A summary of The Hero of Our Time will help you better understand and understand this novel, even if you yourself have read it completely. This is the first psychological novel in the history of Russian literature, the author of which is Mikhail Lermontov. Refers to the classics of Russian literature. The novel first saw the light of day in 1840, when it was published at the printing house of Ilya Glazunov. The circulation of the first edition was one thousand copies. Lermontov wrote this work for several years, since 1838.
Publication history
A summary of the "Hero of our time" you can find in this article. An interesting story is its publication. It was published in parts starting in 1838. The first to appear was Bela, which was published in the journal Domestic Notes.
The Fatalist and Taman appeared in the same place, in 1839 and 1840, respectively. But the chapters of "Princess Mary" and "Maxim Maximych" were not published separately, readers could get to know them only after the publication of the first separate publication. The preface, which precedes the modern version of the novel, was written only in 1841 in St. Petersburg. It was included only in the second edition of the work.
In it, the author claims that his novel is entirely based on the diaries of the Russian officer Grigory Pechorin, which were in his hands, and the stories he heard.
The head of Bel
A brief summary of the chapters of the “Hero of Our Time” allows us to look at this work from the other side. After all, the chapters in it are not arranged in chronological order.
The very first chapter is called Bela. From it we learn about how the narrator wanders through the Caucasus. He himself is an officer, so there is nothing surprising in the fact that he agrees with the already old headquarters captain Maxim Maksimych, from whom he learns about Pechorin. Once, Maxim Maksimych was the commandant of a fortress located in southern Russia. Grigory Pechorin many years ago arrived to serve under his command. Then he was a young, but already experienced and seen officer. He was exiled to the Caucasus after a certain unpleasant story about which Maxim Maksimych either did not want to tell, or he himself did not know all the details.
A brief summary of the details of The Hero of Our Time helps to refresh the main events of Lermontov’s work. Maxim Maksimych describes Pechorin to the narrator as a pleasant young man with whom incredible stories always happen. The heroes manage to quickly and sincerely make friends, become real friends.
Events begin to develop rapidly when a local highland prince, living nearby, invites them to the wedding of his daughter. There he meets Pechorin Bela, the heroine who gave the title to this chapter of the novel. It turns out to be an amazingly beautiful girl, a classic little horny woman who is radically different from the secular beauties he knew before. The young officer sets out to steal her from her parents' house by any means.
In the novel “The Hero of Our Time” (a brief summary of the chapters will allow you to take an exam or a test, if you need to recall the main events of the work) it is said that the words of Maxim Maksimych pushed him to this idea. He became an accidental witness to a conversation between brother Bela and Kazbich, who was also a guest at the celebration. The latter, like Pechorin, really liked this girl. His brother even agreed to steal his sister for him, if in return he would give his horse, which was considered the best in those places. But Kazbich did not go for it. Pechorin considered this a certain sign.
In the chapter “Bela” (“Bella”) of the “Hero of Our Time”, which you are now reading a summary of, Pechorin offers the girl’s brother to help steal the horse from Kazbich, and in return he will help him get closer to his sister. Maxim Maksimych does not approve of this venture, but the main character of Lermontov still achieves the desired.
The brother of the coveted girl brings her to the fortress, and while Pechorin distracts him with Kazbich’s talk, he takes the horse away, disappearing from those places forever, because he understands that the punishment will be cruel and inevitable. Kazbich is angry, he is hard going through deception and the loss of a horse, now he wants only one thing - to take revenge.
Bela at this time finds himself in a Russian fortress, where Pechorin is trying to achieve her favor. According to the brief content of the chapters of “The Hero of Our Time” Lermontov, we can trace the main events, which are described in more detail in the novel itself. The girl yearns for her home, ignoring the Russian officer in every way. He showers her with gifts and love promises, but to no avail. Over time, she still yields to his onslaught and falls in love with her captor, but at that very moment Bela becomes uninteresting and indifferent to Pechorin. He cools towards her and is burdened by her company.
Pechorina begins to overcome boredom. The reader will be convinced more than once that this is the faithful companion of the protagonist. She attacks him in the chapter "Bela" "Hero of our time." The summary, like the novel, describes the signs of this. He constantly disappears somewhere, all day on the hunt, and all this time the girl alone yearns for in the fortress.
Over time, Kazbich is announced, who brazenly abducts Bela. Hearing how she plaintively calls for help, Maxim Maximych and Pechorin rush to the rescue. Kazbich realizes that he cannot escape the persecution, and mortally wounds Bel. Two days later, she dies in the arms of the protagonist. He suffers heavily from this loss, but pushes grief deep inside. After the funeral, he was transferred to another part, they parted with Maxim Maksimych for several years.
You can read the summary of the “Hero of our time” in this article, all events are described as detailed as possible.
Chapter "Maxim Maksimych"
Soon the storyteller again meets with Maxim Maksimych. This is the only chapter in which actions take place in the present tense, while the remaining chapters are based on recollections of Pechorin or his notes. They collide in a roadside hotel, Pechorin also stops here, whom the narrator meets face to face. He is on his way to Persia.
Maxim Maksimych is overwhelmed with joyful feelings, he is happy to see an old friend, whom he always treated with special warmth. Immediately asked the footman to report what was waiting for Pechorin at home. Surprisingly, he does not come either in the evening or at night. The old officer is distracted; he cannot understand why the old friend does not want to see him.
Finally Pechorin appears, behaves coldly, greeting the old co-worker and friend only in passing. At the same time, it quickly gathers, preparing for the journey. From the chapter “Maxim Maksimych” “Hero of our time”, the brief content of which is described in detail in this publication, we can find out how upset the old officer is. Finally, he is interested in Pechorin, what to do with his magazine, which stores all these years. Pechorin and here are indifferent, he does not care.
After the departure of the protagonist, Maxim Maksimych gives the notes to the narrator. So from travel notes this novel is born, which the author decides to publish after learning about the death of Pechorin in distant Persia. It is in this chapter that we learn the history of the manuscript invented by the author, and it is also given in the summary of The Hero of Our Time (Maxim Maksimych).
The head of "Taman"
This chapter tells how Pechorin arrives in Taman by official necessity. He stops in a house on the seashore, next to which suspicious events take place at night, and immediately feels that something is unclean here. The gloomy house itself, in which a blind boy and a deaf old woman live, leads to dark thoughts.
The protagonist decides to follow them. It turns out that the boy goes to the seashore almost every night. There he meets a girl, together they wait until someone arrives.
When a boat is on the shore, a man leaves it, who leaves a certain load. The girl and the boy help him in every way. Pechorin is at a loss what it is.
In the morning, he directly asked the girl about the night incident, but she answered in riddles, laughs and in every possible way avoided a direct and frank conversation.
The answer to Taman
In the Taman chapter of The Hero of Our Time (a brief summary is presented to your attention) Pechorin has to threaten the authorities when he solves this riddle. The mysterious people he saw at night turn out to be ordinary smugglers who are engaged in the illegal transport of goods. The main character threatens them, but soon regrets it, a long tongue almost costs him his life.
Here is how it was. The girl called him once to the sea on a date. Pechorin immediately apprehensively reacted to this proposal, but nevertheless set off. Together they sailed into the sea in a boat. A brief summary of the chapters of the “Hero of Our Time” gives a complete picture of their meeting. At the height of the voyage, the girl attacked the officer, trying to drop him into the water from the boat. He managed to resist with great difficulty. Pechorin threw the smuggler into the sea and returned to shore.
After some time, he again met smugglers in the old place. But this time, a man and a woman sailed away from these places forever, leaving the blind boy to the mercy of fate. In the morning, Pechorin also left Taman forever, regretting that he had disturbed the peace of these people.
Chapter "Princess Mary"
The largest chapter of this work is called "Princess Mary." A brief summary of the chapters of the “Hero of our time” gives an idea of ​​this story.
Pechorin comes to Pyatigorsk to heal. On the waters, he meets his longtime friend Grushnitsky, who also came to recover after being wounded. There was a friendly relationship between them, but Pechorin himself admitted to himself that he always felt that they would encounter on a narrow path.
At this time in Pyatigorsk there were many venerable aristocratic public, among which stood out Princess Ligovskaya and her daughter Mary. Grushnitsky almost immediately conquered the young princess, he decided for himself that he would certainly become the hero of her novel. From the first day he was looking for an opportunity to meet Mary. But the Ligovskys were in no hurry, although the Grushnitsky looked very romantic, putting on an old shabby soldier's overcoat. It seemed that he was an officer who was exiled to the Caucasus due to a duel.
Pechorin acted with the exact opposite. He was in no hurry to introduce himself to the princess, which surprised her and the surrounding society a lot. In the chapter "Princess Mary" of the "Hero of our time" (a brief summary tells about this) Pechorin manages to make friends with Dr. Werner.
In the provincial city, the hero is again overcome by boredom, and in order to dispel it, he decides to win the girl's heart. At the same time, he is fully aware that Grushnitsky will immediately begin to be jealous. He only adds pleasure to intrigue what is happening.
Visit to Ligovsky
The princess in The Hero of Our Time (you can find signs of this in a brief summary) appears as a young and romantic girl who will not be difficult to captivate with such an experienced lovelace as Pechorin.
Meanwhile, Werner tells him that a distant relative came to the princess, in which the protagonist immediately recognizes his longtime lover named Vera. When they see each other, old and already forgotten feelings wake up in them again.
In order to meet more often and at the same time not to cause suspicion among others, Vera offers Pechorin to come to Ligovskaya as often as possible and begin to look after Mary. So no one will guess the true reasons for his visit, suspicious rumors will not go in the city. Pechorin readily agrees, because this is at least some kind of entertainment for him.
Meeting at the ball
The romance between Pechorin and Mary begins to develop rapidly when at the ball he saves the girl from the harassment of a drunken and intrusive officer. The grateful princess invites him to visit their house.
At first, Pechorin was deliberately cold and indifferent to the girl, which makes Mary angry. In the summary of “The Hero of Our Time” you will find confirmation that such behavior of the protagonist only added fuel to the fire of their relationship. Pechorin acts strictly according to his plan of seducing young ladies.
He successfully succeeds. All the girl’s thoughts are occupied only with him. Meanwhile, Grushnitsky does not lose hope of awakening feelings in the princess, which bothers her in order. Every day she becomes more and more indifferent to him. Grushnitsky begins to suspect what is the true reason for what is happening, blaming Pechorin for everything. He is jealous and intentionally shuns his friend.
In “The Hero of Our Time” by Lermontov, a brief summary of which will help you out if you have not read the work itself, Pechorin sneers at Grushnitsky’s feelings. The same decides to knock off his arrogance, planning to provoke a duel by providing an opponent with an unloaded pistol. Pechorin accidentally becomes a witness to this conversation, he becomes unpleasant and insulting for an old friend, in retaliation, he decides to make him a laughing stock.
At this time, Mary became more and more interested in Pechorin, on one of the walks, confessing his love to him. But everything is intentionally indifferent to Pechorin, he does not understand why they need this relationship. But at the same time he is proud that he managed to achieve his goal by falling in love with this girl.
Duel with Grushnitsky
The culmination of this chapter, and possibly the whole novel, is Pechorin’s duel with Grushnitsky. This is one of the most memorable events of the "Hero of our time." From the summary that is in this article, you can learn about it.
Rumors begin to roam around the city that Pechorin plans to marry Mary. He refutes everything, saying that he values ​​freedom more than anything else, but at the same time suspects who is starting these conversations.
In parallel, he continues to see Vera. Going on a secret meeting with his beloved, he finds himself opposite the windows of the princess, who remained at home. Pechorin looks into the house, then jumps down on the grass and stumbles upon Grushnitsky with his comrades. They are having a fight, Pechorin is hiding.
The next day, Grushnitsky officially declares that Pechorin is Mary's lover, who goes on dates with her. The main character challenges him to a duel. Pechorin confesses to Werner what Grushnitsky wants to do with pistols. Werner agrees to be his second.
In the appointed place, Grushnitsky, acting according to a predetermined scenario, offers to shoot from six steps. The tense moment of the novel “Hero of Our Time” is approaching. Chapter summary will help you quickly recover it in memory.
Pechorin, in turn, offers to shoot at the edge of the cliff, so that even a slight wound turns into a fatal one. In this case, there will be no problems with covering the tracks. The deceased will be attributed to the machinations of the Circassians.
Participants in the duel cast lots. The first to shoot is Grushnitsky. He faces a difficult choice: to admit to a low deed that is not worthy of a Russian officer, or to turn into an ordinary killer. At the last moment, he decides to shoot and injures Pechorin in the leg. He prepares for an answer, advising his friend to pray for the last. But not noticing even a shadow of remorse on the face of the young officer, he informs his second that they forgot to charge his gun. The second second is indignant that the rules are being violated, it is impossible to change pistols along the way, but Grushnitsky nobly admits that Pechorin is right.
Pechorin’s shot is fatal. As planned, the murder is attributed to the Circassians, all participants in the duel come out of the water dry.
A brief summary of the chapters of the “Hero of Our Time” allows you to build all the events that have occurred in a logical chain. Vera hurriedly leaves Pyatigorsk with her husband, who, in a fit of emotion, learning about a duel, confesses his love for Pechorin. The main character rushes after her, hoping to catch up, but all to no avail. Only at that moment he realizes that Vera is the only woman he loves.
At this time, his superiors still began to suspect that the death of Grushnitsky was the result of a duel. Therefore, Pechorin is quietly transferred to a small fortress in the Caucasus, where he later meets Maxim Maksimych. Finally, Gregory visits Ligovsky. The princess thanks for saving her daughter’s good name, wondering why he does not make an offer to a girl who is attractive, rich and madly in love with him. , , , .
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Officer Wulich, a fatalist and a player, offers to check in practice whether a person can control his fate. He bets with Pechorin. The chapter “Fatalist” of “A Hero of Our Time” (a brief summary does not replace the work in the original) tells about how Vulich picks up a gun, and at this moment the main character thinks that he sees death in the eyes of his opponent, which he is informed about. Wulich shoots himself in the temple, but the weapon misfires. He makes the next shot to the side, and the bullet pierces the cap that hangs on the wall. It turns out that the gun was still loaded. Everyone around is stunned. Most of all - Pechorin, who does not understand why he saw death in the eyes of Vulich.
The answer comes in the morning. Pechorin learns that he is found hacked by a saber. He is killed by a drunk Cossack when he returns home. Having sober up the Cossack, realizing what he had done, he locked himself in a hut and is not going to surrender to the authorities, threatening to open fire. Nobody dares to break, fearing to run into a bullet.
Pechorin has an idea to try his luck. He climbs into the house through the window, the Cossack shoots, but only the epaulette of the protagonist is affected. The villagers who came to the aid arrest the Cossack and take him away. Pechorin is now treated like a hero.
And from now on, thoughts conquer him whether to become a fatalist. Everything in life is not as simple as it seemed to him before. Arriving from the fortress, Pechorin tells everything to Maxim Maksimych, asking if he believes in fate and predestination. The headquarters captain is a mundane man. He notes that the pistol often misfires, and to die at the hands of a Cossack, it is clear that the officer was written in kind. This ends their conversation, and the whole novel, which has become one of the key works of Russian literature of the first half of the XIX century.