Evgeny Onegin as a new type of literary hero - the type of “superfluous person. The image of Eugene Onegin

Main character Romana - young landowner Eugene Onegin , this is a person with a complex, contradictory character. The upbringing that Onegin received was disastrous. He grew up without a mother. The father, a frivolous St. Petersburg gentleman, did not pay attention to his son, entrusting him to “poor” tutors. Consequently Onegin I grew up as an egoist, a person who cares only about himself, about his desires and who does not know how to pay attention to the feelings, interests, and suffering of other people. He is capable of offending, offending a person without even noticing it. Everything beautiful that was in the young man’s soul remained undeveloped. - boredom and laziness, monotonous satisfaction in the absence of real, living work.

Image of Onegin not made up. In it, the poet summarized the features typical of young people of that time. These are people who are provided for through work and serfs who received a disorderly upbringing. But unlike most representatives of the ruling class, these young men are smarter, more sensitive, more conscientious, more noble. They are dissatisfied with themselves, their environment, and the social order.

Onegin In terms of views and requirements for life, he stands above not only his rural landowner neighbors, but also representatives of St. Petersburg high society. Having met Lensky, who received higher education at the best university in Germany, Onegin could argue with him on any topic, as with an equal. with Lensky reveals in Onegin's soul the possibilities of faithful, friendly relations between people hidden behind the mask of cold egoism and indifference.

Seeing Tatyana for the first time, without even talking to her, without hearing her voice, he immediately felt the poetry of this girl’s soul. In his attitude towards Tatyana, as well as towards Lensky, such a trait as goodwill was revealed. Under the influence of the events depicted in the novel, evolution occurs in Eugene’s soul, and last chapter In the novel, Onegin is no longer the same as we saw him before. He fell in love with Tatiana. But his love does not bring either him or her.

In the novel “Eugene Onegin” Pushkin portrayed a frivolous young man who, even in love, cannot give himself advice. Running away from the world, Onegin could not escape from himself. By the time he realized this, it was already too late. Tatyana doesn't believe him now. And it opens Onegin eyes on yourself, but nothing can change.

Brief description of Evgeny Onegin | December 2014

Image and characteristics Evgenia Onegina in Pushkin's novel of the same name

Onegin. The hero of the novel appears before the reader as both an ordinary person (similar to many others) and an extraordinary person, simple and complex. This complexity and even inconsistency were a reflection of that complex, contradictory era, which gave rise to such characters. At the beginning of the novel, we have before us a young man living according to the laws and customs of secular society. He leaves St. Petersburg not in a fit of love for freedom to the exotic Caucasus, but to an ordinary village for the prosaic inheritance of his uncle. Nothing exceptional, mysterious, like the heroes romantic poems, it doesn't have it. It is significant that the romantics did not understand Pushkin’s plan and were unable to appreciate the new, realistic principles of depicting reality. A. A. Bestuzhev, having read the first chapter of the novel, wrote to the poet with bewilderment in March 1825: “I see a person whom I meet thousands of in reality.” He believed that this is why Onegin is not worthy of becoming the hero of a work of art.

However Onegin for all his typicality, he has such individual, unique features that make him “superfluous” to the society of the Buyanovs, Petushkovs, and Skotinins. The widely used term “superfluous person” (Onegin was the first in this typological series) should be perceived as negative characteristic and, first of all, not a hero, but an environment for which extraordinary people turn out to be inconvenient, unnecessary, superfluous. There can be no completeness in this society human existence. Onegin's disappointment in social life, in the people around him, in himself, finally, is precisely evidence of his extraordinary inner, spiritual qualities which, unfortunately, he was never able to demonstrate anywhere. Onegin’s extraordinary personality is also evidenced by his circle of friends, which include Kavelin, Chaadaev (Pushkin mentions this in Chapter 1) and, most importantly, the author himself, who called Onegin his good friend. And the fact that in Onegin’s office there is a portrait of Byron and a bust of Napoleon is also filled a certain meaning, was a kind of “signal” for the reader, helping him to better understand the worldview of the hero of the novel.

Belinsky conveyed his impression of Onegin as follows:

“...The inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him; he doesn’t even know what he needs, what he wants; but he knows, and knows very well, that he doesn’t need, that he doesn’t want what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.”

And precisely because secular society killed “the passion of the heart and the warmth of the soul” in him, he could not understand Tatyana, her trusting love. IN modern literary criticism The debate about the possibility of Onegin's moral revival does not stop. The opinion is expressed that the love that flared up in Onegin for Tatyana has only a “petty feeling of secular pride and vanity” as its source. Researchers who adhere to this point of view proceed from the concept according to which in the person of Onegin “the historical doom of the noble class is typified,” due to which there can be no talk of any revival of Pushkin’s hero. The meaning of the relationship between the images of Onegin and Tatyana in this case is determined by the concepts: on the one hand, “emptiness” and on the other, “internal integrity.” There is another concept, according to which the evolution of Onegin’s character seems undeniable, especially if we take into account the impact on the hero of the novel of the journey he undertook after the murder of Lensky. According to G.P. Makogonenko, after the defeat of the Decembrists, the path to combat the autocratic-serf system was completely unclear. That's why Pushkin showed moral revival of Onegin's personality through love.

Pushkin's discovery enriched literature: the moral value of man, his public position began to be discovered in the sphere of private, intimate life, “tested by love,” as the researcher writes. The most objective approach to solving this is really very complex issue Belinsky approached in his time, taking into account the specifics of Pushkin’s assessments, his dialectical approach in depicting human characters and the prospects for their development: “What happened to Onegin later? - asked the critic. - Has his passion resurrected him for a new suffering, more consistent with human dignity? Or did she kill all the strength of his soul, and his joyless melancholy turned into dead, cold apathy? “We don’t know, and what do we need to know this when we know that the powers of this rich nature are left without application, life without meaning, and the novel without end?”

Characteristics of Evgeny Onegin | November 2015

Characteristics and image of Evgeny Onegin

The hero of Pushkin's novel in verse, Evgeny Onegin, appears before us in different periods own life. The entire first chapter is devoted to a description of his youth.
Onegin's youth

“Young rake” - these words can briefly describe Evgeniy at this time. He doesn't serve anywhere, he leads social life, attends balls and dinners, pays a lot of attention to her appearance. He knows how to seem smart and subtle, but in fact his knowledge is superficial, and he uses it only to impress.

He loves women, but his hobbies are superficial. Using his charm, he conquers women, and then quickly cools down.

Eugene Onegin in the village

In the end, Evgeny cools down to this lifestyle. Having had enough of both balls and female attention, he is going to travel, but then his uncle dies, and Eugene remains the heir of the estate.

Here we recognize Onegin on the other side. Not afraid to cause the displeasure of the local landowners, he replaces corvee for the serfs with a light quitrent. Having escaped from the entertainment of the capital, he does not visit his neighbors even in the village, but he becomes close to the naive but sincere Lensky.

Killing a friend and rejected love

This friendship ends tragically. The ardent young man sends a challenge to Evgeniy. Onegin realizes that it is better to apologize to his friend, but narcissism forces him to put on his usual mask of indifference and accept the challenge. Lensky dies at the hands of Onegin.

Having received Tatiana's letter, Evgeniy was touched. He sympathizes with Tatyana, but does not love her yet. Having never experienced true love towards a woman, using her as a bargaining chip, he is generally not able to take this feeling seriously. Therefore, Evgeniy, as usual, plays the role of an experienced, cold-hearted person, while at the same time showing nobility. Evgeny did not take advantage of Tatyana’s feelings, but did not escape the temptation to lecture the girl in love.

Know how to control yourself:
not everyone will understand you like I do,
Inexperience leads to trouble.

Epiphany Onegin

Several years passed and he had to cruelly regret his coldness. In adulthood, he is no longer interested in spectacular poses, he is less focused on himself. Having met Tatyana, a married lady who has perfectly studied the art of “ruling oneself,” Evgeniy selflessly falls in love with her. Time does not heal him, months pass, and he still thinks only about her, driving himself almost to madness.

An explanation occurs; he learns that Tatyana still loves him, but is not going to break fidelity to her husband.

Pushkin hero capable of real feelings, but his early commitment to the world spoils him, forcing him to sacrifice love and friendship in favor of posing. When Onegin finally begins to “be” and not “seem,” many mistakes can no longer be corrected.

Characteristics of Evgeny Onegin - | December 2014

Evgeny Onegin - type " extra person»

The novel "Eugene Onegin", written by A. S. Pushkin in 1823 - 1831, truly became the first truly realistic work. In it, the author reliably depicted contemporary reality, recreated a typical image in the image of Eugene Onegin young man 20s of the XIX century.

This is a representative of freedom-loving youth, but at the same time, bored, disappointed and dissatisfied.

Onegin lives according to the principles of the surrounding society, but at the same time he is far from it in his interests and in his moral character, he turns out to be a “superfluous person.” Eugene Onegin opens up a whole “gallery of superfluous people” in Russian literature.

Let's try to explain the reasons why Onegin found himself outside the life around him. He received a typical education for his time, he was raised by the French:
At first Madame followed him.

Then Monsieur replaced her...

The home education Onegin received was very superficial. He learned “a little something and somehow.” As a result
He's completely French
He could express himself and wrote;
I danced the mazurka easily

And I'm having fun... This was quite enough for “the world to decide that he was smart and very nice.” According to his social status, Onegin belonged to high society

and led a typical lifestyle for this circle: attending theaters, balls, and receptions. The author describes in detail the routine for the “young rake,” but it turns out that Onegin has long been tired of this way of life, “he was bored with the noise of the world,” he “had completely lost interest in life.” The author tries to find the reasons for Onegin’s “Russian blues”.

Eugene Onegin lives in a secular society, follows its laws, but at the same time he is alien to it. The reason for this lies not in society, but in himself. Onegin lives without a goal in life, he has nothing to strive for, he languishes in inaction. Tired of the bright, hectic life of the world, “Onegin locked himself at home,” he tries to join in some activity:
I wanted to write, but it’s hard work
He felt sick; Nothing

Onegin begins to read, but soon he “covered the shelf with books with mourning taffeta.” Onegin does not find a place for himself in life. He leaves St. Petersburg and goes to the village in the hope of finding himself, but even here, only for two days, a new solitary place seemed to him. And soon he “saw clearly that in the village there was the same boredom.” And here he turns out to be an “extra person.” Onegin is alien to provincial society, first of all, in his social status and education.

Here Evgeny has to go through two most serious tests: friendship and love, but he does not withstand them.

Onegin kills his friend Lensky in a duel, and in his relationship with Tatyana such a trait of his character as selfishness manifests itself. Onegin could have prevented the death of his friend; it was in his will to prevent the duel, but he did not do this, afraid of “public opinion.” As V. G. Belinsky accurately noted, Onegin is a “suffering egoist”, “a reluctant egoist.” This means that Eugene was a man with good inclinations, but he was spoiled by his secular upbringing and the social environment to which he belonged.

The image of Evgeny Onegin is very contradictory. The negative traits of his character - individualism, selfishness, coldness, practical inactivity - are combined in him with positive ones, such as “direct nobility of soul.” In him we see signs of progressiveness and enlightenment. The image of Eugene Onegin is typical of the era described in the novel, but at the same time he stands out from the environment to which he belongs.

First of all, he is distinguished by a “sharp, cooled mind”, a penchant for “caustic argument” and “a joke with bile in half.”

He is far from the secular and provincial nobility, which he surpasses with his intelligence, but he cannot be classified as a progressive youth, since he has no ideal in life to strive for.

Thus, Eugene Onegin becomes a “superfluous man.” Belonging to the light, he despises it. Onegin does not find his true purpose and place in life; he is burdened by his loneliness. In the words of Herzen, “Onegin... is an extra person in the environment where he is, not possessing the necessary strength of character to break out of it.”

This is a representative of freedom-loving youth, but at the same time, bored, disappointed and dissatisfied.

Onegin lives according to the principles of the surrounding society, but at the same time he is far from it in his interests and in his moral character, he turns out to be a “superfluous person.” Eugene Onegin opens up a whole “gallery of superfluous people” in Russian literature.

Let's try to explain the reasons why Onegin found himself outside the life around him. He received a typical education for his time, he was raised by the French:
At first Madame followed him.

Then Monsieur replaced her...

The home education Onegin received was very superficial. He learned “a little something and somehow.” As a result
He's completely French
He could express himself and wrote;
I danced the mazurka easily

Evgeny Onegin - the type of “superfluous man”

and led a typical lifestyle for this circle: attending theaters, balls, and receptions. The author describes in detail the routine for the “young rake,” but it turns out that Onegin has long been tired of this way of life, “he was bored with the noise of the world,” he “had completely lost interest in life.” The author tries to find the reasons for Onegin’s “Russian blues”.

Eugene Onegin lives in a secular society, follows its laws, but at the same time he is alien to it. The reason for this lies not in society, but in himself. Onegin lives without a goal in life, he has nothing to strive for, he languishes in inaction. Tired of the bright, hectic life of the world, “Onegin locked himself at home,” he tries to join in some activity:
I wanted to write, but it’s hard work
He felt sick; Nothing

The novel "Eugene Onegin", written by A. S. Pushkin in 1823 - 1831, truly became the first truly realistic work. In it, the author reliably depicted contemporary reality, recreated in the image of Eugene Onegin the typical image of a young man of the 20s of the 19th century.

Here Evgeny has to go through two most serious tests: friendship and love, but he does not withstand them.

Onegin kills his friend Lensky in a duel, and in his relationship with Tatyana such a trait of his character as selfishness manifests itself. Onegin could have prevented the death of his friend; it was in his will to prevent the duel, but he did not do this, afraid of “public opinion.” As V. G. Belinsky accurately noted, Onegin is a “suffering egoist”, “a reluctant egoist.” This means that Eugene was a man with good inclinations, but he was spoiled by his secular upbringing and the social environment to which he belonged.

The image of Evgeny Onegin is very contradictory. The negative traits of his character - individualism, selfishness, coldness, practical inactivity - are combined in him with positive ones, such as “direct nobility of soul.” In him we see signs of progressiveness and enlightenment. The image of Eugene Onegin is typical of the era described in the novel, but at the same time he stands out from the environment to which he belongs.

First of all, he is distinguished by a “sharp, cooled mind”, a penchant for “caustic argument” and “a joke with bile in half.”

This was quite enough for “the world to decide that he was smart and very nice.” By his social status, Onegin belonged to high society and led a lifestyle typical of this circle: he attended theaters, balls, and receptions. The author describes in detail the routine for the “young rake,” but it turns out that Onegin has long been tired of this way of life, “he was bored with the noise of the world,” he “had completely lost interest in life.” The author tries to find the reasons for Onegin’s “Russian blues”.

Onegin begins to read, but soon he “covered the shelf with books with mourning taffeta.” Onegin does not find a place for himself in life. He leaves St. Petersburg and goes to the village in the hope of finding himself, but even here, only for two days, a new solitary place seemed to him. And soon he “saw clearly that in the village there was the same boredom.” And here he turns out to be an “extra person.” Onegin is also alien to provincial society, primarily due to his social status and upbringing. 1823 History of creation 1831 year, Onegin’s letter to Tatyana was included in the novel. In subsequent years, some changes and additions were made to the text of Eugene Onegin.

Initially, Pushkin did not have a clear plan for the novel. In 1830, while preparing to publish the full text of the work, Pushkin sketched overall plan publications It was planned to publish nine chapters. However, the eighth chapter, which told about Onegin’s wanderings, was significantly shortened and was not included in the final text of the novel (excerpts from it were published separately, in the author’s notes to the novel). As a result, the ninth chapter ended up in the place of the eighth. Thus, the final text of the novel has eight chapters.

In addition, there is hypothesis what Pushkin wrote tenth chapter, where he spoke about the secret societies of the Decembrists. The poet burned the manuscript of the tenth chapter in 1830 in Boldin. Some fragments of it have reached us. Scientists are still arguing about whether the tenth chapter existed as such. It is possible that we are dealing with scattered fragments of the draft text of the work that did not form a separate chapter.

Time of action

Pushkin wrote: “In our novel, time is calculated according to the calendar.” According to Yu.M. Lotman, the beginning of events(Onegin goes to the village to visit his sick uncle) falls on summer 1820. The first chapter describes the St. Petersburg winter 1819-1820. Many researchers believe that the novel ends in the spring of 1825. However, there is a hypothesis that the last chapter talks about the post-December era.

Subjects

The main theme of “Eugene Onegin” is life of the Russian nobility in the early 1820s.

In addition, Pushkin recreated in his work the most diverse aspects of life in Russia at that time. Yes, he reflected life not only the nobility, but also other classes, primarily the peasantry.

The novel is widely represented Russian and Western European literature and culture.

In addition, in his work Pushkin showed nature Russia, pictures of Russian life. That's why V.G. Belinsky called "Eugene Onegin" "encyclopedia of Russian life."

Issues

The central problem of the novel is time hero problem. This problem is raised primarily in connection with the image of Onegin, but also in connection with the images of Lensky and the author himself.

The problem of the hero of time correlates with another problem of the work - with the problem individuals and society. What is the reason for Onegin's loneliness in society? What is the reason for the spiritual emptiness of Pushkin’s hero: in the imperfection of the surrounding society or in himself?

Let's call it the most important thing in the novel. problem of Russian national character. This problem is conceptualized by the author primarily in connection with the image of Tatiana (a striking example of the Russian national character), but also in connection with the images of Onegin and Lensky (heroes divorced from national roots).

The novel puts a number of moral and philosophical problems. This the meaning of life, freedom and happiness, honor and duty. The most important philosophical problem of the work is human and nature.

In addition, the poet puts in his work and aesthetic problems: life and poetry, author and hero, freedom of creativity and literary traditions.

Ideological orientation

Reflected in “Eugene Onegin” spiritual evolution of Pushkin: crisis of educational ideas (period of southern exile); awareness of the values ​​of people's life (period of exile in Mikhailovskoye); doubts and mental anguish, the struggle between faith and unbelief (the period of wanderings).

Wherein humanistic ideals- personal freedom, “the inner beauty of man” (Belinsky), rejection of cruelty and selfishness - remain the main ones for the poet in all periods of the creation of the novel.

At the same time, the poet claims spiritual values ​​associated with national roots. This closeness of man to nature, following folk traditions, as well as such Christian virtues as selflessness, fidelity to marital duty. These values ​​are revealed primarily in Tatiana’s character.

Pushkin the poet states in his novel creative attitude to life.

At the same time, Pushkin’s novel was noted and satirical pathos: the poet denounces the conservative noble society, the serfdom that reigns in it, vulgarity, and spiritual emptiness.

"Eugene Onegin" as a realistic work

"Eugene Onegin" - the first realistic novel in Russian literature.

Pushkin's work is distinguished by historicism: here we find a reflection of the era of the first half of the 1820s, the most important trends in the life of the Russian nobility of that time.

In his work, Pushkin showed bright typical characters. In the image of Onegin, Pushkin recreated the type of educated nobleman, who later received the name “superfluous man.” In the image of Lensky, the poet captured the type of romantic dreamer, also characteristic of that era.

In the person of Tatiana we see a type of Russian noblewoman. Olga is the type of ordinary provincial young lady. In the images of minor and episodic characters (Tatyana's mother, the Larins' guests, Zaretsky, Tatiana's nanny, the Larins' Moscow relatives, Tatiana's husband and others), Pushkin also presented the reader with vivid types of Russian life.

Unlike romantic poems, in Eugene Onegin the author is separated from the heroes, he portrays them objectively, from the outside. At the same time, the image of the author, for all its importance in the novel, does not have self-sufficient significance.

In "Eugene Onegin" we find realistic paintings of nature, numerous details of Russian life, which also indicates the realism of the novel.

Exactly real life(and not abstract romantic ideals) becomes for Pushkin a source of creative inspiration and a subject of poetic reflection. Belinsky wrote: “What was low for former poets was noble for Pushkin; what was prose for them was poetry for him.”

The novel has been written living spoken language. Pushkin often uses words and expressions of a “low” style in his work, thereby bringing the verbal fabric of the novel closer to the everyday language of his time.

Genre originality

As is known, novel- This an epic work in which the narrative focuses on the fate of an individual in the process of its formation and development. (In an epic, unlike a novel, the fate of an entire people is in the foreground.)

The uniqueness of the genre of “Eugene Onegin” is that it is not just a novel, but novel in verse. The genre definition of the work was given by Pushkin himself. in a letter to Prince P.A. Vyazemsky dated November 4, 1823: “I’m not writing a novel, but a novel in verse - a devilish difference.”

Belinsky was one of the first to characterize the features of the genre of Pushkin’s novel. Firstly, the critic noted as Pushkin’s greatest merit the creation of a novel in verse at a time when there were no significant prose novels in Russian literature.

Secondly, Belinsky compares Pushkin’s novel with Byron’s poems, identifying both related features of the works of the two authors and Pushkin’s fundamental innovation.

Belinsky names some Byron's traditions in "Eugene Onegin". This poetic form, relaxed manner of storytelling, “a mixture of prose and poetry”, that is, a combination of everyday, prosaic phenomena and high objects, digressions, “the presence of the poet’s face in the work he created.”

At the same time, Belinsky notes innovation Pushkin, which the critic sees as follows. Firstly, this national identity Pushkin's work. Byron, according to Belinsky, “wrote about Europe for Europe... Pushkin wrote about Russia for Russia.” Secondly, this "fidelity to reality" Pushkin - a realist poet - in contrast to the “subjective spirit” of Byron - a romantic poet.

Finally, Pushkin's novel is distinguished by free form. Pushkin speaks about this feature of his work in his dedication to P.A. Pletnev: “Accept the collection of motley chapters...” At the end of “Eugene Onegin,” the poet mentions “the distance of a free novel.” This form of the novel is given by the unique voice of the author, whose inner world finds free, direct expression in the work. The author's digressions, written in a light, relaxed manner, are combined with strict symmetry in the arrangement of the central characters and the “mirroring” of the plot structure.

Composition: general structure of the work

As already noted, the final text of the novel consists of eight chapters.

The plot of “Eugene Onegin” is distinguished by “ specularity", character system - symmetry.

The first and second chapters can be considered as exposition to the main action of the work. In the first chapter, Pushkin introduces the reader to main character Evgeniy Onegin, talks about his upbringing, his life In Petersburg. In the second chapter the narrative moves to village. Here the reader is introduced to Lensky, Olga and Tatyana.

The third chapter contains the beginning of a love affair: Tatyana falls in love with Onegin and writes him a letter. Tatiana's letter to Onegin - the compositional center of the third chapter. Chapter Four, Beginning rebuke Onegin, contains a story about Tatyana's suffering from unrequited love and about Lensky's idyllic relationship with Olga. The fifth chapter talks about Christmas fortune telling, O Tatiana's dream, about her name day, O quarrel Onegin with Lensky.

Chapter six contains climax in the development of the plot - a story about duels Onegin and Lensky. Among the most important events seventh chapter note Tatyana's arrival in Moscow. The eighth chapter contains plot resolution. Here the heroes, in accordance with the principle " specularity", "switch places": now Onegin falls in love with Tatiana, writes to her letter and also receives rebuke, after which the author leaves his hero “at a moment that is evil for him.”

Plays an important compositional role in Eugene Onegin scenery. Descriptions of nature help the author organize artistic time novel, “calculate” it according to the calendar.

In the composition of “Eugene Onegin” a special place is occupied by author's digressions. Thanks to them, a holistic picture emerges in the reader’s perception. author's image.

Pushkin's novel is written Onegin stanza, which also gives the work harmony, completeness, and integrity.

Characters. general review

The main characters the novel should be called Onegin And Tatyana.

Lensky and Olga are not among the main characters, but this is also central persons in the work. The fact is that these characters, along with Onegin and Tatyana, perform plot-forming function.

He himself plays an important role in Eugene Onegin. author, speaking sometimes as a character own work.

TO minor characters Let us include those persons who, although not plot-forming, still play some significant role in the development of the action. This Tatyana's mother, Tatyana's nanny, Zaretsky, Tatyana's husband.

Let's also call episodic characters who appear in separate scenes, episodes, or are only mentioned (these are, for example, guests at the Larins’ name day, Onegin’s servant the Frenchman Guillo, Olga’s fiancé Ulan, the Larins’ Moscow relatives, representatives of St. Petersburg society).

It is difficult to draw a clear line between minor, episodic characters and mentioned persons.

Onegin

Eugene Oneginmain character Pushkin's novel. In his image, Pushkin sought to recreate character and spiritual appearance of his contemporary- a representative of the educated part of the noble class.

Onegin is a young aristocrat, born and raised in St. Petersburg, a secular dandy.

This is a person with liberal views, as evidenced by some of the details noted by the author. So, he did not serve anywhere, which at that time was a sign of freethinking; was interested in the theory of Adam Smith; read Byron and other modern authors. He made life easier for the peasants on his estate by replacing the “yoke... of the ancient corvée” with an easy quitrent. Onegin is the face of Pushkin’s circle: he dines with Pushkin’s acquaintance Kaverin, is compared with Chaadaev, and becomes a “good friend” of the author himself, although he does not share his poetic view of the world.

Talking about his hero, Pushkin focuses the reader’s attention on some significant contradictions in his worldview and life principles.

Onegin – educated person, well read, knowledgeable essays ancient and contemporary authors. At the same time, his Onegin's education is divorced from national origins, spiritual traditions. From here - skepticism hero, his indifference to matters of faith, ultimately - the deepest pessimism, loss of meaning in life.

Pushkin's hero - subtle, extraordinary nature. He is distinguished, as the poet notes, by “inimitable strangeness,” “a sharp, cool mind, and the ability to understand people. At the same time, the hero dried up his soul in secular hobbies and turned out to be unable to respond to Tatyana’s deep and sincere feeling.

Onegin, according to Pushkin, “ “good guy”: an honest, decent, noble person. Meanwhile, it is distinguished extreme selfishness, egocentrism, which manifested itself most clearly in the clash with Lensky.

Hero indifferent to secular society, is burdened by being in a secular crowd. However, the hero turns out to be slave of public opinion which prevents him from avoiding a duel and killing his friend.

All of these contradictions in the character and worldview of the hero are revealed throughout the action of the novel. Onegin passes tests of love and friendship. He can't stand any of them. Lensky dies tragically. At the end of the novel, Tatyana already rejects Onegin. She retained a feeling for the hero in her heart, but refused to share his passion.

Let's look at some artisticmeans of creating the image of Onegin.

Appearance description Onegin does not play any significant role in creating the image of the hero; it only emphasizes his belonging to the fashionable secular youth:

Haircut in the latest fashion,

Like a London dandy, dressed...

Plays a more important role in revealing Onegin’s character interior, in particular descriptions of the hero’s offices in the first and seventh chapters. First description characterizes Onegin as secular dandy. Let's note some substantive details here:

Amber on the pipes of Constantinople,

Porcelain and bronze on the table,

And, a joy to pampered feelings,

Perfume in cut crystal...

Looks different Onegin's village office described in the seventh chapter:

And Lord Byron's portrait,

And a post with a cast iron doll,

Under a hat, with a cloudy brow,

With hands clenched in a cross.

The details of the second description characterize intellectual and spiritual life of the hero:“a pile of books”, “a portrait of Lord Byron”, “a column with a cast-iron doll” - a figurine depicting Napoleon. The last detail is extremely important; it recalls such a personality trait of Onegin as individualism.

Descriptions of nature, unlike the interior, are not so important for revealing the character of the hero. Onegin is surrounded by books and things. He is far from nature, does not feel its beauty.

Only in the eighth chapter, Onegin, in love with Tatiana, is able to feel the awakening power of spring, but this is only a moment in the hero’s mental life:

Spring lives him: for the first time

Your chambers are locked,

Where did he spend the winter like a groundhog?

Double windows, fireplace

He leaves on a clear morning,

Rushing along the Neva in a sleigh.

On blue, scarred ice

The sun is playing; dirty melts

The streets are covered in snow.

So, Onegin combines typical features socialite and originality of nature.

Onegin is a hero who failed to find the meaning of life and happiness, doomed to a purposeless existence. He opens gallery of “extra people” in Russian literature: this is a hero,

Lensky

Vladimir Lensky – one of the central characters novel. This is young a poet-freethinker of a romantic nature. Let us note that among the opposition-minded noble youth of the first half of the 1820s there were both cold skeptics, like Onegin, and ardent romantics, like Lensky.

On the one hand, the image of Lensky sets off the image of the main character of the work. On the other hand, it has independent meaning in the novel.

We learn that Lensky studied at the University of Göttingen, one of the most liberal universities in Europe. The young poet was fascinated by the ideas of Kant, who was perceived in Russia as a freethinking philosopher. Lensky’s “freedom-loving dreams” are evidenced by his love for Schiller’s work. The hero received a good education for those times, but it, like Onegin’s education, was divorced from national origins.

Lensky is an honest, sincere, noble man, full of good intentions, but extremely emotional and completely incapable of living in the real world.

RomanticLensky opposed skepticOnegin. The main character of the novel looks at things realistically and judges them soberly. Lensky has his head in the clouds. Onegin, according to Belinsky, is “a real character”; Lensky is divorced from reality.

It is interesting to compare the characters of Lensky and Tatiana. Brings heroes together poetry nature At the same time, Tatyana’s personality is nourished, according to Pushkin’s plan, by deep national and folk roots. Lensky, with his German idealism, is alien to Russian reality; his romanticism is not related to national soil.

Lensky's choice of Olga as an object of worship is not accidental. Outwardly attractive, in reality Olga turns out to be very ordinary. The romantic Lensky idealizes his bride, attributing to her spiritual qualities that are absent in reality.

Lensky's fate– important a link not only in the love affair, but also in the plot of the work as a whole. The story of Lensky's love for Olga, which ended in a tragic ending, testifies to the hero's inability to behave soberly and calmly in critical situations. A very insignificant reason pushes Lensky to a duel, to a tragic death. The death of Lensky in the sixth chapter has symbolic meaning. Pushkin shows here the inconsistency of romantic illusions, the lifelessness of ideas divorced from reality. At the same time, Pushkin cherishes the poet’s lofty ideals, his service to “glory and freedom.”

Creating the image of Lensky, Pushkin uses and portrait details(“shoulder-length black curls”), and images of nature, and romantic ones at that:

He fell in love with dense groves,

Solitude, silence,

And the night, and the stars, and the moon...

An important means of creating the image of Lensky are hero poems, deliberately stylized “to resemble romanticism”:

Where, where have you gone,

Are the golden days of my spring?

So, Pushkin recreated in the image of Lensky the type of educated nobleman, no less characteristic of Pushkin’s time than the type of “superfluous man” of Onegin. This is a romantic poet.

Tatiana

Tatyana Larina – main character novel.

In her image, the poet realistically recreated the wonderful type of noblewoman. The author endowed the heroine with striking features of the Russian national character and showed her in the broad context of life in Russia in the 1820s. Belinsky saw the “feat of the poet” in the fact that “he was the first to poetically reproduce a Russian woman in the person of Tatyana.”

Tatyana combines the typical traits characteristic of noblewomen of Pushkin's time with the traits of an extraordinary personality. Pushkin notes in Tatyana the traits of a gifted nature, which distinguish the main character of the novel from her environment. Tatyana is characterized by a lively mind, depth of feelings, and poetic nature. According to the author, Tatyana

...gifted from heaven

With a rebellious imagination,

Alive in mind and will,

And wayward head,

And with a fiery and tender heart.

Like many noble girls, Tatyana was apparently raised by French governesses, hence her knowledge of the French language and her passion for novels by Western European authors, which the heroine read in French.

At the same time, life in the village, in the lap of nature, communication with simple peasants, especially with the nanny, introduced Tatyana to the Russian folk culture. Unlike Onegin, the heroine was not divorced from national origins.

Hence those moral values, which were characteristic of Tatiana. This living faith in God(Tatiana “sweetened / the melancholy of the worried soul with prayer”), mercy(“she helped the poor”), sincerity,chastity, no doubt about the sanctity of marriage. Moreover, this love for Russian nature, live connection with the people,knowledge of folk customs(“Tatyana believed the legends / of common folk antiquity”); indifference to social life:“The hateful tinsel of life” does not attract the heroine.

Consider Tatyana's place in the system of characters in the novel.

In contrastTatiana Olga The principle of symmetry in the arrangement of the central characters of the work clearly emerges. Olga's external beauty hides her ordinary and superficial nature and at the same time highlights the inner, spiritual beauty of Tatiana.

Tatiana opposed not only to sister Olga, but also mother - Praskovya Larina, an ordinary landowner.

It is also interesting to compare the characters Tatiana and Lensky. The heroes are brought together by the poetry of their natures. At the same time, Tatyana’s personality is nourished, according to Pushkin’s plan, by deep national and folk roots. Lensky, with his German idealism, is alien to Russian reality; his romanticism is not related to national soil.

It is important for Pushkin to emphasize such a personality trait of Tatyana as national identity. In this regard, the character system takes on special significance. Tatiana's nanny, shading the image main character.

Tatyana's personality is most clearly revealed in her correlation with the personality of Onegin. The main character and the main heroine of Pushkin's novel are in some ways close to each other, in some ways they are completely opposite.

Tatyana, like Onegin, is an extraordinary person. The heroes are brought together by intelligence, depth and subtlety of worldview. At the same time, Onegin is cold towards the world around him and does not feel its beauty. Tatiana, unlike Onegin, is characterized by a love of nature and the ability to feel the beauty of the world around her.

The main thing that distinguishes Tatiana from Onegin is the folk roots of her personality, dedication, and deep faith in God. Christian spiritual values ​​are alien to Onegin. He does not understand Tatyana’s views on marriage, family, and marital fidelity.

The love story of Tatiana and Onegin amounts to the main plot line of the novel. The finale of the work - Tatiana's rebuke to Onegin– allows the reader to clearly understand the spiritual foundations of the heroine’s personality. Tatyana retains a feeling for Onegin in her soul, but fidelity to marital duty is above all for her.

A special role in creating Tatiana’s image is played by pictures of nature: they accompany her throughout the entire action of the work.

Minor and episodic characters. Persons mentioned

As already noted, "Eugene Onegin", according to Belinsky, is "encyclopedia of Russian life". Hence the importance of not only the main, but also secondary and episodic characters. They allow the author of “Eugene Onegin” to reflect the most diverse aspects of Russian reality, to show the diversity of characters and types of Russian life. In addition, these characters shade the main characters of the novel and allow them to reveal their characters in a deeper and more multifaceted way.

Some minor characters in “Eugene Onegin” are covered in detail. They represent bright types of Russian life.

For example, Tatyana's mother Praskovya Larina- a typical serfdom lady. In her youth, she was a sentimental young lady, read novels, and was in love with a “glorious dandy.” However, after getting married and retiring to the village, she became an ordinary landowner:

She went to work

Salted mushrooms for the winter,

She kept expenses, shaved her foreheads,

I went to the bathhouse on Saturdays,

She beat the maids in anger -

All this without asking my husband...

With images of Praskovya Larina and her late husband Dmitry, only mentioned in the work, is associated with the image of the patriarchal foundations of the provincial nobility:

They kept life peaceful

Habits of a dear old man;

At their Shrovetide

There were Russian pancakes...

In addition, the images of Tatiana’s parents allow us to better understand the character of the main character. Compared to her parents, sister Olga, and the entire provincial nobility, Tatiana looks like an extraordinary person.

Tatiana's nanny is a type of simple Russian peasant woman. Her image is inspired by the poet’s memories of his own nanny Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, a wonderful Russian woman and a talented storyteller.

The poet puts into the nanny’s mouth a story about the difficult fate of a peasant woman: about early marriage, about a difficult life in someone else’s family:

“That’s it, Tanya! These summers

We haven't heard about love

Otherwise I would have driven you away from the world

My deceased mother-in-law.” –

“How did you get married, nanny?” –

“So, apparently, God commanded. My Vanya

Was younger than me, my light,

And I was thirteen years old.

The matchmaker went around for two weeks

To my family, and finally

My father blessed me.

I cried bitterly out of fear;

They unraveled my braid while crying

Yes, they led me to church singing...”

“Tatiana’s conversation with the nanny is a miracle of artistic perfection,” wrote Belinsky.

The image of the nanny sets off the image of Tatiana, emphasizing the national identity of the main character, her connection with folk life.

Plays an important plot role in the work Zaretsky. The surname of this character also evokes a very specific literary association: the reader remembers Griboyedov’s Zagoretsky.

Pushkin characterizes his hero sharply negatively, in sarcastic tones:

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:

This is how our century is corrected!

From Pushkin’s characterization of Zaretsky, it becomes clear to the reader that this character is the embodiment of dishonesty and meanness. However, it is people like Zaretsky who rule public opinion. Onegin is most afraid of his gossip. Zaretsky in this case personifies those false ideas about honor, of which Onegin ultimately turns out to be a hostage.

At the end of the seventh chapter, “some important general” is mentioned for the first time - the future Tatiana's husband. In the eighth chapter, he is named by the author as Prince N. Pushkin does not give any detailed description of the heroine’s husband. However, from her words it is clear that this is an honored person; he was probably even a hero of the War of 1812. It is no coincidence that Tatyana tells Onegin that her husband was “mutilated in battle,” that is, he was seriously wounded in battle.

The antithesis “Tatiana’s husband is Onegin” is present in the novel primarily to emphasize Tatyana’s fidelity to marital duty and the ideals of Christian marriage.

Some people are mentioned only once in the novel. For example, Pushkin tells the reader some information about Onegin's teachers:

Eugene's fate kept:

At first Madame followed him,

Then Monsieur replaced her...

The mention of “Madame” and “Monsieur l’Abbé” indicates that aristocratic youths were educated in the French manner; their education was cut off from the national soil.

In the first chapter, the poet describes the morning of working St. Petersburg:

What about my Onegin? Half asleep,

He goes to bed from the ball,

And St. Petersburg is restless

Already awakened by the drum.

The merchant gets up, the peddler goes,

A cabman pulls to the stock exchange,

Okhtinka is in a hurry with the jug,

The morning snow crunches under it.

I woke up in the morning with a pleasant noise,

Shutters open, chimney smoke

Rising like a pillar of blue,

And the baker, a neat German,

In a paper cap, more than once

He was already opening his vasisdas.

Persons named here ( merchant, peddler, cab driver, ohtinka, German baker) are contrasted with idle aristocrats who spend their lives in secular entertainment.

In his work, Pushkin describes pictures of life peasantry. On the pages of the novel flash images of representatives of the people, details of folk life:

On the firewood he renews the path;

His horse smells the snow,

Trotting along somehow;

Fluffy reins exploding,

The daring carriage flies;

The coachman sits on the beam

In a sheepskin coat and a red sash.

Here is a yard boy running,

Having planted a bug in the sled,

Transforming himself into a horse;

The naughty man had already frozen his finger;

He's both hurt and funny

And his mother threatens him through the window...

Describing the guests at Tatiana’s name day, Pushkin creates, as Yu.M. Lotman noted, a special type literary background. It includes well-known heroes of Russian literature:

With his portly wife

Fat Pustyakov arrived;

Gvozdin, an excellent owner,

Owner of poor men;

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.

Really, Gvozdin, “the owner of poor men,” reminds us of Captain Gvozdilov from “The Brigadier” by Fonvizin. Skotinin They bring to mind the characters of another Fonvizin comedy, “The Minor.” Buyanov- the hero of V.L. Pushkin’s poem “Dangerous Neighbor”.

One of the characters in the fifth chapter - Monsieur Triquet. The surname "Triquet" means "beaten with a stick" in French, that is, a swindler or petty sharper.

The introduction of such a literary background helps Pushkin create a vivid satirical picture of life in the Russian province.

In the sixth chapter, along with Zaretsky, Onegin’s hired servant, a Frenchman, is mentioned Monsieur Guillot.

In the seventh chapter of the novel, Pushkin draws bright satirical images representatives Moscow nobility. It's obvious here traditions of A.S. Griboyedov. Thus, the poet talks about the life of the Larins’ relatives and acquaintances:

But there is no change in them,

Everything about them is the same as the old model:

At Aunt Princess Elena's

Still the same tulle cap,

Everything is whitewashed Lukerya Lvovna,

Lyubov Petrovna lies all the same,

Ivan Petrovich is just as stupid

Semyon Petrovich is also stingy,

At Pelageya Nikolaevna's

Still the same friend Monsieur Finmouche,

And the same Spitz, and the same husband,

And he, still a good member of the club,

Still just as humble, just as deaf

And he also eats and drinks for two.

In the eighth chapter of the novel, Pushkin draws a satirical picture of the life of high society. So, he shows a social event:

Here, however, was the color of the capital,

And know, and fashion samples,

Faces you meet everywhere

Necessary fools...

Let's give another example:

Prolasov was here, who deserved

Fame for the baseness of the soul,

Dulled in all albums,

St.-Priest, your pencils...

There are many names on the pages of the novel real persons. These are Pushkin's friends Kaverin And Chaadaev. Their mention introduces Onegin into the social circle of Pushkin himself.

On the pages of "Eugene Onegin" we meet authors' names of various eras - from antiquity to the 1820s.

We are especially interested in references to Russian cultural figures. In the first chapter, in one of the author’s digressions, Pushkin talks about the history of Russian theater:

Magic land! There in the old days,

Satire is a brave ruler,

Fonvizin, friend of freedom, shone,

And the overbearing Prince;

There Ozerov involuntary tributes

People's tears, applause

Shared with young Semyonova;

There our Katenin was resurrected

Corneille is a majestic genius;

There the prickly Shakhovskoy brought out

A noisy swarm of their comedies,

There Didelot was crowned with glory,

There, there, under the canopy of the scenes,

My younger days were rushing by.

As you can see, the playwrights are named here D.I.Fonvizin, Ya.B.Knyazhnin, V.A.Ozerov, P.A.Katenin, A.A.Shakhovskoy, tragic actress Ekaterina Semenova, choreographer S. Didelot; a little later the ballerina mentions Avdotya Istomina.

On the pages of “Eugene Onegin” there are the names of famous Russian poets. Pushkin remembers G.R. Derzhavin:

Old man Derzhavin noticed us

And, going into the grave, he blessed.

The fifth chapter, which tells about Tatyana’s dream, is preceded by an epigraph from V.A. Zhukovsky:

Oh, don't know these terrible dreams

You, my Svetlana!

Repeatedly mentioned E.A. Boratynsky- “singer of feasts and languid sadness”, “singer of a young Finnish woman”. Pushkin addresses the author of wonderful elegies N.M. Yazykov: “So you, inspired Yazykov...”

Pushkin's friend prince P.A. Vyazemsky appears in the novel both as the author of the epigraph to the first chapter (“And he is in a hurry to live, and he is in a hurry to feel”), and as a character who met Tatyana in the seventh chapter.

The novel also mentions ancient authors(For example, Homer, Theocritus, Juvenal, Ovid). Pushkin calls Western European writers and poets, political figures. So, Schiller And Goethe are mentioned in connection with the characteristics of Lensky and his “German” education. Richardson and Rousseau named like the authors of novels that Tatyana was fond of. Byron And Napoleon reflect Onegin’s passions (in his village office there hung a portrait of Byron and a statuette of Napoleon).

On the pages of the novel they are called and fictional persons, among them literary heroes And mythological characters. Many literary heroes are mentioned in Eugene Onegin. This Lyudmila And Ruslan, characters from Pushkin himself. These are the heroes of other authors ( Child Harold, Gyaur, Juan- Byron's heroes Grandison- Richardson's hero, Julia- heroine of Rousseau, Griboyedovsky Chatsky,Svetlana Zhukovsky).

Pushkin also names mythological characters. This Venus, Apollo, Terpsichore, Melpomene.

In Tatyana's wonderful dream they appear Russian folklore characters, confirming the fact that “Tatiana believed the legends / of the common people of old times...”

All the indicated characters and real and fictitious persons mentioned on the pages of the novel expand the spatial and temporal boundaries of the work.

Analysis of individual chapters, episodes and other elements of the composition of the work

First chapter contains exposition of the image of Onegin; here the reader also gets acquainted with by the author novel. All this happens against the background pictures of life in St. Petersburg.

Epigraph The first chapter is accompanied by a quote from P.A. Vyazemsky’s poem “The First Snow”: “And he is in a hurry to live, and he is in a hurry to feel.” The epigraph sets a cheerful, life-affirming tone for the story.

In the first chapter, Pushkin tells about the upbringing, education, reading range of the main character, his interests, lifestyle. Using the example of Onegin's education, Pushkin shows the peculiarities of educating secular youth. Education there were mostly young nobles at that time homemade. It was carried out tutors-French and it was divorced from the values ​​of Russian national culture. Pushkin writes about Onegin:

Eugene's fate kept:

At first Madame followed him,

Then Monsieur replaced her.

The superficial nature of Onegin’s education can be judged by those qualities that he needed in social life. Pushkin writes ironically about his hero:

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 the first chapter, Pushkin also describes day of a secular young man. First, the author talks about waking up late Onegin:

Sometimes he was still in bed,

They bring notes to him.

What? Invitations? Indeed,

While in morning dress,

Putting on a wide bolivar,

Onegin goes to the boulevard

And there he walks in the open space,

While the watchful Breget

Dinner won't ring his bell.

After the walk Onegin Dining at Talon's, owner of a fashionable restaurant:

He rushed to Talon: he is sure

What is Kaverin waiting for him there?

After lunch follows visiting the theater. Pushkin remarks here with irony:

The theater is an evil legislator,

Fickle Adorer

Charming actresses

Honorary Citizen of the Backstage,

Onegin flew to the theater.

Onegin ends his day at the ball:

Has entered. The hall is full of people;

The music is already tired of thundering;

The crowd is busy with the mazurka;

There is noise and cramped conditions all around...

Onegin returns home in the morning, when working Petersburg is already getting up to get to work:

What about my Onegin? Half asleep,

He goes to bed from the ball,

And St. Petersburg is restless

Already awakened by the drum...

Talking about Onegin, the poet emphasizes the emptiness and monotony of social life. Pushkin writes about his hero:

Wake up at noon, and again

Until the morning his life is ready,

Monotonous and colorful.

And tomorrow is the same as yesterday.

Last topic narratives in the first chapterOnegin's acquaintance and friendship with the author. The poet gives a remarkable psychological description of the hero, comparing his personality traits and peculiarities of his worldview with his own view of the world:

Having overthrown the burden of the conditions of light,

How does he, having fallen behind the bustle,

I became friends with him at that time.

I liked his features

Involuntary devotion to dreams,

Inimitable strangeness

And a sharp, chilled mind.

I was embittered, he was gloomy;

We both knew the passion game:

Life tormented both of us;

The heat died down in both hearts;

Anger awaited both

Blind Fortune and People

In the very morning of our days.

In that psychological portrait Onegin is being glimpsed features of Pushkin himself, who was experiencing a severe mental crisis at the time of writing the first chapter (end of 1823). Meanwhile, the author does not forget to emphasize “ difference"between himself and the hero: despite disappointment in previous ideals, the author did not lose his poetic view of the world, did not change his love for nature, did not abandon the poetic creativity dear to his heart. The crisis of 1823-1824 was only a stage in Pushkin’s spiritual evolution, and unlike skeptic Onegin, the author of the novel remains in the deepest foundations of his own personality optimist.

In the second chapter the narrative is transferred to the village.Double epigraph – “Oh rus!” (“Oh village!”) from Horace and “O Rus'!” – connects the topic village life with the theme Russian national identity, reveals problem of Russian national character as one of the leading characters in the work.

The second chapter introduces the reader to Lensky, Olga and Tatyana.

In the sixth stanza it is given exposition of Lensky's image:

To my village at the same time

The new landowner galloped up

And equally strict analysis

In the neighborhood there was a reason,

Named Vladimir Lensky,

With a soul straight from Göttingen,

Handsome man, in full color years,

Kant's admirer and poet.

He's from foggy Germany

He brought the fruits of learning:

Freedom-loving dreams

The spirit is ardent and rather strange,

Always an enthusiastic speech

And shoulder-length black curls.

Lensky, like Onegin, aroused a feeling of mistrust among the neighboring landowners with his liberal sentiments. The hero’s “freedom-loving dreams” were clearly alien to them.

Here, in the second chapter, it is outlined Line Lensky – Olga, the artistic role of which is to reveal the characters of these heroes and, most importantly, to highlight the love story of Tatiana and Onegin.

Finally, the second chapter gives exposure of the imageTatiana. The author draws attention to Name« Tatiana”, which in Pushkin’s time many considered common people. The poet deliberately calls his heroine this way:

For the first time with such a name

Tender pages of the novel

We willfully sanctify.

Talking about Tatyana, Pushkin compares his heroine with her sister Olga:

Not your sister's beauty,

Nor the freshness of her ruddy

She wouldn't attract anyone's attention.

In contrast to Tatiana, Olga clearly emerges symmetry principle in the arrangement of the central characters of the work. Olga's external beauty hides her ordinary and superficial nature and at the same time highlights the inner, spiritual beauty of Tatiana.

Here, in the second chapter, Pushkin outlines such character traits of the heroine as daydreaming,love of nature,penchant for reading novels.

So, Pushkin talks about his heroine:

Thoughtfulness, her friend

From the most lullabies of days,

The flow of rural leisure

Decorated her with dreams.

The poet emphasizes Tatiana's closeness to nature:

She loved on the balcony

She liked novels early on;

They replaced everything for her.

She fell in love with deceptions

Both Richardson and Russo.

As already noted, the plot of the work is built on the principle "mirroring".Tatiana falls in love with Onegin, writes to him letter and as a result gets rebuke. At the end of the work the characters “switch places”: now Onegin falls in love with Tatiana, writes to her letter and also receives rebuke.

Chapter Three the novel contains the beginning of a love story. Not by chance epigraph to the third chapter is taken from the French author (“Elle était fille, elle était amoureuse” 1, Malfilâtre). Pushkin reminds the reader of the heroine’s upbringing in the French manner, of her reading novels, and of the fact that Tatyana’s very thoughts about Onegin are inspired by her romantic ideas about literary heroes.

Onegin appears in the imagination of the lover Tatyana hero of the books she read:

Lover of Julia Volmar,

Malek-Adele and de Linard,

And Werther, the rebellious martyr,

And the incomparable Grandison,

Which makes us sleep, -

Everything for the tender dreamer

They have clothed themselves in a single image,

Merged into one Onegin.

Tatyana also thinks about herself heroine of the novel:

Imagining a heroine

Your beloved creators,

Clarissa, Julia, Delphine,

Tatyana in the silence of the forests

One wanders around with a dangerous book...

Tatiana's lettercompositional center of the third chapter. According to researchers, for example Yu.M. Lotman, the heroine’s letter is distinguished by its genuine sincerity,sincerity. It is from this letter that we learn about the innermost secrets of Tatyana’s soul - O her sincere faith in God, about the joy of prayer, about compassion for the poor, about loneliness among the people around her.

However, the letter contains turns of phrase, gleaned from Pushkin’s heroine from what I read by her books. Tatyana, like many of her noblewomen of the same age, had little command in writing in her native language, and chose French to declare her love.

As already noted, national identity of Tatiana's nature emphasized by her image nannies. From this point of view, to understand the character of the main character, such an element of composition as Tatyana's conversation with the nanny, filled, according to Belinsky, with true nationality.

Important episode fourth chapterOnegin's rebuke.Ironic the author’s attitude towards this hero’s monologue is already given epigraph: “Lamoraleestdanslanaturedeschoses” 1 (Necker). The meaning of a rebuke much deeper than Onegin’s formal explanation of the reasons for his refusal to respond to Tatyana’s feelings. As we know, Onegin declared to the heroine that he was not worthy of her love, and most importantly, that he was “not created for bliss,” that is, he was not ready for family life. Onegin was partly sincere: in fact, his soul became shallow, dried up in secular intrigues, and his excellent mastery of the “science of tender passion” turned into spiritual devastation for him. There was, however, another, main reason, which Onegin will remember later, in his own letter to Tatyana: “I didn’t want to lose my hateful freedom.” Selfishness, thoughts only about his own freedom kept the hero from taking a decisive step.

Against the backdrop of the spiritual sorrows of the rejected Tatiana, idyllic paintings Lensky's courtship of his bride. There seems to be no sign of trouble.

The fifth chapter tells about Christmas fortune telling, O Tatiana's dream, about her name day, O Onegin's quarrel with Lensky.

Epigraph from V.A. Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana” (“Oh, don’t know these terrible dreams / You, my Svetlana!”) immerses the reader in the element of folk beliefs. Svetlana is mentioned more than once in Pushkin’s novel, and this is no coincidence. Pushkin’s contemporaries already perceived Zhukovsky’s heroine as Tatyana’s literary predecessor, and her dream as a prototype of Tatyana’s dream. Romantic image of Svetlana, created by Pushkin’s literary mentor, his older brother in writing, was associated with deep national roots, marked the invasion of the folk poetic element into Russian poetry. Pushkin generously multiplied the traditions of Zhukovsky - in realistic image of Tatiana, associated not only with folk beliefs and legends, but also with the specific historical realities of Russian life in the twenties of the 19th century.

Tatiana's dream occupies a special place in the composition of the work. On the one hand, the dream reveals deep folk foundations of Tatiana’s character, connection between the heroine’s worldview and folk culture.

On the other hand, Tatyana's dream has prophetic meaning: It predicts the tragic events of the sixth chapter.

Scenes from Tatiana's name day represent a wonderful a picture of the morals of the provincial nobility, once again emphasizing such a property of Pushkin’s work as encyclopedic.

The fifth chapter contains an important plot twist: It tells about Onegin's courtship of Olga, about Lensky's anger and his decision to challenge Onegin to a duel.

Chapter Six contains the climax of the plot. It tells about the duel between Onegin and Lensky.Epigraph the sixth chapter was inspired by the words of Petrarch: “La,sottoigiorninubilosiebrevi, /Nasceunagenteacuil’morirnondole” 1.

IN duel situations clearly revealed the inconsistency of the moral structure of Onegin’s soul.

On the one hand, Onegin is a “kind fellow”, sincerely attached to his young comrade. Onegin appreciates Lensky's education, the sublime impulses of youth, and treats his poems condescendingly.

However, “loving the young man with all my heart,” Onegin cannot suppress the desire to take revenge on Lensky for an invitation to a boring holiday with the Larins and takes care of Olga, which angers the ardent and impressionable young man. Onegin is also unable to challenge the impressionable secular prejudices; He afraid of public opinion, does not dare refuse the duel. As a result - its inevitability, tragic death Lensky and serious Onegin's mental anguish.

Onegin's murder of Lensky in a duel - the climax in the development of the plot. This tragic event finally separates Onegin from Tatiana. The hero, torn by mental anguish, cannot remain in the village any longer.

At the same time, the duel shows “lifelessness” of Lensky’s character, the hero's isolation from reality.

Reflecting on the possible future of Lensky (if he had not died in a duel), Pushkin outlines two paths for his hero. Lensky could become outstanding poet:

Perhaps he is for the good of the world

Or at least was born for glory;

His silent lyre

Loud, continuous ringing

In centuries I could lift...

However, Lensky could have expected life is vulgar and ordinary:

Or maybe even that: a poet

The ordinary one was waiting for his destiny.

The youthful summers would pass,

The ardor of his soul would cool.

He would change in many ways

I would part with the muses, get married,

In the village, happy and horny,

I would wear a quilted robe;

I would really know life...

Death of Lensky in a duel has and symbolic meaning for the poet himself. Saying goodbye to Lensky at the end of the sixth chapter, the author of the novel says goodbye with your own youth, marked by romantic dreams.

But so be it: let’s say goodbye together,

Oh my easy youth! –

exclaims the poet.

Duel Onegin and Lensky - a turning point in the development of the plot. From the seventh chapter we learn that Onegin leaves the village, Olga marries a lancer, and Tatyana is taken to Moscow to the “bride fair.”

Among major events seventh chapter note Tatyana's visit to Onegin's house and reading his books. Belinsky called this event an “act of consciousness” in Tatiana’s soul. The meaning of Tatyana's reading of Onegin's books is that she understands the hero's character more deeply and tries to comprehend his contradictory nature.

The Central Theme of Chapter Seven novel - Moscow. Its importance is evidenced three epigraphs, taken from the works of various authors - Pushkin’s contemporaries.

Moscow, Russia's beloved daughter,

Where can I find someone equal to you? –

solemnly asks I.I. Dmitriev.

How can you not love your native Moscow? –

E.A.B asks the question with love, but at the same time with irony O Ratynsky

An excerpt from “Woe from Wit” reminds us of Griboyedov’s satire on the Moscow nobility:

Persecution of Moscow! What does it mean to see the light!

Where is it better?

Where we are not.

Epigraphs convey the poet's ambiguous attitude towards the ancient capital.

On the one side, Moscowhomelandpoet. Pushkin recalls his meeting with her after his exile in Mikhailovskoye in the following lines:

When churches and bell towers

Gardens, palace semicircle

Suddenly opened up before me!

In my wandering destiny,

Moscow, I was thinking about you!

For the Russian heart it has merged!

How much resonated with him!

Moscow for Pushkin it was also symbol of Russia's victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812:

Napoleon waited in vain

Intoxicated with the last happiness,

Moscow kneeling

With the keys of the old Kremlin:

No, my Moscow did not go

To him with a guilty head.

Not a holiday, not a receiving gift,

She was preparing a fire

To the impatient hero...

On the other hand, Pushkin satirically depicts life Moscow nobility. Here it is especially obvious traditions of Griboyedov,reminiscences from “Woe from Wit” (“But no change is visible in them...”).

Pushkin's critical attitude towards the Moscow world is not accidental. Pushkin finished the seventh chapter, like the eighth, after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. Returning to Moscow after exile, Pushkin did not meet many of his former friends. It is characteristic that in the seventh chapter, Vyazemsky alone “managed” to “occupy” Tatyana’s soul. Although this chapter takes place before 1825, "glow" of the post-December era obvious here.

Chapter Eight contains plot resolution And words of farewell the author with the characters and with the reader. The motive of farewell is also present in the epigraph from Byron: “Fare thee well, and if for ever, still for ever, fare thee well” 1.

In the eighth chapter, the action of the novel is again transferred to Petersburg.Satirical pathosin the image of high society Petersburg in this chapter is strikingly different from the soft irony that dominates the first chapter. The fact is that here, as in the seventh chapter, which tells about Moscow, there is a “glimmer” of the era after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising: those comrades to whom the poet read the first stanzas of the novel “in a friendly meeting” have already passed away or ended up in hard labor . From here the sad mood of the author in the last chapter his creations.

Talking about Onegin in the eighth chapter, Pushkin conveys the hero's difficult mental state after the murder of Lensky:

He was overcome with anxiety

Wanderlust

(A very painful property,

Few voluntary cross).

He left his village

Forests and fields solitude,

Where is the bloody shadow

Appeared to him every day

And he began wandering without a goal...

The mental anguish of the protagonist is most clearly reflected in the dream-memory 2, which makes up the contents of the XXXVI and XXXVII stanzas of the eighth chapter:

So what? His eyes read

But my thoughts were far away;

Dreams, desires, sorrows

They pressed deep into the soul.

It's between the printed lines

Read with spiritual eyes

Other lines. He's in them

Was completely deep.

Those were secret legends

Heartfelt, dark antiquity,

Unrelated dreams

Threats, rumors, predictions,

Il long tale living nonsense

Or letters from a young maiden.

And gradually into a sleep

And he falls into feelings and thoughts,

And before him is the imagination

The motley pharaoh sweeps his mosque.

That's what he sees: on the melted snow,

As if sleeping for the night,

Then he sees forgotten enemies,

Slanderers and evil cowards,

And a swarm of young traitors,

And the circle of despised comrades,

That's a rural house - and at the window

She sits... and that's it!

The culminating event of the entire work - the tragic death of Lensky - is emphasized in this way in the last, eighth chapter, becoming, along with the outbreak of passion for Tatyana, the most important component of the inner life of the protagonist. Onegin's dream clearly enhances the effect of " specularity"compositions of the novel. Onegin's Dream retrospectively recreates the same tragic event (the murder of Lensky) that was predicted in prophetic Tatiana's dream.

In addition, Onegin's dream contains images, directly referring the reader to Tatiana’s state of mind in the middle chapters of the novel (“secret legends of the heartfelt, dark antiquity”, “predictions”, “living nonsense fairy tales”, “letters from a young maiden”).

At the same time fairy tale images from Tatiana's dream, which is based on folklore roots and emphasizes Tatiana's living connection with the elements of folk life, can be contrasted with the metaphorical image of pharaoh 1 from Onegin’s dream (“before him, in his imagination, the motley mosque of Pharaoh”). As you know, Pharaoh is the name of a gambling card game, symbolizing in Pushkin’s works the power of demonic forces over the human soul (remember “The Queen of Spades”). Onegin's soul was completely at the mercy of these forces, and the ominous image of the pharaoh gives the hero's dream a gloomy flavor. The world of evil that dominates Onegin’s dream includes “forgotten enemies”, and “slanderers”, and “evil cowards”, and “a swarm of young traitors”, and “a circle of despised comrades”. These faces from Onegin's past, like the image of the pharaoh, become a symbol of undue existence hero.

In the eighth chapter, in accordance with the principle “ specularity", the heroes change places. Now already passion flares up in Onegin's soul. In Onegin’s feelings for Tatyana one can see not only a life-giving force that cleanses the hero’s soul. Rather it's "passion is a dead trail" according to the figurative definition of the poet. This passion could not heal Onegin’s soul; it only intensified his mental anguish caused by the murder of his friend.

Onegin's letter to Tatianathe most important ideological center the entire novel. In his letter, Onegin exclaims bitterly:

I thought: freedom and peace

Substitute for happiness. My God!

How wrong I was, how I was punished...

The meaning of the denouement the novel is that Tatyana rejects Onegin:

I love you (why lie?),

But I was given to someone else

I will be faithful to him forever.

The denouement allows the reader to clearly understand not only the meaning of the moral crisis experienced by the hero, but also the spiritual foundations of the heroine’s personality. Tatyana retains a feeling for Onegin in her soul, but fidelity to marital duty is above all for her. Tatyana contrasts Onegin's unbridled passion Christian submission to fate(“my fate is already decided”) and moral strength.

It is significant that Pushkin shows his heroes in his novel in spiritual evolution.

Tatyana turns from a dreamy village girl into a brilliant society lady. At the same time, she retains in her soul those deep moral values ​​that were embedded in her in her youth. The heroine tells Onegin about her attitude towards social life:

And to me, Onegin, this pomp,

Life's hateful tinsel,

My successes are in a whirlwind of light,

My fashionable house and evenings, -

What's in them? Now I'm glad to give it away

All this rags of a masquerade,

All this shine, and noise, and fumes

For a shelf of books, for a wild garden,

For our poor home,

For those places where for the first time,

Onegin, I saw you,

Yes for the humble cemetery,

Where is the cross and the shadow of the branches today?

Above poor nanny my...

Having not fallen in love with the St. Petersburg society, Tatyana nevertheless patiently bears her cross, remaining a devoted wife and fulfilling the role of a high society lady that she dislikes.

The changes that occur in Onegin’s soul throughout the novel are also obvious. At the beginning of the work, Onegin appears before us as a frivolous secular dandy. Then - a skeptic, disappointed in social life, obsessed with despondency, melancholy. At the end of the novel we see a man who has lost the meaning of life.

At the end of the work, the author leaves Onegin “at a moment that is evil for him.” What will happen to the hero next is unknown. denouement, carrying an element understatement,incompleteness, –innovative trait compositions of Pushkin's novel.

Nature in the novel

Images of nature occupy a large place in the work, constituting the most important facet of the “encyclopedia of Russian life.” In addition, the landscape serves several other essential functions.

As noted above, descriptions of nature help the author organize the artistic time of the novel. The action of the work begins in the summer. Onegin flies “in the dust at the post office” to the village to visit his sick uncle. In the second chapter, Pushkin paints a picture of rural nature:

The master's house is secluded,

Protected from the winds by a mountain,

He stood over the river. In the distance

Before him they dazzled and bloomed

Golden meadows and fields...

Summer gives way to autumn:

The sky was already breathing in autumn,

The sun shone less often,

The day was getting shorter;

Mysterious forest canopy

With a sad noise she was naked...

Finally, winter comes:

That year the weather was autumn

I stood in the yard for a long time,

Winter was waiting, nature was waiting.

Snow only fell in January...

At the beginning of the seventh chapter, Pushkin describes the awakening of spring:

Driven by spring rays,

There is already snow from the surrounding mountains

Escaped through muddy streams

To the sunken meadows...

In addition, in the descriptions of nature we observe the creative evolution of the author, his path from romanticism to the “poetry of reality”.

As you know, Pushkin began to write his work in southern exile, during the romantic period of his creativity. In the first chapter we meet romantic images of nature:

Adriatic waves,

Oh Brenta! No, I'll see you

And, full of inspiration again,

I will hear your magical voice!

However, in general the novel is dominated by realistic paintings of nature, often containing details of Russian life. As an example, here is a description of the Russian winter in the fifth chapter of the work:

Winter!.. The peasant, triumphant,

On the firewood he renews the path...

Pushkin himself comments on such paintings as follows:

But maybe this kind

Pictures will not attract you;

All this is low nature;

There's a little grace here.

At the same time, the reader understands that it was in the pictures of simple Russian nature that the author knew how to find true poetry. “What was low for former poets was noble for Pushkin; What was prose for them, was poetry for him,” wrote Belinsky.

Pushkin draws in his work and cityscape. The image of the white nights in St. Petersburg in the first chapter is presented in romantic key. The poet talks about how he walked with Onegin along the embankments of the Neva, “when it is transparent and light / The night sky over the Neva / And the cheerful glass of water / Does not reflect the face of Diana...” Cityscape in the eighth chapter emphasized realistic, even prosaic: “On the blue, carved ice / The sun plays; It’s dirty melting / The snow is dug up in the streets.”

Your creative evolution from romanticism to realism Pushkin comprehends in Onegin's Travels.

First, the poet writes about the romantic images of nature that excited him in his youth:

At that time I seemed to need

Deserts, edges of pearly waves,

I need other paintings:

I love the sandy slope,

There are two rowan trees in front of the hut,

A gate, a broken fence...

Besides, images of nature in the novel are the most important means of characterizing heroes; in addition, they help to understand the author’s own worldview.

Two days seemed new to him

Lonely fields

The coolness of the gloomy oak tree,

The babbling of a quiet stream;

On the third grove, hill and field

He was no longer occupied;

For village silence:

More vivid creative dreams.

As for Lensky, he sees nature in romantic outlines:

He fell in love with dense groves,

Solitude, silence,

And the night, and the stars, and the moon...

She loved on the balcony

To warn the dawn of the rising, -

Pushkin writes about Tatyana in the second chapter. In the fifth chapter, the poet tells how Tatyana meets winter:

Waking up early

Tatiana saw through the window

In the morning the white yard...

In Tatyana’s love for the Russian winter, the poet sees a vivid manifestation of the original Russian soul:

Tatiana (Russian soul,

Without knowing why)

With her cold beauty,

I loved Russian winter...

The poet touchingly describes Tatyana’s farewell to nature, to village life in the seventh chapter of the novel:

Sorry, peaceful valleys,

And you, familiar mountain peaks,

And you, familiar forests;

Sorry, heavenly beauty,

Sorry, cheerful nature,

I change the sweet, quiet light

To the noise of brilliant vanities...

Finally, nature in the novel is also a source of the author’s philosophical reflections on the transience of life, the continuity of generations, and the connection of times. Thus, the poet reflects on the change of generations at the end of the second chapter:

Alas! On the reins of life

Instant generational harvest

By the secret will of Providence

They rise, mature and fall;

Others are following them...

So our windy tribe

Growing, worried, seething

And he presses towards the grave of his great-grandfathers.

Our time will come, our time will come,

And our grandchildren in good time

They will push us out of the world too!

Describing the awakening of spring in the seventh chapter, the poet again returns to thoughts about passing youth, about the transience of life:

How sad your appearance is to me,

Spring, spring! It's time for love!

What languid excitement

In my soul, in my blood!

With what heavy tenderness

I enjoy the breeze

Spring blowing in my face

In the lap of rural silence!

Or, not happy about the return

Dead leaves in autumn,

We remember the bitter loss

Listening to the new noise of the forests;

Or with nature alive

We bring together the confused thought

We are the fading of our years,

Which cannot be reborn?

Thus, the artistic role of images of nature in Eugene Onegin is multifaceted. The landscape performs a compositional function, helping the author organize artistic time in the novel; descriptions of nature reflect the creative evolution of the author, his path from romanticism to the “poetry of reality”; landscape is a means of characterizing characters, a way of self-expression of the author; finally, nature in Pushkin's work- the source of the poet’s philosophical reflections on life, on fate, on the continuity of generations, on the connection of times.

In the eighth article from the series “Works of Alexander Pushkin,” Belinsky wrote: “'Onegin' is Pushkin's most sincere work, the most beloved child of his imagination, and one can point to too few works in which the poet's personality would be reflected with such completeness, light and it is clear how Pushkin’s personality was reflected in Onegin. Here is all his life, all his soul, all his love; here are his feelings, concepts, ideals. To evaluate such a work means to evaluate the poet himself in the entire scope of his creative activity.”

As you know, “Eugene Onegin” is a work unusual genre. In a letter to Prince P.A. Vyazemsky, Pushkin noted: “I am not writing a novel, but a novel in verse: a devilish difference.”

A novel in verse - a lyric epic work, in which not only are important author's narration about events and heroes, but also lyrical digressions, in which the poet’s inner world finds free, direct expression.

In "Eugene Onegin" we find various types of derogations:autobiographical, morally descriptive, historical, journalistic, philosophical.

Let us briefly describe the topic of the digressions. Most of the digressions in the novel are of autobiographical content: the author tells the reader about his life, starting from his lyceum years and ending with his arrival in Moscow, and then in St. Petersburg after exile to Mikhailovskoye.

In the digressions we also find the author’s philosophical reflections on the transience of life and the change of generations. The poet shares with the reader his thoughts about love and friendship, about duels and murder in a duel, while expressing a sharp rejection of individualism and selfishness (“We all look like Napoleons...”).

The poet's opinions about Russian and Western European literature and culture are interesting. Here we should, in particular, note the digressions about theater in the first chapter, about literary heroes in the third, about the poetic genres of elegy and ode in the fourth.

The poet expresses his opinions about contemporary poets (about Yazykov, Boratynsky), about the Russian language, about the albums of district young ladies and metropolitan ladies, about modern youth, their education, about the tastes and morals of Pushkin’s contemporary society, about social entertainment, about balls, about cuisine of that time, even about the types of wines!

Among the journalistic digressions, we will mention the poet’s reflections in the seventh chapter about roads in Russia and the future of the country. We especially note the historical digression about Moscow in the seventh chapter, where Pushkin admires the feat of the inhabitants of the ancient capital in the war of 1812 (“Napoleon waited in vain...”).

The author’s thoughts about his own novel are also interesting: the poet talks about the plan of the work, about the characters, introduces readers to them; says that the “fifth notebook” of the novel needs to be “cleared of digressions”; Finally, he says goodbye to the reader and the characters.

Author's digressions serve several functions. Let's name the main ones. Firstly, they help the poet create an “encyclopedia of Russian life” (Belinsky). Secondly, they reveal to the reader the personality of the author himself.

The image of the author of “Eugene Onegin” is multifaceted. The author appears before us in several of his guises: autobiographer,creator of the novel, commentator on his own work, hero of the novel, philosopher, poet.

In “Eugene Onegin” Pushkin introduces the reader to the facts of his biography. He describes his own life in most detail and creative path in the digression on the Muse at the beginning of the eighth chapter.

First, the poet recalls his lyceum years:

In those days when in the gardens of the Lyceum

I blossomed serenely

I read Apuleius willingly,

But I haven’t read Cicero,

In those days in the mysterious valleys,

In spring, when l ikah ​​swan,

Near the waters shining in silence,

The Muse began to appear to me.

The poet recalls his first successes, the lyceum exam, which was attended by G.R. Derzhavin. The poet speaks about himself and his Muse:

And the light greeted her with a smile,

Success inspired us for the first time,

Old man Derzhavin noticed us

I brought the playful Muse

To the noise of feasts and violent disputes...

It is known that at this time the poet participated not only in friendly feasts, but also in bold discussions among radical youth.

How often on the rocks of the Caucasus

She is Lenora, in the moonlight,

And here she is in my garden

She appeared as a district young lady,

With a sad thought in my eyes,

With a French book in hand.

At the end of the digression about the Muse, the poet recalls how she reappeared in St. Petersburg:

She likes order and slender

oligarchic conversations,

And the coldness of calm pride,

And this mixture of ranks and years.

Autobiographical digressions are also present in other chapters of the novel. For example, in the first chapter, the poet remembers St. Petersburg at a time when he himself is in southern exile:

I once walked there too,

But the north is bad for me.

Will the hour of my freedom come?

"It's time, it's time!" - I appeal to her;

I'm wandering over the sea, waiting for the weather,

Manyu sailed the ships.

Here the poet hints at his plan to escape abroad. Here, in the first chapter, he recalls his youthful infatuation with Maria Raevskaya:

I remember the sea before the storm:

How I envied the waves

Running in a stormy line

Lay down with love at her feet!

But in the fourth chapter, Pushkin talks about his life in Mikhailovsky:

But I am the fruit of my dreams

And harmonic undertakings

I read only to the old nanny,

A friend of my youth...

The poet had a vivid impression of his new meeting with Moscow, where he arrived after exile:

Ah, brothers! How pleased I was

When churches and bell towers

Gardens, palace semicircle

Suddenly opened up before me!

How often in sorrowful separation,

In my wandering destiny,

Moscow, I was thinking about you!

Moscow... So much in this sound

For the Russian heart it has merged!

How much resonated with him!

As mentioned above, the author appears in the work both as the creator of the novel, and as a commentator on his own work (remember that Pushkin himself wrote notes for it), and as a philosopher reflecting on the transience of human life, on the change of generations (“Alas! On life’s reins...").

The poet also appears before us as the hero of his own novel. In the first chapter, he talks about how he walks with his “good friend” Onegin along the embankments of the Neva, in the third - about Tatyana’s letter, which he keeps with him:

Tatiana's letter is in front of me,

I cherish it sacredly...

Finally, let’s define the main, most significant facet of the author’s image. The author appears in the novel as a poet.

It is precisely as a poet that he contrasts himself with Onegin, who could not distinguish an iambic from a trochee and to whom “persistent work” “was sick.” But the point is not only that Onegin, unlike the author, did not know how to write poetry.

Onegin is a skeptic. He cannot fully appreciate the beauty of the world around him. The author has a special, poetic attitude towards life. Even in the ordinary, he knew how to see beauty. As Belinsky noted about Pushkin, “he contemplated nature and reality from a special angle, and this angle was exclusively poetic.”

Onegin is indifferent to nature. This is what Pushkin writes about Onegin’s first impressions in the village (“Two days seemed new to him / The solitary fields...”).

I was born for a peaceful life,

For village silence:

Creative dreams come alive...

On days of fun and desires

I was crazy about balls...

So, Onegin’s indifference to life is contrasted with the poetic view of the world of the author of the novel.

He sang separation and sadness,

And something, and the foggy distance,

And romantic roses...

And this is no coincidence. Romanticism for Pushkin is a passed stage in his own creative biography. And at the same time, Lensky - an exalted, poetic nature - is in many ways closer to the author than the skeptic Onegin. Lensky's spiritual image is connected with memories dear to Pushkin of his own romantic youth, her freedom-loving dreams, unfulfilled hopes, and lofty ideals. Pushkin’s thoughts about Russian romantic poets, friends of the author of Eugene Onegin, are also connected with Lensky. It is no coincidence that in the digression at the end of the sixth chapter, where the author says goodbye to Lensky, who died in a duel, he says goodbye to his own youth: “But so be it: let’s say goodbye together, / O my easy youth!”).

Tatiana, dear Tatiana!

With you now I shed tears, -

writes Pushkin in the third chapter, talking about how Tatyana fell in love with Onegin.

Why is Tatyana more guilty?

Because in sweet simplicity

She knows no deception

And believes in his chosen dream?

Forgive me: I love you so much

The author-poet appears on the pages of the novel in his creative And spiritualevolution. As you know, Pushkin began writing his work in 1823, during the period of southern exile, at the time of the heyday of romanticism in his own work. It is no coincidence that in the first chapter of the novel we find romantic images (“Adriatic waves...”).

At that time I seemed to need

Deserts, edges of pearly waves,

And the noise of the sea, and piles of rocks,

And the ideal of a proud maiden...

Romantic illusions are a thing of the past, and they have been replaced by a different view of the world (“I need different pictures...”).

The pages of the novel reflect not only the creative, but also the spiritual evolution of the poet.

Pushkin began writing his work in 1823 in southern exile, while still a very young man. The poet was keenly agitated by passions; he still yearned for balls, the theater, and other social entertainments that he had left behind in St. Petersburg. At the same time, the poet was experiencing an ideological crisis associated with disappointment in the educational ideas that he had previously shared with his friends - the future Decembrists.

The subsequent chapters were written by Pushkin in Mikhailovsky, where the poet began to develop new life guidelines for him (the beauty of Russian nature, spiritual values common people). Hence the author’s special interest in the spiritual appearance of Tatyana, who became the poet’s “sweet ideal.”

The seventh and eighth chapters were written by Pushkin during a period of wanderings, everyday disorder and painful spiritual quest.

It is important to note the fact that the poet completed the novel after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, when Pushkin’s beloved friends ended up in hard labor. Hence the “glow” of the post-December era that we observe in the last chapters of the work. The last stanza of “Eugene Onegin” is significant in this regard:

But those who in a friendly meeting

I read the first verses...

There are no others, and those are far away,

As Sadi once said.

Without them, Onegin was completed...

Let's draw conclusions. In a work of such a genre as a novel in verse, the role of the author's digressions and the image of the author is extremely important. Digressions, written in a light, relaxed manner, organically accompany the narrative. The author's “I” becomes the most important prerequisite for the artistic unity of the novel in verse.

Digressions perform two important functions: with their help, an “encyclopedia of Russian life” is created and the multifaceted image of the author himself is revealed - the creator of the novel, his commentator, hero, philosopher, autobiographer, and finally, the poet, who appears before the reader in creative and spiritual evolution.

Onegin stanza

Pushkin's novel is written in Onegin's stanza, which also gives the work harmony, completeness, and integrity. The Onegin stanza consists of fourteen verses of iambic tetrameter, connected by a certain sequence of rhymes. Let's imagine the rhyme system in the Onegin stanza using the following scheme, where capital letters indicate female rhymes, lowercase letters indicate male rhymes: AbAbVVggDeeJj.

The first four lines are connected by cross rhyme. The next four lines have adjacent (paired) rhymes. Lines nine through twelve are connected by a girdle (enveloping, ring) rhyme. The last two lines are connected by pair rhyme.

Most of the stanzas in Eugene Onegin represent a complete artistic whole. Typically, the first four lines contain exposition, an introduction to the topic. In the following lines the theme develops and reaches a climax. Finally, the final couplet often contains a spectacular, aphoristic ending.

The entire text of the novel is written in the Onegin stanza, except for the letters of the heroes in the third and eighth chapters, as well as the songs of the girls at the end of the third chapter, which emphasizes the originality of these elements of the literary text.

Questions and tasks

1. Where and when did Pushkin begin work on “Eugene Onegin”? When did he basically complete the novel? When was Onegin's letter to Tatiana written? How did the plan of the novel change during its creation? How many chapters are there in the final text of the work? How did Pushkin publish fragments from Onegin's Travels?

2. Why could Pushkin claim that in his novel time is “calculated according to the calendar”? What is the chronological framework of the events that make up the plot of the work?

3. Outline the range of topics covered in Eugene Onegin. Why did Belinsky call Pushkin’s work “an encyclopedia of Russian life”?

4. Formulate the central problem of Pushkin’s novel. What other socio-historical problems are raised in Eugene Onegin? Highlight the range of moral, philosophical and aesthetic problems of the work.

5. How did the evolution of Pushkin’s worldview in the 1820s affect the ideological orientation of “Eugene Onegin”? What universal human values ​​does Pushkin affirm in his novel? How are the ideas of the work related to national roots? What life principles does Pushkin the poet affirm? Can we say that “Eugene Onegin” is also marked by satirical pathos?

6. What realistic principles can you note in Pushkin’s novel? What is the difference between a realistic novel in verse and romantic poems?

7. Which genre definition Did Pushkin himself give “Eugene Onegin”? What traditions of Byron did Belinsky note in Pushkin’s novel? What, according to the critic, is Pushkin’s fundamental innovation compared to Byron? How did Pushkin himself characterize the form of “Eugene Onegin”?

8. What distinctive features characterize the plot of “Eugene Onegin” and the arrangement of the central characters? Briefly describe the exposition, plot, climax, and denouement of the novel. What elements of the work, in addition to the plot structure, play an important role?

9. Which of the novel’s heroes can be called main, secondary, episodic? Which characters are central to the plot? Can the author be considered one of the characters in the novel?

10. Why can Onegin be called a hero of time? Describe the character’s social status, his views, interests. What brings Onegin closer to opposition-minded youth? Why can we say that Onegin is the face of Pushkin’s circle? What contradictions distinguish the hero’s worldview and character? Why is Onegin called the “superfluous man”? Note some artistic means of creating his image.

11. What type of Pushkin’s era is recreated in the image of Lensky? Tell us about the hero’s education, about his personality. Why does the death of Lensky become so important in the novel? symbolic meaning? Briefly describe the artistic means of creating his image.

12. Why did Belinsky define the creation of the image of Tatyana as a feat of Pushkin?

What features of the Russian national character were combined in Tatyana? What is the uniqueness of her nature? How do other characters in the novel set off Tatiana? What is Tatiana's role in the plot of the work? Why does the author call Tatyana a “sweet ideal”?

13. Review the minor and episodic characters of Eugene Onegin. What role do they play in creating the “encyclopedia of Russian life”? What real historical figures, literary heroes and mythological characters are mentioned on the pages of Pushkin's novel? What is their significance in the work?

14. Describe the compositional functions of individual chapters of Eugene Onegin. Identify the meaning of epigraphs, the main events that make up the plot of the work. Pay special attention to such elements of the composition as the letters of the characters, Tatiana’s dream, the duel episode, Onegin’s dream-vision, the last explanation of the characters. What has changed in the worldview of Onegin and Tatiana over the course of the novel? How does the “understatement” of the work’s denouement manifest itself?

16. Name the main types and themes of the author’s digressions in “Eugene Onegin”. Give examples of deviations of a different nature. What facets of the author's image are revealed on the pages of the novel? Characterize them by identifying the relationship between the author’s image and the characters’ images. How do the pages of the work reflect the poet’s life path, creative and spiritual evolution?

17. What is the Onegin stanza? What is its construction? What elements of the text of “Eugene Onegin” are not written in Onegin’s stanza?

18. Make an outline and prepare an oral report on the topic: “Eugene Onegin as an encyclopedia of Russian life.”

19. Write an essay on the topic: “Moscow in A.S. Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” and in A.S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin.”

The character of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin” became the subject of scientific debate and research immediately after the publication of the work. To this day, Pushkin scholars cannot come to unambiguous conclusions. Who was Eugene - a lonely lost soul, an extra person, or a carefree prisoner of his own idle thoughts. His actions are contradictory, his thoughts are shrouded in the haze of “worldly sorrow.” Who is he?

Hero prototype

In the novel "Eugene Onegin" summary which is presented against the background of the development of the hero’s image, is the property of many literary scholars and Pushkin scholars. We will show you the development of the hero's character against the background of the events of the novel.

Pushkin was not only a brilliant poet, but also a subtle psychologist. His the only novel, the writer devoted seven years to writing and editing it. This work marked Pushkin's transition from romanticism to realism. The novel in verse was planned to be a completely realistic work, but the influence of romanticism is still very strong and tangible, which is not surprising considering that the idea arose after reading Byron’s “Don Juan.”

The character of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is the result of the poet’s creative quest. It cannot be said that the main character had his own clear prototype. The role of the prototype was assigned to Chaadaev and Griboyedov, Pushkin himself and his opponent Pyotr Katenin, with whom the poet exchanged veiled barbs in his works. However, Pushkin himself repeatedly said that Evgeny is collective image noble youth.

What was the character of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin”?

In the first lines of the novel we see a young man spoiled by the wealthy life of the nobility. He is handsome and not deprived of the attention of women. Therefore, the reader is not at all surprised by the title key line of Tatyana’s love for Onegin, and then Onegin’s unrequited love for Tatyana.

Throughout the novel, the character of the hero undergoes serious changes, which we will discuss in the following sections of the article. At first glance at him, one gets the impression that strong feelings are inaccessible to him; he is so fed up with the attention of the fair sex that he considers himself entitled to give advice. "How smaller woman we love, the more she likes us” - became an aphorism. But in the novel, Onegin himself falls into his own trap.

Characteristics of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin”, chapter 1

The work was called “an encyclopedia of Russian life.” It describes in great detail the balls and outfits of ladies and gentlemen, dishes and cutlery, interiors and architecture of buildings. But most of all the author’s attention is directed to the atmosphere in which the poet himself lived and in which his heroes live.

The first chapter of the novel is dedicated to Eugene. On behalf of the narrator, we learn that the hero is saddened by a letter about his uncle's illness. He is forced to go to him, but Onegin has no desire to do this. Here we see the hero somewhat indifferent. Having learned about the illness and imminent death of a relative, he would grieve and sympathize, but Evgeniy only cares about his own comfort and unwillingness to leave social life.

Image of Onegin

The characterization of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is quite deep. It begins with a description of the origin of the character, from which we learn that he is a nobleman, born in St. Petersburg. His father “finally squandered himself” on balls and gambling debts.

Eugene's upbringing was carried out by hired teachers - tutors, who did not care at all about the fruits of their studies. The author says that in his time almost all noble children received such an education.

Moral principles that were not instilled in time did their job: young Onegin became a thief of women's hearts. The attention of the ladies disgusted him, pushing him to “exploits of love.” Soon this way of life led him to satiety and boredom, disappointment and melancholy.

Characteristics of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin”, short description which we see in the first chapter, gains momentum as the plot develops. The author does not justify the actions of his hero, but the realistic border of the novel shows us that he simply cannot be different. The environment in which he grew up could not have brought any other fruit.

Development of Evgeniy's characteristics

The characterization of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin,” chapter by chapter, shows us completely opposite sides of the character’s personality. In the first chapter we see a young, headstrong rake, balls and the conquest of beautiful girls, clothes and self-care are his main concerns.

In the second chapter, Eugene is the young heir of his deceased uncle. He is still the same eccentric rake, but his behavior with the serfs tells the reader that he is capable of sympathy and understanding. Onegin relieves the peasants of an unaffordable tax, which displeases his neighbors. However, he simply ignores them. For this, he is known as an eccentric and an “ignorant”; his image is surrounded by rumors and speculation.

Friendship with Lensky

A new neighbor, Vladimir Lensky, settles next to Evgeniy. He had just arrived from Germany, where the world of romanticism and poetry captivated and enchanted him. At first the heroes do not find a common language; they are very different. But soon friendly relations begin between them.

The young poet Lensky, with his communication, temporarily relieves Evgeny of the insane boredom that overcomes him here too. He is interested in the poet, but in many ways he does not understand his romantic impulses.

The characterization of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin”, thanks to the image of Lensky, quickly introduces the reader to the dark shades of the hero’s soul. The spirit of competition and superiority throws Onegin at In the fifth chapter, the Larins have a feast organized on the occasion of Tatyana's birthday. Frustrated by the boredom and hubbub, Evgeniy begins to flirt with Olga, Lensky’s fiancée. He does this to anger Vladimir, and does not expect a challenge from him to a duel. In this duel, he kills his friend and leaves the village. The poet does not say whether he grieves for his friend who died at his hand.

Evgeniy and Tatiana

In the third chapter of the novel, Evgeny appears in the Larins' house. Tatyana falls into the power partly of her girlish dreams, partly of the hero’s charm. She puts her feelings into the letter. But there is no answer to it. At the beginning of the fourth chapter, the heroes meet, and Onegin coldly tells Tatyana that if he wanted a calm family life, he wouldn’t need anyone except Tatiana. However, now the family is not part of his plans, and marriage will only bring disappointment and pain to both. He takes on the role of a noble mentor and advises the girl to be careful with her impulses, because “not everyone will understand you, as I do.”

The characterization of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin”, a brief summary of which we are telling, is inseparable from the image of the main character. It is revealed precisely thanks to love line. Tatyana is inconsolable in her non-reciprocal love, Evgeniy’s coldness wounds her to the very heart, deprives her of sleep and peace, and plunges her into half-nightmarish, half-visionary dreams.

Second meeting with Tatyana

When Evgeny meets a girl who was once in love with him in St. Petersburg, this becomes the climax of the novel.

The character of Onegin in the novel “Eugene Onegin” undergoes completely unexpected changes. The hero falls in love for the first time in his life. And so much so that he is ready for any extravagance, just to win the girl whom he once pushed away.

He writes a letter to her, where he confesses his feelings, but does not receive an answer to it.

The answer later will be a conversation with Tatyana, where she admits that she also loves him, but loyalty to her husband, honor and responsibility do not allow her to reciprocate his feelings. The novel ends at this dialogue, the poet leaves Evgeniy to reap the fruits of his madness in Tatiana’s bedroom.