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The novel in verse by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" is perhaps the most famous work of the writer, one of the key components of his work. The novel raises the eternal problems of love and fidelity, the search for the meaning of life, the conflict between romantic ideas and harsh reality. "Eugene Onegin" is also a reflection of the era that preceded the Decembrist uprising, it shows the characters and thoughts of people from the high society of those times.
The writing:
"Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is the pinnacle of the writer's work. This novel in verse, which the poet composed for eight years, from 1823 to 1831, took a central place among Pushkin's writings. Onegin not only reflected the colors of the turbulent era of the early 20s of the 19th century, it also traces the creative evolution of the writer. In his immortal novel, Pushkin draws images of the bright heroes of the era between the Patriotic War and the Decembrist uprising, gives the reader an idea of their characters, emotional experiences.
The protagonist of the novel, a young man from high society named Eugene Onegin, is presented to the reader by the author as a "young rake", born in the capital, "on the banks of the Neva". Pushkin depicts Onegin as a complex figure, the author feels a certain sympathy for his hero, at the same time, in describing his life and character, Pushkin constantly resorts to irony. Onegin is portrayed as a secular "dandy" who knew only two verses from the Aeneid, and even then "not without sin." His talents are rather meager, and his knowledge is mostly superficial, while Eugene does not hesitate to demonstrate in society his supposed deep knowledge and intellectual merits: silence in an important dispute ... "
In life, Onegin is a loafer who is not given intellectual efforts, "hard work was sickening to him." In the soul of a young man there is an intellectual void, which he briefly tries to fill by reading books in order to “appropriate for himself the mind of another”. And yet, even with such bad abilities and character traits, Eugene is not alien to romance, in the course of the novel he is inclined to look for himself, to doubt the correctness of his life.
Another key character in the novel is Tatyana from the provincial noble Larin family. Living in the world of romantic French novels and believing in true great love, Tatyana sincerely falls in love with Eugene and writes him a poignant letter, but Onegin himself reacts very coldly to sincere manifestations of love from a young girl. He has not tolerated “tragi-nervous phenomena, girlish fainting, tears” for a long time, and therefore, instead of showing reciprocity towards Tatyana, Onegin decides to take revenge on her in a peculiar way, flirting with her sister Olga, which infuriates the poet Lensky, who is in love with Olga. Recently arrived from Germany, young and energetic, full of bright thoughts and desperate aspirations, the rather quick-tempered poet Vladimir Lensky is the embodiment of the young romantic and idealist of that time. His fate turns out to be tragic - he dies in a duel with Onegin.
Eugene Onegin strives to get away from his idle and meaningless life, he is bored in the village in which he was forced to settle and from which he runs away as a result. Traveling around the Caucasus, having visited Odessa, Onegin nevertheless returns to St. Petersburg, where he meets Tatiana completely different, greatly changed and no longer showing former tender feelings for Eugene. In the absence of Yevgeny, Tatyana wondered if he really was what she imagined him to be, “isn’t he a parody”? Now, having married and becoming a secular lady, an “impregnable goddess,” she can no longer be for Eugene that naive girl, driven mad by love for him. The heroes seem to change places: the detached Tatyana resolutely rejects Yevgeny and leaves him alone, broken, as if struck by thunder.
"Eugene Onegin" is a novel about unrequited love, which raises the problems of sincerity of feelings, fidelity in love and in life. The rejected and broken Onegin is like a sentence to that insidious and selfish "young rake" who failed to find the meaning of his life, who does not have to break the dreams and hopes of others. But the author does not dare to completely destroy Eugene, he leaves him alone with himself. Who knows how this secular egoist will change at a time when the whole country is on the verge of great unrest? The reader can only guess what awaits Onegin and Tatyana on the eve of the Decembrist uprising.
Even more essays on the topic: "Eugene Onegin":
The novel "Eugene Onegin" occupies a central place in the work of A. S. Pushkin. It is a real treasure of classical Russian literature, a truly world-class work.
This novel uniquely and in all facets reflects the special poetic talent of the author. It is difficult to determine the main idea, the main idea of "Eugene Onegin". The novel does not belong to those works in which the author, either on his own behalf or through the mouth of one of the characters, expresses his idea, and the content of the work, all its action must confirm the correctness of this idea, convincingly reveal it and expand it in all details. On the other hand, "Eugene Onegin" is not similar to such works in which the characters are chosen and characterized in such a way, events develop in such a way that for an attentive reader, the thought, the idea of the author itself, as it were, follows from the content.
When reading the novel, one gets the impression that the author did not want to prove anything and had no clear idea. But in reality, Pushkin showed a variety of pictures of Russian life at the beginning of the 19th century, painted the types of representatives of the noble society characteristic of that era.
The author portrayed reality exactly as it was at that time, in all its vital truth, without selecting anything on purpose and without deliberately condensing any events. But if you look closely, it becomes clear that life is arranged incorrectly. With such an arrangement of life, only mediocre people, whose interests are petty and limited, can be happy. For example, the father of Tatyana and Olga and other village neighbors of Eugene Onegin spend their lives quietly, in food and drink, empty talk and petty chores. They are satisfied with themselves, do not strive for anything, they do not even read books, considering them to be “an empty toy”. Such is Olga, who quickly forgot the groom who died in a duel. So is her mother. She was married to an unloved person, she resigned herself, took up housekeeping, and soon even began to enjoy such a life.
People with high demands on themselves and those around them, who feel subtly and strongly, are unhappy in this life. They either perish, like Lensky, or continue to live with a devastated soul, like Onegin and Tatyana. Wealth and high position in society, inherited by them, do not make life easier and do not bring satisfaction. They are not accustomed to work to achieve some lofty goal, and their character traits, upbringing and position prevent them from arranging their personal happiness. The realization of mistakes comes to them too late. Onegin thought that freedom and peace were a substitute for happiness, but he was wrong. Tatyana understands that she acted recklessly, rushing to marry an unloved person, because "happiness was so close ...".
But all these mistakes cannot be blamed only on the heroes themselves. Wednesday made them that way. The environment that surrounded them from birth shaped their characters, developed a certain type of behavior. It was the environment, says Pushkin, that made these beautiful, intelligent and noble people unhappy in essence and in their inclinations.
The author seeks to show the feudal system, in which the norm is excessive peasant labor and idleness of the feudal landlords. Such a norm cripples both peasants and nobles, landowners, even the best and most humane of them. This sad conviction in the abnormality of the way of life, in the impossibility of real happiness, in the fact that there are no noble honest people in the noble society surrounding the poet, is also reflected in lyrical digressions:
Who lived and thought, he cannot
Don't despise people in your heart...
... That serpent of memories, that repentance gnaws.
Destroy all prejudices
We honor all zeros,
And units - themselves ...
He is bitterly aware of this, but betrayal can be expected even from decent people who, “without any malice and undertakings,” can repeat a rumor or gossip “a hundredfold mistake.”
The most capacious description of secular society is given by Pushkin at the end of the sixth chapter, where he depicts the environment that so distorts and hardens even the purest and noblest soul. He concludes that only a high poetic gift - "young inspiration" - can save a person brought up by this environment and rotating in it from spiritual decay.
These sad and bitter thoughts about the grave troubles of the entire modern life system are most fully expressed by Pushkin in the last sad lines of the novel, where the poet envies people who left life early with its sorrows:
Blessed is he who celebrates life early
Left without drinking to the bottom
Glasses of full wine
Who has not finished reading her novel
And suddenly he knew how to part with him,
As I am with my Onegin.
However, the author does not offer to give up and be sad about the impossibility of happiness. There are many bright pictures in his work, beauty in the depiction of life and nature; many good, honest and lofty feelings, experiences and deeds are depicted; at the same time, all the social reasons for the troubles in the life of the heroes of the novel are realistically indicated, all the circumstances that created the characters of the characters and predetermined their fate.
Source: vsekratko.ru
A.S. Pushkin very long and persistently worked on his novel "Eugene Onegin". It can be said that this is his long-term work. The novel was something special for him. Pushkin was a genius, his works were not indifferent to people. He gave a lot to mankind, his works and Pushkin's personality will never be forgotten.
In his novel, he described the protagonist Onegin as a person who cannot find his own meaning in life. He was fed up with the empty life he led. Balls, theaters, restaurants, he was terribly tired of all this. Onegin was disappointed in his life, fell into depression, even tried to write, but nothing came of it. He aspired to something higher, many would be satisfied with the life that Onegin had.
Having left for the village, he enjoys the beauty of nature, but this also bothers him. Having met Lensky, he becomes attached to him. They were different, but complemented each other perfectly. But Onegin's bad joke led to a duel with Lensky. He wanted to refuse the duel, but he was afraid of ridicule in his address. One bullet decided the fate of Lensky, who dreamed of a happy family, but this did not happen, he died at the hands of his own friend. Onegin never thought that his actions were selfish. He rejected a passionate letter from Tatyana, after which he regretted his actions.
He can be described as a suffering egoist who, looking for his own meaning of life, harms the people around him. For him it was a game, but friendship and love do not tolerate such an attitude towards themselves. He did not know the measure in his actions, sometimes he went too far. Lensky considered Onegin his friend, but was he Lensky's friend? Or he again decided to get rid of his boredom in this way. He must answer this question for himself. For he will never be able to find his way of life without Lensky and Tatyana.
Having lost everyone he could, he is left alone with himself. Having lost all respect for himself, he suffered alone, he lacked the person who would help him in this difficult time. Onegin brought himself to such a state. I would not condemn him, he got his own, there is nothing worse than being alone in this big and cruel world.
Why am I not wounded by a bullet in the chest,
Why am I not a frail old man,
How is this poor farmer?
I'm young, life is quite strong,
What should I expect? Longing, longing...
These words show his condition and how unhappy he was. He lost hope for a light at the end of the tunnel. After all the events that happened to him, I think that he has changed as a person. He became a more mature person who realizes what he needs from this life. He realized that Tatyana is the one he loves, but he realized this too late. Tatyana was already married, she had a family and children. She acted very boldly, rejecting Onegin's declaration of love, as he had done with her earlier. This event shows that Onegin has already matured as a person, he is no longer the guy who does not know what he needs from this life, except for entertainment. Onegin is a man of moods.
He is capable of various actions, including stupid ones, which he himself sometimes regretted. Onegin was a very talented person, but in order to reveal his talent, you also need a desire. But he never reached his potential. What is soon bored, will soon teach, so the folk proverb said. The result of his life is sad:
Killing a friend in a duel
Having lived without a goal, without labor
Until the age of twenty-six
Languishing in idle leisure
No service, no wife, no business,
Couldn't do anything.
Not everyone deserves to be alone. Happiness must be achieved and earned. It doesn't fall from the sky. The life of every person is like a movie and you are the main actor in it, where tragedies and happiness happen, but everywhere there is a lesson. The novel "Eugene Onegin" should show that it is much easier to sink to the very bottom of life than to rise and feel like a happy person again.
Source: www.sochinyalka.ru
The novel by A. S. Pushkin is a unique work in Russian literature. As it should be in a novel, it has main and secondary characters, their background is given, their feelings and actions are described, but the main thing that distinguishes the work from the general series, elevates it above it, is the brilliant verses that the author speaks with.
"Eugene Onegin", representing an unparalleled "novel in verse", combines two types of literature: lyrical and epic. Therefore, next to the heroes of the work, the reader constantly feels the presence of the author, empathizing with his characters, explaining their characters and actions, directly addressing the reader and challenging him to argue, discussing a variety of topics ... Pushkin even displays the figure of the author on the pages of the novel as one of the heroes - a friend of Onegin in St. Petersburg.
Let us consider in more detail how the author and the hero appear before the readers on the pages of the novel "Eugene Onegin". Probably, first of all, it should be said that both the author and the hero are not static from the first to the last page of the work. Recall that A. S. Pushkin created the novel for seven years, the author changed, matured, his talent gained strength.
Along with the author, his hero also changes. Pushkin began writing "Eugene Onegin" as a very young man, while in southern exile, and finished the work in the famous Boldinskaya autumn, after the Decembrist uprising, having lost many friends, becoming a famous poet throughout reading Russia. So is the protagonist of the novel, Onegin: if in the first chapter we have a “rake”, “dandy”, a bored representative of the “golden youth” of St. duel murder, realizing that he lived his best years in vain.
At the beginning of his novel, Pushkin diligently emphasizes the “difference” between himself and the hero, since in many ways they are really similar and the reader can assume that the author is hiding under the mask of Onegin: this is exactly what the tradition prescribed from the idol of romantics Byron, who endowed the heroes with their own thoughts and feelings .
In fact, both the author and Onegin are young people belonging to a secular society, who find pleasure in a brilliant but empty pastime: restaurants, theaters, balls. Adolescence flies by, and both of them feel disillusioned with secular entertainment. Pushkin describes to the reader his meetings with Onegin during this period:
I was embittered, he is sullen;
We both knew the passion game;
The life tormented both of us;
In both hearts, the heat faded away ...
On white nights in St. Petersburg, the author and his hero walked along the embankments, recalled their youth, argued, thought, were going to go on a trip abroad together, but fate decreed otherwise: Pushkin ended up in southern exile, Onegin in the countryside. Despite the obvious outward similarity of the characters of the author and the hero, Pushkin and Onegin cannot be compared seriously. And not only because Onegin is the creation of a poet, the fruit of his fiction. Recall how Onegin tried to fight boredom: he tried to read and engage in literary creativity. However, he didn't succeed. Pushkin is, first of all, a brilliant poet, a man for whom literature is the main component of life.
The attitude of the author and the hero towards nature, village life is directly opposite: Flowers, love, village, idleness, Fields! I am devoted to you with my soul, - this is how Pushkin exclaims, describing the “charming corner” where “Onegin was bored”, having inherited the estate from his uncle. Rural solitude always evoked a surge of creative energy in Pushkin: he creates his best things in Mikhailovsky and Boldin.
The author goes hand in hand with the hero through the whole novel. He defends him from accusations of coldness when Onegin lectures Tatyana in response to her declaration of love. Pushkin shows that the main character is "smitten" by the death of Lensky, cannot find a place for himself, and sets off to travel. When secular society laughs at Onegin’s disappointment, considering it only a fashionable mask, Pushkin angrily stigmatizes the soulless world, and the reader understands that Onegin’s “spleen” is not a tribute to fashion, but the sincere feelings of an intelligent and noble person who did not find a worthy application for his strength and abilities.
Thanks to Pushkin's brilliant poems, the image of the "suffering egoist" Onegin is immortalized in world literature, and the unsurpassed "novel in verse" gives us the opportunity to hear the voice of the great poet.
Analysis of the novel "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin - theme, idea, genre, problems, main characters, plot and composition.
"Eugene Onegin" Pushkin analysis
A. Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" is the first realistic novel not only in Russian, but also in world literature.
Year of writing: 1823-1831
Genre- a socio-psychological novel in verse.
Topic- depiction of Russian life in the first quarter of the 19th century
Main characters: Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larina, Olga Larina
Composition: built "mirror": Tatyana's letter - Onegin's answer - Onegin's letter - Tatyana's answer.
The main conflict of the novel: the conflict of two life philosophies, the conflict of man and society, the conflict of man and the environment.
Problems of "Eugene Onegin"
Man against the background of the era, time, the meaning of its existence on earth.
— The problem of education and upbringing; — Literary creativity;
- fidelity in married life; - Human relationships;
- Love; - Family relations.
"Eugene Onegin" plot
The novel begins with the lamentations of the young nobleman Eugene Onegin about his uncle's illness, which forced Eugene to leave St. Petersburg and go to the patient's bed to say goodbye to him. Having marked the plot in this way, the author devotes the first chapter to the story of the origin, family, life of his hero before receiving news of the illness of a relative. The narration is conducted on behalf of an unnamed author, who introduced himself as a good friend of Onegin. Eugene was born "on the banks of the Neva", that is, in St. Petersburg, in a not the most successful noble family:
Onegin received an appropriate upbringing - first, having a governess Madame (not to be confused with a nanny), then a French tutor who did not bother his pupil with an abundance of classes. Pushkin emphasizes that Yevgeny's education and upbringing were typical for a person of his environment (a nobleman, who was taught by foreign teachers from childhood).
Onegin's life in St. Petersburg was full of love affairs and secular entertainment, but this constant series of amusements led the hero to the blues. Eugene leaves for his uncle in the village. Upon arrival, it turns out that the uncle has died, and Eugene has become his heir. Onegin settles in the village, but even here he is overcome by depression.
Onegin's neighbor turns out to be eighteen-year-old Vladimir Lensky, a romantic poet, who came from Germany. Lensky and Onegin converge. Lensky is in love with Olga Larina, the daughter of a local landowner. Her thoughtful sister Tatyana does not look like the always cheerful Olga. Olga is one year younger than her sister, she is outwardly beautiful, but Onegin is not interested:
Having met Onegin, Tatyana falls in love with him and writes him a letter. However, Onegin rejects her: he is not looking for a quiet family life. Lensky and Onegin are invited to the Larins for Tatyana's name day. Onegin is not happy about this invitation, but Lensky persuades him to go, promising that there will be no guests-neighbors. In fact, having arrived at the celebration, Onegin discovers a "huge feast", which angers him in earnest.
At a dinner at the Larins', Onegin, in order to make Lensky jealous, suddenly begins courting Olga. Lensky challenges him to a duel. The duel ends with the death of Lensky, and Onegin leaves the village.
In the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the novel "Eugene Onegin" occupies a special place. Pushkin wrote it for eight years: from 1823 to 1831. This time was very difficult in the history of Russia. The events of December 14, 1825 abruptly turned the history of the country, sent it in a different direction. There was a change of eras: work on the novel was begun under Alexander I, and continued and completed in the reign of Nicholas I, when all moral guidelines in society changed dramatically.
Before starting to analyze the novel, it is necessary to clearly understand the features of the genre of this work. The genre of "Eugene Onegin" is lyrical-epic. Consequently, the novel is built on the inextricable interaction of two plots: epic (where the main characters are Onegin and Tatyana) and lyrical (where the main character is the narrator). The lyrical plot in the novel dominates, since all the events of real life and the novel life of the characters are presented to the reader through the prism of the author's perception, the author's assessment.
The problems of the purpose and meaning of life are key, central in the novel, because at the turning points in history, which was the era for Russia after the December uprising, a cardinal reassessment of values takes place in the minds of people. And at such a time, the highest moral duty of the artist is to point society to eternal values, to give firm moral guidelines. The best people of the Pushkin, that is, the Decembrist generation, seem to be “leaving the game”: they are either disappointed in the old ideals, or they do not have the opportunity to fight for them in the new conditions, to put them into practice. The next generation, the one that Lermontov would call "a gloomy crowd and soon forgotten," was initially "brought to its knees." Due to the peculiarities of the genre, the novel reflects the very process of reassessment of all moral values. Time in the novel flows in such a way that we see the characters in dynamics, we trace their spiritual path. All the main characters before our eyes are going through a period of formation, painfully searching for the truth, determining their place in the world, the purpose of their existence.
The search for the meaning of life takes place in different planes of existence. The plot of the novel is based on the love of the main characters. Therefore, the manifestation of the essence of a person in the choice of a lover, in the nature of feelings is the most important feature of the image, which determines his whole attitude to life. Lyrical digressions reflect the changes in the author's feelings, his ability to both light flirtation (characteristic of "windy youth"), and true deep admiration for his beloved.
In home life we see one
A series of boring pictures...
The spouse is perceived as an object for ridicule:
... majestic cuckold,
Always happy with myself
With my dinner and my wife.
But it is necessary to pay attention to the opposition of these verses and the lines of "Fragments from Onegin's Journey":
My ideal now is the hostess,
My desire is peace...
What in youth seemed to be a sign of limitation, spiritual and mental poverty, in mature years turns out to be the only correct, moral path. And in no case can the author be suspected of hypocrisy: we are talking about maturity, about the spiritual maturation of a person, about a normal change in value criteria:
Blessed is he who was young from his youth,
Blessed is he who has matured in time.
After all, the tragedy of the main characters also stems from Onegin’s inability to “ripen in time”, due to the premature old age of the soul:
I thought: liberty and peace
replacement for happiness. My God!
How wrong I was, how punished.
Love for the author and for his heroine Tatyana Larina is a huge, intense spiritual work. For Lensky, this is a necessary romantic attribute, which is why he chooses Olga, devoid of individuality, in whom all the typical features of the heroine of sentimental novels have merged. For Onegin, love is "the science of tender passion." He will know the true feeling by the end of the novel, when the experience of suffering comes.
Human consciousness, the system of life values, as you know, are largely formed by the moral laws adopted in society. The author himself evaluates the influence of high society ambiguously. The 1st chapter gives a sharply satirical image of the world. The tragic 6th chapter ends with a lyrical digression: the author's reflections on the age limit that he is preparing to step over. And he calls on "young inspiration" to save the poet's soul from death, to prevent
...petrify
In the deadly ecstasy of light,
In this pool, where I am with you
Swim, dear friends!
Society is heterogeneous. It depends on the person himself whether he will accept the moral laws of the cowardly majority or the best representatives of the world.
The image of "dear friends" surrounding a person in a "dead" "pool of light" does not appear in the novel by chance. Just as “the science of tender passion” has become a caricature of true love, so secular friendship has become a caricature of true friendship. “There is nothing to do, friends” - such is the verdict of the author. Friendship without a deep spiritual community is only a temporary empty union. A full-fledged life is not possible without disinterested self-giving in friendship - that is why these “secular” friendships are so terrible for the author. For the author, the inability to make friends is a terrible sign of the moral degradation of modern society.
The author himself finds the meaning of life in the fulfillment of his destiny. The whole novel is full of deep reflections on art. The image of the author in this sense is unambiguous: he is first of all a poet, his life is unthinkable outside of creativity, outside of intense spiritual work. In this he is directly opposed to Eugene. And not at all because he does not plow and sow before our eyes. He has no need for work. And the education of Onegin, and his attempts to immerse himself in reading, and his effort to write (“yawning, took up the pen”) the author perceives ironically: “Hard work was sickening to him.”
Particularly important in "Eugene Onegin" is the problem of duty and happiness. In fact, Tatyana Larina is not a love heroine, she is a hero of conscience. Appearing on the pages of the novel as a 17-year-old provincial girl dreaming of happiness with her lover, she grows before our eyes into an amazingly integral heroine, for whom the concepts of honor and duty are above all. Olga, Lensky's fiancee, soon forgot the dead young man: "the young lancer captured her." For Tatiana, Lensky's death is a tragedy. She curses herself for continuing to love Onegin: "She must hate her brother's murderer in him." A heightened sense of duty dominates in the image of Tatyana. Happiness with Onegin is impossible for her: there is no happiness built on dishonor, on the misfortune of another person. Tatyana's choice is the highest moral choice, the meaning of life for her is in accordance with the highest moral criteria.
The climax of the plot is the 6th chapter, the duel between Onegin and Lensky. The value of life is tested by death. Onegin makes a tragic mistake. At this moment, the opposition of his understanding of honor and duty to the meaning that Tatyana puts into these words is especially vivid. For Onegin, the concept of "secular honor" turns out to be more significant than moral duty - and he pays a terrible price for the allowed shift in moral criteria: he is forever covered with the blood of a comrade he killed.
The author compares two possible paths of Lensky: the sublime and the mundane. And for him it is more important not what fate is more real - it is important that there will be none, because Lensky was killed. For the light that does not know the true meaning of life, human life itself is nothing.
The work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin on the work "Eugene Onegin" took place in a difficult period for Russia. The writing of the novel lasted eight years. During this time, one ruler of the state was replaced by another, society was in the process of rethinking key life values, the worldview of the author himself was changing. It follows from this that many important moral questions are raised in the work.
Firstly, Pushkin touched on the topic of searching for the meaning of people's existence. In the novel, we can observe the life of the characters in dynamics, the path of their spiritual development. Some heroes managed to find the truth, to recognize the right ideals, having gone through trials. Others have followed the wrong path, wrongly prioritizing but never realizing it.
The secular society of those times had its own laws. Young people did not seek to make existence meaningful. They were busy with the senseless spending of parental money, an idle lifestyle, balls and entertainment, gradually degrading, corrupting, becoming similar to each other. To earn recognition among others, it was enough to follow fashion trends, dance well, speak French, and be able to communicate gallantly. And that's it.
Secondly, the theme of the relationship to marriage can be traced in the work. At first, young people, including Onenin, are burdened by serious relationships, consider family life boring, unattractive, unpromising. So Eugene neglected the feelings of young Tatiana, choosing freedom, and not the love of a modest provincial.
Only as time passed did a stable relationship become desirable for the protagonist. He wanted, passionately desired peace, comfort, warmth, quiet family happiness, home life. However, the opportunities for this were irretrievably missed through his own fault. If Onegin "matured" in time, he could not only become happy himself, but also make the romantic Tatyana happy.
Thirdly, the theme of friendship is present in the novel. Secular young people are absolutely incapable of loyal and true friendships. All of them are just friends, they support communication “from nothing to do”. But it is pointless to expect help in a difficult situation, support, understanding from them. So Lensky and Onegin seemed to be good friends, but because of some stupidity, one killed the other.
Fourthly, Pushkin mentions the issue of duty and honor. Tatyana Larina fully reveals this topic. She was, like Eugene, of noble origin, received a superficial upbringing at home. However, the morals of the world did not affect her pure and innocent soul. She is madly in love with Onegin, but she puts her duty to her husband, albeit unloved, above all else. Even the passionate tirade of the hero did not persuade her to change her decision.
A society mired in lies, hypocrisy, erroneous guidelines cannot find the true meaning of life, and therefore does not appreciate it. Eugene placed secular honor above moral duty by killing a romantic friend. Such a shift in ideals looks absurd, but, alas, such is the harsh reality.
The novel has its own internal literary time, and it clearly correlates with real historical time. If we trace, focusing on the time of the novel, its events, linking them with the history of Russia, then we can make interesting observations about Pushkin's plan and its implementation. It is also interesting to compare some of the dates in the life of Pushkin and his hero in order to be convinced of the writer's intention to create a historically accurate portrait of a contemporary. At the same time, the author does not liken the hero to himself, preserving his individuality and personality, noting in the first chapter:
I'm always glad to see the difference
Between Onegin and me.
Pushkin's goal is to describe the type of young Russian nobleman of the first quarter of the 19th century. Therefore, some events coincide or are comparable in time. Onegin was born, according to researchers, in 1795, therefore, like Pushkin, he can be considered the same age as the 19th century. Onegin's childhood years are spent in St. Petersburg not far from the embankment of the Moika River and the Summer Garden, where the French teacher takes the boy for a walk. After graduating from the lyceum, Pushkin lived for some time in a house on the Moika, from the windows of which the Mikhailovsky Castle and the Summer Garden were visible. The cultural and domestic atmosphere of Onegin's growing up, his education are shown very accurately, for example, new trends in the education of young nobles and changes in education. Recall that the French tutor “slightly scolded” the ward for pranks or “taught him everything jokingly”, which speaks of the punishments that have become unpopular and the introduced manner of teaching children through the game.
The next stage of Onegin's life coincided with the victory in the war and the expulsion of Napoleon from Russia - Onegin enters the high society. The young hero plunges headlong into the “variegated” and “monotonous” carousel of secular amusements, the description of the days of his life is a historically accurate sketch of the pastime of young St. Petersburg nobles in 1819. Pushkin uses an expressive artistic technique, depicting the years of Onegin's secular life (1812-1819) as one day, within which, as in a kaleidoscope, the same brilliant and boring events replace each other.
Onegin's departure to the countryside took place in 1819 - in the public life of Russia this year was characterized by the intensification of the activities of secret political societies and the growth of tension in the state: the 1820s were coming - the time of the Decembrist movement, the uprising and the subsequent political reaction. The years of Onegin's stay in the village were for his generation a time of choice of political orientation and civic position. Therefore, Pushkin introduces the twenty-five-year-old skeptic Onegin and the eighteen-year-old romantic poet Lensky in the village, as if testing which of these heroes will be more in demand in modern Russia.
In 1820, according to the internal chronology of the novel, Onegin and Tatyana met, the theme of love arises in the work, and thus the historical theme of modern man is inextricably linked with the ability of his soul to love. In January 1821, in Epiphany frosts, a duel between Onegin and Lensky took place, the plot ties broke up, and Onegin left the village. Onegin's wanderings in Russia, which were not included in the final version of the novel, were supposed to show the situation in the country before the tragic event - the Decembrist uprising.
Onegin returns to Petersburg in the autumn of 1824. In April of the following year, the final explanation of Tatyana and Onegin takes place, after which the heroes part forever. It is significant that Pushkin brings the story to 1825, leaving the artistic rethinking of historical events for the future. This explains why Pushkin, after writing the novel, makes an attempt to supplement it with the brightest facts of our time and begins to write the so-called chapter ten, in which, judging by the remaining fragments, he plans to create a poetic history of Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century, however, for a number of reasons, including and censorship, destroys what is written.
The problems of the novel "Eugene Onegin"
The main themes of the novel are the image of modern man, the theme of love and the theme of Russia. Various formulations have been used to characterize Onegin's personality, but they far from exhaust the complexity of his personality. For example, Onegin is called a “suffering egoist”, the “premature old age of the soul” is noted in him, the author’s words about a modern hero are applied to him:
With his immoral soul
Selfish and dry
A dream betrayed immeasurably,
With his embittered mind,
Boiling in action empty.
This, of course, is a very true and subtle characterization of Onegin, however, one must also discern in the hero the desire for a full life and the opportunity to be reborn to it.
The relationship between Tatyana and Onegin determines the entire development of the plot, and the theme of love is certainly the main one in the novel. Perhaps Onegin's wanderings did not become a separate chapter, because the absence of the image of Tatyana in it would violate the integrity of the novel. By this, Pushkin seems to want to say that love knows no break, and therefore the plot of love cannot be stopped for a while. The love between Tatyana and Onegin should not be in doubt. Even after many years, refusing Onegin, Tatyana says:
I love you (why lie?),
But I am given to another;
And I will be faithful to him forever.
The theme of Russia unites St. Petersburg, Moscow and the countryside; metropolitan and local nobility; Russian nature. The main thing in the novel was the types of heroes, their characters - Pushkin displays the images of two young nobles, Onegin and Lensky, trying to find in them the prospect of further development of Russian society. The image of the local young lady, and later Princess Tatyana Larina, is the key to a healthy, moral feminine principle in the nation. Bonding the main themes in the novel was the theme of "Russian melancholy".
The theme of "Russian blues" in the novel "Eugene Onegin"
The theme of "Russian melancholy" appears in the novel in the first chapter, runs through the entire novel and has its own composition.
Let us recall the first chapter: Onegin lives, like all the younger generation of his time, in idleness and entertainment. It would seem that a young man should like such a fate, because he is rich, well received in society, easily achieves success with women. However, the epigraph to chapter one, taken by Pushkin from Vyazemsky's poem "The First Snow", indicates the main problem that the chapter is devoted to:
And he is in a hurry to live, and he is in a hurry to feel.
Pushkin, with the help of an epigraph, raises an important vital and moral question: does Onegin lead a healthy lifestyle, does his soul manage to get stronger amid the eternal haste and pursuit of pleasures? And as an answer to this question, a turn is planned in the plot of the novel: in the midst of pleasure and bliss, the hero experiences a terrible emptiness in his soul, apathy and disappointment.
Pushkin distinguishes between "English spleen" and "Russian melancholy", wanting to say by this that Onegin's ailment is of an exclusively national character. In other words, the "Russian melancholy" is an individual, social and national phenomenon, which at that time was subject to a significant part of the younger generation. In it, Pushkin sees the main problem of Russian society: “Russian melancholy” is the absence of the meaning and purpose of existence, the will to live. Of course, satiety with life influenced the appearance of the blues in Onegin, but this is not the main reason. One can believe in the sincerity of Onegin’s state, because it would seem that he has no reason to be disappointed: he will always be rich, since he is “the heir to all his relatives”, he is favorably received in society, being, according to the world, “smart and very nice", he is a "true genius" in love affairs.
The spleen struck Onegin so much that any attempt to overcome it ended in failure: he could not pour it out by writing, could not learn anything about it by reading books, and he was content only with melancholic walks and conversations with the author. Onegin did not free himself from the blues even after moving to the village. Pushkin introduces two situations of testing the hero: testing by friendship and testing by love. In an episode at Tatyana's name day, Onegin thoughtlessly offended a friend, cowardly accepted a challenge to a duel and shot Lensky. An illustration of the theme of "Russian melancholy" in the novel was the epigraph to chapter six, taken from the work of the Italian poet Petrarch: "Where the days are cloudy and short, a tribe will be born that does not hurt to die."
Meanwhile, this tragic outcome became the culmination of the theme of "Russian melancholy" in the novel, since the hero could not remain indifferent to the crime committed. The former indifference and apathy were replaced by anxiety and the impossibility of staying in one place for a long time and, as a result, leaving the village. The hero becomes a wanderer, thereby embodying the motive of wandering, which is so important in Russian literature. The denouement of the theme of "Russian melancholy" came in chapter eight, when Onegin's soul opened up to love, and he began to transform as a person, coming to life again.
Of course, Onegin's love came too late, and Tatyana's refusal is just and moral. Pushkin leaves Onegin alone, because now only the hero himself can choose his path.
