Summary
May 11
Arriving in Pyatigorsk and renting an apartment, Pechorin went for a walk, where he met a fellow cadet Grushnitsky. He said that only Princess Ligovskaya and her young daughter Mary were of greatest interest in the city. It was clear that Grushnitsky was not indifferent to the girl.
may 13
From Doctor Werner, who entered the Ligovskys’ house, Pechorin learned that among those present there was some relative of noble ladies - “a blonde, with regular features” and a mole on her cheek. Hearing this, Pechorin shuddered - in this portrait he recognized “one woman whom he loved in the old days.”
16th of May
Pechorin met the same blonde with a mole. She turned out to be a young noble lady named Vera, with whom Pechorin had an affair in the past. Vera said that for the sake of her son’s well-being, she married a rich, sick old man for the second time. Passion flared up again between the former lovers, and Pechorin promised Vera to “drag after the princess in order to divert attention from her.”
May 21st
Pechorin was waiting for the right opportunity to get closer to the Ligovskys. Having learned that a ball would take place, he decided to “dance the mazurka with the princess” all evening.
22nd of May
Pechorin kept his promise and did not leave Mary’s side at the ball. In addition, he protected her from the advances of a drunken officer, which caused a wave of gratitude from the princess and princess.
May, 23rd
Grushnitsky was worried that the princess had lost her former interest in him. At a reception with the Ligovskys, Vera admitted to Pechorin that she was very sick, but all her thoughts were occupied only with him.
May 29
All these days, Pechorin “never once deviated from his system.” He carefully watched Mary's reaction and noticed that she was completely tired of Grushnitsky.
June 3
Pechorin pondered why he persistently sought “the love of a young girl” whom he did not even intend to seduce. His thoughts were interrupted by Grushnitsky, who shared the good news - he had been promoted to officer. The young man hoped that now it would be easier for him to win the princess’s heart.
June 4
Vera tormented Pechorin with her jealousy of the princess. She asked him to follow her to Kislovodsk and rent an apartment nearby. The Ligovskys were also supposed to come there over time.
June 5
At the ball, Grushnitsky planned to defeat Mary with his new infantry uniform. However, the girl was frankly bored in his company. Pechorin began to entertain the princess, which caused a wave of indignation among Grushnitsky.
June 6
The next morning, “Vera left with her husband for Kislovodsk.” Pechorin sought to meet her alone, because “love, like fire, goes out without food.”
June 7
From his friend Werner, Pechorin learned that rumors about his imminent wedding with the princess began to spread in the city. He realized that this was the work of the jealous Grushnitsky. The next morning Pechorin went to Kislovodsk.
June 10th
In Kislovodsk, Pechorin often met Vera at the spring. A cheerful company led by Grushnitsky also appeared in the city, which regularly organized brawls in the tavern.
June 11
The Ligovskys arrived in Kislovodsk, and Pechorin immediately noticed that the princess was especially gentle with him. This seemed like a bad sign to him.
12 June
This evening "was full of incidents." During a horseback ride, Mary confessed her love to Pechorin, but he did not react to the confession, which brought the girl out of balance.
Returning home, the hero became an unwitting witness to the vile conspiracy that Grushnitsky’s friends were organizing against him. They encouraged the young officer to challenge Pechorin to a duel, but not to load the pistols.
Pechorin “did not sleep all night,” and in the morning he admitted to the princess that he did not love her at all.
June 14
Pechorin explained that his “insurmountable aversion to marriage” is explained by the words of a fortune teller who predicted to his mother the death of her son from an evil wife.
June 15
Pechorin managed to organize a secret meeting with Vera. They had to get out of her bedroom using knitted shawls. Having barely touched the ground, Pechorin found himself in a trap set by Grushnitsky’s cronies. Only by miracle did he manage to fight back and run home.
June 16
The next day, Grushnitsky publicly accused Pechorin of visiting the princess’s chambers at night. The hero challenged the young man to a duel, and asked Doctor Werner to be his second. After negotiations with Grushnitsky, Werner made a guess - the friends planned to “load one of Grushnitsky’s pistols with a bullet,” turning the duel into a real murder.
In the duel, the first shot went to Grushnitsky, who intentionally only slightly scratched his opponent’s knee. Pechorin exposed their conspiracy and demanded that his pistol be reloaded. He shot at Grushnitsky and killed him.
Arriving home, Pechorin found Vera's letter. She wrote that she confessed everything to her husband, and he hastened to take her away from Kislovodsk. Pechorin “jumped out onto the porch like crazy,” mounted his horse and drove it after the carriage. But the already tired horse could not withstand the mad race and died in the middle of the steppe. Pechorin fell to the ground and “cryed bitterly, not trying to hold back his tears and sobs.”
Having come to his senses, the hero returned home, where his explanation with Mary took place. He advised the girl to simply despise him, and then he bowed dryly and left.
Rumors about the duel harmed Pechorin, who received an order to immediately go to fortress N. Having arrived at the place, he tried to analyze his life, but came to the conclusion that “quiet joys and peace of mind” were incompatible with his rebellious nature.
Summary of the chapter “Princess Mary” from M. Lermontov’s novel “Hero of Our Time”
The literary guru continues to introduce you, our dear readers, to M.Yu. Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time”. This time we decided to dwell in more detail on the chapter “Princess Mary”, which is important for the entire novel. Here you will find a summary of this chapter. In it, Pechorin talks about the story of his acquaintance with Princess Mary Ligovskaya, about his return to secular society, which was then resting and being treated at the waters in Pyatigorsk. There Grigory meets his “friend” - the married society lady Vera and quarrels with the cadet Grushnitsky. If you want to read the events of the entire novel, click here. If you need an analysis of the entire novel, it's here.
The events of the chapter “Princess Mary”, as you already understood from the description, unfold in Pyatigorsk, where the entire society of the rich rests and improves their health. Grigory successfully joins this society, the ladies look at him with interest, but the epaulettes do not speak in his favor. After some time, he meets an old acquaintance - cadet Grushnitsky, and, despite the friendly tone, both of them do not like each other. Pechorin believes that Grushnitsky is a poser, false and artificial, and openly makes fun of him, which incredibly angers the cadet.
Then Grigory finds out that Grushnitsky is not indifferent to Princess Mary. The cadet tries with all his might to attract the girl's attention, but he fails. Then Pechorin, out of boredom, decides to start a little game: he contrasts his opinion about Mary with Grushnitsky’s, not recognizing the girl’s merits that she had. He talks about her like she's a racehorse and deliberately demonstrates his indifference and ignorance. So he deliberately tries to attract Mary’s attention and thereby win her love.
Pechorin also meets Doctor Werner, who, despite his fame, had a very bad reputation in society. He is thin, gloomy, cynical, bilious, insightful and closed. And in this they are similar to Pechorin, which he notes in his diary. In Pyatigorsk they say about the doctor that he is a magician, almost Mephistopheles. And Werner flows with these rumors, he likes how people tremble with fear of him. Werner dreamed of money, but in reality did nothing to earn it: he loses patients who believe rumors that the doctor draws caricatures of his patients.
Pechorin sees a kindred spirit in Werner and admires his intelligence. They become friends and the doctor begins to tell Pechorin about events in the life of Mary’s family. It turns out that Pechorin’s plan works - the family speaks about him in a bad tone. And this is exactly what he sought, because all men do is prostrate themselves in front of her, seeking her attention, but he, Gregory, you see, doesn’t care! This should have at least made Mary pay attention to him. This was his game, with the goal of annoying Grushnitsky. From Werner Pechorin also learns that the princess is very educated and intelligent, but extremely inexperienced in matters of a personal nature. The doctor also informs Gregory that another lady has arrived with the princess’s family - a thin woman with blond hair and a mole on her face. Based on the description, Gregory recognizes this woman as his old friend Vera, with whom he had an affair in the distant past.
The game of Pechorin and Grushnitsky continues: Grigory deliberately invents various incidents and amusements so that the men do not pay attention to the princess and she is bored. He accidentally finds out that the princess liked the carpet in the shop, and to spite her he buys it back earlier. He ignores her in every possible way and tries to make her angry. Grushnitsky, falling more and more in love, wants to introduce himself to her. Pechorin ridicules his soldierly manner of holding himself and speaking pompously. He proves to the young cadet that the princess is a frivolous girl and will flirt with everyone left and right, but will still marry whoever her mother chooses. He doesn’t believe him and continues to prove the opposite and hates Gregory more and more. The doctor, as an intelligent and observant person, recognized Pechorin’s game, and understood how this story would end when Grushnitsky found out that Pechorin was also “courting” Mary.
Meanwhile, Gregory accidentally meets that same woman - his old love Vera - now a married lady. Their feelings flare up again and here a completely different Pechorin is revealed to us - sensual, sincere, loving, open. Vera and Grigory are getting closer and, in order to divert suspicion from themselves, Vera tells her lover to pursue Princess Mary, to visit the Ligovskys, where they can meet freely without any suspicion. Grigory rejoices at this, because this does not interfere with his previous plans regarding Grushnitsky.
After a conversation with Vera, Pechorin is again overcome by pain from the inability to connect with his beloved. He understands that Vera is the only woman who loved him and accepted him with all his shortcomings. She is forced to be married to a rich and respected man for the sake of her reputation and for the sake of the future of her son from her first marriage, who needs fortune and title. But she is still ready to risk everything for short meetings with Gregory.
After Vera leaves from an overabundance of feelings, Pechorin chases his horse through the forests and fields for a long time. Riding on an exhausted horse, he accidentally meets Princess Mary and seriously frightens her with his appearance. Grushnitsky tells him that now they will never accept him from the Ligovskys, because he made the whole family nervous. But Pechorin objects to him, because he has his own separate plan.
Several days pass and Pechorin shows up for a dinner party. There he is eloquent, caring and kind. He shows himself as a defender, having driven away a tipsy officer from Mary, who decided to teach the arrogant princess a lesson with his trick. Mary is very grateful to Gregory for his intercession, and Mary’s mother invites him to visit her.
After this, Grigory becomes a regular guest at the Ligovskys, he begins to like Mary and becomes close to her. She, in turn, falls in love with him. Gregory, however, still continues to have deep feelings for Vera, and soon she informs him that she is mortally ill with consumption.
Mary talks a lot with Pechorin and tells him that she is already mortally tired of annoying gentlemen who tire her with their stiffness and shuffling. Including Grushnitsky, who is overly emotional and obsessive. Seeing that Mary has lost interest in him, Grushnitsky in despair asks Pechorin for advice. He rejoices, because this means that he managed to defeat the cadet.
But the game goes on. At dinner with Mary, Pechorin again demonstrates his indifference to her, but he talks a lot with Vera and makes arrangements with her for further dates. Pechorin continues to talk to Mary in fits and starts and only fuels her curiosity. He takes over all her thoughts. Grushnitsky becomes a funny young man in Mary's eyes. One day, while walking, Pechorin pours out his soul to Mary and says that this society has made him so cold, Mary is captivated by his speech. Her conversations don’t bother him much, she’s predictable, and therefore not interesting to Gregory. His plan was fully realized - Mary is head over heels in love with him, Grushnitsky is furious, Vera is jealous of him, although she herself cannot be with him. She asks him not to marry Mary, and in return promises one meeting in private, secret from everyone. Grigory agrees, often visits the Ligovskys and entertains the ladies.
Grushnitsky’s anger towards Pechorin is growing, because Mary is not paying attention to him at all. In a conversation with a friend, the cadet hints at revenge on his part against Gregory for his cruel games. And soon rumors spread around the world that Pechorin and Princess Mary had begun a serious affair. Pechorin understands that this is Grushnitsky’s revenge, because his mother can force him to marry Mary. Doctor Werner also warns Gregory about this, but he is indifferent to his words. Pechorin is sure that he will get away with everything. After some time, Grigory leaves for Kislovodsk following Vera to be with her.
Grushnitsky is furious: he stops communicating with Pechorin and doesn’t even look in his direction. Pechorin is only amused by this, just like Mary’s naive love. While walking along mountain rivers, Pechorin is left alone with Mary and he expects her to confess her feelings to him.
He kisses her on the cheek and she leaves in a fit of emotion without finishing the conversation.
Later in the evening, passing by a tavern, Pechorin becomes an accidental witness to a conversation about himself. Grushnitsky and his friends are building a vile plan of revenge for him. One captain suggests that the cadet challenge Pechorin to a duel and not put bullets in Grigory’s pistols. Pechorin is angry that if he had not accidentally found out about this plan, it might have worked.
The next day, Mary confesses her feelings to Gregory, and he, in turn, coldly rejects her, saying that he is indifferent to her. She sends him away. In his diary that day, he recalls that a fortune teller once told him that for him freedom was the most important thing in life. Pechorin corrects the fortune teller and says that he is simply not capable of making someone happy, he always ruins everything. He is like an ax or instrument of God that destroys other people's lives.
That same night, Grigory goes on a secret meeting with Vera to the Ligovskys’ house. He does not know that Grushnitsky is quietly watching him. He decided that Gregory was going on a secret date with the princess. When Pechorin’s date with Vera ends, he jumps from her window here and Grushnitsky and his friend the captain try to catch him. In the darkness, Grigory manages to hide, and, having reached the house, he pretends to be sleeping. An alarm was raised, which was attributed to thieves.
After this incident, Grushnitsky in the tavern announces to everyone that he saw Pechorin at Mary’s at night. Vera’s husband also hears him, but does not even realize that his wife is involved here. Pechorin enters the tavern and accuses Grushnitsky of lying. The cadet challenges Gregory to a duel. The second on Pechorin's side is Doctor Werner, on the cadet's side - a certain dragoon captain.
Public opinion is on Gregory’s side; people believe that he is standing up for the honor of a slandered but beloved girl. Werner finds out that Grushnitsky is going to pull off a fraud with bullets and asks Pechorin how he is going to act. Gregory replies that he has a plan.
The night before the duel, Grigory does not sleep. He is tormented by the memories of all the people he has offended. With whom he acted badly, not kindly and not according to conscience. He remembers everyone he hurt. In the morning, he and Werner go to a duel. Pechorin does not send a single letter to anyone before the duel, and does not make a will. He has nothing to write and nothing to leave behind. Deep down, he wants this duel not to take place. Before the start of the fight, he invites the cadet to apologize and cancel everything, but Grushnitsky stubbornly stands his ground. Pechorin understands that this is just a whim of a young, naked man.
Gregory proposes a duel at the very top of the mountain. Even if the enemy is simply wounded, there will be extremely little chance of escape, with abyss and sheer cliffs on all sides. This method will save the opponent from trial and investigation for the duel, because the body will not be found. Before the duel begins, Grushnitsky is still frightened by the consequences of his deception and offers to retreat, but his second does not allow him to stop the duel. Pechorin insists on drawing lots: he wanted to give Grushnitsky a chance to come to his senses and admit to deception. But he didn't say a word. Grushnitsky shoots at him, but misses - the bullet only scratched Grigory's knee. He stayed on his feet, although he still almost fell. Dull anger for the vile deception awakens in Gregory towards the cadet. He decides at all costs to teach a lesson to the cadet who wanted to kill him in cold blood by deception. Pechorin announces that his pistol is not loaded and requires a bullet. The second argues with him, but then Grushnitsky admits to deception. Everything is revealed. Grigory gives the cadet one last chance to apologize and cancel the duel, but in a fit of anger and resentment, the cadet says that he will still kill him in a duel, if not this time, then next time. As a result, the duel continues. Pechorin shoots and kills Grushnitsky, who falls into the abyss. The seconds disguise the fact of the duel as a murder by the Circassians.
At home, Pechorin receives two notes. One is from Werner, who reports that there are no suspicions against Gregory, but he himself breaks off all relations with him. The second note from Vera, which briefly stated that she was leaving with her husband forever. Having learned about the fight, Vera understands everything and is afraid that suspicions of treason will fall on her. To avoid rumors, she herself confesses everything to her husband, and he angrily insults her with a “bad word” and in a hurry takes her away forever. Grigory rushes after Vera's carriage, but cannot catch up, he only drives his horse to death. He sobs on the road, because he understands that he will never see his love again.
Meanwhile, rumors of a duel spread throughout Pyatigorsk. To avoid accusations, the authorities assign Pechorin a new duty station, he must leave. Grigory goes to the Ligovskys to say goodbye, but the farewell turns out strange and crumpled. He again humiliates poor Mary, who essentially offers him her hand and heart. Mama also talks to Pechorin and offers him very favorable marriage conditions, but he still refuses. The Ligovskys are angry because their daughter’s honor and integrity are under threat.
Moreover, Pechorin talks to Mary alone, and in a specially harsh and rude form tells her everything that he planned, reveals all the cards of his vile and cold game. He deliberately says this so that she will despise him, and he succeeds.
Then he leaves.
