In the story “The Captain's Daughter”, A. S. Pushkin touches on the very important problem of noble honor for him and his compatriots. Showing the gradual formation of the personality of Peter Grinev, the protagonist of the work, the author outlines the Russian national character, which is characterized by qualities such as kindness, nobility, honesty, loyalty to the word and the sovereign. Only after going through difficult life trials does a young nobleman become what we see him in the finale.
Life in the father's house
The text of the story is a memoir written on behalf of the protagonist, which gives the described events greater credibility: no one can tell a person better than himself.
Petrusha received a traditional upbringing for noble children. A good uncle Savelich was assigned to him, accompanying the young man even after his departure for service. He was taught by the French hairdresser Bopre, who could not give a thorough education. The boy lived undersized, carefree and not thinking about the future.
Before birth, the father recorded his son in the Semenovsky regiment. But when Pyotr Grinev reached the age of sixteen, he decided not to send him to Petersburg, but to Orenburg, under the supervision of an old acquaintance. So the fate of the young nobleman was predetermined.
Entry into an independent life
The main parting word given by the father, seeing off his son: "Take care ... honor from a young age." Peter will follow this principle all his life. In the meantime, he looks more like a spoiled little barge. For the first time he gets drunk and loses a hundred rubles to the unfamiliar Zurin, then he demands from Savelich to pay off the debt without fail. He insists on an urgent departure to the Belogorsk fortress, where he was identified in Orenburg, and falls into a strong storm. But now the formation of the personality of Peter Grinev begins. He suffers, realizing his guilt before a faithful uncle, and asks for his forgiveness - the ability to admit his mistakes. Gives the counselor, who helped them get out of the snowstorm, with a sheepskin coat - thanks for the help provided.
Love test
In the Belogorsk fortress, life brings Peter Grinev with the glorious family of Captain Mironov and the faint-hearted Shvabrin. The actions of the latter to a greater extent set off the noble features of the protagonist. Both fall in love with Masha Mironova, but if Shvabrin falls to baseness, having been refused, Grinev is ready, at the cost of his own life, to defend the honor of his beloved girl. This happens in the case of a duel, when the hero challenges a more experienced opponent to a duel, who insulted himself against Masha. And also at the moment when the Pugachevites enter the fortress.
Shvabrin not only goes over to their side, but also tricks the defenseless girl into being locked up, and then announces that she is the daughter of the executed commandant. A completely different in the current situation is the characteristic of Peter Grinev. He will have to make a difficult choice between the duty of an officer, obliging him to go to the unit, and the desire to protect his beloved. While the hero is sure that nothing threatens Masha, he goes to Orenburg, but at the first call of her, without receiving support and understanding from the command, he returns to the fortress. The hero will remain silent at the trial, when the accusation of treason through denunciation of the same Shvabrin may cost him his life. After all, telling why he went to the fortress to Pugachev meant drawing the commandant’s daughter into an unpleasant story. And only the meeting of Masha with the Empress will help restore justice and justify the hero.
Thus, the next stage when the formation of the personality of Peter Grinev takes place is his love, sincere and selfless. She turned yesterday's mischievous person into a noble person, able to take responsibility for another person.
Acquaintance with Pugachev
During the capture of the Belogorsk fortress, Grinev shows firmness of character, fidelity to the oath and the empress, courage. Of course, a certain role in the fact that he was not executed along with the rest was played by a hare sheepskin coat, donated by Peter the counselor on the way to the fortress. But the young officer refused to kiss the impostor and swear allegiance to him. It was this moral stamina and willingness to accept death for their beliefs that determined Pugachev's attitude to Grinev. And also the ability to always tell the truth, sincerity in everything and a feeling of complete inner freedom. Such may be the characteristic of Peter Grinev in the chapters, which describe his meetings with the impostor. Indeed, far from everyone, the latter invited him to his table, released him on all four sides after refusing to go to his service, gave a blessing for marriage to the daughter of the commandant of a military fortress.
The image of Peter Grinev in the story "Captain's Daughter": conclusions
Thus, during the events described, the character of the protagonist undergoes changes. And important in this process are a few points. Firstly, the rational decision of the father, who sent his son not to Petersburg, where idle life and amusements awaited him, but to a remote fortress, which actually became the place where he pulled the strap and sniffed the gunpowder. Secondly, the era itself and an important historical event is an uprising led by Pugachev. Only in difficult life situations, as a rule, the true traits of a person’s character are manifested. In this case, the carefree boy turned into a real man.
Defining the ideological concept of A. Pushkin, it can be noted that the gradual formation of the personality of Peter Grinev was to reveal in the hero those features that every Russian nobleman should possess. And the main ones are “two beautiful qualities”: kindness and nobility. It was them that Peter Grinev would like to see in his descendants. This wish of the author of the memoirs, which completed the draft version of the story, was excluded at the last edition of “The Captain's Daughter”.