The Romantic Hero in Pechorin, Onegin, and the Demon
Through examining the works of Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time, and “The Demon,” as well as Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, we can see the similarities between Pechorin, the Demon, and Onegin and how each character embodies the qualities of the romantic hero. A romantic hero is a very contradicting character. For example, in the History of Russian Literature by Charles A. Moser, he describes the romantic hero as having “the anguish of emptiness; the trembling anxieties of a shallow self-love – as well as genuine power and courage; noble aspirations along with ignorance and poor upbringing” (137). All of the traits stated above are very conflicting. Pechorin, Onegin and the Demon, being the
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Pechorin, being the tactless character he is, treats women as an incentive for endless conquests and does not consider them worthy of any particular respect. He considers women, such as Princess Mary, to be little more than a romantic game and they have no meaning to him. This is shown in his comment on Princess Mary: “I often wonder why I’m trying so hard to win the love of a girl I have no desire to seduce and whom I’d never marry” (Lermontov, 126). This quote is a perfect example of how Pechorin can be extremely self-serving and disregard the feelings of others. It also exemplifies his inability to return to the strong feelings of love.
Toward the end of the novel we explore Pechorin’s final adventures that lead to his downfall and isolation from society, resulting in his death. It is in his final adventures that we see Pechorin take a turn for the worse as he says, “And perhaps tomorrow I’ll die…so why bother to live” (Lermontov 157). In this passage it becomes clear as day that Pechorin has fallen into a deep depression. The constant change in personality and character is the exact reason that explains how Pechorin is a perfect example of the literary romantic hero.
Pechorin describes his own personality as self-destructive, and he came to the realization that he doesn't understand his purpose as he constantly questions why he is involved in many situations throughout the novel. His boredom with life, and feeling of emptiness, gives him
In contrast with “Bela”, in “Princess Mary”, the other men view Pechorin as heroic for being able to win over the hearts of women so easily with his charm and charisma. Pechorin uses this charm together with manipulation, for example, taking advantage of the fact that Princess Mary thought that “‘[Grushnitsky] had been degraded to the ranks for a duel’” (93), when dealing with two women: Vera and Princess Mary. Despite knowing Pechorin’s dark ways, Vera falls for him almost immediately, and additionally, Princess Mary chooses Pechorin over Grushnitsky despite the fact that Grushnitsky treats her with the utmost respect while Pechorin often torments her. The other men silently admire Pechorin, and this admiration grows into envy as they begin
Pechorin, late at night, follows the blind boy to the seashore, completely unaware of the boy’s intentions and with no information about what he is getting into. Furthermore, upon seeing more people at the scene and with suspicions about their actions, he does not flee until later.
I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble -Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD)
In Shakespeare’s classic play, Romeo and Juliet, the prologue refers to the title characters as “star-cross’d lovers” with a “death-mark’d love”, showing that the two are doomed from the start (Shakespeare 3). Being from two opposing families that are in a never-ending feud, Romeo and Juliet 's love is forbidden. However, throughout the novel, the lovers defy their parents and pursue their fast-forming love with the help of supporting characters, such as Friar Lawrence, who are seemingly presented as beneficial characters that help the story progress. However, it can be argued that these ”beneficial characters” are actually interfering with their relationship, and are a key factor in contributing to their deaths. Although fate is seemingly
As a child, he was not loved by his mother. She prefered her cat to her own son. Junior saw this at an early age and “spent some happy moments watching it suffer” (86). Junior locked Pecola in a room, becoming the perpetrator with the same turn of attitude as Cholly. When he saw that the cat liked Pecola, he threw the cat, killing it, because the thing his mother loved more than himself loved her. Pecola’s wish could be paralleled to the cat. It had blue eyes, and was loved dearly by someone, which could explain the attention she gave to the cat. Junior even said, “Gimme my cat! (90). Up to this point, he wanted nothing to do with the cat and even tortured it, but with it being the only connection to his mother, he called it his own. Pecola’s dream, or having the same attention as the cat, was killed when the cat was killed. Junior was not loved by his mother, only taken care of to live. She did not “allow her baby, Junior, to cry…[she] did not talk to him, coo to him, or indulge him in kissing bouts” (86). This unlove for her family caused Junior to be victimized, and then alter his ways, and become the perpetrator. Pecola is the victim in the rage of Junior, only because his mother did not love him. She wanted someone to be kind to her, and love her, but that was only met with
Thesis Statement: Oedipus is the embodiment of Aristotle’s characterization of a tragic hero through his ability to preserve his virtue and wisdom, despite his flaws and predicament.
In the course of The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove has shown signs of low self esteem. She would always be the one to compare herself to something she admires to be beautiful. Perhaps, sometimes problems surround her get a little too much, she has not yet realized the fog will clear up. For example in the autumn chapter, a quote has said “Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would only see what there was to see: the eyes of other people.” There is no such thing as a “Pecola’s point of view”. She lives off of people's judgements and believe physical appearance is all there is to a person. Her desire to be beautiful is not having attractive long black hair and golden skin color, but blonde hair with a white pigmentation. Which causes her to dream and want even more.
In the novel A Hero of Our Time, Pechorin is created as an honorable man who is thought to be the victim of his own unfortunate surroundings that hinder his ability to be portrayed as honorable. Despite Pechorin’s nonchalant attitude and lack of interest in his life, Pechorin’s “heroism,” intelligence, and honesty can still be illustrated as honorable. Pechorin’s qualities stress the values the Russian generation in the 19th century deemed crucial in a “hero” or an honorable man. However, throughout the novel, it is evident that Pechorin’s intent is never to become a hero. Therefore, Lermontov characterizes Pechorin as an honorable man who encompasses the honorable traits that the Russian population values to question whether all honorable
Throughout the story there is a strong sense of abandonment on Pecola’s part. She is a lonely character that is heavily influenced by society and what it thinks. Pecola is very concerned on meeting the standard in society despite her past life. She is determined but in some respects this is one of the downfalls to her character. "Why, she wonders, do people cal them weeds? She though they were pretty". Mr. Yacobowski humiliates her, and she passes the dandelions and thinks, "They are ugly and they are most definitely weeds". This shows how Pecola can easily be manipulated by others and society. In a sense, Pecola has transferred society’s dislike for her to the dandelions. She cannot accept the fact that she is not wanted. At one point in the story the narrator says, "We tried to see [Pecola] without looking at her, and never went near. Not because she was absurd or repulsive, or because we were frightened, but because we had failed her. Our flowers never grew so we
Sophocles said that a man should never consider himself fortunate unless he can look back on his life and remember that life without pain. For Oedipus Rex, looking back is impossible to do without pain, a pain that stems from his prideful life. Oedipus is aware that he alone is responsible for his actions. He freely chooses to pursue and eventually accept his own life's destruction. Although fate victimizes Oedipus, he is a tragic figure since his own heroic qualities, his loyalty to Thebes, and his undying quest for the truth ruin him.
The first instance we see our ‘hero’s’ destructive instincts is when he meets Bela. Despite his high level of intelligence, he acts very much on instinct. Having met Bela on the night of ‘her eldest sister’s wedding,' his response was “Enchanting!”. His concern isn’t that she’s the daughter of the chief but rather it’s her physical appearance that preoccupies him. This meeting with Bela brings out Pechorin’s impulsive nature. As he overhears a conversation between Azamat and Kazbich, with the former making an offer:“If you want, I’ll steal my sister for you… no-one has seen such a wife…” the two characters are in negotiation over the price of Azamat’s sister, ‘for your Karagyoz…I'll steal my sister
In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.
Pecola evaluated herself ugly, and wanted to have a pair of blue eyes so that every problem could be solved. Pecola was an African-American and lived in a family with problems. Her father ran away because of crime, her brother left because of their fighting parents, and was discriminated simply because she has dark-skin. Pecola is a passive person. She is almost destroyed because of her violent father, Cholly Breedlove, who raped her own daughter after drinking. Because of this, Pecola kept thinking about her goal- to reach the standard of beauty. However, she was never satisfied with it. Pecola believed once she become beautiful, fighting between her parents would no longer happen, her brother would come back, and her father would no long be a rapist. No problem would exist anymore.
With some background knowledge on Pauline, the mother of Pecola, it’s easier to understand some of Pecola's core traits. There are parallelisms between Pecola and Pauline. They find their reality too harsh to deal with, so they become fixated on one thing that makes them happy, and they ignore everything else. Pecola's desire for blue eyes is more of an inheritance that she received from her mother. One of Pauline’s own obsessions was back when she was fascinated with the world of the big pictures. As long as they can believe in their fantasies, they're willing to sacrifice anything else.
The Tragic Hero and the Tragic Story in William Shakespeare's Writing Shakespeare's tragedies are, for the most part, stories of one person,