Essay by Lermontov M.Yu. The role of internal monologue in creating the image of Pechorin (using the example of the story “Princess Mary”) What Pechorin thinks about before the duel

"I look sadly at our generation!..."
M.Yu. Lermontov, "Duma"

The teacher read an excerpt from the novel “A Hero of Our Time” and invited the students to reflect in writing on how Pechorin’s thoughts on the eve of the duel with Grushnitsky were characterized. This form of work is called a presentation with elements of an essay. Even someone who has not read the novel can cope with the task, because the above passage characterizes the hero very well and gives students the opportunity to express their opinions.

So, the conditions for all 10th grade students were equal.
Here are two works written by girls the same age:

* * *
...Pechorin’s reflections on the eve of the duel aroused in me sympathy for the hero. I liked him! Pechorin, in his opinion, has already lived his life, he has nothing more to do in this world, he is bored with everything. On that fateful night, the hero said goodbye to life. He thought that his lucky star, which had always helped him, would leave him this time. It was not for nothing that Grushnitsky chose to shoot from six steps! He thought that he was more cunning than Pechorin. But I don't agree with this!
Our hero was a man of mystery. If he loved, he did it for himself. He enjoyed what he loved, not being loved. It seems that Pechorin was looking for a woman who could understand him, but, alas, he did not find it! What about women, people didn’t understand him at all! Pechorin became hard and cold to the delights of life. He was offended that he was never understood. And it’s a shame that he himself never understood his special purpose. But it was...
Pechorin seemed to be superfluous, a stranger, or what?
I think that Lermontov, by writing this novel, wanted people to understand it. Our hero is very similar to Lermontov. Their destinies are similar! And Lermontov was simply born at the wrong time! He was surrounded by the wrong people. And he decided to reflect all this in the novel. The author endowed Pechorin with his destiny, his life, his character. Lermontov, like Pechorin, considered himself a special person. If Pechorin lived in our time, I would fall in love with him. He's a romantic hero! (no spelling or punctuation errors)

* * *
The hero of our time, Grushnitsky, is the main character of the novel. Grushnitsky cannot sleep for two nights, he keeps thinking about the duel, does not want to die, wants to live. But Pechorin killed him - Grushnitsky, he fell to the floor like an ax, he fell without casualties. They killed him reluctantly, but Pechorin was brave, he was not afraid of death, because in the duel he was a leader, he fought to the last, he wanted to live, he thought only about victory, and Grushnitsky is a weak man, during the duel he thought about whether he should to live, because life means nothing to him at all, he thinks about those fatal (in the original, cancerous) six steps, he wants to take them, but is afraid, although he understands that he does not want to live, that there is no meaning in life. People are angry, some laugh, others cry, and so on in turn.
Pechorin is not afraid of anything, he thinks about not playing the role of an ax, so as not to fall on the floor. He doesn’t want to be a victim in a duel, he understands that there is no escape, he will have to fight. (spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected, making reading the text almost impossible).

Why is this happening? Of course, there are as many heads as there are minds, but then how can we sow “reasonable, good, eternal” into empty convolutions? How can you teach a second girl anything?! She is already an adult, physically mature, but her mind is childish! What is the meaning of the phrase: “People are evil, some laugh, others cry, and so on in turn.”!
You can talk about an individual approach to students, about special teaching methods, about differentiated tasks, but in this case you can’t expect results.
Heredity, illness, environment, living conditions - what made this girl’s brain an amorphous mass?
How to make sure that this student does not disappear in life, so that she finds her place in it? Who should take care of this - family, school, friends?

In the photo - illustration by M. Vrubel "Duel of Pechorin and Grushnitsky"
All Vrubel’s illustrations for Lermontov’s works on the website vrubel-lermontov.ru/ illustration/demon9.php

Reviews

“How to make sure that this student does not disappear in life, so that she finds her place in it? Who should take care of this - family, school, friends?”
Do you care? Is it true? What about her? Why is she like this? In fact, she just doesn't need it. And she is undoubtedly happy. Continuing the dialogue about “trees” I am writing to you.
Sincerely,

I care, Tanechka, and she is probably happy even without great Russian literature. Here she has a young husband, a child - this is happiness, simple, earthly, real. Why does she need Pechorin with his neurasthenia? It will confuse you, it will throw a thought into your head - what if I don’t live like this, what if I don’t have happiness? What can we say about Raskolnikov with his terrible theory? But if a girl goes to 11th grade, she will have to overcome “Crime and Punishment”! This is not far from a nervous breakdown! :-)

Yes indeed)))
There is no need to worry about it, just let her be happy, this also has its own philosophy. What an ironic remark you made, lovely. So subtly, even compassionately.
Smiled, thank you.

DUEL IN THE NOVEL M.YU. LERMONTOV "HERO OF OUR TIME"

Before the duel, Grushnitsky could have read books and written love poems if he had not turned into a nonentity. That Grushnitsky, who wore a soldier's overcoat and made romantic speeches, could read Schiller and write poetry... But that Grushnitsky would actually be ready to shoot himself, to risk his life. And this Grushnitsky, who accepted Pechorin’s challenge, is committing deception, he has nothing to fear, nothing to worry about for his life: only his pistol will be loaded... Whether his conscience tormented him the night before the duel, we do not know. He will appear before us ready to shoot.

Lermontov does not talk about Grushnitsky. But he forces Pechorin to write down in detail what he was thinking and feeling: “Ah! Mr. Grushnitsky! You won’t succeed in your hoax... we’ll switch roles: now I’ll have to look for signs of secret fear on your pale face. Why do you yourself have appointed these fatal six steps? Do you think that I will offer my forehead to you without a dispute... but we will cast lots!.. and then... then... what if his happiness wins out if my star finally cheats on me? ?..”

So, Pechorin’s first feeling is the same as Grushnitsky’s: the desire for revenge. “Let’s switch roles,” “the hoax will fail”—that’s what he’s concerned about; he is driven by rather petty motives; he, in essence, continues his game with Grushnitsky, and nothing more; he brought it to its logical conclusion. But this end is dangerous; life is at stake - and, above all, his, Pechorin’s, life!

“Well? To die like this is a small loss for the world; and I myself am quite bored...”

I run through my entire past in my memory and involuntarily ask myself: why did I live? For what purpose was I born?.."

Pechorin more than once referred to fate, which makes sure that he is not bored and sends him Grushnitsky for entertainment, brings him together with Vera in the Caucasus, uses him as an executioner or an ax - but he is not the kind of person to submit fate; he directs his own life, manages both himself and other people.

He "loved for himself, for his own pleasure... and could never get enough." Therefore, on the night before the duel, he is alone, “and there will not be a single creature left on earth who would understand him” if he is killed. He draws a terrible conclusion: “After this, is it worth the trouble to live? But you still live out of curiosity; you expect something new... It’s funny and annoying!”

Pechorin's diary ends the night before the duel. The last entry was made a month and a half later, in fortress N. “Maksim Maksimych went hunting... gray clouds covered the mountains to the base; the sun through the fog seems like a yellow spot. It’s cold, the wind whistles and sways. It’s boring.”

How different this dreary landscape is from the one with which Pechorin’s diary opened: “branches of blossoming cherries,” bright variegated colors; “the air is fresh and clean, like a child’s kiss”; there the mountains were blue, their peaks looked like a silver chain - here they are covered with gray clouds; there the wind strewed the table with white petals - here it “whistles and shakes the shutters”; there it was “fun to live” - here it’s “boring”!

Even without knowing about the details of the duel, we already know the main thing: Pechorin is alive. He is in the fortress - why could he get here if not the tragic outcome of the duel? We already guess: Grushnitsky was killed. But Pechorin does not say this right away; he mentally returns to the night before the duel: “I thought of dying; it was impossible: I have not yet drained the cup of suffering and now I feel that I still have a long time to live.”

The night before the duel, he “didn’t sleep a minute,” couldn’t write, “then he sat down and opened Walter Scott’s novel... it was “The Scottish Puritans”; he “read at first with effort, then forgot, carried away by the magical fiction. .."

But as soon as it dawned and his nerves calmed down, he again submitted to the worst in his character: “I looked in the mirror; dull pallor covered my face, which bore traces of painful insomnia; but my eyes, although surrounded by a brown shadow, shone proudly and inexorably. I was satisfied. , by myself."

Everything that tormented and secretly worried him at night was forgotten. He prepares for the duel soberly and calmly: "... ordered the horses to be saddled... got dressed and ran to the bathhouse... came out of the bath fresh and cheerful, as if he was going to a ball."

Werner (Pechorin's second) is excited about the upcoming fight. Pechorin speaks to him calmly and mockingly; He does not even reveal his “secret anxiety” to his second, his friend; as always, he is cold and intelligent, prone to unexpected conclusions and comparisons: “Try to look at me as a patient obsessed with a disease still unknown to you...”, “Waiting for a violent death, isn’t it already a real disease?”

Alone with himself, he is again the same as on the first day of his stay in Pyatigorsk: a natural person who loves life. This is how he sees nature on the way to the place of the duel:

“I don’t remember a bluer and fresher morning!” The sun barely appeared from behind the green peaks, and the merging of the first warmth of its rays with the dying coolness of the night brought a kind of sweet languor to all the senses . The joyful one has not yet entered the gorge. ray of a young day..."

Everything that he sees on the way to the place of the duel pleases, amuses, enlivens him, and he is not ashamed to admit it: “I remember - this time, more than ever before, I loved nature. How curiously I peered into every dewdrop fluttering on a wide grape leaf and reflecting millions of rainbow rays! How greedily my gaze tried to penetrate the smoky distance!

But all this joy, greedy enjoyment of life, delight, exclamations - all this is hidden from prying eyes. Werner, riding next to him, cannot imagine what Pechorin is thinking about:

"We drove in silence.

Have you written your will? - Werner suddenly asked.

What if you are killed?

The heirs will find themselves.

Don’t you really have friends to whom you would like to send your last farewell?..

I shook my head."

Before the duel, he even forgot about Faith; He doesn’t need any of the women who loved him now, in moments of complete mental loneliness. Beginning his confession, he said: “Do you want, doctor... for me to reveal my soul to you?” He doesn't deceive, he really reveals Werner's soul. But the fact is that the human soul is not something motionless, its state changes, a person can look at life differently in the morning and evening of the same day.

In "Eugene Onegin" all the participants in the duel were serious. Lensky was seething with “impatient enmity”; Onegin, internally tormented, understood, however, that he did not have the courage to refuse the duel; Onegin's second, footman Guillot, was frightened; Lensky’s second, Zaretsky, “a classic and pedant in duels,” enjoyed the ritual of preparing for the duel “in the strict rules of art, according to all the legends of antiquity.” Zaretsky is disgusting, hateful to us, but he also begins to look almost like a noble knight if you compare him with Grushnitsky’s second, the dragoon captain. Lermontov’s contempt for this man is so great that he didn’t even give him a name: he’s had enough of his rank!

The duel in "Princess Mary" is not like any duel known to us from Russian literature. Pierre Bezukhov fought with Dolokhov, Grinev with Shvabrin, and even Bazarov with Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov - without deception. A duel is a terrible, tragic way to resolve disputes, and its only advantage is that it presupposes absolute honesty on both sides. Any tricks during a duel covered the one who tried to cheat with indelible shame.

The duel in "Princess Mary" is not like any other duel known to us, because it is based on the dishonest conspiracy of the dragoon captain.

Of course, the dragoon captain does not even think that this duel could end tragically for Grushnitsky: he himself loaded his pistol and did not load Pechorin’s pistol. But, probably, he does not even think about the possibility of Pechorin’s death. Assuring Grushnitsky that Pechorin would certainly chicken out, the dragoon captain himself believed it. He has one goal: to have fun, to present Pechorin as a coward and thereby disgrace him. He knows no remorse, no laws of honor.

Everything that happens before the duel reveals the complete irresponsibility and stupid self-confidence of the dragoon captain. He is convinced that events will go according to his plan. But they unfold differently and, like any smug person, having lost his power over events, the captain becomes lost and finds himself powerless.

However, when Pechorin and Werner joined their opponents, the dragoon captain was still confident that he was leading a comedy.

“We’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” said the dragoon captain with an ironic smile.

I took out my watch and showed it to him.

He apologized, saying his watch was running out."

While waiting for Pechorin, the captain, apparently, had already told his friends that Pechorin was chickening out and would not come - such an outcome would have completely satisfied him. But Pechorin arrived. Now, according to the laws of conduct in duels, the seconds were supposed to start with an attempt at reconciliation. The dragoon captain violated this law, Werner complied with it.

“It seems to me,” he said, “that, having both shown a willingness to fight and having paid this debt to the conditions of honor, you, gentlemen, could explain yourself and end this matter amicably.

“I’m ready,” said Pechorin.

“The captain blinked at Grushnitsky”... The role of the captain in a duel is much more dangerous than it might seem. He not only came up with and carried out the conspiracy. He personifies the very public opinion that will subject Grushnitsky to ridicule and contempt if he refuses the duel.

Throughout the scene preceding the duel, the dragoon captain continues to play his dangerous role. Then he “blinked at Grushnitsky,” trying to convince him that Pechorin was a coward - and therefore ready for reconciliation. Then he “took him by the arm and took him aside; they whispered for a long time...”

If Pechorin had actually chickened out, it would have been salvation for Grushnitsky: his pride would have been satisfied, and he might not have shot at an unarmed man. Grushnitsky knows Pechorin well enough to understand: he will not admit that he was with Mary at night, and will not give up the claim that Grushnitsky slandered. And yet, like any weak person who finds himself in a difficult situation, he is waiting for a miracle: suddenly something will happen, he will deliver, he will help out...

No miracle happens. Pechorin is ready to abandon the duel - provided that Grushnitsky publicly renounces his slander. To this the weak person replies: “We will shoot.”

This is how Grushnitsky signs his verdict. He does not know that Pechorin knows the plot of the dragoon captain, and does not think that he is endangering his life. But he knows that with three words: “We will shoot,” he cut off his path to honest people. From now on he is a dishonest man.

Pechorin once again tries to appeal to Grushnitsky’s conscience: he reminds that one of the opponents “will certainly be killed.” Grushnitsky replies: “I wish it were you...”

“And I’m so sure of the opposite...” says Pechorin, deliberately burdening Grushnitsky’s conscience.

If Pechorin had spoken with Grushnitsky alone, he could have achieved repentance or renunciation of the duel. That internal, silent conversation that goes on between opponents could take place; Pechorin’s words reach Grushnitsky: “there was some kind of concern in his gaze,” “he was embarrassed, blushed” - but this conversation did not take place because of the dragoon captain.

Pechorin passionately plunges into what he calls life. He is carried away by the intrigue, the conspiracy, the intricacy of this whole matter... The dragoon captain has laid out his net, hoping to catch Pechorin. Pechorin discovered the ends of this network and took them into his own hands; he is tightening the net more and more, but the dragoon captain and Grushnitsky do not notice this. The conditions of the duel, worked out the day before, were cruel: shoot at six steps. Pechorin insists on even more severe conditions: he chooses a narrow area on the top of a steep cliff and demands that each of the opponents stand at the very edge of the area: “in this way, even a slight wound will be fatal... The one who is wounded will will certainly fly down and break into pieces..."

Still, Pechorin is a very courageous man. After all, he is going into mortal danger and at the same time knows how to control himself so that he still has time to see the tops of the mountains, which “crowded... like a countless herd, and Elborus in the south,” and the golden fog... Only approaching the edge of the platform and looking down, he involuntarily betrays his excitement: “... down there it seemed dark and cold, like in a coffin; mossy teeth rocks, thrown down by thunder and time, awaited their prey" .

He admits this only to himself. Outwardly he is so calm that Werner had to feel his pulse - and only then could he notice signs of excitement in him.

Having risen to the platform, the opponents “decided that the one who would be the first to meet enemy fire would stand on the very corner, with his back to the abyss; if he was not killed, the opponents would switch places.” Pechorin does not say who made this proposal, but we can easily guess: another condition that makes the duel hopelessly cruel was put forward by him.

A month and a half after the duel, Pechorin openly admits in his diary that he deliberately presented Grushnitsky with a choice: kill an unarmed man or disgrace himself. Pechorin also understands other things; in Grushnitsky’s soul, “conceit and weakness of character should have triumphed!..”

Pechorin’s behavior can hardly be called completely noble, because he always has double, contradictory aspirations: on the one hand, he seems to be concerned about the fate of Grushnitsky, wants to force him to abandon his dishonorable act, but, on the other hand, Pechorin is most concerned about his own a conscience from which he buys off in advance in case the irreparable happens and Grushnitsky turns from a conspirator into a victim.

Grushnitsky had to shoot first. And Pechorin continues to experiment; he says to his opponent: “... if you don’t kill me, then I won’t miss! - I give you my word of honor.” This phrase again has a double purpose: to test Grushnitsky once again and once again to calm your conscience, so that later, if Grushnitsky is killed, you can say to yourself: I am clean, I warned you...

Grushnitsky, of course, has no idea about this second meaning of Pechorin’s words; he has another concern. Tormented by his conscience, “he blushed; he was ashamed to kill an unarmed man... but how could he admit to such a vile intention?..”

That’s when you feel sorry for Grushnitsky: why did Pechorin and the dragoon captain entangle him so much? Why should he pay such a high price for pride and selfishness - you never know how many people live in this world, possessing the worst shortcomings, and do not find themselves in such a tragic dead end as Grushnitsky!

We forgot about Werner. But he is here. He knows everything that Pechorin knows, but Werner cannot understand his plan. First of all, he does not have the courage of Pechorin, he cannot comprehend Pechorin’s determination to stand at gunpoint. In addition, he does not understand the main thing: why? For what purpose does Pechorin risk his life?

“It’s time,” whispered... the doctor... Look, he’s already charging... if you don’t say anything, then I myself......

Werner's reaction is natural: he strives to prevent a tragedy. After all, Pechorin is in danger first of all, because Grushnitsky will be the first to shoot!

“No way in the world, doctor!.. What do you care? Maybe I want to be killed...”

In response to such a statement by Pechorin, he says:

“Oh! this is different!.. just don’t complain about me in the next world.”

Every person - and a doctor in particular - has no right to allow either murder or suicide. A duel is another matter; it had its own laws, which, in our modern opinion, were monstrous and barbaric; but Werner, of course, could not and should not interfere with a fair duel. In the same case that we see, he acts unworthily: he evades the necessary intervention - for what reasons? So far we understand one thing: Pechorin turned out to be stronger here too. Werner submitted to his will in the same way as everyone else submits.

And so Pechorin “stood on the corner of the platform, firmly resting his left foot on the stone and leaning forward a little, so that in case of a slight wound he would not tip back.” Grushnitsky began to raise his pistol...

“Suddenly he lowered the muzzle of the pistol and, turning white as a sheet, turned to his second.

Coward! - answered the captain.

The shot rang out."

Again - the dragoon captain! For the third time, Grushnitsky was ready to succumb to the voice of conscience - or, perhaps, to the will of Pechorin, which he feels, which he is accustomed to obeying - he was ready to abandon the dishonest plan. And for the third time the dragoon captain turned out to be stronger. Whatever Pechorin’s motives, here on the site he represents honesty, and the dragoon captain represents meanness. The evil turned out to be stronger, a shot rang out.

The weak man aimed at Pechorin's forehead. But his weakness is such that, having decided on a dirty deed, he does not have the strength to complete it. Raising the pistol a second time, he fired, no longer aiming; the bullet grazed Pechorin’s knee, and he managed to retreat from the edge of the area.

Be that as it may, he continues to play his comedy and behaves so disgustingly that you involuntarily begin to understand Pechorin: barely holding back laughter, he says goodbye to Grushnitsky: “Hug me... we won’t see each other again!.. Don’t be afraid... that’s it.” nonsense in the world!..” When Pechorin tries to appeal to Grushnitsky’s conscience for the last time, the dragoon captain intervenes again: “Mr. Pechorin!.. you are not here to confess, let me tell you...”

But it seems to me that at this moment the words of the dragoon captain no longer matter. Conscience no longer torments Grushnitsky; he, perhaps, sharply regrets that he did not kill Pechorin; Grushnitsky is crushed, destroyed by mocking contempt, he only wants one thing: for everything to end quickly, Pechorin’s shot is heard - a misfire, and to be left alone with the consciousness that the conspiracy failed, Pechorin won, and he, Grushnitsky, is disgraced.

And at that second Pechorin finishes him off: “Doctor, these gentlemen, probably in a hurry, forgot to put a bullet in my pistol: I ask you to load it again, and well!”

Only now does it become clear to Grushnitsky; Pechorin knew everything! He knew when he proposed to abandon the slander. Knew, standing in front of the barrel of a gun. And just now, when I advised Grushnitsky to “pray to God,” I asked if his conscience was saying something—he knew it too!

The dragoon captain tries to continue his line: shouts, protests, insists. Grushnitsky doesn’t care anymore. "Confused and gloomy," he does not look at the captain's signs.

At the first minute, he probably cannot even realize what Pechorin’s statement is telling him; he experiences only a feeling of hopeless shame. Later he will understand: Pechorin’s words mean not only shame, but also death.

There is nothing unexpected in the behavior of the dragoon captain: he was so brave and even impudent until there was danger! But as soon as Pechorin suggested that he “shoot on the same terms,” “he hesitated,” and when he saw a loaded pistol in Pechorin’s hands, “he spat and stamped his foot.”

The captain immediately understands what a loaded pistol in Pechorin’s hands means for Grushnitsky, and speaks about it with brutal frankness: “... kill yourself like a fly...” He leaves the one who was recently called his “true friend,” in a moment of mortal danger and only dares to “mutter” words of protest.

What could he do? Of course, shoot with Pechorin on the same conditions. He started the whole thing; Now that the conspiracy has been revealed, it is the captain who must bear responsibility for it. But he avoids responsibility.

Pechorin tries for the last time to prevent the tragedy:

“Grushnitsky,” I said: there is still time. Give up your slander, and I will forgive you everything; you did not manage to fool me, and my pride is satisfied, “remember, we were once friends.”

But Grushnitsky cannot bear this precisely: Pechorin’s calm, benevolent tone humiliates him even more - again Pechorin won, took over; he is noble, and Grushnitsky...

“His face flushed, his eyes sparkled.

Shoot! - he answered. - I despise myself, but I hate you. If you don't kill me, I'll stab you at night from around the corner. There is no place for the two of us on earth...

Finita la comedy! - I told the doctor.

He did not answer and turned away in horror."

The comedy turned into tragedy. But don’t you think that Werner behaves no better than the dragoon captain? At first he did not hold back Pechorin when he came under a bullet. Now that the murder had been committed, the doctor turned away from responsibility.

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov is one of the few writers in world literature whose prose and poems are equally perfect. In the last years of his life, Lermontov created his surprisingly deep novel “A Hero of Our Time” (1838 – 1841). This work can be called an example of socio-psychological prose. Through the image of the main character of the novel, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin, the author conveys the thoughts, feelings, and quests of people of the 30s of the 19th century.

The main character traits of Pechorin are “passion for contradictions” and dual personality. In life, the hero is contradictory and unpredictable. Moreover, he is very selfish. It often seems that Pechorin lives only to have fun and amuse himself. The scary thing is that the people around the hero become the reason for his entertainment. However, Grigory Alexandrovich does not always behave like a villain.

V.G. Belinsky said that the “tragic” lies “in the collision of the natural dictates of the heart” with duty, in the “struggle, victory or fall that arises from it.” His words are confirmed by one of the most important scenes in the novel - the scene of Pechorin’s duel with Grushnitsky.

In Grushnitsky, Grigory Alexandrovich wants to find something good, wants to help him understand himself, become a normal person. We understand and do not condemn Pechorin when he says before the duel that he wants to give himself the moral right not to spare Grushnitsky. Pechorin gives this hero freedom of choice and tries to push him to the right decision.

Grigory Alexandrovich decides to risk his life for the sake of one psychological experiment, for the sake of awakening the best feelings and qualities in Grushnitsky. The abyss on the edge of which the newly minted officer stands is an abyss in the literal and figurative sense. Grushnitsky falls into it under the weight of his own anger and hatred. How did this psychological experiment take place?

Grushnitsky, together with the dragoon captain, decided to “teach a lesson” to Pechorin because he began to court Princess Mary. Their plan was quite simple: to load only Grushnitsky’s pistol during the duel.
Grushnitsky wanted to scare Pechorin and humiliate him. But is that all there is to it? After all, it could have happened that he would have ended up with Pechorin. It turns out that Grushnitsky was planning to practically kill an innocent person. The laws of honor for this “officer” turned out to be unwritten.

Pechorin accidentally learns about the conspiracy, but decides not to give up the duel. Lermontov writes that “there was some kind of anxiety in Grushnitsky’s gaze, revealing an internal struggle.” Unfortunately, this struggle in the hero’s soul ended with the victory of baseness and meanness.

However, Pechorin does not immediately decide to go into a duel with a loaded pistol. Grigory Alexandrovich had to be convinced more than once that the meanness in Grushnitsky was ineradicable before he decided on retribution. But Grushnitsky did not take advantage of any of the opportunities given to him for reconciliation or repentance.

Seeing this, Pechorin still decides to go to the duel. There, on the mountain, “he was ashamed to kill an unarmed man...” But at that moment Grushnitsky fired! Even though the bullet only grazed his knee, he fired! “The annoyance of offended pride, and contempt, and anger, born at the thought that this man ... wanted to kill him like a dog, could not help but rebel in Pechorin’s soul. Grushnitsky did not feel remorse, although if the wound had been even a little more serious, he would have fallen off the cliff,” writes Lermontov.

Only after all this Pechorin asked to load his pistol. But even before that, he gave Grushnitsky one more opportunity to apologize. But: “Shoot,” he answered, “I despise myself, but I hate you. If you don't kill me, I'll stab you at night from around the corner. There is no place for the two of us on earth!” And Pechorin shot...

I think that Pechorin’s cruelty is caused by insult not only for himself. He was amazed that a person can make faces and lie even before death. Pechorin was shocked to the depths of his soul by the fact that petty pride in Grushnitsky turned out to be stronger than honor and nobility.

Who is right and who is wrong in the scene of Pechorin’s duel with Grushnitsky is, at first glance, obvious. You might think that human vices should be punished. Here, perhaps, the method of punishment is not even important. On the other hand, every person has the right to protect his honor and his dignity. But the question arises: who gave Pechorin the right to judge other people? Why did this hero take upon himself the responsibilities of the Lord God to decide who lives and who dies?

Essay by Lermontov M.Yu. - Hero of our time

Topic: - “Pechorin and Grushnitsky in the duel scene”

The role of internal monologue in creating the image of Pechorin

(using the example of the story “Princess Mary”)

The novel “A Hero of Our Time” is the first in the history of Russian literature to depict a new person who reflected a new phenomenon of Russian reality.

The creative method can be defined as psychological romanticism. The writer, as a romantic, has always been characterized by deep introspection. His interest in the inner world of man was especially fully expressed in the novel “A Hero of Our Time.”

In the second preface to the novel, the author writes: “The history of the human soul, even the smallest soul, is almost more interesting and useful than the history of an entire people.” Before the reader is the “story of the soul” of the Russian officer Georgy Aleksandrovich Pechorin. His character, his inner world is revealed to us through internal monologues and diary entries of the hero.

According to the Russian literary critic, an internal monologue is a self-directed statement of the hero, directly reflecting the internal psychological process, a monologue “to oneself”, which imitates the emotional and mental activity of a person in its immediate course. “Pechorin’s Journal” is built on the principle of internal monologue, which is an integral part of the novel.

The great importance of the internal monologue is especially clearly revealed in the story “Princess Mary”. The chapter takes the form of diary entries. It is here that the main character is prone to reflection. We see what is happening not from the outside, but from the first person, who experiences, feels and passes through everything that happens. An internal monologue lasting two weeks reveals properties of the hero’s nature that we could only guess about before.

First of all, in this story Pechorin reveals himself to readers as a true connoisseur of women’s minds: “When meeting a woman, I
I always guessed unmistakably whether she would love me or not...”; “Meanwhile, the princess was annoyed by my indifference, as I could guess from one angry, brilliant look... Oh, I amazingly understand this conversation, silent but expressive, brief but strong!..”; “Tomorrow she will want to reward me. I already know all this by heart, that’s what’s boring!” What is interesting here is the parallel development of Pechorin’s relationship with Vera and Mary. All his actions and words are aimed only at commanding Mary’s feelings, in order to annoy his comrade Grushnitsky and receive satisfaction from this: “But there is immense pleasure in possessing a young, barely blossoming soul! She is like a flower whose best fragrance evaporates towards the first ray of the sun; You need to pick it up at this moment and, after breathing it to your heart’s content, throw it on the road, maybe someone will pick it up!” In this monologue one can see some kind of inhuman cruelty of the hero, insensibility, deadness of soul. But Pechorin is not so dispassionate, and true love for Mary causes him annoyance, because happiness for him is only “saturated pride.” During the last explanation with Mary, Pechorin realizes his guilt before her: “It seemed like another moment and I would fall at her feet.” But this moment will never happen: the hero values ​​​​his freedom too much.

Time passes, and we see Pechorin completely different. He learns about Vera’s arrival in the Caucasus: “Did fate bring us together again in the Caucasus, or did she come here on purpose, knowing that she would meet me?.. and how will we meet?.. and then, is it her?..” Silence in the end of each expression reflects the hero's anxiety and trepidation. After describing their meeting, Pechorin writes in his diary: “I sat down next to her and took her hand: a long-forgotten thrill ran through my veins at the sound of that sweet voice.” The hero reveals himself to us from a new side: he knows how to love, to be timid in the presence of a woman, his “head is on fire” next to her. But even Vera, a woman who has already submitted to Pechorin’s character, who understood and accepted him as he is, recalls that their relationship brought her nothing but suffering. “Maybe,” thought the hero, “that’s why you loved me: joys are forgotten, but sorrows are never forgotten!..” It turns out that even in true love Pechorin is not capable of calm coexistence, even here his nature of a “cold thinker” is manifested " Moreover, after this meeting, he decides to use the intrigue with Mary to spur Vera’s feelings: “Perhaps jealousy will do something that my requests could not.” Thus, even Pechorin’s beloved woman did not escape his passion for playing with human feelings.

In his relationship with Grushnitsky, Pechorin’s ability to create “explosion situations” is revealed. He takes particular pleasure in exposing people and tearing off their masks. With great irony, Pechorin describes Grushnitsky in his diary: “his festive appearance, his proud gait would make me laugh if it were in accordance with my intentions”; “Grushnitsky could not bear this blow: like all boys, he has the pretension of being an old man; he thinks it's on his face
deep traces of passions replace the imprint of years.” For the hero, Grushnitsky is just a reason for fun, a good time. Pechorin even agrees to a duel with him only in order to find out to what degree of moral decline his former friend will reach. Death does not frighten Pechorin: “Well? to die, so to die: the loss for the world is small; and I’m pretty bored myself. I'm like a man yawning at a ball who doesn't go to bed just because he's not there yet.
his carriages. But is the carriage ready? - goodbye! But in his experiments the hero goes too far: Grushnitsky is killed in an absurd duel. Dr. Warner "turned away from the winner in horror."

The hero's friendship with the doctor also ends ingloriously. They feel deep sympathy for each other, but Pechorin prefers to “keep his distance.” He explains the reason for this behavior in the Journal: “I am incapable of friendship: of two friends, one is always the slave of the other.” After the duel, Varner removes a bullet from Grushnitsky’s body in order to present what happened as an accident and save his friend from punishment, but even after this Pechorin will not change his attitude towards the savior. Even when the doctor wants to hug him goodbye, the officer remains “stone cold.”

The hero's personal drama lies in the fact that he is only able to take from people and is unable to give them anything in return. At the end of the story we read in his diary: “I became a moral cripple.” To a large extent, the reason for the hardening of Pechorin’s soul is constant introspection and withdrawal into oneself. The hero's reflection develops into illness. The hero makes any experiences an object of dispassionate observation, while losing sensitivity to the pain of another. However, deep knowledge of one’s own “I” also has a positive side. The hero himself realizes the destructiveness of his character: “Really, I thought, my only purpose on earth is to destroy other people’s hopes? Since I have been living and acting, fate has somehow always led me to the outcome of other people’s dramas, as if without me no one could die or despair.” An inquisitive mind and a restless heart do not allow the hero to concentrate on a specific task or lead a measured lifestyle. Fatal questions “Who am I? Why was I born? torment him incessantly and lead to the destruction of his personality.

The story “Princess Mary” reveals the image of Pechorin to the highest degree precisely because it represents a large internal monologue of the hero, full of suffering. Pechorin's thoughts and feelings are the property of his personal experience and spiritual work, although they pass through the prism of the author's consciousness.

Literature:

Belinsky of our time. – M.: Sovremennik, 1988. Grigoryan literature of the 19th century: Reader of literary terms: A book for teachers. – M.: Education, 1984. Lermontov of our time. – M.: Pan Press, 2011. Udodov “Hero of Our Time”: A Book for Teachers. – M.: Education, 1989. Urnov monologue // LES. – P.65-66