The age difference between the heroes is about eight years, since at the time of Lensky’s death Onegin is twenty-six, and Lensky’s age, mentioned shortly before, is eighteen.
Evgeniy is a typical example of the “golden youth” of that time: a young man tired of a noisy life big city, a series of entertainment events and social receptions. He is bored with his usual surroundings, he strives to find salvation from the everyday hustle and bustle, but it doesn’t work out very well.
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.
…
And again, betrayed by idleness,
Languishing with spiritual emptiness,
He sat down - with a laudable purpose
Appropriating someone else's mind for yourself;
He lined the shelf with a group of books,
I read and read, but to no avail...
Vladimir Lensky, on the contrary, seems to be an extremely passionate young man and full of thirst for life.
He was a dear ignoramus at heart,
He was cherished by hope,
And the world has new shine and noise
Still captivated the young mind.
He amused me with a sweet dream
Doubts of your heart;
The purpose of our life is for him
Was a tempting mystery...
At first glance, the young people have little in common. But, as you know, it is opposites that attract:
They got along. Water and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Not so different from each other.
First by mutual difference
They were boring to each other;
Then I liked it; Then
We came together every day on horseback
And soon they became inseparable.
So people (I am the first to repent)
There's nothing to do, friends.
So perhaps the duel was not a fatal accident. The author immediately emphasizes that there was no deep, sincere friendship between the characters initially.
Both Onegin and Lensky are new residents of the village in which the action takes place. The characters' relationships with others develop differently. Evgeny causes bewilderment with his, as they would say now, shocking actions: he ignores the accepted principles of that society, trying to live on his own, without looking back at anyone. Vladimir, on the contrary, evokes sympathy, giving the impression of an advantageous match for many girls of marriageable age. Rich, good-looking...
The poet's openness to the world is manifested not only in enthusiastic odes and captivating dreams. Filled with love for Olga (a naive, ardent youthful feeling...), he, dreaming about her day and night, without any hesitation, shares his love experiences with Evgeny, who at some point simply gets tired of it.
The scene in the Larins' house, in which Onegin pays increased attention to Lensky's bride, shows an obvious difference in the perception of life. Evgeniy seems to place himself above everything that is happening and easily enters into a kind of game, without particularly thinking about how serious the consequences may become. He is not inclined to take the torment of his neighbor seriously; for him, it is rather an opportunity to have a little fun, because Olga herself is not at all interesting to him (as, indeed, to the author, but this is not the point now). Vladimir flares up instantly.
His romantic mind draws some monstrous pictures from relatively innocent initial data. In this regard, it is difficult not to note that Onegin, after all, still has more natural sanity: when he was bored with everything in the world, and he seemed to have lost the meaning of life, he still did not try to part with it.
Young poet not so reasonable... He sincerely believes in his fiery ideas and romantic ideals, which he sings in poetry... So sincerely that the possible loss of life does not particularly frighten him. The poet completely personified himself with one of the romantic heroes - for which, in fact, he paid...
The fatal duel, in essence, became an unfortunate misunderstanding. Onegin had no desire to kill, and Lensky even less so. Both, to some extent, became hostages of their romantic idea that according to the chosen rules one must play to the end. Nobody needed the duel. Onegin, with common sense, understood that he had gotten carried away, that there was no need to take the awkward situation so far... Lensky, even on the eve of the fight, saw Olga, whom he was about to hate, but one of her smiles was enough for the poet’s heart to thaw and the thirst for life returned with renewed vigor. But neither one nor the other was able to take a step back (or forward...).
So, in my opinion, the heroes, for all their external differences, are both hopeless romantics. It’s just that one of them is unsuccessfully trying to hide behind the cynical mask of an old skeptic, which, among other things, is also beyond his years...
My friends, you feel sorry for the poet...
To you. Not for me.
The fate of both heroes is unenviable. Perhaps one can even assume that we're talking about about the collapse romantic hero as such, about its insolvency in real life. The author initially did not particularly favor Lensky: a discussion is given about the possible development of his future life if not for the duel. Either fame in the literary field would await the poet, or, what is even more likely, over the years the entire romantic aura would fade away, and the young lover would join the countless number of well-fed and calm Russian landowners.
It seems to me that Onegin evokes great sympathy from the author, but his life also went downhill from that very fight. It becomes clear that all that skeptical disregard for life, which was explained by the “Russian blues,” means nothing in comparison with the monstrous spiritual devastation that engulfs Evgeny after the murder of Lensky. The “game” has gone too far... And then, so cruel in its simplicity, disappointment in one’s own past short-sightedness and frivolity when meeting Tatyana...
And then in real (not novel) life... Evil Rock? The Irony of Fate? A discrepancy between noble romanticism and harsh reality? A few years later, Alexander Sergeevich himself repeated the path of his exalted poet almost exactly... Which was first noticed by the next victim of the insidious duel - young M.Yu. Lermontov.
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Lensky and Onegin are opposed to each other throughout the entire novel, which is deliberately and openly emphasized by the author himself:
They got along. Wave and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire
Lensky is a romantic, an idealist. He poetizes his beloved Olga, his friendship with Onegin, and life in general, which he sees only in an ideal light. He is pleasant to talk to, helpful with ladies and behaves freely with men. Studying in Germany radically influenced his worldview. His head is full of philosophical dogmas German romanticism, which he does not think to doubt. He sees poetry as his calling, and has chosen his beloved as his muse. However, he does not have sufficient insight, sobriety and at least some life experience, so he does not notice Olga’s slight recklessness, narrow-mindedness and his too mediocre, imitative poems, perceiving them as quite serious literary creativity.
Lensky has a lot of vital energy, a passionate imagination and an enthusiastic attitude towards the world; he is cheerful and harmonious. Not yet fully matured, he is childishly quick-tempered, spontaneous and firmly convinced that he is right on every issue and, like an adult, is serious in his intentions and bold in his decisions.
Onegin, his complete opposite, is devoid of any idealism, his cold mind is rather pessimistic and sarcastically negative. He, unlike Lensky, is fed up with the world around him, little excites or touches him, he has difficulty finding sources of pleasure, and even suffers from the dullness of life. Having received in childhood fragmentary knowledge from different areas, he continued his studies at balls and receptions, learned the skillful art of communicating with ladies, the art of seduction, witty small talk and acquired a subtle taste and the ability to recognize newfangled trends.
This life experience, although very specific, shaped his character and worldview. He is not able to admire coquettes, seeing their feigned seriousness and emptiness; he cannot admire life, knowing how much deceit and pretense there is around. All this led to absolute laziness of the body and mind, to complete indifference to everything in the world, to cruelty and coldness of heart.
It would seem how two such different young people could become good friends.
Why did they become friends? Perhaps such different views on life provided a huge field for discussion and debate, and they, as is known, gathered in the evenings and stayed late in conversations. The narrow village social circle probably also contributed. Who else to talk to in the wilderness, what else to do in the evening. At the same time, both young men, due to their youth, had a common need - the need to reason and reflect, no matter whether these were the romantic thoughts of Lensky or the arrogantly mocking views of Onegin. Finding an interlocutor who can understand what you are talking about, challenge or agree with you is no less important, if not more important, than finding your like-minded person.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!
Ah, dear Alexander Sergeevich! Has your pen written anything more perfect than the living and eternal novel “Eugene Onegin”? Didn’t you put most of yourself, your frantic inspiration, all your poetic passion into it?
But weren’t you lying, oh immortal classic, when you said that Onegin has nothing in common with you? Aren't his character traits characteristic of you? Isn’t it your “blueness” on him, isn’t it your disappointment? Is it not your “black epigrams” that he scribbles on his enemies?
And Lensky! Really, how similar he is to you, the young lover! At you - the other, at the you that you no longer dared to openly reveal to the world...
Lensky and Onegin... both of them are yours, oh immortal Alexander Sergeevich, a motley and living portrait on the wall of poetry. Do you agree with the idea of such audacity?
However, be that as it may, allow, in view of your silence, each admirer of your genius to draw their own conclusions, letting their own imagination fly.
We will compare and contrast two bright ones, barely touching the facets of your personality directly. In order to avoid obsessive parallels between you, sir, and the characters in your poem, we will make every effort to make a dry statement of their striking characteristics.
So, Onegin. Handsome, smart, stately. In the description of his St. Petersburg daily routine, dear Alexander Sergeevich, we find your lines about no less than three hours he spends preening at the mirrors. You even compare him to a young lady dressed like a man, hurrying to a ball. Perfume, lipstick, fashionable haircut. Dandy, pedant and dandy. Always elegant in clothes. And, by the way, it will be said, nails, sir... He, like you, sir, spends a lot of time at the dressing table, caring for them.
Alas, all the actions he performs on himself in order to be attractive are just a tribute to social habit. He has long since cooled down opposite sex, disappointed in love. He doesn't want to please women at all. No! Love has long been replaced by the “art of seduction,” which, however, does not bring any satisfaction.
Social events had long ago lost all taste for him. He often goes to balls, but out of inertia, out of boredom and having nothing to do. The world is boring to him. Everything is disgusting, tired! But, not knowing any other life, he continues to live out his usual way of life. No friends, no love, no interest in life.
Onegin’s way of thinking, worldview - you, Alexander Sergeevich, subject everything to the merciless “Russian blues”, or depression. Immeasurable inner emptiness, lack of dreams, boredom, joylessness. At the same time, the liveliness of a cold, sober mind, the absence of cynicism, nobility.
You emphasize his prosaic nature by his inability to “distinguish trochee from iambic,” and his preference for Scott Smith, with his political economic books, only confirms the presence of non-poetic, precise thinking.
It's different from Lensky!
What an evil muse visited you, Alexander Sergeevich, when you brought together your so-so different heroes? Could the relationship between Lensky and Onegin not lead to tragedy? Your Lensky...
Handsome, but beautiful in a different way than Onegin. You endow him with natural beauty with long, dark, curly hair. With the inspired gaze of a poet and a living, warm heart, open to the world.
Vladimir Lensky is sensitive to the perception of nature and the universe as a whole. “Suspecting miracles” in everything, he understands and feels the world in his own way. An idealist, truly!
An eighteen-year-old dreamer in love with life firmly believes in the existence of his soulmate, who is waiting and yearning for him. Into faithful, devoted friendship and the “sacred family,” as you, venerable Alexander Sergeevich, deigned to call the Holy Trinity.
Describing the relationship between Onegin and Lensky with your own pen, you compare them with the union of water and stone, fire and ice, poetry and prose. How different they are!
Lensky and Onegin. Comparative characteristics
It was your pleasure, Lord of the Muses, to play these two beautiful young men in a sad game that to this day encourages the reader to sprinkle tears on the pages of your great novel. You will bring them together through friendship, at first “out of nothing to do,” and then closer. And then cruelly...
No, it's better in order. So, they get closer: Lensky and Onegin. Comparative characteristics these two heroes, so characteristic of your time, Alexander Sergeevich, can only be complete when describing their friendship.
So, contradictions occur, as stated by At first, they are boring to each other due to the dissimilarity of judgments. But a little later this difference turns into a magnet that attracts opposites. Each thesis becomes the cause of lively debates and discussions between friends, each dispute turns into a subject of deep thought. Perhaps none of them accepted the position of a comrade, but they also retained interest and respect for the flow of other people’s thoughts. Listening to Lensky, Onegin does not interrupt him with his youthfully naive judgments, poems and ancient legends. Being a disappointed realist, he is in no hurry to reproach Vladimir for idealizing people and the world.
Character similarities
Daily joint horse rides, dinners by the fireplace, wine and conversations bring young people closer together. And, at the same time, over time, similarities between Onegin and Lensky are revealed. By endowing them with such striking features, you, the master of the pen, take them out of the usual circle of rural communication, with boring conversations about the kennel, your own relatives and other nonsense. The education of the main characters, which is one of the few common features of both of them, makes them yawn in the circle of the rural nobility.
Two destinies, two loves
Onegin is five or six years older than Lensky. This conclusion can be reached based on what you indicated, dear Alexander Sergeevich, at his twenty-sixth birthday at the end of the novel... When, bending his knees, he cried with love at her feet... at Tatyana's feet... But, no. Everything is in order.
Oh, great expert on the human soul, oh, the most subtle psychologist of deep feelings! Your pen reveals dead soul Onegin is the bright, pure ideal of a young maiden - Tatyana Larina. Her young, tender passion spills out before him in a frank letter, which you attribute to him to keep for the rest of his life as evidence of the possibility of sincerity and beauty of feelings in which he no longer believed. Alas, his moping, hardened heart was not ready to reciprocate. He tries to avoid meeting with Tatyana after a conversation with her, in which he denies her high feelings.
In parallel with this discordant love, you develop Vladimir Lensky’s feelings for Tatyana’s sister, Olga. Oh, how different these two loves are, like Lensky and Onegin themselves. A comparative description of these two feelings would be superfluous. The love of Olga and Vladimir is full of chaste passion, poetry, and youthful inspiration. The naive Lensky, who sincerely wishes his friend happiness, tries to push him into Tatyana’s arms, inviting him to her name day. Knowing Onegin's dislike for noisy receptions, he promises him a close family circle, without unnecessary guests.
Revenge, honor and duel
Oh, how much effort Eugene makes to hide his furious indignation when, having agreed, he ends up at a provincial ball with many guests, instead of the promised family dinner. But more than that, he is outraged by Tatyana’s confusion when he sat down in the place prepared for him in advance... opposite her. Lensky knew! Everything is set up!
Onegin, truly, did not want what your, Alexander Sergeevich, inexorable pen had in store when he took revenge on Lensky for his deception! When he carried his beloved Olga into his arms in a dance, when he whispered liberties in her ear, he portrayed a tender gaze. Cynically and short-sightedly appealing to the jealousy and contempt of the young poet, he obediently followed the fate you had destined for both of them. Duel!
In the morning at the mill...
Both have already moved on from stupid insults. Both were already having difficulty finding a reason for a duel. But no one stopped. Pride is to blame for this: no one intended to be branded a coward by refusing a fight. The result is known. The young poet was killed by a friend's bullet two weeks before own wedding. Onegin, unable to indulge in memories and regrets about the death of the only person close to him, leaves the country...
Upon his return, he will fall in love with the matured and blossoming Tatiana, only now a princess. Kneeling before her, he will kiss her hand and pray for love. But no, it’s too late: “Now I’ve given it to someone else and I’ll be faithful to him forever,” she will say, crying bitterly. Onegin will be left completely alone, face to face with the memories of love and a friend killed by his own hand.
Duels of the creator Onegin and quite appropriate parallels
You were reproached, dear Alexander Sergeevich, for insufficient grounds for a duel between your heroes. Funny! Didn’t your contemporaries draw parallels between these two young men and yourself? Didn’t they notice the similarities between such opposite Onegin and Lensky with your contradictory, dual nature? Didn’t they really discover this borderline split into Lensky - an inspired poet, a superstitious lyricist - and a secular rake, a cold, tired Onegin? To one you give your fiery genius, love, cheerfulness and, without knowing it, your own death. The other is given wanderings, alienation and, in the end, a long trip abroad, which you yourself so dreamed of. The characterization of Onegin and Lensky is a comprehensive disclosure of yourself, isn’t it? And if such an obvious similarity of both heroes with you, dear classic, was exposed by your contemporaries, didn’t they know what easy, insignificant reasons for duels were enough for you yourself? And how many times in every week of your life have you started playing with death, fearlessly and indifferently looking at the cold trunk in the hands of your enraged opponent?
One of storylines The novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" is the relationship of two young people - and.
In fact, Lensky and Onegin are heroes of opposites. But there would be no confrontation without unity. They have a lot in common. Both were young men noble origin. Both were left without parents early and inherited the estate, becoming full owners. True, the Onegin estate received from his father was sold for debts, but he inherited his uncle’s estate. Both young men are rich, attractive, and were eligible bachelors for the district young ladies. Both arrived at the estate almost simultaneously: one from Germany, the other from St. Petersburg. For both, honor and nobility were not an empty phrase. They have liberal views in political matters, and both are interested in philosophy and economics. Moreover, Onegin immediately tried to apply his economic knowledge in practice.
He is the yoke of the ancient corvée
I replaced it with a light quitrent...
Which caused discontent among the neighbors. The young people were not like the provincial landowners, and they considered them both strange.
What was the meaning of life for Onegin and Lensky? They probably wouldn’t be able to answer this question themselves. Although with Lensky it’s more or less clear. Over time, he would marry Olga and run his own household, gradually becoming decrepit and becoming like his neighbors.
And Onegin lived for today, without looking into tomorrow. IN literary criticism the expression appeared - extra people. Onegin was one of them. He did not seek to start a family. He showed no desire at all to serve the fatherland, either in civilian or military service. military service. Evgeniy didn’t really love anyone except himself, he was lazy.
Despite the similarity of some views and conditions in which Onegin and Lensky found themselves, the young people were completely different. Let's try to highlight their main differences.
They got along. Wave and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire.
Stone, prose and ice was Onegin, who believed that by the age of 26 he had managed to understand the life and character of women. Onegin received a superficial education. In adolescence, Monsieur did not bother the child with studies. It was enough that “he could express himself completely in French and wrote.” Onegin acquired philosophical knowledge on his own by reading books. Lensky, with his restless character, was like a wave, passionate and energetic. He received an excellent education at the University of Göttingen. And while Lensky was studying philosophy, economics and other sciences in Germany, Onegin was learning “the science of tender passion” in the capital.
Lensky was a poet, Onegin
He could not iambic from trochee,
No matter how hard we fought, we could tell the difference.
Scolded Homer, Theocritus;
Lensky was an enthusiastic dreamer, a romantic in love with a sincere and pure soul. All his feelings and thoughts were on the surface, on his face. Onegin, on the contrary
How early could he be a hypocrite?
To harbor hope, to be jealous,
To dissuade, to make believe,
Seem gloomy, languish.
Love and relationships with people were a game for him.
It is quite possible that if Lensky could have even half suspected this ability in Onegin, he would not have perceived it so acutely cruel joke Onegin on Tatiana's name day. But not being able to deceive himself, Lensky did not suspect similar talents in others.
The poem shades and complements Onegin. We must not forget that there is a significant age difference between young people. We don’t know what Onegin was like at 18, and what Lensky would have been like at 26. Pushkin says nothing about Onegin's first love. Was it, how did it end? It was not for nothing, not out of mental laziness, that Onegin became a skeptic. Or maybe from her, dear. Perhaps Onegin never experienced true love to a woman, but only imitated the heroes of the books he had read, and the salon suitors?
Did Onegin fall in love with Tatyana when he met her in St. Petersburg? Or was it the suffering of wounded pride? He was trying to win the affection of a woman he had once rejected. Pushkin believes that he really loved, but Tatyana herself does not believe Onegin. Pushkin does not answer all these questions, thereby giving readers food for thought.
