A Hero Of Our Time

Pechorin’s friend, a doctor named Werner, arrives. They like to philosophize and like each other because they realize they are both self-absorbed. Werner tells Pechorin that Princess Ligovski has been inquiring about him; she recognizes Pechorin and told Princess Mary about his military adventures, which Werner notes were exaggerated. Werner says that Princess Mary has been asking about Grushnitski and believes he was demoted to a common soldier for participating in a duel. This is not true, but Pechorin is glad that such rumors are circulating: “A plot! […] We will make it our business to see to the denouement of this little comedy. It is obvious that fate is taking care that I shall not be bored!” (69).

Werner tells Pechorin that a relative of Princess Mary’s has arrived, and from her description, Pechorin believes that she may be a woman he used to love. That evening, Pechorin goes to the boulevard where the socialites have gathered and begins telling entertaining stories. He notes Princess Mary’s reaction: She is annoyed that everyone talking with her has left to crowd around Pechorin. She asks someone, rather loudly, if Pechorin is talking about his military exploits, and Pechorin is glad that he is annoying her. Meanwhile, Grushnitski has been following her around all evening, and Pechorin believes that he will ask Princess Ligovski to present him to Princess Mary the next day.

Pechorin has succeeded in making Princess Mary hate him; she finds him rude, and he consistently attracts her friends and suitors away to play cards and eat dinner with him, though he detests entertaining. He purposely outbids her on a Persian rug, then drapes it over his horse and has it walked past her window. He convinces Grushnitski that she is in love with him and encourages him to woo her; Grushnitski believes this and has gotten a ring with her name engraved inside it.

Pechorin goes walking and meets his former lover, Vera. She is married to her second husband, but they exchange a passionate kiss. Afterward, he rides across the steppe and thinks about how he loves the freedom of the mountains more than he has loved any woman.

Later, Grushnitski visits Pechorin and reports that Princess Mary has been speaking ill of Pechorin. Pechorin promises to pay his respects to her because he believes she will become bored of Grushnitski. Then, Pechorin goes to play cards.

A week later, Pechorin has still not visited the Ligovskis. Grushnitski has been spending a lot of time with Princess Mary, but the older Princess Ligovski does not approve of him. Pechorin plans to attend a ball the following day and “dance the mazurka with Princess Mary” (93).

At the ball, Pechorin asks Princess Mary to dance and speaks with her for the first time. He finds her charming, attractive, and smart. She admits that she has found him rude, and he apologizes, as if the news surprises him.

A drunken man asks Princess Mary to dance, but Pechorin saves her by saying that she already promised to dance with him; she is grateful and dances with him. Later she tells her mother about him in glowing terms. Princess Ligovski scolds Pechorin for not visiting them, and he apologizes.

Pechorin confesses to Princess Mary that he has avoided her because he has “liked her for a long time” (82) and was afraid she would not notice him among her other admirers. She assures him that is not true because she finds her other suitors boring. She admits that she does not even consider Grushnitski a suitor and is surprised to learn that he is a cadet—a lower rank than she expected. Later, Pechorin meets up with Werner to discuss the evening.

Pechorin attends the Ligovskis’, and Princess Ligovski introduces him to Vera, who is a distant relation; she does not know they know each other already. Pechorin ignores Princess Mary for most of the evening, especially when she sings and plays the piano. Grushnitski, on the other hand, watches her raptly. Pechorin’s indifference annoys Princess Mary, but eventually he pays her an empty compliment on her singing. She senses his sarcasm and suggests that he does not like music at all. She leaves to talk with Grushnitski, and Pechorin pretends to want to be included in their conversation. They shun him, and he is inwardly pleased that his ruse is working.

Pechorin spends most of the evening with Vera, who is still in love with him. She wants him to continue coming to the Ligovskis’ so she can see him there. Pechorin does not know why she likes him so much, especially since she knows the inconsistencies of his character well.

Princess Mary now enjoys talking to Pechorin, though Pechorin leaves whenever Grushnitski arrives to let the two of them speak alone. He knows this annoys Princess Mary because she finds Grushnitski boring. Pechorin observes this and enjoys ignoring Princess Mary so that her only recourse is to talk to Grushnitski and become annoyed.

Pechorin wonders why he is trying so hard to woo Princess Mary when he does not plan to seduce or marry her. He decides that he likes tormenting Grushnitski and believes that arousing Princess Mary’s love for him is the greatest display of power. Pride motivates him, and he realizes he must act on whatever evil thoughts enter his mind. Grushnitski arrives and announces that he has been promoted to an officer, which he thinks will raise him in Princess Mary’s esteem.

On a group outing to the hollow, Pechorin tells Princess Mary that he has been misunderstood since childhood, and this has caused him to develop a cold, contrary personality. He says she brings out his sincere feelings, though, and this information pleases her. Pechorin is glad he has succeeded in arousing her pity, and she walks arm-in-arm with him during the whole trip. Pechorin continues to manipulate her feelings, though he ultimately finds it boring.

Vera is jealous of all the attention Pechorin pays to Princess Mary and demands to know why Pechorin is doing this, since he is not interested in her. To prove Pechorin’s lack of interest in Princess Mary, Vera wants him to move to another holiday town, Kislovodsk, the following week at the same time she will when she knows Princess Mary will be staying on in Pyatigorsk longer.

Grushnitski plans to dance with Princess Mary at the ball the following evening when his officer’s uniform is ready; Pechorin asks her to dance the mazurka with him in advance. He tells her that she is in for a surprise.

He spends that evening at the Ligovskis’ with Vera and an elderly gentleman guest. He makes up outrageous stories about his life to win Princess Mary’s attention, and Vera begins to pout. Then he relates the story of his and Vera’s love affair using fake names, and Vera is happy again.

At the ball, Grushnitski wears his new uniform and too much cologne. He pursues Princess Mary all night, but she is clearly tired of him, and he is crushed. Pechorin wonders if his “sole mission on earth is to destroy the hopes of others” (93) because he always plays the part of the villain in other people’s dramas.

Grushnitski is angry with Pechorin for reserving the mazurka with Princess Mary, and by the end of the evening, Grushnitski has turned many of the other officers against Pechorin, including the captain of the dragoons. Pechorin loves having enemies because it makes life interesting.

Vera and her husband leave for Kislovodsk, and Pechorin sees them off. Afterward, he visits the Ligovskis, but Princess Mary is ill and does not appear. Grushnitski is pining and goes about “with dishelleved locks” (96) while Pechorin’s new enemies glare at him through their lorgnettes.

On his way home, Pechorin realizes he is genuinely sad that he did not see Princess Mary and wonders if he is falling in love with her.

Pechorin visits Princess Mary while Princess Ligovski is out, and Princess Mary is distressed because rumors about her and Pechorin have spread. Werner visits Pechorin and tells him that everyone thinks he will marry Princess Mary because something indecent has happened between them. He assures Werner that this is not true because he is leaving for Kislovodsk the next day, while Princess Mary will remain in Pyatigorsk. Pechorin knows that Grushnitski has been spreading the rumors.

In Kislovodsk, Pechorin secretly meets Vera every morning to walk in the garden. Grushnitski has arrived, and he mostly fights and argues with those around him. Pechorin notices the change in his personality.

The Ligovskis arrive in Kislovodsk, and once again, Pechorin wonders if he is in love with Princess Mary because his “heart throbbed” (99) when they arrived. Vera is jealous of the time he spends with Princess Mary; Pechorin notes that women are petty and contradictory in nature: “[T]o learn their dialectic it is necessary to overthrow in your own mind every scholastic rule of logic” (99). He does not say this from malice, only from the long observation of someone who has loved many women.

A group rides out to a well-known cliff to view the sunset. They have to ford a dangerous mountain stream, and Pechorin helps Princess Mary’s horse across. She gets dizzy, and he takes the opportunity to grab her waist and brush his lips against her cheek. She is angry and confused because he will not disclose his feelings to her, and eventually, she rides off to join the rest of the group.

Back in town, Pechorin overhears Grushnitski and his friends plotting to reveal Pechorin’s cowardice: Grushnitski will challenge Pechorin to a duel, but Pechorin’s pistol will not be loaded. They assume Pechorin will back out at the last moment, thereby becoming a laughingstock. Grushnitski insists he stopped pursuing Princess Mary because he did not intend to marry her, not because Pechorin stole her away.

Pechorin is angry because he does not know why the men hate him. The next day, he meets Princess Mary, and she demands to know his feelings. Pechorin says he does not love her and departs.

When a woman shows interest in marrying Pechorin, he loses interest in her. When he was a child, a fortuneteller predicted that a “wicked wife” (104) would kill him, and ever since he has had a fear of marriage. He believes the prediction will come true, but he wants it to happen far in the future.

A magician comes to town and everyone attends the show. Pechorin sneaks out before ten o’clock and goes to meet Vera—whose household is at the show—as planned. Someone wearing a cloak is following him, but he manages to evade them.

At two in the morning, he leaves and passes by Princess Mary’s window; she has been ill and did not attend the show. While he is watching her, Grushnitski and the captain of the dragoons jump out of the bushes and grab him, thinking that he is a Circassian trying to enter the Ligovskis’ house. Pechorin escapes and is in bed when they come to his door asking him to help them apprehend the criminal.

In the morning, word has spread about a Circassian attack. At the well, Pechorin meets Vera’s husband, who suspects nothing, and over breakfast, they overhear Grushnitski telling his friends that it was Pechorin, not a Circassian, who snuck into Princess Mary’s house the previous night: Vera and the Ligovskis live on different floors of the same vacation house, so someone entering the door could be visiting either family. Grushnitski intends to ruin Princess Mary’s reputation, so he does not care who the person was actually meeting.

Pechorin confronts Grushnitski about his lie and challenges him to a duel. Later, Werner, who is Pechorin’s second, visits Pechorin and tells him he overheard Grushnitski arguing with the captain of the dragoons and another man; they now intend to only load Grushnitski’s pistol and load a blank into Pechorin’s. The duel will take place at six paces, so it will be impossible to miss. Pechorin tells Werner to let them carry out their plan.

That night, Pechorin thinks about his fate. He is fine with dying because he has not made any true connections during his life—he has only been “an axe in the hands of fate” (110). He believes he was meant to have a great purpose in life but spoiled it by giving into shallow passions that are never satisfied.

Pechorin has been at a fortress in the Caucasus for the past months and thinks back on the duel: When he and Werner arrive, they give Grushnitski the chance to back out and resolve the matter by other means, but Grushnitski refuses. Pechorin says his conditions for the duel are that they stand at the cliff’s edge so that the wounded person will fall and the death can be ruled an accident. He also demands they cast lots to see who fires first. This way, Grushnitski will be forced to fire into the air or shoot Pechorin in cold blood, knowing that his opponent is unarmed.

At the cliff, Pechorin takes his place near the edge so that Grushnitski, who won the coin toss, can fire first. Grushnitski seems ready to recant, but his second urges him on. At the last moment, he loses his confidence and shoots Pechorin in the knee, injuring him slightly.

When it is Pechorin’s turn to fire, he asks the doctor to reload his pistol: “Doctor, these gentlemen have forgotten, in their hurry, no doubt, to put a bullet in my pistol. I beg you to load it afresh—and properly!” (118). The captain protests, but Grushnitski tells him to let Pechorin continue, admitting that they loaded the pistol improperly. Pechorin gives Grushnitski one last chance to recant his comments and ask forgiveness, but Grushnitski refuses. Pechorin fires, and Grushnitski disappears over the cliff’s edge

After the duel, Pechorin rides his horse all day through remote woods. When he returns home, there is a letter from Werner saying that Grushnitski’s body was retrieved, and the bullet was removed so people would believe his death was an accident.

There is another letter, from Vera. She professes her love for Pechorin and tells him that her husband found out about their affair, so she is leaving. Pechorin rushes to see her, but he is in another village and his exhausted horse dies en route.

The next morning, Werner arrives to warn Pechorin that the authorities are suspicious that Pechorin killed Grushnitski in a duel: He advises Pechorin to be cautious. When Werner leaves, Pechorin observes that Werner is disgusted with Pechorin’s actions and wants nothing more to do with him.

The military authorities summon Pechorin to N Fortress to question him about the duel. Before he leaves, he visits Princess Ligovski, who asks why he refuses to marry Princess Mary. Pechorin speaks with Princess Mary alone, telling her once and for all that he does not love her and that she should not love him. She has grown pale and ill in the weeks since he last saw her, knowing that she was the cause of his duel with Grushnitski.

As Pechorin rides to the fortress, he sees his horse’s corpse along the route; the saddle has been stolen and instead, ravens sit on its back. Pechorin wonders why he cannot settle down and live a comfortable, happy life, but he realizes that if he tried, he would become restless, like a sailor pining for the open sea.