The image of Eugene Onegin (with quotes). Onegin and Lensky: upbringing and education The problem of raising Onegin

“This is a man who tests life right up to death to see if it is better than life. He started everything, but never completed anything; the more he thought, the less he did; at twenty he is an old man, and in old age he becomes younger thanks to love.”

All the main characters of all the main Russian novels trace their ancestry from Onegin - Pechorin, Rudin, Bazarov, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, Ivan Karamazov, Raisky, and even Oblomov. Onegin is the root of them all. However, Onegin rises above them all.

It was not for nothing that Herzen felt a kinship between people like himself, not with Pechorin, but with Onegin. ". We are all, to a greater or lesser extent, Onegin, unless we prefer to be officials or landowners.”

II.Onegin, my good friend...

Onegin is a representative of the high society of St. Petersburg. A typical figure for noble youth of the 20s of the 19th century. Even in the poem “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” A.S. Pushkin set himself the task of showing in the hero “that premature old age of the soul, which has become the main feature of the younger generation.” But the poet, in his own words, failed to cope with this task. In the novel "Eugene Onegin" this goal was achieved. The poet created a deeply typical image. When creating the novel, Pushkin abandoned the romantic lone hero. His Onegin is an ordinary person, not an exceptional person. The reader should have recognized in him the character of his contemporary, presented in the sphere of everyday events and affairs. The poet described the moral life of the nobility, because it was in them during these years that people filled with nobility appeared, whose social ideals were devoid of self-interest. Subsequently, Belinsky would highly appreciate the social importance of the hero chosen by Pushkin: “In this determination of the young poet to present the moral physiognomy of the most Europeanized class in Russia, one cannot help but see evidence that he was and was deeply aware of himself as a national poet.”

But Pushkin intended not just to depict the “inner life” of the best people of the upper class, but their inner life at a certain historical moment. Such a novel about modernity, which also turned out to be historical, acquired enormous social significance. The image of Onegin is the starting point in the development of the main character of the Russian novel.

Evgeny Onegin was critical of reality and was a man of principle. He gave his own assessment to each person in secular society.

Dostoevsky gave an amazing characterization of Onegin, on the one hand, as a man of his circle and time, and on the other, as someone who refracted in himself the eternal properties of human nature. Onegin realized what mental wounds he had inflicted on himself by pushing Tatyana away from him and killing Lensky because of a trifling misunderstanding. As a result, doubt arises in his mind and heart not so much about his mental powers as about his ability to control them.

“His torment begins, his long agony. Youth is passing. He is healthy, his strength is asking to come out. What to do? What to do? Consciousness whispers to him that he is an empty person, evil irony stirs in his soul, and at the same time he realizes that he is not an empty person: how can an empty person suffer? An empty one would be busy with cards, money, arrogance, red tape. Why is he suffering? Because you can't do anything? No, this suffering will go to another era. He suffers only from the fact that he does not even know what to respect, although he is firmly convinced that there is something that must be respected and loved. But he has become embittered, and does not respect himself or his thoughts: he does not even respect the very thirst for life and truth that is in him; he feels that although she is strong, he has not sacrificed anything for her - and he ironically asks: what should she sacrifice, and why? He becomes an egoist and meanwhile laughs at himself that he cannot even be an egoist. Oh, if he were a real egoist, he would calm down!”

Dostoevsky’s final conclusion about Onegin: “this is a child of the era, this is the whole era.”

Yes, of course, Onegin represents his era. But Onegin first of all penetrates himself, thus establishing his incompatibility with others. And this leads to the fact that it is especially important for Onegin to clarify his own human essence. Moving in this direction, he finds himself in the position of a person for whom the first secret in the world is himself, his universally significant uniqueness. His tragedy is that he is alone. Where is the way out for him? Only in himself. Only when you realize that you are alone in the world, but precisely as a person in the full sense of the word, will the path to others, as a person integral from others, open to you, sooner or later, rather late than sooner.

It was very difficult, in fact, impossible, for Pushkin to finish his novel in verse, as evidenced by some violent ending:

Blessed is he who celebrates life early

Left without drinking to the bottom

Glasses full of wine,

Who hasn't finished reading her novel?

And suddenly he knew how to part with him,

Like me and my Onegin.

2.1Onegin’s childhood and youth

Onegin is a contemporary of Pushkin and the Decembrists. This is a young metropolitan aristocrat who received a typical secular upbringing. Onegin was born into a rich but ruined noble family. The main character of the novel is the young landowner Evgeny Onegin, a man 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, completely devoting himself to his affairs, entrusting him to the wretched tutors - “Monsieur and Madame”, and they, in turn, groomed the guy. He was raised by a French tutor who

So that the child does not get tired,

I taught him everything jokingly,

I didn’t bother you with strict morals,

Lightly scolded for pranks

And he took me for a walk to the Summer Garden...

Belyukin D.A. In the Summer Garden

Naturally, the boy grew into a person who thinks only about himself, about his desires and pleasures, who does not know how, and does not want to be able to pay attention to the feelings, interests, suffering of others, who can easily offend a person, insult, humiliate - cause pain to a person, without even thinking about it. His childhood was spent in isolation from everything Russian and national.

Thus, Onegin’s upbringing and education were quite superficial. But his studies also went in a different direction: “How early he could be a hypocrite. be jealous. seem gloomy, languish." This is where all of Onegin’s troubles came from. What an unfortunate way he was brought up. He can only “appear”, “appear”, “be a hypocrite”, “know how to be bored”, but he does not know how to sincerely rejoice, worry, or suffer. He leads the lifestyle of the “golden youth”: balls, walks along Nevsky Prospect, visiting theaters. Although Eugene studied “something and somehow,” he still has a high level of culture, differing in this respect from the majority of noble society.

Problems of upbringing and education in the novel by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"

“Eugene Onegin” is a realistic novel. The method of realism presupposes the absence of a predetermined, initial clear plan for the development of the action: the images of the heroes develop not simply at the will of the author, the development is determined by the psychological and historical features that are embedded in the images. The novel “Eugene Onegin” was written by Pushkin over 8 years. It reflected the events of the first quarter of the 19th century, that is, the time of creation and the time of action of the novel approximately coincide. One of the main issues discussed in society during this period and, as a result, on the pages of many literary works, was the question of the upbringing and education of modern youth.

In the note “On Public Education,” compiled in 1826, Pushkin wrote: “In Russia, home education is the most insufficient, the most immoral; the child is surrounded only by slaves, sees only vile examples, is self-willed or slaves, does not receive any concepts about justice, about the mutual relations of people, about true honor. His education is limited to the study of two or three foreign languages ​​and the basic foundation of all sciences taught by some hired teacher.”

According to the poet, education is designed to form personal values ​​and guidelines, attitudes and worldview. And the upbringing of a person at that time depended entirely on the social environment, on the historical situation, on the socio-political situation, on individuals, books, etc. In this regard, issues of upbringing were of great interest to both writers and readers...

Therefore, the problem of upbringing and education in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is one of the central ones, which predetermines the fate of the main characters.

The theme of education and upbringing of heroes occupies one of the leading positions in Pushkin's novel and can be traced throughout Eugene Onegin. In the era when the poet created his novel, the younger generation of Russia was faced with the acute problem of choice: to be an adherent of the official, that is, secular, life, the style of behavior accepted in the highest circles of society (education received “from the hands” of foreign teachers), substitution native Russian language in French (writing and speaking Russian is bad form!), a monotonous daily routine (sleeping until lunch, balls until the morning, receptions, the theater - a place of communication, collecting gossip and demonstrating new toilets) or preferring to collect your own bit by bit , domestic scholarship, at the risk of being doomed to misunderstanding and contempt of his contemporaries.

Of course, the problem of upbringing and education is primarily considered on the main characters - Evgeny Onegin and Tatyana Larina. Scientific and critical literature in considering the upbringing and education of Eugene agrees that upbringing is contradictory.

On the one hand, the hero is surrounded from childhood by tutors who, at home, give him everything he needs to enter the world. By the way, the “Golden Youth” of Moscow and St. Petersburg was brought up by French tutors, the remnants of Napoleon’s “Great Army” after the Patriotic War. They were hired as music and dance teachers by definition, since they were French, which meant they knew a lot about art. At the same time, Onegin’s upbringing was devoid of a solid moral foundation; it freed him from the principles of morality:

Monsieur l "Abbi, poor Frenchman,

So that the child does not get tired,

I taught him everything jokingly,

I didn’t bother you with strict morals,

Lightly scolded for pranks

And he took me for a walk to the Summer Garden.

Petersburg at that time was a real center of cultural and political life, a place where the best people of Russia lived. There “Fonvizin, the friend of freedom, shone,” and Knyazhnin and Istomin captivated the audience. The author knew and loved St. Petersburg well, and therefore he is precise in his descriptions, not forgetting either “the salt of secular anger”, or “necessary fools”, “starched impudents” and the like. St. Petersburg is clearly oriented towards the Western way of life, and this is manifested in fashion, in the repertoire of theaters, and in the abundance of “foreign words”. The life of a nobleman in St. Petersburg from morning to night is filled with entertainment, but at the same time “monotonous and motley.” High society led just such a carefree and easy life and did not at all resist the monotonous flow. Onegin also belongs to this society on the first pages:

Stands calmly in the blessed shadow,

Fun and luxury child.

Wake up at noon, and again

Until the morning his life is ready,

Monotonous and colorful.

And tomorrow is the same as yesterday.

Onegin is brilliantly educated, even in the field of scholastic sciences, and knows Latin. He is undoubtedly smart and sees all the shortcomings, both of the world around him and of his own, but he cannot, and does not want, to break out of the “vicious circle” of social life. At the same time, Onegin is a quiet rebel, he does not throw accusations in the face of his contemporary reality, but with his appearance, gaze, and posture he is a silent reproach to the world:

Like Child-Harold, gloomy, languid

He appeared in the living room...

Nothing touched him

He didn't notice anything.

Eugene, without neglecting the conventions of aristocratic life, still stands above it. He reads the works of economist Adam Smith, and then in the village, where Onegin longs to escape the monotony of metropolitan life and gain new experiences, the hero will try to change the way of life of his peasants, which was the result of his passion for economics. However, hopes for a stable sense of novelty are not justified, and he is bored again:

... Grove, hill and field

He was no longer interested;

Then they induced sleep,

Then he clearly saw

That in the village the boredom is the same.

According to Pushkin, foreign customs brought to Russian soil cannot give our people anything positive, but only spoil them. This is illustrated in the novel by Evgeny Onegi, who represents a “Europeanized” version of the Russian person. An admirer of Napoleon, a lover of London fashion, he does not find anything significant for himself either in Russian people or in Russian nature, considering it all too primitive. It took tragic events to change Onegin. At the end of the novel, Eugene realizes that it is not arrogant contempt, but willful efforts and sensitivity to the call of the heart, which were not brought up in him in childhood and youth, that are needed in order to live and not merge with the faceless mass, mired in the conventions of the world.

With all his love for the northern capital, Pushkin cannot help but note that it is the influence of the highest St. Petersburg society, the system of upbringing and education adopted there and the way of life that leaves an indelible imprint on a person’s consciousness, making him either empty and worthless, or prematurely disappointed in life.

With irony, Pushkin also describes the secular village society that gathered in the Larins’ house. It is no coincidence that the author gives some of the guests the names of characters from Fonvizin’s plays, thereby emphasizing that nothing has changed in society. The provincial nobility is in many ways funny, their range of vital interests is ridiculous and pitiful. Village life, according to Pushkin, is conducive to moving from the world of romantic dreams to the world of everyday worries. But it is no coincidence that it was among the local nobility that Pushkin’s “sweet ideal” appeared - Tatyana Larina, whose upbringing and education combined the traditions of high education and folk culture.

As for the Larin family, instead of French tutors, Tatyana’s character is shaped and raised by her Russian nanny. Tatyana is tenderly attached to her gray-haired Filipevna, with her kindness, affection and terrible stories inspired by folklore. The wonderful nanny embodies the heroine’s connection with the world of the peasantry and that folk art that generously feeds the imagination of the “dear dreamer.” Folk traditions occupy the leading place in the hierarchy of moral values ​​for Tatyana, as for Pushkin. The author with great sympathy portrays Tatiana's nanny, who is the bearer of folk customs and knowledge, and lovingly shows folk festivities, Christmastide, and fortune telling. According to Pushkin, it is in Russian folklore that true sincerity and high morality inherent in ordinary people lie. It is not for nothing that the magical inventions of the people's mentor take Tatyana away from the prosaic world of the Pustyakovs and Flyanovs, so alien to her. Tatyana was brought up on folk and national soil (which Onegin did not know); It is no coincidence that she is close to the “caring servants” and “poor villagers,” whose help she will remember much later.

It should be noted that the heroine reads French novels and has difficulty conveying her thoughts and experiences in Russian. The heroine of Pushkin, not wanting to lose her individuality, was able to take out something different from everything that was fashionable, to experience and feel in her own way. Tatyana, like her mother, sister, and many women of that time, read the novels of popular writers, but did not just skim through the text, but experienced it, retiring with a book in the garden, dreaming of romantic love and a “charming prince”:

She liked novels early on;

They replaced everything for her;

She fell in love with deceptions

Both Richardson and Russo.

Under the influence of romantic heroes, Tatiana developed views on life, love, marriage, and behavior patterns that largely contradicted generally accepted norms. So she was the first to send a letter to Onegin, which could be regarded as a scandalous, obscene act. Moreover, the heroine herself perfectly understood that the step she had taken was more than ordinary:

I freeze with shame and fear...

But your honor is my guarantee,

And I boldly entrust myself to her...

Returning to literature, it is also worth noting that there were almost no domestic novels at that time; the fashion for the French language prevailed. Our prose, as Pushkin noted, was “little processed.” The soul of the heroine, the whole structure of her thoughts and feelings were turned to her native, domestic culture, and her dreams were woven from Russian fairy-tale images.

So, Tatyana is, in educational terms, a complete antipode to Onegin. She did not live a social life, is not imbued with the spirit of intrigue and coquetry, but is childishly sincere and devoid of secular prejudices, which allows her to be the first to confess her love for Eugene.

Tatiana's behavior and actions are contrasted with the cold indifference and narcissism of ladies of high society and empty, provincial coquettes. Truthfulness and honesty are Tatyana's main character traits. They manifest themselves in everything: in the letter, and in the final scene of the explanation with Onegin, and in reflections alone. Tatyana belongs to those sublime natures who, due to her upbringing, Tatyana enthusiastically listened to the nanny's story about her love), do not recognize calculating love. They give their loved one all the strength of their heart, and that is why they are so beautiful and unique.

In a society “where it’s easy to show off your upbringing,” Tatyana stands out for her spiritual qualities and originality. Endowed with a “wayward head,” Tatiana demonstrates dissatisfaction with life among the nobility. Both the district young lady and the princess, the “stately legislator of the hall,” she is burdened by the pettiness and meager interests of those around her. Pushkin writes, admiring her qualities:

Involuntarily, my dears, I am constrained by regret.

Forgive me, I love my dear Tatyana so much.

Tatyana is beautiful both externally and internally, she has a discerning mind, because, having become a society lady, she quickly assessed the aristocratic society into which she found herself. Her sublime soul requires an outlet. Pushkin writes:

She feels stuffy here, she dreams of life in the field.

She had the opportunity to drink the bitter cup of a young lady taken to the “bride fair”, having experienced the collapse of her ideals. In Moscow and St. Petersburg salons, at balls, she could carefully observe people like Onegin, and better understand their originality and selfishness. But “Tatyana is submissive to her parents’ orders and fate...” and therefore is forced to marry an unloved, but subsequently respected man and lead a social life. When Evgeniy meets Tatyana again, he realizes how much he loves her. However, Tatyana’s moral qualities take precedence over her feelings, and she refuses Evgeny, this is the difference in the upbringing of heroes: one is used to getting everything he wants, while the other lives guided by moral standards.

Thus, the heroes of the novel by A.S. Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” proved that a person, cut off from his national soil, brought up in a European manner, can either be empty and worthless or very quickly become disillusioned with life and fail to find himself, like, for example, Eugene; Tatyana, despite the fact that she was brought up on European sentimental novels, remained faithful to the traditions of Russian life and therefore turned into the image of an “ideal woman.”

A.S. Pushkin. "Eugene Onegin" Onegin Petersburg period. Part I   AUTHOR OF THE PRESENTATION - LITERATURE TEACHER GBOU SECONDARY SCHOOL No. 353 IM. A. S. PUSHKINA CITY OF MOSCOW ANDREEVA ALLA YURIEVNA “Flying in the dust on post offices”        Re-read the first monologue of the young rake (minion). Please comment on it. Do you condemn Evgeniy? But this is an internal monologue... Why should he be happy? He may be forced to “bury” himself in the village... He forces himself to fulfill his duty to a relative (whom he may not know well)... He is “sold” for an inheritance... In any case: he is sincere: the role of a nurse is not to his liking ! The upbringing and education of a young nobleman First, Madame followed him, Then Monsieur replaced her.      -So, what kind of upbringing and education did Onegin receive? Homemade. A characteristic figure in home education was the French tutor. “Monsieur l" Abbe ... taught him everything jokingly,” that is, according to Rousseau’s system, the natural, free development of a child. This is where the hero’s internal, irresistible need for “hateful freedom” (as Onegin later called it) lay. “We all learned a little”           -What did Onegin learn? What was in demand in the world: manners, etiquette, the ability to conduct small talk (continue the list) -Why does he read Adam Smith? Why does he need knowledge of jokes “from Romulus to the present day”? “To excite the smiles of the ladies.” -Do you know Pushkin’s opinion about such education? -And the opinion of the world? “The world decided that he is smart and very nice” -What do you think: what is Onegin’s level of education? -What life “lessons” did his father teach Eugene?    “He gave three balls every year.” -Onegin’s attitude towards balls? Will the son follow in his father’s footsteps?     When the time came for Eugene’s rebellious youth, The time for hope and tender sadness, Monsieur was driven out of the yard. -Please comment! Onegin was involuntarily given a “lesson” in consumer attitudes towards inferior people. -Did Evgeniy worry about the fate of the tutor who loved and spoiled him? “Here is my Onegin free” “It’s time for Onegin’s rebellious youth”     -Why does Pushkin call youth “rebellious”? “How a London dandy is dressed”... -What do you know about dandyism at the beginning of the 19th century in Russia? So, before us is a representative of the “golden youth” “Onegin, my good friend”   We met the main character, we know that he is... (finish!) Assignment: answer in writing: “Who is he, the main character of the novel? "(Make up not a description, but collect supporting information. Use nominative sentences or phrases. For example: “Petersburg resident”, “heir to all his relatives” ...) Onegin Day   Make a plan for Onegin’s social day in your notes. Comment and draw a conclusion. ...and again Until the morning his life is ready, Monotonous and colorful. And tomorrow is the same as yesterday. It happened, he is still in bed: They bring notes to him. What? Invitations? In fact, Three houses call the Study for the evening      Shall I depict in a true picture a solitary study, Where an exemplary fashion pupil is Dressed, undressed and dressed again? Re-read the description of Onegin's office, notice all the details and comment on their meaning and purpose. Do you have an impression of the owner of the office? *Did you pay attention to the author’s remark: Everything that scrupulous London sells for a plentiful whim And carries us along the Baltic waves For timber and lard. “Mod is an exemplary pupil”      Second Chadayev, my Evgeniy, Fearing jealous condemnations, There was a pedant in his clothes And what we called a dandy. He spent at least three hours in front of mirrors. -What character trait of the hero can you draw a conclusion about? -How does the author relate to this Onegin weakness? Remember Pushkin's aphorism: You can be a efficient person And think about the beauty of your nails. A gourmet lunch...and a cork in the ceiling, A current of comet wine splashed; Before him is bloody roast beef, And truffles, the luxury of youth, The best color of French cuisine, And Strasbourg's imperishable pie Between live Limburg cheese And golden pineapple. So: gourmet lunch! Comet wine - wine of 1812 (comet over Russia) Truffles - rare mushrooms with edible roots Strasbourg imperishable pie - delivered canned Live Limburg cheese - spread when cut  Social circle  -In which restaurant and with whom does Onegin dine?  He rushed to Talon: he was sure that Kaverin was waiting for him there.   Talon - famous restaurant -Look for information about Kaverin, draw a conclusion, remembering the proverb: “Tell me who your friend is - and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Onegin's upbringing, Onegin's character, Onegin's one day. and got the best answer

Answer from Lesenka ***[guru]
Upbringing:
This is a young metropolitan aristocrat who received a typical secular upbringing. Onegin was born into a rich but ruined noble family. His childhood was spent in isolation from everything Russian and national. He was raised by a French tutor who,
...so that the child does not get tired,
I taught him everything jokingly,
I didn’t bother you with strict morals,
Lightly scolded for pranks
And he took me for a walk to the Summer Garden.”
Thus, Onegin’s upbringing and education were quite superficial.
But Pushkin’s hero still received the minimum knowledge that was considered mandatory among the nobility. He “knew enough Latin to parse epigraphs,” remembered “anecdotes of bygone days from Romulus to the present day,” and had an idea of ​​the political economy of Adam Smith. In the eyes of society, he was a brilliant representative of the youth of his time, and all this thanks to his impeccable French language, graceful manners, wit and the art of maintaining a conversation. He led a typical lifestyle for young people of that time: he attended balls, theaters, and restaurants. Wealth, luxury, enjoyment of life, success in society and with women - this is what attracted the main character of the novel.
Character:
Pushkin placed next to him the image of a lyrical narrator, who is in many ways close to the hero of the novel.
This is what is said in the forty-fifth stanza:
* Having cast off the burden of the conditions of light, I was embittered, he was gloomy;
* How he, lagging behind the bustle, We both knew the game of Passion:
* I became friends with him at that time. Life tormented both of us;
* I liked his features, The heat died down in both hearts;
* Involuntary devotion to dreams, Malice awaited both
* The inimitable strangeness of Blind Fortune and people
* And a sharp, chilled mind. In the very morning of our days.
It must be assumed that Onegin's disappointment set in a little earlier and was expressed more sharply than that of the lyrical narrator. Here is his own confession:
* First Onegin's language
* I was embarrassed; but I'm used to it
* To his caustic argument,
* And to a joke with bile in half,
* And the anger of gloomy epigrams.
Having described just one day in the life of Onegin, Pushkin was able to talk about how the young metropolitan nobles of the 19th century spent their time. We can see that their day was full of various events:
Sometimes he was still in bed:
They bring notes to him.
What? Invitations? Indeed,
Three houses are calling for the evening.
Onegin's morning begins late, most likely in the afternoon. Onegin goes for a walk on the boulevard, “until the wakeful Breguet rings for him dinner.” Then lunch with friends in a fashionable restaurant, a trip to the theater for the ballet and, finally, a ball until dawn. The daily routine of the main character does not coincide with the routine of “restless Petersburg”. Here's an example. When Onegin is just leaving the ball, the city is already waking up and starting 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.
The merchant gets up, the peddler comes,
A cabman pulls to the stock exchange,
Okhtinka is in a hurry with the jug
The morning snow crunches under it.

Answer from Liziko Akamutoherovato[active]
The poet portrays Onegin as very similar to himself in his childhood upbringing (Pushkin was raised by a nanny, and Onegin was not raised by his parents), Pushkin writes the novel in such a way that although he is not a hero, he is constantly present next to Onegin and compares himself with him. Onegin's father was reluctant to educate him and he hired "poor" tutors who only lightly scolded the boy for his pranks. So it is not surprising that Onegin is an egoist, thinking only about his desires and pleasures. He received a superficial education. He moves in high society, at first he lives like all socialites: he goes to balls and to the theater. But soon he ceases to be interested in this. Onegin wants to part with such a life, but he does not have the strength or desire to do so. Pushkin shows us a “suffering egoist”; this man understands that the main source of his melancholy is the lack of work and activity. The very image of Onegin is an image that absorbed common features for the youth of that time. These are wealthy people who received poor education and upbringing. They lead a meaningless life, they want to change it but don’t know how.

Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” (see its full text and summary by chapter) is of great importance not only in the history of the Russian novel, but also as a work of autobiographical significance. The image of the hero took shape in the author’s imagination when he already had a completely negative attitude towards Byronism. But Pushkin still had fresh memories of his recent passion for the English poet. And so, according to his confession, he writes a “satirical work” in which he aims to ridicule “Muscovites in Harold’s cloaks,” that is, the young men of his time who pretended to be disappointed Byronic heroes. Pushkin himself sinned with this not long ago, and did not hide this weakness in his novel.

Scolded Homer, Theocritus;
But I read Adam Smith
And there was a deep economy,
That is, he knew how to judge
How does the state get rich?
And how does he live, and why?
He doesn't need gold
When a simple product has.

It was “fashionable”, it was a sign of “good form”...

But this was not what filled his social life. Catching women's hearts, that's what Evgeniy did especially diligently. And here success awaited him. Pushkin helps us understand where Onegin received his knowledge:

It is not nature that teaches us love...
We are hungry to know life in advance
And we recognize her in the novel...
Onegin experienced this.

And Pushkin points out which romantic hero was the model of Onegin: this Richardsonian Lovelace, "winner of women's hearts." The goal of his life is “to conquer women’s hearts.” For this, Onegin developed a special tactic, studied the psychology of the female heart: easy victories are not interesting to him; he loved the “hard fight”; This is a kind of “sport” for him...

How early could he be a hypocrite?
To harbor hope, to be jealous,
To dissuade, to make believe,
Seem gloomy, languish,
Be proud and obedient
Attentive or indifferent!
How languidly silent he was,
How fieryly eloquent
How careless in heartfelt letters!

Handra Onegina

Onegin's life rolled on, cloudless and calm, an environment of all kinds of pleasures: theaters, balls, dinners in a fashionable restaurant, worries about appearance and costume filled his empty and vulgar existence. Fate endowed Onegin with “mind” and “heart”, without giving him any education or upbringing, without indicating the outcome of his spiritual powers. From such a discrepancy between the wealth of his strength and the poverty of his soul, discord arose in him, and it is no wonder that he soon became tired and bored:

His feelings cooled down early,
He was tired of the noise of the world,
The beauties didn't last long
The subject of his usual thoughts.
We've had time to tire of the betrayals,
Friends and friendship are boring
And, although he was an ardent rake,
But he finally fell out of love
And scolding, and saber, and lead.

And so, the “English spleen”, or Russian melancholy, took possession of him, and besides, fashion in high society changed, and “Lovelace’s fame became dilapidated.” Then he replaced the imitation of Lovelace with the imitation of Childe Harold, and began to “act like an eccentric.”

He will shoot himself, thank God,
I didn't want to try
But he completely lost interest in life.
Like Child-Harold, gloomy, languid
He appeared in living rooms;
Neither the gossip of the world, nor Boston,
Not a sweet look, not an immodest sigh,
Nothing touched him
He didn't notice anything.

The heart was empty, the mind was idle. Onegin tried to take up literature, but he was sick of the persistent work, and he gave up his pen. Onegin took up the book, but he was not accustomed to “reading” either, and besides, when he had lost faith in life, he could not believe the book.

He lined the shelf with a group of books,
I read and read, but to no avail:
There is boredom, there is deception or delirium;
There is no conscience in that, there is no meaning in that;
Everyone is wearing different chains;
And the old thing is outdated,
And the old are delirious of the newness.
Like women, he left books,
And a shelf with their dusty family,
Covered it with mourning taffeta.

Onegin considered his “blues” and “apathy”, the result of fatigue and spiritual emptiness, to be “disappointment” and willingly covered himself with the then fashionable Childe Harold cloak. It is not for nothing that out of all the books he read only the works of Byron:

Yes, there are two or three more novels with him,
In which the century is reflected,
And modern man
Depicted quite accurately
With his immoral soul,
Selfish and dry,
Immensely devoted to a dream;
With his embittered mind
Seething in empty action.

Onegin was a prominent representative of that “half-education” that was so characteristic of Russian society of that time. The mind did not allow Onegin to merge with this society for the rest of his life, but he did not know how to look for the goals of existence outside of this society. And, as a result, in his person the first example of a “superfluous person” appeared in Russian literature.

The book was discarded, and Eugene remained helpless in life, “without a rudder” and “without sails,” with a “sharp, chilled mind,” a strange dreamer without a goal in life, gloomy with complaints about the malice of blind fortune, with contempt for people, with sarcastic speeches.

He who lived and thought cannot
Do not despise people in your heart;
Who felt it, is worried
Ghost of irrevocable days:
There's no charm for that
That serpent of memories
He is gnawing at remorse.

He almost went to travel, but the news of the fatal illness of a village uncle called him to the village.

Suddenly he really got
Report from the manager
That uncle is dying in bed
And I would be glad to say goodbye to him.
After reading the sad message,
Evgeniy on a date right away
Swiftly galloped through the mail
And I already yawned...

In the village, Onegin was at first interested in the novelty of life, the unusual beauties of quiet nature for him. He became interested in the plight of his serfs, and made their existence easier, replacing the “yoke of ancient corvée” with “light quitrent,” but soon he got bored here too and led a solitary life, alienating his neighbors with misanthropy. The naive villagers in their assessment of the hero were not as lenient as the St. Petersburg “society”; they recognized Onegin as both a freethinker (“farmazon,” i.e., a Frank Freemason) and an “ignoramus.”

Read about the future fate of Onegin in the articles