The tragic hero Pechorin is examined from various perspectives in the five interconnected novellas. He does not hesitate to call himself evil and cannot understand why evil can possess such a strong allure. The reader of the diary, who falls under its spell just like the women who love him, senses that it is not the allure of evil, but rather the ever-present suffering from the unwillingness to suffer and to love that makes this man not repulsive, but rather deeply pitiable and fascinating at the same time.