One of the most important supporting characters in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” by Mikhail Lermontov is Doctor Werner, who receives quite a lot of attention. At the beginning of the plot it may seem that he is very similar to Pechorin, and this is true. He is insightful, skeptical and attentive, "studying all the living strings of the human heart" and has a low opinion of people. At the same time, the author also notes that he had an “evil tongue” and hid his real feelings and ability to empathize behind ridicule and irony. His acquaintance Pechorin independently noted their similarities: “we are quite indifferent to everything except ourselves.”

However, Werner turned out to be impudent in most cases in words, he is indifferent to the protest against society, limiting himself to ridicule and caustic remarks; he can be called simply an observer. The hero clearly shows that internal activity is not inherent in him. “The doctor is not looking for changes either in the world, or even less in himself” - with these words the author emphasizes that his character is quite passive and does not strive for deep introspection.

Characteristics of the hero

The meeting of Werner and the main character Pechorin occurred by chance in Pyatigorsk. “Werner is a wonderful person for many reasons,” Pechorin wrote in his diary. In addition, Pechorin considered him his friend: “We, writes Pechorin, soon became friends.” The relationships of these characters run through the entire work.

The author presented Werner as ugly, which was emphasized by the following words: “...His appearance was one of those that at first glance strikes unpleasantly, but which you like later,” and here the author clearly expressed his own attitude towards this character. It is already noted here that although the hero was not handsome in the classical sense, he was quite pleasant during further communication, and attracted people in a strange way.

Lermontov only noted that he had a kind heart (“crying over a dying soldier”), but he was not used to showing his real feelings outward and therefore he always hid them behind ridicule and irony.

Hero image

(Nikolai Vasilyevich Mayer in the picture, doctor and friend of Mikhail Lermontov in the Caucasus, who became the prototype for Werner in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”)

On the one hand, Werner is presented as a pragmatist like all doctors, and on the other, a failed poet who could not write even a poem. He dreamed of becoming a millionaire, but he was poor and he did not try to realize his dreams, being very passive and inactive. However, this did not prevent him from having certain successes - one of the doctor’s only passions was women, and, surprisingly, women answered him in kind: “... people like Werner love women so passionately...”.

(Werner in the background and Pechorin)

Dr. Werner did not have the fortitude to go all the way to achieve the final goal, without being afraid of various obstacles. He did not refuse to be Pechorin’s second, he did not consider his behavior correct, realizing that the truth was on his friend’s side, he was sad when he came to him in the morning before the duel. This suggests that Werner was worried and worried. But at the end of the duel, Werner did not extend his hand to Pechorin and vaguely said goodbye to him. This act of the doctor caused a storm of indignation in Pechorin: “Here are the people! They are all like this: they know in advance all the bad sides of an action, they help, advise, even approve of it, seeing the impossibility of another means - and then they wash their hands and turn away with indignation from the one who had the courage to take upon himself the entire burden of responsibility.”

We can say that Werner in the work was presented as quite smart, but not successful, and everyone felt lonely next to him. The reason for this is his complex character and passivity, unwillingness to change anything in his own life and take decisive measures to achieve his dreams.

Already at the first acquaintance with Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time,” the characteristics of the heroes and the analysis of their images become necessary for understanding the work.

Pechorin is the central image of the novel

The main character of the novel is Grigory Pechorin, an extraordinary personality, the author painted “a modern man as he understands him, and has met him too often.” Pechorin is full of seeming and real contradictions in relation to love, friendship, seeks the true meaning of life, solves for himself questions of human destiny, choice of path.

Sometimes the main character is unattractive to us - he makes people suffer, destroys their lives, but there is a force of attraction in him that forces others to obey his will, sincerely love him and sympathize with the lack of purpose and meaning in his life.

Each part of the novel is a separate story from Pechorin’s life, each has its own characters, and all of them, from one side or another, reveal the secret of the soul of the “hero of the time,” making him a living person. Who are the characters who help us see “a portrait made up of the vices of an entire generation in their full development”?

Maxim Maksimych

Maxim Maksimych, “a man worthy of respect,” as the young officer-narrator says about him, open, kind, largely naive, happy with life. We listen to his story about Bela’s story, watch how he strives to meet Gregory, whom he considers an old friend and to whom he is sincerely attached, we clearly see why he suddenly “became stubborn, grumpy.” Sympathizing with the staff captain, we involuntarily begin to dislike Pechorin.

At the same time, for all his simple-minded charm, Maxim Maksimych is a limited man, he has no idea what motivates the young officer, and he doesn’t even think about it. The coldness of his friend at the last meeting, which offended to the core, will also be incomprehensible to the staff captain. “What does he need in me? I’m not rich, I’m not an official, and I’m not his age at all.” The heroes have completely different characters, views on life, worldviews, they are people of different eras and different origins.

Like the other main characters of Lermontov’s “Hero of Our Time,” the image of Maxim Maksimych pushes us to think about the reason for Pechorin’s selfishness, indifference and coldness.

Grushnitsky and Werner

The images of the heroes are completely different, but both of them are a reflection of Pechorin, his “doubles”.

Very young Junker Grushnitsky- an ordinary person, he wants to stand out, make an impression. He belongs to that type of people who “have ready-made pompous phrases for all occasions, who are not touched by simply beautiful things and who are solemnly draped in extraordinary feelings, sublime passions and exceptional suffering. Making an effect is their pleasure.”

This is the opposite double of the main character. Everything that Pechorin experienced sincerely and through suffering - discord with the world, lack of faith, loneliness - in Grushnitsky is just a pose, bravado and following the fashion of the time. The image of a hero is not just a comparison of true and false, but also a definition of their boundaries: in his desire to stand out and have weight in the eyes of society, Grushnitsky goes too far and becomes capable of meanness. At the same time, he turns out to be “more noble than his comrades,” his words “I despise myself” before Pechorin’s shot are an echo of the very disease of the era that Pechorin himself is struck by.

Dr. Werner At first it seems to us very similar to Pechorin, and this is true. He is a skeptic, insightful and observant, “he studied all the living strings of the human heart” and has a low opinion of people, “an evil tongue”, under the guise of ridicule and irony he hides his true feelings, his ability to sympathize. The main similarity that Pechorin notes when talking about his friend is that “we are quite indifferent to everything except ourselves.”

The difference becomes obvious when we compare the descriptions of the heroes. Werner turns out to be a cynic more in words, he is passive in his protest against society, limiting himself to ridicule and caustic remarks; he can be called a contemplative. The hero's egoism is completely conscious, internal activity is alien to him.

His dispassionate decency betrays Werner: the doctor is not looking for changes either in the world, or even less in himself. He warns his friend about rumors and conspiracy, but does not shake hands with Pechorin after the duel, not wanting to take on his own share of responsibility for what happened.

The character of these heroes is like a unity of opposites, both Werner and Grushnitsky set off the image of Pechorin and are important for our understanding of the entire novel.

Female images of the novel

On the pages of the novel we see the women with whom Gregory’s life brings him. Bela, Undine, Princess Mary, Vera. They are all completely different, each with their own character and charm. They are the main characters in the three parts of the novel, telling about Pechorin’s attitude to love, about his desire to love and be loved and the impossibility of this.

Bela

Circassian Bela, “nice girl,” as Maxim Maksimych calls her, opens a gallery of female images. The mountain woman was brought up on folk traditions and customs. The impetuosity, passion, and ardor of a “wild” girl living in harmony with the world around her attract Pechorin, finding a response in his soul. Over time, love awakens in Bel, and she surrenders to it with all the power of natural openness of feelings and spontaneity. Happiness does not last long, and the girl, resigning herself to her fate, dreams only of freedom. “I’ll leave myself, I’m not his slave, I’m a princess, a prince’s daughter!” Strength of character, attraction to freedom, inner dignity do not leave Bela. Even grieving before her death that her soul would never meet Pechorin again, when asked to accept another faith, she replies that “she will die in the faith in which she was born.”

Mary

Image Mary Ligovskoy, a princess from high society, is written out, perhaps, in the most detail of all the heroines. Belinsky’s quote about Mary is very accurate: “This girl is not stupid, but she is not empty either. Her direction is somewhat ideal, in the childish sense of the word: it is not enough for her to love a person to whom her feelings would attract her; it is imperative that he be unhappy and wear a thick, gray soldier’s overcoat.” The princess seems to live in an imaginary world, naive, romantic and fragile. And, although she feels and perceives the world subtly, she cannot distinguish between secular play and genuine spiritual impulses. Mary is a representative of her time, environment and social status. At first, paying attention to Grushnitsky, he then succumbs to Pechorin’s game, falls in love with him - and receives a cruel lesson. The author leaves Mary without telling whether she is broken by the experiment for the sake of exposing Grushnitsky, or, having survived the lesson, she will be able not to lose faith in love.

Faith

The author talks a lot about Mary in detail, I believe We, the readers, see only love for Pechorin. “She is the only woman in the world whom the hero would not be able to deceive,” the one who understood him “perfectly, with all his minor weaknesses and bad passions.” “My love has grown together with my soul: it has darkened, but has not faded away.” Faith is love itself, accepting a person as he is, she is sincere in her feelings, and perhaps such a deep and open feeling could change Pechorin. But love, like friendship, requires dedication, for the sake of it you have to sacrifice something in life. Pechorin is not ready, he is too individualistic.

The main character of the novel reveals the motives of his actions and motives largely thanks to the images of Mary and Vera - in the story “Princess Mary” one can examine in more detail the psychological portrait of Gregory.

Conclusion

In the various stories of the novel “A Hero of Our Time,” the characters not only help us understand the most diverse features of Pechorin and, as a result, allow us to penetrate into the author’s plan, follow the “history of the human soul,” and see the “portrait of a hero of time.” The main characters of Lermontov's work represent different types of human characters and therefore paint the appearance of the time that created Grigory Pechorin.

Work test

Doctor Werner is a minor character who serves as a kind of reflection of Pechorin himself. The characters are very similar internally, but completely different externally. Dr. Werner “Hero of Our Time” is a representative of the same type of people as the main character of the novel: inactive, bored, looking for the meaning of life, but in pursuit of illusions.

Description of Werner's appearance

Dr. Werner is not handsome, rather the opposite: “Werner was short, thin, and weak, like a child; one of his legs was shorter than the other, like Byron; in comparison with his body, his head seemed huge: he cut his hair like a comb...” He is lame on one leg, does not have a strong physique, and his face is also unattractive. The only external advantage is the doctor’s habit of dressing beautifully, tastefully, neatly: “His small black eyes, always restless, tried to penetrate your thoughts.

Taste and neatness were noticeable in his clothes; his thin, wiry and small hands showed off in light yellow gloves. His coat, tie and vest were always black.”

A sharp mind, charm, manners and inner depth of nature are what attract women to a young man. They feel the subtle nature of a person, which the doctor carefully hides behind sarcasm, indifference, and feigned nihilism. Werner loves women, he is an expert and connoisseur in this area. The author describes the nature of this character very interestingly: “a poet, and in earnest, a poet in practice always and often in words, although he never wrote two poems in his life...”. He is a man of high nature, a subtle romantic, a passionate connoisseur of beauty, but all these qualities are hidden behind a mask that is more consistent with the time and society.

Werner and Pechorin

A former military doctor, Werner treats wealthy aristocrats vacationing “on the waters.” He quickly became friends with Pechorin, feeling a kinship of nature, and also quickly realized that true friendship between them was impossible. Pechorin's invitation to Werner to play the role of a second, the discovery of Grushnitsky's conspiracy against Grigory - all this suggests that the main character can only trust the doctor. During his life he has not made any real friends; he only knows how to take something from any relationship.

People like Pechorin do not know how to create, give, give. Gregory uses his friend Werner as a second, since he is very convenient in the current situation: he is honest, truthful, respected, smart, and knows how to remain silent. In addition, he understands perfectly well that if Grushnitsky dies, Werner will accept this outcome indifferently - he has seen thousands of deaths, another one will not excite his consciousness. The duel really remained a secret.

The true face of Werner

The events that occurred during the duel indicate that Dr. Werner is cowardly and weak-willed, or simply cowardly and vile. The author does not give an unambiguous assessment of what happened. In any case: Werner is not distinguished by high moral principles, he is not capable of action. A kind of genius in waiting: he could become a great man, but he is too susceptible to laziness, inactivity and dreams. Such a brilliant person spends his days vainly, but uselessly. The knowledge that Werner possesses could save many lives, but he does not have the willpower and character that could change his nature. In addition, Dr. Werner is sarcastic and has a sharp tongue, he mocks his patients, this mask of irony has become familiar to him. Werner does not have the courage to be himself, he is subject to public opinion.

Doctor Werner is a minor character in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time". The article provides information about the character from the work, a quotation description.

Full name

Not mentioned. The emphasis is placed on the doctor’s non-Russian surname:

This morning the doctor came to see me; his name is Werner, but he is Russian. What's surprising? I knew one Ivanov, who was German.

Age

It is not known exactly, but apparently from 20 to 25.

Relation to Pechorin

At first it was friendly. and Dr. Werner got along in character:

We soon understood each other and became friends

The doctor agreed to be my second

After the duel, condemning.

There is no evidence against you, and you can sleep peacefully... if you can... Goodbye..."

The doctor came up: his brow was furrowed; and he, contrary to usual, did not extend his hand to me.

Appearance of Dr. Werner

His appearance was one of those that at first glance strikes you unpleasantly, but which you like later, when the eye learns to read in the irregular features the imprint of a tried and high soul. There have been examples that women fell madly in love with such people and would not exchange their ugliness for beauty

Werner was short, thin, and weak; one of his legs was shorter than the other, like Byron; in comparison with his body, his head seemed huge: he cut his hair into a comb, showing strong unevenness of the skull. Black eyes, always restless, tried to penetrate your thoughts. ; his thin, wiry and small hands showed off in light yellow gloves. His coat, tie and vest were always black.

He sat down in a chair, put his cane in the corner

He was wearing gray leggings, an arkhaluk and a Circassian hat. I burst out laughing when I saw this small figure under a huge shaggy hat: his face was not at all warlike, and this time it was even longer than usual

Taste and neatness were noticeable in his clothes

Social status

A doctor with a tarnished reputation

He is a skeptic and a materialist, like almost all doctors, and at the same time a poet, and in earnest - a poet in practice always and often in words, although he never wrote two poems in his life.

his rivals, envious water doctors, spread a rumor that he was drawing caricatures of his patients - the patients became enraged, almost everyone refused him.

The princess is being treated for rheumatism, and God knows what her daughter is suffering from; I ordered both of them to drink two glasses a day of sour sulfur water and bathe twice a week in a water bath (and her mother)

Have you been to Moscow, doctor? – Yes, I had some practice there

He was poor

Further fate

Most likely he continued to live as before. The novel does not say otherwise.

The identity of Dr. Werner

Werner, like , is an extraordinary person. Which brought him closer to the main character.

Werner is a wonderful person for many reasons.

He is a skeptic and a materialist, like almost all doctors

At the end of the evening the conversation took a philosophical and metaphysical direction; talked about beliefs: everyone was convinced of different things

We often got together and talked about abstract subjects very seriously, until we both noticed that we were fooling each other.

The youth nicknamed him Mephistopheles; he showed that he was angry at this nickname, but in fact it flattered his pride

He is talented, smart and neat, but is not recognized by others.

smart people like you love listeners better than storytellers (about Werner)

Look, here we are two smart people; we know in advance that everything can be argued about ad infinitum, and therefore we don’t argue

Taste and neatness were noticeable in his clothes

I once saw him cry over a dying soldier

“I have a presentiment,” said the doctor, “that poor Grushnitsky will be your victim.”

He had an evil tongue: under the guise of his epigram, more than one good-natured man was known as a vulgar fool

a poet, and in earnest, a poet in deed always and often in words, although he never wrote two poems in his life

The main character of the work, Grigory Pechorin, while on vacation in the Caucasus, meets Dr. Werner, a minor character in the novel, on the waters.

Men are very different from each other not only in appearance, but also in character traits, but they have a large number of similar qualities.

Pechorin and Werner are people of the same origin, moving in the same circle and being experts in secular society, who love to philosophize and talk about abstract topics.

Both received an excellent education, have logical thinking, observation, a sharp mind and an evil tongue.

The characteristic features of the heroes are an independent disposition, self-love, based on their own principles, personal opinion, sometimes expressed in skeptical and cynical views. At the same time, men have insight and the ability for subtle psychology, studying the secrets of the human soul.

The doctor and Grigory are endowed with exquisite taste, they have a genuine attraction to women, but they have never entered into marriage. The characters feel mutual trust and interest in each other.

However, despite the similarities between men, there are also fundamental differences between them.

In terms of age and position, Pechorin is a young rich man, while the doctor is much older than Grigory and belongs to the circle of impoverished intellectuals. Outwardly, Pechorin is very attractive, but Werner cannot boast of a beautiful appearance.

Werner, being a doctor by profession, by virtue of his activities, strives to save the life of the patient, and Pechorin, being a military officer, has the goal of taking the lives of others, even from the enemy.

Having psychological knowledge, the doctor never puts it into practice, but Pechorin constantly and with great activity uses this talent to satisfy his ambitions and whims.

Doctor Werner is a man of few words and is not susceptible to the desire to pour out his emotional experiences to anyone; Grigory, on the contrary, feels the need to reveal his secrets and thoughts and chooses Werner as a vest in which to cry

Werner loves the female sex with fierce passion, comparing women to a magical forest; he is capable of long-term romances, deep love and compassion. Pechorin treats women consumeristly, believing that it is impermissible to become a slave to the girl he loves; he tries to avoid women who have a strong will and strong character.

Essay Pechorin and Doctor Werner

In the chapter “Princess Mary” Pechorin meets the doctor and their communication allows Lermontov to reveal the character traits of his hero.

The main character of the work and Werner are people of the same social class, but have chosen different occupations. What helped them become friends was the desire inherent in both of them to destroy their lives. Pechorin was exiled to the Caucasus for his misdeeds. Werner lost his practice due to bullying and ridicule of patients.

The chapter pays great attention to Pechorin's relationship with the princess and his view of women. The officer looks at them like they are toys.

Werner is introduced into the novel to demonstrate another, more noble type of behavior. He is ready to sacrifice a lot for the sake of love, strives to win representatives of the fair sex. Pechorin has enough easy victories, not so much for possessing a woman, but for the sake of “winning on points.” He makes Princess Mary fall in love with him simply out of sport, not even considering it necessary to explain himself after she declares her love for him.

Pechorin and Werner also have different attitudes towards friendship. The “superfluous person” does not really need it, since it burdens it by imposing obligations. In addition, the events described in the work take place in the nineteenth century, a time more filled with romance and violent, exposed expressions of feelings. Werner takes this calmly, like most of his contemporaries, Pechorin, although he became friends with him, is clearly burdensome. He doesn’t just need openness and sacrifice, so he soon discards it.

Both heroes experience a certain attraction to death and are not afraid of it. However, Pechorin, by and large, strives for it. The officer commits risky actions, tempts fate, while Dr. Werner calmly awaits its onset. He sees no meaning in his life. Before the duel with Grushnitsky, Pechorin is overcome by thoughts about the meaning of his existence. Knowing that his gun will not be loaded and his opponent can easily kill him, he makes no attempt to avoid the fight.

During the duel, Pechorin demonstrates his courage and nobility. Having allowed the enemy to shoot first, he invites him to end the matter peacefully. Pechorin shows not only his fatalism and craving for death, not only his nobility, without which the nobles would have to eke out a miserable existence, but also the absence of cruelty and thirst to destroy. He doesn’t feel a particular urge to stay in this world, but he doesn’t want to take someone else’s life either. Werner knows that the novel's protagonist's gun is not loaded, but does not voice this fact during the duel, essentially committing treason. His image serves in the novel to highlight the feelings and experiences of an extraordinary person.