"Hero of our time": essay-reasoning. The novel "A Hero of Our Time", Lermontov

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

We all wrote in childhood the school essay “A Hero of Our Time” based on the novel by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, but most of the students did not really think about the motives of the writer and the background of the work. Reasoning objectively, not every student is able to understand the complex psychological experiences of adults. Therefore, to a classic work, on the one hand - simple, and on the other - deep, it is necessary to return to mature years and rethink, find common or opposite with oneself, the world, the Universe …

The birth of a genre

A Hero of Our Time was the first prose novel written in the style of socio-psychological realism. The moral and philosophical work contained, in addition to the story of the protagonist, also a vivid and harmonious description of the life of Russia in the 30s of the 19th century. This was a kind of experimental innovation in terms of the genre on the part of the author, since at that time such a genre as "novel" did not exist. Lermontovlater admitted that he wrote the novel "A Hero of Our Time", based on Pushkin's experience and the literary traditions of Western Europe. This influence is especially noticeable in the features of the romanticism of this novel.

Writing Background

In 1832 M. Lermontov wrote a poem “I want to live! I want sadness…” Why does a young man have such despair along with maturity of thought, accuracy of vision and such an uncontrollable desire for a storm? Perhaps it is this life-affirming despair that attracts the attention of many generations of readers and makes Lermontov's poetry relevant today? Thoughts about the desire for a storm also arise in the poem “Sail”, written in the same year: “And he, rebellious, asks for a storm, as if there is peace in storms!” His contemporary, almost the same age, A. Herzen spoke of his generation as "poisoned from infancy."

To understand these words, one should remember in what era Lermontov had to live, and the time that was reflected later in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”. It is more correct to start writing on the novel with an analysis of the poet's earlier poems, since it is in them that the prerequisites that prompted the author to create a unique work are visible.

The youth of M. Lermontov came at a time that was quite sad for the history of Russia. On December 14, 1825, the Decembrist uprising took place on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, which ended in defeat. The organizers of the uprising were hanged, the participants were sent to a twenty-five-year exile in Siberia. The peers of Lermontov, in contrast topeers of Pushkin, grew up in an atmosphere of oppression. Modern schoolchildren should take this into account when preparing an essay on this topic.

A Hero of Our Time

Lermontov endowed the hero with the “gloomy essence of being” of his era. At that time, generals played the role of suppressors of the people, judges were needed to carry out an unfair trial, poets - to glorify the king. An atmosphere of fear, suspicion, hopelessness grew. In the youth of the poet there was no light and faith. He grew up in a spiritual wilderness and kept trying to get out of it.

In the poem "Monologue" there is a line: "Among empty storms our youth is languishing…" It's hard to believe that the author of the poetic work is only 15 years old! But this was no ordinary youthful pessimism. Lermontov could not yet explain, but he was already beginning to understand that a person who does not have the opportunity to act cannot be happy. Ten years after Monologue, he will write the novel A Hero of Our Time. An essay on this topic must necessarily contain a discussion about the current time and the place of a person within it. It is in "A Hero of Our Time" that the author will explain the psychology of his generation and reflect the hopelessness to which his peers are doomed.

History of writing

When writing an essay, it would be reasonable to indicate that Lermontov began writing the novel in 1838 under the influence of Caucasian impressions. At first it was not even a novel, but separate stories, united by the main character. In 1839, the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski reported that M. Lermontov was preparing forprint a collection of his stories. Each of these stories was based on a certain literary tradition: "Bela" was written in the style of a traveler's essay, "Princess Mary" - according to the traditions of a secular story, "Taman" - in the spirit of a lyrical novel, "Fatalist" - in the manner of "a story about a mysterious incident”, which was popular in the 1830s. Later, a full-fledged novel "A Hero of Our Time" will be born from these stories.

The essay-reasoning can be briefly supplemented with the events described in the novel "Princess Ligovskaya" (1836). This work chronologically and plot preceded the "Hero". There, for the first time, Pechorin appeared, a guards officer who was in love with Princess Vera Ligovskaya. A separate chapter "Taman" was written in 1837, being, as it were, a continuation of "Princess Ligovskaya". All these works are interconnected and have a single socio-philosophical line, a single concept and genre orientation.

Editorial changes

The composition of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" has been changed in the new edition. The essay was recommended to be supplemented with a chronology of writing: the story "Bela" became the initial chapter of the novel, followed by "Maxim Maksimych" and "Princess Mary". Later, the first two stories were united under the heading "From the Notes of an Officer" and became the leading part of the novel, and the second part became "Princess Mary". It was intended to present the poignant "confession" of the protagonist. During August-September 1839, M. Lermontov decided to completely rewrite all the chapters with the exception of the chapter "Bela", which at that time had already been published. It was at this stage of work that the chapter "The Fatalist" entered the novel.

In the first edition, the novel had the title "One of the heroes of the beginning of the century." It consisted of four parts - four separate stories, although the meaning of the novel was divided by the author himself into only two parts. The initial part is the notes of the officer-narrator, the second is the notes of the hero. The introduction of the chapter "Fatalist" deepened the philosophical stream of the work. Breaking the novel into parts, Lermontov did not set the task of preserving the chronology of events, the goal was to reveal the soul of the protagonist and the soul of the people of that troubled era as much as possible.

By the end of 1839, M. Lermontov created the final version of the novel, including the chapter "Taman" and changing the composition of the work. The novel began with the head of Bela, followed by Maxim Maksimych. The notes of the protagonist, Pechorin, now began with the head "Taman", and ended with "Fatalist". The well-known "Pechorin's Journal" appeared in the same edition. So, the novel consists of five chapters and a new title appears: the novel "A Hero of Our Time".

What do Pechorin and Onegin have in common

The surname of the protagonist of the novel connected him with Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. The surname Pechorin comes from the name of the great Russian river Pechora, located not far from Onega (hence, as already noted, the surname Onegin). And this relationship is not at all accidental.

Following A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov turns to the image of his contemporary and analyzes his fate in the conditions of his time. Lermontov penetrates even deeper into the secrets of the soul of the protagonist, enhancing the psychologism of the work and saturating itdeep philosophical reflections on the morality of society.

Genre affiliation

"A Hero of Our Time" - essay-reasoning, the first moral and psychological prose novel in Russian literature. This is a kind of realistic novel, in which the focus is on solving the moral problems posed by the writer, which require deep psychological analysis.

In the novel, the author solves the moral and ethical problems relevant for his time: good and evil, love and friendship, death and religion, the purpose of man and free will. The psychologism of the work lies in the fact that Lermontov focuses on the personality of the hero, his emotional experiences. The “naked” soul of Pechorin appears before the reader. The novel A Hero of Our Time is the story of his soul.

Characteristic of the work

The author changed the composition several times in order to more fully reveal the main problem - the spiritual quest of the protagonist. This is the whole Lermontov. "A Hero of Our Time", the theme of which is seen in the description of life situations and turns in the fate of the protagonist, is completely devoid of any chronology. The question arises: why does the author not adhere to chronology in the arrangement of chapters? There are several reasons for the chronological inconsistency.

• Firstly, the novel has elements of various genres: notes, diary, secular novel, essay, and the like.
• Secondly, the author sought to interest the reader, to make a "journey" into psychologyhero, immerse the reader in the depths of the inner world of the character.

Due to the complex and "inconsistent" structure of the work, there are several narrators in the novel, each chapter has its own. So, in the chapter "Bela" the reader learns about the course of events from the story of Maxim Maksimovich (Maximych), in "Maxim Maksimych" the story is led by an officer, the chapters "Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist" are presented in the form of a journal and diary of the protagonist. That is, Pechorin himself is the narrator. The forms of the journal and diary allow the author to give not only an analysis of the hero's soul, but also a deep introspection of the personality.

Pechorin and Bella: indifference and love

By nature, Pechorin was an adventurer. How else to explain the situation when Azamat, the son of one of the local princes, kidnapped his sister Bela and brought Pechorin, and in response Pechorin steals a horse from Kazbich for Azamat? The hero did not get tired of giving expensive gifts to his woman, which eventually won her favor. The girl attracted him with her pride and defiance.

If we talk about the strength of feelings, reciprocal or unrequited love, then Lermontov's sympathies are on Bela's side - she really fell in love with Pechorin for real. But the main character seemed to go with the flow, he himself could not determine whether he had real feelings for the girl, or whether it was passion bubbling in his soul and body. This is the tragedy of the protagonist - he was unable to deeply empathize. In the love bond of Pechorin-Bel, the themes of the compositions are laid. "A Hero of Our Time" contains many moments that reve althe protagonist's ability to have strong feelings. Pechorin is aware that he is the cause of the misfortunes of others, but does not yet understand what is the matter. As a result, all his experiences are reduced to boredom, mental emptiness and disappointment.

However, there is no need to talk about complete heartlessness. When Bela dies a terrible death, this causes sympathy for her not only from Maxim Maksimych and readers. In the last minutes of Bela's life, Pechorin became "pale as a sheet." And then “he was unwell for a long time, lost weight, poor thing …” He felt his sin in front of her, but tried to hide all his feelings deep in his soul. Perhaps that is why he burst into a "strange laugh" that so frightened Maxim Maksimych. Most likely, it was a kind of nervous breakdown. Only a real “hero of our time” could behave like that. The composition of his character traits was close to the author - he lived next to such people side by side every day. The reader sees Pechorin's act through the eyes of the narrator Maxim Maksimych, but does not understand the reasons for these acts.

Maxim Maksimych's attitude to Pechorin

“He is so white, his uniform is so new that I immediately guessed that he had recently been in the Caucasus with us,” Maxim Maksimych saw Pechorin like that. From the description it is felt that the narrator sympathizes with Pechorin. This is evidenced by the words with diminutive-affectionate suffixes that the narrator uses, and the phrase "He was a nice guy …".

In the novel “A Hero of Our Time”, an essay about the life of Pechorin could be written in a separate multi-page book - such an ambiguous, vivid and deep image wasput into it by the author. Pechorin differed from others in his behavior: reaction to changes in temperature, sudden pallor, prolonged silence and unexpected talkativeness. Because of these "unusual" signs for old-timers, Maxim Maksimych considered Pechorin strange.

Maximych understood the feelings driven by the younger Pechorin, but considered it necessary to return the girl to her father, although he himself became very attached to Bela, respecting her for pride and endurance. However, he also owns the words: "There are people with whom one must certainly agree." Maxim Maksimych meant Pechorin, who was a strong personality and could bend everyone to his will.

Color of nature

Lermontov in Russian prose is one of the first authors for whom nature is not just scenery, but a full-fledged hero of the story. It is known that the author was captivated by the beauty of the Caucasus, its severity and grandeur. Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" is simply permeated with pictures of nature - wild, but beautiful. As a number of critics note, it was Lermontov who first added the concept of “humanization of nature” to the concept of “humanization of nature” already used by other writers. Special artistic techniques in the description of nature made it possible to emphasize the wild laws by which the people of the mountains lived. The paintings painted personally by M. Yu. Lermontov are distinguished by the same accuracy in the description and brightness of the color of the Caucasus.

Conclusions

So, the work "A Hero of Our Time" - already in the very title of the first novel lies its whole essence. Pechorin is the personification of a generation. It cannot be argued that all people rushed about in emotional experiences, suffered from misunderstanding, and their souls became hardened. The protagonist personified not so much fellow citizens as an era - difficult, at times cruel to people, but at the same time strong and strong-willed. It is about this that must be remembered when preparing the essay “Hero of Our Time”. Lermontov brilliantly conveyed the atmosphere of society in the story of one hero.