The literary type to which Grigory Pechorin is classified. Quote description of Pechorin

The image and characterization of Pechorin in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” will help you understand what kind of person he really is. How the long-term influence of the surrounding world was able to leave its mark on the depth of character, turning the complex inner world Main character.

Pechorin's appearance

“...he was generally very handsome and had one of those original physiognomies that are especially popular with secular women...”

“...of medium height, his slender, thin figure and broad shoulders proved his strong build...”

"...they didn't laugh when he laughed..."

It was rare that anyone could bear his gaze; he was too heavy and unpleasant for his interlocutor.

The nose is slightly turned up. Snow-white teeth.

“...a slightly upturned nose, dazzling white teeth...”

Gregory dressed immaculately. The clothes are expensive, clean, well ironed. Pleasant aroma of perfume. The boots are cleaned to a shine.

Gregory's character

Grigory promised himself that he would never show his real face, forbidding him to show any feelings for anyone. He was disappointed in people. When he was real, without guile and pretense, they could not understand the depth of his soul, accusing him of non-existent vices and making claims.

“...everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings that were not there; but they were anticipated - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of guile: I became secretive. I felt good and evil deeply; no one caressed me, everyone insulted me: I became vindictive; I was gloomy, - other children were cheerful and talkative; I felt superior to them - they put me lower. I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world, but no one understood me: and I learned to hate...”

Boredom was eating away at the man. Pechorin hoped that the melancholy would go away during the war, but he was wrong. The Caucasian War brought another disappointment. Lack of demand in life led Pechorin to actions that defied explanation and logic.

Pechorin and love

Those rare meetings that they could afford compromised them too much in the eyes of others. The woman was forced to leave the city. It was not possible to catch up with my beloved. He only drove the horse to death in an attempt to stop and bring her back.

Pechorin did not take other women seriously. They are a cure for boredom, nothing more. Pawns in a game where he set the rules. Boring and uninteresting creatures made him even more despondent.

Attitude towards death

The novel “Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu. Lermontov can be attributed to the first socio-psychological and philosophical work in prose. IN this novel the author tried to display the vices of an entire generation in one person, to create a multifaceted portrait.

Pechorin is a complex and contradictory person. The novel includes several stories, and in each of them the hero reveals himself to the reader from a new side.

The image of Pechorin in the chapter “Bela”

In the chapter “Bela” it opens to the reader from the words of another hero of the novel - Maxim Maksimych. This chapter describes Pechorin’s life circumstances, his upbringing and education. Here the portrait of the main character is also revealed for the first time.

Reading the first chapter, we can conclude that Grigory Alexandrovich is a young officer, has an attractive appearance, at first glance pleasant in any respect, he has good taste and a brilliant mind, excellent education. He is an aristocrat, an esthete, one might say, a star of secular society.

Pechorin is a hero of our time, according to Maxim Maksimych

The elderly staff captain Maxim Maksimych is a gentle and good-natured man. He describes Pechorin as quite strange, unpredictable, and unlike other people. From the first words of the staff captain, one can notice the internal contradictions of the protagonist. He can be in the rain all day and feel great, and another time he can freeze from a warm breeze, he can be frightened by the slam of window shutters, but he is not afraid to go to the wild boar one on one, he can be silent for a long time, and at some point a lot talk and joke.

The characterization of Pechorin in the chapter “Bela” has practically no psychological analysis. The narrator does not analyze, evaluate or even condemn Gregory, he simply conveys many facts from his life.

The tragic story of Bel

When Maxim Maksimych tells the traveling officer sad story which happened before his eyes, the reader becomes acquainted with the incredible cruel egoism of Grigory Pechorin. On a whim, the main character steals the girl Bela from her home without thinking about her later life, about the time when he will finally get tired of her. Later, Bela suffers because of Gregory’s emerging coldness, but cannot do anything about it. Noticing how Bela is suffering, the staff captain tries to talk to Pechorin, but Grigory’s answer causes only misunderstanding in Maxim Maksimych. He can’t wrap his head around how a young man, for whom everything is going very well, can still complain about life. It all ends with the girl's death. The unfortunate woman is killed by Kazbich, who previously killed her father. Who fell in love with Bela my own daughter, Maxim Maksimych is amazed by the coldness and indifference with which Pechorin suffered this death.

Pechorin through the eyes of a traveling officer

The characterization of Pechorin in the chapter “Bela” differs significantly from the same image in other chapters. In the chapter “Maksim Maksimych” Pechorin is described through the eyes of a traveling officer who was able to notice and appreciate the complexity of the protagonist’s character. Behavior and appearance Pechorin is already attracting attention. For example, his gait was lazy and careless, but at the same time he walked without swinging his arms, which is a sign of a certain secrecy in his character.

The fact that Pechorin experienced mental storms is evidenced by his appearance. Gregory looked older than his years. The portrait of the main character contains ambiguity and inconsistency; he has delicate skin, a childish smile, and at the same time deep. He has light blond hair, but a black mustache and eyebrows. But the complexity of the hero’s nature is most emphasized by his eyes, which never laugh and seem to scream about some hidden tragedy of the soul.

Diary

Pechorin appears by itself after the reader encounters the thoughts of the hero himself, which he wrote down in his personal diary. In the chapter “Princess Mary,” Grigory, having a cold calculation, makes the young princess fall in love with him. As events unfold, he destroys Grushnitsky, first morally, and then physically. Pechorin writes all this in his diary, every step, every thought, accurately and truly assessing himself.

Pechorin in the chapter “Princess Mary”

The characterization of Pechorin in the chapter “Bela” and in the chapter “Princess Mary” is striking in its contrast, since in the second mentioned chapter Vera appears, who became the only woman who managed to truly understand Pechorin. It was her that Pechorin fell in love with. His feeling for her was unusually reverent and tender. But in the end, Gregory loses this woman too.

It is at the moment when he realizes the loss of his chosen one that the new Pechorin. The characterization of the hero at this stage is despair, he no longer makes plans, is ready for stupid ones, and having failed to save his lost happiness, Grigory Alexandrovich cries like a child.

Final chapter

In the chapter “Fatalist,” Pechorin reveals one more side. Main character doesn't value his life. Pechorin is not stopped even by the possibility of death; he perceives it as a game that helps to cope with boredom. Grigory risks his life in search of himself. He is courageous and courageous, he has strong nerves, and in a difficult situation he is capable of heroism. You might think that this character was capable of great things, having such a will and such abilities, but in reality it all came down to the “thrill”, to the game between life and death. As a result, the strong, restless, rebellious nature of the protagonist brings people only misfortune. This thought gradually arises and develops in the mind of Pechorin himself.

Pechorin is a hero of our time, a hero of his own, and of any time. This is a person who knows habits, weaknesses and, to some extent, he is an egoist, because he thinks only about himself and does not show concern for others. But in any case, this hero is romantic, he is opposed to the world around him. There is no place for him in this world, his life is wasted, and the way out of this situation is death, which overtook our hero on the way to Persia.

Why Pechorin is a “hero of our time”

The novel “A Hero of Our Time” was written by Mikhail Lermontov in the 30s of the 19th century. This was the time of the Nikolaev reaction, which came after the dispersal of the Decembrist uprising in 1825. Many young people educated people They didn’t see a goal in life then, they didn’t know what to apply their strength to, how to serve for the benefit of people and the Fatherland. That is why such restless characters as Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin arose. The characterization of Pechorin in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” is, in fact, a characteristic of everything contemporary author generations. Boredom - that's it characteristic. “The Hero of Our Time, my dear sirs, is definitely a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development,” writes Mikhail Lermontov in the preface. “Are all the young people there really like that?” – asks one of the characters in the novel, Maxim Maksimych, who knew Pechorin closely. And the author, who plays the role of a traveler in the work, answers him that “there are many people who say the same thing” and that “nowadays those who... are bored, try to hide this misfortune as a vice.”

We can say that all of Pechorin’s actions are motivated by boredom. We begin to be convinced of this almost from the first lines of the novel. It should be noted that compositionally it is built in such a way that the reader can see as best as possible all the character traits of the hero, with different sides. The chronology of events here fades into the background, or rather, it is not here at all. Pieces have been snatched from Pechorin's life that are connected only by the logic of his image.

Characteristics of Pechorin

Actions

We first learn about this man from Maxim Maksimych, who served with him in the Caucasian fortress. He tells the story of Bel. Pechorin, for the sake of entertainment, persuaded her brother to kidnap a girl - a beautiful young Circassian. While Bela is cold with him, he is interested in her. But as soon as he achieves her love, he immediately cools off. Pechorin doesn’t care that because of his whim tragically destinies are ruined. Bela's father is killed, and then she herself. Somewhere in the depths of his soul he feels sorry for this girl, any memory of her causes him bitterness, but he does not repent of his action. Even before her death, he confesses to a friend: “If you want, I still love her, I am grateful to her for a few rather sweet minutes, I would give my life for her, but I’m bored with her...”. The love of a savage turned out to be little for him better than love noble lady. This psychological experiment, like all the previous ones, did not bring him happiness and satisfaction with life, but left him with disappointment.

In the same way, for the sake of idle interest, he intervened in life " honest smugglers”(chapter “Taman”), as a result of which the unfortunate old woman and the blind boy found themselves without a livelihood.

Another amusement for him was Princess Mary, whose feelings he shamelessly played with, giving her hope, and then admitting that he did not love her (chapter “Princess Mary”).

We learn about the last two cases from Pechorin himself, from a journal that he kept with great enthusiasm at one time, wanting to understand himself and... kill boredom. Then he lost interest in this activity too. And his notes - a suitcase of notebooks - remained with Maksim Maksimych. In vain he carried them around with him, wanting to hand them over to the owner on occasion. When such an opportunity presented itself, Pechorin did not need them. Consequently, he kept his diary not for the sake of fame, not for the sake of publication. This is the special value of his notes. The hero describes himself without worrying at all about how he will look in the eyes of others. He does not need to prevaricate, he is sincere with himself - and thanks to this we can learn about true reasons his actions, understand him.

Appearance

The traveling author turned out to be a witness to Maxim Maksimych’s meeting with Pechorin. And from him we learn what Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin looked like. There was a sense of contradiction in his entire appearance. At first glance, he was no more than 23 years old, but the next minute it seemed that he was 30. His gait was careless and lazy, but he did not swing his arms, which usually indicates a secretive character. When he sat down on the bench, his straight waist bent and went limp, as if there was not a single bone left in his body. On the forehead of this young man traces of wrinkles were visible. But the author was especially struck by his eyes: they did not laugh when he laughed.

Character traits

The external characteristics of Pechorin in “Hero of Our Time” reflect his internal state. “I have long lived not with my heart, but with my head,” he says about himself. Indeed, all his actions are characterized by cold rationality, but feelings no, no, break out. He fearlessly goes alone to hunt a wild boar, but shudders at the sound of shutters, can spend the whole day hunting on a rainy day and is terrified of a draft.

Pechorin forbade himself to feel, because his real impulses of the soul did not find a response in those around him: “Everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings that did not exist; but they were anticipated - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of guile: I became secretive. I felt good and evil deeply; no one caressed me, everyone insulted me: I became vindictive; I was gloomy, - other children were cheerful and talkative; I felt superior to them - they put me lower. I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world, but no one understood me: and I learned to hate.”

He rushes about, not finding his calling, his purpose in life. “It’s true that I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength within me.” Social entertainment, novels are a passed stage. They brought him nothing but inner emptiness. In the study of science, which he took up in a desire to benefit, he also did not find any meaning, since he realized that the key to success is in dexterity, and not in knowledge. Boredom overwhelmed Pechorin, and he hoped that at least the Chechen bullets whistling overhead would save him from it. But on Caucasian War he was again disappointed: “After a month, I got so used to their buzzing and the proximity of death that, really, I paid more attention to mosquitoes - and I became more bored than before.” What could he do with his unspent energy? The consequence of his lack of demand was, on the one hand, unjustified and illogical actions, and on the other, painful vulnerability and deep inner sadness.

Attitude towards love

The fact that Pechorin has not lost the ability to feel is also evidenced by his love for Vera. This is the only woman who understood him completely and accepted him as he is. He does not need to embellish himself in front of her or, conversely, appear unapproachable. He fulfills all the conditions just to be able to see her, and when she leaves, he drives his horse to death in an effort to catch up with his beloved.

He treats other women who meet on his way completely differently. There is no place for emotions here - only calculation. For him, they are just a way to relieve boredom, while at the same time demonstrating his selfish power over them. He studies their behavior like guinea pigs, coming up with new twists in the game. But this doesn’t save him either - he often knows in advance how his victim will behave, and he becomes even sadder.

Attitude towards death

One more important point Pechorin's character in the novel "Hero of Our Time" is his attitude towards death. It is demonstrated in its entirety in the chapter “Fatalist”. Although Pechorin recognizes the predetermination of fate, he believes that this should not deprive a person of his will. We must boldly move forward, “after all, nothing worse than death will happen - and you cannot escape death.” This is where we see what noble actions Pechorin is capable of if his energy is directed in the right direction. He bravely throws himself out the window in an effort to neutralize the Cossack killer. His innate desire to act, to help people, finally finds at least some application.

My attitude towards Pechorin

What kind of attitude does this person deserve? Condemnation or sympathy? The author named his novel this way with some irony. “A hero of our time” is, of course, not a role model. But he is a typical representative of his generation, forced to spend aimlessly best years. “Am I a fool or a villain, I don’t know; but it is true that I am also very worthy of regret,” Pechorin says about himself and gives the reason: “My soul is spoiled by light.” Last consolation For himself, he sees travel and hopes: “Maybe I’ll die somewhere along the way.” You can treat it differently. One thing is certain: this is an unhappy person who has never found his place in life. If his contemporary society had been structured differently, he would have shown himself completely differently.

Work test

Why Pechorin is a “hero of our time”

The novel “A Hero of Our Time” was written by Mikhail Lermontov in the 30s of the 19th century. This was the time of the Nikolaev reaction, which came after the dispersal of the Decembrist uprising in 1825. Many young, educated people did not see a goal in life at that time, did not know what to apply their strength to, how to serve for the benefit of people and the Fatherland. That is why such restless characters as Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin arose. The characterization of Pechorin in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” is, in fact, a characteristic of the entire generation contemporary to the author. Boredom is his characteristic feature. “The Hero of Our Time, my dear sirs, is definitely a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development,” writes Mikhail Lermontov in the preface. “Are all the young people there really like that?” – asks one of the characters in the novel, Maxim Maksimych, who knew Pechorin closely. And the author, who plays the role of a traveler in the work, answers him that “there are many people who say the same thing” and that “nowadays those who... are bored, try to hide this misfortune as a vice.”

We can say that all of Pechorin’s actions are motivated by boredom. We begin to be convinced of this almost from the first lines of the novel. It should be noted that compositionally it is built in such a way that the reader can see as best as possible all the character traits of the hero, from different sides. The chronology of events here fades into the background, or rather, it is not here at all. Pieces have been snatched from Pechorin's life that are connected only by the logic of his image.

Characteristics of Pechorin

Actions

We first learn about this man from Maxim Maksimych, who served with him in the Caucasian fortress. He tells the story of Bel. Pechorin, for the sake of entertainment, persuaded her brother to kidnap a girl - a beautiful young Circassian. While Bela is cold with him, he is interested in her. But as soon as he achieves her love, he immediately cools off. Pechorin doesn’t care that destinies are tragically ruined because of his whim. Bela's father is killed, and then she herself. Somewhere in the depths of his soul he feels sorry for this girl, any memory of her causes him bitterness, but he does not repent of his action. Even before her death, he confesses to a friend: “If you want, I still love her, I am grateful to her for a few rather sweet minutes, I would give my life for her, but I’m bored with her...”. The love of a savage turned out to be little better for him than the love of a noble lady. This psychological experiment, like all the previous ones, did not bring him happiness and satisfaction with life, but left him with disappointment.

In the same way, for the sake of idle interest, he intervened in the life of “honest smugglers” (chapter “Taman”), as a result of which the unfortunate old woman and the blind boy found themselves without a livelihood.

Another amusement for him was Princess Mary, whose feelings he shamelessly played with, giving her hope, and then admitting that he did not love her (chapter “Princess Mary”).

We learn about the last two cases from Pechorin himself, from the journal that he kept with great enthusiasm at one time, wanting to understand himself and... kill boredom. Then he lost interest in this activity too. And his notes - a suitcase of notebooks - remained with Maksim Maksimych. In vain he carried them around with him, wanting to hand them over to the owner on occasion. When such an opportunity presented itself, Pechorin did not need them. Consequently, he kept his diary not for the sake of fame, not for the sake of publication. This is the special value of his notes. The hero describes himself without worrying at all about how he will look in the eyes of others. He does not need to prevaricate, he is sincere with himself - and thanks to this, we can learn about the true reasons for his actions and understand him.

Appearance

The traveling author turned out to be a witness to Maxim Maksimych’s meeting with Pechorin. And from him we learn what Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin looked like. There was a sense of contradiction in his entire appearance. At first glance, he was no more than 23 years old, but the next minute it seemed that he was 30. His gait was careless and lazy, but he did not swing his arms, which usually indicates a secretive character. When he sat down on the bench, his straight waist bent and went limp, as if there was not a single bone left in his body. There were traces of wrinkles on this young man's forehead. But the author was especially struck by his eyes: they did not laugh when he laughed.

Character traits

The external characteristics of Pechorin in “Hero of Our Time” reflect his internal state. “I have long lived not with my heart, but with my head,” he says about himself. Indeed, all his actions are characterized by cold rationality, but feelings no, no, break out. He fearlessly goes alone to hunt a wild boar, but shudders at the sound of shutters, can spend the whole day hunting on a rainy day and is terrified of a draft.

Pechorin forbade himself to feel, because his real impulses of the soul did not find a response in those around him: “Everyone read on my face signs of bad feelings that did not exist; but they were anticipated - and they were born. I was modest - I was accused of guile: I became secretive. I felt good and evil deeply; no one caressed me, everyone insulted me: I became vindictive; I was gloomy, - other children were cheerful and talkative; I felt superior to them - they put me lower. I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world, but no one understood me: and I learned to hate.”

He rushes about, not finding his calling, his purpose in life. “It’s true that I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength within me.” Secular entertainment, novels are a passed stage. They brought him nothing but inner emptiness. In the study of science, which he took up in a desire to benefit, he also did not find any meaning, since he realized that the key to success is in dexterity, and not in knowledge. Boredom overwhelmed Pechorin, and he hoped that at least the Chechen bullets whistling overhead would save him from it. But during the Caucasian War he was again disappointed: “After a month, I got so used to their buzzing and the proximity of death that, really, I paid more attention to mosquitoes, and I became more bored than before.” What could he do with his unspent energy? The consequence of his lack of demand was, on the one hand, unjustified and illogical actions, and on the other, painful vulnerability and deep inner sadness.

Attitude towards love

The fact that Pechorin has not lost the ability to feel is also evidenced by his love for Vera. This is the only woman who understood him completely and accepted him as he is. He does not need to embellish himself in front of her or, conversely, appear unapproachable. He fulfills all the conditions just to be able to see her, and when she leaves, he drives his horse to death in an effort to catch up with his beloved.

He treats other women who meet on his way completely differently. There is no place for emotions here - only calculation. For him, they are just a way to relieve boredom, while at the same time demonstrating his selfish power over them. He studies their behavior like guinea pigs, coming up with new twists in the game. But this doesn’t save him either - he often knows in advance how his victim will behave, and he becomes even sadder.

Attitude towards death

Another important point in Pechorin’s character in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” is his attitude towards death. It is demonstrated in its entirety in the chapter “Fatalist”. Although Pechorin recognizes the predetermination of fate, he believes that this should not deprive a person of his will. We must boldly move forward, “after all, nothing worse than death will happen - and you cannot escape death.” This is where we see what noble actions Pechorin is capable of if his energy is directed in the right direction. He bravely throws himself out the window in an effort to neutralize the Cossack killer. His innate desire to act, to help people, finally finds at least some application.

My attitude towards Pechorin

What kind of attitude does this person deserve? Condemnation or sympathy? The author named his novel this way with some irony. “A hero of our time” is, of course, not a role model. But he is a typical representative of his generation, forced to waste their best years aimlessly. “Am I a fool or a villain, I don’t know; but it is true that I am also very worthy of regret,” Pechorin says about himself and gives the reason: “My soul is spoiled by light.” He sees his last consolation in travel and hopes: “Maybe I’ll die somewhere along the way.” You can treat it differently. One thing is certain: this is an unhappy person who has never found his place in life. If his contemporary society had been structured differently, he would have shown himself completely differently.

Work test