Composition "General characteristics of the portrait of Pechorin (based on the novel" A Hero of Our Time ").

19.04.2019

Characteristics of the hero from the comedy "Minor" D

Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, the main character of the story

The image and characteristics of svidrigailov in the novel crime and punishment dostoevsky composition

The image and characteristics of Mitrofanushka in Fonvizin's "The Minor": the description of Mitrofan Prostakov

"Hero of Our Time" - the first in our country psychological romance, in which Lermontov, by analyzing the actions and thoughts of the protagonist, reveals his inner world to the readers. But, despite this, the characteristic of Pechorin is not an easy task. The hero is ambiguous, like his actions, largely due to the fact that Lermontov did not create a typical character, but a real, living person. Let's try to understand this person and understand him.

The portrait characteristics of Pechorin contain a very interesting detail: "his eyes did not laugh when he laughed." We can see that the hero is reflected even in his external description... Indeed, Pechorin never feels his life entirely, in his own words, two people always coexist in him, one of whom acts, and the other judges him. He constantly analyzes his own actions, which is "the observation of the mature mind over itself." Perhaps this is what prevents the hero from living full life and makes him cynical.

The most striking feature of Pechorin's character is his selfishness. His desire at all costs to arrange everything exactly as it occurred to him, and nothing else. By this, he reminds one who does not retreat until he gets what he wants. And, being childishly naive, Pechorin never realizes in advance that people can suffer from his petty selfish aspirations. He puts his whim above the rest and simply does not think about others: "I look at the sufferings and joys of others only in relation to myself." Perhaps it is thanks to this trait that the hero moves away from people and considers himself superior to them.

The characteristic of Pechorin should contain one more important fact... The hero feels the strength of his soul, feels that he was born for a higher goal, but instead of looking for it, he wastes himself on all sorts of little things and momentary aspirations. He is constantly rushing about in search of entertainment, not knowing what he wants. So, in pursuit of small joys, his life passes. Having no goal in front of him, Pechorin wastes himself on empty things that bring nothing but short moments of satisfaction.

Since the hero himself does not consider his life to be something valuable, he begins to play with it. His desire to infuriate Grushnitsky or to direct his pistol at himself, as well as the trial of fate in the chapter "The Fatalist," are all manifestations of morbid curiosity, born of boredom and the inner emptiness of the hero. He does not think about the consequences of his actions, be it even his death or the death of another person. Pechorin is interested in observation and analysis, not the future.

It is thanks to the hero's introspection that the characterization of Pechorin can be completed, since he himself explains many of his actions. He studied himself well and perceives each of his emotions as an object for observation. He sees himself as if from the outside, which brings him closer to the readers and allows us to evaluate Pechorin's actions from his own point of view.

Here are the main points that should contain a brief description of Pechorin. In fact, his personality is much more complex and multifaceted. And it is unlikely that a characteristic can help to understand it. You need to find Pechorin inside yourself, to feel what he feels, and then his personality will become clear to the heroes of our time.

Article menu:

A person is always driven by the desire to know his destiny. Should you go with the flow or resist it? What position in society will be correct, should all actions comply with moral norms? These and similar questions often become the main ones for young people who actively comprehend the world and the human essence. Youthful maximalism demands to give to these problematic issues clear answers, but it is not always possible to give an answer.

It is about such a seeker of answers that M.Yu. Lermontov in his novel A Hero of Our Time. It should be noted that with writing prose, Mikhail Yuryevich was always on the "you" and his same position remained until the end of his life - all the novels in prose he started were never finished. Lermontov had the courage to bring the case with the "Hero" to a logical conclusion. This is probably why the composition, manner of presentation of material and style of narration look rather unusual against the background of other novels.

A Hero of Our Time is a work imbued with the spirit of the era. The characterization of Pechorin, the central figure of Mikhail Lermontov's novel, makes it possible to better understand the atmosphere of the 1830s, the time when the work was written. "A Hero of Our Time" is not in vain recognized by critics as the most mature and large-scale in philosophical sense novels by Mikhail Lermontov.

Great importance to understand the novel has historical context... In the 1830s Russian history differed in reactivity. In 1825, the Decembrist uprising took place, and the following years contributed to the development of a mood of loss. The Nikolaev reaction knocked many young people off track: young people did not know which vector of behavior and life to choose, how to make life meaningful.

This was the reason for the emergence of restless personalities, superfluous people.

The origin of Pechorin

Basically in the novel, one character is highlighted, which is the central character in the narrative. One gets the impression that this principle was rejected by Lermontov - based on the events told to the reader, the main character is Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin - a young man, an officer. However, the style of narration gives the right to doubt - the position in the text of Maxim Maksimovich is also quite weighty.

In fact, this is a delusion - Mikhail Yurievich has repeatedly emphasized that in his novel the main character- Pechorin, this corresponds to the main purpose of the narrative - to tell about typical people generations, point out their flaws and mistakes.

Lermontov gives rather scant information about childhood, the conditions of upbringing and the influence of parents on the process of forming Pechorin's positions and preferences. Several fragments of it past life they open this veil - we learn that Grigory Alexandrovich was born in St. Petersburg. His parents, according to the existing order, tried to give their son a proper education, but the young Pechorin did not feel a burden to the sciences, they "quickly bored him" and he decided to devote himself to military service. Perhaps such an act is not connected with the arisen interest in military affairs, but with the special disposition of society towards military people. The uniform made it possible to brighten up even the most unattractive actions and character traits, because the military was already loved for what they are. In society, it was difficult to find representatives who did not have a military rank - military service was considered honorable and everyone wanted to "try on" honor and glory along with the uniform.

As it turned out, military affairs did not bring the proper satisfaction and Pechorin quickly became disillusioned with it. Grigory Alexandrovich was sent to the Caucasus, as he was involved in a duel. The events that happened to the young man in this area form the basis of Lermontov's novel.

Characteristics of the actions and deeds of Pechorin

The reader gets the first impressions of the main character of Lermontov's novel when he meets Maxim Maksimych. The man served with Pechorin in the Caucasus, in a fortress. It was the story of a girl named Bela. Pechorin acted badly with Bela: out of boredom, having fun, the young man stole a Circassian girl. Bela is a beauty, at first cold with Pechorin. Gradually, the young man kindles a flame of love for him in Bela's heart, but as soon as the Circassian woman fell in love with Pechorin, he immediately lost interest in her.

Pechorin destroys the fate of other people, makes others suffer, but remains indifferent to the consequences of his actions. Bela and the girl's father are killed. Pechorin remembers the girl, regrets Bela, the past echoes in the hero's soul with bitterness, but does not cause remorse in Pechorin. While Bela was alive, Grigory told his comrade that he still loved the girl, felt gratitude to her, but boredom remained the same, and it was boredom that decided everything.

An attempt to find satisfaction, happiness pushes the young man to experiments, which the hero puts on living people. Psychological games, meanwhile, they turn out to be useless: the same emptiness remains in the hero's soul. The same motives accompany Pechorin's exposure of the "honest smugglers": the hero's act does not bring good results, only leaving the blind boy and old woman on the brink of survival.

The love of a wild Caucasian beauty or a noblewoman - it does not matter for Pechorin. The next time for the experiment, the hero chooses an aristocrat - Princess Mary. Handsome Gregory plays with a girl, causing Mary to love him in her soul, but after that he leaves the princess, breaking her heart.

The reader learns about the situation with Princess Mary and the smugglers from the diary that the main character started, wishing to understand himself. In the end, even the diary bothers Pechorin: any activity ends with boredom. Grigory Alexandrovich does not bring anything to the end, unable to endure the suffering from the loss of interest in the subject of his former passion. Pechorin's notes accumulate in a suitcase, which falls into the hands of Maksim Maksimych. The man experiences a strange affection for Pechorin, perceiving the young man as a friend. Maxim Maksimych keeps Grigory's notebooks and diaries, hoping to give the suitcase to a friend. But the young man is indifferent to fame, fame, Pechorin does not want to publish notes, so diaries turn out to be unnecessary waste paper. In this secular disinterest of Pechorin is the peculiarity and value of the hero of Lermontov.

Pechorin has one important feature - sincerity towards himself. The hero's actions evoke antipathy and even condemnation in the reader, but one thing needs to be recognized: Pechorin is open and honest, and a touch of vice comes from weak will and the inability to resist the influence of society.

Pechorin and Onegin

After the first publications of Lermontov's novel, both readers and literary critics began to compare Pechorin from the novel by Lermontov and Onegin from the work of Pushkin with each other. Both heroes have in common similar character traits, certain actions. As the researchers note, both Pechorin and Onegin were named according to the same principle. The names of the heroes are based on the name of the river - Onega and Pechora, respectively. But the symbolism does not end there.

Pechora is a river in the northern part of Russia (the modern Komi Republic and the Nanets Autonomous Okrug), by its nature it is a typical mountain river. Onega is located in the modern Arkhangelsk region and is quieter. The nature of the flow has a relationship with the characters of the heroes named after them. Pechorin's life is full of doubts and active searches for his place in society, he, like a seething stream, sweeps away everything without a trace in his path. Onegin is deprived of such a scale of destructive power, complexity and inability to realize oneself cause in him a state of dull melancholy.

Byronism and the "extra man"

In order to holistically perceive the image of Pechorin, to understand his character, motives and actions, it is necessary to have knowledge about the Byronic and superfluous hero.

The first concept came to Russian literature from England. Dzh.Bynov in his poem "Childe-Harold's Pilgrimage" created a unique image endowed with the desire to actively search for their destiny, the characteristics of egocentrism, dissatisfaction and desire for change.

The second is a phenomenon that arose in Russian literature itself and denotes a person who was ahead of his time and therefore alien and incomprehensible to those around him. Or one who, based on his knowledge and understanding of everyday truths, is higher in the development of others and, as a result, he is not accepted by society. Such characters become the cause of suffering for female representatives who love them.

Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is a classic representative of romanticism, who combined the concepts of Byronism and extra person... Despondency, boredom and spleen are the product of this combination.

Mikhail Lermontov considered the history of the life of an individual more interesting than the history of the people. Circumstances make Pechorin a "superfluous person". The hero is talented and intelligent, but the tragedy of Grigory Alexandrovich consists in the absence of a goal, in the inability to adapt himself, his talents to this world, in the general restlessness of the personality. In this, Pechorin's personality is an example of a typical decadent.

Forces young man do not go in search of a goal, not to realize themselves, but to adventure. At times, literary critics compare images Pushkin Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Grigory Pechorin: Onegin is bored, and Pechorin is suffering.

After the Decembrists were exiled, progressive trends and tendencies also succumbed to persecution. For Pechorin, a progressive-minded person, this meant the onset of a period of stagnation. Onegin has every opportunity to take the side of the people's cause, but refrains from doing so. Pechorin, having a desire to reform society, is deprived of such an opportunity. The wealth of spiritual forces Grigory Alexandrovich ruins on trifles: he hurts the girls, Vera and Princess Mary suffer because of the hero, Bela dies ...

Pechorin was ruined by society and circumstances. The hero keeps a diary, where he notes that, as a child, he spoke only the truth, but the adults did not believe in the boy's words.

Then Gregory became disillusioned with life and former ideals: a lie took the place of truth. As a young man, Pechorin sincerely loved the world. Society laughed at him and this love - Gregory's kindness turned into malice.

The secular environment, literature quickly bored the hero. Hobbies were replaced by other passions. Only travel can save you from boredom and disappointment. Mikhail Lermontov unfolds on the pages of the novel the whole evolution of the personality of the protagonist: the characteristic of Pechorin is revealed to the reader by all the central episodes of the formation of the hero's personality.

The character of Grigory Alexandrovich is accompanied by actions, behavior, decisions that more fully reveal the personality traits of the character. Pechorin is also evaluated by other heroes of Lermontov's novel, for example, Maxim Maksimych, who notices the contradictory nature of Grigory. Pechorin is a strong, strong-bodied young man, but sometimes the hero is overcome by a strange physical weakness. Grigory Alexandrovich turned 30 years old, but the hero's face is full of childish features, and in appearance the hero is no more than 23 years old. The hero laughs, but at the same time sadness can be seen in Pechorin's eyes. The opinions about Pechorin, expressed by different characters in the novel, allow readers to look at the hero, respectively, from different positions.

The death of Pechorin expresses the idea of Mikhail Lermontov: a person who has not found a goal remains superfluous, unnecessary for the environment. Such a person cannot serve for the good of mankind, does not represent value for society and the fatherland.

In A Hero of Our Time, the writer described the entire generation of his contemporaries - young people who have lost the purpose and meaning of life. Just as Hemingway's generation is considered lost, so Lermontov's generation is considered lost, superfluous, restless. These young people are prone to boredom, which turns into a vice in the context of the development of the local society.

Pechorin's appearance and age

At the time of the beginning of the story, Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin is 25 years old. He looks very good, well-groomed, so in some moments it seems that he is much younger than he really is. There was nothing unusual about his height and build: medium height, strong athletic build. He was a man with pleasant features. As the author notes, he had a "unique face", one that women are madly in love with. Light, naturally curly hair, a "slightly upturned" nose, snow-white teeth and a cute childish smile - all this complements his appearance.

His eyes, brown in color, seemed to live a separate life - they never laughed when their owner laughed. Lermontov calls two reasons for this phenomenon - either we have a man of evil disposition, or who is in a state deep depression... What kind of explanation (or both at once) are applicable to the hero Lermontov does not give a direct answer - the reader will have to analyze these facts themselves.

The expression on his face is also incapable of expressing any emotion. Pechorin does not restrain himself - he simply lacks the ability to empathize.

The heavy, unpleasant look finally smears this look.

As you can see, Grigory Alexandrovich looks like a porcelain doll - his cute face with childish features seems to be a frozen mask, not a face real person.

Pechorin's clothes are always neat and clean - this is one of those principles that Grigory Alexandrovich follows impeccably - an aristocrat cannot be an untidy slob.

While in the Caucasus, Pechorin easily leaves his usual outfit in the closet and puts on the national male Circassian attire. Many people note that these clothes make him look like a true Kabardian - sometimes people belonging to this nationality do not look so impressive. Pechorin looks more like a Kabardin than the Kabardians themselves. But even in these clothes he is a dandy - the length of the fur, the decoration, the color and size of the clothes - everything was chosen with extraordinary care.

Characteristics of character traits

Pechorin is a classic representative of the aristocracy. He himself comes from a noble family, who received a decent upbringing and education (knows French, dances well). All his life he lived in abundance, this fact allowed him to start his journey of searching for his destiny and such an occupation that would not let him get bored.

At first, the attention given to him by women pleasantly flattered Grigory Alexandrovich, but soon he was able to study the types of behavior of all women and therefore communication with the ladies became boring and predictable for him. The impulses to create his own family are alien to him, and as soon as it comes to hints about a wedding, his ardor for the girl instantly disappears.

Pechorin is not assiduous - sciences and reading catch up with him even more than secular society, blues. A rare exception in this regard is provided by the works of Walter Scott.

When Savor became too painful for him, and travel, literary activity and science did not bring desired result, Pechorin decides to start a military career. He, as is customary among the aristocracy, serves in the Petersburg Guard. But even here he does not stay long - participation in a duel dramatically changes his life - for this offense he is exiled to serve in the Caucasus.

If Pechorin was a hero folk epic then his constant epithet would be the word "strange". All heroes find in him something unusual, different from other people. This fact is not related to habits, mental or psychological development - here it is just about the ability to express your emotions, adhere to the same position - sometimes Grigory Aleksandrovich is very contradictory.

He likes to bring pain and suffering to others, he realizes this and understands that such behavior does not paint not only him specifically, but also any person. And yet he does not try to restrain himself. Pechorin, compares himself to a vampire - the realization that someone will spend the night in mental anguish is incredibly flattering to him.

Pechorin is persistent and stubborn, this creates many problems for him, because of this he often finds himself in not the most pleasant situations, but here courage and determination come to his rescue.

Grigory Alexandrovich becomes the cause of destruction life paths of many people. By his grace, the blind boy and the old woman remain abandoned to their fate (the episode with the smugglers), Vulich, Bella and her father die, Pechorin's friend dies in a duel at the hands of Pechorin himself, Azamat becomes a criminal. This list can still be replenished with many names of people whom the main character insulted, became a reason for resentment and depression. Does Pechorin know and understand the full severity of the consequences of his actions? Quite, but this fact does not bother him - he does not value his life either, not that the fate of other people.

Thus, the image of Pechorin is contradictory and ambiguous. On the one hand, it is easy to find in it positive features character, but on the other hand, callousness and selfishness confidently reduce all his positive achievements to nothing - Grigory Aleksandrovich destroys his own fate and the fate of the people around him with his recklessness. He - destructive force that is difficult to resist.

Psychological portrait of Grigory Pechorin

The appeal to the appearance and habits of the hero helps Lermontov to represent the character traits of the character. For example, Pechorin is distinguished by a lazy and careless gait, but at the same time the hero's gestures do not mean that Pechorin is a secretive person. The young man's forehead was spoiled with wrinkles, and when Grigory Alexandrovich was sitting, the impression was created that the hero was tired. When Pechorin's lips laughed, his eyes remained motionless, sad.

Pechorin's fatigue manifested itself in the fact that the hero's passion did not linger for a long time in any object or person. Grigory Alexandrovich said that in life he is guided not by the dictates of the heart, but by the orders of the head. This is coldness, rationality, periodically interrupted by a short-term riot of feelings. Pechorin is characterized by a feature called fatality. The young man is not afraid to go to the wild boar, looking for adventure and risk, as if tempting fate.

The contradictions in Pechorin's characterization are manifested in the fact that with the courage described above, the hero is frightened by the slightest crackle of window shutters or the sound of rain. Pechorin is a fatalist, but at the same time convinced of the importance of human willpower. There is a certain predetermination in life, expressed at least in the fact that a person will not escape death, so why then are they afraid to die? In the end, Pechorin wants to help society, to be useful, saving people from a Cossack killer.

Grigory Pechorin from the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time": characteristics, image, description, portrait

4.3 (86.67%) 6 votes

Researchers have repeatedly noted the detail, detail and psychologism of the portraits of the characters created by M.Yu. Lermontov. B. M. Eikhenbaum wrote that the basis portrait painting the writer "laid a new idea of the connection between a person's appearance with his character and psyche in general - a representation in which echoes of new philosophical and natural science theories are heard, which served as a support for early materialism."

Let's try to consider the portraits of the characters in the novel "A Hero of Our Time". The most detailed description appearance in the novel is a portrait of Pechorin, given in the perception of a passing officer. It provides a detailed description of the hero's physique, his clothes, face, gait, and each of these details of his appearance can tell a lot about the hero. As V.V. Vinogradov notes, external details are interpreted by the author in physiological, social or psychological aspect, a kind of parallelism is established between external and internal.

So, the aristocratic origin of Pechorin is emphasized by such details in his portrait as "pale, noble forehead", "small aristocratic hand", "teeth of dazzling whiteness", black mustache and eyebrows, despite light color hair. The physical strength of Pechorin, his dexterity and endurance is said by "broad shoulders" and "strong constitution, capable of enduring all the difficulties of nomadic life." The hero's gait is careless and lazy, but he does not have the habit of waving his arms, which indicates some secrecy of his character.

But most of all, the narrator is struck by Pechorin's eyes, which "did not laugh when he laughed." And here the narrator openly connects the portrait of the hero with his psychology: “This is a sign - either of an evil disposition, or of deep constant sadness,” the narrator notes.

His cold, metallic gaze speaks of the hero's insight, intelligence and at the same time indifference. “Because of the half-down eyelashes, they [eyes] shone with some kind of phosphoric sheen, so to speak. That was not a reflection of the heat of the spiritual or playing imagination: it was a shine, like the shine of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold, his gaze - short, but shrewd and heavy, left an unpleasant impression of an immodest question about himself and might seem impudent, if not for was so indifferently calm. "

The contradictory nature of Pechorin is betrayed by the opposite features in his portrait: "strong build" and "nervous weakness" of the whole body, a cold, penetrating look - and a child's smile, an indefinite impression of the hero's age (at first glance, no more than twenty-three years old, upon close acquaintance - thirty).

Thus, the composition of the portrait is built, as it were, narrowing,< от более внешнего, физиологического к психологическому, характеристическому, от типического к индивидуальному»: от обрисовки телосложения, одежды, манер к обрисовке выражения лица, глаз и т.д.

Other characters are depicted in less detail in the novel. For example, a description of Maksim Maksimych's appearance: “Behind my cart, four bulls were dragging another ... Her owner followed her, smoking from a small Kabardian pipe, dressed in silver. He was wearing an officer's coat without epaulettes and a furry Circassian cap. He seemed about fifty years old; his dark complexion showed that he had long been familiar with the Transcaucasian sun, and his prematurely gray mustache did not correspond to his firm gait and vigorous appearance. "

Maxim Maksimych is a physically strong person with good health, vigorous and hardy. This hero is simple-minded, sometimes awkward and seems ridiculous: “He did not stand on ceremony, he even hit me on the shoulder and twisted his mouth into a smile. Such an eccentric! " However, there is something childish in him: “... he looked at me in surprise, grumbled something through his teeth and began to rummage through the suitcase; so he took out one notebook and threw it with contempt on the ground; then the other, the third and the tenth had the same fate: there was something childish in his annoyance; I felt funny and sorry ... "

Maksim Maksimych is a simple army staff captain, he does not have Pechorin's insight, his intellect, his spiritual needs. However, this hero possesses kind heart, youthful naivety, integrity of character, and the writer emphasizes these features, depicting his manners and behavior.

In the perception of Pechorin, the novel gives a portrait of Grushnitsky. This is a sketch portrait that reveals not only the appearance of the hero, but also his manners, habits, lifestyle, character traits. Grushnitsky appears here as a certain human type... We meet this kind of portraits-sketches in Pushkin and Gogol. However, it is worth noting that all descriptions of Lermontov's appearance are accompanied by the author's commentary - the conclusions that the author draws when describing one or another detail of the appearance (in this case, Pechorin makes all the conclusions). Pushkin and Gogol have no such comments. We find similar comments in the depiction of appearance in Tolstoy, however, Tolstoy comments not on the initial portrait of the hero, but on dynamic descriptions of the character's states.

The portrait of Grushnitsky indirectly characterizes Pechorin himself, emphasizing his mind and insight, the ability to understand human psychology and at the same time - the subjectivity of perception.

“Grushnitsky is a cadet. He has only been in the service for a year, wears, according to a special kind of smartness, a thick soldier's greatcoat ... He is well built, dark-skinned and black-haired; he looks to be twenty-five years old, although he is hardly twenty-one years old. He throws his head back when he speaks, and every minute twirls his mustache with his left hand, for with his right he rests on a crutch. He speaks quickly and pretentiously: he is one of those people who have ready-made magnificent phrases for all occasions, who are simply not touched by the beautiful and who are importantly draped into extraordinary feelings, lofty passions and exceptional suffering. To produce an effect is their pleasure; they like romantic provincial women to madness. "

Here, the appearance of the hero is described first, then his characteristic gestures and manners. Then Lermontov outlines the character traits of Grushnitsky, emphasizing the general, typical in the character. In describing the hero's appearance, Lermontov uses the technique of mimicry ("He throws his head back when he speaks and constantly twists his mustache with his left hand"), which is then used by Tolstoy (jumping over the cheeks of Prince Vasily in the novel "War and Peace").

In the minds of Pechorin, Grushnitsky is seen as certain type personality, in many ways the opposite of himself. And this is precisely the alignment of forces in the novel. Grushnitskaya, with his demonstrative disappointment, is a caricature, a parody of the main character. And this caricature of the image, vulgarity internal appearance Grushnitsky is constantly emphasized in the description of his appearance. “Half an hour before the ball, Grushnitsky appeared to me in the full radiance of an army infantry uniform. Fastened to the third button was a bronze chain, on which hung a double lorgnette; epaulettes of incredible size were bent upward in the form of cupid's wings; his boots squeaked; in his left hand he held brown kid gloves and a cap, and with his right he beat a curled crest into small curls every minute.

If the first portrait of Grushnitsky is a detailed sketch of appearance, behavior and character, then his second portrait is a concrete, fleeting impression of Pechorin. Despite the contempt he felt for Grushnitsky, Grigory Aleksandrovich here tries to be objective. However, it is worth noting that he does not always succeed in this.

Grushnitsky is in many ways still a boy, following the fashion, who wants to show off and is in the heat of youthful ardor. However, Pechorin (with his knowledge of human psychology) does not seem to notice this. He views Grushnitsky as a serious opponent, while the latter is not.

Magnificent in the novel is the portrait of Dr. Werner, given also in the perception of Pechorin. “Werner was small and thin and weak as a child; one leg is shorter than the other, like Byron; in comparison with the body, his head seemed huge: he cut his hair under a comb, and the irregularities of his skull, exposed in this way, would have amazed the phrenologist with a strange interweaving of opposite inclinations. "

Werner is neat, he has good taste: “Taste and neatness were noticeable in his clothes; his thin, sinewy and small hands were adorned with light yellow gloves. His coat, tie and waistcoat were always black. "

Werner is a skeptic and materialist. Like many doctors, he often makes fun of his patients, but he is not cynical: Pechorin once saw him cry over a dying soldier. The doctor is well versed in the female and male psychology, however, he never uses his knowledge, unlike Pechorin. Werner's evil tongue, his small black eyes, penetrating the thoughts of the interlocutor, speak of his intelligence and insight.

However, for all his skepticism, evil mind, Werner is a poet in life, he is kind, noble, has a pure, childish soul. With outward ugliness, the hero attracts with the nobility of his soul, moral purity, brilliant intellect. Lermontov notes that women fall madly in love with such men, preferring their ugliness to the beauty of "the freshest and pinkest endymions."

Thus, the portrait of Dr. Werner is also a sketch portrait that reveals the features of the hero's appearance, and his character traits, and the way of thinking, and behavior. This portrait indirectly characterizes Pechorin himself, conveying his observation, a penchant for philosophical generalizations.

Great in romance and female portraits... So, the author "entrusts" the description of Bela's appearance to Maxim Maksimych, who here becomes a poet: "And, for sure, she was good: tall, thin, black eyes, like a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul."

The picturesque, psychological portrait of the "undine", given in the perception of Pechorin, is also noteworthy. In this description, the author acts as a true connoisseur female beauty... The reasoning here takes on the character of generalizations. The first impression made by this girl is fascinating: extraordinary flexibility of the camp, "long blond hair", "golden tint of tanned skin", "correct nose", eyes "gifted with magnetic power." But "undine" is the smugglers' assistant. Hiding the traces of her crimes, she tries to drown Pechorin. There is cunning and deceit in her, cruelty and decisiveness unusual for women. These features are also conveyed in the description of the heroine's appearance: in her indirect views - "something wild and suspicious", in her smile - "something indefinite." However, all the behavior of this girl, her mysterious speeches, her oddities remind Pechorin "Goethe Minion", and eludes him true essence"Undines".

Thus, Lermontov appears before us as a real master of portrait painting. The portraits created by the writer are detailed and detailed, the author is well versed in physiognomy and psychology of people. However, these portraits are static, just as the characters of the characters themselves are static. Lermontov does not depict heroes in the dynamics of their states of mind, in changing moods, feelings and impressions, but gives, as a rule, one big sketch of the character's appearance throughout the entire story. The static nature of the portraits distinguishes Lermontov from Tolstoy and brings him closer to Pushkin and Gogol.

Article menu:

A person is always driven by the desire to know his destiny. Should you go with the flow or resist it? What position in society will be correct, should all actions comply with moral norms? These and similar questions often become the main ones for young people who actively comprehend the world and the human essence. Youthful maximalism requires clear answers to these problematic questions, but it is not always possible to give an answer.

A Hero of Our Time is a work imbued with the spirit of the era. The characterization of Pechorin, the central figure of Mikhail Lermontov's novel, makes it possible to better understand the atmosphere of the 1830s, the time when the work was written. It is not for nothing that the “Hero of Our Time” is recognized by critics as the most mature and large-scale in the philosophical sense of Mikhail Lermontov's novels.

The historical context is of great importance for understanding the novel. In the 1830s, Russian history was reactive. In 1825, the Decembrist uprising took place, and the following years contributed to the development of a mood of loss. The Nikolaev reaction knocked many young people off track: young people did not know which vector of behavior and life to choose, how to make life meaningful.

This was the reason for the emergence of restless personalities, superfluous people.