“Challenging another man to a duel was not only considered a pinnacle of honor, but was a practice reserved for the upper-classes, those deemed by society to be true gentlemen.” (Hutchinson) Dueling has been around for centuries and has been used to protect a stain in one’s honor. Dueling, “a prearranged combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons according to an accepted code of procedure, especially to settle a private quarrel”(dictionary.com) , was extremely significant in the lives of all men because it was the primary way to defend one’s honor. A stain in one’s honor could only be washed with blood. Society believed a man without honor was not  a man at all. To these men, honor mattered more than life itself. Many men lost their lives to dueling. Including, author of A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Lermontov himself.

There are many reasons to duel another man, but there are rules you must follow. The only way a duel could happen is it the other man accepted the invitation to duel. If the man does not accept there is no way to decline without tarnishing their honor. A man could decline if he thought the opposer wasn’t a true gentleman, this was thought to be the worst insult to the challenger. The men had to come together and find a time and place to duel. They had good friends come with them called their “seconds”(hutchinson) to ensure that they have a secluded battle ground away from police and witnesses. Since dueling was illegal. Also the men were not supposed to show fear or it would also stain their honor. If the men moved from their mark the opposers second was allowed to shoot him on the spot. Dueling was only allowed by the noblemen.

Men duel because other men stain their honor with disrespectful things that they do. Some things that might stain ones honor is allowing another man to flirt with their wife or sister. Men took this very seriously and this almost always ended with bloodshed. Men very often fought for women. The woman would be single and two or more men would want to marry them so, if another man did something to stop them they would challenge them to a duel.  As stated before, Mikhail Lermontov dueled with a friend, Nikolai Martynov, because of a woman that they both wanted. Sadly, Lermontov lost the duel and his life. He died at the age of 27. Men dueled if people got too touchy or invaded their personal space. Being called a liar was the worst of all. Being called a liar automatically meant a duel was going to happen.

Dueling started many centuries ago as a “trial by combat” (La Vaque pp.718) and has since evolved. “Dueling is a form of proof. Trial by combat was the earliest western precursor to dueling. The idea was simple: Victory in an officially sanctioned fight simply was a legal vindication.” (La Vaque pp.718)  Dueling used to be a trial and the winner was not guilty. The man who dies is the guilty party. When Peter the Great westernized Russia, he opened the door to dueling. Dueling was introduced when Russian soldiers were in France and they saw the French men dueling. They thought this was ridiculous but then saw that dueling manages aggression because of all the rules that had to be followed. Because of these rules this also stopped big brawls from happening. The Russians saw that honor was the best thing to have and

they brought that back to Russia and that’s when dueling began. When dueling came to Russia, Peter the Great was not too happy about it. He said, “Hang them [those who participated in duels], whether they’re dead or alive.” (Yegorov, pp.1)  Although they barely did anything to those who participated in duels. Peter the Great says its because it wasn’t very common at the time. A very famous poet by the name of Alexander Pushkin lost his life to dueling. He had a very large career in dueling. It was said that he had faced 21 duelers before his final one. Almost all had been dealt with due to the second party resolving the problem with words. Sometimes the opposers apologized to one another, almost always they opposer apologized to Pushkin. This time Pushkin was fighting over his wife. It was rumored that another man was sleeping with his wife. Like any man in the 19th century would do, he challenged him to a duel. The man’s name was Georges-Charles d’Anthès. This was the man who ended the career in poetry and in dueling for a young Alexander Pushkin.

Authors started to introduce dueling in writing and used literary devices such as foreshadowing to bring the duel alive. They would start by making a small competition or rivalry between two men for a girl. Overtime the two men would grow to hate each other and would duel over the woman. Also authors would use imagery to help foreshadow something bad was going to happen such as dueling. For instance in A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Lermontov begins the story, Princess Mary, with the description of a very nice scenery. Then the princess emerges. Then later on when a duel is about to ensue, the clouds get dark and the weather starts to get bad. Authors use dueling to show how dramatic people were at the time. Characters would duel for almost anything.

Throughout the novel, Princess Mary, Mikhail Lermontov foreshadows dueling in Manys ways. The story of princess Mary begins when an older army soldier Pechorin meets one of his rivals who he doesn’t like, Grushnitsky. Now Pechorin is the narrator but he doesn’t speak in the past tense. While describing Grushnitsky he says “Grushnitsky’s  passion was to declaim.’ (Lermontov, pp.84) The “was” in the sentence means that Grushnitsky has died. But we don’t know how or why. Grushnitsky is in love with the princess and is trying to make a good impression. The doctor starts talking to Pechorin about the lies Grushnitsky is allowing her to believe. The doctor later says “The young princess said she was sure that the young man in the soldiers coat had been degraded to the ranks of a duel.” (Lermontov, pp.93) This foreshadows that Grushnitsky was killed in a duel because Pechorin brushes it off and allows the princess to think he fought in a duel. This shows that Pechorin is planning to at least take the Princess from Grushnitsky. But now we must try to figure out why and how he began to duel. Grushnitsky is a funny fella. While Grushnitsky was speaking to Pechorin about Princess Mary, he said. ” And this, indeed, is regrettable because [my] Mary is a very charming girl.” (Lermontov, 98) This foreshadows that maybe Pechorin flirts with Princess Mary and Grushnitsky challenges him to a duel and loses. Pechorin actually saves Princess Mary at a party from dancing with a drunk man. She starts wanting to talk to him and they become closer. While talking about Grushnitsky’s new rank with Grushnitsky still there, Pechorin says to princess Mary, “‘I disagree with you’, I replied. ‘In this uniform, he looks even more youthful.’” (Lermontov, pp.125) This enraged Grushnitsky because he wanted to look like an older man. He then finds out that Pechorin is going to dance with Mary. “Naturally… I should have expected this from a frivolous girl, from a flirt… But I’ll have my revenge!” (Lermantou, pp.126) He blames princess Mary and still wants revenge on Pechorin. This is probably how the duel comes to fruition. Later during the night, Pechorin jumped out of his window to see Mary. The captain of the Dragoons and Grushnitsky were waiting for him in a bush. They didn’t see him because it was very dark. The next day Grushnitsky was telling other men the story of the intruder. All the men pleading for him to say who it is. Grushnitsky replied, Pechorin. Pechorin flared with rage and demanded that Grushnitsky retract his statement because he knows what will inevitably have to happen. You see, Grushnitsky and the captain of the dragoons had been conspiring to embarrass Pechorin. The plan was to make Pechorin and Grushnitsky duel for a small problem, like the story of the intruder. So, the day of the duel comes and go over all the rules. Pechorin wants to add a rule. He says that the duelers will have to stay at the edge of a drop of 300 feet with sharp rocks at the edge. So, one small shot will be a fatal one. They agreed and the doctor then flipped a coin and Grushnitsky won the coin toss. Grushnitsky had to go first and so they took their place and Grushnitsky raised his pistol. He turned white as a ghost and couldn’t shoot. He couldn’t shoot an unarmed man. The captain of the dragoons yelled “coward!” (Lermontov, pp.153) Grushnitsky fired and grazed Pechorin’s knee. Pechorin pretended not to be hit and steps forward and tells the doctor to reload his gun. The captain of the dragoons is infuriated and says that it isn’t his fault because the bullet fell out of the gun. Pechorin gives Grushnitsky one more chance to retract his words and he answers shoot. He goes on talking and Pechorin fires and kills Grushnitsky. All in all, Lermontov foreshadows this moment throughout the whole story. With the use of

foreshadowing, the author makes the reader think back and see the irony of all that has happened with the princess and two men.

Throughout Princess Mary, it is shown that men didn’t want to kill each other. Like when Pechorin gave a bunch of chances to let Grushnitsky live. “There is still time: retract your slander and I shall forgive you everything. You did not succeed in fooling me, and my self esteem is satisfied. Remember, we were friends once…” (Lermontov, pp.154-155) This shows that Pechorin didn’t want to kill him but he did because Grushnitsky was too prideful to apologize.When honor is stained men will do anything to get it back, including spilling blood. Men practiced dueling because it was apart of their culture and to show that they were so prideful that they would throw everything away to show that they are victorious. Honor was the most important thing to these men and it showed that they cared more about honor than they did their own lives. Men would fight to the death to protect  their honor when other men would slander their name and flirt with their wives and sisters. Dueling was a better way to resolve an issue. Duels didn’t always end in men dying. A Lot of times the duelists second talked out the problem with the opposers second and the issue was resolved. If duels did not exist than a brawl would ensue and many more people would be injured or killed.

 

Works cited

.Https://www.dictionary.com/browse/duel

.Hutchinson, Chris. “Dueling History: An Affair of Honor.” The Art of Manliness, 3 Nov. 2018,

www.artofmanliness.com/articles/man-knowledge-an-affair-of-honor-the-duel/.

.LaVaque-Manty, Mika, and Mika Le Vaque-Manty. “Dueling for Equality: Masculine  Honor

and the   Modern Politics of Dignity.” Political Theory, vol. 34, no. 6, 2006, pp. 715–740.

JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20452507.

.“Princess Mary.” A Hero of Our Time, by M. I. U. Lermontov et al., Everyman’s Library, 1992,

1. 82–163

.Yegorov, Oleg. “Getting (No) Satisfaction: How Noblemen Used to Duel in the Russian

Empire.” Russia Beyond, Russia Beyond, 12 Dec 2017www.rbth.com/history/327002-duels-in-the-russian-empire.