A short essay on literature on the topic: Female images in the novel "A Hero of Our Time". Characteristics of Bela, Princess Mary, Undine, Vera

M.Yu. Lermontov created one of the first Russian psychological novels, in which the main role is played not by the plot, but by the disclosure of the soul. The narrative is aimed at showing all facets of the character of the protagonist, Grigory Pechorin. Meeting with different people, communication and interaction with them also convey his personal qualities. And what are the female characters of the novel?

Bela is the first to appear before the readers - the most exotic of all the girls. She, the daughter of a Caucasian prince, a "Circassian", captivated the protagonist with a captivating, clean appearance, huge eyes and a "wild" behavior unspoiled by secular conventions. Pechorin stole Bela from her father's house, the proud girl at first rejected the kidnapper, and then fell in love with passion. The heroine lived and burned with this first love. Pechorin became everything to her, she did not try to attract or deliberately reject him in order to stir up interest, as the secular beauties did, Bela simply loved and gave all of herself. But the hero was bored with these real feelings, he lost interest in the Circassian woman, left her alone, although her admirer was hunting for her. On one of these lonely days, the girl was killed. Dying, she remains selflessly loving, does not blame Pechorin, but worries about something else: "She began to grieve that she was not a Christian, and that in the next world her soul would never meet with the soul of Grigory Alexandrovich." Bela is an example of moral purity and self-sacrifice, she is Pechorin's lost hope for the resurrection of her soul.

In the next chapter, we are waiting for "undine" - the most mysterious heroine, nothing is known about her, not even her name. She attracted the hero with mystery and beauty, and she smelled of some kind of adventure. Agility, insight, cunning, mobility - these qualities make a girl a snake. And she is engaged in a completely unfair business: together with the boatman Yanko, they trade in smuggling. "Undine" dispelled Pechorin's boredom for a while when he revealed her secret. However, the moment when the hero found out that the girl was a smuggler almost became fatal: the cunning "mermaid" (as Pechorin also calls her) invited a curious man on a date and almost drowned him. "Undine" expresses a changeable fate, but she herself becomes its victim: after being exposed, she and Yanko hide.

Princess Mary is the most distinguished of the girls, a representative of the "water society". The heroine is already poisoned by light: superficial, windy, fake: "The princess also wanted to laugh more than once, but she held back so as not to leave the accepted role: she finds that languor is coming to her - and, perhaps, she is not mistaken." However, this beautiful girl with an expressive face and velvet eyes attracts not only with her appearance. The princess is smart, educated, capable of strong feelings, because she is inexperienced, she has not yet had to be deceived. But with Pechorin I had to. The hero played on the girl's romantic feelings and seduced her out of boredom, out of the desire to annoy the "sworn friend" Grushnitsky, out of considerations of the princess's closeness to her long-beloved Vera. Pechorin broke Mary's heart, perhaps after him she will acquire those coldness and insensitivity, habitual for the world, that she so lacked.

Vera is the most significant woman for the hero. She is no longer young, she has gone through a lot, like the hero. They loved each other before, and the feeling did not fade away at the time of a new meeting. Vera is the only one who truly knows Pechorin, she does not need to play roles in front of her, she does not need to lie. But this understanding does not make the heroine happy. She is married to an unloved one and is slowly dying: “She is very pretty, but she seems to be very sick ... Haven't you met her at the well? “She is of medium height, blonde, with regular features, her complexion is consumptive, and there is a black mole on her right cheek: her face struck me with its expressiveness,” says Dr. Werner about her. Vera is ready to do anything for the sake of love, she sacrifices herself, accepts Pechorin with all his shortcomings, and he, in turn, cannot deceive her and forget. A short moment of meeting gives way to a tragic parting: Vera is forced to leave. Both she and he understand that there is no future, which is why their parting is bitter and their hopeless love is sweeter.

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" was published in 1840, but it is still read and loved by people of different age groups. What attracts the modern reader to a novel written in the century before last?

Composition of the work

The composition of the work is unusual.

The novel consists of several parts, including the story of an officer wandering around the Caucasus ("Bela" and "Maksim Maksimych") and notes from Pechorin himself, which fell into the hands of this officer: "Taman", "Princess Mary" and "Fatalist".

But the order of the stories does not coincide with the chronology of events. The author deliberately violates the sequence of events in the description of the biography of Grigory Alexandrovich. This helps the writer to draw the attention of readers to the hero, to his personality and destiny. Thus, at the beginning of the novel we get to know the hero, in the middle we learn about his death, and then he tells his own story. This gives the novel a special intrigue, romance and deep psychology, and helps to comprehensively and fully reveal the personality of the protagonist.

Eternal questions in a novel

Magnificent landscape sketches, the language of the novel, which delighted such masters of words as Gogol and Chekhov, an interesting composition - all this gives the novel its originality.

But, the most important thing in the novel is penetration into the hearts and souls of men and the search for answers to eternal questions about the destiny of man. Why does a person come to this world? What is friendship, love, life and death? What is destiny? Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is looking for answers to all these questions.

The main character of the novel

Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin is the protagonist of the work. He is a complex and contradictory person. In his own words, two people seem to live in it, one of whom does deeds, and the second is the strictest judge.

The hero feels his high destiny, but wastes himself on trifles. He is bored, and out of boredom he plays with his life and the lives of other people. He brings suffering, but he suffers himself. Best of all, we understand the depth and versatility of Pechorin's nature through his thoughts, described by him in his diary, through actions, through relationships with other protagonists of the novel.

Female images of the novel

The main characters, or rather the heroines, helping to better understand the essence of Pechorin, are four female images, who, by the will of fate, were prepared for a meeting with Grigory Alexandrovich. Women are the hero's strongest passion, he honestly admits that "apart from them, he loved nothing in the world."

The women who are attracted to him are young, beautiful, bright, distinctive, strong, to match the hero of the novel. And most importantly, they have something that Pechorin himself does not have and that he is so eagerly trying to find - the ability to love truly, faithfully, selflessly. The heroines do not find happiness in love, but the suffering they endured reveal to the full all the qualities of their soul. They love, hate, jealous, compassionate. They live, not run away from life. Each female image presented in the novel is one of the faces of the Eternal Feminine, ennobling a person and raising him above the vanity of being.

Bela

The first on the pages of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" appears the poetic image of the Circassian woman Bela. The sixteen-year-old daughter of the Circassian prince attracts the hero's heart with her dissimilarity from the secular women of his circle. She is direct, open.

Although Bela is very young and inexperienced, it is not easy to win her heart: neither gifts nor beautiful words help Pechorin. She artlessly shows her feelings for Pechorin only after he said that he was going to go to war to lay down his head there. Falling in love with the hero, the girl completely surrenders to passion, she shows the best properties of her nature: loyalty, devotion, sensitivity.

The sensitive heart of the Maiden of the Mountains feels the cooling of Pechorin, she herself begins to wither and fade away. But even suffering from indifference, she does not reproach the hero for anything, nor begs for his attention, does not impose herself on him, retains self-esteem and pride. Love brings Bela some suffering: two men love her, one torments her with his indifference, and the other inflicts a fatal blow with a dagger. Before death, all the thoughts of the girl are turned to her beloved - she is worried that different faiths will not allow them to meet in heaven, that another woman will be next to him in paradise. Kisses him as if in a kiss he is trying to convey his soul to him. No complaints, no accusations, no reproaches. Strong, proud, passionate, gentle, quivering - embodied femininity! Bela is the most tragic female character in the novel A Hero of Our Time.

faith

The next female character in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is the image of Vera. The background of the relationship between Pechorin and Vera is little known to us, but we understand that her love for the hero has passed the test of separation and time. Clever Vera is the only woman in "A Hero of Our Time" who understood the essence of Pechorin's soul, understood and accepted him with all its advantages and disadvantages.

She submitted to her fate and continues to love him in spite of the voice of reason, which tells her to hate the source of suffering. As the heroine herself says, her love "fused" with her soul, "darkened, but did not fade away." She suffers, hides her passion from her husband, suffers from jealousy. All the depth and strength of her feeling is most fully revealed in her last letter, letter - farewell, letter - confession. She understands that she will never see her beloved again and asks the hero to always remember her, not to love, but only to remember. But jealousy haunts Vera's heart, in the last lines of the letter she begs Pechorin not to marry Mary.

Princess Mary

Mary Ligovskaya is a young aristocrat, brought up in a secular society, well educated and smart. There is always a crowd of fans around her, but Mary's heart is free until Pechorin appears on her life path, for whom a young inexperienced girl becomes a toy out of boredom. It costs Pechorin nothing to fall in love with the princess. Love transforms a girl, awakening the best qualities of her heart, secular gloss flies from her, a living soul opens up before us, capable of strong feelings. She is sincerely grateful to the hero for his help at the ball, she with tears in her eyes listens to the words about his sad fate to be incomprehensible and lonely in the crowd.

Mary herself confesses her love for Pechorin, disregarding the conventions of the world. At the last meeting, the sight of a suffering girl arouses the hero's pity. To put an end to her hopes, he confesses that everything was a game to him. Her pride has been dealt a crushing blow, and she turns all the strength of her undivided feeling into hatred. Will Mary be able to love again with the same power? Will her soul harden? Will not her heart become cold and indifferent?

Undine

There is another unusual female image in "A Hero of Our Time" - a smuggling girl. Undine - this is what the hero called her for her external resemblance to a mermaid. Her charming appearance and unusual behavior immediately attract Pechorin's attention and promise him an interesting adventure.

Flexible, slender, long-haired, with a magnetic force in her eyes, the girl enchanted the hero and lured him into a trap, almost drowning him in the sea, while showing remarkable dexterity and strength. What prompts her to commit a crime? The fear that the officer will report to the commandant about what he saw at night makes her act boldly and decisively. She also does not lack cunning and ingenuity: she knows how to interest a man by playing on male vanity. We met two opponents worthy of each other in spirit. And if Pechorin flatters his curiosity and is looking for entertainment, fighting boredom, then the girl protects her love, her happiness, her usual life. In her soul, cruelty, commercialism and love for Yanko coexist. The girl yearns for him, waits impatiently, peering anxiously into the raging distance of the sea. She herself is like the sea, the same wild and rebellious.

Lermontov's novel shows the images of his contemporaries, they are very different both in faith and in social status, but each of them is beautiful in its own way thanks to a heart capable of true and faithful love.

He wrote his masterpiece called A Hero of Our Time. This work shows us the time that came after the uprising, where the writer paints portraits of people of his era. In other words, Lermontov creates. But the essay is not about Pechorin, but about the female images that surround him in the novel.

Characteristics of the female images of the novel

Feminine images are the main clue that allows the reader to understand the character of the protagonist. Thanks to the female images, which, as, were successful, we were able to see Pechorin in all his glory. Who exactly do we meet in the novel? The novel consists of three parts and each part has its own heroine. This is the smuggler, Princess Mary, Vera and Bela. Let's take a closer look at the heroines of the novel and their characteristics.

Bela is a Circassian woman who is kidnapped by the hero of the novel, not without the help of the girl's brother. The heroine of the part of the same name is a kind girl, sincere and pure. The Caucasian girl was proud, with dignity, who nevertheless fell in love. I fell in love sincerely and very much. But Pechorin does not reciprocate. Creating the image of Bela, the author shows that even sincere feelings cannot change the hero, even they quickly get bored, even they are not enough for him.

Princess Ligovskaya

Princess Mary Ligovskaya is a smart girl. She is noble, well-read, although youth and inexperience in her story can rather be attributed to shortcomings. She was interested in young people who stood out from the crowd. Pechorin attracts her with her behavior, impudent and strange. The hero aroused the girl's sympathy, and later love. But Pechorin only uses the heroine, her feelings. Despite the fact that he was already ready to fall in love with Princess Mary, he breaks off the relationship. After all, I was used to playing with people, and then there was also the fear of losing my freedom and my independence. In a word, Mary became yet another victim in the female characters of the novel. The author needed her image in order to show the readers the hero's passion to lead others, to rule over feelings, bringing suffering.

Vera is the only heroine who really helped to reveal the character of the hero, was able to understand him and accept him with all its pluses and minuses. Vera also loves Pechorin. Her love is great, so she forgives the suffering that the hero of our novel brings to her. But they cannot be together, because Vera is a married woman. The image of Vera's heroine radiates humility, femininity, and the author needed it in order for the reader to see Pechorin's egoism, his unwillingness to lose freedom, which seemed to him the main thing in life.

Undine

Another heroine, whose female image is created by the writer, is Ondine. Pechorin met her on Taman. It was a girl in love with a smuggler. She is brave, strong. She attracts Pechorin by the fact that she lives a free life, in a world of impunity. This was interesting to Pechorin, who was chasing everything unknown. Only in this world he turned out to be superfluous. In addition, here Pechorin almost became a victim himself.

Introduction

The female characters in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" were a success for Lermontov. This is how the famous critic of that time V.G. Belinsky.

Belinsky noted that the author created such monumental images of girls and women that they could only compete with the heroines of A.S. Pushkin. These women are smart, capable, beautiful in soul and body, they have a strong will, they strive to realize themselves in society. However, all the heroines of the novel are unhappy in their own way, although it must be admitted that their misfortune is a derivative of the misfortune of the main character - Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin.

It is the image of Pechorin that unites all the female characters of the novel with each other.

The work presents several central female images. This is Vera - a secular married lady who is connected with Pechorin by a love story even at the time when the young hero lived in St. Petersburg. This is Princess Mary Ligovskaya, a relative of Vera, whom Pechorin meets in Kislovodsk and, out of boredom, makes her fall in love with him. This is the daughter of the Circassian prince Bel, abducted by her brother and given to Pechorin as a concubine. And, finally, this is the girl whom Pechorin himself called Undina ("mermaid") - the beloved of the smuggler Yanko, a casual acquaintance of the protagonist of the novel.

Let's characterize briefly the main female characters from this work.

Bela

The image of the proud Circassian woman Bela, whom Pechorin, with the help of her brother, kidnapped from the parental home, aroused the enthusiastic participation of the reading public even at the first publication of the novel.
Among the female characters in "A Hero of Our Time", the image of Bela is one of the most touching. Bela was not to blame for what happened to her, and, nevertheless, she took all the blows of fate with courage. She was betrayed by her brother, giving her away for Kazbich's horse; she was betrayed by the kidnapper Pechorin, whom she loved with all her heart, but did not find reciprocity in his soul. As a result, she was killed by a man who was also secretly in love with her.

Only Maxim Maksimovich understood Bela's delicate and sensitive soul, however, he did not know how to help her and secretly rejoiced at her death, realizing that nothing good was in store for this girl in life.
Bela's love could not awaken Pechorin's soul to life from selfish egoism. The protagonist of the novel soon lost interest in the young Circassian woman, and the heroine, without reproaching her lover for anything, dutifully followed to the grave, regretting before her death only that she and Grigory Alexandrovich belong to different faiths, therefore they would not be able to meet in paradise.

It should be admitted that Lermontov succeeded in Bela's image in full, later L.N. Tolstoy in his story "Prisoner of the Caucasus" will present to the audience the image of a young Chechen girl Dina, and in this image there will be features of Bela - such as devotion and moral purity.

Princess Ligovskaya

The image of women in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" significantly complements the image of Princess Mary, a proud and beautiful Russian noblewoman who fell in love with Pechorin and confessed her feelings to him, which at that time was considered unacceptable behavior on the part of a girl from a noble family.

Pechorin felt that Mary was an unusual girl from those whom he knew. He saw in her intelligence, character and spiritual strength. And although Pechorin told Grushnitsky that Mary was a classic example of a Russian girl who, with all her pride and intelligence, would eventually marry an insignificant man, following the will of her mother, nevertheless, Grigory Alexandrovich himself decided to play with the feelings of this proud beauty.

It is difficult to say how sincerely Pechorin courted Mary, however, it should be noted that he humiliated her not out of anger, but rather, obeying some kind of coarse inner instinct.
Pechorin felt the spiritual strength and purity of Mary, so he tried to subjugate her, although he did not find any special meaning in this submission.

As a result, Mary also (like Bela later) deeply experienced the story with Pechorin and experienced suffering from his actions and his mental coldness towards her.

faith

The role of female characters in "A Hero of Our Time" is quite large. In fact, Pechorin's personality is revealed to us through the prism of his relationship with women, which are presented in the novel.
Of great importance in this is the image of Vera - a secular married lady, with whom Pechorin was familiar back in St. Petersburg. In Kislovodsk, where the story "Princess Mary" takes place, Pechorin met Vera again. Grigory Alexandrovich remembered his feelings for this woman, it seems that Vera did not forget her former lover.

Many readers of the novel have noticed that the image of Vera is one of the most controversial in the novel. On the one hand, the heroine aspired to Pechorin and understood his soul better than anyone, full of contradictions, pride and selfishness, but on the other hand, it was Vera who became Pechorin's “evil genius”, in fact, pushing him into a duel with Grushnitsky. That night, when Grushnitsky, full of jealousy, watched Pechorin at Mary's house, he saw Pechorin go on a date to Vera, but the young hero decided that Grigory Alexandrovich was trying to seduce Mary Ligovskaya, with whom he himself was in love.

The fatal duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky led Vera to tell her husband the truth about her relationship with Pechorin, her husband took her away from Kislovodsk forever. Pechorin rushed after him, but was unable to do anything.

"Undine"

The characterization of female characters in "A Hero of Our Time" would be incomplete if we did not mention the name of another heroine whom Pechorin met on Taman.

Pechorin himself called her "Undine", that is, a mermaid. The image of this girl is mysterious. She was the mistress of the smuggler Yanko, whom Pechorin actually took by surprise. Fearing that Pechorin might report Yanko to the authorities, Ondine lured Pechorin onto a boat, inviting him to ride with her, and then tried to drown her companion. The latter, however, did not succeed: Pechorin threw Undine overboard.

The hero himself explained the act of Undine with a feeling of love for the young smuggler, but such a terrible love seemed unpleasant even to Pechorin himself, who was used to bringing misfortune to those whom he loved.

All women in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" are unique and striking personalities. In fact, they largely anticipate the famous female characters in Turgenev's novels. These women are beautiful, smart, strong in spirit, they have will and sensitive and kind hearts. However, none of them could keep Pechorin from falling into a moral abyss, most likely because the hero himself, looking for female love, could not fully understand the hearts of the women he loved.

The above brief characteristics of women and a description of their role in the novel will be useful for 9th grade students when collecting information for an essay on the topic "Female images in the novel" A Hero of Our Time ".

Product test

In the novel "A Hero of Our Time" Pechorin meets four women. Each part of the work has its own heroine. And only in "Princess Mary" there are two of them: Vera, and also - Mary of Lithuania.

Mary

The relationship between Mary and Pechorin is a characteristic of the hero's dual nature. He is interested in getting the attention of a woman. He does it boldly and nobly at the same time. He does not hesitate to "take it for pity", talking about his sad fate and rejection in society. By this he attracts a girl who sees in his image an idealized man, different from those whom she is used to seeing in society.

Mary is a reserved and modest girl. She sincerely sympathizes with Pechorin. And really falls in love with him. Lermontov describes Mary as a proud woman. Therefore, she reacts so sharply to Pechorin's recognition of the insincerity of feelings for her. "Stepping over herself", Mary speaks first in love. But in response he receives Pechorin's recognition: he only mocked her and now expects contempt for his act.

The girl is humiliated and insulted. Therefore, all I can do is tell the hero about her hatred.

Did our hero love Mary? No. Sympathized, sympathized, appreciated for the mind. But not more. Pechorin values ​​independence too much. And by playing with her feelings, Mary brought suffering and grief to the girl.

There is one true love in Pechorin's life. And this is Vera. But could he make her happy? The woman also unconditionally loves the hero. She is gnawed at by jealousy of Mary of Lithuania. In the fight for her man, Vera is ready for any hardships and sacrifices. But Pechorin does not need them. In the novel, Vera admits that this relationship brought her nothing but suffering.

Delicate and beautiful, passionate and proud ... This is how Lermontov describes Belu. For a while, she was able to become Pechorin's new hobby. A proud princess from a Circassian family for the sake of her beloved man is ready for self-sacrifice. But Pechorin “plays” with her too: a girl for the hero is just a short-term relief from boredom. The death of Bela became for her a deliverance from suffering: not everyone can survive the betrayal.

Her image is a characteristic of a woman who is self-sufficient and integral in nature. But at the same time, she sees her meaning in life in love and sacrifice for the sake of a man.

The section "Taman" describes a vivid image of a romantic girl engaged in smuggling. She has a beloved Yanko - a brave hero. The courage, despair and devotion of the girl seduce Pechorin. Only such a strong nature is capable of subduing and "re-educating" him. And the "hero of our time" almost becomes its victim. Indeed, the image of a smuggler embodies the very independence that Pechorin values ​​so much.

Four girls - four different characters. None of them could be happy with Pechorin.