Secular society in Eugene Onegin. The duality of the depiction of secular society in the novel “Eugene Onegin”
In the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin outlined with light strokes the nobility - the people in whose company Eugene Onegin moved, and with whom, in addition to the main characters, he had to maintain relationships and communicate. The capital's nobility was strikingly different from the provincial landowners who lived in the outback. This gap was all the more noticeable the less often landowners traveled to the capital. The interests, level of culture, and education of both were often at different levels.
The images of landowners and high society nobility were only partly fictitious. Pushkin himself moved among them, and most of the paintings depicted in the work were spotted at social events, balls, and dinners. The poet communicated with provincial society during his forced exile in Mikhailovskoye and during his stay in Boldino. Therefore, the life of the nobility, both in the countryside and in Moscow and St. Petersburg, is depicted by poets with knowledge of the matter.
Provincial landed nobility
Along with the Larin family, other landowners lived in the province. The reader meets most of them at their name day. But some sketches to the portraits of neighboring landowners can be seen in the second chapter, when Onegin settled in the village. Simple in their mental makeup, even somewhat primitive people tried to make friends with their new neighbor, but as soon as he saw the droshky approaching, he mounted his horse and rode off the back porch so as not to be noticed. The maneuver of the newly-minted landowner was noticed, and the neighbors, offended by their best intentions, stopped their attempts to establish friendship with Onegin. Pushkin interestingly describes the reaction to the replacement of corvée with quitrent:
But in his corner he sulked,
Seeing this as terrible harm,
His calculating neighbor;
The other smiled slyly
And everyone decided out loud,
That he is a most dangerous weirdo.
The attitude of the nobles towards Onegin became hostile. Sharp-tongued gossips began to talk about him:
“Our neighbor is ignorant; crazy;
He is a pharmacist; he drinks one
A glass of red wine;
He doesn't suit ladies' arms;
All Yes Yes No; won't tell yes sir
Il no with" That was the general voice.
Invented stories can show the level of intelligence and education of people. And since he left much to be desired, Lensky was also not happy with his neighbors, although he paid them visits out of politeness. Although
Lords of neighboring villages
He didn't like feasts;
Some landowners whose daughters were growing up dreamed of getting a “rich neighbor” to be their son-in-law. And since Lensky did not seek to fall into anyone’s skillfully placed networks, he also began to visit his neighbors less and less:
He ran away from their noisy conversation.
Their conversation is sensible
About haymaking, about wine,
About the kennel, about my family.
In addition, Lensky was in love with Olga Larina and spent almost all his evenings with their family.
Almost all the neighbors came to Tatyana’s name day:
With his portly wife
Fat Pustyakov arrived;
Gvozdin, an excellent owner,
Owner of poor men;
Here Pushkin is clearly being ironic. But, unfortunately, there were quite a few of the landowners like the Gvozdins, who fleeced their men like sticks.
The Skotinins, the gray-haired couple,
With children of all ages, counting
From thirty to two years;
District dandy Petushkov,
My cousin, Buyanov,
In down, in a cap with a visor
(As you know him, of course)
And retired adviser Flyanov,
Heavy gossip, old rogue,
Glutton, bribe-taker and buffoon.XXVII
With the family of Panfil Kharlikov
Monsieur Triquet also arrived,
Witty, recently from Tambov,
With glasses and a red wig.
Pushkin does not need to spend long stanzas characterizing the guest landowners. The names spoke for themselves.
The celebration was attended not only by landowners representing several generations. Older generation were represented by the Skotinins, a gray-haired couple, they were clearly over 50, retired adviser Flyanov, he was also well over 40. In each family there were children who made up the younger generation, who were happy about the regimental orchestra and dancing.
The provincial nobility tries to imitate the capital by organizing balls and celebrations, but here everything is much more modest. If in St. Petersburg they offer dishes prepared by French chefs from overseas products, then in the provinces they put their own reserves on the table. The over-salted fatty pie was prepared by yard cooks, and liqueurs and liqueurs were made from berries and fruits collected in one’s own garden.
In the next chapter, which describes the preparation for the duel, the reader will meet another landowner
Zaretsky, once a brawler,
Ataman of the gambling gang,
The head is a rake, a tavern tribune,
Now kind and simple
The father of the family is single,
Reliable friend, peaceful landowner
And even an honest person.
It’s him, Onegin is afraid, never having decided to offer reconciliation to Lensky. He knew that Zaretsky could
Encourage young friends to quarrel
And put them on the barrier,
Or force them to make peace,
To have breakfast together,
And then secretly dishonor
A funny joke, a lie.
Moscow Noble Society
Tatiana came to Moscow not by chance. She came with her mother to the brides fair. Close relatives of the Larins lived in Moscow, and Tatyana and her mother stayed with them. In Moscow, Tatyana came into close contact with noble society, which was more archaic and rigid than in St. Petersburg or the provinces.
In Moscow, Tanya was greeted warmly and cordially by her relatives. The old women were scattered in memories, the “young graces of Moscow”, looking closely at their new relative and friend, found with her mutual language, shared the secrets of beauty and fashion, talked about their heartfelt victories and tried to extract her secrets from Tatyana. But
the secret of your heart,
Treasured treasure of tears and happiness,
Keeps silent meanwhile
And it is not shared with anyone.
Guests came to Aunt Alina's mansion. To avoid appearing too distracted or arrogant,
Tatyana wants to listen
In conversations, in general conversation;
But everyone in the living room is occupied
Such incoherent, vulgar nonsense;
Everything about them is so pale and indifferent;
They slander even boringly.
All this was not interesting to the romantically inclined girl, who, deep down, was perhaps waiting for some kind of miracle. She often stood somewhere on the side, and only
Archive young men in a crowd
They look at Tanya primly
And about her among themselves
They speak unfavorably.
Of course, such “archival youths” could not interest the young lady. Here Pushkin used the Old Church Slavonic form of the adjective to emphasize that the “young men” belonged to the “past century.” IN late XVIII- In the first half of the 19th century, late marriages were not uncommon. Men were forced to serve in order to make a certain fortune, and only then got married. But they chose young girls as brides. So marriages that were unequal in age were not uncommon at that time. They looked down on the provincial young lady.
Together with her mother or cousins, Tatyana visited theaters and was taken to Moscow balls.
There is cramped space, excitement, heat,
Music roars, candles sparkle,
Flashing, a whirlwind of fast steams,
Beauties have light dresses,
Choirs full of people,
A vast semicircle of brides,
All the senses are suddenly overwhelmed.
Here the dandies seem to be noteworthy
Your impudence, your vest
And an inattentive lorgnette.
Here the hussars are on vacation
They are in a hurry to appear, to thunder,
Shine, captivate and fly away.
At one of the balls, her future husband drew attention to Tatiana.
Nobles of St. Petersburg
In the first part of the poetic novel, the secular society of St. Petersburg was described with light sketches, from an outside perspective. Pushkin writes about Onegin’s father that
Having served excellently and nobly,
His father lived in debt
Gave three balls annually,
And finally squandered it.
Onegin Sr. was not the only one who lived this way. For many nobles this was the norm. One more touch secular society St. Petersburg:
Here is my Onegin free;
Haircut in the latest fashion,
How dandy London dressed -
And finally saw the light.
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.
With his description, Pushkin shows what interests and worldviews the aristocratic youth have.
No one is embarrassed that the young man does not serve anywhere. If noble family There are estates and serfs, then why serve? In the eyes of some mothers, Onegin may have been a good match for their daughters to marry. This is one of the reasons why young people are accepted and invited to balls and dinners in society.
Sometimes he was still in bed:
They bring notes to him.
What? Invitations? Indeed,
Three houses for the evening call:
There will be a ball, there will be a children's party.
But Onegin, as you know, did not seek to tie the knot. Although he was an expert in the “science of tender passion.”
Pushkin describes the ball to which Onegin arrived. This description also serves as a sketch for characterizing St. Petersburg morals. At such balls young people met and fell in love
I was crazy about balls:
Or rather, there is no room for confessions
And for delivering a letter.
O you, honorable spouses!
I will offer you my services;
Please notice my speech:
I want to warn you.
You, mamas, are also stricter
Follow your daughters:
Hold your lorgnette straight!
At the end of the novel, St. Petersburg secular society is no longer as faceless as at the beginning.
Through the close row of aristocrats,
Military dandies, diplomats
And she glides over proud ladies;
So she sat down quietly and looked,
Admiring the noisy crowded space,
Flashing dresses and speeches,
The phenomenon of slow guests
In front of the young hostess...
The author introduces the reader to Nina Voronskaya, a dazzling beauty. Detailed portrait Pushkin gives a glimpse of the secular society of the capital in his description of dinner at Tatiana’s house. All the cream of society, as they said then, gathered here. Describing the people present at the dinner, Pushkin shows how high Tatyana rose up the hierarchical ladder, having married a prince, a military officer and a veteran Patriotic War 1812.
color of the capital,
And know, and fashion samples,
Faces you meet everywhere
Necessary fools;
There were elderly ladies here
In caps and roses, looking angry;
There were several girls here
No smiling faces;
There was a messenger who said
On government affairs;
Here he was in fragrant gray hair
The old man joked in the old way:
Excellently subtle and clever,
Which is a little funny these days.Here he was avid for epigrams,
Angry gentleman:
But, along with representatives of high society, the dinner was attended by several random people who ended up here due to various circumstances
Prolasov was here, who deserved
Fame for the baseness of the soul,
Dulled in all albums,
St.-Priest, your pencils;
Another ballroom dictator is at the door
It stood like a magazine picture,
Blush like a pussy willow cherub,
Strapped, mute and motionless,
And a wandering traveler,
Overstarched impudent guy.
Noble status placed very high demands on its representatives. And in Russia there were many truly worthy nobles. But in the novel “Eugene Onegin” Pushkin shows, along with brilliance and luxury, vices, emptiness and vulgarity. The tendency to spend, living beyond one's means, and the desire to imitate, the reluctance to serve and benefit society, the impracticality and carelessness of secular society are fully shown in the novel. These lines were intended to make readers, most of whom represented this very nobility, think, and reconsider their way of life. It is not surprising that “Eugene Onegin” was received ambiguously by the reading public, and not always favorably.
The true creator of new Russian literature and literary language became great Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He also became the founder of Russian realism. His works of art They are the pride of the Russian people and belong to the masterpieces of world literature. Such works include his novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”.
The novel takes place during the period of the rise of the social movement against serfdom. Pushkin spoke about fate young man, showing a disappointed, dissatisfied nature with life, which is Eugene Onegin. Onegin - representative of the advanced noble intelligentsia Decembrist era. By origin he is a nobleman, an aristocrat. He was taught by foreign tutors and governesses. At first he was raised by a “madam”; then “the monsieur replaced her.” The Frenchman, “so that the child would not be exhausted, taught him everything in jest, did not bother him with strict morals, slightly scolded him for pranks and Summer garden took me for a walk.” His teaching was superficial and unsystematic. In the end, Onegin learned to speak French, dance the mazurka, bow, and also knew a little Latin. Onegin differed from the youth of secular society in his exceptional mind; he could “touch lightly on everything in a conversation without coercion, with the learned air of an expert, remain silent in an important dispute and arouse the smiles of ladies with the fire of unexpected epigrams.”
Evgeny Onegin was critical of reality and was a man of principle. He gave his own assessment to each person in secular society.
After the Patriotic War of 1812, in the year of intensifying reaction, Onegin was overcome by melancholy. Having left secular society, Eugene wanted to do useful things:
Yawning, he took up the pen,
I wanted to write, but it’s hard work
He was sick: nothing
It did not come from his pen.
This happened because with early childhood The French teachers did not instill in him a love of work and the people. From morning to evening he was busy with balls, restaurants, and walks along Nevsky.
No: his feelings cooled down early:
He was tired of the noise of the light.
and Onegin decided to leave for the village, where he received an estate from his uncle. Having arrived there,
He is the yoke of the ancient corvée
I replaced it with a light quitrent.
By doing this, he sharply separated himself from his neighboring landowners. They considered him a “dangerous eccentric”, a farmazon.
Onegin is characterized by nobility of soul. In the village he met Tatyana Larina. She fell in love with him and wrote him a letter. Having received it, Onegin came to the meeting place and sincerely told her that he did not want to limit himself to his home circle, that he was “not created for bliss.” Eugene rejected Tatiana's love, but he acted honestly with the girl, did not laugh at her, as another would have done.
In Onegin I would like to note the inability to rise above public opinion Togo landed nobility, which he inwardly despised. Having received a message from Lensky, Evgeny decided to abandon the duel, but was afraid of Zaretsky’s ridicule and gossip. After Lensky's death, Onegin sets off to wander “around the world.”
Returning to St. Petersburg, he goes to a ball with his friend and relative. Here Evgeniy finds out that Tatyana Larina is married. An ardent love for her flares up in him. He writes a message to Tatyana. He manages to talk to her. Onegin confesses his love. But in conversation she said:
I love you (why lie?),
But I was given to another;
I will be faithful to him forever.
Tatiana leaves, Onegin is left alone. This is where Pushkin ends his novel. ABOUT future fate He doesn't say anything to Onegin. There is evidence from one of Pushkin’s acquaintances that, according to the poet, “Onegin should have died in the Caucasus or become one of the Decembrists.”
Onegin is a generalizing image. Many critics expressed their opinion about the novel “Eugene Onegin”, including Belinsky, who notes Eugene’s originality and gifted mind. Belinsky said: “The routine and vulgarity of life choke him, he doesn’t even know what he wants, what he needs, but he knows very well that he doesn’t need, that he doesn’t want what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.” .
Herzen called Onegin " extra person“, since he did not follow the path blazed by his father, and at the same time he did not side with the people. Pushkin himself wrote about him:
I liked his features
Involuntary devotion to dreams,
Inimitable strangeness
And a sharp, chilled mind.
Belinsky predicted the historical immortality of the novel: “Let time goes by and brings with it new needs, new ideas, let it grow Russian society and overtakes “Onegin”: no matter how far it goes, it will always love this poem, will always fix its gaze on it, filled with love and gratitude...”
But Pushkin’s hero still received the minimum knowledge that was considered mandatory among the nobility. He “knew enough Latin to understand epigraphs,” remembered “anecdotes of bygone days from Romulus to the present day,” and had an idea of the political economy of Adam Smith. In the eyes of society, he was a brilliant representative of the youth of his time, and all this thanks to his impeccable French, graceful manners, wit and the art of maintaining a conversation. He led a typical lifestyle for young people of that time: he attended balls, theaters, and restaurants. Wealth, luxury, enjoyment of life, success in society and with women - this is what attracted the main character of the novel.
But secular entertainment was terribly boring to Onegin, who had long been “yawning among the fashionable and ancient halls.” He is bored both at balls and in the theater: “... He turned away and yawned, and said: “It’s time for everyone to change; I put up with ballets for a long time, but I was also tired of Didelot.” This is not surprising - on social life it took the hero of the novel about eight years. But he was smart and stood significantly above typical representatives of secular society. Therefore, over time, Onegin felt disgusted with the empty, idle life. “A sharp, chilled mind” and satiety with pleasures caused Onegin to become disillusioned; “the Russian melancholy took possession of him.”
“Tormented by spiritual emptiness,” this young man fell into depression. He tries to look for the meaning of life in some activity. The first such attempt was literary work, but “nothing came from his pen,” since the education system did not teach him to work (“he was sick of persistent work”). Onegin “read and read, but to no avail.”
However, our hero does not stop there. On his estate he makes another attempt practical activities: replaces corvee (compulsory work on the landowner's field) with quitrent (cash tax). As a result, the life of serfs becomes easier. But, having carried out one reform, and that out of boredom, “just to pass the time,” Onegin again plunges into the blues. This gives V.G. Belinsky has reason to write: “The inactivity and vulgarity of life are strangling him, he doesn’t even know what he needs, what he wants, but he... knows very well that he doesn’t need, that he doesn’t want what he is so happy with, so proud of himself.” mediocre".
At the same time, we see that Onegin was not alien to the prejudices of the world. They could only be overcome by contact with real life. In the novel, Pushkin shows the contradictions in Onegin’s thinking and behavior, the struggle between the “old” and the “new” in his mind, comparing him with other heroes of the novel: Lensky and Tatyana, intertwining their destinies.
The complexity and inconsistency of the character of Pushkin’s hero is especially clearly revealed in his relationship with Tatyana, the daughter of the provincial landowner Larin.
In her new neighbor, the girl saw the ideal that had long been formed in her under the influence of books. A bored, disappointed nobleman seems to her romantic hero, he is not like other landowners. "The whole inner world Tatyana’s passion was a thirst for love,” writes V.G. Belinsky about the state of a girl left all day long to her secret dreams:
Her imagination has long been
Burning with bliss and melancholy,
Hungry for fatal food;
Long-time heartache
Her young breasts were tight;
The soul was waiting for... someone
And she waited... The eyes opened;
She said: it's him!
All the best, pure, bright things awakened in Onegin’s soul:
I love your sincerity
She got excited
Feelings that have long been silent.
But Evgeny Onegin does not accept Tatiana’s love, explaining this by saying that he “was not created for bliss,” that is, for family life. Indifference to life, passivity, “desire for peace,” internal emptiness suppressed sincere feelings. Subsequently, he will be punished for his mistake by loneliness.
Pushkin’s hero has such a quality as “direct nobility of soul.” He sincerely becomes attached to Lensky. Onegin and Lensky stood out from their environment high intelligence And disdainful attitude to the prosaic life of the neighboring landowners. However, they were completely opposite people in character. One was a cold, disappointed skeptic, the other an enthusiastic romantic, an idealist.
They got along. Wave and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire...
Onegin does not like people at all, does not believe in their kindness, and he himself destroys his friend, killing him in a duel.
In the image of Onegin, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin truthfully portrayed an intelligent nobleman, standing above secular society, but without a goal in life. He doesn’t want to live like other nobles, he can’t live any other way. Therefore, disappointment and melancholy and loneliness become his constant companions. A.S. Pushkin is critical of his hero. He sees both Onegin’s misfortune and guilt. The poet blames not only his hero, but also the society that formed such people. Onegin cannot be considered an exception among noble youth, this typical character for the 20s of the XIX century.
Duality images of secular society. Human consciousness, system life values, as is known, largely shape moral laws accepted in society. Pushkin writes in the novel both about the capital and about Moscow and provincial nobility.
The author of the novel pays special attention to the St. Petersburg nobility, a typical representative of which is Eugene Onegin. The poet describes in every detail the day of his hero, and Onegin’s day is a typical day of a metropolitan nobleman. Thus, Pushkin recreates a picture of the life of the entire St. Petersburg secular society. A fashionable daytime stroll along a specific route (“Wearing a wide bolivar, Onegin goes to the boulevard...”), lunch at a restaurant, a visit to the theater. Moreover, for Onegin the theater is not an artistic spectacle or even a kind of club, but rather a place love affairs, behind-the-scenes hobbies. Pushkin gives his hero the following characteristics:
The theater is an evil legislator,
Fickle admirer of Charming Actresses,
Honorary citizen of the backstage...
Pushkin describes Onegin's office and his outfit in great detail. The author seems to want to once again emphasize the isolation of young people of that time from the national soil, because from early childhood they were in an atmosphere of a foreign language, people (governesses and tutors were foreigners) and things. (“But trousers, tailcoat, vest - all these words are not in Russian...”). The day of the young dandy ends with a ball, a favorite pastime of the capital's nobles.
Pushkin speaks about St. Petersburg high society with a fair amount of irony and without much sympathy, because life in the capital is “monotonous and colorful,” and “the noise of the world gets boring very quickly.”
The local, provincial nobility is represented very widely in the novel. This is Onegin’s uncle, the Larin family, guests at Tatyana’s name day, Zaretsky.
Onegin’s uncle was a “village old-timer”, he was busy quarreling with the housekeeper, looking out the window, squashing flies and reading the “eighth year calendar”.
Prominent representatives of the provincial nobility gather at Tatiana’s name day: Gvozdin, “an excellent owner, the owner of poor men”; Petushkov, “county dandy”; Flyanov, “heavy gossip, old rogue.” If Pushkin introduces real historical figures, for example Kaverin, into the story about the capital’s nobility, then in in this case the author uses the names of famous literary characters: The Skotinins are the heroes of Fonvizin’s “The Minor,” Buyanov is the hero of V.L. Pushkin’s “Dangerous Neighbor.” The author also uses speaking names. For example, Triquet means “beaten with a stick” - a hint that he cannot be accepted in high society, but in the provinces he is a welcome guest.
Not far from Lensky lives Zaretsky, “once a brawler”, “the head of a rake”, now “a single father of a family”, “a peaceful landowner”. But you can't call him decent person, because he loves “to quarrel young friends and put them on the fence.” This is what happens in the case of Lensky and Onegin. In general, Zaretsky is responsible for the death of Lensky; although he, as a second, could have prevented the duel, he did everything possible to ensure that it took place.
And Vladimir Lensky can be classified as a local nobleman. He is “a romantic and nothing more,” according to Belinsky’s definition. As a romantic, he does not know life at all, he sees everyone either in a rosy or black light (“He was an ignoramus at heart…”). He is alienated from national culture, maybe more Onegin (the neighbors call Lensky half-Russian). When discussing the future of Vladimir Lensky, Pushkin sees two possible paths. Following the first of them, he could have become Kutuzov, Nelson or Napoleon, or even ended his life like Ryleev, because Lensky is a passionate man, capable of reckless things, but heroic deed(in this he is close to Pushkin). But his trouble is that the environment in which he finds himself is hostile to him, in it he is considered an eccentric. Lensky would rather take the second path:
Or maybe even that: a poet
The ordinary one was waiting for his destiny.
He would have become an ordinary landowner, like Onegin’s uncle or Dmitry Larin.
Larin, about whom Belinsky says that he is “something like a polyp, belonging at the same time to two kingdoms of nature - plant and animal,” was a “kind fellow,” but in general an ordinary person (evidence of this is the Ochakov medal , which was not an individual award, unlike the order). His wife was fond of books in her youth, but this hobby was rather age-related. She got married against her will, was taken to the village, where she “was torn and cried at first,” but then she took up housekeeping and “got used to it and became happy.”
The world of the landed nobility is far from perfect, for in it spiritual interests and needs are not decisive, just like intellectual interests (“Their conversation is prudent about haymaking, about wine; about the kennel, about their relatives”). However, Pushkin writes about him with more sympathy than about St. Petersburg. In the provincial nobility, naturalness and spontaneity are preserved as properties human nature(“The neighbors are a kind family, unceremonious friends”). The local nobles were quite close to the people in terms of their attitude and way of life. This is manifested in the attitude towards nature and religion, in the observance of traditions (“They kept in life the peaceful habits of dear old times...”).
Pushkin pays less attention to the Moscow nobility than to the St. Petersburg nobility. Several years have passed since Pushkin wrote the first chapter of his novel, and A. S. Griboyedov finished the comedy “Woe from Wit,” but Pushkin introduces Griboyedov’s lines into the epigraph of the seventh chapter, thereby emphasizing that since then there has been little in Moscow has changed. Ancient capital has always been patriarchal. So, for example, Tatiana is met at her aunt’s by a gray-haired Kalmyk, and the fashion for Kalmyks was at the end of the 18th century. Moscow nobility- a collective image in contrast to the St. Petersburg one, where Eugene Onegin is the main character. Pushkin, speaking about Moscow, seems to populate it with heroes Griboyedov's comedy, which time has not changed (“But no change is visible in them, everything in them is the same as the old model...”). Appears in Moscow society and the real historical figure: “Vyazemsky somehow sat down with her (Tatyana) ...” But in Moscow there is still the same bustle, “noise, laughter, running around, bowing,” which leaves both Tatiana and the author indifferent.
The author himself assesses the influence of high society ambiguously. The first chapter gives a sharply satirical depiction of light. The tragic sixth chapter ends lyrical digression- the author’s thoughts about the age limit that he is preparing to cross: “Am I going to be thirty years old soon?” And he calls on “young inspiration” to save the “soul of the poet” from death, to prevent
…get stoned
In the deadening ecstasy of light,
In this pool where I Swim with you, dear friends!
So the whirlpool that deadens the soul. But here is the eighth chapter:
and now for the first time I bring a muse to a social event.
She likes the harmonious order of oligarchic conversations,
And the coldness of calm pride,
And this mixture of ranks and years.
Y. Lotman explains this contradiction very correctly: “The image of light received a double illumination: on the one hand, the world is soulless and mechanistic, it remained an object of condemnation, on the other hand, as the sphere in which Russian culture develops, life is inspired by the play of intellectual and spiritual forces, Poetry, pride, like the world of Karamzin and the Decembrists, Zhukovsky and the author of “Eugene Onegin” himself - it retains unconditional value. Society is heterogeneous. It depends on the person himself whether he will accept the moral laws of the cowardly majority or the best representatives of the world.”
With all the breadth of its themes, the novel “Eugene Onegin” is, first of all, a novel about the mental life and quests of the Russian noble intelligentsia of the 20s of the 19th century, before the Decembrist uprising of 1825. Main
its theme is an advanced personality in its relation to noble society and the people. Pushkin reveals this theme in the images of representatives of the progressive noble intelligentsia - Onegin, Lensky and Tatyana.
By naming his novel after one of the characters, Pushkin thereby emphasized the central position among them (and in the entire novel) of Eugene Onegin.
Onegin is a “secular St. Petersburg young man”, a metropolitan aristocrat.
Drawing the image of his hero, Pushkin speaks in detail about his upbringing and education, about life in the St. Petersburg “society”. “A child of fun and luxury,” Onegin received what was typical for the aristocratic youth of that time home education and education under the guidance of a French tutor. He was brought up in the spirit of aristocratic culture, divorced from national and popular soil.
The corrupting influence of the “light” further removed Onegin from the people. Onegin leads a life typical of the “golden youth” of that time: balls, restaurants, walks along Nevsky Prospect, visiting theaters. It took him eight years.
But Onegin, by his nature, stands out from the general mass of aristocratic youth. Pushkin notes his “involuntary devotion to dreams, inimitable strangeness and a sharp, cooled mind,” a sense of honor, and nobility of soul. This could not but lead Onegin to disappointment in the life and interests of secular society, to dissatisfaction with the political and social situation, which developed in Russia after the Patriotic War of 1812, during the years of intensifying reaction, during the years of the dominance of Arakcheevism. Blues and boredom took possession of Onegin. Having left secular society, he tries to engage in some useful activity. Nothing came of his attempt to write: he did not have a vocation (“yawning, he took up the pen”) and no habit of work, his lordly upbringing took its toll (“he was sick of persistent work”). An attempt to combat “spiritual emptiness” through reading also proved unsuccessful. The books he read either did not satisfy him or turned out to be in tune with his thoughts and feelings and only strengthened them.
Onegin is trying to organize the life of the peasants on the estate, which he inherited from his uncle:
He is the yoke of the ancient corvée
I replaced it with a light quitrent...
But all his activities as a landowner-owner were limited to this reform. The old moods, although somewhat softened by life in the lap of nature, continue to possess him.
Onegin's extraordinary mind, his freedom-loving sentiments and critical attitude to reality placed him high above the crowd of nobles, especially among the local lords, and doomed him, in the absence social activities, to complete loneliness.
Having broken with secular society, in which he found neither high morals nor real feelings, but only a parody of them, and being cut off from the life of the people, Onegin loses his connection with people.
Onegin could not be saved from “spiritual emptiness” by the strongest feelings that unite man with man: love and friendship. He rejected Tatyana’s love, since he valued “freedom and peace” above all else, and failed to unravel the depth of her nature and her feelings for him. He killed his friend Lensky because he could not rise above the public opinion of the local nobility, which he inwardly despised. Class prejudices prevailed in the hesitations that he experienced after receiving a challenge to a duel. He was afraid of “the whispers, the laughter of fools,” the gossip of the Zaretskys.
In a depressed state of mind, Onegin left the village. He “began to wander,” but this did not dispel him.
Returning to St. Petersburg, he met Tatyana married woman, the wife of his relative and friend. Love for her flared up in him, but Tatyana unraveled the selfishness that underlay his feelings for her: he again did not understand the depth of her requests. The novel ends with the scene of Onegin's meeting with Tatyana. Nothing is said about Onegin's further fate. However, Pushkin thought about continuing the novel. In the fall of 1830, he wrote the tenth chapter, in which he planned to talk about the emergence of the first secret societies Decembrists. But due to censorship conditions, he could not publish it; Moreover, it was dangerous to keep it at home. And Pushkin burned what he had written that same fall. Only a few, scattered pieces of the initial stanzas of the chapter have been preserved in the poet’s papers.
How did Pushkin think about unfolding the action in Chapter X? Would he have brought Onegin into the Decembrist society? There is evidence from one of Pushkin’s acquaintances that, according to the poet, “Onegin should have either died in the Caucasus or become one of the Decembrists.” But how accurate this evidence is is unknown. In the person of Onegin, Pushkin was the first writer to portray the type of enlightened nobleman that emerged in Russia in the 20s of the 19th century and was widely known in the years following the defeat of the Decembrists. Onegin - typical representative this enlightened part of the noble intelligentsia, which was critical of the way of life noble society and to government policy. It was the noble intelligentsia who avoided serving tsarism, not wanting to join the ranks of the silent ones, but they also stood aloof from socio-political activities. And such a path, although it was a kind of protest against the socio-political system, inevitably doomed to inaction, to withdrawal from the people, to isolation.
into a narrow circle of selfish interests. This naturally led such people to “spiritual emptiness” and deprived them of their lives. high goal, positive program. Belinsky said beautifully about Onegin and thereby about people of this type: “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 I don’t want what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.”
The absence of a positive program dooms Onegin to inaction. Herzen rightly said about him:
“...The young man does not meet any lively interest in this world of servility and petty ambition. And yet he is condemned to live in this society, since the people are even more distant from him... but there is nothing in common between him and the people...”
The image of Onegin has enormous generalizing power. “The fact is that we are all more or less Onegin, since we do not prefer to be officials or landowners,” said Herzen. Onegin’s typicality was so strong that from that time on, according to Herzen, “every novel, every poem had its own Onegin, that is, a man condemned to idleness, useless, led astray, a stranger in his family, a stranger in to his country, unwilling to do evil and powerless to do good, ultimately doing nothing, although he takes on everything, except, however, for two things: firstly, he never takes the side of the government, and. secondly, he never knows how to take the side of the people.”
In the image of Onegin, Pushkin showed the path that part of the noble intelligentsia of his time followed - a quest in isolation from society and the people. Pushkin condemned this path of the individualist hero, which makes him socially useless, a “superfluous” person.
The character of Onegin was not invented by Pushkin. In this image, he generalized the features typical of many young people of that time. These are people supported by the labor of serfs, who received the most disorderly upbringing. But unlike the vast majority of representatives of the ruling class of landowners, who were calm and serene about their idle life and the situation of the oppressed people, these young people, more intelligent, more sensitive, more conscientious and noble, experienced dissatisfaction with their environment, with everything social order and at the same time dissatisfaction with oneself. Not accustomed either by upbringing or by their social status to work, to work, to active actions, they did not even think of fighting against the unjust social system, against the representatives of the noble class corrupted by this system. They contemptuously withdrawn into themselves, felt disappointed in life, embittered at everything and everyone.
They stood out sharply among the secular crowd and seemed somehow strange people, but they themselves continued to lead the same meaningless, empty secular (in the city) or landowner (in the countryside) life, well understanding all its meaninglessness and experiencing nothing from it except boredom and mental suffering. Pushkin perfectly characterizes the feelings of boredom and hopelessness characteristic of these people in the following verses of the eleventh stanza of the eighth chapter:
* It’s unbearable to see in front of you
* There is a long row of dinners alone,
* Look at life as a ritual,
* And following the decorous crowd
* Go without sharing with her
* No common opinions, no passions.
Pushkin portrays Onegin, of course, as an egoist, but this is not a smug egoist in love with himself, but, as the great critic Belinsky correctly called Onegin, “a suffering egoist.” Onegin apparently understands that one of the main sources of his melancholy and “blues” is the lack of work, of any kind of activity. public character. But he is so smart that he cannot follow the beaten paths available at that time to a young nobleman who wants to find a “useful” activity. He will not serve as an officer or official, because he understands (or feels) that this would mean actively supporting that system, the injustices of which are the ultimate cause of his melancholy and disappointment.
He would not be able to make the goal of his life certain minor improvements in the work or life of his peasants, feeling that these would be separate patches, insignificant, private measures that do not solve the main and main problem abolition of peasant slavery, serfdom...
The only thing to which a young enlightened nobleman like Onegin could worthily devote all his strength, his entire life, would be a direct fight against the main evil of Russian life of that time - against serfdom and tsarist autocracy. But we have already seen that this is precisely what he was not capable of due to his upbringing and living conditions, which killed all social activity in him. “Longing laziness” - here characteristic Onegin, “he was sick of persistent work...”.
In this environment there were advanced, enlightened nobles and those who managed to overcome their class egoism, for whom the bleak impressions of the difficult situation of the peasants, of the cruel torment of soldiers, of the rudeness and reactionary nature of the autocracy prevailed over them. harmful consequences their upbringing and social status. They resolutely embarked on the path of revolutionary struggle against the tsarist government, the struggle for the overthrow of the autocracy and the abolition of serfdom. Such were the Decembrists, who, precisely in those years when the action of Pushkin’s novel takes place (1819-1825), secretly prepared a revolutionary uprising; such was Pushkin himself, who with his revolutionary poems instilled in his readers hatred of the oppressors, passionate love to freedom and to the homeland, a thirst for revolutionary feat.
People like Onegin did not belong to this category of noble revolutionaries. But the very fact that they felt uncomfortable in the social situation of that time, were sad, and mopey, suggests that they still stood significantly above the general level of noble youth. And if the circumstances of Onegin’s life had helped him to recover from selfishness, from proud inattention to others, then it would have been quite natural and logical for him to draw closer to people who shared his basic views, his sharply negative attitude towards the existing system - with the Decembrist revolutionaries.
Main character novel by A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” - a nobleman, an aristocrat. It is directly connected with modernity, with the real circumstances of Russian reality and with the people of the 1820s. Onegin is familiar with the Author and some of his friends....
One of the main characters of the novel in the verses of A.S. Pushkin is Onegin. It is no coincidence that the work is named after him. The image of Onegin is complex and contradictory, containing positive signs of progressiveness and sharply negative traits pronounced individualism...
The letters of Tatiana and Onegin stand out sharply from the general text of Pushkin’s novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”. Even the author himself gradually highlights them: an attentive reader will immediately notice that there is no longer a strictly organized “Onegin stanza”, but a noticeable...
The novel “Eugene Onegin” is Pushkin’s favorite brainchild. The novel was written over eight years. P. began writing his novel during the heyday of the social movement, during the heyday of freedom-loving ideas, and finished writing it during the years of the terrible reaction after...
