The concept of “superfluous man” began to appear in Russian literature in the 19th century. It refers to a man who often possesses a superior intellect, which leads him to feel misunderstood and victimized in a society that does not give him the opportunity to realize his abilities. These men are superfluous because they are extra people in society, people who cannot find their place and close in on themselves. Scholars speculate that the authors wrote about the superfluous man to represent the struggle between Russian progressive thinkers and their oppressive government. While this may be true, the superfluous man has key characteristics that are significant to analyze to understand his character type. Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time, Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych, and Turgenev's Fathers and Sons are novels about superfluous men called Pechorin, Ivan, and Bazarov respectively, who all experience conflict in their love lives. The source of this conflict, whether lack of fulfillment, lust for power, frustration with misunderstanding, or repressed passion, sheds light on the inner turmoil that characterizes superfluous men. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Lack of contentment is characteristic of the superfluous man; he has many ambitions that are crushed by society and fails to realize his potential. Pechorin's relationship with Princess Mary is conflictual due to the feeling of dissatisfaction he constantly experiences. Pechorin pursues the princess but begins to withdraw when he wins her love because she does not satisfy him. Speculating about this in his diary, Pechorin writes: “I am no longer capable of losing my head in love. Ambition has been crushed in me by circumstances…”[1] When he says that he cannot lose his head in love, he means that he does not derive satisfaction from his love affairs. The reason for this is that Pechorin blames society for his feelings of disappointment and projects this disappointment onto those around him. If everyone around him is disappointing and mediocre, he will eventually see all women this way, no matter who they are. In a conversation with his friend Grushnitsky he says: "The princess, I guess, is one of those women who want to have fun, and two boring minutes with you ends you forever."[2] He generalizes by saying that it is the same as all the other women, just another common product of society, and uses her intellect and intuition about human nature to manipulate her. So why, then, does Pechorin pursue Princess Mary? He writes in his diary that he aspires to power over others: “to inspire in others love, devotion, fear – is this not the first symptom and supreme triumph of power?”[3] This desire for power is characteristic of the superfluous man because it is a reaction to feeling dissatisfied. By nature, when you feel a void you try to fill it with something. In the context of Imperial Russia, power is the greatest thing a man can have. The superfluous man then inexhaustibly chases power, believing that it will fill his void. Since power can only realize a person temporarily, the superfluous man's desire for it is insatiable; becomes power hungry. Power for these men can come from many sources, such as acceptance into society through a high-ranking job, or the love and acceptance of a woman, as in the case of Lermontov. Lermontov recognized that this kind of power is only an illusion, describing it as “food to support [his] spiritual powers.”[4]Tolstoy's superfluous man, Ivan Ilyich, is comparable to Pechorin. Ivan Ilych's relationship with his wife Praskovya suffers because ihis internal conflicts. Just as Pechorin desires power, society pushes Ivan to desire it too. Instead of seeking power over a woman, Ivan strives to rise in society's ranks because he believes this will make him satisfied. His main problems arise when his "official duties", as he calls them, no longer concern only work but also the maintenance of his marriage and family. After a year of marriage, Ivan realized that “[marriage] is in fact a very intricate and difficult matter towards which, in order to fulfill one's duty, that is, lead a dignified life approved by society, one must adopt a specific attitude like this as towards one's official duties".[5] When Ivan's duties, his job, and his marriage go remarkably well, Ivan is satisfied. It is when he becomes ill and is no longer able to perform them that he fully assumes the psychological state of the superfluous man. Ivan feels like a victim of society due to the nature of his illness; an accident in which he fell and hit his side cost him his life. His opportunities to fulfill his role as a member of the court are then taken away from him and he becomes disillusioned with society. Because his work and marital duties are intertwined, Ivan simultaneously becomes disappointed in his wife. As he lay sick in bed, he heard his wife and daughter singing in another room and exclaimed: “It's the same with them, but they will die too! Fools! Me first and them later, but for them it will be the same. And now they are happy... the beasts!”[6] Hearing them enjoy life alienates Ivan because he can only see life as unfair and unpleasant. His wife also takes on these qualities when she doesn't bother to understand the full extent of his illness and blames him for not being cured.[7] As he gets closer to death, Ivan progresses further into the superfluous type. He begins to question the decisions he has made in his life: “it occurred to him…those barely perceptible impulses which he had immediately repressed, might have been the real thing, and everything else false. And his professional duties and the whole organization of his life and his family, and all his social and official interests, may all have been false.”[8] Ivan wonders whether marriage and all his other duties did not they are just constructions of society, but not how life should really be lived. From the introspection of Ivan and Pechorin it is clear that the superfluous man is very self-aware. In Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, Bazarov's relationship with Anna Odinsteva reveals the mentality of a superfluous man who rejected society and isolated himself by choice. Bazarov is a nihilist and a man of science, therefore he rejects all romantic ideals and even reduces emotions to the interactions of the nervous system. His hardened emotions and rigorous scientific outlook make him an outlier in society, and he chooses to isolate himself so he can live in harmony with his ideologies. This conscious effort at isolation manifests itself in his relationship with Anna. Talking to Anna, “he expressed even more strongly than before his reckless contempt for everything romantic; but when he was left alone he indignantly recognized the romantic in himself.”[9] Bazarov experiences cognitive dissonance; his mind tells him he believes in science, but his passion for Anna overwhelms all logical thought. A romantic relationship would contradict his nihilistic beliefs, so he struggles to suppress the passions that arise within him. Although Bazarov ultimately gives in to his passions, he is rejected and then dismisses the fact as a misunderstanding. This is another attempt to suppress a real inner feeling, but this time even Bazarov knows that he is fooling himself. His relationship with.