What is Eugene Onegin's blues? Onegin's “blues” in “a collection of motley chapters”

“Eugene Onegin” presents “a typical hero in typical circumstances - there is not the slightest hint of exceptional, exotic setting characteristic romantic works. But even more important is the “world’s sorrow” of romance, which appears as a consequence of the discovery by the hero, an exceptional person, of the general imperfection of the world and disappointment in everything, in “Onegin” is motivated by completely realistic reasons. Moreover, instead of this traditional romantic trait The Russian Childe Harold Onegin is also endowed with “Russian blues.” At the same time, the word “blues” itself is filled with a slightly different content; here there remains a shade of disappointment, general skepticism, but at the same time there appears something that is associated with boredom, satiety, even some laziness and phlegmatism. But the most important thing is that all these qualities of Onegin, which have quite obvious consequences in the future plot development receive a comprehensive explanation from the very beginning. So, what are the reasons for Onegin’s “blues”?
At the beginning of the novel, we are presented with a picture of upbringing, education, pastime and interests of a typical young man born “on the banks of the Neva” and, by the will of fate, turned out to be “the heir of all his relatives.”
Why does Onegin’s dreamy nature turn into disappointment, and why does his deep analytical mind become harsh and chilled? It’s not hard to guess: Pushkin in more detail describes a typical day of Onegin, his activities and hobbies. The author's conclusion is obvious:
Wake up at noon, and again
Until the morning his life is ready,
Monotonous and colorful.
And tomorrow is the same as yesterday;
This is what leads the hero to the blues: the monotony of life, only outwardly motley, but in fact revolving in a set circle: “lunches, dinners and dances,” as Griboyedov’s Chatsky said about it. Belinsky rightly said about Onegin that “the inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him, he doesn’t even know what he wants; but he knows, and knows very well, that he does not need, that he does not want, what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.” And here is the result:
The disease whose cause
It's time to find it long ago,
Similar to the English spleen,
In short, Russian blues
I mastered it little by little;
He will shoot himself, thank God.
I didn't want to try
But I lost interest in life completely
A person generously gifted with various abilities cannot find another occupation for himself other than those with which “proud mediocrity is so pleased.” Onegin made such attempts: he, having abandoned his boring flirting with secular beauties, “yawned, took up his pen.” But the point is not only that Onegin lacks a gift for writing; the author’s conclusion is more general: “he was sick of persistent work.” This is Onegin's laziness.
But maybe Onegin did not use all the means that could cure his illness? But actually, what other “recipes against it are offered? Of course, travel is so typical feature romantic hero Onegin was planning to go to the South with the Author, which he tells us about in lyrical digression. But then the inheritance turned up and he limited himself to “traveling” to the village. True, then he will be destined to “travel around Russia,” but this will not be quite the same Onegin, bored and mopey, with whom we met in this part of the novel
What else is the hero trying to do to disperse the “blues”. In fact, nothing more. Maybe this is the reason that in the village, where Onegin’s usual living conditions really changed:
boredom is the same
Handra was waiting for him on guard
And she ran after him,
Like a shadow or a faithful wife
It is no coincidence that Onegin’s illness, associated with Western European “Byronism,” strikes him, who was brought up and raised “on the banks of the Neva.”
Onegin’s isolation from the national “soil” is both the cause of his melancholy and what underlies the very important consequences of Onegin’s illness.

“” is a work by Alexander Pushkin, which marked a new direction in Russian literature - realism. Although it would be more accurate to say that this novel shows how romantic tendencies give way to realistic ones.

The main character Eugene Onegin formally resembles a Byronic hero. He is smart, educated, disappointed in life. The hero rejects society and dreams of some kind of ideal. But the main difference between Onegin and the Byronic hero is his inaction. He only dreams of a Great Deed, but even writing a book is too much work for him.

The world's sorrow of the romantic heroes is transformed into the Russian melancholy, to which Eugene Onegin succumbs. What are its reasons? The answer lies, first of all, in his upbringing and habitat.

Onegin was educated by a foreign tutor who did not overwork the student with science. Since childhood, Evgeniy had access to many things, except true love loved ones. As a result, the boy grew up selfish. Having entered adult social life, the hero enjoys all its advantages. He quickly learns the art of hypocrisy, even though it is disgusting to him.

At first the hero gets carried away social life: shines at balls, tempts women. But very quickly he gets tired of such a life. In splendor metropolitan life he saw monotony and limitation. Despite the apparent intensity, Eugene’s days pass the same way: balls, receptions, social dinners, flirting. In all this there was nothing that corresponded to the emotional impulses of the hero. Very quickly he lost interest in his usual life. This is how the blues appeared.

The novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” can mistakenly be attributed to the movement of romanticism. After all, the drama is at the center of events. love story, and the main characters are unusual personalities. However, there are no unusual circumstances or fantasy elements in the work. All events are typical, characteristic of that time. The novel is a realistic reflection of Russian reality.

The main character, like the romantics, is disappointed in his environment and way of life. However, he does not know how, like romantics, to find harmony in communication with nature or in native culture. All this is as boring to him as social life.

Another way for romantics to get away from disappointment is travel. This is how Byron's Childe Harold seeks understanding while wandering the world. The author says that Evgeny also had an impulse to go on a journey with him, but another matter prevented him. Having learned about the inheritance, Onegin goes to his uncle to look after him. Thus, the idea of ​​the Great Journey is embodied in a mercantile “trip” to the village.

The main reason for Onegin’s blues is disappointment in reality. And the consequence is the unrealization of the hero’s potential in life.

In the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin embodied one of his most significant plans - to create the image of a “hero of the time.” Even before work on the novel began, in romantic poem « Prisoner of the Caucasus"In 1821, the poet tried to draw a portrait of a contemporary. But the means of romantic poetics came into conflict with a task that could only be solved by realistic means. Pushkin wanted not only to show a person who was overcome by a special “illness”, called “Russian melancholy” in Onegin, but also to explain the reason for this new phenomenon, which led to the emergence of a special type of personality with “premature old age of the soul.” “Who would care about the image of a young man who has lost the sensitivity of his heart in misfortunes unknown to the reader,” - this is how the author himself commented on his “failure.” And then he began to create the first realistic socio-psychological novel in Russian literature.

“Eugene Onegin” presents “a typical hero in typical circumstances”; there is not the slightest hint of the exceptional, exotic setting characteristic of romantic works. But something else is even more important: the “world’s sorrow” of romance, which appears as a consequence of the discovery by the hero, an exceptional person, of the general imperfection of the world and disappointment in everything, in Onegin is motivated by completely realistic reasons. Moreover, instead of this traditional romantic trait, the Russian Childe Harold Onegin is also endowed with “Russian blues.” At the same time, the word “blues” itself is filled with a slightly different meaning: there remains a tinge of disappointment and general skepticism, but at the same time there appears something that is associated with boredom, satiety, even some laziness and phlegmatism. But the most important thing is that all these qualities of Onegin, which have quite obvious consequences in the further development of the plot, receive a comprehensive explanation from the very beginning. So, what are the reasons for Onegin’s “blues”?

In the first chapter of the novel, Pushkin talks in detail about Onegin’s life before the start of the plot action. Before us is a picture of the upbringing, education, pastime and interests of a typical young man, born “on the banks of the Neva” and, by the will of fate, turned out to be “the heir of all his relatives.” He receives a very broad, but not deep, home education, like many noble children of that era; raised by French tutors, speaks fluent French, dances well, dresses fashionably, can easily carry on a conversation, has impeccable manners - and all the doors leading to high society are open for him:

What do you want more? The light has decided

That he is smart and very nice.

How little, it turns out, was required from the person himself for society to give him the highest rating! Everything else is what gives him origin and a certain social and financial situation. One can imagine what kind of people must have surrounded Onegin from the very first steps in the world. Of course, for an ordinary person this would hardly be important factor the appearance of boredom and satiety with such a life, but Onegin, as Belinsky noted, “was not one of the ordinary, ordinary people.” The author himself speaks of his closeness and certain sympathy for this extraordinary person:

I liked his features

Involuntary devotion to dreams,

Inimitable strangeness

And a sharp, chilled mind.

Why does Onegin’s dreamy nature turn into disappointment, and why does his deep analytical mind become harsh and chilled? It is not difficult to guess this: Pushkin describes in great detail a typical day for Onegin, his activities and hobbies. The author's conclusion is obvious:

Wake up at noon, and again

Until the morning his life is ready,

Monotonous and colorful.

And tomorrow is the same as yesterday.

This is what leads the hero to the blues: the monotony of life, only outwardly motley, but in fact revolving in a set circle: “lunches, dinners and dances,” as Griboyedov’s Chatsky said about it. They alternate mandatory visit theater, where the same circle of people gathers, with equally obligatory novels, which are essentially just social flirting. This, in fact, is all that the world can offer a young man. Belinsky rightly said about Onegin that “the inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him; he doesn't even know what he wants; but he knows, and knows very well, that he does not need, that he does not want, what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.” And here is the result:

The disease whose cause

It's time to find it long ago,

Similar to the English spleen,

In short: Russian blues

I mastered it little by little;

He will shoot himself, thank God,

I didn't want to try

But he completely lost interest in life.

But another logical question arises: why can’t a person generously gifted with various abilities find another occupation other than those with which “the self-loving mediocrity is so pleased”? In fairness, it must be said that Onegin made such attempts: he, having abandoned his boring flirting with secular beauties, “yawned, took up his pen.” The author's irony here is obvious: this is not how he starts his creative work true writer. But the point is not only that Onegin lacks a gift for writing; the author’s conclusion is more general: “he was sick of persistent work.” Here it is - Onegin laziness. Even then, having settled in the village and at first carried out some transformations there (“he replaced the ancient corvée with a yoke / With an easy quitrent”), Onegin immediately calms down: fortunately, now he doesn’t even have to travel for work, as the neighboring landowners do. He retires, escaping from all the visitors who are so annoying to him, and lives as an “anchorite.”

But maybe Onegin did not use all the means that could cure his illness? But actually, what other “recipes” are offered against it? Of course, travel is such a typical feature of a romantic hero. Onegin was planning to go to the South with the Author, which he tells us about in a lyrical digression. But then the inheritance “turned up” and he limited himself to a “journey” to the village. True, then he will be destined to “travel around Russia,” but this will no longer be quite the same Onegin, bored and moping, with whom we met in this part of the novel.

What else is the hero trying to do to disperse the blues? In fact, nothing more. Maybe this is the reason that in the village, where Onegin’s usual living conditions really changed,

...the same boredom

Handra was waiting for him on guard

And she ran after him,

Like a shadow or a faithful wife.

So maybe the reasons for Onegin’s illness are still deeper, maybe it’s not for nothing that Pushkin talks about his “inimitable strangeness”? After all, there are such restless natures in the world who are not satisfied with anything, who are looking for something that even they do not fully understand, and never find, they try to find a worthy cause in life, but are only disappointed again and again - and still do not leave of your searches. Yes, such people were captured both by Russian and European literature. In Europe they were called romantics, and in Russia, having absorbed special national Russian traits, they became “ extra people" This is the most important consequence of Onegin’s “blues,” which in fact turns out to be a truly serious illness that is difficult to get rid of. The very persistence of Onegin’s attempts to overcome this condition speaks of the depth and seriousness of the problem. It is not for nothing that Pushkin, having begun the novel in a somewhat ironic tone, gradually moves on to a thoughtful analysis of all the components of this problem. And it turns out that the consequences of this “disease” modern man can be extremely difficult both for himself and for the people around him.

It is no coincidence that Onegin’s illness, associated with Western European “Byronism,” strikes him, brought up and raised “on the banks of the Neva,” in the very European city Russia. The work is based on one general problem that will be central to Russia throughout the 19th century - the problem of dividing society into two different and very little connected parts. On the one hand, this is the nobility, primarily urban, who absorbed European culture, enlightenment and in many ways lost its national foundations. On the other hand, much most of- one that preserved national roots: supported national traditions, rituals, customs, based her life on centuries-old moral principles. Even the language of these two disintegrated parts of what was once (before Peter’s reforms) a single Russian society turned out to be different: it is enough to recall the words of the hero of the comedy “Woe from Wit” Chatsky - a contemporary of Onegin - that the people considered the nobility, often used even in everyday life French, “for the Germans,” that is, foreigners.

Onegin’s isolation from the national “soil” is both the cause of his melancholy and what underlies the very important consequences of Onegin’s illness. First, about the reasons. We all know that Pushkin’s talent, imprisoned in Mikhailovsky by the will of fate, reached an unprecedented peak. Pushkin had something to occupy himself in the village, although he, especially at first, had to mope and be sad, like Onegin. But the difference between them is great:

I was born for a peaceful life

For village silence:

More vivid creative dreams -

This is what Pushkin says about himself, contrasting his attitude towards the village and Russian nature with Onegin’s. After all, Onegin was interested in the typically Russian landscape only for two days, and -

On the third grove, hill and field

He was no longer occupied;

Then they induced sleep...

But there is a heroine in the novel who is very similar to the author, not only in her attitude to Russian nature, but also to everything Russian. This, of course, is Tatiana, “Russian in soul.” Raised in the village, she absorbed Russian customs and traditions, which were “kept in a peaceful life” in the Larin family. Since childhood, she fell in love with Russian nature, which forever remained dear to her; she accepted with all her soul those fairy tales, folk legends which the nanny told her. In other words, Tatyana retained a living, blood connection with that “soil” folk basis, which Onegin completely lost.

And then their meeting takes place: a Russian European, suffering from an illness “similar to the English spleen,” and a dreamy Russian girl, sincere in her impulses and capable of deep, strong feeling. This meeting could be salvation for Onegin. But one of the consequences of his illness is that very “premature old age of the soul” that Pushkin spoke about. Having appreciated Tatyana, her brave, desperate act, when she was the first to confess her love to him, Onegin cannot find it in himself mental strength to respond to a girl's feelings. He was only “deeply touched” when he received her message. And then came his “sermon” in the garden, in which he “taught” the girl, inexperienced in matters of the heart, how carefully she should behave. This is the whole of Onegin: in his monologue there is a sincere confession of the soul, and the caution of a secular person who is afraid of getting into an awkward situation, and even some preserved traits of a “cunning seducer,” but most importantly - callousness and selfishness. It becomes like this human soul who suffered premature old age. She was not created, as Onegin himself says, “for bliss” family life. But why?

It turns out that this is also one of the consequences of the illness of the Russian “Byronicist”. For such a person, freedom is above all; it cannot be limited by anything, including family ties:

Whenever life around home

I wanted to limit...

It is precisely to “limit”, and not to find at all kindred spirit in a loved one, as Tatyana thinks. Here it is, the difference between two life systems formed in different cultural and ethical traditions. Apparently, it will be difficult for Tatyana to understand this position “ modern hero", about which Pushkin so precisely said:

Having destroyed all prejudices,

We respect everyone as zeros,

And in units - yourself.

We all look at Napoleons...

But this is exactly what Onegin is like. should have happened terrible events so that the hero’s deliverance from dire consequences his illness, so that something in him begins to change. Lensky's death is the price of Onegin's transformation, the price may be too high. The “bloody shadow” of a friend awakens frozen feelings in him, his conscience drives him out of these places. It was necessary to experience all this, to “travel through Russia” in order to realize that freedom can become “hateful” in order to be reborn for love. Only then will Tatyana with her “Russian soul”, with her impeccable moral sense, become a little clearer to him. And yet, even then there will remain a huge difference between them: Onegin, intoxicated by his newfound ability to love and suffer, does not understand that love and selfishness are incompatible, that one cannot sacrifice the feelings of other people. As then, in the garden, in last scene In the novel, a lesson is taught again - only now Tatyana gives it to Onegin, and this is a lesson of love and fidelity, compassion and sacrifice. Will Onegin be able to learn it, just as Tatyana once humbly accepted his “lessons”? The author does not tell us anything about this - the ending of the novel is open.

“Eugene Onegin” presents “a typical hero in typical circumstances - there is not the slightest hint of an exceptional, exotic setting characteristic of romantic works. But even more important is the “world’s sorrow” of romance, which appears as a consequence of the discovery by the hero, an exceptional person, of the general imperfection of the world and disappointment in everything, in “Onegin” is motivated by completely realistic reasons. Moreover, instead of this traditional romantic trait, the Russian Childe Harold Onegin is also endowed with “Russian blues.” At the same time, the word “blues” itself is filled with a slightly different content; here there remains a shade of disappointment, general skepticism, but at the same time there appears something that is associated with boredom, satiety, even some laziness and phlegmatism. But the most important thing is that all these qualities of Onegin, which have quite obvious consequences in the further development of the plot, receive a comprehensive explanation from the very beginning. So, what are the reasons for Onegin’s “blues”?

At the beginning of the novel, we are presented with a picture of the upbringing, education, pastime and interests of a typical young man who was born “on the banks of the Neva” and, by the will of fate, found himself “the heir of all his relatives.”

Why does Onegin’s dreamy nature turn into disappointment, and why does his deep analytical mind become harsh and chilled? It is not difficult to guess: Pushkin describes in detail a typical day for Onegin, his activities and hobbies. The author's conclusion is obvious:

Wake up at noon, and again

Until the morning his life is ready,

Monotonous and colorful.

And tomorrow is the same as yesterday;

This is what leads the hero to the blues: the monotony of life, only outwardly motley, but in fact revolving in a set circle: “lunches, dinners and dances,” as Griboyedov’s Chatsky said about it. Belinsky rightly said about Onegin that “the inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him, he doesn’t even know what he wants; but he knows, and knows very well, that he does not need, that he does not want, what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.” And here is the result:

The disease whose cause

It's time to find it long ago,

Similar to the English spleen,

In short, Russian blues

I mastered it little by little;

He will shoot himself, thank God.

I didn't want to try

But I lost interest in life completely

A person generously gifted with various abilities cannot find another occupation for himself other than those with which “proud mediocrity is so pleased.” Onegin made such attempts: he, having abandoned his boring flirting with secular beauties, “yawned, took up his pen.” But the point is not only that Onegin lacks a gift for writing; the author’s conclusion is more general: “he was sick of persistent work.” This is Onegin's laziness.

But maybe Onegin did not use all the means that could cure his illness? But actually, what other “recipes against it are offered? Of course, travel, such a typical feature of the romantic hero Onegin, was going to go to the South with the Author, which he tells us about in a lyrical digression. But then the inheritance turned up and he limited himself to “traveling” to the village. True, then he will be destined to “travel around Russia,” but this will not be quite the same Onegin, bored and mopey, with whom we met in this part of the novel

What else is the hero trying to do to disperse the “blues”. In fact, nothing more. Maybe this is the reason that in the village, where Onegin’s usual living conditions really changed:

boredom is the same

Handra was waiting for him on guard

And she ran after him,

Like a shadow or a faithful wife

It is no coincidence that Onegin’s illness, associated with Western European “Byronism,” strikes him, who was brought up and raised “on the banks of the Neva.”

Onegin’s isolation from the national “soil” is both the cause of his melancholy and what underlies the very important consequences of Onegin’s illness.