Pechorin and Grushnitsky in M. Yu. Lermontov’s novel “Hero of Our Time”
The main character, Pechorin, is a bright personality, but the appearance of Grushnitsky on stage helps to reveal many of his qualities.
The confrontation between Pechorin and Grushnitsky is shown in the chapter “Princess Mary”. The story is told from the perspective of Pechorin. He is prone to analyzing situations, people and himself, so his story can be considered objective to a greater or lesser extent. He knows how to notice in people characteristic features and convey them in two or three words. But at the same time, all shortcomings and flaws are mercilessly ridiculed.
Both heroes meet like old friends.
Pechorin is self-confident, reasonable, selfish, mercilessly sarcastic (sometimes beyond measure). At the same time, he sees right through Grushnitsky and laughs at him. And he, in turn, is too exalted, enthusiastic and verbose. He talks more than he does, and over-romanticizes people (primarily himself). Nevertheless, this dissimilarity and rejection of each other does not prevent them from communicating and spending a lot of time together.
They saw Princess Mary for the first time almost simultaneously. From that moment on, a thin crack lay between them, which eventually turned into an abyss. Grushnitsky, a provincial romantic, is seriously infatuated with the princess. Pechorin's eternal enemy - boredom - forces him to infuriate the princess with various petty antics. All this is done without a shadow of hostility, but solely out of a desire to entertain oneself.
The behavior of both heroes in relation to Princess Mary does not evoke much sympathy. Grushnitsky is a windbag, he loves beautiful words and gestures. He wants life to resemble a sentimental novel. That is why he attributes to others the feelings that he would like them to experience. He sees life in some kind of foggy haze, in a romantic halo. But there is no falsehood in his feelings for the princess, although perhaps he exaggerates it somewhat.
On the other hand, Pechorin is a sensible man who has studied women, and also a cynic. He is having fun with Mary. He enjoys this game, just as he enjoys watching the development of the relationship between Grushnitsky and the princess. Pechorin, unlike Grushnitsky, perfectly foresees further development events. He is young, but has become disillusioned with people and life in general. It was not difficult for him to seduce Princess Mary; he just had to appear incomprehensible and mysterious and be daring.
Pechorin is playing a double game. He resumed his relationship with Vera. This woman is undoubtedly stronger and tougher than Princess Mary. But love for Pechorin broke her too. She is ready to trample on her pride and reputation. She knows that their relationship brings only pain and disappointment. And still he strives for it, because he cannot do otherwise. Faith is capable of much more strong feelings than Mary. Her love is stronger, and her grief is more hopeless. She self-destructs for the sake of love and does not regret it.
Grushnitsky will never evoke such feelings. He is too soft and does not have bright features character. He couldn't make Mary love him. He lacks assertiveness and self-irony. His rants can only make an initial impression. But the speeches begin to repeat themselves and eventually become unbearable.
The more the princess becomes interested in Pechorin (after all, she is much more interested in him than with the simple-minded boy), the wider her life becomes. There is a gap between him and Grushnitsky. The situation is heating up, mutual hostility is growing. Pechorin’s prophecy that they will someday “collide on a narrow road” begins to come true.
A duel is the denouement of the relationship between two heroes. It was approaching inevitably, as the road became too narrow for two.
On the day of the duel, Pechorin experiences cold anger. They tried to deceive him, but he cannot forgive it. Grushnitsky, on the contrary, is very nervous and tries with all his might to avert the inevitable. He behaved in lately unworthily, spreading rumors about Pechorin, and tried in every possible way to cast him in a black light. You can hate a person for this, you can punish him, despise him, but you cannot deprive him of his life. But this does not bother Pechorin. He kills Grushnitsky and leaves without looking back. The death of a former friend does not awaken any emotions in him.
This is how the story of the relationship between Pechorin and Grushnitsky ends. You cannot judge who is right and who is wrong. And it is not known who to feel more sorry for: the deceased Grushnitsky or the departed Pechorin. The former will never be able to fulfill his romantic dreams, huh. the second one never had them. It is better for Pechorin to die, since he does not see the meaning in his existence. This is his tragedy.
I don't like him either: I feel that we
someday we'll run into him on a narrow road
road, and one of us will be in trouble.
M. Lermontov. Hero of our time
How many techniques does M. Yu. Lermontov use to illuminate the image of the main character of his novel, Pechorin, more brightly and comprehensively! We learn about Pechorin from the words of people, long time communicated with him, heard about him, read his diary. And yet, nowhere does a person reveal himself as fully and multifacetedly as in communication with other people.
Getting to Pyatigorsk, Pechorin meets Grushnitsky, whose figure stands out even among the “Moscow dandies” and “brilliant adjutants.” The conflict between Pechorin and Grushnitsky is one of the main ones in the novel, since Grushnitsky here embodies the world against which main character rebels with all his soul and heart.
Grushnitsky in the novel is the direct antipode of Pechorin and even a parody of him. Lermontov contrasted the desire to produce an effect and Grushnitsky’s posing with the true depth and power of his protagonist’s dreams and the bitterness of disappointment. Playing with disappointment, trying to attract attention to himself, Grushnitsky in many ways tries to imitate Pechorin, envying him and, deep down, even hating him for his inner superiority. Pechorin initially treats Grushnitsky with irony, since he is rather ridiculous and pitiful in his attempts to play “extraordinary feelings, sublime passions and exceptional suffering” than scary and dangerous. A subtle psychologist of the human heart, Pechorin quickly and easily unraveled the inner essence of Grushnitsky: he “does not know people and their weak strings, because his whole life he has been focused on himself.” However, this reproach is not for a lack of dedication and love for people, which Pechorin himself was deprived of, but for ignoring the objective truth of reality. Grushnitsky never hears his interlocutor, even if he is “talking” with him. Grushnitsky is divorced from reality, he sees around only what he wants, therefore he often cannot critically evaluate his own actions or does not know how to understand even the simplest life situations.
The inability to realize deep, strong, real aspirations and at the same time constant dissatisfaction with oneself makes the figure of Pechorin tragic. In Grushnitsky, we observe a lack of convictions, inner emptiness, shallowness of soul and thoughts, which leads him to posturing and insurmountable, petty pride, as a result of which he is capable of committing vile and base acts.
Pechorin, despite his conviction of his inability to make “noble impulses,” is also characterized by deep, magnanimous, truly human movements. So, having accidentally overheard the captain’s proposal to bring him, Pechorin, to a challenge to a duel, supposedly to test his courage, but not to load the pistol, Pechorin “waited with trepidation for Grushnitsky’s answer... If Grushnitsky had not agreed, I I would throw myself on his neck.” This is the same craving to believe in a person, to make sure that he is not capable of meanness, Pechorin also appears during a duel, because he is ready to forget everything and forgive the enemy and baseness, and petty pride, and cowardice, if he admits to his vile act . However, Grushnitsky’s desire to “play a role” is higher than honesty, and he shoots at Pechorin, who was deliberately disarmed by the captain who did not put bullets in his pistol, brazenly expecting a return — blank — shot. Material from the site
In his novel “A Hero of Our Time,” in the images of Pechorin and Grushnitsky, M. Yu Lermontov captured characters quite typical for Russian life of the 30s that developed in society during the period of reaction after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. The image of Pechorin depicts people passionately trying to find their place in life, critically and objectively assessing their actions and actions, capable of analyzing the surrounding reality, but not finding answers to their questions, unable to determine the goals of their own life. Next to such extraordinary natures, dullness and mediocrity flourish in their serene existence, people who strive to play someone else's role, speak in someone else's words, live someone else's life - people like Grushnitsky.
In the spring of 1940, a separate edition of the work “Hero of Our Time,” written by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, was published. This novel became one of the most interesting and extraordinary phenomena in Russian literature. This book has been the subject of numerous studies and debates for more than a century and a half. It does not lose any of its sharpness and relevance these days. Belinsky also wrote about this book that it was never destined to grow old. We also decided to contact her and write our own essay. Grushnitsky and Pechorin are very interesting characters.
Generation Feature
Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin, the main character of the novel in question, lived during the time of Lermontov, that is, around the thirties of the nineteenth century. This time was a period of gloomy reaction, which followed in 1825 and its defeat. A man of advanced thinking could not find use for his talents and strengths at that time. Doubt, disbelief, denial were features of the consciousness of the young generation of those years. The ideals of their fathers were rejected by them “from the cradle,” and then these people began to doubt moral norms and values as such. Therefore, V. G. Belinsky wrote that “Pechorin suffers deeply” because he cannot use the mighty forces of his soul.
New artistic media
Lermontov, creating his work, depicted life as it really is. This required new ones and he found them. Neither Western nor Russian literature knew these means, and to this day they evoke our admiration due to the combination of a broad and free depiction of characters with the ability to objectively show them, to reveal one character through the prism of the perception of another.
Let's take a closer look at the two main characters of this novel. These are Pechorin and Grushnitsky.
Image of Pechorin
Pechorin was an aristocrat by birth and received a standard secular upbringing. Having left parental care, he went "to big light"in order to enjoy all the pleasures. However, he soon became tired of such a frivolous life, the hero was also bored with reading books. Pechorin, after some story that made a splash in St. Petersburg, was exiled to the Caucasus.
Depicting the hero’s appearance, the author indicates with a few strokes his origin: “noble forehead”, “pale”, “small” hand. This character is tough and physically strong man. He is endowed with a mind that critically evaluates the world around him.
The character of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin
Pechorin thinks about the problems of good and evil, friendship and love, about the meaning of our lives. He is self-critical in his assessment of his contemporaries, saying that his generation is incapable of making sacrifices not only for the good of humanity, but also for their personal happiness. The hero has a good understanding of people, he is not satisfied with the sluggish life of the “water society”, he evaluates the capital’s aristocrats, giving them destructive characteristics. Pechorin is revealed most deeply and fully in the insert story “Princess Mary”, during a meeting with Grushnitsky. and Grushnitsky in their confrontation - an example of deep psychological analysis Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.
Grushnitsky
The author of the work “Hero of Our Time” did not give a name and patronymic to this character, calling him simply by his last name - Grushnitsky. This is an ordinary young man, a cadet, dreaming of great love and stars on their shoulder straps. His passion is to make an impact. Grushnitsky goes to Princess Mary in a new uniform, smelling of perfume, dressed up. This hero is a mediocrity, which is characterized by weakness, forgivable, however, at his age - a “passion to recite” and “drape” into some extraordinary feelings. Grushnitsky strives to play the role of a disappointed hero, fashionable at that time, posing as a creature endowed with “secret suffering.” This hero is a parody of Pechorin, and a completely successful one, because it’s not for nothing that the young cadet is so unpleasant to the latter.
Confrontation: Pechorin and Grushnitsky
Grushnitsky, with his behavior, emphasizes the nobility of Grigory Alexandrovich, but, on the other hand, seems to erase all differences between them. After all, Pechorin himself spied on Princess Mary and Grushnitsky, which, of course, is not noble deed. It must be said that he never loved the princess, but only used her love and gullibility to fight his enemy, Grushnitsky.
The latter, as a narrow-minded person, does not at first understand Pechorin’s attitude towards himself. He seems to himself to be a self-confident person, very significant and insightful. Grushnitsky says condescendingly: “I feel sorry for you, Pechorin.” However, events are not developing according to Grigory Alexandrovich’s plans. Now, overwhelmed by jealousy, indignation and passion, the cadet appears before the reader in a completely different light, turning out to be far from so harmless. He is capable of meanness, dishonesty and revenge. The hero who recently played the role of nobility is now capable of firing a bullet at an unarmed man. The duel between Grushnitsky and Pechorin reveals the true nature of the former, who rejects reconciliation, and Grigory Alexandrovich shoots and kills him in cold blood. The hero dies, having drunk the cup of hatred and shame and repentance to the end. This is, in brief, the confrontation waged by the two main characters - Pechorin and Grushnitsky. their images form the basis of the entire work.
Reflections of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin
Before going to the duel (Pechorina with Grushnitsky), Grigory Alexandrovich, remembering his life, asks questions about why he lived, why he was born. And he answers it himself that he feels a “high purpose”, immense strength within himself. Then Grigory Alexandrovich understands that he has long been only an “axe” in the hands of fate. A contrast arises mental strength and small actions unworthy of a hero. He wants to “love the whole world,” but only brings misfortune and evil to people. High, noble aspirations degenerate into petty feelings, and the desire to live life to the fullest- into hopelessness and consciousness of doom. The situation of this hero is tragic, he is lonely. The duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky clearly showed this.
Lermontov named his novel this way because for him the hero is not a role model, but only a portrait made up of vices contemporary author generations in their full development.
Conclusion
The character of Grushnitsky, thus, helps to reveal in Pechorin the main qualities of his nature. This crooked mirror Grigory Aleksandrovich, highlighting the significance and truth of the experiences of the “suffering egoist”, the exclusivity and depth of his personality. With particular force in the situation with Grushnitsky, all the danger lurking in the depths of this type is revealed, destructive force, embedded in the individualistic philosophy that is inherent in romanticism. Lermontov showed all the abysses of the human soul, without trying to pass a moral verdict. Pechorin and Grushnitsky, therefore, are not positive and Pechorin’s psychology is by no means unambiguous, just as some positive qualities can be found in Grushnitsky’s character.
Synonymy is a common phenomenon in almost every language. Different types synonyms enrich the language and give speech a certain stylistic character. Synonymy allows you to choose the best words for different communication styles, as well as more accurately describe a specific situation.
Synonym concept
Synonyms are words that belong to the same part of speech and whose meaning is identical or very close. Synonyms can be replaced with each other. At the same time, the proposal does not lose its meaning. For example, the word “option” can easily be replaced with the word “version”, and the sentence will carry identical information.
Synonymous series
Choosing the optimal synonym for specific situation or a sentence is made from a group of words that are in a synonymous relationship. In this case, these words are called synonymous row. Such a group may include different types of synonyms. A synonymous series has one central or main word, which more accurately conveys and generalizes the meaning of all words in specific group. This word acts as a dominant word, and it can be easily applied in absolutely any style of speech and situation. For example, dare - dare - decide. All the words in this synonymous series have almost identical meanings, but it is the word “decide” that summarizes them. For example, in the synonymous series: loud - sonorous - deafening - thunderous the dominant word is loud, since it has no additional meanings.
Types of synonyms
Depending on the features and basic characteristics allocate following types synonyms in Russian:
- Complete or absolute. In this case, the synonyms are absolutely interchangeable, and they can be safely used in the same situations without loss of meaning. For example, hippopotamus - hippopotamus, spelling - spelling, etc.
- Semantic or semantic. Semantic types synonyms belong to the same style of speech and can be interchangeable, but they differ in additional shades of meaning. For example, shine - sparkle - radiance.
- Stylistic. In this case, we are talking about situations where there is interchangeable synonymy. The types of synonyms then describe the same object or phenomenon, but cannot replace each other in the same style of speech. For example, fall - slam. The second word is used in a conversational style and cannot be used in formal speech.
- Semantic-stylistic. These synonyms differ from each other in the presence of additional semantic or stylistic shades, as well as in a diverse scope of use. For example, contract - pact - agreement - condition - agreement. Despite their obvious proximity, these words have different meanings. A contract is an agreement of a commercial nature. Pact - means an agreement of an international nature. A term is an agreement about something, given orally or in writing. Agreement - official contract. The word “agreement” itself has a broad and universal character.
Features of absolute synonyms
Synonyms, their types and role in the language depend on how much they can enrich the language and give speech additional semantic meaning. As for absolute synonyms, since they are completely interchangeable, they do not have such a function. In this regard, the number of absolute synonyms in almost any language is small. It's about about words such as prefix - prefix, fricative - fricative, etc.
The existence of such synonyms does not last forever. Over time, absolute synonyms begin to acquire additional meanings and semantic or stylistic shades and cease to be absolute. For example, in the 19th century words such as "believe" and "believe" were absolute synonyms, however, today these words have different meanings.
Types of meanings of semantic synonyms
Semantic types lexical synonyms may have additional shades that indicate:
- The volume of actions or phenomena. In this case, the synonym can have a broad or narrower meaning. For example, “cook - cook” or “catch up - catch up”. In these variants, the first words have a broader meaning than the second.
- Degree of manifestation specific sign. For example, “hobby - passion” or “fast - lightning fast”. In these pairs, the words are close in meaning, but have different level their manifestations.
- Description of the category of concreteness or abstractness. For example, “the path is the road” or “to exist is to live.” The first words in pairs describe abstract meanings, while the latter are more specific.
Semantic synonyms can also give words other additional meanings. For example, the words “vouch” and “provide.” The second option not only means a guarantee, it also involves creating conditions for the fulfillment of these guarantees.
Groups of stylistic synonyms
The types of synonyms in this series have heterogeneous meaning. The environments of these synonyms are divided into the following groups:
- Words that describe categories from different historical periods. For example, this, this; airplane, plane; velmi, very, etc.
- Words that have different stylistic connotations. The tone can be bookish, official, generally accepted, colloquial, colloquial, etc. For example, sleep, rest; face, muzzle; smart, brainy, etc.
- Words that are used in different speech areas. Words can be general, professional, slang and dialectal. For example, cook, cook; parents, ancestors, etc.
- Words that do not denote the direct name of an object or action, but its euphemism. For example, restroom, toilet; crazy, mentally ill, etc.
- Words with different lexical origins - Russian and foreign. For example, agricultural, agricultural; thought, idea; lack, deficiency, etc.
Such additional meaning of words specifies the scope of their use and makes speech richer and more focused.
Features of semantic-stylistic synonyms
Semantic-stylistic types of synonyms are characterized by the presence of words with different stylistic coloring and semantic meaning. This is expressed as follows:
- Having a common meaning, but different stylistics. For example, take out and remove. The first word is generally accepted, while the second is more bookish, and at the same time it additionally means that something is obtained with some difficulty.
- General style, but availability different meaning. For example, long and long. Two words can be used in different styles speech, but the second word has an additional semantic meaning - very long.
- The presence of a positive or negative connotation. For example, a poet and poet. The meaning of the words is identical, however, the second has a clear negative connotation.
Semantic-stylistic synonyms allow you to make speech more figurative and artistic.
Synonymy in English
English, like almost any language, is characterized by the presence of synonyms. They can appear in the language either accidentally or with the purpose of giving the word additional stylistic and semantic meaning. As for synonyms in English, they can:
- Not coincide in all meanings of the word. This is especially true if the word is ambiguous and only one of its meanings can be a synonym in relation to another word.
- It does not coincide in all combinatorial meanings. This means that a word can only act as a synonym if it is combined with other words or stands in a specific context.
- Vary according to place, area and time of use.
It is these characteristics that determine the types of synonyms in English.
Types of synonyms in English
In English there are the following types of synonyms:
- Full and partial. Full synonyms have the same dictionary meanings. For example, scriptwriter and screenwriter. As for partial synonyms, we are talking about polysemantic words, in which only some meanings of the word are synonyms. For example, the words convince and convince. Two words have general meaning- to make someone believe in something. The second word, however, also has another meaning - to persuade, which the first word does not have.
- Combinatorially identical and combinatorially non-identical. The point is that some words may coincide in lexical meanings, but not coincide in combinatorial ones, i.e. they cannot replace each other in different contexts. For example, the words prison and jail. Two words mean "prison". They can be replaced in the phrases in prison and in jail, but the phrase jail bird, which in colloquial speech describes a prisoner, cannot be replaced by the same phrase with the word prison.
- Words with identical meaning, but different emotionality. For example, the phrases get arrested and get nailed. Both phrases mean "to be arrested", but the second one has a rude connotation.
There are also structural types of synonyms in the English language. We are talking about simple and complex words. Simple ones consist of one word, complex ones - of several. For example, flyer and flying man.
The emergence of synonymy in language
In both Russian and English, synonyms can appear for various reasons:
- "Splitting" the meaning of a word. In this case, an unambiguous word becomes polysemantic, and new meanings of the word can be synonyms in relation to other words. For example, the word "layer", which now also means "group".
- “Divergence” of word meanings. This means that the meanings of a word are so far apart that they can be included in different synonymic series. For example, the word “dashing”, which can serve as a synonym for the word evil, as well as a synonym for the word brave.
- Borrowing from other languages. In this case, the language contains both native words and words foreign origin. For example, area - sphere, general - global, etc.
These processes in language do not stop, which leads to the disappearance of the meaning of some words and the appearance of others.
Synonym functions
In any language, synonyms perform the following functions:
- Substitution. With the help of synonyms, a person can avoid repetition.
- Clarification and specification. A person’s ability to more accurately convey his thoughts.
- Expression. Synonyms allow you to give your speech an emotional and stylistic overtone.
- Grade. Using synonyms, you can demonstrate your attitude to objects or events.
- Explanation. Using synonyms, you can explain special terms.
- Comparison and contrast. With the help of synonyms, the author can demonstrate the differences between objects and phenomena.
Synonyms make a language richer and more diverse. Different types of synonyms allow you to clarify, specify, evaluate and add emotionality to speech.
