Mikhail Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time". Summary and plot

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Certainly, one of the most prominent writers of the nineteenth century is Mikhail Lermontov. "A Hero of Our Time", the brief content of which is distinguished by the discrepancy between the plot order of actions and the plot, is considered to be one of his most significant works. And there are reasons for that.

The novel expresses the main thoughts that Lermontov feels towards the generation of his contemporaries. "A Hero of Our Time", the summary of which is compositionally constructed in such a way as to most fully reveal the character of the protagonist to us, has gained integrity and completeness precisely thanks to this arrangement of parts of the work.

In the plot, that is, chronological order, the stories should have been arranged as follows: first "Taman", then "Princess Mary", followed by "The Fatalist", then "Bela", followed by "Maxim Maksimych" and, finally, "Foreword to Pechorin's Journal". But the author preferred to change the order of the narrative in order to make it easier for the reader to understand his thoughts. It was no coincidence that such a distorted order was chosen for this work, because the genre of the psychological novel is designed to show us the soul of the hero. A suitable form for this was chosen by Lermontov. "A Hero of Our Time", which has been repeatedly analyzed by many critics, is considered one of the most profound psychological novels even in our century.

So, the story begins with the chapter "Bel", in which the narrator on the way to Tiflis meets a fellow traveler, Maxim Maksimych, who told him the story of his joint service with Grigory Pechorin in the Chechen guard fortress. The center of his memoirs is the story of how Pechorin, a young ensign, laid eyes on the daughter of a local prince and stole her with the help of her younger brother named Azamat. Having "tamed" the beauty and made her fall in love with him, the officer soon gets tired of his relationship with her. Maxim Maksimych already then foresaw trouble. And in fact - Bela is kidnapped by Kazbich, left by Pechorin without a horse during an adventure, after which he kills the girl.

Followed by the chapter "Maxim Maksimych". The narrator witnesses the meeting of Grigory Pechorin with the staff captain, during which he draws up a psychological portrait of a young man. Maxim Maksimych, angry with Grigory for his coldness, gives the narrator Pechorin's travel notes, which make up most of the novel.

In the chapter "Taman" Gregory himself already acts as a narrator, who arrives in the city of the same name and demonstrates his propensity for adventures, tracking down the night routes of a blind boy living "on a vatere". Because of this, the hero almost dies in a fight with a girl - the smuggler's assistant.

The chapter "Princess Mary" illustrates Pechorin's passion for experiments and analysis of his actions. Grigory out of stubbornness decides to win the heart of an intelligent girl named Mary in order to hurt the pride of his friend Grushnitsky. In the end, a duel took place between them, in which the latter dies. In this chapter, we can most clearly observe the stubbornness of the hero and his penchant for reflection, which Lermontov endowed his character with. "The Hero of Our Time", a summary of which will help us understand the reasons for the actions of the character, gradually reveals to us the world of his soul.

In the last story, "The Fatalist", the author expresses his hope that all is not lost for his generation: Pechorin captures the Cossack murderer. This concludes the novel that Lermontov wrote, A Hero of Our Time. The summary of this psychological work should clarify the thoughts that the author put into it.