The Character of Eugene Onegin - Essay Example

Perception of the world was limited by traditions and values imposed by their society. “Tatyana leaves Onegin kneeling, / looks at him with a steady gaze” (Pushkin). This remark shows that Tatyana is deeply hurt by Onegin who ruins her life and Olga’s happiness. The surface of her story is limpidly clear and beguilingly placid, but Pushkin’s use of it is to enforce by close logic an impossible and often very shocking proposition driven with distinct and startling imagery. Onegin deserves his fate because his desire to possess a love for Tatiana is nothing more than dissatisfaction with the past that resulted in losses and hopelessness.

On the other hand, I sympathize with this character because love becomes a vein sacrifice that is painful and sorrowful causing terrible suffering and emotional burdens for people. Quite early Onegin explores the meaning and significance of money and social status in life which brings him no good: “Onegin, my good friend, was littered / and bred upon Neva's brink’ (Pushkin). On the other hand, Pushkin’s contribution to the pessimism which characterizes so much of the important writing of the ninetieth century was to probe the inner recesses of human behavior to see by what instincts people are governed. Onegin proposes a view of man's essential nature: greedy and rakish. In practice, it is possible and desirable to create new laws and values because the new environment forces people to change their priorities and morals. Social ideology and way of life typical for many young people of his age are the main cause of his suffering and fate. “Onegin swiftly came to know / his tale of youthful love, narrated / with deep emotion through and through, / to us, though, not exactly new” (Pushkin). Everything has to conform to the pattern of behavior Onegin perceives as natural to man and which he, therefore, imposes upon the world.

I would change nothing, but keep Lensky alive. Every person should be ‘punished’ if he commits a crime (even if a duel was socially acceptable). The character of Onegin Pushkin shows that every person has a dual nature, and the negative part can dominate over goodness. This dark side determines relations with other people and the world around the hero. Despite this fact, the flaw of Onegin is hypocrisy which has led to tragic outcomes. Sin and guilt are the main characteristics of Onegin which force his development. His youth tells against Onegin—it is part of the theme that heroes have been molded into the settled prejudices of the world. Any attempt to allegorize human nature without paying due attention to sexual responses must appear to be incomplete. Even if Onegin hero is far from the ideal man, it reflects the features of great earnestness. To some extent, his romantic dreams and social pretension are destroyed by his past which has become a good lesson for him.

In sum, the opposition's hopes and reality prove the idea of two different frames: destiny and fate. The character is suppressed by the norms and circumstances, his narrow worldview, and his low spirits which make him dependent upon life situations. After years of grievances and sufferings, Onegin comes to know that every moment and every act share the same fate. All are destined to dissolution, to be swept up and fixed in the complete picture of a terminated existence. Read More