Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, "Princess Mary" - second half - first comment
100 Days of Charming Rotten Scoundrels tutorial - Goethe, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev
100 Days of Charming Rotten Scoundrels tutorial - Goethe, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev
February 20 - May 31, 2024
Lermontov's Hero of Our Time
Monday, April 29 - posted on Wednesday, May 1
“Princess Mary” - second half - first comment
Next passages:
Wednesday, May 1
“Princess Mary” - second half - second comment - conclusion
Thursday, May 2
"Fatalist," Author's Preface to the Second Edition - end of The Hero of Our Time
May 21
Pechorin’s biting social commentary never fails to point out the obvious - Grushnitsky is allowed to spend time with Mary because he is NOT an eligible suitor…
“Her mother pays no attention, because he is not a man who is in a position to marry. Behold the logic of mothers! I have caught two or three tender glances—this must be put a stop to.”
Pechorin is playing every side - because he is bored - and because infuriating people till they reveal their true selves is infinitely rewarding…
And then there is Vera - and she is being demanding - she wants Pechorin close - the only way to accomplish this in a social setting is to befriend Mary and her family…
“It is only there that we can meet”...
A reproach!... How tiresome! But I have deserved it...”
May 29
Ah, the jealously and malevolence of women towards women… As Sasha points out in the Barbie movie: “Men hate women and women hate women - that’s the only thing they have in common!” (Now you understand why I am teaching a university class on Barbie this fall - SUCH RICH MATERIAL - I could not resist!!!)
“Several of the ladies looked at Princess Mary with envy and malevolence, because she dresses with taste.”
AND now once again - the Polonaise opens the ball!!! We are in the know - we read Onegin!!!
Poor Mary - she is so well brought up, so well behaved, so well educated, so well mannered, AND so well dressed - the spa society women are ready to eat her alive - OR just ruin her evening for starters!!!
“It is time somebody gave her a lesson”...
Pechorin is obviously smitten by her - she is young and attractive!!!
“I have never known a waist more voluptuous and supple! Her fresh breath touched my face; at times a lock of hair, becoming separated from its companions in the eddy of the waltz, glided over my burning cheek...”
So, love?! Not so fast!!! Pechorin must remain Pechorin at all times!!!
“I have heard, Princess, that although quite unacquainted with you, I have already had the misfortune to incur your displeasure... that you have considered me insolent. Can that possibly true?”
“You know, Princess,” I said to her, with a certain amount of vexation, “one should never spurn a penitent criminal: in his despair he may become twice as much a criminal as before... and then”...
But inadvertently Pechorin serves the role of the knight in shining armor - saving Mary from the nasty drunk dance partner trick the fancy ladies cooked up for her…
“He was drunk. Coming to a halt opposite the embarrassed Princess and placing his hands behind his back, he fixed his dull grey eyes upon her, and said in a hoarse treble:
“Permettez... but what is the good of that sort of thing here... All I need say is: I engage you for the mazurka”...
NOT THE MAZURKA!!!
“You think, perhaps, that I am drunk! That is all right!... I can dance all the easier, I assure you.”
Pechorin to the rescue!!!
“Princess promised long ago to dance the mazurka with me.”
And thus, while looking heroic, Pechorin accomplishes the most self serving deed - gains entry to Mary’s house - in order to be close to Vera…
“ The Princess went up to her mother and told her the whole story. The latter sought me out among the crowd and thanked me. She informed me that she knew my mother and was on terms of friendship with half a dozen of my aunts.”
What did he do?!
“I have saved her from fainting at the ball”...
May 30
But Pechorin MUST make a fool of Grushnitsky - because he is such an insufferable fop…
“You see, I love her to the point of madness... and I think—I hope—she loves me too... I have a request to make of you. You will be at their house this evening; promise me to observe everything. I know you are experienced in these matters, you know women better than I... Women! Women! Who can understand them? Their smiles contradict their glances, their words promise and allure, but the tone of their voice repels... At one time they grasp and divine in a moment our most secret thoughts, at another they cannot understand the clearest hints... Take Princess Mary, now: yesterday her eyes, as they rested upon me, were blazing with passion; to-day they are dull and cold”…
And so a double game begins - to be close to Mary - in order to be close to Vera:
“Are you satisfied with my obedience, Vera?” I said as I was passing her.
She threw me a glance full of love and gratitude. I have grown accustomed to such glances; but at one time they constituted my felicity.”
AND the joy of secret and meaningful communications - that only two intimate lovers can understand!!!
“Oh! I understand the method of conversation wonderfully well: mute but expressive, brief but forceful!...”
Vera’s confession is all that Pechorin needs - THIS is the level of emotional engagement that he craves!!!
“You know that I am your slave: I have never been able to resist you... and I shall be punished for it, you will cease to love me! At least, I want to preserve my reputation... not for myself—that you know very well!... Oh! I beseech you: do not torture me, as before, with idle doubts and feigned coldness! It may be that I shall die soon; I feel that I am growing weaker from day to day... And, yet, I cannot think of the future life, I think only of you... You men do not understand the delights of a glance, of a pressure of the hand... but as for me, I swear to you that, when I listen to your voice, I feel such a deep, strange bliss that the most passionate kisses could not take its place.”
WHILE at the same time being insufferable with Mary…
“But perhaps you do not like music?”...
“On the contrary, I do... After dinner, especially.”
“Grushnitski is right in saying that you have very prosaic tastes... and I see that you like music in a gastronomic respect.”
“You are mistaken again: I am by no means an epicure. I have a most wretched digestion. But music after dinner puts one to sleep, and to sleep after dinner is healthful; consequently I like music in a medicinal respect. In the evening, on the contrary, it excites my nerves too much: I become either too melancholy or too gay. Both are fatiguing, where there is no positive reason for being either sorrowful or glad. And, moreover, melancholy in society is ridiculous, and too great gaiety is unbecoming”...
Mary is bewildered by Pechorin - and hides in her social position from him - the worst possible move - he declares her his enemy - and is thrilled by the possibility of drawing her out of her comfort zone - his favorite pastime…
“But I have found you out, my dear Princess! Have a care! You want to pay me back in the same coin, to wound my vanity—you will not succeed! And if you declare war on me, I will be merciless!”
Pechorin detests people who hide behind their social positions - that’s why he loves Vera - she is honest with him - as he is with her - a perfect relationship of mutual understanding…
“The remaining part of the evening I spent at Vera’s side, and talked to the full about the old days... Why does she love me so much? In truth, I am unable to say, all the more so because she is the only woman who has understood me perfectly, with all my petty weaknesses and evil passions... Can it be that wickedness is so attractive?...”
June 6
Oh dear - Pechorin is a dangerous man for inexperienced women like Mary…
“All these days I have not once departed from my system. Princess Mary has come to like talking to me; I have told her a few of the strange events of my life, and she is beginning to look on me as an extraordinary man. I mock at everything in the world, especially feelings; and she is taking alarm.”
The triple game is thrilling for Pechorin - and Mary is unaware that she is a part of a scheme - dangerous times…
“You have very little vanity!” she said to me yesterday. “What makes you think that I find Grushnitski the more entertaining?”
I answered that I was sacrificing my own pleasure for the sake of the happiness of a friend.
“And my pleasure, too,” she added.”
June 11
A wide digression into Pechorin’s soul - a place of multiple levels of darkness - but a disarming amount of honesty as well…
“There is, in sooth, a boundless enjoyment in the possession of a young, scarce-budded soul! It is like a floweret which exhales its best perfume at the kiss of the first ray of the sun. You should pluck the flower at that moment, and, breathing its fragrance to the full, cast it upon the road: perchance someone will pick it up! I feel within me that insatiate hunger which devours everything it meets upon the way; I look upon the sufferings and joys of others only from the point of view of their relation to myself, regarding them as the nutriment which sustains my spiritual forces. I myself am no longer capable of committing follies under the influence of passion; with me, ambition has been repressed by circumstances, but it has emerged in another form, because ambition is nothing more nor less than a thirst for power, and my chief pleasure is to make everything that surrounds me subject to my will. To arouse the feeling of love, devotion and awe towards oneself—is not that the first sign, and the greatest triumph, of power? To be the cause of suffering and joy to another—without in the least possessing any definite right to be so—is not that the sweetest food for our pride? And what is happiness?—Satisfied pride.”
Pechorin taunts Grushnitsky on account of his new officer uniform:
“Because the soldier’s cloak suits you very well, and you must confess that an infantry uniform, made by one of the local tailors, will not add anything of interest to you... Do you not see? Hitherto, you have been an exception, but now you will come under the general rule.”
And so we are off on an excursion:
“Mount Mashuk, at the distance of a verst from the town, and is approached by a narrow path between brushwood and rocks. In climbing up the hill, I gave Princess Mary my arm, and she did not leave it during the whole excursion.”
Pechorin starts lifting his soul’s curtain for Mary - and she is not just bewildered - she is frightened…
“Yes, such has been my lot from very childhood! All have read upon my countenance the marks of bad qualities, which were not existent; but they were assumed to exist—and they were born. I was modest—I was accused of slyness: I grew secretive. I profoundly felt both good and evil—no one caressed me, all insulted me: I grew vindictive. I was gloomy—other children merry and talkative; I felt myself higher than they—I was rated lower: I grew envious. I was prepared to love the whole world—no one understood me: I learned to hate. My colourless youth flowed by in conflict with myself and the world; fearing ridicule, I buried my best feelings in the depths of my heart, and there they died. I spoke the truth—I was not believed: I began to deceive. Having acquired a thorough knowledge of the world and the springs of society, I grew skilled in the science of life; and I saw how others without skill were happy, enjoying gratuitously the advantages which I so unweariedly sought. Then despair was born within my breast—not that despair which is cured at the muzzle of a pistol, but the cold, powerless despair concealed beneath the mask of amiability and a good-natured smile. I became a moral cripple. One half of my soul ceased to exist; it dried up, evaporated, died, and I cut it off and cast it from me. The other half moved and lived—at the service of all; but it remained unobserved, because no one knew that the half which had perished had ever existed. But, now, the memory of it has been awakened within me by you, and I have read you its epitaph. To many, epitaphs in general seem ridiculous, but to me they do not; especially when I remember what reposes beneath them. I will not, however, ask you to share my opinion. If this outburst seems absurd to you, I pray you, laugh! I forewarn you that your laughter will not cause me the least chagrin.”
Oh dear dead dear me - poor Mary:
“Sympathy—a feeling to which all women yield so easily, had dug its talons into her inexperienced heart. During the whole excursion she was preoccupied, and did not flirt with anyone—and that is a great sign!”
Pechorin is relentless…
“Have you ever been in love?” I asked her at length.
She looked at me intently, shook her head and again fell into a reverie. It was evident that she was wishing to say something, but did not know how to begin. Her breast heaved... And, indeed, that was but natural! A muslin sleeve is a weak protection, and an electric spark was running from my arm to hers. Almost all passions have their beginning in that way, and frequently we are very much deceived in thinking that a woman loves us for our moral and physical merits; of course, these prepare and predispose the heart for the reception of the holy flame, but for all that it is the first touch that decides the matter.”
But this is not Pechorin’s first time going through the motions - and he is already bored…
“To-morrow, she will be feeling a desire to recompense me. I know the whole proceeding by heart already—that is what is so tiresome!”
June 12
The double game troubles Vera too - she is becoming possessive - she want a sign from him that he cares for her and her alone:
“But supposing I am not in love with her?”
“Then why run after her, disturb her, agitate her imagination!... Oh, I know you well! Listen—if you wish me to believe you, come to Kislovodsk in a week’s time; we shall be moving thither the day after to-morrow. Princess Mary will remain here longer. Engage lodgings next door to us.”
NOT THE CURSED MAZURKA AGAIN!!!
“Meeting Princess Mary I asked her to keep the mazurka for me. She seemed surprised and delighted.”
Poor poor Mary…
“Princess Mary sat opposite me and listened to my nonsense with such deep, strained, and even tender attention that I grew ashamed of myself. What had become of her vivacity, her coquetry, her caprices, her haughty mien, her contemptuous smile, her absentminded glance?...
Vera noticed everything, and her sickly countenance was a picture of profound grief. She was sitting in the shadow by the window, buried in a wide arm-chair... I pitied her.”
The greatest trick in the book - describe in front of a new woman interest in detail the great love affair of your life - in the company of the woman who is the object of this love… Thus intriguing the new woman - and gratifying the old love…
“Then I related the whole dramatic story of our acquaintanceship, our love—concealing it all, of course, under fictitious names.
So vividly did I portray my tenderness, my anxieties, my raptures; in so favourable a light did I exhibit her actions and her character, that involuntarily she had to forgive me for my flirtation with Princess Mary.
She rose, sat down beside us, and brightened up... and it was only at two o’clock in the morning that we remembered that the doctors had ordered her to go to bed at eleven.”
June 13
And thus the ridicule of pompous Grushnitsky must commence…
“Complacency and at the same time a certain diffidence were depicted upon his face. His festal appearance and proud gait would have made me burst out laughing, if such a proceeding had been in accordance with my intentions.”
Grushnitsky attempts a challenge:
“They say you have been courting my princess terribly these last few days?” he said, rather carelessly and without looking at me.”
Pechorin is painfully self aware - but is he any worse than all these people who conceal their true selves so carefully in order to play a social role?!?!?!
“I walked slowly; I felt melancholy.
“Can it be possible,” I thought, “that my sole mission on earth is to destroy the hopes of others? Ever since I began to live and to act, it seems always to have been my fate to play a part in the ending of other people’s dramas, as if, but for me, no one could either die or fall into despair! I have been the indispensable person of the fifth act; unwillingly I have played the pitiful part of an executioner or a traitor. What object has fate had in this?... Surely, I have not been appointed by destiny to be an author of middle-class tragedies and family romances, or to be a collaborator with the purveyor of stories—for the ‘Reader’s Library,’ for example?... How can I tell?... Are there not many people who, in beginning life, think to end it like Lord Byron or Alexander the Great, and, nevertheless, remain Titular Councillors all their days?”
Ah, to end like Lord Byron or Alexander… Or like a mere mortal without any pretensions to be sublime… WHAT AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE…
Pechorin’s poison has changed Mary - and Grushnitsky is beginning to understand what an evil trick has been played on him - he has been made ridiculous in Mary’s eyes…
“Changed?... Oh, never! You know that such a thing is impossible! Whoever has seen you once will bear your divine image with him for ever.”
“Stop”...
“But why will you not let me say to-night what you have so often listened to with condescension—and just recently, too?”...
“Because I do not like repetitions,” she answered, laughing.
“Oh! I have been bitterly mistaken!... I thought, fool that I was, that these epaulettes, at least, would give me the right to hope... No, it would have been better for me to have remained for ever in that contemptible soldier’s cloak, to which, probably, I was indebted for your attention”...
Pechorin is RELENTLESS!!! He makes Grushnitsky look like a fool…
“I do not agree with you,” I answered: “he is more youthful-looking still in his uniform.”
“That was a blow which Grushnitski could not bear: like all boys, he has pretensions to being an old man; he thinks that the deep traces of passions upon his countenance take the place of the lines scored by Time. He cast a furious glance at me, stamped his foot, and took himself off.”
The confrontation between the two men is about to reach a boiling point…
“You should lay the blame on your cloak, or your epaulettes, but why accuse her? What fault is it of hers that she does not like you any longer?”...
“But why give me hopes?”
“Why did you hope? To desire and to strive after something—that I can understand! But who ever hopes?”
“You have won the wager, but not quite,” he said, with a malignant smile.”
Now it’s Pechorin’s turn to be on guard…
“And now, it seems, a hostile gang is actually being formed against me, under the command of Grushnitski. He wears such a proud and courageous air...
I am very glad; I love enemies, though not in the Christian sense. They amuse me, stir my blood. To be always on one’s guard, to catch every glance, the meaning of every word, to guess intentions, to crush conspiracies, to pretend to be deceived and suddenly with one blow to overthrow the whole immense and laboriously constructed edifice of cunning and design—that is what I call life.”
Danger - welcome!!! You make the dullness of life bearable…
June 14
Poor poor Mary…
“Mary has not been out, she is ill.”
Grushnitsky will not forgive…
“Grushnitski goes about with dishevelled locks, and wears an appearance of despair: he is evidently afflicted, as a matter of fact; his vanity especially has been injured.”
June 15
Evil tongues are ready to destroy Pechorin… If he does not propose - he will compromise Mary… But why not tie the knot?!?!?! Because stability is dull - Byron’s Harold and Juan - as well as Onegin and Pechorin - don’t do dull…
“Werner came to see me.
“Is it true,” he asked, “that you are going to marry Princess Mary?”
“What?”
“The whole town is saying so. All my patients are occupied with that important piece of news; but you know what these patients are: they know everything.”
“This is one of Grushnitski’s tricks,” I said to myself.
“To prove the falsity of these rumours, doctor, I may mention, as a secret, that I am moving to Kislovodsk to-morrow”...
Werner has been around the block a few times - he is ready to share experiences…
“But you know there are occasions...” he added, with a crafty smile—“in which an honourable man is obliged to marry, and there are mothers who, to say the least, do not prevent such occasions... And so, as a friend, I should advise you to be more cautious. The air of these parts is very dangerous. How many handsome young men, worthy of a better fate, have I not seen departing from here straight to the altar!... Would you believe me, they were even going to find a wife for me! That is to say, one person was—a lady belonging to this district, who had a very pale daughter. I had the misfortune to tell her that the latter’s colour would be restored after wedlock, and then with tears of gratitude she offered me her daughter’s hand and the whole of her own fortune—fifty souls, 28 I think. But I replied that I was unfit for such an honour.”
June 18
VERA!!! A few days of peace - and an opportunity to be himself - without playing a role…
“We meet, as though unexpectedly, in the garden which slopes down from our houses to the well. The life-giving mountain air has brought back her colour and her strength.”
June 22
But Mary catches up with Pechorin… WOMEN - Pechorin knows WAY TOO MUCH about them!!!
“Princess Ligovski looked at me with much tenderness, and did not leave her daughter’s side... a bad sign! On the other hand, Vera is jealous of me in regard to Princess Mary—however, I have been striving for that good fortune. What will not a woman do in order to chagrin her rival? I remember that once a woman loved me simply because I was in love with another woman. There is nothing more paradoxical than the female mind; it is difficult to convince a woman of anything; they have to be led into convincing themselves. The order of the proofs by which they demolish their prejudices is most original; to learn their dialectic it is necessary to overthrow in your own mind every scholastic rule of logic. For example, the usual way:
“This man loves me; but I am married: therefore I must not love him.”
The woman’s way:
“I must not love him, because I am married; but he loves me—therefore”...
A few dots here, because reason has no more to say. But, generally, there is something to be said by the tongue, and the eyes, and, after these, the heart—if there is such a thing.
What if these notes should one day meet a woman’s eye?
“Slander!” she will exclaim indignantly.”
Ah, women…
“Women ought to wish that all men knew them as well as I because I have loved them a hundred times better since I have ceased to be afraid of them and have comprehended their little weaknesses.”
June 24
Pechorin’s game has gone WAY TOO FAR… But do you recall Pushkin’s advice - the less you love a woman the more you are to her liking…
“Either you despise me, or you love me very much!” she said at length, and there were tears in her voice. “Perhaps you want to laugh at me, to excite my soul and then to abandon me... That would be so base, so vile, that the mere supposition... Oh, no!” she added, in a voice of tender trustfulness; “there is nothing in me which would preclude respect; is it not so? Your presumptuous action... I must, I must forgive you for it, because I permitted it... Answer, speak, I want to hear your voice!”...
There was such womanly impatience in her last words that, involuntarily, I smiled; happily it was beginning to grow dusk... I made no answer.
“You are silent!” she continued; “you wish, perhaps, that I should be the first to tell you that I love you.”...
I remained silent.
“Is that what you wish?” she continued, turning rapidly towards me.... There was something terrible in the determination of her glance and voice.
“Why?” I answered, shrugging my shoulders.
She struck her horse with her riding-whip and set off at full gallop along the narrow, dangerous road. It all happened so quickly that I was scarcely able to overtake her, and then only by the time she had joined the rest of the company.”
Pechorin the Vampire!!! SO Twilight!!! SO European Romanticism!!!
“Princess Ligovski rejoiced inwardly as she looked at her daughter. However, the latter simply has a fit of nerves: she will spend a sleepless night, and will weep.
This thought affords me measureless delight: there are moments when I understand the Vampire... And yet I am reputed to be a good fellow, and I strive to earn that designation!”
The clash is about to happen… But what will be the pretext?! And what will be the result?!?!?!
“Grushnitski in particular is angry with him—therefore to Grushnitski falls the chief part. He will pick a quarrel over some silly trifle or other, and will challenge Pechorin to a duel... Wait a bit; here is where the joke comes in... He will challenge him to a duel; very well! The whole proceeding—challenge, preparations, conditions—will be as solemn and awe-inspiring as possible—I will see to that. I will be your second, my poor friend! Very well! Only here is the rub; we will put no bullets in the pistols. I can answer for it that Pechorin will turn coward—I will place them six paces apart, devil take it! Are you agreed, gentlemen?”
It’s on, dear readers!!! We are off to another duel!!!
“Tremblingly I awaited Grushnitski’s answer. I was filled with cold rage at the thought that, but for an accident, I might have made myself the laughing-stock of those fools. If Grushnitski had not agreed, I should have thrown myself upon his neck; but, after an interval of silence, he rose from his place, extended his hand to the captain, and said very gravely:
“Very well, I agree!”
Pechorin is always being himself - in a world of people who hide their true inner selves under a social facade… What is worse?!?!?!
“Why do they all hate me?” I thought—“why? Have I affronted anyone? No. Can it be that I am one of those men the mere sight of whom is enough to create animosity?”
And I felt a venomous rage gradually filling my soul.”
And here he is being honest again - should he have lied?!?!?! SO Onegin of him!!!
“I will tell you the whole truth,” I answered. “I will not justify myself, nor explain my actions: I do not love you.”
Her lips grew slightly pale.
“Leave me,” she said, in a scarcely audible voice.
I shrugged my shoulders, turned round, and walked away.”
June 25
Pechorin’s confessions are devastating, revealing, and honest - can we ask more of him - or ourselves, for that matter?!?!?!
“I sometimes despise myself... Is not that the reason why I despise others also?... I have grown incapable of noble impulses; I am afraid of appearing ridiculous to myself. In my place, another would have offered Princess Mary son coeur et sa fortune; but over me the word “marry” has a kind of magical power. However passionately I love a woman, if she only gives me to feel that I have to marry her—then farewell, love! My heart is turned to stone, and nothing will warm it anew. I am prepared for any other sacrifice but that; my life twenty times over, nay, my honour I would stake on the fortune of a card... but my freedom I will never sell. Why do I prize it so highly? What is there in it to me? For what am I preparing myself? What do I hope for from the future?... In truth, absolutely nothing. It is a kind of innate dread, an inexplicable prejudice... There are people, you know, who have an unaccountable dread of spiders, beetles, mice... Shall I confess it? When I was but a child, a certain old woman told my fortune to my mother. She predicted for me death from a wicked wife. I was profoundly struck by her words at the time: an irresistible repugnance to marriage was born within my soul... Meanwhile, something tells me that her prediction will be realized; I will try, at all events, to arrange that it shall be realized as late in life as possible.”
Vitaly Polyakov (1925-1997), Mary and Pechorin.
