Gender Representation of Emotions in the Novel A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

Abstract

The article deals with emotions represented through images of the characters of M.Y. Lermontov’s novel A Hero of Our Time. The author consecutively analyzes elements of the text, in which emotions of male and female characters are nominated, directly expressed and described. The number of lexical units and text elements involved in the representation of a particular emotion is recorded in tables. The author found and described in detail representation of the following emotions: joy, sadness, surprise, anger, curiosity, contempt, disgust, shame, guilt, fear. The author comes to the conclusion that an androcentric emotional picture of the world is created in the novel A Hero of Our Time. The male characters represent a wider range of emotions, in greater quantity; use more expressive means in this picture of the world than the female characters. The author explains this by the fact that the writer, who created the novel, as well as the narrator characters in the text, is a man. In addition, representation of emotions is affected by a form of the narration (Pechorin’s diary) and a cultural context.