"The hero of our time," Pechorin: characteristic. Why Pechorin - the "hero of time"?

"Hero of Our Time" - the last great work of Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov, which was published completely in the year of his death. However, taking into account the whole logic of the writer's genius development, it can be assumed that, do not break his life so early, this would be just the beginning. Lermontov promised to grow into the largest Russian prose writer, since nothing equal to this work existed in Russian literature then.

Foreword, which changed the perception of the work

Lermontov began to think about prose in the late thirties. In the fortieth published the first edition of the novel "The Hero of Our Time", and a year later - the second. They differed in the preface, which Mikhail Yuryevich added in the second version. In it, he expressed several important thoughts. First of all, all suspicions about the identification of the author with the character of the work, written by Lermontov, "Hero of Our Time", are dismissed here. "Pechorin is not me!" - says Mikhail Yurievich. He emphasizes that he writes a novel not about himself, but about the hero of his time.

The second comment, contained in the preface, also shifted many of the accents of the perception of the work. Lermontov mentions the naivety of the public, which always awaits direct conclusions or morals. Who is the "hero of our time"? Pechorin or someone else? Here Mikhail Yuryevich openly taunts those who at the end of the work hope to see the answers to their questions.

"Hero of our time". Pechorin's analysis and his understanding of the meaning of life

In this work Lermontov makes an attempt - consistent, clear and very ambitious - to answer the question about which type of personality, character is the bearer of key properties of time. And how are such qualities motivated by external conditions? Why is Pechorin "the hero of our time" and why does he live exactly during this period?

The work contains a very complex meaning. The fact is that the "hero of our time" Pechorin is not so much motivated by external conditions as, on the contrary, he opposes them. In the novel, a minimum of facts, references to history, to the great state scale of events.

The character seems to exist separately from the events taking place at this time. And he lives a very incomprehensible life. It is not clear what he is striving for. Does he make a career, do he want to get another rank, meet real love. There are no answers to these questions.

The image of the main character created by others

What is different from other images of the work "The Hero of Our Time" by Pechorin? Characteristics of the personality of this character shows him as a person constantly contradicting himself. And yet, the reader is still understandable of his logic, and even of what kind of person he is, in principle. Difficulties character of the main character, this elusive "hero of the time," correspond to the whole complexity of looking at him.

Mikhail Yuryevich creates a very complex system, combining different storytellers and witnesses who describe the events. As a result, the reader does not approach the answers to his questions, but as if on the contrary, moves away from them.

There are descriptions of the events seen by Maxim Maksimovich, an officer fairly innocent. He lives next to Pechorin and treats him with deep sympathy, but sees in him not the person he really is. A complex and contradictory image of the main character is represented throughout the novel through the eyes of different characters, including himself.

The person is lonely and deep in himself

Not only the main, but also rather complex character of the work "The Hero of Our Time" - Pechorin. Characteristics of his personality is created with the help of people around him. And when they analyze this person from outside, sometimes their opinions do not coincide with his own point of view. As, for example, Maxim notices much more in him than he does. He observes those properties that he himself does not see.

And this happens with every person who, like the character of the novel "The Hero of Our Time" Pechorin, is deep in himself. He has almost no friends, except for Dr. Werner. And it is very important that to see the main thing in this person, her best qualities can be just an outsider.

The riddle of the character of the main character

What is always busy with the main character of the work "The Hero of Our Time" Pechorin? He is absorbed in the constant search for himself. And in most cases they find love, passion, genuinely close, cordial, friendly relations with a woman.

Alone with himself is a very strange person. Any action of it creates opposition. Any act turns into not the result, which he expected. He is like a director who builds his life and sees himself constantly from the outside. And all this for the person is painful and destructive. It's unnatural to think about yourself.

A special idea of the author in the work

Mikhail Yurievich is absolutely original. Based on the usual literary schemes, he offers the reader something completely unusual. Each event in the novel is seen from different points of view, and none is dominant.

In order to understand Lermontov's work, it is necessary to arrange the stories that were included in the novel "The Hero of Our Time" in a sequence of real events. Mikhail Yuryevich builds his own author's chronology, different from the reality of what is happening. This sets a special artistic logic for the development of the idea of the image of the "hero of our time" - the person who embodies the essence of that period.

What else is characteristic of the work "Hero of Our Time"? Pechorin's quotes, present throughout the novel, are full of deep meaning and reveal the nature of the character's character. Not being able to apply his energy and talent to the outside, direct his aspirations to some external object, he closes them on himself. And every time he acts as the executioner of those people whom he loves.

The key to the character of the protagonist

Why the Pechorin - "the hero of our time", the reader analyzes throughout the work, but the philosophical key to his image is in the story "Fatalist". It is no coincidence that she concludes herself with the whole novel. Here lies the belief that fate can not be contradicted, everything is predetermined in advance. And the predictions in the story come true in a strange way. And at the same time Pechorin, every time, being sure of the fatalities of the events, is opposed to them.

This is a person who interferes in the events, tries to change them, being at the same time convinced that this is absolutely useless occupation. Absolutely incomprehensible personality, every action of which guarantees the opposite result, and the desire for activity contains impotence as a result.

Invisible presence of the author in the novel

Contemporaries could rethink due to the novel of the situation, facts, details of everyday life. For example, a duel with Grushnitsky, which is of great importance in the context of the work. Such a duel for the nineteenth century is a significant attribute of the noble life. And it is very important to rethink the dueling code, which is given in the novel "The Hero of Our Time".

This remarkable work was written a year before the death of the poet, but involuntarily it seems that it describes the story of the upcoming duel. The author himself is invisibly present in the image of the hero, but he also endowed Grushnitsky with features of Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov's character and appearance.

The novel "The Hero of Our Time" became the beginning of a whole literary tradition. Without this work and those artistic discoveries to which Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov came, perhaps there would not be the best novels of Turgenev, Tolstoy. It is this work that begins a new era in Russian literature, where prose predominates and, in particular, the genre of the novel.