The article explores the notion of fear as an existential concept in M. Yu. Lermontov’s literary oeuvre. In many of the poet’s works, the characters, finding themselves in difficult limit situations, experience a wide range of emotions which Lermontov describe in detail using self-reflective approach. In analyzing the theme of fear featuring in Lermontov’s works as a socio-cultural concept, the author of the auricle describes each emotional state separately: fear of loneliness, fear of betrayal, a whole range of various strong emotions emerging in relation to fright and to the experience of horror. But the governing emotion in existential fear is a fear of Nothingness as an inevitable fate of every finite human self. The article describes a variety of ways to overcome fear and complex internal conflicts offered by Lermontov