Comparison of female images of the hero of our time. Essay on the topic: Female images in the novel “Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu

Topic: Female images in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time".

1. Grigory Pechorin - a hero of his time………………………………..2

2. Female images in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov “Hero of Our Time”….4

2.1- Bela………………………………………………………………………………………..4

2.2 Ondine……………………………………………………………………..8

2.3- Princess Mary……………………………………………………………..9

2.4 Faith………………………………………………………………………………………14

3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………..17

4. List of used literature……………………………………..20

Introduction

The novel “A Hero of Our Time,” written by Lermontov in 1839-1840, is the first realistic prose socio-psychological and philosophical work in Russian literature. In his novel “Hero of Our Time,” M. Yu. Lermontov depicted the 30s of the 19th century in Russia. The time when the novel was written fell on the period of reaction that set in the country after the defeat of the December uprising. These were difficult times in the life of the country. Having suppressed the Decembrist uprising, Nicholas I sought to turn the country into a barracks - everything living, the slightest manifestation of free thought, was mercilessly persecuted and suppressed. Two years after “A Hero of Our Time” appeared in print, A. I. Herzen wrote: “Will future people understand and appreciate all the horror, all the tragic side of our existence?”

Lermontov's main task was to draw a portrait of a man of that era, that is, a hero of his time, whose image was made up of the vices of the entire generation contemporary to the author.

“A hero of our time,” says Lermontov in the preface to the novel, “is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” Lermontov expressed “caustic truths” about the life of this generation, about its inaction, wasting energy on empty pursuits. “A Hero of Our Time” is the first psychological novel in Russian literature, a work in which the narrative is determined not by the chronology of the development of events, but by the logic of the development of the character of the main character, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. Lermontovsky Pechorin has similarities with Pushkin's Onegin. They're both tired of emptiness social life. But Pechorin, unlike Onegin, does not go with the flow, but seeks his own path in life, he “frantically chases after life” and constantly argues with fate.

What is a hero like? early XIX century in Lermontov's view?

His fate is tragic. Grigory Pechorin was expelled from St. Petersburg for a certain “story” (obviously, for a duel over a woman) to the Caucasus, several more stories happen to him along the way, he is demoted, goes to the Caucasus again, then travels for some time and, returning home from Persia , dies. During all this time, he experienced a lot himself and influenced the lives of other people in many ways. We do not know the entire life story of Pechorin. Lermontov tells only about the events that happened to him in the Caucasus. We also don’t know how he got there. But it is known that the Caucasus during Lermontov’s time was a place of exile, and military operations also took place there. Most likely, Pechorin, having left for the Caucasus, hoped to find in constant dangers and risks the meaning of life, the absence of which forced him to leave high society.

Throughout the entire story, we see a man who plunges into life, as they say, headlong. But at the same time, this life is not of particular interest to him. When deciding to have a new love affair or getting involved in some adventure, he knows in advance how it will end. But he still doesn’t sit still, because the worst thing for Pechorin is inaction. Why did this happen?

After all, Pechorin can be called a very extraordinary, intelligent, strong-willed person. He has a broad outlook, high education and culture. He quickly and accurately judges people and life in general. In addition, he is distinguished by a constant desire for action. Pechorin cannot stay in one place, surrounded by the same people. Is this why he cannot be happy with any woman, even the one with whom he is in love? After a while, boredom overcomes him, and he begins to look for something new, without thinking about those with whom he was close. Pechorin writes in his diary: “...the one in whose head more ideas were born acts more; because of this, a genius, chained to a bureaucratic desk, must die or go crazy...”

The hero of Lermontov's novel is not satisfied with such a fate, and he acts. But at the same time, Pechorin wastes his energy on actions unworthy of him. During his life Pechorin destroyed a lot human destinies- princesses Mary Ligovskaya, Vera, Bela, Grushnitsky... He destroys the nest of “peaceful” smugglers, kidnaps Bela, achieves Mary’s love and abandons it, kills Grushnitsky in a duel... We see that Pechorin does not take into account the feelings of other people , practically does not pay attention to them. We can say that this person's actions are deeply selfish. All the more selfish because he justifies himself. Explaining to Mary, Pechorin says: “...this has been my fate since childhood! Everyone read on my face signs of bad qualities that were not there; but they were expected - and they were born... I became secretive... I became vindictive... I became envious... I learned to hate... I began to deceive... I became a moral cripple...”

One cannot blame only Pechorin himself for the fact that he “became a moral cripple.” Society is also to blame for this, in which there is no worthy use of the best qualities of the hero. The same society that interfered with Onegin and Lensky, which hated Chatsky, is now Pechorin. So Pechorin learned to hate, to lie, he became secretive, he “buried his best feelings in the depths of his heart, and there they died.”

Thus, we can say that a typical young man of the 30s XIX century, on the one hand, is not devoid of intelligence and talents, “immense powers” ​​lurk in his soul, and on the other hand, he is an egoist who breaks hearts and destroys lives. Pechorin is both an “evil genius” and at the same time a victim of society.

In Pechorin’s diary we read: “...My first pleasure is to subordinate to my will everything that surrounds me; to arouse feelings of love, devotion and fear - isn’t this the first sign and the greatest triumph of power.” His attention to women, the desire to achieve their love is the need of his ambition, the desire to subjugate those around him to his will.

In a moment of sadness, Pechorin reasons: “Why did I live, for what purpose was I born? And, it’s true, it existed, and, it’s true, there was a high purpose for me, because I feel immense strength in my soul. But I did not guess my purpose, I was carried away by the lures of empty and ignoble passions.” And in fact, did Pechorin have a “high purpose”?

If this person had been born at a different time, he would have been able to realize his talents for the benefit of himself and those around him. It is no coincidence that he occupies one of the central places in the gallery of literary images of “extra” people. On the other hand, Pechorin is a hero of his time, because the tragedy of his life reflected the tragedy of an entire generation of young talented people who did not find a worthy use for themselves. Pechorin is distinguished by his deep intelligence, strong passions and steely will. Pechorin’s sharp mind allows him to truly judge people, about life, and is critical of himself. The characteristics he gives to people are accurate and to the point. Pechorin's heart is capable of feeling deeply and strongly, although outwardly he remains calm.

Pechorin - strong, strong-willed nature, thirsty for activity. But for all his talent and wealth of spiritual strength, he, by his own definition, is a “moral cripple.” His character and all his behavior are extremely contradictory. This inconsistency is clearly reflected in his appearance, which, like all people, according to Lermontov, reflects the inner appearance of a person. This inconsistency of Pechorin is revealed in the novel in its entirety through relationships with other characters. According to Lermontov’s definition, this was the “disease” of the generation of that time.

“My whole life,” Pechorin himself points out, “was only a chain of sad and unsuccessful contradictions to my heart or mind.” How do they manifest themselves?

Firstly, in his attitude towards life. On the one hand, Pechorin is a skeptic, a disappointed person who lives “out of curiosity,” on the other hand, he has a huge thirst for life and activity. Secondly, rationality struggles with the demands of feelings, mind and heart.

Pechorin says: “I have been living for a long time not with my heart, but with my head. I weigh and examine my own passions and actions with strict curiosity, but without participation.” But Pechorin has a warm heart, capable of understanding and loving nature. From contact with her, “no matter what grief lies in the heart,” he says, “no matter what anxiety torments the thought, everything will dissipate in a minute, the soul will become light.”

Lermontov's innovation was the depiction of the central figure of the novel - Pechorin - from the inside. Particular attention is paid to the inner world of the hero, his soul, therefore the author writes in the preface that “the story of the soul. human... almost more curious and not more useful than history a whole people." All the variety of artistic means is aimed at a deeper disclosure of the image of Pechorin. Lermontov pursued the same goal when creating female images. The contradictions in Pechorin’s nature are also reflected in his attitude towards women. They play a big role in the novel: they allow us to more deeply reveal Pechorin’s character, his inner world, as well as his attitude towards love. He himself explains his attention to women and the desire to achieve their love by the need of his ambition, which, according to his definition, “is nothing more than a thirst for power, and my first pleasure,” he says further, “is to subordinate to my will everything that surrounds: to arouse feelings of love, devotion and fear - isn’t this the first sign and the greatest triumph of power?”

Female images in the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time”

There is nothing more beautiful in the world than a woman

It is customary to speak of female images of the 19th century as “captivating.” And it is true. A woman is a source of joy, strength and inspiration. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote: “We both hate and we love by chance, sacrificing nothing to either anger or love, and a kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, when fire boils in the blood.” These words perfectly reveal the character of the main character of the novel Pechorin and his attitude towards women. The fate of Pechorin is closely intertwined with the fates of four women: the Circassian Bela ("Bela"), the long-haired "Ondine", the smuggler's friend Yanko ("Taman"), Princess Mary and Princess Vera ("Princess Mary"); The gallery of female images is completed by the episodic figure of Nastya, “the pretty daughter of the old policeman” (“Fatalist”). The women surrounding Pechorin attract our attention and arouse genuine interest: they loved him, a strange and different person from everyone else, capable of bringing to life long-hidden feelings or destroying dreams that were far from reality.

In his diary entry, Pechorin states: “...if everyone loved me, I would find endless sources of love in myself.” But why does a person need this universal love if next to him were beautiful, wonderful women who believed in Pechorin and hoped for him.

All female characters are representatives of different worlds: Bela is one of the “children of nature” into whose world Pechorin finds himself in the story “Bela”; Ondine represents in the novel the romantic world of lawless freedom that Pechorin strives for; Princess Mary and Vera are socially related to the main character.

The daughter of the mountains Bela... She is the first to appear before the readers, she exudes spiritual purity, kindness and sincerity. Bela is attracted to Pechorin by the integrity and naturalness of his nature. When Pechorin saw the beautiful Circassian Bela for the first time, he thought that love for her would bring him healing from melancholy and disappointment. Bela was endowed with more than just beauty. She was a passionate and tender girl, capable of deep feelings. Proud and bashful Bela is not devoid of consciousness of her dignity. She grew up among nature and ordinary people. But her character is not without such national traits, like pride, self-esteem, lack of development and the capacity for passion. Bela has a special pride, even when she tells Pechorin that she is his captive, and, therefore, he can do with her as he wants, her human dignity is felt in her... However, the proud mountain woman rejects Pechorin for a long time, is indifferent to his expensive gifts silence and pride further emphasize the depth and strength of Bela’s love. “I am not his slave,” she says. It is important for her that she is recognized as having the right to make her own choices. She retains her dignity further: one can only guess about her love, changes in mood, and suffering from her actions and modest speeches. This sensitive, sincere girl is capable of loving passionately and selflessly. What made Pechorin kidnap the girl: unbridled egoism or the desire to experience forgotten feelings again? But, one way or another, now the princess lived in the fortress. Time heals, and after a while “she learned to look at him, at first from under her brows, sideways, and she kept feeling sad, humming her songs in a low voice.” A young Circassian woman, proud and gentle. She only met Pechorin during a bitter period for him: “...she was beautiful: tall, thin, eyes black, like a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul.” Bela captivates the reader with her integrity, spiritual purity, defenselessness, and the passion of her love for Pechorin. Pechorin knew love, he foresaw all the pitfalls of this feeling, he assured himself that “he loved for himself, for his own pleasure... he satisfied the strange need of the heart, greedily absorbing their feelings, their tenderness, their joys and suffering.” And for the first time Bela fell in love with a man, and of a different faith, and who also kidnapped her from her father and would-be fiancé. The princess came to terms with her position as a captive and entrusted her life to Pechorin, not giving him the opportunity to be convinced of an indestructible victory over the wild Circassian woman. Pechorin’s gifts softened Bela’s frightened heart, and the news of his possible death accomplished what no gifts could do: Bela threw herself on Pechorin’s neck and sobbed: “... she often dreamed of him in her dreams... and no man has ever made such an impression on her.” It seemed that happiness had been achieved: her loved one and Maxim Maksimych were nearby, caring for her in a fatherly way. Pechorin “dressed her up like a doll, groomed her, cherished her,” she became prettier, played pranks, and was cheerful. Four months of carefree happiness flew by, and discord began to emerge in the relationship between Bela and Pechorin: he began to leave home, became thoughtful, and sad. Bela was ready for decisive action: “If he doesn’t love me, then who’s stopping him from sending me home? I don't force him. And if this continues like this, then I will leave myself: “I am not his slave, I am a prince’s daughter.” Realizing that Pechorin had lost interest in her, she began to noticeably “dry, her face became long, big eyes faded." But she answered almost nothing to Maxim Maksimych’s questions: “It happened that for whole days you wouldn’t get anything else from her except “yes” and “no.”

She loves Pechorin so passionately and ardently that his love for her seems shallow and frivolous. Or maybe Pechorin’s love for Bela is not a whim, but an attempt to return to the world of natural, sincere feelings? After all, Bela is an example of the sensual side of life. Pechorin himself does not know whether he loves Bela. But true love is caring for the one you love, worrying about someone else, and the desire to bring joy. But, as we see, Pechorin does not know how to think about Bela, He is busy with himself and his experiences, he is sad, lonely, he needs the love of a young, pure being - and achieves this love

Pechorin understands that he and Bela share different cultures, customs, different religions, that is, to different human worlds. And in a conversation with her, he influences her consciousness, eliminating all obstacles, turning to the idea that lies in her upbringing and life. Pechorin here develops the idea of ​​the inevitability of fate: “after all, you know that sooner or later it must be mine.” Bela, struck by this seemingly newly discovered but familiar truth, submits. Pechorin strives to be like a highlander in his relationship with Bela. He praises her beauty, gives gifts, and wins her trust through cunning. Pechorin plays, but he does it so sincerely that his game becomes reality. He himself forgets about his original intention regarding Bela. It is impossible to answer unequivocally why Pechorin fell in love with Bela, and did he really love her? Maybe he chose her “out of boredom” (as he himself admits) because he was tired of the “coquetry of society ladies.” Or perhaps Pechorin is looking for something new, hitherto unknown to him. He finds this in the sphere of the highlanders, whose charm, courage and pride subjugate the main character. He himself, in a moment of frankness, admits that imitation of other people's customs is a habitual passion for him.

But she truly fell in love. The impulses of her soul are deeply reasonable and humane. She is withdrawn and does not talk about her suffering, but her short answers to Maksimych, her dull eyes speak more than lengthy monologues... Lermontov does not give a detailed description of the Circassian woman’s appearance, but draws attention to her eyes, which, “like a mountain chamois, That’s how they looked... into the soul.” “Thus the daughter of Circassia walked the earth,” but... The appearance of Kazbich ends tragically for her. But even while dying, Bela selflessly loves Pechorin, and this love is given even greater beauty, even greater strength by her loyalty to her faith, although this leaves her no hope of meeting Pechorin in the “kingdom of the dead”... Bela dies from a stab in the back with a dagger . In the dying scenes she is shown not just as an exotic beauty, but as a being who deeply loves Pechorin. In her last moments, she asks unusual questions about faith and soul, and touchingly cares about Grigory Alexandrovich. Her death is not unconscious; she dies as a deeply thinking and feeling person, aware of her imminent end, but at the same time maintaining dignity. Dying, suffering from pain, Bela does not forget about Pechorin for a minute. She is devoted to him until the last minute, Bela is sad that “she is not a Christian, and that in the next world her soul will never meet the soul of Grigory Alexandrovich, and that another woman will be his friend in heaven.” Until the last minute of her life, Bela does not even think of blaming Pechorin for her death; all her dying sadness is expressed in endless love for him. Living by love alone, Bela faced death as a proud woman, full of human dignity. Her spiritual life was limited only by faith - and Bela violated this faith in the name of love. But before her death, she conquered her love. To Maxim Maksimych’s proposal to baptize her, she replied that “she will die in the faith in which she was born.” This is how Bela’s kind of emotional victory over Pechorin took place. Female image emphasizes the contradictory spiritual world of the protagonist, reveals the motives of Pechorin’s actions and motives.

The depiction of the short life of the heroine makes it possible to understand the hidden motives and her behavior, to feel the psychological make-up of her personality. But Bela, with her own eyes, which “looked into your soul,” could not comprehend the depths of the soul of her beloved. Lermontov needed the image of Bela in order to show that such pure and tender love was not enough for Pechorin to have a reciprocal and sincere feeling. Soon he got bored with her, like everything else at that time. He gets tired of everything, and he concludes: “The love of a savage is for a few.” better than love noble lady; the ignorance and simplicity of one are just as annoying as the coquetry of the other.” In “the love of a savage” he tries to find oblivion from his melancholy, but his insatiable heart could not live long with one feeling. How to explain to a girl in love that this capital officer is bored with her, the daughter of the mountains. Having stolen Bela, he exposes her to eternal suffering due to the death of her father. This kidnapping, which led to the death of her family, is not at all perceived by him as evil. Pechorin does not distinguish between evil in the choice of his actions. And perhaps death was the only solution in which the honor and dignity of the young savage could be preserved. Torn from family of origin, and then abandoned, she ends up dying. And Pechorin is, of course, to blame for her death, albeit indirectly. He destroys the fate and life of a captivating mountain girl. Kazbich’s robber blow not only deprived Bela of his life, but also deprived Pechorin of peace for the rest of his life.

The next heroine of the novel is Ondine, as Pechorin romantically called a smuggler girl from Taman

Ondine - this is how Pechorin romantically called the smuggler girl. The name of the eighteen-year-old girl in Taman was not given. Her appearance is attractive: a flexible figure, long brown hair, a golden tint of tan, a regular nose, penetrating eyes, gifted with magnetic power.” She is constantly in motion, gusty like the wind. Pechorin intervened in the simple life of “honest smugglers.” He was attracted by the mysterious circumstances of the night: a blind boy and a girl were waiting for a boat with the smuggler Yanko. Pechorin was impatient to find out what they did at night. The girl seemed to be interested in Pechorin herself and behaved ambiguously: “she was hovering 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 within 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, the 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 sensed 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 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. 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 cunning and clever, 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 a “common” person is in his hands

It is noteworthy that Pechorin does not blame Ondine for anything, who tried to drown him. In "Bel" the hero plays with the souls of ordinary people, in "Taman" he himself becomes a toy in their hands. The smuggler, like Bela, is an integral and strong nature, from whose kiss Pechorin’s eyes darkened and his head began to spin; loving another, she boldly laughed at his seemingly genuine passion, almost drowning him. In a clash with Ondine, Pechorin is defeated. He is not ready to clash with free and proud people on their “territory”. Pechorin reveals his intellectual superiority only if a “simple” person finds himself in his hands. 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 a 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.

But Bela is not the only one whose love he so cruelly deceived. Bela is strong integral character, in which there is firmness, pride, and constancy, because she was brought up in the traditions of the Caucasus. Princess Mary looks completely different. Princess Mary Ligovskaya is a young, pretty girl belonging to one of the best families in the capital. Her social position, condition, and most importantly, education, which was not entirely typical for a girl, fostered an independent, courageous and proud character. Unlike Bela, Ligovskaya does not have such firmness of character, and the princess, having first hated Pechorin, forgave him, then she became bored with Grushnitsky, and as a result she completely fell in love with Grigory Alexandrovich. But she was disappointed in the main character, because even in his mind he destroys thoughts of love: “Have I really fallen in love?.. What nonsense!” The image of Princess Mary is drawn most fully. She is endowed with a number of extraordinary qualities. She is smart, witty, pure and naive, passionate about romanticism, loves to talk about feelings and passions. Its purity reveals Pechorin's selfishness. By his own admission, he does not love Mary, wants to seduce her and will never marry. Pechorin is attracted by the pleasure of possessing a young, barely blossoming soul. The story of Princess Mary’s seduction is the reason for Pechorin’s deep introspection and detailed monologues in his diary; it is only a special case in big picture Princess Mary, like Bela, is a victim of the restless Pechorin. Pechorin immediately distinguishes this girl from the crowd of beauties: “This Princess Mary is very pretty... She has such velvety eyes... The lower and upper eyelashes are so long that the rays of the sun are not reflected in her pupils. I love these eyes so much without shine, they are so soft, they seem to be stroking you.” We also see that she is modest, kind, smart and noble in her feelings and actions. There is “nothing in it that would exclude respect.” At the same time, an aristocratic upbringing is felt in her: she is proud, proud, and sometimes arrogant; she surrounds herself with brilliant admirers, although she looks at them with some contempt. Mary was “young, slender,” and, as Pechorin said, when he danced the mazurka with her, he did not know “a more voluptuous and flexible waist.” Mary is modest, kind and smart. “She joked very nicely,” says Pechorin, “her conversation was sharp, without pretense of wit, lively and free, her remarks were sometimes deep...” Mary is noble in her actions and feelings, there is nothing in her that would exclude respect "

But Lermontov paints Mary not only as a “simple maiden” with her natural, human dreams and feelings, but also as an aristocrat, a girl from the highest secular society. Her feelings and actions show signs of the aristocratic environment that raised her. The princess is proud, proud, and sometimes arrogant. She surrounds herself with “brilliant” admirers, although she “looks at them with some contempt,” as Dr. Werner notes.

The princess is inexperienced, flirtatious, and still has a poor understanding of people. She does not pay attention to pride, cowardice and other vices of Grushnitsky, does not understand Pechorin’s intentions, but at the same time her mother says that her daughter is “innocent as a dove”... Mary Ligovskaya is very young, pretty, inexperienced, flirtatious. She, naturally, is not particularly good at understanding people, does not see Grushnitsky’s farcical nature, and misunderstands the calculatedness of Pechorin’s play. At first glance it may seem that this is one of the charming, sweet, well-mannered aristocrats, but this is far from the case. Princess Mary is smart, well-read, noble and morally pure. She wants to live as is customary in their noble circle, with some vanity and splendor. Her soul is characterized by noble, humane impulses, there is no arrogance in her, and this can be perfectly understood from the episode with Grushnitsky: the princess raises a glass to a wounded soldier... She is a romantic by nature, and a naive one, since she is still young and inexperienced. Watching Mary, Pechorin discerns in her this confrontation between two principles - naturalness and secularity, but is convinced that secularism has already won in her. Pechorin is well versed in people, and especially in women, he immediately understood the essence of Mary: she is interested and likes what is mysterious, enigmatic and unattainable, she wants men to amuse her. So it was with Grushchnitsky, who at first interested her with his pompous phrases, and then got tired of her. It is not surprising that Pechorin’s powerful character made a strong impression on such a girl. Compared to him, all her fans seemed pathetic and “boring” to her. In the cadet Grushnitsky, Mary sees a demoted officer, suffering and unhappy, and is imbued with sympathy for him. The empty banality of his speeches seems more interesting and worthy of attention to her. Grushnitsky's falling in love is nothing more than red tape, although he is sincerely convinced that he loves Mary. The hero decides to show Mary how wrong she is, mistaking infatuation for love, how shallow she is in judging people, applying deceptive secular standards to them. However. Mary does not fit into the framework in which Pechorin put her. She shows both responsiveness and nobility. Werner’s phrase about the Moscow young ladies who “embarked on learning” acquires particular significance. Mary “knows algebra” and reads Byron in English. She is capable of no more and deep feeling. The princess understands that she was mistaken in Grushnitsky, but cannot offer intrigue and deceit on the part of Pechorin. Getting rid of Grushnitsky's love, Mary falls in love with Pechorin, but both feelings turn out to be illusory. And she is deceived again, but unexpectedly for himself, Pechorin was also deceived: he mistook Mary for an ordinary secular girl, and a deep nature opened up to him and responded with love. As the hero captures Mary and experiments with her, the irony disappears from his story.

Mary's feeling, left without reciprocity, develops into its opposite - hatred, the insulted love of Mary in the novel - a suffering face: it is over her that Pechorin sets up his cruel experiment of exposing Grushnitsky. It is not for Mary’s sake that this experiment is carried out, but she is drawn into it by Pechorin’s play, since she had the misfortune to turn an interested gaze on the false romantic and false hero. What did he achieve in another cruel experiment with the princess? He put her on the threshold of a completely different stage in her life. After Pechorin’s painful lessons, she will never be deceived by the Grushnitskys. She is now doomed to involuntarily compare everyone she meets with Pechorin. But there are few such people, and they do not bring happiness. Now the most immutable canons of social life will seem doubtful to her. However, the suffering she endured is an indictment of Pechorin. Mary reached out to strong personality hero, forgetting about his pride. Fascinated by Pechorin, she fell in love with him, but did not understand his rebellious, contradictory soul. She has a strong and quick mind and therefore rather values ​​a person by his personal qualities and understands who surrounds her. And that’s why she searches for and finds a strong personality, but... It doesn’t bring her happiness. All attention turned to Pechorin, who appeared as a romantic hero, so unlike the others. Pechorin, without knowing why, tries to captivate the young girl, and she, due to her naivety and inexperience, falls in love with him. Watching Mary, Pechorin discerns in her this confrontation between two principles - naturalness and secularity, but is convinced that secularism has already won in her. Her love becomes stronger day by day, this is probably her first time strong feeling...Deeply touched by Pechorin's story about his life, Mary, possessing, in addition, keen sense compassion, and until then hiding her feelings, confesses her love to him... However, to her misfortune, she did not understand that this man’s life “passed in a struggle with herself and the light.” For him, Mary is a representative of the aristocratic environment that he hates. That's why he rejects her. And how decisively, with what self-esteem her words sound: “Do you want me to be the first to confess my love to you?” We see before us a person with certain life principles, capable of persuading his mother to transcend conventions that do not fit into the framework of the banal understanding of marital happiness in the eyes of society, and of making her loved one happy in any trials. The poor girl decides that he does not make a decisive confession to her, fearing her mother's refusal. “Tell the truth,” the poor thing begs her tormentor. – You see, I thought a lot, trying to explain, justify your behavior; maybe you are afraid of obstacles from my relatives... that’s nothing; When they find out, I will beg them.” Does Pechorin realize the originality and fidelity of this feminine nature, does he at least feel sympathy for her? Let us remember how for several minutes he tries to find in his heart “even a drop of love for dear Mary”... Poor Mary! She was wrong, and in response to a sincere impulse she receives Pechorin’s cold words: “I don’t love you.” Her sincere confession only accelerated the break with the hero, who, more than anything else, is afraid of losing his independence. And he doesn’t need the love of naive Mary either. But at the moment of decisive explanation with Princess Pechorin, he felt unable to give up his freedom to anyone. Marriage would be a “safe haven.” Mary's sincere confession accelerated her break with Pechorin, who, more than anything else, fears losing his independence. “The word marry has some kind of magical power over me: no matter how passionately I love a woman, if she only makes me feel that I should marry her, forgive me love!” My heart turns to stone and nothing can warm it up again. I am ready for all sacrifices except this one; twenty times I’ll put my life, even my honor, on the line…. But I won’t sell my freedom” - this is how Pechorin thinks.

Of course, Pechorin rebels only against the family structure that has developed in secular society. Accompanying his wife to a ball, entertaining guests in his salon with empty conversation, listening to the refined slander and gossip of society - all this is difficult for a person who is looking for more serious activities. Quiet family happiness as it is understood society ladies, - the lot of the Grushnitskys, but by no means the Pechorins, rebels and renegades looking for the use of their remarkable mental powers and abilities.

In the story with Mary, as in other dramatic episodes of the novel, Pechorin acts as both a cruel tormentor and a deeply suffering person. The sight of the exhausted Mary evokes in him a keen sense of compassion. “It became unbearable: another minute and I would have fallen at her feet,” admits Pechorin. He refuses the girl’s love, either wanting to be completely honest with her, or being afraid to connect his life with someone, selfishly maintaining independence. But as a sign of deep respect, he will act in such a way as to make their separation less bitter for her - by putting himself in a bad light.

And he himself rejects Mary’s love. Offended in her feelings, the sincere and noble Mary withdraws into herself and suffers. We see how much the girl suffers: “She sat motionless, lowering her head on her chest; ...her eyes, motionless and full of inexplicable sadness, seemed to be running over the same page for the hundredth time, while her thoughts were far away...” What a cruel, heavy blow falls on her fragile shoulders! But even when seriously ill, she endures everything with dignity and evokes sincere sympathy and admiration. Her eyes sparkled wonderfully, but could she maintain this sparkle, could she ever be happy, would she preserve her soul, having lost faith in love? We see that Mary’s “young, barely blossoming soul” is unable to awaken real and sincere feelings in the main character. Even now, struck to the very heart, Mary will not stoop to petty, selfish revenge, will not be deceitful, overthrowing her beloved from yesterday’s pedestal of respect and love, but will honestly answer: “I hate you!” And we, the readers, are imbued with even greater respect and sympathy for her after this.

At the same time, the problem of love - real and imaginary - is connected with the image of Mary in the novel. Pechorin's love is imaginary from the very beginning. Pechorin's experiment is crowned with "formal" success: Mary is in love with him, Grushnitsky is exposed. However, the result of “funny” entertainment is dramatic and not funny at all. Mary's first deep feeling is trampled, the joke turns into baseness, and the girl must learn to love humanity again. Here it is not far from a skeptical attitude towards love, towards everything beautiful and sublime. The victim of Pechorin’s whim is not a soulless coquette, but a young creature with impulses towards the ideal. That is why Mary evokes such sympathy. The author leaves Mary at a crossroads, and the reader does not know whether she is broken or will find the strength to overcome Pechorin's lesson. Many may reproach Pechorin for his actions with Mary. But the princess changed after meeting him: she became smarter and wiser. This girl has matured and began to understand people. And we cannot firmly say what would be better for her: to remain that naive girl or to become a woman with a completely clearly defined character. I think, better second. Pechorin played in this case positive role in her destiny.

While the image of Mary reflects the external aspects of Pechorin’s character: his belonging to high society, his secularism, then, painting Vera, Lermontov leaves in the shadows everything that concerns her psychological and cultural connections with her environment and society: she is completely revealed to us only from the side of our feelings for Pechorin. The pages dedicated to Vera prove that she lives by this love alone. Vera is the only woman who fully understood Pechorin. She plays a big role in revealing Pechorin’s character. This is a society lady, Pechorin's mistress. She plays a prominent role in the plot of the story. For the first time, Doctor Werner mentions Vera, telling Pechorin about the new inhabitants of the Caucasian waters: “some lady from the newcomers, a relative of the princess by marriage, very pretty, but very sick, it seems... of medium height, blonde, with regular features, consumptive complexion , and on her right cheek there is a black mole: her face struck me with its expressiveness.” This message excited Pechorin: “My heart definitely beat stronger than usual.” Pechorin's relationship with Vera serves as a reason for the heroes to think about female logic, about female nature, about the attractiveness of evil. And she loves not his attractive appearance or ability to behave in society, but for the complexity and contradictory nature of his character. In the novel, she appears as a reminder of Pechorin’s ardent youth. Nothing is known about her 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.” She also became a victim of his unusual character. But, unlike others, their aspirations were mutual. Their love story is sad. Pechorin loved Vera strongly and deeply. But his feelings brought her a lot of suffering and grief.

This long-standing love left an indelible mark on the souls of the heroes, although in their previous dramatic romance there was obviously less joy than sadness. Now Vera is sick. Thus, in the novel, the young princess Mary and Vera are presented as different poles of life - flourishing and fading. New meeting Vera and Pechorin takes place against the backdrop of nature and in the homes of people of the world who came to the waters. Here natural life and civilized life, tribal and social life collide. Vera's husband is a distant relative of Princess Ligovskaya, lame, rich and burdened with illnesses. Marrying him not out of love, she sacrificed herself for the sake of her son and values ​​her reputation - again, not because of herself. Persuading Pechorin to meet the Ligovskys in order to see him more often, Vera is unaware of the intrigue with Mary planned by the hero, and when she finds out, she is tormented by jealousy.

At other moments, Pechorin feels the power of Vera’s love, who again carelessly entrusted herself to him, and he himself is ready to respond to her selfless affection. But for the most part, even hugging Vera and covering her face with kisses, he makes her suffer, believing that the evil he caused Vera is the reason for her love (“Maybe that’s why she loved me: joys are forgotten, and never sadness!..”; “Is evil really so attractive?..”). These and other judgments of Pechorin contain part of the truth. It is not for nothing that Vera later admits in a letter to Pechorin: “evil in no one is so attractive.” But these judgments do not exhaust the whole truth.

Pechorin brought Vera more than just suffering: always wanting to be loved and never achieving the fullness of love, he gives women an infinity of feeling, against the background of which the love of “other men” seems petty, mundane and dull. Therefore, Vera is doomed to love Pechorin and suffer. Tragic, suffering and selfless love is her lot. Perhaps Vera initially hoped for family happiness with Pechorin. Pechorin, with his restless character, searching life goal was least inclined to create a family home with “quiet joys and peace of mind.” He's like a sailor<...>: his soul has become accustomed to storms and battles and, thrown ashore, he is bored and languishing, no matter how the shady grove beckons him, no matter how the peaceful sun shines on him...”

On the one hand, thanks to Pechorin’s relationship with Vera and her thoughts, it is explained why Pechorin, “without trying,” is able to invincibly dominate a woman’s heart, and on the other hand, Vera represents a different type of secular woman compared to Mary. She is the only female character who is compared with the main character, rather than opposed. Her image is drawn unclearly: Lermontov does not describe her life in detail, nor does she reveal her character in detail. But at the same time it indicates that Vera is the only person who fully understood the essence of Pechorin, loving him with all his advantages and disadvantages. Pechorin himself could not help but appreciate this insight and fidelity to feeling: “She is the only woman in the world whom I would not be able to deceive,” and only she alone evokes real and sincere feelings, albeit fleeting. Vera's feelings are so strong that she forgives all the suffering brought to her by Pechorin, continuing to love him, knowing that they will never be together. In the image of Vera we see humility, sacrifice, she does not have a pronounced sense of self-esteem, she again confesses her love to Pechorin after he has already left her once. Only after losing Vera, Pechorin realizes that it was she who carried within herself the love that he greedily sought, and this love died, because he drained Vera’s soul without filling it with his feelings. Love for Vera was Pechorin's deepest and most lasting affection. Among his wanderings and adventures, he left Vera, but returned to it again. Pechorin caused her a lot of suffering. “Since we have known each other,” Vera said, “you have given me nothing but suffering.” And yet, she loved him. Ready to sacrifice both her self-esteem and the opinion of the world to her loved one, Vera becomes a slave of her feelings, a martyr of love. Parting with her, Pechorin realized that Vera was the only woman who understood him and continued to love him, despite his shortcomings. Pechorin experiences the final separation from Vera as a catastrophe: he gives in to despair and tears. Nowhere is Pechorin's hopeless loneliness and the suffering it generates, which he hid from others under his usual firmness and composure, so clearly revealed. Lyubov Pechorina is shown by the author in sketches. We don’t see this feeling entirely.

After reading Vera’s letter to Pechorin, we understand that the protagonist’s heart is not “stone”. In a farewell letter to Pechorin, the heroine of the novel says: “... you love me as property, as a source of joys, anxieties and sorrows, replaced by each other, without which life is boring and monotonous.” Main character appreciates Vera for the fact that only she understood him, for her sincerity and attitude towards herself.

Pechorin's hardened heart passionately responds to the love of this woman. At the mere thought that he could lose her forever, Vera becomes dearer to him than anything in the world. He rushes after her - he wants to catch up with her, and maybe even overtake his destiny, everything that he once lost. And when his horse collapsed, Pechorin “fell on the wet grass and cried like a child.”

Vera's letter was a farewell and, at the same time, a confession of a woman who had loved Pechorin for a long time, knew his character well and penetrated into all the secrets of his soul. In it, the heroine expressed everything that had accumulated in her heart. From the very beginning, she realized that Pechorin’s love was selfish, that it would not bring her happiness.

Having submitted to Pechorin, Vera admits in a letter that there is something “special ... peculiar to him alone, something proud and mysterious.” There is “invincible power” in his voice. Even the evil in him is attractive, and his gaze promises only bliss. But all this turns out to be a hoax. However, Vera is the only woman whom Pechorin loves years later and cannot imagine being left without her. After a long separation from Vera, the hero, as before, heard his heart trembling: the sounds of her sweet voice revived the old feeling. In her heart lives a big and pure love. Despite their mutual feelings, the relationship between these people did not work out. During their love, Vera changed husbands, loving neither one nor the other. Vera is confident in herself. Having exhausted everything mental strength, Vera is not able to love again. She realized that she was dead, but this does not bother her. “I have lost everything in the world for you,” this is how her letter ends. Pechorin cried when, catching up with Vera, he drove his horse. However, this was just a temporary impulse of the soul, but nothing more. In the morning he became himself again. And Vera is just Pechorin’s sick past. 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 realization that Vera is Pechorin’s only love comes to him too late, when he loses her forever. And this is the tragedy of Pechorin. Also, the tragedy is that, even to Vera, he is not ready to sacrifice his freedom. The hero was not happy with her, she was someone else's wife, and this, of course, was unbearably painful for his pride. This is not for Pechorin! Maybe that's why he is so cold with young women who are in love with him. Apparently this was compensation for lost balance

Conclusion

The contradictions in Pechorin’s character are especially evident in his relationships with women. Love should reveal the true essence of a person. Pechorin turned out to be incapable of this feeling. Pechorin's love brings misfortune to everyone he loves. Bela and her parents die, Mary falls ill, her mother is deeply unhappy, seeing her daughter’s suffering. In relation to the princess, Pechorin looks extremely unsympathetic and repulsive. If he was sincerely attracted to Bela, then he seeks the princess’s love only in order to annoy Grushnitsky. Is Pechorin even capable of love? Pechorin loved Vera, and he himself said that she was “the woman I have ever loved.” This feeling manifests itself most strongly at the moment when there is a danger of losing Faith: “...I prayed, cursed, cried, laughed... no, nothing will express my anxiety, despair!.. Faith has become dearer to me than anything in the world ...” But this state does not last long for Pechorin.

All female characters in the novel play 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.

Pechorin did not know how to truly love. He could only make those who treated him so devotedly and reverently suffer. Love... Such a beautiful and sublime feeling, which Pechorin treats so thoughtlessly. He is selfish, and beautiful girls who see their ideal in him suffer from this. Bela and Princess Mary, Vera and Ondine are so different, but equally painfully hurt by Pechorin, who himself admits: “And what do I care about the joys and troubles of people...”.

It is no coincidence that M.Yu. Lermontov paid great attention to female images in his wonderful novel. None serious problem cannot be considered without the beautiful and better half of humanity, without its interests, experiences and feelings, especially the problem of the hero and time. The writer used a principle that was one of the discoveries in the novel: tell me who loves this person, and I will form an idea about him. The depiction of female images in the novel gave both the novel itself and the main character uniqueness, freshness and clarity of perception, as well as those experiences that penetrate deeply into the soul and remain there forever. Vera, Bella and Mary are very different from each other, but they (Mary, however, to a lesser extent) have one thing in common - the ability for devoted love.

So, in the stories of unhappy love of three women, in their tragic ending The character of the main character is revealed in the best possible way. Yes, he is cruel and cold to them. Bela is destroyed, Mary's life is shattered, Vera leaves suffering. However, this is not only Pechorin’s fault. He himself experiences deep mental anguish after the death of Bela, his confession with Mary is also painful for him, and having lost Vera, he, who remained cool even at gunpoint, “fell on the wet grass and, like a child, cried.” The hero brings only grief to those around him, but not intentionally, but only because, as he himself admits, his life was spent in a “struggle with himself and the light,” and his best feelings, fearing ridicule, he “buried it in the depths of his heart; there they died."

Image female characters in the novel gave the main character and the novel itself originality, integrity of perception, made the reader once again appreciate eternal theme relationship between man and woman. With the help of female images, one can judge some of the character traits that the “Hero of Our Time” is endowed with. The romantic basis of Mary's image is largely realistically balanced by a psychologically motivated depiction of the gradual emergence and development of a feeling of love in her soul. Faith from the inside remains undisclosed, her love for Pechorin is given in a ready-made form, the emergence and development of this feeling can only be assumed. Vera is the most objectified, lyrical image, representing, as it were, a synthesis of the images of Bela with her naturalness and passion and Mary, with her sophistication and complex mental and spiritual organization.

Thus, the female images of the novel “A Hero of Our Time” reveal Pechorin’s character traits. However, Lermontov’s skill as a narrator lies in the fact that, even without creating detailed, complete images, sometimes using only characteristic details, the author creates vivid and memorable portraits. The reader of Lermontov involuntarily empathizes with women's tears and suffering.

All the female characters in the novel play an 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.

Thus, to summarize, we can say that the image of a woman as a loving being in the novel is contrasted with Pechorin, who strives for love, but is not capable of it.

List of used literature:

1. Arkhipov V.A. M.Yu. Lermontov. - M.: Moscow worker, 1965.

Afanasyev V.V. Lermontov. - M.: Young Guard, 1991.

Viskovatov P.A. M.Yu. Lermontov: Life and creativity. - M.: Sovremennik, 1987.

“Hero of Our Time”//Lermontov Encyclopedia/Ch. ed. V.A. Manuilov. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1981. - P. 108.

5. Dolinina N.G. Pechorin and our time. - L.: Children's literature, 1991

6. Korovin V.I. Creative path M.Yu. Lermontov. - M.: Education, 1973.

7. Manuylov V.A. M.Yu. Lermontov. Biography of the writer. A manual for students. - L.: Education, 1976.

The basis of a writer’s creativity is inspiration sent from above. And this inspiration often has a feminine origin. It is no coincidence that the Muse is a woman. They lay swords at her feet, perform feats in the name of a woman, and commit crimes for her sake. She is the beauty that will save the world.

In Russian literature, women are glorified especially impressively. Every writer, depicting his heroine, strives to convey through her his idea of ​​beauty. The writer’s attitude towards his hero is most often revealed precisely through this hero’s attitude towards a woman: he has been given Beauty, but how can the hero manage with what is given to him?

Writers, portraying their best heroines in their works, expressed their life philosophy. A woman is a source of joy, strength and inspiration. And about his generation, Lermontov wrote: “We both hate and we love by chance, sacrificing nothing to either anger or love, and a kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, when fire boils in the blood.” These words perfectly reveal the character of the main character Pechorin and his attitude towards women. There are three of them in the novel: Bela, Princess Mary and Vera.

Bela is a young Circassian woman, whom we learn about from the story of Maxim Maksimych. Pechorin, seeing her at the wedding, was captivated by her unusual appearance. She seemed to him the embodiment of spontaneity, naturalness - something that the secular ladies familiar to Pechorin did not possess. He was carried away by the fight for Bela, but when all the barriers were destroyed and Bela joyfully accepted her fate, Pechorin realized that he had been deceived: “... the love of a savage is little better than the love of a noble lady, ignorance and simple-heartedness alone are the same.” They get boring, just like the other’s coquetry.” We should not forget that this is not the opinion of the author, but of Pechorin, who often and quickly became disappointed in everything. Bela has a strong, integral character, in which there is firmness, pride, and constancy, because she was brought up in the traditions of the Caucasus.

Princess Mary looks completely different. We learn about it from Pechorin’s diary, which describes in detail the “water society” of Pyatigorsk, where the hero stayed. Already at the first mention of Princess Mary (in a conversation with Grushnitsky), an ironic, somewhat mocking tone of the narrative emerges. Mary Ligovskaya is very young, pretty, inexperienced, and flirtatious. She, naturally, does not understand people particularly well, does not see Grushnitsky’s foppishness, and does not understand the calculatedness of Pechorin’s play. She wants to live as is customary in high society - with some vanity and splendor. Mary becomes the subject of rivalry between Grushnitsky and Pechorin. This unworthy game ruins one and amuses another. Pechorin, however, also has his own goal: when he visits the Ligovskys, he has the opportunity to see Vera there.

In such an environment, it was very difficult for Princess Mary to behave naturally, and perhaps even to show her best qualities. Why is Pechorin so bored and lonely? To answer this question means to reveal the cause of his sorrows. Pechorin is an extraordinary person, therefore, he was looking among women for one who could completely capture his soul. But there was no such thing. And most likely, Lermontov’s tasks in the novel were much broader than the depiction of young, inexperienced, unhappy girls burned by Pechorin’s egoism.

Pechorin's true love is shown in sketches. Lermontov did not fully describe this feeling. Pechorin cried when, having driven his horse, he did not catch up with Vera. However, this was just a temporary impulse of the soul, but nothing more. In the morning he became himself again. Faith is just Pechorin’s sick past. He did not experience complete happiness with her: after all, she was someone else’s wife, which, of course, hurt Gregory’s pride. No! This is not for Pechorin! Maybe that’s why, in order to compensate for the lost balance, he is so cold with young women who are in love with him.

Pechorin, while in no way being a self-portrait of Lermontov (“An old and ridiculous joke!” says the preface about such an interpretation), is still infinitely close to the author in his assessments, emotions, and reasoning. This creates a special feeling of common misfortune and guilt between the author and his hero. As in “Duma,” the poet, expressing the views of his generation, sharing its fate, understanding common tragedy society, furiously indignant, rises above the general mass, rises above it - to unattainable heights of the spirit.

Lermontov denies his closeness to Pechorin, stating that the portrait of the hero is made up of the vices of the entire society. However, it is known that the relationship between Pechorin and Vera is a reflection unrequited love Lermontov to Varenka Bakhmetyeva, whom he idolized with all his short life. He wrote about her: “At the feet of others I did not forget the gaze of your eyes, loving others, I only suffered from the love of former days.” How similar is the loving handwriting of Lermontov himself to Pechorin’s handwriting. Lermontov was handsome, many women loved him, but he constantly returned to the image of his beloved.

Many wonderful books (for example, I. A. Novikov’s book “On the Souls of the Living and the Dead”), critical articles and notes are devoted to the life and work of M. Yu. Lermontov. If Pushkin is the creator of the first realistic novel in poetry about modernity, then Lermontov is the author of the first realistic novel in prose. His work is distinguished by the depth of psychological analysis that allowed N. G. Chernyshevsky to see in Lermontov the immediate predecessor of L. N. Tolstoy. And one cannot but agree with this: after all, it was from Lermontov that Tolstoy learned techniques for revealing the inner world of characters and portraiture. F. M. Dostoevsky also proceeded from the creative experience of Lermontov, however, the poet’s thoughts about the role of suffering in the spiritual life of a person, about the split consciousness, about the collapse of the individualism of a strong personality grew in Dostoevsky into a depiction of the painful tension and painful suffering of his heroes works.

Lermontov plunges into the study of complex spiritual world a person whose thought is eternally awake in the desire to know the truth and achieve absolute perfection. This craving for the ideal with the awareness of the imperfection of the world and man is an amazing, purely Lermontov interpretation of the main romantic conflict between the duality, disunity of the world in general and the ideal aspirations of the individual. In that external conflict Lermontov introduced romanticism into the deepest internal conflict of personality, the constant confrontation of multidirectional forces - the forces of good and evil - in the human soul. The exploration of the spiritual world is endless. And this infinity was discovered in Russian literature by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.

Exploring the origins of good and evil, Lermontov comes to understand the most important law of life: both good and evil are not outside a person, but inside - in his soul. All Lermontov’s attention is concentrated on spiritual path hero.

It was not by chance that M. Yu. Lermontov devoted great attention female characters in his novel. Not a single serious problem, especially the problem of the hero and time, can be considered outside of the beautiful and better half of humanity, outside of its interests, experiences and feelings. One of the writer’s discoveries was the criterion: tell me who loves this person, and I will form an idea about him. It seems to me that the depiction of female characters in the novel gave the main character and the novel itself the uniqueness and freshness of his perception, as well as that range of experiences that penetrate deeply into the soul and remain there for a long time.

Three heroines. Vera is a married lady from a secular society with status and position. Mary is Vera's relative. Young, pretty. Pechorin makes a girl fall in love with him for the sake of entertainment. Bela is the daughter of a prince. She was kidnapped by Pechorin, becoming his concubine.

Princess Mary

Grigory saw features in the girl that impressed him. She could have become childishly offended, pouting her lips. I knew how to be grateful. This was noticeable when Pechorin saved her from the company of an annoying gentleman who drank and pestered her. He became the savior, the prince she had been waiting for. For his sake I was ready to give up everything, rush to the ends of the world, if he called.

Pechorin doesn't need Mary. Yes, she was nice, he liked her, but marriage was not for him. When Gregory admits that he does not need love, it was a blow for Mary, but she withstood it proudly and with dignity. After the separation, the princess will long remember the failed romance, hating herself for being led by her feelings.

Bela

Only Maxim Maksimych understood the girl and worried about her as if she were his own daughter. He saw Bela suffering. When Bela was dying from a knife wound, the staff captain understood that this was the best way out. She couldn't live without love. For Pechorin, her death meant nothing. During the funeral, not a single muscle moved on his face. He understood his involvement in Bela's death. If you didn’t take her from her parents’ house, the Circassian woman’s life could have turned out differently. Bela passed away with regret that in the next world she would not be able to be with her beloved. Different faiths prevented souls from uniting in heaven. Ruined by Pechorin young soul, unable to resist his charms.

Vera Ligovskaya

Vera knew that they could not be together. She is mortally ill, but seeing Pechorin every day is beyond her strength. Together with her husband, she hastily leaves Kislovodsk. Grigory rushes after him, but does not have time. Having driven the horse, he falls from his own powerlessness on the grass, sobbing like Small child. Having lost Vera forever, Gregory understands how important and dear she is to him.

All three female characters had one thing in common. They are sincere in their feelings. Unique, bright personalities. Beautiful, smart, with kind hearts, with an open soul. But not one could keep Pechorin close, for whom freedom is most important, and feelings, in his opinion, are empty.

There are four key female characters in Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time. As I said famous critic V.G. Belinsky, the female characters in this work were a great success.

The chronological order of the parts of the novel is broken, so the first to appear in the life of Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is the so-called undine - the young lady from the chapter “Taman”. The hero is impressed and intrigued, as is clear from his description:

“Definitely, I have never seen such a woman. She was far from beautiful, but... “...... there was a lot of character in her... “...... the right nose drove me crazy.”

Pechorin, seeing her for the first time, tries to understand the motive of her actions, but to no avail:

“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, and every time they seemed to be waiting for a question.”

In essence, the mermaid girl or, as the hero calls her, undine, is the only female character, who showed him some kind of opposition. And purely physical (she tried to drown), and psychological (she doesn’t need him at all and is not important, she’s just afraid of him as a witness). And yes, this woman played a game with him, guided purely by her own considerations. The young lady did not have any personal interest in him; anyone who showed their curiosity inappropriately could have been in his place. She kisses him in order to lure him into the sea, where she hopes to get rid of the headless man. young man. But her plan was not a success: Pechorin did not lose his head at that time, although he showed a certain weakness in this matter.

Next in chronology we're talking about about the events in Pyatigorsk, where Princess Mary appears. This a poor girl for the first time I encountered a man who had different views on life than those accepted in modern society, and was not ready for this. It is clear from everything that her fate should have developed according to the “standard” scheme of that time... but both then and now, apparently, “bad” young men had higher chances of success.

Mary is a lovely romantic girl who trustingly falls into the trap of a more experienced and less sentimental man. What captivates her is that Pechorin is honest in his own way: he is not a womanizer trying to seduce a young innocent lady. He was hurt by Grushnitsky - simply because these two types of people can rarely coexist peacefully in tandem, and the unfortunate princess was “hooked” by inertia. She is not a cutesy, muslin girl who subtly plays by the generally accepted rules of a secular environment, she sincerely fell in love, trusted... but not the same. Her trouble is that, willingly or unwillingly, she too romanticized Pechorin’s appearance.

In essence, he did not lie to the princess, did not try to compromise her. But he viewed their relationship as if from the outside - while she found herself in the very center of events. The heroine evokes sympathy and sincere sympathy, because she is not stupid, kind and selfless. Take the notorious episode with the glass that she helped Grushnitsky raise: after all, she looked cautiously in the direction of her mother, but this was already a belated manifestation of attention to the rules of society. And the primary urge of the soul was to help those in need.

At the same time as Princess Mary, another woman appears in the novel - Vera. Only she, unlike the princess, is not meeting Pechorin for the first time. They had close relations in the past, and in Pyatigorsk they flare up again - at least on Vera’s part. Pechorin considers her the only woman in the world whom he would not be able to deceive. It is difficult to say definitely what this is connected with. But, among other things, the hero’s heart does not ache for any other woman in the novel.

“Vera is sick, very sick... “... I’m afraid that she might have consumption,” “my heart sank painfully...”

Apparently, if Pechorin could (not be afraid!) love with all his soul, like many other people, he would love Vera. But now it’s not about him, but about her: she managed to become a close person to him, a friend, one might say. Looking ahead, I can say that Bela was not his friend in any way, and Princess Mary did not deserve such trust. For the sake of Pechorin, Vera sacrificed her family well-being, admitting to her husband that she loved someone else, and in the meantime, it’s not time to file for divorce... And it cannot be said that everything was in vain: having received her Farewell letter, the hero rushes headlong to catch up with her, but does not have time, and we see an unusual picture in which he lies, exhausted, and sobs desperately, lying in the wet grass.

And finally, Bela. The most tragic female character... A young Circassian woman, kidnapped from her father's house, torn from her usual life, environment, traditions... Everything would be fine if, after her abduction, everything could be returned to its place. Well, Grigory Aleksandrovich understood: it’s not mine, I’m tired of it, and she went back where she came from. She'll cry, calm down, meet someone else! But this is not the twenty-first century with the usual phenomenon of temporary cohabitation without obligations: they got together, separated, everyone is free. There is no way back to the village of Bela, she is already a “cut-off piece”, and nothing good awaits her there, although the hero says: “... if you want, return to your father, you are free.” And in the fortress she was not welcome. Poor girl! This is definitely Pechorin’s victim.

All his heartbreaking thoughts, all his reasoning, all his romantic aura - everything doesn’t matter anymore. Yes, he brings sheer suffering to everyone: an undine he doesn’t even know! - breaks the established rut of life with his sudden invasion, Vera is already destroying the family for the second time, Mary will not recover from painful disappointment for a long time... but, perhaps, he acts so barbarically only with Bela.

Again, not out of malice... but I’m all about Pechorin. He, you see, instructed the perfumer to accustom her to the idea “that she is mine, because she will not belong to anyone but me...”. She immediately liked him when she first saw him at a wedding in the village. But the difference between her and his concept of happiness and family is unthinkable. Bela is a victim here, partly due to mentality, partly due to circumstances. She could have blossomed, she could have! But this required love, which fueled her from the very beginning, from the first days in the fortress.

Bela did not ask for anything other than love, and this turned out to be an unaffordable price for Pechorin. She did not respond to gifts and beautiful words until he decided to take extreme measures: “I am guilty before you and must punish myself: goodbye, I’m going - where? Why do I know! Maybe I won’t be chasing a bullet for long...”

Bela could not bear the thought of the possible death of her beloved because of her. For which, as will become clear later in the text, she paid with her own life.

It cannot be said that the heroines of the novel are similar to each other. They have different family and social status, faith, occupation. The only thing that unites them is the root of their misfortunes. this moment time. Ruthless love for a man who could not make any of them happy due to his own inability to achieve happiness as such...

There is nothing more beautiful in the world than a woman.

Many poems, novels, and stories are dedicated to Russian women. They give her music, for her sake they perform feats, make discoveries, shoot at each other. They go crazy because of her. They sing about her. In short, the earth rests on it. Women are sung especially impressively in Russian literature. Masters of words, creating images of their favorite heroines, expressed their life philosophy. After all, from my point of view, the role of women in society is great and irreplaceable. The epithet “captivating” is applied to images of women in nineteenth-century literature, and this is true. A woman is a source of inspiration, courage and happiness. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote: “We both hate and we love by chance, sacrificing nothing to either anger or love, and a kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, when fire boils in the blood.” In my opinion, these lines reveal Pechorin’s character in the best possible way and show his attitude towards women. There are three of them in the novel: Bela, Princess Mary and Vera.

We learn about Bel from the story of Maxim Maksimych. She is a young Circassian woman who captivated the passionate heart of Pechorin, captivated by her appearance and some kind of unusualness. Bela seemed to him the embodiment of naturalness, spontaneity, in other words, everything that Pechorin had not previously found in the society ladies he knew. The fight for Bela fascinated him very much, but having overcome all the obstacles and received the forbidden fruit in his hands, Pechorin realized that he had deceived himself: “... the love of a savage is little better than the love of a noble young lady, the ignorance and innocence of one is as annoying as the coquetry of another ". It must be remembered that this is not the opinion of the author, but the opinion of the hero, who, as we gradually learn from the novel, quickly became disillusioned with everything. Bela has a strong and integral character. Her character contains pride, perseverance and constancy, which is not surprising, since she was brought up in the traditions of the Caucasus.

Lermontov creates another female image, contrasting with the image of Bela - Princess Mary. She is described in Pechorin’s diary, which describes in detail the “water society of Pyatigorsk” (the hero stayed there for some time). Already in the first conversation with Grushnitsky about Princess Mary, an ironic, somewhat mocking tone of the narrative sounds.

This is what we learn about Mary Ligovskaya: she is still very young, inexperienced, but at the same time pretty, slightly flirtatious. She, obviously, is not particularly insightful in people, does not notice Grushnitsky’s farcical nature, and misunderstands the calculatedness of Pechorin’s play. She wants to live according to the laws of secular society, with some vanity and brilliance. Trying to get Mary makes Grushnitsky and Pechorin rivals. This unworthy game for one turns into death, for another it becomes entertainment. Pechorin, however, has another goal: when he visits the Ligovskys, he can see Vera there. I think that in such an environment it was very difficult for Princess Mary to show her best qualities.

And yet Pechorin is bored and lonely. Why? To answer this question means to reveal the cause of his mental torment. Pechorin is not an ordinary person, there are extraordinary people in him, even demonic traits. And since Pechorin is one of the people who love themselves in others, he looked for his qualities in women, he was waiting for the one whose inner world could completely capture his soul. But there was none. But, in my opinion, Lermontov’s task was not to paint young, inexperienced, unhappy girls crushed by Pechorin’s egoism.

Lermontov still does not deny Pechorin the ability to love. Pechorin's love is given in sketches, and not in its entirety. For example, Pechorin cried when he drove his horse, but did not catch up with Vera. However, this was just a temporary impulse of the soul, but nothing more.

In the morning he became himself again. Vera is just a sad moment from Pechorin's past. He was not happy with her, because she was someone else’s wife, which, of course, cut Gregory’s pride like a sharp dagger. No! This is not for Pechorin! Perhaps he is so cold with young women in love with him to compensate for his lost balance.

The author denied his similarity with the hero, stating that the image of Pechorin was made up of the vices of the entire society. However, it seems to me that the relationship between Vera and Pechorin is a reflection tragic love Lermontov to Varenka Bakhmetyeva. Lermontov loved Varenka all his short life. He wrote about her: “At the feet of others I did not forget the gaze of your eyes, loving others, I only suffered from the love of former days.” Doesn't this remind you of Pechorin's love handwriting? Lermontov was handsome, loved by many women, but constantly returned to the image of his beloved.

The fate of Lermontov has occupied many critics, literary scholars and philosophers. Novikov’s wonderful book “On the Souls of the Living and the Dead” was written about his life; many articles and notes are dedicated to him. If Pushkin is the creator of the first realistic novel about modernity in verse, then Lermontov is the author of the first realistic novel in prose. His work is distinguished by its depth psychological analysis, which allowed Chernyshevsky to call Lermontov the immediate predecessor of Tolstoy. M.Yu. Lermontov, in my opinion, did not by chance pay great attention to female images in his novel. Not a single serious problem, especially the problem of the hero and time, can be considered outside the beautiful and better half of humanity. In "A Hero of Our Time" Lermontov made an important discovery - he used the principle: tell me who loves this person, and I will form an idea about him. It seems to me that the depiction of female characters in the novel gave the main character and the novel itself originality, integrity of perception, and made the reader once again re-evaluate the eternal theme of the relationship between a man and a woman.