The influence of the noble society of the 19th century on the fate of Eugene Onegin based on the novel by A. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin. The worldview of A. S. Pushkin, reflected in lyrical digressions, his similarities and differences from Onegin Progressive social views of Onegin

03.10.2020

Is he familiar to you? - Yes and no.

A. S. Pushkin

Pushkin named his novel in verse after the hero. To understand the novel means to comprehend the essence and fate of Eugene Onegin. The author wanted to show the hero of his time. And the time was a turning point, filled with ideas of denial of the old, serf-owning society. This made Pushkin’s character similar to the heroes of the works of Byron and other Western European writers. But Onegin is a Russian man, with all the peculiarities of his national character and allowance for belonging to a secular society, since the time of Peter I, who tirelessly imitated Western models. The hero's worldview was formed under the influence of the ideas of the Decembrists, to whose circle A.S. Pushkin belonged. Pushkin worked on the comprehension and embodiment of the image of Onegin for more than seven years, changing along with his hero.

In the first chapters of the novel we see a contemporary of Pushkin - a “young rake”, quite rich, who belonged to high Russian society. Raised by foreign tutors, superficially educated, unwilling and unable to work, Onegin spends his days in social entertainment:

Sometimes he would still be in bed: They would bring notes to him. What? Invitations? In fact, Three Houses are calling for the evening: There will be a ball, there will be a children's party...

The environment explains the character of the hero: he early learned to lie, be a hypocrite, slander, and charm society ladies. But by the time he met the author, this empty life had already disappointed Onegin, as well as Pushkin himself. This means that this is not an accident, but a pattern for an extraordinary person, which Evgeniy undoubtedly was. Pushkin emphasizes this by introducing the hero into the circle of his own friends (mentioning Kaverin, Chaadaev). Disappointment in life, in the people around him, in himself was generated by time; it reflected the split among the nobles, which led to the Decembrist uprising.

Pushkin found in Onegin a lot in common with himself:

We both knew the play of passions; Life tormented both of us; The heat died down in both hearts; Both were awaited by the malice of Blind fortune and people On the very morning of our days.

Natural skepticism did not allow Evgeny to join the liberation movement (Pushkin himself did not become a Decembrist either). Onegin, unlike Pushkin, was not a poet - that is, he had no occupation in life. Therefore, I perceived moving to the village as some kind of variety.

Of all the village neighbors, Onegin chose the young landowner Vladimir Lensky for communication. Lensky, a romantic and poet, had a different attitude towards many things than Evgeniy. But Onegin spared his enthusiasm:

Although he knew people, of course, and generally despised them, - But (there are no rules without exceptions) He distinguished others very much And respected the feelings of others.

The ability to respect other people's feelings did not allow him to take advantage of the confession of Tatyana Larina, who was in love with him. He offended her by refusing to share this love, but there was genuine nobility and decency in him. At the same time, because of a trifling quarrel, Onegin fought a duel with Lensky. Both of them fell victim to secular ideas about duty and honor, but Onegin was older and more experienced, so he could prevent the murder. Pangs of conscience force him to flee the village.

After Evgeniy’s departure, Tatyana begins to read the books left in the old estate and comes to the conclusion that he is only an unsuccessful parody of Western models. However, Pushkin does not advise judging Onegin so harshly. Of course, the influence of books on the formation of his soul was enormous, but it was not only books that made Onegin a modern hero. He is a man of truly progressive views (“he replaced the ancient corvée with a light quitrent for the yoke”), and his melancholy and torment are generated by the hopelessness of Russian feudal reality. Pushkin wanted to talk about this in Onegin’s Travels, but censorship after the Decembrist uprising would not have allowed even a hint of criticism of the system to go into print.

Therefore, we meet again with the tired and aged Onegin at the ball, where his appearance evokes the poisonous whispers of those around him: Material from the site

Is he still the same, or has he pacified himself? Or is he acting like an eccentric? Tell me: how did he return? What will he present to us so far?

The changed Onegin meets Tatiana at the ball and falls in love with her, seeking the salvation of his soul in her blossoming charm, in calm strength, nobility of soul. But it's too late! Tatyana is married and will never stoop to vulgar intrigue - her unloved husband, Onegin’s old friend, deserves respect. She refuses Evgeniy's desperate letter. Pushkin leaves him in confusion at Tatyana's feet.

This is the result. Such is the hero of Pushkin’s time, who did not find a use for his soul and mind, did not have time to fight for his fatherland, did not become a Decembrist hero and did not find personal happiness. Solid "no". Onegin's fate is typical of progressive youth of the first half of the 19th century. These people expressed the bitterness, pain and brokenness of their era, but still were more integral, bright and strong personalities than the hopeless Pechorins who replaced them.

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  • the image of Eugene Onegin in Pushkin's novel

Give urgent rehabilitation to Evgeniy!

Onegin, who rejected the love of a village girl and then became inflamed with passion for a social beauty, was not condemned only by the lazy. In school essays, this unseemly act of his is dissected piece by piece for the second century in a row...

Give urgent rehabilitation to Evgeniy!

We talked with a candidate of medical sciences about the wave of pedophilia that swept the country this year.

What to do?

Take an example from Evgeny Onegin!- said the doctor. “He didn’t seduce young Tatyana, although the girl offered herself to him. Onegin should become a model for schoolchildren. Look guys, this is a real man! There would be fewer pedophiles in the country...

Now every day there are reports of child victims of violence. The State Duma is already proposing to give life imprisonment to those who committed sexual acts with teenagers under 14 years of age. And Tatyana was 13!

- Can't be! – I was amazed.

And I heard a new and, frankly speaking, slightly stunned interpretation of the novel - from the point of view of a sexologist. Here she is.

Lensky introduces Onegin to the Larin sisters. Give urgent rehabilitation to Evgeniy!

“It’s time to finally restore justice!” A 26-year-old man quite naturally refused a 13-year-old, and the progressive public condemns him for this noble act! Let's turn to the novel. After 17 years, Evgeniy began attending balls. Had many sexual relationships with married women. And with the girls to whom he “gave lessons privately in silence.” He was a genius in the science of tender passion. He had a strong sexual constitution.

At the age of 26, he found himself in a remote village, registering the inheritance of a wealthy uncle.

All the mistresses remained in St. Petersburg. Experienced forced sexual abstinence. And then the 13-year-old landowner’s daughter offers herself to him. “It is the will of heaven: I am yours!” He refuses. Evidence that he had a normal psychosexually oriented libido by gender and age.

I was drawn to mature women, sexually mature girls. But not for girls! There were no romantic feelings for Tatyana either. I appreciated that her feelings were also immature. The girl read a lot of romance novels and decided to realize her romantic libido. Then a mysterious man from the capital turned up. And after all, Evgeny kept the very fact of the letter secret, did not boast and compromise Tatyana. A real man!

- Why then did our ideal burn with passion for the married Tatyana?

– After long wanderings, he returned to St. Petersburg. At the very first ball I saw the most beautiful lady in the capital, immediately fell in love with her and tried to get closer. Risking my reputation and the reputation of Tatyana and her husband. This means that normal libido has been preserved.

He didn’t react to the girl, but to the grown-up beauty - instantly! He hardly recognized that same Tatyana. Another confirmation. If she had been an adult girl at their first meeting, she would hardly have changed beyond recognition. And the 13-year-old girl changed after 3-4 years. By the way, at the beginning of the 19th century completely different morals reigned. And if Onegin had become close to Tatyana, it would have been perceived normally. But, unfortunately, there was an opinion that Tatyana was a victim, a sufferer. Onegin, a womanizer, caused her deep emotional trauma. In fact, he is a hero of our time.

...I listened to the sexologist’s fantastic version, and one thought was beating in my head: “It can’t be! Tatiana, the Russian soul, cannot be 13 years old!” The sexologist made a mistake! I think that readers are also in shock. Returning home, I was surrounded by the works of Pushkin, the memoirs of his contemporaries, the works of Pushkin scholars, literary scholars, starting with the frantic Vissarion Belinsky. I even dug up Ovid Nazon, who suffered for the science of tender passion. I studied and compared for three days. And this is what was revealed to me...

Tatyana asks the nanny about love. The poet's truth.

First of all, I opened the fourth chapter of Onegin, which the sexologist referred to. It begins with the famous lines:

“The less we love a woman,
The easier it is for her to like us.”

But usually no one delves into the sequel, although they contain the solution to the mystery of the novel.

“And the more likely we destroy her
Among seductive networks.
Debauchery used to be cold-blooded
Science was famous for love,
Trumpeting about myself everywhere
And enjoying without loving.
But this is important fun
Worthy of old monkeys
Grandfather’s vaunted times... “

(In a letter to his younger brother Lev, the 23-year-old poet expressed himself more specifically: “The less they love a woman, the sooner they can hope to possess her, but this fun is worthy of an old monkey of the 18th century.” He had not yet sat down to write Onegin.)

Who isn't bored of being a hypocrite?
Repeat one thing differently
It is important to try to assure that
What everyone has been sure of for a long time,
All the same objections to hear,
Destroy prejudices
Which were not and are not
A GIRL IS THIRTEEN YEARS OLD!
That’s exactly what my Eugene thought...

Don't confuse Tanya and the nanny.

So, the main question: where did the THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD girl in the novel come from, about whom our hero thought when he received Larina’s letter? Who is she? Tatiana's nanny? (All the teachers and just intellectuals I interviewed instantly pointed to the old woman!) She really went down the aisle at the age of 13, but there was no smell of the debauchery of old monkeys. Husband Vanya was even younger! And Onegin did not know about the early marriage of some nanny - Tatyana did not write about her, and personally, before the explanation in the garden, she did not speak to her beloved at all. Accidental typo?

I opened the pre-revolutionary collected works of Pushkin of the 19th century with yats. Also - “thirteen”. Is there a word inserted for rhyme? You could just as well have written “fifteen” and “seventeen.” The girl is an abstract figure, to put it simply?

But There is nothing accidental in Pushkin’s poetry. He is always accurate, even in details.

It turns out that Tatyana Larina was 13 years old when she sent Evgeniy a letter?! After all, her age is not indicated anywhere else in the novel. And Pushkin always reported the age of his heroines. Even the old Queen of Spades. (The exceptions are the old woman with a broken trough and Lyudmila, Ruslan’s fiancée. But those are fairy tales.)

And in the main novel of his life, he could not break the tradition. I haven't forgotten about the men. Lensky is “nearly eighteen years old.” For the first time we also see Onegin himself as a “philosopher at eighteen”, getting ready for a ball. At the balls, the hero “killed eight years, losing the best color of life.” It turns out 26.

Exactly according to Pushkin: “Having lived without a goal, without work until the age of twenty-six.”

There are also frank hints in the novel about Tatyana’s young age. “She seemed like a stranger in her own family.” She didn’t play with dolls or burners, and she didn’t go to the meadow with the youngest Olenka and her “little friends.” And I read romance novels avidly.

British Muse of Tall Tales
The girl's sleep is disturbed.

(A youth, a young woman - ages from 7 to 15 years, according to Vladimir Dahl’s famous explanatory dictionary. Doctor Dahl was a contemporary of the poet, he was on duty at the bedside of the mortally wounded Pushkin.)

Inflamed with passion for Onegin, the girl asks the nanny if she was in love?

And that's it, Tanya! THIS SUMMER
We haven't heard about love;
Otherwise I would have driven you away from the world
My deceased mother-in-law.

IN THIS (that is, Tanya) SUMMER, the nanny has already walked down the aisle. And let me remind you, she was 13 years old. Onegin, returning from the ball, where he saw the general’s wife, a society lady, for the first time, asks himself: “Is it really the same Tatyana? That GIRL... Is this a dream? That GIRL whom he neglected in his humble lot?” “Wasn’t it news to you that a humble GIRL loves you?” – Tatyana herself reprimands the hero.

Onegin acted nicely.

Let's continue reading the fourth chapter, where a 13-year-old girl appeared.

...having received Tanya's message,
Onegin was deeply touched...
Perhaps the feeling is an ancient ardor
He took possession of it for a minute;
But he didn't want to deceive
The gullibility of an innocent soul.

It turns out that Evgeny did not want, like an old depraved monkey, to destroy an innocent girl. And that’s why he refused. Tactfully taking all the blame on himself so as not to injure Tatyana.

And at the end of the date he gave the girl good advice:

Learn to control yourself;
Not everyone will understand you like I do;
Inexperience leads to trouble.

I read Alexander Sergeevich carefully and suddenly realized what stupidity we were forced to do at school, tormented over essays about the relationship between Evgeny and Tatyana! Pushkin explained everything himself and himself assessed the actions of his hero.

You will agree, my reader,
What a very nice thing to do
Our friend is with sad Tanya.
The Russian girl is not a person!

How old was Olga then, whom 17-year-old Lensky was going to marry? Maximum 12. Where is this written? In this case, Pushkin only indicated that Olya was the younger sister of 13-year-old Tatyana. A little boy (about 8 years old according to Dahl), Lensky was a touched witness of her INFANT amusement. (Infant - up to 3 years old. From 3 to 7 - child). We consider: if he was 8 years old, then she was 2-3 years old. By the time of the duel he was almost 18, she was 12.

Do you remember how indignant Lensky was when Olya danced with Onegin?

Just out of diapers,
Coquette, flighty child!
She knows the trick,
I've learned to change!

Of course you are shocked. At this age - and get married?! Don't forget what time it was. This is what Belinsky wrote in an article about Onegin: “A Russian girl is not a woman in the European sense of the word, not a person: she is something else, like a bride... She is barely twelve years old, and her mother, reproaching her for laziness, for inability to hold on..., says to her: “Aren’t you ashamed, madam: you’re already a bride!” And at 18, according to Belinsky, “she is no longer the daughter of her parents, not the beloved child of their hearts, but a burdensome burden, goods ready to linger, excess furniture, which, just behold, will fall off the price and will not get away with it.”

“This attitude towards girls and early marriages are explained not by the savagery of customs, but by common sense,” says sexologist Kotrovsky. – Families then, as a rule, had large families - the church prohibited abortion, and there were no reliable contraceptives.

The parents tried to quickly marry the girl (“an extra mouth”) into someone else’s family, while she looked young. And the dowry required for her was less than for a withered maiden. (The age-old girl is like an autumn fly!) In the case of the Larins, the situation was even more acute. The girls' father died, the brides had to be arranged urgently!

Yuri Lotman, a famous literary critic, wrote in his comments to the novel: “Young noblewomen got married early in the early 19th century. True, the frequent marriages of 14–15-year-old girls in the 18th century began to go out of common practice, and 17–19 years became the normal age for marriage. Early marriages, which were the norm in peasant life, were not uncommon at the end of the 18th century for provincial noble life not affected by Europeanization.

A. Labzina, an acquaintance of the poet Kheraskov, was married off when she was barely 13 years old.

Gogol's mother was married at 14. However, the young novel reader's first hobbies began much earlier. And the surrounding men looked at the young noblewoman as a woman already at that age at which subsequent generations would have seen in her only a child.

23-year-old poet Zhukovsky fell in love with Masha Protasova when she was 12.

The hero of “Woe from Wit” Chatsky fell in love with Sophia when she was 12–14 years old.”

* Everything seems to be working out smoothly. And yet, I confess, dear reader, I was constantly tormented by one question. Why, why did Pushkin assign his beloved heroine to be 13 years old? All his other heroines in love were older. Dunya, the daughter of a stationmaster, ran away with a hussar after 14 years. The peasant young lady Liza, Dubrovsky’s beloved Masha Troekurova, Marya Gavrilovna from “The Snowstorm” turned 17. The captain's daughter Masha is all 18. And here...

And suddenly it dawned on me! Yes, he deliberately made Tatyana so young! If Onegin had rejected the love of 17-year-old Larina, questions could really arise for him. Callous man! But it was precisely at her young age that Pushkin was able to emphasize the morality of his beloved hero, whom he largely copied from himself. So, maybe sexologist Kotrovsky really is right?


4
“... Onegin is Russian, he is possible only in Russia, in Russia he is needed and he is greeted at every step... Lermontov’s “Hero of Our Time” is his younger brother.”
(A.I. Herzen)

Sundulling

In the nineteenth century, Russia was dominated by the autocratic-serf system. Under this system, the situation of the people was unbearable; The fate of progressive thinking people turned out to be tragic. People richly gifted by nature perished in its stuffy atmosphere or were doomed to inaction. These people with progressive views appeared on the arena of public life too early; there were no favorable conditions for their appearance; they were “superfluous” in life, and therefore died. This was reflected in the works of advanced writers of the nineteenth century. “Eugene Onegin” and “Hero of Our Time” are the best works of art of their era. At the center of events are people from high society who cannot find use for their abilities and skills.
“In his poem, he was able to touch on so much, hint at so many things that belong exclusively to the world of Russian nature, to the world of Russian society. “Onegin can be called an encyclopedia of Russian life and a highly popular work.”
(V.G. Belinsky)

"Eugene Onegin"

Onegin is a typical representative of the noble youth of the 20s of the 19th century. The poet created an image that reflects “that premature old age of the soul that has become the main feature of the younger generation.” Onegin is a contemporary of both the author and the Decembrists. The main character is not interested in social life, the career of an official, he is bored with everything. According to V.G. Belinsky, Onegin “was not one of the ordinary people,” but Pushkin says that Onegin’s boredom is due to the fact that he has no useful work to do. Onegin is a “suffering egoist,” but still an extraordinary person. The Russian nobility of that time was a class of landowners and landowners. Ownership of estates and serfs was a kind of measuring tape for wealth and prestige, as well as high social status. Eugene’s father “gave three balls every year and finally squandered it,” and the main character himself, after receiving an inheritance from “all his relatives,” became a rich landowner and...
Factories, waters, forests, lands
The owner is complete...
But wealth is also associated with ruin and debt. By mortgaging already mortgaged estates, debts were not only the business of poor landowners, but also of many “powers of this world.” One of these reasons in this situation was the idea that developed during the reign of Catherine II: “true noble behavior consists not only in large expenses, but also in spending beyond one’s means.” Thanks to the appearance of various educational literature from abroad, people, namely the younger generation, began to understand the harmfulness of serfdom, including Evgeniy. He “read Adam Smith and was a deep economist.” Unfortunately, there were few such people, therefore, when Onegin, under the influence of the ideas of the Decembrists, “he replaced the ancient corvée with a light quitrent for the yoke,”
...He sulked in his corner.
Seeing this as terrible harm,
His calculating neighbor.
In this case, the heir can accept the inheritance and take on the debts with it or refuse it, leaving the creditors to settle the accounts among themselves. Youth is a time of hope for inheritance. In the second half of life, one should free oneself from debts by becoming the heir of “all one’s relatives” or by marrying favorably.
Blessed...
Who was a smart guy at twenty years old?
And at thirty he is profitably married;
Who was freed at fifty
From private and other debts.
For the nobles of that time, military service was natural, and the absence of this trait had to have a special explanation. Onegin, as is clear from the novel, never served at all, which made Eugene a black sheep among his contemporaries. In this case, a new tradition is shown. Previously, refusal to serve was called selfishness, but now refusal began to take the form of a struggle for personal independence and upholding the right to live independently of state demands. So Onegin leads a life free from official duties. Not everyone could afford such a life at that time. Let us take as an example the order of early to bed and early to rise, which not only the official, but also the emperor had to obey. This was a kind of sign of aristocracy, separating the non-serving nobleman from the common people and village landowners. But the fashion of getting up, as late as possible, came from the French aristocracy and was brought to Russia by emigrants. Favorite places for walks were Nevsky Prospekt and the English Embankment, it was there that Onegin walked “putting on a wide bolivar, Onegin goes to the boulevard.” The opportunity in the afternoon to fill the gap between the restaurant and the ball was the theater. The theater was not only a place of entertainment, but also a kind of club where small talk was held.
The theater is already full; the boxes shine;
The stalls and the chairs are all in full swing;
Everything is clapping. Onegin enters
Walks between the chairs along the legs.
The double lorgnette points sideways
To the boxes of unknown ladies.
Tired of city life, Onegin settles in the village. There the friendship of Onegin and Lensky begins, who, as Pushkin says, came together “with nothing to do.” This ultimately led to a duel.
The novel “Eugene Onegin” is an inexhaustible source telling about the morals and life of that time. Onegin himself is a true hero of his time, and in order to understand him we study the time in which he lived.
“There is a lot of falsehood in Pechorin’s ideas, there are distortions in his feelings; but all this is redeemed by his rich nature"
(V.G. Belinsky)

"Hero of Our Time"

Pechorin is a hero of a completely different transitional time, a representative of the noble youth, who entered life after the defeat of the Decembrists. G.A. Pechorin is one of the main artistic discoveries of M.Yu. Lermontov. In it the fundamental features of the post-Decembrist era received their artistic expression. The image and type of Pechorin captures a striking discrepancy between the external and internal world. He repeatedly speaks in his diary about his inconsistency and duality. This duality was seen as a result of secular upbringing and the influence on him of the noble sphere, the transitional nature of his era.
Explaining the purpose of creating the novel, M.Yu. Lermontov, even in the preface, makes it clear what the image of Pechorin is for him: “The hero of our time, my dear sirs, is like a portrait, but not of one person: this is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” The author set himself the task of wanting to portray on the pages of the novel a hero of his time. And here before us is Pechorin - a tragic personality, a young man suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself the question “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? In Lermontov's portrayal, Pechorin is a man of a very specific time. This is a nobleman-intellectual of the Nicholas era, its victim and hero in one person, whose soul is corrupted by the light. Pechorin's personality is presented in the novel as a unique individual manifestation of the universal human species and clan. Pechorin differs from his predecessor Onegin not only in temperament, depth of thought and feeling, willpower, but also in the degree of awareness of himself and his attitude to the world. Pechorin is more of a thinker and ideologist than Onegin. He is organically philosophical. In this respect, he is a characteristic representative of his time, in Belinsky’s words, “the century of the philosophizing spirit.” Pechorin embodies such qualities as developed consciousness and self-awareness, the perception of oneself as a representative not only of the current society, but of the entire history of mankind as a whole. But being a son of his time and society, he also bears their indelible mark. In Gregory’s personality there is something particularly characteristic of a socially unsettled general situation, etc....................

"is rightly called the "encyclopedia of Russian life." The author reflected in it the life of various layers of Russian society, accurately and expressively illuminated the features of the economy and culture of Russia of his time. And yet, first of all, this is a novel about the spiritual quest of noble youth, of which Eugene Onegin was a prominent representative. She painfully searched for her place in life, expressing her protest by demonstrative non-participation in official social institutions.

Reality of the image The author repeatedly emphasized Eugene and his spiritual closeness on the pages of the novel: “Onegin, my good friend,” “I liked his features: involuntary devotion to dreams, non-imitative strangeness and a sharp, chilled mind.” Eugene Onegin was born in St. Petersburg into a bankrupt aristocratic family, and received a typical secular upbringing and education:

  • He's completely French
  • He could express himself and wrote;
  • I danced the mazurka easily
  • And he bowed casually;
  • What do you want more?
  • The light has decided
  • That he is smart and very nice.

In this assessment the unpretentiousness of an aristocratic society is emphasized, requiring only compliance with the external attributes of the level of civilized communication: knowledge of French, dancing, bowing, grace and the ability to maintain small talk. But Pushkin, critically assessing the typical noble education (“we all learned a little something and somehow”), paid tribute to Onegin’s interest in certain sciences. His knowledge of ancient literature was rather mediocre; Onegin did not understand poetic technique at all, but was interested in political economy, understood the economic laws of social development, and, following the progressive bourgeois economist Adam Smith, believed that money is dead capital.

Onegin in his youth led the usual lifestyle for “golden youth”: night balls, sleeping until lunch, theaters, restaurants, love affairs, walks along Nevsky Prospekt. Despite the success in secular salons and the indulgence of St. Petersburg beauties, the “fun and luxurious child” soon realized that his life was “monotonous and colorful”, and critically assessed the lack of spirituality and emptiness of idle pastime. All this dried out his soul, dulled his senses, did not provide food for his sharp mind - melancholy and disappointment took possession of Evgeniy.

Illness, whose cause would have been found long ago,” it’s time, similar to the English spleen, In short: the Russian melancholy took possession of him little by little... Onegin is disgusted by the monotony of this colorful celebration of life, his active nature craves creation, and not consumer use of the fruits of civilization. Eugene tried to put his views on paper, “but he was sick of hard work; nothing came from his pen.” The lack of habit of systematic work, the inability to overcome oneself - the costs of a disorderly upbringing - did not allow Onegin to engage in creativity. Then, “devoted to idleness, languishing in spiritual emptiness,” Eugene tried in books to find answers to the questions tormenting him about the meaning of life, the purpose of man, methods of self-realization, but the grains of wisdom scattered in the fruits of the “alien mind” were so small and rare that collecting them seemed useless to the hero. Onegin painfully seeks a way out of his mental crisis, tries to understand how to give meaning to life, fill it with real content, but cannot overcome a critical perception of reality, and criticism, as a rule, is not constructive:

  • First Onegin's language
  • I was embarrassed; but I'm used to it
  • To his caustic argument,
  • And as a joke, with bile in half,
  • And the anger of gloomy epigrams.

Evgeny Onegin in terms of intellectual development, of course, he is above his environment and cannot limit himself to the vegetable existence of the “golden youth”, but he also cannot break out of the system, since he does not know an alternative social doctrine. V, G. assessed the moral state of the hero, the psychological sources of his mental anxiety: “The inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him, he doesn’t even know what he needs, what he wants, but he... knows very well what he doesn’t need, what he doesn’t want what makes self-loving mediocrity so happy, so happy.”

Having inherited his uncle’s estate, Onegin was very glad that he “changed his previous path for something”: he enjoyed the contemplation of peaceful nature and “village silence.” But the feeling of internal dissatisfaction, the awareness of the lack of spirituality of the landowner’s way of life, “where a village old-timer of forty years old scolded his housekeeper, looked out the window and crushed flies,” again renewed attacks of melancholy in him. Trying to diversify his life, languishing from boredom and inactivity, Onegin carried out social transformations accessible to him:

  • In his wilderness the desert sage,
  • He is the yoke of the ancient corvée
  • I replaced it with easy quitrent;
  • And the slave blessed fate.

Despite On progressive economic views, Onegin did not attach much importance to his transformations: the life of the serf peasantry did not really worry the newly-minted reformer. Of course, he made life easier for his subjects, which aroused the critical attitude of prudent neighbors, and he did this for reasons of justice and taking into account modern views on the effectiveness of liberated labor. But for the hero’s disappointed soul, this noble act did not become salvation, the beginning of overcoming the crisis and turning to an active life. But he is too busy with his mental torment, too turned inward for a specific life goal to become decisive and absorb him entirely.

Having met With the young enthusiastic poet Vladimir Lensky, a neighbor on the estate, Onegin, “even though he, of course, knew people and generally despised them,” became close friends with him. was the complete opposite of Onegin: ardent, dreamy, “he was ignorant at heart,” “he believed that his friends were ready to accept chains for his honor.” The youthful enthusiasm and idealism of the poet was alien to the disappointed, sophisticated egoist. But the rejection of the spiritual, mundane world of the district nobility made Onegin related to Lensky. They endlessly argued about the most complex problems of existence, and Onegin listened to Vladimir’s enthusiastic speech with a smile of superiority, and partly with envy at the freshness of feelings and spontaneity of spiritual impulses.

The novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” is rightly called “an encyclopedia of Russian life.”

neither." The author reflected in it the life of various layers of Russian society, accurately and expressively illuminated the features of the economy and culture of Russia of his time. And yet, first of all, this is a novel about the spiritual quest of noble youth, of which Eugene Onegin was a prominent representative. She painfully searched for her place in life, expressing her protest by demonstrative non-participation in official social institutions. Pushkin repeatedly emphasized the reality of the image of Eugene Onegin and his spiritual closeness to the author on the pages of the novel: “Onegin, my good friend,” “I liked his features: involuntary devotion to dreams, non-imitative strangeness and a sharp, cooled mind.”

Eugene Onegin was born in St. Petersburg into a bankrupt aristocratic family, and received a typical secular upbringing and education:

He could express himself perfectly in French and wrote; He danced the mazurka easily and bowed at ease; What do you want more? The light decided that he was smart and very nice.

This assessment emphasizes the unpretentiousness of an aristocratic society, which requires only compliance with the external attributes of the level of civilized communication: knowledge of French, dancing, bowing, grace and the ability to maintain small talk. But Pushkin, critically assessing the typical noble education (“we all learned a little something and somehow”), paid tribute to Onegin’s interest in certain sciences. His knowledge of ancient literature was rather mediocre; Onegin did not understand poetic technique at all, but was interested in political economy, understood the economic laws of social development, and, following the progressive bourgeois economist Adam Smith, believed that money is dead capital.

In his youth, Onegin led the usual lifestyle for the “golden youth”: night balls, sleeping until lunch, theaters, restaurants, love affairs, walks along Nevsky Prospekt. Despite the success in secular salons

exhilaration and condescension of St. Petersburg beauties, “fun and luxury, the child” soon realized that his life was “monotonous and colorful,” and critically assessed the lack of spirituality and emptiness of idle pastime. All this dried out his soul, dulled his senses, did not provide food for his sharp mind - melancholy and disappointment took possession of Evgeniy.

An ailment, the cause of which would have long since been found, Similar to the English spleen, In short: the Russian melancholy took possession of Him little by little... Onegin is disgusted by the monotony of this colorful celebration of life, his active nature craves creation, and not consumer use of the fruits of civilization. Eugene tried to put his views on paper, “but he was sick of hard work; nothing came from his pen.” The lack of habit of systematic work, the inability to overcome oneself - the costs of a disorderly upbringing - did not allow Onegin to engage in creativity. Then, “devoted to idleness, languishing in spiritual emptiness,” Eugene tried in books to find answers to the questions tormenting him about the meaning of life, the purpose of man, methods of self-realization, but the grains of wisdom scattered in the fruits of the “alien mind” were so small and rare that collecting them seemed useless to the hero. Onegin painfully seeks a way out of his mental crisis, tries to understand how to give meaning to life, fill it with real content, but cannot overcome a critical perception of reality, and criticism, as a rule, is not constructive:

At first Onegin's language confused me; but I’m used to his caustic argument, And to the joke, with bile in half, And the anger of gloomy epigrams. Evgeny Onegin, in terms of intellectual development, is certainly above his environment and cannot limit himself to the vegetable existence of the “golden youth”, but he also cannot break out of the system, since he does not know an alternative social doctrine. V. G. Belinsky assessed the hero’s moral state, psychological

the currents of his mental anxiety: “The inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him, he doesn’t even know what he needs, what he wants, but he... knows very well what he doesn’t need, what he doesn’t want, what he’s so happy with, so Happy is self-loving mediocrity.”

Having inherited his uncle’s estate, Onegin was very glad that he “changed his previous path for something”: he enjoyed the contemplation of peaceful nature and “village silence.” But the feeling of internal dissatisfaction, the awareness of the lack of spirituality of the landowner’s way of life, “where a village old-timer of forty years old scolded his housekeeper, looked out the window and crushed flies,” again renewed attacks of melancholy in him. Trying to diversify his life, languishing from boredom and inactivity, Onegin carried out social transformations accessible to him:

In his wilderness, a desert sage, He replaced the ancient corvée with an easy quitrent with a yoke; And the slave blessed fate.

Despite his progressive economic views, Onegin did not attach much importance to his reforms: the life of the serf peasantry did not really worry the newly minted reformer. Of course, he made life easier for his subjects, which aroused the critical attitude of prudent neighbors, and he did this for reasons of justice and taking into account modern views on the effectiveness of liberated labor. But for the hero’s disappointed soul, this noble act did not become salvation, the beginning of overcoming the crisis and turning to an active life. But he is too busy with his mental torment, too turned inward for a specific life goal to become decisive and absorb him entirely.

Having met the young enthusiastic poet Vladimir Lensky, a neighbor on the estate, Onegin, “even though he, of course, knew people and generally despised them,” became close friends with him. Lensky was the complete opposite of Onegin: ardent, dreamy, “he was ignorant at heart,” “he believed that his friends were ready to accept chains for his honor.” The disillusioned, sophisticated egoist was alien to youthful enthusiasm and idealism

this. But the rejection of the spiritual, mundane world of the district nobility made Onegin related to Lensky. They endlessly argued about the most complex problems of existence, and Onegin, with a smile of superiority, and partly with envy at the freshness of feelings and spontaneity of spiritual impulses, listened to Vladimir’s enthusiastic speech:

And I thought: it’s stupid for me to interfere with His momentary bliss; And without me the time will come; Let him live for now and believe in the world's perfection; Let's forgive the fever of youth and youthful fever and youthful delirium. However, Onegin’s sincere affection for the young poet did not prevent him from provoking Lensky to a duel: due to his bad mood caused by the poet’s invitation to a dinner party with the Larins, Onegin “vowed to enrage Lensky and take revenge.” Eugene could not imagine the state of the poet, in whose imagination every detail is significant, because “he loved as in our years people no longer love; how one mad soul of a poet is still condemned to love.” Evgeny sincerely repents of his stupid prank, “that he played such a casual joke on timid, tender love in the evening,” reproaches himself for the fact that in time “he could have discovered his feelings, and not bristled like an animal.” But he does not find the moral strength to rise above “public opinion” for the sake of the triumph of justice. Lensky dies at the hands of Onegin - his only friend was sacrificed to honor. The shock Eugene experienced does not relieve him of responsibility for the death of the poet. Despite his disregard for secular conventions and his sharp rejection of the secular way of life, Onegin is still strongly dominated by prejudices, his inner world is full of contradictions.

The love of the charming Tatyana Larina deeply touched Evgeniy: he highly appreciated her naturalness, integrity of nature, spirituality, and subtlety of feelings. At first glance, the hero shrewdly noted her dreaminess and spontaneity, contrasting her sister: “Olga has no life in her features.” But spiritual emptiness and emotional satiation did not allow

he should succumb to a natural impulse.. Numerous victories over the “hearts of coquettes” dulled his feelings and deprived him of confidence in his ability to sincerely love. Onegin shows sensitivity and delicacy, rejecting Tatiana's love, and explains his refusal by his inability to family life:

There is no return to dreams and years; I will not renew my soul... I love you with the love of a brother And, perhaps, even more tenderly. Onegin was generous and condescending towards the inexperienced girl, “not for the first time here he showed direct nobility to the soul.” However, later, when Eugene fell in love with Tatiana, who had become a society lady, although she expressed gratitude to him for his honesty and directness, she still recalled with a shudder his “severity” and mentoring tone:

And now - God! - my blood runs cold, As soon as I remember the cold look And this sermon...

Having sacrificed friendship and love for the sake of “freedom and peace,” Onegin found neither one nor the other. Loneliness, “wandering without a goal,” unrequited love - this is the result of his life. Onegin did not realize himself, remaining misunderstood and lonely:

Having lived without a goal, without work Until the age of twenty-six, Languishing in the inaction of leisure, Without service, without a wife, without business, I did not know how to do anything. Life created this “suffering egoist.” Superiority over others and reluctance to serve pushed the hero onto the path of a fruitless search for his path. Throughout his life, he argued for the imperfection of a society that did not demand this bright personality.