In this article we bring to your attention an essay on the nobility as Pushkin shows it in the novel “Eugene Onegin”.
Nobility (High Society) in the novel "Eugene Onegin".
A.S. Pushkin in his novel “Eugene Onegin” depicted the life of the Russian nobility in the twenties of the 19th century. According to V. G. Belinsky, “ he decided to introduce us inner life this class ».
The author of the novel pays special attention to Petersburg nobility, typical representative which is Eugene Onegin. The poet describes the day of his hero in every detail, and Onegin’s day is a typical day of a metropolitan nobleman. Thus, Pushkin recreates a picture of the life of the entire St. Petersburg secular society.
Pushkin speaks about St. Petersburg high society with a fair amount of irony and without much sympathy, because life in the capital is “monotonous and motley”, and the “noise of the world” gets boring very quickly.
The local, provincial nobility is represented very widely in the novel. This is Onegin’s uncle, the Larin family, guests at Tatyana’s name day, Zaretsky.
Prominent representatives of the provincial nobility gather at Tatiana’s name day: Grozdin, “ excellent owner, owner of poor men "; Petushkov, " district dandy "; Flyanov, " heavy gossip, old rogue ". If Pushkin introduces real people into the story about the capital’s nobility historical figures, for example, Kaverina, then in in this case the author uses the names of famous literary characters: Skotinins are the heroes of Fonvizin’s “The Minor,” Buyanov is the hero of V.L.’s “Dangerous Neighbor.” Pushkin. The author also uses speaking names. For example, Triquet means " beaten with a stick " - a hint that he cannot be accepted in high society, but in the provinces he is a welcome guest.
The world of the landed nobility is far from perfect, because in it spiritual interests and needs are not decisive, just as their conversations are not distinguished by intelligence:
Their conversation is sensible
About haymaking, about wine,
About the kennel, about my relatives.
However, Pushkin writes about him with more sympathy than about St. Petersburg. The provincial nobility retains naturalness and spontaneity as properties of human nature.
A good family of neighbors,
Unceremonious friends.
The local nobles were quite close to the people in terms of their attitude and way of life. This is manifested in the attitude towards nature and religion, in the observance of traditions. Pushkin pays less attention to the Moscow nobility than to the St. Petersburg nobility. Several years have passed since Pushkin wrote the 1st chapter of his novel, and A.S. Griboyedov finished the comedy “Woe from Wit,” but Pushkin adds Griboyedov’s lines to the epigraph of the seventh chapter, thereby emphasizing that little has changed in Moscow since then. The second capital has always been patriarchal. So, for example, Tatyana is met at her aunt’s by a gray-haired Kalmyk, and the fashion for Kalmyks was in late XVIII century.
The Moscow nobility is a collective image, in contrast to the St. Petersburg nobility, where Eugene Onegin is the main character. Pushkin, speaking about Moscow, seems to populate it with heroes Griboyedov's comedy, which have not changed over time:
But there is no change in them,
Everything about them is the same as the old model...
A real historical figure also appears in Moscow society:
Vyazemsky somehow sat down with her (Tatyana) ...
But in Moscow there is still the same bustle, “ noise, laughter, running, bowing ", which leave both Tatyana and the author indifferent
Pushkin managed to give in “Eugene Onegin” a detailed picture of the life of the noble class, and at the same time, according to Belinsky, the entire society “in the form in which it was in the era he chose, that is, in the twenties of the current 19th century.”
Here is an essay characterizing high society in the novel “Eugene Onegin”.
Roman A.S. Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” was created over the course of seven years. The poet worked hard on it like on no other work. Sometimes he called his scattered drafts of a novel in verse “notebooks,” emphasizing the naturalism and realism of the sketches, which served Pushkin as a kind of notebook, where he noted the features of the life of the society in which he moved.
V.G. Belinsky, despite his poverty critical article about “Eugene Onegin”, there is a famous expression. He calls the novel “an encyclopedia of Russian life.” And even if the critic’s further reflections are not characterized by logic and profundity, the above-mentioned statement most accurately indicates the vastness and, without a doubt, epochal significance of the work.
Literary scholars call the novel “Eugene Onegin” the first realistic novel in the history of Russian literature. Pushkin is responsible for the creation of a new type of character - the so-called “hero of the time.” Later he will manifest himself in the work of M.Yu. Lermontov, and in the notes of I.S. Turgenev, and even F.M. Dostoevsky. The poet set himself the task of describing a person as he is, with all his vices and virtues. The main idea of the novel is the need to show the confrontation between Western, European civilization and the original Russian, highly spiritual one. This confrontation was reflected in the images of different types of nobility - the metropolitan one, of which he is precisely the representative Evgeny Onegin, and the provincial one, to whom the “sweet ideal” belongs Tatyana Larina.
So, the European nobility, the capital, does not evoke much sympathy from the author of the work. He very ironically describes the orders and morals of high society society, emphasizing its emptiness, covered with ostentatious pomp. So, the nobles of the capital live, spending time at balls, dinner parties, and taking walks. However, these amusements follow the same scenario day after day, so even Evgeniy often languishes in society.
The main value is European traditions, fashion, etiquette, ability to behave in society. The most talented and educated people in fact they turn out to be empty, “superficial”. The same Onegin studied with a French woman, and after that he was given to be raised by a “poor Frenchman,” who “taught young Eugene everything jokingly.” This led to the fact that the hero knew a little from everywhere, but was not a master or professional in any science. About Lensky, another representative metropolitan nobility, Pushkin writes modestly, making it clear that in Europe he received an equally superficial education, and brought with him from Germany only “freedom-loving dreams” and “shoulder-length black curls.”
Like Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, a young idealist, was burdened secular society, but at the same time both heroes failed to break ties with him. So, for example, both of them, having cooled down, dream of forgetting about the duel, but at the same time, neither of them finds the strength to cancel the duel, since this contradicts secular concepts of honor and dignity. The price of this selfish desire not to lose face is the death of Lensky.
The provincial nobility is depicted by Pushkin in a much more favorable light. Village landowners live a completely different life: they still have a connection with the Russian people, Russian tradition, culture, and spirituality. This is why Tatyana enjoys listening to her nanny’s stories so much; Larina likes folklore legends, she is religious and devout.
A different life reigns in the village, calmer and simpler, not spoiled by the pomp of the world. But despite this, the provincial nobles are trying their best to match the capital: they throw feasts as rich as possible. The guests at the evening amuse themselves by playing whist and boston, like the residents of the capital, since they have no worthwhile occupation. The “young ladies” Olga and Tatyana speak French, as is customary in high society. This feature is touchingly noted by Pushkin in the scene when Larina writes a love letter to Onegin: “So,” says the author. “I wrote in French.” “Dear Ideal” enthusiastically reads French romance novels, which replace everything for her, and Olga adores her album, in which she asks Lensky to write down poems for her. Such a desire to be like the capital's nobles does not evoke a positive response from the poet.
But the commitment to traditions and high spirituality of the provincial nobles so attracted A.S. Pushkin. They are sincere, kind and honest people, incapable of deception and betrayal that reigns in the world high society. Poet like true Christian, wants to see Russian people as Russian, Orthodox, pious, who have abandoned imposed European values. The same idea of preserving “Russianness” will be continued by other titans of Russian literature of the “golden age”, for example, L.N. Tolstoy or F.M. Dostoevsky.
Stolichnoe and landed nobility in the novel by A. S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”
Sample text essays
In the novel "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin with remarkable completeness unfolded the pictures of Russian life in the first quarter of the XIX century. The arrogant, luxurious St. Petersburg, ancient Moscow, dear to the heart of every Russian person, cozy country estates, and nature, beautiful in its variability, pass before the reader’s eyes in a living, moving panorama. Against this background, Pushkin’s heroes love, suffer, are disappointed, and die. Both the environment that gave birth to them and the atmosphere in which their lives take place are deeply and completely reflected in the novel.
In the first chapter of the novel, introducing the reader to his hero, Pushkin describes in detail his ordinary day, filled to the limit with visits to restaurants, theaters and balls. The life of other young St. Petersburg aristocrats was also “monotonous and motley”, all of whose worries consisted of searching for new, not yet boring entertainment. The desire for change forces Evgeny to leave for the village, then, after the murder of Lensky, he goes on a journey, from which he returns to familiar surroundings St. Petersburg salons. Here he meets Tatiana, who has become an “indifferent princess,” the mistress of an elegant drawing room, where the highest nobility of St. Petersburg gathers.
Here you can meet pro-Lassians, “who have earned fame for their baseness of soul,” and “over-starched impudents,” and “ballroom dictators,” and elderly ladies “in caps and roses, seemingly evil,” and “maidens with unsmiling faces.” These are typical regulars of St. Petersburg salons, where arrogance, stiffness, coldness and boredom reign. These people live by strict rules of decent hypocrisy, playing some role. Their faces, like their living feelings, are hidden by an impassive mask. This gives rise to emptiness of thoughts, coldness of hearts, envy, gossip, and anger. That’s why such bitterness can be heard in Tatyana’s words addressed to Evgeniy:
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...
The same idleness, emptiness and monotony fill the Moscow salons where the Larins visit. Bright satirical colors Pushkin draws a collective portrait of the Moscow nobility:
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...
In this description, attention is drawn to the persistent repetition of small everyday details and their immutability. And this creates a feeling of stagnation of life, which has stopped in its development. Naturally, there are empty, meaningless conversations here, which Tatyana cannot understand with her sensitive soul.
Tatyana wants to listen
In conversations, in general conversation;
But everyone in the living room is occupied
Such incoherent, vulgar nonsense,
Everything about them is so pale and indifferent;
They slander even boringly...
In the noisy Moscow world, the tone is set by “smart dandies”, “holiday hussars”, “archival youths”, and self-satisfied cousins. In a whirlwind of music and dancing, hectic life devoid of any internal content.
They kept life peaceful
Habits of a dear old man;
At their Shrovetide
There were Russian pancakes;
Twice a year they fasted,
Loved Russian swings
Podblyudny songs, round dance...
The author's sympathy is aroused by the simplicity and naturalness of their behavior, closeness to folk customs, cordiality and hospitality. But Pushkin does not idealize at all patriarchal world village landowners. On the contrary, it is precisely for this circle that the defining feature becomes the terrifying primitiveness of interests, which is also manifested in regular topics conversations, and in classes, and in an absolutely empty and aimlessly lived life. How, for example, is Tatyana’s late father remembered? Only because he was a simple and kind fellow,” “he ate and drank in his dressing gown,” and “died an hour before dinner.” The life of Uncle Onegin passes similarly in the wilderness of the village, who “for forty years scolded the housekeeper, looked out the window and crushed flies “Pushkin contrasts these good-natured lazy people with Tatyana’s energetic and economical mother. In a few stanzas, her entire spiritual biography is contained, consisting of a rather rapid degeneration of a cutesy, sentimental young lady into a real sovereign landowner, whose portrait we see in the novel.
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 his portly wife
Fat Pustyakov arrived;
Gvozdin, an excellent owner,
Owner of poor men...
These heroes are so primitive that they do not require a detailed description, which may even consist of one surname. The interests of these people are limited to eating food and talking “about wine, about the kennel, about their relatives.” Why does Tatyana strive from luxurious St. Petersburg to this meager, wretched little world? Probably because he is familiar to her, here you can not hide your feelings, not play the role of a magnificent secular princess. Here you can immerse yourself in the familiar world of books and wonderful rural nature. But Tatyana remains in the light, perfectly seeing its emptiness. Onegin is also unable to break with society without accepting it. The unfortunate fates of the novel's heroes are the result of their conflict with both the capital and provincial society, which, however, generates in their souls submission to the opinion of the world, thanks to which friends fight in duels, and loving friend friend people break up.
This means wide and full image plays all groups of nobility in the novel important role in motivating the actions of the heroes, their destinies, introduces the reader to the circle of current social and moral problems 20s of the XIX century.
The capital and local nobility in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”
Sample essay text
In the novel "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin unfolded with remarkable completeness the pictures of Russian life in the first quarter of the 19th century. The arrogant, luxurious St. Petersburg, ancient Moscow, dear to the heart of every Russian person, cozy country estates, and nature, beautiful in its variability, pass before the reader’s eyes in a living, moving panorama. Against this background, Pushkin’s heroes love, suffer, are disappointed, and die. Both the environment that gave birth to them and the atmosphere in which their lives take place are deeply and completely reflected in the novel.
In the first chapter of the novel, introducing the reader to his hero, Pushkin describes in detail his ordinary day, filled to the limit with visits to restaurants, theaters and balls. The life of other young St. Petersburg aristocrats was also “monotonous and motley”, all of whose worries consisted of searching for new, not yet boring entertainment. The desire for change forces Evgeny to leave for the village, then, after the murder of Lensky, he goes on a journey, from which he returns to the familiar environment of St. Petersburg salons. Here he meets Tatiana, who has become an “indifferent princess,” the mistress of an elegant drawing room where the highest nobility of St. Petersburg gathers.
Here you can meet pro-Lassians, “who have earned fame for their baseness of soul,” and “over-starched impudents,” and “ballroom dictators,” and elderly ladies “in caps and roses, seemingly evil,” and “maidens with unsmiling faces.” These are typical regulars of St. Petersburg salons, where arrogance, stiffness, coldness and boredom reign. These people live by strict rules of decent hypocrisy, playing some role. Their faces, like their living feelings, are hidden by an impassive mask. This gives rise to emptiness of thoughts, coldness of hearts, envy, gossip, and anger. That’s why such bitterness can be heard in Tatyana’s words addressed to Evgeniy:
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...
The same idleness, emptiness and monotony fill the Moscow salons where the Larins visit. Pushkin paints a collective portrait of the Moscow nobility with bright satirical colors:
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...
In this description, attention is drawn to the persistent repetition of small everyday details and their immutability. And this creates a feeling of stagnation of life, which has stopped in its development. Naturally, there are empty, meaningless conversations here, which Tatyana cannot understand with her sensitive soul.
Tatyana wants to listen
In conversations, in general conversation;
But everyone in the living room is occupied
Such incoherent, vulgar nonsense,
Everything about them is so pale and indifferent;
They slander even boringly...
In the noisy Moscow world, the tone is set by “smart dandies”, “holiday hussars”, “archival youths”, and self-satisfied cousins. In a whirlwind of music and dance, a vain life rushes by, devoid of any internal content.
They kept life peaceful
Habits of a dear old man;
At their Shrovetide
There were Russian pancakes;
Twice a year they fasted,
Loved Russian swings
Podblyudny songs, round dance...
The author's sympathy is evoked by the simplicity and naturalness of their behavior, closeness to folk customs, cordiality and hospitality. But Pushkin does not at all idealize the patriarchal world of village landowners. On the contrary, it is precisely for this circle that the defining feature becomes the terrifying primitiveness of interests, which manifests itself in ordinary topics of conversation, in activities, and in an absolutely empty and aimlessly lived life. How, for example, is Tatyana’s late father remembered? Only because he was a simple and kind fellow,” “he ate and drank in his dressing gown,” and “died an hour before dinner.” The life of Uncle Onegin passes similarly in the wilderness of the village, who “for forty years scolded the housekeeper, looked out the window and crushed flies ". Pushkin contrasts these good-natured lazy people with Tatyana's energetic and economical mother. A few stanzas contain her entire spiritual biography, which consists of a rather rapid degeneration of a cutesy, sentimental young lady into a real sovereign landowner, whose portrait we see in the novel.
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 his portly wife
Fat Pustyakov arrived;
Gvozdin, an excellent owner,
Owner of poor men...
These heroes are so primitive that they do not require a detailed description, which may even consist of one surname. The interests of these people are limited to eating food and talking “about wine, about the kennel, about their relatives.” Why does Tatyana strive from luxurious St. Petersburg to this meager, wretched little world? Probably because he is familiar to her, here she can not hide her feelings, not play the role of a magnificent secular princess. Here you can immerse yourself in the familiar world of books and wonderful rural nature. But Tatyana remains in the light, perfectly seeing its emptiness. Onegin is also unable to break with society without accepting it. The unhappy fates of the novel's heroes are the result of their conflict with both the capital and provincial society, which, however, generates in their souls submission to the opinion of the world, thanks to which friends fight duels, and people who love each other part.
This means that a broad and complete depiction of all groups of nobility in the novel plays an important role in motivating the actions of the heroes, their destinies, and introduces the reader to the range of current social and moral problems of the 20s of the 19th century.
