In Mikhail Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time, the author highlights the irony surrounding various characters with Pechorin taking center stage. The portrayal of Pechorin is seen in the book as an exemplary Byronic anti-hero and Lermontov describes him as a typical man of his era. The author creates a hero who is both cynical and intelligent, honest but violent, not alive in the absolute sense of this world, but also not yet dead, at least not physically. In other words, Pechorin is a complex character full of contradictions. Yet it is precisely with these contradictions that he appears as a human being whose life is a struggle for meaning. Pechorin is a very existential character. He understands his life as a senseless event. He wants to love women, but he has spent his life without respecting them, only taking love from them and never giving anything in return. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAt one stage of the book, Pechorin clearly states that he does not know what he lives for, and this feeling of uselessness is a source of his personal inner melancholy. Pechorin is doomed to die from the beginning because living a life of sensual pleasure and cynical self-reflection never actually experiencing a feeling of real oneness with anyone, and not knowing his true purpose, no matter how smart and intelligent he was, the life of Pechorin aims for death at the highest possible pace. In one particularly interesting passage, he speaks of himself in the following way: "So what? If I die, I die. It will be no great loss to the world, and I am thoroughly bored with life. I am like a man yawning at the ball; the only reason why he doesn't go home to bed is because his carriage hasn't arrived yet" (Lermontov, 36). This phrase by Pechorin shows two critical aspects of his complex character. First, he comes to a point in his life where he considers death as his only solution to life's problems, and this desperation only further kills his inner light of true humanity, sensitive love, and the spiritual power of soul. Secondly, it is said that Pechorin mistakenly understood life as an entertainment and exciting event, comparing it to dancing. This attitude towards life is why he has lived much of his life wrongly, becoming indifferent to the best that life can give, and never truly managing to give anything in return. Pechorin himself exhausted his life by spending it in a senseless pursuit of pleasure and sensual satisfaction. For him, women were entertainment, as all life they were treated by him without true respect. Pechorin began to understand all this as he approached his death, which he predicts and feels closer to the end of the story. He chooses death as the only thing that can cure him of a useless life and a tasteless existence. This mistake brings despair to Pechorin's life as he no longer thinks he can win a battle against himself. Pechorin himself devalued his life, spending it on appropriate things. When he chases Vera on horseback but then gives up, it is his feeling of existential tiredness that stops him as he no longer has the power to live being only illusively very intelligent, but incapable of loving with true love and a partnership between a man and woman : "I saw how vain and senseless it was to pursue lost happiness. What more did I want? To see it again? For what" (Lermontov, 42)? Pechorin understands that he does not deserve Vera and may be the reason for her suffering, although she understands this quite well. He doesn't want to use Vera as a beautiful woman without giving her back what she deserves: mutual love