Onegin Lensky and Olga. Essay “Lensky’s love for Olga. Connection with the personality of the poet

Candidate of Technical Sciences D. VLASOV.

My uncle has the most honest rules.
When I seriously fell ill,
He forced himself to respect...

Who doesn’t know these textbook lines, this beginning of a great novel in verse? “Eugene Onegin” is inexhaustible; every stanza, if not line, when reread, reveals a deeper, and sometimes completely different meaning. What does “the fairest rules” mean? Pushkin’s contemporaries considered these words to be a paraphrase of a line from Krylov’s fable “The donkey had the most honest rules...”, but now the fable is not one of the most famous, and we hear (or think we hear) only the direct meaning of the line.

Many concepts and expressions of the Russian language have changed their meaning since Pushkin's times. Even names: the name “Tatyana” was considered common, but “Akulina” was considered noble (replaced, however, in everyday life by a more euphonious name - Alina) ...

No matter how much I read and re-read “Eugene Onegin,” I was always left somewhat bewildered by the fate of Olga and the posthumous fate of Lensky. Very little is said about this in the novel and nothing in the opera. Meanwhile, on the eve of the duel, the poet addresses his bride, and Lensky’s last aria in Tchaikovsky’s great opera has lived and moved us for more than a hundred years:

The world will forget me; notes
Will you come, maiden of beauty,
Shed a tear over the early urn...

And what? In the opera, even the names of Olga and Lensky disappear without a trace. In the novel:

There by the stream, in the thick shade
A simple monument was erected...

And in the next chapter VII:

In the shade of two obsolete pines,
To the newcomer the inscription says:
"Vladimir Lensky lies here,
Died early by the death of the brave,
In such and such a year, such and such years,
Rest in peace, young poet!

And Olga? Where is that “tear over the early urn”? Of course, we don’t expect eternal fidelity from her, but still, still...

It happened in late leisure
Two friends came here
And at the grave under the moon
They embraced and cried,
But now... the monument is sad
Forgotten. A familiar trail to him
I stalled. There is no wreath on the branch...

Meanwhile, even earlier, in Chapter VI, not Olga, but

... young city dweller
....
Reads with fluent eyes
A simple inscription - and a tear
Fogs tender eyes...
The soul has been in it for a long time
Lensky is full of fate;
And he thinks: “Something happened to Olga?
How long has her heart suffered?
Or is it time for tears soon?
And where is her sister now?..”

In due course I will report to you
I'll give you all the details.

Regarding Olga, the report is very short. Finally, in Chapter VII, there is a whole stanza:

My poor Lensky! languishing,
She didn't cry for long.
Alas! Young bride
Her sadness is unfaithful.
Another caught her attention
Another managed her suffering
To lull you to sleep with loving flattery,
Ulan knew how to captivate her,
Ulan loves her with all her soul...
And now with him in front of the altar
She's shyly down the aisle
Stands with his head bowed,
With fire in downcast eyes,
With a light smile on your lips.

So, everything has been said, there are still many experiences of the main characters and the reader’s empathy ahead.

“I love my dear Tatiana so much,” declares the author.

And yet it’s a shame for Lensky, it’s a shame for Olga, she never shed a tear...

But this is the power of not only reading, but also rereading. You finally notice that this stanza (“my poor Lensky”) has three numbers: VIII - IX - X - this occasionally occurs in other places in Eugene Onegin. This means that there were still lines and stanzas. Pushkin may have excluded them later, but did not change the continuous numbering in each chapter.

There are studies by Pushkin scholars concerning all the versions and drafts of Pushkin, but this is still special literature, you need to look for it... Maybe just take “The Complete Works”?

And here is the joy of almost a researcher, albeit an amateur, an amateur, but still a discovery, perhaps made for the 101st time. Indeed, in Pushkin’s draft manuscript there are two more stanzas that have just two “extra” numbers (VIII and IX). The same light and perfect Pushkin verse, but the lines are different, almost unknown to the general reader:

But once in the evening

One of the maidens came here.
It seemed like a painful melancholy
She was alarmed -
As if agitated by fear,
She is in tears before the sweet ashes
She stood with her head bowed -
And fold your hands in trepidation.
But here with hasty steps
She was overtaken by a young uhlan,
Tightened, stately and rosy,
Showing off his black mustache,
Bending his broad shoulders
And proudly sounding spurs.
She looked at the warrior.
His gaze burned with annoyance,
And turning pale, she sighed,
But she didn't say anything
And silently Lensky's bride
From an orphaned place
She left with him - and since then
She never came from over the mountains.
So indifferent oblivion
Behind the grave it overtakes us:
Enemies, friends, lovers voice
He will fall silent. About one estate
Heirs jealous chorus
Starts an obscene argument.

The last 6 lines out of 28 were preserved in the next, XI stanza, but for this it was necessary to exclude the other 6 lines:

At least from the grave
Didn't go out on this sad day
His jealous shadow -
And at a late hour, dear Hymen,
Didn't scare the young people
Traces of grave apparitions.

What a pity that, for reasons only known to him, Pushkin excluded from the final edition of the text all these lines, which fly, as always, but in content “rehabilitate” Olga to some extent.

In quite a long time ago, in post-war Leningrad, there was a scribe well-known in all editorial offices and publishing houses. Conversations and meetings with him always ended the same way. Saying goodbye, he said: “You don’t read enough, my children...” And the “young people” - whether twenty or sixty years old - had nothing to object to.

Now I want to say after him:

30 volumes of Turgenev, 30 of Dostoevsky, and 90 volumes of Tolstoy await us.

And Pushkin - 10...

Shall we start with Pushkin?

Olga Larina, Tatyana's younger sister, is the supporting heroine. And therefore Pushkin gave her a little attention and space in the poem. However, if we consider her image of Olga in the composition of a literary work, she is assigned a serious role. First of all, she serves as an antipode, the opposite of her older sister. Thanks to this contrast, the character traits of the main character are more clearly expressed. Through the younger Larina it becomes more understandable, the character of the young poet Lensky is revealed.

Some literary critics strictly characterize Olga, considering her frivolous and superficial. But that's not true. We must not forget that Olga is a child. She looks at life and everything that happens with joyful childish eyes. And she loves Lensky like a child, like an older friend. She is not yet able to see a man in him, she has not yet formed for carnal love.

And here is the description of Olga Larina given by Pushkin in the novel:

Always modest, always obedient,
Always cheerful like the morning,
How a poet's life is simple-minded,
How sweet is love's kiss;
Eyes like the sky are blue,
Smile, flaxen curls,
Movements, voice, light frame,
Everything is in Olga...

It is Lensky who is in love with Olga with all the passion of a young, poetically minded soul. But Olga does not yet know such a feeling. She is under pressure from society and family. From an early age she knows that when she grows up, she will have to get married. And when Vladimir drew attention to Olga, and society in the person of neighbors and relatives started talking about her as Vladimir’s bride, she took it for granted.

Onegin didn’t like Olga. And this is not surprising. From the height of his years, Evgeniy saw a child in the girl.

If Olga had been a dummy, uninteresting, superficial, as some literary critics write, giving her unforgiving characteristics, the educated and well-read Lensky would have very quickly become disillusioned with her. However, they spend a lot of time together, find topics for conversation, and even play chess. And this is a serious game, not for superficial dummies.

On Epiphany morning, when Tatyana just woke up, Olga was the first to look into her room.

The door opened. Olga to her,
Aurora of the northern alley
And lighter than a swallow, it flies;

The blush on her cheeks is a clear sign that the girl woke up a long time ago and managed to be outside, where the frost turned her blush. It can be assumed that early in the morning she was already helping her mother and the yard girls prepare for the upcoming holiday.

Oh, how wrong Onegin is when he says that Olga has no life in her features. It is from such energetic, lively teenagers that good wives and mothers grow up, on whom the house rests.

When Evgeny Onegin decided to take revenge on Lensky and began to flirt with Olga, she accepted his advances with childish spontaneity, but did not take them seriously. She didn't feel any guilt. She did not feel or realize betrayal on her part. After all, this is a ball, and here everyone is dancing, everyone is having fun. Well, yes, I promised the mazurka and cotillion to Onegin. So who is to blame that Lensky was “catching flies” at that moment and was furious with jealousy? It was necessary to invite me to dance on time.

Olga did not feel guilty. And when Lensky, exhausted from a sleepless night, arrived at the Larins’ house...

He thought to confuse Olenka,
To amaze with your arrival;
No such luck: as before,
To meet the poor singer
Olenka jumped from the porch,
Like windy hope
Frisky, carefree, cheerful,
Well, exactly the same as it was.

After the death of the poet, Olga did not grieve for long. Surely, she didn’t even know the true reason for the duel.
Soon her head was turned by a military officer, a lancer. She married him and left. Why reproach her for this? Life goes on, and Olga was not at all obliged to remain faithful to the deceased poet.

characterization of Lensky and Olga in the work of Eugene Onegin and received the best answer

Answer from Mad Monkey[guru]
OLGA
Olga Larina is Tatyana Larina’s sister, Lensky’s fiancée. Despite the fact that O. loves Lensky, she is shown through Onegin’s cold perception: “Round and red in face.” This was done in order to show that Lensky does not love the real O., but the romantic image he invented.
O. is an ordinary village young lady who, against her own will, was appointed by Lensky to the role of his Muse. The girl is unable to play this role, but it is not her fault. It is not her fault that Lensky misinterprets O.’s behavior, for example, at Tatyana’s name day. O.’s readiness to dance endlessly with Onegin is explained not by the desire to arouse jealousy, much less change, but simply by the frivolity of her character. Therefore, she does not understand the reasons for Lensky’s upset at the ball and the reasons for the duel.
O. does not need the sacrifice that Lensky is ready to make in the fight for her love in a duel.
Frivolity is the main feature of this heroine. O. Lensky, who died for her, will mourn and very soon forget. “With a smile on her lips” she will immediately marry a lancer - and go with him to the regiment.
LENSKY
Vladimir Lensky is the antipode of Onegin, designed to highlight the qualities of this hero.
L. comes to his estate “from foggy Germany,” where he became an admirer of the philosopher Kant and a romantic poet.
L. becomes quite close to Onegin, introduces him to the Larins’ house, introduces him to Tatyana and his bride Olga. An irritated Onegin begins to pretend to court Olga two weeks before their wedding with L. Because of this, the hero challenges Onegin to a duel, in which he dies.
In the novel, L. is 18 years old, rich and handsome. All of L.’s behavior, his speech, his appearance (“shoulder-length black curls”) indicate free-thinking, the newfangled romanticism of the hero. L.’s poetry is also distinguished by great romanticism: he sings “something far away into the fog,” writes “dark and sluggish.”
L. falls in love with Olga, sees in her a romantic heroine from books, who consists only of poetic traits. But the hero is cruelly mistaken about his beloved and pays for it with his life.
Despite all the fashion trends that L. brought from Germany, at heart he remains a sweet, simple, not too sophisticated and not too deep Russian landowner.
This dual personality of the hero led to a tragic ending: L. dies in a duel, because it is impossible to combine the opposites of his character. If L. had become a poet or a hero, he still would not have lost his worst landowner traits; if he had become a district landowner, he would still have written poems. But in any case, I would not be happy.

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

He used indirect speech widely and fruitfully. This is a special means of reproducing someone else’s speech in the author’s narrative. Two voices (the author and the character) are momentarily combined in one, but do not completely merge. speaks himself, but seems to imitate the character’s speech manner, and the reader instantly guesses who owns the stated opinion. Let's look at an example. Here Lensky invites Olga to dance. A short conversation takes place between them. The author sets out what the characters are talking about, feeling and deciding. The speech of Olga and Lensky is not highlighted in quotation marks here. There are no author's indications: Lensky thought so or Olga said so. Everything is presented in the voice of the author-narrator. But his narration not only sets out the essence of this cursory conversation, which had fatal consequences. Here the mood of the speakers is guessed, their intonation is felt. Through punctuation marks, repetitions, exclamations, as well as the construction of phrases, a clear idea of ​​the tone and emotional coloring of speech is created.

In fact: who here is seething with imaginary resentment, from trifles making a truly global and unfair conclusion about the supposedly known “depravity” of all women? Who exclaims: “Oh, God, God!” - and shows complete lack of control over himself, his feelings, his behavior? Yes, this is the simple-minded, naive and proud Lensky! It is he who so clumsily vents his irritation, and in the end decides to put his love and even his life on the line. Moreover, he decides in his characteristic poetic manner, resorting to a gloomy metaphor. Here three voices differ in intonation - Olga, Lensky and the narrator. And along with the voices, an idea arises of the state of the characters and how the narrator relates to them.

Here is another example: Tatyana, with the permission of Onegin’s housekeeper Anisya, examines the master’s office, peers at the situation, leafs through the books Onegin has read. The author provides an explanation of what is not entirely clear to Tatyana herself:

• Stored many pages
• To which he silently agreed.
• Mark sharp nails;
• In their fields she meets
• The eyes of an attentive girl
• The lines of his pencil.
• Onegin's soul is everywhere
• Tatiana sees with trembling,
• Involuntarily expresses himself
• What thought, remark
• Either with a short word, or with a cross
• That's a question hook.

The fact reported here is remarkable in itself. Pushkin had already spoken about Tatyana as a very extraordinary person. But here her vigilance, her ability to bring together disparate facts, her ability to come to an accurate conclusion about the essence of man from external manifestations are revealed to us with our own eyes. All this is true. But in this case we are interested in something else: how are different voices combined in the author’s narrative? The next stanza tells what Tatyana understood for herself, and then her own intonation arose:

And it starts little by little

My Tatyana understand

It's clearer now - thank God

The one for whom she sighs

Condemned by an imperious fate:

The eccentric is sad and dangerous,

But these are not the author’s perplexities, not the narrator’s questions. Pushkin knows that his Onegin is not a parody of Western romantics, although he played this role at some point in his life. Here Pushkin truthfully and convincingly recreated the process of SEARCHING for truth, in which Tatyana is involved. It is she, doubting and questioning herself, relying on her own life and book experience, looking for an exact definition. And at the beginning of the next stanza she asks herself:

• Have you really solved the riddle?
• Has the word been found?

We have given examples of the most distinct combination and at the same time stratification of different voices in the author’s narrative. It would be possible to increase their number, but the essence of the question is already a dream: Pushkin mastered the difficult art of arousing the idea of ​​​​characters through voices in the author's speech.

characterization of Lensky and Olga in the work of Eugene Onegin and received the best answer

Answer from Mad Monkey[guru]
OLGA
Olga Larina is Tatyana Larina’s sister, Lensky’s fiancée. Despite the fact that O. loves Lensky, she is shown through Onegin’s cold perception: “Round and red in face.” This was done in order to show that Lensky does not love the real O., but the romantic image he invented.
O. is an ordinary village young lady who, against her own will, was appointed by Lensky to the role of his Muse. The girl is unable to play this role, but it is not her fault. It is not her fault that Lensky misinterprets O.’s behavior, for example, at Tatyana’s name day. O.’s readiness to dance endlessly with Onegin is explained not by the desire to arouse jealousy, much less change, but simply by the frivolity of her character. Therefore, she does not understand the reasons for Lensky’s upset at the ball and the reasons for the duel.
O. does not need the sacrifice that Lensky is ready to make in the fight for her love in a duel.
Frivolity is the main feature of this heroine. O. Lensky, who died for her, will mourn and very soon forget. “With a smile on her lips” she will immediately marry a lancer - and go with him to the regiment.
LENSKY
Vladimir Lensky is the antipode of Onegin, designed to highlight the qualities of this hero.
L. comes to his estate “from foggy Germany,” where he became an admirer of the philosopher Kant and a romantic poet.
L. becomes quite close to Onegin, introduces him to the Larins’ house, introduces him to Tatyana and his bride Olga. An irritated Onegin begins to pretend to court Olga two weeks before their wedding with L. Because of this, the hero challenges Onegin to a duel, in which he dies.
In the novel, L. is 18 years old, rich and handsome. All of L.’s behavior, his speech, his appearance (“shoulder-length black curls”) indicate free-thinking, the newfangled romanticism of the hero. L.’s poetry is also distinguished by great romanticism: he sings “something far away into the fog,” writes “dark and sluggish.”
L. falls in love with Olga, sees in her a romantic heroine from books, who consists only of poetic traits. But the hero is cruelly mistaken about his beloved and pays for it with his life.
Despite all the fashion trends that L. brought from Germany, at heart he remains a sweet, simple, not too sophisticated and not too deep Russian landowner.
This dual personality of the hero led to a tragic ending: L. dies in a duel, because it is impossible to combine the opposites of his character. If L. had become a poet or a hero, he still would not have lost his worst landowner traits; if he had become a district landowner, he would still have written poems. But in any case, I would not be happy.

Answer from 2 answers[guru]