What is Pechorin's egoism manifested in. In what episodes of the novel Pechorin's egoism is most clearly manifested
Pechorin is an ambiguous personality
The image of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov is an ambiguous image. It cannot be called positive, but it is not negative either. Many of his actions are worthy of condemnation, but it is also important to understand the motives of his behavior before making an assessment. The author called Pechorin a hero of his time, not because he recommended to be equal to him, and not because he wanted to ridicule him. He just showed a portrait typical representative of that generation - the "extra person" - so that everyone can see what the social structure that disfigures the personality leads to.
Qualities of Pechorin
Knowledge of people
Can such a quality of Pechorin as an understanding of the psychology of people, the motives of their actions, be called bad? Another thing is that he uses it for other purposes. Instead of doing good, helping others, he plays with them, and these games, as a rule, end tragically. This was the end of the story with the mountain girl Bela, whom Pechorin persuaded her brother to steal. Having achieved the love of a freedom-loving girl, he lost interest in her, and soon Bela fell victim to the vengeful Kazbich.
Playing with Princess Mary also did not lead to anything good. Pechorin's intervention in her relationship with Grushnitsky resulted in broken heart princesses and death at the duel of Grushnitsky.
Ability to analyze
Pechorin demonstrates a brilliant ability to analyze in a conversation with Dr. Werner (chapter "Princess Mary"). He absolutely logically calculates that Princess Ligovskaya was interested in him, and not her daughter Mary. “You have a great gift for thinking,” Werner notes. However, this gift again does not find a worthy application. Pechorin could possibly do scientific discoveries, but he became disillusioned with the study of science, because he saw that in his society no one needed knowledge.
Independence from the opinions of others
The description of Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" gives many a reason to accuse him of spiritual callousness. It would seem that he acted badly towards his old friend Maxim Maksimych. Upon learning that his colleague, with whom they ate more than one pood of salt together, stopped in the same city, Pechorin did not rush to meet him. Maksim Maksimych was very upset and offended by him. However, Pechorin is to blame, in fact, only for not living up to the old man's expectations. "Am I not the same?" - he reminded, nevertheless embracing Maxim Maksimych in a friendly way. Indeed, Pechorin never tries to portray himself as someone he is not, just to please others. He prefers to be rather than seem, always honest in the manifestation of his feelings, and from this point of view, his behavior deserves all approval. He also does not care what others say about him - Pechorin always does as he sees fit. IN modern conditions such qualities would be invaluable and would help him quickly achieve his goal, to fully realize himself.
Bravery
Courage and fearlessness are character traits due to which one could say “Pechorin is the hero of our time” without any ambiguity. They also appear on the hunt (Maxim Maksimych witnessed how Pechorin “went on a boar one on one”), and in a duel (he was not afraid to shoot with Grushnitsky on conditions that were obviously losing for him), and in a situation where it was necessary to pacify the raging drunken Cossack (chapter "Fatalist"). “... nothing will happen worse than death - and you can’t escape death,” Pechorin believes, and this conviction allows him to move forward more boldly. However, even deadly danger with which he encountered daily Caucasian war, did not help him cope with boredom: he quickly got used to the buzz of Chechen bullets. It's obvious that military service was not his vocation, and therefore Pechorin's brilliant abilities in this area did not find further application. He decided to travel in the hope of finding a remedy for boredom "through storms and bad roads."
pride
Pechorin cannot be called conceited, greedy for praise, but he is proud enough. He is very hurt if a woman does not consider him the best and prefers another. And he strives by all means, by any means, to win her attention. This happened in the situation with Princess Mary, who at first liked Grushnitsky. From the analysis of Pechorin, which he himself does in his journal, it follows that it was important for him not so much to achieve the love of this girl as to recapture her from a competitor. “I also confess that an unpleasant, but familiar feeling ran lightly at that moment through my heart; this feeling - it was envy ... it is unlikely that there will be a young man who, having met a pretty woman who riveted his idle attention and suddenly clearly distinguishes another, who is equally unfamiliar to her, I say, there is hardly such a young man (of course, who lived in high society and accustomed to indulge his vanity), who would not be unpleasantly struck by this.
Pechorin loves to achieve victory in everything. He managed to switch Mary's interest to his own person, make the proud Bela his mistress, get a secret date from Vera, and outplay Grushnitsky in a duel. If he had a worthy cause, this desire to be the first would allow him to achieve tremendous success. But he has to give vent to his leadership in such a strange and destructive way.
selfishness
In the essay on the topic “Pechorin - the hero of our time”, one cannot fail to mention such a trait of his character as selfishness. He does not really care about the feelings and fates of other people who have become hostages of his whims, for him only the satisfaction of his own needs matters. Pechorin did not even spare Vera, the only woman whom he believed he really loved. He put her reputation at risk by visiting her at night in the absence of her husband. A vivid illustration of his dismissive, selfish attitude is his beloved horse, driven by him, who did not manage to catch up with the carriage with the departed Vera. On the way to Essentuki, Pechorin saw that “instead of a saddle, two ravens were sitting on his back.” Moreover, Pechorin sometimes enjoys the suffering of others. He imagines how Mary, after his incomprehensible behavior, "will spend the night without sleep and will cry", and this thought gives him "immense pleasure". “There are moments when I understand the Vampire…” he admits.
Pechorin's behavior is the result of the influence of circumstances
But can this bad character trait be called innate? Is Pechorin flawed from the very beginning, or was the living conditions made him so? Here is what he himself told Princess Mary: “... such was my fate from childhood. Everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings, which were not there; but they were supposed - and they were born. I was modest - they accused me of slyness: I became secretive ... I was ready to love the whole world - no one understood me: and I learned to hate ... I spoke the truth - they did not believe me: I began to deceive ... I became moral cripple».
Finding himself in an environment that does not correspond to his inner essence, Pechorin is forced to break himself, to become what he is not in reality. That's where this internal inconsistency, which left an imprint on his appearance. The author of the novel draws a portrait of Pechorin: laughter with non-laughing eyes, a daring and at the same time indifferently calm look, a straight frame, limp, like a Balzac young lady, when he sat down on a bench, and other "inconsistencies".
Pechorin himself realizes that he makes an ambiguous impression: “Some revere me worse, others better than I really am ... Some will say: he was a kind fellow, others a bastard. Both will be false." But the truth is that under the influence of external circumstances, his personality has undergone such complex and ugly deformations that it is no longer possible to separate the bad from the good, the real from the false.
In the novel A Hero of Our Time, the image of Pechorin is a moral, psychological portrait of a whole generation. How many of its representatives, having not found a response in the surrounding “soul to wonderful impulses”, were forced to adapt, become the same as everyone around, or die. The author of the novel, Mikhail Lermontov, whose life ended tragically and prematurely, was one of them.
Artwork test
The central person of the work "A Hero of Our Time" is Pechorin. It is about him and will be discussed.
The first thing to do is to understand the semantics of the word egoism. Selfishness is a kind of behavior in which a person exalts his interests above the interests of other people, selfishness, an attempt to benefit and benefit for himself, despite the needs of others. The antonym of this word is "altruism".
And what do we see in Lermontov's poem. We can see this restless, goalless, selfish soul of the protagonist. The image of the sharply negative qualities of the hero was not the author's goal in itself, he simply did everything possible to show this character without embellishment. Nothing should be hidden from the eyes of the reader.
For Pechorin, all the people around him are just cards in a playing deck. Toys and more. His goal is purely for fun, regardless of the feelings and desires of those he plays. His restless soul is cruel, straightforward. He seems to be looking for peace, satisfaction, but nothing in this life can affect him like that.
He gets only a temporary lull, and then the game bothers him, and our hero again finds himself in an agonizing search for entertainment.
But, despite this, many can fall in love with our hero with all sincerity, which often turns out to be fatal. Only one of the women was able to carry this load with dignity - Vera. This woman sees the good in the hero, and sees all his flaws. His ambition, his neglect and pampering with the most serious aspects of this life, be it love and friendship, life and death - all this, no doubt, hurts her. But his charm, his martyrdom from dissatisfaction with life, his fatalism and will inexorably beckon and only strengthen her love. Vera knows Pechorin's attitude towards herself: “You loved me like property, as a source of joys, anxieties and sorrows that alternated mutually; without which life is boring and monotonous…” And this quote once again emphasizes such a flaw in our hero as selfishness.
Pechorin's interest in Bela turns out to be disastrous. This interest he calls love. And to satisfy his feelings, he kidnaps her from home. But in order to win love, it is not enough to tear a person away from home, and the hero asks new goal- to win the heart of Bela, which he succeeds in successfully. indicative in this case is a dialogue with Maxim Maksimych, who asked Pechorin why he stole the girl, but that the answer was full of bewilderment: “I like her.” But even this toy does not bring him pleasure, because the love of a savage is nothing better than love secular young lady and she bored him just the same.
In the poem, we see Pechorin's disdain even for friendship. This is striking in the episode with Maxim Maksimych, with whom so much was experienced, who so wanted to see our hero, to talk with him. And in response to this he receives only a cold, albeit friendly, handshake. This cannot but hurt, but Pechorin does not notice what scars remain from his actions in the souls of people.
Each story of the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" is independent, based on a certain literary tradition, however, united by the author's intention, the stories became a single whole - a study spiritual world modern hero, whose personality and fate cements the entire narrative.
The novel "A Hero of Our Time" was created by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov from 1837 to 1840. The tragic 30s of the XIX century - the time of the most severe reaction. The fate of the generation of the 30s was reflected by Lermontov in his novel.
Realistically depicting his hero with all his contradictions and "vices", the writer at the same time noted in him those inclinations of a truly heroic personality that allow us to talk about the romantic-realistic embodiment in this image of the ideals that the poet nurtured from the time of his romantic youth to the end. life. The basis psychological portrait his hero, Lermontov put Fourier's "theory of passions", according to which those who did not find a way out in a positive deed mental strength distort in general good nature man, his character. It is from understanding the contradictions between the needs inner world and the imperatives of the external world, such definitions of Pechorin as "egoist involuntarily", "romantic involuntarily" arose.
At the beginning of the novel, two heroes tell about Pechorin: a young officer and Maxim Maksimych (the stories "Bela", "Maxim Maksimych"), but neither one nor the other is able to understand Pechorin. Therefore, his character is fully revealed only in the process of introspection, in a monologue-confession (the stories "Taman", "Princess Mary" and "The Fatalist"), The first in Pechorin's Journal is the story "Taman". The main motives have already been outlined here: the hero's desire for active action, curiosity, pushing him to put "experiments" on himself and others, to interfere in other people's affairs, his reckless courage and romantic attitude.
Lermontov's hero strives to understand what drives people, to identify the motives of their actions, to comprehend their psychology. In the story "Princess Mary" the author presents an almost daily report on the life of the protagonist. Moreover, he almost never writes about the events in the country, about Pyatigorsk, he is primarily concerned about thoughts, feelings, actions. In this story, the hero is shown in his typical noble environment, whose representatives cause him ridicule, irony, and contempt. Pechorin perfectly understands the deceit and hypocrisy of the "water society" and high society, he sees that life here is either a vulgar comedy or a cheap drama where all participants play some kind of role. Against the background of this society, Pechorin's mind and sincerity, his education, and the wealth of the spiritual world stand out. The desire for something bright lives in his soul, apparently giving rise to such an attractive feature in him as love for nature.
Calm contemplation of the beauty and harmony of nature brings him a feeling of happiness, but Pechorin is an active nature, and he cannot be satisfied with this. In the desire for "storms and battles" one can feel the desire for independence and freedom, the inability to be content with what life presents to the hero. No matter how happy the hero is in communion with nature, he needs to participate in the life of society. In relationship with different people more and more new facets of Pechorin's character are revealed, the tragic contradiction between the inner capabilities of the hero and his behavior is exposed more and more deeply. Coldness, spiritual emptiness, selfishness, indifference to people - all these features are undeniable in Pechorin.
And yet it is impossible not to notice that he is capable of sincere sympathy, of selfless love. (Pechorin's soul is "not a rocky desert.") The hero is tired of loneliness, but admits this only to himself, and even then rarely. He does not know the purpose, but he feels that he was not born to be bored in life. He regrets that he did not guess his appointment and "lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations." "Immense forces" do not find real application, and a person becomes smaller. Consciousness of the inconsistency of one's actions with the true character leads to a split personality. Two people have long lived in Pechorin's soul: one acts, and the other judges his actions. The hero can no longer fully experience joy and happiness, because he has made himself a constant object of observation. Such constant introspection prevents him from surrendering entirely not only to feeling, but also to action, although in his character one of the leading qualities is activity. Having not received real development, this quality gradually faded away, and Pechorin, in whom the thirst for action and struggle was so strong, travels to Persia with the hope of dying "somewhere along the way."
Telling the "history of the human soul", Lermontov, with exceptional depth and penetration, managed to convey to the mind and heart of the reader the tragedy of its spiritual emptiness, which ends in a senseless death.
Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov did not think of his hero as a role model.
He emphasized that Pechorin is a collective image, and not a specific person.
This is a specific type that reflects characteristics younger generation beginning of the last century.
How does the reader see Pechorin?
A Hero of Our Time depicts a young man experiencing mental anguish due to restlessness, in deep loneliness looking for the meaning of his own existence and his destiny. Pechorin does not want to choose the beaten paths characteristic of the youth of high society.
He is an officer who serves, and does not try to curry favor. Doesn't play music, doesn't care philosophical teachings, does not study military art. At the same time, it is obvious to the reader that he is well educated, not devoid of talents, energetic and courageous.
Pechorin is endowed with such negative qualities, as selfishness, indifference to other people, the inability to sincerely love and be friends. At the same time, he is attractive in his own way: life boils in him, the hero craves it, strives for the best, objectively, even with a share of healthy self-criticism, evaluates himself. But his actions are petty and insignificant, he brings suffering to everyone around him, which does not arouse the reader's sympathy, but the hero himself suffers from these shortcomings. He is an extremely controversial person.
Pechorin knows how to be closed and ambitious, he remembers the harm done for a long time. He claims to have become a moral cripple. Not only Pushkin's Onegin, but Lermontov's character can also be safely called an "egoist involuntarily" (V. G. Belinsky).
Contradictions of the character of the protagonist
Pechorin constantly feels his split. In the social and political situation prevailing in the first half 19th century, he cannot realize himself. Spends his life on meaningless adventures, goes to the Caucasus, tempts the fate of participation in the war, makes attempts to forget about his troubles next to beautiful women. But everything he does does not bring results, becoming only a way to distract from problems.
It is followed inseparably by the blues and the understanding that such a life is not worth anything. Throughout the story, Pechorin considers the suffering and tragedies of those around him as an opportunity to support his own spiritual strength, only this allows him to temporarily forget about the incessant longing, to fill the void of a meaningless life. Wherein, main character works - a richly gifted personality.
Pechorin has an analytical mindset, he absolutely correctly evaluates people, their actions and motives; he knows how to critically evaluate not only his environment, but also himself. His diary entries- real self-disclosure.
Pechorin is capable of strong feelings(for example, after the death of Bela or during a meeting with Vera), hides deep emotional upheavals under the guise of indifference and callousness, which he wears as protection. He is able to act, being a strong-willed person, but his decisions and actions bring only destruction.
The similarity of Pechorin with the hero of the poem "Demon"
The destructive nature of Pechorin's actions makes him look like the hero of the poem "The Demon", also written by Lermontov. Even in his appearance, something demonic and mysterious is seen.
Pechorin appears as a true destroyer who plays with the fate of the people around him: the death of the beautiful Circassian Bela, the disappointment of Maxim Maksimovich, the pain of Mary and Vera, tragic death Grushnitsky and officer Vulich, even the smugglers, through his fault, leave their home.
V. G. Belinsky believed that the hero has a “transitional state of mind”, when the old is already completely lost, and the new has not appeared. Man has only the probability of receiving something genuine in the distant future.
M. Yu. Lermontov began work on his work as early as 1838. Two years later, the first publication of the novel came out, in which he no longer fantasized about what life is and what it is like. Mikhail Lermontov described her as he saw in reality.
The novel "A Hero of Our Time" became a continuation of the theme " extra people". This theme became central in A. S. Pushkin's novel in verse "Eugene Onegin". Herzen called Pechorin Onegin's younger brother. In the preface to the novel, the author shows his attitude towards his hero. Like Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin" ("I'm always glad to see the difference between Onegin and me"), Lermontov ridiculed attempts to equate the novel's author and its protagonist. Lermontov did not consider Pechorin goodie from which to take an example. The author emphasized that in the image of Pechorin, a portrait is given not of one person, but of an artistic type that has absorbed the features of a whole generation of young people at the beginning of the century.
In Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time, a young man is shown suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself the painful question: "Why did I live? For what purpose was I born?" He does not have the slightest inclination to follow the beaten path of secular young people. Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not served. Pechorin does not study music, does not study philosophy or military affairs. But we cannot but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, energetic. We are repelled by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability to true love, to friendship, his individualism and selfishness. But Pechorin captivates us with a thirst for life, a desire for the best, the ability to critically evaluate our actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us by the “pathetic actions”, the waste of his strength, by the actions by which he brings suffering to other people.
But we see that he himself suffers deeply. The character of Pechorin is complex and contradictory. The hero of the novel says about himself: "There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him ...". What are the reasons for this split? ”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 ... ”- admits Pechorin. He learned to be secretive, vindictive, bilious, ambitious, became, in his words, a moral cripple. Pechorin is an egoist. Belinsky also called Pushkin's Onegin "a suffering egoist" and "an unwitting egoist." The same can be said about Pechorin. Pechorin is characterized by disappointment in life, pessimism. He experiences a constant split spirit. In the socio-political conditions of the 30s of the 19th century, Pechorin cannot find a use for himself. He is wasted on petty adventures, exposes his forehead to Chechen bullets, seeks oblivion in love. But all this is just a search for some way out, just an attempt to unwind. He is haunted by boredom and the consciousness that such a life is not worth living. Throughout the novel, Pechorin shows himself as a person who is accustomed to looking at "the suffering, joys of others only in relation to himself" - as "food" that supports his spiritual strength, it is on this path that he seeks consolation from the boredom that haunts him, tries to fill the emptiness of your existence. And yet Pechorin is a richly gifted nature. He has an analytical mind, 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 nothing but self-disclosure. He is endowed with a warm heart, able to feel deeply (Bela's death, a date with Vera) and experience a lot, although he tries to hide soul feelings under the guise of indifference. Indifference, callousness - a mask of self-defense. Pechorin is still a strong-willed, strong, active person, “life forces” are dormant in his chest, he is capable of action. But all his actions carry not a positive, but a negative charge, all his activities are aimed not at creation, but at destruction. In this, Pechorin is similar to the hero of the poem "The Demon".
Indeed, in his appearance (especially at the beginning of the novel) there is something demonic, unsolved. In all the stories that Lermontov combined in the novel, Pechorin appears before us as the destroyer of the lives and destinies of other people: because of him, the Circassian Bela is deprived of shelter and dies, Maxim Maksimovich is disappointed in friendship, Mary and Vera suffer, Grushnitsky dies from his hand, forced leave native home « honest smugglers”, the young officer Vulich dies. Belinsky saw in Pechorin's character "a transitional state of the spirit, in which for a person everything old has been destroyed, but there is still no new, and in which a person is only the possibility of something real in the future and a perfect ghost in the present."
Lermontov began writing the novel A Hero of Our Time in 1838. Two years later, the novel was published as a separate edition. Unlike his previous creations, Lermontov, creating the “Hero of Our Time”, no longer imagined life, but painted it as it really was. "A Hero of Our Time" is a novel about Russia, about the fate and tragedy of a Russian person.
Certainly, the main role in the novel - this is the role of Pechorin. From the description of Maxim Maksimovich, we learn about Pechorin this: “He was so new. He was a nice fellow, I dare to assure you; just a little weird. After all, for example, in the rain, in the cold all day hunting; everyone will get cold, tired - but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, the wind smells, he assures that he has caught a cold; the shutter will knock, he will shudder and turn pale; and with me he went to the boar one on one; it used to be that you couldn’t get a word for whole hours, but sometimes, as soon as you start talking, you’ll break your bellies with laughter ... Yes, with great oddities, and, must be, a rich man: how many different expensive little things he had ... " From here we learn about the duality of Pechorin's character, about his oddities. A little later we already see his portrait.
Pechorin was of medium height, slender, strong build. Quite a decent man, thirty years old. Despite his strong physique, he had "a small aristocratic hand." His gait was careless and lazy. He had a secret character. “His skin had a kind of feminine tenderness; blond hair, curly by nature, so picturesquely outlined his pale, noble forehead, on which, only after a long observation, traces of wrinkles could be noticed. Despite the light color of his hair, his mustache and beard were black. He had a slightly upturned nose, dazzling white teeth, and brown eyes. His eyes did not laugh when he laughed. Their brilliance was like that of "smooth steel", dazzling and cold. He was not very bad and had one of those "original physiognomies, which are especially liked by secular women."
Pechorin - " inner man". His personality is dominated by the romantic complex inherent in the heroes of Lermontov, dissatisfaction with reality, high anxiety and a hidden desire for a better life. Poetizing these qualities of Pechorin, his sharp critical thought, rebellious will and ability to fight, revealing his tragically forced loneliness, Lermontov also notes sharply negative, frank manifestations of Pechorin's individualism, without separating them from the personality of the hero as a whole. Pechorin's selfish individualism is clearly expressed in the novel. The moral failure of Pechorin's behavior in relation to Bela, to Mary and to Maxim Maksimovich. Lermontov singles out the destructive processes taking place in Pechorin: his melancholy, fruitless throwing, crushing of interests. Comparing the "hero" of the Pechorin era with those who could not at all claim this title - with " natural person» Beloy and s « common man"Maxim Maksimovich, deprived of Pechorin's intellect and his vigilance, we see not only intellectual superiority, but also spiritual trouble and incompleteness of the main character. Pechorin's personality in its egoistic manifestations, arising primarily from the conditions of the era, is not exempt from its individual responsibility, the court of conscience.
Pechorin treats people cruelly. So, for example: first he kidnaps Bela and tries to please her. But when Bela falls in love with Pechorin, he leaves her. Even after the death of Bela, he does not change his face and laughs in response to the consolation of Maxim Maksimovich.
After a long separation, a cold meeting with Maxim Maksimovich, who considers Pechorin his best friend, and is very upset by such an attitude towards himself.
With Princess Mary, he does almost the same - the same as with Bela. Just to have fun, he starts courting Mary. Seeing this, Grushnitsky challenges Pechorin to a duel, they shoot, and Pechorin kills Grushnitsky. After that, Mary confesses her love to Pechorin and asks to stay, but he coldly says: “I don’t love you.”
And the judgment, leading to retribution, is carried out on Pechorin, in which evil, breaking away in many respects from its “good” sources, destroys not only what it is directed at, but also his own personality, noble by nature and therefore unable to withstand its inner evil. Retribution falls on Pechorin from the people.
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