Grigory Pechorin - this is the real “hero of our time” (and any other), because the questions raised by the author are beyond all eras. They were, are and will always arise while the human race is alive. What are the problems of the Hero of Our Time? We read and understand.
Moral problems
Any work and fiction as a whole are called upon not only to give an aesthetic experience and pleasure to the reader, but also to raise questions that each person has, to which we either do not have a definite answer, or which we never thought about at all. M.Yu. Lermontov is, one might say, the innovator of his era. He is the creator of the first novel in Russian literature with a deep philosophical content. "Why did I live, for what purpose was I born?" - this is the main question that the author asks himself and all of us through the mouth of the protagonist - Pechorin. In it are heard not only the questions “why”, “why”, “for what”, but also other problems. The “hero of our time” is trying to understand who he is, what he consists of, of which virtues and vices, whether love and friendship can save him from inevitable darkness ...
Philosophical Reflections
We continue to discuss the topic “Hero of our time”. The problems of the novel are actually serious. What is Pechorin? Before us is a young man of twenty-five years old, an officer, an aristocrat who stands out from his contemporaries with his extraordinary, sharp mind, subtle intuition, courage, endurance, enormous willpower. It would seem that these are all components of a happy future. They love such people, they adore and adore them. All doors are open before them. So it was, but it did not happen. Why?
Each person has advantages and disadvantages. In each there is an irreconcilable struggle between good and evil. And this is natural. It is inherent in nature and God. But besides all this, there is also emptiness. It should be filled either with light or darkness - depending on which road we choose. Or, it begins to grow and fill with itself each freed corner of the soul. This is exactly what happened with Pechorin. Whatever he undertakes, no matter what far place he goes, no matter what fate he brings, all this yawning emptiness, viscous meaninglessness, futility and aimlessness of existence followed on his heels.
M.Yu. Lermontov, “Hero of our time”: problems of love and friendship
Throughout the novel, his active soul seeks dangers, heroic deed, sincere love and friendship. "Who seeks will always find". It also finds, but in an amazing, simply incomprehensible way, it destroys the creative principle inherent in these things. His love did not bring happiness to any of the women. He could not surrender to this feeling, he was not at all capable of giving, only taking, and then superficially. In his soul, as if in a bottomless abyss, vivid feelings and suffering disappeared without a trace. He was not saturated with them, and he did not try to get enough. He didn't care. The tragic stories with Bela and Mary are excellent proof of this.
The same thing happens in Pechorin’s friendship with Dr. Werner. Assuming that the relationship between two comrades should be reduced to only one thing: one is a slave, and the other is his master, he did not want to be either a slave or the one who controls and rules. Both that, and another - it is boring and silly. And simply, without any “buts,” letting another into your world is impossible. Vicious circle.
Fatalism is the cause of the problem?
“The hero of our time” is a novel not only about questions of the meaning of life directly posed by the author. In the last story - “Fatalist” - another topic pops up that haunts neither the main character, nor all of humanity. Is the fate of man predetermined, or is each new step on the path of life a personal choice? Pechorin is bold and prefers to solve this issue, as well as other problems. The “hero of our time”, Pechorin, independently, on his own experience, checks the truth of a particular judgment. And here, unexpectedly, the fatalist turns to the reader on the other side of his essence. He is disarming a drunken Cossack who has already killed Vulich and is dangerous to others. He takes a deliberate risk, but for the first time not far-fetched, not by “empty passions” and not to dispel boredom. And here the author does not give a definite answer. He, like his hero, believes that predestination, if it really exists, works miracles with a person, it makes him more active, bolder. And on the other hand, it turns a person - a higher creature, into a toy in the hands of fate, and this can neither offend nor humiliate.
In this article, we examined the main problems. “The Hero of Our Time” is a book beyond all time, having read that, everyone will find answers to his questions that may not have been considered today.