Is it possible to talk about the development of the relationship between Onegin and Tatiana as an evolution? This term implies a forward movement, development from simple to complex, more perfect, qualitatively new. Let's figure it out.
Secret Soul Sphere
The story of the relationship between Onegin and Tatiana is a love story. The characters' feelings develop from the moment they first meet, but this happens in different ways. Reading A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” is a fascinating journey through the labyrinths of the human soul. It’s interesting to look at how the characters change internally and externally, to think about why the happiness that seemed “so possible” to Tatyana Larina did not happen.
Fatal visit
Tatiana and Onegin met in the Larins' house. Friends came here at the insistence of Vladimir Lensky, who was in love with Olga. The visit was short, but its consequences were fatal for Tatyana. All we learn about Eugene’s impression is that he “would have chosen someone else”, not Olga. The author uses a non-standard technique: he speaks about Eugene Onegin’s attitude towards Tatyana through the characterization of Olga, in whose features he did not see “life”. This means that the older sister was still slightly interested in the hero. But that's all.
Love at first sight?
For Tatyana, on the contrary, a new stage begins. Love arises and develops rapidly. But let's pay attention to what was the reason for this. The 6th stanza of the 3rd chapter says that the neighbors began to predict a groom for Tatyana, and of course, in the person of Onegin, because the younger sister was already getting ready for the wedding. Tatyana listened to this gossip “with annoyance,” but “a thought sank into her soul.” Pushkin psychologically accurately described the main factor that forced the young girl to plunge into the ocean of romantic feelings: the time came, and she fell in love. The grains fell into the prepared soil. A passionate fan of the novels, Tatyana Larina seemed to have found herself in their world, imagining herself and Onegin as heroes of the books.
I entrust my destiny to you...
About Onegin, the author says with a grin that he is not a “Grandison,” that is, he is not at all like the virtuous hero of the English novel by S. Richardson, which Tatyana read avidly. Regarding Tatyana Larina’s passionate romantic relationship with Onegin, the author utters the sad and pithy phrase “Alas!” (8th stanza, 3rd chapter).
While the object of her passion is bored in her estate, Tatyana experiences a cascade of conflicting feelings. Joy gives way to sadness, dreamy impulses to confusion. The idea of writing to Onegin is born spontaneously, simply because sincerity takes precedence over prudence. What conventions can there be if she loves “in earnest”?
He doesn't deserve her
With bated breath, we read the lines in which Evgeny, touched by Tatyana’s gullibility and simplicity, gently refuses the girl. The motley carousel of secular love entertainment killed the young man’s ability to be emotionally excited and stirred up old emotions only for a moment. In Chapter 4 we will find many quotes to support this. Onegin's attitude towards Tatyana, however, remains touching and tender. The socialite ladies' man does not even think of taking advantage of the sweet girl's frankness. He will neither seduce Tatyana nor marry her. Onegin honestly describes the prospect of their life together as he sees it, and nobly does not make public the girl’s careless impulse. The lover’s arguments do not convince Tatyana of anything, and Pushkin calls his diligent speech a sermon (17th stanza, 4th chapter). Onegin easily makes a verdict for himself: he is “not worthy of Tatyana’s love!” If only he knew then what a surprise life had in store.
The unfortunate girl’s passion, of course, did not cool down, but flared up more strongly. In her Christmas dream, her desires, thoughts about Eugene and a menacing premonition were intertwined. Having appeared on Tatiana’s name day, Onegin only gives her a tender look for a moment and continues to miss her. Not taking into account Tatyana's feelings for him, and Lensky's for Olga, the cruel Onegin begins to shamelessly pursue his friend's fiancee. This act is a murderous characteristic of a hero who, apparently, does not have access to high experiences. In terms of down-to-earthness, Evgeny is much closer to Olga; it is no coincidence that both of them cannot understand why Lensky suddenly rushed off, and do not understand how immoral they both acted at the ball. According to moral characteristics, Olga is not worthy of a poet, just as Onegin is not worthy of Tatiana.
The callous act of the heroes entails tragic consequences. Lensky dies senselessly in a duel: secular prejudices prevent Eugene Onegin from making peace with his friend and admitting his guilt. The duelist immediately leaves the village. In the spring, Olga leaves for the regiment with her newly-made uhlan husband. Tatyana is burdened by loneliness and unabating passion.
Doubt
With trepidation, the girl crosses the threshold of Onegin’s estate and re-reads his books, which reveal to Larina the true appearance of her idol. This is where a turn is planned in the relationship between Tatyana and Onegin, who suddenly appeared in her eyes as a pathetic parody of a magnificent hero. The deep feeling of the spiritually gifted girl has not faded, but now she is forced to come to terms with the fact that she loves an empty and unworthy man.
Captured through the looking glass
Tatiana's success among the Moscow nobility is noted by the author at the end of the 7th chapter, where her immediate charm captivates the middle-aged general. The fate of the young rural noblewoman is decided. We will meet her only two years later, when she will become a brilliant society lady with impeccable taste and manners. This is how Onegin will see her after his aimless wanderings around the world, and his “cold lazy soul” will be amazed and turned over by his flaring passion for the unapproachable princess.
The history of the relationship between Tatiana and Onegin is now repeating itself with mirror accuracy. He is excited, sad, all his thoughts are about her, he writes her a letter of recognition, handing over to Tatyana (as she once did to him) his destiny. He waits a long time for an answer and finally receives the same rebuke to which he subjected young Tanya “in the wilderness of a distant village” several years ago.
Why does Tatyana, without hiding the fact that she continues to love Evgeniy, refuse him? She directly tells her unfortunate admirer that she does not trust his feelings, seeing in him only the excitement of a social rake. Tatyana also reveals another reason: she will remain faithful to her husband, such is the chaste basis of her character.
So what was it?
To decide whether the relationship between Tatiana and Onegin can be called evolution, it is necessary to understand whether the princess is right that she does not believe in Eugene’s sincerity. If he really only seeks victory in a difficult love contest, there can be no talk of a qualitatively new stage in the spiritual life of the heroes. But I still think that Tatyana is mistaken - Onegin is really ripe for deep and strong experiences. Tatyana’s feeling is also going through a new stage - she consciously chooses to renounce personal happiness in favor of duty to another person, and this is her moral victory.
Where the whole novel is simply permeated with the theme of love. This topic is close to everyone, which is why the work is read with ease and pleasure. Pushkin’s work introduces such heroes as Evgeny Onegin and Tatyana Larina. It is their love story that is shown to readers and we enjoy following this complex relationship. But today let's talk not about the love of heroes, but give a brief description of this wonderful girl, the main character, whom the author called Tatyana.
Tatyana Larina is a sweet, kind girl from the provinces, who, although she grew up on a fairly spacious estate, did not become arrogant and did not have a sense of complacency. Tatyana is very attached to the nanny, the same woman who told different stories and fairy tales.
To give a full description of Tatyana, let's turn to the quotes used in the novel. They will reveal to us the image of the girl who was in love with Onegin.
Tatyana Larina characterization of the hero with quotes
So, Tanya is a little wild, more often sad and silent than cheerful. She tries to be away from the company of people, is withdrawn and prefers to be alone. Tatyana likes to be outdoors in the forest, where she likes to talk with trees, like with friends. If we continue to talk about Larina and characterize her image, then it is worth saying that Tatyana is a girl with a truly Russian nature. She has a Russian soul, she loves the Russian winter, although at the same time, like many representatives of the noble class, Tatyana does not know Russian well, but speaks French well. She believes in fortune telling and legends, she is worried about omens.
As a child, the girl does not play with dolls and games like other children, but she is well-read, educated and smart. At the same time, she really likes to read romance novels, where the heroes comprehend fiery love. This is just such a hero from her novel that Tatyana saw in Onegin. The girl falls in love with Evgeniy and even decides to write a letter. But here we do not see frivolity in the act; on the contrary, we see the simplicity of her soul and the courage of the girl.
Like we said, she's a sweet girl. The author does not give her the image of a beauty, in which her sister Olga is shown to us. Nevertheless, Tatyana, with her sincerity, kindness of soul, and her qualities, is much more interesting than her sister. But Evgeny was immediately unable to appreciate Tatyana, wounding her with his refusal.
Time passes. Now we see Tatyana not as a timid girl, but as a married woman who no longer believes in fairy tales, knows how to behave in society, she behaves majestically and inaccessibly. Here
Appearance, habits of the heroine
Tatyana Larina is the main female character in the novel Eugene Onegin. Belinsky called the novel “an encyclopedia of Russian life.” The image of Tatyana, like the images of other heroes, was typical for Russia in the 20-30s. 19th century But Tatyana is a lively woman with a unique, strong character. Her actions, dictated by internal logic and circumstances, turn out to be unexpected even for the author: “My Tatiana got weird”.
Tatyana is not like her younger sister Olga, a cheerful beauty. The elder sister does not attract the eye with either beauty or freshness. In addition, she is uncommunicative and unkind: “Wild, sad, silent, like a timid forest deer”.
Tatyana does not resemble a traditional folklore, hard-working girl: she does not do embroidery, does not play with dolls, and is not interested in fashion and outfits. Doesn't like girls “playing and jumping in a crowd of children”, run in burners (an outdoor game), does not play pranks or play pranks.
Tatyana loves scary stories, is thoughtful, and watches the sunrise on the balcony. Since childhood, she has been inclined to escape reality into the world of dreams, imagining herself as the heroine of the novels of Richardson and Rousseau: "She fell in love with deceptions".
Character and its origins, character development
Tatyana grew up in the village and was a neighbor on the estate of Evgeniy Onegin. Her parents kept the old patriarchal way of life. It is said about the father that he was late in the past century. This is probably why Tatyana received such an exotic name, with which she is inseparable “memory of antiquity or maidenhood”. In her youth, Tatiana’s mother was fond of the same novels that her eldest daughter later read. In the village of the husband to whom Tatyana's mother was not given for love, she, in the end, “I got used to it and became happy”, forgetting his novel hobbies. The couple lived, keeping "Habits of a dear old man".
Tatiana is cut off from her environment. On the one hand, she - “Russian in soul, without knowing why”. Pushkin, according to the laws of realism, reveals why Tatyana is like this. She lived in "the wilderness of a forgotten village", raised by a nanny, "heart friend", in the atmosphere "legends of common folk antiquity". But the nanny, whose prototype was Pushkin’s nanny, does not understand Tatyana’s feelings.
On the other hand, Tatyana was brought up on foreign novels, “I didn’t speak Russian well”. She writes a letter to Onegin in French because “explained herself with difficulty in her native language”.
The novel traces the change in the life of Tanya, who was brought to the capital by her mother and liked "important general". Everything that happens in St. Petersburg is alien to her: “The excitement of the world hates; it’s stuffy here... she dreams of life in the field.”.
Onegin fell in love with a completely different Tatiana, not a timid girl, poor and simple in love, but an indifferent princess, the unapproachable goddess of the luxurious, royal Neva, "legislator hall". But internally Tatyana remains the same: “Everything was quiet, it was just there”. Dignity and nobility were added to simplicity. The heroine's appearance also changes. No one would call her beautiful, but her sophistication could not be overshadowed by the first beauty of St. Petersburg.
Onegin does not recognize the old Tatiana. She is indifferent, brave, calm, free, stern. There is no coquetry in Tatyana, which “does not tolerate high society”, confusion and compassion. She doesn't look like the girl who wrote “a letter where the heart speaks, where everything is outside, everything is free”.
The relationship between Tatyana and Onegin is the main plot line of the novel
After Onegin, who arrived in his village, visited the Larins, they began to propose him as Tatyana’s groom. She fell in love with Onegin simply because "the time has come". But, brought up in a healthy folk atmosphere, Tatyana is waiting for great love, her only betrothed.
Onegin taught Tatyana the most important lesson in life, which she learned well: "Learn to control yourself". He acted nobly, but Pushkin sympathizes with Tatyana: “Now I’m shedding tears with you”, - and foresees her death at the hands of "fashion tyrant"(Onegin).
The lesson that Tatyana gives Onegin, having become a society lady, in turn, consists of the same wisdom: you cannot be "feelings of a petty slave". This should be preferred "cold, stern talk". But Onegin and Tatyana have different motives. He was never able to become "natural man", as Tatyana has always been. For her, life in the world is hateful, it "masquerade rags". Tatyana deliberately doomed herself to such a life, because when she got married, for her “all the lots were equal”. And although the first love still lives in the heroine, she sincerely and confidently remains faithful to her husband. Onegin does not fully realize that his love is excited by the desire to be noticed in society, to have "seductive honor".
- “Eugene Onegin”, analysis of the novel by Alexander Pushkin
- “Eugene Onegin”, a summary of the chapters of Pushkin’s novel
Lonely, “she seemed like a stranger to the girl,” she didn’t like children’s games and could sit silently all day by the window, immersed in dreams. But outwardly motionless and cold, Tatyana lived a strong inner life. “The Nanny's Scary Stories” made her a dreamer, a child “out of this world.”
Shunning naive village entertainment, round dances and games, Tatyana devoted herself wholeheartedly to folk mysticism, her penchant for fantasy directly attracted her to this:
Tatyana believed the legends
Common folk antiquity:
And dreams, and card fortune-telling,
And the predictions of the moon.
She was worried about signs.
All objects are mysterious to her
They proclaimed something
Premonitions pressed in my chest.
Suddenly seeing
The young two-horned face of the moon
In the sky on the left side,
She trembled and turned pale.
Well? the beauty found the secret
And in the most horror she:
This is how nature created you,
Inclined to contradiction.
From her nanny's fairy tales, Tatyana switched early to novels.
They replaced everything for her
She fell in love with novels
And Richardson and Russo...
From a dreamer girl, Tatyana Larina became a “dreamy girl” who lived in her own special world: she surrounded herself with the heroes of her favorite novels and was alien to village reality.
Her imagination has long been
Burning with bliss and melancholy,
Hungry for fatal food.
Long-time heartache
Her young breasts were tight.
The soul was waiting for someone.
Tatyana Larina. Artist M. Klodt, 1886
Evgeniy has foreign tutors; Tatiana's is a simple Russian peasant woman. Tatyana is the ideal image of a Russian woman. She dreams of true great love, of her only chosen one, and Onegin has “the science of tender passion,” a chain of easy and soon boring victories. Tatyana grew up in the atmosphere of the provincial nobility and does not know how to lie or pretend. Her love, natural and living, is precisely why it is beautiful.
Onegin was frightened of genuine feelings, because he was accustomed to secular falsehood and play, and Tatiana’s sincerity frightened, even repelled Eugene. That's why the main character of the novel passed by what Tatyana's open heart offered him. And only in the last chapter, in the cold heart of Eugene Onegin, which has long ago “lost sensitivity,” a bright feeling spontaneously flares up. But even now he is not interested in the Tatyana she was in the village, “not this timid, in love, poor and simple girl.” Onegin would have neglected such a Tatyana even now. He began to “languish with a thirst for love” for Tatiana, the brilliant, magnificent framed living room of the capital, “the impregnable goddess of the luxurious royal Neva,” “the indifferent princess.” Let us note that this captivating Tatiana is a stranger to herself. She herself is “stuffy here”, in this new environment in which Onegin has become so interesting to her. She despises the “excitement of light”, hates the “hateful tinsel” surrounding her, “all this noise, and shine, and fumes.” Her entire true being: sincerity and depth of feelings, loyalty to duty, spiritual nobility - is connected with her closeness to the natural, the people... It is also significant that Tatyana, continuing to have feelings for Onegin, calls his sudden love for her “petty feeling.” Here you can either agree with her or not. On the one hand, Evgeny fell in love with Tatyana sincerely, his tender love for the heroine produced a revolution in him, returned that “sensitivity” to his heart, generated by disappointment in love, which breathed new strength into Onegin’s usual life and filled it with meaning and content. On the other hand, Onegin’s feelings are “small” simply because they are only a drop in comparison with the sea of feelings that Tatyana experienced for Eugene. Tatyana's final monologue takes away this barely acquired meaning from the central character, extinguishing any hope for personal happiness. And by absoluteizing the hero’s personal drama, Pushkin leaves Onegin in a state of severe moral shock in the last scene.
Thus, despite the reciprocity of the characters, the author separates their life paths, leaving no chance for happiness. This is the main tragedy of the main characters of the novel by A.S. Pushkin Evgeny Onegin and Tatyana Larina.
The basis of A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” is the relationship between the two main characters - Eugene and Tatyana. If you trace this storyline throughout the entire work, you can roughly distinguish two parts: Tatiana and Onegin; Onegin and Tatiana.
The determining factor in this division is the dominant role of the characters in the emergence and development of love feelings. At the beginning of the novel, we witness the acquaintance of Evgeny and Tatyana. He is a wise young man, quite tired of the bustle of the capital, quite confident in his rightness. However, his confidence, as it turned out, is based on rather slippery ground:
... his feelings cooled down early;
He was tired of the noise of the world;
The beauties didn't last long
The subject of his usual thoughts;
The betrayals have become tiresome;
I'm tired of friends and friendship...
All these are signs of a disease, which in English is called spleen, and in Russian - melancholy. According to the author, Onegin was calm about this state, in the sense that
He will shoot himself, thank God,
I didn't want to try.
But he completely lost interest in life.
At this time, Onegin had the opportunity to change the current state of affairs: his father died, leaving behind huge debts, and his uncle found himself near death. Eugene’s decision was made instantly: he left his father’s estate to the creditors, and he himself moved to his uncle’s estate, located in the wilderness of the village, far from the bustle of the capital. Tatyana was not familiar with the bustle of the city. There were two teachers in her life: sweet novels and folk legends. Seeing the mysterious, unapproachable Onegin, Tatyana immediately fell in love. Of course, because in her chosen one, “by the happy power of dreams,” the most romantic and courageous heroes of her favorite books were embodied:
Tatiana loves seriously
And he surrenders unconditionally
Love like a sweet child.
Tormented by lovesickness, Tatyana decides to take a desperate step - to confess everything to the object of her worship. Let's turn to Tatyana's letter, which we like from the very first lines: it has such a surprisingly simple beginning. In the second part of the letter, Tatyana talks about her emotional experiences associated with the need for an unusual, great feeling, with a romantic dream of an ideal and extraordinary hero:
Why did you visit us?
In the wilderness of a forgotten village
I would never have known you.
I wouldn't know bitter torment.
The girl, on the one hand, complains that fate has sent her a disturber of her peace of mind, but, on the other hand, having thought about her possible fate (“I would find a friend after my heart, I would have a faithful wife and a virtuous mother”), Tatyana decisively rejects the possibility of marriage with one of the provincial suitors, because she could not fall in love with Petushkov or Buyanov. And Tatyana, with perhaps unexpected frankness and courage for her, speaks about who Onegin is for her: he was sent by God, he is her guardian angel to the grave, about whom she had already known for a long time:
You appeared in my dreams,
Invisible, you were already dear to me,
Your wonderful gaze tormented me,
Your voice was heard in my soul.
But all this did not happen in a dream, it was all reality, for when Onegin first arrived to visit the Larins, Tatyana recognized him. The tone of the letter becomes more sincere and trusting. Tatyana transfers everything that is best in her to her chosen one. And one more important detail: Tatyana perceives Onegin as a protector. Here, in her own family, she feels lonely, no one understands her:
But so be it!
From now on I entrust my destiny to you,
I shed tears before you,
I beg your protection.
Having received Tatiana's message, Onegin was touched by her sincerity and tenderness, but deep down in his soul he was afraid that he would not live up to these anxious hopes. Note: for a moment, a feeling vaguely reminiscent of love flared up in him, but it immediately faded away. Onegin’s selfishness and individualism, which emerged so clearly in the first explanation of the characters, are mentioned by the poet in the epigraph to the novel: “Imbued with vanity, he possessed,” moreover, a special pride that prompts him to admit with equal indifference