With the advent of the innovative novel by A.S. Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” entered Russian literature and a new literary type – « extra person" He is also known as the "Byronic hero", as he was popularized English poet George Byron. They called it the "superfluous man" literary hero belonging to the upper class, who, having abilities and prospects, cannot realize himself or find his place in life.
TO typical features“extra person” includes mental fatigue, deep skepticism, boredom and social passivity.
So is brief portrait the main character of A.S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”. But we will look at this image in more detail. This is a young rich nobleman who received an estate in the village as an inheritance from his uncle. And although Eugene Onegin is a unique character in Russian literature, he is completely ordinary for society. After all, Pushkin endowed him with the typical traits of a secular man and a young rake typical of that time. Eugene “had his hair cut in the latest fashion, dressed like a London dandy,” “he could speak and write in French perfectly,” “he danced the mazurka easily,” and “bowed at ease.”
But the author showed him as a man with a complex contradictory nature, which was also typical for that time. Onegin is too smart to be satisfied with life, himself, and those around him. He lost interest early social entertainment, and he was shackled by boredom, melancholy, disappointment in society, skepticism - in general, “the blues” - a disease of “extra people”, a disease of an entire era.
The origins of this leprosy in most cases are in childhood. Little Eugene received the same upbringing as other noble boys. His French teacher “taught him everything jokingly,” “didn’t bother him with strict morals,” so Onegin received a superficial education. But he brilliantly knew social manners, knew how to dance, conduct a conversation, charm the ladies, and was a welcome guest at parties and balls. But their monotony and forced politeness became boring to the hero. And he became alien to this society.
Evgeny changes his situation - he moves to the village, but even there he lives as a recluse. Nature does not admire him, work was completely disgusting to him, he also found the conversations of provincial society boring and completely uninformative for himself. The only people he became friends with were a young man from a neighboring estate - Vladimir Lensky and the Larin family. Onegin developed a very strange relationship with the first: being completely different, “like ice and fire,” they found general topics for conversations and spent a lot of time together. However, Evgeny did not feel any attachment to the enthusiastic and dreamy romantic; he simply killed the boredom in varied conversations with him, in caustic jokes and arguments. Onegin did not value his friendship and as a result lost his only potential comrade.
It was love feelings that connected Evgeniy with the Larin family, or rather with the eldest daughter Tatyana. He managed to win the heart of a silent, sad girl, but since family life The hero seemed to be a complete boredom, a burdensome union, Onegin rejected Tatyana’s feelings. Later he realizes his mistake and explains himself, but even then he remains completely alone.
Yes, loneliness is the sad lot of the “extra person.” This type of literary hero is disappointed in the values of the world; he is not pleased with wealth, entertainment, nature, or art. He is dissatisfied with the surrounding society, cannot find a place for himself in it, and therefore is doomed to live in boredom and blues. And such is the fate of Evgeny Onegin. He is superfluous everywhere, suffering rudely and sincerely from his uselessness. Onegin is, indeed, the first “extra person” in Russian literature, but not the first in Russian society.
Updated: 2018-03-08
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Evgeny Onegin is an extra person.
The novel in verse by the great Russian poet and writer A. S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” is named after the main character, whose image in Russian literature is considered to be “an extra person.”
From the work we learn that our hero is a young St. Petersburg aristocrat, who received a shallow and typical noble education for that time and was raised by a tutor, who “...taught the child everything in jest, / Didn’t bother him with strict morals...”.
Like all the “golden youth,” Eugene leads a luxurious and idle life, attending balls, theaters, and restaurants, while the young man achieves perfection in the “science of tender passion,” in which “he was a true genius.” But such an empty way of life soon bored him.
Home distinctive feature or even the strangeness of Onegin was his dissatisfaction and desire to find his place in life, since the secular environment in its own way stifled him. The young man with his extraordinary mind was critical of reality, and as a result of this attitude he formed high demands to life. But at one time, no one taught Evgeniy how to work, so all his attempts to engage himself in any useful activity were in vain.
Despite the fact that the young aristocrat was dissatisfied and even despised secular society, he obeyed its laws, fashion and did not try to change anything.
The hero only suppressed his irritation from having to do something that he did not see the point in, and other conflicts that overwhelmed Onegin. All these are symptoms of such an ailment as “Russian blues” or “English spleen”.
Although Evgeny Onegin was a calculating man with great potential and stood noticeably above the typical representatives of the “society,” his dependence on this society and consideration for the opinions of others deprived his soul of rebellion, dooming him to a superficial attitude towards everything. That is why the young man could not remain himself.
But the whole trouble is that Onegin is an egoist. Famous critic Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky called him a “reluctant egoist” or a “suffering egoist.” In this concept, he emphasizes mainly the influence of the hero’s environment in which he is brought up and grows. “The Light” forced Onegin to try on the mask of a cold and cynical person, living only by logic in order to suppress the voice of his heart. However, the mask gives a small crack when Evgeniy writes a letter to Tatyana Larina, into which he puts his whole soul, at that moment a true romantic takes over his impassive and chilled mind.
If he had listened to his heart from the very beginning, everything would have ended much better. Onegin would have had a chance for more happy life. Belinsky noted, “Evil is hidden not in a person, but in society.”
Thus, Onegin’s personality is exceptionally deep and interesting, but his transformation into a “superfluous person” was inevitable, since it was society that made Eugene Onegin such.
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Updated: 2017-04-14
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Why is Evgeny Onegin called the “superfluous man”?
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"Eugene Onegin" is the first Russian realistic socio-psychological novel, central work Pushkin, written by him in 1830. In the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” by A.S. Pushkin, a new type of hero, not previously encountered in Russian literature, is revealed - the “extra person”. IN this work his role is played by the title character. Characteristics this personality: the meaninglessness and purposelessness of existence, lack of understanding of one’s place and role in life, disappointment, boredom, melancholy, “sharp, chilled mind”, judgments and interests that differ from generally accepted ones. In order to make sure that Onegin was a “superfluous person” , let's look at his biography. Eugene is a representative of the nobility, which was very important for the “superfluous person,” since the peasant could not belong to this type. Only a representative of the nobility can lead a lifestyle similar to a “superfluous man”: the nobles lived off the labor of others, did not know how to work, were smart and educated, unlike the peasants. It was from this great mind that Eugene came to realize his meaningless existence, which led the hero to suffering. Onegin is a secular man, not burdened with service. The young man leads a vain, carefree life full of entertainment, but he is not satisfied with the pastime that quite suits the people of his circle. Onegin was smarter than them, he thought and felt subtly, so he was worried and tormented by his aimless life, he did not want to devote it only to entertainment, like they did. Since Eugene was a nobleman, he was used to living on everything ready-made. Onegin was not accustomed to anything persistent and long-term; he was bored with monotonous work. Any systematic activity leads to disappointment. His upbringing did not teach him to work hard, he was bored with everything, and this led to thoughts about the worthlessness of his life, disappointment in it, boredom and sadness:
In short: Russian blues
I mastered it little by little;
He'll shoot himself God bless,
I didn't want to try
But I lost interest in life completely
Onegin tried to occupy himself with creativity, began to read books, but even here his efforts were in vain:
I read and read, but to no avail:
There is boredom, there is deception and delirium;
There is no conscience in that, there is no meaning in that
The hero is forced to leave St. Petersburg and move to the village. This circumstance gives rise to hope in his destiny for better life. Arriving in the village, Evgeniy tried to take up farming and eased the situation of the peasants on his estate: “he replaced the ancient corvée with a light quitrent.” But this does not occupy him for long.
The “superfluous person” perceives relationships with other people as something boring. The peculiarity of such a person is the inability to establish long-term relationships, because they bore him just like any other activity. He does not want to communicate with neighbors who can only talk “about haymaking and wine, about the kennel and their relatives.” Onegin prefers loneliness. For this, Evgeniy receives an unflattering description from the landowners: “Our neighbor is ignorant; crazy; he is a farmazon...”
Evgeniy’s friendship with Lensky also ends tragically. Only with Vladimir Lensky One
Pushkin's famous novel in verse not only fascinated lovers of Russian literature with its high poetic skill, but also caused controversy over the ideas that the author wanted to express here. These disputes did not spare the main character, Eugene Onegin. The definition of “superfluous person” has long been attached to him. However, even today it is interpreted differently. And this image is so multifaceted that it provides material for a wide variety of readings. Let’s try to answer the question: in what sense can Onegin be considered a “superfluous person,” and were there any spiritual aspirations in his life?
In one of the drafts for “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin noted: “Hero, be first a man.” And his Onegin, of course, is first and foremost a man. Not superfluous, just a person. A representative of a certain era - the 1810s, a certain class group - the St. Petersburg secular nobility, a certain way of life, when it was necessary to painfully invent activities and entertainment for oneself in order to kill the all-consuming boredom. The poet draws us a circle of Onegin’s interests:
A small scientist, but a pedant:
He had a lucky talent
No coercion in conversation
Touch everything lightly
With the learned air of a connoisseur
To remain silent in an important dispute,
And make the ladies smile
Fire of unexpected epigrams.
He had no desire to rummage
In chronological dust
History of the earth;
But jokes of days gone by
From Romulus to the present day
He kept it in his memory.
Having no high passion
No mercy for the sounds of life,
He could not iambic from trochee;
No matter how hard we tried, we could tell the difference.
Scolded Homer, Theocritus;
But I read Adam Smith,
And there was a deep economy,
That is, he knew how to judge
How does the state get rich?
And how does he live, and why?
He doesn't need gold
When a simple product has.
A certain scatteredness and superficiality of Eugene’s intellectual demands is striking, especially since he particularly excelled in the “science of tender passion” glorified by Ovid Naso. And Onegin was not educated very systematically, not differing, however, in this respect from most people of his generation. As Pushkin emphasized: “We all learned a little something and somehow...” However, one should not judge Pushkin’s hero too harshly. Although Onegin never mastered the basics of poetic theory, this did not stop him from creating sharp and untalented epigrams that were popular in society. And interest in the works of the English political economist Adam Smith, advanced for that time, testifies to the desire young man to practical knowledge, which he then tries to apply in practice. Let us remember how Onegin on his estate “replaced the yoke ... the ancient corvée with an easy quitrent, and the slave blessed his fate.” The hero is clearly not alien to the spirit of the times and is ready to alleviate the situation of the people even in the smallest way. But you shouldn’t make him a Decembrist either - political issues for Onegin are not as significant as successes on the love front.
The content of “Eugene Onegin” is well known. Having had enough social life, Evgeny retires to the village, where he soon becomes equally bored. Onegin first rejects Tatiana's love, and then unsuccessfully tries to unite with her. In the meantime, he kills a friend in a duel, goes to travel, returns, and again meets Tatyana, now the wife of a familiar general, at a St. Petersburg ball. He declares his love to her, receives recognition of reciprocity along with his renunciation of adultery. The heroine now puts marital duty above love. Onegin is severely punished. But is it only secular vices does Pushkin expose him? No, the poet himself admitted in one of his letters that in “Eugene Onegin” there is “no mention” of satire. And in another letter, in October 1824, he reported that among his neighbors in Mikhailovskoye he enjoys “the reputation of Onegin,” and at the same time is subject to a completely Onegin-like mood: “I am in the best position imaginable to complete my poetic a novel, but boredom is a cold muse, and my poem is not progressing at all...” In letters to friends, Pushkin more than once emphasized that in Eugene Onegin the word “satirical” itself should not be mentioned, in particular, so as not to interfere with the passage of the novel through censorship. However, here it was the poet’s intention, and not the fear of censorship, that relegated the satirical principle to the background.
Onegin, unlike Pushkin, is not a poet. His boredom is not illuminated by glimmers of genuine poetic inspiration. We can say, of course, that Evgeny is a “superfluous person” in the sense that he does not perform any obvious socially useful function and is not in demand by society. Pushkin knew that he himself, like many of his comrades in St. Petersburg, could have found himself in the same position if he had not possessed God’s gift of creativity. However, Onegin is always looking for something, he is possessed by “wanderlust.” Now Evgeniy has returned from his wanderings, and the author asks the question:
Is he still the same, or has he pacified himself?
Or is he acting like an eccentric?
Tell me, what did he return with?
What will he present to us so far?
What will it appear now?
Melmoth,
Cosmopolitan, patriot,
Harold, the Quaker, the bigot,
Or someone else will flaunt a mask,
Or he will just be a kind fellow,
How are you and me, how is the whole world?
Onegin has many masks in the novel, and he brings evil to many, absurdly killing Lensky and ultimately making Tatyana unhappy, but in essence, as Pushkin hints, he is a kind person at heart and does not consciously harm anyone. What motivates Onegin? I think, by and large, - the desire for spiritual freedom, for “freedom of dreams,” for the unattainable ideal of beauty. And in the finale he turns out to be even more unhappy than the beloved who left him. The hero, together with Pushkin himself, admits:
I thought: freedom and peace -
Substitute for happiness. Oh my God!
How wrong I was, how I was punished!
This is the disappointing result of Onegin’s spiritual quest. But not Pushkin. Indeed, in 1836, shortly before his death, Alexander Sergeevich wrote the famous: “There is no happiness in the world, but there is peace and will.” For a genius poet, creative peace, creative freedom can be highest value, while for a mere mortal like Eugene, happiness still remains such.
The most meaningful name in the history of Russian literature. Before him, no one had combined two genres in one work, but he was able to create an excellent novel in verse, “Eugene Onegin.” Written in the first half of the 19th century, it perfectly describes the life and customs of the noble class of that time. The main character of the work is a young nobleman, heir to all his relatives and a carefree rake Eugene Onegin. There is a version that it was this character who became the founder of all subsequent “extra people” in Russian literature.
Despite the fact that he was well brought up and moderately educated, Onegin’s life was a continuous holiday and no work:
He's completely French
He could express himself and wrote;
I danced the mazurka easily
And he bowed casually...
The hero was a member of secular society, knew how to conduct a conversation competently, was a follower of fashion and read modern literature. However, the only thing in which he achieved perfection was “the science of tender passion.” Onegin walked a lot, attended all the balls and social events, came home in the morning and so on day after day. As the author himself notes, he lived “without purpose, without labor.” He did not see any meaning in his existence, but simply wasted his life aimlessly.
This continued until he left for the village, where his late uncle left him as an inheritance a large estate and a whole yard of peasants. Despite his skeptical attitude towards life, there were in Onegin and positive traits. For example, he treated the peasants well and, in order to make their lot easier, replaced corvée with quitrent. After such innovations, neighbors began to call him “the most dangerous eccentric.”
Soon another young nobleman came to the village from Germany, reading modern literature and having a good education. Lensky quickly became friends with Onegin, despite the difference in character and worldview. This was the complete opposite of the main character. Romantic, open, sensitive Lensky sees the highest purpose of everyone on earth and believes in true love. In contrast, Onegin did not know and does not know love. He was so bored with the cutesy metropolitan young ladies that he was simply tired of being a hypocrite and abandoned all relationships.
In my opinion, this hero feels superfluous in the society that had developed by the beginning of the 19th century. He avoids his landowner neighbors, does not want to start serious relationships with ladies, and does not make plans for the future. Thus, the only person with whom he communicates at least from time to time is Lensky. But this friendship does not lead to good things either. Subsequently, a conflict ensues between them and Lensky dies during a duel at the hands of a friend.
Another person who feels out of place in society is Tatyana:
Dick, sad, silent,
Like a forest deer is timid,
She is in her own family
The girl seemed like a stranger.
She could become Onegin's faithful companion and illuminate him with herself. life path. After all, unlike him, she knew how to love and did not deny this feeling. But since the hero chose to remain selfish and an inveterate bachelor, he refused her reciprocity, which he later greatly regretted. Everything changed with Lensky's death. This accident forced Onegin to reconsider his views on life. Perhaps, over time, he was even able to find his happiness, but we see him only within the framework of Pushkin’s novel, where to the end he remains a “superfluous person” who does not find use for his mind and abilities.
