Eugene Onegin - a young nobleman of the 10s - early 20s of the 19th century. He received an upbringing and education typical for people of his circle (lack of education - nothing Russian). Onegin is a child of "fun and luxury"; we have the opportunity to observe the atmosphere of his office, the circle of his reading, ways of spending time. Very soon Onegin realizes that the amusements of the “light” (to which he also belongs) are empty and meaningless. Onegin is smart, gifted by nature, but for some reason does not use his abilities in life. The author poses the question: why? Perhaps this is due to the qualities of his character: he is pessimistic, disappointed, prone to reflection (reflection, analysis) rather than action. Onegin is selfish. His relationship with the "light" is interesting: on the one hand, he despises the opinion of the world, on the other hand, he depends on it. Going to a duel with Lensky, Onegin finds himself a victim of secular prejudice; he is afraid that the opinion of the world will condemn him if the duel does not take place. The murder of a friend shook Onegin's soul, he felt desolation and loneliness. This state aroused in him a desire to change places, and he set off to travel around Russia. This is not typical for young people of the world - they usually traveled around Europe. After the journey, Onegin breaks with society. In addition, a moral upheaval takes place in Onegin, and he falls in love (a feeling that earlier, having thought soberly, he could not or did not want to allow himself). Tatyana's refusal is a shock to Onegin. After all the changes that have taken place in him, Onegin can no longer be different. But what exactly it will be - this question remains open. Eugene's future is unknown. There was a 10 chapter in which Onegin became a Decembrist, but Pushkin destroyed it.
The novel in verse by A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" is the first realistic work in Russia in the 19th century. Eugene Onegin is the central character of this novel.
In the first chapter, the author describes in detail the actions of a young man who lived for eight years in a scattered secular life in St. Petersburg. The hero is tired of monotony and variegation, complete inactivity: he “has completely cooled off towards life”, he was seized by the “Russian melancholy”. At this time, the poet met Onegin, “like him, lagging behind the hustle and bustle” of secular life. Such a remark makes us understand that the cooling of the hero to the high society is not a whim, but a certain pattern for outstanding personalities.
The premature old age of Onegin's soul is so deep that strong feelings have no power over him, he is not touched by beauty. Once in the village, the hero soon cools off to its beauties. Moreover, he remains indifferent to Tatyana's confessions.
The influence of the social environment on the formation of such traits of Onegin's character as disappointment in life, selfishness, individualism is shown in the first four chapters through a description of the hero's pastime in society. In the author's digression, following Onegin's sermon, Pushkin defends his hero. He explains Evgeny's egoism with social causes. The hero, although he is in conflict with the environment, cannot decisively, once and for all, break with Petersburg society.
In the sixth chapter, where Onegin's duel with Lensky is described, Pushkin shows the dependence of the behavior of a contemporary person on public opinion, on the mores of the environment with which the hero is connected by origin, upbringing, and way of life. Having accepted the challenge, Onegin considered himself wrong and even imagined how to calm Lensky and dispel his jealousy. But he acted in a completely different way, as his conscience and prudence prompted him to do. Onegin accepted the duel and thus played the role of an impeccable nobleman.
In his heart, the hero condemns himself, but does not find the courage to go against public opinion, even if it is created by such people as the former “head of the rake” and “the ataman of the gambling gang” Zaretsky. After all, he who refused the challenge is, from the point of view of the legislators of secular opinions, either a coward or a swindler, with whom decent people should have nothing in common. The author sympathizes with the mental anguish of Onegin, who became a victim of generally accepted morality.
The complex character of the hero is revealed not only through the peculiarities of his lifestyle, actions, but also through the perception of Tatyana, who is trying to unravel him. She reads books belonging to Onegin, who
For a long time I fell out of love with reading,
However, several creations
He excluded from disgrace:
Singer Giaur and Juan
Yes, with him two or three more novels,
In which the century is reflected
And modern man
Depicted pretty well
With his immoral soul
Selfish and dry
A dream betrayed immeasurably,
With his embittered mind,
Boiling in action empty.
Tatyana, in love with Onegin, caught the complexity and inconsistency of his character. What is more in it: good or evil? Is Onegin imitating the immoral heroes of novels, lonely individualists with an "embittered mind"? Is he just a caricature imitation of Byron's heroes? But Pushkin defends his hero. His spiritual alienation from the upper world is not a game, not a lord's whim, but a tragedy.
In the eighth chapter, called "The Journey" and later not included in the main text of the novel, the author took a new step in revealing the relationship of the hero with society. Onegin visits ancient Russian cities (Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, Novgorod the Great) and travels to the Caucasus. The contrast of the glorious historical past of these cities and their modern social stagnation causes melancholy in the hero.
Thus, in my opinion, Onegin belongs to the generation of outstanding representatives of the noble society. He began to overcome, under the influence of life experience (duel, journey), his selfish approach to people. At the end of the novel, the hero is excited by the meeting with Tatyana.
In his belated feeling, the lonely and suffering hero hopes for a rebirth to life. But Onegin is rejected by Tatyana. Behind him, like a train, the rumor stretches: “a murderer, but ... an honest man!” Involuntarily for himself, the hero now appears before the secular crowd as a person whose fate seems to be weighed down by something fatal.
A new socio-psychological type, represented in the image of Onegin, was only taking shape in Russian reality in the 1820s. He was unusual, unusual, not like a traditional hero. It took a lot of observation to discern him in the mass of the secular crowd, to comprehend his essence and place in life.
Features of the influence of the noble society on the fate of Eugene Onegin based on the novel by A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin".
The formation of the personality of Eugene Onegin and his subsequent actions are due to the influence of the noble society of the 19th century.
The main purpose of the article is to reveal the features of the character of Eugene Onegin, to show his spiritual evolution.
The subject of consideration and analysis in this work are the features of the influence of the noble society on the fate of Eugene Onegin based on the novel by A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". The question of the formation of a person's personality is one of the central ones in world literature. Over the seven years during which the novel was being created, much has changed in Russia and in Pushkin himself, and all the changes could not but be reflected in him. As L. Tolstoy said about the novel: "Amazing skill in two or three strokes to describe the features of life of that time."
The relevance of the research work lies in the fact that "Eugene Onegin" belongs to "eternally living and moving phenomena that continue to develop in the minds of society." Each new generation looks for its own motive and itself in it, measures it by “space”. The novel in verse assumed the variability of the reader's perception and encouraged him to co-create.
The innovation of the novel in verse was manifested, first of all, in the fact that Pushkin found a new type of problematic hero - the “hero of time”. Eugene Onegin became such a hero. His fate, his relationship with people is determined by the totality of the circumstances of modern reality, outstanding personal qualities and the range of "eternal", universal problems that he faced.
The appearance of Eugene Onegin was preceded by such an image as A. A. Chatsky (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov), after him was Pechorin (“A Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu. Lermontov), but there is a colossal difference between them. As V. G. Belinsky emphasized: "their dissimilarity among themselves is much less than the distance between Onega and Pechora." Also, the choice of the name of the hero was not accidental. Eugene means noble, and the surname Onegin indicates the literary character of the hero, since some surnames came from the names of places that a person owned, and it is impossible to own the Onega River.
In our research work, we put forward a hypothesis that the formation of the personality of Eugene Onegin and his subsequent actions are due to the influence of the noble society of the 19th century.
The main purpose of the work is to reveal the features of the character of Eugene Onegin, to show his spiritual evolution, for this we should answer the following questions:
1. How was the character of Eugene Onegin formed?
2. Has it changed over time?
3. If so, what were the circumstances, or who changed it?
4. What is the role of fate in the novel?
In this work, the following methods were used:
Complex text analysis.
Work with critical and reference literature.
Comparison method (comparative).
The study of literary articles.
The story of Onegin is the story of the rebirth of a hero who learns to live with feelings again. The novel touches upon many problems: the problems of the meaning of life, love and friendship, good and evil, relationships in society, the problem of finding a life path for noble youth, pressure on a person by public opinion, in this case, "high society".
Features of the life path of Eugene Onegin
Education and family
Eugene Onegin - the protagonist of the novel belongs to the best part of the noble youth of the XIX century. We get to know him when he goes to his dying uncle. Eugene is honest with himself, he is a hypocrite and does not deny this, and is even cynical at times:
What low deceit
Amuse the half-dead
Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!
His uncle was a stranger to him in every way. And what can be common between Onegin, who is already -
Equally yawned
Among fashionable and ancient halls, and between a respectable landowner who, in the wilderness of his village,
For forty years I quarreled with the housekeeper,
Looking out the window and squashing flies?
The initial formation of a person and his personality occurs in childhood, directly in the family. What do we know about Onegin's family? He had a father and an uncle.
Father: Serving excellently, nobly,
His father lived in debt
Gave three balls annually
And finally screwed up.
For a not too rich nobleman (father Eugene), who did not have daughters, three balls a year is an unjustified luxury. It is not surprising that Yevgeny's father has accumulated so many debts. But the fate of Eugene kept, and without regret he gave the inheritance to pay off his father's debts.
Yu. M. Lotman, in the comments on the novel “Eugene Onegin”, explains what it means to live in debt: “The theme of wealth turns out to be connected with the motive of ruin. Debts and interest on pledges, remortgaging already mortgaged estates were by no means only the poor or on the verge of collapse landowners . Moreover, it was precisely the small and medium-sized provincial landlords, who were less in need of money to buy luxury items and expensive imported goods and were content with “household supplies,” who were less likely to go into debt and resort to ruinous operations. One of the reasons for the general debt was the idea that "true noble" behavior is not just big spending, but spending beyond one's means.
But we don’t know much about the uncle, or rather, almost nothing, only that, perhaps, the uncle had the only heir, Eugene.
Eugene, hating litigation,
Satisfied with his lot,
Inheritance granted to them, (lender)
Big loss in not seeing
Ile foretelling from afar
The death of an old uncle.
The upbringing of Eugene took place in an atmosphere of constant fun and idleness. That is why the first characteristic of the hero is "a young rake." Why did he become one? In the explanatory dictionary of I.V. Dahl, we will see the following definition: a rake is a naughty, a varmint, a prankster, a frisky and often annoying prankster, an impolite, impudent naughty.
Eugene had two teachers: Madame, Monsieur l'Abbe. In his note “On Public Education,” Pushkin wrote: “In Russia in the 19th century, home education was the most inadequate and immoral; the child saw nothing but sad objects, was self-willed, did not receive any concepts of justice, of the mutual relations of people, of true honor. His upbringing was limited to the study of two or three foreign languages and the initial foundation of all the sciences taught by some hired teacher ”A typical figure in home education was a French tutor who rarely took his duties seriously:
Monsieur l'Abbe poor Frenchman,
So that the child is not exhausted,
Taught him everything jokingly
I did not bother with strict morality,
Slightly scolded for pranks
And he took me for a walk in the summer garden.
Pushkin also calls Onegin a pedant. A pedant is a strict and precise person, picky about trifles. But here again we sense the irony. Onegin seems smart in what he is completely ignorant of. He knew Latin, but it went out of fashion and was not included in the circle of secular noble education.
Relations with the world, success in it. One day in the life of Onegin
As we can judge from the first chapter, Onegin's relationship with the world developed quite successfully:
What do you want more? The world decided
That he is smart and very nice.
Why did society decide this? He knew French, knew how to dance the mazurka, and bowed unconstrainedly. All these are the main signs of a person from high society, distinguishing him from "strangers".
In these lines we see the superficial attitude of society towards the human soul. Light is not interested in the spiritual qualities of a person, only his position in society and wealth. Onegin feels like a stranger and superfluous, because he understands the worthlessness of society.
But Eugene's main talent was "the science of tender passion." He knew how to "seem new", to flatter, to "achieve" the girl he liked. But this science also disappointed him. The author gives us definitions of Russian melancholy, that is, disappointment in life. Onegin's "Russian melancholy" stems from the hero's critical attitude towards his circle. The author understands Onegin and sympathizes with him. Eugene himself is dissatisfied with society and this brings him closer to the author. Onegin's character was formed in certain social conditions, in a certain historical era. Consequently, Onegin is comprehended as a national-historical type of Russian life. His skepticism and disappointment are a reflection of the general malady of the “newest Russians”, which at the beginning of the 19th century engulfed a significant part of the noble intelligentsia. "Russian blues" is a lack of interest in life or premature old age of the soul. The image of a disappointed hero penetrated literature along with echoes of "Byronism" and, reflected in southern poems, caused criticism from the Decembrists. Muravyov-Apostol wrote to Yakushin: “Byron has done a lot of harm by introducing artificial disappointment into fashion, which cannot be deceived by someone who knows how to think. They imagine that they show their depth by boredom, so be it for England, but here, where there is so much to do, even if you live in the country, where it is always possible to alleviate the lot of the poor peasant, it is better to let them experience these attempts, and then talk about boredom." Despite the criticism of the Decembrists, Pushkin, while working on the first chapter, shared their views. As we can see, the main thing in the image of Onegin was the definition of the intellectual level of the hero. The difference in education and the depth of political interests determined the possibility of an ironic approach to the character, which, in turn, caused the “separation” of the hero from the author. Thus, the factor that forms the character is not the environment, but the consciousness of the hero.
Disappointment in life and in themselves is characteristic only of people who, desiring "a lot", are not satisfied with "nothing". Let us turn to the description (in Chapter VII) of Onegin's office: Eugene is shown here. Particularly striking is the exclusion from disgrace of two or three novels
In which the century is reflected
And modern man
Depicted quite right
With his immoral soul
Selfish and dry
A dream betrayed immeasurably,
With his embittered mind,
Boiling in action empty.
Onegin's life is filled with an atmosphere of endless fun and carelessness. His day is similar to Famusov's day from Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit":
Onegin's Day: Famusov's Day:
Three balls for the evening are called: On Tuesday I am called on trout
There will be a ball, there is a children's party. On Thursday I'm called to the funeral
Where will my prankster go?
Who will he start with? does not matter
The difference between Onegin and the world is that he cannot live in hypocrisy and lies. Most of the nobles accepted such a life, empty and idle, and did not yearn for it. The human significance of Onegin is that he was not satisfied with either his life or himself - and was not happy. His soul was waiting for other relationships than those on which society was based. The excellent inclinations of Onegin are suppressed by the social environment in which he lived and grew up. The image in the first chapter is based not on the social characteristics of the environment, but on the intellectual and political (the second is considered as a consequence of the first) assessment of the hero.
test of friendship
The change of scenery from the city to the village did not help him, he still misses, but he tries to occupy himself with something (he read books, tried to write, but the work was stubbornly sick to him). The hero's problem is not outside, but inside.
First conceived our Eugene
Procedure for establishing a new one:
Yarem he is an old corvee
I replaced the quitrent with a light one
Quit is considered a lighter form of serfdom.
That he is the most dangerous eccentric.
Our neighbor is ignorant, crazy;
Relations with the provincial nobles Onegin did not work out. Firstly, he violated a long-standing tradition: he replaced the corvée with dues. Secondly, he did not show respect for the landlords, as soon as the local nobles drove up to him, he immediately left the backyard.
Onegin was not interested in talking about haymaking, kennels, wine and relatives.
But after a while, a new landowner appears in the village - Vladimir Lensky. A friendship develops between the characters.
Western culture (Germany) defined the mood of Lensky's thoughts as romantic and far from Russian life, like Onegin, he meets the hostility of the landlord neighbors and is subjected to strict analysis. And Eugene treated Vladimir with indulgence, like a child, but Lensky's genuine sincerity surprised, amused and enlivened him. This difference brought them closer, and soon they became inseparable:
They agreed. Wave and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Not so different from each other.
First, mutual differences
They were boring to each other;
Then they liked it; after
Riding every day
And soon they became inseparable.
They became friends because everyone else was completely unsuitable for friendship, because each was bored in his village, having no serious occupation, no real business, because the life of both, in essence, was not filled with anything.
Lensky introduced Onegin to the Larin family (which we will talk about later) and persuaded him to go to Tatyana's name day, where Eugene courted Olga - Vladimir's beloved - there was a quarrel.
Duel
The duel is the culmination of the development of the main conflict in the hero's soul - dependence on public opinion and the inability to live according to these rules.
Lensky's ideas are biased towards the ideal. He looks at the world through the prism of age and literature. Lensky decided to "save" Olga, but from whom? From Eugene - a libertine, and Olga - an innocent victim. But she herself accepted the courtship of Eugene. Onegin, by virtue of his age, experience, could not make peace with Lensky or not give rise to a quarrel at all?
One of the reasons for the tragedy (Lensky's death) was Yevgeny's inability to live with feelings, not for nothing that the author, commenting on the state of the hero before the duel, notes:
He could find feelings
Don't bristle like a beast
And at Tatyana's name day and before the duel, Onegin showed himself to be a "ball of prejudice", deaf to the voice of his own heart, and to the feelings of Lensky. His behavior at the name day is ordinary secular anger, and the duel is the result of indifference and fear of the evil speaking of the “old duelist” - Zaretsky and neighbors. Onegin did not notice how he became a prisoner of the "old idol" - public opinion.
It should be noted that almost all the rules were violated during the duel: Onegin was late, his second was a servant, but Zaretsky, the “old duelist”, turned a blind eye to all these violations.
Onegin was seized by "anguish of heartfelt remorse." Only tragedy could open to him a previously inaccessible world of feelings:
Killing a friend in a duel
Having lived without a goal, without labor
Up to twenty six years old
The reality is sad and unfavorable if in people, even in mature ones, neither a share of naivety nor innocence is preserved, if doubt, unbelief, and lack of ideality dominate in society. Pushkin pities the poet who died early and appreciates in him "hot excitement", "noble aspiration", "cherished dreams", "thirst for knowledge", "fear of vice and shame".
Onegin survived only physically, morally he was broken. The prejudices of the environment, which he despised, turned out to be stronger than his sincere desires and chilled feelings.
love test
In relations with Tatyana Onegin proved himself to be a noble and mentally subtle person. Having received a letter from her, he behaved delicately. He immediately informs her that he does not share her feelings. But at the same time, he leaves her hope with his coquetry:
I love you brother love
And maybe even softer.
The meaning of Onegin's speech is that, unexpectedly for Tatyana, he behaved not like a literary hero ("savior" or "tempter"), but simply like a well-educated secular person who "acted very nicely with sad Tanya." Onegin behaved not according to the laws of literature, but according to the norms, according to the rules that guided a worthy person of Pushkin's circle in life. This discouraged the romantic heroine, who was ready for “happy dates” and “death”, but not for switching her feelings to the plane of decent secular behavior.
Onegin understands that Tatyana, sending him a letter, behaves like the heroine of a novel, however, the real everyday norms of behavior of a Russian noble lady of the early 19th century made such an act unthinkable: and the fact that she enters into correspondence with him, almost a stranger, without the knowledge of her mother, and the fact that she was the first to confess her love to him, made her deed located on the other side of decency. If Onegin had divulged the secret of the letter, Tatyana's reputation would have suffered irreparably. But he managed to discern in the “maiden in love” genuine and sincere feelings, live, and not bookish passions. Tatyana, trying to unravel Onegin, calls him either a "guardian angel", or "an insidious tempter."
“Onegin is not at all a monster, not a depraved person, although at the same time he is not at all a hero of virtue. Among the great merits of Pushkin is the fact that he brought both the monsters of vice and the heroes of virtue out of fashion, drawing simple people instead.
So, Eugene did not pass the test of love. He was not ready for the love that Tatyana gave him, he could not answer her with mutual feelings. The fact is that Onegin listened not to the voice of the heart, but to the voice of reason - and suppressed the excitement experienced at the sight of Tatyana.
Even in the 1st chapter, the author noted in the hero a "sharp, chilled mind" and an inability to have strong feelings. Onegin is a cold, sensible person. This spiritual disproportion became the cause of the drama of failed love. He does not believe in love and is unable to love. The meaning of love is exhausted for him only in the "science of tender passion" or "home circle", limiting the freedom of man.
The hero is by no means a victim of circumstances. By changing his lifestyle, he took responsibility for his own destiny. His determination, will, faith determine his actions. However, having abandoned the secular fuss, Onegin became not a doer, but a contemplator. The feverish pursuit of pleasure gave way to solitary reflections. The two tests that awaited Eugene in the countryside - the test of love and friendship - showed that external freedom does not automatically entail liberation from false prejudices and opinions. Eugene is spiritually exhausted and can no longer be in the village, in the place where he killed Vladimir. He went on a trip to Russia.
Traveling in Russia
While traveling in Russia, Onegin visited Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, the Caucasus, Tauris, and Odessa.
Traveling, he sees life in all its diversity: in Novgorod - pearls, wine, herds of horses, in the Caucasus - Terek, deer, camels, but everywhere longing. But this is a different feeling than boredom.
Anguish - constraint of the spirit, languor of the soul, excruciating sadness, mental anxiety, anxiety, fear, boredom, grief, sadness.
Boredom is a painful feeling from an idle, inactive state of mind; the languor of inaction.
I am young, my life is strong;
What should I expect? Longing, longing!
“What a life! Here is the suffering, about which so much is written both in verse and in prose, about which so many complain, as if they really knew it; here it is, true suffering, without contour, without stilts, without drapery, without phrases, a suffering that often does not take away sleep, or appetite, or health, but which is often all the more terrible!”
Return to Moscow
After traveling through Russia, Onegin returns to Moscow. He gets to the ball, where he learns that Tatyana has become the wife of the prince.
In the eighth chapter, Pushkin showed a new stage in the spiritual development of Onegin. Having met Tatyana in Moscow, Onegin was completely transformed. There is nothing left of the former cold and rational person in him - he is an ardent lover who does not notice anything except the object of his love (and this reminds him of Lensky). Eugene experienced a real feeling for the first time, but it turned into a new love drama: now Tatiana was unable to answer his belated love.
So, Onegin meets a renewed Tatyana: a cold, brilliant secular lady. It awakens sincere feelings for her. He, like a boy, "counts the clock", "will not wait for the end of the day." (Onegin's impatience was expressed in the fact that he left not only without delay, but also as soon as possible). Pushkin does not embellish his hero at all. He admits that Eugene was thinking about the indifferent princess, and not about the "timid girl." And yet Tatyana attracted him not by her magnificent position, but by the spiritual strength that Onegin saw and felt in her. How did she turn from a tender girl into a majestic legislator of the hall? Society has changed her "outward side" - manners, behavior. But she retained her former spiritual qualities, fidelity to love for Onegin and her conjugal duty.
But how to believe in Eugene's love? Tatyana does not understand the feelings of the hero, seeing in his love only a secular intrigue, a desire to drop her honor in the eyes of society. But Onegin is in love without memory. He spends whole days in "anguish of loving thoughts." As before, the relationship between reason and feelings is in the foreground. Now the mind has been defeated - Onegin loves, "the mind does not heed the strict penalties." "What almost drove me crazy / or did not become a poet."
Onegin is tormented, exhausted from love and writes a letter to her, in which he prays for a meeting and declares his love:
Follow you everywhere
The smile of the mouth, the movement of the eyes
Catch with loving eyes
Listen to you for a long time, understand
Soul all your perfection
Freeze before you in agony,
To fade and fade is bliss.
In these lines we see that Onegin is in love without memory and his soul has truly changed.
“Onegin's letter to Tatyana burns with passion; there is no longer irony in him, no secular moderation, no secular mask. Onegin knows that he may be giving occasion for malicious merriment; but passion smothered in him the fear of being ridiculous, of giving arms to the enemy.
He read Gibbon, Rousseau,
Manzoni, Herdera, Chamfort,
Madame de Stael, Bisha, Tissot
“The stanza characterizes Onegin's reading circle. G. A. Gukovsky emphasized the significance of this stanza: “this list is wonderful; for a contemporary it was understandable. In it, only one name evokes the idea of fiction as such - Manzoni. The rest are philosophers, historians, publicists and natural scientists, physicists, doctors.” Onegin from superficiality, secular semi-ignorance, brightened up by the ability to talk about everything, seriously plunges into the world of knowledge, strives to become enlightened with the century on a par.
The last meeting of Onegin and Tatyana
Onegin is capable of a quick change of value orientations - readiness for action, for an act. He arrives at the prince's house and finds Tatyana sobbing over the letter.
In anguish of insane regrets
Eugene fell at her feet.
She shuddered and was silent
And looks at Eugene.
Being a married woman, she, loving Onegin, does not respond to his feelings and remains faithful to her husband, not because she respects her husband, but also out of respect for herself. She cannot sacrifice her honor, her personal dignity. And this shows her closeness to the patriarchal foundations, this is the noble honor of a provincial girl.
Undead feelings, awakening conscience became the key to the rebirth of the soul of Eugene. He is in love with Tatyana like a child. Previously imperturbable, now he knew love and real suffering, he began to live with feelings, when he found the ideal, he again rushed to read and read with “spiritual eyes”.
But the meaning of the drama is not in the choice between Onegin's love and fidelity to her husband, but in the corrosion of feelings that occurred in the heroine under the influence of secular society. She lives with memories and is not able to at least believe in the sincerity of a person who loves him. The disease, from which Onegin was so painfully freed, struck Tatyana. The empty light is merciless to living human feeling.
The role of fate
Onegin's fate could have turned out differently, nothing strange in the fact that if he repeated the fate of his uncle, he could become one of the Decembrists. One can also imagine that Eugene would have turned out to be Tatyana's husband. After all, Pushkin said through the mouth of his heroine:
And happiness was so possible
so possible
But out of various possibilities, the hero, like every person, falls out of one fate, which turns out to be both natural and accidental. How would the fate of the heroes have developed if there had not been a duel, Tatyana's letter, and the death of Uncle Yevgeny? The author does not give us an answer, just as he does not answer the question of what will happen to Onegin next: will he come to terms with the “lesson of Tatyana” or will he seek her love, will he die in some duel (which he will go only out of despair) Or will Eugene and Tatyana be together? We can only guess and speculate.
The most important thing in the life of Eugene Onegin has already happened: he is now able to sharply and sincerely feel, experience, he is now tormented not by blues, but by love passion.
Summing up all of the above, it should be noted the evolution of the character and personality of Onegin.
Like every person, Eugene was shaped by his environment, primarily the noble society. He had to live by their unspoken rules. But the soul of Eugene was waiting for other relationships than those on which society was based. He was an educated and well-read person. But this noble upbringing alienated him from real life. The high level of mental and cultural development of Eugene Onegin allows him to rise above the environment, to doubt the truth of some life values approved by this environment, the problem arises: can a person resist the environment, that is, the problem of inner freedom - he is a prisoner of public opinion.
Onegin's life is shown in development - his personality has not yet been fully formed. But still, he has such inclinations that do not allow him to put up with the imposed laws of high society.
Yevgeny's seclusion - his undeclared conflict with the world in the first chapter and with the society of rural landowners in the second - sixth chapters - only at first glance seem to be a "fad", caused by purely individual reasons: boredom, "Russian blues", disappointment in the science of tender passion. Pushkin emphasizes that Onegin's "inimitable strangeness" is a kind of protest against social and spiritual dogmas that suppress a person's personality, depriving him of the right to be himself. The emptiness of the hero's soul was the result of the emptiness and lack of content of secular life. Onegin is looking for new spiritual values in a different environment. In the village, the need for lively communication increases, a feeling of attachment to Lensky arises; the village formed the need to reflect, to live life, enjoying the grandeur and beauty.
The duel between Onegin and Lensky shows that the hero had only external freedom, but in fact he depends on public opinion and prejudices and therefore kills Vladimir. A force enters into the quarrel between Onegin and Lensky, which can no longer be turned back - the force of "public opinion". Pushkin does not blame Onegin, but explains him to us. Not the ability and unwillingness to think about other people turned into such a fatal mistake that now Eugene is executing himself. And he can no longer stop thinking about what he did. He cannot but learn what he did not know before: to suffer, to repent, to think. So the death of Lensky is the impetus for the rebirth of Onegin. But it is still ahead.
In love, the hero is also unhappy. When he became ready for sincere real feelings, Tatyana could not answer his belated love. She did not believe him and unfairly accused him of insincerity. The former Onegin, such as she used to know, could court the princess from such petty, unworthy motives. The former Eugene, indifferent and selfish, would not have understood her torment. Now he understands everything - Onegin is not able to continue to pursue the princess, nor to abandon her at all. In such a "minute, evil for him," Pushkin leaves his hero.
Thus, the following conclusions can be drawn from the above:
Onegin was shaped by his environment, i.e. his family, his upbringing and noble society, but he had exceptional inclinations that did not allow him to put up with the unspoken laws of secular society.
Eugene has certainly changed over time. From a cold, indifferent and callous nobleman, he turned into a person who is able to empathize, understand others and love.
The death of Lensky was the impetus for the transformation of the hero, but he really changed when he met Tatyana, no longer a simple girl from the village, but a noble princess. It finally awakens sincere, real feelings.
The role of fate in the novel is very important. The fate of Eugene kept, and his entire life path was to a large extent predetermined by it.
The first chapter opens with an internal monologue of the hero, in which irritation is hidden under irony. Why is Onegin dissatisfied? The need to obey what he sees no point in, but which, for one reason or another (for the sake of arranging his own well-being, undermined by debts, or observing the customs of society) has to be performed. Why, then, does Onegin agree to a role that, in his own eyes, is soberly assessed as "low cunning"? Yes, because he does not see the point in anything at all and is indifferent, it would seem, to everything in the world, except for his sense of dignity and independence, which are suddenly shaken by a trip to his uncle. This irritation of the hero comes from the fact that he is tired of the usual pretense, and from the fact that Onegin is honest with himself.
Already the first stanza of the novel reveals the "strangeness" of the hero's character, his complexity. The first chapter, in essence, reveals the story of a mental illness caused both by Onegin's submission to society and his conflict with it.
From childhood, Onegin's education and upbringing was not deep. "Monsieur 1" Abbe, a poor Frenchman ... He taught him everything jokingly, Did not bother with strict morality ... "
This "joke" accompanies Onegin's entire Petersburg youth. Pushkin ironically calls it "rebellious", as if reminding the reader of the highest possibility in life, not realized by Onegin. This comparison will be obvious at the end of the chapter, when the author of the novel defines the "difference" between himself and Onegin. Indeed, what is rebellious in Onegin's youth? The freedom revealed to him is subject to fashion, in which Onegin sees almost the law of life. “Mod is an exemplary pupil” - this motive runs through the entire first chapter. “Fearing jealous condemnations,” Onegin becomes a dandy; fearing "decisive and strict judges", he was accustomed to "keep silent in an important dispute with the learned air of a connoisseur." This looking back at the opinions of others, this dependence on light deprives Onegin's youth of true "rebellion". Fashion dooms to a superficial attitude to everything. Following fashion, one cannot be oneself; fashion is transient, superficial.
Pushkin described one day of Onegin, but in it he was able to generalize the entire life of the hero in St. Petersburg - a secular minion. Days are like one another (“And tomorrow is the same as yesterday”), variety is replaced by variegation, and the instantaneous transitions from one occupation to another testify to the same indifference.
Onegin does not give his soul to any of the entertainments, not to any of the pleasures that make up the circle of his life. This "fluttering" of the hero was discovered by Pushkin and in Onegin's favorite art - "the science of tender passion." The very combination of words here is paradoxical. Passion knows no rules, cannot be a "science". In Onegin, all the movements of "gentle passion" are calculated.
At the beginning of the novel, Onegin, as it were, tries on different possibilities of life, without giving preference to any of them. The peculiar masquerade of Onegin is reflected in those paradoxical definitions in the neighborhood that Pushkin addresses to his hero in the first chapter: “young rake” - and “my good friend”, “London dandy” - and “scientist fellow”, “prankster” - and “philosopher at the age of eighteen”, “ardent rake”, “fashionable beauties enemy” - and “a renegade of violent pleasures”, “pedant” - and “orderly enemy and squanderer”.
Spleen - another role of Onegin; however, the role chosen, as it seems to him, finally and satisfies that “sense of superiority”, which is akin to secular vanity (Pushkin wrote about it in the epigraph to the novel).
The epithet "languid" betrays Onegin's intention to put his inner state on display. Perhaps we would not have noticed it if Pushkin had not reminded us of this in the eighth chapter. Here Onegin was finally able to see Tatyana in her house:
He enters the princess with trepidation;
He finds Tatyana alone,
And together for a few minutes
They are sitting. Words are missing
From the mouth of Onegin. Sullen,
Clumsy, he barely
She answers. Head
It is full of stubborn thought.
So, in the first chapter, Onegin is "gloomy, languid", in the eighth - "gloomy, awkward." The dissimilarity of the second epithets, while the first are identical, reveals the depth of the change that has taken place with Onegin. True feeling is not able to take care of its picturesqueness.
The descriptions of Onegin in the first and eighth chapters are sharply dissimilar. Many masks are replaced by the unity of the true face: insensibility - animation, blues - passion. In the first chapter, Onegin is "a fickle admirer of charming actresses", his frivolity is a sign of just a game of love. In the eighth chapter, Onegin is full of devotion, in his imagination, no matter what he does, no matter where he is, - "she ... and all she!".
In the first chapter, Onegin's life is theatrical. And if he is not interested in what is happening on stage, it is only because he is absorbed in his own role. In the eighth chapter, Onegin is bored with the masquerade of life. It is not for nothing that Pushkin's comparisons in the first and eighth chapters are so contrasting. In the first chapter, Onegin, carefully preparing himself for the ball,
Came out of the restroom
Like windy Venus
When, wearing a man's outfit,
The goddess is going to the masquerade.
In the eighth chapter, Onegin “goes like a dead man” to the last explanation with Tatyana. His passion is similar to the suffering of Tatyana in love in the fourth chapter. And in Onegin's letter these signs of true passion are repeated:
Freeze before you in agony,
To turn pale and go out ... that's bliss!
In the eighth chapter, “heartache has already come to him unbearable,” and Onegin is ready for death (“I’m ready to write to my great-grandfathers in advance about a meeting soon”), just as Tatyana was once ready to pay with her life for love (“I’ll die,” Tanya says, “ but death from him is kind). True, there is a difference in this suffering between Onegin and Tatyana. Tatyana voluntarily gives herself to love, according to her inner command, and does not punish herself. Onegin "curses his madness - and is deeply immersed in it ...".
But Onegin's selflessness in the eighth chapter is beyond doubt. He really managed to “forget himself”: devotion to feeling is stronger than the fear of death, he, “like a child, is in love.” He is so captured by love that he does not care about salvation: “Everyone sends
Onegin to the doctors, ”and he cherishes every moment of life in which Tatyana is present:
I know: my age is already measured;
But for my life to last
I have to be sure in the morning
That I will see you in the afternoon ...
Love for Onegin became the only condition for prolonging life.
Why did it happen so? How did the indifferent Onegin turn into an ardent lover?
At the beginning of the novel, Pushkin wrote: "I am always glad to notice the difference between Onegin and me." And indeed, no matter what side of life we take (theater, poetry, nature, love), in the first chapter we feel the opposition of the hero and the author. The theater for Onegin is a place where people get bored or look at the boxes of unfamiliar ladies in a lorgnette; for Pushkin, the theater is “a magical land!”. Onegin is "a fickle admirer of charming actresses"; Pushkin calls them "my goddesses" and is devotedly sad when "a dull look does not find familiar faces on a boring stage." Nature is mute for Onegin; Pushkin flourishes in rural solitude (“I was born for a peaceful life, For rural silence ...”). Love is unknown to Onegin, an admirer of the “science of tender passion”, Pushkin excitedly speaks of the self-forgetfulness of love (“I remember the sea before a thunderstorm ...”). And even when, “having overthrown the burden of the conditions of the world,” the author and the hero became friendly at the end of the first chapter, there is a noticeable dissimilarity between them: “I was embittered, he is gloomy.” Anger is temporary, gloominess is permanent.
Pushkin cannot be alien to life. Onegin is cold towards her. But the difference is not only this. A beautiful summer night in St. Petersburg, which revived the feelings of the hero and the author, affects them in different ways: in Pushkin, an impulse is born for freedom, happiness, for the poetic fullness of life (“Adriatic waves, Oh Brenta! no, I’ll see you ...”) . Onegin remains in an elegiac stupor, there is no Pushkinian rapture of life in him: "With a soul full of regrets ..."
So, in the first chapter, even having made friends, the author and the hero remain in many respects opposite. In the eighth chapter, Pushkin takes Onegin under his protection, depriving the secular crowd of the right to judge the hero. In stanzas VII - XI of the eighth chapter, the author argues with the "good fellow", similar to the "whole world", who judges Onegin according to the laws of the world. This opinion is belated: the hero has changed. Pushkin confuses his secular interlocutor with a direct question: “Does he know you?” And, confusing the “good fellow”, he stands up for Onegin: “Why do you speak so unfavorably of him?” For the world, "mediocrity is one and on the shoulder, and not strange."
In stanzas X and XI, Pushkin contrasts two life paths. “Blessed is he who was young from his youth” and, fulfilling all the rules of the world, earned the reputation of a “beautiful person” at the end of his life. This is the path of mediocrity rewarded with prosperity. Pushkin sees himself and Onegin on a different path:
But it's sad to think that in vain
We were given youth
What cheated on her all the time,
She deceived us...
This is the tragic path of the best heroes of the novel (Onegin, and Tatyana, and, as we will see later, the deceased Lensky, and partly the author himself). This is the painful path of those who "unbearably ... Look at life as a ritual", who do not share with the crowd "neither common opinions nor passions."
Eugene Onegin ... How many times have I heard these words, even before I read the novel. In everyday life, this name has become almost a household name. From the very beginning of the work, I realized that Eugene Onegin is a very strange and, of course, a special person. He, of course, in some ways resembled the people around him, had the same hobbies and concerns as they, but at the same time sharply from them. was different. The society in which Onegin lived, which brought him up, did everything for their own pleasure, of their own free will, but Eugene did everything mechanically, saw no point in anything and forced himself to do it because it was fashionable, prestigious.
Onegin cannot know happiness, his soul is closed to real human feelings, and is subject only to fleeting, endless and useless hobbies. For him, probably, there is only a sense of dignity, independence and the pride with which he treats all the people around him. He doesn't despise them, no. It's just that Onegin is indifferent to everything, everything is indifferent to him. The hero of the novel, as it were, obeys society, does not argue with anyone, does not contradict anyone, but at the same time he is in conflict with him: he does not care what they think of him. Eugene seemed to be joking with his life, he never thought about tomorrow. And again, it doesn't matter to him. After all, each day is like the next. He simply exists, quietly drifting with the flow. He sets fashion as the highest goal, in it he sees almost the law of life. This looking back at the opinions of others, this dependence on light deprives Onegin of real life, the struggle for happiness; he cannot become himself, he treats everything superficially. Eugene Onegin sometimes does not even think about what he is doing: he moves from one activity to another with amazing ease.
Again, following the same fashion, Eugene looked after himself very carefully, he was a terrible dude:
Like windy Venus
When, wearing a man's outfit,
The goddess is going to the masquerade.
After reading Pushkin's novel further, we learn that Onegin met Tatyana Larina and that this acquaintance later changed his fate. Onegin, brought up by such a society, of course, considers himself very wise, having already experienced everything, having seen everything at such a young age, and, having learned that young Tatyana fell in love with him, he tried to set her on the right path, advised her to “just take it and throw it away” from head these weaknesses of the soul - love and tenderness.
For him, it was all so easy. Like everything else, he treated high feelings jokingly, just playing at love. It seems to me that his attitude to love is entirely rational and feigned. It is built in the spirit of a secular society, the main goal of which is to enchant and seduce, to appear in love, and not actually be one:
How early could he be hypocritical,
Hold hope, be jealous
disbelieve, make believe
Seem gloomy, languish ...
No, he did not mock Tanya's feelings. He simply chose for himself and played well the role of a mentor, an older friend, teaching her to "learn to rule yourself." But in the conversation, perhaps out of habit, he could not resist and left Tanya a little hope:
I love you brother love
And maybe even softer...
These words again tell us about Onegin's undisguised egoism. He never thought about the feelings of others. In the village, Onegin met his neighbor Lensky, probably only because he was dying of boredom in this wilderness. They spent time together, visited the Larins and were already considered friends. But their friendship ended tragically due to a misunderstanding that occurred through the fault of Evgeny and Olga, Lensky's beloved. Onegin decided to joke and prove to everyone that love does not exist, not realizing that by this he would push his friend to the grave. Onegin and Lensky fought a duel, which was also like a game for Eugene. He simply did not feel the full depth of events. Only later, when Eugene killed a man, did he no longer feel his former superiority. I think it was at this moment that a turning point occurred in his soul. After this incident, Eugene Onegin went on a journey, trying to forget and erase the past from memory.
A few years later, Onegin returns to the capital again, having already really seen the world. At one of the balls he meets Tatyana. And the image of Tanya, who lived all this time somewhere in the depths of Onegin's soul, is resurrected in memory. Tatyana was still the same, but Yevgeny was amazed, surprised and could not hide his admiration for her:
Is it the same Tatyana?
That girl... is it a dream?
Onegin is in love. Finally, his heart knew a real passionate feeling. But now it's like fate is laughing at him. Tanya is already a married woman and will be faithful to her husband for the rest of her life. She truly loves Eugene, but despite this, she taught him a lesson that he will remember all his life.
Worth Eugene ...
As if struck by thunder.
In what a storm of sensations
Now he is immersed in his heart!
Isn't it true, at the end of the novel we even feel sorry for Eugene. But life taught him an unforgettable lesson, thanks to which it will be easier for him to continue to live, not to exist, but to live!
