The last explanation of Pechorin and Mary. Analysis of an episode from the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov A Hero of Our Time
“I shook her hand twice... the second time she pulled it away without saying a word.
“I’m going to sleep poorly this night,” she told me when the mazurka ended.
- The beggar Grush is to blame for this.
- Oh no! - And her face. I felt so thoughtful, so sad that I promised myself that evening I would definitely kiss her hand.
They began to leave. Putting the princess into the carriage, I quickly pressed her small hand to my lips. It was dark and no one could see it.
I returned to the hall very pleased with myself.”
This scene, like a drop of water, reflected Pechorin’s entire plan regarding Princess Mary and Grushnitsky. Here the flying psychologism of M. Yu. Lermontov himself was superbly expressed. Each phrase, despite their external vacuity, implies a whole line of thought and hidden desires. Before our eyes, secular play is intertwined with real feelings. Pechorin directs the princess’s thoughts and feelings “from the opposite direction,” forcing her to first pull out her hand and then deny her words. By this he disguises his own leadership of events, recognizes the extent of the princess’s immersion in the game he proposes, and emphasizes the name of Grushnitsky as undesirable. At the same time, it does not matter at all that the princess did not agree with his statement; it was important to indirectly point out Pechorin’s rivalry with Grushnitsky, to convince the girl at the level of almost NLP programming that Pechorin was actually involved in the fight for her heart.
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“I shook her hand twice... the second time she pulled it away without saying a word.
“I won’t sleep well this night,” she told me when the mazurka ended.
Grushnitsky is to blame for this.
Oh no! - And her face became so thoughtful, so sad that I promised myself that evening I would definitely kiss her hand.
They began to leave. Putting the princess into the carriage, I quickly pressed her small hand to my lips. It was dark and no one could see it.
I returned to the hall very pleased with myself."
This scene, like a drop of water, reflected Pechorin’s entire plan regarding Princess Mary and Grushnitsky. Here the flying psychologism of M. Yu. Lermontov himself was superbly expressed. Each phrase, despite their external vacuity, implies a whole line of thought and hidden desires. Before our eyes, secular play is intertwined with real feelings. Pechorin directs the princess’s thoughts and feelings “from the opposite direction,” forcing her to first pull out her hand and then deny her words. By this he disguises his own leadership of events, recognizes the extent of the princess’s immersion in the game he proposes, and emphasizes the name of Grushnitsky as undesirable. At the same time, it does not matter at all that the princess did not agree with his statement; it was important to indirectly point out Pechorin’s rivalry with Grushnitsky, to convince the girl at the level of almost NLP programming that Pechorin was actually involved in the fight for her heart.
Pechorin's love for Vera is a great and sincere feeling. The consciousness that he is losing Faith forever causes an irresistible desire to retain the “lost happiness.” Pechorin's sincere impulse, his excitement, forcing the hero to madly drive his horse, determines the nature of the story. Everything here is movement! Pechorin is in a hurry, worried, he has no time for the pictures flashing before his eyes, he does not write about them because he does not notice the surrounding nature. One thought dominates him: to catch up with Vera at all costs. The choice of words and the nature of sentences expresses this desire. Pechorin acts, moves and does not describe anything, and therefore there are no adjective definitions in the text, but it is maximally saturated with verbs (there are thirteen verbs for five sentences).
Since the hero has no time to think, the general syntactic structure of the passage being analyzed turns out to be natural: simple and laconic sentences, often interrupted by ellipses, as if Pechorin, in a hurry, does not have time to think out or finish the thought. The hero’s excitement determines the emotionality of the intonations; many sentences end with exclamation marks. There are repetitions that emphasize the strength of Pechorin’s experiences: “one minute, one more minute to see her...”, “.... Faith has become dearer to me than anything in the world, dearer than life, honor, happiness.” Emotionality is manifested not only in exclamatory intonations, but also in the selection of words. Most of them denote human feelings and experiences. These are the nouns “impatience”, “worry”, “despair”, “happiness” and the verbs “cursed”, “cried”, “laughed”, “jumped, gasping for breath”.
The expressiveness of this passage is great, although there are almost no epithets, metaphors, comparisons here, except for a very convincing and weighty metaphorical comparison: “The thought... hit my heart with a hammer.” The description of the race, the hero's despair, his tears is one of the most moving places in the story. And how much this scene means for understanding Pechorin! Not a cold and calculating egoist, not a skeptic indifferent to himself and others, but a living, deeply feeling, endlessly suffering from loneliness and the inability to maintain happiness - such is the hero here.
The episode of farewell to Mary is also important for understanding Pechorin. It is often misconstrued as the hero consistently completing a cruel game, enjoying the opportunity to once again torture his victim. Indeed, Pechorin speaks merciless words to Mary and explains himself “frankly and rudely.” But, if you think about it, would it be better for Mary if he, not considering it possible to marry, left the girl with doubt about whether she was loved? In this case, it would have been much more difficult for Mary to overcome her love for Pechorin because he would have remained a mystery in her eyes, a noble hero who stood up for her honor, but for some reason unknown to her, refused her hand. A hard truth is more likely to cure her than a kind lie. Maybe Pechorin understands this? His words are hardly accidental: “You see, I play the most pathetic and disgusting role in your eyes, and I even admit it; that’s all I can do for you.” Is it possible to take the hero’s phrase with full faith: “Princess... you know... that I laughed at you!...”
After all, he laughed at Grushnitsky, but in his relationship with Mary there was a conscious game, which often captivated Pechorin himself, but not mockery. Contrary to this external cruelty is the feeling of pity and excitement that took possession of Pechorin when He saw the pale, emaciated Mary. “... Another minute and I would have fallen at her feet,” writes the hero.
. Princess Mary.)
Lermontov. Princess Mary. Feature film, 1955
...Our conversation began with slander: I began to sort through our acquaintances who were present and absent, first showing their funny, and then their bad sides. My bile became agitated. I started jokingly and ended with sincere anger. At first it amused her, and then it scared her.
– You are a dangerous person! - she told me, - I would rather fall under the knife of a murderer in the forest than to get caught on your tongue... I ask you not jokingly: when you decide to speak ill of me, you better take a knife and stab me - I think this is It won't be very difficult for you.
– Do I look like a murderer?..
- You are worse...
I thought for a minute and then said, looking deeply moved:
– Yes, this has been my lot since childhood. 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. My colorless youth passed in a struggle with myself and the world; Fearing ridicule, I buried my best feelings in the depths of my heart: they died there. I told the truth - they didn’t believe me: I began to deceive; Having learned well the light and springs of society, I became skilled in the science of life and saw how others were happy without art, freely enjoying the benefits that I so tirelessly sought. And then despair was born in my chest - not the despair that is treated with the barrel of a pistol, but cold, powerless despair, covered with courtesy and a good-natured smile. I became a moral cripple: one half of my soul did not exist, it dried up, evaporated, died, I cut it off and threw it away - while the other moved and lived at the service of everyone, and no one noticed this, because no one knew about the existence of the deceased its halves; but now you have awakened in me the memory of her, and I read her epitaph to you. To many, all epitaphs seem funny, but not to me, especially when I remember what lies underneath them. However, I do not ask you to share my opinion: if my prank seems funny to you, please laugh: I warn you that this will not upset me in the least.
At that moment I met her eyes: tears were running in them; her hand, leaning on mine, trembled; cheeks were burning; she felt sorry for me! Compassion, a feeling that all women so easily submit to, let its claws into her inexperienced heart. During the entire walk she was absent-minded and did not flirt with anyone - and this is a great sign!
See also articles
The chapter “Princess Mary” is central in “Pechorin’s Journal,” where the hero reveals his soul in his diary entries. Their last conversation - Pechorin and Princess Mary - logically completes the storyline of complex relationships, drawing a line over this intrigue. Pechorin consciously and prudently achieves the love of the princess, building his behavior with knowledge of the matter. For what? Just so that he “doesn’t get bored.” The main thing for Pechorin is to subordinate everything to his will, to show power over people. After a series of calculated actions, he ensured that the girl
The first one confessed her love to him, but now he is not interested in her. After the duel with Grushnitsky, he received orders to go to fortress N and went to the princess to say goodbye. The princess learns that Pechorin defended Mary's honor and considers him a noble man. She is most concerned about her daughter's condition, because Mary is sick from worries, so the princess openly invites Pechorin to marry her daughter. One can understand her: she wishes Mary happiness. But Pechorin cannot answer her: he asks permission to explain to Mary herself. The princess is forced to give in. Pechorin has already said how afraid he is of parting with his freedom, and after a conversation with the princess, he can no longer find in his heart a single spark of love for Mary. When he saw Mary, pale and emaciated, he was shocked by the change that had occurred in her. The girl looked in his eyes for at least “something resembling hope” and tried to smile with her pale lips, but Pechorin was stern and unforgiving. He says that he laughed at her and Mary should despise him, drawing a logical, but such a cruel conclusion: “Consequently, you cannot love me...” The girl suffers, tears shine in her eyes, and all she can barely whisper clearly - “Oh my God!” In this scene, Pechorin’s reflection is especially clearly revealed - the splitting of his consciousness, which he said earlier, that two people live in him - one acts, “the other thinks and judges him.” The acting Pechorin is cruel and deprives the girl of any hope of happiness, and the one who analyzes his words and actions admits: “It became unbearable: another minute and I would have fallen at her feet.” He explains in a “firm voice” that he cannot marry Mary, and hopes that she will replace her love with contempt for him - after all, he himself is aware of the baseness of his act. Mary, “pale as marble,” with sparkling eyes, says that she hates him.
The consciousness that Pechorin played with her feelings, wounded pride turned Mary’s love into hatred. Insulted in her first deep and pure feeling, Mary is now unlikely to be able to trust people again and regain her former peace of mind. Pechorin’s cruelty and immorality are revealed quite clearly in this scene, but it also reveals how difficult it is for this man to live according to the principles he has imposed on himself, how difficult it is not to succumb to natural human feelings - compassion, mercy, repentance. This is the tragedy of a hero who himself admits that he cannot live in a quiet peaceful harbor. He compares himself to a sailor of a robber brig who languishes on the shore and dreams of storms and wrecks, because for him life is a struggle, overcoming dangers, storms and battles, and, unfortunately, Mary becomes a victim of this understanding of life.
