45 pages • 1 hour read
Alexander PushkinEugene Onegin
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1832A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Cynicism and Naivety
Onegin’s cynicism is evident from the first verse of the poem, in which he laments his uncle’s inability to simply die. Onegin is tired of caring for his sickly uncle, so much so that he actively wants his uncle to die. Onegin only cares about himself and views everything else with a cynical outlook that makes the world, to him, seem worthless. To Onegin, other people seem self-indulgent and dull, scurrying about on meaningless escapades, spending money, and entertaining themselves while producing nothing. Their lives are cynical expressions of self-indulgence, so much so that these people cannot even recognize the vapidity of their own existences. At the very least, Onegin believes, he is self-aware enough to acknowledge his own cynical self-indulgence. He is desperate for substance in his life, but his cynical view of the world means that he regards any pursuit as being naive and worthless. As such, he hates himself for being just another cynical man in a world that cannot even recognize its own cynicism. He leaves the city for the countryside in the hope that he can find something in which he can invest himself.
Outside of the city, Onegin quickly becomes bored of rural life, until he meets Lensky. Like Onegin, Lensky is an outsider. Unlike Onegin, Lensky is not a cynical man. Onegin studies Lensky’s particular naivety, a form of literary-infused innocence that derives from Lensky’s ambitions as a poet. Lensky is desperate to see the beauty in the world while Onegin recognizes only the malaise. Rather than mock Lensky for his naivety, however, Onegin works hard to protect his new friend’s innocence. He shields Lensky from the cynicism of the world, entertaining and indulging his poetic excursions so that Lensky is never turned into an Onegin-like cynic. Onegin recognizes how they differ and seeks to preserve Lensky’s naivety out of a dislike of his own cynical outlook. Lensky becomes Onegin’s worthwhile pursuit, his hope of addressing his own cynicism. Tragically, circumstances conspire against the men and Onegin shoots Lensky dead.
While Onegin tries to shield Lensky from the cynical world, he directly criticizes Tatyana for being naive. When she declares her love for Onegin, his self-loathing of his own cynicism is revealed again. Onegin cannot tolerate the idea that anyone could love him. With such a low opinion of himself, he views Tatyana’s declaration of love almost as an insult. His criticism is chastening, and Tatyana is hardened by her experience. Over the coming years, she internalizes Onegin’s criticism of her naive emotions. She accepts her family’s demands that she should marry and accepts a proposal from a man who—while honorable in his own way—does not inspire love in her as Onegin once did. When Onegin returns, he meets this married, more cynical version of Tatyana and falls in love. He swaps roles with Tatyana, acting in a lovestruck, naive manner until she tells him that she will not leave her husband for him. Her decision is practical and devoid of the naive emotions that compelled her in her youth and that Onegin did so much to eradicate. The irony of Onegin’s cynicism is that he denies himself a chance of being happy by converting Tatyana to his worldview.
The Construction of Identity
In Saint Petersburg, Onegin has a reputation for being a sociable young man. He projects an image of confidence and charisma, even though he privately loathes the very same social scene in which he is involved. Onegin bemoans the uninspiring lifestyle of the Russian elite while publicly presenting himself as an embodiment of that same wealth and privilege. His public performance of the decadent, elite identity is different from the real, cynical man who hides inside. In this respect, Onegin’s public persona is a mask behind which he hides his true self and his criticisms of his society. There is a clear divide between the public reputation of Onegin as a libertine and philanderer and the private individual who views such people with scorn. Onegin’s public persona functions as a social satire, a way for him to perform his worst interpretations of society while living in the society itself. Onegin plays the role of the rich, decadent man and hopes that anyone will criticize him. When no one does, he feels vindicated. Onegin’s self-loathing is evident in the way that he constructs a public identity that embodies everything he hates about the world around him.
In the countryside, Onegin has the chance to make himself into someone else. In a new community, he is not beholden to the identity he made for himself in Saint Petersburg. He abandons many aspects of the pervading social etiquette, speaking frankly and refusing to take part in certain events. Rather than the embodiment of social expectations, Onegin presents himself as a more radical figure. When he reforms how his land is managed, his newfangled ideas annoy his neighbors so much that they send an angry group to confront him. Despite this brief foray into radicalism, Onegin remains bored. Without anything to do, he decides to remake his identity into something else. Inspired by his poet friend Lensky, he creates his own art project. The rural Onegin identity is—as Tatyana discovers—a carefully constructed assembly of different literary characters and tropes. Onegin is bored of being himself, so he makes a fictional version of Onegin to project into the world; his new identity is an escapist enterprise in which he hopes to liberate himself from a dull world by pretending to be a character from a novel. Onegin’s literary attempts end tragically. He kills Lensky in a duel and leaves the area, abandoning his novels with their detailed notes in the margins. Just as he leaves behind the books, he leaves behind his experimental literary identity.
When Onegin returns from his travels, he is a different man. He is less performative but no less guarded. He withdraws into himself to the point where the narrator almost does not recognize him. The public identity of Onegin has changed, having been traumatized by the duel and the death of his friend. He cannot perform the same identity any longer, and his experiments with fictional identities seem trivial and absurd in the wake of such a tragedy. Onegin returns to the social scene of Saint Petersburg but without the satirical charisma of his youth. Onegin is wearing another mask, but one that fades into the background and disperses attention; Onegin does not want to risk another tragedy in his life, so he would rather be unremarkable. When he falls in love with Tatyana, he reveals a more honest side of himself. He allows her to glimpse the vulnerable Onegin, rather than the protective identity that he has constructed to shield himself from the world. However, she turns him down. Tatyana is the only person to see the true Onegin, but her refusal to leave her husband for him forces Onegin back into hiding. He gains nothing but pain for revealing his true self and, when her husband enters the room, he immediately returns to his performance.
Etiquette as a Prison
The Russian society depicted in Eugene Onegin is highly formalized. Rules of etiquette are commonly understood among the ruling elite, and anyone who departs from these rules is the subject of a great deal of gossip. In the opening of the novel, Onegin attends many formal events as part of his hectic schedule. He is a charming, charismatic figure and plays along with the expectations of those around him, but he is exhausted. Onegin is trapped in a highly formalized world of social events where he is expected to appear, lest he insult anyone and have his reputation sullied. In this way, Onegin’s dislike of his society becomes a prison, robbing him of any substantive meaning in his life.
In the countryside, Onegin finds a fellow outsider in the shape of Lensky. They are both rebels in their own way, reluctant to conform to the manners and expectations of the local community. However, when their friendship hits an obstacle, they find themselves trapped by the same system of etiquette that they are rebelling against. Onegin attends one of the parties that he loathes; Lensky has promised him that the party will be very different, but he is incorrect. Out of spite, Onegin flirts with Lensky’s fiancée, Olga. This interaction infuriates Lensky and, overcome by rage, he turns to etiquette to resolve his anger. In the world of the Russian elites, a duel to the death offers a way to vent frustration. Even this violent act is highly formalized, however, indicating that the society only tolerates violence when it is wedded to a formalized system of manners and etiquette. Through his second, he challenges Onegin to a duel, and Onegin reluctantly accepts. Even when Lensky looks back on his actions and regrets his challenge, both men feel trapped in the situation. In a tragic twist, Onegin kills his only friend because he is caught in a system of manners, reputation, and expectation that he does not like.
Onegin’s tragic experiences with etiquette continue after he returns to Russia. In the city, the narrator spots Onegin at one of the parties that Onegin claimed to have despised so much. As a form of self-punishment, Onegin places himself in the prison of high society, adhering to the etiquette he once rejected to discipline himself for killing Lensky. He is given a moment of reprieve when he is reintroduced to Tatyana. She is now a very different woman from the young girl he once rejected. Tatyana gives Onegin a reason to engage with society. He attends the parties that he hates just to be near her. When he invites her to run away with him, however, the same reverence for honor and social etiquette prevents her from doing so. Tatyana still loves Onegin but will not leave her husband to be with him. Onegin is denied his chance at happiness by Tatyana’s refusal to break social etiquette, leaving them both trapped in miserable situations because of the rules of etiquette on which their society is based.
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