The character of the undine. Female image in the novel "A Hero of Our Time"
Goals:
- Educational: find out with students the compositional role of female images in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”;
- Developmental: systematize and expand knowledge about the main character Pechorin;
- Educational: to cultivate a love for the work of M.Yu. Lermontov, for his ability to give moral character heroes;
Methodological objective of the lesson: create conditions for manifestation creative activity and creative abilities of students through group work.
Methodological support lesson:
- Visual aids: portrait of M.Yu. Lermontov, illustrations of Pechorin with Princess Mary, Bela.
- additional literature : excerpts from articles by V.G. Belinsky “Hero of Our Time”, V.A. Sologub “Memoirs”, L.N. Vasiliev “Strings of fiery sounds. My Lermontov."
- Handout:test tasks
Planned results: creating a part of the project on the topic “ Women's images in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov “Hero of Our Time”; (reading individual passages from the novel accompanied by short messages and quoting individual fragments), the level of mastery of this material in the lesson (testing).
Epigraph:
I have never been considered a slave to the woman I love.
M.Yu.Lermontov
During the classes
I. Organizational moment
Setting goals.
II. Examination previously studied material: V.G. Belinsky about Lermontov’s novel (selected excerpts). Testing:
Testing
1. Who tells Bela’s story?
2. How did Bela’s fate turn out?
a) Kazbich took her away;
b) she stayed with Pechorin;
c) she returned to her family;
d) she died.
3. Where did the undine invite Pechorin on a date?
a) to the old woman’s house;
b) to the seashore;
c) to the tavern;
d) in a pine forest.
4. How did the meeting between Pechorin and the undine end?
a) Pechorin did not go against him;
b) the undine almost drowned Pechorin;
c) the undine asked Pechorin not to say anything to the constable;
d) she made a second appointment.
5. Whose portrait is this?
“And indeed, she was beautiful: tall, thin, black eyes, like those of a mountain chamois, and looked into our souls. Pechorin, thoughtfully, did not take his eyes off her, and she often glanced at him from under her brows.”
a) Faith;
b) Bela;
c) Princess Mary;
d) Princess Ligovskaya.
6. In the story “Taman” the character is:
a) Faith;
b) Bela;
c) Princess Mary;
d) Princess Ligovskaya.
7. About which heroine does Pechorin talk like this: She has such velvet eyes - just velvet: I advise you to appropriate this expression when talking about her eyes; the lower and upper eyelashes are so long that the rays of the sun are not reflected in her pupils. I love those eyes without shine: they are so soft, they seem to caress you... However, it seems that there is only good in her face... And what, are her teeth white? It is very important! It’s a pity that she didn’t smile at your pompous phrase.
a) Faith;
b) Bela;
c) Princess Mary;
d) Princess Ligovskaya.
8. On the eve of the duel, Pechorin asks himself: “...why did I live? for what purpose was I born?..” and concludes: “Oh, it’s true, it existed, and, it’s true, there was a high purpose for me, because I feel immense powers in my soul... But I didn’t guess this purpose, I carried away by the lures of empty and ungrateful passions...” How did the hero’s life end?
a) Married Vera;
b) Went abroad;
c) Died while returning from Persia;
d) Became a member of a secret society.
III. Work on the topic
Teacher's word. We have already found out that Pechorin in the novel is shown as a contradictory personality. On the one hand, he is envious, angry, cruel, on the other hand, he is generous, sometimes kind, that is, he is able to succumb to a good feeling, for example, he nobly protects Princess Mary from the encroachments of the crowd. He is impeccably honest in private, smart, but at the same time does not know how to sympathize, he is used to fulfilling only his own desires. Mental callousness, indifference, and inability to value friendship and love make this image unattractive. However, such an assessment of Pechorin would be shallow and unambiguous if one did not notice touches of sadness and notes of hopelessness in his image. In order to understand the image of Pechorin, you need to understand his soul, his inner world, the motives of his behavior and actions in relationships with all the characters.
In the previous lesson we talked about the role of male images in the novel, today we will conduct a study of the compositional role of female images.
The epigraph of our lesson will be the words from the novel “I have never been considered a slave to the woman I love.”
– How do you understand them?
– We will work in groups. In the novel, four women influence Pechorin’s inner world, his actions, and character. Each group will look at the image of one woman.
IV. Group assignments
Group I: Pechorin and Bela.
1. Re-read the compliment song to Pechorin, sung by Bela at her sister’s wedding. How does it indicate Bela’s attitude towards Pechorin? What is unique about her feelings? Why does she initially reject Pechorin's love?
2. In what ways did Pechorin achieve Bela’s love? Why did he lose interest in Bela? Did he really love her?
3. What is the role of the image of Bela in understanding the character of Pechorin?
(Theses of the students’ answers: Bela is a Circassian woman kidnapped by Pechorin. She lived and was raised among “natural” people, “children of nature.” Characteristic feature its people is harmony with the surrounding world. Pechorin also strives to find it in his love for Bela. However, he, a person with developed self-awareness, is not given this. The image of Bela, which is based on harmony, built on the traditions and customs of the people, symbolizes Pechorin’s obvious alienation from this world.
Meek and at the same time strong, loving and unwilling to submit, Bela attracts Pechorin. However, this is only a passion, and not love at all. Good old Maxim Maksimych does not understand how one can not love this “nice girl.” Admiring her charm and gaiety, Maxim Maksimych condemns Pechorin, who has lost interest in Bela after hearing the cherished “yes.”
Bela, who also noticed a change in Pechorin and cried in his long absence, does not reproach him with a single word.
Her behavior is a sign of the strength of her character, capable of dying rather than admitting defeat.
Her death is happiness for her and a tragedy for Pechorin, who is once again convinced that in the pursuit of personal happiness he is ruining someone else’s.
Finding in himself traits that bring him closer to the people to which Bela belongs (impetuosity, ardor, passion), Pechorin at the same time understands that these qualities are not enough to find harmony with the world. The story with Bela is a clear confirmation of this).
Group II: Pechorin and the undine girl.
1. How does Pechorin talk about the appearance of the undine girl and how does this characterize him?
2. Reread the scene in the boat. In what ways was the undine girl superior to Pechorin and in what ways was she inferior to him?
3. What is compositional role her image?
(Answer abstracts: Ondine is a young, healthy and energetic girl from a small provincial town, the only one over whom Pechorin could not prevail, is not even given a name. Pechorin calls her Undine, emphasizing her closeness to nature (undine is a creature corresponding to the Slavic mermaid).
Frightened by Pechorin's ability to inform and destroy her world, Ondine decides to take a bold and cruel act. Because of mere suspicion, she, as a truly natural being, is ready to kill a person.
The impetuosity, determination and naturalness of her behavior testify to the strength of Ondine's character. The ability to pretend (he confesses his love to Pechorin in order to lure him ashore at night) speaks of the ability to achieve one’s goals by any means.
Ondine's methods turn out to be selfish and cruel. It is noteworthy that Pechorin does not blame Ondine for anything, who tried to drown him.
A meeting with this girl proves Pechorin’s alienness to the world." honest smugglers", living according to their own laws, which are unknown to the hero, his isolation from them).
III group: Pechorin and Mary
1. Re-read the scene of Pechorin and Mary crossing the mountain river. What is Mary's moral superiority over Pechorin? Re-read the journal entry dated June 3. How does Pechorin explain his relationship with Mary?
2. Analyze the scene of Pechorin and Mary’s explanation at the end of the chapter. How does Pechorin’s character manifest itself in this scene? Why did he still decide to duel over Mary?
3. What is the compositional meaning of Mary’s image?
(Answer abstracts: The most extensive of the stories that form the novel is dedicated to Princess Mary by the Lermontovs, but in Pechorin’s life Mary occupies an incomparably less place than Bela, to whom a short story is dedicated, and than Vera, who only flashes in some of Pechorin’s notes. While Bela was given a flash of real passion, and Pechorin realized his feeling for Vera, in the end, as love, Pechorin’s meeting with Mary and his search for her love were rather the main method of his struggle with Grushnitsky, rather than a manifestation of his nascent feelings for her.
Drawing Mary, Lermontov extremely clearly portrays her as a person of her time, social status and her cultural environment. Mary's life is about observing the rules of secular society, from which she can deviate only when she is sure that society will not find out about it. Direct human movement The princess's desire to help the sick Grushnitsky raise his glass is immediately condemned by herself from the point of view of public morality and the law of decency: it is not appropriate for a high-society girl to condescend to the needs of an unfamiliar, demoted soldier (not knowing that he is actually a cadet).
The image of Mary seems to split into two: on the one hand. This is a cold society lady who knows how to hide her feelings, hiding them behind a mask of languor, and on the other hand, a sensitive and vulnerable nature, capable of overstepping decency and being the first to confess her love to a young man (“You, perhaps, want me to be your first did she say that I love you?"). However, the love of a secular woman bores Pechorin just as quickly as the love of a savage, and the conversation about marriage completely pushes Pechorin away from Mary.
Pechorin’s entry on June 6 (“Why doesn’t she [Vera] want to give me a chance to see her alone?”) explains a lot in his behavior towards Mary. Vera hesitates to schedule a meeting with Pechorin, and he hopes that her jealousy of Mary will help him break Vera's resistance. Already on June 11, Pechorin catches himself almost in love with Mary. In Kislovodsk, his attraction to her becomes even stronger, he kisses her while crossing Podkumok and brings her to a declaration of love.
But as soon as he manages to achieve the desired date with Vera, he grows cold towards Mary and admits to her that he does not love her, and Vera becomes his " more valuable than life, honor, happiness." Thus, Mary turns out to be only a short-term hobby for Pechorin, with her help he achieves his goals: he proves his superiority over Grushnitsky and arouses the jealousy of Vera. Princess Mary accepts this news steadfastly and finds the strength to say goodbye to Pechorin : “I hate you!”, although she still loves him).
IV group: Pechorin and Vera
1. Analyze the scene of the meeting between Pechorin and Vera in the entry dated May 16 and Vera’s monologue in the entry dated May 23. How to characterize their feelings for each other?
2. Re-read Vera’s letter to Pechorin, the duel he received and the episode of the pursuit of Vera. How do we see Pechorin in Vera’s assessment? In the author's assessment? In self-esteem?
3. How does the image of Vera help to understand the character of Pechorin?
(Answer theses: The image of Vera, in our opinion, is not sufficiently disclosed; the novel does not contain a story about her psychological and cultural connections with her environment and society: she is revealed to us only from the side of her feelings for Pechorin. The pages dedicated to Vera prove that that she lives by this love alone.
Vera is the only woman who fully understood Pechorin. And she loves him not for his attractive appearance or ability to behave in society, but for the complexity and inconsistency of his character. The situations in which Vera is shown are only meetings with Pechorin or a silent presence in the Ligovskys’ living room when he is there.
Nothing is known about Vera’s lifestyle, nor about her relationships with people, nor about her mental horizons; we do not hear her conversations with anyone except Pechorin. It seems that she exists outside the environment, almost outside everyday life.
But “Faith should be like this, for it is the image of love itself, selfless, selfless, knowing no boundaries, crossing the prohibitions of the environment, losing nothing from the awareness of the shortcomings and vices of the beloved.” And only such love can melt Pechorin’s bitter and thirsty heart.
There is no secular flavor in Vera’s appearance, since secularism and sincerity are mutually exclusive concepts, and Vera is a feeling itself that knows no contradictions. However, the awareness that Vera only love Pechorina comes to him too late, when he loses her forever. And this is the tragedy of Pechorin. Also, the tragedy is that Pechorin is not ready to sacrifice his freedom even for the sake of Vera).
V. Conclusion
The women Pechorin meets in the novel belong to different social classes, they have different consciousness. Bela and Ondine, Vera and Princess Mary are different women, but with none of them Pechorin achieved true happiness. This speaks to the complexity and inconsistency of his character.
VI. Homework: answer in writing the question: why did Pechorin not achieve true happiness with any woman?
VII. Lesson summary
Reflection: at the beginning of the lesson, students received two cards - green and red. Green means a positive result, red means a negative result.
When leaving the classroom, students place the rolls in a pocket with questions:
– Has unity and partnerships been maintained in the group?
– was the unity of the group disrupted during the work?
Literature:
1. Belinsky V.G."Hero of our time". M., "Ripol Classic", 1999
2. Gerstein E."Hero of our time". M., “Fiction”, 1976
3. Koplan I.E.. "Analysis of works of Russian classics." – M., “Critical Literature”, 1997
4. M.Yu. Lermontov at school. Teacher's manual. /comp. A.A. Shagalov. – M., Education, 1976
5. M.Yu.Lermontov. "Hero of our time". Comments by V.A. Manuilova, O.V. Miller. S.-P., Humanitarian Agency “Academic Project”, 1996
6. Udodov B.T."Hero of our time". M., Education, 1989
/ / / Comparative characteristics Pechorin and the “undines”
Ondine in Lermontov’s work “A Hero of Our Time” appears before the reader in the form of a mystery woman. She has unusual appearance long hair and a wonderful voice. She, like a sea serena, lured her friend Yanko to the shore. Pechorin also responded to the same call.
The young man watched the undine for a long time. In her he saw exactly the one natural beauty, which is unique to mermaids.
The girl was about eighteen years old. She was filled with little oddities, never answered questions directly, and this interested Pechorin even more. He, as an experienced seducer, wanted to reveal all her secrets by penetrating her consciousness. But the girl only laughed. This laughter was not mocking, no. Rather, it was some kind of flirting, a game with Grigory Alexandrovich.
The man stopped liking this, because he expected something more, although he himself could not answer exactly what. He didn't need this girl's love. Is it intimacy? But it was too vulgar. Not to say that the girl was a beauty, no. She was just special.
And he was complex in character, even for himself. He thought a lot about why he came into this world. I thought for a long time why he brings suffering to people, but in vain. And the man decided to just live and enjoy. He preferred to leave all his emotions and secrets in his diary. After all, the man only considered him a true friend and was completely honest only with a pen in his hands.
In the evening, the undine disappeared from Pechorin’s sight. And then he began to watch a blind boy who walked to the shore at night for some purpose. The man found out that both his “mermaid” and the blind boy were colluding with a smuggler. He decided to intimidate the undine with “compromising evidence” and thereby possibly obtain from her “payment for silence.” Of course, Pechorin was not interested in money. Perhaps Grigory Alexandrovich just wanted to see the further actions of the “gang”.
At some point, it seemed to the man that he had won this “invisible” war, and his trick worked. She came to him, was next to him and called him to the shore. They swam in silence and she smiled. The girl knew that the officer could not swim. An insidious plan arose in her head. She is ready to kill a handsome visiting man, just so that he does not harm her Yanko.
The girl loved her Yanko with all his shortcomings. He didn't give her expensive gifts, but I only bought ribbons for my hair. The blind boy mentioned this when they were waiting in the fog for the smuggler. She loved him so much that she did not even think about intimacy with another.
But Pechorin understood her plan. At some point, the girl rushed at him, trying to throw him into the water, but she herself ended up in the water and drowned. Well, at least that’s what Pechorin thought. He did not regret the death of the girl, but quickly began to row his oars towards the shore.
Later he saw the rescued undine and heard their conversation with Yanko. She abandoned the blind boy, abandoned the old mother in order to be with her beloved forever.
Pechorin was forgotten by her. He could not achieve what he wanted, but his pride did not suffer from this. He regretted a little that he had intervened in someone else's fate so cold-bloodedly. The officer understood that he had deprived the blind boy of his only income.
Pechorin left this place with an unpleasant feeling in his soul, without fully understanding what exactly caused it.
Introduction
The female characters in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” were a great success for Lermontov. This is how he described this feature of the writer’s novel famous critic that time V.G. Belinsky.
Belinsky noted that the author created such monumental images of girls and women that they could compete only with the heroines of novels and stories by A.S. Pushkin. These women are smart, capable, beautiful in soul and body, they have strong will, strive to realize themselves in society. However, all the heroines of the novel are unhappy in their own way, although it should be recognized that their unhappiness is derived from the unhappiness of the main character, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin.
It is the image of Pechorin that unites all the female images of the novel.
The work presents several central female characters. This is Vera - a secular married lady who is associated with Pechorin love story back in the days when the young hero lived in St. Petersburg. This is Princess Mary Ligovskaya, a relative of Vera, whom Pechorin meets in Kislovodsk and, out of boredom, falls in love with her. This is the daughter of the Circassian prince Bel, kidnapped by her brother and given to Pechorin as a concubine. And finally, this is the girl whom Pechorin himself called Ondine (“mermaid”) - the beloved of the smuggler Yanko, a casual acquaintance of the protagonist of the novel.
Let us briefly characterize the main female characters from this work.
Bela
The image of the proud Circassian woman Bela, whom Pechorin, with the help of her brother, kidnapped from her parents' house, aroused the ardent participation of the reading public even at the first publication of the novel.
Among the female images in “Hero of Our Time,” the image of Bela is one of the most touching. Bela was not to blame for what happened to her, and, nevertheless, she accepted all the blows of fate courageously. Betrayed her brother Having given her for the horse Kazbich, she was betrayed by the kidnapper Pechorin, whom she loved with all her heart, but did not find reciprocity in his soul. She ended up being killed by a man who was also secretly in love with her.
Only Maxim Maksimovich understood Bela’s subtle and sensitive soul, however, he did not know how to help her and secretly rejoiced at her death, realizing that nothing good was in store for this girl in life.
Bela's love could not awaken Pechorin's soul to life from selfish egoism. Main character The novel soon lost interest in the young Circassian woman, and the heroine, without reproaching her lover for anything, meekly followed to the grave, regretting before her death only that she and Grigory Alexandrovich belonged to different faiths, so they would not be able to meet in heaven.
It should be admitted that Lermontov was completely successful in the image of Bela, later L.N. Tolstoy in his story " Prisoner of the Caucasus"will present to the reading public the image of a young Chechen girl Dina, and in this image there will be features of Bela - such as devotion and moral purity.
Princess Ligovskaya
The image of women in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” significantly complements the image of Princess Mary - a proud and beautiful Russian noblewoman who fell in love with Pechorin and confessed her feelings to him, which in those days was considered unacceptable behavior on the part of a girl from a noble family.
Pechorin felt that Mary was an unusual girl from those he knew. He saw in her intelligence, character and mental strength. And although Pechorin declared to Grushnitsky that Mary is a classic example of a Russian girl who, with all her pride and intelligence, will eventually marry an insignificant man, following the will of her mother, nevertheless, Grigory Alexandrovich himself decided to play with the feelings of this proud beauty.
It is difficult to say how sincerely Pechorin courted Mary, however, it should be noted that he humiliated her not out of anger, but rather, obeying some rough inner instinct.
Pechorin felt Mary’s spiritual strength and purity, so he tried to subjugate her to himself, although he did not find much meaning for himself in this subordination.
As a result, Mary also (like Bela later) deeply experienced the story with Pechorin and suffered from his actions and his spiritual coldness towards her.
Faith
The role of female characters in “A Hero of Our Time” is quite large. In fact, Pechorin's personality is revealed to us through the prism of his relationships with women who are presented in the novel.
Of great importance in this is the image of Vera, a secular married lady, with whom Pechorin was familiar back in St. Petersburg. In Kislovodsk, where the story “Princess Mary” takes place, Pechorin again met with Vera. Grigory Alexandrovich remembered his feelings for this woman, it seems that Vera did not forget her former lover.
Many readers of the novel have noticed that the image of Vera is one of the most controversial in the novel. On the one hand, the heroine strove for Pechorin and better than anyone understood his soul, full of contradictions, pride and selfishness, but on the other hand, it was Vera who became “ evil genius"Pechorin, in fact, pushing him into a duel with Grushnitsky. That night, when Grushnitsky, full of jealousy, was guarding Pechorin at Mary’s house, he saw Pechorin going on a date with Vera, but young hero decided that Grigory Alexandrovich was trying to seduce Mary Ligovskaya, with whom he himself was in love.
The fatal duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky led to Vera telling her husband the truth about her relationship with Pechorin, and her husband took her away from Kislovodsk forever. Pechorin rushed after him, but could not do anything.
"Undine"
The characterization of female characters in “A Hero of Our Time” would be incomplete if we did not mention the name of another heroine whom Pechorin met in Taman.
Pechorin himself called her “Ondine,” that is, a mermaid. The image of this girl is mysterious. She was the mistress of the smuggler Yanko, whom Pechorin actually took by surprise. Fearing that Pechorin might report Yanko to the authorities, Ondine lured Pechorin onto a boat, inviting him to ride with her, and then tried to drown her companion. She, however, failed to do the latter: Pechorin threw Ondine overboard.
The hero himself explained Ondine’s act as a feeling of love for the young smuggler, but such terrible love seemed unpleasant even to Pechorin himself, who was accustomed to bringing misfortune to those he loved.
All women in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” are unique and bright personalities. In fact, in many ways they anticipate the famous female characters of Turgenev's novels. These women are beautiful, smart, strong-willed, strong-willed and sensitive. kind hearts. However, none of them could keep Pechorin from falling into the moral abyss, most likely because the hero himself, looking for female love, could not fully understand the hearts of those women whom he loved.
Given brief characteristics women and a description of their role in the novel will be useful for 9th grade students when collecting information for an essay on the topic “Female characters in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”.”
Work test
To the question, people, please help me with the characteristics of the undine. heroine from the novel "HERO OF OUR TIME". given by the author self-preservation the best answer is Ondine - this is how Pechorin romantically called the smuggler girl. The name of the eighteen-year-old girl in “Taman” is not given. Her appearance is attractive: flexible figure, long Brown hair, golden tan, regular nose, penetrating eyes, gifted with magnetic power.” She is constantly in motion, gusty like the wind. Pechorin intervened in simple life"honest smugglers." The girl seemed to be interested in Pechorin herself and behaved ambiguously: “she was spinning around my apartment: singing and jumping did not stop for a minute.” Pechorin saw a “wonderfully tender look” and perceived it as ordinary female coquetry (“it reminded me of one of those looks in the old years, they so autocratically played with my life”), i.e. in his imagination, the gaze of “Ondine” was compared with the gaze of some secular beauty who excited his feelings, and the hero felt in himself the previous outbursts of passion. To top it all off, there followed a “wet, fiery kiss,” an appointed date and a declaration of love. So who is she, a smuggler?
Ondine is a young, healthy and energetic girl from a small provincial town, the only one over whom Pechorin could not prevail, not even given a name. Pechorin calls her Undine, emphasizing her closeness to nature (undine is a creature corresponding to the Slavic mermaid). It truly contains the qualities characteristic of this profession. Her soul seemed to have merged with the fickle, stormy sea. Frightened by Pechorin's ability to inform and destroy her world, Ondine decides to take a bold and cruel act. Because of mere suspicion, she, as a truly natural being, is ready to kill a person. The impetuosity, determination and naturalness of her behavior testify to the strength of Ondine’s character. The ability to pretend (he confesses his love to Pechorin in order to lure him ashore at night) speaks of the ability to achieve one’s goals by any means. Ondine's methods turn out to be selfish and cruel. The reader, together with Pechorin, begins to understand that the smuggler girl only played the role of a passionately in love mermaid in order to free herself from the uninvited guest officer. The hero felt danger, but was still deceived: it was not love that was the reason for the demonstrative tenderness and ardor, but Pechorin’s threat to inform to the commandant. The girl was faithful to another, Yanko, and her cunning only served as a pretext for reprisals against Pechorin. The girl sang and jumped all day long. She was brave and physically strong. Caring for the safety of her comrades, she independently drew up and carried out a plan to attack Pechorin. Brave, naively insidious and dexterous, she lured Pechorin into the sea and almost drowned him. Pechorin is not ready to clash with the free and proud people on their “territory.” He reveals his intellectual superiority only if the “common” person finds himself in his hands.
It is noteworthy that Pechorin does not blame Ondine for anything, who tried to drown him. The meeting with this girl proves Pechorin’s alienation from the world of “honest smugglers” who live by their own laws, which are unknown to the hero, and his alienation from them. It helps the author show Pechorin’s desire to know that romantic, mysterious world, to which she belongs. This is a world of lawlessly free life, and therefore attracts Pechorin, like everything new and unknown in life. The relationship with Ondine was simply an exotic adventure for Pechorin. She is Ondine, a mermaid, a girl from forgotten fairy tale. This is what attracts Pechorin. Undoubtedly, his interest was influenced by the mysterious situation. For him, this is one of the turns of fate; for her, this is life where everyone fights for their place, for their business.
All female characters Romana is playing important role: with their help, Lermontov shows that Pechorin is lonely in any environment, he cannot find peace even in such a deeply intimate feeling as love. The love of a woman, no matter what circle she belongs to, can captivate him only for a moment, but he cannot completely surrender to this feeling, and this is his tragedy.
The image of Ondine in Lermontov’s novel is the image of a smuggler’s girl. She resembles a mermaid in her habits and looks very unusual. “Far from being a beauty...”, she nevertheless captivates. He sees a “breed” in her. Ondine is beautiful, how beautiful wild animal, artistic, eccentric. She behaves strangely: she sings on the roof, talks to herself, without embarrassing anyone. With her naturalness, even wildness, she conquers Pechorin. He had never seen anything like this before; the charm of novelty captured him.
At first, Pechorin thinks whether the girl is crazy, her behavior is too original. But “... there were no signs of madness on her face; on the contrary, her eyes focused on me with lively insight, and these eyes seemed to be endowed with some kind of magnetic power ... "
“The extraordinary flexibility of her figure, the special, only characteristic tilt of her head, long brown hair, some kind of golden tint of her slightly tanned skin on her neck and shoulders, and especially her correct nose - all this was charming for me.
Soon the insightful Pechorin begins to notice that the girl is not as natural as she wants to seem, that she is playing a “comedy”. But he doesn’t want to believe his observations, because he has already created an attractive image in his mind:
“Although in her indirect glances I read something wild and suspicious, although there was something vague in her smile, but ... the right nose drove me crazy”
In the end, Pechorin does not find anything truly interesting and sincere in the undine. On the contrary, she vilely lures him onto the boat, pretending to be in love, and then tries to drown him so that he does not inform the commandant about the smugglers. Pechorin is disappointed and angry with himself for being so deceived.
Quote from Ondine “Hero of Our Time”
I looked up: on the roof of my hut stood a girl in a striped dress, with loose braids, a real mermaid.
I thought for a minute, and when I looked at the roof again, the girl was not there. Suddenly she ran past me, humming something else, and, snapping her fingers, ran into the old woman, and then an argument began between them. The old woman was angry, she laughed loudly. And then I see my undine running again, skipping.
My vision darkened, my head began to spin, I squeezed her in my arms with all the strength of youthful passion, but she, like a snake, slid between my hands.
