Onegin is a type of “superfluous person. Young hero of the first third of the 19th century - Onegin and Pechorin - Composition Onegin young man of the 19th century

The search for the meaning of life by young people of the early 19th century in the novel by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"

The works of Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" and Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit" depict the same period in the life of Russian society - the years on the eve of the Decembrist uprising. At that time, the noble society was divided, as it were, into three groups. Most of the nobles spent time at balls, and they were not at all interested in either the fate of the Russian people or the fate of their homeland. The other group is made up of people who have become disillusioned with life, but who are unable, however, to break with society and embark on the path of struggle. Such is the hero of Pushkin's novel - Onegin.
And the smallest group of nobles, whose representative is Alexander Andreevich Chatsky, embarked on the path of struggle against the autocracy, since such people are never indifferent to the fate of the Motherland and the people. They strive with all their heart and soul to change life for the better, even if this is achieved at the cost of their reputation, position in society and even life.
Chatsky and Onegin are young people of about the same age and origin, both of them, by right of their birth, belong to the highest aristocracy. They received the usual education and upbringing for the noble youth of that time, when they taught "something and somehow." Both Chatsky and Onegin were educated by foreign tutors, "more in number, at a cheaper price." But if Eugene Onegin, having received a certain minimum of knowledge, "goes into the big world", then Chatsky goes abroad to "seek the mind", that is, he continues his education, and this is one of the reasons why their lives are so different.
Onegin, despising the people among whom he had to be, remained on friendly terms with them, unable to find the strength to break with the society to which he belonged. Chatsky, having returned from abroad and not seeing any changes for the better in his homeland, openly comes into conflict with the people to whom he belongs.
Both Chatsky and Onegin are smart people. Liza, Sophia's maid, says that Chatsky is "sensitive, and cheerful, and sharp." Pushkin, on the other hand, notes the “sharp, chilled mind” of his hero. And both of them are “strange” people for those among whom they had to live. Chatsky bitterly exclaims:
Am I weird? Who isn't weird? The one who looks like all the fools...
Pushkin also speaks of Onegin's "inimitable strangeness". And all the "strangeness" of the characters was due to dissatisfaction with the life they led. But if Chatsky is clearly aware of his duties, his civic duty, then Onegin completely surrenders to the “Russian blues”. He, “having lived without a goal, without labor, until the age of twenty-six, languishing in the inactivity of leisure, without service, without a wife, without work, did not know how to do anything.”
Chatsky wants to serve “the cause, not the individuals.” He seeks to make life easier for the people, not only denouncing the feudal landowners, but also carrying out certain reforms in his possessions. It is not for nothing that Famusov reproaches him: "Do not mismanage your estate, brother." Onegin, like Chatsky, also tried to make life easier for the peasants;
With a yoke he replaced the ancient corvée with a light quitrent... And the slave blessed fate...
But the matter did not go further than this. Not knowing the life of his people, being cut off from national roots, Onegin could not finish what he started. Onegin is like that in everything. He tried to read and write, but "stubborn work was sickening to him." Let us recall Chatsky's desire for vigorous activity. In all his behavior, some kind of liveliness, energy is felt. Onegin is tired of everything, he is bored from idleness.
Chatsky and Onegin manifest their ability to love in different ways. If Chatsky sincerely loves Sophia, seeing in her his feminine ideal, his future wife, then in Onegin "early feelings ... cooled down", he is not capable of love. "I'm not made for bliss," he tells Tatiana.
In my opinion, Chatsky and Onegin are very different from each other, but they have much in common. These are people with "an embittered mind, seething empty in action." Here it is, the "Russian melancholy"! But if Onegin, as Pisarev noted, the only thing left is to “give up his boredom as a necessary evil,” then Chatsky is destined for a different path. In my opinion, his fate is sealed. Most likely, he was among those who came out on December 14, 1825 on Senate Square. Then, together with everyone who took part in the conspiracy, he returned from exile only after the death of Nicholas in 1856, unless, of course, he died on the day of the uprising
I. This, it seems to me, is the main difference between Chatsky and Onegin, who was never able to realize himself. It was he who was the founder of the gallery of “superfluous people”, about whom Belinsky wrote: “And these beings are often gifted with great moral advantages, great spiritual powers, promise a lot, fulfill little or fulfill nothing. This is not from themselves, there is a fatum, which consists in reality, with which they are surrounded, like air, and from which it is not in the power and not in the power of a person to free themselves.
“Chatsky is a Decembrist,” wrote Herzen. And he is right, of course. But Goncharov expresses an equally important thought: “Chatsky is inevitable with each change of one century to another. Every case that needs updating causes the shadow of Chatsky.
Both Chatsky and Onegin are equally dear to us, because they are representatives of one of the most interesting periods of our history - the first quarter of the 19th century. And, despite their shortcomings, the reader empathizes with these characters. And let time pass, bring new changes with it, but the heroes of Griboedov and Pushkin will always evoke only positive emotions in the reader and will in many ways serve as an example.

In the novel "Eugene Onegin" A. S. Pushkin reproduces Russian life in the 20s of the XIX century. The author-poet took Russian society at one of the most interesting moments of its development. He showed the awakening of public interests among the progressive people of his time, their desire to gain freedom and the possibility of active action. This was due to the inevitable collision of the new with the class traditions of the environment. The personal drama of Onegin and Tatyana reflected the spiritual drama of the progressive nobility of the 20s of the 19th century, who felt the impossibility of achieving

Their ideals in the conditions of feudal reality.

The main character of the novel by A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" is the nobleman Eugene Onegin.

The environment to which Onegin belonged shaped his beliefs, his morals, interests and tastes. Living in debt, Onegin's father did not come up with a special education system for his son - he acted like everyone else:

At first Madam followed him,

Then Monsieur replaced her.

Superficial, secular education was the custom, the norm. Creating the character of the hero, the author emphasized his typicality - this is how everyone was brought up in this environment. Onegin's upbringing, his interests, life were cut off from everything national, folk.

The environment also determined the type of "occupation" of our hero, when the time came for "rebellious youth" - secular life. All day long Onegin sleeps, "turning the morning at midnight":

Wakes up after noon, and again

Until the morning his life is ready.

Monotonous and variegated.

And tomorrow is the same as yesterday.

Secular life taught Onegin to be hypocritical, to slander:

How early could he be hypocritical,

Hold hope, be jealous

disbelieve, make believe

Seem gloomy, languish ...

Eugene Onegin was smart, noble, able to deeply and strongly feel. He early realized the worthlessness of secular society and felt like a stranger and an extra person in high-society living rooms. It was hard for him and

It's hard to see in front of you

One dinner is a long row,

Look at life as a ritual

And following the orderly crowd

Go without sharing with her

No shared opinions, no passions.

Eugene Onegin decides to leave St. Petersburg for his estate, so as not to see this "ugly and feigned" life of secular society. The predominant state of Onegin in the village was boredom and laziness. There, Eugene decided to establish a new order in order to do some business, but this did not help him either. Our hero did nothing in the countryside, as in St. Petersburg, he was bored and entertained himself.

In his wilderness, the desert sage,

Yarem he is an old corvee

I replaced the quitrent with a light one;

And the servant blessed him.

By his judgments and actions, Onegin brought upon himself the suspicion of the landlords.

... puffed up in his corner,

Seeing this terrible harm,

His prudent neighbor;

The other smiled slyly,

That he is the most dangerous eccentric.

And here is the meeting of Onegin with Tatyana. Eugene realized that this is a very "wonderful" girl, although she is not very beautiful and talkative. He judged people by their deeds, by their deeds, and not by external gloss.

After Tatyana's letter, Onegin decides to tell her everything; he cannot marry her for two reasons: firstly, he did not prepare himself for family life, and secondly, he was looking for

your purpose in life. If he married, then his whole life would be torment both for him and for Tatyana. Onegin is honest in his relationship with Tatyana, and when he meets her, he, like a loving brother, gives her a moral lesson:

Learn to control yourself;

Not everyone will understand you like me;

Inexperience leads to trouble.

Onegin manifests egoism in friendship and love. When he went to a duel with Lensky, he only thought about himself, about what they would talk about him if he refused the duel, because Zaretsky, an “inveterate rogue and duelist,” got involved in it. Only after the death of his only friend Lensky, Onegin realized that he had treated him very cruelly and stupidly. He wanted to joke about tender love, but everything turned out differently - death.

Since our hero was brought up and lived far from everything national, he could not understand the Russian people, both Russian nature and the people themselves were alien to him.

Eugene Onegin - the type of "superfluous person" of the 1st half of the 19th century. He did not find his place in life. Eugene broke away from secular society, but he did not join any other. “The forces of this rich nature were left without application, life without meaning ...” - this is how V. G. Belinsky wrote about Onegin, who wrote the hero into “superfluous people”. The whole life and thoughts of Onegin confirm this. But whether the hero himself or time is to blame for this, history decides, we decide. The main thing is not to make a mistake and correctly dot all the "i".

Young hero of the first third of the 19th century - Onegin and Pechorin

Eugene Onegin and Grigory Pechorin - two heroes, two eras, two destinies. One is the result of disappointment in former ideals (the ideals of freedom, equality, fraternity), since its creator was formed as a person in the 10s-20s of the XIX century. The other is a typical representative of the youth of the 30s. This era is characterized by complete inaction, which came after the uprising on the Senate Square, the absence of ideals in general.

Both heroes open a numerous gallery of "superfluous people". Yes, they, according to the apt expression of Herzen A. I., can be considered brothers: "Onegin is Russian, he is possible only in Russia, he is needed in it and he is met at every turn ... Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" is his youngest brother". Onegin and Pechorin have a lot in common: both of them are representatives of the capital's nobility, they are rich, well-educated, both know the science of "gentle passion", are smart, stand head and shoulders above those around them. Immense forces have accumulated in their souls, which do not find positive application. Life is boring to them, like a long read book. And they flip through it indifferently, yawning into their fists. Even in the poem "The Prisoner of the Caucasus", Pushkin set himself the task of showing in the hero "the premature old age of the soul, which has become the main feature of the younger generation." This goal was achieved only in the novel "Eugene Onegin".

Onegin is a contemporary of Pushkin and the Decembrists. The Onegins were not satisfied with secular life, the career of an official and a landowner. Belinsky points out that Onegin could not engage in useful activities "due to some inevitable circumstances beyond our will," that is, due to socio-political conditions. Onegin, a "suffering egoist", "an unwitting egoist, is nevertheless an outstanding personality. The poet notes such features of him as "unwitting devotion to dreams, inimitable strangeness and a sharp, chilled mind."

Pechorin is another example of a young man who has grown old before his time. Paradoxical as this comparison may seem, it nevertheless very clearly reflects the essence of Pechorin's character. Involuntarily, the lines from Lermontov's "Duma" are recalled: So, an early fruit, Ripened before time, Not pleasing our taste, not our eyes Hanging among the flowers - an orphaned alien. And the hour of their beauty is its fall hour.

Pechorin is a hero of the 30s of the 19th century. This nature is more active than Onegin. Pechorin craves activity. He has an awareness of his strength and a desire to apply this strength in life. In his diary, he writes: "Why did I live? For what purpose was I born? It is true that it existed, and it was true that I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul." There were very few opportunities for young people of that time to apply their rich forces. In the socio-political conditions of the 30s of the 19th century, the rich forces of Pechorin could not find any use for themselves. He is wasted on petty adventures. "But I did not guess my destination, I was carried away by the baits of passions ..." Wherever Pechorin appears, he brings misfortune to people: smugglers leave their house ("Taman"), Grushnitsky is killed, a deep spiritual wound is inflicted on Princess Mary, Vera does not know happiness ("Princess Mary"), Bela ("Bela") dies, hacked to death by a drunken Cossack Vulich ("Fatalist"), Maxim Maksimych is disappointed in friendship. Moreover, Pechorin is well aware of his ungrateful role: “How many times have I played the role of an ax in the hands of fate! As an instrument of execution, I fell on the heads of doomed victims, often without malice, always without regret ... never sacrificed anything for those he loved."

According to Belinsky, "A Hero of Our Time" is "a sad thought about our time ...", and Pechorin is "This is Onegin of our time, a hero of our time. Their difference between them is much less than the distance between Onega and Pechora."

In the preface to the second edition of A Hero of Our Time, Lermontov did not directly express his attitude towards the hero. First of all, the author set himself the task of truthfully showing a typical hero of his time.

And yet Lermontov believes in his hero, believes that "his heart yearns for pure and unselfish love," that Pechorin is not a one hundred percent egoist, because "egoism does not suffer, does not blame himself, but is pleased with himself, is pleased with himself ..." Lermontov, according to Belinsky, believes in spiritual rebirth - his hero: "Pechorin's soul is not stony soil, but the earth dried up from the heat of fiery life: let suffering loosen it and irrigate the blessed rain, and it will grow out of itself magnificent, luxurious flowers of heavenly love." We admire the genius of Pushkin and Lermontov, who managed to reflect the spirit of the times in their heroes. We can rightly call their works documents of their era.

Despite this, Pushkin very often emphasizes Onegin's mind, which, although it had a very one-sided European orientation, was nevertheless "sharp and chilled." This is probably why Onegin got bored with light so soon. But there was, in my opinion, another reason. Onegin is a man who decided to build his real life according to the laws of the European novel. He wrote a script for himself, which he follows. The fact is that, having read Western books, the protagonist considered it the highest honor to serve the ideals of utility. And having outstanding intellectual abilities, will, he was able to “create” a life for himself and follow the laws of the genre.

It is known that he breaks out of a number of literary works into the world of reality. And the character himself does not obey the laws of literature. "Eugene Onegin" can rather be called a biography of a man who decided to build his real life according to the laws of literature, and even Western. But the most remarkable, in my opinion, is that the hero is typical of his time, he repeats the life path of many young people of the early 19th century.

We can find confirmation of this point of view in the text of the novel itself. The author constantly compares Onegin with various literary characters, trying to find the key to his behavior:

But our hero, whoever he is,

Certainly not Grandison.

Direct Onegin Chald-Harold

I fell into thoughtful laziness ...

But a literary hero can live only on the pages of a novel, and when he gets into the real world, he naturally comes into conflict with it, becomes, as it were, an extra person. This conflict is the cause of the deepest spiritual drama of the Russian European.

Being himself a romantic to the marrow of his bones, Onegin converges with the poet Lensky. The main character ironically looks at the young man, touched by his enthusiastic attitude to the world, high feelings, thirst for life. But, paradoxically, Lensky naturally fits into real life. There is no place in his soul for this tragic discrepancy between ideal and reality. On the one hand, he writes lofty poems dedicated to his goddess, but on the other hand, he is not at all jarred by the fact that Olga is a real, living girl and, in so many ways, does not meet the poetic ideal.

Onegin sincerely loved Lensky, then why didn't he refuse to duel with him? I do not think that Onegin was not so afraid of the opinion of the world. Most likely, the refusal to duel would not correspond to the behavior of the hero whose role Onegin tried to play. What literary hero would refuse a duel? But Onegin did not take into account the only difference that in real life the gun, and blood, and death will be real. It was this duel that laid the foundation for the fact that Onegin began to be weary of his artificial, mind-created fate.

For the same reason, Onegin's relationship with Tatyana acquires such a dramatic coloring. Tatyana is a completely natural nature, she lives with feelings, and not with her mind. Reading French novels, the main character does not turn into a literary character. I think that for her this transformation is also impossible for the reason that she lives in the countryside, among ordinary people. The old nurse has a much greater influence on her than all the French writers put together. European culture, with its ideals of utility, did not penetrate her soul as deeply as it did with Onegin. But this influence cannot be completely ruled out. Despite everything, Tatyana fell in love with all the characters of the novels she read:

She fell in love with deceptions

Both Richardson and Rousseau.

That is why, having met Onegin, who so completely got used to the image of a literary hero that he stopped noticing reality, Tatyana fell in love with him. But it is also clear that their union was impossible. Life remains life, and literature - literature, the line between them exists, and it cannot be destroyed.

Thus, we can say that the drama of Onegin lies in the fact that he replaced real human feelings, love, faith with rational ideals. But a person is not able to live a full life without experiencing the play of passions, without making mistakes, because the mind cannot replace or subdue the soul. In order for the human personality to develop harmoniously, spiritual ideals must still come first.

The protagonist of the novel "Eugene Onegin" opens a significant chapter in poetry and in all Russian culture. Onegin was followed by a whole string of heroes, later called "superfluous people": Lermontov's Pechorin, Turgenev's Rudin and many other, less significant characters, embodying a whole layer, an era in the socio-spiritual development of Russian society. Pushkin traced the origins of this phenomenon: in a superficial upbringing, in a disorderly and imitatively perceived European culture, in the absence of spiritual and social interests, in the way of life of the nobility filled with conventions and prejudices, in the habit of idleness and inability to systematic work. These are outstanding, rising above the average level of personality, critically perceiving reality, painfully looking for their own destiny in it, disappointed and spiritually devastated, people who do not find application for their remarkable abilities, inevitably experiencing personal drama.

Eugene Onegin received a home education and upbringing, typical for the aristocratic youth of his time, under the guidance of a French tutor, who “taught him everything jokingly, did not bother him with strict morals, scolded him a little for pranks and took him for a walk in the Summer Garden. “And yet, Onegin knew Latin well enough, “to parse epigraphs, talk about Juvenal,” ancient literature, modern political economy, history:

Onegin was in the opinion of many

(Judges decisive and strict)

A small scientist, but a pedant...

Despite the irony of the author's assessment of the hero's shallow level of education, as well as the world's ideas about this level: “What do you want more? The world decided that he was smart and very nice, ”Pushkin pays tribute to his rather high intellectual level, his circle of interests. Onegin's lifestyle is typical for the young metropolitan aristocracy: balls, restaurants, theaters, walks along the Nevsky, love adventures - a complete set of pleasures that make up the philistine idea of ​​a happy, carefree life.

Eugene was self-critical enough, demanding of himself, so as not to be aware of the artificiality, the affectation of his behavior (“How early he could be hypocritical, hold hope, be jealous, dissuade, make believe, seem gloomy, languish ...”), a stupefying way of life (“ He wakes up at noon, and again until morning his life is ready, monotonous and motley).

Not; early feelings in him cooled down;

He was tired of the light noise;

The beauties didn't last long

The subject of his habitual thoughts;

Treason managed to tire;

Friends and friendship are tired ...

Here is a satiety of monotonous impressions, and a sincere, natural desire of a thinking person to break out of the circle of secular conventions, vulgarity, monotony into the expanse of a living, full-blooded life.

What prompted the hero to albeit passive, but a protest against an unspiritual, albeit comfortable existence, which doomed him to alienation, cooling to life? The author emphasizes the virtues that distinguish Onegin from the philistine masses: “... Involuntary devotion to dreams, inimitable strangeness and a sharp, chilled mind”, “both pride and direct honor”, ​​“direct nobility of the soul”. Onegin, in his village estate, despite the beautiful views, “golden meadows and fields”, the castle filled with the air of history was bored, because it “yawned equally among fashionable and ancient halls”, shunned limited landlord neighbors, preferring to all this the loneliness of a confused, but proud spirit . He made an exception only for the young poet, a fan of romanticism, inspired by Vladimir Lensky. Both of them in the eyes of their neighbors-landowners looked like "white crows", both of them shunned the local society with endless conversations "about haymaking and wine, about the kennel, about their relatives", although they were so different. Lensky loved passionately, selflessly. Onegin, however, faced with the sincere, deep love of an extraordinary girl, did not find enough spiritual strength in himself to respond to this high feeling.

Eugene Onegin is a young nobleman and aristocrat, the protagonist of the greatest novel in verse by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin", which was created by the Russian genius for eight years. In this work, named by the outstanding literary critic of the 19th century V.G. Belinsky "an encyclopedia of Russian life", Pushkin reflected all his thoughts, feelings, concepts and ideals, his life, soul and love.

In the image of the protagonist, the author embodied the type of modern man of his era, who throughout the novel, like Pushkin, grows up, grows wiser, gains experience, loses and gains friends, makes mistakes, suffers and is mistaken, makes decisions that radically change his life. The very title of the novel shows the central place of the hero in the work and Pushkin's special attitude towards him, and although he has no prototypes in real life, he is familiar with the author, has mutual friends with him and is really connected with the real life of that time.

Characteristics of the main character

(Eugene with Tatiana, meeting in the garden)

The personality of Eugene Onegin can be called quite complex, ambiguous and contradictory. His egoism, vanity and high demands both for the surrounding reality and for himself - on the one hand, a subtle and vulnerable mental organization, a rebellious spirit striving for freedom - on the other. The explosive mixture of these qualities makes him an outstanding person and immediately draws the attention of readers to his person. We meet the main character at the age of 26, he is described to us as a representative of the golden youth of St. Petersburg, indifferent and filled with anger and bilious irony, not seeing the point in anything, tired of luxury, idleness and other earthly entertainment. To show the origins of his disappointment in life, Pushkin tells us about his origins, childhood and adolescence.

Onegin was born into an aristocratic, wealthy, but later ruined family, received a rather superficial education, divorced from the realities of Russian life, but quite typical for that time, an education that allowed him to easily speak French, dance a mazurka, bow at ease and have pleasant manners for going out. .

Having plunged into a carefree secular life with its entertainment (visiting theaters, balls, restaurants), love affairs, a complete lack of duties and the need to earn a living, Onegin quickly becomes fed up and feels a real disgust for the empty and idle metropolitan tinsel. He falls into depression (or as it was then called the "Russian blues") and tries to distract himself by finding something to do. First, this is a literary attempt at writing, which ended in complete failure, then drunken reading of books, which quickly bored him, and finally flight and voluntary seclusion in the countryside. The pampered aristocratic upbringing, which did not instill in him a love of work and a lack of willpower, led to the fact that he could not bring any business to its logical conclusion, he spent too long time in idleness and laziness, and such a life ruined him completely.

Arriving in the village, Onegin avoids the society of neighbors, lives alone and apart. At first, he even tries in some way to make life easier for the peasants by replacing the corvée with "easy quitrents", but old habits affect and after a single reform, he becomes bored and despondent and gives up everything.

(Painting by I. E. Repin "Duel of Onegin with Lensky" 1899)

The real gifts of fate (onegin selfishly did not appreciate them and carelessly discarded them) were sincere friendship with Lensky, whom Eugene killed in a duel, and the sublime, bright love of the beautiful girl Tatyana Larina (also rejected). Having become a hostage of public opinion, which he really despised so much, Onegin agrees to a duel with Lensky, who has become a truly congenial person to him, and mortally wounds him in a duel.

Egoism, indifference, indifference to life and spiritual callousness did not allow him to appreciate the great gift of love offered by fate, and he remains a lonely and restless seeker of the meaning of life for the rest of his life. Having matured and wised up, he meets Tatyana again in St. Petersburg and falls madly in love with that luxurious and brilliant secular lady that she has become. But it's too late to change anything, his love is rejected out of a sense of duty and Onegin is left with nothing.

The image of the hero in the work

(Painting by Yu. M. Ignatiev based on the novel "Eugene Onegin")

The image of Onegin in Russian literature opens up a whole galaxy of heroes, the so-called "superfluous people" (Pechorin, Oblomov, Rudin, Laevsky), who suffer in the reality around them, are in search of new moral and spiritual values. But they are too weak, lazy or selfish to take any real action that can change their lives for the better. The finale of the work is ambiguous, Onegin remains at a crossroads and can still find himself and perform actions and deeds that will benefit society.