Problematic study of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time"

The chapter "Taman" was included in the "Pechorin Journal". Restoring the chronological sequence of events from the life of Pechorin, one should begin reading the novel "A Hero of Our Time" with the story "Taman", where Pechorin tells about the incident that happened to him when he first came from St. Petersburg to the Caucasus. Then follows the story "Princess Mary", where Pechorin talks about the events in which he participated, having arrived on the waters in Pyatigorsk. Then the story "Bela", the events of which take place in the fortress, where Pechorin was exiled for a duel with Grushnitsky. Pechorin left the fortress for some time in Cossack village and witnessed the story of Officer Wylich, described in the Fatalist novel. Then five years pass. Pechorin, having retired, lives in St. Petersburg and, bored again, goes to Persia. On the way, he meets with Maxim Maksimych. Their meeting is described in the story "Maxim Maksimych". From a short preface to the "Pechorin's Journal" we learn that, returning from Persia, Pechorin died. Lermontov deviated from such a chronology and built the composition of the novel in such a way that first we learn about Pechorin from the stories about him by Maxim Maksimych and a passing officer, and then from the diary "Pechorin's Journal". Thus, the character of Pechorin is revealed in various situations, in a collision with other characters in the novel. And every time a new facet of Pechorin's complex and rich nature opens up. "Taman" is the third story in order. With his problematic and character of the environment, the hero, as it were, continues “Belu” and represents a record of an episode from the past. The story is told in the first person (Pechorina). Describing an episode from the life of the smugglers, Pechorin says nothing about his thoughts and experiences. His attention is focused on showing the events themselves, their participants, and the situation. The landscape helps to create a mysterious and romantic mood of the story. With amazing skill Lermontov describes the restless sea, moon, clouds. “The coast descended like a cliff to the sea almost at the very walls of it, and below, with a continuous roar, dark blue waves splashed. The moon quietly looked at the restless, but obedient to her element, and I could discern in its light, far from the coast, two ships, ”writes Pechorin. Around him is an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty. Night, a reed roof and white walls of a new dwelling, a meeting with a blind boy - all this so strikes Pechorin's imagination that he cannot sleep in a new place for a long time. Much in the boy's behavior seems incomprehensible and mysterious: how a blind man so easily descends along a narrow steep path, how he feels a person's gaze. An unpleasant impression on Pechorin is made by his barely perceptible smile. Pechorin's curiosity is also spurred on by the boy's actions. Alone, in the middle of the night, with some kind of knot, he descends to the sea. Pechorin began to watch him, hiding behind a protruding rock. He saw how a white man approached him female figure and spoke to him. From the conversation it became clear that they were waiting for Yanko, who should sail by boat on the stormy sea, bypassing the coastal guards. He delivered some kind of cargo by boat. Taking each of them a bundle, they set off along the shore and disappeared from sight. What kind of people live on the shore? What are the mysteries of their unusual behavior? These questions haunt Pechorin, and he boldly invades the unknown, boldly rushes towards danger. Pechorin meets an old woman and her daughter. Hearing the song, Pechorin looked up and on the rooftop saw a girl in a striped dress, with loose braids, a real mermaid. Subsequently, he called her Undine. She was unusually good-looking: "The extraordinary flexibility of the waist, the special, only characteristic tilt of the head, long blond hair, a kind of golden tint of her slightly tanned skin on the neck and shoulders and especially the correct nose - all this was charming for me." After talking to this girl, Pechorin told about the night scene on the shore, which he witnessed, and threatened to report everything to the commandant. It was a great carelessness on his part, and he soon repented. A poetic girl - "undine", "a real mermaid" - cunningly lures Pechorin into a trap, hinting at love: “She jumped up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and a wet, fiery kiss sounded on my lips. My eyes darkened, my head started spinning, I squeezed her in my arms with all the strength of youthful passion ... ”Ondine made Pechorin a date on the shore at night. Forgetting about caution, Pechorin gets into the boat. Having sailed from the coast for some distance, the girl hugged Pechorin, unfastened the pistol and threw it overboard. Pechorin realized that he could die, because he could not swim. This gave him strength, and a short fight ended with him throwing her into the waves. The hope for love turned out to be deceived, the date ended in a fierce struggle for life. All this causes the anger of Pechorin, who suffered because of his naivety and gullibility. But, in spite of everything, he managed to reveal the secret " peaceful smugglers". This brings disappointment to the hero: “And why was fate to throw me into a peaceful circle honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calmness and, like a stone, I almost sank myself. " Returning, Pechorin discovers that the blind man took his things to the shore in a sack - a box, a saber with a silver frame, a Dagestan dagger - a gift from a friend. "Wouldn't it be ridiculous to complain to the authorities that a blind boy robbed me, and an eighteen-year-old girl almost drowned me?" In the morning Pechorin leaves for Gelendzhik. Pechorin realizes that he made a mistake by invading the lives of these people, and blames himself for intruding into their circle, which disrupted their lives. Yanko and the girl leave, leaving the boy and the old woman with no means of livelihood. Pechorin confesses: “I don’t know what happened to the old woman and the poor blind man. And what does it matter to me to the joys and disasters of men, to me, a wandering officer, and even from a travel-related state need. " "Taman" strikes with a masterful depiction of the characters' characters. The image of a smuggling girl is truly romantic. This girl is characterized by bizarre mood swings, "rapid transitions from the greatest anxiety to complete immobility." Her speeches are mysterious and close in form to folk proverbs and sayings; her songs, reminiscent of folk, speak of her desire for violent will. She has a lot of vitality, courage, determination, poetry of "wild freedom". A rich, peculiar nature, full of mystery, she, as it were, by nature itself was created for a free, full risk of the life she leads. No less colorful is the image of the smuggler Yanko, written in sparse but bright strokes. He is determined and fearless, not afraid of the storm. Learning about the danger threatening him, he leaves his native places to look for fishing in another place: "... and everywhere I go, where only the wind blows and the sea is noisy!" But at the same time, Yanko shows cruelty and stinginess, leaving the blind boy on the shore with several coins. Pechorin's personality is complemented by such qualities that are manifested in moments of danger: it is courage, determination, willingness to take risks, willpower. At the end of the story, Pechorin peers into the white sail, which flashed between the dark waves in the light of the moon. This symbolic image reminds of one of the most amazingly beautiful and deepest in thought Lermontov's poems - "A lonely sail is whitening ...". The life of the main character, Pechorin, was just as rebellious, hectic.

Description of the nature of the Caucasus

Imagine literary work, in which there would be no image of nature, it is extremely difficult, - after all, the landscape helps to recreate the reality of the events described, shows the author's point of view, reveals the reasons for the actions of the heroes.
The landscape and nature in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" allow us, readers, to fully comprehend the author's intention precisely because the nature of the description of nature, landscape sketches are diverse and accurate.

The description of the nature of the Caucasus in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" was created by an indifferent pen - any reader feels this, and this is really so.
Since childhood, the Caucasus has become for Lermontov “ magic land", Where the nature is beautiful and interesting, original people. Several times my grandmother took him, just a boy, to the Caucasian waters to improve his health. Thinly feeling the charm and pristine nature, Lermontov was fascinated by it. Here, at a very young age, the first strong real feeling came to him. Perhaps, thanks to this, the landscapes of the Caucasian nature are therefore so deep and subtle for the poet.

Characterization of the place as a function of the landscape in the novel

The role of the landscape in The Hero of Our Time is diverse and multifaceted. Lermontov uses it to designate, characterize a place or time storyline... So, the landscape that opens the narrative introduces us to art world novel, we can easily imagine where exactly the events take place. The narrator, who turned out to be in the Koishaur Valley, describes in a volumetric and accurate manner the rocks, “inaccessible, reddish, hung with green ivy and crowned with clumps of plane trees”, “precipices lined with gullies, and there is a high-high golden fringe of snows”, it seems to him that Aragva is “embracing” with another river, "noisily bursting out of a black gorge full of mist, stretches like a silver thread and sparkles like a snake with its scales."

Description of pictures of nature as a threshold of events

The landscape in A Hero of Our Time often precedes events that we do not yet know about. For example, the reader has not yet seen the hero, nothing is happening yet, just “the sun was hiding behind cold peaks, and a whitish fog began to disperse in the valleys,” and this landscape leaves a distinct feeling of cold and indifference. And this feeling will not deceive us - from Pechorin, who met with Maksim Maksimych, who so dreamed of seeing an old friend, will blow the same cold.

After the test of fate by Lieutenant Vulich, when the officers disperse to their apartments, Pechorin observes calm stars, but the month that appears from the horizons of the houses is "full and red, like the glow of a fire." It seems there is nothing to wait - the misfire saved Vulich's life, the "strange imprint of an inevitable fate" seen by Pechorin on the fatalist officer's face dissipated. But the landscape does not leave calm, and nature does not deceive - Vulich dies on the same night.

Sympathizing with Pechorin, who is galloping, “panting with impatience” in order to catch up with Vera, we understand that this is impossible, because “the sun has already hidden in a black cloud, resting on the ridge of the western mountains; it became dark and damp in the gorge. Podkumok, making his way over the stones, roared dully and monotonously. "

Disclosure of the inner world of the protagonist.

The landscape in A Hero of Our Time is perhaps the most important for revealing the inner world of the protagonist. Having listened only to the story of Maxim Maksimych, we would hardly have been able to find pleasant features in Pechorin, but it is the images of nature created by the hero in his magazine that reveal for us, readers, his complex, contradictory nature. Looking out of the window at Pyatigorsk through the eyes of Pechorin, albeit for a moment, until he remembers the mask that must be worn before appearing in society, we find a subtle feeling, enthusiastic nature. “My room was filled with the scent of flowers ... Branches of cherry blossoms are looking out of my windows. I have a wonderful view from three sides. … Beshtu turns blue like “the last cloud of a scattered storm”; to the north rises Mashuk, like a furry Persian hat, and covers this entire part of the sky ... The mountains are piling up like an amphitheater, all blue and foggy, and on the edge of the horizon stretches a silver chain of snowy peaks ... It's fun to live in such a land! .. The air is clean and fresh, like the kiss of a child; the sun is bright, the sky is blue - what would seem to be more? - why are there passions, desires, regrets? " It turns out that there is something in Pechorin's life that makes life fun, and inner world he is much richer than others might imagine.

We confirm our discovery by reading how Grigory Pechorin, after meeting with Vera, rides on a horse "across the tall grass, against the desert wind"; as he recalls: "I greedily swallow the fragrant air and direct my eyes into the blue distance, trying to catch the hazy outlines of objects that are becoming clearer and clearer every minute." It turns out that this is what can cure him of any bitterness and anxiety, which is why it becomes easier on his soul.

Landscape as a way of manifesting the hero's state of mind

Lermontov uses landscape in his novel and as a means of depiction state of mind hero. A striking example to that - nature in the perception of Pechorin before and after the duel. “I don’t remember a bluer and fresher morning! The sun barely showed itself from behind the green peaks, and the merging of the warmth of its rays with the dying coolness of the night brought a kind of sweet longing to all senses; a joyful ray has not yet penetrated the gorge young day; he gilded only the tops of the cliffs hanging above us on either side; the leafy bushes growing in their deep cracks, at the slightest breath of the wind, showered us with silver rain. I remember - this time, more than ever before, I loved nature. " Pechorin does not pretend - he again reveals his bright inner world, he is natural, he enjoys life and appreciates it. “The sun seemed dim to me, its rays did not warm me” - we read and feel the joylessness of the hero's state. And later: “I am sitting by the window; gray clouds covered the mountains to their feet; the sun looks like a yellow spot through the fog. Coldly; the wind whistles and shakes the shutters ... Boring! "

Man and nature in the novel

Man and nature in Lermontov's novel are ambiguous. Getting acquainted with the "water society", the history of Vulich, reading about Grushnitsky, we will not find images of nature, landscapes associated with them, we will not see nature through their eyes. In this case, nature seems to be opposed to the heroes, they are people far from natural life.

Pechorin, who so subtly knows how to feel and perceive the natural charm of life, dreaming of merging with it, cannot become a part of it - this is his lot. For people who are not connected with the conventions of society, far from "civilization", nature is an inseparable part of life.

Nature in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time is, for example, a part of the life of smugglers - the conversation Pechorin overheard between an undine and a blind boy makes it clear to us, and here the author does not present us with a detailed landscape, on the contrary, the heroes talk about nature only from a practical point of view : "The storm is strong", "the fog thickens."

Writer's skill in depicting nature

The skill of the poet-landscape painter is enormous. Sometimes he shows nature as an artist in a novel - and one gets the impression that one is looking at watercolors or drawings by Lermontov, similar to his paintings "View of Pyatigorsk", "Caucasian View with Camels" or "Scene from Caucasian Life" - epithets and metaphors are so diverse and expressive : "The dying coolness of the night", "Mashuk's head" smoking "like an extinguished torch", "like snakes, gray patches of clouds", "golden fog of the morning", a blizzard - an exile crying about her vast steppes. " Enhances the expressiveness of the landscapes and the rhythm of the narrative - something compressed, impetuous when it comes, for example, about Pechorin, or slow-flowing, when describing the morning Caucasus.

Thus, the landscape and nature in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" help us understand the characters of the heroes and their experiences, comprehend the idea of ​​the work, awaken our own reflections on nature and its place in our lives.

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Taman is a kind of culmination in the clash of two elements of the novel: realism and romanticism. Here you do not know what to be more surprised at: the extraordinary charm and charm of the subtle all-pervading color that lies on the images and pictures of the novel, or the extremely convincing realism and impeccable life verisimilitude.

AA Titov sees, for example, the whole meaning of "Taman" with its poetry in the deliberate reduction and debunking of the image of Pechorin. Convinced that this was the author's intention, he writes about this poem in prose: "the fleeting romance that Pechorin ties with a smuggler looks more like a rude affair, quite in the spirit of an itinerant officer."

In reality, everything is more complicated. Pechorin, with his deep sober mind, better than anyone else, understands the impossibility of finding among "honest smugglers" that fullness of life, beauty and happiness that his restless soul craves so much. He understands from the very beginning the recklessness of his actions, of the whole story with the "undine" and other smugglers. But this is precisely the strangeness of his character that, despite his inherent the highest degree common sense, he never completely obeys it - for him there is something higher in life than the worldly verified prudence. Therefore, laughing and ironic at himself, he still cannot but respond to the call of the mysteriously alluring free life of smugglers filled with dangers and anxieties. And let in all this his prosaic side, real life contradictions, open to him to the end - for the hero, and for the author real world smugglers will retain in itself the prototype of a free, full of "troubles and battles" human life, which has not received development, but lives in it.

The constant oscillation between the “real” and the “ideal” imprisoned in its depths is felt in almost all images of “Taman”, but especially in the smuggling girl. Her name is not named, the author gives only a description of the girl. Hence these abrupt transitions in Pechorin's perception of her - from bewitched surprise and admiration to emphasized prosaic and everyday life. This is facilitated by the character of the girl, all built on elusive transitions and unexpected contrasts. She is as changeable and elusive as her life, lawlessly free, full of surprises, which has its own romantic depths.

In the passage about the arrival of the "undine" to Pechorin, a whole storm of feelings rushes through the hero's soul. The accumulated feelings break through, passion instantly engulfs the hero, who has just soberly reasoned. In essence, there are three main types of heroes in this passage: “undine” as a representative of the mysterious world of free life and genuine natural beauty, “linear Cossack” - the embodiment of the world of everyday life and, finally, Pechorin, restlessly restless between these two worlds.

The storm, which ended in nothing, beckoning with the ghost of happiness, turns for the hero at the end of the passage, like the whole story, with prosaic "damage" ironically shading the emptiness intensifying in the soul of the hero deceived in his expectations. In one case, a teapot with leftover tea was overturned; in another, the hero was nearly drowned and his sword and dagger were stolen. In the passage, as in the short story, the figure of the Cossack, this Maxim Maksimych, who, in his ordinariness, has been reduced to the rank of private, looms as a whole.

The narrative "Taman" as if absorbed the sea ​​element... The alternation of romantic and realistic plans in the excerpt and the novella are sustained in the elastic, restless rhythm of the surf.

• Pechorin Grushnitsky Origin Aristocrat by origin, Pechorin remains an aristocrat throughout the novel. Grushnitsky from a simple family. An ordinary cadet, he is very ambitious, and by hook or by crook seeks to break out into the people. Appearance More than once Lermontov focuses on the external manifestations of Pechorin's aristocracy, such as pallor, a small brush, "dazzlingly clean linen." At the same time, Pechorin is not fixated on his own appearance, it is enough for him to look [...]
• The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov was created in the era of government reaction, which gave rise to a whole gallery " extra people". Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin, with whom Russian society met in 1839-1840, belonged to this type. This is a person who did not even know why he lived and for what purpose he was born. "The Fatalist" is one of the most tense and at the same time ideologically saturated chapters of the novel. It consists of three episodes, a kind of experiments that either confirm or deny [...]
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• Youth and the time of the formation of Lermontov's personality fell on the years of government reaction after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. In Russia, there was a heavy atmosphere of denunciations, total surveillance, and exile to Siberia on charges of unreliability. The progressive people of that time could not freely express their thoughts on political issues. Lermontov was acutely worried about the absence of freedom, the state of stopped time. The main tragedy era he reflected in his novel, which is meaningfully titled “The hero of our [...]
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• Grigory Pechorin Maksim Maksimych Age Young, at the time of his arrival in the Caucasus he was about 25 years old Almost retired Military rank Officer of the Russian Imperial Army. Head Captain Personality Traits Everything new quickly gets boring. Suffering from boredom. In general, a tired, jaded young man looks for distraction in the war, but literally in a month he gets used to the whistle of bullets and the roar of explosions, and begins to get bored again. I am sure that it brings only misfortunes to others, which intensifies it [...]
• And tell me, what is the mystery of the alternation of periods in history? In one and the same people, for some ten years, all social energy decreases, impulses of valor, having changed their sign, become impulses of cowardice. A. Solzhenitsyn This is a poem by the mature Lermontov, revealing the social and spiritual crisis after the December generation. It closes the previous moral, social and philosophical searches of the poet, sums up the past emotional experience, reflecting the aimlessness of personal and social efforts [...]

"And what do I care about the joy and misfortunes of men?"
M.Yu. Lermontov
In Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" a burning problem is solved: why people, intelligent and energetic, do not find use for their remarkable abilities and wither without struggle at the very beginning of their life? Lermontov answers this question with the life story of Pechorin, a young man belonging to the generation of the 30s. Composition, plot of the work and the entire system of images are subordinated to the task of comprehensive and deep disclosure of the hero's personality and the environment that brought him up.
The story set forth in Taman has a vital basis. Lermontov was in Taman in 1837. He had to linger while waiting for the ship. The old Cossack woman Tsaritsykh mistook Lermontov for a secret spy who wants to find the smugglers. Tsaritsykh's neighbor was a beautiful Tatar woman whose husband had dealings with smugglers. And the blind boy Yashka was. Everything life facts appear before us in a different form.
The story "Taman" is an independent work of fiction and at the same time is part of the novel. It is written in the form of a diary, and this is no coincidence. If at the beginning of the novel the author seeks to show the contradictory actions of Pechorin, then later on the pages of the diary the secret and obvious motives of the hero's actions are revealed, their reasons are analyzed.
It should be noted that in "Taman" the romantic elevation of the narrative is harmoniously combined with a realistic depiction of the characters and life of free smugglers. For example, take the description of Yanko's portrait: “A man in a Tatar hat came out of the boat, but he had a Cossack haircut, and a large knife was sticking out of his belt belt”. And this detail (knife) reminds of the dangerous profession of a smuggler. It is somehow very simple to talk about Yanko's daring. “What, blind man,” said the woman’s gloss, “the storm is strong. Yanko won't be there. " “Yanko is not afraid of the storm,” he answered. Following this dialogue, Lermontov draws a raging sea. "Slowly climbing the ridges of the waves, quickly descending from them, a boat approached the shore." The description of the raging elements serves as a means of revealing the prowess of Yanko, for whom "the road is everywhere, where only the wind blows and the sea makes noise." Not for the sake of love, he goes to the feat, but for the sake of profit. His stinginess is striking: a blind boy receives a small coin as a reward. And Yanko asks the old woman to convey "that, they say, it's time to die, healed, you need to know and honor." Fate does not bring Pechorin and this "honest" smuggler directly, but nevertheless Yanko is forced to leave the "habitable lands" because of him. The heroes of the story are engaged in a dangerous business - smuggling. Lermontov deliberately does not specify what exactly they are transporting through the strait and what they are taking overseas. “Rich goods”, “the load was great” - we don't know anything else. It is important for Lermontov to create in the reader the feeling of being dangerous, unusual life full of anxiety.
Let's trace the relationship between Pechorin and the smugglers. Having settled in a hut where it is "unclean", Pechorin does not even think to be afraid, one might even say, behaves thoughtlessly. On the very first night he "got up, put on a beshmet ... quietly left the hut, seeing a shadow flashed past the window." Why does he need this someone else's life? The answer is very simple. He is interested in everything, it is important, he needs to "touch" everything, perhaps this is what attracts Pechorin's character. He is young, looking for love. But a mysterious girl lured him into the boat, he "felt her fiery breath on his face" - and at that very moment the "mermaid" threw his pistol into the water. There is no longer "undine", there is an enemy with whom we must fight.
To top it all off, the blind boy robbed Pechorin with the knowledge of the girl, and this finally destroys those dreams in which our hero was. Yes, Pechorin is largely to blame: inexperience, inability to understand people. And what are the consequences of the phrase: "What if, for example, I decided to inform the commandant?" And the old woman, and the blind boy, and the girl could not explain Pechorin's actions otherwise than by the desire to "convey to the commandant." After all, he walks, looks out, threatens. They do not understand that he is simply interested in these people, their lives. And this curiosity turned into the fact that Pechorin ruined the life of the smugglers and, moreover, almost died himself. And when the blind boy cried, when the girl left for good with Yanko, then Pechorin was horrified by what he had done: “And why would fate have thrown me into the peaceful circle of honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calmness, and, like a stone, I almost sank myself. "
As for the artistic side of the story "Taman", it is simply impossible to overestimate it. But I would still like to define more specifically what the work is based on. These are "three pillars": precision, imagery, expressiveness. And what a selection of "speaking details"! For example, Pechorin puts in his travel log: “... two benches and a table ... not a single image on the wall - bad sign! " Looking at this poor environment, we can say that people live here temporarily, they are ready to leave their uncomfortable haven at any moment.
Or in the scene of the conversation between a girl and a blind man, we learn that the storm is strong, the fog thickens. It would seem, what of that? But this is important for smugglers: it is not possible to go “on business” in all weather conditions.
The antithesis technique is interesting in the story. This is how the blind boy imagines the image of Yanko: "Yanko is not afraid of the sea or the wind." Sort of fairytale hero, a fearless hero. And Pechorin sees Yanko differently: out of the boat "a man of medium height came out, in a Tatar ram hat" ordinary person, not at all heroic in appearance.
Also interesting is the method of combining the sublime and the low in the story. Here romance coexists with the prose of life. Mysterious girl reminds Pechorin romantic heroine... But the "mermaid" sings her beautiful free song, standing on the roof of a wretched hut. The girl's words addressed to Pechorin are mysterious, but the lamentations of the blind boy are pitiful: “Where did I go? ... With a knot? Yaky knot! "
If we talk about the plot, then it vaguely resembles the plot of Bela. A Russian young man meets a local "savage" girl and falls in love with her. The plot is typical for the literature of the Lermontov era. But in "Taman" everything is unconventional. The girl was supposed to fall in love with the newcomer. But everything turns out to be a trick. Landscape sketches give the story a romantic flavor and, in contrast to the wretchedness of the "unclean place", open before the reader the enchanting world of beauty and bliss.
The composition of the story is unique. The work opens and ends with the hero's judgments, testifying to the bitterness of the experience acquired in this event, about an attempt to be indifferent to the people with whom fate confronts him.
A.P. Chekhov, with all the severity of his assessments, said: "I don't know the language better than Lermontov's ...".
On my own I would like to add that sometimes it becomes sad when, in the modern book variety, it is very difficult to choose reading for the soul. All this market "reading" that surrounds us everywhere, screams and creeps into our eyes, just annoying. And, honestly, one little story "Taman" from "A Hero of Our Time" is already worth all this "bookish disgrace".

Summary of a lesson on literature in grade 9 "Pechorin and the smugglers"

During the classes

1. Introductory part of the lesson.

Teacher's word : We continue to study the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time". In the previous lessons, we analyzed the stories "Bela", "Maksim Maksimych". We saw Pechorin in a clash with the "savage" Bela, the highlanders Azamat and Kazbich, with the "good" Maxim Maksimychev. Lermontov shows that Pechorin surpasses them, is able to subordinate them to his will, or turns out to be morally nobler than them

What is the difference between the narration in Taman and the narration in Bela and Maxim Maksimych?

(In "Bela" the narrow-minded, imperceptible Maksim Maksimych tells about Pechorin, and in the story "Maksim Maksimych" - a wandering officer - objectively, sympathetically), and in "Taman" the tragic confession of the hero begins to sound.

Our task: analyze the story "Taman", understand the inner world of the hero, who is the narrator here, find an explanation for his actions, the feelings that possess him, and answer the question at the end of the lesson:

Why did Pechorin so passionately want and could not enter the circle of smugglers?

2. Heuristic conversation:

(Yes. Dynamic plot. It looks like a detective story.)

Why did Pechorin end up in Taman?

(Goes to the active detachment for government needs). Rides not of their own free will, but out of state necessity.

Why does Pechorin write: "Taman is the nastiest town of all the seaside towns in Russia"? Is there detailed description of this town?

(No. There is only a passing mention of dirty alleys and dilapidated fences).

(And the epithet "nasty" probably reflects Pechorin's attitude to the events that took place in this place.)

And what are these events? How will Pechorin write about this in his diary? Read it.

(1. "I almost died of hunger there, and in addition they wanted to drown me."

(2. "... a blind boy robbed me, and an 18-year-old girl almost drowned me")

Thus, ironically about what happened, the hero names two main participants in the drama that took place: a blind boy and a girl.

Is Taman really a "bad town"? Read landscapes expressively. Note the central imagery of these descriptions. What do they add to the story? And what about Pechorin?

(Moon, month, clouds, restless sea. These are the forces that fill the night with life. Landscapes give the story romance and mystery. Pechorin sees the beauty of nature and loves nature).

What is the attitude to the "unclean" place in the city?

(With prejudice, with fear, people are afraid: "unkind people" live there)

And why does Pechorin not repulse, not frighten the "unclean" place, but attracts? Why is he attracted to people in this place?

3. Group work. People living on the seashore, Pechorin's attitude to them.

Assignments for 1-2 groups. Tell about an old woman and a blind boy.

Orally draw portraits of the heroes at the moment when Pechorin looks at them.

What is the initial attitude of Pechorin to a blind boy and an old woman7

How does Pechorin's attitude towards these characters change in the course of the story?

Assignments for 3-4 groups. Tell about Janko and the "undine".

Orally draw the portraits of the heroes at the moment when Pechorin looks at them.

What is Pechorin's initial attitude to Yanko and undine?

Prepare expressive reading on the roles of dialogue between a blind man and a girl, when they are waiting for Yanko on the seashore.

Why did Pechorin find this “real” mermaid “charming, although“ she was far from being beautiful ”?

How does her appearance in the boat change when she wants to drown Pechorin? Motivate the choice of comparisons "... she, like a snake, slipped between my hands", "she, like a cat, grabbed my clothes" ... ".

How did Pechorin's attitude towards these characters change in the course of the story?

4. Group performances.

Conclusions:

The blind boy first aroused Pechorin's prejudice. With his dexterity, he made people suspect of feigned blindness. At the end of the story, Pechorin calls him "the poor blind" and showed him in sincere grief.

Yanko appears strong and fearless on the night when Pechorin watches the “brave swimmer” with an “involuntary heartbeat”. At the end of the story, Yanko turned out to be mercilessly cruel to the boy, the old woman. He retreats in the face of the threat of a possible, as the undine thinks, denunciation to the authorities. Yanko's sober remarks about payment for labor, about the place where rich goods are hidden, his stinginess in rewarding the blind dispel the legendary idea of ​​the "wild head" real life, stern and even prosaic, although not devoid of attractiveness, strength and courage.

Undine. First, a very sincere and passionate feeling for Yanko. The image of a smuggler girl is truly romantic. This girl is characterized by changeable moods, "quick transitions to complete immobility", "she stared into the distance, then laughed and reasoned with herself, then sang a song again." Her speeches are mysterious, and in form are close to popular proverbs and sayings; her songs, reminiscent of folk, speaking of her desire for will. Undine has a lot of vitality, courage, determination, and the poetry of “wild freedom”. A rich, peculiar nature, full of mystery, she, as it were, by nature itself was created for a free, full risk of the life she leads.

Admiring the strength of the dexterity, the courage of these people, Lermontov, faithful life truth reflects their meager spiritual world... Their aspirations and hourly worries are limited to easy money and deception of the authorities. Money determines their relationship. Yanko and the girl get violent when it comes to sharing stolen goods. The blind receives from them only a copper coin. And now unnecessary old woman Yanko orders to convey, "that, they say, it's time to die, healed, you need to know and honor."

5. Continuation of the heuristic conversation. How is Pechorin's attitude to smugglers changing? Why is interest in them, admiration giving way to bitterness?

What made Pechorin watch the boy at night?

(Pechorin is still naive, trusting, makes mistakes, not seeing who is in front of him. Mystery of the situation, interest in a new circle of people for him, thirst for activity.)

However, all this does not disturb and captures him so much that he would forget about what happened in the recent past. Reread the passage: "I wrapped myself in a cloak ..." What was Pechorin thinking? What did he remember?

How did the appearance of the girl affect him?

How did the landscape affect him?

(This is a means of characterizing the hero. The landscape enhances the motive of loneliness)

Why does Pechorin speak of the blind and undine he saw at night and does not inform his orderly about it?

(Unusual people seem to him bold, spontaneous natures. He wants to get closer to them. The mysterious nature of their behavior promises an exciting adventure.)

Why did Pechorin go after the Undine at night?

("Get the key to this riddle")

Did he believe her calls?

(No. Subsequently, he himself will say that for a long time he has lived not with his heart, but with his head. When going on a date with an undine, he does not forget to take a pistol with him, to warn the Cossack batman so that he, upon hearing a shot, ran to the shore).

Why was rabies born in Pechorin and he threw the girl into the waves?

(The beauty naively thought that by charming Pechorin, she would become the mistress of the situation. However, Pechorin is not like that, he knows the value of female coquetry. And yet he is embarrassed, really worried, he gets dizzy when a girl kisses him. he calls her behavior “a comedy, but on the other hand, succumbs to her charm. He is able to feel deeply, worry, but does not stop analyzing for a minute. Now in the boat he has to fight for his life, and the girl - for hers. Hopes for love turned into hostility, date - fight. It is these transformations that arouse Pechorin's rage, and not only the desire to defend his life).

Why did Pechorin, who saw Yanko's farewell to the blind, “feel sad”?

(The denouement is not at all romantic. All the heroes are alive. A half-deaf old woman, a blind boy, is thrown to the mercy of fate. Pechorin sympathetically tells how long, for a long time, the poor blind man cried.)

What does Pechorin blame himself for and why does he call the smugglers "peaceful"?

(Having called the smugglers peaceful, Pechorin already denies them exclusivity and blames himself for intruding into their circle, which led to the disruption of their usual life, and it turned out to be unnecessary for him. the hero realizes the futility of his actions. The feeling of the world as a mystery, a passionate interest in life is replaced by an attempt at alienation, indifference: "What happened to the old woman ...").

Desires and real positions of the hero were divided, and this turns out to be the cause of bitterness and self-irony.

How did Pechorin show himself in a clash with smugglers?

(He is an active participant in events, seeks to intervene in events, is not content with the role of a passive contemplator of life)

What aspects of Pechorin's character does the story "Taman" allow to judge?

(Activity, desire for action, drive for danger, perseverance, self-control, love of nature, observation).

Why, having such opportunities in character, in behavior, Pechorin does not seem happy?

None of Pechorin's actions, not one of the manifestations of his will has a deep, great purpose. He is active, but neither he nor others need his activity. He seeks action, but finds only a semblance of it and receives neither happiness nor joy. He is smart, resourceful, observant, but all this brings misfortune to the people with whom he encounters. There is no goal in his life, his actions are accidental, his activity is fruitless, and Pechorin is unhappy)

Homework: Written answer to the question: "Are Pechorin's actions in" Taman "pointless?