How Onegin was treated in secular society. Essay “Secular Society in the Novel “Eugene Onegin”

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The novel “Eugene Onegin” is the great creation of the brilliant Pushkin. The immortal work reflects Russian life in the first decades of the 19th century with all the force of the author’s realism. The poet describes all aspects of Russian reality, all layers of the nation, and shows typical representatives of the noble society of that era. This typical image in the novel is the main character - Eugene Onegin, in whom the features of a “suffering egoist”, “superfluous person” are clearly visible.

Onegin is a child of secular society; he received the upbringing and education typical of a young nobleman. The main character of the novel speaks perfect French, dances well and bows gracefully, which is quite enough in high society. Onegin is considered an intelligent and sweet person. Pushkin ironically remarks:

We all learned a little bit

Something and somehow

So upbringing, thank God,

It's no wonder for us to shine.

Evgeniy leads the life of a darling of fate, a sybarite. He spends time at endless balls, evenings, visits restaurants, theaters. The young nobleman perfectly mastered the “science of tender passion,” but the author notes that love intrigues occupied Onegin’s “yearning laziness.” The monotony and diversity of life in secular society gradually bores the main character. He becomes disillusioned with the emptiness and purposelessness of such an existence:

But early his feelings cooled down,

He was tired of the noise of the world...

Onegin differs from other representatives of secular Petersburg. He is smart and talented, capable of correctly assessing life and the people who surround him. No wonder Pushkin speaks with great sympathy about his hero. Evgeniy is the author’s “good... friend”. What is so sweet to Pushkin about the nature of the main character? The poet writes:

I liked his features

Involuntary devotion to dreams,

Inimitable strangeness

And a sharp, chilled mind.

It is these qualities that do not allow Onegin to continue to lead an idle life. However, the tragedy of the hero is that he well understands the wrongness of such a life, but does not know how to live. Evgeniy is trying to change the sluggish passage of time, he is trying to engage in useful activities in order to somehow shake himself up. The main character begins to read books and engages in writing, but this does not lead to anything good. Pushkin reveals the truth to us:

But he was sick of hard work...

Life in high society destroys in a person the habit of work, the desire to act. This is what happens with Onegin. His soul simply withered under the influence of the light. Evgeniy is frankly bored in any company. He does everything “out of boredom,” “just to pass the time.” This is what explains Onegin’s friendship with Lensky and the implementation of reforms on the protagonist’s estate. Evgeny values ​​his peace most of all, so he does not want to reciprocate Tatyana Larina when the girl herself confesses her love to the hero. Onegin sees that Tatyana is an original and deep nature, but the egoist in Eugene is stronger than Pushkin’s “good friend”. Onegin inflicts a spiritual wound on “sweet Tanya”, he arouses the jealousy of the naive and ardent Lensky, and the reason for everything is the “longing laziness” of the protagonist. He is an egoist, but a suffering egoist. Onegin's actions and behavior bring misfortune not only to those around him, but also to himself. He lived too long in high society and absorbed all the vices of that society, “living without a goal, without work until he was twenty-six years old.” Evgeny tried to leave, to break with secular Petersburg, but he failed to achieve this. A child of light, he cannot rise above the wretched landed nobility surrounding the hero and prefers to shoot with Lensky so as not to become an object of ridicule. Realizing that he needs to make peace with Vladimir, Evgeniy nevertheless fires a fatal shot for the young poet. After the murder of Lensky, Evgeny suffers, but the fear of gossip and slander turned out to be stronger than the feeling of his own wrong. Onegin was afraid of the opinions of those people whom he himself despised, at whom he laughed in conversations with Lensky. Selfishness also lies at the basis of Evgeny’s attitude towards Tatyana Larina. The hero of Pushkin's novel did not want to respond to the feelings of the naive girl, even realizing that she was worthy of love. Onegin did not want to change his habits:

No matter how much I love you,

Once I get used to it, I’ll stop loving it immediately.

However, Evgeny falls passionately in love with Tatiana when she becomes a noble lady, a representative of the capital's society, and Larina understands well what is the reason for Onegin's feelings for her. This is the love of an egoist, brought up in secular St. Petersburg and well aware of the “science of tender passion.”

The image of Onegin opens a gallery of “superfluous people” in Russian literature of the 19th century. Without him, Pechorin, rightly called the “younger brother” of Pushkin’s hero, would have been impossible; there are features of Evgeniy in Oblomov and Rudin. Eugene Onegin is a typical hero of the era of the twenties, a “suffering egoist” that society made him that way.

In the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin outlined with light strokes the nobility - the people in whose company Eugene Onegin moved, and with whom, in addition to the main characters, he had to maintain relationships and communicate. The capital's nobility was strikingly different from the provincial landowners who lived in the outback. This gap was all the more noticeable the less often landowners traveled to the capital. The interests, level of culture, and education of both were often at different levels.

The images of landowners and high society nobility were only partly fictitious. Pushkin himself moved among them, and most of the paintings depicted in the work were spotted at social events, balls, and dinners. The poet communicated with provincial society during his forced exile in Mikhailovskoye and during his stay in Boldino. Therefore, the life of the nobility, both in the countryside and in Moscow and St. Petersburg, is depicted by poets with knowledge of the matter.

Provincial landed nobility

Along with the Larin family, other landowners lived in the province. The reader meets most of them at their name day. But some sketches to the portraits of neighboring landowners can be seen in the second chapter, when Onegin settled in the village. Simple in their mental makeup, even somewhat primitive people tried to make friends with their new neighbor, but as soon as he saw the droshky approaching, he mounted his horse and rode off the back porch so as not to be noticed. The maneuver of the newly-minted landowner was noticed, and the neighbors, offended by their best intentions, stopped their attempts to establish friendship with Onegin. Pushkin interestingly describes the reaction to the replacement of corvée with quitrent:

But in his corner he sulked, Seeing this terrible harm, His calculating neighbor; The other smiled slyly, And everyone decided out loud that he was the most dangerous eccentric.

The attitude of the nobles towards Onegin became hostile. Sharp-tongued gossips began to talk about him:

“Our neighbor is ignorant; crazy; He is a pharmacist; he drinks one glass of red wine; He doesn't suit ladies' arms; All Yes

Not
really;
will not say
yes,
sir
, or no, sir
.” That was the general voice.

Invented stories can show the level of intelligence and education of people. And since he left much to be desired, Lensky was also not happy with his neighbors, although he paid them visits out of politeness. Although

The lords of the neighboring villages did not like the feasts;

Some landowners whose daughters were growing up dreamed of getting a “rich neighbor” to be their son-in-law. And since Lensky did not seek to fall into anyone’s skillfully placed networks, he also began to visit his neighbors less and less:

He ran away from their noisy conversation. Their conversation is prudent: About haymaking, about wine, About the kennel, about their relatives.

In addition, Lensky was in love with Olga Larina and spent almost all his evenings with their family.

Almost all the neighbors came to Tatyana’s name day:

Fat Pustyakov arrived with his portly wife; Gvozdin, an excellent owner, Owner of poor peasants;

Here Pushkin is clearly being ironic. But, unfortunately, there were quite a few of the landowners like the Gvozdins, who fleeced their men like sticks.

The Skotinins, a gray-haired couple, With children of all ages, counting From thirty to two years old; The district dandy Petushkov, My cousin, Buyanov, In fluff, in a cap with a visor (As you know him, of course), And the retired councilor Flyanov, A heavy gossip, an old rogue, A glutton, a bribe-taker and a buffoon.

XXVII

Monsieur Triquet, the Wit, recently from Tambov, with glasses and a red wig, also came with Panfil Kharlikov’s family.

Pushkin does not need to spend long stanzas characterizing the guest landowners. The names spoke for themselves.

The celebration was attended not only by landowners representing several generations. The older generation was represented by the Skotinins, a gray-haired couple, they were clearly over 50, retired adviser Flyanov, he was also well over 40. In each family there were children who made up the younger generation, who were happy about the regimental orchestra and dancing.

The provincial nobility tries to imitate the capital by organizing balls and celebrations, but here everything is much more modest. If in St. Petersburg they offer dishes prepared by French chefs from overseas products, then in the provinces they put their own reserves on the table. The over-salted fatty pie was prepared by yard cooks, and liqueurs and liqueurs were made from berries and fruits collected in one’s own garden.

In the next chapter, which describes the preparation for the duel, the reader will meet another landowner

Zaretsky, once a brawler, Ataman of a gambling gang, Head of a rake, tavern tribune, Now a kind and simple father of a single family, Reliable friend, peaceful landowner and even an honest man.

It’s him, Onegin is afraid, never having decided to offer reconciliation to Lensky. He knew that Zaretsky could

To quarrel young friends And put them on the fence, Or force them to make peace, So that the three of us can have breakfast, And then secretly dishonor them with a cheerful joke, a lie.

Moscow Noble Society

Tatiana came to Moscow not by chance. She came with her mother to the brides fair. Close relatives of the Larins lived in Moscow, and Tatyana and her mother stayed with them. In Moscow, Tatyana came into close contact with noble society, which was more archaic and rigid than in St. Petersburg or the provinces.

In Moscow, Tanya was greeted warmly and cordially by her relatives. The old women were scattered in memories, the “young graces of Moscow”, having taken a closer look at their new relative and friend, found a common language with her, shared the secrets of beauty and fashion, talked about their heartfelt victories and tried to extract her secrets from Tatyana. But

the secret of his heart, a treasured treasure of tears and happiness, he keeps silently and does not share it with anyone.

Guests came to Aunt Alina's mansion. To avoid appearing too distracted or arrogant,

Tatyana wants to listen closely to conversations, to general conversation; But everyone in the living room is occupied by such incoherent, vulgar nonsense; Everything about them is so pale and indifferent; They slander even boringly.

All this was not interesting to the romantically inclined girl, who, deep down, was perhaps waiting for some kind of miracle. She often stood somewhere on the side, and only

A crowd of young men look at Tanya primly and talk unfavorably about her among themselves.

Of course, such “archival youths” could not interest the young lady. Here Pushkin used the Old Church Slavonic form of the adjective to emphasize that the “young men” belonged to the “past century.” At the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, late marriages were not uncommon. Men were forced to serve in order to make a certain fortune, and only then got married. But they chose young girls as brides. So marriages that were unequal in age were not uncommon at that time. They looked down on the provincial young lady.

Together with her mother or cousins, Tatyana visited theaters and was taken to Moscow balls.

There is cramped space, excitement, heat, the roar of music, the sparkle of candles, the flickering, the whirlwind of fast couples, the light dresses of beauties, the choirs full of people, the vast semicircle of brides, all the senses are suddenly amazed. Here the smart dandies show off their impudence, their vest, and their inattentive lorgnette. Here the hussars on vacation are in a hurry to appear, thunder, flash, captivate and fly away.

At one of the balls, her future husband drew attention to Tatiana.

Essay on the topic: Personality and society in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”

Composition. Personality and society in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”

The novel “Eugene Onegin” is the central work of A. S. Pushkin. Associated with him is a hugely important turn in the writer’s works and in all Russian literature - a turn towards realism. In the novel, according to the author himself, “the century is reflected and modern man is depicted quite correctly.” Pushkin's novel laid the foundation for the Russian social novel with such artistic generalizations as the images of Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, and Tatyana Larina. All of them are typical representatives of the noble youth of that time. Thus, in the image of Onegin, the author summarized all the strengths and weaknesses of the secular nobility, dissatisfied with reality, bored, but doing nothing to overcome this boredom, leading an idle life. The author introduces the reader to the hero already on the first pages of the novel. He talks in detail about his upbringing, typical of that time: Eugene’s fate kept: First Madame followed him, Then Monsieur replaced her. The child was harsh, but sweet. Monsieur l'Abbe, a wretched Frenchman, So that the child would not be exhausted, Taught him everything jokingly... The author notes the superficial education that secular young people received. Onegin, like many nobles of that time, lacks a “depth of knowledge”, about which the author is ironic: Onegin was, in the opinion of many (decisive and strict judges), a learned fellow, but a pedant: He had a lucky talent Without coercion in conversation Touch to everything lightly, With the learned air of an expert To remain silent in an important dispute And to arouse the smile of ladies With the fire of unexpected epigrams. However, the author’s mention of “unexpected epigrams” characterizes the ironic, caustic orientation of his conversations. In a light, playful form it is said about Onegin’s other interests: He had no desire to rummage in the chronological dust of the Genesis of the earth; But he kept in his memory the anecdotes of bygone days From Romulus to the present day. These lines speak of the hero's interest in history. Onegin does not write poetry, which was typical for educated youth of that time. We can judge the hero’s reading range from the list that the author gives us: Juvenal, Adam Smith, Ovid, Nason and other authors. Pushkin describes in detail the pastime of his hero: It used to be that he was still in bed: They carried notes to him. What? Invitations? In fact, Three Houses are calling for the evening... What follows is a description of dinner at Ta1op's restaurant. Waiting there for Onegin is Kaverin, a hussar officer who was famous in Pushkin’s time for participating in revelries and friendly drinking sessions, a member of the “Union of Welfare”. Mentioning him as Onegin’s friend helps to understand the contradictory appearance of Onegin himself. On the one hand, there is the emptiness of the life of a secular person, on the other, serious reading and great demands of the mind, a wide range of interests. The hero lives with a devastated soul, having experienced everything in life and is tired of it. Neither wealth nor position in society interests or attracts him. He protests against the reality around him, but does nothing to find a use for his powers. Despising the light, he nevertheless obeys its laws and environmental prejudices. It was the environment that shaped the hero’s beliefs, morals and interests. Onegin's role in the development of social conflict is comparable to the role of Tatyana Larina. Her character, like Onegin’s character, is shown in development. She is a typical representative of the local nobility; she was brought up on her parents’ estate, surrounded by Russian nature and folk life. The Larin family, a patriarchal noble family, was faithful to the “habits of dear old times.” Her nanny, whose prototype was the author’s nanny Arina Rodionovna, had a great influence on the formation of the heroine’s inner world. Tatyana grew up as a lonely girl: “She seemed like a stranger in her own family.” She did not like to play with her peers, she was immersed in her thoughts and dreams. Trying to understand the world around her, she turned not to adults, from whom she did not find answers to her questions, but to books: She liked novels early; They replaced everything for her; She fell in love with the deceptions of both Richardson and Rousseau. Closeness to the people and to nature developed in her soul such qualities as spiritual simplicity, sincerity, and artlessness. She was naturally gifted with: A rebellious imagination. With a lively mind and will, And a wayward head, And a fiery and tender heart... This is how she stands out among the landowners and secular society. She understands the emptiness of the life of the landed nobility; idleness, tawdry, glitter and emptiness of secular society also do not attract her. Tatyana dreams of a person who would bring meaning and high content into her life, who would be like the heroes of the romantic novels that she was engrossed in. This is how Onegin seemed to her: “Everything is full of him; the sweet maiden keeps repeating about him with magical power.” She writes a love confession to Onegin, thereby violating the moral and ethical laws of that society and time; she is the first to confess her love to a man, but receives a sharp refusal. Love brought Tatyana nothing but suffering. Later, reading books with notes from the owner in Onegin’s office, she discovers a new world, new heroes, realizes that she was mistaken in mistaking Onegin for her hero, but you can’t control your heart. We meet Tatiana again in St. Petersburg, when she became “an indifferent princess, the impregnable goddess of the luxurious, royal Neva,” before whom everyone bows. But her moral rules are still firm and unchanging. In high society she is still lonely. Speaking with Onegin, she expresses her attitude towards social life: Now I’m glad to give, All this rags of a masquerade, All this glitter, and noise, and fumes For a shelf of books, for a wild garden, For our poor home... In the scene of Tatyana’s last date with Onegin reveals the depth of the heroine's character even more fully. She remains faithful to her marital duty, despite the fact that she still continues to love Onegin. Both heroes: Onegin and Tatyana suffer deeply. The author in the novel leads the reader to the idea that the life of the heroes is determined by the laws of the society in which they live, its morality. All heroes are the product of a certain era and environment, their typical representatives. Pushkin's merit is that in his novel he was able to bring out authentic images of Russian people in the first quarter of the 19th century in verse.

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