Werner in “Princess Mary” by Lermontov as doctor and mate

The article examines the plot roles of Werner, one of the key characters in “Princess Mary”. The author seeks to find out how these roles determine the ways and forms of Werner’s participation in the plot events. A special analysis allows us to understand their importance for the development of action. The author examines in detail the roles of doctor and mate, which Werner performs in different episodes, and shows how these roles are combined in the significant situations of plot. Werner, as the author proves, is not just a doctor, that is, a character with a certain professional status, but a spa doctor. Pechorin involves Werner in an intrigue in order to use the doctor’s ability to find out and inform him about rumors and news circulating at the spa, as well as about patients he is interested in. The doctor’s violation of medical confidentiality when he shares information with Pechorin about the state of health and personal life of patients, testifies to his moral relativism. Werner appears in the story not only as a spa doctor, but also as a spa Mefistophele, reminiscent of the appearance and speech behavior of the hero of Goethe. The demonic connotations surrounding his figure correspond to the nickname given to him by the youth. The nickname sets him apart from the spa crowd, but does not equate to the spirit of denial. Pechorin notes Werner’s ability to high movements of the soul. The mutual sympathy of Pechorin and Werner, who became mates, is based not on emotional closeness and not on common interests, but on the consciousness of their own exclusiveness. Pechorin, following the universal romantic antithesis, ranks himself and Werner among the elect, opposed to the uninitiated crowd. However, manipulating everyone with whom he meets, Pechorin does not make an exception for Werner. In a comedy directed by Pechorin, Werner must play according to the rules he proposed. But her denouement is for Werner a sign of the exhaustion of mates relations. The roles of doctor and mate, as the author proves, narrow the boundaries of Werner’s personality, for whom ethical categories retain their absolute meaning.