Onegin and Pechorin.
This is probably very rare in the history of literature when two literary geniuses are born almost simultaneously and almost in the same place. Pushkin and Lermontov. This was the time of the birth of Great Russian Literature and at the same time the time of the beginning of the great crisis of Russian society.
The crisis of society is best manifested in its ideals. Both Pushkin and Lermontov understood this perfectly, therefore, in their main works - the novels “Eugene Onegin” and “Hero of Our Time”, they sought to manifest these ideals in their main characters - Onegin and Pechorin.
Lermontov reflected his understanding of the image of Pechorin both in the title of the novel and in the preface. For Lermontov, “Hero of Our Time” is “a portrait made up of the vices of our time, in their full development.” However, for the title the author chose the term “hero”, and not some other term - “anti-hero”, “villain”, etc. What is this? Mockery, irony or author's whim? It seems to me - neither one nor the other, nor the third... In fact, Lermontov portrays precisely the hero of the society that gave birth to him, shows those of his qualities that are most respected in this society, most valued.
It is in this that lies the deep continuity of the image of Pechorin with his literary predecessor, Evgeny Onegin.
On the one hand, you can find a lot in common in them. Fate led them down similar paths: both of them were the cream of the crop. secular society, both were mortally tired of him, both despised this society.
It was no coincidence that their lives coincided for some time: obviously, this was the lot of any rich and handsome young rake:
“What more: the light has decided,
That he is smart and very nice"
But this life, which in Eugene Onegin was the content of the novel, for Pechorin remained only in memories. We can say that Pechorin was once Onegin, but in the novel he is already different, and this difference is the most interesting point comparative analysis of these images, since it allows us to evaluate the trends in the movement of society, the gradual shift of its ideals.
In Onegin we still find, if not compassion and repentance, then at least a cold, mental awareness that they must exist. Onegin is still capable, if not of love, then at least of passion, albeit extremely selfish, but ardent.
Pechorin is not even capable of such manifestations of human feelings. He tries to awaken them in himself and cannot:
“No matter how much I looked in my chest for even a spark of love for dear Mary, my efforts were in vain.”
In his soul, even love for life (and therefore for himself) is absent. If Onegin nevertheless lived, “languishing in the inaction of leisure,” then Pechorin lives simply “out of curiosity: you expect something new...”
However, Pechorin, unlike Onegin, is able to think in spiritual categories, his indifference is close to despair (it is no coincidence that he seeks death). He suffers from his indifference, he sees it!
Onegin, in this sense, is completely blind, and at the same time he does not notice his blindness. There is no despair in his indifference. His passion for Tatyana is filled with selfishness, but he does not notice this and takes her for love.
As Belinsky put it, “Lermontov’s Pechorin is the Onegin of our time.” But not in the sense that they are similar, but in the sense that one is a logical continuation of the second.
Secular society is rapidly losing its last ideals: neither love, nor compassion, nor honor are anymore valued. There is only one curiosity left: what if there is something “spicy”, “tickling” the nerves, that can amuse and distract at least for a while...
Comparing the images of Onegin and Pechorin, we see what a terrible end to such innocent hobbies as idleness, selfishness, the pursuit of fashion, and how they can degenerate into such a terrible state of soul, which is usually called spiritual death.
All this is not alien, unfortunately, to our society. And it’s scary if we are not able, like Onegin, to discern our own inferiority, and we look down on Onegin: we’re not like that - we go to theaters, discos, surf the Internet, in general, we live a full life cultural life. And we don’t notice how this complacency inevitably leads to the same devastated indifference to everything except oneself that Onegin came to, and to the same unrepentant hardness of heart that Pechorin came to.
Truly, the images of Pechorin and Onegin are images of heroes of our time.
In the literature of every nation there are works whose heroes, positive or negative, a person remembers all his life, and there are characters who are erased from time to time. human memory. If we talk about Russian literature, the works of M. Yu. Lermontov “Hero of Our Time” and A. S. and “Eugene Onegin” are outstanding novels, the main characters of which Grigory Pechorin and Eugene Onegin remain in our memory until the end of their lives. These are quite controversial characters with bright personalities, whom everyone who is at least a little familiar with Russian literature knows.
The heroes of the novels by A. S. and M. Yu. Lermontov are separated by less than ten years. Whether they real people, they could easily meet at a reception in one of the drawing rooms, at one of the balls, or in the box of one of the beauties at the premiere of some play.
However, let's try to figure out what is more in Onegin and Pechorin - differences or similarities. After all, differences in character, lifestyle and behavior sometimes divide people more than a whole century.
Eugene Onegin, from the first chapter of the novel, appears before us in the image of an established secular young man, no worse and no better than his other contemporaries. A good home education, a solid inheritance, a light and pleasant mind, social grace, the ability to express oneself gracefully and to get along with anyone mutual language. In addition to this, a thorough knowledge of fashion issues and the ability to organize bachelor dinners - that’s all that Eugene Onegin lives by. A.S. describes in detail one day in Onegin’s life - getting up, breakfast, toilet, lunch, theater and sleep. And this description is quite enough, because Onegin’s life passed calmly and evenly, and each new day was similar to the previous one.
“Until the morning his life is ready,
Monotonous and colorful
And tomorrow is the same as yesterday..."
This regularity of his life, the repetition of the same thing, hidden behind external diversity and brightness, is a meaningless waste of time, an emptiness of which the hero of the novel is not aware. He tries everything vitality give to women, but where there is no love, passion very quickly turns into a habit.
Onegin's move to the village is only slightly enlivened; he tries to change something there, to apply progressive knowledge in practice, but nothing works out for him and he soon becomes despondent. However, the character still differs from his peers, from the typical playmakers with whom secular society was then filled. He has
“Involuntary devotion to dreams,
inimitable oddity
and a sharp, cool mind.”
Taking a close look at Onegin, you can see that he is an extraordinary person with the makings of strong man with a bright character, which is confined within the boundaries of the given times and which does not have enough strength, but rather lacks the desire to break out of there. All his aspirations are impetuous; he does not understand that only “hard work” will allow him to build real life. Following easy decisions, he inevitably becomes a seducer and a murderer. But at the same time, the decency and nobility that he shows towards Tatyana is somewhat encouraging and makes us believe that although Onegin leads an empty life, he is not empty in his soul. And the poet gives him a chance for resurrection. Onegin awakens everything human thanks to true love, which showed him what is truth on earth and what remains a lie. We part with Onegin, seeing him not yet revived, but still not fallen and not lost. gives us the opportunity to figure out for ourselves whether Onegin will become a spiritually rich man and will truly live, or whether he will remain a soulless waster of life until the end of his days.
As for Grigory Pechorin, he is somewhat younger than Onegin. He is youthful and very fresh - this is exactly how Lermontov introduces him to us. He is very good and stands out in the society around him. But from the first minutes of meeting this character, we see his endless fatigue and lethargy, characteristic only of old people who have lived a long and difficult life. And if the author of the novel talks about Onegin, then we learn more about Pechorin from his diary. We know nothing about his childhood and youth. But as he grew up, he became a man who soberly assessed his strengths and weaknesses, his strengths and weaknesses. Pechorin knows, or rather feels, that “after all, it’s true that I had a great purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul.” However, he wasted his strength, his vital energy in vain, “carried away by the bait of empty and ungrateful passions.” And if Onegin is looking for the meaning of life, then Pechorin is sure that it does not exist. The strength of his personality, his influence on others is so great that he can easily control situations and people, he can easily get whatever he wants. But having received what he wanted, he instantly cools down, realizing that he needs something completely different. Such impetuosity of Pechorin is very similar to the behavior and actions of Onegin.
Pechorin is not afraid of death, he is indifferent to life. And if Onegin, having become an involuntary killer, was dejected and shocked, then Pechorin is an amazingly cold-blooded killer, for whom people are nothing more than shadows. You can very easily hurt his pride, but not his soul and heart, because Pechorin believes that his soul is dead. Two times, two heroes who are very similar to each other. But if they happened to meet, then, despite their similarity, they would rather become enemies than turn into friends. Each of them is looking for the meaning of life, but looking alone, neglecting other people and not seeing the world around them.
Evgeny Onegin from novel of the same name in the poems of A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" and Grigory Pechorin from "Hero of Our Time" by M.Yu. Lermontov, although they are absolutely heroes different works. have similar images. It’s not for nothing that V.G. Belinsky remarked: “Pechorin is the Onegin of our time.” Evgeny Onegin appears as a reflection of the era of the 20s, the period of the Decembrists and social upsurge, Pechorin is a representative of the third decade of the 19th century, called “cruel”. Time has determined how common features heroes and their differences.
Both Pechorin and Onegin are representatives high society. The formation of their characters, education and upbringing took place in the same conditions. In their youth, both heroes were fond of carefree social life, led her idly. They were unable to realize themselves in life, despite their outstanding abilities. The heroes are not capable of true love, thus they only bring suffering to the ladies who are in love with them.
Onegin and Pechorin stand out among the surrounding secular society. They both make friends out of boredom. From a duel with former friends, to which fate leads both of them, they emerge victorious. M.Yu. Lermontov himself, when he gives his hero the surname Pechorin, seems to hint at his similarity with Onegin: Onega and Pechora are rivers flowing in Russia. V.G. Belinsky notes: “Their dissimilarity with each other is much less than the distance between Onega and Pechora. Sometimes in the very name that a true poet gives to his hero, there is a reasonable necessity, although perhaps invisible by the poet himself...”
But we find significant differences in the characters of the heroes, their attitude to life and values. Onegin is bored, he is tired of life. The young man does not seek to change anything, having become disillusioned with this world. Pechorin is somewhat different. He is caring, active, “frantically chasing life, looking for it everywhere.” Pechorin is a deep, passionate nature, he is a philosopher and thinker. He is interested in the world around him in all its manifestations, he thinks a lot. analyzes and keeps diary entries. The hero is inspired by nature and in his diaries often notes its beauty, which Onegin is simply unable to see due to his character. The attitude of the heroes towards society is also different. Onegin fears the condemnation of others and therefore decides to participate in a duel. Although Evgeny understands that he must refuse, public opinion becomes more important to him than friendship. Onegin does not enter into open conflict with society; he avoids people. What about Pechorin? He disregards the opinions of others and always does what he considers necessary. Gregory puts himself above society, treating it with disdain. Pechorin is not afraid to go into direct conflict with others. What about the duel with Grushnitsky, he agrees to it solely out of noble intentions, wanting to defend the honor of Princess Mary and his own name.
Onegin is a “reluctant egoist.” What made him that way was his dependence on the conventions of the society he despised and the inability to abandon them. Pechorin has a contradictory character, his egoism stems from his own beliefs and judgments about the world. Public opinion, the established order does not affect his worldview in any way.
Evgeny Onegin and Grigory Pechorin are among the most bright characters literature of the 19th century. By comparing heroes, you can find many similarities and differences in their characters, beliefs and established destinies. Each of them is a hero of his time. Both novels were enthusiastically received by the public and were widely discussed and criticized. It is also important to note the artistic skill of the writers, who extremely accurately reflected the character of each era in their works.
Effective preparation for the Unified State Exam (all subjects) -
COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF ONEGIN AND PECHORIN
(Advanced people XIX century)
My life, where are you going from and where are you going?
Why is my path so unclear and secret to me?
Why do I not know the purpose of labor?
Why am I not the master of my desires?
Pushkin worked on the novel “Eugene Onegin” for many years; it was his favorite work. Belinsky called this work “an encyclopedia of Russian life” in his article “Eugene Onegin.” Indeed, this novel gives a picture of all layers of Russian life: the high society, the small nobility, and the people - Pushkin studied the life of all layers of society well early XIX century. During the years of writing the novel, Pushkin had to go through a lot, lose many friends, and experience the bitterness of death the best people Russia. For the poet, the novel was, in his words, the fruit of “a mind of cold observations and a heart of sorrowful observations.” Against the broad background of Russian pictures of life, the dramatic fate of the best people, the advanced noble intelligentsia of the Decembrist era, is shown.
Without Onegin, Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" would have been impossible, because the realistic novel created by Pushkin opened the first page in the history of the great Russian novel XIX century.
Pushkin embodied in the image of Onegin many of those traits that were later developed in individual characters of Lermontov, Turgenev, Herzen, Goncharov. Evgeny Onegin and Pechorin are very similar in character, both of them are from a secular environment, received a good upbringing, they are at a higher stage of development, hence their melancholy, melancholy and dissatisfaction. All this is characteristic of souls that are more subtle and more developed. Pushkin writes about Onegin: “Handra was waiting for him on guard, and she ran after him like a shadow or a faithful wife.” The secular society in which Onegin and later Pechorin moved spoiled them. It did not require knowledge, superficial education was enough, knowledge was more important French and good manners. Evgeniy, like everyone else, “danced the mazurka easily and bowed at ease.” Their best years he spends, like most people in his circle, on balls, theaters and love interests. Pechorin leads the same lifestyle. Very soon both begin to understand that this life is empty, that behind the “external tinsel” there is nothing worth it, boredom, slander, envy reign in the world, people waste internal forces souls to gossip and anger. Petty vanity, empty conversations of “necessary fools”, spiritual emptiness make the life of these people monotonous, outwardly dazzling, but devoid of internal “content.” Idleness and lack of high interests vulgarize their existence. Day is like a day, there is no need to work, there are few impressions, therefore the smartest and the best ones fall ill with nostalgia. They essentially do not know their homeland and people. Onegin “wanted to write, but he was sick of hard work...”, he also did not find the answer to his questions. , but the lack of need for work is the reason that he does not find something to his liking. This is what he suffers from, realizing that the upper layer of society lives off the slave labor of serfs. Serfdom was a disgrace to Tsarist Russia. Onegin in the village tried to alleviate the situation of his serfs ("...he replaced the old corvée with a light quitrent..."), for which he was condemned by his neighbors, who considered him an eccentric and a dangerous "freethinker." Many people also do not understand Pechorin. In order to further reveal the character of his hero, Lermontov places him in a variety of social spheres, encounters a wide variety of people. When a separate edition of A Hero of Our Time was published, it became clear that there had been no Russian realistic novel before Lermontov. Belinsky pointed out that “Princess Mary” is one of the main stories in the novel. In this story, Pechorin talks about himself, reveals his soul. Here the features of “A Hero of Our Time” were most clearly manifested as psychological novel. In Pechorin's diary we find his sincere confession, in which he reveals his thoughts and feelings, mercilessly castigating his inherent weaknesses and vices: Here is a clue to his character and an explanation of his actions. Pechorin is a victim of his difficult times. Pechorin's character is complex and contradictory. He talks about himself; “There are two people in me: one lives, in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him.” The character traits of the author himself are visible in the image of Pechorin, but Lermontov was broader and deeper than his hero. Pechorin is closely associated with progressive social thought, but he counts himself among the pitiful descendants who wander the earth without convictions and pride. “We are not capable of greater sacrifices, either for the good of humanity or for our own happiness,” says Pechorin. He lost faith in people, his disbelief in ideas, skepticism and undoubted egoism are the result of the era that came after December 14, the era of moral decay, cowardice and vulgarity of the secular society in which Pechorin moved. The main task that Lermontov set for himself was to sketch the image of a contemporary young man. Lermontov poses the problem of a strong personality, so unlike the noble society of the 30s.
Belinsky wrote that “Pechorin is the Onegin of our time.” The novel “A Hero of Our Time” is a bitter reflection on the “history of the human soul,” a soul destroyed by the “brilliance of the deceptive capital,” seeking and not finding friendship, love, and happiness. Pechorin is a suffering egoist. About Onegin, Belinsky wrote: “The powers of this rich nature were left without application: life without meaning, and the novel without end.” The same can be said about Pechorin. Comparing the two heroes, he wrote: “...The roads are different, but the result is the same.” With all the difference in appearance and difference in characters, Onegin; both Pechorin and Chatsky belong to the gallery of “superfluous people for whom there was neither place nor work in the surrounding society. The desire to find one’s place in life, to understand the “great purpose” is the main meaning of the novel of Lermontov’s lyrics. Isn’t it these thoughts that occupy Pechorin , lead him to a painful answer to the question: “Why did I live?” This question can be answered with the words of Lermontov: “Perhaps, with heavenly thought and the power of spirit, I am convinced that I would give the world a wonderful gift, and for that it would give me immortality... "In Lermontov's lyrics and Pechorin's thoughts we encounter a sad recognition that people are skinny fruits, ripened before their time. How Pechorin's words that he despises life and Lermontov's words, "but I despise fate and the world," echo in “A Hero of Our Time” we so clearly hear the voice of the poet, the breath of his time. Did Pushkin and Lermontov depict the fates of their heroes, typical of their generation, protest against the reality that forces people to waste their energy.
(387 words, table at the end of the article) Type " extra person"is quite popular in Russian literature. Our writers abound in presenting us with heroes who are disillusioned with life and have not found their destiny. These people can be completely different: ardent intellectuals, like Chatsky, or bored and tired of life, sensualists, like Onegin and Pechorin. The last two form one type of person, because there are few differences between them. If you make a comparative description, you will notice that one of the heroes is new version another, it’s not for nothing that Belinsky calls Pechorin “Onegin of our time.”
The similarity can be traced already at the level of names. Lermontov names Pechorin according to the same principle as Pushkin: based on the name of the river. The Pechora is a stormy, noisy mountain river, while the Onega is calm and smooth, which to some extent reflects the characters’ characters.
Studying the sciences “quickly bored” Pechorin, as did Onegin, who “had no desire to rummage / in the chronological dust,” and both set out to enjoy social life to dispel boredom, but just as quickly became disillusioned with these joys. One “got bored with the noise of the world,” and he “has completely lost interest in life,” while the other “shies away” from society and considers himself “a small loss for the world.” Pechorin experiences this much more tragically than Onegin, due to the fact that the heroes live in different eras, but general disappointment in themselves and the world around them is inherent in both heroes, so they quickly become cynical egoists. Those around them treat them with interest because they see them as a mystery, women love them, since both have skillfully mastered the “science of tender passion.” But, despite their cynicism, both have a single beloved, with whom they are not destined to be together. So, Onegin loses Tatiana, and Pechorin loses Vera. Friends suffer next to them: for similar reasons, Lensky and Grushnitsky die at their hands.
These are “Byronic heroes” who have lost the flair of romanticism that idealized them. Onegin is one of those young people who believed in the ideals of the revolution, while Pechorin is a man of a different time, when these ideals were not only shaken, but destroyed due to the collapse of Decembrism. The characters are similar in many ways, but the results of their similarities are different. Onegin is an idle rake, sharply fed up with life due to laziness. Pechorin is not like that at all, who is looking for himself, “chasing madly after life,” not believing in a meaningless destiny. We can say that Onegin remained in the “water society”, from which Pechorin hastened to escape.
Pushkin and Lermontov showed two typical representatives of successive decades, so the images of the heroes could not be radically different. They complemented each other, and the authors created a real picture of the reality of that time, which changed under the influence of crisis circumstances.
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