What is the contrast between Onegin and Lensky? Contrast is the artistic principle of novel A
In what way is Lensky the complete opposite of Onegin? and got the best answer
Answer from Olga[newbie]
Vladimir Lensky, who is the antipode of Eugene Onegin. Disappointed in life and in people, the egocentric romantic, reminiscent of Byron's favorite heroes, is replaced by an enthusiastic romantic-idealist, an admirer of Schiller and Goethe, who believes in pure friendship, in eternal love. Like fresh air rushing into a stuffy room, Lensky brings into the novel the poetry of youthful hopes, joyful trust in people, poetic dreaminess, and admiration for beauty. True to his realistic method, Pushkin both sympathizes with the hero and separates him from himself, trying to understand and explain his character in its strengths and weaknesses.
Unlike Onegin, Lensky is not spoiled by metropolitan life. His childhood years were spent in a provincial estate wilderness, close to nature, surrounded by patriarchal landowners with their simplicity, hospitality, and sincere goodwill. Also in adolescence he experienced the first glimpses of love, devoid of secular theatricality and metropolitan affectation:
A little boy, captivated by Olga, not yet knowing the torments of the heart, He was a touched witness of Her infantile amusements; In the shade of the guardian oak grove He shared her fun, And the children were destined for crowns by Friends and neighbors, their fathers.
Pushkin shows that Lensky’s cordiality and gullibility, his faith in human decency and kindness are fed from a pure Russian source - the patriarchal nobility, who preserve in their peaceful life “the habits of dear old times”:
Neither the cooling distance, nor the long summers of separation, nor the hours given to the muses, nor foreign beauties, nor the noise of merriment, nor science, changed the soul in him, warmed by the virgin fire.
Unlike Onegin, a rational man with a damaged and muffled heart, Lensky retained a “trusting conscience,” openness to everything good and beautiful, and a talent for heartfelt frankness. It more clearly expresses the Russian basis of a poetically gifted soul.
However, these good character traits of Lensky are also complicated by romantic influences that are far from Russian reality:
Vladimir Lensky, With a soul straight from Göttingen, Handsome, in the full bloom of his years, Kant’s admirer and poet. From foggy Germany He brought the fruits of learning: Freedom-loving dreams, An ardent and rather strange spirit, Always an enthusiastic speech And shoulder-length black curls.
Ardentness, excitement and unchanging, constant enthusiasm are qualities that seem to lift the poet above the difficulties of life. Lensky sees everything around him in a kind of pink fog of idealism. Sometimes he is naive in his simplicity, sometimes he is immoderately hot-tempered and hot-tempered.
In the eyes of provincial landowners, Onegin appears as a “farmer and a madman,” and Lensky as a “half-Russian neighbor.” Both heroes rise above their environment, which is the reason for their rapprochement. True, Pushkin emphasizes its fragility, and the suspicion creeps into the reader’s soul that such “friendship” will not bring the heroes to good:
They got along. Wave and stone, Poems and prose, ice and fire are not so different from each other.
After all, Onegin, who despises people, only “respected someone else’s feelings,” and therefore endured Lensky’s presence with a secret smile, barely holding back the “cooling word”:
And I thought: it’s stupid for me to interfere with His momentary bliss; And without me the time will come; Let him live for now and believe in the world's perfection...
In such “generosity” there is more condescending contempt than friendly feelings. And Lensky, in his enthusiasm, is inattentive to Onegin’s state of mind and this insensitivity probably aggravates the dull irritation of the proud egoist:
Answer from Galina Volkova[active]
Lensky is a poet, romantic, believes in love, friendship, and is full of hopes for the future. Onegin is a pragmatist, disappointed in everything, does not believe in love. friendship, he is bored with life.
“The fruit of the mind of cold observations and the heart of sorrowful observations” - the novel “Eugene Onegin” was written by Pushkin for about eight years. Knowing the life of the world well, he draws the beginning of his hero’s life and a typical aristocratic upbringing: “At first Maman followed him, then Monsieur replaced her.” They taught him everything jokingly, but Onegin still received the minimum knowledge that was considered mandatory among the nobility. And Pushkin, making sketches, seems to remember his youth:
We all learned a little,
Something and somehow
But education, thank God,
It's no wonder to shine here...
He's completely French
He could express himself and wrote,
I danced the mazurka easily
And he bowed casually.
What do you want more?
The light has decided
That he is smart and very nice.
He knew a little classical literature, had an idea about Adam Smith, read Byron, but all this does not lead either to romantic, fiery feelings, like Lensky, or to the harshness of political protest, like Griboyedov’s Chatsky.
Evgeny Onegin spends his best years, like most people in his circle, on balls, theaters, and love affairs. In terms of intelligence, Onegin stands much higher than his peers. Very soon he began to understand that this life was empty, that behind the “external tinsel” there was nothing worthwhile, boredom, slander, envy reigned in the world, people wasted their inner strength on trifles and languished, not knowing how to get out of the vicious circle. All this led to Onegin losing interest in life, he fell into a deep blues:
Xandra was waiting for him on guard,
And she ran after him,
Like a shadow or a faithful wife.
Out of boredom, Onegin tries to look for the meaning of life in some activity. He reads a lot, tries to write, but the first attempt did not lead to anything. Pushkin writes: “But nothing came from his pen.” In the village where Onegin goes to collect his inheritance, he makes another attempt at practical activity:
He is the yoke of the ancient corvée
I replaced it with easy quitrent;
And the slave blessed fate.
But in his corner he sulked,
Seeing this as terrible harm,
His calculating neighbor...
But the lordly aversion to work, the habit of freedom and peace, lack of will and pronounced selfishness - this is the legacy that Onegin received from the “high society”.
In contrast to Onegin, in the image of Lensky a different type of noble youth is given. Lensky plays a significant role in understanding the character of Onegin. Lensky is a nobleman, younger than Onegin in age. He was educated in Germany:
He's from foggy Germany
He brought the fruits of learning,
The spirit is ardent and rather strange...
Lensky's spiritual world is associated with a romantic worldview; he is “an admirer of Kant and a poet.” His feelings weigh heavily on his mind, he believes in love, in friendship, in the decency of people, he is an irreparable idealist who lives in a world of beautiful dreams. Lensky looks at life through rose-colored glasses; he naively considered Olga to be his own exalted soul, although she was the most ordinary, ordinary girl.
The cause of Lensky's death was indirectly Onegin, but in fact he dies from a rough collision with harsh reality.
What do Onegin and Lensky have in common? Both belong to a privileged circle, they are smart, educated, and are higher in their internal development than those who surround them.
But Lensky’s romantic soul is looking for beauty everywhere. Onegin went through all this and was tired of the hypocrisy and depravity of secular society. Pushkin writes about Lensky: “He was a dear ignoramus at heart, he was cherished by hope, and there was a new shine and noise in the world.” Onegin listened to Lensky’s passionate speeches with the elder’s smile, tried to restrain his irony, “and thought, it’s stupid for me to interfere with his momentary bliss, and without me the time will come, let him live for now and believe in the world’s perfection. Let’s forgive the fever youth and youthful heat and youthful delirium." For Lensky, friendship is an urgent need of nature, while Onegin makes friends "out of boredom," although he is attached to Lensky in his own way. Not knowledgeable of life Lensky embodies an equally common type of noble youth, just like Onegin, disappointed in life.
Pushkin, contrasting two young people, nevertheless notes common features character. He writes: “They came together: wave and stone, poetry and prose, ice and fire, aren’t they so different from each other?”
“Not so different from each other”? How to understand this phrase? What they have in common is that they are both self-centered, they are bright individuals who are focused only on their supposedly unique personality.
“The habit of counting everyone as zeros and oneself as ones” was sooner or later bound to lead to a break. Onegin is forced to kill Lensky. Despising the world, he still values its opinion, fearing ridicule and reproach for cowardice. Because of a false sense of honor, he destroys an innocent soul. Who knows what Lensky’s fate would have been like if he had remained alive. Perhaps he would have become a Decembrist, or perhaps just a common man. Belinsky, analyzing the novel, believed that Lensky was waiting for the second option. Pushkin writes:
He would change in many ways
I would part with the muses, get married,
The village is happy and horny
I would wear a quilted robe.
Romantics like Lensky cannot withstand the blows of life: they either reconcile with it or perish.
Onegin was still internally deeper than Lensky. His “sharp, chilled mind” is much more pleasant than the sublime romanticism of Lensky, which would quickly disappear, like flowers disappear in late autumn. Only deep natures can understand dissatisfaction with life and the futility of vanity.
Pushkin is closer to Onegin, he writes about himself and about him:
I was embittered, he was sullen,
We both knew the game of passion,
Life tormented both of us,
The heat in both hearts died down.
Onegin suffers deeply:
Why wasn’t I wounded by a bullet in the chest?
Why am I not a frail old man?
How is this poor tax farmer?
I am young, life is strong in me!
What should I expect? Yearning. Yearning.
Pushkin openly admits their sympathy for him, many lyrical digressions the novel is dedicated to this. Melancholy, dissatisfaction with the existing life, gives rise to questions and a search for a way. The image of Onegin stands behind Chatsky at the beginning of the gallery extra people who became heroes of that time.
2.3. The skill of A. N. Ostrovsky in creating dramatic character. (Using the example of the hero or heroine of one of the plays of the student’s choice.)
2.4. What content does A. I. Solzhenitsyn put into the concept of “righteous person”? (According to the story " Matrenin Dvor».)
2.5. What stories from the works of Russian and foreign literature are relevant to you and why? (Based on the analysis of one or two works.)
Explanation.
Comments on essays
2.1. What is the meaning of the contrast between Onegin and Lensky in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”?
Reflections on the fate of one’s generation are found quite often in works of Russian literature. A.S. Pushkin created the immortal image of Eugene Onegin, the “superfluous man” of his generation. In Onegin’s heart there is emptiness, skepticism, he does not know where to use his abilities. In contrast to Onegin, Lensky is a young poet who returned from Germany, passionate about philosophy and romantically inclined. On the pages of the novel he is very touching and funny at the same time. The reader is attracted by his purity, youth, naivety and sincerity of feelings. But what is Lensky's future? The author regrets that he died “in the flower of joyful hopes, / Having not yet fulfilled them for the world.” However, Pushkin does not exclude the possibility that Lensky will be drawn into philistine life, and he will become the same provincial landowner that he meets in the Larins’ house. Onegin, in comparison with Lensky, is a deeper, more active nature, although contradictory.
2.2. How are reflections on creativity and the theme of loneliness connected in the poetry of M. Yu. Lermontov?
The theme of the poet and poetry is traditional for Russian literature. In Lermontov's "The Prophet", the poet, endowed with a divine gift, realizes the full weight of his destiny, all the bitterness from misunderstanding and loneliness. If Pushkin’s poems sound optimism, faith in freedom, in a bright future that comes beyond pain (“The Prophet”), then Lermontov has a completely different mood: the poet is alone, there is no hope in the world. However, despite the differences, both Pushkin and Lermontov are united in the fact that the poet’s purpose is to be a prophet, through trials and torments to bring people faith in a bright future, in high feelings, even when there is nothing bright around, even when there is nothing bright around them. just dirt and ignorance.
2.3. The skill of A. N. Ostrovsky in creating dramatic character. (Using the example of the hero or heroine of one of the plays of the student’s choice.)
“The Snow Maiden” is an amazing fairy tale that shows the beauty of the surrounding world, love, nature, and youth. The work is based on folk tales, songs, stories and legends. Ostrovsky only combined fairy tales, legends and songs together and gave folk art very unique color. In The Snow Maiden, human relationships occupy the main place. At first glance, the plot looks absolutely fantastic. But then it turns out that living human characters are visible in this phantasmagoria. In Ostrovsky's fairy tale, as in the folk tale, there are clear contrasts characters: on the one hand, Snegurochka and Mizgir, on the other, Kupava and Lel.
The playwright's innovation in creating images is manifested in giving realistic concreteness mythological images, in an effort to humanize fantastic characters, to bring them closer to people’s lives, to the relationships that exist in society. The figure of the Snow Maiden is noteworthy. The play traces the evolution of the image of the Snow Maiden in contrast to the static character of the fairy tale. Analyzing the internal changes occurring with the Snow Maiden: from a cold heart to a hot one, it is easy to notice that Ostrovsky’s image of the Snow Maiden becomes more complex and filled with more specific psychological content. Having endowed the Snow Maiden with a complex inner world, showing the tragedy and drama of her experiences, Ostrovsky enlarges the image, gives it features of romantic exclusivity, even greatness, turning it into a symbol. The Snow Maiden is a symbol of all-conquering love, a symbol of the victory of love over selfish, selfish morality, the victory of the Sun over Frost, life over death.
2.4. What content does A. I. Solzhenitsyn put into the concept of “righteous man”? (Based on the story “Matrenin’s Dvor.”)
The original title of the story “Matrenin’s Dvor” was “A village is not worthwhile without a righteous man,” and the final title was given by A.P. Tvardovsky. This was an editorial move in the hope of getting Solzhenitsyn’s new work published: the events in the story were transferred to the time of the pre-Khrushchev Thaw. The depicted picture of a Russian village leaves too painful an impression.
In the fate of Matryona, the tragedy of a rural Russian woman is concentrated - the most expressive, blatant. But she did not become angry with this world, she retained a good mood, a feeling of joy and pity for others. The death of the heroine is the beginning of decay, the death of the moral foundations of the village, which Matryona strengthened with her life. She was the only one who lived in her own world: she arranged her life with work, honesty, kindness and patience, preserving her soul and inner freedom. But Matryona dies and the whole village “perishes”: “We all lived next to her and did not understand that she was the very righteous person without whom, according to the proverb, the village would not stand. Neither the city. Neither the whole land is ours.”
Studying the works of A.S. Pushkin, we are increasingly imbued with respect for his literary activity. Constant interest in his works makes us dive deeper and deeper into the world of his creations. Everything that belongs to Pushkin’s pen is capacious, beautiful, impressive. His immortal works will be studied by more than one generation of readers.
“Eugene Onegin” is a novel to which Pushkin devoted eight long years. The value of this novel for our cultural and spiritual life is undeniable. The novel was written according to new canons - it is a novel in verse. The novel “Eugene Onegin” is a philosophical, historical novel.
Onegin and Lensky are the two central figures of the novel. In order to understand what these heroes are, to understand the concept of the personality of these people, to penetrate deeper into the author's intention, we will give their comparative characteristics.
Comparative characteristics of the heroes are given according to the following criteria:
upbringing,
education,
character,
ideals,
attitude towards poetry
attitude towards love
attitude to life.
Upbringing
Eugene Onegin. Onegin, by right of birth, belongs to a noble family. Under the leadership of a French tutor, Onegin, “a child of fun and luxury,” was brought up in the spirit of aristocracy, far from truly Russian national foundations.
“At first Madame followed him,
Then Monsieur replaced her...
Lightly scolded for pranks
And he took me for walks in the Summer Garden.”
Vladimir Lensky. A humanly attractive character. Handsome, “shoulder-length black curls,” rich, youthfully enthusiastic and ardent. The author is silent on what ideals Lensky was brought up on.
Education
Eugene Onegin
“We all learned a little, something and somehow,” A.S. Pushkin wisely notes. Onegin was taught in this way “so that the child would not be exhausted.”
Prince P.A. Vyazemsky, a friend of A.S. Pushkin, wrote at one time that according to the canons of that time, insufficiently deep knowledge of the Russian language was allowed, but ignorance of French was not allowed.
“He’s completely French.”
He could express himself and wrote"
What other knowledge did Evgeniy shine with? He was somewhat familiar with classical literature, Roman and Greek. He was interested in history (“from Romulus to the present day”). He had an idea of the social sciences (“he knew how to judge how the state gets rich and how it lives”), political economy (“but he read Adam Smith”).
“A learned fellow, but a pedant:
He had a lucky talent
No coercion in conversation
Touch everything lightly
With the learned air of an expert.”
In general, Onegin can be characterized as an intelligent person, critical of reality, able to weigh the pros and cons.
Vladimir Lensky
"Half-Russian" student at the University of Göttingen. Quite smart, passionate about philosophy (“fan of Kant”) and poetry.
"He's from foggy Germany
He brought the fruits of learning..."
Perhaps he had a bright future, but most likely
"...a poet
The ordinary one was waiting for his destiny.”
Ideals
Eugene Onegin. In order to understand Onegin’s ideals, one must understand the very concept of “ideal”. The ideal is what we strive for. What did Onegin strive for? Towards harmony. Which way did he go? Onegin's path is a struggle between the eternal (national) and the temporary (that which settled in the character of the hero thanks to society and the ideals of someone else's, introduced philosophy).
Vladimir Lensky. Lensky's ideal - eternal love and holy friendship until the grave.
Character
Eugene Onegin. Onegin's character is contradictory and complex, just as his time is complex and contradictory.
What is he like, Onegin?
Onegin is lazy (“which occupied his melancholy laziness all day”), proud, indifferent. He is a hypocrite and a flatterer, eager to slander and criticize. Likes to attract attention and philosophize. At the feast of life, Onegin is superfluous. He clearly stands out from the crowd around him and strives to seek the meaning of life. He's sick of hard work. Boredom, melancholy, loss of direction in life, skepticism are the main signs of “extra people,” which Onegin belongs to.
Vladimir Lensky. Lensky is the complete opposite of Onegin. There is nothing rebellious in Lensky's character.
What is he like, Lensky?
Enthusiastic, freedom-loving, dreamy. He is a romantic, a sincere person, with a pure soul, not spoiled by the light, direct, honest. But Lensky is not ideal. The meaning of life is a mystery to him.
“The purpose of our life is for him
Was a tempting mystery..."
Lensky and Onegin are different. But at the same time, they are similar: both do not have a worthwhile business, reliable prospects, they lack fortitude.
Attitude to poetry
Eugene Onegin.“Yawning, he took up the pen and wanted to write...” What literary material did Onegin decide to take up? It is unlikely that he intended to write poetry. “He could not distinguish iambic from trochee, No matter how we fought, to distinguish...” At the same time, it cannot be said that Onegin was averse to poetry. He did not understand the true purpose of poetry, but he was engaged in poetry. He wrote epigrams. (An epigram is a small satirical poem ridiculing a person or social phenomenon).
"And make the ladies smile
Fire of unexpected epigrams"
Vladimir Lensky. Lensky's attitude towards poetry is the most favorable. Lensky is a poet, romantic, dreamer. And who is not a romantic at eighteen? Who doesn’t secretly write poetry or awaken the lyre?
Attitude towards love
Eugene Onegin.“Considered to be disabled in love, Onegin listened with important look..." Onegin's attitude towards love is skeptical, with a certain amount of irony and pragmatism.
Vladimir Lensky. Lensky is a singer of love.
“He sang love, obedient to love,
And his song was clear..."
Attitude to life
Eugene Onegin. Onegin's views on life: life is meaningless, empty. There is no worthy goal in life to strive for.
Vladimir Lensky. Romantics, with their ardent spirit and enthusiastic speeches, are alien to a deep view of life.
Conclusion
A.S. Pushkin is the great son of the Russian land. It was given to him to open new page in Russian literature.
Onegin and Lensky are antipodes. Onegin is a man in whom a good beginning lies dormant, but his superficial “ideals” lead to constant conflicts and internal disharmony.
Lensky is freedom-loving, dreamy and enthusiastic; he firmly believes in his ideals. But he is cut off from his native soil, he has no inner core.
Plan
- The contrast between Onegin and Lensky in Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”
- What makes Onegin and Lensky similar?
- Non-Russian upbringing
- Stand above others
- Nobility, high understanding of a person’s personality
- Love of freedom
- Onegin and Lensky are representatives of the new, young Russia
In the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin portrayed two representatives of the younger generation of contemporary Russia – Onegin and Lensky. Onegin and Lensky are “different from each other”, like “a wave and a stone, poetry and prose, ice and fire.”
Pushkin contrasts them with appearance, lifestyle, aspirations, desires. The contrast is indicated especially directly and sharply between the romantic nature of one and the skepticism of the other. But Onegin and Lensky became close friends, “became inseparable” from each other, not only because extremes converge, but because, despite their differences, they have many common features.
What does Onegin and Lensky have in common? As you know, the foundations of a future personality are laid in childhood, therefore upbringing plays a huge role in the formation of moral principles, habits, tastes and character of a person. There is much in common in the upbringing of Onegin and Lensky. Onegin was raised by foreign tutors, in isolation from Russian reality:
“Eugene’s fate kept:
At first madame followed him,
Then the monsieur replaced her.”
Lensky “brought the fruits of learning from foggy Germany,” he lived and was raised abroad, which is why Pushkin calls him “half-Russian.”
But not only education became the main reason for the rapprochement of Onegin and Lensky, it helped them find a common language, the main thing is that they stand out sharply from the environment, stand above others, both are searching. Onegin leaves St. Petersburg, leaves the world, since “the feelings in him have cooled down, he is tired of the noise of the world,” he strives to escape from there. Lensky says directly: “I hate your fashionable world.”
Among the humiliated stupidity and stupidity of the local nobility, Onegin and Lensky are bright personalities. They are united by nobility - a trait opposite to this one-faced mass. Nobility of thoughts, desires, and actions are characteristic of both of them. This can be seen in the relationship between Lensky and Olga, Onegin and Tatyana. Lensky and Onegin are brought together by their love of freedom and high understanding of personality. Lensky is carried away by “freedom-loving dreams,” and Onegin strives to be free from the world, from its conventions, from the painful position of the serf owner. He frees his peasants.
Both Lensky and Onegin are representatives of the new, young Russia. Lensky's romantic enthusiasm, his faith in goodness, dreaminess, ardor were characteristic of Odoevsky, Obolensky, and the younger Bestuzhev - the Decembrists.
In one of the drafts, Pushkin notes that Lensky “could have been hanged like Ryleev.” I wanted to bring Pushkin and Onegin closer to the Decembrists. He shows how, during his travels, Onegin’s patriotic feeling arises, how he is imbued with Decembrist ideas. Pushkin told one of his acquaintances that “...Onegin had to either die in the Caucasus or become one of the Decembrists.”
Thus, Onegin and Lensky, people of different characters and moods, find themselves associated with the progressive movement of their time.