongoing analysis of "A Hero of Our Time" suggests that it comes at the end of an unsuccessful date. This is the scene in which the smuggler girl sailed away with her lover Janko. They took large bundles with them. Later it turned out that they contained things stolen from Pechorin. The story ends with a kind of epilogue containing the protagonist's reasoning about his unfortunate fate and the ability to destroy everything that is around.
Composition of the novel
The ongoing analysis of "A Hero of Our Time" shows us not only the unusual plot. The composition of the work also has an unusual structure. It is circular in the novel. Its author begins with the story "Bela" and ends with "The Fatalist". The time of both stories refers to the period when the protagonist served in a distant Caucasian fortress. Moreover, in the stories located both 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 Maksimovich.
What else can the analysis of A Hero of Our Time tell us? Studying the work, readers understand that the author arranged all five stories included in it in a rather strange way, violatingthis time sequence. Judging by some of the hints in the novel, and taking into account the logic of the development of events, it can be argued with a high degree of probability that the first of the stories should be "Princess Mary", after it should be "Bela", and then "The Fatalist" and "Maxim Maksimovich".
Literary critics who analyzed the "Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov, did not decide only 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 located anywhere in the created series. The latter point of view is explained by the absence of any information or hints about the events that took place in other stories.
The author himself arranged the stories as follows: the first - "Bela", followed by "Maxim Maksimych", then "Taman" and "Princess Mary", and completes the novel "The Fatalist". Why did Lermontov choose this particular sequence? The fact is that the writer was not interested in chronology, but in revealing Pechorin's character traits. And it was precisely this arrangement of chapters that made it possible to solve this problem best of all.
Bela
Even a brief analysis of "A Hero of Our Time" confirms the fact that Lermontov reveals Pechorin's character 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, when analyzing the head of "Bela""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 only on his own whim became the cause of Bela's death and helped Azamat steal a horse from Kazbich. And this is in clear contradiction with the officer's code of honor.
What else does the analysis of "Bela" ("A Hero of Our Time") say about Pechorin's character? Despite the commission of such unsightly acts by the officer, Maxim Maksimych notes the inconsistency of his behavior. On the one hand, the young man, according to him, very quickly became indifferent to Bela, but on the other hand, he was very worried about her death. It was also noted by Maxim Maksimych that Grigory Alexandrovich was not afraid to go against a wild boar on a hunt, but at the same time he turned pale when he heard the door creak, etc. Such incomprehensible contradictions can leave an impression of Pechorin not as an outstanding 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 follows the events and the characters with pleasure, as if shading the features of Grigory's nature.
What is the character of Pechorin, what can be said about him briefly when analyzing the work “A Hero of Our Time” already from the first chapter? On the one hand, this Russian officer is brave and strong. People who are around are subject to his charm. But there are undoubtedly other traits of character. Pechorin is too busy with himself. This leads to himdestroys other people's lives. This is confirmed, for example, by his fleeting whim, because of which he literally pulls Bela out of her familiar native element. He also forces Azamat to become a traitor to his own family and deprives Kazbich of what is dear to him.
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 "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov, the following story gives us a more complete picture of Pechorin's character. In the story "Maxim Maksimych" the reader learns about Grigory from a young officer, the author of travel notes. This technique was not chosen by Lermontov by chance. If in the previous story about Pechorin a person of a lower social status and having significant differences in views spoke, then the second story comes from the lips of a young officer. But even he is not able to explain the motives of Grigory's actions.
The nameless traveler makes up a psychological portrait of Pechorin. And again, even with a brief analysis of the "Hero of Our Time", a rather contradictory nature appears before us. The image of Pechorin was created by Lermontov in the form of an incomprehensible plexus of strength and weakness. In the main character there is a strong physique and a sudden onset of "nervous weakness of the camp", soiled gloves and dazzling underwear, soft skin and traces of wrinkles. The most important, according to the narrator, in the guise of Pechorin are his eyes. After all, they did not laugh when Gregory laughed. His gaze remained indifferently calm.
Pechorin's behavior when meeting with Maxim Maksimych is simply discouraging. When analyzing Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time", it becomes obvious that Grigory managed to comply with all the rules of communication with his old acquaintance. However, he conducts conversation in cold tones, gives monosyllabic answers and forced yawns. All this suggests that this meeting is a burden for the main character. He does not want to remember the past. The selfishness and indifference of the young man hurt Maxim Maksimych. In addition, they are unpleasant to the narrator. Repels this behavior and the reader.
After the story that happened to Bela, Pechorin "bored". Now he is going to Persia. However, the main character is again strange and incomprehensible to the reader, who is deeply immersed in his thoughts and repels the person attached to him from the recent past. The question immediately arises: “Is anything in this world worth anything to him?”.
Taman
From the analysis of the "Hero of Our Time" chapter by chapter, it becomes clear that the last three stories are grouped into a separate diary, which in Lermontov's time was called a journal. From these stories about Pechorin and his thoughts, the reader will learn from the lips of the hero himself.
So, if you carefully study the story "Taman" "Hero of Our Time", analysis of the character of the hero will indicate his very active nature. Gregory is able, out of simple curiosity, not for a moment thinking about the future consequences, to intervene in the lives of strangers for him. In the story, various dangerous situations arise with him, from which the herohappily escaping. So, not knowing how to swim, Grigory 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 with the happy ending. But he noted with sadness the fact that in this town, as elsewhere, only destruction and misfortune occur around it. The experience that Gregory gained in Taman is bitter enough for him. That is why he tries to replace the feelings that arose in him with alienation and indifference to people who fleetingly found themselves in his fate. The result of the aspirations and searches of the author of the magazine is the phrase “Do I care about human disasters and joys?”
Princess Mary
In this story, the author continues to trace the character of his hero. To his traits already familiar to readers, namely, contempt for the rules of honor and selfishness that exist in society, the talent to subjugate people and make women fall in love with him, while causing the hatred of gentlemen, Lermontov added one more.
It becomes apparent in an extreme situation - the night before the duel. Grigory fully admitted the idea that the next morning he might be killed. That is why he tried to sum up his life in a peculiar way. The question arises in his head, why he was born into the world and what he lived for. And here, when analyzing "Princess Mary" from "A Hero of Our Time", readers see a person suffering from loneliness andhis own uselessness, realizing that there is hardly anyone who will cry upon learning of his death.
Fatalist
Throughout his novel, the author showed his hero through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, characterized him with the help of an officer-narrator, and after acquaintance with the pages of the magazine, it seems that we have already fully 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 "Fatalist" ("A Hero of Our Time"), it becomes obvious that Grigory and Lieutenant Vulich, with whom he made a bet, are very similar to each other. Both Lermontov's characters are closed, they can easily subjugate people, and besides, both are concerned about the question of a predetermined fate. However, in this chapter, the author leaves in the background those episodes in which Pechorin shows his selfishness, already well known to the reader, evident in a heartless bet with Vulich. At the same time, Lermontov describes in detail the bloodless and very successful capture of the tipsy Cossack, which Pechorin boldly and decisively carried out.
This author seeks to prove that his main character can do not only selfish acts. He is also capable of active goodness. This allows the reader to see the representative of that generation from a completely unexpected angle.
Conclusion
Analysis of the work "A Hero of Our Time", written by M. Yu. Lermontov, allows the reader to delve into"the history of the human soul", as well as to understand the singularity of the image and character of Pechorin. Immediately there is a reason to think about the eternal questions of life.
At one time, Russian readers took 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 topical problems of the generation of "lost time". The author's work contains almost all elements of a literary work. These are prose and philosophical reflections, a lyrical story and a novel. And with this series of stories, Mikhail Yuryevich condemns not 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 a whole generation of people who lived at that time.
