A.S. Pushkin wrote about "Eugene Onegin" like this: "I am not writing a novel, but a novel in verse - a diabolical difference." This work stands apart from the other works of the poet and is one of the most important novels of the 19th century.
One of the key characters of the novel in verse are Eugene Onegin and Vladimir Lensky. At first glance, these are two completely different heroes, but if you look at them in more detail, you can easily see that Vladimir is the exact copy of Eugene before the illness of the soul.
The poet looks at the world as something beautiful, he sees no flaws, his young heart trembles at every philosophical thought about love and life. The soul of Lensky is blind, in contrast to the critical gaze of Onegin. But Eugene did not begin to speak his point of view, as he saw that it was pointless, and the poet himself had to realize such a view of the life of the 19th century.
I can call Yevgeny's soul illness and boredom in another way. He became bored and painfully hated by the whole secular society. Soon, he did not care at all about the opinions of others, when, for example, being late for the ballet, he imposingly entered the hall, critically looking at those present. But Onegin treats the poet differently. We can say that he is more indulgent to his feelings and emotions. The hero calmly listens to Lensky's thoughts, even with a bit of irony, but still appreciates him for who he is. Soon their relationship grew into friendship. Vladimir was the only familiar person in the village with whom one could talk about art, life, books and much more.
A striking difference between them can be seen in their thinking about love. The poet is a romantic hero, and love for him is the most important and great feeling in which he so blindly believes. From the first day of his stay in the village, Vladimir was inspired by thoughts about Olga Larina. He sees in her a kindred spirit, although in reality she is a rather stupid girl who did not even remember her fiancé after his death.
Eugene does not believe in love. He is seductive with women when Lensky in his place is shy with embarrassment. Onegin quickly gets tired of being in love, does not believe in eternal sincere love. He believes that he is not capable of feelings, and immediately warns Tatyana about this. The hero speaks of this with care so that the girl does not feed herself with false hopes about his, at first glance, sweet character.
Pushkin actually wrote an encyclopedia of Russian life. Each image, each character - everything is worked out with maximum accuracy. The writer considered absolutely all the images of that century. Reading this novel in verse, you literally find yourself in that time and look at it from the side of different characters. Everyone has their own view of the world, and having considered everything, you have your own opinion on each situation considered in the novel "Eugene Onegin".
They came together. Wave and stone,
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Not so different from each other.
A.S. Pushkin, "E.O."
Pushkin is a great poet and writer of the 19th century. He enriched Russian literature with many wonderful works. Pushkin's most important work was his novel "E.O." The novel in verse "E.O." rightly considered an "encyclopedia of Russian life." The author reflected in it the life of the noble youth of the 19th century, showed the features of Russia at that time.
The central figures of the novel are two completely different but at the same time similar heroes, Eugene Onegin and Vladimir Lensky. Onegin receives a typical aristocratic education. Pushkin writes: “At first Madame went after him, then Monsieur replaced her.” They taught him everything jokingly, but Onegin is all he received the knowledge that he needed in a secular society. Pushkin characterizes Evgeny as follows:
He is completely French
Could speak and write
Easily danced the mazurka
And bowed at ease;
What do you want more? The world decided
That he is smart and very nice.
In his mind, Onegin is much higher than his peers. He knew a little classical literature, had an idea about Adam Smith, read Byron, but, nevertheless, all these hobbies do not awaken romantic, fiery feelings in Yevgeny's soul, like Lensky's. Eugene spends his best years, like most young people of his circle, on balls, theaters, love affairs. Very soon he begins to understand that this life is empty, that nothing is worth behind the “external tinsel”, boredom, slander, envy reign in the world , people spend internal forces on trifles, senselessly burning their lives. A sharp, chilled mind and "oversaturation with the pleasures of the world" led Onegin to lose interest in life, he falls into a deep blues:
The blues was waiting for him on guard,
And she ran after him
Like a shadow or a faithful wife.
Out of boredom, Eugene tries to look for the meaning of life in some activity: he reads a lot, tries to write, but these attempts are unsuccessful. In the village where Eugene goes for an inheritance, he makes another attempt to occupy himself with something:
Yarem he is an old corvée
I replaced the quitrent with a light one;
And the slave blessed fate.
But in his corner pouted,
Seeing in this terrible harm,
His prudent neighbor...
But the aversion to work, the habit of freedom and peace, lack of will and unwillingness to work led to the fact that Onegin became a real egoist, thinking only about himself, about his desires and pleasures, unable to pay attention to the feelings, interests and sufferings of people, capable of easily offend, offend, cause grief to a person, without even noticing it. However, Eugene is not a narcissistic egoist, but, as V.G. Belinsky said, “a suffering egoist.” He understands that he is superfluous in this senseless society, but, as neither tries, nor can he completely free himself from the influence of light. Onegin was not satisfied with an empty, meaningless life. But he had neither the strength nor the desire to break with this life, he continues to treat everyone and everything except his own passively and indifferently calmness. Having received a duel challenge, knowing full well his wrong and the senselessness of this duel, Onegin nevertheless accepts the challenge and kills his best friend Vladimir Lensky. The murder of Lensky turned Onegin's whole life upside down. He is no longer able to stay in those places where everything reminded him of his terrible crime, "where the bloodied shadow appeared to him every day." And, exhausted by remorse, Onegin rushes around the world. But, despite the cruelty, this test helped Eugene change internally, become more responsive to the feelings of the people around him, his heart opens up for love. But here, too, Onegin expects the collapse of all his hopes for happiness. His misfortune is a retribution for his aimlessly lived life.
In the novel, in contrast to Onegin, the image of Vladimir Lensky is given. Lensky plays a significant role in understanding Onegin's character. Lensky is a nobleman, he is younger than Onegin in age. He was educated in Germany:
He is from foggy Germany
Bring the fruits of learning
The spirit is ardent and rather strange...
The spiritual world of Lensky is the complete opposite of Onegin's worldview. Lensky is "an admirer of Kant and a poet", a hopeless romantic who lives in a world of beautiful dreams and dreams. Feelings dominate his mind, he believes in sincere and pure love, in friendship, in the decency of people. Lensky looks at life through rose-colored glasses, he naively finds a kindred spirit in Olga, who is the most ordinary empty girl who quickly forgot the one who died in a duel groom.
What can such seemingly different people have in common? They both belong to the nobility, both are smart, educated, both despise the empty secular life, and both are much higher in internal development than the people around them. The romantic soul of Lensky, not spoiled by life, is looking for beauty everywhere. Pushkin writes about Lensky: “He he was ignorant at heart, he was cherished by hope, and the world had a new brilliance and noise. ”Onegin had long gone through this, he listened to Lensky’s ardent speeches with the smile of an elder, he tried to restrain his irony. Pushkin writes: “And I thought it was stupid for me to interfere with his momentary bliss, and without me the time will come, let him live for the time being and believe in the perfection of the world. Forgive the fever of youth and youthful fever and youthful delirium. For Lensky, friendship is an urgent need, while Onegin is friends “for the sake of boredom”, although he is attached to Lensky in his own way. But, contrary to friendly feelings, Onegin is forced to kill Lensky. cowardice. Because of a false sense of honor, he destroys an innocent soul. Who knows what the fate of Lensky would have been if he had survived. Perhaps he would have become a Decembrist, or perhaps just a layman. The author himself thought that
He would have changed a lot.
I would part with the muses, get married,
In the village, happy and horned,
I would wear a quilted robe.
I think Lensky's death is quite logical, he died, as his romanticism would have died over time. According to A.I. Herzen, Lensky was only capable of quickly flaring up and fading away. most likely, in the future, Lensky would have an ordinary life that would have cooled his ardor and turned him into a simple landowner who
Drank, ate, missed, got fat, sickly,
And finally in your bed
I would die among the children,
Crying women and doctors.
I think that Onegin was inwardly deeper than Lensky. First of all, only deep and thinking people are able to experience dissatisfaction with life and themselves. Throughout the whole novel, I feel only pity for Eugene, because the realization of mistakes comes to him too late. I think Onegin is just a victim of a soulless society, from the floor of influence which Eugene could not get out.
Pushkin portrayed reality exactly as it was at that time, showed that in such a society rotting from within, only mediocre people, whose interests are petty and limited, can be happy. Such exalted people as Onegin and Lensky are unhappy in this life. They either die like Lensky, or continue to live with a devastated soul like Onegin. The wealth and high position in society that they inherited do not make their lives easier and do not make them happy. Society and education do not give them the opportunity for personal happiness, the realization of mistakes comes to them too late. But these mistakes cannot be blamed on the heroes themselves. They were made such by society. The environment that surrounded them from birth shaped their characters. According to Pushkin, it was the environment that made these beautiful, intelligent and noble people unhappy in essence and in their inclinations.
Onegin and Lensky are the two central characters of the work. For a better representation of the characters, understanding their actions, understanding the concept of personality, insight into the author's intention, we will conduct a comparative description of them.
Education of the main characters
Eugene comes from a noble family. He, the “young rake”, received an upbringing corresponding to his time under the supervision of a tutor from France - upbringing in the spirit of literature, not tied to any national stratum.
Lensky is an endearing young man. Handsome (“black curls”), rich, emotional, full of lofty expectations from life. Paying great attention to the description of the appearance and character of the hero, Alexander Sergeevich is silent about education.
Ideals of Eugene and Vladimir
For a correct perception of Onegin's ideals, it is first necessary to understand what "ideal" means. The concept of "ideal" implies our aspirations. What was Onegin's soul longing for? To harmony. And how did he achieve this? He struggled between the eternal (national) and the temporal (what appeared in his character under the influence of society and extraneous views on life).
The ideals of Lensky are devoted love and sincere friendship until the end of days.
Realist Onegin and dreamer Lensky
The complex and contradictory nature of Eugene corresponds to his time - the same difficult and ambiguous.
Onegin is lazy, full of pride and indifference. Hypocritical and flattering. He likes to slander and criticize. At the celebration of life, most likely, superfluous. Noticeably different from his surroundings, trying to find the meaning of life. Unwillingness to work, despondency, melancholy, lack of life goals, skepticism are the hallmarks of the “extra person”, to which Onegin is ranked.
Vladimir Lensky is the opposite of his neighbor. Not a rebel. Enthusiastic, freedom-loving, always in dreams. Romantic. His genuine sincerity, spiritual purity, honesty and directness are captivating, but Lensky is not an ideal. The meaning of life is a mystery. What functional load, according to the idea of the author of the novel, does this character carry in the work? The meaning of Vladimir is to emphasize the character of Eugene.
These two characters are different. But at the same time, their similarities are noticeable: the lack of prospects, a suitable occupation in life, the indecision of character.
The relationship of characters to poetry
“Yawning, he took up the pen, wanted to write…”. I wonder what literary genre Eugene gravitates towards? It is unlikely that poetry (“he could not distinguish iambic from chorea ... distinguish ...”). But one cannot say that writing poems was alien to him. He did not understand the real meaning of great poetry, but he nevertheless tried to occupy himself with the selection of rhyme.
Epigrams - that's what Onegin had enough imagination for. (Here we will make a small digression and explain that an epigram is a short poem, the purpose of which is to ridicule a person or event). Onegin loved epigrams to "excite the smile of the ladies."
In opposition to Onegin, Lensky respects poetry. After all, he is a poet. He dedicates his poems to his bride Olga.
Love in the lives of heroes
Eugene, "considered an invalid in love", is skeptical about the sublime feeling, with some irony and pragmatism. At the end of the novel, his attitude changes. Feelings awaken in him, hitherto unknown, to Tatyana.
Lensky was in a state of falling in love (“sang love”).
Difference in perception of life
According to Onegin, existence is meaningless and empty. The days are filled with sadness and gloom. There are no goals, no striving forward.
Lensky soars on the bustle. His romantic, emotional and naive nature is not characterized by a deep understanding of life.
Conclusion
Onegin and Lensky are clear opposites. They are distinguished by a warehouse of character, ideals, attitude to life and love. Deep in Onegin's soul lies a good beginning, but the reader is aware of internal conflicts and disharmony.
Lensky appears as freedom-loving and dreamy, sincerely believing in his ideals. It is not attached to reality, it has no foundation.
What is he, a contemporary of Pushkin? When you read, or rather, enjoy reading Pushkin's masterpiece, it seems that Alexander Sergeevich wrote about himself.
He calls his protagonist "my good friend", among Onegin's friends there are friends of Pushkin himself, and Pushkin himself is invisibly present everywhere in the novel. However, it would be too primitive to say that Onegin is a self-portrait. Pushkin's soul is too complex and incomprehensible, too multifaceted and contradictory to be reflected in one "typical representative" of the "golden age". Perhaps that is why the young idealist Lensky lived his short bright life in the novel - also part of the poet's soul. Onegin and Lensky, both beloved by the author, so similar and different, close and distant, like the poles of one planet, like two halves of one soul ... How youth inevitably ends, how inevitably the maturity of the mind comes, and with it conformism, so inevitable for Pushkin in the novel, the death of a young romantic.
Eugene Onegin receives a typical aristocratic upbringing. Pushkin writes: “At first, Madame went after him, then Monsieur replaced her.” They taught him everything jokingly, but Onegin nevertheless received the minimum knowledge that was considered mandatory in the nobility. Pushkin, making sketches, seems to recall his youth:
* We all learned a little
* Something and somehow,
* So education, thank God,
* It is not surprising for us to shine ...
* He is perfectly French
* Could speak and write;
* Easy mazurka danced
* And bowed at ease;
* What do you want more?
* Light decided
* That he is smart and very nice.
In his mind, Onegin is much higher than his peers. He knew some classical literature, had an idea about Adam Smith, read Byron, but all this does not lead to romantic, fiery feelings, like in Lensky, or to a sharp political protest, like in Griboedov's Chatsky. A sober, "chilled" mind and satiety with the pleasures of the world led to the fact that Onegin loses interest in life, he falls into a deep blues:
* The blues was waiting for him on guard,
* And she ran after him,
* Like a shadow or a faithful wife.
Out of boredom, Onegin tries to look for the meaning of life in any activity. He reads a lot, tries to write, but the first attempt did not lead to anything. Pushkin writes: "But nothing came out of his pen." In the village where Onegin goes to collect his inheritance, he makes another attempt at practical activity:
* He is a yoke of ancient corvée
* I replaced the quitrent with an easy one;
* And the slave blessed fate.
* But in his corner he pouted,
* Seeing terrible harm in this,
* His prudent neighbor...
But the lordly aversion to work, the habit of freedom and peace, lack of will and pronounced egoism - this is the legacy that Onegin received from the "high society".
In contrast to Onegin, another type of noble youth is given in the image of Lensky. Lensky plays an essential role in understanding Onegin's character. Lensky is a nobleman, he is younger than Onegin in age. He was educated in Germany: He is from foggy Germany He brought the fruits of learning, The spirit is ardent and rather strange ...
The spiritual world of Lensky is associated with a romantic worldview, he is "an admirer of Kant and a poet." Feelings dominate his mind, he believes in love, in friendship, in the decency of people, he is an irreparable idealist who lives in a world of beautiful dreams. Lensky looks at life through rose-colored glasses, he naively finds his soul mate in Olga, the most ordinary girl. Onegin was indirectly the cause of Lensky's death, but in fact he dies from rough contact with cruel reality. What do Onegin and Lensky have in common? Both belong to a privileged circle, they are smart, educated, in their inner development, they stand above those who surround them, the romantic soul of Lensky is looking for beauty everywhere. Onegin went through all this, tired of the hypocrisy and depravity of secular society. Pushkin writes about Lensky: “He was an ignoramus dear at heart, he was cherished by hope, and a new brilliance and noise of the world.” Onegin listened to Lensky's ardent speeches with the smile of an elder, he tried to restrain his irony: “And he thought: it's stupid for me to interfere with his momentary bliss; and without me the time will come; let him live for the time being and believe in the perfection of the world; let us forgive the fever of youth and youthful fever and youthful delirium. For Lensky, friendship is an urgent need of nature, while Onegin is friends "for the sake of boredom", although in his own way he is attached to Lensky. Lensky, who does not know life, embodies a no less common type of advanced noble youth, just like Onegin, disappointed in life.
Pushkin, opposing two young people, nevertheless notes common traits of character. He writes: “They got along. Wave and stone, poetry and prose, ice and fire are not so different from each other. "Not so different." How to understand this phrase? In my opinion, what unites them is that they are both egocentric, they are bright individuals who are focused only on their supposedly unique personality. "The habit of counting everyone as zeros, and as ones - oneself" sooner or later had to lead to a break. Onegin is forced to kill Lensky. Despising the world, he still cherishes his opinion, fearing ridicule and reproach for cowardice. Because of a false concept of honor, he destroys an innocent soul. Who knows what the fate of Lensky would have been if he had survived. Perhaps he would have become a Decembrist, or perhaps just a layman. Belinsky, analyzing the novel, believed that Lensky was waiting for the second option. Pushkin writes: “In many ways he would have changed, parted with the muses, married, happy in the village and would wear a quilted robe with horns.”
I think Onegin was, after all, internally deeper than Lensky. His "sharp, cool mind" is much more pleasant than Lensky's sublime romanticism, which would quickly disappear, as flowers disappear in late autumn. Only deep natures can experience dissatisfaction with life, Pushkin is closer to Onegin, he writes about himself and about him: L was embittered, he is gloomy, We both knew the game of passions, The life tormented us both, In both hearts the heat died down.
Pushkin openly admits his sympathy for him, many lyrical digressions in the novel are devoted to this. Onegin suffers deeply. This can be understood from the lines: “Why am I not wounded by a bullet in the chest? Why am I not a frail old man, like this poor farmer? I am young, my life is strong; what should I expect? melancholy, melancholy!..” Pushkin embodied in Onegin many of those traits that would later appear in individual characters of Lermontov, Turgenev, Herzen, Goncharov and other writers. And such romantics as Lensky cannot withstand the blows of life: they either reconcile with it or perish.
The source of the development of society at all times was the dissatisfaction of people with their own lives and social foundations. On the threshold of the nineteenth century in Russia, among the advanced noble youth, unconsciously, gradually, dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality began to be felt. Typical representatives of this circle are Eugene Onegin and Vladimir Lensky - the heroes of the novel by A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin".
The main common feature of Onegin and Lensky is their dissatisfaction with the noble society, although they received an upbringing typical for the nobles of that time. Cut off from Russian culture, brought up by French tutors, they did not have any serious goal in life. Therefore, Onegin soon became disillusioned with the idle bustle of the world: “although he was an ardent rake, he finally fell out of love with scolding, and a saber, and lead,” “he completely cooled off” to life. Lensky was also alien to secular interests: "he did not like feasts, he fled from noisy conversation."
In the countryside, living among limited, self-satisfied landowners and being spiritually superior to those around them, they became friends, although they represented opposite human natures. Onegin in his best years fell into a spleen, was "indifferent to everything", Lensky - a lyrical nature, possessing "freedom-loving dreams", always "enthusiastic speech", he was "an admirer of Kant and a poet." Lensky considered poetry to be his element, while in Onegin Pushkin emphasizes "a sharp, chilled mind."
In Lensky, the poet notes love for nature, "the noble aspiration of feelings and thoughts of the young, high, tender, daring", "thirst for knowledge and work and fear of vice and shame." On Onegin’s arrival in the village, “for two days, secluded fields seemed to him new, the coolness of a gloomy oak forest, the murmur of a quiet stream, on the third - a grove, the hills no longer occupied him”, “hard work was sickening to him”, and when he, “ yawning, he took up the pen, ”it didn’t work out for him. Being by nature an outstanding person, Onegin cannot apply himself to anything in the society in which he is forced to live, and he himself suffers from this.
In Onegin, Pushkin highlights the ability to understand people, to be critical of them. He immediately understood Olga's mediocrity and at first glance appreciated Tatyana's originality, highlighting. her from the others. The poet shows Lensky as a person who lacks knowledge and understanding of reality. “A dear ignoramus with a heart,” Pushkin characterizes him in this way. Lensky idealizes Olga, a simple girl. Her behavior after the ball is taken for treason. This circumstance leads to an unreasonable duel and his death. But if Lensky behaves in connection with the duel like a sentimental youth with an impractical attitude to life; then Onegin, being a sober-minded person, "loving the young man with all his heart", had to prove himself "a ball of prejudice ... but a husband with honor and intelligence." But Onegin turned out to be below the prejudices of the society that brought him up, he turned out to be an egoist and, frightened by the “whisper, laughter of fools”, killed a friend. Onegin's false concept of noble honor pushed him to kill Lensky. Belinsky called Onegin a suffering egoist, an unwilling egoist, since his egoism is due to the upbringing he received in a noble society.
In the images of Onegin and Lensky, Pushkin showed the characteristic path, the inner life of a whole layer of young people in Russia of that time. Smarter, more sensitive, more conscientious, they could not find a calling in life and faded away.
For us now, I mean my generation, it is not at all easier to find a calling in life. In today's society of chaos and disorder, it is very difficult not to make a mistake. It seems to me that every person is destined to create something in his life, to leave a mark, otherwise why are we humans created?
You must always remember this and strive for your calling. Yes, it's difficult, maybe impossible, but I'll try not to give up.
